So Ubisoft lost two of its big name game designers in two months (Clint Hocking and Patrice Désilets, creative directors on the Splinter Cell serie, Far Cry 2, the Assassin’s Creed serie, the Prince of Persia serie yeah, the biggest Ubi games) while Prince of Persia in Hollywood flavor is a disaster? Gotta love the movie/game convergence BS. During that time, it must be sweaty at the Paris Ubi HQ. Don’t worry. Just dance!
*yawn*
Kinect. Well if commercials are trying to sell it this way, uh. It’s creepy! It feels so me-too product four years later with the launch lineup and its seven sports games out of fifteen… For what I saw live, you look a little bit like an ass in front of the TV waving your arms. And I hear about lag issues. And no price announced. And people hijacking the voice command in the future.
It sounds like a nightmare for MS.
The 360 Slim. Good move, not surprising looking at how it worked well for Sony and Nintendo (DS and PS3, the Wii was perfect and the PSPGO was something wrong), but so late: first time I thought MS needed this slim factor so bad was in September 2007. June 2010 it happens but the upgrade seems sort of obvious for a console known for making a fucking damn noise. It’s not what I would like to show in my living room but it’s dark and small so you can hide it easily. I don’t see it selling Kinect hardware.
New Old Zelda. New Old Kirby, New Old Donkey. Silent Hill 8, Portal 2, Final Fantasy XIV… New Old Mortal Kombat, New Old Splatterhouse jeez I’m overwhelmed with innovation.
Child of Eden. It seems awesome for sure but what strikes me is that the concept is almost ten years old (Rez, 2001) and that it’s the same game designer for both games. It feels like we could have had so much more of that since years while publishers were thinking that this is a niche game. Guitar Hero and a desperate need of a killer app for a new device pushed them to go on the music-abstract-visuals game road despite the fact that thousands of people across the world wanted more of that Rez experience, even with a gamepad. Anyway.
Warren Spector’s Epic Mickey. Again, it’s a veteran who’s stealing the show. The ambiance seems great, it’s actually the game that captured my attention the most at the Los Angeles Convention Center. It doesn’t seem to revolutionize anything but it’s pretty dreamy and I love that. Also there’s this how-to-hack-the-system feel to solve problems in the game, like Deus Ex you know? Multiple choices. I just wish it would be available on PCs so that it would be at 100fps on a three years old laptop. PCs seriously need these weird inputs that are Wiimote like devices and camera technology. Camspace, application to use any webcam as input is getting better, but it’s not here yet.
Also, thatgamecompany’s next game has leaked. Seems dreamy. I love dreamy.
Journey. This picture screams Shadow of the Colossus so hard.
Tomorrow, 3DS test damnit.