Reviews and Development

Hello, today just writing about what Bossvg will be contributing to the gaming community. We have decided to go into strictly reviewing games and developing video game software. We are currently changing the infrastructure of the group and the targeted goals.

We still furthermore plan to bring back our media section in due time. This will include the improvement of equipment and better practiced techniques. As for changes to the posting on the blog we will be covering communities of games that we are in to. *cough* league of legends.

As always thank you for your continued support!

The truth about tribunal.

For all of you league of legends fans I decided to take up arms and be active in this community. The recent launch of the Tribunal system seems to me worse than the Salem witch trials. Instead of harassing innocent women who just ate to much moldy bread the fire is turned into a new direction. The trolls.

This is nothing other than all out war on trolls. Now why am I defending trolls? Just like the Salem Witch Trials not all the people brought into the tribunal is a pagan. The system is horribly flawed in my opinion, because of one big reason. There is no details proving or disproving that this player should be punished.

When making a decision to cut off someone else's enjoyment time, I would hope it would be backed by fact. Just imagine if you went to a bar. You sit down at the bar and have your first pint. The guy next to you says "That beer is a sissy beer". That's your favorite type of beer so you say "fuck off".

Is it your fault for defending yourself or the guy next to you? Now with no rules or laws posted on this bar, the bartender now says. "You said fuck. Now we must deliberate with everyone who loves beer to see if you can have another". When the bartender gives the information to his council he offers them a free beer every time they take part in their civil action. You get no defense and no rebuttal, just objective judgement.

Now you may be asking. "Your talking so much shit how would you fix it?". I would release details of what the average per week report is. I would define the summoners code to be more clear than just the golden rules of society we use in the virtual world. If Riot doesn't like vulgarity they should say so in the summoners code. I would be happy even with a 'Vulgarity and disrespect to your team members and opposing players is prohibited'. It's not vague and give speech vulgarity to those who naturally have it in their vocabulary. I would also prefer more detailed reports on the persons death and kill log. Because believe it or not, people on the Internet are for the most part dumb. Knowing the truth behind out right harassment and frustration with a lesser skilled player is important.

These changes, are some of the things I hope to see in the tribunal in the future. Like most people, I'm skeptical of new regime changes but understand the good that could come out of it.

Where brink failed?

I'm not going to lie. I was super impressed by the brink franchise pre-launch. I ate up into their stories of class play with objectives and different shooter archetypes. I ate up into the lame story and even into the free running.

But what made this game so ever lack luster? The game itself. Instead of going on a rant about how the game had the worst optimization ever or even the game play felt sub-par to team fortress 2, which was released almost 5 years earlier. I will be working on a BossVG review of this game and will have it posted on YouTube soon.

In all fairness to Bethesda games and their long history of glitches, they have been trying to make major patches to the game to help it's well being. Brink is in the top 4 sales on the major platform of the pc, steam. To be honest I wish I could really return my game and get The Witcher 2.

Valve will attend E3 empty handed.

Don't expect to see any type of Half Life related content at this years E3.

According to Destructoid, Valve sent out an email to all press sites, stating that they have no games to display at the expo.

What the fuck is up with that? Can we get some type of news on Half Life Episode 3 at least? I wanna fucking know what happens to Gordon and Alex already.

Troll attempt? What do you think?

Expect Tiger Uppercuts in SF X Tekken

Do I really have to say anything?

As you can see, Sagat is obviously confirmed for the upcoming fighter, Street Fighter X Tekken.

Splendid.

Now all we need is confirmation of Bruce! Muay Thai Team FTW!!

The Witcher 2 Betwitches DLC

For those unfamiliar with the Witcher, it was a vast PC RPG developed by CD Projekt that was released a few years back.

Well, the game's sequel releases tomorrow (May 17). On the eve of the release, via the developer Q&A that Gamestop posted on Facebook, one of the developers announced that all DLC for the Witcher 2 will be free, and added "If anything will be for purchase, those will be expansion packs." This, of course, is extended to the day-one DLC that is releasing, titled "Troll Trouble."

So there you have it, one more reason to pick this game up. If you like open world fantasy games with lots of boobs (yes, there is nudity from what I've heard) then get your game on tomorrow.



Though most of you will probably be playing LA Noir... :D

Duke's Big Demo

Another video in which Randy Pitchford comes out and talks about DNF, and they play on the bad news bit from their previous video (where they delayed it until June 14).

In other news: I'm still angry that we get it 4 days later than the rest of the world! *RAAAAAAAGE*

But whatever. I'm getting the PC Balls of Steel Edition...as if there is any other edition...(there actually are, but if you consider yourself a gamer there's only one real edition to get).

Still looking forward to DNF to come out June 14, 2011!

Mortal Kombat 9 National Tournament Live Stream!

Today is the first day of the National Mortal Kombat 9 National Tournament, hosted by PDP at Bally's Hotels and Casino in Las Vegas.

Team Spooky is providing a live stream for you viewing pleasure for both days of the event. The link to the stream is provided below. 

You can expect some high level MK9 action at this event. With $10,000 up for grabs for 1st place, there better be! Competitors from all over are expected to be there, including Justin Wong, a well known competitor in various fighters such as, Super Street Fighter 4 and Marvel vs Capcom 3.

http://justin.tv/teamsp00ky

Lineage only has two months left to live.

Lineage, an MMORPG I never played or cared for, is being shut down after a decade on June 29th.

Developer NCSoft said that the game is "no longer financially viable in the west". There is a little bit of good news though, for those of you who happen to be affected emotionally by this.

For the next two months, all existing accounts get to play for free and the developers have "lots of great events" planned, up until the closing of its NA servers. Additionally, long time Lineage players will receive some type of "Player Appreciation Awards" which allows them to try some other NCSoft titles for free. Such as Aion and Lineage II.

Mortal Kombat Kollection announced for PSN and XBLA

The time has Kome! Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2 and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 will be available this late summer in a complete package.

For just $9.99 or 800 MS points, Other Ocean and NetherRealm Studios plan to bring you all the classic bloody action with some online play, leaderboards and hopefully some type of lobby.

I honestly think Warner Bros. picked a good time to announce this. With the success of the recently released Mortal Kombat 9, I am sure fans of the franchise will flock to this download when it becomes available.

Brink Movin On Up!

Anyone who's been paying attention to BossVG (and BossTalk) for a while now might notice that we're all very excited for Brink.

Thankfully, we won't have to wait much longer for Brink. Originally scheduled for a late-May release, they moved the release date up to May 10th for US, 13 for EU/AU:



I have to say, I'm extremely excited for this game myself, as it looks like it takes a queue from Mirror's Edge and gives you high mobility, but then adds in the FPS gameplay everyone knows and loves.

And just in case you haven't seen the trailer yet:

Arrival Mass Effect DLC review

New team member Ryan the 'Hood' reviews the newest Mass Effect 2 DLC.

Dragon Age 2

Check out the video review done by Foe @ bossvg!

Warhammer 40k Dev Diary #1

Relic (via Machinema) posted their first dev diary for Warhammer 40k Space Marine. I know a few people who are in to Warhammer, even if I am not personally, but I have to say that this game looks like a lot of fun. It appears (from the footage I've seen) to be a faster-paced Gears of War type of game.


In their first Dev Diary, Relic/THQ talk a little bit about the story for the game, as well as the setting and characters, which is definitely informative for those who don't know much about the WH40k universe.

The main (new) piece of information I took away from this was that it is set to be released August 2011, though I'm not sure whether or not that had been announced at an earlier time.

Now, where's our 40K MMO?

(Big kudos to Rob Westwood (@robdesignguy) lead UI developer on Space Marine for the tip via twitter!)

Mass Effect...Animated?

Anyone who reads this site or pays attention to my random ramblings knows I'm a huge Mass Effect fan. It's even gone so far that I've ranked it #3 on my top 10 games of ALL TIME (Mass Effect 2, ME1 had some fatal flaws).

Considering that the game has spawned numerous novels and comic books, it should surprise nobody that it's spawning an Anime. According to numerous sources (Anime News Network in particular for this quote),


"BioWare, a video game division of Electronic Arts, announced on Thursday that the North American distributor Funimation and the Japanese studio T.O. Entertainment agreed to produce an "anime feature film" based on BioWare's Mass Effect science-fiction role-playing game (RPG) franchise."

Furthermore, it seems as if this is targeted to be released in Summer 2012, "via digital distribution means. It's yet to be announced if this will actually be the story of Shepard, as I think Bioware wants to leave the things within the game to the game series, but at the same time I would kind of want to see an anime version of my space-adventures.



(Source: Anime News Network)

L.A Noire Official Trailer #3

If you have not been keeping up with Rockstar's L.A Noire, then you are in for a goodie. Rockstar just posted a third new trailer via twitter for the open-world detective simulator.

http://www.rockstargames.com/newswire/article/15101/watch-the-allnew-la-noire-official-trailer-3.html

Be sure to watch the first two trailers and other videos if you haven't already.

First Trailer

Second Trailer

The Technology Behind Performance - This is really cool, I highly suggest viewing this.

Super Street Fighter 4 AE DLC Revealed!

A trailer announcing that Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition will be DLC and not disc based was revealed by an anonymous source, according to ConsoleTech.

So be ready to get your hands on the 4 new DLC characters; Yun and Yang from Street Fighter III: Third Strike, Evil Ryu and the pretty looking Oni Akuma. Also introduced were some new features, as well as a balance patch.

Keep on the lookout in the near future for a release date and price.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=CA&v=mwTr6n-orcc&hl=en-GB&client=mv-google

Edge on Max Payne 3

Edge magazine has a cover feature on Rockstar's anti-hero.

Max Payne 3 is set to take place in São Paulo, eight years after the fall.

Payne will still be popping pills to recover his health, instead of having some type of Final Fantasy auto regeneration type spell cast on him at all times like we see in some of the shooters of today.

The comic panels from the first two iterations will return, now they will be integrated into the in-game engine. "We've put a lot of work into evolving the graphic-novel aesthetic that was used in Max Payne and Max Payne 2," says Rob Nelson, art director of Rockstar Studios. We're still working on it, but we're honing in on a motion comic book approach, because it retains part of the style and the drama of the original scenes, yet fits with the pace of Max Payne 3.

Max can now only hold three weapons at once, using the wheel type weapon selection we saw in Red Dead Redemption. Single handed weapons can be dual wielded, with the ability to mix and match. So if you wanna spray the thug hiding behind a crate with a Uzi while simultaneously squeezing your Deagle at the guy trying to take your head off with a shotgun, you can!

The slow mo phenomenon - bullet time is charged by kills and will look more fluid than ever with the help of the Euphoria engine.

A cover system has been added, allowing Payne to duck behind objects and blind fire.
James McCafferty not only returns as the voice of Max but as a full acting role. The development team decided on full performance capture via mo-cap sessions.

Online Multiplayer is confirmed. Not much detail was given though :(

All in all, from what I have read, this game is unlikely to disappoint the avid shooter fan.
Still with no release date, expect to see some more juicy details or maybe even some game play footage very soon.

Ninja Gaiden 3 Multiplayer!

According to GameThirst:

The latest issue of PlayStation: Official Magazine had some Ninja Gaiden 3 treats to share with the world.

One of them being a "complex multiplayer mode", this could only mean two of things. One: a UNIQUE competitive ninja third person hack n slash, that has a ton of depth, will have interesting features and solid game play, that will glue whoever plays it to their freaking couch. Or two: a complete piece of sh*t! :) It actually also could mean another co-op type deal, like they did with their previous title. I am hoping for the bad ass ninja competitive multiplayer.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

Capcom has announced Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City!



The title of the game itself brought a feeling of nostalgia: Raccoon City is where all of the devouring of human flesh was established, so why not go back as a team? RE:ORC is a third-person team based shooter that takes players back to the good ol' days of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 from the perspective of the Umbrella Security Forces.

A super special awesome team of men and women, sent to clean up the mess that their shitty employer caused in the first place. This includes eradicating any evidence of the T-Virus outbreak and killing ALL survivors! :) SOMEHOW the U.S government catches wind of this and dispatches their own team to ruin the fun and expose Umbrella for the pandemonium inflicted on Raccoon citizens.

Truly a dream come true.

So not only will I have the opportunity to kill the zombies and Bio-Organic Weapons that I grew up reluctantly facing cause they scared the shit out of me. But I get to enact my revenge while dealing with another squad trying to sabotage my mission?  Beautiful.

I am loving Capcom's new direction. With the help of Slant Six Games (former producer of SOCOM), I am sure we can expect something a little unique. Just thinking about this madness gets me all giddy inside. There are already mentions of Leon Kennedy being a target as well. I can kill Leon. Do you know what this means? We will have the ability to change the course of Resident Evil history. Leon never even gets the chance to reach the police station. Your outfit of deadly Umbrella super secret special awesome soldiers (Friends sitting around a 58 inch HD LED 3D Ultra Dimensional Television) put a slug through his dome piece when he walked out the gun shop.

Co-op, multiplayer, online. Stickskills.com has a post on RE:ORC with a ton of details, including; character details, game play features ,release, multiplayer elements and other miscellaneous info.
It's safe to say we have quite a plethora of information already. If you really need to know more to buy this game, you can pick up a copy of the May 2011 issue of the Official Xbox Magazine when it hits your nearby friendly neighborhood gas station.



A freaking teaser? Win.



So what do you guys think? Do we have a goodie?

Duke Nukem Forever...Delayed...AGAIN?!

So...


...

Yeah.


Um...

I don't even really know how to react to this.

I think a WTF works fine. Yeah? Yeah.


So Duke has been delayed again. I've waited so long for the game, an extra month doesn't really bother me so much. But you know what does? The fact that the International version is coming out 4 days before the US version. I mean, WTF Gearbox/2K Games? Duke is an American hero. It's shit like this that causes people to pirate games.

Cue flames from both sides of the wall.

Anyways, Duke being the American hero, and us not getting our hands on it first? It's some real bullshit.



But...what if...this is an April Fool's joke? That's my last shred of hope.



Also, sorry that we haven't updated much recently. We do owe a few videos to our YouTube channel, and we have some things from GDC to post. We've just kinda been in a post-GDC stupor. We'll be updating soon (read: hopefully this week!)!

Unless that gets pushed back to June too. *grumble*

Summer Wars

I'm sorry I have no pictures at this time, I'm kinda bootleg posting this from my phone at the moment (computer is awaiting it's graphics card to come back from the "shop") and I wanted to get this review up pronto, while the film is still fresh in my mind.

"But George!" you may be saying, "This is a site for game news/reviews! Surely you can't deviate!"

Well you're wrong, and I will. Mostly when I post it's something that draws me strong enough that it inspires me to put keystrokes to a pseudo-word processor and write, and this is definitely no exception.

Before I launch completely into this, be forewarned. This is an anime, but I believe it stands up to any modern live-action movie made in any of the recent years. As far as animated features, this movie stirred me more than Toy Story 3, but more on that in a minute.

Where to start...I guess with a synopsis.

The movie takes place during what is either intended as an alternate version of the present, or a relatively close future. The Internet (and computer technology) is so important and integrated into everything that there is a whole virtual world dedicated to hosting a few billion user accounts worldwide. This world handles everything from phone calls and text messages, to online gaming, it even handles online transactions. It's a mainframe built on top of the original internet, that utilizes it much like an MMO does, and it's security is supposedly unbreakable.

As the movie starts, a teen girl offers a teen boy a summer job. She says it will be simple, and after a little convicing he agrees to go along with it, without even knowing what he's in for. She asks him to come with her for her grandmother's 90th birthday celebration. When they arrive she introduces him as her fiancée, which--of course--he plays along with despite much protesting. On the first night of his stay, he receives an email with nothing but numbers. He's a math whiz, so he stays up the whole night and cracks the code. What he doesn't realize is that he starts a chain of events that endanger the very world.

To avoid spoiling any more (basically the first 15 minutes of the movie, which I believe are included in the actual description of the movie), I'll cut right down to it. This movie is amazing. Whether or not you like anime, this is something that anyone can enjoy. I know for a fact that it won at least one Sundance award.

With Internet culture the way it is today, with everyone being plugged in via cellphones and computers, the movie is very easy to identify with. The message that it sends about the Internet culture is shockingly chilling as well, yet it doesn't smash you over the head with it a dozen times; it merely whispers the message every so often, to the point where you barely grasp it.

But this film isn't only about the internet. It also features family as a strong centralized theme throughout the movie. The main family that is introduced is full of quirky characters, all of which help to tie the story together closer.
The movie reminds me a lot of the game/anime series .hack//, which is probably why it resonates so much with me, that being a game series that I obsessed over for a bit. It uses elements such as the Internet going so haywire that it wrecks society, even for a little bit of time. It--very chillingly might I add again--cautions us on our dependence on the web.

I'm going to go one step further and reveal something that will make me hand over my Man Card to the authorities. This movie is one of the very few movies that has ever made me cry. The last one was Toy Story 3, and I can't really remember any prior to that. I'm the type of person who forced himself not to cry during his grandmother's funeral, and would rather do almost anything other than admit that I cried. This movie was so powerful near the end that I literally couldn't hold anything in. My eyes started stinging, and then it was game over.

But you know what? I don't take that as a sign of weakness. Rather, I see this as the movie being so powerful that it actually broke a boundary that normally isn't crossed. Now--I'm easy to entertain, just not to emotionally engage. This movie did both for me, and for that I'm grateful.

The animation style was great. It switched between what I believe is traditional animated style (with very limited computer assistance) to full CG/Cel-shaded 2.5/3D models and environments. The blending of both work extremely well with the two separate worlds that are in coexistence in the movie. On top of looking nice in the "Game world" of "Oz", the "real world" looks stunning. I haven't seen such attention to detail since the last Hayo Miyazaki movie I saw (Ponyo, for the record).

I'll repeat it again: if you're a gamer--no, ANYONE who uses the internet--NO, anyone who can appreciate a good movie, I recommend watching Summer Wars. I'd imagine it's especially a great movie to pull out on movie night with the significant other, as there's a dash of romance thrown in as well (and drama, I hear chicks dig drama).

I will actually be purchasing this ASAP when I wake up tomorrow, and I recommend you do the same.

On the "Casualfication" of PC Gaming

Whether or not this picture is appropriate for the post is debatable, all I can say is COMPUTER! ATTACK FORMATION ALPHA!!!

As with most things that go on the internet, I have to counteract most of the potential questions/comments out of the gate. I'm an amateur game journalist here at bossvg.com. I haven't gone to school for journalism, but in the year that I've started collaborating on this site, I've become far more in-tune with the gaming industry than I was prior to it, whereas I was just completely immersed in gaming culture, but still on the outside of the industry. I grew up on a healthy mix of NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis, and have continually owned/played just about every console that has been around (still haven't physically played a Jaguar...).

When I was growing up, I wasn't as big on computer gaming as I was on consoles. I worked with the resources that I had available, and at the time, a high-end computer was simply something I didn't have access to. One of the earliest PC games I can remember playing was King's Quest IV, though I played Duke Nukem, and a little bit of Half-Life. Most of my time during those days was spent playing games on the SNES/Genesis, and later my N64.

But in the last 7 years, I've been steadily on top of PC gaming. I was converted by a mixture of Battlefield 2 and Half-Life 2, and WoW only helped it along. Since then, I've pooled my resources, kept an impressive custom gaming rig (if I do say so myself), yet still paid homage to my console roots.

But at the same time, I've grown into the PC market, being a tech-minded individual.


Whew, that's a decent chunk out of the way.


After reading the article that Brian Crecente posted today (on Kotaku) about how he didn't want to be a part of the new PC gaming world, I first misunderstood his claim. So much of the gaming press over the past year and a half consists of the claim that PC gaming is biting the dust. Then, us PC gamers argue back "Look at Steam!" and it's a never-ending cycle.

As I was preparing to write this, I went back and carefully read it again. I walked away from it with a different understanding. I understand now that it was more of a lamentation of his favorite developers from the years past making the move to less "ambitious" titles.

Everybody's waiting with baited breath at the bedside of PC gaming, pacing back and forth waiting for the telltale signs that PC gaming is going the way of the Atari. Every time a console gets a game demo first, or a former developer from some legendary game leaves to pursue other opportunities, people start calling the mortician.

PC gaming has mutated, and there's a very good reason why nobody should be alarmed. Computers are everywhere. Right? Right.

Not to discredit (or disrespect) Mr. Romero (as I have a sea of respect and appreciation for him), but he hasn't quite released anything notable since 2005. As with most creative types, sometimes certain creative branches get tapped out and there may be the need to pursue a different format. Obviously he's found great success doing to social games what he did to First-person PC gaming with Doom.

That doesn't mean it's the destiny of the PC to become a casual POS. You can keep pointing at Farmville all you want, and I'll keep pointing at Starcraft, Crysis, Half-Life (Steam as a whole), and other games on the PC, and say: "Look, it's still alive and kicking" and I don't think it's ever going to go away.

The difference with gaming nowadays is that everything is shared across all platforms. There has been a loss of exclusivity in general. Before, consoles and computers had very little in common, aside from the fact that both ran on circuitboards, chipsets, and processors. This created an elitist class of computer gamers (I'd happily raise my hand and nod if someone accused me of being one), much like the increase in console gamers created an elitist class of hardcore console gamer (see previous parentheses).

The consoles have suddenly morphed into computers that are dedicated to gaming. The games that would be unheard of on household consoles during the 90's and early 2000's, but unique to PC's, have begun to reach a much broader audience thanks to the PS3 and 360.

To put it simply, consoles have caught up to the PC. In turn, society has also caught up to the PC. While there's still a distance between them and us, the gap is now much closer than it ever has been. PC's are now as common as cars. During the 80's/90's (and earlier), it took a lot more effort to be a computer person. I'm sure most people remember running DoS.

It just seems now that casual gaming is the new future of the PC (and possibly even consoles in general).

I'm struggling with an analogy to end this. I want to point at cars, but I don't (personally) know enough about cars to be able to coherently form the analogy.

I basically want to say that casual gaming is nothing to be alarmed about, it's merely a byproduct of the popularization of computers, and that Hardcore gaming (as a whole, both PC and console) is here to stay. So what if some of our favorite creators have jumped on the social bandwagon? If they're finding success, be happy for them, as they obviously are enjoying themselves.

It only leaves a space for a new generation to take up the mantle. I (for one) hope to some day be my generation's Warren Specter, Shigeru Miyamoto, or Will Wright. Am I claiming that I will? No. Hell no, that would be as good as committing internet suicide.

But it all starts with a hope, a dream and the willpower to get there. Only time will tell.

And casual gaming is only another face on the Wheel of Gaming, one that will be around as long as entertainment is.

Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights

So today Konami announced a new title in their 3DS launch. Normally this wouldn't exactly be that remarkable, except for the fact that it's a direct ripoff of the Professor Layton series of games made by Level-5. The facts about it are as follows:

-Doctor Lautrec is a French Archaeologist
-Has a young (female) assistant named Sophie
-Setting is 19th Century Paris
-Will be a Puzzle game
-Doctor Lautrec is shown in several pictures (including the above) with a large hat (similar to Layton's) and overcoat (which is Layton's signature appearance).

That alone really isn't that much of a ripoff, though fans of the Layton series are probably already up in arms about this.

Here's a picture of Layton and his apprentice for reference:



Professor Layton facts:
-English Archaeology Professor
-Lives in contemporary London (Although the world that is crafted usually feels closer to 20th century London)
-Has a young (male) apprentice
-Puzzle Game

And as you can see from the picture, he's sporting a nice hat and overcoat, sporting an orange shirt underneath, though is sometimes pictured with a red vest.

In my opinion, it's similar to what Capcom did to Twisted Pixel games with MaxSplosion for the iPhone. Except Level-5 is a big enough company that they can actually do something about it.

Personally, I don't think I'll be buying this game when it releases. It's a complete rip off of Level-5's design, and Konami should be punished for it.

Expect it out this Summer. No word yet on when the next two Professor Layton games (and Prof. Layton vs. Phoenix Wright) will be released.

Dead Island Trailer

It's not often that a zombie trailer evokes any emotion other than "God, not another zombie game," but Dead Island is the rare exception. It's a very melancholic trailer played in reverse of the events that actually happen in the story. Not much is shown from the sad trailer, but from previous trailers that have been released, it will be a first-person survival-horror game in which you can only use melee weapons. Looks neat, and the story looks pretty interesting as well. I can't wait to get my hands on it, despite how over-saturated the zombie market is these days.

Other game devs take note: Make a sad trailer, pique many gamers' interest.

UPDATE: After reading the following article over at IGN, there is quite a bit more to the game than just "Zombie-styled survival-horror with melee combat" Apparently there are VERY few guns that exist, and all of the weapons degrade over time.



Based on this video, there's a lot of in-depth model deformation that will be able to take place as you hack-and-slash zombies. The game is slated for "Sometime in 2011" for the usual trio of devices (PC/360/PS3). Also, there is supposed to be an RPG system where your character gets stronger as you progress through the game, which is an interesting system that is (as of yet) unimplemented in a serious Survival-horror game (Dead Rising is campy/comedic more than serious) As a fan of games like Silent Hill 2, I'm definitely looking forward to this new title in the genre.

Dead Island is being developed in collaboration by Techland and Deepsilver Games.

Red Faction Guerilla

I've bought every Red Faction game since they made the first one for the computer in 2001. What can I say? The game has mined itself into my heart. No pun intended. This THQ franchise has had its ups and downs but Red Faction: Guerrilla was a fresh new start. The game brought me countless hours of destruction, but lacked on story and re-playability. The multiplayer was fun but yet very lack-luster, but to my surprise seemed to have a MLG (Major League Gaming) map list. Yet through all of that - I still managed to complete the story and all of its side missions.(Which became like pulling teeth after the 70th one.)

With their new game Red Faction: Armageddon, they promise to wield a new immersible story and more 'think shooter' game play. Regardless of the cosmic internet nay, it will find itself included my very prejudiced Xbox game collection. I'm just fucking happy the character doesn't look like Nico Bellic.

LA Noir Gameplay!!!!!!

LA Noire has been a very interesting game to me. It's actually a game that I haven't quite wanted to get excited for, yet have been the whole time. It's a Rockstar game, which is a good thing, but at the same time my personal gaming tastes dictate that I probably will not.

I think I've said this before, but I have never really enjoyed a Rockstar game for more than an hour. It all goes back to how I don't like games that are too open world, and that I end up shelving the game due to my odd obsession with beating the rest of the games I have. It ends up feeling like I don't have enough time to spend on it vs. the other games, and then it just starts collecting dust. The most recent examples of this are Fallout: New Vegas and Red Dead Redemption.


LA Noire will more than likely turn out the same way for me, or maybe my inner-fanboy sleuth will override that general boredom I experience with Rockstar games.

Again, I know they're great games. I KNOW. But at the same time it boils down to what type of games entertain me, as well as the ones I have time for.

Then again, the time argument is coming from someone who played Mass Effect 2 through twice, the second time after beating Mass Effect 1, having all DLC, and doing all side-missions...


Either way, With the trailer above, I finally know what the gameplay is going to be like for LA Noire. It definitely looks like it's going to change up the formula of Rockstar games. While it looks like it's a very organic world, with very interesting mechanics not only for combat, but for dialog as well. The interrogation system by itself has me interested, as you have to pay attention to gestures that the people you're interrogating make as well.



Look for LA Noire come May.

Guitar Hero Gets the Axe

Today was a day that should have been unremarkable. Activision had its usual conference call with investors to let them know how the company is doing, showing upcoming prospects within the company (usually the source of leaks for new games). Unfortunately, it seems like today was the day yet another studio was laid off.

Freestyle Games--the in-house team behind DJ Hero--has supposedly been gutted, according to an article by Eurogamer. In addition, Activision has "restructured" (fancy word for either laid off/disbanding a studio and redistributing its workers) the in-house Guitar Hero teams, canceling the 2011 Guitar Hero game in the process.

The official quote:
"[D]ue to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing's Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011. The company also will stop development on True Crime: Hong Kong. These decisions are based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world's best interactive entertainment experiences."
-Activision

Not that I'm a huge fan of the Guitar Hero franchise, but I hope the developers affected by the lay-offs find new work soon.

Another game to get the axe is True Crime: Hong Kong, which looked to reclaim the glory that True Crime captured when it first appeared on the Xbox/PS2. It looked like a fairly ambitious title, and I was 'kinda' looking forward to it. The game was in collaboration with the studio behind the PS3 kart racing game ModNation Racers, United Front Games. No word on how they're being affected by the cancellation.

What I'm wondering at this point: How is Activision not completely absorbed by Blizzard at this point? It seems like Blizzard (and the money from the Call of Duty games) are what's keeping Activision afloat, but how long will CoD be able to prop Activision up?

Mark my words: Call of Duty is the next Guitar Hero.

Over-saturated and losing its touch; they need to go back to basics and try to recapture what MW did for the brand, instead of pumping out a game every year, with $15 map packs every three months.

Conduit 2, Hands-on

Man, the folks over at Sega know how to make a fun game. Despite my barometer that ranges between love and moderate dislike of their games, I can safely say this is going to be a game that Wii owners should be watching for.

Screenshot courtesy of Destructoid.

Most of the hands-on time I had was spent with the single player campaign. I'll admit I never played the original Conduit, but the game does a good job of explaining the events of the first game. Your character is in pursuit of an FBI agent responsible for an alien invasion, and the supposed (attempted) destruction of Washington DC.

The first level has you on an oil rig. It's raining, and the graphics engine handles the slick shining of the metal that's affected by rain pretty well. The particle effects of the rain are also impressive. Of course this is on the Wii, so it is limited by the Wii's hardware capabilities. Looking past the limitations of the system, the game feels good. The controls are 100% customizable, from the sensitivity of your cursor, to the area on the outside of the screen that makes you turn.

There were a few bugs, but the version we were playing was an earlier make of the game with the debugging tools left in. We were told most of the bugs were probably already squashed, but of course they took note of them to double check. It's impressive the lengths that Sega and High Voltage are going to to make sure that this game is one of the best Wii games ever.

The enemies are impressive, and act organically. I also kind of like how you can get into a fistfight with some of them, as they don't go down in one blow. My favorite weapon out of the game is one (the name escapes me at the moment) that you charge up, and when it's fully charged, you release the trigger to shoot an explosive beam at enemies. It explodes when it comes into contact with either walls or enemies. If it's a close miss, it'll chase enemies for a small bit. You can even turn the Wii-mote to change the orientation of the beam, allowing you to shoot around boxes. It's alternate fire turns it into a machine gun of non-charged bullets.

After beating the first level in single player, it was about time to play multiplayer. I'm still kicking myself over not having brought our camera. I would have, but I (wrongly) assumed that it would be an NDA event.

Multiplayer can either be played split-screen or online. Thankfully, there are lobbies and the game takes care of matchmaking. Also, throughout the (single player and multiplayer) game you earn achievements. It's in multiplayer that these achievements help you out, as the points earned via said achievements can be invested in weapons, perks, and new skins. Your personal avatar is highly customizable, and I ran with a Grey/Green color scheme. The perks are a standard affair, such as more armor, unlimited sprint, better melee. The game is really tongue-in-cheek with the descriptions. For example, the improved melee says "You know Kung-Fu" and the unlimited sprint (metal legs) says "The surgery is highly risky, but you think the chicks'll dig it".

The online worked well. There's no telling at this point how the actual server plays out, as we were all using a switch (think closed-network router) to connect and form a local network to play on. You always have vision of nearby enemies, as they show up on your radar as blips. This keeps you from getting that "Call of Duty" feeling of walking around a corner and instantly getting killed before you have any reaction time.

The game mode which I liked the most was "ASE Basketball." For those who never played the Conduit, the ASE is your disembodied alien orb companion. ASE Basketball is like Capture the Flag, except at the end you have to throw the ASE in your enemies' hoops.

The only thing that I hope is improved by the time the game launches (TBD, though Sega recently pushed it back to April) is that the spawn time is lessened. It takes a bit of time after you die until you can "Submit to the pain" and then even more time after you hit the button to respawn until you actually do.


I didn't get to spend too much time with the multiplayer, admittedly, as via some random button combination on my controller I unlocked debug mode. But I can give it my shining seal of approval that this Wii game will (and should be) a Day 1 Purchase, as long as the game doesn't change much from the way it was in the build we played (which it shouldn't).


Thanks again Sega! I had quite a bit of fun meeting the team behind the Conduit, and wouldn't mind at all coming back to see what you guys have in the works.

Arkham City will be five times bigger than Asylum

Most sequels tend to be bigger than their predecessors and its no different for Rocksteady's next Batman game. According to game director Sefton Hill, Arkham City will be about five times larger than the game world in the previous game.

“The footprint of Arkham City is about five times bigger than Arkham Island, but our primary intention was never to create a bigger game world just for the sake of it,” Hill told GameSpot.

He also goes on to talk about how even though the game will look and feel like an open world game, the next objective will always be clear so players won't become sidetracked. And that the game is not a sandbox.

“I wouldn't describe the game as ‘sandbox’ because a totally open and free-form game world would not allow us to create the kind of atmosphere that we wanted to,” Hill continued, “but we don't hold your hand either. Arkham City is its own place; a massive super prison, jam packed with supervillains, thugs, and psychopaths.”

Having just now finally played and beaten Asylum, I can't wait to get my hands on City. Rocksteady knows what they are doing with the Batman IP and this game will be legit.

Boss VG Review: Final Fantasy XIII

George reviews a game that came out a year ago. I hope you enjoy it.

SWTOR raid video? YES PLEASE!

I get excited for everything Bioware announces regarding SWTOR. They could announce that I will have to chop off my penis in order to play the game and I would still be excited.

But today they released a video showcasing the games dungeons and shit. The videos awesome but mostly because the character animation looks WAY WAY WAY better than it did in previous videos. It definitely looks like Bioware is taking their time and polishing this game up. Which is extremely reassuring.

Champions Online is Free to Play, If You Want

As Joe said two weeks ago, Champions Online now offers a "Free to Play" option, as of today. This F2P version differs from the paid version of the game in a variety of ways, as expected.

I was initially excited to log in and screw around on my old account for a couple of hours. (I never planned on coming back to the game, after all.) It was a fun game, at its core, but the lack of endgame at the time, the PvP imbalances, and the overwhelming amount of bugs were just too much. Anyway, I tried to convert one of my characters over to "silver" so that I could play him, but the servers were having issues and wouldn't complete the conversion. So, I figured I might as well make a new account. I did and was greeted by an Archetype selection page when I went to make my character. I guess one of the main limitations of the free to play version of the game is that you can't choose your powers.

There are eight Archetypes to choose from which determine the powers your character will gain as they level. In other words, you don't get to pick your powers, the game does it for you. That was enough for me to uninstall the game a second time.

Why would I want to play a superhero MMO if I don't get to choose my powers? It is the F2P version, but it feels like too much of a limitation. Whatever, not like I was really going to play the game.

L.A. Noire is looking Claaaaaassy

The trailer and release date for the upcoming open world crime game from new comer Team Bondi was released a few days ago and holy shit does it looks hot.

The only thing is that they have not shown us any of the gameplay, and for a game that's coming out in about four months that's fairly strange. I'm hoping this game does well but as of right now I am worried that it will be like 2003's The Getaway. Which was a beautiful game at the time especially compared to GTA III, but lacked in the gameplay department. This could very well happen again since Team Bondi is actually made up of ex Team Soho developers including the former Director of Development.

I guess we will have to wait and see. Honestly I am not to worried because I actually enjoyed The Getaway very much regardless of flaws.

L.A. Noir is being released on May 17th

TellTale might be working on a Walking Dead game

In mid-feburary Telltale is holding an event where they are going to announce five brand new multi-platform games. The invites sent out to the press say that one of the titles is "based on a just-launched property from the TV and comic book world whose popularity is changing life as some know it."

This has led many media outlets to jump to conclusions and speculate that its a Walking Dead game and it probably will. But as of right now nothing is set in stone.

This sounds awesome but I'm actually more excited by the fact that we might get a trailer for the Jurassic Park game or maybe the games release date at this event.

But either way its really cool to see such a small studio getting so many big IPs. Its a mind trip.

Duke Nukem Forever launches May 3rd

It's been announced today that Duke Nukem Forever will be launching on May 3rd!! Wooop Woop! Its hurting my head just thinking about how this game actually has a real release date, it doesnt seem real.

Here is a trailer to watch, full of censored boobs and pissing.

Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright

This is slightly old news, but I never really talked about this here. Capcom and Level 5 (the creators of Professor Layton) are teaming up to bring us the game shown in the trailer above.

Capcom has made some great "Versus" games over the course of their history, Marvel Vs Capcom being one of the most prolific and successful. Never before though had it crossed the minds of fans that Phoenix Wright would be crossing paths with Professor Layton.

Obvious questions that came to mind when I first watched this trailer (today is actually the day when I've watched the full trailer, I only saw the 15 second announcement trailer a while ago). The first of which was "WHEN DO I GET THIS OMG!!!!" After I calmed down and took my meds, I started asking the more logical questions. One game being a puzzle-driven story game, the other being a text-based problem-solving courtroom game, how exactly will this play out? So far, no gameplay has been discussed or shown off, but if the quality of the trailer is anything to judge this by, it's going to be GLORIOUS.

As one of the commenters on YouTube pointed out:

"[T]his shouldn't be a game, it should become an anime... that's how godly it is"

I have to tend to agree with them. I actually really like the US voice cast of both games, and I would go see this in the theater/buy the DVD (or Blu-ray) of this day 1. This trailer looks really exciting, and I wonder how they will play everything out. I hope the dialogue is mostly voice-casted, as it would be one of the first times we've actually gotten to hear Phoenix Wright talk beyond a sentence or two, or his famous "OBJECTION!!!!"

From the few whisperings I've heard about this game, it'll be coming out for the 3DS.


Yet another game I hope makes it to our shore. If it doesn't, I'll just have to learn Japanese (which will come in handy for my import of Catherine, which I'm about 80% sure won't ever see the light of day in America).

3DS Info!!!!!!

What happens when Snake makes sweet love on the 3DS.


Gamers everywhere have been holding their breath since E3 (which is why the casualty rate of gamers has been so high since then), watching and waiting for any word from Nintendo about the 3DS' information. All the while we've heard unofficial rumors via outlets like Gamestop pricing/dating things, and other sources spreading rumors as well. This morning, Nintendo held a press conference where they finally came clean about the 3DS, they released a ton of information, including (finally) the release date and pricing for North America.

Mark it on your calendars friends, and start saving now. The 3DS will be available March 27th for $249.99 (and in Europe on March 25th for the equivalent in their funny-symbol currency [pounds? Or are they still using Euros?]). (EDIT: They use Euros. - Jerv)

They released a lot of other info about the system, such as some of its software features:
Games:
- Pilotwings Resort (from the sound of it, I'm going to be extremely excited for it)
- Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS
- Dead or Alive Dimensions (Can you say 3DD? XD)
- Few other games from third party developers

Features:
-Activity log (If you've played a Wii you're familiar with this, it tells you how much of your sad life was spent playing a game for what time that day, except this also tracks your physical activity)
- Pedometer (for logging the steps you take, allows you to earn coins to unlock things in games)
- Mii Maker *
- AR (Alternate Reality) cards
- Friend code for playing games.

Before you start groaning about the friend code (one of the worst ideas Nintendo has ever had), they finally fixed the number 1 top complaint about the Wii friend codes. The friend code is now unique to your system, and doesn't change between games. Why they didn't just implement an ID system like every other game company so far, I couldn't tell you, but at least they fixed one of the biggest issues plaguing online gameplay.

The friend code can be transmitted a lot easier too. When two 3DS peeps are connected via wireless hotspot, code swapping is instant, no typing necessary. There's also a feature called "Street Pass" which allows units in sleep mode to exchange common game data (no word yet on what exactly) instantly. "SpotPass" will allow 3DS users to access the Internet (via Opera I'm guessing?) and recieve info via hotspots regardless of the game in the cart slot.


So what does everyone think about the 3DS info so far? I'm pretty excited. My birthday is the 12th, so I'm hoping I can goad all family members/friends into chipping in on the 3DS for me. Would be AWESOME.


The most common complaint is "$250? That's kinda steep..." Keep in mind that the original PSP was $226, and although the console didn't do nearly as well as the DS, it sold nonetheless. That was about 7 years ago, and factoring in inflation and other world-events, we are lucky Nintendo didn't price at $300, which they COULD HAVE gotten away with, and still had the 3DS be extremely successful.

No word yet on what the games will be priced at, although Gamestop is listing at $40, which makes sense (every generation goes up by about $10, except from GBA->DS)

I'll either be updating this post later, or making another post with some of the videos from the press conference.

Deus Ex 3 will be 25 hours long

Nobody likes getting their hands on a great game just to have it end in 10 hours. So its great that Edios is coming out and saying that Deus Ex: Human Revolution will take over 25 hours to complete.

The games producer David Anfossi has stated that the game can now be played to completion and that none of their testers could reach the end within the six days they had to play it.

He also noted that he is pleased with how players are realizing the depth of strategy in the game.

"The ones that are more casual gamers, who are used to more 'corridor, cut-scene, corridor, cut-scene' type of gameplay - they play it that way for a while. Then suddenly, there's this new world that opens to them, and they start getting a bit more creative."

Deus Ex III is my most anticipated game of this year so this is excellent news. And its safe to say that if the game is good enough I will play the game multiple times and spend way over 25 hours on it.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Trailer

Final Fantasy XIII was a game that people loved to hate, even I thought it was really mediocre. They worked to hard trying to impress people with their games engine that Square Enix forgot about everything else that made the Final Fantasy series great.

Earlier this week there was a rumor about a direct sequel to the game. but I didn't care to post anything about it because XIII licked balls and the last direct sequel to a Final Fantasy game did as well.

But square Enix released this Trailer today. And while I'm still not excited I cant help but think that maybe this time around the story and characters will be better since they shouldent have to worry about graphics anymore.

Taskmaster and Akuma Confirmed!

So fighting fans have been baiting their breath for every little release for MVC3, from characters to costumes. This week, a Japanese retailer "leaked" Akuma as a character in one of their ads for the game.

Today, not only did Capcom confirm Akuma (video below), but they released that Marvel's Taskmaster (video above) would be in the game as well.



Fighting fans should be familiar with Akuma by now, he's kind of the evil, stronger version of Ryu (not to be confused with Dark Ryu), and he performs the infamous "Raging Demon" (as seen at the end of the video).

For those who don't keep current with Marvel Comics (or have never picked up a Marvel comic for that matter), Taskmaster may sound a little unfamiliar.

He's a B or D list villain in the Marvel universe. For the most part, recently he's been a trainer of villains (though after the Siege event in the Marvel universe I wouldn't be able to tell you what he's been doing). He has the ability to copy any move that he sees. Whether or not that will actually be the case in the game is yet to be seen. From the trailer it looks like he does a lot of slashing, as well as some reflective attacks.


Who will be the rest of the character roster? For some reason I have a feeling that a lot of characters will be unlockable, and that they're not going to give us the full roster even after the game has been released.

Killzone 3 has gone gold

Killzone 3 has gone gold today showing that Guerrilla is set to release their PS3 exclusive on February 22nd.

After the huge let down that was Killzone 2 I am actually not excited for this game at all. And I would honestly rather continue to play COD: Black Ops. But earlier this week it was announced that the game had 70 minutes of cut scenes, which could mean that they are going to try and flush out the story a bit, something Killzone 2 failed to do.

While that's interesting I just cant get excited for this game. Still its cool that its coming out I guess.

Bulletstorm demo on the 25th!!

Its pretty obvious that I am excited for Bulletstorm, I think we all are. So its exciting news that people can fly will be releasing a demo of the game on Xbox Live and PSN on the 25th of this month.

The demo will let us play a game mode called Echo which is a score based mode where you use skillshots to rack up points for online leaderboards. 45 different skillshots will be available as well as three different guns.

PSP2 might be revealed on January 27

The new PlayStation Portable that everyone has known about for years now miiiiight finally be revealed on January 27th. Its all speculation at this point but Sony is having a press event on the 27th conveniently placed after a press even Nintendo is having on the 19th, which is sure to be full of news on the 3DS.

Actually now that I think about it we might get a US launch date for the 3DS on the 19th. OHHHHH SHIIIIIIIT!!

I'm just glad we are finally going to see the damn thing and I hope my mind gets blooooown!!!

Super hot Bulletstorm vid

People Can Fly released a video today showcasing a few of the skillshots you can perform in their upcoming FPS Bulletstorm.

The game looks awesome as always and I can't wait to play it. I can't think of a better way to start the new year.

The Return of Boss Talk

Boss Talk will be back.

Frictional Games saved by Amnesia sales

I have never played Amnesia and I hadn't even heard about the game 'til a few days ago when I came home and saw my brother Krinkor playing it. When I asked what the hell he was playing, he said "A REALLY fucking scary game where the only weapon you have is a lantern and you have to run away from really scary shit." I said it sounded cool and continued to forget about it.

Apparently, the developer Frictional Games had seen better times money wise, but after selling 200,000 units is now financially stable. Over on their blog they also go on to say that after this huge success they now have found a new confidence in the PC as a gaming system and plan on developing more games for it.

I believe my baby Krinkor, but I should get around to playing Amnesia because I really want to know if its THAT scary.

Champions Online is Freeeeeeeee!!!

Cryptic has come out and said that on Jan 25 they are going to dump their subscription service in favor of a free to play with transactions payment method. I have absolutely no interest in going back to this game because of the bad taste it left in my mouth, and I feel like a tool for even playing it for as long as I did!

But I find this news interesting because I want to know how all of the suckers who shelled out 200 bucks for the lifetime sub feel. Because I don't think they are going to get jack shit for throwing money at Cryptic.

Its also a good idea since DC universe just launched. But everyone knows that game is going to be a steaming pile anyway.

Good things are coming.

Damn, you know you have been fucking up when you forgot the password to your blog. Its been way too long, but the ideas that have been thrown around the past couple days have me so excited to do this shit again that its all I thought about all day today and last night. I couldn't even sleep so I stayed up and watched all of our old videos even though I had to wake up at 3am.

Good things are coming and I can't wait for everyone to check 'em out. This also means I am going to start posting stories like a crazy person.

100% hyped.

Professor Layton And The Unwound Future

I'm a pretty big fan of puzzle games. Most of the time, just random logic puzzle games are fine, or games like Tetris and Lumines. Sometimes there comes a puzzle game that has an excellent story to go along with the puzzles. The Professor Layton series for the Nintendo DS has always been a great example of the latter.


For those who aren't familiar with the game series, it's about an English Gentleman (who's a university Professor who teaches Archaeology) and his young boy apprentice. Together they go around solving puzzles. Layton has such a reputation as a problem-solver that many people contact him regarding mysteries that are generally considered unsolveable. So far (at least game wise), the score stands at 2-0, with Layton figuring out every mystery thrown his way so far.

As the player, you play primarily as Layton, though the perspectives shift (inconsequentially) to his apprentice Luke and some of the other side characters.

The gameplay is largely unchanged from the previous games. You encounter people who challenge you to solve mystery after mystery, and as you work your way through puzzles (and the city(s)) you delve deeper and deeper into the plot.

Some of the puzzles repeat a little bit from the previous games, but that's to be expected. I have a feeling there can only be so many puzzles that exist, and they do have to save some more for the next game in the series. The puzzles this time around, however, are generally worded a lot better than the previous puzzles in the series. While there were a few puzzles that were extremely hard, most of the puzzles succeeded in keeping me busy for at least a few minutes.

The graphics are as good as the previous installments in the series. They consist of lovably animated characters and architecture. My only complaint when it comes to the graphics is that sometimes during cutscenes you get some patches of discoloration, which is largely due to the DS not being made to play video, and the video codec that's widely used throughout the industry for the DS still isn't the best.


The story itself is actually amazing. This game is, by far, my favorite in the series. You don't see the twist for quite a while, and even then the plot has many twists on it's various subplots.

The ending was also deservingly sad. I say deservingly because not every form of entertainment builds up to something sad. They usually throw it in in the end "because the writer wanted it to end that way" not necessarily having planned it in that manner from the beginning. For this game, without the player even realizing it, the whole game was building to the sad conclusion. It even leads you away from this sad conclusion for a little while, only to make the emotionally charged ending all the more bittersweet.

This game has Professor Layton more characterized than he usually is. In the previous outings, he's just been the dashing English Gentleman that always has all the answers. In this we get to see his past and some of the things (and people) that have shaped him into what he is today.

If you have a DS, I strongly recommend purchasing this game. It is a must-have for any DS owner, with fun (yet challenging) puzzles, an engaging storyline, and great visuals.

And for the lulz, here's a comic that's relevant to the game: