New Total Recall Trailer: Arnold Who? Seriously, Is Hollywood Trying To Make Us Forget Him?

For the three boobs out there who wanted to see that three-boobed lady of the evening in the new film: here you go. Actually, I like Colin Farrell’s reaction and the way the scene is played in the trailer, so hopefully it’ll be as brief in the final cut. The one thing I’m concerned about is I can pretty clearly see who the bad guys are in this remake because the trailer gives them away or hell, the casting is just too obvious. Then again, I’ll prepare to be surprised if I’m wrong. Maybe.

Hmmm… Let’s see now… Swarzenegger Negation Remake Project tally: Conan, Total Recall, (some would say) Predators. At this point, all we need are reboots of The Running Man, The Terminator and maybe one or two of his better action films. Commando and Raw Deal are high comedies with gunplay to me, it’s too early to remake True Lies (which is too much fun to remake anyway) and no, Twins, Kindergarten Cop, Eraser or Collateral Damage reboots I’d not even want to see no matter who made them. Of course, I’m kidding (but then again, maybe Hollywood isn’t)…

Xseed Games Has Been Busy, As You Can See Here…

In case you’ve missed them, here are some rather nice trailers for four new or incoming titles from the publisher. First up is Mistwalker’s epic JRPG, The Last Story, which is looking to be one of the last, great Wii RPGs (and another good reason to own the console). Given that it’s a summer release, it looks as if I won’t be getting much son when it drops into stores.

Next up is FuRyu’s Unchained Blades, another PSN download for the PSP that JRPG fans should be thrilled about. Featuring character art from a wide range of top Japanese illustrators such as Pako (Shining Force), Toshiyuki Kubooka (Lunar), Shinichiro Otsuka (Summon Night), Kazushi Hagiwara (Bastard!!) and more. I’m thrilled about this one because it’s an old-school dungeon crawler in the Wizardry vein, which usually means plenty of great fun and challenge. There’s a 3DS version coming as well, but I’m not sure if it’s a retail package or download-only title like the PSP game.

 

Finally, two games from Nihon Falcom’s long-running Y’s series: Ys: Oath in Felghana and Ys Origin, both coming to Valve’s Steam download service with some great visual updates and running at a lovely 60 frames per second. Buy them, I say. Still, I also have to ask if Xseed can make these available as direct downloads or set them up as DRM-free on gog.com or some other site. While I do have a Steam account, I can’t use it on my terminally slow connection at all because of the update process that slows everything to a crawl. My gog.com account, on the other hand, is pretty smooth going and I haven’t had any major issues with it. of course, I’d prefer these on a UMD or even better, a Vita card as part of an Ys Collection with an art book that happens to fit inside a Vita case and perhaps a soundtrack and wallpaper on that game card, but that’s just my wishful thinking that SOME publisher would maximize that over-sized case Vita games come in.

 

OK, enough reading – go play (or pre-order) some games!

Journey: Collector’s Edition Trailer: My Psychic Powers At Work…

 

As I predicted, here’s what’s coming in the retail version of Journey: Collector’s Edition, coming soon to the PS3. The only things missing are more PSN demos, but Sony is offering up a PlayStation Plus subscription for those of you who want to check out the service and see what’s what. Granted, this means not a thing to games without the means to go online at all, but hey, I guess SCEA will figure that out at some point. Still, this is a must purchase collection and heck, will make a great gift for any gamer out there who hasn’t tried these gems yet.

Random Game Never To Play Alone (Or Else) #1: Dokapon Kingdom

I have a stupidly long list of article idea and as usual, not enough time to get them all written, but every so often I’m going to post the occasional test article for your perusal. Here’s one goofy idea I had ages ago while writing for another site about games that made for a terrible time when played alone. I thought about reviving the idea recently while listening to some folks in a game shop arguing about what was the worst game to play alone and getting a chuckle that every game mentioned in their discussion revolved around survival horror, MMORPGs or assorted shooters (with every game mentioned in the latter two genres geared for multiplayer gaming). The first game I thought of was Atlus’ 2008 US release of Sting’s 2007 hybrid board game/RPG, which some have very incorrectly labeled a straight Mario Party clone. The Dokapon series was around a bit longer than Mario Party and Dokapon Kingdom is more or less a polygon-based reworking of a Super Famicom game from 1994 called Dokapon 3-2-1: Arashi o Yobu Yuujou, which is equally challenging as a solo play experience. Now, neither are anything resembling “bad” games at all. They’re fun to play and funny, but are both just designed to work better with more than one person playing them…
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Go Buy This: Tomba! Hits PSN (Thank You, Monkey Paw Games!)

I sold off my mint Tomba! and Tomba 2: The Evil Swine Return sometime last year for a nice chunk of change (I was surprised at how much they went for), but of course, I miss them terribly now, as they both were fun to play and pretty hilarious to boot. Anyway, thanks to the fine folks over at Monkey Paw Games, I can at least play the first game again, as it’s gotten a PSOne Classics reissue. Yeah, yeah, I’d prefer it on a disc with a bunch of other PSOne games, but that’s not going to happen, so this is the next best thing. Like Klonoa and before it, Pandemonium!, Tomba uses a “2.5D” perspective that combines traditional side-scrolling gameplay with occasional plane shifts into different parts of the 3D environment. It’s also got some light RPG elements (but isn’t a RPG a tall) and is one of those games that will keep a smile on your face from the moment you fire it up. I’d actually LOVE to see Monkey Paw get more PSOne games out (including a ton of the imports I have here), but I guess I should go bug them about it on their site, right?

Clan of Champions Update: PSN, Steam Bound This Summer in NA & EU.

So, Clan of Champions still isn’t getting a budget retail release? Boo. Still, it’ll be worth a buy or try if you’re a fan of the underappreciated Gladiator Returns on the PSP or Warriors of the Lost Empire, another PSP game that’s got visual similarities as well as some of the same game mechanics, menus, options and even typefaces as Gladiator Returns. Well, all three games are from the same developer, so I don’t mind this sort of recycling, although Warriors was one of those games that you had to get used to (and actually only really got great after you beat it once). Gladiator Returns was better in some respects, but had some of the same flaws as Warriors. That said, both games had more than enough going for them to keep me playing and CoC looks to hit that same spot.

Of course, I still have my fingers crossed that NISA gets back to doing more with retail as well as DLC so MORE people can play these games, as not EVERYONE has the ability to or hell, even likes to download ALL their game content. Getting this game and perhaps some of their other upcoming PSN-only content on a disc at some point (together in one package deal) would indeed be sweet… but I’m not holding my breath. It’s kind of hard to type when you’re blue in the face, you know…

Best Gaming News I’ve Heard Today (So Far): Journey Collector’s Edition Coming To Disc This Year.

OK, you KNOW you’re tired when you keep replacing the posts you just wrote with new ones, then get annoyed that what you spent time working on has gone for good (almost… thank goodness for auto-saves!). One more re-post (this one), and I’m off to bed, grrrr…

Well, well, well. Something I’d begged thatgamecompany to consider doing way back when I first saw Journey at a press event here in NYC and it looks as if a lot of other people have been thinking and wanting the exact same thing. Thanks to a recent tweet that spilled the beans after the CE info for the region-free Asian version showed up on Play-Asia (interestingly enough, the page says the popular online import retailer has pre-sold out of its allocated supply already). I saw something about a week or two ago mentioning the possibility of Journey hitting retail a disc, but it looks as if tgc’s other hits, flOw and Flower will also be included along with other surprises not yet revealed. My money is on a soundtrack (either downloadable or on the Blu-Ray), art gallery and perhaps a making of video, all of which would make the package a must-buy, especially for PS3 owners who don’t or can’t access PSN.

That said… all of that content would indeed be lovely, but if there were demos of other PSN games (that were or are HOPEFULLY also Blu-Ray bound as fair-priced collections) of recent vintage (or those soon to be released… *cough!* Papo & Yo *cough!*), that would be even better. Come on, SCEA – do this up right and make some money while making a LOT of people really happy in the process. More news on this awesomeness as it rolls out. The inevitable trailer should be interesting, that’s for sure…

Gravity Rush Is In Stores Now. If You Own (Or Want) A Vita, It’s A Must-Buy.

It’s almost too bad the Vita didn’t launch with this title, as it’s a new IP that introduces a character any gamer will love as well as shows off what the system can do quite well. Thankfully, this trailer shows off some of those cool things quite nicely. I’ll try to jam in a review at some point this month, but no promises, as it’s a bit hectic at the moment. For now, however, I’m absolutely recommending you check this one out if your Vita has been feeling lonely or you’re thinking about the system and want another definitive killer app that’s pure fun from the moment you pick it up and start playing…

EDF 3 Portable Coming To PlayStation Vita (In Japan, At Least) With 4-Player Co-op

BRING BACK THE BUGS! Hey, D3Publisher of America: I’m putting you on notice NOW. If you aren’t planning to snap this up and get it out in North America instead of another kid-friendly game that might sell a few more copies, you’re nuts. In the nicest possible way, though. Seriously, you’re loved around here for some cool games and all, but THIS one has to get a US release. Not only is this looking exactly like the Xbox 360 game many PlayStation-only fans of the series never got to play, Sandlot actually ADDED a four-player co-op mode.Which is an excellent move, by the way (provided the slowdown present in the original game has been taken care of).

I’m stealing one screenshot from Andriasang (thanks, guys!) to show you this is no joke, but here’s a link so you can check out the rest of them and start yelling into your Vita like it’s actually got a phone built in. Day one purchase? Oh, absolutely. ESPECIALLY if D3 is smart enough to consider that dual game card package, provided they can release it at a decent price point. If not, a single cart is still fine, but I’m gathering that a single cart and download voucher deal for a friend might be another way to go. OK, let me stop giving out free ideas and get back to hoping we see this one drop into stores as soon as possible…

E3 2012: New Little King’s Story: Big Changes For A Smaller System

If you missed out on Little King’s Story on the Wii a few years back, you didn’t get to play a really cute and fun blend of real time strategy and RPG elements wrapped into a surprisingly neat neat tale that was also pretty funny at times. This sequel gets a completely new visual style, more mature looking characters and a few other tweaks, but as many Vita owners will be new to the game, that doesn’t matter all that much, I’d imagine. What DOES matter is that the Vita NEEDS more quality games such as this and as many as possible over the next few months so that this current dry spell is rendered a thing of the past sooner than later. Let’s keep ’em coming Sony!