BioShock Infinite “Lamb of Columbia” Teaser: I Bet There’s No Mint Jelly on the Side…

Posted on February 16, 2013 by geelw

Nope, none at all. In fact, I’m betting if you have an appetite, the game proper will make you lose it under the sofa somewhere and you won’t get it back for a few hours afterward. Not because you’ll get sick to your stomach or anything, mind you. You’ll probably be so immersed that you’ll simply forget to eat something until someone conks you on the head and drags you away from that TV. “Violence is a very horrible thing!” you know. Anyway, short teaser, short post. The rest of the trailer drops on the 19th – leave that mint jelly on the shelf when you come back to watch it…

BioShock Infinite Columbia/Icarus Trailer 2: The Mystery Deepens (With Candy!)

Posted on February 15, 2013 by geelw

Who says Irrational Games doesn’t love you? You get a Valentine’s Day card (belatedly, as I just got around to checking my other inbox, oops!) with your new Columbia video! Anyway, BioShock Infinite is hopefully going to be one of those games where the long dev cycle and loads of pre-release hype make it worth the wait. Hmmm. in looking at that card again closely, I’m not sure I’d want to eat any of those chocolates, especially if they had squishy liquid centers. If Elizabeth has found a way to miniaturize the game’s deadly enemies and dip them in yummy milk chocolate, That might not be a cherry cordial you’re chomping… Ewww..

Well, ladies first, I say…

BioShock Ultimate Rapture Edition: Now Bundled For Your Gaming Pleasure…

Posted on January 21, 2013 by geelw

In case you missed out on the original award-winning BioShock and its sequel, 2K Games has done you a huge favor and bundled the pair together as the Ultimate Rapture Edition along with every bit of download content for both games and yes, you can grab this NOW at your favorite brick & mortar or online game emporium as a retail version for the PS3 and Xbox 360. If you happen to be one of those folks who lives in a shoebox and has no space of who just wants your games digitally, methinks you are out of luck, you console hating loopy soul, you. For the record, neither game has much to do with the upcoming BioShock Infinite save for certain gameplay elements, unsettling enemy designs and a story that tosses a few moral curve balls your way as you play. I’ve got both games here, but no DLC for them, so I may just pick this up at some point. The $29.99 price tag (which includes $40 of bonus content) is certainly right on the money and I can see a few new players grabbing this up to play before 2K Games and Irrational get their new game out the door on March 26 of this year.

Champagne for everybody! Or, at least the nose-tickling bubbles part, given the underwater city setting and all those Big Daddies and Little Sisters you’ll be interacting with in both titles. If you’re one of those jaded types saying “Aw, who wants to play THOSE old games?”, well, kid – the classics never, ever die. SO shaddup and eye yer oatmeal, ya brats – I put broccoli in it with some sugar so you won’t even notice. Damn kids…

A Few Minutes of BioShock Infinite: Starting Off on the Right Foot (and Way Up In the Sky)…

Posted on December 19, 2012 by geelw

Just in case you were wondering how the heck Booker gets all the way up to that fancy, falling apart steampunk sky city called Columbia, Irrational Games presents about five and a half minutes of gameplay from the beginning of their upcoming game. If you’ve played the first BioShock, you’ll note a few parallels to how things get rolling, but this new game certainly takes things in its own direction, that’s for sure. I’ll stop writing right about now, as that trip up to the clouds has made me a bit queasy. I do hate flying, especially when it’s more or less straight up with a few too many twists. More in a bit. 2013 is going to be quite interesting to say the least…

Gallery: BioShock Infinite Cover Art – Ash, Is That You?

Posted on December 1, 2012 by geelw

Provided the world doesn’t blow up in a few weeks as some would prefer (jerks), It looks as if we’ll be seeing Irrational Games and 2K finally get BioShock Infinite out on store shelves (and digitally, for those that prefer not owning their AAA games). That delay in its initial release date should help the dev team iron out any problems and hopefully the single player story will be memorable and compelling. And yes, I got an Evil Dead vibe from that cover image (I do wonder if this is intentional, or perhaps I’m just reading too much into things)…

Personally, as much as I’m a fan of this franchise, I’d LOVE to see irrational do something entirely different as a follow-up… perhaps even revisit their long-canceled game The Lost for consoles and maybe a handheld system or two? That’s one of those games that was looking quite innovative before it died an untimely (and unnecessary) death. Well, I did get to see it in action at the first E3 I went to (and I still have an asset disc around here somewhere in the vaults) it did pop up completely reworked in India as a PC game called Agni: Queen of Darkness… but that’s a long story (and yes, I’ve been looking for a legal copy the game for a few years now with no luck).

November’s Here (And So Is The Wii U)…

Posted on November 4, 2012 by geelw

With all the big games hitting this month for other consoles, it’s actually going to be Nintendo’s big Wii U launch that will probably be key to a huge part of this year’s holiday sales successes or failures. The system has a number of solid-looking launch titles from first and third parties with more on the way in enough different genres that almost all bases are covered. Granted, there are a few things that could spoil Nintendo’s financial fun from idiot speculators dooming the console prematurely to families simply not having more money to spend of a new system this holiday season in favor of buying cheaper Wii games or even another console. I know for a fact that NO ONE with half a brain will be buying a tablet or other device OVER a console, despite the fever dreams of those in the mobile industry sitting on the cheap games bubble about to burst and take a lot of them down to reality sooner than later. People want dedicated consoles because they want to play games that aren’t all short bits of pay to play addiction or clear clones of other successful casual games. That and hell, Mario isn’t coming to iOS or Android any time soon and Nintendo has him and a few other classic characters you won’t see anywhere else but on a Nintendo system (which is how fans prefer it). As always, we shall see what’s what soon enough – I think the console will indeed do well, but Nintendo needs to get people used to paying a premium for a replacement controller (the one thing that will make some rethink a Wii U purchase down the road)…

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Launch Trailer: “Our Last Hope” Keeps Those Aliens’ Days Numbered…

Posted on October 5, 2012 by geelw

2K Games and Firaxis are about to make a ton of gamers happy campers indeed with this upcoming reboot of the turn-based strategy classic and this should be one of those games that becomes highly regarded among new and old genre fans. Sadly and not so amusingly enough, rumors have it that the highly stylized FPS origin story (which has vanished off the radar for far too long), has been whined and focus-grouped dined into a watered down (and probably DLC-only) version of the turn-based game above with squad-based third-person gameplay. Talk about a developer not being able to do the game they set out to do in the first place. Great. Score another “victory!” for those who want to piss on creativity because they think one genre is “inferior” to another or ONLY caters to ONE type of player. System Shock, Thief, Half-Life, Arx Fatalis, Anvil of Dawn and other excellent POV titles are more that solid examples of smart “shooters” that were classics of their times is all I’ll say…

Anyway, I hope we at LEAST get something like a demo pr something PLAYABLE made available of the old version of this game before it got sent to development hell. Granted, it probably would have been dead at launch only to be rediscovered as one more “Hey! This game isn’t bad at all!” bargain bin special, but I guess 2K doesn’t want to deal with that factor (even after so much has already been spent on development). Feh. Sometimes, fans aren’t the smartest sticks in the shed because they hate things that may actually work well in a certain context they can’t wrap their heads around until they actually PLAY it. Same old hamburger and fries again? Sure!

Borderlands 2 Launch Trailer: Not That You’ll Have Any Free Time To Watch It (But You Might Get More Than You Wanted…)

Posted on September 18, 2012 by geelw

Yeah, you know who you are. In fact, there’s a mighty good chance you’re not even reading this because you’re already playing the game. Either that, or, you’re catching up on a few hours of much-needed sleep before you pop out of bed bright and early, call in sick for work with the “flu” or whatever, rush down to your nearest game emporium to snap up a copy of the game and take the rest of the week off.

PROTIP: Stay the hell OFF any social networking site with the bragging rights posting about how long you’ve been playing. Given that the commercials are all over the damn place, your boss KNOWS what’s up, but can’t prove anything if you stay silent and buried under the blankets on Pandora. Screw it up royally by being a braggart and watch it all come crashing down when you join the gainfully unemployed before your tweet or status update gets cold. Just a thought.

And don’t go blaming Gearbox or 2K if you get canned, cowboy – no one told you to be so stupid in this age of TMI when it’s not necessary. Enjoy the game!

Nintendo Wii U Preview Event: About An Hour of Playing With Power

Posted on September 13, 2012 by geelw

In case you missed it earlier, here you go, the press event in its entirety. Pull up a seat, put on that gamer grin and check out all the new software and services coming your way through the Wii U. There’s a lot of stuff left unanswered on a few fronts, but I’m betting even the nayest of the naysayers will be silenced as all is revealed over time. The only thing that concerns me is I understand that new touch screen GamePad won’t be sold separately. This means that Nintendo is eating a LOT of that cost for the console and yes, you’d better be REALLY careful with that new controller….

Update! Wii U Launch/Launch Window Release List

Posted on September 13, 2012 by geelw

Amusingly enough, no sooner than I post that Wii U article below, I get an email with a complete launch/launch window listing. For those not swimming in gaming lingo, the term “launch window” is a rather broad one that includes games on the way within a few months of a console’s release. In this case, the Wii U launch window is defined as the period beginning Nov. 18, 2012, and ending March 31, 2013. Also note that this list doesn’t include a few titles shows as just in development (Bayonetta, for example).