Ubisoft is really pushing these making of videos to show that Child of Light will be the same gorgeous visual experience across every platform. Given that all the consoles it runs on support HD resolution (and of course, PC as a given run at higher resolutions anyway), it’s clear that the game will be a feast for the eyes no matter what it’s played on. I’m now leaning towards the Wii U version as noted before just because it’s the easiest console for me to update from a wi-fi spot and get games for as well. Decision made! Now, it’s just less than a week of waiting to go…
Aha! Activision WAS being pretty stealthy this year at Toy Fair. Nothing to show ON the floor and I didn’t ask for an appointment at the booth this year (nor did I get an invite), so I figured they were taking the year off to retool for next-gen fun. Nope. Here’s this year’s blast of “We’re going to get your money and a LOT of it”: Skylanders Trap Team, rolling out in October for consoles (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, 3DS) , but of course, pre-orders kick off earlier (April 23, 2014 here in North America). Press release below the jump, gallery coming tomorrow, as I’m running late today and need to zip back home… Continue reading →
*Sigh* Ah, the internet… home to fools with busted soapboxes and lousy opinions, all in the name of… something. Anyway, YES, the Wii U version of Child of Light is going to look exactly the same as the other versions, yeesh. That UbiArt Framework and the lovely hand-drawn art in the game will run on any modern console as well as anything next-gen and any decent PC. But try telling that to the trolls out there and all you get is under-bridge bile drippings from people who haven’t touched Nintendo’s console and don’t intend to.
Frankly speaking, screw those dolts, I say. As a multi-system owner and longtime gamer, I’m still trying to decide which system to get this one for, but I’ll play and review it on the Wii U if I have to just to have another game for that system that needs to get MORE of them this year. Anyway, April 30th is the big day and hopefully, this version won’t get slapped with a last-minute delay or anything else that will get the skeptics babbling from their stinky toll-haunts under every local bridge. I don’t normally wast my space on people like this, but after overhearing some inane anti-Wii U drivel today, I had to put my foot down before I put it up someone’s read end.
That and the last living thing I actually kicked was a REALLY slow pigeon a bunch of years ago. Hey, I was in a hurry, it was in front of me trundling along like an over-sized inchworm with wings and it wasn’t a “kick” at all… it was more of a foot-lift and bird shift to my right as I zipped past.
Even if this is some sort of odd saving roll by Nintendo, Tomodachi Life looks like one of those great and crazy Japanese games that will have a wide appeal outside the usual suspects (Nintendo-only fans who swear by everything the company does and think they can do no wrong). This one’s got a nice “social” element to it, but I do hope there’s a way to play solo for those folks who don’t want to deal with that element. Anyway, this oddball combination of The Sims, Second Life and Animal Crossing should be a bit hit on the 3DS, but it might have been cooler to also see this as a Wii U game or at least have elements shared between the two systems as it’s not the 3DS that needs more great and quirky first-party titles. Eh, we’ll see what happens, of course. I predict a nice chunk of folks playing this with each other for quite some time. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to try and un-see Mr. Iwata singing in that bathtub and a few other things in that video. Yeesh.
Equally as important as the plot and lovely visuals are the music and sound effects in Ubisoft’s upcoming soon to be classic Child of Light, and as you can see above, all those pieces are indeed falling exactly where they need to. It’s clear that this project will be one for the ages as well as a great first game made with UbiArt Framework (which needs to get into the hands of a few other developers just so we can see how different art styles hold up to the new tech). April 30th is when this one comes out for PC and consoles, so keep an eye peeled, I say…
While I think The Wii U and 3DS versions of Super Smash Bros. will do incredibly well, I’d bet a solid five cents that those numbers won’t be as huge as some are thinking. Granted, it’s been a while since a new SSB was released, but I’m thinking this, like Mario Kart 8, will appeal mostly to the already system-owning Nintendo fans more than it will anyone who’s yet to buy a Wii U or 3DS just to play it. Sure, I’m reading comments on boards from people waiting to buy a Wii U “just for this game”, but I take those with a whopping grain of salt, as if you’re a Nintendo nut, you probably already have a Wii U and are in the holding pattern loop waiting for more first party games to drop. Granted, there WILL be people snapping up a Wii U just for this one and MK8, but those numbers probably won’t be as massive as even Nintendo wishes them to be.
That said, with the 3DS version coming first this summer, it’s going to be a massive game launch and push for that handheld while poor Wii U only owners have to sit it out until the winter when that version ships. Granted, Nintendo also knows that many Wii U owners are 3DS owners (but it’s not a 1:1 ratio at all), so they get to make money twice selling two versions of the same game (although I’m betting there’s not a line of code shared between them in terms of visuals). Anyway, this video reveals a ton of stuff, so stick around for the whole thing, as there are a few minor surprises during the last third and at the end.
While I’m not a huge fan of the fantasy amusement park thrill rides that are The Hobbit films, TT Games has never let me down with their takes on the Lord of the Rings franchise and a bunch of other games they’ve done up with the full on LEGO treatment. While production values have been beefed up considerably since the first LEGO games, the same sense of silliness and all-out fun is intact, as is drop-in drop-out co-op play, loads of secrets and probably so many characters to play as that the game’s replay value is way off the charts if you’re one of those folks who wants to see it all and doesn’t care how long it takes to unlock everything. Anyway, this one’s available NOW for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS and PC, so round up the family and go grab a copy, I say…
While I’ve had the great pleasure of seeing Yoshitaka Amano’s artwork up close and personal, it was too many years ago here in NYC when he was promoting HERO and I even got to chat briefly with him about his art on the Front Mission games thanks to a friend who translated my questions and compliments. Anyway, here he is doing what he does best for Ubisoft’s upcoming Child of Light and making me wish I could actually afford to own one of his paintings one of these days. It’s too bad this video isn’t longer, but oh well – sometimes you have to take the art you can get however you can get it, right? Child of Light will be available April 30 for assorted platforms and yes, you need to buy it.
While a few previews I’ve perused say it’s more or less the same old Mario Kart in terms of gameplay, on the visual front at least, Nintendo has a killer game here. Now, I’m not a big fan of this series because I prefer more realistic looking racers and have been karted out for years thanks to too many sessions with older entries in this franchise. But it’s hard to ignore those shiny (finally) CG-quality visuals doing their thing (and how!). Granted, the Wii U needs more than one game to push its sales numbers up and this one will indeed sell to fans of the games and maybe even move a few folks to finally commit to purchasing the console. On the other hand, at the rate new first-party games are dropping on the console, Nintendo will need to hope this one blows the doors off anything else released in May just so sales are steady or at least massive within the first month. As always, we shall see, but I predict yet another “evergreen” for the company that sells for as long as they continue to make games for the console.
Well, what else is new, right? As soon as I saw screen shots of Ubisoft’s upcoming RPG Child of Light, then video of it in action, I had to immediately add it to the top of my “PLAY IT OR ELSE!” pile and add both a background and banner using the gorgeous art to the site. It’s coming out April 30, 2014 for PC, PS3/PS4, Xbox 360/Xbox One and Wii U, so if you’re currently owning one of these systems or have a PC capable of running this game, you pretty much have zero excuse not to snap this up. That new UbiArt Framework tech makes the game look like a storybook come to life and I’d love to see it get used as a game making tool by an even wider range of artists as the years go by. Of course, as this is a digital only release, I’m hoping it’s not gone and forgotten by gamers out there who still prefer packaged titles for a few key reasons. But as with anything rolling out these days in this economy, we’ll see what happens…
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