Honky dory TAB

I'm not a fan of online games. Those who knows me have heard this countless times. Its true. I tested some mmo-games out. Anarchy Online/Planetside but Ive always favored single players games since they are more story-driven, better character interactions and least of not all. Have better animations!

Ive had my online feasts at times with, SOF2, CS, Jedi knight, UT, Trackmanina, Fear Combat but this was mostly at LAN. Crysis 2 seams to really appeal to me with the incredible graphic, sophisticated dynamic gameplay with suit powers that change on the fly. I can see that its going for a really addictive play-style with the point system ala COD/MW so Ill properly devote some time on this one and brush the dust of my trigger finger ;)




ps: love sort of similar "crackdowns narrator" in this one

Labels: game news, games

A friend of mine sendt me this link saying. "Im not into rap, but Im diggin the hell out of this tune" Im not the biggest rap-listner myself (though I do occationly listen to Jurrasic 5, Roots, Arrested Development, Busdriver, Roots Manova, Dangermouse etc) I am however one hundred prosent behind him on this one. Its catchy as hell, talended written and put together, and a genuinly nostalgic song all together! Spead the word!

Check it out here:

Labels: games, music, music video

Who? No, he`s not a pornstar..

You might not know his slightly skinnier "Seth Macfarlane mug" from this single photo alone (unless you watch "Port Charles" or "General Hospital") but if you have played any big game the last two years his voice is highly recognizable.

He`s mostly know for the Uncharted series but he`s also been the voice star of Assassins creed, Army of Two, The Saboteur, Dragon Age, HALO ODST, Red Faction Guerrilla, Gears of War 2 and Prince of Persia... Complete list here

It was when I started playing Dark Void that my mind started to recognize his voice. I thought to myself that the main character of Dark Void (who`s name slipped my mind and aren't particularly interesting) looked an awfully lot like Nathan Drake in both modeling and volume wise. Although a bit more cartoony. I thought to myself: My god, even the characters are starting to look like each other in todays games.. First it was the brown/gray, overly parallax mapped environments, now this? Whats next? Will they use the same voice actors also?

And then the character spoke......

SAME DUDE!

Ile admit that it did take couple of minutes before I recognized his voice.. but once it clicked, a flash of characters rushed before me.



Me beef is not with him (although I do want to send him to a "Just Say NO" - course) plus having the same character in a huge blockbuster AAA game in your small production do cast a little light on the product and is not a totally new concept. Just look at Ron Pearlman, Dennis Hopper, Ben Kinglsy, Udo Kier! HECK, any Uwe Boll movie!

My main beef is with producers of the games. Don't they realize that they undermine the players and their own games by doing such a dick move? It breaks the illusion that thousand of artists creates and gamers experience!

I'm pretty sure getting a good voice actor is nothing if not a daunting assignment and therefore its pretty tempting to just go with a guy hows already got a long run of voice-acting but the same dude for several MAIN characters?

I'm slightly disappointed and more offended, but then again the gaming suits couldn't care less about that..

I just wanted to make sure more people got the news... Now if you will excuse me, Ile play some Just cause 2.. At least there the dialogue is so overplyed and terrible that Ile forget about Nathan... At least until Uncharted 3 comes out..

Labels: games, other

Now I dont really care for MMO`s but this is really a good idea! Its stacked full of charm (if you played any of the old Lego games and IF the game doesn't get toned down or anything) and its got every possible scenario ever conceived as shown in the trailer. Western, Middleages, Fantasy, Pirates even Space! How are they going to top this?



It also makes the updates quite easy since its just adding more bits of pieces! haha Get it.. BITS of pieces... Ohh lord.. hmm.. ok Ile stop now =P

Labels: game news, games, Trailer

Taking its graphical inspiration from games of the Spectrum/C64 era, VVVVVV is based upon a gravity-flipping mechanic. Instead of jumping, the stranded hero of this game is able to reverse gravity at the touch of a button, immediately falling upward into the ceiling.

Creator Terry Cavanagh has released a downloadable demo for both Mac and PC, as well as a browser-based Flash version on Kongregate. The full game is around $15.

This game is hard, so expect a lot of replay. Luckily the creator has incorporated this trial end error gameplay to its full extent. Simple and mindbogglingly cool

Labels: games, indie

Astute tipsters discovered some unprotected directories on Ubisoft's site, and we now have 20-second clips of Splinter Cell: Conviction and Assassin's Creed 2.



AC2 is up thar; SCC is down thar. These don't feature gameplay, QT events only. Im assuming these are meant to be played sometime at E3.

Labels: games

Finally some video from the developers of ICO and Shadow of the colossus, Team Ico about their newest game: TRICO (placeholder-name)



Two of my favorite games of all time and they are coming out with a new one soon! At least some more info. Not much have been shown since the reveal of a picture a couple of months ago. And this trailer is breathtaking! Its apparently "leaked" footage of the current game. Leaked or PR stunt? Anyhoo the games looks amazing and get this. The footage is apparently over a year old! Thats right. Old footage that are kicking current next gen games into oblivion!!

Team ICO really pushed the capabillitys with the PS2 with games as big and grand as Ico and Shadow of the collosus. They werent highrez or had any fancy shaders/displacement/paralex mapping as the newest games have but they do have something that all other games are stuggeling with. Namely atmosphere. On top of that they have top notch animation and an unpresidented sense of scale unmatched even by todays standards. It also features a beutifull errie setting as you can never take things for granted. They are the JJ abrahams of the game industry. And by that I am talking about the "less is more" and "keep it simple stupid" approaches.


These games are my favorites because they dont really see obstacles in the game philosophy but new ways of using old techniques and they also challenge the gamers with some quite tough moral choices. Truly what games are about. Innovation. I also love these games because of the superb animation that are on display here. Timing, weight and the characters are well thought out and impressive to behold.

Ile stop now before I accidently write 500 pages of how I think every family should have a playstation 2 with a copy of this game, and each child would be required to play it once they had come of age.(In addition, sports franchises would be limited to releasing one game every 4 years!)

Looking forward to E3 for more candy from this game!

(PS: Dragonbaby dies)

Labels: 3d, animation, games, Trailer

After playing the RF SP demo for quite some time now and have basicly destroyed everything on the level.. at least 5 times now, I jumped trought the roof when I saw this:



I dont play multiplayer any longer since I feel its a waste of time plus the fact that Im more interessted in the singler player aspects of storytelling, character arc and animation. I did play alot of Jedi knight Outcast and Acadamy in my younger days and had my fair share of CS,Q3,STARCRAFT and SOF2 matches but I walked away from this the later years I have strayed away from this. Never toutched WOW or Warhammer online and working on a AA title MMO certainly dident help much, but when I saw the MP footage above I said: "Screw that! Im getting in on this". I booted up my 360 (since the mp demo hit there first) but I encounterd a huge wall called subscription. I have recently gotten alot of mail due to the fact that Im not renewing my subscription fee on Xbox live.



I have abandoned XBL since I bought PS3. Its just more sleeker and more intuetive (plus the huge fact that Playstation Network is free!) Im saving it to a exclusive game. Though I doubt that will happen with nowdays licenses. Most games come on all plat..... ANYHOO! Im strafing away from the subject. I couldent get online with my XBL account because of its payment thing and I cant change it back to silver either (Silver subscription is free but then you have to wait a couple of days more for the demoes to go from GOLD til SILVER.. haha oh the madness) So I abandoned the box and waited a couple of hours and then turned on the PSN and there it was in all its glory. RED FACTION MP DEMO! and Infamous demo! Yay!


I downloaded it and was ready to start hammering away when nothing happend in the game lobby. It couldent connect to any server. After a quick google-session I found the blog for RF and there they say:

******
We wanted to let everyone know that we are aware of an issue surrounding the MP Demo matchmaking on the PS3 version of the demo. We are already looking into it, and will have more information soon.

We appreciate your patience during this time and I'll update this post once there is more information.
******

So gah.. I have to wait a little more then. I got one match in yesterday thinking it might have been fixed but no. The match was good and gave me a taste at what the final version would be like. Im still looking forward to RED FACTION when it hits next month. (June 26)

In the mean time I will just have to settle with Infamous.. or go play with my GI joe`s in the sandbox... *sight*

Labels: console, Demo, games

Crayon Physics Deluxe from Petri Purho on Vimeo.

"Crayon Physics Deluxe" is a 2D physics puzzle/sandbox game, in which you get to experience what it would be like if your drawings would be magically transformed into real physical objects. Solve puzzles with your artistic vision and creative use of physics.

feat:
Awesome physics
Over 70 levels
Easy to use level editor
And more...


http://www.crayonphysics.com/

Now if we could only connect it with this :How-to-make-a-cheap-multi-touchpad then we are talking!

Labels: Demo, games

First, the trailer is just fantastic. Not only because the game is shaping up to be incredible, but from a cinematic standpoint, it shines on its own merit. As we watch Kratos fight his way though the army, we noticed right away of how much it seemed like the enemies looked like they were getting hit. Unlike the previous versions of the game, where it seemed like the same enemies didn’t have any weight to them — this time around it does. For instance, once you hit an enemy in God of War II, they moved almost like paper. But now, as the blade cuts a solider, it somewhat looks like the blade is penetrating him. That should make it feel a tad more awarding when you kill one of the thousands of enemies and give it a realistic vibe.

The graphics isnt "overthetop" highpoly nor does it need to be. Id take a lowpoly nextgen GOW epic with tons of enemies and giant elaborate epic set-pices over a highpoly, weird looking, "max-10-enemies-at-a-time" GOW anyday...

Screens here: http://gamersyde.com/news_7545_en.html

Labels: games

"June 12, 2008 saw the simultaneous worldwide release of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (MGS4) for the PlayStation 3. Gamers all over the world were waiting eagerly for this ultimate stealth mission game. No doubt they have already been captivated by its powerful gameplay.



MGS4 was a huge project that took Hideo Kojima, the virtuoso director, about three and a half years to complete. The Metal Gear series has been around for 21 years, with many people regarding it as a masterpiece in terms of its scenarios, gameplay and realism. Making a particular impact is its world-class graphics that go beyond the boundaries of a conventional game. These graphics give the action such realism and immediacy that players feel like they have been transported to a real battlefield.





In the development of MGS4, about 100 staff members were involved in the 3D content production. Extra personnel were added during busy periods, and by the final phase of development over 180 people were working on the project. By the end there were as many 40 programmers working on MGS4, including the work required for online compatibility. From the fact that such a large number of people were involved and it took three and a half years to finish, we can see that MGS4 truly was a mega-project.



The main tool used in this game with its world-class video graphics was SOFTIMAGE|XSI. We interviewed the Kojima Productions team after they had finished development and as the release date for MGS4 was approaching. In this interview, we were lucky to be able to speak with staff from all the major development units, including characters, background, machines, 2D, event demos, motions and programming. We learned a lot of interesting information, so this article has been split into two parts" - Source Yoshiyuki Watanabe

The article is about 2 pages long but manages to cover almost every thing from artdirection, animation to tips and tricks of the trade. A MUST read if your are at all interested in the inner-workings of this magnificent game or just curious about game process in general.

Read it here:
http://www.softimage.com/products/xsi/customer_stories/metal_gear_4/

Labels: design, games

An English translated version of the interview with The Last Guy's "developers" speaking Bengali — tongue planted firmly in cheek. The actual developers are Sony's Japan Studio and responsible for the PSP's Work Time Fun. Pretty sure they don't have a goat in their office, either. Well, maybe they do. Who knows.

Labels: games

Based on Portal: The Flash Version, Hen Mazolski brings us all the levels and concepts back to the original Portal version, in this huge mappack!



This mappack includes ALL 40 levels from WCS's Flash version, additional bonus levels and features. All together, we've got over three and a half hours of amazing gameplay.

I had forgotten how fun Portal was and this brings you even further into the portal unviverse as you are now a different test subject thrown out into the sterile, and cold testing enviroment battling energy balls, cubes, turrets and even the famous crusher from the trailer. This is the "amped-up" version of portal (some of these are a real mind trip)



http://portalmaps.wecreatestuff.com/

Labels: games

The latest issue of the UK's Edge magazine contains an interview with Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima, who expresses disappointment with the latest game in the series, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. It isn't so much the gameplay itself as it is the graphics.



Game-wise, it's pretty close to the original vision: you sneak into the battlefield and can choose whether to do a stealth game or interfere with the battle more directly. But the graphic, side things like motion-blending and the size of the map, totally was not accomplished to my original vision - to my satisfaction.



Now Kojima is a well-known perfectionist, but it is a bit disturbing to see him voice his dissatisfaction with what is supposed to be the masterpiece of the franchise. So where does he lay the blame for not fully realizing his vision?



When we first showed the game engine at TGS, the staff were really proud and happy. PS3 was a dream machine, y'know, and we were going to work on this and that - and we had so many ideas. But when we actually started developing the game, we realized there were a lot of restrictions and so it turned out how you see it today. The original vision was to go ten steps further, the reality was just one step, which isn't to say we didn't progress.



So there was certainly progress made, but not enough progress...or more specifically, not enough power for progress. Apparently the team overestimated what the PlayStation 3 was capable of.



Please don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing the PS3 machine, it's just that we weren't really aware of what the full-spec PS3 offered - we were creating something we couldn't entirely see.

Well there you have it, straight from the man himself. Metal Gear Solid 4 is not revolutionary. Personally I think the man is being a bit hard on himself, but that's what great minds do.

Labels: games

I know almost nothing about DICE`s new game yet with just 7 screens its managed to get quite high on my list. I love the strong visual look (lighting and color scheme looks straight out of HL2) and the consept for gameplay looks like Crackdown meets a FPS version of Assassins creed.

The game concentrates on movement, and aims to expand and reinvent the sense of movement which is currently lacking from first-person games (in the words of senior producer Owen O'Brien, "to place you in the world and convey the strain and physical contact with the environment"). Although the player character can hold weapons, O'Brien stresses, "Principally, this is an action adventure. We're not positioning this as a shooter - the focus isn't on the gun, it's on the person."

Though set in seemingly utopian city environment with low crime and clean streets, the world is also one inhabited by an authoritarian government regime and unbridled levels of surveillance. In this world of communications monitoring, the only way to deliver confidential information between parties is to employ couriers (called runners) to physically deliver the information. The player character controls runner Faith, employing parkour inspired movements to reach her destination. Aside from Faith there are rumors of other potential characters to choose from. This information comes from one of the official sites administrators.

Lookie here:

Labels: games

Five videogame characters who suck at their jobs



Ten golden rules of online gaming



Ten golden rules of Japanese RPGs



Source: destructoid

Labels: games, other

Portal 2 is in the works, this was revealed by Valve`s Kim Swift on last night`s episode of G4's X-Play. There have already been indications that more gameplay in the inter-dimensional puzzler is coming, but this is the first word that this will take the form of a full-blown sequel. The relevant quote comes at the 2:50 mark in the 3:05 clip: "Well, uh, I think… I believe Doug Lombardi, who is our lead marketing director at Valve, has announced Portal 2, so…" He hadn`t actually, but that cat is now out of the bag.

I for one loved the idea that portal was a one hit wonder. It ended so nicely and if you went through HL2 Episode 2 you would know that "Aperture Science" (the fictional company behind the portal testing and science) is going to show up in episode 3, but a standalone portal franchise? Most of my scepticism comes from other gaming companys building on one succsessful game and they beeing graduly worse and worse. If anything its also going to be though act to follow since Portal came out of the blue and was such a shocker. Anyhoo, Value knows what they are doing. Id be more worried if the game arrives from a unheard southeastern Russian game company calling it: "Dimension høp: Rise of Ai-bøt 05" or something

Labels: games

More of a "tech-demo-walkthrough" then anything else really, but still very good stuff. I cant belive that this kind of interaction and gameplay mechanics havent surfaced up before 2008! Anyhoo, Its about damn time someone takes this step and I for one, am glad its Eden Games that struck the first blow. We need more immersive gameplay while keeping our logic thoughts on how the game should be played, not how the game wants us to play...





Now, If you will excuse me. Im going to play Penumbra: Black Plague.

thihi.. *dims light*

Labels: console, games

Log onto Xbox Live on December 11th, download 300, start shouting "this is Sparta!"

At last, it's our time in the sun. After Americans have been downloading movies from Xbox Live Marketplace since time began (note: possibly exaggeration), we'll be getting our turn. Xbox Live Marketplace Video Store opens in the UK and the rest of Europe on December 11th and inside, we have a full list of what movies will be available and how much they cost.

Ever since december the third, my xbox has been getting more attention the usual. This has only to do with the fact that MS dropped a update for the 360 making it possible to watch Divx! Ive used windows media center and transcode up to now but now I just plug in my 500gb external Hd and lean back. Its amazing. Finaly the 360box is a true media center.

First thing is pricing. Films will cost 250 Microsoft Points for the Standard Definition version while downloading the High Definition version will set you back 380 Microsoft Points instead. That's not much, it means films are cheaper than Frogger and they're definitely going to give you more entertainment value too. Gimme a high five, Jeff Minter! Hell yeah.

These are the films confirmed for Xbox Live Marketplace Video Store. See if you can spot the truly awesome film lurking in the list (clue: it's not Harry Potter)...

300
HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE
HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS
ZODIAC
MATRIX, THE
MATRIX REVOLUTIONS, THE
MATRIX RELOADED, THE
OCEAN'S ELEVEN
PERFECT STORM, THE
SWORDFISH
THREE KINGS
TRAINING DAY
FUGITIVE, THE
RISKY BUSINESS
SPACE COWBOYS
EYES WIDE SHUT
ANALYZE THIS
DEMOLITION MAN
ERASER
EXECUTIVE DECISION
LETHAL WEAPON 3
LETHAL WEAPON 4
LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION
MARS ATTACKS!
CLASH OF THE TITANS
SUPERMAN III
DEAD CALM

Did you spot the awesome film? Yup! It's Demolition Man! In HD! Demolition Man is blatantly one of the best films ever ("send a manianc to catch a maniac") and we can only hope that Demolition Man's inclusion means we can also look forward to the likes of Under Siege, Predator, Commando and Hard Target. In HD! Don't let us down, Microsoft...

Labels: console, games

Gamereviewer Jeff Gerstmann from gamespot.com was, according to rumors, fired from his after a rather negative review of Eidos/Io interactive newest game "Kane and Lynch"

Gerstmann has been a gamereviewer for many years for Cnet owned Gamespot and has gotten lots of respect within the gaming community

It was after giving Kane and lynch a dazzeling score of 6.0 (out of 10), that he supposedly was laid of

The reason for this reaction was that Eidos was threatening to pull a huge ad campaign they had running for "Kane and Lynch" after the rather harsh review Gerstmann gave the game.

This is just rumors, but is currently beeing confirmed by a freelancer working for Gamespot that Gerstmann is out of the company, but he will not say what caused this.

What does all this mean? Well I guess it further amplifyes my recentment towards gamereviews videos. I think its fake and I have yet to find a reviwer thats totally honest. (With the exception of myself and Yahtzee) I do watch them but Im going to try the games for myself anyway, but then again Im not the kind of person that steers away from a movie just because my friends or online reviews says its bad. I check it out anyway. I go on a little quest for myself in order to find out why or what is wrong with it. How can I fix it. What would I have done here..

Im still going to play Kane and lynch since its from the creators of the hitman series and I do need a new game to play =P

gotta play them all..

See the horrefying "honest" review here!



Penny Arcade has allready made a comic of the incedent.

Labels: games