It’s a strange world we live in where the changing of seasons isn’t so much marked by a shift in weather or temperature but a shift in our buying habits. Rather than the changing color of the leaves, fall is marked for gamers by the suffocating deluge of great games releases. Last week alone we saw Resistance 2, Gears of War 2, Quantum of Solace, EndWar and Valkyria Chronicles. This week it’s Mirror’s Edge, Red Alert 3, Wrath of the Lich King, Call of Duty: World at War, Animal Crossing: City Folk, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and Mortal Kombat vs. DC. And that’s just the AAA titles. Drowning would be putting what we’re going through lightly.

Because of this, we’re put into a rather interesting situation. Rather than playing the games we want, we have to choose which games to play now and which games to wait on. It’s almost a game unto itself, and like any great game it can be as simple or as deep as you want it to be. Sure you could just pick the games you want most and move on, but what fun is that? And herein lies the part where I explain to you why I haven’t played LittleBigPlanet;

I’m dying to play LittleBigPlanet. Like — dying dying. For once the chest pains aren’t exclusively related to my high-blood pressure and poor diet. But here’s the thing — if I play LBP now I’m not going to play anything else this holiday season. I know what I’m like, and having played the beta I know the potential LBP has to suck every last free minute out of me for the next hundred years. I had to think strategically, so I’ve chosen to put LBP off until the fall deluge of games is over. If not, you’re reading list of Jim-penned articles would consist exclusively of LBP raving and ranting, and while that’ll make great material during the dry spell in the new year, it’s not necessarily what you’re looking for right now.

So Sackboy, to you I say “sorry,” I had to make a grown-up decision. I waited more than a year for you. Another few months won’t kill us to be apart. It won’t be much longer now, as I’ve already tackled much of what I cared about this fall. The reviews of Fable 2, Rock Band 2 and MotorStorm: Pacific Rift are behind us now, and while I’m currently knee-deep in Gears of War 2 and Bejeweled Twist, still looking forward to Left 4 Dead next week, and would eventually like to tackle EndWar and Prince of Persia, I can’t help but feel that the time for us to be together is almost here. Besides, some time to yourself will give you a chance to grow. When we meet you’ll have so much more to offer in the way of user-generated content than you would have at launch. I look forward to our time together with eager anticipation.

Oh - and Fallout 3 can eat my hog. You’ll notice it wasn’t mentioned in any of my ramblings. That’s because I’m only somewhat interested and completely aware of the time-commitment involved. Something tells me I can hold off on that one until I’m looking for something to kill time with next April. Besides, I’ve only just started playing the original one (still available for free), so I’ve got a ways to go before I feel the need to tackle number 3.

Something strange has been happening at Nintendo. Maybe they’re getting some humility. Maybe it’s a success hangover. Maybe they just expect their products to sell themselves. Whatever it is, it seems they’ve abandoned the art of the sell. Case in point: Mario Super Sluggers.

Super Sluggers is Nintendo’s follow-up to the GameCube’s well-received Mario Superstar Baseball. Since their introuduction a few years back, Mario Sports titles have consistently performed well. They’ve become a staple in Nintendo’s financial diet. So why is it that in the days and weeks leading up to the release of Mario Super Sluggers I didn’t hear peep one about the game? If it wasn’t for my regular Nintendo newsletter, I wouldn’t have even known the game existed.

This isn’t the sole example of this either. Nintendo’s press conference at E3 didn’t show off anything that rocked the house, yet a few big announcements that got gamers engines revving slipped out quietly on the show floor or in private interviews. Miyamoto told us that a new Pikmin was in development. Their general press package let us know Rhythm Tengoku Gold was coming out stateside. It was recently revealed that both the Mario and Zelda teams are hard at work on their next games. How was all of this left out of the presser, and why?

In the 3 1/2 years since the DS’ release, Nintendo has gone from a distant last place to a commanding first. A lot of that owes it’s debt to the right kind of marketing in the right kind of places. So why does it feel like they’ve suddenly dropped the ball? Warioland: Shake It comes out next month. Anytime you want to start dropping notes about it to get some coverage, you just let us know Nintendo.

Agree or disagree with the changing length of games, there’s one thing we can all agree on: the first generation of lifelong gamers have grown up. In our 20’s and 30’s now we hold down jobs, build relationships, and start families — just like everybody else. But unlike generations prior, we’ve held on to the medium we fell in love with as children. But has the medium held on to us? No longer do we have room in our lives for week long GTA binges or endless nights of Final Fantasy. At best we may have four or five hours in the week to devote to the things that we love most. But what are developers doing to recognize this? Enter Quest for Booty.

Although episodic gaming and downloadable content have been around for a few years now, Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty marks a watershed moment in the growth of an industry. Rather than focusing on the next 30 hour/60 dollar retail endeavor, Sony saw fit to focus it’s energies on taking an established franchise and offering a retail-quality experience in episodic form.

Gamers such as myself who steered away from Ratchet & Clank Future due to the huge time commitment now have something in the R&C world to get excited about. 5-6 hours is roughly the maximum amount of time I can spend with a game until I move on to something else. It’s not pleasant, but it’s true. By offering complete experiences in a short amount of time, developers and publishers can get their hooks in you quickly, get new titles out faster, and spread out the number of viable options to gamers. After all — if all games came in at a six hour length, think of how much time you’d have available to check out other titles!

If Ratchet & Clank can successfully make the transition from full retail to episodic download, anything can. Just think about this years two biggest releases to date — Metal Gear Solid 4 and Grand Theft Auto IV. MGS4 is broken up into 4 very distinct chapters, each of which is about six hours in length. Wouldn’t it have been just as prudent to release this as four $15 episodes? Not only would it save the publisher on materials and shipping, but it would have likely increased the audience a sizeable amount. After all — would you be more likely to spend $60 on a game you’ve never played, or $15? Even if you don’t like it, you’ve only spent $15 and Konami has made $15 they wouldn’t have before.

Same goes for GTA IV. If it was broken up into 3 episodes (more than easy enough to do with the story involved), wouldn’t you have paid $20 a chunk? And after spending 10-20 hours with an episode, wouldn’t you like a break before the next chunk? Lord knows I would.

Of course, all of this pipe dreaming comes at a cost. Retailers would make a huge stink, lots of consumers don’t actually use the digital distribution services, etc.. But there’s no reason that these couldn’t all see a retail release after their network debuts. Full seasons of Sam and Max are available at retail after they’ve seen digital distribution. Besides — retailers haven’t kicked up a stink about all the DLC so far — as long as there’s a retail counterpart, are they really going to kick up a fuss?

Smaller versions mean lower prices, shorter development time, and more frequent releases. Digital distribution means an increased shelf life at a consistent price, rather than the 20-30% drop that happens after 6 months on a store shelf. It’s a win for gamers. It’s a win for developers. Would it be a win for you?

I’ve got a bit of a gripe. Judging by what I’ve read on the web this past week, it seems as though Braid is nothing short of the second coming. Bloggers and reviewers across the board can’t wait to get their tongues in the asshole of developer Jonathan Blow, offering up an appreciative rimmer for all his hard work. I know I’m not going to win any friends by saying this but I’m going to say it anyways: I don’t get it. I don’t like Braid, and I really don’t understand why anyone would.

If you’ve been a regular reader around here you know that I’ve been a proponent of small games for some time now. And yes, I’m quite excited that an indie title like this is getting the attention that some smaller titles deserve. But I just don’t understand why. It’s a platformer that essentially borrows the time mechanics from Prince of Persia and evolves them into puzzle solving mechanics. Sure it has a cool visual and audio polish, but the whole thing comes across as more smarmy than it does brilliant. Does anyone out there remember Good Will Hunting? Braid is kind of like that dickbag in the bar that was talking down to Ben Affleck until Matt Damon stepped in and put him in his place. I like my games like I like my Matt Damon. Nobody likes a smarmy dickbag, Braid. That’s you. You’re the smarmy dickbag.

And before people start trying to tell me that the game is too highbrow for me, let’s not forget that the text between levels comes across like a 14 year old girl writing in her room on a Friday night while her friends get put on the rotisserie behind the bowling alley for pot and bragging rights. It’s not good. It’s fucking terrible actually. We get it, you’re tormented.

Does it play alright? Sure. But despite what you’re reading out there I’m not the only one to feel that this game isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. A smattering of comments from our staff and readers;

Faith:I downloaded Braid and I found it more frustrating than anything. I can’t collect all the puzzle pieces on the first level on the trial version. Unless I’m not able to and I just missed that point.

Kevin: I was able to finish the first two worlds but I needed some help. Dan flew through the game. He “gets” it, I don’t.

Katana: There were some puzzles that didn’t seem to have any logical solution, so that’s a definite negative point for a platformer. So cool, but not totally my cup of tea, and definitely not something I feel would be worth $15 of my money.

Xerxes3rd: I had high hopes for Braid, and while the art style seemed interesting at first, it got old quickly. It didn’t seem to click with me, I guess. I also felt that the movement controls could be slightly tighter. It’s not a bad game, but it won’t be getting my money.

Katana, Faith and Kevin all had the same complaint: the puzzles are too hard/illogical. And that’s really my big beef with it as well. You can put in a cool soundtrack, a slick look, some classic gaming references, and a neat play mechanic all you want. If the game goes past fun and right up to frustrating in the first ten minutes, it’s just not a good game. How this is the highest-rated XBLA game on MetaCritic I’ll never know. N+ runs circles around it.

Jim vs. Everyone else on the internet, Round 1. Go!

It was like Christmas morning around here this morning. I woke up, opened my eyes, eagerly ran out to the living room and fired up the PS3 — Santa had already been, firmware 2.40 was ready for download! After a few minutes of downloading and installing I was ready to go. So now that it’s here what did I think of the long awaited two-four-O?

In-game XMB, trophies, custom soundtracks — what’s not to love? A few things actually. In-game XMB is just that – in game. Doesn’t pop up during DVD’s, blu-ray movies, or PS1/PS2 games. Just PS3 games. A weird decision that I hope they’ll rectify down the road. As well, custom soundtracks need to A) be on the PS3 HDD (no streaming from PC like on the 360) and B) be supported by each individual title. That means that custom soundtracks are a feature built into the game, rather than into the system. If a developer doesn’t want to add support for it, they’re not going to.

Now that my complaints are out of the way, let me just go on record as saying I love 2.40. Here’s why;

• I can check on my downloads in game
• there’s a clock available at all times (seriously — that’s huge to me)
• google search is available form the XMB — this will actually get me using the browser
• …and then there’s the trophies

Trophies are going to become a real problem for me. My traditionally dickish nature leads to an unacceptably competitive spirit that I have trouble keeping in check. It took me more than a year to accept that gamerscore didn’t matter, and in that year I was brutal in my attempt to be the king of my friends list. Now that I’ve kicked the habit, Sony has to go and dangle sweet lady H T in front of my face — and I’m giving in. Although I still don’t fully understand their system yet (rather than being a numerical point value to each trophy your combined successes somehow level you up), I’m looking forward to figuring it all out.

And again — the introduction of trophies has proved something that I had said long ago. The big benefit to a achievement/trophy system is that it might get you trying games you otherwise wouldn’t have played. Example: Super Stardust HD. I had purchased it quite some time ago, couldn’t really get into it, and it has sat there on my HDD gathering dust ever since. But now that it’s the only game to support trophies? I fired it up this morning and can’t stop playing — not just because of the trophies, but because I had the incentive to give this game more of a fair shake. It turns out it’s really good. I loves me my twin stick shooters (I still say Blast Factor is the best of the bunch) and this definitely ranks up there.

On a side note, who doesn’t think that sales of Super Stardust HD are going to go through the roof this week?

So, in summary — clocks, google, downloads, trophies, soundtracks, awesome.

Over the years I’ve come to learn that I’m a lot of things to a lot of people. Father, husband, victim, defendant, cellmate, etc. Yes sir, Jim Squires is a regular Renaissance Man. Now I can add hypocrite to that list.

A few weeks ago I got up on my soapbox and told you why I wouldn’t be buying Metal Gear Solid 4. I was being the pretentious dick who wanted to abandon the possibility of a great game experience just so that I could focus on smaller and independent titles. What I neglected to factor in at that time was that A) I’m a weak, weak man, and B) I can both have my cake and eat it too. You see, there’s no reason why I can’t balance my time between AAA titles like MGS4 and off-the-radar games.

A few different factors lead to my decision to pick up Metal Gear a scant three days after writing my last post, all of which can be heard in BitCast #47. Why I picked it up isn’t really all that relevant. What’s relevant is that I caved to peer pressure (thank god — the game is fucking fantastic) and in turn lied to you all. Whoopsie! So officially my apologies go out to all.

In an effort to cleanse my soul I decided to make a relatively exciting purchase in the world of smaller games. Hopefully it’ll help offset my karmic emissions. So what is this mystery purchase I speak of? A DS homebrew card.

There’s a thriving community of homebrew developers out there creating amazing original content for the Nintendo DS, but unless you have a programmable card you just can’t get on the boat. After reading the excellent DS Fanboy cart comparison, I decided to go with the M3 Real. It’s essentially the R4, and it ships with a rumble pak for the same price.

Every now and then the card seems to freeze up, but it’s really not too often. I’ve had the card for a week, been using it about 4 hours a day, and have had games freeze on me twice. All in all a worthwhile purchase. I’d love to tell you where i got it from, but they’re shipping was for shit so they’re not getting a free plug.

Thus far I’ve grown an addiction to Still Alive DS, been moderately frustrated by the Amplitude clone AmplituDS, and have been trying to find an easy way to convert video to DPG for use on the DS. Anybody out there have any recommendations on what I should be checking out?

Lately it seems as though we’ve had a bit of a hate on for Metal Gear Solid 4 here at theBBPS. In all honesty nothing could be further from the truth. Ryan and I were both part of the Metal Gear Online beta, and have both been looking forward to the launch of MGS4 for as long as I can remember. Just take a listen to our earlier bitcasts — every time someone asked me what upcoming games I was looking forward to MGS4 was at the top of my list.

Sure Dan might have given up on the franchise and Kevin might have given up on the fanboys, but that doesn’t mean anybody here actually hates Metal Gear. I’m sure if you asked Dan even he’d admit that although it’s not his cup of tea, it’s a brilliantly crafted franchise for those who are into this sort of thing. So how did it come to this — that one of the two guys here on the site who’ve been actively salivating over MGS4 for months now has decided to give this game a pass?

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