Web-based games are seemingly the wave of the future when it comes to marketing to the vital 13 to 28-year-old male demographic, as demonstrated by Fox's Ambush, a web-based, Terminator-themed MMO.

The game is designed to promote Fox Broadcasting's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles-- a surprisingly enjoyable side-story to the wildly successful Terminatorfilm series -- which made its terrestrial television debut earlier this year.

Ambushis a hybrid of traditional online shooters and persistent-world MMO titles. Players choose a side (either the human resistance or deadly Terminator robots), and set out across a two-dimensional game board on a quest to kill as many members of the opposing faction as possible.

Sound simple? It is, very much so, and that may be the game's greatest flaw.

I wish I could offer you readers some hint as to a deeper nuance behind the game, but the above two-sentence description of the title reveals absolutely everything there is to it.

Each side gains points for kills made by one of its members, and aside from pushing the score counter ever-higher, and the bragging rights that come from dominating your foes, there is seemingly no end goal in sight.

Combat too is dreadfully simple. Most MMOs can be boiled down to clicking on enemies until they die, and Ambushtakes that idea to the extreme: All you do in the game is click on your foes and watch them fall, as another tally is added to your score.

The graphics and audio do set an enjoyable mood for the game, but even hardcore fans of the television series or the films will find themselves bored of the hyper-repetitive gaming mechanism almost instantly.

I forced myself to sit through an hour of this clickfest last night in the hopes that some alternate mode of play or new objectives would reveal themselves, but sadly they never did. Our score rose about a hundred points during that timespan, which did fill my avatar's cybernetic heart with cruel glee, but the flesh and blood person controlling Cyberdyne's latest and greatest found himself -- myself -- bored to death.

Then again, that was at 3AM last night. Hoping that maybe the game becomes a bit more enjoyable during daylight hours when more foes are present to catch my hail of bullets, I decided to wait until this afternoon to give it another shot. Sadly, the game seems to have disappeared in the interim, only to be replaced by a "404, File Not Found" error.

I've emailed Fox to see what happened to their marketing effort, but have yet to receive a response. Hopefully they've taken it down to add some additional depth to the title, but believe me when I say you aren't missing much.

Thankfully, the iPhone iteration of Ambushis still available for download from the show's official site, though aside from shrinking the game for the smaller screen and adding portability, the game is exactly the same as the web offering.

If you've got time to kill rent Terminator 2or watch a few episodes of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Either would be far more enjoyable than this lackluster marketing effort.

Image courtesy Fox

Ambush[ Terminator: The Sarah Connor ChroniclesOfficial Site]

See Also:

• Exclusive Assets from EA's Eerie Dead SpaceAd
• Secret Websites, Coded Messages: The New World of Immersive Games
• Perplex CityInspires Japanese Manga ARG

Japanese publisher/developer Level 5 made headlines lately when they announced a slew of new games at their 10th anniversary conference. Ninokuni, an RPG to be developed alongside acclaimed animation house Studio Ghibli, has especially been turning heads. The October 10th issue of the Weekly Famitsu showcased an interview with the president of Level 5, Akihiro Hino. Famitsu’s editor-in-chief, Katsuaki Kato, chats with Hino about the history of Level 5 in this, the first part of the interview. Stay tuned for more details about Ninokuni in parts two and three.

Weekly Famitsu Editor-in-chief Katsuaki Kato: First of all, congratulations on Level 5’s 10th anniversary. It’s already been 10 years, huh?

Level 5 President Akihiro Hino: Thank you. Yes, it went by in a flash. It feels just like yesterday that we were establishing this company.

Kato: Your first game was Dark Cloud, right? We all took notice when your first game was a unique RPG that really pushed the PS2, but before we knew it, you had made Dragon Quest VIII, and then became a publisher and made the Professor Layton series into a big hit. You guys are really becoming a juggernaut. As president, were you thinking of becoming a publisher from the start?

Hino: No, we had absolutely no aspirations to become a publisher. At the time, we thought it was unnecessary. Rather, we thought it was most important to make games that we were satisied with. We just thought, “Wouldn’t it be great to make good games, and to be able to put food on the table?”

Kato: I see. So you want the name ‘Level 5′ to denote good games?

Hino: That’s right. Like I said, at the beginning, we just wanted to make good, satisfying games. But in order for those projects to be accepted and loved by many people, of course, we have to sell a lot of copies, so we need to get results in that financial sense.

While we were working on DQVIII, we could sense the greatness of the series, and we started to change our thinking towards succeeding as a publisher. Our drive to surprise people also became a lot stronger. We want to do something different every time we make a game, and we want to make products that surpirse and interest gamers and non-gamers alike.

Kato: I can certainly buy that, because all of your recent announcements have been completely surpirsing (laughs). This being your 10th anniversary, this conference is unprecedentedly large. We’re really looking forward to the surprising new games you’ve announced here. The first is Ninokuni. It’s one of your “10th Anniversary Commemoration” games, right?

Hino: That’s correct. Ninokuni is one of the three games we’ve dubbed in our “10th Anniversary Commemoration” line of products. All of them are planned for 2009 releases, but it looks like Ninokuni will hit first.

Heading into the weekend festivities that is this year's Tokyo Game Show, Microsoft just officially revealed their lineup of games that will be available to play, see and experience at their TGS booth. The list (posted after the break) includes the standard assortment of MGS games including Nuts & Bolts and Fable 2, (but no Gears 2, sad face) as well as Japanese favorites Star Ocean: The Last Hope (first time playable) and The Last Remnant.

Continue reading MS reveals their Tokyo Game Show lineup

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

• Leipzig: LocoRoco 2 footage and the lonely rolling star cameo
  
• LocoRoco 2: first batch of screens revealed
• LocoRoco 2 details now out: singing Mojas, new enemies, and more

• FF: Warrior of Light - Garland
• FFII: Firion - Emperor Palamecia
• FFIII: Onion Knight - Cloud of Darkness
  
• FFIV: Cecil Harvey - Golbez
  
• FFV: ??? - Exdeath
  
• FFVI: ??? - Kefka
  
• FFVII: ??? - Sephiroth
  
• FFVIII: Squall Leonheart - Ultimecia
• FFIX: Zidane Tribal - Kuja
• FFX: Tidus - Jecht

• Learn how to properly pwn your enemy in Dissidia: Final Fantasy
• Sphere Grids and License Boards? Dissidia's chessboard explained
• Dissecting Dissidia: Final Fantasy; characters, crystals, gods, and the manly Valkyrie
  

Tokyo – October 7, 2008 – Iconic Japanese developer Grasshopper Manufacture has licensed Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3 for a new multiplatform action horror game to be published by Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS). The new game is directed by innovative game designer Suda51 and produced by legendary Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami.

“It’s an honor to work with Mikami-san and Suda-san on their next project,” said Jay Wilbur, vice president, Epic Games. “Grasshopper Manufacture is one of the most daring and innovative studios in the world, and we can’t wait to see what they’re able to do with Unreal Engine 3.

This is indeed the game that is heading to Wii, but I don’t think we’ll see the UE3 on Wii. I wonder how they are going to work this one out…

Link

In case you didn’t know, Tokyo Game Show is rapidly approaching. Nick, Dale, and Jim all have the wonderful pleasure of attending this year and they’re currently preparing for the rather long voyage to the magical world of Japan. While playing games in a foreign country sounds wicked awesome, getting around town and obtaining what you need can be a hassle. Why? Here’s a hint: English is not the first language in Japan.

Thankfully, the guys at Siliconera are here to help the boys out. They’ve recently created a pretty hip flash game designed to help people brush up on their “katakana,” which is explained by Spencer at Siliconera as the “symbols used for foreign words and often videogame titles.” The best part of the experience isn’t the learning for me -- it’s watching dinosaurs drown as my fingers tap on the keys frantically.

I can totally see how this could help everyone on their way over to TGS, although I’m not getting the vibe that I could order a cheeseburger in Japan after playing. Regardless, I’d imagine we all wish Nick, Dale, and Jim a very happy and safe trip to TGS. Look for our coverage of TGS this October 9-12th!

As you probably managed to find out already, Nintendo plans to offer downloadable content via the DSiWare service. David Perry says<-250×250 Square - right-> “The download store is good, [Free-to-play games] would have changed everything for designers. Basically it would remove the limitations of what a handheld is capable of doing, but it would require WiFi to play those games, so maybe it’s still too early. I think [free-to-play] would have been a game changer, but now it’s over to Sony or Microsoft to make this move.”

The interesting part is that - I never thought of that - DSi games demos can really make the difference between them and the iPod Touch or the iPhone as gaming platforms and the way people can try apps for them. “It’s certainly where they can beat Apple if they get developers to offer demos of all games. Apple fails on the demo front where you buy first, hoping you will like them. To compete with Apple, they will need to open up free-to-play gaming,” concluded Perry.

While the Nintendo DSi is not going to be a perfect handheld, it surely gets things one step further, and if “free Nintendo games download” becomes reality, even when talking about demo versions, we may see a big step forward for the Japanese company. Unfortunately, for everyone, there’s still plenty of time until the new console will cross the ocean. Couldn’t they get more oarsmen for that boat making the US delivery?

Nintendo has confirmed that software specifically created for the DSi will be region-locked, with European, North American and Japanese software only working on consoles designed for their specific regions. …

The company added: “Also because we are including parental control functionality for Nintendo DSi and each region has its unique age limit made by different independent bodies.” …

This only applies to software that is compatible exclusively with the DSi - existing DS software remains region-free. Internet browsing and photo sharing also works globally.

However, it should be noted that the region lock only applies to the downloadable software and apps that they will be releasing. We should still be able to play all cartridge based software. Also, does the DSi really need to have parental controls? Even with Grand Theft Auto - China Town Wars is it really necessary to lock out what games our youths can play on the hand held?

[GameIndustry - DSi Region Lock]