Wednesday, May 29, 2013

First Byte: Xbox One

It has been well over a year since the first and funny enough last edition of First Byte.  Originally starting out as a reoccurring demo impressions article, it is time to evolve First Byte.  It is hard to keep demo impressions coming at a steady pace when you do not play many demos.  Now First Byte will be a first impressions article.  No need to wait for demos, it will cover my first impressions on a game, console or anything video game related.  What a better way to kick off the new direction of First Byte by giving my first impressions on the recently revealed Xbox One, Microsoft’s next generation gaming machine.  There has been a full week of news about the Xbox One so everybody and their mother has an opinion on the third Xbox console.  Without any further ado, let us get down to business.

To get right to the point, Microsoft has not made many happy with the reveal of the Xbox One, this writer included.  The reveal was an absolute mess, but the news that has come out over the past week has not given many a positive outlook over the system.  This negative buzz surrounding the Xbox One has come from Microsoft’s plans for online, new games and used games (three things Microsoft conviently did not touch on during the Xbox One reveal).  First, the Xbox One will not require you to be connected to the Internet at all times.  The one exception being that you have to connect to the Internet at least once a day.  If you do not have an Internet connection whatsoever or your Internet goes down for a day, you cannot use the Xbox One at all.  So Microsoft stays away from the negative connotations of the "Always On" buzz word, but still finds to screw the consumer.  Not everybody has access to or the money to afford the Internet, but they may be able to buy a game system.  While Microsoft has found a way around repeating the same always-online disasters that were Diablo III and SimCity, they are extremely limiting the appeal of the Xbox One with this strategy for online.  Second, new games will require a one-time activation and mandatory installation to the hard drive.  Once the activation has been used, you must buy another activation to use the game on another Xbox One.  No longer can you share games with your friends or use game rental services such as GameFly with the Xbox One.  What a great way to undermine one of the many reasons that people buy home consoles and destroy the camaraderie and free advertisement built from sharing games with others.  Right now, you may be thinking that this activation with new games will kill used games on the Xbox One.  Well that thought leads right into the last point.  Microsoft is working with certain retailers to create a new used game market.  You will be able to trade in used games at the retailers that Microsoft specifies at a later date.  Microsoft and the publishers will be getting a cut of the used sales from these retailers.  The whole debate surrounding the used game market has been well documented.  Personally, I believe that the sharing of new and used revenue between publishers and companies such as Gamestop should have happened years ago.  While this partnership is a step in the right direction, it will be interesting to see how it will impact the amount of trade-in credit a customer receives or the price of used Xbox One games. 

Microsoft can put in all the cool multimedia features, push Kinect as an integral part of the system and create an all-in-one entertainment suite, but the fact of the matter is the Xbox One is first and foremost a video game console.  People do not want all these other features; they just want to play games without any interruption or unnecessary badgering from the manufacturers and publishers.  The Xbox One is the culmination of Microsoft's new direction.  This new direction may seem like an excellent idea in Microsoft's world.  In actuality, it is the complete and utter opposite.  At this point in time, Xbox One looks to be a major step in the wrong direction for the industry.  Instead of finding a happy medium between pleasing both the game publishers and consumers, Microsoft looks to be creating a machine that completely alienates their consumers in favour of appeasing the giant third-party publishers such as Activision, EA and Ubisoft.  It is hard to tell if the Xbox One will be Microsoft's downfall only a week after the reveal, but this system will definitely have an uphill battle in the months and years ahead.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Xbox One Reveal Impressions

The next generation of home consoles is just around the corner.  Nintendo has launched the Wii U, Sony has revealed the PlayStation 4, today was Microsoft's turn to reveal their plans for the next generation Xbox.  Being the last out of the gate meant a lot of eyes were focused on Microsoft to deliver the next evolution of their Xbox brand.  Microsoft's reveal was the Xbox One, the next generation system focused on being a one stop shop for entertainment, sports, social networking and gaming.  The initial reveal was this afternoon with plenty of new information being revealed throughout the day from Question and Answer sessions held after the event.  These impressions are of only the reveal itself.  I will leave my thoughts about the Xbox One as a whole to a later date when things settle down.  

Microsoft started their reveal by showing off the actual console itself.  Right off the bat, everybody saw the Xbox One, the new Kinect and the new controller, which were all had a slick industrial design.  From there, Microsoft showed off the Xbox One's interface.  The interface is very similar to that of Windows 8 with the added touches of the Kinect voice control and the ability to run multiple applications at a time.  The voice controls were impressive as the Xbox One instantaneously reacted to the presenter's commands, a huge improvement over the original Kinect's voice controls because they did actually work.  Microsoft then went into detail about the tech behind the Xbox One.  They separated this segment into three sections: the system, Kinect and the controller.  Microsoft took a quick look at the design and features behind each piece of the Xbox One.  While I personally do not believe for one second that there are forty innovations in the controller, this segment was enjoyable as it was concise and to the point unlike one other console manufacturer that loves to talk for hours on end about their consoles specs by the name of Sony.  The first half of the reveal concluded with a look at the new Xbox Live, which will boast thousands of servers, dynamic achievements and improved cloud storage.  

The second half of this reveal was where everything fell apart for Microsoft.  The first half got everybody excited to see what this new console could create.  Sadly, Microsoft could not show the software to back up their claims.  Nothing shown in the last thirty minutes did anything to excite, it actually made this writer role his eyes and yell at the television in disdain repeatedly.  Microsoft touted that they will be releasing fifteen exclusives for the Xbox One during the console's first year on the market.  Eight of those exclusives are suppose to be brand new franchises yet they had barely anything to show.  Microsoft did show teasers for Forza Motorsport 5, a series that is quickly overstaying its welcome, and Quantum Break, a new game from Remedy that looks like Beyond: Two Souls just with a young girl instead of Ellen Page.  The lack of first-party support at the reveal was very telling of how little Microsoft cares about their first-party content outside of milking Halo for all it is worth.  The third-party games on display were not much better.  EA Sports made fools of themselves by showing off their new Ignite engine along with a montage of what their games will "look" like on Xbox One.  This montage was very similar to the Madden 2006 target video showed off at the 360's reveal.  Personally I found it insulting for EA to try and pull the same crap they did at the beginning of this current generation.  There is no way these graphics will be possible on the Xbox One right out of the gate and people are not dumb enough to believe it.  EA should stop insulting the intelligence of the audience and show actual gameplay footage.  The other third party publisher at the reveal was Activision, who showed off the first gameplay footage for Call of Duty: Ghosts.  Despite Activision's attempts to convince those watching of the huge leap of graphics and gameplay from Modern Warfare 3 to Ghosts, it is more of the same with prettier graphics.  Ghosts was nothing special and the fact that it ended this presentation just left a bad taste in this writer's mouth.  Microsoft also announced a Halo television series and a partnership with ESPN, but honestly there was no reason to have these announcements thrown in with the rest of the game reveals.

Overall, Mircosoft started out strong with their showcase of the Xbox One's interface and features.  The last half of the Xbox One's reveal was a disaster.  There was no software to back up all the tech and features that Microsoft showed off at the beginning of the reveal.  This lack of software extremely hurt the Xbox One's first impression.  It did nothing to convince those skeptical to put down the cash to buy the Xbox One day one.  The fact Microsoft clearly told everyone that they are going to show all the good stuff off at E3 with their countdown clock meant this reveal had no real purpose or focus.  It was more of the same entertainment crap Microsoft has been shoving down our throats for a good two years now.  At one point during the reveal, this writer was ready to jump on the Xbox One bandwagon, but it only took thirty minutes to change those thoughts.  E3 is only a few short weeks away.  Microsoft has a second chance to impress those not convinced by this reveal, but it will be much harder to do so the second time around.  

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

The Dual Destinies Debate

Monday saw Capcom confirm the newest entry in the Ace Attorney series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney- Dual Destinies for a North American and European release this coming Fall on the 3DS.  An announcement that would be the cause of celebration for any handheld gaming aficionado like yours truly has just as easily angered fans.  How has Capcom managed to anger their fans this time?  Well by announcing that Dual Destinies will only be available on the Nintendo eShop as a digital download.  Considering that media in general is turning to purely digital forms of distribution, the up rage over Dual Destinies being digital only might seem like a non-issue for some gamers.  For gamers that prefer hard copies of their games over buying games digitally not having a hard copy of Dual Destinies is upsetting especially considering that Capcom will be releasing Dual Destinies for both retail and digital in Japan.  It is understandable to see that Capcom is trying to cover their loses as the Ace Attorney series has not been a commercial success outside of Japan, but it would be nice for Capcom to give 3DS owners a bone after all the ill will with the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3.  Do a limited release for the hard copy of Dual Destinies in North America and Europe to appease the gamers that prefer physical copies of the game and possibly test the waters for future Ace Attorney releases.  There are other ways of limiting the costs than just going with a digital only release.

Personally, I have been a fan of the Ace Attorney series ever since it debuted in North America back in 2005.  I was never into the courtroom dramas that the game seemed to be influenced by such as Law & Order, but there was something about Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney that made me gravitate toward the virtual courtroom.  The fantastic humour, solid adventure game mechanics and beautiful music are the reasons I own every entry of this series to reach our shores.  When I saw the announcement that Duel Destinies was releasing this Fall in North America, I was ecstatic.  While I do prefer to have a hard copy of Dual Destinies, I am not upset with Capcom's decision.  I believe there are better ways of dealing with potential losses on a physical copies of the game rather than alienating a good portion of Capcom's audience.  Also I am concerned about how Capcom will price the digital version of tDual Destinies and how much memory will the game take up.  Since Dual Destinies will be digital download, I do not want to see this game priced like a retail 3DS game.  In my opinion, twenty five to thirty dollars will be justifiable for this eShop only release. Another thing, I do not want Dual Destinies to take up an entire SD card due to how big the game turns out to be.  Capcom needs to understand that some gamers just cannot afford to buy the biggest SD card out on the market and should accommodate for these gamers by making the storage manageable or provide a physical copy of the game.  

While I do have some concerns over the next entry in the Ace Attorney series, I am a fan of this series no matter what.  I am very excited to see Dual Destinies come to this side of the Pacific in some capacity later this year.  Hopefully the release of Dual Destinies will inspire Capcom and Level 5 to bring over Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney to our shores as well.  Now before we end things, check out the first trailer for Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney- Dual Destinies.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

BioShock Infinite Review

Irrational Games’ sequel to the revolutionary BioShock, BioShock Infinite, has been one of the most highly anticipated games in years.  With such a great amount of anticipation, there was a lot of pressure on Infinite to be as good as or better than the original BioShock.  Living up to that pressure seems like an unenviable task, but BioShock Infinite does not falter under the pressure for the most part.  As much as BioShock Infinite succeeds at creating an excellent world, very satisfying combat and a compelling AI companion, there are a good number of areas that hold this game back from being one of the premier first-person experiences of this generation.

“Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt.”  A simple sentence that is muttered at the very beginning of BioShock Infinite reverberates throughout the entire story.  A story which follows Booker DeWitt, a former Pinkerton agent, as he is sent on a mission to free a young girl by the name of Elizabeth in order to wipe away a debt as it seems.  Booker’s mission will not be without hardship as this hired gun gets caught up in a conflict between warring factions and chased by a mechanized creature known as the Songbird.  While Infinite’s story is what motivates gamers throughout the game, it is the setting of Columbia that will keep gamers engrossed in the world of BioShock Infinite.  It is evident that Irrational Games put a lot of time and care into creating Columbia.  From the silent movies to the 1920 covers of hit 80s pop songs hidden throughout the game, Columbia is rich with American culture.  So much culture in fact that the setting becomes a character of its own.  Columbia represents American culture taken to the utmost extremes.  The traits that Columbia takes on, while very twisted and demented, compel the gamer to move forward and discover the history behind this dystopia.

The world of Columbia is just one of BioShock Infinite’s strengths.  Another one of these strengths is the combat.  The combat revolves entirely around experimentation.  The player is given a ton of options to deal with the seemingly overwhelming enemy forces from guns to vigors (Infinite’s version of plasmids) to flying around the environment on Columbia’s skylines.  While guns and vigors are familiar to BioShock and FPS vets, the skylines are a brand new mechanic in the BioShock series.  By using the Sky Hook, the player is able to traverse each environment at breakneck speeds.  The Sky Hook and skylines open up new ways to approach combat as it offers a quick escape when firefights get too out of hand or the ability to reach areas and items that the player cannot easily access. A few hours into Infinite, the player meets up with Elizabeth.  While Elizabeth plays a central role in the story of BioShock Infinite, she also serves as your constant AI companion.  Unlike many AI companions in other games, Elizabeth does not need to be tirelessly babysat by the player.  Elizabeth is able take care of herself and the player.  Elizabeth will toss weapons, ammo, health and other useful items in the thick of battle and she is able to open tears in the fabric of time which offer more options in combat such as cover, turrets and extra weapons to gain an advantage.  From her character to her uses during combat, Elizabeth is easily the crown jewel of BioShock Infinite’s gameplay.

While there is a lot to praise BioShock Infinite for, there is a good amount of flaws that hold it back from achieving the moniker of greatest first-person shooter of this generation.  The biggest flaw with Infinite is the last three or so hours of the game.  Instead of focusing on the experimentation and freedom that the combat was built on, the last three hours of BioShock Infinite devolve into nothing more than any other generic first-person shooter.  The inherent strategy found in the combat gets lost for just shooting everything and anything that moves.  The late of additions of two new enemy types, the Boys of Silence and Sirens, feel absolutely unnecessary considering both only show up on three separate occasions and become more annoyance than a pleasure to fight.  Along with the Boys of Silence, Irrational tries to shoehorn stealth into BioShock Infinite in order to offer some new gameplay, but this attempt ultimately fails due to a control scheme that is designed for a fast-paced FPS, not a slow-paced stealth game.  Other flaws that hold BioShock Infinite back from being the masterpiece it could have been are the lack of penalty for death, the lack of an actual final boss (seriously getting sick and tired of developers trying to pass waves of enemies as final boss encounters), the confusingly convoluted ending and the excruciatingly horrible underuse of the Songbird.

All-in-all, BioShock Infinite is a great game.  The excellently crafted world of Columbia, largely experimental combat and incredibly useful AI companion Elizabeth are the highlights of this game.  Sadly in trying to appeal to a larger audience during the most crucial hours of the game, BioShock Infinite forgets the freedom and experimentation that separates it from the plethora of first-person shooters that permeate the industry nowadays.  This devolution in those last few hours along with some other considerable flaws really holds BioShiock Infinite back from standing out in the overcrowded FPS genre.  No matter the flaws, BioShock Infinite is a game worth experiencing at some point.  Just do not go in expecting a revolution.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

On the Download: April 28 - May 4

Sometimes things do not go as planned.  Originally, I wanted this edition of On the Download up much sooner, but when a two hour nap turned into a ten hour sleep plans changed.  On the topic of plans changing, earlier this week I could not think of any downloadable games coming out this week to warrant a new edition of On the Download.  Then I saw all the coverage for Far Cry 3:  Blood Dragon and well my plans changed.  Sometimes downloadable games can sneak up on you like it did to me this past week if you are not on top of them.  Over the past few weeks, there has been a whole slew of noteworthy downloadable games to hit market such as Fez, Papo and Yo, Dyad and Monaco all for PC.  It is a good time to be a gamer with an internet connection.
Last week I looked at the launch of the Wii U Virtual Console, well more games came out for the service this past Thursday on the eShop.  These aforementioned games are Mega Man and Pac-Man.  While the releases have been cut back from the last week's launch, it is very nice to see Nintendo show continued support for the Virtual Console considering how poor the support was for it during the later years of the Wii's life cycle.  As long as Nintendo keeps releasing Virtual Console games on a regular basis, hopefully once a week, it will provide a good library of games for a system in dire need of them.  While Mega Man and Pac Man may already be on many other platforms, the Wii U versions of these games include all the bells and whistles like restore points and Miiverse support that are included in Wii U and 3DS Virtual Console games.  For 5 dollars apiece, these are two classic games for gamers both young and old to download for the Wii U.
It is 2007.  The world is left in shambles of nuclear fallout after Vietnam War II.  You play as Cyber Commando Rex Colt as you set out to kill enemies, rescue a damsel in distress and ultimately save the world like Cyber Commandos do best.  The game I am talking about is Ubisoft's standalone downloadable expansion to Far Cry 3 called Far Cry 3:  Blood Dragon.  Blood Dragon's only tie to Far Cry 3 is that they both use the same game engine.  Ubisoft Montreal has crafted an insane game that looks to parody what people love about 80s action movies:  inane plot; cheesy one-liners; unnecessary sci-fi elements and; tons of explosions.  You do not need Far Cry 3 to experience the insanity of Blood Dragon, only 15 dollars or 1400 Microsoft Points and a Xbox 360, PS3 or PC.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Bit by Bit: April 28 - May 4

It has been a busy last couple weeks with things picking up on the job front that I have not got around to writing as much.  With completing Darksiders II last week and Luigi’s Mansion:  Dark Moon this past week, I am hoping to get a few more reviews up in the coming weeks.  I also have a review of BioShock Infinite that I am still working on to put up.  It should be a busy couple of weeks of working at my jobs, writing reviews and playing a bunch of games.  Before we get onto the meat and potatoes of this week’s Bit by Bit, let we wish everybody a May the 4th be with you.  Now let us get on with the show.

Game of the Week
Even though I played enough of Luigi’s Mansion:  Dark Moon this past week to beat the game, my Game of the Week goes to Ace Attorney Investigations:  Miles Edgeworth for the Nintendo DS.  I have been looking for Ace Attorney Investigations for a long time now.  I did not get the chance to pick this game up when it first released back in 2010 and it has been next to impossible to find used.  So when I came across a new copy of Ace Attorney Investigations for 30 dollars at my local Microplay, I could not pass it up.  It was a 30 dollars well spent as I have finally completed my Ace Attorney collection for DS (aside from the currently Japanese only Investigations 2) and Ace Attorney Investigations may be the most unique entry in the series.  Currently, I have spent close to three hours with the game.  From my time with Investigations, I can say it is a very good and also different entry in the Ace Attorney series.  Aside from playing as Phoenix Wright’s rival Miles Edgeworth, the game uses a much different perspective than your normal adventure game.  You actually control Miles Edgeworth as you investigate crime scenes, collect evidence and piece together more evidence using the Logic system.  Not everything you can interact with yields evidence, some things yield little logic notes that Miles must connect using the Logic system in order to progress.  In Investigations, you never step foot in a courtroom.  All the gameplay takes place at the crime scene as you piece together the crime through interacting with the environment and talking to suspects in a similar cross-examination system to the other Ace Attorney games.  These observations come from playing through the very first case in the game.  There is still much more to experience and I look forward to playing more Ace Attorney Investigations:  Miles Edgeworth in the near future.

Most Anticipated Game of the Week
Apart from the slew of information Nintendo has been providing gamers on upcoming releases for Wii U and 3DS, there is one game Nintendo has said little to nothing aout these last few months.  That game is The Wonderful 101, the first game developed through Nintendo’s new partnership with the incredible Platinum Games.  Everything shown so far looks amazing.  I am just itching for Nintendo to give us an actual release date because I am planning on asking my family to get it along with Pikmin 3 for my birthday.  So hopefully we get some sort of confirmation soon because it is suppose to be out sometime this Summer.

Video of the Week
While I am loving my time with the Rayman Legends Challenge App, it still hurts that I along with many other Wii U owners could have had this game two months ago if it was not for Ubisoft.  Earlier this week, Ubisoft released a new trailer for Rayman Legends to help make the suffering more manageable or aggravate fans by putting salt in the wound (you be the judge).  Nevertheless, this trailer is pretty awesome as it showcases another one of the excellent music stages that will be included in Legends.  Most people will notice the tune found in this level even with it being performed by a mariachi band.