March 2009 Archives

One of the more daring announcements to come out of this year's GDC was the unveiling of OnLive, a game delivery system promising to replace the need for upgrades with a service that will do it all for you instead. All the player will need is a controller, or a set top box for their television, a PC, and the need to believe that they can accomplish the impossible.

I'll admit it: I was something of a G.I. Joe freak in the eighties and I have a box filled with figures and dossier card cutouts to prove it. Sorry collector-type people, no more unbroken blister packs. And now that a movie is on its way, it was only inevitable that a game would follow suit but looking at the trailer, I might prefer the NES versions instead.

This year's GDC (Game Developer's Conference) had a host of amazing announcements from the floor, not the least of which was the keynote by MGS maestro, Hideo Kojima, as he touched on subjects ranging from his own development philosophy to what the future might hold for the legendary franchise.

But FPS fans were probably more riveted by the teaser Infinity Ward had put together revealing the impending release on 11.10.09 of Modern Combat 2. It also didn't take long for the 'net to provide plenty of analysis on the imagery the trailer hints at with a strong suspicion that one of the locations may be Rio De Janeiro along with new perks. The hint that the gunmen in the trailer don't want to take a chance in shooting any Russians may also tie back to what had gone down in the first game, making this part of an ongoing storyline.

And here's the trailer, courtesy of Gametrailers.

I finished the Pitt earlier this week, but...what happened to the quality control?

The art director for the new Madden '10 breaks down the depth-of-field concepts that people are going to see in the EA football titles. It's a pretty good breakdown, but there's a lot of it, so check it out when you have time.

There's even a nice shot of a revamped Ben Roethlisberger of the world champion Pittsburgh Steelers to display improved character models.

This is a shot from Madden '10, courtesy of Peter Moore's blog. Moore, as you may know, is the president of EA Sports, so naturally, he's going to be effusive in his praise for the game. In fact, he feels so good about it that he's challenging readers to gaze upon the above screenshot and see if they can detect the improvements.

I'm tempted, of course, but I'll pass. One thing I've learned about screenshots: A picture may be worth a thousand words, but if the game moves like crap, those words aren't going to be worth much.

Moore also expounds a little bit on the "fight for every yard" theme of this edition of the game, which leads me to think EA might go with another tailback (Peterson?) or a really physical receiver (Ward? Anquan Boldin, he of the reconstructed face?) on the cover.

Anyway, have fun staring at the shot.

You'd figure Dora the Explorer would age eventually, right? Turns out Mattel thought the same thing, which is why they showed off the new Dora Links Fashion doll at this year's Toy Fair. However, there's been some negative buzz as to Dora's new look, in the form of a released silhouette:

Now, I can actually see why the silhouette would freak some people out. It looks like she's got a miniskirt and curvy legs. Quite a departure.

But this is how she actually looks ... and people still have a problem:

OK, I'm not a parent. Perhaps I'm missing some kind of instinct, that piercing urge to express outrage. But I don't see what the issue is.

She's got longer hair (which, I guess happens when you AGE), she's not showing any skin, she's not in heels, she's got a few new accessories (including earrings, which isn't unusual) ... I don't get it. Why are some people still ready to put her at Pharaoh's on a Saturday night? Am I not seeing something?

As for the doll, you can connect it via USB to the computer and actually use the computer to customize the doll. Kids can make Dora's hair grow, change the color of her earrings, etc. There's also an alert system that lets you know when there's new stuff to explore on the Dora Web site. I can only imagine the potential shopping craze this could cause.

Interesting. Rockstar Games, and not Remedy, is taking up the third installment of the saga involving the troubled cop who can move like Neo. I've always known the Max Payne franchise as charming, funny, extremely dark and among the shorter single-player experiences I've ever come across. I remember full conversations between mobsters that I refused to interrupt with my gunfire until they were finished. I even remember frickin' "Lords and Ladies."

I see that Rockstar's vision of Max veers away from the rugged but somewhat youthful version in the earlier games. Instead, the pic above reminds me a little of Niko, the Serbian protagonist in the GTAIV. I'm also getting a Ray Stevenson from Punisher: Warzone vibe with this look, but I can't tell if the dude's bald. Because what we need, really, is another bald, scruffled badass.

It would be easy to assume all kinds of things about what Rockstar's going to do with Max. Open world? Tons of missions? Quirky mini-games? Social commentary? Horrible things happening to people in gory fashion? I don't know. However, I've never really had issues with the quality of Rockstar's stuff, whether it's Red Dead Revolver or Table Tennis. So if they screw it up, then by all means, pile on. Let's wait until this game is made, though. And according to Rockstar, we'll see it this winter.

Gametrailers has received a new, exclusive, teaser inviting players to step back into the boots of BJ Blazkowicz and blow away the Third Reich's obsession with the occult. Using iD's Tech 4 engine behind Doom 3's hellish resurrection, longtime partners, Raven Software, have pushed its limits with a host of wall busting, ghost killing effects to whet everyone's appetite. Here are a few captures to get you excited about heading back to WW2 without having to storm the beaches of Normandy all over again.

If you want to know what bioterrorism fantasy looks like, try the latest chapter of the "Resident Evil" series. At the very least, it'll make you think about investing in a mask.

Resident Evil 5 is the culmination of a saga that has evolved from a zombie-killing, bump-in-the-night scarefest to an action-packed monster thriller. By fully coming out of the shadows and adding a mythic spin on the world of biological weaponry, this piece from Capcom is one of my favorite titles of the early year.

Sorry. I've been preoccupied with Resident Evil 5, so I've been delinquent. I'm throwing some day-old Wii news at you. Konami released Gradius ReBirth on WiiWare, and you can download it for 1000 Wii points. It's rated E for Everyone. Old-school Nintendo Entertainment System gamers will rejoice, as Gradius was one of the more memorable side-to-side pure shooters ever. Ah, the days when I remember my older brother throwing cartridges at the wall whenever he died at a boss for the 10th time -- games were harder back then.

Anyway, I got shots, and now, so do you: Enjoy. Remember, it's retro homage stuff.

As we noted here a little more than a week ago, Capcom was having their blood drive today to not only help trumpet the release of Resident Evil 5, but also to aid the perpetually good cause of donating blood. We weren't there, but they sent over some shots. Take a look. The event drew in a few hundred.

Yes, I went old-school and did the midnight pickup of Resident Evil 5 like a lot of other people. Why not? You get treated to sights like the above picture. That's one clutch Nemesis getup.

Those of you who hit up lines everywhere, enjoy. I'll catch up over the weekend.

Ensemble Studios helped to lead the RTS revolution since their first game, Age of Empires, in 1997, and the following entries into the series would continue transforming the often arcane rules of tactical warfare into a language that spoke to every level of player with a healthy dose of history. It would become one of the most influential approaches to the genre in recent times. Unfortunately, history also tends to repeat itself in the worst way possible.

The new downloadable content, as you may or may not know, is from The Pitt, which is slated for a March 24 release. It'll cost you 800 points on Xbox Live and games for windows. Enjoy the newly released shots. If you want a closer look, just click on them.

Also, here's what we thought about Fallout 3 when it originally came out.

As if driving around Liberty City and throwing down with a Serbian national isn't enough, now you get to do it donning the colors of a fictional badass biker gang. That's the premise of this new downloadable episode from Rockstar, which further sharpens the edge of one of 2008's best games.

When I first reviewed the game, I talked a lot about the depth and dimensions of the character of Niko Bellic. Johnny Klebitz, the biker protagonist in this new episode, doesn't have Niko's grizzled Euro charm, but his presence and the presence of his friends infuses the Liberty City experience with a gruff dose of old-fashioned Americana. Johnny rarely loses his hog-riding machismo, whether its delivering drugs, fighting rival gangs or talking business with a fully-nude senator in a spa.

I also thought it was interesting how attached I was to Johnny's customized chopper. The GTA series has usually encouraged the player to be a vehicular nomad, but it looks like Rockstar has an understanding of how biker culture works, at least on a surface level. If anything, it's added a little more enjoyment to the simple act of traveling from one end of town to the other. Some of the characters are already staring to grow on me, and the voice acting, once again, is top shelf. The game also does a pretty solid job of weaving together the storylines, so you're going to see some familiar faces -- you know, before some of them die.

Overall, I almost forgot how much I enjoyed Liberty City the first time I went through it. Now that I've got a bike (and biker) to call my own, I certainly don't mind visiting it again.

Killzone 2 is dirty. Grimy. Hard. It's a butt-scratching, steak-and-fries eating, beer-drinking shooter that lives down the hall from games like Gears of War, eschewing much of the galactic frilliness one sometimes sees in other games set in the far future. There are no lasers, massive robots, or delusions of universal heroism. You get bullets and fire, f-bombs and blood. And that's plenty.

If I'm still up at this time, it means I've found plenty to like about a game. Even though I think the single-player campaign was a little stunted, the multiplayer's got more than enough to keep a person chained to their couch/gaming chair/cushion/worn spot on the floor.

As I write this, I'm attempting to move up in my multiplayer ranking, shooting at the enemy and mostly failing. I've got little or no lag in a 32-player game, and I'm really enjoying how mission types are handled. While most games stop and reload after a task is completed, Killzone 2 continuously rattles off one mission after another on the same map, which, to me, speaks to the versatility of the game's levels. Of course, you've got the option to only play one mission on a map, but I like the commitment the "series" approach demands from the players.

OK, I just took a shotgun blast to the face. I can't end the night like that. The next time I talk about this game, it'll be in a full review.

I was on furlough for a week back in mid-February, but I managed to head to the God of War III preview event in Los Angeles under the umbrella of prolific gaming site worthplaying.com.

I wrote a preview for them (I had the time, after all) and you can see it here. With April Carlson of the Gaming Angels co-piloting on interviews, I think I got some good stuff. Take a look.

By the way, my apologies to some people who dropped comments on previous entries. For some reason, they got blocked by some unknown Internet force, so I didn't know they were there, and sadly, did not respond. Also, sorry for the recent lack of posting. We're taking furloughs here at the paper, which means many of us need to pick up the slack for others who are off. Thanks for reading or peeking at the very least.

To help promote Resident Evil 5's launch on Friday, March 13, Capcom and the American Red Cross are going to be hosting a blood drive at the World of Wonder Gallery from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

In addition to the happy feeling you get when you give blood, you'll also be privy to blood drive swag, chances to grab copies of the game, and your name entered into a drawing for a red RE-themed 360. No word yet on whether it's the same shade of red as the RROD. Also, you'll get a chance to play the game at various gaming stations.

I'm a little late to the party with Killzone 2, another of the newly anointed messiah games for the PS3. Saw it at E3 and CES, liked what I saw, finally got to play it this week.

As far as first-person shooters go, I look at this game as the anti-Halo. Not in terms of popularity, but it how it feels. While the Halo series (and other PC shooters before it) have always been a haven for bouncy, up-and-down, gravity defying shooter action, Killzone 2 is rooted to the ground, both in philosophy and gameplay. It's a meat-and-potatoes first-person shooter that will leave you with dirt and blood on your fingernails as opposed to inspired visions of intergalactic heroism.

The controls took some getting used to for me, but it doesn't necessarily mean they're bad. I'm not sure of the designers' intentions, but you feel like you're steering a guy who is not only carry a lot of weaponry, but it's HEAVY weaponry -- so it could stand to reason that one should not except the ability to whip your gun around at high speed. Then again, perhaps I'm overthinking, and the controls just feel sluggish at first. We'll see. I'm on the final level (I think) and I plan to finish off the single player tonight. It's a little short -- it took me less than five hours to get there.

The visuals don't particularly shock me, since I've already seen the game. They're still excellent, comparable with the destroyed beauty concept we saw in the Gears of War games. Add in the waves of f-bombs from Rico and the other soldiers you run with for sounds, and you've got the foundation for some wartime atmosphere.

I'll be trying multiplayer this week as well. You'll get a review after that.

I was never really afraid of F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin. If anything, I was happy.

That probably sounds strange considering we're talking about a game with tons of blood and a crazy dead girl with the power to bend minds.

But it's everything surrounding the creepiness that makes this game one of the cooler shooters of the year. Unlike "Dead Space," which constantly chewed away at your comfort zone, F.E.A.R. 2 elects to give your sense of reality a hard shake and a slap when you least expect it.