Monthly Archives: December 2010

Ys I & II Chronicles "Hair Metal" Trailer + Soundtrack Bonus Prove A Point…

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Ys I & II Chronicles is coming on February 15, 2011, but Xseed Games wants you to start the party NOW. Dig the rockin’ trailer above and pre-order the limited edition “Hair Metal Pack” and get your head-bangin’ on while those classic game tunes (you may or may not remember depending on your age) are wailing away. Awe-some! Yup, Xseed is adding a CD soundtrack packed full of classic Ys tunes to the RETAIL version of the game ONLY. Oh, SNAP. Take that, digital downloads! Go Xseed!! (and nope, I’m not being sarcastic… some things are just better in a big ol’ box and CD case).

Stuff I’m Just Getting To Looking At: The Thor Trailer

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Actually, I got to see a tiny bit of the game an some excellent concept art at this year’s New York Comic-Con, but no pictures of the tiny sliver of game footage could be photographed or filmed. Yeah, yeah, you can make all the God of War jokes you care to, but hey, at least Thor isn’t going the Superman game route. The God of Thunder has his powers intact and it looks like players won’t be forced through hoops or rescuing kitties in what’s looking to be a mighty fun experience. The game is definitely coming along nicely in my book (with a May 2011 launch planned) and between this and Captain America: Super Soldier, shows Sega is back on the right track as far as their Marvel Comics games go. Speaking of Cap, I actually DID write up a preview of THAT game, but it was one of the ones that vanished along with that USB drive I’m on the hunt for. Must have been the Red Skull at work, grrrr…

WIN FREE STUFF!!! Little Big Planet 2 Beta Code Giveaway (It’s Baaaaaaack!)

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EDIT: GIVEAWAY CLOSED! Thanks to all who signed up – MORE cool stuff to come (stick around)!

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How to Save Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark? Turn On the Camera, Julie…

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While I haven't been to a Broadway show in decades, you can't go twenty minutes or so here in NYC without hearing or reading some more awful news about the show's numerous problems. Forget my own opinions about bringing such a risky project to life at such a huge expense during tough economic times and the hugely inflated but highly creative egos behind the show's development. I'm more concerned about stopping this overblown train wreck before there's a death on stage or off. Given the history accidents in some preview performances and the fact that this is a live show of such length and scope with never-before seen wire effects taking place every night means it's only a matter of when and how a fatal incident occurs.

However, I think there's a way to “save” the show and possibly recoup some of the production costs while turning an actual profit… eventually.

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Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle Coming to PSP

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I still have ringing in my ears and a mild headache from all that Hyperdimension Neptunia(aaa*cough!*) stuff yesterday, so I missed running this nice cover art and screens from NISA’s upcoming PSP strategy RPG. According to Amazon’s listing, the game will feature “new story chapters, characters, items, better graphics, and a revamped user interface”. In addition, the game is now “more user-friendly and packs more content for over 100 hours of game play”. March 18, 2011 is the release date (unless something changes). With UMD games looking as if they’re on the way out after next year, folks like me will be grabbing what great games we can, that’s for sure.

While the official website for the game is still in the works, the cover art and four screens are here for your approval. There are a bunch more shots from the game over at Amazon (in case you didn’t click that link above already), so go peek at those if this one’s up your alley… Back in a bit – the post office is calling me…

Hyperdimension Neptunia (aaaaaaaaaaaaa!) Official Trailer: Nippon Ichi Is At It Again…

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Say it with me, folks (big voice, now): HYPERDIMENSION NEPTUNIA(AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!)

Yes, that name absolutely demands the echo chamber effect at the end. Grrrrrr… Why does Nippon Ichi continue to tempt me so? Yet another too cute for words RPG, this time on the PS3 from a whopping what, five studios? Lots of flashy battle effects, that snazzy Gust 2D artwork (I expect my usual ten layers of parallax scrolling backgrounds, thank you) mixed with 3D characters, randomly generated dungeon maps, eyeball-rolling town names (Gameindustri? ha bloody ha), ESRB T (Teen)-rated “partial nudity” and “sexual themes” should make this one a nicely niche hit. That is of course, provided the gameplay is solid and the story has the highs and lows genre fans expect plus whatever bells and whistles those random dungeons offer. Oh, and ALEX KIDD??? Holy cats, that’s an instant buy just for the Janken mini-game flashback I had while typing this. The other Sega characters in the game will keep me playing just to see who else is hidden on the disc.

I’ll take a dozen to go, please… with a copy of Prinny 2 on the side.

Unique Console Patron Units… Engage! sometime in Spring 2011, by the way.

SSX: Deadly Descents Divides (The Fanbase) and Conquers (Much of Their Sanity)…

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Nice trailer… but, Holy Belfry, Batman! You'd think that EA drove over a an entire block full of little kids carrying baskets of newborn puppies while on the way to a church bake sale after visiting Grandma. Twice. Some of the responses I've seen to the SSX: Deadly Descents game trailer and new direction the formerly goofy and always exuberant fan fave are probably arrest-worthy and yes, completely unnecessary. Game History 105: Radical Entertainment (Prototype 2, among other cool games) and THQ tried out a mix of action movie and snowboarding on consumers “way” back in 2001 with a little game called Dark Summit. While it didn't exactly blow any sales doors off (or gain a huge enough following to warrant a sequel, for that matter), it received mixed (but mainly positive) reviews, was fun to play and manged to get in a bit of humor during the story. Hell, the whole game idea was pretty funny in a “Hey you kids, get off my secret government test area snow-covered lawn!” kinda way.

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Lost & Found (And More Work, Too!)

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Whee. After a big hard drive crash a few years back, I’d been storing articles in progress, reviews and a few interesting game or story ideas on either portable USB drives or SD cards, but of course, I managed to screw that otherwise reliable storage method up somehow. A few months back, one of the cards I was using for a LOT of DAF stuff suddenly failed to read (nooooo!) and I misplaced one of the USB sticks while traveling around (well, I couldn’t find the darn thing no matter where I looked). Anyway, I’d kept that old card around a few days back, happened to pop it into my camera to see if there were any photos that could be recovered. *Boom!* no decent pics (well, some ebay items I’d sold off last year) but I DID see a load of text files now free from their digital prison. Looks like I’ll be spending the holidays polishing up and posting some old to recent reviews. I’m still on the hunt for that USB drive as it has even MORE articles and ideas plus some PC game data I wasn’t planning on losing (ha ha)…

Prototype 2 Xmas Card Is Mildly Creepy (Yet Also Subtly Hilarious)

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While it’s indeed a quiet holiday scene, there’s a nicely lurking sense of impending dread in this card from Activision’s PR department. I wonder what Alex Mercer’s card looks like (er, provided he’s even sending one out this year)… Prototype 2 is in development at Radical Entertainment and should hit stores sometime next year, barring incident.

MLB 11 The Show Announce Trailer (It’s A Hit, For Sure)

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As much as a non sports game fan as I am these days (a bit of personal burnout from the general overkill of 24-hour sports), I’ll still have to give it up for SCEA’s upcoming baseball game in terms of how spectacular it looks. Sony Santa Monica just may have a huge home run (without the steroids) when the game ships in 2011. Will it get me to pick up a controller again and swing for the fences? I guess we’ll have to see, huh?

P.S. It’s nice to see that a PS2 version is also on the way, Sony! Even though the bigger games are PS3 exclusive, it’s great to see that the company STILL recognizes that not every single PlayStation owner has made the jump to the PS3.