The fact that sometimes we run through the office screaming "Jason! Jason! Jason!" at each other is testimony to the fact that Heavy Rain is an influential game. We're big fans of it around here, so we were excited to test it out with PlayStation Move integration.

Heavy Rain creator David Cage has gone on record saying that there probably won't be any more DLC because the team has been tapped to do Move support. Now, finally, we get to see the fruits of their labor.

Since Heavy Rain is a game based on quick time events, it seems a natural fit for the PlayStation Move. While most Move games want you to jump around the living room, Heavy Rain invites you to sit in a chair. It's a nice change of pace from all that standing up. As to how Move is integrated into the game, it's pretty seamless. For some actions, the motion controller is held horizontally and for others, vertically. Then you are instructed with arrows how to move the controller to make the player do what they need to do. Occasionally, you will need to hit the trigger or another button. Heavy Rain was also one of the only games we saw that used the navigation controller, which is what you use to walk around.

The fun part comes when you have to string the actions together. It can take some time to figure it out, but once you do, it does add to the experience. The trick is not to over think it. If you're trying to open the refrigerator door, act like you're opening a fridge door. Don't get too wrapped up in what's happening on the screen. The beauty of the Move is that you can actually do the motion and it will work.

While Move does definitely add to the experience, it's not an overwhelming endorsement. Most people who had played Heavy Rain who got their hands on the Move version thought it was cool and all, but it couldn't hold their attention for another playthrough. Basically, if you've never played Heavy Rain or you're looking to play it again, try it with Move. If you've already played it, the Move stuff is cool, but it's not enough to justify checking the game out again.

Sony is hoping to release the Move patch for Heavy Rain before Christmas.

I love Tiger Woods. And I love golf. I’ve been playing both for a long, long time, and when I heard that EA would be integrating PlayStation Move controls into Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, I was very much looking forward to playing a game that showed my one-to-one prowess with the sticks.

So, you can imagine my disappointment when I played the game and realized that the end result is more complicated than playing traditional Tiger Woods or actually golf. I was so frustrated that I wanted to break my imaginary driver over my knee and spend the rest of the day at the 19th Hole, drowning my sorrows in a bucket of whiskey.

This frustration comes from the control scheme being way too complicated, making it almost impossible to play. The way you need to use the Move controller to calibrate your shot location and distance, especially when it comes to putting, is screamworthy. For a game that is so detail-oriented, having to trust motion control to locate a putt, for example, can take you minutes of time, and end with you just putting out of frustration in an effort to try and end the game faster at any cost. Power, too, is a point of frustration, in that you can practically tear your rotator cuff trying to get power behind your shot and end up with a 41%, but then take a lax attitude toward the next shot, and hit it at 100%, seemingly without any rhyme or reason.
 
This is not to say that there aren’t impressive things about the game. Turning your wrists to open and close the club face can be really helpful to play into a natural hook or slice you might have, and the ball will definitely respond to foibles in your swing. The presentation is gorgeous, as always with the Tiger Woods games.
 
There’s a great version of Tiger Woods to be made for the Move, I just know it. Perhaps once they have some time with the hardware, and can develop a game from square one with that in mind, it will emerge. This, sadly, just isn’t it.

It's odd that in 2010, almost four years after the launch of the Wii, the motion control wars are finally heating up. The continued success of the Wii has pushed Microsoft and Sony to answer, and Sony is swinging first on September 17th with the release of the PlayStation Move.

Move featured prominently into Sony's lineup at this year's E3, but that was just a taste. Now with the release looming, we've been able to spend some quality time with the hardware and are ready to talk about what it's like to use in the wild.

This Changes Everything?

There's been a lot of skepticism about the very concept of the Move. To be frank, in concept, it's very similar to the Wii. Move consists of a motion controller with a glowing orb on the end and a wireless navigation controller with an analog stick and d-pad on it. The two controllers work in conjunction with the already available PlayStation Eye to deliver a one-to-one motion control experience.

The Wii is only able to track your movement based on the controller's previous position, but because of the way Move was designed, it's able to assign the controller a position in actual 3D space. Unfortunately, the way that technological advancement translates to the gaming experience is subtle and will probably only be obvious to the serious connoisseur. While it's awfully cool that the Move can make it look like you are actually holding an object, the other advantages are far more negligible.

The first thing you'll notice about the Move is that less is more. With the Wii, you find yourself making a lot of small, sudden motions. Using the Move, you quickly realize that you need to follow through on everything just like you would in real life. Sometimes, a slower, but more realistic reaction to something on the screen works best, even though we've been trained to react with short bursts. This is really where the Move excels. What you're doing feels more natural and not a marginalized version of the actual activity. That is when the Move works like it's supposed to.


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Mo' Tech, Mo' Problems

At the heart of any motion control technology is the ability to sense the player's motion, which is inherently going to present a problem, especially if you don't have optimal playing conditions. One of the things we were eager to test out was the Move's responsiveness in our office, outside of the carefully orchestrated environment of an official demo. When we could get Move to calibrate correctly (something you will become intimately familiar with as a Move owner), it worked like a freakin' charm; however, there were many instances when we could not get the motion controllers to be recognized by the PlayStation Eye, even after repeated attempts, despite being right in front of it.

If you decide to invest in Move, you're going to have to spend some time fooling around with the positioning of the camera and yourself in order to find the optimal arrangement for your situation. More than a few times, we were able to calibrate correctly, but when we went to play the game and actually do the motions, even moving a tiny bit put the controller "out of range." Sometimes your controller will be out of range, but the game you're playing won't tell you. The result of this is, of course, is your avatar standing like a wet noodle on the screen. Boo.

It's too early to tell yet if this is a limitation of the Move itself or if this is a result of the software. I'm inclined to give Move the benefit of the doubt and say that since this is new tech, developers aren't too familiar with it and as they get used to it, this will become less of a problem. We'll keep an eye on this as other titles are released.


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De Games, Boss! De Games!

Finally, we have to think about what will be available if you're an early adopter of Move and it's not much. The games we got our hands on as a part of this review of Move were less than impressive. Sports Champions and Tumble were the two standouts; however, games like Start the Party! and Kung Fu Rider were almost so bad they hurt our feelings.

Right now, the only confirmed launch titles are Sports Champions, Start the Party! and Kung Fu Rider. Sports Champions, which is included with the Move bundle, is the most impressive of the three; however, there's not much that makes it a special experience. It's a hardcore, but sterile, sports experience. (Click here to read our full review.) It does showcase the potential of the Move and that is a step in the right direction.

On the other side of the coin, Kung Fu Rider sounds like it should be fun, but the Move controls become unnerving once you get past the basic levels. (Click here to read our full review). Start The Party! is in a class all of its own and will appeal to few, if anyone at all. (Click here to read our full review).

Unfortunately Tumble, a downloadable PSN game we really enjoyed (Click here to read our full review), has not been confirmed for launch. Keep your fingers crossed, but even if it is available day one, it will not be enough to boost the Move into must-buy status.

If Sony fanboys were clamoring for motion controls (and, were they?), then it wasn't for use with lackluster titles. It's going to be awhile before we see any meaty games that take advantage of the Move's potential and appeal to hardcore gamers.


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Good in a Glow Stick Emergency

Our final verdict is that Move is an interesting, compelling technology that has some launch day issues and most important, a weak catalog of games to support it on release. What Sony's got cooking at launch is enough to keep you entertained for minutes, no hours. Unless you are a big fan of motion controls and have been dying to have them on a console with more horsepower and in HD, you might want to sit tight and wait to see what happens with Move. Or at least, wait until there's a compelling game to make you try your hand at it.

The Belmont clan has a long history of hunting both demons and Draculas with fiery whips or cursed crosses, and so does our own Matt Cabral. With that in mind, it's hardly surprising that Matt rose to the challenge posed by Castlevania: Lords of Shadow in our latest set of impressions from the Kojima-developed, 3D action title.

"Co-developed by MercurySteam and Kojima Productions, LoS is Konami’s latest attempt to bring the series -- previously defined by its classic 2D entries -- into the third dimension. It’s a full-on, current-gen, console-pushing, third-person action/adventure in the vein of 3D juggernaut God of War. So anyone expecting to side-scroll through static backdrops while dodging floating Medusa heads are in for a surprise."

Grab your garlic and your bottle of holy water before vanquishing our preview of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow right here.

Jake Gaskill got a chance to play Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Ninja Theory's multi-platform followup to Heavenly Sword, recently, and he's very impressed with the game. Here's a small taste of Jake's impressions:

"Each time I see a little bit more of Enslaved, I say exactly the same thing, 'I can’t wait to see more.' There’s just so much character and craft put into the world and its inhabitants that you can’t help but be completely drawn in by them, and the dichotomy of Monkey and Trip is just fantastic. I know I say it every time, but I can’t wait to see more of this supremely promising title."

Check out the rest of our Enslaved: Odyssey to the West preview right here.

Since Metroid: Other M has a dramatic new storyline for Samus and a contentious new control scheme, some gamers don't know if they should buy, rent, or pass on the game. So I'm here to show you actual gamplay to better educate you about the game. Get ready to scan your environment, charge up your beam, and arm your bombs as you watch the first 15 minutes of Metroid: Other M. And don't forget to leave your responses on what you saw in the comments section. Informed discussion is always a good thing.

ArenaNet has been generating quite a bit of buzz with their continually attention grabbing sequel Guild Wars 2, and during Gamescom 2010, Kevin Kelly had a chance to spend a little hands-on time with the game. One of the game’s more compelling aspects is its character biography system, which Kevin had this to say about:

“Building a character in Guild Wars 2 is an extremely creative process, and one that looks to create an entire backstory instead of just letting you pick a race, class, and color of your ponytail. There's a sort of Mad Libs presentation where you pick and choose your entire background. For instance, the game will prompt you ‘I was raised ...’ and your choices might be ‘by commoners,’ or ‘among the working class,’ or ‘as a member of the nobility.’ and so on.”

Read Kevin’s full Guild Wars 2 hands-on preview here.

It's a well-documented phenomenon in the game news industry that secret information gets leaked fairly regularly. It's almost unavoidable. But why is that not the case with other media coverage? It seems to be most prevalent when it comes to gaming blogs and game publishers. Such is the topic of this week's Sessler's Soapbox. Adam talks about how he sees the leaks as a result of the exclusivity deals that media outlets make, therefore creating a culture of "we got it first" amongst the outlets. But let the Sess explain it for himself.

Subscribe to G4's WEB SHOWS Video Podcast:

Featuring an ultra wide angle lenses with a compact size, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 is a hybrid of high quality and features. Chris Hardwick and Alison Haislip review its Intelligent Resolution Technology, geo-tagging ability and HD video recording in this $270 camera.

Find the full review from Gadget Pron on Attack of the Show after the cut.

What You Need to Know

• The camera is a little bulkier than we would have liked at about 1.5” thick.
• It’s about twice as heavy as a typical cell phone.
• It'll fit in your pocket, but just barely.
• It looks a bit complicated with a ton of buttons, but all the buttons are very tactile and self-explanatory.
• The menu system is straight-forward.
• Manual controls are easy to use.
• The camera also has a 12x optical zoom, GPS to geo-tag your photos, and it records 720p video.
• 12x optical zoom is awesome to have on a camera this small; the optical image stabilization also helps when you're all the way zoomed in.
• The GPS is also fun to have, and you can play back photos by location; if you leave it on, though, it will drain the battery fast.
• Video quality is good, and it'll record in AVCHD or Motion Jpeg formats for easier editing on a computer.
• Normal light photos look really great; colors are accurate, there's a lot of contrast, detail abounds and there's also little to no noise.
• As for low light, the flash tends to under-expose making everything a little dark (that's better than being over-exposed, but it's still not as good as we wanted).
• The features and photo quality are really good, which makes it a solid step up from a point-and-shoot.

Price

• $270

Overall Rating

• 4 Seals of Approval Out of 5 (How do we rate gadgets?)

Want something reviewed on Gadget Pr0n? Email us your suggestions to gadgetpron@g4tv.com.

If you played Wil Wright's Spore, you may have been disapointed with the game's lack of actual gaming -- it's more like a toy, actually. But Darkspore promises more, including 4-player co-op. While the game is playable as a single, the best experience is for groups.

"The game really shines in co-op," explains Darkspore's gameplay engineer Michael Arsers. "You get bigger challenge, and the abilities combo together really well, so you can have one guy throw down a root, and another gut throw out an AOE."

Sounds interesting...and when you find out that Left 4 Dead's AI director helped with this game, it sounds like a must-have. Check out the interview below.

Bright free-thinkers like you don't need to be told that Around the Net is awesome. You already know that ATN, with its rap songs about serving cold drinks, roof jump nut shots and rope swing calamities, is the most entertaining thing around. You're so smart... and also attractive.

Find the direct video links from Around the Net on Attack of the Show after the jump.

• Pole Dance Fail
• The Onion: Are Tests Biased?
• Wendy's Cold Drinks
• Wendy's Hot Drinks
• Rope Swing Calamity
• Roof Jump Nut Shot

G4's Kevin "Use the Force!" Kelly recently got his hands on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2, and was very impressed with the game's dual lighsabers, specifically, the weapons' ability to slice off enemies' arms and heads.

"I cannot tell you exactly how satisfying this is, but let's just say the word extremely comes close. Doing this leaves an orange, smoldering hole behind, and I know that Lucas was probably suffering from the same misguided thought that Spielberg had when he erased guns from the hands of agents in E.T., but this is precisely what you expect when you swing a coherent beam of light at a thinly-armored Stormtrooper"

Check out the rest of our Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 preview right here.

If you're a gamer who has a Mac, there just aren't a whole lot of options for you. Sorry, fellas. But I have good news for you: You can buy and play Dragon Age: Origins Awakening, Dragon Age's first piece of DLC, on your tooti-fruity fake computer.

In the add-on, players take on the role of Grey Warden Commander as they rebuild the order, resolve conflicts with "The Architect", and decide the fate of the darkspawn. Awakenings features an expanded world, five new potential party members, and a range of new creatures to battle.

It will cost you $29.95, and you can download it now.

Microsoft is following up their second annual Xbox Live Summer of Arcade with the newly announced Game Feast, another game-packed promotional celebration of the downloadable arts, which will last from September 29 through October 20.

The feast-o-gaming schedule, as laid out by Microsoft’s Major Nelson, is as follows:

• September 29: Hydrophobia, 1200 Microsoft Points
• October 6: Comic Jumper, 1200 Microsoft Points
• October 13: Pinball FX 2, Tables purchased individually, free import from original Pinball FX
• October 20: Super Meat Boy, Pricing TBD

Not a bad lineup at all, but I’m particularly excited about Twisted Pixel’s mad looking Splosion Man follow up, Comic Jumper. When it comes to quirky, stylish, and inventive design, those folks seriously have their splosion together.

I’m actually pretty intrigued by all these titles, so color me excited for Game Feast. What say you?

Source: Major Nelson

Should the need arise, feel free to E-Mail me your tips, suggestions, and/or personal philosophies, or follow me on Twitter.

Our digital camera reviews on Gadget Pr0n continue on tonight's Attack of the Show, where Chris Hardwick and Alison Haislip take a look at the Nikon Coolpix S4000 for its compact design, 12 megapixel pictures and HD video recording for those looking to upgrade their point-and-shoot cameras.

On The Loop, Chris will also address the rumors swirling around Apple's annual September media event taking place tomorrow, whether there will be groundbreaking announcements for iTunes, a new iPod Touch or more. What do you expect Steve Jobs will reveal? Find out what we think tonight at 7:00P ET!

The developers at NetheRealm Studios are doing their damndest to make sure their brutal, bloody reboot Mortal Kombat is…well, as brutal, bloody, and mature as possible so as to truly be the “love letter to the fans” that its creators are hoping it to be. And to do this, the team had to take the series back to its arcade roots.

“Going from a 3D environment to a 2D fighting plane,” senior producer Hans Lo told us during Gamescom 2010, “has freed up our ability to really push the graphics, push the limits of the processors to focus on things like shaders, texture maps, lighting, cloth effects; and if you focus in on some of the characters, and you look closely, you can actually tell, ‘Oh, his vest is made of leather. I can totally tell that.’ Or, ‘She’s wearing light, linen pants.’ It really gets down there.”

Find out more about what’s new and improved in Mortal Kombat in our full interview below:

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Hey, TheFeed reader. Have you played Metroid: Other M?

The Wii game is Feedback's game of the week, and we're looking for opinions, both pro and con, to discuss during this week's show. So leave your comment in the comment field below, if you've actually played the game.

We're shooting Feedback at around noon Pacific time, so the faster you leave your comment, the better.

Just a friendly reminder for you downloadable content fiends out there: Minerva’s Den, the single-player narrative-driven DLC for 2K Marin’s BioShock 2, which also happens to be the final bit of DLC for the game, is now available on PlayStation Network ($9.99) and Xbox Live Marketplace (800 Microsoft Points).

But that's not all.

Anyone looking to get some preliminary zombie slaying practice in before jumping whole (infected) hog into Capcom’s upcoming Dead Rising 2 will definitely want to check out the Xbox 360 exclusive downloadable prequel Dead Rising 2: Case Zero (400 MSP). Check out our review if you need help deciding whether to give it a go or not.

And if you're in the mood for some manic, sci-fi, robo-action, then you might want to try out the newly released demo for PlatinumGames' Vanquish, which is also out now on PSN and Xbox Live.

Anyone had a chance to check out any of these varying types of DLC yet? Care to recommend any of them?

Should the need arise, feel free to E-Mail me your tips, suggestions, and/or personal philosophies, or follow me on Twitter.
 

In the video you see below, Diablo 3's Game Director Jay Wilson goes way in-depth about one of D3's new features, Artisans. These helpful craftmen help heroes by creating new enchantments, weapons and items. Each Artisan will be able to specialize in different disciplines, so if you need a huge, killer axe, just put your points into that tree. Awesome.

Diablo 3 also takes care of those "useless" magic items players find along the way. "We wanted to find a way to give the player more options for all the items they get they don't want," Wilson says. "So you can use a cube-like device that we added to the game to take your items and break them down into essentially the raw materials of making magic items, and then you can recycle the raw materials in crafting."

[Update 9:24 AM:] The controller is official. Major Nelson announced it. In addition to the new d-pad, the matte silver controller also features concave analog sticks and gray A,B,X,Y buttons "for added style." It will be out in the U.S. on November 9, for $64.99.

Here's a video of how it will work:

[Original Story] Video game blog Joystiq is reporting that Microsoft is planning to release a revamped 360 controller with an important change: The D-Pad will be retooled so you have the option of raising it a quarter of an inch. The change is apparently targeted toward games that require D-Pad precision, specifically, fighting games. Reportedly, the new controllers will be on the market by Christmas.

My question: Is this a welcome change, or are there other modifications that you'd rather see for the Microsoft controller? Personally, an easier-to-maneuver D-Pad is a welcome change, but I'm not sure it would warrant running out and purchasing a new joystick on launch day. I don't play a lot of fighting games, and usually use the D-Pad for switching weapons/checking the map. What about you?

Source: Joystiq