Cheap Thrills: H.A.W.X 2 The 8-bit game
Cheap Thrills is a column by Chris Gampat reviewing affordable (under $20) or free games for the recession.
I remember playing the original version of H.A.W.X in alpha form back during my PCMag.com days and then the Android version put out by Gameloft. While I comfortably preferred the latter, the 8-bit version of the game is simply the most addicting. H.A.W.X. 2's 8-bit version is an ode to old-school top down shooters, with a few flourishes that test player strategies and reflexes while offering versatility in the way the game can be played.
Chris GampatArtists Recording In Simlish for Sims 3 Late Night
"Simlish" is the official language of The Sims. It's what Sims speak instead of English, and it's going to be the language of choice for over two dozen pop, hip-hop, and alternative artists in The Sims 3 Late Night
I'd honestly take offense at this, if anyone of the music was good. Fortunately, the tracks are all from autotuned pop bands with z's in their names, or guys like Souja Boy or My Chemical Romance. Incidentally, My Chemical Romance uses lyrics that are far too interesting and violent for the quality of music. They sound like a bunch of wussy douchebags, so why do they keep talking about things like murder and poison? Bah, kids these days. Let me know if George Fisher or Glen Benton re-record any of their bands' songs in Simlish.
Will GreenwaldDLC Double Shot: Bioware Releasing Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age DLC Next Tuesday
Bioware's releasing two DLC packs for their two biggest games, Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins. Both drop on September 7 and will cost you $10 each. The trailer located above is for this year's critical darling and Game of the Year forerunner, Mass Effect 2. Titled "Lair of the Shadow Broker", this piece of DLC reunites Commander Shepard with one of the possible love interests from the first game, Liara T'Soni. The DLC will take you into the chambers of the mysterious Shadow Broker, a figure that had featured heavily in the periphery of the games and directly in the plot of the Mass Effect: Retribution comic book.
The trailer located after the jump is for last year's Dragon Age: Origins. Taking place after the end of Dragon Age: Origins, this will have you going after one of the party members and finding out just what they've been up to. Any more details would be a spoiler, so if you still haven't finished Dragon Age: Origins, I suggest you avoid the video.
Dee SawyerFriday Flashback: Shadow Warrior
Considering all the hype surrounding the surprise revelation at PAX that Duke Nukem Forever will be completed and published in 2011, and that Gearbox will be doing the deed, it's time we look at a certain FPS game. It's a game with an in-your face hero, who runs around different levels and uses tons of weapons to reduce his enemies to bloody chunks, all while making funny quips while he does it. It's a game where you can find naked or almost naked ladies in various places. It's a game made by 3D Realms.
That's right, I'm talking about Shadow Warrior.
Will GreenwaldStarcraft 2 Review: The RTS King is Back
Blizzard released the first Starcraft
After playing the game for a few weeks, I can safely say that, barring a miracle or a catastrophe, there's a very good chance we'll be playing Starcraft 2 well into the next decade. For any other series this would be gross hyperbole, but for Starcraft this is simply a confirmation of the series' already well-established quality and longevity.
Will GreenwaldCanon Shows Off Augmented Reality Gaming, Makes Chris Look Silly
I cover a lot of different consumer technology products, and they all usually have their own groups of brands. You don't expect Nintendo to go into HDTVs, you don't expect LG to go into digital cameras, and you don't expect Canon to go into futuristic video games. However, when I attended the CanonEXPO yesterday, that last option is exactly what I saw. Tucked into a corner of the expo was a video game demonstration kiosk for Canon's "Mixed Reality" system. It's a little bit virtual reality, a little bit Playstation Move, and a whole lot of looking like a character from The Lawnmower Man.
Chris and I were invited to play a "game" where we created a cartoon character in virtual reality, using head-mounted displays to watch our creations float before our eyes while we manipulate them with our hands. I sat down and held the display over my eyes, keeping it aligned so I could see through the virtual glasses. They were almost completely clear, but could show computer-generated images on top of the regular view thanks to a small screen and a prism.
Will GreenwaldInterplay returns with publishing program for small developers
Interplay, best known for publishing 80's and 90's-era hits like The Bard's Tale, Earthworm Jim, Descent, and Fallout, plans to return to the gaming industry long after it was left for dead. According to The Escapist Interplay's hopeful ticket back into business is the Interplay Discovery program, purportedly designed to assist smaller developers with publishing. Two titles are already scheduled for release this year: Tommy Tronic is a 2D, PC-based platformer by Ukranian developer Oasis Games, and Pinball Yeah is a pinball game for iPhones and from Portugese code house Coderunners. Yeah, it's called Pinball Yeah. It doesn't really seem like a particularly auspicious return from the company that published Fallout.
Interplay had a rough downward spiral after several titles underperformed commercially, eventually leading to a buyout by Titus Interactive - developer of the legendary failure Superman 64. Titus itself closed shop in 2004 and Interplay was left with debt and legal investigations for worker non-payment. They managed to scrape by on the sale of the Fallout license to Bethesda in 2007, which would later release the critically-acclaimed, top-selling Fallout 3. Before the recent announcement of the Interplay Discovery program, the only signs of life from Interplay were vague teases of Fallout Online development. Maybe this marks the start of a comeback trail.
Matt EddyTelltale Games’ Back To The Future To Bring Back The Originals
Telltale Games, the masterminds behind the new Sam & Max, Strong Bad, and Tales of Monkey Island episodic adventure games, is currently working on a new series based on an old property: Back to the Future. Yes, the classic trilogy with the flying Delorean, the mad scientist, and the futuristic world of... 5 years from now.
According to Kotaku, Christopher Lloyd is returning to voice the eccentric Doc Brown, and Back to the Future screenwriter Bob Gale will be on hand to consult for the series. Telltale has also acquired the rights to the likeness of both Micheal J. Fox's Marty McFly and the DeLorean time machine. The games are scheduled to release late this year, after the Back to the Future: 25th Anniversary Trilogy Blu-ray
Blizzard Wants A Starcraft Movie Directed By James Cameron
MTV Multiplayer recently posted a short interview Rob Pardo, the EVP of Game Design over at Blizzard about the progress of the World of WarCraft movie. "We're still super excited about it," he says, "but it's still in that story-development phase."
The World of WarCraft movie is based in the WarCraft universe, the setting of the strategy trilogy and wildly popular MMO. Coming from Legendary Pictures, the movie was first announced in 2006 and Sam Raimi, of Evil Dead and Spider-Man fame, attached to direct last year. Having just released massively critically and financially successful StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, MTV asked if the other Blizzard properties would be coming to the silver screen as well.
"We've always had an interest in seeing our stuff on film or TV," Pardo replied. "It's just tricky to find the right partners. We probably could have made a ['StarCraft'] movie or something on TV years and years ago, but it's really important to us that we find creative people that are really talented but also really excited about our properties. That's always been the challenge for us. I think if Jim Cameron came to us tomorrow and said, 'You want to make a 'StarCraft' movie?' we'd probably sign that ... That's why we did the 'WoW' movie. We were really excited about being involved with Legendary Pictures, who we thought had a really good track record with these sorts of movies that would make sense for our franchises."
It's interesting to note that the WoW film is currently in development hell, with few people actually expecting it to go anywhere. That being said, maybe in a few years people will stop attaching such a stigma to films related to video games. Yes, I'm referring to Scott Pilgrim.
Dee SawyerBioWare CEO discusses the lack of DA2 character creation choices
Speaking to VG247 at gamescom, BioWare CEO Ray Muzyka sought to assure Dragon Age fans that the absence of character creation options in Dragon Age 2 will not constrain the wide world of player choice BioWare's epics have become known for.
"Given that he is a human in this universe," Muzyka says, "that’s just the way this particular chapter in the Dragon Age universe is built. It’s built around him being a human, and hence your choices are a little more constrained at the beginning, but on the other hand that enables us to do a lot more other cool things as well, in terms of the way the narrative flows, and the other party members that join with you are really cool and interesting and diverse."
There has been some backlash toward this direction for Dragon Age 2. Dragon Age: Origins gave players the opportunity to choose their character's race, gender, and backstory, all of which helped determine how the story began and how people would react to the character. However, Dragon Age 2 takes a page from the Mass Effect series, plunking players down in the shoes of protagonist Hawke, who comes with his own fixed history. It's still unclear what, if any, benefits or changes save files from Dragon Age: Origins and Awakening might have on Dragon Age 2.
Matt Eddy
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