Gamescom 2013: RIME – Ico Meets Journey in This Lovely PS4 Exclusive

Posted on August 24, 2013 by geelw

(thanks, IGN)

Tequila Studios’ upcoming PS4 exclusive, RIME looks wonderful in that ICO meets Journey manner with similarly rich (but more detailed) visuals and what sounds like a pretty lovely score (provided it’s not placeholder music). As for the story and gameplay, it’s tough to get a grasp on what the plot is and how this one controls from the video, but the game sure carries the influence of Team Ico’s work with those shadowy creatures and the protagonist using a torch to fight them off. It also looks like a more open world experience than ICO or Journey, but again, it’s tough to say much other than the game looks simply gorgeous.

I’m reserving any judgement on this one until it gets seen in person and played, so hopefully, Sony will get back to inviting those of us with smaller sites BACK to their press briefings, as they’ve been shutting out everyone who’s not packing in page views by the multiple thousands in exchange for what seems to be “strategic partnerships” with the big guns. This, of course… STINKS, as I used to be invited to SCEA events all the time and it’s a total pain in the neck to not get a response back to an email or a heads up that there’s something cooking in the city. Hell, I’m a train ride away and always thrilled to see new titles, so someone needs to start paying heed to the “little guys” (although after doing this stuff since 1998, I don’t consider myself “little”, grrrr…)

BOUGHT THAT! RPG Trifecta Pack Get!

Posted on August 22, 2013 by geelw

Yeah, yeah… I a bit late in picking this awesome deal up (it was released on August 6), but the RPG Trifecta Pack is all mine and I just saved a few hundred bucks in the process by not tracking down the out of production cart versions. Granted, the collector in me still wants to shell out for the two Genesis RPGs I’m missing from Super Fighter Team (I already have one of the few hundred copies of Star Odyssey here in the library), but this set will most certainly do.

Amusingly enough, if you happen to be the owner of a creaky PC from the last century, guess what? All of the games will actually run on any system with the following operating systems: Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP, ME, and 98SE (which is amazing but not unexpected, given emulation works well on any modern PC). Mac users? Well, you’ll need Mac OS X 10.5 and above. I don’t own a Mac, so I have no clue if that’s good, bad or ugly, but if you’re jumping up and down at home or the office, it’s all good. OK, I need to shut up and get downloading. Well, it’s only a 4MB file, so it’ll be quick, even on a crappy dial-up connection. Of course, I won’t get to PLAY any of these three until I whittle down my backlog here, so I guess this is an early holiday gift for myself – whee!

Gamescom 2013: Microsoft Keeps Trying, But I’m Not Buying (Don’t Let Me Stop YOU, However)…

Posted on August 21, 2013 by geelw

As I noted yesterday, Microsoft also stormed Gamescom with a bunch of new titles, but I can’t even look at anything the company is doing with its Xbox One thanks to the seriously mixed messages they’ve been sending. Sure, that new console looks pretty awesome, but between the enforced evolution thing they wanted to dump onto their user base, then the backtracking and in between, insulting anyone who didn’t have the proper connection to be always online or didn’t want to use that new Kinect or maybe wanted to sell or lend the games they owned to anyone at any time (and so forth and so on), it’s been a nightmare they need to wake up from soon.

Sure, some of you out there have VERY short attention spans and tend to forgive anyone for even the most blankety blanket of minor apologies. But there’s been a nice swell of pissed off gamers kicking Microsoft around who have little interest in the system, which seems to be forcing the company to do some insane stuff like give Europe a free (digital) copy of the FIFA game while stiffing US buyers because we’re dumb enough to pay full price for Madden every year (well, I don’t anymore).

So, the abusive relationship will continue between Microsoft and its die-hard fans with some great games on the new system, less draconian mandates (for now… but they’re coming back bit by bit, mark my words) and All sorts of exclusive content. Hopefully, that new system will be a LOT less prone to dying randomly like the Xbox 360 (I went through FIVE, dammit!) and people aren’t griping about not being able to access some stuff because they don’t want to turn on that new Kinect and it’ll be mandatory for some games or services we’re not yet informed about. I’d have to say this is the FIRST time I’m not excited for a new console cycle since I started gaming back in 1972. I’ll probably pick up an Xbox One eventually… but I certainly won’t miss it this year at all…

Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs: Pre-Order NOW (And Prepare To Hide Under Something Later)

Posted on August 16, 2013 by geelw

Frictional Games is teaming up with the VERY great and talented hands of the fine folks at The Chinese Room (who did a marvelous job with Dear Esther) to get horror and horror game fans some spine-shaking true scares in this upcoming “sequel”. If you’ve yet to play the original Amnesia: The Dark Descent, drop something and do so this weekend or so, as it’s quite a ride from start to finish…

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“Where Will Luigi Fall Asleep?” Why, In Front of His Wii U Waiting For Good Games, Of Course…

Posted on August 15, 2013 by geelw

Ah ha, ha, ha. I just HAD to go there because it’s TOO obvious a joke these days if you’re a Wii U owner. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Nintendo is playing its cards as they usually do, but as a formerly ecstatic Wii U owner since launch day turned slightly sleepy and a tad grumpy, let’s just say I’m not getting as much use out of my console as I’d like to.

Granted, the good stuff is coming and a few really cool third party games have kept me busy for sure. However, there needs to be something big and non-retread-y coming from first and third party studios that’s going to knock my socks off or I’ll be snoozing next to Luigi and grabbing blankets like an icy cold M-F. Ah ha, ha…h…*yawn!* THUD! ZZZZZZZ!!!…

(Well, at least I’m a tired but hopeful Wii U owner…)

Hands-On With Pac-Man Championship DX: Dot’s Entertainment (And How!)

Posted on August 12, 2013 by geelw

As an old fogey, I can’t recall a year not going by since 1980 without playing a Pac-Man game. Granted, I’m sure a lot of other people can say that, but it’s pretty incredible that the dot-munching, ghost avoiding/chasing character has held up for over 30 years. Of course, next to the arcade classic, the best ways to play a good game of Pac-Man these days is by hopping online and getting in some quality time with the excellently addictive Pac-Man Championship Edition on the Xbox 360, which is finally getting a content upgrade soon in the form of Pac-Man Championship Edition DX. The original game was an Xbox 360 exclusive, while DX made its Windows 8 debut earlier this year. Pac-fans old and new will LOVE this one for its spin on the classic game, the funky HD neon visuals and the lighting fast pace of the game that’s bound to keep you playing ’til the wee hours…

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The Wonderful 101 Demo Out Now: FINALLY (But Not A System Seller This Year)…

Posted on August 9, 2013 by geelw

My biggest complaint about the Wii U is the lack of demos on the eShop (and yeah, yeah, I do KNOW many developers hate making demos). Anyway, The Wonderful 101 demo is now live and ready to play, so if you’ve a Wii U at home, this one’s a MUST play. Um, that is all (as I’m in the middle of downloading it myself). I can very safely say that my Wii U is VERY happy right about now… maybe I’ll post some impressions over the weekend or later. As for that title above, while I know the game will do well at retail, I don’t think it’s going to sell systems to very many people unless it’s to a handful who were waiting until the game dropped to buy in. Platinum makes some VERY excellent niche titles, but not games you want to run over old ladies to pick up a console for. Just stating the truth, kids.

That said, Nintendo has always carved its own path out in this industry, so other than some woes they’ve noted about being surprised at how difficult and expensive making the move to creating HD content has been, they’re pretty much set in their ways as to what they want to see in the future.

Memo to D3Publisher of America: GET Oneechanbara Z: Kagura With NoNoNo! Localized ASAP (Please!)

Posted on August 8, 2013 by geelw

Oh, this is just TOO insane to pass up, people. Sure, the west never got the original Xbox 360 version of Oneechanbara Z: Kaugura (boo!), but this enhanced PS3 version is ab-so-lu-te-ly screaming for a decent localization and US release. At least in my book as a longtime fan of this crazy niche series of games. I’ll import if I must before Japan melts into the sea, but man, this needs to come out here. And yeah, on a damn DISC at that. I bet if D3PoA were to take a poll on its facebook page and a few other places, they’d find enough people willing to buy this as either a one minimum print run disc or (yuk) a PSN-only download. In other words, I’m betting they’d say a hearty “YesYesYes!” to NoNoNo!

I’m going to bug D3 about this here and if YOU want to see this, you should too. Not D3Publisher in Japan, by the way – you want to annoy the US branch and you UK gamers need to bug the crap out of Namco Bandai Games there, as they’re the ones who handle publishing D3 stuff out your way. I’d rather give my ducats to D3PoA than Play-Asia, but if my hand is forced, it’s going down hard… er, take that as you will.

Random Game of the Month (JRPG Edition): Tales of Xillia

Posted on August 6, 2013 by geelw

It’s finally here and it’s going to be a game genre fans should buy for a few key reasons from the mixed art styles working amazingly well, the stupidly deep amount of stuff to do in this installment (it’s the biggest Tales game to date), the “open world” feel to the gameplay experience plus all the usual stuff that has fans of this series sometimes buying specific consoles to play a single game in the long-running franchise. Tales of Xillia is all that and more, folks.

I’m betting at some point over the next day or three Mr. Baba and the dev team will probably be sitting at home (well, at their separate homes, as I’d hate to know what happens with such a large bunch of people living together biting their nails at the same time each Tales game is released) and wondering right about now how many fans in the US and other territories this is coming out in will be snapping up this one in the Standard, Limited or Collectors Editions. I need to get this one myself, as my backlog is SO huge this year that it’s worth doing a flowchart on (and I did – it’s terrifying). Anyway, if you’re an fan of anime/mamga-styled Japanese RPGs, yeah, you need to buy this game.

VGA 101: Xicat E3 2002 Games – A Few Canned Peaches May Have Been Prime Plums…

Posted on July 14, 2013 by geelw

From the vaults here, some of the canceled games Xicat Interactive had in the works for consoles, including Jane’s Attack Squadron for the Xbox and GameCube (!) and Gothic for the Xbox (!!). It’s really too bad neither of these made it to retail (I’d LOVE to get my paws on some Xbox debug code for either game), as it would have been really interesting to see how they played with a controller as opposed to a keyboard/mouse/flight stick setup. I’m one of those gamers who doesn’t care about tricking out a PC like a souped-up car or whether or not a game “needs” a certain type of control setup. If it’s fun to play and isn’t a glitch-filled mess, it’s a good game in my book. Well, we DID get Metal Dungeon, right? Little in-joke there, as that’s one was a like it or hate it JRPG (and most critics who played it hated it) that kind of played itself to some extent. Still, I did sink a good deal of time into that one as I HAD to see where it all ended up. Hey, not so good games need love, too!