2013 Game Releases

[M.Steiner]

Little heads up - You can now pre-purchase The Cave. It should be released within the next 3 weeks if they're still keeping to January so not long to go for that one either.
I'm sure you'll be interested in that, Anny? Ron Gilbert/Double Fine and all.

Also note that if you purchase it on GMG instead you can save yourself a few quid.
Just add: GMG25-XTYYZ-POSL1 at the checkout which will knock 25% off. Brings it down to £7.50 and redeems on steam

Will pre-purchase it myself next week

[Anubis]

Yes, The Cave is on my must-buy list Can't miss anything from Tim or Ron!

Thanks for the heads up!

[Stracius]

Yeah, saw the news pop-up for that one last night and snatched it up. I have no issue paying full price (low as it is) for these fine gentlemen and their fantastic games.

[M.Steiner]

nps!, and yeah this will be a must buy for me too ^^
The GMG voucher is valid until next friday so I'll be using that next week when I'm able buy it. Not that it won't be worth full price or anything, tis only a tenner to start with and the game looks great from the bits I have seen too. Always on the lookout for good deals though heh

[M.Steiner]

Anyone here getting the new DmC next week?
I've only just started paying attention to this and with Ni No Kuni releasing the week after I won't be looking to get it for some time yet, but if any of you plan on buying it I wouldn't mind hearing what you make of it. Think I only ever played 1 DMC game and this was a looong time ago.

Boardwalk Empire the game is another which has recently drawn my attention, except I didn't even know about this one until just recently. Sorry, Omerta: City of Gangsters
I'm a sucker for all things Mafia as some of you will be aware so I'm very tempted to buy this as soon as I'm done with the above. Absolutely loved my time with XCOM so I'm much more open to turn-based combat outside of JRPGs now.

Speaking of Ni No Kuni and JRPGs. According to VG247:

Ni No Kuni is not only one of the finest JRPGs of this century, it’s one of the best games of this century. A wonderful and enthralling example of why this is a genre still worthy of attention and respect.

Been reading a lot of positive things about Ni No Kuni just recently but this is something I have been following since long before I even owned a PS3. Reading comments like this on top of those just fills me with excitement heh. Only 2 weeks to go

[SL33PY]

If you find a voucher for sim city I'd be very interested. Wanted to buy it with your GMG 35% code, but there were problems on my side, which is why it didn't want to process at that time

[M.Steiner]

If you manage to see this post within the next 25 minutes - "GMG25-XTYYZ-POSL1" use this to get 25% off SimCity. Will work for other selected pre-purchases too.
It expires at 4pm GMT today though so only 25mins left to use that one, can always give it a try shortly after that time though just incase it runs over. Doesn't leave you much time but if I spot any new codes pop up I'll let ya know

Just saw a link to a leaked tutorial vid from the upcoming beta actually. Gonna watch shortly!

[SL33PY]

I'm at work, those sites are blocked

Unless you can order it for me, and I can wire you the money afterwards

[M.Steiner]

Actually you are in luck!, they appear to have just extended that code until Jan 31st

[SL33PY]

awesome...

[M.Steiner]

I think the release date for The Cave may have been pushed back? Only by a day though it seems?
Got my key from GMG last night, activated it on steam and steam said there was another 16hrs or so until unlock. Was hoping to put it on for downloaded at midnight but oh well, I went to bed... I'm looking at the page again today and it's now telling me there's 19hrs? Seems a bit odd to push it back less than half a day before release oO

Reviews seem to be extremely mixed on this which has me a little worried I won't lie. The majority of reviews have been 7/10 or less by the looks of it. All the way down to just 4... I'll be honest, I kinda wish Ni No Kuni was out in the UK tomorrow instead of next Friday. I'm expecting this to be one of the highlights of the year....
Not to worry though. Have already bought it and I've always been one for trying something myself first before I make my mind up. Just disappointing to read and hope I don't come away feeling the same that's all. Will find out tomorrow

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/01 ... pressions/ hmm

[SL33PY]

i want ni nu koni in japanese with english subs... i'll be on the lookout to snatch it for a fair price. Cheap ass gamer, I am

[M.Steiner]

Yep, the western localization of Ni No Kuni has both too which is not only a great thing but a rare treat for us too tbh.
I don't think I've ever played a JRPG with its original language track. Our releases for Final Fantasy and such have always been dubbed over in English and (at least to my knowledge) never had the option to select the Japanese language track instead. The only way around that ofc was to either play a Japanese import (and not understand any of it) or to illegally download an undub version instead, which I never did. So yeah. Ni No Kuni will be the first JRPG I've played with its original Japanese language track!. Should be quite appropriate considering all the praise it has been getting

Just a pity that it's on PS3 and not PC. Such a beautiful & unique looking game and I won't be able to take any screenshots of it. God damn

[Anubis]

Stop worrying about The Cave

It's of a dead genre, and being reviewed by people who think Call of Duty and Halo are the epitomy of gaming. No 10/10's are expected, as Master Chief isn't in it.

It's an adventure game made by the pioneer of the genre - if what you want is an adventure game, then you have nothing to worry about, If that's not what you want, why don't you want that?

Also, the release was pushed to 24th January for PC, so don't worry about that either

[M.Steiner]

It's of a dead genre

This time last year I would have agreed with you there (still agree with the latter about CoD/Halo though) but would we not class Telltale's The Walking Dead as an adventure game? a point & click adventure game too?
I know that's from a well established IP but I doubt that played too big a part in the reception it received, hell I watch the tv show too and I haven't included it in my list heh. Plus there's no way the FPS game from Activision will receive rave reviews like Telltale's series did just because it's a Walking Dead game either. That became many peoples GOTY but it's still from the same genre and reviewed by the same critics is it not?

Dishonored & The Walking Dead both proved to me that neither types of games are truely dead and can still be successful among the big boys imo. Sure stealth & adventure games are few and far between these days but both of those went head to head with big releases like AC3, Borderlands 2, Mass Effect 3 etc and came out on top as 2 of the highest rated games of the year. Not top 10 or anything either but top 3. That's pretty remarkable considering how huge something like the AC franchise is for example and one of those games being a completely new IP too. So whilst many people out there happily eat up shit all the time and go crazy over the worst possibles titles possible, it's still possible for games like that to do well and get the credit they deserve. So long as they're good.

It's an adventure game made by the pioneer of the genre

I think this is some peoples issue with it actually and why some people may have been more critical than others perhaps. Coming from the creator of something like Monkey Island and the studio behind Psychonauts you can't help but compare it to the previous games they've worked on. Same as people will when they compare newer titles of BioWare's to their older games, which many people don't feel measure up. Or new band material to older classics etc. I think this is what has disappointed a few people. The fact that it is from a pioneer as you say and because of that were expecting a lot more.

I know how much of a fan you are of these guys too, as you are Obsidian also. And whilst this is not a criticism or anything I expect part of you tends to view some of the things these guys do through rose-tinted glasses. Even if you don't intend to. I am the same with some things so no offence meant with that btw
Anyhow. Hopefully the PC release doesn't suffer from some of the same issues as the 360 version does at least. Despite some of the negative reviews I still think the game looks great and I enjoyed watching Giant Bomb's quick look of it too. Reviews are only someone elses opinion at the end of the day just a bit worrying when some of them aren't particularly glowing.

10 hours to go anyway. Will be playing as soon as I can so I'll post my own thoughts in a day or two once I've got some playtime in. Hopefully I'll be one of the people with positive comments rather than negative. Tis the first new release of 2013 for me too so hopefully it will start the ball rolling on a good note!
You buying it tomorrow mate?. Will look forward to hearing what you think of it too

[Edit: Oh - https://twitter.com/grumpygamer/status/ ... 8038137856. Should be soon!]
[Edit2: Downloading now.]

[Anubis]

This time last year I would have agreed with you there (still agree with the latter about CoD/Halo though) but would we not class Telltale's The Walking Dead as an adventure game? a point & click adventure game too?
I know that's from a well established IP but I doubt that played too big a part in the reception it received, hell I watch the tv show too and I haven't included it in my list heh. Plus there's no way the FPS game from Activision will receive rave reviews like Telltale's series did just because it's a Walking Dead game either. That became many peoples GOTY but it's still from the same genre and reviewed by the same critics is it not?

Whilst you're right, and I agree with you completely, one game isn't enough to revive the whole genre. It's perhaps not slumbering as deeply these days, but as of right now it's still slumbering.

You may well also be right about it being treated harsher as a game because it's come from Ron and Tim in their first collaboration since Monkey Island. Good point, and one that some may well have trouble avoiding stumbling into.

As for rose tinted glasses, if you call knowing that everything they ever do will be nothing short of perfect 'having rose tinted glasses on', then you may have a point there too

I won't be buying it tomorrow, but will at the weekend. Too little time in the week these days! I anticipate your comments eagerly in the meantime!

[M.Steiner]

Downloaded! (1.1GB. Released at around 11pm)
I think even if it turns out to be a case of some people judging it harsher (perhaps unfairly) based on their previous work and reflecting that in their final scores as well it could still turn out to be a very good game. Since even if The Cave doesn't sit well besides something like Psychonauts it could still be a decent enough game in its own right and still be considered good compared to what else is out there.

As a comparison to music here since I'm listening to some atm and it kinda relates.. Aerosmith released their first album with new material since 2001 last Nov and whilst I bloody loved it there were other fans out there who, whilst they didn't hate it or anything, weren't so keen on it. Some thinking along the lines of "this? from the band who brought us Toys in the Attic?". So whilst this was one of my favourite albums from last year some people were a little harsher on it due to the fact it was from Aerosmith and they expected more from them. Had that particular album been released by someone else, who didn't have the reputation of Aerosmith and hadn't been going since the '70s, I'm sure it would have been gone down even better tbh. Sure it wasn't one of their best albums even in my opinion but it was a darn sight better than most other music you hear today.
Same with Bon Jovi for me really. Whilst I doubt any of their newer material will ever come close to matching personal favourites like Hey God, I Believe or Dry County.. I still very much enjoy hearing new stuff from them and compared to most of the shite that's in the charts these days even those could be considered masterpieces heh. (Speaking of which. Jon was on BBCs The One Show tonight and said the new record would be out in March. weee)

So might not be anything to worry about at the end of the day I suppose. May not be amazing by their standard and the bar they have already set for themselves but could still be great all the same.
Will play some tomorrow and see what I think anyway. Been looking forward to this even if I wanted Ni No Kuni sooner hehe

[SL33PY]

Just a pity that it's on PS3 and not PC. Such a beautiful & unique looking game and I won't be able to take any screenshots of it. God damn

Can't you reroute the hdmi output to an hdmi in on your pc? Then take screenshots before it goes out of the hdmi out of your pc?

There must be setups for this available no?

Edit:

some google searches later... http://eu.startech.com/AV/Converters/Vi ... t~PEXHDCAP

Looking forward to those screenshots

[M.Steiner]

Was aware that a HD capture card was probably the only way to go but after looking into the cost of those I've gone right off the idea. Can get some cheap ones but the quality is awful and they're not HD either. My PS3 is in the living room too since it doubles as a blu-ray player for downstairs so it's not in the vicinity of my PC to be running wires. Would need to be moved upstairs and replaced with a standalone blu-ray box.

At the end of the day it's just not worth the money or hassle considering how little time I spend on it and with console games in general. I play everything I possibly can on PC so it's only ever a select few titles like that, The Last of Us, Beyond etc which I have to play on there. Just a shame in the case of Ni No Kuni since Ghibli have done such a wonderful job with the artwork on it and screenshotters like myself can't even take any unless we buy extra equipment. Oh well :/


Also

Glorious.
Beta tomorrow. Wonder who will get invited...

[Anubis]

Could always try taking camera pics? Not as good, but better than nothing.

[SL33PY]

didn't get an invite yet...

[M.Steiner]

Me neither but I don't think they've gone out just yet, except for third party sites who had them that is. Saw this on twitter too btw:

If you've registered, there's a decent chance that you'll get a key tomorrow.

which sounds promising to me. Fingers crossed for everyone who signed up
Countdown (5pm GMT)

[SL33PY]

yay! you gave me hope, didn't know they would send the keys that late.

I'm looking forward to our own SSX region

[M.Steiner]

Well... after waiting a decade for a proper new entry in the SimCity series I was already pretty excited for a new SC game (not counting Societies) but after spending a few hours with the beta today I honestly cannot wait to get my hands on the full release.

Arced, curvy & circle roads!. These alone are an absolute pleasure to play about with and god knows how much time I spent just with these on my first test lol. That probably sounds bloody ridiculous to some of you who have never played a SimCity game before but I'm sure those who have will understand and be just as pleased. In the past you really just had 2 options, it was either straight or diagonal. The curvy roads option for example basically lets you draw out a road as if you're using a paintbrush. Something that sounds so simple yet is sooo damn good heh.

Zone density is now determined by road types. Dirt roads and 2 ways will support low density residential housing for example, whilst a massive avenue would be fit for high density. You don't draw out low/med/high individually this time but simply along the roads you have already played and then depending on the type of road they're on, will eventually become that. You can also upgrade your roads as time goes on to support more traffic in the areas you need it, which also gives you access to the next density tier.

Water & electricity etc run under your roads now. No need for water pipe planning but you'll still need to make sure you have enough coverage either by adding more towers (or other facilities) to extend that or you can even buy it from other cities in your region if they have some spare. These other cities can ofc be owned by your friends which is where the multiplayer features start to come in.

Placing industrial zones, non-green power plants and buildings like this which cause air pollution will have a little wind direction icon appear as you're placing them. I'm not sure if this changes over time or whether it remains the same (possibly the latter) but you'd want to make sure your factories n that aren't pumping shit which then blows straight over your residential areas. Will degrade their land value for a start. You'll also want to be aware that your pollution can also affect neighbouring cities too I believe.

"Ploppables" like schools, police, fire etc etc can all be upgraded too. If your school is at full capacity for example, instead of building another school somewhere you can go into edit mode and upgrade the one you have with an extra classroom or two. Which also adds to the appearance of the building.

Filter options are a really nice touch. Lots to choose from which can give your city a certain look depending on what you're after, or you can just leave them off completely if you want. Can't show you pictures due to the NDA but you can see official examples here.

Haven't had any hands on with the multiplayer aspect as this is not part of the beta, however the tutorial gives some more detail on how some of that works. As already mentioned you can trade resources with your friends in the region. If your city has lots of unfilled jobs your friend can zone residential areas in his city and go to work in yours. Can give police/fire/health coverage to other cities in the region. Can all work towards a "great works" in the region too, like a big airport. One person could specialize in industry whilst another focuses on housing, education etc. The game will also guide you along with these if you decide to pick one. - These other cities in your region can ofc only be owned by yourself if you wish. Don't have to play with other people at all though this is a pretty big & great feature of the game if you ask me. Lots of possibilities and working together. You can also go into spectator mode and have a look around your friends cities.

Love the tilt-shift look. As you'll have seen from some the released screenshots already, as you zoom in to streets & buildings it will focus on those and put everything else in the background out of focus. Makes it seem like you're looking down on a small model. Really cool imo and gives a lovely effect. You can also increase/decrease the intensity depending on how you prefer it. I left it at standard.

Game seemed to run really smooth on my machine which was nice to see considering this won't be the final build of the game. Looks great on ultra (not sure if gfx are full for beta?) and the interface is most excellent too. Everything where you would expect it to be and easy enough to get to grips with. PC exclusives ftw.

So many things to list.. lol.

Negatives? Hardly any if I'm honest. The smaller grid size didn't really bother me as it has some others but maybe there will be some slightly bigger ones in the full release? or soon after?. Not sure but with multiple cities per region and the whole multiplayer side of things it's not something I'm too worried about atm. Would be nice though. I did also come to realise that there is no terraforming in this which I did not realise until today actually. Their idea is for us to tackle the maps they have built for us and find ways of building our cities on those rather than re-shaping the landscape ourselves apparently. Was a little disappointed at first when I heard this but after I started playing I'd forgotten about it heh.


Sooo pumped for this now anyhow. Whether you're an existing fan of the series like myself or you've never played a SC game before in your life I'd highly recommend it. See if you can get a beta key for the weekend and give it a go for yourself. If not come join us at release!
Would be great if we could get an SSX region going or something and collaborate together. We can play up to 10 different regions so no reason why we couldn't have one or two for the SSX (depending how many of us there are and how many cities (players) each of them will allow) and then have some others for playing solo or whatever. I shall look forward to release. Really has shot up my list of most anticipated today!

[Anubis]

I'm tempted, but I think the lack of any combat focus would end uyp boring me if I'm honest.

Might try it out if they do a demo release or something. If I like and buy it, then we can talk about an SSX region definately if you guys haven't set one up already