Author: Jeff Morgan (Page 227 of 260)

      Mass Effect 2 is like Empire Strikes Back

      October 11, 2009 /

      Mass Effect 2.So sayeth Bioware, so let it be. The developer has called the sequel to my favorite space marine RPG the dark cousin to the original. Okay, it actually said Mass Effect 2 is like the second Star Wars film in that it tells a much darker tale.

      “If you recall, Empire Strikes Back was the darker chapter and that is how we designed the ME2 story and experience: to try and make the player reflect on the challenges of the character,” co-founder Greg Zeschuk told IGN. “If you put ME2 next to the original it is definitely a darker, harder game.”

      Mass Effect 2 picks up at the end of the original with another threat to the human race. My guess is the game focuses on Sheppard’s struggle with race/species and the obvious allegories to our own society. I’ll be interested to see how fleshed out it gets. For me, a lot of that emotional stress in a game is lost in the effort to complete quests and move the story along.

      Previews, Xbox 360

      Toys R Us has a 3-fer-2 sale this week

      October 11, 2009 /

      Toys R Us.That the video game industry has been in a backward slide lately hasn’t been all bad. Companies are ready to make big deals just to get people to buy, well, anything, so it’s been possible to pick up two or three of the newest titles for reasonable rates. Toys R Us is offering up another deal this week, this time in the form of a buy two, get the third free. The sale applies to both games and accessories.

      It’s a pretty sweet deal, though I don’t think you can mix and match accessories. Also not sure if it works with pre-orders, but you could always pick up a new game like Uncharted 2 and trade it back in for Forza 3 (yes, mixing some systems) when it releases later this month. The accessory deal is good on anything up to $100, so if you’ve been looking at a controller and maybe a charging station, now could be a good time to get it. Remember, the deal is only good for a week.

      Accessories, Deals

      Catan is coming to the iPhone

      October 10, 2009 /

      Catan on the iPhone.Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes! The popular board game has finally been submitted to Apple in iPhone form and now awaits approval. For those of you who don’t know – and have been sorely missing out – Settlers of Catan is a resource based board game with several victory conditions. The game has a huge following and even has a couple expansions.

      Though there’s no word on pricing, you can almost guarantee I’ll be buying this game. The one big failure? There’s no online system (?!?). That really makes no sense. The game is best enjoyed with friends, so why not give support the iPhone has had for several firmware iterations?

      In the ever-increasing deluge of iPhone games, I’m glad to see titles I’ve waited for aren’t slipping past my radar. It’s not so far-fetched to think they might. After all, even major releases can take up to a week to show up in app searches.

      Mobile Gaming, Previews

      Halo content planned for the next six years

      October 9, 2009 /

      Halo 2 Master Chief.I forgot to mention this very large and intrusive piece of information from the USA Today article comparing Halo to Star Wars. According to Frank O’Connor, the former Bungie guy who now heads up 343 Industries, the Halo division at Microsoft, the adventures of Master Chief have been planned six years into the future.

      “Eventually, it will become very apparent that there is a plan for the way the canon all ties together and the way the comic books and the novels all tie together,” O’Connor said. I’m kinda curious what that means. Is there some nefarious plan lurking behind a story line that could have been really epic if it weren’t so poorly handled? Have I overlooked some love connection between Master Chief and the Gravemind? Tell me your secrets, Frankie!

      At the very least we can all rest assured that Microsoft can still spot the gigantic glowing cash cow sitting right in front of it. The very minute you get tired of the latest Halo there’s sure to be another, even if it is a glorified expansion, flying off shelves at $60 a pop.

      PC, Previews, Xbox 360

      Is Halo really the new Star Wars?

      October 8, 2009 /

      Master Chief Jedi.There’s an odd little article on USA Today this week that suggests Halo is trying to mimic Star Wars in its spin-offs and merchandising. If you want to see some numbers for the franchise it’s a good read, but the article is missing a crucial link: how comic books + action figures + books + sequels + movies = Star Wars.

      To be fair, I understand the correlation. Few story worlds have captured public imagination quite like Halo has, but there have been enough of those things lately to realize that Star Wars was no unique phenomenon. Bear with me people. If you take a look at what I’ll call popular story worlds today, they have all been marketed in similar fashion across various media. Harry Potter has spinoff books, figures, video games, children’s toys, and on and on. Lord of the Rings has a similar brand identity. Twilight has completely changed the town in which the story takes place, taking it from a small town to a major tourist location.

      What we might be able to say more accurately is that Star Wars is the first of these popular-story-worlds-turned-moneymaking-machines that has survived into the modern age. Comic book heroes took their sweet time getting here, and Lord of the Rings was so long in the making, the movies that is, that many thought it would never happen. But George Lucas did a great job turning Star Wars into more than just a great movie trilogy.

      As long as people can find a way to monetize a story, we’ll be hearing this argument. Is it the next Harry Potter? The next Twilight? The next Lord of the Rings? It’s not any of those things, just the next enchanting narrative that got exploited for mass consumption.

      Games in Media

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 Fearless Gamer

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑