Category Archives: Gaming

Devil’s Third Exclusive Debut Trailer

Posted on by Arleigh

That trailer is the debut of what looks to be another — as the trailer captions even flashed across the screen — “epic masterpiece” from video gaming’s rare “rock star” developer, Tagaki Tomonobu.

Devil’s Third will be the first game from Itagaki’s newly formed development studios Valhalla Game Studio. Itagaki was formerly of Tecmo’s Team Ninja studio where he had been instrumental in developing the very successful Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive franchises. Both franchises were fan-favorites (also polarizing just like it’s developer Itagaki.) and sold in the millions with each release. With the falling out between Itagaki and his publisher’s bosses at Tecmo, the mercurial and mad-genius developer left Team Ninja and went on a year sabbatical before finally starting up his own studio in Valhalla. Other top designers and developers from Team Ninja would soon leave Tecmo and join Itagaki at Valhalla. With Valhalla Game Studio now established and publishing agreement made with THQ, it looks like Itagaki is back to doing what he’s best known for: making over-the-top games for the console systems.

Devil’s Third will be Itagaki’s first foray into the shooter-genre. His previous franchises were either in the fighting game (Dead or Alive) and/or the action (Ninja Gaiden) genres. This upcoming title for THQ and Valhalla looks to take the shooter genre into the very same over-the-top aesthetics as Itagaki’s previous titles. From the trailer it looks to be as violent and bloody as his previous titles, but now with guns in addition to the usual melee and bladed action.

Even though the game is still at least two years away from a release date the trailer looks to show Itagaki’s plans at adding some fresh new lifeblood at a genre which has become staid and bereft of anything new and innovative. Devil’s Third looks to be Itagaki’s chance to show that his success while at Team Ninja wasn’t just a fluke and that he could branch out to other genres even one as crowded with very good games as the shooter genre.

Despite the game being still two years away from being completed and released I have a feeling this trailer, once it makes it appearance at this year’s E3, will become one of the most anticipated games for both the Xbox 360 and the PS3.

Starcraft II Set For July 27th

Posted on by necromoonyeti

It might be old news by now, but yesterday Blizzard Entertainment set an official release date for Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty. It will be hitting shelves around the world on July 27th. That’s July 27th, 2010. No really. They mean it. Beta testing has been rolling for a couple months now. Of course, single player fans might have to wait longer than July to dig into zerg and protoss; Wings of Liberty is the first of a three part series and focuses on the terran side of the plot. The two that will follow, Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void, should couple with Warcraft Cataclysm to ensure Blizzard continues to collect my money for years to come. But who plays Starcraft single player anyway? If the game’s launching on July 27th, then presumably b.net is launching with it.

Expect mass swarms of BGH to overwhelm the competition at first, but it won’t be long before that map editor gets put to good proper use. All I’m really hoping for out of Blizzard is a revisit of Polaris Prime and Station Unrest, my two favorite maps. The rest is on the users. Unlimited map pitched battles? Turret defense? The Crash RPG series? A Day At School? The Chrono Trigger and Ogre Battle UMSs? Count me in. And what about those Risk maps that only started popping up a few years ago? Well, get to it all you programmers who actually know how to write triggers and the like. Until then I’ll be backstabbing 7v1 comp stomps. Who’s building a spire instead of drone rushing the computer for a quick easy win count?

I used to demand cookie recipes in exchange for checking allied victory. The 9-0 guys would actually hand them over. That’s what you get for not booting Is_Tab_Of_Ten.

Oh god….

Halo Reach: Live-Action Trailer “Birth of a Spartan”

Posted on by Arleigh

Gamers of the past 5 years pretty much have seen gaming publishers go all-out to advertise their AAA titles to the public whether one was a gamer or not. The first to do so was Microsoft and Bungie Studios to help market the third game in their very popular and blockbuster-selling first-person shooter franchise, Halo. It was in marketing Halo 3 where we see live-action short films that helps build the hype and buzz for the game. Halo 3 was going to sell millions whether these short films turned commercials were made or not, but the fact that they were and the gaming community love them shows that the gaming industry was starting to think of itself as akin to the film industry. These were literally live-action trailers for games.

Three of the Halo 3 live-action trailers were directed by a young South African bloke who calls himself Neill Blomkamp. Halo 3: ODST came out with a couple of live-action trailers with one lasting a whopping 2.5 minutes long. This particular trailer had a Saving Private Ryan vibe to it and was actually critically-acclaimed in the advertising and marketing industry. Now, we have the final Halo title from Bungie Studios and the first live-action trailer has popped up. This is not even the trailer for the full-game out later this fall, but a trailer for the multiplayer beta which will begin in May 2010. This live-action trailer is titled “Birth of a Spartan” and shows a glimpse at how the Spartans (super-soldiers in the Halo universe are created).

The trailer looks great. It has a very futuristic clean look to it and even brings to mind military sci-fi influences. With the game still months from seeing it’s initial release I hope they continue to make these live-action trailers. These really are some of the best game trailers out there. Below are some of the previous live-action trailers that had been made for the other titles in the franchise.

Halo Reach Multiplayer Trailer

Posted on by Arleigh

May 3, 2010 marks the day of Bungie’s Halo Reach multiplayer beta. This game marks the final Halo title from the guys at Bungie for the forseeable future. It looks like they plan to go out with quite the bang. The game reaches back to the time before the first game when Spartans were not down to one.

The multiplayer trailer shows the tried-and-true Halo multiplayer action fans of the series have come to know and love, but it also seem to have had some changes to it. There now seems to be more players allowed to play against each other with vehicles and large-scale fights looking to become a huge aspect of multiplayer. I particularly liked the one labeled INVASION.

With Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare 2 dominating console multiplayer FPS action this upcoming release from Bungie may just be something to take back the FPS multiplayer crown back to the Halo camp. If the multiplayer comes out in final release relatively bug and glitch-free then I wouldn’t be surprised if it does become the top multiplayer game on Xbox LIVE once again.

HD Trailer: Halo Reach Multiplayer Trailer HD

Flash Game: Class 3 Outbreak

Posted on by Arleigh

CLASS 3 OUTBREAK

This is one flash game I just came across this morning and felt it necessary to share with all my fellow future zombie apocalypse survivors. It’s a simple little flash game from the guys over at Binary Space Games making use of Google Maps. It’s still in early development but from the look of it the game is already pretty cool. There are settings to make the game easier or harder. The game pretty much has less to do about surviving til the end but how long the section of the city will hold out before all it’s inhabitants have been devoured and/or turned into zombies themselves.

I like the accompanying sounds of zombies moaning, the gunfire and the screams of people as they die. It’s pretty fun and quite addictive. There is a creepy aspect to it in that the small map shows the zombies as red dots. Seeing the mass of red dots slowly move forward until it fills the whole map can creep even a hardcore horror and zombie like myself.

So, just click the title above or the source link below to start your own outbreak and see how long you last before you finally go down with the rest.

Official Site: Class 3 Outbreak – Zombie Outbreak Sim

BioShock 2 Official Launch Trailer

Posted on by Arleigh

[YOUTUBE=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YTh_-C6HKI]

On February 9th we shall the see the release of the well-anticipated sequel to the critical hit and fan-favorite FPS game from Take-Two’s 2K Studios. I am speaking of BioShock. The brainchild of game developer Ken Levine, BioShock was a FPS game which combined fast-paced action with a thoroughly engaging story of Objectivism and the philosophy born out of Ayn Rand’s writings. I would say that this is the game which EA’s upcoming Dante’s Inferno owes it’s existence on.

BioShock 2 continues the the series where it left off at the end of the first game. The setting will be an even more dilapidated and run-down Rapture with Splicers having turned even more mutant-like through abuse of gene-theraphy and ADAM use. This time around the game will have the player play as a Big Daddy who will either rescue and save or harvest the Little Sisters from the first game. A Big Sister will be the one who will pose the biggest threat to this Big Daddy and the player.

One other additional change from the first game for this sequel will be the inclusion of multiplayer gameplay over Xbox Live and PSN. While some have been excited by this inclusion of an online mutiplayer to the game I feel that it doesn’t really fit the series. I see the BioShock franchise in almost the same vein as BioWare’s own Mass Effect series. A game franchise which stand on great storytelling with some very good to great gameplay mechanics built around said storytelling. In the end, I’m still going to be buying this game even if I don’t try the multiplayer option.

Official Site: BioShock 2

Mass Effect 2 Launch Trailer

Posted on by Arleigh

Well, it is just days away until the release of one of the most-anticipated games of 2010. The game I am talking about is BioWare’s Mass Effect 2. It is the sequel to the very popular and critically-acclaimed action-shooter/rpg hybrid Mass Effect which came out in late 2007. The launch trailer marks the start of the massive marketing and ad campaign to promote the game. This one includes interspersed within the trailer blurbs of review scores and positive quotes from game reviewing magazines and websites dedicated to games. All throughout the trailer we have Shephard’s erstwhile ally (and possibly, enemy) The illusive Man of the shadowy, pro-human group Cerberus narrating a brief take on what players will encounter in this sequel.

I will say that the trailer is even better than the last one released by BioWare. The other one details the dangers of recruiting the new sets of characters to help the player in their quest, but this one shows how much more epic this particular fight and game really is. Mass Effect was already quite the massive and epic sci-fi space opera when it came out and this sequel seem intent on out-doing that predecessor in every respect from the look of the trailer. It helps that its all classed up by the voice of The West Wing’s President Bartlett also known as Martin Sheen. The trailer even hints at the opening events of the sequel which has been talked about many times at other places. I won’t go into detail about it but lets just say that Shephard and the original Normandy don’t have a nice first-encounter with the sequel’s main antagonists, The Collector.

So, January 26, 2010 should be retitled Mass Effect 2 Day. For some players, it will be just like a holiday as every work must be put down and stop in order for the playing of said game to commence.

Source: Mass Effect 2 Launch Trailer in HD

Aliens vs. Predator (Xbox360/PS3/WindowsPC)

Posted on by Arleigh

2010 is not even a month old and it already has two quality games already in the books with Platinum Games’ Bayonetta and Vigil Studios’ Darksiders. The end of January brings the heavily-anticipated follow-up to BioWare’s critically-acclaimed Mass Effect. Following in Mass Effect 2‘s wake will be Take-Two’s own sequel with the February 9th release of BioShock 2. The one game which seems to be running under most people’s radar is a little title from UK-based developer, Rebellion Developments. The game I speak of is the FPS-shooter simpy titled, Aliens vs. Predator.

That name alone should bring excitement to gamers who have played previous iterations of that very game on the PC years ago. Let’s just forget that the two films using that same name doesn’t even exist and concentrate on just how awesome this game seems to be turning out. The game’s premise is pretty simple from released info by the studio. It’s a FPS where three factions (Aliens, Predator and Colonial Marines) each have their own single-player campaign which would make-up the overarching storyline. Rebellion Developments knows that the single-player campaign shall be as epic as the films they’re based on, but in the end it is the multiplayer campaign where players get to play on-line with other players either as an Alien, a Predator or a Colonial Marine. I have a feeling that very last faction will be dying quite a bit when chosen by poorly-skilled on-line players.

The game will be coming out on February 16th here in North America with a February 19th release for Europe. The publisher handling it’s release will be SEGA with Rebellion Developments handling any updates, patching and future DLC for the game’s lifetime. As a special, albeit very pricey, extra for the gamer completist it looks like SEGA will be making available for pre-order a limited Hunter Edition of the game with loads of extras that may or may not justify a 99.99 dollar price tag.

Yes, my friends that is a fully-articulated face-hugger in that Hunter Edition. I think the only thing which would make it even better is if it could be remote-controlled to scuttle around. Other things in the Hunter Edition will be the collected edition of the original Dark Horse Comics’ Aliens vs. Predator mini-series. The game will be released on the PS3, Xbox 360 and Windows PC. Sorry, there’s no plans to release a Mac-version of the game. Sorry, Apple peeps.

I, for one, will be pre-ordering the Hunter Edition because that’s just how we player’s roll. here’s to hoping this game delivers on all that Rebellion has shown and promised the last couple years of its development.

Official Site: http://www.sega.com/games/aliens-vs-predator/

Queen and Mega-Man Together At Last

Posted on by Arleigh

I think every gamer worth his console and controller knows that old-school awesome includes anything Mega-Man. People who love their rock knows that one must give proper homage to the Mercury, May, Deacon and Taylor…more known as Queen. What would be more awesome than either two? I’m glad you’ve been asking that question. There’s only one good and proper answer: Mega-Man and Queen together.

What better way for the two to come together than what you shall witness below…prepare to GRIN.

Dragon Age: Origins: Awakening Video Game, Expansion Debut Trailer HD

Posted on by Arleigh

It didn’t take BioWare too long to get the Expansion Trailer up and running. And it’s in prime HD-quality. I’m liking what I see in the trailer. I hope that Alistair is not the “old favorite” from the old crew that will be joining my hot, sexy city elf Grey Warden. She needs her girl Leliana by her side for this expansion. Though I’m sure she wouldn’t mind having Morrigan around as well.

One detail which BioWare fail to mention in their news release for the game is whether it will be download only all across thee platforms or will players be able to order the game with disc and case and all that comes with them. I’m almost afraid to that Gamestop may end up having a special item and/or goodies aplenty for ordering at their site or store. I’m still more than just a tad pissed off that they cutoff pre-orders for their Mass Effect 2 Collector’s editions. Shenanigans I say!! SHENANIGANS!

If the game will be download only I may need to make some room in my Xbox360 HDD or just plain buy one of them newfangled Elites. Having that Elite means playing this expansion on glorious HDMI connection to my HDTV. March 16, 2010 cannot come any faster. Let’s hope this won’t be the only full expansion for this awesome game that is Dragon Age.

via Dragon Age: Origins: Awakening Video Game, Expansion Debut Trailer HD | Game Trailers & Videos | GameTrailers.com.