Recently in Trailer Category

Ubisoft's Ghost Recon Future Soldier is only a little more than a week away and to celebrate the series' impending return, they've put together a small prequel movie called Ghost Recon Alpha.

It crams more story in the twenty minutes it runs (25 if you count the credits) than some shooters do and it does get bloody, so be warned. This goes to the mat with bad guys and bullets.

Ghost Recon Future Soldier releases on the PS3 and the Xbox 360 on May 22nd. PC is getting its own copy June 12th.

As an objective writer, I have to say one thing about the new trailer for "Call of Duty: Black Ops 2":

It looks pretty amazing.



The trailer appears to show, among other things, future special forces operatives fighting drones in Los Angeles. It's very Terminator-esque, and a nice break from the "Kill Russians!" theme of we've seen in recent video games that seem to have been made by people who don't realize the Cold War ended more than two decades ago. (I'm looking at you, "Bad Company," "Ace Combat: Assault Horizon" and well, "Call of Duty.")

Being someone who plays games for their single-player than multi-player modes, I haven't really been excited about a Call of Duty game since the series was still set in World War II and I played Call of Duty 2's demo at the Circuit City in Newport Beach. I thought that game, as well as original "Call of Duty and its "United Offensive" expansion pack for the PC did a great job of allowing players to imagine the chaos of a World War 2 battle from American, British and Russian perspectives.

I have yet to even get around to playing "Call of Duty 3" or "World at War. Regarding the games set in the modern era, I think "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" deserves much of its praise whereas the storyline for "Modern Warfare 2" didn't make any sense to me and Black Ops was OK, except I thought the twist at the end was pretty ridiculous. I'll probably eventually find time to try "Modern Warfare 3"

I know judging recent Call of Duty games for single-player is kind of missing the point, but I don't have enough time to play multi-player to compete with all the players who take it seriously.

I'm sure Black Ops 2 will continue to emphasize multiplayer, since that's what the games biggest fans like most. But giving the game a drastically different setting from its predecessors should allow some opportunities for gameplay innovations and wild new weapons. The futuristic setting should give the developers an incentive to be creative, as opposed to "realistic," and I'm all for it.

The new trailer for the long-awaited "Kid Icarus: Uprising" shows what could be a very fun game that lets players fight a bunch of monsters while somehow manages to include at least one robot-like device in a world that's inspired by Greek mythology.

It also features some of the cheesiest writing in gaming history. At first I wondered if the writing was just bad, then I realized it was intentionally bad.

Or maybe this is just Nintendo's way of tying to convince people to stop asking for voice acting in Zelda games.

Here are just a few lines:

• "I don't want to be an eggplant again."
• "If he deep fries you, keep your distance. One bite, and you'll be finished."
• "It was bad enough when the dark forces were contained in the underworld."
• "Get ready for a display of raw angel power."
  

(H/t Kotaku)

This is a couple days old, but I didn't get a chance to post BioWare's new Mass Effect 3 trailer until now.

This is the first trailer from the Mass Effect trilogy to feature a female Commander Shepherd, commonly known "Femshep" among many of the same fans who call the male version of the game's protagonist "Broshep." Anyone who has played Mass Effect or Mass Effect 2 know that the game allows players to build a custom male or female character. Anyone who has not played a Mass Effect game should check them out, since the franchise is this writer's favorite series to debut during the current console generation.

"Femshep" is voiced by Jennifer Hale, who is widely regarded as one of the premier voice actresses in video games. Watch her and her allies blow stuff up in space in the new trailer:

There was a time, known as the 1990s and early 2000s, when actual competition existed between the producers of sports games.

Players who wanted a football game could choose between the Madden, NFL 2K and NFL Quarterback Club. Players who had a Sony console could choose NFL Gameday, at least until that series vanished from gaming in 2005.

Of course, NFL 2K and NFL Quarterback Club series are also relics of an earlier time. EA Sports enjoys an exclusive NFL license, and thus are the only publisher to make an NFL video game.

It's a similar story for basketball and hockey. 2K Sports' outstanding NBA 2K series has emerged as the (for now) unchallenged king of NBA simulations, and EA Sports is the only publisher making an NHL game.

Baseball is a little bit different. Sony Computer Entertainment's MLB: The Show franchise enjoys wide acclaim, but is exclusive to Sony consoles. 2K Sports gets to publish their MLB 2K series for all consoles, but their game has yet to earn the same kind of admiration as The Show.

 Personally, I consider MLB 2K11 to be a "B+" game. I've actually been playing it quite a bit lately and have been having fun, but every now and then I will see a player animation that just does not make sense. It's not a bad game by any means, but my heart will always belong to MVP Baseball 2005.

That said, it's almost time for new baseball titles, and here are the trailers for MLB 12: The Show and MLB 2K12. If you have a PlayStation 3 and want to play video baseball, you actually have a choice between the two titles.

MLB 12: The Show

  MLB 2K12

Electronic Arts and Bioware revealed Saturday that Command & Conquer Generals 2 will be released for the PC in 2013.

Strategy game fans may remember the first Generals game, which was released in 2003. The game let players control the military forces of the United States and China as well as the "Global Liberation Army." Given that the GLA was obviously an analog for al Qaida, I remember being kind of surprised that there was not more controversy surrounding that release.

Here's a bit from from EA's announcement of the new game:

In Command & Conquer Generals 2, world leaders are mere seconds away from signing a peace treaty and bringing an end to a global war when a devastating terrorist attack rips through the conference, killing everyone in attendance, leaving only the world's military superpowers in control. It's up to you to assume their roles, take command of their forces and conquer global terrorism once and for all. Players will take control of three unique factions in a thrilling single-player campaign, and with friends online in cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes.

And here's the short trailer:

Nintendo released a couple new videos today showing Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword hero Link in action in the game's Lanayru Desert and Lanayru mining facilities.

First impressions: The footage showing how the game will employ motion controls while Link rides a mine cart Indiana Jones-style was an interesting surprise. The sequences showing Link using a leaf-blower like device as weapon were another surprise.

The presence of a Gohma-like boss was not a surprise, however, since a version of the giant arachnid has appeared in many Zelda titles.

Here is the first clip, the second is after the jump:


Skyward Sword is scheduled to be released Nov. 20 for Nintendo Wii.