BeefJack.com

If you want to read more about gaming written by myself you can now go on over to BeefJack.com where I am now writing for on a regular basis. You should check out my Fable II review that just went up.

Unfortunatley being focused over at BeefJack.com I won’t be writing for Video Game Daily as often. But don’t worry I have no intention on closing the blog! On occasion I will make posts seperate from BeefJack.com so make sure to check back.

BeefJack.com

Developer vs. Publisher (aka Internet Drama)

No doubt that Publishers and Developers have their differences, both tend to be looking out for their own interests. But things tend to get more interesting when such disagreements reach the public realms of the internet. fourzerotwo or Robert Bowling is a community manager for Infinitry Ward. Evidently deciding private discussion was not his style.

“Especially when you’re pulling shit out of your ass. Come on man, interview about your game. Not OURS! Call of Duty: World at War can stand on it’s own merits, leave ours out of it. Like this gem of a quote from today’s article on CVG…”

This particular quote is in reference to Noah Heller a Senior Producer of Activision which you may also notice is the owner of Infinity Ward. Noah Heller has been giving interviews for the recentley released Call of Duty: World at War. Robert has some issues with these interviews however I’m going to take a guess and say that isn’t the only thing he is angry about.

“Can you guys please stop interviewing this guy, talk to someone who actually works on the Dev Team at Treyarch and knows what the fuck they’re talking about. Not Senior Super Douche Noah Heller from Activision – who apparently has never played the game and doesn’t even work at the developer.”

Ouch… I can’t speak for Noah Heller or about the accusation of being a “Senior Super Douche” however I do have to wonder how secure fourzerotwo’s job is these days. Looking back I also noticed that Noah Heller is the very same man who made comments about Brother in Arms, which led to some serious damage control over at Infintiy Ward…

fourzerotwo blog

Mirrors Edge – Support Creativity

Mirrors Edge comes out this week and a number of reviews have started to come in. Over at metacritic the average score is at around 82% when this was posted. A number of sites such as IGN and Gamespot have given the game scores in the range of 7.0 sighting a number of problems in the game.

However before you brush this game off as a let down and pass it by for other more flashy titles I want you to remember one thing. While Mirrors Edge may have it’s share of flaws it also marks an original concept that deserves recognition.

The game industry is based on what sells, why else would EA put out a yearly Madden game without many improvments? It’s because it consistentley sells millions. With this in mind many game developers and publishers are hesitant with trying new things, an example of this would be Psychonaughts, while critically acclaimed by the media the game did poorly financially.When a risk such as Psychonaughts doesn’t pan out this only encourages a studio to avoid taking a chance with new IP’s.

So with this in consideration you may want to look at Mirrors Edge in a new light, while it may not be perfect it was has serious potential. But by passing it up you are denying any chance of an improved sequel, or the encouragment of original and innovative games in the future.

I myself can’t tell you how good Mirrors Edge is, I have only played the demo just like anyone else. But what I do know is that this style of game provides a fresh look at what can be done in this generation of games.Take a look, try it out, you make be suprised that a review is just one opinion. What matter is yours.

Overall Scores

Gears of War 2 “Last Day”

A follow up trailer to the original “Mad World” has been released. This is just in time for Gears of War 2. The trailer is entitled “Last Day”. Incidentally it is also produced by the same company as the original. The song featured is by How it ends by Devontchka.

de Blob Review

When looking at the library of games out there for the Wii quality third-party games are a fairly small minority. Party games and shovelware tend to find their way straight onto the Wii. Thankfully de Blob is neither of those. Instead de Blob presents itself as platformer. Moving around levels as a blob of paint players are changing a world of black and white to one of vibrant color.

In the coming weeks…(and months)

The end of this week should be an exciting one. Spore comes out on September 7th, and I plan on putting up my impressions as soon as possible. On the very same day comes the start of the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Open Beta. “Open” is a relative term as only people who have preordered the game will be admitted.

Have no fear however as I keep all of you up to date on the goings of the Open Beta and the game in general. This year looks like it could be better than last. Which is surprising to say as I thought last year was pretty satisfying.

If your anything like me this holiday season’s release schedule is hard to keep track of. I figured I would put together a list of a major titles coming out this month.

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise – Sept. 2, 2008

Spore – Sept. 7, 2008

Rock Band 2 – Sept 14, 2008 (Xbox 360)

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – Sept 16, 2008

Crysis Warhead – Sept 16, 2008

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning – Sept 18, 2008

Samba de Amigo – Sept 23, 2008

Lego Batman: The Video Game – Sept 23, 2008

de Blob – Sept 26, 2008

These are only the titles that caught my eye. If you have a game in mind you think others would be interested leave a comment and I will update the post with the release date.

PAX 08′ Spore + Rock Band 2!

These two new videos show off the opening scenes of Spore and the booth for Rock Band 2.  The panel covered the first three parts of Spore: Cell, Creature, and Tribe. The demo was fantastic although I must admit I would have liked to see Space.

The first video opens with the start of Spore in the cell stage. During the second we see parts of the Creature stage and the Tribe stage.

Click the jump to see the second of the two spore videos as well as the Rock Band 2 booth.