Rock Band 2 might have to take the back seat to this.
I've heard rumors of an NA October release
Monday, July 28, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
E3-2
Okay, so as Brendan Fraser would say, here we go again. One thing before I start though, I could bring up R2, GoW2, GoW3, Fable 2, and Fallout 3 here, but I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna bring up R2, GoW2, GoW3, Fable 2, and Fallout 3 because if you followed E3 at all, those were probably the biggest games this year so you already know about 'em. I'm gonna go at least a notch or two down and find some of the smaller games I want to play, at least until I get to LBP.
Madworld
The first public showing of Madworld was at GDC this year, and there wasn't any new info at E3 from what I can tell, but there was a new video. The premise sounds pretty cheesy; a group called The Organization takes over a city and holds a life or death contest in the streets. The gameplay looks pretty fun, assuming the wii gestures aren't overused.
Crysis Warhead
At the other end of the visual spectrum is Crysis Warhead. Kind of a standalone expansion pack, it looks like it allows for the developers to put in what didn't make the cut for the original Crysis. In any case, they're apparently advertising it as "Crysis: The Lost Levels" and that sounds pretty good to me.
Little Big Planet
Alright, so Little Big Planet may not be a smaller game out there on the show floor, but I want to give Little Big Planet this years spore award for still not being out and looking awesome last year. Enemies have been shown this year, as well as how to make them. Also there was music management, which they thankfully are going to include. I don't have much to say about this game really, other than I still want to play it.
Madworld
The first public showing of Madworld was at GDC this year, and there wasn't any new info at E3 from what I can tell, but there was a new video. The premise sounds pretty cheesy; a group called The Organization takes over a city and holds a life or death contest in the streets. The gameplay looks pretty fun, assuming the wii gestures aren't overused.
Crysis Warhead
At the other end of the visual spectrum is Crysis Warhead. Kind of a standalone expansion pack, it looks like it allows for the developers to put in what didn't make the cut for the original Crysis. In any case, they're apparently advertising it as "Crysis: The Lost Levels" and that sounds pretty good to me.
Little Big Planet
Alright, so Little Big Planet may not be a smaller game out there on the show floor, but I want to give Little Big Planet this years spore award for still not being out and looking awesome last year. Enemies have been shown this year, as well as how to make them. Also there was music management, which they thankfully are going to include. I don't have much to say about this game really, other than I still want to play it.
Monday, July 21, 2008
E3 2008
As a mere hobbyist blogger, and without any amount of actual money to go, I declined the ESA's generous (non-existant) offer to go down to L.A. this Year and traverse E3. Of course with such devices known to me and select few others (the internet) I was able to virtually roam the West hall without the annoyances of consuming a coach plane ticket. In any case, here are a few games that caught my eye this year.
Prince of Persia
This is the best looking game of E3 to me. Of course there are graphically superior games in a technical sense (if you haven't done so yet, check out Far Cry 2), but nothing quite caught my eye like Prince of Persia. It's hued like a Final Fantasy game, but cel-shaded and uber-detailed.
If it actually turns out to be Okami meets Ico, well, that would be a hell of a game.
Fat Princess
We may have seen PoP in the months preceding July, but Fat Princess is, I think, newly announced out of L.A. It's a multiplayer game based aroud capturing the other side's princess while defending your own, a.k.a. capture the flag. The differentiating factor here is that in most ctf games you can't fatten up your flag(and slow down those trying to take it) by feeding it sweets found around the map. Another difference between Fat Princess and most capture the flag games is that it's not a first-person shooter. The game uses an isometric view, and the character classes and gameplay seem to complement it well. Swordsmen are basic soldiers, who can pick up various weapons and are your frontline attacker and defenders. Priest heal allies and can buff swordsmen a la TF2, while mages use magic offensively against multiple enemies. The builder harvests resources around the map to create more buildings and defensive structures. In fact, he has a tech tree to do this, eventually leading to offensive weapons like catapults. All that in a 16 on 16 game sounds like hysteria.
I Am Alive
I Am Alive is set in Chicago after some as yet unknown disaster. Not much is known at all about this title, other than I want to play it. The only downside to this game so far is that the main character kinda looks like create-a-wrestler guy.
Hopefully there'll be more later this week.
Prince of Persia
This is the best looking game of E3 to me. Of course there are graphically superior games in a technical sense (if you haven't done so yet, check out Far Cry 2), but nothing quite caught my eye like Prince of Persia. It's hued like a Final Fantasy game, but cel-shaded and uber-detailed.
If it actually turns out to be Okami meets Ico, well, that would be a hell of a game.
Fat Princess
We may have seen PoP in the months preceding July, but Fat Princess is, I think, newly announced out of L.A. It's a multiplayer game based aroud capturing the other side's princess while defending your own, a.k.a. capture the flag. The differentiating factor here is that in most ctf games you can't fatten up your flag(and slow down those trying to take it) by feeding it sweets found around the map. Another difference between Fat Princess and most capture the flag games is that it's not a first-person shooter. The game uses an isometric view, and the character classes and gameplay seem to complement it well. Swordsmen are basic soldiers, who can pick up various weapons and are your frontline attacker and defenders. Priest heal allies and can buff swordsmen a la TF2, while mages use magic offensively against multiple enemies. The builder harvests resources around the map to create more buildings and defensive structures. In fact, he has a tech tree to do this, eventually leading to offensive weapons like catapults. All that in a 16 on 16 game sounds like hysteria.
I Am Alive
I Am Alive is set in Chicago after some as yet unknown disaster. Not much is known at all about this title, other than I want to play it. The only downside to this game so far is that the main character kinda looks like create-a-wrestler guy.
Hopefully there'll be more later this week.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Sounds Like...
I've been on a strange new music kick in the last month or so. Just today I discovered a site called the sixty one dot com which has a bunch of new stuff, though I'm not really sure yet how the site works. It has random rpg elements where you can level yourself up and bands can do the same. There's also achievements? It does allow you to stream and buy drm-free music from the artists, of which most seem to be independent. A band I heard about a few days ago through twitter is Apes and Androids. They are a very strange band and kinda hard to classify. Think The Avalanches, but with a more psychadelic atmosphere and tight vocals. Not quite an everyday listen, but very good nevertheless.
The Sixtyone has been playing music for me for the last hour and it's actually amazing that new artists are still this active and good without much motivation. I just heard something that could be a folk song from a european countryside and before that a two minute techno song. Two minutes! It's like they're not on drugs or something. And before that something that makes me think of an Austrian circus. All this played as well as the Violent Femmes cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." And now something pure pop rock. I think this is officially my favorite new website. Yeah, it's probably two years old by now, but still.
The Sixtyone has been playing music for me for the last hour and it's actually amazing that new artists are still this active and good without much motivation. I just heard something that could be a folk song from a european countryside and before that a two minute techno song. Two minutes! It's like they're not on drugs or something. And before that something that makes me think of an Austrian circus. All this played as well as the Violent Femmes cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." And now something pure pop rock. I think this is officially my favorite new website. Yeah, it's probably two years old by now, but still.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
A Really Fast Nightlife
Ok, so I'm likely behind the times on this but I've just discovered a band called Vampire Weekend. They are classified as "indie rock" and I guess that's right. I would classify them as "taking a walk in the park on a summer day" music. Super simple and super hippie "belongs in a Wes Anderson movie" stuff but I'm quite enamored with it. I may just find a park later today to walk around in.
In news-type stuff, it looks like there's going to be a ballot initiative this November to put some money into a California high speed railway. So far it looks like it's not finalized, but the plan is to start with the "spine" track running from San Francisco to Los Angeles. It may at this point include another one or two stops (possibly San Jose) before phase two expands to San Diego and Sacramento. In the end there will be 800 miles of track laid down. The proposed train system will run at 220 miles per hour, and the high speed rail's website estimates a two hour and twenty-one minute trip from San Jose to LA. If we vote for it, nearly ten billion in taxes will go towards the rail, with thirty billion coming from other sources. Once built it will sustain itself and generate up to one billion dollars a year. By 2030 there will be an annual capacity of 117 million people.
Here's to hoping the measure passes this November.
In news-type stuff, it looks like there's going to be a ballot initiative this November to put some money into a California high speed railway. So far it looks like it's not finalized, but the plan is to start with the "spine" track running from San Francisco to Los Angeles. It may at this point include another one or two stops (possibly San Jose) before phase two expands to San Diego and Sacramento. In the end there will be 800 miles of track laid down. The proposed train system will run at 220 miles per hour, and the high speed rail's website estimates a two hour and twenty-one minute trip from San Jose to LA. If we vote for it, nearly ten billion in taxes will go towards the rail, with thirty billion coming from other sources. Once built it will sustain itself and generate up to one billion dollars a year. By 2030 there will be an annual capacity of 117 million people.
Here's to hoping the measure passes this November.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)