Lego Universe 2010-2012

While I'm not a big player of MMO's, it's always sad to see one permanently shut down. As of midnight this morning, Lego Universe shut down all remaining servers. Lego Universe never really caught on with players since it's release on October 26, 2010, even after going free-to-play in August of last year. With the virtual Lego juggernaut that is Minecraft becoming more and more popular over the last year, I wonder if that may be what attracted Lego fans.

In other MMO news the thirteen year old EverQuest will be going free-to-play in March following the success of it's sequel going free-to-play late last year.

via: Kotaku

Felon's Femme Fatales: Eve

Speeder recently showed me a video of a panel had been held at last year's PAX East (Penny Arcade Expo), one of the largest videogame conventions in the US right now. The panel was women on female game characters. They mainly talked about different female characters from video games, both good and bad, and how they felt about these characters from a woman's perspective. This gave me the idea for a new segment: Felon's Femme Fatales. By definition, a Femme Fatale is usually a deadly female character most often in the Film Noir genre of films. But in this case, I will be discussing both antagonist and protagonist game characters. *Warning! There are some spoilers present in this article. If you want play the game, do so and THEN read this!

Eve in her first form, after transforming her host body.

I'm going to begin with the character Eve from Parasite Eve for the Playstation 1. Parasite Eve is one of my favorite horror-RPG type games and it is very largely because of the antagonist by the name of Eve. She is essentially the voice and consciousness of the rebel mitochondria that are wreaking havoc in their attempt to free themselves from "slavery" in the cells of humans.
Eve is a deadly villainess. I mean, she can make people spontaneously combust at will and mutates animals into monsters through-out the game. Despite her unusual appearance, Eve also has a seduction element, making her truly live up to the persona of the Femme Fatale. Her determination to reach her goal is unconquerable. And she's always one step ahead of Aya and the other protagonists in the game. However, one thing that is particularly fascinating about this character is that despite the fact that she is clearly labeled as a destroyer, she is also placed in the position of motherhood, or creation, as well. Eve's ultimate goal is to create the Ultimate Being: a creature that is wholly descended from the mitochondria and is thus unbelievably powerful. She becomes pregnant with this creature in the later half of the game and takes on a form that is very reminiscent of a pregnant woman. There is even one point where Aya discovers Eve in this state and points her gun at Eve, to which Eve calmly responds with a shooshing motion, almost as if to say "don't wake the baby". The birth of the Ultimate Being is, of course, part of Eve's agenda to conquer humanity and is therefore part of her villainy, but it still gives an interesting twist to the character archetype.

Eve's pregnant form. This is when she quiets Aya.

Eve is one of my favorite female characters because even though she is a villain, she still has the traits of a powerful female figure: determination, intelligence, resourcefulness, and strength. And she makes Parasite Eve an excellent game.

Aliens: Colonial Marines delayed until fall 2012

In news that will certainly upset at least half of us here at DntotConsole (that half being Felon Ripley), Aliens: Colonial Marines has been pushed back from it's initial release of spring 2012 to now some time in fall of this year according to a Sega press statement.

A new trailer for the game has also been released today:

Aliens: Colonial is being developed by Borderlands creators Gearbox Software and being published by Sega.

Via: Joystiq

Mega Man has seen better days in this Street Fighter X Tekken trailer.

When it comes to fighting games I've always been on the Mortal Kombat side of the genre. But, the new trailer for Street Fighter X Tekken which features PS3/Vita exclusive fighters such as Cole from Infamous, Pac-Man in some kind of Mech suit, and the MOST INSANE version of Mega Man I've ever seen caught my attention.

While I'm aware that this is supposed homage of sorts to the Nintendo box art of the first Mega Man game, it just makes me think of the hard times Mega Man has fallen on recently. I know things seem rough now Mega Man, with the cancellation of a couple of games and not being included in the roster for Marvel vs Capcom 3 (twice) but you can't let yourself go like this.  How does a robot let himself go like this?

News Wrap-Up

Let me start off by saying sorry for not updating as much as I hoped this week, the news has been a lot of rumors and speculation and I really didn't want to start off the site reporting on unconfirmed reports. So here's a few quick articles from this week:


RUMOR: Rocksteady's next project may be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle game - I want this to be true so badly, if there is anyone that should be allowed to do a new TMNT game it's the studio that brought us the best Batman games of all time.

The Next Xbox will have a Blu-Ray player but will not play used games - Ok, to me the Blu-Ray player seems likely (however I think digital distribution will be the big push for the next generation) but the anti-used games thing bugs me. Frankly if Microsoft were to actually go though with this, places like GameStop, Amazon, and Best Buy would either not heavily market Microsoft's new console or threaten to flat-out not sell it at all.

THQ moving away from kids games to focus more on "core gamers" - While Saints Row: The Third and Space Marine sold pretty well, Homefront and Red Faction did not and lead to studio closers. I guess we'll see what 2012 brings for THQ. 

Insomniac is done making Resistance games - With Overstrike (Insomniac's first multi-platform game) on the horizon it will be interesting to see if Insomniac makes future PS3 exclusive titles.  

RETROspective: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

 Just about everyone knows who Super Mario is, gamer or not. While I can't speak for everyone, Mario games were a staple for many of us since we first picked up a Nintendo controller. So for my RETROspective I chose to focus on Super Mario RPG, one of the more unusual of the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) Mario titles.

The most noticeable difference between this game and it's predecessors was the fact that, well, it's a turn based role-playing game. I'm fairly sure I didn't even know what an RPG was when I first played it, but I became addicted to it very quickly. Maybe it was the fact that you got to play as other characters besides Mario or Luigi, or that it had a more complicated and involving storyline. Regardless, I loved/love that game. I even remember having a Nintendo Power magazine with strategies about beating each boss, which came in handy on more then one occasion. Being my first RPG, I didn't have a concept of how important it was to level accordingly, so I had a really bad habit of skipping through the side battles and ultimately getting my ass kicked by bosses down the road. Especially that stupid Croco guy. It took me FOREVER to get past him the first time. Any way, onto the game!
You're given five playable characters: Mario (the strong-and-silent type), Mallow (the loveable goof), Geno (the mysterious outsider), Bowser (the tough guy) and Princess Peach (the girly healer). Each character has both physical and magical attacks, though Geno is about the only character that seems to be proficient in both skills at equal levels, i.e. Mario and Bowser are more warrior class and Mallow and Princess are more magic class. Of course, you start out with only Mario and slowly gain more characters. The more I played this game, the more I started to appreciate all the characters for their unique strengths, though I distinctly remember not using Mallow very much when I was younger. His base hit points seemed to be lower then most of the other characters with the exception of Princess. However, the most exciting thing about the different characters was that you actually FINALLY get to play as Bowser! Aside from Super Mario Kart, that was a complete first and AWESOME. I mean you get to play as Mario's arch nemesis. Not many games had offered a role reversal like that before.
The world Mario RPG is set in is unique and different from any of the previous worlds you see in other Mario games. This game certainly pushed the graphics capability of the SNES at the time it came out and despite the fact that games on the X-Box 360 and PS3 would put it to shame now, it still looks good and has functionality even after all this time. It's also one of the few Mario games on SNES that was not a side-scroller.

An example of a typical battle scene in Mario RPG.

The enemies in Mario RPG are interesting to say the least. You get to see a few of the old, familiar faces like goombas, troopas and magi-koopas. But the main quest enemies are...different. They're monsters that are supposed to be living weapons lead by this mysterious boss called Smithy (cause he smiths weapons, get it?) Smithy is trying to take over Mario's world and you, of course, have to stop him. The fact that you are fighting against these living weapons is a strange concept and I would not be surprised if it's supposed to be a social commentary. But in any case, they're jerks and it's really satisfying to defeat them and make them vaporize and turn into coins, kind of like Scott Pilgrim but a tad less dramatic. There are lots of other challenges and side quests too along side the main quest so if you want a break from the story for a short while, you have options.

So to sum up, before this becomes too long (if it hasn't already), here are some of Felon's favorite things about Super Mario RPG: easy to play, engaging storyline, fun and different characters, good music and good graphics for it's time. In short, if you have a Wii, BUY this from the virtual store and PLAY IT! You're missing out on something amazing if you don't. Felon says so.

Mario Party 9's box art is an Amazing Technicolor......Wii game case?

I didn't think the human eye was capable of seeing this many colors at once. Also of note: This is apparently the second version of the box art, the first having left out Luigi. See if you can find him now.

Minecraft is offically getting Lego sets!

I'm a huge fan of Minecraft and after hearing in early December that Mojang had petitioned to have official Lego sets of the popular world builder produced, my mind nearly exploded with the idea of this perfect combination. Well after over 10,000 fans voted on Lego Community site CUUSOO it's officially becoming a reality. No word yet on what the sets will contain or when they will hit stores but I will be sure to post pictures/info as soon as I find out.

Via: Gizmodo

Do not turn off the Console is on Twitter.

As you can see on the right side of the page we now have a Twitter that you can follow us on. We will be using this to post quick news updates (because the mobile version of Blogger kinda sucks), sneak peaks at up coming articles/segments, and whatever else we feel deserves a max of 140 characters. So either click on the gadget to the right or use this link: @dntotconsole

Also Felon and I each have our own Twitter accounts:

@FelonRipley

@SpeederVenkman

Things Felon loves mixed with things Felon really.......doesn't care for.

Really should work on a more clever title...

I wouldn't necessarily call myself a Bronie (a male My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fan) but I have enjoyed the handful of episodes I've seen. Felon on the other hand wasn't as thrilled to see one of her favorite childhood shows remade (the word atrocity came up a few times within the first episode).  So feelings were decidedly mixed when I showed her this video:

 For the record, my favorite Pony: Pinkie Pie.

Amy may not be terrible, you may just be terrible at playing it.

Well we can't all be Resident Evil and Silent Hill...

Anticipated downloadable survival horror title Amy came out last week on the Xbox marketplace and was almost instantly taken to task by reviewers (24% on gamerankings and a 34% metacritic at the time of this post) with terms like "broken, buggy, and unfinished" dominating reviews and message boards. With it's release on The Playstation Network this week, Amy's official Facebook page posted the follow response to the criticisms:

 "We believe this is part of the survival experience we tried to build as we wanted the game to be challenging.However, we actively listen to the community and comments and hence recommend the non-hard core gamers to launch the game in EASY mode (in the settings) for now.This will give them a much more pleasant and smoother experience, especially as the checkpoints are scarce."

I can respect the fact the developer (or whoever runs Amy's Facebook page) doesn't want to say that the game is bad, especially so soon after release. However, to put the blame on the people playing, not to mention paying for the game, is a poor way of addressing the issue. 

Something else that bugged me was this sentence: "Indeed, AMY has been #1 in the daily XBLA charts since its launch in all major territories and players have rated it between 3 and 4 out of 5 on XBLA and more than 4 on the PSN despite the controversy." I'm assuming the "controversy" they are speaking of is the majority of bad reviews and the fan reaction to this. Researching further I could only find one decent review from Austrian gaming site GamingXP (still a 76/100) and less than a handful of people on message boards saying they enjoy the game despite it's flaws. Look, not every game can be critically under-appreciated and yet find a strong fan base (i.e. Deadly Premonition). Sometimes a game is just bad.  

 

What If?: BioWare almost made a Spider-Man MMO.

According to this report published by The Los Angles Times Star Wars The Old Republic creators BioWare wanted to make MMOs of other popular franchises before settling on a publishing deal with George Lucas .

"The idea for the game has its origins at a 2005 meeting between Vogel and BioWare’s Zeschuk and Muzyka, two Canadian physicians-turned-game developers. After attempts to adapt “Lord of the Rings,” “A Game of Thrones” and Marvel comic book super-heroes like such as Spider-Man, the team signed a co-publishing deal with “Star Wars” creator George Lucas."

Honestly I love to think that every player of a Spider-Man MMO would just be different versions/costumes of the irradiated wall-crawler. In which case I totally call dibs on The Amazing Bag-Man (pictured below).

via: Kotaku

Felon's adventures in online gaming, part 2

Aliens Versus Predator (and later AvP:Gold Edition)

Someone once told me the AvP Aliens looked like hunched over, little old men.

 

was my first online first-person shooter. I've always loved the Predator and Alien franchises so it was exciting to have a game where I could actually play as one of those sci fi legends. (Note: whenever I play a game where you can choose different races, I will almost always choose a non-human race, (i.e. the Zerg or Protoss from Starcraft, the Alien from AvP and the Kahjiit from Oblivion/Skyrim. I find the humans to be boring...) Same as before, I played through almost all of the single-player campaigns, except for the Marine one. The Marine campaign in AvP was fucking SCARY. I could barely make it through a level without my palms sweating like crazy. I also had a bad habit of shooting wildly when I got one of those little "blips" on my motion tracker but couldn't actually see the enemy because of how dark it was. But I digress.
When I finally got around to getting onto MPlayer (the multi-player system that AvP used before it became Gamespy) I played as the Alien, under Dark Mystery just like on Starcraft. The frame rate on my computer at that time was terrible but I loved the thrill of playing online despite the lag. It was incredibly fast paced to the point that you had to keep moving all the time. I was, again, approached by a clan rather quickly and I DO remember that clan's tag: JAW. It was an all Alien player clan, hence the jaw thing. Unlike Starcraft, I became pretty good with the Alien fairly fast. When I finally got a faster computer, I was kicking ass on a regular basis. One of my favorite moments that I recall was telling one of the Marine players I was slaughtering that he was getting his ass kicked by a girl. Oh was he mad! I was pretty proud of myself. Eventually, the clan I had been in dissolved, so I just became a solo player. I joined one other clan while I played AvP but after they were done, I decided that I liked being a solo player more. Too many clans were too serious about themselves. I just liked to play. Again, I made a lot of online friends in the community and I still remember many of them too.
AvP was one of those games that I played until the community died. Many of the players moved on to Aliens Versus Predator 2, but it just wasn't quite as fun. Eventually, that community disappeared too. As always, bigger and better games come out and we all move on to something else. But AvP was one of those gaming experiences that I will never forget. When the newest Aliens Versus Predator was announced and it was revealed that Rebellion was producing it, I was ridiculously excited. However much like AvP 2, the aspects of the game that had made the original AvP so good had not been put into the new game: the Alien was way to slow and clunky and not nearly as fluid as it had been, the Predator was also too slow and somewhat over powered, the Marine was ok but when you went into an online game, you would be slaughtered almost instantly. It just wasn't as fun.

So the span of Dark Mystery came to an end. But it was a good run! I moved on to playing some Ragnarok Online and some World of Warcraft eventually, but I wasn't really as involved with the communities on those games. Sad but true. If I had more time, I'd probably get back into WoW. I LOVE immersive games after all. But right now, roller derby takes a lot of my free time. I hope that some day I will be able to enjoy an online community as much as I did with Starcraft and AvP.

Next time, Speeder and I will be launching a brand new segment called RETROspective, a look back at our favorite games from the past!

Felon's adventures in online gaming, part 1

So I had been trying to decide what part of my gamer experiences I wanted to share on here first. Although I began my gaming "career" much earlier then when I began online gaming, my experiences with it are something that really developed me as a gamer, so I am going to begin with that for now.
Starcraft was my first online game. It was released in 98' but I'm fairly sure I was 14 or 15 when I started playing it. I had played through all the single-player campaigns and eventually I worked up the nerve to make a battle.net account. That was where I created my first online identity: Dark Mystery. Yes, it was ridiculous, but my main goal was to be as inconspicuous as possible. Even then, I didn't want people to automatically know I was a girl so I picked a name I thought to be non-girly. (NOTE: years and years later I told my dad about using that name to which he replied "Really? No one suspected you were a girl with a name like that?")
And so Dark Mystery was born. I have no trouble admitting that I was a terrible online Starcraft player at first. As any gamer knows, playing against a computer is a VERY different thing from playing against a human. So in short, I sucked. Nonetheless I eventually was solicited to join a clan, not because of skill but just because many clans back then just wanted to boost their numbers. I'm sorry to say I really can't remember the clan name anymore (that makes me a bit sad) but two guys in that clan were my first online friends and were the first people I revealed my gender to. What I liked about them was that while they liked having a girl in their clan (typical response unfortunately), they didn't make a really big deal about it. We would just play together and have a good time. Over 10 years, and I still remember those guys: Tom and Adam. I hope their still gaming. Any how, I began making more online friends on Battle.net and soon, I started to spend a lot more of my weekends playing and less time socializing with my school friends. Don't get me wrong, I did not completely shun human contact (at least not all the time ^_^) but this was when gaming started to take over a little more of my life then it ever had before.
I spent a lot of time with online Starcraft, but then, when I found out that a new Aliens Versus Predator PC first-person shooter had come out in 99', it opened a new chapter of my online gaming life. But that chapter is for part 2!

One last thing. Kerrigan from Starcraft was always one of my favorite game villanesses. Maybe that's why I always liked playing as the Zerg.

Meeting the team, part 2.

Hey there! I'm Felon Ripley, and I'm the other half of the team behind Do not turn off the Console. I'm 26, I'm a woman, and I've been a gamer for most of my life. Recently, I've been contemplating the idea of going after my dream career in game design, and so I felt like this blog would be a step in the right direction. However, that's not the only reason. Being a female gamer for all these years has been an interesting experience, and it's rare that I get to nerd out about it with anyone other then my loving boyfriend. So my posts will be a mixture of subjects, from game reviews to my experiences as a gamer to artwork and game ideas.

What can I say? I'm a nerd through and through! And for anyone who might not get my name reference (Felon Ripley), please, go watch Alien or Aliens. Also, please feel free to e-mail or post comments!

- Felon

Resident Evil 6 confirmed for a November release.

After some cryptic teasers began popping up online this week Capcom has officially announced Resident Evil 6 for the Xbox 360 and PS3 releasing on Nov. 20th 2012  and a PC release to follow after.

The story is said to take place 10 years after the incidents in Raccoon City and will have players controlling returning favorites Leon Kennedy (RE 2 and 4) and Chris Redfield (RE 1,Code: Veronica,and 5) along with 2 new unannounced characters.

Along with the announcement Capcom has also dropped a snazzy trailer:

On a personal note, Felon and I really enjoyed RE5 and are looking forward to another co-op campaign.

2nd post and it's already a best of list.....

Is it to late to post a best of 2011 list in late January? Fuck it...it's my blog and I'll do what I want. Here's my top three plus some honorable mentions that I enjoyed in 2011.

 Number 3: Batman Arkham City

The sequel to 2009's Arkham Asylum not only improved the gameplay and graphics it also told in my opinion a much better story if only a little unfocused in places. If I have really complain about one thing it's not the game itself but the way the Catwoman campaign/DLC code was handled by Warner Bros. games.

Number 2: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Over two months after release and Felon and I have still yet to beat it, that's really all that needs to be said.

Number 1 or Game of the Year: Portal 2

The absolute best part about 2007's The Orange Box for me was Portal. The puzzles were top-notch, the writing was clever, and the end credits song by Jonathon Coulton is still stuck in my head. Portal 2 has this all and more, adding new characters like Wheatley and Cave Johnson, the gels, the back story to Aperture Science.....I could go on and on.



Mobile Game(s) of the Year: Minecraft-Pocket Edition/ Batman: Arkham City Lockdown

If you love Minecraft but occasionally have to leave your computer to do other things besides play virtual Lego, that's a shame but now you can play anywhere. The only mode available currently is Classic but Mojang is working on getting the other modes out soon. 

Batman Arkham City Lockdown is pretty much Infinity Blade but with a Batman skin and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. 

 Honorable Mention: The Uncharted Trilogy (Drake's Fortune, Among Thieves, and Drake's Deception)

For Christmas this year Felon and I finally bought a PS3 of our very own and the bundle I picked up included all three of the Uncharted games. To say that these games may be some of the best looking of this entire generation is an understatement (especially 2 & 3), the motion capture for the characters and level design are extraordinary. While it may be because I played all three consecutively I feel that the story falls a little flat near the end of Drake's Deception. Overall though this is a great mix of action,platforming,and story that you really don't see in a lot of in games these days.

Meeting the team part 1.

I've never been any good at introductions so I'm just going to jump right into this. My name is Jordon but you can call me Speeder Venkman (or Speeder if you feel like being informal)and I'm a gamer. Something I like doing just as much as playing video games is reading about gaming news and the industry, so I decided to started a blog with my girlfriend Felon. I don't really know for sure what my share of this blog will be just yet. I'll probably be posting news for the most part,the occasional editorial, and whatever I come up with in the coming months.

So please enjoy the blog,comment on the posts, and shoot me an e-mail if you have questions