Guild Wars 2: Living in the Shadow of the The Mad King

With Shadow of the Mad King, Guild Wars 2 expands with new events, new mini dungeons, and much more.

When you've made the best online role-playing game in years, what's the obvious next step for a busy development team?

Why, make it better, of course.

And that's just what ArenaNet intends to do with Guild Wars 2, a high-quality game that the developer is enhancing and augmenting in numerous ways, both big and small. Lead content designer Mike Zadorojny and content designer Matt Wuerffel filled us in on the October update, Shadow of the Mad King, which went live today, October 22.

ArenaNet shows off some of the content that has arrived in the newest Guild Wars 2 update, Shadow of the Mad King.

In the weeks preceding this update, ArenaNet prepared for its eventful future by breaking the development team into smaller, focused groups. The goal: expand the living world by continually updating the game, adding new features, and keeping players consistently entertained. To that end, each team concentrates on individual aspects of Guild Wars 2. One such group is the live response team, which is the front line of defense, responsible for fixing bugs, talking to players, perusing the forums and in-game chat, and understanding what players' short- and long-term concerns are.

Live response has already made certain improvements, such as camera adjustments, and fixes for farming exploits that threw the economy out of whack. Reward structures have been another focus. Towards the end game, players are interested in legendary weapons, which require a good deal of karma to purchase. To earn the necessary karma, players would farm certain events--and the team would rather people experience a variety of content, rather than repeat the same content. So karma has been added to other activities, such as challenging jumping puzzles, mini dungeons, monthly achievements, and more.

The living world team works with live response, adding events , jumping puzzles, and other activities to keep things fresh--even when it's a region you've already explored. There are also new hole-in-the-wall places to stumble upon and explore, with new content to discover within. Also: new skrit burglar events (more on those to come!), and new achievement paths, like one that has you leaping from particularly high vantage points. (And, we can only hope, into a bale of hay, Assassin's Creed style.)

NPC guilds are another addition. The idea is that guilds of computer-controlled griefers level up with you, perhaps ambushing you when opening a treasure chest. NPC guild events are scaled to account for the number of players participating, and could potentially turn into larger battles (say, skirmishes versus four simultaneous boss characters) if there are enough combatants. You can also expect new jumping puzzles and mini dungeons, and we got to see both types of content in action in Fireheart Rise, a region tailored towards players between levels 60 and 70.

It's been 200 years since the people of Kryta have seen the ghost of the Mad King, famous for his bad jokes and his tendency to kill anyone that lost a game of Mad King Says.

This new chunk of content as you leaping across platforms to reach a crazy Asura called Vexa, who is performing terrible experiments on her test subjects. Within her lab, you face waves of enemies with different mechanics; beware of chickens that explode upon defeat, and m ight leave grubs in their wake! (And as you might know, the GameSpot team has a peculiar fetish for exploding chickens.) This mini dungeon also requires a lot of jumping and movement--and the team understands that jumping puzzles can be frustrating for certain players. In certain cases, checkpoints have been added so that you are teleported to the beginning without taking armor damage. But such checkpoints won't save you when it comes time to face Vexa herself. During the multi-stage final battle, she will destroy platforming panels and possibly knock you into the water beneath, where toothy sharks await.

The new content isn't just aimed at higher-level folks, however. In Plains of Ashford, the Charr starter area (as well as in many other regions), you shall encounter skrit burglars. Perhaps you're used to running into simple ogres and their pets in a particular locale. Now, you might open a treasure chest, only for a skrit to leap out and run off. As you give chase, he might turn you into a racoon, or cast spells that slow you down. But as you and other event participants try to defeat him before he reaches his goal, he drops pieces of treasure that participants can grab.

If you played the original Guild Wars, you might know why this update is called Shadow of the Mad King: Halloween nears. In Guild Wars, the popular Halloween events inevitable concluded with the arrival of Mad King Thorn's spirit. It's been 200 years since the people of Kryta have seen the ghost of the Mad King, famous for his bad jokes and his tendency to kill anyone that lost a game of "Mad King Says." (Though at least he was kindly enough to resurrect them.) The king may have disappeared--but the traditions carry on. Lion's Arch is the most festive city in Kryta; there, you can expect to see lots of fake Mad King Thorns (much as we'd see people dressed as Santa Claus), candy corn elementals, floating candles, and plenty of jack o' lanterns. Among other events, players can participate in PvP costume brawls, in which combatants imbibe tonics that might morph them, for example, into skittering spiders.

More importantly, act one of this particular update will spawn doors into the world that you "trick or treat." When the door opens, you see a starry field on the other side, and mysterious creatures pour through, forcing to push them and back and protect the lands. Later in the week, Kryta will have built more defenses, and eventually, you will go through the doors and take the fight to the enemy.

Zadorojny and Wuerffel also clued us in on a few other special occurrences in store for players, but you'll have to wait until Friday, October 26, to find out just what they are, so be sure to return to GameSpot then. In the meanwhile, you should practice your "Mad King Says" skills; you never know when they might come in handy.

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The OzSpot 23/10/12: Dishonored, BioShock Infinite

October 22, 2012 8:16PM PDT

Listen in for our thoughts on Dishonored, BioShock Infinite's latest trailer, and what's grinding our gears about the just-released Dragon Age 3 details.

On this week's show: our thoughts on Dishonored, the profits of televising eSports, Dragon Age 3, and the new BioShock Infinite trailer. Tune in!

Watch live video from gamespot's channel on TwitchTV

By Laura Parker, Associate Editor

Laura Parker is the Associate Editor of GameSpot Australia. She loves adventure games, sparkly stuff, Trivial Pursuit, cake, Master Chief, earthworms, and rhetorical questions. She once stole a sandwich from Peter Molyneux.

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PAX Australia confirmed for Melbourne

The previously-announced Penny Arcade Expo Australia will be coming to Melbourne in 2013 and 2014 with the support of the Victorian government.

The news was announced today by Victorian Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business Louise Asher and Penny Arcade president Robert Khoo. Next year's PAX Australia will be held at the Melbourne Showgrounds from 19-21 July.

The Victorian government will be helping to promote PAX in Melbourne via sponsorship and integration though a number of their gaming culture exhibitions and presentations.

Asher said that attracting PAX Australia to Melbourne would "deliver significant economic benefits" to the state in addition to interstate and international visitors.

"The decision to choose Melbourne to hold PAX Australia represents a fantastic opportunity to highlight Victoria's creative capabilities on a global scale," she said. "This is a great opportunity to showcase the gaming culture in Australia to the rest of the world, while promoting the talented game developers and creative studios to an international audience."

Khoo said the decision to bring PAX to Australia was made following the "overwhelming" response from the Australian Penny Arcade community.

"Melbourne has a long history of supporting the gaming scene, through showcasing cultural game exhibits to supporting world renowned game developers," Khoo said. "Holding PAX Australia in Melbourne is the perfect fit for our show."

According to organisers, PAX Australia will combine an international program with local content and community events, including international guests, speakers, musicians, developers, and Australian industry representatives.

Currently, PAX events are held on both coasts of the United States: PAX Prime in Seattle, Washington, and PAX East in Boston, Massachusetts.

PAX Australia ticket registration is now open via the PAX Australia website.

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This Week in Games: October 19, 2012

Black Ops 2 gets a season pass, Microsoft and Nintendo half-heartedly drop some prices, GoG does a crazy-awesome Interplay promo, and Criterion is pondering a new Road Rash.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will be the latest game to offer a downloadable content season pass. Activision announced a $50 Black Ops II DLC pass on Monday that includes four planned expansions. These will arrive first on Xbox Live and will also be available standalone at $15 a pop. Activision did not offer much in the way of specifics, but did say that they will take the form of multiplayer maps and Zombies content. These offerings are expected to be made available next year. Interestingly, the season pass was announced only for Xbox 360 at this point. If you play on PlayStation 3, PC, or Wii U, this doesn't necessarily mean you're SOL, it's just that nothing has been announced yet. Activision's communication on the subject this past Monday stated, "Season Pass and DLC Map Packs may not be available on all gaming platforms." Interesting that they're keeping it vague. Any guesses as to which community is going to get hosed on this one? Our best bet is that Wii U gets stiffed worst.

Nihilistic Software's CEO Robert Huebner told the Activision-run One of Swords blog this week that though Declassified will leverage the design of past Call of Duty games, it will focus on multiplayer above all else.

Also this past Monday, Activision announced that all features for its Call of Duty: Elite service for Black Ops II will now be free. Yup…you read that right: free. Because now you pay to subscribe to the DLC updates for the game rather than for the community. So nothing's changed really, it's just called something different now. Elite originally launched with Modern Warfare 3 last year and carried a coincidentally identical $50 annual price tag. At that time, the service granted you a bunch of downloadable content every month, and a ton of video. The Elite platform for Black Ops II will boast a number of revisions to existing features as well as new stuff like a dedicated Zombies channel. Players will be able to track their personal statistics on the service, and there will be new tablet support for Call of Duty: Elite TV (what form this will take isn't known yet, probably apps for both iOS and Android) which will include developer video, strategy guide stuff, and other original content.

If you're one of those people that's so obsessed with Call of Duty that you want it with you at all times, you'll no doubt be eyeing the November 13 release of Black Ops Declassified with increasing interest. Nihilistic Software's CEO Robert Huebner told the Activision-run One of Swords blog this week that though Declassified will leverage the design of past Call of Duty games, it will focus on multiplayer above all else (although, weirdly, it will not include a Zombies mode.) "Declassified is not about the big campaign storyline and huge cinematics, it's more focused on the multiplayer essence of Call of Duty and bringing that to a portable device as completely as possible," Huebner said. He added that Nihilistic's aim for Declassified was not to design a game that fans would perceive as a port of a past or current Call of Duty title. Instead, the team sought to craft a "tailored experience" for the Vita that delves into the history of memorable Black Ops characters like Frank Woods and Alex Mason.

What do you think? Does that make you more, or less interested in the title? Would you buy a Vita just to be able to play it? Let us know in the comments.

Microsoft Prices Surface, Re-prices Xbox 360, Forces IE10 Down Throats

If you're one of the many previously seduced by the notion of Microsoft's Surface tablet, you'll be pleased to know that it now has a price. The company launched its Microsoft Store page for the device on Tuesday this week, listing three variants of the Windows RT version of Surface. The base 32GB model tablet lists for $399, and does not include a "Touch Cover" (the touch sensitive keyboard that clicks onto the device,) the same tablet with the Touch Cover lists for $599, and a 64GB unit with a Touch Cover lists for $699. Microsoft is also selling a clicky "real" keyboard for $129. This compares to a comparable 32GB Wi-Fi iPad, which lists for $599 without any kind of cover or keyboard. The Surface RT, which runs on a Nvidia ARM processor, is one of two models the company is planning. The other being an Intel Core processor-driven Windows 8 Pro unit, which is essentially a full-on Windows laptop/tablet hybrid for which pricing has yet to be set. Conservative estimates place the 64GB version of that device in the $1,000 range. Surface is set to launch alongside Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system next Friday, October 26.  

In other price-related news, the company also revealed a number of Xbox 360 Holiday Bundles this week, effectively reducing the price of the console (which now boasts a life-to-date sales number of 70 million units) by $50. For the pusillanimous price of $249 you can now get a 250GB console with a copy of Forza 4 and a download token for The Elder Scrolls Skyrim or a 4GB console with Kinect, Kinect Disneyland Adventures, and Kinect Adventures. For $349 you can get a 250GB console with Kinect, Kinect Sports, and a download token for Dance Central 2. Microsoft claims these offers are only "for a limited time." Let's hope what that really means is "we're milking these higher prices for as long as we possibly can before dropping them to something that's actually reasonable. Surely, after seven years, it's time to bring the 250GB solus box down to $199? Well, not if people will pay the higher price. Above all else, Microsoft is about making profits.

On the subject of Xbox 360, if you downloaded the new dashboard update this week, you will no doubt have noticed a number of things. Top of many gamers' list of gripes is the increased number of ads that appear in the dash now, and this is closely followed by "where the hell did the Facebook and Twitter apps go?" OK, neither app was exactly what you'd call awesome, but the raised-eyebrows are more about the reason they're gone than their actual disappearance. Multiple sources reportedly familiar with Microsoft's plans told The Verge on Wednesday that this was done to spur gamers to use the new Internet Explorer browser included with the update. Microsoft confirmed on Friday that the apps were "retired" in an effort to "streamline" the Xbox experience.

Nintendo, And The Word "Obstreperous"

Speaking of timid price drops Nintendo has finally cut the price of the Wii in the United States, but still refuses to take it below the $100 price point. A timid $130 will (from October 28) get you a bundle that includes a black Wii console, as well as copies of Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort on one disc. A price drop for other regions was not announced. Honestly, still charging more than $99 for a six year-old console mostly filled with 11 year-old technology is a truly glorious example of obstreperous stubbornness rarely seen in the video games space. Like Microsoft, Nintendo wants to make profits, and with the Wii it's making more than anyone right now.

According to Nintendo of America executive vice president of sales and marketing Scott Moffitt, the price drop, along with the included games, will make the new bundle an "easy choice" for those seeking out value during the upcoming holiday season. Given that the system and branding looks an awful lot like the more expensive, and no-doubt supply-constrained black Wii U "Deluxe Set" that "easy choice" may also prove to generate apocalyptic levels of holiday gift disappointment this year thanks to gift buyers not knowing, or not understanding the differences.

Halo 4 Pirates Banned for Life

The big drama since last week's installment of This Week in Games was that a pirated copy of Halo 4 found its way out into the wild. Gamers caught playing playing it potentially face a permanent ban from Xbox Live. That's according to one Reddit writer, who posted an email from Microsoft informing the user that "illegitimate prerelease title play" has yielded a permanent Xbox Live account suspension. 

A Microsoft representative provided GameSpot with the following statement on Monday morning; "We are aware of isolated cases in which 'Halo 4' content has been propped on the Web and are working closely with our security teams and law enforcement to address the situation immediately. Consumers should be aware that piracy is illegal and we take vigorous action against illegal activity related to our products and services. Playing pirated copies of games, such as Halo 4, is a violation of the Xbox Live Terms of Use and will result in enforcement action, such as account and console bans."

Writing on the official Halo website, 343 Industries warned of Halo 4 leaks, and said it was "working closely" with security teams and law enforcement to address the situation. "Piracy is illegal and we are taking vigorous action against it," reads a line from the statement. "We have poured our blood, sweat, and tears into Halo 4, and we want you to have the best possible experience with our game, come November 6. If you're interested in staying spoiler-free, we encourage you to exercise caution when visiting various websites, social networking services, and forums."

The game isn't out until November 6, so we all still have more than two weeks to try and avoid those spoilers. 

Next Skyrim DLC: Dragonborn?

The next expansion to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim may be called Dragonborn and could have gamers riding dragons, if rumors swirling on Tuesday are to be believed. An industrious Bethesda forum user dug through the source code for the game's new 1.8 patch earlier this week and found several references to "Dragonborn" and "DLC2." The user claims the Dragonborn expansion will add new armor types, and may even allow users to ride dragons in some fashion. The files suggest the Dragonborn DLC will be set in the island area of Solstheim, a land northwest of Wardenfell and east of Skyrim. According to the Elder Scrolls Wikia, its climate is cold and snowy (unusual for Skyrim, right?) and is home to the Ebony mines. Further fueling the rumor (which company reps are so far steadfastly refusing to comment on,) Bethesda parent company Zenimax Media sought a Dragonborn trademark through the United States Patent & Trademark Office bay in May. The mark was filed under the goods and services description of "Computer game software for use with computers and video game consoles; downloadable computer game software offered via the internet and wireless devices."

Xbox Music: Kinda Like Spotify, But Not

If you like the idea of Spotify, but really wish it would work on fewer devices that you own, Microsoft has something for you; Xbox Music, a streaming, download, and cloud music service with access to around 30 million tracks. Streaming is free thanks to advertising support, while an ad-free version called Xbox Music Pass--which includes unlimited plays, and offline support for PCs and mobile--costs $9.99 per month. The a-la-carte download option offers 256kbps DRM-free MP3s tracks (versus 192kbps WMA for streaming) for purchase from the Xbox Music Store. Cloud storage is also promised for later in the year. Similar to Apple's iTunes Match service, Xbox Music will allow you to scan-and-match any music you own and add it to your own personal cloud catalogue for use on all your devices. It includes music acquired through other services, such as iTunes or Amazon. The service--which was originally rumored to launch on October 26--is available on Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, and Xbox 360. In a hearty "screw you" to the company's largest possible captive audience, neither Windows Phone 7 or Windows 7 users will be able to access the service (they get to just keep playing around with the less-sexy Zune Music.) Clearly, this intended as a big shove to get you to upgrade. Microsoft is promising that Xbox Music will be made available on other platforms "in the coming year"--including, surprisingly, both iOS and Android. But still not Windows Phone 7.

No LAN League of Legends For You!

On the eve of Riot Games' League of Legends Season 2 World Championships Grand Final between Azubu Forst and the Taipei Assassins, Riot announced it was developing a LAN client for tournaments, which would also be in use for the matchup this past Saturday night. At the time it was not said whether the client would be for major tournaments only, or also for all League of Legends players. Now it is known it will only be used for the former. Riot VP of eSports Dustin Beck took to Twitter on Tuesday to dispel the rumors. "We built an offline solution for the Finals for the pros to be protected from Internet connectivity issues", Beck tweeted. "There are no plans to develop a LAN mode for offline play at home / LAN centers. Just wanted to clarify for everyone."

In related news, if you're one of the growing number of MacBook-toting gamers disappointed that the company previously pulled the plug on its Mac OSX Beta client, you'll pleased to know that Riot president Marc Merrill said at the tail-end of last week that the long-promised Mac version of the game is still in development. At the risk of over-promising that it would be coming "soon," Merrill cautioned, "We've got some good news coming on that front." Given that the company has been using the word "soon" for some time on this subject, it's become almost a meme within the League of Legends community. Don't hold your breath or anything, but it's still coming.

Criterion Pondering New Burnout, Maybe Road Rash

In a recent interview with The Guardian newspaper in the UK, Criterion creative director Craig Sullivan (he of the awesome hair and boundless enthusiasm) pledged the Guildford, London studio will return to the Burnout series at some point in the future. "There's still a lot of stuff we want to do with driving," Sullivan said. "We will make another Burnout game at some point. Obviously, as we're working on NFS we're thinking of really good ideas that aren't right for this series; there are ideas that we're going to explore with Burnout. And we wouldn't be making NFS or Burnout games if we didn't think the driving genre had a long shelf life and that we could push the boundaries." Sullivan also teased that the studio may develop something without vehicles at all, but a Road Rash (yes!) game is more likely. "When we did Burnout Paradise we did some motorbike DLC and now everyone thinks that we're going to do Road Rash at some point," he explained. "I had a lot of fun playing that game, we think bikes are fun.We might make a Road Rash game…But then we might make a game without vehicles in it," he said. "I mean, we made Black, I was the lead designer; we might make a game about blowing the crap out of each other. But Road Rash seems like a good fit for Criterion…"

Could this mean we're finally going to get a new version of one of the most talked-about games from EA's back-catalog? Perhaps something with the speed of Burnout's downloadable bikes, and with the attitude of Sons of Anarchy? Keep your fingers and toes crossed.

Project Eternity Is The Most Kickstarted Game Ever

Obsidian Entertainment's Kickstarter campaign for isometric, party-based PC role-playing game Project Eternity has finished with a total of $3,986,929, becoming the highest-funded video game on the crowd-funding platform behind Double Fine's point-and-click PC adventure gameDouble Fine Adventure, which ended its Kickstarter with a total of $3.3 million. Project Eternity's final goal will most likely stretch to over $4 million once Kickstarter counts the campaign's PayPal donations.  The project started on September 14 and had exceeded its stated goal of $1,100,000 within 24 hours. According to Obsidian--the studio behind Fallout: New Vegas and the upcoming South Park: The Stick of Truth--the extra funding could be used to help the development team to put more resources behind new playable races, factions, crafting systems, and a personal stronghold for players to store gear and weapons in. "Additional money we raise will go straight into the game to add new levels, companions, NPCs, features, and even entirely new parts of the world which will add hours and hours to the adventure," the developers said. Obsidian also plans to attempt to enlist the aid of Neverwinter Nights 2's creative lead George Ziets and, since the campaign reached beyond $3.5 million, will add a final goal to the game called "Big Big City", where the game will feature a giant city hub, reminiscent of Athkatla from Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn. Obsidian claims that the final game will combine elements of past Infinity Engine role-playing projects like Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment. Players will create their own character in Project Eternity, and will gather companions along their journey, which will be replete with "complex, difficult choices," according to Obsidian.

On the subject of Kickstarter, Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts announced this week that funding for his next game Star Citizen will be using the service to raise money. When Roberts announced the game last week and called on users to help fund it, the game's website became overloaded and buckled. In response to this, Roberts and his development studio Cloud Imperium Games launched a Kickstarter campaign on Thursday with a $500,000 target in an effort to reach the project's overall $2 million funding goal. The effort closes November 19.

GOG Does Mac, and a Crazy Good Interplay Promo

…drop at least $34.99 and download the whole catalog

Downloadable game service GOG rolled out its support for Mac this week, bringing (so far) 50 classic, DRM-free titles for the increasingly-popular platform (particularly laptops.) The initial list includes some true greats, including The Witcher, for $4.99, The Witcher 2 for $29.99, the original Syndicate for $2.99, Ultima 4+5+6 in a single download for $5.99, the Tex Murphy games for $9.99 a piece, and many, many more. Check out the full list right here.

The service also rolled out a special Interplay-based promo, too. For the next couple of weeks you'll be able to "pay what you want" (to a certain degree) for 32 classic titles from the publisher, including Fallout, Fallout 2, Descent, and MDK. The offer is tiered at three levels; get eight games for whatever price you want, pay above the average price and get 20 games, or drop at least $34.99 and download the whole catalog (Windows only right now, unfortunately) with soundtracks and other digital goodies. Sound like a good deal? Check out the GOG page now.

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Mugen Souls Review

There's a lot to appreciate about the anime-style trappings seen in many Japanese role-playing games. The influence of Japan's rich history of cartoon and comic art can translate to colorful environments, outlandish characters, and even some offbeat humor. Mugen Souls is one such RPG. But while it wholeheartedly embraces the anime-loving, game-marathoning otaku culture that inspired it, Mugen Souls seems to have completely forgotten to be a good game first and foremost.

The premise of Mugen Souls is novel: rather than saving the world from imminent destruction, antiheroine Chou-Chou wants to turn every being in the seven corners of the universe into her loyal servant. She has a knack for getting people to surrender to her will, thanks to her unique ability to pander exactly to anyone's taste in character stereotypes. She also has a commandeered spaceship and an ever-growing army of subservient lackeys under her rule.

The character designs are cute and appealing (if a little uncomfortable at times--some of the characters look quite young), and the theme of conquering the universe with your egotistical charm is inherently appealing. But the problems with Mugen Souls emerge from the get-go. Chou-Chou's one-note appeal fades quickly as she and the supporting cast fail to undergo any satisfying character development, even after Chou-Chou displays her ability to assume seven different personality types.

The one-dimensional characters might be forgiven if their interactions were as funny as the game seems to think they are. Alas, attempts at humorous exchanges between the characters fall flat with resounding thuds, save for a few cute digs at video gaming conventions. There's little to the story besides the supposed humor, so when the funny fails, every lengthy dialogue exchange turns into an excruciating experience.

Solid gameplay can rescue an RPG with a weak story, but the gameplay of Mugen Souls is a superficially complex mess of disparate mechanics that fail to gel into anything cohesive. Chou-Chou, her seven personalities, and her servants traverse small, sloppily designed, uninteresting overworld areas, which chug along at incomprehensibly low frame rates, despite their simplistic visuals and object models, unless you lower your display resolution to 720p. There are mobs of endlessly respawning enemies on each map, and though you can see them before you fight, they tend to move so quickly that avoiding them (or slashing Chou-Chou's weapon fast enough to enter battle with an advantage) is extremely difficult once they notice your presence.

When you enter a fight, there are lots of options available to you, all of which are explained only one time through poorly presented tutorials--which then become completely inaccessible should you want to review anything you've learned. You've got a fairly standard RPG array of basic attacks, special skills, and items to use, as well as a positioning-based combat system that lets your party and the enemies run around the field. Characters can also perform team-up attacks that have some amusing animations, but they become so drawn out that you are quickly tempted to turn off the "battle animations" option.

Chou-Chou has access to some unique skills, however. She can shift into one of her seven personalities mid-combat, which changes her affinities toward special attacks; rather than being based on traditional RPG elements like fire, wind, and water, skill and character affiliations are based on personality traits like bipolar, graceful, and sadist. Chou-Chou also has an ability called the "moé kill": by pandering to enemies' particular tastes, she can transform them into willing peons, who then power up her spaceship. This is accomplished by trying to match a series of three action selections to an enemy's taste and current mood. Make the enemy happy, and you are rewarded; pick the wrong choices, and you get an agitated, more powerful foe to contend with.

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Nostalgic Game Design Can't Be Just Skin Deep

Carolyn Petit examines the very different ways in which two games go about celebrating the NES era.

I imagine that when I look back on the games of 2012 in the future, it won't be any of this year's big commercial hits that stand out most. Great as they are, it won't be games like XCOM: Enemy Unknown or Dishonored that spring to mind first. Rather, what will define 2012 for me most is the fact that not one but two of the most memorable and interesting games I played this year are tremendously referential celebrations of gaming's past.

Of course, games that capitalize on the nostalgia of players who grew up with the games of the '80s and '90s are nothing new. Each entry in Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros. series attempts to appeal to those who have fond recollections of the "old" Super Mario Bros. games. And it's not unusual for publishers to resurrect and modernize beloved properties of the past. As a huge fan of Bionic Commando on the NES, I always think of the disappointing 2009 update as an unfortunate example of such games.

At one point, Retro City Rampage references the faux-3D stages in Contra.

But two games released this year--Retro City Rampage and Abobo's Big Adventure--have a different relationship with the past than those other games. These games aren't new entries in old franchises, playing on our fondness for specific characters or worlds, our yearning to play a new game in a series we loved when we were younger. Instead, they reference a wide variety of different NES games, and in doing so, they celebrate the entire NES era. Yet though they share a similar reverence for the past, their approaches are wildly different.

Retro City Rampage takes a type of game that didn't exist in the 1980s--the open-world urban crime adventure--and envisions what it might have looked like if it had. Known early in its development as Grand Theftendo and originally designed to run on actual NES hardware, Retro City Rampage looks and sounds very much like a product of the '80s. If you loved the NES, playing RCR will bring memories flooding back of how it felt to bring a new cartridge home, slam it into the Nintendo, and dive into a new 8-bit world.

It's a heady sensation, with the power of nostalgia making it distinctly different from the contemporary thrill of exploring the lands of Skyrim or the streets of Liberty City. And because games like RCR didn't exist in the '80s, Retro City Rampage initially recaptures the excitement that came with playing something unlike anything you'd ever played before--the first time you played Metroid or Blaster Master or The Legend of Zelda. But eventually, it sinks in that, since we're now in the 2010s and not the 1980s, we have played games that play like Retro City Rampage, and that do what it does better. The visuals and music conjure a pleasing sense of returning to the past, but what it's doing isn't nearly as bold today as what games like Metroid and The Legend of Zelda did back then.

Playing RCR will bring memories flooding back of how it felt to bring a new cartridge home, slam it into the Nintendo, and dive into a new 8-bit world.Retro City Rampage goes beyond its 8-bit visuals and music in attempting to stir up warm, fuzzy feelings for gaming's past, though. It also dishes out references by the dozens to specific games, characters, media personalities, movies, and other pop culture artifacts of the '80s. Some of these nods elicit a pleasing sense of recognition, a simple but satisfying, "Oh, hey, the name of that skate shop is a reference to Skate or Die!" Others may make you chuckle, while some fall flat. But ironically, it's when Retro City Rampage goes beyond textual references and tries to reference classic games via its gameplay that it stumbles the most as a celebration of '80s games.

Games like Paperboy and Tapper, and particular elements of games such as the faux-3D levels in the original Contra, all felt a specific way, and for those of us who played those games when we were younger, the feel of the controls is an intrinsic part of our memories of them. As a result, when playing the sections of Retro City Rampage that are modeled on these games, there's a jarring disconnect between what we see (a room that is clearly modeled on a bar in Tapper, for instance) and what we feel (controls that make no effort to imitate the distinctive way Tapper felt). I know that I enjoyed playing Tapper, but playing the stage that spoofs it in Retro City Rampage doesn't remind me why I enjoyed it.

Retro City Rampage faithfully recreates the look and sound of the games it references, but it goes deeper than that.

Abobo's Big Adventure, on the other hand, duplicates with remarkable precision the way it feels to play the games it imitates. Unlike Retro City Rampage, Abobo's Big Adventure makes no attempt to mix 8-bit visuals and sound with more modern genres or concepts. In fact, nearly every element of Abobo--every character, every environmental detail--is not just a reference to something from gaming's past, but a nearly pixel-perfect re-creation.

Because it's not a commercial product but a free Flash game, Abobo's Big Adventure can get away with replicating the first stage of Double Dragon (complete with its fantastic music), and pitting you against enemies from Super Mario Bros., Renegade, Donkey Kong, Kung Fu, and other games. If you've played Double Dragon, the experience isn't just nostalgic because it looks and sounds like Double Dragon. It's also nostalgic because it feels like Double Dragon. If it didn't, playing this stage would feel just as discordant as it feels to play the Tapper level in Retro City Rampage. But instead, the experience is harmonious, and pleasurable.

Abobo's Big Adventure doesn't just make superficial nods to the games it spoofs. It reminds us why we loved playing them.What's remarkable about Abobo's Big Adventure is that it takes you back to the sights, sounds, and feelings of classic NES games not just once or twice, but over and over again. There's a level that mimics a fortress in The Legend of Zelda and one that imitates a match in Pro Wrestling. One faithfully re-creates early stages in Contra, and another sees you leaping and shooting through a remake of Mega Man 2's Quick Man stage. Like the Double Dragon stage that opens the game, these aren't dry, unimaginative replicas. They're filled with characters from other games and have frequently hilarious surprises in the forms of unexpected boss fights and other tweaks to these scenarios some of us know only too well. But it always nails the most crucial detail. It always feels right. Retro City Rampage reminds us that we played these classic games. Abobo's Big Adventure reminds us that we loved playing them.

What about players who didn't grow up with NES games? Which game has more to offer players who aren't versed in 8-bit gaming history? By offering a sampler platter of 8-bit gaming experiences that are still fun to this day, Abobo's Big Adventure is ultimately a more varied, better-playing game than Retro City Rampage. The direct comparison is, however, perhaps a bit unfair. One game sets out to be a fun open-world game with visuals and humor that reference the 8-bit era. The other is made almost entirely of actual pieces of 8-bit games--sprites, backgrounds, music, gameplay mechanics. But if we see more games in the future that strive to celebrate NES games to the extent that these two do, I hope that they take a cue from Abobo's Big Adventure, and recognize that it's not the pixelated visuals or chiptune music that makes those games so worthy of our enduring affection. It's the way they play.

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Mugen Souls Review

There's a lot to appreciate about the anime-style trappings seen in many Japanese role-playing games. The influence of Japan's rich history of cartoon and comic art can translate to colorful environments, outlandish characters, and even some offbeat humor. Mugen Souls is one such RPG. But while it wholeheartedly embraces the anime-loving, game-marathoning otaku culture that inspired it, Mugen Souls seems to have completely forgotten to be a good game first and foremost.

The premise of Mugen Souls is novel: rather than saving the world from imminent destruction, antiheroine Chou-Chou wants to turn every being in the seven corners of the universe into her loyal servant. She has a knack for getting people to surrender to her will, thanks to her unique ability to pander exactly to anyone's taste in character stereotypes. She also has a commandeered spaceship and an ever-growing army of subservient lackeys under her rule.

The character designs are cute and appealing (if a little uncomfortable at times--some of the characters look quite young), and the theme of conquering the universe with your egotistical charm is inherently appealing. But the problems with Mugen Souls emerge from the get-go. Chou-Chou's one-note appeal fades quickly as she and the supporting cast fail to undergo any satisfying character development, even after Chou-Chou displays her ability to assume seven different personality types.

The one-dimensional characters might be forgiven if their interactions were as funny as the game seems to think they are. Alas, attempts at humorous exchanges between the characters fall flat with resounding thuds, save for a few cute digs at video gaming conventions. There's little to the story besides the supposed humor, so when the funny fails, every lengthy dialogue exchange turns into an excruciating experience.

Solid gameplay can rescue an RPG with a weak story, but the gameplay of Mugen Souls is a superficially complex mess of disparate mechanics that fail to gel into anything cohesive. Chou-Chou, her seven personalities, and her servants traverse small, sloppily designed, uninteresting overworld areas, which chug along at incomprehensibly low frame rates, despite their simplistic visuals and object models, unless you lower your display resolution to 720p. There are mobs of endlessly respawning enemies on each map, and though you can see them before you fight, they tend to move so quickly that avoiding them (or slashing Chou-Chou's weapon fast enough to enter battle with an advantage) is extremely difficult once they notice your presence.

When you enter a fight, there are lots of options available to you, all of which are explained only one time through poorly presented tutorials--which then become completely inaccessible should you want to review anything you've learned. You've got a fairly standard RPG array of basic attacks, special skills, and items to use, as well as a positioning-based combat system that lets your party and the enemies run around the field. Characters can also perform team-up attacks that have some amusing animations, but they become so drawn out that you are quickly tempted to turn off the "battle animations" option.

Chou-Chou has access to some unique skills, however. She can shift into one of her seven personalities mid-combat, which changes her affinities toward special attacks; rather than being based on traditional RPG elements like fire, wind, and water, skill and character affiliations are based on personality traits like bipolar, graceful, and sadist. Chou-Chou also has an ability called the "moé kill": by pandering to enemies' particular tastes, she can transform them into willing peons, who then power up her spaceship. This is accomplished by trying to match a series of three action selections to an enemy's taste and current mood. Make the enemy happy, and you are rewarded; pick the wrong choices, and you get an agitated, more powerful foe to contend with.

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Taking the Neo Geo X for a Test Drive

God that Peter Brown is HOT!!! The handheld looks cool as well. Neo Geo will always hold a special place in the heart of those Genesis and SNES fans like myself who couldnt afford a system and played Magician Lord in the arcade with tears in our eyes that such beauty was out of our reach lol.

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IGN up for auction - Report

IGN could be going up for auction, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

The paper reported that News Corp. is working with investment bank Allen & Co. on an auction to sell IGN's network of video game and entertainment sites, following a year of failed efforts to produce a sales deal.

According to the report, News Corp. publicly stated its intention to sell IGN Entertainment after news that it was preparing to restructure its internal publishing and journalism assets, separating them from its media and entertainment businesses.

News Corp. bought IGN in 2005 for a price tag of $650 million (a deal that also included other sites, such as GameSpy.com and TeamXbox.com), but now hopes to sell the network of video game and entertainment sites for around $100 million.

According to the report, Break Media and SAY Media are among potential buyers for IGN, although sources close to News Corp. told the paper that other potential bidders could include private equity funds.

Sales negotiations were affected by turnover at both IGN and News Corp., with the departure of IGN chief executive Roy Bahat in August, and the resignation of News Corp.'s chief digital officer, Jon Miller.

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Diablo III 1.0.5 Patch

?In Inferno at Monster Power 1 or greater, monsters in every Act will also be bumped up to level 63 and share the same high-end item drop rates,? Johnson explains. ?This means that no matter which act you're progressing through, the monsters in that act will all have the same shot at dropping items level 61-63, including crafting recipes, Legendary items, and set items. While monsters in Inferno will all be level 63 at MP 1 through MP 10, their skills, abilities, and attributes will still vary from act to act. This means that certain Acts or Chapters may still be more difficult for you than others based on what monsters and Elite packs appear in each, but -- since the rewards will be identical across the entire difficulty -- where you choose to play is ultimately up to you and your personal play style.?

Just to clarify.

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