And on September 13th, The World Exploded

The Mayans were right! 2012 is the year the world ends, everything gets turned on its head, rioting like mad from normally rational people… okay, I can’t say that last part with a straight face. But for a lot of people, the end of the world came from Nintendo’s September 13th press conference, otherwise known as “E3 2012 Part 2: The Vastly Improved Sequel”. Why? Let’s find out by recapping what was shown and what this means for gamers, and try to find the sign of the apocalypse. In real life, I mean, not the one portrayed in Darksiders 2.

Now, we knew for some time that Nintendo would reveal the release date and price for their next-generation system on September 13th. Predictions were flying everywhere before then, but now all that’s left is reactions and the obligatory complaints. The Wii U will be released in North America on November 18th, 2012. I can’t think of a single person who didn’t figure that out, but from the previous rumors about hardware nightmares concerning the Gamepad, there was a slight worry that Nintendo wouldn’t make Black Friday in the states. However, the real good news was in the price. Prepare to have your mind blown, people. Nintendo is releasing 2 SKUs for the Wii U. One will be in white, and will come with a Gamepad, an HDMI cable, a sensor bar, an AC adapter, and 8 GB of Flash Memory. It will cost $299. The other, known as the Deluxe Set, comes in black with a Gamepad, sensor bar, AC adapter, HDMI cable, 32 GB of Flash memory, charging cradles and stands for both the console and the Gamepad, a copy of Nintendoland, and a Nintendo Network Premium Subscription. The Premium Subscription grants you points for eShop purchases equal to around 10% of the original price. These points can be used toward other purchases once you reach 500 of them, or the equivalent of $5 in points. This model costs $349.

Take a step back and forget all the bull you’ve been hearing about the Wii U being underpowered or a current-gen system. If you untangle yourself from all that wrongness, you’ll begin to realize why this is huge: Nintendo is pricing their NEXT-GEN console in the same price bracket as its rivals’ CURRENT-GEN offerings. This is a HUGE win for Nintendo. Their next-gen console is affordable even while the other current-gen consoles are still around. Of course, if you take a small step forward, you may think, how can this be? There has to be a catch to this, costs had to have been cut in some way. While you may think that the Wii U can do this because it’s using weak tech like too many people need to be asserting, the real reason is actually right in front of you: depending on which model you get, you’re getting either 8 GB or 16 GB of flash storage. The current-gen consoles sport 128-256 GB internal hard drives.

Fortunately for you, the Wii U is compatible with all forms of external storage. So instead of paying for an overpriced hard-drive because it’s all your console can use, you can buy an external hard drive and get more memory for less. Or get a hefty SD card. Or use external memory that you already have. Or don’t even bother if you’re not big on digital downloads, in which case 32 GB is plenty. Nintendo is giving you the freedom to handle your Wii U’s storage however you see fit, and depending on your situation, you’ll either be saving a lot of money compared to the alternative or pay about as much as you would if the Wii U had an internal hard drive ad get a lot more memory out of it. Nintendo is giving the consumer a lot more freedom, and because that’s how they fir their next-gen offering in the same price bracket as the 360 and PS3, you can rest assured that the Wii U won’t be skimping on the power.

Speaking of, we also got some more information on what’s inside the Wii U console. We don’t know the full specs yet; the CPU and GPU remain a mystery. But we know the following: The Wii U has 2 GB of RAM. One GB is dedicated to games, the other is dedicated to the OS, but devs can tap into this second GB later in the Wii U’s lifecycle. This is somewhat similar to what the PS3 did, dedicating half the RAM to the games and half to the OS, but not only will the Wii U be easier to develop for throughout its lifecycle, it has 4 times the RAM of the PS3 on both accounts. We also know that the Wii U uses modern architecture known as GPGPU, which some who have been following the Wii U before September 13th already figured out. GPGPU is when the GPU does certain things that the CPU would have done, but thanks to how the GPU works, it does these things far faster. This would explain the time when a Tekken dev said the Wii U’s clock speed is “kinda slow”, because if speed is better handled by a GPGPU, why would the CPU need it? This also proves that the Wii U isn’t repeating the Wii’s power scenario. The Wii used 2001 technology in 2006. The Wii U is using tech that’s much more modern for its time.

One of the big surprises to come out of the conference was Nintendo’s new TVii feature for the Wii U. Integrating Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video and Tivo, TVii takes the concept of the Wii U being a TV remote and runs with it. You can use Miis to mark favorites for each member of your household, and you can use the Gamepad to control your DVR. It looks really cool, basically like streaming Netflix on your Wii taken to the next level. In a world where gaming consoles are all but required to have some kind of multimedia functionality, TVii fits the bill just fine while not getting in the way of the Wii U’s main purpose like some “family-oriented” console features do. I’m looking at you, Kinect.

Specs and features aside, we also got a good deal of info about games. We got the full roster of Nintendoland attractions: in addition to what we had coming out of E3, we have the multiplayer action attraction “Pikmin Adventure”, “Mario Chase” which is the final version of “Chase Mii” from E3 2011, something called “Octopus Dance” that we know nothing about but may involve Mr. Game and Watch, “Yoshi’s Fruit Cart” which is also a mystery aside from its name, “Metroid Blast” which is E3 2011′s Battle Mii with Samus in it, and “Balloon Trip Breeze”, harkening back to the NES classic Balloon Fight. The attractions that we do know a lot about look really, really fun. To me, it’s easily worth getting the Deluxe Wii U for.

We also saw more of Mario’s next game, New Super Mario Bros U, or “the reason why New Super Mario Bros 2 shouldn’t have been made until 2015″. Unlike the previous three entries in this Mario sub-series, NSMBU isn’t going to feel like one of Mario 3′s impersonators. Actually, it’s taking a lot from Super Mario World. The trailer looked really cool. We saw visuals that are far more gorgeous than New Super Mario Bros Wii, an open world map like Mario World, (but still with themes like Mario 3 and the other NSMB games, though we only saw the desert area) and more of that sweet, sweet Mario platforming. We also got another flashback to Mario World in the music. World had pretty much the entire soundtrack consist of one song and several variations of it. This game appears to be doing the same with the trailer music from E3. This trailer opens with an awesome rendition of that theme, with no “ba” sound effects or anything! I always fond the original song to be pretty awesome, so this could be a nice touch. We also saw the new “boost rush mode”, where you have to complete an autoscrolling version of a normal level in as little time as possible. Sound like a paradox? Well, the more coins you get, the faster the stage scrolls, so you can do really well by getting a lot of coins (sound familiar?) but the more you get, the greater the challenge becomes. Overall, the game looks really awesome.

You know how at E3 2012, Ubisoft was the third party developer that Nintendo had showcase games during their conference? This time, that honor went to Activision. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 came out of its transparent closet as a Wii U title, with the new ability to have local multiplayer no longer be split-screen. Instead, one player will use the TV and the other will play on the Gamepad. It’s a cool new feature. We also found out that 007 Legends, a game telling the story of all the James Bond films up to and including Skyfall, will be on the Wii U. Finally, Activision told us that the Wii U will be getting Skylanders Giants, with the toy-to-game action possible due to the Gamepad’s NFC capabilities. Activision aside, a lot of other companies showed their Wii U cards. Shin’en, the ultimate Wiiware maker and the kind behind the 3DS’ Nano Assault brings us Nano Assault Neo for the Wii U, a unique and beautiful-looking space shooter. From Capcom we have Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on the Wii U and 3DS. From Namco, Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U edition, sporting costumes for various Nintendo characters for the fighters. This is all awesome news, but the best has got to be from Platinum Games.

First of all, remember Project P-100? That game got a name change to The Wonderful 101. It’s about a group of 100 heroes who must band together to stop evil, but you already knew that. The reason why I’m bringing it up is because the trailer blew my mind at the end. The narrator says “The Wonderful 101. I knew we forgot someone… you.” Just for that I can’t wait to buy that game. In terms of mind-blowing however, 101derful only comes second in the games department to Platinum’s other offering: Bayonetta 2. As a Wii U exclusive. Yeah, I had the same look on my face when I found out. A mix of shock and awe and excitement. It got better when i found out the story: SEGA, the first game’s publisher, dropped the project. Nintendo picked it up and is now publishing the game. So thanks to Nintendo, we got Bayonetta 2 on the Wii U instead of nothing at all! I can’t wait to play it!

That’s not what some other people thought, however. For many, this was the reveal that started the apocalypse as I stated at the beginning of this article. After this was revealed, the Nintendooming troll corner of the internet went ablaze. Something happened that they couldn’t twist. Nintendo, who they always chastised for not getting big-name 3rd party hardcore titles, got one. And they went berserk. Internet forums and twitter were filled with rants, usually all-caps, about how Nintendo stole Bayonetta 2 and how the game was ruined and how it should have been on a real console instead of a toddler’s toy . (because as we all know, the WiiU is a collective hallucination) Instead of being able to make any kind of actual point against Nintendo, the dark corner of the internet just flung all their half-baked insults at once. “Underpowered thing with a fisher-price controller”, “toddler’s toy”, “hijacker”, etc. Some even made death threats against Nintendo, Platinum, and SEGA. For the rest of us, however, their empty threats and petty, immature insults are nothing short of amusing. It’s like watching an angry dog try to attack you, when that dog is on a leash connected to a tree and you’re three feet or so away from the leash’s length. It’s angry, but completely powerless. And you are well within your rights to laugh.

On a more serious note, if only because of this backlash, if you’re going to get a Wii U, you NEED to buy Bayonetta 2 when it is released. If the game sells well, it’ll prove that Nintendo can have big-name hardcore games on its next-gen console, and more importantly, that the voices of the angry Nintendoomers don’t matter. Wouldn’t that be a great ending, if after all the raging and insults and threats of destruction and boycott, Bayonetta 2 on the Wii U turns out a success?

So yeah, September 13th was a great day to be a Nintendo gamer or a gamer in general, because after a lackluster E3, the Wii U came out of this conference shining brighter than ever. So support Nintendo and the next generation of this great industry by buying a Wii U! Though do act fast, pre-orders are selling out fast at many a retailer. Good luck!

Wii U to be Abducted by Better Aliens Than 360 and PS3

In this day and age, the cool way to destroy the planet seems to be a zombie apocalypse. There are a ton of Zombie games out there, everyone talks about a zombie apocalypse, and even the Wii U is getting its own taste of the zombie action in the form of Ubisoft’s ZombiU. I, for one, am starting to get sick of this running theme. See, I always used to pretend that I was an awesome action hero fighting off a world-destroying alien invasion. Zombies are basically humans with rotting bodies, but aliens are limitless in potential. They’re otherworldly, completely different from us, from a completely different world. When it comes to making aliens, the sky is the limit. That is, the sky of their home planet! It is for this reason that Aliens: Colonial Marines, by Gearbox, has blipped onto my radar while looking into upcoming games. It’s true that the movie franchise has fallen under my radar; I prefer video games to movies in my spare time, so I know nothing about the series.

The more I look into this game, however, the more excited I am. It’s a first person shooter, yes, but it looks to be more than just your standard FPS fare, and the alien designs really caught my eye. The best part? Its release date on February 12, 2013. So if you’re going to get a Wii U and you want this game, it won’t be buried under the many other great Wii U launch games like Pikmin 3, Assassin’s Creed 3, and ZombiU. This game will get its (likely well deserved) own spotlight well after the holiday season has come and gone. What systems will the game be on? Unless you’re planning to be an Ouya-only or Mac-only gamer, you will have a chance to play it. It’s coming on PC, XBox 360, PS3, and Wii U.

It’s good to see a Nintendo console get the multi plats again, to see four platforms in focus for such a game and not just the standard 3. This is when things get interesting. According to Randy Pitchford, Gearbos Software’s boss, the Wii U version will be the best in terms of visuals, at least compared to the PS3 and XBox 360 versions. He called the Wii U “…a powerful, powerful machine [that] can do a lot of cool new things.” The implications are clear: one, the anonymous “sources” claiming that the Wii U is an underpowered machine are left eating crow thanks to a named source working on the system stating otherwise. And two, some developers are actually putting effort into making the Wii U version better instead of just lazily porting the game over. Pitchford and Gearbox as a whole being excited for the Wii U should be very good news for anyone interested in the console.

But visuals aren’t the only thing that’s improved with the Wii U version. Senior producer Brian Burleson commented on the controller, dubbed the Wii U Gamepad. “the interesting thing is finding out all the cool ways you can use the controller to do new stuff with it,” he said, “You can imagine all the cool things we can do, with this franchise and having a [second screen] with you, right?”

Apparently, Gearbox is putting the famous motion trackers from the Aliens movie franchise on the Gamepad screen, alerting the player to nearby aliens. There will be other applications, but that’s all we know right now.

When asked how much better than the PS3 and 360 the Wii U will be, Burleson said, “You’ll have to wait and see. Just trust me on that one.” So his lips are sealed. His excitement reminds me of a kid hyping up his younger brother for his awesome Christmas present without giving too much away. It’s great that developers, or at least Gearbox, are excited about the Wii U’s capabilities and what they can do with the controller, and are actually using it instead of just slapping the XBox 360 version onto a Wii U disc and calling it a day like they very well could.

Of course, Aliens: Colonial Marines isn’t the only game Gearbox is making. While not officially announced, Borderlands 2 is set to launch in the near future, with a very strong possibility of it coming to the Wii U. While a Wii U version hasn’t been confirmed yet, Gearbox chief creative officer Brian Martel is excited about the game coming to the Wii U. “If Borderlands 2 was on the Wii U, the thing I would be most excited about is inventory management: it would be amazing on that, it would just be fantastic,” he said, “And I think the artwork would look really good, with the way they can deal with the resolutions and textures, I think it’s a really good console.”

Okay, more excitement about the Wii U from Gearbox, and if Borderlands 2 makes it to the Wii U, that would be awesome. But what’s the hesitation?

From a business perspective, publisher 2K (who is currently bringing the critically acclaimed NBA 2K series to the console) is “going to do a wait and see approach” in regards to the Wii U to see if bringing future projects like Borderlands 2 it is a good idea. Their concern seems to be about the touchscreen and how it’s different from the approaches the other consoles have, kind of like the Wiimote. “It’s one of those problems of the Wii: the only people who have ever made a lot of money on the Wii is Nintendo,” Martel explained. This is, I guess, as opposed to the publisher of Aliens: Colonial Marines, SEGA, who doesn’t have any hesitation with their 2013 title.

Gearbox wants to develop great games for the Wii U. Anyone who will get a Wii U wants Gearbox to develop great games for the Wii U. How do we tell 2K that developing for Nintendo’s next console is a good idea? The answer is simple. If you’re getting a Wii U, get the multi plats that are coming to it. Get the Wii U version of Assassin’s Creed 3,  Batman Arkham City, Darksiders 2, and when it comes out, Aliens: Colonial Marines. Tell developers and publishers of these hardcore games that you want hardcore games on the Wii U and that you will play hardcore games on the Wii U. If those games sell well on the Wii U, we’ll get more games on it, including Borderlands 2. If they don’t… another generation of multi plats will once again pass Nintendo by.

TheGamePad360′s reactions to the Nintendo’s Pre-E3 Reveal

We here at theGamepad360 are excited for E3. In fact, the wait ( and the fact that we’ll be missing the live stream due to school) is killing us. Today Nintendo began their presentation before the start of E3. In order to appease their fans, Nintendo release some new WiiU information. We, along with many others were hoping for technical hardware specifications or details on the Nintendo Network.

What we did learn was that the WiiU will have 3 main modes of control and a compelling social network.

Personally, we here are happy to see that the WiiU and its controller will come in black.

Before we discuss the WiiU control options, let’s talk about the WiiU social network, Miiverse.

• Nintendo has finally figured how to do social gaming, but we would have liked it if they focused some more on the other announced NN features such, the full retail games shop, or more or connecting to other gamers within games. We fully expect to see more on NN, full retail games like those soon to be on the eShop, user accounts and DLC, on Tuesday.

• The Miiverse is very accessible, it seems. Look forward to responding to friend requests, messages, looking for advice of wall about games and meeting new people.
• While we like the idea of the Miiverse but we hope its not the main focus of the home screen. We’re hoping for a revamped WiiOS designed mixed with the new 3DS eShop layout. This means with big rectangular icons, that show things like what game is currently in the disc slot, or the newest popular game on the eShop. Smaller square icons with “Accomplishments”, messages, notices from friends and downloaded/purchased apps.

As for the WiiU control options, we expected the final version to have clickable analogs and two pair of triggers. The WiiU Pro controller is a good idea. Although we still believe that the WiiU should be the preferred mode of play, we’ve noticed that gamers as a group are ridiculously stubborn and often slow to adapt. Admittedly, this controller’s shape is similar to that of the 360, giving the negative another opportunity to bash the WiiU. However the button layout is Nintendo’s and the joystick layout is DualShock making this the perfect controller. Personally, we’d like to use the WiiMotion Plus and the WiiUPad (yes, we’re still calling it that) for FPS games and the Pro for fighting and sports games.

What do you think? Post your comment here!

If you’d like to write for us send a e-mail to yabhero.wiibox360@gmail.com

I’m Loyal to Video Games, Not Video Game Consoles

There have been many trends developing in the gaming industry this gen. HD visuals, motion controls, casual vs. hardcore, PC vs. Console gaming, DLC, DRM, on-disc DLC, online passes, etc. Some are troubling, some are good for the industry, but there is one trend that really bugs me, “fanboyism”. I understand brand loyalty, consumers buy a product from a company, they like it, and they build a trust with that company. I trust ASUS as my motherboard provider, Nvidia for my graphics cards, Logitech for my peripherals (mouse, speakers, keyboard” and Intel for my CPU’s. My family buy’s Sony TV’s and stereo systems. We like Japanese cars. It’s all about reliability and trust.

Fanboyism is blind loyalty where the fanboy/girl is unable to see the faults of their company that they are loyal too and make it their personal goal to defame all other companies and make their company superior. When it comes to video games, the idea of fanboyism is absurd. In this case, it’s Nintendo vs. Sony vs. Microsoft. A Nintendo fanboy will say that gameplay > graphics and Nintendo has the best IP’s and innovates and they don’t need online and dvd playback. A Sony fanboy will say the PS3 has the best graphics, better controller, free online, and better exclusives. A Micosoft fanboy will say quality of exclusives and not quantity is what matters, the 360 controller is the best controller ever designed and Xbox live is far more superior to PSN. The Nintendo fanboy won’t mention Nintendo’s error’s like failing to differentiate the 3DS from the DS, selling it at $250 with no good launch titles and no big name titles until June (a port). They won’t mention Nintendo’s archaic online infrastructure with friends codes or their inability to convince third parties to develop for them. The Microsoft fanboy won’t mention the Red Ring of Death of the 360 and how many failed on people and had to be replaced. They won’t mention that Xbox Live is $65 a year and isn’t much better than PSN. They won’t mention the stolen account data from the past year that Microsoft hid from consumers. The Sony fanboy won’t admit the PS3 was overpriced, didn’t get great software until the “slim” console hit the market, and was hard to develop for. They won’t mention PSN being hacked and offline for over a month with a bunch of credit card numbers being stolen. They won’t mention the financial troubles of Sony either.

But this article isn’t about fanboyism. It’s not a rant about them. It’s about the idea of being loyal to a video game console instead of video games themselves. Video games are what sell consoles, we buy consoles to play games. Other features are great to have, but the primary feature of a game console and its main selling point is games. We buy games. We should be loyal to game franchises, not game consoles. My name is Kevin and I am loyal to video games. I am loyal to the Mass Effect series, Mario series, Zelda series, Metroid, Uncharted, God of War, Halo, Donkey series, etc. I am loyal to these games because I enjoyed them and I know their next iteration will be great. Many of the franchises I enjoy are only available on Nintendo consoles, but that doesn’t make me a Nintendo fanboy. I can see Nintendo’s faults and they make mistakes. They didn’t satisfy my cravings for online play and HD games. So after buying Wii I bought a 360. I enjoyed FIFA, NHL, Halo, Gears of War, BioShock, Assassin’s Creed and Mass Effect on it. But, having owned a PS2 I knew I was missing out on some great exclusives that I wanted to play, so I bought a PS3 to play Uncharted, God of War, InFamous, Resistance, LittleBigPlanet, Final Fantasy, and Mortal Kombat. Those are all franchises I enjoy and in order to play them, I purchased all three consoles. I also enjoy Starcraft II, Crysis and SWTOR, and to enjoy that I need a PC. So I built a gaming rig. I bought a 3DS to play first party Nintendo titles. I bought a Vita to play console like games on a handheld.

It’s ridiculous that most fanboys argue when most of the games are available on both platforms (360 vs. PS3 mostly) when in essence it’s the same game. If you say one positive thing about one and one negative thing about the other, you are branded as a fanboy. I’ve been branded a fanboy of all three console makers despite owning all three of them plus the two handhelds and buying games for all three of them and not having a preference between them (my favourite is when in the comments on an N4G article I am accused of being both a Sony fanboy and Xbox fanboy in the same comments section).

My point is, we shouldn’t be loyal to a console and brag about it and defend it to the death. It’s just a platform that lets us play games we enjoy. We should defend our games that we enjoy, whether it be Zelda, or Uncharted, or Fable. Are arguments should be about which Assassin’s Creed was the best? Which Zelda was the hardest? Is Uncharted a better action-adventure game than God of War? Which part of the game was the most fun? How was the ending? A good analogy would be judging a company based on the experience of one employee. If you walk into a Wal-Mart and some cashier treats you like a piece of **** are you going to assume all Wal-Mart’s are like that and thus you avoid all Wal-Mart’s in the future? No, that would be ridiculous. It’s an isolated incident that shouldn’t change your perception of the company as a whole. Don’t hate on Nintendo for catering to different markets then the PS3 and 360. Don’t brand them as “kiddy” because of their selection of games. They offer many games for different ages as does the PS3 and 360. If motion controls aren’t your thing that’s fine, but don’t hate Nintendo for trying to innovate and don’t assume all titles incorporate the motion control. Try some titles out first. Don’t give it some negative stereotype that it’s a waggle kiddy machine. Don’t hate on Microsoft for making a hardware design flaw that causes the RROD, it wasn’t intentional. Don’t hate them for trying to cater to a bigger demographic with Kinect. Don’t hate Sony for overpricing their consoles when they are trying to introduce new cutting edge tech in the industry.

No more of this dumb “you suck, you got Mortal Kombat for 360 so you don’t get Kratos lolololol” or “PS3 Skyrim lags hard you suck, shoulda bought a 360!!!!” or “Wii is for grandma’s and kid’s, it’s only good for Mario and Zelda and it’s not HD”. We all have preferences. Some prefer the Dualshock 3 as a controller, some prefer the 360 controller. Those decisions should shape which console you will purchase the game for. But don’t make others feel like **** for not owning or supporting the same console you do. We all have our preferences in control methods, video game franchises, and price ranges. If you prefer single player focused games than purchase a PS3 or Wii. If you prefer online games purchase a 360. If you want an all in one entertainment system with blu-ray get a PS3. If you love innovative tech, get a Wii for its motion control or a Kinect 360 for its controls. If you’re rich or can’t decide which is best or have a huge gaming appetite like me, purchase all three and appreciate them for what they are, warts and all. Don’t offend others for not having similar tastes as you.

Don’t try to defend a company blindly and not see its faults. Enjoy what you have, enjoy the freedom of choice, and let other’s enjoy what they enjoy. Life is too short to be arguing over which piece of hardware is more superior and why, when they both serve the same function and offer similar experiences.

Canada’s Contributions to the Video Game Industry

Canada’s Contribution to the Video Games Industry

 

Ah Canada, The USA’s little brother that always relies on big brothers protection. The entire country is a giant block of ice as soon as you cross the border. The beer is fantastic, we play hockey all day and drink all night. We play lots of winter sports and own the winter Olympics. But even though we live in giant igloos we still have electricity and internet connections and PC’s and all that fun stuff. We also have dozens of video game developers, many of which develop high profile, award winning, AAA titles. I bet others didn’t know that did you? You did…..well….can you pretend you didn’t and read this article anyway?

All joking aside, Canada has become a little force in the video games industry, with some of the country’s developers delivering many of the big name video game franchises this gen. Some companies are even outsourced to, such as Nintendo using Vancouver’s Next Level Games to develop Luigi’s Mansion 2 for the 3DS.

There are dozens of video game developers in Canada, many are small studios that specialize in ports or assisting bigger studios in development of AAA titles (i.e. Rockstar Toronto helps all bigger Rockstar studios in development, while also porting versions of games to other platforms. Or Ubisoft Quebec helping Ubisoft Montreal in developing Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood). Most of the big name developers are located on the west coast of Vancouver (most likely due to EA Canada’s success) and Montreal. Vancouver is home to Capcom Vancouver, EA Canada, Next Level Games, Rockstar Vancouver, Piranha games and many smaller companies. The Province of Quebec is home to Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Quebec, BioWare Montreal, Behaviour Interactive and many others. Canada’s largest city, Toronto, ironically doesn’t have as many big name studios but has many smaller companies that develop mobile games and web-based games. The big name developers in Toronto are Ubisoft Toronto and Rockstar Toronto, and perhaps most famously, Silicon Knights, the developer behind the cult hit Eternal Darkness for the GameCube and Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. Perhaps the most famous Canadian developer (and the one taking the most heat right now) is the studio from the cold Alberta town of Edmonton, BioWare Edmonton. EA bought them too (it’s like EA is afraid of big Canadian studios being more successful than them and they just buy them out).

This article will focus on the bigger developers in Canada and their contributions to gaming such as big titles, game engines, etc. The main focus will be on the “Big Three”, that is, the three developers who produce AAA titles and don’t work on smaller titles like most other Canadian studios. The “Big Three” are EA Canada, Ubisoft Montreal, and BioWare Edmonton.

Canada didn’t have too many developers in the 80’s and 90’s; Distinctive Software was the largest and most notable, specializing in racing and sports games. Electronic Arts bought the company in 1983 and the studio is now known as the famous EA Canada Studio. The studio responsible for FIFA, NHL, Need for Speed, The Sims, and Medal of Honor game franchises. Not much needs to be said for these companies’ accomplishments. The FIFA and NHL franchises receive numerous gaming awards with each iteration, delivering realistic sports simulations and upping the ante with each version, rather it is new gaming modes, better AI or physics. The Sims franchise has won multiple awards for its attempt at simulating real life. Of all the studios in Canada, this one is the largest, employing over 2000 people, and most successful developers, with a huge studio that has “a motion-capture studio, twenty-two rooms for composing, fourteen video editing suites, three production studios, a wing for audio compositions, and a quality assurance department. There are also facilities such as fitness rooms, two theatres, a cafeteria called EAt, coffee bars, and a video games room.”

Although EA Canada is owned by the American company, EA, it is still the largest and most relied upon studio of the entire EA organization and it lead the wave in video game development in Canada. Many gamers problems with EA stem from the head office in the USA and not the development teams themselves. EA Canada can’t be blamed for DLC, DRM, online passes, etc. This studio delivers yearly quality titles and sets a standard for other video game developers.

Capcom Vancouver used to be Blue Castle Games, a studio responsible for titles such as The Bigs. Founded in 2005 from former EA Games employees, they made one IP and turned it into a cult hit. The Bigs won numerous awards and Blue Castle was voted as best new gaming company in 2008 during the ELAN Awards. In 2008, Capcom bought them out, seeing the advantage of having a developer so close to Japan (Vancouver is mere hours away) and using it as a support studio in the development of the Capcom franchise Dead Rising and its sequel, Dead Rising 2.

Next Level Games was founded in 2002 and has received many accolades in Canadian business, being named one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers and BC’s Top Employers. The studio is a favourite of Nintendo for outsourcing IP’s. Games such as Mario Strikers Charged, Super Mario Strikers,  and Punch Out!!  were developed for Nintendo by this small little studio. Their next project is another Nintendo IP, Luigi’s Mansion 2 for the 3DS. NHL Hitz Pro, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier,  and Transformers: Cybertron Adventures round out the studio’s pasts projects that aren’t Nintendo IP’s. Although the studio is third party they have found the most success on Nintendo hardware with their first IP NHL Hitz Pro, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, Ticket to Ride, and Captain America: Super Soldier being the only games that were multiplatform.

Barking Dog Studios was founded in 1998 and was most famous for helping Valve with certain maps in a game called Counter-Strike. You know that game don’t you? Of course you do, it pretty much is the oldest FPS still being played online today. In 2002 they were bought out by Rockstar and renamed Rockstar Vancouver (clever, no?). Their first and only project was a PS2 exclusive game, Bully, a game about a troubled teenager who goes to a boarding school. The game was controversial due to its sexual nature, its exaggeration of bullying, and adult orientation. Nonetheless, it still sold 1.5 million copies and is highly regarded by critics till this day, receiving many 9 out of 10’s scores and being included on the famous list of “1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die”. What is this studio currently working on? They are working on perhaps the most anticipated title of 2012, Max Payne 3. That’s right, this studio has the faith of Rockstar, and the proof is in the fact that Rockstar trusts this studio with one of their biggest IP’s. Max Payne 3 is slated to come out this spring and is expected to be a highly rated game that should sell well.

Slant Six Games was founded in 2005 and is most famous for taking over Zipper Interactive’s SOCOM franchise. All SOCOM’s released on the PSP and PS3 since 2007 have come from them. There most recent title was a controversial one amongst its fans, Resident Evil: Operation Racoon City. They are currently rumored to be working on Star Wars: Battlefront III although this is still just speculation.

Oddly, Canada’s largest Province, Ontario, with about 1/3^rd the population of Canada, has a small amount of developers. It has many smaller ones focusing on mobile platforms and web based games. Its most famous studio is perhaps Silicon Knights, located about an hour outside of Toronto in St. Catherines. It is most famous for X-Men: Destiny, Eternal Darkness, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes and Too Human. They are probably even more famous for their lawsuit against Epic Games for their failure to provide a working game engine (according to Wikipedia). The provincial and federal government has granted Silicon Knights over $7 million in funds over the years for hiring new employees, development on a big multiplatform title (which has yet to be released). The grants are due to the importance of the studio in Ontario and its contributions to the community, as well as Ontario’s grants it offers towards the video game industry (Mad Respect!).

Located in a Toronto suburb of Oakville, Ontario they were originally called Rockstar Canada in 1999, until it was renamed to Rockstar Toronto in 2002 as a result of Rockstar buying out Barking Dog Studios and renaming them Rockstar Vancouver. Rockstar Toronto is mainly used as a support team in bigger Rockstar projects. They have collaborated on GTA IV, Max Payne, Max Payne 2, Bully, Manhunt 2 and are currently helping out Rockstar Vancouver with the development of Max Payne 3.

Ubisoft Toronto was opened in 2009 and is one of Toronto’s newest studios, housing over 120 employees. Their first game is to be released this year, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Retribution, a game they are co-developing with Ubisoft Montreal. They are scheduled to work on Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6: Patriots, due for release next year. Like Rockstar Toronto, they are a developer used for support on bigger titles more than full games.

Eidos Montreal is owned by Square Enix and is known for only one title in their 5 year lifespan, 2011 Game of the Year candidate Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Eidos is a  young studio that was just voted by EDGE magazines’ Studio of the Year. Their success has lead to a new studio opening in Montreal, Square Enix Montreal (not the same as Eidos Monteal, keep up will ya?). Gamers should look forward to future titles from Eidos Montreal in the future.

We’ve discussed one of the Big Three developers in Canada already, EA Canada. The second one we will discuss is Ubisoft Montreal. Ubisoft is a company based out of France and the opportunity to open up in a French speaking province of Canada, specifically the second largest French speaking city of the world; Montreal was too good to pass up. There would be no language barrier between France and Montreal. Ubisoft was trying to expand to North America in the 90’s and were eventually convinced by a Quebec lobbyist Sylvain Vaugeois. He knew that the Quebec government was trying to create jobs and multimedia was the way to go (the rise of personal computers and video game console industry was beginning).

The studio opened in 1997 with government funding and the rest is history. It now employs over 1700 employees and is known for the some of the most famous video game franchises of the last 15 years. Listing all games would take too long, so just franchises will be listed. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Series, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six series, Prince of Persia series, Far Cry series, TMNT, Assassins Creed series, Naruto series, Shaun White series, and more. Many of the series have received numerous awards and some are the most famous and best selling third party games of this generation. Ubisoft Montreal is planning on a big year in 2012 with the release of Far Cry 3 and Assassins Creed III due to release this year. 2013 sees the release of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6: Patriots.

The success of Ubisoft Montreal has lead to a second studio opeining in the province, Ubisoft Quebec, which employes over 300 people and offers support for other Ubisoft studios on bigger projects.

Say what you want about Ubisoft, DLC, DRM, *insert any problem you have with Ubisoft here*, those decisions come from the head office in France, the developers themselves just make the games, and they usually end up making quality games with immersive worlds, stunning graphics, and tight controls.

If the video game industry was like sports, and developers were players, then each big name developer would be like an all-star player. Some are more famous than others. USA has Activision/Blizzard, 2K games, Bungie, Naughty Dog, Sony Santa Monica, etc. Japan has Nintendo, Capcom, Sony, Square Enix. Sweden has EA DICE and Mojang. The UK has Eidos and Rocksteady. Canada has three stars, one of which can be seen as the best in the game at the moment. EA Canada, Ubisoft Montreal, and the Wayne Gretzky/Michael Jordon/Babe Ruth/Diego Maradona of them all, BioWare. (Okay that may be a huge exaggeration but you get the point)

Yes BioWare is the last of the Big Three developers in Canada to be discussed. BioWare is perhaps Canada’s greatest contribution to gaming in general. The company has continued pushing the boundaries with each gaming generation, rather it be complex RPG battle systems, to narrative, to voice acting, to combining all these elements and making it span across a trilogy where all your choices impact the story over the course of three games (insert Mass Effect  3 ending joke here)

Located in the cold ass city of Edmonton, Alberta, the studio opened in 1995 by newly graduated Doctor’s Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip. Their success at their jobs allowed them to combine their funding (about $100, 000) and start their own video game development studio. Their first demo was sent out to 10 publishers, 7 of which returned with an offer. Eventually Interplay financed their next project, and all three owners were fans of pen & paper role playing games. BioWare presented them with a demo called that they liked and Interplay thought it would work well with the Dungeons & Dragons name attached to it. This lead to the birth of BioWare’s first hit, Baldur’s Gate. The rest is history.

After the Baldur’s gate franchise, BioWare moved onto Neverwinter Nights IP and it’s expansion packs. BioWare was starting to game critical success and fame with Baldur’s Gate  and Neverwinter Nights but it was their next game that caused them to explode into the gaming mainstream. Taking one of the most famous licences of all time; Star Wars, BioWare crafted one of the best RPG’s of all time in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The game included BioWare’s classic D&D battle system, with deep narrative, fully voiced dialogue, expanded Star Wars canon and back-story, along with a new morality system that determined the games ending and gave the player many choices (characteristics BioWare is now known for). The success of KOTOR impressed George Lucas so much that his company LucasArts contacted BioWare in 2005 to develop on MMO based on KOTOR. That MMO became the recently released Star Wars: The Old Republic for the PC. After the development of KOTOR, BioWare split into two teams. One was for the MMO, the other was for development of the Mass Effect trilogy. In 2007, the Mass Effect series was born, followed by Dragon Age a year later.

In October of 2007, EA bought out BioWare (omg they bought out ANOTHER successful Canadian video game developer?) lead to the opening of BioWare Austin and eventually BioWare Ireland, BioWare Montreal, and BioWare San Francisco. BioWare now employs over 800 people and is one of the most famous and respected video game developers in the world, winning many awards for their games, business practices, and financial success. They won Spike’s VGA award for best studio of the year in 2010, they are named as one of Alberta’s top employers (in Alberta, you either play hockey, dig in the oil sands, or develop for BioWare so take that award with a grain of salt /joke) and ranked as one of Canada’s fastest growing companies.

Their franchises are some of the top rated and consist of Baldur’s Gate series, Neverwinter Nights series, MDK2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Mass Effect series, Dragon Age series,  and Star Wars: The Old Republic. BioWare Edmonton is currently focused on DLC for Mass Effect 3, and developing Dragon Age III. BioWare Austin is handling most of SWTOR. BioWare Edmonton assisted BioWare Austin in SWTOR and Dragon Age II, but is mostly focused on the Mass Effect Trilogy. BioWare now has a strong publisher to back it up (EA) and with their combination, they will be a force to be reckoned with in the gaming industry with industry leading AAA games being the norm.

So basically, gamers should thank Canada for these game franchises:

• Mass Effect
• Assassin’s Creed
• Eternal Darkness
• FIFA
• NHL
• NFL
• Prince of Persia
• Splinter Cell
• Deus Ex
• Max Payne 3
• Punch Out!!
• Luigi’s Mansion 2
• Dragon Age
• Star Wars: The Old Republic

All jokes and bragging aside, Canada may be a small country with development being small during the 80’s and 90’s, but the country has expanded in game development rapidly in the last decade and has spawned some of the most successful IP’s this gaming generation and should continue to add awesome video games to the market. New studios are being opened up constantly, especially in the Vancouver and Montreal areas. The new Ubisoft Toronto studio is state of the art and Montreal is getting a new Square Enix studio this year. Big game companies like Nintendo, Capcom, and Rockstar enjoy doing business with Canadian developers and have faith in them by allowing them to develop big name IP’s for them. Here’s to Canada!!!

Other Notable Canadian Development Studios

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Video_game_companies_of_Canada

http://www.candevs.ca/

Pokemon Dream, for Nintendo 3DS.

A Pokemon game for the 3DS is exactly what the system needs to get even more of an upper-hand on the Vita. The release of a Pokemon game is the US and Japan would probably push 2-3 million systems. Personally we dream of a full MMO/free roam WiiU game for WiiU with a more sophisticated story and access to all regions.

We can only speculate now but there are several things that we hope the next 3DS Pokemon has.

1.  The 3DS has cartridges that can go up to 8GB. The biggest that has been used yet is 4GB. With all this extra space, not only would the character/Pokemon models be detailed but the entire world could be more expansive with more NCP’s, towns and story.
2. It’s about time we move on the fully 3D Pokemon like in PokeDex 3D or Battle Revolution. What about fighting in 3D environments.
3. Customizable Trainers. If I’m black why can’t my trainer be black? What can’t he or she have curly spiky hair. Brown or blue eyes? Be short or tall? When the professor asks are ” You a boy or girl?” why can’t they ask ” what do you look like?                                                                                                   
4.  I hope I’m not the only one with the following idea. Anyone who enjoys Pokemon has probably thought about fighting a Pokemon battle in real life. AR cards if probably the closest we’ll get to that ( until virtual reality). Anyone who has seen the Kid Icarus Uprising dueling AR cards has an idea what I’m talking about:
5. 
   Imagine having a Local battle with a friend, using real Pokemon cards that double as AR cards and selecting moves of the touch screen. Have double battles or even fourways. 
6. This one is bound to happen: Trading by StreetPass, easier online using SpotPass.
7. Remember the PokeWalker fro HG/SS? Well the 3DS has built in pedometer. Just carry it around and train your Pokemon.
8. I really need a way to trade my start Pokemon from a DS to 3DS games or vice versa.
9. This one should be closer to the top. Multiple regions. Start out in Sinnoh for example (that one happens to be my favorite), then go to Hoenn, Johto,Kanto and Unova. Like I said, with a larger SD this would be possible,

Imagine a 3DS Pokemon game like this. I would gladly pay 40 dollars for that.

COMMENT PLEASE ON WHAT YOUR IDEAL POKEMON 3DS game would be like.

If you want to discuss this over Swapnote or while playing a game of MarioKart/Street Fighter/Kid Icarus: Uprising than my FC is: 0473-7988-1493

Mii Name: Yahya

Why We Need PS4

Note from the editor: Many of our fans have commented on the quality of the writing on our blog which has improved since the conception over 2 years ago. Since then we have grown our viewership, changed our name, acquired a YouTube channel and Facebook page. We still have Microsoft and Sony positions open for those who are interested. Please leave a comment or email us at yabhero.wiibox360@gmail.com . As a young blog we are striving to get our content out to the public. We found that N4G is great community of gamers who are willing to read our content. However, because we don’t yet have the resources to purchase our own domain we are continuously labeled as a “personal blog”. Please help our growth by preventing N4G moderators from dismantling our hard work by failing our articles.

-Thank you, The Editor

We here at theGamePad360 are fans of Sony and Nintendo. However, we are gamers first and foremost and frequently enjoy experiences on Xbox, PC and even iOS devices ( Infinity Blade and Modern Combat). We have enjoyed a lot great moments in this generation but its time for it to come to a close. There comes a point in every generation when the available hardware begins to struggle. We’ve have reached that point in the 7th generation of video games. This is not happening because the 360 and PS3 are bad pieces of hardware. They are just old. Now, with one foot already technically in next-gen (3DS and Vita are considered 8th generation handhelds) is the time. We need PS4.

Recently, our friends at Kotaku posted some rumors about the PS4, codenamed Orbis. The information from Kotaku source isn’t all good. First there’s no backward compatibility, which doesn’t shock us based on previous rumors about PS3′s successor dropping the infamous Cell processor (which gave some developers trouble at the beginning, but is required for PS3 to run). Also the source said there would be anti- used games measures, something we have heard before about Microsoft’s Durango. This whole anti-used games seems like something that was pushed by for third party developers, rather then by Sony of Microsoft. Nintendo’s next gen console, WiiU probably will support used games. Nothing has been said and Nintendo is keeping a tight seal on WiiU. However we believe that WiiU is a measure to gain the trust of third parties, who are weary of Nintendo post Wii. Third parties already have a huge influence on Sony and Microsoft. While several third party developers say Nintendo has listened to their input on WiiU, it seems the anti-used games features is something Nintendo won’t offer for its system.

If PS4 has these problems chaining it to the ground then we’ll have to pass. Regardless, when we say “We need PS4″ we are referring to the concept of a PS3 successor rather than a PS Orbis. In the aftermath of the rumor we’ve heard a lot from PS3 gamers. Many have said they’ll drop Sony if is drop used games and backward compatibility, which proves they aren’t all mindless sheep. However we’ve heard a lot of people shunning PS4 because they want to stick with PS3. Nothing is wrong with a little console loyalty. Neither is anything wrong with saying you won’t be picking up a new console right away because you have a backlog of great games to play. However gushing that a console with 7 year old tech has”much more potential” and ” PS4 can wait another 5 years” is overdoing it. Let’s look at some more quotes from IGN’s PS3 forum.

Nacthenud- I’m still happy for this generation to carry on for a few more years. Bring me the next gen when tech as improved to the point that it’ll become worth it. I just don’t see it right now.

We saw that tech 3 years ago, where were you?

BlueMarvel100 ( the user who started the forum post)- We won’t be needing the PS4 for a while. The PS3 is only 5 years into it’s 10 year lifecycle. The console is blowing all the competition away in terms of sales, exclusives, and hardware. Plus, there are SOOOOOOO many more awesome games coming to the system. Trust me. There is no need for the inevitable PS4 yet.

When Sony talks about a 10 life span, they usually mean that the old console will sell alongside the new one. The PS2 sill sells alongisde PS3. PS3 could sell with PS4. As for sales and hardware, his statement was so inaccurate that it deserved a response. Our editor was about to respond, but then he read a later post of his mentioning how history repeats itself and that Sony has had the most powerful system 3 generations in a row.

BlueMarvel100-The PS1 (the first console to have 3D games) was more powerful than its competition (N64 and Dreamcast). The PS2 was more powerful than its competition (X-Box and Gamecube).

As you all should know, the N64 far outpaced the PSOne and was in earlier generation then the Dreamcast. Also the Xbox was the most powerful system last generation, followed by the GameCube and lastly the PS2 ( Dreamcast dropped out halfway through the generation). After this myself and a few other posters complied a technical specifications list and posted it. BlueMarvel100 hasn’t posted since then.

aRealCoolGuy- What can PS4 possibly offer that PS3 can’t?? 3D? I will pass… Social media integration? Not interested.. PS3 is already a generation ahead of xBox and Wii.

PS3 is not a full, half or third of generation ahead of 360. Also it doesn’t matter where the competition is at, if your system is weak. If all three systems were, for example 10 generations behind games that were coming out on the market, saying “well they’re behind so it’s okay for me to be behind too” would not fix the problem. We need the PS4 for 3D, social network integration, cross game chat and better graphics.

Killed_Assassin- PS3 has it all, we don’t need no new console

uchihadominicus- it would just be too much. the PS3 is such a good system already. plus if you join the playstation plus program you get soooo much cool stuff each month. and like a few of the other people post there a awesome new games still coming out for it, so if you made the PS4 there WILL be MANY pissed off fans that have invested a lot of money into there PS3. they say the PS3 has a 10 year life span but i think there wrong. my personal opinion is that the PS3 will go on for many years to come after the 10 year mark. LONG LIVE THE PS3!

There seems to be a general consensus that the PS3 has not yet been maxed out. However, according to developers, like Bioware it has.

“Good question. In terms of actual horsepower, I think we’re (PS3 and 360) pretty maxed out. I don’t think there’s much more to find.” -BioWare Edmonton GM, Aaryn Flynn

Regardless of whether the PS3 has been “”maxed out” the truth is, cheap tech is available. Tech that would be a lot more powerful than a maxed out PS3.

PS4 could offer:

1. native 1080p like WiiU
2. better 3D support
3. decent graphical leap ( better tetxures. AA , framerate and resolution)
4. services like cross game chat, in game video chat

Nathan and company look good, but that floor and fire needs work, and a lot of it. Unfortunately this is what maxed out looks like.