Game News :: George Harrison leaving Nintendo

Monday 17 Sep 2007

George Harrison, Nintendo’s Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communication, has confirmed that he will be leaving Nintendo of America. Harrison ended months of speculation when he advised Reuters that he will be leaving before the end of 2007.

“I have confirmed to all employees that I will be leaving at the end of December and not making the move to California,” Harrison said. Although he did not give reasons for his decision to leave Nintendo, it is believed that Nintendo’s decision to move its sales and marketing team from Redmond, Washington to San Francisco and New York may have been instrumental in his decision.

Harrison has not confirmed what he will do after he leaves Nintendo, ending fifteen years of service to the Mario giant.

Read More :: www.el33tonline.com

Game News :: Time Crisis 4: Hands-On with FPS Mode

Good morning, soldier. Feeling chipper, are you? Good. You've been chosen for this mission because of your cold-hearted efficiency, your strong sense of duty, and your uncanny aim with all sorts of firearms. Your task? To take on the first-person shooter mode in Namco Bandai's upcoming PlayStation 3 shooting game, Time Crisis 4. Here's your weapon; please keep the safety engaged for now. And finally, please hold your questions until the end. We've got a lot of intel to get through.

First, some background. First-person shooter mode in Time Crisis 4 tells a somewhat tangential story that complements the main action found in the game's arcade mode. In it, you'll be playing as Captain Rush, who has been tasked with discovering the source of the so-called terror bites, which are essentially swarms of nasty-looking bugs that pop up throughout the various missions. As Rush, you'll be responsible for blasting your way through 15 stand-alone stages that feature some crossover with the game's main storyline. You might even see some familiar faces. Have no fear, though. Unlike the vaguely Euro-trashy heroes in Time Crisis' main storyline, Rush is a badass by comparison.

Unlike the main mode, FPS mode in Time Crisis 4 gives you a first-person view of the action. In this mode, you're on your own, soldier. No buddy to help you out when stuff hits the fan. Heck, you're even going to have to reload your weapon manually. Think you can handle that?

Now, about your weapon. Yes, it looks like a big, ugly hunk of plastic, but it's actually quite handy once you get used to it. First, notice the two analog sticks, which are used to control Captain Rush. You move with the left stick, and can look all around with the right stick. However, keep in mind that when the time comes to shell out lead, you can unleash anywhere on the screen simply by aiming and pulling the trigger. This is accomplished through two handy sensors that attach to the top of your television set and then track the motion... You know what, soldier? It doesn't matter how they work. All you need to do is point, shoot, and things die, okay?

You can cycle through your various weapons by pressing the B1 button (located just underneath the right stick), and toggle the onscreen reticle with the C1 (on the side of the gun). There are also two buttons just underneath the left stick on the front: the top one reloads your gun, and the one beneath lets you jump. Pay attention to that jump button, soldier, because there'll be some light platforming segments in FPS mode that'll keep you hopping. To zoom in on an enemy with your weapon, you click the right stick, and to crouch, you click the left stick. Simple, right?

Glad to hear you agree, because you'll want to get your head around those controls quick; once the enemies start coming in FPS mode, they don't let up. You might be outnumbered, but, lucky for you, weapons are always easy to come by. In addition to a standard pistol, you'll be able to use a submachine gun, shotgun, grenades, a grenade launcher, and even a knife when you want to get up close and personal with the action. Different weapons will be appropriate for different types of enemies. For example, in one mission, Captain Rush will be trying to take down a seemingly never-ending swarm of bugs intent on overrunning him and chewing on all his soft bits. The submachine gun is the best choice for clipping their wings before they can even get close. Later, when fighting it out against a pair of armed choppers on the ledge of a huge hydroelectric dam, you'll want to make sure Rush has his grenade launcher prepped and ready. And though most of the human enemies will take only a shot or two to bring down, watch out for the guys carrying the big shields, or the big, ugly mothers with the chain guns. They can be a problem if you aren't careful.

But you are careful, aren't you soldier? That's why we like you. You know how to get a job done and use everything to your advantage. You'll be right at home in FPS mode, then, because almost everything you see is at least partially destructible. Enemy troops hiding behind a jeep? Blow up the jeep--that's using your head. You'll need those smarts when dealing with the boss battles that you'll find strewn throughout the FPS mode. They're tough, no lie, and they'll take more than a few clips to take down.
So mount up, soldier! The ETA for Time Crisis is November 2007. Until then, keep your trigger finger loose and stay frosty. You can expect more briefings on the game in the coming weeks.

Read More :: www.gamespot.com

Game Review :: Final Fantasy III (DS)

Somehow amid a confusion of roman numerals, Square-Enix overlooked the fact that this Final Fantasy III (being different to the Final Fantasy III that was released in the West which was actually Final Fantasy VI), and, where were we, oh yes, this Final Fantasy III was never released in English before the year 2006. I can’t fathom why they would release Final Fantasy (the first one which doesn’t have a roman numeral) on roughly seven different platforms and counting and not put the third installment on at least two. Happily, they have now rectified this oversight by releasing a full remake on the DS.

JRPG 101

Final Fantasy III falls squarely (and enixly too) into the camp of old-school Japanese Role Playing Games. Whether this is because Final Fantasy defined the genre or was simply following the formula established in Dragon Quest is debatable, but Final Fantasy III is about as by-the-book as they come. The first main character of your adventuring party is Luneth, an orphan who is apparently around 18 or so. After discovering a crystal which informs him of his chosenness as a “Warrior of the Light,” he sets out to find the other three Warriors (who are naturally also teenaged and also orphans) who must help him to find the other three crystals and use them to restore balance to the world. When venturing out of a town into the beautiful overland map, your party will encounter many beasts of all description bent on destroying you, at which point the game swaps to a battle view where you command each character in your party in a turn-based system. Depending on the character (and their current job), they will be able to use melee weapons, ranged weapons, spells, summons and a variety of other attacks to overcome the foe. Once you’ve commanded all the characters the attacks are carried out. At the end of a battle your party is awarded experience points and these will allow them to become more powerful over time.

Jobs for all to do

If the plot is merely a skeleton to hang the meat of the game on, then the meat of this game is most certainly the job system. It feels like it’s been designed for fans who are not satisfied to just grind their characters to ridiculous levels of hit points, but must also make them the best ninja there is, or the best dragoon or white mage, or all three. The job idea is simple – characters in the game don’t have a set class, instead they can be assigned a job at any time, complete with a cute change of wardrobe. The different jobs allow them to perform different actions during a battle (such as cast a spell or summon), to wear different armor and to wield different weapons. As the characters fight their experience goes up and so do their job levels. All of this helps game play by allowing a variety of configurations for your party so that you don’t get too bored killing your 10000th goblin because you can do it with different animations.


As you gain the other crystals more jobs become available, and this is where the job system is not all that perfect – earlier jobs are simply not up to the task of defeating enemies because the better equipment is only usable by certain jobs. So, unless you grind, your options are more limited than they appear. (Note: grinding is the act of fighting hundreds of unnecessary battles to improve your stats.) Another problem with the jobs is that if I have, by simply playing and fighting many battles, got a character’s job to level 50 or so it becomes quite difficult for him to swap to another job without becoming severely weaker (unless the new job has superior equipment), so I found myself mostly sticking to certain jobs. Nevertheless, the job system adds some sorely-needed variety to the battles.
Thankfully Square-Enix has allowed us to save at any time on the overworld map, and have also made traveling that map not-so-tedious by supplying various forms of transport. Although it is not possible to save inside the dungeons and continue playing, you can save and quit which means you don’t have to fight your way out of a dungeon to be able to stop playing without losing your progress. Add to that the suspend ability of the DS and the “on-the-go” capabilities of the game are solid. I mean, what better way to spend those few minutes waiting for the kettle to boil than grinding?

Read More :: www.el33tonline.com