GT5 Prologue to be a free download?

Word on the street (well, Gamespot) is that Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is going to be the sweet price of free. Sure, GT HD was a free preview as well, but Sony keeps promising that Prologue will be a full fledged game. Here is the quote from Gamespot:

Today, we sat in on a presentation hosted by Gran Turismo series creator Kazunori Yamauchi as he demonstrated some of the new features that will be present in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. The game is due for release on the PlayStation Network as a free download later this year.

Something lost in translation? Not as full of a game as we’ve been lead to believe? Or a free gift from Sony? For now, your guess is as good as mine. There is always the chance the game will be ad supported. Sony was just blabbing about how ads and nickel and diming microtransactions are the future (hello Home). Time will tell.

Impressions of Call of Duty 4 Multiplayer Beta

The CoD4 beta officially comes out today (on a first come first serve basis), so I thought it was a good time to share my impressions thus far. I’ll try to hit all the points that matter. Keep in mind that this is only a beta… not even a preview or demo. Things are likely to change a little.

Graphics: They rock. Technically speaking the game is excellent. The art style is solid, with a few caveats. Despite the new “Modern” setting for the CoD franchise, the three levels included look like they could have been in Call of Duty 2. I personally liked Call of Duty 2’s landscapes, so it’s not so much a complaint as an observation. Overall the games geometry is rather boxy, generally lacking an organic, curvy appeal. It looks very raw, as would be expected in a gritty war shooter. Again, this is more of the games art syle, which is well executed and technologically sound. The game wont disappoint in the looks department.

Gameplay: I’ll be honest and let you know I’ve never played too much Call of Duty online. I was disappointed with Call of Duty 2s matchmaking (or lack there-of), which has been completely revamped of Call of Duty 4. If you are a friend of Halo 2/3 matchmaking, you will feel right at home, since it is practically identical. You’ve got party support, playlists, ranking, etc. It’s buttery smooth and should be easy to get together with your friends, find a match, and get in the game.

Game types in the beta in Free-for-all, Team Deathmatch, Team Tactical, and Team Objective (these are essentially the “playlists”). The first two are self-explanatory, both supporting 6-12 players. Team Tactical is for smaller teams of 2 to 3, doing both team deathmatch and Search and Destroy. Team Objective is again 6-12 players and includes Search and Destroy, and Domintation.

Search and Destroy is essentially like Counterstrike. The team on offense has to plant a bomb at one of two locations that the opposing team defends. The offence team wins by planting and detonating the bomb, or killing all of the opposing team (no respawns). Defense wins by killing all of the opposing team or defusing the bomb. Domination feels similar to Battlefield 2, with numerous flags or control points which you must control for the most amount of time.

So far everything is tried and true, essentially the best of numerous games. Where CoD 4 gets creative is with it’s “Create A Class” mode. You can create and save your own classes, complete with weapon selection and upgrades, and the all new perks. In a typical shooter, each class has their own perks inherent to them. A marksman may have truer aim, and a demolition expert may have increased explosives skill. With Create A Class, you pick your own weapons and skills. Do you want to be a stealthy snipers packing a UAV jammer, and how about an RPG just for the hell of it? Done. Increased health? Increased bullet damage? Faster reloading? Longer sprinting? It all sounds great, but of course you can’t have it ALL. You can really customize your playing style, and carefully pick the perks you want.

One of my favorite things about the game is that not everything is available right off the bat. You want to upgrade the scope on your M4? You’re going to need to earn that! If you visit the Barracks, you will see your current goals. You have goals for each of the weapons in your arsenal. If you want to upgrade your M16, you need to use it. The Barracks will tell you at your current level, you need 75 more kills with the M16 in order to get that new scope. There are numerous upgrades for each weapon (ranging from grenade launchers, camo, improved sights, and scopes), so there are numerous sets of goals for each weapon. When the full game comes out, if you want the most coveted gun in the game with the most upgrades, you’re going to have to work for it.

While this is a great reward system and even adds to replayability (who doesn’t want to get the upgrades for ALL the weapons?), I can see it also being a bad thing. If a guy on your team is working on getting upgrades for his Shotgun, he might decide to use it on a level not so fit, and bring down the rest of your team. Ideally you would just be patient and get the upgrades naturally, using weapons as fit, but I can definitely see this happening. Last night I was getting my last 50 kills for an M4 scope upgrade, and I was using that gun whether or not it was the best choice. My kill/death ratio suffered, but I got my scope!

The ranking system also has its ups and downs. You gain experience points for everything you do right in the game. Get a kill, +10. Activate the team UAV, +10. Get an assist, +2 (it softens the pain of someone stealing your kill). You need xxx number of experience points to reach the next rank (not unlike and RPG). The bad thing, is there is apparently no way to LOSE experience. That means if you kept playing and never got better, even if you continually lost, you would slowly but surely climb the ranks. Just imagine if in Halo 2 if you couldn’t level down from losing… ranks wouldn’t be as telling of skill. On the bright side, being on the losing team doesn’t hurt you as much, as long as you perform well on your own. But this kind of tears apart the whole fabric of a team based game.

What really matters is that Call of Duty is fun. It’s shaping up to be a great game, and even with the currently limited map, weapon, and perk selection, it’s a good time and leaves you wanting more.

Matt Keil says Destructoid is full of shit

Matt Keil from G4’s X-Play has chimed in on Destructoid’s Mass Effect preview. Here is his take:

Do not believe this preview. I had the first hour of the game played in front of me, and none of Destructoid’s criticisms are valid. This is either truly awful taste or a pathetic attempt to get more hits. Possibly both.

Mass Effect has the most incredible facial animation of any game ever (at the time I saw it, anyway…Heavenly Sword tops it in cutscenes, IMO), and the voice acting is perfectly fine. The beginning of the game is all space navy “Sir, we have visual” shit, anyway. It’s obviously not going to be Gone With The Wind.

There are plenty of things to worry about with Mass Effect without making up shit about the presentation. This preview is simply not describing the game I saw.

Just what I suspected. This all but confirms my suspicion that Destructoid is a piece of crap, immature site. But I guess someone has to cater to the 12 year olds that wont stop uttering curse words in my headset.

Medal of Honor Airborne demo parachutes onto XBL Marketplace

If Medal of Honor is your cup of tea, a demo for the latest brew is now up for download. While I’m feeling FPS over saturation onsetting, a demo is always worth checking out. Plus, I can’t think of many better ways to start a level then jumping out of a plane. The demo weighs in at 970+ MB, so prepare for the usual Xbox Live download agony.

Microsoft and Sony skipping E for All Expo

What is going to fill that gigantic LA Convention Center without huge Microsoft and Sony booths? Well, Nintendo will be there. So much for replacing good old E3. I can’t blame you for trying.

I guess it was never trying to “replace” E3 anyway, since E for All is a consumer show. But come on, it’s in the LACC! And it’s one E away from E3. I guess that makes it E2. You will still be able to get your hands on some new 360 and Sony games, though. Just not first party stuff. The likes of EA, THQ, Konami, and Bandai Namco will be showing off their goods.

gameindustry.biz

Mass Effect either kicks ass, or blows

Depending on who you ask, that is. Gamespot and Destructoid both posted their impressions of Mass Effect being displayed at GC, and they couldn’t be more polar opposites. What Destructoid calls “emotionless voice acting and subpar facial animations,’ Gamespot calls the game dramatic, innovative, “exhibiting a lot of polish and flowing smoothly.” Destructoid says that it’s at worst, disappointing, and at best “not that bad.” Gamespot thinks it looks great at this point.

So who do you believe? (My vote goes to Mr. Brad Shoemaker. I’m not sure I’ve ever disagreed with him).

Update: Fixed all my gramatically errors. I wasn’t drunk when I wrote this, I swear.

More Halo 3 footage, Bungie walkthrough

Gamersyde has got the goods. Check out all four parts below, or download them each in 1280×720p glory. These videos show more of Tsavo Highway, and the replay value in the single player campaign.

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CoD4:MW Beta registration starts Moday

Mark it on your calendar, set a reminder, do what you’ve got to do. On Monday the gates open up at CharlieOscarDelta.com. There are a limited number of “tokens” (download codes) being released on a first come, first serve basis. That means be there at 12 noon, Pacific Daylight Time (thats 3pm for those of us on the East Coast). The current wave is restricted to 18+, with Xbox Live Gold, residing in the US.

I am presently in the friends and family wave of the beta, so I can tell you with assurance that this game kicks ass. I don’t want infinityward slapping my wrist, so I’m keeping my shut until the beta goes public.

You best study up on your Call of Duty 4 knowledge, because you are going to need to answer some trivia questions to get in. CharlieOscarDelta.com has all the info you will need.

Update: Time for East Coast corrected… thanks Hypersteric.

What do you think of the new logo?

I had some free time today, so after getting the damn Historian achievement in BioShock, I decided to play around in Photoshop. What do you think? When I get around to it, I will redesign the rest of the site to more or less match, and just look cleaner. Sorry, but I had to add some ad banners. I’m still paying every month out of my pocket to host the site. I’m just crossing my fingers I can at least break even. The hole in my pocket is getting ever bigger, and my wanted list is growing longer (games and the like).

Please drop some feedback on what you want to see more or less of. I’m sure you are going to say “more posts!” I would love that too. I’m open to new writers, so if you are passionate about games and can string a sentence together in proper english, let me know. Hope you are all enjoying BioShock (except Tarun–I hope you are enjoying Totem Ball). Burn!

New Halo 3 footage (Campaign and Multiplayer)

Here’s some pretty decent shaky cam footage from GC 07. First up is a short clip from the campaign level Tsavo Highway (Click video to play). I’ve got to say the environment looks pretty gorgeous. That transport hog should also be good from getting you and your 3 buddies around.

Next is some footage from the map “Sandtrap.” When you’re done playing coop, this is what it will look like owning said buddies in mutiplayer:

1 month to go…