GF! Weekly Wrap-Up #3

Introduction

Today is Friday, September 2, and this is another edition of the GamesFirst! Weekly Wrap-Up. My name is Val Townsend, the Atomic Goddess, and I’ve got more of what you need than any Back to School sale could offer. This week we’ve got a preview of Fable: The Lost Chapters for PC and Xbox, reviews of T-72: Balkans Under Fire, King of Fighters: Maximum Impact Maniax, and Nintendogs, the cuddliest little game to hit the Nintendo DS. But before we get into all of that, here are your headlines:

News

Starting with international news, China has passed legislation requiring game developers to limit the amount of time one can spend playing Massively-Multiplayer RPGs. Chinese officials have announced a software tool that will limit playtime to no more th an three consecutive hours. At that point, the gamer must stop playing or suffer a 50% reduction in character abilities. After 5 hours of consecutive play, the character will be reduced to the lowest possible level in the game until the user logs out and s tops playing for at least 5 hours. The makers of major MMO titles such as World of Warcraft and Lineage II have agreed to implement the new technology into the Chinese version of their games when it is available. In the meantime, Chinese gamers have begun to sign petitions online to protest the new rules, claiming their right to play videogames until they pass out or get one more level.

In America, Bethesda Softworks, makers of the highly anticipated Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion for Xbox 360, has made statements which have us scratching our heads about whether the Xbox 360 hard drive is really worth it. Pete Hines, Vice President of Market ing and Public relations for Bethesda, told GamesFirst! that Oblivion would take full advantage of the Xbox 360 hard drive citing better performance as the main benefit to playing the game with a hard drive. However, Oblivion will also run on systems wit hout a hard drive, and Hines could not quantify how much of a performance difference the hard drive would make. All of this has us believing that the Xbox 360 hard drive is mainly a tool to be used with Xbox Live and to download patches for original Xbox g ames, although we won’t know for sure until the system is released this Fall.

In other Xbox 360 news, SmartXX, the makers of the popular SmartXX Mod Chip for Xbox, has received a bunch of Xbox development kits. Like any good modder group, they have torn apart the dev kits and posted images on their website. While it’s unclear how u seful the dev kits will be in creating the next generation of Xbox modifications, it seems certain that the Xbox 360 could top its predecessor in terms of hackability and mod culture. Is this a sign of a more open Microsoft" Or is SmartXX just that good"

That’s your news summary for this week. On to the Reviews…

Reviews

T-72: Balkans on Fire is a battlefield tank sim for PC, and as our man, Tristan, knows, there aren’t a lot of tank sims coming out these days. It’s a good thing that T-72 manages to deliver a great simulation experience in a pretty package. Centered on th e Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, T-72 puts you into the driver’s seat of a hulking mass of metal prowling Yugoslavia. At its best, T-72 is a faster-paced experience that feels almost like a first person shooter. Hardcore grognards may be turned off by its liberal inclusion of a wider array of tanks and hardware than is historically accurate, but a little suspension of disbelief cleared up any issues we had. Offering great action, plenty to do, and few flaws aside from a LAN-only multiplayer mode, we’re happ y to give T-72: Balkans on Fire a four out of five stars.

King of Fighters: Maximum Impact Maniax for Xbox is the latest installment in a game franchise whose heritage stretches back 15 years. We got Chris Martin to give it a good going-over for us. Maximum Impact features a roster of classic KOF characters, a nd delivers more of the frenzied fighting action we’ve come to expect. With the addition of some spiffy 3D graphics and an online multiplayer mode, Maximum Impact looks like it has a lot to offer on the surface. Unfortunately, that’s pretty much where the goodness stops. With a shallow fighting system and some seriuosly cheeseball tactical possibilities, Maximum Impact gets old quickly. It’s the kind of button-masher that inexperienced fighting game fans love while the truly hardcore are off polishing their Soul Calibur or Tekken skills. In the end, Maximum Impact couldn’t hold us with nostalgia and pretty colors alone, and we have to give it a mediocre three out of five stars.

Finishing out our reviews this week is a surprisingly timely review of Nintendogs for the Nintendo DS direct from our resident Nintendo-phile, George. Now, George is a cold, hard man that much is apparent in his unbridled love for all things Zelda. But Nintendogs managed to warm his heart, and he now has a scrappy little virtual pet he calls Link. In Nintendogs you pick your puppy, give it a name, and raise it up just like a real dog. Using the microphone and touch screen you teach your dog to obey sp oken commands. Teach the dog tricks, take him to the dog competitions, and earn money to buy accessories for your canine companion. And once you’ve got your doggie decked out in the cutest Mario hat you could afford, you can take him out to meet other pets . Users can let their dogs play together via WiFi, and doing so unlocks various items and dog breeds. The puppies are cute as can be, and the only real drawback to the game is how the play is limited in a variety of ways. Your puppy needs to sleep sometime s, and, in the end, there are only so many things you can do with a mostly realistic virtual pet dog. We’re hoping that this puppy love will last, and we’re giving Nintendogs a four out of five stars.

Previews

Moving from petting dogs to kicking chickens, Tristan also checked in this week with a hands-on preview of Fable: The Lost Chapters coming out on September 20 for PC. After spending nearly a year optimizing the game for PC and adding in additional story c ontent, this is a much beefier version of the Xbox hit. You still create your hero and set him on a quest to become either good or evil, depending on your behavior. The global reputation system means that denizens in the game world of Albion will remember your actions and react to you appropriately. The PC port reveals even deeper levels of graphical beauty, and Fable was already known for being a very pretty game. The controls have been revamped to fit PC styles of gameplay, which helps the combat remain c ompelling without a control pad. And with the addition of 16 new missions, Fable: The Lost Chapters has dealt head-on with the number one complaint Xbox owners had about the original game.

Fable: The Lost Chapters releases for PC on September 20, and will make its way to Xbox in October.

Conclusion

And in just a bit under the time that it took me to finish Fable on the Xbox, we’ve reached the end of another GamesFirst! Weekly Wrap-Up. But there’s more where this came from: Visit GamesFirst.com for loads of reviews, previews, and the latest gaming ne ws, posted every day. I’m Val Townsend, the Atomic Goddess catch me again next week for more of what you love.