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February 9, 2010

ANDY McNAMARA EDITOR-N. CHEF andyéigameinfonnercom. Read my comment on thi amenbrmer йон GG, Апоумс

Decisions That Matter

here isa lot to love about Mass Effect. 2. I let Reiner's review do most of the talking (see review pg. B0), but I want to throw in my two cents as well,

| remember being ina hot and cramped room = in Amsterdam, of all places - when I frst heard of Mass Effect. It was one of those. head-spinning moments, and | don't mean because | had been out enjoying the city the night before. Moments after BioWare revealed the Mass Effect project, the team stressed that it wasn't just a game — it was designed from the ground up as a trilogy. Frankly, | didn't really think much of it at the time, as I hear a lot of PR rhetoric in my ine of work. | had also just come ‘out of a meeting in the room next door where | had been told that Too Human was also a tri- ‘ogy (yeah, right), BioWare's description of ts team dedication to the science fiction story and how decisions in the trlogy would matter didn't fal on deaf ears, | just didn't realize how much impact these design choices would have on the game unti saw the fruits of ther labor come to ie in Mass Effect 2

Ifyou have a previous save of the frst game to import into Mass Effect 2, the imprint of those previous decisions are ай over the sequel. For

» that means the decisions | made in 2007

are affecting the game m playing in 2010. ‘Consider my mind blown.

| don't just want to play Mass Effect 2 multiple times to see how the various decisions affect this game. | want to replay an old game to see how it changes the sequel. Ihave а strange feeling l'm going to want to play а! three games ‘over and over once Mass Effect З comes out a few years from now.

Imagine if you could make decisions in Star Wars that changed The Empire Strikes Back. That's what BioWare has accomplished with Mass Effect 2, and its simply am;

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L.A. Noire

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gameplay and blowing anima

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by Matt Helgeson

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regulars

6 Feedback According to our readers, Modern Warfare 2 is too short and Transformers is going to suck. We dis agree in Feedback

12 Connect Our own IGF judge shares. her thoughts on the best of indie gaming

by Meagan VanBurkleo

76 Previews

If the first info on the next Prince of Persia leaves you less than sated, gorge yourself on our ОВА with God of War И director Stig Asmussen

90 Reviews What deserves your hard-earned money: BioShock 2, Mass Effect 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, or Final Fantasy ХИ?

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inform

his month in Feedback, we assuage a Transformers fan's fears, explain why Dead Space 2 hasn't lost its edge, make a joke at 3D Realms' expense, and help a Final Fantasy newcomer figure out

Contact Us feedoockagomeiformercom 6 feedback

Fear Factor ‘Something | read in your Dead Space 2 cover story really bothered me: the fact that the team is bending over to accommodate the crybabies who thought the fist game was too scary. This is a plea from al hardcore Dead Space fans please don't change the scare factor or diffoulty in Dead Space 2! So many games already make players fool powerful and heroic, and the fear ‘and hopelessness in Dead Space were the things that set it apart. As passed each chapter, that’s where I got my sense of accomplishment | dicht need extra ammo or a super weapon - | just wanted to survive, Visceral Games needs to ‘get with the program. Ifl want power, l'Leat a mushroom or enter the Konami Code. Steve H. Chicago, IL

Dead Space 215 still a survival horror game. Necromorphs will creep up behind you, resources will be scarce, and Isaac will still fight for his life. Visceral Games isn’t trans- forming the Dead Space franchise into a mindless power fantasy; the team's concern about the first game being too scary per- tains to the pacing rather than the style of ‘gameplay. By forcing players to constantly monitor health and ammo, the original Dead ‘Space maintained a uniform level of inten- sity. In Dead Space 2, the arc of the action. will be broken up with brief reprieves, but that also means you can expect more inten- sity spikes and scare moments.

The Shortest War (Okay, I'm siting down in front of my TV to play. Modern Warfare 2 for the frst time, Ive got the volume turned up and a ine of energy drinks at my side. Five hours later, see the credits rol. Му jaw dropped, but not because of the epic ending ofthe game - more because of how quickly it came. Even with Spec Ops, I finished the game in no time. As a gamer who enjoys single player campaigns (but not online multiplayer), | don't think a game that only lasts five hours is nearly long enough. | feel scammed, and | don't care how much replay value it has. It seems as though since Call of Duty came out, each ‘game is shorter and shorter just so they could make more money with each release, pumping all of their effort into multiplayer. I wouldn't be surprised if the next Call of Duty didn't have any single-player mode at al.

Joe Kobusinski

Erie, PA

Short games are not necessarily bad. Getting your money's worth out of a game is important, but do you really want to play through some tacked-on levels to squeeze а few more hours out of the experience? ‘The five hours of Modern Warfare 2's solo campaign are packed with non-stop explo- ‘ive thrills - would you rather see those moments spread out and diluted solely for the sake of filing an arbitrary time require- ment? You may be right in your observation. that single-player is an area of diminishing

where to start

focus. However, most of Modern Warlare's fanbase is primarily interested in the multi- player component, and it's difficult to blame Infinity Ward for serving its community. At the same time, the studio may be alienat- ing the gamers who are only interested in fighting solo.

[

Most Corrected Mistake Several readers were kind enough to point out that our score of 6.5 for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - Reflex Edition (issue 201) was too low. This was not an error on our part; just because a game is on the Wii doesn’t mean that you need to lower your stan- dards, people. Play a good game on the system instead, like New Super Mario Bros.

THE BATTLE WITHIN BEGINS

3.9.2010

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Go Defense For disturbed and offended by your res 1o a letter in issue 201: “Whe can't imagi the kind of gamer for whom t a worthwhile lamai medical professional, and a 7 argue with the supremacy fe popular by the iP 2 The untapped demographic Sony daly, The PSP Go (a) no UMD

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gaming possible on the iPhone.

Michael Hanlon Та Mesa, CA

Maybe we went a little too far when we said the PSP Go was only for people with “a surplus of money and a deficit of common sense." Clearly, the PSP Go is the right product for a certain kind of consumer - just not us. No matter how much storage space the device has, it doesn't fix the PSP. platform's biggest problem: the severe drought of software support. We're not buying a tarted-up, digital-only redesign unless Sony can demonstrate that there will be fun games to play on it.

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never gotten into the Final Fantasy series. Lately А < а forog

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though, they have been looking realy х play ‘ones, but now | want to

them a try. Where should | start? | feel ike

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won't know what's going on. What should | do? Corey Posnanski via email

ЗЕНТАПМА

Item :

Н+ Е The core games in the Final Fantasy series (the ones that only have roman numerals іп Т their titles) are all standalone adventures.

You can play them in any order, because

they are self-contained stories set in dif-

ferent worlds with different characters. If o you're looking for a good place to jump.

їп, read our review of Final Fantasy ХИ on page 88 and decide И it sounds like a good place to start. If not, brush up on the serie’, damaged video game reputation, and fans of the franchise have been history; we'd recommend starting with Final. Fantasy X on PS2, or if you want to go old School, Final Fantasy Ill (a.k.a. Final Fantasy Vl) on SNES. If you don't like eitherofthose, cid convince us of one important fact: The team maybe the series just isn't for you.

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UBISOFT'

Star Fox

Last Known Whereabouts Star Fox Command (2008, 05)

The Company Line

Shigeru Miyamoto expressed interest in bringing Fox McCloud back from his өйө of cameo roles in other seras Ike Super Smash Bros. Miyamoto recently told MTV Multiplayer that he hopes future Star Fox games can do right by fans. "We. sil try to make them more fun and hopofuly people wil see the appeal in those games."

Likelihood of Return

Average. Although Miyamoto hasn't closed the door on the franchise, Nintendo has struggled to pair the seris with a studi that could bring suc- ‘cess. 1% gone through a revolving door of devel 'opers, including Rare, Namco, and О-батев. Perhaps Nintendo is waiting for a studio that can demonstrate hey ve got a winning plan for Fox.

Chrono Trigger

Last Known Whereabouts Chrono Cross (1999, PSone)

The Company Line

‘Square Enix wouldn't shed any ight on this

topic, but Square Enix senior vice president Shinji Hashimoto clearly wasn't keen on bringing the franchise back when he said ofthe 2008 re release on the DS: "И people want a sequel, they should buy тоге!

Likelihood of Return

Not Good. The original development team is scattered, including creator Hironobu Sakaguchi (who is over at Mistwalker). Moreover, the unsat isting sales numbers of Chrono Trigger on the DS don't bode wel for the future,

Twisted Metal Last Known Whereabouts

Twisted Metal: Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition. (2008, PS2)

The Company Line

Scott Rohde, Sony's vice president of product development, wouldn't say anything about Twisted Metal дгөсїу, but he did tell ше: “We're always looking at our classic franchises to see if a reintroduction makes sense. lm sure you'd ike to hear a litle more detal, bul we have to keep a ‘couple of surprises in our back pocket...”

Likelihood of Return

Very Good, Numerous rumors have circulated regarding a Twisted Metal for PS3, and series ‘co-creator David Jaffe fueled the fre with coded messages to this effect with the Head-On: Extra. Twisted Edition in 2008, We expect to hear about anew Twisted Metal at this year's ЕЗ.

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18

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Wii Sports Resort (Wi) day acide. ols but thes company "he month idm the етее f dd tes Ike New Эре Varo Bros DS (12 and Malo Kartonthe DS (17,

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (253)

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Left 4 Dead 2 (350)

Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (0S)

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New Super Mario Bros. 05)

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (DS)

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wi)

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Your Local Arcade

Xbox Live brings you the classics

M ауре some of you younger gamers never got to hang out down at the local arcade. Wel don't worry, because all you have to do to experience the cabinets of yesteryear is turn on your Xbox 360, This ‘spring Microsoft wil launch the Game Room virtual space, hich is fled with arcade classics that you can navigate to through your Xbox Live dashboard,

Your Game Room (which is actualy composed of ‘mute rooms) wil debut with 30 titles valable at launch including hits Ike Asteroids Deluxe, Centipede, “Tempest, and more from the Ікев of Atari, Intellivision, and ‘Activision. Microsoft says each of the games has its origi- nal graphics and music, with no alterations to refine them for the console experience Ike we've seen in the past with papular arcade games ike Pac-Man and Tapper, In fact, none of the XBLA arcade tiles you already own wil trans- fer over to the Game Room,

It wouldn't be right hanging out in an arcade without a few fiends, so the Game Room features social aspects a wel. Your avatars wil show up to play the games, but

you won't actually move them around ќе in PSG's Ноте, You can, however, customize your rooms with decora- tions and by rearranging your cabinets. The multiplayer ‘options wil be limited at launch, but players can check out universal leaderboards, compete via local two-player (when applicable), play a cabinet the same time as a fr in Parallel mode, ог take tums in Round Robin mode. Unfortunately, online versus multiplayer won't be avaiable at launch, with Microsoft saying its evaluating that feature for the future

Microsoft and its partners plan to make additional arcade cabinets avallable їп the future; the company says it wants to have 1,000 ties available in the ne three years, shipping at least seven per week. Pla сап try every arcade game for free if friend owns it, 'osoft points 00) to own or 40 points (50e) to play Funny, didn't most of these games actually cost a quar- ter back in the day? » b

NEWS WITH A SARCASTIC SPIN

(ШЕРТ) The assassins blade never rests, Ubisoft has already announced another all-new Assassin's Creed tile staring АС 18 Ezio Auctore. The new game, which will be ful priced, is scheduled о appear before March. ‘of next year, and wil include a multiplayer component.

Like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 before й, the Wi now has Net support. Wi ‘owners can access streaming movies from their queue provided they have а Netix account, are connected to the Internet, and send away for a required free disc. Unike the other two. ‘consoles, however, HD content won't be viewable on the Wî, Reggie doesn't

think you need an HD Wi. 4

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Ubisoft CEO Wes Guillemot says the company is steering ts ship away from the Wi and concen trating on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Gullemot called those two consoles the ones that are "expected 10 experience sustained sales growth п games

for gamers in calendar 2010." "Games for gamers"

New year, same delays, Pushed out past March: Lost Planet 2, Super Street Fighter М, Splinter Call Conviction. Bumped past Apri certainly is a phrase we Ubisoft strategy tle R U.S E. (see last issue, page ke to hear coming from 82 for more). Speaking of Ubisoft, 1 Am Alve is , an executive. switching over to the Splinter Cell engine, and wil

now not come out unti Apri 2011 at the өзгені.

SS Goo Ona ad Sa a az’]_—-FHF,:®Ddu_: AAA ANN

‘And The Nominees Are... The IGF received a record-breaking ‘nue of submissions for the com: peto this year, win over 306 games "itg fora place in he top 20.A pot ot 180 judges - including prominent indie. ame fures such s 20 Boy's Ron Camel and ThatGamoCompanj's Kellee ‘Santiago then wed down he con “estants over three months, Here are the omes that made the cut

Seumas McNally Grand Prize

+ Joe Danger Helo Games)

Monaco (Pocketwatch Games)

= Rocketbirds: Revolution! (Ratoop Asia) + Trauma (Krystian Majewski)

= Super Meat Boy! (Team Meat

Excellence In Visual Art + Shank Кеј Entertainment)

+ ойу (D-Pad Studios)

Trauma Krystian Majewski)

= Limbo (aydead)

= Rocketbirds: Revolution! (Ratioop Asa)

Excellence In Design

- Miogakur (Marc Ten Bosch)

+ Star Guard (Sparky)

2 АраавдАовадАДааААААЗААААА! A Reckless Disregard For Gravity (Dejobaan Games]

Monaco [Pocketwatch Games)

+ Cogs (Lazy 8 Studios)

Excellence In Audio + Super Meat Boy (Team Meal

+ Shatter (Sidhe)

= Closure (Closure Team)

= Rocketbirds: Revolution! (Roop Аза) = Trauma (Krystian Majewski)

Technical Excellence

+ Closure (Closure Team) = Limbo (Рау

+ Heroes Ot Newert (S2 Games) + Joe Danger Helo Games) Vessel Strange Loop Games)

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Trauma Developer: Krystian Majewski Platform: Fash, Web Browser Release: 01 2010 ‘A poin-and-cilvhiden object hor, Trauma tls а story of survival and recovery by a young woman tresh from a car accident that kiled her parents. Much like the process of healing, Trauma unfolds in fts and starts, using a. unique interface of photo stitched together in an unnerving} surreal manner Discovering hidden Polaroids wil trigger memories and teach the player how to move through he environment to interact with ey objects, There is то single path that wil lead you through Trauma, and you wil be constantly leaming new ways to "рау" the game. This can be confusing, but that seems to be the point Trauma ња powerful, shortform game ful of metaphor and meaning, and fully deserving of a few hours of undivided attention.

Joe Danger Developer: Holo Games Platform: TBA Release: Spring 2010

Jo Danger is one ol e rasta уйп tre het produton value ard тау and for ono reason Developer Helo Games vas funded by mpl Ses o left behind studios such as Стати Sumo Kiju, EA, and Carin order saat th rre or more create freedom Aia arcade Stunt racer sura Joe Dangers simple qoa îs to impres fans and break rears Win a massive ba of ticks to draw on, Danger wit bunny hon жене, and ip hs way o te ih ine, chin ete colossal combos along he кау Торе re rewarded based on player pertommance, pushing yout take advantage of eve Soko fe chc, ever second ot aïs and every nirtmentl aid 1o ab hl прај igh score. Joe Danger is shaping ир хобе воду sand above al tun

Monaco Developer: Pocketwatch Games Platform: TBA Release: TBA Monaco s a simple and satstying мше to crime capers and classic French heist movies. Setin a modem Monte Caro, players choose from four dite en thief classes, each with their ovn uique attributes. The Locksmith, for example, can fy through locked doors and open safes in a breeze, while the Hacker сап shut down alarms and security cameras in a snap. Each heist necessitates weighing risks and rewards. Nabbing a key em at each location allons you to progress to later hes but the real challenge is seeing if you сап plage each environment to ts fullest without geting caught. Keep in тїп — armed guards, locked doors, and security cameras are ever present to stall your progress. Monaco reaffirms the Holywood basics: know the for. plan, map the patrol routes, mark the security cameras, and, аз aways, have апей strategy ready.

Rocketbirds: Revolution! Developer: atop Asia Platform: Web Browser Release: Available Now оске: Revolution! is a serious game that doesn't take itself too seriously "n the adventure you take contol of FarcBoled Chicken, the “original Cock ot War? who spearheads a rebelion against draconian penguin oppressors, n an attempt to weaken their iron-fisted grip over Аа орос, HardBoled wil nun and gun his way to victory, pausing oniy to solve puzzles and engage in witty banter with his foes, The beautiful 20 environments and the tongue-in-cheek Cutscenes make each scripted respite a treat. HardBailed зст through level ater level, unraveling а quirky mystery and taking on hostie avian enemies wih an arsenal of diferent weapons. Ratloop had а vison - albeit an odd one - and stayed true to itall the way through. Rocketbirds: Revolution! proves that in he world of avian baddies, roosters reign supreme.

Super Meat Во; Developer: Team Meat Platform: ire, Steam, Retail PC/Mac), Undisclosed Console Release: Mid-Late 2010 ‘Super Meat Boy is as bizarre as it sounds. You play as а cube of sentent meat, in kove wth а young lady made of bandages, who is spiited away by an evil “fetusin a jar wearing a tuxedo. Not wiling to rest on intrigue alone, Super Meat Boy is a comprehensive and punishing platformer developed with mas- осів in mind, A simple set of moves (run, leap, and wall jump) are counter- balanced by levels that increase in difficulty at an alarming rate. Spinning saw blades, pts of fre, and pools of dirty syringes all equate to instant death. Each level requires a steady hand and impeccable sense of timing to string together combos, with runs lasting less than 30 seconds ven finally perfected. Over "200 lvl are promised in Пе final version, meaning fans of old school charm (wo сап handle a borderine infuriating chalenge) wil find Super Meat Boy an ‘Entrée worth consuming.

connect 21

Dimensional Dilemma?

The 2010 CES was brought to you by the number 3 and the letter D, but whether consumers are

ready for the leap remains to be seen. by Nick

ol which were dedicat booth feat

the tech: ». But its not just the er ould be if sor xtd ty put in tne time to focus с

Nintendo, which didn't attend

ALTAIR

The name of Ubisoft's top assassin means “high fying one or bird of prey” п Arabic, Айаї в also the name of a star inthe constotaton Aqula - даша being another name meaning ваде, Not coincidently, Ezio (fom Assassins Creed I) в the tatan form of a Greek name that aiso means “eagle.” However, the name of ho man reliving the memories of both men from the future is Desmond. His папе Hora means "a man from south Munster.” Maybe he got lost and ended up in the wrong game.

CA SR

The annoying stuffed puppet from FFVII is a reference to. ап ancient fairy creature found in Scottish mythology. A Cat Sith is said to resemble a large black cat with a white spot on its breast. Legend tels us that this specter is a disguised witch, and rumors hold that it stil haunts the Scottish Highlands today. If that creature had been in Final Fantasy МИ, we might have actually used it

CHRIS EEDFIELD

Christopher isa late Greek пате meaning “t The name was used by early Christians as a metaphor expressing how they carried Christ in their hearts. Redfield, оп the other hand, is a bit redundant. It derives from two words, the Olde English ryd meaning "a cleared area suit able for agriculture,” and бей, another old word meaning “area cleared for agriculture." Chris Rodî ‘could be literally taken to mean to сапу fields - symbolic perhaps for all the backtracking he did in the early entries of the Resident Evi series,

QHUN-LI In Mandarin, the name of Capcom's leggy femme fatale is ЗЕН. Chun meaning “Spring”, and f (meaning "beau. ful” In other words, Chan is a young gf fled with һе beauty of sping, Maybe Capcom shoud have considered a diferent name, Ike Dà-Kuà (A B) meanin

saring Christ.”

FRANCS

Most of the cast from Valve's co-op shooter have names appropriate for a zombie apoca- lypse survivor. Bil, for example, comes from the Germanic name Wilahelm, which was composed of wil, meaning "wil or desire, and heim, meaning “helmet or protection." Louis derives from the Germanic name Ludwig, which means “famous warrior." Zoey derives ftom an old Greek word meaning "ifo." Francis, it seems, is the black o. Francis ls the English form of the Late Latin. name Franciscus, which literally means “Frenchman.” Frenchmen? Proof that Francis was the weakest link.

MARIO

The popular story is that Mario was named after Nintendo's U.S. landlord during the early “80s. However, the name Mario is actually the talian form of the name. Marius, which means “child of Mars," Mars, of course, is the ancient Roman god of war, Mario's brother Luigi is no slouch either, Like Louis from Left 4 Dead,

his name is the Italian version of the German name Ludwig, which means “famous warrior.” Maybe һе жаз switched at birth.

ZELDA

The name Zelda (alternately Selda or Segula) might not be used much any more, but this old Yiddish name means “blessed, happy, or lucky.” Considering how often this chick gets Kid. napped, maybe i's time she changed her пате, May we suggest Terah? it means "easily fooled" and "old goat."

connect 25

think up a title that did more to ‘explain what the game was about in an easier fashion and change it

to that. But everyone involved on

staff and in the company became

hooked on the sound of Bayonetta, and we decided to go ahead with

the tite.

It seems impossible to buy every- thing in the store after just one playthrough. Why did you make of the accessories and items ere tient limited to just the acoes- ısories, | feel that along with the accessories, the idea of юму developing a playor character's abiites as you proceed through the game also has an element of tuto- па to it. Obviously, slowly adding new actions is fun in and of itself, however, ultimately Bayonetta's abiities are kind of ike an F1 car - high end and refined, 1 should take players some time to come to grips With them. Accessories are kind of. the same way. If you were to пу them ail in one go round, you wouid cast them off before you ever camo. to truly understand their individual abiities. Tat is why we tuned the {game so that you won't acquire "hem ail in one playthrough - to give the player timo to try them out thor- oughly and learn the accessories.

Bayonetta is unapologetically girly, Were you worried about {uring men off with the feminin- ity of all the butterflies, fow- ers, and lollipops? Conversely Were you worried about turning women off with Bayonetta's overt sexuality?

Bayonetta the character was designed by a female designer.

Tris is pat of a longer discussion. To pul it simply, what we created was bom of advocating a design hat don't pander to tno desires of теп, but instead was both hgh- Class and fashionable. Bayonetta may be sexy, but she is absolutely

not vulgar, and we stressed mak- ing her beautiful above ай else in the design. think that is evident in what we created, do you not? “There shouldn't be anyone, male or female, that dislikes Бөәші things.

character would be female, we thought of some way we could effectively use her hair. You know, аз they say in Japan (and maybe the world over “hair is a woman's Mo." At the very least, I thought that ме would use her hair as a prop to display the dynamic nature of her action in the same way Dante's coat or Joe's scarf operates. However it ‘backfired, as implementing a long- haired character model in tha game ‘ended up obscuring the entirety of her body, and created a problem in that it was harder to see the action taking place. We ended up returning to the first concept design that Mari Shimazaki created for Bayonetta.

їп that design, hor hair camo down ‘over her arms, draping ќе it was a fringe. I realized that this visual expression was interesting, and came up with a new idea. İ said, "What if we didn't just stop at the ате, but draped her entire body in her hair? Witches should be able to о that.” By doing that, her hair was ‘able to flow off of her arms, and

ме were able to obtain the flowing locks we wore looking for without ‘obscuring her body. Once that was in place, | realized that if she was using her hair to summon these ‘demon attacks then her hair had to disappear off her body when she did this. Then what would happen!? Needless to say, the guys on the team were incredibly happy with the ideas

Bayonotta's character design

is fairly long and spindly, which

is unusual for a female in video ‘games. What wore the reasons. behind making her look this way? То create the action we wanted, Bayonetta needed to swing and project her limbs out with incred- ible vigor. Bayonetta has the

best proportions to ilustrate this dynamic action. We also didn't want to appeal overtly to ideas of. base sexuality, but instead aimed to show Bayonetta off as stylish, Ike а fashion model.

We liked the game's Space Harrier sequence, but that shoot-

Platinum Game's newest release may stand next to Devil May Cry and God of War, but the 's unique flair left us with a few questions. Where did Bayonetta’s character design come from? ‘she covered in hair? And why does the Space Harrier sequence seem to go on forever? Using апа reader-generated questions, we grill Platinum Games’ director [Hideki Kamiya,

ing seemed to go on for a really long time. Why is this? Hey, I don't think it is too long. (Laughs) | think that gamers of ту era excelled at the ability to approach games in the vein of find the fun in what I've been. given," and not "You guys need to give me what | want.” Maybe | expressed my feelings of nostalgia for that ега а bit too strongly. But va tha ој оде севу crasies that make up Bayonetta. ‘and | would be really pleased if you enjoyed itas such.

1 don't think that а game should be held captive to just one thing, but should have lots of diferent types ‘of play I think f you take а look at Devil May Gry, Viewtiful Joe, etc. you wil understand my belief in this, I don't think of these things as individual parts. think of the whole picture and how itll flows together as one.

The guys at Platinum seem to jump around from series to Series, does that mean you'll be. doing something new next, or will ме see a Bayonetta 27

Wel, we obviously have love forthe work we have created, so | don't see anything wrong wih Bayonet 2. Personal, ГА Ме to approach the world of Bayonetta fom a dfer- ent алде, in the fom ofa spi. However right now we're having fun dreaming up wid ideas; and haven't made any decisions at al. ®

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28

WHERE ARE THEY?

Not sune where to find thse ures? Follow these steps.

to find the parental controla

‘om each ofthe three consoles.

It’s Under Control

Family controls give parents tools to keep inappropriate games out of kids’ hands. But are they easy to find and set up for non-gamer parents? by Jeff Cork

he other day | asked my wile to imagine F I T rus ranen ten rio ate tunnel and we were suddenly the parents

two young teen boys, She дат! run scream- ing out of the house, which was my initial fear. | hen toid her that we were concerned about our hypothetically aged kids being exposed to those darn M-rated games, and it was up to her to ‘access and adjust the parental controls on our PlayStation 3, Wi, апа Xbox 360 so tat such ‘content would be blocked. Fortunately, she's nothing И not patient, Sometimes.

She'd heard few vague things about famiy settings on the consoles, but there hadn't been any real reason for her to mess around wath them, The last time she'd even spent time with а game was with Alas on the Xbox, so ird been a while, I figured she was as good a test subject as any for my litte plan. Could some ‘one withthe interest, but not necessari the know-how, easly figure out how to access а set appropriate content limits for their children? Tre answer, as ГО find cut, was a resounding "fend off