Monthly Archives: October 2009

Interview: Bringing Zaku to Life With Super Fighter Team’s Brandon Cobb

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“Never Let Dreams Die!” indeed. When you get an e-mail from Brandon Cobb, President of Super Fighter Team, that credo is at the bottom, right under his signature. Based on the upcoming Atari Lynx exclusive shooter, Zaku, it’s clear that this credo was also a call to action that kept the project going for six years. Not only is Zaku the first complete new release for the Lynx in about five years, it’s looking like one of the best games ever created for the handheld system.

My interest in the Lynx led me to the Super Fighter web site and eventually, to have the opportunity to send off a few questions on the project over to Cobb, who took the time to answer them in a straightforward, non-nonsense manner with flashes of humor that’s more than welcome in this age of quick sound bites and evasiveness. Here, Cobb weighs in on bringing Zaku to market as an all-around quality product, sticking it to the man with citrus as well as a few other choice topics.

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Gallery: Ryo Hazaki is Baaaaack….

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Sega continues to crack me up in all the right ways these days. Shenmue’s lead character Ryo Hazaki is all set to make quite a comeback and nope, he’s not looking for any darn sailors this time! Check out these pretty slick screens from Ryo’s return in next year’s Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing.

All I’ll say (other than doing a happy dance after seeing Ryo after too long) is I’m hoping we also see the return of a certain Daytona racer, a Harrier or two from Space or some other Planet, and perhaps something colorful from a Fantasy Zone (among others). Hey SEGA! I have about 500 Mega Drive, Genesis, SMS, Game Gear, Dreamcast and Saturn titles here… If you need a few more suggestions of who to put in the game (or who to add as DLC), you know who to call…

The press release is a hoot and a half – check it out with more screens below the jump…

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Adventures to Go Gone Gold… As A GameStop Exclusive!

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Well, that’s interesting… Adventures to Go is now a GameStop exclusive. While this is certainly a great development that should help the game do quite well at retail, depending on where you live, you may want to scope out your local GS, ask a few questions and definitely pre-order it if you want a sealed copy…

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Release Calendar: 10/4 – 10/9/2009

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Big week for a few titles and it’s only going to get better from here – let’s take a trip, shall we:

Demon’s Souls is of course, my pick of the week, if not the year for PS3 owners (go read my review), but if you’re not into the insane level of challenge this one provides and perhaps require something a lot less intense (and family friendly), Natsume’s Afrika might very well be up your alley. Think of this grand photo safari adventure as a passport-less trip and a really cool way to see a bit of nature (and interact with it without getting eaten alive or trampled). Fifty bucks for an African Safari and you don’t need to get shots? Sign me up!

For you shooter fans, try and play Codemasters’ superb tactical FPS Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising as if it’s a mere run ‘n gun and you’ll be in for a very quick trip to the morgue for you and your squad mates. And, hey – isn’t it a total trip to see a new Star Wars game show up on every console and portable platform? Wii owners even get a few special peripherals to help them enjoy their version of Clone Wars: Republic Heroes.

A Boy and His Blob is a trip of a different sort, as this remake of the NES classic goes a long way in reinvigorating that nostalgia vibe. Trippy might describe elements of Obscure: The Aftermath, a survival horror game that’s inspired by teen slasher flicks and horror games, while tripping over something trappy in SAW could cause poor Detective Tapp to lose his life. Finally, don’t trip on that balance board when playing Wii Fit Plus or Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Ultimatum or else that busted femur will have you laid up in bed exercising your stylus hand in the DS version of The Biggest Loser instead.

Wait… an exercise game for a handheld system? Er… hmmm… I don’t even know what to say about that… Anyway, here’s this week’s list:

10/04/2009
Wii Fit Plus (Wii)

10/05/2009
Obscure: The Aftermath (PSP/PSPgo)
Squeeballs Party (DS/DSi/Wii)

10/06/2009
A Boy and His Blob (Wii)
Afrika (PS3)
A Witch’s Tale (DS/DSi)
The Biggest Loser (DS/DSi/Wii)
Cabela’s Outdoor Adventures (PC)
Demon’s Souls/Demon’s Souls Limited Collector’s Edition (PS3)
Disney Sing It: Pop Hits (PS2/PS3/Wii)
Fate: The Traitor Soul (PC)
Game Party 3 (Wii)
Imagine: Zookeeper (DS/DSi)
Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Ultimatum 2010 (Wii)
Naruto Shippuden Legends: Akatsuki (PSP/PSPgo)
NBA 2K10 (PS2/PS3/PSP/PSPgo/Xbox 360)
NBA 10: The Inside (PSP/PSPgo)
NBA Live 10 (PS3/PSP/PSPgo/Xbox 360)
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising (PC/PS3/Xbox 360)
SAW (PS3/Xbox 360)
The Sims 2 Best of Business Collection (PC)
Star Wars: Clone Wars Republic Heroes (DS/DSi/PC/PS2/PS3/PSP/PSPgo/Xbox 360/Wii)
Spore Hero (Wii)
Spore Hero Arena (DS/DSi)

10/09/2009
MotorStorm: Arctic Edge (PS2)
Shimano Xtreme Fishing (Wii)

In addition, Valve’s Steam download service now has the following EA PC games available for download NOW:

Need for Speed: SHIFT
Battlefield 2: Complete Collection
Medal of Honor: Airborne
Godfather
Godfather 2
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3: Uprising

Review: Dead Space Extraction

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Platform: Nintendo Wii

Developer: Eurocom

Publisher: EA

# of Players: 1 – 2

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Official Site

Score: A

In case you’re staring at that cover art and wondering (raised eyebrow and all), Dead Space Extraction works brilliantly on the Wii as both a solid horror game as well as a technical showpiece for Visceral Games and Eurocom. This “guided FPS experience” as it’s been dubbed manages to be scary as hell, spectacular to look and absolutely nails it in terms of the aural assault. In terms of story, the game dishes up an excellent prequel to the events in the PS3/360/PC horror hit Dead Space packed with some great emotional moments that make the original game’s plot all the more poignant. Of course, if you don’t have a PS3 or 360 and your PC can’t run Dead Space, all of this may mean nothing. However, what’s here is certainly solid enough that I could see a few formerly Wii-only gamers eyeballing a new console just to catch up on the first game’s descent into sci-fi themed fear.

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Demon’s Souls is HERE (And So Is The Wiki!)

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Yeah, some of you have it, all of you will die multiple times playing it and more than a few of you will want to jump up and down on your PS3 until it’s a flat black file folder with sparks coming out of it.

Before you reach that point (it’s an expensive file folder, folks), head on over to the new Demon’s Souls Wiki and get some assistance for those problem areas (which will be pretty much the entire game for those trying to play this like it’s Diablo 2 or some other simple chase ‘n chop game with a basic multiplayer and PvP mode… which it isn’t at all)

As the Wiki is *NEW*, a LOT of stuff needs filling in, so if you’re getting really great at surviving what’s being thrown at you in the game and can string a sentence together, SUBMIT to the Wiki! Just remember to use that spellchecker, folks. Poor grammar is a worse death than the False King Allant can ever give you…

P.S. The servers are officially UP – enjoy the game!!!

Fairytale Fights Updated Hands-On

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Preview versions of the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Playlogic’s Fairytale Fights showed up last Friday and after digging myself out from under a pile of other work, I finally got a chance to spend some quality time with the game. After diving in and coming up covered in blood and chunks a few days (and many replays) later, I’m even more impressed with how the game has progressed. The Unreal 3 powered hack ‘n slash/platformer hybrid is really coming together in this latest build and is shaping up to be an outrageous, surefire hit for hardcore gamers when it’s released on October 27. If you like your games bloody, challenging, controversial and off the charts hilarious, what’s here will keep you giddy and bouncing up and down like kids in the back seat on a Sunday drive sugar high.

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Where the Wild Things Are Website Live – Trailer Revealed

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WBIE has launched the official web site for Where the Wild Things Are: The Video Game and here you go – the first game trailer:

 

 

On the web site, you can check out screenshots from the console and Nintendo DS versions and find out about the film as well as its soundtrack. If you’re lucky enough to be a US resident, you can even enter a contest to win one of six cool Where the Wild Things Are prize packages, one of which will include a brand spankin’ new Xbox 360. So you know what to do, right?

Where the Wild Things Are; The Video Game arrives in stores on October 13, 2009.

Zen Studios Is At It Again… Mystery Game Alert!

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Hmmmm…. another cryptic message from ZEN Studios’ PR department. This time, the image to the left has something to do with an announcement tomorrow on the Official PlayStation Blog and I think I know what it is. Although, if this is going to be like the last time I got one of these messages, I’ll probably need to deal with pesky assassins and such bursting through my windows and breaking up furniture in an attempt to end my life before I uncover the big secret.

*Sigh* Why I even bother with this writing stuff sometimes is beyond me. No hazard pay at all, folks… Anyway, take a guess as to what the upcoming game, er… big announcement will be and I’ll be back tomorrow with the answer, dead or alive!

Er, that wasn’t a hint, kids… (sort of)…

Left 4 Dead 2 Gets $25M Ad Campaign

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Well, I guess it’s much, much cheaper (and much, much safer) than Valve infecting a bunch of random strangers with a pesky zombie virus and sending out wearing sandwich boards to go door to door and do promotion, huh?

Well, those L4D billboards were definitely pretty darn cool to see all over the NYC area, so it’ll be interesting to see L4D2 pop up in even more places, that’s for sure. Anyway, go pre-order the game before someone at Valve reads this and decides to use that sandwich board idea of mine…

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