Qore Episode 2
July 6th 2008 09:05
As many of you know, the first article on My Take/System Attic was unprofessional and sloppy and had a very “thrown together” feel to it. (And it was less than a month ago. How things change. Or do they?) In that article, the first episode of the new Playstation 3 series Qore was basically slammed, and well, rightfully so. The bang for the buck just wasn’t there. It also seemed a bit thrown together, and although it may seem hypocritical to criticize that due to the aforementioned unprofessional nature of our first article, our article was free. I mention this because the host of Qore, Veronica Belmont, commented on the article in defense of her show, and I feel the need to clarify that her comment in no way affected the objectivity of this review. In fact, if anything, it may have caused a harsher judgment in an effort to prove credibility.
Now, that’s out of the way, so here we go.
Right from the get-go in episode two, there’s an obvious increase in the amount of work put in. The biggest thing to notice is that in three of the four features, Belmont is actually present for more than just the introduction. This adds a whole new degree of entertainment to the equation. Belmont is the anchor of the whole show, and should be involved in as many aspects as possible. Game programmers and producers deserve respect for what they do, but let’s face it, they’re boring. The presence of anyone else while these guys drone on is an improvement, but Belmont, with her wit and liveliness, keeps attention from drifting during the segments. In the Resistance 2 and Silent Hill: Homecoming features, she is able to entertain us with her very human approach to the interviews, while not taking away from the information presented by the interviewees.
In the R2 feature, there’s a segment where Belmont asks to try on a mocap suit that you can’t help but smile at. In the Silent Hill feature, she has to watch a suspenseful demo of the game while openly admitting to being a “wuss”. While this segment could have gone a little more in depth with the shots of the game itself, her reactions, especially the last one, appear to be very genuine and are also worth a smile, maybe even a little giggle.
The Naruto and Madden 09 features weren’t quite as in-depth and interesting, but they were third and fourth listed in the menu probably for that reason. The downloads were all up and running this time and started with no trouble at all, as apposed to being completely unusable in the first episode. (Granted, I got there after it had been out for 10 days.) The ads between each segment are puzzling considering that the episodes aren’t free, but they are skippable after the first 10 seconds or so.
If you still think $2.99 is overkill, consider this. Your average magazine is going to cost you anywhere from $1.50 to $3 at the newsstand and around $12 to $24 annually. This is video. This is interactive. This gives you free dowloads on top of what you get in the video itself. There are hidden features to find. And how many magazines do you know that have a hot, charismatic host? This is worth what you pay for, especially if you can afford the year subscription, which saves you about 12 bones plus the free download of Calling All Cars which would set you back $9.99 normally.
The first episode should have been free. It wasn’t worth the money, but it did give you a vague idea of what you were in for. This episode showed improvement, and there’s a lot of potential in this media form. We can only hope that the effort to realize that potential doesn’t waver, but just like anything new, it all depends on how much interest the product generates, and how willing the creators are to work at generating more.
That really wasn’t very harsh at all. Well, uh, 1.7 GB is too much hard drive space! There, take that.
Now, that’s out of the way, so here we go.
Right from the get-go in episode two, there’s an obvious increase in the amount of work put in. The biggest thing to notice is that in three of the four features, Belmont is actually present for more than just the introduction. This adds a whole new degree of entertainment to the equation. Belmont is the anchor of the whole show, and should be involved in as many aspects as possible. Game programmers and producers deserve respect for what they do, but let’s face it, they’re boring. The presence of anyone else while these guys drone on is an improvement, but Belmont, with her wit and liveliness, keeps attention from drifting during the segments. In the Resistance 2 and Silent Hill: Homecoming features, she is able to entertain us with her very human approach to the interviews, while not taking away from the information presented by the interviewees.
In the R2 feature, there’s a segment where Belmont asks to try on a mocap suit that you can’t help but smile at. In the Silent Hill feature, she has to watch a suspenseful demo of the game while openly admitting to being a “wuss”. While this segment could have gone a little more in depth with the shots of the game itself, her reactions, especially the last one, appear to be very genuine and are also worth a smile, maybe even a little giggle.
The Naruto and Madden 09 features weren’t quite as in-depth and interesting, but they were third and fourth listed in the menu probably for that reason. The downloads were all up and running this time and started with no trouble at all, as apposed to being completely unusable in the first episode. (Granted, I got there after it had been out for 10 days.) The ads between each segment are puzzling considering that the episodes aren’t free, but they are skippable after the first 10 seconds or so.
If you still think $2.99 is overkill, consider this. Your average magazine is going to cost you anywhere from $1.50 to $3 at the newsstand and around $12 to $24 annually. This is video. This is interactive. This gives you free dowloads on top of what you get in the video itself. There are hidden features to find. And how many magazines do you know that have a hot, charismatic host? This is worth what you pay for, especially if you can afford the year subscription, which saves you about 12 bones plus the free download of Calling All Cars which would set you back $9.99 normally.
The first episode should have been free. It wasn’t worth the money, but it did give you a vague idea of what you were in for. This episode showed improvement, and there’s a lot of potential in this media form. We can only hope that the effort to realize that potential doesn’t waver, but just like anything new, it all depends on how much interest the product generates, and how willing the creators are to work at generating more.
That really wasn’t very harsh at all. Well, uh, 1.7 GB is too much hard drive space! There, take that.
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