[Multiplatform] General MINOR gaming related news, rumours and things of not-thread-worthy nature

Multiplatform Mass Effect 2? One suspects they mean PC and 360, I'm not sure how much of a market there'd be on the PS3, given the inevitability that the next game will be a direct sequel. I would say that of more interest to me would be whether they can actually deliver on half the promises they made about the first game this time out and whether the game will feature Commander Sheppard again and let you carry over your character from the first one.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I guess it's a matter of the cost of converting it against the expected revenue from a PS3 version. EA don't have a huge amount of cash to throw at risky projects at the moment, although I suspect that Mass Effect would be a pretty sure seller.

It was originally touted as a trilogy but there's no reason why Bioware would make the next game a sequel the same way KOTOR 2 is a sequel, set it much later and with a new cast of characters, especially if they're porting to a format where everyone won't already have saved games. There's also the difficulty of balancing as there's no fixed maximum point for characters and you can finish the first game anywhere between level 40 and 70 theoretically. They don't want to release a new game with no challenge for players who've got all the achievement bonuses and best equipment on a level 70 Sheppard. Confirmation of continuing characters would encourage me to go for another playthrough though, just to set-up a character for the sequel (Probably one who looks like a neo-nazi and hates aliens, killing off all the aliens in your party whenever possible). Actually, that brings up another issue with continuing straight on, you have a choice of which party members make it to the end and as such they either need to decide for you (Like in KOTOR 2 where they arbitrarily decide that that you didn't leave Carth to his death on the last planet and kill Jolee) or write multiple story arcs right from the start.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Well quite, a bit less vanilla amongst the support staff and your actions to make a blind bit of difference to the world around you would be more than welcome. Essentially I want KOTOR 3, even dressed up as Mass Effect.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

GTA:Wild West Red Dead Redemption announced by Rockstar:

Spoiler:

Rockstar Games is proud to announce that Red Dead Redemption
is scheduled for a fall 2009 release on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. Developed by Rockstar San Diego, as a follow up to the 2004
hit game, Red Dead Revolver, Red Dead Redemption is a
Western epic, set at the turn of the 20th century when the lawless
and chaotic badlands began to give way to the expanding reach of government and the spread of the Industrial Age. The story of former outlaw, John Marston, Red Dead Redemption takes players on
a great adventure across the American frontier.

Utilizing Rockstar's proprietary Rockstar Advanced Game
Engine (RAGE), Red Dead Redemption features an open-world environment for players to explore, including frontier towns,
rolling prairies teaming with wildlife, and perilous mountain passes -
each packed with an endless flow of varied distractions. Along the
way, players will experience the heat of gunfights and battles,
meet a host of unique characters, struggle against the harshness of
one of the world’s last remaining wildernesses, and ultimately
pick their own precarious path through an epic story about the
death of the Wild West and the gunslingers that inhabited it.

More info on the official website

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

A friend of mine was very into it but then he also spent 200 odd hours of his life driving a truck around the highways in San Andreas listening to the country music radio station so he might not be the best benchmark for good taste. They're using the RAGE engine so this will probably be a decent enough open world effort if nothing else. One wonders how much of the game world will be pointless open desert though and what sort of combat system they're going to put in it. Rockstar don't often make bad games though and although nothing they release ever quite matches up to the GTA games, there's no denying that Canis Canum Edit was a smashing little game so they have a proven record of putting their engine to good use.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Interesting that Dice seem to be "borrowing" features from Frontlines on their second game since Kaos's superior effort. I guess they thought that BF:BC would be better than Frontlines without those features or were too far into development to implement them before launch. Still, I do like a bit of sqaud fps action and even though Bad Company was a real dissapointment, Battlefield 2 was a great game in it's time and if this is as cheap as they promise I might pick this up.

How ya doing, buddy?

Awesome. Worms Armaggedon is the best of the series by far. It's basically a case of seeing who can go the longest without breaking the gentlemen's agreement not to use the Concrete Donkey or Nuclear Test...

Or am I thinking of Worms World Party? I can never remember which is which...

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Tritoch

"Pretty disappointing" has to be the lowest rank of gay-baby hissyfit possible. I apologize for not overreacting more.

There have been too many bad Worms games since Armageddon to get excited solely by the series name now. I'm hopeful; that's all.

Um, I think your righteous, fanboy anger is more than a little misplaced anyway dude. Read again what Maggie posted, taking into account they mention specifics of the PSN version first and then tell me the PSN isn't getting the old XBLA game with 1080p graphics and XBLA isn't getting a whole new game with all the weapons from Armageddon in it, i.e. something much better than the PS3 version.

I mean shit, it pays to read these things properly before you draft a letter to your local congressman.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

As it happens, I quite like Worms 3D. It's a completely different game to the 2D ones but can still be fun, especially with unlimited jetpacks.

Armaggedon really was the pinacle though. Me and a mate generally play in an enclosed level (So no strikes or anything) with a tiny bit of land on each end and a load of bridges between them. There's an unwritten rule that the first person to move has to use a kamakazi across one of the bridges (Especially if there is only one bridge) and if anyone manages to fling themselves into the air off a ninja rope, open the parachute in midair and then launch a supersheep and fly it into a really narrow gap between two bridges and kill someone and yet still land safely, they automatically win the round. Jetpack herd of cows drops are pretty suave too. It's amazing how good you can get at a game when you play it a lot, stoned...

Jam it back in, in the dark.

W00t! I'll probably get this round about the day it comes out then.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

But the PS3 is getting the old XBLA game so it's already made, they just need to tweak it for PSN, it probably cost them fuck all and they've used it as an exercise in writing for the PS3. This way they can release the new XBLA game on PSN in a year's time and make a load more money.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Do you have any idea of the maths involved in dropping a Concrete Donkey on a tightly packed group of 12 worms in a low gravity environment?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Maybe now Rockstar will go back to making games that are fun, as well as technically impressive.

How ya doing, buddy?

Yeah, they've not branched away from Final Fantasy so far so it looks unlikely. That said, Lara Croft is probably a more recognisable character than anyone from an Enix game (At least to the western market who I believe the Kingdom Hearts games are primarily aimed at) so never say never.

If we're really lucky, this aquisition will mean they'll release a sequel to Deathtrap Dungeon which is an awesome game, as well as being one of the most unfairly difficult games of all time. Again, it's unlikely but we can dream, right?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Me and a mate used to session MvC2 in the arcade and the Dreamcast release was awesome too. Let's hope if this does come out it means they're gonna release Powerstone too.

FELIPE NO

My PS1 Rival Schools Disk has finally given up the ghost now so that'd be a great addition to the service.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

MvC2 is far more appealing than SFIV to me as it attracts far fewer of the people like Manny who take fighting games far too seriously in my experience. At least that's how it always used to be in the arcades round here. You'd get a load of spotty nerds hanging around the SF3 and KoF cabinets discussing counter ranges and pokes and what ever the fuck it is you weirdos talk about and the MvC and similar games would just have people having a laugh and playing the game on them.

It's a sillier game but there's still room to have serious fights which is why I like it. Hopefully this release will have decent online connectivity and I won't be too handicapped using the shitty 360 d-pad (Because you can fuck right off if you think I'm spending £100 on an arcade stick to play a game that costs a tenner and I already have several iterations of on a console I do have a decent arcade stick for). I suppose I could get a PS3 and the PSN version and use my old Namco arcade stick to play it.

Anyway, I'll probably be buying this and studiously avoiding anyone who talks about frame cancelling and tiering of characters.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I agree wholeheartedly with Omagnus, why is it so wrong to just buy a game to have a laugh with it? Let's face it, a full price computer game costs about the same as a night out these day, often less so if I've got at least five hours enjoyment out of it then that represents good value for money in my book. I don't feel the need to invest hundreds of hours getting good at something in order to justify buying the thing in the first place.

I own plenty of games I'm not that good at and I've had hours of fun playing them online, even against randoms who are much better at them than I am. Sure sometimes you get taken apart in quick order but that doesn't neccessarily make it less fun. Personally I can enjoy something without winning all the time.

The idea that someone wouldn't play a game online if they weren't serious about becoming the greatest player ever is a stupid one, simple as that. Manny, are you one of those people who quits out of games they can no longer mathematically win? People like that are the reason I don't play online at all as much as I used to, what's wrong with just playing games for the fun of playing them?

And yes Omagnus, I'm bang up for that assuming this is under £15 or so.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

But Omagnus, if he wasn't going to buy them anyway then they've not lost out on any revenue have they? Everyone's a winner!

/me minimises the window on his pirated copy of Civ IV and acts nonchalant

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Blue Falcon

Maybe they'll add a delay in fire rate for some weapons so assholes with shit like this end up losing out.

I think they lost out the day they spent $130 just to improve their reload rate in a computer game.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

This doesn't warrant it's own thread but this weekend Microsoft are throwing the Xtival, the best part of which is all silver memberships count as gold for the weekend so Qwarky can play people online for a couple of days. I imagine there'll also be some new dlc, probably for the music games and maybe a new t-shirt or some shit for your avatar.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I couldn't find any women to sleep with me last weekend so I did the obvious thing and raped some bitch. I mean, it's not like her pussy healed up after or anything, she can still use it so it's a victimless crime right?

Some people would say that if you can't afford luxury items like games then you should go without until you can afford them. Hell, it's not like games are even that expensive these days. I remember paying £60 for Killer Instinct when it came out in the 90's. You can get three new games for that now, not even taking into consideration inflation.

Anyway, in more exciting news Ubisoft have announced their lineup for the coming year and there's a new Ghost Recon game in it. Also Splinter Cell, Red Steel and Assasin's Creed (Which we all knew about anyway). No mention of a new Rainbow game but they tend to stagger Rainbow and GR games from one year to the next as they're pretty interchangeable. The new one is tagged GR4 (GRAW being 3) which suggests a fundemental departure of some sort from GRAW although there wasn't a huge step up from GR and Island Thunder to GR2 and Summit Strike. Anyway, I'll be keeping an eye on this because I fucking love Tom Clancy games, even if they are all the same.

Which reminds me, I really ought to play GRAW 2 at some point.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by russ

Two years ago they showed their Jack Bauer Sam Fisher hiding in plain sight stealth Splinter Cell that looked hilariously bad, then like you said, it fell off the face of the earth. Hopefully they've spent the last couple of years ditching that idea and making something that isn't retarded.

Wasn't that supposed to be called Splinter Cell:Conviction or something? I remember seeing some screenshots of the guy in it running around an office building and jumping through a window or something dressed in jeans. If memory serves it looked like Stranglehold with less action in it.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Blue Falcon

I tend to think of this as a good thing, most internal Ubi games are lucky to be development for half an hour before they're shit out onto a conveyor belt, so something with some degree of work effort thought put in instead of diarrhea in a jar like usual might be a good thing.

I saw the same announcement in Edge. It was pretty thin on details though so it could just be corporate hot air (Given that it came from their annual report) or it could mean they're upping the number of polys in the Rabbid models in anticipation of Nintendo managing a resolution better than VGA with their next console. I doubt that the announcement is in any way tied to any actual game development, there's a lot more than two years left in the current generation. Hell, there was another article on the Edge website with Sony claiming the PS3 will be number one console in five years, hardly the announcement of a company planning on superceding it in a couple of years.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Blue Falcon

I am merely joking about how garbage they are, not making any serious comment regarding anything else

They've produced some decent games over the years, I wouldn't write them off just yet. Armoured Core 2 was pretty decent, Grandia 2 is fairly popular and who can honestly say they didn't love Iron Lord?

I never did get to the end of that.

Jam it back in, in the dark.