Biggest Disapointment of the Year

Gino D:

Biggest Disappointment: Nintendo

Runner's Up: Too Human, Spore.

Comments: Well, I could easily give away a game as the biggest flop this year (Too Human, I'm looking at you!), but generally speaking, Nintendo not releasing more first-party titles this year is the biggest disappointment of all. Don't get me wrong, Mario Kart Wii and Brawl are pretty much up there, but I was expecting Nintendo to roll out a bigger and more substantial library for the Wii and DS to compete with other first-party titles of the other major players.

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Isaac C:

Biggest Disappointment: PlayStation Home

Runner's Up: Haze, Wii Music

Comments: Home isn't a game, but it's so disappointing that I'm putting it in here anyway. Boohoo for you, but it's true. I'm sure it has a bright future ahead of it, but its launch is purely dismal.

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Karl B:

Biggest Disappointment: Fallout 3

Runner Up: Sadness

Comments: Fallout 3 - It's a good enough game if you judge it on its own merits, but I wanted a true Fallout 3 sequel dammit, not a glorified Oblivion mod. Sadness - STILL no gameplay footage. What the hell, Nibris?

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Glenn M:

Biggest Disappointment: Chrono Trigger DS

Comments: Chrono Trigger DS is hardly any different from the PS1 remake... seeing the 3D look in the trailers got me thinking that it might have a few scenes in 3D, but no..why go hyping it up when all we're gonna get is the same game on a different platform? If it's to have Chrono Trigger on mobile, emulators would've done the job a long time ago - and for free..

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Chris C:

Biggest Disappointment: Resistance 2

Runner Up: Age of Conan

Comments: Understand that Resistance 2 is by no means a bad game, not even an average game, it's just not what I was hoping for. The multiplayer and co-op aspects are brilliantly put together but the single player game just feels... bland, like an afterthought.  Explosions erupt all around you, chaos ensues, aliens, humans engaged in epic combat on a massive scale, it's mad and it looks gorgeous... but it never really comes alive.

As far as Age of Conan goes, it's actually a pretty damn good MMO now, but for months after launch it was a challenge just to play for any period of time without a crash to desktop. So much potential. Please Lord, let Star Trek Online be perfect.

What say you guyses?

Words from Gino D: New IPs, are they a dying breed?

If you look at some of the upcoming games, most of them seem to be sequels, prequels, or spinoffs of already established franchises: Uncharted 2, God of War 3, Patapon 2, BioShock 2, Resident Evil 5... the list goes on. And I've heard too many complaints out there saying that devs seem to be getting less creative and are opting for the tried-and-tested approach.

Guess what though? It's not so much as going the safe route, but to a developer, it's about making the most of your assets and changing the playing field among their competitors. The best explanation I could find of this "why are there so many sequels all of a sudden?" phenomenon comes from Insomniac Games' Ted Price:

"Developers can hit the ground running with sequels. The game's story and art style have a solid base, the tech and tools are stable and the basic gameplay mechanics have gone through plenty of tuning in the first game. It's certainly a liberating experience when you're no longer arguing over the main character's name, or waiting for basic systems to be implemented. The end result is usually a game that's bigger, more polished and has more innovative features than the original game." [Full Article]

And sequels aren't a bad thing either. If you look at how sequels have been for the past year (MGS4, GTA4, CoD4, Gears of War 2, etc.), they've more than proven that not all sequels suck donkey balls - given that the devs deliver in their promise to bring a game that's "bigger, more polished, and has more innovative features than the original game," to quote Price again. So... if this trend of actually upping the ante with a sequel continues into 2009 and beyond, then by gods!, can you imagine how so much cooler something like God of War 3 would be?

Now if sequels aren't your thing, there are still a handful of new IPs to look out for too: Heavy Rain and Hydrophobia are just two games that I personally want to keep close tabs on. But in short, to answer my own question: no, I don't think new IPs are a dying breed. It just seems like it because most of the popular games this year have been sequels, with some of the new IPs (I'm not saying all) having to follow in the shadow of the bigger sequels: MGS4, GTA4, Fallout 3, and a handful of others on the GotY lists.

Here's a thought I want to leave you with though: isn't it strange that most of the good new IPs out there are coming from small studios and independent devs? Look at de Blob and Braid. And then there's LittleBigPlanet - their team in Media Molecule started out so small, it's quite surprising how they managed to pull off the entire LBP phenomenon.

Seemingly, this is where the playing field now lies: if you want good sequels, look to the established devs and major players in the publishing biz: Konami, EA, Capcom, Square Enix, Sony, Microsoft, OK fine, maybe even Nintendo despite their skimpy first-party library in 2008. But for new IPs that will make an impact? Look to the indie devs and small studios for those diamonds in the rough.

QJ’s Most Underrated Games of the Year

Gino D:

Most Underrated: Prince of Persia

Comments: Just to make a distinction "Underrated" != "Overlooked". The way I see it, underrated games are those which should have gotten better reviews and ratings than they did. Like Prince of Persia. Yes, it did get some quite glowing reviews for its graphics and art direction, but I thought the gameplay wasn't all that bad at all.

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Isaac C:

Most Underrated: Grand Theft Auto IV

Comments: Because it deserves a 15/10.

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Mabie A:

Most Underrated: World of Goo

Comments: World of Goo's gameplay and graphics are really impressive. Too bad it didn't get the media mileage it needed to catch people's attention. I do however applaud the indie devs, 2D Boy, for coming up with IP as innovative as this. Goes to show that you don't need complex gameplay and convoluted dramatic story lines in order to have fun.

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Karl B:

Most Underrated: Valkyria Chronicles

Comments: Valkyria Chronicles - This strategy-slash-action-RPG title mostly went unappreciated when it hit North America, but in my opinion it's hands-down the best (and best-looking) RPG title the PS3 has so far.

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Chris C:

Most Underrated: Crash Commando

Comments: It came out just a few weeks ago and it's simply the best multiplayer action game you'll find on PSN, as a matter of fact, it's in my top 10 for game of the year. I can't remember the last time I had as much fun with a game, fast frantic and wonderfully balanced, this is pure arcade fun. Unfortunately, no one's talking about it and few know anything about the game, I hear a demo's on the way, one can only hope because Crash Commando deserves a much wider audience.

Do yourself a favour, spend the 10 bucks and download Crash Commando, it's worth it.

QJ’s Publishers of the Year

Gino D:

Publisher of the Year: Electronic Arts

Comments: Damn. As much as you might hate to admit it, EA owns your soul. They've got a massive share of the market, with relatively high sales all year. Their spammage of multi platform releases might not be to the taste of many a gamer, but you can't deny that they've been raking in the dough.

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Isaac C:

Publisher of the Year: Electronic Arts

Comments: I know a lot of you will disagree with me on this, but EA made a lot of significant changes this year that changed my opinion of them. First they took Mirror's Edge and Dead Space, two rather risky titles, a far cry from their "rinse and repeat" formula of yesteryear. Despite poor sales of these games, they decided to take on Brutal Legend anyway, another risky game that's sure to get critics all agog, but might leave sales wanting. I admire EA for taking those first steps away from their heartless, capitalist image.

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Mabie A:

Publisher of the Year: Ubisoft

Comments: I name Ubisoft publisher of the year simply because they are the only publisher left this year who can still afford to acquire other companies left and right while everybody else is closing down or laying off people. For what it's worth, that should count for something when talking about management skills, right?

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Karl B:

Publisher of the Year: Electronic Arts

Comments: It all boils down to new IPs - Mirror's Edge, Dead Space, and next year's Saboteur, just to name a few. It looks like the money-grubbing and crap-churning EA of the past is history. I just hope the company doesn't start to backslide suddenly.

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Glenn M:

Publisher of the Year: Nintendo

Comments: For selling Wii and DS hardware like candy in preschool, Nintendo deserves top marks for hitting a new market right on the money...

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Chris C:

Publisher of the Year: Electronic Arts

Comments: Atari comes a close second, but seeing EA do a complete 180 and lead the charge this year with a bunch of new, well made, innovative IP's was a class act. They say a leopard can't change its spots, but the New EA proves that saying's wrong, whatever bug bit EA, let's hope it's infectious.

So guys, what are your thoughts?

Capcom releasing “whole slew” of PSP, PSOne games on PS Store next year

Breath of Fire, Marvel vs. Capcom, Street Fighter, Resident Evil. Just some of the many games from Capcom during the PSOne era - and we might be seeing some of them offered on the PlayStation Store as downloadable titles next year.

According to a post by Capcom's John Diamonon, the studio will be making quite a presence on the PS Store:

So what's in store for 09? Well, I'm working with Grace and Ro at SCEA to come up with some innovative ways we can offer games and programs on the PlayStation Store.

You can expect to see a whole slew of downloadable PSP and PSone titles from our vault next year.

That's some good news for next year. Personally I want some Mega Man games on there as well. Oh, and Strider 2. Friends kept saying it was a great game but I never got to play it.

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Related Articles:

• Sony, Microsoft, Capcom to do epic battle in Street Fighter IV tourney

Major Tecmo Shareholder not feeling the Koei merger

Looks like not everyone is happy with the Tecmo-Koei merger. Tecmo's second largest shareholder, Effissimo Capital Management Pte, voiced out its displeasure with the said merger, saying that there was a lack of information as to how the new partnership will benefit the investors.

Effissimo, holding a whopping 17.6 percent of the Tecmo share, has raised its concern to Japam's Ministry of Finance. Says company director Takashi Kosaka, "We have not had sufficient information from the company to make a judgment on the merger, such as the feasibility of their plan to raise shareholder value."

On the other hand, Koei officials remain silent about the matter, while Tecmo confirmed its receipt of the document through Norihiro Mukai, spokesperson.

Either Effissimo's been sleeping in their meetings or they really just prefer Square Enix's offer over Koei's. If you'll remember, Tecmo was the much-sought-after developer company courted by Square Enix and then won over instead by Koei.

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Related Articles:

• Tecmo answers Square Enix questions regarding rejected merger proposal
• Koei Tecmo merger finalized, detailed; Itagaki to return? Absolutely not
  

New assets: Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2

Excited for Namco Bandai's up and coming Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2? We bet you are. And thankfully, we've got a bucketload of assets here for you to gander at today. Yeah, it's a belated holiday treat indeed.

What kind of assets are we talking about here? Screenshots -- a whole lot of them -- and artworks. And a video to boot! So. We'll stop the small talk right here, cos that'll never do justice to what these images can achieve anyway. Take your pick and have fun!

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Related Radiant Mythology 2 Articles:

• Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2: Hunter, Menu and Job Switch videos
  

PSP Homebrew - Makefile Maker 1.1.1

Makefile Maker 1.1.1 is a homebrew application from Darksidious that enables your PC to automatically generate Makefiles to compile EBOOT (or PRX) for your PSP. To install, follow the instructions below:

• Makefile Maker 1.1.1.rar
• You only have to run Makefile maker.exe

For use:

• Launch Makefile maker.exe
• Complete the required information (Those of suivient ( ))
• Check the boxes according to your needs
• Fill the "LIB" to add libs
• Click generate
• Your Makefile has been automatically generated

Download: Makefile Maker 1.1.1

PSP Homebrew - PSPendu

  

From what I can gather, this homebrew release from percyflette is a hangman-type game wherein you have to guess the word in order to win. According to the release update, this one's got 240 words in it thus far. Sounds fun, huh?

So what are the mechanics? As mentioned earlier, you have to guess the word correctly, and you can choose to use the dictionary for help. You can even add your own entries to the dictionary - given that they're legitimate words, that is - by going to the menu and clicking on the "add words to the dictionary" option. And yes, "mmmbop" was already recognized by Webster.

As for the controls:

• The directional cross to move into the menu and on the letters on the keyboard (a false qwerty keyboard).
• The cross button to select
• When you enter a word, you can use triangle to delete a character and round to confirm the seizure of the word.
• Square button allows you to cancel entering a word in the "add a word to the dictionary"

Oh, and have I mentioned yet? It's in French. Enjoy!


Download: PSPendu

PSP Homebrew - FBA lbicelyne 1225 V12p2

Christmas break's over, guys! It's back to work for Ibicelyne (and me), and he's starting off with the release of his latest update for his FBA Ibicelyne project, FBA lbicelyne 1225 V12p2. Still a mouthful, I see.

Anyhow, here's what's new for this CPS1,2,3 and more emulator for the PSP (it sure is a lot):

• 081225: V12p2 Edition (Special Edition Christmas, Merry Christmas!) Released
• 1. Menu interface landscaping, adjust the location of the order, an increase of the background map. Please download the updated FBA4PSP.rar documents, there are matching Christmas background
• Adjust menu's position and order. Add wallpaper in menu mode. Please download the updated FBA4PSP.rar file.
• 2. To increase the game shots, and archive screenshot preview.
• Add screen shot and preview function.
• 3. To support the game screen without horizontal-vertical zoom level.
• You can zoom in / out the game screen as you wish now.
• 4. L and R keys can flip around
• L and R is working as page up and page down.

[lbicelyne] FBA emulator V12p2 Christmas Special Edition, interface landscaping (updated December 25)

• FBA General PSP1000/2000 beta, and optimize the PGM, the three countries play War, Journey to the West, electricity precision 2
• The software changes the OopsWare arrogant God FBAPSP source, revised ROM cache algorithm, making PSP1000 small memory device can work.
• This procedure current PGM substrate, seta2, Cave part is optimized.
• The program in 3.71M33-4, 2G leave the rod and the test. Known author 8G pseudo-rod can not run (the production and read the cache file error) and, of course, may be individual problems.
• The first time due to the production of cache files, the need for long time, please be patient. If you have any obvious Bug replies please inform, be grateful.
• Installation Method:
• Please download ROM version with the game, with coverage in the annex of the same name EBOOT.PBP files.
• All: full-drive version. Contains all the usable drivers.
• Mid = All - CPS3 - CPS1 - CPS2 - NEOGEO - Sega (SYSTEM16/18 ...)
• Small = Mid - PGM - Cave
• PGM: Only for PGM / IGS games.
• Cave: Only for Cave games.
• CPS3: CPS1, CPS2 and CPS3 NO CD games. Sfiii2 drivers are removed.
• Simulator run FBA4PSP.zip environmental document required. Some runtime files for FBA, prx and ini.
• PSP1000 recommendations of the users to create multiple folders display multiple versions of the simulator.
• Suggest PSP1000 users seting up several folders for your different versions' FBA.

• FBA4PSP source code has been posted to the http://fba4psp.sourceforge.net Interested parties are welcome to join them functional development to improve the simulator.
• FBA which many drivers have been very old, most of the existence of a wide range of issues, the need to update the look. Since the FBA from Mame, driven relatively easy to transplant. But this is a huge project. My personal energy is still very limited, and would like to know more on the simulator running efficiency. If you have friends who are interested, the trouble to update these drivers. Only when we work together to improve the FBA, will it be possible to make a more perfect simulator. 谢谢.
• Source of FBA4PSP has been published at http://fba4psp.sourceforge.net. Welcome joining this project if. Many FBA game drivers are very old. They have some kinds of issues. FBA's driver is nearly the same to Mame. So if you have interests, please help update the issue drivers and public your new release. I will integrate it into official version. Thank you for your help! I will forcus on improving FBA4PSP's efficiency.

• Testing found that some (or all) CPS game in the P2P mode Wifi will be black (infinite loop). Unknown reasons. If you encounter this problem, or you use Host Client mode.
• In addition, the use of Wifi play before the need to ensure that all PSP inside Adhoc network settings of the Channel is the same, otherwise it is impossible online.
• Some or all CPS games run into infinite loop when wifi status switched to P2P. I don't know why. If you met this problem, please use host / client mode in your wifi game.
• By the way, before you use the wifi feature, please make sure all your PSPs' adhoc channel setting are the same.

Kindly remind:

• Please use R Select to return to your menu instead of L button from V10 version on. And the new version could not work properly under 1.5 kernel mode.

Download: FBA lbicelyne 1225 V12p2

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Other FBA Ibicelyne Release:

• PSP Homebrew - FBA Ibicelyne 1208 v12p1
  

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