Tag: Video Games (Page 23 of 24)

      Bethesda and Dishonored Give Me an Excuse to Run This Lena Headey Picture

      August 3, 2012 /

      You know, as much as I love Bethesda, they don’t exactly have an astounding history of success with original titles.

      If you look at their history as a developer, you’ll of course notice their standout titles (“Fallout 3” and the “Elder Scrolls” series) are both of unquestionably great caliber, but only one of which is a true independent property. After that, you’ll see that Bethesda mostly spends their time as a publisher of titles that include “Brink,” “Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth,” “Rouge Warrior,” and “Rage”  (which John Carmack recently apologized for). All of those titles share one thing in common. None of them were really, truly great, but they all featured at least one aspect or element that made them stand out.

      See that’s the real magic behind Bethesda. Even when everything doesn’t come together as it should, they always manage to attach themselves to titles that never really feel like they are phoning it in. Hell, they even published a “Pirates of the Caribbean” game that wasn’t a complete hack job, and Disney and Johnny Depp have been phoning that franchise in since “Pirates of the Caribbean 2.”

      It’s such a consistent enough history of exceptional effort that it makes gamers everywhere stand up and take notice when the Maryland based developer starts a new project. Apparently, gamers aren’t the only ones taking notice as some A-list Hollywood celebrities have jumped at the chance to sign on for Bethesda’s next title “Dishonored.” It was recently announced that Susan Sarandon (“Thelma and Louise”, “Rocky Horror Picture Show”), Chloe Grace Moretz (“500 Days of Summer”, “Kick-Ass”), and Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia…duh), will join previously announced actors Brad Dourif (“Deadwood”, “Childs Play”), Michael Madsen (“Reservoir Dogs”, “Kill Bill Vol. 2”), Lena Heady (“300”, “Game of Thrones”), and  “Mad Men’s” John Slattery as voice actors for the new title.

      That’s clearly one hell of a cast assembled so far. What’s got them so excited? Well “Dishonored” is described as a “Steampunk, stealth first person role playing video game” that follows an Empress’s bodyguard, turned assassin who becomes framed for the Empress’s murder and must prove his innocence and find the real killers. “Dishonored” is supposed to support a revolutionary stealth system that boasts that no enemy must be killed, and a non-lethal solution is available for any situation. Along with that, the games steampunk open world promises to offer the traditional Bethesda quality open world, where they claim that every NPC is alive and active even if they are not interacting with you.

      If you’re anything like me, that description got all kinds of hairs on you standing up. Like I said, when Bethesda gets behind something, they don’t do it half-ass. Between that description, that cast, and the development team attached to “Dishonored” (Arkane Studios, who previously worked on the incredible “Dark Messiah of Might and Magic” and “Bioshock 2”, and designer Viktor Antonov who helped design “Half-Life 2’s” City 17), this is starting to look more and more like a sleeper Game of The Year contender in the making, that’s causing all of the stars to align.

      News

      2K Sports to the Rest of the Industry: “If You’re Having Executive Producer Problems, I feel Bad for you Son…”

      July 30, 2012 /

      Apparently rap mogul Jay-Z just can’t resist the hard knock life, as he looks to start a new endeavor to add to his 99 problems, and feed his empire state of mind.

      I’ll stop now.

      But there’s no stopping Jay-Z these days, as evidenced by his recent partnership with 2K Games on their next basketball game,” NBA 2K13.” According to reports, Jay-Z will work on the game in an executive producer capacity. What this means, exactly, no one knows, as executive producer is about the vaguest job title there is in the entertainment industry. In this case, though, it’s probably safe to assume that he won’t be handling the programming duties, or reshaping the foundations of the popular series with exciting, and fresh gameplay concepts and artistic directions. Of course, considering that the last two NBA 2K games make a strong case for being some of the greatest sports or basketball titles of all time, the promotional and soundtrack work Jay-Z will more likely be involved in is probably going to be enough in the way of contributions to insure that this celebrity involvement doesn’t disenfranchise any of the series regular fans.

      Of course, a Jay-Z hidden character “NBA Jam” style wouldn’t be out of the question either. I’m also not ruling out the possibility that the Brooklyn Nets (of which Jay-Z is part owner) are probably going to be slightly better than necessary in “NBA 2K13.” Like Michael Vick in “Madden 2004,” or Brock Lesnar in “Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain,” unnecessarily good.

      Still though, I wish that just once we could get a celebrity tie in to video games that actually generates excitement. Like Alan Moore working on “Fallout 4,” or Quentin Tarantino producing “GTA: V.”

      Or, better yet, Bill Murray.

       

      News

      The Most Genuinely Surprising E3 Moments

      May 26, 2012 /

      Since it’s a slow news day (potential “Zone of Enders” sequel aside), I thought I’d take a look ahead towards this years E3 conference by going back.

      You see, E3 has had a lot of problems over the years. Developers drop out, games disappear, Jamie Kennedy makes an appearance…they even got rid of the booth babes. Against it all, though, sometimes a moment can emerge from the show that wades through all the trouble and dodges the press leaks to emerge from the other side as a real surprise. Here are a few.

      Introducing Killzone 2….Sort Of

      The big reveal trailer has been E3’s trump card for many years. “Metal Gear Solid 2“, “Halo 2“, lots of other 2’s…they’re usually a pretty big deal. Over the years, game developers have turned the video game trailer into an art, which often translates to the trailer being better than the game.

      There is no greater example of this than the infamous “Killzone 2” trailer. Spearheaded by the unveiling of the Playstation 3, Sony’s 2005 conference was a runaway success, and “Killzone 2” was the highlight. The first “Killzone” was a shoddy attempt at Sony trying to make a “Halo Killer”, and was a mediocre success. The footage shown for the sequel, however, was so dramatic and technologically mind blowing that it would have stood out amongst the packed line up on its own. However, the hype was bolstered by Sony’s insistence that what people were seeing was in fact real time.

      Of course that would turn out to be a big fat lie. “Killzone 2” was a good looking game, but it was nowhere near the trailer in any respect. Why this ultimately hurt Sony by taking the focus away from its otherwise amazing conference, for a brief time the debate over the trailers authenticity was all anyone could talk about.

       

      The Original Shocker

      It was E3 1995, the very first E3, and Sega CEO Tom Kalinske took the stage and told everyone that due to unprecedented demand (Disclaimer: real demand may not have been unprecedented) Sega would no longer be meeting its originally promised September 2nd North American release date. Instead they would push the release date up and anyone interested could buy the system that very day for a retail price of $399. It was a bombshell in the industry without precedent before or peer sense.

      Of course in classic Sega tradition, just when it looks like they’ve taken the world by storm, a rival comes in and parts the clouds. In this case it was Sony’s Steve Race who took the stage and simply said “$299” and walked off. The message was clear. Sony’s system was going to cheaper, have more developer support, and better launch titles. All fans had to do was wait for it. The Saturn meanwhile angered retailers who suddenly had to sell a lot of Saturns without a chance to promote, and had an unspectacular launch that kicked off a mediocre system.

      Still, it was a shock.

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      Editorial

      Five Games You Just Had to Be There For

      May 24, 2012 /

      Like certain stories or parties, some games can’t be properly explained and you just had to be there for them to fully understand what they meant.

      A quick disclaimer. I’m not saying these are bad games. They are just games that were hugely significant at one point, but lost whatever it was that made them special over time, and are left as something that is less than what they were.

      “Conker’s Bad Fur Day”

      I’ll never forget reading the April edition of Electronic Gaming Monthly (that was a video game magazine to you youngsters) and first hearing about this. You see, EGM used to run a fake article for its April edition as an April Fools Day joke. In the year 2000, there was a preview so absurd that everyone that read it groaned at how lazy the staff was getting at their pranks. It was a sneak peek of the then titled” Conker 64“, that alleged that developer Rare was going to turn the cute and colorful world of Conker into a dark and violent hell, and make Conker himself into a potty mouth, perverted anti-hero. The magazine was flooded with letters from readers saying that they had spotted the obvious gag this time, and that the editors would have to try a lot harder next year.

      Of course, that preview would turn out to be the only thing about the game that wasn’t a joke.

      I don’t know when it finally sank in that the game wasn’t a prank, but even while playing it I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. To this day I’ve never seen a game try to be so deliberately offensive, and succeed. Conker drank, cursed, screwed, and belittled across an adventure that saw you go to war, get drunk, pee out giant fires, rip the skin off of a bulls ass, help pollinate a horny and well endowed flower, and (most infamously) take on a giant singing pile of poo. This game had pure humor running through its veins, and every second was filled with some sort of gag or movie parody (which were actually quite excellent) that demanded that you kept playing in order to see what absurdity the game had for you in its next set piece. If you were like me and played this at the tender age of 13, it was hard not to believe it was in the sliced bread pantheon of greatest things ever.

      Time reveals a different tale of course. For instance though the game was beautiful for its day, (released at the tail end of the N64, its considered one of the best looking games on the system) it still carries that murky and dull 64 look. The gameplay is also pretty atrocious as it mostly consists of making your way from context sensitive action button to context sensitive action button, and fills out its time with annoying fetch quests and segments so frustrating that they were later trimmed down or taken out entirely for the games Xbox remake. Finally that humor just doesn’t ring as true anymore. The game is still funny in its own way, but unless you carry the same sense of humor I did at the aforementioned 13, you’re going to find little incentive to keep playing.

      “Conker’s Bad Fur Day” is still a noteworthy and entertaining game (its multiplayer mode especially), but unless you played it when it came out, you won’t get that same punch in the gut feeling it delivered that pretty much forced you to bow down to what you were witnessing.

      Modern Equivalent: That’s tough. You almost have to look at the opposite, and imagine Kratos from “God of War” starring in a cute and cuddly platformer. Or if they made “The Human Centipede” into a game where you played a cartoon centipede trying to stop a Saturday morning mad scentist. Even then, Conker is in a league of its own.

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      Editorial

      Blizzard Fumbles Diablo III’s Launch, and the Consequences It Could Have

      May 17, 2012 /

      Although its actual development time was considerably shorter, in the minds of most fans, “Diablo III” has been no less than 12 years in the making. That’s how long it’s been since the release of “Diablo II,” and that’s how long it’s been since gamers have been craving a true follow up. 12 years.

      And after just two days of release, some gamers are already more excited about “Diablo IV.”

      This is mostly due to Blizzard’s controversial decision to have gamers log-in to its servers in order to play the game. What’s irksome is that it doesn’t matter if you’re playing single player or multiplayer; you have to be online. Ideally, this allows for a range of features that should allow the gamer to be in a constantly networked world where gamers can aid each other in their quest, and friends can drop in at any time to do battle by your side, as you smote your enemies with joyful ease.

      In reality though, the servers have been having nothing but trouble since launch. The battle.net network has appeared so far to be insufficiently capable of handling the mass numbers of users “Diablo III” has added without doing that annoying crashing thing and rendering the game unplayable in any form. It’s almost as if Blizzard didn’t anticipate that the sequel to one of the greatest selling and most acclaimed games of all time might actually sell a few copies itself, and that a mandatory online account coupled with that could lead to serious server problems.

      Of course, the conclusion that just about everyone who isn’t a Blizzard employee has come to is that the game shouldn’t require a mandatory online account. It’s so ludicrously unnecessary, in fact, that as I was booting up the single player for the first time and it asked me to create an account, I couldn’t help but think of the Kramer line from Seinfeld. “Why does Radioshack need your phone number when you buy batteries?”

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      Diablo 3, Editorial, News, PC

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