(heh, from 2009)
Oh, werāre too cool for Uncharted now.
So jaded. So, so jaded.
Iām finding it difficult to have any faith in Last Guardian as anything other than Sonyās perpetual vaporware dream, seeing as all the footage and images from this round of publicity are indistinguishable from the footage and images released five years ago. Even if the game was 80% finished before it was shelved and could be released within 18 months, the technology, mechanics, and even the concept are now extremely dated, or at least no longer revolutionary flagship-level.
But then, I missed out on ICO/Shadow of the Colossus, so my hype level for the next game from that team was always fairly low.
Clearly making the baby gryphonās affection a paid DLC would be the ultimate freemium monetization schemeā¦ Sure, you could, finish the game; but the longer you go without feeding it a real-money-purchased treat, the colder and sadder its demeanor becomes. By week three or so, the emotional climate is approximately āgetting divorced by a puppy with cancerā. Most players break well before that point.
Shadow of Colossus was the last game I actually bought and played for the last system I owned, the PS2. I always had my eye out for the Last Guardian, but it feels a lot like the old cut scenes Nintendo would show of the next Zelda title, which would never come or when it did, had nothing to do with the original promise. The author of this piece is dead-on: just like Zelda, this gameās concept is dated and is only trading in nostalgia at this pointā¦ Itās a bit like Star Wars in that way (ugh).
On the bright side- almost every other game listed here seems to draw from elements of Shadow of Colossusā¦ Game designers have obviously been influenced by ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, and so have essentially already made the sequel(s) that weāve all been salivating overā¦
But I would play the shit out of that goddamn gryphon game.
Itās odd that with everything Sony announced, and all the games that generally appeal to me, the one Iām drawn to most is Firewatch. That game looks DOPE.
Great coverage. Great article. If the Final Fantasy VII remake had been slated to come out during the previous console cycle (i.e. while I was still in my early 20s), then maybe Iād be on my feet or crying. That game had a huge influence on my teenage years. However, in 2015, such an announcement feels more bitter than sweet.
I canāt help but notice that Square Enix has run their flagship franchise into the ground with increasingly irrelevant direct sequels, and subsists on ports/remakes of their previous games. Not that theyāve been doing things much differently from other AAA developers. Itās pretty sad to see people banking on safe nostalgia over (potentially more rewarding) innovation.
Square-Enix has ALWAYS done that, though. I mean literally for DECADES. Thatās why the one web series tracing the history of Final Fantasy (that is now several years old) took 13 installments. There are whole series of derivative game franchises that spin out of FF, many of whom have been around now long enough that people even forget they are FF spinofffs. Kingdom Hearts has like 10 games, for example, and is 13 years old. The Mana series (aka Seiken Densetsu) is older than that, the Tactics series even older than THAT (1997).
The problem mostly is that the core franchise has mostly become a dinosaur and many of itās newer IP derivations have proven more successful and innovative (Theathrythm, take a bow).
Yes. The idea of fires in the Western Wilderness reminds me of Norman Macleanās (the āA River Runs Through Itā guy) Young Men and Fire (although that was Montana, not Wyoming). Come to think of it, āA River Runs Through Itā could be the basis of an interesting game itself ā a combination fly-fishing simulator and social simulator where you try to bond with with your father and brother.
a reality where games and gamers come first
What a revolutionary thing for a game company to offer. Itās like going to a dentistsā convention and hearing about how theyāre going to put dentistry first.
I think thereās a pretty big difference between the transition from Final Fantasy to Final Fantasy: Tactics and the one from Final Fantasy XIII to Final Fantasy XIII-2 (or Lightning Returns). Itās pretty obvious which is less original. I wouldnāt find this so unfortunate if the sequels werenāt also awful. Recently, thereās been a slew of HD re-releases (e.g. FFX/FFX-2) and ports of their older games. So, Squareās either making bad games or remaking their good ones. I donāt think thatās a sustainable business model.
Except that the reality is that even five years ago, non-game uses for āgamingā consoles almost equalled game uses. Now they do equal (or even exceed) them. Playing video disks, streaming, social mediaā¦ these are actually what most people who use consoles use them for.
Men were on their feet in near-religious fervor because of a Kickstarter for Shenmue 3
Whatās always struck me about E3, which is entirely a press event, is the total and absolute lack of even the pretense of journalistic objectivity. Just listen to the whooping that goes on at all the presentations - itās like a sporting event. Game reporters there are there as fans first, journalists second, which is why, until quite recently, game journalists had no compunction at all about being active participants in game marketing efforts. This is part of why I laughed so hard when #germergoat started bleating about ethics in gaming journalism.
The PlayStation 4 is your preferable in-home media device.
I must have missed that part where PS4 was supporting local media streaming for the last year.
I havenāt played with the new media player yet, since it was just released, but I suspect the Xbox 360, insanely, is still the better media device.
All Microsoft has to do is improve codec support, and add non-game DVR, and it will have a media powerhouse on its hands!
Me too. I WILL be playing āNo Manās Skyā; however, Firewatch looks like a cool take on suspense. Any game that gives me Wreck-it Ralph style hands is golden with me.
This is such an old and overused joke that it should be banned from all internet forums or comment posts having to do with games.
It just, two days ago, updated to include an app for in-home media streaming. You can stream music and video from your PC now and play most video formats from a USB drive. (Iām told there are formats that donāt play, but everything Iāve got works.)
