F1 2014: A Little Heat For A Slow, Cool Friday…

Posted on September 19, 2014 by geelw

You’re looking a wee bit tired on this slightly chilly Friday, friend. How about a hot lap around Sochi to perk things up a bit? Based on user feedback, Codemasters Racing Studio is making F1 2014 an even more accessible game this year with a few changes to the formula including a new driver evaluation system to adjust the game to your level, shorter career options and a new Very Easy mode. While I know some purists will complain about these inclusions, it opens up the game (and the actual sport) to an even larger user base with the hope that those newbies learn the ropes, dial up the difficulty at some point and enjoy the sport as it’s meant to be. Unforgiving and heavily reliant on one’s skill as a driver, not just jamming on the accelerator and knocking AI cars around in an all-out bumper car match. This one’s out on October 17, 2017 for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. Yes, Codemasters is working on an all-new F1 game for PS4 and Xbox One, so you next-gen owners will need to hold that breath for a bit until 2015 rolls around…

Alien Isolation Survival Mode: You’ll Pay For That. You KNOW You Will…

Posted on September 17, 2014 by geelw

Ah, the dreaded Season Pass rears its head in another game and yep, it seems that this method of squishing extra money out of gamers isn’t going to vanish at all unless people stop pre-ordering and buying that content, but that’s a tough sell with so many rabid fans of certain games stampeding into stores the minute something’s announced and looks good enough to buy on day one after some previews. Alien Isolation, already a strong contender for horror game of the year (well, in my book), is getting MORE paid DLC in the form of at least five Survival maps to be released over the course of six months. This should provided those of you who love more competitive experiences to challenge that leaderboard and share your survival stories with other players.

Me, I’m in this one for the story, so I hope in addition to the standard and Nostromo editions, we see a “Game of the Year” edition that packs ALL the DLC onto a single disc similar to how other publishers reissue their big games. I know for a fact that there are still people on the fence about buying this game despite developer The Creative Assembly’s track record and this game looking like the best modern Alien game to date. But hey, it’s the age of soapbox skepticism ruling the day (unfortunately) and yes, Sega not having a stellar track record in publishing previous Alien games. We’ll see where this one ends up on the list soon enough, but I think it needs more love for both the attention to detail and in helping kick this franchise back to life and one worth following. Alien Isolation is out October 7, 2014 for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Hyrule Warriors: Nintendo Knows They’re Getting Some of Us To Spend More Money On This One…

Posted on September 15, 2014 by geelw

With just over a week to go before Hyrule Warriors storms store shelves, here’s a look at the TV commercial and uh-oh, trailers for DLC outfits. Yes indeed, the DLC for this game will grab you by the nostalgic hairs and yank hard on your wallet. Granted, I’d bet just about anyone who buys the game is buying at least ONE of these outfits or not buying them at all, but jamming up the eShop downloading them for free if that’s what they go for.

Oh, wait… they’re PRE-ORDER outfits and retailer specific, at that. Blech. Come on, Nintendo! Just let EVERYONE have what they want if they want it, as you KNOW the completion freaks out there who want everything but can only buy ONE copy of the game will be giving you grief deluxe. Oh well… perhaps these are timed DLC items and we’ll ALL be able to buy what we want directly from Nintendo at some point. One can only hope…

Okay, I was jesting a tiny bit. Nintendo IS smarter than the average internet troll who only skims the video before posting. They will indeed release ALL the DLC at some point via the eShop, so you don’t have to fret about missing out on anything. Like the company would pass up the chance to make some ABSOLUTE loot on those costumes in a few ways? Ha! Yeah, they’re on top of this one (for once). Yes, that’s tough love from me, ALWAYS for Nintendo!

Hyrule Warriors is out for the Wii U on September 26, 2014. Yes, it’s a must-buy game, folks.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax: Your Incoming Funky Fist & Foot to Face Fighter Of The Month (Or Year)…

Posted on September 15, 2014 by geelw

Okay, the very idea of a fighting game set in the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona universe made me choke on some water about two years back, but the first game was actually really good and fun stuff, adding a new layer of lore to the storied JRPG franchise. This latest installment looks to better that original game something fierce and comes highly recommended even if you hate fighting games. This one’s set for a September 30, 2014 launch on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (digital and physical, so you now have no excuse not to buy this), so feel free to haunt your nearest game emporium if your boat has been floated. Heck, at the very lest, check out the videos in this post just to get a gander at the story above and that excellent character animation in the gameplay clips below:

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I need to stock up on spare controllers. I’m not the best at fighting games and analog sticks tend to get bruised up when I play games like this. NO, not from controller tossing madness on my part, folks. I just have ham-hands!

Table Top Racing Gets A Nice, Necessary Update For Us Fat-Fingered Speed Freaks…

Posted on September 13, 2014 by geelw

Excellent. While I loved the Vita version of Table Top Racing, my big complaint (and it seems the main issue a bunch of other users had) was the rear touchscreen being automatically used for a rear view angle with no means to turn it off. This made holding the Vita comfortably something of a challenge, as the merest brush of a finger on that rear screen meant you’d be looking back for a split second. Or worse if you had no idea about that screen being used, you’d start a race and be looking at the FRONT of your car until you moved your fingers into a more claw-like grip. Ouch.

Well, THAT’S no longer an issue as Playrise Digital has whipped out a patch that sets the rear view to off (you can toggle it on if you like), shows the control layout (the original download didn’t, and while the game is easy to play, some people didn’t figure out the left trigger is used for certain functions) and tweaks a few other things. The update has been out for a little while, but I just hopped back into the game last night and saw the fix was in. Anyway, go grab TTR, as it’s only $7.99, a ton of fun and if you’ve been avoiding it because you have larger hands, it’s now even more of a no-brainer buy…

GTA V “A Picket Fence and a Dog Named Skip” Trailer: Translation: You Need A New Console (or PC), Pal!

Posted on September 12, 2014 by geelw

Well, it’s finally coming to PS4 and Xbox One on November 18, 2014 with the PC version to follow January 27, 2015, but it seems (as usual), some PC gamers think that’s too long a time to wait despite that version of the game needing to be tweaked for about a million or so different computers and every possible settings configuration, whatever mods some talented users will knock out and so forth and so on. Rockstar could simply release every GTA game on consoles only and make a fortune, but they’ve also decided to see if PC gamers will put their money where their mouths are and hope a bunch don’t simply pirate the game with the tired excuse that they want to “try it out” and then buy it later. Puh-leeeze. You KNOW what you’re getting with a Grand Theft Auto game, kids, so you’d BUY it if you liked the other games in the series. That and ANY complaints about visuals or controls on a PC version are MOOOOOT because of modders who fix the things they don’t like and spread that love around all over the internet. So, yeah… you deserve to wait a little bit longer because the world isn’t ending and hell, you get (depending on your rent money gaming rig) the “best” looking version of the game anyway. Class dismissed!/

Alien Isolation Goes Gold, New Trailer Series To Make You Change Your Pants Revealed…

Posted on September 11, 2014 by geelw

With The Creative Assembly’s Alien Isolation finally gone gold and set to hit retail game stores and assorted download sites on October 7 for PS4/PS3, Xbox One/Xbox 360 and PC, Sega is also kicking off a nicely scary set of videos (the first of which is below) asking one simple question: “How Will You Survive?”. As you can see, our poor heroine doesn’t make it through all 55 seconds of this first teaser, but this isn’t the only way to go, from what I’ve been reading.

Well, now that you’re on the hook (Ouch. Pun intended? Maybe.), you’ll want to tune in to the next in this somewhat hypothetically fatal video series. Me, I just want the game to arrive so I can finally play it and see how it fits in with the original film. I’d gather part two will drop next week, so I’ll have that posted along with more commentary that’s guaranteed to not change your opinion on whether to buy this soon to be classic or not…

Batman Arkham Knight Is Now A June Bride. It’s Worth The Wait For That Wedding…

Posted on September 8, 2014 by geelw

Yeah, I’m sure fans all around the internet are raaaaaging about having to wait even longer to get this game, but I say let them. I don’t mind at all that developer Rocksteady needs more time to make this one the best Batman game it can be and yep, I’m sure while WBIE would love to see this one ship earlier just for the financials and such, it’s clear that the game needs to cook longer. GOOD, I say. I hate this age of massive day one patches, games that don’t run properly out of the box or worse, games that DO run, but end up not pleasing reviewers who sink it with low scores before it can get a patch. I’m thinking both developer and publisher want NONE of that noise, so the delay is on and I coudn’t be happier. Well, I could be happier if I could actually see this in person and play it at some media event here in NYC before it ships out next year, but that’s up to WBIE’s PR team, I suppose.

Oh, if you’re drooling at those collector’s editions, let me let you in on what’s in the box in case your fingers are trembling too much to click on either image and see them full size (they’re MASSIVE):

Batman: Arkham Knight Limited Edition will include:

· Custom Art Book – 80 Page, Full Color Art Book Showcasing the concept art of Batman Arkham Knight

· Limited Edition SteelBook™ – Unique SteelBook™ case and game disc

· Comic Book – Limited Edition DC Comics Batman: Arkham Knight #0 Comic Book

· Exclusive Character Skin Pack – Three Unique Skins from DC Comics – The New 52

· Batman Memorial Statue – Imposing statue commemorating Gotham’s Protector, the Dark Knight

· SRP:

o Console – $99.99 / 119.99 € / 89.99£

o PC – 99.99€ / 74.99£

Batman: Arkham Knight Batmobile Edition will include:

· Custom Art Book – 80 Page, Full Colour Art Book Showcasing the concept art of Batman Arkham Knight

· Limited Edition SteelBook™ – Unique SteelBook™ case and game disc

· Comic Book – Limited Edition DC Comics Batman: Arkham Knight #0 Comic Book

· Exclusive Character Skin Pack – Three Unique Skins from DC Comics – The New 52

· Transforming Batmobile Statue – Fully transformable Batmobile statue realised in exquisite detail by TriForce

· SRP: $199.99 / 199.99€ / 169.99£ (Console only)

Hmmmm.. it would seem North America doesn’t get a PC edition with all that swag, but these games sell better on home systems anyway. Granted, those running beefy rigs will be griping a lot about this, but most people who don’t have a computer that costs as much as a decent car part won’t care because they’ll be playing this on their PS4 or Xbox One with hopefully no trouble. Anyway, with this game now nine months away, you can concentrate of completing some of the other blockbusters rolling out from this year to next June, right? RIGHT. Now stop jamming out your whining on some message board and get back to doing something more interesting with your time, I say…

Bundle Fest Deals 4 & 5 Offer Up Pains, Trains, & More Awesome Deals…

Posted on September 5, 2014 by geelw

Ha! See what I did there? No? Oh well. I’ll let you off the hook this time because I just KNOW you were distracted by one of both of these awesome Bundle Stars deals. Go let of some Steam with the Trainz Bundle, which gives you Trainz Simulator 12 and eight DLC packs for a mere $3.99 (try getting a real train ticket for that price!). This surprisingly addictive set of train simulations and construction tools allow anyone to run their own railroad and even hop online to share content with other users anywhere in the world.

If, on the other hand you’re in the mood for a lot less train travel and a great deal more fantasy and horror coming your way, well… the Night Dive Bundle has your name stamped all over it. Classic RPGs Wizardry VI, VII and VII are here, as is the scary sci-fi masterpiece, System Shock 2 (looking better than the trailer shows thanks to some great patches that come with the game install). You’ll also get the gory adventure chiller, Harvester, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream (the great Harlan Ellison story that was turned into quite a memorably bleak adventure game experience), More horror with Shadowman, The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour, and finally, the intentionally “buggy” tale of a very unique cockroach in Bad Mojo: Redux $3.49 nets you these nine titles and you’ll get a few weeks or longer out of the Wizardry games alone.

Summer may be coming to a close, but these two deals will make your backlog GROW like it’s spring inside your computer’s hard drive, I say! That goodness can be all yours in a couple of clicks and I don’t want to stop you at all from getting what needs to be done DONE. So, get to it already!

Pathologic Reborn: Ice-Pick Lodge Remakes Its Flawed Classic As A Crowd-Funded Next-Gen Game

Posted on September 4, 2014 by geelw

While it had its share of problems, 2005’s first-person adventure/role-playing hybrid Pathologic was one of those “creep under your skin” game experiences that made quite an impression. Sure the graphics weren’t exactly “state of the art” for the time, but the surreal nature of the art style, interesting map layouts and unique character designs helped carry developer Ice-Pick Lodge’s vision of a strange world in the grasp of a deadly plague. While the game didn’t do all that well outside its native Russia, enough of a loyal fan base picked it up over the years to gain it a cult following and of course, these days that means there HAS to be a remake or sequel. Thankfully, I-PL has decided to reboot their original game idea and expand greatly upon it to include content planned for the original that was scrapped as well as create all-new content that’s guaranteed to get the game a second life as a more richly rewarding experience… Continue reading →