Friday, May 1, 2009

Order of War Preview

Wartime Tactics





by Amanda L. Kondolojy




May 1, 2009 - When you think of Square Enix, you probably don't think of games based on World War II. Although the house of Final Fantasy has been more than successful with its successful JRPG franchises, Square Enix is looking to start extending its grasp beyond the realm of Japanese-developed RPGs. For its first project Square Enix is working with Wargaming.Net on Order of War, a tactics-based title that is set during the final months of World War II.

Order of War screenshot

Order of War seems to be a very straightforward tactics title, with players commanding troops, artillery, tanks, and airplanes in order to succeed in battle. Since the game takes place in the closing months of World War II, most of the story will revolve around your unit's desperation over the dire situation that seems to be coming to a head.

In Order of War, you can play as either the Americans or Germans. Although instead of playing through a single memorable assault through the gaze of either side, you will be able to participate in two completely different campaigns. You can play as the Americans and lead your side to victory, as history depicts, or you can play as the Germans during an assault by the Red Army. The secondary campaign is of most interest, as it allows you to rewrite history.

One thing Order of War is really trying to get right with respect to the tactical system is the map layout. The various landscapes feature plenty of tactical land formations like hills, valleys, and fields. However, instead of giving you a simple view of these landscapes, Order of War will use a unique camera system that includes multiple perspectives for each area. This cinema system aims to give players a movie-like experience when playing the game. The multiple camera angles will also allow players to get a better view of the action and make more informed tactics decisions.

The graphics themselves look really slick, and the game uses several filters in order to give it a very nostalgic look. Much care has also been taken with the landscaping in Order of War as well. Forested European landscapes look lush and lifelike, and there are plenty of natural elements that shape the gameplay. From the look of the trailer, it seems that the landscapes will feature sloping terrain that is navigable only by tank or by plane. In blended portions of the landscape, there also seems to be tactical advantages for certain units over different terrains.

Order of War screenshot


Another really impressive facet in Order of War is the amount of active troops you can control. You will be able to take command of up to 1,000 independent troops at one time. It also seems likely that all of these troops will be displayed on screen at once, which will certainly make for some frenzied gameplay.

In addition to the frenzy caused by the high troop levels, there will be even more mayhem caused by the multitude of destructible elements in the game. These will include buildings, trees, and, of course, enemies. The different explosion animations look very spectacular, and the destruction physics are also very detailed. Although the trailer didn't show off any large-scale explosions up-close, even moderate tank-based explosions look great, so hopefully there will be more footage soon.

In addition to the two single-player campaigns, there will also be a couple online modes: Deathmatch and Skirmish. Although not much is known about what these different modes will exactly entail, the inclusion of multiplayer will undoubtedly increase the replay value of this title past the two campaign modes.

Order of War screenshot


Order of War seems to be an unexpected choice for the first Western-developed title published by Square Enix. However, by going against the status quo, I think Square Enix is making a smart decision, especially with a game that looks as strong as Order of War. Though the gameplay seems like it will stick pretty firmly to RTS conventions, I think that it will prove to be a good thing. The visuals also look like they are coming along rather nicely; I can't wait to see more from this title. Although no firm release date is set, Order of War should be releasing sometime later this year.

By Amanda L. Kondolojy
CCC Staff Contributor






Game Features:

# Experience WWII warfare on an epic, cinematic stage; one that truly captures the intensity and scale of the battlefield.
# Take Command of an entire armored force consisting of up to 1,000 soldiers, tank divisions, armored vehicles, artillery, and air force.
# Players can choose between two different campaign modes offering completely different storylines, missions, objectives, and environments.
# Experience the unique dynamic camera that allows players to command troops over huge geographical scale whilst maintaining movie-like vistas and detail.
# In-depth gameplay modes: Two different campaign modes including multiplayer Deathmatch and Skirmish.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Bionic Commando Updated Multiplayer Hands-On

* By Luke Anderson, GameSpot UK * Posted Apr 28, 2009 8:03 am PT


We first took a look a Bionic Commando's 10-player multiplayer mode last year, but Capcom had new maps on show at its Captivate 09 event. We managed to get some hands-on time playing against other journalists at the event, including a look at three new maps that will feature in the finished game.



Bionic Commando's trademark feature is the bionic arm, and the multiplayer action relies heavily on grappling and swinging around the maps. Given the slow pace of movement on the ground, you'll want to take to the air to reach higher platforms and avoid being a sitting duck at all costs. In addition to being a mode of transport, you can pull off some cool moves with the arm, including heavy and light punches, and a combo in which you can throw opponents up in the air and then smash them to the ground. You can also use the arm to grab your foe and deliver a high-speed kick, or just use it to slow down enemy movements, making them easier to shoot.

You can also obtain power-ups, including body armour, health packs, and a Bionic Commando token, which temporarily increases the damage that you can dish out. On the weapons side, you can find a machine gun, shotgun, sniper rifle, and grenade launcher, plus a rocket launcher. The rocket launcher has a greater blast radius than the grenade launcher and is more suited to picking off groups from long range. Thankfully, the maps that we were able to try all have suitable vantage points from which to take out people from afar.

There were three new stages for us to explore in our demo. Vertigo is a midsized map that's set on the rooftops of several high-rise structures at night. The dark setting contrasts with the other maps, given that the neon colours of players and power-ups can be easily spotted against the backdrop. There are plenty of strategically located overhead platforms, such as electrical conduits jutting out of buildings, which make it easy to quickly reach a better vantage point.

Island is a larger map, suited for 8 to 10 players, and is situated on an island with several high-rise buildings, bridges, a monorail, and rubble-filled streets, all in various states of destruction. The heights of the buildings mix things up a bit, with lots of areas to explore, including rooftops, streets, and also exposed sections halfway up the buildings.

The final map, called Slipped, is a more organic setting, combining platforms on one side of the map with a cliff that drops straight into the ocean. There's also a single high-rise building and a half-destroyed bridge, and with the top of the building, bridge, and cliffside platforms all roughly the same height, you can swing between them while raining fire down below. Slipped is a smaller map than Island and looks to be best suited for four to six players.


Why let Spider-Man and King Kong have all the fun?


Bionic Commando Rearmed has clearly influenced this 3D update, considering that many of the textures, lighting, and particle effects look similar to the HD remix. Although the game still looks a bit rough around the edges, it will hopefully benefit from further spit and polish in the run-up to release. Bionic Commando will be swinging its way onto the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC in the first half of this year. For more on Capcom's remake, check out our previous coverage.

Ubisoft sales hit $1.5B, Splinter Cell Conviction due by holiday '09

By Tom Magrino, GameSpot * Posted Apr 29, 2009 10:09 am PT

Shaun White sells 3M, HAWX hits 1M, new Wii sports franchise in Q4; Call of Juarez due by June, next Ghost Recon in Q1 next year.



Ubisoft continues to navigate the hostile global economic environment with aplomb. Reporting its full-year financial results today, the publisher said that revenues for the 12-month period ended March 31, 2009, reached €1.05 billion ($1.50 billion). The sales figure represents a healthy 14 percent (18.4 percent at constant exchange rates) climb over its previous fiscal year's €928 million ($1.3 billion) haul. Ubisoft also said that its cash position now stands at €155 million ($220 million).


Unfortunately, as is typical for the French publisher, Ubisoft did not reveal its take in profit for the period. However, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot did indicate that the company's margins were among the best in the industry, saying in a statement, "In a highly competitive environment, Ubisoft reported full-year sales growth of 18 percent at constant exchange rates in 2008-09, as well as the second-best profitability among comparable companies in its industry."

Guillemot trumpeted a number of other wins for the publisher during the year. Sales for Ubisoft's Far Cry and Rayman Raving Rabbids franchises were up 50 percent during the period. The publisher's casual label also experienced significant growth, with Guillemot saying that the segment was up 40 percent on the strength of games for Nintendo's platforms. The executive also noted that Ubisoft hired 1,300 employees during the year, having opened up new studios in Kiev, Ukraine, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, as well as making a number of acquisitions throughout the year.

While full-year sales were up, Ubisoft did see a dip in sales during its post-holiday quarter. For the January-March period, revenues slid 5.1 percent (2.3 percent at constant exchange rates) to €206 million ($292 million), a figure which fell in line with investor guidance. Top performers for the period included Tom Clancy's HAWX, which Ubisoft said achieved its 1 million shipped target, as well as "strong showings" from Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party and Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip for the Wii.

Ubisoft also laid out its financial targets for the coming fiscal year. Though the publisher expects to launch Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as well as a number of casual games during its in-progress March-June quarter, Ubisoft said that revenues should dive 44 percent to €95 million ($134 million).

However, the publisher still projects to see some growth over its full fiscal year ending March 31, 2010, thanks to second-half sales that are projected to rise 23 percent year-over-year. In total, sales for the 12-month period are expected to hit €1.1 billion ($1.56 billion). The publisher expects to see productivity from its franchise games Assassin's Creed 2, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction, Rabbids Go Home, Red Steel 2, Ghost Recon 4, and Dawn of Discovery. Licensed games expected to launch during the period include James Cameron's Avatar, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and Arthur and the Invisibles.

As part of a postearnings conference call, Guillemot confirmed that the Shaun White franchise has sold 3 million units across the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PSP, Wii, DS, and PC. "You can expect more Shaun White in the future," the executive said.

Guillemot also noted that the four-years-in-development Splinter Cell: Conviction will finally arrive for the Xbox 360 this holiday season, along with the recently teased Red Steel 2 and a new sports franchise for the Wii.

The executive also briefly touched upon the as-yet-announced new Ghost Recon game, saying that it should arrive during the company's January-March 2010 quarter. The publisher also expects to launch new franchises Ruse and I Am Alive during that same quarter.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Top 5 video game icons

1. Intro (Nintendo)




INTRO


Video games have seen their share of forgettable heroes. Bunnies. Annoying cats. An old man in boxers. Even Michael Jackson. These video game icons, on the other hand, are not only charismatic, but star in some of the best games the medium has to offer.

Can you guess who No. 1 is?

Which game icons are most iconic for you?




2.Pac-Man(Namco)




Pac-Man


Partly inspired by a slice-missing cheese pizza, Pac-Man quickly outgrew his humble origins. By the early '80s, he became the face of video games. Today, the smiley blob is still recognized by a majority of Americans, which explains why he's the most successful coin-operated game of all-time, according to Guinness World Records. When not being recognized by fans, he can be seen chewing the fat with Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde over a bowl of pellets.

Which game icons are most iconic for you?




3. Lara Croft (Eidos)



Lara Croft

Video game heroines existed before Lara Croft, but they were never this provocative. Admittedly, Lara's sex appeal put her on the map, but she was no slouch in terms of gameplay. The British archaeologist (a.k.a. the female Indiana Jones) is an expert rock climber. She can somersault onto high ledges. And she can kill dinosaurs with two freakin' handguns, for silicone's sake. Truly larger than life.

Which game icons are most iconic for you?



4. Master Chief (Microsoft)




Master Chief


"Halo" designers describe Master Chief as a "space Marine in really cool green armor." Like Daft Punk or Wilson from “Home Improvement,” the Chief's face is never seen, which adds to his allure. A man of few words, this relative newcomer is the least-animated icon on our list. Still, he's one of the most visible symbols of modern video games, capable of attracting midnight launch crowds by the millions.

Which game icons are most iconic for you?



5. Sonic The Hedgehog (Sega)




Sonic The Hedgehog

A long-time rival of Mario, Sonic may be the fastest playable character in the history of video games. When he gets going, he dashes onto the screen in a whirl. What's more, he hates oppression, he staunchly defends freedom and he dislikes tears, according to Sega. How can you not like someone who dislikes tears? As a result, Sonic is one of the most iconic video game characters in the world, second only to

Which game icons are most iconic for you?

Beyond Good & Evil and Photographic "Truth"

Categories: * Game Analysis


It's time for another post in which I show how a mainstream videogame manages to capture the spirit of a particular aspect of journalism better than any existing edu-game on the same subject! This month's game is Beyond Good & Evil, an artifact that shares with Psychonauts the distinction of being a relatively late entry in the sixth generation of videogames that didn't sell nearly as much as it should have considering its critical reception and creative flair.



Everything one needs to know about BG&E is masterfully presented within the first thirty minutes of playing the game. A newscast cinematic opens the experience, with Hyllis's most popular newscaster Fehn Digler (Fehn, a Scandinavian surname, is apparently the forename of all "goat sapientes") announcing an oncoming wave of alien enemies called the DomZ (perhaps a riff on Ubisoft's own Petz series). He transfers control of the broadcast over to the voice of General Kex of the Alpha Sections - an intergalactic military that is purportedly protecting the people of Hillys from the DomZ. He begins, "Loyal Hillians, the impending battle will be a difficult one, but thanks to the Alpha Sections..." before being cut off by a fadeout to the protagonist, Jade, meditating on a rock. Both Fehn Digler and General Kex are instantly set in opposition to Jade by this somewhat disruptive cut. Although the name "Fehn Digler" connotes the historical form of investigative journalism known as muckracking, he in fact aligns with the propagandistic Alpha Sections. When the introductory DomZ invasion begins, Jade springs into action and is captured in a series of black-and-white photograph snaps--Jade is a rugged photojournalist, an independent force flying in the face of the Alpha Sections' media hegemony

Jade is a spunky female of unknown ethnicity. Her ambiguous features hearken back to the famous 1993 Time magazine cover claiming to show the "New Face of America" and precede by a year the most famous multi-ethnic videogame heroine, Alyx Vance of Half-Life 2. Her name carries with it connotations of East Asian and Mesoamerican ornamentation. The name "Jade" also indirectly appeals to the game's title, Beyond Good and Evil. The famous blaxploitation film Ebony, Ivory, and Jade features two female protagonists (one white, one black), and a male protagonist named Jade. Ebony and Ivory, black and white, traditionally invoke the concepts of Good and Evil. The third element, Jade, rests outside this dichotomy. Jade is mineralogically "tough," and its earliest use was as a sharp weapon--thus connoting both beauty and the ability to "cut through" to the truth of a situation. Also important to BG&E's endgame is the fact that a 19th century French scientist discovered that what was historically known as jade was in fact two different rocks.

The game's secondary protagonist is Pey'j, Jade's gruff pig "uncle." Pigs are significant in reference to jade in Chinese history. Some of the earliest depictions of a Chinese dragon, carved out of jade, are the zhulong or "pig dragon" ouroboros artifacts crafted in neolithic China. The Pig is the final entrant of the Chinese zodiac, having lost the Jade Emperor's race in mythological times. Accordingly, pigs in the Chinese zodiac are depicted as vulnerable, which explains why Jade often finds herself protecting her rotund uncle. Another characteristic of pigs in the Chinese zodiac that Pey'j isn't is naïve: from the beginning of the game, Pey'j is highly suspect of the Alpha Sections. His name is clearly a pun on the word "page," connoting both a medieval servant to a knight (in this case, Jade) and a unit of print media.

Despite featuring a strong female, multi-ethnic protagonist, BG&E mires itself in tedious cultural stereotyping. A Latino colleague watched me play the opening hour of the game, and the flamboyant simpering of the AI character Secundo made my face flair with shame for being a gamer. Some of the game's voice acting and sound design are so ethnically fetishistic and colonial that it was hard for me to stomach the opening acts.

The "animal sapientes" that inhabit Hillys are fairly derivative of the tropes established by Gullah folk stories of the "Bruh Rabbit" tradition. Now I have two words for you, words that I hope are never made manifest in code by a videogame ever again: Gullah Rhino. I get the joke--displaced Africans living on an island--but I'm not amused. So much effort clearly went into making Jade race-neutral in speech and facial features that I don't really understand why the makers decided to go with such hackneyed ethnic tropes for the Secundo and Mammago characters.

The IRIS Network is an intergalactic organization of operatives and "correspondents" that seek to disrupt the machinations of the Alpha Sections. Their primary modus operandi is the creation of counter-propaganda in the form of newsprint and radio. Calling themselves a "network" of course denotes network television news. The fact that their agents are called correspondents only deepens this connection. The root network of the Yellow Iris is used in natural water purification , a fact which might or might not be an intended analogy on the designers' part--the Network attempts to "cure" the media occlusion caused by the Alpha Sections' propaganda.

The irides of our eyes control the amount of light that reaches our retinas by expanding and contracting the pupil. Diseases of the irides directly affect one's ability to see; similarly, the IRIS Network also controls the information that Jade receives throughout the course of the game. Although a seemingly benevolent force (perhaps the Good to the Alpha Section's Evil), players and Jade immediately question the motivations of the IRIS Network after they introduce themselves to Jade through a deceit: they send Jade on a fool's errand into the heart of an ancient mine as a test of her abilities. Mr. Hahn's ridiculous transformation from the Cadillac-driving Mr. De Castellac to a blue collar taxi driver both confirms player suspicions that the Network is not to be trusted while connecting the organization to working class values. Jade finally meets with IRIS in the Akuda Bar, inside of which a dub song constantly drones a one-word chorus: "propaganda."

The gameplay of Beyond Good & Evil is almost entirely derivative of two Nintendo products: Ocarina of Time and Metroid Prime. That said, the fracturing of the self-contained adventure game protagonist into units of Jade/Pey'j and Jade/Double H is both a vital move on the part of more and more recent game designers and cause for quite a bit of realtime narrative and engaging puzzle platforming. The important connection for us is that derived from Metroid: Jade's camera functions almost identically to Samus's scanning visor. Not only can it take pictures, but it can also access data terminals. Photography comprises roughly 1/6 of one's time in the game, as players are practically required to snap nature photographs of plants, animals, and DomZ for a preservation society in order to maintain a steady stream of revenue. Perhaps predicting the recent crisis in print journalism, Jade's career as a photojournalist has fallen on hard times. The pictures in her studio are of the orphans she takes care of--not what one would usually expect to see in a professional reporter's darkroom. Before acquiring the nature photography job from Secundo, Jade doesn't have enough of a line of credit to afford basic power needs or transportation costs.

The use of nature photography, in which verisimilitude is demanded by the needs for preservation and education, is important in understanding the naïve assumptions about photographic truth upon which Beyond Good and Evil rely. Jade's mission from the IRIS Network is to infiltrate key Alpha Sections installations in order to photograph their unmasked faces and the plight of their hostages:

Every proof we can find relating to this conspiracy will bring us more and more support from the people. A general uprising would allow us to overthrow the Alpha Sections; if the revolt spreads we may be able to end this war, but we need photographic evidence to find out exactly what's going on[...]

Alpha is the transparency value in digital image manipulation. As a cohesive, unquestioned whole the Alpha Sections are completely oblique. By disrupting and photographing their operations, Jade will increase media transparency and arrive at "the truth." At the end of the game Jade's photographs, published under the pseudonym "Shauni" (a name which apparently shares a Hebrew root with Jeanne, meaning "God's Grace" and therefore associating Jade with Jeanne d'Arc's goal of driving the invaders from a homeland), do in fact bring about a revolution against the Alpha Sections.

Which leads one to ask, "Why, in a distant future full of anthropomorphized space animals and flying cars, would anyone believe in the integrity of a photograph?" Tweens know how to use Photoshop. Critics questioned Robert Flaherty's construction of early documentaries such as Nanook of the North roughly an entire century ago (in the 1920s). The game's title references Nietzsche's own Beyond Good and Evil, which demands that not that morality be abandoned outright but that philosophers throw away dated (neo-Platonic, Christian) concepts such as "truth," "knowledge," and "free will." Unfortunately, the game only serves to affirm the completely outmoded concept of documentary reality. The game's ending is somewhat revelatory, but it can't honestly be described as "cutting through to the truth." Players are hand-fed the narrative conclusion and its moral. What the game never explains is how the Alpha Sections gained power in Hyllis, we are told only that "the government was caught off guard." It doesn't explain why seemingly the entire populace suffers and accepts the blatant, omnipresent propaganda of Fehn Digler and General Kex. We don't learn much about how media control comes about, and we don't learn a feasible modus operandi for independent journalists.

In order to evolve, journalists might one day have to throw their claim to being able to discern and disseminate "truth." On the other hand, so-called "citizen journalists," if they hope to succeed in the disseminated future of newsmaking on the web, are going to have to learn that objectivity is more difficult to attain than the simple snapping of a picture. If only a game so apparently concerned with disrupting propaganda and news media hegemony could have helped light the way.
News 55Gamez © 2009. Sponsored by: Tutorial87 Commentcute
This template is Edited and brought to you by : 55gamerzone.blogspot.com TroLL55