Rock Band 2 More Impressions

Well now I’ve had a good amount of time to play in the various modes, so you know what the drill is!

First – things they did not change/fix from Rock Band 1:

There is still no combo meter during the song or after any song but the last in setlists. The glitch where you start a setlist with a singer of ether gender and keep them throughout the setlist even if the vocalist changes gender is still present. There is a severs lack of new clothing/pre created band stand ins, although I already love some of the new ones. Overall, nothing game breaking, just a tad dissapointing.

World Tour is now about a billion times more fun, thanks to the ease of which friends online and off can drop in and out at any time without any of this messy leader business. Moreover, any character can play any instrument at any time with just a few button presses – no more creating 3 characters.  Also, thanks to the inclusion of RB1 DLC and the expanded setlist, World Tour does not force you to play the same couple of songs over and over until you get sick of them. I played for 4 hours last night and only had to replay one song once.

Quickplay is now much worse off – despite the more intuitive menu, it no longer saves number of stars or even top scores for each instrument. All it saves it one top score – whether it’s one person on medium drums or a full expert band. So say goodbye to working on gold starring everything on Ex[ert guitar – you’ll never know which ones you have and haven’t done unless you track each song down in World Tour. The ability to make setlists is a nice bonus, and for the party game crown, Quick Play is just about perfect.

The Drum Trainer is amazing. As a drummer of 11 years, even I learned a thing or two, and I know it will be invaluable to aspiring drummers – whether on a plastic set or real one. The fills and beats are real world drum beats that apply to the game and can be played exactly the same on a real set. The menu system is intuituve and fluid and I heartily support Harmonix’s efforts on this mode.

Create a character still had only about 10 pre-made faces, all of which lack a certain human aspect, and I really wish they would let you customize facial shape, but that’s grabbing at straws. Everything else in the character creator is top notch.

Now the most important part – the music! While I truly don’t like some of the tracks, I can see Harmonix did a great job of making this a “something for everyone” list. Some great party favorites, hits and obscure songs from every decade, and some blisteringly hard tracks make for a well rounded experience. Each gamer will have their own list of hated and loved tracks, and each track would be in some gamers top or bottom tracks in the game.

Thank goodness for the inclusion of Hyperspeed though. I’m glad to see one of my main complaints about Rock Band 1 addressed.

Overall, more than just an expansion to Rock Band 1, but less than a full sequel. As far as the World Tour and Challenge mode (just a rehash of world tour – linear setlists yay!) go, I can’t help feeling like we’ve done it all before. Being an avid rhythm gamer, I don’t mind yearly updates with nothing but more songs. But if you’re going to include a main game mode that is meant to be the meat of the game apart from quickplay, certainly some more could have been done to spice it up. I would have liked to see the tiny RPG element (hiring crew) fleshed out a little more and have a little more impact on gameplay. But in the end, a satisfying experience (apart from the broken drums) that I can’t wait to spend the next few months playing.

Rock Band 2 First Impressions

Well, I would comment on a whole host of interesting new features, but there is only one I’m going to comment on today:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx4FNtu5gWU

Yes, the Rock Band 2 drums are broken, much like their Rock Band 1 counterparts. You all remember my problem with returning kit after kit, only to have the new one be even more broken than the last, finally arriving with a working kit months after getting the game. Well, I think I’m going to have to go through the same process this time. I’ve already seen many many players on various forums with this problem already. And I called EA tech support who claimed to have not even heard of the problem yet.

Where did quality assurance go? Why am I paying hundreds of dollars for defective merchandise? This would not be acceptable in any other industry. I hope to goodness I can raise some awareness about this, because the ineptitude has gone on for far too long.

Thank you Harmonix!

So we’re finally getting Toxicity in Rock Band, and Hyperspeed in Rock Band 2. Not to mention a drumset that looks like it will actually work properly out of the box and 80ish songs on disc plus 20 free DLC songs out of the gate. And a completely restructured Band Tour mode. Sounds like somebody has been listening to my suggestions. Oh, did I mention Dream Theater? Haha, I wish I could say the Harmonix employees actually saw this blog and implemented some of my suggestions, but I know these issues have been large in the general community. Well, it’s nice to know Rock Band 2 is really shaping up to blow my expectations away. Can’t wait until September!

Army of Two and the Future of Co-op

After writing my entry on co-op gaming I couldn’t pass by Army of Two without trying it out. A few weeks ago, my girlfriend and I rented it and beat the campaign together on the default difficulty. While not exactly a gaming revolution, Army of Two is a model for what co-op games should play like.

For starters, there is the sheer variety of ways you can play this game: by yourself with an AI controlled partner, local split screen, private co-op match with a friend over Xbox Live, or even a public game, enabling you to find someone to play with quite easily. EA Montreal did such a good job with the menu system and various co-op play methods that nobody should even have to play with the AI partner, except when going for the achievement requiring you to do so.

True, this game can be played lone wolf style, completely ignoring your partner, whether human or computer controlled. It really shines when you work together, however. While the Aggro system seems like a cheap gimmick at first, it quickly becomes one of the main strategies necessary to stay alive. One player can shoot at an enemy (among other methods) to raise their Aggro meter, making enemies pay more attention to them and letting the other player sneak around undetected. This encourages communication, and lets the players come up with unique and effective strategies for overcoming every obstacle. Other co-op moments range from amusing (the Back to Back bullet-time mode, which unfortunately is only triggered automatically at select points) to clichéd and rather pointless (the Step Jump, where one player must give the other a lift up to an inaccessible area – why not just put in some stairs or a ladder?) I would like to have seen more implementation of vehicles – Halo proved there is nothing more satisfying than gunning while your partner drives. All Army of Two gives us are a few brief hover boat sections which suffer from imprecise driving controls. Thankfully, working with your partner is overall rewarding and rarely frustrating.

Army of Two has its (very large) weak points, including the barely cohesive and overdone story, the extremely short play time (expect to get through the campaign in four to six hours) and lack of replayability. Sure, you could go through on harder difficulties and collect more money to upgrade your guns, but I imagine most gamers will not have much reason to play through it again. Despite these issues, I have to commend EA Montreal for letting you play a game with a real friend sitting right beside you. It’s a concept that is becoming increasingly lost with developers in this generation, and I hope to see more games following Army of Two’s example.

One last note: There is also the game-crippling update I downloaded near the end of the campaign, which erased all my money, upgraded guns, and achievement progress. I haven’t heard about this affecting anyone else, but it brings up an issue for a future post. Check back in next week to read about the decline of Quality Assurance testing in the gaming industry.

I have a plan…

I am completely sorry about the lack of updates this April. When I started this blog, I had a noble vision of updating daily, of trying to take on the Joystiqs and Kotakus of the world all by my lonesome. I bit off more than I could chew, and coming up with an original post every day when I only buy around one game a month is a bit difficult! My new idea is to post once a week, on Monday. This is my goal, and I hope to stick to it. I have a lot of ideas, I love writing them down, and I hope you enjoy reading them. I’ve had very positive feedback from everything I’ve written thus far, and I hope you continue to check back in once a week. As always, feel free to comment and start a discussion!

Mario Kart Wii: First Impressions

Midnight launches are fun! I’ve been to 3 in the past year, and Mario Kart Wii was quite a success. You know a game is special when you come home immediately and play it until you absolutely need to sleep. This isn’t much of a first impressions post – I’ve already won every cup in 50 and 100cc, so I have played quite a bit. Without further ado, here’s the rundown.

Controller Schemes: The Wii Wheel is fun. It’s just good old-fashioned fun. Is it the best way to be competitive in time trials and online? Probably not, although only time will tell. It is, however, a blast to use after the initial learning curve. I do wish the buttons were reassignable like in Brawl, but that’s only a minor annoyance. The Remote+Nunchuck scheme seems to be the best competitive set up, as it makes tricks very easy to perform and has the most intuitive button mapping. The Gamecube controller works in a pinch, but reaching for the D-Pad to trick is frustrating. The Gamecube controller is easily bested by the Remote+Nunchuck scheme. I have not used the Wiimote by itself, but I see no reason to try it when I have Wii Wheels lying around.

Graphics+Music: I will address these in one paragraph because I feel the same way about them: disappointed. Some of the new tracks look very nice, most notably Maple Treeway and Rainbow Road. Unfortunately, many of the older tracks are uninteresting and bland. Nearly nothing was done to spice up the backgrounds and roadways, and they end up feeling out of place next to the new tracks. The character models are horrendous. They look worse than the character models in Double Dash and almost as bad as those in Mario Kart 64. After the gorgeously rendered characters in Brawl, I was sad to see this large step backward. The menu graphics do their job, but are far from appealing. The music is typical Mario Kart music. Many old tunes return next to new completely unmemorable songs. None is orchestrated, and after the incredible soundtrack featured in Brawl, I couldn’t help feeling disappointed. Where are the classic Nintendo medleys? Why aren’t there multiple songs per track? Why is Nintendo still not orchestrating their music? There is no excuse for any of these things. Some would say I’ve been spoiled by the quality of Brawl. I say Brawl sets a bar that all future Nintendo games should strive to beat.

New Mechanics: The trick system is very fun. They are simple to pull off (with the right control scheme) and make searching for those hidden jumps even more rewarding. The bikes don’t take anything away from the essential “kart-ness” of Mario Kart. Look at Double Dash – we’ve been racing non-kart vehicles for quite a while now. Being able to pop a wheelie on straightaways but being easier to hit and not being able to get the super mini-turbo brings about an important tactical question and makes the selection between bikes and karts fun and competitive. The new turbos require no skill to get, unlike in the past few Karts, and subsequently feel less rewarding. In fact, the races seem less about skill than ever before, which brings me to my next point.

Items and CPUs: The items are more absurd than ever before with Mario Kart Wii. Luckily, they can be turned down or even off in multiplayer, but to get through Grand Prix and unlock the hidden characters, you must deal with some of the worst rubber band AI the series has seen and grow accustomed to getting hit with a blue shell, lightning, red shell, and POW block all while mere seconds away from the finish line. This description mostly applies to 150cc, where the AI is at its most ruthless, but it still happens in 100 and occasionally in 50. Thankfully, not many people play Mario Kart for its single player racing.

Multiplayer: Better than ever before! CPU players can be on or off and adjusted in difficulty, items can be tweaked (although I’d like options to turn individual items on and off as seen in Smash Brothers), and now you can set a number of races from 2 to 32 and play through them all with Grand Prix-style point rankings. If you get tired of your friends, the online multiplayer is robust and I’m so thankful to be able to say, completely lag free. While I still can’t join a Brawl match online to save my life, Kart worked perfectly right out of the box.

Ghosts and Rankings: Time Trials have the best new addition to the series – downloadable ghosts and world-wide leaderboards. Not only that, but your best ghost is saved automatically for every single tracks in the game. You can upload ghosts and send “Ghost Challenges” to your friends. And you can download and race the ghost of the current world-wide record holder for every track. This system will keep Time Trials fun for a very long time.

Overall Impressions: I am quite happy with this game. After looking past the sub-par graphics and music, I have found a highly enjoyable racer – decent alone and amazing with friends. The wonderful online component will keep this Kart fresh for quite a while. It’s no Smash when it comes to longevity or depth, but I wasn’t expecting it to be.

Backward Compatibility

I don’t understand the point of limited backward compatibility. Only Nintendo seems to be able to do it right – the Wii fully plays every single Gamecube game, and the DS and GBA play every game of the previous system. Why can’t it be that way with the Xbox 360 and PS3? First of all, the 40 GB model of the PS3 has no backward compatibility at all, and the 80 GB model is compatible with “many” but not all older games. It seemed at one point the eventual goal was to make all Xbox games play on the 360, but then Microsoft changed their goal and started releasing Xbox Originals on Marketplace, crushing hopes that we would ever be able to sell our original Xboxes. Of course, we can’t because of the still large percentage of games that just don’t play on the 360.

It seems that Sony and Microsoft are only doing their jobs halfway. If you promise backward compatibility, follow through on it. Especially when consoles use the same media format (DVDs), more consoles should follow Nintendo’s example. Either ditch backward compatibility completely, or make the new system entirely backward compatible. Nobody likes an unfinished job.

Oh Nintendo…

Just after yesterday’s post, I see this. It’s a small Nintendo memo stating that not all moves and maneuvers can be performed with the Gamecube controller in Mario Kart Wii. So just after I applauded Nintendo for moving away from the gimmick, they let us know that the game is only fully playable with the Wiimote and Wii Wheel, which costs $15. That’s quite a bit for a circular piece of plastic that has exactly no functionality, but I suppose that’s the Nintendo way. I am hoping these moves are not integral to gameplay, because Mario Kart has long been one of my favorite multiplayer franchises, and I’m certainly not plunking down an extra $45 just for three Wii Wheels so I can play with my friends. I guess only time will tell exactly what these changes are, but the news is disappointing at any rate.

Hello again!

My trip home was a bit busier than I thought it would be, and I had virtually no time to write, but I am now back in Santa Barbara, all graduated and looking for work! Harmonix just updated their job website so you can log in and see the status of an application, so now I know for sure they did at least receive my e-mail. The job I want is no longer listed in open positions, but my application is still listed as active. I’m crossing my fingers and hoping they are selecting potential candidates right now. As much as I’ve criticized some of their actions in this blog, I still think they are at the forefront of rhythm game design at the moment and it would be an incredible opportunity to work for them. My job here as a blogger is to write about the state of the industry as I see it, no holds barred. I can only hope they praise me for that rather than fault me.

Now to discuss a few gaming news tidbits:

Still Alive is free as DLC today for all you Rock Band owners, so don’t miss out on that. I’m really happy to see free Rock Band DLC, and I’m excited about the possibility of regular free DLC. Even a song or two a month would be a really great way to for Harmonix to show appreciation for the fans.

I am full of anticipation for Mario Kart Wii. The more I read about it, the more I want it to come out already. I am glad you can control it with either Gamecube or Wii controllers – it’s nice to see that even Nintendo isn’t solely relying on the Wiimote gimmick. Also, I applaud Nintendo for putting 32 tracks in the game, 16 of which are fully updated remakes from older games. This is a very smart idea in the development sense, because the hardest work, which is the track design, is already done! Compared to creating a track from scratch, graphically updating an old one is much easier and less time consuming. It’s also great fan service, and as Nintendo fans, we’ve come to expect that.

Also, this has got to be one of the best April Fool’s jokes ever. Half of me wishes it were real…the other half shudders at the thought.

Day Late, Dollar Short

Rock Band is finally headed to the Wii! Surely, this should be cause for celebration amongst Wii owners everywhere…right? Wrong. As with much Wii news of late, the Rock Band announcement left me feeling quite disappointed.

First of all, there is no DLC whatsoever. Harmonix states in the article that they “wanted to wait before we explored online functionality for Rock Band,” but since Wii games can not be updated or patched in any way, this effectively means no DLC until Rock Band 2, if there ever is one. Oh, but of course the Wii version comes with five bonus songs not found in the 360 or PS3 version! Why not make it 20 bonus songs? Why not 40? If you can’t give Wii owners DLC, give them DLC that’s already been released for the 360 and PS3, but put it right on the disc! These songs are already finished, and since there will be no Wii DLC revenue, putting more songs on the game disc does nothing but increase value of the game with no extra cost to Harmonix. And surely the disc has the space because “there will be no character creator.” Nope, you can’t even use your Miis. So there will be no money, no shop, and only pre-rendered background videos like in the PS2 version.

Are you Wii owners ready to suck it up and get the 360 version yet? If you aren’t yet, maybe the fact that you can’t use your Guitar Hero III guitar with Rock Band will change your mind. True, this is Activision’s fault, but being forced to use the Stratocaster when you have a great wireless Les Paul sitting right there is just no fun. I also enjoy that in response to the question about changes to the peripherals, Harmonix mentioned the white drums. While Harmonix is changing the drums, improving their accuracy and functionality should be the main focus over changing the color scheme.

Last but not least, the game only runs in 480p, which is, of course, the maximum resolution of the Wii. After playing in 1080p, though, any game just looks awful in 480. So, as with pretty much any game that has been released on multiple platforms, there is no reason to get the Wii version.

I have been a Nintendo fan for a very long time now, and I admire and respect Nintendo’s commitment to innovation. There comes a time, however, when a company must not only innovate, but also keep up with other trends. The crippled Wii version of Rock Band is not entirely Harmonix’s fault; much of the blame lies with Nintendo and their refusal to adopt what should be standard features, such as a robust online network and internal hard drive. I’m just happier every day that I bought a 360 in addition to my Wii.

Sorry for the sporadic updates!

It’s been a busy week, because it was my last week of college! As of 5:25 PM yesterday (when I walked out of my last final), I am a college graduate. It’s at once exciting and scary! The world of possibilities out there is overwhelming, but I know soon enough I’ll be working in rhythm game design. It’s looking like I will have to get my foot in the door through QA work at first, but it’s not a bad way to start. I’m going to do whatever it takes to land my dream job!

In other personal news, I bought a Roland TD-3 electronic drumset yesterday as a graduation present to myself. I’ve been wanting one for a very long time now, and I saw a great deal I couldn’t pass up. I’ll be honing my drum skills even further now, thanks to finally being able to play in my apartment! Yesterday was an extremely happy day, and I’m glad to report that daily updates should resume tomorrow if all goes as planned. I’m excited by how many of you have been reading this blog already, even though I haven’t advertised it anywhere. I hope you are enjoying it, and as always, I encourage discussion. Let me know what you think in the comments section!

Here we go again…

I just got my 4th replacement drum kit for Rock Band from EA. Instead of starting to drop notes after a few weeks of playing, this one dropped notes right out of the box! I couldn’t get over a 30 combo on Reptilia, and I can FC this song easily. I am definitely not happy with the Rock Band peripherals. Only the microphone has been trouble free thus far. I’m just not sure what kind of quality testing went into making these products.

I started out with a QM set, which didn’t drop notes but couldn’t pick up anything faster than an 8th note. I tried the tape method, but that only worked for so long. My next two QM sets started out working just fine but within two weeks both were dropping notes all over the place. I am going to call support today, but I don’t even know what I will say. I guess this is what we get for expecting high quality rhythm game controllers at such a low price.

Rhythm game designers need to realize the amount of fun you can have with any game is directly dependent on how well the controllers work. I hope some day I have a working Rock Band drum set!

I really can’t believe this.

My girlfriend linked me to this article today. It’s short, you should all take a second to read it. I’m not going to dissect it word by word – I think you, as fans of video games, already did that while reading it. I do want to go over a few key points, though.

Mothers despise video games:

Well this is a blatant lie. Of course some mothers do, but my mom never did. Many of my friends’ moms never did. And with the ever growing population of female gamers (although still small), the next generation will be full of mothers who not only don’t despise video games, but play them with their husbands and children!

And what can we do? All the boys are playing. So our moral core erodes:

What do morals have anything to do with the situation? Notice at the end of the article, she lists board games as one activity she finds wholesome. Does she not realize board games and video games differ in only the video aspect? True, some games are morally questionable (Manhunt, GTA, and so fourth) but there are thousands of games out there that are entirely enjoyable by all ages and have nothing in them that will do any more harm than a board game.

But it’s not only the content of the video games that is so destructive. It’s what boys are not doing with their time: They aren’t studying, they aren’t playing, and they aren’t talking to one another:

First, video games can be a great way to study. True, teens are less likely to play so-called “edu-tainment” games, but for younger children, games can be an excellent way to learn languages, how to type, reading, and math skills. The psychological drive for reward that games enforce are excellent at holding attention spans longer than a book or teacher can, despite what the author says about “the short attention spans…that are sometimes linked to video games.” Second, what does she even mean by not playing? Games are the very essence of playing, and if she means physical exercise, games such as Dance Dance Revolution and the upcoming Wii Fit are great ways to game and stay healthy at the same time. Last, I don’t know what gaming era the author is stuck in, but games today encourage all sorts of social interaction. Some of my more fun and memorable gatherings have been centered around games, and I have met so many incredible people in college based around our shared love of gaming.

When a study shows that children who play video games can read a 300-page book…then I’ll be the first one in line at the computer store:

The author assumes here that reading is inherently morally wholesome. She forgets about the millions of novels that deal with sex, violence, and surely every subject she finds objectionable in video games. Video games are just like any other form of entertainment. Some games, just like some movies, TV shows, and even books, are intended toward a mature audience. It is the parent’s duty to help their child make informed decisions about what to watch, read, and play. Filtering an entire form of entertainment out will do nothing to make the landscape of American entertainment less objectionable.

It is time for gaming to truly come in to its own right as a real form of entertainment and to not be looked at as a morally questionable activity when a PG-13 Hollywood movie can have just as much sex and violence as some Mature rated games, if not more. Games can be educational, social, and healthy, and believe it or not, even fun for moms.

Tracking Progress

Unlocking new features in games has always been the psychological basis for continued play – gamers want to see that next level, get that new character, find out what the next weapon does. Now, with the advent of Achievements on Xbox 360 games, developers have given us a way to satisfy our craving for completion without even adding new content! A few people here and there will tout their nonchalance about Achievements, but it seems most gamers develop a strange addiction to unlocking them, and as an EGM article from last month pointed out, it even becomes an obsession for some.

Today’s point is very simple, and I’m honestly not sure why it isn’t implemented more widely. Any in game goals should have progress meters! Two games that do it right are Call of Duty 4 and The Orange Box. In COD4’s multiplayer, there are 5 sets of 20 or so challenges that give an EXP reward for leveling your character, which unlocks guns and perks. Any challenge that must be done a certain number of times (for instance, get X headshots with an SMG) gives a progress bar next to the challenge description, along with the number you currently have, so you can see exactly how many more until the challenge is complete. Not only that, but it gives intermediate rewards. For example, the complete reward only comes from getting 15 kills with the Last Stand perk, but you get small EXP rewards for Stage One and Two of the challenge, which are getting 1 and 5 kills respectively. The Orange Box takes this idea one step further and actually gives progress checks on every numerical Achievement.

Playing Smash Brothers Brawl made me realize how much I like being able to see this progress check. In Brawl, you have literally hundreds (I don’t know the exact number) of challenges to complete, and although many of them require doing an action X times, none show a progress check. So far, most are challenges I will complete without trying, just by playing a lot, like “Play on a specific stage 15 times”. There is something to be said for the surprise that not giving a progress check grants the player, but it is a bit frustrating to not know how close you are to completing any of them.

It is an easy feature to implement, and it should be a standard in any game with challenges to complete.

Super Smash Brothers Brawl: More Thoughts

So I’ve been playing quite a bit, and I have a lot more to say!

First of all, I want to talk about the Smash Ball. The Smash Ball is an awesome item, and when it appears it causes some of the most frantic scrambling and fighting the Smash series has seen yet. Now, I’ve never been a proponent of tournament style Smash – it’s always been a party game to me. Yes, the player with the most skill should usually win but one of the most fun parts about Smash is that it’s always a bit unpredictable. The power that comes from breaking the Smash Ball is incredible, and makes for some very exciting moments.

The problem is that the damn thing comes up too much! By rough estimate, it averages 2.5 appearances in a standard 2v2 3-Stock match. I didn’t want to turn it completely off, so I turned items down to low hoping it would only come up once in a match at maximum. Unfortunately, this did not alter the occurrence of the Smash Ball at all! Now in a standard match, usually less than 10 items appear total, and yet the Smash Ball still comes out two or three times a match. Unfortunately I’ve had to turn the Smash Ball off completely because of this. It’s sad that there are no frequency selections for each individual item. I think the Smash Ball would be one of the best items in the game if it came up very rarely, perhaps on the order of once every 3-5 games. This way it would truly be intense and satisfying to launch a final smash, instead of being a routine practice.

The character balance is fantastic. I’m having a very hard time picking a favorite character, because every time I switch to a different one they become my new favorite! I’m very glad to see Bowser is a force to be reckoned with, and and all characters have their own attributes that make them powerful. I haven’t seen any clones a la Melee (Dr. Mario and Mario, Gannondorf and Captain Falcon) yet, and not only does each character play completely differently, but each character must be fought against differently as well.

I’m only 30% into the Subspace Emissary and I’m already fairly bored of it. I will complete it to see all the cutscenes and because I’m a completionist when it comes to video games, but it is starting to feel like a chore. Thankfully there is so much besides this mode to keep me coming back. I still can’t wait for online play to work!

I still think this is the best Smash yet. Only time will tell if it keeps me interested as long as Melee did, but I have high hopes.

Limited Storage Space

The original Xbox had a 5 GB hard drive as a standard feature. You could not buy an Xbox without it. This hard drive is used for game saves and ripped music, among other things. It eliminated the need for memory cards, and seemed like it would set an industry standard for years to come. So why hasn’t it?

Out of all 3 current-gen consoles, only the PS3 has a large hard drive standard in all models. This generation has a need for hard drives more so than ever before, due to the proliferation of DLC and even more advanced games. Let’s take a look at why we need bigger hard drives included in all systems.

First, hard drives have never been cheaper. 4 GB flash drives are only 15 dollars, and 250 GB hard drives are under one hundred dollars. Storage space is being driven down year after year. We saw a 5 GB hard drive on the Xbox, and that was almost seven years ago. There is no excuse to even have an Xbox model without a hard drive or to charge almost $200 for a 120 GB 360 hard drive.

Second, there is more to store than ever before. HD movies and TV shows can be purchased on Xbox Live Marketplace, and just one movie can be around 8 GB. That’s almost half of the entire storage space on the mid-level 360. Add this to game demos, saves, profiles, themes, XBLA arcade games, Xbox Original titles (which I believe are over 1 GB a piece) and ripped music, and you have a full hard drive before you know it. I should never have to worry about having no space to store my Rock Band DLC!

This same issue applies to the Wii, although it is much worse thanks to the Wii’s pitiful 512 MB of flash memory. The drawbacks are already coming into play. For instance, every day Nintendo picks a user created stage to upload for Smash Brothers Brawl. After 24 hours, that stage is deleted off your Wii’s memory whether you liked it or not. The stage files are surely fairly small, but they would still add up fast with only 512MB of storage space. With even just 5 GB of flash memory, we could store a nearly unlimited amount of stages, not to mention snapshots and replay data from Smash.

Third, we have the issue of loading times. PC gamers have had the advantage of being able to pre-load to a hard drive to shorten loading times during the game for quite some time now, yet due to the hard drive not being standard on all Xbox models, developers can’t use this tactic since not all Xbox owners have one.

Like it or not (but why would you not like it?), hard drives in video game consoles are here to stay, and I will be very disappointed if large hard drives (or at least a way to wirelessly sync data to a computer hard drive) are not standard on all next-gen consoles.

Now this is doing it right!

Tomorrow’s DLC for Rock Band is the way to do it. Are they songs people were rooting for to be in the game? No. Are people going to buy them anyway? Yes, because they are 99 cents a piece. I know I’ll be buying all three mostly because I need new songs to play. I don’t particularly love any of them, although none make my ears hurt, so that’s something. It’s like I said in my earlier post – sell cheaper, lesser known songs, and make up for the price difference by volume. Also, notice all three are masters. Here’s the list, for all of you who are interested.

“Shockwave” by Black Tide (Master)
“Crushcrushcrush” by Paramore (Master)
“Beethoven’s C***” by Serj Tankian (Master)

And I suppose getting Serj is close to getting System…I can only hope!

They really haven’t learned yet, have they?

Why do companies always underestimate demand? When a sequel to a hugely popular game comes out, and it has online play, everyone is going to want to try it out. That day. Right away. There is no excuse to not have the servers ready to handle the demand!

I’ve been trying to play online in Smash Brothers Brawl, and I have had pretty much no luck. I have not even been able to join a game against strangers, and I played against one friend today but we had terrible lag the entire time and then both god booted from the game at one point.

Yes, I know I can’t complain too much since Nintendo Wi-Fi is a free service, but online play was certainly hyped as a major selling point of the game. It’s not as bad as when hundreds of thousands of new Xbox Live accounts were created after Christmas and Live was barely usable for almost a month, but it’s still disappointing.

I look forward to a lag free future, and I hope it comes soon. Also, if you want to fight me, send me an e-mail at stclair.daniel AT gmail.com with your friend code and we’ll get some matches going!

Super Smash Brothers Brawl: First Impressions

Yep, I stood in line at midnight on Saturday night to get Brawl, then came home and played for two hours until I was just too sleepy to take it any more. I played a bunch more today, and I just wanted to write down some first impressions really quickly.

The Subspace Emissary is very lengthy and full of stuff to see and do, but it’s already getting a bit repetitive and I’m only 25% in. However, the ability to go through it with a friend makes it much more exciting, and the cut scenes are beautiful and fun to watch. As a stand alone game, I would not be too happy with it, but as an extra in an already packed disc, I couldn’t be much happier.

Single player has it all – Targets, Homerun Contests, Multi-Man Brawl, and Classic mode are all back, and all but Classic are playable co-op. I can’t wait to work out some awesome co-op Homerun Contest strategies!

Multiplayer is incredibly exciting. The amazing number of characters and stages, the stage-builder, the sheer amount of items and assist trophies, and the mad scramble for the Smash Ball make it the best Smash multiplayer yet. I haven’t been able to play online yet due to high demand on the Nintendo servers, but I was able to watch a match. I have to say being able to place bets on the victor makes for a very exciting match. I could see having a lot of fun just watching!

Gameplay: It’s slower than Melee as far as movement speed goes, but much faster in terms of recovery time after getting hit, performing an Up+B, and dodging. The aerial dodge system is so much smoother and easier to use than before. Everything is very fluid, including the animations.

Characters: Finally, Smash feels balanced! So far I’ve tried almost every character, and I have only disliked one (King Dedede). I miss Shiek from Melee, as her Brawl counterpart isn’t nearly as awesome, or I just haven’t learned how to use her yet. However, Metaknight is quickly taking a place in my heart as my favorite Smash character. I’m just so happy almost every character has their own strengths and weaknesses, and instead of just using a few select characters, I feel the Smash community will branch out and use many more.

The amount of content is just overwhelming in this game. I’m so glad to have a reason to play my Wii again, and I have a feeling this disc will be in there for a long time to come. More as I continue to play!

Music I would like to see in Rock Band

I don’t feel like writing about game design today, so I’m going to use this space to let you know what kind of music I think would be fun in Rock Band. I’ll be posting a band and a representative song, along with a Youtube link:

System of a Down -Toxcicity: Extremely creative, great transitions between hard rock and slower parts, and the vocals would be so very fun. The drum part could be nice and difficult, and it’s a good length. Overall, I would love to see pretty much any SoaD in Rock Band, as they have been one of the most creative and original metal bands of the last decade.

Mindless Self Indulgence – Shut Me Up; The actual song doesn’t start until :43, the beginning is just the video intro. Once again, this song would be fun and interesting for all four parts. The guitar and drums are a bit repetitive, but it’s short so that wouldn’t be too much of a problem. Other MSI songs might be better for the instruments, but this one would be such a joy to sing.

The Fall of Troy - F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X. I think this one speaks for itself. Highly energetic on all four parts, and it’s one of their more accessible songs. I would love to see pretty much any FoT though. This song has less odd time signatures and sudden stops characteristic of their other songs, so it would probably be a good choice. On the other hand, I would like to see more technically challenging source material in Rock Band.

Dream Theater – Fatal Tragedy: Starts off nice and slow with some great vocal melodies and and heavy drum part, goes through some fun time changes, and has some great Unison bonus moments (1:51 anyone?). The album version is also a lot better than this live performance by the way. It ends with some rocking guitar solos. I can’t believe DT isn’t in a rhythm game yet actually!

Dir en Grey – The Pledge: This one is a bit of a stretch, as it would require gamers to sing in Japanese. However, I think it would be still be feasible. This is one of their more accessible songs, and I know I’d love to belt out those high notes in the chorus.

Since I’m tired of looking up Youtube links, that’s all for today. Basically, I’d like to see less generic rock and more songs that go out on a limb. We need to be challenged, not just with hard charts, but musically as well.