Lookin’ Good: FIFA Street 3

I’ve always wanted to like the FIFA Street franchise but it just never let me. I thought it could easily follow the success of its NBA counterpart but it never received the same time and effort NBA Street got in order to become a great game. Both Street 1 and 2 were quite shallow in terms of content, hosted a quite dodgy trick system, featured a really stupid Gamebreaker mechanic, and had some serious framerate issues that made you want to kick your PS2 instead of a soccer ball. Both left me thinking that making a solid, enjoyable, deep, freestyle soccer game could not be possible.

 Enter FIFA Street 3.

The 1UP Network’s sports game guy Todd Zuniga recently posted his hands-on impressions of the game along with a few screenshots. At first glance I fell in love with the art style, which somewhat resembles that of Team Fortress 2. The colors are dynamic and although the players don’t look realistic they are still incredibly distinguishable; I could easily point out EA posterboy Ronaldinho, Kaka, Gerrard, Rooney, Crouch and even Landon Donovan from the screens. The new style makes the game stand out and lets you know that it’s the fun soccer game; if you want the serious stuff go buy FIFA’08 or Winning Eleven. The art also fits in really well with th outrageous tricks the players will pull off.

Zuniga’s impression of the game was pretty positive although he found the passing to be a bit off. A new Gamebreaker has been implemented, one much like NBA Street Homecourt’s; once you set off the gamebreaker you’re given a certain amount of time to perform crazy, breakdance-type tricks in order to increase the worth of your goal. EA has also implemented a role mechanic into the game; each player has a specific role according to their strengths. ‘Enforcers’ break down attacks (Cannavaro, Ferdinand), ‘playmakers’ make the decisive passes (Nedved, Kaka), ‘tricksters’ make fools out of the opposition (Ronaldinho, C.Ronaldo) and ‘finishers’ get the job done and score goals (Henry, v.Nistelrooy). It’s up to you to decide how these roles will gel together. Online play is confirmed as well.

I’m pretty excited for this game already, being a HUGE footy (soccer) fan, but I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch. There’s still room for EA to completely fudge this one up but I’m  keeping my fingers crossed.

Look out for FIFA Street 3 sometime next year on the PS3 and Xbox 360.

[Screens courtesy of 1UP]

Smash DOJO Update: Saved Replays

Aside from an enticing batch of new characters, the one thing I’ve wanted most in Smash is a replay mode of some sort. Only Halo 3 can match some of the “oh sh*t” moments that happen in this gam, in my book. Every time I pull off a sick 87% Samus combo, or watch my friend double-knee someone into oblivion with his Cpt. Falcon in Melee I always wish I could relive those moments that have my friends and I screaming infinite profanities. My wish came true this morning as Sakurai announced that you will be able to replay the last 3 minutes of a match. You can then send these clips to your buddies on you Wii’s friends list.

Although I’d like to be able to save an entire match, this is still a good start. You do have to take into account the Wii’s limited disk space. Or do you? Looking at the screen above you might need a SD card to save these replays, which isn’t a big deal; a 2GB card costs around $20 @ Newegg. Hopefully this will mean that you can easily take your card over to a friend’s Wii and watch some hilarious movies.

Smash is really ramping up to be the game for the Wii that surpasses the expectations of journalists and Smash die-hards such as myself. Every week, the updates make me more confident that it receive a few perfect tens here and there come February.

Now I’m ready to brawl…and then rub it my friend’s faces later.

September NPD Sales Numbers: Halo Defeats Nintendo

Nintendo’s winning streak has finally come to an end and Master Chief is single-handedly responsible for it. America loves killing them some Covenant and Halo 3’s sales figures for September can prove it. Halo 3 managed to move a flabbergasting 3.3 million units (regular, special, and legendary edition combined) in about a week (let’s not forget the game was released on the 25th of the month). I guess the $10 million advertising campaign paid off.

With The Chief’s support (and the somewhat recent price drop) Microsoft managed to get a slight edge over Nintendo in the hardware department, selling 527K Xbox 360’s while the 507K Wii’s made their way to the homes of many. What a great month for video games in general! According to the NPD, hardware sales are up 124% from August and 47% from this time last year. The games industry is looking to make $17-$18 billion in total. Don’t you just love progress?!!

Here’s the breakdown; hardware then software:

Hardware Sales
Xbox 360: 527,800
Wii: 501,000
Nintendo DS: 495,800
PlayStation Portable: 284,500
PlayStation 2: 215,000
PlayStation 3: 119,400
Game Boy Advance: 75,000

Software Sales
Halo 3 – 3.3 million
Wii Play with Remote – 282,000
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass – 224,000
Madden NFL 08 PS2 – 205,000
Skate Xbox 360 – 175,000
Madden NFL 08 Xbox 360 – 173,000
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption – 167,000
Bioshock Xbox 360 – 150,000
Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day – 141,000
Heavenly Sword – 139,000

Ok, seriously. Stop with the buying Wii Play!

Dead Fantasy I

After creaming the shorts of many gamers with Haloid, an over-the-top short film that answers the undying question “Who would in a fight? Samus or Master Chief?”, CG guru Monty Oum is at it again. Dead Fantasy I features an all out brawl between gaming’s leading ladies of the DOA and Final Fantasy franchises…with The Matrix soundtrack in the background (the ONLY music to fight to). Why are they fighting? I don’t know, but it just seems like the right thing to do.

Watch and enjoy. Then bow to Mr. Oum’s feet. Lastly, pray he’ll finish the sequel sooner rather than later. According to Sir Oum “Dead Fantasy 1? What a piece of garbage compared to what I’m taking on next.”
Watch Haloid while you’re at it too. It. Is. Freakin. Sick.

Click here for a better-res version of DF1 and here for a quality Haloid

Brawl Delayed Until Feb 10th

Super Smash Bros. Brawl has been delayed until Feb 10th, 2008. I knew it was too good to be true: first, Reggie tells us we’ll be playing Metroid, Super Mario Galaxy and Smash in the same year. Then Nintendo revealed the awesomeness that is Sonic the Hedgehog as a playable character. At that point Smash fans were high on life and polishing up their wavedashing techniques. But alas, our patience has been tested once more. This reminds me of the two-year wait for Twilight Princess, only ten times worse.It’s not the end of the world though. Nintendo chose to delay Smash so they could “perfect” it, which I’m confident they will do. No one takes gaming perfection as seriously as Nintendo does when it comes to their major titles (Twilight Princess for example). I would rather have a perfected Smash Bros. than a near-completed one that offers a lot of potential. I hope Nintendo takes these two extra months to develop a near-flawless online multiplayer mode that somehow includes voice chat and works without friend codes. I wouldn’t mind if they took the time to add an extra character or two (Knuckles, Tails, Liquid Snake, Viewtiful Joe, Waluigi).

I guess another advantage about the delay is that with Smash not showing up this fall it does give us a lot of time to spend with other games. Rock Band, Mass Effect, The Orange Box; there are more than enough games this fall to satisfy everyones tastes. Without Smash I’ll have enough time to rank up in Call of Duty 4, so I’m not complaining.

So I guess all we have to do now is wait, people.

COD4 vs. Halo 3 Multiplayer Part I: Character Customization

So I played the (amazing) Call of Duty 4 Beta while it was available and for me it has really raised the bar for console first-person shooters. Halo 3 has been getting all the FPS attention lately due to its $10 million marketing and its huge, loyal, die-hard fanbase. When comparing the two titles people expect Halo (probably the most anticipated game of the year) to be the superior game by a landslide; the Halo brand name IS quite strong, you know. But having recently played both games intensely I would have to say that Call of Duty 4 defeats Halo 3 in the online multiplayer department. Yes, I said it. Now, allow me to go into detail.

vs.

PART I: MULTIPLAYER CUSTOMIZATION

As I have mentioned before, the one feature that takes COD4 ahead of the pack is the Create-a-Class option. The game allows you customize your equipment to fit your gameplay style as well as handing you three ‘Perks’ which are talents that you can give your soldier . Take my ‘SniperWolf’ class for instance, with the perks ‘UAV Jammer’ (makes me invisible on radar), ‘Deep Impact’ (let’s me shoot through walls), and ‘RPG-7 x 2′ (gives me two rockets, good for taking out helicopters). This way I can chill and snipe while being invisible to enemy radar and be able to take out nasty helicopters that might spot. There are going to be over 30 perks available in the final game which give you endless combinations to suit your style.

COD4 let’s you customize your weapons as well. There are several add-ons available to equip with your weapon of choice. These are mainly scopes and different designs (forest camo, digital camo) but include other surprises such as grenade launchers.

Halo has a plethora of cosmetic character customizations but that’s about it. What Halo does excel at is letting you deeply modify the multiplayer match itself. The game will pretty much let you change any aspect of match such as the rules, vehicles, character speed and even gravity. The new Forge mode is pretty awesome; it’s a map editor that let’s you play god in a Halo multiplayer match. You are given a certain amount of money to buy any item in the Halo universe (crates, vehicles, weapons, etc) and place them anywhere on the map as the match is being played online. This leads to absolute mayhem and you’ll see yourself spawning rocket launchers, tanks and overshields to your friends who are in need.

PART II: PACE  & METHOD

Nintendo Fall Conference ‘07: Wii Wrap-up

Nintendo held a conference earlier this morning and here’s all you need to know:

- A DS download service; let’s you download DS demos and send them to your DS, trailers too

- Wii Fit comes out December 1st, 2007 in Japan.

- Check Mii Out Channel. Shows off you Mii’s and let’s others vote on them.

- “Wii Vote Channel will be updated. Rate games you’ve played, search for games that fit your likes”

- Mario Kart Wii comes out Spring 2008 in Japan, will have motorbikes.

- Smash Bros. delayed in Japan until January 24, 2008 (oh crap, what does that mean the America?). Some form of online co-op is confirmed-ish.

- Monster Hunter 3 for Wii. You might not have heard about the MH series before but it’s HUGE in Japan.

Games Presented: Dragon Quest IX, Fire Emblem DS, Mario Kart Wii, Famicom Wars Wii (Battalion Wars II), Super Mario Stadium Baseball, Wii Music, Monster Hunter 3 Wii

Wii Music

Super Mario Stadium Baseball

Wii Ware Titles: Star Soldier R Wii, Mojipittan Wii, Doctor Mario Wii (WiiWare), Pokemon Farm Wii (Pokemon Diamond/Pearl transfers), Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Young King and the Promised Land, Bomberman

Pokemon Farm

FFCC: The Young King and the Promised Land

What a crazy day!

[via GoNintendo & Kotaku]

Smash DOJO Update: Sonic the Hedgehog Confirmed!

We all saw it coming and we all wanted it to happen.Earlier this morning Sonic the Hedgehog was confirmed as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. And damn is he fast.

Maybe a bit too fast, though. But then again that’s the same thing I said about Cpt. Falcon when he first appeared. Maybe they’ll dumb down Sonic’s strength to balance out the fact that he can run circles around the rest of the characters. He also seems to be more of an air-juggler.

There are a couple things I noticed while watching the video. While posing with Sonic, Mario showed off a different taunt than his usual super mushroom one; this leads me to believe that they’ll (hopefully) be multiple taunts for each character. At the end of the video we get to see Super Sonic (Sonic hopped up on chaos emeralds) which will most likely be his Final Smash.

 

With NiGHTS and Samba De Amigo already on the way Nintendo has made the Wii the must-have console for die hard Sega fans. Segamaniacs will do anything to relive their Dreamcast days of old so it looks like theres gonna be more money for Nintendo to eat up. A Wii version of Jet Grind Radio would almost make Sega a second-party developer. Please make that game.

Knuckles and Tails in Brawl?

[smashbros.com]

Tribute: Nintendo 64 Kid

Ah, the infamous N64 kid. The boy. The legend. I feel like I have to pay my respects to him for his ability to humor me even when I’m in the worst of moods. His genuine excitement for the game console reminds me of when my parents surprised me with a PS2 for my 15th birthday. That was the first, and only, time my parents actually pulled off an actual birthday surprise; I was real proud of them. Thanks for bringing back good memories, N64 Kid. You’re the best.

There are many “N64 Kid” remixes on YouTube. This is the ONLY one you need to see.

Halo DS Really Exists

Earlier this year IGN editor Matt Cassamassina claimed to have witnessed an real version of Halo on the Nintendo DS. with his own eyes. He then blogged about ‘Halo DS’ only to receive much skepticism and gallons of haterade from the gamer population. Turns out he wasn’t lying at all; yesterday he posted screens and videos of him dual-wielding a SMG and Plasma Rifle on the dual-screened handheld.

Head over to his blog for videos of the game in action, rendering all Cassamassina haters useless. It looks pretty decent considering the game didn’t get very far in development. It seems to follow in the control scheme steps as Metroid Prime Hunters, a game that I felt was a great fit for the system. Apparently the game probably won’t see the light of day since it was canceled (by some dumb exec. I’m guessing) before it could be fully completed. Shame really, because with Halo’s brand name and the DS’s incredible install base there would be some serious money printing going down. But I doubt Microsoft would be happy making Nintendo’s pockets any bigger.