1. "Grand Theft Auto IV" (Rockstar, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3): The latest episode of "GTA" has its flaws, particularly in the storytelling department. But living a life of crime has never been more fun, thanks to much tighter gameplay and an exquisitely detailed vision of a decaying metropolis.

2. "Lost Odyssey" (Microsoft, for the Xbox 360): The epic tale of immortal mercenary Kaim is a delight for fans of classic role-playing games.

3. "The World Ends With You" (Square Enix, for the Nintendo DS): This adventure set in modern Tokyo is the most innovative RPG in years.

4. "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots" (Konami, for the PS3): It may be more of a movie than a game, but it's a dazzling finale for one of gaming's most fascinating sagas.

5. "Professor Layton and the Curious Village" (Nintendo, for the DS): Charming characters wrestle with clever puzzles in this beautifully written and illustrated gem.

Reference:

http://www.gamepro.com/

Pachter had this to say about the stock prices,

It’s nothing in particular concerning video game stocks, Take-Two is worth the same, it won’t impact EA’s offer.

Although this may be true, it might persuade some stock holders to try and make a big win with prices almost $3 below EA’s bidding price/share. We will continue to wait it out and see what happens to Take-Two who is still struggling with compliance to the FTC’s demands.

Via: Videogaming247, Kotaku

As many of you know, we released PS3 firmware update v2.40 last week, but had to take it offline temporarily because, for a limited number of users, the XMB wouldn’t display after the update was installed.

It is about time they have fixed this problem. Like I’ve already expressed in countless other posts, Sony has a problem with not having grade A projects on release. Just look at the PS3 and now the Firmware. They should have gone through a more thorough process of testing and should have alleviated this problem in the beginning. Although, it is a relief to finally get this update. Cheers!

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Via: Videogamer247

Ubisoft has unveiled a new developer diary for Tom Clancy’s HAWX, the upcoming flight game bearing the author’s expensive name. In this new video, the developers talk about about how the gameplay is focused on realism, while giving the player some assistance if needed. You’re given some help from the computer with maneuvering and targeting and such, but you can turn all that off for a more realistic experience if you want. From the looks of things, HAWX may be giving the Ace Combat series a run for its money when it’s released.

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Related Articles at Gaming Today:

• Ubisoft Hopes to Get Some of That Sweet Ace Combat Money with Tom Clancy's HAWX
• New Haze Developer Diary
• It Begins: New Trailer for Tom Clancy's EndWar
• New Age of Conan Developer Diary
• Developer Diary for Too Human, Plus a Little Weirdness for Good Measure

Oh, mainstream media, it’s like you’re a year behind the internet and no one’s told you it might be a good idea to catch up. Yes, in the video above The Today Show brings you the breaking news that Nintendo is targeting women! Really? I had no clue.

Maybe I’m coming down on Today a bit harshly here. In fact there is actually an interesting story buried within the top 40 pop hits and nausiating camera work. If you can stand to listen to the reporter trying to talk like she actually did some research on what a DS is, and if you don’t mind noticing that the women seem to be trying to steer the karts by turning the DS side to side, you’ll find out that Nintendo is being really aggressive with this whole female gamers thing. Handing out free DS systems to alpha women in hopes that it will attract friends and throwing parties based around the DS is a type of videogame marketing I didn’t ever think I’d see. I hate the downfall of the hardcore game as much as the next guy, but bravo for Nintendo stepping out if the box here.

Wait a minute, was that Pac-Man Fever I heard? Nevermind, I’m not coming down harsh enough on Today. DS in the city! WTF? Nintendo is performing one of the greatest marketing coupes in the history of marketing and you’re reporting on it like it’s a story about a cat fashion show. I suppose that is exactly what Nintendo wants though…bastards.

It is official, or nearly so anyway! The next episode in the Tales game will soon make way on to Nintendo’s DS. Tagged Tales of Heart, the game has been developed by Team Destiny and the RPG’s theme song is by Deen. It would feature “Combination Aerial LMBS” battle system and other players would be able to join in the battle if conditions are not met. It has also come to be known that Tales of Heart will feature bonus-cut-scene options. The cut-scenes could be viewed either in 2D or 3D Anime Art or CG animation. But whether both these options would be available in the same version or be a part of different retail versions is still not very clear. The two screenshots that are doing the rounds seem good enough and this could be yet another economic title on the DS.

Via

Talking about Canada and the United States, the self-regulatory organization applying and enforcing ratings, advertising guidelines, and online privacy principles for computer and video games and other entertainment software, established back in 1994 by the Interactive Digital Software Association, now the Entertainment Software Association, is the ESRB, or the Entertainment Software Rating Board, if you like them long…

Now, the standard definition of any video game content rating system goes like this - “a system used for the classification of video games into suitability-related groups, most of them being associated with and/or sponsored by a government, and are sometimes part of the local motion picture rating system.”

While the ESRB reigns supreme in the US and Canada, Australia has the OFLC, the European Union has PEGI and a few others, Japan has CERO, South Korea has GRB, while most of the remaining countries have no organization to rate video games.
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Currently, the ESRB is awarding the following ratings:

EC — Early Childhood: considered suitable for young children aged 3 and older.

E — Everyone: suitable for children over 6 years of age, usually containing minimal cartoon, fantasy or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language.

E10+ — Everyone 10+: considered unsuitable for children under 10 years of age, titles in this category may contain more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language, minimal and/or infrequent blood and/or minimal suggestive themes, was introduced in March 2, 2005, and “Donkey Kong Jungle Beat” was the first game to receive it.

T — Teen: used on E10+ games before 2005, this rating was applied to games considered unsuitable for children under 13 years of age, containing violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language.

M — Mature: content that is considered unsuitable for teenagers and others under the age of 17 goes into this category, with titles containing intense violence such as blood and gore, sexual references and/or strong language. It is worth being mentioned that many retailers (such as Target and Wal-Mart in the United States, Future Shop in Canada, and Best Buy in both countries) have a policy of not selling games with this rating to people under the age of 17 without parental presence and approval.

AO — Adults Only: obviously, we’re talking about pornographic video games that depict sex and nudity and/or extreme depictions of violence that include blood and gore, but this rating is the subject of ongoing controversy due to the extreme restrictions it places on game sales. Games like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Manhunt 2 were retooled to be rated as M instead of AO, because of the above.

RP — Rating Pending: this symbol appears only in advertising prior to a game’s release, and means the product has been submitted to the ESRB and is awaiting its final rating.

I hope all the above clears the clouds hovering above the “What is the video game rating scale?” question, and if you’re a parent, it points you into the right direction. After all, knowledge is power, so get it, and use it!

Microsoft and Lionhead have made some announcements regarding Fable II. These include host of details regarding the package contents and the release of a Collector’s Edition. One of these is obviously a price tag of 80 bucks. Fable II Collector’s Edition will come with a bonus disc (which will include a video of the behind-the-scenes making of video). A collectible Hobbe figure, and an Xbox Live trial card are some of the other freebies that gamers can expect. And the in-game content remains mysterious but what is known is that gamers would be required to have Xbox Live account and hence the free trial card.

Also announced are some of the details of the standard edition, which by the way would be $20 cheaper. Three mini gambling games – Keystone (combination of craps and roulette), Spinnerbox (a take on slot machines) and Fortune’s Tower (a luck style of game) – would be available on both the game’s versions. But these mini-games would actually be made available in August itself. The Collector’s Edition of Fable II is available for pre-order and those who go for it would have free access to the Live Arcade compilation, which otherwise would cost 800 Microsoft Points ($10). Release date of Fable II is unconfirmed as of now; nonetheless expect it no later than October.

Via

One of the largest and most vocal problems MMO’s have always faced is the concept of class balance. No one enjoys playing a game where they feel useless because another class is simply better at their “job” then them. How would you feel if they hired a new guy at the office with a brain twice the size of yours and an extra arm? No matter what you do, you will not be able to match his speed and proficiency. It’s not about how much effort you put in or how well you know your role or even the mechanics of how things work in the office. You are simply inferior. Now there is no-one in your office trying to make everything nice and happy. In fact, I’m sure many corporations would grow workers with enlarged brains and extra apendages if they could get away with it. However, in the happy world of MMO’s we do have people dedicated to making the environment fun, friendly and exciting: the development team.

Here is the major problem as I see it. A vast amount of players are completely ignorant of specific class mechanics beyond their own class or even overall game mechanics. These also tend to be the most vocal. Add in the existence of “trolls”, people who are basically just attempting to start a fight over a specific subject, and human nature and you have the equivalent of a bomb scare. Many people don’t know WHY a class needs to be nerfed (beyond what someone breifly told them or they read it on a site/forum) or they assume because their class has a problem with them they must be completely overpowered. The first part is just ignorance then second part is a misconception. Now we come to everyone’s favorite term: rock-paper-scissors.

Rock-paper-scissors is a system of class balance just like the little kids game. One type of class beats another class. That class beats a different class and so on. Why do developers use a “rock-paper-scissors” system, even though there are massive amounts of players who despise this system? Well, that’s kind of simple. Class-level balance is impossible. Get over it and move on. What I mean by class-level balance is balancing every class so that they are all equal. Sorry, this won’t happen. Its impossible without making the classes too similar and completely doing away with the concept of class roles.

What developers generally try to accomplish is a system-level balance. The entire system as a whole is what needs to be balanced, not the individual classes. There are too many situations to even begin to balance the game at the class-level, 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, 3 vs 3, Group vs Group, Raid vs Raid, Zone vs Zone, PvP, PvE and each one has to be looked at while considering talents/specialization and gear. In World of Warcraft and given class can actually be played 3 distinctly different ways. In Age of Conan, there are two different ways for each class. Warhammer Online is offering three. In World of Warcraft for example, if you want to PvE you will probably have to be one spec. If you want to PvP you’re going to most likely have to switch to a different spec to be really effective. In Age of Conan, your specialization changes depending on if your soloing or if your doing large group battles. Certain abilities that were awesome by yourself seem to lose their luster in a large scale battle. However, certain things you couldn’t use by yourself because they were too incredible. Too many variables are present once you add in player skill for these types of games to ever be balanced at the class level.

Back to system-level balance. This means that the system as a whole is balanced. Think of it as the surface of the ocean and your player-base is a cruise ship in the middle of it. What you would like is a nice calm ocean so the players can enjoy their Mojitos. However, when an imbalance occurs a wave is produced. This wave has a crest, the imbalance, and a valley, the parties effected by it. As long as the wave isn’t massive, it’s not really going to upset the ship as a whole although it might spill a few drinks or at worse pitch a few people into the sea. Now sadly this is where the metaphor breaks down because this is where the difference between player base and development team comes into play. In a balanced system there would be another wave that effects the party that was the crest of the first wave. In other words, if class A is imbalanced and effecting classes B-D. Then there should be a class E that is imbalanced and effecting at a minimum class A. This pulls the previous imbalance back into line and gives the impression of a calm ocean surface with no waves. The second wave cancels out the first because it hamstrings the imbalanced party. For a WoW example, lots of people in PvP gripe about warlocks. However, show a warlock a decent rogue and watch how much they gripe. This is the precise place this metaphor breaks down. One party, the development team and anyone viewing this system subjectivel,y will view the ocean as calm. While the player base (those in the valleys) or those viewing it subjectively only notice a typhoon breaking out. To them the waves don’t cancel each other out because they are not the other imbalance that effects the imbalance effecting them (whoo!). In other words, what does a mage care if a rogue can render a warlock worthless if there isn’t one around but there is a warlock destroying the mage?

Well… sorry I never said the system was perfect. However, at the moment it is one of the few systems that actually “work” (by work I mean they are possible and effective since you’re still playing). I’ve seen countless concepts thrown around on forums and other places of discussion and alot of them sound good in theory. They are kind of like communism. Damn that sounds like a neat idea… too bad it can’t be implemented.

This has gotten long enough…

…for now.

Post your comments or any questions! Given enough response we might have to continue into Part 3.