January 2010 Archives

Resident Evil father, Shinji Mikami, will be adding his own title to Platinum Games' quickly growing lineup with Vanquish whose trailer was officially shown today.

The trailer actually says little about what the gameplay will be like, but it leads in with live action and a heavy dose of CG effects to set it up as a yarn about one man's fight to stop an attack against the United States (as opposed from within thanks to a duplicitous Vice President in a giant mech). Cue in colossal space station with a sci-fi army backed by beam weapons from the sky, and you've got something that's a far cry from fighting tentacle-headed corpses and collecting herbs.

Or maybe Mikami is just as tired of zombies as I am.

It always amazes me that the same human race that's produced wondrous things like the Internet, DVR and the iPhone is still capable of also making things that let us know some people really need help.

I speak, of course, of people who can't crack eggs properly. There is a device that can help with that. See for yourself.

I always enjoy the "demos" of these products, where the people in the commercials have to carry out simple tasks in the dumbest possible way, or try to integrate the most ridiculous items into everyday life.

We're better than this, ladies and gentlemen. Seriously, who bashes eggs on the table like that? This is why aliens want to destroy us.

Thanks to business editor Christina Brock for the link.

When Monday comes, your local 7-Eleven should be offering you the rage of the gods in the form of frozen, liquid goodness.

At least that's the plan, as Sony Computer Entertainment of America announced a deal with 7-Eleven and Mountain Dew to start featuring Kratos Fury, a Slurpee drink designed to help promote the PS3's upcoming blockbuster, God of War III. Apparently, deity-killing anger is best captured in the flavor combo of blackberry and lime, and there's also going to special cups bearing the image of gaming's favorite Spartan. Every time you buy a Slurpee, you'll get redeemable codes and points for stuff like a downloadable behind-the-scenes video or a free hoodie.

If you want more info, you can go here.

Apple's newest gizmo was officially revealed today to a select audience of technophiles setting Wednesday's slice of the 'net alive with buzz that ranged between giddy excitement to murmurs of meh.

Called the iPad, it has quite a few people buzzing about how it will do everything from saving print media to providing the missing link between laptops and iPhones. It will even wage war against e-book readers, like Amazon's Kindle, with the iBook interface that will show you a virtual bookshelf filled with your downloaded library making it as easily accessible. Its starting price is set at $499 and will be out in two months.

A few iPhone developers are already eying the increased real-estate and power that its 9.7" screen, 1Ghz processor, and starting 16GB of space that it will offer potential creations.

While some were impressed with its fashionable look and touted features combining the function of an iPhone and a laptop, others weren't as wowed, regarding it as simply a bigger iPhone with its lack of multitasking and its ties to AT&T. Only time will tell whether or not it makes as big a splash, but one thing is still certain: when Apple speaks, everyone is still listening.

Although the brouhaha over NBC's shenanigans with the Tonight Show seems to be over, the movie rights have gotten a little early competition with this unusual animated short from Next Media's Appledaily Action News over in Taiwan. This isn't the first time that Appledaily has used CG to illustrate some of their reporting with, but it's a lot tamer than a few of the others they've done.

This one looks at went down with a clever bit of CG translated into English (the original is in Chinese) with everyone turning into superheroes fighting it out at the end. So if you haven't cared enough to watch every monologue from either the Leno Camp or Team CoCo to get an idea of what is going on, enjoy this show instead.

Dark Void will make you angry. Not because of its sometimes iffy controls or the fact that it isn't the next Crimson Skies. But because when you think that you're about to win a desperately fought fight, it often decides to shut you down by locking up.

But that is only the first of several issues that have made Dark Void a bitter disappointment for this would-be Rocketeer.

The crew at Bungie are planning to do their part in making a difference in Haiti's relief efforts by inviting players to play Halo 3 or ODST this upcoming Wednesday or Thursday while wearing a special badge as a show of support. For every thousand players that they can track with the badge, Bungie will donate $100 to help out, up to a maximum total of $77,000. If you're a gamer and want to donate but still aren't sure how you might be able to, Bungie has made it easy for anyone to be a hero. You can read up on the details right here. And many others have also been pitching in.

GamingAngels is sponsoring another charity drive this Sunday with an auction. The winner will get a bag of gaming swag with all proceeds going to the charity of their choice to help out, so check it out if you can.

And if you have an iPhone, App Relief is a group of iPhone developers that are dedicating the proceeds from the sales of their apps to the Red Cross for a limited time. You can check out which apps are participating in the effort here.

Game developer, Outspark, best known for its selection of PC MMOs and free online games, are offering a series of "bundles" between January 15th and the 31st whose proceeds will go to Yele Haiti, a relief organization founded by Haitian musician, Wyclef Jean. The bundles are micro-transactions that will give their players a nice batch of goodies to use in the games they purchase them for, like this snazzy helmet. You can check out the list of bundles at their relief page right here.

And Facebook game developer, Zynga, is also pitching in with three of their top games. Special items, such as a Haitian drum in Mafia Wars or a Wrasse Fish in Fishville, when sold as virtual social goods, will have their proceeds donated to help out. You can check it out at Zynga's .org site or, if you'd rather donate directly, there's a link for that, too.

The Bible can serve as quite the muse. Swords, fire, horsemen, demons, seven seals -- the more you look, you find the Good Book can inspire good hell-raising fantasy, where the fate of mankind usually hangs in the balance.

So it's interesting that in Darksiders, Vigil Games' apocalyptic tale, humanity has been completely eliminated from the equation. The story reduces us to dust in the wind, smears on the feet of giant bloodthirsty demons or on the armor of the angels fighting them. In doing so, Vigil has cleared the way for an action quest of epic power and scale, the kind of experience that asks -- or takes -- a lot from anyone who plays it.

By April Carlson
Correspondent

In general, games that focus on T&A aren't very good. Far too often, when a game features a beautiful and sexy lead, the game is rife with bad controls, a terrible story and a female character who is might be better in bed than in combat. But Bayonetta is a game that breaks the mold and that generalization. It's an example of the use of sex in a game without the sacrifice in gameplay.

Bayonetta is the newest IP from SEGA and Platinum Games, directed by Hideki Kamiya, the man that brought us the Devil May Cry series. The game's hyperactive gameplay is also paired with gorgeous graphics and crazy storyline.

Army of Two surprised many players with its gritty take on PMCs and real-world conflict zones while annoying others with its two leads, the veteran Rios and his gung-ho partner, Salem, as they fist bumped and air guitar'ed their way through Somalia and the Middle East. For co-op warriors, however, its blend of team play and explosive action were enough to overlook the duo's burgeoning bromance.

40th Day picks up on the exploits of Army of Two's Rios and Salem, two mercs that find themselves in Shanghai thanks to what they think will be an easy payday. Unfortunately, when the city begins to explode all around them from a surprise attack led by other mercenaries, and the fact that they themselves may have contributed in some way to it, surviving to escape turns into the only reward worth seeking.

With EA's Dante's Inferno coming out, Random House has teamed up with the publisher to release a book to help capitalize on it's impending release. On one hand, I like the fact that the Divine Comedy is getting quite a bit of attention.

On the other, the book cover below is a little too edgy? I wonder how gamers will react when they realize that the book is the actual Longfellow translation of the Divine Comedy instead of a novelization of the game? Even though it says so on the cover, I still think there might be a few surprised souls out there that mistake it for an action packed yarn instead.

Choices in games open up avenues of possibilities for players, but how about a game that is made up of only choices? Choice of Games have put together their first online-title, Choice of a Dragon, that plays out like an old-school "Choose Your Own Adventure" or one of TSR's "Endless Quest" books. It's all played from the web, so no messy installations are needed here. It's also a lot of fun if you don't mind a game played by reading.

The game also keeps track of the consequences of your choices with some nice stats that govern how you, as the dragon, develop over time. Are you a brutal dragon that charbroils foolish knights at a whim, or one that prefers to plot from within the shadows? It's completely up to you and depending on your strengths, certain decisions may or may not pan out as well as others.

Check it out here!

EA has revived a classic from the nineties for the Wii with the announcement that NBA Jam is coming out for it. Yes, THAT NBA Jam, the same one which came out in the arcades and consoles in '93. The arcade version was known for its four way co-op and pit two-on-two teams against each other with helicopter slam dunks, face planting fouls, and catching the players' basketball on fire if they were...on fire.

It even featured real NBA players, their mugs digitized and animated onscreen, and now that's coming to the Wii in some kind of form. The official website is up with polls asking who players want to see in the game, but I'll have to admit to being a little disappointed in not seeing anything for Mutant League Football. Maybe next time? For now, if you need a refresher course on what it might look like, you can catch footage of the original arcade version below.

The first trailer for the upcoming film (June 11th) is out in the wild and it's filled with plenty of crazy action. Former UFC fighter, Quinton Jackson, has stepped up to the plate with a mohawk as Mr. T's B.A. Baracus and he actually does look the part. But that's just another excuse for how possibly awesome this film could be. Liam Neeson as Hannibal? Sold.

Audio-Technica introduced several noise cancelling headphones during CES in Las Vegas. Announced today the ATH-ANC27 which utilizes the Audio-Technicas QuietPoint ANC technology which gives 85% noise reduction with suggested retail price of 119.95.

Press release after the jump

Kodak kicked it up notch with the Kodak PlaySport. A ruff and tumble video camera for outdoor adventures and backyard shenanigans.

Las Vegas, Nevada - Much anticipated Consumer Electronics Show kicked off today in Las Vegas, Nevada. Manufacturers showcase some of the hot items from 3D and LED HDTV's, eReaders and Slate computers to automation for your home. Sensory overload as you find what you want or need it's here at CES.

Doug TenNapel is the brain behind a lot of creative works, but he's best recognized in the gaming space as the mind behind Earthworm Jim, a quirky character who was immortalized in a cartoon series, toys and most prominently an outstanding 1994 game from Shiny Entertainment that was available on the 16-bit Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo.

TenNapel is coming to the Inland Empire in Thursday at noon for a lecture at The Art Institute of California - Inland Empire in room 161 / 162. If you want to find out a little more about him, here's his Web site.

Ugh, yet another World War II game. That was the sentiment a lot of people had when The Saboteur first made its way into our gaming consciousness.

"That's what we thought when we first sat down to talk about it," said Tom French, the game's lead developer. "Do we REALLY want another World War II game?"

It's not that killin' Nazis got old -- it's that we kept essentially killing them the same way. Storm the beaches. Blow up a bunker. Disable enemy armor. Pause for dramatic music that makes you think of Saving Private Ryan. All in first-person.

Even the attempts to infuse WWII with traces of the occult or scientific fantasy (like Wolfenstein) generally boiled down to picking up weapons and shooting a lot of Nazis (some demonic, some not) through the eyes of the hero. Like any good soldier, you were asked to steadily march forward, engage the enemy and persevere.

Enter The Saboteur, a sandbox of historical fantasy that functions as the fun and slightly cantankerous antithesis of any other WWII game I've run into. Featuring pieces of some Assassin's Creed and the wildly diverse nature of the GTA games, we finally got a different way to tell a war story.