Magfest X

Hey, guys.  Over the weekend, I attended my first Magfest in National Harbor, MD.  This is actually the 10th Magfest so it felt pretty cool to be there at probably the best Magfest yet.  

If you aren't aware what Magfest is, it's basically a music and video game festival.  It started up a few years back, and I remember first hearing about it on a Screwattack podcast way back in 2007.  I was psyched that the convention was close to me, but due to a lack of funds and it being at bad times (new years, conflicting with work/school, etc), I never had the opportunity to attend one. This years Magfest was actually at a new location and was almost guaranteed that it wouldn't sell out this time.

With that said, I did some planning, and managed to make it for 1 of the 4 days (Saturday), since Saturday almost always has all of the big events planned on it.  One of the first things I did was attend a panel for a site I heard of a few years back known as Retroware.tv.  These guys are somewhat similar to the current trend of websites that are a sort of portal to gaming related shows.  The guys were really laid back, but they also knew their stuff.  They showed off some videos (with a rather amusing Pro Wrestling inspired announcement to their new free app), and even a preview of their upcoming big show, The Video Game Years.  It looked really interesting and I'll check it out in the future.  

That said, I think the most interesting show that stuck out to me (between all of their shows) was the one called The Game Chasers.  Basically a group of two friends go around Texas searching for rare video games. I found this pretty interesting since I've done like this myself (see my Pawn shop review posts in 2009) and I was really wow'ed at all of the things they did to obtain retro games and systems.  The guys aren't just all about business though, the show also has some really amusing moments such as Jay (one of the Game Chasers) running around a town with a Tigger costume on.  Sure it's random, but the duo joking around with each other actually gives the show some very good comic relief, not to mention the small arguments they get into when they debate on who will buy a certain game.  

Later on, one of my favorite game related bands, The Minibosses did a live show at the convention.  I only got to listen to two of their songs due to The Angry Video Nerd's (James Rolfe's) Q&A being only a few minutes after their concert ended, so I left the concert early so I could wait in line.  While I was in the huge line, I saw Final Fantasy composer, Nobuo Uematsu, and his new band, the Earthbound Papas.  I managed to snap a quick picture of them before they went back into the back room.

James Rolfe's Q&A was pretty cool, he answered as many questions as he possibly could.  I thought of a random question for the heck of it.  I asked him how he made the replica cartridge for the Nintendo World Championships review (he tricked the audience in a review that he broke the game).  If you don't know, the gold cartridges of the game are referred to being one of the most rarest games of all time due to them being at the only Nintendo World Championship that was held over two decades ago.  He later had an autograph signing at the dealer's room.  I got him to sign my NES copies of Mega Man 2 and Friday the 13th.  

The last thing I did was seeing the main event: The Earthbound Papas concert.  This concert was insanely awesome, especially if you are a gamer.  Nobuo Uematsu and his band rocked their hearts out and played many memorable songs from the Final Fantasy games and various other games/shows that Uematsu and his band have worked on.  One minute, gamers were furiously headbanging and throwing each other around, and the next, they were holding up lighters and cell phones.  I was actually near the end of crowd so I couldn't see much of anything, but was still really awesome to have the chance to see them in concert.

All in all, Magfest X was a real awesome experience for me.  I'm glad that I got to go this year, and I'm looking forward to see what Magfest XI will deliver to gamers next year.  

Welcome to 2012 Part 3 - Upcoming Games

Welcome to my final part of my “Welcome to 2012” series… this final part is all about the upcoming games of 2012.  Please remember, I’m probably not going to cover every game that you maybe hyped for, but these are a few games that either caught my eye or I am really looking forward to this year.  I’ll range the games from the ones I know the least about to the ones I’m most excited for.  The following games will start with the name, platform(s), release date, the publisher, and then will follow with a paragraph that will contain my thoughts of the game.

Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure (3DS, February, Sega)

Rhythm Thief probably won’t be a game I’ll get when it comes out, but from the trailer, it’s looking a lot like the DS games Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents.  Even though these types of games are often pretty addictive, the killer is that you can usually beat these types of games in a day or two.  If it does get good reviews, I’ll probably pick it up next month if I’m not broke (darn you, Vita)!

Luigi’s Mansion 2 (3DS, TBA 2012, Nintendo)

Luigi’s Mansion was a launch title 10 years ago on the Gamecube.  Since then, gamers have been begging Nintendo to make a sequel, and they have finally delivered.  If you’re not sure what Luigi’s Mansion was, I really can’t blame you as it was a pretty obscure game.  Just think of it as Ghostbusters, just solo.  At E3 it was revealed that the game will more or less be like the previous one, which was Luigi hunting down ghosts in a haunted mansion, but this time around, he’ll be going to more mansions instead of just one.  A release date has not been announced at this time, but the original was pretty fun, so I’m looking forward to seeing more of this game soon.

Syndicate (Multiplatform, February, EA)

Syndicate was originally a series of PC games made by an old EA studio known as Bullfrog.  I remember these guys mostly for Theme Park and Theme Hospital.  Both games which let you build your own park or hospital and were really fun.  I never played any of the original Syndicate games but apparently it was some sort of isometric shooter.   That aside, Bullfrog is gone and dead, but the series has been revived by EA.  According to the trailers, the game seems to be like the recent Deus Ex: Human Revolution but with co-op on the side.  I might rent this one first as it seems a bit steep to buy a $60 game without knowing too much about it, but at this time, I have some pretty high hopes for it.

Twisted Metal (PS3, February, Sony)

Twisted Metal is also a reboot for the original series of games on the Playstation. I was a big fan of the first two games on the original Playstation, but the last two weren’t that great.  I never played Twisted Metal Black on PS2, but I guess it’s good that Sony decided to make it free to whoever buys this game, so now I can play it.  The trailer of the game is pretty darn cool.  It’s obvious that Sweet Tooth is back, but the trailer just mainly showed him blowing crap up.  Some gamers seem pretty concerned that even though a lot of the vehicles are returning, a lot of the old characters from previous games are strangely absent.  Regardless, I’m looking forward to see what this game has to offer.

Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational (Vita, February, Sony)

If you know me, I’m not exactly a fan of sports games, In fact, I kind of loathe them.  Mainly because most sports games are developed in a year and are usually roaster updates from the game before it.  I was never a sports guy, but I tend to get into sports games that aren’t related to any of the yearly franchises such as NBA Jam & NFL Blitz.  I also enjoyed original sports games (not based on real sports teams) such as Mario Golf and Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee. The reason why these games are good is that they usually don’t require you to all about the sport before playing it.  The game may actually deviate from the rules of the game, but it’s usually for the sake of making the game more enjoyable.  I enjoyed the PSP game from this series, so I’m pretty sure the Vita version will be just as good.  The trailer showed off some gimmicky features which I think isn’t necessary, but I’m sure the game will offer traditional controls as well.

Tekken 3D: Prime Edition (3DS, February, Namco Bandai)

I’m actually a pretty big fan of the whole Tekken series.  The problem with this franchise lately is that every game after Tekken 5 has been more or less the same game, and that every game after 5 has had less and less new features, not to mention, everything has to be tournament styled and have everything unlocked from the get-go (which I think seriously murders the replay value of any fighting game).  Tekken 3D has had one trailer and it basically just says “This is Tekken.  Nothing new to see here guys, just buy it, m’kay?” Complaints aside, Dead or Alive Dimensions was basically the same as its previous games, but was still a good game.  For whatever reason they are also including the hard to watch CG movie: Tekken: Blood Vengeance 3D.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Vita, February, Sony)

Uncharted is basically Indiana Jones meets Tomb Raider, but combines all of the cool aspects from each one into one game.  The series is already a trilogy on the PS3, and I played through a good bit of the first game, and the second game is still unopened on my shelf.  The Vita game is supposedly a prequel of sorts to the first game.   I really dig the exploration in these games, but not so much the gunfights as I feel they are somewhat clunky and feel more of like a distraction from the main game.  The Vita game promises to be more exploration… but I guess we’ll see.  Regardless, I have this pre ordered with my Vita.

Soul Calibur V (Multiplatform, TBA 2012, Namco Bandai)

Soul Calibur and I go way back to the original game on the Dreamcast.  The trailers aren’t showing off too much, but I’ll give it a go anyway.  Oh, and I’m thrilled to see that Namco finally got the hint that adding console exclusive characters was always a stupid idea.  The release date will probably be announced soon, likely at E3.

Kid Icarus: Uprising (3DS, March, Nintendo)

After seeing his appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, everyone assumed that the Kid Icarus series would eventually get revived, and wouldn’t you know, it did.  The new game doesn’t seem to be anything like the older games, but I feel that might be a good thing.  The game seems be both an on rails shooter and a 3^rd person shooter (mixing it between levels).  The game has already had multiple gameplay and story trailers to it and is building a whole bunch of hype.  As of now, it’s looking like a day 1 purchase for me, and thankfully, this is actually not a February release (so I can don’t have to wait to buy it).  

Animal Crossing (the subtitle for it has not been revealed yet) – (3DS, TBA 2012, Nintendo)

The Animal Crossing series for me has always been probably one of the most sickeningly addictive games I have ever played.  If those of you that are unfamiliar with this series, you are forcefully thrown into mortgage debt, and in order to get out of it, you are forced to do repetitive errands, grow/find fruit, catch stuff, etc.  Now you’re probably thinking: “Chris, that all sounds stupid”, well you may be right.  But after doing this for an hour, it’s insanely addictive, and it’s why I must have this game the moment it comes out.  Because I must play it in order to fulfill my addiction to collecting garbage.

Addiction aside, according to an interview with the developers, they sort of got the hint the Animal Crossing: City Folk was exactly like its previous game with the exception of the small market they randomly added in (but of course it was called a city for whatever reason).  The 3DS version will add in more customization, as well as make you the mayor of your own town.  This means you can either become a freeloading junkie or you can help out the town and build useful things for the townspeople… or townsanimals.  

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (Multiplatform, March, Capcom)

Resident Evil is a very well respected franchise for gamers.  This game is actually a non-canon game (meaning not related to the main game’s storyline) but is sort an alternate “what if” story that occurs during Resident Evil 2.  Basically Umbrella has a squad of guys who are out to kill any survivals in Raccoon City that may know about Umbrella’s involvement of the disaster that occurred there.  And what do ya know, we only have two survivals: RE2’s protagonists Leon Kennedy and Clare Redfield.  The game’s main objective is to kill Kennedy through any means necessary, but to get to him; they have to wipe out hordes of their own zombies.  According to the trailers, the game is co-op, like the Left 4 Dead series except its 3^rd person and that each character in the game has their own unique abilities.  The game is also offering a multiplayer mode where you can play as other popular Resident Evil characters such as Hunk and Jill Valentine. 

Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS, February, Capcom)

Now you maybe are wondering why this game made my #1.  Well, I honestly think it’s going be an awesome game.  This is probably the game that nearly every 3DS owner has been waiting for since it the teaser trailer was shown off back at E3.  The series is returning back to its roots, and is offering a new story (that’s supposedly canon, unlike Operation Raccoon City) that seems interesting.  The protagonists from the first Resident Evil are to be reunited, however, Chris Redfield is missing, and his last known location was on a ship full of zombies and various other monsters.  The recent trailer reveals more about the story, and we'll also exploring various other places such as a sunken city, all for the sake of finding a cure to a virus (sounds familiar, right?).  After seeing the graphics pulled off on the 3DS with The Mercenaries 3D, I’m looking forward to playing the crap out of Revelations went it hits next month.  To conclude, here’s the best trailer of the game, enjoy.

Welcome to 2012 Part 2 - Playstation Vita

After typing out the Wii U article, I should of technically made the Playstation Vita article first due to it coming out next month.. oh well.  Anyway, as I stated earlier, we have a second console coming out this year from Sony.  No, it's not the PS4, it's actually the successor to the Playstation Portable, otherwise known as the PSP.  It's hard to remember the PSP a lot in the states due to it being dominated by the Nintendo DS.  In Japan, the PSP's sales are usually very close to the Wii and DS's which may sound shocking, but this was probably the main reason why Sony decided to make a successor for the console. However, in America, a lot of people sort of forgot about the PSP.

 The final model of the PSP (PSP 3000)

The PSP had a lot of problems with it.  The UMD format was overall a complete and total failure.  Loading times were usually too long, the filesize on a UMD was smaller than a PS2 game, and it only had one analog stick.  Developers did however manage to make fantastic games on the console, but sadly, most of them were forgotten and still didn't sell so well.  Due to Nintendo's innovative push with the DS, Nintendo eventually pushed out the PSP , and after 2008, a lot of developers slowly dropped the console altogether (in the West mainly).

 

The launch model of the Playstation Vita

The Playstation Vita on the other hand shows that Sony got the hint that PSP sort of sucked.  As Sony infamously does, it always has to borrow a feature from it's competitors, and this time, it's with the touch screen.  However, Sony did use some of it's own innovation this time around to create a back touch pad on the console as well.  The Vita also has two analog sticks, which resolves the issue that I mentioned earlier from the original PSP console.

 A Playstation Vita Game Card and Memory Card

Speaking of fixing old issues, the Vita also uses a proprietary card format for not only it's games but also it's (mandatory) memory cards as well.  The good news is the games will now load way faster than games did on the PSP.  However, the memory cards are no longer the memory stick format that we used on the PSP, so this means we have to buy a memory card at launch.  Since the UMD format is gone and done with (and we don't want it back), this obviously means that it won't play PSP games via a UMD, but you will be able to play PSP games via your memory card through either your current Playstation Network collection of games, or by going through a UMD conversation program that requires a fee for you to get the digital version of your UMD PSP games.

 Actual screenshot from Uncharted: Golden Abyss

What made the Wii U article shorter is that 1. It's unreleased and 2. It has little to no known games at this time.  However, with the Vita, it's been out in Japan for roughly two weeks now, therefore, we know what to expect for next month's launch in the States.  One thing I forgot to mention about the Vita is what's inside.  The graphics are a huge leap up from the PSP's, some would even say that it's on par with the PS3's graphics as it's getting ports of some current console games as well.  I also forgot to mention the Vita will have two models in every region: A WiFi model and a 3G/WiFi model.  In the states, the 3G model is using AT&T's service.

All in all, the WiFi model of the Playstation Vita is competitively priced with 3DS's original launch price of $250, with the 3G/WiFi model being priced at $299.  The current launch lineup is looking pretty good, I myself, am looking forward to Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational, and Super Stardust Delta.

Welcome to 2012 Part 1 - Wii U

With the exception of the apocalypse (lol) happening this year, we are expecting a lot of good games to come out!  This year however starts with our first "next gen" console from Nintendo known as the Wii U. 

The current Wii U Prototype.

Odd name aside, the Wii U is obviously Nintendo's home console successor to the Wii.  Even though the Wii sold the most consoles last gen, it's arguably the console that few gamers kept coming back to.  Last year alone, the only "big" game was Skyward Sword from Nintendo.  After Nintendo's showing of the console at E3, reactions were mixed, and most people including myself, were honestly worried of the console's future.

What we know so far:

• Will feature current gen graphics (on par or somewhat better than 360/PS3 graphics)
• Is an actual "HD" console with 1080p
• Nintendo claims it's more geared to "hardcore" gamers
• Will be backwards compatible with all Wii games, but will not upscale them (The PS3 upscaled PS2 games until they removed backwards compatibility in future models)
• Wii also use the same Wii Remote, as well as most accessories (Wii Fit scale, nunchuk, etc)
• Promised to have better third party support

At E3, a lot of guys not only groaned at weird name, but they also weren't big fans of Nintendo's new controller.

The Wii U Controller

Now, remember what I said earlier?  That you could use the Wii remote if you wanted to?  Well, you better not sell them off when you buy the Wii U, because only one Wii U controller can be used on each Wii U console.  The controller is meant to be a sort of enhancement to games.  One example was that the controller can give you a certain edge against other players in the game (since the others are using the Wii Remote).  The think the best way to think of is like the second screen on the Nintendo DS.  The top screen was usually the screen where all of the gameplay happened, but the bottom screen would usually be used for secondary tasks such as item inventories, maps, etc.  I feel the Wii U controller's screen will probably be used for the same things.

The coolest feature of the Wii U however actually lies within the controller.  Few of you may remember the remote play option that the PS3 had with the PSP.  A few games let you play PS3 games remotely on the PSP.  While I never actually tried this feature myself, the Wii U is going all out on this sort of thing.  Apparently, all games will playable on the Wii U's controller without the need for a TV.  While this may sound very strange for a home console, it's what Nintendo is doing anyway.  So if you are in a situation where you have to give up the TV to the kids or something, you can resume your game on the controller.  It's a crazy feature, but I can't wait to see it in action.

With the exception of a few games that were previously announced for other consoles, Nintendo has yet to reveal anymore details about the console (such as a release date, price, first party launch titles, etc), but it is scheduled to be out by at least the end of this year.  Let's just hope that I don't get over hyped for this console like I did with the 3DS and it's terrible launch.