Sacred 3 Launch Trailer: Faster, Hackier and Slashier It Is. But Is That A Good Thing?

Posted on August 1, 2014 by geelw

I really liked the first two Sacred games for their massive open worlds, lengthy main quests and plenty of side quests, so this more action-heavy and multiplayer focus Sacred 3 has is a bit jarring. Granted, developer keen games has made a nice-looking game here and it will be played for sure. I’m just hoping the game can be enjoyed as a decent RPG experience and isn’t just a kill/loot/rinse & repeat thing that some will despise and doom to the bargain bin before the year is out. That and Diablo III: Reaper of Souls is on the way and will probably consign this game to a “play it later” fate for some DIII fans who only have time for ONE deep dungeon crawling experience. Anyway, this is out now in Europe and a few other spots – the North American version should hit retail and download channels on August 5th. I’ll give it a fair shake just to see how it stacks up to previous entries while also gauging it on its own merits. The game certainly looks as if it’ll be fun at the end of the day…

Onechanbara Z II: Chaos PS4-Bound In Japan (Yes, We Could Use It Here As Well)…

Posted on July 31, 2014 by geelw

It’s tough being a fan of a SUPER-niche series like the OneeChambara(also spelled Onechanbara, folks!) games, but I’ll admit to liking the games to some extent as a purely guilty pleasure. Well, except for that PSP game that felt half completed because of the oddball controls. Anyway, D3Publisher in Japan dropped this trailer yesterday for OneeChambara Z II: Chaos and both Gamekyo and Gematsu ran a ton of screen grabs and concept art for this first next-gen game in the long-running series that started out on the PlayStation 2. The game is set for an October 30, 2014 release and developer Tamsoft is promising a blazing 60 frames per second and full 1080p resolution, a first for the series.

Sure, compared to other games on the PS4, this one isn’t going to be the best-looking at all, but it’s nice to see Tamsoft make a game that looks like the cut scenes they’ve done in previous Onechanbara titles. As for this one getting an full English translation and US release? Well, that’s a tough one to call, as D3Publisher of America probably didn’t sell a ton of the first two Onechanbara games they localized (one for the Xbox 360 and another for the Nintendo Wii). I guess we shall see what happens, but I can see this getting at least some minor to moderate success in Japan if it plays well and had legs. Er, longevity, that is. I’ll bug someone at D3PoA in a bit to see what’s what. I’d love to play this one and really hope it’s being looked at for a potential North American release at some point. Sexy gals wiping out zombie hordes by the boatload and doing it stylishly? Yeah, it’s supposed to be silly and semi-serious simultaneously, but that’s what makes this guilty pleasure work so well, folks. Off to cross my fingers and hope…

Beating The Devil (Again) In Preparation For Beating The Devil (Again)…

Posted on July 29, 2014 by geelw

So, Diablo III: Reaper of Souls is coming to consoles soon and I’ve been going back to the PlayStation 3 version of DIII in order to gain a few more Paragon levels (I’m only at 26 currently) as well as a few more items I’ve been wanting to drop from defeated monsters or find in a chest somewhere. It’s been a slower than usual process thanks to me needing to complete a bunch of other games and get reviews posted, something that’s taking a bit longer than usual because I prefer to play games until I’ve seen pretty much everything. That and some games require patches that need downloading because what’s shipped isn’t quite where it needed to be for a retail product (something that annoys me to no end in most cases) and I’m not always able to download patches unless it’s from a wi-fi spot I can lug a laptop or portable system to.

Anyway, I was explaining the whole Diablo thing to a friend who doesn’t grasp the rinse and repeat nature of the series and wonders what the appeal is. Of course, I had to ask him if he was a sports fan (he is) and noted that every sport is about repetition and randomness and I could see the light bulb go off above his head before I completed my thought. The lure of games like this is simple: Beat down monsters, collect loot, sell off or transform bad loot into cash or better loot, rinse and repeat. Beautiful cut scenes and booming voice acting aside, Diablo games aren’t known for their “compelling” stories at all. That said, other than Earth Defense Force 2025, I’ve probably logged more time with DIII than any other game this year and the Reaper of Souls expansion is going to add many more hours to that total. Although, I’ll be taking my time with that one because there are games shipping out around that time or before that I actually want to finish before ROS eats up my remaining free time.

Back in a bit – writing this post has given me the urge to go to hell for a bit and shake things up to see what happens. I can use another Manticore and a few Hellfire Ring parts too (yup, only DIII players will understand my madness)…

SDCC 2014: Sin City: A Dame To Kill For Red Band Trailer: Up To Snuff, As Expected!

Posted on July 28, 2014 by geelw

Ah, the always interesting “Red Band” trailer. Want to see stuff that’s kind of NSFW but not spoiling the film much if at all? Hey, I say you SHOULD watch this just to see if this sequel is as rough and tough as the original just so you can see that you have nothing to worry about at all. Well, here you go. Below are some new posters for the film, which is set for an August 25, 2014 release at a theater near you. I don’t expect much of anything “happy” happening here at all (I’ve read the comics already), but I know the film will be funny in spots in that “Hmmm, I shouldn’t be laughing but I can’t help myself!” manner parts of the first Sin City nailed so well…

SDCC 2014: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Teaser Makes Me Feel A Bit Green…

Posted on July 28, 2014 by geelw

The third part of Peter Jackson’s busy amusement park version of Middle-earth is on the way to theaters in December and as you can see from this teaser trailer, you’ll be getting pretty much what you expected if you liked the other two parts of this two part film expanded into three. I’m actually a film behind in this saga (I need to see The Desolation of Smaug at some point), so I’m not in a tearing hurry to rush out to a theater 11+ miles away and see this one. Heck, given the extended, special, collectors and other edition home video versions that are BOUND to surface in 2015 and onward, I may as well wait until the DEFINITIVE version of this trilogy rolls out just so I can see every bit of film as it was intended to be seen (er, as far as home versions go). I should probably just follow a friend’s advice and get a nice HD projector to make that one big white wall in the living room a mini movie palace, but we’ll see what happens financially over the next few months or so.

Oh, and you can actually WIN a nice trip to New Zealand to poke around some of the actual locations from the film (minus the green screen effects, of course). That video above will clue you into how to enter and such. Good Luck!

Shadow of Mordor Story Trailer: The Bright Lord’s Kind Of An OK Guy, Huh?

Posted on July 27, 2014 by geelw

“And there will be no joy in Mordor… Mighty Crazy has struck out!” Well, okay, my feeble attempt at humor is based on me having a loooooong and boring day here fiddling with my PCs and clearing out stuff from some hard drives. But it had to be done and done it has been. Except for one computer here I’m wanting to beat with a baseball bat because it finally needs replacing after many years of service. But that’s neither here nor there, folks. This Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor update is brought to you from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, home of fine video games in the LEGO, Batman and Lord of the Rings franchises (among others). Hey, I’m not getting a dime for this post from them at all, folks – I’m just writing what’s rolling off the top of my head because my eyes are half closed right about now. Oh, I’ll be alright after a decent night’s rest. See you all tomorrow!

TUSK: Kevin Smith Is Still Making Movies After All (This Is A Good Thing)…

Posted on July 26, 2014 by geelw

While I can live without the jokier stuff he’s famous for, I actually liked Red State quite a lot because it felt like the director was really stretching himself into new territory and the film worked exceptionally well as a result. Smith’s upcoming TUSK looks and sounds pretty darn intriguing, mixing its old school mad scientist played by the great Michael Parks with Justin Long’s modern hipster blogger looking for a the ultimate story who BECOMES said story:

Of course, given this summer’s lousy receipts from all those purported “blockbusters”, this one probably won’t be up there on the all-unimportant charts at all. On the other hand, I can see it becoming Smith’s biggest film to date provided people go in not expecting the usual and with open minds. If anything, this one’s going to be quite the conversation piece after it’s been seen, I’d bet…

Hyrule Warriors: One Of Nintendo’s Not So Secret Weapons This Year…

Posted on July 26, 2014 by geelw

I’ll admit to grinning a wee bit too much when I heard about Hyrule Warriors, the latest mash-up of Koei’s fan favorite Dynasty Warriors series with an even more popular Zelda franchise and based on these videos, I’m betting Nintendo sees this one exceed their expectations. The pick up and play simplicity, hefty amount of playable characters and longevity of the DW series crossed with the massive appeal of the Legend of Zelda universe is pretty much a license to print money and I’m surprised that this hasn’t been done previously. Then again, the Wii U absolutely NEEDS an unbroken string of flat out hits and surprising sleepers in order to survive and it sure looks as if Nintendo is finally getting more consistent in terms of delivering better games for the console.

If this game is anything like the DW series (and it sure likes it’s going to be), there’s NO way anyone will blow through ALL the content on a rainy weekend. Sure, you MAY complete the game with one character by playing through for a few straight hours or breaking up gameplay sessions over that weekend, but you won’t have seen everything the game has to offer at all. It generally takes me a few months of playing to get as much out of a DW game and even then, I’m back for more if it’s a slow week and I have some free time… Continue reading →

SDCC 2014: Little Orbit’s Got A Pair Of Nice Surprises For Gamers Soon…

Posted on July 26, 2014 by geelw

As a fan of last year’s Adventure Time game (released by D3Publisher of America), I’m happy to see that this year’s installment, Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom is going to be closer in spirit to a Legend of Zelda game as opposed to a Gauntlet and Diablo-inspired chase & chop. Sure, I’ll miss playing as Marilese and some of the other characters, but as long as this new game delivers the goods, I’m not complaining at all. This one’s coming sometime in the fall for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC (via Steam) and Nintendo 3DS.

As for Falling Skies: The Game? Color me surprised and impressed. Sure, it’s basically a reworked version of the XCOM reboot from a few years back, but this is actually a good thing because I’d imagine the only other options were a boring run & gun game or some type of MMO that only a tiny percentage of people would actually play. While this one’s only coming to the PS3 and Xbox 360, I’m betting that it gets bought and played by gamers who like turn-based strategy who don’t mind maybe discovering a show they haven’t seen yet as well. This one’s out PS3, Xbox 360 and PC (via Steam) on September 24, 2014.

SDCC 2014: IDW Gets All Nostalgic & Modern On You With A Slew of New Titles

Posted on July 26, 2014 by geelw

As you can see, IDW is certainly going all out with these new titles set to arrive in 2014 and 2015. I’m not a huge a fan of these sorts of comics as I used to be, but the title Star Trek/Planet of the Apes: Primate Directive made me laugh for a bit longer than expected, so I’ll have to peek at a few issues when it launches. That Edward Scissorhands book has my attention for the art style, as I’m a fan of the film, so again, I’ll be checking out a few issues over time. I was probably the only person my age who wasn’t terminally obsessed with the Garbage Pail Kids, so I’m a bit ambivalent about this new book. That said, I know fans of those old trading cards are grinning like mad at this announcement.

Angry Birds Transformers? Eek. Yeah, yeah… both are hugely popular franchises, but I’m of the mind that time-eating games like AB should stay in that realm and not cross streams with other media (although the multiple millions made in AB merchandising outside games proves me incorrect). Finally, Orphan Black seems like a fine enough choice for a comic series, but I’d prefer to see the show as the show and not need to dive into other media unless it’s going places the show hasn’t by exploring side stories for each of the clones. Of course, that would mean I’d need to buy some issues or a collection at some point down the road. In other words, I guess IDW will be seeing some of my money at some point in the not too distant future…