The Cut Scene - Video Game Blog by Variety

Harmonix goes from plaintiff to defendant

A few months ago Harmonix sued its former publisher Activision for allegedly not paying it proper royalties for "Guitar Hero III." That suit was dropped presumably to be settled out of court, but now Harmonix is on the receiving end of a music game related suit from one of its past publishers. Ahhh, the circle of life.

Konami, which  published Harmonix's "Karaoke Revolution" games, is suing the MTV-owned developer for allegedly violating its patents related to "simulated musical instruments, a music-game system and a 'musical-rhythm matching game,'" according to Bloomberg. Konami is demanding its fair share of the Benjamins, plus an order preventing Harmonix from using its patents. There's no indication of what such an order would do to "Rock Band' exactly, though I can't imagine it would be an easy fix.

Here's Harmonix's official response, according to Wired:

Konami's actions are extremely surprising. Unfortunately, successful products such as Rock Band can often become targets for baseless litigation. We have substantial defenses to this claim and intend to vigorously defend it.

The button masher from hell

"Hellboy: The Science of Evil" doesn't have anything to do with Guillermo Del Toro's "Hellboy: The Golden Army," which comes out this Friday. But of course Konami, which already had the gaming rights to Mike Mignola's comic book, knows a good marketing opportunity when it sees it.

As Variety critic Matt Peckham points out, though, Konami and developer don't appear to have taken much advantage of the opportunity to improve Hellboy's standing in the videogame world. As he writes in his review:

In Konami’s “Hellboy: The Science of Evil,” the science involves pounding disposable enemies into nondescript turf, while the evil emanates from stunted battle tactics and an unintelligible story. Hellboy may look better than ever clutching his Samaritan revolver, but Aussie developer Krome Studios’ riff on Mike Mignola’s comic series about a crime-sleuthing demon with a wrecking ball for a right hook feels like a couple of strung-together demo levels instead of a cohesive videogame.

Basically, you brawl and you brawl and you brawl some more. Which might be forgivable if it the brawling mechanics were top notch, but as Matt notes, "it’s quite possible to blaze through the game by simply mashing buttons."

You can read the whole review here.

Metal Gear Solid 4 -- "a bang-up swan song" that "will blow fans away"

Variety writer Leigh Alexander has a review of "Metal Gear Solid 4" that just posted on Variety.com. It's a rave but also does a deft job (in this editor's opinion) of explaining the dense and complex world of the story and what it all means.

As Leigh explains, not only are the production values literally ridiculously awesome, but "the storyline, gameplay and imagery all blend together in seamless, often stunning metaphor and allegory."

Yes, there are some really long cutscenes. As Leigh writes, "'Metal Gear Solid 4' is arguably closer to a "movie experience" than any videogame yet. Its numerous pre-animated cinematics are frequent and can run as long as half an hour -- the experience of 'playing' the game is actually about 40% watching.These cutscenes look phenomenal and have some interactive elements, such as optional flashbacks from previous games, but it's undeniable that fully immersing oneself requires huge amounts of concentration."

And for those wondering about the rumors, yes it takes a while to install. Beyond the long install at the beginning, Leigh notes (not in the actual review) that it takes a few minutes to install between each act. But it's worth it, she says, for absolutely unparalleled visuals and audio.

Here's the first paragraph from Leigh's review:

Renowned game director Hideo Kojima delivers a bang-up swan song for the "Metal Gear Solid" franchise in his hallmark style, wrapping up the series' intricately detailed loose ends in a cinematic coup that will blow fans away. Dabblers and newbies will find the convoluted, metaphor-driven storyline as baffling as ever, but the tight controls and unparalleled production values should draw enough of them to make this Playstation 3 exclusive not just a big hit, but a system seller.

You can read the whole thing here.

Another music game? With a better drum kit?

The weirdest announcement I missed in San Francisco yesterday was probably Konami's "Rock Revolution," which promises to "redefine the rhythm genre" with... a better drum kit?

I guess six drum pads are cool, but the game apparently doesn't feature vocals for PS3 and 360 (the systems with the big-ass drum kit), which makes it immediately not as good a social experience. And unless Konami plans to spend aggressively to compete with MTV and Activision, it's hard to see how they can put together a track list that stands up to "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero."

Then there's the Wii version, where Konami claims that "a unique aspect of the Wii version is the interactive use of the controls with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk for an air-drum and air-guitar experience." Of course, that's exactly what Disney is promising to provide with "Ultimate Band," an explicitly casual Wii rhythm title coming this fall that promises to provide the exact same air guitar/drums experience, along with unique controls for air bass and also lets someone be the "front man," who basically psychs up the crowd. So far, it seems like Disney is promising all the same things Konami is, plus more.

Of course, announcements are one thing and products are always very different. But so far, "Rock Revolution" is going to have to deliver even more than it's promising to compete against "Guitar Hero IV," "Ultimate Band" and (I presume) a "Rock Band" sequel this fall.