Luc Besson’s LOCKOUT: Sega (Circa 2000) Would Surely Be Proud…

Posted on January 27, 2012 by geelw

That’s a compliment by the way. No matter if they’re good, bad or somewhere in between, Besson’s films are always interesting to watch thanks to some excellent action scenes and fun casting choices. The plot to this upcoming sci-fi action film 9Which Besson wrote and produced) reminds me of a cross between John Carpenter’s Escape from New York, Besson’s own District B13 and Sega’s arcade hit, Dynamite Deka. That said, I don’t expect any sort of licensed video game tie-in at all. Granted, if this flick was made a decade or so ago, I’d bet we’d be seeing a game version pop up on the Dreamcast or PS2, Xbox and GameCube as a story-based beat ’em up/action game with the usual collection elements added for good measure. As the film is set for an April 20, 2012 release, don’t expect anything playable to pop up unless it’s some social or mobile/tablet game cobbled together quickly as a cash-in.

Armored Core V Walkthrough: From Keeps It Familiar (& Doesn’t Breed Contempt)

Posted on January 27, 2012 by geelw

Nice new visuals aside (go, From!), there’s just something supremely “old school” about this Armored Core V gameplay footage that made me think a bit of all the fun I had with the original game and its sequels back on the PlayStation. Granted, AC V’s more multiplayer-centric approach will make this latest entry a big draw for those who like their mechs going at it in team-based combat. But I’m keeping my fingers crossed that there’s enough of a single player campaign included for those of us who want to dive in and not have to deal with folks who make you want to throw a shoe (and a controller) at your TV…

Minor Update, Plus Some Advice For Nintendo…

Status

Still plugging away on the old post reformatting/restoration project, so bear with me for a bit if you decide to poke around the older stuff on the blog. My advice to Nintendo, who reported some major losses and expects more this year leading up to the Wii U launch: ASK your consumers what they want. Don’t just DO stuff and expect them all to jump aboard. That may help a bit, as believe it or not, new tech aside, some people just hate too many surprises or huge changes. Granted, it stinks to be a total stick in the mud diehard, but those are the folks you need to guide into your brave new world…

Capcom Reveals Surprising Exclusive Characters For PS3/Vita Street Fighter X Tekken

Posted on January 27, 2012 by geelw

Capcom has a really great sense of humor, that’s for sure… but I’ll bet real money a lot of Mega Man fans’ heads are exploding big time. The blue bomber is indeed a playable character in the upcoming Street Fighter X Tekken, but it’s the Bad Box Art version instead of the more familiar MM. Color me supremely tickled at this. Also amusing, seeing Sony’s Toro and Kuro (characters from a series of cute games never released in the US) and Pac-Man (!), who’s probably the biggest surprise of them all. Then again, now that I think about it, Klonoa should have been in the game as well as Tomba just to show some classic PlayStation love. Oh well, there’s always DLC or some sort of updated version down the road. Or heck, Tekken X Street Fighter, Namco’s companion piece to SF X T that’s still in development…

L’Arc-en-Ciel Celebrates 20th Anniversary With World Tour

Posted on January 27, 2012 by geelw

OK, I’ll admit it, I’m not much of a fan, but I know people who love these guys to death and beyond. Besides, I’m not one to disparage anybody’s musical tastes, so here you go. Plus, some big press release news for you below the jump! Amusingly enough, I have the chance to send some interview questions to the band, but I can’t think of anything to offer other than big congratulations on being around for so long.

Continue reading →

The Resistance Is NOT Over: Insomniac’s Ted Price Clears The Air…

Posted on January 26, 2012 by geelw

I’d been hearing rumbling on this for a while, but all were from under-informed fan sources or those who didn’t read further than what they should have as to what the REAL deal was. Yes, Insomniac is stepping away from the Resistance franchise, but it’s not going away at all. Watch the video for the facts and keep an eyeball peeled during this year’s E3, as I’d bet we’ll be seeing something interesting coming sooner than we think from Insomniac (in terms of new IP) as well as new Resistance developer Nihilistic…

Nintendo Announces Wii U To Ship By Holiday 2012

Posted on January 26, 2012 by geelw

Of course, we all knew this was coming at some point, but Reuters has the official word (if not an official release date). Nintendo President Satoru Iwata noted that the Wii U would be launched in the United States, Europe, Australia and Japan for the 2012 holiday season. No price point was announced and yes, you’ll need to wait a bit for the launch lineup. However, this means that E3 this year will be PACKED with Nintendo fanboys (some disguised as otherwise reputable games journalists) piling atop each other to tilt and whirl themselves into a feeding frenzy, followed by press events in a few spots including here in NYC.

Now, if I can actually get an invite to one of those events like I used to before Nintendo forgot I existed, I could do a better job of covering the upcoming console that doesn’t require me to hang around the Nintendo World Store here and ask all sorts of questions to assorted employees (he said, only half-joking)…

The Darkness II Launch Trailer: Early, But Makes Its Point…

Posted on January 26, 2012 by geelw

No gory gameplay or expletives not deleted here, so I can run this without an age gate. Here’s the short but excellent CG trailer for Digital Extremes’ upcoming FPS. As noted earlier, 2K has quite the lineup for genre fans from this one, to BioShock Infinite to Borderlands 2. It’s definitely going to be a busy year for genre fans, so hopefully all of these games will do well across each platform they appear on. The Darkness II appears in stores on February 7, 2012 (US) and February 10, 2012 (everywhere else).

Slow & Steady Puts The Turtle To Sleep (Or Something Like That)…

Posted on January 26, 2012 by geelw

Yes, I’m still chipping away at the reformatting project (old posts never die, they just glare at you intimidatingly until you get around to fixing them up), so I may not post as many updates as I’d like to. I did however, post two trailers for The Darkness 2 over on the other blog if you don’t mind a little ultra-violence with your cup of whatever. Back in a bit…

The Neo Geo Pocket Is BACK (Well, Almost)…

Posted on January 25, 2012 by geelw

I still own my Neo Geo Pocket Color, but I’d sold off all but one game I had for the handheld (Dark Arms, if you have to ask) due to the need for space in the library. Amusingly enough, I was talking to a friend last week who was asking me about the system because he was thinking about picking one up on eBay, but now, it looks as if he can do the retro thing in an even better way. The tentatively named “Neo Geo Pocket Device” is in the works at SNK Playmore and will come packed with twenty classic Neo Geo arcade games built in. As you can see, the slim style looks very slick indeed…

No official release date or price point has been announced nor has any word of the device being released outside Japan been made clear. However, thanks to Kotaku (and the Famicom-Plaza blog where these images are taken from), we do know what games are going to be on the device: World Heroes, Ultimate 11, Top Player’s Golf, Sengoku, NAM -1975, Mutation Nation, Last Resort, King of Monsters, Frenzy, Cyber-Lip, Fatal Fury Special, The Art of Fighting, Super Sidekicks, League Bowling, Metal Slug, Magician Lord, Baseball Stars Professional, Samurai Shodown, The King of Fighters ’94, and Fatal Fury.

That wonderful SD card slot on the side in the final photo means there’s the potential for other games to be downloaded from SNK’s site at some point. Given the current lineup of arcade games available over PSN as Arcade Classics minis, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of these show up as downloadable titles for the new portable. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. I’d say that SNK fans NEED to put their money where there mouths are and gently bug the company to sell the unit worldwide DIRECT through its website as opposed to dropping the thing into retail where it will get ignored by non-fans or those dopes who’ll complain the device isn’t also packing a phone, three cameras and touchscreen. Whatever happens with the upcoming unit, we’ll keep you posted…