SubTact

I co-sign with the sentiment that it's good to see that Killzone 2's getting some Sony marketing love final.  And even better it's a good ad as opposed to a Sony creepy baby ad or a MS disturbing "head blown" ad.

If they're putting in Gorillaz and Deltron 3030, they should have a track by the OG Dan the Automator concept group/album, Dr. Octagon, where Q-bert was on the cutz.

I'm thinking most of this game will be like Beatmania, with the equivalent to "solos" in GH/RB being the actual parts you "scratch".  I'm definitely interested in seeing if the mechanic is going to be based on the popular perception of how to scratch/cut or actually will be modelled after modern techniques (which are mostly heavy on the crossfader).

I'm very pessimistic as far as people that worked at EA Chicago taking the Tony Hawk games in a "new direction".  After all, EA Chicago was the developer that ruined the Def Jam series by adding some interesting concepts (environment events controlled by the music playing) but at the sacrifice of the core gameplay being very meh.  I really wish the Aiki developed Def Jam Fight For NY got at least one sequel that was more of the same (fighting/wrestling game mechanic similar to the THQ N64 Aiki wretling games, over the top/tongue in cheek story, and crazy amount of character customization options).  The only positive I see right now is that this time they're taking over a series that has been run into the ground, where as with Def Jam, it was a series that reached its high point in the previous game.

It's definitely a bit ridiculous for a company to purchase something, then cut everything that made it unique.  If they intend to keep the site going, it will not remain a "top tier" site without video programming and podcasts, and of course it won't be the same without certain personalities and writers.

The only thing I'm happy about, is that my EGM subscription was up this month, I was half thinking of canceling anyways because since James Mielke took over as editor, there has been so few stories/sections that really interested me, not to mention game related features/sections removed for a Blu Ray movie review section was very annonying.

Hopefully all the talented people let go bounce back, and can continue to make a living as game writers.  Maybe the Dan Hsu blog can turn into more of a full fledge site ala Giant Bomb?

I think MadExponent has it right, GTA4, MGS4, etc didn't need demos, as they were sequels to proven and successful franchise with huge fanbases, but Killzone if anything was a disappointing and a critically average game.  Saying this is the next Killzone game is probably digging it a bit of a hole from the start. 

This is an extremely dumb move from a strictly business perspective by Sony.  Demos for good games, sell copies of that game.

They should've checked with Jonathan Davies for funding Haze 2, since he thought Haze was "the shit", I mean he single handedly gave Fred Durst a music career, he probably has the bread to spare.  Or maybe that whole "Haze is the shit" thing was 100% marketing?

In all seriousness, it's terrible to see hardworking people lose their, but I'm willing to be the talented people will get other jobs.  I know there was a demand for game development professionals in the UK, at least pre-economic "crisis", I would imagine it's still there, just maybe not as urgent.

From the few game related Soulja Boy YouTube videos, it's pretty clear Soulja Boy likes playing video games.  I'd imagine he has a lot of downtime, so that probably makes for a lot of time to play the games he enjoys, and practice definitely goes a long way.

I wonder how old Totilo is?  Because I would've thought anyone in the age range of 28-35 that's been into video games for most of their livee, it would be pretty much a lock that they played Street Fighter 2 in the arcades or the SNES/Genesis versions.  I wasn't all that great at either version of SF2, but I pretty much knew how to do all the special moves for at least half the original 8.  SF2 and Mortal Kombat were integral parts of my youth.  I guess there's a chance he was just one of those guys who would was mostly playing JRPGs on the SNES instead.

It's premium content on the PC as well.  The only advantage the PC version has in content is the stuff produced by the GECK will be free and probably plentiful.

I was definitely sold on Operation Anchorage and and the continuation of the campaign DLC, I'm a bit skeptical on the Pitt though.

$10 for 5 hours (or more) is fine by me.  The price of a movie is around $10, pretty good $/Entertainment ratio.  And of course if you think it's too much loot, you can always NOT buy it.  Minus Shivering Isles, these DLC packs look like they're on a whole nother level compared to the Oblivion DLC.

Activision has certainly been trying to squeeze out as much loot out of the Guitar Hero franchise.

Harmonix's model is a lot better, putting a focus on DLC.  If a song I like or think would be fun to play in the game becomes available, I buy it.  Rock Band 2, to me, was not milking the franchise, as it added and tweaked a bunch of minor things, which added up to more than it's sum of parts.  Plus, it gives you an extra 84 tracks, the ability to bring most of your Rock Band 1 tracks with you for $5 and works with all the DLC you've bought.

If you look at the improvements/changes made between GH2 and GH3, it's basically boss battles (which I personally felt took away from the experience) and "power ups" in multiplayer battle modes.

I think the music mechanic of Rock Band has reached near perfection, but I believe there is still room for growth.  The stated goal of Rock Band was to create a compelling and accessible band/rock star simulator, and I see ways where this can go.  Basically add a RPG like layer to World Tour mode, where you're given more choices and more visible/enjoyable consequences of those choices.  Basically play out the career of your band. Make choices about nearly every aspect. 

There's a web game that's been around for a while called Project Rockstar (www.projectrockstar.com) where you're a manager who makes all the decisions about the bands you manage and your bands compete against other people's bands.  There are definitely some elements of this game that could be applied to a potential Rock Band RPG mode, regardless if it's just a single player mode.  The core music playing mechanic (aka playing songs) would basically amount to the "battle" system of RPGs, where there'd be a major hurdle of how to capture the leveling up character progression of a traditional RPG in a largely skill based mechanic, without killing what makes playing music in RB so enjoyable.

Anyways that's the gist of it, I'm not sure how deep/elabrate Harmonix will go, but I'm sure they are working on adding more choice, so you can have your band be exactly the kind of band you want them to be, and have it effect the game world visually.