This is one of the best articles on inFamous I have found to date. My sincere thanks to Michael Thomsen over at IGN for such an incredible in-depth analysis.
This is the kind of material I really wish IGN would publish more often. At the time inFamous was released, I wondered if the initial review was somewhat tainted by all of the preview time the reviewer received before the game's release date. Don't get me wrong, inFamous is a really good game, but I haven't given any serious time to it since I finished it; that was three weeks ago. When I don't go back to a game after I finish it, it clues me in to the fact said game may not be as good as I thought it was when in the middle of it.
Posting an opposing viewpoint to reviews is not done often enough at IGN. I don't know if that's a result of not devoting two writers to the same title when the possibility exists both will have the same opinion, or if it is another reason altogether, but IGN needs to provide a second opinion on major titles. Game Informer does it, and it's something I appreciate. When I see two seperate people agree agree on the quality of a game, it emboldens me to play/purchase that game.
So Jerry Jones has been building a new stadium for the Cowboys down in the Big D. The place is huge: capable of holding up to 100,00 for Super Bowls, somehting like 2,000 toilets, and the largest screen capable of producing a 1080p image in the world.
For the longest time now, I thought I would never purchase a portable platform such as the PSP or the DS. I never saw the need for it. Why play on a cramped little device and squint my eyes to see the 2.5 inch screen when I can hold an incredibly comfortable controller in my hands and watch my progress on a gorgeous 47 inch LCD TV? It's never made sense to me.
Until now.
Scribblenauts is a title coming for Nintendo's DS platform sometime at the end of the year. The basic premise is simple: you play as a character named Maxwell, and you must collect what are called "starites." Why do you need these starites? Sounds a little like Mario or something, right?
Who. CARES.
The shining point of this game is also incredibly simple, but amazingly deep: you type in the objects you need/want to appear on screen. Yes, you read that right. You type in words, and the objects they represent actually appear on the game screen.
This is why I love Nintendo: somehow, they continue to acquire these phenomenal IPs that are completely unique and fun. Playing a mini version of God of War or Resistance doesn't hold any appeal to me; playing a game where I can introduce literally anything I want into the game itself? Definitely.
In the video below, you'll see Scribblenauts creator Jeremiah Slaczka type in everything from an axe to God riding on a skateboard. I could go on about how incredible this looks, but I'll just let you watch the video below, courtesy of IGN.com.
Needless to say, I may just be asking for a DS for Christmas just so I can get this game.
So I'm sitting here watching Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, surfing the good ol' interwebs, when I stumble across this little article of Sam Kennedy's with 1UP.com. Apparently the rumor is that Microsoft is planning for Natal to be its next iteration of the Xbox platform; he even goes so far to say that Microsoft could be releasing a new Xbox console and packaging the Natal camera with it for Fall 2010. He elaborates:
"[W]e wouldn't be talking about the sort of hardware leap we've seen with Xbox (or most other) platforms in the past, and we're not talking about Microsoft ending one console cycle and starting another. We're talking about an evolution of the Xbox 360; similar hardware but upgraded, repackaged, and rebranded. It's actually not that unlike what Nintendo did with the Wii, where it essentially took the GameCube hardware, stuck in motion controls, and successfully relaunched it."
He concludes by stating that the timeframe Microsoft would be releasing this new system in could conceivably beat Nintendo's all-but-confirmed Wii HD to the market.
If this is true, Microsoft is signaling that they're coming after Nintendo. I've read speculation that some people are viewing the 360 as the winner of the hardcore console war with Sony; if Microsoft holds this view as well (and why wouldn't they?) this would seem to make sense.
It needs to be noted that this is all speculation (although Kennedy several time mentions "inside sources"). Even with that being said, it's very, very intriguing.
Currently playing: Fallout 3 (360) ----------------------- After I finally posted my review of inFamous last Friday, I had hoped to get finished with Hakuna Matata and post my review of it by today. Unfortunately, that is obviously not the case. There are, however, several things I have been working on that have completely enveloped my time these past seven days; all of them I am very excited about.
(1) Gamers With Jobs writing call- If you read this blog, you can probably tell that I would love to be a gaming journalist; it's something I am passionate and very knowledgeable about. One of the sites I follow regularly is called Gamers With Jobs, and they recently put out a call for a new writer or two. I'm sure there are hundreds of people submitting material, but I decided to take a shot at it anyway. The composition and editing of that piece has taken the majority of my time this work week.
(2) Five Top Games transcription- On my way back from Manchester, TN last Saturday, my three buddies and I had a discussion of what we each thought were the five best games ever created. It just so happened that I had my voice recorder on hand and got the whole conversation on tape... all 72 minutes of it. Needless to say, it's a long and arduous process transcribing all of it, but its something that I really enjoyed and think will be a great contribution to the site.
(3) New Mac!! Yes, I bought my MacBook a week ago today, and it's been a blast getting to know it. Part of the iLife software package that comes with it is a web publishing program called iWeb. It fascinated me greatly, and after fiddling around with it for some time, I decided to make a serious effort in upgrading the site. Blogger has been a great place to start out, but I grow bored of this bland layout and have been unable to find any templates that satsify me. Concordingly, I have been slowly (but surely) creating a new layout that is more vibrant and exciting, one that recalls the excitement of video games. No, it won't be an IGN or 1up.com, but it will be a significant improvement over what I have now.
That covers all that is going on for the time being. No new content as of right now, but hopefully that will change by the end of next week. If my piece doesn't make it in the writers' call, I will definitely post it here.
It's one I've poured a lot of time into, and am incredibly proud of it.
