BEYOND Two Souls – The Origins: Well-Told Tales Come From Many Sources…

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Beyond_Two_Souls_CoverOnce again, David Cage shows why he’s one of the best and most important game creators working today. Turning a personal tragedy inside out and creating a wholly unique game experience loosely based on it with the dev team at Quantic Dream is going to send PlayStation 3 owners into stores by the millions to buy and play BEYOND: Two Souls when it hits retail and PSN on October 18, 2013. As with Heavy Rain, expect gameplay innovation and impressive visuals (quite possibly the best looking game on the PS3 this late in its life cycle) to go with that story you’ll be playing through.

And hey, look! It’s a way too brief PlayStation 4 Killzone: Shadow Fall teaser just because I can pull this stuff off and get away with it…

Humor: Watermelon Oreos: Only ONE Man Can Properly “Review” These…

(clip from opieradio

Yuk_CookiesIt just hit me once more (ha ha) as I still have that slimy frosting taste in my mouth that Nabisco, like too many other American food companies, have lost their collective minds over getting as much money from you as possible and giving you nothing in return but a bellyful of pain. We’re getting fat, lazy and sick from these guilty “pleasures” designed to act like narcotics once ingested as they slap and tickle the same pleasure centers and lead to addiction much in the same way any drug made to do so does all to well.

Of course, most folks will deny this as they have that 3am craving and boogie to the kitchen for their much more legal fix, but it’s the same “I can stop if I want to!” deal you hear from any addict when it comes to getting out of the fatty/sugary/salty hole you’ve fallen into. Anyway, buy these at your leisure (and/or peril) along with the other horrid “limited edition” Oreos while you can. I’ll be putting in a call to Gallagher and hoping he can clone himself. There are a LOT of Target stores to hit…

Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection – I Did My “Snake’s on a Plane” Joke Already…

Konami and Hideo Kojima can squeeze money from fans of the Metal Gear Solid franchise any time they want to and given the huge amount of interest in this upcoming collection, it looks as if fans worldwide aren’t minding one bit. The great thing is, the PS3 is region free, so anyone anywhere can pick this set of classics up and get it shipped to them. Granted, that airmail shipping isn’t cheap to many locations, but as I said, the harder core fans of the series probably don’t give a hoot. I have most of these titles here in the library but yes, I still want this pricey box set. Well, it’s not THAT expensive considering what’s inside… but I’m not made of money like that guy in those Geico ads who I wish would zip around the block here on that motorbike of his…

Game & Wario Pops Into Stores. Weirdness Ensues.

Gee, who’da thunk Jimmy Fallon being so damn TERRIBLE at a game would make me think less of it? Well, whoopsie! I was totally wrong about Game & Wario being not so hot based on Fallon’s fumblings.

“Foo, foul fiend of flailing and failing! Fie on thee foolishness and folly, thy gutter-like gaming skills that deny greatness to games that deserveth it and a pox on all your houses you play games in!”

Or whatever. The man’s probably a demon off camera with a controller in hand and no audience screaming like a us full of schoolgirls sailing off a cliff. Still, I’ll buy a pair of white gloves just to go on his show and smack him a good one gently before challenging him to something fun he’s not going to get away clean from. Anyway, that video above is nuts, a few friends who got this last Sunday say it’s super and yeah, that’s ONE more game I need to play. And more Nintendo Coins to rake in once I register and do that survey deal…

Muramasa Rebirth: The Vita’s Big, Fat Bundle of Joy This Week…

Hey, it’s out already? Crap. I had NO idea! Oh well. Not like Aksys’ PR ever sends me any review codes anyway (*whine*). Actually, I don’t even mind supporting them and Vanillaware, as this game on the Wii was really fun and the Vita version has some cool exclusive features. OK, another one for the “to do” list. Gah, I really, REALLY need a time machine. Or a game-playing monkey with a much thicker wallet who can also build shelving in its spare time. Hey, I have to put all those games somewhere, right?

E3 2013: Oh, Valhalla Knights 3… What Are We Going to Do With You?


 

Hoo boy. Sometimes, I’ll see an article that criticizes certain types of genres of Japanese games for being too sexist or exploitative or out of touch with or whatever and I usually chuckle because often the game or games in question have zero chance of arriving here because of that content. Of course, of the games that do make it over with saucy scenes or imagery that may offend, some of the content is altered or snipped out completely so as to appeal to more puritanical American tastes. Granted, this sort of censorship offends fans of imports arriving unsullied and over time, some game companies has slowly allowed much of the silliness to slip in in various states. Well, Yakuza 4 and its in-context Geisha club antics and the Ar tonelico series’ eyebrow-raising “Dive Station” mind dating elements (trust me, it’s weirder than it sounds) have nothing (and I mean no-thing) on what’s going on in Xseed Games’ upcoming Vita exclusive, Valhalla Knights 3.

That trailer above doesn’t show anything outrageous – it’s below the jump, you pervs (and a link at that!)…
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E3 2013: The Dark Sorcerer: Tech Demo, Yes. But Quantic Dream Makes It Most Memorable.


 
Most new console and PC tech demos I’ve seen are frankly speaking, boring as hell once you get past the usual showoff effects and buzzword flashiness tossed around. Ooh, look at those thousands of boxes falling! The particle effects in that explosion look so REAL! My, that’s a lot of rubber duckies in that bathtub! That water ripples so realistically that I want to lick my screen (wipe off the dust first, please – a tongue full of yuk isn’t a good thing). On the other hand, there’s Quantic Dream and their story-based demos that manage to impress the eyes as well as the sense of wonder because you get something memorable on a few more important fronts all meshing in a way that makes you see where the future is headed when a developer who can follow up with more that pretty images is at the wheel.

Also, as you can see here, BEYOND: Two Souls is looking more and more remarkable with each reveal. David Cage and his team are making AAA games that matter in this era of bloated game development and game advertising budgets that disguise too many “mee-too” sequels. BEYOND is definitely unique on a few technical as well as gameplay fronts, so I’m hoping this one’s sold to and played by those who appreciate all the hard work that’s gone into making it.

BUY THIS! Super Fighter Team Goes Digital With The RPG Trifecta Pack

RPG TF PackUsually, I save my biggest double-takes and jaw-drops for this time of year because of E3’s more surprising reveals, and yes there were a few doozies that put me in some poses most publicly shameful (or as shameful as one can look while watching a company dismantle its competition with a single internet video that crushes that competitor’s master plans). However, In the middle of all this E3 news and it’s talk of “interactively aggregate competitive materials” (Thank you, Corporate B.S. Generator!), thank goodness Super Fighter Team is on the case to keep me sane (but still picking up my jaw and eyeballs off the carpet)… Continue reading

E3 2013: Microsoft Xbox Conference: On the Surface, It’s Got Merit…

…But things go very far south very quickly if you’re not who they want to be in on their new console. Check out this pre-order info page and if your eyeballs aren’t rolling on the floor trying to find your jaw, you’re the guy or gal they want. Also note that currently, Japan and wow, every other primarily Asian county isn’t even on the list of supported territories, but given the Xbox and Xbox 360 not doing anywhere as well there as they did elsewhere, it’s going to be extremely interesting to see what exactly does happen if and when the Xbox One rolls out in these areas. Thanks to MXE Videos for this clip, as Microsoft has yet to run the full version of this on their own YouTube channel, instead preferring to chop it into smaller segments to show off the games and their respective reveals. I think it works best as a whole meal myself…

E3 2013: Swery 65’s D4: Episodic Detective Xbox One Exclusive? Well, 2 out of 3 Isn’t Bad…

Nope, I’m betting my entire WARP games collection this has no relation to Kenji Eno’s great, languidly paced horror game D or it’s more mature and outrageous follow-up D2, but it’s from one of my favorite game creators, so it’ll get played… provided it eventually comes to a console I can play it on, grrrr. This is the ONE and only thing I despise about this “exclusive” thing, especially in this coming cycle where a lot of games will indeed be VERY “exclusive” as in you can’t play at all unless you meet too many requirements. Bleh. Swery-saaaaaaaaaaaan! PLEASE get this on other systems as soon as possible. ALL your fans deserve to play it – not just a select few!