38 Studios explains Kingdoms of Amalur online
pass

38 Studios has attempted to justify the content being gated behind an online pass in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. When asked why an entire quest line was being held to ransom in exchange for new sales, the developer said it was originally planned as paid DLC.

"The House of Valor content is, for all intents and purposes, our first DLC content," said community manager Muse. "Instead of holding onto it for a month or more and charging everyone for it later, we opted to give it to those who purchase the game new for free."

This is a pretty smart move on the part of 38 Studios. Using the already questionable tactic of holding back content for paid DLC in order to make the more questionable tactic of online passes look almost heroic is a master stroke of PR genius. I have to applaud that. 

It's a complex situation though, I grant you that. Giving away DLC is more akin to rewarding new customers rather than punishing used ones, something I've actively encouraged. Still, one can then argue if it's really a "gift" when it could have been in the game originally and was taken out to sell at a price. It certainly bears a lot more thought than it looked like it deserved, given the clumsy presentation of the pass found within the game's box.

In any case, I maintain that having this pass as the first thing a customer sees really sends the wrong message about how confident a publisher is that it won't be traded into GameStop within a week. Maybe next time, don't have a game box that's nothing but the disc, the EULA, and a "Please don't trade me in" flyer. 

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Escapist Podcast: 031: Creativity & What We've
Been Playing

This week, we discuss creativity and taking criticism. We also talk about what we've been playing and answer your questions.

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Blizzard Exorcises Companion Pets From Diablo III

It turns out that even Blizzard thought companion pets were too cute for the world of Diablo.

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Pixeljunk Eden is coming to PC next week (PC)

If you?re a PlayStation 3 owner, there?s a pretty good chance that you?ve long ago realized that Pixeljunk always equals genius. For years now, the Q-Games series of innovative and wonderfully fresh indie games has remained exclusively available on the PlayStation Network. That seemed to change earlier this year when Pixeljunk Monsters, a great tower defense experience, was announced as coming to Facebook. Now it looks like another Pixeljunk title is about to leap from the PS3 to your desktops.

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This weekend on Twitch TV: Passing the torch

Jon Carnage may be on his way out of Dtoid's Twitch TV channel, but he's going out with a bang with his final few appearances this weekend. It starts with the last regular episode of Mash Tactics as hosted by Jon Carnage and Wesley Ruscher today at 4p.m.. Immediately following, Kingdom of Foom will be doing its Friday Community Corner with Jon Carnage as special guest. This Saturday at 12 p.m. Pacific, Jon Carnage will be joined by Pico Mause for their last planned appearance on the channel for the foreseeable future.

Beyond that, we've got a full schedule of our regular programming to look forward to this weekend. Philanthr0py is continuing his quest to get to the bottom of Metal Gear Solid 4 on Chill with Phil. 321Go Cast is chatting with the lovely Caitlin Cooke. And Also Talks is joined by the CrimeMinister himself, Spencer Hayes.

Today at 4p.m. Pacific, Jon Carnage and Wesley Ruscher make their final regular appearance as hosts of Mash Tactics. The guys will be playing the downloadable survival-horror game Amy. This Saturday after Hangover, Jon Carnage and Pico Mause will be broadcasting a special edition episode to show their appreciation to the community, and celebrate the end of an historic era. This special will air from 12p.m. to 3p.m. Pacific, and will signify the passing of the torch to King Foom as the new host of Mash Tactics.

Immediately following Mash Tactics today, Kingdom of Foom is continuing the Friday Community Corner with special guest Jon Carnage. Foom will be chatting with Carnage about his experiences with livestreaming this past year and plans for the future. This will also mark the last show before Foom takes over as host of Mash Tactics next week.

Saturday Morning Hangover with Conrad Zimmerman and Jordan Devore airs from 10a.m. to 12p.m. Pacific. Come watch as they play the latest Xbox Live Indie Games demos for your enjoyment, and revel in the beauty of Conrad's mustache!

Chill With Phil will be on this Saturday at 4p.m. Pacific, continuing the arduous task of playing through all of the Metal Gear Solid titles. This week will be part two of playing through Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. After an unexpected 5 hour stream last week, tune in to see far Phil will take it tomorrow night.

321Go Cast is Destructoid's only live show/podcast hybrid airing on Sunday, from 2-4p.m. Pacific starring JohnnyViral, Pangloss, and Ryu89. This week, the guys are joined again by their trusty stream host Sterling Lyons, and Destructoid writer Caitlin Cooke.

Destructoid's live talk show, Also, Talks, starring Bill Zoeker and Johnny Luchador is committed to bringing interesting conversations about videogames, Destructoid, and random nonsense on Sundays at 4p.m. Pacific. This week, the show is joined by former host of Communicast Spencer Hayes.

Catch all of Destructoid's livestream shows at Twitch.TV/Destructoid!

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Friday Night Fights: Resistance is futile

As you've probably heard, Insomniac has officially bowed out of making new Resistance games. Considering the third (and best) game didn't sell well, I can't say this comes as a shock, but it's still a sad day overall for fans of alternate timelines full of insane weapons and glowy-eyed enemies, so let's all take a moment and pour one out for Hale and the boys.

Still, the future is far from dim. I, for one, am certainly looking forward to the studio's next project, especially after hearing they're going multi-platform this time around. What about you? Sad to see Resistance go the way of the Dodo? Excited for the future? Just don't care?

Regardless, that's enough sad sh*t for one day; it's FNF time! Hit the jump and let's go shoot each other! Who knows, maybe we'll even play some Resistance!

New to FNF? Read this! Each week, a bunch of us Dtoiders get together to play videogames online! It's a 100% community-run event, so feel free to join in or even host something yourself!

The planning for FNF starts in the forums, where community members volunteer to host matches and post their pertinent details (game, time, Gamertag, etc.). Then, every Friday, reminder posts go up in the community blogs followed by a recap post here on the front page for last-minute planning.

To join in, simply send a friend request to the match host! (Don't forget to say you're from Dtoid!) If you'd rather host something yourself, sound off in the comments section below!

We hope to see you online!

Tonight's Games:

• Silly rabbit, Europeans don't play videogames! Hit up Steamtoid to see if there's anything going on!

Tonight's Games:

• Halo: Reach (Speed Halo, Hot Pursuit)
  Host: Eric Woll (GT: FLaN Tamarind)
  Time: 8 PM EST

• Castle Crashers
  Host: Epic-KxDtoid (GT: Epic KxLIVE)
  Time: 8:30 PM EST

• Gotham City Impostors Beta
  Host: StriderHoang (GT: StriderHoang)
  Time: 9 PM EST

• Battlefield 3
  Host: ChillyBilly (GT: Chillybill)
  Time: 10 PM EST
  Note: Join the Dtoid BF3 Platoon!

• Gotham City Impostors Beta
  Host: Epic-KxDtoid (GT: Epic KxLIVE)
  Time: 11 PM EST

Check out the 360 FNF blog for more details!

Tonight's Games:

• Uncharted 3 / Resistance 3 / Killzone 3
  Host: garethxxgod (PSN: garethxxgod)
  Time: 8 PM EST

• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
  Host: Trev (PSN: ElZilcho)
  Time: 9 PM EST

• Battlefield 3
  Host: CornflakeJustice (PSN: CornflakeJustice)
  Time: 10 PM EST
  Note: Join the Dtoid BF3 Platoon!

• Starhawk Beta
  Host: Dare (PSN: Knackered)
  Time: 10 PM EST
  Game/Pass: Dtoid/dtd

• Payday: The Heist
  Host: Revuhlooshun (PSN: Revuhlooshun)
  Time: 12 AM EST
  Note: Please turn on your mics!

Check out the PS3 FNF blog for more details!

Tonight's Games:

• Mario Kart 7
  Host: Wolfy-Boey (5327-1072-2012)
  Community: Destructoid (43-8816-8269-4512)
  Time: 8 PM EST
  Note: Hop in the community room and wait for people to join!

Check out the 3DS FNF forum thread for more details!

Tonight's Games:

• Team Fortress 2
  Server: 63.208.142.126:27015
  Time: All day, every day! (Especially on Tuesdays!)

• League of Legends
  Host: Shemlock Helmes
  Time: 10 PM EST

• Serious Sam 3: BFE
  Host: Metal Mark (Steam: Kickass667)
  Time: 10 PM EST

• Hit up Steamtoid to see if there's anything else going on!

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Exclusive: Meet Final Fantasy XIII-2's sound team

Dale summed up the Final Fantasy XIII-2 soundtrack pretty well with his simple and direct "WTF?!" This soundtrack is a total departure from anything we've known as Final Fantasy music, with styles including rap, hip-hop, jazz funk, metal, electronica, and orchestral, all featuring tons of vocals. While the soundtrack has been available for import from Japan since December and even from Square Enix's North America store, fans who pick up the FFXIII-2 Crystal Edition next Tuesday will get their hands on the four-disc soundtrack as well, so we thought it would be a great opportunity to introduce the team behind the game's music and sound design.

Participating in the interview are music coordinator Keiji Kawamori, composers Masashi Hamauzu, Naoshi Mizuta, and Mitsuto Suzuki, and sound designer Tomohiro Yajima. We get the chance to profile each person and gain insight into their contributions to this unique and impressive game soundtrack.

Keiji Kawamori (Square Enix)
Role: Music coordinator
Selected past works: Performer/arranger on The Black Mages, The World Ends With You, Kingdom Hearts series 

On FINAL FANTASY XIII-2's extremely different and eclectic soundtrack:

This time, the director, Motomu Toriyama, wanted to incorporate more vocal songs to take a different direction in the new songs, and to aim for a more edgy sound; and so we ended up trying out many different vocal styles and different genres. With each song, the composer himself took the lead in direction and finished the song, but we also held regular meetings to check on each piece and inspire each other while keeping one another from deviating from the vision.

Also, the players seem to have an assumption of what genres of music [Naoshi Mizuta] and [Mitsuto Suzuki] are most confident in, but since we do handle videogame music and take on many different song genres, I'm sure you'll hear a new side of both of them in Final Fantasy XIII-2. 

On "Invisible Invader" (the "Lake Bresha Rap") and "Crazy Chocobo":

I think "Invisible Invader" was the first song that Mizuta wrote for Final Fantasy XIII-2. The fact that it's a vocal song (rap) makes it a piece that strongly reflects Toriyama's desire to have a sound that's unlike the typical Final Fantasy title. This song plays in the area where the main characters first arrive after they leave for their travel through time, but I think it fits in the game because it's a new Final Fantasy sound for a new Final Fantasy journey.

[Editor's Note: "Invisible Invader" is instrumental in the overseas version]

As for Crazy Chocobo," I was asked by Toriyama to make it have a fierce song style and for the arrangement to be like death metal, so I contacted Shawn (Shootie HG), with whom I had a prior connection to help me with this, including the arrangement. It's a Chocobo arrangement that no one has ever heard before, and I think it's a good hook within the game. 

On the inclusion of Naoshi Mizuta and Mitsuto Suzuki:

[Masashi Hamauzu], too, is a wonderful composer who can create music of many different genres. But this time, we wanted to incorporate even more variety in the songs and build a different worldview from the previous game, and so Mizuta and Suzuki were added to the team. [Arranger/Composer] Yoshitaka Suzuki is very good at putting music to a cutscene, and so we borrowed his talents for the long cutscenes towards the latter half of the game to incorporate Mizuta's music while building up the emotion in the scenes.

Masashi Hamauzu (MONOMUSIK)
Role: Composer
Selected past works: SaGa Frontier, Chocobo's Dungeon, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XIII

On the similarities between his work on Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2:

This time, while new music was expected, the worldview of Final Fantasy XIII was important as well, and so as the person who handled the previous work, I took on the role of handling the orchestral pieces for the cutscenes and events. I tried a lot of things that were new for an RPG and had fun with it, and so I did have a desire to do it again this time around. 

On his favorite piece he wrote for  Final Fantasy XIII-2:

It would be "Knight of the Goddess," but rather than it being my "favorite," it was more like I had put a lot of thought into it. Last year, Japan faced a major calamity she had never faced before. Immediately after that, in a meeting with the director, Motomu Toriyama, he had asked me to write a battle song that would encourage the listener, and I had an idea of a song flash in my head right then and there. It was in a major chord, with a chorus that involved a melody with half notes that sounded as if they were taking one step at a time to climb to the top. I went home and immediately started to work on this piece.

Before this meeting, I was very worried if I could create a battle song of the same caliber as "Blinded by Light" [Editor's Note: this is the battle theme from Final Fantasy XIII], but I believe this has become something that's in no way inferior. No matter how much the technology has progressed or how well logic has been revealed, the drive to make something good can come from just an instance, just like the inspiration I received from Toriyama. 

On our favorite piece he wrote for   Final Fantasy XIII-2 , "Serahs Theme ~Memory~":

With this song, too, I needed to take on the elements of XIII and make this match, if not top, the last version. If it's far too different, it won't reach the hearts of people, and if I just went for the unusual, I would just end up looking like I was putting on an act with the mismatch. So in the midst of that, I had an idea of combining two song pieces that I came up with. The pieces were in 3/4 time and 4/4 time respectively, and so at first I felt the need to change one to make them both match, but when I did that, one of the pieces lost its integrity, and so I deliberately put them together as they were. I think this version has a more human feel than the last installment.

Naoshi Mizuta (Square Enix)
Role: Composer
Selected past works: Parasite Eve II, Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, Blood of Bahamut 

On how he was approached to work on  Final Fantasy XIII-2:

The director and producer had the intent of pushing out a different image from the original Final Fantasy XIII, so Suzuki and I were assigned to create songs with a new feeling.

Music from the previous installment was very well made, so at first I did feel the pressure. However, musically I would make songs that were in a different genre as XIII, so I didn't fixate on the previous title, but I took this project on thinking I'll just do my best. 

On his versatility as a composer:

It was my mission to create music that was totally different from the previous title, so I attempted to stay away from the orchestra-centered music of FFXIII. As a result, I got to this format naturally.

Within each genre, I had the best musicians play for me, and so I think that's what made it successful. I also owe it to Tsutomu Satomi of [Uchida Ongaku Jimusho Co., Ltd.] who gave me sound advice and coordinated with me in terms of which musician to play the piece, and to Keiji Kawamori from our own company, who contributed greatly as well. 

On his favorite pieces from  Final Fantasy XIII-2 :

I can't choose just one as my favorite, but there is one song I really like, and that is "Historia Crux" written by Suzuki. There are many elements within one song, and the way that they develop is fantastic.

Another song that had a strong impact on me is "Caius's Theme." This song had a hard time getting approval from the director, and so I remember rewriting the song about four times. What the director had asked me at the time was to make the song into something that can surpass Sephiroth's theme "One-Winged Angel" from Final Fantasy VII! 

On our favorite piece he wrote for  Final Fantasy XIII-2  , "Xanadu, Palace of Pleasure," an upbeat jazz funk track:

With this song, my concept was to directly place the sounds of '80s music right into the game. If you listen to it now, the music from that era is unique and has a strong impact, but there are rarely any scenes in a game in which this style can match perfectly, so I've never had the opportunity to write anything like that until now. So this time, my chance had come, and I remember having so much fun creating this song. 

On our favorite piece he wrote for  Final Fantasy XIII-2  , "Yeul’s Theme," an emotional vocal ballad:

I didn't try to go for the unusual for this song, but rather I wanted to create a ballad that was pretty and poignant for me, and so this song came to being. Thanks to the vocal talents of Joelle, this song turned into something very wonderful. Also, the piano ad-lib during the interlude was performed by one of my current favorite pianists, Febian Reza Pane, which made a strong impact on me.

Mitsuto Suzuki (Square Enix)
Role: Composer
Selected past works: Neurovision (solo release), SQ album series, Final Fantasy XIII, The 3rd Birthday 

On his approach as a composer and the use of "Aggressive Mixes":

The difference between composing and arranging is being able to make the final judgment. For example, in  Final Fantasy XIII, the composer, Masashi Hamauzu, made the final decisions. During that process, if Hamauzu asked for a revision, I would respond, and if I wanted to present an option for arrangement, then I would present it. Hamauzu's style leaves the work up to me, and so long as we decide on the main points and direction ahead of time, we won't experience any major difference in direction. We work together often so it's clear what elements to include, which makes it very easy to work with him, and I admire him.

In the case of Final Fantasy XIII-2, all of the decisions are from my perspective. The actual flow of the processes between composing and arranging aren't very different, but I do the arrangement and mixing as I create the music, so I think the process is fairly fast.

The approach that was requested of me for the parts I handled was "Music that's unlike typical Final Fantasy." Instead of trial and error, I feel that I was able to reflect the music styles with which I'm most confident to the game.

I made it so that the Aggressive Mix cross-fades into the regular, just like a DJ mix. In the game, the songs cross-fade as well, so I had intended for the listener to experience what's in the game [on the soundtrack CD], which I think came out to be an interesting effect. 

On his favorite piece he wrote for   Final Fantasy XIII-2  , "Historia Crux":

I created this theme with the concept of developing a song with multiple tunes mixing into one. It's just like time travel. Usually I would watch a completed screen while I developed the image of the song, but I started working on "Historia Crux" before the images were complete. I did have to feel my way through, but there was a direction which I wanted to try out, so I completed the basic structure of the song in about two days. After that, I added the vocals, recorded the drums and violin, and then I spent time on the process of arrangement.

Each time I received new footage from the team, I would brush up the song, so you can say I made this song simultaneously. It's an irregular time signature, but that's because I wasn't concerned about the beats, so it became a fairly interesting rhythm, not logically thought out, but a beat that purely relies on my intuition. It must've been tough for the drummer, though. (LOL) 

On our favorite piece he wrote for   Final Fantasy XIII-2, "New Bodhum":

I wrote this song while watching the beach of Neo Bodhum. I believe it was around spring of 2011 when I wrote this, and I was fantasizing about going to a beach after I finish this song, and so I went to Hawaii just as I finished writing. After returning from Hawaii, I changed the melody of the vocal line, and just around summer time I asked ORIGA to sing the vocals. I remember asking the vocals to be "as if you're walking along a beach" when I explained it to her verbally.

The "Aggressive Mix" is the style in which I am most confident in, so I had no worries about it. It's a techno sound that features the beats and bass, and I tried to go for making an impact during the first part of the game. In a way, it is an unusual number for Final Fantasy, but I'm sure that I was able to respond to the basic concept of "music that's unlike Final Fantasy."

Tomohiro Yajima (Square Enix)
Role: Sound designer
Selected past works: Xenogears, Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy XI, XII, and XIII

On finalizing the Moogle sound:

We did have difficulties on the Moogle's voice, especially ad-lib or responsive sounds and answers. For the most part, "kupo" is the main means of dialogue, but with each scene the emotion is different, and so we divided the "kupo" into categories like "angry," "sad," "happy," and so on, and recorded many times in many different ways. Then we chose which "kupo" was applicable to the different situations.

Also, he does speak quite a bit while they're on the search for the Artefact, but at first, during the beginning stages of development, we had made him talk too much to the point of him talking nonstop while moving on the map, so we had to go through some trial and error by changing or decreasing the occurrence patterns and changing the script to make things more balanced.

On sound elements fans should listen for [we loved the whirring treasure chests from XIII]:

In Final Fantasy XIII-2, monsters pop while on the field, but until an encounter happens, the NPCs in the vicinity are programmed to fight the monsters as well, so when it was necessary, fighting sounds were laid over as needed for the situation using a complicated mechanism.

Also, in the aerial fight between Lightning and Caius at the beginning of the game, I overlapped the sounds made in the sky and automatically calculated the weight of the sound as objects pass by and brought out the presence and flashiness.

My favorites are Cait Sith's voice and Chocobo's voice. Also, I was very picky when I was creating the sounds for the slot machine. Please keep an ear out for those.

On how sound design is overlooked by fans and critics:

In my opinion, the quality of the finished game is judged as a whole, and I think it boils down to if the player was either "satisfied" or "not satisfied" with it. Sound within a game is just a part of the direction, so sound can take the lead in the direction, but we never make it so that as a whole only the sound stands out.

Like you mentioned earlier about being a fan of the treasure chest sounds, I think it's the best feeling when I know that the users play the game with which they are satisfied and within it find a sound that they like, or a song that they like.

In terms of praise, I think the sound section considers providing with psychological stage effects to be their main axis, and apply that "effect" to every part of the game from the beginning to the end, including parts that don't have any sound at all. It might be easier to understand if you think in terms of how deeply you become immersed in the game. If you're consumed when playing the game, then I believe that the sound has had a big influence.

Also, sound is greatly influenced by its playback environment, such as different speakers or amplifiers. The presence and the sense of immersion improves if you choose the right audio peripherals for your environment, so if the players play around with that when they have an opportunity, it would make me happy as a sound designer.

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The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - CGI Intro
Official HD Video Game Trailer - X360 Exclusive

The Witcher 2 builds upon these distinctive strengths within an all-new storyline filled with...

Read the full post at www.gamezplay.org use the search option if there is no link above...

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The week in gaming news: January 27, 2012
(Online)

Another week has come and gone, and you know what that means: lots of news! A whole lot happened this week in gaming and you'd be forgiven if you missed a few things amidst all of the reviews, previews, and guides we publish each and every day. But Gamezebo's here to help, and so here's every bit of news we covered this past week, for your convenience.

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Wastelander Panda Gleefully Blends Pandas And
Post-Apocalypse Action

You know you're in for a good time when you've got a panda bear wandering the wasteland, swinging a machete.

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