Video Games: August 2005 Archives

I saw the most bizarre thing on this week’s episode of On The Spot. The boys at EA Tiburon were visited by Governor Jeb Bush (since they are located in Florida). They made a special movie where they put Jeb and George W. in Madden 2006. Jeb was on the Miami Dolphins and George W. played for the Cowboys, of course. You can see the full movie here on EA's web site.

Next week, Sony will release the PSP firmware update that will allow us to browse the Internet through the WiFi connection. Can’t wait, and I saw a post about how to use MSN Messenger through the PSP. I guess it also works for the cell phone, but it might be interesting if you need to send messages on the go. Next week I am going to this website to login and tell my wife when I am coming home.

Tiger Tuesdays are back at IGN while they countdown the days to the release of Tiger Woods 2006. They have an article and movies about how they mo-capped Tiger’s latest swing. His swing change was pretty controversial last year, as he had a dry spell, but now after winning the Master's and the British Open at St. Andrews, I bet Tiger feels vindicated. Madden always gets the glory for being a top-seller, but if you look at the charts, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 is still in the top ten, almost a year after it was released. Oh yeah, IGN has a new SSX: On Tour movie up, featuring the skiing tour mode. I wasn’t too sure about the skiing mode, but this video makes it look very exciting. You can do just as many tricks with skis as you could with snowboards and you get fresh hip-hop music as well. Nuff said.

I think Nintendo’s finally found a killer app for their new portable, Nintendo DS. Personally I have no attraction to this console. Despite the fact that the dual screens and stylus touch feature are cool, I just can’t see myself playing old games like Super Mario from the 64 days. The Sony PSP just has edgier content, like Burnout, Midnight Club, and the upcoming GTA game.

However, if there was anything that might make want to buy a DS, it’s Nintendogs, which comes out August 22. It’s a cross between virtual pets and The Sims. You raise the dog from a puppy, train it, teach it voice commands like “sit”. You need to play with it everyday, because if you leave the DS turned off for a week or so, the doggy might run away (they eventually come back with a gift to make you feel guilty). You can play games like catch, fetch, jump rope, etc. I can see kids really getting into this—especially if their parents won’t let them have dogs in the house.

Flash demo of Nintendogs at play.
Mercury News article on Nintendogs launch.

The magazines and web sites have given us a pretty good clue for the games of Fall 2005: Burnout Revenge, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Ultimate Spider-Man, Tiger Woods 2006, LA Rush, Half Life 2, SSX: On Tour, Far Cry Instincts, X-Men Legends 2, and Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects are some of the ones I’ll be watching for on the Xbox. Some of them are slam dunks, particularly Burnout Revenge and SSX: On Tour. But what about the PSP? There’s a new wave of games coming for that and some of them look better on the PSP than on the console.

X-Men Legends 2 is a perfect example. I’ve read some articles that say XL2 will have extra content on the PSP. The flashback missions, where you fight classic villains from X-Men comics, will only be available on the PSP. If it’s as good as the first X-Men game, then I will get it for PSP. And while it’s a debut title, I am thinking the same thing for Marvel Nemesis. I may not sit down and play a fighting game endlessly, but while I’m on the go, why not? I want to see what happens when the Thing fights Wolverine, but it should be a quick and fun experience.

Tiger Woods PGA 2006 is a different case. I’ve played the console version for the past three years. This year’s edition will have some new courses and tour mode. But I might blow off the Xbox version if EA fixes the load time issue on the PSP. I have similar thoughts about NFS: Most Wanted. Burnout Legends has some exclusive PSP content and it looks highly optimized, so I have to buy that. I think the sign of the future is what EA is doing for Madden NFL 2006 on the PSP, with the ability to transfer game files on their network back to the console.

I love racing games and the Midnight Club series is one of the best. It not only pioneered the street racing phenomenon in video games, it built upon the “wide open city” concept that was introduced in Microsoft’s Midtown Madness (appropriately enough as the developers worked on that title before the company was purchased by Rockstar). Gamers race at breakneck speeds through various checkpoints, but the route you take to get there is determined by you, unlike typical racers where the driver is boxed into a predetermined route. Midnight Club 2 was totally great, especially with the driving scenes in Paris, where you could launch your car over the Louvre’s pyramid to get airborne.

The third iteration has a variety of improvements, mostly in car customization. You can buy name brand vehicles, upgrade them with performance parts, and detail them to your heart’s content (just like NFS: Underground). There are seemingly endless challenges, because you not only race import tuners, but also luxury cars, muscle cars, motorcycles, and SUVs. I got the Xbox version in April and I am still only 50% complete through the career mode after playing over 20 hours, an incredible value for any game. My only complaint about the game is the cities that were selected (San Diego, Atlanta, and Detroit) are fairly flat and dull compared to MC2’s LA, Paris and Tokyo. There are still a number of secret ramps you will find to fly over buildings and get the jump on your competitors. The AI in the game is great, providing a variable challenge depending on your skill level.

When the PSP version came out, the reviews were unanimous: it was perhaps too great a port of the console! Slow load times killed my enthusiasm and I almost passed it up. I finally did get it on EBay for a good price and I am glad I did. The PSP version of MC3 is indeed almost an exact duplicate of the console versions. Gone are the days when portable games were a mere shadow of the original. The PSP’s hardware and screen quality are amazing when racing through the streets; you would swear this is the PS2 version. The load times are worth it (for me at least) to race through such beautiful levels. There are minor popups in the horizon here and there, but it doesn’t really bother me as the races are very exciting. The load times are 60-70 seconds when you load a new race, go to the garage, or go back to cruise mode through the city. One thing the reviewers didn’t mention is that you typically repeat most races 2-3 times (beyond the beginning levels) in the Midnight Club series, as you need to find the best route to win the race. So in my case, I’ll load a level, race it for 5-10 minutes, then go on to the next race. Cruise mode seems a waste and the developers should have eliminated it entirely: I only use it to find my next race or championship. The menus take a second or two to load in the garage, but all of the customization features are here, as are the movies where the mechanics talk to you and explain various game features. About the only thing I haven’t seen is the babes who walk in front of the cars and start the races. It is curious that they eliminated this but kept some of the other details.

The soundtrack from the console game is also present. I wish they had a feature where I could play this music outside of the game. Another feature that Rockstar should have implemented is some kind of relationship with the console version. It would have been great to upload my car from the console to the PSP and vice versa. One word of warning: the races in the MC series take place at night, and if you’re in a bright or outdoor location, you won’t be able to see them. I’ve typically been playing MC3 on a BART train in a strategic location to avoid sunlight.

No doubt we’ll have more racers coming in the next few months that will improve on PSP performance, such as Burnout: Legends and Need for Speed: Most Wanted. But if you’re a Midnight Clubber, you’ll probably love this portable version. Nuff said.