You can follow your favorite blogs and receive updates here. Add some people Blogs you follow » | write a new blogmanage blogs view your pageblogging tips | commentsmessagesaccountlogout |
Lightning, you look... weird! The black leather-ish armor and white cape aren't exactly JRPG fashion no-nos, but what's up with the sleeves and the shoulder horn? You weirdo!
These Shonen Jump magazine scans we found at Gamekyo show Lightning as she'll appear in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. The outfit is crazy, but it does show that she's ready to kick some ass.
From what we understand, this is just one of her costumes.
Lightning Returns FFXIII : un petit scan [Gamekyo]
Kojima Productions' Yuji Korekado has stated for the record that Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is not being considered for Wii U, and has offered a pretty flimsy reason as to why. According to the producer, the Wii U's biggest feature is the GamePad, which in his mind is not an actual controller.
"One of the strongest appeals of the Wii U is the GamePad," he told Eurogamer. "However, we've constructed Metal Gear Rising so you can fully enjoy the game on the controllers whether it's on the PS3 or the Xbox. So, currently we aren't thinking about Metal Gear Rising on the Wii U."
This excuse severely puzzles me. Leaving aside the existence of the Wii U Pro Controller, Korekado does realize the GamePad has all the functionality of a PS3 or 360 controller, doesn't he? It's got the twin sticks, the D-pad, all the face and shoulder buttons -- it basically is a traditional control method, with some extra features.
Rising's Wii U snub highlights a continuing problem with the Wii U -- developers seem to think the GamePad is a magical barrier that blocks normal videogames from existing. Between Borderlands 2's reason for not being on Wii U and this weak reasoning, I have to wonder how many developers have actually played with the machine.
Kojima Productions: We Aren't Thinking About Metal Gear Rising On Wii U [Eurogamer]
Far Cry 3 has been accused of racism, sexism, and relying too heavily on exploitative narrative tropes. Lead writer Jeffrey Yohalem, however, thinks the critics have missed the point, and told Penny Arcade that Far Cry 3 is supposed to be a commentary.
"It’s set on an island in the South Pacific, so immediately the thing that comes to mind is the white colonial trope, the Avatar trope," he explained. "I started with that, and it’s like, 'Here's what pop culture thinks about traveling to a new place,' and the funny thing is, that's an exaggeration of most games, they just don’t expose it.
"For example, GTA is a colonization game. You come to New York, you colonize New York. Most open world games function that way. Ezio comes to Rome and colonizes Rome. To take that to its extreme, exaggerating those tropes is how you reveal them. The exaggeration of that trope is what happens in Far Cry 3."
In my own review for the game, I found the story relatively inoffensive and stylishly presented, but did point out that it veers dangerously into "Mighty Whitey" trope territory. Far Cry 3's story is basically about an inexperienced young white man coming to a tropical island and being better at the natives' way of life than they are in a matter of days. It's a cliche that's ripe for satire and commentary, but the problem is -- Far Cry 3 really doesn't do that, despite the writer's claim.
Developer Crystal Dynamics has started up a video series that details the new features you can expect out of the upcoming Tomb Raider. We see how Lara will be able to learn new skills, get weapons, and make gear as you progress in the nightmarish journey. Plus, the video goes over how you'll be able to use the environment to your advantage.
Very much looking forward to the new Tomb Raider. Are you? It's coming out on March 5, 2013 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
Now that an absurd amount of Minecraft sales have happened on Xbox 360, it makes a bit more sense that the console would be home to the premier of 2 Player Production's documentary about the studio behind the hit game. Catch the trailer for it above.
Minecraft: The Story of Mojang airs this Saturday, December 22 at 8:00pm Eastern for Xbox Live Gold members, according to Major Nelson. As tends to be the case, there are restrictions based on applicable regions -- the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, Portugal, Austria, France, Finland, and Sweden are good to go.
We feel your pain, Canada and everyone else excluded. If you're unwilling or unable to catch this initial free viewing, The Story of Mojang will be available for purchase on December 23.
The very first Jimquisition Awards are here! Five days, five games, five awards!
We kick off with one of the most compelling new retail IPs released this year, a classic in the making from Arkane Studios and Bethesda. Yep, it could only be Dishonored!
There's a new issue of Edge (#249) out this week that has a ten-page feature on Dark Souls II which I'm sure many of us are eager to read. After From Software director Tomohiro Shibuya was quoted as saying the game would be "more straightforward and more understandable," a detailed explanation of how that will pan out in execution would be welcome.
"Right in the beginning when players first pick up the game is something that I will definitely focus on," he told Edge. "To not immediately throw them into Dark Souls but provide a good introduction in terms of what the game's about and how the game should be played. Hopefully that adjustment at the very beginning of the game will help draw in players and get them addicted right away without immediately making players feel rejected [by] the game system itself."
Some aspects of Dark Souls were far less clear than others. The Covenant system was "difficult to fully absorb and experience," according to Shibuya. "Making it more accessible to players is something that I want to express… I will follow the same concept as Dark Souls, but there were a lot of hidden story elements that some players may not have caught before and I'm hoping to make some of that a little bit more clear or directly expressed to the player as well."
Nothing said here has me too worried about the state of Dark Souls II, but these are only two elements of a full game. It's going to be crucial for From Software to nail the first hour of gameplay given what will surely be a larger player base this time around, and I too think that covenants could use some work. Yes, I can go read up on the intricacies if I have to, but I'd really rather not.
Dark Souls II's new director on making one of the toughest series in videogames "more accessible" [Edge]
“How dare you? HOW DARE YOU! How dare you review a Lord of the Rings game without having every film box set in a display case! HOW DARE YOU review a MOBA without having been yelled at and debased by 12-year-olds for more than 200 hours! HOW DARE YOU!! HOOOOW DAAAREEE YOU, SIR!!”
I’ve read your complaints about my Guardians of Middle-earth impressions post. It’s true that I am no Lord of the Things and I often confuse MOBA with Boba tea, but, nonetheless, I have put some time into GoMe (GO ME!!!) and have some serious thoughts on the game that should speak to fans and non-fans of LotR and MOBAs alike.
The Zero Dark Thirty Map Pack has been released today on Origin for Medal of Honor: Warfighter ahead of tomorrow's launch for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. This content pack, which contains two maps inspired by real-world locations, is free for Warfighter Limited Edition owners; otherwise, it's $9.99 / 800 Microsoft Points.
Beyond the maps, there are six additional weapon configurations, 14 new weapon skins, and 10 more multiplayer ranks. While the whole point is to achieve realism (comparatively speaking), I can't help but be a little weirded out by the source material here. For what it's worth, EA is donating $1 from each purchase in the U.S. and Canada through March 19, 2014 to its Project HONOR initiative that seeks to benefit nonprofit veterans organizations.
A number of players are apparently finding themselves banned from Halo 4 online play after purchasing the latest downloadable content. Microsoft has acknowledged the issue and is currently investigating.
"We are not permanently banning players for previewing or purchasing the Crimson Map Pack," confirmed a 343 Industries forum moderator. "We are currently investigating the recent reports of permanent matchmaking bans."
There's an official ban thread on the studio's message board, which should update with further information on the subject.
What is it with Halo and bans? That series seems to attract these incidents like Calamity James and hilariously labelled falling weights. That Beano reference has absolutely no resonance here.
When a PEGI listing for new RAGE downloadable content surfaced months ago, it felt a bit late, considering the game released in October of last year. Still, the add-on seemed like something we'd be interested in checking out anyway. Now, many more months later, Bethesda has announced that The Scorchers ($4.99) will be dropping next week.
As the name would imply, the add-on's six new areas will revolve around the Scorcher clan. Bethesda is promising another season of Mutant Bash TV, more mini-games, and a nailgun weapon when the DLC becomes available on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 this Tuesday. (European PSN members have to wait a day.)
Interestingly, id Software will include an Ultra-Nightmare difficulty and Extend Play option as well. The latter allows players to stick with their own personal world after RAGE's conclusion to take care of any unfinished business. Really, that ought to be the standard by now.
RAGE DLC arrives next week on PS3, 360, and PC! [Bethesda Blog]
Remember that one time we saw that teaser image for Battleblock Theater and got all excited? It feels like that was ages ago. Well, that was because it was nearly three years ago, and the game has been hit with delay after delay, to the point where a lot of people have either forgotten about it, or don't care.
There's still no release date, but The Behemoth does say that they're "hitting the home stretch," so hopefully an announcement should come any week now. Right now the only new news besides the fact that the game is finally almost done is that it obtained a T for Teen rating in the US for "blood and violence."
Yep, sounds like a Behemoth game.
What's New [The Behemoth]
The BioShock series has never been shy of offering political critique, and BioShock Infinite is biting closer to home than previous installments. The game themes itself around nationalism, racism, and what can happen when the love of America can go too far. Ironically, the folks at Stormfront missed the point, and set about proving it instead.
Stormfront is well known online for being a hub of racist tomfoolery, and a crazy old thread (discovered by PC Gamer) claims the objective of Infinite is to "Kill Whitey." As you might expect, the self-martyrdom of the modern bigot is out in full force, as users show offence that a "Jew" like Ken Levine would pressgang white developers into making his anti-American game.
Yeah ... it's pretty wacky stuff. It also goes to how just how normal racists think they are, that a game about extremism, to them, is about killing regular white people. No. Regular white people don't think the way you do, Mr. Racist. The game's not about us.
You can read the whole thread for yourself if you want to be astonished at the victim complex of mostly white men (literally the most downtrodden people in the world), but we've also selected some juicy highlights for you to take a gander at. Be warned, of course, that some of it gets rather vile.
I'm pretty pumped for Dead Space 3 and I've been thinking a lot about how I want to approach it at launch. I'm pretty sure that I want to go at it full co-op from the beginning, and then go back in solo. It seems Visceral is doing some pretty neat things with changing story lines depending on how you play, and from the looks of this trailer I'm not worried about having a second player compromising the scares. In other words, this looks freaky enough that I'm sure we'll both be scared.
So who's in? I want to play the entire game co-op at launch in early February.
Although some might argue that 2012 featured less must-have games than the last few years, those titles that did stand out from the pack were damn good, and it was difficult whittling down the very best to just a handful of nominees. Even without exclusives, there are some brutal competition for best multiplatform game of 2012.
Even harder, of course, was deciding upon a winner, but democracy has won through and given us the best of the mercenaries, the fairweather friends, and the games that like to spread it around a bit. Here's a reminder of the finalists:
Assassin's Creed III
The Walking Dead
Borderlands 2
Far Cry 3
Dishonored
And the winner is ...
Those who enjoyed the challenging "Ranger Mode" setting in Metro 2033 will have to get Metro: Last Light's Limited Edition -- announced today -- to get it in the sequel. The good news is that it's not one of those extravagant, hundred dollar boxed editions -- it's all digital stuff, and has had no extra pricing announced.
As well as Ranger Mode, the Limited Edition includes a "Ranger load-out," complete with extra military-grade bullets to use as currency, and a powerful AKS-74U rifle.
For PS3 users, anybody who preorders the Limited Edition on the PlayStation Network from December 18 will also receive a free PSN theme and a digital copy of Homefront. So far there's no option to just take the theme ... which is really unfortunate.
