Starcraft 2 is “Unfinished,” Say People Who will Buy it Anyway
Evil Avatar reports that Blizzard’s just-released Starcraft 2 is getting some heat from consumers, who’ve criticized the game for being “unfinished” – in the sense that this first installment, Wings of Liberty, only represents the human campaign. The Protoss and Zerg campaigns will ship as their own games, at $60 apiece, like this one.
First Impressions: Deadly Premonition
“Sounds like something you need to check out,” wrote my friend Ben Hoyt of 47Games. “Would love to hear your thoughts.” He was speaking of this.
Ben’s a good guy; a far better writer, and a much crueler – though undoubtedly more genuine – critic than I. Being a game-maker himself, he’s very hard on them. I’ve never known anyone more adept at dissection of game experiences. Ben also knows I like the occasional oddity, so whenever he stumbles across one he tells me about it.
Thus did I buy Deadly Premonition.
Limbo
Review by Mat C
Limbo
Developer PlayDead Studios
Publisher Microsoft Game Studios
Released 21 July 2010
Available for Xbox 360 Live Arcade
Time Played Finished
Verdict: 
5/5 Gold Star
“Limbo is, however, more than the sum of its parts. To wrap it up and put it in a neat and cliched package entitled “puzzle platformer” or the like would be to miss the wider point. This is a rich and engaging story where isolation, death and self-discovery are the main themes, underpinned by an eerie and haunting atmosphere that will keep you emotionally invested in this silhouetted, bright eyed little boy from start to finish”
Comic-Con 2010: Handin’ Out An Ass Whoopin’
Oh wow. The bomb has just dropped, folks.
With this year’s Comic-Con in full swing in San Diego, lead producers on two of the industry’s most revered fighting franchises have just announced what must surely go down as one of the most exciting collaborations of well, ever really.
Tekken? Street Fighter? There’s only way to find out! Fight!
Alan Wake
Review by Mat C
Alan Wake
Developer Remedy Entertainment
Publisher Microsoft Game Studios
Released 14 May 2010 (EU), 18 May 2010 (US)
Available for Xbox 360
Time Played Finished
Verdict: 5/5 Gold Star
“That said however, Alan Wake is still an incredibly well put together package. From a technical stand point the game is perhaps a year or two outdated and it’s hard to see where more than five years of development time really went to, but as an overall experience Alan Wake transcends the importance of such issues. The story is amongst the most compelling I’ve ever played and the game is a shining example of how linearity can work when driven by a strong narrative. For that particular decision at least, Remedy can be justly proud.”
Dream A Little Bigger Darling.
I went to see the mind bending Inception the other night and came away with the same feeling I had after seeing The Matrix back in 1999. Inception is bold and exciting, and has an intensity only exasperated by Hans Zimmer’s unremitting score which seemed to be going full tilt for the entire duration of the film. The soundtrack is every bit as obnoxious as DiCaprio’s other 2010 film Shutter Island, and I love it.
You Pay for Quality, You’d Better Get Quality
It has been a lifetime since I contributed to Tap, but Steerpike’s/Matt’s latest IGDA article called “The Facts of Life” got my blood boiling. It had little to do with what Steerpike said, but a whole lot to do with the philosophy so current in our marketplace. The article pointed out a series of glitches and faux pas in Obsidian’s latest, Alpha Protocol, while indicating that he was able to “overlook its many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many technical faults.” That is fair enough and I can respect him for that attitude. What I can’t respect is Obsidian Games for releasing such a game and charging full retail for it.
Kinect Priced, New 360 Bundles on the Way
Microsoft have gone announcement mad, ladies and gentlemen. Having officially unveiled and named Kinect as a live and working (well, sort of) consumer product at this years E3 conference in June, the company have finally made their intentions clear with regards to pricing. I’m sure Microsoft’s PR department would like you to be surprised by the official $149 price tag, although in typical fashion, every retailer in America has already leaked this figure at some point over the last month. Still, it’s nice to see such issues settled officially by Steve Ballmer and chums.
Modern Conflict HD
Review by Mat C
Modern Conflict HD
Publisher ClickGamer
Released 09 July 2010
Available for iPad
Time Played Finished
Verdict: 
3/5 Middlin
“Modern Conflict HD certainly isn’t the RTS experience that many will see as the perfect fit for the iPad’s gorgeous 9.7″ multi-touch display. The simplistic gameplay and lack of true tactical depth will leave enthusiasts of the genre disappointed, while the omission of a multiplayer component does seem like something of a missed opportunity”
Wordy and Pretentious. That Sounds Right, Yeah
To my horror, I’ve discovered that I write like the late David Foster Wallace. I do not like David Foster Wallace, but the internet doesn’t lie. I Write Like is a prose analyzer developed by a Russian software engineer. Paste in some of the stuff you’ve written and it humiliates you by telling you that you write like David Foster Wallace.
I did get “Kurt Vonnegut” once, and “Douglas Adams” once, but I got David Foster Wallace four times by posting in various stuff from this very blog. Maybe that means that this whole “Wall of Text” thing I do that Yapette teases me about is something I should revisit…
Email the author of this post at steerpike@tap-repeatedly.com.
Tim Schafer Tells Truth, Apologizes
Tim Schafer of Double Fine Productions is a stud. I mean, this is the guy who gave us Psychonauts! Grim Fandango! Day of the Tentacle! Full Throttle! If I ever meet him I will kiss him. He probably wouldn’t appreciate it, but still.
But I don’t think Tim will kiss Bobby Kotick, Activision/Blizzard CEO and asshole. There is no love there. But Tim is a nice guy and has apologized for calling Kotick a “prick,” which he totally is.
Ikaruga: Hardorah than Hydorah
I swapped Ikaruga for Mario Kart: Double Dash!!. There. I said it. And here’s another thing: I had more fun with Double Dash!! than Ikaruga, despite the Treasure shoot ‘em up being a thing of beauty. So what made me swap it? Because as much as I love an indiscriminately difficult game I wimped out. I couldn’t do it. I didn’t have the patience to learn the bullet patterns or have the perseverance to wield the elegant polarity switching. It tested me more than any other game I’ve ever played, and I failed.
Welcome to the Slaughterhouse
Platform exclusivity is nothing new for major publishers. We live in an era where multi-million dollar deals are a regular occurrence in the constant quest to get one over the competition, whether that be to keep a franchise solely on one platform or even tempt one away from another; as demonstrated by the rather high profile “theft” of Final Fantasy XIII from it’s traditional PlayStation home at last years E3. For a development studio, the dangling of the golden carrot can be a temptation too sweet to ignore in exchange for platform exclusive DLC or a timed release window, but what about the little guys? The indie studio’s and bedroom developers? What happens when a smaller team choose to remain exclusive to one platform at their own descretion?
It’s an issue that Hello Games co-founder Sean Murray has been discussing today at the Brighton Develop conference, with intriguing results.
A/B vs. W&Z, Round 3
This is actually A/B vs. 40FIWE, Round 2, but that would just make for a confusing title card. Since we’re already world-famous for our exclusive, hard-hitting coverage of the ongoing saga between Activision/Blizzard and its former trophy studio Infinity Ward, we’ll stick with the title we know.
40 Former Infinity Ward Employees have also filed suit against the publishing giant, alongside former studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella. The day before yesterday, they revised their lawsuit, adding some juicy details about Activision’s increasingly shocking (if true) behavior.
Anonymity vs. Exposure
A while ago, Blizzard announced that their Battle.Net and World of Warcraft forums would include the real, full name of the user on every post. And the whole world exploded.
According to Blizzard, this is to promote community and friend-making. According to the forumites, this is an unforgivable act of stupidity. And not for the reasons you might think – usually when forum-employing gamers bitch about something, their reasons are foolish. But in this case the complainers have valid, justifiable concerns that Blizzard has not apparently taken into account.
Ruining Your Life for Fun and Profit
Defense Grid: The Awakening
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