JASON 3:60

Alan Wake, "The Signal" - Review - This is not just DLC ...

2010-08-03T21:42:00.004-05:00

... it's an ingenious twisting of what you're used to.

On July 27th, Remedy released the first of at least two DLC for their very good Alan Wake, a short episode entitled "The Signal." After finishing the full-game two months ago, I've been dying to travel back to Bright Falls and see where else the story could go. Thankfully, the wait was (mostly) worth it.

SPOILERS - SPOILERS - SPOILERS - SPOILERS - SPOILERS - SPOILERS - SPOILERS

When we left Alan (again, SPOILERS - SPOILERS - SPOILERS), he had written an ending that saved his wife but kept him in the Dark Presence. We all wondered what would now come of Alan because he didn't die, he just existed somewhere else (and depending on how you interpret the game, if Alan "really" exists at all). Plus an enigmatic ellipsis before the credits indicates that we haven't turned over the last page.

Wonder no further. "The Signal" is here to try and point us in the right direction.

What makes "The Signal" so good is how Remedy deftly challenges what we became used to in the full-game. For starters, we begin in the Oh, Deer! Diner, just like the start of Alan Wake, but immediately the world is off, bathed in darker hues with dark smoke writhing outside the windows. The townspeople Alan met are now basically memories, translucent shapes repeating their lines but slightly distorted like an old record. It's clear from the onset that the world Alan is trapped in is being shaped to some degree by his memories, but memories now clouded by the presence of Dark. The Dark permeates this world, smoldering around Alan, rising out of the ground almost spider-like. We're not in Washington anymore, Toto.

Only portions of Bright Falls are revisited, and if they are, they aren't the same and are connected outside of normal logic (this is, after all, a kind of dream world). For instance, you'll pass through the church again, but the basement has become a maze of furnaces instead of just shelves. Remember Alan's New York apartment? It's here in this Dark-version Bright Falls, too, but don't expect the bustle of the Big Apple when you look out the windows. Everything is the same, but different.

In fact, that is the best aspect of "The Signal." It is the same Alan Wake we played and loved, but different. Remedy plays around with what we expect to be true and safe and adds another level of fear and hesitation. This time, light has the potential to harm you. Now, light itself won't hurt Alan, but it can bring about harm depending on where you shine it. Upon entering the Darkness near the end of the full-game, words appeared in the air, representations of what could be if Alan shone his light on them long enough. Several seemed merely aesthetic (telephones, trashcans, etc.), but some were essential to progress (like "bridge," or "cabin"). In "The Signal," you'll encounter close to a hundred of these words, several to help you progress, a few to give you batteries and ammunition, and many to give you reasons to use your batteries and ammunition. One such area is littered with them; think of the final scene in Hitchcock's The Birds. Words can definitely hurt you in "The Signal," figuratively by representing enemies, but also literally: touch one and you'll see!

TV's reappear and take the place of manuscript pages (since you've supposedly finished writing Departure, there's no need to continue writing ... or is there?). And if you thought the pages cleverly foreshadowed future frightening events before, they're nothing compared to the TVs. One of my least favorite things in the full-game was Alan's reading aloud of the pages. The fiction was great, but Alan's repetitive, gruff and stoic timbre kinda bugged me in the end (although I know what the game makers were going for). Well, Remedy must have read my mind because, well ... I won't ruin it for you, but trust me, Alan this time is far from monotone.

The end result of this "1-hour special" is a brilliant twist in mechanics that re-instills the fears we had in our initial playthrough. The difficulty, at first, is steeper because of the new grounds, the scant amount of ammo and flares you're given (again, at first; ammo management is better in subsequent outings), and sometimes the Taken appear dangerously close behind you, so it is a challenge to your skills and to your nerves to continue following the light once again. Thematic elements are also very strong. Our expectations, our choices and our words are discussed not mainly by the script or Alan's inner monologue, but more so by the gameplay, which is quite an impressive feat reminiscent of BioShock.

However, don't expect to be philosophizing here for long or even understand that much more of the Alan Wake saga.

"The Signal" is not quite a novella, but a short-story. Sure you may take a few hours once you've downloaded it, but recently I blazed through it in approximately 20 minutes. Granted, it was my third/fourth playthrough and I knew where everything was, but still, it's really not long at all. The ending is kind of abrupt and, if you have the right tools at hand, a piece of cake. Sadly, too, I don't feel like anything new was explained for us or Alan at the end. The story isn't finished yet, but there's no edge-or-your-seat cliffhanger to gear up anticipation for the next DLC, "The Writer." At least I wasn't dying to download it after finishing "The Signal;" I am dying to play it because it's more Alan Wake, not because of how "The Signal" ended.

The positives vastly outweigh the negatives here, thankfully. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with "The Signal" and if you loved the full-game you should definitely add this DLC to your shelf. Even if you bought the game used and didn't get the free token by buying it new, purchase it. The mechanics are the same, but tweaked and twisted for the story Remedy is telling in this short amount of time. Thankfully the formula hasn't changed (even Barry is as hilarious as ever); we're just given a new way to look at what we thought was good and what we thought was safe. And I feel safe with Remedy.

FINAL GRADE - B+
(I obviously didn't do my usual full-length review segments since this is DLC and the content is pretty similar)

Alan Wake - Review - Frightening, Suspenseful, a Real Page-Turner

2010-07-04T16:18:00.010-05:00

Sitting across from Mr. Wake, with the full puzzle coming into focus and the final pieces placed, the gravity from our seventeen hour journey together keeps me to my chair, like I've been punched and punched and punched and punched and I cannot move. I breathe and instead of oxygen I imbibe the molecules of a twisted mystery. I speak and instead of words I utter what others could only describe as ravings that touch no reality. Consumed, swarmed, leashed. It won't let me move. It. It.

But I have won; heavy and weighted as I am, I have still won. The black screen, both an unknown void and comfortable signal flare communicates the end. It is over.

Or is it ...

Sorry, the above prose isn't very good and maybe only barely reminiscent of something Remedy's author/protag would write. But Alan Wake has the uncanny power to permeate my brain. And if you play it, your brain might be permeated, too, in some pretty cerebral ways.

Alan Wake is a very novel game (pun absolutely intended!) in that there is hardly anything like it out there. The closest comparisons would be Silent Hill 1 and 2 minus the grotesque horror, then add a dash of perfect location like BioShock's Rapture. Admittedly, not everything makes perfect sense, but nightmarish situations rarely do, and the nightmare we experience in this game keeps you wanting to find out what will happen next, even if it might be terrifying to see what's around the corner.

Turn the page to keep reading. And by "turn" I mean "click." And by "the page" I mean the link that says "Continue reading."

I'm so relieved that Alan Wake is a great game after being in development for 5 more years after being announced. Developer Remedy took their time, knowing that they had to release a quality product, and it shows. Plus, if you ever want to get a feel for the Washington state landscape before actually going there, play Alan Wake and you'll be set. It's been a few years since a game has established an almost tangible milieu, an environment that seems like it isn't simply inspired by something but is an actual digital representation of a real locale, townsfolk attitude and all. If you're planning on traveling to America's great Northwest, you might actually find Bright Falls, Washington in the latest state brochure.

Only if you go, bring a flare gun. Trust me.

Actually, you probably shouldn't go to Bright Falls if it existed. Anyone with an iota of artistic talent is in a pickle, and the nightlife is a hilarious one-word oxymoron. Thankfully it's just a game, and man, what a game.

Remedy has billed their latest work as a psychological action thriller. Each word in that description is dead-on. Alan Wake messes with emotions and reality. Alan Wake has you constantly defending your life. Alan Wake surrounds you with suspense and tension, plot twists and cliffhangers. Overall, Alan Wake is an experience you won't, and shouldn't, forget.

THE STORY

When you're releasing a game that centers around an author, everyone's eyes are on your story. Remedy obviously knew this, making the story engaging and very much like a page-turner (and in a brilliant sleight of hand, the act of writing a story is a part of the story!).

Famed thriller writer Alan Wake is taking some time off across the country with his wife, Alice, by going to quaint, out-of-the-way Bright Falls. Alan has met with some public outcry due to some of his actions, plus he's experiencing some writer's block, so getting away with the woman he loves seems like the best chance to slow things down and take a break. Bright Falls is ideal: a town in the middle of nowhere, low population and opportunities to blend into the woods and relax.

But being a celebrity is hard to cover up. Everybody on the planet knows who Alan Wake is, from the middle-aged radio DJ he meets on a ferry, to the young waitress at the local diner (who just happens to be his "biggest fan"). Thankfully, instead of meeting with those pushy, photo-rabid Paparazzi, the townsfolk Alan encounters understand his need for space, offering invitations for interviews or chatting it up only if he's interested.

10 minutes and a creepy meeting with a creepy old woman later, Alan and Alice make it to their cabin serenely nestled in the middle of "a special place" called Cauldron Lake. But apparently a lake with a name that makes one think of witches, toil and trouble isn't as romantic as it sounds. Not long after the Wakes decide to settle in, some kind of hell breaks loose. Alice somehow falls into the lake and Alan loses a week of time, waking up not after diving into the dark waters to rescue his wife, but in his car ... that has wrecked ... in the middle of the woods. Now, Alan has to figure out what has happened to him since coming to Bright Falls, but more so, what has happened to his wife.

You control Alan in his trek through the woods of Washington, trying to find the pieces of a puzzle scattered throughout park trails, mills, farms and the local clinic. As if aided by some otherworldly presence, Alan discovers pages from a manuscript that he has written but, of course, doesn't remember writing. Some of these pages explain the past while others forecast the future; and with Alan being a famous thriller writer, the future is sometimes scary.

Through cutscenes and internal monologues, manuscript pages and your agent Barry's comic rants (one of the shining elements of the game), the twisted tale of Mr. Wake constantly appeals to human reactions to things out of our control. Instead of a super-soldier saving the world, we play as a vulnerable, errant person trying to protect his life and love the only ways he knows how. In the totally fake woods around the totally fake town, there is a sense of reality in Alan Wake, from the grandeur of human behavior right down to being dependent on a flare. We aren't given the freedom of moral choices like a Bethesda or Rockstar game, but the experience crafted by Remedy is as good as any suspense novel, a story that sucks you in and has you feel the same fear as the protagonist because you quite literally do.

As I said earlier, nightmares don't always make sense after we wake from them, and that can be said about Alan Wake, both for the good and the bad. From a story standpoint, Alan Wake makes sense in the end, though to wrap your brain around that ever elusive "Why" might take some stretching. To understand every detail takes some digging, and really is better served for the online forum debates. I have my own beliefs about what happens in Bright Falls, and I believe there is deliberate room for interpretation. Take for example the very first line of the game, a quote from Stephen King:

... nightmares exist outside of logic, and there's little fun to be had in explanations - they are antithetical to the poetry of fear. In a horror story, the victim keeps asking 'Why?' but there can be no explanation, and there shouldn't be one. The unanswered mystery is what stays with us the longest, and it's what we'll remember in the end.

Need I say more?

Alan Wake has won the Best Storytelling of the Year award already in my heart for 2010. Remedy took the whole art form of writing seriously when they made their lead character an author and Alan Wake is a successful final draft of an engaging suspense thriller. It's dark. It's atmospheric. It's thematic. It's well developed. It's scary. It's unexpected. It's fun. And it's fun to play, too.

GAMEPLAY

To sum up, Alan Wake's mechanics are brilliantly simplistic and deceptive in a good way. Coinciding with the thematic elements of light and dark, light is your guardian angel, coming in the forms of flashlights, spotlights, flares, and lampposts, among a few others. Darkness is just frightful, and if you have a fear of it, well, this game ain't for you. You will almost always have a flashlight handy, and you need it because light will 1.) help you see (duh), 2.) illuminate secret messages and weapon caches, and most importantly, 3.) take down enemy shields before you can take them down at all.

Enemies, called the Taken, range from possessed heavy machinery to possessed townsfolk. You see, there's this Dark Presence that can take control of anything, living or inanimate, and make it want to kill you. It swirls around your enemy like inky, ethereal Kevlar until light is focused on it long enough to make it disappear. Once these dark shields are gone, you're free to fire away with whatever you have at your disposal (Two weapons in particular are so powerful that they eliminate enemy shields and the foe itself; best to save those for when you really need 'em).

Lampposts serve as places called Safe Havens and their names are completely true; they are 100% safe even if a Taken or a flock of killer birds is within arms length. Tension mounts when you leave one of these heaven Havens and the nighttime environment sways like a hurricane is approaching and the world around you seems to be literally breathing some evil exhalation, summoning the Taken to surround you. It's some pretty intense stuff your first time through. Remedy's treatment of the main enemy type is dang terrifying. The townsfolk gunning for you taunt you with normal everyday talk interlaced with demonic and irregular pitches that tear at your feelings of safety. Many times enemies will come at you from behind, adding an extra level of fear (and annoyance) when you find your best bet is to run as fast as you can to the nearest Safe Haven. Prepare to jump, be startled, and play with bated breath during most of your journey through the woods of Washington.

Exploration is encouraged, however aggravating. One of the game's achievements is collecting 100 coffee thermoses scattered throughout Bright Falls. Why? Who knows (see Stephen King quote again). If you've ever played Assassin's Creed and gone after the flags achievement, you'll know what I'm talking about. If you are a nook-and-cranny explorer like I am, then you will find many a time where the level design appears tailor-made for a hidden goodie, but alas there's nothing there but probably some Taken waiting to emerge from thin air. But you should still explore because the environment is simply incredible. Bright Falls is a completely realized town.

NEGATIVES

Coffee thermoses - *sigh*

The last level - There are a handful of unusually frustrating sections.

Dodging makes you run less - The cinematic slow-mo effects that happen every so often when you dodge are awesome, but they don't always work. But the worst part is if you try to run away after you've dodged a couple of times ... you won't be running away long because you will be ...

Dying - The act of dying isn't a negative, it's the fact that Alan can die at all (this is not a spoiler). Think about it ... you're in a world where things happen because they're written on pages that you've found, and Alan has written them. Do you ever read about him dying in these pages? Theoretically, if he's not dying in the written pages, can he die in between? I don't think it makes a whole lot of sense. Unfortunately it's a necessary paradox in this game (unless you want to take a Prince of Persia route) and it doesn't detract from the experience. Perhaps it falls under that inexplicable "Why" in your attempts at ...

Understanding the story - "Wait a minute, fake Louis Tulley, you just said that you really aren't supposed to understand all of the story and there's even room for interpretation!" Verily, verily, I say to you ... well, yeah, I did say that. But hear me out ... some things are further explained in the Limited Collector's Edition, not the regular, so if anyone has questions they're dying to know, then they're out of luck if they bought the $60 version. I guess it's a privilege for the Collector's Edition buyers, but it does seem a tad unfair.

THE CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE

I thought I'd try something new in my reviews and address how a game speaks to, conflicts with, affects how I feel as a Christian and if Christians really should be playing it. I don't intend to be a version of Plugged In Online, but kind of in the same vein.

Much like any other game, Alan Wake has you killing "people." I put "people" in quotation marks because your enemies are possessed and, even after you've taken away the Dark Presence shielding them from your bullets, they still want to murder you. Alan's actions are all in self-defense. I've never been faced with someone trying to kill me, so I don't know what I would do if I had a gun and a defensive reason. After you've killed your first two, Alan actually has an internal monologue addressing the fact that he'd never killed someone before and how weird it feels. I've also heard for a long time that the God said "do not murder, not "do not kill." In the long run, the effects of killing the Taken are far less worse than, say, something out of Manhunt 2, or Aliens vs. Predator. Besides, the Taken disappear in a flurry of sparks instead of laying lifeless to show what you've done to them.

Alan is spurred on throughout the game's entirety to save his wife, a very noble and just cause. Their love is portrayed as true and solid, unconditional. With the story Remedy is telling there's no need for anything sexual to be shown (though for a brief stint Alice is shown in a tank-top and underwear, but again, not for sexual purposes, trust me), and there isn't. Pure and simple, Alan wants his wife back and will do anything to rescue her. He's a classic tragic hero, brave, but scared and human, fighting the forces of darkness with forces of light.

Language is probably the roughest of all the content, with S-words and GD in several places. No one is indicated to be someone of faith, so the language isn't surprising and I believe can be suffered through to experience the dramatic story because the story and themes are the overall important parts, and they are very good.

IN CONCLUSION

I want to recommend Alan Wake to everyone, but I know not everyone would like it. That's not to say that this is a niche game made for one type of people. But Remedy has completely catered to single-player gamers such as myself, and they should love the developed story and the action, which is dead-on fun and addictive, with a frightening world to run around (or away) in. They knew what game they wanted to create, and they pulled it off. It's hard for me to say that the game is a full package, what with the Limited Collector's Edition being the true full package, and DLC intended for the future, but the quality of the game speaks volumes and is enough to warrant a very high score. I loved Alan Wake and I hope so many more people do so that Remedy will decide to make a sequel because, me, I already have my flares packed to go back to Washington.

FINAL GRADE - A

(If you've never read one of my reviews before, I always insert pictures from IGN. Sorry about a lack of pictures in the body this time ... long story.)

Best. Edition. Ever.

2010-05-18T05:49:00.001-05:00

Take a look below at the Limited Collector's Edition of Alan Wake I picked up five hours ago at midnight. I say without hesitation that this edition is quite possibly the best bang for $80 in video games today.

Pictured above from left to right is the official soundtrack; The Alan Wake Files, a dossier of sorts compiling all the pertinent information related to the mystery (which I'll be reading after beating the game, of course); a "Bonus Disc," of which I know nothing; the full length game packaged more like a film or TV DVD; and last, a fuzzy, hardcover box to store everything in (the picture does it no justice), sporting Alan Wake's "autograph." Also included are codes for a shirt for your avatar, a theme, and the first DLC, all of which come with every new copy bought and/or preordered. Eighty bucks never felt so good.

Add to the whole presentation a sleekness that looks totally professional and serious and this edition shines above the majority in the industry, beaten in my eyes only by The Orange Box for value (but definitely not for box art).

Does the game itself deliver as much as its packaging? You'll have to read my eventual review to find out!

Machinima Asks, "WTBF?"

2010-05-10T15:59:00.001-05:00

"WTF is WTBF?" you might ask.

WTBF stands for "What the Bright Falls," Machinima's analytical question to what the heck is going on in Alan Wake's prequel, "Bright Falls." I'm such a nerd for meticulous crap like this! These guys are really good, asking logical questions and pointing out important details and clues most people would miss (like the opening credits; there's so much there!). What a crazy town Bright Falls is. If I ever go, I'm bringing these guys.

If you've seen the first three episodes then check out the two WTBF videos below. If you haven't, where have you been, and watch them first before these.

*Disclaimer - The first video drops an F-Bomb*

Bright Falls, Episode 3 - "Lights Out"

2010-05-10T15:33:00.003-05:00

"Bright Falls," the prequel to the psychological-action-thriller Alan Wake continues to notch up the weird-factor nob. If you haven't watched the first two episodes, click to this post or scroll below. The town of Bright Falls is ... well, let's just say somethin' ain't right there. Along the lines of ironically named places like television's Happy Town or BioShock's Rapture, Bright Falls boasts a misleading sense of security of small town living with big secrets. Deer, diners and motels ... nothing is as it seems.

The game comes out in just over a week and I'm hoping my local GameStop will have a midnight release (I mean they have to with a handful of major games releasing that Tuesday: Alan Wake, Red Dead Redemption, Split/Second, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and, um, Trauma Team). Watch the videos and get psyched for an engaging, story-centered game!

Alan Wake Prequel "Bright Falls" Finally ... um, Falls

2010-04-27T14:50:00.001-05:00

Here are the first two episodes of "Bright Falls," the Alan Wake live-action prequel. Pretty weird. Definitely set the tone of the town ...

Final Fantasy XIII - Review - Satisfying From Beginning to (Eventual) End

2010-04-27T13:50:00.010-05:00

A long time coming, huh? Final Fantasy XIII came out on March 9th and here it is April 27th, 7 weeks later and I'm just now starting my review.

I think it's pretty appropriate in a way actually. The commitment to play Final Fantasy XIII (I call it a commitment because it is much more than just playing a game) itself takes a long time to see through. First, it took me around 64 hours to get to view the end credits, which ended up being exactly one month to finish the story. Second, I'm still playing as of today to get all the achievements and I have currently accumulated over 90 hours of total gameplay. My prediction of how many more hours it will take to get the rest of the achievements? Another 30. If you're keeping tabs, any post-game leveling and achievement hunting could take upwards of another 60 hours depending on how much you play it the first time through.

Make no mistake, Final Fantasy XIII is a long game. Not only is the complete package time consuming, but the course to get there is practically a straight line that doesn't break wide open until after 20 hours (and even then it's deceptively large). Does this construction limit the game's enjoyability? Is it a monotonous trudge-fest that lacks depth and choice, instead funneling the player into predetermined choices making you feel like you're in an aggravatingly long QTE?

In an attempt to offer a breath of brevity: No.

Final Fantasy XIII is a giantly fantastic game in more ways than one, and in the first four months of 2010 has captured my attention like nothing I've played since the original BioShock or Half-Life 2. Heck, I'm still playing it and wanting to whenever I can get an just an hour to play.

Continue reading for the full review.

So, I've already said the game is long. Why the heck is it, then? After playing the first 10 hours, I described my experience to a friend this way: "About 3 hours was spent running ~~around~~ straight forward, 3 hours watching cut scenes, 2 hours fighting battles, and 2 hours reading stuff." Those numbers aren't proven for everybody, but that's a good estimate and ratio for the first 20 hours of the story. I stress the phrase "20 hours of the story" because that's what drives this game for it's majority (of the first play through), the story. And I think that's a good place to begin the in-depth portion of my review.

THE STORY

Thankfully, the team at Square-Enix devoted a whole crapload of attention to why in the world we should care about these characters we're playing (nothing makes me cry for the hours of my life back more than playing as a protagonist who I'm not really rooting for, e.g. any of the Aliens vs. Predator campaigns). I love interconnected stories, ones that tie a group of seemingly unconnected people together into a fate in which they must depend on each other in order to survive or figure out the end result (a la the films Crash or Identity, or any past Final Fantasy). Not only do you have these interlocking lives crashing together in XIII, but some of the characters have unknowingly crossed paths earlier on. Eye-opening reveals and plot twists are unveiled at a well-tuned pace, the characters themselves have their own quirks and identities that are likeable (or annoying in one case for many), the world in which they run and fight and spout typical heroic idioms is intimately realized ... for me, the story makes Final Fantasy XIII.

The story begins in medias res on a planet called Cocoon during a "Purge," which is a militaristic removal of "harmful" citizens. These "dangerous" people are taken away on trains and in one such transport we are introduced to arguably the main character (since she's on the box art), Lightning. Lightning is being purged, but has other plans instead of quiet excommunication, plans that are deeper than your average "You won't take me alive!" mentality. At the right moment, she springs on a patrolling guard, takes out the reinforcements, and frees everyone else aboard in a frenzy of gunfire and Matrix like flourishes. Underneath her pretty exterior, Lightning is a tough one-woman-army.

We are quickly thrust into a war waging between the government and citizens of Cocoon; apparently things aren't as safe as the name connotes. The war exists because Cocoon is scared to death of a nearby planet called Pulse, scared to death of the evils that dwell there and scared to death of any Cocoonian inhabitant possibly in contact with anything from Pulse. The Purge is of a section of people who might have had a brief brush with something Pulsian and so to be extra careful the Cocoon government is shipping them out so as not to infect the rest of the planet. Understandably, this makes the people angry.

The government is so afraid because of a certain group of people: l'Cie (pronounced "luh-see"). To put it succinctly, the worlds and people of Cocoon and Pulse were created long ago by gods called the fal'Cie. These fal'Cie have different functions (providing agricultural energy, boring giant holes, power over sea-life, etc.), but for the most part are absent deities who allow humans to control their own lives; yet they are still present. Fal'Cie, though non intrusive, will from time to time take a nearby human and mark them (usually) against their will with a tattoo. This tattoo is what freaks people out and it's what makes you a l'Cie. L'Cie are individuals tasked by fal'Cie with a certain goal, called a Focus, to finish within a certain amount of time. If a l'Cie does not complete his Focus in time, he becomes a zombie creature called a Cie'th ("seeth"). Needless to say, most l'Cie want to fulfill their Focus so as not to turn into a shambling monstrosity. But ay, here's the rub. A l'Cie sometimes does not know what his Focus is or how long he has to fulfill his task! Plus, if you do fulfill your Focus, you gain eternal life ... in immobile crystal form. Catch 22.

The l'Cie that do know their Foci are usually supposed to attack the opposite planet, which is why the Cocoon government isn't taking any risks in shipping out potential Pulse l'Cie.

You got all that?

Much of the history, mythology and interpretation of events is explained through digestible bits of text in the menu (and I highly encourage reading all you can!), and the explanations help make sense out of what you've seen and maybe didn't catch while at the same time not offering spoilers, only what has been divulged up to that point. I want to write more about the characters, but honestly that would eliminate the fun of watching their personalities develop before you. Instead, I'll just list the main cast and a little blurb. You have ...

Lightning - a tough, goal-focused and battle-trained woman who is silent about her past.
Snow - a "hero" fueled more by passion than logic, but not stupid; engaged to Lightning's sister, Serah.
Sazh - pronounced like "sad" but with a "z;" an afro'd man part comic-relief, part jaded fighter with a penchant to run away despite needing to move forward.
Hope - a young boy in the wrong place at the wrong time
Vanille - a young girl who is 99% Pollyanna.
Fang - another tough woman great in a fight, has passion, though is somewhat disillusioned and has a shadowy past ...
Serah - Lightning's sister, Snow's fiancee; she's pretty much innocent, but a major character.

You play as each person above (save for Serah), and for those first 20+ hours you don't get to choose who. But when the story takes different forks and you're arbitrarily given which characters to control for a period, each segment becomes very engaging, thanks to some very good writing and voice acting. Occasionally there are moments of over-dramatics and not every hour is perfect, but when you really start to become involved in the story of the six, you buy into it and want to watch what happens, and do I mean it when I say "watch."

Final Fantasy XIII gives us some really amazing cut scenes, particularly as you progress to the game's exciting conclusion. Without hesitation, the ending sequence is one of my favorite in all my personal gaming history with an ending that is truly satisfying after all the time you've committed. In true Japanese RPG fashion, part of it I don't know what the heck happened, but you suspend your disbelief by knowing what generally happens and in the end it's just really awesome and tied up in a perfect bow.

The story is the best part of Final Fantasy XIII, in my opinion. We are taken on a roller coaster of emotions that make perfect sense in Square-Enix's world. Themes of love, faith, hate, fear, regret and fate are strong, strong, strong to the very end, comparable to the other good Final Fantasies, VII and X (I haven't played VI or III yet (or are they the same?), but I hope to someday!). In fact, as I was playing, I couldn't believe so much time had passed! 20 hours really felt like only 10 because of the fantastic quality that was mustered into the final product. Others may feel differently, but my experience with the story was nothing short of engaging.

And fortunately the gameplay enhances the soul-enrapturing tale.

THE GAMEPLAY

If I only had two words to describe XIII's gameplay they would be the following: Streamlined and Deep. Initially, your functionality is limited. You run forward; any branches from the path are at the most a ten-foot direction in the game's dimensions (and this is not an understatement). In battle, you can either attack somehow or use an item, or choose an Auto function that does the attacking for you. Run and fight. Run and fight. Pretty simplistic at first. Then the game starts giving you options in small doses. Among many things, I will focus on the two most important mechanic pairings for the sake of this review.

1.) Active Time Battle and the Chain Gauge. Active Time Battle (ATB) is the perfect amalgamation of the classic Turn-Based system (meaning that no actions happen until you choose all of your party's moves, then they perform them, then the enemy attacks, repeat) with invisible enemies combined with the more real-time fighting of Final Fantasy XII where all the enemies are noticeable on screen, individual actions are on a time basis instead of a turn, and you only directly control your party leader's actions. Battling leans more towards the real-time system (with time gauges and seeing your enemies before fighting), but its reference to the Turn-Based is that the actual fighting "transports" away from fighting in the map, instead going to a more battle friendly representation of the area that allows you to focus on the fight, complete with dynamic moving cameras and some good fightin' music.

Your character has a time bar that fills up before he/she can act, allowing you to choose one or multiple actions to stack on top of one another dependent on how many segments you have while the bar fills. When it's full (or when you want to start an action manually), whatever actions are selected will automatically happen and the process is repeated until your opponent's demise, or your own death. Sometimes it's quick and easy to wail away with the "Attack" option if an enemy is weak enough. Others aren't so easy and you'll have to take advantage of their vulnerabilities to break down their defenses. This is the Chain Gauge.

The Chain Gauge (CG) is pretty much the act of breaking an enemy's shield, and is a separate orange-colored bar apart from the typical green health bar everyone has. Attacking an enemy with the basic "Attack" will cause the gauge to fill up slowly, but attacking with some magic that the enemy is weak against will cause the CG to fill up quicker, as well as damage your target. When the orange bar is filled completely the enemy becomes "Staggered" or open to the strongest physical attacks you can give it for a period of time. You have to be quick enough because the CG is continually emptying until you stack on enough attacks to stagger your enemy or the orange is completely gone and you'll have to start all over.

Staggering is the key to some enemies, and here's how you go about it.

2.) Roles and Paradigms. A role in XIII is like a position in baseball or any sport really, or think of them like job titles. For example you have the Commando role that specializes in physical attacks and prolonging the CG (i.e. slowing the time it takes for the CG to empty), or the Medic who focuses on health. There are six different types and all characters can learn them all, but some of your party are better suited in some roles than others (these are the roles the game gives you automatically for each character).

Paradigms are your role arrangements, or what I also like to call your audibles. Whoever is in your party, you can combine the different roles they've learned and make arrangements that you can quickly switch between during battle depending on your situation. Example: You can make an audible of all Commandos so if an enemy is staggered everyone will be able to hack away with their strongest physical attacks. Or if your team is about to die and you've made an audible where everyone is a Medic, switch to it and you'll heal up quite quickly. Of course, you don't want to have each team member the same role in each Paradigm, where's the fun in that? Some monsters can be taken down easier if you have a Sentinel who draws attacks towards that person, a Commando to keep the CG from draining quickly, and a Ravager (who uses attack magic) to fill up the CG, stagger it, then switch to a paradigm more attack heavy.

There are 56 possible Paradigms, so you have many options at your disposal. Going through the story allows you tons of opportunities to experiment with which Paradigms you prefer, and while it's deep structurally you don't really have to master it to complete the story. On your second play through, however, is where Paradigm Shift finesse becomes mandatory.

In the end, the gameplay package is a frantic jubilee of action that is extremely satisfying once you get the hang of it. Many times your eyes will be darting all across your screen, keeping up with all the stats to help you make the right choices and Paradigm Shifts. Thankfully, tutorials are well paced to give you enough time to learn the new things thrown at you. Once the world "opens up," the difficulty level literally sky rockets, so don't go jumping into any old fight until you've leveled up enough. Seriously, don't do it. Be patient with yourself. You've gone 20 hours to get here, you can wait a little longer.

THE NEGATIVES

You didn't think it was perfect, did you? While being an enjoyable ride, most trips are bound to have their potholes and rocky terrain. With a game as ginormous as Final Fantasy XIII, there's bound to be a few.

The deaths. Cheap deaths suck in this game. Far too often I found myself dead from a normal enemy I just beat 2 minutes ago with no problem!. Oh, you're a fraction of a second too late with a Paradigm Shift? You're a goner. I feel there is a little inconsistency sometimes. Plus, if you die, the game is over, no healing from your other party members. If they die you can raise them, but if you die that's it. Square-Enix gives us a God-send, though, in the form of a Retry option after every death that restarts the game to mere seconds before the battle to give you the chance to refocus or even avoid. The second playthrough is rife with these and while understandable because you're going after some tough achievements it still leaves a throbbing in my brain.

The map. It is linear. I was skeptical at first, reading other reviews that said how straight-lined the game is but not believing it entirely ... I was wrong. You practically have no other paths to take but forward until those frequently mentioned 20+ hours. Although you can only go in one direction, this isn't the worst part of the map because with a game this huge and long, if it allowed for tons of exploration I'd probably still be playing through the story! What bothers me more is that the map rotates as you rotate so my orientation gets all screwed up. It's kind of a minor annoyance in the grand scheme, but an annoyance nonetheless. Also, it doesn't reveal treasure (yes, there are treasure chest-things) until after you've opened one. What good does that do?

The difficulty on second playthrough. This is a negative and a positive actually. The story is challenging on occasion, but nothing anyone with at least one arm couldn't get through. The real challenge is going after the Mission achievements afterward, missions that quest you with defeating certain beasts, 64 of them to be exact, and the final ones are t-o-u-g tough. And annoying. But once you defeat one of the upper echelons you've really accomplished something. It's insane to go through, but satisfying. There are plenty of helpful videos and websites that offer strategies so it's not impossible, just a gigantic challenge.

Leveling up. Grinding to make your party strong isn't too bad, albeit long; the Crystarium system (reminiscent of VII's Materia and X's Grid) is nice. Leveling up your weapons and accessories is the bigger pain. Without going into great detail, to level up weapons and accessories you have to acquire "components" after battles to 1.) apply directly to the item, or 2.) sell and amass Gil (money) to buy better components to apply directly to the item. Components don't come in large batches, so expect to engage in a lot of battles.

The summons. They're awesome. But I can count on my fingers how many times I've actually used them. Perhaps I haven't discovered the value of them yet, but they're a visually awesome addition, if a little unrealized. I guess if it's a Final Fantasy game it's gotta have a summon!

IN CONCLUSION

Several reviews around the' net have said in some way that Final Fantasy XIII is a great game but doesn't stand out like the other entries. I disagree. The story Square-Enix has given us is one of the most relateable and powerful stories they've told that I've played. Much of the gameplay and design differs from the other Fantasies, but they are so well suited to XIII that the entire package feels 99% complete. What lacks doesn't destroy. What succeeds satisfies. Sure, you don't get to explore much or have memorable towns or people to talk to like in the others, but this game shows the designers' focus in making a great experience that is both cinematic and action heavy. And can I just say that, though I didn't mention the gorgeous graphics this game boasts, James Cameron's Avatar has nothing on the creativity of the Final Fantasy series.

Like my description about the gameplay above, if I only had two words to describe Final Fantasy XIII, they would be Streamlined and Deep. Also Awesome. And Big. And Satisfying.

FINAL GRADE - A+

*A note for anyone playing now or contemplating in regards to achievements: You don't have to get all the achievements the first time through. You are given the opportunity to reload the very last save and continue from there with all the experience you gained from beating it.*

Halo: Reach "Carnage Carnivale" Vidoc - HO ... LEE ... CRAP

2010-04-22T22:25:00.001-05:00

"'Campaign' prepares an amazing table, but 'Multiplayer' is your meal." - Luke Smith, Bungie Designer

These are the first words of Bungie's latest video documentary titled "Carnage Carnivale" (it actually has some accented letters to sound more French or Italian or something; I don't know how to put those in). These guys make probably the best vidocs across the gaming world. Plus they love their job. And when you watch them talk about what they're making, it doesn't look like they're doing a "job" but doing what they love and it's then you know that they're putting their hearts and energy into the best product they can make.

Halo: Reach could possibly be the best game of the year.

Watch the video below and TELL ME that you don't feel a sense of excitement and anticipation. Ten days! That's all we have left for just the multiplayer beta. Things will change by the time it's released so who knows how much better it will be when it's finished. In the video (below), we get some great new gameplay, showing the Armor Abilities from first person (there's an Elite evade at the 1:12 mark!), the new weapons (the DMR looks like a beast, and the new Covenant weapons look great), the bigness of the maps, and the graphics looks even more polished than Halo 3.

Did I already say Halo: Reach could possibly be the best game of the year?

I did? I'll say it again in bold, all caps, italicized and underlined and ending with an exclamation point.

HALO: REACH COULD POSSIBLY BE THE BEST GAME OF THE YEAR!

(I have to say, there is some bleeped language I'm not a fan of, but the overall video is amazing.)

The Reach beta and Alan Wake are tearing my heart apart!

Alan Wake Six-Part Live-Action Prequel on Xbox Live!

2010-04-22T17:47:00.001-05:00

No jokes, nothing in an attempt to be funny, but a sheer honest statement in all italics:

I am so excited about this!

Beginning this Monday, Xbox Live will be showing weekly episodes of a live action prequel to the highly anticipated thriller Alan Wake entitled Bright Falls. The whole event will culminate in a finale cliffhanger the day before the game's release which will certainly pique the excitement of those of us clamoring for the game and those who have been on the fence.

I've rolled my eyes more than once at Remedy's treatment of Wake, what with their grandiose statements of how awesome and game-changing it will be, how it pushes envelopes and raises bars of cinematic whosiewhatsies. You don't have to ~~shove it down our throats~~ tell us, let the game do the talking! It's almost like they aren't confident with the product when you read those PR tid bits. But, I know Remedy is super proud of what they've made and the majority of the preview reports I've read are highly positive, and this announcement of a LIVE-ACTION PREQUEL SHOWN IN WEEKLY INSTALLMENTS THAT WILL SHOWCASE THE SAME CHILLING, GHOSTLY ATMOSPHERE OF THE GAME ... how crazy awesome is that?!? They really made an effort here by using some talent and production value. Yesterday I counted 11 more days for Reach, and now I proudly admit in geeky fashion that we have only 25 days remaining until Alan Wake!

And if the announcement alone weren't enough they went ahead and made a trailer. I didn't think anything could match my desire to play the Reach beta for the past few days until now. I hadn't ever forgotten about Alan Wake, but this is such a great reminder. Check out the trailer below and tell me what you think!

(Sources: G4, Joystiq, Kotaku, IGN, That VideoGame Blog)

Halo: Reach Beta Hands-On Metapreview

2010-04-21T14:12:00.005-05:00

These people actually got to play the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta! Here's what they want us to know ...

Joystiq:

"The studio is enlarging the scope of Halo multiplayer, seemingly setting its sights on the team-based shooters that dominate today's online play. The essential "Haloness" is ever present in Reach, but the new Load Outs and Armor Abilities, plus the credit-based customization system that will play a bigger role in the final game, suggest that Bungie is looking to expand the engagement of its community into areas new to Halo. Still, there are growing pains to get through, and I'm interested to see how Bungie works out these issues throughout the beta."

IGN:

"In the hours I spent with the beta, I found that the changes definitely nudged the experience in a different direction while retaining a distinct Halo feel. Some of the changes will be jarring to seasoned players, but hopefully the beta will help sort out what works and what doesn't."

Kotaku:

"If you bought ODST or held on to it just to get in the beta, what you get on May 3 should justify those decisions. You're getting four new ways to play a new Halo, and the game's new traits add plenty of spice to tried-and-true matches. We were running around mostly experimenting with armor abilities, maps and gametypes, without benefit of any fundamental strategy or body of knowledge of how to apply our new talents. In plenty of circumstances Halo: Reach will feel like something new. But not unfamiliar."

1up:

"... Reach's new multiplayer modes and its refined matchmaking system, may prove to be window-dressing for Bungie's work behind the curtain to change how gamers play Halo. If Reach really can appeal to casual and fanatical players alike, if it can pull in newcomers to play alongside hardcore fans, and then keep them all playing a little bit every day -- that would be no small accomplishment. But then, Bungie is pouring a decade of experience into this, their last outing in the Halo universe, in order to make Reach the definitive Halo game."

CVG:

"Purists will be glad to hear that traditional game modes such as Slayer, Capture the Flag and King of the Hill still feature - but we reckon you'll be far more interested in the new stuff Reach brings to the plasma rifle-filled table."

GameSpot:

"Needless to say, there's a lot to the Halo: Reach beta--and for good reason."

Eleven.
More.
Days.

New BioShock 2 DLC Asks Us to "Kill 'Em Kindly" in Six New Maps

2010-04-20T16:15:00.001-05:00

Make sure you have at least 800 Microsoft Points on April 29th if you own BioShock 2; we're getting new maps, masks, a new mode and achievements. I'll let Joystiq do the talking:

"On April 29, six new multiplayer maps will be added to BioShock 2 as part of the "Rapture Metro Map Pack." For 800 ($10), players get the new arenas, three new masks, a "Kill 'Em Kindly" Melee deathmatch mode, and three new Achievements. "

Six maps, huh? That's awesome! But for me, I'll pretty much be spending $10 to win some new achievements, but playing with my friends will make up for the rest of the cost. Aww ...

Now when are we getting this promised campaign DLC, 2K Marin?

Roger Ebert Gives a Thumbs-Down to Video Games Ever Being Art

2010-04-19T20:51:00.008-05:00

In a move destined to rouse the rabble of gamers the world over, well-respected (at least, til now, for many) film critic Roger Ebert has said that video games will "never be art." Proof of the post's impact? As of this writing, 1,746 comments have been placed since the article was posted... three nights ago! And apparently he posited this same argument five years ago, so if we calculate approximately 1,700 comments every three days for five years, adjust for inflation ... yep, a very caustic stance.

But really, Mr. Ebert, never? He's quick to point out that "never is a very long time," but even if he claims that "no video gamer now living will survive long enough to experience the medium as an art form," I think that's a stretch.

Obviously I disagree with him. I've said as much within these blog walls. It's such a nebulous moniker, art, and to debate what is or isn't art is something better suited for a collegiate classroom. Since art is so subjective to begin with I don't really ever see a side "winning." Who determines what is art, anyway?

But don't get me wrong. I think we can all agree that there is good art and then there is bad art, just like there are good games and bad games.

The catalyst to this debacle was a video supporting games as an art form by a video game designer/producer, Kellee Santiago. Ebert doesn't attack her position or her persuasive abilities. Unfortunately, the games of which she chose for her Exhibit A thrilled the movie critic none at all: Waco Resurrection, Braid, and Flower. Two of these three games I've heard of, none have I played, but Braid is on my list because of it's artistic design, both visually and in its writing.

"One obvious difference between art and games is that you can win a game. It has rules, points, objectives, and an outcome," he writes. Touche, Mr. Ebert. Many days I wish video games didn't have that word in it, game. Not that games are bad things, sports for instance are great presentations of the the human body's amazing abilities. But games connotes nothing more than mere pleasure or passing the time. However, video games nowadays are becoming much stronger thematically, presenting more visceral concepts and ethical questions than trying to gobble up dots before some ghosts catch you. If I were to run into Mr. Ebert, I'd have only five words to say to him: BioShock and Shadow of the Colossus. Look to the right, and tell me that ain't some imaginative art!

Video games use various materials to craft an object, a locale, an experience. More often than not, the better ones elicit some emotional response that begs for a player, a participant. And like any good art, they tell a story, the better ones that is; the crappy games just throw words together and hope for a cohesive through line. Video games are one of the unique art forms that requires an audience for it to be complete, similar to theater in that regard. The visuals may not be "real" in the sense that these buildings in which I'm running around are actually standing, but then again paintings with architecture are the same way. Are video games then "moving paintings?" I know, that sounds crazy. I'm not a scholar in the least; I just try to, you know, communicate what I feel. Video games (and I can't stress it enough, the good ones) are imaginative, take us beyond our world and ourselves, emote to us, challenge us, represent fractions of humanity on a larger scale ... isn't that what good art does?

In the end, I'm sure Mr. Ebert doesn't even play video games ~~much~~ at all, so I think even he would admit to a little ignorance; I can't even say that I would force him to play, if given the opportunity. I respect him as a film critic and he's greatly knowledgeable in that medium (except I love The Ghost and the Darkness!), but in the realm of video games his thumb should not be as highly regarded.

Check out his argument here and comment below if you like! Are video games art or art-wannabes? How do you respond to Ebert's proof?

(Thanks 1up!)

Halo: Reach Beta on GTTV; To Bungie, Thanks for Making the Wait Worse

2010-04-18T12:39:00.004-05:00

Geoff Keighley has got to be one of the luckiest guys on the planet.

Taking an exclusive trip to Bungie, GameTrailers TV showcased none other than that little beta demo that's gonna be released, oh, I dunno, at some point in the near future; I'm not really keeping up on it. But for those couple of people out there who are excited about it, you might be interested in watching the episode (embedded after the jump). It's loaded with lotsa new multiplayer gameplay, as well as a well-deserved smack to the SMG.

Of major note is the discussion of the Invasion gametype. It sounds as if it's Spartans vs. Elites (of which I'm confused because I think that's another gametype?) on vehicle heavy maps that become more open as each side progresses. Loadouts and vehicle options begin few in number, but part of the goal in Invasion is to unlock areas of (your side?) of the map that grants more loadouts and vehicles. We'll have to see how this plays out but it looks like Big Team Battle enthusiasts will rejoice and I actually might want to try some more BTB than my normal, what, like ten times ever?

Overall, the new innovations Bungie has made don't mess with the Halo mechanics but expand them while also simplifying. For me, one of the biggest pieces of "innovation" is no dual wielding. While this seems like a step back, Bungie really made an attempt to make the experience not any more full than it already is. Now that I think of it, I really didn't dual wield much, anyway, preferring the trusty Battle Rifle over dual Spikers any day. New weapons are mentioned (human and Elite grenade launchers!), your teammates can save you if someone is in the middle of an assassination animation, and June will be when we'll probably receive more news about the campaign.

So, whenever this little thing comes out, I hope enough people want to play it to help Bungie out a little; they've worked hard on this small project that probably won't receive any attention.

Whatever, everybody and every grandma is going to be playing this on May 3rd. Watch the episode after the jump. Now.

(Thanks, Joystiq)

Gears of War 3 - Debut Trailer, GameTrailers and IGN Get To Nit Picking

2010-04-16T16:05:00.002-05:00

Earlier this week Epic opened up an emergence hole of Gears of War 3 debut-ness. Articles have been released around the 'net discussing the new game elements (e.g. 4 player co-op. women), but instead of summing up a bunch of information into an omnibus-esque post, I have a great video below that does the summing up for me (I'm going video-post-crazy today!).

GameTrailers' and IGN's awesome squads of nit picking game journalists analyze popular trailers down to a fraction of an inch of what they actually show. The Gears 3 trailer was bound for the analytical treatment, and the Pop-Blockers and Rewind Theater-ers did what they do best!

Continue reading to watch 'em!

GameTrailers Pop-Block

Video Games | Gears of War 3 | GT Pop-Block: Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

IGN Rewind Theater

The First Eleven Minutes of Alan Wake!

2010-04-16T15:09:00.005-05:00

I ain't watching it though. No spoilers for me. But I do like to offer the choice, maybe if you're on the fence and want to know more about it.

Me, I was sold four years ago so one more month will be nothing.

Mind you, it is tempting. The play button is just a few inches below ...

At GameStar, via CVG.

I Wonder if I Did This as a Baby, Too ...

2010-04-16T14:58:00.001-05:00

... because I still do it now. (Thanks, Kotaku)

Halo: Reach - Headhunter Multiplayer Mode Explained, et. al.

2010-04-14T18:39:00.000-05:00

Via IGN with the full interview at 1up, Bungie is slowly unveiling more and more about the new features we are eagerly anticipating in the beta for their Halo swan song, Halo: Reach. The clock is ticking far too slowly towards May 3rd, but to tide us all over they spoke with Thierry Nguyen of 1up about 3 1/2 of the new modes in the Reach multiplayer suite (3 1/2, you ask? Read on.)

First up is Headhunter. What I thought to be a head-shot only affair turns out to be a looting bonanza. The goal is to collect and drop off at certain scoring zones as many skulls as you can. You collect these little trophies when someone is killed. If you're killed before you can return your collection to a zone, you drop them all. You can carry multiple skulls with full Armor Ability and weapon use. It sounds frantic especially when you factor in that a waypoint above your character tells everyone how many skulls you're carrying, drawing even more attention when you have 10+. We'll see how popular it becomes and which version performs better, the Free-for-All or Team matchups.

Next is Stockpile, a cross between Territories and Capture the Flag. Oh good, I thought to myself, two modes I didn't play much having a baby. Awesome. A little sarcasm there, but in reading about the mode I'm really excited about this one! Similar to Headhunter in collecting points in scoring zones, four flags spawn randomly around the map (random in order, not in placement). To score points, your team must have a flag in its scoring zone for at least 10 seconds. The points add up when you have more than one flag. Even if an enemy has infiltrated your defenses and is holding one of your flags, if it's been in there for 10 seconds you still get the points despite it being in the mangy hands of the evil side. This mode could be crazy nerve wracking and I'm really looking forward to it.

The other two modes are Generator Defense and Invasion. I won't go into details here because I want you to read the article. I will say however that it is a 3-on-3 objective gametype (which we all expected). Invasion is still under wraps (See? 1/2 of a mode), but it's the only mode available on the Boneyard map and the only one with vehicles. To quote, it going to be "vehicle-full frenzy!"

Read the full article and also enjoy some pretty cool new screens (at least, I haven't seen them before!)

Bungie Jokes Around as Halo 2 Goes Offline

2010-04-14T14:39:00.004-05:00

Found this on Kotaku.

If you didn't know, Microsoft is shutting down the Live capabilities for original Xbox games. The biggest loss? Halo 2. Yeah, people have still been playing it and if you want to online, today is your last day! And to go out with a bang, Bungie had a little fun with those pre-game news thingys in the bottom left corner.

These cracked me up, and thanks to gamer Cmonty06 who took the photos. Enjoy the one above and nine more after the jump!

(And I don't know why they're so spaced out when you click over. Sorry.)

My Other Blog

2010-04-14T13:01:00.002-05:00

*I accidentally made this a post instead of a different page, but I suppose my subconscious was trying to advertise!*

Day by Day by Day by Day

"How many of us have read the Bible? I'm not talking about reading portions of it through a devotional or during sermons and Sunday School, but the Bible, the whole thing front-to-back, word-for-word?"

I've decided to take another blogging journey: reading the Bible all the way through. I did it once before, but this time is a bit different.

I'm in the middle of reading the Bible a chapter at a time and writing about it. I have no idea how long it will take, but I truly feel led to do this, understanding that it is a huge commitment.

I invite you to follow me there, too! I don't foresee numerous deep philosophizing from me, but an honest journaling of this adventure of biblical proportions!

You Know What This Means?

2010-04-10T13:59:00.001-05:00

Final Fantasy XIII review coming soon!

(Took this from my phone after finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally beating it. I don't use that many to insinuate that it was an arduous process. I just wanted to write thirteen finallys. GET IT?!?)

Shh ... There's Christian Rock Music in Rock Band

2010-04-09T13:45:00.007-05:00

On April 6th, the Rock Band Network released a new handful of tracks for the Rock Band iteration of music games. They are:

Anberlin - "Feel Good Drag" (I REALLY want to play this one!!!)
Switchfoot - "Meant to Live"
Thousand Foot Krutch - "Fire It Up"
Skillet - "Monster"
Superchick - "Stand in the Rain"
Hawk Nelson - "Live Life Loud"

What they don't mention is the fact that these artists are typically labeled as Christian artists. And the fact that each one of them was released at the same time, it couldn't have been a coincidence that the game developers didn't realize. Is this because Easter was this week? That's where my money would go (as well as to the Rock Band Network ... if I owned Rock Band, that is).

This isn't actually the first time "Christian" bands have been featured in the annals of Rock Band's catalog. GameBuddy, in the comment section of Kotaku's treatment of the unmentioned Christian connection between the tracks, lists Kutless, Underoath, and Demon Hunter, among others, as already purchasable. Personally, I've played Kutless' "The Feeling" and it's got some crazy difficulty! A lot of people instantly label Christian rock as lame, preachy and altogether lacking of any rock quality. Makes me sad, but it's no surprise that Rock Band's developers haven't brought focus to the "Christian band" descriptor; it's often treated like a bad smell that people want to avoid.

But major kudos to Harmonix, MTV Games and EA for appreciating these tracks for what they are aside from songs from Christian bands: great rock songs! These songs rock! Anberlin and Underoath are two of my favorite bands and have an unquestionable rock mentality (videos of my two favorite songs of theirs, Anberlin's being their new Rock Band track, are provided if you continue reading, just because I love them so). It's unfortunate that people don't give them a chance, expecting "Christian bands" always to be preaching about Christ and to have a message.

The difference more people should understand is that many of the best Christian bands out there aren't necessarily on Christian labels or are trying to win souls to Christ with every lyric, or even label themselves as Christian bands but a rock band composed of Christian artists. Honestly, I would prefer them to be more outspoken about their faith in ways other than the Thank You section of their album booklet, but that's between them and God above. I believe that they're at least doing what God has led them to do and lead examples of Christian living in their daily lives and in their performances. I was front row when Anberlin came to town on October 2nd, 2008 (ironically, I'm wearing the shirt I wore to their concert today!) and it was amazing! The performance was loud, jumping, rocking, and there was just a great vibe to the show and they were down-to-earth guys afterward, thankful that I had come! I say this because these "Christian bands" may not be explicitly vocal about their Christianity, but their good music and performances are reaching a lot of people and providing positivity amidst the rampantly dark atmosphere that "cool" mainstream rock exudes.

But we're here for video games, and I'm just excited that these tracks are offered, for both my own pleasure and that others can maybe hear them for the first time. I hope both Rock Band and Guitar Hero continue to offer similar tracks and maybe even track packs to cater to the Christian market as well as support good ole rock 'n roll. But until it might become more popular, Guitar Praise will be the go-to game for the most Christian rock offerings (and they offer Stryper!!!).

"TO HELL WITH THE DEVIL" WOULD HAVE BEEN AWESOME AT THE END OF GUITAR HERO 3

So what do you think? Should there be more "rock bands composed of Christians" featured in secular music games today? Do you think they belong?

And if you continue reading below, enjoy Anberlin's "Feel Good Drag" and Underoath's "In Regards to Myself" music videos. If they aren't rock, then I don't know what is.

Anberlin - "Feel Good Drag"

Underoath - "In Regards to Myself (Live)"
Can't find the actual music video to embed

Blame Bieber, Bleszinski! Gears of War 3 "Announced"

2010-04-09T11:20:00.003-05:00

I missed it, and probably most of the Live community did, too (because it's been pulled), but a dashboard ad this morning claimed that Gears of War 3 has been announced and will be released in April of next year. Not all that unusual, right?

Wrong.

Haha, oh man, the Dashboard Ad Guy over at Xbox Live must have been streaming some Netflix instead of watching Late Night with Jimmy Fallon because developer Epic's main mouthpiece Cliffy B (Cliff Bleszinski) was scheduled to be on last night with a huge game announcement. Epic's claim to fame is it's Gears of War series and though Bleszinski never said what this new announcement was going to be, Gears of War 3 info would not be a bad guess.

Unfortunately, tweens continue to rule these last few years and pop star Justin Bieber was brought on instead last night, bumping Cliffy out of his guest appearance and moving him to Monday night.

Then this happened early this morning:

Whoops.

Apparently it's been pulled, but someone's always watching the dashboard it seems and this is all over the gaming world. I feel bad for Bleszinski. If they haven't taped his appearance yet, I hope he makes some reference to his thunder being stolen. I think Fallon is pretty good at making recent pop-culture references, as well as being an unashamed gamer.

I might have to watch Monday night.

(Found via Joystiq)

Pixels by Patrick Jean

2010-04-08T12:59:00.001-05:00

This rocks the cazbah!

Halo: Reach Beta Details: "All of the New Hotness"

2010-04-08T11:48:00.001-05:00

IGN must know someone on the inside of Bungie studios because they dropped a great 5-page bomb exploding with Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta details! Well, ok they probably don't "know someone" and it's just because they're one of the major video game magazine sites in the world and know everyone everywhere ... I just wish I knew someone at a game company :*(

Weird crying aside, the new multiplayer beta information that IGN received from their Bungie interview causes tears to well up behind my gamer eyes in a more regular kind of way. Here's the skinny:

We'll be given four maps to play on: Swordbase, Powerhouse, Overlook, and Boneyard
The main gametypes offered include, but are not limited to: Slayer, Headhunter, Invasion and, Generator Defense (more on that after the jump break)
Many of the new weapons will be placed around the maps so Bungie can track the data they need, which means a lot of fun experimenting for us!
Man-cannons!
Vehicles!
Jetpacks! (more on that after the j.b., too)
Loadouts - I'm not sure what they mean (pg. 5), but it sounds like it's dictated by gametypes? At least for the beta?

There are also some really pretty pictures of the maps, which you can see if you continue reading below or check out the article!

So you've clicked to continue reading. Now, let's talk about Generator Defense and jetpacks.

Generator Defense is actually being called "Network Test 1" by Bungie. This is because the Generator Defense gametype might not actually ship with the game. The mode sounds like a bomb-centric, attack/defend/switch type, but you blow up a generator instead. According to Bungie,

As much as the Reach Beta is an awesome demo of our game, it is just as much a huge test of our matchmaking. We are going to be getting tons and tons of data on people's network connections, how matching times behave, how the game feels. Network Test 1 is really our way of saying that we need to test these really stressful network conditions, let's come up with a game type that allows us to test those conditions and then put it in its own play list. - Lars Bakken

So, unless it becomes really popular (and I wonder how they're going to define "popular" with a gazillion people playing it in the world in May) they say this mode will only exist in the beta. Sounds like an interesting move, and only time will tell if it makes the cut. My guess is that it won't initially, but become a staple in a later update like Rocket Race or Grifball were.

And you remember those jetpacks from the trailer, right? In all humble honesty, I knew everyone was gonna go gaa-gaa over 'em, so I really didn't. Yeah, it's a new element and will be fun, but you just know everyone will be using it when they get the chance (and I'm including myself in that collective, at least initially). Thankfully, Bungie foresaw the potential jetpack fever by balancing the pros and cons. You'll be able to reach heights your normal vertical can't, but you're "slow," "loud," and can become a Needler's lunch. Thank goodness! I was really afraid of those stinkin' awesome snipers finding roosts from which to reign (and going too far in the outskirts of the maps will be like going too far in Sandtrap or Sandbox: you won't last long).

All in all, the beta is shaping up to be a huge helping of final features we'll get this fall. The amount of attention towards multiplayer is great, though leveling up for cosmetic's sake isn't all too thrilling. I hope it lasts for a while though because even in my hatred of Halo 3 multiplayer, I can't help but get excited with the rest of the 360 community for things Halo.

There is plenty more in the full length article, so get to reading!

And enjoy the eye candy below, but there's even more at IGN's Halo: Reach images pages!

Alan Wake is "Done!"

2010-04-07T11:59:00.012-05:00

LOOKS LIKE THE GAME WAS MADE BY A WHOLE LOTTA BACKSTAGE CREW

(I first read this on Joystiq)

This isn't the Omnibus article promised in the scrolling text above, but merely an announcement to spread across the world! ... ... ... or to my two or so readers!

Remedy has now dotted the final period of their first entry in the Alan Wake series! Passing Microsoft certification, Alan Wake is now done and ready to be shipped next month on May 18th (and a few days earlier to lucky Europe). To celebrate, the developers popped some bubbly they'd been saving for this day, and they even released a new behind the scenes diary entitled "Building the Thriller," and a trailer (not sure if it's new actually, but CVG says it is!) I haven't watched them yet, since I don't have sound on the computer in front of my face, but nevertheless I've embedded them after the break below and I'll personally enjoy them later.

Now it's only 40 1/2 days until midnight when I can grasp that linen hardbound limited collector's edition in my palms and hopefully get most of the day off to play this thriller that has kept us in suspense for so long.

Congratulations, Remedy, and thank you for not giving up!

"Building the Thriller:"

New (?) Trailer:

"Look at him. He's so cute ..."

2010-04-06T16:11:00.000-05:00

"... and plushy." - King Julian, Madagascar

This is hilarious! Now when I get angry, I can throw this little thing around instead of be tempted to smash my real one!

Your Xbox 360 Now Loves USB Memory

2010-04-06T15:44:00.003-05:00

As of today, Xbox 360 consoles are now able to sync with any USB memory unit, up to two units total, and units that have a maximum of 16GB. Major Nelson of Xbox Live fame has a blog post heralding this technological advancement, as well as a link to a FAQ page if you have any questions that have been frequently asked.

I think this is a great option for those of us who can't afford to pony up for a higher memory capacity hard drive and who are having to delete cool video game trailers and teasers to make room for new demos.

Time to take stock in Sandisk Cruzer USB flash drives!

UPDATE April 7th: IGN took a test drive for us and played around with the process of using one; apparently there are good and not so good (but not detrimental it seems) goings on so you might want to check out the article before diving headfirst into Flash Land.

Happy Easter

2010-04-03T22:00:00.003-05:00

This is why we still have a chance today. Happy Easter, everyone.

Isaiah 53 (NIV)

1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

11 After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

And I don't have an appropriate segue, but here's a random video game easter egg to enjoy:

April Fools' Shenanigans

2010-04-02T22:45:00.004-05:00

On Thursday, it seemed like everyone was jumping on the April Fools' bandwagon, especially in video game magazine land. I went into any article I read thinking already that it was a joke, so I can honestly say I weren't fooled none this year.

Instead of actually trying to trick the gaming audience, it's almost expected from certain magazines and companies. This year they went all out! My favorite April Fools' Day jokes for 2010 came in video form and featured the likes of Bollywood John 117, some pretty good acting from the dudes at Bungie, and a RTS spinoff that left me rolling!

Check them out by clicking below ...

More Halo: Reach Info

Another Day, Another New Look ...

2010-04-02T16:54:00.001-05:00

Hold your breath. Make a wish. Count to three.

If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it!

Well, it's far from paradise, but yes JASON 3:60 has re-re-vamped with some more tweaks and giggles. The first major change is obviously the layout, flipped on the Y-axis and changed color; plus there's scrolling text with the latest updates that I think deserve attention. I like to change things up a bit. Or a lot. Thanks, Blogger Draft!

I'm hoping that navigation can be easier in this version with some of the page buttons I've made at the top, and I just now found out about these page options. I don't know if they've always been there or not, but it's a nice customizable feature that compiles different feature together nicely.

Above we now have Games, Reviews and Countdowns which should all be self-explanatory. The last two, Faith and Gaming - Me, and Faith and Gaming - Media obviously are more focused on the common former word "Faith." After having JASON 3:60 for almost three months now I see that I haven't really addressed my Christianity and video games to a degree much further than the Header image and a couple of sentences in some posts. It's time to change that.

The Media one already has entries in it today and is simply more of a database of media articles, videos and the like that are related to faith and video games. (duh) The one that says "Me" will be any posts I write from my perspective ... hence the "Me." Kind of easy to understand, but nonetheless a start in the right direction for my initial purpose in the niche blog of mine: addressing the presence of the Christian gamer.

Do you think the new layout works? Comment yay or nay!

(And if you're wondering why the Elite 8 of Mega Man Music hasn't continued ... well, it's funny how much vigor you lose when your team is unfathomably crushed in a game they should have won but played like they'd never shot a basketball at the free throw line ever ... ... ... Ken-tuck-yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! That, and only one person voted in the first round, so chalk it up to lack of interest, too.)

The Elite 8 ... of Mega Man 2 Music

2010-03-26T13:09:00.009-05:00

~~March Madness and the Men's NCAA Championship is craaaazee this year! And to keep the craaaazeeness going, here's what my mind has conceived:~~

THE ELITE 8 ... OF ROBOT MASTERS' LEVEL MUSIC!!! (begin Boss Victory music here)

Inspired by the awesomeness of March Madness, I've created the ultimate video game competition bracket, and what better choice for combat than eight Robot Masters from arguably the best game in the Mega Man series? And instead of fighting against each other, their level theme songs go one-on-one? And how often do these Masters get to fight against each other? I'm sure there's a little inner-office bickering down in Wily's Castle about who gets to play their level music in the office CD player from time to time and not just contending against Mega Man himself.

~~Unfortunately since they can't literally exchange blows (you know they're not real, right?), your clicky fingers will do the battling American Idol style.~~

~~Each round will give you the ability to listen to each Robot Master's different music, then you simply vote on which one you like better!~~

~~~ The tip-off for Round One begins now and will end Monday morning March 29th whenever I get up and remember to check the vote count before I "Focus" on Final Fantasy all day.~~

~~~ The Final Four will begin March 29th and go until April 2nd.~~

~~~ The Universal Championship will last from April 2nd until April 5th as soon as the NCAA Final is over, when the Master Robot Master will be named!~~

Note: You only get one vote per day, so this might be a pretty tight race. In the event of a tie ... I guess I'll choose, much like a Boxing judge.

~~Click the jump button below to begin voting for your favorite Robot Master level theme music!~~

DANG YOU, KENTUCKY!!!!

~~Quick Man~~

~~Mega Man 2, Quick Man Stage sound bite Nintendo Entertainment System sound bites~~

~~vs.~~

~~Air Man~~

~~Mega Man 2, Air Man Stage sound bite Nintendo Entertainment System sound bites~~

~~__________________________________________________~~

~~Wood Man~~

~~Mega Man 2, Wood Man Stage sound bite Nintendo Entertainment System sound bites~~

~~vs.~~

~~Bubble Man~~

~~Mega Man 2, Bubble Man Stage sound bite Nintendo Entertainment System sound bites~~

~~__________________________________________________~~

~~Metal Man~~

~~Mega Man 2, Metal Man Stage sound bite Nintendo Entertainment System sound bites~~

~~vs.~~

~~Heat Man~~

~~Mega Man 2, Heat Man Stage sound bite Nintendo Entertainment System sound bites~~

~~______________________________________________~~

~~Flash Man~~

~~Mega Man 2, Flash Man Stage sound bite Nintendo Entertainment System sound bites~~

~~vs.~~
~~Crash Man~~

~~Mega Man 2, Crash Man Stage sound bite Nintendo Entertainment System sound bites~~

Halo: Reach, New Matchmaking Details

2010-03-18T16:37:00.004-05:00

I've never heard of this website before, but shacknews (via Bungie.net) ran through some of the excitingly ambiguous things we saw in that latest Halo: Reach multiplayer beta trailer. Explained are:

Active Roster - Thought to be some kind of drop-in-drop-out mechanic, it's more of a pre-game lobby interface that tells you what all your friends are doing if they're playing Reach. This would eliminate/lessen the use of the forever-loading Guide and provide an overall streamlined nature to Halo multiplaying. Very cool.

Arena - This is for the more hardcore players with a great new ranking structure that sounds like athletic standings, "daily rankings" being a feature. Geared more for the higher echelons, it doesn't discourage the low-levels as long as people play mainly against same skilled players. Could be neat, especially with a prominently displayed global leaderboard ...

Various voting changes - The coolest is perhaps more veto options that allow for vetoing specific match elements instead of the whole thing. For example, still want to play Shotty Snipes but not on this map? Veto the map only! Also, you can kind of customize your account how you typically like to play, whether you're "chatty" or "quiet," want to win or just have fun, "polite vs. rowdy," and even whether you like to play alone or are team-minded.

Speaking of customizing, no mention as to the Loadout situation, so we'll just have to drool over these pics and read and re-read the article because there's more in it than I've mentioned here. This is a must read!

Can't Afford a New 360 Hard Drive? Try a USB Memory Stick ...

2010-03-18T14:58:00.004-05:00

First, I'm back! I've just been consumed with the beautiful Final Fantasy XIII (and work), and really haven't had the energy to post. But it's time for me to buck up.

Now, onto the news, and what cool news it is!

Via two articles by Joystiq and Kotaku, it looks like one of the next system updates will allow the usage of USB storage devices (that have a maximum storage of 16GB)! 512MB will be used to "recognize" the storage unit, but the remainder on the device sounds like it's fair game!

This is fantastic news since I've had to delete some demos and content I didn't want to because my hard drive is steadily dwindled away! According to the Joystiq article "Xbox Live Arcade games, Xbox Live Indie games, Games on Demand, DLC and Title Updates" are transferrable ... but I don't know why you'd want to move/save a TU to one ...

One drawback, however, is that one console can only recognize two memory sticks at a time, so we can't keep buying Sandisk after Sandisk stick when we need it. But still ... 32GB of extra space? That's more than my hard drive came with, so that's incredible news to me!

FFXIII In My Hands!

2010-03-09T15:10:00.004-06:00

I didn't do the midnight thing last night since I didn't have the day off today. And I was going to pick it up after work, but I had a mite frustrating day and needed a pick-me-up, so I got it during my lunch hour.

Looking forward to beginning the journey tonight!

Of course, I'm meaning once my wife goes to bed ... :)

Portal 2 - Share Your Cake with Co-Op

2010-03-05T15:20:00.005-06:00

And the floodgates have opened for Portal 2!

Via G4TV, GameStop released today a description of the what we can expect in Valves unique shooter's sequel:

Coming this holiday. Portal 2 is the sequel to 2007's Game of the Year and draws from the award-winning formula of innovative game play, story, and music that earned the original over 70 industry accolades. Features single and multiplayer co-op modes. The single-player portion of Portal 2 introduces a cast of dynamic new characters, a host of fresh puzzle elements, and a much larger set of devious test chambers. Players will explore never-before-seen areas of the Aperture Science Labs and be reunited with GLaDOS, the occasionally murderous computer companion who guided them through the original game. The game’s two-player cooperative mode features its own entirely separate campaign with a unique story, test chambers, and two new player characters. This new mode forces players to reconsider everything they thought they knew about portals. Success will require them to not just act cooperatively, but to think cooperatively.

However, going to the game's GameStop page now yields a more truncated version of the above:

Coming this holiday. Portal 2 is the sequel to 2007's Game of the Year and draws from the award-winning formula of innovative game play, story, and music that earned the original over 70 industry accolades. Portal 2 introduces a cast of dynamic new characters, a host of fresh puzzle elements, and a much larger set of devious test chambers. Players will explore never-before-seen areas of the Aperture Science Labs and be reunited with GLaDOS, the occasionally murderous computer companion who guided them through the original game.

Co-op puzzles? Twice the companion cubes, maybe? And a different co-op campaign? Um, this is going up on my list of anticipated games ASAP!

Two Awesome Sequel Announcements for BioShock 2 and ... PORTAL 2!

2010-03-05T13:44:00.004-06:00

BioShock 2 news:

The Sinclair Solutions Test Pack is going to be available March 11, next Thursday, for 400 points/$5! Read here for the skinny on what you get. This one is purely multiplayer related, and I'll admit that I'm enjoying multiplayer a lot more as I play. Perhaps I should write my own second-opinion ...

Now for the people who are still alive ...

Portal 2 news:

It exists!!! And this cake isn't a lie. The April issue of GameInformer places Portal on a pedestal with snazzy cover art and a 12 page spread, covering details that reveal, among other things, that PORTAL 2 WILL BE A STAND ALONE GAME! Portal on The Orange Box was amazing, perhaps more memorable than the Half-Life portion only because it was something completely new and unexpectedly cool. But lasting mere hours, it begged for add ons. I'm looking forward to more mind-exploding puzzles, new twists, and a continuing dark humor-undertone that ends with another hilarious credits-song ... or tops it!

Ominbus - Final Fantasy XIII

2010-03-05T13:27:00.003-06:00

I haven't updated much about Final Fantasy XIII, have I? And it's coming out just over 3 days, gawrsh dang it! I promise you, I'm gearing up for this one as the countdown clock at the bottom clips towards zero. Honestly there hasn't been a fury of megaton news drops about it, but with Final Fantasy in the title, it will make waves regardless. Japan's had it for two months now (as pictured above), but those waves are finally going to crash Stateside this coming Tuesday!

I'm going to miss out on playing it crazily on March 9th, though, and I haven't decided yet if I'll be going to a midnight release (if they happen). Work responsibilities. My plan is, however, to begin Tuesday night and play into Wednesday by wrangling a day off. 'Twill be a fun hump-day!

I hope you've liked my two stabs at reviews for BioShock 2 and Aliens vs. Predator, but don't hold your breath for a Final Fantasy XIII review within the first two weeks or even month because I've read this adventure will take at least 30 hours to go through, and if there are opportunities to level up, then for me that will probably eclipse 45. Unless a miracle happens that I can blaze through and wrap my brain around everything, then early April might be a more realistic window to post a review.

So, in omnibus fashion, after the jump are a series of articles, previews, reviews and bullet points for your perusal. If you're not even the least bit in anticipation for XIII, you might want to give it a shot ... you don't even need to have played I-XII to know anything!

But shame on you if you haven't even heard of VII ...

First, enjoy the beauties of the Final Fantasy XIII world in the International Trailer ...

Video Games | Final Fantasy XIII | International Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

I hope that whetted your appetite for a Western-Eastern mashup, fantastical RPG! You have to admit, even if you're not interested, this is one of the best looking games ever made, right?

Need some more convincing?

Check out GameSpot's preview, or watch GameTrailer's below (and they have a bevy of other FFXIII videos to pick from):

Video Games | Final Fantasy XIII | Import Preview

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Before you jump into the game, you might want to read up what G4TV has prepared, a short primer that gives you XIII things to know about XIII.

Now, if you are unfamiliar with the FF series, or RPGs as a whole (of which I'm only familiar with FF), then you should know that there is usually a myriad of dungeons, towns, side quests, and ways to travel across the world. Most of these have been eliminated or reduced to create a slender, simplified, focused vision to the game's story and heavy combat elements. This is good and bad, in my opinion. Once I've finished the game I'll let loose on how these missing/streamlined elements affected the game in my review, but I can say that most of the game has been criticized for being linear, and developer Square defends it's design (found via That VideoGame Blog). But don't lose heart, the straight-forward nature only lasts until a certain point in the game.

Now that you are privy to some of the basics, you're ready to purchase it, right? Here's some advice ...

- There is a 250GB hard drive bundle in North America that costs a pretty penny, if you want to go all out.
- If you download your games to your 360 hard drive, then make some room, because XIII's memory usage is pretty much the entirety of an obsolete Pro Xbox 360 hard drive.
- Will there be DLC? "Don't Hold Your Breath ..." says That VideoGame Blog, despite what the back of the 360 game box might say. It's a long enough game ... what more can you want? An entire game's worth of material?

By now you've pored over everything above and want to know just one more thing ... is it any good? Well, if you're that interested you've probably Googled review scores already. But just in case you're lazy and haven't, I have a few links below that will lead you to the right places.

Joystiq's review
CVG review
Metacritic

Someday I will write up mine, and hopefully you'll read it. Until that time, and unless other news stories pop up in the interim, all we can do now ... is wait!

Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta Trailer Speculations

2010-03-04T10:44:00.002-06:00

IGN makes some very nice observations and predictions in their Rewind Theater about yesterday's exciting Reach multiplayer beta trailer. Enjoy below!

Halo: Reach Xbox 360 Video - IGN_Rewind Theater: Multiplayer Trailer

Review - Aliens vs. Predator - A Shallow and Bloody Bad Time

2010-03-03T15:46:00.003-06:00

(A little late, sorry, but I take a lot of time when I write!)

"I got a bad feeling about this drop," prophesies Pvt. Frost minutes before he, Ripley, and "the Corps" thrust themselves into the xenomorph badlands of LV-426 in Aliens.

"So you cooked up a story and dropped the six of us in a meatgrinder?" expostulates "Ah-nold" Dutch to "Apollo Creed" Dillon in Predator.

Two quotes from the two films of which February 16th's Aliens vs. Predator represents are ironically perfect descriptions of my internal struggle and short play through experience with said game. Anyone who knows me knows well that I'm an Alien fanatic. The Predator is less of an appealing obsession, save for his completely cool design, but the Alien, to me, is the king (or Queen) of nightmarishly simple creations that are just down right, well, creative. Plug into the xeno-realm the inseparable fate of the steadfast Lt. Ellen Ripley, each a thorn in each other's claw, and the Alien saga is thematic as well as frightful. I love the Alien franchise.

So, perhaps I went into this game with too much excitement and hope, focusing too much on one side of the adversarial triangle that is Aliens vs. Predator. Aliens, Predators, and the humans they encounter are tightly woven into their own universes, and though crossing over sounds fantastic in idea (and conceptually it's not really all that bad), executing that crossover in film and video game hasn't met with resounding success. On the other hand, Rebellion's first two attempts in the franchise were very well received for both the Atari Jaguar and the PC. I played the PC version and it scared the poo out of me! For it's time, the graphics and gameplay were superior. Was it wrong to hope that the team who seemed to have the AvP formula down would secure another hit? And is it ever wrong to have hope, anyway?

No, but for this game my hope for a quality experience never came. That's why it's a huge eye-opener when I say that six days after having my highly anticipated copy, I traded it back in. I, the Xenophile that I am, got rid of probably the best looking Alien game to date. But looks will only take you so far. In the end, all I felt I had experienced were point-blank sequences of gore, three incredibly uninspired campaigns, and a lack of multiplayer replay value.

Read on for my sadly disappointing experience with Aliens vs. Predator.

I knew going into playing AvP there would be issues (refer to the Pvt. Frost quote above). One, most attempts at pitting the two species together has a history of not coming out just right. The novels and comics do better justice, but the more mainstream exposures leave far too much to be desired (like substance). Can you really craft a good story, though, with Aliens and Predators? YES. The Alien movies use the monsters more as backdrops or catalysts instead of main characters. Why not dive into the culture of the Predator, the struggles they face, the sacrifices they have to endure to even win a spot at seeing one of these temple-fighting-grounds they've built around the galaxy; or how about a rogue Predator? I guess video games isn't the best medium to tell that story, but I believe it is possible.

Issue two: when the focus on these two "enemies" is their abilities for bloody mutilation, then all we can be as viewers/gamers is grossed out, or unholy satisfied if our hearts sadistically seek out gruesome killing. This could easily lead into a "violence in video games" diatribe, but we'll save that for it's proper time and place. I'm a Christian, I play video games, and yes I'm aware that the majority of games (party and family genres excluded) use "killing" in some way, but AvP takes glorifying the level of specified violence to an extreme I haven't felt until now (and I don't plan on playing Manhunt 2).

I wanted to like this game. The screenshots portrayed the most authentic visuals for these creatures in video games so far. The multiplayer demo, while fraught with annoying special kill Conga lines, was enjoyable to a degree and showcased a new way to multiplay. Survivor mode was going to be my chance to live out the best action scenes from the oft-referenced Aliens. But these dreams were met instead with such a lack of inspiration and fine-tuning that most of the time I was fighting with the controls and terrible lighting instead of against the AI shooting or lunging at me.

One of AvP's strong points is the ability to play three different species (another positive being the tutorials before each campaign, but good luck making "Tutorials!" a selling point). Most first-person shooters are designed with the inescapable weapon on the right hand side of the screen and a HUD that doesn't exist in reality (when are we all going to get our standard issue health bars, ammo count, and tracking number of first aid kits?). The Marine campaign has this traditional setup with the added pulsing and iconic motion tracker. Choosing to play as the other two extra terrestrials is where things veer for both the good and the bad. Good in offering differing play styles; bad in execution.

THE ALIEN

Let's begin with the Alien. You're fast. Really fast. You can crawl anywhere ... well, almost anywhere (invisible walls, the scourge of the xenomorph!). You can see enemy auras through walls, jump 30 feet floor-to-ceiling, and destroy lights to hide in the dark. Sounds great, huh? For the most part it is. You feel like an Alien, even receiving telepathic instructions from the Queen and having the ability to hiss. But if you've read any other reviews out in the internet ether, or read my multiplayer impressions, you know that running around walls, upside-down, at high speed is very disorienting. Rebellion tries to right your dizziness with a compass-like reticule that always points to the ground, but it still doesn't completely work because it's oddly shaped and not big enough. It's shape is supposed to change when you're able to leap onto a surface, and when you're in the dark it will turn dark. It's purpose is sound on paper, but I felt it could have used some more refinement.

Since the Alien is so simple in nature, your HUD is, too. All you get is the reticule and a curved health bar above. That is all you need, and thankfully Rebellion didn't add anything else (aside from messages from your Queen).

But simple is not always good, as is the case with the Alien campaign. Two hours; that's how long it took me on normal, and that includes searching for (but not finding) 50 un-story related Royal Jelly containers stuck in the most random, unrealistic locations. One review I read somewhere said about an Alien campaign something like, "How much can you give an Alien to do anyway aside from finding the Queen, infecting bodies, and killing?" True, but can we at least try and add something?

The campaign starts off promising as you play as Number 6, a special bug because when you burst from your first chest you weren't ready to be man-handled. But the humans caught you, you caught the company's eye, and you've been in captivity, biding your time apparently. When you eventually do break out, your goals are to get to the Queen and deal with enemies along the way, infecting innocents, attacking your attackers. And that's it. I don't remember now how often you fight alongside your "brothers," but you don't really feel like a fearsome force. Obstacles aren't memorable, and you have to destroy an inane amount of switches and panel boards and technology (but you can't touch sentry guns at all, when you could take them out with your tail in the PC version). You fight Predators ONCE, and the campaign ends. I was left with a "That's it?" feeling regarding both the campaign length and shallow story. It would have been leaps ahead in storytelling if we explored a bit more of what it's like to be the most feared creature in the universe.

To avoid stagnation, it's great when companies offer different approaches to gameplay, different shoes to wear, different "guns" to fire. The Alien is one of the most unique, with a full range of motion and speed balanced with only melee attacks. But shallow is the end result of this effort. The Alien is cool ... evil, but cool in an unrealistically-scary way. But a lot of the creature's swagger is erased after the campaign and once you see an Alien trying to block your melee attacks in multiplayer ... an Alien blocking is one of the stupidest looking visuals I've seen in recent memory.

But if meleeing and speeding around with motion sickness isn't your thing, your have some options that bring a bit more firepower.

THE PREDATOR
Nerd Jason coming through: the Predator is not as intimidating as the Alien. There, I said it. But apparently the whole world disagrees because the majority of my time in multiplayer, the Predator limits filled up first. I can see why he's so appealing, but it seems like an easy choice to pick the guy that can turn invisible and shoot projectiles. To each his own.

I like the Predator culture, however, because they have some redeeming qualities that make them less like cold-blooded killers; they have rules of engagement. If you're not armed, they won't hurt you. If you're not a threat, they won't harm you. If you tick them off, they will hunt you. They are a warrior tribe, if you will, so they have progression, demotion, trials, and well, anyway let's get to the game.

Being a Predator is not as awesome as it sounds. Yes, you can cloak. Yes, you have mad jumping skills. Yes, your arsenal is deadly. But your cloaking doesn't hide you from everything (sentry guns, water and Aliens). Your jumping is way too limited, and your weapons ... ok, they're still deadly.

Let me first talk about the jumping. Holding LT will bring up a targeting system of sorts (same with the Alien) that lets you know 1.) when you can leap onto an enemy, and 2.) to where you can jump. If you remember from the first film, the Predator swings through the foliage, perching and leaping with ease like an outer space, invisible Tarzan. Now, I understand that there are limitations in video games, but there are far too many moments as the Predator when your jumping will feel stupidly stifled. There will be a tree branch 20 feet above you that you can't jump to, but you can jump to it if you take one tiny step to the right. Um ... what? You will feel like an ape-man-creature when you find stretches in the level design that were made for you to traverse 100 yards in three bounds, but otherwise jumping to escape or travel is on the frustrating side.

I'll be honest with you ... right now I'm trying to think of a segue into discussing the campaign ... but I can't even remember how the campaign ends! You go to the temple, fight android security guards ... OH YEAH! You fight a Predalien, I think, or a Praetorian guard ... or the Queen ... guess that tells you how deep and memorable the story was, huh? It's longer than the Alien, but your main reason for being in the game is stopping the humans from defiling the temple, and killing whatever attacks you. You start out as a Youngblood/trainee and progress through the ranks as your leaders send you out to prove yourself by keeping the temple safe. You're sent out with only your wristblades to find out what happened to the other Youngbloods who essentially haven't checked back in, and to find your other weapons. It's a cool progression idea, one that sees your Predator achieve greatness in protecting the temple (even witnessing in playback the very first victory against the Xenomorph race), but being put on a god-like pedestal after only four hours from being a newbie is a might too quick. And, yeah, it's another short campaign.

I may not recall all of the Predator campaign, but what I do recall with unfortunate detail are the trophy kills. I have a section reserved for the violence below, however. Instead, let's discuss the Marines, those poor, third-wheel Marines.

THE MARINES

The longest of the campaigns (since it's the most traditional of the species) belongs to the humans. And without a doubt much more attention was focused here. One thing I like about the campaigns, despite their length and lack of depth, is their circumnavigation of a linked plot point, that of a downed human ship named the Marlowe that the Predators shot down. But I can't remember if that's what brings your team down to the planet's surface or not. In any case, you play as the all too common cop-out of "the Rookie" character, a noob without much experience. You drop down and get separated from your team, then must make your way to your surviving partners, picking up stronger firepower as you go. You fight Aliens, one Predator (again) if I remember correctly, and Karl Bishop Weyland himself, who is annoyingly tough (and is explained after you beat it).

Rebellion wanted to go back to the films for inspiration, and they certainly achieved that goal with the Marines. The Pulse Rifles are Pulse Rifles, the Aliens look like Cameron's bugs, and the corridors scream LV-426. But I think they should have been inspired only for aesthetics instead of for characters. I say this mainly in reference to the character of Tequila. A tough, Hispanic woman Marine. Vazquez, anyone? And Tequila would have been a great name if Vazquez never existed in Aliens. I quibble a little.

I also quibble at the fear factor. If the motion tracker didn't exist, then the scares would be far too tame to even suggest this campaign as "survival horror." But I will excitedly shake the person's hand who created that radar because the Alien series loses its suspense without it (Alien 3 is another topic, though). Though appearing in the first Alien, it was Aliens that perfected the motion tracker's look and sound, and AvP does it justice. The pitch increasing ning-ning that alerts you when enemies are drawing closer to you is panicking, and is expertly matched with the flat metronome that pulses when nothing is around but keeps you incessantly on your guard.

Why I quibble is that your encounters are not actually scary in and of themselves, the scare is in the motion tracker. The first Alien you fight is actually scary, since it's the first one and you only have your Pistol. But I died at least five times on normal at the first enemy before I finally took him down; ending with more frustration than heightened nerves. A few other Aliens come from beneath the floor in front of you, they lurk in the shadows of cavernous spaces, and crawl around buildings when you're outside, but they don't ever jump out at you or startle you. Like I said, the motion tracker saves the day. Much more could have been tried to up the tension. For example, one sequence has you kidnapped by the Aliens who intelligently take away your big guns, leaving you with your Pistol ... and your motion tracker! They're smart enough to take away your weapons (save for your sidearm), but not that dinging thing that lets the humans know where they are? How scary would it have been to walk through a portion of the game without any radar help, only your flashlight? Put shadows everywhere, throw in a lot of hisses and your heart is in your throat! But nope ... they didn't do that.

The game goes as you'd expect. You're ordered by Tequila to turn on power in different areas, you shoot up a few bugs, you hear the screams of other surviving comrades, the last levels of the game take you through halls of secreted resin and the plot-linking temple, and you try to save the day. The story here is obviously more relateable to us humanoids and it tries to throw in a couple of sad twists (and the inevitable someone in the Alien universe actually being a synthetic person), but it's nothing to run out to buy to play. Out of the three it is the best, but that still doesn't say much.

THE OTHER

Two other things need to be mentioned with Aliens vs. Predator. The first is multiplayer. I've spent most of my review on the single-player portion, but I did play some multiplayer and this is probably where most people will go. You could probably sum up all the above in one word, "shallow." Multiplayer can even be surmised in that way, too.

Multiplayer suffers in this Call of Duty age because you don't have perks, classes, or loadouts to make your Alien or Predator different than xXJoe-Gam3rtag13Xx. You don't "rank up," instead you unlock skins which are only interesting as the Alien or Predator; I doubt anyone is dying to unlock Van Zandt or any other unmemorable Marine. Differences lie in the modes offered, which do offer varied play styles but there just aren't that many.

- Deathmatch is an all too common mode and unnecessary, only saved by Species/Mixed Species Team Deathmatch (because as I said in my demo impression, playing as a Marine and shooting at other Marines just don't feel right);
-Predator Hunt is like Halo's Juggernaut;
-Domination is Territories (and I never played it)
-Infestation is the best MP mode that feels like survival horror as your team slowly dissipates to the last man standing.

That's it! Survivor mode had the best potential, and it is good. I unfortunately didn't get all that excited about it and play it all the time because I never got to play it with anyone else. It was scary, and like Nazi Zombies could be something you could play long into the night with other people. However, keeping the full game long enough for Survivor and Infestation wasn't worth it because of the overwhelming focus on gruesome killing.

THE VIOLENCE

It's disgusting. It's gross. The movies and game are rated R and M for reasons (the first AvP was PG-13 however). While the movies are violent, and chestbursters create the worst of it all, this game takes mutilation to a whole other level by way of trophy kills. Another recent and violent game is Dead Space that touts "dismemberment," but for infected, no-longer-human attackers in third person. Gears of War also is noted for it's chainsaw rifle and the bloody over the top finishing moves it allows. Aliens vs. Predator decapitates, punctures, slices throats, tears heads, and eats brains all in first person. It's obvious that a lot of effort went into the animations to make them disturbing and ultra gory, almost to the point of glorifying it. Why would anyone want to sever someone's head from the chip up and stare into their shocked, fearful expression while neck muscles and tissue string down around the still attached spinal cord, of which you run your fingers underneath to stroke? Or is it necessary to watch your Alien tail tease your frightened victim for a few seconds before you slit his throat, or have that same tail run through another human's rectum and out of their mouth? You can have alien species-to alien species trophy kills, sure, but they aren't as personally affective because I don't have green or acid blood, or a banana shaped head or crab face.

The counter argument here is "Don't perform trophy kills!" That's what I ended up doing, actually. If you play anything beside the Predator campaign you can do this (because at least twice you must take someone's skull to use their eyes in retinal scans). But that still doesn't save the mechanics and storytelling that just are not all that redeeming or of high quality that other games have.

It was the specified violence alone that I couldn't stand and felt like I was grieving the Spirit to partake in. The shallowness and uninspiration I could forgive as long as it was fun shooting Aliens and the like. But this wasn't fun. Anytime I chose to commit a special kill, I felt worse than harvesting a Little Sister. On these grounds specifically I can't recommend Aliens vs. Predator, as I couldn't even last one week before I traded it in.

IN CONCLUSION
The prospect of a good console game involving Aliens will always catch my eye ... at least until Colonial Marines comes out, and only if that one is good will my hope remain. I was excited about Aliens vs. Predator despite it being a "vs. Predator" title and despite my fears of the violence. The promise of something different was realized in the multiplayer demo, and, to me, the graphics looked to be the best gaming representation of the historic films. But Rebellion decides to take the gory route, instead satiating those who revel in massacring bodies than those who want to kill Aliens for survival. "Shallow" permeates every aspect from campaign to multiplayer. Any reasons to play this game is for the lacking Marine campaign and Survival and Infestation modes (though Infestation opens the door to use the special kill if you become an Alien), all of which aren't even reason enough. Game over, man. Game over.

GRADE = D+

Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta Trailer!!!

2010-03-03T14:33:00.000-06:00

I'm excited about Halo multiplayer again! At least until it frustrates me.

But new game modes, gameplay mechanics ... the beta is gonna be something special.

Watch the trailer below and make sure you wipe the drool from your mouth afterward.

Halo: Reach Xbox 360 Trailer - Multiplayer Trailer

Countdown timer soon to follow!

In the Light of a Lacking Aliens Vs. Predator Review ...

2010-03-02T15:55:00.000-06:00

... of which I'm working on, here is this tidbit from Kotaku about Aliens: Colonial Marines. I guess you don't really need to read it. I'll tell you, so just have a seat.

Gearbox, not Rebellion, is working on this one. They made Borderlands. Now that Borderlands is out and performing well, they feel more ready than ever to put tons of focus onto their xenomorphic entry.

Randy Pitchford of Gearbox has said "It's the thing I've been stealing from all my career. Now I'm really working on it, but we've been quiet about that so far."

If it gives you any indication about my feelings on Aliens vs. Predator, I'm looking forward to Colonial Marines to revive my hopes that there could be a great console Aliens game.

Halo: Reach - Wha?

2010-02-27T10:47:00.000-06:00

Read this.

Bungie is one of the masters of teasing.

I wanna know!!!

Omnibus - BioShock 2

2010-02-26T14:51:00.010-06:00

BioShock 2 has come and, thankfully, not gone. I'm in the middle of my second playthrough (on Hard, and man, is it ever!) and I have to admit that I'm enjoying the ride much more this go 'round. I've been doing a lot of thinking about this second coming and my criticisms with the story are less now, though my quibbles with the tech (bad texture pop-in, terrible lip-synching, etc.) are still true. I have a couple of articles to thank (present after the jump) from people who are much savvier with words and philosophy than I am, so, thank you Leigh Alexander and Charles Onyett, for giving me better reasons to enjoy BioShock 2's narrative.

*I should thank IGN as a whole because most of the links on the next page come from there.*

Along with a few well-written takes on comparing our beloved BioShocks' narrative nature is the announcement of DLC! Not only will it be the commonplace multiplayer related content, but also extensions to the single player campaign!

Click below for those bits and bobs and a couple of extra goodies! But beware ... spoilers are around if you follow the links (not in the post itself!), so be extremely cautious if you haven't finished the game yet!

EDITORIALS

Leigh Alexander hits JASON 3:60 two days in a row with an analysis on the framework of the Rapturian realm. Most critics (myself, unfortunately, included), didn't feel the same shock and awe in the sequel as we did when we first glimpsed the city through the bathysphere. Trudging through the soggy halls and past really big handwriting wasn't as memorable. And while it probably still isn't, that's not such a bad thing.

BioShock is not just a stand-alone narrative. It's a framework. Rapture isn't the story, it's the story's housing. The lamp-eyed Little Sisters and lumbering Big Daddies aren't characters, they're elements of the visual language. Thinking about a sequel for a game with such a strong signature, it becomes clear that its key elements are signposts for the experience, and not the entirety of the experience itself.

Touche, Alexander!

In agreement is Charles Onyett of IGN. In "Building a Better Story in BioShock 2," he discusses exactly what you'd think, why 2 is better than 1 in certain ways.

The fact that the developers have managed to unshackle the franchise from expectation has to mean good things for the future of BioShock, especially if the inevitable third installment can maintain the same kind of thematic cohesion of story, gameplay, and setting.

A very good read, but there are spoilers (and even one for The Sixth Sense).

Thirdly, from GamesRadar, Charlie Barratt runs down seven reasons why the sequel is superior. Not too many spoilers are present, and the overall arguments of the article are very persuasive.

BioShock 2 is another deep, dark and disturbing masterpiece that not only lives up to the experience of the original, but in some very important ways, actually manages to surpass it.

Good read, number three.

Not everyone has written something positive. Mike Thomsen of IGN writes up in "Contrarian Corner - BioShock 2" about the aspects that basically don't seem right, real, or even good.

The game gives me a completely optional opportunity to enrich myself but forces me to adopt the selfish aggression of those people I'd just been thinking were so purely evil a moment ago.

Want a second opinion about BioShock 2? Watch below:

More BioShock 2 Info

NEWS
The first information about BioShock 2 DLC has been announced! Most DLC I notice nowadays is usually some multiplayer map pack, but 2K is going to be giving us different additions to purchase concerning ranks, trials, and new characters and character apparel. Plus, they've promised single player material! I'm very curious as to what that means, so when that stuff leaks out you'll find it here!

In the meantime, enjoy a few pictures of the new characters, Louie McGraff and Oscar Calraca (if you follow the link, they're the ones dated February 23rd).

GUIDES
And lastly, if you're needing some help with BioShock 2's research, audio logs and such, and you want it in text format, IGN and GamesRadar have you covered!

Research
Plasmids
Audio Logs
Gene Tonics
Power to the People Stations

Why We Play Games, "to Scratch a Particular Itch"

2010-02-25T13:37:00.002-06:00

Scanning my Kotaku Google Reader subscription, I found that Leigh Alexander has written a great psychoanalytic-type of article entitled "Why We Play Games, and Why We Grumble About Them." Not necessarily based on in depth scientific research, the categories of players she presents are pretty dead on; at least they make sense to me. Most gamers can fall under four reasons why they partake in pixelated playing:

To feel powerful
To have control
To break rules
To explore a story

Of course, there are mixtures. I, for one, see myself within the breaking rules and story sorts. But I also love fine tuning and leveling up in Final Fantasy or even Call of Duty, and feeling powerful as Master Chief is just plain fun.

I'm sure the cat prefers storytelling.

Read the article to see where you fall, and even learn why certain annoyances in your favorite games hack you off just a tad. Tell me in which one(s) you find yourself!

Omnibus - L.A. Noire

2010-02-24T14:29:00.009-06:00

In returning to sharing my favorite news articles, I am putting up a series of omnibus posts compiling some awesome and relevant information reported in the past coupla weeks pertaining to some big games (i.e. my favorites!).

We begin with my newest entry into the fold, L.A. Noire.

Click below to find some links about how cool the game is going to be, as well as some new screenshots!

Finally I was able to sit and read my March GameInformer with L.A. Noire as it's cover story. The two major developers involved, Rockstar and Team Bondi, are doing one heckuva job at creating a realistic representation of basically life altogether, both in human terms and in 1947 Los Angeles terms.

Since this is a "period piece," accuracy is essential and according to the article "over 180,000 photographs from period newspapers like the Los Angeles Times, The Herald Examiner, and The Daily News" were consulted and used to actually recreate what the real city looked like in 1947 (47). That's incredible! Making the past come to life extends to "long torn-down L.A. landmarks to everyday details like how people dressed and how much food cost at local diners" (47). Even still are the inclusions of streets that don't exist anymore, since this is a time and place sans freeways (which GameRadar's Justin Towell thinks is "kinda spooky."). This isn't going to be a cookie-cutter city that Bondi and Rockstar are going to build with stereotypical 1940's era paraphernalia and name it Los Angeles. No, this is going to be THE 1940s Los Angeles that once exisited, complete with actual shop signs, car designs, and even actual crimes that were committed (with names changed to protect the families and such). I don't think it's a stretch to say that L.A. Noire is one of the biggest undertakings in video game history.

Not to be left out in that claim is Bondi's use of facial expressions and actors. "Revolutionizing how we play video games" is not a far-off statement with Noire, and I'm sure someone other than me is going to say it. Real-life actors are filmed in a soundproof room with "scaffolding equipped with 32 stereo-matched cameras and assorted microphones," technology that records instantly in 3D (46). This eliminates hundreds if not thousands of hours of animating time. The team responsible for this jump in animation is Depth Analysis. Head of research and development Oliver Bao says, "Traditionally, one minute of facial animation could take a couple of animators a month. The idea is that we can mass-produce. We can produce about 20 minutes of final footage a day, and it's seamless" (46). Add on 300 actors, a 2,000 page script, and reading characters' faces and twitches to see if they're lying during questioning and you have a truly mesmerizing real-life recreation that will certainly blur some lines (46, 47, 49).
And how cool will it be to investigate a crime scene that doesn't help you out with shimmery objects of interest, but instead leaves gumshoeing to your own key observational skills (50)? Yeah, that is going to happen.

There is no official street date, but a time frame of September. Rest assured that once a date hits, you'll see a countdown timer on JASON 3:60.

And thankfully to me, this is an action/adventure game, not simply Grand Theft Auto set in 1947 (as described by GamesRadar below, and page 50 of the issue).

Other links to general L.A. Noire articles:

GamesRadar's "10 Things You Didn't Know About L.A. Noire." I'll say that GamesRadar usually has a bunch of language and other "iffy" things on their site, so tread carefully. I don't promote their vulgarity, but their insight and usual video game humor is spot on. There are even more details that I haven't mentioned above, so read it while treading carefully.

1Up's "New L.A. Noire Details Emerge"

IGN's "L.A. Noire Revealed"

Scattered throughout this post are some of the latest screens, ironically not in the magazine itself, but I don't want to risk scanning and going against copyright laws and stuff.

The article that accompanies the pictures can be found here.

So what do you think? Case closed on a surefire hit, or will it swim with the fishes? Comment below!

Site Updates and L.A. Noire a Winner to Me!

2010-02-19T15:26:00.002-06:00

Lack of entries, I know. I guess I forgot what it was like to dive into a game until BioShock 2 came out last week. All of my time and energy tends to get very focused, as the morning after I finished the game I began my review. I hope you liked it, if you read it. I steer clear of spoilers so don't be worried; however, it is my opinion so if you want to tackle the game without any bias it's up to you.

Anyhoo, I'm doing what I can to get back on track with sharing news articles that shimmer like any good pick-up item. However, with Aliens vs. Predator in my disc tray currently, I'm in another mode of finishing a game and looking forward to writing a review. And a lot of stuff has been announced/revealed, so have no fear that I haven't been reading up, because I have. The JASON 3:60 brand of Xbox 360 news reporting will be back in full swing hopefully by next week.

And Breaking News! I have now mentally concluded that L. A. Noire is going to be a very important game this year, making it one of my officially anticipated and important titles by adding the appropriate button and banner to Noire news articles. I read my copy of GameInformer and it sounds very, very good and not just GTA in the 1940s. Thank the Lord.

Keep sticking around for the latest stuff that excites me!

Review - BioShock 2 - Rapture Needs a Bit More Polish to Shine Again

2010-02-16T16:44:00.009-06:00

Did you ever see Jurassic Park III?

I fell in love with the first Jurassic Park. I had seen a couple of Steven Spielberg movies before then, but JP solidified him as my favorite director (and introduced me to the tech-thrillers of Michael Crichton). I went back five more times. The technology, the environment and setting, the characters and dinosaurs were unmatched at the time and set the bar pretty dang high. Then came The Lost World. I enjoyed it, actually, maybe because I brought my rose colored glasses with me, and it was also my first date. But I loved the first one so much that I was ready to devour any continuation of the story and to see those Velociraptors again. I liked it, not as much as the first, but I liked it.

Then came Jurassic Park III.

The happenings of III do nothing to further the story, but serve as a flimsy reason to A.) show a couple of new dinosaurs, B.) give some usually decent actors a paycheck, and C.) I don't know, probably some other shallow reason. Sure, Dr. Alan Grant needs money, that's what brought him to the Park in the first film, but that's really all we get from III; no deep character development and nothing new about Jurassic Park (save for the kind of awesome Spinosaurus, but who ends up being a bigger T-Rex from the first film that we don't root for. Oh, and Velociraptors have feathers and communicate with trills. Big deal.). To me, III is simply a more action-oriented film with the Jurassic Park moniker. Did we really need to go back to Isla Sorna/Nublar for this? However, after two viewings of it (because I had to have the trilogy, of course), I enjoy it more now because it's like a "rainy day" movie: it's pretty simple, kind of fun, and still has awesome dinosaurs.

In some ways, this is how I feel about BioShock 2. After finally finishing the single-player campaign, I felt a little disappointed. In retrospect, the whole package seems a bit ... off. It has BioShock in the title, Splicers, Sisters, Daddies, and even Andrew Ryan still has a presence, sure, and it's a fun ride. But did we really need to return to Rapture?

Read on to see if BioShock 2 should be saved ... or harvested.

The answer is saved. You would think a resounding "saved" because the underwater city is so huge that each and every underwater skyscraper (surfacescraper?) could have it's own little saga while still connected to the innerworking influences of Andrew Ryan, Frank Fontaine, and now Sofia Lamb. Rapture could be full of possibilities, and the first two entries in the however-many-entry-long-series this will be deal with some very heavy themes of family, society, individualism and collectivism. The fact that these concepts are present in a medium so often criticized for being only about violence and sex (which are both present at vastly different degrees in the BioShock story) is a welcomed feat, and on those merits these games are among the best. They make you think.

Unfortunately I think this is where BioShock 2 falls a bit short when compared to its predecessor. Now, allow me to say right here that I like this game. I really do and I don't want to be misleading. While it falls short, it's not bad, and is still quite engaging near the end. Anytime I had to be away from playing it, I wanted to play. The pace of the story is well tuned, and discovering audio clips that took place even before the first game are great at extending the Rapturian lore. But 2K plays things very safe.

Safe, in the fact that nothing is really that much different in the ten years that have passed, apparently even for story paths. Ryan and Lamb may have two polar views on the treatment of society, but those ideals are similar in the fact that they're both very dangerous in the extreme (granted, altruism is probably the best approach in making the sequel; another version of Ryan or Fontaine would be old hat and pretty stupid, if you ask me.). Everyone still wants to kill you; there's the omnipresent voice mocking you with political philosophy; and Rapture looks pretty much dilapidatedly the same. "Atlas is Watching" is even effortlessly replaced with "Lamb is Watching." Is that the best they could come up with? It's choices like these that make me doubt if Rapture really is as rich in story as its potential connotes.

STORY

Gone (but not forgotten) is Jack. His story has been told, and if you finished BioShock with the good ending you know what happens to him. You are no longer in the shoes of the wrench-wielding protagonist. Instead you are a Big Daddy named Subject Delta, a member of the original line of Alpha Series Big Daddies who was the first successful "bond" to a Little Sister. Gameplay begins surprisingly after a traumatic opening cutscene that then instantly makes you wonder how the heck you could even be there. Without spoiling too much, you have a purpose when you wake up, and since you're a Big Daddy ... it might not take long to figure out what your campaign-long goal is.

Once you've oriented yourself to your surroundings and arsenal at hand (or "arsenal instead of your hand"), you are introduced to some of the characters you'll non-verbally interact with but, like any good mime, have an effect on; you'll talk lightly and carry a big drill. Dr. Tenenbaum makes a disappointingly short-lived appearance early on and never reappears, but not before reiterating your clear intentions, and giving you a familiar name in Rapture with whom to communicate in her stead. You have one major goal, and that's it. However, this doesn't mean that the story is flat or boring,

Curve balls in the current story come three fold. 1.) An obvious fork in the road is the carried over moral dilemma from the first game of harvesting or saving the Little Sisters. Saving them this time means adopting them, carrying them on your shoulders until you take them to a vent or harvest ADAM (essentially, Gatherer's Garden bucks) from select steaming corpses. You can vary your time with her for one or two "gathers," and even then harvest her instead of helping her into that hole in the wall. But these moral choices are no longer reserved for the Little Sisters, because curve ball 2.) is that they now penetrate the story line and can vastly affect how the last hours play out. Each time I faced one of these moral choices, I actually took a few moments to consider what I wanted to do, because each option you have has its persuasion. Again, the beauty of these games is they make you think.

3.) Big Sisters. They may look similar to you, but they are not like you. Thinner and more agile, these little tin hurricanes are dang tough. Coming every so ofter after dealing with Little Sisters, you would do well to prepare for battle by stocking up on supplies after you finish with one of your little ones; you have precious seconds of safety once you hear their piercing shrieks telling you that you've just made one of them supremely angry. Though tough and something new to the series, I don't really know how they fit in. If you kept up with Something in the Sea, you might have learned that young girls across the globe were being abducted, and (I think) becoming Little Sisters was their purpose. But I'll have to play through the game again because it seems like 2K just wanted to make some kind of foil to the Big Daddy. Unfortunately, they seem like an afterthought that only serves to justify an "already been there" plot point in the closing act. But they are definitely tough and fun to tangle with, as well as extra sources of ADAM!.

One last thing about the story, as in the first game, Rapturian citizens have left audio diaries laying around, for posterity I can only assume. 2K sleekly and intellectually rewards those who opt to search exhaustively, providing depth to Ryan and Fontaine before Rapture fell ten years ago. Honestly, being the huge nook-and-cranny explorer that I am, these were some of my favorite little discoveries because the history and character of the world became clearer and more substantial, even if they do tend to fall on the side of long-winded philosophizing. Even so, I could tell that they had fun in writing these monologues (especially the few of Fontaine's). The relationship between Daddies and Sisters becomes developed personally as well as scientifically through some of the later clips. Mark Meltzer from Something in the Sea even makes an appearance and his side-story is quite heartaching when you discover what has happened to him. Also, a reward could be clues to keypad codes, so definitely be on the lookout for those shiny recorders if you want either extra loot or extra knowledge of this world that exists in the most impossible place.

As I said above, the story is much more focused from the character's perspective and you learn that from the get go. Though diaries litter the rooms and halls of a utopia fallen, there is nothing that reveals or explains further most of what we knew already (except that Dr. Sophia Lamb was a popular big-wig before the civil war ... but why didn't we hear anything about her in the first game?). If you didn't like the last of the original BioShock, I can't imagine anyone feeling like BioShock 2 makes up for what was lacking. However, and this is a BIG HOWEVER, later in the game is one section that has become my favorite part of the BioShock universe, right behind Fort Frolic. I can't tell you what it is, and it's not mind blowing, but it explains a lot about what lies behind those glowing eyes of the Little Sisters.

GAMEPLAY

Where the story fails to provide anything new, the gameplay and gunplay mechanics have gone through a decent renovation to keep things intensely interesting. You have access to Big Daddy weapons, and this means the Drill, Rivet Gun, and even a mini-gun like Machine Gun. By far, the Rivet Gun is the best weapon, especially when fully upgraded at Power to the People stations that provide a chance at setting enemies on fire every so often. The Drill and Machine Gun have their strengths, but the Rivet Gun should be your weapon of choice during any big battle sequences.

I was never into the creative juices of fighting in the first game. Setting up traps and the like, to me, are best for stealth games (not that they're not appropriate in BioShock, a world supporting individuality, of course). While I still didn't fool around too much with the electrified arrows or set cyclone traps on fire, the most fun comes out of the Rivet Gun's trap rivets. These beauties lay on any surface you fire at and fire into anyone who walks across it's beam of light (that I guess only you can see, and which won't hurt you). The most fun you can have with the trap rivets are during Gathers for ADAM. A good strategy I found was to surround my Little Sister with 36 or these bad boys, set her down, and focus on picking off the farther Splicers because anyone who gets too close to her will certainly meet a secret rivet or two. The specific noise of a trap rivet surprising an enemy is oddly satisfying.

Another help you'll want during Gathers or any Big Daddy/Sister battle is from the security cameras or turrets scattered about. Hack these with your new Hack Tool from a distance, or the old fashioned way by going up close, and they'll help whittle down your foes or distract them while you blast away. Hacking has had a facelift, too, and is much less of a pain. The Hack Tool eliminates the need to traverse through danger, allowing you to fire a dart into the machine and begin a color & needle game (green = good, red = bad, blue = awesome!). The downside and balance to hacking this time is that you might forget that the world doesn't stop ... you'll be hacking and getting shot at at the same time.

Enemies are much stronger this go 'round, much, much stronger. In fact, if you decide to never deal with the Little Sisters, you cray-zee because purchasing Tonics and higher level Plasmids are a necessity. The Halo-popularized term "dual wielding" makes its way into the series allowing for instantaneous Plasmid/Weapon tactics, and it definitely helps when you're having to fend off three Splicers to your left, a Brute Splicer (think of the Tank from Left 4 Dead) to your right, and a Big Sister hurling debris right in front of you ... and that will happen.

A few other newbies come in ammo form: rocket spears, mini turrets (which are fired, oddly, from the Hack Tool), and heavy rivets are a few. The new Scout Plasmid is interesting, though I never used it; you can leave your body and "scout" out other areas like a ghost. And lastly, the research camera is back and, like ADAM, you really should use it for those damage/Tonic bonuses. It takes a little finesse to master, as it's a video camera this time and to increase your research you have to record a video and fight each subject to acquire the maximum amount of research (and you can only research a body once, so you gotta make it good.). Once you get used to it, you'll be carrying it around instead of a weapon, looking for new subjects to record to increase your resistance and abilities.

Overall, the action in BioShock 2 is right up there with Halo in its weaponry and use. You feel like a powerhouse. And because of this, the creepiness and scares from the first game are practically nonexistent, and I think 2K realized this because they really don't try to scare you, instead pitting you against insane odds in battle. To this day, there are two sections in BioShock 1 that I will not play because they freak me out too much (the foggy doctor's office, and the Psycho homage in Fort Frolic). The only thing I was scared about was having enough ammunition.

And multiplayer.

MULTIPLAYER

First of all, I feel a little lied to, Jordan Thomas. You might have heard a lot that multiplayer is a prequel, taking place before/during the civil war within Rapture. It is. But they also said the maps would be before the different places fell to pieces. Well, there is still a whole lot of damage drawn into the map. You really don't feel like you're in Rapture before it fell, but almost back as Jack. Slightly disappointed at the marketing there.

And there's more to be disappointed with, but some to be thankful for. Let's start with the good:

-Firing Plasmids at people is fun.
-The pistol is actually awesome with it's first upgrade.
-Revisiting well-known places from BioShock 1.
-Call of Duty customization and unlocking makes things interesting.
-Ranking up is actually pretty quick.
-ADAM Grab rocks. It's like Oddball with a Little Sister, and it's eerie and fun to carry her around.
-Camera research adds a nice temporary twist.

Now, the not so good:

-Other people firing Plasmids at you is not so fun.
-You always have multiple character types on the same map/team. That's ... not ... realistic. Well, neither are Plasmids, but ...
-Glitchy.
-Capture the Little Sister is a pain! At least, I haven't gotten the hang of it yet.
-You can feel as if you unleashed all of your bullets and EVE into a player and it do nothing sometimes.
-I never go back to my apartment.
-Ranking up is actually pretty quick (see what I did there? It's both a good and a bad point!). After roughly 6 hours I'm almost halfway to 40. At least I think that's quick.

Multiplayer will be what you make of it. There is absolutely no story here unless you want to hear occasional recordings from some people who saw the fall of Rapture first hand (but I doubt many will ever want to always return to their too spacious apartment). The graphics seem to have taken a step back, looking a bit cartoonish (I guess people looked weirder before they became Splicers?). Like my earlier description of the whole package, multiplayer feels a bit off, incomplete, and not well-rounded enough to last into next year. Adding multiplayer to BioShock in no way serves as furthering the saga or presenting something "new" in the way that we all wanted something "new" to be revealed. It's not as horrible as I initially feared, but I'm not dying to be back home playing it. I'll probably be playing it for achievement points.

CONCLUSION

Taking a step back and drying myself off, I like BioShock 2. While not as strong narratively or in introducing anything vastly mind-blowing like it's predecessor, the ride is worth it to fans of the first. Stepping into the shoes of a different Big Daddy makes for a slightly different perspective, stronger action, and apparently tougher choices, which are this sequel's strong points. Unfortunately, the familiarity with the incredible setting and new fangled gunplay isn't enough to fully satisfy those who have been ravaging for more intellectual thematic elements in their media of choice. I have faith that any other releases will attempt to further the morality and high themes the series has committed itself to always present. If a third title is ever developed, I hope 2K decides to take some bigger risks. Until then, we've been given some bigger weapons, some new clothes, and a different purpose. And like Jurassic Park III, it's not bad, but not great, and in the end still fits into the series.

But please, Jordan Thomas, my man-crush, don't repeat multiplayer.

Grade = B

JASON 3:60 Will Be Resurfacing Once I Leave Rapture

2010-02-08T15:05:00.000-06:00

9 hours to go!

I wish I had employees or something to keep the news coming, but playing through BioShock 2 is going to take some time, especially if I want to write a review. I finished playing through the first one to get ready for the sequel; and boy am I ready!

I'll be back soon, with a review and run downs of the news that is exciting me in the gaming world.

In the meantime, if you're not playing it, too, check out the reviews ... so far pretty good!

Fix Your Venetian Blinds - Rockstar is Bringing the Noir

2010-02-05T14:33:00.008-06:00

Film noir is a film style closely associated with 1930s/1940s/B&W detective stories, or stories about gritty underbellies and lifestyles; and a common visual motif was the use of venetian blinds, so there, that's how the title works. :D

Until yesterday I had never even heard of L.A. Noire. I think it was announced in 2006? But apparently, GameInformer and the rest of the video game world knew about it and the fact that at one time it was a PS3 exclusive and now it's also on 360, because it's gracing GI's next cover.

I have to say that this totally piques my interest. I studied a little film noir in college and murder mysteries are some of my all time favorites in storytelling. The official website says this:

Rockstar Games is pleased to announce a partnership with Team Bondi Pty Ltd to publish the ground-breaking next generation crime thriller L.A. Noire. Developed by Team Bondi, a new Australian based studio founded by Brendan McNamara, of The Getaway, L.A Noire is an interactive detective story set in the classic noir period of the late 1940's.

L.A. Noire blends action, detection and complex storytelling and draws players into an open-ended challenge to solve a series of gruesome murders. Set in a perfectly recreated Los Angeles before freeways, with a post-war backdrop of corruption, drugs and jazz, L.A. Noire will truly blend cinema and gaming.

A big but for me is Rockstar's involvement, the company infamously known for Grand Theft Auto. We could be quick to assume that the game will include some rough violence and sexual situations, but we don't know; but if it's just GTA in 1940s Los Angeles then I might shy away. But the prospect of a murder mystery is very enticing, so I'll have to wait and read my magazine's article when it comes in. Until then, my hopes are high as this could become one of my newest anticipated games!

Watch the stylish trailer below and tell me what you think.

Reviews Are In! BioShock 2 Receives a 9.1 from IGN

2010-02-05T12:32:00.004-06:00

Surprise, surprise! I didn't think a review for our beloved BioShock 2 would come out til Monday at the earliest! I was searching for images through IGN and happened to see a review score posted next to the game, blinked my eyes furiously (because I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night and I could really still be asleep), and became very happy at the sight of such a high number when I realized I was truly awake.

9.1

Both IGN US and IGN UK have reviews posted (giving the same score), praising and critiquing the game in slightly different ways, one focusing more on the narrative and the underlying concepts the story raises, the other drawing more from its FPS mechanics and gameplay. Both reviewers offer a thorough examination of the game's entire components, however, and are both very well written. And some of the worries about multiplayer have been allayed, thank goodness. There are a few minor plot spoilers (arrgh! But no twist details or anything), so read thoughtfully.

IGN US: "Some of the sense of awe and mystery is lost in transition, but the strength of the setting and more interesting implementation of moral choice make for an experience that's more consistent and rewarding."

IGN UK: "Familiarity breeds a little contempt, but as, simply, a game in which you shoot monsters in city under the sea, it's better in every respect."

Click the links above or watch the IGN US video review embedded after the jump.

And just to let y'all know (however many "y'all" represents), I'm anticipating writing my own review of sorts, so I hope you read it. I probably won't even post anything for a couple of days beginning this Tuesday until I can finish the game and devote enough time to do it justice.

More BioShock 2 Info

NECA Brings Rapture Two-Steps Closer to Real Life

2010-02-05T11:41:00.002-06:00

Via Kotaku, extraordinary sculpting company NECA has crafted "two brand new, game-accurate props born out of the surreal world of BioShock 2," the baseball-head Big Daddy (from the teaser and launch trailers), and a replica EVE Hypo. Both retail for around $20.

Glancing through their stock of figures, they're pretty stinking amazing. BioShock 2 creations aren't limited to these new mentions. Check them out on Amazon for other Big Daddies and Sisters.

Back in the day, I would have been all over having one of these. It's still tempting ... someday when/if I have a den or home office they might find their way into it. I'd fill it with those, these, and some of these.

*surfing through the pages again* Man, it's still tempting ...

The Post-Apocalyptic Genre Continues with Fallout: New Vegas

2010-02-04T22:10:00.002-06:00

I don't remember now when the first details emerged concerning Fallout: New Vegas. I guess I could look it up ... but I donwanna. No matter, because today I know that we were given a better glimpse into this new title. And if the Fallout games are any sort of prophetic ... I better start to like 1950s music.

If you haven't played Fallout 3 or any of the previous two 'outs, then you're missing quite an experience. I've only gotten my hands on 3 and I highly recommend it, that is, if you have the time. Games by Bethesda are huge (though Obsidian is at the helm, with Bethesda involved). Fallout 3 and Oblivion are fantastic in gameplay and wide in scope. In fact, the "choice" element that BioShock touts doesn't even compare to the effect your choices in these games leave. I played through BioShock a second time harvesting all the Little Sisters; initially jarring, but quickly "just a thing." I actually felt a loss when some friendly and helpful townsperson died in the outskirt towns around Washington D.C. I found Dogmeat and felt like I let him down when I couldn't protect him against giant scorpions. You can blow up an entire town! They're RPGs, sure, but the level of choice and making "however you want to play it" far surpasses anything outside of reality.

*Stepping off soapbox* Sorry. Fallout: New Vegas. It looks good. Teaser trailer. IGN analyzes it. After the jump.

TEASER:

More Fallout: New Vegas News & Previews

REWIND THEATER:

Fallout: New Vegas at IGN.com

It's Your Choice ... to Read More BioShock 2 Information

2010-02-04T17:54:00.006-06:00

I feel a tad inundated by the influx of BioShock 2 details, but part of me feels a call to share a lot of it. However, like in the games themselves, choice is a central component in what you read, or don't read. I only offer the option. To illustrate, I happen to not read a good portion of the news about BioShock 2 because I want to learn pretty much everything first hand. Multiplayer dealies I can handle, but anything about the campaign, keep it away from me! And if you're like me, you'll want to click away (read up about the Aliens vs. Predator multiplayer demo and my first reaction if you want.). For everyone else, feel free to continue by clicking below! I haven't read/watched any of them, so ... sorry if it's no good!

MTV Multiplayer was given an "exclusive" listing of all the Plasmids and Tonics. Quickly glancing at it, it looks like the listing shows how each upgrade changes each's function.

IGN gives us "BioShock 2 Weapons Showcase" (below), and the written equivalent.

More BioShock 2 Info

Lastly, if you want a quick rundown of the story so far in BioShock 2, GameSpot has a video just for you: The "BioShock 2 Comprehensive Preview"

The Cult of Rapture's Final Q&A Leaves a Lot to Be Desired

2010-02-04T14:26:00.003-06:00

BioShock 2 site The Cult of Rapture has posted it's last Question & Answer session, and the answers seem odd. Not all of them, but a few.

I'm not worried about the game, but when promoters don't answer a question directly, it gives me a slight pause. Case in point:

How many different kinds of splicers are there?
You’ll encounter some familiar Splicer faces from the first game and see what 10 years of ADAM abuse has done to them. There are also new Splicers like the Brute that are new and much tougher opponents.

How many different Splicers will there be in BioShock 2? From the answer above, anywhere from 1 to infinity. I realize they don't want to give anything away (and I don't want them to, either), but a ballpark figure shouldn't divulge red herrings or twists in the plot ... unless it does ... somehow ...

#2:

Will there be an optional way of knowing how many audio logs you have (apart from counting the ones youve gotten)?
I don’t believe so, sorry. I think the requirements for the “Historian” achievement/trophy are a bit less stringent in BioShock 2, so hopefully it’s not as much of a worry.

My interpretation is that the audio log achievement in this sequel will be like "Collect 90% of the audio logs." Well, I guess there's no point in trying to go all the way and seeing something to the end. Personally, I think it's more of an ACHIEVEMENT to find all ofsomethingbutwhatever ... I'm just guessing. Does this also discourage exploration, one of my favorite things to do in the original? I could be (hopefully) wrong.

Numero trois:

What is that diving knife-looking thing on Delta's belt?
It’s a diving knife. It was in Delta’s original concept art, and made it into the model. I hope I’m not spoiling anything by saying it doesn’t play a part in the actual game – you’re a Big Daddy, so of course the Drill is your melee weapon of choice.

Wow. Did this really need a mention? I guess they got a lot of questions about it. And, yeah, CoR, my heart is hurt and you did spoil it for me! I can't use a knife? Fine ... guess I'll try to use the humongous drill attached to my arm ... I guess ...

Sorry for my sarcasm, but this was a weird Q&A. They didn't even end it in celebratory fashion, like with a "Thanks everyone for your questions! We hope you love playing next week what we've bled, sweated, and cried over for so long!" Nope. Just saying there won't be ghosts but flashbacks (I for one loved the ghosts, so I'm sad to see this go).

Whatev, 2K ... I guess I'll still play your "little" game at midnight next Tuesday and play all day until I hopefully beat it and love every second of it. :D

Natal Prototype Is Like Number 5's Third Cousin Twice Removed

2010-02-04T13:16:00.002-06:00

Joystiq got a hold of a pic from a Seattle Times article revealing the Natal prototype Microsoft is sending out to its makers. Also of note is that the manufactuer, Taiwanese company Pegatron Technology, is producing both the newest iPhones and Natal systems.

Humor ensues about accidentally switching or merging the two technologies, but what caught my fancy was the company's name: Pegatron. Is that like a Predalien version of Pegasus and Voltron (who already is a bunch of animals)?

Aliens vs. Predator Multiplayer Demo - First Impressions

2010-02-04T11:16:00.005-06:00

This ain't no Halo or Call of Duty.

Ready for download now is the promised Aliens vs. Predator multiplayer demo, giving us all 12 days to run, shoot, claw, and fire explosives in some other creature's space ~~moccasins~~ talons before the full release. And Rebellion's multiplayer is very different. And different is very good.

The obvious major difference is your ability to choose between three different species to duke it out. The Marines carry damaging weaponry, the Predators have 1/3 of the Deathly Hallows (that's "cloaking" to the lay-muggles), and the Aliens are as fast and as disorienting as you'd imagine. Each have their strong points and weaknesses. I played about four or five 10 minute Deathmatches on the map Refinery (the only mode and map available in the demo) before I had to leave for work, playing as each species at least once. I can't wait to actually gain XP during the real matches because once I'm done with the three campaigns and I've alternated from playing some BioShock 2, I'll be shooting monsters with green blood for a while.

Click below to read about my first impressions.

I don't mean to be misleading when I say "I'll be shooting monsters with green blood," implying I'll be a Marine or Predator. I'll basically just rank up to try and get all the skin-types (which I believe is the ranking system here) for those creatures. The Alien is where it's at. Discombobulating? Yes. Melee only attacks? Yes. Deadly at all? Yes.

My favorite so far is obviously the Xenomorph. Memories of playing Rebellion's PC game of the same name played behind my eyes, but now replaced with similar yet better looking memories. The Alien has no HUD (save for a health bar that appears above you when you're low on health), and is incredibly fast when you sprint by pushing in the left stick. Nothing can hinder your speed, not even walls or crates too high for a human to jump over; holding down the RT allows you to crawl anywhere. My one complaint is technical. Some terrain allows you to flow easily, while others you have to jump off. I ran and crawled over some forklift vehicle and couldn't take an easy one inch step off of the tire; I had to jump. My only complaint thus far.

Finding better, out of the way spots to hide or crawl, if you want to leap off the ceiling or down a hole in the floor to an unsuspecting enemy below, the reticule at the center will change shape slightly to let you know you can. While I didn't jump a whole lot (haven't mastered that yet), I imagine that once you get the movements down, jumping from wall to wall down a corridor in pursuit of a Marine or Predator would be downright unstoppable. Also, if you're caught from behind or just get hit, and if you're able to get away, the Alien can run away like the dickens. In the end, the Alien is a speed beast that is hard to track.

But he's not impossible to stop. The Predator can track him with, I'm going to call it, his "Alien Vision" mode, a separate mode than the iconic infrared/heat vision the films centralize (I guess acid-blood makes the Alien body cool?). Playing as the Predator is going to take a little more time and dexterity to become comfortable with, at least for me. Every time I spawned I wanted to cloak, which is probably the way to go. Once you're hit or you use an attack button your invisibility goes away and are exposed. Mr. Crab-face is also pretty hulky, lumbering in a sprint, but powerful in jumping and wrist-blade attacks. Holding LT shows you where you can jump, and RT is supposed to be the "Secondary Attack" or something, and here's where I ran into trouble.

As the Predator, you spawn weaponless, which makes cloaking all the more essential. Weapons for both the Marines and Predator are scattered about (for no logical story-based reason other than it's multiplayer). I picked up a shoulder cannon and some cog-looking things (?) and tried to switch to using them (the D-Pad, same for the Marine). They didn't work. I'm sure I was doing something wrong because others were able to use them. It'll just take more time.

Easy to figure out was the Marine. This is pretty classic FPS controlling here. After playing as one of the non-humans I missed the vision modes. The Predator has his infrared and Alien Vision; the Alien sees normally, but both Marines and Predators are outlined in a soft red glow at all times (which is why the Alien is so great. You don't have to worry about switching "radars."). The Marine has a flashlight, a motion tracker, and his trusty eyes. And they suck in dark places. It's hard playing as the Marine. The Predator is a little weighty when you move, but the Marine feels like he's carrying five of Ripley's duct-taped Flamethrower/Pulse Rifle improv weapon at the end of Aliens. He is REALLY slow, even in sprinting. I guess this helps the survival horror that comes with playing as him, aided by the Catch-22 of radars, the motion tracker. Since it's hard to follow movement and distinguish what's in the shadows, the motion tracker can help, but all it emits is fear-inducing "ping-ping* letting you know something is after you, and it's close by. The tracker gives you direction with blips, but not above or below you. The weaponry helps, especially if you pick up the Smart Gun and can lock-n-load like Drake or Vasquez. But suffice to say, the Marine is tough, in more ways than one.

Beginning to play is somewhat unexplained and needlessly confusing. Once you search for a match you have precious little time to choose a species, that is, if you can figure it out. When the lobby "opens up" and you can see your adversaries, you have two horizontal menus to maneuver to set yourself up right. Going up allows you to choose your species, the default menu your skins and the ability to invite friends (it'll make sense if you play it instead of read it). It seems the matches have a limited number of Predators that are allowed, and I'll bet they fill up quickly. Of all the matches I played, the Marine was the overall winner the majority of the time ... that is until I won twice, once as the Predator, the other as the Alien. That felt kinda good ... it's nice to break away from the usual gun-in-the-bottom-right-of-the-screen to a new field of view and litany of attack skills.

I'm looking forward to playing it again when I'm able. Maybe because it's new, and maybe because I wanted Ripley as my girlfriend at one time in my life (I was in Middle School, ok?), but it's really fun. However, I don't know how much depth Aliens vs. Predator multiplayer will have once we've acquired all the skins. Call of Duty has gigantic customization; Halo has modes and maps and rankings out the wahzoo. When we're able to have the other game modes it should be more enjoyable. I never got into free-for-alls, so playing alongside other Marines or Aliens will be great, especially Survivor Mode. I felt weird shooting at other Marines this morning. Who knows how long multiplayer will be popular, or what will change about it ... maybe a mode that involves the Queen or Facehuggers?

My first impressions are very positive. The violence, while up close and graphic, lasts about 5 seconds and is gone until the next time you're able to push X behind someone. The feel of the movies and the original games are here. If you love the films, download this demo right away. If you're curious, definitely give it a few tries.

Have you played it yet? Are you going to? Leave your thoughts below.

Dead Space 2 Less Scary, and That's Scary

2010-02-03T14:53:00.002-06:00

According to Visceral Games' senior VP, Nick Earl, the follow up to critically acclaimed Dead Space will have a more action orientation than horror. I'm bummed.

I admit my sadness at the same time I staunchly hold my ground in that I don't like "horror" things. It really depends on what the "horror" is because, judging from the last several hours, you can tell that I LOVE the Alien franchise. However, I'm not a fan of the gore, but the saga, the human stories painted on the backdrop of Alien threats is so well told; plus the Alien species is probably the scariest thing ever created. Sensational horror in the vein of Jason Vorhees or George Romero is not my cup of tea, and I wish weren't anyone's. Horror in video games is a tad different, in many ways, good and bad. Where horror on the screen usually has us observe ultra "realistic" violence, video games have you participate in digitized violence. But then, to my conscience, it depends whether you're defending yourself against humans or creatures, or just being cruel to innocents, which is why I enjoy Dead Space so much (and didn't mind the violence in Resident Evil 5). It is a perfect blend of atmosphere and survival horror.

I am a fan of suspense, and though Dead Space is survival horror, dang ... I've never been in so much suspense for so long in my life! The whole game!!! Hands down, scariest game ever. Even if I can't play the game longer than 30 minutes at a time, the suspense keeps me coming back. Claustrophobia. Dark corners. Moving corners. Every duct or fan could house a necromorph. It's masterfully done. Maybe a bit long, but engrossing nonetheless.

I'm sad to hear that in space someone will probably hear me scream.

Aliens Infest Multiplayer

2010-02-03T12:56:00.001-06:00

Looks like I guessed right. Continuing from their "Predator Hunt" mode trailer from two days ago, G4TV has uploaded for our viewing pleasure the Alien variant entitled "Infestation Mode."

It looks pretty intense, instead of becoming one juggernaut against many with the Predator, you slowly become one lone survivor against a growing juggernaut-with-many-arms-teeth-and-tails.

Check it out after the jump.

PS3 Games - E3 2010 - Aliens vs. Predator

Confirmed - Aliens vs. Predator Multiplayer Demo for Feb. 4th

2010-02-03T12:35:00.004-06:00

Confirmed, confirmed, confirmed, and confirmed, TOMORROW will release hordes of Aliens and Predators, and battalions of Marines into the gaming universe. The Aliens vs. Predator demo will arrive on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Steam (PC).

As stated above, it's a multiplayer demo. I'm a little saddend by "multiplayer demos" because we don't really get to stretch our legs safely with the control scheme before the fray (Halo: Reach will also have a multiplayer demo, but I imagine controlling another Spartan will resemble Master Chief). At least the playing field will be even for a while.

If we get to choose, I'd like to try the Alien first. What about you? Are you even going to download it?

Multiplaying in BioShock 2

2010-02-03T11:20:00.005-06:00

The next couple of weeks my wife is going to miss me. I'm only going to be one room away, but I'm going under the ocean and into outer space. As the band Mae puts it, "so close but we're so far ... away." But, honey, I'll be sure to play later in the night when you're taking a bath or sleeping ... so I'm hoping that'll make things ok ... ? Right, hon?

I haven't had the excitement of a new game approaching since Modern Warfare 2. That was only three months ago, but a gamer lives for events like these new and midnight releases, and three months is a pretty long time. To me personally, MW2 has lost the luster of its admittedly stellar multiplayer and admittedly lacking single-player, so I'm chomping at the bit for something new. The past month has seen me focusing a lot of attention to JASON 3:60 (which is great), writing, and in my spare time going after the remaining achievements I have in Dead Space and Call of Duty Classic. Those games are fun, but ... as I've already said ad nauseum ... I need something new. Do you feel that way?

BioShock 2 is next week, and close on it's heels is Aliens vs. Predator. Let's take one game at a time (besides, I only have the "Oh, Rapture!!!" banner above so I'm not allowed to talk about anything else; them's the rules of the banner).

The saga of Rapture caught me in its undertow and is the main reason I'm struggling to wait to play. However, with the prospect of infinitely replayable multiplayer, we can hold our breath underwater a bit longer. That is, if it's any good.

Check out the jump for a slew of videos and IGN's take on "How to Deathmatch in BioShock 2."

These are good videos. Like the majority of the fans out there, I've been dubious about multiplayer in this strongly narrative focused game. And while aspects of BioShock 2's multiplayer might resemble Modern Warfare 2's design, having the Rapturian aesthetic might be fun for a while.

IGN goes into written detail about how multiplayer in the BioShock world works. Initially engaging is the pre-game lobby/menu/something: an apartment where you select your "loadouts," or "classes" if you like. Here you combine weapons, tonics, plasmids, and any upgrades before you commence civil waring. I don't know if you can change classes once you die if one class isn't working out so hot for you. But the various combinations and added options look pretty varied and fun. I wonder if the different character models perform differently; probably not or we would have heard something by now. It looks like you'll at least be able to customize with masks; but what if we have two Zigo the fishermen out there? Is it going to be like Ghostbusters: The Video Game mp where there can only be one 'Buster per group? That's still an unanswered question, but read the article for some great details.

And now to the videos. IGN has also supplied a "Multiplayer Orientation" video for us new recruits to Sinclair Solutions. The others are just cool gameplay and even have some achievements ... unlike yesterday's more artistic launch trailer.

More BioShock 2 News & Previews

Video Games | BioShock 2 | Advanced Multiplayer Mayhem Gameplay

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Video Games | BioShock 2 | Big Daddy Bash Multiplayer Gameplay

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

BioShock 2 Launch Trailer, Embedded

2010-02-03T07:36:00.004-06:00

Thanks, IGN.

More BioShock 2 News & Previews

Here's what others had to say about it:

Kotaku - " ... continuing a tradition begun during the first game's marketing, there's fake gameplay footage in there. Why they couldn't just include real gameplay footage, I don't know"

Joystiq - "It's a cool clip, but we get the uneasy feeling that the heavy reliance on non-gameplay, first-person action is just a touch misleading"

G4TV - "... this trailer is pretty wicked, and should hold you over until the game releases on February 9."

Orlando Just Rambles - "Oh yeah. This is nice! Bioshock fans, give it a watch"

Overall, the trailer has been well received, noting however the artistic CG cutscene versus actual gameplay. You can read what I had to say below and compare the trailers.

And you're welcome, Orlando.

Paradise or Perdition? Rapture Is What You Make It in New BioShock 2 Trailer

2010-02-03T00:13:00.007-06:00

Finally, after sitting through a mediocre opening monologue with a handful of lewd jokes and laughter-less bits (thought not all was bad), just minutes ago Late Night with Jimmy Fallon debuted 2K Marin's BioShock 2 Launch Trailer. And it was good.

The 3.5 minute mini-film begins with a voiceover from Dr. Sophia Lamb, waxing philosophical about the rise and fall of Andrew Ryan's "utopia." Soon, we shift to following the plight of a Daddy-less Little Sister being chased by a Splicer. Seemingly cornered, your character, the Delta Big Daddy, rises up to her rescue. Though choice in "dealing" with the Little Sister is essential to the gameplay narrative, to harvest or to save, for the trailer you adopt the girl and protect her as she leads you to another war-torn atrium; awaiting you are more enemies, a Big Sister, and a Rocky-esque ending, going to black without finishing the battle (which looks like they will be intense). 2K and Jordan Thomas are sticking big with atmosphere and creepy denizens again, highlighted by a moment where your character sees the ghosts of party-goers past. It was a nice moment that reemphasized the importance of the story and that Rapture itself has depth and character.

Hopefully tomorrow (3 minutes until midnight, so later today probably) someone will have a video I can place here **UPDATE** GameSpot already has ... but I can't embed those stupid videos!!! Anyway, it was very reminiscent of the very first BioShock trailer back in 2006 (below, care of GameTrailers).

Video Games | BioShock | X06 Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Good trailers will showcase the basic mechanics of what the player will have available, the enemy types, and even an introduction to the story (Left 4 Dead's opening cinematic did this perfectly). I believe this Jimmy-Fallon-Launch-Trailer ranks up there, though if you've been following the game at any length, nothing new was revealed.

I just can't wait to play it.

Stay tuned as I will compile several more news articles and even some multiplayer previews.

Aliens vs. Predator Xbox 360 Demo Thursday, and I'm an Aliens Nerd

2010-02-02T23:11:00.001-06:00

So, I had a lack of updates today. Hey, some days I have to work.

But Aliens vs. Predator demo news hatched. I first learned about it through That VideoGame Blog (who found it through AVP Galaxy) that supposedly it will be available on XBL this Thursday. When on that day, I'm not sure, but an ad appeared briefly in the Spotlight section of the Xbox dashboard at some point, which gives credence to Tim's words.

Though I'm getting the game anyway, it'll be nice to give the game a test drive, so I hope the rumors are true.

And plus, to further enhance my Alien nerdness, I received in the mail today something I've been waiting for for a week or so that I had to specially order because all this Aliens talk is bringing back some good times. This was the very first CD I ever bought (not the Deluxe Edition) and somewhere down the line I thought I needed to sell it. Stupid. But now I have it back and it's currently seeping through my ears with that distinguishable Aliens vibe, the heroic "Ripley's Rescue," and the amazing "Futile Escape" and "Bishop's Countdown" that really helped define movie music.

Now, if I can only start finding those books again ...

7 Days Until BioShock 2! 24 Hours Until ... Jimmy Fallon?

2010-02-01T20:17:00.008-06:00

That countdown clock at the bottom left of the page is getting smaller and smaller!

7 days, x hours ... 7 days, x-1 hours ... 7 days, x-2 hours ...

I'm trying my best not to expect too much and have low expectations. That just seems wrong, doesn't it? But the general course of sequels is either on par or sub par with the original (save for entries like Assassin's Creed II), and I have my fears about the multiplayer element, so I think lowered expectations (sorry for the, uh ... Dutch? ... in the video there) is the way to go. I feel so dirty saying that; it's just so hard to be as surprising and new as the original. But I'm still looking forward to my #1 anticipated game of 2010.

And to kick off this final week of waiting, allow me to lead you to a few places around the 'Net that will kindle the flames and flood your soul with that anticipation of diving back to the depths of Rapture.

- GameSpot's BioShock 2 Launch Center

- A lengthy, new interview with Jordan Thomas (Mr. Blazer-Hoodie) at IGN ("BioShock 2: Prepare to Launch). In it he calls all of us players "partial authors" to the game. Neat-o! Also, read on the see what video game construction he claims is "of the devil."

- Also at IGN, the staff recollects their first ventures and experiences within Rapture, what they liked and disliked ("BioShock Revisited")

- G4TV previews the sequel's characters and abilities, talking with the man himself, Jordan Thomas

- Here's a nice video that slipped through my fingers a couple of weeks ago from IGN AU:

More BioShock 2 Info

- Can't decide if you should purchase the Special Edition? The Cult of Rapture shows you what it's like

And finally what's Jimmy Fallon got to do with BioShock 2? TOMORROW EVENING, that's February 2nd, the vocally gamer-friendly celebrity will feature during his show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a three minute "launch trailer" during the first commercial break (man, that's getting specific)! Set your cell phone alarms, everyone!

And be sure to click the BioShock 2 button under the "Specific Content" section on the right side of the page for all things Rapture.

Seven more days. It's peeking over the horizon ...

Final Fantasy XIII to be a III-Disc Adventure?

2010-02-01T18:45:00.003-06:00

Kotaku reports that stay-at-home game rental service GameFly has claimed that Final Fantasy XIII for the Xbox 360 will encompass three discs.

This brings me back to the good ole PS1 days when a lot of the big games had to go through multiple disc-swaps (FF VII, Metal Gear Solid). You knew it was big if the game couldn't make it onto just one.

Kinda gives you something else to work towards, maybe clues to how much longer you have left.

**UPDATE** Yep, confirmed.

Get Ready for BioShock 2 by Reliving BioShock 1 in 5 Minutes

2010-02-01T18:28:00.001-06:00

IGN is always humorous in their company made videos. Below is "BioShock in 5 Minutes," just in case you don't have time to play through the whole first game to be story-ready for the sequel. Bits of language, but the harsher ones are bleeped. It's a Mature game, so language is to be expected. Very amusing condensed version!

*Spoilers* If you haven't played 1, don't bother watching.

BioShock 2 - How to Be a Big Daddy, GameSpot Style

2010-02-01T18:24:00.000-06:00

GameSpot today released three videos that I can only assume were part of an airing late last week (I assume because I'm avoiding watching a lot of gameplay videos that aren't trailers, so I could be wrong). If not , well, they've released three new videos. And my luck with embedding GameSpot videos is 0 for every-time-I've-tried. The first three linked words above lead you to videos entitled "Guarding a Little Sister," "Splicer Ambush," and "Hacking and Fighting" respectively, whilst clicking "airing" above takes you to the first 12 minutes of BioShock 2.

Watch at your own risk!

"I've got movment in front and behind!" - More Aliens vs. Predator

2010-02-01T15:18:00.003-06:00

A Xenomorphic swarm of Aliens vs. Predator tidbits keep coming out of the gosh-dang walls! This is not so much new information as it is a "dissection" of the multiplayer modes and a Game Night at 1Up tomorrow night (I'm assuming live streaming or something?). If you're interested, click below, if not I'll understand. The Predator will probably understand, too.

But I'm pretty sure the Alien is going after you either way.

Unless you're pregnant with a Queen ...

Joystiq reported from the semi-uninventive European SEGA blog, SEGA Europe Blog, a "dissection" of the various multiplayer modes that will be shipped with the game. Nothing new, except Species Deathmatch. I would call this the Team Deathmatch of AvP, as the regular Deathmatch sounds like anyone can kill anyone, which leads one to think that Marines, Aliens, and Predators can kill each other if they want. Not really too true to the franchises, I must say (except for Burke and Weyland; they're pretty much jerks to their own race).

And I can't remember where I heard it, but AvP will not have a points ranking system, but instead skins will be unlocked. I know I heard that somewhere. I think ... here?

Next, 1Up is having a Game Night tomorrow at 5pm Pacific Time featuring AvP. I haven't seen this segment before, so I don't know if it streams live or is prerecorded. I probably won't watch as I'm the gamer who wants to experience most things for myself (though I'm not averse to "gameplay trailers" because they're not really "live.").

If anyone attends, let me know how it was!

Alan Wake 2? How About Alan Wake 1 First?

2010-02-01T14:36:00.002-06:00

Via ThatVideoGame Blog, CVG had a chat with with Laura Disney, Microsoft's Product Marketing Manager, about the uniqueness of Remedy's long-awaited IP Alan Wake. And like any good marketing person, she made sure to say the full name of the game at every opportunity (at least 8 times in the article).

I am excited about this game, obviously. It's been in development forEVER. Disney kind of skirts a couple of questions when CVG asks why it's taken so long and the "polished" quality many are expecting from it's years of sleeping. But, overall, Microsoft is proud of what Remedy has put so much time and effort into.

The best question for me is this:

What in Alan Wake will really blow gamers away?
The time Remedy has spent on Alan Wake is indicative of the final result players can expect to see. The storyline will run as a driving factor throughout the game, creating an atmosphere that captivates the player in a way that many straight-out horror games do not.

Alan Wake will blur the lines between video gaming and television, and play on the strengths of both to create something truly compelling.

And when asked about the future of the character, while DLC has been announced, any plans for a sequel are on a "wait and see" basis. That's good ... you don't want to jump the gun.

Too Human? You listening?

Aliens vs Predator - There's a Whole Lotta Hunting Going On

2010-02-01T14:02:00.002-06:00

First, through IGN, the Hunter Edition of Aliens vs. Predator is "flying off the shelves." I considered it for a bit. Who doesn't want their own larger-scale Facehugger to pretend to be their pet? But, tax season and the simple act of having to live like an adult got the better of my conscience and I'll be fine with my normal-edition awesome game. The set does come with some items for which collectors would explode from the inside out to have for $100. GameStop has the listing as well as your ability to pre-order before you can't anymore.

Perhaps Rebellion is going to release a lot of trailers until the third Tuesday from now (that's February 16th, it's release date) because, like yesterday's Survivor Mode post, today IGN has a new one that showcases another multiplayer mode, Predator Hunt. Of the three, Mr. Crab-face is my least favorite, but watching this trailer really illustrates how fast you can travel and how hectic it will be to try and stop him. Actually looks fun!

It's after the break.

Aliens vs. Predator's Predator Hunt mode

More Aliens vs. Predator Info

More Blog Tweaking - Specific Game Buttons!

2010-02-01T11:12:00.001-06:00

New buttons exist! On every page to the right is the "Specific Content" menu with buttons that take you to all the posts within JASON 3:60 concerning that game! Pret-ty snazzy! I'm doing this because using the search button at the top right doesn't always show every post.

I'll still include the "catchy" banners above the corresponding posts 'cause I think they're snazzy, too.

Also, I know these are games that I'm excited about and I don't really apologize if we differ. I just hope you enjoy what I have to say and desire to share! But if we're anticipating the same games, then thanks for checking up here as I do my best to gather and post any and all game news for each one.

Aliens vs. Predator's Survivor Mode Trailer

2010-01-30T17:50:00.003-06:00

"They're gonna come in here, and they're gonna come in here and they're gonna get us!" - Pvt. Hudson

I ain't even putting a jump break here. GameTrailers has a new Aliens vs. Predator trailer promoting what Rebellion has called the game's "core:" Survivor Mode.

Enjoy below (and it's interesting that there is "Suggestive Themes" in this game ... )

Video Games | Aliens vs Predator | Survivor Mode Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

LEGO Harry Potter, School's About to Begin

2010-01-29T16:46:00.002-06:00

Well, not about to, more like in four months. But if you're a fan of the notable novels, the fabulous films, or the lengthy, likable LEGO ... games, you'll have much to rejoice about as Warner Brothers and Traveling Tales craft another entry into their peg-and-block style of popular adventure parodies (phew!), LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4.

I've been a fan of the series since LEGO Star Wars, and much like the addictive RPG aspects of current multiplayer designs, collecting stuff can be hecka fun ... when it's not Middle Eastern flags. And the LEGO games, while family friendly, aren't necessarily designed for kids. Their dialogue-less humor, level designs, and extreme length are enjoyable at any age, even more so if you love the movies they're having fun with. And I love Harry Potter.

IGN printed (are internet articles considered "print" nowadays?) a look at LEGO Potter, praising the look, feel, and overall evolution of the LEGO mechanic. I'm always amazed how WB and Tt mold these familiar stories and specific story-details to fit their aesthetic, and Potter looks to follow suit even more. Spells, potions, and even the characters' age in respect to their year seem to be handled expertly.

It looks fun. I probably won't buy it Day 1, but certainly it'll be an eventual play.

MLB 2K10, Million Dollar Arm = Million Dollar Prize

2010-01-29T09:27:00.001-06:00

Play sports games much? How about baseball ones? If you're good enough at playing fake baseball instead of the real pasttime, you could actually win $1,000,000!

Via Joystiq (et al), 2K Sports is holding a contest with a million dollar prize for the first person to pitch a perfect game on their upcoming release MLB 2K10. That's not just a no-hitter, my friends, but a perfect game, meaning no one on the other team safely touches first base.

"Piece of cake! I hit like 17 home runs a game with my jacked-up players set on easy ... so where's my check?!?"

Time out, Sport. There are couple of regulations here before you take your cuts.

1.) You must play against the computer (no two controllers, or yer out!) on the "MLB Today" mode; that sets the defaults to even the playing field.

2.) You must record the entire game and record it to DVD, which will then be reviewed to see if your truly earned it. No asterix marks here!

The first to round all the "bases" wins.

The contest will last for 60 days beginning March 2nd and running until May 2nd. Oh, and best of luck because every other console and handheld device will have a copy, so the competition will be fierce.

So make sure you stretch out them thumbs.

~~Round One~~
	~~Quick Man~~
	~~Air Man~~

~~pollcode.com free polls~~

~~Round One~~
	~~Wood Man~~
	~~Bubble Man~~

~~pollcode.com free polls~~

~~Round One~~
	~~Metal Man~~
	~~Heat Man~~

~~pollcode.com free polls~~

~~Round One~~
	~~Flash Man~~
	~~Crash Man~~

~~pollcode.com free poll~~