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Wednesday, October 11, 2006 |
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PS3 vs. Wii vs. Xbox 360 -- An IGN Video Roundtable
It's been more than a month since I last updated my blog (so sorry to my two readers out there), but I was actually away from work for a good portion of that time on paternal leave due to the birth of my daughter, Emily (on September 14, which also happens to my birthday too -- weird). She's awesome by the way, and being a dad is fantastic.
Anyhow, now that I've returned, I'm really looking forward to getting back to writing (something I didn't think I'd miss given that this is such a busy time of year), and for my first subject, I'm going to talk about the same thing I always talk about... work.
 Specifically, I want to talk about IGN Weekly Episode 29 -- which comes out this Friday and has an interesting premise: TGS and X06 Afterthoughts and what it all means. In other words, "how have the major players performed over the past few months and how will this affect their upcoming holiday wars?"
It's a good, fun topic to wax about, I'll give our production team that, but I do have a worry. Every single time we sit down and discuss this stuff, it degenerates into a "Defend your system and berate the other editor's beat" argument. I tend to avoid participating in IGN Weekly (or similar video special) segments that include this sort of subject matter (after appearing in the majority of the early episodes) because, frankly, I find most of the things people latch onto to support their arguments turn out to be unfounded knee-jerk reactions. Combine that with quick cuts, plenty of editing, and the need to keep the format pithy so that we can move on to the next segment. A lot gets lost there and it's usually the stuff I think is most important to our readers (re: the material that isn’t a sound byte and actually explains a position instead of glorifying it).
 So where am I going with this and why bring it up? In truth, it's a two-fold reason. 1.) It's a bit of self-therapy as it allows me to get my disdain for brand-driven arguments out in the open, and 2.) It gives me a platform to see if any of our readers agree with me.
How many of you, like me, are tired of watching/ hearing the same thing over and over again? "Wii will dominate because of this reason, PS3 will fail for this reason, Microsoft sucks because of this reason..." I'm pretty sick of it, personally.
There's nothing wrong with forecasts and predictions mind you, but what I'd like to see from this discussion is a nice, opinion-driven piece based on facts, trends, and announcements that have come about over the last several months. I don't want it to spiral into the type of "defender" segment that many of our competitor's (and our own) video discussions always seem to turn into to. I think that's what you guys want to see too. What other reason is there to tune in after all? We're supposed to be the industry experts/ authorities on these matters and if the only thing we do is feed some Fanboy interests, we fail (sure it would make for good television, but we'd still fail).
 Luckily, I like who we have in our panel and am curious to see how it's going to go down. Other than me, other editorial heads include Matt Casamassina, Doug Perry, and Dan Adams. Peer Schneider (our VP and true-to-life gamer) will moderate the whole thing and we shoot it tomorrow afternoon. It'll be interesting to see what we can learn from each other when all is said and done and to see if any real biases/ grudges exist among the staff. It'll be interesting to hear your feedback afterwards too.
Wish me luck.
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Thursday, September 07, 2006 |
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Metal Gear HD
So I'm excited about this one. We've gotten our hands on a previously non-HD trailer that we now have in (what else?) 720p HD. No one has seen it like this yet, so it should be nice for tech heads.
Pre-TGS is a good time to be a Metal Gear fan.
 Click here to watch it in 720p.
PS3 User Interface Exposed
I'm pretty excited about a cool little story we put together for IGN Weekly tonight. After all the guerilla and Youtube "stealth cam" videos of the PlayStation 3 menu, we got permission from Sony to go ahead and pipe into a PS3 dev unit to show off its user Interface. We captured it in 720p high-definition too, so sometime next week we'll post that version.
 While you wait for that, the segment this week shows off how the UI is coming along in its current form (version 0.85, there are still more icons/ subjects to add, and some things are being retooled since its earlier appearances) and it also shows you how it works (audio, video, etc). It's nothing that will blow the doors off your nearby garage, but at least it highlights some of the things that were either blurry or un-clicked in the previous unsanctioned videos. We also show it both in-game, and out-game.
 Sadly, IGN Weekly didn't go up until midnight or so -- some last minute snags and our video team being out on trips caused some delays. Even so, you watch the walkthrough, by clicking here
In other news, I'm almost done with Dead Rising (I'm on Day 3) and just got a final build of Xenosaga Episode III -- looks like I'm in for a busy weekend.
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Wednesday, August 16, 2006 |
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PlayStation 3 Heating Up and the Dead Rise
Don't be surprised if the next several weeks really start to pick up in regards to PlayStation 3 software and hardware. As we move into TGS, undoubtedly the biggest one ever held, several things that people have wanted to know are going to be hinted at or confirmed. Expect to hear about a brand new launch game or two, some games that are going to be delayed, etc, etc.
Even so, things are already gaining steam. Take today, for instance, it was just a regular Tuesday and yet we had updates on the Naughty Dog game, Tiger Woods 07, Darkness screens, Full Auto 2, and Virtua Fighter 5 -- not bad at all. We'll have more on Full Auto 2 and VF5 tomorrow as well, and a few added PS3 updates later in the week. September is going to be the beginning of the real drama, though, and it should only get better from there.
 In other news, I'm definitely hooked on Dead Rising. I'm really enjoying how engrossing it is to just stand in the middle of a crowd and smack zombies around. I do wish that it had some sort of co-op mode, though, and not being able to share your pictures sort of defeats the purpose of taking them. Still, the achievement system used in that game is brilliant and I love the fact that you can't save everyone -- you can't be perfect. I like that.
Maybe one day it (or it's sequel) will come to PS3 so I have an excuse to cover it.
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Wednesday, August 09, 2006 |
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Relaxation Through Action, Pre-TGS
With the heavy fall and winter schedules approaching and what's going to be (arguably) the biggest TGS ever, it's good to be able to sit down and enjoy three "Mindless Fun" games in a small amount of time. The three games I'm speaking of, of course, is LEGO Star Wars II, Dead Rising, and Dirge of Cerberus.
Yes dear readers (all three of you), Dirge of Cerberus is actually a much better game than it was when it was released in Japan. It's easy to pick up, it looks great, and it's cool to see what happened post-Meteorfall. It's not going to win any awards, mind you, but it should tide Final Fantasy VII fans over until the fabled FF7 PS3 remake someday surfaces out of the theoretical abyss.
 Dead Rising and LEGO Star Wars II are definitely better games, however. Though I've only just begun the both of them, they provide the sort of old-school action-based therapy that many of today's games lack with their over-complicated real world simulations and 7000-quest mission structures.
Makes me wish that Smash Bros. Brawl was a Wii launch title -- then I'd be in happy land for even longer.
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