The End

The greatest machinima ever made? Almost certainly.
The most insane production values ever found in a game? Ridiculously so.
The biggest gaming event of the year? Yes.
A great game? The best Metal Gear has ever been.

Sure we can complain about the gameplay to cutscene ratio or any number of other nitpicks, but in the end MGS4 is the epic send off Metal Gear Fans have been looking for. Congratulations Hideo.

What's wrong with PS3?

Well, looks like The Getaway and 8 Days just got the axe. And Sony adds some salt to the wound by announcing Qore, their new pay to play subscription video podcast, demo and beta service.

Which leaves me wondering, what the heck is Sony first party doing anyways?

Let me get the Sony first party story straight: God of War is nowhere to be seen, Gran Turismo 5 is still not out, despite what their pay to play demo might have you think, The Getaway and 8 Days are newly canned, there's no sign of Afrika, no sign of Trico, and SOCOM, Wipeout and Warhawk have been confined to PSN. Not even going to bother bringing up Home. What the heck is going on over there?

Itagaki Quits Tecmo, Sues President

Hot on the heels of the release of Ninja Gaiden 2, a true bombshell has hit the Japanese games industry:

"I, Tomonobu Itagaki, hereby announce that on the 14th of May 2008 I filed a complaint in the Tokyo District Court against Tecmo Co., Ltd. for unpaid completion bonuses, and against the President of Tecmo, Yoshimi Yasuda, for such unlawful acts as unreasonable and disingenuous statements made towards me, claiming damages in total of 148 million yen. I also announce that this complaint was delivered to the defendants on May 22nd of the same year. In addition, I hereby announce that I have today submitted a letter of resignation to Tecmo Co., Ltd. stating that I will resign as of the 1st of July, 2008.

"Before the start of development on Dead or Alive 4, Tecmo Co., Ltd. had agreed to pay a completion bonus to me for this Xbox 360 title, which I produced. However, when the time came for the actual payment, Tecmo Co., Ltd. went against its previous agreement and refused payment. President Yoshimi Yasuda chose not only to violate this agreement, but also turned defiant, telling me 'if you are dissatisfied with the decision not to pay the bonuses, either quit the company or sue it.' In addition, he made demeaning remarks about me to my subordinates and colleagues, causing me significant emotional distress and worsening my personal relationships and work environment. Thus, I have no choice but to resign from Tecmo Co., Ltd.

The Most Popular Videogame in the World

Slate.com reveals the secrets of the one game no one can stop playing. No, not Tetris, not Mario Brothers, but your all time favorite... Solitaire! Learn all about the sordid beginnings of computer solitaire and FreeCell over at Slate.

Grand Theft Auto 4 is not a 10.

Been playing through Rockstar's latest and while it's definitely another fine game in the Grand Theft Auto series, it's not a "10". But what makes a 10 these days? Is anything truly original these days? Well, no, pure originality is probably too high a standard to hold anything up to, and in my opinion not every "10" or Triple-A game need be a revolutionary advancement for our little slice of artistic pie (yes, games are art).

For me a game worthy of a "10" is one that compels the player to advance throughout, capturing their attention from the beginning. And a "10" doesn't let up, it keeps bringing new challenges to the gamer while maintaining their interest. It must feel fresh throughout, which is why Gears of War's "10"s were more justifiable to me than say a "10" given to Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It must prove to be the gold standard of gameplay available at the moment, which is why to me Halo 3 is deserving of a "10" despite its identifiable shortcomings.

As for Grand Theft Auto? Granted I'm still early in the game, and certainly the gameplay and atmosphere has been refined to near perfection after several iterations last generation, but so far it doesn't feel like anything I haven't done before. The missions have been straightforward staples of the genre so far, assassinate this character, follow this character, drive around this character. The storytelling hasn't been particularly impressive either, with more cardboard cutout villains that we've all seen before.

So if it's not a "10" what is it then? And how did it get those "10"s anyways? Scoring and reviewing in the video game world has always been a very murky, yet necessary practice.

I personally prefer a whole different approach to scoring games... but that's another blog entry entirely.

Microsoft donates Xbox 360s to Children's Hospitals

A very cool initiative by Microsoft to donate Xbox 360 kiosks to Children's Hospitals and providing a private Xbox Live network for their patients to social in. One of my friends did some research into this area and found that it was a great way to provide varied and quality social interactions to children with their peers that they might not have otherwise been able to experience. Good work MSFT.

What's wrong with PSN?

Something's rotten in the Playstation Network.

The latest snafu to hit the Playstation Network is the cancellation delay of Konami's Metal Gear Solid Online beta test for US and European testers. After a long weekend of signup server frustrations and confusion as to why two separate Konami IDs were required to be created (outside of a user's PSN account) to be able to play the game, Konami threw in the towel temporarily and stopped the Beta from going live mere minutes before its US debut.

Add this to the list of disappointments rapidly accruing with the Playstation Network and one has to wonder, what's going on at Sony?

Why are major developers like Konami being allowed to require the use of their own network IDs?

How could Gran Turismo 5 Prologue USA be launched without private rooms, no voice comm and poor network code?

Why did Little Big Planet become a Blu-Ray only SKU?

Where is Home?

How is it that after over a year of being on the market there is still no in-game XMB and all the associated conveniences that come with that (invites, friends lists, cross game chat)?

Why do independent developers seem to be powerless against game sharing?

And most importantly of all, why is Soul Calibur a XBLA exclusive title?

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Is A Travesty

Let's ignore for the moment that you're paying $40 for a demo. Wait, let's not. $40 for a demo?? You won't even get credit towards the full game should you choose to purchase this demo and to top it off it's incomplete too! Sixty cars, barely there tuning, minimal customization, and a kick in the privates is all Polyphony have deemed fit for their consumers to experience.

One of the big selling points Sony would have you believe is its online mulitplayer (free!), but guess what, that's broken too. Want to race with your buddies? Sorry, matchmaking is the only option available right now. Use that fancy Bluetooth headset? Nope, voice hasn't been implemented yet (this fall, uhh maybe... nevermind that the demo has been out in Japan for a number of months).

Sony's continued disrespected towards their consumer base is appalling to me. If you're going to devote the time and resources to making an early version of your game available, which takes away the same time and resources from working on your finished product, AND you make consumers pay for it, at least give us a compelling feature set as well.

It's a Waggle Future

With the news that Microsoft is developing its on Wii-like controller with Rare and the knowledge that Sony is determined to bring out its own as well, is it a one waggle future for video game controllers?

Although many long-time gamers might consider the Wiimote not much more than a gimmick, it is apparent to me that Wii-like controls are a compelling interactive interface for certain types of games. While not every game can be made to function well with the magic stick, games built around the Wii's controls have been very well done at times. It's my opinion that the industry needs to catch up as a whole and consider the way the Wii has changed the gaming landscape, especially if they want to take advantage the large marketshare of Nintendo's console. Sure, Nintendo's consoles have traditionally shown middling sales for third-party games, but in the case of the Wii (and the DS, it must be said), in my opinion a large part of the blame can squarely be put on developers not taking the time to craft games to the strengths of the platforms they are developing on. Now with Microsoft and Sony apparently entering the ring in the near future, with newer and better technology and precision, it's high time developers start thinking seriously about the future of games and motion controls.

So will the next generation of consoles even include traditional controllers in the box? I think that as of this moment they will (except for Nintendo's of course) since traditional games are still selling like hotcakes, but can definitely see a future where they are no longer the preferred control method. I hope developers are planning for this contingency...

CGW/GFW Magazine Ends Run

The end of an era... Jeff Green announced on his blog that Ziff Davis will no longer be publishing Computer Gaming World / Games for Windows magazine.

So, here we are. The end of an era. The Internet age marches forward. And here?s where we get to the good part. Because there really is a good part, and I can say this to you honestly without having to feel I'm "spinning" it for you. First, all the editors that you have come to know at GFW are staying on here at 1up.com. Sean Molloy, Shawn Elliott, Ryan Scott, and myself have already, even before this closing, been working more and more over the past few months with the online team to beef up 1up.com's PC gaming content, and now we'll be doing this full time. All the writers you've been familiar with, the columns and features you've come to love, will still be around. What's changing, of course, is that it's all online instead of in print, which means we now can bring it all to you in a quicker and more timely manner, and, hey--for free.