Everyday I'm Shuffling... In Dance Central 2

After failed attempts of getting a good routine of LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" in dance games, leave it to Harmonix to finally get it right with their latest Dance Central 2 DLC. This hit song is only available now as a bonus when buying a new copy of DC2, but it will be eventually be out as a download on February 28. You can finally shuffle for once even though the shuffling is not exactly accurate to the music video, but hey you can actually shuffle in a dancing game. Besides that, the routine on hard difficulty is pretty dope even though I wander the future of these dance games is getting the actual choreography to a certain song rather than let choreographers come up with their own routine.

Konami's Trinity of Beat-Em-Ups is Complete... The Simpsons Arcade Game Review

After downloadable releases of Konami's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the X-Men beat-em-ups, there was one missing to complete the 90s trinity, which is the Simpsons. Now the wait is over as the Simpsons Arcade Game is finally out on Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network for ten dollars (800 Microsoft Points). Just like TMNT and X-Men, The Simpsons followed a similar formula to those games as you play as the family through multiple stages and spending quarters like crazy to beat them at the arcades. The same folks that made these ports, Backbone, are back on from this one. If you played those ports before, they were generally good both locally and online, and The Simpsons is no exception. Out of the three however, I do have to say that it is the weakest of them due to the other two being better back then and even today.

The story in this Simpsons game is pretty simple as it is up to Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa to rescue Maggie from Mr. Burns and Smithers as they kidnap Maggie because she is sucking some rare gem. You transverse through various locales from Springfield such as Krustyland, Moe's Tavern, and more. Each of the Simpsons have their quirks as Homer relies on brute fists and kicks, Marge uses her vaccum, Lisa has a jumprope, and Bart uses his skateboard to attack enemies. As with these beat-em-ups, they don't play completely different from each other as it is basically a fan favorite pick at times when choosing characters. The full arcade mode is intact and can be played in various ways. A standard of these ports is having the free play option if you want to just blaze through the game which is less than a hour long. The quarters option is there if you want to have more of a challenge having a limited number of lives and there is a team variant where everyone shares the same lives. Survival mode is self-explanatory as you try to beat the game with only one life. Like the X-Men port, the Japanese ROM is playable in the Simpsons even though you have to unlock it by beating the game once unlike being available out of the gate on X-Men. Besides a different scoring system, the Japanese ROM is a little easier than the default US one because of better health pickups and your health goes back to full at the start of a new stage.

There are different gameplay mechanics in The Simpsons that were not used in Ninja Turtles or X-Men even though you can stick to the fundamentals of just mashing the X or square button on enemies. What is different are objects and team attacks. You can throw objects that are scattered throughout the levels against the opposition such as bowling balls, drinks, signs, etc. Weapons like brooms and slingshots are also there being useful in certain situations. The team attacks can be used when two characters are close together as one example is Homer throwing Bart around. Bonus mini-games after certain levels are also present as it is pretty much a contest of who mashes better.

The big feature of this Simpsons Arcade port is obviously the ability to play this online with three other players. Players can drop in and drop out at any time during games, but if you want to get specific achievements/trophies, you have to play the game from start to finish. The netcode is a mixed bag even though the game seems to be running smoothly with no slowdown, but when I'm joining other games, I have input lag throughout the game when attacking. When I'm hosting games though, the game controls fine with no input lag at all, so the online experience may vary pending on connections with other players. The game might freeze up at times when players join up or leave, which is typical if you played the Turtles and X-Men ports. Despite that, the online is not completely unplayable and there is still some fun to have especially beating the game on the hardest difficulty with limited lives. If online is not your thing, there is always local play which is good to blast through every now and then because doing consecutive playthroughs of this can get tiring.

Graphically, this is the same Simpsons arcade game as you remembered with its unique graphical style at the time being accurate to the source material. The game is played in 4:3 and can be stretched to widescreen if you preferred that even though it is not really meant to be played in that fashion (X-Men's widescreen in comparison was meant to be played that way), but its fine in its default form. The borders are unoriginal as some Simpsons art would of been nice to surround the screen like Ninja Turtles, but the arcade cabinet setting seems accurate. Filtering options are also present if you want the game to look more arcade-y than crisped up for HD televisions. The sound and music is also intact in this port with the characters sounding like as they should from the show. Sound tests are unlockable as well if you're into that stuff.

If you loved The Simpsons Arcade game back in the day, it is worth the ten dollars to get this XBLA/PSN port just for nostalgic purposes. Sure, these types of games don't really hold up to today's standards, but they are still great trips down memory lane and it is better playing these on consoles than wasting quarters at arcades that might still have it. Out of the trinity of Konami's beat-em-ups, this is the weakest of the bunch especially that I played the X-Men port through again recently, so if you had to pick just one to buy, go with X-Men since it is a better handled Backbone port too. The online is okay despite issues with input lag when in other people's games. As with those beat-em-up ports, they are good to have when you have local friends around to play it every now and then. It is also still worth it for Simpsons fans as well especially seeing how it was the 90s compared to the show today.

Score = 6.5/10

Pros:

• Its the 90s Simpsons game as you remembered it
• Still a good trip down memory lane locally and online with three online players

Cons:

• Online can be a mixed bag with input lag issues when in other people's games, but fine when hosting
• Compared to Konami's beat-em-ups released on XBLA & PSN, this is the weakest of the bunch

Is This The Run??? Why Speedrunning Has Gone E-Sports...

If you asked me the question about e-sports and speedrunning years back, I thought you would be crazy. E-sports has become a term that has compiled a mixed bag of reactions in certain gaming communities in recent months, but we are five weeks into 2012 and other games that you don't expect have risen to that status besides the ones we're used to now like your Starcrafts, League of Legends, and Street Fighters. A recent rise of popularity in speedrunning has become one of the hot new things in the world of gaming streams. There was Speed Demos Archive's big marathon for the Prevent Cancer Foundation where they raised over 150,000 dollars by speedrunning games old and new. Speedrun races are the future of speedrunning in general filled with moments that scream e-sports. All of this makes you wonder has speedrunning really gone e-sports? The answer is yes and there is so much potential on how it can be taken to another level.

A big part of speedrunning's popular stretch lately has to do with one man's hunt for "the run" in Super Mario 64. Siglemic is arguably the most popular runner now in terms of stream numbers since he claimed the 120 star world record a month or two ago. For numerous weeks so far this year, he has been attempting to claim the 70 star world record from Nero (a Japanese SM64 player), but many resets and close playthroughs have been preventing him so far. Yet, hundreds of viewers and even in the low thousands at times are intrigued and have been watching him try to get the run done hence why "Is This The Run?" meme has been making the rounds in gaming streams. The big question with speedrunning streams is why would you watch someone beat a game so fast every day? At first you may be like that is boring why I would watch that? Then you have to question the amount of time, skill, and practice runners devoted to a particular game that once perfection is being put together, it is the most amazing thing you'll see especially to games you loved back in the day. Its finally time that amount of devotion to a game such as Mario 64 besides your other e-sports games get the limelight and maybe even some money thrown into it.


Watch live video from Siglemic on Justin.tv
Last weekend's big 120 star speedrun race between Siglemic and Nero in Mario 64 was a big indication that speedrunning has become e-sports. It was heavily advertised on TwitchTV, the premier gaming stream website and even though it was at a late time of 11 pm PST, over 8,000 viewers wanted to see arguably the two best runners of the game go at it (it was the #1 game to watch on Twitch Saturday night over Starcraft 2). That is as many people as watching a weekly Starcraft 2 stream and even a fighting game major. The skill is unparrallel for a normal player at the game as they make jumps that seem impossible possible and use some glitches that are allowed in a format like this. There was even a 70 star race that went down to the wire after the advertised 120 star one as a bonus too. What I mean by down the wire is that it was an one second victory and it is one of the more intense and dramatic showdowns I have seen in a while in any gaming stream. Basically it was as e-sports as it gets as people had their favorite players to root for like any other gaming tournament. With such promotion for a big race like that, imagine if you throw in bonus money into the equation. As I led to earlier, it is time to see runners get paid for their successes and victories in races other than ads on their streams. I could see Twitch throwing in bonus winnings to a race and all of a sudden you will see sponsorships from other companies too. The one big thing that is holding back such sponsorships from happening is the publisher/developer of the game themselves with Nintendo being the main example here for the two most popular speedrunning games now Mario 64 and the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I just don't see them getting involved into the pot seeing their games get exploited and glitched up heavily in a popular setting. There are big glitches in these games as it is not so bad in Mario 64, but Zelda OOT is a different beast when players go out of the map floating around in space to get where they want to. There have been exceptions where Nintendo acknowledged speedrunning which was the Mario 25th anniversary event at their store in New York City as popular 2D Mario speedrunner AndrewG played the original Super Mario Bros. in front of Shigeru Miyamoto.

SpeedRunsLive has also become a factor in all of this now getting players to race more easily and on a timely manner. Their big moment so far to me is a big 70-man race in Ocarina of Time last month where that many players competed for a specific goal that is not just to beat the game the fastest. It was a specific goal in the Forest Temple where you had to beat the main Poe with the Iron Boots and Giant Knife equipped at all times. Twists like these put a great spin to speedrun races if you're tired of a normal run through the game. The stream was great showing promise switching between other players' streams from time to time while having great commentary by Cosmo and Jiano, two extraordinarily good OOT players, explaining what the players are doing and the certain strategies they use for those new to the scene. This race (starts at 2:04:00 below) was also filled with memorable moments that also went down to the wire because it was a close one. It was a great race to see which routes paid off for certain players as well. These races are another reason that speedrunning has in e-sports especially with the potential if money gets thrown in for multiple man events.


Watch live video from Cosmo-OoT on Justin.tv
Speedrunning in e-sports has a bright future ahead especially with the way it has been going this early into the year. It actually gives way more variety of games to watch now on Twitch besides the current top games as older games can get the spotlight every now and then, which was the case with Mario 64 last weekend and Zelda OOT last month during Speed Demos Archive's big marathon. Marquee and advertised races will play a big role in speedrunning's future, but regular streams are better numbers as the days go by. There are some issues that might prevent this from a bigger thing, but it is still a young concept in the world of gaming streams that will be improved on. I hope the players will eventually get rewarded the right way especially with the amount of time they spend on these games, which is as much as any other major competitive game out there today. Whether you love or hate the term e-sports, this is just another stepping stone of it becoming bigger than we ever thought it could be.

PSN Demo Showcase (Part 2 for the week of 1/31)

This is part two of last week's PSN (now SEN) Demo Showcase as I will discuss multiplayer demos for Twisted Metal and Starhawk.

The return of Twisted Metal is next week and after not making a good first impression to me when I started playing, I had a better time with the demo once I knew what to do and its way more fun than I expected. Even though it is only one map in the demo that can be played offline and online, this demo does a very good job of showing people what to expect in the full game. There were enough vehicles to choose from and two modes to play with regular old deathmatch and the interesting objective-based Nuke mode. The point of Nuke mode is to get some random person to sacrifice on a nuke silo (there is a stationary one and a truck that moves around the map) and then launch the nuke to the opposing team's giant statue for points. It is however a long game of three rounds if you are not into that as you can just go back to ten minute deathmatch games, which can go faster than you think. Once I got used to the controls (I highly recommend playing the tutorial first) after some matches, which are fairly unconventional for a modern game these days, I was able to consistently do well with the tactics I was rocking. I also found a car that suitable to my style which was the Outlaw, a Police SUV with good enough health and a easy to use special attack that is the auto-lock machine gun turret. I love the variety of the cars in this game as each have their own identity and playstyle, which is rare to see in mutliplayer games generally. From speedy cars, bikes, helicopters, trucks, ambulances, etc. they have their advantages and weaknesses in certain situations as developers Eat, Sleep, and Play did a great job of balancing them the best they can. So far in the demo, I haven't noticed a top tier vehicle beasting on the opposition, but I'm pretty sure in the final game players will find what is the best as they have more time with it. I also had a tough time getting into matches along with the majority, but that was fixed during the weekend so you would not be stuck in the online menus for minutes.

Other than that, I had a blast with Twisted Metal's multiplayer demo as it definitely sold me on perhaps getting the final game next week. Who knows if I do, but it is a great car combat game and a return of one of Sony's popular first-party franchises. In general, it is awesome to see weaponized car combat back again in the gaming world and it is very satisfying to blow up the opposition especially when you're on a roll. I hope the game does well sales-wise as David Jaffe and his Eat, Sleep, Play team do deserve it.

The other big multiplayer demo/beta exclusively on PS3 is for Starhawk. It has been in the beta stages for quite a while as I got in last week because of getting a new copy of Uncharted 3 when that came out. Playstation Plus owners had the beta for over a couple of weeks and anyone can access it either this week or next week (I think tomorrow) till it ends later this month. Anyway, if you played Warhawk, Starhawk is basically that in a different setting and more additions to spice up the gameplay. Playing this beta however has reminded me that I am not really a fan of big scale multiplayer shooters due to the fact of the enormous maps and if you don't have a vehicle to move around quickly, it is not that fun running on foot all the time. Despite that, Starhawk definitely has its moments for me once you do the cool stuff. One of the big things the game has going for is its building mechanic as you can build with a limited amount of points walls, turrets, jetpacks, vehicle spawnpoints, and more to benefit your team until they get destroyed. This is really handy in objective-based games such as capture the flag (there are some modes to play than just that and team deathmatch) building up your base to make it harder for the opposition to win. Another thing I'm not a fan in Starhawk of is the over the shoulder aiming when on foot as it is too close on the person than it normally should be in other third-person shooters (maybe Uncharted has spoiled me too much). The angle on the default assault rifle can be tough to get used to at times when in close encounters as I would just hip fire when I'm in that situation.

Starhawk has what it takes to the next big mutliplayer game exclusively on PS3 when it comes out sometime in the spring. Who knows if the Call of Duty/Battlefield crowd would move on to such as differently paced game, but there are fans out there that play it for hours leveling up. The building mechanic is a nice touch and once you get in the cool vehicles, then it gets fun. Personally for me, I try to be the team player in these type of games with a designated role of going for the win rather than trying to improve my kill/death ratio (yeah Call of Duty players on blast sort of). If you're into big scaled multiplayer battles, Starhawk is worth trying out now.

That's it for the PSN Demo Showcase for now. I'm getting the Simspons Arcade Game tomorrow so expect a review of that later this week (Hint: if you read my X-Men review, it might go similar to that).

PSN Demo Showcase (Part I for the week of 1/31)

This week's PSN Demo Showcase is a two parter as I will discuss the demos for Syndicate and Binary Domain. Twisted Metal and Starhawk will be on part two of this early next week. A shooter-heavy dose of stuff came out this week for PSN folks to try out since the Q1 game release season is starting to pick up now.

First up is an online co-op only demo for Syndicate, another EA published game and developed by Starbreeze. Demos having only online co-op is a tough thing to sell, but Starbreeze is hoping this release will do its job making people play that besides the main campaign on February 21. This is a modern/futuristic shooter at its core with some nice gadgets to mess around with when playing alone. When playing co-op though, it felt like shooter number 69 with a level progression system to get upgrades, conventional upgrades, and loadouts despite having little details to separate itself from the pack. This demo is four players and only one map as it could be old pretty quick, but your experience depends on being able to play as a team with other players online. The HUD is very futuristic with the ammo count being blasted in your face, but the small fonts with other things can be a problem as it is pretty microscopic at times. This is not the first time small fonts have an issue with games, but it is a recurring trend this console generation. Teamwork is a key part of the co-op as going in guns blazing will not get the job done, which is generally the case with games like this. Teammates might need help healing and rebooting when in trouble as its easy to do once you're near them. The shooting feels fine as I rocked the default assault rifle most of the time even though the action is very fast paced as if I don't know what the hell is going on sometimes letting my teammates do the work. The game looks okay too despite the fact it runs at 30 frames per second for a fast paced shooter. Despite that, Syndicate's co-op seems solid, but I'm more interested how the campaign will play out. At least talking about this demo gives me a reason to put up that Skrillex trailer again (wubwubwubwub).

The other shooter to discuss today I played is the Binary Domain demo, which I got from the Japanese Playstation Store (also on Japanese XBLM). Binary Domain is a third-person squad-based shooter by Sega and the Yakuza team. I think this is the Yakuza team's first non-Yakuza game and no surprise that is a shooter. It has the elements of a modern shooter these days with cover, over the shoulder aiming, and squad commands. Being that I got from Japanese PSN, the demo is definitely Japanese, so I didn't understand what in the world the characters were saying and some of the tutorial stuff at first. The squad commands can be also be done by a headset if you have one, which I do but I haven't tried it personally yet. You play as the squad leader and pick between your squadmates at the start of the level, which is for this demo are not long to beat (there are two levels to play through in this demo). Besides all of what I said so far, Binary Domain is yes, just another shooter in terms of control and options you have, but its made by the Japanese and the Japanese flair is there in terms of the enemies you face. The foot robot soldiers are unoriginal even though there are different types of them as the red ones are fast and tough to defeat. The bigger boss-like enemies though are a different beast from big normal looking robots to monkey-looking ones. Since its made by the Yakuza team, the game looks good, but very similar to those games as the environments can be pretty bland. Binary Domain definitely has some potential to be a decent Japanese third-person shooter and arguably better than that being the best one to come out from that country.

That is it for now as I need more time with the multiplayer demo of Twisted Metal and the public beta for Starhawk (had a code when I bought Uncharted 3), so expect impressions of those in the coming days.

Did You Miss This? For 1/28

This might be a new feature I'm starting on weekends putting up videos I missed during the week here...

A new multiplayer/co-op trailer went up for Mass Effect 3 and its looking better than I thought on that front. Its looks to be another wave-based survival mode, but of course I could be wrong. You have races to choose from in this Special Forces mode as each race has their class they're specialized in as you probably seen in the first two games. Examples being that the Turians are soldiers-based, Asaris being Vanguards, and so on. I just wanna play this already, but its almost a month away so I can still wait in the meantime.

Street Fighter X Tekken keeps on piling on the exclusives on the PS3 as there are five exclusive characters now on that system. Besides Cole from Infamous and the two Japanese Playstation mascots, the other two are Namco and Capcom's big mascots in a different twist. Pac-Man comes in controlling a Mokujin robot and resembles Tron Bonne in some ways. The big talk of this clip however is about the return of bad box art Mega Man. Mega Man fans never seen to get what they wanted these days, but the bad box art version is awesome from a casual perspective. Plus, only Ono would pull a stunt like this including him in the game. Basically, Mega Man is back in a fighting game, but probably not the one fans wanted. Whatever, this is still great to me even though we won't see them in the tournament scene due to being PS3 exclusive. It is still a mixed bag if Street Fighter X Tekken will be worth all the hype with so many crap in it plus the "Cross Assault" reality show they announced recently, which I'm not gonna even bother trying to audition as there are way better people out there suited for that.

Dance Central 2 got a sick song as a download this week and the routine for it is pretty sick too. I have been thinking lately about getting a Kinect setup, but I don't think my house is ready for that lol.

That's it for now... maybe I should get Soul Calibur V now? Hmmmmm... naaaa.

PSN Demo Showcase for 1/26/12

The PSN Demo Showcase is back and there is lots to talk about with the variety of games that came out as demos in the past couple of weeks.

First off is UFC Undisputed 3 as I have been playing the demo and the alpha online test that finally came out late last week for PSN peeps. The alpha test is definitely an early build of the game without most of the sounds you hear normally in an UFC game from the music and the announcers. It served its purpose testing the netcode to make sure its fine for the final game and so far it seems so from what I played. Created fighters are only allowed in this version and it is a nice touch to mix things up with fighting styles as the matches go on standard rules compared to the demo. The only disappointing part about the demo is that matches are set to one round only than the traditional three rounds as seen in past demos of THQ's franchise. Luckily there's PRIDE rules to use along with the normal UFC rules as PRIDE rounds are set to ten minutes, so that's the mode to go with if you want more time fighting. Four fighters are selectable in the demo as Jon Jones & Anderson Silva are playable in the UFC while Wanderlei Silva and Rampage Jackson are on PRIDE. The extra year of time has definitely paid off for UFC Undisputed 3 as Yuke's are able to add more touches and beef up the modes to make the game feel like the ultimate UFC game we have been waiting for. The core gameplay is still intact from previous entries, but the little new additions make this game worth it for any UFC fan. From the roster that includes the featherweight and banterweight classes, PRIDE (which the developers did a great job integrating it to the game), and the little new details that make fights don't like the last game, UFC Undisputed 3 is looking pretty good as beatdowns begin on Valentine's Day.

Next up is The Darkness II, the long awaited sequel to 2007's The Darkness. I actually enjoyed the first game as it was one of my personal sleeper hits of that year on the 360, so I'm curious how this one will pan out. First of all, Digital Extremes is handling this game than the original's developer Starbreeze and the graphical style has been changed completely as it looks more cel-shaded now. Cel-shaded graphics are actually a rarity these days, so its nice to see games like this implement it every now and then. The protagonist from the last game, Jackie, is back, and new villains are after his Darkness powers. The combat is mostly the same as more attention was paid to the Darkness tentacles being more than what they were in the original. I do like that you do crazy animations when firing guns as if you were in some John Woo flick, so that's cool than seeing the same old shooting animation from pretty much every other game that's out. There is a level up/upgrades system too as you gain experience by obviously killing enemies by guns or your tentacles. The pace during the demo though was a little too crazy for me, but it did start out with a bang. However, I do have a feeling that The Darkness II will be slept on again but we'll see about that.

The demo for EA's Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning has been out for a couple of weeks and it is a lengthy one too. For those who don't know, 38 Studios (Curt Shilling's development studio) and Big Huge Games are making this as it has been a long time coming for this to come out. If I can sum up this RPG in a nutshell, it would be a mix of Fable and Mass Effect. The environments are as colorful as Fable's especially when outdoors and it also has Mass Effect's dialogue trees even though your created main character is silent. Once you're out of the first area, there is a 45 minute limit for the rest of the demo as there are numerous quests in a big world (whatever you're given) to take on even though most of them can't be finished here. My time with it has been a mixed bag as it is a solid RPG with the necessary elements to be as good as the other big ones that came out recently, but it doesn't mean I had fun with it. In addition the demo is really buggy filled with missing textures and awkward camera angles to the point your land disappears. Good thing its just an early build that the developers released and it will be fixed in the final game, but having that many bugs in a big downloadable demo is inexcusable these days. Then again, this could be the RPG to play after you're tired of Skyrim when it comes out on February 7.

Last up for now is a multiplayer beta for Gotham City Impostors. This is a multiplayer-only spinoff game in the Batman universe as it is pretty self-explanatory that you can play as Batman look-a-likes or a bunch of clowns that are reminiscent of The Joker. It definitely has a certain level of charm that is neat, which is sort of similar to Team Fortress 2 in some way especially when looking at the characters and the tutorials for the game modes. It is objective-based from a territory-like mode where you have to control a set of canisters for a good amount of time for a toxin to release if you're the Jokers or a group of bats if you're on the Batmen side. The other mode in this beta is a capture the flag variant where you have get a battery to your base and if held for a certain period of time you can confuse the opposition as they go into la-la-land, but they still can slap you to death if you're not careful. Gotham City Impostors is full of weapons and gadgets to mess around with from the conventional guns, grappling hooks, and more in the final games as there is a loadouts system and other customization options. Other than that, the gameplay is your standard shooter fare, but with the Batman twists if you're into that and the default sensitivity is higher than other shooters. I only had a brief time with the beta as I'll play more to see if it is worth buying.

That's it for now... next week is the Starhawk Beta for me since I have a code from Uncharted 3, but Playstation Plus owners have been playing it for a couple of weeks, so expect thoughts about that one soon.