Will BioShock Infinite be as well-received as the original? Will we see so many ads for the game that 2K Games breaks some sort of record for spending on a single title? Will Ken Levine ever give a boring interview? All signs point to “yes” or “no”, as my crystal ball is busted and I’ve been called a False Shepard before. Eh, whatever – I’ll be playing this at some point and know I’m going to enjoy it no matter what the jaded flies on the wall say. As for ken and interviews, well… THIS one at BAFTA certainly isn’t dull at all:
Anyway, March 26 is rolling up REALLY quickly and I’m betting a few people call in dead from work just to spend some quality time buried in the story, characters and gameplay Irrational has cooked up…
One of the most unique-looking and fun indie adventure/puzzle games from a few years back is finally Vita-bound for an excellent price later this month. Amanita Design’sMachinarium is coming on March 26, 2013 for a paltry $6.99 and it’s actually greatly enhanced over the previously released PSN version. A reworked control scheme allows analog sticks or touchscreen movement, a new zoom function allows you to see things a bit closer (the artwork is so intricately detailed that this is a necessity), and PSn leaderboards have been added so you can check your times and mini-game scores against players from all over. Another must-buy indie game for Sony’s handheld? Sure, I’ll take it if it’s one as good as this…
If you try to stop my much-deserved sleep you’ll soon hear a certain stylized “beep” That’s just me, a-hammering on your hard head half-awake, swinging ’til we both see red.
The talented jerks working at Nanda Home Have cooked up two bad clocks that happen to roam. As soon as the time you’ve set rolls on around Those stupid smart tickers, they leap to the ground!
They roll away, wailing their horrific chimes And chase them you must for committing their crimes You’d better be fast at running half awaken As smashing into walls can have bones a-breakin’
And as you’re there lying and writhing in pain Both Clocky and Tocky roll past your bruised brain still chirping and screeching ’til you’re off your ass and after them once more, your foot on the gas
If you’d like to add torture to your morning routine or give someone the gift of a busted spleen Stock up on these demons from Nanda’s factory But don’t you go pointing that tired finger at me!
Evil, I say. EVIL!. Clocky is $45, Tocky (and it’s even MORE evil feature that allows you to record voice or MP3 files so you can crash into walls while listening to yourself, someone else and/or your favorite music getting you out of bed in a frenzy)? That’s $58. Hey, it’s YOUR money, so I can’t tell you how to spend it. So if you want to buy one, three or a whole room full of these things and/or give a nasty gift to a friend, the kids, the significant other or anyone else (and be hated for a month or so), knock yourself out. Of course, if you get one for yourself, you probably will once or twice before you get used to it…
Thirty more seconds of hot tease-y Game of Thrones trailer action from HBO. It’s a good thing they didn’t go the corny route that I did in the poorly paraphrased post title above and use that great old song as the music for this trailer. Well, it would have been funny (but not that funny), the fans would have marched on HBO headquarters and demanded a few heads on pikes and Twitter would have sprouted a third eye and flown right off the Internet. Or something like that. Oh, hell – I know you’re not even bothering to read this with that distraction up above and all, so I won’t even TRY hard to entertain you. The end of the month is rolling up soon enough, folks and I’ll be just like you, glued to the boob tube and not ranting on YouTube about whatever else is less interesting.
Mmmmhmmm? OK. That’s sorted out, isn’t it? I certainly think so. Well then, if there were ANY doubts that Deep Silver’s purchase of Volition was going to mean a different direction for the fan favorite franchise, well… here’s proof that the more things change, the crazier they get at the end of the day. More outrageous and DEFINITELY not for the kiddies open world action, goofball weapons, super powers (!) and too much weirdness guaranteed to make any fan fall off the couch and bust a gut twice. OK, let’s move on now that we know all is well. Now, about Summoner III (which NEEDS to be made, grrrr. Letting that go unsold at the THQ auction was a huge mistake that needs to be rectified, I say…)
Ha and har. OK, bad pun (that I changed because I was a wee bit pooped out when I write this post originally) aside, Codemasters is on point with GRID 2 so far and despite the screeches and crunching from fans demanding a dashboard view or else, it looks as if the game should do fine without it. Granted, there are some powerful PC’s that can run other games out there with full dashboard cams going a a billion frames per second or whatever, but I guess we’ll see what the Codies can do on next-gen console hardware to satisfy those folks who want that in-car viewpoint. I think it can be done and having the option is always cool even if it’s never used by the bulk of casual to regular race fans that dislike it. As always… we shall see…
UK-based Reef Entertainment along with developer Teyron are hard at work on their upcoming PC/PS3/Xbox 360 Rambo game and it looks pretty good as far (well, as those nice screenshots go). That initial trailer with zero actual gameplay footage was a good enough elevator pitch to some fans, but skeptical dopes like me want to see something to Actual Bravo about.
Still, I won’t be playing this as a “serious” game, as other than First Blood and that last super-gory flick (that made some interesting political points on the pro-rebel side of the Myanmar/Burma conflict), the series isn’t exactly without its unintentionally goofy-ass elements. Of course, I’m also throwing any expectations out the nearest window like I do with every game I play, as going in wanting something LIKE another game and getting what a developer intends to be different always disappoints in one way or another. That May 3, 2013 release dater I’ve seen is rolling around pretty fast, so let’s hope for the sake of the license that the game is actually fun and does well at retail.
What, you didn’t notice that director Swery65 (or Hidetaka Suehiro in real life) was taking questions about the upcoming PS3 Director’s Cut version of his cult Xbox 360 classic horror.humor hybrid? Shame on you… but it seems that he’s got a Deadly Premonition of his own and has answered what you’d probably ask had you known. This is good. Go watch the man in action (well, as much action as you can get from a Japanese guy sitting on a sofa and fielding silly to smart queries about his game) and then feel free to sit back and smile afterwards if you’re a PS3 owner and in the mood for a funny, frightening and just plain WEIRD game experience.
No, today isn’t National Zombie Day or anything like that, folks. I just go scooting through my inbox as stuff rolls in and post the fun stuff. Today just so happens to have a LOT of undead in games news. Must be a Friday thing or something… Anyway, here’s a new look at Terminal Reality’s upcoming shooter set in The Walking Dead world. I like the gritty look of the game and some of that visceral action you’d expect from an undead-rekilling game. In a weird way, this one reminds me of BrainBox’ interesting but flawed Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler’s Green, a FPS that had a few problems, but was actually pretty damn scary and compelling once you got past its weak points. We’ll see what’s what with Merle and Daryl’s gory adventure soon enough when The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct ships out for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U and PC March 19, 2013.
Well, this kind of came out of Nowhereland, but it’s really cool for fans of both franchises as well as those who’ve avoided either for whatever reason. Granted, the biggest issue is this is a PC-only thing for the time being, as L4D is a PC (and Xbox 360 exclusive). Microsoft’s exclusivity headlock on the series aside, I’m still trying to figure out who at Valve thought being joined at the hip to a single console with this zombie-busting masterwork would be a good idea forever and a day, as there are a few million Sony fans who’d LOVE to finally play both games in the award winning co-op and multiplayer-centric series on the PS3/PS4 (and yes, a custom Vita version would sell like gangbusters as well).
Feh. Perhaps ONE of these days the industry will figure out that more money can be made across multiple platforms if something is done right and all that legal nonsense regarding exclusivity go right out the window with DRM and analysts who over-speculate some game studios right out of business when a game doesn’t meet some ridiculous target even though it moves a few million units…
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 