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Next Sonic The Hedgehog 4 Episode Looks Really Good

Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace website has some surprisingly impressive screenshots of Sega's upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II that are leaps and bounds above the comparatively simple visual style of 2009's Episode I.  Perhaps the creative team behind these downloadable releases has been paying attention to constructive criticism after all because some of what I see here looks like it's on par with last year's Sonic Generations in places.  Check out the the detailed character models!  Marvel at the lighting!  Swoon at the the textured objects!  This looks downright gorgeous and probably explains why a Nintendo Wii release isn't happening for this installment (every other current platform will see it though; it's coming to Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7, and PC).  Episode II is expected later this year, but if the game plays as well as it looks, then its release can't come soon enough.

Mega Man X For iOS Looks Disappointing

It's been a tough year for Mega Man and his many fans, but 2011 isn't going to end without a new adventure for the blue bomber. Capcom has arranged for its 1993 Super NES title Mega Man X to land on Apple's App Store as a $5 iOS game for iPhone, but the game is a bit different than you remember it.  Specifically, it seems to embody the worst aspects of bringing a popular classic video game into the mobile world.  While changes to the visual style are the most obvious alteration, there are now load times, level structure has been chopped up into separate screens instead of one continuous flowing design, the camera angle has been zoomed in to give X and his enemies more visibility at the cost of losing some details from the edge of the screen, and there's now an in-game store in which players can pay real money for X's upgrades rather than earning them the old fashioned way (although paying for them instead of collecting them is not required).  There's even a replacement music pack for sale that replaces the traditional X soundtrack with the Maverick Hunter X remake's music.  Have a look at the trailer and tell me if you get a sinking feeling while watching it.

It's a shame to see Mega Man X half-assed this way (I think the in-game store is the biggest insult of all), and while I think that there is a way to do Mega Man on the iPhone, this is not it.  Perhaps it's time for Capcom to build a new Mega Man title from the ground up for the mobile market with that platform's limitations in mind.  While I admire and appreciate the attempt to bring Mega Man X back for a new platform, the end result appears to not do the original game justice.  I never thought I'd say this, but Capcom should take a page from Sega's book.  The latter company's recent release of Sonic CD for iOS is a perfect example of how to adapt a console game from yesteryear for the mobile platform.

Extra Levels Cut From Rereleased Sonic CD

Sega's recently released remake of Sonic CD is turning some heads due to how well-done it is, but like any captivating game, it's hiding a few secrets.  Specifically, two additional levels were planned to be included in the new version of the game, but were cut towards the end of development.  All that remains is a secret unlockable screenshot of one of the lost zones.  Here's developer Christian Whitehead discussing what happened to the now-lost Desert Dazzle and Final Fever areas:

Basically, earlier on in the remake's development there were 2 new levels: Desert Dazzle & Final Fever (another boss).  Neither level was fully complete, and we had to make the call whether or not to go ahead and finalize them. Sonic Team felt the game should not deviate too far from it's original form, and in retrospect it was for the best since we had a lot of other work to do anyway.

It's understandable why Sonic Team wanted the game to remain true to its roots, but personally I think that there is no harm in introducing a few new elements.  After all, the remake already includes Tails as a playable character and a revised spin dash maneuver that matches up with Sonic's trademark attack from Sonic the Hedgehog 2.  What's one or two more changes?  If Sonic Team is so concerned about maintaining the integrity of the original game, why not make the extra levels optional via the options screen?  Y'know, the more I think about it, the more I realize that while these new zones were cut from this initial release, the great thing about downloadable games is that it's always possible to update them with new content...

Everything You'd Ever Want To Know About The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Video Games

The many incarnations of Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael are well known to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans of all ages partially thanks to the team's many video game titles.  Starting with a Nintendo Entertainment System game released by Konami alter-ego Ultra Games and spanning all the way to a Wii title developed by Ubisoft, the turtles have enjoyed a long and varyingly successful video gaming career.  Hardcore Gaming 101 has a massive article that explores each game in the franchise from the popular arcade games to the obscure Game Boy sequels to the modern revitalization of the property for today's consoles.  It's fascinating stuff even if you're not a fan.

In October of 1989 across all arcades in North America and Europe, the game that would solidify Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles's place in gaming and set the standard for the beat-em-up genre going forward was released. The apt titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles allowed players to take control of the four mutant teenagers at the same time, leading to awesome mayhem and lifelong memories. It was released several months later in Japan, and was the first TMNT affiliated product to actually bear its original name there.

The big selling point of this game is precisely what it should be, the ability to play as all four brothers at the same time. With three friends, there was guaranteed melee to be found in the game with non stop action and interactive environments. Numerous elements were put into the game to make usefulness of the cooperative nature of the game, uniting the players together in their cause. Enemies now consist exclusively of foot soldiers and other Dimension X beings recognizable from the cartoon series, and they are a clever bunch themselves. The Foot soldiers act together, often sneaking up behind the turtle to hold him down while another Foot scores some free strikes to the beak. This calls for the other players to come to the rescue, helping out their "brother" in need and have their backs at all times. Players are free to join in at any time into the game by inserting coins to the machine.

I didn't really follow the turtles when I was a kid, but I wound up playing some of the games in the series thanks to friends excited about picking up a copy of the home version of the aforementioned arcade game or the home version of the arcade sequel, Turtles In Time.  I honestly had no idea that so many Turtles games had been produced.  We talk a lot about annual sequels come hell or high water, but Konami and the other companies that licensed the property over the years must have been the first to raise that practice to a true art form.  After reading this article, I understand how the market suffers from turtle fatigue every few years.

Sonic CD Returns!

For many years it seems that Sonic CD was the one Sonic the Hedgehog game that hardly anybody had played.  Few Sega Genesis owners sprang for the costly and required CD-ROM add-on back in the day and the PC port of the game doesn't officially work on modern operating systems.  The game finally turned up again for the Nintendo GameCube and, internationally, the Sony PlayStation 2 in Sonic Gems Collection, but few people took the plunge.  Now, finally, the best of the old school pre-Knuckles Sonic games is coming back in a variety of formats at a fair price right now.  Game Informer fills us in.

SEGA's re-release of the classic side-scroller Sonic CD is coming to Xbox Live Arcade tomorrow, December 14. It's also hitting PlayStation Network in Europe and iOS devices that same day. PlayStation Network users in North America can get it on December 20 and Android and Windows Phone 7 devices in 2012.  This version contains the original Japanese and US soundtracks, and for the first time, the ability to play the game as Tails, who unlockable by completing the game.

Sonic CD costs 400 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live, $5.00/£3.59/€4.49 /AUD$6.25 on PlayStation Network, and $4.99/AUD$5.49/Euro $3.99/UK £2.99 for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

Five dollars for Sonic CD?  Including both soundtracks and Tails as a playable character?  Sold, sold, sold!  We heard about this re-release a few months ago along with some of the extras in store (Achievements/Trophies, spin dash, etc.), but it had fallen off of the radar in recent weeks, so it's great to see it pop up now.  I'd thought for certain that this would have been a $15 release just because Sega felt it could get away with it.  Between Sonic CD and Sonic Generations, this has turned out to be a fantastic season for fans of speedy hedgehogs.  Here's the launch trailer:

Power Button - Episode 71: Building A Better Spike Video Game Awards With Philip Kollar

The Spike Video Game Awards air this Saturday night on — where else? — Spike TV, so ahead of the glut of winners, trailers, and attempted comedy, we thought we'd take an hour or so to discuss whether or not the VGAs matter, how they can be improved, and which nominated games we think will take home a few of the prizes.  Along as our guest this week is Game Informer's associate editor, Philip Kollar.  He'll help shine a little light on how the VGAs work and challenge us to start narrowing down our own personal Game of the Year lists  Download this week's episode directly from PTB, listen with the player below, or subscribe via iTunes, and be sure to catch up on past episodes if you're joining us late. Remember that you can reach all three of us via , you can leave a message on the Power Button hotline by calling (720) 722-2781, and you can even follow all of us on Twitter at @PressTheButtons, @aubradley84, and @JoeyDavidson or for just podcast updates, @ThePowerButton.

Power Button - Episode 71: Building A Better Spike Video Game Awards With Philip Kollar

The Daily Show Investigates Freemium Mobile Games

If you want to score a big profitable success on the iPhone and iPad App Store, then you should make your game a free download, but charge money for microtransaction credits that unlock better in-game items and knick-knacks.  Then you offer a bundle of credits sold in bulk for an absurd price.  These freemium apps are often played by children who authorize expensive purchases on their inattentive parents' credit cards.  It's becoming more and more common to hear about a parent who handed a supposedly free game over to the kids only for the kids to rack up hundreds or even thousands of dollars in add-on purchase fees.  The Daily Show investigates these poor excuses for legitimate games and brings one frustrated father's complaints straight to the people behind the Tapfish freemium aquarium.  It's worth watching just to see the people responsible squirm uncomfortably.

Batman: Arkham City Locks Down iOS

Batman isn't just taking the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, and PC by storm in his new title, Batman: Arkham City.  In a clever maneuver of reusing assets from the main Arkham game developed by Rocksteady Studios, NetherRealm Studios has put together a little side game based on Arkham City for iOS.  Hitting the Apple iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch today for $5.99, Batman: Arkham City Lockdown pits Batman against usual suspects such as Two-Face, Solomon Grundy, and the Joker in a series of boss battles.  Here's the game's description from iTunes:

The inmates have escaped and Batman has his hands full defeating an army of henchmen and some of his most iconic villains. Scour the rooftops and the seedy underbelly of Gotham City through a series of one-on-one battles with the Joker, Two-Face and more, as well as the Batman: Arkham City Lockdown exclusive – Deathstroke. Choose from several Batman skins and power-ups as you punch, kick and combo your way to cleaning up Gotham City.

This could go either way.  Usually the little iOS tie-in side games to a major console release feel like cheap cash grabs, but the trailer for Lockdown makes the end result look impressive.  Is anyone going to take a chance on this?  I'd like to hear more about it before springing for it.

PopCap And Electronic Arts Want You To Rebuy Bejeweled

It's not a good week for Electronic Arts and its mobile division.  Fresh on the heels of its unpopular scheme to turn the iOS version of Tetris into an annual subscription title comes news that EA and PopCap have decided to yank the existing Bejeweled 2 + Blitz title off of the App Store and replace it with a standalone Bejeweled 2 title and a freemium Bejewelled Blitz title.  Anyone who owns the existing iOS version of the game will have to buy the new version in order to get the new features; the existing app will not update to the new iteration.  Here's Joey Davidson over at TechnoBuffalo explaining the outrage and how this wasn't all EA's call, but PopCap's.

One of PopCap’s employees has taken to Twitter to clarify a few things. Jeff Green, PopCap’s Director of Editorial and Social Media, has stated that this move was planned by PopCap a long time ago, and that gamers should not blame EA.  Further, Green explained that the company wants to stop numbering Bejeweled iterations and make the new Bejeweled 2 home for all updates. I asked him why they didn’t just name the game Bejeweled 3 or ditch the numbering altogether, and Green replied stating that there was a lot of internal debate around that issue before this news launched. He went on to say that PopCap will still be discussing it today.

Bejeweled 2 will cost just as much as it did when it included Bejeweled Blitz, sans extra content. Bejeweled Blitz, additionally, will now be sold under the freemium model. You’ll be able to download the game for free, but EA will be charging for special bonuses and content … much like the Facebook equivalent of other PopCap games.

EA and PopCap are on such a slippery slope here.  I used to believe that EA knew how to do mobile gaming properly (see the fantastic iOS versions of Mirror's Edge, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, and SimCity), but it looks like the company is headed in a new direction that alienates and overcharges customers in the name of increased profit.  The gaming community really needs to stand up to these practices and reject them.  I know that voting with your wallet or purse is a cliché, but if we band together to say no to being charged twice for the same content on the same platform, perhaps we can hold back the tide.  Let's not allow another horse armor situation.

Subscription Plan Comes To Tetris

Of all of the games that one could imagine shoehorning a paid subscription service into, the classic Tetris has to be on the bottom of the list.  It sounds like a bad Internet joke, doesn't it?  Who would possibly charge a monthly fee to play Tetris?  Electronic Arts, of course.  In its latest bid to reclaim the title of Most Evil Publisher from Activision, EA has crammed a recurring fee into its iOS version of Tetris for the Apple iPhone and iPad.  Gaze upon Gamasutra and despair!

The $0.99 game (introductory rate), which replaces EA Mobile's previous Tetris game on Apple's App Store, debuts a "Marathon One Touch Mode" control scheme designed for touchscreen gameplay on iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads.

It also adds Tetris Log, a feature that offers players fresh challenges, tracks their progress clearing lines across multiple devices, and assigns them a Tetris Rank -- all powered by Electronic Arts' digital distribution and DRM platform Origin.

Another notable addition is T-Club, an "elite Tetris fan club" requiring a $2.99 monthly or $29.99 annual fee. Subscribers receive exclusive discounts and content, premium Tetris Log challenges, and a booster for progressing their Tetris Rank faster.

Well, someone is taking pages from the Call of Duty: Elite playbook.  This is such a terrible low for Tetris, but I shouldn't be surprised.  More and more publishers are trying to eke out every last bit of potential profit from games that have long since run out of new ideas and innovation, so the only place left to go is to start charging money for features that used to be part of the basic package.  I sincerely hope that this T-Club initiative fails in a spectacular manner.  This kind of thing needs to be put down as soon as possible lest we start seeing the likes of the Angry Birds Nest premium add-on services and other such programs that go beyond too far.