Kotaku Australia

StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty Review: Upgrade Complete

Michael McWhertor — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 06:30:00 GMT

Real-time tactics evolve with StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Blizzard’s long in the making sequel to one of the most beloved, bestselling sci-fi strategy games of all time. Oh, so you’ve heard of it, then?

Three distinct races, the displaced humans known as Terrans, the ancient, mystical alien Protoss, and the insect-like Zerg horde, are (still) embroiled in an intergalactic war. Billions die as the Zerg swarm reawakens from hibernation four years after the events of 1998′s StarCraft: Brood War. In StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, players will largely experience the Terran side of this story under the command of Jim Raynor, hero of the original StarCraft and now enemy of the imperial Dominion forces. Raynor and his faithful crew of Raiders hop from planet to planet searching for artifacts that may end the Zerg’s reign of terror and that of its leader, the Queen of Blades.

Of course, that’s just a small slice of what StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty has to offer. In addition to the lengthy story-driven campaign mode, there’s a deep multiplayer component, a revamped Battle.net matchmaking and social service, plus a robust game mode editor.

Was it all worth waiting more than a decade to play?

Loved

As Good As Sci-fi Space Opera Gets: StarCraft II’s single-player campaign story engages and satisfies—even if we only peek at a third of this game’s arc in Wings of Liberty. After waiting far too long to revisit the heroic Terran marshal Jim Raynor, the tragic Ghost-turned-Zerg queen Sarah Kerrigan, and their respective conflicts with the sleazy Emperor Arcturus Mengsk, it was StarCraft II’s single-player campaign that I anticipated most. It does not disappoint. The story meanders as Blizzard dispenses some missions that serve as tutorials, some as experience-awarding filler, but it never loses sight of its looming climax. Wings of Liberty’s story blends humour, tragedy, mystery and intrigue into something worth playing through, ending on a thrilling note. The expansion StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm cannot come soon enough.

Fine Mission Design: Over the course of Wings of Liberty’s 29 campaign missions—I actually wound up playing through 26 of them to reach its end—rarely does a mission feel rehashed. Some worlds are flooded with lava every few minutes, some spawn unstoppable armies of zombie-like Zerg at night, some require stealthy gameplay and demand careful unit management. Almost all are memorable and filled with alluring bonus objectives and challenging, elective achievement-based skill tests. There are no duds.

Decisions, Decisions: As Wings of Liberty’s story progresses, the player is faced with some hard choices. With whom should Jim Raynor ally himself? Who to trust in this war in which billions of lives may be lost? Blizzard was more than effective in making me second guess each pivotal decision. While the interactive portions of StarCraft II’s story may have been conflicting, choosing which research items and troop upgrades best suit my play style was much easier. While collecting relics and earning cash by taking jobs, Raynor will be given the chance to evolve his troops, buildings, vehicles and ships in compelling new ways. The impact of these decision making moments makes Wings of Liberty playing through more than once (or at least saving your game frequently).

Adventure Lite: I’d hesitate to label the in-between moments spent on the Battlecruiser Hyperion an adventure game or a role-playing game. It’s not that deep, But clicking around Raynor’s spaceship environment was a treat. Speaking with non-player characters and surveying the ship’s armoury, lab and cantina was infinitely better than the alternative from the original StarCraft. Instead of watching talking heads explain why Planet X needed to be infiltrated, rich characters engaged in conversation, exposing aspects of their personality that made them memorable.

The Campaign Remix: There are creative unit and ability additions in the single-player campaign that can’t be experienced elsewhere. Familiar units from the original StarCraft that were left on the cutting room floor, like the Terran Medic and Firebat, are alive and well here. The addition of Mercenary troops that players can hire and call upon aid in lending StarCraft II’s story-driven side a feeling of looking at the director’s cut of the game. It can be a little unsettling to play through Wings of Liberty’s campaign and then dive into multiplayer, where your tech tree and tactics will need to be relearned, but the wild variety here is an enlightening look at the chances Blizzard was willing to make.

Old Units, New Tactics: Some StarCraft standbys appear virtually unchanged in the sequel, like the gruff Terran Marine and the Zerg Hydralisk, essential to any army. But small changes to these units and bigger alterations for new or evolved ones open up exciting new tactical opportunities. Chokepoint strategies are rendered less useful by the Terran Reaper and Protoss Colossus, which essentially ignore terrain. The Zerg Infestor, which can possess enemy units, and the tactic of moving Zerg units that remain cloaked underground wildly changes how old units must be employed. Tried and true tactics, like Zerg rushes and micro-managed Terrans Siege Tanks, can still work, but players will be required to think differently about how they’re employed. StarCraft II may not go far enough in shaking up the formula, but its less obvious changes can have substantial impact.

3v3, No Waiting: Getting into a multiplayer game of StarCraft II is smooth, streamlined and speedy. It’s also fair, thanks to matchmaking rankings that have resulted in closely contested matches more often than blowouts. StarCraft II’s interface for finding, creating and joining a versus game is easy for those who just want to hop into a skirmish, but also customisable enough that playing on the map of your choosing with the Battle.net friends of your choosing is a snap. Browsing custom games and player-created maps is straightforward, making it simple to get in, get out, a deliver your opponent a “GG.”

Play It Again, Jim: A far more helpful tool for improving one’s StarCraft II’s game than its tutorials and player guide are post-match stats and replays. After a win or defeat, players can save replays of matches to review another player’s build order or understand how they built their tech tree. This is a great tactical equalizer and should be explored by new players thoroughly.

The Lure of Achievements: I love achievements as a learning tool—the game regularly encourages you to play it on harder difficulties—and StarCraft II’s virtual rewards do an expert job of making playing smarter more rewarding. The campaign and challenges become more appealing to revisit thanks to numerous achievements across game types and dozens of unlockable avatars and decals.

Hated

The 12 Year Half-Step: For all of its polish, its technical accomplishments and its masterfully told sci-fi story, there’s an inescapable feeling of StarCraft II being stuck in time. While still thrilling, the gameplay side of StarCraft II feels less innovative than it does derivative. That’s more of a product of the original StarCraft’s ingenuity, which was dazzling for its remarkable balance between three distinct races and its massive, species spanning story. Wings of Liberty is also a harsh reminder that the majority of StarCraft II’s story is yet to be told, an even more painfully long wait to see this chapter unfold.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty comes with its share of nits, including its lack of true local area network play, its demands for an internet connection to play and its comparatively tame progression in terms of real-time strategy gameplay. The rest of what Wings of Liberty brings to the table far outweighs those pesky complaints. It’s stuffed with a great story, nearly limitless gameplay opportunities and a finely balanced, competitive playing field.

The greatest thrills, after the impact of Wings of Liberty’s powerful story has sunk in, remain online. Other players are crafting unique maps and experiences with StarCraft II’s Galaxy Map Editor, pumping out mods that turn the strategy game into a shooter, a platformer, a kart racer and more. Other players are simply waiting for a competitive or cooperative challenge, ready to surprise you with new attacks and counterattacks, frustrating and impressing you with their ingenuity.

StarCraft II is still a game of micromanagement, build speed and base management, playing with and against forces you’re mostly familiar with in a theatre of war that certainly feels less fresh than it did in 1998. But Blizzard has polished that classic real-time strategy gameplay to a brilliant shine, offering a single and multiplayer experience that is unmatched. The long wait was worth it, if only to kick off another long wait to see how StarCraft II ultimately ends.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty was developed by Blizzard and published by Activision Blizzard for the PC and Mac on July 27. Retails for $US59.99/$AU99.95. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played single-player campaign to completion on Normal difficulty, played half of the game’s Challenges and played dozens of multiplayer matches in the multiplayer beta and final versions of the game.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Mass Effect Cosplay: A New Challenger Enters

Luke Plunkett — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 05:30:00 GMT

Less than 24 hours after posting the Mass Effect Comic-Con cosplay clip, we already have a serious competitor for the title of “Best Mass Effect Cosplay In The Universe”.

Evil FX, a freelance special effects artist, is currently building two Commander Shepard suits, one male, one female. And while they’re unfinished, they’re already displaying a level of authenticity and build quality that wouldn’t look out of place in a Mass Effect movie.

You can see the male version up top, while the female one is below. Man, it even looks somewhat comfortable…

[bioweapons]

The Video Game Dodgeball Team

Luke Plunkett — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 04:30:00 GMT

This is 8-Bit Shit, from LA, who may well be the world’s only video game-themed dodgeball team.

While not a mandatory rule for every player every week, as you can see, many of them turn up to games dressed as video game characters. Most of the big names are covered, from Mario to Sonic to Ryu to… a guy with Qbert on his dick, but my favourite may well be Carmen Sandiego, whose getup is so impractical for dodgeball it’s worth a tip of the hat.

[8-Bit Shit]

Now Why Would Somebody At Sega Want To See Your Facebook Profile?

Luke Plunkett — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Yesterday, select Facebook data from over 100 million accounts turned up on a 2.8GB torrent file. It may shock you to know that employees at companies like Sega and Lucasfilm were interested in downloading said information.

Before you become alarmed, the data wasn’t a “leak”; all the information was pulled from publicly-available sections of profiles, so you won’t find anything listed that you wouldn’t find by performing a regular Facebook search.

Still, some people may have accidentally had stuff in the open they wouldn’t have wanted. And even then, the information is still valuable to plenty of people; presumably those in the marketing teams of a long list of people downloading the torrent over the past 24 hours, which reveals the origin (via IP) of employees from companies as diverse as Apple, Boeing, Halliburton, IBM, Levi, Pepsi and Xerox.

Or, for companies a little closer to home, there were downloads in offices belonging to Sega, Disney, Sony, Lucasfilm, Viacom and Nvidia.

This doesn’t confirm the companies were officially trawling for information at the behest of boards or executives. It just means people who work for those companies were, while at their office, accessing the data. In some cases, then, it may have been out of idle speculation, but yeah, you can bet there’d be plenty more copies being downloaded that were being used to study how to sell you things better.

Major Corporations Are Downloading Those 100 Million Facebook Profiles off BitTorrent [Gizmodo]

Singles Seeking Rock Band Next Week

Michael McWhertor — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 03:30:00 GMT

Next week’s Rock Band additions are certainly an eclectic mix, ranging from Christian pop to German industiral to indie rock. What’s the theme? Singles!

New tracks from Blondie, La Roux, The Decemberists and Eagles of Death Metal might inspire you to drag the plastic instruments out and commence to wailing. That is, provided you have the (deep breath) $US1.99 USD, �.99 UK, €1.49 EU, 160 Microsoft Points or 200 Wii Points per track to spare.

The following songs hit Rock Band and Rock Band 2 next week. Some are even available for LEGO Rock Band. Look for the plus!

Blondie – “Rapture”
dc Talk – “Jesus Freak”
The Decemberists – “The Perfect Crime # 2″
Eagles of Death Metal – “I Only Want You” +
Eels – “Saturday Morning” +
Family Force 5 – “Love Addict”
KMFDM – “Sturm & Drang”
La Roux – “Bulletproof” +

See You In The Future

Michael McWhertor — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 03:00:00 GMT

Ladies and gentlemen, grab your forks. Please insert into this week. For it is done. Now, let’s celebrate with a little off-topic conversation. Anything, everything, is up for discussion.

I’m going to deal with a few thousand pesky ants that are crawling all over my workspace and my person. Then I play more StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and eat a delicious hamburger, one that could be made of ostrich, should I feel adventurous enough. Please share interesting stories and links to current events that we may have missed. It’s appreciated.

So long. Farewell. Auf wiedersehn. Good bye.

Contraband – A photo collection of “items detained or seized from passengers or express mail entering the United States from abroad at the New York airport.” Pro tip: Do not try to mail bird corpses.
North Korean football team shamed in six-hour public inquiry over World Cup – “The team’s coach, Kim Jong-hun, was reportedly forced to become a builder and has been expelled from the Workers’ Party of Korea.”
The Goonies 25th Anniversary Collector’s Edition – Totally awesome.
Forbes’ list of top-earning musicians of 2009 – I had no idea AC/DC was pulling in so much cash!
Flamethrowser vs. Fire Extinguisher – Slow motion makes everything great.

Eyes On The Prize

Owen Good — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 02:30:00 GMT

So long from Comic-Con, and the indoctrination of another generation of gamer/geeks. Picture via Shiraz Malik.

Sega Does What Nintendon’t (Namely, Make Money)

Michael McWhertor — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 02:00:00 GMT

While Nintendo managed to lose a cool $US290 million USD this past quarter (for very good reasons), its one-time rival Sega actually managed to have a showing in the black.

Or, rather, its parent company Sega Sammy Holdings did. Because without all those yen flowing in from the company’s pachinko business, Sega could have had a less impressive quarter. Sega’s consumer division, the part that sells video games for consoles and PCs, saw “firm” sales according to the company.

Sega’s major releases during the three month period, Alpha Protocol and Iron Man 2, were “slow.” Sega sold 700,000 copies of Obsidian’s espionage RPG, while the movie tie-in for Iron Man 2 moved a cool 1.12 million copies.

The Superstars Of NBA Jam, In Action

Owen Good — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 01:30:00 GMT

MTV Shows
NBA 2K11 hasn’t cornered the market on 1990s Showtime nostalgia. Yesterday we learned that household names like Detlef Schrempf and Clyde Drexler will return to the 2-on-2 Wii arcade title. Here’s a video showing them in action.

[via MTV Multiplayer]

QuakeCon 2010 Will See A Few Surprise Guests Respawn

Michael McWhertor — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 01:00:00 GMT

This year’s gathering of first-person shooter diehards at Quakecon will feature more than just id Software’s Quake, Doom and Rage. Bethesda’s showing up too, armed with Brink. More surprising is an appearance by the former heads of Infinity Ward.

Jason West and Vince Zampella, who went on to form Respawn Entertainment after getting canned from Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward, will make the trip to Dallas, Texas to talk about video games. They’ll be sitting on the ‘Building Blockbusters’ panel, joined by id’s Tim Willits and Bethesda’s Todd Howard to talk shop. That could be very interesting.

Former NCsoft developer and Lord British himself, Richard Garriott, will also be there. He’ll join id’s John Carmack for a little “Rocket Talk” where they’ll “share their passion for Rockets and space travel in this special QuakeCon presentation.”

QuakeCon happens August 12 through 15 and is free and open to the public, if you’d like to go. Kotaku will be there in the form of Stephen Totilo, who will host the ‘Building Immersive Worlds and Stories’ Panel that you see in the schedule below.

Thursday
‘The World of Design’ Panel

12.30pm in the Cortez Room

Joel Burgess, Bethesda Game Studios

Matt Hooper, id Software

Neil Alphonso, Splash Damage

Todd Alderman, Respawn Entertainment

QuakeCon Kick Off

2:30pm in the Grand Ballroom

Todd Hollenshead will welcome attendees to QuakeCon 2010

Keynote

2:30pm in the Grand Ballroom

John Carmack’s Annual Keynote address to QuakeCon attendees

“Rocket Talk”

5:30pm in the Grand Ballroom

John Carmack and Richard Garriott share their passion for Rockets and space travel in this special QuakeCon presentation

Friday
‘Building Blockbusters’ Panel

11:00am in the Grand Ballroom

Jason West, Respawn Entertainment

Tim Willits, id Software

Todd Howard, Bethesda Game Studios

Vince Zampella, Respawn Entertainment

‘Building Immersive Worlds and Stories’ Panel

1:00pm in the Cortez Room

Chris Rhinehart from Human Head

Emil Pagliarulo from Bethesda Game Studios

Harvey Smith, Arkane Studios

Raphael Colantonio, Arkane Studios

Special RAGE Presentation

2:00pm in the Grand Ballroom

Tim Willits and Matt Hooper Present RAGE

‘Let There Be Sound’ Panel

4:00pm in the Cortez Room

Chris Sweetman, Splash Damage

Christian Antkow, id Software

Mark Lampert, Bethesda Game Studios

Zack Quarles, id Software

‘The Art of the Game’ Panel

4:00pm in the Cortez Room

Matt Carofano, Bethesda Game Studios

Olivier Leonardi, Splash Damage

Stephan Martine, id Software

Viktor Antonov, Arkane Studios

Saturday
Special Brink Presentation

11:00am in the Grand Ballroom

Paul Wedgwood, CEO of Splash Damage and Game Director of Brink will be on hand to share a presentation of the game with QuakeCon attendees.

Classic Pre-Snap Controls Will Be Patched Into Madden 11

Owen Good — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:30:00 GMT

Responding to vociferous reaction from its hardcore community, Madden NFL 11 will patch in original pre-snap adjustment controls that countermand the new “Strategy Pad,” design, but not before a month after the game releases.

Ian Cummings, the series’ creative director, announced the decision earlier today after a blog post explaining the original design change. For Madden hardcore fans, they can expect to return to the old shoulder-button/Y (or triangle) command set by the first week of the NFL season, which begins Sept. 9.

Madden lifers exploded with outrage on Tuesday when they discovered, in the game’s demo, that pre-snap adjustments had been completely reconfigured, after several years under a control set that also is similar to NCAA Football 11′s. Essentially, commands that were triggered by shoulder or faceplate buttons were moved entirely to the D-pad, disrupting the muscle memory and thought processes of many.

Cummings, in defending the original switch said that last year, players called more than a billion incorrect defensive hot routes in Madden NFL 10, largely due to face-button nomenclature, which is why they sought to simplify the command structure on the D-pad.

For me, though, this quote is telling:

“Any longtime Madden gamer could probably change the route of two receivers, pinch slide protection, and keep a back into block within a second.”

I can do better than that on offence. I could slide protect left, streak both split ends, drag the tight end and call blocking assignments for both backs out of the shotgun in five seconds.

To me, that’s beyond a Peyton Manning-esque level of audibles. I don’t know if this actually happens in most real-life NFL snaps, but it’s a lot of management that completely remakes the play you’ve called and what you’re showing an opponent.

Given that it barks specific orders to eight players in the heat of the moment, maybe EA Sports also felt that line-of-scrimmage adjustments were exploiting the game in ways you don’t see on a real Sunday, which has always been the game’s guiding design principle.

Whatever the case, both methods of pre-snap comamnds will be available in your game with the real-life NFL regular season kicks off.

GameFlow and The Strategy Pad

The Sega Revival You Probably Weren’t Expecting

Michael McWhertor — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

If you thought Darius Burst’s transition from PSP game to old-school super widescreen arcade cabinet was an odd choice, Sega’s arcade return to old school might blow your mind. That is if you’ve ever heard of Pengo before.

Of all the arcade properties to revisit, Pengo is perhaps the least expected. The arcade game, released by Sega in 1982 and later ported to gobs of other platforms, is getting an 8 player competitive update for a Japanese arcade release. Play as an ice block-pushing penguin, crush enemies and outscore your opponents to win.

Graphically, it looks identical to the Z80-based arcade original that ran at a blistering 3 MHz. It’s running on Sega’s new Ringwide system and will likely see limited release outside of Japan.

Pengo Returns to Arcades with 8 Player Combat [Andriasang]

The History Of Adventure Games, Get Lamp, Ready To Get

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 23:40:00 GMT

Do you love the computer adventure game? You know, Zork, Planetfall, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and anything that falls under the “interactive fiction” description or bears the Infocom publishing label. Then get Get Lamp, Jason Scott’s long-in-the-making documentary.

Scott, who you may know from his BBS documentary, has been slaving away on this thing since 2005, interviewing adventure game luminaries and lovers of interactive fiction from Steve Meretzky to John Romero to others that only the most hardcore text adventure fan will know. I highly doubt you’ll see a more interesting documentary about the meeting of computer games and literature this year, or maybe even ever.

Get Lamp: A Documentary About Adventures in Text spans two DVDs worth of “second person thinker” game history. It comes with a fancy commemorative coin and is 100% spoiler-free.

Get Lamp [Official Site]

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

David Wildgoose — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 23:00:21 GMT

Anyone not playing StarCraft II? Anyone…?

I’m not much of an RTS gamer – I prefer my strategy to come in turn-based form – so I’ll be playing the singleplayer campaign more out of curiosity than anything else.

Mostly though I’ll be playing Dragon Quest IX and try to make some headway into the latest 100-hour Square Enix RPG.

How about you?

Valve’s Plan To Get More Mac Games On Steam Just Sane Enough To Work

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:40:00 GMT

The creator of Half-Life, Team Fortress and Portal has a plan to increase the number of Mac games that are available through its digital distribution service, Steam. Valve plans on giving away* “some” of its Mac-specific game code to developers.

*The only real catch here is that Valve will be helping out those game creators who also sign on for Steamworks integration, the company’s social networking, matchmaking and dev tools software.

The gratis graphics code that Valve plans on sharing with other is, Valve’s Jason Holtman tells GamesIndustry.biz, “the real hard work in a making a Mac version.”

Valve began shipping Mac OS X versions of its games in May, with Portal, Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2 and Day of Defeat now available for Apple hardware.

Valve to release Mac graphics code to developers [GamesIndustry.biz]

Madden NFL Doritos Impressions: Saltier. Cheesier. Orange-ier.

Owen Good — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:20:00 GMT

Madden NFL 11 strives to make your football video game experience “simpler, quicker, deeper.” Not sure what dedicated Dorito support can add to this -�maybe “more stoned?” – but two flavors “inspired” by the game have hit store shelves.

As the clear market leader with an exclusive licence, Frito-Lay is dogged by knee-jerk consumer criticism that it has no incentive to innovate and simply releases a $US3.99 ingredient update each year. Plus everyone knows Tim’s Cascade Style Steak & Onion Potato Chips got like a 107 on Metacritic before it was discontinued.

The fact remains, this is the only EA Sports-licensed snack chip available, and by virtue of that it’s guaranteed to sell every year. Does that still mean it’s worth your money? Or should you just wait and pick up a used bag two months from now at GameStop?

Hated
(Secretly Loved)

Stadium Nacho: I was intrigued by what Frito-Lay intended to do with this because Doritos already has a nacho flavor – the good old red bag you’ve been cramming your hand into for the past 46 years. Give the devil his due, Stadium Nacho does capture that weird creaminess of cheese sludge that looks like it was melted down from about 24 pairs of polyester slacks. The watery jalapeno notes also are spot-on in their disinterested lack of heat. Plus, the whole thing’s already on a corn chip, albeit more crisp than those final flaccid wedges buried under the orange goo. If this isn’t snack foods’ first virtuoso recreation of an actual dish, it’s one of a few, but it’s not like Frito-Lay was shooting for the saut�ed sea bass at Chez Panisse. Rating: Orange.

Tailgater BBQ: Kansas City fans barbecue beef; Carolina fans barbecue pork. Many others just grill hot dogs or hamburgers. This is so generic it invokes really the only thing that 32 tailgates have in common, which is a charcoal briquette and tailpipe exhaust. There’s plenty of smoke that’s vaguely mesquitelike, hustled by an evasive sweetness carrying notes either of honey or the backwash from a Smirnoff Ice. That, or they just took a sheet of corn and spray-insulated it with the barbecue Ruffles dust. Rating: Unleaded.

Not many know this but at the nadir of one of my many periods of unemployment I interviewed for a PR gig with Pepsico, the folks who run the Frito factory. It was more awkward than a blind date with your Sunday School teacher. But I got some free chips and the “good for you/better for you/fun for you,” breakdown of how they position snacks.

These Madden chips are definitely in the latter but the fun wears off before it begins. You’re looking at 23 percent of your daily fat intake in a 2.125-ounce bag. Ouch. And you know how it is with any food item within reach of a gamer – Doritos, popcorn, chicken cordon bleu, it’s all getting mindlessly inhaled. So the smaller configurations are advisable.

The big inducement here is a nine-digit code to redeem exclusive cards for Madden Ultimate team, which is included free in Madden NFL 11. You also get a $US3 discount coupon to buy the game through the EA Store. So there’s that. But as is the case with all gaming-themed foodstuffs, these don’t rise above the regret of eating the whole thing.

Doritos Stadium Nacho Inspired By EA Sports Madden NFL 11 and Doritos Tailgater BBQ Inspired By EA Sports Madden NFL 11 were developed by Frito-Lay and distributed by a nice man who drives a colorful truck. Retails for between $US3.99 and $US0.99. Bags of the snacks were found in a box shipped to us Friday by EA Sports. A police report has been filed. Ate both modes but did not complete the singleplayer career.

Confused by this review? Join the club.

Project: MyWorld Is The Vision Crackdown And APB Were Built Upon

Mike Fahey — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:00:00 GMT

How did developer Realtime Worlds go from creating violent free-roaming shooters like APB and Crackdown to working on the massive social gaming undertaking Project: MyWorld? They don’t. It was the other way around.

Realtime Worlds’ debut of the ambitious Project: MyWorld on Wednesday took a lot of people by surprise. Known for violent shooting games like APB and the original Crackdown, the concept of a project that seeks to recreate the entire planet as a virtual playground for social networking and social gaming seems slightly odd.

Project: MyWorld design director Sean Dugan explains how Project: MyWorld came about.

Realtime Worlds was founded with the dream of someday delivering on the promise that Project: MyWorld represents. Along the way, separate teams were created to make Crackdown and APB with technologies developed on Project: MyWorld. But while the Crackdown and APB teams worked in the broad light of day, the Project: MyWorld team of developers churned away as a top-secret skunkworks project for years.

So while on the surface APB and Crackdown are very different animals than Project: MyWorld, deep down inside they’re all the same.

What Crackdown, APB and Project: MyWorld all do is they create a vast open world and put power into the hands of the player. They allow players to be creative within the boundaries of the game and discover interesting interactions.

Is Realtime Worlds totally schizophrenic? [Project: MyWorld]

Resistance Maker Insomniac Games Bring Its New ‘PS3 Project’ To PAX

Michael McWhertor — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:40:00 GMT

We haven’t had a year without an Insomniac Games-developed release since 2001, but this year is looking to be both Resistance and Ratchet & Clank-free. At least we have an Insomniac Games announcement to look forward to very soon.

The developer says it will be announcing its next game “sometime between now and the Penny-Arcade Expo over labour Day weekend.” That’s good news for fans of the studio behind the Resistance and Ratchet & Clank series, but much better news for anyone going to PAX 2010.

“We’re bringing our new game to a very special Penny-Arcade Expo panel on Saturday evening (September 4th), at 6:30pm in the Serpent Theatre,” the developer writes. “G4TV’s Adam Sessler will moderate a panel with key creative talent from Insomniac Games as we discuss (and demo!) our upcoming PlayStation 3 project.”

Could that PlayStation 3 project be Resistance 3, as possibly outed by (of all things) a billboard spotted during the filming of Columbia Pictures’ Battle: Los Angeles? Seems like a safe bet.

Insomniac Games is also working on a new franchise set in an all-new universe, one set to be published by EA Partners on multiple platforms. With multiple teams plugging away on multiple projects, Insomniac’s dry spell appears to be almost over.

I’ll Bet Chad Ochocinco Also Has An Edge Card

Owen Good — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:20:00 GMT

The Cincinnati Bengals receiver scoured the used bin at his local GameStop today. I’ll never again doubt his gamer bonafides. Seen via Twitter.

How To Add West And Wesker To Lost Planet 2

Mike Fahey — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:20:00 GMT

Previously unlockable only by having older game saves on your console’s hard drive, a generous Capcom has divulged the secret to unlocking Dead Rising’s Frank West and Resident Evil’s Albert Wesker to Lost Planet 2, game save-free.

Perhaps Lost Planet 2 didn’t live up to sales expectations because it required game saves from Resident Evil 5 and either Dead Rising or the original Lost Planet in order to unlock Albert Wesker and Frank West. Capcom fixes that issue by divulging the process to follow in order to unlock the two popular characters without the older data.

All you need to do is press the ‘Y’ or ‘triangle’ buttons at the ‘MY PAGE’ or ‘MY CHARACTER’ screens, press ‘X’ or ‘square’ to open a password box, and then enter the following codes: 72962792 for Wesker, and 83561942 for Frank West.

BAM! Now you can use Wesker and West in online multiplayer, as well as the campaign, as long as you’ve beaten every episode already.

Capcom mentions that you can also use the two skins in the new Rush Arena Mode DLC, released yesterday.

Unlock Frank and Wesker for Lost Planet 2 [Capcom]