Archive for May, 2008

For those who haven’t played it, this is a really high quality, atmosphere heavy FPS. It is highly regarded for providing an original and immersive atmosphere, novel twists on FPS gameplay, extremely creative characters and environments, and excellent graphics.

I’ve been playing this on the PC, and it is easily one of the top FPS games out there. There are also entertaining adventure/exploration elements beyond simply shooting.

This is the second most highly rated game on 360 (behind GTA 4) and those PS3 owners who haven’t had a chance to try this on 360 or PC are in for a treat.

Source: 1UP + Others

In this NYT piece, the lead voice acting and motion capture star behind GTA 4 is a little upset that he doesn’t receive royalties or residuals like movie stars do.

“Obviously I’m incredibly thankful to Rockstar for the opportunity to be in this game when I was just a nobody, an unknown quantity,” Mr. Hollick, 35, said last week over dinner in Willamsburg, Brooklyn, shortly after performing in the aerial theater show “Fuerzabruta” in Union Square. “But it’s tough, when you see Grand Theft Auto IV out there as the biggest thing going right now, when they’re making hundreds of millions of dollars, and we don’t see any of it. I don’t blame Rockstar. I blame our union for not having the agreements in place to protect the creative people who drive the sales of these games. Yes, the technology is important, but it’s the human performances within them that people really connect to, and I hope actors will get more respect for the work they do within those technologies.”

That’s because Mr. Hollick was paid only about $100,000 over roughly 15 months between late 2006 and early this year for all of his voice acting and motion-capture work on the game, with zero royalties or residuals in sight, he said.

Welcome to the real world, voice actors.

Salaries, royalties, and residuals, and other compensation arrangements are negotiated between two parties. Workers negotiate for high comensation and are free to work for whomever will give them the best deals. Employers are free to hire whomever they want and search for the best workers for the least compensation. That’s how supply/demand and capitalism works in all industry that isn’t heavily unionized or government regulated.

Many of the workers behind GTA 3 were able to negotiate much better compensation after the huge success of the series. Hopefully now that Mr. Hollick has helped deliver a successful product like GTA 4, he has more bargaining power in negotiating future employment contracts.

So, do voice actors deserve more favorable terms? How about game artists, programmers, middle managers, and other studio roles? Should the industry unionize to get labor more bargaining leverage?

This has been out in Europe for a while, but now America finally gets a copy. Personally, I could never do karaoke; I can’t even sing in the shower. But it looks like a pretty fun game for those that do.

This is like PS2 iterations, but with elaborate online community features and an a la carte song store.

On-Disc Track List:

Amy Winehouse: Back To Black
Beck: Loser
Blind Melon: No Rain
Blink-182: All The Small Things
Britney Spears: Toxic
Coldplay: Clocks
Corinne Bailey Rae: Put Your Records On
Dave Matthews Band: Crash Into Me
David Bowie: Let’s Dance
Faith No More: Epic
Franz Ferdinand: Do You Want To ?
Jane’s Addiction: Been Caught Stealing
New Found Glory: My Friends Over You
Ne-Yo: So Sick
OutKast: Hey Ya !
Pixies: Here Comes Your Man
R.E.M.: Losing My Religion
Radiohead: No Surprises
Scissor Sisters: I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’
The Automatic Automatic: Monster
The Cardigans: Lovefool
The Killers: Mr. Brightside
The Pussycat Dolls: Beep
The Ramones: I Wanna Be Sedated
The Rolling Stones: Sympathy For The Devil
The Smashing Pumpkins: Today
U2: Beautiful Day
Warrant: Cherry Pie
Weezer: Buddy Holly
Wolfmother: Love Train

IGN actually gave this a 4.5. From the previews and playing through the demo, Haze seemed like a playable but thoroughly mediocre entry in the most overcrowded genre in video games right now. But still, 4.5 is pretty low on the game review curve. Even though I was suspecting mediocrity, that’s a pretty terrible score. Then again, the last time I remember them scoring a game this badly was Lair, and that definitely deserved it.

The Free Radical dev team definitely has a good reputation and I’ve enjoyed TimeSplitters games in the past. Has anyone out there tried Haze and enjoyed it?