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Tuesday, 22 May 2012

Weekly Wrap Up: May 22


This is Unreal
Epic Games has shown off images of their Unreal Engine 4 that they intend to use on next gen systems, if Microsoft & Sony manage to produce strong enough hardware.  The engine sounds very promising; however it is hard to believe it is already complete when we never got to see the full, Samaritan level, power of UE3.  I'm glad to hear that it will cut development costs since I was concerned about how much more expensive it would be for them in the next generation and how that might stifle creativity in favor of continuing established franchises that are guaranteed to sell. They will still probably charge us more though. However, to be honest I don't want games to ever get to the point where they look and feel real while playing, like what they claim to be hoping for a few generations from now, because then I couldn't stomach something like Gears of War and if I could, I would be disturbed and far to desensitized.  To read about the engine and view some images follow the link below.

Single player MMO
The Elder Scrolls MMO’s main quest line will be a completely single player experience, which is a bold move for a game that is supposed to be massively multiplayer.  Personally one of the reasons I don't like MMOs is because I don't want to quest with a group of random people.  So as long as the combat and story can compete with a standard single player RPG this sounds like a good way to give me the experience I look for in RPGs and offer a way to introduce me to the multiplayer aspect of it, if I choose to do side quests. I agree with others that this is a mistake if they are aiming for MMO players, but since they have such a massive audience of single player gamers I think that they are doing this in an attempt to transition them to an MMO under the assumption that they don’t already play the genre.  I think it will help them attract gamers outside of those who play WOW & SWTOR and give them a lot of players in the beginning, but unless they go free-to-play once people beat the single player there will probably be a massive drop off in users.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 character DLC
            There is now a trailer for Tekken Tag 2 featuring 4 new playable characters that will most likely be released about a month or two after the game, since the characters are going to be available at launch if you pre-order it.  Now you might remember that just last month I wrote about how one of Tekken’s producers said that there would not be any paid DLC characters in Tekken Tag 2 because it goes against their design philosophy and to his credit this downloadable character pack will be free to all players whenever it is made available.  I really like that they are doing this and I hope more developers will try to support their fans with additional content rather than nickel & diming us all the time.      

Capcom & on disk DLC
            Capcom has been getting a lot of grief for months now from fans that are complaining about the company’s liberal use of on-disk DLC.  For instance in Street Fighter X Tekken there are 12 characters on the disk that will cost an additional $20 and can only be bought once the Vita version is released.  Disk-locked content is obviously BS and the fact that Capcom has pulled this stunt more than once is cause for people to get upset and demand a change, as they have already done.  Due to the outcry Capcom has now stated that they will be reviewing their disk-locked content strategy and begin to look at other options if it will please fans.  The only problem with this is that it will take time for them to make a decision and hopefully do away with disk-locked content, which means that some of their games that were designed with it in mind may not have the time to be changed.  Resident Evil 6 comes out this October and will be Capcom’s biggest game of the year; hopefully disk-locked content won’t be something that holds it back.

DMC release date
The latest instalment in the Devil May Cry franchise has gotten its release date, January 15th 2013.  I really thought this game would come out this year, but apparently I was wrong.  Luckily by next year Capcom should be done with disk-locked content, so we won’t have to worry about that.  I’m pretty excited to see more of it at E3 and maybe finally get a firm understanding of the game’s story.  

Halo 4 limited Edition
            343 Industries has revealed details regarding their collector’s edition for Halo 4.  I thought I had given up on collector’s edition but after hearing about this one I think I may just have to buy it.  The collector’s edition includes: early access to 6 specializations, which I guess are sort of like loadouts that you unlock through experience points, a packet with details about the new Spartan IVs and UNSC weapons, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Special Edition, which takes the miniseries that will air online and extends it with behind the scenes footage, an in game armour skin & Assault Rifle skin, an exclusive in-game emblem, an Avatar prop as well as a Spartan IV armour set for your Avatar and finally what every multiplayer shooter should include in its collector’s edition yet none have, maps.  You don’t get the maps from the start because that would be weird, but when the first 3 map packs are released you will have access to them without having to pay any more money.  That is access to 9 maps plus a bunch of other stuff for $100.    

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