Tag Archives: Xbox 360

Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two Isn’t The First “Musical Comedy” Game On A Console…

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As much as I respect Warren Spector, I noticed he made a slight error in a recent interview when he noted that Junction Point’s upcoming Epic Mickey sequel would be the first musical comedy video game.  Wellll, I bet Nippon Ichi Software may have a tiny issue with that. Their insanely cute, insanely easy and on a few occasions, insanely hilarious PlayStation One strategy/RPG, Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure gets to wear that crown. I was working in an indie game shop when it hit the US back in 2000 and it was one of those titles that we couldn’t keep in stock because a wide range of customers found something to love about the game.

Parents with young kids liked the total lack of violent content, kids liked the songs and jokes and JRPG fans of a few ages found the game easy, but funny enough to dive into just to hear every one of the songs in the game. I did have to explain why there were a few too many panty jokes in the game to one concerned parental unit, but overall, I remember it as a lighthearted romp that was also one of the simplest JRPGs I’d ever played. A wee bit too easy, but then again, it WAS a kid’s game. Anyway, there were a couple of sequels released (in Japan only, of course) and the game got a nice reworking on the Nintendo DS that changed up the combat somewhat and can be found pretty cheap online if you know where to look.

Anyway, I’m not her to raise a “gotcha” game ruckus about this at all – just pointing out a fact or two in case you’re wondering about this sort of stuff. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how Mickey looks in HD and plays with the Move setup here, that’s for sure…

Is Game of Thrones Another Euro-Sleeper RPG Hit? I Think So…

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Oops. Until today, I had no idea that Cyanide Studios had been working on their upcoming RPG, Game of Thrones on and off for about seven years (yes, even before the mega-hit TV show was around, this one was in the pot cooking away). As you’ll can see from the video link, the dev team members are not only huge fans of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire, they’ve done the smart thing and not based their story on the books or HBO series. Crafting an original tale and spending quality time tinkering away on things for so lone, THEN going in to add in some familiar faces plus a multi-path dialog system takes some dedicated work that deserves a play through or two (or more).  Well, I guess we’ll see how the game is next week -I’m looking forward to seeing how well it fits into what’s already in place…

Max Payne 3 Launch Trailer: Watch It Now, As Next Week You’ll Be Too Busy Playing…

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It’s up and yes, it’s fantastic.  Amusingly enough, for a very short period of time, I was worried that Rockstar wasn’t doing enough to get the word out on all the hard work the dev team was doing on this one. Ha! I should have figured the all-out blitz would kick in closer to the release date. I’m looking forward to the story more than the MP modes, but I like how they tie together and would love to see more games tackle this in a similar fashion (without stealing the idea cold, of course)….

Dragon’s Dogma Developer Diary #3: Now, With A Launch Trailer For Dessert!

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Here’s one more dev diary from Capcom, and with the game’s launch rolling up pretty soon, I may as well post the launch trailer as well:

 

 

Now, I’ll need to figure out when I’ll get to actually play this one, as I just started The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition on the 360 yesterday and I definitely don’t want to rush that. Granted, the two games are light years apart in tone and tale, so I’m not even going to compare the two side by side. Or mention Skyrim when talking about DD. For me, every RPG is a different beast and some do things better than others. At the end of the day, if Capcom has created a game I can lose a few too many hours in and NOT find comparisons because what the team has done is so impressive that I’m not counting off influences, then I’m a happier gamer for it. As are you.

Assassin’s Creed III Gameplay Trailer: Er, Its Not Historically Accurate (But You Don’t Care, Right?)

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Ah ha ha. I made the mistake of reading a few too many message board posts elsewhere about this trailer (well, I got caught up in cracking up at some pretty lousy arguments that make no sense because this IS just a game at the end of the day), but no matter what’s been said about it, one thing is crystal clear: Ubisoft knows what they’re doing. I haven’t enjoyed the series all that much, but I do like the new setting and time period. Still, I can’t help but imagine some school teaching a course in history as seen through video games like this and others that take actual fact and twist them into a rich game world along with a few historical figures along for the ride. Eh, whatever – as long as this one’s better than the last and well-cooked enough to rate a few replays, I’m all aboard for this ride…

Dragon’s Dogma Developer Diary #2: Pawn Stars (Wait, Did I Use That Pun Already?)

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OK, I’ve been a bit scattered lately, so forgive me if there’s a sense of deja vu going on here. Anyway, here’s the latest DD dev diary, this time tackling the interesting Pawn system and how it works in the game. Capcom is definitely generating a great deal of interest in this game as it heads for gold status and eventually retail release, so pay attention and get your money (and a decent controller) ready, I say.

Sniper Elite V2 Arrives: So Far, It’s Fire and Not Forget…

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My review copy of Sniper Elite V2 popped up yesterday and I was hooked in from the tutorial, which I set to On even though I’m a huge fan of the first game. I love what Rebellion has done so far and have no major complaints. YES, for veteran players the game does skew a tiny bit too easy, but only if you turn all the aids on and play on the simplest difficulty level. To get rid of that issue, go at it using the Custom Game setting or just choose one of the two higher difficulties (Sniper Elite mode needs to be unlocked) and yup, you’re in for a more hefty challenge. Back later in the week with a full review.

Dragon’s Dogma Story Trailer: Hey (Ouch!), Watch Where You Stick That Thing!

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Capcom’s not so quiet not so sleeper is almost here and waiting to take over a chunk of your free time. Here’s a look at some fine work in this story trailer that features a poky dragon giving the finger to some poor guy (and how!) and more questions left unanswered that should make this game worth a few playthroughs amongst those it successfully casts its spell on. This one should be tons of fun, i say…

It’s Free Comic Book Day (Part Two). So, Here’s One For You From Rockstar!

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Hey, it’s still Free Comic Book Day today, which means you can walk into ANY comic shop and walk out with a free comic (or comics, if you’re lucky) and NOT get arrested. That said, Rockstar Games is also getting in on the fun with an assist from Marvel thanks to the first issue of Max Payne 3: After The Fall , which is landing online as a digital read you can check out on your PC, laptop (and probably device if you like squinting at that nicely gritty art) OR PDF download before the game shoots into stores on May 15. Rockstar is also offering a VERY limited edition physical copy of the book to selected Rockstar Games Social Club members, so if you’re not one and want one, sign up at that link above and keep those fingers crossed. That particular offer is ONLY good until June, so get crackin’ if you want to snag a copy!

CoD: Black Ops 2 Documentary Gets You Up To Speed About Things To Come…

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By now, Activision and hard-working developer Treyarch have no doubt developed quite the thick skin (and a deaf ear from all those ricochets) when it comes to listening to the anti-CoD crowd wailing away when news of a new installment breaks. I’ve pretty much heard it all, from JRPG fans who “hate FPS games and CoD players” with a rather biased viewpoint (sorry, they’re not all “frat boy jerks” or “gun nuts”) to fans of other shooters who never seem to realize that most of the games they like wouldn’t be around if CoD wasn’t busting sales records and forcing a few innovations (like them or not) into the genre (which IS a bit stale after so many years with so many AAA games coming and going).

That said, and as I noted earlier, when it works, it WORKS, and Black Ops was one of those games that packed so much content onto a disc that you didn’t really need to play it online to enjoy some prime content. OK, let me shut up and let you enjoy this little “documentary” about the future world weapons and such presented in this upcoming sequel that’s bound to make all involved another mint. Oh yeah, I’ll be nice for a change and not even ask what Oliver North is doing in the video. Put him in the Zombies game next time, guys.