The daily blip: What I missed

Due to my hectic schedule as a game dev(eloper) student, I only have enough time to pop in to my favourite video game blogs and skim through any major breakthroughs in the (digital) world of video games.  For the few moments that I am away from a PC (waiting for instructors to arrive), I either:

- flip through the pages of EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly)
- skim through my textbook for a quick refresh
- bust out my PSP for a few rounds of beats. (awesome game! MUST BUY!) 

That said, I introduce one out of many reoccurring features on my blog called “The daily blip: what I missed.”  It gives me a chance to plop my two cents on a certain issue while you guys heckle me for having missed it.  Now that I’ve officially launched my blog, I’ll be hopping about different events that happened up to this day on the month of April.

Call of G-Unit: Modern Warfare
When I first heard about this game, I almost puked inside my mouth.  My stomach churned when 50 Cent wanted to do another video game, it wasn’t until I heard the plot that made my digestive system work in reverse.  Don’t get me wrong, I love hip-hop, its just that the intersect of urban music and video games hasn’t been a pretty thing for anyone (except for Def Jam: Fight For NY, love it!).

In short, the story starts off with 50 Cent and his G-Unit croonies doing a USO benefit concert in the middle east.  After their performance, the concert promoter stiffs him on the payment and makes up for it by presenting him with a diamond skull.  50 lets him off the hook, takes the skull and shortly thereafter he gets mobbed and has the skull taken away from him.  From there, its an all-out war to retrieve the skull.  The game (Blood in the sand, not the rapper) does have its silver lining.  It utilizes a few aspects that made Gears of War a hit: its engine (Unreal Tournament 3), cover mechanics, and its over the shoulder view point.  My loathing for 50 Cent’s ventures into anything spare me from having to shell out $60 for this game.

 Unreal Tournament 3 goes XBOX 360
After having its time to shine on the PC and PS3, Epic’s famed shooter makes an appearance on Microsoft’s pearl white console this summer.  This particular version will sport five exclusive maps, two new characters, and split screen multiplayer.  All fine and dandy, the one thing that set the PS3 apart from the X360 is being an open platform; which meant that the PS3 version supported mods, a feature that the UT franchise has been known for.  Think of it as plug-ins and add-ons for Firefox.  Sticking to that same concept, imagine if Mac users had their version of Firefox support add-ons and plug-ins while the Windows version didn’t.  Gears was successful because it was a unique property that made use of Epic’s shiny new Unreal 3 engine whereas UT3 itself is an open game that allowed gamers to not only modify rules set but add new gameplay mechanics, character skins, and maps.  Personally, I’d take creating mods over split screen multiplayer any day of the week.

DC Comics vs Mortal Kombat - FIIIGHT!
I’ve always looked at the 3D Mortal Kombats as if Duke Nukem had a stable release schedule for multiple installments.  It astounds me how games we knew from the 90s still stuck around to this day.  Then again, its weird how Mario is still around while Mickey Mouse has faded into existence.  Not that having Mario around is a bad thing, I just get that eerie feeling of how time flew pretty quickly.  *shakes head* Enough with dating myself back thousands of years, Mortal Kombat vs DC Comics makes me wonder if this is just “Mortal Kombat: Prologue” to the *real* ”Mortal Kombat 5.”  Catch my drift?  Somewhere within Midway, Ed Boon must be churning out design documents for a refresh installment.  Since DC Comics is refraining from having their characters torn up into bloody limbs (like how GT cars don’t deform), the gore factor has been reduced significantly.

The only way this franchise can redeem itself into the hearts of many retro gamers (or for me at least) is if Mortal Kombat 3 is released on Virtual Console (SNES) or Playstation Store (PSone).

~ by r3m1x on April 20, 2008.