Splinter Cell: Conviction, Or When Giant Dice Attack

You've no doubt heard the announcement last week that the next installment of the perennial Splinter Cell series of stealth games will largely be set during the light of day. IGN covered this ground-breaking news last week with an in-depth look at the new game mechanics and how the series has evolved to this next stage of evolution.

I'm always cautiously optimistic when a company decides to tamper with a proven formula and strike out towards more innovative game design. Having the inspiration and intention to do something different is great, but we as consumers know all too well the importance of solid execution.

More ramblings after the jump...

The feature on IGN is pretty good and I'll boil down the essential for you. Splinter Cell: Conviction will feature many daylight missions and implement a completely different stealth model. Instead of the light/dark concealment paradigm we've seen in the previous 4 titles, Ubisoft Montreal will allow players to blend in with crowds of people and "improvise" ways to evade his enemies. In case the title didn't tip you off, Conviction sees our Third Echelon hero, Sam Fisher on the wrong side of the law. Stripped of his high-tech gadgetry and intel support, Fisher must now rely on his pure instincts more than ever.

If you're a long-time Splinter Cell fan, you've probably already absorbed this and either exclaimed, "It's about time" or threw your hands up in the air with, "OMGZ THEY CHANGED EVERTYHING THAT IS SPLINTER CELL!!". Or something to that effect. Me, I'm just slightly puzzled. This whole daylight, crowd dynamics business... isn't that the proof of concept for Ubisoft's upcoming Assassin's Creed? The protagonist
for that one is remarkably similar to Sam Fisher, with a drastic difference in time periods to set them apart.

While it does sound like Conviction will push the concept of hiding without shadows even further than Assassin's Creed, I have to wonder why they wouldn't want to make sure it works on one A-list game first before injecting it into a best-selling franchise.

Don't get me wrong. To be able to simulate the feeling of movies like The Bourne Identity and dodge cops through busy streets sounds like a wonderful idea and is very "next gen". Just judging from the tone of the comments made by Ubisoft producers, however, they make it sound like the old concepts of waiting in the shadows is a dead horse. Nothing could be further from the truth. With advances in AI and dynamic lighting technology, the classic style of play seen in Splinter Cell can be made so much more immersive and realistic. And let's face it, although the previous games made nods to realism, they are anything but.

It's still too early to say how the next Splinter Cell will turn out. Credit can be given to Ubisoft for attempting to shake things up a little and after 4 games, it's probably time for Sam Fisher to ditch the black bodysuit in favour of looking like a street bum. Every series, be it games or movies, has that blip, that one sequel that seems oddly out of place alongside all the other episodes. Conviction could be that blip that makes people scratch their heads and take notice. And even if it fails, they can go back to the tried-and-true formula and take that even further into parts unknown. I for one would love that.

Source: IGN

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Spring Update Hoopla

You smell it in the air? Yes, spring is upon us and the weather is finally behaving accordingly. The windows in my apartment are being left open longer each day, the shorts and t-shirts are getting more play, and all the parks and beaches are looking a lot less deserted. The hotties are also crawling out of the woodwork, eagerly exposing their skin, so long been shielded during the harsh winter months. If you live in a city where young women walk their toy dogs through the beach, brazenly touting but the skimpiest of bikinis, then you know this spring time feeling very well.

But hey, shapely beach beetches aren't the only ones shedding their skins this spring. Why, your very own Xbox 360 just put on a new look and is only to eager to strut her stuff in front of you.

The much-anticipated Dashboard update hit the airwaves early today and it's been a rather uneventful, painless transition. I was a little concerned last night when a guy on my friend's list (should I just call him "my friend"?) spammed out a distressed tirade about the update after it had bricked his system. Yikesy. To err on the side of caution, I didn't fire up my Xbox until about noon today, making sure to monitor the blogosphere for signs of trouble. Well, the bricking pandemic did not happen and the update turned out to be a pretty anti-climactic 15 second download.

S'more details on this here story after the jump...

The cosmetic and functional changes caused by the update are too numerous to count. If you've yet to get the update, you can easily find a quick summary or more detailed FAQs that explain just how your gaming life will change FOREVER. I'll highlight a few changes worth noting in the short time I've spent with the new Dashboard.

First, the Windows Live Messenger service. Setup was a snap and I'm mildly excited at the idea of using the upcoming thumb keyboard attachment to quickly text peeps on both my buddy list and my MSN friends list. Their one major oversight, however, is not giving you the option of separating those two contact lists from each other. I have a ton of MSN contacts, so scrolling through the combined list of names is unwieldy at best, but mostly just plain annoying.

Achievement notifications have been souped up, so you no longer have to press the guide button to find out what the details are of that achievement you just unlocked. Nice. They've also made the disc tray icon more informative, showing you what game you have currently loaded as well as a snapshot of your recent achievements and gamerscore for that title.

Oh yes, and how could I forget the Marketplace blade? It is now the first in line, to the left of the Xbox Live blade and features all the handy-dandy information previously squirreled away in the Xbox Live > Marketplace sub-screen. This change was a no-brainer and it surprised me how long it took for them to frame the importance of Marketplace in the overall eco-system of the Xbox Live service. My one niggling point with the new blade is that stupid promotions box, which occupies the top-right portion of the blade. Because you can highlight this box, moving from the Marketplace blade menu options back to the Xbox Live blade takes flicks of the thumbstick instead of the usual one flick, since your "cursor" needs to traverse over the promotions box first. Hey, call me finnicky, but the devil is in the details.

And last, but not least, I noticed a very welcome change to the way my video media is organized:

Yes, it finally recognizes the folders I've shared out on my computer, thus allowing me to separate the naughty shows from the nice ones. Kudos, Microsoft, kudos...

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Mass Effect, Effective June 5th

Forget the new SKU and Jetpac, I have the news that matters. As already hinted at in the post title, the guys at YouNEWB got wind of Bioware's next major RPG release via the French gaming site, PlayerOne.

The US release date has been set for June 5th, 2007 with the European shipping set for June 22nd. The US will get the usual choice between a metal-encased Collector's Edition along with a no-frills standard box. If that wasn't clear enough for you, read it straight from the horse's mouth:

Microsoft vient d’annoncer la date de sortie précise de son jeu Mass Effect sur Xbox 360. Le nouveau RPG des studios Bioware débarquera finalement le 5 juin prochain aux Etats-Unis et le 22 du même mois en Europe, confirmant ainsi les dernières rumeurs en date. Le géant américain proposera deux versions, dont une collector avec un boîtier métallique, un DVD making of et un artbook pour 5 euros supplémentaires.

Got that? Good.

It's about time those slackers at Bioware gave up a firm release date for their baby. This, plus the June release of Shadowrun means we are in for a hot, hot summer of sci-fi action and adventure.

Thanks Xbox developers. Way to deliver the goods yet create a conflict of interest for me: hole up indoors to game or spend time outside and oggle bare ass at the beach? Life choices do not come any tougher, kids...

Source: YouNEWB via PlayerOne

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News Overload

There has been a lot of activity in the Xbox world in the last few days. Juggling between surfing the various gaming sites and doing actual work in the office, I definitely felt a little overwhelmed. This was evident yesterday when I published Part 2 of my PC gaming missive in clear defiance of any of this "timely news" hoo-hah.

My eyes are feeling jacked today and my typing fingers are lazy, so I'll do my best bullet-point summary of our last couple days in Xbox Land. More after the jump.

You may have noticed a few "events" go down from Monday up to today:

• Yesterday Microsoft finally announces the release of the Xbox 360 Elite SKU on April 29th, 2007, putting to rest skeptical April Fools theories and ensuring comment-choked blogs the world over (except for mine *sniff*). Aside: I'm still not buying it


• Xbox Live went down for maintenance for quite a long time. Rumours started to fly about wonderous new features to be implemented and an impending Halo 3 beta release. All I know is that I was at work the whole time Live was out and I was able to get my Rainbow Six: Vegas fix the moment I got home.


• Jetpac Refuelled graces XBLA today. Frankly, I'm still recovering from the triple-whammy of Worms HD, TMNT and Castlevania: SOTN. Now... give me my Double Dragon or give me death! (I think I bastardized a famous quote correctly there...)

This Xbox 360 Elite business is on everyone's lips right now so you can bet I'll be revisiting the topic once I've gotten my wits about me.

Hope you are all having a marvelous hump day. Until next time!

Source: Just every damn gaming blog in the universe...

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