Tag Archives: Square-Enix

E3 2011: Dead Island (Exclusive Trailer and Gameplay Demo)

Posted on by Arleigh

Just a little under four months ago the announcement trailer for the Techland and Deep Silver zombie survival horror title, Dead Island, premiered to much acclaim. The trailer was like a short film and really tugged at the emotions of those who saw it for the first time. The trailer itself didn’t show what the game was all about other than a paradise resort becoming the setting for a zombie survival horror game with open-world gameplay.

A couple more trailers using gameplay scenes came out since then, but it’s now E3 and gamers want more info on just how the game plays. Techland and Deep Silver didn’t disappoint. In addition to a new trailer made exclusively for this year’s E3, the game also was available in demo form for attendees to check out and play. The two-part video below is one such example of someone playing the demo.

From what I could tell from the gameplay demo this game seems to be a much more serious version of the campy and over-the-top Capcom zombie horror title Dead Rising. Weapons seem to be mostly melee types like machete, knives, steel bars and such with the random rifles and pistols to be found during the game. Dead Island looks great from what I could see from the demo. Hopefully, more details about the gameplay and the co-op multiplayer will be released between E3 and the game’s release.

Dead Island is set for a September 6, 2011 for the U.S. and September 9, 2011 for the rest of the world.

E3 2011: Tomb Raider Trailer and Gameplay Demo

Posted on by Arleigh

One of gaming’s elder franchise which has seen some tough times the last couple years has been the Tomb Raider series. The franchise was one of the most popular ones during the late 90’s and early 2000’s but since the latter half of this new millenium’s first decade the games for the series has been lackluster at best and awful at they’re worst. Part of this downward could be blamed on the two films adapted from the game starring Angelina Jolie, but I like to believe that the series was already on it’s way down before those two films came out.

This latest entry to the Tomb Raider franchise looks to revive the series by rebooting the character and making the game an origin title which would put Lara Croft in her early 20’s and still quite new to the tomb raiding and worldwide adventuring game. Crystal Dynamics remains as the game’s developer with Japanese game publisher Square-Enix doing the releasing of the title.

From what was shown at Microsoft’s E3 Press Conference this latest Lara Croft looks to not just be younger but also design with realism in mind. While she still looks quite curvaceous there’s also a more athletic look to her physique which previous Lara Croft designs never truly had. Those past Lara Croft pretty much took the concept of a “teenage boy’s ideal woman” and gave it shape.

I have some hope that this latest title in the franchise will look towards Sony’s and Naughty Dog’s own action-adventure franchise, Uncharted, as a blueprint to bring Lara Croft back to prominence and relevancy in the gaming industry.

Tomb Raider has no definite release date other than sometime around Q3 2012.

Song of the Day: Terra’s Theme from Final Fantasy VI (Uematsu Nobuo)

Posted on by Arleigh

For the latest entry to the “song of the day” feature I go back to my younger years. I’m talking about when I was still barely into my 20’s. My choice for the new song of the day is Japanese composer Uematsu Nobuo’s main title theme for the Squaresoft (before they became Square-Enix) fantasy role-playing game Final Fantasy VI.

The song is “Terra’s Theme” (in the original Japanese it was called “Tina’s Theme”) and starts off the game. The version above is the piano solo version which Square-Enix produced as part of the special “Final Fantasy Piano Collections” cd releases which took all the video game music for each game in the Final Fantasy series game and remade them into piano solo pieces. Uematsu’s original composition for Final Fantasy VI (also for most of the game’s in the series he composed the music for) were very heavily-influenced by classical music traditions and one can really hear it in this main theme.

While the piano solo version is quite a haunting melody which gives some clues to the character of Terra Branford. The two versions below are the original video game music which is really a well-done MIDI file to allow it to be encoded into the game cartridge when it was first released for the SNES system. The other one is a live recording of Uematsu himself conducting an orchestra. While all three have become one of my favorite pieces of music of all kinds (not just video game music) it is the piano solo which solidified “Terra’s Theme” as one of the best songs I’ve ever heard.

Terra’s Theme (Live Orchestral)

Terra’s Theme (Original Video Game Music)

Warhammer 40K: Dark Millenium Trailer

Posted on by Arleigh

E3 2010 has made some announcements in regards to several MMORPGs set for release in the near future. One game is Square-Enix’s Final Fantasy XIV which is the sequel to their previous MMORPG in Final Fantasy XI. The second is BioWare’s much-anticipated MMORPG based on George Lucas’ iconic space opera franchise, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Both titles have their fanbase looking forward to play them if just to take a break from the 800 lb. gorilla of the MMO-world: World of Warcraft.

Flying under the radar, but no less anticipated by their own legions of fans is Vigil Studios and THQ’s foray into the MMORPG genre. I am talking about their MMORPG title based on the very popular Games Workshop IP, Warhammer 40,000. Building upon the success and popularity of THQ’s own Dawn of War franchise (also based on the 40k universe), this MMORPG is to be called Warhammer 40K: Dark Millenium Online.

I’m not a huge fan of MMORPG titles since despite how well they play and how much they really look they’re major timesinks that require almost complete dedication from the player to really get into the game. This means almost leaving other games by the wayside and as a gamer that’s a big decision. Either play one game all the time and ignore other great games or only play casually the MMO title and not really get into it.

With this title I may have to rethink about how I feel about MMORPGs since this is one IP that even I am excited over. I have been a huge Warhammer 40K fan since 1990 when I was a senior in high school and my interest has never waned one bit. Now that the franchise has successfully made it’s transition over to video gaming I’m excited for the prospect of enjoying the franchise even more than just reading the lore and playing the tabletop.

The game looks to be like your typical persistent-world MMORPG with two opposing factions having their own unique classes. What I like from looking at the trailer is how heavily it’s based on combat and from the looks of things it might be similar to another scifi-based MMO of the past and that’s Sony’s very own Planetside. I like that vehicles are something that a player can use to fight NPCs and other players of the opposing faction. The only question I and other fans probably have is whether Vigil and THQ will avoid the mistakes Mythic made with Warhammer Online by actually creating a game with an endgame for people to use as their goal.

I’m sure more details will follow as the months pass by. Here’s to hoping that a release date or, at the very least, a beta date for people to participate in, gets announced in the near future. I already know what I shall play and that’s as a Space Marine and hopefully of the Dark Angels Chapter.

AMV of the Week: Bustin’ – Advent Children

Posted on by Arleigh

The AMV choice for the week won the AMV Best Concept award at 2008 Anime Boston. One I happen to have attended which I must do once again in the near future. While I’m not a huge fan of Square-Enix’s Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children I will say that the theme song from Ghostbusters seemed to have meshed well with scenes from FF7:AC. Again, this is one of the few AMV’s which I actually like. Enjoy!