I was reading the recent blog post from the N+ developers Metanet regarding how on XBLA ‘Now there’s like a hundred games, and they’re all $&*%.’ and it got me a bit pissed. No, not because they hate Rocketmen (others do too), but more because I think they’re wrong - not about their opinion, but more about their solution.
From independent music to independent movies to independent games, the same theme runs through them all – Only a very small percentage of them are any good. Most of them (to use the Metanet dev team’s phrase) “are utter $&*%.” The Metanet guys even mentioned in their interview that when you go to GameHippo, only one out of every thousand games is good. So their solution to the ‘problem’ of XBLA is to open up and allow thousands of $&*%%y games to be put on XBLA without any oversight from anyone? Huh? How does that solve anything?
It’s funny. I was reading my not-so-secret daily addiction, Kotaku, Wednesday morning when I found a “phone camera” shot of a community focus test for Plunder that myself, along with Max Hoberman and David Bowman(from dev-friends Certain Affinity) were running less than 24 hours ago. (That’s actually David pointing in the shot, probably using his low-key teacher voice to ‘suggest’ ways to crush the other team.) Now, I’m used to ‘crazy secret phone camera’ shots when they’re in Car and Driver or sites that you want to clear your web browser history after visiting. But focus groups?
Earlier this week we managed to turn our normally spacious lobby area into a place packed with a better ratio of Quality Fun Per Square Inch than Disneyland during our Capcom Digital Day. We invited members of the press and community to come and check out in person both the announced and unannounced new titles we have coming up this year. As the event title suggests, the focus was mostly on “digital” titles, downloadable titles to be released on XBLA, PSN, or PC, however, we still managed to sneak in a couple of full retail titles.
It’s no secret that Capcom’s got an amazing year (actually: three, at least) of games ahead. Our titles range far and wide, from family-friendly Wii (We Love Golf!) and DS (Mega Man Star Force 2) games to decidedly non-family friendly faire for the PS3 and 360 (Resident Evil 5).
What the heck is a “Digital Day”? On Monday, we rolled out the red carpet to some of our friends in the local gamer media as well as a couple of dudes (just like you!) from our community for an event we dubbed “Capcom Digital Day.”Fortuitous development timing and a huge slate of hot titles combined with an excellent public relations opportunity to form like Voltron and produce a half-day of announcements, updates, interviews and hands-on time with almost all of the games. We ended up with over 50 members of the San Francisco Bay Area games press in attendance, including folks from EGM, 1up, IGN, Gamespot, Gamespy, Gametrailers and Games Radar, as well as ladies and gentlemen from Wired, Joystiq and Destructoid and many, many more. Read on for titles announced, a brief lesson in “PR” and some other fun bits!
Love World War II and hate planes? Enjoy shooting the living bejeebus out of everything and anything on the screen while driving a jeep? Have we got two digital titles for you!
IGN brings us early word of 1942, the forthcoming sequel to the infamous Capcom 194X series of arcade shoot-’em-ups (don’t you just hate the phrase shmup? makes my freakin’ skin crawl. shump. *brrr*) . Little planes, big bosses, lots of bullets and crazy vertical-scrolling action get the 3D treatment, along with 2 player internet (and same-console) co-op play.
Meanwhile, from Gamespot comes word that Commando 3 has done got itself a fancy-pantsy new name. You may now hail the forthcoming conqueror of both Xbox LIVE Arcade and PlayStation Network Store as (drumroll): Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3. Live in fear of its mighty array of letters! Good thing we don’t have to pay per keystroke on the internet, or that game alone would break the Unity bank.
Oh, yeah, it also turns out that when you buy Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 on Xbox LIVE Arcade, you’ll automatically be eligible to take part in the network Beta test of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. Yoink! This will be the first Beta test for a LIVE Arcade game ever.
1942 and Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 are coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade and PlayStation Network Store in the next few months. Both games will set you back 800 MS Points or $9.99, depending on your console of choice. SSFIIT HDR’s price is still TBD.
Love World War II and hate planes? Enjoy shooting the living bejeebus out of everything and anything on the screen while driving a jeep? Have we got two digital titles for you!
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