IGN Readers Give Thumbs Up to Black Ops II's War of the Future

A fortnight ago we asked you for your thoughts on Treyarch taking the Call of Duty franchise into the future with Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

The poll was aimed at gamers who currently enjoy Call of Duty, or have enjoyed it in the past, and was framed around whether or not Call of Duty fans were supportive of the idea of the series heading more than a decade into the future.

56.79% of respondents claim they love the idea and that it was just what they were after. Black Ops II's focus on drones, combat robots and futuristic gadgets sounds great to them.

The remaining gamers polled remain unconvinced, but for slightly different reasons. 18.28% of respondents weren't sure whether the future is a great fit for Call of Duty and say they much prefer the present day backdrop of the Modern Warfare series. 24.93% of respondents weren't feeling it either, claiming they've always been happier with Call of Duty's historical settings (like Call of Duty 2's vision of WWII, or Black Ops and its Cold War-era/Vietnam War backdrop).

Amazon has claimed that pre-orders for Black Ops II are 10 times the pre-order numbers of the original Black Ops (and 30% higher than Modern Warfare 3's day one pre-order numbers), although some analysts are tipping Black Ops II won't break sales records this time around.

"I don't think Modern Warfare 3 is going to sell more than the last Black Ops, so I doubt that this one will break a record. I think that Call of Duty is a phenomenon, selling way more than 20 million units annually, and it's unrealistic to think that number can grow meaningfully with each annual release," Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter told GamesIndustry International earlier this month.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/21/ign-readers-give-thumbs-up-to-black-ops-iis-war-of-the-future

Game of Thrones: "The Prince of Winterfell" Review

Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow...

"I will hurt you for this. A day will come when you think you're safe and happy and your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth. And you'll know the debt is paid."

Somehow, I felt as thought we were bound to get an episode like "The Prince of Winterfell" before we headed into the endgame of Season 2. An episode that wasn't bad (this is Game of Thrones after all) but an one that had a lot of moving parts and exposition. And while there's nothing wrong with exposition or dialogue-heavy scenes, this chapter felt like it had a lot of stories that simply began and didn't finish. And I mean actual "episodic stories." Because besides Robb finally forsaking his vow and getting busy with Talisa, and Tyrion's tense scene with Cersei when he thought she might have been holding Shae as a prisoner, everything else felt a bit incomplete.

Even Arya's story, and great scene with Jaqen where he finally lost his smile after she threatened him with his own name, felt too much like a fragment. And yes, I will definitely mourn the loss of Arya and Tywin as a scene-stealing duo. They didn't even get any final words with one another before he impulsively rode out to meet Robb in battle. And even though Tywin clearly likes her, one would think that he'd think of a better fate than leaving her behind with The Mountain. Tywin should know that the odds of her surviving that servitude would be extremely low.

Sure, there were some great moments to be had here; a furious Robb placing Cat under arrest for treason, Tyrion and Bronn quibbling away like an old married couple while trying to come up with a way to defend King's Landing, Yara proudly pleading with Teon to abandon Winterfell ("Don't die so far from the sea"). But there was also a lot of stuff that teased us and gave us no resolution; Jaime and Brienne setting out on a boat, Qhorin wanting Jon to go undercover in Mance Rayder's camp, Sam and Grenn discovering a stash of dragon glass, and that one scene toward the end with Dany and Jorah. So unlike the great, extended sequences of "The Old Gods and the New" and the tremendous one-on-ones from "A Man Without Honor," this episode hopped around a bit too much. Save for Sansa and Melisandre, I think it touched on every single character's story.

Last week, I found that a lot of you who hadn't read the books were able to predict that those two burned corpses were not Bran and Rickon. Just the fact that the murderous act happened off screen was enough to tip some of you off, while others noticed the few mentions here and there of the two orphans that Bran sent to the farm. So I'm not sure how much of a revelation it was to most of you to find out that Bran and Rickon are alive and kicking (well, Rickon's kicking at least). I think, possibly, the bigger surprise here was that Osha had doubled back with them and that they're now sort of hiding right under Theon's nose, in Winterfell. And then there's Theon himself. Still trying to do the respectful thing by offering gold to the farmer only to find out that Dagmar already killed off all the witnesses. Way too little. Way too late.

And so Lord Bolton's bastard is just a few days out from Winterfell and Stannis is a few days out from King's Landing. Which just made this episode feel like a grand set-up for bigger things to come. A bridge episode. And I suppose a lot of your personal enjoyment of it will depend on how invested you are in Robb and Talisa. And Tyrion and Shae for that matter. Again, Shae's portrayed as such a tough, argumentative nut on this show, it's been hard to determine how much Tyrion actually cares for her. But here, after he discovered that Cersei had nabbed the wrong whore, he opened up to Shae, confessing his love. Perhaps it was even the first time Tyrion himself realized he loved Shae. "I would kill for you, do you know that? And I expect I'll have to before this is over."

And poor Ros. Not having the greatest time in King's Landing, is she? The scene between Cersei and Tyrion was, of course, great; with Tyrion having to try and hide the fact that she'd hurt someone he actually cared for. But the best part of the whole thing was how well it all played considering the fact that Tyrion and Cersei sort of bonded in the last episode. But with Cersei now thinking that Tyrion purposefully wants to Joffrey to die in battle, her claws came out once again. And we got to hear Tyrion deliver one of the best, threatening lines of the entire series.

And while "The Prince of Winterfell" might not have been this series' best outing, we did get to:  Meet a dude named the "Lord of Bones" who wore a freakin' awesome skull on his face, hear the tale of how Davos saved Stannis from starving at Storm's End during Robert's Rebellion and see Tyrion use the word "pigs***" as a secret code for wild fire. Now, I know that a lot of you who've read the books have some gripes over certain characters being left out of Season 2, but please don't fill up the boards with the names of people who show up on the series. If you didn't get the chance to read my pre-Season 2 interview with Thrones producer David Benioff, he basically said that, after Season 1, they're no longer doing straight book-to-season adaptations. So things that happen in Clash of Kings might show up in Season 3 while things that happen in Storm of Swords might be moved up and show up in Season 2. They're now more interested in adapting the "saga" itself.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/21/game-of-thrones-the-prince-of-winterfell-review

AU: Crack the Code and Win with Xbox!

IGN AU and Xbox Australia have teamed up to bring you the latest clue in the epic Xbox Crack the Code competition! 'The Code' is a combination of 16 digits, made up of the X,Y, A or B buttons on an Xbox 360 controller. Crack the Code first and win a year’s supply of Xbox 360 games. There are billions of possible combinations, so you’ll need to find the clues scattered across the web and decide whether to work with the community, or against it, in your pursuit of glory. Here's your clue:

‘‘The first half is split evenly between the two ends of the alphabet’’

If you think you've figured it out, head to xbox.com.au/crackthecode and give it a crack!

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/21/au-crack-the-code-and-win-with-xbox

The Best New School Boss Battles

Nearly one year ago I wrote a feature for IGN that said the traditional boss fight is a relic of a bygone era. My argument was that while technological and creative advancements within the games industry have resulted in modern games that are more cinematic and immersive than ever before, these advances have not extended to how many developers shape the conclusion of their games. As a result, many games end in a traditional boss fight.

Even the most casual gamer is familiar with boss fight clichés - a closed arena, glowing weak-points, increasingly exaggerated transformations, and the rule of three. It is because of this familiarity that the traditional boss fight lives on in modern games. Boss fights span genres, existing as a common narrative shorthand. The repetitive mechanics make them feel as comfortable as a well-worn pair of slippers. And quite frankly, most gamers demand and expect them.

The classic boss battle mentality. And no, we're not dissing Mario - this is iconic stuff!

For me, this familiarity breeds contempt. Without developers who innovate and push the boundaries of what games can accomplish, gamers would be left with the Frankenstein’s monster that was Deus Ex: Human Revolution – a game whose bland boss fights were outsourced and poorly grafted onto an otherwise pretty stellar game. But let’s not dwell on games that are stuck in an 8-bit mentality. Let’s celebrate games that eschew tradition - and are all the better for it.

To start, I have highlighted two games that delivered stunning conclusions without choosing the easy way out. Then, I have highlighted two sequels that vastly improved upon their predecessors by mixing up the boss battle formula.

ATTENTION: MASSIVE SPOILERS TO FOLLOW - TURN BACK NOW IF YOU HAVEN’T FINISHED RED DEAD REDEMPTION OR BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY. DON'T SAY WE DIDN'T WARN YOU.

Red Dead Redemption

Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar San Diego’s take on the Western (and semi-sequel to Red Dead Revolver) tells the tale of John Marston. Having years earlier retired from an outlaw gang to marry and raise a family, John is tasked by the government to bring his former gang-mates to justice in return for his continued freedom. This personal journey is supported by a beautifully realised world populated with interesting, well-written characters. In short, it is engaging on nearly all levels.

For me, Red Dead Redemption’s conclusion solidified it as one this generation’s great games. After completing his mission, John settles back into farm life and rebuilds the tattered bonds he shares with his wife and son.  John’s well-earned peace is ended when government troops lay siege to his property, gunning for him - their final target. A shootout ensues. Knowing he is out-numbered, John helps his family escape before taking his last stand. As John steps out into the firing-line, time slows – a mechanism employed throughout the game to enable the player to precisely line up a number of shots. John and, by extension, the player are left with a gun full of bullets, precious few seconds, and an insurmountable enemy. This segment firmly puts players in John’s doomed shoes and he desperately fights for survival, and loses.

Not all conflicts and climaxes lend themselves to traditional boss fights – a trap that many developers fall into. Rockstar San Diego recognised this and chose to be daring rather than fall back on tired, old tropes. The studio was able to present an unforgettable conclusion to its game simply by using a key gameplay concept in a new context. The team deserve all the praise they can get.

RDR had one of the best conclusions in recent years.

Bastion

Bastion, a downloadable game for PC and XBLA, is probably most famous for its use of a gruff, dynamic narrator describing the player’s actions. Beyond this (pretty cool) gimmick, Bastion is predominantly an action game with RPG elements. The brilliance of Bastion’s design lies in its tight gameplay focus: simplistic, but incredibly fun and customisable weapons-based combat, while the backstory of Bastion’s floating, post-apocalyptic landscape is delivered piecemeal throughout the experience. By the time the game’s climax is reached, players are a lean, mean killing machine. Instead of presenting a traditional boss fight, Bastion offers two key moral choices. The game ties together its loose narrative threads and delivers a hefty emotional punch – all without using a boss fight. It is the type of ending that sticks with you long after you have finished the game.

Batman: Arkham City

I have previously been vocal about my dislike of the Joker boss fight at the end of Batman: Arkham Asylum (http://au.ps3.ign.com/articles/116/1166802p1.html). With that in mind I approached Batman: Arkham City with some trepidation. Arkham City contained a number of new villains but the backbone of both Arkham games has been the relationship between Batman and Joker. While Arkham Asylum totally dropped the ball in relation to offering any sort of fitting (if only temporary) conclusion to their dynamic, Arkham City does something more interesting.

During the game’s climax, Batman discovers that Joker had recruited Clayface to be his stand-in for much of the game. Clayface attacks Batman while the real Joker looks on. Cue a fairly traditional boss fight.  Fortunately, the game doesn’t end with Clayface’s inevitable defeat. What follows is a compelling set of cutscenes that perfectly encapsulates the Batman/Joker dynamic and a pitch perfect conclusion to Batman’s ordeal.

Sure, the Joker/Clayface switcheroo could have come across as cheap, but instead it allows the game to have its bat-cake and eat it too: a big dramatic boss fight, followed by quiet character reflection. Boss fights and fitting closures are not mutually exclusive, but many games – Arkham Asylumn included – are evidence that a lot of developers will often pick the former over the later.

Uncharted 3

While not reaching the same heights as Arkham City’s conclusion, the climactic fight in Uncharted 3 also greatly improves upon its predecessors’. Uncharted, and especially Uncharted 2, ended with fairly lame, traditional boss fights in lieu of a climax and resolution best fitting their narrative and game styles.

In its opening scene Uncharted 3 showed off its improved melee combat system in a chaotic bar-brawl. This scene is bookended by the game’s final boss fight – a bad-arse fist/knife fight amidst crumbling ruins. This fight might not revolutionise boss battles, but it’s a big improvement over the previous game, where a hulked up man whose weakness was glowing resin chased you around a ravine. Uncharted 3’s fight feels more visceral and personal while also feeling like a natural extension of the gameplay preceding it.

So many incredible sequences, yet the end still stood tall.

And now it is over to you. Hit up the comments section to tell us what your favourite game endings are – and how they used or avoided boss fight clichés.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/21/the-best-new-school-boss-battles

Hitman Director on Killing Diana, Giant Chickens and Why Absolution is Built to Last

The original assassin is back, declares Hitman: Absolution’s promotional videos. It’s a shrewd statement, with the very word now forever fused with Ubisoft’s blockbuster Assassin’s Creed series. Of course, Hitman and Assassin’s Creed actually have quite little in common with each other; beyond sharing leads whose occupations involve executing people the games themselves are fundamentally different in a large number of ways.

As a device to remind you of the pedigree of the Hitman series, however, the statement succeeds. 47 has been snuffing folk out since before Altair was a twitch in Ubisoft’s loins. 47 may have spent most of this generation on the sidelines, but he’s about to be brought back off the bench.

One of the most interesting things about Hitman’s hiatus is that there’s been no real attempt by anybody to fill the vacuum. We’re at the tail end of a massive gap between Hitman games and yet IO is still coming back to a relatively empty space. In a marketplace where for every GTA there’s a Saints Row and for every Battlefield there’s a Homefront, it’s actually a little surprising. We ask Hitman: Absolution director Tore Blystad for his thoughts on the matter; why hasn’t the Hitman formula ever really been emulated?

“It is a really difficult genre to work with as there are so many challenges both from a technical and design perspective,” explains Blystad. “But it would be great to have more games closer to Hitman as we then could develop the genre faster by learning from each other.”

“We don’t have many games to compare ourselves with directly, only if we divide the game into building blocks and compare them to the competition, for instance in terms of art direction or shooting mechanics.”

The time between drinks hasn’t been wasted; IO has picked up a variety of valuable lessons during the years between Blood Money and Absolution. The team has learnt a lot about player communication and player behaviour, and are far closer to the players and their experience than ever before. IO is also building levels in an entirely different way to its previous titles.

“We have learnt from experience that we need to always see the levels through the eyes of the player so for Absolution we have designed the tools to be able to play as we build the levels,” says Blystad.

The trickiest part of the process, however, has been the AI.

“The basic AI has by far been the most challenging,” says Blystad. “Every NPC is running from the same core and that just has to be rock solid to be able to support a massive game like Absolution. The AI has always been a huge challenge in the Hitman games but there are some new systems adding far greater complexity to Absolution, for instance the new AI navigation and communication, the dynamic combat AI and more logical alert propagation. It is something we will continue tweaking all up until release of the game, I’m sure.”

Part of the wrinkle is fashioning AI in such a way that it can respond equally believably to a player wading through a level guns blazing and a player taking a Silent Assassin approach to proceedings.

“One part is the actual code and logic and design behind the scenes, a whole other challenge is the timing, the locomotion and animation and the dialogue and voice acting,” says Blystad. “We have a very large and diverse cast for the game with a multitude of different character classes and they all need their own traits and features and as the game takes place in different locations the characters also needs different voice sets to fit the locations. The dynamic AI dialogue combined with the story and level specific dialogue is a staggering 2000 pages of dialogue which in itself is a challenge even to fit on a disc. In comparison a movie script is typically 90 pages long.”

Hitman, baby; one more time.

On the topic of AI we ask Blystad to elaborate a little on the crowd technology the team showcased at GDC earlier this year; how it works and what he feels it adds to the levels it’s a major part of. Blood Money’s packed streets and writhing dance clubs were stunning at the time but appear dated now. Absolution is looking to reset the bar.

“The locations of Absolution are most often civilian locations where crowds are a natural part of the setting and this is a unique opportunity for gameplay seldom seen in other games,” he says. “From a gameplay point of view crowds are working pretty close to what they do in real life. They are perfect for blending in and disappearing from enemies but if you start a fight and create a panic you quickly find yourself the centre of attention.”

“Since Blood Money, crowds have become a signature feature for us and we really wanted something special for Absolution. The main focus for Blood Money was high numbers and wow factor more than gameplay, it was technically just a huge special effect. For Absolution it has been completely rethought and every single crowd member is actually a potential regular NPC and can at any given time become an interactive character with unique behaviour. But on top of that the crowd has some crowd specific behaviour that enables actors to navigate in large masses and reaction propagation happens different from regular NPCs.”

The new tech supports crowds of up to 1200 strong, at 30 frames-per-second.

One of the best things about the Hitman series has always been the way it allowed gamers to learn from the experiences of others as much as their own, which encouraged a lot of replay and experimentation. One of the criticisms levelled at IO by Hitman’s hardcore devotees has been the focus to date on leading with more action-oriented demos and videos. Of course, stealth is a tough thing to showcase, considering it relies heavily on patience and extended moments of observation, but are we still going to be trading stories with one another about the pianos we’ve ‘accidentally’ dropped on people, the performers we’ve pushed into shark tanks and the panties we’ve poured ether on? We ask Blystad how much of this quintessentially Hitman magic Absolution retains.

“When we design the game, one question we keep asking ourselves is, ‘What will players tell each other about when they play this level?’

“When we design the game, one question we keep asking ourselves is, ‘What will players tell each other about when they play this level?’” he says. “And if our answer to that doesn’t sound cool or like there was a good choice, we will keep working on it.”

“The Hitman legacy is extremely strong when it comes to cool ‘assassin stories’ to tell, it’s actually even stronger than the mechanics themselves. Like throwing someone in their pool to be eaten by their own sharks, replacing a prop gun for a play with a real loaded gun, sniping an assassin through a Mardi Gras crowd dressed as a chicken, these are all really intriguing fantasies, and there will be tons of this in Absolution. In addition to the inherent replay value of the levels we have added a comprehensive challenge system that will entice certain play styles and hint at certain unlocks that can be achieved on the level to get even more fun out of each level.”

Thy kingdom come.

This kind of depth and replay value is one of the keys to making a single-player game that people will hang onto and play for longer, rather than play and shelve/trade.

“As developers, it is heart-warming to us when players spend months, even years with our games, clocking in hundreds of hours to find every secret and cover every inch of the map,” says Blystad. “But in reality, of course, not all players will have the time, patience or interest in going into that kind of detail with every game. Absolution is built to last for a long time for the players who want more and for a single-player game it is a major advantage to not feel finished once the game has been played through once.”

“Absolution is built to last for a long time for the players who want more.

So coming into E3 and the final phase of development we ask Blystad when he looks at Hitman: Absolution’s gestation, and what IO has crafted to date, what part of the game is he most satisfied with?

“If I ever come to a point where I truly feel satisfied about anything I do, it is probably time to retire,” he says. “I can only focus on all the million problems that we have and all the unfulfilled opportunities to create something better and more fun, a joke that could be paced better or a corner that could be lit better.”

“But if there is a thing that I believe we do quite well, it is to create diversity, and I think that what we will be showing the next couple of months will show just how diverse the game is.”

There is, however, one thing that’s been bugging us: Diana. Kicking things off in Absolution by asking players to kill Diana seems a little odd considering Diana saved 47’s life in the closing moments of Blood Money. Is IO at all concerned there’ll be a bit of resistance from returning Blood Money fans here?

“This is a central piece of the story of Absolution and we know this is a difficult topic for returning Hitman fans,” grins Blystad. “We do believe when they get to play the game it will come across differently from what they expect though and can only ask that people wait until they try it for themselves.”

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/21/hitman-director-on-killing-diana-giant-chickens-and-why-absolution-is-built-to-last

Supernatural: "Survival of the Fittest" Review

Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.

The seventh season of Supernatural wrapped up with "Survival of the Fittest", an apt title when you look at who was left standing at the end of the episode.

"Carry On Wayward Son" launched us into the episode with a montage of what had happened earlier in the season. Using that song as the intro to each season finale is one of Supernatural's best traditions; the Leviathan storyline itself may have faltered this year, but the song managed to pick up some of the slack in raising the excitement level as the finale began. And for me the level of anticipation needed to be raised from about zero, so that was a very good thing. If the opening song wasn't enough old-school Supernatural for you, the return of the Impala was another great moment with "Born To Be Wild" blasting as Dean's car roared back into the action. It was a short-lived return since it was only used as a distraction, and Meg crashed it almost immediately, but they have fixed that car up from much worse accidents.

James Patrick Stuart as Dick Roman, head of the Leviathans, was the best element of the Leviathan storyline all season, and it was no different in the finale. The scenes of him hammering out the contract with Crowley (the excellent Mark Sheppard) were great; I loved the juxtaposition of modern businessman Roman working through old-school demon Crowley's contract that rolled out on the floor in a long scroll.

Although the Leviathans had been built up at the beginning of the season to be super-powerful villains, in the end, dispatching them wasn't all that difficult for the Winchesters and their allies, something that was a real flaw with the storyline. A simple distraction at the office and Sam and Dean were (apparently) easily into the building. Even chopping the Leviathan heads off didn't seem to be that difficult once the Winchesters discovered that a simple Borax solution would disable them. And although they had to gather a few supplies to make a weapon that would get rid of Roman, even that didn't turn out to be too difficult for them. As for the rest of Roman's plan, Crowley seemed to think that the rest of the Leviathans just needed to be rounded up and Kevin told Sam that they needed to blow up the lab. As unsatisfying as that was as a way to wrap things up, I will take it if it means that we don't need to do anything more with the Leviathans in the future.

All of that aside, where the Leviathans really missed the boat in being effective Supernatural baddies was that there was no sense of an emotional connection for the Winchesters, something that previous villains on the show have had in spades. Maybe the producers thought that having Castiel be the one to bring the Leviathans out of Purgatory would make it personal, but it didn't. The fact that Roman killed Bobby helped to give the Winchesters a direct connection, but even with that there was never the same sense of emotional high stakes that we have had in the past.

Supernatural: Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki Look Towards Season 8

Crowley, on the other hand, did not disappoint. His sarcastic comments were great as usual, a favorite this episode being "text me when Sparkles here retrieves his marbles" after seeing the state Castiel was in. More importantly, Crowley behaved as a "proper psychopath": he betrayed all sides to his own benefit. He worked with the Winchesters to get rid of Roman and also managed to screw over Sam and Dean in the process while getting his minions to collect Meg.

Where the emotion was missing in the fight against the Leviathans, it was present in the goodbye to Bobby. I had not been a fan of the decision to turn Bobby into a ghost, but at least they made the gutsy decision to take that storyline to its proper ending, with Bobby recognizing that he was doomed to turn into a vengeful spirit unless Sam and Dean burned the flask that kept him from crossing over. Jim Beaver was an integral part of the Winchester family and he will be missed, but I was glad they said goodbye rather than ruining the character by having him hang around longer as a helpful spirit sidekick. The scene itself was nicely done - a somber, but not overly emotional goodbye.

I also appreciated the focus that was put on Castiel and his relationship with Dean. Misha Collins and Jensen Ackles have always been great together and while Collins put a new spin on the character of Castiel with his stream-of-consciousness thought process and inability to engage in the battle, his connection to Dean remained strong. "Nobody cares that you're broken Cas, clean up your mess" was a great line.

With a change on showrunners next season (Sera Gamble is out and Jeremy Carver is in) hopefully Supernatural can get back to how good it was a few seasons ago. They left things at a good spot, the betrayal by Crowley may not have been that surprising, he is a demon after all, but what he did was a shock. The weapon that killed Roman also tossed Dean and Castiel into Purgatory, leaving Sam bewildered and alone. Jared Padalecki did a good job conveying Sam's confusion and fear at what had happened. Purgatory was effectively creepy and Dean's predicament was only made worse when Castiel poofed away. That ending was the biggest success of the episode: where they left both Sam and Dean made me want to see what happens next. That is a major accomplishment after the tedious nature of most of the season.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/20/supernatural-survival-of-the-fittest-review

Mad Men: "Dark Shadows" Review

Hey guys, apologies for this review going up so very late – a full week after the episode aired! Thanks to my time in New York covering Upfronts, I only just was able to watch it.

This was an interesting episode for Don. All season (but it began earlier, of course), he’d been so checked out of work. And here he is, getting back into things, but obviously also very insecure. He was inspired to pitch his own take on the Sno Ball campaign when he snuck a look at Ginsberg’s pages in the first place – but clearly didn’t like the fact that while everyone genuinely liked his devil idea, Ginsberg’s played a bit better.

Don had a great, cold retort to Ginsberg at the end – “I don’t think about you at all” – but it was a lie of course. He’d been thinking about him the whole episode. This is a very interesting new side of Don, as he is trying to prove he’s still got it, and has his (valid) concerns about these young hotshots who may be on their way to surpassing him.

Insecurity was a big theme in "Dark Shadows" (yes it was funny timing to have this air the weekend the Dark Shadows movie opened), as we saw it also explored with Betty. I felt the moment where she saw Megan changing in her bedroom was a bit too convenient – We already understood how uncomfortable it was for Betty to see this oh-so modern new apartment of Don’s and be in the presence of his young, beautiful wife, while she was struggling with her weight. But Betty’s response was oh-so Betty, which is to say, awful.

Betty throwing a bomb into Don’s life by revealing who Anna was to Sally was “Classic Betty.” And while I feel like we have a good handle on who Betty is and how and why she does a lot of the cruel things she does, it still was pretty satisfying to see it ultimately backfire on her. Sally realizing it was true that Betty was trying to sabotage things and calmly telling her mother, “Yes. Daddy showed me pictures and they spoke very fondly of her,” was gratifying. I don’t hate Betty, but I don’t want to see her win this petty battle either, that’s for sure. Betty’s final hollow, boastful Thanksgiving dinner thanks was both amusing and sad, as she struggles to convince herself she is happy "And no one else has anything better."

I wish the story with Roger and Joan had resonated a bit more. I did like the continued look at the “new” Roger, as he said he was over hating Pete and we learned he will not stop bringing up his LSD experience. But we’ve never known Jane well enough to really feel her pain when she told Roger he’d ruined her new apartment by seducing her in it. I guess the question is whether Roger truly learned something from what happened – he obviously was motivated by his jealousy at her semi-flirting with another man – since he’s the character we’re invested in of the two.

Pete didn’t appear a ton in this episode, but when he did, it was all about his continued (and increasingly worrisome) obsession with Beth (Alexis Bledel), despite her having ended things. I find myself very nervous where this is going…

Meanwhile, Lane Pryce continued to be MIA this week – a very odd, long absence from the show. I’m very glad to see him in the previews for the next episode!

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/20/mad-men-dark-shadows-review

What's Noteworthy About Wii U's New Controller

It appears as though Nintendo has been doing more than just developing games in the year since Wii U debuted at E3 2011. If a recent leaked photograph posted to Twitter is any indication, the company has been making some small - yet important - alterations to the system’s controller as well.

Some of these changes are obvious, but some are more subtle. All in all, it appears as though Nintendo is contemplating the precise form of its innovative, unconventional controller. What follows is a mix of observation and fact, as we dig through this supposed new design. We’re only two weeks away from E3 2012, where we theoretically will learn the true design of the Wii U controller. Until then... let’s obsess over some details.

An alleged look at the new Wii U controller.

Number One - Exit Sliders, Enter Sticks

The most blatant change to the Wii U controller - and certainly the one everyone is talking about - is the apparent removal of the 3DS-esque analog sliders. They’re being replaced by more traditional analog sticks, which appear to be somewhat similar (at least in design) to what is included with Wii’s nunchuk or Classic Controller.

Nintendo’s reasoning for this change will remain a mystery until E3, but the explanation does seem relatively simple - third parties wanted clickable sticks. Despite the debate over the stick/slider selection, the fact was that the Wii U sliders were more than suitable for gaming. The parts used for the tablet controller were far superior to those included on the Nintendo 3DS, yielding far more precision and an overall better experience. But they didn’t click.

For this reason alone, Nintendo likely yielded to pressure. Without the “L3” and “R3” functions, games like Aliens: Colonial Marines would not have parity between their Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 versions and Wii U. Nintendo needs that transition to be as smooth as possible, particularly if it’s asking developers to spend extra development time to program for the system’s touch screen. Suddenly a change from sliders to sticks doesn’t seem like a huge challenge.

One more small difference - it appears as though Nintendo has shifted the sticks slightly to the upper corners of each side of the controller. Because of the perspective of the photo it’s hard to say this with complete certainty, but no doubt these incremental shifts are attempting to make this hardware as comfortable as possible.

Number Two - Get Used to Wii U

For months there has been speculation about whether Nintendo would change the name of Wii U. We even wrote a lengthy editorial in support of that change. As the company’s latest fiscal year ended and E3 2012 approached, the likelihood of an alteration seemed smaller, but not impossible. The appearance of this new controller seems to put more nails in that coffin.

Tucked in the lower left corner is a logo that wasn’t present a year ago. Simple, yet to the point, Nintendo is slapping its branding on the tablet controller. Ladies and gentlemen, you might want to start figuring out how to live with this name. It seems as though it’s here to stay.

Number Three - Some Moving Buttons

Sticks aside, one of the most visible changes to the controller is the movement of the Start and Select buttons, as well as bit of an embellishment to the Home icon. There’s no brand significance to this, but clearly Nintendo realized that the design of its controller requires more buttons to be easily accessible by the right hand. Thus the Start/Select have moved.

One note that we’ve heard from many of you - why not stagger the sticks? The answer, at least to us, is relatively simple - the Wii U controller is too big to accommodate that kind of design. To be clear, this controller isn’t quite as big as it looks. Average-sized hands should have no issue gripping the device, and keep in mind that it is surprisingly light to hold. That said, trying to shift the right hand downward for a lower stick wouldn’t seem ergonomically wise. This just isn’t meant to support that, from what we remember about the original design, and what we believe would remain constant to this one.

The E3 2011 version of the Wii U controller.

Number Four - Mysterious White Boxes

What the hell are these little white squares below the D-Pad and next to the Power button? Some are speculating these are indeed input additions to the controller, but their positioning seems so odd that we doubt they are for any gameplay applications.

The one on the left strikes us as possibly being the location for the controller’s NFC chip. Announced earlier this year as being an included feature for Wii U, it would make sense to have a physical indication on the hardware for players to know where to engage proximity-based communication.

The lower right nub might be more for controller functionality, either to sync the tablet with the system, or for some sort of signal-based operation - such as moving the television display to the more portable screen. One of our thoughts was that this might open some sort of store, but the complete lack of visual markings means this is something less essential. Previous sync buttons for Wii were located in the system’s battery bay, which would seem to be a clunky solution - plus Wii U’s controller doesn’t have a traditional battery bay like Wii did. So there is that.

Number Five - Patents and Registrations

As Nintendo’s designs for Wii U have progressed, the company has been forced to file paperwork with various global entities to ensure its hardware is protected by law. The astute folks at the NeoGAF forums dug up the following schematics several months ago. At the time the assumption was that the left design was an original working prototype that eventually evolved into the right one, which is clearly what was seen at E3 2011.

Wii U Controller: New Design (L) and Old Design (R)

It now appears that assumption was incorrect. From the inclusion of the branding to an overall more polished design, this latest model seems like it is a later iteration of the tablet.

Since that’s the case, we have some more images to show you.

More concept drawings of the new controller's design.

Take a look at these two schematics, clearly showing the bottom and side of the system.  We’re clearly still looking at a controller that features analog sticks, but this one also features a more contoured, hand-friendly shape. The E3 2011 tablet design was by no means uncomfortable, but the grips shown in these drawings would no doubt make a surprisingly decent design even better.

A few folks have pointed to the triggers on the controller, speculating those are new. Though we have no way of knowing if these are still digital inputs, like they were at E3 2011, the fact is that the Wii U controller we saw a year ago featured similar buttons. The only change, at least that we can tell, is these are more contoured to suit the revisions to the tablet's shape.

Again, nothing is completely certain here. The inclusion of the Wii U logo on this new controller design leads us to believe it is a new iteration of the tablet. Had this been in developers’ hands prior to the E3 2011 design, it seems logical that the system name would have leaked alongside the other “Project Cafe” details we learned over a year ago.

Still, things change and we might find this is in fact outdated hardware. And who knows - maybe what Nintendo brings to E3 2012 is different still. We’ll just have to wait to find out. In the meantime, take to the comments and Twitter and discuss your thoughts. We still have two weeks to analyze the hell out of this thing.

Rich is an Executive Editor of IGN.com and the 'Papa Koopa' of the IGN Nintendo team. Join him in his ridiculous adventures on Twitter, Tumblr and IGN. Got questions? You can ask Rich on his Tumblr Q&A page. Keep it cool, Koopalings.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/20/whats-noteworthy-about-wii-us-new-controller

The Amazing Spider-man Looks... Amazing

IGN saw exclusive preview of footage from one of this summer's most anticipated blockbusters, The Amazing Spider-Man, at Kapow Comic-con in London.

Sony Entertainment introduced the sneak peek at the new Spider-Man movie as an exclusive look at 'some of the best 3D' it had ever seen, and they weren't far wrong judging by the four minutes we saw. The action takes pace in sewers, across skylines and is focused heavily around a bridge.

But there is also plenty of humour to back up the action. A cute scene involves Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) and Peter Parker's (Andrew Garfield) encounter by the school lockers, set to a Coldplay soundtrack, in which he flirts with her with excruciating shyness. The love interest arc should be convincing as this is from the director that brought us the 'anti-rom-com' 500 Days of Summer - the aptly named Marc Webb. But the best humour comes from Spidey's sheer delight at his new found powers as he takes on a tooled-up thief - "oh no - is that a knife? Please say that isn't a knife!" - pulling some nifty moves with his web-shooters as he 'snots' out webbing, mimes some baseball pitching moves and then adds some cowboy finesse to his arsenal.

Rhys Ifans looks politely menacing as Dr Curt Connors who, when given Parker's scientific formula turns himself into The Lizard: "I created him!" says Peter to a distraught Gwen who pleads with him not to leave her. The Lizard, although big and stocky compared to the lithe Spider-man, can still chase our hero across a ceiling or two.

By all accounts 2012's Spider-man is very promising, and with sharp writing, a hugely talented lead (we'd take Garfield over Maguire any day), top notch 3D, and a convincing romance, this is definitely a summer blockbuster you will want to 'catch'.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/20/the-amazing-spider-man-looks-amazing

DC: The New 52 - "We're Committed To You, The Fans."

DC’s Dan DiDio took to the stage at Kapow! Comic Con to personally thank the British fans for helping to make The New 52 a success, and to pledge the company’s commitment to producing the best possible comics for the foreseeable future.

“With The New 52, we hope that we’re meeting our obligation to you as creators, because keeping you happy is our job. Without you none of this would be possible,” DC’s co-publisher explained to the packed auditorium, “We wanted to come over personally and thank you, because you represent about 10-15% of our business!”

Scott Snyder, the creative genius behind The New 52’s Batman arc The Court of Owls was also on hand to discuss the upcoming finale to the current run. “The next two issues really are our big finale, the big revelations of the whole series begin to come out, and then issue 11 is our giant climax,” Scott told the fans, “I’m really excited about it, I can’t wait. I’ve never worked this hard ever in my life!”

Snyder also revealed the return of Arcane in his Swamp Thing run, “I wanted to explore the core of Arcane. I wanted the ask the questions ‘Who is he? What makes his scary, and why?’ This story will not just reintroduce Arcane, but it will begin the events that lead to the big crossover I’m working on with Jeff Lemire on with Animal Man.”

Issues 12 of Animal Man and Swamp Thing will share a cover, revealed at the show, with the Arcane story dovetailing into the crossover story that Snyder described as “Incredibly epic.”

Dan DiDio wrapped up the panel with a heartfelt tribute to the hardcore DC fans in attendance, “I just want to talk to you about the commitment that we have to our product [The New 52]. We were at a point where people stopped buying our books. Fans were frustrated about the uncertainty around when their favourite books would be out,” DiDio explained, “When we launched the New 52, we made a huge commitment to delivering the books to you, on time. We’re very happy to say that in the last 12 months, out of 52 books a month, we’ve only shipped two issues one week late."

"You want the books on the shelves when you expect them, and we understand that. We took our fans for granted before, but that’s something we’ll never do again. We’re committed to our product, our books, and to you, the fans."

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/20/dc-the-new-52-were-committed-to-you-the-fans

Warren Ellis “Bored” by the Comic Business

Author Warren Ellis has said he is “bored” by the comic industry and that he finds the restrictions around writing for big, franchise characters frustrating. “You can’t mess around with franchise characters because there’s always a lot more money involved than you think,” he said, during a rare question and answer session at Kapow Comic-con in London.

When asked about whether he thought the comic business was in a good state, he replied, “I’ll give you a clue; I’m not really writing any comics at the moment.  I’m bored by the field in general.” He elaborated by saying he felt comic book stores didn’t want to stock independent comics, preferring Marvel and DC titles because they can offer them better rates.

On the topic of future projects, Ellis talked about his novel Gun Machine due out later this year.  The book follows a New York detective who investigates an apartment only to find a stash of guns, every one of which is linked to a different unsolved murder in Manhattan.  In accidentally reopening the biggest cold case in history, detective John Tallow’s life gets very difficult very fast.

Ellis also shared the story he plans to pursue further down the line, musing, “I’ve been wanting to do something about the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, but it’s finding the time… maybe next year.” The legendary author expressed a desire to cut back on work too, though.  He explained his aspiration was, “to work less and get paid more, or work on bigger projects but fewer of them.  I’ve been talking to people about TV but the challenge is always finding someone to fund your next crazy item.  It’s an art form, but these are also businesses; commerce will always rear its head.”

Ellis was quick to clarify that he doesn’t think TV is a better place to be than comics, stating, “British TV is in a very bad state and the worst that I can remember.  When American TV looks like it is in a better condition than British TV, you know something is wrong.”

He rounded up the session by confirming fan fears that no Spider Jerusalem film is in the works, but said that his project with Joss Whedon, Wastelanders, is due to start up again imminently now The Avengers is out the way.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/20/warren-ellis-bored-by-the-comic-business

SEGA: A Soothsayer of the Games Industry

It’s a popular catch-cry for Dreamcast enthusiasts and full-blown SEGA fans alike. It’s the last solace for those who still grieve SEGA’s absence from the hardware arms race. It keeps SEGA fans warm when alternate futures and parallel universes no longer sun them. It’s an emotional place where what-could-have-beens become what-should-have-beens long before they were.

With more and more of SEGA’s endeavours coming full circle in recent times, it’s hard to deny that the fallen hardware giant was right about gaming’s trajectory all those years ago. Come with us on a journey through time, and we’ll see just how ahead of the curve the company truly was.

TV on a Console

Nintendo has ruled the handheld roost for as long as there’s been a roost, but that didn’t stop the Boys in Blue from giving it a red hot go. Enter the Game Gear, replete with a backlit colour display and TV Tuner.

Yeah, that's right, TV on a console, and a portable one at that.

It wasn’t until 18 years later that we’d watch the idiot box on an Xbox, with Netflix hitting the 360 in 2008. Another three before we’d again see on a portable gaming device, when Netflix finally launched on 3DS last year. To this day, you can hook up your hypothetical Game Gear to cable, satellite, your VCR/DVD combo – everything except actual television, because those bastards went digital. Which means you can’t leave the house to watch TV for four hours. Oh well.

Home Away From Home

While Nintendo was busy figuring out how to put Game Boy games on the Super Nintendo, Sega made a way to bring the home experience to a handheld. The SEGA Nomad allowed players to boot up their Mega Drive and Genesis cartridges outdoors*.

*For two hours.

As brief as the experience may be, it quite literally brought the home console experience to a handheld a whole 16 years before the Vita did. And it’s still the only handheld that allows you to play the way it was meant to be played: with six face buttons and diagonals.

Now here’s the real kicker: SEGA originally intended the Game Gear’s successor to feature a touchscreen interface, but shelved the idea because it was too expensive.

Thanks for the Memory

Now it’s an industry standard, but by 1997, SEGA remained the only console manufacturer nickel-and-diming you for the ability to save games.

Coincidentally, they were also the only console manufacturer not making any money.

I am of course referring to internal backup memory. SEGA pioneered its inclusion with the Mega CD in 1991, and carried the torch with the SEGA Saturn in 1994.

Unfortunately SEGA backed down (instead of backing up) with the Dreamcast in 1998, presumably because it made more business sense to sell memory separately. But that didn’t stop SEGA from innovating.

The Visual Memory Unit for the Dreamcast not only functioned as a memory card; it also functioned as a second screen, and a means of continuing your game outdoors. It wasn’t quite ‘Transfarring’ and it didn’t let you drive virtual golf balls on the living room floor, but it threw some neat concepts into the mix. My brother and I would raise Chao in the car then race them in when we got home.

Mine lost :(

You could call plays in an NFL game without the other players seeing. You could bring your high scores to Naomi arcade machines, and take them back to your Dreamcast later. Some of these things you can’t even do anymore.

What you can do now, though, is save full games and media libraries on your 320 GB PS3 hard drive. Internal memory – who’da thunk it?

Motion Sickness

“You are the controller.” The Kinect marketing team must have taken a few tips from Sega’s training video:

Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you the Activator: the world’s first full-body control system! Give your thumbs a pat on the back and throw your controllers out the window, because they’re officially retired, forever.

Sure, the Wii and Kinect have seen a *little* more success in the motion-controlled gaming sphere, but it’s interesting to note: shoehorning motion control into traditional game types didn’t work then and it still doesn’t work now.

It doesn’t end there, though. Introducing the SEGA Fishing Controller, the fully functional ancestor of the Wii Remote:

Fish!

Designed for realistic virtual fishing experiences on the Dreamcast, the Fishing Controller was equipped with a motion sensor that could detect vertical and horizontal motions. was famously playable with the reel and rod, translating real-life movement into swordplay on the screen.

marked yet another of SEGA’s motion-controlled endeavours, this time with maraca controllers and a sensor bar. It’s little wonder the Latin Pop sensation would return to Nintendo’s Wii eight years later.

Ay, caramba!

Perhaps stranger than and sword-fishing combined was the phenomenon known as . – starring Seaman, a carp with a human head –was a voice-activated virtual pet simulator narrated by Leonard Nimoy. Players would converse with Seaman through the microphone attachment, and Seaman would reply, through imitation initially, but ultimately with insulting remarks as his vocabulary increased. If the player didn’t check in on Seaman every day, there was a high chance he would die.

Stranger things have happened. Wait a minute, no they haven't!

Seaman’s most obvious successor was , which replaced a lot of weirdness with a lot of cuteness, but it also touched on the other half of the Kinect equation: voice activated gaming.

Welcome to the Net Level

SEGA’s biggest contribution to the future of video games was undoubtedly in the online gaming space. Both as hardware manufacturers and software developers, SEGA was the primary force behind console-based online gaming platforms as we now know them.

Sega: the poster child of early 90s marketing.

The dryly-named Sega Net Work System was SEGA’s first foray into online gaming. The network service debuted in Japan on November 3rd 1990, along with the MegaModem and cartridge (literally “Game Library”).

High Definition Graphics AND Online Multiplayer?! Get out of town!

Players would attach the MegaModem to the back of their Mega Drives, download games from the , and play them with each other over a dial-up connection – all for a monthly fee of ¥800. Only 17 games used the MegaModem, and some of those weren’t even games ( for the win!), but still, that’s pretty damn impressive for 1990. Unfortunately the price was too prohibitive for the MegaModem to reach critical mass (¥12,800 with the ), and plans were scrapped for its US counterpart, the Tele-Genesis.

SEGA’s next project was the SEGA Channel service, which launched in December 1994. Sega struck a deal with Time Warner Cable and TCI, offering 50 different titles a month on demand, plus demos, cheats and even unreleased content; all for a $25 activation fee plus a monthly subscription fee of around $15.

The interface took more than a few cues from Toejam & Earl.

The SEGA Channel delivered games to over 250,000 subscribers over regular coaxial cable. Games would download to the Genesis’ volatile RAM, meaning that they were erased from the system’s memory each time the console was powered off. No matter, though – games could be downloaded again in under a minute. It’s little wonder the service won ’s “Best of What’s New” award in 1994. The service continued until July 31, 1998, well into the next generation of consoles. Many cable operators had to clean their broadcast signal and equipment to ensure the SEGA Channel could be received, so the very fact that you’re enjoying broadband internet right now could well be thanks to SEGA.

SEGA continued its online gaming push with the NetLink, a 28.8kbps dial-up modem for the Saturn. Netlink’s browser was designed with the Saturn controller in mind, but players could use a keyboard and mouse as well. Despite a limited offering of just five titles, the list of NetLink-compatible games read like a who’s who of online multiplayer: , , , , and . An online-ready console launched with these five titles could have taken the world by storm.

Systems functional. Mechs: online.

The Dreamcast was the world’s first online-ready console, launching with a built-in modem. Sonic Team’s was the first Dreamcast title to showcase its online capabilities, and was eventually packed in with the console for this very purpose. Unfortunately, SEGANet was not ready until a year later, but SEGA’s online service did launch in style, sporting the likes of , , and . They were soon followed by the first console MMO, which still has private servers to this day.

Sega WOWed us with the first ever console MMO.

Other titles are still playable online, including and . Today you would struggle to find a major game release that doesn’t feature online multiplayer in some capacity. A console without online capabilities is now inconceivable. Love it or hate it, you have SEGA to thank (or blame) for this future.

Microsoft went on to follow SegaNet’s blueprint, repeating some of the same mistakes while making a few more. They launched Xbox Live on November 15, 2002 – exactly one year after the Xbox – and took a further two years to put out an online multiplayer game worth playing: . Even as I write this, Microsoft has announced plans to sell the Xbox 360 at $99 with a two-year subscription to Xbox Live Gold. This is highly reminiscent of SEGA’s Dreamcast offer, essentially giving the console away in exchange for a two-year SegaNet subscription. What started out as SEGA’s experiment could well become the bread and butter of the industry.

The Cost of Creativity

When you look back on all this forward-thinking, it’s easy to forget the high price of ignoring present market realities. The Game Boy’s display was black and green so it wouldn’t eat six AA batteries in less than four hours. The PlayStation’s lack of internal memory made it cheaper to manufacture, all the while earning Sony a mint on memory cards. Unfortunately for SEGA, offering future tech in the present is expensive, and I would chalk up a majority of Sega’s commercial failures to prohibitive price tags with minimal returns. This is in stark contrast to the company’s ancient rival, Nintendo, which is historically quite content to sit on emerging technologies until they become affordable, and by extension, profitable. If SEGA was still in the hardware game, it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine it releasing a Wii with 1:1 motion in 2006, or a Kinect with the dedicated CPU and a copy of packed in. And you know what? It wouldn’t be hard to imagine the company failing either.

Sega does what Nintendon’t – it’s Science.

It is little wonder SEGA was the prime mover for video games for so long: with teams AM1 through to AM7 during the 1990s, surely SEGA burned through an insane amount of money in research and development alone. Like a dog digging holes in the backyard, SEGA leapt from the Mega CD to the 32X to the Saturn within the span of three years. This did nothing to build up consumer confidence in the SEGA brand, but in retrospect, it’s hard not to admire the excitement for the medium that SEGA so clearly shared with its fans, and demonstrated with its business decisions. Its devil-may-care attitude towards game development in the Saturn and Dreamcast eras is something that we simply do not see outside of the indie scene today. The Dreamcast read like a love letter to gaming itself. But love doesn’t pay the bills – on 31 January 2001, SEGA bowed out of the hardware game altogether. There is a certain strangeness, living in a future that SEGA saw two decades ago. Even stranger for Sega, a retired prize fighter sitting on the sidelines. Watching Nintendo grapple with the internet; watching Sony outfit handhelds like Swiss Army knives; watching Microsoft struggle to make full body control viable; and being able to say, “been there, done that.”

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/20/sega-a-soothsayer-of-the-games-industry