Naughty Dog Not Interested in Motion Controlled Uncharted

"We really don't have any interest in using the motion control to do a third-person action game," Uncharted developer Naughty Dog's co-president Evan Wells told G4 recently.  With Sony launching their new PlayStation 3 motion controls this year, they no doubt would like to see them pushed into their "top dawg" games including the "assured" Uncharted 3 by Naughty Dog.  Personally, I am excited to hear that the developers at Naughty Dog has said no since the motion controls for PS3 games often seem to be an after thought in the development process and tend to be the least fun parts of the games.  Wells continued to say "If we were going to make a motion controller game, I think we'd want to tackle it from the bottom up and make sure that we were designing the game around the motion control, the way the best Wii games are designed."  I couldn't agree with Wells more.

Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening DLC Coming Mar 16 2010

The first DLC is now official for Dragon Age: Origins, titled Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening.  The expansion pack lets you use your existing character or play as a new Grey Warden in a new area called Amaranthine. In Amaranthine,  the true motivations of the darkspawn can be discovered. In the DLC, an increased level cap, new spells and abilities will all be included.

BioWare will release Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening on Mar 16 2010 for $39.99 for PC, XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3.

Mad Moxxi's Underdome First Review

The new DLC for Borderlands, Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot is now available for 800 Microsoft Points on XBOX Live.  But is it really worth the cost and what is included in the DLC?  We have taken a first look for you.

The Underdome consists of three new Riot Mode arenas (similar to Halo 3: ODST Firefight and Gears of Wars Horde Mode) where you battle 5 waves of different bad guys, with the 5th wave being a boss battle, in a series of 5 rounds.  After you complete the only mission available on the bounty board which is to successfully survive the 5 rounds of each arena, a red velvet curtain pulls back to reveal three new fast travels.  These fast travels take you to the same arenas you just played however, it is now 5 waves in a series of 20 rounds.  I have only completed one of the 20 round arenas, The Gully, and I played the first 15 waves solo before being joined by teammates to help me finish.  The downside of the 20 round arenas is they take FOREVER.  Playing mostly by myself it took around 6 hours to complete and if you die you start back an entire round (which is better than starting over like in the smaller 5 round arenas).  If you don't like battling endless waves of enemies, I would not suggest buying this DLC.

The Underdome DLC also consists of three new vending machines when you first fast travel there, a weapons, ammo and health vending machine.  One of the new items available from the weapons vending machine is Bank Upgrades which go up to level 10 and level 10 will cost you $9,999,999 and give you 42 bank slots.  What are bank slots you ask?  There is now a claptrap who stands behind a counter maning the 'Bank' where you can store your crap or take your crap.  You automatically have 12 bank slots to store any items you don't want to sell but don't want to haul around with you either.  At any time you can take your items back or deposit new ones however, you can only do this from the Underdome which means, if you are in someone elses game and they don't have the Underdome DLC, forget about showing them that cool gun you have stored in the bank.

Overall, very succcessful DLC and well worth the 800 Microsoft Points.  I would say the replay value of Mad Moxxi's is more so than the first DLC, The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned but it is hard to compare the two since they offer two totally different gameplay experiences.

ModNation Racers Beta First Review

I have been playing the ModNation Racers Beta for a couple of days now and here is what I have to say thus far about the game.

The game itself has ENORMOUS potential and a ridiculously high replay value.  The game can best be described as Little Big Planet and Mario Karts love child.  The kart racing is very fun, drift around corners, jump huge gaps in the track, attack other racers with action items such as tracking missles and time warps, increase your boost and race your way to first place.  The game drops you directly into the ModSpot which is your "home-base" where you can meet up with friends, make new ones or view, rate and download the top rated Mods, Karts and Tracks.  From there, you can also enter the Create Station where you can customize your Mod, your Kart, Shop for DLC, access the Share Station and build your own tracks.  You can also access the Race Station where you can play online, quick play (instant racing action), split-screen race, play career mode, play Hot Lap (time-trial) and play the other custom maps created by the community and test drive upcoming content.

The customization of your Mod (your racer) is very detailed, there are literally millions of combinations and you can get very detailed on your characters look.  I would have to say it is one of the better games for customizing your character than I have seen in a very long time.  Not only can you choose your clothes and accessories, you can change the color of anything to any color on the color wheel in any shade.  You can add stickers to your clothes and recolor stickers as well.  Customizing your kart is also similar, millions of combinations from import tuners to monster trucks to cardboard karts.  Choose your engines, body, driver seat (you can even choose to sit on a thrown and by thrown I mean toilet seat), suspension, spoiler, etc.

Building your own racetrack is super easy and very detailed.  You can get as deep into it as you'd like by building everything from scratch and putting in every single element yourself or you can simple lay your track and then use the systems auto-populate feature which automatically puts all the scenery, boost pads, sharp turn signals, rails, action items, etc. into your track for you.  You literally can create your own racetrack in less than 5 minutes or you can spend hours on one track making it mod-tastic! 

The beta includes three maps from the full game; Farm Frenzy, Market Run and Sandstorm (see below, in order from left to right).  The beta includes full access to the Create Station including building and sharing your own tracks and a couple of race options including playing online with up to 12 players or compete in time trials in the Hot Lap.  My only complaint thus far is the game has frozen on occasion, getting online has been difficult and loading screens are frequent and long... hopefully all to be solved before the full game releases in Spring 2010.

ModNation Racers Beta Starts Today

If you were one of the lucky few who managed to score a beta code for ModNation Racers (I happen to be one of them, woohoo), you likely received an email yesterday or today with your beta voucher code valid for redemption today Dec 18 2009.  The beta is only available to North American residents and ends on Jan 10 2010 so take advantage while you can.  You also should have recieved a limited ModNation Racers Theme code for your PS3. 

ModNation Racers is a mix between Little Big Planet and Mario Kart, with cart racer characters that resemble Sackboy and utilize the "Create, Play, Share" concept while racing around crazy, inventive tracks.  You can race or build your own racetracks and customize everything from your character to your kart.

No DLC for Halo 3: ODST?

Bungie's Curtis Creamer took some time out during the VGA's and answered the questions on many gamers minds, Was there a decision made to have no DLC for Halo 3: ODST? Here is what he had to say, "Well, that was something that we didn't really think we could do for ODST because traditionally all of our DLC has been about competitive multiplayer. That's something that we had the systems in place for. But, since Firefight is more based on the co-operative campaign mode, that was a technology that we hadn't built up to a point where we could add DLC to the game. It would have been too much of an investment to make that happen." It's a shame because Firefight was really fun, but after playing the maps a couple times at a few hours each session, you really want a change of scenery and it doesn't look like that will ever happen.

Would you like to blow it up with me?

Ruffian Games, the developers of Crackdown 2 have decided to not only let you toss cards, scale buildings, incinerate pedestrians and blow up everything in site, they are also including mutants for you to blow up as well.  Watch the trailer.



Video courtesy of That Video Game Blog.

It's Official, Mark your Calendar for Dec 22 2009

Tuesday, Dec 22 2009 is the official release date of the Pirates of the Caribbean Premium Level Kit and the addition of water to Little Big Planet. In this DLC, you receive the ability to add water to your levels, 5 Pirates of the Caribbean-themed levels to play, a cannibal costume, 4 new music tracks, a new level background, 8 new materials, 14 decorations, 27 objects, 133 stickers, 11 new trophies and a partridge in a pear tree (okay, you get everything but the partridge). 

The Pirates DLC is $5.99 USD and will be available from the PlayStation Store.  You can also purchase the Pirates Costume Pack for $5.99 USD which includes Captain Jack Sparrow, Elizabeth Swann, Davy Jones, Barbossa, Will Turner and Tia Dalma.  Each costume is available individually for $1.99 USD.

Pink and Blue Nintendo Wii Remotes Ships Feb 14 2010

If you are tired of your same old white Wii remote, there is good news.  Pink and Blue Wii remotes are coming on Feb 14 2010.  The bad news is they are bundled with the Motion Plus accessory so expect to pay for the new colors.

VGA Premiere of Halo: Reach

Bungie kept their word and during the VGA's premiered their new trailer for Halo: Reach.  Not much shown here other than introducing characters, including a female spartan and the crew getting ready for a fight.

Video Courtesy of That Video Game Blog