Bully: Scholarship Edition Hands On

Scholarship Edition is somewhat of a director’s cut for Bully, the game released as Canis Canem Edit in Europe in 2006. The new version keeps the soul of the original PlayStation 2 game and adds a next-gen polish to its body. It also adds new graphics, extra solo missions, and multiplayer games.

Scholarship Edition adds some fun new multiplayer games, including biology.

As we saw in our previous visit to Rockstar London’s offices, Scholarship Edition–coming to the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii in March–offers new control mechanics with the Wii Remote, as well as improved visuals. In addition to eight new single-player missions, four new multiplayer “classes” (minigames) have been added: music, maths, biology, and geography.

You’ll fill the shoes of Jimmy Hopkins, a teen delinquent with a troubled past dumped at the gates of the prestigious Bullworth Academy boarding school by his mother, who abandons him to go on her latest honeymoon. Jimmy enrolls at Bullworth through necessity because he’s been kicked out of a string of schools, and Bullworth is the only one willing–or stupid enough–to admit him.

We tried the four new multiplayer classes and found them to be a great addition to the game–multiplayer is still a purely offline affair. The music class follows a method similar to other rhythm games and reminded us of the minigame in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas where you have to pump your car hydraulics to the beat. Duking it out as Jimmy or Gary, we took the Wii Remote and Nunchuk in hand, which represented onscreen maracas, and had to follow along with the dismal-sounding school band. You control the maracas by shaking either hand to a series of vertically scrolling notes that pass through a reticule much in the same manner as Guitar Hero. It takes a bit of practice to master, but getting the timing spot-on or pulling off a string of correct notes, rewards you with a higher score.

The maths class takes a page out of Nintendo’s Brain Training, with puzzles ranging from simple arithmetic to questions with dimensions, weight, and more. The multiple choice answers could be chosen using the Wii Remote by pointing and clicking. Biology, which we saw previously, involves the dissection of a particular animal by using a magnifying glass, scalpel forceps, and pins. We attempted dissecting a rat using the Wii Remote in a race against the clock and another player. Points are awarded for speed and accuracy, so it pays to be careful rather than just hacking through it at record pace.

The geography class involves placing named flags on the appropriate countries within a region. We tried our luck with the Middle East and North Africa, Central and South America, and South East Asia. Even with the flags and country names to help jog our memory, it was surprisingly challenging to identify some of the more far-flung countries.

After a lesson in multiplayer, we graduated to the single-player campaign. We played a mission originally from the PS2 version, Character Sheets, in which Jimmy Hopkins has to help fellow student Melvin get back stolen sheets for his favourite role-playing board game, Grottos and Gremlins. Using the skateboard, we roamed around the schoolyard until we found the culprits indicated on the map and proceeded to teach them a lesson in schoolyard bullying.

Rockstar then showed us a new mission, Rudy the Red Nosed Santa, located in downtown Bullworth and starring a hilarious new character: Rudy–the town’s drunken Santa. It seems Rudy’s winter wonderland is lacking some wonder, and it’s up to Jimmy to find some ornaments, located in the town’s trashcans, to help spice it up. On your journey, you’ll be assaulted by elves and their pet bulldog–presumably sent from a competing Santa–which you’ll need to fend off. If you get close enough to an elf, you can pick him up and dump him in a trashcan!

It’s not over when you get the ornaments back to Rudy. You’ll need to be his photographer as he sits for some happy holiday snaps with the kiddies. Using the camera, you’ll need to take four “happy” photos, which are harder to take than it sounds given the disobedient brats Rudy meets, as well as his drunken demeanour and alcohol-drenched odour.

We found that the Wii Remote worked well with Bully. Compared to the 360 controller, the Wii Remote certainly felt more intuitive and natural, especially when trying to delicately dissect critters or move flags in multiplayer. Many moves, such as throwing punches or performing humiliation moves, are done by shaking the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. Other moves, such as performing an ollie on your skateboard, are performed with buttons. Some moves are made just a bit more amusing with the Wii Remote, such as giving a wedgie, which is done by pressing right on the D pad, then jerking the Wii Remote and Nunchuk up quickly.

Jimmy gets new fighting mechanics thanks to the Wii Remote.

What we saw appeared to be a near-final build, and the graphics looked good, even on a 65-inch display. However, the graphics were noticeably more detailed and sharper on the Xbox 360 version.

Rockstar said that the new version will take more than 30 hours to complete, including side quests, classes at Bullworth Academy, and other amusements spread around the world, such as arcade games. With new graphics, music, background dialogue, missions, and multiplayer games, Bully: Scholarship Edition is likely to appeal to old and new players alike. It is currently scheduled for a European release date of March 7.

-If Its Games

Roogoo First Look

Earlier this month, during a meeting with SouthPeak Games, we had an opportunity to check out a brief demo of the then-unannounced Xbox Live Arcade version of Roogoo. Also in development for the PC, Roogoo is a puzzle game where you’ll be tasked with saving the planet Roo from its corrupt king. The storyline doesn’t really seem necessary given that this is a pretty straightforward puzzle game, but it’s bonkers enough that we can’t resist sharing what we know of it with you. The planet Roo owes its beauty to a strange phenomenon–geometrically shaped, brightly colored asteroids that fall from the sky. The evil king wants the power of the asteroids to himself, and as a result of his evil scheme, the planet is being drained of its beauty.

Roogoo isn’t nearly as easy as it looks.

How will you foil the king’s nefarious plan? By rotating a series of orbiting circular platforms with holes cut into them so that the aforementioned asteroids can fall safely onto the planet surface, of course. That sounds awfully complicated, but all you really need to know is that the asteroids–like pieces from a children’s shapes puzzle–take the form of circles, triangles, squares, stars, hearts, and such. The holes in the circular platforms have the same shapes cut into them. Thus, while you view the action through a dynamically moving camera, you simply rotate the platforms so that the asteroids hit the right holes and–once a few of the asteroids are stacked atop each other–are forced through the platforms.

Roogoo’s early levels use only three different shapes of asteroid, and they fall from the sky at a relatively sedate pace. We had an opportunity to check out some levels later in the game during our meeting and can also report that things look to get a lot more challenging. As you progress, you’ll be presented with additional asteroid shapes, along with multiple platforms to guide them through, and the action will speed up considerably. We even saw one level where the asteroids had to be guided from the top of the level down through the platforms to the bottom, and then back again. Furthermore, there are levels where the holes are covered with trapdoors that open and close on a timer, so you have to speed up the descent of the asteroids by holding down a button so that they hit the platform at the right moment. You’ll also need to speed up the asteroids when aliens try to interfere with the platforms, so that you can knock the little green guys off.

In addition to the single-player mode, Roogoo will feature competitive multiplayer modes that can be played either split-screen or online. The Xbox 360 and PC versions of Roogoo are scheduled for release in April and early May, respectively. We’ll bring you more information on the game as soon as it becomes available.

-If Its Games

Poker Smash Review

Poker Smash is a terribly misleading title for a game that has less in common with Texas hold ‘em than Bejeweled. Don’t let the name or the 52-card aesthetic fool you–this is a puzzle game, straight up, and though the pieces all look familiar, Poker Smash assembles them in a way that feels fresh.

Actually, even more than Bejeweled, Poker Smash is reminiscent of Tetris Attack (or Panel de Pon for you Japanese importers), which is to say it’s almost exactly like Tetris Attack. You’re presented with a grid of tiles, and you can slide individual panels horizontally to make sets of three or more similar tiles to clear them. New tiles are constantly pushing up into the field from the bottom, so speed is a factor as well. Derivative, yes, but it’s a strong foundation for a puzzle game nonetheless. What sets Poker Smash apart and what really makes it interesting as a puzzle game is the way it applies the rules of poker to the gameplay. Rather than just matching tiles with simple symbols, the tiles are made to look like playing cards, and you can clear tiles by making various poker hands.

Poker Smash is the type of game that will appeal to hardcore and casual players alike.

The genius here is twofold. The rules of poker are pretty common knowledge–if you know how to play poker, you know how to clear tiles in Poker Smash. Additionally, it provides you with a lot more options than just “match the shape” for clearing tiles, which has the net effect of making this an extremely fast-paced puzzle game right from the start. If you don’t know the rules of poker, this might initially sound intimidating, but the game simplifies things by limiting the cards from ace to 10. Once you understand what a flush, a straight, and a full house are, you’ll be good to go.

Keeping with the poker theme, you’ll earn more points for bigger hands. You can also take your winnings to the in-game Poker Smash store to buy new background themes, gamer pictures, and more. The real way to get your score up, though, is by chaining together hands and creating specific hands that the game will intermittently challenge you to make, both of which can be tough to pull off on the fly. In an interesting design choice that complements the speed of Poker Smash, you’ll primarily use the two analog sticks to play. The left analog stick controls your cursor and the right stick effects where the selected tile will move. It’s a seemingly simple choice that helps make the action feel more fluid. Beyond the analog sticks, when things get too hectic, you can hold the right trigger to slow down time momentarily. Alternately, you can hold the left trigger to speed things up. If a specific tile is keeping you from making your hand, you’ve got a limited cache of bombs that you can use to clear out any offending tiles.

The modes of play in Poker Smash are pretty standard for a puzzle game, but they serve the gameplay well. On the single-player side, there’s a practice mode, a timed mode, and a “play until you die” mode. There’s also a puzzle mode, which presents you with a static, preset field of tiles, and the challenge is to figure out how to clear every last tile from the screen. As you might imagine, the puzzle mode gets real hard, real fast. Poker Smash can also be played both locally or over Xbox Live with up to four players, and though there aren’t a lot of options here, the core gameplay works well against other players.

When you wrap this fun amalgamation of poker and puzzle games in a clean–if sometimes thematically disparate–presentation, you’ve got a package that does a good job of justifying its $10 price tag.

MLB 2K8 First Hands-On

Get ready to reexamine your relationship with the analog stick in 2K Sports’ upcoming Major League Baseball 2K8. From pitching and batting, to baserunning and fielding, practically all of the controls in 2K Sports’ latest hardball game have been revamped and moved to the right analog stick. In a drive to simplify things across all the different actions you can take on the diamond, the development team has created a control scheme that will certainly take some getting used to but seems to have advantages all its own. That’s just one part of the many changes that are happening with MLB 2K8, which we had a chance to check out for the first time today.

From pitching to base-running, the analog sticks play a bigger role than ever in MLB 2K8’s gameplay.

Though we’ll get to the new features (and you’ve got to hear about the new trading-card system in the game), we’ll start with the changes that will be most obvious to you when you pick up and play MLB 2K8 for the first time: the controls. Although you can always go back and play the game with the older, button-based controls, the newer analog controls are worth your attention once you get used to them. Pitching has received the biggest overhaul, with the old one-button-per-pitch model thrown out in favor of an analog pitch system. It plays like a hybrid of the pitch meter from EA Sports’ MVP 06 NCAA Baseball crossed with the trick system in another EA game, Skate.

Pitching in MLB 2K8 will be a three-step process, and each of the 18 pitch types featured in the game will require you to trace a different analog-stick pattern to accurately pull off that pitch. To pitch the ball, you begin by pulling back in the direction required by the pitch you’re going to throw, which will bring up a circle meter that surrounds the spot at which you aimed your toss. An expanding circle will move outward from the ball toward a white ring on the outside edge of the circle.

Using careful timing, you then begin the second step, the pitch gesture itself, as indicated by the pitch type (all the gesture patterns are noted onscreen for the pitches available to you. For more on the pitch gestures, check out SportsGamer’s in-depth look at MLB 2K8’s controls). Once you’ve completed the gesture, the formerly expanding ring will begin to rapidly collapse onto a green circle. When the ring is inside the green circle, you let go of the analog stick altogether and let it return to center. This indicates your release timing, and the closer you are to the center, the better off you’ll be. Your release timing will be very obvious in the pitch. If you release early, the pitch will go high; release late and your ball might go in the dirt.

Getting this three-step process down takes some practice, and you can expect be tossing some meatballs (or, indeed, beaning some batters in the dome as you work on the timing). Fortunately, after a while it starts to feel pretty good. As in recent MLB 2K games, your aiming reticle when on the mound indicates the break of the pitch, not necessarily where the ball will end up. In addition, your catcher will call for certain pitches and locations during a game. You’ll also be graded on the various steps of a pitch, so you’ll know how accurate your timing or gesture was.

In the batter’s box, the 2K8 development team has done away with the contact and power-swing concepts. Instead, analog batting is strictly based on timing. That said, you’ll have some control over ball placement when at bat by moving the analog stick to the right or left during your swing. It isn’t clear if moving the right analog stick at a steeper angle (for example, closer to the 3 o’clock position) will influence the path of the ball more than a regular swing.

Franchise mode is just as deep as ever.

Fielding and baserunning have also changed up a bit. When fielding the ball, you move the right analog stick to throw the ball to the corresponding base (right for first, up for second, left for third, and down for home). When you’re throwing, an arrow-shaped meter appears over the player’s head, pointing toward the base you’re looking to hit. The meter contains a green zone near the middle. The idea is to hold the stick in the direction you wish to throw to and then stop the meter in the green zone. There’s also lateral accuracy to take into consideration. You’ll want to point the right stick in the direction indicated by the meter, and the precision of your aim toward the base will determine if the throw is accurate left or right of the bag (and, of course, your fielder will adjust his position based on your throw). Another cool feature of fielding–when chasing a fly ball, you’ll only be able to see the ball location indicator when facing the ball. As you turn your player to chase the ball down, the indicator will go away, which is a nice nod towards realism.

Baserunning also uses the analog stick. To take control of an individual runner, you press the left stick in the direction of that base runner. Then to have him advance or retreat, you can either use the right or left trigger, or press a button to have him automatically take more than one base. For example, if you want the runner on second to automatically score on a base hit to deep right, you’d first press up to take control of him and then press the A button (for home plate). To advance or retreat all players, you use the right or left button, respectively. To steal a base, you choose the base you wish to steal and press the Y button; it’s as easy as that, and you can control your slides with the right stick.

Game modes in MLB 2K8 include exhibition, franchise, home-run derby, manager showdown, tournament, and situation. For franchise mode, developers are touting an improved minor-league system; the game will include 90 minor-league teams and a bunch of real-life minor league up-and-comers in the game from A, AA, and Triple-A ball. There are also 15 authentic minor-league stadiums (we saw the Tuscon Sidewinders’ park during our time with the game) as well as four generic stadiums. For the franchise mode, you’ll be able to control up to four teams at once, and you’ll have full control over your entire organization, even the minor-league teams. There will also be a fantasy-draft option that will let you draft whichever players you want for your favorite team.

Baseball card trading online? Dream teams built from your collected cards? Count us in.

Speaking of dream teams, the best new feature in MLB 2K8 is the card feature. You can earn cards in one of three ways: earning them through on-field achievements, trading them with others, or buying them via card packs. Cards are organized in three tiers, black, gold, and platinum, and the platinum cards are the most valuable. Though you can find premium cards in packs, most packs will contain the more common cards, as well as cards that will unlock items such as new stadiums or retro uniforms. By far the best aspect of collecting cards will be the ability to put them together as an online card team and then play a game using your collected players. Because you will have strict parameters for how you can put together a team (such as a salary cap), premium cards will be very valuable, given that they will let you use top-tier players without taking a hit to your cap numbers. With the ability to play against and trade cards with other players online, the card feature sounds as if it will keep players coming back long after they’ve won their annual World Series ring with their favorite team. Expect to see much more on the card-battle feature in the near future.

In all, MLB 2K8 still has a few rough edges. The frame rate is still a bit unreliable, and we noticed a few weird gameplay glitches (such as artificial-intelligence outfielders refusing to throw the ball), but, in a preview build like this, these are the kinds of things that get cleaned up before the game ships out to retail. The game is still on track for a March 4 release, with a downloadable demo on the way soon. Stay tuned for more on MLB 2K8 soon and, for more on the game today, check out SportsGamer’s detailed breakdown of MLB 2K8’s controls.

-If Its Games

Atlus commandeering R-Type Command

In 2004, Irem released R-Type Final, which was billed as the last installment in the classic side-scrolling shooter series that began in arcades circa 1987. However, far from being left for dead, Irem’s classic R-Type series experienced a renaissance of sorts in late 2006 and early 2007 when the first and third installments in the franchise were given new life on the Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console.

“Final” is typically always open to interpretation.

The reception to R-Type on the Wii VC was apparently positive enough for Irem to resuscitate the series for another intergalactic mission in Japan last year, where the developer released R-Type Tactics. Now, Atlus USA has announced today that it will be fueling up Irem’s iconic space fighter for the North American market with R-Type Command, set to cruise onto the PlayStation Portable on May 6.

R-Type Command is a departure from the series’ shoot-’em-up roots. Playing into Atlus’ affinity for all things role-playing, turn-based, or strategic, the newest R-Type offers tactical gameplay in a war to save humanity against the nefarious Bydo alien race. R-Type Command features more than 100 different units for players to deploy, each of which comes with various upgrade and customization options.

The game also allows players for the first time to take control of the Bydo in their bid to conquer Earth. This will undoubtedly play into the game’s local head-to-head multiplayer mode, where players can compete against one another in ad hoc battles for two.

R-Type Command has been rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older and will retail for $39.99. For more on the game, check out R-Type Command’s Web site, which went live today.

Pandemic forging new Lord of the Rings game

Yesterday’s headlines were dominated by a fusillade of announcements from Electronic Arts following the publisher’s meeting with investors. During the event, EA CEO John Riccitiello gave a presentation and talked about his company’s future strategy. Besides revealing some optimistic financial projections and new game titles, the executive put up a slide to reveal that Pandemic Studios, the critically acclaimed shop behind Full Spectrum Warrior and the forthcoming Mercenaries 2, is working on a game based on the Lord of the Rings films.

But, while the slide clearly indicates Pandemic is working on a LOTR game, it is unclear exactly what game it is. Earlier in the presentation, Riccitiello repeated the news that a new title in the franchise–which EA renewed its license to last year–will ship during its next fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2009.

A rep for Pandemic confirmed to If Its Games that the studio is crafting a new title set in film director Peter Jackson’s vision of author J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth. However he couldn’t confirm much more, saying only “Pandemic Studios will have more to reveal on this project in the very near future.”

Dark Sector banned in Australia

Australia is well known for having a strict games rating regime, a fact that was demonstrated yet again today with the banning of another title. This time around, violent sci-fi shooter Dark Sector was refused classification by Australia’s Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC), making it illegal to sell the game down under.

Dark Sector, which was due out for the PS3 and Xbox 360 in Australia at the end of March, is a third-person action game which sees players taking the role of a virus-infected black ops agent endowed with superhuman abilities. In Australia, the highest rating available to a game is MA15+, as opposed to other forms of media such as film or DVDs which have an R18+ classification (the R rating prohibits sales to anyone under the age of 18). Games which feature content deemed unsuitable for a MA15+ rating are refused classification and are effectively banned from sale.

Adam Zweck, sales and product manager for AFA Interactive (the local distributors of the game), told If Its Games AU that the OFLC banned Dark Sector due to its high-impact violence, particularly the finishing moves the game’s main character can perform on various enemies.

“Obviously we’re disappointed in it [the decision],” Zweck said. “We feel there is justification for an appeal. However, we’re exploring several avenues at the moment to see what we can do to get the game on Australian shelves.”

UPDATE: The OFLC has sent through its official ruling to If Its Games AU, which says that Dark Sector “contains violence that is high in impact and is therefore unsuitable for persons aged under 18 years to play”.

“The finishing moves and most violent game play includes decapitation, dismemberment of limbs accompanied by large blood spurts, neck breaking spurts, neck breaking twists and exploded bodies with post-action twitching body parts. These moves are relatively easy to accomplish and once the player has mastered the moves and is able to get close to his foes, these violent moves can be executed,” the OFLC’s ruling said.

“Successfully shooting an opponent results in the depiction of blood spray. When Hayden cuts off his opponent’s limb with the glaive, large amounts of blood spray forth from the stump and the injured person screams in agony which increases the impact.”

Dark Sector is the latest game to be banned in Australia due to its content. Last year, sports game Blitz: The League was banned due to depictions of drug use, while shooter Soldier of Fortune: Pay Back was banned for excessive violence (Soldier of Fortune was later reclassified after content changes by publisher Activision). Other games to be refused classification include Eidos’ Reservoir Dogs, Mark Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, BMX XXX, Manhunt, Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, Postal, Postal 2, Narc and more. The two GTA games listed eventually made it back onto the market after some content changes.

Reviews: Games that bring more than gore (AP)

AP - At a recent industry conference, “Parappa the Rapper” creator Masaya Matsuura urged other video-game designers to move away from “games that motivate the player to use physical attacks as a way of establishing superiority.” He wasn’t really taking a stand against game violence; rather, he was urging his colleagues to look for more creative, constructive ways to play.

Microsoft seeing Xbox shortages in U.S. (Reuters)

Reuters - Microsoft Corp is seeing shortages of its Xbox 360 video game console in the United States, as the company failed to anticipate strong post-holiday demand, an executive said on Wednesday.

Wii Nerf Blaster peripheral

A new Nerf Wii Blaster Controller Shell has been revealed in a financial report. There\’s not much info about the peripheral yet, but its looking pretty sweet.

Nintendo to talk about Wii Fit, WiiWare and SSBB at GDC

Nintendo today announced that it will host Three Panels at the Game Developers Conference this year. Three key platform designers, Takao Sawano, Takashi Aoyama, and Masahiro Sakurai, will talk about recent Wii products such as Wii Fit, WiiWare and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

EA: We love the Wii and Spore for Wii is at initial design stage

An EA rep has confirmed that Spore for the Wii is at the initial design stage and EA \’love\’ the Wii but they\’re not ready to officially announce anything just yet. He also commented that they have no idea of a release date for the Wii build. The comments come during an interview with Spanish gaming site \’revogamers\’.

Asian dance sensation ‘Audition’ destined for Wii?

Gamasutra recently held a chat with the director of T3, the developer of Audition, a dance and music game that has proved very popular in Japan. He was asked whether the team has any interest in the Wii and responded by saying they\’d love to do it and some of their titles would really fit well. The director also noted that he had spoke to a Nintendo \’guy\’ the other day and he was interested in one of their titles.

Homebrew Pong running in Wii mode

Just a few days ago, we caught whiff of the Zelda: Twilight Princess exploit for Wii which opened up the possibility to boot homebrew in Wii mode through a buffer overflow method. Now homebrew developer Auby has extended this hack to load an ELF version of his PONG game which runs in Wii mode.

EA predicts $6 billion in sales by 2011

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello is confident the company’s revenue will jump significantly on the back of new properties and the overhaul of existing franchises. At an analysts’ meeting yesterday, Riccitiello set a revenue goal of $6 billion for the company in fiscal 2011, with at least $900 million coming from digital revenue streams like downloadable content, subscription fees, and in-game advertising. That represents a growth of 71 percent over its 2008 fiscal year revenue, which it expects to hit roughly $3.5 billion.

To help it achieve that goal, EA is banking on the growth of existing franchises including Need for Speed, The Sims, Burnout, and Madden NFL. Equally important to the plan is the publisher’s recently created or acquired intellectual property such as Skate and BioWare’s Mass Effect.

Some of the steps the publisher is taking were revealed elsewhere in the company’s daylong analyst conference. Burnout and Skate games are getting new releases by April 2009, and The Sims franchise will continue to expand. The publisher announced MySims Kingdom and MySims Party for the Nintendo Wii and DS, expected in the fiscal 2009 third quarter (this coming October through December) and fourth quarter (next January through March), respectively. In addition, MySims for PC is due during the holiday season, and SimCity Creator and SimAnimals have also been named.

Other new announcements made by EA yesterday included a release date of September 7 for Spore (and possible PS3 and Xbox 360 versions), Mass Effect coming to PCs and the reinking of its NFL licence until 2012.

EA’s shares jumped more than 5 percent to close the day at $48.85 on the back of its analyst meeting.