Presents of Mind II: Some Gifts Just Speak for Themselves

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Uh, would you like something to eat, game?

…And some gifts just sit right down on the nearest loveseat when they walk out of the box. Yikes. I saw this Death Stranding Collector’s Edition on sale at a local shop when I was poking around on ebay listing a few games I’m selling and yes, the price was right, so I bought one. The shop actually wasn’t the lowest priced one I saw, but Best Buy RAISED their crazy low price of $89.99 before I could buy it. I literally slept on the deal and thought about it, decided it was a go the next morning, but I was surprised to see them jack the price back up up to only $30 off the original 199.99 MSRP. Oh well. Adorama, you have my thanks for keeping your deal where even with tax, I made out all right and got free shipping in the process. Oh, and a LOT or air packing bags in the rather huge box, too.

I still need to find time to play this, but with a copy now on hand, it’ll happen sooner than later. Actually, I need to find a space for the box as it’s so huge, it takes up more room than I thought it would. At least Sony put the steelbook right on top so when the box in opened, it’s separate from the other goodies inside. Back in a bit – I need to go find out where I’m going to put this thing.

-GW

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Death Stranding Launch Trailer: Turn, And Face The Strange

I’ve been wisely avoiding any news and potential spoilers on Kojima Productions new game because I want to go in as cold as possible. So right now, I’m about frozen solid in terms of what I know about the plot and characters. I’ve seen a few trailers over the years while it was in development, but true to form, they were intentionally vague or showed off some impressive tech and packed in the weirdness that was hard to decipher if one decided to go down that rabbit hole. I chose not to, as speculation is the worst thing one could do with what was looking like a strange enough title that was innovating on a few fronts.

For me, Hideo Kojima’s games since the Metal Gear Solid era have been essential because even with trailers, you’re not getting the full story because there’s going to be a ton of context not seen until the full game is experienced. That and the sole time I broke with this tradition of mine was with P.T./Silent Hills, a game that was killed by its publisher and fantastically frightening demo unceremoniously removed from PSN after a nasty breakup that saw Kojima form a standalone studio. That was one game that very likely could have turned that series around, but we’ll never find out. I’d let myself be seduced by the idea of new Silent Hill game with a talented team at the reins (Guillermo del Toro amd Norman Reedus were part of the project), and it was a shock to find out later that the game was canned and its creation halted.

Anyway, Death Stranding arrives a week from now on the PS4, and next summer on PC. I’ll be getting the PS4 version because hell, it arrives first and I hate spending money on any potential PC upgrades that might be needed to run this on my aging laptop.

-GW

Death Stranding Trailer: Lurking With Appreciation

So yeah, I’m not at all obsessing over Hideo Kojima’s new game project at all. Not because I’m not excited about Death Stranding (because I am). But it’s a very quiet excitement from me because I knew from the announcement a few years ago that this was going to something truly special from a few angles. From the stunning visuals to wherever the story will lead, as Kojima’s narratives tend to be entertainingly bizarre but purposefully so (past the offbeat touches some players will focus solely on). Nope, I’m just quietly avoiding news and speculation on everything so I can go in cold and play at my own pace, savoring every moment without relying on the internet to ruin my enjoyment.

Hell, I didn’t even watch that trailer above until I decided to run this post and even then, I just smiled that certain way I tend to when I see a project like this creeping towards its release date with that certain assurance that comes from a creative team that’s in sync on a project they have full control over. I can’t wait to play this, but ssssh… don’t tell Mr. Kojima I sad this. Shhhh!

-GW

New Death Stranding Trailer: The Good, The Mads, And The Ugly


 

So. I didn’t watch The Game Awards this year because these sorts of back-slapping shows are meaningless for the most part, but I did catch a few YouTube vids of cringe-worthy moments I won’t discuss here. That said, the best thing saw post-show on YouTube next to new Zelda footage was this bizarre update to Hideo Kojima’s new and still in development PS4 exclusive, Death Stranding. The first trailer was a total brain-masher that people spent too much time dissecting, so you know that second one above was even more disorienting.

If you didn’t catch it, the guy holding the odd baby looks a wee bit too much like director Guillermo del Toro and that’s definitely Mads Mikkelsen with the inky stuff on his face. I have no idea what this game is going to be about, but like a bunch of people in the same boat, I want it just to see how Kojima and his team can pull it all together into something somewhat cohesive yet still intentionally baffling. Okay, there’s really nothing “ugly” about this trailer at all – I just needed to get a catchy title and that popped into my head first.

-GW