Tanks A Lot, Capcom! Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor Pre-Order Campaign Rolls Out

 

No, you’re still not getting a big honkin’ 40+ button controller, so quit griping. Of course, getting ALL three bonuses in one shot is a no-go unless you want three copies of the game or have your fingers crossed that they get released as free or paid DLC at some point, so three’s always that to complain about if you’re so inclined. Hey, it’s not ALL Capcom’s fault, kids – that’s just the way thing go in this day and age of every retailer wanting exclusive content and your gaming dollar.

 

 

That said, I keep wondering how much longer the industry can keep this up, given the backlash against other things that are a lot less annoying to those of us who want games to ship with as much content as possible, Granted, if you ask around, you’ll hear most people IN the industry saying “this is how it is” or something like that. However, it’s looking as if this enforced means of content division can backfire if enough gamers put their foot down and start screaming as loudly as possible. As for me, I’ll be playing the game with no bonuses because I think it’ll be fine without them.

 

The Military Shooter Resurgence: It’s Nice To See The Genre Getting A Kick In The Ass…

Despite all the money raked in over the past few years by certain well-known multimillion selling franchises, I see the military shooter genre as a bloated, rotting corpse with limited appeal outside of whatever multiplayer shenanigans keep the masses bunny-hopping and camping online endlessly. Granted, there have been many great advances in MP that have kept things fresh and exciting for fans, but those of us who crave deeper single player experiences have been, save for a few bright spots, left out in the cold. Granted, the story modes in the last few shooters I’ve played have been decent and well-written overall and I don’t give a hoot about how long a campaign is as long as it’s memorable. Thankfully, 505 Games and 2K Games are coming to the rescue with two fine titles that take the shooter into two different and very intriguing directions. And neither of them is a FPS…

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Max Payne 3 TV Spot: Probably The Only Bit of The Game They CAN Show On TV…

 

Rockstar Studios’ long awaited beautiful bullet ballet is almost upon us (and yup, I can’t wait to see how it’s turned out) and here’s the first big TV ad for the upcoming game. Ever since I saw the live demo last year at NYCC, this one has been tickling a few buttons in my head. The art direction, visuals and gameplay all looked solid and that new animation system is brilliant when you see it in motion. While I’m not big on multiplayer these days, I know the story and characters will be what I like to call “Rockstar memorable”. As in there will be quite a few quotable lines sinking into skulls like some of the bullets Max fires off during the game. May is certainly going to be a busy month around these parts, that’s for sure…

Akai Katana: Rising Star’s Retail Hope For Core Shmup Fans

Yeah, yeah yeah, the arcade shooter genre doesn’t do well at retail, everyone plays on emulators and blah, and blah, and blah. But I happen to LIKE packaged games, crazed game historian wannabe that I am. Anyway, Rising Star Games is here to save the day with Akai Katana on the Xbox 360. While this Cave shooter won’t win any awards as the prettiest gal at the party, the intense shooter action is there in all its “bullet hell” glory and like many classics in the genre, it’s all about the replay value over merely blowing through the game once and that’s that.

By the way, Rising Star also has a few fun plans for the Nintendo DS/DSi and 3DS in terms of some cool casual titles, but I’ll save those for a new post shortly.

Dragon’s Dogma Digital Comic Parts 1 & 2: Hardcore Pawn Video!

Oh, I’m SUCH a card, aren’t I? Anyway, here are the first two of four parts from this prequel story that sets up some of the behind the scenes story for you. I’m kind of hoping all four parts will be on the game disc, but if not, it’s not a huge deal. Or deal-breaker, for that matter. I’m just excited that development on Dragon’s Dogma is probably all done and the game is getting ready to roll into retail in the next few months…

007 Legends: Eurocom’s Trip Through Bond’s Greatest Hits Might Be Cooler Than You’re Thinking…

Here’s why:

Eurocom just rocks. The veteran developer did  a bang up job with both GoldenEye 007 reboots on the Wii and later the PS3 and Xbox 360. Sorry N64 fanboys, but both of these newer (and more polished) games outstrip Rare’s classic (sorry, Rare!) by miles in terms of presentation and accessibility.  Additionally, if the team can make the story and gameplay flow as well as or even better than the stunning Dead Space Extraction (still one of the best M-rated Wii games ever and even more superior on the PS3 with the Move controls), they’ll have folks who like a decent narrative hooked in from the time they press Start.

Also, other than Skyfall, the other five Bond films being used to derive material from are currently unknown (well to me at least, but I like being surprised), but I’m gathering we’ll see bits of the BEST Bonds and not the worst. As for the other modes, the fun MI6 Ops Missions from Goldeneye Reloaded are coming back (structured to the new game, of course) and yes, Virginia, there will me multiplayer modes included. This leads me to believe that the game will be a FPS, but I’ll wait and see what the screens and movies reveal before I over-speculate here. Anyway, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that The game’s always on the ball PR ace keeps me up to date with the latest news on this, as I’m thrilled to see what’s coming with this new Bond game…

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Update: Classic To Current, Not Lost In Translation

Hey 2K! While this very cool progress update on the tactical version of XCOM is fantastic, let’s also hear about the other game as well. I’m actually one of those fans of the PC classic that’s NOT going bat crap crazy against the first-person origin story at all as I want to see how it turns out. Besides, it’s time that developers and publishers stood up a bit more steadfastly to the constant whining about every damn thing getting in the way of otherwise interesting design decisions.

Sure, keeping fans happy is ONE key to success, but it’s also important to have the freedom to take any IP in a different direction even if there’s some resistance. I think it’s time for some of these angry kids to shut it and eat their broccoli – hell, they may just find that it’s not as bad as they’ve been hearing…

God of War: Ascension Coming For PS3. But You Already Knew That…

OK, now you know why I HATE all this rumors, leaks and  speculation nonsense, folks. This crap is trifling to an extreme to keep track of for someone who just wants to play as many games as possible, grrr. BUT, I’ll try to play along for once and see what happens Ready? GO!

 

 

Sooo, there’s a new God of War game on the way. God of War Ascension, to be precise. Amazon “leaked” this info after SCEA’s teaser campaign on Facebook last week and before SCEA could officially announce it later today. OR: I hope that teaser didn’t cost a dime’s worth of time and effort to put together. OR perhaps this “leak” wasn’t really a “leak” at all, as a few hours of scooping up as much space on the internet after the Halo 4 shenanigans yesterday on Conan plus the news of that game’s launch date:

 

 

Er, Ha ha? Um, OK. November 6, in case you don’t watch Conan or pay attention to the Internet. 343 Studios is obviously doing it up quite well, so fans needn’t worry while non-fans won’t care a bit. Maybe. Back to that new God of War for a sec. It’s really NO big surprise at all to me. Like Sony’s NOT going to have a new game coming with Kratos in it for one more go on the PS3? The only surprise is half the earth not exploding from all the semi-orgasmic fanboy hooting taking place on the internet. We’ll see if SCEA’s PR department even wants to talk to me after this post, I guess. Hey, I like the series, guys – I’m just poking fun, you know. Tough love and all…

I guess we’ll see what’s what when E3 hits. Sony is proving the PS3 isn’t going out with anything resembling a whimper. Or going out at ALL this year or next.

 

Got Undead Stains? Use ZOM-BE-GONE!

Here’s a nicely done viral for Grasshopper Manufacture’s upcoming game, Lollipop Chainsaw, set to hit stores in June for the PS3 and Xbox 360. As I noted earlier, you’ll want to stick this one (the game, not the video!) on your wish lists, as it’s definitely shaping up to be quite a cool slice of action and non-stop fun with a killer 80’s soundtrack…

Prometheus “Happy Birthday David” Ad: Not So Subtle (And Fairly Creepy) Once You Get It…

Oh, you just KNOW this robot is going to be bad news, particularly if you’ve seen Alien and know how off the wall Ash turned out. This latest viral ad for Prometheus cracked me up because it’s so unsettling you hope that no one is working on anything this potentially psychotic in the field of robotics. Hey, what can go wrong with a machine that feels no emotion (and tells you this, no less), yet can cry on cue so it looks as if it can? 43 days and counting, folks…