Official review/preview Q&A thread

You make some good points there. Obviously I haven't been with Kikizo for as long as most of the posters here, so I wasn't acquainted with the old lady in her prime, but I know she's not quite so grand nowadays.

Again I can't really say anything about our media (or for that matter our staffing) strategy nor what resources we have available, but short-term the question of site "personality" is one we're looking to address (though I'd say Kikizo has a fuckton more of it than some of its competitors - 1UP I'll grant you, but Gamespot? Whateveeeeer dude). You can expect more irreverent features in future, and not just run-of-the-mill "best of" or "most wanted" style stuff, but more oddball and hopefully insightful offerings (suggestions welcome, as always). At some point we'll have comments threads for articles too. Baby steps, man , baby steps :)

I wasn't referring to our AOL traffic when I made the point about Kikizo Ltd. Other things are on the boil...

Edwin


Other things are on the boil...

And have been for years ;)

Touche, sir, touche.

The highlight of my short time here was always the video interviews with key players, around key events eg around E3 2005 there were some brilliant ones - and the questions asked (and hence the replies) were always more interesting than the standard fare on other sites.  Peter Moore's were just fun around that time, especially the backlash after his comments about the 360s backward's compatibility back then.

Also, I dont mind reading reviews rather than watching them, since you often get more time/space to say more about a game in a written article.  But of course you need HD gameplay videos at least these days.  The 15 minute MGS4 trailer was a successful example.

I'd definitely like to try my hand at some podcasting/interview stuff, audio if not visual. Just prior to my joining Kikizo my old boss and I were hatching a plan along those lines for his indie site.

Peter Moore is a legend :) In his heyday he outclassed every other publisher exec.

Peter Moore is a legend :) In his heyday he outclassed every other publisher exec.

Yeah he's pretty cool.

"This is sad. There's no other word for it. The person who invents a way to punch someone in the face over the Internet will make millions from the demand generated by people like this." Youtube comments

Lord of the Rings: Conquest (360) preview -

http://games.kikizo.com/features/lotr-conquest-hands-on-preview-p1.asp

Any Tolkein fans here?

Edwin


Lord of the Rings: Conquest (360) preview -

http://games.kikizo.com/features/lotr-conquest-hands-on-preview-p1.asp

Any Tolkein fans here?

I dreamed I wrote the entire LOTR trilogy last night.

Turned out I was just Tolkien in my sleep.

***flyingsaucersdisguisedasmushrooms***
***mushroomsinvadingfromouterspace***

Stuart McAndrew: Lord of the Cringe.

Edwin


Lord of the Rings: Conquest (360) preview -

http://games.kikizo.com/features/lotr-conquest-hands-on-preview-p1.asp

Any Tolkein fans here?

Going by your review that's just as much as I expected from it. A shame really I liked the books, didn't really like the movies though, they left way to much out of it. And as for any game that's lotr related...well they basically pretty much all sucked so I doubt anyont was expecting this one to be any different.

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PSN: Demonoroth
pm me if you add anything

they left way to much out of it.

Another mile of walking?

Demonoroth

Edwin


Lord of the Rings: Conquest (360) preview -

http://games.kikizo.com/features/lotr-conquest-hands-on-preview-p1.asp

Any Tolkein fans here?

Going by your review that's just as much as I expected from it. A shame really I liked the books, didn't really like the movies though, they left way to much out of it. And as for any game that's lotr related...well they basically pretty much all sucked so I doubt anyont was expecting this one to be any different.

Preview, not review! Though I can't see the final version being miles better, if I'm honest.

EA's original Lord of the Rings beat-em-ups on PS2/Gamecube/Xbox were pretty entertaining.

Edwin


Preview, not review!

Like he knows the difference...

He doesn't even know the difference between a dev studio and a publisher.

Edwin


Preview, not review! Though I can't see the final version being miles better, if I'm honest.

EA's original Lord of the Rings beat-em-ups on PS2/Gamecube/Xbox were pretty entertaining.

Hehehehe sorry forgot my p there 


But like you said not like it'll matter all that much. I don't see them pulling something fantastic off in another mere what 5 days or so they have left.

And as for those beat-em-ups. I tried to like them but it never really got to me. But that might have been because I had just finished doing Blood will tell a few times.

Wii code: 2072 1110 4558 6538
Smash Bros Brawl: 1848-3246-8526
Mario Kart: 412452409500
Mario Strikers: 120360 413659
NiGHTS: 3737-8754-6785
PES 08: 4339-4437-7901

PSN: Demonoroth
pm me if you add anything

Blood?

 Blood Will Tell: Tezuka Osamu's Dororo

It wasn't a super game but it sure made playing Lotr after that seem boring as hell.

Wii code: 2072 1110 4558 6538
Smash Bros Brawl: 1848-3246-8526
Mario Kart: 412452409500
Mario Strikers: 120360 413659
NiGHTS: 3737-8754-6785
PES 08: 4339-4437-7901

PSN: Demonoroth
pm me if you add anything

Never played it... but even if i had... would have played the LotR games beforehand seeing as they were released 2-3 years in advance.

Robocalypse (DS) review (what do you mean you've never heard of it?) -

http://games.kikizo.com/reviews/ds/robocalypse.asp

And an interview with them Atari chaps on Afro Samurai -

http://games.kikizo.com/features/afro-samurai-namco-interview-p1.asp

Tom Clancy's HAWX preview is live -

http://games.kikizo.com/features/tom-clancys-hawx-hands-on-jan09-p1.asp

Neeeeeeeooow, pew-pew-pew, ratatatat etc.

PS. In case I'm not making myself clear, this is one of them flight sims.

Skate 2 coming in a few weeks... the demo was "show-ful" is probably the best fake word I can think of. 60fps is by far a nice additon. The new tricks are fantastic. Visually it's hit and miss but I'm quite passive about games with big free-roaming worlds...but fuck that demo was so fuckn limited...fuck you EA and your shitty demos...

Anyways I was wondering if kikizo has anything to say about this first game to grab in 09 (well for me at least).

Also...still holding onto that 8/10 for Killzone 2? I should probably go reserve it and play the demo but fuck I hate gamestop now so yeah...

I just dont know what to think. It looks nice in those videos...but I've grown bothered by fps games what require damn near a full clip to drop one person. Plus that whole bullet physics crap well just seems like crap. A unique death my ass, I keep seeing that hit to the shoulder spin animation. Seems like call of duty's death animations followed by rag-doll only done a bit better admittedly. 

I loathe skateboarding, and I have nothing but contempt for games related to such.  A jackass builds a ramp so he can ride it on a piece of wood with four wheels.  Ground breaking stuff.  If I was paid to make a case for how retarded the human race is, the first thing I would mention is skateboarding. 

You can't make a great game based on garbage.  The point of a videogame is to either simulate something that is great or to make compelling gameplay mechanics.  Anything based on skateboarding is intrinsically made of fail.  To the same end we won't  make a game based on knitting or watching paint dry.  For a concept to have any merit at all it has to have either intellectual or emotional merit.  Skateboarding appeals to the lowest common denominator, it's so far below any standard of significance that...I have nothing to say.  Skateboarding is useless.

Skate 1? Skate 2?  WHO CARES!?     

"This is sad. There's no other word for it. The person who invents a way to punch someone in the face over the Internet will make millions from the demand generated by people like this." Youtube comments

"Skateboarding appeals to the lowest common denominator"

Couldnt have said it better myself. (SceneKids, Emos, "hardcore kids", extreme!!!'s)

I dont want to celebrate, I want to sell you hate.

Johnny Jiron


Skate 2 coming in a few weeks... the demo was "show-ful" is probably the best fake word I can think of. 60fps is by far a nice additon. The new tricks are fantastic. Visually it's hit and miss but I'm quite passive about games with big free-roaming worlds...but fuck that demo was so fuckn limited...fuck you EA and your shitty demos...

Anyways I was wondering if kikizo has anything to say about this first game to grab in 09 (well for me at least).

Also...still holding onto that 8/10 for Killzone 2? I should probably go reserve it and play the demo but fuck I hate gamestop now so yeah...

I just dont know what to think. It looks nice in those videos...but I've grown bothered by fps games what require damn near a full clip to drop one person. Plus that whole bullet physics crap well just seems like crap. A unique death my ass, I keep seeing that hit to the shoulder spin animation. Seems like call of duty's death animations followed by rag-doll only done a bit better admittedly.

In all honesty Skate 2 isn't something I particularly give a fuck about, but we'll see what we can do :)

It doesn't take many bullets to drop someone in KZ2, but they have to be on-target. Empty a clip in one go and the other guy will still be standing when you reload (especially if you're using a heavy machine gun), but fire controlled bursts and he'll snuff it in a second. The exceptions to the rule are well-padded shotgunners and those massive mecha troopers.

I wouldn't pay much attention to the bullet physics stuff - it's there, it's very impressive, but at the end of the day it's just another kind of death throe. There are better reasons to own this game. My key concern at the moment is that the campaign won't offer sufficient and sufficiently exciting set-piece encounters - with hindsight, none of the big battles I fought through in the single player beta were quite up to the standard of, say, the Scarab/buggy/rocket launcher bit in Halo 3.

I played the Skate 1 demo when it came out. It wasn't bad, but not something I'd want to dump time or money into.

Nobody into HAWX then? I was pleasantly surprised by that one.

Nobody into HAWX then? I was pleasantly surprised by that one.

Flight sims aren't my thing.

First impressions from the trailers for HAWX have been one of - baahahahaha.

Then when they talk about stuff like the Enhanced Reality System or ERS, you laugh some more.

Alls I want to know is, is it better than the Ace Combat series.

And what dyu mean is it worth the pain of watching Top Gun??  That film's qual-ity.  If Hawx doesn't license Highway to the Danger Zone as background music then I'm not interested.

It's more serious than Ace Combat, sometimes to its detriment I think. I don't think Tom Clancy ever penned a joke in his life.

You'd better be right about Top Gun, man. I'm holding you personally accountable for whatever mental and emotional state I might happen to be in after I watch it ;)

Tom Cruise = Fail. Luckily Top Gun was before he found cult... er I mean religion..er I mean Scientology.

I dont want to celebrate, I want to sell you hate.

Bit of an oddity, that man. Anyone heard anything good about his latest flick, Valkyrie?

Edwin


Bit of an oddity, that man. Anyone heard anything good about his latest flick, Valkyrie?

Yes. Ive heard that everyone but Cruise did a decent job acting, and the critics seem to have the same opinion.

I dont want to celebrate, I want to sell you hate.

He's not bad in Collateral. Or so I'm deducing from the ten minutes or so I've watched.

Flower (PSN) preview -

http://games.kikizo.com/features/flower-ps3-hands-on-p1.asp

Absolutely lovely game from the makers of flow.

You mean we won't be able to eat things?  At least in Flow you got to eat things.

At least you can eat things while playing Flower - one-handed control very much FTW.

Here's another 2009 feature, 21 Things We Missed, restoring some of the titles/events shamefully absent from the first one.

http://games.kikizo.com/features/21-things-we-missed-gaming-in-2009-p1.asp

Heads up, Dreamcast diehards! Ready 2 Rumble Revolution (Wii) interview -

http://games.kikizo.com/features/ready-2-rumble-revolution-interview-p1.asp

Dreamcast diehards? I thought Ready 2 Rumble was on multiple consoles? I think I had it for N64.

I dont want to celebrate, I want to sell you hate.

Yeah, but it led on Dreamcast. Albeit only by a month or two.

Adam's done a super-massive GTA: Chinatown Wars preview, with lots of juicy screens.

http://games.kikizo.com/features/gta-chinatown-wars-handson-p1.asp

Still not 100% convinced myself. I think this one could go the same way as Phantom Hourglass - a cute distraction, but no substitute for a sofa, 50 inch screen and thousand-polygon character models.

Edwin

a cute distraction, but no substitute for a sofa, 50 inch screen and thousand-polygon character models.

Thats handheld gaming in general.

I dont want to celebrate, I want to sell you hate.

Innit :)

GTA IV: Lost and the Damned hands-on -

http://games.kikizo.com/features/gta-iv-the-lost-and-damned-hands-on-p1.asp