Sorry About That, Miranda

Patrick Klepek from Giant Bomb deals with death in Mass Effect 2, and discusses consequence in games. [CONTAINS MASS EFFECT 2 SPOILERS]

My response pissed her off, and she turned away. No matter how many times I tried, she wouldn’t budge. There was nothing more to be said, and unless I loaded a save, this was the end.

Extra Credits – Western & Japanese RPGs (three part video series)

A thought-provoking look at the differences between Western and Japanese RPGs, and the way we classify games.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Creating the Illusion of emotion or why you care about ones and zeroes

Brian Crecente at VOX games takes a very interesting look into the psyche of gamers and how developers can trick us in order to bring out an emotional response. Be sure to check out the Kara video mentioned in the article, it is a visually stunning video.

But at its best gaming artificial intelligence systems, AI expert David Mark says, are, like 2-year-olds, basically sociopaths. What he means is that they are intrinsically anti-social. Getting past that problem doesn’t mean imbuing a character with personality, it means tricking gamers.

A Hero Past His Prime Finally Gets His Chance To Shine

Tracey Lien from Kotaku Australia talks to Adam Rippon, the creator of Dragon Fantasy, an 8-bit RPG 16 years in the making, starring a character loosely based on his father who recently passed away.

When you’re 14 years old and set out to make a game, you don’t anticipate it will take 16 years to complete. Nor do you imagine the hero of your RPG to be a balding, tubby knight based on your father. Adam Rippon certainly didn’t expect any of this, and his game, Dragon Fantasy, is all the better for it.

Sony recently unleashed the Playstation Vita to the Japanese masses and have now confirmed the North America release day line up. It’s a substantial amount of games, probably a game in there for everyone. I’m probably most looking forward to Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Super Stardust Delta, Little Deviants and Escape Plan. The launch games will all be dropping February 22, 2012 in the US and Canada.

I’ve also included the launch window titles as well, for good measure.

SCEA Launch Day Titles
Escape Plan™ (PSN Only)
Hot Shots Golf®: World Invitational
Hustle Kings™ (PSN Only)
Little Deviants™
ModNation™ Racers: Road Trip
Super StarDust™ Delta (PSN only)
UNCHARTED: Golden Abyss™
wipEout® 2048

Launch Window Titles
Gravity Rush™
MLB® 12 The Show
Reality Fighters™
Unit 13™

Third Party Publisher Launch Day Titles
Army Corps of Hell
Asphalt® Injection
BEN10™ GALACTIC RACING
Blazblue: Continuum Shift EXTEND*
Dungeon Hunter Alliance
Dynasty Warriors Next
F1 2011™
EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer
Lumines ™ Electronic Symphony*
Michael Jackson The Experience
Plants vs. Zombies™ (PSN Only)
Rayman® Origins*
Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen
Tales of Space: Mutant Blobs (PSN Only)
Touch My Katamari™
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3®*
Virtua Tennis™4: World Tour Edition

Launch Window Titles
LEGO® Harry Potter™: Years 5-7
Disgaea ®3:Absence of Detention
NINJA GAIDEN® Sigma PLUS
Ridge Racer®
Silent Hill Book of Memories
Supremacy MMA: Unrestricted™

What are you looking forward to the most? Did you even know this thing existed? Let us know in the comments!

Happy Holidays!!

I had the opportunity to play in the open BETA of Bioware’s MMO Star Wars the Old Republic. I spent a good portion of the weekend creating characters and trying to explore what the game had to offer. We’ll get one thing out of the way right off the bat, Bioware has made a Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) experience and anyone thinking Star Wars: The Old Republic is more than an MMO is sadly mistaken and possibly a bit delusional. The Old Republic contains all of the MMO tropes we’ve come to expect from the genre but Bioware has managed to add it’s own flare to the game as well as make it an enticing MMO experience.

Combat is pretty standard; you target an enemy and then press numbers to activate your skills that rest comfortably in a hotbar. After that then the dice rolls begin and combat plays out. Throughout my weekend with the game I had the opportunity to level up three characters, two based on melee and one ranged-blaster class. I would have to say that the melee combat felt the most fluid out of the options. My largest issue with the ranged class was that between each animation there was a noticeable seam, and that seam bugged me a lot. It was like a dead pixel on a monitor. The melee class’ animations just seemed to blend better together. As the Sith Inquisitor and Jedi Knight classes I was able to wield lightsabers and use force powers. This IS pretty much the reason to play a Star Wars game, right? To feel super bad ass and be able to destroy foes in a single swipe? Well, that’s not exactly the case for the Old Republic. Your lightsaber will not incinerate anything it touches and that’s a bit of a let down. For the basic attacks, you build up “focus” points that can then be spent on higher level skills that you’ve purchased. You also have reactionary skills such as riposte which can be performed after a parry occurs. With ranged classes the focus system is replaced with a clip system which mimics ammunition in combat.

For those wondering there is indeed a crafting system available, except they are assigned to companions and not yourself. You personally will never have to collect material around the world but you will have to tell your companion to do it. I can’t really go into much detail on crafting due to the fact I never delved into it but it suffices to say I can tell you that to gather the majority of the resources, you end up sending your companion on Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood style missions where they disappear for a set amount of time and then return later on with rewards. Whether they will be successful is outlined in each mission excerpt, so you can see at a glance the probability.

The Old Republic is heavily instanced and does not hide that fact. Throughout the world you will encounter walls of energy that indicate an instance ahead and notify you as to what class can enter. There are also larger instances that Bioware has introduced that are more story heavy and are known as Flashpoints. These normally require a group of people and have several stages you must go through in order to complete it. I had the opportunity to play through one of these and found that the dialogue and story were fairy engaging and kept good pacing.

With The Old Republic Bioware appears to have been trying to melt a single player game experience into a social one and they succeed fairly well in a few cases. This game is fully voiced. Throughout my time with The Old Republic I did not hear a repeated voice and the quality of the dialogue was fantastic, even if what they were telling me was not the most interesting thing — “Hey, go over to area A and get me 10 cat teeth, would ya?”. I’m pretty sure at one point I heard Nolan North trying to sell me things, although I could have just imagined it.

There are also several very Bioware styled mechanisms that have been added into the game. The Mass Effect style dialogue wheel makes a return when you engage in dialogue and it appears multiple dialogue paths are available. Bioware has also introduced Light Side and Dark Side points that can be affected by your dialogue choices. From what I can tell so far the points make new gear available to you. Similar to the Light Side and Dark Side point system are Social points, which are rewarded throughout conversations when grouped. While you are in a group, if a member initiates dialogue with a mission item or person then the other group members are invited to the “conversation”. During the conversation each member chooses their option for what dialogue path to take and is awarded Social points as it progresses. There are special vendors throughout the universe that provide you the opportunity to trade in your Social points for special gear.

It’s unfortunate that with all the hours and money thrown into The Old Republic that Bioware was not able to expand the envelope or evolve the genre. What Bioware has been able to deliver though is a very well polished and enjoyable online experience. To anyone looking for that, I would recommend at least trying Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Thanks to everyone participated by joining the team, finding sponsors and raising money. You fought well.

Thanks to everyone who watched the stream and joined the chat for your kind words and support.

And of course a BIG thanks to everyone who donated.

See you next year.

But it’s not over yet; far from it, in fact. The day our team has been training for is rapidly approaching and we are HUNGRY for some 24 hour video game goodness, but we still need your help. The original plan was to just bring all the video games we own, throw them into a big pile and start playing–and that’s still the plan–but we want to know if there’s any games you’d like to see us play.

Throw your suggestions in the comments below, tweet ‘em at us, or just yell them out on the day in the live stream and we’ll try our damndest to track it down and play it for you. After all you sponsored us. Realistically you have a better chance of seeing a game played if it’s something we can get digitally and relevantly cheap, but don’t hesitate to throw some crazy and obscure titles our way.

We ‘ll still be accepting pledges throughout the actual day of the event, so if you haven’t donated yet there’s still time! If you’re looking for an Extra Life team that is playing for a Children’s Miracle Network hospital in your area head over to http://www.extra-life.org.

I got that picture of all the games from here.

To borrow from the words of it’s creator, The Stanley Parable is an experimental and narrative-driven exploration of choice, freedom, storytelling and reality, all examined through the lens of what it means to play a video game. Knowing any more about the game than that would put a severe and irreversible damper on you enjoyment of it; the less you know about it before you play it, the better.

Having said that, I wholeheartedly encourage you to play The Stanley Parable if you have any interest in video games whatsoever. To play, only the Source SDK Base 2007 is required, so you could play the mod without having Half-Life 2 installed. If unzipping a folder isn’t something your comfortable with you can install it using Desura, a community driven digital distribution service for games and mods, which I’ve played around with for a bit and think is pretty cool.

I could talk profusely about The Stanley Parable and the many interesting questions it raises about this medium we love so dearly, but I fear I may have already said too much.

What may surprise you is that,effective August 12, the retail price for the Nintendo 3DS will be dropping from a perhaps barely justifiable $249.99 to a more reasonable $169.99.

If you’re like me and you already bought a 3DS, lured by the irresistible charms of Ocarina of Time, you’ve probably already swallowed your own face in pure unrelenting anger. The fact that Nintendo considers early adopters such as you and I to be “3DS Ambassadors” will hopefully cool the flames of your vexation, as the aforementioned ambassadors will be receiving some complementary games for our trouble.

Ambassadors will be given access to a list of 10 free NES Virtual Console games such as The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Jr., Balloon Fight, and Ice Climber. The other five games have not been announced at the time of writing, but all 10 games will be made available on the same day.

We will also gain access to 10 free GameBoy Advance titles. The games that have been announced to be on this list are Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Metroid Fusion, WarioWare Inc.: Mega Microgame$ and Mario vs. Donkey Kong.

In the press release, it was stated that “Nintendo currently has no plans to make these 10 games available to the general public on the Nintendo 3DS in the future,”, which is odd.

Nintendo will no doubt release more information soon.

So what do you have to do if you have a 3DS and want 20 free games? Make sure you connect to the eShop before the price drop at 11:59 p.m. EST on August 11th.

Does this $80 price drop make the 3DS a more attractive or feasible purchase for you, or are there still not enough games that interest you? Should Sony drop the price of the Vita to compete? Discuss!

This is especially great news if you’re one of the last four people in the world who doesn’t already have this game in their Steam library, but for the rest of us this means there’s an impending wave of new players about to flood the servers making for some easy pickins.

I haven’t played much since the Mann-Conomy update of September last year which let players buy hats and guns in-game, but TF2 is some of the most fun I’ve had on the internet.

The game has been in the midst of a free week until today, and the Über Update should roll out later this evening.

If you have Steam and a computer you have no excuse not to get this game. Right now.

Also, there’s a new “Meet the Medic” Trailer:

• The controller features:
  • 6.2″ Touchscreen (non-HD)
  • Front and Rear Cameras
  • Dual-analog thumbpads
  • Motion controls
  • Microphone
  • Speakers

• Backwards compatible with Wiimote, Balance board, and Wii games.
• Games Confirmed so far:
  • Batman: Arkham City
  • Assassin’s Creed
  • Ghost Recon Online
  • Darksiders 2
  • Tekken
  • Dirt
  • Aliens Colonial Marines
  • Metro Last Light
  • Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge
  • “Battlefield”
  • “FIFA”
  • “Army of Two”
  • “The Sims”
• The system will use proprietary iDensity Discs of unspecified, but “large capacity”
• Flash memory which is expandable with USB drives and SD cards
• Supports HDMI output, 1080p
• Release date is somewhere between April 1st and December 31st, 2012; or after the end of Nintendo’s fiscal year

We’ll keep you posted. Follow us on twitter (@TheButtonSmash) for continued E3 coverage.

Here’s a video Nintendo showed during the conference showing off what the Wii U controller is capable of:

And here’s a video of developers of the games listed above talking about Wii U:

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

From Dust

Toy Soldiers: Cold War

Fruit Ninja: Kinect

and my personal favorite: Bastion

Should be a pretty awesome summer spent inside playing awesome games.

You can find it under the “Tools” tab in Steam. Here’s the blog post the Portal 2 Team put up yesterday: http://www.thinkwithportals.com/blog.php?id=5443&p=1.

If no one has made a complete recreation of the first Portal game before the week is out, I’m going to be really disappointed in you guys. Not mad, just disappointed.

Coming to you from people of various religious beliefs at Ubisoft Montreal, Revelations will ostensibly provide the “most immersive experience available in the series to date”. Ezio Auditore Da Firenze will return, this time following in the footsteps of his ancestor Altair on a “journey of discovery and revelation”. The developer has also hinted at “revolutionary gameplay” allowing players to manipulate the construct of Desmond’s memories and the Animus to decipher the mysteries of his past and gain insight into the future. Ezio will also use a ”new weapon and tool that changes the way you’ll fight and traverse the world”. You can see it in the screenshot released along with the annoucement.

Check out my gold hooky things

More details will be gleaned at E3 and in the June issue of Game Informer.

Altair and Old Man Ezio

Personally I’m not sure if this is the best timing for another Assassin’s Creed release. Assassin’s Creed 2 was one of the best games I’ve played in recent memory, and Brotherhood being released so soon after was a tad worrying. However, Brotherhood turned out to be totally kick-ass, so perhaps Ubisoft will pull another great title out of their pointy-brimed hoods this time as well.

Linkdump:

• Wadjet Eye Games – Gemini Rue
• Adhesive Games – Hawken

This episode of The Button Smash podcast features music by Ozzed.

Someone pressed that button real hard

You may have noticed that we now have an awesome logo in the top left of the site and on our other social networks. It was designed by the kick-ass Hail To The Heat! Head over to her site and check out the other awesome stuff she’s done.

Many thanks to Hail To The Heat for making The Button Smash look like a respectable place of business.

Rumors of Nintendo’s new HD console – dubbed Project Café – have been spreading around the internet like connection errors on the PSN, and it’s a relief to find that they are at the very least based on a modicum of truth. Whether or not the system will have an iPad-equse controller, a casing made entirely of chocolate, or be compatible with the 3DS still remains to be seen however, so we’ll have to remain on the edge of our seats until E3 this summer. Also I may have confused one of those rumors with something else.

Image courtesy of Gossip Gamers.

Now, if you are like me then you probably thought “Anonymous” the instant you saw that statement. After all, Anonymous did indicate that they were going to be going to war with Sony. This is not the case, in fact AnonOps themselves have stated that they do not claim any responsibility for it.

Patrick did not have any indication when PSN might be back up but indicated that they are committed to “[p]roviding quality entertainment services to our customers and partners” and that it is “[their] utmost priority”.

UPDATE: 04/23/11 @ 11:25 PM MST
———————–
PSN network is still down, Patrick Seybold has posted a new blog entry noting that they are working around the clock.

We sincerely regret that PlayStation Network and Qriocity services have been suspended, and we are working around the clock to bring them both back online. Our efforts to resolve this matter involve re-building our system to further strengthen our network infrastructure. Though this task is time-consuming, we decided it was worth the time necessary to provide the system with additional security.

We thank you for your patience to date and ask for a little more while we move towards completion of this project. We will continue to give you updates as they become available.

Still no definitive mention of a timetable unfortunately but hey, at least Xbox live is still up.

Bazinga.

UPDATE: 04/25/2011 @ 10:33 MST
———————-
At this point I feel like a broken record. PSN is STILL down. Patrick Seybold posted a new blog entry but had nothing new to say.

I’ll keep updates coming as news rolls in. For now stay strong my fellow gamers.

UPDATE: 04/26/2011 @ 3:49 MST
———————-
Alright, we finally have some new information on this mess but it’s not good. Recent post by Patrick Seymond indicates that the intruders may have gained access to personal information on PSN users. This may include your purchase history, shipping address, PSN password etc. Basically, when PSN comes back up, ensure that you change your information — maybe even cancel your credit card — although Patrick didn’t specify that our credit card information has been exposed…yet. Patrick also finally gave us a timeline for some services to be restored “within the week”.

In addition to that, the upcoming release will also feature a new Boss Challenge mode which unlocks once the player reaches a certain point in the game. It will allow players to fight any of the bosses they have previously defeated once more, or fight them one-by-one in a continuous battle.

This must be what Iwata was hinting at when he revealed that the 3DS version of Ocarina would be “crammed with interesting things that weren’t in the Nintendo 64 version.”

As an unabashed Zelda fan, this news may force me to purchase a 3DS immediately despite the system’s current hardware problems.

Here’s the press release:

A LEGEND RETURNS IN MAGICAL 3D THIS JUNE

Experience The Legend of Zelda™: Ocarina of Time 3D in the palm of your hand, exclusively on Nintendo 3DS

19th April, 2011 – One of the most critically-acclaimed games of all time The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time has returned, this time in full 3D – without the need for glasses – and exclusively to Nintendo 3DS. Brace yourselves this summer as The Legend of Zelda™: Ocarina of Time 3D – a masterful enhancement on one of the landmark releases in video game history – comes to Europe on 17th June, 2011.

With phenomenally re-mastered graphics and new stunning 3D visuals, fans of the original game and newcomers alike will be able to marvel at this gaming classic to join the daring adventures of one of video-gaming’s greatest heroes – Link!

Guide Link – a young boy who is tasked with saving the land of Hyrule from Ganondorf, the Gerudo King of Thieves. The evil Ganondorf is intent on gaining mastery both over the land of Hyrule and time itself and he is led by his ambition to overthrow the current Royal Family of Htrule. It is up to Link to stop him in his tracks as you guide him on a magical journey through time. Explore vast landscapes, mythical temples, dungeons, towns and villages, as well as interact with many different characters and battle various enemies – all in stunning 3D.

The game’s original control scheme has been completely re-designed to fully make the best use of the capabilities of the Nintendo 3DS system. Players will be able to control Link by utilising the Circle Pad whilst the Touch Screen of the Nintendo 3DS is used to assign items, check maps and ensure that Link is wearing the appropriate equipment – all in a fresh and intuitive way. Players can also take advantage of the in-built gyro sensor of the Nintendo 3DS; the implemented motion controls allow you to look around your environment when in first person perspective simply by physically moving the Nintendo 3DS system.

Not only does the fully-3D gameplay experience provide easier in-game navigation, but an improved and intuitive interface gives you better control as you solve puzzles, travel through time and explore the immersive land of Hyrule. Players not so familiar to the Legend of Zelda series can also get a helping hand through bite sized videos available in-game which will provide hints on how to solve puzzles encountered during your journey.

Fans of the original game will be pleased to know that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D also heralds the inclusion of two brand new additional challenges not available in the original game; Master Quest and Boss Challenge.

Master Quest mode will see some surprising changes to the game. Puzzles will have to be thought about and solved in new ways from the main Story mode, whilst items and enemies will be found in different locations. The land of Hyrule has also been reversed as locations are mirrored – so what would ordinarily have been on the right now appears on the left and vice versa. Enemies will also prove more difficult to beat, and as such the greater complexity involved in this new Master Quest will test the gameplay abilities of even the most seasoned fans and prove a new experience for all.

The new Boss Challenge mode acts as an extra treat for those players who reach a certain point within the game. It will provide players with the opportunity to face any of the previous Bosses they have defeated once again, or, the option to face and confront them one-by-one, all in a continuous battle.

The game’s graphical re-working coupled with the three-dimensional depth provided by your Nintendo 3DS breathes new life into this timeless classic. Whether you’re a first-time player or a regular visitor to Hyrule, the engaging, immersive gameplay features of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D offers a magical new adventure for all.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D launches across Europe, exclusively for Nintendo 3DS, on 17th June, 2011.

IGN has since then reported that the new console will be more powerful than the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3, and that it will be capable of 1080p resolutions. Nintendo is reportedly showing the console to publishers and aiming for a 2012 release date. Additional reports state that the new console will be backwards compatible with current Wii software.

As a lifelong Nintendo fanboy this news has my hopes through the roof. The mere idea of exploring Hyrule in HD already has me reaching for my wallet.

This year’s E3 is shaping up to be quite the show.

UPDATE (1:17pm April 15, 2011)

According to Destructoid via the French site 01net, the new console’s controller will be like “an iPad with buttons.”

The controller itself is said to include a 6″ single touch screen, d-pad, “L and R,” two triggers, and “others.” The functionality of the Wii’s sensor bar has now been integrated into the controller, which would mean that you’d just use your controller as a sensor bar for Wiimote gameplay. It would a sport a front facing camera.

Also, because it’s Nintendo we’re talking about here, the cost of this controller is said to be “modest” and we shouldn’t expect iPad levels of power or performance here. They call it an “iPad with buttons” for lack of a better term. 01net’s source also elaborated on the hardware specs of the console itself.