Last week was an important waypoint here at Ars. It has been just over six months since we launched version 2.0 of our Ars Premier Subscriptions. There’s been a steady stream of new subscribers each day, and the program is outperforming our wildest expectations.
Games are now supported long after they’re released in retail stores, but some consumers cry foul when they buy a game, go online, and see there is already downloadable content to add to the experience. Why force gamers to go online to get the content? Why not just include the content on the disc?
ModNation Racers coming to the PlayStation 3 on May 25. Big-name PlayStation characters are coming with it for pre-order customers.
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PlayStation Blog
Let’s get one thing out of the way first: True Crime looks good. The game was demoed for me in a private suite, played live, and talked up by the developer. Mixing the best parts of Stranglehold and Grand Theft Auto IV, it was a game where we walked in with low expectations and walked out very excited about the story of an undercover cop in the wilds of Hong Kong.
Those playing Assassin’s Creed 2 on the PC got a rude reminder of DRM’s pitfalls when the servers that authenticate the game went down. Many complained on the company’s official forum, and tempers ran hot.
At this year’s Game Developer’s Choice Awards, Vavle’s Gabe Newell won the Pioneer Award, and he used the opportunity to share a slide show with the crowd of developers, press, and business people. His message? DRM is not good for business.
We played with the PlayStation Move at the party last night, but at Sony’s more intimate gathering at the W Hotel today it was easier to get a better picture of the peripheral. The main games on the floor were interesting, but the game we wanted to play? SOCOM 4, with the PlayStation Move.
This was the game that was aimed at hardcore gamers, and the guys from Zipper told us that they were able to get this build up in a matter of weeks; the tools Sony was providing its developers for Move support were intuitive. This was also the first time we were able to use the secondary, nunchuk-like controller to add analog movement to the Move. We were able to play the game for about 20 minutes.
Cybertron isn’t just the homeworld of the Transformers… it is a Transformer itself. It was the first Transformer. In War for Cybertron you get to explore the Civil War between the Autobots and the Decepticons as they blast their way across the planet. At GDC we were treated to a long demo of the game, and yes, it looks good.
There is a point when playing rhythm games such as Rock Band or Guitar Hero where you hit a kind of wall; there is only so much to learn hitting buttons as notes flow down the screen. Power Gig: Rise of the Six String—in addition to having a terrible title—wants to break that wall by teaching you actual guitar skills if you choose to move past what the tradition rhythm game has offered. The guitar peripheral is an actual six-string electric guitar, although we’re promised that the full band bundle of guitar, drums, and microphone will be priced competitively with other rhythm bundles on the market.
Lady Gaga will find her way to the Rock Band store next week. Four songs will be available, along with one cover track with vocals from South Park’s Cartman.
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Rockband.com
