Tomodachi Life: Nintendo Goes Nuts, But In the Best Possible Manner…

Posted on April 10, 2014 by geelw

Even if this is some sort of odd saving roll by Nintendo, Tomodachi Life looks like one of those great and crazy Japanese games that will have a wide appeal outside the usual suspects (Nintendo-only fans who swear by everything the company does and think they can do no wrong). This one’s got a nice “social” element to it, but I do hope there’s a way to play solo for those folks who don’t want to deal with that element. Anyway, this oddball combination of The Sims, Second Life and Animal Crossing should be a bit hit on the 3DS, but it might have been cooler to also see this as a Wii U game or at least have elements shared between the two systems as it’s not the 3DS that needs more great and quirky first-party titles. Eh, we’ll see what happens, of course. I predict a nice chunk of folks playing this with each other for quite some time. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to try and un-see Mr. Iwata singing in that bathtub and a few other things in that video. Yeesh.

Child of Light Making of #2: Music and Sounds Get The High Note This Update…

Posted on April 9, 2014 by geelw

Equally as important as the plot and lovely visuals are the music and sound effects in Ubisoft’s upcoming soon to be classic Child of Light, and as you can see above, all those pieces are indeed falling exactly where they need to. It’s clear that this project will be one for the ages as well as a great first game made with UbiArt Framework (which needs to get into the hands of a few other developers just so we can see how different art styles hold up to the new tech). April 30th is when this one comes out for PC and consoles, so keep an eye peeled, I say…

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel? Wait, What? GEARBOOOOOOOOOOX!

Posted on April 9, 2014 by geelw

Well, actually, this is 2K Australia’s fault, but still, I blame Gearbox for creating the unstoppable juggernaut that is the Borderlands franchise (one of the only shooters I’ll still play because of the wild, stupid fun to be had and SO many millions of weapons to discover and collect). Wow. Okay, I ignored this news earlier at first because I’d just woken up and thought it was either a late April Fool’s joke or just a joke, period. Ah ha ha… the joke was on me. So, this is happening and it’s coming SOON. As in this Fall 2014 to Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Yeah, THAT’S RIGHT, dammit – the “OLD” consoles are getting this BEFORE the new ones because 2K Games is SMART and knows there are still more millions of you (and me) out there who haven’t committed to one of the new systems just yet. They’re getting my money (again!) for sure…

Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure Launch Trailer: Atlus Goes Back To The Past To Bring You The Future!

Posted on April 9, 2014 by geelw

As I noted last year, seeing a new Tex Murphy interactive adventure (or game, for those of you scratching your heads right about now) is quite a shock as well as a pleasant surprise, so it’s also a good thing that Atlus is not only seeing this through, they’re making sure their followers know all about it. Now, you don’t need to have played the other Tex games to get into this one at all, but it may help some of you appreciate what’s here all the more. Especially if that mildly cheesy full motion video you’re seeing above isn’t floating your boat, but you’re intrigued about the story and such. Trust me, you’ll get used to it once the plot wraps its fingers around your throat and starts shaking gently. It’s great to see you back, Tex… next time, don’t take so darn long to make a comeback!

The Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure is coming to PC and Mac April 22, 2014.

Wolfenstein “Nowhere To Run” Trailer: But If You Tried Walking, You’re Very Much Dead!

Posted on April 8, 2014 by geelw

Although I’m quite bored with the FPS genre, I’m keeping an eye on these Wolfenstein: The New Order updates because the story is pretty intriguing and Machine Games seems to have made series hero B.J. Blazkowicz into more of a character with an actual personality instead of just a one man army and part time bullet sponge, tossed him into a world that’s actually an interesting place (well, an interesting place full of Nazis in an alternate future where they WON World War II) and has you trying to put a stop to the menace using (what else) extreme prejudice. So Blazkowicz isn’t going to be getting the Nobel Peace Prize at all, but he will be taking out a LOT of trash by feeding it a lead and other ordinance diet until he’s whittled things down to the more manageable size of zero (or something close to it depending on whether or not this one’s got a sequel idea brewing).

Okay, the one man army thing is still in effect, but at least it’s well done so far. Wolfenstein: The New Order, will be available on May 20, 2014 (and in Europe on May 23) on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Pre-ordering gets you into the upcoming DOOM beta test, so slap down a deposit on this one and prepare to see another classic shooter get the reboot treatment…

LEGO The Hobbit In Stores Today: CG Plastic Playground Beats CG Movie FX Any Day of the Week…

Posted on April 8, 2014 by geelw

While I’m not a huge fan of the fantasy amusement park thrill rides that are The Hobbit films, TT Games has never let me down with their takes on the Lord of the Rings franchise and a bunch of other games they’ve done up with the full on LEGO treatment. While production values have been beefed up considerably since the first LEGO games, the same sense of silliness and all-out fun is intact, as is drop-in drop-out co-op play, loads of secrets and probably so many characters to play as that the game’s replay value is way off the charts if you’re one of those folks who wants to see it all and doesn’t care how long it takes to unlock everything. Anyway, this one’s available NOW for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS and PC, so round up the family and go grab a copy, I say…

Game of Thrones S4: Promo Onslaught In Full Effect…

Posted on April 7, 2014 by geelw

Warning! If you still didn’t see the premiere, here and below there be SPOILERS! The premiere episode wasn’t even an hour cold when HBO started dropping videos galore and making me crack up because I think this was the fastest they’ve ever updated their YouTube page with GoT content. I’d have posted it last night, but I was busy with some other stuff (a few other shows and working on a bit of art). Anyway, here you go and I bet more is on the way, as this season seems to be one that’s going to be more memorable than the last one on a few fronts…

Hey, I did say this post had spoilers in it, didn’t I? Of course, if you’ve read the books, you know most of this stuff already. On the other hand, as the show deviates from the books in a few very interesting ways, it’s great to see how the show’s writers have knitted things quite well into the overall story to date. So far, so good… and that second episode looks to be even more interesting. Six more days… only six more days…

Child of Light Gets The Always Amazing Amano Touch…

Posted on April 7, 2014 by geelw

While I’ve had the great pleasure of seeing Yoshitaka Amano’s artwork up close and personal, it was too many years ago here in NYC when he was promoting HERO and I even got to chat briefly with him about his art on the Front Mission games thanks to a friend who translated my questions and compliments. Anyway, here he is doing what he does best for Ubisoft’s upcoming Child of Light and making me wish I could actually afford to own one of his paintings one of these days. It’s too bad this video isn’t longer, but oh well – sometimes you have to take the art you can get however you can get it, right? Child of Light will be available April 30 for assorted platforms and yes, you need to buy it.

IndieGala Every Monday Bundle: Hard To Pass Up (And Harder To Put Down)

Posted on April 7, 2014 by geelw

Let’s see now… six games for $1.89 for the next 15 hours, then the price jumps to a still insane $2.99 for the same content? SOLD, even though I already have the excellent A Valley Without Wind in my still hefty backlog of games to be played. Nice. Get this deal HERE and make sure to take a look at the assorted Happy Hour deals on other bundles and the other sales on too many titles while you’re there.

Storing Up Energy For Some Quality Time…

Posted on April 6, 2014 by geelw

Shhh. Quiet back there! I’m kind of taking the day off until Game of Thrones pops up this evening. I made the mistake last night and early this morning of staying up to watch all of those House of Lies episodes I missed when I bailed on the series and man, that was a bad decision. The show is well-acted, but I ended up hating just about everyone on it beyond the point of caring (um… thanks, writers?) and with a season finale popping up, I figure I may as well commit to that at some point this week just to wrap that up as neatly as possible. I’m definitely watching the Shameless finale and may scoot back to HBO to catch the Silicon Valley premiere just because it’s Mike Judge and Office Space is one of my favorite films as a former office drone (in a few too many places in the past) and long time movie lover. Eh, we’ll see… or perhaps not. GoT has all my attention until Orphan Black returns in less than two weeks. As for Mad Men? Coin toss when it returns, period. I gave up caring about that show ages ago…