Talks about how the gaming industry’s interest in pirated games but they aren’t worried about it hurting them. Plus Dennis Dyack says more publisher concolidation in the future but listen to Brad and Bryan’s heated debat on the matter.

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Brad and Bryan take a look at the highly anticipated FPS Call of Duty: Modern Warefare 2 along with other game reviews in the mix. Topics are discussed like Project Natal gets hit up with an award by Time Magazine, Gamestop wants to bring DLC kiosks to the stores and piracy a problem but not a threat says developers. This is Opinion Unlocked.

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The games are Forza 3, Tekken 6 and Trine. Three good games to keep your eyes on this 2009 season. This is Opinion Unlocked.

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Brad and Bryan review important games like Halo3: ODST and Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story. Sony makes big  sales because of the PSP Go and PSP 3000 but which system gets a better profit. Plus, Brad and Bryan exchange ideas to why a study says gamers feel more aggression towards perfect strangers. This and much more on Opinion Unlocked.

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These topics are debated and much more on this edition of Opinion Unlocked.

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September

Biggest Release: Beatles: Rock Band – Set to break sales records when its released on Sept. 9, Beatles: Rock Band has been getting nothing but glowing endorsements on any and all preview coverage for the game. Add to the fact that this game has been gaining more mainstream appeal as the word comes out about the game and you have a game that may very well be one of the best games, and best selling games, of all time.

Potential Sleeper: Scribblenauts – A game that may very well come to take numerous Game of the Year accreditations, Scribblenauts has been charming previewers and reporters with its nearly infinite ways of playing the game. It’s got a dash of old school (adventure games) and a smidge of new (the innovative creation system), but it has a charm and an open sandbox feel that could appeal to the masses.

Potential Disappointment: Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 – As one of the first must have games of the new generation, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance stood out as a great online game. However, there have been better games like it released since the first game, and as most are discussing, the second iteration of the game hasn’t changed much at all. This game has a potential to be a dud.

Most Likely To Be Delayed: Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days - Previews haven’t been too impressed with the side story of the Kingdom Hearts series, but most are holding out hope that this game will work when its released this month. Even so, there hasn’t been much of a presence to this game, which is strange because a huge marketing blitz for a new Kingdom Hearts always happens, whether its a full game or a spin-off. I suspect this will be delayed until 2010.

Should Be Delayed: Section 8 - Let me be frank…with ODST coming out and that game may not be as big as it should be, do I really think another game may get better sales? Word of mouth has been good for its multiplayer, but if this game does turn out to be quality, I’ll feel for Southpeak on the not so good sales it will wind up having. I think it would be best if they release this the first week of January next year.

Multiplatform Releases
Guitar Hero 5 – Releasing the game 8 days before Beatles: Rock Band may be a good business and marketing strategy…until they realize they start Beatles: Rock Band’s marketing push this month.
Dirt 2 – Dirt and Grid are quickly becoming the go-to racing games of this generation. Dirt 2 continues where the original left off and adds inventive and fun fantasy courses for variety.
Mini-Ninjas – Heard little about this game, but from the little I have heard, it’s actually a charming little title. No marketing, however, will hurt this game when trying to find an audience.
NHL 10 - The critically acclaimed and award winning sports title will recieve several polishes and boosts to reclaim yet another award winning season.
Need for Speed: Shift – Shift’s change-over to a more simulation feel may be risky for a brand that has been known to be highly accessable, but early reports are saying that this game is a nice primer until Forza 3 comes out.
Wet – A highly stylized, overly sexualized third person shooter meant to pander to the more masculine set. Too bad early reports haven’t been so favorable.

XBOX 360 Releases
Halo 3: ODST – It doesn’t really feel like a Halo game is coming out in Sept. does it? I have no doubt it will sell…it just seems like a more muted release than I was expecting.

PS3 Releases
Katamari Forever – In what may be the last Katamari game, this game remakes all the levels from the previous game and puts it on the PS3 at a discount price. I still want the music  to this game series, by the way.
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 – Ninja Gaiden 2 for the 360 was a bloody, violent game with a camera that was so spastic it could make you sick. Sigma 2 takes out the blood and violence, but if it fixes the camera issues it may just bave a great game on its hands.

Wii Releases
Muramasa: The Demon Blade – The creators of Odin Sphere’s next big game is this stylish, beautiful platformer for the Wii. Ignition Entertainment is releasing this game limitedly, but there’s no reason to think it won’t sell through its stock immediately on the first week.
Dead Space: Extraction – Light gun, rail shooter games are being made with more frequency, but they still don’t sell (take a look at House of the Dead: Overkill). Dead Space didn’t sell as much as EA wanted to last year, so I’m not sure if putting this game on the Wii will mean great sales.

DS Games
Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story – The hilarious and charming Mario and Luigi games have always been a hit on Nintendo handhelds and this will likely be no different. Whether the game itself will have any significant changes…well, that’s another story.
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days – Previews haven’t been too impressed with the side story of the Kingdom Hearts series, but most are holding out hope that this game will work when its released this month.

PSP Releases
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona – The Shin Megami Tensei series has gained a cult fanbase since the releases of Persona 3 in the States a few years ago. Because of this, the ultra rare (but admittedly botched localization wise) Revelations: Persona game was remade for the PSP and will be released in September, which will include a completely relocalized storyline and quests that were previously deleted from the game itself.
Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days – Disgaea 2 is a devisive entry into the series: some prefer this to Hour of Darkness, while others think it should have never been made. Whether you like it or not, it will be released at the end of September, so it looks like you’ll have a decision to make: this or Persona?
Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny – Tekken: Dark Resurrection is still one of the best games on the PSP to date, because of its excellent graphics, spot on controls and its bevy of modes. There’s no reason not to think that Broken Destiny won’t continue this trend of fighting game excellence on the go.

Will Most Likely Buy: Beatles: Rock Band, Halo 3: ODST, Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona, Scribblenauts

Will Most Likely Rent: Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, Dirt 2

Brad Wiswall
www.twitter.com/Gamakarmica
XBL: Gamakarmica
PSN: Vanillatwisted

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Toki Tori – This is the exact same game that was released a year ago on WiiWare. A colorful, eye-pleasing game with some decent looking environments. Save for some control issues and nothing really new, but odds are many of you haven’t played this game. For $4.99, it’s a decent title if you want a colorful puzzle game, but there are better.

Worth the Price – Let It Drop ($1.99) – Avoid at All Costs

Occurrio! – Even at the price it’s currently running ($.99), I would not recommend this game to anyone. While I certainly admire the developer of this game in trying to make the bset possible control scheme for a Geometry Wars like game, it just doesn’t seem to work well at all. It’s a nice try…but just not worth the time or money.

Worth the Price – Let it Drop – Avoid at All Costs

Numbrix – At first, the game is simple and ingenious: A table fillled with numbers is missing certain digits and you must solve the puzzle by following the simple rule of “what comes next?. Problem is, this game complete cheats its own rules, making some puzzle absolutely infuriating and tough to actually solve. For $3.99, I would like to play a game that actually plays by its own rules, thanks.

Worth the Price – Let it Drop – Avoid at All Costs

Star Defense – I still prefer Geo Defense, but there’s something about Star Defense that just completely keeps my attention. This 3D Tetrisphere meets Desktop Tower Defense has some slick graphics and an intuitive interface in dragging and selling weapons. The game seems to be fairly unbalanced, but its still a good amount of fun. For $4.99, however, I’d hold off and stick to Geo Defense for your TD needs.

Worth the Price – Let It Drop ($2.99) – Avoid at All Costs

Trixel – A simple little puzzler for $1.99. Matching tiles is easy, while the puzzles itself are incredibly difficult early in. Still, for bite sized puzzle gaming, Trixel is one of the best ones you can purchase.

Worth the Price – Let It Drop – Avoid at All Costs

mevo – This unique action/platformer/ryhthm game has an excellent soundtrack to bop your head to. There might not be much to the game other than its premise, but for $.99 it’s still worth a play or two. Just don’t expect much from it.

Worth the Price – Avoid at All Costs

Ellis – In one of the better uses for the platform seen, Ellis just has you taking different types of balls and turning them into supernovas. It game is simple in nature, but the different “sectors” helps complicate, challenge and speed up the game in fun ways. For $3.99, the price is a bit steep, but it comes highly recommended.

Worth the Price – Let it Drop – Avoid at All Costs

Bounce On – A very simplistic, cookie-cutter platforming with some slight control problems. Current asking price is $3.99, but a drop to $1.99 would make the purchase much more worth it.

Worth the Price – Let It Drop ($1.99) – Avoid at All Costs

Space Invaders: Infinity Gene – First there was Space Invaders Extreme, now it’s evident: Space Invaders is making a serious comeback. In what has to be the best game on iPhone thus far, Gene uses the Invaders license and adds an impressive visual filter as well as some of the best music to ever be put into a game to create one of the best experiences on the platform. I’d pay $20 for this game on any other system…$4.99 is an absolute steal!

Worth the Price – Let It Drop – Avoid at All Costs

Brad Wiswall
www.twitter.com/Gamakarmica
XBL: Gamakarmica
PSN: Vanillatwisted

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Not so about games, which brings to the topic of this editoral: The importance of a game critic. Not a game writer. Not a game reviewer. A game critic.

Few really know the difference of a true critic. A critic is someone who overs analysis, theory and subjective outlook on a piece of work, a place in time or anything that requires a deeper look. Few game reviewers can be considered critics of their craft, mainly because a reviewer tells you whether to play the game or not. A critic requires the reader and, most importantly, himself, to be of an open mind on all types of medium.
A critic can’t merely enjoy the piece they are analyzing: Some critics debate whether they can enjoy the work they analyze. It’s hard to look a movie or game you enjoy and realize it’s a rather poorly made game or to play a game you simply can’t enjoy but realize it’s actually a very well made, supremely crafted piece.

This leads to a great question: Why aren’t there any game critics, or why so few? There are many arguments to suggest that it’s still a medium in its infacy and that there’s simply no need for them, due to the fact that no one is really asking for criticism in games: Just tell me if they are good.

But there is a growing contigency that is waiting for the day that is waiting for the same type of respect and celebration that movies, books and music have. And it will only get there with the evolution of what a game critic is and what he needs to do to represent his/her medium.

Where am I coming from with this? A medium is only as good as its criticism, and with all due respect, there really aren’t many, if any at all, that deserve praise for their use of game reviewing. I base this on the fact that, until the early 70’s, movies were considered merely movies to a mass audience, with the exception of a few groups of people.

That changed with the introduction of Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, two critics that helped show different types of films to a mass audience. They dissected, analyzed and discussed in great length any and every film that their eyes peered on and they earned praise for not only their witty dialogue about films, but for helping move films forward faster than others could have possibly imagined.

They made films serious. They showed that films could touch and move people and that some are worth the time and effort to search for. People started going to art houses to see rare foreign films. Tastes were more refined and as such, films started to refine as well.

We need a Siskel and Ebert for games. Plain and simple. Especially since we can’t identify with a creator and or a person who makes the games (exceptions are Hideo Kojima, Tim Schafer, Suda 51). We need reviewers to step up and show that games aren’t merely just an experience that is controlled by a button and stick, that these games are far more than what they appear in face value.

A gaming audience can greatly benefit from having a deeper thinking of its form of entertainment, aside from a review score and a few paragraphs on how the controls work. Until then, we will always be in the rut we’ve put our industry in.

I’ll be honest, for years I’ve hoped to become such a person, since gaming deservedly needs to be looked as an art and as a way to show different viewpoints and philosophies. Whether I will do it remains to question, but whether I make it or not, I hope someone does it.

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The month of May had a ton of being releases, so it was sure to sahke up the sales charts to mix in some new blood.

EA Active – In only 2 weeks, EA Active, EA’s ambitious fitness title, sold over 350K units. And with the size of the Nintendo Wii’s base and the fact that this is a title that can have legs, EA is looking to make even more massive profits on top of what they’ll make on their sports titles.

inFamous – Sucker Punch and Sony’s electric based open world game was only released for 1 week in May, but turned up over 175K in units. This is especially impressive since the PS3’s growth and base isn’t the largest. What’s unfortunate is that it doesn’t seem like inFamous will go much higher in the weeks to come: Prototype comes in two weeks and may just syphon off sales of the title.

Punch-Out – Nintendo and Next Level Games’ reimagining of the classic franchise managed to grab over 150K units in 2 weeks. Word of mouth and potential in holiday seasons may bring the sales back up again, however.

UFC 2009: Undisputed – THQ’s brawler managed in 2 weeks to grab around 680K on the 360 and 330K on the PS3, a total of just over 1M in total sales. And don’t expect this to stop: UFC is still a popular brand that could sell during the Christmas season.

Cross Edge – Mind you, it has only been released for 1 week. However, the sales in Cross Edge have been what some would call abysmal: 21K in its first week. Unfortunately, RPG’s on the PS3 have a hard time selling as it is (see Valkyria Chronicles, Disgaea 3, Folklore) and the negative word of mouth gives this title no chance to gain more in sales.

Damnation – The oft-delayed westerner managed to scrape 20K on the 360 and 12K on the PS3, giving the sales of only 32K on both platforms on its first week. Like Cross Edge, Damnation hasn’t had the best in terms of positive reviews, so look for Damnation to be bargain bin fodder in the next few months.

Boom Blox Bash Party – The sequel to the popular puzzle game on the Wii, Bash Party managed to gain a respectable 45K in the first two weeks of its release. With a low price point and positive word of mouth, expect this game to gain more as the months go on.

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel – With 3 weeks on the charts, Sacred 2 earned 85K in sales on the 360 while the PS3 made just 40K, leaving the total sales for the title at 125K in the month. With the game being a niche title that didn’t get the strongest reviews, a price drop would be the only thing that could boost the sales up moderately.

Personal Trainer: Walking – This expensice DS title ($49.99) managed to pick up respectable numbers in its first week: 17K units and with plenty of potential to grow to its non-gamer base.

Terminator: Salvation - In two weeks, Terminator Salvation gained 45K in sales on the 360, while taking a nearly 66% dip in weekly sales, while the PS3 version 36K in sales with a 80% dip in weekly sales. Sales total for the game thus far: 81K. With its relatively short campaign mode and the bad buzz from the movie, Salvation will more than likely fall from the face of the Earth next month.

Bionic Commando – Finally, Bionic Commando makes 46K units on the 360 while it just barely gets 27K on the PS3, totalling the gross sales at 73K. This comes as a definite disappointment for Capcom, who spent a reported $10M on the game in a hopes to restart the franchise. However, with word of mouth and reviews being less than stellar, it looks as if Bionic Commando may never recoup its development costs. (Joystiq reports that this game made only 27K total)

It looks as if May’s winner was undoubtedly EA Active and UFC 2009: Undisputed, which both look to continue on the upward trend in sales. The biggest loser looks like Bionic Commando, which looks like it’s a large rock on a sinking ship with no chance to come back for air.

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