GF! Weekly Wrap-Up #4

Intro

There’s a reason you work so hard all week long, and here it is: Welcome to the GamesFirst! Weekly Wrap-Up for the week ending Friday, September 9, 2005. I’m Val Townsend, the Atomic Goddess, and this week I’ve got a review of Eye Toy Play 2, as well as p reviews of Prey and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, both coming to a PC and Xbox 360 near you. But before we get into all of that, here’s your summary of the week’s gaming news.

News

First up this week, game companies have been pulling together to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. Sony Online Entertainment is hoping to help some 13,000 Everquest 2 players who live in the Gulf Coast area, and who, presumably, now have bigger things to worry about than killing rats and camping for rare items. SOE has announced that any player located in affected regions will not have their account billed or suspended until they can once again login and make contact with Everquest 2 servers. Any items in the players’ inventories that degrade over time are also being frozen in their current state, so that once gamers have put their lives back together in the real world, they’ll find their virtual possessions just as they left them. Finally, to encourage ga mers who were not affected by the storm to pitch in and help out, SOE has added the donate command to Everquest 2 so that players can make donations to the American Red Cross from within the game. The last time SOE added a major new command was the pizz a command, which allowed users to order a pizza from within the game for real-world delivery.

Also getting into the philanthropic game, HALO developer, Bungie, has made a custom HALO t-shirt they are selling in their online store. The shirt features a cartoony Master Chief kicking one of the Flood enemies and the slogan: Fight the Flood! (For th ose of you have been under a rock for the past five years, one of the most mind-blowing parts of HALO was when you encounter the enemy Flood for the first time.) It’s a clever shirt, and with $15 of each $20 purchase going to hurricane relief aid, it’s a g ood deal for everyone.

Another sad bit of news comes to us from the bustling metropolis of Spokane, Washington, where development house Cyan Worlds has closed its doors. Cyan Worlds is famous for creating the Myst series. Its pre-rendered backgrounds exposed people to the beaut iful possibilities of computer graphics, and it is often claimed that Myst was a major driving force in the sale of CD-ROM drives to PC users. Until the Sims for PC was released, Myst was the best-selling computer game of all-time.

Last weekend the PSP’s UK launch proved to be the most successful system launch in UK history. Sony’s new handheld sold 185 thousand units in the first week. For comparison, the Nintendo DS sold 87 thousand units during the first week of its release. The UK launch success is very good news for the PSP, which so far has seen weak sales in both Japan and the US. This is largely attributed to a massive lack of games for the new system. As the PSP and the Nintendo DS compete head-to-head this holiday season, i t looks like Nintendo is going to have the superior lineup, and PSP sales are expected to continue to lag behind DS system sales.

And, finally, we close out this news round-up with the acknowledgement of a rumored release date for the Xbox 360. Online gaming megacorporate-conglomerate, IGN, is reporting that the Xbox 360 will release on November 25, 2005. This date has not been conf irmed by Microsoft, and contradicts several statements the company has made. IGN claims they have several anonymous sources in retail who confirm the November 25 date, which also happens to be the day after Thanksgiving, aka Black Friday in retail circ les. Can a $400 console compete with 75% off sales’ We can only wait and see.

That’s it for your news this week, now, a review of Eye Toy Play 2.

Review

Sony’s Eye Toy is basically a web camera. But the software that comes with the Eye Toy turns the camera into the ultimate game controller. Eye Toy Play 2 is a collection of Eye Toy games, and it is quite possibly the ultimate party game. We got our EIC, S hawn, who is always in need of a good workout, to put it through our paces and bring back his report. Unfortunately he came back all sweaty and giggling too much to make any sense, so I just wrote this myself.

Play 2 includes dozens of game experiences and clever interactions. Totally trippy light and sound demos warp and colorize your video image in time with your movements. The minigames have been seriously enhanced, now comprising real game experiences that take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to complete. Games include DIY, which has you repairing pipes and sawing wood among other home improvement activities. Mr. Chef is probably the breakout hit this time around, putting you into the role of a short ord er chef assembling burgers and plates as well as stocking your food supplies. And, of course, Kung Foo is back in a much better sequel which features boss battles and a larger variety of gameplay.

Play 2 is a real workout. You will find yourself quickly feeling the burn as you bang on drums, strum on air guitar, or pound jellyfish on their cute jelly heads. The games are wacky, and the music is groovy, which keeps you entertained even watching some body else play. Multiplayer mode puts up to four people through a series of rapid-fire challenges. The whole-body control style is very approachable, and in a real-life party situation we had no problem getting full-grown men and women to jump around like monkeys in front of the camera.

Play 2 is fun to play and good for you. Whether you’re looking for an alternative videogame workout to mix in with your DDR sessions, or you’re just a gadget geek who loves a clever toy, Play 2 is something you need to check out. We’re happy to give Eye T oy Play 2 a four out of five stars.

Previews

In Previews this week, we’re looking at Prey and Oblivion.

3D Realms and 2K Games are bringing Prey to PC and Xbox 360. Prey was first shown at E3 several years ago, but the project was shelved soon after. Normally, that is a bad thing for a game, but in the case of Prey, it seems like the aging has done the titl e good. The storyline revolves around Tommy, a Cherokee mechanic living on a reservation and not doing much. Not doing much, that is, until aliens arrive and start sucking everything in sight into their intergalactic teleporter. Tommy is sucked up, along w ith his girlfriend, and finds himself alone in some bizarre alien holding pen. The opening cinematics are incredible, and the sight of a passenger aircraft teleporting into the holding pen above you, then crashing into the wall, is a shocking way to start the game.

Gameplay progresses in the First-Person-Shooter style, although Prey also features some very unique gameplay elements. When Tommy is killed, he is transported into a spirit realm where he must battle evil spirits to reclaim his life force and return to hi s body. In addition, physics plays a big role in the gameplay, and the truly alien design of the outer space setting helps enhance the role of physics in the game. These unique elements, among others, make this more than a regular FPS.

Prey is built on the Doom 3 engine, which makes it a very beautiful title, and we’re hoping that the story and dialogue in Prey will equal its high visual quality. Prey is on our list of games to look forward to in the next generation, and we can’t wait t o play it on PC and Xbox 360.

Moving from outer space to a faraway fantasy land, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is set to be one of the most popular early titles for Xbox 360, but it will also come to PC. The sequel to Morrowind, Oblivion promises to provide 1.5 times the land mass (16 sq uare miles) and a much denser population. Oblivion puts you in the role of nearly any kind of character you want to be. This time out, characters can more readily take advantage of a wider variety of combat styles and stealth abilities, and the combat has been enhanced overall. As you decide what you want your character to be, you will be aided through the dense forests and lush landscapes by a new compass feature. Another major navigational enhancement includes the ability to teleport to already-visited ci ties and to ride horses around the countryside.

Gameplay will also be enhanced by over 200 hand-created dungeons that are now much more interactive, making each dungeon operate like a giant puzzle level. No longer are the dungeons just holes in the ground to loot now they are complex experiences in t heir own right. The world becomes even more alive due to advanced AI for non-player characters. The residents of Oblivion’s world have their own goals, desires, and 24 hour routines. They remember conversations you’ve had with them in the past and act of t heir own free will.

In many ways Morrowind was the example of open-ended gameplay in a living world that everyone wants Grand Theft Auto to be. From our hands-on demonstration, we can attest that Oblivion pushes this open-ended living world to another level. We really cannot wait to pick up Oblivion, hopefully on Xbox 360 launch day.

Conclusion

And that’s another GF! Weekly Wrap-Up for you. Remember that all of these stories and more are available on GamesFirst.com, updated every day for your reading pleasure. I’m Val Townsend, the Atomic Goddess, and I’ll be back next week for more downloadable audio action.