Topic: Videogaming v2.0 [post individual threads for games]

[AsparagusTrevor]

Don't shoot the messenger.

http://reviews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1849/Aliens-vs-Predator/p1/

I'm probably more gutted then youse.

I've seen good and bad reviews, though the bad reviews are more just like very average reviews. I'll reserve opinion until I play it. Even if it is shit, I'll still have a nifty facehugger model.

[_Hypnotoad_]

Switch on console.
Put in game
Play it

That is why they are better :)

...for you.

[glitch]

Aaaand I finally made 1:1 ratio for total kills/deaths in Modern Warfare 2. Only took me to level 69. Now I have to work out whether to go prestige or wait and finish some challenges first.

[Slaaaaabs]

I've seen good and bad reviews, though the bad reviews are more just like very average reviews. I'll reserve opinion until I play it. Even if it is shit, I'll still have a nifty facehugger model.

You might not even have that... http://kotaku.com/5474819/sega-replacing-broken-alien-facehuggers

[mobias]

Really interesting new article about GTAIV here http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/106/1069975p1.html

I agree with most of the points.

[AsparagusTrevor]

You might not even have that... http://kotaku.com/5474819/sega-replacing-broken-alien-facehuggers

Buggeryshite! At least it will fit in next to my Big Daddy figurine which came with the Bioshock special edition. That's had so many bumps and falls and all its limbs glues back on numerous times.

[falafel]

That GTA article has got me wondering about GTAV again though, dreaming of rallying down St John's Wood High Street in a 4x4, mowing down elderly billionaires, swerving into London Zoo, shooting a giraffe in the neck with a sniper rifle, and then crashing into the pond at Regent's Park before taking potshots at layabout couples from a pedalo.

Glory!

If GTAV was set in London I would cream myself. But they would have to call the city something else and "recreate it" in the spirit of the next-gens, and I can't really imagine a name that would evoke London anywhere near as effectively as... well, London. It's just such a weird name for a city. And we don't call cities "X City" like they do in the US. So it couldn't be something like " - in fact, you know what? I can't even think of anything to put there. I mean, what the fuck is London? It's unique, really, more of a melting pot than any where else, and it's too many things to really characterise in one or two words. But it would make an awesome new GTA. It might actually be a bit too difficult to pull off, though, thinking about it.

All this speculation is dreadfully useless though. Just as long as the next one isn't set in Vladivostok or Penrith, I'll be happy.

Tokyo sounds awesome but would actually suck. It's one of my favourite ciies but christ, it's just way too big and besides Yakuza has basically got that one covered.

[The Boston Crab]

What about Hong Kong?

[mobias]

Whenever I look around the various GTA forums out there Tokyo is always a favourite city when it comes to people trying to guess the location of the next GTA location. I don't see how it could work at all and I think people who think it could work don't really understand what, at its heart, GTA is all about. To me the real magic of GTA comes from its satirical take on Western culture and in particular of course US culture. That's what sets it apart from all the other games that try to emulate it. Yes its the big crime story, yes its the big sand box experience with everything thrown in but I think a lot of the magic that makes GTA special is its original take on US culture from an outsiders point of view (its a British game after all) Remove all that humour and originality and you would be left with just another sand box game that wouldn't be too different from all the GTA clones out there.

And so taking that into consideration I don't see how they could find an angle on Japanese culture that would work. I think a London based GTA could work and in response to Falafel I would have to say finding a suitable name for a London based GTA would be the least of their worries. The real challenge would be taking GTA into totally new territory and making it work against a more parochial backdrop. Where ever they set it I just hope they can balance the engaging fun of the older games with a more emotionally dynamic story line.

[The Boston Crab]

Good points, there.

[REVEEN!]

they would have to call the city something else and "recreate it" in the spirit of the next-gens, and I can't really imagine a name that would evoke London anywhere near as effectively as... well, London.

LAHNDAHN

[jimmy jazz]

I really enjoyed that GTA article but thought it didn't really highlight what an improvement Gay Tony was story-wise.

On a related note, did anybody see Linehan - on Gameswipe - moan that GTA games were an example of poor writing because they seemed to only be lifted from films? This being GTA, a game that is above all a satire. Vice City resembled 80s gangster films because it was mocking 80s gangster films and the trends that stemmed from them. Another example of comedy's biggest talent blag making a fool of himself, there.

[The Boston Crab]

I remember being surprised that nobody thought to point that out to him. He so obviously missed the point. I presume they left it in because it was 'on point'.

[mobias]

I noticed that Graham Lineham interview as well. There was an element of me that thought he was having a pop at GTA for sitting so high and mighty in the gaming world yet if you actually look closely at it the actual story line writing is kind of shit and it does have its head up the arse of so many movies. But I do agree that he seemed to come across as if missing the point, especially in the case of Vice City.

His criticism would have better aimed at GTAIV for I think. In clearly setting out to take itself more seriously the game lost some of its appeal, for me anyway. The balance of satire versus the more serious direction of the story and characters sat ill at ease for me. The Houser brothers who write most of GTA and own Rockstar Games are much better games producers than writers. To be a good and clever writer I think you've got to do more than just watch gangster movies and TV shows like 24 and The Wire endlessly. I think that's what Lineham was getting at. Someone like Tarantino gets away with it, just about, but few other writers do.

Also, was it Graham Lineham who made the interesting observation during the show that games would do well to take their influence from books rather than movies? Weirdly that was something I'd thought about whilst playing GTAIV. Your enjoyment of a game, or rather the way you enjoy it is sometimes closer to that of a book rather than a movie. With both a game and a book you pick either up for maybe an hour or two a night and progress through the narrative at a slower pace ingesting the story as a you go. With a movie you (usually) watch the whole thing in one go obviously. 

[Little Hoover]

So has nobody been playing Bioshock 2? finished it last night, It's not quite lived up to some of the speculation, the morality is still very much a case of good and evil, although it's implementation works better. But overall it's great, because of a much better structure, the last third of the game is the best rather than the worst part.

[Neil]

Bioshock discussion split to here, hoov.

Alien VS Predator here, btw.

[VegaLA]

Used games market could be in for a rough ride.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/18/sony-tries-out-new-anti-piracy-measure-with-psp-game-hits-used/

[Paaaaul]

I'd like to point out that there have already been Grand Theft Auto games set in London.

They were called Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969 and Grand Theft Auto: London, 1961.

Thanks for reading.

[mobias]

Used games market could be in for a rough ride.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/18/sony-tries-out-new-anti-piracy-measure-with-psp-game-hits-used/

This will blow up their face big time just like DRM did.

[Garfield And Friends]

This will blow up their face big time just like DRM did.

How has DRM blown up big time in their faces?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

A CEO of a Record Company, yesterday.

[falafel]

I'd like to point out that there have already been Grand Theft Auto games set in London.

They were called Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969 and Grand Theft Auto: London, 1961.

Thanks for reading.

Yes - thanks for that - but I don't think the literal city translation will wash in the new gen series, which was kind of why I banged on about it not being called London in my post up there.

Plus London has already been done in The Getaway, innit.

[Little Hoover]

How much did The Getaway do london though? I assume it was pretty much just all the major central parts, and you wouldn't be able to get on the Picadilly line to Cockfosters. The idea of a GTA game set in London, that pretty much includes everywhere on the tube map, and uses the GTA IV engine is quite an exciting thought.

[Still Not George]

How has DRM blown up big time in their faces?

Well, the fact that it's gone from "in x years time all music will be DRMd" to "nothing is DRMd and everyone hates us for sticking rootkits in CDs" in the past 3 years, I'd suggest it's not gone perfectly for them.

[Slaaaaabs]

How much did The Getaway do london though? I assume it was pretty much just all the major central parts, and you wouldn't be able to get on the Picadilly line to Cockfosters. The idea of a GTA game set in London, that pretty much includes everywhere on the tube map, and uses the GTA IV engine is quite an exciting thought.

This is the map from Black Monday the sequel... http://media.photobucket.com/image/getaway%20black%20monday%20map/Skywine/getaway_map.jpg

The trouble with The Getaway's version of London was that it was extremely sterile outside of the missions. Rockstar have never really had that problem with making a city feel alive.

[mobias]

How has DRM blown up big time in their faces?

What Still Not George says.

Even Sony's most die hard fanboy's hated them over DRM and where is the technology now?

[_Hypnotoad_]

There's always great speculation about the next location for GTA, but the depressing reality is, asides from the previous generation of top-down mechanics, since going 3d, it's always been fictional, and always been in the USA

I can't see them changing that. My moneys on another Vice City next

[Big Jack McBastard]

Yeah what the hell would they do for the satirical material on radio stations, media distractions and the like if they set it in Tokyo?

It would be fucking bizarre.

Plus the lion share of the market for the games is Yanksville, they might get away with a Chinatown setting but they've already kinda done that.

[mobias]

Plus the lion share of the market for the games is Yanksville, they might get away with a Chinatown setting but they've already kinda done that.

You'd think that but apparently GTA's biggest market spread across all its platforms is Europe. We tend to think of the games industry as very US centric but in actual fact the US lags behind Europe and of course massively behind Asia as a games market. I read recently that its taken GTAIV to make the franchise popular in Asia. All the later GTA's weren't nearly as popular over there but for some reason GTAIV really sold well particularly in Japan.

I think if done well a GTA set in London would be successful anywhere. I do cringe at the idea of it being filled with Guy Ritchie movie type East end gangsters but then again I can see Rockstar having a lot of fun taking the piss out of that sort of stereotype too.

[Still Not George]

You'd think that but apparently GTA's biggest market spread across all its platforms is Europe. We tend to think of the games industry as very US centric but in actual fact the US lags behind Europe and of course massively behind Asia as a games market. I read recently that its taken GTAIV to make the franchise popular in Asia. All the later GTA's weren't nearly as popular over there but for some reason GTAIV really sold well particularly in Japan.

Yeah, we overtook the US a while back. Europe still lags behind Japan, mind. There's a regular trick used by US-centric publishers where they count the UK and mainland European markets as being separate so it looks as though the US is still the #2.