Xbox360 is rolling with hits this moth with Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and now Elder Scrolls Oblivion.  Make no mistake, this is the killer app for Xbox 360 and your home theater system.  It’s a new fantasy role playing game that was released last week for both PC and Xbox 360.  It’s a big budget release, the finest example of today’s technology, esthetics, storytelling and voice acting.  The graphics are truly next generation with gorgeous environments to explore richly detailed by some of the finest graphic artists in the business.  The people you’ll talk to in game have realistic faces that can portrait complex emotion.  Noted British actors comprise the voice acting of non-player characters with which you’ll interact including:  Terrance Stamp, Sean Bean and Patrick Steward as the Emperor Uriel Septim.  I love a good role playing game (RPG) but have been under whelmed with the massively multiplayer variety lately.  This is a pleasant return to a simpler time when a good RPG was about storytelling and playing your character and less about how powerful you can be so you can beat up on other players.

The platform debate will be endless but not indulged here.  However…Oblivion is a prime example of a game that was meant for the console.  This game should be played at a relaxed, thoughtful pace.  You can pause to sip a coffee or beer depending on the time.  The game begs for you to take in the scenery.  Sitting at a desk hunched over mouse and keyboard is fine for a first person shooter.  But this is different it’s a more relaxed pace and is best played kicked back on a couch with large screen HDTV and surround sound system. 

I’m a longstanding veteran of the Elder Scrolls series.  One might say I am an Elder Scroll.  I was there when the Emperor Uriel Septim was betrayed by Jagar Tharn the Battle Mage in the series first installment Arena.  Back then Uriel didn’t sound like Patrick Stewart as he communicated in text only.  But I had never seen anything like it in a computer game a non-linear, wide open environment with an opportunity to explore the world at your leisure.  The so much time went by when Daggerfall finally arrived that I thought Arena was but a dream.  Then Morrowind, 2003’s game of the year and it was best single player role playing game made thus far.  So the pressure was on the Oblivion development team to build the next installment of the game to live up to vast expectations.

I’ve only played for probably 6 or so man / hours and thus far I believe it lives up to expectations.

Environmental breakthrough

The greatest breakthrough in this installment of Elder Scrolls is in the environment.  It’s another vast world to be explored with an artificial intelligence controlling events and individuals in the world that affects everything in the game.  For instance the forests, meadows and animal species that inhabit them are controlled by a sophisticated system of AI that takes into account how they all interact.  This can result in fluctuations in the deer population or even the extinction of a plant species.  It’s an AI controlled micro – verse where your actions can set into motion reactions that affect the world around you. 

Graphics

The graphics are amazing to behold, Oblivion takes its place among the most sophisticated looking games of the current generation.  However, since it does so much it won’t be the best you’ve seen at any one element.  Faces for instance look good and can express emotion.  Faces in Oblivion aren’t the best you’ve ever seen in a computer game but that’s no complaint, they still approach photo realism.  The indoor / outdoor environments are a marvel to behold and the sharp contrast between them is incredible.  What easily makes this a graphically elite game is its wide variation.  Most first person shooters today are good at a particular recurring environment you’ll see over and over … think … Doom 3 and dark shadowy hallways or F.E.A.R. and its detailed office buildings.  Very good examples of graphics but neither game offers much variation from what it does well.  In Oblivion you’ll explore shadowy dungeons with beautiful grey and indigo hues inside.  You’ll strain for light and maybe fire up a torch and you can marvel at the real time orange light that casts shadows as you walk.  Then you step outside into a bright sunny day and it’s as if you’ve opened a completely different game.  The color palette changes drastically, gone are the orange glow and grey indigo hues in favor of a bright blue sky with rolling hills and grassy fields.  Wind sweeps across waves of local fauna as you make your way across a meadow.  The sunsets are so breathtaking they could make you want to applaud like a tourists at a Caribbean resort.

From the subtle squeaking of rats sneaking up behind you through your surrounds to the deep bass thump of certain spells the home entertainment system is well used by the Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track.  The game does a great job at centering you on sounds such as speech that will remain placed consistently as you walk around the speaker or turn away.  People might call to you from behind or drops of water might echo slightly within a musty dungeon and effect that exercises the soundtrack’s subtle details. 

The music hasn’t gotten too repetitive as it stays mainly unnoticed in the background giving you atmosphere.  But sometimes it’ll be the clue that danger is apparent if you hadn’t spotted an enemy and the soundtrack turns to a military style march letting you know combat was about to ensue.  That is my one minor quibble, if I’m to be surprised I don’t think the music should provide clues.  But I’d love that in real life … When my wife comes home I should hear either Julie Andrew’s “Sound of music” or Darth Vader’s “Imperial March” depending on the kind of mood she’s in.  Actually that’s what I already hear subconsciously anyway. 

Gameplay

The strong suit of this game is its relaxed gameplay.  You can always hit pause, even in a tight situation.  You can leisurely select a different weapon or spell and then go back into the game where you’re about to die.  I’ve gone through the Elder Scrolls cycle of “newness” many times now.  The dungeons that are a pleasure to explore the first 75 times become repetitive drudgery in the last 10 before I completely lose interest.  This could be the case here too, obviously I don’t know yet.  But Morrowind did a good job of keeping things fresh by hand making everything in the world you’ll explore.  I hope for the same here.  But for now, it’s a pleasure to move around, explore new places new buildings.  The new shops you’ll enter to get supplies for a journey won’t just be a mock up of the last place you went to get your armor repaired.  The designers seemed to take pains to provide a functional layout of a store that doubles as a family dwelling or a workshop where they can repair your armor.  The buildings make sense in layout and design and this means they shouldn’t get too boring.  I’ve rented a room at several cheap Inns (and one bloated float) and they’ve been non-descript bare bones affairs.  The last one was no low budget room as it cost twice what I’d been accustomed to paying.  And when I entered the room it looked like an expensive room.  Well decorated corner room with windows all around and tapestries on the walls.  It was beautiful and not cheap. 

There is a main mission in the game but since it’ll take so much time and you’ll be required to gain a lot of experience before you’ll be able to undergo many of them you’re encouraged to strike forth into the world and find side quests that will build you a reputation, gold or possibly a gambling addiction at the arena.  I won’t give anything away but you’ll definitely meet Patrick Stewart very early in the game. 

Combat

This isn’t a first person shooter but combat is a big part of the experience.  This game does it as well as can be expected for a game system that almost tries to employ way too many elements.  You can cast spells in combat, swing your weapon in various arcs that do different kinds of damage.  Depending on your weapon you can have different effects on your foe if it lands just the right way.  Your weapon and likewise blocking skills are increased just like all skills in the game are increased, by actually using them.  This is a clever system for gaining experience, one that a lot of “level” system RPGs can benefit from.  There are a few minor glitches I’ve found, like being attacked by an invisible rat.  Overall the combat system has greater flow than past versions of this game.  You can move in and out of the range of the opponents axe and likewise they’ll do the same.  At one point I’ve even seen an opponent run back around a corner and forced me to give chase. 

Overall you have an excellent game that is a suitable heir to the Elder Scrolls line.  It’s easily the killer app for your Xbox 360 and it’s the real reason for getting one.  If you like the RPG and are sick of the massively multiplayer variety this is the one to try.

The first Xbox 360 game to inspired me to write about here is GR – Advanced Warfighter.

So here I am anxiously waiting for Oblivion to rock my world.  Then I see a little blip on the www.metacritic.com radar … a new Ghost Recon game for 360.  Hmmm, it peaked my interest enough to check it out to make sure it’s just another rework of GR2 engine that’s been kicking around for years.  Metacritic nails this new GR with a 91 (out of 100) rating so I read on.

I come to find out reviews rate it highly saying it’s a totally new game, it’s not just another GR2 makeover, the likes of which we’ve been seeing a lot of, maybe too much.  It’s a new story, a new time period, new technologies in the immediate future 2013.  So I sell CoD and buy it Ghost Recon Advanced Warfare (GRAW). 

I haven’t completed the game, I’m currently deep in Mexico City somewhere.  It’s definitely a return to good old Ghost Recon suspense.  Danger lurks around every corner.  You never know if you’re going to get the drop on some Mexican rebels or if you’re going to turn the corner into enemy fire.  It’s the level of suspense that makes the Ghost Recon franchise so remarkable and GRAW has it!  If you’ve played any Tom Clancy games you already understand the games have a level of realism.  Although it’s a first person shooter with some control over a squad, it’s nothing like most twitch FPS games like Doom or Halo.  You must use tactics, the enemy isn’t going to miss you much and when they hit you it only takes two to three bullets through body armor to kill you, or one good head shot.  You won’t overcome the enemy with quick aggressive reactions, you have use tactics to flank the enemy positions.

Setting 

GRAW adds some nice technology but getting comfortable requires a steep but quick learning curve.  If you’ve played any of the GR games you’ll feel at home except for a few tweaks.  In this game you’ll control Capt. Scott Mitchell as he controls a squad through Mexico City urban combat.  It seems that in 2013 a treaty is going to be signed between Canada, US and Mexico in Mexico’s capital, Mexico City.  A breakaway faction of the Mexican government opposed to the treaty captures certain VIPs who are supposed to sign this treaty.  Your job will be to rescue the president while completely out manned and outgunned in the middle of hostile territory. 

Gameplay Elements 

The “quick cover” option allows you to pin yourself close to a wall and peer around corners easily.  It’s a valuable touch for the mainly urban fighting you’ll be doing in Mexico City.  The weapons are nice assault rifle variations, only slightly more advanced than the M-16 A1 rifle I used in the Army.  Some of the weapons have scopes that give you a sniper element which is extremely valuable.  I’d personally rather have a scope on any weapon for one shot precision than a higher caliber round or a grenade launcher, but that’s just me.  I don’t intend to get into grenade range of the enemy. 

You have to get past the HUD (heads up display) which overlays your view of the immediate environment and start working through it.  Only then will working with your avatar in the game start to make sense.  Manipulating Capt Mitchell through weapon choices and all his tactical controls and options is tricky at first but eventually becomes linear.  In fact, I’m to the point now where I find the squad and extra vehicle controls to be clever in their simplicity.  A nice touch (but difficult) is that you can actually feel the encumbrance of all the gear your character is wearing.  You won’t be pulling off any quick strafe maneuvers, dives, running hops or many of the things you’d do in an FPS to avoid enemy fire.  Capt Mitchel is mortal man weighed down by body armor and lots of gear.  If you’ve ever had the experience of wearing combat boots under a ruc sack toting MOP gear including mask, weapon, LBE, drawn chin strap … you know how difficult it is to move with any amount of dexterity.  Capt Mitchell will move forward slowly at first, then he’ll slowly escalate into a trot if you keep him in one direction.  The control feels real because it’s not snappy at all. 

Ordering your squad around becomes second nature with the point and down D pad, it’s easy.  They mainly think for themselves in combat so you do not have to babysit when the bullets start flying.  I don’t quite having healing down, I feel bad and sometimes restart from last checkpoint when one of my squad dies.  I try to take care of the kids under my command.  Trying my best to keep the squad out of fire, I always go in first and only use the squad to put fire on an enemy position as I try to flank.  It’s worked for me so far.  But there are situations where the Mexican regulars are going to surround you and come in from all directions.

When I first read about the Crosscom technology and the unmanned drone you can control to give you enemy positions I though … sounds complicated.  The unmanned drone is very useful once you learn how to use it.  The back button takes you to an overhead map of your area beamed to you from a satellite.  You can send in the drone to give you detailed reconnaissance of the area including enemy positions.  The drone is a little flying “craft” like a UFO.  Normally it flies too high to attract enemy fire or scan for useful information.  But if you put it into “scan” mode you can point and click it to areas on the overhead map and it’ll recon those areas.  The enemy it finds will show up as red triangles on the overhead.  When you go into first person view again you’ll see their positions highlighted in your view as part of the “Crosscom” technology.  It’s literally the eyepiece that goes over one eye from your helmet.  It’s a brilliant piece of real life future soldiering.  It’s creepy when you’re sending the drone to scout and it exposes enemy positions and you start to see more and more red triangles exposed, realizing you’re in the middle of some serious merde.  Then you can actually hear the enemy fire in the distance as they shoot at your drone.  They’ll destroy it if they get the chance so you have to recover it to safety pronto. 

Graphics

The best I’ve seen yet with Xbox 360.  At first I took Capt Mitchell’s sluggishness as slowness or the graphic chip / CPU not being up to the task of rendering at acceptable speeds.  I had just finished FEAR on a PC that is more than up to the task so it was hard to watch this at first.  But you have to realize that 720P isn’t quite 1280 x 1024 and that sluggishness isn’t your processors choking, it’s Capt Mitchell trying to move under some 40 pounds of gear it starts to make sense.  The colors are mainly shades of brown saturated in sunlight so you won’t see many brilliant hues outside the brown, grey and green color palette.  Certain occasions where colors do stand out will remind you that this is the most advanced game system available today.  Views from inside the helicopter approach breathtaking.  Looking out over the skyline of Mexico City looks very nice when you can really take it all in.  This is easily the best looking game I’ve seen on 360, the animations of people’s movement looks very good.  The faces when you get a chance to see any are state of the art. 

All in all, this is a great way to wait for Oblivion.  I might not mind if Oblivion is delayed slightly now and this disc will certainly get a workout from me.  There is an addictive quality once you get past the learning curve and the game’s complex controls start to become linear. 

And one more thing … Capt Mitchell sounds like Clint Eastwood.

3 / 23 edit

Sound

I didn't comment on the sound quality.  Not a lot to say here because it's excellent!  Like most of the Xbox 360 games it makes great use of the 5.1 surround.  Games are a great way to exploit the surround channels and this one does so well.  What I liked is the subtle uses it has with the rear channels.  At times when you're running down the streets of Mexico City you'll hear voices cry out in the distance in Spanish ... Is that an enemy behind you or just voices carried in the wind?  They use the surrounds to add to the tension, well done. 

Frustrations

Yes, plenty of frustrations trying to control targeting from a joystick.  It's probably just my noobishness but I find myself turning the targeting reticle around the target trying to get it overtop.  I've always prefered FPS games on a PC using a mouse for that reason.  The left trigger “zoom” helps to varying degrees in that regard. 

It's comic to film week!

This week two graphic novels are being presented to two different film media History of Violence and V for Vendetta.  The first one we saw was released Tuesday to DVD.  History of Violence stars Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris, it even has a small part with William Hurt.  This is high powered acting under the considerable if underappreciated directorial talent of one of my favorites David Cronenberg.  Cronenberg is true to his style of exploring human nature in HoV.  He explores the nature of violence (and sex) in an otherwise peaceful, small town family man whose life is turned upside down by a brush with a big city crisis situation.  The graphic novel from which it’s based was written by John Wagner and drawn by Vince Locke, Vince is a local Michigan boy.  Having grown up ‘partly’ in Detroit area, Locke is a name the state of MI should be proud too call one of its own.  Check out the hub for the Detroit area comics community.  If you’re lucky enough to live in close proximity you can go in and learn.

Don’t rent History of Violence expecting a conventional action film or you’ll be disappointed.  Cronenberg studies the motives of characters, its violence is quick and brutal as is the movie's sex scene.  But it’s no action film, the sex and violence in the movie is a vehicle through which we see elements of the nature of the characters.

V for Vendetta has arrived to theaters today, originally a comic written by one of the masters in the field named Alan Moore.  If you’re a comics fan chances are Alan Moore's name on the credits of any comic is enough to make you want to read it.  He brings a literate and often historic style to his unconventional stories.  Just like Moore himself, the movie will go against the grain of society in today’s climate of political fear mongering over terrorism.  Too bad Moore doesn't give his graces to the film, his name won't appear in its credits and that's a shame, but that's Moore's business.  He seems like a crotchety old bastard and I wouldn't want to hear about him being any other way.

I haven't seen the movie but the plot for the original was first started by Moore back in the early 80s well before our current relationship to the word “terrorism“.  Here the terrorist is the hero, fighting an oppressive government.  Making a terrorist the hero is sure to offend and somewhere Moore is probably laughing.  Comparisons to George Orwell’s 1984 are inevitable but also a simplification.  Still it's an interesting touch that John Hurt should appear as this film's “Big Brother“ character.  Hurt played the hero in 1984.

In Moore’s tradition with V, he puts the history into his story.  The main character wears a Guy Fawkes mask inspired by the Gunpowder Plot when conspirators attempted to assassinate the King of England, James I.  In V for Vendetta England is in the grip of a fascist takeover and V dons the Guy Fawkes mask to conduct his own conspiracy.

It’s a good week for comics to film and I hope to enjoy both soon.

A major paper out of Japan got the scoop first on PS3’s delay until November.  Initially the paper said Sony was to release the PS3 in November to Japan which incurred speculation that a North American release would be sometime after, probably in early 2007.  Fortunately Ken Kuturagi, chief exec of Sony Computer Entertainment made a statement soon after.  Foremost Mr. Kuturagi assures the public the November release of the PS3 will be worldwide.  He says Sony plans on 6 million PS3s being shipped by the end of 2006.  Comparably Microsoft has only shipped 3.5 million Xbox360s since its initial launch date and it’s still not readily available in stores.

Kuturagi took the time to whet our thirst for the upcoming Sony game system with more tidbits about its hardware.  The complete system will have a 60GB HDD that will be required to play games, but apparently some PlayStation 3 units won't ship with hard drive at all, this will be the “base” model.  Not sure what the purpose will be for it, only to play PS1 and 2 games maybe?  You can guess the “base” model will only have one controller, no headset etc.  Sony will continue the tradition of being backward compatible with earlier PlayStation games.

The system will also include some unspecified media hub capabilities.  You can guess it’ll be Sony’s crack at the Xbox 360’s extender.  If you’re in the mood for “Xbox360-lite” features from Sony, the new PlayStation will also get its own online gaming service similar to Live.  The service hasn’t been named yet but according to rumors Sony has been buying up domain names that use the word “Hub”.  So, isn’t that typical, eh?  Microsoft creates the really good ideas and every other company comes along and imitates it (sarcasm). 

What Sony Claims so far:

• 60 Gig HDD in every unit
• Online Game Service
• Entertainment Center Media Capabilities

Since November is a hell of a delay from Sony’s initially sunny “spring” ’06 release plan you may be asking; what gives?  The reason is apparently the AACS specification hadn’t been defined in time for Sony to get the PlayStation 3’s Blu-ray player in order.  I’ve read a lot of blogs today that aren’t taking that as a good enough excuse for the delay.  After all, they cite the AACS content protection specification has been defined since mid February.  All I can suggest is that those other blog writers may have no problem launching their own products that use technology that is so cutting edge it was designed with technical specifications that hadn’t even been developed yet.  Maybe instead of writers they should be project mangers. 

Honestly, it should come as no surprise the PS3’s launch was going to be delayed, I said it when they first unveiled the hardware.  The PS3 really pushes the limits of existing technology and last spring Sony promised to mass produce them in less than one year.  The system will have muti-core processors with gates only 5 atomic layers thick, Blu-ray, 1080P at 60 fps and HDMI.  One has to wonder if the current generation of gaming machine even needs all this technology.  Will it even get used?

Before you jump in and say you can never limit the amount of technology you put into gaming systems.  Anytime someone says a certain threshold of technology won’t be crossed it’s only a matter of time before something crosses it.  And that’s true enough.  But there is also a life expectancy issue.  Based on the average game console’s timeline there is only a limited window.  In the past putting “too much” technology into a console was never an issue.  But now it might just be.  How many Xbox1 games actually used the 720P it was capable of?  Even its premiere game franchise Halo and Halo2 weren’t written in 720P. 

The trick will be to meet a cost / benefit tightrope to put just enough technology to push the limits of game software for the next four years which is about the lifespan of a console now.  In five years will you still think the PS3 needed HDMI / Blu-ray / 1080P?  Or was it just Sony Corporation bravado?  I would venture to say that every Xbox360 sold between spring ’06 and next November is money snatched from Sony’s pocket.

In Washington State today, the champagne is being passed around the hallowed halls of Microsoft corp.

It’s not really home theater but it’s definitely mobile theater.

There is an event going on right now called CeBIT 2006.  It’s a digital trade summit being held in Hanover Germany. 

One of the most interesting stories out of CeBIT so far is LG’s plan to dominate the TV Phone universe starting with Germany in June.  LG plans to unleash its new satellite TV service known as DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcast) and the phone that receives the signals the LG-V9000.  To kick off the demo at CeBIT they have a giant replica of the LG-V9000 complete with real LCD monitor.  It looks impressive but the phone is even more so.  With a wide screen it looks to have the same aspect ratio as an HDTV 16:9 but at only 2.2 inches.  The screen does 262K colors and will feature LG’s own XD engine for image enhancement. 

Personally, I don’t know about watching anything on a phone.  I was just conversing with a colleague about how in Europe and Asia the multi-function phones are so much bigger than here in North America.  I guess here … bigger is better.  I couldn’t see seriously watching a TV show from a phone unless I lived in the city and had a long subway commute, then I could take in the latest episode of the Daily Show on the way to work.  But live satellite TV over the phone is interesting. 

Get some more details here at the AVforums about this story.  It’s a very well written article by an accomplished tech writer who is much loved across the web for his witty yet insightful banter on the topics of consumer electronics.

About CeBIT 2006

Here’s the webpage for the event.

 Recognize anybody? 

It’s the acid tripping movie watching group from Peerflix.com!  What are they doing watching movies in Germany?  I guess it’s obvious, enjoying lax laws over their favorite hobby of self medication with hallucinogens.

A bomb was dropped on the HD optical format war late last week.  In a memo to LG dealers from the companies VP of CE Sales, Bob Perry who gave the best evidence yet that the ongoing format war between HD DVD and Blu-Ray is all but over.  Apparently, LG won’t ship the BD199 LG’s Blu-Ray player they were going to spring on the public just before summer of this year.  Instead next fall they’ll release a player that will playback both HD DVD and Blu-Ray.  That such a player can even be considered is revolutionary, Samsung North America addressed this very issue in January.  In a C-Net interview Peter Weedfald, VP of Marketing basically said Samsung would if they could.

It’s a strong impetus that a wait-and-see approach is usually wisest when it comes to new technology.  Why buy a new Blu-Ray player when they hit the market next month when there is even a possibility that a player can do both? 

Is it possible this information was inadvertently spilled early?  Or is there nothing behind it and LG knowingly planted a rumor that might hurt competitors Blu-Ray player releases? 

The memo also stated that two LCoS rear projection TVs wouldn’t be released at all due to a “parts procurement problem”.  The models 71SA1D and 62SA1D were set to be released this year.  It looks like LG is sacrificing LCoS to solidify its efforts to dominate the world Plasma market. 

 Sony Pictures has put down a release date of May 23^rd for its first Blu-Ray discs.  

The first cluster of movies will be from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment with one

from MGM:

• 50 First Dates (SPHE)
• The Fifth Element (SPHE)
• Hitch (SPHE)
• House of Flying Daggers (SPHE)
• A Knight’s Tale (SPHE)
• The Last Waltz (MGM)
• Resident Evil Apocalypse (SPHE)
• XXX  (SPHE)

 Sometime around June 13^th they will be followed up with:

• Robocop (MGM)
• SWAT (SPHE)
• Stealth (SPHE)
• Species (MGM)
• Legends of the Fall (SPHE)
• Terminator (MGM)
• Kung Fu Hustle (SPHE)

 Terminator on Blu-Ray, YES!

Back in early Feb Sony gave us an idea of the retail prices to expect of Blu-Ray movies.  Prices will reflect about a 20% hike over the relative cost of DVD.  This is a bargain for a new technology.  You can believe that the low cost is due to the HD DVD competition.  Retail outlets will be billed $23.45 for new titles, including “Underworld:Evolution” and $17.95 for catalogued films like “Hitch” and “The Fifth Element”.

The Blu-Ray movie release strategically coincides with the Samsung’s first Blu-Ray disc player.  The BD-P100 comes out on May 23^rd at Circuit City, Best Buy and specialty shops.  The price of Samsung’s new BD player had been set at $1K back when it was first presented at CES. 

Samsung’s Blu-Ray player will be soon followed up with hardware from both Sony and Pioneer.