What's new

Only 1 OXM demo this month (2 Viewers)

Dave F

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 15, 1999
Messages
2,885
Just got the new Official Xbox Magazine today, and there is only one demo this month - Castle Wolfenstein. Pretty good so far, but exceedingly dark (which is a pet peeve of mine).

-Dave
 

Brian E

Screenwriter
Joined
Aug 12, 2000
Messages
1,636
Is this one just a port of the PC game?

Still trying to decide if I'm going to renew my subscription. Things like this, one demo, don't get me excited about doing it.
 

Dave F

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 15, 1999
Messages
2,885
The review mentions a lot of extra stuff, but was very vague about what was new. It mentions a new set of levels as a prologue, but the rest of the single player game sounds the same. They really talked up the multiplayer stuff, but I'm not famiiar enough with the PC game to know if the multiplayer options bring anything new to the table.

-Dave
 

James Zos

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 7, 2002
Messages
725
The Mulitplayer Wolfenstein demo, where the Nazis hold a fortified beach while the Americans try to storm it, hooked me on internet play like no other game before or since. I just absolutely loved it The only depressing thing was all the team killing, and creeps playing as Nazis who, judging by their online comments, really were nazis, or neo-nazis anyway. Then again, that made killing them all the more fun.

The single player demo was another story however. I found it pretty ho-hum. But Xbox Wolfenstein is set to have co-op two player, and I might buy it just for that.
 

Tom Fudold

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Oct 6, 1998
Messages
135
I've really started to dislike that print magazine... it's just so biased it's not even entertaining. I realize that's the job of the writers, but it's just fluff and not very interesting at all. It's gotten much worse month to month... just my opinion of course, but I won't renew that one, if I want the demo enough, I'll buy a issue if needed.

Tom
 

James Zos

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 7, 2002
Messages
725
Those of you who do subscribe - how is the demo? Worth buying the magazine on the stands for it?
 

Dave F

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 15, 1999
Messages
2,885
Not really. There is a good article for the uninitiated regarding the Xbox & HDTV though.

-Dave
 

Keith Frederick

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
May 10, 2002
Messages
142
Every since NextGen and DailyRadar went bye bye, I unfortunately have only EGM and OXM to get excited for every month. PCgamer is good too, but I am much less interested in PC games now, but I think it is a very entertaining magazine. Overall I think OXM is totally worth it for their exclusives and demo. As far as reliable reviews: I am not really concerned. I don't look at review scores as much as I look at the details of the review.
 

Allen_Appel

Second Unit
Joined
Dec 13, 2002
Messages
418
If you decide that just three issues a year are worth getting the demo for, you've paid the full year subscription price. I view it as saving me the cost of some game rentals. OXM is not a particularly well-written or graphically-interesting magazine, imo. They seem to love every previewed game and of course snide PS2 comments are ubiquitous. XBN is a far superior Xbox-specific mag.
 

Derrik Draven

Supporting Actor
Joined
Dec 7, 1998
Messages
937
Real Name
Chris
Okay, we all pretty much lament the loss of NextGen. Stands to reason; it was THE best games mag out there, along side it's sister mag, Edge.

I'm currently an OXM susbscriber, only because I can't stand the very childish drivel in the majority of the other "kiddie" mags. OXM has some but, it's not quite as bad as the alternatives.

So, what mag should we subscribe to in this post-NextGen apocalypse?

I really don't want to cough up the $$$ for an import subscription, ala Edge.
 

Bleddyn Williams

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jun 30, 1997
Messages
984
Real Name
Bleddyn Williams
XBN is a far superior Xbox-specific mag.
Way to go, Allen. XBN is the closest magazine to the spirit of NextGen out there.

If you hate kiddyish magazines, you may also like to take a look at Play, which isn't platform-specific, and also covers anime. Its going for an older, more experienced audience.
 

Peter Manojlovich

Second Unit
Joined
Jun 30, 1997
Messages
277
XBN leaves a lot to be desired. Their reviews are some of the worst I've read. Fact is, I'm not even sure you can call them reviews at times. For example, their MVP Baseball review.

MVP Baseball 2003

For those unfamiliar with the New York Mets, the team's first baseman is named Mo Vaughn. And he is big. Very big.

Actually, not just big. Vaughn is Star Jones and Louie Anderson rolled into one. It would be easy to make fun of Vaughn's girth, so, ahem, we will. Vaughn is so fat, he ate the Big Apple. Vaughn is so fat, he thought Mike Piazza was a style of deep dish. Vaughn is so fat, Shea Stadium had to triple the size of its batter's box for his left leg.

You get the idea.

Oddly, EA Sports didn't. Although its new product, MVP Baseball 2003, is breathtakingly good when it comes to stadium detail, batting stances, facial expressions and the like, the game lacks an essential bit of realism that keeps it from elite status.

Despite the fact that Vaughn is a 6-feet, 1-inch, 290-pound bundle of immobility, in MVP Baseball 2003 he as adept a center fielder as Torii Hunter and Andruw Jones, baseball's two standard bearers at the position. Were the real Vaughn to play, say, 150 games in center for the Mets, his team--and this is no exaggeration--would go 0-150, and the man would almost certainly die of respiratory failure.

Yet here, Vaughn is superb. In a game against the Yankees, he charged in to make a sensational shoestring catch, then uncorked a bullet to nail a runner tagging up from third. Incredible? Yes. Breathtaking? Yes. Ludicrous? Uhhm ... yes.

Well, I don't know about anybody else, but I just learned absolutely nothing about the game, or why it scored just a 7 out of ten. No mention of the pitching/throwing meter, the batting interface, the specific franchise goals, the graphics or audio, presentation, menus, etc.

This isn't an isolated instance of a goof review, it's all too common in XBN. Third rate comedy in place of any substance.
 

James Zos

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 7, 2002
Messages
725
"Third rate comedy in place of any substance."

Gotta go with Peter here. Bad, bad bad bad writing seems to be sinking XBN. At least that was my impression leafing through the most recent issue at the supermarket. The constant attempts at humor would be annoying even if they were funny, which, needless to say, they aren't. Witless is more like it. They don't even seem to trying. I think the only reason some people like this magazine is because the cover layout is vaguely - I say vaguely - reminiscent of the dead-but-not-forgotten God of gaming magazines, Next Generation.
At least Future Guy in OXM is funny. Was funny. Will be funny? They seem to have gotten rid of him. Still, OXM beats XBN senseless. Not that that's anything to brag about.
 

Bleddyn Williams

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jun 30, 1997
Messages
984
Real Name
Bleddyn Williams
I think the only reason some people like this magazine is because the cover layout is vaguely - I say vaguely - reminiscent of the dead-but-not-forgotten God of gaming magazines, Next Generation.
No offence, James - but not only is this ludicrous in its simplicity, it assumes that people have no brains at all.
 

Allen_Appel

Second Unit
Joined
Dec 13, 2002
Messages
418
The fellows at Penny Arcade notwithstanding, for some reason gamers (at least journalist gamers) are incapable of writing funny. Maybe it's the absence of smilies. I've stopped reading picture captions. Writers who see captions as fertile comic soil also think Weird Al is a clever lyricist. I'll be keeping a skeptical eye towards that writer's reviews. I do like the reviews at OXM, since they tend to drop their fanboy attitude and give an honest appraisal of a game. Everything else has an air of "this is gonna be the best game ever!" False hype will do more to kill my enjoyment of a game than a wonky camera, or an unfunny review. One of the things I prefer about XBN is its far more professional design. Black text on a white page seems a hard sell with most other game magazines. The worst mag has to be Nintendo Power. They try and please both their Resident Evil and Rugrats audience, often in the same article. Keep your Pokemon fan art on the fridge, please.
 

Allen_Appel

Second Unit
Joined
Dec 13, 2002
Messages
418
At least the same XBN writer (an actual SI contributor) reviewed all four baseball games. I hate trying to match different writers' personalities and preferences to my own and figure out who likes arcadey games and who wants a true sim experience. The one-note-joke review of MVP aside, he confirms my leaning towards WSB 2K3.
 

James Zos

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 7, 2002
Messages
725
"No offense, James"

None taken, Bleddyn.I wasn't being entirely serious with that comment, and certainly won't defend it as fact.

I do, however, take issue with your assumption that there AREN'T "people who have no brains at all," because there are several individuals where I work who clearly fit into that category. They have enough basic motor skills to brush their teeth and get dressed, come to work, etc, but as far as actually thinking for themselves goes, their minds are AWOL. I do not wish to imply that any of my fellow HTF posters fit into this category, however.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
356,810
Messages
5,123,551
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top