First two stills from EA and Crytek’s 2010 shooter, Crysis 2. My gratitude to any commenters who can locate the New York City locales shown here. A star if you take a photo that matches either shot (sans guns/soldiers/violence).
New-game purchasers of EA and DICE’s modern-day military shooter granted two bonus day-one multiplayer maps, second freebie pack due later in March.
Get the full article at GameSpot
Washington studio says Microsoft’s camera-based motion sensor will not be used in upcoming shooter this fall.
Speculation has run rampant as to whether Bungie will integrate Microsoft’s Project Natal into its top shooter franchise, Halo, ever since the motion-sensing device was revealed at the 2008 Electronic Entertainment Expo. Though Microsoft initially insinuated that Bungie may be delivering a compatible game for the device upon its launch–an event scheduled for this holiday–the publisher has also noted that Natal support in Halo won’t happen “until it makes sense.”
Now, it appears as if Natal support doesn’t make sense for Halo: Reach, a game that is “probably” Bungie’s last effort in the franchise. In a post to its Web site, Bungie stated that Halo: Reach will not make use of Project Natal when it arrives for the Xbox 360 later this year. The refutation comes after a recently released screenshot for the game showed an off-center targeting reticle, which some took as confirmation that the device would in fact be supported.
“Halo: Reach is NOT a Natal title and is being developed expressly with the traditional Xbox 360 controller in mind,” the developer said in a post to its official site. (Emphasis in original.) As for the errant targeting reticle, Bungie said that it could be chalked up to a bug in the game’s code (”Bug #15163 to be exact”).
Depicting some of the same events that took place in the novel Halo: The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund, Bungie’s latest shooter will follow a squad of multiple Spartan soldiers. According to Microsoft, the six-Spartan group is Noble Squad, the military unit that will be the focus of the game. Halo: Reach will apparently chronicle their battles with the Covenant as they try to protect Reach’s human inhabitants from their relentless onslaught.
For more information, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage of Halo Reach.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
Capcom confirms enhanced version of survival horror shooter is still on track for March 9 release stateside following push of Sony’s new motion-sensing gamepad.
Get the full article at GameSpot
GameStop, Best Buy now expecting Raven Software’s time-bending shooter in June; Amazon sticks to March window.
Get the full article at GameSpot
First-person shooters are great and all. But they’re no where near the size of real-world military conflicts.
In reality, they play more like isolated firefights than all-out war, according to CJ Heine, lead designer at Zipper Interactive.
“The scale has always been missing,” he says.
For example, when you see tracer fire and hear gunshots in other games, it’s usually simulated by the computer “to make the player feel like they’re in a larger battle than they really are,” says Heine.
So he and his team have built what they believe to be a better mousetrap; one that places a human command behind every bullet, air strike, and commotion taking place on screen.
“It’s actual combat between real players,” Heine explains, speaking of MAG, the upcoming multiplayer-only shooter for PlayStation 3. But not only are the game’s actions authentic, the number of simultaneous players it accommodates is staggering: 256 to be exact, a figure that dwarfs the size of previous console shooters.
But my Modern Warfare 2 plays just fine. Why, then, would I want more numbers? What’s in it for me, I ask the designer. Added purpose and broader scope comes the reply. “I think MAG is an evolution of the shooter,” Heine responds. “Running with 256 players actually allows us to recreate the scale and intensity of widespread combat without relying on artificially placed sounds or effects.”
Okay, but what about lag? Some games stutter with only 16 or 32 players online. Sounds like Sony will need a Google-size server farm to manage that many players for a single session. Either that or compromise the gameplay.
While the answer to enable more players would seem to be more hardware, Zipper Interactive says their “new server architecture” allows them to meet the demands of 256 players without the need of costly additional servers.
It’s unclear exactly what they’ve done to ensure stability. And geographical latency is inevitable. But many early previewers have reported surprisingly smooth connections. “Whatever Zipper did with their servers, it’s
working,” said one beta tester.
There is no “I” in team
If you’re one of those independent types or bratty tennis stars that hates team sports, MAG probably isn’t for you. With so many players on screen at the same time, games would quickly spiral out of control without organization, making Unreal Tournament played in a tight corridor look like child’s play.
To provide the much-needed structure, players are divided into 8-person squads, with 4 squads forming a platoon of 32 players, and 4 platoons forming a company of 128 players. Accordingly, group leaders are critical to the success of the team, says Heine-especially a company’s Officer in Charge.
“In many ways, the OIC is similar to a platoon eader in that they cannot personally assign any objectives (like a squad leader),” he says. “But they do control powerful game-changing abilities that can turn the tide of a battle when used properly, such as altering the respawn rates of friendly or enemy forces, communicating the tactical abilities used by squad and platoon leaders, or preventing opposing tactics from being used.”
Translation: In MAG, you’re forced to work as a team. Since there’s no computer-aided actions to guide you to victory, you’ll live or die on the decisions made by your fellow gamers. And if your commanding officer is a douche, your team is screwed. It sounds bad, but it makes for some crazy good unity.
“Just watching the reactions in the beta over the last few months, each company has a vocal set of players, all declaring that their faction is the best or easiest to play with,” says Heine. “It’s great to see the players latching on and creating their own rivalries.”
To advance the ranks into leadership roles and create your own company, you’ll need to earn the trust of your peers by completing objectives, making valuable contributions, and earning experience points over time. This isn’t to say you can go on solo missions, such as sneaking behind enemy lines and sabotaging their supplies. You just can’t be bohemian about it.
“Well-organized squads with good leadership and communication are going to make the difference between a win and a loss more often than the efforts of any one individual player,” asserts Heine.
In the year 2025
Set 15 years in the future, MAG takes place in a fully globalized and diplomatic planet Earth.
But greed and utopia can never co-exist, so the demilitarized world quickly sees a rise in demand for enterprising mercenaries known as Private Military Companies to do its killing.
At first, these companies bade for contracts in a civil manner, much like a commercial firm would, explains Heine. At some point, however, “competitive tensions and minor conflicts escalated into full scale war,” he adds. How convenient for you, Mr. or Ms. gamer.
With the world in turmoil, and weaponry in the hands of opposing private contractors, players will need to choose which company-otherwise known as factions-they wish to fight for before. For veterans, there’s Valor Company, which outfits its troopers with standard-styled military gear. For James Bond lovers, there’s Raven Industries, which relies on high-tech gadgetry to win its battles. And lastly, the S.V.E.R. company-a group of misfit militia-
men with a chip on their shoulder.
But not only do factions give the game a sense of individuality, according to Heine, they dictate how aggressive or defensive teams are in their attack. “Each faction has a unique visual style and reason for fighting, but the differences in weapons, equipment, and missions have the biggest impact on gameplay,” he says. ” Ultimately, factions create a sense of allegiance within MAG, which is rare for a shooter.”
What exactly should you expect from the gameplay then? Look no further than SOCOM, Zipper’s previous breakthrough series for PlayStation 2. “At the core, MAG and SOCOM are similar in that they’re both squad-based military shooters,” Heine admits. “Players already familiar with SOCOM will understand the importance of teamwork and have a set of skills, such as fire discipline, which translate over to MAG pretty well.”
But as previously mentioned, it’s a much bigger party this time-not to mention being a first-person shooter as opposed to SOCOM’s third-person perspective. “MAG takes team based gameplay and elevates it,” says Heine. “As seen in beta, most objectives are fiercely contested by full squads, and some level of teamwork is usually required to have any success with the objectives.”
More specifically, you’ll be destroying enemy bases, ordering commands on the fly with the d-pad, or engaging the front lines using standard first-person shooter controls. For a bird’s-eye view of all 256 players on screen, you can hit the map button to survey individuals battles and assign new objectives our counterattacks.
Slower is better?
First-person shooters are traditionally known for their quickness. Turn a corner. Bust a cap in some guy’s melon. Move on. If it wasn’t already obvious, MAG is not that kind of game.
Your deftness with a firearm is still required, and headshots are still present. Only here you’ll need to plan your attack, since you’ll be commanding or working with upwards of 127 teammates as your opponents do the same.
Aware of how daunting that task may initial seem to some, Zipper has prepared concentrated modes to acclimatize new comers. “If players aren’t quite ready to deal with this many players or levels of leadership, we have other gametypes for 64 or 128 players,” Heine reassures.
The irony here is that MAG’s huge numbers will either make or break the game for some. Since users dictate pace, as opposed to the game itself, MAG plays slower than most. To put it nicely, methodical. As a result, enthusiast gamers seemingly aren’t jamming the pre-order lines to play once the game debuts next month.
“For a shooter-based console game just six weeks prior to launch, MAG’s popularity numbers are a little lower than desired,” says Scott Mucci of GamerMetrics, which tracks interest levels and behavior of some 46 million online gamers. In fairness, this could be because of a recently released juggernaut, Mucci adds.
“Fans of the shooter genre are most likely still focused on Modern Warfare 2,” he offers, also noting that the highly anticipated Mass Effect 2 releases the same day.
Whatever the reasoning for the so-so anticipation, it’s hard not to notice MAG’s draw: filling spacious maps with 256 simultaneous players. MMO without the RPG. Or “massive action game”-take your pick.
Just don’t blame me if you get stuck with a broken team.
MAG arrives Jan. 26 exclusively for PS3. The game is rated “Teen” and retails for $40.
Blake Snow is a freelance writer from Crecente’s neighboring state of Utah. His curious work has appeared on MSNBC, the Wall Street Journal, and GamePro among others. He is currently reading Game Over by David Sheff and thinks you should too.
Sony and Zipper Interactive’s online-only 256-player military shooter enters mass production in advance of January 26 release on PS3.
Originally slated for a late 2009 release, Zipper Interactive’s online military shooter MAG has been locked and loaded for a January 26 deployment on the PlayStation 3 since August. Today, Sony Computer Entertainment confirmed that MAG will only see the one release-date misfire, as the North American and Asian editions of the game have gone gold. Sony expects the European edition to pass certification in the next couple of weeks, though no release date was offered for the region.
Along with announcing that the game has been shipped to manufacturers for mass production, Sony also said that MAG’s open beta test will commence on January 4. The open beta will be available in all regions and ends on January 10 at 11:59 p.m. PST. North American gamers can begin downloading the open beta client on December 22, though Sony reiterated that gamers won’t be able to actually enter the game until the first week of 2010.
Developed by former SOCOM specialty studio Zipper Interactive, MAG is an ambitious online military shooter that will feature 256 players in a single game. Each player will assume a different rank on each side, viewing the battlefield according to his or her station. Commanders will see the action from a top-down view from which they can direct lower-level soldiers, who will see from a first-person point of view on the front lines.
For more information, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage of MAG.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
Gearbox releases desktop edition of The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned for open-world RPG-shooter, priced at $10.
Gearbox Software has been clear about the prospects of downloadable content for its fast-selling new property Borderlands, saying that it hopes to release a number of add-ons for the game. In November, the first of those add-ons arrived for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, upon the release of The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned. However, little has been heard about the status of the PC launch of the Borderlands expansion.
That changed this week, though, as Gearbox has released the PC version of The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned. Those who picked up the retail edition of Borderlands can buy the add-on pack for $9.99 through Gearbox’s Web site. Versions of the game purchased through digital distribution services such as Steam can find the add-on through their respective channels.
The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned will feature undead opponents aplenty, accidentally created by the titular doctor. Players will join up with the semi-mad scientist to track down his creations, which are running amok in a new region the DLC adds to the game, Jakobs Cove. The new area will also be infested with were-skags, which are fearsome cousins of the aggressive scaled creatures that infest the planet Pandora, the game’s setting.
For more on Borderlands first add-on pack, check out GameSpot’s review of The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
Nintendo’s supersize handheld sells 100,000 in two days; Left 4 Dead, Taiko Drum Master best-selling new games on a mostly familiar top 10 list.
Nintendo’s extra-large handheld racked up extra-large sales during its first days of release, according to Media Create’s weekly Japanese sales figures. The DSi XL (known as the DSi LL in Japan) sold 100,553 systems for the week of November 16-22. The oversized handheld launched in Japanese stores November 21 and is expected to arrive in the West early next year.
Perhaps as impressive, the launch of the XL didn’t entirely undercut sales of the existing DSi. Nintendo’s next newest handheld sold 32,070, down slightly from the previous week’s 33,749. That was good enough to finish fourth on the hardware list, within spitting distance of the PSP (32,752 sold), Wii (32,844 sold), and PlayStation 3 (34,752 sold). Nintendo’s original revision to the DS line, the DS Lite, was the fifth-best-selling system of the week, finding new homes for 5,051 units and besting the struggling PSP Go (4,574 sold) and Xbox 360 (4,085 sold).
While the DSi XL held sway in the hardware charts, Nintendo’s lineup of portable games topped the software best-sellers. After three straight weeks looking up at soccer games and Bayonetta, Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver combined to reclaim the top spot on the charts, selling 55,361 copies. It was followed by a trio of exceedingly familiar faces, with Nintendo’s DS Tomodachi Collection selling 49,308 games, Wii Fit Plus moving 42,832 copies, and the DS pair of Inazuma Eleven 2: Kyoui no Shinryokusha – Fire and Blizzard taking fourth with 28,734 sold.
Namco Bandai breathed a little new life into the charts with the debuting Taiko no Tatsujin Wii 2 in fifth place, racking up sales of 28,282. Following close behind was another new release, the Xbox 360 shooter Left 4 Dead 2, with 27,507. The last new game on the charts was Nintendo’s DS edition of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, which landed in ninth place with 23,420 sold.
JAPAN GAME SALES WEEK OF NOVEMBER 16-22, 2009
Software:
Rank / Title / Publisher / Platform / Unit sales
1) Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver / Nintendo / DS / 55,361
2) Tomodachi Collection / Nintendo / DS / 49,308
3) Wii Fit Plus / Nintendo / Wii / 42,832
4) Inazuma Eleven 2: Kyoui no Shinryokusha – Fire and Blizzard / Level 5 / DS / 28,734
5) Taiko no Tatsujin Wii 2 / Namco Bandai / Wii / 28,282
6) Left 4 Dead 2 / Electronic Arts / 360 / 27,507
7) Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 / Konami / PS3 / 24,425
J-League Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou! 6: Pride of J / Sega / PSP / 23,842
9) Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games / Nintendo / DS / 23,420
10) Dragon Ball: Raging Blast / Namco Bandai / PS3 – 16,862
Hardware:
DSi XL – 100,553
PS3 – 34,752
Wii – 32,844
PSP – 32,752
DSi – 32,070
DS Lite – 5,051
PSP Go – 4,574
Xbox 360 – 4,085
PS2 – 2,024
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
Mysterious Facebook page teases what looks like a new entry in the catchphrase-spouting shooter series; is it a rebranded Duke Nukem Forever, the Gearbox title, or much ado about nothing?
Get the full article at GameSpot
Recent Comments