Video Games Archive

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How The Grand Theft Auto IV Soundtrack Came About

grand theft auto 4 IV logo

Stephen Tolito (of Multiplayer fame) over at MTV has an interesting interview/feature with Ivan Pavlovich, music supervisor for Grand Theft Auto IV, on putting together the game’s soundtrack.

If you’re Pavlovich, one of two soundtrack supervisors for the game and a guy with about 4,000 records back in his mom’s basement (not to mention a few more hidden behind the couch at home), you wind up with a list of 850 songs you’d like to consider including in “GTA IV.” You put in requests with more than 2,000 people. And you try not to give away that you’re asking for these songs for “GTA.”

GTA games have always had phenomenal soundtracks, IV definitely continues that streak.  There are a staggering 214 songs included within the game across numerous genres.   They’ve essentially programmed 18 radio stations for the game.  Since you’re spending a large majority of the 50+ hour long game driving around the city, you’re bound to hear and discover a lot of music.

With the decline of real terrestrial radio due to video games and other entertainment sources, it’s a bit ironic that we’ve come full circle by listening to radio stations inside of a video game to discover new music.

Read the GTA IV soundtrack feature [mtv.com]

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Dan Houser Houses Casual Gaming

dan houser grand theft auto

I gotta hand it to Rockstar Games VP of Creative Dan Houser for sticking up for core gamers and video games as an art form.  In an interview with New York Magazine, Dan says:

Yeah, fuck all this stuff about casual gaming. I think people still want games that are groundbreaking. The Wii is doing something totally different, which is fantastic. We’re hopefully going to prove that there’s also a very big audience for people who want entertainment in another form, who think of games as being a narrative device that can challenge movies.

Games as an artistic medium are still in a developing stage and the potential is there to completely blow away established art forms.  While there’ll always be a market (and a need) for casual games, the danger is there for the industry to get stuck in a rut of churning out derivative products in order to appease shareholders.  We need great developers like Rockstar to be successful so that innovative game designers and developers can continue to have their chance to further the art form.

Read the whole interview [nymag.com]

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Guitar Hero Slurpees – Really, Activision?

guitar hero slurpee

Activision, 7-11, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft have announced a joint blitzkrieg promotion involving the upcoming Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and Slurpee cups at 7-11.  Apparently there’s a new slurpee flavor called “Full Throttle Frozen Blast” and what better way to promote a frozen energy drink to the coveted 18-34 male demographic than to slap branding of Ben Throttle Aerosmith on the cups?

I have no problem with promoting video games to the mainstream with beverage branding.  I actually thought the Halo 3-themed Mountain Dew flavor last year was a good cog in the giant promotions machine for the game.

What I do question, is a) The existence of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith in the first place and b) Do young people who go to 7-11 care about Aerosmith?

The sweet spot of the core Slurpee customer is between 18 and 24 years old, said Jay Wilkins, brand manager for Slurpee and Big Gulp® beverages. Our goal is to keep Slurpee as cool today as it was to teens and young adults in the 1960s when it was first introduced.

Aerosmith might have been cool to teens and young adults in the first decade the Slurpee was introduced, but somehow I highly doubt the kids of today are rebelling against their parents by listening to Honkin’ on Bobo and drinking their slurpees.

See, the thing about the Halo Mountain Dew promotion was that there hadn’t been a Halo game released in 3 years.  The anticipation and excitement was there – having a Mountain Dew flavor was just adding to the hysteria.  We just had a Guitar Hero game release nary six months ago, with another two coming out in early summer.

Why don’t we save the all out promotion blitzes for when you put out Rock Band Guitar Hero IV in a couple of years months?

Read the press release [biz.yahoo.com]

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Pottycast #1 – Coachella, Grand Theft Auto 4, Coldplay

That’s right, My Day Will Come is going audio!

In our inaugural podcast, I am joined by former radio DJ Dan Brody as we talk about Coachella, Grand Theft Auto 4, Buzznet, Coldplay, and more.

We’re working on getting the Pottycast on the iTunes directory, but in the meantime, if you want to subscribe through iTunes just go to Advanced -> Subscribe to Podcast and paste this URL in the box:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/MyDayWillComePodcast

Then just make sure that your iPod/iPhone is set to sync the Podcast.

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Steven Spielberg’s Boom Blox Looks Kinda Fun

After watching the above playthrough of Steven Spielberg’s Boom Blox on Wiitalia, I gotta admit the game actually looks pretty fun. The single player puzzle mode looks like a blast, while the multiplayer reminds me of both Jenga and a bizzaro world version of Jenga (where you want to knock all the blocks in a tower down). A good physics model looks to be implemented as well.

Sure, it’s a little questionable as to how much real involvement the vaunted director had on the game ‘s development, but if it gets more people to check out a good puzzler then so be it.

As to whether I would plunk down a full retail $50 for this Wii game at launch? Eh… I’d have to think about that one. If it were priced as an XBLA or PSN game at $10-$15, I’d be more than willing to give it a shot sight unseen.

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Potty Guy Takes Vacation Days To Play Grand Theft Auto 4

grand theft auto 4 vacation nerd time

I gotta give this dude credit (click the pic to enlarge) – it takes some cojones to flagrantly take 2 vacation days from your company and make a Grand Theft Auto 4 reference as your reason.

So paroxym from Shacknews, we salute you! For being potty guy of the week!

Read the thread [shacknews.com]

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Get A Head Start On Metal Gear Online Beta Registration

metal gear online

If you’re a good little video game fan like me, you’ve undoubtedly already pre-ordered a copy of Metal Gear Solid 4 and received the Metal Gear Saga dvd with a Metal Gear Online beta key.  The beta will be available this Thursday, April 17th for download from the (new!) Playstation Store.

According to Playstation.Blog, though, you’re going to need to a Konami id in order to play in the beta (and also the full game).  The Metal Gear Online beta set up process on the PS3 will prompt you to create one via their web page, but lord knows how annoying it is to input text on the PS3 using the controller.  Fortunately, you can expedite the process by signing up for a Konami id here from the comfort of your own computer.

Yes, I’m wondering the same thing you are.  Why do we need to sign up for these extra ids to play the game?  Wouldn’t it be easier on poor gamers to just allow us to use our PSN accounts?

Read more details on the Metal Gear Online Beta [blog.us.playstation.com]

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Review: Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (DS)

ninja gaiden ds logo

You know how a lot of DS games feel like they’re either Super Nintendo titles or could have been done on the Game Boy Advance?  Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (NGDS) is not one of those games.  In fact, it’s pretty safe to say NGDS would not be possible on any other gaming platform.  It’s a unique title that every action game fan who owns a Nintendo DS should check it out.

NGDS takes place about 6 months after the events of the Xbox version Ninja Gaiden (or Ninja Gaiden Sigma if you were late to the party).  Personally, I can’t remember much of the plot of Ninja Gaiden since I played it about 5 years ago, but I’m pretty sure it had something to do with saving the Hayabusa ninja clan from evil fiends and demons from the netherworld.  NGDS has something similar with a kidnapped girl and the fate of the world blah blah blah.  Let’s be honest here, you’re not playing Ninja Gaiden for the plot.  You’re playing it to kill the shit out of dragons and ninjas as Ryu Hayabusa.  And believe me, you will be doing lots of that.

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Grace Chen Walks Us Through The New Playstation Network Store

Playstation Network Store senior manager, Grace Chen, gives us a video demo of the newly redesigned PSN store on the Playstation 3, set to debut this Thursday, April 17th.

The fact that the new store is a native PS3 application is news to me and a welcome tidbit at that.  It looks like it’ll run very fast and have a slick presentation.  The instant trailer watching is a nice touch as well.

While the existing PSN store web-interface wasn’t unworkable, it wasn’t winning any awards.  This much-needed update looks to bring the PSN store at least on par with Xbox Live Marketplace.   It might actually surpass XBLA in performance, as I’ve noticed some very annoying load times there when scrolling down long lists.

With each update, Sony is slowly and quietly making the PS3 experience equal to Xbox Live.  We’ll see if and when they surpass Microsoft’s online platform.

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Review: Crisis Core Final Fantasy 7 (PSP)

crisis core final fantasy 7 logo

If you’re a fan of Final Fantasy 7 and own a PSP you owe it to yourself to play Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 ASAP. Just stop reading and head over to your favorite retailer and pick up a copy – you won’t be disappointed. If you’ve never played a Final Fantasy game before, or are on the fence about starting with this one, then read on.

Crisis Core is the prequel to what is considered one of the greatest role-playing games of all time, Final Fantasy 7. However, unlike other titles in the series, Crisis Core does not have a turn based combat system. Rather, you control one character (Zack Fair) in an almost real-time action title. Combat almost reminded me of my time with God of War: Chains of Olympus as there is a button to roll/dodge and one to defend. Quite often I would play encounters like I did with GoW, dodging and blocking judiciously. Make no mistake, though, the game contains elements that are undeniably Final Fantasy.

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