I have the distinct feeling that my list of ‘must play’ games will be shorter than I think thanks to a handful of upcoming titles eating up way too much of my time. In addition to EDF 2025, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Toukiden: Age of Demons and a bunch of indie to AAA games for assorted platforms I’ve been keeping my eye on as 2014 rolls onward, Dark Souls II looks as if it’s going to consume a rater huge chunk of a few months on and off. Every time I see new screens for this game I get a few chills in all the proper places as well as a sense of dread because from my play time with that demo, I know this one’s going to be rougher than using a huge sheet of the coarsest waterproof sandpaper as a towel after a too hot shower. Or, OUCH!.
But hey, we Souls maniacs like it hard and Producer Takeshi Miyazoe along with the dedicated team at developer FromSoftware are more than willing to please as from what I’m seeing and hearing from folks in that beta test, the game is going to be even harder than Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls combined.
Dark Souls II is going to be the toughest thing many gamers will touch all this year and love. And hate, as the game’s relentless enemies and crushing difficulty will chew up and spit out all comers from seasoned veterans to new players who THINK they can survive unscathed. Nah, not gonna happen, people. You will die (well, your character will die) and you’ll be glaring at your controller with malicious intent when you should be holding up a mirror and heavy breathing into your fogged up reflection. Hey, what did you expect from a game with the tagline “Prepare to Die”, hmmmmm? On the other hand, to the victor go the spoils… but most of those spoils happen to be of the “Holy crap, I survived THIS long before I got stepped on/skewered/roasted/run over, et cetera…”
This one’s going to be a killer, people. Watch the skies for flying controllers and keep an ear out for banshee-like howls from above, I say…
Behold, adventurers! Or something like that. Okay, I got lazy and didn’t convert the LAST set of Dark Souls II screens from bitmap to JPEG (WordPress HATES bitmaps, it seems!), but thankfully, Denny Chiu at Namco Bandai still likes me (Hi, Denny!). Thanks to him, my inbox was blessed with these new screens I will more than verily happily share with you below:
There, that was simple enough, right? I’ll get those other screens up soon as well with an appropriately goofy post about why it took so damn long. I blame a faulty TARDIS circuit, a rogue dinosaur and a bag of shrimp chips past its sell date, but that excuse may change…
Of course, I knew the team at Bugbear was going to be going all out with this new demolition racer and for pre-alpha footage, this is really impressive. Yes, that car is purposely indestructible and YES, it’s that way to show off the game’s physics and all those lovely bits flying around when stuff is struck. Anyway, the game’s Kickstarter has 16 days to go and still needs a lot of pledges to make that $350,000 target, so if you’ve got a few spare bucks you need to unload and want to support a fine developer who loves making crazy racing experiences, give a little and get a lot back, I say. Hell, I want this to succeed only so the team can maybe make another Glimmerati game for a few platforms…
So, the fine folks at Bugbear Entertainment are running a Kickstarter campaign for its tentatively titled Next Car Game and like some other creators out there, has reached into its vaults and unearthed an ancient prototype of some interest to people like me who LOVE to see works in progress no matter how ancient and half-playable. Some of you will recognize this build as what eventually ended up as the fun demolition derby racer FlatOut, still one of the more thrilling physics experiments to dive back into if you still have a copy in your own game library.
Granted, this download will ONLY confuse people who think it’s what or close to what the new game will look like while people like me who absolutely groove on early builds from any era will be getting all giddy and grinny as we play through the bits that can be played with a nostalgic glow around our heads. But it’s all good in the end, as Bugbear is just sharing their love of making racing games that’s been a core part of their history since they got started. Here’s some early fun with car damage testing from the new game:
I guess it’s good I’m walking distance from home, as I’m not getting into a car after watching that! Anyway, go check out that free old demo build above and absolutely toss them a few dollars if you want to see what and how that much newer game they’re working on will get you glued to a monitor (and hopefully one day, new console!)…
I actually wasn’t expecting to get a copy of Call of Duty: Ghosts for a bit after launch for my Wii U, but surprise! Activision shot over a PS3 copy of the game this morning, so into the queue it goes. Actually, progress has been made on more reviews, so I’ll be popping this one into my old system (still going strong after what, almost seven years?) later this evening.
I’m about to run out the door here in about 15 minutes to go to some press events or I’d be playing this now. OK, back in a bit to see what all the fuss is about. I’m a campaign guy first and foremost, so I’m gathering if this one’s like the last couple of installments it will be pretty intense and dramatic (to say the least) with a few unexpected surprises. Alrighty then – off to the races with me. Now, I’ll be thinking of controllable army dogs and some sort of high-speed vehicle chase until I get back home, woof!
Here’s an answer to a question I was asked by not one but TWO readers in person within the space of a week or so (yes, people ask me stuff on the street when they see me) about coverage of some of the bigger AAA titles and why I don’t spend a ton of space covering them like other sites. It’s mostly because I prefer to NOT rush out a review before or with everyone else and partly because I can;t get access to loaner debug units like I used to a few years back. Complain, gripe, whine, et cetera, et cetera. I miss my old PR wranglers who did me the occasional odd favor, but what can you do, kids? Meh, life goes on! I was supposed to get a trumpet blast with that last sentence, but I’ll settle for a bleated out note on the STL Ocarina I’m reviewing…
Anyway, I actually liked last year’s big celebrity-packed TV ad much better, but this has its fun moments:
Granted, I’m a LOT more interested in Call of Duty: Ghosts for the single player campaign (no matter how long or short it turns out to be) and YES, I’m much more interested in the upcoming Wii U version just to see how it turned out (Yes, *shocking!* isn’t it?), as Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 wasn’t bad at all on Nintendo’s overly maligned (by some of the Internet’s troll-iest under bridge dwellers) console which REALLY just needs some love and a lot more good games from first and third parties, as there’s NOTHING fundamentally wrong with it at all.
That said, it certainly looks great on any system I’ve seen it on, so I guess everyone will have it on their a favorite console soon enough. Yeah, that’s right. I’m a root for the underdog guy myself these days, so there you go…
Innnnteresting. When Dark Souls came out last year, publisher Namco Bandai made the very cool decision to charge the same $60 price tag for the standard and collector’s edition of the game and yes, that steel-boxed version with the art book sold quite well while the standard edition seems to have done quite fine (not everyone likes that extra swag). This time out, Dark Souls II seems to be getting three different editions: a standard retail version (which will probably pop up as a digital release as well), a Black Armor Edition and a Collector’s Edition details of both are below, of course). Some may say Namco Bandai is being a bit overconfident here, but I think if they can get the fan base that LOVES this game to pay a little more while packing in some more swag (and cool swag, at that!), then more power to them.
Besides, you can always scream into that metal case or at that Warrior Knight perched atop your tee vee when the game keeps killing your avatar off when the going gets tough. Of course, since you hard-headed core PC gamers love your downloads, I believe you don’t get Jack other than the game (even if you find it on a disc at your favorite brick & mortar game emporium), so I guess that’s a win for us poor slobs who prefer our consoles for what they bring us (again!). Of course, PC-heads get fans who can fix stuff developer From Software doesn’t right away, so there’s that tradeoff… EDIT: Oops. As you can see by those newly updated images, I was quite wrong! One crow pie out of the freezer and into the oven for me! PC gamers get the swag too. Nice. Now stop that online petition stuff!
*Black Armor Edition Pre-Order Bonus*
The Dark Souls II Pre-Order Bonus comes with a FREE Collectible Metal Case, Game & Original Game Soundtrack – while supplies last. The collectible case has the unique Warrior Knight box art that will only be found on the Black Armor Edition. The Original Game Soundtrack is composed by Motoi Sakuraba, who composed the full score for the 2011 hit Dark Souls as well.
*Collector’s Edition*
The Dark Souls II Collector’s Edition comes with a gorgeous premium quality 12 inch tall Warrior Knight figurine, made from solid PVC weighing nearly 16 full ounces packed inside a custom printed display box with transparent window. Fans will also be treated to an exclusive hardbound artbook filled with never-seen-before images from the game developer, as well as a sizable full-color microfiber game map perfect for mounting onto your wall. The Black Armor Edition metal case will house both the game disc as well as the Original Game Soundtrack.
With so much other stuff going on here I’m having a stupidly difficult time keeping up with all the deals going on in the indie game space, so I’ll just list what’s in my inbox here in a single post and let you all have at it. There are some REALLY great titles in these bundles, so definitely check one or all of them out, especially since (with the exception of all those Square-Enix/Eidos titles if you buy them all) you’re basically able to get the bulk of these titles NOW for much less than the cost of a AAA title at retail or via a digital download service.
… even after you’ve gone and smashed that car into scrap metal. That’s right, folks – check out that video above and if you’re felling all warm and fuzzy inside about what you see, you know what to do. Get in on that pre-order action over at the official site, and bring along a few friends while you’re at it as hey, if you want to smash into someone with that virtual ride, it may as well be someone you know, correct? Oh, and “Next Car Game” is a tentative title – you can’t get more generic than that, so let’s hope Bugbear is saving up that title reveal and makes it a great one.
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