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Sega announced recently that they will be returning to the Sonic franchise yet again, but instead of creating such illustrious mechanics as the werehog, they will be opting for a return to form. In short: Sonic is returning to the 2D side scrolling speed platformer it used to be. This is just another in a long trend of bringing the past back to the present in modern day gaming. While the business plan makes sense and you would think that those of us who grew up in the Nintendo generation would leap head over heels for the opportunity to re-create the glory days, the response seems pretty clear that retro is out. If you own the Wii, the previous statement probably sounds to you like an absurd claim with the success of New Super Mario Bros. Wii and even last year’s download release of Mega Man 9, but after closer analysis it all comes to a head very fast. There’s no denying the success and money made from these titles. But this formula is specific to the circumstances surrounding their release and therefore cannot be applied to all types of games.
What is Retro?
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Categorized in Game Talk
Tags: genesis, Mega Man, nintendo, retro, Sonic
Note: The text below is very clickable! Links are used as backups for arguments and for hidden jokes. There are NO adds here! _____
With the somewhat recent conclusion of this year’s CES, or Consumer Electronics Show for the uninitiated, I have been confronted with arguments about the technical direction of modern gaming. What is the next big thing? How can the industry widen their audience and what will be the catalyst for the next wave of innovation? By and large, games have reached such a high level of visual fidelity that developers are looking to new tech to differentiate themselves from the crowd*. CES is for the unveiling of up and coming consumer electronics in general, but it has significant implications for the console gaming market in 2010. The major players have already placed their bets firmly on the gospel of motion control and the (much loftier) push for 3D. Motion control has certainly legitimized itself with the unrivaled success of Nintendo’s Wii. And in parallel fashion, Hollywood has convinced the mainstream to consider 3D again with the likes of James Cameron’s Avatar. So the games industry feels like it’s making a solid bet in a most serene future of motion control and 3D.
What is the next big thing?
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Categorized in Game Talk
Tags: 3D gaming, Arc Controller, Motion Control, Project Natal
Also known as “Why in the hell do you want this terrible job so bad?!” You can catch a preview for PSN’s upcoming reality show HERE.
A few surprises:
1. It’s produced by the folks who brought you VH1′s Rock of Love.
2. As you’ll see from the above video, David Jaffe* is one of the judges.
3. Even videogame reality shows have skanky chicks: “No one’s really ever asked if I have a boyfriend, so I’ll kinda keep it on the DL and see how it goes,” says one contestant who is then shown cuddling up with another.
4. Another one of the judges is Ketherine De Leon – the producer of Playstation Home, a trainwreck in of itself.
5. If this preview is a accurate sampling of the show, there will be gratuitous overuse of the term “game over”.
Also, for those of you who question the idea that being a Playstation game tester is undesirable job see the recent Penny Arcade comic strip about it.
Awesome! So get excited… or terrified. Also be ready for massive gamer stereotyping.
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* According to David Jaffe, “I started as a Tester 15 years ago with Sony. And testing is still one of the best ways to break into the industry.” -via the official PSN site.
Interesting, but I don’s see any of these people becoming design leads on God of War 4… just sayin’.
Categorized in Game Talk
Tags: The Tester, PSN
Thanks to some of my Twitter friends (gadgetman007 and Mehar Gill), I was steered to this little deal at newegg! $7.99 with free shipping, not bad. Looks like Newegg is clearing out some of their games stock. It might be a good time to check em’ out since I noticed a lot of other games going for a sub $10 price w/ free shipping. It’s funny that I find my self with this game as I was bashing it just a few days ago. My recent doting about Split Second got people talking about a similar game slated for the same release window: Blur (Bizarre Creations). Watching a recent developer diary video for the title got me feeling a bit wishy washy about it so I was going to take a “wait and see” approach to the game. There seems to be a lot more compelling software up for grabs. Then I made the alleged mistake of saying “I mean they did make geometry wars but… they also made The Club” (referring to Bizarre Creations). Then I was I was hit by a barrage of people telling me that The Club is good! I based my statement on the yawn inducing demo. So let’s see if it can capture me with it’s high score-perfect run replayability.
I figure it’s worth the less-than-a-rental price to entertain my curiosity. Now to find the time to play it… don’t worry, I’ll squeeze it in!
Categorized in On the Cheap
Tags: The Club
I don’t mean to go on and on about Split Second (I’m actually working on a big feature article which I’ll publish soon 
) but I couldn’t help but notice Kotaku’s own Stephen Totilo making strikingly similar observations about the game. Totilo is a games journalist I really respect and I was downright tickled that he made a lot of similar conclusions. I’m really jealous because he’s actually gotten hands-on time with the game. Anyway click the link below to check it out:
“Things We Don’t Need to See, Such as our Speed”
Categorized in Game Talk and Sidenotes
Tags: Split Second, Stephen Totilo
