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.

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.

BattleForge is a PC game that blends so many genres and games into on big-assed acronym your head will spin.  So get your neck brace ready to find out if the world’s first MMORPGRTSCCG is as awesome as the letters make them sound, or is EA just a genius at figuring out ways to steal your money while you thank them for it. Make like Sam Beckett and hit the jump.

Okay, maybe Sam Beckett didn’t jump so much as leap, but you get the idea.  I would have said Hayden Christensen but you all would have thought it was a Star Wars reference or something.

Enough with explaining the bad jokes…  On with the review!

Battleforge, as explained above, is a genre mishmash that, while seemingly original, is more like a ripoff of the free-to-play Saga, though obviously with more of a budget behind the venture than the aforementioned Saga has going for it.

Basically, Battleforge is a real-time strategy game taking place in a persistent world and uses cards to determine what forces you can bring into battle, all under the control of your Skylord.

At first, the game sounds awesome, and even the first couple of minutes going through the tutorial and the like are really enjoyable.  They do a pretty decent job of explaining how the RTS side of the game works through the tutorial, though to be honest anyone who’s ever played a RTS game on the PC probably won’t have much of a problem with that aspect of the game.

Basically, you start at the Forge, sort of a floating island haven in the sky for all your fellow Skylords.  Here, you can customize your deck, upgrade your cards, and even plop down units to see what they look like and how they work, even having them fight other units at your disposal.  It all seems really cool, but then you actually start playing the game and realize that nothing is changing.  The missions all seem pretty much the same, with the exception of the occasional timed goal of some kind, but then that’s just the same thing only with a stopwatch to pay attention to.

So, maybe the cards are where all the fun is. I mean, people still have plenty of enjoyment these days just playing CCGs like Magic and the like, right?  Well, this is really one of the best and worst things about the game.  See, while Battleforge has no monthly fee like a lot of MMOs, you have to use a micro transaction system similar to Microsoft Points to buy new booster packs. 

You really don’t seem to get any cards at all playing through the game, only upgrades to cards you may or may not have or even want.  So if you want to get certain cards, you either have to get booster packs or trade for them.  This sounds like it wouldn’t be a problem except for two things:  A, The auction house system is just terrible and 2, it all still uses the BF coins which are like MS points on XBL… they’re purchased with REAL MONEY.

As far as point A goes, it’s really sad to see this thing in action.  First of all, no matter how many of an item you search for are found, the auction house will only ever show you 50 items.  This is bad for buyers and sellers because it’s not like it only shows the most expensive or cheapest… I don’t know how they determine what to show.  IF you’re looking for more Deepcoil Worm cards, it may find 2,458 of them, but you’ll only ever see 50, ten pages with five on a page.  That means, as a seller, people may never even see your listing and as a buyer, you may be missing out on a really good price.

Point 2 sort of works with this also, being that since the auction house is so terrible it may end up costing you real money.  See, if you list something, it may only cost you, like, three BF coins, but that’s three coins you paid real cash money for that go absolutely nowhere if the auction doesn’t sell, which is irritating because it might not have sold just because no one ever saw the damned thing.  It’s also irritating because you’ll have a very hard time in PvP duels if you’re not willing to go out and either find the cards you want to fill out a good deck or keep buying booster packs to (hopefully) get the cards you want.

As far as the deck building and card collecting goes, this can be sort of fun, but some of the enjoyment is taken out because of the fact that the developers seemed to make it so you’re almost forced to pick a school for your whole deck.  See, there are four types of cards; Shadow, Frost, Fire, and Nature, and they all sort of have their own style.  Shadow is all sorts of undead type stuff that can sacrifice units to deal big damage while Frost tends to have more of a defense oriented lean to it.  It would be cool to make a deck that uses the defensive nature of Frost with the healing power of Nature to make a really strong-lived army, but the way the system works it almost punishes you for this.

See, each card requires a certain number of orbs to be controlled in order to call them into play.  All cards require you have at least one in their school, and then up to three more (for a total of four for you math illiterate out there).  There are a good number of cards that have “blank” orbs as part of their requirement, so you could have one shadow orb and the rest wouldn’t matter, as long as you had that number of orbs.  This makes it possible to put different schools in the same deck, but generally the more powerful units have much stricter requirements.  You could take a few low level guys, but it’s going to be near impossible to get a frost oriented Battleship into play if you’re not focusing entirely on getting frost orbs.

Another problem with the cards is that there really isn’t a good explanation of them in the game or in the book.  I had to look on fan sites to figure out how to tell the rarity of a card and what other cryptic symbols on the cards meant that were never explained anywhere.  They do tell you the basics of what the cards are and what they do, but only enough to make the game playable, not enough to know what you’re dealing with beyond how many orbs the cards take and how much power they cost.

The multiplayer is okay, and sometimes quite enjoyable.  Besides the single player story arch the player can follow, there are two- and four-player games you can get into as well.  It’s not too different than what you do in the single player missions, but there is some fun to be had.  It is sort of frustrating that the colors of the different player teams are so similar, though it’s not enough to ruin the game if you’re enjoying it. 

There are also massive 12-player missions you can do, which can be spectacular fun and, besides PvP dueling, is probably one of the most unique and enjoyable things about this game.  It’s basically three four-player games going on at the same time, but the other “teams” are on other maps and what they do affects players on other maps.  For instance, one of the teams might have to get a gate open so that players on another map can progress.  It’s intense at times and would be much more enjoyable if the chat wasn’t so hard to read.

There are also a startling number of German speaking folk on the servers, which says something for the server localization at the least, but it does make planning a team strategy a little difficult when some of the players are not speaking the same language.  Maybe you won’t notice it if you play, or maybe you speak German, but it did seem a little strange.

Overall, I’d say Battleforge is a pretty solid letdown.  There was a lot of potential there, combining some pretty popular and engaging genres into one, but frankly the game doesn’t do any of them really well at all.  The fact that you’re going to have to invest some real money into the game is off putting as well, but I guess that’s part of what makes CCGs what they are anyway, so I guess some people can accept that.  Hell, depending on what cards you get or what deck you decide to make, an investment of a couple bucks could get you what you need and you wouldn’t have to worry about it for a while, unlike traditional subscription-based MMOs. 

Really, though, it just didn’t seem like it would be worth it to me.  The potential is there, and maybe some update in the future will make the game a bit better somehow…  Even just making the auction house a little better would probably raise my opinion enough to give another point, but as it stands now, I just don’t see it.

 To no surprise, we all knew that it was bound to happen, Electronic Arts officially announces Mass Effect 2 for the Xbox 360 and PC gaming platforms.

“We’re going to surpass the extraordinary gaming experience we brought our fans in Mass Effect by delivering intensified combat and expanded weapon options as well as increased depth of planet exploration, all while delivering a powerful, emotionally engaging story,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, General Manager and CEO, BioWare and General Manager and Vice President, EA.

“Mass Effect 2 is shaping up to be an unforgettable RPG-shooter experience, taking players on a non-stop roller-coaster ride filled with stunning plot twists and no-holds-barred action.”

Mass Effect 2 is scheduled for an early 2010 release which I would suspect to be anywhere between March and May of next year. If this release window holds true, this would mean that Mass Effect 2 and Bioware’s other powerhouse title, Dragon Age: Origins would release within a matter of a few months. Damn, that is a lot of Bioware to handle but I am sure we are all up for it as they never really let their audience down with their quality titles.

Expect some sort of fresh information regarding Mass Effect 2 at next week’s Game Developer’s Conference. Then gear up for another heavy dose for this year’s huge E3 event, which are likely grounds for vast Mass Effect 2 information. Ripten will bring you more on Mass Effect 2 as soon as it becomes available.

A few days ago we brought you the cover art, now check out the first gameplay footage of the upcoming Fight Night Round 4. The game will hit Xbox 360 and PlayStation in Summer 2009, preceded by demos on their respective systems.

Well, here it is — your first official look at Mass Effect 2. As far as teaser trailers go, it certainly has me excited about the game already, even though (like most teasers) it reveals pretty much nothing. Have a gander at the teaser… now!

No wait… now!

You can also check out the sweet flash site set up to house all of the upcoming Mass Effect 2 teases, though there’s not much there at the moment except for some classified videos and some concept art.

There is currently no platforms or release dates announced, but we can likely assume it’s coming to the Xbox 360 (and eventually PC). As far as if this one makes it to the PS3, only time will tell.

Left 4 Dead is the kind of game that helps you figure out who your friends really are. Do they run off to pick up that pipe bomb while you get bamboozled by zombies? Do they stray from the group in search of personal glory? Do they accuse you of kill stealing after you just saved their ass? Left 4 Dead helps you sort these things out while also managing to put the “survival” back in “first-person shooter with zombies and a cooperative attempt at survival”.

Left 4 Dead takes place after some sort of event happened that turned thousands of people into zombies, or as the game refers to them, “infected”. There really is no story, at least nothing that is presented to you in a traditional fashion. All that you will come to find out about what happened is what is written on the walls — literally.

There are four campaigns, each one presented as if it were a zombie movie. Players choose their characters before the game starts, and the loading screen then presents you with a ‘movie poster’ displaying who is playing which character as if you are the actors playing these roles.

You generally begin each campaign with a pistol that has unlimited ammo and a choice between a shotgun or submachine gun. The goal, ultimately, is get the hell out of there. You progress from safehouse to safehouse, each one serving as a checkpoint as well as a safe place to rest, heal up, and grab some more ammo or a different gun.

The infected try their hardest to prevent you from reaching these safehouses. They occasionally send ’special infected’ at you: the Boomer, a mutated fat dude, pukes all over you and makes the infected particularly eager to eat your brains; the Smoker lashes you with his super-long froggy tongue and reels you in for a beatdown; and the Hunter simply pounces on your face and claws you to death. Sometimes the A.I. Director decides to just swarm you with a hundred zombies and overwhelm you.

There are also two different special special infected: the Witch and the Tank. The Witch is a fairly decent-looking zombie chick that just kind of sits on the ground and cries (women…) unless you disturb her. She is actually incredibly powerful and can take down a survivor in a single hit. The game’s loading screens that show helpful hints even suggest you turn off your flashlight and try to just tip-toe around her, but what fun is that? This is why I am not a good friend…

The Tank, while not quite as one-hit powerful as the Witch, is equally as much of a nuisance. He rips up pieces of concrete from the ground and tosses them at you, generally knocking you off your feet. It’s actually quite amazing that he can find concrete in regular dirt or even in water, but I digress… He also likes to just straight up punch you in the face and send you flying across the map. The tank can take quite a bit more damage than the Witch, and it’s entirely possibly for a Tank to single-handedly take down your whole team.

What’s awesome about these ’special infected’ is that they are the characters you control in adversarial mode. One team plays the game as usual while the other team takes over the special infected and tries to stop them. Each time the survivors reach a safehouse or are wiped out, the teams switch.

Each campaign has a just few safehouses on the way to your final destination: a way out. Each finale involves radioing for help and then holding the fort until your ride arrives. The first campaign, for example, has you pinned down on a hospital roof as you await a helicopter to fly you to safety. These finales are full of intense firefights and frantic “help me!” situations — probably the most exhilarating gameplay experience I’ve had in recent memory.

As long as one person makes it to the escape vehicle, you win. As the credits role, kind sentiments of “In memory of…” pay respects to those of you that didn’t make it. You are also treated to player stats for the session like accuracy, headshots, damage taken, times incapacitated, etc. In closing, it tells you how many zombies were killed in the making of the film.

One of the things I find most impressive about Left 4 Dead is the physics. The infected seem to react quite realistically to bullets and butt-strokes to the face, so much so that it’s entertaining to just shoot them and watch how they react. The game also runs buttery smooth, both online and off, and I haven’t noticed any lag or framerate issues at any point during my playtime.

Honestly, my only complaints about Left 4 Dead are that it is completely dependent on having people to play with and that there aren’t enough playgrounds. The game is incredibly enjoyable with friends, but not quite as much so without them, and while each campaign can be replayed indefinitely, there aren’t very many of them.

These aren’t really faults with the game, though. You can’t exactly takes points away from Monopoly because it isn’t fun with just one person, and likewise should be said about Left 4 Dead. The real issue here is that there are only 4 campaigns, and each one can be played through in about an hour once you know the layout.

The A.I. Director, who internally adjusts the game based on how you’re playing, keeps the campaigns from being exactly the same each time through, placing weapon caches and medkits in different places, as well as sending different enemies at you at different times. Ultimately, though, there are still only 4 levels, and as fun as they are, we want more.

Considering the co-op nature of the game, us Riptenites spent some time killing stuff as a team. Rangebar, John, and I grouped up over Xbox Live and attempted to, well, live through the zombie apocalypse while Sam shot his way through the PC version. Their thoughts below.

Rangebar’s Take

With all of the high quality shooters that have came out in the past few months, Left 4 Dead is the one that separates itself the most from the pack. I say this because of its primary focus on co-op gameplay. Being able to get online and hop into a friend’s game at any moment, even in mid-game, and get through a campaign mission in a little over an hour is just one of the great ideas of Left 4 Dead. I describe Left 4 Dead as resembling the zombie film 28 Days Later, but just in video game form. No real story, just four survivors trying to get the hell out of an abandoned city infected with zombies. That’s another thing that’s so unique about Left 4 Dead, it strays away from an actual plot and stretched-out story, but just puts you in the game with three other friends, focusing more on the aspects of teamwork and strategy. However, one thing I didn’t particularly like about Left 4 Dead was the option of only four different campaign modes. I’ve already been through all four of the missions on normal mode, and now I’m kind of stuck between just playing versus mode (which is also quite fun, by the way) or playing the campaign modes on a harder difficulty. I’m hoping that Valve releases more campaign missions via downloadable content soon seeing that many owners have probably completed the four missions. My absolute favorite thing about Left 4 Dead (besides blowing zombie heads off with a shotgun) is just how easy it is to get into a game with a few friends or even starting a game up with the A.I. players and waiting on some folks to join in on the fun. And I think that’s the whole purpose of the game: it has relaxing and comfortable match-making system and gives casual gamers the great option of playing for an hour or two, enough time to get through a campaign mission or two. At the end of the day, Left 4 Dead is one hell of game and is easily a must-buy for any Xbox 360 or PC gamer.

John’s Take

Left 4 Dead is like sex. It’s okay (and sometimes degrading) when you’re just playing with yourself, but the more people you get involved the more fun you can have. If everyone is on the same page and willing to work together it can be an absolute blast, with the game throwing climax after climax your way until you just can’t take it any more. With enough people, even a relatively inexperienced or unskilled player won’t be a burden as long as everyone is willing to help make up for the weak links. Get someone who is only concerned with themselves, however, and it’s just a bad experience. Get someone who’s a douchebag and a shitty player and it ruins it for everyone. I’d say you have to play with at least three people (including yourself) because even with just two computer-controlled partners, the AI can get pretty stupid and annoying. They have a tendency to stand in front of you at the most inopportune times and absolutely refuse to duck. They also have no clue how to use the first aid pouches and Max Payne killers, going from using them when not needed to holding onto them even after someone is down to ten health. Granted, there are players like this also who may not jive with your healing preferences, but generally you can say “Yo, Asshole! How about you share that fuckin’ health pack you’re carrying so I can stop draggin’ my intestines behind me.” This is something you can’t do with the AI. There is no way to even drop a hint as to what you’d like for them to do. That’s not to say they’re horrible — they’re actually pretty decent most of the time — but standing in my way and the shitty use of health kits really burns my jockeys. The adversarial mode is also an absolute blast, though it may not be everyone’s cup of tea. If nothing else, it’s definitely a different experience than what you find in other FPSes. The level of coordination that it takes to succeed as a human survivor is just insane when you have actual people pulling the strings of the super zombies. The AI can get pretty nasty, but even a modicum of coordination on the zombie side will tear apart an unprepared human team. I’m sure I’ve said it several times, but it is just an absolute blast playing on either side in the adversarial mode. Just like the single player game, one or two fuckwads can very easily ruin the game, so I highly recommend a heavy-handed approach to kicking out dissidents with a wrathful vengeance. All in all, Left 4 Dead is almost like a party game in that you will probably get little or no enjoyment from the game by yourself, but (wait for it) it’s an absolute blast when you get together with friends. I know I don’t play the game at all any more unless I’ve got other people to play with (which is often enough to make it worthwhile) but when I do, it’s an absolute blast. ABSOLUTE BLAST! ABSOLUTE BLAST!!!

Sam’s Take

Left 4 Dead is, without a doubt, one of the best games I have ever played (matched only by Team Fortress 2). Since you most likely know a fair bit about the mechanics of Left 4 Dead, thanks to either my colleagues or just general Internet usage, I will not be detailing them in my section of the review. What I will be telling you is that the PC version of Left 4 Dead is most certainly the definitive version of the game. Having played both versions, I’m at liberty to say that if you have the choice between the two, you will definitely want to go straight to Steam. Valve, since they run their own distribution platform, have total control over the game you’re playing. While that might be a bad thing in many cases, let me remind you that this is Valve we’re talking about. There will inevitably be hundreds of free updates to the game on the PC; in fact, the game has been updated for the better at least three times since release. Of course, the controls are better, the community is more mature (I’ve never seen a griefer or even a person younger than the age rating), and the modding scene are all perfect examples to prove my point. While I could stress that you need the PC version all day, I understand that not everyone can afford a decent enough PC, and there is a bigger issue at hand for me to address in my review. Having racked up around 40 hours on the game, I can safely say that there has never been a moment that was anything less than fantastic. The game is nothing but sheer fun. Strangely, this is a point a lot of people seem to miss. “Not enough story”; “Too short”; “No singleplayer campaign” — all genuine complaints I have heard about the game. It strikes me as incredibly strange that a game completely centered around cooperative play would receive complaints about aspects not to do with co-op. Left 4 Dead is not a single-player game. If you don’t have friends, do not buy Left 4 dead. However, if you do have friends, and you’re anything like me, this game is absolutely a must-buy. “Too short,” you say? I resist the urge to use an expletive here, because there’s no way it can be too short. I’ve played over forty hours of the game, and never had the same experience twice. The AI director, as Valve keeps trying to explain, is not ‘random’. It bases the way the entire campaign plays out based on what your team is doing. It’s far too complex to go into detail, but the director essentially reads almost everything about how you’ve been progressing, and bases the enemies it throws at you on that. Each campaign may take something like an hour to complete, but no matter how many times you play, it will never be the same thing — the only thing that’s constant is where you’ve got to go. The director even changes the scenery to make things easier or harder sometimes. “Too short” is a non-argument. Perhaps I’ve gone on too long about why you should like it, but the main point stands tall — Left 4 Dead is an incredibly fun game. Shooting zombies, no matter how clichéd, is great, and with 3 friends, it’s even better. Plus, playing as the infected is just as brilliant — killing a survivor with a big gun is just as satisfying as shooting lots of zombies with your own big gun. In case you hadn’t figured it out from the above text, I kind of like Left 4 Dead. Perhaps it’s not for everyone, but a review is a review, and my review says this: This game is about as close to perfect as you can get. 11/10 (Alright Dan, 10/10, but it’s better than The Witcher!) [Editor's note: No it's not!!!]

Anyone else have anything to add?

Roly’s Take

Left 4 Dead is my quintessential co-op game. It takes the instant gratification viscerality of Gears of War and perfectly blends it with that unknown factor of addiction that are the legs of RPG’s like World of Warcraft and Phantasy Star Online. Unlike the RPG’s addiction factor, Left 4 Dead’s reason to keep coming back isn’t an unknown variable, it all has to do with the AI Director feature. The AI Director ensures that every level in each of the four “movies” has the possibility of feeling and playing substantially different than another run through. Of course, the changes aren’t always that substantial. Sometimes they’re as minimal, albeit enormously effective, as replacing a health pack in a closet with 5 zombies instead. With the AI Director helping keep everything fresh, Left 4 Dead is exclusively a co-op game in design. Although possible and fully functional playing offline with bots instead of real-life companions, the experience does not compare. You can’t have a dialogue with bots. You can’t coordinate with bots. You can’t make bots feel emotion. You can’t be on the verge of finishing a level, only to be yanked back by a Smoker’s tongue and proceeding to yell half-sarcastically, “No! Save yourself!” and seeing your ‘friend’ make it to safety as you are devoured by more zombies than George A. Romero could hope to fit in a mall, no, you can’t have that with a bot.

Ultimately, Left 4 Dead is a must-own game for both the PC crowd and anyone with a 360… if you have friends. A majority of what makes the game so appealing rests solely on the cooperative gameplay, which unfortunately means that you are missing out on its true high points if you decide to go it alone. Of course, you can always play with total strangers, and some people may even prefer it that way.

The A.I. teammates could also use as tune-up, even though they do a fantastic (almost too fantastic) job of covering your ass. They mainly serve as motivation to get some real people to join just so you can yell at them and feel like it makes a difference. There’s nothing worse than the helpless feeling of knowing that your fellow survivors will never hear your words of advice or your cries for help.

Aside from a 4-man band on one TV, Left 4 Dead is the best co-op experience to be had in 2008, as well as one of the best zombie games ever made. Infinitely replayable, it’s certainly worth the price of admission, but we would still love a few more maps to play on just to keep things fresh and more varied. In this case, you can’t have too much of a good thing.

Despite what’s been a rough holiday season for Electronic Arts both in terms of sales and company layoffs, EA reassured us today that it remains commited to keeping its two new intellectual properties, Mirror’s Edge and Dead Space, moving ahead. Speaking in a conference call, EA CEO John Riticiello remarked on the future of these two new franchises:

Dead Space looks like a long-term big winner for us. Mirror’s Edge is one that was very strongly reviewed. That one’s gonna go forward – we’ll be looking at some issues around the design to make sure strong IP is married with strong business.

When he says look at some “issues around the design”, is Riticiello referring to the some of the more maligned aspects of Mirror’s Edge’s gameplay (ie, the combat, obtuse levels, etc)? Let’s hope so – if EA is really listening to us consumers and taking our complaints to heart in the way they’re building their IP, then maybe they deserve some credit (and some sales) for doing so.

Source: Shacknews

Skate It, EA’s Wii version of their popular Skate series, introduces some great ideas and new ways to play a skateboarding game, but doesn’t necessarily succeed in all areas.

Before I get into this review, though, I just want to let y’all know that I wasn’t able to play Skate It with the Wii Balance Board, well, because I don’t own one. Instead, I used the Wii Remote and Nunchuk combo, which I honestly found to be a fun and suitable way to play, but far from being perfect. I’ll get to that later in the review.

There are three main modes in Skate It: Career, Free Skate, and Party Play which supports multiplayer gameplay, but sadly doesn’t let you all play at once and requires you to hand off the Wii Remote after each turn — not the best way to get a “party” started.

The Career mode has you start off as a created skater in the fictional city of San Vanelona that, conveniently, has been hit with a bunch of freak disasters and left the city deserted and in ruins. It’s now the perfect spot to record your skateboarding skills and try to become Thrasher magazine’s prestigious Skater of the Year.

Much of the Career mode has you completing different tasks and objectives such as getting X number of points, grinding X number of times, or reaching this or that area — not the most thrilling Career mode, but that’s not what really matters in Skate It. What really matters is how you play the game and that’s where the control scheme comes into place.

What makes Skate It such a unique game also makes it such an average game. Playing with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, the control scheme is all about the “Flick-it” style of play. You literally just flick the Wii Remote to perform an Ollie or a Nollie and with a twist this way or that way, you’ll be performing all sorts of different tricks. Sound cool, huh? Well it is, that is until you’re really trying to land a specific trick.

Say I was trying to perform a 360 pop-shovit. I flick the Wii Remote and successfully perform it, but once I go for the same trick again, I’ll get a kick flip or another entirely different trick. That’s the thing about the control scheme in Skate It, it’s just not dependable enough to actually read your precise actions. A great idea and fun to use, but just doesn’t work all the time, especially when you really need it to. I’d say the Wii Remote responds accurately 75 to 80 percent of the time, which is not terribly bad, but it’s far from perfect.

Graphically, the game is outdated and looks like a GameCube game. Both player models and skate parks could’ve been refined a lot more; however, the skate parks are well designed, offering a number of ramps and grinds for your skateboarding needs. One cool thing about the skate parks is the “My Spot” feature, which allows you to customize a few areas of the park to your liking.

I like the idea of using the Wii Remote and the “Flick-it” controls, but for the next iteration of the game, I can only hope that EA and Black Box work just a bit more with the Wii Remote and the control scheme to perfect it. The bottom line here is that Skate It is a decent skateboarding game. Wii owners looking for something to grind with should maybe check it out, but I’d really only recommend it to fans of the genre.

Mirror’s Edge has been one of the most highly anticipated games this season. It takes the tried and true elements of the first-person perspective, mixed with an artistic style and frantic gameplay to make a unique type of game. But is this game worth shelling out the $60?

[Note: The version I'm referencing for this review is the Xbox 360]

Anyone who has played the demo knows that the controls are pretty simple on this one: left button to jump, left trigger to duck or slide, right button to turn 180 degrees, right trigger to attack. The face buttons are Y to disarm, A to activate, B to direct you to where you’re supposed to be going, and X for slow-motion mode.

The game begins with the training and Prologue chapter that were included in the game demo. Having played the demo myself, I got through these levels fairly easily and quickly. I was pretty excited to start the real game and get running.

My excitement, however, was quickly extinguished after trying to plow through the first level. The game’s “runner vision,” which turns key objects red as you approach them, was not quite as helpful as it should be. Often times objects wouldn’t turn red unless you were right next to them, or sometimes the objects that were red were well out of your reach and it was a matter of trial and error trying to reach them.

In fact, that’s a pretty good term for my entire first playthrough of the game. Trial and error.

Oftentimes, the game would direct you (through the use of the B button) into a room where there seemed to be no immediate way out. If the game gave you time to explore the level and find your way, this wouldn’t be an issue. However, most of the times when the route was unclear, there were five or six hostiles shooting at you. This caused me to run around frantically, jumping and trying to grab walls for a minute or so, before Faith became riddled with bullets and fell down dead. Frustrating at the first occurrence, it became almost unbearable the third or fourth time. I frequently found myself being shot dead or jumping aimlessly off of buildings while trying to find the correct direction to go.

Most of the level design is pretty good. My one pet peeve with this game was the number of levels that had the mechanic of “press a button on this side of the room, then quickly run to the other side to get through a door.” It wasn’t fun in the Legend of Zelda dungeons, and it’s not fun in this game either.

Another poor level design choice has to do with the range of places Faith can access. Sometimes a place that looks close enough to reach will be completely inaccessible, and you’ll end up falling to your death several times before realizing that it’s not the way you’re supposed to go. Other times, the most obvious route seems like an impossible length to jump, but you still make it across somehow. Hooray physics!

The plot of the game is almost good. It’s relayed to the player in a series of cutscenes between each level, and sometimes in small bits during the gameplay. There is not enough depth in the somewhat predictable plot for you to really care too much about the characters — when I faced some of the enemies in the game, I wasn’t quite sure I was fighting them. This game frustrated me so much that I didn’t even blame one of the evil characters for repeatedly throwing me off a building.

Part of this frustration also comes from the controls. They’re not terribly broken, but they sometimes felt inconsistent. For many of the moves in the game, you need extremely precise timing, making the whole “falling to your death” scenario all the more frequent. Many times when attempting to do a wall run, I ended up simply jumping next to the wall. Some of the bad guys were next to impossible to disarm, even with the use of the slow motion function. One of the “boss battles” requires you to disarm an enemy, and after dying about six or seven times after failed disarming attempts, I simply mashed Y repeatedly. This method worked on the first try.

All in all, my first playthrough of the game was slow and almost torturous. I had to put down the game several times out of sheer frustration. I actually went to YouTube and searched for videos of people going through some of the levels because I was so completely lost.

After everything I’ve said, you might be thinking that this game is a big pile of crap and not worth buying. Yet this isn’t entirely true. The game becomes enjoyable after the first playthrough, since this unlocks the speed run mode of the game.

Once you’ve played a level thoroughly, speed running through it is a lot of fun. Getting the familiarity of the level in order to successfully speed run a level is tough but ultimately rewarding. Knowing exactly where to go enables you to keep up the flow of movement that was originally intended. Pulling off some of the moves in the game feels satisfying instead of frustrating and reminds you of the reason you bought the game in the first place. And in this case, it really saves the game from being bad.

Another element that adds to the replay value of the game is the three runner bags scattered around each level. I know I died several times in pursuit of these bags, but I didn’t mind as much because once I get them, I keep them (even if I died immediately afterward).

The bottom line here is that if you can suffer through six to ten hours of fumbling your way through story mode, you’ll end up with a decent game on your hands. However, my personal advice would be to either rent this one or wait until the price drops a little.

Need For Speed Undercover is like a greatest hits album from a band you used to love. They put together all the stuff you remember listening to for hours, and they meld it with the best of the newer stuff that originally turned you off but finally starts to grow on you — you know what I mean. Need For Speed Undercover has the customization of Underground, the gameplay of Most Wanted, and that traditional Need For Speed middle ground that combines simulation and exaggerated physics.

“You’re not good. And you’re not bad.” That simple, even sublime phrase, one that you’ll see over and over (and over and over and over) during loading screens, is really telling of what you’ll come to see during your stay.

On paper, Undercover is the perfect Need For Speed. It has best ideas from the last decade of Need For Speeds with a few sprinkles of bonus fun mixed in. Gear heads from all schools of thought should be pleased with the eclectic selection from American muscle, European sports cars, and Japanese tuners.

The premise of Undercover, conveniently enough, has you placed as an undercover police unit who’s tasked with infiltrating an underground racing scene that’s gotten out of control, ultimately taking them down from the inside. That’s right, this is The Fast and The Furious: The Unofficial Game, except worse because of the distinct lack of Vin Diesel. And we all remember how many Oscar’s The Fast and The Furious was handed…

Undercover features some nice-looking… cars.

The narrative itself progresses through Command & Conquer-like FMV sequences, which I would actually be alright with considering how much I love the live-action acting in C&C, but Undercover is missing that self-aware, playful nature that makes the former’s scenes enjoyable. The necessity of a story in this game is almost like the necessity BioShock had for a multiplayer component (i.e. none).

Undercover has a nice selection of tried and true race modes — Circuit, Sprint, and Highway Battle should be familiar to NFS vets — while some of the more interesting modes include the Criminal Scramble, in which you are a cop and are tasked with chasing down and popping a cap in some fools’ asses who’ve been up to no good. Also worth mentioning is the Cops and Robbers online multiplayer mode that puts players back in the glory days of the ubiquitous playground game, well, Cops and Robbers.

Interestingly enough, EA has also added and RPG-lite element to Undercover. After meeting certain requirements in a race a players car will gradually grow and essentially “level up” just as you would in any RPG, it’s a nice little hook, but not nice or deep enough to do anything besides extrapolate what else they could’ve done with it.

Design-wise there are only two major flaws in Undercover, the first being a general decision that I despise and is becoming much more of regularity as time goes on: purchasing in-game content with your own real-world money. Whenever you go to upgrade your car, just before you make your decision you’re presented with 3 options: to pay with the in-game currency (cash), Microsoft Points or Playstation Dollars, or to Cancel. I generally love the new possibilities that the online marketplace presents, but some of them, like this particular one, make me wonder if the pros truly outweigh he cons. Jesus…

The second design decision that peeved me was that the open-world nature of Undercover is effectively nulled by the in-game GPS that always has you a button away from your next race. One could argue that you don’t have to press the button, but the freaking message is large, distracting, and stays on-screen pretty much indefinitely.

Although Undercover is conceptually superior to, well, almost every other racing game (omitting the aforementioned Need For Speed games), it’s technically flawed to the point of near unbearableness. Loading screens are almost everywhere and are as prolonged as that colorful stuff that cute magician keeps pulling out of his bottomless top hat. And you’d think with the frequency and length of loads things would actually, you know, be loaded. Texture pop-in, while not excessive, is not an especially rare sight either.

What is excessive and downright atrocious is the amount of frame drops, and they’re not minor frame drops either, no no. There were instances where it was just my car driving through a tunnel and the game decided to just out and out stop for 5 seconds, then catch up with itself with my car 200 feet ahead of where it was beforehand. Now imagine how bad it chugged when I was actually in middle of a race… with other cars. It makes me wonder why EA didn’t utilize the engine Criterion built to power Burnout Paradise since it’s also an open-world game that beats out Undercover’s technical prowess in every way — and looks better doing it.

I tried my best to have fun with Undercover, and I’ll be damned if I didn’t try to look past the myriad of technical issues that plagued every turn, but they’re so prominent that three untrained eyes who haven’t a clue as to what a ‘frame per second’ is, asked “Why does it keep starting and stopping?” It practically jumps out and yells “I’m going to make it as easy as I can for you to hate me!”

Undercover is a fundamentally flawed game that only becomes that much more frustrating when you see all of the unrealized potential that’s layered throughout. It’s not really a bad game, it’s just not as good as it should have been.

Electronic Arts has apparently teamed up with Brad Borne (of Borne Games) to create a flash version of the just-released Mirror’s Edge. The beta is playable now online, and even though it’s essentially just a repeating level, it’s a nice taste of what the full release may be when it lauches in “a week or two”.

This beta/demo actually reminds me of some old-school Prince of Persia, and that is definitely a good thing. I’m not entirely sure if the full game will remain a simple flash application available for free on the interwebs (Brad claims it will be, but we never know how EA will want to market it on PSN/Xbox Live), but it’s certainly worth checking out. In all honesty, I think this version looks better than the actual console Mirror’s Edge, but maybe that’s because I like being able to see Faith in all her hotness instead of “being” her.

Head over to the Borne Games website right the fudge now and play the demo.

Facebreaker is a new boxing game from EA sports. Normally when I think of an EA sports game, I think of a game where they strive to get a realistic look and feel. I think of Madden and Fight Night and how the designers try to make the environments and characters as real as possible. The moment I looked at the cover of this game, I knew I was going to get something completely different.

Facebreaker feels like it was designed for anyone to start playing right away. Basically, if you can mash a button, you can play this game. The analog sticks are rarely used here as the concept is to inflict as much damage on your opponent as soon as possible. Buttons are just faster. But before you think you can jump right in and start throwing around haymakers (or as the manual calls them ‘”Heybreakers”), you have to build up that ability to wreak havoc.

Each player is given a small meter at the bottom of the screen — each jab and hook helps build up this meter so you can really re-arrange a face or two. There are a few levels to this meter, each one giving increased attack damage. These levels are explained below (in case you were curious):

• Bonebreaker – Just like it sounds, get to this level and hit your breaker button (The triangle in the PS3 version) and you throw a punch that will break bones. I have seen some noses completely flattened — pretty cool.
• Groundbreaker and Skybreaker – I put these on the same line because, even though they are two different moves, you can do both at about the same level. One is done buy throwing low punches followed by the breaker button, the other by throwing high punches followed by the breaker button. Each character does something different with these moves. I like the cartoonish look and feel of these smackdowns, and I can already see playing this at a party and people taking crap while they are opening a can.
• Facebreaker – This is what you strive for. Get to the highest level on the bar (the top will be red) and you can try to land one of these. If you do, the match is over, and you are told to break your opponent’s face. When I first did this, it was pretty violent — a little more violent than I was expecting for a game that had such a cartoony feel. Then I thought about how the game is called Facebreaker, did I not expect a face to get broken?

There are a few ways to win a match, including:

• Knock your opponent down three times in any time during the three rounds.
• If you do not knock your opponent down three times in the three rounds, you go to a fourth ’sudden death’ round where the next knock down will win. What I don’t like about this is that you can have two knockdowns on your opponent while he has none on you, you both make it to the sudden death round. If you get caught off guard (which is easy to do in this game) and get knocked down just that one time, you lose. I can see some real fights break out over this one.
• Land a Facebreaker. If you are able to land a Facebreaker, that is all she wrote. Game over. You then get to put your opponent’s head on your trophy wall. Yes, you can have a wall filled with heads of your fallen foes. Kinda sick when you think of it, seeing mounted heads like Sara Palin shot them from a helicopter, but I dig it here.

There are also quite a few game modes here. You have a practice mode where you can just jump in there and start some pummeling. You then have ‘Brawl for It All’. This is the mode where you can fight for belts. As you beat opponents, you unlock them as well as new venues. You then have ‘Couch Royale’. This is a 2-6 man tournament you can play locally with friends. You can collect some trophies and it will keep stats so you can brag about it later. You can also collect some heads as you perform Facebreakers on your friends — we just hope you have some good friends.

The online play is merely okay. You can set up a tournament and compete against other boxers, but that’s about it. It will keep this game fresh if you get bored with the single player, which you likely will eventually.

If you want to create your own Boxer, Facebreaker offers what is called ‘The Boxer Factory’. You can customize any boxer and change them in a ton of different ways. You are not limited to anything realistic. I saw someone make the Joker online and even Gollum from the Lord of the Rings. Oh, I saw a Chuck Norris one as well, which was really cool.

If you create a boxer that you want to share, you can upload it to EA’s website and allow other players to download it. EA will require you to create an account with them, just like every other EA game. It’s free, so that should be no big deal. If you want to upload your own photo and throw it on a boxer, you can even do that too.

My favorite feature is the ability to upload highlights. I always liked this feature in the Tiger Woods PGA Tour games, and they have it in Facebreaker now as well. I tried it and it worked just fine — showed up online almost right away.

Overall, I like this game. I did, however, have a few gripes. As mentioned above, I did not like that I slap my opponent around for three rounds only to get knocked down myself just once in Sudden Death and lose. While I do like the button-mashing for the controls, your hands will get tired after a while. I had to stop for a little bit between fights to rest a little. The graphics were just okay at best. On these next-gen consoles, they could have gone much further, but it was a decent first effort.

My final gripe is that if you do not get good at dodging or parries (where you can grab your opponents glove and hit them with your other hand), you can get in trouble in a heartbeat. The game difficulty can shift on you quick, and once you get smacked in the mouth 20 or 30 times, it’s pretty tough to get out of that.

This would be a great party game as it does not take too long to learn — just don’t talk too much smack or you might start a real fight and the cops will be coming, lawsuits will be served, kittens will cry — nothing good can come with it. The lasting appeal of single player, however, just isn’t there.

Pandemic’s sandbox destruction plaything Mercenaries 2 is apparently getting an additional installment (and then some), according to John Riccitiello. The announcement reared its expected head during a post-earnings conference call, in which Riccitiello said:

There will be a Mercenaries 3 and, if I have anything to do with it, there will be a Mercenaries 10.

A bold statement for an otherwise completely unsurprising business strategy, as EA had announced sequels for Dead Space, Battlefield: Bad Company, and Army of Two only four days earlier.

Mercenaries 2 performed adequately on the charts, achieving a 72.6% on GameRankings. Regardless, it was a veritable cash-cow for EA, raking in 1.9 million, nearly as much as the highly regarded Spore. No other details were given, but we’ll be sure to update you as soon as they hit.

Economic hardships have officially hit the previously thought to be untouchable games industry, as Electronic Arts has announced that it will lay off 600 of its employees. This comes as an effort to conserve development resources and expand profit margins, as Mariam Sughayer explained to Kotaku.

“All parts of EA have reviewed their team sizes to adjust employee numbers. The goal is to ensure we’re resourced in a way that allows us to continue to grow our revenues while at the same time keeping our costs under control and improving profitability. These changes will be announced to affected staff starting October 30.”

Sughayer continues to cite the economic turmoil that the American, and much of the global economy, has been experiencing as of late. With more gamers keeping their wallets shut, studios have been forced to cut back on expenses to simply survive.

“These are challenging economic times around the world, and it’s impossible for any business leaders to predict the future. However, EA has made good progress in improving product quality, building a holiday lineup of titles that is extremely strong, filling our new IP pipeline, and expanding our Direct-To-Consumer and online businesses. As well, our talent remains the best in the industry.”

Rumors of a massive staff cutback have apparently been circulating around EA watercoolers for sometime now, with the number being around 20% of staff, so 6% comes as as bit of a surprise. Many speculate that this cutback may be signifying EA’s change in strategy, from internal development to external. Regardless, Ripten hopes the employment fairy will be visiting EA’s newly unemployed.

Source: Kotaku

Game auteur Will Wright attended the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards ceremony in New York, and Jim Reilly of Kotaku was there to ask him what he thought about the controversy surrounding his game.

“It was something I probably should have tuned into more. It was a corporate decision to go with DRM on Spore. They had a plan and the parameters, but now we’re allowing more authentications and working with players to de-authenticate which makes it more in line like an iTunes.

I think one of the most valid concerns about it was you could only install it so many times. For most players it’s not an issue, it’s a pretty small percentage, but some people do like wiping their hard disk and installing it 20 times or they want to play it 10 years later.”

Spore and distributor Electronic Arts came under fire for the perceived draconian tactics employed by the software’s DRM. SecuROM software essentially limiting Spore to one install.

Incensed gamers rallied around Spore, citing SecuROM as little better than malware which led to a grassroots boycott of the game.

Source: kotaku.com

Electronic Arts has released a demo of NBA Live 09 today. New features like the Pick and Roll Control, Defensive Lockdown Control, Signature Playcalling, and Quickstrike Ankle-Breakers will make the NBA Live experience so much more fun.

The demo, which weighs in at about 694 MB, gives players the first chance to check out NBA Live 09 as you recreate the 2008 NBA Finals matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. You can choose to play with their current rosters or take it to another level by stepping back in time and playing two different games based on the player’s performance in two of their classic matchups with the all new feature called NBA Rewind.

If I’ve got anything to do with it, I’ll make sure this year’s Finals matchup is entirely different and have the Lakers end up winning — the way it should have been back in June.

I actually already had a chance to get my hands on NBA Live 09 when I went to E3 back in July. Check out my hands-on preview of NBA Live 09 and then hop onto Xbox Live and download the demo now!

Source: Major Nelson

Dave Chappelle once said, “Nobody likes getting their ass beat to a soundtrack.” Dave never played FaceBreaker. EA’s arcade-style boxing game’s soundtrack has been announced, and it’s full of Grateful Dead and Jack Johnson. You know — good, mellow stuff.

OK, I lied. The FaceBreaker soundtrack contains tunes with such auspicious names as “Sucker Punch,” “Knock Me Down,” and “Girl Fight.” How appropriate.

Hit the jump for the full list of songs that make you want to punch your friends in the face.

• Boys Noize – “Arcade Robot”
• Boys Noize – “Oh!”
• Dropkick Murphys – “The Warrior’s Code”
• Fort Knox Five featuring Mustafa Akbar – “The Spirit of 75”
• From First to Last – “Worlds Away”
• From First to Last – “Two As One”
• From First to Last – “We All Turn Back to Dust”
• Fujiya & Miyagi – “Sucker Punch”
• Gogol Bordello – “60 Revolutions”
• Kenna – “Out of Control (State of Emotion) – Free Donuts and Shellfish XXXChange with Ronnie Darko Spankrock Remix” (won an award for most obnoxious song title ever)
• Kinky – “Uruapan Breaks”
• Los Mocosos – “Bandolera Era (Reggaeton Remix)”
• Ozomatli – “Street Signs”
• Tone Loc featuring Peaches – “Wild Thing (Peaches RMX)”
• Prophet Omega – “Criminal”
• Quit Your Day Job featuring R.A. The Rugged Man – “Warmachine (Remake)”
• Santogold – “Creator”
• Sweatmaster – “Animal”
• The Go! Team – “Universal Speech”
• The Hives – “Square One Here I Come”
• The Procussions – “Fight Here”
• The Rivers – “Knock Me Down”
• Tigarah – “Girl Fight”
• Tone Deaf Junkies – “Kwaai Techtic”
• Wolfmother – “Woman (MSTRKRFT Remix)”

PS3 finally gets some exclusive DLC TLC.  Sony has entered into an “exclusive marketing agreement” with Mirror’s Edge publisher and evil overlords Electronic Arts to bring downloadable content to the title via PSN.  How’d they manage that without the exorbitantly deep pockets of Microsoft?

Sony has also gone on record to squelch rumors that Mirror’s Edge would be a timed exclusive, stating that the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC versions would all release on the same day.

This is one of the things that amuses me about the console wars.  People are quick to point the finger at Microsoft’s wallet every time they get something exclusive (mainly because they publicly stated how much they paid for GTA4 content), but they also argue that Sony is above paying for exclusives “because they don’t have to”.

So that begs the question: What did Sony do get exclusive content in Mirror’s Edge?  Obviously, they didn’t pay for it, so it must just be that EA loves the PS3 so much that they decided to give them something special.  Apparently Microsoft didn’t see Mirror’s Edge as worth the cost to buy the DLC away from Sony… or maybe Microsoft is finally running out of money (not likely).

In actuality, Sony getting exclusive content does not rule out the 360 or PC from getting their own exclusive content, much like the exclusive characters in SoulCalibur IV.  I’m still curious what the point of exclusive DLC is anyway, as it doesn’t seem to have made that big of an impact so far.

Sony used to agree with that, but apparently exclusive DLC now has a purpose and is way cool… or maybe they just couldn’t afford GTA4 and Fallout 3. What do you think? Are Sony and Microsoft bidding on exclusives, or do you think perhaps there are some console fans in the development houses themselves putting out content for the system they prefer?

Source: Eurogamer

After being nominated as some of the people in videogaming that need to “shut the fuck up“, Cliff Bleszinski and Mark Rein take it to the ring to decide which of the two of them wins the right to shut up more. Using the photo upload tools in EA’s new game Facebreaker, I was able to poorly reconstruct these two mammoths of mutilating machismo and let them do their thing. Video follows.

Mark came out swinging and really had Cliffy on the ropes, but the Blaznats is no bitch and came back with a vengeance. Too bad there’s a time limit — we’ll have to wait until the game releases in September to see what would happen if they weren’t confined to mere 90-second slap fights.

P.S. Does anyone else get the overwhelming urge to barf all over the place whenever they are subjected to EA Trax, or is that just me?

After confirming that the Mass Effect trilogy would not be coming to the Playstation 3, BioWare CEO Dr. Ray Muzyka commented that “the most important thing is quality, so we’re never going to compromise that.” Does that mean that developing for PS3 would compromise quality?

Here’s yet another instance of nit-picking someone’s words. While most 360 fans will almost certainly assume this is what Dr. Ray was saying (taking a subtle stab at the PS3), I think it’s more than likely he just thinks starting development on Mass Effect for another console would be detrimental to the momentum they already have on the 360.

Mass Effect was always slated as a 360 exclusive and was planned out long before the EA deal. Everyone thought the Mass Effect sequels would go multiplatform because of EA, but BioWare probably feels it would just slow them down. After all, if the 360’s successor is supposed to be out by 2010 (ha!) and the whole Mass Effect trilogy is supposed to be on 360, BioWare is working on a very limited time frame.

Then again, maybe he was ever so subtly professing his love for Xbox since BioWare was Xbox exclusive up until now. Who knows? Dr. Ray knows, but I’m sure he’ll never come out and explicitly confirm anything. That’s just not how BioWare rolls. They remain morally ambiguous and let you, the gamer, decide for yourself.

Source: XboxOz360

EA is celebrating 20 years of Madden music by launching a massive PR campaign in late summer of 2008, just before the release of Madden 09 on August 12.

The campaign will feature a multitude of live television performances by bands on the soundtrack, as well as a Billboard special issue, hitting stands on July 13th.

In addition to putting out the PR vibe, EA has announced the bands and track list for the game. Check it out below, and have a listen on EA’s website.

Airbourne – Stand Up For Rock ‘N Roll

Busta Rhymes feat. Linkin Park – We Made It

Disturbed – Inside The Fire

Franz Ferdinand – Lucid Dreams

From First To Last – Worlds Away

Gym Class Heroes – I’m Home

Hollywood Undead – Undead

In Flames – The Mirror’s Truth

Innerpartysystem – Don’t Stop

Izza Kizza – Millionaire

K’NAAN – ABC’s

Kardinal Offishall feat. Lindo P – Burnt

Kidz In The Hall – Blackout

KOVAS – Wax On, Wax Off

Mindless Self Indulgence – Never Wanted To Dance

Rev Theory – Hey Yeah

Senses Fail – Wolves At The Door

Shinedown – Devour

The All-American Rejects – The Real World (Demo)

The Fashion – Like Knives

The Offspring – Hammerhead

Trivium – Into The Mouth Of…We March

Tyga – Diamond Life

Underoath – Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

Wale feat. Southeast Slim – Breakdown

Young Dre The Truth feat. Good Charlotte – Workin’

Industry giant and evil overlord Electronic Arts reported this morning that it had finished its wheeling and dealing with the Federal Trade Commission concerning the takeover of Take Two Interactive.

In its regulatory filing, EA said it would not go through with the previously offered $2 billion deal (because Take Two rejected it), and would instead return to the table, presumably with hired goons, no sooner than August 21 of this year.  The news apparently convinced some people that this deal will happen, as stock prices rose for both companies.  We have just experienced the beginning of the end.

The average gamer knows this to be true.  It was a sad day when EA acquired BioWare, and that’s just one developer.  Take Two represents one of the four legs (along with EA, Ubisoft, and ActiBlizzion) that holds up the bed of videogames that we all sleep in.  Combining two of those legs into one will certainly make the bed unstable, and we will most likely not have as much fun in it any more for fear that it will break and splinters will pierce our fun-parts.

The EA Sports games are a perfect example of what a lack of competition does to the quality of their products.  EA just doesn’t give a shit.  They know that if you want NFL-branded football, you will buy their game, so they have no motivation to make it anything other than passable.  If EA acquires Take Two, all sports games will begin to suck harder.

I know the reality of a Take Two buyout is probably not as doom and gloom as I think it is.  I still have faith that BioWare will continue to make great games despite being under the EA banner of douchebaggery. The point I’m trying to make is that competition breeds innovation.  The more competition EA disposes of through either acquisitions or exclusive licensing, the lower their need to focus on quality, and the shittier the average game will end up being.  Just look at the history of AT&T for a perfect example.

Hopefully, if EA continues its trend of gobbling up every other company, it will actually end up like AT&T — broke into a thousand pieces that end up giving us better choices and service.  If not, I’ll just go back to boring things like spending time with my family.

Source: Reuters via Yahoo News

At the tail end of last year there were many voices asking if 2007 had been the best year in gaming history. Regardless of how you would respond to that question, 2007 without a doubt saw the release of a number of really fantastic titles. What any gamer should be excited to hear is that 2008 is shaping up to be at least as equally fantastic with huge releases imminent on all platforms. Word came down from on high today that there is a new name to be added to the list of things to drool over, and it’s a big one—Spore.

EA and Maxis have announced that Spore, Will Wright’s holistic mega-sim, will release for PC, Mac, Nintendo DS and mobile phones on September 7, 2008.

Now in the final stages of testing and polish, Spore will allow players to create civilizations from scratch, seemingly control every aspect of their development, share what they create and explore the creations of others.

Broad in appeal, huge in scope, drawing on the strengths of a single player format while encouraging strong community and leveraging the joy of playfulness and creativity, the promise of Spore is immense. At a time when PC gaming is supposedly struggling, Spore seems like the title that could turn that kind of statement on its head in the blink of an eye. And now it isn’t just some halcyon mascot of days past on an ever-receding horizon—the universe-in-a-box will be in eager hands in a matter of months. I for one am anxious to see if the game delivers. After all, it isn’t often Will Wright makes a new game.

Hit www.spore.com for all the latest official bits and pieces.

In a move many people wished had been made when the Orange Box launched, EA have announced that TF2, HL2:ep2 and Portal will soon be sold individually for PC.

Unless you use Steam, Valve’s digital distribution service, up until now the only way you have been able to buy the new games from Valve has been to get them as part of The Orange Box. If you were put off from buying all 5 games but still want to try the sweet, moist cake of Portal, or see what happens to everyone’s lovable mute, Gordon Freeman, you’re in luck.

In a conference call to investors, EA have said that they will soon be selling the new games individually and that they will be in stores for PC before the end of March. No word on if the 360 or PS3 versions will follow suit or if The Orange Box package will continue to be produced for PC.

Source: Videogamer

Say hello to Activision Blizzard, the result of a Sunday-morning announcement between Activision and Vivendi Games that they’ve agreed to combine their resources. The new company results in about $3.8 billion of pro forma and the greatest operating margins of any current third party publisher. Stick that in your craw, Electronic Arts!

Instead of culling the name of their partner, Activision instead chose to draw power from the company’s most influential subsidiary, Blizzard Entertainment, clearly banking on the hit-maker’s more established pedigree. For Vivendi at large, already an entertainment powerhouse in other key areas of the media, this provides an excellent opportunity for them to continue expanding their games business. The company’s CEO, Jean-Bernard Lévy, had the following to say:

“This alliance is a major strategic step for Vivendi and is another illustration of our drive to extend our presence in the entertainment sector. By combining Vivendi’s games business with Activision, we are creating a worldwide leader in a high-growth industry. We are excited about the opportunities for Activision Blizzard as a broader entertainment software platform.”

It’s highly unlikely that the partnership will affect Blizzard’s current or future development plans. After all, who would want to mess with the formula of a company that’s produced nine hit games in a row? As cited above, it does bode very well for Vivendi Games, though, whose only other major acquisition has been Sierra Entertainment.

Activision Blizzard now holds the rights to one of the most diverse gaming portfolios in the business, spanning everything from Guitar Hero to MMO darling World of Warcraft. Now, if only this alliance would result in such awesome things as “I Am Murloc” DLC for Guitar Hero III or Call of Duty 5: Terran Warfare.

Click here for the full (not to mention lengthy) press release.