Devil Blinga

I can't knock X-Play's 3/5 score for DMC4. Seeing as I liked DMC3 a hell of a lot, I would skew slightly higher, but I concede the criticism that this iteration is merely a new coat of paint and some incremental gameplay developments. The exception being, perhaps, Nero's demonic appendage, the so called Devil Bringer.

Before I delve further into these observations, I must confess I have only completed through Mission 8. I have not yet taken control of Dante, so I cannot comment on changes to his gameplay (though the prospect of switching styles on the fly is quite enticing.)

Whilst I enjoyed switching blades mid-combo in Dante's Awakening, I found myself rarely swapping firearms in the heat of battle for any practical purpose. None of the options really compared to the twin pistols, and the decelerating effect their fire had on descent was a crucial component of my evasion and regrouping. This said, predictably I am not opposed to being equipped with the Red Queen (sword) and Blue Rose (revolver) for the entirety of Nero's play time. The Queen's Rev Guage adds a lot of depth here, allowing for modified versions of Nero's special sword commands, known as Exceed Attacks.

I really have to say here, though, the Exceed System is not very original. Order Sol (from GGXX/ and GGXX^C) and his Charge ability functions almost exactly the same way in both its three tiered enhancement of special moves and the methods by which one can build up charge. But, c'est la vie.

But this gun and sword dichotomy, immediately familiar from the last game, is fundamentally altered by the addition of the Devil Bringer, which is implemented for Snatching enemies from a distance to begin or continue combos, or to deal damage with an enemy-specific throw. This throw, called the Buster, can also be enhanced by the Devil Trigger transformation, and this combination can inflict even more punishment and has its own unique animations for each enemy (including bosses).

And so far, yes, DMC4 has been a bit of a Bossathon, keeping with Capcom's penchant for boss fights. So far I've liked these encounters, and found the design and implementation to be superior to the last iteration. Barring any shortcomings in the rest of the campaign, I should be poised to review this game quite favorably in the near future.

Fighting Stanzas: The Aerial Projectile

	Striking from safety A videogame tactic Midair projectiles
	Fiery Mario Eight bit plumber's final form Hammer brothers' bane
	Air cutting surge fist Gouki's Zankuu Hadouken See, Street Fighter, too
	Float while bullets rain Dante's rapid fire descent Teh third dimension
	Guilty Gear's princess Creative delayed assault Dizzy's bubbles - Pop!
	Best valor discrete Advantageous strategy This death from above

DMC4 4 360?! OH NOES!

In a press release yesterday, Capcom announced that the next installment of their popular Devil May Cry series will not be exclusive to the PS3, as many people had speculated, but will instead be released simultaneously on the PS3, XBox 360, and PC.

After my surprise wore off, I channeled Martha Stewart and decided this is "a good thing."

A million years ago, I commented on this same phenomenon when someone reported that MGS4 would see an XBox 360 port. As far as I know, MGS4 on the 360 remains unconfirmed, but that could change at any time and I wouldn't be surprised if it did. Remember that MGS2 came to the XBox and the PC in addition to the PS2. The MGS4 "news" was hot on the heels of the announcement that Assassin's Creed, once touted as a PS3 exclusive, would be shared with the 360.

Those items weren't too alarming, though; MGS4 360 was an unconfirmed rumor, and Assassin's Creed, though a hot topic, is an untried original IP. It could turn out to be terrible for all we know (for the record, it won't; it's going to be OMG teh awesome). The PS3's sterling lineup of third-party exclusives was dwindling from the original robust list, but it still had Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII; Metal Gear Solid 4; and . . . Devil May Cry 4.

Let's assume we've reached an age in which the third-party exclusive is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Why is this bad? I still get to play DMC4, MGS4, Assassin's Creed, and every other game that has been announced for PS3 so far. Nothing has been taken away from the PS3; they've just been added to the 360 as well. I haven't lost anything, and I'm not meanspirited enough to begrudge anyone else these great games. And conversely, I'm looking forward to XBox 360's Enchanted Arms and Oblivion porting to the PS3 so that I can play them, and hoping that Eternal Sonata and Dead Rising will follow suit.

More titles on more platforms is good for consumers. Every dollar that Sony spends paying a developer to keep a title exclusive to the PS3 is a dollar Sony isn't spending elsewhere---like on its first-party titles, its Playstation Home network, or on a much-needed new PR campaign. When developers sell more copies of their games, they get a return of more dollars to spend on making more games. If there are 2 million PS3s out there worldwide and 11 million 360s (I made up those numbers), it doesn't make sense for any third-party developer to keep a game exclusive to one console or the other unless they have a good reason to do so---a good reason might be, for instance, that the requirements of the game don't mesh with the capabilities of one system (a game that needs rumble is going to the 360; a game that needs motion controls is going to go to the PS3 or Wii). If going multiplatform gives you at least 2 million more potential customers, why not?

It is possible to access the total sales figures for 360 and PS3 consoles, but we don't really know how many 360s are out there due to well-documented hardware defects, and we don't know how many homes that have PS3s also have 360s. Those data would be helpful in figuring out how much of a market is out there for 360 exclusives, PS3 exclusives, and multiplatform titles.

There has been speculation that FFXIII will go the way of DMC4 and jump ship as well. All things are possible, but I don't think FFXIII is going anywhere. People have been pointing to SquareEnix's recent licensing of Unreal Engine 3, an engine known for its crossplatform portability. However, SquareEnix has confirmed that their proprietary White Engine is being used for FFXIII, and that they will continue to use the White Engine for SE games that are going to remain exclusive to the Sony console. I imagine that it's a bit too late for them now to scrap the White Engine build and move to Unreal Engine for this title (though I could be wrong). FFXIV may turn up on multiple platforms, but I think FFXIII is likely to stay put.

If we as console owners need to feel elite, there are still the first-party titles to consider. I will feel a twinge of pity for 360-instead-of-PS3 owners who won't get to experience Heavenly Sword, Lair, Gran Turismo, LittleBigPlanet, KillZone, and White Knight Story---all first party titles being published by and for Sony and only Sony. I'm sure the 360 owners feel that same twinge of pity for those of us who will never get to play Blue Dragon, Crackdown, Halo, and Gears of War---some of Microsoft's AAA first-party exclusives.

This situation is not going to sink the PS3; it's going to push Sony to develop more and better first-party titles so that they can sell more PS3s and secure more third-party exclusives. Microsoft, in turn, will push their first-party properties to the limits for the same reason. Then everybody wins.