The Bureau: XCOM Declassified – “Origin Declassified” Trailer: Agent Carter, I’m On YOUR Side…

Posted on May 13, 2013 by geelw

From the bits of gameplay shown, this origin story looks like a re-skinned version of last-year’s XCOM reboot, so you’d think it would shut the naysayers up a bit more. Nope. 2K Games is still getting not too much respect from those folks, but I say the company doesn’t need these people at all at this point. Let others who want to play the game do so and enjoy it while you keep your opinions to yourselves and sleep better clutching that old boxed copy of the Microprose classic you hold so dearly as the “best game ever” to your chests. Eh, whatever – I love that original game myself, but I’m at least more open-minded and can respect a new developer who wants (or WANTED, as far as the original design went) to do something outside the box. As always, we’ll see how the new game turns out when it hit s retail on August 20, 2013. Unless he and his team are complete klutzes, Agent Carter’s got nothing to worry about from me…

Indie Royale’s Mayhem Bundle: Spend A Little, Get A Lot of Bodies Dropping…

Posted on May 13, 2013 by geelw

MAYHEM_bundle This latest budget bundle from Indie Royale should give that crappy Monday you’re having a nice boot out the nearest window. Six great games are up for grabs and all look like a blast in one way or another. I’ve played Alien Shooter 2: Conscription a while back and it’s a great little shooter/RPG hybrid. The similar looking (but co-op/multiplayer focused) Primal Fears actually looks like one of the Hunter: The Reckoning games from a few years back and Burn Zombie Burn? Well, that title would make me buy it on general principal. Of the other games, Droplitz is a no-brainer for puzzle fanatics, Plain Sight looks pretty cool (despite your ninja/robot avatar needing to blow itself up for points all the time) and Lucius actually looks like someone took the original 1976 film The Omen and based the game around it (which means it’ll be nice and gory as you guide the little devil around and wipe out that mansion full of unfortunates).

Of course, the latter probably isn’t the game you want the babysitter to play at all, as it’ll give him or her nightmares and he or she’ll never drop by ever again. But, hey – what you do with your newly acquired cheap games is all up to you, right?

AMC’s The Killing Season 3: Getting Your Attention With Intention To Keep It Held…

Posted on May 13, 2013 by geelw

Let’s see now: a serial killer on the loose (meaning a higher body count this season) with the series’ focus on this one case and how it affects everyone on all sides should make for an intriguing story arc provided the show sticks to what made it work in the first place and doesn’t fall into the trap other crime shows have become victims of (changing too much to appeal to a certain base of short attention span viewers for rating’s sake). As with the first two seasons, I’ll be going in expecting nothing so I can actually be surprised when the writers and cast hit me over the head and toss me in a trunk…

Well, you know what I mean, right? I actually don’t advocate hitting anyone over the head and tossing them into a trunk unless they’re trying to do that to you and you manage to beat them to it…

CD Projekt RED Wants You To Make Your Own RPG Using Their Tools

Posted on May 13, 2013 by geelw

REDKit_Mod_Screen In case you’ve never played it, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is a really spectacular adult RPG with some great writing, visuals and gameplay. Developer CD Projekt RED has been cooking up a nice treat for the more creative fans of their work to play around with and the results are pretty damn impressive. Granted, you just can’t grab their REDKit beta and whip out a game in a day or two (and yes, you need to BUY a legal copy of The Witcher 2, which isn’t a bad thing to do at all, as the game is really inexpensive now and is a good way to spend about 60 to 80 hours or so), but as you can see above and on the official site, the results can be amazing.

Of course, given the game’s system requirements and what are bound to be some really complex mods, I’m gathering you’ll need a fairly powerful PC to run anything created using this toolkit. But for those gamers or artistic types with the time to play around with their own ideas in the world of The Witcher, this one’s a no-brainer to at least try out to see if it’s something you can use…

The Last of Us TV Spot #2: A Month or So Isn’t That Long To Wait…

Posted on May 11, 2013 by geelw

As I’ve said before, Sony’s not going to let the PS3 fade into the usual “old” console obscurity as they’ve got a few more great first-party games that show off some developers at the top of their game. Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us looks to combine solid storytelling and intense action in an exclusive that looks to be one of the best games made for the console. The recently released Dark Horse Comics prequel has sold out (well, as far a physical copies go), so it looks like plenty of gamers who picked the book up (and happen to own PS3’s) will be zipping on down to their favorite game shop (or lurking by their mailboxes) when the game’s June 14, 2013 release date rolls up.

Resident Evil Revelations “Shock and Panic” Trailer (No, Not About The Wii U Features)…

Posted on May 10, 2013 by geelw

Ah ha ha… I had to get that little joke in because I read some message board posts a week or so ago that were blasting the Wii U version for being “for kids” or something silly like that when clearly, the Wii U Gamepad features in that video below aren’t necessarily “for kids” at all because the main game certainly isn’t. I mean, if you shot or beat a zombie or other creature to death here and CANDY came out or maybe BUBBLES and RAINBOWS, maybe I’d be on your side. Or maybe not, as I generally don’t take sides in these debates at all – I just play the games and let you know that I like them and yes, you should spend your money accordingly.

That and hell, you just KNOW that there’s going to be a lot of otherwise “mature” gamers running around drawing naughty bits every chance they get and smirking like straight-jacketed hyenas when they see their handiwork show up on some website as part of some review or news item. Trolls like these breed when they need to feed, I say. Resident Evil Revelations hits PC, PS3, Wii U and Xbox 360 on May 21, 2013 – Some hands-on time is coming up next week, so expect some words from and to the wise about this one shortly…

Resident Evil Revelations “Survive” Case File: Well, Duh!

Posted on May 8, 2013 by geelw

Can you imagine a Resident Evil game where you HAD to keep getting killed by all sorts of enemies? Good, neither can I. Of course, if you’re really bad at the game and constantly freaked out by the horrors stumbling and shuffling about on that boat from hell, well… you can always go get someone to play the game for you while you camp out on the couch and jump when something scary pops up and starts chasing your surrogate around. Then again, no one likes a back seat driver when they’re playing a game you’re to scared to play, right?

Game of Thrones 3:6 Recap/Inside The Episode: It’s Torture (But We’re Almost There)…

Posted on May 7, 2013 by geelw

So, after by brain tanked out on me on Sunday thanks to my over-thinking stuff while I should have been just watching the show, I watched the episode again last night and it still did seem a bit oddly paced thanks to a few too many surprises dropping out of nowhere and the continuing torture scenes that need a KNOCKOUT resolution for all the build up going on. That’s not a bad thing at all, though. In retrospect, some things just happening the way they did shows how random and unpredictable life is in that crazy world where everyone’s scheming to get over on someone else (with often drastic consequences) and the slower-moving ones get crushed by the juggernaut of fate, which is mighty tall and indeed, heavy as you’d think (times ten). Well, the next few episodes should make for some eye-popping (or finger and other body part mangling) moments as everything comes to a head. Suspense is highly underrated as a commodity on TV these days.

(Well, at least I think so, as someone who hates all this second screen nonsense and trolling the Internet for clues as to what’s going to happen. I say treat the show like a surprise party and yes, you’ll actually BE surprised…)

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Building Character – An Important Life Skill In Games, Too…

Posted on May 7, 2013 by geelw

Here’s more for NeoCore Game’s upcoming action/RPG that’s shaping up to be a huge and very-well polished indie sleeper hit worth grabbing when it launches on May 22, 2013. Hopefully, this will do well enough to get ported to more platforms, as there’s nothing like a good chase ‘n chop to wile away the hours and get caught up in all the loot you’ll rack up as you stack up the monster corpses. As usual, we shall see, but I’ll predict that is this one shows up as bug-free as possible and doesn’t require a new PC to run, it’ll be a must-play among genre fans…

FUSE “Hired Guns” Trailer: Well, The Demo Is Free, So They’re Really Not Hired (Yet)…

Posted on May 7, 2013 by geelw

Today’s the big day for Insomniac’s FUSE in terms of the gaming public finally getting a great demo to blast through on PSN and Xbox Live. I’ve been a fan of the game since I got some hands-on time late last year, but the project has been a bit of a gripe-fest for some fans of the developer who didn’t like the visual change from its initial reveal as Overstrike and the made-up rumors that EA “made” the team change the game to a modern-looking “gritty” shooter just to sell more copies. Every game goes through a few redesigns before the final product ships, so I give Ted Price and company the first and last word on the game’s visuals and gameplay (which by the way, are both solid). Anyway, if you’ve got a PS3 or 360 humming in your home, drop everything and go give that demo a shot. Insomniac certainly won’t mind the feedback once you’re all done, that’s for sure…