ExpertPenguin's Yeezus review that just.....kinda happened.

                   
[Note: This started as a Facebook status. From a sentence to two. Then a paragraph. Two hours (and several unintentional listens) later, I had something resembling a review. Let's do it. :) - ExpertPenguin]

This is a dangerous album. It isn't for everyone, and definitely not if you're looking for a CD packed full of club bangers, or quotable lines to make your friends laugh. As an album that would rather have your mind work than twerk, Kanye West's 6th solo effort Yeezus is a daring musical project. Its the kind of album only a crazed genius at the top of his game can make, with the more off-the-wall, eclectic parts of his musical consciousness assembling to produce a sound that's isn't quite the rap you know, but the kind that can be if you're willing to color outside the lines a bit.

Ambitiously, It's more an album that challenges your musical sense, and asks you if you've heard enough of rap as a genre to be able to digest something a little different. On this album Kanye manages to dig even deeper into his seemingly endless musical rabbit hole, unearthing genres one normally wouldn't dare think of saying in the same sentence as rap. This is including, but not limited to industrial, trap, drill, grinding electro, punk and instrumentalist soul that even guest artists Kid Cudi and Chief Keef get a chance to croon over before the album's final seconds. It's no small statement when I say that I can guarantee you, the Google-Fu on this album's various genre jumps and stylistic changes will be more frequent (and more surprising) than when he sampled Steely Dan for Champion's triumphant hooks on Graduation. It pulls no punches. The opening Daft Punk produced track On Sight hits like a runaway train, with painfully abrasive distortion that coalesces into a futuristic Atari- like synth beat before Yeezus himself reminds you just what the HELL you've gotten your ears into this time:

Yeezy season approaching/Fuck whatever ya'll been hearing...
He means it, and takes off running from there. Black Skinhead is an Afrocentric track with the thumping industrial toms reminiscent of Manson's The Beautiful People. New Slaves laments the racism and consumerism inherent with celebrity, before flipping the tables with a sample of Omega to settle the gravitas. Even Blood on the Leaves, what you would call the album's most "traditional" song, features a daring use of a Nina Simone sample fighting TNGHT's production for command of your attention (while sneaking in a passing Cash Money reference). Later, there's a dancehall portion that simply shouldn't work, but does.





An eclectic soul is running wild through the fabric of this album, and it's consistently at odds with Kanye's signature braggadocio, that, egotistical, self-referential, biting way he near effortlessly paints a vivid picture without even letting you know he's done so. Even as his claims become more abrasive, grating and almost nonsensical in their fantastical outrageousness, he never once loses command of a track (which is easy to appreciate when you go light on the guest stars, or use them so effectively they become nonexistent, which happens multiple times).


Did I mention the appearance of Ponderosa Twins Plus One?! No? By the time you've reached the closer track, Bound 2...Well. I can't praise it enough. From beginning to end, structurally, aurally, was such an amazing feat of production and sonic density that I listened to it three times in a row. It's just...




Elegant. Magnificent. Any other -ents I can attach, just place them here.

After listening to Yeezus three times in a row, I could only come to one conclusion. Mind you, this was after the vitriol pool had already completely runneth over from the album's leak, and I already had a set of expectations in my head: This album is something, the kind of something that an artist who is actually testing his craft can create. It's very easy to make an acceptable sounding album, or 'music' that his all the beats you're expecting while pushing the boundaries in small ways, through loquacious lyricism or even more intricately layered production. Those are steps however. Ye is taking leaps here, and doesn't care whether or not the ground is ready for the impact.


The problem is, Hip hop has structurally been the same thing for so long that you don't even realize just how homogenized it's gotten. Even as barriers are broken, it's still pandering to that certain set of rules and expectations. This one doesn't radically redefine them, but it's pushing so hard that the initial reaction upon listening is generally one of shock. Not the kind that paralyzes with fear, but the kind of morbid curiosity that pushes one from track to track. You'll find, it isn't that difficult to listen to. It sounds familiar, but is acoustically different, and that signature is a huge part of what makes Yeezus' type of innovation digestible. Some may just need some Pepto Bismol to take it all in.

A rap album light on rap. A studio hit that will probably be light on single hits. A production so aggressive and sharp, it sounds like the angriest album he's ever made, yet it's his most mature and versatile showing as an artist to date. That's the point to really be made here: An artist made this. You didn't just get a throwaway mixtape full of replaceable tunes. You just received a piece of work from someone who would rather polarize you all than not follow his instincts as a musician:



"You see there's leaders and there's followers/But I'd rather be a dick than a swallower."


Preach on, Yeezus. He's absolutely right. Toast to the douchebags.

Only a dick of his caliber would. Only an egomaniacal, arrogant genius with his clout could, or ever WOULD be allowed to create something like this.

I also enjoyed it. Much. Almost entirely too much. I also don't have a rating scale. Let's just assume it's damn high. :D

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One thing though:

The end portion of I Am A God scared the shit out of me, I don't know what he was going for there, but..yeah. The wailing banshee thing sounds like Kim going into labor, or something. If that was it, and I was being introduced to a first-person account of the horrors of childbirth..then he got me. If not.. I still don't know what the hell was going on there.

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Xbox One and Only

The Xbox Next Generation Event went down today, and I had a front row seat, along with the rest of you.

Liveblog madness occurred with yours truly, courtesy of my fine tentacled friends at Chocolate Lemon.

I walked away impressed!

(More than I could say about the other two....saving all the goods for E3 means your initial announcements have no zing. Learn. Learn.)

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Tits?..

I mean, you can argue that there is an exquisitely animated, finely tuned Action RPG here called Dragon's Crown by the one and only Vanillaware.

You can also point out that it's going to be one of those really polished, addictive titles that will finally give Vita owners a reason to pick up their handhelds once again (since Monster Hunter is currently riding the waves of release karma Nintendo-wise, and snubbing everything Sony, it seems), but all I see are breasts.

Moving and shaking. Like the controllers and handhelds will surely be on August 6th.

They are really well animated though. The spells. Not the boobs.

Really, I'm not talking about them. As much as this video is not showing them.

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Ping.....delayed.

Oh, what a week. Too much work. Not enough play. Make me dull. (Ask my friends.)

Too many things have happened. But I'm here.

When I'm not here, I'm here.

Thursday is always a special day for that place, because I end up laying out my app fueled obsessions with the perfect means for cracking them open and playing them all, TO COMPLETION.

Should check it out! Today's flavor is EPOCH.

ExpertPenguin Has Too Many Apps! - EPOCH.

I'll be back tomorrow with some ravings. :)
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You've got to be joking..

Fuck off, all of you.

You know when you're paralleling Rico Van Dien with a "HOT CHICK NAMED ZELDA, LOOK! STREET CRED FOR YOU DWEEBS", some twerp that makes even DJ Qualls look sexually potent, and a stereotypical foul mouth black kid presumably in place because the one from Role Models wouldn't answer their calls, the recipe for disaster is already sewn faster than you can utter the words "Stay Alive was better" in disgust. Weren't we done with movies like this 15 years ago?

I love you Jason Mewes, but no. Screw you too. It's already uncomfortable seeing you play ANYONE but Jay, but to play a nerd so unconvincing that my monitor started to reek of Doritos and Mountain Dew from all the faux gamer scene chewing? That is a feat so astounding that I'm actually starting to reconsider Jonny Lee Miller's role in Hackers to be high art.



"Yo man, it's ZERO COOL!!!"

One step forward, ten steps ba-- I can't even finish this.

If you need me, I'll be in the other room, placing my hair into the blender.

Frappé, anyone?




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Capcom, not U too..

Capcom Avoiding Late Wii U Ports (GamesIndustry.biz)


This article in a nutshell is basically Capcom's Senior VP stating that they have no intention of publishing any late Wii U ports, choosing to look forward instead of into the past for their Wii U future. As someone who has practically mastered sitting on the fence for this console, it's an understatement when I say that this was actually a refreshing read for me. Call me crazy, but I still feel like Nintendo jumped the gun way too early on this one, and rushed to be the first to market without warrant, preparation, or really, technological merit.

Having been behind on a technical level since the original Wii's release, and having its main gimmick emulated by one competitor (Sony) and later trumped by another (Hellooooo, Kinect), I can't help but shake the feeling that with software finally too ambitious for even gimped Wii versions, it was either sink or swim, and they decided to jump into the pool right after dinner, invalidating their main course, and possibly causing a rather nasty cramp for the future.

The Wii U isn't the system it should be, or even needs to be right now.

It faces the same problem the Dreamcast faced upon early release, and the same the Xbox 360 faced when against its low-res brethren. Without nearly enough time for developers other than Nintendo themselves and a select few to come up with something truly compelling for the platform's unique architecture or controller, instead, the little system that should is home to a slew of ports that are terribly optimized for its hardware (you can't just erase 5-6 years of current-gen programming comfort in just 1). Gimped resolutions, uneven texture work, missing or altogether disabled effects and unstable framerates (Oh, Black Ops 2, you couldn't have even been a perfect 60fps HERE?..) seem to be par for the course in the current run of software, and can't possibly be doing anything to sway the hardcore Nintendo definitely wants away from their Xbox and Playstation environments. Why, when my 7 year Xbox can play Tekken Tag Tournament 2 at a perfect 60hz would I tolerate even the slightest of hiccups from what's supposed to be a "next=gen" system? WITH the motion blur pared back in order to (I assume) even facilitate the port?

Even technical issues aside, games like Batman: Arkham City and Darksiders II suffer from what I call a "DS-ification" of existing titles, shoehorning unnecessary touchscreen and gamepad functionality anywhere it seems to fit, providing that HUD-augmenting second screen experience that'll have you looking away from your TV more often than not. Is it necessary? Not really. Does it reek of gimmicky because there simply wasn't enough time to REALLY exploit the gameplay applications that are possible with such a unique pad? Yes. Even the original DS suffered the same kind of growing pains when everyone wanted to treat it like a portable N64, and use the touchscreen for analog sticking, HUD cramming nonsense..


Who remembers the thumb strap? It's alright. They don't either.

It's almost frustrating to watch from this end, because as it has been proven, with the right amount of time, and ingenue, we can really see something worthwhile come from their unconventional consoles. Now is not that time. the HD era isn't as new to us as it is Nintendo, and that isn't a selling point. The various functionalities in the form of Facebook, YouTube, Internet Browsers and online plazas aren't new either, as Nintendo is essentially playing catch up in that department. Even for their more hardcore-centric titles like NBA2K13, TTT2, and Black Ops 2 the install base isn't nearly as large as it already is on other platforms to make serious competitors migrate over to the system.

This is going to be an uphill climb, whether they like it or not.

When it really comes down to it, The two standout features are the hardware's potential, and that controller. The former is being constricted by the current generation's comfort/glory days and the latter, in its own way is arguably being handled early on by way of Sony's PS Vita and Microsoft's Smartglass app for the 360. Granted, one requires a 200+ dollar handheld and the other simply requests you own anything that can run iOS, Android, or Windows Mobile/8, but the Gamepad is going to be $100 when it finally hits retail. It's really just drawing straws and seeing who pulls the better experience, so they can't even rest comfortably on that. Having played Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 on a PS3 using the Vita akin to a 3DS in SSF4:3D, and having controlled my dashboard, along with DJing a Dance Central 3-off on my 360 using Smartglass, I'd say they're going to have to bring out the bigger guns way before these juggernauts release their new platforms, or else Ninty is going to be in a world of pain.


"I tap what to equip my gadgets?...Damnit Alfred, can't I calibrate the cowl to have a pause screen inventory?"

My rant aside, this is why I'm happy Capcom's taking the stance they are. What's going on with the competition isn't very fruitful at all from a business or even fan-centric perspective, and I can almost guarantee that every company who published a port (With possibly the exception of Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge, which I've heard is such a drastic improvement that it's literally a different game) is going to be operating out of a loss. they aren't showing off the system's capabilities, they aren't necessary (especially Batman, who's gone through regular, enhanced, and GOTY versions out for more than a year now), and porting them over is an almost cynical move, considering what the system is supposed to be. Not to mention Nintendo's refusal to define what the system can actually DO via adverts and news. All this serves to paint the console once again as the inferior cousin in this new gen, and the lukewarm holiday response is more than evident of this.

Everyone I told that I wanted the system looked at me with such disbelief and responded so indifferently you would've thought I went full retard.



But I'm NOT crazy. I see the potential within, but I'm avid, and the fact that the general public (much less even my gamer friends) can't find a reason to be is troublesome. Whose idea was it anyway to position the system so early as a gimped next-gen console with an interchangeable gimmick? Because despite my otherworldly optimism at times, I can't see anything but that when I look at the Wii U. Back to our 360's, nothing to see here? "Lol, look at the framerate choke as I simply glide a few blocks in Batman"? "These stats on the lower screen sure are cool as I endure these ridiculous load times in 2K13"? Is it really more practical to be shot in the face while making split second tactical decisions looking down during Mass Effect 3's combat?

Judging by Capcom's logical stance, I can't be the only one that thinks this way. Look forward to the future, guys.

Because the past is killing you.

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The Darker Side of 2013.

As the remains of a slightly disappointing 2012 (Sequel-itis: The Year) slowly fade away, we're once again faced with the prospect of a new year; A reset button if you will, for gaming in 2013. Another year of high profile sequels, yes (DmC, Bioshock Infinite, Dead Space 3, GTA5, etc) but, interesting as we're starting to enter a transitional period. The 360's been out for over 7 years. Nintendo pulled a Sega on us all and tried to jumpstart the next-gen with mixed, programmer-challenging results. Sadly, I'm still waiting for the other two to speak up before I'm ready to leave this gen.

Considering all of the ifs however, several thoughts popped into my mind. Most of them involve where we're going as a gamer culture, what we're doing in it, what we've done this generation, and why. I'm generally so wrapped in my call that I have nothing but enthusiasm, but for some reason, it wasn't popping like it should have been. Something was different.

After a few cold thoughts, I came to the realization that I was as present for much of this generation as I was not present, taking my feet out of the trenches and taking a more observatory role as my life caught up, and time dwindled. Somehow, I had less time to play everything I wanted, but all the time in the world to experience everything, either vicariously through social media, testimonials, YouTube, or simply watching any of my hilariously eclectic friends run their way through them all, color commentary in tow. It's autodidactism on such a level, you'd be more surprised at what I haven't played than games I know as a whole without having picked up a controller.

For a frame of reference, I'm just getting around to playing Darksiders. On PC.

What? At least here, it doesn't LOOK like it came out in 2010..

...But it IS quite enjoyable. How'd I miss this? (Ed: Time.) Destroyer May Cry? Legend of Apocalypse: War's Awakening? It's got story, atmosphere, clever puzzles, and most importantly, satisfying combat. Zelda-esque adventure pacing with a dash of God of War-style brutality.

To really appreciate where we're going, I have to fully know where we've been, yes?

Well framed genre mashups aside, there are a few keen thoughts in my mind. Like I tend to do, it got a bit out of control, so I'll be breaking it up a bit.

"LIKE I'M BREAKING THAT ANGEL'S SPINE--Oh look, a new area!"

This just happened. As it has been since I've started my rebellion against "The Destroyer".

See you in a bit, folk.

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That familiar feeling.

The HTML is old, yet familiar. The cadence rough, but recognizable.

It's been a while, friend.

Ever so closer.

This is a tonal shift, but one all the more appreciated by the fact that I made it here. I fear myself, but the closer I get, the more of it just seems to drop away.

I just want to work on what I love. It's here. Tabs upon tabs upon tabs. Busywork. Woo much to mention, too much to do. Can't mention it all, but I can make a list. I've spent a bit of time trying to figure out exactly what that list was, what should be on it..

How.

Where.

When.


A year, to be precise. Has it really been so long since I've written here? It feels like so much longer. The days feel like weeks, months when you're in love.

It's why I know this is exactly where I need to be.

And that this is what I need to do.

It's going to be a long day. Or short, rather. The funny contradiction of that same love means time will fly right by.

Here's hoping I've got it this time.

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Chasing Shadows.

It's the beginning of the end, and I'm standing in front of the door that will change everything. The once clear sky is dark, having been torn with piercing shafts of light symbolic of my crime, and an unknown power is ravaging my body, having deteriorated my appearance to one more resembling a specter than a person.

I have physically and mentally endured radical changes to get here.

It's practically at the end of Shadow of the Colossus, and the temple I'm praying at to save is letting me know so. The path to the final colossi lies just at the end of a nearby gulf, and with an armageddon of my own machinations at hand, I can't stop thinking about the temple itself. There were many marking the land as far as I could recall, yet my map had only revealed five. Had my tunnel vison blinded me to the majority, dedicated as I was to my cause? Whatever the reason, the grip augmenting lizards and opportunities to save weren't a bad catch for finding one either, so with the end in sight and nothing to lose, off I went to find more.

With 15 down and one to go, I stared to explore.


In searching for more of these temples, I rediscovered just how rich the world was.

It amazed me once more that so much could be done with so little, and like the best details, that so much could be achieved in their subtlety.

Temples with a consistency of design suggesting one religion instead of several.



Ruins of castles far too large for any human, but too small for the gods that inhabit the land, bringing to question the physicality of the people and the role they played.



Underground networks and catacombs that reveal their enterances in mountainsides, a mixture of manmade and natural formations that perhaps suggest an evolution of sorts, giving the area centuries of prospective history.



But how much of this is true, or could be true? That's the brilliance.

The world itself is so without explanation, that as a player and active participant, your actions define the tale moving forward. But at the same time, there's a history to this land. A past that predates your existence. A lore that extends beyond what the developer refuses to tell you with finality, and instead has to exist in your imagination because of this stubborn fact.

In my opinion,this makes the land in Shadow one of the richest game worlds ever conceived. It's wholly minimalist,yet rich presentation contributes to this in a way that being as detailed as say, Grand Theft Auto 4 could never muster. Why? Unlike other games that tell you where there world begins and ends, here, it's only as vast as you can imagine. You can see how expansive the land is , but how much so is left to your sense of exploration. You get evidence of society having existed, but are given unspecific details towards this. This provides a template for conclusion that any player can come to no matter what their train of thought, and it means the unspecific details can flourish and be satisfying safely within the bubble of your own logic.

Reading the many conclusions players have come to regarding this more than speaks for itself.



We tend to define our game worlds by how well they carry off their sense of time and place, how when done just right it truly is like a living and breathing thing as much as the characters themselves. This usually translates in the number of NPCs you interact with, or how many towns and cities you can cram into one worldmap. A large number of sidequests, cutscenes and items to retrieve, each another breadcrumb towards a complete feeling world. These games are usually 30-40 hours long.

Shadow of the Colossus takes around 8.

I'd forgotten just how much this game had done with so little.
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6 resets later..

....Yeah. I'm not playing Infinity Blade 2 on my original iPad. Good god, man.
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Treading (Un)Charted Waters..

 It's funny, before Uncharted 3 released, I sat around listening to my friends yell and prophesize about the return of the greatest game ever. I can't exactly blame them. Starting with the first and coming together in an unprecedentedly brilliant way for the second game, Uncharted deserves all the acclaim it gets, and then some, both as a technical showpiece for the Playstation 3 architecture and as a benchmark for the modern action/adventure game. So when everyone sat around getting high off the fumes of the early expected 9 and 10 reviews, I sat very calmly, of course much to their dismay that I wasn't openly receiving the same kool-aid pearl necklace as other reviewers.

 It's because I know the third can't match the second one. You can only have an emergent genesis in one game, then it's up to the developer to keep the bar raised for the rest of the series. Its what defined Gears of War in the second, Splinter Cell in the third, the first Devil May Cry.. and so on. So with the comfortable realization that I wouldn't be blown away like the second, but instead pleasantly surprised at the refinement of tricks from the second, I eventually picked it up.

And..

It is awesome, but something felt...off. The game is a massive spectacle filled with jaw dropping moments, but something nagged. Considering what I'm playing, it was easy enough to ignore however.

 

It wasn't until my girlfriend and I were joking around about ol' Nate's inability to brush his teeth without something going terribly awry (leading to the room collapsing) that I subtly acknowledged something, but kept it in my pocket. That something has been digging at me a bit, amazing as the game is.

I was going to write about this feeling. Someone beat me to it. Check it out, because word-for-word, it robbed me of an editorial. This is exactly how I feel about the game. It raises a very good point.

Fair warning: If you are halfway or less through the game or don't want to have your opinion muddled with before you can form one, I suggest you don't read.

Counterpoint: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Destructoid)

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2 Thanksgivings later..

Yep.

Happy Thanksgiving!
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(Black) Boxed In.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit redefined the franchise from the moment of its release. The action was fast, furious, and brought back the cat-and-mouse gameplay the series was originally known for, after having spent the past few years as a surrogate Fast and the Furious game. Being able to step behind the wheel of either a cop or racer was a great twist, and the sheer variety of events kept things interesting with nary a need for a cutscene. With series-new developer Criterion at the helm, the visuals and control had also never been tighter. It also introduced Autolog, a persistent leaderboard system that inspired replay value through competition, and was such a success that it became a series staple from that moment. Whether intentionally or no, it served to trim the fat that mainstay developer Black Box had acquired over the years, and made NFS exciting again.

With this new game, you can imagine the pressure was on. Essentially, Black Box has two things to prove: That they can create a next-gen NFS game from the ground up, and that they can keep up with where the series has been during their absence.

I'll start by saying what the screenshots already do--Need For Speed:The Run is a very nice looking game. Battlefield 3’s Frostbite 2 engine is pushing some very large, detailed courses here, and the strange choice in engine is made all the more obvious when they start to come apart at the seams. Taking a page from Motorstorm: Apocalypse, what was a tricky slalom run can quickly turn into a race against the elements as an avalanche threateningly obscures your vision and litters the road with chunks of debris mid-race. Volcanic eruptions rattle the screen without warning, and impromptu earthquakes split the ground, creating makeshift ramps and barriers to be dodged. Forcing players to adapt on the fly is one way to shake up the formula and keep things new, but this focus on mayhem serves an even better purpose. It adds a layer of tension unheard of in a NFSgame, where the uncertainty of what may happen around you is at odds with your ability to finish the race in good standing. It's a rush.

..Or it would be more of one had Black Box not fouled up the controls.

(Quick history: When Criterion took the reins, they used their experience with Burnout and made a solid driving model that had the speed and precision of an arcade racer, but with the weight and inertia a longtime Need For Speed fan would recognize. The result was a control scheme that complimented the game’s sense of speed perfectly, and is apparently one of the most responsive games in existence as insinuated by DigitalFoundry during their tech analysis.)

Going back to NFS: The Run after Hot Pursuit almost feels like a time machine. The cars have a strange weight to them, feeling too light on straights and too heavy on turns. Turning feels like doing so with a rudder instead of a steering wheel, and handbrake is unreliable, as using it seems to do more harm than good. Even driving at a high speed felt twitchy and unwieldy, something that shouldn’t be in a game where your base vehicle is a low level supercar. I thought it had been because I hadn’t played in a while, but a quick return to Hot Pursuit confirmed it – they may have brought other aspects of the series up to par, but the driving feels like a step back. The many crushed guardrails and flattened vehicles I had to endure during races had me calling the game Need for Speed: The Boat Run under my breath. Suddenly, the new rewind feature seemed less like a caveat for the more questionably scripted hazards and more like an apology for the busted control.

Considering that it was Hot Pursuit’s superb control that brought this to light, I took another step, thought about the past year in terms of NFS, and came to another realization. I think Black Box needs as well if they haven't already. The series is evolving. Not just in providing better excuses to lead foot it arcade style, but in indulging both the realistic and over the top aspects of race culture, as evidenced by companion series like Shift and World. This increased scope means Need For Speed is a franchise with more than one active developer now, but that doesn't come without a catch. Critically, this means any new titles moving forward will be acknowledged not by sequel number, but by the pedigree of the team in charge of the latest installment and what they've brought to the table. It’s always the silent implication in situations like this, and how we as gamers treat any series with a split creator base.

This control issue wasn’t game breaking, but it was enough to cast Black Box's return in a negative light. I’m glad that they've taken all the appropriate visual cues from some of the more exciting racers this year. I’m all for the proliferation of Autolog, and I welcome the return to over-the-top theatrics, but it’s all for naught if they aren’t truly ready to keep the bar of quality as high as their contemporaries. We’ve been at this ascent for three games in a row. Slightly Mad Studios brought the in-car sensation of speed to new heights with Shift, Hot Pursuit brought Autolog, and Shift 2 Unleashed brought it all together in addition to pack racing and a broader career. While apocalyptic spectacle is the one feature I want to assign for this latest installment, It's a bit of a bitter pill if it feels like Black Box hasn't updated their racing model since Undercover.

No matter the innovations, it just takes one flaw to render them all irrelevant in memory, and open the floodgates for harsher scrutiny. Almost seamlessly, your game can go from having a sick narrow train escape, to a question as to why there’s a QTE in the middle of your race.

Then credibility falters as you begin to question what really was added to the experience.

Honestly, I’m already thinking of this title as the cool looking one where they improved everything but the driving.

Am I being mean? Perhaps not.

Black Box taking a vacation was for the good of the series and their team, but the home they've come back to is not the one they left. Colleagues have been improving their game while they weren’t looking, and expectations with each release are much higher. NFS: The Run doesn't meet them entirely, but it at least shows that while they have good intentions to keep NFS relevant on an intense level, they're still somewhat stuck in the past. Let’s hope they can keep up, lest a Treyarch/Infinity Ward style split of public design opinion happens at EA, and we start subconsciously marking their titles as the “inferior” ones.

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Stiff Competition

"No one can get immersed in a game standing up...except maybe the guards at Buckingham Palace."

I'm admittedly more enamored with my Kinect than I care to admit, but seeing the opinion of another who ISN'T viewing it through a rose tinted Dance Central lens is always fun. Who better than Yahtzee Croshaw?

There's also an extra blog from him calledExtra Punctuation. Do give it a click just to spice things up, and make you feel even more silly for your flailing, motion controlled ways.


Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to finish that Dance Central 2 review..

Source: Zero Punctuation

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20 years later...

....*record scratches*

"Now, Darkness, the tables have turned.."

Rick James themed playthroughs are (I'm certain.) one of the many ways fans of the original Infinity Blade are keeping occupied as they await another update to what may very well be one of the best iOS games of all time. After all, the game's blend of highly detailed graphics and addictive RPG-styled gameplay would've been something on a console. The fact that it's on a smartphone makes it all the more outstanding, and raises the bar considerably high for a second installment, said to be a flagship title for Apple's new device.

But with an announcement date so close to the release, details have been a bit slim.

Slide to Play has a great Q and A with Donald Mustard, the creative director of Chair Entertainment, talking about just that and more. Along with the trailer we all know and love, there is also some great insight to be had about the sequel, slated to release December 1st. Aside from being a compelling the best reason to upgrade to an iPhone 4s (no Siri, god rays. I'm just saying.) much of the game is still a mystery, but details involving persistent, evolving worlds, story details, and a range of other improvements are discussed in deliciously vague detail.

If you aren't a fan of Infinity Blade yet, here is a great place to start.

Get addicted :)

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Call of Battlefield: Modern Bore

With the release of Battlefield 3 already upon us and having time to settle, I am not filled with feelings of excitement, nor hatred. I cant really identify with any kind of feeling in particular aside from exasperation. Not at the fact that I've gotten military shooter this year as a part of this 2011 FPS gauntlet we've been running but at the fact that man, does it look a lot like Call of Duty campaign wise.

I'm not the only one who thinks so.

In fact, it's such a strange shift in focus for a game that has stuck to its guns as long as Battlefield, the reactions are almost unanimous: in stark contrast to the multiplayer portion, it doesn't feel or play anything like a Battlefield game.

Eurogamer reports that "EA has constructed a package that echoes its rival in so many ways it's downright eerie."

IGN describes the gulf in quality between the single and multiplayer modes as the game suffering an "identity crisis"

Destructoid says "If you're a fan of single-player games, there's nothing for you here."

I hope it's starting to sink in. The race for every military shooter to capture that Call of Duty "magic" is a fruitless one that continues to ensure that all our military FPS stories will have the same interchangeable, hollow campaigns lacking in substance.



Call of Duty hasn't been an action packed history lesson for years, but they wisely ditched the format when WW2 was thoroughly mined. Changing the scope of the series from that to one more loosely based in our current events was a wise move on a creative and gameplay front, and gave them legs for something new. That something new worked in the original Modern Warfare But their success has literally become a blueprint for the modern FPS. If they are the trailblazers, people will start following their cues for a taste of their success, and oh are they.


(If you can't tell which game this is at first glance, something's wrong)

Wait for NPC B to kick in door A, terrorists pop up like cardboard cutouts, shoot, repeat until set-piece activates. While I appreciate EA going for Infinity Ward's throat, they may have gone about it the wrong way by following what has become the lowest common denominator blueprint of FPS design. Since Modern Warfare 2, short, linear military rollercoaster rides with a heavy focus on multiplayer has been the consensus. The difference however between every other game adopting these bullet points and Call of Duty embracing them, is the fact that their multiplayer is so popular and nuanced that they can AFFORD to let the campaign deteriorate into this.

EVERYONE ELSE DOES NOT HAVE THAT CUSHION. While I don't mind CoD jumping a multiplayer shark, everyone is attempting similar leaps now, and unsuccessfully at that. This means we have a bevy of failed attempts at this same slanted, rigid campaign/multiplayer focus instead of memorable, lasting experiences from franchises old and new. It means new creative ideas are being ditched, or compromised, or outright rejected for what works, like their method. It means a loss of identity. It means becoming a statistic.



It also means being forgotten while the major players who did get it right burn the genre to shreds by trying to reproduce their apex until they no longer can. The ones getting it wrong drive the nails further into the coffin.

I suppose the point I'm trying to make is, I'd rather watch Call of Duty topple under its own weight, with it's own flaws, without dragging an entire genre down with it.

There's still an opportunity to craft a story in a military shooter that can resonate viscerally because unlike shooting candy colored aliens, the threat of what's presented here is more personally identifiable, if not always completely plausible. There's a chance to create an exciting, tactical gauntlet that can test more than a player's ability to aim down the sights. Elements like visuals, score, and an intensity of events that simply can't be matched anywhere but in first-person because without an avatar to view constantly, immersion increases exponentially. Imagine all of this paced with intent, having a clear start and finish. Having the ability to stir and evoke emotions in players, and knowing they have been challenged by development team clever enough to do so is a power they are forgetting they have. Regardless of the success of their individual approaches, at least that's exactly what they are, individual, and not yet another attempt to recreate another badass soldiering montage.



More Saving Private Ryan, less Pearl Harbor, moving forward please.

I'm speaking not just to DICE, but the rest of the developers on that one. If CoD has given up on campaign, that's the competition's space to make it better, and innovate. Not follow them mercilessly into the increasingly bleak and derivative popcorn hot-dog-on-a-string campaigns awash in brown hues, foreign countries and explosions. The time for distinction is now, while Battlefield 3 paints a by-the-numbers approach to this as a noticeable problem. I understand the nature of business first, but this is how you beat the competition.

Otherwise, soon you all won't have a genre to compete in.
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Dance Central 2 Demo + Full Tracklist Reveal!

Harmonix, the masters of all things rhythm action on this side of the pond (my words) has finally put out a demo for their highly anticipated title, Dance Central 2! This comes hot on the heels of their last announcement, which revealed the final tracks in the game's 44 song setlist (detailed below). Combine that number with the songs from the original game, and between the on disc and DLC content, prospective rump shakers will have over 100 tracks to dance to on October 25th.






The demo brings with it a few new features: The game's all-new simultaneous Dance Battle mode, which is exactly what it sounds, pitting two players in a simultaneous competition for points, and the revamped Break It Down tutorial, which gives players even greater control over learning the routines with new rewind/slow options. There are also subtle improvements brought to the core dancing mode, which an also be explored in a solo session.

“Club Can't Handle Me” by Flo Rida ft. David Guerra, and “Bulletproof” by La Roux are the two songs on the plate for this preview, and while at the time of writing I was only able to try out the former, I have to say, the body tracking and seamless way each move segues into each other to form a routine has been tightened up considerably, along with the more detailed and fantastic animations backing it all. I really didn't think Dance Central could look any better than the previous one, but they've really done it again, using their unique art style to the max via animation and subtleties in the most personable way I've seen since The Beatles Rock Band.



I've posted the full track list below for those interested in order of their difficulty tier, but I really have only one question: Who is going to join me for some Haddaway come Tuesday?

No seriously. Bring a suit.

Dance Central 2 Tracklist

Sandstorm – Darude
Mai Ai Hee (Dragostea Din Tea) – O-Zone
Reach – Atlantic Connection And Armanni Reign
Real Love – Mary J. Blige

Venus – Bananarama
Bulletproof – La Roux
Turn Me On – Kevin Lyttle
Last Night – P. Diddy feat. Keyshia Cole
The Humpty Dance – Digital Underground
Impacto (Remix) – Daddy Yankee feat. Fergie
This Is How We Do It – Montell Jordan
The Breaks – Kurtis Blow

Hot Stuff – Donna Summer
Body to Body – Electric Valentine
Fire Burning – Sean Kingston
You’re A Jerk – New Boyz
Oops (Oh My) – Tweet feat. Missy Elliot
Right Thurr – Chingy
Rude Boy – Rihanna
Nothin’ On You – B.O.B feat. Bruno Mars
Club Can’t Handle Me – Flo Rida feat. David Guetta
I Like It – Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull

Massive Attack – Nikki Minaj feat. Sean Garrett
My Prerogative – Bobby Brown
Grenade – Bruno Mars
I Wish For You – Exile
Meddle – Little Boots
Goodies – Ciara

Born This Way – Lady Gaga
Whip My Hair – Willow Smith
Conceited (There’s Something About Remy) – Remy Ma
What Is Love? – Haddaway
Like A G6 – Far East Movement
Yeah! – Usher feat. Lil’ Jon & Ludacris
Bad Romance – Lady Gaga
DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love – Usher feat. Pitbull

Run (Natural Disaster) – Gnarls Barkley
Baby Got Back (Mix Mix) – Sir Mix-A-Lot
Technologic – Daft Punk
Somebody To Love – Justin Bieber

Satellite – Lena
Get Ur Freak On – Missy Elliot
Toxic – As made famous by Britney Spears
Sexy Chick – David Guetta feat. Akon

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Reverse Psychology

I think I hated this last year. Couldn't accept it for the world. Now, I'm seeing things.

I see a very twisted, mcabre visual style. I see some inspired enemy design. I see dynamically morphing environments and an impressive sense of scale. I see a battle system that looks, surprisingly like DMC1, but with an added level of flourish. It looks cool, it looks sharp...it does look like Devil May Cry.

Honestly, it looks a lot like Devil May Cry 2 visually, but without the suck.

I'm inclined...to turn an eye to this. Not a blind eye, but one wide open, and accepting of change. I still don't like the way he looks, but it isn't nearly as distracting as it was last year.

I do like this video. It's making me smile.

Once again proving that really, gamers have no conviction, and that if it looks cool enough, eventually, despite our dissent, we will crack in the name of the game.



Cool artwork, too.



Damnit.
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Ninjas hiding from the truth.

Ninja Gaiden 3 is in development, and it's no secret to avid followers that this will be the first NG title to be an completely original development not based on a previous work. Though the action looked serviceable enough, and violent enough to satisfy, something seemed to be missing. Specifically, an over-the-top amount of violent payoff to match the on-screen action. When asked about whether they would be returning to the all too famous decapitations and dismemberment characteristic to the Ninja Gaiden series since its reboot back in 2004, This is what Team Ninja had to say about the matter:

"We don't think people want to see that anymore," they were reported as saying at Gamescom last week. "They've already seen it."

Yeah right.

More like "We aren't talented enough to have a full dismemberment system in place on both consoles."



I'm seeing a pattern here. To this writer, it seems like excuses wrapped not in good intent, but in their own shortcomings as a developer, especially with their notoriously abrasive, yet perfectionistic leader gone. Let me explain.

Tech savvy gamers know for a fact that the 360 has a higher fill rate than the PS3. In terms everyone can understand, this means it has an ability to display more polygons on screen at any given time. In terms of Ninja Gaiden, specifically it's sequel, it meant they were able to have a fantastic gore/dismemberment system in place that even occasionally compromised the game's otherwise rock solid framerate, slowing things down when there were simply too many bits and pieces flying about.



It's my theory that this system, one that bogged down the 360 at times, was just about impossible to port over to the PS3. While it's a trial indeed to port over (and in some cases, upgrade) the vast majority of the game's assets intact, that wasn't the difficult part. The most difficult part would be getting that gore under control on the PS3...and they couldn't. They dropped the ball, and gave an excuse.

“Each game has its own concept and with Ninja Gaiden 2, the focus was on extreme violence. But with Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, we really questioned whether violence is a necessity for a game, so we decided to move away from that trend. So the violence ‘approach’ is not the way we approached the development of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. Being able to unlock higher levels of gore would be out of kilter with the concept of the game.”


Motion controlled breasts were not, however.

Remarkably similar, no? The quality of Team Ninja's games have been in decline ever since Itagaki left, and Yuusuke Hayashi keeps proving time and time again that he cannot uphold that standard since his departure, instead masking his shortcomings in tired excuses like this. I heard nothing of this in the original Ninja Gaiden port, which had the decapitations intact and took the time to improve visually...but the source material was from the last generation of hardware. The second game takes advantage of a specific next gen hardware advantage and has that specific feature cut. The third game is multiplatform out of the gate and has every aspect cut. That can't be coincidence.

The funny thing is, while he may be fooling anyone else blind enough to accept that tripe, this was all to familiar to the MGS2 debacle on the Xbox, one that is all too familiar.

Last generation, a perfect example of this was Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance on the original Xbox. Being a port of the original MGS2: Sons of Liberty on the PS2, the game was specifically designed to take advantage of the system's strengths, most notably the console's fill rate to create the still amazing to this day rainstorm in the tanker chapter. When this game was ported to the Xbox, the textures were better, the sound was better, and overall the game had a much cleaner look. However, the rainstorm was a bit too much for the system's architecture (particles, natch), and what was a perfectly smooth experience on the PS2 turned into a slow motion spectacle worthy of Zack Snyder on the Xbox, turning every scene outside the ship into a slideshow. Was it the Xbox's fault? No, it was more Kojima Productions' doing by not optimizing the game on different hardware, deciding that it would be easier to just dump it on the Xbox intact and let the chips fall where they may.

This is exactly what I feel is going on here, except instead of leaving the original game concept intact come hell or high water, they're instead omitting aspects of the game, leaving the fans to stare and shake their heads in bewilderment every time a new statement like that comes out. Yes, Ninja Gaiden is a great action game, but part of that enoyment comes from the visceral action, and yes, later on, the absurd amount of gore that came as a result. Omitting those aspects (using us as an excuse no less) is only going to hurt them in the long run, because as far as I can see, the God of War series is still going pretty strong, and Kratos has never run into an enemy face unworthy of evisceration. Imagine if Sony Santa Monica said they were cutting the gore from the PSP version of God of War, stating that it was time to tell a more "mature" tale for a different audience unfamiliar with Kratos. You'd think they were full of shit, right?

Exactly.

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Groove Coasting

Few games have inspired a state of wonder and excitement in me the way Groove Coaster has.

Reisuke Ishida, creator of Space Invaders: Infinity Gene is back. Already having reinvented the classic shooter for a new generation, he’s got his sights on a new genre—rhythm action. Sometimes, it’s the simplest things that resonate the most, and if a Tron-esque visual style, married with an uptempo soundtrack and evolutionary gameplay could work for the most basic of shooters, could the same treatment be used to revive the rarely changing rhythm landscape?

Groove Coaster
For: iOS 4.2 (iPhone, iPad, iPad 2, iPod Touch)
Publisher: Taito corp.
Price: $2.99
Release: 7/28/2011 (North America)

The premise is simple, your avatar follows a line from start to finish, and along the way, there are dots along the way that you have to tap in rhythm to the song being played. When you’re successful, the instrument in question rings out and the song sounds better, miss one, and the instrument sounds muted. However, to offer such a plain explanation would be selling the experience short, as the game expands from simple taps, to holds, to all out swiping gestures at higher difficulties, and the lines themselves change depending on the song played, veering off in strange angles and wrapping around itself in tune with the song. It’s surreal and exciting all at once.



This is exactly where Groove Coaster shines. One conundrum of rhythm games is that no matter how great the music is, most offer up the same interface and visual feedback no matter the song being played, leaving the difficulty to be the only distinction between tracks. Here, I can’t say the same thing. Each visualization here not only is unique to the song being played, but are also so distinct, each song feels like its own experience, and it’s one related to the song being played in a more intimate fashion. So where a techno song is filled with harsh lines and curves that veer off at ninety degree angles to the beat, a jazzier song is filled with softer curves and a slower pace that feels more akin to travelling on a wave of sound. The decision to use wireframe visuals was a wise one, and one that’s easy to appreciate especially as the game starts playing tricks with depth and other effects to obscure notes.

For the diehards or rhythm aficionados, there’s a leveling system in place that unlocks new skins, avatars and items, which serve as modifiers for each track affecting things like the visuals, just in case you need the visuals even more trippy than they already are, or how you accumulate score. Having Game Center, Leaderboards for each song are also a must, and there are plenty of reasons to return to each song, not that anyone would complain about the 16 already on display. All this and I haven’t even mentioned the in-game store with extra tracks, avatars and items to buy…



Groove Coaster is something special. Not just because of the visuals, or the excellent music, or the ingenious touch-screen gameplay, but rather, how all three manage to come together in a way that would make Tetsuya Mizuguchi lose sleep at night. It’s an innovative, engaging ride of sights and sounds that filled me with a feeling of excitement I haven’t felt since playing the original Rez on the PS2 nearly a decade ago. Long story short, if you have a pulse at all, you’ll find something to enjoy here. Is there a higher recommendation than that?

Rating: 9.5



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