Open for Discussion: Do Graphics Make the Game?

An oldie but a goodie from the very beginning of our site, we'd like to see if any of our new fans have an opinion on the matter. Do graphics make the game? Leave your comments below and let's get a discussion going! Don't be afraid!

Analizamos Wipeout 2048 para PS Vita.

¡No te pierdas nuestro último análisis de Wipeout 2048 en PS Vita!

Como siempre, grandes dósis de velocidad, para soltar mucha adrenalina y darlo todo en un título para PS Vita que roza la cúspide de lo mejor que se ha realizado hasta la fecha para esta consola.

¡Quiero leer ya el Análisis de Wipeout 2048!

¡Y no olvides que puedes seguirnos en nuestra nueva Web!

Rocksmith Interview Update

Guess what Vault fans, Nao Higo of Ubisoft spent some time with us to talk about what it took to make Rocksmith, the challenges him and his team faced, and some exciting news about Bass Guitar DLC! Are you interested? Of course you are! Check back at the Vault this week for the full interview.

To see both weeks of our experiment just look below:

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Review

This review is two fold, my little Vault maniacs. On one hand, this will be a review of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3,  and on the other, it will be it's quality on a handheld. I do believe that we shall now get cracking.

Gameplay

As fighting games go, UMvC3 is standard in its composition. There is a multitude of characters for you to peruse and mix and match, as well as choices for assist attacks. For those of you who have never played the MvC franchise, you have three characters on your team, each of which can pop in and out of the fight and be your main fighter or can assist another fighter. It's like a three-person tag-team match. I say person because characters range from She-Hulk and Rocket Raccoon (yeah, Rocket Raccoon, I had to go to my comic shop and actually ask who the hell that was) to Albert Wesker and Zero from Mega Man.

The game itself has something like six new characters from Marvel and Capcom respectively joining both rosters from regular MvC3 so you get to play around even more.  One does question the choice of bringing in characters like Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney and Rocket Raccoon (I will never get over this decision, I kid you not) since they don't exactly lend themselves to a fighting game very well. Then again, no one consulted me on character additions, so, that's neither here nor there.

The game has several modes, but the most familiar are Online and Offline which means you can play the standard arcade version of the game or play against someone via whatever network of the console you choose to play the game on. Since I have it for PlayStation Vita, it's the Playstation Network. Offline is fun, about six rounds and then you fight the mega-boss, Galactus (Devourer of Worlds from Marvel comics), and his heralds who are made up of a random collection of the bad guys in the character select screen. The goal of arcade mode is to save the world. So...that's basically single player.

If you want to increase your skill, you can also play the missions in the game which have you going through a gauntlet of challenges that entail completing certain combos which do actually teach you how to use each and every character in the game. This mode is not for the easily frustrated though.

I will give Capcom some kudos for giving players the opportunity to train in another way than just playing arcade over and over or against others until you somehow get better. Online is just your basic versus combat, which works well and is one of those things that is only bad when human idiocy/jerkishness/frustration make the experience fall below expectations.

There is something new in the mode department, which is Heroes and Heralds gameplay. This allows you to play on or offline and basically do versus matches in which your side, Heroes of the world or Heralds of Galactus, fight for the planet. You also are rewarded with ability cards that can alter the matches in certain ways which are supposed to add another layer of strategy to this game (good heavens it doesn't need more strategy, please God why). You can collect and change your deck at hand before the battle and prep depending on your characters to maximize your abilities when you next fight.

I'm...*sigh* I'm not sure what the point of this is. I mean, really. Is it to make team-based gameplay? Is it to make more collectables and unlockables? What? Why did we need this? Why add the cards? Don't get me wrong, this entire mechanic works and it functions just like versus combat (except with cards adding some bonuses here and there) but why did this have to be in the game? Were people asking for this? Is it wildly popular? Seriously. Maybe I'm just not getting it. It just feels gimmicky to me.

Finally, the last new mode is playing as Galactus himself. Seriously, I'm not sure what unlocks it but if you do, you actually get to play six rounds against teams of three heroes trying to stop you from devouring the Earth. Think of it as playing as Master Hand in Super Smash Bros. I'm not sure how any of the controls work, but it felt awesome to do a 250 hit combo on Ghost Rider.

Vita-ness Review

Okay, I want to say off the bat that this game is awesome for traveling and killing time. This is a perfect game for a handheld, and if you've got Wifi you can play this multiplayer and get your competitive fix. I love that about this game and I'm really happy that Sony put this on the Vita. Okay? You all see that I'm saying that, right? Good.

On the other hand, here it comes, there are some issues with it being on a handheld. This may just be a personal problem, but I have large hands. That being said, I have a hard time holding the Vita sometimes and the stick or d-pad are a little less than easy to use when it comes to playing furiously and trying to beat the tar out of someone. I played this on the Xbox 360 with a controller and I got relatively good, amongst my friends, mind you, and I knew how to use the controller. I am having a hard time doing that with the small buttons and directional attachments.

Also, the touch screen mechanic for fighting is just too silly for me to take seriously. Here, let me show you a visual example:

As you can see, you look like an idiot tapping your screen furiously in a manner that can only be described as spastic. The game manual has some descriptions of how this works, but really, this is just a dumb thing to have on a fighting game. You know why? There is no skill involved in this game while using the touch screen, which is part of a franchise that literally thrives on the skill of its most competitive players.

The manual tells you that dragging your character in a direction, or flicking them quickly, moves them. Tapping an enemy close to you does a weak attack while tapping them from far away does a heavy one (hahahahaha yeah right). Tapping the X-Factor symbol uses X-Factor, tapping the desired character activates their assist and holding their picture at the top switches. Tapping the hyper combo bar uses a hyper combo.

All that? That whole paragraph? Crap. I did figure-eights on my screen and kicked the crap out of Akuma, Sentinel, and Morrigan with JUST RYU. I kid you not. I had never played so good in my life and I had no idea how I was doing it. I felt like a character in Flubber and Robin Williams had just put that green junk on my shoes and I was dunking on people twice my size. What? You don't like Disney movies? Whatever, man.

Anyway, the point is that this mode of gameplay eliminates the need to know combos and complicated maneuvers, and is hard to utilize accurately with a finger where your opponent may totally be using a controller the whole time and have the benefit of precision. This, my friends, is an example of a mechanic that is pure gimmick for gimmick's sake.

 

 Overall Rating

 

So how does this game actually rate? Very well, I'd give it an 8/10. There's nothing wrong with the game aside from what I think are unnecessary additives and a totally unfair touch screen mode.

The new characters are fun (seriously though, Rocket Raccoon guys, what the hell) and it offers the same experience as plain old MvC3. I think the fact that it doesn't really add anything spectacular is why it doesn't get a higher score. I mean, yes, the Heroes and Heralds mode is cool but it feels unnecessary and I don't think that the mode alone makes it a phenomenal expansion to a game. Frankly, you don't even need this game. If you like playing MvC3 then keep playing it. If you have have these new characters, well then go out and get it. I suppose since the original is not available for the Vita, this is your only option, so, well played, Sony.

We're going to go get some fighting game enthusiast's opinions of the game and see how they feel about all of this fancy-pants Vita stuff and if any of it is worth their money. Stay tuned and fight on.

Chris Avellone Interview

Ever hear of a guy named Chris Avellone? Oh, he just helped write a little game called Fallout: New Vegas and Alpha Protocol. Want to hear some industry insight from him and how he got his start in the gaming industry? Well, then take a gander at an old interview we did some time ago!

Thanks so much to Chris for coming out and taking the time to chat with us!

Uncharted: Golden Abyss Review

And here it is. Uncharted: Golden Abyss. I know we're a little late on the train here but bear with us, we just got the PlayStation Vita.

First off, I was really impressed with this game. I liked it a lot. That being said, there are some pretty big criticisms for this handheld version of a console franchise. Especially since a lot of time is spent getting the player used to handling this game on the Vita and utilizing all the "super cool" features contained within.

You know what that means? Tutorial menus! Tutorial menus everywhere!!!

Okay not everywhere but you get the idea. The start of the game looks like this every five freaking seconds and it gets on your nerves. Granted, they have to show you how to do things with the Vita's features since they're pretty out there, but no one wants to have these things shoved in their face.

Vita Gameplay

 So what do you do with the Vita's bright and shiny features? Well I'll tell you. Using the touch screen you can map out Drake's path while he climbs for more steamlined movement. This is pretty useful, and damn nice to have since it gets a little clumsy with the analogue sticks and the buttons. Want him to jump from gap to gap while hanging? Oh, just tilt your Vita in the direction he needs to lean and hit jump and he'll do it. Swinging on a rope or a chain? Just tilt the Vita again forwards or backwards.

From little puzzles, to charcoal rubbings and even making sure Nathan stays balanced on logs or stone columns, you use the Vita in a pretty versatile manner throughout the adventure.


There are other areas where you have to stroke and push the back touch pad of the PS Vita to rotate objects and dust them off, and holy hell is that sensitive. I mean, seriously, if you push to hard or pull too hard it literally flies around like it's in a washing machine.



Then there's the rope climbing. So the game tells you that if you want you have the option to use the rear touch pad to make Drake climb the rope up or down. Effectively, you stroke the backside of your PS Vita to do so. Yeah, let that image sit in your head with that wording. Here's the funny bit. If you do this effectively, you get a Trophy for making Drake successfully climb up a rope using the touch pad. They reward you for making him climb up a rope. It's like they knew this was a bullsh*t feature and wanted to give you a pat on the back for doing something they knew was a freaking chore. If you don't feel inclined to lovingly stroke your PS Vita, you can just use the control stick. It is pretty hilarious that you can bypass the whole process.

However, there is some good stuff when using the movement capabilities of the Vita. You sometimes have to take pictures to solve mysteries in the game so you actually use the screen like a digital camera and can move around physically like you are part of the world to get a better angle and shot of what you're looking at. You can also do this when sniping. One thing I really liked was when Drake was trying to solve something on a piece of paper, it told me to hold the system up to a bright light source and the paper I was looking at in game looked as if I was holding it to the light and I could see phantom letters showing through the paper. It was pretty boss.


Overall Gameplay


Aside from all the gimmicky Vita stuff, the game plays pretty much like a normal Uncharted game. Movement is a little janky and slow, and the small screen size does make it a little difficult to see where you're going or where you're supposed to go. The AI of the partners is passable at best. They hold their own in a fight but as soon as they stop taking cover they will either get directly in your way when trying to go somewhere, or just run far ahead of you for no apparent reason.


The enemy AI, however, is really good. They flank, take cover and toss grenades like seasoned mercenaries and army vets, which they are, coincidentally. Frankly, the combat is really good in this game, it is just difficult to aim down the sights since the screen is, again, pretty small. Don't get me wrong, the Vita has a nice screen, but it doesn't exactly lend itself to this kind of detail-oriented gameplay.

There are these pretty dope little scripted events that you have to do with the Vita that normally you'd do with a button sequence, but they make you do them with the touch screen instead. Those work out really well, are pretty easy to do and add a little interactivity to the game that is full of just shoulder button pushing and jumping.


As always, there are puzzles, mysteries to solve and things to collect. If you're a completionist, then this is heaven for you. If not, they don't add anything to the game and you can pretty much breeze through it in a good amount of time. I played the game on Normal (as I usually do for reviews), and I beat it in a good amount of time. I want to save over 12 hours of straight gaming. For a handheld, I suppose that's pretty good.


There's also this Black Market attachment to the game where the bad guys drop some collectables when they die and if you collect them all...you get a Trophy I guess? I mean, it's just something else to do. You can trade with other players through Near and the Playstation Network, but other than that it's a pretty useless function.


Score 

Overall the game is great. The voice-acting is top notch (as we've come to expect), the story is solid, the music is amazing, the gameplay is fun and it is anything but boring. One thing I have to say is that the graphics are great on this. I mean really. They're pretty phenomenal for a handheld. One thing that's kind of funny is that everybody looks like they have way too many teeth in their mouth. Kind of a Miley Cyrus issue goin' on there.

I can't help but feel that this game just doesn't belong on a handheld. I could not play this on the go. I could not play this anywhere else other than sitting down and focusing on it intently because it is a game you have to be invested in. I mean, all of the Uncharted games are like this. Why would this one be any different?

Fans of the franchise will enjoy this as a side-story to the overall arc of Drake's adventures that have been on the console, but I honestly think that it being a handheld game sort of hurts it. I think that's why it was so short too. They sort of attempted to make it palatable for the people who would want to play this while going places, but really they just kind of made a shorter version of a longer and more involved game. To be fair, though, if this was ported to the console? It would be stellar. No question about it. I don't think I found any bugs while playing this and the most trouble I had was trying to figure out where to go, futzing around with the unrefined Vita mechanics and struggling with the fixed camera in some of the cinematic escape missions.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss is a solid 9/10. It loses points for the buggy Vita features, but its saved by the quality of the overall game. If it lacked good dialogue, good gameplay, or was just difficult to play, I would say this would be a poor shadow of a great property. But since it is just as enjoyable as its bigger siblings, I would highly recommend this game to anyone with a Vita who enjoys the Uncharted series as a whole.


P.S. Fans...all of these screenshots were taken on my Vita while playing. I just thought that you should know you could do that with a Vita and marvel at the quality of the in-game images. That is all.

Podcast en VyC.

Para todos aquellos que aún seguís el Blog, recordaros que hemos migrado todos nuestro contenido a www.videojuegosyconsolas.com y que además de millones de novedades, os invitamos a que nos escuchéis semana tras semana en nuestro Podcast a esta dirección:

PODCAST VyC

Nos podréis escuchar a todos, con todas las novedades sobre las consolas y unos reportajes exclusivos y bien llevados de la manu de todo el equipo de VyC.

VIdeojuegos y Consolas se convierte en...¡WEB OFICIAL!

Tras cinco años de trabajo continuo, tenemos el placer de comunicaros que nuestro blog Videojuegos y Consolas se convierte a partir de hoy, en web oficial de videojuegos. La nueva web incorpora sección de noticias, análisis, opinión, reportajes, dibujo y podcast. ¡Pero eso no es todo! Estad atentos a vuestra web favorita porque las próximos días anunciaremos un gran sorteo que recompensará vuestro apoyo incondicional durante todo este tiempo.

Muchas gracias y un abrazo muy fuerte: Bern, Guille, Dani, Fran y Jess.

Os esperamos en: www.videojuegosyconsolas.com

It's an Amazing Journey

Journey, developed exclusively for the Playstation 3 by Thatgamecompany, is an absolutely visually stunning piece of interactive art that manages to evoke emotions without so much as a single word that most full-length AAA games can't manage with a fully voiced-over script.

The story of the game is revealed to the player through short cutscenes at the end of each chapter of the game. Essentially, it is the player's job to travel to the glowing peak of a massive mountain that looms in the distance of each chapter while collecting glowing symbols to lengthen a cloth around the main character's neck that grants the ability to fly for short periods of time and interact with other pieces of cloth throughout the game world to solve puzzles. The looming mountain itself serves as a very subtle and incredibly useful pathfinding tool in some of the more spacious environments.

Journey's most noticeable feature is the beautiful imagery and artistic style that give the game its personality. Each chapter has a distinctive color pallet and architectural and environmental feel that helps to move the story forward.

Enjoying the scenery as a team.

 The entire game can be played alone or, when online and connected to the Playstation Network, with a random person who can appear at any point in any chapter. Players are not required to cooperate with their random partner, and the game can be completed completely alone, so there is no stress of having to deal with a bad teammate. If matched players choose to help one another, the only way they can communicate is by shouting with the circle button, although it's really more of a musical note than a vocal sound. Other players are made visible even when not in direct view by a slight white glow at the edge of the screen nearest to their location. The game does reveal the PSN IDs of players met at the completion of the story.

There are absolutely no words spoken throughout the entire game, so a player must rely on the sounds of wind, cries of creatures and the shouts of other players in conjunction with visual cues provided by the in-game camera to figure out what to do next. The player character also makes small movements with her head when interesting things are happening on screen and very believably trudges through the vast deserts of Journey,which leads to a strangely intimate feeling of connection between the character on screen and the player behind the controller by the end of the story.

Camera angles provide amazing views and a sense of motion.

The camera work throughout Journey is superb. At certain points throughout the chapters, the camera gently guides the players view to important areas or events. This very subtle camera movement creates an immersive experience and helps to evoke emotions in players, but unfortunately also creates some frustration during action sequences that require relatively precise movement. Movement frustrations can easily be forgiven, though, because the purpose of each chapter is to experience a story rather than get a high score.

Journey's controls are smooth and slow, and the camera angles can make moving around areas slightly frustrating at times. As game controls go, Journey is one of the most visceral games I've played in a long time.Trudging up hills of sand feels realistically slow and sluggish, and surfing on wind-blown sand waves is slick and smooth and so satisfying. The controls are simple enough that anyone can grab the controller and find their way through chapters, but still finely tuned enough that veteran gamers can navigate areas stylishly and collect some trophies along the way.

The game only takes about three hours to complete, which makes sense to me because I think that Thatgamecompany meant for it to be played in one sitting. Journey is one of the best examples of a video game connecting gameplay, storytelling, visuals, sound and music into a truly engaging experience that affects players emotionally. The experience that is delivered through playing Journey is well worth $15.

Mass Effect 3 Review

 Oh Mass Effect...how I love thee.

Mass Effect 3 has been one of the long awaited titles early in the year. Why? Well other than the fact that there have been some major improvements to the game, the addition of multiplayer, and the return of old characters, there seems to be a general feeling of anticipation as to how it will measure up to the already colossal powerhouses that the first two games were.

The game really comes at you in three waves: story, gameplay, and multiplayer. Now I know some of you are like, "NO WAY! IT HAS THOSE THINGS?! I never would have known that, John!" Smart-mouths. I will explain each so you will understand, alright? It's not merely that these exist in the game so much as how they perform individually and work in tandem. I can hear the peanut-gallery talking now so I'll get going on this review.



Story

Okay, I'm not going to reveal any spoilers because I wouldn't want anyone to do that for me, but I will comment on the things that everyone knows about due to marketing campaigns and just sheer common sense.

Earth is under attack from the Reapers and it's a cornucopia of destruction and death for every species that's on their hit-list. Shepard is now tasked with, take a wild guess, killing the dirty robo-squids.

We all saw this coming and now that the universe is under siege, every other bad person is now deciding that this is the time to do bad stuff, kind of like how looters take advantage of a riot. So Cerberus and the Geth begin to make trouble and everybody is now fighting everyone and it's just...it's just a mess.

They really went for drama and emotion in this game and they make it clear that nobody is safe in this time of crisis which, realistically, nobody would be. The deaths of certain people will tug at your heartstrings and the major planetary-wide destruction sequences will make your jaw-drop. It's kind of the "Shock and Awe" tactic that Activision went for in Modern Warfare 3, except done well, even if it does get a little "holy crap, another big ship blew up...again."




At first, it all might seem a little forced, what with all of the crazy missions you're being sent on to do everyone favors to get them to support you, but eventually it'll all become clear and relevant as you progress. This really is a little more of an RPG player's game this time around as there is a lot put on diplomacy and details.

Romance options return and others fade away. For those of you who were keeping score, there are same sex relationships in this game. Bioware doesn't beat you over the head with it either so it's pretty tastefully done and nice to see that equality being represented.

All-in-all I really liked the story from this game. It is different than the first one, finding out about and stopping Sovereign, and the second one where you destroyed the Collectors. Instead of going out and killing stuff, you're staying where you're familiar and protecting it. You revisit old planets, see old faces, and all the decisions you've made up until this point finally come back full circle.

Gameplay

So how is the gameplay? Pretty good. If you read Jesus's review of the demo, you know the gist of it. It's the same kind of gameplay with some added twists and flourishes.

The cover system seems to be more fine-tuned and I personally like it very much. Of course it does get annoying to have to press the spacebar every five seconds in a fight. It seems like they lowered the shield health and character health to force you into cover. I played as a Soldier and had problems in fights so, there's that.

One thing they brought back, for good or ill (who can say), was weapon customization. Now, I sort of liked this from ME1 but I didn't really miss it in the second game. It was a kind of, "Oh, this is back" moment. I just have an issue with taking the time to outfit and customize every character's loadout, cause if I don't my OCD-gaming self will think "Crap, Garrus might actually need that improved sniper rifle" and then the NPC will NEVER FREAKING USE IT. I do enjoy the ammo powers and I think those are customization enough.

Now...melee. Okay, here's the problem with this. I like being able to pistol whip easily and effectively. But these heavy attacks? Not so good. It's like, as soon as you do the attack, Shepard cannot move or pivot and will only attack in one direction. Sometimes he'll lock on, sometimes he'll move forward to his target, other times you have to be a freaking surgeon with this and it's a pain. This happens in multiplayer too, so buckle-up and practice for that crap.

The Galaxy at War mechanic is pretty neat. It's straight out of Fable 3 where you can do side-quests to help the races defend against the Reapers. For those hardcore gamers out there, you'll spend a lot of time trying to increase the galactic preparedness of everybody.

The guns seem to have lost some of their bite, but there's a way to upgrade all of them so they're more powerful and accurate. They also removed the "sniper wobble" from the sniper rifles so you can be more precise with your big stick. Question though: If everybody has shields that protect them from missiles and biotic powers and small arms fire in general, how does one sniper bullet blow a person's head off? I'm not complaining, but it just doesn't seem consistent to me. I dunno, maybe I'm over-analyzing it. Moving on.

You know what this franchise really needed? Weight management. Yeah, that sounds awesome. Guess what? All your guns? They're now realistically heavy! That's right folks! If you have a lot of guns on your Shep, he/she will actually move slower! Of all the crap in this franchise that we've suspended our disbelief for, this is the straw that breaks the camel's back in my opinion. What is the purpose of this? Why give us all these guns if not so we can have them all at one time? Oh, you're trying to make the game harder? Well you've already done that, we don't need heavy weapons. Thanks though.

The AI is much improved and utilizes tactics and flanks a lot of the time. Of course it can be stupid as a sack of bricks at times, but hey, nothing's perfect I suppose.

Multiplayer

AND NOW, THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! Well not all of you, but I assume you're at least curious.

Multipalyer is...fun. *sigh* There! I said it! I'm not one for playing multiplayer shooters (partially because I'm south of horsesh#$ when playing them) but I actually enjoy playing it on ME3. It's basically Survival, where you and a team of three others are put on a map and have to survive 10 waves of either Geth, Reapers or Cerberus troops. In between they'll give you little missions like eliminate specific enemies first, set up a communications array, hack something and whatnot.

You can customize your character as far as class, look and weapon mods (if you can buy them with in game credits made from matches). You even get to level them up to an extent. Here's the best part: If you get really far in a multiplayer match, or beat it with your team, your singleplayer campaign's Galaxy at War map will be affected and the preparedness of some of the systems will go up! I thought that was really clever. Giving a solo-artist like myself a reason to play with other people in a co-operative environment was a stroke of genius. I don't think I have anything to say that's negative about multiplayer other than the expected human error of your team and faults of the overall gameplay from the game as a whole.

My advice? Do not ignore multipalyer. It's really satisfying. Like creme brulee.

 Score


This game is great. It's in line with all of the other games and the consistency of quality hasn't differed at all. There are several audio bugs here and there during conversations and you may have difficulty getting up the ladders in multipalyer since they may bug out, but I haven't run into any major technical issues.

It's great, but it's not perfect. The weight system, the weakened weapons, the forced cover system and shoddy melee really hurt it for me. Oh! I forgot to mention that all the details about your missions and side-quests? Those are gone in the journal. Instead it'll just say something like this "Citadel: Batarian Codes" and then a summary of who gave you the mission and why, and that's it. No location in the Citadel, no just a planet name and not a system name for galactic quests. It's like the devs said "Hey! Do this for me. Have fun finding out where this is and scanning for it while the Reapers chase you through the system!" A little more specificity could have been given there.

Score: solid 9/10. Buy this game if you're a fan of the franchise. You have to! It's the end of it! If you haven't played this series yet, you need to just to experience this epic story. Well done to Bioware and EA and all the people involved. My hat is off to you.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to play the whole series over again to get different relationship interactions with all of these characters and see how the story differs each time.

Konami lanza ofertas de hasta el 50% de descuento en juegos de Xbox Live!

Si tienes algún dinerillo extra y una Xbox 360, podríamos decir que hasta el 19 de Marzo estás de enhorabuena, ya que el bazar de Xbox Live! se destapa con una oferta bastante atractiva por parte de Konami. La desarrolladora japonesa hará hasta la fecha citada un descuento del 50% sobre varios de sus títulos disponibles en la tienda online. Los descuentos serían los siguientes:

• Castelvania: Harmony of Despair y Hard Corps Uprising por 600 Microsoft Points.

• X-Men Arcade, Zombie Apocalypse, su secuela Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (auténtico imprescindible), Battle: Los Angeles, BurguerTime World Tour, Puddle y Leedmees (este último requiere Kinect), con una rebaja de los 800 a los 400 MP

• Por último, los dos pack de contenido descargable de Castelvania: Lord of Shadows, de los españoles Mercury Steam, que ahora estarán disponibles por 400 MP.

Una oportunidad irrepetible si te atrae cualquiera de estos títulos.

Trailer de BioShock Infinite: HandyMan

Os dejamos a continuación con un vídeo en exclusiva sobre los enemigos del esperadísimo Bioshock Infinite, uno de los juegos más ansiados para este 2012. En este caso con la presentación de la mano del propio Ken Levine, de "HandyMan", un engendro híbrido entre máquina y hombre, con enormes manos y una fuerza y agilidad dignas de mención.

Bioshock Infinite aun no cuenta con fecha de salida, aunque se especula con que verá la luz a finales del presente año, en Xbox 360 y Playstation 3.

Fifa Interactive World Cup 2012

Hace unos días os comentábamos una noticia sobre el torneo Fifa Interactive World Cup 2012, que tendrá lugar este sábado 17 de marzo en el Centro Comercial Las Arenas de Barcelona. Pues bien, sin más dilación, aquí tenéis el resumen de la convocatoria, para todos aquellos de vosotros que estéis interesados en participar o asistir como público:

Fecha: Sábado 17 de marzo

Lugar: Centro Comercial Las Arenas de Barcelona (Gran Vía de las Cortes Catalanas 373-385)

Horario:

10:00 - 10:50: Inscripción en el torneo

10:50 - 11:00: Sorteo aleatorio de emparejamientos

11:00 - 14:30: Rondas clasificatorias

14:30 - 15:00: Anuncio finalistas

16:00 - 16:30: Octavos de final

16:30 - 17:00: Cuartos de final

17:00 - 18:00: Semifinales

18:15 - 19:00: Final

19:00: Entrega de premios al ganador y final de evento

¡A competir se ha dicho!

Ya es oficial: Diablo III llegará el 15 de Mayo

Así es, Blizzard lo hacía público esta misma tarde, a eso de las 16:00h. La ansiada tercera entrega del Action RPG por antonomasia abrirá sus servidores el 15 de Mayo, en un tiempo exacto de dos meses, lo que quiere decir que podrá adquirirse desde ese mismo día en las tiendas. Lo cierto es que el cliente para adquirir y comprar el juego está disponible desde ya, en su versión Windows desde la web oficial, de manera que todo este listo para el momento en que se abran los citados servidores.

Tras un largo proceso de desarrollo y numerosos meses de incertidumbre, se desenmascara la fecha de salida del aclamado título, sabiendo que el precio para la edición estándar del juego será de 59,90€, y el de la edición coleccionista de 89,90€, incluyendo una figura, libro de arte, blu-ray con contenido del juego y un USB de 4GB que contiene al completo Diablo II y su expansión, Lord of Destruction.

Las puertas del infierno están apunto de abrirse.

Star Wars al alcance de todos

¿Alguna vez has imaginado ser un noble Caballero Jedi, un interesado Cazarrecompensas, un fiel Soldado de la República o un tenebroso Inquisidor Sith? Pues desde el hoy 15 de Marzo hasta el 19 de este mismo mes podréis encarnar a cualquiera de tus personajes favoritos de esta gran saga gracias al Weekend Pass que Electronic Arts ha preparado para su MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Este pase estará disponible por tiempo limitado y dará la oportunidad a aquellos que todavía no tengan una cuenta en Star Wars: The Old Republic de probar el videojuego durante cuatro días, completamente gratis y sin necesidad de realizar ningún tipo de pago.
Para todos aquellos que quieran acceder al Weekend Pass de Star Wars: The Old Republic simplemente deberán pulsar en el siguiente enlace y seguir los pasos que vayan pidiendo. Star Wars: The Old Republic "Weekend Pass"

Ayudad a defender la galaxia o uníos al lado oscuro de la fuerza, pero seáis del bando que seáis no dudéis en divertiros con Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Video Patrocinado: Acompaña a la Muerte durante este verano.

Uno de los videojuegos más esperados por la gran mayoría de nosotros los jugones es Darksiders II, un hack’n slash que viene de la mano de Vigil Games y THQ y que nos sumergirá en las profundidades de la Apocalipsis hasta nuestro querido planeta Tierra lugar en el que encarnaremos a la Muerte, el personaje principal de Darksiders II, secuela del exitoso juego que se lanzó hace unos años.

En el video que podéis ver a continuación y conociendo la primera parte de este juego, la acción desenfrenada estará a la orden del día y podremos acompañar durante toda la aventura al jinete de las tinieblas con el fin de intentar salvar a su hermano Guerra. Como imaginaréis no se trata de una aventura fácil y llena de flores por nuestro camino, sino que disfrutaremos de lo lindo con unos ambientes tétricos, dónde la muerte será el pilar fundamental del juego.



Espero que hayáis disfrutado de este vídeo y que a pesar de la oscuridad que puede transmitir este juego debido a su temática, estamos sin lugar a dudas ante uno de los juegos más refrescantes y diferentes que podremos catar durante este verano en nuestras consolas PlayStation 3 y Xbox 360, pero también en PC.

Artículo Patrocinado.

Análisis: Agarest Generations of War Zero - PlayStation 3.

Agarest: Generations of War Zero cuenta una historia épica, que reúne a dioses de la luz y oscuridad para dar lugar a la destrucción y el caos en esas tierras. En él, se narra la vida de las diferentes dinastías en diferentes reinos y espacios temporales. En la primera mitad del juego, jugaremos como Sieghart, héroe arquetípico donde, al mismo tiempo que lucha contra monstruos intentará ligar con todas las chicas del reino. En la segunda mitad del juego, tomaremos el control de su descendiente, con habilidades y estados heredadas por las opciones paternales que se realizaron en la primera mitad del videojuego.

Agarest: Generations of War Zero es técnicamente la precuela de Record of Agarest War, aunque siendo totalmente sinceros, podríamos decir que es la versión mejorada del anterior título que salió en japón por 2007.

Todas las cinemáticas están muy cuidadas y nos transmiten todo tipo de sentimientos por el contrario, los propios personajes in-game no han sido tratados del mismo modo. Sus caras y sus detalles son más bien mínimos. Entre las cosas que podremos personalizar son las habilidades mediante un sistema de cartas muy divertido.

Agarest: Generations of War Zero es un juego de rol táctico, al estilo de Tactics Ogre ó Vandal Hearts. Aunque no tiene un mal gameplay, es cierto que sí nos hubiera gustado encontrar más novedades con respecto a los dos anteriores títulos mencionados. Entre las novedades cabe destacar la posibilidad de agruparse y formar grupos para atacar. También existe una clara diferenciación entre los personajes, donde tendrán diferentes habilidades, más o menos casillas para realizar sus acciones y lanzar diferentes magias o hechizos. Si te gustan os juegos tácticos éste será tu juego.

En cuanto al sonido, debemos decir que es un juego correcto. Los efectos sonoros y las melodías que escucharemos durante todo el juego son bastante agradables y empastan perfectamente con la temática fantástica.

Agarest Generation of War Zero nos ofrecerá una apasionante historia que nos mantendrá enganchado durante más de 80 horas. En la versión española encontraremos además extras como un póster, un CD con la banda sonora y 3 ilustraciones en 3D Lenticular. Si eres un amante del rol y un acérrimo a los juegos estratégicos por turnos, sin duda este será tu juego, de lo contrario, los sencillos gráficos y su sencilla mecánica de juego puedo tirar un poco hacia atrás.

NOTA: 6.4/10

Expansion or DLC?

By John Sollitto

So I’ve taken to perusing the X-Box Live Marketplace and Steam and whatnot, and I’ve found that a lot of DLC’s are being made lately. DLC’s are all over the place lately. Now, it’s debated as to whether or not a DLC has to actually contribute to the game’s story and gameplay or add certain little gimmicks for people who are ultimate completionists.

I think the term DLC is a little confusing and often misused.  People just use it to describe anything you can download that contains content. Well, yeah I guess it can be that. Sure. But by that definition every game you download from an online marketplace is then DLC.

There dozens of different types of examples of DLC to be seen, but there are central ones that basically demonstrate the fact that there needs to be a definite distinction when it comes to this term.

Batman: Arkham City, that beautiful piece of gaming history, has four examples in it. First, you could download all these different types of costumes and suits for Batman to wear during your game, should you decide you don’t like the one in the game or you think it would be funny to have the old Batman swinging through this gritty version of Gotham/Arkham. Second, you could download both Robin and Nightwing, two characters that would be available for the Riddler Combat and Stealth Challenges, but that was it. Finally, you can download Catwoman, and with her comes a smaller story that interweaves within the larger story of Arkham City, as well as the ability to use her alongside Batman, Robin, and Nightwing in the Riddler challenges.

Here’s where we get muddy. I think that only three of those are DLC and one of those is an expansion to the game. The Robin, Nightwing, and costume DLCs are nothing more than fluff. Sure, I love playing as Robin and beating the ever-loving crap out of Joker goons with a bo staff and jumping off my couch shouting “SUCK IT!” when I finish the challenge. Who doesn’t do that? But really, does that change the game for you significantly? Not really. Neither do the costumes. I mean, you’re paying money to play dress-up with Batman (I’m sure there’s a female and male contingent out there though that would love to do that).

Those are real DLCs to me. They’re just content, nothing more. Now, the Catwoman DLC comes with a mini-story, costumes for her, and the ability to use her in challenges. That’s all three things the game offers in one DLC. That to me would be a game expansion. It gives more to the overall game in a more complete way.

So now there’s the distinction between expansion and DLC. Good God, so muuuuuch. You know Call of Duty? Of course you do. Things that just add a new costume, or a new multiplayer map, or crap like that? Those are DLCs. That is content you can download.

Back in the day expansion was more used for games like Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne or all the different versions of Age of Empires II that came out. Now it’s things like L.A. Noire’s “Reefer Madness” or Borderland’s “Mad Moxxie’s Underdome Riot” are both examples of expansions. Things that add more than an hour of gameplay and have more weapons and characters and additional story to the single-player campaign are things that EXPAND the game. See the distinction? 

Now, I have a problem with DLC because I think they’re a little bit of a ripoff. I mean, how much do you pay for something so small as a costume change or a multiplayer character? Sure it took a lot of time to make, but I’m fairly sure that Captain America’s fifth costume in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 was not that big of a deal as much as adding a new map in Call of Duty multiplayer. That stuff should either be real cheap, or free in my opinion, or at least paired with more stuff.

But expansions? Those guys kill me when it comes to money. Every time they come out I see them on my computer and this scenario happens:

ANYWAY, I’d just like there to be some separation in the industry when it comes to using the term DLC instead of having it bandied about. I’d like for once not to be fooled when someone says “new DLC coming out!” and find out it’s just a freaking map.

What do you think of DLCs and expansions? Are there definite distinctions or has the term become a blanket one? What do you like or dislike about them? C’mon! Tell us!

P.S. Folks, you see these awesome drawings I’ve been using lately in my articles? They’re from the awesomely talented John Kleckner. Kleckner makes these hilarious comics with wacky faces that I adore so much and he’s honestly very very funny. Please give him a shout-out or follow him on Twitter at @hejibits and his website is www.hejibits.com

That is all! GO! BE FREE MY CHILDREN!

Análisis: Forza 4 - Xbox 360.

La historia reciente de los simuladores de conducción en consola ha venido escrita durante esta generación por la dicotomía generada entre Gran Turismo y Forza Motorsport. Mientras el primero era anunciado a bombo y platillo junto con los primeros rumores sobre la sucesora de Playstation 2, y se enfrentaba a un interminable período de desarrollo de años, en el que nos llegamos a temer más de una catástrofe, Forza vería una nueva entrega bianualmente desde que comenzase allá por el ocaso de la primera XBox. Y lo cierto es que a pesar de este ritmo de desarrollo impropio de las grandes sagas que suelen abanderar una consola, los chicos de Turn 10, han sabido dar a su criatura un estilo propio y trabajado, capaz de plantar cara al monopolio de Poliphony Digital.

Con esta nueva entrega, la cuarta de la serie, muchas eran las voces de excepticismo que apuntaban a que se trataría más de una refrito del motor y los contenidos de la tercera, añadidos en el contenido y algunos remozados técnicos. Nada más lejos de la realidad, los de Redmon nos vuelven a sorprender con un simulador maduro, detallista, completo y sobretodo muy divertido.

Lo primero que llama la atención cuando nos ponemos a los mandos de Forza es el cuidado apartado gráfico del que hace gala. Si creíamos que su anterior entrega había llegado al techo gráfico en cuanto a lo que a modelados se refiere, estábamos muy equivocados. Difícilmente podremos encontrar imágenes de una belleza superior a las de los detalladísimos vehículos que se pasearán ante nuestros ojos con sus mejores galas poligonales para goce y disfrute de todo aficionado al motor. Este grado de detalle se suma a los circuitos, así como a los interiores de los coches para las perspectivas internas, lo que acaba configurando un todo gráfico digno de mención. Posiblemente el mejor apartado en este sentido que podamos encontrar en cualquier juego de conducción, y con total seguridad dentro del catalogo de Xbox 360.

Pero por muy atractivo que sea un apartado gráfico, bien es sabido que una vez estamos inmersos en un juego, este aspecto pierde determinación si las posibilidades del mismo no están a la altura. Lo cierto es que tampoco hay de qué preocuparse en este sentido, pues Forza Motorsport 4 es un auténtico monstruo de la conducción en la mayoría de los aspectos. Dentro de un compendio inmenso de posibilidades jugables destaca el modo de competición, en el que seremos testigos de nuestro propio auge dentro del mundo de las carreras deportivas a través de una ingente cantidad de pruebas, campeonatos y vehículos a los que optar. Lo más interesante sin duda del planteamiento de Forza 4, es que en ningún momento su amplísimo abanico de posibilidades llega a abrumarnos, si no que está basado en un sistema de desarrollo del propio jugador como piloto que nos lleva de la mano cuidadosamente de manera que podamos disfrutarlo y afrontarlo en toda su profundidad. No quiero decir con ello que no suponga un reto el llegar a superar todas las propuestas que el simulador ofrece, sino más bien que se hace muy ameno seguir la progresión lógica de ser un amateur de la competición, a disputarse el oro en los campeonatos más reputados.

Para ello, el juego va limitando en cierto modo las opciones a las que somos capaces de acceder, abriendonos nuevas vías competitivas conforme avanzamos en nuestra experiencia de conducción, adquirimos nuevos vehículos o mejoramos los antiguos hasta hacerlos competitivos en carreras de más categoría, o simplemente tenemos el dinero suficiente para poder inscribirnos en la alta competición sin que la derrota suponga nuestra ruina.


Esta progresión es contínua, casi imperceptible, y capaz de mantenernos pegados al mando (o al sensor), durante innumerables horas. Para ello se basa en un sistema de puntuación para con las distintas marcas con las que nos competiremos, que permite que a medida que adquirimos experiencia como conductores con sus vehículos, se abran nuevas opciones de compra y preparación de los mismos. Ésta última es una opción clave, que gustará a aquellos de por sí poco proclives al mundo del taller, pero que acabará encandilando a todo aquél aficionado loco del motor. A través de un simple pero profundo sistema de personalización, el usuario puede, desde dejarse llevar por el propio juego como tutor en las mejoras simples de vehículo, hasta personalizar todos y cada uno de sus componentes para crear autenticas bestias sobre ruedas, o incluso obras de arte andantes que pueden ser colocadas a la venta en bazares online. Las posibilidades son muchas, y de las buenas. De este modo podemos llegar a conseguir que coches de gama baja acaben midiendo fuerzas con auténticas máquinas de categoría muy superior, hecho que aunque en el mayor de los casos no resulta producente por las dificultades en la conducción de los vehículos mejorados hasta sus límites, no deja de expandir las posibilidades del título.


Otro de los puntos fuertes es el acuerdo llevado a cabo para esta entrega entre Turn 10, y el canal británico de automovilismo Top Gear, que supone una inyección total de profesionalidad en el título a través de las magníficas narraciones de los comentaritsas, los geniales tutoriales y vídeos de demostración o los retos de conducción extraídos directamente de la realidad. Muchos de ellos los encontraremos dentro del modo online, que para la ocasión se ha vestido de gala ofreciéndonos competiciones con hasta 16 jugadores simultáneos (por los doce de la tercera entrega). A ésto se une la posibilidad de subir vídeos a la comunidad, el bazar para la compra y venta de coches para aquellos a los que les entusiasme el tuneo, y un divertidísimo modo denominado "Rivales", que permite ir superando las mejores marcas de nuestros conocidos o amigos en el Live!, de manera que éstos reciben una notificación instantánea de haber sido batidos, y que fomenta el instinto de competidor nato de todo jugón.

A este compendio basado en la calidad general de todas sus facetas, hemos de sumar el genial aspecto sonoro, con una magnífica recreación de todos los sonidos de los motores y las carreras, y una banda sonora rockera que se convierte en nuestro fiel copiloto durante las muchas carreras que llevaremos a cabo.


Podríamos decir por lo visto hasta ahora que Forza es continuísta con las opciones propuestas por sus anteriores iteraciones. Lo cierto es que sí, pero siendo una continuación en toda regla consigue cumplir con el cometido típico del "más y mejor", implementando además algunas ideas nuevas, sobretodo con respecto a Kinect, siendo uno de los juegos que han sabido sacar un partido más realista y funcional del denostado periférico. ¿Cómo? Gracias a la posibilidad de controlar la cámara desde la vista interior con el movimiento de nuestra cabeza, algo que se implementa con una lógica aplastante y que supone una mejora jugable visible. En definitiva, por lo redondo de todos sus apartados, por no contentarse con ser una simple continuación, sino intentar ofrecer experiencias más allá de las propuestar por su antecesor a pesar del relativamente corto período de desarrollo, no puedo más que levantarme y aplaudir al equipo de Turn 10 por superarse a sí mismos y traernos de nuevo al mejor aspirante en conducción en Xbox 360. Si es o no el mejor juego de conducción que existe, reponde a una opinión más personal, pero independientemente de ello, es una experiencia que debe disfrutarse, sobretodo si eres un aficionado al volante.




NOTA FINAL:

9/10

Análisis: Reality Fighters - PS Vita.

El juego que nos trae entre manos es Reality Fighters un juego de lucha muy completo que nos permite disfrutar de gran parte de las funcionalidades de PS Vita. Reality Fighters es un juego en el que podremos encarnarnos en un auténtico as del Kung-Fu o aprender otros estilos como el “Zombie” o el “Bailarina”.

Ni que decir cabe que el principal atractivo de este juego es que mediante las funciones de la cámara de PS Vita, podremos poner nuestra cara en el personaje que queramos. Seleccionaremos atributos como tamaño, peso, sexo y podremos modificar otros aspectos de nuestra indumentaria. Además, si esto parece poco, podremos incluso grabar nuestros propios gritos de victoria al ganar los combates. Como podéis ver, pocos juegos nos sumergen en esta personificación.

Lo divertido de Reality Fighters es que además de hacer uso de las cámaras es que podemos hacer utilizar la realidad aumentada gracias a las tarjetas que vienen junto a nuestra consola y colocarla allá dónde nos plazca. Así pues, podremos jugar con nuestros personajes virtuales encima del teclado de nuestro PC o en los lugares más rebuscados y pintorescos que se os ocurra. ¡La diversión está en el gusto!

Gráficamente no estamos ante un juegazo, pero si cumple con lo necesario para que nos parezca vistoso y entretenido. Además, existen pocos escenarios ya que lógicamente invita a que juguemos por nuestra habitación. A esto le podemos añadir una jugabilidad sencilla, agradable, pero lejos de ser un gran título de simulación, pues si bien cumple con su cometido, los más expertos en el género de la lucha lo verán algo sencillo.

En definitiva, un juego divertido, multijugador, diferente en cada combate y sobre todo un alarde de las especificaciones de PS Vita para los amantes de las virguerías tecnológicas. Si no eres un experto en los juegos de lucha y quieres algo entretenido y diferente, Reality Fighters te hará muy feliz a un precio muy asequible.

NOTA FINAL:

7,0/10

Quantic Dream, David Cage y Kara.

Se dice de Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear), Casey Hudson (Mass Effect) ó David Cage (Omikron: The Nomad Soul, Fahrenheit y Heavy Rain) ser directores de cine frustrados.

Cierto o no, tengo que añadir que me es bastante indiferente puesto que soy un fiel seguidor de todas sus obras, habiendo disfrutado de sus videojuegos mucho más que el de sus competidores menos cinemáticos.

Esta semana, David Cage nos ha enseñado la demostración técnica de Kara. Un video que aunque podría no tener demasiada relación con el juego final, sirve para mostrar los avances del estudio. La demo corre en tiempo real en PlayStation 3.

Quantic Dream: Kara.

En el video mostrado, somos presentes de la construcción de un robot humanoide. Se nos dice que Kara es un ciborg de tercera generación, programada para realizar todo tipo de tareas como limpiar la casa, cuidar de los niños, programar una agenda ó tener sexo. También está programada para hablar más de 300 idiomas. Tras las pruebas y test de Kara, nos damos cuenta que ha sufrido un fallo: Kara cree realmente estar viva. Es entonces cuando el técnico entra en pánico y decide deshacerse de Kara. Pero no será tan fácil. La frágil ciborg suplicará que no la maten, que la dejen con vida, que realmente tiene sentimientos y quiere vivir. Tras estas palabras nos encontramos cómo el técnico accede a las suplicas y decide dejar con vida a Kara.

Solamente se puede tildar este desenlace con varias palabras, como épico final. Estoy seguro que Isaac Asimov estaría muy orgulloso del trabajo de David Cage.

El segundo video que os mostramos es una entrevista al director de Quantic Dream. En él nos explica el concepto de Kara, todos los avances que están consiguiendo y que todavía les queda mucho por explotar con respecto a la potencia de PlayStation 3.

David Cage ha asegurado que “el hardware de PS3 todavía guarda algunos ases en la manga. Estamos muy lejos de ver todo lo que puede ofrecer PS3, es un hardware muy potente. Todavía se puede hacer mucho, la gente se sorprenderá”.

Entrevista con David Cage.

En una parte central del video también nos confiesa: "Lo que llamamos captura completa es grabar todo el cuerpo, la voz y la cara al mismo tiempo. La mayoría de estudios ahora mismo en la industria del videojuego graban la cara y la voz en una toma y luego el cuerpo. Funciona bien, hemos visto grandes juegos con este proceso, y Heavy Rain se hizo así. Pero sentimos que si queríamos más emoción, más sentimiento del actor necesitábamos todo en una toma. Heavy Rain se grabó con 28 cámaras, y ahora hemos mejorado el estudio con 65. Ahora podemos tener muchos actores. No es un cambio pequeño, así es como la industria del CG trabaja -Tintin, Avatar- porque saben que se gana mucho capturando las caras, voces y cuerpos al mismo tiempo".

Quería finalizar alabando una vez más, la valentía de este estudio de videojuegos pues son de los pocos que ofrecen y luchan por evolucionar el concepto del videojuego y trasladarlo al concepto de octavo arte. Seguiremos con detenimiento el próximo proyecto de Quantic Dream.