Props Gamestop... Props

Ok I usually despise Gamestop commercials. Having to hear them all day sucks. But this new commercial was brought to my attention today and it makes me laugh everytime. Check it out:



-Nick

Forum Highlight - Awesome Threads Edition

(click to enlarge)

So here are a few of the many great threads you guys should be checking out in our forums. It only takes a minute to register, but you don't even have to register to post. Check out some of these threads:

The Art Thread - There is a lot of great artwork and photoshopping going on in here. This is also where all the user made comics are being posted. We pulled ours banners on this blog and on our JTV site from this thread. Submit some of your own!

Post Your Desktop - Yeah, every forum has them. But they are still fucking cool! Expect me to post mine as soon as I move all that Ivy fan art porn from my desktop over to my private folder.

Post Your Gaming Set-up/Collections - I bumped this old thread because I want to see the set-ups of some of the newer members. I can't find the old Collections thread, so post your gaming collections in here too.

The Music Theme Thread - We have some really talented people out there making their own game sounding music. A lot of it is really cool. We have used the music from our JTV mod, "dafishies", on the show before, so go post some of your own if you are good at this sort of thing. Cocyx has all posted some really great stuff recently. Check these out: song 1, song 2, 4pp theme.

and most importantly

The Roundtable Discussion Ideas Thread - It isn't easy coming up with great topics to talk about during our Roundtable portion of the show. Help us out by posting your own ideas. This is a thread we will definitely be looking into a lot. We will also credit you on the show if we go with your idea.


I just want to thank everyone for starting so many of these and many more great threads. It is the community that keeps the forums active, so keep doing what you are doing!


Brad

A Tale of Two Games, Nostalgia vs Evolution - *Fixed*

Lately, I've been hitting the download content on Xbox Live Arcade pretty hard. One of them an older game that I used to play, redone with online play and the other a new spin on an old formula. They are both 800 MS Points ($10) and with my newly purchased 1600 Point Card, I planned on buying both. But I found a little more complicated than that.

-Bomberman and Living with Nostalgia-
I used to play Bomberman on the SNES. My best friend Kiehnoff had the game and a multitap and a lot of our middle school years were spend punch and kicking bombs at each other. When Bomberman was released I wasn't really interested because, it was 800 Points ($10), which is severely over priced for a game that honestly people don't really give a crap about, and for something I wouldn't have anyone to play it with, I really don't like playing online with random strangers who I hardly know or give a crap about. Also don't forget that there really hasn't been any changes to the game since its release on the NES.

Recently I started playing with the community off of Brad's Hard Drive and it's been amazing. I'd been reintroduced to the game I'd loved and I decided that since I had people to play with, it would warrant the purchase. I went on Xbox Live Arcade to purchase the full game only to find that there are also three Bomb Packs each with more costumes and levels at the cost of 250, 200, and 250 respectively. All together that's 700 Points nearly the cost for the game itself. Now, if I'm a huge Bomberman fan, but I refuse to buy the add ons. They are are the shittiest way to nickel and dime someone. Releasing multiple bite sizes piece is horrible. If they were to release a big expansion at maybe 400 points ($5), fine I could live with that.

Sure, people say, you don't have to buy them. You can just play the normal version. But who wants to have they feeling that they're missing out on something. Nobody wants to feel like they have to pay extra so that they're getting full experience. These companies have a guy who just sits around and say, Hmm...we could release it at this price but then we'd have to sell this many of them. Or you know what, let's raise the cost so that we'll still make the same amount of money selling less and if we get lucky, well sell more and make more profit. I've never liked this part of Corporations and Business, and I like it even less when I can feel it's presence in the games I play.

The people arguing that It's a choice and that I don't have to pay the money or play the game are right. I don't have to, I can just play Brad's copy. So thanks greedy microtransaction whores for helping me save my money for a purchase for something else, like those System of a Down tracks that are coming out for Rock Band next week.

-Geometry Wars and it's Evolution-
Now on the other side of the fence. This is how you do a SEQUEL! When Geometry Wars came out, it was a fresh take on a very old and tired formula. It was well priced, some would say a little too well priced, and stirred interest again in the score based game genre. When I heard of talks for a sequel and the Wii/DS versions, I was skeptical because honestly, what else could they do? Make it prettier and add a few more enemies? How do you change gameplay for something that really only plays one way?

I don't consider the Geometry Wars on the Wii or DS a sequel. It's more of a spin off. There were a few good ideas for implementation, but the controls just weren't right. You didn't have the precision that you have with two analog sticks. Things just felt different, even the pricing made the soul of the game different. So you should be able to tell that I really like the new Geometry Wars, but why? It'll be hard for some people to understand. It's just all bright lights and shooting to them, but Geometry Wars 2 is completely different from the original. The purpose, gameplay, scoring system, everything is different. Even how you shoot and evade are more complex. They've added new enemies but that was expected. But they didn't just stop there, everything feels like it's really been thought out. It wasn't hey, let's just add a new coat of paint and slap the roman numeral "II" on it. The changes are so dramatic, it's to the point where I can see myself consistently playing both Geometry Wars each for their uniqueness. I never though they so much could be changed in a game with such simple design. I still haven't even touched on the multiplayer so who knows what that will bring.

So here we have two games, both with very deep roots in early video gaming. But one which refuses to change and demands it's worth. While the other is changing in every way possible. It's not a hard choice to see which one, I'd spend my money on.

Maybe Japanese Development really is losing out.
David

I realized that somehow text had gotten moved around when I was adding pictures and that the earlier format was a little unreadable.

This one is for David

I know you love this stuff.




Game is Rhythm Tengoku 2 for the DS. It was recently released in Japan and now is coming over here.


Brad

Sony I Forgive You

Square Enix held a their DKΣ3713 private party this week and revealed some new information and a few big announcements that have shifted the ball back into Sony's court. We mentioned an annoucment coming from Square Enix that would make up for their treacherous announcement regarding FFXIII's shift to multi platform at E3. I am not totally sure if this is that announcement or not but regardless, this party made a few big announcements for Sony.

1.) A new trailer for FFXIII was shown that showed some gameplay footage. Apparently the gameplay looks amazing. Keep your eyes peeled because I can assure you that the moment this trailer hits the net, you will find it right here on 4PP.

2.) When the Blu-Ray release of Final Fantasy Advent Children (known as Advent Children Complete) hits in March of 2009, a blu ray disc featuring a playable demo of Final Fantasy XIII plus trailers for Versus XIII and Agito XIII will be included!

3.) Also in March, a new PS3 bundle will be released that will include this FFXIII Demo (as well as Advent Children on Blu Ray I assume)

4.) A new Final Fantasy Versus XIII Trailer was shown that confirmed that Versus XIII will remain a PS3 Exclusive.

5.) A new trailer for "Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep" was shown. The game will act as a prequel to the first game and be available only on the PSP.

6.) Last but not least, a new sequel to Parasite Eve will make its way onto PSP's in 2009 entitled "The 3rd Birthday"!! I better play the first two soon then.

This is almost more news than I can handle and surprisingly, its all good news! Check back often because I will be sure to post all of these trailers as soon as they hit the net.

-Nick

Why I have givin up on FPS games.

I've noticed something as of late. I am pretty good at FPS games. Not to be conceited, but I notice that I tend to shoot a lot of people in the face. I'm kind of proud of this.
But then shit like this happens.... Let me explain a situation...


Eric is running through the streets in call of duty 4 with a shot gun, I am coming down from the other side of the street with a rifle. Eric sees me, blind fires over and over again with his pump action POS while i steady and take aim at his sorry face. WHY, in the name of whatever god you believe in, do I DIE!? It seems that the problem that you get with fighter games (where a button masher can kick a pros ass) is starting to come over to FPS games. You can play a game for god knows how long and still, at the end of the day, get killed by some grenade that some twelve year old threw in the very beginning of the match. Or get shot with a rocket launcher, where in real life you reserve those for TANKS!!! not human beings who just want to live to see another day so they can feed their poor children and skinny ass wife back in the states.

Something I have just noticed lately. The pull of the FPS shooter has started to wear off. I am noticing that i will never be as good as i want to be because everyone and their mom cheats and i am sick of it. And if I am playing a game where i get killed constantly rather than dealing out any damage at all, you all know the effect that has on me... I piss my pants in anger. I am done forever. I want to play Starcraft for the rest of my life.


Thats my slice of life,
Travis

Siren is Coming to 4PP

So I finally received my imported copy of "Siren: New Translation" for the PS3. The game is known as "Siren: Blood Curse" in the United States but is only available via digital download on Sony's PSN. Here in the states, consumers must buy the game in episodic downloads that go for approximately $14.99 or in it's full form for $39.99. However, I despise this kind of distribution so I opted for importing a physical copy from over seas. You can expect me to broadcast this game in its entirety over the next week or two. I'll post a full schedule once I have it set in stone so that you can tune in and get the **** scared out of you.

-Nick

Podcast #73 - Control Issues Discussion

The last show has been uploaded to the Podcast section.

Download Here (120 mins)

Host: Nick
Discussion Topic: Our Influence In The Games Industry

Thanks for downloading,
David

See you either Saturday or Sunday for the live recording of Show #74.

New Comic Thursday

Our viewer comic section has been updated with a new one by thecosmicfly.

This one entitled Diabolical

We love to see stuff from you guys so please send in anything you guys have. You can post it in the forums under the art section or if you want, you can even email it directly to me. Hopefully you guys can keep this section going cause it's been great so far.

David

Cover Art Comparison - Crackdown

In honor of Crackdown smearing the competition on our current poll, I thought I'd do a Cover Art Comparison. This is a feature where we take a look at the box art for different games from both sides of the world. It's often interesting to see the cultural differences in things as simple as this.

So Crackdown is a game very much made for a Western audience. It's a open world game about super cops. Not the Jackie Chan type either. It has a pretty cool cell shaded art style that makes things looks nice even though this was a relatively early Xbox360 game. Anyways, here is the North American and European cover:




And here is the Japanese cover:



I'll let you pick out the obvious differences. And I don't mean the title.


Dammit Japan, lol.



Brad