A fantastic franchise in dire need of another good ole' resurrection.
It’s Friday and that means that it’s time for another installment of Missing in Action! For those of you that missed out on previous installments, MIA is a bi-weekly column where we highlight a game or franchise of old that could use a little dusting and a current generation update.
The newly re-imagined title comes back in glorious HD and manages to be fun, if uninspired.
The original Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64 should have been just another movie tie-in game. However, with Rare at the helm, it became one of the most important games in video game history. The fast paced gameplay and incredible multiplayer made it one of the best games of 1997. After being a beloved game for 13 years, Activision (now holder of the James Bond license) released a reimagining of the game for the Nintendo Wii. Now that reimagining is available on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and the rules are a bit different because of that. Although there are shooters on the Wii, they are absolutely plentiful and then some on the PS3 and 360. So it’s not enough to be a good shooter; you need to be different as well. So does Goldeneye 007 Reloaded stand out from the crowd?
Kolbe Launchbaugh leaves SCEA San Diego for Tiburon.
Longtime developer of the famous Madden NFL franchise, Tiburon has seen quite the turnover this year. Earlier this spring some top level talent left the studio and were replaced by Cam Weber as GM of football products, Roy Harvey as executive producer, and internally elevated Mike Young in the role of creative director. The team is still patching holes and is now adding some significant talent, as Kolbe Launchbaugh has announced via Twitter that he is leaving SCEA San Diego to become creative director on Madden NFL.
Future game developers, take note!
Apps! Apps! Apps! Best Buy and Hooked Media have launched an app development contest for the Android marketplace! The “Get Discovered!” contest is open to all game developers and, using Hooked Media's design platform, will be able to monitor the metrics and analytics of their game, should it make it to the marketplace. The contest is a great opportunity for developers of all sizes, as all apps will garner some form of promotion on the marketplace, with those receiving higher scores going further in the competition.
Podcasts: the final frontier. These are the recordings of the PixlTalk Crew #2. Their continuing mission: to seek out new talking points, and new awkward situations. To boldly go where no PixlTalk has gone before!
Welcome, faithful listeners, to the first official episode of PixlTalk Crew #2! Joaquim sits in with Patrick, Rob, and your new host, Julian. We talk about our personal picks for Game of the Year. Obvious games like Uncharted 3 and Batman: Arkham City are mentioned before we stop to give some love to underdogs like Dead Island and Dragon Age 2.
Twenty-five titles available on day one.
This past weekend the PlayStation Vita launched in Japan and did rather well. With the initial launch of the system now behind us, it’s time to start looking forward to the day when the rest of the world will be able to purchase Sony’s new handheld: February 22, 2012. Sony had already announced the European launch titles during a Vita event in London a few weeks back and has only just now revealed what the US can expect on store shelves come launch day.
Rob gives us the lowdown on the events in Union Square for the launch of the latest from Bioware.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is BioWare/EA’s attempt to overthrow the current MMO giant, World of Warcraft. As a person with minimal exposure to MMOs I can honestly say that I would rather wield a lightsaber than a regular ole’ sword any day. That said, I decided to venture out to BioWare and Gamer Grub’s Best Buy Star Wars: The Old Republic release event in Union Square in Manhattan on a chilly Monday night. I went home loaded up with Star Wars goodies, PB & J Gamer Grub, and a scratchy throat.
Seems not all Vita games will be priced equally.
It has been long suggested that having a standard pricing system for video games wouldn’t work as the industry grew, particularly with the emergence of cheap iOS and mobile games. Sony has been toying around with discounted prices for digital versions of Vita software in Japan and possibly the US, but a look over at Amazon.com reveals that they may be mixing it up with physical copy pricing as well.
A Final Fantasy XIII-2 Amazon.com preorder gives players a boss battle and party member. Why do the "when" and "where" matter when making a new videogame purchase?
This week's PB & Jason takes the idea of exclusive game content offered as retailer-specifc preorder bonus to the task, specifically in relation of Final Fantasy XIII-2. In short, I think the idea is ridiculous, and I'm surprised to see Square Enix using this tactic for a Final Fantasy title.
Valentine's Day just got a little more crowded.
The Tekken franchise has a lot going on at the moment. Tekken Hybrid was recently released and the popular fighting series finally gets to put up against rival Street Fighter series in Tekken X Street Fighter due out next year. Perhaps lost in all this Tekken news is the development of Tekken 3D Prime Edition which is coming exclusively to the Nintendo 3DS and now has a release date.
