BitSnark

At the Lucasarts/Bioware conference last night, the gaming world was treated to the unveiling of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Losing the ‘The Knights Of’ prefix, this newest Star Wars title pretty much confirms everything that was rumoured in message boards and gaming news sites – this IS the next KOTOR and it IS an MMO, and yes, it IS being developed by Bioware and not Star Wars: Galaxies handlers SOE.

With a tip of the hat to the rumour mill and the ‘I told you so’ crowd out of the way, lets get down to specifics; however few they maybe.

The title itself will be set 300 years after the second KOTOR title, with many of the same locales making a welcome return. In terms of ‘sides’ or factions there are two main groups that the player will choose from those being the Galactic Federation or the Sith Empire.

With Bioware being the masterminds behind this title, ostensibly a (thankfully) big focus will be on plot and characterisation in attempt to eschew the current trend away from characters and storylines that players care little about; a task difficult with an offline RPG let alone an MMO where ‘The grind’ is the bread and butter of the experience and plots and characters are serve as merely window dressing.

Further compounding the desperate need for narrative immersion in the MMORPG genre, Bioware has also placed a much welcome emphasis on social interaction with NPC’s through a wide range of conversational choices (echoing the hallmarks of previous Bioware titles) and these NPC’s may also become your companions that adventure with you and also have their own quests and storylines.

Classes and racial selections weren’t really touched upon, but the general consensus from Bioware is that whatever you can see in the films, you *should* be able to be in the game. Interesting.

A big emphasis was also placed on combat, as it appears to be real-time much in the same way that Age Of Conan is, with the Bioware folks aiming to convey a distinct sense of ‘impact’ each time a blow is landed or a shot connects.

In-game footage was shown in a pre-alpha state, with locations being highlighted and duels occurring between Jedi and Sith alike. Due to the early state of the code the lack of frame rate optimisation was apparent, with what should have been graceful lightsaber strikes replaced with choppy, jerky attacks.

Stylistically the game looks like a cross between the more realistic graphical style of Star Wars: Galaxies and the larger-than-life look encapsulated in the CG Clone Wars Movie/TV series.

But again, it’s churlish to criticise aesthetics at this point when the game has so much development time left.

In terms of other gameplay aspects such as trades, PvP and what ‘grinding’ there will be, Bioware were tight-lipped, merely saying that they simply aren’t ready to talk about some of these things, instead indicating that further details would be revealed in the future.

Perhaps the most controversial question came from Geoff Keighley of Gametrailers.com when he asked about the possibility of the game being console bound. The answer? ‘We’re only ready to talk about the PC version… Today.’.

Interesting stuff overall, and while it’s far, far too early for fanboy’s to start proclaiming ‘it’s a WoW beater etc…’, Bioware have got something quite special here and given their track record I’m quietly confident they won’t drop the ball on this one.
Link for the press release below folks:

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/17915/Star-Wars-The-Old-Republic-Announced-PC/

Namco Bandai today announced what we’ve all been waiting for since launch, and since, well… we saw that we STILL had one space left on our character rosters – Yoda is coming to PS3 and Darth Vader is coming to 360.

Gamers will be able to pick up Darth for 400MSP and Yoda for between $2 $5 (£2.99 I reckon for UK folk) on October 23rd.

Buried deep within the PS3 version of Bioshock is a teaser trailer for the second Bioshock title. The teaser begins with the sun high in the sky and that in pans down to what appears to be a Big Daddy teddy bear, the camera slowly pans back to reveal a woman (a grown-up little sister?), dressed in white cloth staring out to sea.

As the camera pulls further back, muddy shapes begin to emerge from the water behind her, which distort and morph into the shapes of skyscrapers and other buildings. Eventually, many more buildings appear and they form the familiar Bioshock logo, with the water falling down in front and various barncles and sealife attached to it. After a few seconds of this, the number ‘2’ appears just below, and then the subtitle ‘Sea of dreams’ comes into view.

And that’s it.

As with most ‘Debut teasers’, we didnt get any meat or substance, just an announcement and some cool CG visuals.

More news as and when.

Gamers have been waiting for what seems to be an age to don the old school spectacles and HEV suit and close out the epic gaming saga that is Half-Life 2.

In the first tidbit of information regarding the title, Valve supremo Doug Lombardi, stated in an interview with gaming blog kikizo, that although we might hear something regarding Half-Life: Episode Three, the release date will be longer to wait for then the time difference between Half-Life 2 and Episode One.

Darn.

Link below:

http://games.kikizo.com/features/valve-doug-lombardi-left-4-dead-interview-p3.asp

And for those of you who actually cared enough to read further, that game is none other than Marvel Vs Capacom 2: New Age Of Heroes.

Out of all the 2D Capcom fighters (with the exception of Street Fighter III possibly), MVC2 has to be close, if not at top of the list of fans who crave a nice chunk of retro 2D fighting action.

1UP.com have sprung the exclusive on this one, so take a look at the link below:

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3170600

Akuma is just waiting to knock Venom back into the abyssal hole from whence he came.

Ahhh, the memories… =)

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Genre: Science Fiction Fantasy
Director: Tetsuya Nomura
Distributor: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Duration: One movie – 101 Minutes
Production Creation: 2005

Plot Synopsis

Based on the supremely successful Playstation Role-Playing Game Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children begins the story two years after the fall of the main villain of that game, Sephiroth. With the planet now trying to find it’s feet and restore itself after the damage that Sephiroth and the Shin-Ra Company dealt to it, many of the younger children find themselves infected by a strange new disease, known as Geostigma.

Blaming himself for the death of his close friend Aerith Gainsborough during the struggle to defeat Sephiroth, Cloud Strife now lives a quieter life as a deliveryman, thinking that he is no good to help anybody else, he keeps himself to himself. However, a trio of mysterious silver haired men appear, seeking the head of Jenova, the alien abomination which spawned Sephiroth. Stopping at nothing and even going as far as to infect the fragile minds of the diseased children, these men wish to create a reunion with their Mother, Jenova, so that they may resurrect a defeated evil from the past.

Now Cloud must take up his sword and steel his confidence once more, as it will take everything he can give and also the help of all his friends, to counter this final and most deadly threat to the planet.

The Review

Every time I see an anime based on a computer game, I wince, especially if it’s based on Final Fantasy. Legend of the Crystals, FF: Unlimited and Spirits Within have all been lackluster adaptations of a series that is overflowing with great characters, ideas and deep, compelling storylines.

How does Advent Children fare though? Well I’ll keep it simple, if you’re a Final Fantasy fan, your day has arrived, if not, prepare to be subtly alienated by the plot and dazzled by the oooh pretty! CG.

Those of you reading this who fall into the latter category will find plenty to enjoy and cherish here. Seriously, being a FFVII fan myself, I got a whole lot from this as from a fan’s point of view everything that I could have wanted was pretty much there. All your favourite characters are here brought to life in vividly animated and lushly detailed CG, complete with a lot of locations from the game and of course the trademark battles, limit breaks, summons and much more.

The plot, while somewhat weak by normal standards, is given a fairly wide concession by FF fans as everything speeds along at a frenetic pace. We understand and ‘get’ what the characters are talking about when they harp on about things like ‘Jenova’s Reunion’ and ‘Materia’ and stuff like that, poor old average Joe though, has no idea whatsoever, he’s just there for the ride. While the amazing CG and hyper kinetic battle sequences will keep non fans entertained, it’s clear that from the wafery plot which relies on a past understanding of the FF7 game, that this was a work for those who love the game and as such, isn’t for the uninitiated.

The characters also, demand a degree of understanding that would only come from the game itself, as there is little to no exposition here for any of them. The writing also isn’t exceptionally brilliant either, as it seems that the scenes where there isn’t any fighting merely serves as a brief vehicle to get the audience to the scenes where they are.

Something of note though, is that on the DVD release Square-Enix have seen fir to include a nice little extra called Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII, which is basically a story digest of the key plot points in that game. While moderately informative, those who have not played the game will unlikely take the time to immerse themselves in FF: VII lore and those that have played the game will have no use for it anyway. This is quite literally a stick of gum solution to the problem of making a film for a specific audience.

As we all know though, what has gotten the movie the coverage it has isn’t due to it’s plot or characters (unless obviously you’re a big fan in which case you wont really mind about the plot) but instead it’s quality shines through in the visuals, the audio and of course, those awesome battle sequences.

Never up until now had I seen CG used so expertly not just to render those crazy battle sequences (multi sword battles on turbo bikes with the kind of gravity defiance that Chinese action cinema would be jealous of) but also quiet more tranquil moments, where you can make out minute reflections in the characters eyes, imperfections in the skin, and even fine follicles of hair.

I will go out on a limb here and just say that this the best example of CG I’ve seen to date, no it’s not done in a hyper realistic like Spirits Within, but then again it was never meant to be as it was always meant to be larger than life (and thankfully CG techniques have moved on since Spirits Within because we no longer have the ‘dead eyed doll’ look anymore).

The music too deserves equal praise, being a very pleasing and deftly composed mix of metal, electronica, rock and opera. Nobuo Uematsu, who was also the composer for the original game, handles the duties here and deserves full credit for the tremendous musical score that he has put together for this movie.

The bottom line is that if you’re an FF fan, you will love this more than your own mother, if you’re not, then Square-Enix haven’t catered for you as all you’re going to get is a bunch of really cool CG action scenes strung together loosely by a weak plot with characters that you don’t know or care about. Personally being an FF fan, I love it, and fans of action cinema will probably get something from it too.
To those two audiences I say, give it a shot, to the rest of you either get involved with the original game or give the movie a miss.

Ratings Summary

Animation: A+
Art: A+
Music: A
Content: B-

Overall: B+

Review by: John-Paul Jones

Suitability for children

There are gun fights, fist fights and sword fights galore. There are a few cuts but no real blood as such. Still the intensity of the fights doesn’t make this suitable for the very young. Parental Guidance is recommended.

If you liked this why not try…

Appleseed (2004) – Geneon Entertainment USA

In a bit of cross pollinating anime/gaming news, and following in the footsteps of previous Street Fighter titles, Capcom announced at the Tokyo Game Show this week, that Street Fighter IV would get it’s own anime feature.

If it’s anything like previous Street Fighter anime features, the plot will probably be wafer thin and the fights will be brisk and visceral.

Press release below taken from AnimeNewsNetwork.com:

The game developer CAPCOM has announced an anime feature based on its Street Fighter IV fighting game at Tokyo Game Show on Thursday. Studio 4°C (Memories, Tekkonkinkreet, Genius Party) is producing the feature, and CAPCOM has screened the feature’s trailer for the first time at the four-day event in Tokyo. Studio 4°C also created the in-game footage for the Street Fighter IV game itself. The Japanese pop music group EXILE is collaborating with CAPCOM on the game.

The earlier Street Fighter II game was adapted into an international live-action film project and a Japanese animated television series (Street Fighter II V). Street Fighter Alpha was turned into a film and a video series (Street Fighter Alpha: Generations). Several Street Fighter manga have also been produced.

Source: Moon Phase

Image © CAPCOM U.S.A., Inc.

Update: GameSpot provides more information on the planned Street Fighter IV anime feature. Producer Yoshinori Ono said that the feature will run 50 to 60 minutes long after script edits, but CAPCOM has not decided the release format. Like the earlier Street Fighter IV anime videos, the feature will show what happens to the characters after Street Fighter II, including “Cammy walking through the woods with a group of troops, Ryu awakening to his dark side, Sakura and Chun-Li fighting together against a gang of thugs, and Crimson Viper fighting against Ryu.” In addition to the previously announced supervisor Koji Morimoto (Memories’ “Magnetic Rose,” The Animatrix’s “Beyond” short, Genius Party’s Dimension Bomb) and director Jiro Kanai (computer graphics in Akira, key animation in “Beyond,” Mind Game, The Wings of Honneamise), Akiko Saito (Memories, Spriggan, The Animatrix) and Katsumi Matsuda (Legend of Crystania, Nana Toshi Monogatari) will serve as computer graphics director and character designer, respectively.

For many people, pertaking in a beta of any online game is a bittersweet experience. The sweet being you get to play the game before it’s release, the bitter being that whatever you do or create, you’ll have to do/create again when the darn thing launches.

Well, in a eschewing of trends, Sony has announced that anything creations made in the Little Big Planet Beta, will be able to bbe transferred over to the full version when it releases in two weeks time.

Good stuff Sony, you done good.

When it was announced mere days ago, speculation swirled amongst the Halo loving fraternity about what this new Halo title would be. The theory that seemed to win out appeared to be the long-held and rumoured idea that it was to be a tactical shooter in a similar vein to the Tom Clancy: Ghost Recon titles, and that Master Chief would no longer be the main character.

Well at TGS, some of that speculation can be put to rest as Bungie have released a press release through Microsoft, which skims the surface in regards to what to expect from this mysterious new installment in the Halo franchise:

Title: “Halo 3: Recon”

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios

Developer: Bungie

Format: DVD for the Xbox 360 video game system; Xbox LIVE-enabled

ESRB Rating: Rating pending

Availability: Fall 2009

Product
Overview: Developed exclusively for Xbox 360 by acclaimed developer Bungie, “Halo 3: Recon” is a stand-alone expansion that extends the award-winning “Halo 3” experience with hours of new campaign and multiplayer gameplay.* The release adds a new dimension to an all-encompassing universe that gamers around the world have known and loved for more than six years.

The new campaign chapter predates the events that unfold in “Halo 3” and gives players a new perspective through the eyes of a new hero in the “Halo” universe. New multiplayer maps ensure that the award-winning Xbox LIVE experience of “Halo 3” continues to thrive.

Top features include the following:

All-new campaign content. The “Halo 3: Recon” campaign is an intriguing side story that takes place during the terrifying events leading up to the Master Chief’s return to New Mombasa in “Halo 3.” Experience the fate of Earth from the brand-new perspective of a special forces ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper), adding a unique outlook and new gameplay elements to the events that unfold in the trilogy’s finale. While the feel of this new chapter will greatly resemble that of previous “Halo” experiences, “Halo 3: Recon” will require players to employ more elements of stealth and cunning than ever before.

A new hero: Prepare to drop. Known for their courage, valor and, at times, insanity, ODSTs are among the fiercest UNSC soldiers, priding themselves on being the first unit deployed into hostile situations. While not as large or supernaturally gifted as their Spartan comrades, these “Hell Jumpers” more than compensate with their ferocious attitudes and unwavering nerve.

Expanded multiplayer collection. No “Halo” experience would be complete without groundbreaking multiplayer content,* and “Halo 3: Recon” gives fans more of what they love. With exclusive new maps and full Forge options, players will find more multiplayer content than ever before with “Halo 3: Recon.”

Ever-growing community options. Players will continue to enjoy all the great “Halo 3” technological innovations, including Saved Films, screenshots, Campaign Scoring and four-player co-op. All of the new multiplayer maps fully support the Forge editor, offering endless gameplay customization possibilities for fans.

As you can see, that ‘Ghost Recon’ theory isn’t too far off the mark, along with the old rumour that Master Chief would not be the main character.

More as and when.

Reconfirming what was rumoured previously, Squeenix have confirmed that the Final Fantasy XIII spin off, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, will not be heading to the XBOX 360, and will instead stay exclusive to the PS3.

Given, the quality of previous Final Fantasy spin-offs (i’m thinking of Dirge Of Cerebus here), its hard to think if 360 owners should be that bothered or not.

As always time will tell.