In the latest edition of Sessler’s Soap Box, Adam says goodbye to Pandemic Studios and shares his thoughts on the economic impact as it pertains to the gaming industry and EA’s new IP experiment. I’ll share my thoughts on the subject with you after you’ve had a chance to watch the video which happens to open with a nice shot of Sessler sporting a Mercenary Mohawk. Kudos to the G4 Photoshop expert.

All interesting and valid points made by Adam. We tend to complain about companies like Activision and EA when the milk franchises like Madden and Guitar Hero but the fact of the matter is that most consumers, especially in a down economy, are going to go with something they know over something they don’t. You can blame a lackluster marketing effort if you like, but I think the problem is larger than that.

I found myself in a local Best Buy a few weeks back with an opportunity to pick up three games for the price of two, when I originally came there to pick up Madden 2010. Having to now choose two other additional titles on short notice, my wallet urged me to go with what I knew. Ultimately my choices were Batman: Arkham Asylum and the latest Uncharted sequel over Borderlands and Brutal Legend.

Batman is a pop culture icon and Uncharted had a track record that I was familiar with. Both Borderlands and Brutal Legend looked cool, and from a marketing standpoint it wasn’t like they were foreign to me, but I just wasn’t willing to shell out forty (normally sixty) bucks for something I had no prior experience with. You can’t blame that on marketing.

Ultimately, I believe that change in strategy may be in order. One solution developers and publishers can possibly look to employ is a very early demo release backed by significant marketing of said demo, as apposed to simply releasing a demo two to three weeks before a game comes out as a last minute push for awareness. This would give the average consumer juggling a job, family, and some semblance of a social life, a larger window of opportunity to play the game before hitting stores — which would ultimately give them more to base their purchase on then a television commercial and a handful of secondary opinions.

What do you think of all this? Are some games just destined to be cult classics as apposed to block buster hits regardless of marketing and release strategy or do you think otherwise? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

The original standard release box art (shown above left) for BioWare’s Mass Effect 2 game revealed back in July has changed. The new art (shown above right) is what BioWare is calling the”final” box art for the highly anticipated sequel. Maybe the old one showed off a little more female crotch than EA felt parents would be comfortable with? Who knows.

I personally like the new cover choice. While there’s significantly less female anatomy to admire, the in your face close up shot makes you feel like your part of the team, and don’t we all want to be part of the team?

Check out the image below for a closer look at the new cover and make sure to let us know what you think of the new direction in our comments section.

The rumor which surfaced just over an hour ago regarding the possible shut down of Pandemic Studios has just been confirmed via an internal Electronic Arts memo snagged by Kotaku. It seems that the individuals EA deems as the Pandemic “core” team will be merged into the EA Los Angeles office, while the roughly 200 other employees will be left jobless.

EA Games Label Senior Vice President, Nick Earl, made the following statements as a part of the aforementioned memo:

“I want to make it clear that the Pandemic brand and franchises will live on … In the months ahead, we will announce plans for new games based on Pandemic franchises.

“This type of change can be difficult. But the situation calls for us to act decisively, to take control of our destiny and to run a stronger, more focused development operation. That’s how we will continue to make great games in our LA studios.”

It’s truly a sad day for fans of explosions, mercenary style payback, and the catchy “Oh No You Didn’t” track (below). Let’s all raise our glasses to Pandemic and thank them for their service. Share your thoughts in the comments section.

According to sources who leaked the information to Kotaku, Pandemic Studios, creators of Full Spectrum Warrior, Star Wars: Battlefront, and most recently Mercenaries 2: World In Flames, will be have nearly their entire Los Angles base staff (roughly 200 employees) laid off today. The announcement is reportedly going to take place one hour from now at 11am PST.

Pandemic’s started in 1998 with a good deal of successful game releases and was eventually gobbled up by EA in 2007. A few under-performing sequels and one Dark Knight game that never saw the light seems to have sealed the studios fate. It is believed that a portion of the staff will merge into other various EA teams and their remaining collection of IP’s will be handed off to EA Montreal.

No official statement on the part of EA has been made yet, so file this under rumor for the time being. If true, it will likely go down as a very sad day for our own Jon Zungre, who openly shared his love for Pandemic explosions with the world.

EA, and developer Visceral Studios, issued a press release today announcing that a demo of Dante’s Inferno (a third-person action-adventure game set in the fiery chasm of Hell) will be available this December.

No specific date was given, but they do have a nice developer documentary series of videos highlighting the circles of hell within the game to hold you over. Definitely worth checking out if you haven’t seen them. Watch the video below and access the other segments through the interactive menu that pops up towards the end.

You might recall that many PC fans of Call of Duty (specifically Modern Warfare) got very upset when Infinity Ward announced that they were not going to support dedicated servers for Modern Warfare 2. As something that is a core part of the PC gaming experience, a petition was signed by many people requesting that the decision be reversed. Although Infinity Ward declined, DICE, the developers of the excellent Battlefield series, soon announced that their next game, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, would definitely have support for dedicated servers.

In thanks for this, a fan of PC gaming has sent the money he would have spent on Modern Warfare 2 to DICE and requested that the money be spent on the features he desires- because he couldn’t send them a cake, he decided this would do. I should mention that I think this is a great way to show your support for a developer, but I’d recommend that you don’t do this unless you’re rich or really, really like dedicated servers.

In the latest effort to secure more preorders, GameStop posted Battlefield: Bad Company 2 promotional copy on their site promising:

“free overnight shipping, plus access to the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Beta beginning November 19th, 11PM PST.”

GameStop later pulled the page down, surely after being contacted by EA, and BFBC2 developer DICE was quick to add the following via the Official BFBC2 Twitter:

“Do not pre-order BFBC2 from anyone for a Beta Code until it’s confirmed by DICE on Twitter and the Blog. Even if it’s GameStop!!!”

Since then, EA has gone on to confirm that official demo release details will be revealed later this week. So as of right now a demo seems certain, but the leaked November 19th release date has yet to be confirmed. Stay tuned.

Thanks Qj.net

Need for Speed: Shift is somewhat of a return to form for the NFS series. Unlike the last few games that had you open-world cruising the city while running from cops in your nitrous-infused, mostly illegal street racer, Shift is all about real racing on actual tracks and stuff. You know, the kind of racing that doesn’t involve any slutty girlfriends.

The racing itself is fantastic, and it’s not brought down by the stupid storylines of the last few titles (though I do miss some of the eye candy). The career is pretty straightforward — you race, you win points, you move up to the next tier, repeat. It’s not as good as the career mode in Forza, but it gets the job done.

Speaking of Forza, Shift reminds me a lot of that series. The driving mechanics are much more on the simulation side than previous Need for Speeds, but there’s just enough of an arcade feel to prevent you from throwing controllers the way I always used to when I played Gran Turismo and spun out all the time. You will also find the racing line indicator with green-to-red colored arrows telling you to speed up or slow down, a feature that seems to be making its way into a lot of racing games these days.

Whether playing through career mode or online, you’ll be earning performance points for your profile. Though similar to Kudos in the Project Gotham games, this actually reminded me more of the system found in Rainbow Six Vegas. Pretty much everything you do earns you some kind of points: bump a car or pass it cleanly, stick to the racing line, drift, etc. Even if you don’t win the race, you generally earn yourself plenty of points and rise through the ranks anyway.

As you level up, you’ll unlock higher racing tiers, more cars (sometimes you even get some free ones), upgrade parts — you get the idea. The points system is completely separate from the cash you earn to buy the things you unlock, but I never really found myself needing much more cash than what I had. If you’re the type of person that wants to see and do it all before moving on, you’ll either waste a lot of time upgrading cars instead of just buying a better one, or you’ll have more money than you need when you move to the next tier if you just purchase the best car to start with.

All of that doesn’t really matter, though, because the real star of the game is the driving experience itself. The engines scream in your ears and the cockpit view will have your vision shaking and blurring. Even though a game like Burnout will have you squeezing your controller because of the speed, never before have I really respected the speed the way Shift forces me to. I actually felt somewhat fearful of the raw power of the top-tier cars, simply because I knew that I could be thrown into a wall at any time if I wasn’t gentle with the gas pedal. If you saw the commercial on television and thought “There’s no effing way that’s actual gameplay footage,” well, believe it.

Any racing or driving fan should check out Need for Speed: Shift simply to experience what it would feel like to be behind the wheel of a 600-horsepower beast. There are plenty of games that do plenty of other things better, but the driving experience itself is the best I’ve ever played… except for the drift events. You might want to just skip those (you’ll earn enough points elsewhere that you really can just skip them if you don’t like them).

My only other gripe is that the car selection is fairly small compared to the other big-name racers out there. While it might be par for a Need for Speed game, there are only about 60 different cars in Shift. There is also a clearly dominant car in each tier, and with the amount of money you’ll be making, there really is no reason not to just buy it as soon as you unlock that tier (which I mentioned earlier).

All things considered, Shift doesn’t quite have the lasting appeal of some other racers, but in this instant gratification world we live in today, some players might prefer Shift’s low time investment to the grind of Gran Turismo. Regardless, Need for Speed: Shift contains an experience behind the virtual wheel that no gamer should miss.

EA has announced a limited edition version of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and outside of the box looking different, the limited edition will grant those who purchase it access to six “special gameplay” perks right from the start.

How much more will this run you? Not a cent! EA promises that the limited edition retail price will be the same as the standard edition. The catch is that supplies are apparently “limited” and both versions hit stores on the same date.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a 2010 release scheduled to hit stores in the United States on March 2nd and Europe on the 5th. And remember, cool guys don’t look at explosions. Full press release below.

EA announces Battlefield: Bad Company 2 limited edition

Stockholm, Sweden – October 29, 2009 – DICE, an Electronic Arts Inc. studio (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced a Limited Edition* release of Battlefield: Bad Company™ 2, the premier first-person shooter of 2010. The Limited Edition game features six special gameplay unlocks that give players a tactical advantage on the battlefield from the minute they fire up the game. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has been recognized by critics worldwide for its uncompromising action gameplay, unprecedented level of destruction, vehicular warfare, squad play and open sandbox environments in a modern warfare game. Available while supplies last, the Limited Edition version of the game will be sold at the same price as the standard version of the game with participating retailers in North America on March 2, 2010 and in Europe on March 5, 2010.

The Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Limited Edition delivers six special customizations early to give players a day one advantage in multiplayer matches. Four vehicle warfare unlocks will immediately enhance the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 best-in-class online vehicle warfare experience, delivering extra firepower, radar, and armor for the vehicles. Additionally, the tracer dart attaches to any enemy vehicle and allows RPG-toting teammates to track, lock on, and destroy their adversary. Seasoned veterans of Battlefield 1943™ will be able to immediately re-acquaint themselves with two classic and highly powerful weapons, the M1A1 submachine gun and the M1911 pistol.

The full list of six unlocks are as follows:

Four vehicle warfare unlocks

• Improved Vehicle Armor – An up-armor package is mounted on all vehicle types, decreasing the effect of both explosive and penetrating warheads, significantly improving vehicle survivability.
• Supreme Vehicle Firepower – Additional weapon packages are mounted for the driver of all armored vehicles, greatly expanding the range of targets the vehicle can successfully engage and destroy.
• Vehicle Motion Sensor – Use this electronics warfare package to locate enemy units in direct proximity to the vehicle.
• Tracer Dart Pistol – This magnetic dart attaches to any vehicle surface, allowing squad members to track, lock on, and fire rockets onto moving targets even beyond line of sight.

Two classic Battlefield 1943™ weapons

• M1A1 Submachine Gun – Reliable but heavy this classic weapon is a powerful force in the hands of any Battlefield veteran.
• M1911 Pistol – Highly customized M1911 are favored for its dependability and the power of its large .45 caliber round.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will be available on March 2, 2010 in North America for the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system, the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and the PC. The game will be available on March 5, 2010 in Europe.

It’s not often you get a demo that’s packed with content, but EA have announced that the PC demo for their attempt at a serious racing game has been released and can be downloaded here. The demo includes a lot (for a demo) of cars, and even an unlockable Zonda:

• BMW M3 (E46)
• 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10
• 2006 Lotus Elise 111R
• 2008 Nissan GT-R
• 2006 Pagani Zonda F (unlockable)

A PS3 and Xbox 360 demo is also coming early October, or of course you could just go out and buy the game, if you’re made of money.

In case you didn’t know, Rocktober is coming up soon. If nothing else, that means that you should be playing Brutal Legend in the very near future. Actually, you could play it tomorrow if you happen to win one of our 4 demo codes (and you have an Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, that is). All you have to do is register with a valid email address and leave a comment below (bonus points for making us laugh), or just email us some pictures of your girlfriend with awesome 80’s hair (editors@ripten.com).  Either way, we’re getting your email address and we will totally spam you.

You can also pre-order now at Gamestop for early access.  The demo will be available with all pre-orders, and the codes will be handed out on 9/17.  The demo will also be free to download for all Xbox Live Gold Members on 9/24 and Xbox Live Silver and PSN members on 10/1/09.

***UPDATE: Winners have been notified, and all codes have been sent out.  If you didn’t win, that’s because Jack Black doesn’t like you, and therefore we don’t like you either.  Sorry.

Hot off the heels of the well-received-but-largely-ignored Skate 2, EA has announced today that there will indeed be a sequel. In a stroke of genius and innovation, the title will officially be “Skate 3″. I’m in awe, I can tell you.

The game will add more of a social aspect, EA says. “Whether online or offline, players can now team up to build the ultimate skate crew in the definitive skateboarding co-op experience,” they say. There’s a new mode, too, “Where teammates can complete challenges together while advancing each other’s careers.” The game arrives on the PS3 and Xbox 360 in May 2010.

If you’re at all interested in attending a Need For Speed press event in Chicago tomorrow, let us know! Email editors@ripten.com, tell us why we should pick you, and we’ll chose 4 lucky readers to go (though you have to get to Chicago on your own).  Good luck!

EA Sports today revealed the cover athletes for the North American version of FIFA 10. The three cover athletes include Cuauhtémoc Blanco of the Chicago Fire, Sacha Kljestan of Chivas USA and Chelsea’s Frank Lampard. Okay, I’m familiar with Frank Lampard, but the two MLS players, not so much. But I bet your ass I’m not the only one left in the dark.

EA also revealed that the North American release date would indeed be October 20, a few weeks after the Euro release date of October 2. Hit the jump for a new video of FIFA 10.

Source: Joystiq

In a short four weeks after its release, Battlefield Heroes has managed to get one million players, which isn’t surprising, considering the positive impressions of the game during the beta. EA & DICE’s stylistic Battlefield sequel is also free, which I can only assume helped to entice said one million players.

If you still haven’t signed up for the game, you should probably go do so now- maybe you can be a part of the second million. We got a chance to play the game during the beta, and even with its numerous delays, it was a lot of fun. The game’s multi-player only, so don’t count on a gripping story line or emotionally connected characters- but if you’re all about blowing stuff up and shooting foreigners, this is so the game for you.

DICE is currently performing maintenance on the soldier profiles in the recently released Battlefield 1943, so you may have noticed that your stats have been reset. Not to worry, my friends, as this is temporary.

Simon Dalziel (I presume of DICE) explains that the soldier profiles are actually being made “better than they already are” and that all of the kills will still count towards the Coral Sea challenge. After maintenance is over in the next few days, ranks and badges will be restored.

Game Stooge

Battlefield 1943 hit XBLA and PSN this past Wednesday with three maps – Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, and Wake Island. When the global kill count on one of the services reaches 43 million, a fourth map, Coral Sea, will be unlocked for that service. While 43 million is quite a bit of kills, it’s coming faster than you think.

Players on Xbox Live have already racked up almost 10 million kills, almost a fourth of the way there, while PSN kills are almost at 6 million. Blend Games seems to think that the kill count will slow after the weekend is over, but consider that the service has been riddled with bugs and they’re currently working on it, I think the kill count will remain steady as more people are allowed to actually play.

I’ll see you on the Battlefield!*

*As long as the servers allow us to play.

For those of you who have played Fight Night Round 4, you probably noticed (and were surprised) that there wasn’t an option to change the control scheme and use the face buttons to play like in previous Fight Night games. Well EA is about to fix that with an update coming later this summer to add the face button control scheme for those who have been complaining about it, and don’t worry, it’s free. I just wonder why EA Sports didn’t just include the option in the first place. Weird.

Along with this update, a new DLC will be arriving before hand containing a new training gym, new gameplay sliders and new equipment to use on your boxer. The 360 version will also be receiving an alternate, Pizza-Hut sponsored version of Sugar Ray Leonard. And all of this DLC will be free too. Sweet, huh?

Source: Joystiq

Battlefield Heroes, EA’s new browser-based cartoony MMOFPS, has made the transition from closed beta to open beta.

Not only is the game in open beta now, but the NDA has also been lifted. Battlefield Heroes is going to be free to play when it makes its official launch, so the idea of an open beta makes me laugh. This seems like just the normal game, but a little early and slightly buggy.

Game Stooge

Yesterday I reported that Left 4 Dead 2 seemed to be coming to PS3, as the console was listed on the game’s EA products page. Now, however, it looks like that was simply an error. The product page has been updated and now it only lists “Xbox 360, PC, PC Download.” Sorry to get your hopes up, Sony fans.

Valve may be opposed to porting its games to the PlayStation 3, but their publisher Electronic Arts sure the hell isn’t. A PS3 version of Left 4 Dead 2 is listed on its EA Games page, leading the internet to assume that EA will port it to the console, just as they did with Team Fortress 2. Let’s hope they do a better job this time.

Digital Battle

EA and Crytek announced today that Crysis 2 will be coming to Xbox 360, PS3, and of course the PC. No release date or additional info was announced, but since Crysis was actually a great game hidden under hype about graphical prowess, I’m looking forward to this. Console fans should rejoice too, since the game is damn sure to be fantastic looking. Get your HDMI TV and cable ready for this one, folks. You’ll thank me when Crysis 2 comes out.

We don’t know much about The Saboteur right now, but EA’s WWII era shooter seems a bit more interesting with this new trailer. The video features the protagonist, as he makes his way to a rooftop, and gets poised to shoot some Nazis.

The end of the video also gives us a loose date of Fall/Winter of this year, which is good, because it means that we’ll definitely be seeing more of the game soon, probably at E3 this week. Until then, we can look forward to the game when it comes out later this year for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.

If you go to the official website for The Beatles: Rock Band, you’ll be treated with two new suprises. One is a entrance section to the preorder club, for those who preordered the game, and the other is a brand new site backdrop, with the sounds of a million screaming fans in the background. But what is that background? Why, it’s the set for the Ed Sullivan Show, of course!

Beatles fans out there surely know just how popular and frequent the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan’s show, so it only makes sense that this stage would appear in the game in some form. Though we don’t have a surefire confirmation, it’s pretty safe to say that the Ed Sullivan Show set will indeed be a stage/arena for you to play in in The Beatles: Rock Band. Click the image above to see the full image.

Fight Night Round 4 is the first game in over 21 years to feature Mike Tyson, and let me answer your first question right now: No, you can’t bite someone’s ear off.  EA goes to great lengths to capture the devastating power of the late 80’s-early 90’s Tyson rather than the hot mess that was ear-biting, post-prison Tyson.  The roster of over 40 boxers is also the first in 17 years to feature “Big” George Foreman, again, not the smiley grill salesman but the cinderblock-fisted monster who almost ended Joe Frazier’s career in the 70’s. I recently got my hands on the newest entry in EA’s successful franchise to see exactly how the skull busting will be going down. 

The last Fight Night game, much like Oscar De La Hoya, while technically solid, garnered most of its attention from how good it looked as one of the first Xbox 360 titles.  Fight Night Round 4 looks like it’s shaping up to be more like Floyd Mayweather Jr.: just as pretty and with better boxing.  From the glimmer of Ali’s satin robe to Ricky Hatton’s creepy arched eyebrows, all the fighters look, act, and, most importantly, box like their real life counterparts. 

The new AI, dubbed R.E.A.L. (Record, Evaluate, Adapt, Learn), dictates that each fighter will fight as they do in real life but will also attempt new tactics if their strategy is failing.  That means if you’re fighting Muhammad Ali, he may come out cocky, ready to back you up, throwing lead crosses, but if you start beating on him, he may try to go on the defensive, let you tire yourself out and then turn up the heat in the later rounds to take the fight from you.

Playing to your fighter’s strengths will give you the advantage in the ring, such as pumping Ali’s piston-like jab and using Tyson, whose jab looks weak in comparison, to duck and weave into close range to throw absolutely demonic hooks and uppercuts.

But it’s Legacy mode that has everyone excited, Fight Night Round 4’s revamped career mode, where you’re not out just to become a champion but to cement your legacy as the greatest of all time.  You’ll start out as a lowly club fighter and by managing your Legacy Meter, you’ll work your way up the ranks, earning titles such as contender, champion and if you’re good enough, you’ll surpass Ali as the Greatest of All Time.

Your Legacy Meter is made up of two things, your Popularity and your Pound for Pound rating.  Your Popularity is based on how exciting your boxer is to watch:  Does he knock people out, does he have 12 round wars?  Your popularity can go up even if you lose, as long as you’re exciting.  Your Pound for Pound rating is entirely different.  It measures your technical proficiency.  Do you waste punches?  How’s your accuracy?  Can you counter effectively?  That 12 round slugfest you lost probably did wonders for your Popularity, but it won’t be helping your Pound for Pound rating, and you need both to become the greatest.

You’ll also be fighting against father time.  Many boxers are way past their prime once they hit their late 30’s and the game will reflect that.  As your fighter ages, doing the training exercises that once improved your stats will only sustain them, and eventually will only manage their decline.  The good thing about Legacy mode is that what you must do to become the Greatest of All Time will be fairly clear. For example, at the end of your career you’ll be able to see that if you beat two more top contenders, you will be known as the greatest, but it won’t be easy because those fighters are deadly and if you lose to them you could be knocked out into retirement and obscurity.

20 years after losing the title, George Foreman returned at age 45 to become heavyweight champion.

The deep create a boxer feature is back and now has Xbox Live Vision support if you want to add your own mugshot to your boxer’s body.  Aging won’t show on your boxers face, but if you take a bunch of beatings, you could have some lasting visible effects.  And, thankfully, you won’t be getting strange bonuses from the equipment you use, like getting +10 to punching strength from Everlast boxing gloves.  Were they lined with lead or hiding brass knuckles?  This time the only way to improve your stats is to train.

The new physics engine makes the game more organic and unpredictable. No punch ever seems to land the same way.  Even during the tutorial, when the boxers aren’t moving around the ring, my jab would land on my opponents face differently every time I threw it.  Fighting on the inside produced realistic, natural moments, such as Manny Pacquiao resting his glove on Ricky Hatton’s arm for a second and the boxers arms getting briefly entangled when they threw a punch at the same time.  The important thing to remember is none of this is scripted.  It’s not that the fighters arms will always become entangled when you throw punches at the same time, it’s something that just happened to occur in that one moment because of the game’s physics, and may not happen again for the entire fight.

Knockdowns are also more organic and unpredictable.  Flash, one punch knockouts are based on the strength of the puncher, the angle the punch lands and the physics of how it hits.  Blocking can be punched though and the scripted punch swatting and parry system that existed in the past two Fight Nights, which allowed you to bat punches out of the air and capitalize on the stunned fighter, has been almost completely scrapped.  Parrying punches still exists but will be based on more realistic timing and blocking is as simple as high or low.

The biggest improvements over the last Fight Night will probably be the streamlining of the controls.  The team found that the motion for haymakers made them too hard to throw, especially the right hook and uppercut haymakers.   The Right bumper now functions as the haymaker modifier.  Just hold down the right bumper and throw a hook or an upper cut and you’ll be winding up like Joe Frazier himself.

From my time with the game, the “KO Moment,” the groggy slowness right before a knockdown that was throughout the last Fight Night game, seems to have been removed along with the game mechanic of clinching to prevent a knockdown and gain yourself some magic health.  Clinching and pushing are still a big part of the game, but serve more realistic purposes, such as when the developer used Tyson to push me into the corner in order to pummel me.  If your fighter takes too many big shots in a row his health bar will flash, indicating that he is dazed and each new punch he takes does sizable damage.  I can see KO artists being able to capitalize on these moments for some first round knock outs that are unnaturally rare in other Fight Night games.

The cut man game in between rounds is gone, replaced with a RPG-like points spending system.  Based on how well you boxed in the previous round, you’ll earn points to spend to improve things like your health or stamina for the next round.  When I asked if this would produce an even bigger hole for losing boxers to get out of, I was told that points are distributed for a variety of reasons, one of which is accuracy.  Boxers that are flurrying, going for the knockout, rarely have good accuracy, limiting them from earning points in that area, therefore enabling losing boxer to gain some leverage to turn the fight around.

Fight Night looks good, and especially good when the people playing the game know how to play.  However, new players at the demo managed to make the game look some what like a frenzied catfight, which worries me a bit, but I’ll put myself to rest by remembering that those newbies were having a great time and overall EA has built a deep, realistic game with a fair learning curve in which those novice, frantic players will probably be put on the ground by veteran players faster than Ali put down Liston.

Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao and Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton are set to clash tonight on pay per view, but Fight Night Round 4 already knows who’s going to win.  EA’s hyper-realistic boxing franchise predicts Ring Magazine’s 2 time Fighter of Year Manny Pacquiao to knock out the tough as nails Englishman in the 11th round.

Here’s how its going down:

According to the simulation, an aggressive attempt by Hatton to limit Pacquiao’s movement early on was unsuccessful. Pacquiao’s used his speed and control of the ring to take advantage of Hatton’s aggression, picking his punches and keeping out of range. The tide turned in Hatton’s favor in Round 4 when he found some success trapping Pacquiao in the corner. With little room to work with, Pacquiao was forced to trade blows on Hatton’s terms. This relentless exchange proved to be too much for Pacquiao who went down to a powerful left hook at the end of Round 6.  The later rounds saw the revival of the quick moving Pacquiao, who outpaced and out boxed Hatton yet again. Lightning fast left jabs wreaked havoc on Hatton through Rounds 7, 8 and 9 before a commanding right hand brought him to the mat in Round 10. Badly hurt and looking sluggish, Hatton was unable to beat the count after falling to another deadly right hook from Pacquiao in Round 11.

Wow, good fight. I hope the real thing’s just as good. The simulation was done with Fight Night Round 4’s new AI, dubbed R.E.A.L. (Record, Evaluate, Adapt, Learn) which determines that each fighter will fight as their real life counterpart but may switch tactics mid-fight based on their success or failure. That means that fighters like Mike Tyson are going to close the distance and throw big hooks and uppercuts and Muhammad Ali’s going to keep his distance and snap that jab, but if their strategies aren’t working they’ll try to think up some other way to beat you. Look for the demo in late May, the game in late June and the Pacquiao v. Hatton fight tonight!

We just previewed Madden 10 and it seems like the team has been hard at work scrapping elements that haven’t worked for the series and creating new features in order to produce the most realistic feeling hard-nosed Sunday football game to date.  Let’s blitz through the top ten changes Madden 10 makes to famed Madden formula.

1.  Madden 10 lets players “Feel The Pressure” in the pocket and avoid It.  Since the beginning of time, Madden players have played passing offense the same way:  Running 20 yards or more into the backfield, away from the pocket, and firing a huge bomb to a downfield receiver.  They either complete that miracle pass or they’re sacked for an absurd loss.  Real NFL quarterbacks don’t do this, by the way, they stay protected in the pocket created by the offensive line.  The developers of Madden 10 found that when players were looking downfield for a receiver, the pocket didn’t feel safe because they couldn’t sense when the defense was rushing them, hence the running into the backfield.

One of Madden 10’s goals is to make the pocket feel safe again.  When looking downfield for a receiver to pass to, the controller will rumble when the quarterback is under pressure.  A quick flick of the right stick lets the quarterback execute an avoidance move to shrug away a potential sack and give the player an extra moment to complete a pass.  The avoidance moves will work better with elusive quaterbacks, like Big Ben, but even then they won’t work all the time.

Ben Roethlisberger, one of the larger quarterbacks, eluding a defender with an avoidance move.

2.  Quarterbacks have more guts.  Ok, that’s not a direct quote from Madden 10, but it’s the best way to describe the quarterback’s new ability to complete passes while being sacked.  Last year, Madden 09’s sack animation would overide the quarterback’s passing animation, causing him to tuck the ball instead of releasing it, resulting in some unfair feeling sacks.  “I pressed the throw button!”  Now the top part of a quarterbacks body can still make a pass even though he’s being sacked, which may result in a much needed completion, or a floating pass that could be easily intercepted.  Either way, if you want to make that risky play, now you can.

3.  Nine man gang tackles.  Madden 10’s mantra is “Fight For Every Yard.”  With Madden 10’s new Pro Tak feature you can bring the four on one ownage to some poor running back like the picture below.  The gang tackles generated by Pro Tak can also be used offensively.  If your running back gets some help from some big guys behind him, they may just push him right into the endzone, or help him break out of the tackle animation altogether.  Hopefully Pro Tak’s gang tackles can bring the more organic raw feeling of live football to the game.

3. Fight for the ball at the bottom of the pile.  Players will now experience the lawlessness of the game’s most gritty battle, the wrestling match at the bottom of the pile for the ball after a fumble.  Who knows what happens at the bottom of the pile?  Scratching, finger bending, biting?

Madden 10 handles this tooth and nail battle with an intense quicktime button pressing minigame.  Hit the right button as it flashes on the screen and you’ll tip the possession scale in your favor and probably end up with the ball once the ref’s pulls all the bodies off of the pile.

4. Holding the A button moves your defensive back into position for you to make big plays:  I’ve always had trouble playing defense in Madden, especially in the secondary.  Thankfully, the Madden 10 team found that many players also had the same trouble, and they’ve created Defensive Assist.  Holding down the A button will cause your defender to move into position and play defense, but it will not, however, make big plays like swats and interceptions for you.  It only gets you into position so you can make these big game changing plays yourself.

5. Many of last year’s Iterations have been scrapped, tweaked or downplayed.  The not so successful Madden IQ feature that was so prevalent last year is returning and you’ll still take the test at the beginning of the game, but the Madden 10 team asserts that the feature is going to be changed and be much more in the background.  Weapons, the new feature from a couple Madden’s ago have been completely scrapped and Rewind, Madden’s version of a “do over” is turned off at default.   Chris Collinsworth and Tom Hammond return, but between you and me and what the developers implied, Tom Hammond is going to be more interesting this time around.

7.  Photorealistic Depth of Field.  The reason why the screen shot above looks like it was pulled from the real Superbowl last February is that the Madden 10 engine accurately displays depth of field, blurring that which you’re not focused on.  Look at how the referee in the foreground and the sideline in the background are accurately out of focus.  One of Madden 10’s goals is to make games feel more like a televised broadcast and establishing depth of field is a great step into building that realistic look and feel from a real NFL game.

8.  Passes to the flat are no longer broken.  After catching a pass out to the flat, no longer will receivers fail to slow down and negotiate where the out of bounds line is. No longer will they sprint towards the sideline like Forrest Gump running home to Jenny.  This was a game breaker for many gamers who played Madden 09, so it’s exciting to see that the Madden 10 team is fixing this important play.

This ref should really have a “hit me” sign on his back, because that’s what we all want to do…

9.  You can knock over refs and run into the chain gang. Yep, you can knock those pin striped losers onto the ground during a play and doing so will never impede you or slow down your movement in any way.  That means a ref will never get in the way of pass or trip you up so you don’t make it into the end zone.   Also, Madden 10 wants to replicate the suspense of watching live football by having the chain gang run out and measure for the first down.  This may also increase the number of controller throwing moments.

10. Some players stats have been dropped as much as 20 points! The Madden 10 team saw that the stats have been slowly creeping upwards over the years and that average players were only a few points different from the NFL’s future Hall of Famers.  This would effect teams as well.  Playing the Lions didn’t feel like playing the Lions, it felt like playing the Cowboys or any other good team.  In order to distinguish the average players from the superstars, many player’s ratings had to be lowered.  If you rate everybody as great, then no one is.  Maybe some game websites should adopt this mindset in for review scores.  You didn’t hear it here!

Madden looks like its ready for another monster year of sales and hopefully ready to deliver the most true to life football experience thus far.  Even more Madden 10 features are going to to be revealed at E3 so get your Troy Polumalu jersey ready and check back later!

Shacknews reports that the upcoming downloadable multiplayer shooter Battlefield 1943 will be released on 360 and PS3 this June, at a price point of $15. The PC version will follow in September, for the same price. No reason for this is given, although I suspect that it will take another few months to compact awesome into the PC version.

Seriously, though, the game looks like it’ll be great. Battlefield games are always fun. Well, except that bit when you run a mile to the battle location because there aren’t any vehicles at spawn, and then you get run over. That bit’s not so fun.

Usually, a story about Twitter would have no place on Ripten, but this time, it’s totally related. Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter just surpassed 900,000 followers, and coincidentally, so did CNN’s. In the spirit of competition, Kutcher issued a challenge to CNN, to see who would become the first Twitterer (Tweeter? Twitt?) to reach one million followers.

At first, Kutcher promised to ding-dong-ditch Ted Turner’s house if he reached the milion followers first, but then sweetened the deal by promising the millionth follower a copy of Guitar Hero, and 10,000 mosquito bed nets donated in their name to charity. That’s all fine and dandy- but then EA decided to run with it as well. EA promised the millionth follower a couple of perks as well- they would become a character in The Sims 3 and would be given a free copy of every single game EA makes in 2009. Yowza.

Of course, there are plenty of people just waiting to follow the guy when he reaches 999,999 followers, so if you want in on this ludicrous bounty, you might want to just sit by your computer for a couple of hours, hitting that F5 key like there’s no tomorrow.

Source: Twitter (via Destructoid)

Perhaps the best way to begin this review would be to say that games based on a film license, in my mind, can be treated in two ways. The first is to compare the game to the movie — does the plot and overall quality translate into the game well? An example (perhaps the only one) of this would be GoldenEye on the N64- the game was as ridiculously over the top and silly as the film, and retained all of the charm, too. The result was a fantastic game.

GoldenEye was, however, not a great game because of the aspects of the film it borrowed, but because it was a great game first and a movie game second. This brings me to the second way of looking at a movie game (and my preferred angle): to ignore the film completely. A game can be judged on its own merits, and this is precisely what I’ll be doing in my review of the Godfather II.

Although it may be a movie game, The Godfather II’s plot deviates from that of the film. Your character, Dominic, is made Don of his own family and sets about trying to control all of the crime rackets in three cities: Havana, Miami, and New York. Dominic, who looks however you want him to, is then caught in the mobster business and goes about taking down all the other families by taking their rackets and killing their Dons. By controlling “crime rings”, the player can gain bonuses, like extra ammo and bulletproof vests, for their families.

The game can be described as part third-person shooter, part sandbox, part strategy game. In order to take over rackets, you can shoot your way in and terrorise the owner to take it from the other families, or you can just send your family members to do it for you. You recruit family members with specific skills to help you: wire cutters, demolitions exerts, and medics are a few of the types. You can buy upgrades for them and yourself with the huge amount of money that you’ll get from owning crime rackets. The “Made men” can be used to attempt a takeover of a racket without you even being there (hence the strategy aspect) or added to your personal squad to make the shootouts a little easier.

The shooting in the game is, unfortunately, burdened by an overbearing lock-on system. The manual aiming is awful, so one is forced to rely on the lock-on system that repeatedly locks on to targets that are miles away, ignoring the guard that’s about to take you out with a shotgun right in front of you. That’s not to say it’s difficult, though, as most of the weapons will kill with just one or two shots, and your medic will revive you an infinite amount of times if you get taken down. The AI isn’t too great, either- enemies will most of the time stand out in the open and let themselves be mowed down by my overpowered Magnum.

The weird thing about this aspect of the game is that it’s strangely fun. When you break it down, the combat is horrible, but in practice, it’s definitely enjoyable. The sheer power behind the weapons you wield is satisfying, which in a way makes one feel more like a powerful mob boss. The best thing about the combat, though, is that it’s relaxing. This is a shooter that lets you breeze through without feeling taxed. Though many might find the lack of a challenge to be boring, this reviewer took it as a nice break.

Another thing about the game is the size of the three cities. New York and Havana are so small that most places of interest are genuinely within sight of each other, and Miami, though bigger, is nowhere near as big as most open world cities. In total, the three cities would probably only be as big as the first island in GTA: Vice City. Again, I found this ‘fault’ to be, oddly, a positive. In bigger sandbox games, not being able to find a car (or a fast one) to get to a location was a chore; here, one can just sprint to the destination, and if it happens to be a long way away, there’s always a car parked somewhere on the way. Again, an asset that’s probably a fault, but in my eyes it simply makes the game less frustrating. Unfortunately, something that does frustrate is the actual driving itself, which is worse even than GTA. Cars handle like a shopping trolly through some mud.

The Godfather II, while not devoid of faults, is a solid game in its own right. The strategy aspects are handled well, and being a Don is certainly fun. The shooting and sandbox aspects, while obviously needing polish, aren’t bad. Obviously, comparing this to one of the best movies ever made is a bad idea- so I’m not. The Godfather II is a good game hampered by a few flaws — average graphics, poor auto-aim, bad driving, and sub-par voice acting — but when mashed together with some good ideas, the result is a decent game. I’d recommend renting this game before you sink into your wallet, though; unless the multiplayer modes keep you coming back for more, there’s not much to do once you’re done with the story.