The three speakers on the panel were Eric Hobson, the Managing Director for Connect 2 Media, Justin Cooney, Senior ISV Account Manager for Sony Computer Entertainment America and Fredrik Liliegren, CEO of Antic Entertainment. They lent their two cents on a series of studies and research collected by EEDAR with regards to the effect of critical analysis on videogame sales and perception. Will a game sell fewer copies if game critics dislike it?

The results won’t surprise you in the least, because as we’ve all seen countless times, the score a video game is given directly affects sales of the game overall. Publishers have known this for years, which led to events like the Kane and Lynch scandal. Where it’s interesting is that the actual enjoyment factor of a game goes down based upon negative reviews. People in the study groups tended to give the game lower scores after hearing that review sites had felt the game was substandard. Conversely, when the applicants were told the game had received mostly positive reviews,  they in turn seemed to enjoy it more, and felt that they’d be happier to share it with others.

Surprisingly, EEDAR doesn’t only measure whether people like one game or not, but instead play every game released, and dissect it like something out of a horror movie. They break the complex nature of a game down into a massive list of themes, design choices, and gameplay nuances that become a list of traits that usually measure out to about 50,000 per game. From this data, companies can look at a list of games that have received Game of the Year status across the board, search your data for shared traits, and go from there.

Of course, people’s tastes change, so this is why EEDAR is always playing new games and refreshing their data pool, so they can keep track of gameplay types and design styles that were present in titles that did favourably, and predict how a game will be received based on its traits before release.

They went on to talk about how the divergence in review scores varied per media and why videogame reviewers were trusted over movie reviewers. If the review was about a movie, the score could deviate by up to 16 deviations in either direction, whereas game critics tend to only spread 8 deviations, meaning the average score stays much closer to any individual rating from a given site. This is important, because a large difference means the audience does not know who to believe. Movies tend to be judged on a preliminary “face value”, such as a renowned actor, which creates a powerful bias. If a critic loves a director, but doesn’t like the subject matter, he may still give the director pity points. On the other hand, the game industry still does not have that many stars. Gears of War’sDude Huge Cliff Bleszinski and Assassin’s Creed’s Jade Raymond are the first couple of examples of the slow progression toward developer fanbases, where gamers will automatically purchase a game on the assumption it will be good instead of review scores. This is present in the swath of Call of Duty games. They can be sold without having much positive critical backing, and still be swallowed up like hotcakes. Luckily for the good name of our culture though, if they DO suck, then they’ll be blacklisted and trust with the publisher will be powerfully damaged. Activision seems to understand this, and subtly tweaks and manipulates just enough of the formula to keep the game feeling “new” each time, thus avoiding possible bankruptcy-inducing loathing in the process.

The common perception by the community at large is that, at the end of the day, your friends’ opinions of a given game will always hold more sway than a critic’s. This is a fallacy, because who tells many of your friends that a game is good or bad? People like us.

Cue lighting strike!

The panelists went on to delve into the emergence of “free-to-play” model games, like the tripe occupying Facebook; the Farmvilles and Mafia Wars that adorn the side banners of the page. Apparently, “tripe” isn’t the best name for them, because they are actually an important source of cold, hard cash. That first dollar you invest becomes one or two dollars a week, and the hour you invested becomes a nightly excursion to your computer at 3am (to make sure your resources have prospered adequately), and the seemingly inviting, cute little animals become sparkly-eyed strangleholds upon your free time. This has worked overwhelmingly well in places like Asia, because the free-to-play and “freemium” game models are the most lucrative way to create a return on your investment. As people become hooked on the simple, accessible games you provide, you can ask for more and more money and expect minimal resistance, so long as it’s their choice to pay.

I don’t care for those games much. They’re a dangerous and addictive aspect of the genre, and I didn’t roll very high on my willpower score. Many developers understand this attraction, and use it as a safe model for income, and are considering switching to this model for all games. If two identical games are released, and one is free-to-play, statistically that build will outsell the other version. The whole drive of the free-to-play model is the incentives you present with the premium content. Choose the right mix, and you can easily attract gamers looking for a piece of the action. Alternatively, many gamers don’t even finish games anymore so a model where you charge per level is alluring for developers. Make each level an even fraction of the upfront price and you can increase sales, because anyone could drop 5 bucks on the first level of a premium game to see whether they like it or not. It’s like a game demo without the whole having-to-stop nonsense.

As the panel drew to a close Justin Cooney, the representative from Sony, stated that several free-to-play games were in the planning stages for the PlayStation Network, and could start appearing over the next few years. Microsoft apparently has kept a rather tight hold on their marketplace, and no such games are planned for release upon their network.

At the end of the day, this panel certainly opened my eyes to the power of the phrase “the devil is in the details”. The details are what make your game stand out from all others, create loyalty or revenue, and keep them coming back for more. How you deal with that devil is what makes or breaks you as a designer.

Now, although you can download the client today, you won’t be able to participate in the beta until January 4, 2010. But look on the bright side: by downloading the client today, you can spend more time exploring what MAG has to offer come January. This final wave of the beta will close on January 10, 2010.

Further details can be found on the PlayStation Blog. Start downloading, soldier!

Revenge of the Wounded Dragons is a beat ‘em up developed by Artificial Mind & Movement.  It stars the player (or players, in 2p offline co-op) in a funk-tracked homage to old kung-fu flicks of yore.  Punch, kick and occasionally weaponize through four acts to get revenge on your father’s death and/or sister’s kidnapping.

It looks decent, sounds pretty good, but the gameplay leaves something to be desired.  Animation is a bit stiff and the combat is not varied enough.  There are a few different punches and kicks, but no combos, so fights involve rolling to a side and taking on dudes one at a time.  Invincible Tiger did the whole kung-fu throwback thing a few months back with much more combat variety for only $5 more.

Still, even though I could low punch my way through the whole first act (never underestimate a punch from the crouch), it was kind of fun.  There was running and jumping, item gathering, and collectible collecting, plus the whole sense of progression.  Co-op would probably be pretty fun, as one player can hold dudes and let their partner beat on them.  I liked the finishing moves.  The game has some sort of mini-game stuff hidden in it, but I didn’t unlock any.

Those really jonesing for some beat ‘em up action, co-op or non, could get some decent value out of this.  Otherwise, it might be wise to wait for a demo.  Hopefully next week?

PixelJunk Shooter is the fourth in Q-Games’s PixelJunk series.  These are games based around established, usually simple gameplay concepts, presented with unique style and soundtracks.  I’ve been a big fan of all of them, even if sometimes they lean more towards art than game.

Shooter is a cave-flyer.  Pilot around caves, rescuing little scientist/miner dudes while occasionally shooting at bad guys and solving little puzzles.  The game plays in 2D, uses both analog sticks to move/aim, and two shoulder buttons to shoot and deploy the grabber… thingy.  The real highlight of the game is the way it deals with fluids, and those sorts of puzzles just seem to get more insane the deeper I delve.

I really like the look and sound of the game.  It’s colourful but muted, with each area having a theme.  The soundtrack is sort of trip-hoppy and kind of hard to nail down, but seems appropriate from what I’ve heard so far.  Unlike some of the other PixelJunk games, the actual gameplay is very approachable and immediately accessible.  Plays great, looks great, and sounds great too. What’s not to enjoy?

The game supports two player co-op, but offline only.  The only online interaction is leaderboard support.  I’m only just at the start of the second act, but it looks like the game is three acts long, with five levels and a boss fight in each.  So, not the longest game in the world.

Shooter has in-game support for video recording and can auto-upload to YouTube.  I captured a video of myself playing a whole level, for those who want to see the game in action.

Click here to watch the video

I love stylish little titles like this.  I’m a little unsure of how much content is here, but I’ve had a great time so far, and am recommending Shooter.

Anyone else tried out any of these?

Graphically, the game tries very hard to present itself in a realistic sense, with detailed tracks, gorgeous cars modeled inside and out, and an absolutely awesome sense of speed.  The presentation stumbles now and again, with the damage modeling looking oddly blocky at times.  Vehicles tend to look less realistic the more banged up they get.  The insides of the vehicles are quite impressive, showing off working gauges, meters, mirrors and the hands and arms of the driver.  A cool depth-of-field effect gets used when the vehicle goes at a good clip and the interior blurring out as the driver focuses on the track.  Unfortunately, the view’s so far back in this mode that under half the screen shows the actual track.  As much as I liked the interior camera, I played using the hood camera.

On the subject of cameras, the game frequently has trouble with its exterior views, especially during replays.  The camera will clip through the ground, pieces of scenery, or even the cars themselves.  The physics engine will act up oddly now and again, with vehicles flipping up into the air – seemingly weighing nothing.  Upon the conclusion of a race, when the AI takes over the player car, it sometimes immediately slams into a wall.  These are all minor points, but they contributed to a detachment from any sense of realism the game was trying to present.

The sound of all these cars zooming around manages to be pretty impressive, with different effects for each one.  The roar of supercar engines contributes to the sense of speed, and everything being just barely under the player’s control.  The driver makes some odd little grunts when cars bump about that I found a little distracting and silly.  SHIFT has to have a whopping ten tracks of music, a bizarre mix of tunes that get heard mostly in 15 second clips at the end of races while advancing through the reward screens.  Drift events play music all the time, further alienating this mode.

The actual racing engine under SHIFT’s hood is good.  It wants to be something along the lines of a Gran Turismo / Forza game, with real-life courses, real vehicles and racing that requires knowledge of racing lines and proper braking instead of crazy powerslides and drifts.  There is even a colour-coded racing line: green for speed up, yellow for coast, red for brake.  But it also tries to be approachable, offering different racing models to appeal to different gamers.  On the Casual profile, the game auto-brakes and helps with turning.  So much so that I could do full laps on top-tier cars while keeping the gas all the way down.

I appreciate what Slightly Mad Studios is trying to do with choices like this, but it really does feel like the game isn’t sure what it is supposed to be.  It’s immensely satisfying to take the Corkscrew on Laguna Seca at speed and have the little Corner Mastered message pop.  But that’s all diminished when I can get it during the first lap on the track – ever – because of the amount of help the game gives.  On the Experienced or Pro models, the game feels really good and offers a fairly consistent challenge, at least as far as car versus track.  I’ve read comments about the controls feeling sluggish, but I either didn’t notice, or got used to the feel of the game too quickly.

The core of the SHIFT experience is the idea of Driver Level.  Start at level 1 and progressing to level 50 over the course of the game, the player unlocks more garage spots, vinyl bits, rims and paint job types.  Every now and again an Invitational Event will open up, offering cash for races a little outside of the current tier, and biased towards the player’s racing style.  It all sounds pretty impressive, but it essentially boils down to much the same to Metropolis Street Racer’s / Project Gotham Racing’s Kudos system.  Do certain things during a race to get points and collect enough points to level up.  Precision points are awarded for clean overtakes, following the racing line, and taking turns perfectly.  Aggression points are awarded for dirty overtakes, tapping opponents, making them spin out, and drafting.  Rewarding players for playing like jerks is always a recipe for disaster.

There are online support and Quick Races, but the bulk of the game is found in Career mode.  It all starts with an empty garage, an inexperienced driver, and a test lap.  Depending on how well that goes, the game suggests an assortment of difficulty options, gives a bit of cash and sends the player on his way.  Over the course of the next 15 hours or so, the player progresses through five tiers of races against more and more demanding opponents, unlocking features and bonus bits as his experience level rises.  By no means a bad system at all, for the most part.

Slightly Mad has packed a lot of races into Career mode – easily over a couple hundred.  Apart from achievement / trophy hunting, there’s really no reason to do all these races, although there are a good variety of events to be had.  I was plugging through the game, going for completion points, and had managed to unlock the final tier of the game (effectively tier five) halfway through the races on tier two.  I could have been picking and choosing the races I enjoyed most and made the same progress.  Given that there’s way too many unpleasant races, this is the best course of action.

Everything about the Drift events, which involve sliding wildly around a few turns and getting points, seem shoehorned into a game that doesn’t want any part of it.  Competing in these events is just a matter of scoring the most points after three heats on a short section of track. In addition, only eleven vehicles are Drift compatible.  Every single one of these events involved chain-restarting until I managed a good run.  I never really felt in control, and although I started to develop an ability for controlling slides after a few dozen attempts, it was never fun.

This theme of ‘never fun’ crops up again and again towards the end of Career mode.  The AI ramps up and Rivals start coming into play, with the first 20 seconds of every race degrading into an absolute mess that would make David Cronenberg proud.  There’s still good racing to be had, but it’s all way too aggressive, spoiling the illusion of working up the ranks of more and more experienced drivers.  I’ve seen more civilized behaviour on the Krachenwagen.  All this ridiculousness came to a head in two events:  an Endurance race that took place around a figure eight track, and a Duel Driver race-off where my opponent was using a vehicle type that was banned in the current event.

As I put more and more time into the game, I started noticing these little odd omissions.  There’s no real Time Trial mode that lets one car do infinite laps to practice a course.  There’s no support for Ghost replays, or proper support for best lap times in a certain car tier.  The leaderboards that the game offers off of the Career mode events only ever show Friends.  During a race, all the split times are hidden in the upper-left, with no individual splits showing up after laps or track sections.  These are mostly all basic racing game functions that didn’t seem to make the cut.  Was attention being focused elsewhere?  Was it all an attempt to make the game more approachable to the casual, old-school NFS fan?

Collisions in the game make the whole screen go all black-and-white and blurry, which is a cool effect, except that it can really shift the emphasis off racing.  If I get a good bump on me during the first turn of the race, I’m off the track and odds are it’s going to take a few moments to be able to see again, get back on the track, and get up to speed.  This more or less sums up my experience with online play.  The performance of it was fine, but I felt I wasn’t playing the game right.  Furthermore, I couldn’t find any way to filter my opponents based on their driving settings, which can make recovering from a ‘take out’ much more straightforward.

Which is a shame, because one of the online modes is pretty cool.  Driver Duel matches up players in one-on-one matches, similar to the Rival events in Career.  The game chooses a random car, a random track, and sets up three races, with alternating players having an advantage, then an even, rolling start.  The first player to two race wins (five seconds ahead or cross the line first) takes the whole event.  But the cool part is the Naruto: Rise of a Ninja style tier system that this mode uses.  As the player goes into this event over and over, they will rise through standings and face opponents of a similar ranking.  It’s a dynamic sort of tournament mode that seems like a good fit with most of what Slightly Mad is trying to do.  I hope we continue to see it in future games.

I know I’m being really hard on the game, but I did have fun with it, despite the 20-30 second load times for races and other assorted quibbles.  I feel the whole series is at a transition point right now, with EA and Slightly Mad trying to bridge the gap.  The realistic controls and closed-circuit tracks will frustrate traditional fans of the series, who just want a good arcade-style race.  The more casual elements of the game will frustrate people looking for a more realistic experience, leaving no one truly happy with what we have here.

Need for Speed: SHIFT is a summer blockbuster.  Lots of bang, flash and wow that really does manage to impress, but it all comes across as shallow and engineered to move, and will probably be forgotten in a few months’ time.  I’d recommend it to racing game fans who’re not averse to a little mingling of arcade and simulation style racing.  Big kudos to Simply Mad for something so close to awesome for their first high-definition console title, and let’s hope they find the perfect niche for the undoubted sequel.

WipEout HD – $14.99 (originally $19.99)
Flock! – $7.49 (originally $14.99)
Savage Moon – $4.99 (originally $9.99)
Crash Commando – $4.99 (originally $9.99)
PixelJunk Eden – $4.99 (originally $9.99)
Brain Challenge – $4.99 (originally $9.99)
3 on 3 NHL Arcade – $4.99 (originally $9.99)

Once again, the sale will only last until next week’s update, so if you’ve had your eye on one of these titles and have been waiting for the price to drop, be sure to grab it before it’s too late. I think I’m finally going to grab a copy of WipEout HD, but I wish its sale price was just a little more generous.

Also arriving on the PlayStation Store this week is Namco Museum Essentials, bringing five classic Namco arcade titles – Pac-Man, Galaga, Dig Dug, Dragon Spirit, and a visually enhanced version of Xevious – straight into your living room. Complete with PlayStation Home rewards and trophies, Namco Museum Essentials is a great way to play the 80’s.

Additional downloads include:

PSone Classics PS3 / PSP

Spec Ops: Ranger Elite ($5.99)
Immerse yourself in one of the first realistic military tactical combat simulators to be released. Choose your two-man team from a squad of five highly trained specialists: machine gunner, grenadier, rifleman, close quarters specialist, and sniper. Choose to complete your mission through stealth or all-out assault as you’re in control of an elite team of U.S. Army Rangers.

Game Demos

Trash Panic Demo
FUEL Demo
Namco Museum Essentials Trial

Add-on Game Content

LittleBigPlanet – Ghostbusters Costume Pack ($5.99)
LittleBigPlanet – Ghostbusters Uniform Costume ($1.99)
LittleBigPlanet – Ghostbusters StayPuft Marshmallow Man Costume ($1.99)
LittleBigPlanet – Ghostbusters Slimer Costume ($1.99)
LittleBigPlanet – “No Ghosts” Logo Costume ($1.99)

Cross Edge – Bromidic Pack (free)
Cross Edge – Defense Is Offense Pack 1 (free)
Cross Edge – Defense Is Offense Pack 2 (free)

Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires – Desert Armor Set (Men) DLC (free)
Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires – Lion Armor Set (Men) DLC (free)
Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires – Paladin Armor Set (Women) (free)
Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires – Shaman Armor Set (Women) (free)

NCAA Football 2010 – Add-Ons (x17) ($1.25 – $12.50)

Guitar Hero World Tour
Anything ‘Cept The Truth – Eagles of Death Metal ($1.99)
Cherry Cola – Eagles of Death Metal ($1.99)
I Only Want You – Eagles of Death Metal ($1.99)
Eagles of Death Metal Track Pack ($5.49)

Rock Band
Dissident Aggressor (Live) – Judas Priest ($1.99)
Eat Me Alive (Live) – Judas Priest ($1.99)
Prophecy (Live) – Judas Priest ($1.99)
Judas Priest Pack 01 ($5.49)

Hang You from the Heavens – The Dead Weather ($1.99)
No Hassle Night – The Dead Weather ($1.99)
Treat Me Like Your Mother – The Dead Weather ($1.99)
The Dead Weather Pack 01 ($5.49)

All Going Out Together – Big Dipper ($0.99)
She’s Fetching – Big Dipper ($0.99)
Younger Bums – Big Dipper ($0.99)
Big Dipper Pack 01 ($2.99)

And at around 4:30PM EDT yesterday, the Xbox 360 surpassed that goal, unlocking Coral Sea and Air Superiority for everyone on that platform.  I was online, playing like a madman with everyone else, but I was not the lucky (skillful?) one to score the 43,000,000th kill.  That honour goes to Xbox LIVE user jkasapi, from Peterborough, England.  He wins a bunch of branded 1943 gear, including a t-shirt and running shoes.  And undoubtedly a billion friend requests and horrifying voice messages.

So what’s Air Superiority?  Take all of 1943’s flags away, put everyone in a large map made of mostly water, and give everyone a plane.  Then let them dogfight it out for control of the center of the map.  Cool stuff for people who’re looking for emphasis on dogfighting.  Given that I’m absolutely terrible with planes (I have now failed three times to use a parachute when bailing out), I’ll be sticking to running around lobbing grenades at Scouts.  Thankfully, Coral Sea is not in rotation with the game’s other three maps, but accessed through a separate main menu option.

PlayStation 3 users still have a bit of a ways to go to unlock the Coral Sea map for their platform.  Last I checked, they’re around 25.8 million kills.

Some stats, for those who like numbers:  The Xbox 360 averaged about 45,000 kills per hour.  The PlayStation 3, a bit over half that, at 24,000.  The game is still 100% awesome regardless of platform, though.

Source:  battlefield1943.com

Also appearing in the PlayStation Store this week is Buzz Junior: Robo Jam, a game where mischievous robots get sent to Robot Boot Camp! Now all those mischievous children that don’t get sent to Boot Camp can imagine what it would be like if their parents DID send them. And if they were a robot. Buzz Junior: Robo Jam is available for $4.99.

Other releases include:

PSone Classics PS3 / PSP

Spec Ops: Stealth Patrol ($5.99)
Immerse yourself in one of the first realistic military tactical combat simulators to be released. Choose your two-man team from a squad of five highly trained specialists: machine gunner, grenadier, rifleman, close quarters specialist, and sniper. Choose to complete your mission through stealth or all-out assault as you’re in control of an elite team of U.S. Army Rangers.

XS Junior League Soccer ($5.99)
GOOOOOAAAAAALLLLL!!! Go back to basics with XS Junior League Soccer. Everybody can really play as you select from 16 individual players to create your own 5 on 5 match up combos, each with their own bag of special tricks. Play at four real world fields including the baseball field at Sandlot Central, or the black top in Soho Parking.

Game Demos

Battlefield 1943 Demo
Ghostbusters Demo

Add-on Game Content

MotorStorm Pacific Rift – Adrenaline Expansion ($9.99)

Cross Edge – New Costume Set 2 ($3.99)
Cross Edge – Additional Dungeon 3 (free)
Cross Edge – Fresh Heart Pack (free)
Cross Edge – Power Up Pack + (free)
Cross Edge – Stone SP Synth Pack (free)

Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires - Additional Music Set 1 (free)
Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires - Artemis Armor Set (women) (free)
Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires - Kempo Armor Set (men) (free)
Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires - Queen Armor Set (women) (free)
Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires - Royal Armor Set (men) (free)

Midnight Club Los Angeles – South Central Ultimate Content Pack ($12.50)

Skate 2 – Maloof Money Cup Pack ($2.99)

Guitar Hero World Tour
I Am The Arsonist – Silverstein ($1.99)
Bomb The World – The Sleeping ($1.99)
NJ Legion Iced Tea – A Day To Remember ($1.99)
Victory Track Pack ($5.49)

Rock Band
21 Guns – Green Day ($1.99)
East Jesus Nowhere – Green Day ($1.99)
Know Your Enemy – Green Day ($1.99)
Green Day Pack 01 ($5.49)
Black Magic – Slayer ($1.99)
Conquer All – Behemoth ($1.99)
Disposable Teens – Marilyn Manson ($1.99)
Embedded – Job for a Cowboy ($1.99)
Empire of the Gun – God Forbid ($1.99)
Hammer Smashed Face – Cannibal Corpse ($1.99)
This Is Exile – Whitechapel ($1.99)
What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse – Black Dahlia Murder ($1.99)

Other releases on the PlayStation Network this week include Qore Episode 14. This month’s episode of Sony’s high-definition interactive video production takes subscribers into the dark and dangerous world of Assassin’s Creed 2.

And with our Canada Day celebrations behind us, it’s time for our southern neighbours to celebrate their Independence Day. To help them celebrate, the cool cats at Media Molecule have released a free Statue of Liberty costume add-on for LittleBigPlanet.

Further downloadable content includes:

High Velocity Bowling Ball Pack 6 – 4th of July Americana ($0.99)
High Velocity Bowling Ball Pack 7 – Route 66 Americana ($0.99)

MotorStorm Pacific Rift – Monarch Signature Livery Pack (free)
MotorStorm Pacific Rift – Speed Expansion ($9.99)

Cross Edge – Safety Pack (free)
Cross Edge – Additional Dungeon 2 (free)
Cross Edge – New Costume Set 1 ($3.99)

Quantum of Solace: The Game – 007 Camille Map Pack ($4.99)

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 – The Predator ($7.50)

Guitar Hero World Tour
21st Century (Digital Boy) – Bad Religion ($1.99)
Linoleum – NOFX ($1.99)
Ruby Soho - by Rancid ($1.99)
Epitaph Punk-O-Rama Track Pack ($5.49)

Rock Band
Blue Morning, Blue Day – Foreigner ($1.99)
Feels Like the First Time – Foreigner ($1.99)
Headknocker – Foreigner ($1.99)
Foreigner Pack 01 ($5.49)
Image of the Invisible – Thrice ($1.99)
Sweet Talk – Dear and the Headlights ($1.99)
Warped Tour 2009 Pack 02 ($5.49)Wears Prada, and “Image of the Invisible” by Thrice.
Weapon of Choice – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club ($1.99)

PS3 Themes
Anime MBM 4 PS3 ($1.49)
Farmer’s Daughter PS3 Theme ($1.99)
Ink Skulls PS3 Theme ($1.49)
Sniper Girls PS3 Theme ($1.49)

Powered by the same engine that drove Battlefield: Bad Company, 1943 looks to be a remake of a number of maps from Battlefield 1942: Wake Island, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Coral Sea.  The game supports up to 24 players in a single match, as well as an assortment of vehicles, planes and boats.  As far as I can tell, this is an online-only game.

EA decided to do something a little unusual with one of the maps:  Coral Sea will remain locked across all platforms until the community of players is able to achieve a total of 43 million kills.  Really though, that’s just fine with me, since I still get to play Wake Island, which is the best map in BF 1942.

Like Bad Company, it sounds like the game is going to be really good at blowing a lot of stuff up.  Playing on classic 1942 maps, but with the ability to blow through cover, will undoubtedly change some of the strategies.

I’ll be picking this up next week for sure.  Maybe I’ll even finally figure out how to fly those fighters!

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is scheduled for release in late July for the PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE Arcade.

Click here to watch the video

This week only sees one game demo land on the service, but it was home-grown right here in Canada. Developed by the boys at Blue Castle Games, PlayStation 3 owners can get a taste of the BIG leagues with a demo for The BIGS 2

And as per usual, a host of downloadable add-on content will be made available this week. For those that have some cash burning a hole in their pocket, here’s the full list of available DLC:

High Velocity Bowling – 60’s Surf Ball Pack ($0.99)
High Velocity Bowling – Tiki Polynesian Ball Pack ($0.99)

LittleBigPlanet – Summer Solstice Costume (free)
LittleBigPlanet – Artists Sitcker Pack – Jon Burgerman ($1.99)

MotorStorm Pacific Rift Wombat Signature Livery Pack (free)

Cross Edge – Mystery Synth Pack (free)
Cross Edge – Mighty Rare Pack (free)
Cross Edge – Additional Dungeon 1 (free)

Disgaea 3: Absence Of Justice – Class World Command Attack Mode ($3.99)

Cuboid – Bundle Pack ($4.99)
Cuboid – Level Editor ($3.99)
Cuboid – Booster Pack ($2.99)

Guitar Hero World Tour
Chalk Dust Torture (Live) – Phish ($1.99)
Down With Disease (Live) – Phish ($1.99)
Sample In A Jar (Live) – Phish ($1.99)
Phish Live Track Pack ($5.49)

Rock Band
Little of Your Time — Maroon 5 ($1.99)
Makes Me Wonder — Maroon 5 ($1.99)
Wake Up Call — Maroon 5 ($1.99)
Maroon 5 Pack 1 ($5.49)
21st Century (Digital Boy) — Bad Religion ($1.99)
The Downfall of Us All — A Day to Remember ($1.99)
The Flood — Escape the Fate ($1.99)
I Didn’t Say I Was Powerful, I Said I Was a Wizard — Chiodos ($1.99)
Reinventing Your Exit — Underoath ($1.99)
Warped Tour 2009 Pack 1 ($8.49)
Alive — Pearl Jam ($1.99)
Brother — Pearl Jam ($1.99)
State of Love and Trust — Pearl Jam ($1.99)
Pearl Jam Ten Bonus Pack ($5.49)

Perhaps this will finally convince SquareEnix to produce that next-generation remake that all the kids have been clamouring for.

Here’s a full list of what’s available this week:

Downloadable Games

Heavy Weapon – $9.99
Gunstar Heroes – $4.99
Bomberman ULTRA – $9.99

Add-on Game Content

Killzone 2 Flash & Thunder Pack – $5.99
LittleBigPlanet ICO Costume Pack – $5.99
LittleBigPlanet Gaius costume – $1.99
LittleBigPlanet Quadratus costume – $1.99
LittleBigPlanet Ico costume – $1.99
LittleBigPlanet Wander costume – $1.99
LittleBigPlanet Yorda costume – $1.99
MotorStorm Atlas Signature Livery Pack – free
Burnout Paradise Big Surf Island – $12.99
Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 2 – $9.99

Burnout Paradise Big Surf Island is a brand new playground for the drivers of Paradise City to explore at blazing speeds. Featuring new challenges and events for offline and online play, a whole new city to discover, the biggest jumps the franchise has ever seen, and a set of nine new vehicles, Burnout Paradise Big Surf Island promises to offer hours of new gameplay to an already expansive game.

Burnout Paradise Big Surf Island also features an Island-specific driver’s license for single player progression, challenging players to explore the World, find secret areas, and experience a large selection of new events and challenges.

“Big Surf Island is the most fun players can have in Burnout Paradise and provides incredible value for money,” says Pete Lake, Big Surf Island producer at Criterion Games. “We listened to our community and built this massive new playground for them, taking everything they loved about the game and using it to make the Island as much fun as possible. Big Surf Island is packed full of action, everything is bigger and better, from the jumps, to the challenges, to the fun you’ll have playing there.”

Burnout Paradise Big Surf Island will be available on Thursday, June 11^th, for $12.99 on the PlayStation Network and for 1000 Microsoft Points on Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

Players can switch between five different character classes at the drop of a hat – quite literally. Each fortress includes machines that produce character class hats, and players may swap hats on a whim in order to adopt a new class. Character classes include The Ranger, The Worker, The Priest, The Mage and The Warrior, each of which provide their own unique abilities. Only with an efficient assortment of hats and a whole lot of co-operation will players be able to rescue their princess and prove victorious!

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Each stage acts as a flow simulation in which players will attempt to control various types of liquid and solid matter. Is there a waterfall of molten lava blocking access to the next survivor? Reroute the lava flow to another area by destroying the earth beneath it. But be careful, that lava may travel to another area and make spelunker soup out of some other unsuspecting survivors.

Due in Fall of 2009 for the PlayStation Network, PixelJunk Shooter is the fourth game in Q-Games’ successful PixelJunk series. Combining simple and addictive gameplay with equally simple and addictive graphics, PixelJunk Shooter looks to live up to the standard set by its predecessors.

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The city is yours. How much carnage can you cause in fifteen minutes?

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 will be available on June 8^th, 2009 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii platforms.

The game is set in a war-torn fantasy world where many lords are vying for a vacated throne left by a deceased king. A party-loving mage and a stupid knight both happen to be near the royal treasury when a thief breaks in. There is a mysterious and powerful artifact in the now unguarded treasury, the Trine, and before the mage remembers what the Trine actually does, all three characters (the mage, the thief, and the knight) get merged into one soul. Luckily, you can switch among all three at will to take advantage of their merits through the course of the adventure.

Now that the background is out of the way, I want to describe what made the (what I suspect will become the demo) preview so cool. First, the physics engine that they’ve implemented is not intrusive, and there are little things all throughout the game that it affects and adds to the experience. In fact, it was not until I visited the official website after playing the preview that I realized they actually had a realistic physics engine. It blended in to the game that well. Simple things like the way pulleys and objects of different weights move, or how the height of your jump determines whether you pin a skeleton or destroy it, or the way the rickety bridge wouldn’t be rickety at all if you run across with the lightweight thief as opposed to the heavily armoured knight all contribute to the intuitiveness of the game. I just knew what would occur if I did something and it made playing the game a joy.

In addition to the physics, the three different characters are unique enough that switching among them is necessary. It is much easier to combat the common skeletons with the knight, but getting place to place is the specialty of the thief and her grappling hook. She didn’t jump higher than the knight, which surprised me, but she was certainly more agile. I also did not find a use for her arrows in the preview that I played. The mage was the coolest character but the one I used the least. He can levitate and manipulate objects with his magic and he can create things out of thin air. For example, by holding down the left mouse button and drawing a box, a box will appear where you drew it, and then you can levitate it like other objects. It imbued me with a sense of wonder when I discovered that I could stand on top of a box that I just created and levitate it, essentially letting me fly. It takes a few tries to learn how to balance on the box while levitating it in this way, but it was really enjoyable.

The thing that the different characters bring to the game is the uniqueness of experience that I really enjoy in games. One of my biggest disappoinments with Oblivion was that it advertised uniqueness of experience, but since everyone could do everything and there were no class definitions, everyone ended up experiencing the game in the same way. With Trine, the different characters let you get around obstacles and solve puzzles in different ways, and more than once I felt sheepish and clever that I solved a puzzle in a way that was not intended.

Other than that, both the graphics and the music are enjoyable. The light effects are pretty though some of the animations looked unpolished in this version. The music is appropriately whimsical. The voices of the narrator and the characters are average and a bit too familiar, but they do not detract from the experience either. I don’t want to dwell on the presentation of this unfinished version though.

In the end, what will determine the success of this title will be the different puzzles developer FrozenByte will throw at us. While I feel I got the entire premise and depth of the game in the level and tutorial that I played, it will be the level design that will keep the game interesting. The various discoveries I have made, such as making a box with the mage and then being able switching characters, provides for some interesting possibilities, and it will be up to the designers to invent clever puzzles that will require clever solutions. Importantly for me, these puzzles should also allow multiple solutions, so that Richard and I can discuss how we solved them and then commend each other for our creative solutions over tea and crumpets.

The preview of this original action platformer promises a little action, moderate brain teasing, a lot of adventure, and most importantly, loads of fun. I can’t wait to see the final product!

Trine is slated for release in July 2009.

Trine’s official website