BLADES OF HADES (GOD OF WAR)

As compared to God of War 2 and 3, the very first God of War game had a lot more sections that put emphasis on pure platforming (or something close to platforming anyway). One such section was the Blades of Hades, and as anyone who’s played the game would tell you, it was a nightmare. Walking over thin wooden logs while trying to avoid all manner of massive axe heads and saw blades was even worse in practice than it sounds, and countless players died more than just a few times trying to get through this part.

Well, that’s one hell of a lawsuit. Polygon and GI.biz are reporting that a Texas-based company called Virtual Gaming Technologies, LLC recently filed lawsuits against Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Take-Two, Zynga, and Konami. Jeez guys, you sure you didn’t leave out a few companies there?

The lawsuit claims that these companies are infringing on a pair of patents held by William Junkin, the chairman and CEO of FantasySports.com– which is a patent held for interactive games or game modes based on events happening in real time, such as fantasy football teams. Fans of these companies’ games will probably recognize that titles such as NBA 2K, FIFA, Madden, and PES have all moved towards evolving to a service based platform in the recent past, with the games reflecting real life player transfers, roster changes, and other developments.

Suspiciously enough, Virtual Gaming Technologies seems to be fairly new as a company, having formed in Texas in late September. It’s filed no fewer than 16 lawsuits in US District Courts, GI.biz reports.

Basically, we’re looking at patent trolls here, and hopefully, this case will be dismissed by the courts as it deserves to be.

In what represents a significant restructuring for Konami, leaving its base in Germany, this move will see Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH merge with Konami Digital Entertainment B.V.

This move is part of Konami’s aim “to ensure each territory can provide a more localised service”. Recently Konami also announced the opening of a dedicated Pro Evolution Soccer studio in the UK.

Regional offices in France, Germany and Spain will retain their roles and whilst the HQ will no longer be German-based, Konami insist that it will still have a large presence in the country.

Konami’s Digital Entertainment GmbH President Shinji Hirano said, “These are changes to match a very exciting and challenging time for video game publishers.We want to show our commitment to the consumers in each territory by establishing close relationships that deliver what they particularly want and need, and to create rapport between us that benefits both sides.”

Source: MCV

 Earlier this month, John Murphy of Konami accused EA of downright plagiarism, as well as acting unfairly when it came to licensing. Speaking to Eurogamer, Bilbey retorted with: “I hope the management team in Japan appreciate what [Jon Murphy has] been giving to that franchise for a long, long time.”

“He’s very, very committed and a great spokesman for the game. I feel for him sometimes, because I’ve worked with developers that it’s challenging to listen to, or they don’t necessarily listen to you.

According to several job postings on Gamasutra, Konami are ‘Opening a new wing in Europe’.

The listing then goes on to state: ‘PES Productions is opening a new “Football game productions” in London in order to continue striving to reproduce European football culture at its best in their games.’

The page lists 16 positions, combined with also makes several references to GDC Europe, suggesting the bulk of the studio will consist of as of yet unhired staff.

Prior to this, the Pro Evo games have almost exclusively been developed in Japan, home to such footballing greats as… Shinja Kagawa?

The PES 2013 demo releases tomorrow with the full game shipping later this year.

This comes are a another rather scathing attack on FIFA by Murphy earlier this month, accusing FIFA of downright plagiarism and ‘locking out’ licenses in an interview with Eurogamer.

Football Manager seems to do alright without some of the big licenses, don’t you think?

“We always focused on gameplay and that’s what we want to get back to. Maybe EA thinks they’ve gone far enough with gameplay and they’ve got other things to do – maybe they want to attract a different kind of audience with different features.

“But I’ve always thought it’s right that we should be concentrating really hard on the way you play a game against someone else, and that unique PES feeling, which is all about gameplay,” said John Murphy to OPM UK.

Source: OPM UK

In a frank interview with Eurogamer, Konami’s Jon Murphy has criticized FIFA of copying the strong points of PES, and has mentioned that they will bounce back this year and the reputation PES has of playing second-fiddle to FIFA is unfair.

“There’s a certain amount of work they’ve done very well on PR to convince people that the gap is bigger than it actually is,” Murphy said.

“I also think we don’t get enough recognition for the way we tend to innovate still and [the FIFA team] do still tend to follow a lot of what we do.

“If you look further back into the past of PES you can see they’ve obviously gone from a game that was totally different from PES to one that started copying PES to one that started taking areas PES did well further into the product they have now.”

He said that he considers FIFA to be a strong franchise but people shouldn’t forget that PES was behind their success.

“People shouldn’t forget that’s how they got where they are. You can give them loads of credit for how they’ve got to where they got to now, and you can see it as a totally valuable product in its own right that does have ideas we can all learn from, but we shouldn’t forget that PES innovated all of this stuff and they did copy it.”

A lot of frustration can be seen from his comments, but he does have a point. Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

“There are other things out there. We’re still worried about what Konami is going to do with Pro Evolution Soccer and naturally they’re our closest sports competitor,” said Rutter in an interview with CVG.

“I think actually being in Canada is a bit of an advantage as well because we’re away from all the, ‘woohoo’.

“Look how amazing we are!’ We don’t see the shops with tonnes of FIFA copies in them, or see the launch or hear about it on the news. We’re far enough away that we’re this little isolated pod of negative nerds all working on FIFA,” he added.

Want to know what’s different in FIFA 13? You can check that out here. Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Konami have announced tha DLC for their soccer sim, Pro Evolution Soccer 11, will be out on October 12th, and it will be free. Clubs that have qualified for the UEFA Champions League will be added to the game’s dedicated mode, and club kits will be updated as well.

Four more licensed boots will also be included in the game. Three new wallpapers, including a Lionel Messi one, will also be featured in the DLC.

[VG247]

However, it seems someone finally wants a piece of that pie, as Ubisoft enters the market with ‘Pure Football,’ a game which they promise delivers the ‘authentic football experience.’ Obviously, with the FIFA World Cup well under way now, Ubi also wants to cash in on the general soccer mania.

The cover promises ‘authentic soccer.’ What you get is anything but.

However, it unfortunately appears that Pure Football is just that- a cynical, half hearted attempt on Ubisoft’s part to cash in on the hype and hysteria that usually accompanies the world cup.

The game starts on the wrong footing. Although the cover promises an ‘authentic football experience,’ Ubi avoided some expense by not having this game a FIFA licensed product. The result is that we’re left with a street football setting, quite like EA’s own FIFA Street series.

However, unlike FIFA Street, which were on the whole good games, Pure Football seems to have several glaring issues, some fundamental problems that would require a complete overhaul of the game’s engine if they are to be rectified. These include some very serious control issues, as well as a complete lack of realism where the on screen visuals are concerned.

Take for instance the way the game handles shoots- to add more complexity and presumably, the pressure of actually shooting in real time on the field, the game has a meter which must be perfectly charged before hitting the button to fire the shot. However, while this lends the player with exactly the right amount of requisite control over the power of the shot, it absolutely takes away the ability to control where the ball goes. So in order to have that neatly powered shot actually going into the goal, you must first position yourself correctly, and then shoot, all the while hoping that neither the ball, nor your player, nor any player in the opposing team, moves from their current position.

Just hope he does pass. More than likely the ball will end up with you, as opposed to his teammate.

But shooting is just one of many issues. Dribbling and passing seem to be broken, as most of the times, the players don’t really adjust the speed, timing and angle of their passes at all, no matter what. Their passing mostly remains a leisurely affair, which means that it essentially is a joke to both, lose possession of the ball, and to regain it. It completely undercuts any tension or pressure that the game might have attempted to create, and leaves the game a curiously drained and hollow experience, a mechanical atrocity that doesn’t deserve to be played anyway.

Worse still is the game’s AI. Apparently, both your team members, and your opponent’s, are quite oblivious to their surroundings, as their reactions make no sense otherwise. Goalkeepers dive in the opposite directions, players run into each other, the ball is passed around to nothing at all. Then there are the anachronistic referees, who seem to award every foul with a penalty… it’s all a glitchy, buggy mess, totally inexcusable no matter how you want to spin it.

The game promises an online mode, one that is unfortunately no better than the single player mode. The biggest culprit here is the fact that there seems to be a disconnect between the single player and online modes. Any progress or advances that you might have made in the single player mode don’t matter, since the online mode requires you to build a team from scratch, using what are known as ‘Pure’ points, collected throughout the single player modes.

The on screen action suffers a total disconnect with the controls

Ultimately, Pure Football is a total mess. The graphics are a pixelized and blurry jumble, with little to no detail, and cartoony figures for the players, the controls totally take away from the immersion of the game, the online mode seems to be a hastily put together afterthought, the lack of the FIFA licence really hurts the title, and the title just plain sucks.

If you really want a game for your football mix, I’d advise you to stay away, unless you really have a deathwish. The EA Sports FIFA games, or PES should suffice. Hopefully, though, Ubisoft’s next football title will actually be worth playing. As it stands now, though, Pure Football marks an inauspicious first foray for the French publisher into the genre.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.