Saturday, June 7, 2008

Sony Doesn't Need U to Spell Qore

So I said I'd give Qore a shot so I did. Here's a run-down of the content:

  1. The Incredible Hulk Trailer (pre-menu, skippable)
  2. Intro by host Veronica Belmont (pre-menu, skippable)
  3. SOCOM Confrontation (from menu)
    • Weaksauce marketing-speech intro by Belmont (pre-menu, skippable)
    • commercial for MGS4 in a tiny window-box (pre-menu, skippable)
    • "The Ultimate Team" featurette (from menu) - I felt like I'd seen it before, the in-game footage was not new to me.
    • SOCOM Gallery - images from gameplay, concept art, etc.
    • SOCOM theme (triggered short commercial for Burger King) - opened up a download center showing the beta (currently unavailable), SOCOM theme, and Calling All Cars (Qore year-subscription bonus)
  4. Soul Calibur IV / Afro Samurai - opens up a submenu, choosing Soul Calibur IV triggered a short commercial.
    • "A Fighting Game With Soul" featurette (from Soul Calibur IV menu) - no idea if the footage is new or not, looks good though.
    • "Out For Justice" featurette (from Afro Samurai menu) - it looks good (dunno if it's new)
  5. Secret Agent Clank (triggered short commercial)
    • "Gadgetry of Robot" featurette
    • "Sneak Clank" featurette
    • "Gadgets and More" gallery
  6. Star Wars: Force Unleased
    • Another weaksauce Blemont intro (skippable) (triggered short commercial)
    • "This Ain't Yoda's Force" featurette - cool footage (dunno if it's new)
    • "Explore the Galaxy" featurette - more good footage (a few repeats from other featurette)
    • "The Rancor Battle" - video of a jedi fighting a Rancor beast; it looked in-engine but not actual gameplay
    • Graphic Novel - teaser of The Force Unleased graphic novel
    • Game Art Gallery
    • Darth Katers - spoof of casting (did not watch)
  7. What's Hot (triggers The Incredible Hulk trailer)
  8. Download Center - same as in SOCOM menu

My overall impression of the premiere "issue" is that, video-wise, it doesn't have anything more in-depth or better than you could find on a site like Gametrailers and may have the same content- and with less commercial interruptions! The key then is the extras: entry into the SOCOM beta and a SOCOM theme. Are both of these absolutely exclusive to ? It's possible but I don't think so. Therefore, as if this episode, I can't say it was really worth the cash.

I would have thought Sony would have put their strongest stuff in this "issue", start things off with a bang, but if they tried they did not succeed. And I've already had enough of Veronica Belmont. I think I'll change her name to Insta-Skip. Maybe they'll do better next month but, as the saying (and deodorant commercials go), you only get one first impression. Qore failed to impress.