End of year thoughts: Next year

OK I have been thinking about next year and it looks very impressive, alot bigger than 08 & 09 and possibly bigger than 07. All the big name titles out in 07 are all getting sequels with the exception of Half Life Episode 3 is still MIA.

As I have been doing top 10's as of late, Im going to just name the top 10 games of 2010 plus some honorable mentions. Like last year alot of these games will have the number 2

10. God of War III
9. Dead Space 2
8. Splinter Cell: Conviction
7. Darksiders: Wrath of War
6. Mario Galaxy 2
5. Bayonetta
4. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
3. Mass Effect 2
2. Metroid: Other M
1. Bioshock 2

Also worth mentioning titles coming out in 2010 are: Split/Second, Army of Two: The 40th Day, the western release of Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIV, Halo Reach, Dante's Inferno, Super Street Fighter IV, Alan Wake & MAG.

Also do not forget Sony's motion wand and Project Natal will be out next year as well, how much this affect the industry? Who knows.

One game I am really hoping that will show itself again is I Am Alive which was being done by Ubisoft, they showed a teaser and disappeared into thin air. Wikipedia says March 2010 wiki has proven to be an unreliable source for release dates, especially with this game.

End of year thoughts: Where were the 360 exclusives?

Now that its the end of the year, I just wanted to do some reflections on some of the disappointments of the year and despite there were alot of good quality titles out there. It was far from perfect.

Now on to Microsoft.

Seriously, I had to scrape the barrel for a top 5 360 exclusive list. Sony had plenty and the Wii had a good number too.

Left4Dead 2 despite console exclusive was also available for PC, Halo 3 ODST and Forza were average while Shadow Complex and Splosion Man despite very fun: were small downladable titles.

I mean seriously, Sony had plenty of fantastic exclusives this year to the point it felt like Sony played catch up. With the PS3 price point lowered Sony is in a position to change the race and Microsoft need to be ready. It was the console that had all the multiplatform stuff but nothing to set it apart this year.

Next year it should pick up: you have Mass Effect 2, Alan Wake and Splinter Cell being the 3 big system exclusives going up against MAG, God of War 3 and whatever else Sony has their sleve.

Its amazing that this year the roles really were reversed between the 2 consoles, its rare you see Microsoft have nothing of interest that is their own.

Top 10 lists for 2009

OK I have really been ignoring this blog, totally forgot about it. Guess a way to cap off the year for most are GOTY's but I will just do top 5 for the consoles (exclusive & multiplatform), best of each category and a top 10 list for overall games.

No explanations nessecary just what I considered what was most fun to play this year.

Wii
1. New Super Mario Bros Wii
2. MadWorld
3. Rabbids Go Home
4. Wii Sports Resort
5. The Conduit

X360
1. Left4Dead 2
2. Halo ODST
3. Forza 3
4. Splosion Man
5. Shadow Complex

PS3
1. Uncharted 2
2. Infamous
3. Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time
4. Katamari Forever
5. Killzone 2

Multiplatform
1. Borderlands
2. Assassins Creed II
3. Resident Evil 5
4. King of Fighters XII
5. Modern Warfare 2

Best DS game: Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Best PSP game: LittleBigPlanet
Best downloadable game: Splosion Man
Best PC game: Borderlands

Best FPS: Borderlands
Best RPG: Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Best fighting game: King of Fighters XII
Best puzzle game: Katamari Forever
Best sports game: Wii Sports Resort
Best action adventure: Uncharted 2
Best music game: They all sucked this year

Best exclusives: Playstation 3

Most disapointing game: Tony Hawk Ride
Most disapointing event: Titles being pushed to 2010

Biggest asshole to the industry: Michael Atkinson
Biggest asshole in the industry: Tie: John Riccitello & Bobby Kotick

Best original IP: Borderlands
Best sequel: Uncharted 2

Best graphics: Uncharted 2
Best sound: Modern Warfare 2
Best voice acting: Assassins Creed II
Best story: Assassins Creed II
Best humor: House of the Dead: Overkill
Best use of gore: MadWorld
Best humor: Rabbids Go Home
Best competative multiplayer: King of Fighters XII
Best co-op: Borderlands

Top 10 games for 2009

10. Madworld
9. Resident Evil 5
8. New Super Mario Bros Wii
7. Modern Warfare 2
6. Infamous
5. King of Fighters XII
4. Assassins Creed II
3. Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
2. Uncharted 2: Among Theives
1. Borderlands

Wii and the 3rd parties

OK its hard to find some good games on the Wii outside the 1st party line ups like Zelda, Metroid and Mario (all of which have new games in development... duh) but people always complain their Wii systems are collecting dust.

Its true that finding hardcore games on the Wii is about as easy as finding casual games on the 360 or finding a casual gamer willing to shell out for a PS3 despite they are rare, it does happen. I have quite an extensive collection on all 3 platforms and I just want to go through some for the chaps that feel sorry for their Wii's for some of the best worth buying. Sure Im only listing for, but there worth dusting off the little white console.

* House of the Dead: Overkill
Sure its a rail shooter but its one of the funniest game you will get to play. The mechanics are pretty solid and fun but that is all co-incidental. Unless you are all for outdoing high scores I see little in buying the title but its definitely worth a rent.

* MadWorld
Platinum Games' black and white gorefest is alot more in depth than trailers do justice, there are multiple combo systems, variety of weapons and different areas of the levels to brutalise your opponents. The game rewards points for variety and is all about the high combo scores. The bosses are terrific abiet some can be a pain but thats what bosses are there for. The origional music score is in line with the games theme and like some of the best Wii games, doesn't take itself to seriously and great for a laugh.

* No More Heroes
My personal favourite 3rd party Wii game, and personally I think only Zelda beats this game on the platform totally. The open world is more of a hub than a sandbox but the missions are incredibly fun, it doesn't over use the Wiimote and genuinely funny. I think Onechambra showed that too much wrist flinching games games more of a bore that gives you sore wrists so its finds a nice balance.

* The Conduit
Personally I didn't find the single player mission that great, had blind spots and graphics are not as good as people say. The thing that got me hooked on this game was online multiplayer using the Zapper. I know it sounds odd but it works, and works very well.

* de Blob
Not a hardcore game but it works, once you get a hold of the physics and controls its almost as fun as Katamari, painting the buildings different colours bouncing around the towns is genuinely fun. What also makes this more engaging is the music reacts to your actions, definitely a nice perk.


Good ports: I'm just going to name but not talk about these ports because most people have played these games already. Everyone knows about the crappy ports like Call of Duty 3, FarCry Vengeance and so on, but the following work:

* Resident Evil 4
* Bully: Scholarship Edition
* Dead Rising: Chop till you Drop
* Godfather: Blackhand Edition
* Okami
* Sean White Snowboarding (better than the 360/PS3 version)

Sometimes its impossible to break old habbits.

One of the first pieces I wanted to do is on the smugness of the big publishers, especially EA and Activision. Quite frankly I have wanted to do a piece slamming EA for 7 years now and Activision more so recently. I'll do EA first.

EA has become world famous for exploitation. They don't have alot of customers amongst the core because their core games are quite frankly... well... not there. Seriously until 2008 what were EA's big core titles?

EA was mostly known for sports titles, The Sims and racing games like Burnout and Need for Speed (the latter has really gone downhill since Underground 2). They have a habit of exploiting the casual audience from the car nut to the sports fan to the women to keep on handing out more money all the time for the exact same games. Madden, FIFA, NHL, NBA Live & Tiger Woods all get yearly releases now most likely Grand Slam Tennis being added to that. Roster updates and minimal graphical improvements seems to be enough to justify a new game these days and EA has polluted the industry spreading its "franchiseitis" to other companies.

A classic case

Medal of Honour was an average franchise, typical WWII dribble and then Allied Assult came and it was sold great, and was great. Now EA are just milking the name despite the guys who made Allied Assult are now at Activision and are known as Infinity Ward, doing the first 2 Call of Duty games then cutting ties with WWII to do what is now known as the "Modern Warfare" series.

Need for Speed was great during its day, saw a few changes and re-inventions until it just became the same game over and over with more glitches and failing to move forward in the industry, yet the name made pieces of garbage like Carbon and Undercover sell well.

And of course the Sims. Maxis was not owned by EA when the first Sims came out but was with the 2nd. Sims 2 has had more expansion packs than thought possible and has become a definition of exploitation of a popular franchise.

Some people woke up, realising that a minor new ability was not worth coughing up for another Sims expansion pack, and an updated roster did not justify buying a new Madden or FIFA or whatever and buying up developers to become part of their exploitation machine to the point where EA became a villain to the core audience, and they only made their image worse by buying out BioWare, trying to acquire Take Two and doing the same old garbage every year, with maybe some new garbage every now and then like Army of Two.

In 2008 it looked like it learned its lesson after it was surpassed by Activision and launched 2 brand new franchises in Mirrors Edge and Dead Space. Mirrors Edge was very edgy and maybe should have spent more time in the cooker, clipping was an issue, combat was terrible and the game was far, far too short. Dead Space was brilliant, maybe the best new franchise released that year. Some people including myself hoped that EA could possibly turned a new leaf.

Dead Space was a fantastic game, although this bastard really pissed me off

Later that year they released Spore, with some of the worst DRM since Sony's rootkit. Displaying that EA is still EA the core backlashed against them not seen before. Likely out of pure spite: EA's DRM abilities backfired on them causing the game to be pirated more times than any other game in history, followed by countless 'one star' reviews on Amazon. Will Wright does not work for EA anymore.

So what is EA doing right now? Doing what EA do best: Exploitation.

• Skate 2: Exactly the same as Skate 1
  
• Dead Space Extraction: Capitalsing on the name already to do a rail shooter on the Wii.
• EA Sports Active: Copying Wii Fit trying to get a slice of that profitable pie.
• EA Sports 2010 titles: Same old garbage as last year.
• Rock Band, Beatles and Lego, for the young and impressionable, to the old Wii owners.

And of course their biggest title this year:Sims 3. Not content with making girls shelf out for expansion packs, now they want them to fork out per ability, taking the idea of microtransatctions to redicilous levels. By far their biggest money grab yet.

EA will never change: Releasing junk based on nostaliga works, so why should they make good games? Nintendo understands like EA knows: it doesn't pay to make good games. Better to shelve and market crap like Wii Fit, EA Sports Active, Sims and Wii Music.

Sarah Palin + The Sims = My idea of hell! Why are either still relevant to anybody?

As for me? I tend not to really buy EA games, and sometimes if I do I dont want to encourage them with re-releasing the same crap so I wait until its dirt cheap 2nd hand so they dont get a cut of it (and still legal :p). Dead Space and Mirror's Edge however I did purchase new as I felt those games were in the right direction and felt EA should have been rewarded for it.

But since not to many people followed suit, I'm sure they realise its more money for them to rely on the mindless idiots who dont know any better.

Mid year rundown

As it being the first of July, I wanted to take a look back at the last 6 months, point out the games worth playing, the ones to avoid and the ones to keep your eye out for. I would have put a brief why/why nots but quite frankly I couldn't be stuffed.

Awesome games

Street Fighter IV

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
Prototype
Infamous
Resident Evil 5
MadWorld

OK: Rent first
House of the Dead: Overkill
Deadly Creatures
Killzone 2
GTA: Chinatown Wars
Red Faction: Guerilla

Crap
Sims 3
EA Sports Active
Virtua Tennis 2009

Look out for in the 2nd half 09
Bioshock 2
Uncharted 2
Modern Warfare 2
King of Fighters 12
Assassins Creed II

Stuff to avoid in the 2nd half 09
Usual EA Sports crap
Guitar Hero 5
DJ Hero
Beatles Rock Band
Lego Rock Band

Stephen Conroy: Internet villian

Someone on the PAL Gamer Network dug up a quote that I found quite true to this situation:

"As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation."

-Adolf Hitler

One thing that has bothered me in recent years is Australia's reputation of being a "live and let live, I don't care" sort of persona. It doesn't bother me because that's a bad attitude to have, quite frankly I think that's the best thing about this country. It bothers me because politicians with a minority of baby boomer wowsers are doing everything they can to skull fuck that reputation and insist on treating grown adults like a bunch of children who cant tell right from wrong and insist they make these decisions for you.

Stephen Conroy is one such politician, insisting on deciding what you can and cant view in the Internet is his dayjob. What does this have to do with games? Well I was given a great excuse to put this on the blog when I found out that he insists on blocking websites that sell or make freely available anything that doesn't fit Michael Atkinson's draconian 15+ or banned regime.

"This is the worst Communications Minister we've had in the 15 years since the Internet industry has existed."

- Michael Malone, Managing Director at iiNet

Now this just gives me an excuse to put the Internet filter topic in this blog, but I want to dig into the censorship filter itself. First of all they either need voluntary cooperation from the industry or legislation to get this filter up. The ISP's have expressed this filter is terrible from both ethical and technological grounds. Meaning its impossible, unworkable and immoral.

As far as legislation goes, they need the senate to pass it, the Liberal Party are being uncharacteristicly liberal for a change and opposing the filter, and the greens are against it too, so if Labor want to pass it they need Steve Feilding from Family First and the independent Senator Nick Xenophon who were both for it originally however they have both changed their minds. Xenophon came to his senses and realised this opens up the door for alot more than just blocking websites hosting child porn (I am on the mindset a filter would just make paedophiles harder to catch anyways). Feilding says he likes it in principle but has realised its unworkable. So even if Feilding changes his mind Xenephon has withdrew all support making the filter effectively dead.

Have these 2 come to their senses? Have they saved us from draconian censorship?

As far as the web filter goes, its been documented by anybody with any sort of technical competence that it wont work, and personally I would be even more worried if it did. Back to the game related stuff, what happens to MMO's? They are totally online and therefore not rated by the Australian Censor regime known as the OFLC. All it really takes is one person to do something anywhere in the world off the mark and AMCA could effectively pull the plug on World of Warcraft if it saw fit (they are not answerable to anybody).

They also plan to block sites that sell copies of games that are banned for sale in Australia as well. Last time I checked, forcing companies to change their practices to suit your law, even if they don't exist in your country is a practice only done by the likes of China and Iran (in fact only countries with terrible censorship reputations actually have a filter to begin with). So sites like PlayAsia get blocked, which sucks because I order alot of games from there (the markup's here are ridiculous, I will only support local industry when it starts supporting me (by offering decent prices).

Don't worry, we haven't forgotten about you. This just makes you geek enemy #2.

Another thing these politicians have forgotten about, its only illegal to sell them in Australia, not own. Even Atkinson has dismissed it as not a big deal if you want it bad enough, nothing stopping you from importing it. Well there will be if the filter goes ahead, but lets just hoping the only thing that Conroy achieves out of this is the prestigious Internet Villian Award. I personally have no issues with my taxpayer money flying him up to the UK to accept it.

I could go on and on about both the R18+ issue plus the firewall issue but I think that can do it for now. I may revisit the R18+ thing another time, and the firewall issue if I ever get round to doing a more politics based blog.