Bionic Commando: Rearmed Not Dated For Japan [Updated]

Bionic Commando: Rearmed has been dated for Japan. The game was hit the PSN on July 31st, and on Xbox Live Arcade on July 30th. Hey, that's this month! But, now the PSN and XBLA game has been pushed back, and the release date is now undecided. Pictured is BCR producer Ben Judd. In shorts.

プレイステーション3、Xbox 360版ともに配信日は未定 [Famitsu Thanks, Josef!] [Pic]

D3 Publisher: Boobs, Sheep, and Aliens, Oh My!

CEO Ben Feder On Turning Things Around At Take-Two

Take-Two CEO Ben Feder is not a gamer, unless you're talking Carnival Games. He and Board chairman Strauss Zelnick were brought in as turnaround experts during some very low times at Take-Two. The SEC was investigating, the company wasn't profitable, and many people were wondering if it could weather the storms.

Now, it's a different story — Grand Theft Auto IV and BioShock are some of the highest-rated titles on Metacritic, and Take-Two is the number three publisher in the industry. The turnaround strategy seems to be working.

Feder credits the success to focus on the part of the publisher's creative studio teams. "They had their heads down, not focused on what was going on outside of what they were doing," Feder said. One of those outside things is an ongoing and aggressive acquisition bid by Electronic Arts, which Feder declined to discuss.

He was happy to discuss GTA IV's unprecedented debut. Since he's a business kind of guy, I asked him how much he deals with the Rockstar team:

Ben Heck's One-Handed Controller Now On Sale

First announced back in October of last year, the Access Game Controller designed by technical wizard Ben Heckendorn for disabled gamers is finally ready for sale via eDimensional's website. The device, listed for use with the PlayStation 2, PS3, and PC, allows one-handed gamers modify the controller as they see fit via a series of circular modules containing face buttons, shoulder buttons, analog sticks and a d-pad.

The controller can be preordered right now for $129.95, with a shipping target of 8-10 weeks. A portion of all proceeds goes towards Children’s Hospital and Veterans Affairs Medical Centers.

New Access Controller Designed by Ben Heck [eDimensional's Product Page]

You Can Buy The Bionic Commando Rearmed Soundtrack

Even though Bionic Commando: Rearmed has been delayed, the soundtrack hasn't! The music is available for purchase on places like iTunes and Sumthing Digital. Money-hating Bionic Commando producer Ben Judd, who allowed gamers to chose a cheaper price point for BCR, once again explains why he hates money:

Ben Heck's Guitar Hero Pedal

How To Bring The West to Japan

Fact: There are differences between Western and Japanese games. Intrinsic differences that sometimes make it hard to bring Western games to Japan. The words, the phrases, the idioms — they're familiar to you. It's English, and chances are if you are reading this, the language is either your mother tongue or a second tongue or neither and you've happened on this page by accident. But for a segment of Japanese gamers, Western games are just not playable no thanks to the language barrier. But some of those differences arise from the background of developers.

The vast majority of Japanese devs have an arcade background, and if an arcade game is going to be a hit, it needs to work, it needs to be tight and snap. If you put in a coin in a buggy game that locks up or freaks out, you'll complain to the arcade manager, who will then complain to his boss, who will then complain to his boss, who will complain to that game's publisher. Shit's gotta work. While the arcade scene is very much alive in Japan, it's not in the States, and most developers are coming in with a strong PC gaming background. If shit's broken, patch, patch, patch! "Japanese games have very few collision problems — hands, arms going through walls, etc," says Capcom producer and former localization head Ben Judd. "When western gamers see in-game collision issues, they don't care as long as they're having a good time. That's just not acceptable for the Japanese." Things like A.I. and programming is where Western devs really shine, while Japan picks up the slack on things like textures.

Other things that separate Western and Japanese games, points out Judd, include such seemingly small things like "Japanese player typically don't like controlling two thumbsticks are once — they get sick" and "Japanese players like a strong tutorial." Japanese players, says Judd, prefer that characters are skewed slightly younger and have more anime-style qualities, while Western gamers favor 30 year-old bald men. "RPGs are popular," says Judd. "Players don't typically like the first person point of view and want to see their character. It makes it easier for them to support that character." No wonder Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto has found a welcome audience in Japan.

Where Bionic Commando And Nintendo Stand

Variety's Ben Fritz thinks so. Provoked by IGN's 10/10 rating of Grand Theft Auto IV, he draws a line that seems to connect "exclusive" first-crack reviews of games and superior, almost historic ratings (as is the case in GTA IV.)

For example, Game Informer gave Mass Effect a near-perfect 9.75 out of 10, while citing many problems that might otherwise lead to a lower score (and the fact Ben himself doesn't think it even comes close, but never mind that.) Without passing judgment on GTA IVs 10/10ness, he thinks that exclusive reviews are "ethically troubling" at minimum.

"But how can we trust a videogame review when the outlet running it has been given a major commercial favor — one that's worth money — from the publisher of the game? You never see a paper or TV station getting special access from a movie studio or TV network or book publisher to run an "exclusive review." Imagine the L.A. Times or Roger Ebert touting their "exclusive review of 'Iron Man.'" Absurd, right? So why do we tolerate it for a videogame?"

Exclusive Reviews are Ethically Troubling [The Cut Scene]

Zero Punctuation Reviews Condemned 2 (And Indigo Prophecy)

This week, Yahtzee officially reviews Condemned 2. And that's great. But then, in the heat of passion, he breaks into a mini-review of Indigo Prophecy. Plus, if you really think about it, there's actually a good amount of rhetoric on the original Condemned, too. So you are actually getting like 2 to 2 1/2 Zero Punctuations this week. And it's all coming at you for a low, low price of just $100 an episode. Oh, didn't you know? Then you're fucked, man. But at least you get some steak knives (for only $8.95 S/H).

Zero Punctuation: Condemned 2: Bloodshot [The Escpaist]

My consoles absolutely hate Ben Heck. Every time he releases a new mod, such as this gorgeous PlayStation 3 laptop, similar to his Xbox 360 Elite laptop from awhile back, I tend to spend many hours sitting in my living room, eyes moving curious from consoles to the cabinet where I keep my (barely used) tools. With my degree of electronics knowledge, this is the game console equivalent of having someone quietly staring first at you, and then at a loaded gun in front of them, over and over again. Luckily for them I've yet to work up the nerve, though I do have an extra PSone sitting around gathering dust. I think I just heard it whimper.

Ben Heck's Latest Wonder Project: PS3 Laptop [Gizmodo]

Battlefield Heroes: Enjoy Your Two Maps!

DICE's casual stab at Battlefield may be free, but that doesn't take away our right to complain, outlined in the gamer Constitution. Sure, Battlefield Heroes looks cute and looks to feature the same well known gameplay at zero cost, but two maps? Surely, you can't be serious. They are, as producer Ben Cousins explains to Gamasutra that in typical Battlefield development cycle "we bust our asses making 50 maps, and then within six months of the game being released, everyone's playing two maps. The two best maps. So, we just decided to make just the two best maps, and not the other kind of maps."

I suppose that makes sense. Still, we're not much for microtransactions and the ability to buy your way into experience with time-limited multipliers that cost real money. It just makes us want to wash the pain away.

EA Goes Free-To-Play: Battlefield Heroes' Producer Speaks [Gamasutra]

Midwest Gaming Classic Starts Tomorrow

If you are or will be in the Milwaukee area over the weekend, be sure to drop by the Olympia Resort for the 2008 Midwest Gaming Classic, the Midwest's largest electronic gaming convention. Visitors will be able to buy and play classic to current arcade and pinball machines, buy, sell, and trade your video game systems, games, and accessories, or listen to talks given by guest speakers like modder Ben Heckendorn, Twin Galaxies founder Walter Day, former EGM editors "Trickman" Terry and Sushi X, and Marty Goldberg, who will be talking about the plans to revitalize the classic Microprose brand. It sounds like a damn fine way to spend some time and money over the weekend. Tickets are $10 a day for adults, or completely free for children 12 and under. Hit up the website for directions and more information.

The 2008 Midwest Gaming Classic [Official Site - Thanks ZRDollarz]

Ben Heck, Not A Huge Gamer

Reuters just ran an interesting profile on internet-famous console modder Benjamin Heckendorn. It's definitely worth a quick read if you're interested in the man behind the DS Atari 2600 or Xbox 360 laptop, but we particularly enjoyed his response to his own gaming habits.

I didn't used to play, but last year I went out of my way to play more video games. I would probably maybe buy one game a year. Last year I said you know what, this is ridiculous.

"Modder" turns hobby into career [Reuters via BoingBoingGadgets][Image by Maxamegalon2000]

Western games are really starting to come into their own. No wonder some think that Japan's place in the gaming sun has set. Japan-based-Capcom producer Ben Judd disagrees! While his Bionic Commando title is being developed by a buncha Swedes, he hasn't given up on The Land of the Rising Sun. According to Judd:

I mean, don't make any mistakes: The Japanese guys know that the west is starting to kick ass and take names, and they are studying those games. And from what I know of Japanese motivation and business practices is, if they ever feel that there is something that they're not staying on track with, or on target, then they study it, see what's great about it, then they learn how to do it better.

A lot of people talk about the Japanese industry being, you know, on the way out, in terms of design and stuff like that. I don't think that they're out yet. I think that they'll come back.

Bionic Commando Producer Chimes In About XBLA Limits

Microsoft's willing to bend the rules! As we posted earlier, the 150 MB file limit that's standard for Xbox LIVE Arcade titles has been ditched for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Bionic Commando Rearmed. This ensures that Xbox 360 owners and PS3 owners don't get vastly different games. Does this mean Microsoft is setting a new policy? That the 150 MB limit is a thing of the past? For now, probably not. Though, Bionic Commando producer Ben Judd does think it's important for Microsoft to look at each Arcade title individually, and apparently Microsoft is doing just that. Says Judd:

It would be nice if they would adapt a policy of determining what the size limit would be based on the concepts submissions they are getting in. With BCR it features 20 different levels, 20 enemies, multiple attacks, next-gen shadows, scripting, 50 challenge stages, lots of sound effects, hi-res art from CJ's best artist, etc, etc. If you put that much in you just need more space if you are shooting for HD quality graphics as well. On the other hand, I don't think a game like Tetris (even if it is HD) would require as must space as say an MGS game due to it's huge amount of voice.

I think standards are good for maintaining consistancy across a brand image. Sony, Nintendo, and MS all have policies concerning naming, icons, and features but still you need to be able to take a case by case approach on occasion if you see a title that you think really needs to bend the rules a bit.