Disney Epic Mickey and Dead Rising 2 Collector's Editions Announced

By Paul Hunter

We ended off August the right way with collectors' editions announced for two of the most anticipated games this holiday season. Disney Interaction Studios have revealed their Collectors' Edition for the Wii-exclusive Disney Epic Mickey, while Capcom showed off their glitzy Dead Rising 2 High Stakes Edition.

Let's take a look at Disney's offering first.

Junction Points' new adventure that takes Mickey through all eras of Disney's past will have a few extras, including a five-inch collectible Disney Epic Mickey figurine, Wii console skins and remote faceplate, a bonus DVD with behind-the-scenes video, and of course the full version of the game. The Collectors' Edition is available for pre-order now in North America.

“We’re thrilled to roll out this Collectors’ Edition featuring so many unique items including the collectible Disney Epic Mickey figurine and content that will surprise and delight gamers and Disney fans alike,” says Graham Hopper, executive vice president and general manager, Disney Interactive Studios. “The addition of the bonus DVD with behind-the-scenes video and more will enhance and expand the overall Disney Epic Mickey experience.”

The package design is vibrant and stylish, showcasing the innovative paint and thinner mechanic introduced for the first time in gaming. Using paint, Mickey is able to dynamically fill-in gaps, create walls/floors, or convert enemies into friends. Paint thinner is the polar opposite, enabling our hero to destroy obstacles that obstruct your path, erase characters, or wipe-out enemies permanently.

Created by industry luminary Warren Spector, the game's guiding philosophy is "Playstyle Matters", meaning the decisions you make in the game -- and their consequences -- will have a real and tangible impact on the remainder of the game. As examples, if you erase a character to make life easier you may miss out on quests they could provide later in the game, or if you focus instead on painting you'll attract a special kind of guardian who actually makes you better at painting.

The Disney Epic Mickey Collectors’ Edition will retail at an MSRP of $69.99 and the standard edition will retail at an MSRP of $49.99.

Disney Epic Mickey is coming out Holiday 2010 (no firm date announced yet).

Capcom's offering is just as interesting, with the Dead Rising 2 High Stakes Edition (Xbox 360 or PS3) bundling in a number of goodies in addition to the full game, including a high end poker set complete with blood-soaked deck of cards and chips, a Fortune City Visitor's Map, a download code for the 'Psycho' skills pack, and a chance to find a 'Golden' ticket which can be redeemed for a 6' replica of Burt the Zombie. That's not a typo, the zombie is a whopping six feet tall. Hope you have a spot in your home for a new zombie pal!

Here's the complete list of what's in the collectors' edition:

* Poker set in a black high-impact case sporting the Fortune City logo and contains:

* 100 poker chips- 4 different colors featuring the Fortune City logo
* 2 decks of ‘blood-stained’ custom playing cards featuring character art
* 5 green dice
* 1 ‘blood-stained’ dealer chip

* Fortune City Visitor Map featuring the game map and ads for Fortune City locations and attractions
* Terror is Reality XVII admission ticket with redemption code for the unique Psycho costume and skills downloadable content
* One Dead Rising 2 High Stakes Edition will contain the ‘Golden’ Terror Is Reality XVII admission ticket, which is redeemable for Burt the Zombie, a 6’ Dead Rising 2 zombie replica

In addition to the High Stakes Edition, Capcom have previously announced the Zombrex Edition, which comes with a copy of the game along with a Blu-ray disc featuring a 24-minute Hi-ded featurette, a Steelbook Case, Zombrex stationary such as a pen, notepad, safety card, and sales brochure, a Dead Rising 2 Hardback Artbook, and finally, a voucher for an XMB dynamic theme.

Dead Rising 2 releases on September 28, 2010.

[This article originally appeared on the Future Shop Tech Blog]
>> Read more

Happy Labour Day - Gaming Deals

By Andrew Shin

Happy Labour Day to our NextGen Player readers! Hope everyone is enjoying the last long weekend of the summer. If gaming is on your list of 'to do' things during this long weekend, then you'll want to check out Best Buy Canada's online sale that ends tomorrow (Tuesday, September 7th) at 10am EST.

There are some great deals on games and accessories that you may want to take advantage of. I sure did (just picked up a white PS3 Dualshock 3 controller and other PS3 accessories for 20% off).

Here's a complete listing of deals according to Best Buy Canada's website:

Video Games and Toys

10% off Select XBOX 360 Games
10% off Select Nintendo Wii Games
10% off Select Playstation 3 Games
10% off Select DS games
10% off Select PSP games
10% off Select PC Games
15% off Select Toys & Gadgets

Accessories

20% off Select Nintendo Wii Accessories
20% off Select PS3 Accessories
20% off Select XBOX 360 Accessories
20% off Select PSP Accessories
20% off Select DS Accessories

You can visit www.bestbuy.ca for more details.

Enjoy!


>> Read more

Prince of Persia Creator Keynotes IN 2010 Conference

By Paul Hunter

It's no secret that Ontario is a growing hotbed for video game development, with investment in the province heating up in recent years. Building on Ontario's growing prominence in the global games industry, Interactive Ontario will soon be presenting their flagship 2010 IN Conference, a cross-platform, multi-stream conference where vetrans of the interactive industry from around the world come to share their knowledge, and showcase their cutting edge technologies. This year's event will be taking place from September 12-14 at the Carlu in Toronto.

Keynoting this year's conference is video game designer, author, and screenwriter, Jordan Mechner, best known as the creator of the Prince of Persia franchise, which has sold over 14 million games to date. Mechner's first break into mainstream gaming was in 1984 with his hit game Karateka, a side-scroller brawler created for the Apple II while he attended Yale University. Five years later he made Prince of Persia, a revolutionary game that combined cinematic storytelling with fluid animation and intelligent puzzle design. The game is credited with spawning an entire sub-genre of gaming known as cinematic platformers, characterized by their life-like character motion, emphasis on cinematics to move the narrative along, and multi-screen stages that do not scroll. Games influenced by Prince of Persia include Flashback, Out of This World, Heart of the Alien, and the recent Xbox Live Arcade game Limbo.

Mechner made news earlier this year when he adapted his own work as a feature film with Disney's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, the movie claimed the title of the world's highest grossing video game adaptation ever, and ranked as the third highest opening weekend for a video game adaptation, behind Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Pokémon: The First Movie. Disney also had Mechner pen Prince of Persia: Before the Sandstorm, a graphic novel prequel to the film.

Other seasoned video game industry leaders who will be presenting at this year's IN Conference including:

Jade Raymond, Managing Director, Ubisoft Toronto
Denis Dyack, Founder and President, Silicon Knights
Lenny Brown, Director, IP Development, THQ
Justin Cooney, Senior ISV Account Manager, Sony Computer Entertainment America
Trevor Fencott, CEO, Bedlam Games
Fredrik Liliegren, CEO, Antic Entertainment
Scott Simpson, Co-Founder & CEO, Playbrains
Jesse Divnich, Vice President of Analyst Services, EEDAR
Chris Donahue, Publisher/Developer Relations, OnLive

The IN 2010 program will be divided into the following five specialty streams: Mobile, Social Media, Games, Cross Platform and Visionary. The Games stream is focused on how to exploit intellectual gaming properties along multiple entertainment verticals such as console, mobile, social, and film. Session presenters will be discussing current trends with an examination of the challenges and opportunities that exist in crossover projects.

For more information on IN 2010, check out the event website at: http://inexchange10.com

[This article originally appeared on the Future Shop Tech Blog]
>> Read more

Video Games Live Returning To Canada

By Paul Hunter

The world's largest video game concert event, Video Games Live, is returning to Canada for 16 action-packed shows in Spring 2011. Legendary video game music composer and creator of the concert series, Tommy Tallarico, made the announcement last Saturday during his panel discussion at the Fan Expo Canada.

Here are the Canadian tour dates:

April 12, 2011 Victoria, BC Royal Theatre
April 13, 2011 Vancouver, BC Centre of Performing Arts
April 14, 2011 Vancouver, BC Centre of Performing Arts
April 17, 2011 Calgary, AB Jack Singer Concert Hall
April 18, 2011 Edmonton, AB Jubilee Auditorium
April 20, 2011 Saskatoon, SK TCU Place
April 21, 2011 Regina, SK Conexus Arts Centre
April 23, 2011 Winnipeg, MB Burton Cummings Theatre (day)
April 23, 2011 Winnipeg, MB Burton Cummings Theatre (evening)
April 25, 2011 Thunder Bay, ON Community Arts Center
April 27, 2011 Kitchener, ON Centre In The Square
April 28, 2011 Hamilton, ON Hamilton Place Theatre
April 29, 2011 Ottawa, ON Civic Centre Theatre
April 30, 2011 Montreal, QC Place Des Arts
May 2, 2011 Toronto, ON Massey Hall
May 3, 2011 Kingston, ON K-Rock Centre

Combining the best music and synchronized video clips from popular games from the beginning of video games to the present, Video Games Live is an experience that is sure to evoke strong emotions from seasoned gamers. Moreso, Tallarico says that Video Games Live is intended for all audiences -- be it long-time gamers or people who have never seen or touched a video game before -- since video game music has become an art form that can be appreciated by everyone.

I don't doubt his reasoning either. Take one listen to the music from Final Fantasy, The Legend of Zelda, or Mario and you'll be humming the melodies in no time. I'm amazed at just how memorable video game music can be, but I'm not surprised. During his Fan Expo panel, Tommy mentioned that given the audio limitations of early gaming consoles such as the Atari 2600, Intellivision, and the NES, video game composers had to rely on simple looping melodies, typically about 45 seconds in length, for each song. What this meant for composers is that their short melodies needed to remain pleasing to the ear even after hours of repeated looping. As a good example, think of the classic Super Mario Bros. songs, they're practically impossible to listen to them too much. Tallarico went so far as to describe the Mario songs as the "Beethoven" of our time, and said that if Beethoven were alive today he'd be a video game composer. I'd have to agree.

Tallarico also announced that a Video Games Live blu-ray/DVD will be availabe this fall that will include musical performances for popular franchises such as Warcraft, Castlevania, Final Fantasy, and many more. The disc will also include hours of bonus material, including behind-the-scenes footage, composer commentary, additional and extended music segments, and "making the game" documentaries.

For tickets to Video Game Live, be sure to check the tour dates page often. Looks like tickets are already on sale for the Regina, SK, performance.

[This article originally appeared on the Future Shop Tech Blog]
>> Read more

Metroid: Other M Is At First Frustrating, Later Satisfying

By Paul Hunter

For decades the enigmatic Samus Aran has remained one of the most fascinating protagonists in gaming, a silent bounty hunter who protects the galaxy from marauding Space Pirates at the request of the Galactic Empire. After a haunting past left her orphaned as a child, Samus enlisted in the Galactic Federation Police before mysteriously leaving to pursue the solitary life of a bounty hunter. The typically emotionless heroine has since preferred to work alone in her quest to rid the galaxy of the ruthless Space Pirates and their bioweapons known as Metroids and Phazon.

Sound familar? If so, Metroid: Other M won't feel very familiar.

On the surface, it would seem that Nintendo and Team Ninja is an odd pairing for co-developing a Wii-exclusive Metroid game. Team Ninja's catalogue consists of hyper-fast, insanely challenging action titles that are the antithesis of Metroid's methodical, exploration-focused adventures. From the moment you begin playing the game, the influences are obvious.

For starters, the first few minutes of game didn't given me any real sense of isolation. Samus' adventure begins in a dormant space station known as the Bottle Ship, which feels vast and roomy. As a 3D third-person action-adventure game with fixed cameras, and not a single-plane side-scroller, you're given a lot of freedom to move to and from the foreground, giving each zone a wide sense of depth. Breaking from Metroid tradition of one or two lollygagging enemies at a time, enemies are abundant and deliberate, with most combat rooms unleashing several waves of hostile lifeforms in rapid succession. They're quick too, and so are you. Instead of the usual jog which gains momentum into a run, Samus now instantly bursts into a frenzied sprint even with the slightest press of the D-pad.

Action is intense in Other M, and relentless. In the 30 minutes of hands-on time I had, at least half of that was filled with nonstop combat. Movement is performed by holding the Wii Remote sideways like a standard controller and using the D-pad. Firing energy-based Arm Canon shots from her Power Suit is done with the 1 button and jumping with the 2 button. Wall-to-wall jumping is also possible with multiple button taps, and easily accomplished since you don't even need to use the D-pad to indicate which direction to jump. The classic Morph Ball returns, and is activated/deactivated with the A button, and Samus can plant bombs to blast enemies or catch some air.

What really sets this game apart is the ability to switch into first-person perspective mode, a la the Metroid Prime series, at any time during gameplay to engage enemies. There is one major difference however: while in first-person your feet are firmly planted on the ground and you cannot move. Making the perspective switch is intuitive, simply point the Wii Remote directly at the screen and the view automatically leaps to first-person. At this point you might be asking what advantage there is to making the perspective switch. Well, in first-person mode the arsenal at Samus's disposal changes, most noticeably the ability to deploy heat-seeking ballistic missiles from her Arm Canon. Pressing the B trigger locks-on your target -- enemies, air ducts, or other objects -- and the A button deploys the missile. It's a neat feature that is easy to perform, but I was immediately frustrated with the experience.

The problem inherent in the modality shift is there's a distinct learning curve. Aside from the annoyance of having to constantly change from holding the controller horizontally to transitioning to a point-and-click position, you need to be surprisingly aware of where you're facing prior to making the switch. The first long corridor I entered in the Bottle Ship had a swarm of enemies and my initial reaction was to back up a few feet to put some distance between us, then blast them in first-person mode from a safe distance. When I made the camera switch however, I was facing the towards the corridor blast door, and my back was exposed to my enemies leaving me vulnerable for attack. What I failed to realize is that whatever direction Samus is facing in third-person mode will be the exact direction she faces upon entering first-person mode. Even the slightest angular movement in an unintended direction while in third-person will mean tedious, and potentially deadly, reorientation in first-person. While it might sound apparent when put in print, in practice it takes some getting used to. It was fine during the introductory areas I explored since the enemies were basic and the damage they inflict was minimal, but I can see this clunky transitioning being problematic during stronger enemy encounters.

There's no need to find certain weapons or abilities -- such as the Morph Ball or Missile -- traditionally found in a Metriod game as Samus is equipped with these upgrades from the get-go. You will find scattered around the large space complex many hidden enhancements like Energy tanks or Missile enhancements. To replenish missiles it's as easy as finding a safe spot away combat and hold the Wii Remote vertically, pressing a button to "concentrate". While in her concentration stance Samus will also regenerate some energy provided she is on her last tank of power. What this means is you're never in any real danger of dying, provided you have a means of exiting the skirmish.

After about 15 minutes with the game I was beginning to get a handle on the perspective switch and more easily alternated between third-person laser blasts and first-person missile shooting. Both weapons possess auto-tracking, so even though flipping perspectives might be a little disorienting at times, at least your aim can be a bit off mark and still pummel your enemies. I found that the more comfortable I became with modal shifting the more satisfying the game mechanics, and by extension the game as a whole, became.

By the end of my second run through of the demo the controls were intuitive and my initial dissatisfaction had melted away. The lesson here: while frustrating at first, the playability improves noticeably with experience.

[This article originally appeared on the Future Shop Tech Blog]
>> Read more