So there I was, waiting impatiently to see this big reveal for Black Ops 2 game from TreyArch and I must admit I should have just done the dishes or something a little more productive than waste that 2 minute segment of my life. Frankly, I am full of sarcasm and cynicism towards this reveal (if you haven’t already noticed).
It’s not that I don’t want the world to have a new Call of Duty title every year. Well, maybe a little bit of that. I just don’t feel it necessarily for two teams to pray on the same consumers in segmented time-frames in order to consistently have a product at or near the top of everyone’s mind. This defeats the purpose or creating these games. Even at a split release schedule, that’s a new title every two years. It takes more than two years to even create a decent blockbuster these days! How can you be making the best game you can possibly make on a fraction of the average dev cycle?
As I watched the trailer for BlopsDeuce I couldn’t wrap my head around what seemed so familiar….
HOLY COW! Now I see it!
Oh....My.....tits.......
*slow clap* Way to go Treyarch. The only major difference I see in Blops2 is that they’re attempting the future war setting with far less conviction than Ubisoft’s GRFS. So there you have it folks. If you want to play a first person, slightly less well done version of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier then run down to your game stop and pre-order BlopsDeuce. Don’t forget to say Baaaah.
Along with a new protagonist and a new reason to fight, Prototype 2 is giving us a lot more additions to what was a very original and terrifyingly fun original concept.
As the game’s all-new infected protagonist, players will experience Sgt James Heller cutting a bloody swathe through the wastelands of post-viral New York Zero. Equipped with unparalleled new shapeshifting powers,players will gradually build a vast genetic arsenal of deadly new biological weapons and abilities as they hunt, kill and consume their way toward the ultimate goal – to kill…Alex…Mercer!
Are you ready to murder your maker?
The new “hero” James Heller, has the ability to control infected. Dubbed as a mix between “Warlock” and “Shapeshifter”. Check out the new dev diary.
Here is the trailer for the Collectors Edition of the game. Out 04/24/12
Without trying to sound too much like a carnival hawker, I need you all to step right up and watch something for a couple of minutes (video credit goes to gamespot).
I…I have too many emotions running through me right now to properly convey them all. I knew Star Wars Kinect probably wasn’t going to come out and set the industry on fire, in fact with all the terrible previews it’s previously had, and the fact that developer Terminal Reality had gone completely dark made me all but certain it was going to be something gag-reflexive, but I wasn’t expecting that.
Right out of the gate, I need to state this isn’t any kind of review, more an indignant editorial; I don’t own a Kinect and with the exception of a couple conventions and events I haven’t really gotten my hands on the technology proper, so I haven’t been able to shake my thang in front of the Kinect’s non-judgemental triclopyian eyes with Star Wars Kinect. I think that last video has given me the gist, however.
Like the title says, up until very recently I wasn’t even sure what Star Wars Kinect was about. I envisioned pantomime lightsaber duels and dodging blaster fire (which I suppose can also be in there), but I wasn’t expecting a painful and blatant Dance Central rip-off minigame. That realization certainly came out of left field.
What truly bothers me isn’t in having to watch some of my favourite childhood characters being trotted out like kidnap victims as they’re sold into sex slavery, since to be honest that’s something I’ve come to expect from the Star Wars franchise. Rather, it’s in how you can almost hear the throwing up of arms and exclamations of “Fuck it, just make a dancing mini-game!” that were almost certainly uttered over at Terminal Reality. This is what’s become of the Microsoft Kinect, and worse this is what we’ve come to expect of the Microsoft Kinect.
A year and a half ago the gaming industry was drowning in exclamations over how the Kinect was going to bridge the gap between casual and hardcore, make games previously thought to be impossible possible, and overall change the way we look at video games. Today, you can imitate Han Solo doing the sprinkler to “Just the Way You Are”.
It isn’t that there’s nothing out there for the Kinect, as titles like Gunstringer and Child of Eden, plus the upcoming Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor, have shown that with the proper coaxing you can do some truly interesting, outside-the-box things on Kinect. But for every diamond title there are, by my count, 725 mini-game collections or dancing games. It’s apparently all that developers think the Kinect is good for, or even really capable of doing. Even a game that has absolutely no right to do so like Star Wars Kinect, which could have potentially been the title that appealed to both casual gamers and the nerdy, Star Wars-loving crew so often synonymous with gaming.
There’s scant little separating this rant from just another “Oh look someone’s angry on the internet about video games” nonsense, but I just wish that developers who’ve decided to make a Kinect title wouldn’t just see it as a Wii-esque casual game cash-grab, or that Microsoft would put their foot down, and make a statement to developers by saying they can’t just make another mini-game grab bag or Dance Central rip-off, even if it has Darth Vader in it.
As it stands this deluge of bad games has soured many customers on the entire prospect of Kinect, and while I haven’t seen the sales statistics lately for the Kinect or its titles (who knows, maybe these bad titles are all blazing sellers), I hope that these negative trends are showing in sales. It’s really the only way anything will change.
Star Wars Kinect is now available at all major retailers; you probably shouldn’t buy it.
In the age of digital distribution and online publications, Youtube television has become a “thing”.
Recently announced, Felicia Day and other celebrity geeks have gathered together to bring viewers an entire line-up of awesome indie TV shows. I am rather excited. Shows include playing table-top games with Wil Wheaton, Learning things with Paul & Storm, and even stories created by small children who have yet to be tainted by the social and economical poison that comes with adolescence.
Channel tag line:
The producers of “The Guild” bring you a diverse line-up featuring the very best of indie geek culture!
I hope that this awesome channel will bring to fruition another group of people making this level of programming for us internet friendly geeks. Please subscribe to the channel. Catch the new content coming in on April 2nd.
Today, High Moon Studios released two new videos for Transformers FoC. The first is a gameplay footage trailer that simplifies the story behind the upcoming title. We’ve all seen the massive underdog success of the original Transformers title developed by High Moon, and the hype behind their sophomore game will be high. Maybe too high.
I’ll leave that speculation donut for you to indulge in. The Fall of Cybertron sees the autobots fight to save their planet from Megatron and their evil! The debut gameplay trailer excites every nerve in a Transformer fan. Now watch it.
Our World – Gameplay Trailer
The second video is a great making of feature designed to give viewers a peek inside the development process of FoC. Giving some personal opinions from the devs about the world and expectations being set for the game.
FoC – Making Of
What do you think of the trailers? Everything looks so exciting! I really hope that they continue to grow in their gameplay. The “open combat” seems legit and the constriction of choices in combat was the only criticism I had for the original.
Everyone knows that a lot is riding on Rockstar Vancouver’s attempt to make Max Payne relevent again. So far, I think they have succeeded in hanging the gaming industry on a string and playing around with our hearts. There have been a few “changes” to Payne that caught us off guard, and a lot of things that play to the love of the originals.
Now, Rockstar is debuting the online multiplayer for the upcoming title. Here is the trailer.
What do you think? Worth it? Discuss in the comments.
We are all anxiously awaiting the arrival of the first above ground Bioshock experience, and there isn’t any short of reasons as to why. Irrational Games has released a few featurettes that highlight some of their larger enemies mixed throughout the game. Finally straying away from big daddys and turning out a handful of creative and unique flavors for battle.
Here is the featurette on the Siren (concept image above)
What do you think of the new baddie? Discuss in the comments below!
Today, Ubisoft announced the contents of the upcoming special editions of Assassin’s Creed III (due out in October). The next game in the franchise looks to take the players into the lives of a Native American Assassin, set during the American revolution. A lot of people immediately condemned AC3 at the first sight of their new locale, but I on the other hand am very excited for it.
*Join or Die Edition*
Consider it the normal collectors edition, with bonus contents, cool case, Washington’s Notebook and an awesome Medallion.
*Freedom Edition*
The Ultimate collection of AC3 awesomeness containing everything (except the medallion apparently) from the Join or Die edition, but you get the amazing Alex Ross Steelbook, Connor Statue and an even cooler box.
Here is the new trailer highlighting Connor’s tools.
What are your thoughts on our new Assassin? Yay? Nah? Let’s discuss in the comments below!
The Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (or FS as I will forever call it) youtube page has had some pretty awesome vids cracking their uploads recently. Instead of posting every single one of these videos separately, the Believe in Ghosts series has finished its set of three and I will now post all of them for your viewing pleasure.
Hosted and narrated by Mack (of Future Weapons fame), the tactics and gameplay shown in these videos prove to us why FS is going to be one of the best shooters of the year. I’ve loved the Ghost Recon series since its conception but have slowly dwindled the attention it received due to lack of innovation. FS is going to buck that trend and bring the hard to duplicate tactical world of Ghost Recon into the next generation and maybe even beyond.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
What are your thought on Ghost Recon: Future Soldier? Excited? Share in the comments!
I’m a huge fan and advocate of the upcoming title Sleeping Dogs; mainly because it’s developed by local Vancouver studio United Front. More importantly however, they stuck it to the man when they were “cancelled” last year and their working title of True Crime: Hong Kong was shelved permanently. They decided that they had put too much time and too much greatness into their game to just sit back and watch it die. So they re-named it, bought the rights to what was already created, and kept trucking. Today, Sleeping Dogs is on my most anticipated list for 2012 because of what the folks at United Front Games have brought to the open world action gangster genre.
Hong Kong hasn’t been explored in a real GTA-like, but the level of detail and determination put into Sleeping Dogs shows that what we’re going to receive as a finished product will undoubtedly be extraordinary.
What do you think of the trailer? What would you like to see from Sleeping Dogs? Discuss in the comments!
