Gallery: Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons

Posted on October 2, 2012 by geelw

OK, a mere six early screenshots isn’t much, but the gorgeous teaser video above for Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons makes up for that, I’d say. After a long time away doing quality shooters set in gritty modern and futuristic locations, Uppsala, Sweden-based developer Starbreeze Studios is headed back into the more fantasy-themed worlds they started out making. Granted, their very first game, Knights of the Temple: Infernal Crusade (PC, Xbox, PS2 and Game Cube) took place in a gritty medieval setting, but their second game, Enclave (Xbox) was set in some a pretty interesting (and yes, gritty) locations. This new game, set to hit PSN, Xbox Live Arcade and Steam in 2013 has a richer, more stylized look to it that recalls a tiny bit of the Fable series but with more of Starbreeze’s technical polish. Unreal-powered loveliness aside, I’ll need to get my grubby (or is that gritty?) paws on a build for some hands-on time. 505 Games has been good about letting me know when they’re in the city (playing a demo of Naughty Bear: Panic in Paradise was a highlight of last month for me), so I’m expecting a little bird at my window when they’re ready to show off their new baby. I can’t wait…

Edit: I had a R.J. McReady monent there, heh (+5 points if you get that joke)- Starbreeze isn’t Finnish, but they’re based out of Sweden. Oops!

EDF 4 Promo Trailer (Ver. 1.5): Sandlot Builds A Bigger And Better Sequel

Posted on September 27, 2012 by geelw

With EDF 3 Portable landing in Japanese and Asian territories (retail and PSN) this week for the Vita, I’m hoping that D3Publisher of America is paying attention to the awesome promo videos being produced for that game and the currently in development EDF 4, set for a 2013 release. This is exactly the time to get in early on getting Sandlot’s name into gamer ears as a team that can bring it when it comes to over the top run & gun action and much more tremendous replay value than found in other titles. Keep up the great work, Sandlot – as for D3’s US arm, I have just one thing to say (three times): EDF! EDF! EDF!

TGS 2012: Beyond: Two Souls & The Last of Us Trailers: On Muses, Mushrooms And Going Out On Top…

Posted on September 20, 2012 by geelw

Sony really has 2013 wrapped up in a nice bow with too many first-party releases to count, but as far as Quantic Dream’s and Naughty Dog’s instant classics, the worldwide appeal for these is clear, no matter what console is your favorite. These are two title that non-PS3 owners will wish they could play while the pure Sony fanatics will have more ammo to whip out when they need to make the case for the PS3’s staying power after so long. Without a doubt, Sony’s NOT going out of this console cycle with a whimper, nor by rendering their console obsolete before its time.

Malevolence Update: A Little Art Showcase (With A Side of Music)…

Posted on September 17, 2012 by geelw

Slowly but surely, Malevolence: The Sword of Ahkranox is shaping up to be an indie RPG well worth tracking down when it’s completed, no matter how it ends up being released. If I’m not mistaken, if you happen to have a Steam account (or want one) you can still vote for the game to get onto Valve’s download service as part of the Steam Greenlight project, and I’d say go for it if you like supporting indie games, 30+ hard working folks from all over the world and classic first-person PC RPGs of a super high quality for such a smallish team. I say they should be up there with the best of them, as the game is looking better and better each time I see a new video or set of screen shots.

EDF4 First Look Trailer: The Only Time Bugs Are Great In Gaming Is Here!

Posted on September 14, 2012 by geelw

Holy Cats. I missed this EDF 4 trailer thanks to the CRUSH of Nintendo Wii U, New York Comic-Con news and other game/non-game related stuff jamming my inbox, but here you go. A nice peek at the new EDF game, which is looking SPECTACULAR in its retro way. Sandlot is blowing things up in a HUGE way here and even better, the game is coming to the PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2013. As for a US release, it’s too early to tell, but I’d say D3Publisher of America would be IN-SANE to not be thinking about localizing this one. Hell, I’ll do all the voices in the English dub if I need to, D3 (although, that would send the game into Dynasty Warriors series levels of camp). Anyway, expect more to come during TGS this month, as I can’t possibly see D3Publisher not wanting to share more of this upcoming game. 2013 is looking better and better now. One thing, though: where’s the Wii U version? That fancy new controller could make for a really fun multiplayer aspect to things is all I’m saying…

Dishonored Developer Documentary Part 3: Experience And Choice Make A Big Game Bigger…

Posted on September 14, 2012 by geelw

As I’ve been saying for months now, DIshonored is going to blow you away on many fronts from the stylized visuals to the great gameplay to the amount of choice you have while playing. This latest video shows how to kill with skill and in quite a few ways. Amusingly enough, my two favorite upcoming titles that use player choice as key to the experience are this game and Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of 2 – you can’t get more opposite ends of the gaming spectrum than that, I’d say!

Dishonored Developer Diaries 1 & 2: Creating Style, Immersion & Illusion In A Solid New IP

Posted on September 11, 2012 by geelw

Here’s why Arkane Studios’ upcoming game will be so fantastic – a team with a ton of experience that loves what they do inventing a whole new game world to explore while giving players freedom to mess around almost any way they like. By the way, that “almost” isn’t too limiting, as you’ll see in the videos and even more so when you’re actually playing the game. Sleeper hit? yes, Deserves to be much bigger than it’s going to be? Absolutely.

Earth Defense Forces 3 Portable Update: Creating The Live-Action TV Ad WIth Minoru Kawasaki

Posted on September 9, 2012 by geelw

Ah, that oddball Japanese sense of humor…. where would the gaming, no, entertainment world be without it? Famed “B” movie director Minoru Kawasaki is trying his hand at making EDF look even more cheesy than it intentionally is and based on these two videos, he’s going to succeed (and quite admirably at that). I’d forgotten to run the rather goofy announcement trailer for these spots a few weeks back (you get to watch the director drinking for the most part), but in a way, I’m glad that I missed posting it because these updates are such fun. Anyway, amusing stuff aside, HOPEFULLY we’ll have a seriously official word from D3Publisher of America after this year’s Tokyo Game Show on whether or not this reaches North America and Europe. In English, of course.

Hell, I’m importing it if it doesn’t and maybe even if it does because I’m such a huge EDF fan, but this is one of those titles I firmly feel will REALLY help the Vita out in terms of being popular worldwide.

Malevolence: The Sword of Ahkranox Update (Late!): Closer, Yet Still More To Do…

Posted on August 28, 2012 by geelw

OK, OK, I’ve been a bit swamped under other stuff, so I’ve been bad and not posting all the Malevolence updates I need to. Well, part of that is for some reason, YouTube hasn’t been informing me when a new video is uploaded and I’m way too occupied in some projects to keep poking around. Anyway, here’s a gameplay update from the 13th (above) and some not quite in sync audio to go with more gameplay.

I wish I was one of the lucky ones testing this game, but I can’t do that with my crappy connection, that’s for sure. Still, I’ll keep my paws crossed that the team does well enough to find a small publisher who can get this out on a disc at some point, as this is a game I really want to play (and has been for a while).

Star Wars 1313 Gamescom Trailer: So Far, The Force Is Strong In This One…

Posted on August 17, 2012 by geelw

I’m not the firmest believer in the whole “uncanny valley” thing game developers are striving for in the upcoming generation of console and PC games where visuals get so realistic that you can’t tell whether you’re watching a CG trailer or actual game footage. However, I’ll give credit where credit is due to the dev team at Lucasarts working so hard towards that goal with their upcoming Star Wars game. Granted, at the end of the day, story and gameplay matter even more than even the best visuals in the galaxy for my money. Hopefully, this will be a game for the ages that’s got longevity (as in replay value) and legs (as in sequel power where we don’t just get a retread of what’s come before). As always… we shall see, right?