Oh, Yeah: The Walking Dead Is Back (In A Few Places)…

 
I still haven’t gotten around to playing Season Two of Telltale’s The Walking Dead, but I’ve been a bit busy/crazy lately. Now I’ll have even LESS time to get to it thanks to the second half of Season Four of the hit show popping up tomorrow. Thankfully, it’s not a long half-season, but on the other hand, I’d love it if shows didn’t split into halves where you wait around staring at a wall for months between episodes. I don’t like binge watching too much at all (I save it for shows that are dead and gone), but I do like regularity. I say feed prunes to the writing staff, cast and directors on all these shows so they can grasp the concept of a season starting up and not being over until we get a week to week set of shows without minding the gap.

Yeah, I’m talking to YOU, Mad Men (already shot and done as a series, but keeping us waiting what, a year more for those final shows? Yeesh. I don’t even think I’ll be interested when it kicks off again)…

Crow Pie Chronicles (Or I’m Glad To Be Wrong About): The Lego Movie

 
YUM! I said I’d eat a crow pie if I was wrong about The Lego Movie not sucking and yep, I’m a man of my word, although I had to substitute some of my not yet world famous chicken for “crow” and a few slices of whole grain bread for “pie”. Anyway, it’s good to see this one netting nice notices so now I need to see it at some point and make sure all those critics weren’t sucking in the happy gas WB pumped into those free screenings I didn’t get an invite to (boo!). Since I’ve been ignoring the film for the most part, I’m going in blind other than what I’ve seen on those TV spots popping up all over the place every few seconds. I still think it’ll be well over the heads of anyone over ten years old who won’t get all the references and in-jokes, but that’s probably me underestimating the kids of the hipsters and boomers taking them to see this.

 
And wait, wha-whaaaat? There’s a video game based on the film as well? I did predict this last year or earlier, but I’m actually surprised that there was one made because that’s just TOO meta at the end of the day. Anyway, you KNOW a movie is going to be worth seeing when Fox News has a shit fit about it for all the wrong reasons. They seem to believe that a movie made to get people to run out and spend money to see it (and the tie in toys AND the game that’s made for the same purpose) is somehow teaching kids to be “anti-capitalist” (wha-whaaaat?)… despite the OBVIOUS hundreds of millions this will rake in for a few big corporations. As the kids say, DERP.

Yeah, they’re quite stupid over there and I wish they’d stop it. But it’s interesting watching them hang themselves by their own rope every day they keep the blood pressure of their viewership headed through the roof over trifling nonsense. Perhaps they all need to chill for a bit and actually go see some of the stuff they bitch and moan about as bad for Amurrrrica? That would be my prescription…

Capcom’s Beautiful『deep down』 Depresses Me Because It’s Doomed To Impermanence…

 
As a closet game historian and collector, every time I see Capcom’s 『deep down』, I shed a tiny tear because this amazing-looking in progress PS4 exclusive is going to be online ONLY, and lose a lot of potential sales from people like me who prefer the option to play offline and enjoy all that hard work without worrying about the usual crap ALL online games suffer from. Once interest wanes down the road or worse, sales don’t impress the shareholders (which shouldn’t determine ANYTHING, I say), those servers will slowly shut down and that game you paid good money for as a keeper becomes a bunch of beautiful and USELESS data that fades from memory.

This sort of thing is pure nonsense, I say. Game making shouldn’t consist of developers working in mist settled on a bathroom mirror or making paintings with clouds thinking they’ll still be around for all to see in the future. I’m hoping Capcom wises up and gets this one playable offline at some point (as with its incredible Dragon’s Dogma), because it’s looking so gorgeous that I want MORE people to experience it and not a select few hundred thousand or more with the proper and perfect setups. Art should have SOME permanence, specifically if it’s interactive and made to be enjoyed with others as a mandate.

Double Dragon Neon Now On Steam: Get Yer 80’s Fix On (With A Bit of A Paradox)

DD_NeonDouble Dragon Neon is a throwback game for sure. It’s going to appeal to your backwards baseball cap, neon sunglasses wearing faux punk side while sporting nicely updated visuals, an awesome soundtrack and yes, won’t work on any computer rockin’ an OS older than Windows 7 (oops, an opportunity lost there, I say!). WayForward Technologies (again!) did a stellar job on this one on PSN and Xbox Live Arcade, so it’s a total no-brainer that today’s newly released the Steam version is as good or better in a few respects.

In a way, it’s also too bad this never got a retail release in some “retro” packaging from Midnight City (Majesco’s digital indie label), as it’s exactly the sort of game that could benefit from (and sell a few limited edition copies because of) some sort of box with a funky 80’s cover painting. Ah well. Anyway, if your nostalgia meter is tingling away, you know what to do, right? I’ll let you get to it then…

Drakengard 3 Trailer: Access Games Doing Its Thing, Dragon Style…

 
The Drakengard series isn’t exactly known for it’s spectacular presentation or stories that make a whole lot of sense (multiple endings aside), but there’s something compelling about them that’s given the first two games a fairly loyal fan base. With original developer Cavia dissolved into the ashes of history, Access Games (Deadly Premonition) steps up to the plate for this prequel to the first game that, while not visually outstanding, offers up plenty of quirky charm and what looks like a slightly lighter tone than previous entries. Then again, one pee joke and some annoying voice acting on some of the characters aside (the game needs a dual language option), I think this one’s got the makings of a sleeper hit provided it gets enough love from Square Enix on the promotion front. As usual, we’ll see. May 20th is a few months away, so there’s enough time for the company to make more noise about this one…

Toukiden: The Age of Demons Battle Action Trailer: Omega Force To The Rescue (Again)…

 
With Toukiden: The Age of Demons dropping into stores and onto PSN on February 11, here’s a final look at the game in action. As usual, veteran developer Omega Force is at the top of their game here with another impressive action game for the Vita (and yes, PS3). It’s also important to know that while we’re not getting the incredible-looking PSP version of Toukiden in North America, the fact that they were able to get the same game and what looks like the same story content done for that “old” handheld in Japan is somewhat remarkable. Anyway, based on the demo alone, this one looks like it’s going to be a great home as well as handheld game with offline and online play that should keep those who pick it up quite busy dispatching plenty of demons from minor minions to supreme, hard to take down bosses that require time and tactics to take down.

I do hope the game does as well as it did in Japan, but that’s all up to Vita owners here to get off their butts and give the demo a whirl, then go buy the game as soon as they can rather than wait too long and let this one languish in relative obscurity. We’ll see, as usual…

What’s In the Box? I’m Just Saiyan You’ll Not Need To Guess…

I'm Just Saiyan...Mystery sol-ved! Namco Bandai very kindly sent me a copy of Dragonball Z: Battle of Z to review, so that’s going to get done soon. It’s funny that this shows up because I still feel like punching a hole in a wall over those idiots who installed that crappier shower head earlier and left me with a wobbly pipe, so this is a little stress relief for me. Okay, off to see how this one plays. It was pretty fun to see in action last year at that press preview I went to. I’m not sure where to put that rather large Super Saiyan figure, as all my available space is stocked up with games, but I’ll figure something out soon enough…

Okay, back in a bit (again) – I’ve also been going through some bins of doom and then some here and dug up some interesting stuff I need to scan and maybe sock away on a hard drive for later use. It’s not spring yet, but I’m slowly cleaning. I must be feeling masochistic today or something. Eh, it’s a living…

Crimes & Punishments: Sherlock Holmes Trailer: Punch Drugged Love…

 
Once again, developer Frogwares is cooking up an interesting looking multi-case Sherlock Holmes game for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC-owning adventure game fans out there and this time, it seems to be going for a few types of gameplay as well as flashier visuals to lure in gamers from other genres. There’s some nice use of the aging Unreal 3 engine here as well as what looks like some tweaking to the investigation system and even a bit of fisticuffs thrown in for good measure. As long as the game stays away from the dopey camp of the Guy Ritchie version of Holmes and Watson, I think it’ll do well among its target audience. Granted, the fans of that newer BBC Sherlock and other shows that reinvent the character to different extents may or may not come aboard for this more classic-looking (and more traditional) Holmes, but it would be nice to see some of those younger folk realize their favorite flavor was around a LOT longer than they were.

Focus Home Interactive is publishing this one and it’s got a Q2 2014 release set. More on this game (and an actual release date) soon. Here’s a bunch of nice screens below – enjoy!

17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 Update: A Little Night Music For You…

“Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make…”

 
Another game I’m really looking forward to is this final MercurySteam-developed Castlevania game that looks to wrap everything up nice and neat and perhaps raise the bar on a few fronts in terms of how a 3D version of this storied franchise should be done. Whoever is taking the reins from this point on will be under a great deal of pressure to do something just as impressive without falling back on repeating what’s come before. Given the talent pool of developers out there who probably want to be the ones Konami calls in for that next phase of this series’ life, I’m not too worried at all. As long as what’s coming next is playable on more platforms, it’s a good thing to see Dracula and a Belmont somewhere battling it out in that eternal struggle they’ve pretty much committed to ages past…

PlayStation Plus February Lineup: Free Is Good. REALLY Good…

 
PlayStation Plus is continuing to be the best deal in gaming these days save for the whole “pay to play online” thing, which makes less sense as time goes on. That said, the amount of free games you get each month for signing up at $50 a year is NUTS. How nuts? Well, it’s clear that Sony wants the PS4, PS3 and Vita to be the ONLY systems you touch, as that library of gratis games per month is enough to keep the hardcore player busy and the casual player wondering when the hell they’ll find time to play all those games that pop up on the first of the month automatically. Heck, even if you didn’t buy a single game from retail or PSN, you’re getting more than enough titles to keep you occupied. as long as you keep that account, you keep every free game you’ve gotten, which isn’t a bad deal at all. Sony will be rolling out more surprises this year, so it will be interesting to see if PS Plus stays a great deal or if that fee goes up a bit over time. I don’t think it will, but I do wonder how they turn a profit by giving away the store to a few million happy users a dozen times a year…