Submitted on: 06/27/2008 by
Erik Westfall
The last week has been full of fun for video game news. A Connecticut state senator decided to raise a non-existent rape scene in Grand Theft Auto IV. John McCain tried to act like the young hipster he wishes he was and released a game for Facebook that is essentially a re-mastered (also known as crappy remake) version of Space Invaders with presidential candidate “information” tacked on at the end if you manage to win.
But with all of that said, you probably came here for your weekly hit of sports gaming news. This week was another busy one, so let us look at the most noteworthy pieces of the week.
Graphically, these screenshots are showing a solid amount of polish and really do show off that wow factor in the players we all look for each year. Players are not in completely unnatural poses, the graphical representations themselves are good, and all in all it looks like a lot of care was taken with the players.
The problems are things one cannot help but also notice and worry a bit about. The first thing that sticks out as a huge problem is something that was brought up just last week about NCAA Football 09, the fans. Sure it has no effect on the gameplay itself, but it is still worrisome that the fans look much like the cardboard cutout fans from the Playstation 2 days.
There is one shot in particular that is very concerning. In shot number 488 in the link above, one particular offensive lineman’s arm towards the center of the shot is clearly going in one point on the defensive lineman’s arm and out another. This isn’t apparent throughout most of the other screenshots, but the fact that it appears at all is definite cause for concern as it could mean there could still be some collision detection issues with Madden again.
Something about this image defies the laws of physics.
Forza 3 reportedly pushes the capacity of DVDs
Turn-10 has already made waves these last couple of weeks and all without an official statement. Rumors began sprouting last week that there was to be so much content packed into the upcoming Forza 3 that the game would ship with two discs. To say a two disk game is a potentially horrifying development in this day and age is an understatement.
"No matter how Turn-10 shapes things, a two disk Forza 3 will upset a number of gamers."
The news of a two disk game was followed up by a second rumor that quieted some of the near riotous reactions to the initial rumor. This update pointed to the fact that instead of putting important pieces of the game on both discs, which would have prompted an endless need to change discs, the core gameplay would be on the first disc while the less necessary features would be included on the second.
No matter how Turn-10 shapes things, a two disk Forza 3 will upset a number of gamers. The thing that is most shocking of all though is the fact that people are surprised by this. Hideo Kojima stated a number of times during development of Metal Gear Solid 4 that even Blu-Ray discs were having issues containing the sheer glut of information needed to run the game. If a Blu-Ray disc can’t contain a huge mass of information, how can a DVD be expected to magically pull that rabbit out of its hat?
Due to my uncanny inability to find a store willing to sell me an early copy of the game, I sadly do not have impressions for your viewing pleasure. After being told by my local Blockbuster of their “strict adherence to the release dates” and no other store willing to break it, I had to make the depressing ride home with nothing but a desire to play the game. This made worse by seeing at least three people on my Xbox Live friends list playing the game. I have been left with a deep seated hatred for them.
"It has been a while since I was last able to say I was really excited for a tennis game but Top Spin has my hopes up."
That deep seated hatred aside, this is a game that may finally break me back into tennis video games which are not called Wii Sports for the first time since the days of Virtua Tennis back on the Dreamcast. Sure, Roger Federer’s face is even rounder than usual, but that is a minor issue in the grand scheme of things.
The gameplay for the game looks extremely tight and while there seems to be a bit of a learning curve, especially for one like me whose last foray into video game tennis of this sort was over five years ago, it is not something insurmountable. It has been a while since I was last able to say I was really excited for a tennis game but Top Spin has my hopes up. After being shut down in the buying lines, it had better be.
Working...