Konami Kills Silent Hills; P.T. Probably Gone For Good

Posted on April 28, 2015 by geelw

If you own a PlayStation 4, love horror-related games and have yet to play P.T., get ready for a little shock. You only have a few hours before that title (which stands for Playable Teaser and was actually a concept demo for the Guillermo Del Toro/Hideo Kojima Silent Hills project that was to feature The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus as the lead) is probably gone forever.

Konami has canceled the project entirely and will be yanking the demo off the PlayStation Network on Wednesday the 29th. The company still plans to keep creating games in the long running Silent Hill series in the future, but the loss of this demo comes as yet another blow to fans of Mr. Kojima’s work. This latest business decision comes not too long after both Kojima and Kojima Studios’ name were removed from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain after still unrevealed disagreements between the creator and company. Both his name and his studio’s name were also chopped from the P.T. demo site in Japan and it seems that once the free demo is gone, it’ll not even be available to download even if it’s been placed in one’s PS4 queue for play at some point in the future.

As a bit of a gaming historian and big (but sometimes easily rattled) horror fan, this irks me to no end as well as shows how lousy digital distribution really is in terms of preserving content. Pulling a game demo may not seem like a big deal to many of you and it’s not really a huge deal at the end of the day. That said, given that P.T. showed off more creativity and genuinely freaky scares than some completed games, not having the demo around to show off in the future doesn’t bode well for any other demo or full game deemed disposable by companies who want to erase the past. Foo. Hopefully Konami will reconsider and at some point make the demo available at some point down the road. However, given the company’s kicking Kojima to the curb so abruptly after decades of service (no matter the reason, it’s a shame how things seem to be ending), it’s a bad sign of things to come if other games deemed doomed get dropped on the chopping block.

Anyway, if indeed the demo does disappear forever, there’s always YouTube for watching videos of people playing it. Konami’s official P.T. clips on its Japanese channel seem to be already gone, which is annoying because there were some reaction videos featuring gamers and non-gamers that were flat out hilarious. Oh well. Life goes on… but with a little less great scary as hell stuff to share with like-minded folks.

What a shame.

Godzilla The Game PS4: There Goes The Neighborhood, Toho Style!

Posted on April 25, 2015 by geelw

Sure, it’s all fun and games, but YOU try and get some decent sleep when there are a bunch of over-sized rubber suits banging away on the buildings on YOUR block. BOOM! ROAR! CRASH! “Hey, keep it down!” just doesn’t work on a pair or more of bent on destruction giant beasts like these, you know. Fortunately, all that glorious wreckage is only on the PS3 and PS4 and not for real, as I can see real world property values sinking but also growing back after a short while. You know people would probably move in JUST for the monster battles because humans are dumb and love to watch any sort of fight (provided they don’t get hurt).

Oh, and as for that “Hollywood Godzilla” pre-order bonus, I laughed out loud because for some reason I thought of this film clip when that image and text popped up onscreen. Yeah, I’m a nut. I know, I know. Hey, I didn’t make that old and too loud film. But I did pay good money to see it when it came out (and still want my five bucks back, Mr. Spielberg!).

Project CARS Update: Three Out Of Four Isn’t Bad, Unless You Only Want One

Posted on April 25, 2015 by geelw

Ha. So Project CARS has gone gold and is coming out on my birthday… at least for PC, PS4 and Xbox One owners. For some reason, the Wii U version has dropped off the radar in North America and I was worried that it was being silently killed off. However, thanks to Bandai Namco Europe posting these newer trailers that at least note the Wii U actually exists, my hope meter just coughed back to life. Of course, a careful eyeball or two will see that there’s no box art for the Nintendo version at the end of those trailers. That could be due to the game being a download only eShop title (he noted hopefully). I guess I could bug someone at Slightly Mad Studios to see what’s going on or even one of my PR contacts at Bandai namco here in the US. But I’ll hold off on that and just stay focused on more urgent matters.

Of course, if it IS a download only game there’s the distinct possibility that the game will be larger than the insane 15GB One Piece Unlimited World Red was. Eeek. Given that the only two hard drive sizes for the Wii U are 8GB ad 32GB, I’m predicting a lot of 64GB SD card sales should the Wii U version ever get a release. Well, I’ll keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best, as it seems no news isn’t exactly good news when it comes to some games these days. Delays don’t bother me at all, mind you. It’s just hearing nothing and seeing less that gets me fretting away.

Mad Max Gameplay Overview: We DO Need Another Hero!

Posted on April 24, 2015 by geelw

If there was any doubt that Avalanche Studios could do Mad Max justice as a game property, well.. let’s just say some mind erasing has just taken place with this new video. The game is set to land on September 1, 2015 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC and that means a bunch of gamers will finally be upgrading to something they can play this on. I’d write more, but there’s the matter of that puddle of drool I need to clean up before someone slips in it. Yep, I do need this game, folks. If the film and game are as good as they look, I’d say we’ll be seeing more of the man himself sooner than later.

PSN April Flash Sale: Some Decent Deals For All Tastes

Posted on April 18, 2015 by geelw

I guess it’s now a once a month deal or so over at the PlayStation Network when it comes to finding quickie weekend bargains available for a short time. This month’s big deal PSN Flash Sale is a nice lineup of PS3, PS4 and Vita digital games plus a bunch of movies at okay to excellent prices. Don’t forget to poke around the site and look up other deals, as there are some cool titles not part of THIS sale that are part of other promotions. You never know what you might find outside the box, right?

Star Wars Battlefront Trailer: Yes, The Force Is Strong With This One

Posted on April 18, 2015 by geelw

Well, it looks as if some of you holding out on getting that fancy gaming PC or new gaming console may want to consider upgrading if you’re wanting a new Battlefront to play in. While this isn’t actual gameplay footage (“not actual , this Star Wars Battlefront trailer uses the in-game engine to spectacular effect and shows how developer DICE intends to bring the look and feel of classic Star Wars to the masses this November 17. PS4, Xbox One and Windows PC via EA’s Origin service only on this one, meaning you old console owners are going to have to make some new friends or finally retire your old beasts to a closet somewhere.

This one’s going to be huge. HOW huge? Well…

Is that huge enough for you? I thought so.

EDF 4.1 Update: Japan Gets It While We Still Wait Patiently

Posted on April 8, 2015 by geelw

Holy cats. While there still no localization news about Earth Defense Forces 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair, the game has been out in Japan since April 2 and is getting played to death over in Japan by some lucky gamers who’ve been dropping some truly incredible videos of the game in action on YouTube. Sure, it’s not packing the best visuals when unfairly compared to more polished games for these new-gen consoles or PC. But developer Sandlot clearly knows how to set the tone for some massive scale battles. Wow. Hey, it’s sure cheaper than buying a bunch of toys and wondering where to to store them all, I say. That said if there’s ever a sequel to Pacific Rim and someone wants a tie-in game, I think I know who should get the call.

EDF 4.1 Import Update: Better Bug Blasting, But Still No News For Western Fans

Posted on March 31, 2015 by geelw

All the small to large improvements are making Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair an absolute must for series fans worldwide, but there’s still no big news about the game outside of the Asian market. I’m hoping that this doesn’t mean this PS4 exclusive is being forgotten for a US and European release, but let’s see what happens as E3 approaches. Granted, this IS a niche title from small but very talented developer Sandlot that hasn’t blown away those gamers who expect every new title they play to be the best-looking and easiest to hop into game experience. EDF games tend to be simple on one hand, but packed with confounding quirks on the other. This new video from D3Publisher addresses some of the issues as it points out some of the changes implemented by the dev team. Changes I hope we EDF fans get to see HERE at some point. I’d guess that’s all up to Bandai Namco these days, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that whomever gets the publishing rights gets some news out sooner than later.

New Batman: Arkham Knight Gameplay: Something to Tide You Over While You Wait A Little Longer

Posted on March 23, 2015 by geelw

“Why so seriously delayed (again!)?” Actually, at this point the game looks so phenomenal that it’ll get snapped up even if it slips into the holiday season. I’m gathering this latest wait is due to the developer making sure the game will run as smoothly as possible out of the gate without the dreaded day one patching issues many games slap players in the face with. I’m wondering just how much better things would be if this was a completely single-player game with no online play, but such is the modern videogame development cycle that allows for DLC, season passes and other stuff that needs to work right out of the box or it’s unhappy campers complaining all over the internet. Well okay, it’s not THAT much longer a wait, but I can see a few Bat-fans leaping around and huffing and puffing in their hockey pads.

PSN Flash Sale: Break Your Backlog With 81 Great Game Deals

Posted on March 21, 2015 by geelw

As soon as I saw this PSN Flash Sale page, this scene from The Bridge on the River Kwai popped into my head and made me cackle madly for a few seconds:

(thanks, The Dork Knight!)

Anyway, wow. Don’t pass this one up, folks! It’s ONLY available to US PSN users, doesn’t require a PlayStation Plus account and as you can see, covers PSOne Classics, PSP, PS Vita, PS2, PS3 and even four PS4 titles! I had measly $1.82 sitting in my account for a while doing nothing. Now, all but 3 cents is left because I couldn’t pass up two older PSP games I missed out on. I was tempted to spend more money, but I’m needing to save up for a new TV and some other stuff that can’t wait. That said, YOU know you need about a dozen or more of these games for under a buck each, right? RIGHT? Yeah, I knew it. Go spend frivolously and report back on what you bought so I can live a bit more vicariously than usual.