EA Sports Active; burning for a better beach body

After a night with Electronic Arts new sports title, EA Sports Active, is the game (or interactive workout video) recommendable to Wii Fit owners and DVD workout connoisseurs? Details below.

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First session was completed last night. I felt the burn, the day after sores, the blistered feet (usually thumbs from Team Fortress 2) but was the workout a greater value than walking your dog or jogging (mindlessly) on a treadmill? EA Sports Active will likely end up in a pile of Carmen Electra stripper, Taibo punching and P90x DVD videos. What does EASA offer that these videos do not? One simple caveat, there are times the game does not advance if you do not properly do the exercise.

It is like having a p.e. teacher yelling at you for being a dumb twitter twit for not doing one simple rep correctly. It is sixth grade all over again!

Keyword, patience, especially with the curls. If you do the movements to quickly or shake the Wii mote, it throws the game off. If you are patient and focus on the exercise (as a trainer would force someone to the exercise correctly!) the game registers it and you are on to your next rep. There was trouble with the lunges, inline skying and curls, but after a few tries, the work out was like a DVD exercise video (perspiration included). The gameplay mechanic of not letting the player advance before the excercise is done correctly is a buying reason over all of the DVD videos.

The Wii Fit balance board is supported, but there is no need to use one if one is aiming to do the EASA's 30 day workout regime.

As with all things that deals with getting fit, in shape, or rock hard abs, the game is as good as one makes it. Confusing? I know, but let me explain. The value of EASA will only be weighed agaisnt the effort of the user. If you are serious in losing weight, any DVD, any treadmill, any team sports activitiy and any gym of your choice will help you lose the weight, but the amount depends on you and only you. EASA does a good job on starting the path, but it is you who has to finish it.

NPD Top Five Selling Games for 2008

NPD List;

Top-Selling Games In The U.S. For 2008

(All versions combined. Units in millions)
1. Wii Play 5.28
2. Madden NFL ‘09 5.25
3. Grand Theft Auto IV 5.22
4. Mario Kart w/ Wheel 5.00
5. Call of Duty: World at War 4.63

One interesting note, all of the top five form a different outlook on how to sell a videogame;

1. Mini games bundled with an extra controller
2. Multi-SKU(NO PC)with Special Edition and a Spanish Edition of a long running sports franchise
3. HD Multi SKU Sequel from popular developer
4. Exclusive sequel with a peripheral
5. HD Multi SKU sequel of a popular fps franchise

Meet The Chicanator! From EA Burnout Paradise

Criterion has finally announced the remaining cars from the Burnout Paradise Legendary Cars pack. Rounding out the list, is the cleverly named, Calvary Bootlegger an homage to The Chicanator. But what the hell is a Chicanator, one might ask, since Spanish is not known to all.

A Mexican White Bullanator would have a better ring!

At first, I thought it was Chicana - tor, a Chicano(a) is someone of Mexican descent but born and raised in the United States, especially from the West and Southwest regions of the country. But why would Criterion name a car that is a knock off the famous Dukes of Hazard 69-70 Dodge Charger, General Lee, The Chicanator (The Confederate flag is replaced with the Mexican one). I know, the car is named the Calvary Bootlegger but what the hell is The Chicanator, a fictional tv character in who drinks and drives, slaps chicas asses, and saves Paradise City from a white haired industrialist?

Maybe it is not Chicana, but Chica. What does Chica mean, it can have different definitions, chica can be reffered as; girl, young women, or plural, darling, maid or to describe something as small or tiny. The most probable definition of The Chicanator is The PussyWagon or The Babenator (Babenator does not work, needs more syllables). So are all Mexicans, who generally buy American automobiles, a stereotypical chauvinistic macho women hungry man who also bootlegs liquor? The only bootleggers that exist currently in Mexico are the ones who create the illegal pulque, similiar to moonshine, makers are so poor, they have a burro rather than a Dodge...

I have a few better ideas for The Chicanator. How about a different homage, maybe a factual person like The Shermanator, named after the other famous General of the Civil War General Tecumseh Sherman, painted navy Federal blue and grey with Old Glory on her roof because if the car was named General Grant it would be an uproar. Or not. Too insensitive to our Southern compartriots.

The Chicanator will just fly over the heads of everyone else, Mexicans and Women gamers will not even know, heck, do latinos or women even buy HD games, or do they just play the Wii? What about a famous Mexican general, El Zapata, El Pancho Villa or even better, General Santa Anna, with some awesome hydrolics and a horn that plays a the famous mariachi song, Las Mananitas or El Rey, and painted green or red?

My favorite name, I came up before I typed this raving blog post, El Chonchanator or El Luchadore. I just can not decide!

Entry to Shawn Eliott's Symposium: Review Scores

My entry to Shawn Eliott's Symposium: Review Scores

What does one of the "normal" people (as Dan Hsu describes us) feel about review scores? From someone who has read reviews since 1989 for purchasing decisions to now, my attitude has changed

At first, review scores have become the litmus test of a game that I am on the fence about or now nothing of. I want a review to answer the questions of a cynic, a skeptic or just a confused gamer if the game is worth one's time. It is especially true for sequels, sports games and now, all those Activision games that get once a year treatment.

Reviews are no longer the only source that influences my purchasing decision, I often listen to podcasts, the vidcasts, demos and/or follow the "buzz." Even previews have time to time influenced a decision, just recently, Shawn Elliott's Far Cry 2 preview spark an enough interest to buy the game. Stephen Totilo's daily dairies have become like a book club, as I play similar games, for example, I experience the same frustrations that Stephen faced in Dead Space.

Reviews will never go away, as Dan Hsu points out, "It’s ingrained in society and it’s pointless and stubborn to fight it. People don’t always have time to read a 2000-word, well-crafted review to get inside the brain of the reviewer. For most folks in this short-attention-span world, that “4 out of 10” usually says more than enough." The problem with Review Scores are not the scores themselves, but the fact that one person can never review the bulk of weekly game, as Roger Ebert does with the movies he watches for the Chicago Tribune. The last point is better reserve for the next topics.

Little Big Planet Beta Code; I have one to share for one lucky poster

Just describe in the comments on why you deserve to be in the Little Big Planet Beta before the game hits retail.

Best response gets the LBP beta code courtesy of LGs.

Update. The contest ends 10PM PST Time. The one code will be sent to the winner at 9AM PST on Thursday Oct 2.

Thank you.

E3 08: Microsoft best foot forward

Today at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Microsoft showed off their blockbusters, family initiative, a 3d avatar with a new user interface, music must haves, arcade exclusives and the closest guarded secret that MS ever held.

Don Mattrick, in the middle of MS E3 conference, boasted, "the 360 will outsell the PS3 this generation." For North America, it will be point less to argue, that the PS3 will one day catch up to the Xbox 360 or even the Wii.

The blockbuster lineup consisted of two multi platform and two exclusive games being released in the fiscal 08 calendar. Resident Evil 5 and Fallout 3 were both demoed with live gameplay, showing off RE5 co-op play over xbox live and F3 showcased a bleak Washington DC. Fallout 3 will have exclusive downloadable content.

The two exclusive xbox 360 titles were Peter Molyneux's and Cliff Blezinski's, Fable 2 and Gears of War 2, respectively. Fable 2 impressed the crowd with an impressive co-op functionality, allowing a player to invite a friend to their world for questing, dungeons, or to hang out in the player created world. Peter claims Fable will innovate co-op play by allowing players to have their own unique world and to be able to invite friends without lobbies to any player at any point of the Fable 2story. Gears of War 2 co-op demo showed the already scene, meat shields, and brumak fight but announced a new five player co-op mode named "Horde." The mode will allow five players to team up against wave after wave of enemies.

The family strategy laid out by MS, included a new partnership with NBC/Universal as well as with MGM and Constantine to bring video content to North American and other regions of the world. Nintendo Mii's brought the family in to creating avatars of family, friends and even neighbors, MS hopes to bring that same mania with Avatars, a 3D model that will be implemented through a new dashboard or user interface this fall. Avatars will be used in family friendly game, Scene It? Box Office Smash and a new MS "Primetime" channel or portal.

The dashboard update will include new "Live Party," a mode currently used in select console titles and available on the PC. The Live Party will be up to 8 players, who can voice chat, launch certain multiplayer titles, basically a shared experience while playing games.

The biggest surprise of the conference, Square Enix announced, that one thought it would happen, Final Fantasy XII went multiplatform via the GDC announced Crystal Tool Software. The change, explained in a later Q&A session, is based on hardware numbers per region. Japan will see a small exclusive window via the PS3, with North America release seeing the Xbox 360 and PS3 launch on the same day and date.

Team Fortress 2; Heavy Weapons Pack

At the Team Fortress 2 blog, Valve has opened their pandoras box when it comes to creating the new weapon class packs. The Medic and Pyro both received boosts, which makes them more viable in offesnsive and defensive situations. Next up, is the Heavy Class, which is a considered a defensive class, with Valve asking what one can add to the class without unbalancing the game. What can the heavy use, without entroaching on other class abilities?

I came up with three weapons.
1. Brass knuckles, critical hits when hit from behind or side.
2. Saw Off Shotgun, bullets have a spray shot effect.
3. Minigun with nuclear bullets, have an effect of bouncing incoming enemies back, no crits.



An added weapon to included the already upgraded ones, would be a riot shield. This will enable the heavy to push forward and give cover to teammates. The riot shield witll asorb damage buil can detoriate over time. So a charge field can be implemented or can only be used once during a life.

Favorite Games of Mid 2008

In no particular order;

Patapon


Pon Pon Pata Pon
Metal Gear Solid 4


BROTHER! LIQUID!

Grand Theft Auto 4


I kill people, I smuggle people
UEFA Euro 2008


GOAAAAAAAAAAL
Mario Kart Wii


Aww Crap, blue shell!

All of the games chosen were played to completion or enjoyed hours of co-op play with friends and family

Omitted games were either briefly demoed or never finish the game to completion, for example, Super Smash Bros and Devil May Cry 4. I played a bit of Super Smash Bros and Wii Fit at GDC San Francisco, and I never completed Devil May Cry 4.

I am a hobbyist, do not have access to all the games.

Freestyle MC The Hip Hop Game

Guitar Hero and Rock Band are two of the biggest franchises in the music-game industry and it is only inevitable that a "Hip Hop Hero" is formed. Listening to the never aging, Dr Dre's The Chronic 2001, I came up with a game concept for the 50 Cent in all of us.

As with all video games, our Freestyle MC protagonist, starts as a lowly freestlyist trying to get into the rap/hip hop/battling scene. A practice session's are done with popular songs and beats but once you decide to venture into the game, a venue location is chosen within your urban area, and battle up and coming mcs from that area, leading into a boss battle with a major rapper. After defeating your first boss, you progress to other areas to "promote" yourself and album.

In each area your mc goes, one can enter the battle scene of another urban area or just perform hip hop songs at concert, radio or in a studio creating an "album." Of course there would be a trophy room, to view your "grammys, BET Awards, Soul Train awards, MTV popcorn awards, even oscars" including a garage of your "rides." With enough money and awards, the ending would be MTV doing a Cribs episode or VH1 "Behind the Music" based on your gameplay.
The Gameplay engine would borrow from different games, Guitar Hero, Singstar, and have a puzzle element.

The battling sequences would need to have voice recognition, to track rhymes, flow, pitch and street slang. The difficulty would increase with words populating on the screen, that need to be rhymed with and included in your battle rap. Creating albums would be more Guitar Hero, where you would perfect already released hip hop songs, and your album score would be base on how well you do in the "studio" perfecting the song. But remember, you get only a few tries, since "studio" time costs money.

When the game first starts, you create your avatar, like in Sony's Home, or Mass Effect and choose what City and State you reside in. Based on this criteria, you are placed within a city, ala Virtua Fighter 5, and go to a club (based on game difficulty) to start battling opponents. The boss battles would be against hip hop figures of the area, for SF, it could be E-40 or JT the BIGGA FIGGA, in LA, EAZY E or XZIBIT. To Detroit and NY, imagine, Insane Clown Posse, Ghetto Boyz, 3 6 Mafia, Eminem, Biggie Smalls and so on. There also could be thematic from era to era. We do not have to stay with the heavy hitters, we can find up and coming artists, or local veterans that never made it outside of their area. Also, if you choose to be a "white rapper" or "brown" one can choose to go that route and also battle the Kid Rocks, Cypress Hills of the rap world.



The hip hop beats can be a mixture of up and coming producers to classics, imagine freestyling over the famous "Hit em up" song that many freestylists have done. Album recording would be either from new unreleased or proven classics, and base on which songs you choose to record, song score, and how you advertise the "album" all takes into account how the public receives it. If you promote a gangsta image, and only Roots song, your album will flop.

The peripherals will include, Mics and.... only Mics. Why? All I need is one Mic...

For the first installment all the game will need is a mic, of course one can add a beat maker (to produce beats in the studio mode) or two turntables to do dj battles, but that can be added in the sequels.

Let me know what everyone thinks of this ambitious project, Actvision and EA here I come...