PPR's E3 2010 impressions: Microsoft

 
So with E3 finishing up & leaving us behind in it's bag of mixed feelings but none of the less, shedded some light on the games & consoles that we were in anticipation of while being surprised by some announcements & being disappointed with the complete lack of coverage on games some of us have yet to hear anything on (Andrew has been dying to ear anything from Valve on Half-Life 3). Press Pause Radio has been on the down low with us, mostly myself being so busy & tied down with work we weren't able necessarily to follow second by second coverage of all the E3 highlights, however we have now reached the end of E3 & I will be  
posting my impressions of the expo along with Toast himself. I will go ahead & start out with Highlights along with a list of ten games with no specific order in terms priority over the other in excitement or quality hahahaha because they were all pretty good so let me go ahead & start off with my impressions on the conferences, & I will start off with Microsoft.

 
What can I say? Personally, I felt that the entire conference itself was fairly mediocre at best. The age of First-person shooters is still prevalent among us as we were treated to all the Microsoft's shameless boasting of exclusive DLC regarding multiplayer maps & modes that just immediately instilled the feeling of arbitrary nonsense that was simply used to fill in some show time on the show as again I was amazed from the get go that run time for the show after I caught it on GameTrailers was just a little over 29 minutes. though the presentation of the Gameplay showcasing Call of Duty Black Ops did not show too much out of the ordinary until the excellent Helicopter dog-fight combat that followed in the end, I will say that my lack of or otherwise neglect of interest on Call of Duty did slightly change, even though Infinity Ward is out of the picture, I think Activision struck gold with the new development team behind Black Ops as far as my initial impression. Why is that I state this? it was honestly the attract trailer that played at the start of the presentation, some how I was just engorged on this sensation of accessibility that the trailer suggested for the game. I honestly think that the FPS genre has just become some watered down Frat-boy fuck head game that has been recycled over a dozen times & it must do a lot for me in terms of some kind of brilliant gameplay mechanic or innovative component to warrant the slightest bit of interest in any of the games that modern publishers currently saturate the market, I am sadly going to have to give some sort of kudos to Activision...very little though, & I am not completely sold either, I just now show interest towards the final product. The next Key point within the conference would be appearance of Hideo Kojima & growing light on Metal Gear Rising, which showed off some stunning gameplay elements revolving around action & using Raiden swords to perform some gruesome & satisfyingly accurate cuts that sever limbs into even small limbs that would instill images of Iron chef but with people & there was again some bullet time effects used during the slicing of Raiden's sword...again I am excited for this game but I do eel that the Metal Gear Franchise is done. Especially to the point to where even though this game is a self proclaimed spin-off that derives mere plot & narrative or references to Metal Gear, this game was not Metal Gear...in the slightest, which again only shows just how fucking played out this game is now become to the point where Kojima is simply using the name to appease who he may feel may be his faithfully blind & ignorant fanbase by name & name only (honestly I would say universe too but after Metal Gear Solid 2, I think the guy honestly just makes it up as he goes & then pulls out this magic continuity, which still doesn't fully make sense within the MGS4...) so I am excited & will purchase on day one, but at the same time I also feel ashamed that I am contributing to the gluttonous monster that MGS has become when we have already had countless stale spin-off that I can enjoy because of my dwindling but faithful loyalty to the franchise & on that note with a minor segway, I again found it baffling that neither Kojima Productions or Konami presented so little mention to Castlevania: Lords of Shadow which was announced last year at E3 2009 along with Metal Gear Rising & Peace Walker. Castlevania:LOS was even forecasted with a 2010 release & we have a game that looked so promising now look affirm fears so I don't know exactly, I also don't feel that the majority of focus shifting over to Castlevania: Harmony of Despair really helped it any. Back to Microsoft, we then had  
Cliffy B. from Epic make an appearance on the stage to announce the status of Gears of War 3 which was such a welcomed sight I wanted applaud, mostly due to the fact that other then Kojima's appearance on the stage, the attitude & stage performance of everyone representing Microsoft or Activision was so uninspiring & stale, that  could relate it to the image of finding an obtuse shaped paper clip firmly buried in crusted dog turd.Cliffy B. was showing off the 4 player cooperative play & the new Lambent Locust in action which was definitely much faster paced than I had originally anticipated with the sequel but at the same time gave me the sense that the very thing that made Gears of War so amazing & distinctive in the first place is slowly taking a back seat of how the combat flow works & that the environmental tactic of cover & fire, the game other than a few meat shield moment, felt very run-&-gunny...that's not why I play or enjoy Gears of War at all, so other than some new apprehension thrown in the mix, another release I am yet again pretty fucking stoked on.

This is where I felt the conference started nose diving into disappointment. Project Natal was something that I was amazed with even as Paco & I first did our E3 episode during the early Press Pause Radio episodes & one of the key things that we couldn't just shake our excitement for Project Natal, a year later & we now have an official name & release for it, it's name is Kinect, which even though I did find strange, the name didn't really bother me, the announcement of Nov. 4 also made me feel great, seeing it in action & seeing what Microsoft & Rare have been doing with it...unacceptable. Kinect is supposed to be Microsoft's outlet to explore the realm of Motion control gameplay & revolutionize what some consider to be a fad in the video game landscape, Microsoft takes this opportunity & immediately shits in my brain & heart with conventions in the motion controlled gamely that we have already experienced as it has been saturated on the Wii since 2006..FOUR FUCKING YEARS AGO! with games showcased like Wii Kinect Sports, some trite Mini game collection with Kinect Adventures & Kinectimals...an interactive virtual pet simulator that as been done several times & poorly on the Wii, which I know that Sony is doing the same thing with eyepet still this is exactly what burns me, when Sony & Microsoft made these bold statements they were going to revolutionize the motion control scheme interface & innovate it beyond all of the Wii'slimitations...yet they stick with profitable conventions that has already been done...God dammit. The Kinect interface compatibility with the Xbox 360 dashboard was nice & though it may have come off as being much too convient to where controllers have been removed from the equation along with voice-control, I can see that being innovated into something awesome if developers can get their head out of their asses. The ESPN channel was hardly anything to be impressed with, I know I'm not the biggest sports guy but there was nothing so immediately substantial that it needed to be paraded like it was this amazing new life changing feature for that of a modern gamer so that's all I'm left with at state on that point. the New slim model of the Xbox 360 is more then a welcome change & I hope eliminate a majority of the hardware failure rate that's plagued the 360 even in this most current generation & it's funny as I already had a feeling that this was going to occur that this was the end all be all close to Microsoft Conference, again nothing really surprising or heart pumping excited me & the fact that the slims were also given away to the physical attendees as well only made me feel like Microsoft was trying to make up the lack luster effort in this Year's E3 showing, so here's hoping that something motivates me to reconsider my new apprehension on Kinect & something else along the lines of Third party exclusives that'll renew some of my lost faith, ahahahha who knows? maybe Microsoft will finally announce their portable entry into the current generation as the X-Brick! 
 
Hahahahaha anyway, I'll be posting my E3 Nintendo conference impression tomorrow night along with news with the newest Press Pause Radio episode & what not, catch you later on tomorrow guys~GBAXE

E3 2010

 

So E3 officially starts today, and everyone seems to be anxiously waiting for all the big news and exciting reveals. We at Press Pause Radio are unable to liveblog or follow the event minute to minute, however we will still be discussing the show and some of the news throughout the week. Our good friends at CrushFragDestroy! are liveblogging all of the major press conferences this week, and providing up to the minute updates on the biggest news. Head over to their website for all of your E3 needs. Until then, enjoy the show! 

PPR 23: One Year Anniversary Part Two

We continue our celebration of surviving one year on the internet with part two of our anniversary episode. The Press Pause Radio crew are still enjoying their mini vacation, but will return to the digital airwaves very soon with an all new episode. Until then, sit back and listen as Georgieboy, Paco and Toast walk down memory lane, and discuss the beginnings of the podcast.

Part two also includes a very special chat with Mr. Rob Thomas, Executive Editor and Owner of CrushFragDestroy.com, a fantastic video game news website that is rapidly becoming one of the most well known sites on the internet. Georgie and Toast speak with our special guest on a wide variety of topics, and find out more about creating a gaming website from the ground up. We hope you enjoy this anniversary episode, and check back soon for all new episodes of Press Pause Radio!

PPR Episode 23

PPR 22: One Year Anniversary Part One

It's our one year anniversary, and we here at Press Pause Radio are celebrating! It has truly been an honor to speak to you all this year so far, and we hope that you will allow us to continue for the year to come. To commemorate the grand occasion, we have recorded a two part epic anniversary show complete with music, memories and very special guests. On part one of our anniversary episode, we reminisce on some of our favorite memories and the uphill climb that has taken place in creating the podcast and website. 

Our special guests for the first part of the anniversary episode are the hosts of a fine podcast that everyone here should be subscribing to right this minute, Pixel Dreams. Drew and Eric were able to spend some time with Paco and George, and discuss all aspects of retro gaming. The results are truly amusing, and sometimes vulgar. What else do you expect from Press Pause Radio? Stay tuned for the second half of our anniversary episode, coming soon!

PPR Episode 22

PPR's Clone Chronicles #1 By GeorgieBoysAXE

So with the Anniversary episode being released very soon, I have been mentioning a lot of the Clone Games. What these Clone games you ask? definitely not the result of some Mad Scientists sick twisted designs of a resulted masochistic genetic experimentation, that much I can definitely assure you. No what I'm referencing exactly is a different developer developing a completely new IP or an existing license or franchise utilizing a Gameplay aesthetic or mechanics that are already founded on previous existing games in a pedestal that balances the side of homage or shameless cash-in on a an established formula with little or no innovation invested within said game. Granted I may have come off a bit curt there but it's a line that is dangerously danced on when developers cater on gamers with a gameplay formula that has been established & there are genres that maybe considered derivative between their own respective releases, there are still quirks or mechanics, animation, or distinguishing elements that give you this sense of Deja vu & I just wanted to go over my experiences with the batch of games that I have played through a series of what I will call...the Clone Chronicles, this isn't a permanent blog series that I am introducing into Press Pause Radio but some thing I'm going to touch on from blog to blog. So where am I taking this to on this series? why the new Atlus release 3D Dot Game Heroes exclusive on the Playstation 3 of course. The game is developed with references of video game nostalgia kept in mind as well as several if not a nearly completely aped environment along with elements & items (especially items) directly inspired (more or less taken) from the Legend of Zelda Franchise mostly from the original Legend of Zelda with cues from "A Link To The Past" here & There also tossed into the mix. 
 
So where I mentioned that 3D Dot Game Heroes takes more cues from Legend of Zelda as opposed to the LTTP is the environment & progression of the game. 3DDGH has that nostalgic sense of being one completely off beaten path in terms of a nearly completely open explorative open world other than paths in which you determine within a sick sense of muscle memory that further exploration or progression can not be done with out a specific item or tool that must be acquired beforehand. also like the original Legend of Zelda, all of the NPCs within the game either have Side-quests which there are an abundance of extremely vague hints (or sometimes blatantly obvious ones done a comical fashion) there's that sense of nostalgia where beyond your experience of the Legend of Zelda franchise that has stayed with you, the advancement of the game in terms of the next objective or the next area that you travel forth to is pushed nearly to the point of bewildered confoundment as you find yourself with out some sort of clear or at times even reasonable clue to progress the game further which is almost akin to experiencing the original Legend of Zelda for the very first time which is feeds into this addictive urge to play through the game but only pushes me towards frustration after sever failed attempts of solution from trial & error decisions that I had to make, which I can't completely blame on the game as I am a pretty fucking stupid individual but there were some crushing blows to my ego that only came crashing when I did discover the solution towards the next progression of the game & it was beyond obvious. 
 
Another glaring similarity towards the original Legend of Zelda is that the dungeon/temple stages in which you locate the key story items, weapon/items, & tools as is another stable from the LOZ franchise is nearly identical to the original for 3DDGH. The glaring similarity that there is absolutely no distinguishing features or visuals that segregate or differentiate one dungeon from any others, it's actually accurate to say that other than some weapon item obstacles, puzzles, or enemies that all of the dungeons are color palliate swapped which is something again I can appreciate it but solely on Nostalgia & deep down I would have preferred more of a distinctive take on the dungeon ambience & visuals than what I got. now where the comparison to LTTP is contrived from the items & weapon items such as the Hook-shot & Pegasus Dash Boots are scattered through out the game which again only adds to the comforting familiarity within 3DDGH which I really have no complaints with but again on the basis & inspiration for this particular little blog series, it only pushes the game far past the flattery of calling it an "Homage".Now what makes 3DDGH different is that fact that it's just a very tongue in cheek game in terms of all of the flavor text & derivative Japanese RPG story line. it's dialogue & references will definitely make any NES nerds laugh & the modern chiptunes are very memorable & make you feel a few years younger. The Dialogue again I have to point out is beyond fucking hilarious whether you visit the King & experiment with the different Dialogue trees along with other characters or explore all of the inside jokes from the guys at From Software within the game makes it all the more pleasant. 
 
So overall, get it, at 39.99 this is definitely a recommend for all PS3 owners & especially any fan of the Legend of Zelda & I'm just going to go out of the way & stress yet again that this is a quality clone. I have honestly only scratched the surface of the game in this humble look at it because of the subject matter of course but just because a game is a clone game doesn't make it a bad one. So with that the next three games I'm going to split amongst open choice to listeners who keep up with blog, the next entry within this series can either be one of the following three? TT: Buster's Hidden Treasure for the Genesis, The Krion Conquest for the NES, or  Neutopia for the Turbo-Grafx 16. Post your votes in the forum thread or comment here & I'll make the decision from there until then,  
 thanks for reading & be sure to watch out for the Anniversary episode coming out tonight or tomorrow along with the announcements for the Voicemail! thanks again~GeorgieBoysAXE

PPR 21

Get your headsets and modded controllers ready, because you are now listening to episode 21 of Press Pause Radio! On this episode, we discuss gaming news involving the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta and the recent deal between Bungie and Activision. Toast will share his Top Five video game podcasts, as well as a review of Splinter Cell: Conviction. Our main topic for this episode is all about multiplayer games. Has the era of playing cooperatively on the couch died, and left us now with only lobbies and online only multiplayer games? We will discuss this and much more on the legal to drink episode of Press Pause Radio. As always, feedback and comments are welcomed and appreciated through the website or on our iTunes page. Thanks for listening, and have a great week.

PPR Episode 21

Quarter Circle Forward Review: Splinter Cell: Conviction

 

“It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.”

Toast here with the Quarter Circle Forward Review that we discussed in Episode 21, Splinter Cell: Conviction

Splinter Cell: Conviction begins where Double Agent left off, continuing the struggle of Sam Fisher who has recently left Third Echelon. To avoid potential spoilers of the previous game, it is safe to say that the agent left his former employer on less than positive terms. Revenge is the overwhelming theme of Conviction, as Fisher searches for answers by any means necessary. No longer held back by government regulations and protocol, Sam now can dispatch his enemies without mercy. This is done through the new Mark/Execute and Interrogation mechanics.

Many die-hard Splinter Cell fans may think of the Mark and Execute ability as too easy, and in many ways it can be. Performing a hand to hand kill or execution will allow the player to mark a certain number of enemies and then instantly execute them with one button press. The camera angles and dramatic motions make this look amazing every time, and can easily clear a room of bad guys. For fans of stealth action games, this may be considered an insult to their abilities as gamers. For myself, I found it almost essential and required to progress through some of the games tougher levels. Having almost no experience with this particular genre, I found myself reloading my checkpoints multiple times even on the Rookie difficulty setting. I simply do not play enough stealth action games to be good at being invisible, and for this reason I really appreciated the more casual approach that Ubisoft has taken for this latest Splinter Cell.

 

Interrogations are simply interactive cut-scenes, and are done only to progress the story. The same can be said of the reflective instructions and images that will be displayed throughout the level on various walls and other parts of the environment. Both elements make the player feel like a cold blooded killer, but will not impact the gameplay at all. For the game as a whole, the story and voice acting can be perhaps it's main flaws. The story seems like a lackluster season of 24, and can be very predictable. Micheal Ironside as Sam Fisher can be unbearable at times, but can be considered an Oscar worthy performance compared to the enemies who will yell ridiculous lines of dialog as you hide and avoid detection.

 

Overall I enjoyed finishing the campaign, which can be done in roughly six or seven hours. The co-op campaign and various multiplayer modes can extend the longevity of the game, and purchasers of Conviction will have access to the Ghost Recon: Future Soldier beta later this year. For fans of the Splinter Cell franchise, I will say it's an excellent addition to the collection. For more casual gamers or new arrivals to the series, I would suggest perhaps a rental only.

PPR 20

Press Pause Radio returns for another round with episode 20! Did you miss us? On this episode, the PPR World Warriors discuss the fighting game genre from it's humble beginnings to it's current success. With the decline of the American arcade scene in the late 90's, fighting games began to decline in popularity as well. We will discuss this in detail throughout the show, and speculate on the great future that is in store for all joystick mashers. Ser discusses the top five fighting games that have been sadly overlooked and will also review his favorite fighting game of all time. Reviews and comments are always appreciated, on iTunes or on our website. Hadouken!

PPR Episode 20