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Saints Row IV: Hail to the Chief baller (hands-on preview)

Rus McLaughlin — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:10:15 +0000

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LOS ANGELES — If you’re still taking Saints Row IV seriously after watching the purple-suited President of the United States cruise through his White House, ignore Secret Service agents toking up fatties and drinking 40s in the background, and offhandedly toss an apple to his personal tiger, I’ve got some advice. Eject the disc, throw it off the nearest bridge, and go play The Last of Us.

Because that’s about as normal as normal gets in this game. And it only gets crazier from there.

I played an early section of Saints Row IV (releasing Aug. 20 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC) at a special pre-E3 event, and it kinda won me over right around the time I punched a filibuster-threatening senator in the dick. That’s what you do when you’re the president, homes. The opening level details how you reach the Oval Office, but developer Volition and publisher Deep Silver dropped me into the second level, where you’re comfortably into your second term and signing executive orders to end cancer. That’s when the alien armada invades.

The Zin bust up your (White) house, kidnap your cabinet (staffed by fellow former-3rd Street Saints gang-bangers), and generally disrespect you. Luckily, flipping a switch in the Oval Office pops out racks of gun — this is a chief executive who knows something about defending his turf, after all. It’s run-and-gun for America from there.

This early sequence runs on very strict rails, and the shooting feels a little stiff, though that could’ve just been a settings issue. Either way, it ends up with Mr. President sitting in a twin-cannon turret, kicking Zin ships off the White House lawn.

One crash-lands, and that’s my chance to put a bullet in Zinyak, leader of the Zin. Too bad he’s 10 feet tall and a technologically superior douchebag. It doesn’t go well.

After that, Saints Row IV opens up the sandbox. The Zin tend to conquer through a mix of force and indoctrination. Kidnapees, which now included the president, get thrown into The Matrix until they’re more Zin-positive. And because you’re The One, you break the simulation’s laws and have superpowers. Some come standard, like superjumps, power slams, and supersprinting, or “superstreaking,” if you use the returning character creator to go au natural. For male characters, that even includes an option to lengthen or shorten your crotch’s “censored” bar.

Other powers must be earned, and all can be improved by collecting orbs, Crackdown-style. I quickly fell in love with my new telekinesis abilities, which I used to grab cars and people and hurl them into other cars and people. It never, ever gets old.

Minigames and side missions abound, including superspeed races and the hyper-violent return of psycho Japanese host Professor Genki and his new telekinetic-flinging game show, Mind Over Murder. Personally, I just roamed the Tron-like streets and made as much trouble as I could. And since Saints Row IV amped me up with an assortment of ludicrous sci-fi guns, it turned out I could make a whole goddamn Götterdämmerung-lot of trouble.

It’s easy to say I enjoyed the delights of the Black Hole gun, which temporarily rips open a yawning chasm in space-time and drags in anyone and anything not nailed down. But nothing tickled my sadistic streak quite like the Dubstep Gun, which annihilates people, cars, and flying Zin gunships with the deadly power of Skrillex.

Of course, even a ridiculous open-world game needs some kind of balance. Once I got too out of hand, the Zin sent one of these charmers down to cool me off;

It’s called a Warden — as in “prison warden” — and it took my puny ass to school. It’s Saints Row IV’s equivalent of SWAT and helicopter snipers showing up, mixed with a dial-a-boss service for when you really want to call in a challenge for yourself.

Least you think Saints Row IV’s copping out with an “it’s all a dream” plot, I’ve seen and heard enough to trust Volition to dodge that narrative bullet. Eventually, you’ll escape into your crew’s simulations to bust them out — performing their loyalty missions will grant them superpowers in your virtual world, too. For on those occasions where you head back to reality, expect something cool to fill in for your missing powers … a giant robot, say.

And “something cool” neatly sums up my hands-on time with Saints Row IV. Yes, it’s great to have meaningful games with powerful stories, but this one had me cracking up every time it carved a sacred cow into prime rib. It’s only interested in entertaining, and entertaining it is.

I can’t wait to cut loose in the wider world and see just how wrong it can be. That’s what executive privilege is all about, baby.

Filed under: Games

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GamesBeat weekly roundup: Xbox One restrictions, Zynga in trouble, and Snake’s new face

Jasmine Maleficent Rea — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 16:12:16 +0000

If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

This week, Microsoft revealed more specifics about the Xbox One’s used game and sharing policies — triggering predictable Internet outrage in the process; Andrew Scott Reisse, the cofounder of the Oculus Rift, was killed at a crosswalk during a high-speed police chase; and Konami revealed that actor Kiefer Sutherland (24) is the new voice (and motion-capped) face of Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

You’ll also find reviews for Remember Me, The Last of Us, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, Kingdom Rush: Frontiers, and Dust 514, as well as previews for Murdered: Soul Suspect, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Disney Fantasia, and Halo: Spartan Assault.

E3 looms:

News:

Mobile news:

Microsoft vs. Sony:

Tech:

Trailer hoedown:

All this funding:

Reviews:

Previews:

Interviews:

Pieces of flair:

Filed under: Games

In The Last of Us, you have to earn the right to survive (review)

Giancarlo Valdes — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 14:00:54 +0000

The Mayans were wrong. The year 2012 came and went without any apocalypse in sight. Yet we’re still fascinated by dystopian fiction, stories that reduce humankind to its base desires because of war, disease, or any other planet-wide catastrophe that writers can think of. Many developers have tried wrangling with this genre with varying degrees of success, but most take the easy way out by sticking to zombies and calling it a day.

Now we have The Last of Us, Naughty Dog’s newest third-person action game (out June 14 for the PlayStation 3). It depicts an Earth ravaged by potent fungi, one that spreads through either bites or in the air via deadly spores. The Cordyceps invade the limbic system, taking over the brain and transforming its host into ravenous killers and mutated beasts. Heroes Joel and Ellie must avoid them as they travel across the United States to reach a destination that may or may not exist.

The Last of Us is a radical departure from the developer’s previous franchise, the Indiana Jones-inspired Uncharted. But whereas Uncharted’s happy-go-lucky attitude would feel right at home in theaters alongside other summer blockbusters, The Last of Us feels like something you’d find at an independent film festival. While everything in it looks expensive — such as the detailed cutscenes or the lush expanse of the American countryside — the story is an intimate affair.

Joel and Ellie aren’t fighting to save the world. They’re fighting to save each other.

What you’ll like

The relationship between the characters

At first, the diametric pairing of Joel and Ellie plays like a weird buddy cop film. Joel still remembers what life was like before the Cordycep fungus began to spread, but in the 20 years since the outbreak hit, he has become an efficient killer — he accepts the brutality that is now a part of everyday life. Ellie, only 14-years-old, grew up in the Boston quarantine zone, and she has no idea what the world is like outside the zone’s high walls. In the beginning, unexpected circumstances force the two strangers to work together. But neither of them likes it: Ellie’s expletives makes that clear, while Joel’s irritated tone doesn’t try to hide that fact that he wants to get rid of her as soon as possible.

After enduring trial after trial of horrific events, however, they soon grow close. Actor Troy Baker brings Joel to life with a delicious Southern drawl filled with nuance and complexity. You can hear Baker slowly peeling away the layers (and years’ worth) of Joel’s pent-up bitterness and pride — which usually comes through in punchy verbal assaults when he’s angry — but he gradually sounds warm and inviting as the story goes on. Ellie (with a similarly stellar performance by Ashley Johnson) never lets go of her fierce rebelliousness, but she, too, starts to bring down the barriers she put up as she learns to trust Joel.

The paternal bond the two share is ripe for moments of much-needed levity. Ellie wanders around the levels and notices particular details of a time she never knew, like commenting on the absurdity of fashion models who intentionally don’t eat to keep their slim figure (“That’s stupid!”), or sharing her disbelief over the idea that small trucks used to drive around neighborhoods to sell ice cream to children (“You lived in a weird time!”). Joel humors her, acting as both postapocalyptic tour guide and protector as they trek across the country.

Though strong roles on their own, Joel’s and Ellie’s story wouldn’t be as effective without the large supporting cast. These men and women represent a broad spectrum of people you’d expect to see in such dire circumstances: the kind (and not-so-kind) strangers, the gangs, and even estranged family members. The collapse of modern civilization affected everyone in different ways, and the stories behind these characters give you a small snapshot of what that fragmented society looks like.

You rarely feel safe

One of the most terrifying moments of The Last of Us happens early on when you meet your first Clicker, a faceless creature with a loud, haunting rattle (it sounds like a mix between a dog’s yelp and the croaking ghost from The Grudge). While Clickers can’t see, they can hear supernaturally well, and if they feel like they spotted you, they’ll convulse with excitement as they shuffle to the spot where they last heard you – they’ll kill you with one bite if you’re not careful.

The Clicker is just one factor (and only one type of the infected) that contributes to the relentless tension. Human opponents, while not as scary as their infected counterparts, are a threat simply due to their numbers and their guns. Joel dies after just a few shots, so you can’t run in and shoot up the place like in other third-person shooters. Ammo is also scarce. You have to scrounge for raw materials in each level, like scissor blades and tape, to make new weapons. Oftentimes, the best tactic is to sneak behind the enemy and take them down silently.

Because of the do-it-yourself crafting system, Joel never felt too strong or overpowered. I had just enough supplies to make what I needed in almost any given situation … but the nerves start kicking in when you know your supplies are running out. At that point, your options are either to sneak from Point A to Point B without alerting anyone or to get rid of them one by one with just your bare hands (some instances require you to kill everyone in the room). Ellie does her best to help you out: If you engage in open combat, she’ll throw bricks or stab anyone who tries to grab you.

Each encounter serves as a stark reminder that you have to earn the right to survive. Sometimes, I’d start levels over because I accidentally used my guns, which alerted every enemy in the area. Joel is no ninja — he’s slow and heavy — but I was still able to deftly overcome the infected and humans with distractions (tossing empty bottles or bricks), traps (placing a bomb full of shrapnel near a door), or the good ol’ throat stab with my shiv. I wanted to feel like they were the ones invading my territory, and not the other way around.

The last third

After a knockout opening that had me tearing up within minutes, the first dozen hours of The Last of Us settles into a repetitive routine: exploration, combat scenario, exploration, and cutscene. It wasn’t boring by any means, but it starts to feel a little too predictable. A little too familiar. Maybe even a bit lethargic. I thought I had The Last of Us figured out — I successfully predicted an emotional turning point late in the tale, and when I watched it, I was sure that it was also the ending.

“Is that it?” I thought. “Is that really it?” As if on cue, the screen cut to black after the scene was over. The developer already had an answer … but it was an answer I wasn’t expecting. The gameplay undergoes a fundamental shift while retaining its core survival mechanics. The pace quickens. And the stakes rise exponentially.

Naughty Dog’s assassins will murder me in my sleep if I were to give you any hint of what happens here, so I’ll leave you with this: This portion convinced me that The Last of Us isn’t just a good game but a great one. A game that, in spite of some small flaws, you’ll be proud to have on your shelf.

Filed under: Games

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GamesBeat weekly roundup: Google’s game service, EA axes online passes, and a look at The Last of Us

Jasmine Maleficent Rea — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:31:32 +0000

If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

This week, Google held its annual I/O conference in San Francisco, revealing plans for cross-platform Google Play support, Electronic Arts decides to kill its online pass initiative that forced used game players to pay for multiplayer access, and GamesBeat gets an early look at Naughty Dogs’ upcoming project The Last of Us.

You’ll also find a review for Metro Last light and previews for Scribblenauts Unmasked and The Bureau: XCOM Declassified.

News

Google I/O

Nintendo Direct

Earnings and funding

New content

Tech

Mobile news

Interviews

Previews

Reviews

Metro: Last Light refuses to let you go (review)

Strange happenings

Pieces of flair

Filed under: Games

Sony reveals more tense moments in The Last of Us (preview)

Dean Takahashi — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:00:14 +0000

Sony’s upcoming The Last of Us is one of the most anticipated titles of the year because it’s filled with three-dimensional characters who move from one life-and-death moment to another in a world where the only thing that matters is surviving.

It seems like we’re getting to see about one level a year for The Last of Us, the new survival-horror game coming from Naughty Dog and Sony. But we’ll all be able to play the PlayStation 3 exclusive starting June 14, when it goes on sale. Last night, I and other reporters saw a new level and played it. And as my past experiences with The Last of Us, this one isn’t disappointing. It fits in with all of the other scenes that Naughty Dog has revealed that deliver a huge dramatic punch.

The PlayStation 3 game may very well be one of the most memorable of the current console generation. The scene I played lived up to those expectations, even though it might seem rather mundane on the surface. It’s set in a postapocalyptic future, where the human race has either been wiped out by a pandemic or transformed into hideous monsters.

Those monsters are either slow like zombies or fast like sprinters. And they’re not necessarily as deadly as the human characters who tangle with the main characters, Ellie (a 14-year-old girl voiced by actress Ashley Johnson) and Joel (voiced by Tony Baker). In this scene, Ellie and Joel need a car, and they track down Bill, an old friend of Joel’s who is either capable of finding a car or rebuilding one for them.

But Bill is hiding out in a small town, and it is protected by all sorts of booby traps. Bill has chosen to survive without the help of other people. He considers other people a liability, and he has protected himself with barricades and bomb traps. Ellie and Joel walk into the town and scavenge for everything. They have to figure out how to get past barriers. They can, for instance, set up a plank between two buildings to get past fences. They pick up things like lead pipe with scissors on it.

You’re tempted to pick up everything, since you know it will all be useful at some point. And you can craft the things you find into weapons or other potential lifesavers. I played the “Lincoln” level as Joel. The first time I saw one of the “infected” people, I just about fainted. I wasted a few bullets and scissor-pipes learning how to properly dispatch the attacker, who was quickly joined by a second foe. I found that brute force, swinging the pipe against the creature’s head and sending blood everywhere, was the most economical. I only had a handful of bullets.

As I got deeper into town, I had to dispatch more foes. But I didn’t have as much freedom to explore as I thought. Ricky Cambier, one of the game designers at Naughty Dog, told me afterward in an interview that the designers want to tell a story. That means they need to direct you down a path, and it doesn’t pay to give you too many choices when moving down that path.

After all, you have choices where they really matter. Do you save that last bullet to shoot the “Clicker” coming after you, or do you use it to keep the bad guy away from Ellie?

In any case, I got a little frustrated looking for the path from one building to another. Sometimes that meant finding the one door that would open, the way up over a fence, or a wood plank that connected the buildings together. Moving from one backyard to another was a pain, particularly because Bill’s booby traps got in the way. You pretty much have to search everything, as you often find precious bullets in desks or notes written by other survivors that give story clues.

When you get to the point in the game where you have to make your decisions precisely, you’ll know it. In this case, Joel winds up in a trap and Ellie has to free him. But as he is trapped, the monsters come attacking. Joel has to shoot the ones coming at him and the ones attacking Ellie. At the same time, he has to preserve his ammo. Even the lead pipes break after you crack too many heads.

When the monsters were attacking, I cursed every time I missed with a shot or failed to completely take them out with a head shot. Agh, one more bullet wasted! And when I failed, the consequences were ugly. At some point, Bill comes out to rescue us, but then we have to run for our lives. It is just a few minutes of action, but it is harrowing. It’s the sort of action that can give you a heart attack.

Then Bill is just a plain asshole, as he is more upset with you that you have set off a bunch of his booby traps in trying to stay alive. And you discover from him that you have to go back out there and scavenge. But scavenging isn’t easy, because you can’t carry much stuff.

One of the riveting parts of the story is the growing relationship between Joel and Ellie. In this part of the game, she asks for a weapon so that both of them will be armed. He refuses her. Is it for a lack of trust? These are two of the last good people in the world, and yet they don’t trust each other. Their perspectives are interesting. Joel grew up before the pandemic, but Ellie has only known life in the hellish post-pandemic world.

The Last of Us is dramatic and frustrating at the same time. But it’s brilliant storytelling in a video game.

Filed under: Games

Call of Duty: Ghosts preorder bonus comparison

Dealzon — Thu, 02 May 2013 18:45:32 +0000

This sponsored post is produced by Dealzon.

Even though it was only announced yesterday, the November 5 release of Call of Duty: Ghosts is already available for preorder at numerous retailers. At the time of writing, three retailers are offering bonuses with the game. The most enticing deal on the PC download comes from GameFly in the form of a $7 digital download credit that’s yours as soon as Ghosts releases.

If you’re more of a console gamer (or just don’t want to wait half a year for a $7 credit), Best Buy’s got an alternative deal that applies to the PC physical and console editions. You’ll be out around a hundred bucks because they make you purchase an additional game, but you get instant gratification in the form of a $15 gift card that doesn’t just apply to downloads. If you’re already tempted to buy an additional title and are resigned to the fact you’ll probably buy something else from Best Buy soon – because let’s face it, those marked up HDMI cables have a draw on you – this deal isn’t half bad.

Call of Duty: Ghosts preorder comparison

Just over a month after its critically acclaimed release, BioShock Infinite finally gets a discount on the console versions that beats the best current PC download deal. Best Buy is offering $15 off Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game, bringing them to $44.99. This makes the lowest price we’ve seen for the console game by $3, and it saves you $12 off the current next best deal out there.

If you want to live dangerously on both sides of the law, Green Man Gaming’s offering a dual pack of downloads that’ll let you commit or solve crimes, depending on which angel on your shoulder has your ear at the time. They’ve bundled both Max Payne 3 and LA Noire for $16.

This combo price ties the lowest summed price we’ve seen the games sell for separately, but you’ll also get the Max Payne 3 Rockstar Pass DLC. The lowest we’ve seen the Rockstar Pass go for in the past is $7, so effectively you’re getting the full games at lowest ever prices plus a free DLC. Both games received stellar reviews, so if you haven’t played one or the other, this is a great time to buy.

Hot deals & recent releases

Nov. 5: Call of Duty: Ghosts + $7 Digital Credit (PC Download) — $59.99 at GameFly. Currently the only preorder bonus deal available for the PC download version.

Bioshock Infinite (Xbox 360, PS3) — $44.99 at Best Buy. First time the console versions have a solid sale that makes them cheaper than the PC download version. Who’s the gaming master race now?

Max Payne 3 and LA Noire Pack (PC Download) — $16 at Green Man Gaming after coupon. A great bundle with two excellent, well-reviewed games plus their additional content.

Dragon Age Complete Pack (PC Download) — $9.99 at GamersGate. Includes the Dragon Age: Origins Ultimate Edition and Dragon Age 2. Separately $40.

PC download pack & bundle deals

Batman Arkham Complete Collection (PC Download) — $27 at GamersGate. Includes Batman Arkham City Game of the Year Edition, Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition, plus two LEGO Batman games.

Codemasters Racing Pack (PC Download) — $21.75 at Green Man Gaming after coupon. Pack includes DiRT 3, Dirt Showdown, FUEL, and GRID – a decent set of racing games whose titles make grammarians involuntarily cringe. Separately these would normally cost $80.

Sonic the Hedgehog Bundle (PC Download) — $21.56 at Green Man Gaming after coupon. This bundle includes a whopping ten Sonic game downloads.

Omerta: City of Gangsters and Port Royale 3: Pirates & Merchants Bundle (PC Download) — $19.99 at GameFly. A weird combo for sure, but the odd pairing doesn’t diminish the bargain.

Tomb Raider Collection (PC Download) — $12 at Green Man Gaming after coupon. If you want to grab everything before the most recent Tomb Raider title, this is easily the cheapest way. Nine titles.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Collection Bundle (PC Download) — $8.99 at GamersGate. This is the base game plus two DLC packs. Normally $30.

Tropico 4 Collectors Bundle (PC Download) — $8 at Green Man Gaming after coupon. You’ll get a great city-building sim game plus 7 DLC packs for less than two DLC packs normally cost.

Patrician: Complete Pack (PC Download) — $7 at Green Man Gaming after coupon. The pack contains Patrician IV Gold Edition and Patrician III. If historical trading sim games are your thing, grab this pack.

Neverwinter Nights 2: Complete (PC Download) — $5.99 at GamersGate. Excellent PC RPG for an even better price. This bundle comes with all 3 released expansions.

Dungeons & Dragons Anthology: The Master Collection (PC Download) — $5.99 at GamersGate. If you love the D&D RPG system, you’ll want to check out this collection, which includes classics like Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: Torment.

Kane and Lynch Pack (PC Download) — $5.60 at Green Man Gaming after coupon. Contains Dead Men and Dog Days. If you’ve never played this third person shooter, it’s certainly worth considering for under $6.

Gothic Complete Collection (PC Download) — $5 at Green Man Gaming after coupon. Includes all three parts of the saga. Next best is $25 at GamersGate.

Just Cause Pack (PC Download) — $5 at Green Man Gaming after coupon. Contains Just Cause and Just Cause 2. If you bought each game separately, they’d add up to $19.

360, PS3, and PS Vita deals

May 14: Metro: Last Light Limited Edition (Xbox 360, PS3) — $49.99 at NewEgg. Comes with “Ranger Mode” – an exclusive weapon and 100 military-grade bullets. List is $60.

June 14: The Last of Us (PS3) — $49.99 at NewEgg. Still a hot, eagerly anticipated title, and Newegg is clearly capitalizing on the hype.

June 25: Muramasa: Rebirth (PS Vita) — $29.99 at NewEgg. Hand-drawn graphics, ninjas, and evil spirits. You really can’t ask for more from this Wii port.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (PS3) — $39.99 at NewEgg after coupon. A new style of action-oriented gameplay for the Metal Gear series. Next best is $46 at JR.com.

Gears of War: Judgment (Xbox 360) — $34.99 at NewEgg. Yep. You can rip off gods’ heads with your bare hands, but you can’t open locked treasure chests.

Sleeping Dogs (PS3, Xbox 360) — $19.99 at Groupon. Good price for the console versions of this open-world game which hardly ever goes on sale.

Hardware

Alienware M17x r4 1080p Gaming Laptop — $1,874 at Dell Home after coupon. Specs: Core i7-3630QM, 2GB Radeon HD 7970M, and 8GB RAM. List is $2,149. Deal expires today.

Alienware Aurora Gaming Desktop — $1,719 at Dell Home after coupon. Specs: Quad Core i7-3820 Overclocked 4.1GHz, DUAL GeForce GTX 660, and 16GB RAM. List is $1,924. Deal expires today.

Alienware X51 Gaming Desktop — $689 at Dell Home after coupon. Specs: Core i5-3330, 8GB RAM, and GeForce GT 640. List is $799. Deal expires today.

Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 1080p Gaming Laptop — $879 at Lenovo after coupon. Specs: Core i7-3630QM, 12GB RAM, GeForce GT 750M 2GB, and 1TB HDD + 16GB SSD.

Lenovo IdeaPad Y400 Gaming Laptop — $749 at Lenovo after coupon. Specs: Core i7-3630QM, GeForce GT 750M 2GB, and 8GB RAM. List is $1,249.

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Filed under: Games

Vita gets edgy with Jak and Daxter Trilogy in June

Jeffrey Grubb — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 18:15:32 +0000

Jak and Daxter Trilogy isn’t just for home consoles anymore — the classic 3D platformer franchise is headed to Sony’s portable device in two months.

The publisher announced today that it is bringing the Jak and Daxter Trilogy to its powerful PlayStation Vita portable console, according to the PlayStation blog. It is due out for $29.99 this June.

Jak and Daxter Trilogy originally hit the PlayStation 3 in February 2012. The collection combines Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Jak II, and Jak 3. Check out the titles in action in the trailer below:

Sony promises that the Vita will faithfully reproduce the colorful visuals of the original games while also offering Trophy support for the portable title.

Jak and Daxter is one of the biggest franchise from developer Naughty Dog, the studio that went on to produce the Uncharted series. Jak and Daxter has remained mostly dormant since 2009′s Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier for PlayStation Portable. Developer High Impact Games handled that release. Prior to that, the last Naughty Dog Jak game was 2005′s Jak X: Combat Racing for PlayStation 2 or 2004′s Jak 3 for PS2 if you only count the platformer titles.

Naughty Dog is currently developing survival action game The Last of Us for PlayStation 3. That anticipated title debuts June 14.

Photo credit: PlayStation Blog

Filed under: Games

Company of Heroes 2 preorder for $45, includes beta access

Dealzon — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 02:24:15 +0000

This sponsored post is produced by Dealzon.

For those of us who didn’t get Company of Heroes 2 beta access earlier this month, there’s always the option of forking over cold hard cash to get what you want. Green Man Gaming has the Steam-activated version plus beta access for $45 after coupon.

Beyond getting an early taste of the game prior to the June 25th release date, you’ll also get the usual digital bonuses like additional skin packs, mini campaigns, additional commanders, and extra added in-game abilities for the German and Soviet army.

If you’re absolutely certain you’ll be playing Grand Theft Auto V and don’t want to bother with preordering closer to the release date, Microsoft Store has an added incentive of 1600 Xbox Live points if you preorder now at retail price. It’s not too shabby of a deal, especially considering 1600 points is valued at $20.

Hot deals & recent releases

June 25: Company of Heroes 2 (PC Download) — $45 at Green Man Gaming after coupon. Preorder and you’ll get access to the closed beta that went live April 3rd. Thankfully the title’s still being released despite THQ’s liquidation.

Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel (Xbox 360, PS3) — $42.99 at Groupon. Elsewhere $60. A pretty solid $17 drop for a 2 week old release. Offer is only good through Thursday, April 11th.

Sep. 17: Grand Theft Auto V (Xbox 360) — $59.99 at Microsoft with bonus Xbox LIVE 1600 Points. Elsewhere $60, no points. The 1600 Xbox LIVE points bonus is equivalent to $20. Unfortunately, no PS3 bonus offer spotted yet.

Summer 2013: Deadpool (Xbox 360, PS3) — $47.99 at NewEgg after coupon. Hey, it’s a Deadpool game – can’t go wrong with this, right? Right!? Ads are touting a summer release this year.

Apr. 26: Star Trek (PC Download) — $37.50 at Green Man Gaming after coupon. We’re not expecting much out of this Trek game, but maybe Trekkies will get lucky with this one.

June 14: The Last of Us (PS3) — $49.99 at NewEgg after coupon. If you’re not hyped up enough about this game yet, just head to YouTube and watch all the trailers again.

Aug. 20: Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist (Xbox 360) — $49.99 at NewEgg after coupon. First discount spotted so far on this August release. Although this deal is only applicable to the Xbox 360 version, the game will also release on PS3, PC, and Wii U.

PC download deals

Dark Messiah Might and Magic (PC Download) — $2.49 at GamersGate. For Thursday only, GamersGate has the lowest price seen thus far by $0.50. Elsewhere you’ll pay at least $7, or as high as the $19.99 list price.

360, PS3, and Wii U deals

Tomb Raider Survival/Collector’s Edition (Xbox 360, PS3) — $67.99 at GameStop after coupon. Goodies include a Lara Croft figurine, CD soundtrack, weapons pack DLC, double-sided island map/poster, and a 5×7 lithograph – all in a large tin case.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (Xbox 360, PS3) — $49.99 at NewEgg after coupon. The release date is still TBA 2013, but since preorder deals are harder to find on PS3 and Xbox 360 titles than on PC, the discount’s worth mentioning.

Ni no Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch (PS3) — $39.99 at Amazon. Still close to the full $60 price at most retailers, excluding those engaged in a price war with Amazon.

Batman Arkham City: Armored Edition (Wii U) — $19.99 at Best Buy. Good discount on a decent game on an already forgotten platform. /snark

Nintendo 3DS and PC DLCs

Naruto Powerful Shippuden (3DS) — $25.49 at GameStop after coupon. Next best is $30 at Amazon. Best discount yet on this March 5th release by $10. Amazon tried to price match GameStop at $30, but GameStop’s additional 15% off coupon code makes it a more compelling retailer choice.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (3DS) — $19.99 at GameStop. There’s shipping of $3.49 unless your purchase is above $25.

Battlefield 3: End Game (PC DLC) — $11.99 at GameFly after coupon. Next best is $15 at Green Man Gaming. Don’t buy if you have already have the BF3 Premium package – this DLC is already included.

Dead Space 3: Awakened (PC DLC) — $4.99 at Amazon. New low by $3, with a next best price of $10 at Green Man Gaming.

Gaming Laptops

Toshiba Qosmio X875 Laptop — $1,169 at BuyDig.com after coupon. Specs: Quad Core i7-3630QM, 12GB RAM, 1TB HDD, 3GB GeForce GTX 670M, and 1080p Full HD display.

HP Envy dv7t-7300 Quad Edition Laptop — $774.99 at HP after coupon. $10 shipping. Specs: Quad Core i7-3630QM, 8GB RAM, GeForce GT 635M 2GB, and Blu-ray.

HP Envy dv6t Laptop — $674.99 at HP after coupon. $10 shipping. This is the “Quad Edition” with Ivy Bridge Core i7-3630QM and a mid-range GeForce GT 635M. It’s not the fastest GPU ever, but this is a sub-$700 laptop before tax and shipping.

Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 59371972 Laptop — $869 at Lenovo after coupon. Specs: Core i7-3630QM, 1080p Full HD, GeForce GT 750M 2GB, and 1TB HDD + 16GB mSSD.

Lenovo IdeaPad Y400 59371954 Laptop — $749 at Lenovo after coupon. Little brother to the 15-inch Y500. Specs: Core i7-3630QM, GeForce GT 750M 2GB, and 1TB HDD + 16GB mSSD.

Filed under: Games

GamesBeat weekly roundup: Luigi turns 30, and Obama says we need more gamers

Jasmine Maleficent Rea — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:07:41 +0000

If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

This week, World of Warplanes developer Wargaming bought Gas Powered Games, Nintendo announced a bunch of new content focused on Luigi as the company celebrates his 30th birthday, and both House of Representatives Minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and President Barack Obama defended video games.

You’ll also find a review of Aliens: Colonial Marines and previews for Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and Darkstalkers Resurrection.

News:

Mobile News:

Reviews:

Aliens: Colonial Marines isn’t the Aliens sequel you wanted (review)

Previews:

Interviews:

Pieces of Flair:

Filed under: Games

Celebrate Valentine’s Day the gaming way

Jasmine Maleficent Rea — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 18:13:26 +0000

Valentine’s Day is never complete without a wealth of punny sayings. Unsurprisingly, the video game industry provides ample material for an endless fountain of clever and downright groan-worthy Valentine greetings you can share with the gamers in your life.

Here’s a look at cards we’ve received from various companies this year, some of which are a little unsettling. Nothing says love quite like throwing a brick at someone, right?

Sly Cooper’s Carmelita Fox’s Love Connection:

Be sure to check out GamesBeat writer Mike Minotti’s original gaming Valentines while you’re at it.

Filed under: Games

Naughty Dog delays The Last of Us to June

Jeffrey Grubb — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 19:53:30 +0000

Good news, everybody. The apocalypse is now due to occur in June rather than May.

Well, at least the digital apocalypse in developer Naughty Dog’s latest game The Last of Us, which is now set to debut on June 14 worldwide on the PlayStation 3 (thanks to GameSpot for pointing it out). The studio originally planned to release the game on May 7, so this gives the production team an extra five weeks to polish up the highly anticipated survival game.

A Sony spokesperson provided GamesBeat with the following statement from Naughty Dog:

As a team we pride ourselves on setting a very high quality bar for every aspect of our games – gameplay, story, art, design, technology and more. We want to make sure The Last of Us raises that bar even further – for ourselves, and most importantly, our fans.

As we entered the final phase of development for The Last of Us, we came to realize just how massive Joel and Ellie’s journey is. But instead of cutting corners or compromising our vision, we came to the tough decision that the game deserved a few extra weeks to ensure every detail of The Last of Us was up to Naughty Dog’s internal high standards.

Or as the game-development axiom goes: A delayed game can eventually be good. A bad game is bad forever.

The Last of Us takes place in the U.S. 20 years after a fungus kills millions of humans. Gamers must help hero Joel get a young woman named Ellie from one quarantine zone to another, and the regions in between are highly dangerous. It’s sure to be a lighthearted and joyous affair!

Filed under: Games

Game industry pros list their most-wanted games of 2013

Rus McLaughlin — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:59:44 +0000

I can, at any given moment, tell you how long before BioShock Infinite releases in months, hours, and minutes. I keep that figure in my head at all times.

No lie, people in the gaming industry get to see and play some of the coolest, most anticipated games long before anyone else does, but generally speaking, that really only applies to the games they’re working on. Unless their desk is in the same building as the development team — and sometimes not even then — they have to sit around and wait just like everybody else.

So we polled a few famous names in the game industry and asked what they were waiting for. Specifically, we asked this: Aside from any project you’re involved in, what game are you looking forward to the most in 2013 and why?

Edmund McMillen, Team Meat (Super Meat Boy, Mew-Genics)

I’m most looking forward to playing The Witness. I was part of beta testing early on and actually asked to no longer be a part because I really wanted to experience the game how it was meant to be played.

Andy Gavin, author (Untimed) and retired cofounder, Naughty Dog (Jak and Daxter)

The Last of Us. I’m not personally involved, but call me twisted — the idea of a teen girl in a postapocalyptic world is pretty cool. And I’m not just talking sticking a girl in there gratuitously; Naughty Dog can be counted on to write a good story and actually deal with the visceral/emotional experience.

Dan “Shoe” Hsu, editor-in-chief, GamesBeat

BioShock Infinite, no doubt. Anyone who picks anything else for 2013 is simply crazy — don’t listen to any of the nonsense coming out of their mouths, ever. The original BioShock is one of the best games of all time, and I can’t wait to be immersed in another imaginative, dreamy (or nightmarish) world by the same developers.

Randy Pitchford, CEO, Gearbox Software (Borderlands 2, Aliens: Colonial Marines)

In just a few days, Ni no Kuni comes out, and I can’t wait! [Hey, Randy, it's out! --Ed.]

Jenova Chen, cofounder, Thatgamecompany (Journey)

I’m mostly looking forward to Grand Theft Auto V. I’ve seen some online in-game footage that really makes me fantasize about the things you can do in the game. I hope it delivers the fantasy.

Yoshinori Ono, producer, Capcom (Street Fighter IV)

I would have to go with Pikmin 3 for the Wii U! There hasn’t been a new release for this series in a while, so even if there aren’t many changes since the previous iteration, I am definitely looking forward to playing it. Nintendo must have some innovative ways to utilize the Wii U GamePad up their sleeves as well, so that is another thing I will be watching out for.

Filed under: Games

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Brave female survivors break stereotypes in The Last of Us (hands-on preview)

Alejandro Quan-Madrid — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 08:22:08 +0000

Despite The Last of Us depicting a post-pandemic U.S. with most of the country’s population dead, it still manages to pass the Bechdel test. That would be the simple, three-part checklist to determine if a work of fiction has a basic presence of female characters who engage in something besides men. With all of the discourse about misogyny in video games over the past year, The Last of Us taking this route is quite refreshing. Especially since not a whole lot of games (or movies) meet these basic criteria.

I played developer Naughty Dog’s survival adventure (releasing May 7 for the PlayStation 3) at a recent event in Los Angeles and was quite pleased with the strong character development. Even though I’m kind of a wimp when it comes to scary stuff, its beautiful and tragic world drew me in.

Playing as the smuggler Joel, I wandered through the ruined, nature-reclaimed skyscrapers of downtown Boston. I hid from, shanked, shot, and pummeled ex-humans infected to varying degrees by a contagious, consuming fungus. And throughout the introductory demo, I saw how The Last of Us easily passes the three requirements of the Bechdel test.

1. Does the work have more than one female character with names?

Yes. One is a 14-year-old girl named Ellie. She was born and raised in the militarized quarantine zone and has a strong curiosity to learn about what the U.S. was like before the pandemic.

“She scavenged books in the environment and has read up on things,” explained game director Bruce Straley. “She’s fascinated with the old world or what we know and take for granted. Like TV sets, watching football, playing video games — these are luxuries that we have that to her are just like a foreign concept.”

Ellie also has a good amount of teenage angst. At one point she barks at you (as Joel), “Fuck you, man! I didn’t ask for this.”

Tess is the other woman I encountered. She teams up with you to smuggle Ellie through the quarantine zone to the Fireflies militia group outside the walls. Tess is quite the tough and adept survivor. One minute she knocks an infected human “runner” off of you and the next she shoots it in the face at point-blank range.

Then Tess teaches you how to fashion a medical kit using some scavenged wrap and alcohol. At a later point she demonstrates how to throw bottles and bricks to distract blind, fungus-covered “clickers,” who get their nickname from using echo location to find their next meal. Tess is quite the lifesaver.

2. Do they talk to each other?

Yes. In fact, I heard at least two conversations between Ellie and Tess during the 30-minute section I played.

3. Is their conversation about something other than a man?

Yes. After we snuck past the first clicker in a particularly tense moment, Tess asks Ellie if she’s OK. “Other than shitting my pants, I’m fine,” Ellie responds. In a more tranquil exchange, the two women stand on the edge of an elevated street and look down on all of the dilapidated buildings that are tumbling over and covered in plants. Ellie somberly asks if that was the downtown area, and Tess explains that they’re looking at what’s left of the urban center.

And just like that, The Last of Us passes the Bechdel test and does it with brave women who have some depth. But how deliberate is all that?

“I don’t think we’re trying to do anything special, as much as just create strong characters in general,” said Straley. “This world necessitates strong characters. Female or male, if you’re going to survive in this world we’ve created here, you have to do whatever it takes. And you get to see Tess do whatever it takes. And she’s completely capable with or without you.”

I agree with that. Tess would periodically run ahead to search rooms for supplies or test out some shaky scaffolding we needed to traverse. But Joel contributes to the group’s survival just as much and at times in an almost gentlemanly way. He waits for Tess and Ellie to first climb to safety before he does (I cowardly tried to go before they were on top but couldn’t!), moves a heavy file cabinet blocking a staircase for them, and offers to fight off a band of Infected on his own.

In between scrimmages, you can explore the dystopic world Naughty Dog created. This presents opportunities for Joel, Ellie, and Tess to share passing moments and open up about themselves and their past. The stressful survival moments — where, for example, you might have to face five enemies with nothing but two bullets and a 2-by-4 with scissors strapped to it — alternating with these calm ones is how Naughty Dog develops its heroes and the action.

“If we make the gameplay feel that way, then we can then draw attention to the emotional side,” said Straley. “These characters that you’re with could die. It’s like nobody is safe in this world. So drawing a line in terms of the plausibility of survival, moment-to-moment, day-to-day, and then the fact that we’re building an emotional connection with these characters and our lives, really changes how we approach combat, how we’re going to approach getting through a scenario with these allies.”

We’ll have to wait until May to see how everyone’s relationships pan out, and who makes it out alive. Until then, kudos, Naughty Dog, for making not just an immersive, story-driven survival experience, but one that nonchalantly passes the Bechdel test.

Filed under: Games

10 female characters not featured in their game’s cover (and 10 that are)

Samir Torres — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 18:00:58 +0000

Roles for female video game characters are not exclusively reserved for princesses in distress or oversexualized bimbos. Strong, independent ladies like Samus Aran (Metroid) and Faith Connors (Mirror’s Edge) don’t need men to rescue them. Sadly, sexism is still a problem that affects every aspect of game design, including box art.

In a recent interview with VG24/7, The Last of Us creative director Neil Druckmann said that Sony asked him to focus on Joel (the male protagonist) for the game’s cover and push Ellie to the back. Everyone at Naughty Dog refused. Druckmann added: “I believe there’s a misconception that if you put a girl or a woman on the cover, the game will sell less.”

I browsed through some of my favorite games to see how many of them feature their lead female heroines on the cover. See the result of my search in the gallery below.

Filed under: Games

My mom previews Tomb Raider, Dark Souls II, and other big games of 2013

Mike Minotti — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 18:18:27 +0000

My mother (pictured with me above) doesn’t know much of anything about video games. However, I discovered that making her watch trailers for upcoming releases and recording her reactions can lead to comedic gold.

This time, I exposed her to a few of the trailers played during this year’s Video Game Awards, which showcased some of the most anticipated games coming out in 2013.

Below each video is the dialogue that took place between my mother and me while we watched. Her words are in red. I know some people accused me of making this all up last time. Again, I swear that this is all 100 percent real.

Dark Souls II

This one’s called Dark Souls II.

Oh, jeez. Why are they all so dark? Why aren’t some happy? No wonder the world’s going to pot.

You said that last time.

‘Cause that’s how I feel. There’s blood. There’s a sword. Oh, he looks like a mad knight. What’s this called?

Dark Souls II.

Is this in medieval times?

I think it’s more of a made-up fantasy world.

But there’s no electricity.

No, there’s no electricity.

Oh, my lord. Are they in the clouds?

I think it’s just misty.

Is he a good guy or a bad guy?

I think that’s the good guy.

What’s he searching for?

Probably things to kill.

Things to kill?!

Like, bad things. Like monsters.

Why does he want to kill them?

Because they’re monsters!

Why doesn’t he just leave them be and get the heck out of there? Oh, he looks like Freddy Krueger. Who’s the guy who wore the mask?

Oh, that’s Jason.

Jason! That’s what he looks like. Oh, there’s a dragon. Is the dragon his friend?

Probably not.

Wow, look at all the arrows in him. How was Dark Souls 1? Was it the same thing?

Yeah. It was really hard.

Well, they must have liked it because they made a Dark Souls II.

Yeah, well, Dark Souls was a sequel to a game called Demon’s Souls, so this is kind of like the third one.

God save your souls.

What did you think of that?

Nah.

Filed under: Games

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The best video game trailers of 2012

Dan Crawley — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 00:00:08 +0000

Video game trailers are a big deal. Where once big budgets were the exception, they are increasingly becoming the norm. Deep pockets are not always key to creating a stand-out trailer, though. Ingenuity, innovation, and a healthy sense of humor can also go a long way to help sell a game.

Here we present the best game trailers to grace our screens during 2012. They represent a cross-section of the gaming world and feature a variety of styles and budgets. The one thing they have in common? They’re done right.

If you think we’ve missed any trailers of note, feel free to drop a comment below.

Borderlands 2

Gearbox Software gave its first-person role-playing shooter Borderlands 2 (PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360) a sing-a-long soundtrack that just shouldn’t have worked. The genius is that “Wimoweh” has never sounded as gloriously out of place since its original 1939 release. Even better than Tight Fit.

Watch Dogs

Eschewing both gameplay and prerendered footage, this trailer for Ubisoft’s open-world action-shooter Watch Dogs (PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360) brilliantly sets up the game’s premise with a starkly delivered blurring of fact and fiction that sounds eminently believable. Watch Dogs is certainly a title to look out for next year.

ZombieU

Zombies. Are we sick of them yet? Ubisoft doesn’t think so, having created one of the year’s most atmospheric trailers for its Wii U-exclusive survival-horror game. The film succeeds in making ordinary environments look extraordinary by subtly twisting our perspective on the dark streets of London.

Dyad

Independent developer Shawn McGrath unleashed his psychadelic musical shooter, Dyad, on the PlayStation 3 this summer. Its original trailer received an unkindly greeting in some quarters, with PlayStation Blog user Mattsta009 saying of its star: “It doesn’t look like that girl is even playing Dyad, she is kind of just holding a controller, acting badly and smiling vacuously at the screen.” In a stroke of genius, McGrath recast himself in the lead role. Watch from 20 seconds in to see him in action. The original trailer is underneath for a neat “compare and contrast” opportunity.

The Last of Us

Proof of the power of soundtrack, developer Naughty Dog used the Hank Williams song “Alone and Forsaken” to great effect in this trailer for upcoming PlayStation 3 action game The Last of Us. The atmosphere seems even more bleak and unforgiving with Williams’ raspy vocals layering on the tension.

Filed under: Games

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GamesBeat weekly roundup: GLaDOS in Pacific Rim, more Black Ops II zombies, and Portal on a calculator

Jasmine Maleficent Rea — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 16:46:24 +0000

If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

This week, the voice of GLaDOS from the Portal series shows up in the trailer for the movie Pacific Rim, Disney buys South Korean game developer Studio Ex, and Call of Duty: Black Ops II gets more zombies, now on the Nuketown map.

You’ll also find reviews for Uncharted: Fight for Fortune and Guardians of Middle-Earth.

News:

Mobile News:

Previews:

Interviews:

Reviews:

Pieces of flair:

Filed under: Games

Here are just the trailers from Spike’s Video Game Awards (you’re welcome)

Evan Killham — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 15:26:52 +0000

Spike aired the 10th installment of its annual Video Game Awards last night, and if you’re like us, you were more interested in the world premiere trailers than you were in watching host Samuel L. Jackson work the word “motherfucker” into as many sentences as possible. We’re here for you, readers, so we’ve gathered all of the show’s cool new trailers without all that extra fat. You know, like the awards.

South Park: The Stick of Truth

The Phantom Pain

The Last of Us

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

Dark Souls II

Gears of War: Judgment

Tomb Raider

BioShock Infinite

Filed under: Games

Naughty Dog confirms The Last of Us is arriving on May 7

Jeffrey Grubb — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 02:41:29 +0000

The apocalypse reaches the PlayStation 3 on May 7.

Naughty Dog confirmed at the end of a new trailer for its end-of-the-world simulator The Last of Us that the game is coming this spring. A live guitarist accompanied the trailer, which shows the game’s protagonists struggling to survive in a world gone all kinds of wrong.

The Last of Us is a PlayStation 3 exclusive. It’s from the studio that has previously worked on the Uncharted games. It is focused much more on small encounters with very dangerous enemies rather than big bands of opponents like those in Nathan Drake’s adventures.

Filed under: Games

Sony’s Adam Boyes chases developers on new platforms

Dean Takahashi — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 15:00:31 +0000

Adam Boyes is the vice president of publisher relations at Sony Computer Entertainment America. His job is to convince developers to publish third-party games on Sony’s PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita game machines. Last week, he showed up on a panel at the Casual Connect game conference in Seattle, where he was recruiting casual game developers to Sony’s game platforms.

His presence shows that Sony is embracing the new social, mobile, and online side of the game industry. And that makes sense, considering that Boyes’ predecessor, Rob Dyer, is now the head of third-party publishing at Zynga.

Boyes used to be on the other side of the conversation. He is a 15-year veteran of the game business and former director of production at Capcom USA. He most recently served as president of Beefy Media, a video game production house he founded. He also worked in executive producer roles at Midway on titles like MLB Slugfest: Loaded, NHL Hitz: Pro, and Blitz: The League.

We caught up with Boyes in Seattle. Here’s an edited transcript of our talk.

GamesBeat: I’ve been coming to Casual Connect for a few years, and I’ve never seen a Sony person recruiting developers here — at least not on stage. That’s something new.

Adam Boyes: I’ve been coming here for many years. I don’t know if Sony has because I’m the new guy. I think it’s a new message, too. I’ve been with the company now for three months, and my background is more product development. I’ve worked with developers very closely, both at Capcom and previously. Getting to the roots and talking to the people who are making the content is always a big focus. And then also getting the word out on the fact that developers can publish their own content on the platform, which I don’t think a lot of people understand. Trying to get that word out, too.

GamesBeat: You get a different kind of developer here, too.

Boyes: Yeah.

GamesBeat: Not the kind that’s traditionally being recruited for console titles.

Boyes: Traditionally, yeah. But if we look at tradition, the traditional publishing model has changed quite a bit, too. Back in the PlayStation 2 days and the PlayStation Portable days, you had to be a full-blown publisher to get your content out to stores. Now we have the PlayStation Network and other digital destinations where people can purchase content.

GamesBeat: Is that a bigger priority, then?

Boyes: I think we see a lot of passion about development in different places, then. We’ve got some free-to-play games on Vita already, with MotorStorm RC and with Montezuma Blitz. We’re making a move into PlayStation Mobile too. I think, in general, getting out to speak with developers, whatever conference it is, is important for the PlayStation ecosystem.

GamesBeat: The one thing that seems like a big difference compared to iOS or Facebook is how frequently your developers can do updates and embrace the analytics model that works so well in social games — where people do their testing, tweak the design, and upload a change via a fast update process.

Boyes: I think we’re pretty open to being able to patch content and add content. As long as it’s data. The challenge is always when it’s an executable; then it’s a full submission. As far as patching small parts of data, we have some partners that patch multiple times through the life cycle. If they’ve installed the right sort of tools and tech on the back end to be able to monitor analytics, then they can patch data on a regular basis.

GamesBeat: That’s been a sticking point in the past with different platforms. Has that been freshly addressed?

Boyes: I think that’s part of the evolution. Originally, we had a different policy on free to play. Now we have free-to-play content and microtransactions. We used to have certain requirements for publishing. Now we have none for developers to publish other content. You have to go through the process of submitting for concept approval, but all of these things are things that have naturally evolved over the console life cycle. We’re evolving more than ever now because the industry is evolving.

GamesBeat: How many digital games are there now? Are you going to dramatically increase that?

Boyes: Obviously, PlayStation Store is newer than PlayStation as a brand. So the focus is to continually allow our partners to put their content out there, both digitally and at retail. We’ve seen great performance from digital downloads, both with PlayStation Store on Vita and with PlayStation Network. So it’s going to continue to be a focus.

GamesBeat: Isn’t there still a distinction between a curated platform and one where it’s published completely freely? Like the iPhone or Android?

Boyes: The PlayStation brand has become synonymous with high-quality content. But our concept approval process is very light in comparison to what it was in the PS one and PlayStation 2 days. Again, because it’s a different type of developer. If you look at Shawn McGrath and Dyad, those are the kinds of games we like. We weren’t able to tell that story 10 years ago on PS2. So it’s cool that we can work directly with developers and allow them the ability to put their content out there.

GamesBeat: Big Fish Games announced their cloud-gaming service with casual games at $8 a month. That’s getting interesting.

Boyes: Interesting. For us, PlayStation Plus is a great example of something where people can get a bunch of great pieces of content on a rolling monthly basis. We see that as a big value proposition to gamers out there: to be able to play big, chunky, meaty games. Once you download them within that month, it’s on your system until you delete it. I think that’s a great differentiator for our platform.

GamesBeat: Do you look forward to Sony exploiting Gaikai in some way? Will that help your mission, as well?

Boyes: We haven’t really talked about anything to do with the Gaikai deal. We have cloud saves — we have cloud updates right now — but there’s nothing more to talk about.

GamesBeat: How much change do you want to embrace? You look at it and you say, “This is just not us,” or, “This is just not our place.” When people ask that, what is the answer?

Boyes: I think people’s perception of an open platform versus a very closed platform is definitely changing. If you look at back in the Genesis and SNES days, people forget that the PlayStation was the one that came along and allowed people to be a lot more free. I think it’s all come full circle now, as we come upon the sixth year of the PlayStation 3 console and we’re continuing to evolve our policies and improve the openness of the platform. I think we’ve done a great job of evolving policies and the platform and allowing these guys to have a direct path to the consumer.

I’m a big believer in allowing the consumer to have a direct conversation with the developer, so they can have a back-and-forth. What we’ve been doing around Pub Fund is a great example of that with Dyad and Papa & Yo, which is coming soon. And then even on the first party with Journey and Unfinished Swan. I think there are a lot of examples in the Sony ecosystem, both in the first-party and the third-party, where we’ve already been changing and evolving our platform quite a bit.

Filed under: Dev, Games

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The Last of Us’ “Truck Ambush” trailer: now with 100% more Sackboy (video)

Evan Killham — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 03:00:58 +0000

A clever fan has recreated the intense “Truck Ambush” trailer from developer Naughty Dog’s upcoming PlayStation 3-exclusive action game The Last of Us, using Media Molecule’s super-cute Little Big Planet 2 toolset.

YouTube user TheClassicEvil spent two weeks on his shot-for-shot remake (below), which matches the original exactly — but with way more burlap.

Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells shared the video on Twitter, adding, “Wow! All I can say is wow! Awesome work.”

If you need any more evidence of how awesome this is, compare it to the official version below.

Filed under: Games

How we voted in the Game Critics Awards

Dean Takahashi — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 16:35:00 +0000

The Game Critics Awards is a group of a few dozen leading game publications that votes each year on the best games at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). This year, I was one of the 34 judges for the awards, and here’s both the results of the voting and my own votes.

The Last of Us (pictured above), a third-person survival game with a postapocalyptic setting from Sony’s Naughty Dog game studio, had five wins, including the best game of the show. Those with two wins each included Dance Central 3, Halo 4, Watch Dogs, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Sony had seven wins, Microsoft had four, and 2K Games, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft had two wins apiece. The PlayStation 3 had 15 wins, the Xbox 360 had 12, the PC had seven. Notably, the PlayStation Vita and the Wii U only had one win each.

Only games that were playable were eligible for voting. That meant that Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs, an open-world action-adventure game that won accolades at the show, wasn’t eligible for most awards.

Please tell us in the comments what your favorites were.

Best of Show: The Last of Us (Naughty Dog/SCEA for PlayStation 3)
GamesBeat vote: The Last of Us

Best Original Game: The Last of Us
GamesBeat vote: Beyond: Two Souls (Quantic Dream/SCEA for PlayStation 3)

Best Console Game: The Last of Us
GamesBeat vote: The Last of Us

Best Handheld/Mobile Game: Sound Shapes (Queasy Games/SCEA for PS Vita, PS3)

Best PC Game: XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Firaxis Games/2K Games for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
GamesBeat vote: Company of Heroes 2 (Relic Entertainment/THQ)

Best Hardware/Peripheral: Wii U (Nintendo)
GamesBeat vote: Wii U

Best Action Game: Halo 4 (343 Industries/Microsoft Studios for Xbox 360)
GamesBeat vote: Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Treyarch/Activision for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Best Action/Adventure Game: The Last of Us
GamesBeat vote: The Last of Us

Best Role-Playing Game: South Park: The Stick of Truth (Obsidian Entertainment/THQ for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Best Fighting Game: Injustice: Gods Among Us (NetherRealm Studios/WBIE for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U)
GamesBeat vote: Injustice: Gods Among Us

Best Racing Game: Need for Speed Most Wanted (Criterion Games/EA for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Best Sports Game: FIFA Soccer 13 (EA Canada/EA Sports for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Best Strategy Game: XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Firaxis Games/2K Games for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
GamesBeat vote: Company of Heroes 2

Best Social/Casual Game: Dance Central 3 (Harmonix/Microsoft Studios for Xbox 360)
GamesBeat vote: Nintendoland (Nintendo/Wii U)

Best Motion-Simulation Game: Dance Central 3 (Harmonix/Microsoft Studios for Xbox 360)

Best Online Multiplayer: Halo 4
GamesBeat vote: Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Best Downloadable Game: Unfinished Swan (Giant Sparrow/SCEA for PlayStation 3)
GamesBeat vote: Unfinished Swan

—

Special Commendations for Graphics: Star Wars 1313 (LucasArts for TBD Platforms), Watch Dogs (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Special Commendation for Sound: The Last of Us

Special Commendation for Innovation: Watch Dogs

Filed under: Games

See live demos of Black Ops II, Halo 4, and more from Jimmy Fallon’s gaming week

Mike Minotti — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 23:00:31 +0000

Jimmy Fallon, the host of NBC’s Late Night, likes video games! Or, at the very least, he’s the first host of a nightly talk show who’s smart enough to know that there’s a whole audience of insomnia-riddled gamers who would love to see live demos of future releases at 1 a.m.

That’s exactly what the ex-Saturday Night Live cast member did all of last week as his show featured Halo 4, The Last of Us, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Madden NFL 13, and the Wii U. If you actually go to bed at a reasonable hour and missed all of these segments, you can find links to watch all of them below. We wish we could embed them straight into this story, but the code doesn’t seem to like our site. Links it is! Links for everyone!

Wii U demo

Call of Duty: Black Ops II demo

Halo 4 demo

Last of Us demo

Madden NFL 13 demo

Filed under: Games

GamesBeat’s gigantic E3 2012 roundup

Omri Petitte — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 23:48:59 +0000

The sensory smorgasbord of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) heaved itself upon the video game industry for three straight days, and GamesBeat’s intrepid crew enthusiastically hit showfloors, conference halls, and meeting rooms to offer our readers piles of previews, interviews, and news.

What follows below is our collected coverage during the show. You’ll find everything here sorted into categories for easy navigability.

Awards

Who needs stickers? We analyzed, judged, and sorted our top picks for the show’s offerings directly for you. Take a look — the results might surprise you.

GamesBeat’s E3 2012 Game of the Show…plus staff picks – by Dan “Shoe” Hsu

The GamesBeat E3 non-award awards: The least prestigious awards in the industry – by GamesBeat staff

The coolest technologies we saw at E3 2012 – by Dean Takahashi

The best family games of E3 – by GamesBeat staff

The top 8 trends of E3, from bows to brutality – by Mike Minotti

The top 15 swag shirts of E3 2012 – by Rus McLaughlin

Previews

You’ve found the beating heart of E3′s overwhelming magic. Whether from observatory impressions or direct, hands-on experiences, GamesBeat discussed and dissected a sizable stable of upcoming games and hardware.

Hands-on

Hitman Absolution lets you perform hits in giant crowds – by Dean Takahashi

Metro Last Light fights shooter fatigue with deeper single player – by Dean Takahashi

Crysis 3 brings the jungle, gun hacking, and silent stealth kills to Manhattan – by Dean Takahashi

EA reveals Dead Space 3, coming with drop-in cooperative play – by Dean Takahashi

Sleeping Dogs turns Hong Kong crime movies into a video game – by Dean Takahashi

From the creator of Portal, Quantum Conundrum caters to physics-based puzzle gamers – by Dean Takahashi

Capcom remakes hack-slash-shoot-grapple formula with upcoming DmC: Devil May Cry – by Dean Takahashi

Capcom shows three playable characters for Resident Evil 6 – by Dean Takahashi

Neverwinter’s user-generated content could elevate it above the competition – by Stefanie Fogel

DmC: Devil May Cry is full of swagger…and F-bombs – by Eduardo Moutinho

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed leaves Mario Kart in its dust…and wake…and vapor trail – by Mike Minotti

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is an anime you can actually play – by Eduardo Moutinho

Sony Online Entertainment’s PlanetSide 2 – by Rob LeFebvre

Slice, dice, and julienne enemies in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance – by Eduardo Moutinho

Medal of Honor: Warfighter deploys fire teams to the front lines – by Eduardo Moutinho

Hell Yeah! is like Metroid with a chainsaw jetpack-riding demon bunny – by Mike Minotti

Dead or Alive 5 wants to deliver a power blow to the competition – by Eduardo Moutinho

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s simplicity is just what consoles need – by Omri Petitte

Hands-off

Just what kind of game is Star Wars 1313? – by Dean Takahashi

Warner Bros. confirms LEGO: Lord of the Rings video game – by Dean Takahashi

EA’s cute The Act romance game exploits iPad’s touchscreen for unique gameplay – by Dean Takahashi

Turn the snow crimson with redcoat blood in Assassin’s Creed III – by Dean Takahashi

Far Cry 3 demo leads you deeper into drug-induced insanity – by Dean Takahashi

Quantic Dream’s Beyond: Two Souls is one of the best games of E3 – by Dean Takahashi

The 5 different games you’ll be playing in Dishonored – by Sebastian Haley

Final Fantasy XIV brings new gameplay and western sensibilities to venerable franchise – by Rob LeFebvre

Windows 8 works hard to meet the needs of all gamers – by Rob LeFebvre

A trio of Mario games strengthen Nintendo’s 3DS lineup – by Mike Minotti

OnLive’s MultiView spectating entices multiplayer and co-op gamers – by Omri Petitte

Player choice matters in The Walking Dead: Episode 2 – by Stefanie Fogel

The Last of Us is even smarter than you think – by Rus McLaughlin

Star Wars 1313 is a game of firsts for the sci-fi franchise – by Eduardo Moutinho

The adventure-game renaissance continues with The Cave – by Eduardo Moutinho

Heroes and villains join forces in Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion – by Mike Minotti

007 Legends proves personality makes or breaks a game – by Omri Petitte

Breaking down what’s exactly new in God of War: Ascension – by Dan “Shoe” Hsu

Turning technology against your friends in Watch Dogs – by Omri Petitte

Interviews

Chasing after the wayward developer or evasive executive amid a sea of journalists and industry luminaries didn’t slake our interview appetite, and we nabbed a slew of thoughtful talks with members across various gaming companies. Take a look.

Why Ubisoft is pouring a lot of resources into Wii U games – by Dean Takahashi

Harvest Moon creator wants to spread happiness with his new game – by Jacob Lopez

How Shenmue’s lead programmer rescued a bad game – by Jacob Lopez

The Last Story developer talks Operation Rainfall, reason for cover system, and Wii U – by Jacob Lopez

With 1.3B tanks obliterated and 30M players, Wargaming.net plans to conquer the online gaming world – by Dean Takahashi

Even Scribblenauts’ creator is surprised by the things people make in his new game – by Jacob Lopez

The Witcher developer CD Projekt RED wants to set new standards with Cyberpunk – by Stefanie Fogel

Japan’s Gree moves mobile gaming into the spotlight at E3 – by Dean Takahashi

THQ’s Brian Farrell talks about looking for a bottom and staging a comeback – by Dean Takahashi

Crytek says CryEngine 3 already does awesome graphics as good as Unreal Engine 4 – by Dean Takahashi

Our opinions

During the craze-filled days of E3, our minds typically busied themselves with ensuring our legs avoided snapping off our torsos and running away with yelping noises. But sometimes, a cohesive thought miraculously coalesced within our overloaded brainpans. Our hands shakily reached for the keyboard, keys started tapping, and well…these are the results.

The DeanBeat: What to expect at E3 – by Dean Takahashi

4 ways developers will use SmartGlass to enhance Xbox 360 experiences – by Dan “Shoe” Hsu

Nintendo’s Wii U: Safe on first, weak on third-party – by Rus McLaughlin

Why Nintendo will have a tough time adding a second GamePad tablet controller to the Wii U – by Dean Takahashi

Tomb Raider is not torture porn – by Rus McLaughlin

Would it be a mistake for E3 to move out of LA? – by Dean Takahashi

Bored, impressed, and giddy: Our final thoughts on E3 2012 – by Dan “Shoe” Hsu

Move over, consoles – mobile is the future – by Rob LeFebvre

Microsoft’s E3 2012: Analysis of 16,000+ comments shows Halo 4, South Park impressed, rest did not – by Andrew Hiscock

Sony’s E3 2012: Analysis shows “shotgun blast” won big, Wonderbook lost – by Andrew Hiscock

Nintendo’s E3 2012: Reactions show hardcore gamers lost faith in Wii U – by Andrew Hiscock

Memes

All it takes is one memorable quote, one Freudian slip, or some facepalm-worthy banter to prompt the Internet community’s creative and unrestrained hand at animated gifs, a worshipful use of Impact font, and hastily jangled Photoshop edits. Here’s what we’ve found.

The best memes of E3 – by Jeff Grubb

Remember these crazy memes from past E3s? – by Jeff Grubb

The wildest memes from the Microsoft E3 press conference – by Jeff Grubb

Silly memes inspired by Sony’s E3 press event – by Jeff Grubb

Aisha Tyler: Ubisoft’s meme machine – by Rus McLaughlin

The oddest Nintendo E3 gifs and Photoshops from the Internet – by Jeff Grubb

Galleries

We snapped plenty of pictures while attending parties, pressers, and meandering the showfloor. Direct your eyeballs upon these galleries, and enjoy the view!

The big gallery of E3′s huge banners – by Mike Minotti

E3 2012 will get your hands up – by Evan Killham

Our editor-in-chief’s E3 adventure – by Evan Killham

The many costumes of E3 2012 – by Jacob Lopez

Retro games have a place at E3, too – by Jasmine Rea

Videos

Dubstep. A beleaguered Lara Croft. Ham-handed hosts. No, this isn’t the latest entry in Alex Trebek’s dream diary — it’s some of our E3 video and trailer content below. Enjoy!

Tomb Raider trailer shows how Lara Croft feels sorry for shooting you – by Dean Takahashi

Konami pre-E3 2012 event: More Castlevania and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance – by Jasmine Rea

Ubisoft shows strong commitment to the Wii U – by Mike Minotti

6 awkward moments from the E3 press briefings – by Evan Killham

Why we wub wub wub E3 2012: The dubstep of E3 – by Jacob Lopez

Press conferences

Surprises and snooze-fests alike emanated from E3′s five major press briefings held by Microsoft, Electronic Arts (EA), Ubisoft, Sony, and Nintendo. Check out all the announcements and debuts here.

Microsoft (video)

Halo 4 trailer video shows Forerunners, new tech – by Rob LeFebvre

New Splinter Cell: Blacklist borrows from Uncharted – by Jeff Grubb

Gears of War: Judgment sets Sera on fire (again) – by Rus McLaughlin

Microsoft previews Xbox Music at E3 press conference – by Rob LeFebvre

Forza Horizon brings street racing to the franchise – by Jasmine Rea

Microsoft introduces Xbox SmartGlass to integrate smartphones and tablets with Xbox 360 – by Dean Takahashi

Nike+ Kinect Training brings in-depth fitness measuring to Xbox 360 – by Jeff Grubb

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer coming to Xbox 360 this fall – by Jacob Lopez

Usher hits the stage to announce Dance Central 3 – by Rob LeFebvre

Xbox Live is getting Nickelodeon, Machinima, and tons of live sports – by Tom Cheredar

Kinect voice commands hit EA Sports flagship titles – by Eduardo Moutinho

South Park creators introduce their game and playfully mock Microsoft – by Jeff Grubb

New Xbox 360 games coming from Signal Studios, Twisted Pixel, and…Gore Verbinski? – by Stefanie Fogel

Microsoft E3 2012 press conference recap…in limerick form – by Andrew Hiscock

Electronic Arts (video)

SimCity Social: If this free-to-play game is too good, will you pay $60 for the full PC version? – by Dean Takahashi

EA reveals Battlefield 3 Premium and fields “15 million players worldwide” – by Omri Petitte

Star Wars: The Old Republic gets new planet, new species, and free trial – by Jacob Lopez

EA nabs UFC from THQ – by Jeff Grubb

Medal of Honor: Warfighter’s beautiful carnage – by Rus McLaughlin

EA shows off Need for Speed: Most Wanted at E3 – by Rob LeFebvre

Ubisoft (video)

Rayman Legends rhythmically runs to the Wii U – by Eduardo Moutinho

You are the network in Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs – by Rus McLaughlin

Here’s where that Watch Dogs cube-head QR code goes – by Jeff Grubb

Sony (video)

Experimental developer Quantic Dream reveals the haunted life of Jody Holmes in Beyond – by Jasmine Rea

Nathan Drake and the Big Daddy Bouncer join PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale – by Mike Minotti

J.K. Rowling is writing PlayStation’s Wonderbook – by Rus McLaughlin

Sony announces Assassin’s Creed III Vita and PS3 bundles with exclusive content – by Jeff Grubb

Sony brings down the house with The Last of Us demo – by Dean Takahashi

Sony E3 2012 press conference recap…in limerick form – by Andrew Hiscock

Nintendo (video)

Social networking comes to Wii U, Miiverse will interface with PCs and phones – by Jasmine Rea

First look at action-strategy game Pikmin 3 – by Jeff Grubb

Nintendo confirms 23 games at E3, video streaming, and more for Wii U – by Mike Minotti

Wii Fit U will make you sweatier, livelier, and happier – by Rob LeFebvre

Brag to the Miiverse and take on new modes in New Super Mario Bros. U – by Eduardo Moutinho

Zombify your face with ZombiU for the Wii U – by Mike Minotti

Nintendo bets big on “asymmetric” tablet-based gameplay – one player against several – by Dean Takahashi

Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition utilizes Wii U’s GamePad screen – by Omri Petitte

Nintendo details 3DS Mario titles, Luigi’s Mansion, and third-party games – by Jeff Grubb

Nintendo Land brings asymmetrical multiplayer to Wii U – by Jasmine Rea

Nintendo’s E3 2012 press conference recap…in limerick form – by Andrew Hiscock

Filed under: Business, Games

Sony’s E3 2012: Analysis shows Last of Us “shotgun blast” won big, Wonderbook lost (graph)

Andrew Hiscock — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 19:40:52 +0000

Over the course of four hours across three Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) press conferences, hardcore gamers submitted over 16,000 real-time impressions — a valuable set of data for anyone curious as to how fans felt about the most important announcements during the gaming industry’s biggest event of the year. Now that E3 is over, we can take the time to really dig into what they liked and didn’t like, learning some interesting lessons in the process.

For this study, we counted the positive and negative comments in the hugely popular NeoGAF gaming forums, charting the reactions minute-by-minute in the graph below. The basic rule of thumb: the more positive responses, the higher the reaction score and vice versa. In short, Sony received the most positive responses, well ahead of Microsoft and Nintendo…but the publisher didn’t exactly impress everyone.

Click for a full-size version. For a more detailed explanation of how we analyzed this data, please see the explanation at the end of this article.

What NeoGAF liked about the Sony press conference

NeoGAF reacted strongly to the following games: Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, Assassin’s Creed III, and The Last of Us (for more on these or any products mentioned here, click the tags below). While they responded positively at first to Beyond: Two Souls, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Far Cry 3, and God of War: Ascension, opinion soured soon after their first mentions.

The community also reacted positively to Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, and Kaz Hirai, president and CEO of Sony Corporation. Both have become heroes to the video game community. David Cage, founder of Quantic Dream (Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls), also received good feedback, if not as strong as the two Sony personalities.

The most positive reaction of the show came at the end of the The Last of Us demonstration. The presentation concluded with the game’s protagonist killing his enemy with a brutal shotgun blast to the face, at which point the community exploded with shock and amazement. In fact, this single moment would prove to be the most popular across all three press conferences. One could say that The Last of Us “won” E3 — an expression gamers are very fond of using.

What they didn’t like

As noted, NeoGAF responded poorly to long demonstrations, and goodwill for games quickly evaporated as they continued. The group gave mixed responses when Sony discussed PlayStation Plus and PlayStation 1 games coming to the handheld Vita.

The most negative reaction of Sony’s press conference occurred during the Book of Spells demonstration. The community complained throughout this Wonderbook presentation, and comments hit a low point during the eighth minute of the Book of Spells segment. They cited a variety of factors for their displeasure: that the game is for kids, it was motion controlled, it was augmented reality, it was boring, and the demo was too long. In fact, the segment was so unpopular that members posted 943 negative comments during the 11 minutes Sony featured Book of Spells, compared to 103 positive comments. It didn’t help that the live demo had technical hiccups, and the game didn’t work for a brief moment.

For more on how NeoGAF reacted to the E3 press conferences, check out the Microsoft and Nintendo studies.

How the scoring works

NeoGAF hosts a single message board thread for each press conference, where dozens of members comment throughout each show. I graded each comment as positive or negative, giving them scores of 1 or -1 respectively. Then I totaled the sum of these reactions for each discrete minute and plotted in the above chart. A high score means that the NeoGAF community liked what they saw; a score close to zero represents mixed reactions; and a low score means that they were not enjoying the show at that moment.

Some notes on how I scored each response:

I made no distinction between really positive or somewhat positive comments — likewise for negative comments. Each was given either a score of 1 or -1.
While I made every effort to understand the various memes and inside jokes that make up a large part of the responses, if I could not understand a response, I would not score it.
In the event that a comment employed obvious sarcasm, I scored it to reflect the original intent of the commentator. If the sarcasm was not clear, I relied on the literal meaning of the comment. Fortunately, the very expressive NeoGAF community rarely employed subtle sarcasm.
When comments included positive and negative observations, I accounted for the more immediate reaction to preserve a more real-time response. An example: “I liked the game that was shown at the beginning of the show, but this game now is bad” would have a negative score.
Many comments weren’t scored as they offered no opinion. These included clarifications, questions, discussions between members unrelated to the press conference, and inquiries into whether one game or another would be shown at a later time.

GamesBeat 2012 is VentureBeat’s fourth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. This year we’re calling on speakers from the hottest mobile, social, PC, and console companies to debate new ways to stay on pace with changing consumer tastes and platforms. Join 500+ execs, investors, analysts, entrepreneurs, and press as we explore the gaming industry’s latest trends and newest monetization opportunities. The event takes place July 10-11 in San Francisco, and you can get your early-bird tickets here.

Filed under: Games

Bored, impressed, and giddy: Our final thoughts on E3 2012 (with photos)

Dan "Shoe" Hsu — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 01:16:55 +0000

Right after the GamesBeat staff got back from the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) last week, we started wondering if we were all at the same event. Despite a combined 38 years of experience attending the annual game-industry trade show, lead writer Dean Takahashi, culture editor Sebastian Haley, and I (GamesBeat’s editor-in-chief) came away from the 2012 edition with drastically differing opinions on what we saw.

Here’s what we thought of this year’s E3:

Sebastian Haley, culture editor:

I might be alone on this, but E3 was a disheartening experience for me this year. Sure, I’ll buy and love Borderlands 2, Dishonored, and a ton of other games that were shown off, but everything was just so iterative — from the countless sea of sequels and spin-offs, to even the press conferences that seemed to focus less and less on what gamers like myself actually want.

After years of being the punchline of the Internet, why is it so hard to make a good E3 press conference? Microsoft gave carte blanche to Nike and ESPN to talk as long as they wanted, but when it came time to show off the only three original intellectual properties (IPs) in the entire lineup, if you blinked you would have missed it. And even if you didn’t blink, you’d still have no idea what the games were even about. Then Usher and Joe Montana come out for awkward performances, and that’s supposed to make things better?

The industry more or less seems to be on autopilot, and I can only hope it’s saving up all its energy for a massive 2013. But again, maybe that’s just me.

Dishonored

Dean Takahashi, lead news writer:

The game industry didn’t have such a bad showing at E3. The traditional game publishers showed off new original games such as Beyond: Two Souls, The Last of Us, The Unfinished Swan, Dishonored, Warface, Hawken, World of Warplanes, and Watch Dogs. New technologies such as Unreal Engine 4, facial animation, SmartGlass, the Wii U, and Sony’s Wonderbook were cool. The staple franchises such as Assassin’s Creed III, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Tomb Raider, SimCity, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, and Crysis 3 will keep gamers delighted and busy in the next year.

But like Sebastian, I also have high expectations of game makers in the core console market. And I’m not sure they have done enough to shield themselves from the disruption that is hitting their industry. This E3 was an in-between year. Next-generation consoles are in the works, but only Nintendo showed off its cards, and they weren’t very disruptive this time around.

From the outside, the game industry is under pressure. Apple is one of the driving forces of the real disruption, but it isn’t alone. Samsung announced at the show that it will create its own cloud gaming service in partnership with Gaikai and Nvidia. It will in effect become a fourth major platform for game makers, launching a cloud-based game service that could threaten the core console business. Apple and Samsung could bring cheap, high-quality games into the living room that could compete quite nicely against $60 games that come with the number “3″ or “4″ after their names.

This is a very real threat. At E3, I didn’t see a masterstroke to deal with it. There was innovation, but not enough of it to make a difference.

The Last of Us

Dan “Shoe” Hsu, editor-in-chief:

Last year’s E3 only gave me one stick-with-me moment: the BioShock Infinite demo. It left me near breathless, and even though I don’t smoke, I felt like I needed a cigarette after watching it.

Nothing this year quite matched that, but three games came awfully close, all from my personal top 3 games of E3: Watch Dogs, The Last of Us, and Dishonored. I saw The Last of Us on the last day of the show, and it just put the biggest smile on my face. Right when that amazing, frightening, tension-filled demo finished, it cemented this E3 as one of the best in recent years for me. So I’m quite surprised at Sebastian’s reaction — this show was amazing! When was the last time so many new IPs surprised and wowed us like this? We’re always complaining about the sequel parades (and rightfully so), but it’s up to us to look past the flashy hype of the Call of Duties of the world to champion original games like the ones I just mentioned.

Nintendo Land and ZombiU on the Wii U were both pleasant surprises as well (though the latter proved to me that first-pers0n-shooter controls will take a lot of hand-eye-coordination reconditioning due to the controller’s new layout — a reconditioning I’m not sure I want to commit to). Even the known quantities got me excited again: I honestly thought I was over Halo and Gears of War, but both Halo 4 and the overrun mode in Gears of War: Judgment were a lot of fun to play in multiplayer.

I went into my 16th E3 jaded and thinking I’ve seen and experienced it all. I left a surprised, giddy gamer.

Filed under: Games

GamesBeat’s E3 2012 Game of the Show…plus staff picks

Dan "Shoe" Hsu — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 23:33:24 +0000

Each year, during the various press conferences surrounding the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) game-industry trade show, people applaud. Some of it’s polite (some guy we don’t care about is getting on stage). Some of it’s fanfare (yay, a new Zelda!). Some of it’s fake rah-rah (come on, we know you’re employees trying to pump up the crowd).

But once in a while, it’s pure, legitimate wow.

An extended, genuinely enthusiastic ovation awaited the conclusion of publisher/developer Ubisoft’s demo of Watch Dogs, a new modern-day drama/action/adventure game with a touch of cyberpunk. It’s stylish. It’s violent. And it’s oh-so-pretty. Of course, it’s way too early to judge whether this upcoming (date: TBD) Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC release will be any good or not, but read our quick-look preview and peep the gameplay video below to see why we picked Watch Dogs for GamesBeat’s E3 2012 Game of the Show.

Ubisoft’s thriller wasn’t the only star of E3. Here are the final top-threes by the rest of the GamesBeat staff who were in attendance at E3 2012. (To check out more coverage of any of the games, just click on the tags below the article or follow our E3 tag.)

Dan “Shoe” Hsu, GamesBeat editor-in-chief

1. The Last of Us (PlayStation 3)
2. Watch Dogs (multiplatform)
3. Dishonored (multiplatform)

Dean Takahashi, GamesBeat lead news writer

1. Beyond: Two Souls (PlayStation 3)
2. The Last of Us (PlayStation 3)
3. Watch Dogs (multiplatform)

Sebastian Haley, GamesBeat culture editor

1. Metro: Last Light (multiplatform)
2. Watch Dogs (multiplatform)
3. The Cave (multiplatform)

Omri Petitte, GamesBeat writer

1. Watch Dogs (multiplatform)
2. Assassin’s Creed III (multiplatform)
3. PlanetSide 2 (PC)

Mike Minotti, GamesBeat writer

1. Assassin’s Creed III (multiplatform)
2. Disney Epic Mickey: The Power of Illusion (3DS)
3. Rayman Legends (Wii U)

Jacob Lopez, GamesBeat writer

1. Watch Dogs (multiplatform)
2. The Last of Us (PlayStation 3)
3. Scribblenauts Unlimited (Wii U)

Stefanie Fogel, GamesBeat writer

1. The Walking Dead — Episode 2: Starved for Help (multiplatform)
2. Borderlands 2 (multiplatform)
3. Quantum Conundrum (multiplatform)

Rob LeFebvre, GamesBeat writer

1. Watch Dogs (multiplatform)
2. Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (PlayStation 3)
3. Gravity Rush (PlayStation Vita)

Rus McLaughlin, GamesBeat writer

1. Watch Dogs (multiplatform)
2. The Last of Us (PlayStation 3)
3. Tomb Raider (multiplatform)

Eduardo Moutinho, GamesBeat writer

1. Star Wars 1313 (multiplatform)
2. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (multiplatform)
3. Injustice: Gods Among Us (multiplatform)

Please vote for your own favorite in our poll and explain your vote in the comments.

Filed under: Games

The top 15 swag shirts of E3 2012

Rus McLaughlin — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 15:42:36 +0000

If you’re a journalist who hits enough behind-closed-doors appointments at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, someone will offer you something. Maybe just a bottled water. Possibly an art book. Almost certainly a USB hub that transforms into a USB robot (nope, not making that one up). Swag is the universal language of E3, as ubiquitous as booth babes and banner ads.

Apparel, however, rules the show. Nothing marks status like walking around the L.A. Convention Center with a fairly exclusive — and free — t-shirt nonchalantly draped over your shoulder. And these were the absolute best shirts (plus a few extras) we saw…or took home ourselves.

Filed under: Games

The Last of Us is even smarter than you think

Rus McLaughlin — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 23:47:16 +0000

You don’t survive the apocalypse by being stupid. PlayStation 3 exclusive The Last of Us, scheduled for release some time in 2013, takes place over a decade after an outbreak that turned part of the population into hideous monsters, prompting a total societal collapse. Nature has reclaimed broken cities, and the remains of humanity eek out an existence with whatever resources they can scavenge, make, or steal. Natural selection takes care of anyone making foolish decisions.

So developer Naughty Dog populated its post-apocalyptia with smart people who react to what they see and hear like real people might. That builds a realism and immediacy that, as demoed this year at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, no other game can match.

It also makes things much more dangerous for the two lead characters, grizzled, player-controlled Joel and his charge, 14-year-old Ellie. While attempting to sneak through a building without drawing attention from the men scavenging it, you don’t just have to worry about one lone adversary at a time, but all of them.

“The A.I., from Ellie to the humans we’re creating, is a huge undertaking,” says Game Director Bruce Straley. Those scavengers? “They’re working as a group, and they’re aware of each other.” When Joel throws a bottle, it creates a predictable video-game distraction that one scavenger investigates … and one of his buddies checks up on him. “One of them’s concerned about the other’s welfare. ‘Are you all right?’” It’s not a pre-scripted sequence.

Likewise, as Joel and Ellie roam this world, they might have conversations based on things they see, and often call out to each other to make sure they’re OK while out of each other’s line of sight. Movie posters for Dawn of the Wolf (a riff on the Twilight series) might prompt an exchange if you indulge Ellie’s curiosity.

In a more dangerous situation, however, every single dynamic takes on major significance. When they’re discovered, Joel pulls out his revolver. Instantly, a scavenger warns his friends: “Aw, shit! He’s got a gun!”

“How many did you see?”

“Only saw one! He’s right by the door!” And yes, that’s right where Joel’s hiding. When he fires his gun, Ellie jumps, covering her ears. One of the scavengers gets the jump on Joel, bashing him up and adding a nasty cut across Joel’s nose before putting him in a choke hold for the men aiming from the windows. They take their time, making sure they hit Joel and not their friend.

At times like these, we’ve seen Ellie jump in before, using her butterfly knife to stick someone who’s got Joel on the ropes. This time, nothing … because those gunmen at the windows will take her out if she tries, and she knows it. Naughty Dog built a survival instinct into Ellie. It’s so good, they decided that players didn’t need the ability to direct her. Ellie directs herself.

Everyone else got those instincts, too. Joel breaks free and runs, quickly looting a gun off a downed enemy — a scavenger bursts into the room behind him, sees the gun and, lacking one himself, immediately turns and runs. The player controlling Joel decides to give chase, and Joel checks every corner for an ambush, muttering “Where the hell’d you go?” under his breath when he loses his prey. A noise behind him: His target’s got a molotov, but a snap-shot from Joel throws off the scavenger’s aim; the bottle crashes into the wall, setting it on fire. Desperate, the scavenger rushes Joel, screaming, and takes two bullets in the chest, dropping in a heap.

Ellie catches up, and stares at the widening pool of blood.”Oh, God,” she breathes.

“Let’s keep moving,” says Joel.

And none of that was pre-scripted, either. Each event dictated what happened next. If a player took a different path, none of this would’ve happened.

That said, developer Naughty Dog won’t divert from its brand of linear storytelling. Drawing enemies’ attention to Ellie’s location — effectively using her as bait — won’t make her trust Joel any less. “We think a good story is a story on rails,” says Straley. He trusts that, like the characters in his game, players will react appropriately to what they see and hear. “If we do our jobs, you’ll feel the same way the characters feel, and you’re motivated and aligned with that.”

Just don’t forget that the other guys are motivated and aligned as well.

Filed under: Games

The DeanBeat: Take-Two’s No. 2 exec Karl Slatoff on the time of disruption and opportunity in games (interview)

Dean Takahashi — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 15:00:27 +0000

The video game industry is having a watershed year, marked by disruptions of the traditional console retail game business and the rise of social, mobile, and online titles. Karl Slatoff, the chief operating officer of Take-Two Interactive, welcomes this kind of change because he believes his company has the right strategy to succeed in the long term. It is focusing on original, blockbuster games such as Max Payne 3.

Right now, the quickest way to make Slatoff go quiet is to mention Grand Theft Auto V, the highly anticipated next installment in a series that has set records for blockbuster video game sales. Take-Two’s Rockstar Games label is expected to release GTAV sometime this year, though an exact launch date hasn’t been revealed. It’s just the kind of title that could get the game industry out of its funk — a result of the lack of new consoles.

The game isn’t at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) video game trade show this year, and neither is Rockstar. There’s plenty of speculation about the title, but Take-Two has to keep mum. Slatoff still had plenty to talk about, however, when we caught up with him at the E3 this week in Los Angeles.

GamesBeat: Now that it’s out in the open, what do you think of all the console makers and their announcements at E3?

Karl Slatoff: You mean the lack of announcements? Well, let me ask you a question. What do you mean by their announcements?

GamesBeat: Anything that’s interesting to you as far as what your people are going to have to do. Platform-level things, the Wii U…

Slatoff: We’ve talked about the Wii U for quite some time now. We’re doing NBA on the Wii U, so we think it’s a pretty interesting platform, and it could have some good features that work well with certain games. We’re actually really excited to support it.

GamesBeat: It seemed like it was going to have just one tablet per Wii U machine, and now they’re talking about two. I’m not sure if they’re really prepared to tell everybody, here’s how you do a game for two gamepad tablets.

Slatoff: It might. I can’t really talk about the tech because that’s not what I do. I’m sure the guys at Nintendo have figured out a way to make that work pretty seamlessly.

GamesBeat: Tablet against tablet for two players seems fundamentally necessary, especially for the game you’re talking about.

Slatoff: Yes, but that’s interesting, we’re excited about that.

GamesBeat: And the asymmetric stuff, does that have some appeal as well? One tablet against for Wii controllers?

Slatoff: I think it could. Again, I haven’t seen any iterations of it specifically as it applies to any of the things that we’re prepping on at this point. Any feature that’s new is interesting. I think it could have interesting applications depending on how people work with it.

GamesBeat: And now the level of the tech is on par with the Xbox 360 and PS3, and that might make cross-platform games easier [from a dev perspective].

Slatoff: It’s HD, right? That’s a lot of development right there. From that perspective I think it will. But every platform has its own unique challenges and opportunities. It’s a more powerful machine that we can use, that could be a core gaming machine, that’s obviously something that’s really appealing to us.

GamesBeat: How’s the lineup for you guys?

Slatoff: You’ve seen it. Between Spec Ops: The Line, we’ve got a fantastic lineup. I think it’s the best lineup the company’s had in this short period of the its history. Following up we’ve got Borderlands, we’ve got XCOM: Enemy Unkon, BioShock Infinite, GTA as well. I think we’re in pretty good shape. I don’t think we’ve been in this position before, so we’re excited.

GamesBeat: But you’re not telling people enough about GTA.

Slatoff: We’re not telling them anything. We’ve said all we’re gonna say about GTA. It is in development, and obviously it’s very important for us.

GamesBeat: Are you preparing to deal with all the gamers that are here at E3 going, “I WANNA SEE IT”?

Slatoff: Every year we do it … and the thing I always find interesting [is] you’ve got people who are always predicting, “Are they going to announce something about that title during E3?” And I’m not sure that’s ever happened. I don’t see why they’re so surprised that Rockstar’s not here and they’re not saying anything about the title. But we’re used to dealing with the questions.

GamesBeat: The balancing out of the portfolio, does that still look good for you guys as far as non-GTA years and GTA years? There’s been an imbalance in the past.

Slatoff: I think it does. We’ve had a profitable year without GTA releases. We did not do that this past year. We had planned on doing that, but we had to move some titles around. So I would say that it depends on when releases come out. Whether it’s going to be profitable or not without GTA really depends on that. But one thing for sure is, I think it’s hard to argue that we are 100 percent dependent on any one given title. Because we do have so many titles that have performed as well as they have. I think our intellectual property at this point in time is unmatched in the industry. We’ve got a huge franchise with NBA, BioShock, Borderlands, Red Dead, GTA, Civilization… What else? I’m missing some, there are other ones out there, but those are pretty big titles, like Mafia. All of them I think are capable of going into the next generation and beyond.

GamesBeat: How many people are you guys now, how many studios?

Slatoff: What did we say the official studio count is now? It’s like 15, and about 1700 employees, development employees worldwide? It depends on what you count.

GamesBeat: It sounds like it’s more than this time a year ago.

Slatoff: No? I think it’s probably about the same. Slightly more?

GamesBeat: It seems like some of the competition might be getting smaller in the core console space. THQ is weak right now. They’re still doing games, but… Does it feel like there’s a thinning-out of the console competition?

Slatoff: Well, look, there are people announcing studio closures all the time. Doing the shovelware doesn’t work anymore. You need to actually have something that’s going to get consumers out of the chairs and into the stores or online to download a new game experience. That takes a big investment, and it takes a sophisticated marketing organization to do it, and I don’t think that every studio or publishing system… We’re not all created equal that way. I think that you’ve seen some of the shakeout … at this point the consumers are really looking for something that’s compelling and unique every time they go out to buy a game. For us, I think that positions us very well, because that’s really been our strategy for a good number of years.

We don’t come out with a thousand releases a year, and we never have. We’re obviously focused on profitability, but quality, we believe, drives profitability at the end of the day. So for us this is a good thing.

GamesBeat: And at the same time there’s this growing competition in the mobile-social-online…

Slatoff: We get that question a lot, and we are active in the mobile space, we’ve released a good number of titles in the mobile space. We’re only talking about iOS and Android, in that regard. But we really think about the games first. We don’t think about platform first. We think, first and foremost, is it a casual experience or is it a core gaming experience? And then the second lens, is it a single-player experience or is it a multiplayer experience? Those four components, that axis, that’s how we manage our business.

If we’re looking to build a core single-player experience, we’re going to think about that experience creatively and then we’re going to build it for the platform that can support that experience. So for us, whether it’s an iOS and Android platform, a console platform, a PC platform, it really doesn’t matter. We don’t care. Obviously platform will dictate how you develop to a certain degree, but for us it’s always judging the creative experience. I would say that something like Max Payne or GTA is actually a core gaming experience that you can experience on tablet platforms. They’re just from older generations. But for the most part, tablet gaming has been more casual. I think that will change over time, and should the tablet ultimately become a core gaming platform, obviously we’re going to be there, because we’re there now doing it.

I don’t really see it as competition from tablet, I see it more as the platform is evolving. That presents an opportunity for us, because I think they will be ubiquitous, and the barrier to entry for the consumer to get into the gaming space may be lower now. Because you’ve got a tablet that has multiple functions. If you have a tablet and that’s your gaming device, that’s fantastic for us, because that barrier is gone for the consumer.

PR: One thing that’s interesting to note, too, as we’ve taken advantage on the PC platform with things like Steam, tablets give us great opportunities, Karl mentioned GTA3… We have this incredible catalog of titles that we can go back and see, you know, what classic games, if you will, that were amazing experiences, can we bring back to these tablet platforms? I think our position of being able to create AAA games gives us the added strength of, those become AA catalog titles over time. It’s been a very important part of our business.

GamesBeat: Like on Steam as well, and OnLive?

Slatoff: Yes. Everyone says they’re platform agnostic, and you can’t be 100 percent platform agnostic and be in this business. So that’s a little bit of hyperbole. But we try to be as much as we possibly can. We don’t really care how it’s delivered. Because there’s nothing on the horizon that we see from a development perspective that we don’t feel like we’re prepared to develop for. And I actually don’t believe in the notion of certain devices having natural price point limitations. I think that what people are willing to pay has to do with the content that they’re getting. Today, you may not be able to sell a game for more than 10 dollars or 6 dollars or $4.99 or whatever the price point may be on iOS, but that’s because the game’s probably not worth that much. It’s not delivering the kind of experience that you’ll get when you play BioShock Infinite. The day it does deliver that experience, then I think there will be plenty of opportunity for us.

GamesBeat: It seems like the console guys are sort of differentiating themselves with variations of tablet, touch, and gesture.

Slatoff: There’s some of that.

GamesBeat: It looks like everybody’s still trying to find exactly what it is.

Slatoff: It depends on what the functionality is meant to do. My personal opinion is, having played a lot of games on tablets, SmartGlass is kind of a tough thing to use for a core gaming experience. We’re used to the controller.

GamesBeat: Real time.

Slatoff: If you play Max Payne, it works, but is it the same as holding that controller in your hand? Really having that tactile control over your character? I think for real-time experience, you need that kind of control. And if you’re playing Call of Duty, without the fine motions… I think that certain platforms have limitations. I think SmartGlass is one of them. But they can be overcome with peripherals and software and so on.

GamesBeat: Faster speed.

Slatoff: Yes, there’s processing power limitations as well. We know that will improve. Tomorrow’s tablet will be as fast as today’s gaming PC, someday.

GamesBeat: Are you officially investing in next-generation R&D?

Slatoff: We haven’t really talked about next gen, specifically because our first-party partners haven’t talked about it. But it’s obviously coming at one point in the future, and we’ll be ready for it. Just like anybody else. Obviously it’s something we think about, something that we’ll be well-prepared for.

GamesBeat: The Nvidia guys are talking about a resurgence in the PC. Do you see that happening as the console generation stretches out?

Slatoff: Depending on the titles that are coming out in this period of time, I think that there’s always an opportunity for PC gaming to grab a little bit of share of the market. I’m not sure if that’s a function of the PC gaming market growing, or if it’s a function of people buying fewer consoles during that period of time. I do think the PC market is robust, and things like Steam help, because that’s a much better experience. Obviously the PC gaming audience has embraced that. And I think those platforms are getting better and better. There’s more than just Steam, there are other platforms as well.

That’s the most powerful gaming device on the planet, the PC gaming device, so it’s a good gaming device. I think there’s always opportunities for that segment to grow.

GamesBeat: In the core space, it looks like there’s your model. And then there’s the come-out-with-the-same-franchise-every-year model.

Slatoff: That’s right.

GamesBeat: That’s all that’s left. It sounds like you guys are not believers in…

Slatoff: Well, it depends on the title. Look, we put an NBA game out every year. So obviously for that type of title, that makes sense. We have not gone the route of Call of Duty with any of our franchises. Call of Duty is also becoming less and less about that single-player experience and more about that multiplayer experience. They’re fantastic at what they do. I think it may make more sense for something like Call of Duty to just iterate on a yearly basis. You can almost see it iterating into an online, a pure online play someday. Who knows what Activision is thinking about doing? But for that type of franchise that may make sense, because it is so much about the multiplayer.

When you’ve got a solid, narrative-driven single-player experience, it’s difficult to come out with something fresh and new every year. Every time we release something, we’d love to take the IP to the next level, so we start building franchises. And doing that every year is something that we find very difficult to do.

PR: We’ve used the James Bond analogy. One of the reasons the James Bond movie franchise is so successful is that they’ll come out with this amazing experience, and then they go away for a period of time, and people are really clamoring for it, and then when it comes it’s bigger and better than the previous one. The audience is really hungry for it. I think part and parcel with our commitment to high quality titles that are really leading-edge.

GamesBeat: You want to stay away from the James Bond video game model.

Slatoff: No, we’re not doing a James Bond video game. But you know, the other outline, as well, is that we also really strongly believe in investing in new IP. There is a finite amount of resources that any game company has. You can always do more deals and more deals, but any given company has a finite number of resources. And if we dedicated everything to just doing sequels, trying to get something out year after year, that may work for a period of time in terms of exploiting the profitability, but if you’re not investing in the future, you run the risk of becoming irrelevant. We do strongly believe, I think you know that, and I think the industry understands that too, that investing in new IP is something that you have to do continuously. If you have to take some resources off sequel IP to do so, we’re willing to do that.

GamesBeat: Did you read David Kushner’s book ["Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto, about Rockstar games and the evolution of Grand Theft Auto"]?

PR: We’re not gonna comment on that.

GamesBeat: You’re more at the edge of that, although Take-Two was right in the middle of it…

Slatoff: You mean from a timing perspective?

GamesBeat: Your experience personally.

Slatoff: I didn’t read the book, so I don’t really have any answers. Did you read it?

GamesBeat: Yes. I didn’t realize how much of the inner circle conversations came out in the FTC paperwork. It seems like a lot of it came from just looking through emails that had to be disclosed in the FTC investigations. I was surprised. At least it was a decent portrait of the whole idea of a game company just pushing for content that adults like. As developers get older, they like Game of Thrones on HBO. There’s this content there that people don’t associate with kids, right? He got this point across, that these guys were pioneers in that sense.

Slatoff: I can’t speak to the book at all, but in terms of the industry evolving, there are segments, like any entertainment industry… We used to get this thing about video games as a toy. Obviously they don’t do that anymore. I think the technology’s evolved and the storytelling, the art has evolved, to the point where video games have arrived, and we’ve got kids’ stuff, we’ve got teen stuff, we’ve got adult stuff. And I think that’s an indication that the video game industry is becoming a traditional entertainment business.

PR: There’s less of a disconnect. As somebody who’s been in the industry for 15 years, as Karl said, there was definitely that connotation of, it’s toys, it’s for kids, and even though the products are rated, even though the FTC keeps complimenting our industry on self-regulating and empowering consumers with more information than most other entertainment properties to make educated decisions, there’s still that perception of… These are kids’s toys and such. I also think the ESA has done a pretty good job of helping to get that messaging out about… Really letting the broader media and population know that the vast amount of people playing these games are adults. As you said, as your tastes evolve, they’re going towards experiences that are relevant and on par with the films they go see, or TV shows they watch.

Slatoff: And the channel’s done a pretty good job of enforcing it. I’m not all on top of it, but I’ve read articles on people looking at it, that video games are better than movies at actually self-regulating. Not allowing content that’s not supposed to go to minors get into the hands of teens.

GamesBeat: The cinematic part of Max Payne 3 — I love it. I was sort of getting a feel for it, Max Payne 3, a shooting game, lots and lots of shooting, and then this Last of Us that Sony’s been showing. There are differences — you kill one person in a scene here, or you kill eight people in The Last of Us, and that’s a very gut-wrenching scene. In Max Payne you’re killing thousands of people. One of them is a game, one is almost more like a movie. The thing that strikes me is this is a little more moving, because it’s like a life and death struggle for every kill, every death. Games that are really upping the drama of each situation — it seems like a very compelling way to make games. But it doesn’t always make the gamer happy.

Slatoff: It’s hard to find that balance. And I think Max Payne does a great job of finding that balance, because you can feel the angst as you’re playing. But it’s a shooter. In a shooter you want to be able to shoot stuff, and I think it’s pretty good at delivering both. I think what you find out, when you play Spec Ops, is you’re going to feel some of that drama. There’s a big element of that in Spec Ops, and I think that’s one of the differentiating factors of the narrative, the single-player narrative is so strong compared to some of the other military shooters that are out there. You’re going to see some of that. I agree, I think that’s exciting, and I think that helps evolve the art form, but at the end of the day, it’s a game and you want it to be fun. You want to be able to shoot stuff if you’re playing a shooter.

GamesBeat: The storytelling front seems like it’s a really interesting place for differentiation in the space.

Slatoff: The Rockstar guys have always been about storytelling, too. They make great games as well. But the writing and the underlying stories have always been a huge part of what they do. So I agree. I think that the combination of both is really where you go. Sometimes I think you can go too heavy one way or the other.

Filed under: Games