Tag: splinter cell conviction

GamerSushi Asks: Most Anticipated Titles?

I know we’ve asked this question a few times before, but that was before the bevy of games that we were blasted with over the last few months. Plus, I like polls, so shutup. They rule.

As we all know, the last few months for our hobby have kind of ruled pretty hard. I’m still in the throes of chugging through Final Fantasy XIII at the moment (50 hours in!), and I think I’m finally getting towards the end. And honestly, I can’t wait either, because then I’m going to hop into Splinter Cell: Conviction and the Halo: Reach beta next week like they stole something from me.

Anyway, I thought I’d take the time to ask what you guys are excited about that’s on the docket for 2010 or early 2011. What games are you still really looking forward to, now that a lot of the big ones are freshly out of the way? Vote and tell us what you think in the comments.

What is your most anticipated unreleased game?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

GamerSushi Asks: What Are You Playing?

FF13You know the drill, fools. Every now and then we just want to check in, find out what everybody is playing, and maybe even compare notes on some new games. Let’s do it.

Right now, I’ve been totally swamped with writing stuff, but when I’ve had a chance to play some video games, I’m most playing Final Fantasy XIII. I’m about 35 hours into it now, which means I’m only about 5 hours past the point when the real game starts. Sadly, the game has about a 30 hour entrance fee before you are trained up good and proper. That being said, I love it and I’m having a blast with it. Just… dang, 30 hours Square? Oh well. I probably won’t even care now that I’m to the really fun stuff.

Whenever I’m not doing that, I dip my toes into the multiplayer for Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which is still just as much fun as when it came out. Hopefully, I can finish up FF13 in the near future and pick up either Splinter Cell: Conviction (hearing great things) and/or 3D Dot Game Heroes for the PS3.

Has anyone played any of these games mentioned? Thoughts so far? What are you guys playing? Go!

Are Single Player Games Going the Way of the Dodo?

Splinter Cell Conviction Co-OpYou all know that I love me some co-op. In fact, more often than not, I’d rather play co-op over some kind of versus multiplayer. To me, there’s nothing quite like jumping into a game with your friends, and playing alongside them while you chat about how things are going or how much better you are at everything. Not that I do that… often.

Anyway, I’m one of the biggest proponents of co-op appearing in most games, but it doesn’t mean I want there to be a death to single player as we know it. In a recent interview, Patrick Redding, the multiplayer director of Splinter Cell: Conviction, had some interesting things to say about playing games solo.

I see this co-op as fitting within a trend or a tendency that I think is emerging – actually it emerged a long time ago, but I think it’s just moved into the mainstream – which is that before, co-op was a relatively hardcore gaming paradigm for people… They don’t want it to be a solitary experience, they want to be able either to sit on the couch with their girlfriend and play, or be on Xbox Live with their best friends and play, and feel that something is unfolding according to some design intention, and they’re getting a chance to experience that but it doesn’t have to be that alone.

While I’m not saying this spells doom for single player gaming, it’s a telling perspective from someone inside the industry. No doubt this is why we see single player games getting multiplayer add-ons, or why Splinter Cell: Conviction only has a 5 hour solo campaign. Don’t get me wrong, I am dying to play the co-op, but it did surprise me to hear that the solo was so light.

So what do you guys think? Do you agree that nobody wants a solitary experience any longer? Personally, I see a place for both, and I don’t see why they have to be mutually exclusive. Tell us your thoughts.

Source- Videogamesdaily

GamerSushi Asks: What Are You Playing?

bc2
We might sound like a broken record around here, but this first half of this year has been an absolute treasure trove for our hobby. We’ve already had several Game of the Year candidates land on our consoles already, and we’re not even in April yet! Even though we’ve got Splinter Cell: Conviction and Red Dead Redemption on approach, we’re getting ever closer to the dreaded Summer Drought where our consoles remain cold and dark and we’re forced to venture outside in search of amusement.

Before that happens, we have a few more weeks of glorious gaming! Seeing as how we’re inundated with more excellent games than we know what to do with, I thought I’d initiate our little monthly quiz and find out what you’re playing.

Since I know you’re dying to find out what I’m spending my time on, I’ll deign to answer your queries. This time, anyways. I’m currently doing a heck of a lot of PC gaming, mostly on Battlefield: Bad Company 2. This game continues to be fantastic, and I just can’t get enough of it. I’m also smiting the forces of Chaos in Dawn of War II, and that’s a pretty good time, especially in the co-op campaign. On the console, I’m just about done my fourth Mass Effect 2 playthrough, this time with a Shepard carried over from the original. I also got my mits on a PlayStation 3, so I’m looking forward to firing up some of 2010’s big PS titles. Oh, and I’m playing Pokemon HeartGold, but don’t tell anyone.

What about you guys? What have you got on the go, and what are you looking forward to? Anything that we haven’t talked about on GamerSushi that you think we should be checking out?

Splinter Cell: Conviction Co-Op Interview

Man, the more I see for Splinter Cell: Conviction, the more pumped I get about it. I’ve been trying to avoid getting media overload from the whole thing, but it’s hard to stay away from great new videos that tease me with what I’ve been wanting since the co-op mode of Chaos Theory.

Ubisoft isn’t letting up apparently, and have given us a brand new video featuring a co-op mode interview. It sheds some new light on the mode, and gives tons of glimpses into the gameplay and the strategy that’s going to have to go into it from two players. I seriously can’t wait to play this, and it’s hard to believe it comes out next month.

Anybody else pumped?

Splinter Cell Conviction Co-Op and Deniable Ops Gameplay

Wow. You all know of my mega-boners that I get for Splinter Cell. Specifically, co-operative play in the Splinter Cell franchise is something that I will go off on a rant about, because of how much I loved the mode in Chaos Theory. Well, they’re bringing the mode back in Splinter Cell: Conviction, and I couldn’t be happier.

Up until now, all we’d gotten to see was a slick trailer for the mode. Now, though, we’re getting to see honest-to-goodness footage of the co-operative mode, in addition to Deniable Ops, which is more of an adversarial multiplayer in some ways. The coolest mode from Deniable Ops seems to be the “Spy vs Spy” gametype, where two players showdown in the midst of hostile enemy AI guards. The thought of that makes me a tad crazy, in the best way possible. Anyway, check out the new video and leave your thoughts.

Splinter Cell: Conviction is out on February 23rd, 2010. Anybody else jumping on this?

The Writing’s on the Wall: Splinter Cell in Action

Looks like Sam Fisher’s been taking a few lessons at the Batman School of Stealth, if this new video show-casing the upcoming Splinter Cell: Conviction is any indication. This new Splinter Cell seems a lot more focused on “blitzkrieg” style attacks, relying on brute force exercised with precision and speed rather than a considered approach.

It’s different from the Splinter Cell we know and love, certainly, but that’s not always a bad thing. I’m still looking forward to executing some punks Punisher-style when the game drops in February of next year, but I’m concerned that games like this may be sliding more towards an extended Quick Time Event than any semblance of actual freedom. Maybe I’m just paranoid.

But, as always, we want to know what you think! Does this new Splinter Cell seem like something that you’d want to pick up, or do the differences from past versions make you turn up your nose?

Today’s WTF: Splinter Cell Conviction Has No Night Vision

scconvictionOk, I hate to sound the “WTF” alarm for just anything these days, given the rather easy-to-upset gaming community at large, but this article I read today kind of jumped out at me. As some of you know, one of my most anticipated games for next year is Splinter Cell: Conviction. Chaos Theory still ranks among my favorite games of all time, and I’ve been waiting for a true sequel since then.

Well I might have to wait a little longer. While I’m largely OK with some of the additional gameplay mechanics that Ubisoft has added (the one-button executions, etc), something I read in an interview with the game’s creative director Max Beland disturbed me…

I crept through some dark areas as I worked my way into the building. Even in darkness, I did not need night vision to see, notably. In dark areas the game’s graphics become grainy, but the expected night-vision overlay doesn’t come into play. Beland doesn’t like green night-vision sequences in games and told me that Fisher’s goggles aren’t used for anything like that; just for sonar scans, which show enemy positions through walls.

Seriously? No night vision in a Splinter Cell game? I mean, call me crazy, but that just about throws the game off my radar. Looks like I might not get the proper return of the franchise that I wanted.

So what do you guys think? Am I overreacting to this? How would some of you guys feel if your favorite franchise was stripped of a staple of its gameplay?

Source- Kotaku

Redefining Splinter Cell: Conviction

One of the games that impressed me the most from E3 that I truly didn’t expect was Splinter Cell: Conviction. The last couple of times we saw this game (years ago), it didn’t seem to have a whole lot going for it, but after some revamping and retooling, the game seems to be getting along just swimmingly. Here’s a new behind the scenes video that shows off the mindset that went behind the game’s attractive new design, and some of the new gameplay elements.

Who else thinks this game looks awesome?

GamerSushi Asks: Favorite Game of E3?

e3As I’ve said before in other places, E3 really is the pinnacle of the gaming year. It’s a magical time where gamers get to find out what they can expect for the next year and a half or so, gaming-wise. We’re able to speculate, drool and generally get excited about all the things we love.

The week saw a lot of crazy things. There’s Project Natal from Microsoft which actually looks to show some promise despite my earlier misgivings about it. There’s also the Team Ninja Metroid and Final Fantasy XIV for the PS3. Halo: Reach was a pretty big announcement, as well. On top of that, we got to see some gameplay for things coming out soon, like Assassin’s Creed 2, Mass Effect 2 and Modern Warfare 2.

My favorite game of the show though was probably Uncharted 2 or Splinter Cell: Conviction. I wasn’t expecting much from the next Splinter Cell at all, but they’ve really overhauled the gameplay since the last time we saw the game, and for the better.

So what about you guys? What was the most impressive E3 thing you saw this week?

Microsoft E3 Presser Highlights

x360The Microsoft E3 press event has officially taken place. With it come a bevy of announcements, trailers, videos and more.

Here are the highlights:

  • Modern Warfare 2 gameplay looks awesome.
  • Splinter Cell Conviction coming Fall 2009. Sounds like they’ve added some new gameplay elements, mainly for the story.
  • Final Fantasy XIII coming in Spring 2010, much earlier than projected.
  • Left 4 Dead 2 Coming November 17th! Seems a little early, but I can dig it. New weapons, including chainsaws.
  • Forza 3 is coming in October.
  • Crackdown 2 trailer shown! This rules, it was one of my favorite games of this generation so far.
  • Halo 3 ODST video looks sweet. They also highlighted a story-telling element: most of the game will be a mystery pieced together through flashbacks. Coming September 22nd.
  • Bungie also shows a trailer for a new Halo game, Halo: Reach. Guess they lied when they said they were done with Halo, but I’m cool with it since Reach is such an awesome story. The book is incredible. Fall 2010.
  • Last.fm is coming to XBL gold users at no additional cost. Listening to music is neat, but I’d rather not do it on my TV. Still though, not bad for a service I’m already paying for.
  • Facebook and Twitter are coming to the XBox 360? Double no thanks. The world is over as we know it.
  • Kojima sneaks onto stage to announce that the Metal Gear Solid franchise is coming to the 360. Kind of cool, but it’s a Raiden game. Which is not so cool. If you’re bringing MGS to the 360, bring the actual game, not some dumb Raiden extension. Guess sloppy seconds is better than nothing, though.
  • Motion control coming to the 360. The final wtf? It’s not a controller. It’s a camera that translates your actual movements to the game. Sounds mega-lame. “Project Natal”. Lionhead even showed off a new game for it called Milo.

By the way, the links are to videos. So, which of these excites you most? Which is the stupidest? Go!

Ubisoft Games to Have Release Day DLC

ac2I’ve griped about it plenty before, but I’m really not liking the places that downloadable content is headed. Sometimes it’s done well and is worth the money, like the Halo 3 maps or the Fallout 3 extra campaigns. But other times, it’s done quite poorly, such as the Prince of Persia “DLC” that is really the true ending of the game.

Well, the same people that brought you that last one (Ubisoft) are bringing three more DLC packages, this time for their upcoming games Avatar, Splinter Cell: Conviction and Assassin’s Creed 2. The problem? They’re releasing the DLC on the day each of these games comes out.

Remember the days when you could unlock extra costumes and gameplay modes for free? Well, those are going the way of the dodo now, it seems.
Continue reading Ubisoft Games to Have Release Day DLC

E3 2009 Predictions: Place Your Bets

e32I know we’ve already had a topic similar to this in the past, but now that E3 is just a few days away, I couldn’t resist. Rumors are starting to fall on video game sites about possible hardware releases (such as an upgraded PSP), and firm dates on games like Splinter Cell: Conviction and so on. There are even rumors surrounding an announcement of a new Mario/Zelda game for the Wii, with Nintendo’s promise that this year’s presser will be focused on games.

While E3 wasn’t a big deal last year, this year, they’re going to kick it up a notch. I figured that in light of this awesome event, we’d place some bets on things that we think are going to happen, and we’ll try to keep score of who got the most right.

So, put down 7 predictions for E3, and we’ll see who comes out on top. The more specific, the better!

Splinter Cell: Conviction Still Truckin’

Last year, Ubisoft showed off some early gameplay footage of Splinter Cell: Conviction. This title didn’t play like other entries into the series, which typically have Sam Fisher infiltrate terrorist cells and do his best Solid Snake impression as he downed bad guys in stealth. No, Conviction instead has Sam Fisher on the run, doing his best to avoid cops in public as he is a wanted man.

Since that early preview, nobody’s really heard much about the game, until Chris Easton of Ubisoft recently gave a few more tidbits about the game’s progress. Apparently, they had some bumps along the way.

Continue reading Splinter Cell: Conviction Still Truckin’