Our nearly hour long play session with Devil May Cry 4 left us with more questions than answers, but not the typical ones. Even with the press materials in our hands, we weren't left wondering when it was coming out or what the connection between playable characters Nero and Dante was. Our questions were more troubling. Was all that outrage worth it? Do people really just love to complain? Was Dennis Dyack right all along?
Its predecessor, Devil May Cry 3, launched a year after Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden and right alongside Sony's God of War: two games that redefined how action games should play, much like how the original Devil May Cry did back in 2001. It's a series that had once set the bar and had since been demolished by time.
We're not going to attempt to intuit the future. The bar, as of today, remains unscathed.
Coming on strong this week is 2P Start, whose 1337 Gamerscore nets them the top honors as this week's best game-related webcomic.
Coming in second place is Digital Unrest, while the third place trophy has been divided in half between Penny Arcadeand VG Cats. Thanks to everyone who voted, and be sure to let us know of any game-related webcomics you stumble upon this week!
For centuries right-handed society has attempted to suppress genetically superior left-handers by creating a backwards world. Kevin McArdle is fighting back. Angry with sacrificing his beautiful left-handedness to play Guitar Hero the wrong way, Kevin sat down with a few stabby-type tools and some glue to flip the controller the way it was meant to be. His photo gallery shows you the steps but leaves out the pesky detailed instructions that only a right-hander would need.
D3Publisher has announced their plans to bring three titles ("the first of many") to Microsoft's bit-flinging Xbox Live Arcade service: Mad Tracks, RocketBowl (XBLA's first bowling game, they coo), and the addictive matching game Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords.
Of course, Puzzle Quest is what we're really interested in here. We can imagine the XBLA version's HD graphics undoing the cramped constraints of the Nintendo DS release, while the delivery mechanism should bypass the PSP version's awkward loading pauses, and then there's Xbox Live integration for a proper multiplayer experience. Match up these three improvements to form the ultimate (albeit decidedly non-portable) version of Puzzle Quest!
Take heart, Gears of War fans and Gary Jules, you're finally going to be able to do something about "worn-out places" when a pack of four new multiplayer maps for the game drops this Thursday on Xbox Live. The "worn-out faces"? Still entirely your problem.
For 800 points ($10) you'll get the "Hidden Fronts" pack, which includes "Bullet Marsh" (a Kryll-infested swamp), "Garden" (an overgrown conservatory), "Process" (an Imulsion processing plant) and "Subway" (piece it together). They're not free like Epic wanted right now, but that'll be rectified if you download after Sept. 3, when they'll become a free download, Halo 2 style. So, will you be waiting, or will you be wearing out the places with the rest of us?
Gone are the days where the official site for Halo 3 is merely a dumping grounds for your email address. Aside from the impenetrable age gate, the site now sports the well-rounded collection of content that folks typically expect from an official internet home. And like the ravenous nerds that we are, we've seen it all, taken notes and harvested as much as we can from it.
For those who are trying their best to avoid spoiling their Halo 3experience, we both salute and respect your decision and will only place potentials after the break. We do, however, encourage you to check out the plot synopsis and new screenshots found both on the site and our gallery below.
Get your Master Chief decoder rings ready, fanboys. It's time to get fresh.
In a perfect world the press would not see a game until it was finished. Developers would have all the time in the world to enrich a product with both labor and love "until it's done." We would critique games as a legitimate form of media and wear leather clothes that will last the rest of our lives.
The president of Silicon Knights was certainly better composed in his lengthy interview with Gamasutra compared to his now infamous appearance on the EGM Live podcast (3/12/07). His idea is this: we, the press, should not be allowed to see titles before their completed state as to foster a critical approach to games. Furthermore, said games should not be promoted until they are completed.
The idea being that if we're ever to take this absurd past time of fiddling with joysticks and turn it into a legitimate medium, we need to become more like Roger Ebert (who hates video games) and less like Tony Stark and Miss Cleo. There are a few road blocks on the way to utopia as most publishers would balk at the idea of sitting on titles and not letting the press do their marketing for them. And you? The readers? We reward you for not using your noodle and jumping straight to a score that (supposedly) proves superiority over other titles.
Some day, Mr. Dyack. Some day we may live in a perfect world. But until then it's nothing but good ol' fashioned compromise and crotch sniffing for us!
As promised, Elite owners looking to peel the data from their old, antiquated Xboxen and stick it onto their shiny new Elites will be able to order a free HDD Transfer Kit through Xbox.com. An important part of that task includes having a page to order it from! Unfortunately, there's no easy-breezy "webpage" to place the order through, instead, you'll need to download a PDF, print it out, fill it out with all sorts of serial numbers, and mail it to Zionsville, Indiana where a team of futuristic, underground refugees will decide if you qualify for the Transfer Kit ...
... which we might add "is a limited time offer, subject to product availability, and subject to change without notice." Well, at least it's free.
Six Corners City, Island of Catan. The astonishing rate at which the settlers ofCatan have transformed the previously uninhabited and decidedly unimpressive island into something civilized is set to slow down this week, when primary construction on the Xbox Live Arcade comes to a close on Wednesday, May 2nd, at 9AM GMT (2AM PST). Mayor Taus Kleuber, whose city will host the entertainment complex, noted that, "I encourage all our settlers to visit the arcade and forget about their jobs for a few hours."
It seems that customers are already doing just that, lining up outside the arcade with the required 800 MS Points entry fee already in hand. "It seems like a reasonable price," said one excited teenager. "Then again, our currency never made any sense to me." Another woman expressed dismay at the growing excitement. "This new-fangled tomfoolery disgusts me. Why, my little girl's school was attacked by bears the other day because the guy who was making the fence went to check out this arcade. If I were a witch or something, I'd put this thing on a hex for sure!"
The most important part of establishing a successful arcade is filling it with quality games. So says self-proclaimed "gamer," Thaddeus McMac. "It's all about the games. When the Xbox Live Arcade opens this week, they're putting up some Centipede and Millipede machines." McMac notes that this "retro" package deal, which lumps together the two similar titles, costs 400 MS points and is perfect for those that enjoyed it before they moved to Catan. "Personally, I think I'll just wait for Catan to get some sunglass stores. I'll need a rose-colored pair before I tangle with those bugs again!"
Turn to Page 2 for our riveting poll: How do you pronounce Catan? (Hint: It doesn't rhyme with Satan!)
EGM has secured some hot new details on the fourth pillar of the vast Tom Clancy empire, the RTS EndWar. The game is being headed up by Michael de Plater, a familiar name to fans of the Total War series, who said he's taking a different approach to the console RTS. In fact, EGM quotes him as saying "[The Battle for Middle-earth II] was a test case for exactly what we didn't want to do." Oh, snap! Reporting from the EGM info, CVG says the game will pit the U.S. Joint Strike Force, Russian Spetsnaz and European Enforcers against each other on fully-destructible battlefields, with fights limited to 12 squads at a time. With all of the questions that it does answer, EGM leaves the most important one on the table: Has no one realized that if this is, in fact, the "end war," it'll leave Tom Clancy slinging curly fries at Arby's? Hopefully we'll find the answer in next month's issue of the mag.
We take the hard lumps for you at Joystiq. For example, we slogged through a purported summary of the 22-page leaked script treatment of the Gears of War movie over at Latino Review, spoilers be damned. What we found seemed like a competent, if slightly heavy-handed, take on the game that seems to have been crafted by someone who's actually picked up a controller.
We're not going to talk plot, but rest assured it seems like its on the right track, with all the characters, settings, etc. you'd expect to see. If we're concerned about anything, it's dialog. Admittedly, there's not much of it here, but the direct quotes are gems like "Could have done with that, like, before the wars ended" and "Congratulations, soldier." Maybe the guy just didn't copy and paste the good dialog, we don't know. Of course, if you crave something close to the spirit of the game, uninspired dialog is a more necessary component than a chainsaw bayonet (which is in there too, don't worry).
In fact, now that we've mentioned it, this may be just a bit too close to Gears of War. If the internet were not so very reputable, we might mention that there's a slight possibility this treatment review may be the product of a devoted fan and not Mr. Stuart Beattie. Of course, there's no way of knowing at the moment. We'll simply have to pop some corn, grab a soda, and wait for the movie to be released never.
Though it's been years in the making, this Friday, the brand synergy that began with adopting the Spider-Man font for the PlayStation 3 will reach its inevitable -- and glorious -- conclusion: Spider-Man 3 comes out in theaters, and every video game system known to man (except PSP, they've got to wait), including ... the PlayStation 3. So, there it is above, replete with identical 3s, the Spider-Man 3 Collector's Edition for PS3. Oh, did we mention that the PS3 is the only console getting a "Collector's Edition" with the ability to play as the New Goblin with Sixaxis controls? Can't you feel the synergy?
The rest of the week's new games are after the break ...
Burnouthas always been paradise for degenerates like Rosanna Arquette, but EA has announced that the next iteration of the series will draw the rest of us into her and Elias Koteas' sick game, as Burnout 5becomes Burnout Paradise. Besides the assertion that the game "proves that crashing is awesome!" (take that, James Dean) there's not a lot of info that we didn't already know in the official announcement. It's an open-world approach to the game and there are crashes. The release says that you'll "experience the most explosive pile-ups in the series' history," but they don't have any scientists backing that up, so we really don't feel comfortable reporting it. Luckily, you'll be able to do your own research when Burnout Paradise hits Xbox 360 and PS3 this winter.
We know the 65nm version of Xenon, the Xbox 360's triple-core CPU, had been delayed from Q1 2007 to "mid-2007," just missing being used in the Xbox 360 Elite, making irony the system's most prominent feature. But the CPU isn't the only thing getting shrunk: DigiTimes reports that the Xbox 360 will be equipped with a 65nm Xenos GPU this fall as well, with production of the new graphics chips scheduled for May. For those of you on the fence about the Elite, a newer, cooler, and cheaper (to manufacture) Xbox 360 should be here in the fall. The question: wait or jump in?
Today we celebrate the birth of the Xbox 360 Elite. The $479 console comes black as a moonless night is for all you folks who just gotta have those HDMI ports. Other than HDMI, the hard drive upgrade cost is frackin' ridiculous and we've got far better color options before dropping that kind of money. Hopefully those who decided to purchase the brand new Elite system, which we'd hope wouldn't have the same issues as the non-Elite, won't have the problem found in the video after the break.
As an aside, we really can't help ourselves on this one, what's that thing in the picture? Found in this week's Gamestop/EB Games flyer and sent in earlier this week by one of our tipsters, we didn't know what to think about this. Apparently Microsoft has come out with some kind of Xbox 360 lite: it's shrunk, inverted and altered. Either Gamestop accidentally leaked another Xbox 360 SKU (they've been known to do it) or this is a terrible graphic of the HDD-less, wired controller-having Core unit we all know and love. Bring the flyer into the store and demand that model and let us know how it goes! See also: Xbox 360 Elite vs. classic: The test Xbox 360 Elite Q&A Joystiq Hands-on: Xbox 360 Elite
Today we celebrate the birth of the Xbox 360 
