By John Flickinger
Staff Writer, Coffee Fiend

Nintendo hasn’t been doing well lately. They’ve been reporting losses, and the Wii-U isn’t performing as well as they would like. It’s third party support is also less than impressive at the moment. Still, it’s very early in the hardware cycle, and they might bounce back. But Nintendo has started making some questionable decisions.

They’re claiming ownership over the ad revenue that comes from YouTube videos containing footage of Nintendo’s games. I realize they may be looking for new revenue streams, but the people making these videos are giving Nintendo one of the most valuable forms of advertising possible. If they start going through with thi,s those same people will likely switch over to other platforms and ignore Nintendo’s games altogether.

Most people who post video game-related clips on YouTube do it for fun. But it still takes time, and some people are entertaining enough that they can make a living off of posting video game footage with commentary. Those are the people who rely on monetizing their videos due to the costs involved in making them, and those are also the people who are producing quality content about Nintendo’s products. This is essentially a form of valuable and free advertising.

Modern gamers use YouTube videos to decide whether they want to buy a game or not. When they see a lot of people playing the game and having fun, that footage directly influences their purchasing decisions. Is the ad revenue from those videos really worth the potential loss in sales? These professional commentators won’t be playing their games if they can’t monetize them, and those videos with the quality commentary and in-depth analysis will be going to other games on platforms that let the people creating, recording, editing, and posting those videos to keep their ad revenue. This is a really bad idea.

If the only available video footage for a game consists of a trailer, and some poor quality videos made by non-professionals it’s going to be a lot harder to decide whether or not to make a purchase. It’s showing that the company is out of touch with its consumer base which is sad, because Nintendo should be doing better than this. They’ve been a huge name in the video game industry for so long, yet their future is uncertain.

Front page image/image 1 from nintendo-master.com. Image 2 from cnet.com. 

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Batman and Deathstroke do battle in the first teaser trailer for Batman: Arkham Origins, which hit the web this week.

A prequel to the best-selling Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City games, Origins sees eight of the world’s best assassins come to Gotham City to hunt the Dark Knight. While the Joker is conspicuous by his absence, the game will feature familiar characters such as Alfred Pennyworth, James Gordon, Black Mask and the Penguin.

Front page image from shacknews.com.
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By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Just over a month since the announcement of the closure of LucasArts, the Walt Disney Company announced today that it will work with Electronic Arts to create new Star Wars video games.

“This agreement demonstrates our commitment to creating quality game experiences that drive the popularity of the Star Wars franchise for years to come,” said John Pleasants, co-rresident of Disney Interactive Studios. “Collaborating with one of the world’s premier game developers will allow us to bring an amazing portfolio of new Star Wars titles to our fans around the world.”

 Source: Newsarama
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By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Marvel published the first trailer for it’s upcoming video game Lego Marvel Super Heroes this week.

The trailer prominently features Iron Man, Spider-Man, Hulk, Thor and Wolverine. Captain America, Black Widow and Deadpool can also be seen. In the trailer, our heroes find themselves in the shadow of an opponent, the identity of whom appears to be Galactus.

Lego Marvel Super Heroes comes out later this year for XBox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and PC.   

Front page image from marvel.com.
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By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

This week, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Game Informer broke the news about not one, but two new installments in the Arkham game franchise. Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate are on their way to game consoles.

Arkham Origins, set for release on the Playstation 3, XBox 360, Nintendo Wii U and PC (and presumably corresponding next-gen systems) will star a younger Batman as he faces off with various enemies for the first time, including a new addition to the franchise, Deathstroke. The Deathstroke character has recently appeared on the CW’s Arrow TV show, and has been a mainstay of the Teen Titans and Green Arrow comic books over the years. The character will reportedly lead “eight of the best assassins in the world” in an attack on Batman.

Arkham Origins Blackgate, set for release on the Nintendo 3DS and Playstation Vita consoles, will take place after the events of Origins, and reportedly be a ”2.5-D Metroid-style exploration action” game. In the DC Comics universe, Blackgate is the Gotham City prison for inmates who aren’t considered insane.

Conspicuous by their absence is Rocksteady Studios, the company that developed Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City. Warner Bros. Games Montreal will take the reigns for the Origin games, using the modified Unreal engine developed for the first two games.

The first look at the Origins video games can be seen below.

Source: Newsarama
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TITLE: Tomb Raider
PLATFORM: 360, PS3, PC
DEVELOPER: Crystal Dynamics
PUBLISHER: Square Enix
ESRB: M
RELEASED: March 5, 2013

By Seth Miller
Staff Writer, Part Time Ninja

My console of choice in late ’90s was the Nintendo 64. I loved that console so much but it did mean I missed out on some great games Playstation games like Metal Gear Solid and Tomb Raider. I never got to play Metal Gear Solid, which I regret. But I do not regret missing Tomb Raider. The character is an icon, but the number of complaints about the series has not encouraged me to ever give it a shot. But as far as this reboot is concerned, all I can say is I’m really glad I played Tomb Raider!

Set years before she became a badass action archaeologist, Lara is eager to prove herself by discovering a legendary island that was thought to not exist. The ship she is on encounters a storm and is destroyed. Lara winds up on the island she was searching for but finds more than she bargained for. Surrounded by survivors from other who that have gone insane and want to kill her, Lara must fight for survival and find a way to escape the island.

To make this game work, the developers had to toss out almost everything that has been associated with the previous incarnation of Lara Croft. The result is an actual character that has a natural progression, who connects with the player on an emotional level. We see her endure the death of her colleagues, being shot at by insane cultists, jumping from one structurally unsound platform to another, and a whole myriad of trials that she has to go through. This creates a sympathetic character that makes her triumphant victory all the more powerful. Her transformation from naïve but driven explorer to battle hardened survivor is exciting to watch and meshes perfectly with the spectacular action.

The action in this game is some of the best I have seen in awhile. The camera is dynamic and follows you around while you jump around some incredibly elaborate levels; this creates cinema quality action scenes that puts you right in the center of all the mayhem and, in my experience, has never been a nuisance by not following my character precisely and ending up in a spot that obstructed my view like other third-person games. The control scheme is very responsive and feels natural whether you are exploring a tomb or dodging enemy attacks and landing a killing blow. The combat is great because of enemies who don’t have much in the way of variety for most of the game, but make up for it with very competent AI; and while you get your standard guns, the bow and arrow is the standout weapon of this game. Side quests in tombs that involve more puzzles and less action provide a balance to the action of the regular game.

The game actually has so many strengths that its flaws, while few, are noticeable. Lara is well developed over the course of the game, but the rest of the characters feel more one-dimensional. There were segments of the game when Lara would play a video from the ship because the expedition was being recorded as a potential documentary. We see more interactions between the various members of the expedition and learn more about them. This makes sense to me. Someone thrown into an extraordinary situation could study or fall back on something to remind them of better times to cope with their situation. But this is abandoned later in the game, and while Lara’s journal entries illuminate more about her character, the supporting cast gets left behind and the game suffers.

The other problem with the game is multiplayer. It’s your standard team deathmatch, which is okay. But there are so many other games with better multiplayer, and Tomb Raider doesn’t do enough to justify why it should played, and not something that was added on because some executive told the developers that every game has to have multiplayer. I did find the exploration moves from the single player campaign being integrated into multiplayer to be refreshing. They expand the maps more than just about every other game with multiplayer; but this is not enough for me to spend hours playing the multiplayer.

If this was not tied to the previous franchise, than this would be a thrilling action game that is fit for sequels. As part of the Tomb Raider series, it is all the things I mentioned previously. But it also signals a rebirth of a video gaming icon.

RATING: 9/10

Front page image from digitaltrends.com. Image 1 from xboxramble.com. Image 2 from highersgames.blogspot.com. Image 3 from play-pulse.com.
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By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Activision announced this week that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows will be available for XBox Live Arcade, Playstation Network and PC download stream this summer.

Though the game is supposedly inspired by Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, it features a more realistic look, with the Turtles looking somewhat akin to fan art we’ve seen over the years, specifically that of Dave Rapoza.

The game will be developed by Red Fly Studio, the company that also worked on Thor: God of Thunder, and the Wii versions of Ghostbusters: The Video Game and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II.

A trailer for the game can be seen below.

Source: DigitalSpy.com
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TITLE: Aliens: Colonial Marines
PLATFORM: 360, PS3, PC, Wii U
DEVELOPER: Gearbox
PUBLISHERS: Sega, 20th Century Fox
ESRB: M
RELEASED: February 12, 2013

By Seth Miller
Staff Writer, Part Time Ninja

No matter what you do, you are going to screw up sometimes. It could be something small or big, but the important thing is to move on and learn from it. I have tried to apply this completely to buying video games because their price is ridiculous. While I have done a pretty good job at not wasting my money on bad games, I recently screwed up by spending my money on Aliens: Colonial Marines.  There are some parts of it that I really had a blast with, but on the whole I found it dull and unfulfilling.

Set several months after Aliens, the Marines receive a distress call from the Sulaco, the spaceship from Aliens that was supposedly destroyed in Alien 3, orbiting LV-426. Faster than you can say retcon, a team of colonial marines is dispatched to investigate. And wouldn’t you know it, the xenomorphs show up and everything goes to hell! The surviving marines must find a way to get off the planet, while fighting hordes of aliens and soldiers from the Weyland-Yutani Corporation who are still trying to control the xenomorphs for their own gain.

The thing I enjoyed the most in the game was the sheer joy of killing xenomorphs. As a fan of the series, being able to wield an M-41A Pulse Rifle or Hick’s shotgun and shoot aliens filled with me the kind of joy that can only be replicated by having Christmas with my family, partying with my friends, and punching Justin Bieber in the face all rolled into one. The game also adds a few things to the Aliens mythos that are interesting and work to expands the game’s own world.

The shooting elements are solid fun if not innovative; the excitement of the missions starts off slow but pick up as the game goes on. The multiplayer is okay with some variety in the formats that you can play, but the scale of the games is limited. The high point for me was a particular level where you find yourself stripped of all weapons in a sewer that is filled with xenomorph corpses; your goal is to get out of the sewer by sneaking around living xenomorphs. The tension that builds from the very start of the level, the little callbacks to film, the lighting, the level design, etc.; there was so much that I loved about this level and I really hoped with all my heart that the rest of the game was this good.

But it wasn’t. The whole game feels like a generic shooter at best.  The initial fun I had came from my love of the film. But that doesn’t last long, and you soon start to see the game’s flaws. With one level, the designers showed that they had the ability to create a great game; but rest of it is handled like any other shooter. The aliens have moments when they are the terrifying force of nature that they we know they are. But they generally act like cookie-cutter enemies with generic AI that can any gamer is used to. You know where they are going to attack and when it is going to happen. Instead of facing a swarm of aliens intent on doing all manner of horrors to you, most of the time you will see about five of them and after awhile you can figure out how they are going to attack you. After an hour or two, you will become bored and the game doesn’t offer any drastically different enemies, weapons or missions to shake things up.

The story is a bit questionable to begin with, and to top that off the ending feels abrupt. The whole game is set up on a premise that is essentially a massive retcon, and if you focus on it for a minute, the whole thing falls apart. Instead of trying to answer some of the questions or apply some logic to the events, they’re never really addressed in a good way and it feels like they are just set up to be answered in a sequel that may never come.

Aliens: Colonial Marines had the potential to be a great game that continued everything that made the film it’s based on great, while while adding to it. But what we got (and I spent my money on) was a pretty boring game that, despite having its moments and being filled with a lot of things fans of the movie will go crazy for, feels like bad shooter with loads of untapped potential.

RATING: 5/10

All images from kotaku.com.
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By Justin Polak
Co-Founder, Ambassador of the Mushroom Kingdom

It’s been a few days since the dust settled from Sony revealing a slew of details for the forthcoming PlayStation 4. It’s been awhile since I have chimed in on anything, let alone video game industry related issues, so I figure now is a good time to poke my head out of seclusion and give a few quick thoughts. Keep in mind that what I am about to say is merely speculation…

THE CONTROLLER

Call it good business sense or call it Sony borrowing ideas yet again, it should come to as surprise that Sony is adding a touch screen to the DualShock 4 controller. The screen will most likely be used to interact with games/applications like you would with a smart phone or tablet. I think it would be a good idea to use it as a makeshift mouse for real time strategy games or something similar. Over the last few days, people have been worried games might rely too heavily on the touch pad, or that the feature will interfere too much traditional gameplay. All I have to say is that when the Wii controller was revealed, people fretted at the idea of seemingly waving your arm all over the place. Not only did that turn out just fine, but most popular games stuck with a control stick and button scheme for their games.

The DualShock 4 will also share traits with the Xbox 360 device, Kinect. Apparently, the controller will synch to the PlayStation 4 Eye, which has a camera that will be able to determine exactly how many people are playing, where they are in the room, multiple facial recognition features and a microphone that’s in the controller so the console can easily tell who is talking.

I was never a big fan of the Kinect, but I liked the interactivity. I always felt that if the idea has a chance to evolve more, it could be streamlined into gaming properly. While I still feel generally apathetic about Kinect and the PlayStation 4 Eye, I do feel it’s a step in the right direction. Most people forget there was a time when normal video game controllers were very awkward and there was no such thing as a D-pad. Sometimes it just takes awhile before an idea can truly evolve.

THE SOCIAL ASPECT

What seems to be getting a very mixed reaction is the social elements of the PlayStation 4. At any time, you’ll be able to post what you’re doing on sites like Facebook. Did something hilarious just happen in a multiplayer match? Good thing you can screen cap or share a video of it! Do you regularly stream games or always wanted to, but were too lazy to set up your PC to do so? Well, the PlayStation 4 has you covered there.

While some gamers are more cynical about social media and having video games being involved with it (understandably), I don’t see the big deal as long as the games don’t force you to partake in sharing what you do online. I highly doubt you’ll be locked out of a game because you didn’t let Facebook know that you earned another trophy. As a person who has dabbled in video game streaming, I like the option to invite friends to watch me horse around. Some of my fondest gaming related memories have involved hanging out with a friend or two while we all figured out how to beat a video game. Living an adult life means it’s harder to get together with friends at times, so I am stoked for the option to have another avenue to that sort of behavior.

The way I see it, online multiplayer has allowed friends to play together online when visiting each other in real life wasn’t an option. Plus, with the way the world is today, many people have friends online that they have never met in real life. This was a smart move on Sony’s part.

“I WANT TO PLAY NOW!”

Something I’m surprised that more people haven’t talked about is Sony’s emphasis on cutting down how long it takes to start playing a game from the moment you turn on your console. A gamer that is more cynical with modern games might tell you that he remembers the good old days where you slapped a power button and were playing a game in a matter of seconds. The PlayStation 4 still won’t be able to turn on from being completely off and get you right to the action right away…but that’s why it comes with a suspend feature. At any time you can press a power button on the controller instead of powering the whole system down. The PlayStation 4 will then go into a sleep state, and players can resume whenever they want.

My only concern is that modern day console hardware isn’t what it used to be. I’m hoping that using this feature often won’t produce more wear and tear on the console and cause it to break down faster. I may be cynical about this, but I find it disheartening that all of my video game hardware from the ’90s keeps on going on as if I only bought it a couple of years ago, while if I look at something modern the wrong way it will spontaneously combust.

ANOTHER SCREEN

Once again, it sppears Sony HAS been paying attention to the competition. The controller/screen hybrid Wii U pad has turned some heads ever since it was revealed. But instead of coming out with a similar device, Sony has opted to let gamers use the PlayStation Vita as another screen, so you don’t have to use your TV to play games. Didn’t get a Vita, but still want a another screen to toy around with? Sony is releasing an app for Android smartphones that will allow you to use the device as game map, or something similar. Going back to the social aspect a bit, you can also use the phone to watch people play games with this app.

While I love the Wii U game pad, I’m not too sure about Sony’s angle on using another screen. Watching someone play for even a decent amount of time will most likely drain the hell out of a phone battery. Also, the Vita hasn’t been doing too well in terms of sales, and I doubt people will rush out to get another expensive device just to play a game on a smaller screen. If you already have one, then sure, the idea can work. I just get the vibe that this idea was thrown together too quickly to compete with how the Wii U plays games.

OTHER THOUGHTS

The game line up for the PS4 seems to be pretty good already. Many familiar faces are on board, and even a couple of new ones. Again, if your a modern gaming cynic, you’ll only see the same old song and dance. But I do feel that there is already something for everyone when it comes down to the games (personally I am excited for Watch Dogs).

Backwards compatibility is nice, but the lack of it isn’t a deal breaker for me. Then again, I am the kind of person who still has every console/device I ever had lying around somewhere, so I don’t rely on new hardware too often to revisit old games. Plus, Sony did say they were working on bringing older games to the system digitally.

Most people find the lack of an actual PlayStation 4 console to be a bit odd/suspicious, but I don’t see any problem. They are most likely hashing out some minor details and all will be revealed at E3 in a few months. I remember when Nintendo did the opposite when they revealed the Wii. They released pics/specs about the hardware, but the controller was nowhere to be found. We all know how that turned out. Maybe Sony will have something up its sleeve with the actual console…

OVERALL OPINION

While none of the details regarding he PS4 made me bounce across the room, I don’t see a grim picture, either. I am excited for a few newer features I have enjoyed on a PC for a long while, and cautiously optimistic about other elements. I just hope that Sony doesn’t drop some crazy price point on us again like they did with the PlayStation 3. All in all, it’s nice to see that Sony could possibly get its groove back, and the only thing any of us can do now is wait.

Front page image from kotaku.com. Image 1 from bgn.com. Image 2 from gamingirresponsibly.com. Image 3 from mashable.com. Image 4 from latimes.com. Image 5 from thenextweb.com. 

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

Sony officially unveiled the PlayStation 4 at a press event in New York Wednesday, targeting the system for a holiday season release.

The system will ship with new DualShock 4 controllers, which feature a touchpad, a stereo camera for 3D position tracking, and a share button which will allow players to stream game footage to other consoles. Sony is partnering with Facebook and UStream for this new sharing feature.

The Ps4 also aims to be a time saver. It will feature a sleep mode, which will keep it in a low power state when it’s not in use. The will allow players to get in the game immediately, and not have to wait for the system to power up. The system will be able to download games like its predecessor, but this time players will be able to start the games before they have finished downloading. A cloud-enabled network will also allow players to sample games without the download wait time.

The system will also feature recommendation options based on what the player has enjoyed previously.

“As the system learns your likes and dislikes…you’ll discover content preloaded and ready to go on your console,” Mark Cerney, lead architect for the PS4 said.

To demonstrate the PS4′s capabilities, Sony showed off a variety of games, including new installments in the Killzone and Infamous franchises. Activision-Blizzard also announced PS4 versions of Diablo III and Bungie Studios’ Destiny.

Source: Yahoo!
Image from bgn.com.
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