Video Games
That's right, not only do we finally get some GaGa this week, we even get the South Park version of Pokerface that was shown in the episode "Whale Whores". Sweet!
These tracks will be available for purchase as "Lady Gaga Pack 01" as well as individual tracks on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 system, and as individual tracks only on Wii. $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points) per track, $6.99 (560 Microsoft Points) for "Lady Gaga Pack 01". $2.00 USD (200 Wii Points™) per track for the Wii version.
Bethesday Softworks announced today that it will be publishing Hunted: The Demon's Forge, a third-person co-op fantasy action game being developed at InXile Entertainment for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. InXile was founded by Brian Fargo, who was responsible for fantasy classics like The Bard's Tale, Baldur's Gate, and Fallout. Fargo is overseeing development of Hunted, while Michael "Maxx" Kaufman is directing the game. Kaufman previously art directed titles like Kingpin: LIfe of Crime, Redneck Rampage and Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
"We are thrilled to be working with Bethesda Softworks on this upcoming release that takes us back to our roots," said Brian Fargo, Founder of inXile Entertainment. "Bethesda's track record speaks for itself and the game we are developing for them is no exception."
"inXile has an extremely talented team and we couldn't be more pleased to have them working on one of our upcoming titles," said Vlatko Andonov, President of Bethesda Softworks. "We believe gamers will be really excited about what these guys have in store for them."
Fargo's track record is pretty impressive, and bodes well for Hunted: The Demon's Forge. And I like the idea of a co-op action game, as long as they allow for drop-in, drop-out gameplay (which seems like a no-brainer, but you never now). Details on the game are scarce right now, but if you guys want to know more, I can let you know as soon as I hear more!
The DSi has a built-in camera with software that lets you manipulate the images in wacky ways, but indie game developer Neko Entertainment has produced a new app for DSiWare called Faceez that lets you take photos of yourself, friends and whoever, and manipulate them in entirely new ways. Like making yourself look like you've been hitting the bottle at the office, as in my example above! Make the jump for a couple more examples and the full review!
If you're like me, your favorite upgrade to
Mass Effect 2 wasn't the streamlined inventory or improved camera angles - it was the intense hacking minigames which allowed access to the bank accounts of every chump who left their iPad lying around. Any RPG is likely to feature the protagonist breaking into people's homes and looting the place on account of being the only character with a physical input device, but BioWare is finally getting around to acknowledging that Shepard isn't the only person capable of stealing credits and goodies in mass quantity.
For the next character archetype to appear in our favorite spacefaring RPG, the master thief Kasumi Goto will be asking Shepard's help in one of her critical heists aboard the Citadel, afterwards becoming a permanent part of the Normandy team. The mission will feature some 007-level espionage and social infiltration, since Kasumi will be seeking access to a private collector's vault with such treasures as the Statue of Libery and Michelangelo's David.
Playing this pack will take about 90 minutes, according to BioWare, and it will also mark the first DLC for which gamers will need to pay to access. Some reports have the going rate at 560 MS Points, or about $7.50. The new adventure will be available to anyone who purchases, either during game's storyline or after the ending. Kasumi's interesting character design looks to make the download worth the while, to say nothing of the extra gun, achievement, and flashbang skill.
"Kasumi's Stolen Memory" should be available April 6.
'Mass Effect 2' Premium DLC Preview [MTV Multiplayer]
Heavy Rain won't be the kind of game many gamers have played before - its blend of intense, top-notch Hollywood thriller storytelling, character immersion, and the quick time events that constitute the majority of its traditional gameplay are a new creature - while interactive drama has been attempted before, never has such polish and quality gone into the effort. To call Heavy Rain a tremendous success may be a bit misleading, because not every gamer will be ready - or wants to be ready - for this experience. That said, Heavy Rain's achievements make it accessible to even the most dismissive gamer, given the right setting. The fact that it's the best-looking game for the PS3 to date doesn't hurt, either.
This is a game to be played with the lights off, alone - or at least with a friend who's willing to keep his or her trap shut. Quantic Dream's interactive drama is at its best when you follow it into the unexplored space between dramatic games and compelling drama - I've summarized the game to friends (by no means a perfect analogy) by saying something like this: 'Imagine you're actually in one of the Saw movies, only it's a good movie, and you're playing all the major parts, and instead of watching Cary Elwes decide whether or not to cut off his foot, you are Cary Elwes, and if you do decide to cut off your foot, not only do you have to actually do it, but you have to figure out how.'
So while the demo available on PSN might have given gamers the wrong taste of the game - the mechanics of asthma inhalers never having made for great gameplay or drama - when playing the game proper, the story quickly pulls you in and imparts genuine urgency to your control over the literal, sometimes mundane actions of the four playable characters. Buying a balloon for your kid at the mall before the opening credits may not sound intense, but chasing him through the crowd with the balloon as your only marker certainly can be. Especially while knowing, with that foreboding sixth sense that all good movie-watchers have, that losing sight of your kid in a crowded mall is never a sign of good things to come. Instead of watching helplessly, as you would in a Hollywood thriller, you're now acting, and you never know whether the situation is helpless or not. That bumps up the suspense tenfold.
There's something to be said for finding hidden gems amongst the sea of games and products present on the Expo floor at GDC, and yet it seems that I had such luck stumbling upon publisher Outspark. Turns out I wasn't the only one with such luck in finding the overlooked because Outspark themselves had discovered a gem of their own in the Korean MMO Travia, which they re-purposed and re-imagined as Erebus: Travia Reborn, currently in closed beta.
The game itself is an Action-RPG MMO in a similar vein as Diablo and the like, but with better graphics and a more PvP centric gameplay. While the core mechanics come from the original Travia game, Outspark has taken time to completely update and enrich the backstory to the game while also making some of the guild and PvP features more accessible for western audiences. The game itself features four character classes each with multiple sub-classes which are furthered by having their own master classes, 18 in all. You can play as a Warrior class, honing your skills to become a Blade Master or Paladin. The Archer class can focus their weapon skills to become Huntresses, or go a more mystical route to being Summoners. Of course there is staple Mage class that has three subclasses based on Fire, Ice, and Lightning. Finally, there is the Cleric Class that can look to life and become a Bishop or to shadows to become Necromancers.
While the game has your standard quests to help players progress through the levels, much of the action in the game revolves around your guild and PvP action. Throughout the land are different player controlled cities, and periodically these cities will have their control fought over. Guilds can bid for a chance to attack the different cities and the guild with the highest bid gets to try and storm the city walls and wrestle the city from the guild already in possession of the city. Gaining control of the towns allows certain perks to the guild, one of which is collecting a portion of all trade done with the vendors in the town. The pinnacle of the PvP system are massive 50v50 guild battles that take place in a battlegrounds system on the servers, and I was told that they are working on being able to take the battle across servers in the future.
From what I saw of the game, the action seems fast paced and the different areas were vibrant in color and scenery. The game is currently in closed beta, with it hopefully launching sometime this spring. Once the game launches, it will follow the free-to-play with micro-transactions model. While the beta may currently be closed, the fine folks over out Outspark gave me a number of beta keys that I'm giving away on the forums, so hit up the PC forums if you want one. Be sure to check out the newly launched website for the game too, where they are releasing new info on the game weekly.
Erebus: Travia Reborn
The first two seasons of Sam & Max have taken players to some strange places, but in the third season Telltale Games is venturing into what could be the strangest place of all, Max's brain. Kicking off with a simultaneous release across the PS3, PC, and Mac on April 15th, this five episode season titled The Devil's Playhouse aims to do something a little different with the point and click adventure series. Telltale invited us to swing by their booth at GDC to check out what's new with everyone's favorite dog and rabbity thingy crime fighting team.
The first thing players will notice is a brand new approach to control. With interfaces and controls revamped for the PS3 controller, this marks the first time that players will have direct control over their characters. Also new are the "Toys of Power" that give Max strange new abilities, allowing him to teleport through phones for a Pre-Skool like play phone, read people's minds with a deck of cards, and a special kind of Silly Puddy that will let him transform into any printed object he can find. To use these powers, players will enter Max's psyche and see the world through his eyes with a first person perspective. Being the rattled like psycho that he is, this means the player is treated to strange hidden images and subliminal messages they reveal Max's deepest inner thoughts and fragile emotional state. Watching a brief play through of the tutorial area showed how these powers will come into play in a variety of ways while naturally blending in the whacky humor the series the known for. The new season (and new platform) gave the team an opportunity to step up their visual presentation with a visual art style reminiscent of 70's and 80's creature features.
In an effort to get even more people into the series, Telltale is stressing that season three is an excellent entry point into the series and to prove this they'll be including a some impressive pre-order bonuses. A pre-order for the PC and Mac version will let players into the Freelance Police Elite, an online portal that will connect gamers with Telltale creators, downloads, and a few other surprises. In a PlayStation Network first, players will be able to pre-order the season at a special price of $29.99. The Ps3 version is set to include Trophies, one of which can be earned by finding every line of dialog with some form of innuendo attached to it.
While it's the same old Sam and Max that gamers have grown to love over the years, it feels like season three could be a big step for the series. We'll find out for sure on April 15th when the first episode is released.
Well here's an unexpected surprise. This week on the Virtual Console Nintendo is finally letting loose Castlevania Rondo of Blood for American audiences. No, not the sub-par SNES port Dracula X, this is a digital import of the original Rondo of Blood game from the PC-Engine/TurboGrafx CD. If you're a huge Castlevania fan and always wanted to know where the introduction to Symphony of the Night came from (and don't own a PSP) then this is a must download game.
Castlevania Rondo of Blood isn't the only exciting game coming to the Wii this week, with the WiiWare release of Rage of the Gladiator, a MotionPlus enhanced combat game that should please fans of Punch-Out. If swords aren't your preferred weapon of choice, then there's also this week's other WiiWare game Triple Shot Sports, offering archery, pistol shooting, and free rifle shooting games.
DSiWare steps it up a notch with the GTA clone Car Jack Streets, bringing top-down city crime to the handheld in digital form. Also on DSiWare is the Zoo building Zoo Frenzy, 101 MiniGolf World, and Battle of Giants: Dinosaurs - Fight For Survival.
Hit the jump for the full description of each of this week's games.
At the Game Developer's Conference, Raymond Padilla quizzed all of the most secret contacts for any details about the next major upgrade to the DS line. If the answers he got are accurate, the next DS will be far more of an upgrade than the DSi or DSi XL. A few points:
- The system will still have two screens (duh) but they will be larger and higher resolution. Additionally, the space between the screens will be "negligible," allowing developers to use them as one large screen.
- It will have an accelerometer, allowing for some motion detection.
- The dev kits are being compared to the Gamecube in terms of power, which doesn't necessarily mean that the games will be Gamecube caliber, but it's at least a point of reference.
- The first games for the system should be ready for this year, meaning it's possible that the system could be unveiled at E3 and launched by the holidays.
It's not mentioned but I'd also speculate that the things the DSi line added to the hardware, like DSi Ware and the two cameras, would be included on any new system, albeit with extra storage space and the ability to take higher resolution pictures. Maybe even full motion video?
We'll have to see how these rumors pan out. Are you ready for a major DS upgrade, or were you hoping that the DSi would last a little longer? The DS has been an almost unprecedented success for Nintendo, and continues to just roll over the competition. If Sony also manages to get the PSP2 out this year, we could be up for another major handheld battle.
Nintendo DS2 Information Unearthed at GDC 2010 [RPad.tv]
Everyday, the graphical fidelity of video games gets just a little closer to matching what things look like in real life. Modern day graphic artists are making every attempt to capture more realistic representations of living things. The process of creating the perfectly porous human face in Heavy Rain or the visual delight of a jungle in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is difficult. A new technique developed by scientists at Bath University may bring video game artists closer to that coveted life-like design.
Dr, Peter Hall and Chris Li of Bath University have developed a program that allows computers to watch footage of something in nature and track it's movement realistically. The scientists used a tree as an example in their study.
For the demonstration, the artist drew an outline of the tree while the program tracked the movements of the real tree in the video footage. Then the computer began creating animations using algorithms for a more life-like tree. Finally, the computer was able to generate many trees from just one sketch, each with its own individual personality based on the one from nature.
Dr. Hall explained:
"With our system, the user can produce new trees of the same variety, with each one an individual. We can also very finely control the movement of the tree for different weather conditions, different seasons, and can even make it dance to music!"
The scientists said that this program could help to bring graphic artists closer to a life-like design while allowing studios to create animations faster and cheaper. Dr. Li created this program for his Ph. D at Bath University but he is eager to help game designers use this on a global level.
Computer Mimics Nature By Watching TV [Science Daily]
The game developers conference isn't just about celebrating the craft and art of making games with other developers. It's also about fabulous prizes! Both the Game Developers Choice Awards and the Independent Games Festival Awards were handed out this week, with Naughty Dog's Uncharted 2 winning Game of the Year at the former, and Pocketwatch Game's Monaco taking the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the former.
Uncharted 2 was also awarded Best Writing, Best Technology, and Best Visual Arts. Scribblenauts was another multiple award winner, with Best Handheld Game and the Innovation Award, while Batman: Arkham Asylum, Flower, and Torchlight each took one. The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to ID's john Carmack, while Valve's Gabe Newell took the Pioneer Award and the Penny Arcade guys were awarded the Ambassador Award.
At IGF, Monaco was also a multiple award winner, also receiving recognition for Excellence in Design. Limbo by PlayDead was giving the Excellence in Visual Arts and Technical Excellence awards, while Turning, Closure, and Continuity each took one. Apparently, indie games only have the budget for one word in their titles. Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor for the iPhone/iPod Touch won Best Mobile Game, Heroes of Newerth took the Audience Award, and Max and the Magic Marker won the D2D Audience Award.
Congrats to all the winners, and for a full list, follow the links below.
Uncharted 2 Wins Big At 10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards
Monaco Takes Grand Prize At 12th Annual IGF [GameSetWatch]
Nintendo broke another record in DS sales this past February, moving over 613,000 units of the DS Lite and DSi according to market research group NPD. This record surpasses last year's sales of 597,000 units in the same month.
This number is not surprising considering the ubiquitous nature of Nintendo advertising and the company's ability to constantly return awesome gaming experiences. What is surprising about these sales is the newer DSi XL is about to hit the market on March 28th. I would imagine those in the market for a handheld would wait to buy the newest model. For myself I remain satisfied with my trusty DS Lite despite the lack of a camera and will be passing on the third step child to the DS clamshell original.
This poses an interesting question: How many of you still enjoy older versions of the DS? And how many have you have upgraded to each iteration of the touchscreen handheld and helped to inflate that high February sales number?
Make the jump for the original press release.
And girls who like girls who like rumble packs!
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