Black Rock Shooter: The Game Trailers: Girl Power, PSP-Bound…

Posted on April 5, 2013 by geelw

FINALLY, after a long delay, this 2011 PSP anime action game from developer Image Epoch is coming stateside courtesy of Nippon Ichi Software America. It’s one of those imports I’ve been waiting to play in English just so I can find out what’s up with the story and characters without having to dig out a few dictionaries and translation aids. Anyway, April 23, 2013 seems to be the date to watch out for on PSN in North America (and April 24 overseas), so I’ll do just that. Update! NISA just posted a new trailer right after the one above, so you get another look at more of the game (and some gameplay!):

Now, I just need to decide WHICH of my three PSP’s to download the game onto. I’ll probably end up using the newer model and/or my Vita if the game is compatible.

The Last of Us: American Dreams #1 (Another Dark Horse From Dark Horse Comics)

Posted on April 3, 2013 by geelw

TLOS_AD_Cover Dark Horse Comics gets its tie-in mini-series rolling into stores and if the first issue is any indication, the remaining three issues should be essential reading before the game hits retail in North America on June 14, 2013. Co-writer and artist Faith Erin Hicks has a style that’s very Harvey Kurtzman influenced (always a good thing) with a touch of David Mazzucchelli (another good thing) and there’s a nicely gritty feel to her brushwork that’s a great counterpoint to the video game’s hyper-realistic graphics.

The Last of Us art director and lead writer Neil Druckmann is also on the case, co-writing with Hicks a nicely paced tale that’s got some intriguing characters whose fates aren’t all clear nor tied into the upcoming game experience. Verdict: absolutely check this out if you’re a PS3 owner and comics fan looking forward to Naughty Dog’s survival adventure game – it’s out now at a comics shop near you.

Puppeteer Story Trailer: Press the Button, Pull The Strings – This PS3 Game’s Got Some Wings…

Posted on April 2, 2013 by geelw

Another fine (and original) PS3 exclusive, SCE Japan’s super stylish adventure platformer Puppeteer, should hook in those core gamers (and yes, Sony fans) who crave nicely rendered (and slightly dark) fantasy worlds and characters to play with. This one tickles me because it’s doing the storybook come to life thing in a fun way without screaming “FAMILY GAME!” in huge neon letters. You really have to appreciate that Sony’s not letting the PS3 die off slowly (or quickly) with a bunch of crap budget titles and third-parry shovelware to remember it by, but I hope there are more exclusives like this to come. Frankly speaking, the PS4 absolutely needs to hit the ground rolling into 2014 with as few duds as possible from both first and third party developers who want their work to have long shelf lives and gameplay that’s more than the usual suspects doing the usual things.

As always, folks… we shall see…

The Last of Us Redband Trailer: Now With 100% More “Ewww, I Get It…”

Posted on April 1, 2013 by geelw

I’ve always found the concept of the Redband (or Red Band) trailer a bit stupid when all is said and done. YES, I understand that this stuff isn’t for the wee bairns, lest their dainty eyelash hairs catch fire from the heinous evil that they see, but hell. I mean, you can easily see this stuff on YouTube and so can little kids who can search for violent stuff like this, but whatever. For some reason, the ESRB keeps an iron fist on this type of content despite broadcast TV being much MORE violent. Oh – click on that pic of the Survival Edition to see the video. I don’t want the ESRB to come by and break my legs…

Speeeeeaking of breaking legs… (this just in!): As for ACTUAL violence and nasty gore NO one should see, er… how about some nice and gory NCAA basketball action, hmmm? I didn’t see that shocking video, but I certainly couldn’t get away from people talking about it all damn day. Double hmmmm. Maybe that sort of thing, nasty as it is, should go into the next EA Sports hoops game, so fans of that sport know it’s not all slick tattoos, hottie cheerleaders and fatty signing bonuses that net you an automatic sneaker contract that turns you into a multimillionaire a blown knee or worse away from no career before you’re 30 or so. Anyway, Naughty Dog’s new masterpiece, The Last of Us, which has NOTHING to do with sports or real violence hits retail on June 14, 2013. Get it and be prepared to hole up for a while.

The Last of Us TV Spot #1: Still Among the Living… Mostly

Posted on March 31, 2013 by geelw

TLOS_standard cover Finally, Sony drops the first of what’s probably going to be a few TV ads for Naughty Dog’s upcoming (and possibly final) PlayStation 3 game, and it’s a nice and tense doozy. Those aren’t your garden variety zombies popping up throughout that ad, by the way… you’ll see. Anyway, the game looks great and if the multi-million selling Uncharted series is any indication, this game will do quite well at retail and with the critics.

Of course, it’s going to be hard to show too much of the game so nothing from the plot gets overly spoiled, but I think a lot of folks going in expecting one thing will be surprised when they get something else. Me, I’m looking forward to this for a ton of good reasons, so I’ll be there with bells on come launch day.

Random Art: It’s Hard to Play Video Games, But Easy to Draw With a Cold (Go Figure)…

Posted on March 26, 2013 by geelw

going home

OK, so it was the SUPREMELY challenging, yet even more rewarding new PSP game Carnage Heart EXA from Natsume I was trying to play while feeling under the weather yesterday and part of today that had my head spinning around a wee bit too much. It’s actually a game NOT for the short attention spanners out there or those looking for some sort of JRPG-lite with nonsense squeal-voiced characters. Anyway, I took a break after about a dozen tutorials (yes, the game is THAT complex), sat down and sort of hashed out a new MS Paint sketch, which isn’t so good, but made me feel a lot better and a bit less mushy upstairs. Well, my cold has gotten a lot less lively after chicken soup, aspirin, water and orange applications during the day, so it’s probably back to regular posting tomorrow. Whee! Hell, I may even hit 200 posts this month (which would make me pretty pleased)…

Tales of Xilia Battle Showcases: How To Beat Up On Cute Animals Without PETA Going After You…

Posted on March 21, 2013 by geelw

Namco Bandai Games and their prolific Tales Studio are a half bunch of clever bastards aren’t they now? All of those Tales games have these SUPER cute (but deadly as hell) wee beasties to whomp on and nobody EVER complains because you’d punt a yeti-sized Pomeranian too if it came at you with intent on sinking a few dozen fangs into your face. Yeah, yeah – there are those of you who’d be going out of your way to cuddle some of these creatures with the intent of delivering that hug that you think every animal needs to keep it nice and tame. But good lock with that when you have two, then three, then ten hopping on your head looking for a snack. So yeah, leave Milla and Jude alone, people – they’re just doing what they need to do. Tales ships out for the PS3 some time this year. I’ll ask at their NYC showcase early next month and find out that release date for you animal “lovers” out there…

Capcom Makes With The Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate Humor So You Don’t Have To…

Posted on March 18, 2013 by geelw

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! I have the funny as hell feeling that somewhere on the Internet, SOMEONE is thinking this video is for a REAL product and is very madly tapping out that 800 number, credit card at the ready. Sucker. Of course, if Capcom DID actually release swag like this and put it up on their web shop, it would sell out in about the time it takes to watch that video. Yeah, you know how those rabid fans are. A fool and his money actually NEVER get parted because he or she sits in the corner crying because that fake number didn’t dial though. A real smart dude or dudette is broke and happy because they have a crapload of too cool swag filling their shelves. That, dear reader is today’s wisdom. Now go buy something too cool for yourself… oh, a brand new Wii U and/or 3DS and copies of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for both systems would be a great start, I (and Capcom) would say…

Deadly Premonition: TDC Q & A With SWERY65: Your Burning Q’s Get A’d (Even If You Didn’t Ask Any)…

Posted on March 15, 2013 by geelw

What, you didn’t notice that director Swery65 (or Hidetaka Suehiro in real life) was taking questions about the upcoming PS3 Director’s Cut version of his cult Xbox 360 classic horror.humor hybrid? Shame on you… but it seems that he’s got a Deadly Premonition of his own and has answered what you’d probably ask had you known. This is good. Go watch the man in action (well, as much action as you can get from a Japanese guy sitting on a sofa and fielding silly to smart queries about his game) and then feel free to sit back and smile afterwards if you’re a PS3 owner and in the mood for a funny, frightening and just plain WEIRD game experience.

VGA 101: On Kenji Eno (2): Something Old Brings In Something New(-ish)…

Posted on March 14, 2013 by geelw

Lumines ES2 So, as I posted last week, I finally got around to sending back that formerly long-lost Kenji Eno autographed copy of D2 about a week or so ago and got this nice surprise as a return response. A copy of Lumines: Electric Symphony autographed by the game’s producer and one of Eno’s close friends. Nice. Amusingly enough, I hadn’t played this Vita game previously, so now I get to do so and having done something nice for someone in the process. Yeah, I’m a nice guy under all that cranky. MOST of the time. Not get the hell off my lawn, you kids. Scoot! I have some games to play and no time for you whippersnappers. Git!