The Red Herb

Dying Light (PC/PS3/PS4/Xbox One/X360 - 2014) For those of you...

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:50:00 -0400

Dying Light (PC/PS3/PS4/Xbox One/X360 - 2014)

For those of you who were hoping the zombie game craze that buried us this generation would die out in the next, don’t you realize you can’t kill what’s already dead?

Techland, specifically the team that brought us the first Dead Island (and not the rancid Riptide), is jumping right back into the open-world zombie domain with another co-op onslaught in Dying Light. What stops their latest game from being just another Dead Island offshoot? At the surface, not much, but there’s two key gameplay mechanics that’ll really have your inner survivalist’s makeshift fire cooking.

The first being a night-day cycle that directly impacts your play style. By day, the undead slog through the tattered city streets, allowing you to explore and hunt for supplies with relative ease — if you’re the kind of person to feel at ease around walking, moaning corpses, anyway.

By night, the situation escalates from George Romero to all-out Zack Snyder. Zombies gain strength from the nightfall and become more agile, alert, and awfully aggressive. You’ll be chased down and made chow faster than you can scream “28 Days Later” but here’s where Dying Light’s second exciting feature comes in: free-running.

Avoiding obstacles, darting down allies, and actually taking to the rooftops will be your only chance of surviving. Clever little design touches like being able to look over your shoulder mid-run for pursuers and the ability to spot dangerous “powerhouse” zombies in the environment add to the flight-over-fight system. The comparisons to Mirror’s Edge are inescapable — there’s no way to write “first-person free-running” without having DICE’s game immediately flare in my synapses — but the implementation within a horror game is too good of a concept to ignore.

The genre is well worn (“decayed” even), yet harnessing the next-gen might send a jolt of life into the dead. [Although, it should be noted, Techland intends on releasing some sort of scaled down version of the game for current-gen systems]. Dying Light is looking at an ambiguous 2014 release date; more than enough time for Techland to win our zombie killing hearts over again.

the first line of the second paragraph on your Xbox One post made me laugh because it's exactly what i call it when describing it to others... "a sleek VCR, at best."

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:32:46 -0400

I knew I was holding onto my VHS copy of The Pagemaster for a good reason. Thank you, Microsoft, for bringing back the greatest video format of all time.

Xbox One: Everything You Need to Know (That Matters)

Wed, 22 May 2013 22:56:00 -0400

The veil has lifted, the seas have parted, and the goats have been sacrificed. You know what that must mean; Microsoft has officially revealed their next-gen successor to the Xbox 360. Everyone, I want you to meet the Xbox One.

Isn’t she a marvel of modern engineering? Just look at how sleek and…VCR-like it is. What says “The Future” better than a device that gives me the overwhelming urge to shove my VHS copy of Short Circuit into it? Check it out, it floats, too:

Ha, lookit that shit just hovering there. Technology’s wild, man. But there’s way more to Microsoft’s newest console than its totally not made up ability to float a couple of inches off the ground. Read on and we’ll tear open the system’s specs, learn about its leg up over the 360, and hopefully figure out a means to destroy these things before they’re floating a few inches over our children’s mangled corpses.

The Specs

Similar to the upcoming PlayStation 4’s specs, the Xbox One’s processing unit features eight x86-64 cores backed up by 8GB of DDR3 RAM. 3GB of RAM will already be eaten up by certain applications as well as the three separate operating systems running in conjunction. Shirking the DVD format, the console is equipped with a Blu-ray Drive.

500GB of storage is provided out of box but, unlike last generation, the harddrive will not be replaceable. The only concession made here is functionality with external storage devices via USB. Both an HDMI input and output port is built into the console; 4K resolution and 7.1 surround sound support have both been confirmed. Those who still truck with their faithful tube TV’s — yet bizarrely spring for new gaming tech — should be warned the Xbox One isn’t compatible with SDTV’s, seeing as how AV and Composite ports are missing from the console.

Three’s Company

There’s some method to the madness of housing three different operating systems under Xbox One’s hood. It comes down simply to a division of labor. The main OS is one derived from — you guessed it, champ — Windows 8. This pared down version will handle non-gamey features, apps, and downloads.

The second system is being considered sort of an “Xbox OS.” Basically, anything and everything games will be managed by this dedicated OS, so developers don’t have to worry about changes to the main OS affecting their titles. When Windows 8 is involved, worry is always close behind.

The third operating systems helps with virtualization, serving as a way for the previous two to keep in smooth, constant communication, the benefits of which allow users to run multiple processes, like two different apps, at once. Basically, it’s the bread to your peanut butter-jelly sandwich or the spit visited upon your burger when the chef “makes it right this time.” You simply cannot chow down until all three ingredients are together.

In the Palm of Your Hands

One of the absolute most fundamental, most often used aspects of gaming: the controller. Realizing how important the controller is to a gamer’s overall experience, Microsoft has made radical changes to the Xbox Controller…

…Well, not aesthetically. Get off my ass. In all seriousness (I mean “some seriousness,” I’m not capable of more than that), the Xbox One controller has undergone some positive tweaking. The basic shape of the controller has changed from the 360’s to offer more comfort, the battery compartment is now internalized so as to not get in your way, and the thumbsticks are now “knurled” — a disgusting word Microsoft has coined to describe the textured stick grips. Those who answer to the primordial call “When’s Marvel?” will also be keen on the true blue cross-shaped D-pad. Transforming nonsense need not apply.

The acclaimed Xbox triggers have been reworked to send faster relays, responding to your slightest touch. Beneath the surface, complicated rumble motors can now also be found under the triggers as well as within the body of the controller. Punchier, immediate actions vibrate through the triggers while the body vibrates in reaction to environmental effects and the like. The result is diverse, layered vibrations that make the Rumble Pak look like a goddamned fossil.

Bettering Kinect

If the Kinect is a gimmick — which it completely is — then Microsoft is acting like they didn’t get the memo. Even as someone who needs hands-free gaming like I need elbows in my asshole, I’m floored at the potential that’s being squeezed out of the Kinect. This bastard now owns a 1080P camera capable of registering minute movements like joint rotations and facial expressions. Its field of view is now able to encompass up to six people and will work just fine in close proximity, no longer requiring a man’s length of a distance to read your movements.

But to hell with that noise. That’s not impressive. This is impressive: the Kinect sensor can now adequately scan your body’s biometrics and register your motherfucking heartbeat. That kind of measurement doesn’t end with fitness games. Imagine games that can gauge your emotions. Imagine a horror game that knows when you’re scared. There’s not enough Italics in the world to convey what I’m feeling.

Kinect will be bundled with Xbox One units when it releases later this year, which is a kindness since the console won’t function without it. Also, there’s seemingly no way to turn off the Kinect’s internal microphone eternally awaiting your command. Yes, that’s correct. It’s always listening.

Xbox Live 3.0

The third iteration of Xbox Live, the premier gaming subscription service first introduced with the Xbox…what the hell do I call it now? Xbox 1? Xbox Other One?…returns in its most ambitious incarnation, now bolstered by 300,000 servers (up from the 360’s 15,000).

Let’s nail down the important details: once more your Gamertag is able to carry over to the Xbox One alongside your precious Gamerscore. Achievements of course return but, interestingly, Microsoft detailed plans for “evolving Achievements”; the rough notion being that a developer can add Achievements to a title well after its release. One example given was Bethesda being able to capitalize on the “Arrow in the Knee” meme and add a corresponding Achievement into Skyrim. I forgot to pretense that with “One fucking hellacious example given…”

The significant server space lets users store every single megabyte of information on Live’s cloud. Information can be retrieved “anywhere at anytime.” For the sociable, you’ll be pleased to see the friends’ cap has been upped from 100 to 1000. Also, graciously, having Gold Membership has your online needs covered for both the new Xbox and the Xbox 360.

While specific changes to the Marketplace weren’t detailed at the Xbox Announcement Event, the intention to unify Games On Demand, Xbox Live Arcade, and the Indie channel into one entity was mentioned. Ah, and speaking of Indie…

Independent Means You Can’t Do It Alone

Both Sony and Nintendo have embraced a burgeoning market that’s been turning heads as of late: the Indie gaming scene and the multitude of quirky, innovative, and surprisingly moving games they’re churning out in increasing numbers. Respectful of their — wouldn’tcha knowit? — independence, both Japanese juggernauts have made it a point to allow indie developers to self-publish titles on their consoles in the hopes the practice will attract more and new talent which, in itself, attracts steady clientele like you and I.

Microsoft’s stance on self-publishing in regards to the Xbox One is more or less “Fuck that shit.” Despite several high profile developers — including famed designers like Phil Fish and Jonathan Blow — having been very vocal about their dripping disdain for Microsoft’s my-way-or-the-highway approach to dealing with digital distribution, the Xbox One will still require developers to go through a publisher in order to put their games on the new system.

Hard to Get Used, Too

This is where matters get confusing as conflicting reports have made it difficult to peg down. Even Microsoft hasn’t been forthcoming with a firm answer. Likely with good reason: no matter how you word the truth, the Xbox One’s used game fee sounds as awful as it is anti-consumer.

Here’s what we know to be fact: the Xbox One requires all games to be installed to the harddrive. Once installed to your console, multiple accounts can be used with a game through Parental Controls. Okay, here comes the curve ball. Your game can be played on other consoles just fine so long as you’re signed in to your profile.

But! If someone else signs in and attempts to play the same game sans your account, they’ll be prompted to pay a fee before they can access it. How steep of a fee? That’s where info is on the blurry side. Initial reports quoted the fee at full MSRP (!), then it was narrowed to a “small fee,” and finally Microsoft’s damage control wrote the fee off as a “potential scenario” despite its own execs fanning those first wildfires to begin with.

Final word comes from the Xbox One FAQ: “We are designing Xbox One to enable customers to trade in and resell games. We’ll have more details to share later.” I would’ve settled for “Of course it plays used games! What are we? Detached assholes?” which basically paraphrases Sony’s sentiment with the PS4.

No Going Backwards

The Xbox One is not backwards compatible. Xbox 360 and Xbox Other One (it’ll catch) discs cannot be recognized by the machine. We could’ve guessed as much — the new system’s architecture is vastly different from the 360’s innards.

Here’s where they pry the wound open, though: downloaded titles from Xbox Live — from retail downloads to digital-only games — are also incompatible with the Xbox One. Those of you, like me, who’ve amassed stupidly huge collection of HD rehashes and remakes will immediately see the irony in having these revivals sink into obscurity on yet another platform.

Frequently-Online

The Xbox One is not always-online. But, uh, you should really read the fine print first. No, the system does not require a constant connection to function. Watching Blu-rays, playing single-player games; these are functions that can happen offline…For a time.

You see, while the Xbox One doesn’t need a constant flow of internet, it will still need to feed. Reportedly, the system needs to establish connection every twenty-four hours or else it’ll transform into a gremlin and majorly fuck up Christmas.

Actually, the consequence is unknown. It’s strange to think you’d be prevented from performing any offline tasks without a daily update but it’s no stranger than, say, a mounted camera perpetually waiting to hear “Xbox On!” before it can recommence scanning your frail human form for weaknesses. Point is, the system isn’t technically “always-online.” But you’d do well to satiate its hunger. Or else.

—————————————————————————————————————————————-

Afterword

You may be wondering why I haven’t detailed all those beauteous TV services and fantasy sports apps and — Whew, got winded by my own boredom there. To put it finely: I don’t care. The Xbox One conference wasn’t tailored for me. It wasn’t manufactured for anyone within the typical gamer mindset. How’s that? Well, we only really care about the games, and that, my kindred spirits, doesn’t quite encapsulate what Microsoft wants out of its audience. I’m fully capable of getting excited about the platform my games are being delivered to me on. Whether they were blowing smoke up my ass or not, Sony’s PS4 reveal was billed as a gaming Renaissance, and despite a spotty track record this generation, I feel their bid to draw in the hardcore gamer is sincere.

That’s not quite Microsoft’s bag. They’re poising the Xbox One as the ultimate entertainment device. They’re targeting a crowd tickled at the prospect of their appliances being “All in One.” TV, games, movies, music, sports. It’s an all one media-sphere. They want the crowd who’s glued to their boundless smartphones and tablets to consider the Xbox One just as essential; just as connected. Just as cool.

I don’t want a system that happens to do games well. I want a system that aces gaming and happens to do the rest of the entertainment spectrum well. I wanted to want the Xbox One but I walked away from Microsoft’s presser slightly alienated and, worse, disinterested. Of course, we’re assured E3 will drop our jaws — eight brand new IP’s are promised, after all — but something tells me Microsoft is heading somewhere this generation that my ilk will be reluctant to follow.

The Drop by SpoonfishLee

Wed, 22 May 2013 13:09:00 -0400

The Drop by SpoonfishLee

Arkham Origins: New Trailer, Screens, and Playable...

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:32:00 -0400

Arkham Origins: New Trailer, Screens, and Playable Character

This fine day has brought with it more than enough news for true fans of the Caped Crusader to go completely bat-shit over.

First up, a full trailer depicting an eloquent exchange of fists between Batman and hired killer Deathstroke. Other personalities that make the cut — and Bruce’s life infinitely harder — are Deadshot, the marksmen that never misses, and Black Mask, the criminal ringleader that’s turned Gotham into a murder circus. Gameplay doesn’t make a cameo, unfortunately, what with the whole trailer being fancy, schmancy CGI, so your eyes will have to chow down on the screens above for now.

Pre-ordering a copy of Batman: Arkham Origins scores you the inclusion of Slade “Deathstroke” Wilson as a playable character in the game’s challenge rooms. Slade comes stocked with two of his own challenge maps and two skins.

Rounding out the rest of Origins news, let’s touch on this casting kerfuffle. Initial reports had it that longtime Batman voice actor, Kevin Conroy, would not be reprising his role in the third Arkham game. Everyone got sad, then angry, and rightfully so. Then, Mr. Conroy up and outs his involvement, stating he wasn’t able to talk about it beforehand, having had to wait until the new title’s reveal. While press quickly took this to mean Conroy would be Batsy once more, Warner Bros. squashed that insinuation into the ground.

Instead, our young Dark Knight will be voiced by Roger Craig Smith, whose laid down vocals for the likes of Ezio Auditore and Chris “Boulder Punch” Redfield, and the new Joker will be played by Troy Baker — a modern voice acting veteran most recently associated as Booker Dewitt in Bioshock Infinite and Joel from The Last of Us; more fittingly, Baker was Two-Face in Arkham City. That still leaves the matter of Kevin Conroy, his role still unannounced, but the great detective in me thinks we’ll likely hear him narrate the affair as the older, battle hardened Batman we all love and wisely fear.

Shots Fired Just a day after EA’s announcement about how...

Fri, 17 May 2013 17:53:00 -0400

Shots Fired

Just a day after EA’s announcement about how they don’t have a single title in gestation for the Wii U, a bold employee uses the social megaphone that is Twitter to clue us in as to why.

Credited as a Senior Software Engineer and having been with EA since 1999, Bob Summerwill has since sweept his Twitter account of controversy. You can still check out Bob’s heated, but disarmingly honest, comments on EA and Nintendo’s relationship hereabouts. Among them, Summerwill criticizes Nintendo for running shop like it’s still 1990.

“They should have ‘done a Sega’ and offered Mario/Zelda as PS4/Durango exclusives.” That’s my favorite, if you were wondering.

You’d figure those in the industry would temper their opinions when speaking on an immensely public platform what with the whole Adam Orth catastrophe fresh in everyone’s minds, but I’m not complaining. I wouldn’t have “Done a Sega” otherwise and…I simply don’t want to live in that world.

Ryu by Anirudh Sainath

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:36:40 -0400

Ryu by Anirudh Sainath

EA: Absolutely Nothing in the Pipeline for Wii U Here’s...

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:15:00 -0400

EA: Absolutely Nothing in the Pipeline for Wii U

Here’s the byline bouncing around this evening: Despite EA announcing an “unprecedented partnership” between itself and Nintendo at E3 circa 2011, the game publishing giant has revealed it currently has no games in development for the struggling Wii U.

That oath, made while CEO John Riccitiello had a clasp on the company’s reigns, manifested in several ports of popular titles — Mass Effect 3, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and Madden included — that long since had homes on the Xbox 360 and PS3. According to EA’s spokesperson, Jeff Brown, those handful of ports encompass the whole of their Wii U partnership, ensuring future blockbusters such as Battlefield 4, FIFA, and Madden 25 won’t be making it onto Nintendo’s newest console.

Having that waterway dry up — the”waterway” here referring to one of the biggest third-party publishers in the world — further shoves Wii U into a rough corner. But, as Kotaku illustrates, ever since the first Wii third-parties have had a hell of a hard time finding success on Nintendo’s systems. Usually Nintendo’s first-party hits take up the lion’s share of sales while third-parties are left to scavenge for scraps. Follow that with Nintendo’s increasingly upward slope of a fight to put their hardware in gamers’ homes, and even the big boys like EA are turning their back to the Japanese monolith.

Business is business, however, and EA isn’t likely to give Wii U the lifetime shunning if the system starts to perform well. Hell, EA might even be threatening a drought just to incite Nintendo into shaping up and narrowing their focus on pushing their console. Just a musing. Ultimately, time — and your dollars — will tell.

Arkham Origins Teaser Trailer Teases Better Trailer WB...

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:52:00 -0400

Arkham Origins Teaser Trailer Teases Better Trailer

WB Montreal(’s marketing team) dropped this nugget on the web earlier today. What ensues is about twenty seconds of our boy Bats duking it out with Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke, who is just one of eight hired killers bent on ridding Gotham City of its winged rodent problem.

The tragedy of tragedies is that we’re only treated to pre-rendered animations instead of some juicy gameplay. At the end of this abrupt teaser, though, is the promise of a full on trailer incoming May 20th. Hopefully WB intends on serving up some meat to go along with this side dish (I’m trying to say I want to see gameplay — I could’ve just said that but that makes an uncomfortable amount of sense).

N7 by muju

Tue, 14 May 2013 13:30:45 -0400

N7 by muju

Red Herb Review - Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

Fri, 10 May 2013 19:06:38 -0400

“Blood Dragon really is the game Duke Nukem Forever should have been. Whereas that meddlesome abortion half-assed it by showing up to ‘80’s Night in a Joy Division t-shirt freshly picked off a Hot Topic shelf, Blood Dragon crashes through the doors in a DeLorean, speakers ear-bleedingly capped at 11, cranking out ‘Bark at the Moon.’”

Man. What can I say about Blood Dragon that hasn’t already been said after dropping half a sheet of LSD and strapping in for an all-day, all ‘80’s flick marathon?

For those racking their brains to understand how Blood Dragon is it all connected to Far Cry 3, let’s just make things easier. It isn’t. It runs off of the same engine, sure, and the core, open world FPS gameplay is lifted from the main title, but similarities come to a crashing halt right there. Blood Dragon isn’t about one twentysomething’s violent quest to evolve from hipster to tatted guerrilla. Instead, we’re treated to a neon-soaked, synthesizer blaring, one-liner firing ode to both uber-over-the-top action movies of the 1980’s as well as a stupidly enjoyable homage to the days of gaming where cyborgs ran rampant and only one titanium jawed badass could save the world. If the words “awesome,” “rad,” “bodacious,” or “tubular” come to mind, this game is tailor made for you.

Borrowing from the action games it lampoons/tributes, Blood Dragon does have a story, just not one that matters. Not for lack of a weak lead, either. Sergeant Rex Power Colt, our indestructible hero, is gruffly brought to life by Michael Biehn (he’s literally in every James Cameron film; even the ones he’s not in). Rex is benefited by a personality that’s sorta like if Roadhouse-era Patrick Swayze fused with a drunk Kurt Russell, and his spirit animal is “kickboxing.” Rex speaks in cornball one-liners, is 75% cyborg, and loves the hell out of America. In short, he’s far more awesome than some of the real ‘80’s action stars he’s meant to parody.

As Rex, your hunting ground is a remote island populated by rogue cyborgs, mutated animals, and gigantic laser breathing dinosaur-things called blood dragons. The story pulls you from one part of the island to the next — across jungle, into underground labs, and sometimes beneath the cyber-shark infested waters. For the most part, you’ll be tasked with saving scientists and murdering the crap out of hundreds of cyborg commandos in your way. There’s plenty in the way of collectible items — fetch quests that Rex will often complain about out loud — but they end up as the only real distraction from mowing down cyber dudes. Which, prepare yourself, you will do a lot of.

Several ideas from Far Cry 3 spill over into the combat, and for the most part, this game doesn’t deviate or introduce very many new conceits, instead it reskins them to fit with this standalone’s vibrant style. You can still shoot up, burn down, or impale enemies, switching between all out firefights or more tactical, and quiet, stealth takedowns. There’s no pass/fail objectives here — killing’s what you’ll be doing for majority of this ride; it’s just a matter of doing so silently or loudly.

Just don’t expect any fights not involving a blood dragon to be hard. The game does a good job of reminding you that you’re an unstoppable half-cyborg that can sprint forever, breath underwater, and lug around a chain-gun like it were a paperweight. And that’s just at baseline, when you first pick up the controller. Scoring kills and completing missions levels Rex up, except unlike in FC3, your skills develop linearly, unlocking perks as soon as you hit a certain rank. It’s a wise design choice given the moderate length of the game (about six hours with a healthy portion of the collectibles found).

Looking back, it’s not how Blood Dragon plays (which simply a compressed version of Far Cry 3) but it’s really the ridiculousness it puts you through that’ll stick with players. Planting neon arrows into the Daft Punk-esque cyber commandos, hunting mutated beasts roaming the hillsides, ripping your enemies’ hearts out and using those same organs to lure hulking dragons into hostile garrisons…It’s mindless, quality fun. And it just so happens to riff so well on the ‘80’s theme — from the spot-on soundtrack (thank you, Power Glove) to the 8-bit cutscenes to the joyously nerdy references it beats over your head — that playing the game feels like tearing open a time capsule buried by a cult of brilliant, legwarmer-wearing lunatics.

I’ve heard this coined elsewhere so don’t credit me for originality (why would you ever?), but Blood Dragon really is the game Duke Nukem Forever should have been. Whereas that meddlesome abortion half-assed it by showing up to ‘80’s Night in a Joy Division shirt freshly picked off a Hot Topic shelf, Blood Dragon crashes through the doors in a DeLorean, speakers capped at 11, cranking out “Bark at the Moon.” It’s a solid shooter, an impressively detailed visual overload, and remarkably fun. Believe what you hear: this one’s a gem.

Platforms: PC/PSN [Reviewed]/XBLA

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Shanghai

Genre: First-Person Shooter/Action-Adventure

John Carpenter Interested in a Dead Space Film? With a...

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:56:00 -0400

John Carpenter Interested in a Dead Space Film?

With a sixty-five year resume spanning the likes of The Thing, Escape From New York, Christine, and the original Halloween, I don’t have to explain to you why director John Carpenter is a silver screen legend.

Carpenter has some crazy range when reviewing his career — films like They Live and Big Trouble in Little China prove just how far out there the filmmaker’s mind goes — but his cinema doctorate is undoubtedly in horror. So as a former twelve-year-old entranced, excited, and terrified by this man’s many instant classics (Prince of Darkness will alter your moral fiber), an internal geek-bomb goes off when I hear John Carpenter is interested in making a Dead Space movie.

A longtime supporter of video games and their unbound potential for storytelling, Carpenter likens the appeal of Visceral Games’ survival horror title to 1979’s Alien (a hit-you-in-the-eye-it’s-so-apparent influence on the games). “The first game was more - I guess it was like Alien - but not quite. It was a little different than that,” says Carpenter.

“I maintain that Dead Space would just make a great movie because you have these people coming onto an abandoned, shut-down space ship and they have to start it up and something’s on board. It’s just great stuff.”

Way back when the first Dead Space game was making waves, a feature film was being optioned with director D.J. Caruso attached. Formerly, Caruso worked on the Shia LaBeouf vehicles, Disturbia and Eagle Eye. That deal eventually lapsed and fans’ dreams of seeing Shia step into Isaac Clarke’s rig — I can’t even finish that sentence; nobody fucking wanted that.

Dead Space has found its gore laden way into just about every avenue of media — comics, novels, animated films, toys — but hasn’t carved a path through Hollywood yet, and Dead Space 3’s less than stellar sales do little to endorse an adaptation. That hasn’t deterred Carpenter, though. “I would love to make Dead Space, I’ll tell you that right now,” he says. “That one is ready-made.”

Infamous: Second Son (PlayStation 4) It’s been seven years...

Wed, 08 May 2013 20:10:00 -0400

Infamous: Second Son (PlayStation 4)

It’s been seven years since the Beast came to New Marias. Cole McGrath’s story of heroism — or tyranny, depending on your choices — has ended and his efforts have saved the world. The price for this salvation came at the expense of the Conduits; superpowered humans now pushed toward extinction status in the fallout of New Marias. Still fearful and reeling from the destruction wrought by the Beast and Cole’s battle, our government has labeled all surviving Conduits as bioterrorists.

Second Son takes the series to the real world city of Seattle, Washington where players will don the role of Delsin Rowe, a twenty-four year old whose innate powers as a Conduit are triggered by an incident related to these so-called “bioterrorists.” Delsin’s specialty, however, isn’t of the electrical variety but instead stem from his ability to control smoke. For fans who felt like an unstoppable thunder god playing as Cole, harnessing smoke may seem like a few rungs below awesome on the power ladder. But Delsin, who also wields chain-like melee weapon Belmont-style, is promised to have a more robust and intriguing arsenal than what’s been revealed, some tapping into powers beyond the manipulation of smoke.

He’ll need it since just being a Conduit is the same as having a big, bright target painted on the back of his head. Your central antagonist, the Big Brother-like DUP (Department of United Protection), wants Delsin bad and aren’t too particular on whether that means riddled with holes or not. Luckily, being a superpowered demigod means you’ll at least make for a hard target.

Second Son is one of the first attention robbing blockbusters the PlayStation 4 owns. Supposedly a launch title for Sony’s latest and sleekest, developer Sucker Punch has yet to peg it down with an official date. My hope against hopes? This bad boy dropping on launch day. That’d be mighty fine. Mighty fine, indeed.

Preemptive Strike: EA Registers Domains for Battlefield 13...

Wed, 08 May 2013 13:21:29 -0400

Preemptive Strike: EA Registers Domains for Battlefield 13 Through 20

Don’t mistake this for news in any way. This isn’t EA jumping the proverbial gun and announcing plans for sixteen-plus years of Battlefield games. EA can be overzealous, hell, yes, but precognitive? No. I don’t even think Activision sees a twenty-year forecast for their own military shooter/money printing machine.

What’s happened here is an interesting case brought to you by none other than the information age. Thanks to an enterprising third-party hoping to trick you into their clutches one day, the domain names for Battlefield 10 through 12 are bought up and out of EA’s hands.

Not used to being pushed around by that bastard internet (unless we’re voting, of course), EA’s legal team went on a shopping spree, buying up domains ranging from Battlefield 13 all the way to Battlefield 20. Battlefield 5 through 9 are already in the company’s pocket.

Think they might be playing it extremely on the cautious side? Tell you what. In the distant future, when you’re amped up about Battlefield 21 and decide to check out the official site for trailers using your brain’s internalized wifi and merely thinking about the link brings you to a website dedicated exclusively to neon-irradiated dongs, their horrific glowing emissions, and the everyday objects those emissions melt…EA will still probably be voted Worst Company of the Year for wholly unrelated reasons.

Back in modern times, where radioactive dongs are simply hypothetical (…but for how long?), Battlefield 4 is expected out for current and next-gen consoles this Fall.

By Muju

Tue, 07 May 2013 21:18:12 -0400

By Muju

Rare Footage of Free Radical’s Battlefront III Hits the...

Mon, 06 May 2013 11:44:00 -0400

Rare Footage of Free Radical’s Battlefront III Hits the Web

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…LucasArts royally fucked up by cancelling one of the most impressively ambitious Star Wars titles to date.

It’s not uncommon for games to get the axe during development. Whether they’re low profile concept pieces that simply can’t gain the right traction or big budget affairs no amount of money can fix, sometimes a publisher needs to stiffen their chin, eat their losses, and squash a title.

But Star Wars: Battlefront III, a true successor to the Battlefront name developed by the studio formerly known as Free Radical (a team pooling years of experience from properties such as the original GoldenEye and the TimeSplitters series), was uniquely cut down by LucasArts — having had a fresh regime change up the ladder — when the game was reportedly an inch near completion.

Now, with LucasArts’ full dissemination brought on by new owners Disney, we’re likely to never play BFIII…But at least you can see it in action. The video above is a few minutes of alpha stage footage of the game, and while the gameplay is very reminiscent of its predecessors, there’s a few truly standout innovations on display including flashes of a more cinematic story and the mindblowing ability to go from ground level to stratosphere to docking in a star destroyer all in real time.

The six minute vid here not quite enough (of course it isn’t)? Weep over a full hour of footage hereabouts.

MGS: The Legacy Collection Skipping 360; “MGS4 is Just Too...

Thu, 02 May 2013 14:22:00 -0400

MGS: The Legacy Collection Skipping 360; “MGS4 is Just Too Enormous”

Despite both Metal Gear Rising and the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection making the jump to Xbox 360 without a hitch, Konami’s newest box set, Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection, will release as a PS3 exclusive. The reason? The hefty inclusion of MGS4 and its landslide of data.

Series mastermind Hideo Kojima recently cleared up the matter, which is apparently an issue of storage. “I’m sorry to say an Xbox 360 version isn’t being released,” said Kojima. “Because an Xbox 360 version of MGS4 hasn’t gone on sale. To explain the situation, the amount of data in MGS4 is just too enormous.”

Sony’s lean on Blu-Ray media meant Kojima Productions could stuff as much content as they wanted back in 2008 when the closing chapter in Solid Snake’s saga dropped into stores. Porting the game to the Xbox 360’s DVD format, on the other hand, meant the developers would have to stretch their magnum opus across seven separate discs…Significantly more work than it was worth, unfortunately for Xbox fans.

And compromise in this situation would mean an incomplete package for collectors. “If we released a version on the Xbox 360 without MGS4, then it’s not The Legacy Collection,” said Hideo. Don’t give out hope completely, though, Microsoft loyal. Kojima hasn’t ruled out the next Xbox as a potential home for the collection…So call it a maybe before never rolls around.

Shots from C2E2 2013. Special thanks to everyone who...

Thu, 02 May 2013 12:48:33 -0400

Shots from C2E2 2013. Special thanks to everyone who visited the Glitch booth and allowed me to snap pics with my shitty camera; you’re all heroes (except Scarecrow and Bane…you’re villains).

Self Port…. WAIT! by Gabriela Birchal

Thu, 02 May 2013 11:27:37 -0400

Self Port…. WAIT! by Gabriela Birchal

“The Ghosts Are Real” - New Cast, New Engine,...

Wed, 01 May 2013 18:18:00 -0400

“The Ghosts Are Real” - New Cast, New Engine, Next-Gen Call of Duty

And now for the announcement that surprised no one today: Activision has officially revealed Call of Duty: Ghosts, this year’s entry into the military shooter franchise, releasing November 5th and headed up series creator Infinity Ward. That much anyone without internet access knew already thanks to some critical leaks.

What we didn’t already know is sure to excite fans, especially those growing tired of the series’ baby step amount of “innovations.” Ghosts is slated for release on both existing consoles as well as Sony’s PS4 and Microsoft’s soon-to-be-unveiled Next-Box. Because of this, Infinity Ward is using an entirely new engine for the game, finally retiring the one powering the last seven hundred Call of Duty’s.

Despite Infinity Ward’s involvement, Ghosts isn’t a follow up to Modern Warfare 3. The game features an all new cast of characters within a brand new setting. “Everyone was expecting us to make Modern Warfare 4, which would have been the safe thing to do,” said IW executive producer Mark Rubin. “But we’re not resting on our laurels.” Rubin explains that the transition to newer hardware was the perfect opportunity to reintroduce the world to Call of Duty through a new branding with new ideas.

Just what those new ideas are is up in the air. The first official trailer for the game is a live action teaser featuring precisely zero gameplay. But Activision promises way more, including actual gameplay, will be shown off right alongside Microsoft’s Next-Gen reveal event taking place on May 21st. Till then, here’s a corporate byline to make you feel all fuzzy on the inside:

“Infinity Ward is going all-in to create the next generation of Call of Duty worthy of the world’s greatest fans.”