FREE Vol 4 Issue 2 * Gaming Articles, Monthly Editorials & Remarkable Stories
Celebrating Over 2 Years in Publication!!!
Feb 2010
Staff Publisher
Advertising Advertising Manager
Jack R Stewart jrstewart@ogopublications.com
Customer Service Online www.ogopublications.com
Editor In Chief
West Coast Advertising Sales Director
Michelle Wacyk mwacyk@d20girls.com
Jennifer Yi jyi@d20girls.com
press@ogopublications.com
Graphic Designer
East Coast Advertising Sales Director
Phone
Jack R Stewart jrstewart@ogopublications.com
Matt Ferrell mferrell@ogopublications.com
1-877-646-0010
Photography Director
Online Advertising Sales Director
Snail Mail
Krissie Jacobsen KrizieJ@d20girls.com
Jack R Stewart jrstewart@ogopublications.com
OGO Publications
Art Director
Marketing Director
PO Box 2224
Krissie Jacobsen KrizieJ@d20girls.com
Columbus, OH 43216
Other Credits Contributing Authors
Contributing Websites
Other Supporters
Icv2.com
James Henry - MidOhioCon midohiocon.com
Gamerscircle.net
YO! Games yogamesonline.com
Gamingreport.com
The D20 Girls Project d20girls.com
Gamepolitics.com
Main Street Comics and Games mainstcomicsandgames.com
Reuters.com
Nekoblitz Furry Social Community Nekoblitz.com
destructoid.com Many Other Online source were used, if we forgot one. Please inform us and we will make sure to correct it in a future edition. GAMERS Newspaper is published 13 times per year. Manufactured and Published in the United States of America, the Editor welcomes submissions from all sources. Such Submissions should be addressed to: Editor, GAMERS Newspaper is a Copyright of OGO Publications. Products named in these pages are trade names, or trademarks of their respective companies. The publisher shall not be liable for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of the advertisement. The publishers liability for other errors or omissions in connection with an advertisement is limited to republication of the advertisement in any subsequent issue or the refund of any monies paid for the advertisement.
2
G.A.M.E.R.S.
Printers:
Legal Department
Capitol Square Printing
James B. Reese III
59 East Gay St
35 E Gay St. STE 220
Columbus, OH 43215
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 221-2850
P: 614.462.0290
capitolsquareprint@sbcglobal.net
jreese@reeseattorneys.com
Dead Rising 2 (PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) Developer: Blue Castle Games Publisher: Capcom To be released: August 31,2010
It is unfortunate that I was unable to play more than what I did of Dead Rising 2. You see, the game is damn fun, and running around the upper area of Fortune City was a real joy. Fat, old person zombies shamble alongside strippers, musicians, cops, and a whole gamut of undead types. Weapons are all over the place, and it looks like Blue Castle has done an amazing job of making them as insane as before. With 1,200 zombies in each area, it is positively loaded with fodder for your guitars, knives, carts, paddle saws, squirt guns, party beads, and much, much more. It's a joy to just run around and kill. I have to say, having goals like killing a certain amount of zombies within a certain amount of time was actually kind of cool, and I hope that these objectives are common in the game. It's know that the camera system is long gone with Frank West, and it's been replaced with more things to earn PP, the game's experience point system. For example, living it up like only you could in a casino town, Chuck Greene can go into peep shows for $1000. Or create new weapons for outlandish kills to rack up those abilities. Money plays a role in this game for sure, so everything you do will certainly cost some loot. One of those costly things are the pawn shops. These are the are where you can buy many of the combination items used to design weapons, however they can also easily be made in the customization areas. Example: Metal rolling balls and rakes are easily electrified with a car batter attached. Super fun! I'm interested in seeing how many different combinations end up in the final game, but for less creative players, recipe cards can be found in the game to point you in the right direction. I asked about the save system, and they would only go as far as to promise that fans would be pleased. You can still restart the game entirely if you die, and while the save system won't be as... "stupid" as it was in the original, it should still retain that element of stress and difficulty. Dead Rising 2 also looks incredible, a clear upgrade from the original title. In the section of The Strip I played in my demo, everything had an unnatural neon glow, a bluish tint that bathed everything in the surreal tint of the city's lights. What they have done with the lighting is pretty neat, and with the onslaught of ridiculous colors everywhere, this (surprisingly) may be one of the most colorful games I have ever played. While grainy in screenshots, the game has a surreal look that looks incredible in action, giving it the look of no other game that has come before it.
G.A.M.E.R.S.
3
Coming This Summer!
WizKids/NECA has announced the summer 2010 release of a Watchmen HeroClix Collector’s Box Set and a Dr. Manhattan Colossal Figure for the HeroClix Collectible Miniatures Game. The Watchman Collector’s Set includes 25 highly detailed miniatures including The Comedian, Dr. Manhattan, Nite Owl, Rorschach, and Silk Spectre. The figures come packaged in a deluxe, display-quality box. The Watchman HeroClix Dr. Manhattan Colossal Figure (sold separately) is built to movie-accurate scale relative to the rest of the Watchmen HeroClix figures. The big blue ecdysiast stands over14-inches tall. The Watchmen HeroClix Collector’s Box Set and the Dr. Manhattan Colossal Figure are based on Warner Bros.’ Watchmen film and are licensed from Warner Bros. Consumer Products on behalf of DC Comics. 4
G.A.M.E.R.S.
G.A.M.E.R.S.
5
Sales Down, Profits Up at Games Workshop Although sales declined in constant currency terms, profits and cash flow were up for Games Workshop, which reported its financial performance for the six-month period ending November 29th, 2009. The vertically-integrated Games Workshop was able to improve its gross margin through productivity gains in the manufacturing process and better purchasing while keeping overhead costs down at retail by addressing unprofitable stores, reducing staffing and relocating to lower rent locations when appropriate. During the period Games Workshop opened 29 “Hobby Centres,” most of which are in the new “one man” format, which is designed to be profitable even at modest sales levels. Sales in North America declined (in constant currency) from 13.9 million pounds to 13.6 million pounds, a drop of 2.2%. Sales in Continental Europe fell by 14%, while Northern European sales remained nearly constant year-over-year. Sales in smaller territories including Australia were up by 4.5%, a percentage increase that was nearly matched in “emerging markets and Japan,” but that was not enough to match the declines in the bigger territories. Since November of 2008 the pound sterling has declined 8.4% against the dollar and 10.1% against the Euro, which means that even though Games Workshop’s sales for the period ending last November were slightly higher (62.5 million pounds) than during the six-month period a year earlier (61.2 million pounds), sales were actually down when adjusted for the decline in the value of the pound (i.e. in “constant currency”).
Worldwide 'Sailor Moon' Revival A resurgence of interest in the Sailor Moon property has led to a return of the classic magical girl anime series on the Japanese airwaves last fall. Now Toei Animation is hoping to revive the property on a global scale starting in Italy. Toei is partnering with Backstage, which will handle the property’s rights in publishing, TV, and merchandising. Mediaset has acquired the TV rights to the 200-episode anime series and plans to begin broadcasting it in Italy in the fall of 2010. Toei Animation’s Kanji Kazahaya told Global License: “We are certain that strategically Italy is the ideal country to initiate a global re-launch of the classic Japanese animated series such as Sailor Moon. The Italian public has traditionally been passionate about anime.” No word yet on a possible North American revival of the property. DIC introduced the series (in a bowdlerized form) to American TV, while Pioneer and ADV released uncut versions of various elements of the extensive library of Sailor Moon anime. Tokyopop released the Sailor Moon manga here, but the licensed lapsed before it could issue the new revised editions that were issued in Japan starting in 2003. 6
G.A.M.E.R.S.
G.A.M.E.R.S.
7
REVIEW: BIOSHOCK 2 Jim Sterling When BioShock launched in 2007, it felt like a breath of fresh air to many gamers. A brand-new IP with a fandestructoid.com tastic story and an interesting sandbox-style approach to combat within a linear format, it was a damn fine game. Superb, even. So good, in fact, that many considered a sequel completely unnecessary. Whether or not BioShock 2 is required isn't for us to decide. We're here to tell you whether or not BioShock 2 is good. With some huge shoes to fill, 2K Marin certainly had its work cut out for it and BioShock 2 is in an unenviable position as the first follow-up to one of 2007's most critically acclaimed games. Does BioShock 2 do BioShock justice? Does 2K Marin manage to fill the shoes passed down to them by Irrational Games, or is there too much space left empty? Read on as we review BioShock 2. Despite the plot's weaker elements and the fact that it clearly cannot match the original game, it's still an engaging and interesting story for the most part. The themes of forgiveness and the pursuit of utopia are put across very well, especially thanks to a slightly more interesting use of moral choices. While the Little Sister "Save or Harvest" plot is wearily redone, there are slightly more meaningful choices found throughout the game that have an impact on the way the story concludes. While the plot may be a touch inferior to the original BioShock, the same cannot be said for the gameplay. At worst, it's almost exactly the same, which means it's automatically a solid, versatile and fun shooter. However, the decision to put players into the role of a Big Daddy opens the combat system up. Delta is far more capable of holding his own in a fight than Jack Ryan. In fact, battles against Big Daddies are far less dangerous affairs, and most players should be able to tackle the tougher enemies without the same fight/die/resurrect repetition of the first game. That said, BioShock 2 is no cakewalk. New enemies, such as the muscle-bound Brute Splicers or the Rumbler Big Daddy, provide plenty of challenge, while the much-lauded Big Sisters present some very tense, scary battles indeed. BioShock 2 starts off a little too frustrating. It's stingy with cash and items, and the first few stages will feel like a struggle. However, as the game progresses, players will access so many toys and so much stuff to play with that they'll be spoiled for choice. The game becomes a playground of carnage by the end of the adventure, and it's impossible to see all that BioShock 2's combat has to offer on the first play. BioShock 2's single-player campaign trades in some narrative quality for superior gameplay, and it's a fair trade indeed. No, BioShock 2 may not feel like a fantastic follow-up to its predecessor, but it still feels like a part of its universe. It also throws in its own memorable set pieces, and quite a few terrific characters. Alex the Great is a particularly brilliant new addition to the cast, although I don't want to give away any more about him than that. Perhaps the worst that can be said of BioShock 2 is that it lacks the "wow" factor of the original. Much of the fun of the first BioShock came from exploring this brand new world, and finding out how it became a fallen dystopia. We already know that about Rapture now. Much of the charm, much of the mystery, has been removed, and there's nothing 2K Marin could have done about that. Ultimately, BioShock 2 is a great sequel to a superb game. It can't quite step into its father's shoes, but it does a solid and commendable job in its many impressive attempts. Score: 8.5
8
G.A.M.E.R.S.
Fallout: New Vegas Coming Autumn 2010 Bethesda Softworks has announced that the next chapter in the Fallout franchise, Fallout: New Vegas, will launch this autumn. First revealed at a London event in April 2009, the RPG is currently in development at Alpha Protocol and Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic II studio Obsidian. Bethesda says that the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 title, which is set in a post apocalyptic Las Vegas, isn’t a direct sequel to Fallout 3, which won numerous Game Of The Year awards.
BUY THIS GAME: The Void on Sale for Five Dollars Ice-Pick Lodge's The Void is one of the most beautiful, atmospheric, haunting, desperationinducing games I've ever played. It's also pretty goddamn hard to recommend for $20. It's a fantastic, unclassifiable game, but only if you have the stomach for it: a lot of the game's charm (if you can even call it that) comes from its refusal to convey basic game rules. This would be perfectly fine were it not also for the fact that you will frequently and inescapably screw yourself over and half to redo at least a half-hour's worth of work because you misunderstood some fundamental truth about the game world. On the one hand, this imbues every moment with a spectacular tension: if you can't understand what needs to be done to survive, if you can't understand the relationships between the different characters and the world's sole resource and yourself, you will face some pretty harsh consequences. On the other hand, it's more than a little unfair to build an entire game around intentionally vague rules, and then punish the player for not immediately understanding them. But none of that matters, because this weekend The Void is only five frigging dollars. Even if you only play the game for an hour, the visuals and atmosphere alone will be worth the five bucks. And if you can deal with the crushing difficulty, you just might fall in love with it. G.A.M.E.R.S.
9
www.morningstarstorage.com
•
Month to month leases,
•
24/7 coded gate access,
•
secure/well-lit facility,
•
all interior/climate controlled units,
•
loading dock & ramp,
•
convenient downtown location,
•
professional management.
10
G.A.M.E.R.S.
57 E, Chestnut St. Columbus, OH 43215 614-460-8700
“If your stuff can’t have a home at your house, it always has a home at ours!”
The Soldiery, Inc. “Your full-service gaming source for 17 years� Collectable Card Games, Roleplaying Games, Historical Miniatures, Games Workshop, Wizkids, Paints/Brushes, Gaming Supplies. Extensive inventory of new/used items, including singles: Weekly events - 11 Gaming Tables
15% Discount on Games Workshop! PK Cards and WOW Minis in stock 4256 North High Street, Columbus, OH 43214
(614) 267-1957 drowsydragononline.com
Fax (614) 267-0558 thesoldiery.com
mail@thesoldiery.com
Hours: Mon closed, Tue - Thu 3 pm - 9 pm, Fri 3 pm - 1 am, Sat 1 pm - 11 pm, Sun 1 pm - 7 pm
Buy, Sell, Trade used gaming items and distressed store inventories!
G.A.M.E.R.S.
11
12
G.A.M.E.R.S.