The minute I heard of Capcom’s announcement for Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City, my excitement for anything RE-related peaked. I’ll admit that’s probably not a great idea considering the series has some pretty pathetic lows (like PS One’s Resident Evil Survivor) in its past, but I tend to ignore silly offshoots for promising ideas.
And the core ideas in ORC make a bold promise: A tour of duty through the zombie-filled streets of Raccoon City, and the player engages the storied viral outbreak from the perspective of Umbrella Corporation’s security squad. Different objectives have you destroying evidence regarding the G-Virus — all in an attempt to clear the corrupt pharmaceutical company of wrongdoing. The idea fits in a provocative sense even though, if you really think about it, Umbrella won’t get away with it in the end — remember the sleepy Midwestern town is nuked to contain the problem at the close of RE3, wiping it off the map. But regardless of the outcome, it’s the journey that counts: another Resident Evil set in Raccoon City using today’s high-definition technologies could be remarkable, right?
This week was not kind to video game publishers. THQ announced plans for 240 lay-offs amidst the board of directors and CEO giving themselves a 50% paycut. Meanwhile, Disney bought a controlling stake in India-based UTV Ignition — a publisher which went through its own set of lay-offs and restructuring last year — for an undisclosed sum after the Indian government approved the deal which had reportedly been in the works since at least last summer. Disney plans to use the firm to expand their own presence in the Asian market. Neither company revealed how the changes would impact Ignition’s gaming division. It’s entirely possible that it will have little or no effect, but that seems unlikely given the troubles the company endured last year. THQ ran into financial trouble after relying on licensed properties and kids and family titles, specifically uDraw, whereas Ignition announced they would shift their focus to downloadable titles last year after a series of poorly performing games.
These two publishers are hardly the only ones publicly struggling. Various factors, including high-cost HD development, have led to a shakeout amongst small and medium sized publishers like Eidos, Gamecock, Midway, and others while Activision rakes in massive profits. Of course, this is normal, companies that fail to adapt die. However, THQ’s and Ignitions’s recent troubles stem from a disturbing trend in game consumers, not from development or publishing difficulties. It seems that players are spending more time playing games, but paradoxically spending that extra time with fewer titles. Game makers have never in the forty-year history of the medium had such a massive consumer base to sell to, but players have never been so unwilling to try new experiences.
PC gamers have become accustomed to being treated less than ideally as a result of DRM schemes like those which force you to have an active Internet connection to play or only provide you with a limited number of installations before having to ask for more. Next week gamers will get a taste of what it’s like to be treated even worse when Ubisoft migrates its online services to new servers.
As outlined on the publisher’s website, the process will begin on February 7. There’s no estimate given for how long this will take which is problematic because not only will Uplay be unavailable, but a handful of PC and Mac games will also be impacted. That impact goes beyond online multiplayer; a number of games will not be playable online or offline for the duration of the transition. You didn’t read that wrong: you will not be able to play a game you own offline because of a server transition.
Earlier this week, Gamasutra published a scathing criticism of Final Fantasy XIII-2 penned by our colleague (and occasional Retronauts podcast guest) Christian Nutt. Though contextualized through an extended comparison to Red Letter Media’s popular video critiques of the Star Wars prequel films, his commentary touched upon many of the same points and concerns I addressed in my own review of the game. Where our opinions differ, I think, is in our ultimate conclusion of XIII-2‘s merits (or lack thereof); I found the game flawed but a welcome step in correcting the series’ course after two widely lambasted entries, while Christian feels it represents a deep, systemic rot at Square Enix’s internal development studio.
I’m not too surprised by this turn of events. Christian and I rarely see eye-to-eye on most matters. So while I agree with his assessment of the underlying issues affecting FFXIII and XIII-2, my outlook on the company’s future isn’t nearly as dire as his. (I also disagree with many of Christian’s assertions about FFXIII, such as the claim that lead protagonist Lightning lacked a demonstrable character arc, but that’s neither here nor there.) From having spoken to FFXIII-2 director Motomu Toriyama and producer Yoshinori Kitase several times over the past couple of years, I get the impression that they’re sincerely concerned about the series’ direction and want to keep Final Fantasy relevant. From what I know of Square Enix’s corporate culture, I also suspect that they’re hobbled by the conservative nature of Japanese business, which can be slow to change when processes and standards that worked for years suddenly become ineffectual.
For all of its bugs, glitches, and issues, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is still a remarkable game. As I’m sure was the case for many other gamers, the promise of eventual mod support was in and of itself enough reason for me to purchase the game on PC. Expansive mods are no longer all that far off as support is in place for the Skyrim Workshop now that the 1.4 update is available through Steam.
As demonstrated in the video above, Bethesda will soon be releasing the Creation Kit (mod-making software comprised of the same tools used to make the game) to the masses, enabling those who are so inclined to begin creating new content for what is already a content-rich game. Mods do exist for Skyrim but they are largely limited to things like UI refinements, improved world maps, enhanced textures, and so on. The Creation Kit should allow for a great deal more than that.
Before the demo from two weeks ago, all most people knew about Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was that it’s the first product of a studio that boasts a roster containing baseball legend Curt Schilling, comics and action figures guru Todd McFarlane, Dungeons & Dragons scribe R.A. Salvatore, and Internationally Celebrated Game Designer Ken Rolston. That, along with the basic boast of how Reckoning mashes up the combat of God of War with the expansive world of an Elder Scrolls title, dominated public awareness of the game.
We’ve seen the game a few times, but even those demos were either a brief and out-of-context presentation or, in Jeremy’s case, a long yet woefully out-of-context hands-on session. Jeremy had the unenviable task of jumping into a late-game area completely cold, dealing with a combat system and boss encounter designed for people who have been playing the game for 30-plus hours and a story moment that, while cool-looking, was dense with Salvatore’s Amalurian jargon. In contrast, I’ve been playing a final copy of the game for a good 40 hours (and have only recently reached the area that Jeremy was thrust into), and while my final thoughts will have to wait until next week’s review, I find that once I played the game at my own pace, it managed to grab and hold onto me more than any other time I’d seen it.
As if EverQuest dropping subscriptions wasn’t enough of a sign that the subscription-based MMO business model will eventually be replaced by free-to-play, Trion Worlds has announced it will begin allowing players to experience a good chunk of Rift‘s early game content for free.
It’s an identical move to the one Blizzard made last summer in the face of declining World of Warcraft subscription numbers. Coinciding with the release of the 1.7 update, a version of Rift known as Rift Lite is debuting today. By signing up for a free Trion account, you will be able to play up to level 20 without any restrictions on how long you can play for. Previously the trial available would only allow for seven days of play time before requiring the game be purchased in order to continue. That was a more significant free period than WoW’s (which allowed you to play for only 48 hours), though removing the time limit altogether is a smarter approach.
Perhaps some specific release dates will reassure you that Max Payne 3 won’t be delayed again. Be soothed by these calendar entries, straight out of Take-Two’s latest earnings report: Max will dive and shoot and dilate time on Xbox and PS3 on May 15.
The PC version will follow on May 29, which we suppose constitutes a safe little mini-delay within the announcement. To keep yourself occupied, have a browse around the new Max Payne 3 website.Max Payne 3 out on Xbox and PS3 May 15, PC May 29 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Darksiders 2 is scheduled to launch in June 2012, THQ’s Q3 fiscal report reveals. It lists the ambitious action-adventure game for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Darksiders 2 is coming to Wii U as well, although Nintendo’s platform isn’t set to drop until the “year-end season.”Darksiders 2 steps out of the shadows this June originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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