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Game: Elite Beat AgentsSong: SeptemberComposer: Earth, Wind & Fire

Above: Honestly, I don’t care for this cover. See the true version below

Okay, this entry is almost cheating. Full disclosure: This being the first day of September, why not celebrate the band who gave the month its name.

Above: Great game, but I’m just using it as an excuse

That’s right, if today’s GMotD is going to be poor excuse to play one of the greatest disco funk songs in history, let’s just go ahead and falsely credit Earth, Wind & Fire with creating the entire month of September (Suck it, Mayans!) which was originally known as “Septober” before the song premiered on Volume 1 of the band’s “Best of” album in 1978.

Above: THAT’S THE ONE!

The game I’m using as an excuse to play the song is Elite Beat Agents, a seemingly forgotten rhythm title from 2006. Sad, because it’s a ridiculously charming little music game, and even Nintendo seemed to have enough early faith in its potential to take on the publishing duties. Unfortunately, the word never got around stateside and the US has yet to receive any of the stylus-jammin’ successors enjoyed by Japan.

Above: I’ll have whatever Japan’s having, k thx

Call it bizarre if you want to, humorless xenophobes; I thought the idea of dispatching dancing government agents to help motivate people through their problems was one of the most creative and hilarious presentations I’d ever “seen.”

Above: “Seen” probably isn’t the right word, as you’re normally too busy frantically keeping step with the bottom screen to see the absurdity occuring up top. Please take the time to enjoy it now

But yeah, using licensed music is sort of a copout we tend to shy away from for Game Music of the Day. Otherwise we could write a two year’s worth of articles on Rock Band music alone, and nobody wants that. But I love “September” dearly, so if you don’t care for TC Moses’ cover at the top of the page then you should’ve seen the game I almost went with before remembering it was in Elite Beat Agents:

Meh: “September ’99” from Dance Dance Revolution Universe

SEPTEMBER 1, 2010

Game music of the day: Ninja Gaiden
Bazlisk Mine Field by Keiji Yamagishi, “B.B.”

Game music of the day: Double Dragon
Title Screen by Kazunaka Yamane

Game music of the day: Gradius III
Invitation by Ueko, Uehara, Muraoka and Morimoto

GamesRadar – DS Latest Stories

PC Gamer UK’s recent trip to Valve just keeps delivering bigger and better slices of mystery. According to Gabe Newell, Valve has “three pretty big surprises in the next 12 months.” More surprises? Is the cancelled E3 surprise one of them? Is it Half-Life 3? Tell us Gabe!

Newell revealed, ”I’m just laughing because… people will be shocked again.” Dammit Gabe.

Newell also discussed something Valve has been experimenting with (other than toying with our emotions): biometrics. He also admitted that Valve and its games only exist to distract law enforcement from the true existence of Aperture Science. Okay, no he didn’t, and Valve’s new interest in physical monitoring is actually awesome:

“When you look at our games, more and more we have this representation of player state, where we think we know how you feel, essentially,” Newell told PC Gamer.

“With biometrics, rather than guessing, we can actually use a variety of things like gaze tracking, skin galvanic response, pulse rate and so on. Through combining those pieces of information, we can get a much more accurate indication of player state, so that’s something we’re super interested in.”

Above: Fictional?

Newell says that Valve’s experiments have yielded “surprising side-effects,” and that they may be able to implement the technology in “non-clunky, non-stupid ways” in the near future. Why would your skin galvanic response be important data for a game to have? Lots of reasons! Newell explained:

“If you’re in a competitive situation and you see someone’s heart rate go up, it’s way more rewarding than we would have thought. And if you see somebody in a co-op game sweating, people tend to respond to that way more than we would have thought.”

The idea that you could sense your friend’s anxiety level as he’s being crushed under a zombie dog pile is kind of awesome. We imagine that several sensors could be directly built into controllers, where your palm grips them. Is biometric sensing the new rumble? The new motion control?

There’s more in the latest issue of PC Gamer UK, so you should probably buy that, or so the chip Valve implanted in my spine tells me.

Sep 1, 2010

GamesRadar – PC Latest Stories

Ever had that shameful feeling you get when you’re horribly late to a party? Y’know, it’s that horrible guilt which hits you as you pathetically paw through the last of the sandwiches that have started to go a bit funny and try to hunt down any leftover booze. This is exactly the feeling I had recently when a mate suggested I play through my beloved Metal Gear Solid 4′s developer podcasts… which I only realised existed last week. Below, you’ll find out why you need to listen to them, while we also cover some of the awesome Easter eggs the devs reveal in their stupidly soothing ‘cast.

Now there’s a good reason you might have missed these podcasts the first time you went through the game. While Konami released a debut pod with the game, a second ‘cast didn’t hit until January 2009 (over six months after the title first shipped). This was due to Ryan Payton, the poddle’s original presenter, leaving the company to work on the Halo series.

Above: Honestly, the pod is way better than Snake’s making it look

Anyhoo, there are 13 episodes which cover all the main areas of the game and these are available to download through the extras menu. During these usually half hour shows, MGS4 producer Ken Imaizumi, Konami international product manger Aki Saito and one of the game’s script unit members Sean Eyestone guide you through pensioner Snake’s adventure.

The episodes are not only weirdly soothing, they also give some cracking insight into the development of Guns of the Patriots. Eyestone guides you through levels like they’re a quasi virtual museum, often directing you to some awesome Easter eggs you probably missed first time out. The ‘casts are definitely a reason to go back and give the game a second playthrough, but if you can’t be assed, we’ve highlighted some of the bests eggs of the spiritual variety below.

Warning: If you don’t want these suprises spoiled for you, we suggest you go to Metal Gear 4′s extras menu, where you can download all 13 integral podcast episodes.

Middle East

Just before you meet Meryl and the rest of her team in the hotel, you’ll see a rat scurry along the roof. Follow it and it’ll lead you to a vent.

This vent right the hell here.

If you crawl inside after you start fighting the Haven Troopers you’ll get to a couple of holes, which double up as great vantage points to take Liquid’s bitches out from relative safety.

If you want to bag yourself a semi secret weapon while in the hotel, wait until after Johnny deactivates the laser grid, then somersault over the gap. You’ll find a grenade launcher attachment for your AK on the other side, which comes in pretty damn handy when you need to clear out a room full of bionic sociopaths.

How explosions amuse us so.

Also, cakes. You’ll find these delicious treats possibly burning to a crisp in the ovens in the hotel’s kitchen. Don’t you just love totally useless trivia, fact fans?

GamesRadar – PS2 Latest Stories

With the release of Metroid: Other M just a few days away, now is the perfect time to scan through Nintendo’s venerable sci-fi series and poke fun at all its physical inconsistencies. We did it for Mario and Bowser, then for Link and Ganon, and now it’s time for Samus, Ridley and Kraid to fess up and explain why they can’t pick a size and stick with it.

Our journey begins with the original NES Metroid, first released in the US in 1987 and was one of the very first games to feature passwords. As you might expect, the 8-bit limitations meant all three of our star characters had to be quite small, ensuring a hearty laugh 23 years later.

Above: Ridley’s first appearance is less than imposing. He’s so tiny! 

Above: Still, the key elements are there – wings, jointed legs, pointy tail and a long neck

Above: Kraid is even shorter, and we’re sure if you shaved his head he’s actually be a tad smaller than Samus

Above: Rough chart for all three in the original Metroid

Above: Art from the original instruction booklet shows all three to be roughly the same height, though Ridley’s head is all effed up

Above: Captain N’s dreadful representation of Ridley… as a judge. Again, what’s with the head? 

The manual calls Kraid and Ridley “Mini-Bosses” and offers no other background details beyond saying Ridley is “the original life form of the planet Zebes.” It also calls Samus a man several times, so it may not be the most accurate depiction of what happened in the dark days of 1987.

Above: “For the last time, I AM A WOMAN” 

Both Ridley and Kraid were MIA in Metroid II: Return of Samus, so that moves us right on to Super Metroid, the third game in the series and arguably one of the greatest games of all time. Ridley gains a little bit of personality and notoriety right from the start as the leader of the space pirates, but it’s Kraid that sees the most drastic transformation.

Above: Samus is now eye to eye with Ridley’s chest, though they still look more or less like their NES counterparts

Above: Ridley becomes more than a regular enemy – he steals the baby Metroid Samus rescued earlier, and kills the researchers on the space station. Nemesis get!

Above: Holy Christ! What the hell happened to Kraid? He went from stumpy to skyscraper in the span of one game!

Above: Rough chart for all three in Super Metroid

Even though the game’s manual is similarly vague about Ridley and Kraid, we can infer from the opening that Ridley and Samus now have a personal grudge. Samus chose to spare that last Metroid during the ending of Metroid II, and now Ridley’s nabbed it for further nefarious deeds. And Kraid, well he’s just a big dumb lizard. Emphasis on “big dumb lizard.”

Despite near universal praise, Super Metroid never saw an N64 sequel. Instead, Samus appeared in Smash Bros and its GameCube sequel Smash Bros Melee, the latter containing the only 3D appearance of Kraid thus far.

Above: My, he’s certainly grown. Considering how far back he is, he’s actually taller than he was in Super Metroid

Above: He does seem a bit more limber and active than Super Metroid, where he basically stood there and got shot to death

Above: Ridley was briefly featured in Melee’s opening cinema, sort-of reenacting the opening to Super Metroid. Their bodies are about the same size, but those wings are pretty serious – a sign of things to come, actually

Above: As of 2001, this is what Ridley had to offer. Hasn’t changed much since then

So no 3D Ridley to speak of, really. He was waiting for his big comeback just one year later, which we’ll get into on the next page.

GamesRadar – GameCube Latest Stories

Energy Tanks are one thing, but all the extra health in the world isn’t going to help you blow Ridley up. Which is why Samus is going to need some extra Missile Tanks if she’s going to have any hope of making it out alive. And that leads us to our wonderful Missile Tank and Accel Tank guide, scientifically proven to help you get 100% of all them glowing doohickies Samus is gonna need to make things blow up better than a Michael Bay move on the Fourth of July.

While some can be collected right away and others not till later on in the game (backtracking is part of the Metroid experience after all), 100 percent of them can be reached with a little ingenuity , hard work, and know how.  Or by using this guide.

 Make sure to check out our guide to Other M’s Energy Tanks and E-Recovery Tanks as well!

Main Sector

Map Legend:

White: Missile Tanks
Yellow: Accel Charges
Pink: Energy Parts
Purple: Energy Tanks
Orange: E-Recovery Tanks

Missile Tanks:

1. Just after hopping up the three levels of platforms, where the elevator is, passing the save room, there is a long catwalk corridor that has a small opening on the right side.  Drop in and roll for the tank.

2. In the corridor just east of your starting point, you will see some hole in a fence and some slime.  Ignore those and drop all the way to the bottom, off the ledge and there will be an opening in the floor at the side closest to you that will lead to a missile tank.

3. At the second set of stairs, where there is a glass wall and turned over furniture, blow open the vents and follow it along to the missile tank at the hangar.

4. Once the power is turned on at the console and the ledges lift up, roll into the opening on the left hand side on the second ledge down from the top.

5. After the big battle, grapple up and follow the corridor to the elevator.  Use the power bomb and then drop down.  Hop in the left side vent and grab the tank there.

6. A the top of the stairs, just inside the entrance way, space jump across to the platforms and roll through the vent.

7. When you reach the shaft you have to kick jump up, use a ShineSpark jump up the shaft and there will be a tank at the very top.

8. After you take out the big boss and power bomb the elevator, enter the next corridor and there will be an opening in the ceiling.  Bounce jump up into it and all the way to the top for the tank there.

Accel Charge Tank: 

1. This tank is near the start just before the first save room.  When you reach the top ledges around the center elevator, look through the glass on the right side and there will be a switch to charge shoot.  When you do, the door will slide open and the tank is yours.

GamesRadar – Wii Latest Stories

Treyarch is all a’twitterz about a giant Call of Duty: Black Ops reveal that should go down some time today. However, from the looks of things, Google went and spoiled it already. According to a website true to its name, Leakerz.com has turned up a Google ad promoting a Black Ops Multiplayer beta exclusive to Xbox 360:

Above: Treyarch states that this isn’t part of their “official” announcement… although that certainly looks like an official URL

What’s more, that alleged link went to the official Call of Duty website, where this oh-so subtle clue once resided

Above: That’s TODAY, if you’re just waking up. The message now reads “FULL MULTIPLAYER REVEAL SEPTEMBER 1ST” in the same font

Assuming the above shots are real, they’ve since been removed. That of course means the information should just go away quietly and no one will speak of it again, right? Treyarch community manager Josh Olin also offered ample incentive to forget any of this ever happened by addressing the matter OFFICIALLY:

So what’s it all mean? While the CoD page didn’t make specific mention of 360 exclusivity for the multiplayer beta, but the Google ad clearly did. (Are you calling Google a liar?!) Taking into account the Modern Warfare 2 map packs and the Blur multiplayer beta, Activision and Microsoft have certainly given us plenty of precedent to believe PS3 owners could get shafted (should the beta be announced and suddenly appear online today.)

Above: Why deny PS3 owners the right to do this early… AND WHAT OF THE POOR WII?!?!!?

But as with everything you read on the internet, be prepared to chug a keg cup full of salt grains until we do get an official announcement later today. If any of these purported leaks are to be believed, Leakerz has also posted a shot of the Black Ops beta downloading onto a PS3. Either way, don’t get yourselves worked into a tizzy. We’ve got GR soldiers live and on the scene at the LA event as we speak! As soon as they let us know, we’ll pass the intel right along to you. Stay frosty, CoDers.

Sep 1, 2010

GamesRadar – Xbox 360 Latest Stories

At an Apple event earlier today in San Francisco, Gears of War developer Epic Games dropped in to show the real purpose of the iPhone: to competitively shiv your friends wirelessly. We hear you scream from your computer, “By what method will I shiv them?! Please tell me!” Well, get a load of Project Sword, powered by the Unreal Engine itself and due out this holiday season.

Above: See? Two chummy pals shanking the hell out each other like God intended

Epic’s Mike Capps and Donald Mustard presented the first and third-person action game and its ability to quickly and remotely find competitors via the iPhone’s Game Center matchmaking service. After a brief period of showing the graphical prowess of the mobile game, the duo went at it in a display of developer tête-à-tête. Game Center achievements were also reportedly popping up as the two were playing.

Thank God. I mean, finally, a use for that wacky iPhone, amiright?

[Source: Kotaku]

Sep 1, 2010

iPhone Game of the day: Twin Blades
Here’s another nice way to chop things up on the iPhone

iPhone Game of the day: Fruit Ninja
Too timid to cut people? You’re in luck, because this game has plenty of melons

iPhone game of the day: Chaos Rings
Hey! It’s cutting up stuff with numbers involved! Genius! 

GamesRadar – DS Latest Stories

Variations on bullet-time are legion, yet the essence remains the same. Slow down the action, make enemies say “Faaaarrrccck” in a deep bass, and allow the player some extra time to lock onto his or her prey. And if you can slot in a stylish visual trick with a spinny camera or a trip on the behind of a bullet, then so be it. It’s corny and it’s become hackneyed, but it sure as hell isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Above: A video history of bullet-time

You’ve no doubt come across bullet-time in your gaming career – even the old NES games inadvertently produced unforeseen John Woo-isms when too many sprites got on screen. Since then though, bullet-time has not only garnered a name but also a checkered past. In gaming, the phrase bullet-time has spread to cover everything that involves a spot of slow-motion. When talking about it in films, however, we should first track the phenomenon of bullets seen cutting through the air, which didn’t begin with The Matrix.

Cinematic origins

The very first side-on shot of a bullet in flight came in the low-budget action movie Kill and Kill Again, a film that sees its hero, Steve Chase, go up against the evil Marduk and his army of remote controlled karate slaves. You’d be advised to check out the trailer, mainly because it’s hilarious, but also because it contains part of its climactic 10 second bullet-time-slice that gives Chase enough breathing room to deflect a bullet with an ash tray.

The first ‘bullet ride’, meanwhile, in which the camera trails the path of a bullet up until the point of impact came in a night club scene in Ringo Lam’s 1992 Hong Kong actioner Full Contact. The film also starred a young Chow Yun Fat who had made slow-motion gunplay his own through the astonishing films of John Woo, such as A Better Tomorrow (1986) and Hard Boiled (1992). It was these influences that would give rise to the gunplay of Max Payne, a title that was already in development when the movie that went on to secure bullet-time’s noble place in the next decade of gaming was released, The Matrix.

The Matrix’s green-screen treatment of bullet-time was nothing short of revolutionary, yet aside from the Woo-isms of Hong Kong cinema, there was another unlikely inspiration for the Wachowski brothers’ barnstormer: the opening credits of the ’60s Japanese cartoon series Speed Racer. The Wachowskis would go on to release a live-action version of Speed Racer in 2009, but in 1999 they were content take inspiration from the way each episode’s opening contained a freeze-framed hero leaping from his car, while the camera circled around him. This bit of anime became the model for some of The Matrix’s most iconic moments.

Other early cinematic uses of bullet-time could be found in movies like the original Blade (1998) and music videos such as Korn’s Freak on a Leash (1998). But it was after The Matrix that slow-motion’s use became truly ubiquitous in rip-offs, pastiches and gaming. All these influences fed into one of the most ubiquitous of shooter mechanics of times to come. What will be known in common parlance as bullet-time until the end of civilization now goes by multiple silly names in whatever shooter it remedies, or sometimes pollutes. The term ‘bullet time’ is trademarked by Warner Bros. (prior to which it was owned by former Max Payne pushers 3D Realms) so to avoid treading on toes, many games have plowed their own slow-motion furrow in terms of naming their wares.

Bullet-time quiz bonanza!
Want to play? Simply link the correct game to the stupid synonym for ‘slow motion gameplay’. (Answers at the end of the article)

Game                                                                    Bullet-time alterno-word

Jade Empire                                                        Zed Time
FEAR                                                                     Mire
Painkiller                                                              Slow time
John Woo’s Stranglehold                                 Temporal Dilation
Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil                           Concentration Mode
Mirror’s Edge                                                       Adrenaline
Call of Juarez                                                       HellTime
TimeShift                                                              Reaction Time
Wolfenstein                                                          Reflex Time
Killing Floor                                                          Haste
Singularity                                                             Tequila Time
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic                    Focus Time

A videogaming bullet-timeline

A chronicle of 13 years of slow-motion shooting and explosions

1997 – MDK

A forgotten feature of this masterpiece, the sequel of which is reportedly having a revamp in coming months, was that as you fired off sniper shots, three windows above your scope would ‘bullet ride’ the path your former shots were already taking. MDK was ahead of its time in more ways than could be counted, and its cheeky backpack-chute hasn’t even been topped by Just Cause 2, so chalk up its window-in-window projectile-chasing as another sign of its unrepeated genius.

1999 – Unreal Tournament

Years later Unreal Tournament III would introduce its brilliant (if never used by anyone) bubbles of slow-time. However, the original UT had a slo-mo feature hidden in its console when you played bots in its practice modes. Tapping in ‘Slomo 0,1’ had you moving through molasses, ‘Slomo 0,8’ placed you in a light syrup, ‘Slomo 10’ ramped the game up to the speed of light. Let’s not forget the flyable Redeemer rounds, the bullet-ride to end them all.

1999 – Requiem: Avenging Angel

As an angel on a mission from God, one of your powers was to warp time or, in more common parlance, to slow it the hell down while you knocked seven bells out of the Fallen and broke up their wicked plan to launch a space craft that would in turn collide with heaven. Released in the shade of Half-Life, Requiem didn’t set the tills on fire but it at least brought temporal trickery to the masses. Well, some of the masses.

GamesRadar – PS2 Latest Stories

Despite its flaws, the recently released Metroid: Other M does manage to push a lot of the right fanboy buttons. As the game nears its end, several classic Metroid elements are brought to the surface, though one tradition was seemingly forgotten or purposefully omitted – the end-of-game shot of Samus in her underwear. Used to be, each Metroid game had several endings that displayed Samus is varying states of dress. Take too long to complete the game and she’d be encased in her armor, which isn’t much of a reward.

On the other hand, speeding through would usually net you a shot of the galaxy-famous bounty hunter in a bikini or some other skimpy getup. It’s strange that Other M would ignore this, as developer Team Ninja is already known for excessive boob physics and absurdly constructed women. So, if they’re not going to continue the trend Nintendo started in the ’80s, let’s at least look back at how Metroid used to end.

Above: The original Metroid ending offered three views of Samus’ true feminine form, with faster times earning less clothing. God, those sure are sexy squares

Above: Metroid II for the Game Boy followed up with this alluring selection of lingerie, much more womanlike than the horrifying pixel blobs that came just a few years prior

Above: Super Metroid regresses a bit, as a swimsuit is one thing, but the dress/boots/lipstick combo actually comes off a bit crass compared to the fairly traditional Samus of Metroid II

Above: Eight years later, Metroid Fusion introduced something like five different endings, the skimpiest of which you see here

Above: Then in 2004, Metroid Zero Mission brought us this orange number that’s never been seen since

Above: Zero Mission also introduced the now-standard Zero Suit, which has been seen in Prime 3, Smash Bros and Other M

Above: Here she is in Other M during a cutscene. The Zero Suit is skin tight, so it kinda counts as underwear, but it’s more like a second skin that can instantly summon her power suit than casual wear

None of the three Prime games show more than the Zero Suit, and Other M similarly opts to refrain from a near-naked Samus. Odd how Nintendo, a company known for its 80s and 90s censorship began and continued this trend up through 2004, then abandoned it. On one hand these “hurry and see a half naked chick” endings could be seen as objectifying one of the stronger female leads in games, but uh, that hip-hugging Zero Suit is no better. What do you think?

Thanks to this great site for some of the Samus images!

GamesRadar – GameCube Latest Stories

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