If there was any doubt that Rockstar had nothing new coming in terms of Grand Theft Auto V‘s online play, well… those doubts just got run over by a really huge armored car packed with money headed for Rockstar HQ. Grand Theft Auto Online comes with every copy of GTA V when the game launches on September 17, 2013 and will be a free to play persistent online game world for up to 16 players set to kick off on October 1, 2013. GTAO will feature new content created and uploaded regularly and is a completely separate experience from the main story mode.
Oh, there’s a lot more to babble about, but I’m busy and you need to go see and read it from the horse’s mouth. Just click on that big image above or the link in the post and see what’s coming your way soon. Me, among other things, I have finger exercises to do because I know I’m going to be fighting off hand cramps from gripping a PS3 pad for way too long once GTA V ships out…
With Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut headed full steam ahead onto Steam soon and an even MORE enhanced edition, Rising Star Games is celebrating by making fans who don’t own iPads (that use iBooks 3.0 or later on an iPad with iOS 5.1 or later) want to run out and buy one just for a single (and VERY cool) new app that’s more a game encyclopedia packed to the rafters with pretty much anything and everything about the game.
Set to launch October 14, 2013, Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut – The Official Visual Companion is a whopping 352 pages of info (some of it interactive) including plenty of plot spoilers, art, maps of every location in the game, in-depth notes on the story and characters and even a soundboard/soundtrack function. Of course it’s also got a trunk full of SPOILERS, so if you’re planning on snapping this up with intent to ruin the game’s plot, it’ll do that just fine, thank you much…
They have quite possibly the easiest gig in the gaming business AND they know the game they’re representing is going to blow people away based on the insanely high quality of the work. I’ve been sold on Grand Theft Auto V as soon as I heard it was in development, but these new gallery and very funny Los Santos Visitor’s Guide (aka the game’s official site), the ridiculously packed screenshot gallery and desktop ready wallpapers plus all the other stuff the community is up to means I really don’t need to do much except post something on the game and let you all run out to the store or drop a pre-order in online.
Hey, I’m NOT lazy! Well, not THAT lazy. I’m merely saving up my energy for the inevitable long “vacation” I’ll be taking in Los Santos myself. Playing a new GTA game is very much like stepping off a plane into the biggest and most exceptionally special amusement park ever created. Of course, the best thing is being able to explore at will and do stuff outside the guided tour (i.e, raise all sorts of hell or just poke around for secrets and in-jokes), so I need to be tanned rested and ready because I’m sure not seeing any REAL sunlight for some time. Rockstar is dropping more cool news about the game on Thursday – I’ll be back with a quick post on that (of course)…
I think Pac-Man has appeared in nearly every game genre except for RPG, Strategy and Simulation, but with such a long history in gaming since 1980, I know I’ve yet to play every single game with the character in it. Namco has been keeping the character active over the past 33 years in a number of non-game projects and the latest is a fun kid’s CG animated 3D show on Disney DX called Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, which also just so happens to be coming your way soon as a video game for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U and Microsoft Windows. Some hands-on time reveals this one to be a light and really fun romp for the kids that’s actually worth a look if you’re a creaky old platform fanatic like I am…
As an old fogey, I can’t recall a year not going by since 1980 without playing a Pac-Man game. Granted, I’m sure a lot of other people can say that, but it’s pretty incredible that the dot-munching, ghost avoiding/chasing character has held up for over 30 years. Of course, next to the arcade classic, the best ways to play a good game of Pac-Man these days is by hopping online and getting in some quality time with the excellently addictive Pac-Man Championship Edition on the Xbox 360, which is finally getting a content upgrade soon in the form of Pac-Man Championship Edition DX. The original game was an Xbox 360 exclusive, while DX made its Windows 8 debut earlier this year. Pac-fans old and new will LOVE this one for its spin on the classic game, the funky HD neon visuals and the lighting fast pace of the game that’s bound to keep you playing ’til the wee hours…
Since I’m sitting here with a couple of RROD’d Xbox 360’s (shakes fist at busted consoles) and no willingness to throw more money away at Microsoft to fix them or buy a replacement (shakes fist in the direction of Redmond HQ for producing such faulty junk of a console), I’ll need to wait for this to pop up on PSN or Steam. On the other hand, I think a friend is picking this up over the weekend, so I’ll probably boogie on over to his place and play this after he’s done with it. Given that Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is designed to be played in a single sitting, I don’t mind at all and I can get a perspective from someone else about the story’s impact and how he liked the unique control scheme. As noted in my earlier hands-on preview, this is one of those special games that’s worth a buy despite the relatively short length because you get to see a great developer stretch its wings with a fine new IP from a film director trying his hand at game development (and succeeding quite well). Back with a review probably around Monday.
It’s finally here and it’s going to be a game genre fans should buy for a few key reasons from the mixed art styles working amazingly well, the stupidly deep amount of stuff to do in this installment (it’s the biggest Tales game to date), the “open world” feel to the gameplay experience plus all the usual stuff that has fans of this series sometimes buying specific consoles to play a single game in the long-running franchise. Tales of Xillia is all that and more, folks.
I’m betting at some point over the next day or three Mr. Baba and the dev team will probably be sitting at home (well, at their separate homes, as I’d hate to know what happens with such a large bunch of people living together biting their nails at the same time each Tales game is released) and wondering right about now how many fans in the US and other territories this is coming out in will be snapping up this one in the Standard, Limited or Collectors Editions. I need to get this one myself, as my backlog is SO huge this year that it’s worth doing a flowchart on (and I did – it’s terrifying). Anyway, if you’re an fan of anime/mamga-styled Japanese RPGs, yeah, you need to buy this game.
A quickie description of Corundum Games’ first titleInvasodado- The Cube Invaders would probably go something like this: Space Invaders marries a Match 3 puzzle game and like any couple, a good fight breaks out as the two halves battle it out over their differences. Of course, a winner is YOU thanks to the mix working so well. Anyway, this free open source download is a mighty fine way to kill a few too many hours and also wish for perfectly working time travel. Could you imagine the millions this tiny NYC (Go, hometown!) developer would have made back in the late 70’s and early 80’s if this one was an Atari cartridge? Or hell, what the size of the pile of loot they’d be sitting on if this was a NES and/or Game Boy pack-in?
Yeah, Invasodado has that deceptively simple retro thing working for it BIG time. It’s really easy to play but of course, you get that side order of tough to master as any classic game should be. The visual familiarity brings an instant smile and makes wanting to try a few waves a total no-brainer. As in Space Invaders, blast down those pesky invaders before they reach your base ship at the bottom of the screen and you’re halfway there. However, you’ll also need to pay attention to the colors of the aliens you shoot so you can match and take out the colored blocks stacking up before they reach the top of the screen. You can also clear a column of colors by shooting down a special target that drifts across the screen at random intervals (a good thing if those blocks are stacking up too high).
You can play for a few minutes and get your fix in, but I’m betting a few of you who really appreciate this style of visual and vintage gaming bliss will be hooked in for wave after wave (which should make for some bizarre dreams later on, I’d bet). Anyway, let’s keep this short because you have a game to download (yes, it’s FREE!). I’d actually love to see this get enough of an audience so it can be ported over to the 3DS and Vita at some point (which will hopefully make Corundum some money), but I guess we’ll see what happens in the future. Hey, if anything, the game will prepare a whole new generation for alien defense tactics (er, provided those particular space invaders move in predictable back and forth patterns and come in bright colors making them easy to shoot down and those cubes they transform into or drop don’t hurt if they fall on your head). Anyway, stop reading this and go download already!
While a small but vocal bunch of PlayStation 3 owners have been ranting away for Rising Star Games to contract Access Games to stop working on their upcoming Xbox One exclusive D4 to do some fixes for Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut, that’s not going to happen any time soon. On the other, stranger hand… the game was recently surprised-dropped onto Steam Greenlight for a potential PC release with even MORE content and wonder of wonders… it was approved in what seems to be record time. Wow. Now, I’ll be the first to say I’m shocked and thrilled at this news, but I’m not expecting the PC version to be “perfect” by any stretch of the imagination. Even higher resolutions and tweaked controls aside, the game will still look intentionally cheesy and probably have the same driving setup for the cars as the PS3 version did (which is much better than the original Xbox 360 game from a few years back). Anyway, this is indeed great news and soon, you horror game fans looking for something TRULY weird and memorable will all get a little FK in your own coffee when DP:TDC is finally let loose for PC. Once I get an actual release date, I’ll let you know…
Well, it SHOULD be up and ready to buy shortly, as I’m getting error messages when I try to download my review code, bleh. This seems to always happen with PSN, as it seems that SCEA updates it during the day with content as opposed to at a fixed time, so one has to keep trying until that code is accepted. Oh well, I guess I can try again in the next few hours while I have access to a decent connection. Otherwise, it’ll be a case of “Tomorrow is another day!” Which reminds me: memo to Scarlett O’Hara, you’re pretty and all… but man are you a dope sometimes! “Fiddle dee dee!” indeed…