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March 2, 2009: wallet threat level yellow
Microsoft is getting all up in your wallet's face this week with Halo Wars. But don't let it get to you. While it's a serviceable port of PC-based real time strategy gaming to the Xbox 360, it's got some serious interface issues and AI problems. It does about as well as you can expect without being revolutionary (see EndWar for a best-case example of a revolutionary way to play real time strategy games on console systems). Consider it more of a bluff than an actual threat.
The more viable threat to the wallets of RTS fans is Empire: Total War, the latest in the series that has zig-zagged from feudal Japan to Medieval Europe to ancient Rome. Early reports indicate it's pretty, dumb, and realistic for the way it takes the duration of the Seven Years War to watch the computer take its turn and load the map for each battle.
Ubisoft will launch a surgical strike on the wallets of people who like arcade flight simulators with the release of HAWX. I think Tom Clancy's name is supposed to precede the title, but I can't keep straight which Ubisoft games have been hijacked by the former insurance salesman. Tom Clancy's Far Cry? Tom Clancy's Prince of Persia? Tom Clancy's Petz?
Also new this week is Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard, a shooter about fake videogame characters. See, the joke is that Matt Hazard isn't returning because this is his first game. Get it? Comedy videogames can be a tough sell, so I don't have high hopes for this one, even though it was created by Vicious Cycle, winners of the Writers Guild Award for 2007 for, uh, Dead Head Fred. So, yeah. Eat Lead will, however, feature the voices of Will Arnett and Neil Patrick Harris.
I've recently learned that when a sports videogame comes out, it means that sport is about to be in season. So whatever MLB stands for -- I'm pretty sure it's Major League Basketball or Major League Boogie Boarding -- it's about to start soon, because Sony and 2K Games are releasing MLB games.
This week's universal wallet threat is Peggle for the Nintendo DS. Now that's what I call a wallet threat. I haven't played it yet, but if PopCap can successfully translate their Pachinko/pinball gimmick to the DS, your wallet is going to be in trouble to the tune of thirty bucks.
By schurem at 7:21 AM ON 03/02/09
Long live pre-orders! that spread the pain of the wallet bombings a bit.. Getting Empire and HAWX.
By the way Tom, what's up with QT3? Im' starting to tweak man, i NEED my fix!
By Aeon221 at 9:55 AM ON 03/02/09
The steam and facebook groups have postings on how to get back to qt3. Something about an om-nom-nomserveur and vegetables being broken, and a hosts file needed to fix it.
By Bahimiron at 11:07 AM ON 03/02/09
I didn't even know we had a facebook group. :(
By Switchbreak at 11:07 AM ON 03/02/09
Dead Head Fred was awesome - it had Dr. Cox in it! Also, Eat Lead looks pretty cool.
By Bacongrease at 11:55 AM ON 03/02/09
Tom what's ur beef with halo wars I think it's a great game. Sure it's no endwar but it's control scheme works fine. My one and only issue with it is the fact that there are really only two factions. We live in a time of CnC when three is standard! I'm not sure where you would get another in the halo universe but I'm thinking a rebel covenant species would do nicely.
By Chijts at 12:23 PM ON 03/02/09
Why not the Flood Bacon? I think it appears in the game, and although it would play completely differently to the other two it could be intergrated successfully.
By Aeon221 at 3:13 PM ON 03/02/09
I didn't know we had a Facebook group either until this. You can bet I won't be joining it -- I like "interfacing" with females, and I have a feeling broadcasting my geekness would end that purty dang quick.
By malkav11 at 6:27 PM ON 03/02/09
Wallet threat deep green for me. I'm most curious about Halo Wars, but I'm more than happy to rent that. Eat Lead will have to receive considerable positive attention for me to bother. Empire: Total War is probably awesome but I already own three Total War games and have spent a total of about 30 minutes between them, mostly on Shogun. Which I didn't like. So at the very least I ought to give my copy of Medieval II a proper go before I spend any money on Empire. HAWX I can safely skip. I'll check out Ace Combat 6 before I go near a Tom Clancy game on the subject. And I never have liked Peggle.
By Tom Chick at 8:14 PM ON 03/02/09
Malk, did you just type "I never have liked Peggle"? Because that's what it looks like you typed. However, I'm not sure those words are possible. I think there are scientists who would be interested in studying you, because you've obviously some sort of rare abnormal chromosome, like Will Smith in I Am Legend or Bill, Zoey, Francis, and Louis in Left 4 Dead.
By malkav11 at 6:10 PM ON 03/03/09
As far as I can tell, Peggle appeals to precisely the same sort of people that enjoy most of PopCap's other games. People who find a high score in some way meaningful or worth pursuing. For me, there's nothing there. Similarly, I don't enjoy Geometry Wars. (To name another game everyone seems to love whose entire goal is scoring points.)
Bookworm Adventures is pretty nifty, though. I'd be up for a port of -that- to the DS.
malkav11:
As far as I can tell, Peggle appeals to precisely the same sort of people that enjoy most of PopCap's other games. ...More »