Archive for September, 2007
Jaken Bear’s X’07 Top seven
Posted by Jaken Bear in XCL Event on September 20th, 2007
Recently Xbox Canada hosted their annual fall media showcase event. Typically a press only affair, these last two years the event has been opened up to the gaming community. Those lucky enough to earn a golden ticket were given a rare chance to check out and get hands on time with the games that will comprise the most amazing holiday line up in video game history. Overall the event was a great success. The venue was perfect, and the set up was a gamer’s dream. And despite some unforeseen power outage issues, the organizing team came through like champs and made sure everyone still had a good time. Generators were flown in via drop-ship (or so they said), power was restored, and it was game on. Below you will find my top 7 favorite things about this year’s X’07 event.
7. The XNA games - Everybody wants to make games in their basement right? Well these guys are actually doing it. Thanks to Microsoft’s amazing XNA initiative, games are being made my passionate gamers that can actually be played on their own Xbox 360 consoles and shared with other members of the creators club. There were several titles on display for the community to check out, including War Pong, and the recent winner of the XNA dream, build, play contest, Blazing Birds. Blazing birds can best be described as a one on one badminton game with robots and some amazing visual effects. As someone who has dabbled in XNA game development, I can tell you that what these guys have done is truly amazing. Making games is a difficult endeavor, but at the same time can be very rewarding if you put the effort in. Again though, the coolest part of XNA is that you get to play games you’ve made yourself on your beloved Xbox 360
6. Viva Piñata Party Animals - “You like Piñatas?” you ask? Well, I am man enough to admit that yes indeed I do. The original Viva Piñata provided hours upon hours of entertainment in our household. My girlfriend even ascended to the upper echelon of piniata-dom and reached the highest level possible - level 108. That basically meant she grew every plant, bred every animal, and spawned every variant. VP party animals takes all our favorite stuffed candy vessels and puts them in over 40 mini games. You will find your self powering sail boats with belches, racing down steep slops, and collecting candy all while battling up to three other piñata players. So far it looks like this could be a hit with a wide range of gamers, and the 360 lineup is definitely short of these type of party games. Give it a chance when it launches this fall, and you may be surprised.
5. Project Gotham Racing 4 – The PGR franchise has always taken the lead in innovating the genre. This year’s version introduces two new features to the series. For the first time you will be able to take high powered bikes out on the track, and even race them against their four wheeled brothers. Then again, this is no moto-gp, and the bikes handle in a very “arcade” manner. Trust me though, this is a good thing. The last thing you need is to be sent flying by some jerk in a Ferrari. The second thing added this year is an amazing dynamic weather system. I never thought I would get the chance to race a high powered Porsche through the streets of Quebec City in a blizzard. And if all of that wasn’t cool enough, the game is set to explode in the online space with something called Project Gotham Racing live. You will be able to share videos and pictures from the track, as well as watch the top racers or friends battle it out for road superiority.
4. Mass Effect - The most amazing looking game I’ve ever seen. Seriously. The characters look so lifelike and react to actions you can take at any time while conversing. Think of it as an interactive movie, where you drive the direction of the plot. Unlike past Bioware titles such as Knights of The old republic, you only get to choose a general direction to take the conversation in. There is not canned sequence of responses to choose from anymore. The best part is that you can interrupt people in mid conversation. So if that Krogan is really ticking you off, choose an aggressive response mid sentence, and watch the fun unfold. Add to this some pretty unique third person squad based combat that unfolds in real time (you can pause it if you like for more tactical responses) and this November is going to change how we think about RPG’s.
3. Halo 3 Forge map editor - Most people at this point have seen a ton of Halo 3 coverage. Be it by participating in the beta or reading an exclusive in a magazine, Halo 3 is out there and in everyone’s mind. So it was really cool when Bungie gave a live demo of their new map editing tool: Forge. To understand what Forge is, think of it as a giant sandbox that you can play in with your friends. Only instead of toy shovels and beach balls, you get to manipulate giant warthogs and fusion cores. The possibilities are endless, and on top of what is looking to be an amazing single player campaign, the multiplayer feature set is going to keep us playing for years. It’s kind of a disservice though to call it Halo 3 “single player”, since the entire game can be played through via live or system link with three other friends. You can even save movies of your exploits, and share them for the world to see. September 25th can’t come soon enough.
2. ROCKBAND – This fall, you may as well call this game the “create a rock superstar in a box” game. Get together with four friends, either over Xbox Live, or in your living room and let the good times roll. There really is nothing else aside from being in a real band like the satisfaction you get from creating music and feeling like the next big thing. X’07 was my first chance to play the game, and I immediately felt right at home rocking it out to “Tom Sawyer” with Microsoft VP Jeff Bell on vocals and Knuckles Dawson from Xbox 360 fanboy on guitar. We had a drummer, but he has since been kicked out of the band. We are currently looking for a replacement if anyone is interested. It’s a testament to Rockband’s fun factor what a set of plastic instruments can make people do in front of a large group such as was present at X’07. I even had a chance to try out vocals for a few songs and let me apologize to anyone’s ears I might have hurt in the process. Seriously though, I was awesome (in my own mind, and that’s what counts).
1. The Canadian Community - The best thing about X’07 was the amazing Canadian Xbox community members. Despite having had a few problems with power in the area, generators were brought in just in time for the kick off of the community portion of the event. Because of this a choice had to be made: use the Power to run the Air conditioning or use the power to run the games. Well the latter choice won out and gamers couldn’t have been happier. Despite extreme conditions though everybody I saw was having a blast. Rather than complain about the heat the community did their thing and checked out all of the amazing titles at the show. Getting together with friends is what Xbox 360 is all about, and never was this more evident then at this year’s event. Thanks to everyone who showed up and I hope to see you all next year at X’08!
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Medal of Honor Airborne: Multiplayer Summit
Posted by Jaken Bear in Community on September 1st, 2007
Last month EA invited Xbox Addict along with a bunch of other journalists, podcasters, and community members to Fort Bragg, North Carolina to take a look at their upcoming 360 WW2 shooter, Medal of Honor : Airborne. While they could have taken the easy road and hosted the event at a posh air conditioned hotel, EA decided to go the extra mile and immerse us fully in the culture of the 82nd Airborne division. With temperatures soaring well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, this was a community day like no other. Even while journeying to the base from my home in the great white north, there was a sense this would be an experience not soon forgotten. Not only did we get hands on time with the multiplayer, but there was also some time for some sessions with the excellent single player.
This preview was originally published on Xbox Addict and appears here as part of a partnership between XCL and XBA. Check out Xbox Addict for more great content.
Medal of Honor Airborne is really taking a risk releasing a World War 2 shooter in what has of late become a stagnant genre. A lot of gamers are craving a new war to fight. Fortunately, MOHA has taken this fact to heart, and the passion and innovation put into Airborne should help elevate it above the WW2 stigma. So what makes the game unique? Enter the Airborne, and the ability to drop into the battlefield rather than spawn at preset locations. The multiplayer is 12 players 6 vs. 6 Axis vs. Allied fare, only the Allied have the ability to drop out of the sky, where as the Axis have the ability to shoot their opponents as they drop onto the battlefield. You would think this would give the Allies a distinct advantage, but there is actually a nice balance between the two sides. Dropping into the battlefield as Allies, you are able to choose a strategic location (say perhaps a contested flag), and really dictate how the battle unfolds. However, as the Axis, you are able to shoot your opponent out of the sky as they drop in and often times you can get a jump on a paratrooper who botches a landing (it takes them a few seconds to recover) by looking for the freshly falling chute. It really does feel balanced overall, and you should be able to enjoy playing as both sides. At first airdrops seem like more fun, but once you snipe a few allies out of the sky you should change your tune.
We were able to check out 6 maps and as of now that is what will ship with the game. Six maps may not seem like much, but if you consider how many variables the designers needed to take into account when creating these environments, it’s actually not that bad. Since the allies can literally drop ANYWHERE into the map when they spawn, you end up as the axis always having to look up as well as watching your back. This really opens up the battlefield unlike a lot of shooters that have come before. Roof top to roof top battles are common (yes the axis can get up on the roofs too — they just have to climb), and don’t be surprised if you look up only to be fragged by the boot of an incoming paratrooper.
MOHA has implemented a fairly robust weapons upgrade system this time around. Basically, the more you play with certain weapons, the more you are unable to unlock. These include upgrades such as pistol grips, better accuracy, and grenades you can launch further. The character you use in ranked games will level up in a persistent way, so the more you play, the more powerful you get. This shouldn’t lead to too much imbalance though as you seem to be able to earn the upgrades fairly quickly. In unranked play, the host is able to choose what types of upgrades are allowed, and even give every player in the match upgraded weapons by default. There is the expected variety of weapons you would expect from a World War 2 shooter. Machine guns like the Garand and Thompson, sniper rifles, pistols, and my favorite during my visit: the anti-tank rocket. While there are no tanks to shoot your rockets at, let me just say that in human vs. rocket battles, rocket usually wins.
As for the controls, the gameplay feels really solid. There is definitely some weight to your character, and this becomes especially obvious when you botch a landing and end up face first one the ground with your hands in front of you. One unique thing I noticed is how you are able to use cover in a very organic way. Clicking in the left trigger pulls up your iron sights, and from there you are able to click in the left stick to pop or down. Additionally, while having the left stick clicked in you can lean to the left or right to peak around corners. You can even move while in this cover mode. This really allows you to use cover how you see fit, and helps you “stop and pop” your enemies while staying relatively safe. It definitely feels more realistic than having to strafe out of cover and expose your entire body.
MOHA ships with three multiplayer game modes. The first is named objective airborne. In this mode, three flags are placed on the battlefield. Typically, one flag is placed near the axis spawn, one is placed in a neutral location in the middle, and the third is placed at the opposite end and owned by the allies. The goal is to take control of all three flags. While the flags on either need only one soldier to stand in place and capture it, the middle flag requires at least two soldiers, so is usually a large area of contention. It seems like a fairly standard territories mode until you consider the following: the Allied squad drops into the world from the sky rather than respawn at set locations. This instantly changes the strategies both teams need to use to accomplish their objectives, and you are never truly safe from having someone land on your noggin. Alternatively though, you could also drop into a hornet’s nest of axis soldiers, and find yourself back in the drop plane fairly quickly. The other two modes are Team death match airborne mode, where flags are forgotten and its all about kill count. Lastly, you have the standard team deathmatch, which forgoes jumping out of a plane altogether. While the last two modes still proved to be fun, it was the airborne objective mode that I see having the most legs.
As part of the community day, we also had a chance to experience life at Fort Bragg as a lot of the airborne troops do. We were able to stay in military accommodations, experience the food at the mess hall (it was actually really good), and the highlight of the trip - jump from a 34 foot paratrooper training tower. We really were welcomed with open arms by the troops, and you would be hard pressed to meet a more genuine, respectful, and honorable group of people.
Can’t wait until the game launches? Well head onto the Xbox Live Marketplace right now and download the single player demo. With this 972 meg download you can experience for yourself the first four objectives of Operation Husky. You will be thrown right from the plane and into the fury of an axis fortified stronghold. And for even more Medal of Honor : Airborne fun be sure to keep your eye on Airborne’s LIVE Launch on September 7th - 9th! More info can be found by following this link.
