Unrealistic expectations
N’Gai Croal has an interesting article up over at Next-Gen about the problem with the almost unanimously glowing previews most games receive. While some outlets feel pretty honest about the previews they give (see: 1up) others still have the promote-the-good, ignore-the-bad preview method in place. The most realistic previews seem to come from podcasts, if you ask me. The on the spot dialogue of recording a podcast lends itself well to people actually speaking their minds instead of talking something up.
Past and future of Bioshock
My undying love for Bioshock is well documented, so when I heard that they were making a sequel I was instantly excited and terrified: Excited for obvious reasons and terrified for the reasons Jim Sterling lists in this article. While the article is spoiler heavy, it’s a great read to prepare you for everything that could go wrong with Bioshock 2. Just for shits and giggles, there is also a really long review of the first Bioshock. It doesn’t give it a pass for any of its faults and gives some interesting suggestions for how to fix it. As much as I don’t agree with much of it, it’s always fun to read an opposing view.
Ubidaze
Ubisoft had their “gamer days” event this week and showed off a bunch of nifty upcoming games. The most mind blowing was clearly the return of Beyond Good & Evil, another one of those critical darlings that no one else ever really played. It was one of my favorite games of the past generation, although I can’t seem to find my copy. This trailer for it is supposedly done in the game engine; I’ll believe that when I see it in action. Next up is the new Prince of Persia, of which screens leaked a while back, but is now official. The trailer shows off the new prince and his new art design. Cell-shaded graphics are a huge dividing line among people, but I definitely fall on the pro side. Bring on the cartoonish prince; if I want realism I’ll play Assassin’s Creed (which is on the way via GameFly). Also coming out, but less high on my hype-o-meter, is a new Raving Rabbits game for Wii, Far Cry 2 (which does look pretty sexy), Tom Clancy’s EndWar (beta sign up is here) and HAWX (do they know what the X stands for yet?), Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway (it’s going to take a lot to make WWII fun again, but they look like they might pull it off), and Shaun White Snowboarding (no opinion). Trailers for all the games are up at Joystiq. They also announced a DS game that will help you quit smoking. The DS seems to be turning into life’s Swish Army knife, helping you stop smoking and teaching you French.
The dangers of delisting
After Microsoft announced that underperforming, old, bad XBLA games will be “taken off” the service. I put that in quotes because it is true that they will no longer show up on the long list of purchasable games, but if you have already purchased it you will always be able to redownload it. Also, you will always be able to recommend it to a friend so he/she can buy it. This brings to light the obvious question of “Why the hell take it off the list if it’s actually still on the servers?” The official answer is because the list is getting too big and cumbersome. This seems like a stupid way to go about fixing that problem, and Tadhg Kelly has a great opinion piece on Gamasutra offering reasons why this is a bad idea and some clever solutions for the problems Microsoft has created for itself. He also gets extra points for using the word “petard” at the end of the article.
PC gaming is dead sexy
Valve is consistently a shining beacon of light for PC gaming. In an industry that is called dead by many of its own, Valve continues to push new ideas that keep it moving forward. Their newest update will include a new feature called Steamcloud. This will enable you to save your game state and control configurations online through Steam. Also in the update is an auto system driver updater. I have no idea which drivers are out of date on this laptop and am very much looking forward to Valve helping me figure it out. I’ve said it before, but Valve is the only company keeping me the least bit connected to PC gaming these days.
I give it an 8.36
In its week-long series about game reviews, MTV Multiplayer blog has two developers on the opposing sides of the “Should game reviews have numerical scores?” debate. I’m with the nays (Dennis Dyack) on this one, but it’s interesting to see a developer’s reasoning why they should have them.
In case of zombies…
To end off the week, I give you the new Resident Evil 5 trailer. It’s bad ass. Nothing more needs to be said; just watch it.
Quote of the Week
“Instrument protagonist.” – Ludwig Kietzmann, on the Joystiq Podcast Episode 50, giving a new name suggestion for the multi-instrument Guitar Hero: World Tour.
This week’s Defeated is brought to you by: Viking Fjord. It’s like writing lubricant.
Defeating The Purpose 
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