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 →

Psychonauts Arrives On The Mac (Finally!) And Double Fine Rolls With It

Posted on September 29, 2011 by geelw

Hey, Tim! Next time, send these releases out to everyone! Or actually, maybe I need to update my contact info with Double Fine, huh? Anyway, I missed this Psychonauts press release, but thanks to a few “Did you see this?” emails pointing to Bitmob, you can check out the pretty funny press release about the Mac version of Double Fine’s rather awesome and funny (and classic) platformer. Yes, the PC version over Steam has gotten some cool enhancements as well.

I actually haven’t played the PC version (it’s on my to-do list, really!), but I do have both console versions here (the Xbox version is the better of the two). I’d gather the chances of seeing the game get an HD upgrade for PS3 and Xbox 360 are slim to none, but hey – if I had a few million bucks laying around, I’d wave some of it under the noses of a few games companies to tempt them into committing to doing at least ONE run of discs and selling them directly to gamers rather than going through the retail chain hell…

Valve Offers PC. Mac Versions Of Portal Free (As An Educational Tool)

Posted on September 17, 2011 by geelw

Valve is always doing some rather fun stuff with their older games, and now they’re giving educators a chance to share one of the coolest puzzle games ever with their classes without paying a dime for it. Even better, it’s supposed to be for purely “educational” purposes, meaning it would be awesome if some clever teacher out there actually downloaded this for a class and used it in a lesson plan. All you need is a Steam account and a PC or MAC capable of running the game and boom, you’re in. This offer expires on September 20, 2011, so act fast. Hopefully Valve will extend this deal a bit longer. Click on over to Learn With Portals and prepare to be schooled in more ways than one.

Mass Luminosity Wants YOU to WIN Deus Ex: Human Revoloution (I’d Take Them Up On That Offer)

Posted on September 1, 2011 by geelw

Usually, one of ML’s giveaways involves Facebook or Twitter sign-ups, which can be annoying if one doesn’t want to go to the trouble of setting up an account at either social networking site. For this new giveaway, the company is running a more simplified method of entry that allows nearly anyone to grab a chance of winning one of 15 Steam downloads of Eidos Montreal’s amazing RPG. Just click on over to the contest site, sign up and that’s that. One winner will also win a SAPPHIRE AMD Radeon 6950 graphics card along with a copy of DX:HR and DiRT 3 as a bonus. Go sign up NOW and keep your fingers crossed!

Gamecom 2011: Counter Strike: Global Offensive Announced For 2012

Posted on August 12, 2011 by geelw

Boom! It looks live Valve has done it again, stealing the thunder from an important games trade show with a big announcement. “What big announcement?”, you say (ignoring the headline) Oh, a BIG announcement like the return of one of the seminal multiplayer online shooters (and greatest game mods) ever created. Awesome news, but I still have to add a “Hmmmmmm…” here. That's all fine and dandy… but I really, REALLY want to see Left 4 Dead hit the PS3. As in on a disc with BOTH games and all the additional DLC along for the ride plus some cool fill up a Blu-Ray disc bonuses. Maybe one day… I'll wait.

For now, I'll just practice my screaming like an upset toddler because I completely stink at Counter-Strike… “Waaaaaaaah!!!” press release below the jump, by the way.Read more »

E3 2011: The Lord of the Rings: War In the North Trailer: Massively Impressive Multiplayer, But Also Solo If You Want It!

Posted on June 10, 2011 by geelw

Like a lot of you out there, I’m a HUGE admirer of Snowblind Studios’ gorgeous work, so every bit of info on this one has been swallowed whole and digested so it’s absolutely on my most wanted list. This tiny teaser of things to come shows promise and I can’t wait to dive into the more brutal (and accurate) version of Middle-Earth the team has crafted. Let’s hope there’s at least ONE portable version in the works (Vita, Vita, Vita!). Even if I don’t magically get a review copy, I’m buying this outright, day one…

Portal 2 VGA Co-op Trailer (+ a gentle reminder…)

Posted on February 19, 2011 by geelw

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/JYsfhxnX-Zg?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0

Rumor had it that the PS3 version of Portal was to have Move support. Valve has officially gone on record to say nope, it does NOT. Heck, according to the company line, it’s already the best version of the game, so packing anything else into it would probably make the game disc rupture and your PS3 very unhappy. HOWEVER, you can still attempt to balance that retail copy on your Move wand and take a photo or record the act in progress (feel free to send Valve a pic or post the video on YouTube), thus “supporting” the PS3 version with your Move controller.

Oh – That gentle reminder? Go pre-order the game already.

A Little Gifting Idea From Valve…

Posted on February 14, 2011 by geelw

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/w5I3VnCHWsU?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0

Er, Happy Valventine’s Day (har har), Some hints from Valve on what and how. BTW, pre-orders for Portal 2 have started up all over the world (Yikes). Time to add your names to the list, I’d say…

Portal 2 On The PS3: Valve Makes More Than Good On That Promise…

Posted on January 18, 2011 by geelw

Well, Portal 2 on the PS3 has moved on up from last year's intriguing “Is it EVEN possible?” E3 announcement to a “Holy Cats… they actually went and did it!” must-buy experience. PS3, PC and Mac cross-platform gameplay as well as Steam functionality over PSN and a REALLY (really) cool freebie for truly dedicated players? Looks as if Sony's console gets the best version after all.

Er, now about Left 4 Dead & L4D2 on the console… (just nod if they're coming – I won't tell a soul)…

Press release below the jump (and no, there's no cake at the end for reading the entire post… well, not for YOU at least).

Portal 2 Suffers Time Warp Delay, But This Is Actually Good News…

Posted on November 18, 2010 by geelw

According to Valve and this nicely hilarious press release that pokes fun at the company’s track record for its games slipping into the infamous release date triangle, Portal 2 is special for yet another reason:

VALVE ANNOUNCES SHORTEST DELAY IN VALVE HISTORY

Valve today announced that Portal 2 — the sequel to the ground-breaking title that won over 30 game of the year awards, despite missing its original ship date — will now be available the week of April 18th, 2011. This two month slip not only marks the shortest delay in Valve’s proud tradition of delays, it represents the approaching convergence of Valve Time and Real Time. Though this convergence spells doom for humanity, it will not affect the new Portal 2 release date.