A couple more news snippits

Kincet only costs $50 to manufacture
So someone decided to take apart a Kinect to take a glance at how it operates and discovered that the device total production cost is around $56 -- that's about a $100 less than what the device is being sold for. Shocking, right? Not really. Nintendo did something similar back when they released the Game Boy Micro, the third and ill-fated iteration of the Game Boy Advance, which was sold for around $100 but only cost, like, $58 to manufacture or something. After that I just assumed that this happens all the time in the world of electronics (gotta make a profit somehow, right?).

I'll admit that charging $150 is a bit unfair on the consumer end -- especially given how little money people have these days -- but Microsoft already profits most from accessories and the like, so why not exploit Kinect as well?


No official word on Wii's successor until 45 million units are sold in the US
I always hate thinking about the next generation of consoles. Not because I'm not interested in them or anything, but because I feel that doing so is simply unnecessary. Can't we just enjoy the current generation of consoles while it lasts?

That aside, Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime recently alluded that there won't be any sort of concrete details on the Wii's successor until over 45 million Wii's have been sold in the US. This strikes me as a bit odd, frankly. There may be an expectancy over when the next generation of consoles will begin -- usually every five years --  but everyone seems to constantly forget that this generation isn't like previous ones in that the console makers putting more emphasis on expanding the life-cycle of their respective platforms. Before it was just a case of technology being rendered out of date, but now... well, no one knows, since this is a generation of many firsts. To think that the next cycle could be initiated by simply reaching a sales goal is... well, ridiculous. I can understand the business point of view on the matter (can't make money if there's no one to sell your product to), but following that logic seems like a detriment toward continuing to foster the new "casual" market that everyone's so gosh darn eager to cash in on.

BIT.TRIP FATE Review

A spectacular audiovisual showing and solid shooter gameplay make FATE another worthy entry in the BIT.TRIP series.

The Good: Excellent convergence of audio and visuals; balanced difficulty ensures a tough, but fair challenge throughout; CommanderVideo's new allies provide a nice dose of strategy.

The Bad: Challenge doesn't last long; still no leaderboards.

Unconventional is easily the best adjective to describe the BIT.TRIP series' approach to gaming. From turning Pong into a rhythm game of sorts to blending an on-rails platformer with the element of rhythm, BIT.TRIP is quickly proving itself as a leader in the realm of the unconventional. Its latest entry, BIT.TRIP FATE, takes on the form of a bullet-hell shooter. It's not as intense as its brethren in the genre, but through its excellent usage of audio and visuals in combination with its gameplay, BIT.TRIP FATE becomes a gleeful audiovisual display of endless entertainment.

Much like RUNNER from earlier in the year, FATE is an on-rails-type game, though only partially. CommanderVideo this time is attached to a line that's like a sound-wave in appearance which he may move forward or backward on, as well as ascend or descend whenever the line arcs up or down. The screen also slowly scrolls automatically, rounding out the on-rails foundation.

The thing about it in FATE, though, is that it's a double-edged sword. On one hand, it's an interesting take on the basic design premise of bullet-hell shooters. The limited range of movement presents an interesting challenge; you can't move to the back of the screen and weave through bullets like in other shooters, which means you're forced into risky situations constantly with few means of ensuring safe passage. It's especially chaotic when there's a variety of enemy types converging on you all at once, firing different types of bullets that make taking evasive maneuvers nigh impossible. It's quite exhilarating.

That's one of the bosses. Weird lookin',
isn't it?

But on the other hand, it also results in a lot of controlled chaos. Where most shooters of this kind would be unrelenting with the barrage of bullets and enemies being thrown at you, BIT.TRIP FATE doles them out in controlled bursts. Enemies come in small groups, usually, firing off shots in short bursts. Chaos still ensues of course, but with the exception of boss fights, who seldom let up with the flurries of pixels they send forth, the tempo of the action doesn't often reach its maximum unless you act too sluggishly, thus initiating a frantic series of movements and shots to regain some footing as enemies quickly overtake you. And that's all well and good, but the problem with this is that it considerably shortens the span of time where much of the challenge lasts, which is level memorization.

The crux of all bullet-hell shooters is that they all eventually become devoid of any sort of challenge in the realm of progression. Once you've learned when and where enemies will appear, as well as the general gist of where their pixelated firepower will fly, it all boils down to a simple matter of score hunting. There's nothing wrong with that, of course -- it's what makes this style of shooter so beloved -- but given that intense gantlets are primary focus of the series, the eased challenge undermines a bit of the core concept.

At the same time, however, it also places more emphasis on the strategic elements of FATE as a vehicle for entertainment. CommanderVideo has enlisted some help this time around, some of whom aren't native to BIT.TRIP, such as Meat Boy of Super Meat Boy fame. These assistants may not directly support the Commander in battle, instead opting to modify his bullet-stream in various ways that, depending on the situation, may help or hinder your performance upon picking them up off the road. For example, Meat Boy changes the usual constant stream of pixels into a single beam with a slower rate of fire that eliminate any and all enemies with a single strike, whereas CommanderGirlVideo (the obligatory love interest, I assume) enables you to fire in two directions simultaneously. Those examples allude more to how they're useful, granted, but they can be quite detrimental in some cases.

CommanderVideo and Meat Boy: The world's
deadliest/awesomest combination.

Let's say you're faced with enemies approaching from the very top and bottom of the screen on the right-hand side simultaneously. While using Meat Boy may seem like a good idea to quickly dispatch them, the spread shot of CommanderGirlVideo would be the smarter choice, for she's enables you to eliminate both adversaries almost effortlessly. Choice of ally is important, as you only get a number of seconds to decide who you'll take along before the bubble containing them disappears. The touch of strategy the Commmander's friends provide may not be largely significant, but it's presence most certainly welcome.

As is standard for the series, BIT.TRIP FATE has an excellent convergence of audiovisual elements. Gameplay acts as the conduit for that convergence, with the music increasing in tempo and the visuals becoming more and more psychedelic as you vanquish foes and collect cores (that plus-shaped object from BIT.TRIP CORE) from fallen enemies and barriers. Each of the six levels in FATE begins in a simple state, with visual effects restrained to minimal usage and music being quiet and moody. As you progress, these two elements begin to climb until they explode in a marvelous crescendo of visual effects, color (mostly purple), and sound. It's an awe-inspiring sight.

The music, however, still keeps its low, moody atmosphere during such sequences. It's obvious that the developer wished to create a darker feel with FATE, as it permeates the experience with deep colors and the aforementioned tone of FATE's chiptune soundtrack. Any sort of meaning behind it is scarce, to the say the least, but its quality delivery is all that matters, frankly.

The same also applies to the game as a whole. Lasting challenge may not be something BIT.TRIP FATE is able to provide, and the speed at which it moves may not be as intense as its predecessors, but the core experience -- the thrill of hunting for that elusive perfect score -- remains intact, despite the constant exclusion of leaderboards. The modicum of strategy sown in adds some extra fun to mix as well. It's certainly not at the top of its genre's pack, but BIT.TRIP FATE still proves itself as another worthy entry in the BIT.TRIP saga.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga Review

A humorous, engaging role-playing game staring everyone's favorite plumber duo.

The Good: Fun, engaging combat; humorous, witty dialog complements the charming story and characters well; numerous side-quests and mini-games ensure there's never a dull moment; beautiful visuals.

The Bad: There's no real challenge to speak of; cumbersome jumping mechanics make platforming segments endlessly frustrating.

Though the titular Mario Bros. have starred in many a game, hardly ever are the two plumbers seen working together. In fact, every main entry in the Super Mario franchise stars Mario and only Mario, with Luigi maybe getting a passing mention or cameo appearance (if he's lucky) despite many titles carrying the Mario Bros. moniker.

In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, however, the brothers are finally given the chance to show their stuff in tandem. While they've lost some of their platforming prowess in the transition to the role-playing game realm, the Mario Bros. take on the RPG scene is a fun, humorous adventure that captures all the charm of Mario and co. while eliminating much of the unnecessary complexity of most role-playing games (inventory- and stat-management, namely). The result is an accessible, fun, engaging Mario-themed role-playing game that is sure to please any and all Mario and RPG fans.

Superstar Saga begins with the usual Mario trope of some sort of misfortune befalling Princess Peach. Instead of a kidnapping by Bowser, however (though he still has that goal in mind), Peach's voice is stolen by mysterious individual named Cackletta, replacing it with what's described as "an explosive vocabulary" (they're being literal, by the way). Knowing only that the culprit has escaped to the neighboring land of the BeanBean Kingdom, the brothers, along with Bowser, venture to this new land to retrieve Peach's voice and put an end to Cackletta's villainous schemes.

Bowser's actually on their side this time,
as crazy as that sounds.

In usual Mario-RPG fashion, this is all presented with tons of wit and humor. Mainstay characters such as Bowser and Luigi, for example, are portrayed in a more comedic fashion than they're usually accustomed to. So, in Bowser's case, he's made out to be a rather incompetent, non-menacing villain instead of the imposing, antagonist of typical Mario ventures. And in Luigi's case, he's portrayed a bit of a coward (2001's Luigi's Mansion is no doubt to thank for that), as opposed to Mario who's not afraid of anything, who no one seems to have heard of. The writing is mostly to thank for the entertainment factor here, but the characters' highly emotive, exaggerated expressions add to the fun quite nicely. Those expressions also speak volumes about the visuals, since the amount of detail crammed into those small sprites is incredible.

For a GBA game that was released around the middle of the system's life-cycle, the visuals are exquisite. Environments are richly colored in a variety of vibrant, yet familiar (if you played many other Mario titles, that is) hues. Characters are fluidly animated and contain loads of little details that help convey the characters emotions and enhance the dialog. The sheer number of subtle movements they have are astounding. Granted, most of those subtleties are limited to battle -- they play into the game's evasion system -- but to get such things out of sprites is quite a feat given the limitations of the platform.

Superstar Saga's battle system is a lot like that of Paper Mario. This is because both allow you to execute certain moves that protect or prevent you from receiving damage, or allow you to increase the amount of damage dealt by attacks. It works through the use of two context-sensitive buttons that control the brothers' actions (A for Mario, and B for Luigi). These buttons handle everything from selecting actions from the battle menu to dodging and reflecting attacks from adversaries. The way in which you determine when you should press the buttons is mostly a trial-and-error based affair due to the very precise timing involved, but by paying attention to the enemies' movements, you can discern what type of attack they are going to use and on who, which can give you the upper hand in battle once you have the timing down. This is where those subtleties come into play.

See that spiked ball that green guy's holding?
You can tell who he'll be throwing it based on
which hand it's held in. Clever, right?

Before each attack is executed, the enemy will telegraph their actions through a certain motion; say, a gesture toward one of the brothers with their arm, or a certain sway of their body, among others. Whatever the case, these tells make battles a lot more involved than your standard JRPG. Beyond that battle dynamics are standard RPG-fare: You have multiple forms of attack ranging from a simple jump or swing of your trusty hammer to using elements like fire, with each type being more effective against certain enemies than others. Each attack type may also be used on its own or in conjunction with one another to execute "Bro Moves," which are more powerful versions of the standard attacks. Knowing when to use which attack-type and when adds another modicum of depth and strategy to the combat.

Exploration is pretty standard as well. The bros. move about the game world in typical Mario-fashion with plenty of jumping to cross gaps and scale large structures, as well as some good ol' smashing of boulders and other such objects. The environments contain many secrets and the like throughout that award helpful items and pieces of equipment as well, which encouraging some deviation from the standard story route. Traversal is mostly effortless with jumps and the like being highly responsive and easily executable. They certainly aren't perfect, though, since platforming is often an exercise in frustration due to some cumbersome jumping controls.

As previously mentioned, Mario and Luigi each have all their actions mapped to one the two face buttons. While this configuration may work wondrously in battle, it falters when applied to traversal. The reason being that to make the two cross a gap, big or small, you must press both the A and B buttons at precisely the same time otherwise one will fall short of the platform thus preventing you from moving forward until you get down. It's an extremely frustrating instance during lengthy jump sequences and hinders the fun and pacing of the game, since you're likely to be stuck on it for a while.

Consequently, however, that one aspect is the only real source of challenge in all of Superstar Saga. Battles, despite all they're various features, are simple affairs whose only form of challenge surfaces when faced with foes who are much higher leveled than you instead foes employing smart strategy. Puzzles require little to no deduction on your part either due to them practically spelling out the solution very plainly. The constant lack of challenge may keep things moving at brisk pace, but it also results in certain aspects in not realizing their fullest potential. Puzzles that aren't very puzzling have very little entertainment value, after all.

As much of an eyesore those smudges are, though, the otherwise excellent gameplay is quite satisfying. The Mario Bros.' signature moves translate seamlessly to the role-playing game realm, along with some engaging battle mechanics that add a nice dose of interactivity to the mix. The fun, lighthearted story is a delight to watch unfold as well, though the 17-20 hours worth of gameplay means that the fun won't last too long. But for a RPG-lite type experience like this, the length feels about right.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty Review

This filler episode in the Future trilogy may provide some laughs, but ultimately doesn't satisfy.

The word "filler" is thrown around frequently in television. It's usually used to connote a show or episode whose purpose is to tide people over until the next proper entry in the series arrives. In the case of videogames, filler would connote something like Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty: a short but entertaining installment that doesn't manage to completely capture all the magic of the series proper.

As the middle-point for the Future trilogy's story, Quest for Booty is a short-story of sorts that explores the brief downtime between the first and third parts of the Future trilogy. Most of the cast takes to the sidelines here, with Ratchet and his friend Talwyn, returning from the previous game, following a lead that could help them find the now missing Clank. That lead takes them to a pirate fleet helmed by a pirate captain named Darkwater, who's said to have knowledge about the mysterious race called the Zoni -- the ones who stole Clank away.

It's a brief, but entertaining tale that's accompanied by tons of humorous dialog. The majority of it comes from the narrators, Rusty Pete and Captain Slag from Tools of Destruction, who chime in in between gameplay segments for a bit of exposition while in transit to next bit of gameplay, spouting off humorous remarks about events in the story all the while. Witty quips of dialog aren't so plentiful with the rest of the cast, sadly. Ratchet is silent for most of the game, only contributing a line or two in the odd cut scene. The inhabitants of the islands Quest for Booty takes place on may contribute, but their efforts feel halfhearted in comparison to the series' usual comedy prowess. They're gags mostly consist of taking jabs at the fact that they're having Ratchet take care of their problems, such as fixing wind turbines that supply the island they're on with power, instead of doing it themselves through rather flimsy reasoning. So basically it's the old, "Hey! We're making fun of our own game! Aren't we clever!" routine.

Gameplay wise, Quest for Booty delivers some great platforming and shooting action. Ratchet is without Clank's handy traversal abilities, so platforming sticks to the basics here. That's not to say it's bad, of course; just that it's on easy side. This leaves the combat as the only source of challenge present. It's competent in its role, though there are only a few points where the combat gets to shine.

The game's structure tries to achieve an even split between the two gameplay types, but in practice it ends up feeling sloppy. Fitting all the usual content in a Ratchet & Clank title into a 2-3 hour game, while a worthy effort, simply isn't possible because doing so doesn't allow any facet to hit their stride. The structure is as follows: A focus on platforming in the beginning, then a shift to combat once Ratchet regains his arsenal (he loses his weapons soon after the opening sequence), followed by a nicely balanced, but brief mix of the two. That's enough time to gain some fun out of them, but not satisfy. That's because as soon as you start getting hooked on the action, the game's over soon after.

At least Ratchet has gained some new skills out of this. Seems Ratchet used that downtime between Tools of Destruction and this to make some upgrades to his trusty wrench, as now it can generate an energy stream of sorts that allows Ratchet to manipulate certain objects. He can also use it to pick up and throw, or carry, certain objects. Its new features are used lightly, sort of similar to how an extended introductory segment would, which provides little room for exploration of its abilities, but its presence at least gives the wrench some more worth aside from the usual box breaking duty that it often gets relegated to.

It's an effective weapon as well, of course, but only because you're forced into using it as such during the early stages of the game. The rationale behind that decision is because Ratchet loses all his weapons -- all of which return from the previous game -- early on and must therefore slowly retrieve them. The weapons can all be upgraded via experience earned from blasting up pirates (they're the enemy that appears most). Nanotech (or health) also sees periodical increases through the same means as well. Upgrades are a lot more limited here, however, as enemy encounters aren't prevalent enough to earn the experience necessary to max out your health and all your weapons. Usually these elements would provide some incentive to re-play the game, since experience was carried over to each new playthrough in previous titles. But here there's no such option, thus removing any sort of replayability. Sure there are multiple difficulty levels, but they don't extend the experience much farther given the game's length.

The best thing that can be said about Quest for Booty is that its visuals are gorgeous. From the lush vistas of the islands to the dark, musty look and feel of said islands cavernous attributes, Quest for Booty manages to impress with its visual splendor. The caverns are particularly noteworthy for some excellent usage of lighting.

Splendor alone doesn't make a great game, however. Though it manages to deliver enough of the series trademark elements to entertain, it's length ends up being the one aspect that does it in. For 2-3 hours worth of gameplay with no form of replay value, and priced at $15 no less, Quest for Booty is a tough buy for anyone but the most die-hard Ratchet & Clank fans. The story will most certainly entertain, but that alone isn't enough to justify a recommendation for.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

So that's how Kinect works...

Kinect has only been out for a day and already people are discovering crazy things about it. Namely, when you view the area the camera is pointed at while wearing night-vision goggles, you can see all sorts of little dots of light spread all over. Crazy!

Take a look for yourself:

I assume those lights are how Kinect is able to track all your movements and distance, sort of like how the lighted ball on the PlayStation Move allows it to be tracked properly by the PlayStation Eye. Pretty interesting stuff. Always cool to see how these things work.

Night-vision goggles allow you to Kinect the dots [Joystiq]

A few quick news snippits

Feeling too lazy to write up something in-depth on any of the stories that broke today, so I'm just gonna take the easy way out instead. Procrastination wins again!

Supreme Court hears videogame bill case
In addition to today being election day, one of the biggest events in the industry's history took place today, as the Supreme Court's hearing on Governor Schwarzenegger's bill to prevent sale of violent videogames took place. Reports from the hearing seem to have been positive, with the court deciding that the bill was too vague on first amendment grounds, and because they didn't see reason to police videogame content when no other form of media receives such treatment.

Granted, a verdict won't be reached until sometime next year between March and June, but it sounds like the industry's won this round.

Okamiden descends onto retailers March 15
'Bout time they gave that game a release date; been waiting on that. Now I just gotta get that pre-order in and I'm all set. And no, it's not just so I can get that bonus stylus GameStop's giving away (even if it it does look sorta cool, though the bonus items Japan got are cooler).

Super Meat Boy delayed on WiiWare
Note to console makers: Stop putting limits on how big your downloadable offerings can be. It's only serving to make developing for your respective service unnecessarily difficult. Case in point, Super Meat Boy. According to a recent update by the developer Team Meat, the game, which was previously slated for release sometime this month, hasn't gotten anywhere close to meeting Nintendo's size requirements for WiiWare titles, which is around 39MB. By contrast, the game hasn't even gotten close to hitting the 50MB mark. Guess that means Wii owners are gonna have to wait another few months or so.

Voice Fantasy: The perfect excuse for shouting random phrases in public

If I were playing, I would probably name my
characters something dumb just to see what
would happen.

Square Enix is really getting into the whole "audio creatin' levels" thing. Apart from Space Invaders Infinity Gene, which used songs stored on your platform of choice as a way of producing new levels, the publisher has released a couple mobile titles that revolve entirely around the concept of sound. Song Summoner, a strategy role-playing game released for the iPod in 2008, was the first, with songs stored on the player being used to produce units whose abilities and classes were decided based on the tune of the music. It's an intriguing concept.

The latest in their line of inventive music incorporation is Voice Fantasy -- a standard Japanese role-playing game that asks you to shout the name of your character, and then determines his or her stats based on the pitch and tone of your voice. Players can then fight off various monsters in the single-player mode, or challenge other players in the multiplayer mode.

From what I can tell, there doesn't seem to be much of a story behind the single-player's action, which is a shame, but the concept is interesting. I'd love to see something like this applied to a full-on RPG of some sort; maybe Dragon Quest. That series has always prided itself on character creation, so it would surely be a good home for such a concept. Heck, any game that uses that concept would be good, probably.

I'm surprised no one else has tried and capitalized on the audio conversion concept. You'd think that it would have been stolen by ten other games by now given the industry's penchant for copying others. But then, Scribblenauts did reasonably well at retail, I believe, and yet no one picked up that concept either. Something to think on, that is...

Shout A Name To Create A Hero In Square Enix's Voice Fantasy [Siliconera]

GameStop has officially entered the digital distribution realm, it seems

GameStop: Winner of the Internet's
"Most Hated Retailer" award.

So GameStop revealed some of their plans for handling digital goods -- videogames, downloadable content, etc. -- recently. The retailer is currently offering PC games through their Website for the same price of a brand new physical copy, but plans to offer Xbox Live (as well as PlayStation Network and Wii and DSWare titles, no doubt) content in the future.

Once bought, customers are sent a code -- if you're buying console-based goods -- via e-mail that you may then enter to initiate the download. PC game buyers are simply sent a download link along with an activation key. PC titles also come with a limit on how many computers the game may be downloaded on. GameStop claims that buyers will also be able to gain a refund on titles as well, but only for titles whose publishers allow for such an option.

Now, that sounds all fine and dandy, but what point is there in buying from GameStop when digital items are always available elsewhere, sometimes for less? If I wanted to buy an Xbox Live title, for example, I would just log onto the ol' Xbox and buy it there. What incentive is there to go through other channels?

If it worked for Patapon 2, why not other games?

That's always been my main issue with this matter. I can understand why retailers are trying, but they seem to forget that the consoles for where they're played are also where most -- if not all of us -- buy digital content for games. It's not much of a hassle to add money or points in order to buy games. And really, who's going to choose GameStop over Steam or the service your respective console uses for buying downloadable games?

I could see some use in having download codes available in stores (that's what Patapon 2 for the PSP did), but then, with stuff like Nintendo point cards for sale already, one could just buy one of those and get the same result. With that in mind, I imagine most publishers saying no to that. It'd still be a better way of handling the digital side of videogames, though, since then the retailers still have some sort of physical item to sell. It's a win-win scenario for everyone! Now if only we could convince them to go through with it...

GameStop details digital distribution storefront, XBLA games 'coming soon' [Joystiq]