I’m just sayin’…
OK, OK… I’m sure it’ll be a total blast at this year’s GDC, but really, now. Anyway, I’ll be nice and post the rest of the invite below the jump so people won’t think I’m being a jerk. Have a great event, but don’t have more fun that you would here in NYC. That would be rude.
Now here’s a ridiculously awesome promo for Sony’s upcoming Twisted Metal, coming to the PS3 on Valentine’s Day (as well as a farewell of sorts to the franchise by series creator David Jaffe). I was planning to write something funny about this, but the press release is oh so much more succinct and yes, amusing – here’s a snippet:
In honor of Twisted Metal’s launch on PS3, we’ve aimed an M249-SAW at a real-life version of Sweet Tooth’s ice cream truck. On 2/14 and 2/15, we’re letting you pull the trigger by hitting a button on your computer.
That’s right. Fire a military-grade machine gun just by pressing your space bar.
It’s a two-day, shoot-till-the-truck-goes-up-in-a-gigantic-ball-of-flames-style internet spectacular. And it’s all happening live at http://www.shootmytruck.com.
Now, you KNOW everyone with a passing interest in firearms (yeah, this is America) is going to be all over this one. Heck, I bet it only takes a few minutes to blast that truck into scrap, er, Twisted Metal (ba-dum-bum!). Boogie on over to the Shoot My Truck website, watch the unedited version of the video above and sign up for your chance. U.S. of A. residents only, sorry!
When i first heard about Sleeping Dogs, I thought it was another IO Interactive project in the Kane & Lynch series (hey, I liked both games, warts and all). Then, I remembered that Square Enix had snapped up the rights to United Front’s True Crime: Hong Kong game from Activision last year and *ding!* – all we had to do was sit and wait to see what sort of introductory trailer would be popping up. Here you go, folks – a live action (and boy, does it have action) deal that has me thrilled to see what the actual game looks and plays like. If what’s here is any indication, Activision may be wishing they’d kept that IP. Then again, I can see the skeptical message board crowd going on a rant about Square Enix maybe having a better movie than they do a game. In that case, I say just have an entire movie shot based around the game’s plot and stick it on the disc for the hell of it. I think this one will be a hit based on the location and faxt that there are still a lot of True Crime fans out there who want to see this one on store shelves (which will be later this summer)…
As for what the game is about, a brief summary is below the jump. Read on…
Nice new look? Check! Awesome new screens and wallpapers? Check! Updates about some pretty cool happenings in the busy community? Check! All I need now is a copy of the game and I’m all set to not be heard from for a while as I delve into those dungeons. Hopefully, we’ll see a console release at some point as well, as a ton of gamers got to play the first game when it appeared on consoles and got hooked in. I still go back to the first game from time to time, but I need to set an alarm so I can be jolted into getting away from those dungeons. After an hour or so, it’s impossible to stop playing!
It was actually pretty funny (to me, at least) that EA had plenty of Android plushies to hand out at their Spotlight event on Tuesday, but one of the bigger games announced, Mass Effect: Infiltrator is currently ONLY going to be an iOS release. Yes, I know they’re going for the most successful platform in the world for this fantastic-looking third-person touchscreen action shooter, but I know some non-iOS device owners who are going to be (or already are) pretty irate about their devices NOT getting this game.
The rest of the Mass assault at the event was incredibly impressive, what with an amazing new CG trailer revealed (“Take Back Earth”) that’s going to blow fans away. All EA needs to do is get this into theaters and posted online (I think the latter will happen sometime next week) and I’d bet pre-orders for the game get a big bump. As for the Datapad app that lets you receive messages from your squad mates and other info, well… it’s not really necessary to play the game, but like Infiltrator, I can see a ton of downloads from core ME fans who want every single bit of content about the upcoming finale.
As for the latest build of Mass Effect 3 on display? Magnificent. BioWare has done its best work to date here and unless you’ve got that oddball genetic disposition to dump all over the hard hard work the team has put into this, you’ll find that both the single player campaign and multiplayer modes are rock solid. So solid in fact, that I’d rather spend time beefing up interest in Syndicate and SSX, two other titles shown at the event that deserve just as much love. More on those two later – I’m going to sleep, as it was a long day. for me…
Well, now! This is really cool and I feel vindicated having predicted last year this whole “gamers getting to fund games they like” thing would happen at some point and take off big time. Anyway, Tim Schafer, Ron Gilbert and the fine folks over at Double Fine Studios are making a point & click adventure game (yay!) for PC (so far) and they’re funding the project through Kickstarter! Check out the donation page HERE and take a look at the Double Fine website if you’re some high-roller big shot gamer (or even a non-gamer) with money to spare who wants something REALLY awesome for a bigger donation. The project has 33 days to go and is ALREADY half funded as of this posting. Go, Double Fine!
*Or: Hey, Ubisoft, Here’s How To Market A Game To EVERYONE Who Wants To Play It…
Sure, I Am Alive looks amazing and yes, the idea of a realistic survival adventure set in a destroyed city has garnered tons of praise everywhere anyone has seen or played it. But Ubisoft is doing themselves no favors by only releasing this on Xbox Live Arcade in March and perhaps later on PSN,… oops SEN (sorry, Sony! Give me another week or so to get used to that change). Memo from the front: despite your current successful digital business model, there are STILL a large amount of gamers who can’t get that content dying for something different that’s NOT another FPS, zombie game, franchise update or yes, I’ll say it, ANOTHER damn digital-ONLY release that should have been disc-based.
Namco Bandai rolls out the first in a series of “making of” videos about their upcoming racer set for a March release on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Hey, I didn’t name the trailer, although that’s exactly what I’d call it as there are still a bunch of overly vocal folks out there who’ve been ticked off about this one ever since it was announced. Anyway, It’s been pretty quiet on the RRU front since I played the very promising demo last year, so it’s great to see what’s been going on since. Check out what the hard-working team at Bugbear has been up to and if you’re one of those die-hard classic RR fans still frothing at the mouth over the new game, you’ll also see that it’s not replacing your nostalgically sideways sliding fantasies at all…
Crap. I can’t sleep (I never can before big press events), so you get another boring, opinionated article to pore over. With all the overly dramatic (and highly annoying to folks like me with large game libraries) fuss over used games and how developers and publishers aren’t making a dime off sales of pre-owned games (or consoles, for that matter), I figure I may as well add some opinions about a few things here. First of all, it’s the industry itself to blame for NOT capitalizing on the used market sooner, which helped breed the concept of used game retail in the first place. Had the big publishers figured out (say, back in the 90’s) that buying into a retail chain or setting up an online shop where their games could be fed back into profit, we probably wouldn’t be seeing this narrow-minded view of all used sales as the crime of the century (next to the piracy issue that the industry is even more toothless against despite some recent “victories”)…
OK, despite some interesting performances and casting, I despised Spider-Man 3, and despite the bank-breaking box office tallies, so did a lot of you out there (from what I’ve read). Apparently, so did a good chunk of the cast who worked on the trilogy, as they’ve been replaced with new blood for this 3D reboot. Well, all that cast tweaking (and a new director) seems to have paid off, as this spectacular-looking trailer someone actually woke me up about so I could post it (grrrr!) shows. Enjoy – I’m going the heck back to bed now, zzzzzzzz….
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 