Useless gaming news & chatter

[Velorath]

David Jaffe's keynote from PAX.  I've always found Jaffe to be pretty entertaining, and he never seems to have a problem saying what's on his mind.

[Bunk]

Operation Skywatch

Anyone have any idea what it is? I jumped in to a line at 2k's booth at PAX thinking it was regarding Borderlands, only to grilled about my Communist ties, given an ESP test, and being awarded a badge as Citizen 86, Engineer 2nd Class.

No idea what any of it means, but apparently I need to watch the skies...

[jakonovski]

Probably more XCOMsploitation.

[murdoc]

Operation Skywatch

Anyone have any idea what it is? I jumped in to a line at 2k's booth at PAX thinking it was regarding Borderlands, only to grilled about my Communist ties, given an ESP test, and being awarded a badge as Citizen 86, Engineer 2nd Class.

No idea what any of it means, but apparently I need to watch the skies...

XCOM

[Lucas]

Ahh, interesting:

http://kotaku.com/5816507/la-noires-studio-under-investigation-over-alleged-shonky-work-practices

Well, nothing that new, I guess: hmm, didn't some EA studio have the same problems 7 or 8 years ago, with employees and their families talking about long hours and impossible crunch times?

[Trippy]

http://ea-spouse.livejournal.com/274.html

[Lucas]

http://ea-spouse.livejournal.com/274.html

Ahh, right, the infamous "EA Spouse", thanks Trippy :). Btw, interesting stories about crunch times in the comments section at this link:

http://www.develop-online.net/news/38125/Industry-outrage-at-brutal-Team-Bondi-crunch

[Hawkbit]

In cleaning the house for our move, I found about $58 in change laying around.  Took it up to Coinstar and dumped it onto a fee-free Amazon gift card.  Dark Souls is almost paid for, woot!

[Bunk]

While at PAX I was looking around for potential new games for my eeePad, and I stumble across this: http://feeleveryyummy.com/

Game's called Word Fighter, and essentially its Street Fighter meets Boggle. The developer just came up as I'm looking at it, grabbed another guy out of the crowd, and started the game up. I am proud to say that my Jane Austin soundly stomped all over his Edgar Alan Poe.

Cool thing is that they are aiming at both iPad and Android, and apparently you will be able to play cross platform. If you love Boggle type games as much as I do, totally worth watching for.

[Yegolev]

Favorite line from Kinectimals: Don't make me get the hose.

[Yegolev]

I forgot to mention that I noticed a Castle Crashers update on XBL.  Now it has DLC.  I got the free Pink Knight.  There is also a purple Necro Knight for about 800 points.  Plus weapon packs I think.

[Malakili]

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gearbox-software-hawp/720425  - 1 minute long, worth watching.

[Azazel]

I agree with the sentiment expressed in that video.

[tgr]

I can think of a few managers of game companies who deserve that.

Some of them, multiple times.

[Velorath]

Sadly, I don't have the time to put together a full thread for Holiday releases this time around, but this is what the Console/PC release schedule looks like so far:


Sept. 20th

Gears of War 3 - 360
F1: 2011 - PS3, 360, PC


Sept. 27th

The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection - PS3
X-Men: Destiny - 360, PS3
NHL 12 - PS3, 360
FIFA Soccer 12 - PS3
Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland - PS3
Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 - PS3, 360
Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny - PS3, Wii
Splinter Cell Classic Trilogy HD - PS3
A Game of Thrones: Genesis - PC


Oct. 4th

Rage - PS3, 360, PC
Dark Souls - 360, PS3
Spider-Man: Edge of Time - 360, PS3, Wii
NBA 2K12 - 360, PS3, Wii, PC


Oct. 11th

Forza Motorsport 4 - 360
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon - PS3, 360
Wipeout 2 - PS3, 360, Wii
Might and Magic Heroes VI - PC
The Cursed Crusade - PS3, 360
Dead Rising 2: Off the Record - PS3, 360, PC


Oct. 18th

Batman: Arkham City - PS3, 360, PC
Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One - PS3
Stronghold 3 - PC
The Sims 3: Pets - PC
Serious Sam 3: BFE - PC


Oct. 25th

Kirby's Return to Dream Land - Wii
Battlefield 3 - PS3, 360, PC
Silent Hill: Downpour - 360, PS3
The King of Fighters XIII - 360, PS3


Nov. 1st

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception - PS3
Lord of the Rings: War in the North - 360, PS3, PC
Sonic Generations - 360, PS3
Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7 - PS3, 360, Wii
Goldeneye 007: Reloaded - 360, PS3


Nov. 8th

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - PS3, 360, PC
Metal Gear Solid HD Collection - PS3


Nov. 11th

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary - 360
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - PS3, 360, PC


Nov. 15th

Saints Row: The Third - 360, PS3, PC
Need for Speed: The Run - 360, PS3, PC
Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom - 360, PS3
Assassin's Creed Revelations - PS3, 360, PC


Nov. 20th

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - Wii

[Velorath]

Also, just to add a bit of commentary here, part of the reason I probably didn't bother with a thread this year, is because aside from a handful of releases, there's nothing I'm too excited about.  Dark Souls, Rage, Arkham City, and SWTOR if it releases this year are probably the only games I'll pick up.  Other comments:


- I'm shocked X-Men Destiny is releasing so soon.  They've barely shown this game off at all, and what they've have shown looks like some of the roughest and dullest looking gameplay I've seen in a while.  I liked Too Human, but even I can't get behind Silicon Knights on this one.

- Rage and Dark Souls on the same day?  Looks like I'm getting Dark Souls at launch and waiting on Rage for awhile then.

- Assassin's Creed really needs to give the franchise a rest for a year.

- Gears of War 2 bored the hell out of me.  No interest in 3.  Still haven't played Uncharted 2, so won't bother with Uncharted 3 yet either.

- I don't have a lot of interest in FPS games.  If I do end up buying one due to social pressure though, it would likely be Battlefield 3 over MW3.

- HD collections of games from last gen are the next big thing apparently.  In addition to those listed here, there is also a Silent Hill HD collection coming up at some point containing 2 and 3 (also known as the last time most people gave a shit about the franchise), which will likely be a better purchase than Silent Hill: Downpour.

[schild]

I like this HD Collection movement, if only because it's a good time to get those games in 720p before consoles rotate.

As for releases, Dark Souls for me and I'll play Skyrim and Rune Factory with the girl. The rest of the list will get picked up... eventually. Winter/Spring is a pretty big season for Magic, so I've got to keep my priorities in order.

[MisterNoisy]

Will probably pick up these on release:

Gears of War 3 - 360
Rage - PC
Forza Motorsport 4 - 360
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - PC
Saints Row: The Third - PC

The rest are bargain/used purchases (F1 2011, New Assassin's Creed game, new Ace Combat, Batman, Kirby, Dark Souls, Uncharted 3) or things I'm not interested in.  I'd like to be interested in BF3, but I'm not going to bother with the inevitably gimped console releases, and PC titles that don't release on Steam weren't released on PC imo.

[Hawkbit]

Wow, my list is exactly like Schild's.  The only differences are that I'm waiting to see how RF reviews and I'll buy the new Zelda to play with my daughter.  Oh, and if D3 launches, which I'm "guessing" will be on your list too.  I already have ICO/SotC ordered. 

[tgr]

Strongly anticipating:
Stronghold 3
Serious Sam 3: BFE
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Saints Row: The Third

Wish this would've been made/published by someone else:
Need for Speed: The Run

In fact, I'm positively drooling for a mix between games like the elder scrolls, test drive, gta and lfs. If the physics had been good enough, I'd probably be more than happy to spend all day just driving around.

[caladein]

Aside from having already pre-ordered Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes' PC release and SWTOR, the only things I'm looking forward to for the remainder of the year are maybe getting roped into picking up BF3 and Skyrim not setting off my usual, Bethesda-related, hives.

The former I intend to resist vigorously because I hate jets and the latter is just really unlikely.

[Malakili]

I'm really just hoping DIablo 3 makes it out before the end of the year.  Optimistic, I know.

[Rendakor]

Gears 3, Dark Souls, and Skyrim are the three I'm buying. I'll probably check out Rage when it goes on sale; it looks good but there's just too much competition for my gaming time. I might end up buying Assassin's Creed as well, since I have a buddy who's really into that series and we usually play them at release.

[tgr]

Oh, I missed Rage. Totally Carmack-fanboying over that.

[kildorn]

Sword of the Stars 2 is slated for October in theory, but they've been dead silent on marketing for it.

But maybe I'm the only person who liked Sword of the Stars anyways.

[HaemishM]

Things I know I want but will only get if the money's right in order of preference:

FIFA 12 (already pre-ordered)
BF3 (if I can afford a new computer to play it before the year's end)
Dark Souls
Forza 4

[Murgos]

Sword of the Stars 2 is slated for October in theory, but they've been dead silent on marketing for it.

But maybe I'm the only person who liked Sword of the Stars anyways.

Nah, I've played the shit out of it.

[Azazel]

I almost never pre-order stuff or buy on release anymore, but I've got Space Marine SE on the way, and am pre-ordering Battlefield 3 and Saints Row The Third.


Will probably be picking up Splinter Cell Trilogy and God of War Collection 2: The PSP years shortly.
Other than that I tend to pick anything else of interest up from the bargain bin within a year or two of release.

I'm interested in Gears 3, but that may be partly being sold over from all the hype. Horde 2.0 looks interesting. Still, won't pick it up till I've played through the first two. Rage has potential, but I'll wait and see - if it has campaign co-op I'll get it early, otherwise it's just another FPS that I can pick up eventually.

Oh, and getting a copy of FIFA and some Kinect shit for work, so I'll borrow them and check them out.

[jakonovski]

I want to get a lot of things, Gears of War 3 and Skyrim mostly, but LoL is eating my soul. On top of that I have a backlog longer than the Amazon river, all games that I really want to play (the latest being the incredibly good looking and sounding Whispered World).

I think I'll just buy Skyrim for the SO and be done with this year.

[Azazel]

Gears 3 ad using Mazzy Star's "Into Dust" almost sold me on the game. Great use of emotive music.

Still, I need to get through the first two first.

[Kageru]

Is there some reason to be excited about Rage? I sort of lost interest in ID when it became pretty obvious the games were just tech demos. And the selling pitch of "groundbreaking" when the features pretty much look like every like any other shooter (OMG vehicles!) released since Halo does not convince. And combining ID with Bethesda the home of half thought out game mechanics doesn't make it any more tempting.

Pretty though. Going to need a video card upgrade before I buy that.

[tgr]

I'm thinking that id is beyond the "just a tech demo" phase now, with a 5 year development cycle on rage, and it looks to be a fair bit deeper than any of id's previous releases (not that that's saying too much).

As for groundbreaking, I like to think of the virtualization of textures as a groundbreaking feature, but as I've said earlier, we're now looking at incremental improvements to graphics rather than revolutionary improvements, so the effect on the gamer is going to be less than it is f.ex for the graphics artists who no longer need to give a flying fuck about texture budgets. Additionally, they've gone for 60fps instead of 30fps because it feels better rather than looks better.

Personally, I'm probably going to get it just because it's id and I'm a complete Carmack fanboi. The only thing that'll stop me is if they put DRM on it.

[Velorath]

Is there some reason to be excited about Rage? I sort of lost interest in ID when it became pretty obvious the games were just tech demos. And the selling pitch of "groundbreaking" when the features pretty much look like every like any other shooter (OMG vehicles!) released since Halo does not convince. And combining ID with Bethesda the home of half thought out game mechanics doesn't make it any more tempting.

Pretty though. Going to need a video card upgrade before I buy that.

I'm waiting to see how the car combat turns out, since that's the only kind of vs. multiplayer mode that they're going to have.  I haven't really seen a lot of gameplay footage of it yet though, and xp systems where the people who have been playing the most have an added advantage in that they get better gear always kinda bug me.

[Velorath]

Also, Arkham City will probably end up being a GOTY edition purchase for me since I'm not in a huge hurry to get the game.  All the retailer specific stuff (Robin challenge maps, Batman skins) sounds like it's going to be offered up as DLC later, plus there's apparently Catwoman DLC announced as well.

[Azazel]

Exact same reason I haven't bought Dead Space 2 or Assassins Creed Bro-hood yet. Well, the Da Vinci edition has it all, but it's a pita to track down atm.