LBP2 Goes For Guinness World Records Next Week

Posted on January 14, 2011 by geelw

Sony is certainly planning to launch Little Big Planet 2 in style. Next week down at the Sony Style Store's PlayStation Lounge here in NYC, a bunch of dedicated gamers are going to attempt to set and break a number of Guinness World Records. Hell, someone should have told yours truly this, as my own personal gaming record is 52 hours straight playing Shining Force 2 on the Sega Genesis back in the day. Granted, my old-timer butt would probably pass out after three hours and no Geritol supply, but hey – I'd go down fighting, dammit! Press release below the jump – I'll be at the event next week for a bit of coverage.

Review: Venetica

Posted on January 13, 2011 by geelw

Platform: PS3 (also on Xbox 360, PC)

Developer: Deck 13

Publisher: Atari

# of Players: 1

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Official Site

Score: C+

As a huge fan of role-playing games developed around the world for at least 20 years, one thing I've learned is how to appreciate the best parts of every game no matter the overall quality. Simply knocking a new title for what it doesn't have compared to similar entries within the genre is a wee bit too easy for some critics that fail to see that not every game needs to be “state of the art” nor “perfect” to be an enjoyable experience. US gamers never saw retail releases of imperfect Euro-made epics and non-epics such as Hard to Be a God, Vampire World, or Dragonfire: Well of Souls, but each of these (plus many others) have appeal as singular experiences thanks to levels of immersion distinct to each game. Deck 13's Venetica is another one of those really interesting games with similar rough spots that keep it from becoming an instant classic. However, once you overlook its quirks, it's an ambitious project that features an attractive and interesting lead character as well as a few nice twists to the standard RPG formula.

Warriors: Legends of Troy Cover Art

Posted on January 12, 2011 by geelw

Nicely dynamic cover art for Koei Canada’s upcoming M-rated hack & slash action game, set for a March 22, 2011 launch on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Check out the small gallery I ran a few days ago for screens art and a game trailer. I’ll see about getting more online screens from Koei Tecmo and post whatever shows up.

Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll Cover Art

Posted on January 12, 2011 by geelw

Well alright – here’s the cover art for Koei Tecmo and Omega Force’s upcoming action/RPG set for a February 8, 2011 launch as a PS3 exclusive. I’m pretty excited about this one based on the screenshots that show off some quirky fantasy art and unique color palette the developer has used throughout. While I’m hoping the gameplay leans more toward the Crimson Sea sort of action, as a longtime fan of hack & slash games, I won’t be disappointed at all if it doesn’t. I have the feeling that this might be one of those games where you’ll get more than you’d expect, but if you go in with no expectations, you’ll be even more pleasantly surprised.

Hyperdimension Neptunia Premium Package Art Revealed

Posted on January 12, 2011 by geelw

And here you go: BOOM. Courtesy of NISA, one Hyperdimension Neptunia(aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!) Premium Package to go. Nice cover art AND that Premium inside the Package just so happens to be a rather cool art book packed with lots of art (dang, I’m good!). Anyway, hit your favorite retailer and go pre-order this gem.

In other Nippon Ichi news, Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! is out NOW, so I need to go buy a copy sometime this week and let you folks know how it is, right?

Little Big Planet 2 "Adventure" & "Storyline" Trailers

Posted on January 9, 2011 by geelw

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/wVVpvndUYHo?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0

The Handmade Arcade is alllllmost here – take a look at these two videos from Media Molecule's instant classic and start setting aside some quality time, as you're not coming up for air for a loooong time.

Tomb Raider Trilogy Coming Exclusively to PS3 (What, No Guardian of Light?!)

Posted on January 9, 2011 by geelw

Annnnnnd the hits just keep on coming, folks. In my second favorite game news of this past week, the latest games to get the HD repackaging treatment come to us from Eidos, Crystal Dynamics and publisher Square Enix in the form of The Tomb Raider Trilogy, shown here in its US and UK retail packaging. Set for a March 22, 2011 release (as physical media only – yes!), the upcoming compilation features high definition remastered versions of the PS2 hits Tomb Raider Legend (Crystal Dynamics first foray into the franchise, taking the development reins over from Core) and Tomb Raider Anniversary (a remake/re-imagining of the 1996 original) along with the PS3 game Tomb Raider Underworld. Additionally, the game will include cool bonuses such as trophy support for the PS2 games, a PS3 theme and two cool outfits players can use for their Home avatars (all below the jump).

Killzone 3 Story Trailer Shows Guerrilla Means Business…

Posted on January 9, 2011 by geelw

It’s about a month away now and yes, for those that missed the first game and somehow didn’t grasp the overall plot of the second (which didn’t rehash the first game’s story and didn’t really need to, as the opening movie in Killzone 2 more than set the tone for the game), there’s a lot more depth in the storytelling. As this video shows, Guerrilla has swung for the fences and knocked the wall over. Malcolm MacDowell and Ray Winstone’s stellar voice talents add that extra air of necessary evil to their characters, huh? I can’t wait to finally play the final build…

Gallery: Warriors: Legends of Troy

Posted on January 8, 2011 by geelw

Koei Canada has been “quietly” working away on a very interesting twist to the long-running Sengoku Mousou franchise, Warriors: Legends of Troy, set to storm onto the PS3 and Xbox 360 across North America on March 8, 2011 (3/25/11 in the UK). On first glance, the game has the makings of the more familiar Dynasty Warriors series, a good thing for fans of the series who want more. However, the combination of Greek and Roman “historical” and mythological elements plus copious amounts of blood (and the Mature rating that comes with it) should give this one enough potential to draw in fans of everything from Spartan: Total Warrior, God of War, 300 and Showtime's awesomely gory Spartacus series. The grittier visual style here is in direct contrast to Omega Force's work (as you'll see in the latest Dynasty Warriors 7 screens), but this more realistic route fits the brutal hack & slash gameplay all the more.

Activision Wants You To Go To Hong Kong For Some True Crime…

Posted on January 7, 2011 by geelw

Nope, it’s NOT a contest with an amazing prize (although that would be really cool). It’s just the single screen shot sent along to promote True Crime: Hong Kong along with a lengthy game description. In a nutshell, the upcoming PS3 and Xbox 360 game will be the first open-world game set in Hong Kong, it will feature a ton of familiar HK talent doing voice-overs, over 100 songs, hand-to-hand combat inspired by HK and Hollywood action flicks, guns galore (Woo, Woo!), plenty of illegal activities to participate in and I’m sure, a Mature rating based on all the other info in the sell sheet. If anything, it should be a heck of a lot better than Stranglehold was. Developer UFG (United Front Games) has quite a task at hand here, so I’ll shut up until I get some hands-on time with the game…