PAX: a chat with SEGA pt 2 – Yakuza 2

Previously i mentioned that when i spoke with Sega, there was a PS2 game on display. Normally i would have ignored it as an outdated last gen system, but this one has a bit of nostalgia to me. Yakuza 2, looks startlingly similar to Shenmue from the DreamCast, and its not surprising since Sega was the one who made that game.

For those not familiar with Shenmui, Yakuza 2 is a third person action RPG title. You play as Kazama, an ex yakuza member who is investigating suspicion within his clan. However from then on, the world is surprisingly open. The story takes place in Osaka, and one of the nice things is that the game world is modeled after the real Osaka Japan. It would not be a lie to say that if you play this game, you will have a good idea about how to get around the city when you vacation in Japan yourself.

Also like Shenmue, while there is a story that you can follow, you can also ignore the story and just amuse yourself within the world. There are mini games for Bowling, Batting Cages and tons of other activities, and many of the shops and buildings can be entered to be explored.

In terms of gameplay, there have been improvements made. While in Shenmue the hand to hand system felt sluggish, its been cleaned up here and feels more responsive. They still have the QTE sequences (that pop up randomly at times), but overall the controls simply feel cleaner and easier to use.

My only complaint is that this is a PS2 game. I don’t fault Sega for making games for this system, but i’m tired of endorsing it. I have a next gen system, and it really does hurt to look at a game like Yakuza 2 after playing Valkyria Chronicles.

Though if you still play your PS2, or you are desperate for something to hold you over until Sega finally decides to make the 3rd game to the Shenmue series, then this really isn’t all that bad. The plus side is that i can’t imagine this game releasing for more than 40$ on an ancient system like the PS2. And compared to new game prices, thats really kind of a bargain.

Keep an eye out for a September release.

Chris Hori

PAX: a chat with SEGA pt 1 – Valkyria Chronicles

At PAX, Sega had 2 games of interest that they were showing off. One was for the PS2… yes they still make games for that system, and the other for the PS3.

For the PS3 Sega i got to play Valkyria Chronicles. While at a glance, its another Tactics Based RPG, there are a few nice new features and elements to this game. For start, they made the decision to let characters react in a more realistic way, which they are calling the “blitz battle system”. One of my biggest complaints of tactics games has always been “if the bad guy runs across my characters pov, why doesn’t my characters shoot them in the face.” Well now they do. If you leave someone standing in the open, then people will take shots at them. If your characters are covering an area, they will always take shots of opportunity. So simple and wonderful, but something that so many games like this leave out. This gives the game a much more fluid feel with people constantly in action despite the distinct turn based game play that is really being used.

Besides that, the single player game is pretty much what it looks to be. Game play is easy enough to get into and the first level tutorial that i got was sufficient for me to move on to a more difficult stage. There aren’t a lot of issues with the camera getting caught in a building and while not something that needs to be praised, it simply makes the game easier to get into.

The part of the game that interested me was that all the cut scenes are using the in game graphics engine. There are NO pre-rendered cut scenes in this game. The beautiful oil canvas scenes that you’ve seen is actual in game footage, and even the cut scenes are using the same engine that you get when you are playing the game. They intentionally went with a water color look to the game and even gave the menu’s an artistic touch that is visually just nice to look at.

My complaint is the lack of multi-player and on a system that is dying for a game to get its online community active, this game just feels like it should have an online mode. Either Co-op, or a player vs player feature for you to take your team online and battle other players in a tactics based fight would have made this game so much more appealing.

None the less Valkyria Chronicles, with its linear story, 50+ customizeable characters, and beautiful visuals, does look to be a solid game for those into the Tactics genera. It is currently out in Japan, with an American release set for Nov 11th.

There is a Limited Edition release for the Japanese version with an art book and a special figure of one of the main characters and a little tank figure. While there are no plans for an LE release in America, there is talk that the art book might be available state side with pre-orders.

Chris Hori

PAX: CCP’s Eve Online

Though many people know about the game Eve Online, not many people know about the true potential that this game has to offer.

There is 1 server where everyone plays on. There will never be a worry about not being able to play with your friends, or having to start multiple characters to play with different people. To accommodate this many users on one server, calling the universe MASSIVE is truly an understatement. With 250,000 registered subscribers, Eve has had 35,000 users logged into the game world at the same time.

Don’t think that this will cause a huge lag, as the players are spread out over the expansive play area with a massive number of systems and planets to travel to. This Space Opera-esque setting has the ability to accommodate players of all gaming styles. There are solo missions for people who wish for a single player content, up to the very in depth economy that will make any crafter’s eyes bulge with the potential of the 95% user created goods that this game boasts.

While you can check out the game for yourself, there are a few things in the works for this game. One of the big things is for the ability for players to have an avatar that gets out of their ship. Currently the game takes place aboard the space ships that you build and buy, but they are currently under development to allow you to see avatars while docked in port. Understandably with a universe as large as Eve’s this may take some time, but the expansion that it will bring to the game is immense.

Another point of interest is the 14 day free trial. Because Eve does not have a CD you can buy in stores, this gives you the ability to download the entire game for FREE. You won’t be on a test server, but will be playing in the actual game server with other players. This is a no risk trial for you and if you do enjoy the game it is 20$ for the first month, and 15$ for each month there after. Compared to having to purchase the game for 60$ and then paying a monthly fee, you really can’t go to far wrong here.

Another point of interest of Eve is the fact that Expansions are free. Any time they add content to the game, be it the beautiful (and totally optional for you people with less than new computers) graphics upgrade, to new ships and world expansions, these expansion packs cost you nothing. Simply download them and keep playing. This way no user ever gets trapped into purchasing more game for 50$ or risking losing all that you worked for.

Speaking of expansions, they are getting ready for their Winter Expansion, and with 14 days for free and the fact that you don’t even need to leave the house to get the game i highly recommend giving Eve Online a look.

Chris Hori

PAX: Rock Band 2

Well, really what more is there to say about Rock Band 2.

They announced that you will be able to import the songs off of the Rock Band 1 Disk for a small 5$ (400 ms points) to cover the fees of extending the usage licenses of the music… oh except for these songs:

• “Paranoid” as made famous by Black Sabbath (Cover)
• “Run to the Hills” as made famous by Iron Maiden (Cover)
• “Enter Sandman” by Metallica

(and 1 song by Tokio Hotel on the European disk… that we in America don’t get)

However, that leaves 55 songs that will be transferable, not to mention the fact that anything you purchased via XBL will be playable on RB2.

The New guitars are…. well new.  Nothing special here, but if you only have 1 Rock Band guitar and you’ve been using an old Guitar Hero guitar for your poor bass player, then this is a great chance to upgrade.

One of the new features i saw when i played the game is “No Fail Mode.”  With this turned on, your group can simply enjoy the challenge of playing through your favorite song, without the worry of failure.  So if you are a new player and can’t pass easy to save your life, or if you’ve always wanted to see how how many notes you could get on Green Grass and High Tides if only it would let you finish that second solo, now you don’t have to worry.

All in all with 84 new tracks on Rock Band 2 (and another 20 to follow as a free DownLoad Content pack after the release), and the potential to import 55 old songs for 5$, that gives you a minimum of 159 songs.  And if you are like me, then you have more songs on your Harddrive than songs that came with the original game then the available music for you to play with your friends on Rock Band 2 is simply staggering and unlike any other music rhythm game before it.

oh yeah, and one last thing.  “Online World Tour Mode”

PAX: Star Craft 2

While the version of the game at PAX was still considered “Internal Alpha”, it didn’t stop a massive line from forming in front of the multiple monitors with a playable build of the game running on them. The fans reaction to the game was overwhelmingly positive with the general agreement of what was available simply being described as “it just feels like Star Craft.”

But this isn’t to say that SC2 is simply a rehash of a good game. From speaking with Blizzard, the game itself has undergone many large changes since the original display in Korea months ago. Some of the more notable changes include large game play changes to new units such as the Protos Mothership, which is now a support unit. Its offensive power was heavily toned back and it was given the ability to “teleport” the Protos army making it an effective support unit, but hardly the game unbalancing offensive power it was originally shown to be. Also the Zerg Queen is being redesigned as a super defensive unit that is effective on the Creep, however far less effective when it leaves the Zerg base. Essentially the super units are no longer the final word in games of Star Craft 2, but instead effective units that are designed to blend with their armies more effectively.

Another issue that i inquired about was the potential for a monthly fee for “BattleNet” (Star crafts online system). At the moment it was undecided if there would be a required monthly fee for use of BattleNet, however they were quite excited to talk about the large number of new features that would be built into the new version of BattleNet. Amongst them included Online profiles, stat tracking, an official tournament system (as well as player created tournaments), support, and a far improved matchmaking system that would use the previously listed items. They were quick to state that if there is a charge for BattleNet, it would be well worth the players money not only for the improved community functions, but the online support that it will provide.

On the note of BattleNet, one of the functions they listed was the community support. The primary being the ability for users to have a centralized means of uploading new maps for other players to download. In addition to maps, Blizzard reps made mention of the potential for players to have user created skins for their army, and possibly the potential for editable end movie sequences including using user created skins to be applied to the end movie sequences and user dubbing of the voice acting and sound. Once again, this ties in to the new BattleNet system where player created mods and add-ons will be available for upload and download to its users, justifying the potential cost of the new BattleNet System.

At the moment however, they did not have a definite answer on the question of a monthly charge for BattleNet, or if a monthly charge will even be required, or a release date. Considering that the build was called “internal Alpha” meaning it is not even in Closed Beta yet shows it might be some time more. However, if what i played is only considered an alpha build, then i can only expect good things in the future for Star Craft 2.

Chris Hori

PAX: Hidden Path’s – Defense Grid

While Hidden Path did not have a booth inside of the Exhibit hall of PAX, i was lucky enough to be able to swing by their area to take a look at their new PC game: Defense Grid: The Awakening for PC.

Based on the large selection of flash based tower defense games that have recently become popular online, the group over at hidden path have set out to create the Tower Defense game that they have always wanted to play. Gone are the silly squares and 2d boxes with an “X” on it that resembles a machine gun tower, and in its place is rendered enemies and weapons towers that are animated for your viewing pleasure. The comical sounds have also been replaced by a clean audio that adds to the game play giving the overall presentation a nice feel to it.

However, true to its origin roots, they have designed a game that is easily accessable for all to play. Part of the charm of the Tower Defense type games is both its simplicity to get into and the flexability of the number of ways to pass each stage using various strategic tactics. This game continues this. There are a large number of stages that range from wide open where users have to create a path using the towers for the enemies to follow, to stages that have a preset path that makes you use strategic placement of weapons the priority.

A new game play element they added is that the mobs have a specific target, energy cells that they are attempting to capture and escape with, adding an additional level to the usual “stop the enemy from crossing the board” scenario that is commonly used in other Tower Defense type games.

The game is set to have 20 levels and is estimated to take roughly 8 hours to complete. However, anyone who has ever played a Tower Defence game will know the replay value of trying various tactics and of course the challenge of completing a level with ‘0 lives lost and no sell’ will extend game play far beyond the projected 8 hours.

This game will be available for PC download in November, and a version for Xbox Live 360 download has been announced. No current plans for a Mac version of the game.

Chris Hori

TME at PAX: Overview

I feel that it is safe to say that E3 is no longer the holy ground for gamers that it once was. Gone is the wonder and fanfare of the industry only convention, and Penny Arcade Expo has risen to take its place, and in a sense become everything that E3 was and more.

To be honest, as i walked around the Seattle Convention Center, i’m not sure if PAX has become what it originally was planned to be. From the creators of Penny Arcade, the webcomic/blog of 2 guys who have a lot of well informed opinions and a sarcastic sense of humor, what might have once been a gathering of fans of the webcomic has now become a weekend celebrating all that is gamer culture. Everything was represented from console, PC, Table Top, and Hand Held. Indy developers lined up along side Sega and EA and there was enough companies and crowd to go around that no gamer or developer left feeling unloved.

Where other conventions would have rows and rows of Xbox 360’s hooked up for fans to play, PAX had working versions of games that weren’t even in Beta yet. I watched fans line up to play the latest build of Star Craft 2 (which i would like to note is STILL in pre-alpha), a first build of the next Need for Speed, Gears of War 2, and of course the biggest draw… Rock Band 2… on a stage for all to see of course. (and of course i will be going into more detail on all these games soon)

This is of course only one part of the convention though. There were movie rooms showing gamer related movies (yes, they had the wizard), 2 floors that they referred to as “the hand held lounge”, no less than 6 rooms for open console gaming, Rock Band 1 on a separate stage, and 2 nights of concerts for con attendees. Oh, and have i mentioned that unlike E3… PAX is open to everyone.

Without a doubt, for every gamer who has missed out on the glory days of E3, PAX has grown each year and it isn’t showing any signs of stopping.

Chris Hori