Mercenaries 2 Follow-up
How bout that, Mercenaries 2 is out! In its opening week gamasutra reported that it was on top of sales for both PS3/360 in the UK and third/second in the US. I didn’t see the PC/PS2 versions in the top 5 listings but I’m not sure if those games are out yet. It’ll be interesting to see how the sales numbers progress into a month with some potential heavy hitters. Attentions are likely to be focused on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed but I see Spore, Brothers in Arms and Rock Band 2 as potential distractions. As of today, the game has a metacritic weighted score of 74 with 37 reviews listed. The TV ad seems to have created the biggest impact for the game’s marketing. The youtube version of the Ad has spawned about 3 million views including re-posts, remixes and making-of’s.
3 player co-op?
As for the game itself, the consensus seems to be “fun but greatly lacking in polish”. In Tuesdays gamers with jobs podcast, Ken Levine (Bioshock director) emphasized Mercs2’s need for a few more months in the oven. Then, Geoff and I found some hidden fun while playing co-op. The “unintended feature” we stumbled upon manifests itself when you have Ewan deliver a helicopter to your location and you destroy the helicopter at just the right time, instead of fading into the distance, Ewan becomes your AI buddy. Ewan looks hilarious when he runs and responds to honking vehicle horns. Ewan requires a lot of babysitting for someone in godmode. Eventually we stopped caring about our mission at all and spent our time collecting Ewans.
My thoughts. To be added at a later date.
Related Links:
Mercenaries 2 Tops UK Charts [gamasutra]
Mercenaries 2 Reviews [metacritic]
Mercs 2 Co-op Developer Achievement
It’s finally real: a box, a manual, xbox live, tv commercials, in game ads, a players guide, posters and a gas station.. rad. Playing online last night, I got a little insight from looking at our leader boards: roughly 2000 scores had been uploaded by 9pm and 3 users had already uploaded billionare scores, holy crap! And three days before the game is even out, that’s diehard. I imagine the smaller retailers regularly try to gain an edge by breaking their street dates. Though, I wonder what people think about the game’s releases being on a Sunday before Labor day.
For anyone planning on picking up Mercs (officially available Aug 31st), I may have a present for you. Xbox Live is holding a special ‘play with developers’ session where a dozen or so Mercs developers will be playing co-op with joe public. Anyone lucky enough to play with us will be among the first to add our viral achievements to their gamercard and can subsequently spread that achievement to their friends. The play session will be going on between 9/5/08 – 9/13/08. As we get closer to that time, I’ll post up some more information.
The time is here, but my Xbox Live friends list is full! If anyone reads this and wants to snag some achievement points and/or talk to a mercs2 developer just leave a comment with your gamertag and I’ll add you.
Links:
Mercs2 Gas Giveaway [1up]
Mercs 2 Commercial [and youtube remixes]
Oh no you didn’t.
RE: Mercs 2 TV ad is out
From: Chu, Courtney
AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!PEOPLE ARE SINGING IT UP HERE!!!
Hey guess what Court, this video is about to eclipse 200,000 views. Oh no I didn’t!. Yeah, I’ll admit laughing at this ad when I saw it in animatic form but, as soon I saw it in it’s fully rendered glory I knew we had a spicy meatball. And now look, the most annoying feature of the video now has become so requested they made a special MP3 for it. Brilliant. Kudos to the agency and the name of the production house whose name escapes me.
Another song by the Wojahn Brothers [creators of the 'oh no you didn't song']
Mercenaries Ad Production Company
The YouTube remixes are pouring in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K8Cqkf-gyU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us4vOdTvoxY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CS-bD6jddw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcVEugAvS14
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1NwHYf7fUM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1rxvkcsOqk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dImgzKXHdA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_-JC7JSlLo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xidGNs3SWg