Electronic Gaming Monthly articles from August 2007

Electronic Gaming Monthly archives from August 2007

Fun and BAD Games with EGM!(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Videogames are awesome, but you have to admit that they grant us some of the most inapplicable skills of any hobby. Especially bad videogames. We spend hundreds of hours training our thumbs to navigate icy platforms and headshot bitches, and...

Where are the SEQUELS?
August 1, 2007... The end is only the beginning...for the fortunate ones. We're talking 'bout the lucky sequel-spewers like Mega Man, Zelda, and even those damn Medal of Honor games (we surrendered five years ago, guys!). 'Tis a shame some should-be franchises...

NEXT MONTH.
August 1, 2007... September Issue (#219) * On sale August 7 Your first look at Halo 3's single-player story The Flood lay waste to a futuristic Pittsburgh! The Covenant die from chicken pox! And Master Chief faces his greatest enemy yet: Voltron! Yes,...

Off Target.
August 1, 2007... We can assume two things about you if you're reading this magazine: You don't think playing violent videogames can make someone go aggro in real life, and you haven't authored any studies linking violent games to violent behavior. But the...

Playing Politics.(violence in video games)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... The shooting at Virginia Tech again brings to the forefront the violence-in-videogames debate. The first responders in the media were infamous anti-games attorney Jack Thompson and the always-opinionated Dr. Phil, both pontificating about how...

FAR-OUT FANS.(Interview)(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Spray-painting graffiti is a crime. But drawing colorful chalk murals of videogame characters? That's just nerdy...and it's pretty damn cool, too! High school student Daniel LeBlanc and a bunch of his buddies recently constructed a chalk...

Final Fantasy Turns 20.(Product/service evaluation)
August 1, 2007... Exclusive Info In order to properly celebrate 20 years of Final Fantasy, publisher Square Enix has shifted its lucrative franchise-milking machine into overdrive--right now, the company is developing a startling 13 different FF titles....

A Renewed Rivalry.(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Imagine if a loyal CHICAGO BEARS FAN looked over the team's 2007 schedule, but he didn't spot a single game against their bitter rival, the Green Bay Packers. It would seem strange, right? Well, for the last two years a lot of gamers have...

THAT'S COOL.(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... PREPARE TO test your twitchy reflexes--the psychedelic block-bursting simulator, Geometry Wars, is taking shape on both the Nintendo Wii (above) and DS later this year. IN A NEVER-ENDING TREND to transform videogames into films, EA...

PLAYING FAVORITES.(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Survival-horror fans ought to feel right at home splattering the brains of parasite-infected crazies in Resident Evil 4 thanks to all the killer toys available in the game. Since the weapons are so bloody fun to use, we asked the producer of...

THE GAME OF LIVES.(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... Sure, every Castlevania game is basically the same: Send Dracula (back) to his deathbed. Still, series producer Koji "Iga" Igarashi always manages to whip up an addicting adventure. Making games may be easy for him, but the stakes are high...

Ninja Gaiden: DRAGON SWORD.(Product/service evaluation)
August 1, 2007... PREVIEW: HANDS-ON Platform: DS Publisher: Tecmo Developer: Team Ninja Release Date: Fall 2007 sure, the ds has roped in plenty of nontraditional users with its paradigm-busting fare (who knew mathematics and...

COMING SOON.
August 1, 2007... Blazing Angels: Secret Missions of WWII PS3/XB360 * Ubisoft Given the first Blazing Angels' tepid reception, your initial inclination may be to skip the sequel. But reenlisting in this war may not be such a bad thing, thanks to a...

SOUL SURVIVORS.(Product/service evaluation)
August 1, 2007... HAVING SPENT THE PREVIOUS EVENING listening to outspoken Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki gloomily talk trash about rivals Tekken 5 ("prehistoric") and Virtua Fighter 5 ("slow"), we arrive at Namco Bandai's Yokohama office expecting the...

MORTAL KOMBAT: ARMAGEDDON.(Product/service evaluation)
August 1, 2007... Wii n Publisher: Midway Developer: Midway/JGI Players: 1-4 ESRB: Mature wMILKMAN: With each addition to the Mortal Kombat series, the once-mighty fighter drifts further and further into irrelevance. While this waggle-enhanced version...

MARIO PARTY 8.(Product/service evaluation)
August 1, 2007... Wii Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Hudson Soft Players: 1-4 ESRB: Everyone wSHOE: This is the Nintendo "Minigame Machine" Wii we're talking about here, so it should be the perfect venue for a Mario Party, board games that pit...

THE DARKNESS.(Product/service evaluation)
August 1, 2007... PS3/XB360 n Publisher: 2K Games Developer: Starbreeze Players: 1-8 ESRB: Mature wMatt l: If publisher Sierra hadn't recently announced a Chronicles of Riddick (XB) remake, it'd be easy to point to The Darkness as Riddick 2.0. It's...

THE BIGS.(Product/service evaluation)
August 1, 2007... PS3/XB360 n Publisher: 2K Sports Developer: Blue Castle Players: 1-4 ESRB: Everyone wTODD: "The yakker!" That's been The Bigs war cry around chez EGM, and we've been screaming it every single time a curveball tumbles in and baffles...

DIRT.(Product/service evaluation)
August 1, 2007... Xbox 360 Publisher: Codemasters Developer: Codemasters Players: 1-100 (but not head-to-head) ESRB: Everyone wGORD: Brandishing wickedly complex physics, ultrademanding vehicular control, and tons of car classes and unpaved...

Forza Motorsport 2.(Product/service evaluation)
August 1, 2007... Xbox 360 n Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios Developer: Turn 10 Players: 1-8 ESRB: Everyone wDEMIAN: A game like Forza 2 deserves at least a couple pages of prime Reviews real estate, but we got our hands on it too late to be...

Dynasty Warriors DS: Fighter's Battle.(Product/service evaluation)
August 1, 2007... DS Publisher: Koei Developer: Koei Players: 1-3 ESRB: Everyone 10+ wBROOKS: Dynasty Warriors' first DS foray may look like dog doo, but when have games for this handheld ever been about the graphics? Big hits on the battlefield...

Final Fantasy II.(Product/service evaluation)
August 1, 2007... PSP n Publisher: Square Enix Developer: Square Enix Players: 1 ESRB: Teen wJEREMY: Final Fantasy II is the black sheep of the series--and for once, that works in its favor. Since it doesn't play much like a normal FF game, the...

Tales Of The World: Radiant Mythology.(Product/service evaluation)
August 1, 2007... PSP Publisher: Namco Bandai Developer: Alfa System Players: 1 ESRB: Teen wA. FITCH: Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology throws together characters from eight of the previous entries in Namco Bandai's long-running action-RPG...

CRUSH.(Product/service evaluation)
August 1, 2007... PSP Publisher: Sega Developer: ZoA' Mode Players: 1 ESRB: Everyone 10+ wNICK: Crush might have a recognizable aesthetic (think Psychonauts in a dark alley), but its gameplay is wholly its own. Developer ZoA' Mode has crafted a...

Great moments in arcade-sports gaming history.(Brief article)
August 1, 2007... 1987 Battling Piston Honda and Soda Popinski in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! ruled, but sneaking in that first hit on the seemingly invincible big Mike felt unnaturally good. 1993 NBA Jam's big heads were legendary (for 10 seconds),...

REVIEWS WRAP-UP.(Product/service evaluation)
August 1, 2007... Wii/PS2 Manhunt 2 Publisher: Rockstar ESRB: Mature The stealth genre got a brutal beating with 2003's Manhunt. Its sequel keeps the gameplay intact (sneak up behind enemies to viciously attack them) but adds smarter A.I., a new...