Dexter

Ahh Dexter Morgan, now this is a chap I can relate to! A bit of a nutjob who likes to kill people, he decides to put his talents to use dispatching those bad guys who slip through the cracks in the justice system, then dumping their carved up parts into the ocean. I think this guy might have the right idea when it comes to criminal justice! All the while, our (anti)hero struggles to balance his urges with his job as a forensic guy for the Miami PD, dating and being a stable big brother to his sister, who is in turn a cop.



The game is based on the Showtime original hit series DEXTER, and involves puzzle solving, stealth tactics, mini-games, and "slashing" with the iPhone itself (using the accelerometer tech). You have two choices for how to control Dexter: you can tilt the iPhone left and right, then use the forward and backward buttons on-screen, or use a virtual joystick in the lower corner of the screen. Dexter's interactions with other people require thought and strategy, as to not raise suspicions for Dexter's "Dark Passenger". This means maintaining your "Mask" - if this meter goes all the way down, it is game over.



So I had a chance to play this today and while I only had a chance to play the first mission, I must say that it has quite a bit of potential. You can play using first or third person views, and the control system is actually quite nifty for the iPhone.



Now you can't actually run around offing people willy-nilly, because that just ain't the Dexter way. You have to do a bit of detective work first, gather the evidence to make sure your target is the bad guy etc, then prepare the 'carving room' where you will eventually off the nasty person. In addition, you have to make sure you keep your girlfriend happy and maintain the 'Mask' that will keep others from suspecting you.

Scripted by one of the show's writers, Timothy Schlattmann, and voiced by Michael C. Hall himself (star of the Dexter show),the Dexter iPhone game will hit the App Store in iTunes in Late Summer 2009. Until then, take a peek at the trailer for the game.

ZeniMax Media Acquires id Software

I never post press releases, but this one came though out of the blue and once I get my thoughts together, I will post on how cool this is.

ZeniMax Media Acquires id Software

Brings together two of world’s best game studios

Library of powerhouse franchises will include DOOM, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls,
QUAKE, Wolfenstein and RAGE

June 24, 2009 (Rockville, MD) – ZeniMax Media Inc., parent company of noted game publisher Bethesda Softworks, today announced it has completed the acquisition of legendary game studio, id Software, creators of world-renowned games such as DOOM, QUAKE, Wolfenstein, and its upcoming title, RAGE. The acquisition by ZeniMax Media joins together two of the finest, most respected videogame developers in the world, combining the first person shooter (FPS) expertise of id Software with acclaimed role playing game (RPG) developer Bethesda Game Studios – creators of the 2008 Game of the Year, Fallout 3, and the 2006 Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Bethesda Softworks will publish the titles of id Software other than upcoming releases previously committed to other publishers.

Founded in 1991, id Software established itself as an industry leader with some of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed video games of all time. id Software created the original first-person shooter, Wolfenstein 3D, and subsequently set new standards in the genre with the blockbuster releases of its DOOM and QUAKE titles. In addition, id Software developed cutting edge, proprietary technology with the id Tech engine which powers many notable FPS titles, and continues to make great advances in game technology under the direction of John Carmack, one of the country’s technology leaders and a member of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) Hall of Fame.

Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software, commented on the transaction: “This was a unique opportunity to team with a smart, sophisticated publisher like Bethesda Softworks where the interests of the studio and the publisher will be fully aligned in the development and marketing of our titles. In addition, we will now have financial and business resources to support the future growth of id Software, a huge advantage which will result in more and even better games for our fans.”

id Software will continue to operate as a studio under the direction of its founder, John Carmack. No changes will be made in the operations of id Software in the development of its games. All the principals at id Software have signed long-term employment contracts, assuring they will continue in their roles developing games at the studio.

“This puts id Software in a wonderful position going forward,” said John Carmack, who will continue to serve in his current role as Technical Director. “We will now be able to grow and extend all of our franchises under one roof, leveraging our capabilities across multiple teams while enabling forward looking research to be done in the service of all of them. We will be bigger and stronger, as we recruit the best talent to help us build the landmark games of the future. As trite as it may be for me to say that I am extremely pleased and excited about this deal, I am."

Robert Altman, the founder, Chairman & CEO of ZeniMax Media stated, “We, along with many others, consider id Software to be among the finest game studios in the world, with extraordinary design, artistic and technical capabilities. They have demonstrated, repeatedly, that rare ability to create franchise properties that are critical and commercial successes. Our intention is to make sure id Software will continue to do what they do best – make AAA games. Our role will be to provide publisher support through Bethesda Softworks and give id Software the resources it needs to grow and expand.”

ZeniMax Media Inc, which is privately held, was founded in 1999 to create quality interactive entertainment products to meet the growing worldwide demand. The Company is headquartered in Rockville, MD and maintains offices in Hunt Valley, MD, London and Tokyo. Among its wholly owned subsidiaries are Bethesda Softworks, a premier publisher of video games, Vir2L Studios which develops games for the casual market, and ZeniMax Online Studios, a studio dedicated to massively multi-player online games (MMOG).

Bethesda Game Studios, the development group at ZeniMax Media, is one of the top video game studios in the world. Its most recent release, Fallout 3, was the 2008 winner of more than 60 Game of the Year awards, including The Associated Press, Official Xbox Magazine, Yahoo, PC Gamer, IGN, Game Critics Awards, Game Developer Choice Awards, and Gamespy. Bethesda also created the 2006 PC and Xbox 360® Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and the 2002 PC and Xbox® Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Bethesda Game Studios has created 2 of the 10 best games of all time, Fallout 3 and Oblivion, on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation® 3 platforms, as reported by the industry scoring system found at www.metacritic.com and www.gamerankings.com.



About ZeniMax Media Inc.

ZeniMax Media is a preeminent media organization which has brought together a team of world class game developers, artists and designers, programmers, producers, and leading executives and talent from traditional media. ZeniMax Media creates and publishes original interactive entertainment content for consoles, the PC, and handheld/wireless devices. ZeniMax Media divisions include Bethesda Softworks, Vir2L Studios, ZeniMax Europe Ltd., and ZeniMax Online Studios. ZeniMax, Bethesda Softworks, Bethesda Game Studios, The Elder Scrolls, Oblivion, Morrowind and related logos are registered trademarks or trademarks of ZeniMax Media Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Fallout is a registered trademark or trademark of Bethesda Softworks LLC in the U.S. and/or other countries. For more information on ZeniMax Media, visit www.zenimax.com.



About Bethesda Softworks

Bethesda Softworks, part of the ZeniMax Media Inc. family of companies, is a premier developer and worldwide publisher of interactive entertainment software and has produced numerous award-winning titles, most recently with 2006 PC and Xbox 360® Game of the Year and RPG of the Year, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion®, and the 2002 PC and Xbox® Game of the Year and RPG of the Year, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind®. Among Bethesda’s more popular franchises are The Elder Scrolls® series and Fallout®. For more information on Bethesda Softworks’ products, visit www.bethsoft.com.

About id Software
Founded in 1991, id Software has provided technical, design and artistic leadership as an independent game developer and technology innovator. id Software’s iconic brands such as Wolfenstein, DOOM, QUAKE and Enemy Territory have become staples of popular culture for generations of gamers. More information on id Software can be found at www.idsoftware.com. id Software, Wolfenstein, DOOM, QUAKE, RAGE and Enemy Territory and related logos are registered trademarks owned by ZeniMax Media Inc.

My name is Marcus and I'm an X-Bot (apparently)

So Ep 60 of Invisible Walls is up on Gametrailers.com, and this is an episode we crammed in by recording late on Tues night after everyone had dragged their tired asses back to the office after day one of E3 and its various presentations.

The focus of the show was to discuss the three 1st Party media briefings and dissect them in our own unique way. While I don't want to spoil the show for you, I was of the opinion that Sony had the best lineup but their conf was not as good as it could have been, while MS had a good lineup, but their presentation was slicker.

Of course this has been met with howls of outrage from the more one-eyed members of the GT community, the ones who scream blue murder and lob out the racial and homophobic insults like there is no tomorrow. These of course are the people who can listen to the same episode 50 times in a row and still only hear what they want to hear, so maybe they should be one-eared, instead of one-eyed!

Here is the response I posted on the talk thread for IW 60:

"The question asked on the show was 'Who had the best press conf?', not 'who had the best games?' or 'who will sell the most games?' or 'who has the whiniest set of one-eyed illiterates as fanbots?'

I am on the show because I look at things in a slightly different way to the rest of the crew, based on my 12 yr background in Games PR. I see the industry a little differently and that is why Shane asked me on the show in the first place. That won't change, so get used to it. I don't expect you to agree, just respect that I have a different opinion than you and move on.

A good press conf should not drag out, should cater to the target audience (in this case the games media and not analysts, shareholders or fanboys) and the presentations should be informative, concise and not feel like they are being done by a bunch of rank amateurs who have never had this thing we do called 'media training'.

In my OPINION (and that is all it is, not law, not fact, not gospel) as a former PR person, of the three press conferences I saw, Microsoft managed to execute their event within the parameters I have mentioned above the best. Even though they did not have the strongest content.

Sony, IN MY OPINION did not execute quite as well AGAIN BASED ON THE ABOVE PARAMETERS even though their content far and away outstripped the other 1st parties at E3.

So, when the question was asked, I answered honestly and I still hold that opinion, even after multiple viewings of all the PC's.

Now if you don't mind, I am going back to play inFAMOUS, which I happen to think is one of the best games of they year, but please don't tell the Sony fanboys, because it might confuse them that someone can actually love games simply because they are great, and not based on the name of the system you play them on."


Now you may wonder 'why bother defending yourself time and time again against these guys? They won't change!'

My answer to that is simply - I have to keep on doing this in the hope that some of them will learn that we are allowed to have opinions that differ and at the end of the day as long as the games are good, who gives a damn what system they come out on?

So anyway, here is the link to the show, hope you enjoy!

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/51228.html

Sorry there have been no updates since lunchtime yesterday! Been a crazy two days. E3 Recaps begin tomorrow!

FFXI players will not be able to port their characters to FFXIV. However the character design system will be v.similar to FFXI, in addition Square hopes to allow players to move their friends lists across.

FFXIV will ship globally at the same time
Server setup will be identical to FFXI.
Square hope that FFXIV will run alongside FFXI with the communities playing both.
They wanted to make the best Final Fantasy game possible, and felt that the MMO format would make that possible.

So Sony kinda missled us yesterday with the whole FFXIV 'exclusive' thing. The game is coming to PS3 and PC, and Square are going to great lengths to say that they are looking at all other options including 360.
Naughty Sony!
I personally think that MS would be rightly pissed if they are screwed out of FFXIV Online after spending a lot of time and effort pushing FFXIII.

An I am sitting in the back by the door so I can hot the buffet before any other greedy bastards LOL

I am in and seated in the nice comfy chairs.
No fliming allowed, which doesn't bug me as I ain't filming !

Oh yeah, I am posting these updates via my iPhone, so no tags and titles LOL.

Just heard that there were 'protesters' outside E3 earlier complaining about 'Dante's Inferno'.
Smells like an EA marketing stunt to me....
Of course if it WAS real god bothering types protesting, then they should all piss off and die out quietly.
The world would be a better place without them.

From the check in line to the line to get through the door. Such fun!
On the plus side, they are ok with liveblogging and tweeting.
Stay tuned for updates!

In line now for the kinda hush hush Square Enix press conf.
Will they be showing FFIX?
Announcing more details about the online component?
Pehaps it is something totally different?
Oh yeah there is free lunch too, which is nice!

E3 2k9 Day 2

Apologies in advance for the short update. Have to get this done before heading out for day 3!

Nintendo Briefing.

The Cammie and Reggie show took the stage for a press conf that was a lot better than last years disaster, but still pretty poor to be honest. The two obvious highlights were the announcements of Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid: The Other M (developed by Team Ninja). Both are probably going to be top notch, but neither of them is hitting this year, leaving us with New Super Mario Bros Wii. Which looked like a SNES game that has had a lick of paint for the Wii to be honest.

Sony.

Lets get one thing clear here - Sony has the BEST software line up of any 1st party. Period. No argument.

The following kick ass titles were shown:
Uncharted 2
Gran Turismo 5
God of War 3
The Last Guardian

Each of the above games are going to be triple A quality and given the right marketing and PR from Sony, each could be a system selling game.

Sony also showed the 256 player shooter title MAG, which is still leaving me cold to be honest, and ModNation Racers, which while it looks better than Microsofts Avatar Racing, still looks kind of meh to me.

Sony also announced the PSP GO, which looked kind of snazzy until the $250 price tag was added, making it the same price as a Wii!

I won't go into my thoughts on the motion control system right now, other than to stay it looked like a rather popular sex toy known as a Violet Wand.

Sony's presser had the content, but not the style. It was disjointed, overlong and how a game like ModNation Racers was shown while Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time was not is beyond me. That is my PR side talking BTW.

K, I am out and off to the show! Today I am seeing Harmonix / MTV Square Enix & Sony Online amongst others, and I will be updating via the Twitter (@annoyedgamer).

Later folks!

E3 2009 Sony Media Briefing

I survived Nintendo. 2 good announcements, but Mario Galaxy 2 is NOT this year!

Now it's onto the the platform with the best line up for this year - Sony.

Join me live at 11 A.M. PST and if you like, feel free to recommend the blog to your friends!

Nintendo Media Briefing

Day 2 of E3 2009 week continues with 2 more media briefings, then the actual show starts!
I will be casting my bloodshot eye over what Sony has to offer a little later, but first Nintendo are in my sights. Will they wow the hardcore games with innovative games tha make us love them all over again? Or will they persist with the faddy shovelware that has become the staple of the Wii? Stay tuned to find out!

E3 2009 Day 1 Recap - The Press Briefings

So that is day 1 out of the way, and what a mixed bag it turned out to be.

Lets go through the events in chronological order, starting with the Xbox 360 briefing this morning at the Galen Center in downtown L.A. (Don't forget to check out the amazing liveblog (!) I did from the event this morning!)

MS got the day started with a bang with a little help from their friends (groan)as they showed Rock Band: The Beatles and wheeled out Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney to huge whoops from the crowd. I must admit whoever wrote their lines did a good job, with Ringo saying "the game looks great, and we were great" with Paul adding in his best 'confused old man' act, "Thanks for letting us be on your gameshow". The game looked good too despite the best efforts of the 'Harmonix House Band' who murdered a tune much to my annoyance.

Other titles of note:
Modern Warfare 2 looked tasty
We got a nifty CGI trailer for Crackdown 2
Splinter Cell Conviction looked good.
Alan Wake surprised me by looking creepy and cool and generally sexy.
Left4Dead 2 - Set in the Deep South - YUM
HALO ODST and HALO:Reach - Well it's Halo, so I am sure the fans will be happy and I am sure it will sell shitloads.
Oh yeah, and Metal Gear Solid Rising might be cool too;)

Things I could have done without:
Announcing Facebook and Twitter apps for 360.
Final Fantasy XIII being demoed in the most slow and painful way - via translator.
The Avatar Racing Game - Lame

And then there was Project Natal...

This is the much rumored 'camera' for 360 that seems to have the potential to blow gaming wide open IF it gets backed with some quality software. You can read all about the ins and outs of what it does elsewhere, but my thoughts are that some of the demos were incredible, and some were creepy (like Milo, the cgi boy who recognizes you, talks to you and reacts to what you say).
There was a painting demo that looked kind of silly, and I am sure will be used to fake lots of 'money shots' once it is released...

So overall for MS - A good showing. Some great innovations, some crap, some killer games.

Next up - EA.

I am going to discount games like The Sims, the kids stuff and the sports stuff because they bore me to be honest.

I liked:
Bruutal Legend - Tim Schafer, Jack Black and Rock music... whats not to love?
Dantes Inferno - Should tide me over till God of War 3 comes out:)
The Saboteur - Looks kind of WW2 Splinter Cell, and that's not perhaps a bad thing. I want to see more.
Mass Effect 2 - Its BioWare - need I say more?
Dragon Age - A gory, sexy M-Rated BioWare game?? Sign me up!
The Old Republic - Again - BioWare + Star Wars + MMO = Me spending another $15 a month...

So EA - Good line up in general. Some killer titles form the Borg that I will just have to buy.

Now onto UbiSoft.

All I can say about this is thank God for Joel McHale! The man is funny and kept it together after every tedious presentation.

The presentation was all talk, not much gameplay and some CGI trailers mixed in with those LOATHSOME ads featuring lots of painfully hip types who apparently now define 'The Gamer' (according to ad agency wankers anyway).

Worst culprit? James 'Titanic (bore)' Cameron, who droned on and on about Avatar, and did not show anything beyond a fucking logo!

Ubi had the worst event of the day, with the worst lineup. Not even the great Pele could save the day, seeing as the game he was endorsing looked like some cartoony footie version of 'Hogwarts' from the Harry Potter books.

Epic Fail Ubi. You may make lots of cash from the 'Tweens' line, but you are in serious danger of becoming a gaming JOKE.

EDIT: They did of course show the same demo of Splinter Cell: Conviction, which indeed does look good. Thanks to Bob Marino for the reminder. I am still however dissapointed with their showing.

Nintendo Media Briefing

The E3 madness continues tomorrow with the Nintendo briefing. Please feel free to join for my slightly skewed take on the event!

Xbox 360 E3 2009 Media Briefing

Join me at 10.20 AM today for my attempt at liveblogging the Xbox 360 E3 2009 Media Briefing. This might work, it might not, my laptop battery might die!, I might fall asleep! Who knows!