Game of Thrones Headed to Consoles, PC from Cyanide Studio & Atlus

Posted on November 11, 2011 by geelw

Should I feel bad about not only NOT having read any of the books, but also for totally ignoring the HBO show until I hear news of Atlus publishing a new PS3, 360 and PC game based on the hugely popular fantasy series? Well, nope. Sometimes, I’m just a little slow. That, and too busy to add so much new stuff to my plate sometimes. Actually, I tried to watch one episode of the show, but it was a messy bit of walking into the middle of a conversation with and feeling really left out. All I know is NOT to get too attached to any characters (something I learned from the King’s Field days) and sometimes, the little guy is the one to really keep an eye on (lest he get stabby with his sword). “Early 2012” means this one has been in the pot for a little while at least. Given the sour reception Cyanide’s last Atlus-published game (The Cursed Crusade) received, Let’s hope GOT arrives at retail as a fully cooked bird and a tasty one at that…

BioShock Infinite: Meet Booker & Elizabeth 1

Posted on November 8, 2011 by geelw

Irrational Games’ Ken Levine “hosts” this really cool video in which we get to see the faces behind the two main characters in 2K Games’ upcoming BioShock Infinite, set for release next year on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. It’s great to see two actors dedicated to bringing gamers such solid performances feel something about their work other than “It’s a paycheck…” Pay attention, especially if you’re thinking of getting into voice-over work yourself…

Review: GoldenEye 007 Reloaded

Posted on November 7, 2011 by geelw

Platform: PlayStation 3 (also on Xbox 360)

Developer: Eurocom

Publisher: Activision

# of Players 1 – 4 (Online 1 – 16)

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Official Site

Score: A

Eurocom’s high quality reworking of Rare’s Nintendo 64 classic GoldenEye 007 was truly amazing on the Wii last year, but on the PS3, it’s the definitive version of the game and an absolute must-buy. GoldenEye: Reloaded adds HD resolution (1080p!), a new MI-6 Ops mode, tight controls with the PlayStation Move and gameplay that rockets along at a solid 60 frames per second. A solid single player campaign and fun multiplayer modes that feature a ridiculous amount of customization options makes this the perfect package for novice to expert shooter fans alike. Don’t let the timing of the release (sliding neatly between BF3 and MW3) fool you one bit. No matter which mode you hop into first, what’s here can easily stand on the same ground as other modern shooters. Continue reading →

Heavy Rain “Director’s Cut” Coming November 8th. Buy It (Even If You Own The Original Already).

Posted on November 4, 2011 by geelw

One of the best and most cinematic games this generation for any console gets another reissue, this time with pretty much everything you were expecting. Almost. It’s not really a Director’s Cut if you try and think of it EXACTLY like a film, but given that David Cage is a great game director (and really needs to make more games), I’ll let this slide a bit. Basically, you’re getting the award-winning dramatic adventure game in it’s Move Edition format plus a bunch of sweet bonuses:

Complete, original game, Heavy Rain
Heavy Rain Chronicles: Episode 1 – “The Taxidermist” DLC
Heavy Rain Original Videogame Score by award-winning film and television composer, Normand Corbeil (16 tracks)
New front-end menu and interface with built-in Move support
A series of 8 “Making of” Bonus Videos
Three Dynamic Themes (Heavy Rain, Heavy Rain ARI Forest, Heavy Rain ARI Mars)
15 additional pieces of new concept art
2 bonus Trailers (Thank You Trailer, Love Trailer)

As a Greatest Hits reissue, that bargain price is sure to get a few more people playing this truly innovative game. And hopefully, it’ll make Quantic Dream a few bucks more as well. As much as I love my indie games, we need developers like QD to save the gaming scene from becoming an all-app, all the time wasteland of a few gems in the rough buried under piles of garbage. Let’s hope we see something from Cage and his team on the Vita at some point as well…

The Sound of Skyrim Video: Bethesda Shows & Tells, You Get To Bring The Smells…

Posted on November 3, 2011 by geelw

11-11-11. is almost here and I know a lot of folks WON’T be going to the movies to see Immortals, that’s for sure. A good chunk of gamers will no doubt be camping out in their living rooms exploring the wide world of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, not coming out into the real daylight until their relatives send the cops around to check for a strange smell. Of course, after doors are kicked in across the world because of that odor, all the authorities and formerly grieving family members will discover is a few too many smelly, unwashed gamers with headphones on (that why they didn’t hear the banging and ringing), moldy bits of takeout food and perhaps a lingering aroma of a disc drive spinning eternally. Yeah, I’m going to be one of those folks…

GoldenEye: Reloaded Also Makes My Day…

Status

A bit of serendipity (of sorts). As I was mooning over the GTA V trailer, my PS3 review copy of GoldenEye: Reloaded shows up. Looks as if the stuff I was planning to post (new Max Payne 3 screens, a quick note on UbiSoft acquiring Red Lynx and some other miscellany) will have to wait a few hours while I strap on my Move and Navigation Controllers for a bit. This should be fun. Back in a bit…

GTA V Reveal Trailer: Yes. And Yes, Indeed.

Posted on November 2, 2011 by geelw

For the hell of it, I stuck it on my lower-traffic blog even though it’s not really “Mature”. I hate the ESRB’s goofy, puritanical and needless restrictions on this stuff, by the way. I’;; rant about that some other time, though. Anyway, Well, well, well. And who DIDN’T think the trailer wouldn’t be spectacular stuff. Expect to hear some news at or around E3 time, if not before. If I really HAD to venture a release date guess, maybe holiday 2012? As for the rumors of a download-only GTA V, I hope the hell not, given that 100 percent of GTA players probably don’t all live in areas with stable (or any) broadband connections. One reason this rush to digital-only stuff is so annoying to me. Hell, that and who doesn’t want that usual big color map and manual combo. My suggestion to Rockstar: do a standard retail edition and make a TRULY limited collector’s edition as a DIRECT purchase from an online shop you set up. Keep the production run reasonable (take pre-orders so you know how many to produce ), make them worth the price and once they’re gone, that’s that.

Asura’s Wrath One-Two Trailer Punch: Bet On This To Beat Your Mind Senseless (In A Good Way)…

Posted on November 1, 2011 by geelw

It’s very hard not to ignore CyberConnect 2’s crazy cinematic action game and each time I see it in action, I’m glad the developer decided to get more creative than they have with their string of reliably feature-packed Naruto titles. Granted, what’s here is a few light years beyond weird in terms of nearly all about it. But that’s exactly what the industry needs, I say: more studios, large and small working on new IP that will shake things up a bit.

Hopefully, some of you folks out there will agree and want to come along form the ride. Capcom will appreciate that and CC2 will REALLY appreciate it even more,as it’ll show that there’s room at the inn for more originality and not just “me too” sequel mentality.

Review: The Lord of the Rings: War in the North

Posted on November 1, 2011 by geelw

Platform: PS3 (also on Xbox 360, PC)

Developer: Snowblind Studios

Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE)

# of Players 1 – 3 (online 1 – 3)

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Official Site

Score: A-

Attempting to expand upon a revered and well-established canon such as J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth saga is indeed tricky business, particularly in the case of The Lord of the Rings trology. Get it wrong and it’s a trip into the bowels of Mount Doom as some poor development team and publisher face the wrath and ruin of legions of longtime fans. Fortunately, The Lord of The Rings: War in the North delivers an epic (and Mature-rated) tale that ties in nicely with the trilogy as well as an addictive hack & slash that’s challenging and highly replayable. It also marks Snowblind Studios’ first current generation title (finally!) and yes, they’ve done a very solid job here. The visual presentation is grand and fitting, the music is perfect and the familiar gameplay is brutal, simple and about as fun as can be for a game of this type. The game is not without its flaws, however. Some chinks in the armor show up in the form of a a weird sound bug in one area, occasional AI stumbles plus a wee bit too much repetition of quest-related dialog. Nevertheless, this is one journey well worth taking whether or not you’re a fan of the books and films. Continue reading →

Prototype 2: Heller’s Happy Halloween Greetings!

Posted on October 28, 2011 by geelw

Activision’s always awesome PR department keeps cooking up some cool and amusing holiday greeting cards for Radical Entertainment’s upcoming sequel, so how could they pass up the chance for a Halloween version of the game’s lead character. here you go – in two tasty flavors, at that. Hmmmm. I had NO plans to go out on Halloween, but maybe this might give me a costume idea. Then again, I’d probably get beat up by some cops here in NYC thinking I was some sort of #OWC protester or something. Then again, I kicked a damn helicopter not too long ago, thanks to Activision, so the NYPD better not mess with me, grrrrr…