Toy Fair 2012: Skylanders Giants: Activision’s Other (Not-So) Secret Weapon For 2012

Posted on February 18, 2012 by geelw

Despite all the skeptics (professional and otherwise) out there predicting all sorts of astronomical failure for the product, Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventures was a massive hit for Activision and veteran developer Toys for Bob across multiple platforms, transforming the gaming landscape with a crossover product that combined a solid, fun video game with collectible figures. At Toy Fair 2012, the next wave of Skylanders was rolled out to what looked like pretty positive overall response. Skylanders: Giants introduces eight new characters into the fold including four huge elemental hulks that change up the gameplay considerably. If last year’s success caught Activision off guard, this year they’re loaded for bear and ready to rake in even more of your gaming and collecting dollars…

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Max Payne 3 Trailer # 2: I’ll Have a Shot Of That…

Posted on February 17, 2012 by geelw

Delay of game aside, the new May 15 launch date also gives me time to recuperate from my birthday a week earlier. Given that I’ll most likely be spending it buried in some new game, I get a few extra days to finish whatever I’m playing before Max makes his appearance. Perhaps Rockstar was thinking of me after all? Well, maybe not, but a guy can hope, right? That new trailer is up on the other blog if you’re curious, George…

Double Fine Adventure Update #1: Tim Goes Platforming, Money Still Rolling In…

Posted on February 17, 2012 by geelw

Well, the game is hugely popular, big name publishers are kicking themselves in the face and butt simultaneously and all sorts of game projects are looking to Kickstarter or other crowd funding sources as all of a sudden people realize that SAYING a genre is dead because you’re too damn lazy to make games and drum up interest for them is a LOT different than allowing developers who KNOW what they’re doing to make the games they want to make in the first place…

Remember kids, just because something is popular (i.e., makes a ton of money automatically year by year), doesn’t mean it’s actually GOOD. Class dis-missed!

Syndicate Hands-On Update: A Fresh Perspective That’s Just Right (Again)

Posted on February 16, 2012 by geelw

With the release of Syndicate less than a week away, here’s a quick (and mostly spoiler-free) update on what to expect from Starbreeze Studios’ reboot of the PC classic. I had the chance to play through the game’s first two missions plus a tough co-op map with a few fellow journalist types at the Spotlight EA event last week and as I’ve been saying, the game absolutely nails the feel of the original game in many areas, improving on things by dropping the camera to first person and putting you into the shoes of cyber-enhanced corporate agent, Miles Kilo. Those of you out there still skeptically on your internet forum soapboxes need to step down and pick up a controller at some point, as any bit of quality time spent with the game will prove that it’s a winner that improves on many elements the original pioneered.

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Mass Effect 3 “Take Earth Back” Teaser – Stellar Storytelling (Short Version)

Posted on February 15, 2012 by geelw

I saw the full-length version of this last week at the Spotlight EA event and it’s pretty spectacular, stirring stuff by time the dramatic ending rolls around. Not that Mass Effect 3 needs the hard sell at all. Hell, BioWare has pulled out all the stops with the upcoming PS3/Xbox 360/PC game an you’ll see many improvements plus a super 4-player co-op mode that ties into the main single player storyline. It’s almost like the developer (and whomever did the CG work) is showing off how well their game is going to yank players all across the emotional spectrum and leave them in sobbing, yet defiant heaps of Shepard-ness right before they hop back in to finish the fight. Wait, wrong game franchise! Oh, you know what I mean. If you STILL haven’t played the other two (or Mass Effect 2, if you’re only a PS3 owner), you should pick them up ASAP, as they’re cheap and will get you even more revved up for this finale. Also, the demo is out NOW, so give it a whirl – the single player is about 2 hours or so and you’ve got some co-op fun added as well.

Final Four Street Fighter X Tekken Characters, Release Dates Revealed

Posted on February 15, 2012 by geelw

No huge surprises here, but the addition of Street Fighter’s M. Bison and Akuma plus Tekken’s Jin and Ogre brings the tally to 38 fighters… which to me, means we’ll probably see some more coming via DLC down the road from Capcom. Er, not that 38 fighters is anything to sneeze at, mind you. It’s just that between the two fighting franchises, methinks there are some other characters that are MIA for any number of reasons. Of course, Namco’s upcoming Tekken X Street Fighter may also bring in a few of these new challengers, so we’ll need to see what up with that still in development follow-up at some point…

More trailers below the jump!

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The Driftmoon Demo Is Officially Live. You NEED To Play It. Now.

Posted on February 11, 2012 by geelw

Last year, Spiderweb Software’s Jeff Vogel (a maker of fantastic games in his own right) called Finland’s Ville and Anne Mönkkönen “two seriously attractive game developers” on his blog and I got a big laugh out of that because I’d been playing Ville’s games on and off for years without ever giving a thought as to what he looked like. The man’s got talent to spare and a unique vision that’s kept him around making a handful of fun independent games at his own pace. Driftmoon, the newest project (done in collaboration with his wife, Anne) is his most polished project to date and also the first game he’s actually looking to make a profit from. With a little assistance from people like you, of course. The official demo for the RPG has just dropped at the Instant Kingdom website and yes, I urge you to try it out and see what pretty much everyone who’s seen the game in development (and played the super early builds) already knows. You DO have a new tab open and are downloading away, right? OK, great – enjoy the demo!

Note: For you modern RPG fans out there – don’t overly obsess over the top-down viewpoint at all. Play the game for about five minutes and it’ll feel just right.

Namco Bandai & Paramount Team Up To Publish Star Trek In 2013

Posted on February 11, 2012 by geelw

And of course, the first thing I thought of when I read this news was “OK, when do we see Kirk and Spock show up in Soulcalibur VI in an “Amok Time” themed stage?” Yes, I’m THAT old (but it would be pretty funny, especially if it had that combat theme that played during the Kirk/Spock battle). Anyway, Digital Extremes (Bioshock 2, Unreal Tournament, Dark Sector, The Darkness II) is no stranger to making some pretty solid shooter and action games, so I’m sure they’ll have more than enough time to make this co-op focused game even more spectacular than it looks in these two not so new screenshots. Granted, we’ll need a LOT more images and some actual hands-on time in order to see how the game is turning out, so let’s keep those fingers crossed that the game warps into NYC on a press tour at some point. More to come as soon as we get new info and images…

Double Fine Breaks Kickstarter Record, Gamers Get Even More Wild Ideas…

Posted on February 10, 2012 by geelw

Wow. I figured Tim Schafer and the team at Double Fine Studios would come out ahead in the end with their awesome Kickstarter project, but this is ridiculous (in the best possible way). With 32 still days left toward what was initially a $400,000 goal, they’ve broken $1 MILLION DOLLARS (actually, they’re getting close to 1.2 million as I write this) with no end in sight to the love (and money) being offered up by the gamers out there. Of course, this wild success has led to a ton of message board activity about getting game publishers large and small such as Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Capcom, Xseed, Akysys and many (many) others to start using Kickstarter to fund all sorts of canceled projects from Shenmue 3 to Starcraft: Ghost to collections of out of production RPGs to new IP that was never released anywhere but Japan.

Unfortunately, for those folks rubbing their hands together over the thought of playing that unreleased game of their dreams, all that wishful thinking isn’t going to do much good. The process of getting a game made, particularly something out of production or a new IP that involves a lot more than a small to medium-sized dev team isn’t exactly as simple matter of setting up a Kickstarter page, getting the word out and raking in the cash. Check out this really interesting post on Wired that goes into some nice detail on just what things need to be aligned in order for the process to happen. Hey, even I thought it would be a simple thing too, but a nice reality check helps in slapping the delusions away…

Torchlight II Website Relaunched (Diablo III Feels A Slight Chill)…

Posted on February 9, 2012 by geelw

Nice new look? Check! Awesome new screens and wallpapers? Check! Updates about some pretty cool happenings in the busy community? Check! All I need now is a copy of the game and I’m all set to not be heard from for a while as I delve into those dungeons. Hopefully, we’ll see a console release at some point as well, as a ton of gamers got to play the first game when it appeared on consoles and got hooked in. I still go back to the first game from time to time, but I need to set an alarm so I can be jolted into getting away from those dungeons. After an hour or so, it’s impossible to stop playing!