Tuesday, February 13, 2007

urgo2 daily game talk PC


If you felt that the hundreds of hours of gameplay packed into The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion simply weren't enough, then good news. Bethesda Softworks is busy working on an expansion for last year's acclaimed fantasy role-playing game. And we got our hands on it this week.
We loved Oblivion, from the jaw-dropping size of its world to the many memorable quests that you could pursue. Moreover, we loved the fact that it's a true role-playing game in the sense that you can play the game any way that you want. So what's to expect in Shivering Isles, the first major expansion? Well, at least 30 hours of new gameplay, but to learn more check out our recent hands-on preview.
If you like role-playing games to have a lot more hack-and-slash in them, then we also have an update on Titan Quest: Immortal Throne, the upcoming expansion to last year's Diablo-style action RPG that's set in the ancient world. Immortal Throne will offer up some advance high-level content as you plunder the mythical Underworld for fame and fortune.
Meanwhile, the release drought eases in a big way next week with the release of Supreme Commander, the epic-scale real-time strategy game from the creator of Total Annihilation, one of the greatest RTS games ever made. Supreme Commander has been a long time coming, and we caught up with the lead designer to ask him about some of the advanced features in the game. In addition, make sure not to miss this week's episode of On the Spot, as we'll have creator Chris Taylor himself on the show to demonstrate the game personally. You can watch it live at 4pm Pacific on Thursday, or catch the recorded show afterwards.

posted by thebert at 8:53 PM 0 comments

Friday, August 18, 2006

urgo2 daily xBox talk

Q Entertainment and Phantagram seemed like an unlikely partnership, and now the results of that partnership are in stores in the form of Ninety-Nine Nights. I have to imagine that Q provided some of the storyline details or something, because the game definitely looks like Phantagram held the reigns. Remember the cool, strategic games of the Kingdom Under Fire series on the Xbox? Ninety-Nine Nights is like that, but with an action focus. Unfortunately, with an uninteresting combo system and a handful of other issues weighing it down, Ninety-Nine Nights isn't really the sort of game you'd recommend. Read the review for more detailed information.
The rest of this week is up in the air. Pac-Man came out on Xbox Live Arcade last week and, as of this writing anyway, there hasn't been a new announcement about what's coming next. Even when the games weren't perfect, the reasonable prices and ease of delivery got me to buy every single one of those Wednesday games, and I'd probably keep on buying them as long as Microsoft keeps on releasing them. Will there be a new game out on Marketplace by the time you read this? I'm guessing yes, but we'll have to wait and see. Or I will, anyway. You can just go look on Marketplace right now and see how it all panned out. This passage of time thing, it's insane.
The rest of this week is probably a lie. Xyanide (the shooter that wouldn't ship) and another game called World Racing 2 are on-deck for the Xbox. But Xyanide keeps getting pushed back, and World Racing 2 sort of appeared out of nowhere. Doubtful that either will make it to store shelves anytime soon.
Next week Madden's out. Really, I guess that's all I need to say about that. Those of you that know you want Madden probably already have plans to get it, and the rest of us are, you know, kind of indifferent. But in larger terms, Madden always sort of represents the return of big-name game releases after the summer drought, though this year that was sort of spoiled by stuff like Dead Rising and Prey. So if you're the sort of person who keeps looking at the tiny release calendar and wondering where all the action is, keep your chin up. Fall's almost here and we're about to be absolutely buried in games for a gang of platforms, old and new.

posted by thebert at 2:37 PM 0 comments

Friday, August 04, 2006

urgo2 daily xBox talk


The wait is over. Was it worth the wait? Or should we have begged them to let us keep on waiting? What am I even talking about? Oh, right. Street Fighter II for the Xbox 360. It's out there, waiting for you to purchase and download it. But should you?
Street Fighter II': Hyper Fighting is now available on Xbox Live Marketplace... unless you live in Japan. Why would a Japanese game of this stature not appear in its native country? Will it appear at a later date? We may never know. So, of course, the big question everyone's been asking pertains to the quality of Street Fighter II's online play. And now we have a final answer. Read the review for the full details, but I'll just briefly answer the online question by saying that it's sort of jacked.
That's the only release this week for the 360. Next week we'll get Pac-Man on Live Arcade and Dead Rising on one of those old-fashioned "DVD" type things. Dead Rising looks absolutely awesome. I just hope it's got a good amount of variety to it. Yeah, that's right. I'm the jerk saying that just hitting zombies with weapons over and over again might actually get old someday. I'm not too worried, though. We'll have a review of that game next week.
Little Orphan Xbox gets FlatOut 2 this week, which builds on the stuff found in the first game, so it's also a destruction-focused racing game. Next week the original Xbox gets... nothing. Man, the original Xbox just seems so totally obsolete now. It's sort of crazy how quickly the release schedule dried up. Of course, I can't say I'm eagerly awaiting very many PlayStation 2 games these days, either, so it's not like the grass is greener anywhere else.
Before you know it, summer will be over. Back to school sales seem like they're just about ready to kick in. Seriously, that's insane. But the good news is that we'll start seeing more game releases before you know it. August has Dead Rising and Madden NFL 07. And next month is the Tokyo Game Show and Microsoft's own European-focused event, X06. There will probably be some stupid huge announcements coming out of that show. OK, fine, I'll rephrase it. There will most definitely be some stupid huge new game announcements coming out of those shows.

posted by thebert at 5:02 PM 0 comments

Saturday, July 29, 2006

urgo2 daily PC game talk

When's the last time you hunkered down and bought a new PC? For me it's been a while, and the forthcoming release of the Windows Vista operating system makes me feel like that's going to be the last straw before I bite the bullet. Somehow the thought of upgrading the OS on my current system seems scarier than just getting a new machine outright.
Vista seems like it'll be an interesting update to XP if nothing else. In our ongoing series of features exploring what Vista's going to mean to you as a game player, we've taken a look at some of the free games that will be bundled with the new OS, and compared them with their counterparts on XP where applicable. The new addition I'm most excited about is none other than chess, or Chess Titans to be specific. Unfortunately the game won't be bundled with the basic version of Vista for whatever reason, though. Somehow I doubt a chess game will be the tipping point for people looking to pay up for a more-expensive version of Vista, but who knows?
The summer doldrums mean PC gaming news and reviews have been relatively slow lately, but we've still got some choice bits for you to consider. For instance, check out our recent Q&A with a representative of the team working on Star Trek: Legacy, a tactical combat game that's going to tie together all of the different Star Trek TV series and their signature ships. I'm sure a lot of us have been feeling a little empty inside what with no Star Trek series currently on the air, so a game like Legacy could really fill that void. I still have fond memories of Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force, which is the last great Star Trek game that stands out in my memory (Bridge Commander was cool, too), so I'm all set for another.
In other news, you may have heard Blizzard's latest announcement about the forthcoming World of Warcraft expansion: Basically it's going to allow character classes that were previously restricted to one faction or the other (alliance and horde) to now be accessible to the other faction's new race. That means your new blood elf character (the new horde race) may choose to be a paladin, a class that only alliance characters can play at present. I'm the Blizzard guys thought this through from top to bottom before announcing it, though I have to wonder whether it'll make for undue numbers of blood elf paladins and draenai shamans running around. Or maybe some of the novelty will wear off. At any rate, design changes to World of Warcraft affect so many millions of players that it almost feels like real-world politics, reading about stuff like this.

posted by thebert at 12:01 PM 0 comments

urgo2 daily PS2 talk

A lot of the games you saw coming out last year during the Xbox 360's initial run had one foot planted firmly in the previous generation. With the advent of the PS3, though, the latest iterations of all the big franchises are finally being designed with the next-gen consoles fully in mind, and it's exciting to see what developers are coming up with.
Last year's installment of the evergreen Tony Hawk franchise, American Wasteland, was a good little skateboarding game--everywhere except on the Xbox 360, where Activision didn't seem to care enough to beef the game up significantly over its current-gen counterparts. That all changes this year with Tony Hawk's Project 8, the first game in the series that's clearly being made for the power of the new consoles. The game is taking a back-to-basics approach similar to the Pro Skater series, in that it's heavy on trick-related goals instead of a linear storyline. The craziest looking new feature is the ability to literally control each of your feet in slow motion with the two analog sticks, allowing you to actually craft your own custom tricks from scratch. Sounds weird, I know, but you really need to see our new video of the game in action to appreciate how that's gonna work.
Next, if you can't get enough 2D side-scrolling action on the go--and I know I can't--you must set your sights on Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins for the PSP. Mainly because from what I can tell, beating that game on the hardest setting will take you so long, you'll never need another one of its type. The game recreates the gameplay feel of the classically ghoulish action series, all the way down to its maddening white-knuckle difficulty level. Capcom has managed to flesh out the action with a bunch of collectable items, new weapons, magic spells, multi-function shields, and more--so there's a lot of meat packed in here, but only if you can hang with the challenge.
Lastly, I know it's only been a couple of weeks since I told you about our latest import preview of Tekken: Dark Resurrection on the PSP. But now we've gotten our hands on the final English version of the game and passed judgment on it for all time--and I'd be remiss in my duties if I didn't include our new highest-rated PSP game in this here newsletter. The game is basically identical to the Japanese version I checked out recently--except it's in English, of course--and it's easily the best fighting experience you can get on the go, on any handheld platform. Hats off to the developers at Namco for cramming an entire arcade machine (and then some) onto one little UMD. The game should be out on shelves by the time you read this, so get out there and get scrappy.


posted by thebert at 11:55 AM 0 comments

urgo2 daily xBox talk

Well, their here! But with a pair of new Xbox games out this week and one new Xbox Live Arcade release over on the 360, at least there's something new to talk about.
Painkiller: Hell Wars and Warpath are this week's new Xbox releases. Both games are first-person shooters. Painkiller originated on the PC, and this Xbox port has been bumped around and pushed back more times than I can count. But apparently it's actually, finally done. It was a pretty cool PC game, and it'll be sort of interesting to see if the Xbox version is any good.
Warpath is a multiplayer-focused first-person shooter from the makers of the single-player shooter, Pariah. Looks like it's using some of the same technology. I believe we brought this game up last week, but it ended up not actually hitting stores last week. Will it hit this week? Yeah, probably. I've seen it in a retail box.
Next week marks the beginning of August. Along with the eighth month comes FlatOut 2, the destruction-oriented racing game that lets you launch your driver out of the car, through flaming rings, and into some hard, bone-breaking surface. On Xbox Live Arcade, the next release out of the gate is supposed to be Street Fighter II': Hyper Fighting. Not to create doubt where there shouldn't be any or anything, but after this game's long, winding path to release, it's become a sort of "believe it when I see it" sort of thing. Also, Xbox.com has Lumines Live! listed for a July release. That would mean that it would have to be out... uh... real soon now. That probably won't happen, but maybe it'll be the Xbox Live Arcade release for the Wednesday after Pac-Man or something. Either way, keep your eyes peeled, because Microsoft is going to have to announce some more Xbox Live Arcade releases soon.

posted by thebert at 11:46 AM 0 comments

Thursday, July 13, 2006

urgo2 daily xBox talk


The summer might seem slow, but hey, this week we're getting two new retail 360 games, and we might finally be hearing a firm schedule for Xbox Live Arcade releases. Could Lumines Live, Contra, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 be waiting in the wings?
A double shot of Xbox 360 excitement is upon us this week as 2K Games releases its topsy-turvy first-person shooter, Prey, and Sega drops a mech bomb on the North American market with Chromehounds.
Man, Prey is a really crazy case. That game has been around in one form or another since before Microsoft was even making console hardware. That's just weird. But hey, don't let that fool you into thinking that Prey's built on old technology. The game's running on the same Doom 3 engine that powered Quake 4 on the Xbox 360... except without all the busted frame rates that Quake 4 had on the 360. So, yeah, it's a great-looking game. It plays pretty well, too. If first-person shooting is your thing, you should definitely give our review a look for some more details.
Chromehouuuunds! I had a house party a few years ago that was overrun by hooligans, including one jock-looking knucklehead that kept shouting "booooozehouuuund!" So every time I think of this mech game, I'm reminded of that jackass. Anyway, Chromehounds apparently has some crazy online stuff in there, like a persistent battle mode that has you pick one of three sides in a war that'll last a few weeks. So stop taking all those sleeping pills, I guess.
OK, so get this, last week I predicted that we'll see a new release on the Xbox Live Arcade. That didn't happen, but Microsoft had an event in San Francisco this week where they announced that new releases will be happening on Wednesdays. So, if what I'm reading here is true, by the time you get to read this newsletter, Frogger will be available. Like Robotron and Joust, there are two graphical modes in the game, one that duplicates the arcade original and one that is updated. The sound and music will also change, apparently. No promises, but there might be a review of this on the site by the time this newsletter goes out. So take a look and find out for yourself!

posted by thebert at 5:44 PM 0 comments

urgo2 daily PS2 talk


This week we've got updates on every Sony platform we cover, which probably means the end of summer is drawing near while every major publisher shores up its release list. But it's still July, you say. Trust me, that avalanche of games will begin before any of us knows it.
You have to admire Activision's savvy marketing strategy, pumping out new games in each established franchise before the memory of the last installment has even had time to fade. Such is the case with Call of Duty 3, which I just got a first look at and which comes scarcely a year after the second game in the hailed World War II series took the Xbox 360 launch by storm. But just because it's only been a few months doesn't mean they have to skimp on quality. Turns out longtime Spider-Man developer Treyarch has been hard at work on COD3 for a while, and so far it's looking like a more than worthy successor. The game will supposedly be hitting the PlayStation 3 this fall, so how about you go look at that preview for a glimpse of the future?
Maybe you're looking for something you can play a little sooner. Maybe that's a fighting game, and maybe you want it to be in 3D and on your PSP. Namco will be hooking you up forthwith when it tosses Tekken: Dark Resurrection onto shelves in a couple of weeks. This is a portable port of the expanded arcade version of Tekken 5, and it's honestly pretty amazing how much of the game they've managed to cram onto the PSP. The graphics are right up there with the PS2 version of Tekken 5, and there's piles upon piles of content, just like you'd expect from a Tekken game. Best of all, it plays just like you'd expect, too. We got our hands on the import version recently to grab some video and further explore all the new modes, so hit that up if you want to see what kind of handheld brawling you'll be getting into very soon.
Lastly, if you're into modern anime, chances are you've heard the name Naruto. Ol' Uzumaki and pals are back in action on the PlayStation 2 in a new fighting game, Ultimate Ninja, and our review's got the scoop. I'll be honest: I'm not usually bullish on the quality level of licensed games--of any kind, really--but when I played this one a few weeks ago, I was impressed at its boldly flashy visual style and solid combat mechanics. Apparently the reviewer was too, which is why you might find a good summer brawler here even if you're not a fan of the Naruto series. Your best bet is to read the review and find out!

posted by thebert at 5:39 PM 0 comments

Thursday, July 06, 2006

urgo2 daily xBox talk


This week's lone release for Xbox-related platforms is the long-winded The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II.
it's a real-time strategy game and it's a port of a game that originally appeared on the PC. It'll be an interesting experiment, because we haven't really seen a standard, PC-style RTS game on consoles in quite some time now. Supposedly the game controls surprisingly well, but I'll wait for our review before I make any decisions on that one. Also, it only has like 705 achievement points in it. Why not use the full thousand? My guess is that there will be some sort of expansion content made available post-release that'll have some points in there or something crazy like that. Otherwise, that's just weird.
Xbox Live Arcade has been bone-dry since E3 and I'm starting to get antsy. The second quarter of the year came and went with no sign of Street Fighter II, and there's no new official release date for it, either. Xbox.com is claiming "summer." The official Xbox site for Australia was claiming 7/31 for a few hours, but that's since been "corrected." Either way, I'm going to guess July. With plenty of other games supposedly being very close to finished, I'm hoping that something new posts this week. Could it be Lumines Live? Cloning Clyde? An arcade classic from Namco or Konami, perhaps? Keep your fingers crossed.
Next week is another 360-focused week, as both Prey and Chromehounds are due out. That should help keep things action-packed, though I find myself suspicious of both games. But the Prey points look relatively easy to achieve, so I'll almost certainly play it to completion whether I like it or not. I'm still trying to decide if that's a good or a bad thing, but I will say that if you're on the points train, do yourself a favor and get into renting games. If you're buying everything just for points, you're wasting money. And that's money that could instead be spent on a Japanese 360 for all those hot foreign points.

posted by thebert at 6:01 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

urgo2 daily PC talk


PC game players everywhere. this week, we'll be premiering the demo of DarkStar One, a space sim in the vein of Privateer and FreeLancer.
I've seen a lot of very positive remarks from players who've apparently been very impressed by what's on offer here, both in terms of the visual style and also in terms of gameplay. But why take anyone else's word for it when you could be playing Prey for yourself right now? The game is out in a few more weeks and promises to be one of July's biggest new PC games. It's coming to the Xbox 360 as well, for that matter.
Want more science fiction shooters? For a slightly more down-to-earth take on the subject matter, check out our blow-out coverage of Battlefield 2142, the next game in the wildly popular multiplayer shooter series. In addition to reading our latest hands-on impression, we're pleased to offer a Q&A with the game's senior producer, which should give you plenty of insight into what to expect from BF2142 once it's ready for prime time. I wonder if this game has what it takes to be substantially better than Battlefield 2, which makes for a seriously tough act to follow.
In case you're in the market for a new game right now, we've got a full review of Titan Quest, a new action RPG from Iron Lore. While the game is unmistakably similar to the Diablo series, and carries with it a few of the design issues that maybe haven't aged as well as the formula has on the whole, Titan Quest can still be a fun, long-lasting game to help beat the heat this summer.

posted by thebert at 7:24 PM 0 comments