GRID 2 Uncovered: Paris, Here We Come (Plus A Few More Gameplay Modes)…

Posted on April 29, 2013 by geelw

Hey there! Go pull up a seat (without a steering wheel attached, please) or stretch out on the couch and check out these two new GRID 2 videos from Codemasters. Before you ask, NO you can’t stop the car during the race you’re part of in that beautifully rendered Paris street course to go get a croque-monsieur and café au lait. You’d lose the race before your coffee was even poured and hell, probably throw up in the car later because it’s not a good idea to go 150 MPH right after that lunch you just had. No madelines, either… and nope, no smoking in the car while I’m trying to drive (there’s no ashtray, silly!), so toss that pack of Gauloises into the crowd on the next turn, grrr… Man, I can take you anywhere anymore! Hmph – this car needs an ejection seat, methinks…

FUSE Unboxing Video: This One Is At Least Intentionally Funny…

Posted on April 29, 2013 by geelw

In case you didn’t know, I really dislike unboxing videos. For me, it’s a waste of time, white cotton gloves when the person making the video is wearing them (and looking like a game usher!) and basically, the majority of the ones I’ve seen are just smug “look what I got” videos or just show off one big reason the industry is having issues with some AAA games that seemingly get overpriced Collector’s Editions for no really good reason but to be in someone’s unboxing video. Thankfully, Insomniac Games has read my mind and come up with the *ULTIMATE* in unboxing videos for their new PS3 and Xbox 360 game FUSE, set for release on May 28 (in the US) and May 31 (In Europe). I say just get me the game and I’ll play and enjoy it – no statues, comic books, CD soundtrack, artbook or other goodie necessary, as they won’t fit into my consoles anyway…

Metro: Last Light Ranger Survival Guide Trailer: McGuyver’s Got Nothing On Artyom…

Posted on April 29, 2013 by geelw

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I actually recently (and FINALLY) completed the absolutely tense and brilliant Metro 2033 on a borrowed Xbox 360 (as the ones I own are dead as doornails, dammit) and it’s still one of the best and most frightening first-person games I’ve ever played. Between the destroyed Moscow landscape, the ruined tunnels survivors make do in and those dreadful mutations they fight against, there’s a great deal of details in that game and this follow-up, Deep Silver’s Metro: Last Light that make it a must-play experience. The fact that the game isn’t a straight up shooter and has elements of adventure and role-playing games while feeling downright frightening and depressing as your avatar, Artyom and his beat up survival gear barely make it through the radioactive hell makes it a keeper I’ll go back to again and again.

As I’ve said before, this game and a few others where so much thought and work has gone into crafting a world and characters you want to live with for a while are all the same to me like great novels are to someone who collects books. I’ve actually never read anything by Russian sci-fi author Dmitry Glukhovsky has written, but based on the near-flawless atmosphere these two games have, I just may be adding a new book or two to my already packed list. Thankfully, 4A Games is absolutely committed to making this a story-driven solo experience, so we won’t be saddled with mindless multiplayer modes of running around shooting each other in the face for no good reason than collecting XP and yelling obscenities over headset microphones. Besides, in this version of the future, you’re better off saving any ammo you can find and settling your differences with a a blunt or sharp object you can repair or replace afterwards…

Metro: Last Light hits PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on May 14, 2013, so if you’re looking for a bleak, purely terrifying slice of post-nuclear survival action, this is probably going to be your best bet for a good long while…

Iron Man 3 Clip 3: Flying The Unfriendly Skies (But You’ll Get A Snack At Least)…

Posted on April 29, 2013 by geelw

The funny thing about this clip is there’s always going to be that ONE guy in the theater when Iron Man 3 hits on May 3 with a slide rule and calculator taking measurements and tapping in numbers just so he can let out a mighty “A-HA!” afterwards and say that the scene was impossible because of the air to mass ratio times the advent of steam or something annoyingly dopey like that. People who do this at films where the goal is to sit down and let your brain enjoy the show for two hours drive me nuts. Applying arbitrary rules of reality to a genre flick such as this should get one immediately bounce ejected from a theater with a big box of Jujubes thrown at the back of that person’s head as they go sailing onto the pavement on a fresh bed of that nasty butter-flavored popcorn that’s sold at the concession stand. Yeah, it’s called a concession stand for a reason – you trade in your hard-earned bucks and in concession, you get some overly salty popcorn swimming in enough chemically laced oil to clog a whale heart. Yuck. Someone call up Tony Stark and ask him to invent a repulsor-powered organic only popcorn machine…

Pacific Rim WonderCon Trailer: Guillermo’s ‘Gundams’ Going Gold Gathering…

Posted on April 29, 2013 by geelw

I’d almost (but not quite) forgotten about this flick because it hasn’t has a dozen or thirty trailers and teasers that have been plastered all over the internet like clockwork. But here you go and it does look pretty insane. I’d bet Michael Bay is going to be seeing this one a few times, although Del Toro is sometimes known for endings that aren’t quite as cool as the effects he uses. That said, I’m not even going to pass an actual judgment on this giant robots versus giant monsters flick until I see it. Hopefully, the studio lets the director have final cut and doesn’t try to chop this down to something that makes you buy or rent the home video version just to see the stuff you should ave gotten when you bought that ticket. Well, as long as one of those sea creatures doesn’t bust out a giant can opener at some point, this one should be a winner…

Gallery: Lost Planet 3

Posted on April 29, 2013 by geelw

It may be spring outside, but looking at these Lost Planet 3 screens makes me feel as if I’ve got my face stuck in the freezer and there’s no ice cream left – just a mean-looking alien with glowy bits and very sharp claws an teeth staring back (eek). Veteran developer Spark Unlimited is doing its best work to date, using the Unreal engine and some great motion captured actors to create a solidly stylized vision of the cold, bleak ball of ice covered rock that is E.D.N. III.

Working class hero Jim Payton isn’t the usual lantern-jawed hero with a hefty arsenal, bulletproof shorts and an ego as big as the planet he’s on at all. He’s just a regular guy who’s trying hard to make a living in a frozen hellhole with Akrid and perhaps a few pesky space pirates ruing his workday. I’ve been hooked in since I played a demo last year and with the first two multiplayer modes finally being revealed last week, it looks as if all the pieces are falling into place for a sleeper hit that will hopefully catch the skeptics by surprise.

Capcom’s Lost Planet 3 hits PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on August 27, 2013. Poke around below the jump for some more nice screens and artwork.

Oh, and put a hat and gloves on, dears – it’s COLD out there in space…

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Watch_Dogs “Out Of Control” Trailer: Still Off The Charts, Yet On Everyone’s Lists…

Posted on April 29, 2013 by geelw

By now you know that Ubisoft has a definite system seller and absolutely killer app with its upcoming multiplatform release Watch_Dogs (set for a November 19, 2013 launch), although I’m predicting a little “problem” of sorts coming when the game does ship out. I can see a segment of potential players of the eye candy diabetic variety NOT buying the PS3 or Xbox 360 versions at all because they’re getting a newer console and want to show off that new game on the best system possible. Of course, PC owners will be pooh-poohing THOSE gamers as losers because they’ll be upgrading THEIR gaming rigs with new cards that can run the game at 200 frames per second with all the latest shaders and effects up full blast. Me, I don’t care how I play this other than I’d prefer not to patch anything and get up and running no less than five or ten minutes after installing the game to my (flips coin) PS3’s hard drive. As I have the feeling that this is a game that requires a few play-throughs in order to experience everything, I don’t mind at all playing it one one console and then another.

Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut Random Screenshot of the Day: Missing!

Posted on April 28, 2013 by geelw

Well, this isn’t good at all. Today, a bunch of flyers started popping up all over Greenvale about Deputy Sheriff Emily Wyatt and how she’s gone missing. Hmmm. I’m hoping she’s OK, but I haven’t seen FBI Special Agent Francis York Morgan (just call him York!) at all since he sped by in a car the other day. Anyway, I did see a bunch of tourists looking around in the woods for her, but that’s kind of a bad idea if they don’t know what they’re doing. If something DID happen to her and she’s out there, it would be awful if someone accidentally did something that would ruin any evidence or hinder a potential investigation. OK, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves here. Maybe she’s just hurt in the woods or lost in that creepy old mine area…

Anyway, Emily is 26, about five feet six inches or so, has blonde hair and green eyes. Not that it matters, I hear she’s also not much of a cook and loves a good steak, but we’ve already checked the A&G Diner and Swery 65 Bar to see if she’s come in lately and nope, she’s not been to either spot. Sheriff George Woodman is also still missing, but he’s been known to disappear from time to time and show up at work as if nothing has happened…

You can come help look for Emily (and hope for the best) while trying to solve the Red Seeds Killer case when you play Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut, exclusively for the PlayStation 3 from Rising Star Games. Updated HD visuals, PlayStation Move and 3D TV support, over 100 improvements from the original game and more mean this is one of those games that will keep you busy for some time to come. Granted, a taste for the bizarre in your horror/humor hybrids games comes in handy, as this one will come at you in a few ways as you play through the adventure. Here’s a tiny fraction of what to expect:

I haven’t seen Game Director Swery 65 at all today, but then again, I haven’t exactly been looking for him, either. I think he may be out helping search for Emily, but as he’s pulling the strings in Greenvale (and has been from the beginning), he could just be taking the day off and having a decent nap for a change. At least the tourists are out in the woods and NOT keeping him up all hours of the night asking for autographs and game tips. That man should get a medal for what some fans have asked of him, but he takes it all in stride!

Game of Thrones Season 3:6 Preview: Four to Go (Hairs Left on My Head, That Is)…

Posted on April 28, 2013 by geelw

Well, the plot thickens (again)… unlike my hair that’s falling out from each episode’s level of tension, the brewing troubles are certainly boiling over and yeah, people still find time to get it on in the strangest of places. Heh. That said, I hate ONLY having ten shows per season as once you get past the halfway point, there’s only a big countdown in your head until it’s all done for the year (or so). There are going to be quite a few loose ends that require tying up and four shows seems so little, particularly with this crazy season where so much is happening in so many places. Well, I can’t (and aren’t) complaining, as it’s definitely keeping me coming back week after week…

GRID 2 Cote d’Azur Gameplay: Sightseeing At 140 MPH (Or So)…

Posted on April 28, 2013 by geelw

Another day, another GRID 2 video, which is always a good thing to see. Of course, as the release date rolls up, the not so good thing to see is just as the amount of interest is rising, also rising as are the obstinate flame-throwers who still want a dashboard view despite Codemasters stating from the beginning that it wouldn’t be an option. Blah, blah, whine, whine. Just don’t buy the game, I say. Or buy a real car instead if you want a dashboard in your face. The game DOES support a number of steering wheel peripherals, so hopefully that’s a consolation to some of that crowd… we’ll see, I suppose.