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Nexon’s new first-person shooter game is a gutsy move

August 31st, 2008, 9:18 am by

JoeWhich one doesn’t fit:

a) A game of super-cute fantasy characters whacking snails and mushrooms for gold coins
b) A superstar pop-culture dance game
c) A gritty deathmatch between mercenaries.

Sorry, that was a trick question. South Korean game company Nexon produces all three – “MapleStory,” “Audition” and “Combat Arms,” among other titles. Unlike the offerings from more traditional gaming companies like EA, each of these games follows the company’s trademark free-to-download and free-to-play formula. Nexon first came stateside with flagship “MapleStory,” a massively multiplayer online game that’s one part “Super Mario Brothers” and one part “World of Warcraft.”

We had a chance to sit down and talk with Nexon America’s vice president of marketing, Min Kim; “Combat Arms” producer Herb Yang; and associate Bob Holtzman.

The company’s newest game, “Combat Arms,” is a first-person shooter and currently up and running. The 3D first-person shooter’s realistic style is a significant departure from the super-cute, super-deformed style in its other games. But competition has been a fairly core component of many of the company’s games. “Audition” features head-to-head dance competition, while “KartRider” is a cart-racing game in which players, well, race against each other. In karts, I guess.

Nexon’s games generate revenue through “micro transactions,” in which players use real money to buy new facial expressions, haircuts and clothing for their characters. They’re micro because the items – which are often rented or one-time use items – aren’t very expensive. A “MapleStory” player could purchase an angry expression for his or her rogue for a dollar or three.

While its shop — called the black market — isn’t up yet, the same will be true of “Combat Arms.” The market will let players buy new clothing, body types, faces, gun textures and other customizable elements. Yang was emphatic that items that help a player by providing statistics, like new or improved guns, won’t be available for purchase. Better and more specialized weapons would only be available to players who played enough games to use the in-game points system to purchase them. Read the rest of this entry »

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Newsguy777′s top five games of E3

July 27th, 2008, 10:12 pm by

E3 & Game Rover

John Crandall

We were wrong. About the best game at E3, I mean.

I asked a number of different game reviewers, columnists and reporters at E3 to pick THE GAME OF E3 – I actually asked in bold, capital letters like that – and they gave me a lot of different answers. Left 4 dead, Prince of Persia, Fallout 3 and Spore were some of the top picks.

In fact, we had a poll on what games you, our discerning readers, were most looking forward to at the event and the most votes went to Spore. I know I thought Spore was going to be THE GAME OF E3 (cue echo and thunder and lightning).

However, I can say that we were all categorically wrong. Spore was great, but one game beat it. So without further ado or adon’t, here are my choices from my trip to video game nirvana.

The top 5 games of E3

5. Halo Wars by Ensemble Studios

This game has to go on the list, not only because I’m a huge Halo fan, but also because the game looked … well, pretty. It had the traditional real-time strategy gameplay feeling (like Command and Conquer or Age of Empires), but the thing looked so doggone beautiful that (though this is sacrilege in the gaming community) I felt I could have just watched someone else play instead of playing the game myself.

The metal shimmered, the weapons glowed and the whole game had that familiar shine of a program polished like the brass ring on a carousel.

4. Red Wars: Guerrilla by THQ

I already previewed this game, but suffice to say, in this futuristic martian dystopia buildings done blowed up real good.

3. Fracture by Lucasarts

Fracture was the last game I got to play at E3, and it was wonderful.You have these grenades you can use to change the surrounding terrain and … words don’t do it justice, so check out the video here.

2. Spore by Maxis

Spore has so much depth, so much replayability and so much charm that it’s hard to believe it was greater than I thought it would be. But it beat all my expectations. However one game topped it and that is …

1. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed by Lucasarts

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was the best game at E3. It sounded great, it played well, and it looked as close to the CGI that Lucas throws at the big screen as we’re going to get.

Aside from the brilliant graphics, the game gives the player the heady rush of absolute power. Whether it’s crumpling a two-story robot walker into a ball(I know they’re called AT-STs, Star Wars fans) or picking up a spaceship with the Force (if you don’t know what the Force is, I weep for you) this game will grab you and not let go until it’s shaken all the change from your pockets.

For those of you who played Psi-Ops you’ll understand. For those of you who didn’t, shame on you, that game was great.

Even if you don’t see have some sort epiphany while playing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed when it arrives in September, you’ll have a lot of fun.

Unfortunately for my readers, THE GAME OF E3 (distant rumble) title is subjective and completely dependent on my whims, so there are bound to be some who disagree. If you do, leave a comment. The more comments the better. And tell us your top E3 game.

For my next post, I’ll be answering the questions you sent me about E3.

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Jim Lee gives a rough sketch of “DC Universe Online”

July 22nd, 2008, 12:01 am by

JoeSony Online Entertainment announced “DC Universe Online” at E3, marking the first major licensed comic-book MMO.

When we ran into uber comic-book artist Jim Lee at the company’s lounge, one of the first questions we asked was: “Can we play as DC characters?”

No dice, unfortunately. I’d really set my heart on playing the Green Lantern, too.

Lee, the game’s executive creative director, is also the pencil artist behind the revamped “X-Men” book from the ’90s, his own Wildstorm line under Image comics, several “Superman” issues and, of course, “Hush,” one of the best-known “Batman” story arcs.

Jim Lee, DC Universe Online

DC Universe Online, the gameWhat the game will let players do, though, is something missing from superhero MMO “City of Heroes”: Interact with comic-book legends. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, even DC institutions like the Justice League will be present.

Jim Lee sketches Batman“My goal is to have everything – everything in the DC universe,” Lee said. He mentioned Gotham and Metropolis, respectively of Batman and Superman fame, as sites, as well as the Bat Cave, the Daily Planet and Arkham Asylum.

Even more interestingly, the game will let players be a part of actual canon events in the DC Universe. Lee explained that, prior to the game launch, an event will take place in the comic books that will explain why there’s suddenly an influx of new heroes – and villains. But we’ll get to that in a moment.

As events happen in the comic book, they’ll have repercussions in the game world. And, as events happen in the game world, they’ll have repercussions in the comic books.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Spore for the Wii could happen, says one Maxis producer

July 17th, 2008, 6:39 pm by

E3 & Game Rover

John Crandall

Spore for the Wii is a possibility, says one of the game’s producers.

Though the upcoming life simulation game will not be making an appearance on Nintendo’s console any time soon, Thomas Vu, a producer at Spore’s development company Maxis, said it could happen.

“It’s something we have considered,” Vu said. “It’s one of the options on the table.”

“Nothing we want to announce though, ” Vu added.sporsewmacpftright.jpg

I talked to Vu momentarily at E3 while he was showcasing a version of the game at the Electronics Arts meeting room. When we spoke he was guiding a herd of creatures that looked like the dinosaur Yoshi from Super Mario Bros. to attack a neighboring tribe.

Spore is slated for release for PC and Nintendo DS this September.

More E3 Spore/Sims coverage:


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New ‘Brothers In Arms’ brings WWII back to mature gaming

July 17th, 2008, 1:51 pm by

EteRnal PAL mugGame Rover at E3There was a period when WWII-based shooters were all the rage. Each of the top-rated titles in the genre brought something different to the table to draw in gamers: “Call of Duty” with their scripted events, “Medal of Honor” with its character-based story telling and “Battlefield” with its large scale battles.

“Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway” is the third in the “Brothers In Arms” series and follows in the same footsteps as its predecessors to provide gamers with a realistic-paced strategic first person shooter.  Sgt. Matt Baker (from the first BIA) returns as the hero.

Hell’s Highway

The E3 demo (Xbox 360 version) I played starts off on a mission where the squad needed to clear out a town full of Nazis. The biggest change to the gameplay is the ability to take cover, a la “Rainbow Six Vegas.” Sgt. Baker can shoot back and give orders while behind cover. Sprinting has been added to help players get around or run from cover to cover much quicker.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Sega’s Space Siege offers nostalgia, visuals and great physics

July 17th, 2008, 1:06 pm by

John CrandallGame Rover at E3Sega’s Space Siege harkens back to the olden days. Days where people used words like “harkens” or “olden.” Days before the first person shooter genre (which I love) became the norm, and the player looked down on his character like a child staring at the pet mouse he kept in a shoebox.

I can’t exactly remember what games those would be, and I’m too lazy to check Wikipedia to find them. So suffice to say, the demo I played at E3 of Sega’s Space Siege has that fun, nostalgic feel of the action-RPG games of old, where you searched the A) dark castle, B) dank jungle or C) dusty spaceship for treasure, fighting enemies and gaining gradually more powerful weapons and abilities.

You play as a Seth Walker, a combat engineer aboard the Armstrong, the last surviving escape ship from an Earth disintegrated by aliens. I started the game with a machine gun and a laser sword, though the game will have at least 10 different weapons and a host of special abilities. Read the rest of this entry »

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Destruction is main draw of ‘Red Faction: Guerilla’

July 17th, 2008, 10:30 am by

E3 & Game Rover

John Crandall

I got an odd impression from Red Faction: Guerilla when I got to view a demo by the design team at THQ. And by odd, I mean wonderful. As I watched Jason Whiteside, art director for the game, guide the protagonist around the surface of Mars, I felt that same giddy rush I had when I was a little kid smashing a sandcastle I spent hours making.

The game takes place in 2175 A.D. or so on Mars — originally inhabited by colonists from Earth but made inhabitable by terraforming. The protagonist is a normal human Martian citizen who gets caught up in a political revolution against the draconian government, the Earth Defense Force.

While the story was interesting, the destruction you can wreak in the game was the main draw. Almost every structure in the game is completely destroyable. You can take a sledge hammer and use it to take apart a building piece by piece and then watch it collapse. Or you can use a guns that makes microscopic machines dissemble the building to dust. Dreamy sigh.

I don’t know why watching things blow up has such a hold on me. Maybe the desire to crush video game buildings is as primal – for me at least – as the desire to eat pizza or push someone in a pool at a fancy party. Read the rest of this entry »

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