WORLD EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK AT GEARS OF WAR 2

FIND OUT MORE AT WWW.IRONMANTHEGAME.COM

Alcohol Reference Mild Language Violence

© SEGA, All rights reserved. SEGA is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. SEGA and the SEGA logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of SEGA Corporation. Iron Man, the Movie © 2008 MVL Film Finance:LLG. Marvel, Iron Man, all character names and their distinctive likenesses: ™

& O 2008 Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. "PlayStation Entertainment Inc. PSP® system —

Memory Stick Duo™ may be required (sold separately). Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from Microsoft. Wii and Nintendo DS are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2006 Nintendo.

NINTENDOS.

PLAYSTATION’, “PS” Family logo and “PSP” are registered trademarks of Sony Computer

ru o

MAN ARMY.

PAINMENT SYSTEMS BAYS TATIONGPORTABLE] SYSTEM. ay

RATING PENDING

Visit www.esrb.org

for rating information

IEEE аы GRAN TURISMO By Prologue

Don't worry. You'll get a good look at the taillights soon enough.

With up to 18 players racing online, the competition is fierce. Lucky for you, the new interior dash view lets you experience the race like never before. Strap yourself in and get ready for the drive of your life.

PLAY 8B 3 YO

опит on PLAYSTATION Ə

www.us.playstation.com/granturismo

MATURE 17+ Blood " К позно pu PLAYSTATION 3 '*) XBOX 360. Stuy eni =” Strong Sexual Content ГД Use of Drugs and Alcohol

Niko Bellic

April 29th 2008

www.rockstargames.com/iv

ОМ | А N і © The “Alternate Universes FTW” Issue

Xbox Live may be the gold standard for online services, but Nintendo is gearing up to fully throw its hat in that ring at long last. We have the first word on 18 all-new original titles that will be available for download on the Wii, including fresh takes on Pokémon, Dr. Mario, and Final Fantasy.

WHAT IF?

Admit it: You've always been curious what would happen if the minds behind Resistance took on Rock Band. We talked some of the top creative talent in video games into telling us what they would do with other developers’ franchises, and the answers might surprise you. Three words: Naked Lara Croft.

departments STAFF Read the team’s latest favorites

GI SPY Silly pictures of our life and times

DEAR GI Your chance to fire back at us!

CONNECT Where news, talk, and technology collide

INTERVIEW David Doak, director of Free Radical Design, shares his thoughts on life as an independent developer, creat- ing proprietary engine technology, and what's up with Haze

6 GAME INFORMER

cover story

GEARS OF WAR 2

Epic Games is finally ready to start talking about its next Xbox 360 blockbuster, and we squeezed out every detail we possibly could. We tell you how Gears of War 2's epic story lends some context to the pounding co-op action, and how the latest improvements to Unreal Engine 3 will translate to better gameplay. And, in case anyone is interested, the mas- sive high-def screenshots look kinda cool. Just kinda.

GEAR Geeky gadget stuff for the masses

CALENDAR Get hip to this month's happenings

PREVIEWS Check out the latest on huge games like StarCraft Il, MotorStorm 2, Mario Kart Wii, Tom Clancy's HAWX, and much more in this month's previews section

REVIEWS Game of the Month: MLB 08: The Show for PlayStation 3

CHARTS Retail Sales Data and the СІ edi- tors' Top 10 Games

SECRET ACCESS Codes, strategies, and passwords

CLASSIC б! Reliving gaming's greatest moments

ONLINE See what's happening at Game Informer Online

GAME OVER The end...or is it?

| game index | GAME Battlefield Heroes Be ay rete Battlefield: Bad Сотрапу................. Bionic Commando Bionic Commando Rearmed Castle of Shikigami III . . . Civilization Revolution. . . HUM Command & Conquer 5: Kane's Wrath. . Dark Sector .. . DEBES. is Destroy All Humans: Big Willy Unleashed. . Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. Fable2........ FaceBreaker . ..... FlatOut Head On. . Golden Axe: Beast Rider Gd. aos i. san is E Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds . Insecticide . Lost Empire: Immortals. Lost in Blue 3. Major League Baseball 2K8 . . Mana Khemia: Alchemist Mario Kart Wii......... Mass Effect. . Mirror's Edge . MLB 08: The Show . MotorStorm 2 [working title] . Naruto [working title] . .. . . . NASCAR... Ж АЕ: New International Track & Field . NFL Head Coach 09....... Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword . Obscure: The Aftermath Okami AR Persona 3: FES. .... Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 Puchi Puchi Virus Pure .. 1620 Puzzle Quest: Galactrix Recoil: Retrograd . Sega Superstars Tennis Seven Kingdoms: Conqu Shattered Suns. . . . Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brot Star Wars: The Force Unleashed . . StarCraft II Street Fighter IV... Teenage Zombies: Invasion of th Alien Brain Thingies! . Tom Clancy's HAWX ..... Too Human . j Viking: Battle for Asgard Wild Arms ХЕ... Wipeout НО... World Ends With You, Тһе............. World in Conflict: Soviet Assault. . . . Worms: A Space Oddity ..........

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| b i { Coaching my team to the top was а tall order. Good thing milk was my -— *1 pick. Some studies suggest the protein helps build muscle, plus teens who choose

it instead of sugary drinks tend to be leaner. Like | tell my Suys; f you want to keep breaking records, keep

& Р " 7 hitting the glass. dim. " жшк. t bodyzmi ‚ишу! Е 4 www.bodybymilk.com | СУХ 7 9 |; | [ AVERY JOHNSON AND JOSH HOWARD (92007 AMERICA'S MILK PROCESSORS. | | 939138 } Role | i E YAN i A AA Iz аца, /

"St S і Al | People Who Actually Get Paid To Play Video Games

Reiner >> reiner@gameinformer.com

WHETHER YOU KNOW IT OR NOT, YOU LIKE RPGS

ANDY McNAMARA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

1 don't know who said it first - someone here at the office, a developer 1 was shooting the breeze with, or the most likely of choices: both of the above. Adding role-playing elements to games has been a slow but certain transformation the gaming industry has been coming to grips with, and, as the headline says – whether you know it or not - the change is what you want.

Now, | know someone out there is screaming that they don't fit the RPG stereotype, nor do they want to, and have "never played one of those nerd games" | certainly think the world would be a bet- ter place if everyone played a JRPG now and then, and spent some time in Oblivion, but 1 know that RPGs aren't exactly for everyone.

But the premise that these games are built on, character development, is now becoming a cor- nerstone of just about any kind of game you play, and with great success. From Puzzle Quest to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, games of all types are experimenting with ways for you to invest time and effort (or, as we call it in the RPG world, experi- ence) into your virtual persona to grow your avatar into something he/she/it was not.

These RPG elements not only invest the player into the experience, they give immediate feedback and both short- and long-term goals to attain. You know as well as that these little rewards work. 1 know I've played Modern Warfare much longer than | originally planned, and I'm sure you have, too. And while the gunplay is certainly sweet, the attrac- tion of gaining experience is what makes you stay up later than you should. Just one more level...just one more perk. It's even invaded sports gaming; this month's MLB 08: The Show is just the latest example. Like it or not, we're all RPG gamers now.

Cheers,

Andy >> andy&gameinformer.com

Handle: The Game Hombre Expertise: RPGs, Action/Platform, Driving, First-Person Shooters Interests: Apple iPhone (Finally Broke Down And Bought One And Love It), Lost, Battlestar Galactica, The Rise And Fall Of Mortal Flametongue Dislikes: That | Tried To Fire Up Crysis At Home

And The Stupid Game Ran Like Crap (And No, My Computer Doesn't Suck), The Colbert Report's Dorito Product Placement Current Favorite Games: World Of Warcraft, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Professor Layton And The Curious Village, Peggle, Hot Shots Golf: Out Of Bounds

8 САМЕ INFORMER

Handle: Reinocalypse 2012 Expertise: RPGs, Action, First-Person Shooters, Strategy, Sports, Fighting Interests: Placing Bets On Smash Bros. Fights (Lucas Is A Money Maker!!!), The New Serenity Comic (Keep ‘Em Coming, Joss), Watching PS3 Gain Momentum (Trust Me... You're Going To Need A PS3 This Year!) Dislikes: Not Being Able To Make Love To My iPhone, People Who Pick Up Your Action Figures (I Spent A Good Amount Of Time Posing Those!), Miis Being Used As Main Characters Current Favorite Games: Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Mass Effect DLC, MLB 08: The Show, God Of War: Chains Of Olympus

Matt >> matt@gameintormercom

Handle: The Original Gamer Expertise: First-Person Shooters, Action/Platform, Actior/Adventure, Action/Sports Interests: National Treasure: Book Of Secrets (Incomprehensible Adventure + Nic Cage's Bizarre Antics = Another Classic!), Watching DMX Videos On YouTube (STOP! DROP! SHUT ‘EM DOWN, OPEN UP SHOPI), Michelob, Being An Audiophile Loser Dislikes: Endless Winter, Election Fatigue, Knee Problems (I'm In A Contract Year!), Day Trips, Lame Indie Rock Stars Going Gaga Over Lil’ Wayne's Wack New Stuff Current Favorite Games: Professor Layton And The Curious Village, Mass Effect, Hot Shots Golf: Out Of Bounds, Okami (Wii)

Kato >> kato@gameinformer.com

Handle: The Game Katana Expertise: Sports, Racing, Action/Adventure, Action/RPG Interests: Duffy - Rockferry, Re-Buying Vagrant Story, Re-Starting The Metal Gear Saga (| Very Rarely Re-Play Games), The Retirement Of Bert Fart, Girl Scout Cookies, She & Him Dislikes: Friends Losing My Original Copy Of Vagrant Story, My Recent Lack Of Interest In Guitar Hero, Forgetting To Mention Earlier How Much | Like Juno/Diablo Cody Current Favorite Games: Skate, The World Ends With You, Hot Shots Golf: Out Of Bounds

Adam >> adam@gameinformer.com

Handle: The Alpha Gamer Expertise: RPGs, Strategy, First-Person Shooters, Fighting Interests: Joe Mauer, Joe Nathan, Michael Cuddyer, Justin Morneau, Matt Guerrier, Francisco Liriano, Delmon Young, Scott Baker, Воо! Bonser, Carlos Gomez Dislikes: Mark Buehrle, Ozzie Guillen, Paul Konerko, Javier Vazquez, Bobby Jenks, Jose Contreras, Orlando Cabrera, Jermain Dye, іт Thome Current Favorite Games: MLB 08: The Show, Sins Of A Solar Empire, The Legend Of Zelda: The Minish Cap, Puzzle Quest: Challenge Of The Warlords

JOe >> joe@gameinformer.com

Handle: The Real American Gamer Expertise: RPGs, Adventure, Action, Strategy, Puzzle Interests: Mass Fffect’s DLC, 30 Rock, Awesome Sequel Announcements (More Persona And Valkyrie Profile? Sold!) Wanted Dislikes: Wanton Misapplication Of The Word “Monocle,” My TiVo's Inactivity (Sigh. More The Simpsons, | Guess), Waiting For Fable 2 (Specifically Co- ор. “You Have A Very Nice Home And Family Here, Miller." Bwa Ha Ha!) Current Favorite Games: The World Ends With You, Professor Layton And The Curious Village, Call Of Duty 4: Modem Warfare, Bully: Scholarship Edition, The Sims 3

Miller >> mitler@gameintormer.com

Handle: The Once And Future Gamer Expertise: RPGs, Action/Adventure, Platform, First- Person Shooters, Music, Puzzle Interests: Hotels With Free Spas, Big Love (l'm Ready For Season 3!), New Coworkers (Glad To Have You On Board, Jeff 2.0 And Meagan), The Increasing Frequency Of Co-Op Games Dislikes: Snow That Never Leaves, Confusing Anime Storylines (Structured Narrative Really Isn't That Hard) Current Favorite Games: Gears Of War 2,

Lost Odyssey, Echochrome, Professor Layton And The Curious Village, Burnout Paradise, N+, Schizoid, Rock Band

Bertz >> mattbertz@gameinformer.com

Handle: Lord Gamington Ill Expertise: First-Person Shooters, Sports, Action, RPGs, Strategy Interests: Battlestar Galactica Season 4.0, Jim Lahey – Trailer Park Supervisor, The Wild Finish To The NHL Regular Season Dislikes: Television Shows And Films That Revolve Around Dancing (When Will It Stop?) Red Rings Of Death On My Xbox 360 Elite (Right Before СТА

IV Hits? Nooo!), Missing The Pogues On St. Patrick's Day (Again) Current Favorite Games: Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Battlefield: Bad Company, Frontlines: Fuel Of War, Lost Odyssey, Bully: Scholarship Edition

Ben >> ben@gameintormercom

Handle: Your Friendly Neighborhood Gamer Expertise: Action/Adventure, Action/RPGs, Platform, Survival Horror, First-Person Shooters Interests: Boldly Going Nowhere (Fox, | Don't Really Trust You To Not Cancel What Will Undoubtedly Be An Awesome Show), Veronica Mars (It's Like An Epidemic Of Awesome In This Office) Dislikes: Losing Sleep During Deadlines, Energy Drinks That Give You Gas Current Favorite Games: Super Smash Bros. Brawl, The Legend Of Zelda: The Minish Cap, God Of War: Chains Of Olympus, Mario Kart Wii, Civilization: Revolution

Bryan >> bryan@gameinformer.com

Handle: The Gamer's Advocate Expertise: Action/Adventure, RPGs, Survival Horror, First- Person Shooters, Music Interests: Mass Effect's “Bring Down The Sky’, The WiiWare Version Of Dr. Mario, it’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia's Recent Season 4 Renewal Dislikes: Lack Of Standards For Difficulty Terminology (Why Is “Veteran” The Toughest Challenge In Call Of Duty, But Only Wuss-Hard In Mass Effect?) Current Favorite Games: Mass Effect, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Street Fighter IV, The World Ends With You, Mirror's Edge

GAMEINFORMER,

MAY 2008 Volume XVIII * Number 5 * Issue 181

PUBLISHER

Cathy Preston EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Andrew McNamara EDITORS

Exeoutive Editor Andrew Reiner Senior Editor Matt Helgeson Senior Associate Editor Matthew Kato Associate Editors Adam Biessener • Joe Juba * Matt Miller Ben Reeves * Bryan Vore Content Manager Matt Bertz Mascot Arthur

PRODUCTION

Art Director Thomas Blustin Production Director Curtis Fung Graphic Designer Jeff Akervik

CONTRIBUTORS

Photographer Richard Tatham

GAME INFORMER ONLINE

Online Editor Jeff Cork Media Editor Nick Ahrens Associate Online Editor Meagan VanBurkleo

ADVERTISING SALES

MINNEAPOLIS Rob Borm Associate Publisher (612) 486-6155 • Fax: (612) 486-6101 fob@gameinformer,com WEST COAST Damon Watson West Coast Advertising Director (310) 450-3260 » Fax: (310) 450-3571 damon@gameintormer.com Janey Stringer West Coast Advertising Associate (612) 4866104 * Fax: (612) 486-6101 Janey@gameinformer.com

EAST COAST Suzanne Lang East Coast Advertising Sales Director (718) 832.5575 • Fax: (718) 832.5569 suzanne@gameinformer.com

MINNEAPOLIS Ату Атом Advertising Coordinator and Online Sales (612) 4866154 * Fax: (612) 486-6101 amyGgameinformer.com

Rachel Nimerfroh Marketing Coordinator (612) 4866059 • Fax: (612) 486-6101 rachel@gameinformer.com

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CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT

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Or send correspondence to: 724 North First St., 3rd Floor Minneapolis, MN 55401 • Attn: CIS Dept

For subscription inquiry ONLY: 1 (866) 844-GAME (4263)

Circulation Services. Ted Katzung • (612) 4866107 ted@gameinformer.com

Information Systems Manager Paul Hedgpeth paulhedgpeth@gameinformer.com

In memory of Paul Anderson

Manufactured and printed in the United States of America The Editor welcomes company product information or all video games. Such materials should be addressed to: Editor, Game Informer? Magazine, 724 North First St, 4th Floor, Minneapolis, MN 55401. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot be returned or acknowledged. Entire contents ‘copyright 2008, Game Informer® Magazine. All rights reserved, reproduction in whole ог in part without permission is prohibited Game Informer is a trademark ol GameStop, Inc. Products named ‘names, or trademarks, of thelr respective

in these pages are trade

companies PUBLISHER LIABILITY FOR ERROR The publsher shall not be labe for sight changes or typographical errors that do not lesson the value of an adverisement. The publisher’ abit for other errors or omissions in connacton wit an advertisement is limited to Tepublicabon of the advertisement in any subsequent issue or the refund of any monies paid for ће advertisement. INDEMNIFICATION ‘The advertiser andor Advertising Agency agrees to delend and indemnity the publisher against any and ай ably loss, or expense arising from claims of ibe, unfair competion, unfair vade practices, infingement of trademarks, copyrights, trade names, patents, or хору rights or vilaton of ngs of privacy. resuting from ће

publication ofthe Advertiser's statement.

4

Member Audit Bureau of Circulations

EVERYONE

Mild Violence

Gant

There’s no way to lower the bridge and get across without inserting the crank into

the correct slot!

Choose the slot that fits the crank

shown below.

Жы.

crankto ШС change the viewing angie

or visit ProfessorLaytonDS.com to explore this unique Nintendo DS Cunjous

Text keyword “Curious” to 49737 for the answer and a free wallpaper, (ii the adventure filled with riddles, puzzles and hidden treasure. VILLAGE.

Solve your way in.

Standard text message rates apply. © 2007 LEVEL-5 Inc. TM, ®, the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection logo and the Nintendo DS logo are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2008 Nintendo.

10 GAME INFORMER

Candid Photos From The Seedy Underbelly Of The Video Game Industry

1 Andy shares the love with Brash Entertainment's Tiffany Spencer and PC Gamer editor-in-chief Kristin Salvatore 2 Joe (armed with a

glue gun) and Nick get militaristic with Sega and the Obsidian crew. From left to right: Tim Ernst, Darren Monahan, Feargus Urquhart, and Chris Parker 3 GameTap's Dana Jongewaard and Pandemic's Cory Lewis are two peas in a pod! A crazy fun party pod! 4 Bryan and Atari's Alissa Bell ponder whether Bryan has a goatee or a beard. It's an enigma! The rest of us just hope that he brings back the ‘stache 5 О: Why does Matt look so glum? A: Because he's in the process of getting his ass handed to him by the NFLs greatest Guitar Hero player: Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe (yes, he's beaten "Through The Fire and Flames" on Expert!) 6 Nick peeks over Matt's office nemesis, our fairly creepy stat- utes of Kane & Lynch, while spying on Codemasters' Alex Grimbley and Lilit Baron. Fun Fact: Matt is now the only member of the GI Staff to have lost a fight with a statue 7 Epic's CliffyB always takes full advantage of the company's "Casual Fridays" policy 8 Sandbox Strategies Rob Fleischer officiates as Kato hands Sandbox's Jay Fitzloff the Trophy of the Jeweled Frog, his prize for winning their annu- al Vikings/Packers bet

HYBORIAN AOVENTURES

HEAOS WILL ROLL... «+. MAY 20, 2008

Intense Violence Language

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY OF 4 AGE OF CONAN FROM GAMESTOP AND RECEIVE THIS EXCLUSIVE IN-GAME WAR MAMMOTH FREE * terms and conditions apply see in-store for details

for Windows

G | The Readers Strike Back

THE QUESTION:

Do you think casual gaming is helping or harming the industry?

The current influx of casual gamers brings our wonderful hobby that much closer to the kind of widespread acceptance and resped that movies, music, and television receive.

Tanooki

Both. It creates broader ‘mainstream appeal for games, but is turning into a депа quick scheme for developers looking to offload shovelware. Just because the Whi is easy for casual consumers doesn't mean that’s all we want ResidentHazard

Casual gaming is destroying the industry. Just look at the Wii. Nintendo's third-party support has always been bad, but never to the point of a Dancing with the Stars title.

justinpf

Casual gaming is fine when contained to the PC and online Flash games. Now that they

are invading consoles, they are crowding shelves and sapping sales from more deserving titles. Every time | see a Wii minigame collection, | cry silently to myself.

aubradley84

Think it has had a negative impact on gaming. A lot of fly- by-night gaming companies are getting huge profits off cheaply made games, because the new game consumers can't tell Brain Age knockoffs and Bejeweled dones from quality casual gaming like Professor Layton and Lumines.

not a bumblebee

== cua x=

У r bd id

Casual games will never hurt.

the industry. Simple fact is that

not everyone is into Zelda or

Halo; some people get the

most exaternent out of games

like Bookworms or Bejeweled

Different strokes for different folks. Super Pat Balls

Do you want to make your voice heard? Weigh in with your opinion at www gameinformer.com/forums

12 GAME INFORMER

THEN | FOUND $50! FOR REAL!

Playing Brawl the entire day it came out wasn't enough, so | packed up my Wii and brought it

to school. 1 quickly hooked it up during social studies, and when the teacher asked what 1 was doing | told her: "Play one match. If you think we shouldn't play, l'Il go to detention myself" Long story short, we got a full period of intense Brawl play instead of class.

Marty R.

via email = Are you sure you aren't confusing your life with a "radical" video game commercial from the '80s? We were half expecting a lame Smash Bros. rap to kick in at the end of this letter. Forgive our skepticism, but there are too many stories like this floating around for them all to be true. Of course, we've all embellished our gaming exploits at some point, but the trick is to keep your exaggerations believable. Don't say you've played Halo 4, say you know someone who has. You haven't met Ganon in real life, but maybe you've uncovered a way to unlock him as a playable character. Learn to walk the line between impressive and implau- sible and your blatant lies are guaranteed to gain the respect of your peers.

THE DEVELOPER DIFFERENCE | don't understand something. The first Call of Duty game | played was Modern Warfare, and | give it a perfect 10, However, | rented Call of Duty 3, and it turns out | don't like it nearly as much. | can't quite pinpoint why. If | liked Modern Warfare, shouldn't | like the one before it? Joel V. via email

THE ESSENCE OF GAMING —

п This method of analysis will make any style of game sound terrible. Observe:

* RPGs suck! It is the most redundant, pointless gaming genre ever to exist. All you do is fight enemies, take their loot, then repeat.

* Puzzle games suck! It is the most redundant, pointless gaming genre ever to exist. All you do is move shapes around, score points, then repeat.

* Music games suck! It is the most redun- dant, pointless gaming genre ever to exist. All you do is hit notes, continue hitting notes, then repeat.

Send your comments to Game Informer. Snail Mail: Game Informer Magazine Attn: Dear GI • 724 North First St., 4th Floor • Minneapolis, MN 55401 Email: dearg

a Call of Duty is an interesting franchise in that it is in the hands of two different devel- opers. Infinity Ward, the developer that cre- ated the series, was responsible for Modern Warfare. Call of Duty 3, however, was made by Activision's Treyarch studio. Treyarch's entry is far from bad, but it definitely dis- plays a different philosophical approach to the art of warfare (though hardcore fans of the series may use less polite terminology). If you want another experience more along the lines of COD 4, you may have to wait a little while since Treyarch is also heading up the fifth Call of Duty installment. Infinity Ward's current plans are unannounced.

DOWNLOADABLE LOVE

Why don't you review games that release on PSN and XBLA? | know they aren't on the same tier as other big releases, but maybe you could give them their own rating scale. | was thinking maybe even give them their own section.

Joe DelFranco via hotmail.com

= We were thinking the same thing. As you point out, it might not be fair to hold these games up to the same standard as full retail releases. However, they are becom- ing a larger part of the gaming conscious- ness, and our readers should know about all of the great experiences to be found via download. That's why we've started up a new section called Impulse, appearing for the first time in this issue. Turn to page 30 and read what Matt Miller, our in-house downloadable game guru, has to say about current and upcoming online releases on the various platforms.

You can't just dismantle a genre and judge it by its constituent parts. That would be like judging a painting by only looking at the colors that were used to create it. Playing a game isn't about the individual pieces. It's about how those elements interact with the player and each other to create a unified experience.

OR WOULD WE?

Who writes the captions for your screenshots? | was just wondering, because sometimes | find myself rolling on the ground laughing at the things you guys say in those little boxes.

Anonymous via gmail.com

= We employ a team of comedy chemists

to make sure that each issue's caption composition maintains the proper balance of Internet memes, fart/crotch jokes (these are key), and obscure film references. It is a delicate and precise process, and we there- fore would never, ever entrust it to whoever happens to be writing the particular review or preview in question.

ROCKING Do you ever think that they will put an import a

song feature into Guitar Hero or Rock Band? If so, why don't they have it now?

Simeon Robinson via gmail

п We wouldn't be surprised to see this fea- ture in a title down the line, but there are two main reasons you can't do it yet. The first one is technological limitations. Games like Harmonix's Phase for iPod can create gameplay from your music library by read- ing basic beats, but they can't generate the killer lines and solos that make you feel like a true part of the music - that takes a devel- oper's touch. That being said, there is an extensive number of fan-created (and unli- censed) Guitar Hero cheats being distributed on the Internet. The second reason is finan-

It's fine if you don't like shooters, but then it's also unlikely that you understand what makes them fun for others. So you keep enjoying role-playing games, and quit belittling shoot- ers - they're insecure enough as it is. Why do you think they carry those big guns around?

neinformer.com

cial; how can they charge you for weekly downloads if you can just pop in your own CD for free? Rather than importing your per- sonal collection, we're betting that the next step for music games will be letting users create, play, and share their own music. That would give gamers more freedom while

still leaving room for downloadable content upgrades...for a small fee, of course.

EVERYTHING ACQUIRED

| can't believe EA has the balls to call themselves a video game company. All they really are is the New York Yankees of the industry. If they can’t beat the competition, they buy them out. Just look at BioWare and Take-Two. | was reading your Connect article entitled “ЕА< Grand Theft Auto,” and | was just outraged. If EA gets a hold of some of the greatest video game properties like BioShock and Grand Theft Auto, | fear that all they will do is put a foul stench on them just like their own established series such as NBA Live, James Bond (before it went to Activision), Def Jam, and even newcomers like Army of Two. | hope that Take-Two and Rockstar tells EA to shove their buy- out deal up their asses. Brian Smith via yahoo.com

EA recently expressed interest in taking over Take-Two, and the first thing that went through the gaming community was “OMG EA sucks so bad." Look, all EA has done is attempt to expand its portfolio. Yes, buying quality is different from creating it, but nonetheless, this is still the video- game business. Stockholders have a right to do what they want with their investment. As bad as this sounds, it seems money outweighs games. In all fairness, isn’t that why developers get into the business? To get paid what they love doing?

Ratha Chau

via email

When you stop looking at the stockhold- ers’ bottom lines and start looking at gam- ing as a form of entertainment, it is difficult to see EA's takeover attempts in a positive light. As a publisher and a developer, EA certainly releases some excellent games, but its reputation for being difficult to work with isn't wholly unearned, either. Remember Westwood and Bullfrog? However, EA's CEO John Riccitiello has admitted the company made mistakes in those cases, so we could be entering an era of a more cooperative and creativity-focused EA. That might not be much consolation to Take-Two and its sub- sidiaries, though. No matter how the situa- tion is resolved, it's going to have an impact on the industry.

LII

courtesy of Game Infarcer, from the article entitled "EA Buys Moon, Puts Logo On Surface"

Enter the Game Informer Reader Art Contest. All you need to do is draw, paint, scratch, spit, or carve the best darn art you can think of and send it to us. Please include your name, phone number, and retum address. If you're the monthly winner, we'll feature your work in СІ and you'll receive a video game prize from the Game Informer vault. All entries become the property of Game Informer and can't be returned.

Send to:

Game Informer Reader Art Contest 724 Ist St. №, 4th Floor

Mpls, MN 55401

JESSICA LUCCI

Half of Altair has more awesomeness than most characters have in their whole body - or even multiple characters combined, if you're talking about Sonic's friends

TOP 020000

SCORE | 080533

ZACHARIAH BECK This looks like a better comic than some of the junk Miller reads. How many alternate universes could there possibly be?

JULIO ESTRADA Here's a tip: If you're a zombie, don't bother straightening your tie. Your decrepit

flesh and oozing sores make you и look shabby no MIKE GROVES ES Ң 3 matter what We don't know who invited the Metroid, but the Big Daddy is probably the only guy walking out of that room with his health intact CORRECTIONS:

In our Gear section of issue 179, we listed the Razer Mako 2.1 as having a price of $79.99. The cor- rect retail price is $399.99. In the same issue, Thor Jensen's opinion essay "The Casual Crush" was amended with artwork and a sub-headline that suggested Mr. Jensen was writing about the mobile phone market, not the casual games market as was his intention. In issue 180, Chris Avellone was incorrectly identified as the creative lead for Alpha Protocol. Avellone is the game's lead designer, and Brian Mitsoda is the creative lead. Also in that issue, our review of Eco-creatures listed the game as 1-player Strategy. It should have read 1-player Strategy (2 to 4-Player via Wireless or Nintendo Wi-Fi). Additionally, The Spiderwick Chronicles review incorrectly states that the score was taken from the film. All music was entirely composed by Robb Mills. Game Informer apologizes for these errors.

GAME INFORMER 13

| mmm 2 + ee wila woody Hot Pod

Tongu

Fuzion Frenzy

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t's really not about the title, it's about what's in it” says Andrew Hawn, vice president and consumer strategist for Iconoculture. Gamers know this to be true, but that doesn't make a game's title any less important. In fact, it's something that publishers and developers do not take lightly at all. Getting off on the right foot and defining the game experi- ence to potential new fans — especially if it's a new IP — is crucial to a new product's success, and a game's title is a big part of that process. A name can be great, good, or just average, but it simply cannot be bad. At least not if the name has been properly scrutinized by all parties involved "That's frankly an easy place to hide to say, Well, the title doesn't

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THE $--- LIST Here is a very abbreviated list of some bad video game names. Want to create your own hilarity? Check out this online moniker generator: http://www.norefuge.net/vgng/

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THE NAME GAME

Breaking News, Views, And Technology From The Cutting Edge Of Gaming

THE PROCESS, POWER, & PITFALLS OF VIDEO GAME NAMES

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"It's not scientific by any stretch," admits Jeff Reese, Sony's director of software marketing. In his position, Reese has a hand in every title that comes out from the company. Names start with develop- ers, who naturally have a creative sense of their own project and what they want it to mean to gamers. From the codenames and early dead ends, however, a clearer idea starts to emerge as the game's story, prime features, genre, and broader marketing and branding plan mold the moniker. "The whole pro- cess is calibration," Reese tells us. "You are constantly culling down the list. "There's no such thing as a bad name' is kind of the thesis we go from, and as you go down the process you realize there are such things as bad names, but you don't want to stop any kind of creativity"

Coming up with a name that

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Sometimes legal issues come into play. Reese told us that LittleBigPlanet

* Fuzion Frenzy

originally was named something else, but had to be changed due to trademark issues. Other times a subtitle is necessary to differentiate the product from another game in the same series on another sys- tem. God of War: Chains of Olympus is an example of this. Sometimes the name has to avoid sounding like something else or conjuring up the wrong imagery. "It's really important to imbed deeply in the consumer's mind at first glance," explains Reese. "To do that you have to break through a very cluttered environment. It's an important part of the process to see what's been successful, learn from that, but also make sure that when you come out and announce that name, you don't want someone trying to say, Well, it sounds a lot like X competitor.” Finally, Reese tells us that work sometimes has to continue on a name even after it's been made public. He told us that PR and marketing had to go to work on behalf of LocoRoco and Patapon in order to get these games across due to their non-obvious names.

While catching a gamer's eye as they consider spending their money on a title they've never heard of may be one component of effectively naming a video game, the larger goal is to create an overall brand experience that you can trust now and in the future. Iconoculture's Andrew Hawn — whose clients include big-name publishers and developers in the industry, almost all the movie studios, and numerous television studios and consumer electronics companies (Hawn would not give specific names for confidentiality reasons) — says that trust, or the lack of it, is a problem with video game names.

“The whole industry has had sequelitis forever, and as the industry grows up it's

gotta think long and hard how it names things. This is true of the consumer electron- ics industry as well. Everything coming out of Panasonic is a disaster" Hawn naturally points to Apple and the emotional tie its fans have with its products as the road to follow, where quality is (usually) in synch with expectation.

Trust isn't something that video games have always had. Until recently anything named Star Wars, mostly in the '90s, was an abuse to fans. "The video game industry has to realize they are playing in the big leagues right now, and you can't do that.”

We asked Hawn about the Final Fantasy brand, which developer/publisher Square Enix affixes to a number of games in dif- ferent genres and varying in quality, and whether it could be hurt by this inconsis- tency. "It is a universe and | think there's this core group of people that'll buy anything [with the name Final Fantasy], but | think it's a detriment”

Apart from those fans that would buy your title anyway, no matter how incompre- hensible or awful its name, mass-market friendly titles are something that companies must be more conscious of as more non- hardcore gamers head into stores looking for stuff to buy. "The gaming industry will say things like, "We are bigger than the movie industry," says Hawn, "but you can't

The gaming industry will say things like, *We are bigger than the movie industry,’ but you can't put

up an eye chart of a name of a game and expect people to know what it's going to he.

- Andrew Hawn, vice president and consumer strategist for consumer researchers Iconoculture

put up an eye chart of a name of a game and expect people to know what it's going to be. I'm not saying you should name it something obvious or dumb. | think the simpler you keep it the better. The name shouldn't get in the way"

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“What was Killer number 6?”

We asked consumer expert Andrew Hawn his professional opinion of some video game names.

Call of Duty

"It's this call to arms. This almost historic, nostalgic kind of approach to what you didn't live through. That's especially effective for millennials — generation Y, or under-30 year olds. They are one of the first generations that can be deeply nostalgic about a time that they never lived through because they have so much access to media and their approach to media consumption.

“One of the big trends in video game naming is the use of the possessive. Band of Brothers, Company of Heroes, Army of Two, Blank of Blank. It's this more formal way of getting consumers involved emotionally in the possibilities and aspirational approach to what this video game might mean to them. Call of Duty is a perfect example, this sort of call to action — come and get involved. It's probably been overplayed to such a degree that it's diluted itself"

Psychonauts

"Psychonauts is a really fantastic game. [The main character] is a sailor of people's psyches — it totally doesn't translate at all to regular human beings. You have no frame of reference to what it's going to be. What a great game that was, but | think a lot of its [commercial troubles] had to do with the marketing of it. It had brand legacy that it couldn't activate"