Jaffe's Calling All Cars Coming Soon

Via Joystiq, the news on David Jaffe's blog is that Calling All Cars will be released soon via the PlayStation Network. The first downloadable title from one of Sony's AAA developers, this marks the start of what should be a string of high-profile games for the service. The initial post about the game 'going gold' appears to have been taken down but Jaffe reviews the reviews that have been released so far, and gives PS3 owners an idea of what they can expect. "Has it been worth the wait? Reviews are slowly coming in, but IGN is calling it 'Sony's first truly original, must-have title on the PlayStation Network' and claiming it bests just about everything on Xbox Live Arcade. Strong words; we'll see for ourselves [this] week."

Comments

Sigh...Looks Like We've Got Another John Romero

[Anonymous Coward]

There are a bunch of really bright and talented people who have worked on games like God of War, Warhawk, and Calling All Cars, Jaffe wasn't one of them...

When you aren't one of the people who actually makes games like an engineer or artist and are essentially filling an overhead position like producer or 'desiginer' aka level monkey you pretty much have enough time on your hands to milk the hard work of others to fuel your own self promotion.

If you want someone to do the busy work of deciding things like health or ammo powerups in crates in a level, Jaffe is your guy...Anything else and you might as well ask the guy behind the counter at the local EB games.

It is nice to see how serious Sony is about original downloadable games on PSN. Free online play, dedicated servers, a large and steady stream of original IP, and the amazing Home stuff a few months away. Sony is showing the rest of the console world how to do online right.

Re:Sigh...Looks Like We've Got Another John Romero

[xero314]

When you aren't one of the people who actually makes games like an engineer or artist and are essentially filling an overhead position like producer or 'desiginer' I'm not going to defend Jaffe since I don't even know the guy, but I will say that your idea of what a designer does is a little off. Take all the best engineers and artists in the world and unless one of them has good design skills any game they make would be a steaming pile of crap. Don't get me wrong I think quality artist and quality engineers are just as important as quality designers, but it takes all three, and a few others, to make really good games. There is a reason top designers are sought out and well paid, and it's not their looks. Designers are responsible for Playablity, game balance, and the over all enjoyment of the game. With out designers there is no story, and no saying that a game will appeal to a wide audience.

I'm just saying, open your eyes, a good designer is certainly far more than a "level monkey."

Re:Did anyone pay $600 to buy cheap games?

[kannibal_klown]

With few exceptions, I spend more time on my XBox 360 playing XBox Live! Arcade games than most of my "expensive" boxed games. I like Live! and the ability to impulse-buy some neat little game for a couple bucks and not have to worry about swapping out discs. There are some real gems out there, granted many of them are already cheap downloads for the PC but I've all but given up on PC gaming.

Now, that's not to say that's all I play. I still play a bunch of 360 games as well as regular XBox games on my system, but Live was one of the selling points for me (after playing some games at a friend's house).

Obligatory Penny-Arcade link

[manekineko2]

From today's news post: Penny-Arcade

And here is the relevant quote, "I'm sick of people claiming parity between the online offerings of these systems so that they can appear above the fray. One of them is awesome, and one of them is dogshit. I don't know why they should ever improve it if you fuckers have already given them the Gold Star." Good points I think. Just because Sony is making online free doesn't mean that it's good, and they have no real incentive to improve it with their faithful already enraptured.

Re:Did anyone pay $600 to buy cheap games?

[oGMo]

If you are going to pay six hundred dollars for a game console, you are probably willing to buy eighty dollar games. If you want cheap games, why not stick with your PS2 and buy some used games for $15 to $20 each. The Wii is being sold as the cheap alternative, so cheap downloadables make a lot of sense.

I am willing to pay $80 for a game if it's worth paying $80 for. It doesn't matter what platform it's for. Guitar Hero II (with guitar controller) goes for $80 on the PS2 ($90 on the 360), and I don't see anyone complaining about that. Why? Because it's worth the $80.

Off-the-shelf PS3 games are $49-$59, not $79. But $10 more than "last-gen" games isn't a whole lot more (certainly not the $30 you're claiming), especially since there aren't a whole lot of games at the moment, anyway. And before you go "ha ha! not a lot of games!" this applies to every console. At least on the PS3, there's been about a game a month.

The PS3 also has a decent list of cheap, solid downloadables; even some of the demos have a lot to do:

• GT:HD concept (free)
• Motorstorm demo (free)
• Gripshift; 720p, 125 levels, 5 cars, online play: $9.99
• flOw: $7.99
• Tekken 5 DR:HD; $19.99
• Ninja Gaiden demo (free)
• Various minor game incremental content (free to $1.99 for some level packs)

There is also Lemmings ($4.99) and some other things I haven't tried. There are some demos and games that suck (Blast Factor). But the only game on this list I found a bit high was flOw; it's cool, but it's essentially an interactive screen saver. Gripshift was the best $10 I've spent on a game in awhile. Tons of levels with tons of things to do. Tekken is "a lot", at least compared to other things on the list, but come on, $20 for a top arcade fighting game that's $40 in the store? You're complaining? I'm not.

In short, if a game costs a lot, and it's worth it, then no, there's no problem getting it.

(Apparently people don't remember the much less uniform pricing structure of games back in the NES/SMS days. Super Mario Bros 2 went for $120 at Toys'R'Us.)