Beauty, in 2 dimensions

It's not far-fetched to assume that most of the current generation of young gamers will grow up with little or no knowledge of 2D games. Despite the visual feasts presented to me in the forms of Gears of War, MGS4 and Mario Galaxy, I still find some of the most visually arresting games to be those rendered in 2D. I'm not going to claim that it's a dying art because it clearly isn't. There are plenty of 2D games still being made and beautifully so. I've rounded up a few that are currently on my radar and because I'm so lovely, I thought that I'd share them with you.

Machinarium:

Machinarium Trailer from Amanita Design on Vimeo.

Machinarium describes itself as a puzzle/adventure game that seems to take it's cues from our beloved Lucasarts point n' clicks. You have been thrown out of the scrap yard and you've lost your girlfriend. Whether it can match the insane genius puzzles of Day of the Tentacle and co. is yet to be seen but one thing is for sure: this game looks stunning. It's like Belleville Rendez-vous meets Metropolis, directed by Henry Selick. It's going to be download-only for the PC and it'll cost you $17 when it comes out this October. If I can confidently run it, I've got no reason not to pick it up. It's being independently published right now, but only the most foolish of publishers would pass on this. Let's hope they can strike a deal in the future for the likes of PSN and XBLA.

Blazblue:

Blazblue launch trailer from Gamer Limit on Vimeo.

Coming from Japanese developer Arc System Works - those responsible for Guilty Gear - Blazblue is, obviously, a 2D fighter. There's not much else to say for it other than it looks incredible. The character art, background design, the lighting. Jesus Christ. My jaw dropped when I first saw this game and then promptly feformed into a scowl when I heard that it wasn't coming to the UK. Just another reason why I should buy a PS3 then: I could import this with ease.

King Of Fighters XII:

King of Fighters XII launch trailer from Gamer Limit on Vimeo.

Whilst it may lack the memorable characters of it's closest rival: Street Fighter, the King of Fighters series is arguably, equally as popular in it's native Japan. It's not exactly a household name out here, but with Street Fighter IV going some way to re-igniting the fighting genre, there's a whole new audience primed for the home console release of KOF 12, me being one of them. I'm running out of adjectives now, so I'll spare you another variation on 'visually stunning', you get the picture by now.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade



Coming to Wii sometime in November, Muramasa is a Castlevania-esque action platformer with an art style that takes it's cues from traditional Japanese prints, much like Okami. Inky ribbons flow and splash across the screen with a hint of familiarity, just enough to still allow Muramasa to be uniquely beautiful and set it aside from just about everything else on the platform. This joins House of the Dead: Overkill, Mario Galaxy, Madworld and No More Heroes as being one of the five games that actually make it worth buying a Wii.

I don't think that the grave has yet been dug for 2D visuals in games. I hope that developers continue to harness current technology for more than just rendering thick-necked marines and creating games where 'the city itself is a character'. I'm looking at you, the developers of Prototype. I swear, if I hear that fucking soundbite from any other developer in the future then I will either A) Kick them square in the balls or B) Not buy their game on principle. Both if possible. It's not a character, it's an environment.

Rant over. 2D is nice.

The Faux Bot

Why...games reviews need to become more about games reviewers

“We're on the verge of an exciting reinvention of journalism enabled by personal publishing. The transition will be tumultuous and even painful, but the result will be well worth the effort.” Paul Gillin, social media consultant and author, 2007

“Print is dead” – Egon Spengler, Ghostbusters, 1984

When websites such as http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/ exist, you know journalism is an industry at best struggling to get up to speed with the rest of the world. At worst, commentators and society are conducting the last rites over a moulding pile of newsprint, borne by paperboys and saluted with the final clack of a typewriter.

Newshounds should know that Rupert Murdoch is attempting to put the cat back in the bag with his subscription-based model for premium news content, while the expansion to a 24-hour news drive has seen journalists axed and papers swept aside.

Obviously, his plan will fail, and fail badly. After all, why read a whole publication when you only need a page? Why pay for information – which used to be worth its weight in gold but now is worth less than a PR-tinted version of the truth – when you can just click on another site and get it for free?

The ramifications of someone willing to produce an equal amount of content for free in their own free time out of their bedroom, or write about their passion with more knowledge than a journalist forced to learn on the spot, are wide reaching, and are no more keenly felt than in the games journalism industry.

One look at the circulation figures for games magazines (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/circulations-slide-for-majority-of-future-games-magazines) shows we are soon going to be in a world without them. Some of the official ones will hang on, albeit it in a more games-company controlled manner, but what of the rest?

After all, the internet, home to innovation and content, embraced games reporting as a prodigal son. Mountains of brand new video, photo content and breaking games news on every little feature is available at the touch of a button – and right below it, the message board so the flame wars can be fanned, WAARGARBL can well and truly be spouted and the SERIOUS BUSINESS of internet arguing can occur

Why buy a magazine at all? But I’m going to throw one more caveat into a doomsday scenario Peter Sellers would be proud of.

(Hushed silence at controversial statement)

Why read games reviews any more?

(baby starts crying, a hysterical woman screams and an uncomfortable murmur ripples around the room)

“It certainly appears that Edge got what they wanted out of this review...site traffic obviously...” Zorda2097, responding to Edge’s Killzone 2 review
Without delving too far into the review process in regards to scoring (a problem we will handily circumnavigate for a future piece) no-one really trusts games reviews any more. The rap-sheet reads like a shopping list: Exclusive reviews being given only for the return of high scores a la Batman: Arkham Asylum (rumoured); Magazines accused of bias for zigging when everyone else zagged (Edge and Killzone 2 / Resistance 2), and official magazines being nothing more than glorified adverts.

Plus why read a glut of reviews when metacritic can tell you with their magical aggregated number whether you should buy something or not? See how it all comes together…lower page clicks + untrusted sources = DOOM for games journalism as we know it.



It may be an exaggeration, true, but just like newspapers, games journalism will need to work out how to draw in the readers – and with a page click producing a lot less advertising revenue than a publication, it will need to be a loyal reader base too.

My solution? Personalities. You examine the worlds of arts, or film, or music, which have pushed their journalists to the forefront of their coverage. Everyone knows the NME writer you hate the opinion of, the film critic who must have their podcast downloaded immediately, and the writing is all the better for it.

But games journalism has always had a more anonymous sheen to it. Websites like gamesradar.com feature their writer’s image on their features and top tens, but it magically disappears for their reviews. Scores are debated by the teams before they are published, and bylines are tucked away. It’s always the magazine, or the website, which offers the definitive word, not that journalist.

And I think games journalism would be all the better for being able to put the face to the review. Bill Abner is the authority on American sports games reviews simply because that market’s rabid fans – the types who would click a blog hourly (£££) to get in depth updated impressions – know every other site chucks a random writer at those games. They won’t know the nuances from year to year, won’t know the history, and their writing is all the poorer for it. But Bill is obsessed, and it shows (go to nutweasel.blogspot.com to see what I mean).

The Roger Eberts of this world can release compendiums of their reviews, because people buy into their work so strongly they would re-read the most throwaway comment. The Charlie Brookers can expand their presence in every conceivable direction because people devour his turns of phrase and misanthropic view. They don’t criticise The Guardian for having a bleak view of the world, they chuckle at the angry man being angry.

Who would you rather trust?

And it is those qualities – obsession, great writing, strong personalities – that people will still buy into, will still cherish and not treat as an irritating click through.
Journalism is waking up to a world where it, and the information it conveys, is truly no longer special. When a “civilian” could write a piece that would destroy the entire output of a magazine. When a tweet can carry more importance than a paper. It’s up to journalism to face up to that fact. Are they going to chop down that tree for the big fire so the bean counters can keep warm? Or are they going to carve faces out of it, and let it become their totem?

Paperboy

The Split-Screen Street Fighter Tournament: Update!

Just so you all know what's going on: Nafunk has sadly had to drop out for the time being due to not being able to get on Live. So, instantly Bojack gains 2 more points as does Prof Membrain seeing as he would be fighting Nafunk in the next round. Nafunk, it's a shame to lose you mate, hopefully you'll be good in a week to participate in the second rounds. Either way, you still have our respect for being what is commonly refered to as 'A Trooper'.

With that said, I now wish to formally announce that IT IS FUCKING AWWWWWWWN! AND I DON'T JUST MEAN 'ON', I MEAN 'AWWWWWWWN!' WITH 7 W'S. THAT'S RIGHT, 7, COUNT THEM. 7. YOU KNOW THAT MEANS WE'RE BACK IN BUSINESS! Just go fight whoever it is you are yet to fight and keep watch on here for the updated table. Thanks for sticking around gents.

FUCK YEAH! GET FIGHTING!

The Motherfucking Faux Bot

Web Gems.

Check it out, someone's hard work I can show you with nearly no effort:

Pretty neat. It originally came from http://uaddit.com/ - an odd little site that did turn up a few other gems, including a collection of 8-bit related pictures HERE. Lots in there to enjoy folks.

Go there and enjoy his post, if you like you can imagine I spent many hours trawling for those pictures and praise me as though I did. Even though I didn't. He/she did ('Mimz'). But I'll take the second hand praise. On Mimz's behalf.

Justtherightbullets

New Left 4 Dead content

Valve have announced a new DLC pack for Left 4 Dead that is slated to be released sometime in September. The pack, titled 'Crash Course' will mainly comprise of a streamlined versus mode component and most importantly a whole new campaign level.

Now, with what happened in regards to Left 4 Dead 2 (you know, the whole fanboy war/online petition stuff) I'm going to be incredibly diplomatic for once. I'm reserving my judgement. The reason being that this content is free, only for those on the PC version. XBOX Live users have to pay 560 MS Points for the pleasure. Strikes me as a little weird that half the fans get it free and the others don't. I'm hoping that this is genuine miscommunication, but it's more likely that it's an underhanded attempt at starting a flamewar equalling in more page hits for Shacknews.

Wait and see, and for god's sake, don't go signing any online petitions.

The Faux Bot

.........time waits for no man

Just a quick update for anyone who's getting as antsy as I am about this round of the Street Fighter tournament taking so damn long. We have Bojack85 and Nafunk to blame, who have yet to get their shit together. Boys, sort it out, before I start threatening you with forfeit losses.



Lovingly,

The Faux Bot

The Split-Screen rating system explained

I've always shied away from doing reviews here because most of you guys play the same games as me, usually at the same time. As such, giving my two cents would just be irrelevant. However, I have to accept that we will be doing some now and again and seeing as I have some iPhone/iPod Touch games lined up to review later I thought it best to get a rating system in order. I call it:

The Eggfron System (TM)

The The Eggfron System (TM) is not commonly employed in the games review arena, but what with there being so much quibbling over review scores and how arbitrary the numbers assigned to them are nowadays, this highly visual and unique system seems all the more appropriate.

So, what is The Eggfron System (TM)? It is a scale of brilliance that comprises the following awards:

EggAn egg is a perfectly acceptable object. It is clean, simple and versatile. It can hold many deeper meanings; it represents the creation of life and the ability to sustain it. But it doesn't, because it's just an egg. We eat them and occasionally, throw them. An egg is so-so, alright, standard, middle-of-the-road. Reserved for when a game is nothing more then 'alright'.

Fried Egg


When you fry an egg, you begin to realize it's true potential. A fried egg is compact, stable and maintains a runny yolk. It can be put in a sandwich or on top of some Gammon. In short, it is the best way to cook an egg and represents a much higher quality of game.

Golden Egg


If you have a Golden Egg then you are sitting pretty my friend. Moguls, tycoons and big-shot celebrities pay top coin for a Golden Egg. Why? Because it's gold. Once you have sold your egg, then you can employ a live-in chef to make you the perfect fried egg on a daily basis. This would be amazing and so, this award represents the finest games known to man.

Zac Efron


Look at 'him'. He has the face of a lady but the body of a Navy Seal. What a little prick. This street-walking ladyboy is a confused mess of identities and represents everything that is wrong with our society. He is a turd. Lovingly sculpted though he may be, he is still sculpted out of turd. I am not a fan of Zac Efron, so it is only fair that his girlish, perma-tanned face and permed eyelashes represents only the lowest quality games. The dire, the abysmal, the Space Giraffes of this world.

That's that cleared up then.

The Faux Bot