Video Game Pulse

A plea from Techland just came over the wire; they want me to get the word out about their newest game. “Could you please publish this at your site. Thanks in advance” says Adam Tutaj.

So here we go with yet another press release, this one is all about racing, and not just any racing, but racing ONLY Volkswagens! While I have no issue with the Volkswagen, I own one my self, I’m not sure about a game dedicated to one type of car. I personally haven’t seen the game, or played it, the website is currently lacking any of the above. I’m sure though that this game will be a lot of fun. It includes all five generations of the VW Golf, including the GTI, G60 and the R32 for a total of 15 Golf vehicles alone! There are also quite a few concept cars to pick from.

GTI Racing is the name of the game, and it takes customization to a whole new level, Not only are all the cars licensed, but all the parts and tuning equipment is licensed too! The visual and performance parts are available in a wide array from the world’s best in modification experts, companies like Bilstein, Brembo, Eibach, Kamei, Kerscher, König, Remus, Zender are just a few of the licensed companies.

The career mode isn’t lacking either, featuring over 70 races against challenging AI opponents in 6 different scenarios. The race modes will not only include the standard race mode, but also drift, drag, SP and MP. The level of intensity is heightened by the physics of the game, with hundreds of interactive objects on the tracks, all of which provides the pure enjoyment of dynamic car driving.

This game is currently only targeted as a PC game launch, it will however offer online and LAN capabilities. Would make for an interesting XBOX game though with the Live features. Adam does promise me though that the website will be up pretty soon with downloadable gameplay footage, screenshots and game arts, samples of GTI Racing’s soundtrack and a lot more. So stay tuned and go check it out!

“Creditable Journalism”, a term that assures confidence, something that says you got what it takes and that you aren’t talking out of your ass. Would anyone debate that we shouldn’t have creditable journalism? Would anyone want something that is so untrue or misjudged at first sight based on unreliable sources, or no evidence? Some of the readers over at VGM Watch sure think so!

Keep in mind, this is not an attack on VGM Watch or Kyle Orland, this is a testament to the readers of his blog, and how they seem to not care if a person knows what they are talking about or not. Take for example a snippet from Kyle’s latest blog post, which addresses David Pogue’s recent column in the New York Times on rules for effective trolling.

David Pogue’s recent column in the New York Times on rules for effective trolling should be read by anyone who writes anything on the Internet. Some of the points, though, seemed especially applicable to our particular sphere of interest:

2. Having a violent opinion of something doesn’t require you to actually try it yourself. After all, plenty of people heatedly object to books they haven’t read or movies they haven’t seen. Heck, you can imagine perfectly well if something is any good.

What David is talking about in that column is a person like Jack Thompson, who has probably never played a Grand Theft Auto game in his life. Jack Thompson is the type of person who would attack a game based off a children’s show, if only because Rockstar/Take-Two Interactive made it. A random person could probably send Jack Thompson an email depicting non-existent violence in any given game, and Jack would take it as fact. This is exactly the type of person that David is talking about.

“Point two is debatable. The old saw [sic] ‘you don’t have to eat shit to know it tastes bad’ comes to mind.” says VGM Watch reader, Gus Mastrapa. Another reader by the name of Apreche talks on behalf of failed expectations. “For example, if you’ve played Tony Hawk 1, 2, 3 and 4. And you hated all of them. And Tony Hawk 5 comes out, you can be reasonably certain you will hate it. Just like how you can watch the first episode or two of a TV show and decide whether you will like the rest of them or not.”

I think the problem the readers at VGM Watch are having is that they aren’t actually reading Kyle’s posts. Kyle started his post by stating that the article was regarding journalism and not personal opinion. He also states that anyone who writes anything on the internet should read the article. Apreche and Gus are looking at this numbered list as what gamers should go by, not journalists as it is intended. Personally I don’t take to much stock into what a Nintendo fanboy on a forum says, or in a readers collumn of EGM. However, The instant that fanboy start writing for a Playstation or XBOX website/magazine, I will take there journalistic integrity into question. Writing for a blog gives you the freedom of cramming in as much opinion as possible, but professional video game journalism is un-biased. I expect a journalist to tell me a game lacks a good soundtrack, tell me the graphics are great, but not to tell me that it sucks because it wasn’t released on their favorite system. The last thing we need is more stuff like Jane Pinckard’s early reporting on 1up.com.

Companies like Nintendo have been milking their classic characters for years. Tossing Mario and Donkey Kong in almost every genre known to man. Nintendo isn’t alone on this; Lucas Arts has done the same thing with their Star Wars franchise. These companies release new games with no new characters, or at least not a broad range of characters, Midway releases Mortal Kombat with almost the same line-up since the start, and gives characters like Nina her own game. Dead or Alive has also sported the same characters time and time again.

People would probably love to play some new characters, see some new faces, and once dead company SNK (now SNK Playmore) has made that possible. There all new SAMURAI SHODOWN V is the first appearance of the series on any current generation of consoles in North America. The game has been completely revamped with online play (including a tournament mode), You can Choose from a total of 26 fighters including 14 new characters to the franchise. That’s right FOURTEEN new characters! SNK Playmore isn’t playing around with this release.

Fans of the Samurai Shodown series will be happy with this release, as it includes the Original Japanese Version. For newcomers, you can expect to see a Power-up Rage Gauge, which unleashes the potential of Death Combos, which cause extreme damage. Another addition to the series is the Spirit Strength, which allows you to force your opponent into slow motion (man that sounds cool). The character design is phenomenal, the artist behind the scenes is none other then world-renowned manga artist, Nobuhiro Watsuki. Nobuhiro Watsuki is most well known for the Rurouni Kenshin series and multiple Shonen Jump manga’s, including the Different Paths series.

One down side about this release is that it is ONLY available on the XBOX, a decision probably made specifically because of the XBOX Live® capabilities. Sony, you need to get on board with the Playstation 3!! Can’t wait to go pick up this title; it should be on shelves as of the 18th.

Annabel Brog, our contact at Mobile Games company I-Play has just sent out the word on one of their most successful games. Their game Skipping Stone has just been added to the short-list for the ‘Best Made for Mobile Game’ category in the GSM Association Awards.

Skipping Stone is described as a “pick up and play” compulsive ‘one thumb play’ title. This is the fourth honor that has been bestowed upon Skipping Stone. Earlier this year it was included in The Chicago Tribune’s ‘Best Games of 2005′ list, IGN Wireless ‘Wireless Game of the Year’ awards, and took ‘Game of the Year’ at the Mobile Choice Awards.

“The 2006 GSM Association Awards have been specifically designed to showcase the diversity of products and services and the quality, ingenuity and level of innovation that combine to fuel the mobile value chain. Entries this year have again exceeded our highest expectations, reflecting the vibrancy of the mobile industry on a global basis. My congratulations on your successful nomination for the 2006 Awards.”

-CEO of the GSM Association, Rob Conway

As you can expect, I-Play is very satisfied with the news. “Being short-listed for the 3GSM Association Awards for the ‘Best made for Mobile Game’ category is yet another tremendous endorsement of the game and of I-play,” David Gosen, acting CEO of I-Play Began to comment. “This game is the very definition of ‘pick up and play’, with the distinction that once you pick it up, you can’t put it down. This is one stone that will be skipping for a long time.”

Have you ever wanted to play as a crash test dummy, you know the guys with the yellow and black symbol on their foreheads. Well our press contact from Schanz Gaming has just informed me that this has become a reality with the newest game from Twelve Games. Their newest addition to their line-up of games is “Crash Dummy vs. the evil D-Troit”. Yes, that is a burn on the city of Detroit.

You play as a Crash Dummy as you would expect in a 2D world with a 3D twist; in the same fashion as Viewtiful Joe. The game has destructible environments, and interaction with objects such as boxes, barrels and weapons. The game looks quirky and fun, all while reminding me of Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus and Alien Hominid. As far as an action game, it looks to have the key elements such as coin-like pickups and more. When it comes to the Music, this game has its groove on, the soundtrack features a pop/rap/jazz like undertone which can be downloaded from their website.

The Weapons are pretty interesting looking too, nothing too violent, just your standard fare of Freeze Rays, Glue Guns, or Flame Throwers (ok, maybe that last one is a bit violent). Schanz also promises for Movie like Effects using the graphic library PYRO. Below is a quote from Schanz describing a bit more of the technical aspects of the game and a little recap of what was just said.

… thanks to the use of the incorporated HAVOC physics engine you can fight with many different styles in an unique and interactive environment against evil D-Troit´s prototypes-dummies – move cases, throw barrels, climb walls, swim and use weapons like the Liquid-Bazooka to freeze, glue or burn the bad dummies. In other words just have fun, fun and more fun with the character and the gameplay!

-Schanz International Consultants

You can expect to see “Crash Dummy vs. the evil D-Troit” sometime in 2006 on the PC, XBOX, PS2 and PSP

When it comes down to what your computer is worth in performance, gamers have chosen Futurmark’s product line of 3DMark, PCMark, and SPMark for the last 8 years. Hundreds of magazines use

Futuremark is a company that was founded in 1997, they have since become the leading providor of performance information and services for PC’s and handheld devices. They are most well known for their 3DMark, PCMark, and SPMark Series. It has since become the most distributed performance software to date. Not only do gamers use 3DMark and other products provided by Futuremark, so do the companies who develop demos and custom web applications.Futuremark’s software is used by more than 250 computer magazines and has hence been recognized as the world de-facto standard for PC and handheld device benchmarking.

The big news today is that 3DMark06 is being launched tommorow over at GameSpot as part of a world premiere event. This is one of the most anticipated product releases for gamers around the world, the ultimate in benchmark preformance software.

If you are just a gamer who wants the basic information about what to upgade and change on your system, then 3DMark06 Basic Edition is for you, it comes at a very low price of Free! You can also choose to purchase 3DMark06 Advanced Edition, which offers expanded features, a mini-game and expanded online capabilies If you are a magazine, or a software developer as mentioned above, then the $500 3DMark06 Professional Edition is just for you.

Is a video game considered art? When you think Pac-Man, does Michelangelo or Picasso even spring to mind? Can Spyro the dragon be considered part of the same category as a musical masterpiece by Mozart? For most people, they would say no. Most would not appreciate a video game as art. Make no mistake though; video games are as much an art form as music, movies, or paintings.

Video games come and go, from basic 8-bit to 128-bit and beyond. Games now allow a person to create what ever they want, wherever they want, and how ever they want. Earlier games limited what an artist could do, just as limited colors or brushes could limit and painter. Games must be considered by their potential, not what is in the current selection of games. Games like Katamari Damacy, Zelda: Wind Waker, ICO, Shadow of the Colossus Killer 7, and Psychonauts use a visual dynamic to bring their games alive. Some of the games listed above use cell-shading as a visual aspect, and some others use small details to accent the entire experience.

There are many other forms of art used in games beyond a visual aspect, a game its self is art. Most times art is meant to evoke an emotion through the fantasy your mind creates, something that is limited by traditional art forms. A video game programmer must create the conditions and tools for which the gamer will use to create an individual experience. Gaming is thus an interactive art, something that grabs the attention better then a painting or statue in a museum. Games like Call of Cthulhu not only have the player on the edge of their seat scared, they have the in-game character scared. Call of Cthulhu takes away the Heads Up Display, and any form of a life bar. The only way you know how hurt you are is by how blurry it is, how dark it is, and how scarred you character is. You must take in emotional aspects of the game in order to play it. There are few games that have caused this kind of reaction, games like Resident Evil 4 on the GameCube caused quite a stir, but there was still a heads up display. I’m not really sure if there are any more games like this, Call of Cthulhu is really a pioneer of its kind.

Until recently games have been in the hands of programmers, not artists, to make a game is simple enough, to make something that drives emotions, and creates a realm of possibilities is something that only a true artist can bring to a game. People like Hideo Kojima, Keita Takahashi or David Jaffe are not well known names for no reason at all, they are forerunners of an artist in a programmers position. They are the ones who define what games can be, Games that make you feel what your characters feels, make you care about the person you are playing as emotionally.

Recently the video game industry has been expanding with the creation of the Indian Games Industry and Trade Association (iGITA). This very same organization is requesting 10,000 animation and 1,200 gaming professionals for immediate hire. There isn’t that many people actually available for hire, especially people with an artistic flare for video games. “Art should be seen as art. The focus should be on evolving the latent creativity. It should not be treated as a software training module that can be rushed through,’’ said Manu Ittina; director of Ittina Animation Studios. Mr. Ittina continued by stating that lack of talent is a major issue, and that companies should give ample time for the creation of a product, thus helping tackle the issue of creative restraint to a degree.

Hopefully with the creation of iGITA, the Indian gaming industry can thrive and succeed in its goal of hiring great talent and creating thought provoking games, this really is the an important step in realizing the art potential in games. This will become one of the building blocks in the history of games. Newer consoles such as the XBOX 360 and the PS3 will only further the ability to create art. The console is only the canvas.

The rumor being tossed up over at Kotaku is so scary it has me in shivers. Even the slight mention, either true or not, makes me want to vomit! The kind of sick you get only when you think of pure pain, the kind you get when you watch the “Many Faces of Death” videos. When you watch those crashes on Gorilla Mask.

Uwe Boll has taken games that I don’t really play that much and turned them into horrible movies. Until now I never put to much stock into what he made and how it affected the fans of the games he made movie counterparts to. I never thought of how it could affect the video game series its self. Most all of you that actually are reading this site have realized that I take Sunday and Monday off, but this report is so extremely important that I have decided to break the cycle.

Uwe Boll, reaper of video game souls and destroyer of gaming’s Hollywood hopes, has cast his jaundiced eye on none other than Metal Gear Solid. The Boll said in a recent interview that he knows Konami paid someone to write a script from the game and the he “absolutely” want to make it into the movie. Somewhere in Konami, people are crying.

-Kotaku

God save us all if this is true. No one wants this! The games themselves tell better stories then any video game movie ever could. I am a huge fan of the series, and I can say that I don’t want ANYONE making this movie, even Hideo Kojima himself. I may watch an animation by Hideo Kojima, but live-action is out of the question.

The year to date (YTD) numbers are in, and boy do they look good. Aside from what analysts were saying, the gaming industry did not suffer a blow in the year 2005. The year was 2005, it was the fourth quarter, and game sales were looking too good, a general lack of must have titles, the launch of a new system, a bad economy. It seemed like the numbers were against the gaming industry, and the companies sure knew it, they quickly adjusted quarterly profit margins, most cutting they expected gross income down by $2million dollars or more.

The analysts said the economy just could not afford a $250 portable, and a $400 console this year, but then the NPD game through and told us exactly what happened last year. Not only did the gaming industry not lose money, it made record profits. $10.5 billion was the final total, compared to last years $9.9 billion and breaking the previous high of 2002 at $10.3 billion. Keep in mind; these numbers don’t include the PC games. There is $480 million a year in just World of Warcraft subscriptions. Next week we will know just how much the PC gaming industry made.

Anita Frazier, entertainment-industry analyst for the NPD Group and many other noted how amazing it is that with a poor fourth quarter, the gaming industry still had a net gain in profit. It goes to show how many people got a game/console/accessory as a gift this Christmas. I know at my Christmas, there was at least 2 consoles and 10 or more games. Oddly enough though, 8 out of the top 10 selling games of 2005 were on the Playstation 2. I would have expected the XBOX Live games to be on top of the list.

• Madden NFL 06 (PS2)
• Electronic Arts
• over 2.9 million sold
• Pokemon Emerald (GBA)
• Nintendo of America
• over 1.7 million sold
• Gran Turismo 4 (PS2)
• SCEA
• over 1.5 million sold
• Madden NFL 06 (Xbox)
• Electronic Arts
• over 1.2 million sold
• NCAA Footbal 06 (PS2)
• Electronic Arts
• over 1.1 million sold
• Star Wars: Battlefront II (PS2)
• LucasArts
• over 1 million sold
• MVP Baseball 2005 (PS2)
• Electronic Arts
• over 970,000 sold
• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (PS2)
• LucasArts
• over 930,000 sold
• NBA Live 06 (PS2)
• Electronic Arts
• over 820,000 sold
• LEGO Star Wars (PS2)
• Eidos
• over 800,000 sold

Well, there you have it 5 Electronic Arts games, 3 Star Wars games, and much more of the same. Oddly enough, no Grand Theft Auto LCS

While browsing the internet for some interesting news to report on, I happened to stumble upon a very interesting article, one that really defines what is currently going on within the gaming industry. The article was found on Wired News. It starts out with a simple blow to the Sega Saturn launch, referencing how they releasing it to only a few select stores, and then months later releasing it to everyone to sell. Afterwards it wraps that statement up with the chaos that was the Xbox 360 launch.

Wired doesn’t stop there, they go as far as to talk about how Nintendo’s next system won’t even need a controller to play, and fanboys will still defend that no controller on the Nintendo system is better then a controller on any other system. Man I hate fanboys. They don’t let anyone off the hook in the wonderful satire on the gaming industry.

One thing that stood out the most for me was how they referenced the shock towards the violence in the newest Grand Theft Auto game, West Bloodbath. The reaction is something you may not be expecting. Wired actually compares Mario to GTA, stating that both are wimpy compared to other games. This of course is a direct jab against Jack Thompson ignoring more violent games like Man Hunt, and going after more mainstream games like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

“As for the current generation of video games, the big news was the long-awaited release of Grand Theft Auto: West Bloodbath. Gamers were appalled by the violence, specifically the wussiness of it. ‘Wait,’ they said. ‘I’m still limited to shooting, beating or running over hookers? Kill Death Die Hurt Maim let me chop off their fingers one by one while they begged for mercy, their cheap eyeliner merging with their tears and darkening the pools of blood at their feet. Are you sure Mario isn’t in this wimpfest?’”

Wired also goes on to talk about breakaway hits such as Katamari Damacy, and the forced sequel. When Capcom released Katamari Damacy, it was a hugely popular unique game, which spurred Capcom into forcing its creator to making sequel against his will. We (Heart) Katamari was never meant to be, the creator him self stating that he hates rehashed games, and wants to bring unique ideas to the table every time. Wired doesn’t skip a beat when they go on to talk about Adhesive Death Star, and other parody’s of the game.

The end of the article goes on to talk about Microsoft’s revolutionary “Verified Gender technology”, making sure that you are actually playing with a 13/f/ny and not a 35/m/next door. The entire article is a good read, there is more then what I have posted here, so I encourage you to read the full article.