Mmm, Backlog-y

What legends of game-playing intrigue do we, the stewards of Silicon Sasquatch, bring you this week?

There’s more of the same (Titan Quest) with a nice lime twist of newness (Borderlands); there’s the late-to-the-party-but-enjoying-it-anyway epic (Brütal Legend); and then there’s the dreaded blackness of managing grad school responsibilities (Portland State University — rated “M” for mature).

There ain't no rest for the wicked

Nick:

If you’d asked me two months ago whether I was excited for Borderlands, I’d have scoffed. Sure, Gearbox made a couple Half-Life expansions I enjoyed and delivered a real overlooked gem of a game in Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30, but they haven’t come up with many surprises in the past few years.

As PAX 2009 was drawing to a close, I wandered over to the Gearbox booth to get a ten-minute hands-on demonstration with Borderlands. In that brief span of time, my apathy transformed into elation — this was the first-person shooter/ role-playing game hybrid I’d been yearning for all these years. I walked away from the booth convinced the game would be worth owning, and I waited out the next month and a half as patiently as I could.

Now that it’s here, I’m pleased to say Borderlands is everything I had hoped it would be. It’s full of wit, style, and finely tuned action-RPG mechanics that, while a bit unoriginal, are executed with quality. It’s almost enough to wash the sour taste of the disastrous Hellgate: London out of my mouth.

You know something's really interesting when people are opting to not stare at the giant wings of the demonic Eddie Riggs

Doug:

Along with playing “Oh god I’m halfway through my first term of grad school,” I’ve spent time alternating between shaking my fist at and being thankful for the Europeans who got Forza 3 this week — it’s validating my pre-order decision many times over. Foreign coverage hasn’t influenced me this much since Gran Turismo 4.

Also, I played a bit more NCAA 10 and Brütal Legend. But, mostly, I’m trying to survive my classes.

Lucky you — here's a bonus Borderlands screenshot

Aaron:

I’m still playing Titan Quest. Yeah, I know. Best $5 I’ve ever spent though — on a videogame.

But this week’s titles of actual interest didn’t find their way into my disc drive until the tail end: Brütal Legend and Borderlands. Slowly, but surely, I’m scratching away the surface layers of each game with dilligence and child-like excitement. What’s going on, 2009? You’ve produced almost too many surprisingly great games so far.

Should I accept each game’s hype without taking that grain of salt everyone always warns me about?

Yes, I think it’ll be OK.

There’s not much else to say yet, unfortunately. Installing Windows 7 took away some of my PC gaming time this week due to reinstalling and optimizing, so finishing TQ and getting to know Champions Online were put on the back burner.

You’ll have to excuse me, but it’s time to go giggle at Brütal Legend and cause severe eyestrain from grinding away in Borderlands.

Let there be rock.

Oh, snap.

Another week, another flood of good games — some of the biggest, most anticipated titles of the fall have hit store shelves, and the Silicon Sasquatch crew are digging in. Brütal Legend, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Champions Online, and more are taking over our attention this week, and though it might seem overwhelming, it’s not necessarily a “bad” overwhelming.

The Guardian of Metal compels you to play Brütal Legend.

Nick:

You know what they say about too much of a good thing? It’s true. I’m being pelted left and right by amazing games, and instead of feeling overjoyed I’m left gasping for breath and wringing my aching hands.

I picked up Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Brütal Legend on Tuesday — both among my most anticipated games this year — but I’ve only managed to play through Brütal Legend so far. Although it has garnered a relatively wide range of reviews, I couldn’t be more thrilled with how it turned out — I’m still exploring every nook and cranny of the game’s wildly imaginative metal-inspired open world, and the multiplayer stage battles have hooked me.

And in case you missed it, I donned my thick-framed glasses and turtleneck sweater and got mad philosophical with an unassuming little iPhone game called Canabalt.

This weekend I’m hoping to pick up Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II on Steam for a paltry $19.99. Aaron’s raved about it for months, so I’m eager to see what I’ve been missing.

Oh, and if you see me playing Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard on Xbox Live…it’s for an experiment. Don’t judge me!

Champions Online has arrived, and Aaron's sinking his teeth into the game – including character creation.

Aaron:

Unfortunately, I’m not one of the cool kids. No, I haven’t purchased Brutal Legend, and I can’t play Uncharted 2 because I’m sans PS3. It’s been a big week for gaming, and instead I’ve spent my time with Titan Quest, Burnout Paradise and, as of yesterday, Champions Online.

Champions was one of my most-anticipated titles of 2009, yet I skipped its release date. Another tragic case of too many games to play with not enough funds available — let alone the fact that MMOs are notoriously unstable at launch. However, another fantastic Amazon deal ($15.98!) forced my hand to purchase a second game in two weeks that I was previously iffy about.

Champions is, with only a few hours played, instantly gratifying. The character customization is much better than what was in Cryptic’s first superhero MMO, City of Heroes, and I’ve created a lighthearted character in “Energene”: a force-blast powered, mild-mannered janitor who worked in a lab, and had a mishap with a radioactive mop. His name’s Gene…in case you didn’t catch the pun.

Next week is Borderlands, a game Nick and I have been anticipating for quite awhile. Look for another groundbreaking co-op review of ours later this month.

Whether it's a Mini or a Ferrari, Forza 3's physics – at least according to the demo – make you feel the speed.

Doug:

After finishing off The Beatles: Rock Band (which is brilliant), I turned some of my attention last weekend to the Forza Motorsport 3 demo again to spend a little more quality time with that.

For gamers with an Xbox Live account that’s signed into the Internet, it’s easy to access a free-run time trial mode that allows you to run as many laps as you want on the demo’s track with any of the five cars available. It’s a great opportunity to judge the changes made to the physics engine for this game, and also to put some fast times on the leaderboards.

Something that stands out related to the physics is how flexible the engine feels. The cars in the demo range from a stock Mini Cooper S to a racing-spec Porsche 911, and all of them feel connected to the road in their own separate way — but never underwhelming at all, which was a trap the Gran Turismo games have been known to fall into.

The other game I put some time into this week is Brütal Legend (rock dots absolutely necessary). It’s easy to say it’s living up to the expectations. Everything from the menu presentation to the voice acting to the game design is great, and despite some minor issues it’s still a very enjoyable experience. I’m struggling a touch to come to grips with some of the game design choices — some puzzles seem a bit obtuse from time to time — but otherwise it’s a labor of love, and it shows.

"Awesome!" indeed

So, we want to extend a ginormous gracias to those of you who read Silicon Sasquatch daily and continue to direct your comrades to our corner of the web. We promise to keep bringing you things of a decidedly awesome and videogame-related nature.

Now, it’s time for the real news: Atari gets cold feet, the telenovela that is Midway’s financial woes gets juicier, we get to know Modern Warfare 2 a bit better and Valve’s Team Fortress 2 team takes a “bow.” (You’ll get the pun in a bit.)

Let's hope Atari backing out of E3 doesn't mean advertising for Ghostbusters: The Video Game or Champions Online will suffer

Despite having a very capable line-up of releases coming out this year, Atari has suddenly decided to skip E3 2009, citing a desire to explore “other selling and marketing initiatives.” Joystiq seems to believe the company’s change of heart is due to a lack of sufficient cash flow to pay the Entertainment Software Association‘s fees. That’s possible, but without up-to-date financial analysis available it’s hard to be certain.

Our cursory research implies that Atari has seen significant increases in business-related performance over the last year in comparison to its stock delisting ordeal last May. Things might not be so bad at the company, but without knowing for sure that’s quite the guess.

Maybe Atari is actually going to pursue alternative methods of marketing its Ghostbusters and Champions Online titles as their announcement said. But with E3 2009 supposedly returning to its old tricks of cacophony and neon light insanity–which always made the event a great place to get a game noticed and hyped–this could be the makings of a huge mistake for Atari.

These financial issues are totally getting in the way of a sequel to Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy

Gamasutra has a fantastic post on the developing story of creditors who are suing Midway Games‘ former big-wig board members for running the company into the ground to allegedly benefit themselves.

Sumner Redstone, quite the controversial name as far as Midway’s current situation goes, is singled-out along with daughter Shari Redstone and former investor Mark Thomas, among others.  Two of the suit’s many claims center on the Redstones intentionally investing $90 million into the struggling company to then recoup it under claims of “debt,” and also using Midway’s $700 million in tax losses to later obtain a beneficial refund.

It’s a great if depressing read, and goes to show once again that money is quite the motivator when it comes to personal gain. No one wants to see any development studio go under thanks to fraudulent actions of insensitive businesspeople. But, yes, I suppose it’s “just business.”

Digital war has never been so cover-worthy, until now

Infinity Ward‘s Modern Warfare 2 is getting a blowout piece in the next issue of Game Informer, and multiple websites have posted some of the initial details. What’s known so far sounds both promising and unfortunate at the same time. Taking place years after the last game, “Soap” MacTavish–the main character throughout the British SAS missions in Call of Duty 4–is now a captain who will serve as the new character’s mentor as did Captain Price the last time around. It’ll be interesting to see a former protagonist in a different context.

Unfortunately, Infinity Ward won’t be including a cooperative campaign option, although Treyarch managed to include the feature in Call of Duty: World at War in a very polished manner. Also, MW2 sounds like it might be shorter than CoD4′s already short campaign.

Knowing Infinity Ward’s track record, the title will likely turn out to be superb. It’s just a shame to see the team once again won’t add co-op, an ironically modern gameplay feature, into the so-called Modern Warfare 2.

While this picture isn't related to the Sniper update, I think we can appreciate an engineer in mid-burn

And because they’re just so sweet to their fans, Valve has teased its impending Team Fortress 2 Sniper update with details on one of the new unlockable weapons: The Huntsman–it’s a bow and arrow!

The extremely old school weapon will actually pin its victims to surfaces upon a killing shot; even if the target lives through a direct hit, they’ll still have an arrow protruding from their bodies. Groovy.

Valve has consistently supported Team Fortress 2 with new maps, unlockables and achievements since its 2007 release, all for free, and it’s a real testament to the company’s belief in PC gaming.

Now we eagerly await the inevitable Zelda mod using the new bow and arrow’s physics. Get to work!

Oh TGIF, you used to be so great.

Welcome to Friday, dear readers. The weekend is upon us, but that hasn’t stopped a veritible flood of gaming news from materializing today.

What happened? Well: GameFly’s mad at the postal service (not the band, mind you), Final Fantasy XIII is kinda/sorta like Chrono Cross, Hideo Kojima is so like the best person ever, Champions Online has a release date and Midway just might live to develop another day. Full stories after the break, with a delicious Ghostbusters-related treat at the end of the post.

While cool, GameFly is not THAT cool

GameFly, the premiere mail-based videogame rental service, is calling the United States Postal Service out for favoritism and unfair business practices. The company claims that the USPS refuses to give it the same treatment of separating its DVDs into a special processing pile to reduce costs and breakages, which the government agency does for both Netflix and Blockbuster’s movie mailing programs. What’s really at stake here is that Blockbuster, though recently revealed to have a pretty light piggy bank, is soon adding videogames to its Total Access package. If Blockbuster’s games are also put aside for special treatment, GameFly worries it’ll be at a severe disadvantage.

They have a right to worry. If the USPS is playing favorites with larger, more established programs, and those programs introduce a service exactly like GameFly’s and still receive special treatment, then GameFly will have a fight on its hands. I’m a current GameFly customer, and though the service has its ups and downs it deserves the same opportunities as Netflix and Blockbuster.

Still aways away, no?

While this is an extremely for-the-hardcore post, 1UP’s The Grind blog has an engaging post about the similarities and differences between Final Fantasy XIII and PS1 classic Chrono Cross. It’s definitely an RPG-intensive read, but those interested in a dissection of the new Final Fantasy’s play style will want to take a look. I likely wouldn’t have compared the two games until I had my hands on XIII and noticed tidbits here and there, but Jeremy Parish lays out the intricacies nicely in terms of combat, skills and items. If anything, I really want to play through Chrono Cross now.

I’d like to think this is flame war material, but Famitsu‘s 2008 awards ceremony, which named Hideo Kojima as “Person of the Year” and Capcom “Company of the Year” among other awards, really isn’t that big of a deal to American gamers. It’s not to say the nods are meaningless, it’s just that I can’t see U.S. forum-going trolls worrying too much about what a Japanese gaming magazine thinks. I’m probably wrong.

The list is Konami-crazy, with Kojima-san, Solid Snake and Metal Gear Solid 4 picking up an award each. Another great thing about the list: the names. Where else can you get “All Generation Prize” and “Dramatic Prize”? Now, if Famitsu can get on giving an award to Segata Sanshiro, we’ll be covered. The video speaks for itself:

Hooray!

One of our most anticipated games of the year is totally, for sure coming out in 2009. Champions Online is suiting up for the PC on July 14th, and there’s not much else to say than that. Let’s just hope that Cryptic really did learn from their City of Heroes experience and crafted a long-lasting superhero MMO for all to enjoy. Let’s also hope my beta key gets sent soon.

GET OVER HERE, investor funding!

It’s been a long, winding road of cash hemorrhaging and corporate douchebaggery, but it doesn’t look like Midway is dead yet. MCV reports that Warner Bros. could be placing a bid on Midway Games. It sounds like the good ol’ WB is in it for the franchises, particularly the Mortal Kombat, Stranglehold and Galaga IPs, among others. Who really knows if this will pan out, but despite Midway’s lack of commercial success over the last few years it’s never good to see a company have to close. A Stranglehold 2 would be nice, anyway.

OK, here we go: The GameTrailers exclusive Ghostbusters: The Video Game opening cinematic trailer is the best intro ever. That’s not hyperbole, because when I see this video I actually feel like Terminal Reality gets the franchise and is doing their collective best to make it a-freaking-mazing. But that’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it: Is the game going to be any good? We’ll find out this June 16th.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

With E3 2009 just around the corner, it seems like an appropriate time to outline the known games we’re excited to see released over the rest of the year. Though our staff hasn’t had access to these games in a professional, hands-on manner, our comments are based on scouring sources for factual elements with pieces of speculation and analysis tossed in. Enjoy.

The Sasquatch Trinity: The three most wickedly awesomest games to watch this year

Brutal Legend: [Double Fine Productions, Electronic Arts, Q3 2009]

Another Tim Schafer game, another memorable experience.

Double Fine’s latest has EA’s publishing power to hopefully encourage sales success instead of repeating Psychonauts’ commercial stagnation under Majesco. The ridiculous concept of the world’s greatest roadie, Eddie Riggs (brought to life by Jack Black), being transported to a heavy metal fantasy land by his belt buckle works because Schafer and his team have created a world that thrives on that very ridiculousness. But this metal homage wouldn’t work without legitimacy: Lemmy Kilmister from Motörhead and Rob Halford from Judas Priest are playing major roles in both the game’s creative development and in voicing major characters. However, the undisclosed soundtrack is keeping legions of metalheads with perfect set lists swirling around their cerebrums waiting with bated breath. Will Double Fine’s licensing pull through?

While the gameplay at this stage sounds typical (think third-person portions similar to 3D Zelda titles, Crackdown and GTA), the polish visible in screenshots and trailers is already cranking this game up to “11″ in the wit department. Brütal Legend also expands on Psychonauts’ third-person action-adventure formula with a reported 64 square-kilometer open world littered with metal album cover imagery and over-the-top characters.

Most of all, it looks fun.

Assassin’s Creed 2: [Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft, Q4 2009]

We here at the Silicon Sasquatch enjoyed the first Assassin’s Creed. It was a slow-burn title that offered more than the nagging comments of the Internet claimed it did thanks to its wonderful setting and interesting, if not average, plot. In fact, in the coming weeks we’ll post a Retrospective of the title with our team’s compiled commentary.

Generally, the investigation portions suffered the most flak from various reviews and message boards. Which brings us to Assassin’s Creed 2, the recently revealed , Renaissance-era sequel. Desmond’s next assassin ancestor probed by the Animus is one Ezio Auditore de Firenze, an (obviously) Italian nobleman. Details from the next Game Informer posted on a since-removed Ubisoft forum page mention that AC2 will do away with the more disliked investigation options (pickpocketing and eavesdropping) while adding variety to the mission mix. Taking place in Europe will be a great change of pace as well, though it’s worrisome to hear of “flying machine” elements and an apparent emphasis on more action–two hidden blades are, apparently, better than one.

Let’s just hope Desmond does something proactive this time around. Maybe this?

The Beatles: Rock Band: [Harmonix, Electronic Arts/MTV Games, see above]

It’s The Beatles. It’s Rock Band. Despite the currently scant details, we can definitively say this will be the game for music fans. Still, many questions need to be answered before the game’s September release. Will the graphical style be more realistic? Do players only take on the personas of the world’s most acclaimed band? If true, does that mean no one will pass up the bass anymore? E3 is only a couple of months away.

The title, which has been worked on by the music game masters at Harmonix for over a year, benefits from the creative input of the two living Beatles, Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Even Yoko Ono and George Harrison’s family are lending their support to make the game as authentic as possible. Considering this experience focuses on celebrating the entire career of The Beatles and isn’t a one-shot Guitar Hero: Insert Band title, The Beatles: Rock Band can’t affort to slack off in the “feel” department at all.

In addition, George Harrison’s son, Dhani Harrison, has confirmed that unreleased Beatles audio content will make it into the game, almost making this Rock Band offshoot another Beatles Anthology project. This ties into the announcement that 14 of The Beatles’ albums, completely remastered in stereo and with other goodies, are dropping the same date as The Beatles: Rock Band. Will these new master tracks make it into the game? Without a doubt.

Fun fact: Two of our writers are confessed rhythm game fanatics and Rock Band addicts, while the other just wants to play “Revolution” on his plastic guitar.

Individual Picks

Aaron Thayer:

Champions Online: [Cryptic Studios, Atari, Q3 2009]
Based on details alone, Champions Online could be the redemption of the superhero MMO concept. Cryptic’s team seems to have learned from their mistakes in City of Heroes by providing character itemization (costume pieces = loot!), more robust hero and villain customization and realtime, cooldown-free fighting.

Mafia II: [2K Czech, Take-Two Interactive, Q4 2009]
The first Mafia in 2002 was the original open-world attempt at a realistic setting long before Niko Bellic came around. Mafia II changes the time period to the classic mobster era of the 1940s and 50s, but looks to keep the in-depth plot and cast while giving players a plethora of gameplay additions like faster cars with working trunks to store bodies and boomsticks. Nice.

Nick Cummings:

Modern Warfare 2: [Infinity Ward, Activision, Fall 2009]

It might be a bit audacious to put this at the top of my list. There hasn’t been any concrete information released about the game, unless poring over cryptic trailers is your thing, but as the company’s last game was the genre-revitalizing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, I’m expecting nothing but brilliance. Infinity Ward is going to great lengths to make this the definitive sequel fans have been waiting for (although Call of Duty: World at War was nothing to scoff at) by asking fans to submit suggestions for MW2 via a special Twitter site and hash tag.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: [Naughty Dog, Sony Computer Entertainment, Fall 2009]

I bought a PlayStation 3 for Metal Gear Solid 4, but I didn’t fall in love with the platform until I played Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. I’d had reservations after playing a pre-release demo at the Penny Arcade Expo in 2007 — the controls felt too loose, the environments too constricting — but just a few minutes with the retail release quelled all my fears. Uncharted was a beautiful, rich game of high adventure and sarcasm with just a dash of cheesiness. It was everything the new Indiana Jones film should have been, and the sequel, Among Thieves, aims to improve upon its predecessor in just about every way. It’s a tall order, but Naughty Dog is dead-set on delivering.

Doug Bonham:

Every EA Sports Title Released This Year: [EA Sports, Electronic Arts, various releases]
Being a sports game fan, there’s always a new season’s worth of games to look forward to each year. This is of course true for the lineup from sports-gaming juggernaut EA Sports. Titles worth looking forward to include Tiger Woods 10 in June, NCAA Football 10 in July, and NHL 10 and FIFA 10 in the fall. Of course, seeing how Madden 10 turns out when that launches in August is a necessity as well.

The Bigs 2: [Blue Castle Games, 2K Sports, July 2009]
Of particular note for sports games this year is 2K Sports’ The Bigs 2. The first one two years ago was a great piece of arcade sports gaming, right in the same genre as NBA Street as part of the second wave of arcade-style sports games. The sequel promises to pitch up more wicked yakkers when it launches in June, and is probably an Xbox 360 gamer’s best bet for baseball this year.

The Most Worrisome Games of 2009: Not all games are made equal.

Dragon Age: Origins: [BioWare, Electronic Arts, Late 2009]

BioWare’s announcement of Dragon Age: Origins heralded a return to its roots of high-fantasy roleplaying games like Baldur’s Gate. It’s cause for celebration for any hardcore RPG fan…on paper, at least. Sticking to strict old-school mechanics, like playing a mute protagonist, gives the impression that BioWare is developing a game around the rigid Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ruleset without even possessing the license anymore. After 2007′s stellar Mass Effect became a critical and commercial hit, it’s a little worrisome that BioWare seems to be throwing that game’s innovations out the window.

BioShock 2: [2K Marin, 2k Games, Late 2009]

One man does not a classic make, but there’s no dismissing the invaluable role Ken Levine played in the development of cult horror classic System Shock 2 and its spiritual successor, BioShock. His lack of involvement in BioShock 2 is a little disconcerting, but even more troubling is how uninspired the sequel looks in comparison to the stunning impression the first game had on all who played it. A return to Rapture isn’t necessarily a bad idea, but when the interface, enemies, Plasmids and weapons look nearly identical to the first game, why even bother making a sequel?