LANCOZA Blog

Fallout 3 has fallen victim to the dreaded launch delay virus that has been mowing down new releases. I am really keen to know the reasons for these delays.

A popular scapegoat is customs. But if you're a distributor and have been in the business a while, don't you take steps to mitigate such delays?

I find it hard to believe that if a game launches on Friday, that it only physically arrives in the country the day before.

Fallout 3 has suffered doubly because the release date was set back and then distribution on the revised launch date was a complete debacle.

As soon as I find out more information about the cause of the delay for Fallout 3 and delays with releases generally I will post the information here.

Tycho over at Penny Arcade has a knack for hitting the nail on the head.

I completely agree with his thoughts on the holiday season releases. You have to make a choice of your titles based on some vague mix of media hype and pre-release trailers.

Added to the mix is the fact that very few gamers have the budget to buy all the games that they would like to try out on release day.

In my uber short list of must have titles is Gears of War 2, followed closely by Call of Duty World at War. Call of Duty was really a complete outsider for me but with the news of co-op combined with the Zombie mode, it is looking much more attractive, despite the fact that Treyarch abused the franchise badly with Call of Duty 3.

Other games that look really promising are Dead Space as well as Mirror's Edge.

You may have heard about the controversy surrounding a song in Little Big Planet. The guys at Penny Arcade have weighed-in on the discussion in their unique style.

As with so many game-related 'controversies' the truth is far more boring than the media sensation.

The artist behind that song is a muslim who said that 'It's quite normal to play music and be inspired by the words of the Prophet Mohammed. It's my way to attract and inspire people towards Islam.'

Perhaps Sony should have gotten hold of all the facts before delaying the game.

Although the latest installment of Metal Gear Solid received mixed reviews, this special edition PlayStation 3 may change your mind regardless of which console camp you support.

 It is literally brimming with pure awesome! Check out the gallery, it really has to be seen to be believed.

 

 

I have never really been a fan of Special Editions of games. They normally add a sticker and a cheap printed T-shirt to the game and then add a premium to the price. There are of course exceptions like Fallout 3 , Mirror's Edge and Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway . Even though I am not a fan of either Fallout 3 or Brothers in Arms, the special edition looks very tempting. This is the purpose of a special edition, it should provide value to fans of the franchise and also attract fresh blood.

I am a HUGE fan of Gears of War and am a bit disappointed by the special edition offering I was hoping for a figurine or some COG tags but alas it was not to be. Can someone please send out a memo to the marketing people and explain to them that a fancy game case/box is really not as cool as they think it is unless of course it's a safety deposit box .

If like me you are a fan of bags, the bad news is that the Mirror's Edge limited edition bag is only available to US residents.

 

As we head to the holiday season, game releases are coming out thick and fast. At the same time the hype machine is winding itself up to a deafening crescendo. New screenshots, videos and even leaked game manuals abound. None of this content adds much to experiencing the actual game. I would argue that it takes much away from the game that it is intended to promote. It's a bit like spoiling parts of a movie. A part of the fun in playing a new game is in discovering things for yourself, the new weapons, enemies and end of level bosses.

Game trailers like movie trailers that tell you too much, can end up spoiling the experience for you. In the over saturated media storm that precedes a game release, less is definitely more.

 

My love for giant robots started with watching Robotech after school. From that time I wanted to control a giant robot. So it was a natural progression to go from Robotech to MechWarrior . I can recall watching the MechWarrior 2 trailer over and over on my buddy's Pentium 1, my 486 was not up to the task. We marvelled over the action sequence even though the trailer was only about 1 minute long.

When I played MechWarrior 2 it was not at all like Robotech, I was not in control of a high speed Mech, it was more like controlling a tank which was able to do rocket jumps. Since I first started playing the MechWarrior games I have been on the lookout for a Mech game that would fill the gap.

Even the Robotech licensed games were not up to the task because they were generally very poorly executed.

I had a look at Armored Core on the Xbox and was not impressed. Armored Core 4 is out on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and I am keen to take a look at it. Although I don't hold much hope that it can fulfill the massive expectations created in my Mech fantasy world.

I must admit that when I first heard that Mark Wahlberg was playing Max Payne in the movie adaptation I shuddered. Movie adaptations of games like comic book adaptations have had a checkered past to say the least. I liked Max Payne alot, I liked the graphic novel style and I particularly liked the bullet time feature which has been widely adopted by other games.

I had a look at the trailer recently and it looks great. They appear to have incorporated the surreal,fantasy elements of the game and may have pulled it off in a really cool way. Mark Wahlberg has played a hard nosed cop before in The Departed so I definitely think that he has the acting talent to pull it off.

Sony is releasing a new version of the PSP. This is fairly close on the heals of the PSP Slim.

I am very happy with my fat version because of it's better battery life but I would really like to have the TV-out functionality of the Slim combined with the anti-glare screen of the 3000.

You have to wonder about the mercenary nature of the Sony marketing machine. Skype, a microphone and a brighter LCD are all changes which could have been implemented in the Slim version.

I hope that the homebrew community cracks the 3000 quickly, it will be a great way of showing the finger to Sony.

The 3000 will be in Europe in October and should be on our shores at around the same time.

You can play spot the difference here . 

 

I am a huge fan of Penny Arcade. Aside from their regular web comic they also do promotional projects for game publishers. It is some of their best work. Check it out here . Their most recent project is for Fallout 3 . I'm really curious as to how they will develop a story line with one guy and a box of puppets.

Fallout 3 will be released locally in October and has a really cool special edition .