Ben's Week In Review: April 25
View Large ImageMay is just around the corner and it's another huge month. Which big release tops your priority list?
Anybody else concerned about Jaffe's project?
We've all assumed for years that Eat Sleep Play, David Jaffe and Scott Campbell's new studio, is working on a fresh Twisted Metal installment. And while we continue to find evidence that it might be true, the elapsed time is just plain worrisome. Who ever heard of such a huge exclusive that had to be kept this secret? What possible harm can there be in letting everyone know what you're doing; it will only serve to ratchet the excitement and anticipation up a few notches. I mean, we see baseline information and even early media as much as a year before a game is scheduled to arrive...so why would a TM game be so confidential? And really, why is it taking so long? We appreciate the amount of time and resources a large blockbuster title requires but what is this black-bag, CIA operation? I just can't conceive of a reason why nobody can know and I'm starting to think that development has taken a turn for the worse...
I mean, who cares if the game will indeed be a PS3 exclusive when it doesn't seem to exist? Eh, maybe I'm just being paranoid. I so badly want a new TM! I'd still prefer to have some concrete info, though.
Would a first-person Silent Hill be a bad thing?
I know we have a lot of FPS haters here but I happen to like the genre. And although I too was a little skeptical about the idea of a first-person Silent Hill, the more I think about it, the more I start to embrace it. Look, I know we gamers love our traditions and to so seriously alter the perspective and gameplay of an established franchise is taboo. But really, is this that terrible? I mean, one of the more significant flaws visible in the SH games has been somewhat clunky and awkward control. Well, this tends to go away beneath the fluidity of a first-person view. The only problem I might foresee is that SH has always made one feel vulnerable; it's one of the primary traits of this series. You don't feel like a superhero; you feel like a human, and you move like one, too. In a FPS, you can usually fling yourself about with perfect coordination and unbelievable speed, so a FPS Silent Hill might focus more on action and less on thrills.
And yes, that would suck. But if Killzone 2 proved anything, it proved that a character controlled in a first-person format can have weight and at least semi-realistic physics. So besides a bias against FPSs, what would really be the problem with this switch?
Personal gaming update
Okay, so I spent a great deal of time powering up my team in Final Fantasy XIII...and I'm totally underwhelmed. I did all the research on just the type of Legendary weapons I wanted, I maxed them out, I maxed the Crystarium, I got all the great accessories and...big damn deal. I don't really even feel that much more powerful. I thought I'd be able to annihilate most everything but I really can't; I can win, but it's typically an annoying battle and makes it feel like my many hours of building was for nothing. I mean, I know I wouldn't even be able to fight these tougher enemies if I hadn't done it but damnit, where is that feeling of superiority you get from other FFs and RPGs after putting in the requisite time to become a God? I'm sorry; call me crazy, but this is just another reason for me to dislike FFXIII.
Anyway, as I said before, May looks great. I most want Red Dead Redemption but I'm also very interested in Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. I don't really care so much about Lost Planet 2 but that looks pretty good, too. Oh, and I should have Nier this week so expect a review on that soon. Lastly, everyone seemed to enjoy submitting their questions to Joseph Gatt, so I might try to pursue similar projects...but please bear in mind that we aren't GameSpot and getting the really interesting and popular people can be a process. Just stay tuned and be patient, all right? ;)
4/24/2010 Ben Dutka
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Comments (76 posts)
Milonakis
Saturday, April 24, 2010 @ 10:34:01 PM
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8 up, 0 down
hellish_devil
Saturday, April 24, 2010 @ 10:43:37 PM
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4 up, 0 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Saturday, April 24, 2010 @ 11:13:25 PM
0 up, 0 down
Jawknee
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 12:41:06 AM
Last edited by Jawknee on 4/25/2010 12:41:55 AM
0 up, 0 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 12:52:28 AM
1 up, 0 down
johnld
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 1:27:15 AM
4 up, 0 down
FlyingKickPunch
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 12:35:39 PM
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Danny007
Saturday, April 24, 2010 @ 10:48:12 PM
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5 up, 0 down
Snaaaake
Saturday, April 24, 2010 @ 10:51:17 PM
1 up, 0 down
Snaaaake
Saturday, April 24, 2010 @ 10:58:13 PM
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BUT!
The community and article in PSXE pawned those in Gamespot and that's what I love about PSXE.
I'll be waiting for the Nier review Ben, it'll be interesting to see if Nier will be good or bad.
Last edited by Snaaaake on 4/24/2010 11:00:25 PM
0 up, 10 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Saturday, April 24, 2010 @ 11:14:10 PM
17 up, 0 down
Snaaaake
Saturday, April 24, 2010 @ 11:14:45 PM
0 up, 10 down
kraygen
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 7:47:43 AM
Here, it's Ben or Arnold. That says it all.
4 up, 0 down
Scarecrow
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 8:46:50 AM
PS: Gamespot, and possibly other v-game sources, get paid for reviews (it's been proven before)
7 up, 0 down
FlyingKickPunch
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 7:14:10 PM
they have zero credibility as a reviews site.
3 up, 0 down
rogers71
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 11:34:56 PM
Let's see...there is Val, Arnold and Ben. Did I leave anyone out? Uh, John Shephard.....That's funny...he is not listed as an employee or in the special thanks section. I am smelling a psuedonym.
JOHN, WHERE ARE YOU???????
3 up, 0 down
eLLeJuss
Saturday, April 24, 2010 @ 11:05:33 PM
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2 up, 1 down
Fane1024
Monday, April 26, 2010 @ 7:53:42 PM
Siren kind of does.
Last edited by Fane1024 on 4/26/2010 7:54:26 PM
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eLLeJuss
Saturday, April 24, 2010 @ 11:11:08 PM
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1 up, 0 down
SnipeySnake
Saturday, April 24, 2010 @ 11:13:36 PM
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I found FFXII a 2 days ago and i got a new phone! ^^
1 up, 0 down
MysteriousMagus
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 6:22:54 AM
the gameplay was fun... at least
1 up, 0 down
tes37
Saturday, April 24, 2010 @ 11:20:45 PM
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I still haven't played The Taxidermist for Heavy Rain yet, but I'll get to that sometime soon, I think.
The interview you had with Joseph Gatt was great and hope to see more like it in the future.
3 up, 0 down
kokoro
Saturday, April 24, 2010 @ 11:29:18 PM
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I know exactly what you mean Ben when you talk about the feeling of superiority typically expererienced after many hours of leveling up. I remember specifically making Yuna and Riku hit straight consistent 99999s (I think I kept defeating some monster at the arena which dropped 2 strength spheres and then turned lots of empty nodes into strength +4 nodes). That was quite epic, considering how ironic it was. Monsters that used to own me were getting absolutely pooned- though I still didn't manage to clear all the dark aeons. Maybe next play...
Last edited by kokoro on 4/24/2010 11:40:54 PM
1 up, 0 down
johnld
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 1:30:27 AM
*yeah, i cant come up with the word right now.
2 up, 0 down
inkme101
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 12:58:07 AM
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LittleBigMidget
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 1:22:01 AM
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LittleBigMidget
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 1:22:10 AM
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johnld
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 1:25:07 AM
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I know what you mean about level grinding and seeming like it was all for nothing. I mean, i maxed out my crystalium and all but its still a pain to get 5 star in some of the mark missions. not to mention my team can still get destroyed easily unless protect or some of the other spells are active.
1 up, 0 down
Gamer Girl Gemo
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 1:41:02 AM
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Also, I still don't like the idea of an FPS Silent Hill... Silent Hill and FPS just don't mix for my cup of tea, you know? I love FPS, but when you throw Silent Hill into it... Eeehhh... And I know this is probably due to the whole keeping traditions and keeping what was originally installed. But, I just can't seem to like it... Maybe it takes a demo to sway me over. But if it doesn't then... Aaahh, oh well.
Lastly, I'm not really excited for anything in May... I'm not into RDR or really anything else coming out. The only thing that I'm looking forward to in the future would be ND's announcement of Uncharted 3. Although we pretty much already know it's in the works, I just like some confirmation here.
2 up, 0 down
frylock25
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 2:11:46 AM
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___________
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 1:51:39 AM
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same question could be asked about every game out there.
plus sony are publishing it and you know what there like, sony Cambridge apparently have 3 new games in development neither of them have been announced.
sony BEND finished working on their latest title years ago, so what have they been doing?
what has insomniac been doing? what has ND been doing?
you make it sound like this is the first time a games been treated so secretively.
im worried about it, but because of the time its been in development and the hype surrounding it.
i can see the sh*t hitting the fan when david announces his game and its not a TM game.
as for silent hill depends on what you mean.
FPS as in first person well that IMO would make the series much better.
a first person horror game would be so cool, that is guaranteed to increase the tension and suspense.
FPS as in first person shooter FU*K NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
honestly dont we have enough of those?
no, seriously if silent hill becomes a first person shooter i will personally go over to konami and re create the opening scene of silent hill homecoming.
and this time there will be no sensors!!!!!!!!!!!!
im really enjoying Nier ATM its certainly not what i was expecting which is a good thing.
the game just needs a little focus and a straight jacket!
i know its a RPG and its nice to have the freedom to wonder around and do whatever you want, but it really lacks refinement.
its far to easy to wonder off and do something your not really suppose to and you have no idea your even doing it.
like traveling from one mission to another theres always multiple paths, you take the wrong one the game does not tell you so your stuck there wondering around for half a hour making absolutely no progress what so ever!
nier is certainly not the game to play when you just want to make progress.
if your happy wondering around doing nothing than its perfect, but if you just want to hurry up and finish the game than your going to be in for a boat load of head aches.
nothing worse than spending 10 minutes travailing in one direction to then finally find out you were traveling in the wrong direction.
2 up, 3 down
frylock25
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 1:56:53 AM
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RDR sounds great i am hoping it turns out to be an awesome game.
personal gaming update: i got back into mag this past week. been doing pretty well actually. mag is to much fun. i respeced my profile and went for the best sniper rifle. i love sniping people even more now. i really want to see what that sniper rifle will be like in the dlc mag will get but for some reason i dont think it will be much different.
1 up, 0 down
Ultimate_Balla
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 2:36:58 AM
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Uhm. I'm currently playing Uncharted 2 on Crushing difficulty, about 20 hours into FFXII, and 15min in FFXIII :-P
Looking forward to PoP. . .
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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 7:05:44 PM
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www
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 4:36:34 AM
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Heavy Rain is epic, in elementary school I imagined brushing your teeth and bathing in a game, several years later and am playing it now. And hey, folding that paper to origami whiles data is being installed to the hard drive was a cool idea, though I was disappointed a few bucks didn't fall out of it cause doing it looked like a magic show lol.
I'm looking forward to SSFIV ONLY cause that budget price is cool, I woulda passed if it was full price and I already sold my SFIV, plus there's nothing to really do in Tekken 6 anymore
Last edited by www on 4/25/2010 4:38:46 AM
1 up, 0 down
Bjorn77
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 5:00:25 AM
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5 up, 0 down
TEG3SH
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 5:10:24 AM
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Don't you have an exclusive that you won't reveal ??????????
I finished chaos theory for the first time yest, it is such an awesome JRPG , I have to finish it 4 other times to get the full ending :) another reason to play like I needed any.
I hope it will come to other handheld or the PSN so other ppl without an iPhone/touch could enjoy this awesome game
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TEG3SH
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 5:24:33 AM
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7 up, 0 down
Deleted User
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 5:31:23 AM
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alan wake(360)
red dead redemption
3d dot heros games
skate 3
ufc 2010 undisputed and for june since it got pushed backbreaker
'b.d'
currenty playing
ps3 - nothing right now need more games.
360 - mass effect 2
0 up, 0 down
Zorigo
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 6:33:53 AM
but skate3... yh im interested.
1 up, 0 down
slimey
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 6:05:24 AM
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Silent Hill would be wrong as a FPS. I'm not saying FPS can't work for a horror game, but it can't work for Silent Hill, where empathy for your onscreen vulnerable character is so key
Gaming wise, I'm excited about Monster Hunter Tri. Never tried a MH before, but this looks right up my alley
5 up, 0 down
piratedrunk
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 11:33:45 AM
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Zorigo
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 6:33:19 AM
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FullmetalX10
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 6:36:18 AM
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Never played a Silent Hill before...
So, I'm currently playing prince of persia, and now I remember I really hate that collecting lots of light seeds is mandatory, and that my unwanted vertical wall runs usually kill me, because I press X to get back to the ground faster -_-, but hey, I still need to finish the game, even though I have had it since like 2 christmasses ago...
Anyways, I'm really looking forward to Red Dead Redemption and I'll probably buy Heavy Rain as soon as I get my paycheck.
1 up, 0 down
JackC8
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 7:12:37 AM
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2 up, 0 down
sunspider13
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 12:07:40 PM
0 up, 0 down
Alienange
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 7:14:03 AM
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0 up, 0 down
TEG3SH
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 9:28:11 AM
sorry this was meant as a reply to scarecrow, stupid me
Last edited by TEG3SH on 4/25/2010 9:29:10 AM
1 up, 0 down
Scarecrow
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 9:38:31 AM
Sucks though, ND could have kept making awesome Crash games in between their Uncharted games (maybe maaaaaybe). Or at the very least, as PSN titles.
0 up, 0 down
TEG3SH
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 10:42:38 AM
am I the only one who doesn't give a flying whopty doo about red dead redemption
2 up, 1 down
Scarecrow
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 1:16:03 PM
You aren't the only one TEG3SH!
For some reason I can't get into it...
Maybe 'cause I'm tired of shooting games (unless they have a strong story). This possibly has that, but then again, I'm not a big fan of the old wild west...
0 up, 0 down
TEG3SH
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 2:02:22 PM
ppl are making too much fuzz about RDR but I just can't get it
1 up, 0 down
kraygen
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 7:54:36 AM
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Just can't wait for May.
4 up, 0 down
Scarecrow
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 8:58:26 AM
So sad, Mario Kart would have probably not survived this "realist" generation of gamers
Such a shame, Modnation Racers looks to be one of the best quality racing games in YEARS. And easily the best kart game since Crash Team Racing*
5 up, 0 down
tes37
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 9:37:26 AM
1 up, 0 down
NeoHumpty
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 8:17:35 AM
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I think maybe they should have made the stats for the 10th level of the Crystarium insanely high. Maybe 100 for each strength and magic stat and 1000 for each HP.
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Scarecrow
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 9:01:17 AM
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Gonna build some of the most exciting tracks you will ever see in this game
Gonna practice practice practice to really push my skills to the limit in this game. Really liking how power ups and the overall racing flow is determined more by how WELL you play/race than by how many blue/red shells you get.
Gonna make Sunny in this game, and probably build a Metal Gear-like stage for her 8)
2 up, 0 down
sha4dowknight05
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 9:18:51 AM
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1 up, 0 down
Deleted User
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 9:35:59 AM
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Big May for me as well: 3 Dot Game Heroes, Red Dead Redemption, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and ModNation Racers.
4 up, 0 down
BeezleDrop
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 9:54:39 AM
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So I am not crazy about the character models in FFXIII, you can tell the 360 held it back and the battle system is Mindless. My friend watching said the game just plays itself.
As for Silent Hill in FP, it just wouldn't work. It captured the perfect atmosphere in a Third Person medium, because it is the proper way SH should be experienced. Maybe it could be like that for a section in the game, that could work.
3 up, 2 down
Ultimadream
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 3:45:10 PM
3 up, 0 down
Beamboom
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 11:51:43 AM
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But that's only because the coop gaming looks so promising, so me and my regular coop buddy both preordered it after testing the first demo.
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sunspider13
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 12:22:45 PM
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PGU:
Getting laid off at the end of the week so I'll have some more time for games. Going to start working on Heavy Rain. Finally gotten deep into Uncharted 2 and loving the experience. Borderlands is still my crack, but I made a couple of new friends while playing, which is always good.
Going back to some games that I know I can platinum, so up first is Dead Space (damn Zero-G Basketball). And I got platinum for GOWIII on 4/20 (insert joke here) which makes two now.
Not looking forward to anything that's coming out real soon, maybe the new Castlevania, maybe. That's all for now. Keep your PS3's clean and stay out of trouble. Over. Out.
EDIT: Hey Ben have you started GOWIII? Where are you in the game and what do you think of it so far? I'd like to hear your take on it.
Last edited by sunspider13 on 4/25/2010 12:24:59 PM
1 up, 0 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 7:03:50 PM
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BeezleDrop
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 4:07:44 PM
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The back drops and cut scenes for FFXIII are unbelievably gorgeous, just stunning. Now, I have noticed in the game play cutscenes the characters are blocky, not 3D Dot game heros style mind you but I noticed the arms and fingers are choppy and blocky. Not really in a way that ruins the game because it is awesome, but what is Absurd is what FFXIII could have been.
1 up, 0 down
Ultimadream
Sunday, April 25, 2010 @ 4:57:12 PM
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DjEezzy
Monday, April 26, 2010 @ 2:58:03 PM
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0 up, 0 down
fluffer nutter
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Saturday, April 24, 2010 @ 10:26:19 PM
I'm very interested in the reviews of Nier. It's on my possible order list.
Last edited by fluffer nutter on 4/24/2010 10:28:37 PM