If the grumbles I heard last night are any indication then there’s a good chance you’ll see at least one article appearing here bashing the NXE (if Skills can quit being lazy long enough to put his rant-pen to paper). However, before that happens I wanted to chime in with my thoughts since they fall on the more positive side of things.

First of all, can we all agree this New Xbox Experience (NXE) name is stupid nonsense. It sounds like the kind of idiotic thing a bunch of businessmen and marketing types, fond of their wanky buzz words like ’synergy’, would come up with (that this probably is the case is beside the point). It’s the dashboard, and right now it’s new, so I propose we call it the new dashboard (this is my plan at least).

And all in all I rather like this new dashboard, though it’s not without issues.

Personally I really dig the new look of the dashboard and the general interaction with the interface. There’s some nice transitional effects, and the whole thing moves about at a reasonable lick. The one area I was unsure about at first was the new look friends list, as it seems rather heavy-weight compared to the previous list view. However, once you see people forming parties it starts to make a lot more sense as a view. Plus the list view is still available from the guide.

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So, that NXE.  For those of you who don’t obsessively keep up with developments in the Microsoft UI world, Wednesday marks the launch of the New Xbox Experience, which will drastically change the Dashboard as we know it into a much more clean (and some would justifiable call “Apple-ish”) interface.  I managed to get access to it a day and a half early, and since I’ve been in a writing mood lately, I’d figure I’d jot down some of my impressions of it in case someone else out there was dying to find out what’s good and what’s bad about.

I will admit I’m thoroughly impressed by what they did, and the best part is even if you irrationally hate the entire fucking thing for some reason, they’ve got enough functionality in the Guide now (finally) that you won’t even have to mess with it most of the time if you don’t want to. The Guide has all the functions in the current Dashboard, with the old “Personal Settings” guide option being moved to the options tab, but everything else remaining pretty much where you’d expect it to be.  Weirdly, you can select options like “System Settings” while in a game, but then it’ll tell you you need to get back to the Dashboard to actually do it.  Kind of odd, but I guess it’s for those who just can’t STAND the NXE and want to find everything the old way.  I’m personally a sucker for eye candy so I’ll probably end up using the dashboard way too much for my own good.

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As I touched upon recently, right now I find myself somewhat busy for a number of reasons, not least of all the barrage of must-have, must-play games that have found their way through my letterbox in the last couple of weeks. However, over the last month and some I’ve made my way through a few titles, and in lieu of full-on reviews for each of the titles I thought I’d throw them all into a big old mega review mash-up, starting a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

The demo didn’t blow me away, but it showed the potential for fun and this, combined with a gap in my gaming schedule and me being a bit of a Star Wars fan, saw me picking up Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. And I’m glad I did, because I had a lot of fun with it in the end.

Calling it The Force Unleashed could be taken as being a little misleading, because whilst you do get to play around with a lot of force powers and will be able to take on swathes of enemies without too much trouble, some enemies will still give you enough trouble that you never feel like the all-powerful jedi some of the trailers implied you’d become.

That said, you do end up with an impressive array of powers to use and abuse and I had an awful lot of time lifting Stormtroopers only to impale them with a lightsaber, then turn their limp bodies into electro-charged grenades to be hurled at others, and other such mischievous use of the powers. Some people voiced issue over the fact that you don’t get to slice and dice enemies with your lightsaber, and whilst that would have been fun I never found myself lamenting its omission from the game.

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There’s a news story doing the rounds today, and unless I’ve really missed something, it makes very little sense to me. ActiBlizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has been talking about Guitar Hero: World Tour, and more specifically the user-generated songs the game enables dedicated souls to produce.

Apparently they’ve had something like 25,000 uploaded already (though I wonder how many of those would have to be culled due to copyright infringing), with an expected 100,000 by the end of the year. Kotick’s response to this: “The ability to offer these songs on a subscription basis may very well result in the newest subscription opportunity in our portfolio”.

Just to get this straight, they have a feature in Guitar Hero: World Tour that allows people (with enough effort) to create songs that others can then download and play, for free. This is proving to be fairly popular so dear old Bobby wants to charge you to use it. So it is free right now, but they think they might get away with charging a subscription fee to access that content. Wow, so all the shitty user-created songs you can get for one low monthly fee. Anyone want to take a running guess at how popular the service will be if payment for it is required?

So it seems recently that a lot of developers are releasing betas for their games. I’d usually have no problem with this if it wasn’t for two things:

1. Making your beta an exclusive incentive

If you really want people to test your game and make sure it works properly, why limit it to a certain group of people? Specifically, a group of people who are willing to pay extra just to get into it? Now, not all betas charge you to get into them, but the ones that force you to preorder the game or buy something else (like, let’s say, a crappy digital magazine, for example) are the ones that I’m talking about. Calling it a beta implies that us gamers, their potential customers, are supposed to be helping them test the game to make sure everything works right before it’s released. If that’s the case, then why do we have to pay just to become their guinea pigs?

The problem is that they’re essentially charging us just to play a demo. Probably about half the games that release betas don’t even come out with proper demos, or wait until well after the fact to do so. Now, I understand that betas usually have more content than a demo, but since we’re still doing something for them by testing the game I see it as an equal trade. Thus, there’s no real need to have us pay just to get into it, especially when it’s expected that the game is not in top condition. This is just plain ridiculous, and amounts to publishers taking advantage of the rabid fanboyness of some gamers out there.

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Before I get started with the review, I’m in the same situation as Ben.  I’m too busy playing games to write articles about them, but more than that, my free time has dwindled lately due to lots of projects and tests. College sucks.  ANYWAY…

I love Banjo-Kazooie. I even tolerate Banjo-Tooie because it’s the sequel to Banjo-Kazooie. But when I saw the initial stuff about Nuts & Bolts, its 360 sequel, I must say, I was incredibly disappointed. It sounded to me like they decided they had nothing better to do with the franchise and slapped on a crappy build a vehicle mode, and it was going to be nothing but a glorified mini-game collection.

I don’t know how much of that impression was me reading too much into things or what, but this game (at least from the demo) actually sticks pretty damn close to the framework set by the first two games. Hub world, jiggies, musical notes, all of that jazz, and there’s even persistent references to the music. What sticks out the most, though, is that upon entering the first world of the game, the world was HUGE. It just felt enormous, and that alleviated one of my biggest fears about the game, that it’d just be “drive 5 feet and run over a mission start point”, wash, rinse, repeat. The worlds actually feel like they’re worth exploring.

And the more I played it, the more I realized that the decision may have been, rather than “What gimmick can we add to B-K”, but “What can we do with the third game in the series besides just make some new levels?” The world so far… just FEELS like Banjo-Kazooie, except you spend your time using the vehicles you make. Speaking of making the vehicles, it’s actually pretty logical. Your vehicle needs a seat, an engine, fuel, and such, and you just get choices as to where and how you place those different items.

Some of the missions do force you into one particular vehicle or another, but other missions let you use whatever vehicle you think is best. One of them was “Jinjo launching”, where I essentially launched a jinjo ball down a ramp as far as I could. After three tries using the initial trolley vehicle, I used one of the “blueprints” (a good feature for someone like me who is not creative in the slightest) for a vehicle that had a much wider front to it, and successfully pushed the Jinjo far enough to… win the game. I will admit the actual main goals of the levels are pretty much structured as little minigames taking place in the levels, but just running around and finding those start points is fun.

I’m honestly not 100% sure about this game yet, and the reason I’m reserved is simply because I’m unsure if my fawning over the game is being distorted by the fact that the first level consists entirely of references to previous B-K games. I’d like to see a little farther into the game to see if the rest of the levels feel as good as these, because I’m worried that my views on this game might be heavily rose-tinted. What I’ve seen so far, though, has definitely alleviated my worries about this game.  It definitely feels, so far, like they thought out their ideas well instead of plastering two games together.

Anyone else try this demo? Agree, disagree?

Apologies for the lack of updates recently here on Prime Gamer, seems I’ve found myself somewhat distracted by the actual playing of games. It also seems some of the other writers have fallen off the face of the planet, and Skills, in the weirdest of twists, hasn’t found anything to hate recently.

So yes, on the gaming front. I had made a start on Lego Batman, which I perhaps started a little too soon after playing Lego Indy, but this was interrupted by the arrival of Saints Row 2. I never played the original Saints Row so had very little but the recommendation of other people to go off of, but it sounded like good fun so I decided to give it a whirl.

And you know what, it is good fun, bucket loads of it actually. It’s not as technically accomplished as many other games of late, but it does a great job of giving you plenty of stuff to mess around with (so you’re rarely get bored) and the drop-in, drop-out co-op works a treat. Great little sandbox game, and a very pleasant surprise.

However, having made it through the story missions, Saints Row 2 itself had to give way to Fable 2, which I’m now in the middle of, though I doubt I’ve scratched much of the surface so far. Definitely enjoying it though. And all this is before Valkyria Chronicles, Fallout 3, Gears 2 and LittleBigPlanet make an appearance in the next couple of week. Eep.

But, before I leave you, just to comment on a couple of news stories I spotted the last couple of days. Firstly, it seems Treyarch have announced a last minute game mode for World at War that sounds awfully familiar to Gears 2’s Horde Mode that’s been getting so much praise. Seems they’ve also included a set of cards to be found in the main game that can act as modifiers to make the game harder, or sillier: essentially they’ve also ripped off Halo 3’s skulls. If ever there was a developer that didn’t deserve the crazy number of sales they’ll likely get off the Call of Duty name and other people’s hard work, Treyarch are proving to be it.

Also deserving of a ‘fuck off’ is Nintendo who are reporting that supply probably won’t meet demand again for Wiis this Christmas. Get the fuck out Nintendo. If you seriously haven’t been able to work out that you need to up production in the last two years, you need to start firing some people or just come out and admit you’re manufacturing the situation to keep demand up.

LittleBigPlanet ranks as the game I’m most excited about right now. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a close call at the top, but after the serious taster that was the beta, damn do I want to get hands on with the full LBP experience right now.

And so I was somewhat confused when I got home today to find an email from GAME telling me that the release date had changed to the somewhat vague 10/2008. Er, OK. Check online and found this bit of news on EuroGamer:

The release of Sony’s highly anticipated PlayStation 3 title LittleBigPlanet has been delayed in Europe, GamesIndustry.biz reports. The game was due for release next week, 24th October, but now some retailers are estimating the game may be delayed by three weeks until 14th November.

This is incredibly annoying, and especially since it apparently only affects Europe. I’m seeing no explanation just yet as to why that is, though hopefully one will pop up and won’t be some completely bullshit reason (I’ve seen faint mutterings of something to do with a song needing to be removed). All I can do is hope that the delay isn’t too long.

One side-effect of this though, it might be enough push my temptation to order Far Cry 2 over the edge, since it was the combination of LBP and Fable II (and mostly the former) that was dissuading me from doing so.

Update: Turns out the issue is indeed to do with a song needing to removed, according to the update posted on Media Molecule’s site. Seeminhly one of the background songs features “two expressions that can be found in the Qu’ran”, which could possibly cause offense. Apparently a day-0 patch wasn’t considered a good enough option by Sony and so a recall has been put in place. So yeah, probably will be a 2/3 week delay then. Bugger.

Just recently a bunch of beta keys were released for Call of Duty: World at War, the latest entry in the Call of Duty series, a series who’s last entry I loved to pieces. But hearing and reading people’s reactions to the beta it seems my fears regarding the quality of World at War were well founded.

I had a feeling that all would happen is Treyarch would come along, take the Call of Duty 4 engine, developed by Infinity Ward, copy and steal as much of the gameplay aspects of Call of Duty 4 as they could get away with (naturally ‘tweaking’ a few bits to make it ‘new’) and put a World War II lick of paint over it all. And it sounds like that’s exactly what has happened. For example, read this Joystiq hands-on with the beta, which contains the following choice nuggets:

Alexander Sliwinski: Um, isn’t it just Call of Duty 4 with a different setting?
Ross Miller: More or less, and I think that’s a great way to describe the game: It’s Call of Duty 4, with a few differences. For example, instead of helicopters, you’ve got dogs.

-and-

I just don’t see what will compel COD4 players to switch over, at all, especially when Infinity Ward is still supporting the former.

And this comment, from a member of Joe Public, made on AintItCoolNews sums up my thoughts on that aspect (emphasis is mine):

And just off the cuff, it simply isn’t as good as CoD4, so what’s the point? It doesn’t look as good, it doesn’t feel as tight, the dogs are really stupid, and the level design (at least on the three beta maps) is putrid compared to MW. It isn’t a bad game, but when we’ve been playing MW for a year now, we the same level of excellence, not a copycat that isn’t even as fun. Going back to WWII was a huge mistake anyway, it feels slow and outdated now, there’s nothing to bring.

Exactly, why would you pay full whack for an inferior version of a year old game, one you can pick up now dirt cheap? Some may argue the single player campaign, but I don’t believe Treyarch possess the skills to turn out level design anything close to Infinity Ward. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure World at War will be an OK game, maybe even good, but it won’t be as good as Modern Warfare and any way you slice it, that’s a step backwards.

Also, I’ve no respect for a development team, one that takes and uses tools and engines developed by other people, lifts directly the gameplay of better games, and then has the cheek to talk trash about other companies - they branded Gearbox (the guys who made Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway) as “someone else making a crappy wargame” going so far to say “these guys are not even in the same league” (from this interview).

As far as I’m concerned the feedback from the beta now cements in my mind that Call of Duty: World at War is not worth consideration, and certainly not worth my money. The one good purpose its release will serve is coaxing half the idiots plaguing Call of Duty 4’s online game away.

It would be fair to say that Mercenaries 2: World In Flames and I didn’t get off to the best of starts. Bought on the promise of sandbox fun, big explosions and, most importantly, an entirely co-operative campaign, I was rather keen to get hands on with the game only to run face-first into the brick wall of disappointment in the guise of region-locked online play. This to me was a deal breaker and if I had known this fact up front I would not have bought the game.

However, I had bought the game and so I felt I should at least give it a try, and see if I could find someone the game deemed I was allowed to play online with. And initial impressions from the introductory training mission were certainly positive. Controls are simple enough to get right into, whether driving a vehicle or running around on foot, and it was entertaining to shoot the crap out of people and blow things up in a spectacular fashion with tanks, RPGs or satellite-based air-strikes.

The intro mission also sets up the incredibly loose plot for the game, which boils down to the guy who hired you in the intro trying to kill you and then taking over power of Venezuela, and you want revenge. There’s a bunch of factions all vying for control of chunks of the country and it’s many of these that hire you as you begin to build reputation and fortunate in an effort to get close to Ramon Solano, the guy who tried to kill you.

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