It’s Going To Be A Mass Effect 3 Kind Of Year (Unless You’re An Android)…

It was actually pretty funny (to me, at least) that EA had plenty of Android plushies to hand out at their Spotlight event on Tuesday, but one of the bigger games announced, Mass Effect: Infiltrator is currently ONLY going to be an iOS release. Yes, I know they’re going for the most successful platform in the world for this fantastic-looking third-person touchscreen action shooter, but I know some non-iOS device owners who are going to be (or already are) pretty irate about their devices NOT getting this game.

The rest of the Mass assault at the event was incredibly impressive, what with an amazing new CG trailer revealed (“Take Back Earth”) that’s going to blow fans away. All EA needs to do is get this into theaters and posted online (I think the latter will happen sometime next week) and I’d bet pre-orders for the game get a big bump.  As for the Datapad app that lets you receive messages from your squad mates and other info, well… it’s not really necessary to play the game, but like Infiltrator, I can see a ton of downloads from core ME fans who want every single bit of content about the upcoming finale.

As for the latest build of Mass Effect 3 on display? Magnificent. BioWare has done its best work to date here and unless you’ve got that oddball genetic disposition to dump all over the hard hard work the team has put into this, you’ll find that both the single player campaign and multiplayer modes are rock solid. So solid in fact, that I’d rather spend time beefing up interest in Syndicate and SSX, two other titles shown at the event that deserve just as much love. More on those two later – I’m going to sleep, as it was a long day. for me…

Why is I Am Alive NOT On A Retail Disc?*

*Or: Hey, Ubisoft, Here’s How To Market A Game To EVERYONE Who Wants To Play It…

Sure, I Am Alive looks amazing and yes, the idea of a realistic survival adventure set in a destroyed city has garnered tons of praise everywhere anyone has seen or played it. But Ubisoft is doing themselves no favors by only releasing this on Xbox Live Arcade in March and perhaps later on PSN,… oops SEN (sorry, Sony! Give me another week or so to get used to that change). Memo from the front: despite your current successful digital business model, there are STILL a large amount of gamers who can’t get that content dying for something different that’s NOT another FPS, zombie game, franchise update or yes, I’ll say it, ANOTHER damn digital-ONLY release that should have been disc-based.

Continue reading

Ridge Racer Unbounded Update: Behind the Game #1: “Deal With It!”

Namco Bandai rolls out the first in a series of “making of” videos about their upcoming racer set for a March release on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Hey, I didn’t name the trailer, although that’s exactly what I’d call it as there are still a bunch of overly vocal folks out there who’ve been ticked off about this one ever since it was announced. Anyway, It’s been pretty quiet on the RRU front since I played the very promising demo last year, so it’s great to see what’s been going on since. Check out what the  hard-working team at Bugbear has been up to and if you’re one of those die-hard classic RR fans still frothing at the mouth over the new game, you’ll also see that it’s not replacing your nostalgically sideways sliding fantasies at all…

Phantom Breaker Preview Trailer: The Clock Is Ticking…

It feels as if I’m trapped in a weird time warp, what with all these Phantom Breaker videos coming out and me STILL not playing the game. OK, perhaps I’m impatient or just too focused on all that 2D art flashing around or something – the wait is getting a bit tedious at this point. Anyway, you know the drill: an Amazon pre-order nets you the omake-packed  Special Edition at $39.99 (a super deal!) and if you’re feeling extra sociable, you can also pontificate on the game and the state of 2D fighters in general over at the game’s Facebook page. Oh yeah, there’s an awesome CONTEST over on the official site, so if you didn’t click that first link in the post, you might want to go ahead and do that now…

Official Max Payne 3 Website Alive & Kicking…

The new weapons trailer is posted on the other blog if you haven’t seen it already.  While you’re waiting for that coffee or tea this morning (and in case the link  aboveis busted thanks to Blogger’s crappy way of handling embed codes), you may as well boogie on over to the official site and see what Rockstar’s been up to with Max and his latest adventure. Well, “adventure” as in he gets to shoot up a lot of bad men while you make sure he doesn’t play catch with too many bullets.

Review: Double Fine Happy Action Theater

Platform: Xbox 360 (Kinect)

Developer: Double Fine Studios

Publisher: Microsoft

# of Players: 1 – 6

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Official Site

Score: A-

Sure, you can simply stick your tongue out, turn your nose up, cross those arms and pout about even going NEAR a game as geared for kids as Double Fine Happy Action Theater and at first glance, you’d almost be justified. Then again, you’d look exactly like a stubborn child who won’t eat their vegetables instead of an adult who needs to kick back and have a blast once in a while. Yes, the game is super family friendly, non-violent (unless you consider kicking down fake buildings “violent”) and “shorter” than it should be. On the other hand, it’s not a traditional “game” at all, but a series of 18 activities that will have you doing all sorts of wacky physical movements in front of your TV.

Continue reading

Yes, I Still Review Stuff, Silly…

Status

geelw's avatar

This should be interesting. I talked a Kinect-owning pal into buying Double Fine Happy Action Theater and I’ll be moseying on over to his place later to see what’s what. The XPlay demo last night made me do it, so blame them. Although, my heads up from him and his kids says the game is nothing but stupidly entertaining. In a really good way. If I don’t throw my back out kicking a pigeon or making fireworks with my fingers, I’ll be back with a review later tonight. Wish me luck…

Rayman 3 HD Coming To PSN, XBLA In March

Above: a really nice trailer for the upcoming release of Rayman 3 HD, set for a March 21, 2012 launch over PSN and Xbox Live. Below: a short (and suggestive) note to Ubisoft from me: if you’re trying to get that follow-up to Beyond Good & Evil off the ground, why not pack HD remakes of all the numbered Rayman games onto a disc with some cool bonus features and get them out there along with separate digital releases so you’re serving both physical and ethereal gamers out there? Of course, you guys know better than I do about business matters and your own back catalog, so just ignore me. At your peril. I’ll be in the corner with my slingshot and some popcorn…

Phantom Breaker Update: Infinity vs. Fin Trailer

5bp’s upcoming 2D fighter is looking as nice as ever in this latest trailer. Remember, pre-orders for the Special Edition (a STEAL at $39.99!) are still being taken over at Amazon, so don’t forget to support these guys and gals over at publisher 7Sixty Games if you’re liking what you’ve been seeing so far. I’d say doing so in a big way will show not EVERY game like this needs to be a digital-only release.

SoulCalibur V In Stores Now: Carl’s Jr. Wants Your Money, Too…

That ten bucks off coupon you get for snapping up a SCV Collector’s Cup will no doubt move the game a bit more in some areas, but… Ha!  There’s NO Carl’s Jr. ANYWHERE near me the last time I checked and (uh-oh) I don’t eat fast food burgers. Therefore, I’m completely immune to your charms, otherwise well-targeted TV ad!  Oh well. I hear the game is pretty darn good despite some familiar characters being dropped in favor of newbies the newbies can relate to. Bad idea, Project Soul! he BEST thing to do would have been to add ALL the old fighters as well as a roster of new ones so everyone could be happy. Well, there’s always DLC and a reissue at some point if the game sells well enough. No Taki or Kilik (among others?) Yikes. Well, I guess I;ll be using that character creation to whip up facsimiles, then…