Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Trailer: FOX on the Run (And It’s Looking Mighty Fine)…

Posted on March 27, 2013 by geelw

MGSV_PP Oh, brother. Raise those hands now… WHO didn’t know that this was going to be a new Metal Gear Solid game? Or that Hideo Kojima and his team weren’t going to (once again) push visuals to the edge in a console game. I can still remember that feeling I had when watching that first long form Metal Gear Solid trailer, a non-playable masterpiece from a Spring Special Demo Disc back in er, 1997 or ’98 and every MGS game since has dome something meaningful with its proprietary graphics engine. This new MGS V trailer, however, basically yanks you right into its world (which is open and non-linear this time out) from the moment Snake is on that operating table through some pretty outstanding dramatic sequences… Continue reading →

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Behind the Scenes: A Fantasy Trip for Today…

Posted on March 26, 2013 by geelw

Hey! Wouldn’t you like to be on a nice vacation right about now? OK, let’s go! Let’s say, hmmm… we’re now in Sweden with Josef Fares at Starbreeze Studios talking a little more about their unique game collaboration, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons coming to Windows PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 courtesy of publisher 505 Games? OK, OK… sitting in another room that’s different from the room you’re in now may not be much of a holiday at first glance, but think outside the box (or outside the building, in this case) and you’re on the way to your new destination with a fresh outlook. Um, Har en fantastisk semester – inte äta för mycket korv!

rain Gameplay: Oh, The Weather Outside Is Frightful…

Posted on March 25, 2013 by geelw

Here’s a look at SCE Japan Studio’s rather interesting adventure/puzzle/horror game, rain in action on the PS3. This one’s coming soon as a PSN download (but for some reason won’t be on the Vita, grrrr!). Sony is really doing a nice solid for indies on the PS3, but it would be nicer if we could get these compiled onto a disc much like that Journey: Collector’s Edition from last year. I’m betting a dollar that there are an awful lot of PS3 owners that either don’t know about these games or (eek) don’t care because SCEA isn’t bothering to ask them if they’d buy them if they put about 4 – 6 of these (relatively) short games onto a Blu-Ray, priced them reasonably, stuck a few extra demos on for good measure and saw what happened at retail. Hey, not every PS system owner has access to broadband, Sony. Work on getting those gamers some of these great-looking games and perhaps you’ll see even more love from your large user base in the future…

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Gameplay Reveal: Pirates’ (Raking In More) Gold…

Posted on March 25, 2013 by geelw

Now, I really COULD (and should) litter this post with plenty of pirate and numerous nautically-themed puns (enough to make your eyes and ears cower in fear), but I won’t (consider yourselves lucky. THIS time). But instead, I’ll just state the obvious and say that Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag looks really amazing and yes, all that sea battle stuff from the last game seems to be what Ubisoft was going to end up making nearly an entire game around. Granted, it might have been really spectacular to see this game show up as an all NEW franchise, as the stand alone pirate game has been sorely missed. Now, we’ll get to sit through those long-winded online rants from fans of the original AC games who think going so far away from the Templar stuff is a terrible thing. I always thought it was kind of pompous and that futuristic Desmond plot unnecessary, but that’s just me. Oh well, this one will sell a million or two based on the “Yo Ho Ho” factor alone. Just you watch…

Diablo III on PS3: Blizzard’s Showing Off The Goods (And Positively Pissing Off Some PC Gamers in the Process)…

Posted on March 24, 2013 by geelw

DIII New Tristram I’m really happy to see that not only has Blizzard reworked the controls to be direct and yes, Dual Shock 3 friendly, the game also looks great and should get MORE people playing who’ve been wondering what the hell a Diablo game is and why there’s so much bile spilling out over the Internet from a certain bunch of folks who seem to be either jealous or wishing fiery doom, (DOOM, I say!) upon the developer and anyone with a console and not a cutting-edge PC that cost more than some used cars who wants to play this game. Eh, whatever. I’m BUYING Diablo III because my PC couldn’t run it (the always online crap from that version has been replaced with a solo play mode I’m behind 100%) and I wasn’t at all interested in the real money auction house nonsense forced upon PC players. Of course, there’s the matter of the PS4 version of the game not being compatible with the PS3 version, but at the end of the day, I’m gathering that other than visuals and controls, both versions will otherwise be the same and compatible with their specific consoles (which should have user bases large enough to support online play amongst those users who end up going that route).

Gallery: DuckTales

Posted on March 23, 2013 by geelw

DT NES_WFT WOO-HOO! What’s old certainly has gotten a MAJOR makeover, as WayForward Technologies takes the classic NES game to the next level with its DuckTales “remake”, set to hit Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U this summer. Screenshots don’t do this one justice, so make sure to check out that cool and funny trailer (and sing along, too, as you KNOW you remember all the words to that song! “Not ponytails. Not cottontails. DUCKTALES!!!”):

Gallery: Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara

Posted on March 23, 2013 by geelw

(Cue stereotypical booming RPG narrator voice along with equally stereotypical epic-sounding fantasy music) NARRATOR: “And so, it came to pass, after many years of online fire and calamity that Capcom doth finally decree that the gamers worldwide long starving for a pair of decent fantasy hack & slash arcade games long consigned to history’s dusty trails become updated and set loose as one whole product to be forever named Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara. And that game, now headed to the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U and Windows PC (developed for Capcom by Iron Galaxy and priced at $14.99/€14.99/£11.99/1200MSP) was indeed met by the cheers and praises of the long-starved masses destined to play until the long hours of the dark night have turned to day… and beyond!”

Or something like that. I’ll just shut up with the silly stuff and run the gallery below:

Young Justice: Legacy Cover Art Revealed: Revenge (of Sorts) Is Sweet…

Posted on March 23, 2013 by geelw

Young Justice Legacy_cover OK, so the show is dead, killed off somewhat unceremoniously by Cartoon Network (the curse of poor ratings, most likely) but that’s not stopping the development on this game fans have been eagerly waiting for since it was announced. Here’s the official cover art for Young Justice Legacy, set to hit the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, PC (and hopefully a few more platforms). Developer Freedom Factory is going all out to make sure its upcoming action/RPG is one those fans of the show will really get into and definitely make a day one purchase. It would be nice to see sales hit a fast high and sustain that for a bit so CN could reconsider its termination of the cartoon, but that’s a harder thing to do with a niche series no matter how much the most loyal fans shake their fists at their monitors and cable boxes.

As always, (yeah, repeat after me, folks): We Shall See…

Gallery: Lost Planet 3 Screenshots – 50 Shades of Winter for Your Viewing Pleasure…

Posted on March 23, 2013 by geelw

LP3_nice In case you haven’t been paying attention, Lost Planet 3 is looking mighty impressive. This PREQUEL (which I feel should have been called Lost Planet Zero just to aid the still confused folks out there ranting about it being a sequel and being totally and ignorantly incorrect about that) is chock full of some truly impressive Unreal 3 engine-powered visuals that show developer Spark Unlimited is doing more than their best work here. Poke around through LP3’s lovely Facebook gallery, “like” a few of these if you do indeed like what you see and definitely mark your calendars for June 25, 2013 when the game hits retail for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Random Indie Game of the Week: Overgrowth (Or: WIP Indie With Battling Bunnies Intrigues Me)

Posted on March 23, 2013 by geelw

Overgrowth_title

Hmmm… I’d never heard of Overgrowth nor it’s “prequel”, Lugaru: The Rabbit’s Foot until a silly mistyped search mistake sent me to Wolfire Games‘ site, which of course meant I just HAD to download and give that Lugaru demo a try. It’s quite challenging and very well done, so of course, logic dictates that I share info on this to anyone who doesn’t know that already while pointing out that Wolfire is working on that new spiritual sequel. Above is a work in progress look at some early gameplay, so it’s going to change and change some more as the dev process continues. It’s also a bit amusing to me because of a dinner conversation had last night about cute rabbits in literature, so this is more of an anthropomorphic update on Watership Down if you think about it. Check out this “how to play” combat action from Lugaru:

Overgrowth looks to expand greatly on this, so it’s going to be a game I’m going to follow as it progresses. If it’s floating your boat as well, poke around on that game’s main page, sign up for updates, peek at the cool webcomic and get happy that you’ve just supported yet another indie developer thinking outside the box.