Rating: * * * * * Release Date: Available Now Pages: 662 Author: Patrick Rothfuss Publisher: DAW Books
Before going any further, it should be noted that The Name of the Wind was released in 2007; this review is very late to the party, as this writer has only just discovered Patrick Rothfuss.
But better late than never, right?
Fantasy novels eventually tend to fit into two categories, you either have the realistic or the mythological. The realistic fantasy novel will tell it as it is, showing you the hardships of the characters and their adventure, slowly building their story into what could later become an epic tale to share around the campfire; the mythological, on the other hand, is the more traditional fantasy story, of a gallant knight fighting off the evil dragon and winning the princess, never really suffering any sort of emotional damage in the process.
It is rare, then, that a fantasy series comes along that can seemingly combine these types of story into one single adventure. Tolkien is famous for it, George R.R. Martin and Robert Jordan continued in their own unique way, and I now feel comfortable to say that Patrick Rothfuss can stand with these writers with his debut novel.
Kvothe (pronounced similarly to quothe) is a hero, a legend amongst the people of the four corners of the civilised world; he’s a talented musician, a brilliant actor, a strong warrior, and a talented thief. He’s also retired, vanished, rumoured to be dead.
Storytellers all over the four corners speak of Kvothe’s epic quests, his early days at The University, his conquests, and his misadventures, but as with all tales of adventure they are misrepresented. Direct from Kvothe’s mouth, we hear the truth.
The novel swaps between the first person narrative of Kvothe’s adventures, and the time of his telling the story. The tale is, at times, somewhat reminiscent of Harry Potter in the fact that we follow Kvothe through his childhood and into The University, where he learns what the average person calls “magic” but is referred to as “Sympathy” by the well educated and informed members of society. However, the minor similarities of ‘boy at school that teaches magic’ is really as far as it should ever be taken, as the writing style itself is not only far more in-depth and descriptive, but the storyline is broader and clearly aimed at a much more mature audience.
The first person narrative sections of the book (which probably takes up a good 85% of the novel) may be slightly off-putting to some people, but with perseverance a certain depth and history to the world becomes apparent and it is possible to look past the constant references to ‘I’ and ‘me.’
The Name of the Wind is one of the better new fantasy novels to have been released within the past few years. Many established and fantastic series’ are available, but for something new this book comes highly recommended.
An extract from the book can be read on Rothfuss’s official site [HERE]
Rating: * * * * * Release Date: Available Now Pages: 347 Author: Daniel H. Wilson Publisher: Simon & Schuster
To describe this as simply World War Z, but with Robots, would be a complete disservice to Robopocalypse, but it’s the first thing that came to mind upon flicking through its pages.
Wilson has followed a similar path to that of Max Brooks, having previously written How To Survive A Robot Uprising; however, Wilson differs in the fact that he has a Ph. D in Robotics, so he kind of knows what he’s talking about here.
Robopocalypse covers a similar formula to WWZ, with one main character simply describing events as he has seen them, or re-telling a story that has been described to him. The story follows the rise of a super-AI structure called Archos, and the battle with humanity that ensues.
As you read, you will follow characters from around the world, a Native American of the Osage tribe on the plains of North America, a husband & wife in New York, an aging Japanese engineer, and many others. Their storylines slowly intertwine, showing the events that lead up to the creation of a human resistance.
Throughout these tales, we also get to learn about the evolution of the robots, and glimpses into the mind of Archos itself, and this in itself is one of the biggest differences from the aforementioned zombie book. A zombie is a mindless drone, which never learns and never adapts; once you’ve learnt how to defeat it, you’ve pretty much won the war, you are just relying on resources and the intelligence of your armies.
An Artificial Intelligence is different; whilst humans are learning to fight back, it’s also learning and it learns faster. Through the eyes of the human survivors, we watch as Archos adapts to new environments and new strategies, creating ever more complex robots to try and squash the human resistance. Wilson’s Ph. D really pays off in these moments, as he is able to accurately describe a machine that not only sounds deadly, but sounds realistic in every way.
Robopocalypse is a fantastic start to what I sincerely hope becomes a much bigger universe, and even if it isn’t it’s still a bloody good read. Whilst I fear that Wilson will remain underappreciated, I think he deserves the same amount of attention, if not more, that Max Brooks gained for his work.
An excerpt from Robopocalypse can be read [HERE], whilst the full book itself is available from all good bookstores.
I originally thought Capcom were going to be holding their own Press Conference this year, much like they used to in previous years. Sadly, the only thing they appear to be doing is holding a Livestream of whatever is happening at their booth.
You can view this stream [HERE] if you wish, but all their major content reveals will be contained in this blog unless a surprise interview reveals something not covered in the trailers and gameplay.
First up, Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition is now available on Xbox Live Arcade, and will be available over Playstation Network within the next couple of days.
As is usual for the Street Fighter series, this is essentially a few extra characters, costumes, and gameplay modes for the avid Street Fighter fan.
Resident Evil: Revelations is the next major storyline installment for the Resi series, released exclusively for the 3DS.
The game is set in 2005, so before the events of Resident Evil 5, and follows Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield during a mission for the B.S.A.A. Chris is missing, and Jill has gone to try and track him down.
The games introduces Parker and Juliette, two new B.S.A.A characters, and quite possibly a new set of villains (though Hunk seemed to have featured previously, so hopefully we'll learn more about him).
No official release date for Revelations yet, but with Mercs 3D coming out within the next month or so, you'll be able to get your hands on a demo of Revelations upon purchase (or rental) of the multiplayer title.
To give you an idea of gameplay, here's some footage:
Next up comes Street Fighter X Tekken:
What more is there to say? It's a crossover title between Street Fighter and Tekken, and dependant upon which platform you get it on there'll be a few exclusive character unlocks.
At Sony's conference last night, it was revealed that SFXT will be available on Playstation Vita, and will have Cole (the lead character of inFamous) as a playable character.
We finally get to see how DMC is going to play, and would you bloody look at that...he gets his white hair, red coat, and dual wielded pistols out.
Somewhat allaying the fears of many fans, I assume, with this trailer, Ninja Theory are still erring on the edge of open hostility by not revealing too much about how, or if, this game will fit into the series so far.
It seems clear that this is an origins story of some form, but will it capture the same combat feeling and atmosphere of the previous titles?
Needless to say, it looks like a good game, well made and well designed, but whether it'll be a good Devil May Cry is up to the fanbase.
Asura's Wrath looks busy, and angry, and loud.
This is essentially a combination of, by the looks of it, the original Devil May Cry games and God of War, but with an asian theme instead of a Western theme.
It seems over the top, filled with action, and completely outrageous in storyline and theme...so what's not to love?
As long as the controls and tight and the action is fluid, this game should be a good one. We'll leave the storyline for the players to decide upon.
Street Fighter 3: Third Strike Online Edition.
These names are getting longer, I swear. It's an old joke, I know, but it starts to become unfunny when you realise the truth in it all.
Filled with hundreds of unlockables, this HD-remastering of Street Fighter 3 is what everyone has come to expect of Capcom's Street Fighter series. If you don't like Street Fighter, you won't like this. If you do, you probably will. Simple really.
Three Resident Evil games in one show? I'm going all weak at the knees.
Resident Evil - Operation: Raccoon City is the first Resident Evil game, that is coming out on a main console, that isn't made by Capcom.
Being developed by Slant Six, we get to follow the actions of an Umbrella hit-squad during the events of the Raccoon City Outbreak (covered previously in RE2, RE3, and RE: Outbreak 1 & 2). Their task? To hunt down surviving R.P.D officers.
Yes, that includes Leon.
The game is shaping up to be a fantastic return to form for the Resident Evil series, but will players be ok with playing as the bad guys? And, more importantly, will it be possible to kill Claire Redfield play the game in a canon way?
This was a big surprise reveal at Captivate this year, and the game keeps looking better and better as we go along.
Some say it looks like a Western version of Monster Hunter, others think it takes inspiration from Breath of Fire, and even more are wondering if it can compete with Skyrim.
What do you guys think?
If you ask me, this game looks brilliant and well worth the investment. Taking inspiration from Shadow of the Colossus with the ability to climb all over the big monsters, and taking the action and customisation from Monster Hunter and a pinch from other western RPGs, this game looks set to give an interesting new take on the fantasy epic.
Finishing off with classic Capcom form, we get the hilarity and awesomeness of Dead Rising 2: Off the Record.
This is an alternate universe 'What If?' take on the evnts of Dead Rising 2.
Frank West, hero of the very first game, is asked what he would've done had he been in Fortune City at the time of the outbreak. His response? Off the Record.
This isn't just a rehash of the DR2 events, this is an entirely new game. With Frank in the mix, characters are going to react differently...and the storyline is going to go into new territory.
I, for one, can't wait to go to Uranus Zone and have some fun.
Biggest highlight?
I'm surprised, more and more, of just how good Revelations looks for a 3DS game, and the storyline seems to be taking us back to more traditional Resident Evil settings.
Operation: Raccoon City is doing the same, but giving us a much darker angle which is great.
Off the Record and Dragon's Dogma are surprise hits for me, having come out of nowhere and really hyped me up.
DMC has piqued my interest now that Dante doesn't seem to be so much of a whiny little teenager, and it was nice to see him transform into the Dante we recognise from older games.
And finally Asura's Wrath...a game that confuses yet interests me at the same time.
As I'm sure you're aware by now, I'm not at E3 this year, but thanks to Spike TV I am able to watch livestreams of the major conferences and announcements.
I just watched Nintendo's conference, by far the most confusing yet highly anticipated conference so far.
So here's my thoughts on their announcements, in the order they arrived.
The conference started with a montage showing off the history of the Zelda series, from the very first game, to the very latest releases.
All of this with a live Orchestra and Choir playing and singing the music from the games.
The montage finally ended with Skyword Sword, the next Zelda game.
Miyamoto came up on stage, and away we went.
Miyamoto spoke about the evolution of the Zelda series, both visually and musically. He asked the Orchestra to play a couple of recosnigable themes from the series, and then thanked the fanbase and community for continuing to play the series over the years.
As a part of the 25th Anniversary celebration of Zelda, Miyamoto announced all sorts of goodies for Zelda fans.
First up was Link's Awakening coming to the 3DS e-shop, which should be available by tonight.
Next was Zelda: Four Swords coming as a free download to all people that own a DSi, to push the concept of friendly gaming. DSi owners are very lucky indeed.
Ocarina of Time remake is coming out in a couple of weeks on the 3DS, which I've got pre-ordered already. I'm sure many others are also in the same boat.
Miyamoto also revealed that a special Golden WiiMote would be released, with the Hyrule eagle appearing on it. CD soundtracks for the Zelda games will also be released, and Miyamoto ended the Zelda love by talking about the 25th Anniversary Celebration symphonies to be touring the world later this year.
It was also said that other goodies would be revealed at a later date.
Skyword Sword will be available this year, around the holiday season.
Satoru Iwata next came up on stage to speak of how Nintendo had created new ways to game, but had failed slightly on creating a console that catered to both "hardcore" and "casual" markets.
He spoke of the new console, but didn't reveal anything, saying that it would be covered later.
Next up came Reggie on stage talking about the lineup for the 3DS.
Super Mario 3DS offers players the first ever 3D Mario designed specifically for a handheld, and it focuses uite heavily on Mario's Raccoon Costume.
Starfox 3DS offers players the ability to play with traditional controls, or the 3DS's tilt controls.
Kid Icarus is yet another classic title built specifically for the 3DS.
Luigi's Mansion 2 is a direct sequel to the first Lugi's Mansion, offering up new mansions and new gameplay modes.
And finally Mario Kart is a new kart game built, again, specifically for the 3DS. New tracks, new abilities, etc.
Reggie also detailed the launch of the 3DS e-Shop, with Excitebike 3D being offered for free for a limited time, and Pokemon E-dex being made avialable for free.
The Pokemon E-dex brings Pokemon into the real world, asking you to fill in your e-dex through spot-pass, street-pass, and all sorts of other things.
Finally came the big reveal, the one that everybody has been waiting for.
Nintendo's reveal of the Wii's successor, the Wii U.
This is a high-definition console, 1080p, that brings a new controller with an added touchscreen built in.
The controller can be used to play the console games whilst the TV is on a completely different channel, it can be used in combination with other games, and appears to even be compatible with various Wii accesories (such as the balance board).
Finally Nintendo appears to be getting the big developers making games for it. However, what's going to make me buy the games for Wii U over my PC, or 360, or PS3?
Smash Bro's has been announced to be in development for both the 3DS and the Wii U, which was met with a lot of applause, but more information needs to be released on this before I can feel any sort of hype.
Highlight of the conference?
Very little to be honest.
Skyward Sword looks great, but they barely showed anything of it.
The new console sounds interesting, but they chose to focus entirely on the controller over the actual console...which was unimpressive and confusing as a whole.
Luigi's Mansion 2 made me happy though. The GameCube version was fantastic, so I expect the sequel to be just as good.
I'm not at E3 this year, sadly, so I wasn't awake when Sony gave their Press Conference at the end of the first day.
Thanks to Spike TV I've managed to cover Microsoft, EA, and Ubisoft through their Livestream, but it was up to G4TV to keep an archived stream of the Sony conference. So much thanks to them, as I can now write this catch up blog.
The kick start to the Sony conference was a montage of everything to come, showing off the latest games, the latest gadgets, and hinting at what is to come for the NGP.
A fairly impressive, if lengthy, intro to the conference, but the games on display peaked my interest. We have the obvious Resistance 3, Killzone, inFamous 2, and God of War, along with Street Fighter, Dragon's Dogma, Operation: Raccoon City, and countless other titles flashing up on screen.
Uncharted 3 gets a fair amount of screen time.
Finally Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Entertainment America, takes to the stage.
He thanks everybody for attending, and welcomes those that are watching on TV or online.
He takes the time to personally apologise for the recent security problems, and apparently this was entirely unscripted and from the heart. He also takes the time to thank retailers, the press, and consumers for their continued support.
"You are the lifeblood of the company. Without you, there is no Playstation."
He then takes the time to address those in the world that aren't yet a part of the Playstation community, speaking of the various applications that they offer, announcing a new partnership with CinemaNow to add to the growing list.
Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra took to the stage to demo a level from Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. Naughtydog have, at this moment, stolen the show by showing off another excellent setpiece from their upcoming game, showing Nathan Drake stealthing his way through a derelict ocean cruiser, eventually causing it to sink after setting off an explosion in the lower levels.
They also announce the multiplayer, which will have Beta access starting on June 28th. In addition to this, Sony, Naughtydog, and Subway have teamed together to offer (throughout October) fans the chance to get full access to the multiplayer before release of the final game.
They ended their time on stage with the latest trailer for Drake's Deception:
Is that Helen Mirren? Looks like her at least. Uncharted 3 looks set to follow the huge set pieces of Uncharted 2 with even bigger and better environments, and an excellent all-star storyline.
Marcus Smith takes to the stage to show off Resistance 3.
"It's August 1947, 4 years after the events of resistance 2. The chimera have won the war, humans face extinction."
Marcus gives us a 3 minute tour of one level from Resistance 3, showing off the new style of gameplay, new weaponry, and new enemy types. Another great looking title by Insomniac that promises support of both 3D and Playstation Move.
They also announced the Resistance 3 Sharpshooter Edition, which comes bundled with all sorts of add-ons for Playstation Move in September.
Next up, Jack announces the God of War Origins Collection, HD and 3D remakes of the PSP titles, heading over to the PS3 in the future.
In addition to the God of War remakes, there will also be the Ico & Shadow of the Colossus bundle heading to the PS3 as well.
Both collections will be launching this September, in full 3D and HD glory.
Now, to kick start Sony's push for making 3D adoption more easier for the consumer, Tretton announces the Playstation TV.
The TV not only shows 3D, but comes with the ability for 2 players to see 2 different images on screen at any time. This essentially means that multiplayer games can both be played on the same TV, without suffering a decrease in screen size, or the problem of the other player peeking at your position.
This is a 24" HD screen, that comes bundled with Resistance 3, a pair of 3D glasses, and a 6 foot HDMI cable. It will be available this fall.
The glasses are the second step in Sony's move towards consumer friendly 3D, offering up glasses that will work with multiple 3D TVs, and will also be available this fall.
The entire bundle is set to retail for $499, with the glasses going for $70 per pair.
With 8.8 Million units sold worldwide, Playstation Move has been a big success for Sony since launch, so Tretton now takes the time to make some exciting announcements.
Chris Snyder and Erick Boenisch from 2K Sports take to the stage to show off NBA2K12, introducing a new feature called "NBA on the move."
Medieval Moves is another Move exclusive title. I can't quite tell if it's on roails or not, but it looks like a family friendly fantasy game of sorts, in a similar vein to the Zelda series.
Tretton covers the exponential growth of the Move brand, covering core games such as House of the Dead, and more casual games like Dance Central.
inFamous 2 launches tomorrow in the US, with move support already in there. At a later point, Tretton mentions, there'll be user generated content being added to the game.
People will be able to add their own missions to the game, with Move adding an extra dimension to all of this.
LittleBigPlanet 2 will also be getting Move support in the future, further developing it as one of Sony's biggest franchises at the moment.
Starhawk is a new title coming from Sony's Santa Monica studios, though little else is revealed during the conference.
The trailer is purely CGI, so no idea on what the game actually plays like or what it's actually about. It seems to have a mild mixture of comedy and seriousness, which feels odd to me at the moment. The whole thing with boxes dropping from the sky and instantly converting into buildings or vehicles was quite cool though.
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time gets a fairly entertaining and heavily stylised trailer, announcing a 2012 release for one of the most heavily anticipated titles on the PS3.
Dust 514 is developed by the creators of Eve Online, featuring Move support and NGP support in the future.
Set within the Eve Online universe, the shooter will have direct contact with the PC game, allowing you to play within the very same universe as the PC players. What you do in the shooter should affect what happens in the MMO.
Dust 514 is exclusive to Playstation, with a multiplayer Beta coming in the fall, and a full release next year.
Ken Levine takes to the stage to show off the latest trailer for Bioshock: Infinite.
He apologises for his remarks about Playstation Move, and tells a story on how Sony spoke to him about getting him more interested in motion controls.
So now we've got official word that Infinite will support Move, which is a bit of a shock.
Levine also notes that Irrational are working on another Bioshock game for Sony's NGP, though little was revealed about what the game will revolve around.
To further bolster support for the Irrational & Sony companionship, it's also been revealed that if you buy the PS3 version of Infinite, you'll get the very first game for free on the same disc.
Saints Row the Third will be gaining an exclusive gameplay mode on the PS3, whilst the upcoming JJ Abrahms Star Trek game will feature Move support.
Paramount will also be releasing a Playstation Move add-on that makes the controller look like one of the phasers from Star Trek. In addition to this, an exclusive prequel to the game will be available on the Playstation Network.
In the first of three exclusives from EA, Tretton announces that SSX will gain an exclusive race down the side of Japan's Mount Fuji.
The second exclusive is for Need for Speed: The Run. PS3 owners will have access to a BluRay disc with extra racing cars such as the Veron.
The fina; exclusive from EA is utilising the space on a BluRay disc by giving players of Battlefield 3 a free copy of Battlefield 1943.
Playstation Suite is a service being release by Sony that allows consumers to play Playstation software on a non-Sony device, such as the Android service.
Kazuo Hirai takes to the stage to reveal the official name and features for the NGP. It is officially called Playstation Vita, or PSV for me.
The above three videos are a showcase of the features, pricing, and a montage of the available and upcoming games.
The PSV is something I am greatly looking forward to, especially with support from Irrational and Naughtydog.
PSV seems to be getting heavy support from various 3rd party developers, which is a damn slight more than what the PSP got in the end. With Uncharted: Golden Abyss being one of several great games heading to the console, it looks like a strong competitor to Nitendo's handheld dominance.
Ruin looks like another fantastic game for the PSV, a sort of cross between Diablo and Fable, with a dash of Demons Souls with social networking and fighting people you've never met in your life.
With PS3 save connectivity, it shows off the full power and potential of the PSV. This is the sort of connectivity that Nintendo needs to include with its next console.
Modnation Racers shows off the power and ease of the PSV's touchscreens, giving players instant access to editing modes in the game. Another great looking game.
LBP Vita utilising all the technology that Kazuo spoke of earlier in the conference, with the editing tools and cross platform conectivity really coming into play with this.
Yoshinori Ono takes to the stage to announce Street Fighter X Tekken for the PSV, revealing that Cole from inFamous will be a playable fighter in the Vita version.
And that was the end of the conference, with a brief little montage and loads of people in spandex playing on drums.
Highlights of the conference?
For me Uncharted is one of the biggest things, with Naughtydog really pulling out the potential for the console and the series as a whole. The reveal of the price and release dates for PSV is great, and the third party support is fantastic.
Golden Abyss, BioShock, Modnation Racers, and LittleBigPlanet are great announcements for a great looking handheld.
Check back later for my Nintendo Press Conference blog.
I'm not at E3 this year, though maybe one day I'll get to go. For now, I'm watching Spike TV's livestream of the events, and giving you my thoughts on the major announcements as they come!
First up is Rayman's next adventure, an apparent origins tale of sorts.
It looks pretty cool, retro at the same time as being modern and up to date. It has 4-player co-op/Multiplayer, and reminds me so very much of Loco Roco in the music choice and gameplay style.
A good start for Ubisoft.
The Driver series continues with Driver: San Francisco.
The trailer is pretty good, making me think that the Driver series has finally caught up with the current generation of consoles. It looks good, though it was a bit odd to see a police car hit a person and just nudge them slightly...
Surprise reveal from Ubisoft here. This looks fantastic, and is just a generally well scripted trailer.
"Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?" is probably going to be one of my favorite lines from E3 this year.
I have slight misgivings though, as trailers for Far Cry 2 made me think the game would be great, but it was a bit of a letdown when it finally came out.
Brothers in Arms: Furious Four is an over the top and somewhat hilarious take on the World War 2 genre, looking quite entertaining and different compared to most of the shooters coming out at the moment.
This is one I'll be keeping my eye on I think.
Next up came the TinTin videogame, which looks pretty cute if I'm honest.
It reminds me so much of the cartoons I used to watch as a kid, and you even get to play as Snowy. I just hope they've removed the overt racism...or explained it away somehow...
Microsoft showed off the Gunsmith ability and the main trailer for this, but Ubisoft actually got out a demo.
This game looks really good, and seems to be built on the engine used on the very last Splinter Cell, where mission objectives appear in the game world.
The tech from the trailer appears in the demo, and seems really interesting. The camo, the drone, everything.
I also love the interaction withe civilians.
They also announced Ghost Recon Online afterwards, which is a solely online version of the Ghost Recon series, and is free to play.
Trackmania 2 and the announcement of Maniaplanet came up next.
Trackmania 2 is the followup to, obviously, Trackmania. Another racing simulator, but this one seems focused largely on being entertaining and fun to play, rather than realistic in gameplay.
They also added mention of Maniaplanet, which is a whole world devoted to different types of games.
Shooters and FPS gamers will be catered for with Shootmania, whilst RPG fans will be treated to Questmania.
Ubisoft are basically expanding on their Trackmania franchise, which seems quite cool.
Rayman's Rabbids are back, and now they're even more interactive.
Another game for Kinect, it looks like it could be a fun little party game.
The walkthrough lead to perhaps the best presentation quote so far, "That was ridiculous!" said in a french accent. Brilliant stuff.
Music games are said to be near death, with guitar hero being cancelled, Rock Band selling poorly, etc, etc.
So Ubisoft announce Rocksmith. A music game that teaches you how to play the guitar, with an actual guitar.
This game has so much potential, it's absurd.
A quick mention of Fitness Evolved 2, with a little trailer that appears to be missing from YouTube at the moment. It'll be like the first game no doubt, just slightly better.
Assassin's Creed: Revelations ended the Ubisoft conference this year, with a fantastic trailer showing Ezio exploring Masyaf (the birthplace of the Assassin's Creed series), and facing off against hundreds of Templar guards.
They gave a quick gameplay demo, showing Ezio in Constantinople, destroying a whole fleet before escaping on his own ship.
Highlight of the conference for me?
It's got to be the Assassin's Creed trailer, excellent music choice and such a sad feeling coming from it all. A sad ending to a brilliant mini-trilogy.
The Rayman game looks cool to, as does Future Soldier, and Far Cry 3's trailer was well scripted.
Although I'm not at the event, thanks to the miracle of technology and the livestream of the important conferences by Spike TV, I'm able to give you almost full coverage of the latest announcements from E3 2011.
And so it is that I bring you the news from EA.
It'd be a pretty useless Press Conference on EA's part if they failed to show anything on Mass Effect 3, so wad'ya know? They kick start the conference with some awesome footage of Mass Effect 3 in action, giving us a look at the latest trailer for the game.
Mass Effect 3 has been given a North American release date of March 6th 2012, with the European release following 3 days later on March 9th.
Next up came EAs showing of the next Need for Speed title, The Run.
The latest addition to the long running series gives players the chance to leave their cars and head off on running missions. Gameplay looks tight, much tigether than previous games in the series, and the new gameplay feature is quite interesting.
BioWare once again steal the thunder by showing off the latest trailer for Star Wars: The Old Republic.
It's mostly footage that has been shown before, but it's enough to build up the hype once again.
Call me cynical here, but this trailer looked great until they revealed that it was for SSX: Deadly Descent. I'm just not that hyped about a snowboarding game, no matter how much they add to it.
A crashed plane in the mountains makes me think of a survival type game, which would've been cool...but EA once again proved that it's mostly only good at doing sports games.
Fifa 12 and Madden NFL 12 shown off, showing off the much hyped physics engine that EA have made for the games.
Another set of games I'm not particularly interested in, though they do look good for what they are.
Next up came the announcement of The Sims Social, a Sims game for Facebook.
I tried my best to find an image for this, or the trailer...but it would appear people are just as enthused for this as I am. It looked a bit naff if I'm honest.
Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning was up next, and this game was a bit of a surprise for me.
I'd never heard of it, but it was announced a while back. This looks to be a fantasy game in the same veing as the Fable series, and this please me.
It looks as if it may even replace Fable as a loved fantasy hack-and-slash, given it seems to be succeeding where Fable is currently failing.
Overstrike came up next, the product of Insomniac teaming up with EA.
It looks quite funny, but no gameplay to show off I'm afraid. This was yet another surprise reveal for me, something I'll be keeping my eye on.
Battlefield 3. EA's response to the Modern Warfare series.
For people interested in these sorts of games, it looks pretty epic.
The multiplayer Beta for B3 will be open to all, and available in September of this year.
And that was all EA really had to showcase this year.
Kingdoms of Amalur, Overstrike, and obviously Mass Effect 3 were the biggest highlights of the conference. Amalur especially, as it could replace my obsession with the Fable series.
2011's Electronic Entertainment Expo kicked off today with the Microsoft Press Conference.
Sadly I didn't get to attend, but I sat and watched the Livestream thanks to SpikeTV.
The following blog is my thoughts on what Microsoft covered.
The conference started with a live demo of Modern Warfare 3, which you can watch in full [HERE].
The set-piece they show off is fairly epic, typical Hollywood Blockbuster action stuff, with an infiltration of a submarine, the firing of missiles at enemy forces, and the destruction of Manhattan.
SpikeTV later aired another section of MW3, and it was another all out action set-piece.
They both left me with the niggling impression of being dragged along for the ride, never truly playing an important role and never doing much to change what was going on. It looks great, but a little underwhelming.
A demo of Tomb Raider was shown off next.
By far the best game (for me at least) shown during the conference, finally giving Lara Croft the game she's deserved since the rise of the PS2 and the announcement of the next generation.
Lara finally feels and looks human, and the game appears to be taking direction from the Uncharted series in making a relaistic and interesting world filled with new physics based puzzles.
The game also appears to be taking inspiration from the movie "The Descent" which was a good survival horror esque film that will be great to see in this game.
Next came Mass Effect 3 and the start of Microsoft's push for Kinect.
BioWare announced that Kinect was now compatible with ME3, giving you voice recognition (to speak to other characters), and voice commands (during combat).
All quite useful, but mostly just a bonus, given that the games have been simple enough without the use of Kinect.
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier had a brilliant trailer to show off the new tech being implemented by the soldiers you get to play as. Wheteher or not it'll look as cool is questionable, but the trailer was followed by another push for Kinect.
Future Soldier has the "Gunsmith" ability, allowing you to craft weapons using their individual pieces.
Kinect allows you to flick through all of the options, and even gives you full voice control to craft weapons for specific types of combat, or even a random craft. It all looks pretty good, and even gives you the chance to test out the weapons in a target range.
Microsoft took the stage again and spoke of the latest set of features to be added to the Xbox 360. There'll be more movies added to their streaming and download service, along with TV shows, and a newly announced Live TV Streaming system.
In addition we'll be seeing the addition of a Bing application that gives users the ability to better search the Xbox database. Kinect once again adds to all of this, with voice commands (Xbox - Bing - Lego was one of the commands, giving the user a full list of Lego related games to flick through).
Following up the announcement of Live TV streaming came the announcement of UFC streaming, again with the addition of Kinect compatability. Using Live, it's possible to pick who you think will win the UFC fight, and various other options...basically taking bets and winning points for getting correct bets.
Cliffy B and Ice-T took to the stage next to show off Gears of War 3. Not much explanation is needed behind this.
We got to see Cliffy B and Ice-T play through a level in apparently the early stages of the game, as Marcus and the rest battle against a sea monster after spending the past 2 years or so on a ship-like structure in the middle of the ocean.
A cool section with a mech type vehicle was shown off, and a big boss battle was the main focus of the demo.
Next up was a trailer for Crytek's latest game, specifically for Kinect, called "Ryse."
A first-person style on-rails game set during a rebellion in Rome, you get to battle it out flailing infront of your Kinect to attack people with sword, shield, and even with headbutts and kicks.
Looked pretty cool, but the spelling behind the name is atrocious.
This one was obvious, and had been rumoured for months. Halo: Combat Evolved is getting a remake for the 10th Anniversary.
The Halo remake was followed up by the trailer for Forza Motorsports 4, where it was said that even casual gamers could get into this game. The cars certainly looked nice and shiny, and if I were into racing games I might find this appealing...so it might be worth looking out for if these types of games are your thing.
Next up, Peter Molyneux took to the stage to announce Fable: The Journey. Another Kinect focused game (no word on whether it can be played without Kinect).
The game seems to be an on-rails shooter, set within the Fable universe, with branching exploration as you travel down the road.
Theresa once again makes an appearance, though little else has been revealed.
Minecraft has been announced exclusively for the 360, with Kinect support.
No word on whether exclusivity is timed or 100%, but given the reveal of Minecraft on Sony's Xperia Play, I wouldn't be shocked to discover it to be a timed exclusive.
Another Kinect game here, this one's for the kids. Disneyland Adventures lets you explore Disneyland in full, and play various mini-games set within the worlds.
Kinect Star Wars was announced at last years E3, along with Kinect, but this is the first time we've seen it in action.
It's essentially on-rails, with a bit of free form. Needs a bit of work, but looks kind of cool.
Tim Schaeffer took to the stage to show off Kinect's next kid-friendly game, Sesame Stree: Once Upon a Monster.
It looks cuddly and cute, and kind of fun.
Kinect Fun Labs was the next announcement from Microsoft, showing off various gadgets and tech demos for the Kinect hardware.
Fun Labs lets you play around with the latest software created by developers across the world, including avatar creation, object scanning, and all sorts of extra bits of fun.
The object scanning is a cool function, allowing you to scan in plush toys, skateboards, and all sorts of other household objects. Hopefully this won't be abused too much.
Kinect Sports - Season 2, basically Wii Sports for the 360. Looks good, the on stage demo was pretty accurate.
Dance Central 2 was shown off to the crowd here, more of the same gameplay wise, but with the promise of a campaign mode and various other gameplay styles and the ability to import tracks from the first game. This is a big bonus for anybody that really liked the first game.
Microsoft ended their conference with the first trailer for Halo 4.
Said to be the first in a new trilogy, and apparently hardcore fans of the original games will notice even more nods to the fanbase in this trailer.
It all looks pretty cool if you ask me.
The highlights of this conference have to be Tomb Raider and the Fun Labs for me, with very little else being overly impressive.
Microsoft were really keen to push Kinect this year, but it would've been nicer to see more core games using Kinect, rather than watered down games being made for it (Star Wars and Fable, I'm looking at you).
I'll be covering Sony and Nintendo as well, so look out for those when they're up!
Much thanks to Kotaku for the images above, and all the various YouTube accounts that uploaded the trailers.
Metrodome were nice enough to send me a review copy of Titanic 2 quite recently, and whilst I watched it quite some time ago this review has been slow to come.
Let's face it, we know this film isn't going to be great. I approached it, as many would, as something that is light entertainment, a B-Movie that you can sit down, turn your brain off, and watch with childish glee.
The story, unsurprisingly, is about a ship named Titanic 2. It looks almost exactly like Titanic, but has a few modern technological upgrades. At the same time as we witness the launch of Titanic 2, we are introduced to James Maine (played by Bruce Davison, as the DVD box proudly proclaims) up in the North Pole researching the effects of global warming.
Whilst there, a giant piece of ice breaks off, and crashes into the ocean, sending out a Mega Tsunami filled with icebergs. Guess where it's headed?
That's right, straight for Titanic 2.
Needless to say, hilarity ensues. You can guess who is going to die, but how they do so is another matter entirely.
You can tell from the outset that this film was made on a very limited budget that they tried their hardest to use as wisely as they could, it's just a shame that it wasn't used in the right places.
Visually, this movie is unimpressive the majority of the time. The sets they've managed to piece together are believeable to an extent, but all sense of believeability is lost when the camera pans out to show us the digitally built portions of Titanic 2. This unimpressive CGI also extends to many of the death scenes, or action shots, as people look like they've been cut out of the scene in Photoshop and quickly spun away.
The lead character, Hayden Walsh (played by Shane Van Dyke), is both the writer and director for Titanic 2, which screams of ego trip to me, whilst Bruce Davison only makes minor appearances.
Perhaps the biggest highlight, for me, was the revelation that the captain of Titanic 2 was played by D.C. Douglas. That may sound odd, but he's a bit of a geek favourite of mine, having played the character of Albert Wesker in several of the Resident Evil games.
After sitting through the 82 minute runtime I felt a moment of sorrow. Titanic 2 is not a great film, and could barely be described as a good film. I remember when the trailer first hit the internet it recieved a lot of attention for how hilarious the premise seemed.
The moment of sorrow came at the realisation that Van Dyke and The Asylum (the company behind the film) really missed an opportunity when naming it. Titanic 2 is a cheesy name, something that would automatically put many people off from viewing it.
It's not good enough to be taken seriously, and it's not bad enough to be picked up for a laugh, and so it came to me; the best name for this film, a name that would grab the attention of passers by that wanted a cheap laugh, would have been Giant Ship Vs. Mega Tsunami.
With this title, The Asylum would've been able to cash in on the stoner market that so enthusiastically support Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus.
Titanic 2 was written and Directed by Shane Van Dyke, Produced by The Asylum, and Distributed by Metrodome Group
Pokemon Red came out sometime in the 90s when I was still at secondary school. I followed the TV show and the card game, but could never get into the videogame. This left me secluded from my friends that were obsessed with them.
Ten or more years later, and Pokemon Black & White have just been released for Nintendo's DS handheld. After much nagging, I was convinced to try out Pokemon Black, to see if I could get into them after years of improvement on what I saw as a flawed system.
This, my friends, is my journey across the Unova region, desperately trying to "catch 'em All."
The Adventure Begins
I wake from a strange dream. A large group of people watching an old man place a crown on the head of a younger man. He raises his hand, and I wake up.
Weird.
But today is the day. I notice a large gift on my bedroom table, and my friend Cheren is just entering the room.
We stand and stare at the box for a while, anticipating our friend Bianca's arrival, she's a bit ditzy and has turned up late. When she finally arrives, we all step forward and open the box.
Inside are three small Red&White balls with a black band around the middle. Our Pokeballs.
I take Tepig, a fire Pokemon, as my choice. Cheren takes Oshawott, a water Pokemon, and Bianca decides on Snivy, a grass Pokemon.
Bianca makes the decision that, to try out our new okemon, we must have a battle. I accept her challenge, and away we go.
After a few seconds of learning how to control Tepig, I have defeated Snivy and my room is in a mess. Cheren now challenges me, and I once again rise triumphant over my friends. My room is still a mess, but I'm happy to see that my Wii is still in pristine condition.
I leave my bedroom and follow my friends downstairs. My mother brushes away our apologies and says she'll clear everything up (ever dilligent housewife that she is), and we set off on our visit to Professor Juniper...the kind Professor that gifted us our first ever Pokemon.
Before I leave, I ntice that there is only one set of stairs in the house, and they lead directly into my bedroom. So, clearly, my mother is not just a dilligent housewife, but happy to sleep on either the floor or the sofa.
I shrug, and head off into the wider world. Taking my first steps into unknown territory. Outside my own house.
Before visiting Professor Juniper, I decide to take a stroll around my home town, perhaps this would be the last time I ever laid my eyes upon these idylic houses?
I quickly realise that my home town is very small. It couldn't even be called a village. There are four buildings, including my own home.
My friends parents think nothing of my walking through their door whilst their children are not home, nor of my walking up into their rooms. They appear to have parents that are just as devoted and willing to sleep on the floor or sofa of their living room.
Cheren and Bianca have both a Mother & Father, I only seem to have a Mother. Daddy, why did you leave me?
But enough of this, it's time to meet the Professor and start with my quest!
Professor Juniper introduces us to the world of Pokemon Training by giving us a lowdown on how our Pokedex will work (it's an encyclopeadia of every Pokemon we meet and catch), and then she kindly asks if we'd be willing to fill our Pokedex for her studies.
We accept, and we set out.
Route 1
"In the long grass, wild Pokemon will jump out at you and attack!" I am told, so where better to get my hands on some new Pokemon of my own?
I set out through the long grass, never to see my home or my mother again, and a wild Patrat appears, and the battle commences.
I spend the next few minutes battling Patrats and Lillipups, catching one each for myself and leveling my Tepig at the same time.
"Until we get to the city, you should go home to heal your Pokemon."
Well, there goes the slither of independance. But I carry on.
I explore, battle and slowly work my way down Route 1 to Accumula.
I briefly explore the small town, walking into the house of strangers who are perfectly fine with me rumaging through their trash cans and talking to their children. I am, after all, a Pokemon Trainer.
Professor Juniper introduces me to the PokeCenter, the place for healing my Pokemon (yay, no more running home!) and buying supplies.
I hand over my caught pokemon to the nurse behind the counter, she heals them, and hands them back to me.
"Hope to see you again!"
I stumble slightly...pardon?
The Pokecenter is free. Her wish to see me again is not based on monetary gain from each visit...she is just purely sadistic. Place yourself in this scenario:
You go out drinking, you get into a fairly nasty fight where ultimately you take a lot of damage and knock your opponent unconcious. Upon leaving the Hospital, right as rain, the nurses and doctors smile and wave whilst cheerfuly saying "Hope to see you again!"
How would you react?
I'm, understandably, scared of returning to this place.
Before I can speak with anyone about the morbid staff working at their local center, there is a commotion in the street.
A group of strangely dressed men and women stand behind an old man in a brown robe of somekind.
He preaches to the crowd about how we don't truly understand the Pokemon, that we cannot be certain that they want to be treated the way that we treat them. He asks us to think on this dilemma, and then leaves.
The crowd disperses, leaving myself and Cheren standing around facing a man with green hair.
He introduces himself as "N" and asks us if we agree with the man, if we can hear the Pokemon speaking.
I shrug him off as crazy, but then he throws his balls at me and I'm in a fight.
My Tepig destroys his Purrlion, and I leave him to lick his wounds.
It is time for me to continue on my journey, to find my first gym, and to discover more Pokemon.
A trailer for Dead Island has been released, and those that have taken an interest have labelled it as "the best trailer of 2011" or some such variant of that statement.
But am I the only one that recognises this game from 2007?
Our first glimpse at Dead Island came at the Leipzig Games Convention in 2007, with a brief 32 second video showing off lucious environments (that reminded me somewhat of Far Cry and Crysis) with an even more brief glimpse at a Zombie being held back with a crowbar.
Luckily, someone managed to get a quick word with one of the developers at the Games Convention, and here it is (it's in Polish, with subtitles):
Here we get a brief look at some gameplay, but the important information obviously comes from the mouth of the developer.
We're told that the storyline focuses on a couple that survived a plane crash into this tropical island.
There are 4 Objectives:
- Survive - Find out what's going on - Find your woman - Escape the island
We are told that there will be factions that you can interact with, other survivors of this odd little outbreak. The dev describes Bandits and Military in particular, but makes mention of other groups of survivors to interact with or possibly join.
Gameplay wise, he states that it plays in First Person, but not like a typical FPS title. Weapons are rarely going to be guns, but instead could be a plank of wood ripped from a fence, or a crowbar, etc.
Little else is revealed in these two videos other than they're aiming for a 2008 release. November 2007
Another video is released, this time showing off the multi-layer damage system that the developers have added to the game. Each enemy apparently has fully breakable bones, layers of muscles and skin, and they take real time damage.
Is any of this actually true? No idea, but it's what they say.
2008
So 2008 comes along, and people are getting a bit excited for this sandbox Zombie game. It's a dream come true, right?
Some screenshots are released, that a YouTube user has nicely gathered together for our viewing pleasure:
But 2008 comes, and goes...with no new footage and no game. Obviously it's been delayed.
What we can see in the screenshots, however, is that the real time damage does seem to exist. Whether or not it actually works is still left to our imagination, as we haven't seen it in action.
It is worth noting, however, that there does at least appear to be an ample supply of Zombie variants.
2009
New screenshots are released:
The Zombie variants are still there, which is good, but I'm seeing that same blonde zombie in a bikini in far too many stills. Slightly upsetting, but what can a developer really do to avoid that?
February 2011
And finally we're at today, with the original release date long forgotten by people that clearly aren't as sad as myself, and new information being revealed.
Below you can watch the new trailer, see new screenshots, and then watch the new trailer revealed in chronological order:
And there we have it. A slightly emotional trailer, no actual gameplay footage, and a lot of hype.
But, given the long development cycle of this game, is it really that bad that I'm let down by the lack of actual gameplay footage?
What's even worse is that I'm flciking through news articles at the moment, and being told that Dead Island has only just been announced. Why is this? Is the collective memory of Games Journalists and normal Journalists so bad that they can't even be bothered to check if the game existed beforehand?
I'm both let down and worried by this...
Also, there appears to be a tiny bit of controversy surrounding the new trailer [CLICKY], but I happen to agree with the writer of that blog.
