Launch Station: Ninja Gaiden 3

March is coming to a close and soon you will not be seeing Launch Station as often as it has been these last two months.  If you look at all the games releasing the next few months, they are pretty spread out.  With that, we take look at the last big batch of games to come out for a while.  To make up for not putting up anything yesterday as I worked from about 8:30 am to 9:30 pm spanning two different jobs,  there will be a double dose of Launch Station today looking at today's two big releases, Ninja Gaiden 3 and Resident Evil: Operation Racoon City.  The first game to preview today will be the third entry in Tecmo and Team Ninja's Ninja Gaiden series.

With the departure of Tomonobu Itagaki, the director of the previous two Ninja Gaiden game, from Team Ninja in 2008, Team Ninja was given a great opportunity to take the Ninja Gaiden series in a different direction and also show off that they can create quality games without Itagaki at the helm.  The result is Ninja Gaiden 3 directed by Yosuke Hayashi.  Ninja Gaiden 3 explores protagonist Ryu Hayabusa's human side more than the previous games in the series.  Upon request from the Japanese Self-Defense Force, Ryu is sent to London to fight an unidentified terrorist.  Ryu reaches London too late as the Bristish Prime Minister has been murdered by a mysterious villain known only as the Regent of the Mask.  Ryu tries to take down the mysterious assailant but the Regent of the Mask bonds Ryu's Dragon Sword to his arm and vanishes.  Now Ryu must track down the Regent of the Mask in order to reverse the Regent's bonding and ultimately save the world from destruction.  With the new direction, Team Ninja has added some new mechanics for Ninja Gaiden 3.  The Steel on Bone mechanic adds a more visceral and cinematic feeling to slicing enemies as the game zooms in and slows down when you a finishing blow on a enemy.  At certain points in a level, Ryu can scale walls with the new Kunai Climb mechanic and perform stealth kills on oblivious enemies.  Also Ryu's cursed arm plays into the gameplay as he can unleash his Grip of Murder, an ultimate move that wipes out all enemies in the immediate area.

Personally, I have never even picked up the first two Ninja Gaiden games, so I am not looking forward to it.  From what I have read and seen, it looks fairly good, but other than the odd preview and trailer I have not looked into it that much.  If you are a big Ninja Gaiden fan, you will no doubtfully pick Ninja Gaiden 3.  For everybody else, I would  read the reviews, watch gameplay videos, maybe even rent it before putting down 60 dollars for this game.

Off the Newsstand: Official Xbox Magazine Issue 131

As gamers swear allegiance to one of the Big Three (Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo), there comes the need for magazines to highlight that one console developer.  These three magazines are Nintendo Power, PlayStation: The Official Magazine and the Official Xbox Magazine.  These three magazines are all owned by Future US publishing company and each target one segment of the gaming industry.  They are usually meant for hardcore fans of a certain console, but they can also bring in casual readers from time to time depending on the issue.  Personally, I read Nintendo Power each and every month as I grew up a fan of Nintendo game, but I also like reading other magazines to get a broad sense how others report on the video game industry.  So when a friend gave me an issue of Official Xbox Magazine (OXM for short) as he received two from his subscription, I jumped at the opportunity to read a magazine I have skimmed through, but never read in my life.  Things will probably not change as after reading this issue of OXM, it will be the first and last time I read an issue from this publication.

One thing I want to get off my chest right now is that I did not in the most enjoy my time reading OXM.  At first, it all seemed interesting and insightful, but when I got the middle and close to the end of the magazine, I just wanted to read something else.  Yes, these magazines that focus on one console are usually bias towards the console their magazine represents, but in all my years of reading video game magazines have I seen so many pointless jabs at other consoles.  I have read plenty issues of Nintendo Power and PlayStation: The Official Magazine and I have never seen them do anything like OXM did many times in one single issue.  They just mention that said developer worked on this acclaimed game on another console, but never sink so low to make a cheap stab at the competition.  It might make the fanboys and fangirls happy, but it comes off as classless and unprofessional.  The part I really enjoyed was reading OXM's Game of the Year awards.  I did not agree with everything they gave awards to or nominated, but it was the biggest and best written article in the magazine.  While I enjoyed that article, the cover story and Think Different article not so much.  The cover story for Ninja Gaiden 3 felt more like an extended preview than an exclusive look at the newest game in the Ninja Gaiden series.  Honestly, Game Informer's cover story on the South Park RPG was much better than this cover story.  The Think Different article came off more like filler than making me think differently about a bunch of games the OXM staff deems as "cult classics".  The previews and reviews were pretty good, but could not save this issue from tanking in my eyes.

Overall, OXM is a disappointing magazine that looks to rather make cheap stabs at other consoles than focus on promoting the Xbox brand.  Personally, I cannot take a magazine seriously if they act so unprofessionally.  Also with this issue of OXM is the last of their signature demo disc.  No longer will a demo disc be packaged with an issue of OXM, which many including myself meant a drop in it's ridiculously overpriced 12.99 price point.  Well sorry folks as I saw the latest issue in Shopper's Drug Mart and it is still 12.99 and without a demo disc, but as Future US marketing says it has better paper (grade A bullcrap if I say so myself).  With it being incredibly overpriced, extremely unprofessional and not a fun read, unless you are a hardcore Xbox fan, I would not recommend OXM to anybody.  It is definitely not worth your time and money.