Sports games with stories are a good idea. Yes, there's still disagreement, even within the game development community, about how games tell stories. The discourse around games as a storytelling medium has escalated in recent times and developers continue to debate how they ought to approach, embrace and/or ignore traditional techniques.
As part of the deal, Mojang's forthcoming title Scrolls will be allowed to keep that name, but it must surrender the Scrolls trademark to Bethesda.
"For us, this was never about a trademark, but being able to use Scrolls as the name of our game, which we can," Manneh said.
Mojang founder Markus Persson shed further light on the matter, saying on Twitter that in addition to the above, Mojang has agreed to not make an Elder Scrolls competitor using the Scrolls name.
The court case erupted in August when representatives of Bethesda parent publisher Zenimax contested that Mojang was infringing on a trademark of the Elder Scrolls series with its upcoming game, Scrolls.
Bethesda has not chimed in on the proceedings through official channels, and as of press time, the publisher had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment.
Responding to a Twitter question of "Have you given up on making a good old school FPS?" Romero responded, "Definitely not. I have plans…"
Romero did not elaborate further on the point, but in a later tweet, confirmed that the new project would not be a sequel to 2000 shooter Daikatana.
"There will be no [Daikatana 2]! he said.
Romero has had a busy career since leaving id Software in 1996. Over the years that followed, the developer held high-level positions at Midway, Slipgate Ironworks, Gazillion Entertainment, Monkeystone Games, and Ion Games. Romero currently serves as CEO and co-founder of Loot Drop, a San Bruno, California- based developer specializing in social and mobile games.
Not because the game isn't brilliant - barring the churning fetch quests, it absolutely is - but because I genuinely felt physically sick at the thought of it all coming to a close. Three games, over five years, into which I must have sunk around 130 hours of my life - tooling around the galaxy, romancing aliens, settling disputes ranging from squabbles to genocide, generally kicking all kinds of interstellar ass - and now the end was in sight. It meant no more Normandy. It meant no more rapping with crewmates about their neuroses. It meant no more living in space.
Mario Party 9 is the best Mario Party since the series reached its heights in the early GameCube days (for the record, Mario Party 5 and Mario Party 6 are my favorites). But throughout its many generations, Mario Party has carried a fatal flaw, buried deep in its DNA: In spite of your proficiency at mini-games, or penchant for board game strategy, Mario Party is dictated by the dice roll. Randomness, which Mario Party 9 flaunts with a particularly annoying brand of euphoric abandon, ultimately ruins what could be a very good game.
Nemesis mode is the freshly unveiled eight-player battle which pits the Umbrella Security Services against Special Forces in a struggle over a control unit. The catch? Well capturing that specific control unit grants you control over one of the Umbrella Corps' Nemesis units, an eight foot tall Lurch-a-like toting an arm-mounted chain-gun. Nice!
In the video series hero Ryu Hayabusa slices and dices his way through London town. As you'll see it seems Team Ninja has turned the blood and gore way up for the third game in the series. We approve.
Written off as a bullshit movie tie-in for a confusingly silly movie, The Forgotten Sands is in fact a proper Prince of Persia game. Of course, 2008's stupid cel-shaded PS3 reboot and the equally lame teen-angstified PS2 sequel Warrior Within didn't do the series' reputation any good either. But look past all that. Set between the first and second of the Sands of Time trilogy, this offers the classic PoP platforming, classic puzzles and - unfortunately - its classic combat. Still, two out of three ain't bad, and neither is this.
In a video shown as part of Sony's PlayStation Vita Game Heaven announcements, game producer Sakai Satoshi also confirmed that Vita players will be adventuring alongside PC players on the same servers and will be able to play the same character on both versions.
Have a look at the announcement video below. There are snippets of gameplay in it, so keep your eyes peeled.
Speaking to IGN, Cage said the decision wouldn't be driven by money as the studio places greater importance on fulfilling its long-term vision.
"We're open to all options, but again, we're not a studio driven by money. It's an important element, of course, but it's not like 'tell me how much money you give me and I'm going to do whatever you want.'
That's according to MCV, which says Microsoft has been briefing partners under what sources describe as "the strictest NDA" they have ever encountered.
The site claims the console will "offer compatibility with some sort of interchangeable solid-state card storage, although it is not known whether this will be proprietary or a more standard format such as SD".
UPDATE: GAME has now updated its firesale to include hardware. The sale has also been rebranded as the 'Spring Clean' promotion, which includes pre-owned games, consoles and accessories. Pre-owned Xbox 360's are listed online for as little as £69.99, PS3's for £99.99 and Wii's with Wii Motion Plus for £89.99. GAME is also offering deals on console bundles.
Tribes: Ascend, the free-to-play revival of the classic PC shooter, is coming out sooner than you think. During an interview with Tribes developer Hi-Rez Studios it was revealed to IGN that the game would be releasing on April 12th.
Read more: IGN
That's just barely more than a month from today. To get caught up on what Tribes: Ascend is all about, check out our latest coverage. You can also jump into the game's open beta right now if you want to get a taste for what to expect.
Daniel Kaplan, a designer on Pocket Edition, posted on Twitter today: "Minecraft - Pocket Edition has now sold more than 1 million copies. Thanks all for the support and I hope you will like the coming updates!" The Android version launched in August and the iPhone and iPad one in mid-November last year.
Sony has listed the top 10 games for which the millions of PS3 gamers out there have unlocked Platinum Trophies.
Platinums are, as seasoned collectors will know, only awarded to players who unlock every other Trophy in a game. And not all games offer Platinums (most digital-only games, for example).
"The Persona series has had tremendous success in North America, and Persona 4 in particular opened the series up to wider audiences than ever before," said Atlus' Tim Pivnicny at the time of the announcement.
While Atlus is yet to announce a European release, it does appear to be on the search for an EU publisher. Responding to questions on the US PS Blog, Atlus said: "We would love for our games to launch at the same time worldwide, particularly at the same time in the US and in Europe, but there has to be that interested other party. Even with a partner, a lot of things have to fall into place to facilitate a simultaneous release across regions."
As you can see via the rather gorgeous screens on this page, the title is a 4-player co-op action adventure game in development at Lionhead Studios.
"Fable Heroes is a fresh spin on the beloved Fable franchise in which up to 4 players play both cooperatively and competitively in this hack-and-slash adventure," reads the official blurb on Xbox.com.
The 343-developed sequel hasn't been seen since its E3 reveal last year, and we're still none the wiser as far as actual gameplay details are concerned.
The game's described as "the dawn of a new trilogy" and its developers have claimed they're taking it "back to what made Halo 3 amazing".
Microsoft's been leaking all over the place this weekend, with Forza Horizon, Fable Heroes and Fable: The Journey media all appearing online.
As one of the most beloved franchises in gaming history, The Legend of Zelda has been the subject of a vast array of merchandise, most notably t-shirts. Here are some of our favorites from partnered brands and around the web.1.
Welcome back to another mind melting edition of Nintendo Voice Chat! It's been a busy few days for the Nintendo team, but Rich and I just had to take a few moments to podcast about all the big happenings of late. Are you ready? Are you excited?! Then let's get this show on the road!
Today we discuss the big Pokemon news that broke over the weekend. Black and White are getting sequels?! DS sequels? Craziness! And The Last Story's coming to North America! WHOA! We also take a few moments to compare the Vita and 3DS launches, as well as discuss some of the big games we've been playing (Kid Icarus Uprising, Metal Gear Solid 3D, Mario Party 9, etc) and the format/future of Nintendo Voice Chat - so don't miss it!
When you get to the second form of Demise at the end of the game you can mess with him by taking out your Bug Net and moving it around, similar to the final battle with Ganondorf in Twilight Princess. He will remain focused on it instead of attacking you, giving you a chance to sneak in a couple of sword strikes.
Nearly two years after it was first announced, Resident Evil Revelations made its way into stores to strong critical and commercial reception. Having an exclusive entry in such a major franchise has only continued to boost the Nintendo 3DS's reception in the global marketplace, but the simple fact is the system will need continuous support of this level in the years to come.
Welcome to the third and final update to IGN's Mass Effect 3 Review in Progress. During the first update, we discussed some preliminary thoughts on the game's first dozen hours. In the second update, we conducted a lengthy Q&A session using some of the best reader questions. And now, we will do some more Q&A-ing, as well as give you some final thoughts now that we sit on the precipice of finishing the game itself.
According to Kotaku, Sean Tracy, a technical designer at the Crysis studio, announced via Twitter yesterday that he was at a Durango summit in London.
Two weeks ago, the same site said it had been informed by multiple sources close to the project that Microsoft's next Xbox console is codenamed Durango.
A source has revealed to IGN that GAME, the UK's biggest specialist retail store, will not be stocking Mass Effect 3 when it is released on March 9th. The document below, which came from one of the group's flagship stores, indicates that GAME will not be stocking ANY of EA's March releases after SSX. Customers with pre-orders will be given £5 worth of Reward Card/Elite points.
When word arrived from overseas that a huge Pokemon announcement was going to be made on the Japanese show Pokemon Smash!, most of us were pretty confident we knew what the news would be. The obvious candidates were the third entry of the Black and White generation (Pokemon Gray, in other words) or the next generation of games - either choice, we presumed, would be presented on Nintendo's newest handheld, the 3DS. What we got was something entirely unexpected and utterly unprecedented - two new games, presumably direct sequels, titled Pokemon Black 2 and Pokemon White 2.
The introduction of the PlayStation 3 included the Cell processor, a chipset designed by Sony to create the most advanced home video game console to date. Due to a number of possibilites, the results never quite reached Sony's high expectations, and it looks like the company may be moving to a different processor architecture for the PlayStation 4.
This isn't the first time a retailer has listed the as yet unconfirmed Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Last month Amazon France posted a product page for Black Ops 2 but quickly pulled it from the site.
The image clearly features Native American influences, including a bow and arrow, headdress and necklace. The character is also wearing cowskin boots and holding what appears to be a Revolutionary pistol.
More details about EA's other modern military first-person shooter have appeared online.
Warfighter's story will again loosely follow actual events and has reportedly been co-written by real Tier 1 operators while off-mission.
Preacher, Voodoo, Mother and other central players from the last game will return, and one location that has been mentioned is a flooded Isabela City in the Philippines.
The last super-fast arena shooter on Xbox 360 was Unreal Tournament III in 2008. So the arrival of Nexuiz may come as a surprise to gamers used to taking their time aiming, reloading, hitting a button to sprint, and using grenades and kill streaks to inflate their stats. Nexuiz evolved from a decade-old Quake mod (noticeable in every facet of gameplay down to the Rocket Jump button), and comes bringing all the nostalgia of that era to Xbox 360. Nexuiz delivers a fantastic balance of speed and simplicity -- when online conditions are stable, that is.
After a decade, two main games, and four spinoffs, Kingdom Hearts has solidified itself as an RPG juggernaut. A cross-platform, cross-universe, East meets West monster of a game. And after learning about Keyblades, princesses, and this Ansem guy, one thing has become abundantly clear:
Earlier this year, concept art emerged from a Gotham by Gaslight game pitched to THQ. Now, a source has provided Siliconera with video of an animation prototype allegedly from the same project. According to their report, the game was in development by Day 1 Studios, the developers behind FEAR 3 and Fracture, before being canceled.
Screen Tear is GameSpot's video game clip show, Carlos Rodela: the man that watches way more YouTube videos than is probaby healthy. Every Friday, he brings you the newest, funniest, weirdest, and occasionally nakedest video game clips from the past week and squeezes them all into an easy to digest five-minute show.
The One Piece series has made its mark on video games in one form or another, most recently on the DS and 3DS. Gamers hoping to see a next-gen iteration of the manga-slash-anime franchise will be pleased to know that One Piece: Kaizoku Musou will be making its debut on the PS3 this week.
The PC version of Skyrim is home to a thriving mod community, from robust fan-made quest lines to terrifying cosmetic overhauls that will have you questioning the very future of humanity. Steam Workshop makes it easier than ever to download and manage these mods, so take a look at a few of our favorites and download them for yourself.
The imagination is a wonderful thing. In the 1980s, games didn't have the resources to convey characters, emotion, and attitude in an effective way. Players combined exaggerated box art imagery, limited info from the instruction manual, and a game's 8-bit actuality to forge realities in their minds. Nearly 30 years after the launch of the NES, these worlds are larger and more detailed than most youngsters could have dreamed.
Have you ever felt that JRPGs can be a bit… well, sterile? That you're essentially walking down a series of very pretty corridors dressed up as castles or forests or caves full of doors you can't open, knee-high walls that you can't jump over and enemies that can only be fought in separate, specially-approved arenas? The Last Story isn't like that. There's a pleasing physicality to the world and the combat that completely removes that sense of detachment. You can crouch and sneak and take cover behind those walls, collapse pillars and bridges with magic and fire an arrow at an enemy lurking at the other side of the room without being magicked away to a combat arena. Some of the doors still don't open, but you can't have everything.
As Poke Maniacs the world over await their next dose of portable Pokemon goodness, a new Wii title seeks to tide us over. PokePark 2: Wonders Beyond is a sequel to 2010's PokePark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure, and the gameplay hasn't changed much from the original. You're still tasked with playing mini-games, befriending Pokemon and doing some light battling, all on your quest to save your fellow monsters from danger. The game does a stellar job of bringing the world of Pikachu and pals to life on the big screen - but is it an adventure for the whole family to enjoy, or just the youngsters?
Resident Evil 6 represents a milestone for Capcom's long-running series. For the first time, the franchise's two biggest stars - Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield - will (eventually) join forces in the same game to fight the forces of evil. But Resident Evil 6 doesn't stop there. The game features another playable character, an unnamed lead that finds himself protecting Sherry Birkin, who players last saw in the second Resident Evil game.
Like the rest of Borderlands 2's classes, the Assassin's skill set can be tailored to your preferred play style. Want to concentrate on close-up strikes? Long-distance sniper shots? You can with the Assassin, which according to Gearbox is the only class with a clearly defined weapons preference. If you really like sniping, it sounds like the Assassin could be a good choice.
The ultra-streamlined scanning of Mass Effect 3 only requires you to navigate to a point of interest using the compass-like cursor. Once you get here you can launch a probe. You have an infinite amount of probes, and you don’t need to purchase them.
When you spend enough time with a person - be it a sibling, a friend, or a spouse - you come to appreciate their quirks and foibles. Sometimes you'll find those quirks to be unbearably annoying, other times downright hilarious. The flipside, of course, is that you learn how to press their buttons and chuckle uncontrollably as they respond in precisely the way you expected. After 20 years, that pretty much sums up my relationship with Golden Axe on Mega Drive/Genesis. I quite literally know how to press its buttons and have a good old chortle when the expected hilarity ensues. Allow me to let you in on the joke.
We know what you're probably thinking: Sleeping Dogs? Has GameSpot, my favourite video and/or computer game internets website lost its mind and moved into the fast-paced world of pet accommodation? No sir, we have not. Sleeping Dogs is the recently revealed name for the game formally known as True Crime: Hong Kong, a title Activision kicked to the curb a little over a year ago after saying "it just wasn't going to be good enough". While Square Enix swooped in to save the game from cancellation, the name has been overhauled, but is still the same Hong Kong cinema-inspired open-world game that was always planned.
Make no mistake: Gameart's latest foray in the game scene, titled Ragnarok Odyssey, reeks of the action RPG odor stemming from Capcom's Monster Hunter. After all, you go off on a series of chapters divided into a multitude of quests ranging from the banal 'kill a number of creatures' to 'collect a bunch of stuff by breaking barrels and killing monsters' equipped with generous time limits. Occasionally, you fight a giant monster or two with weak spots that also perform huge elaborated attacks with few windows of opportunity for your warrior to strike.
Forget arcade tournaments, LAN nights, or Call of Duty multiplayer matches--now there's a new way for gamers to put their skills to the test.
The Australian-based Gamer Institute is the brainchild of three savvy entrepreneurial gamers--Daniel Grzelak, Semin Nurkic, and Bosco Tan--who matched their love of professional gaming with their talents for business to create a completely online-based learning centre that pairs up professional e-sports players with those looking to get some pro-gaming advice.
Sexy goth girl Ophelia is rock roadie Eddie Riggs' fighting ally and love interest in Tim Schafer's Brutal Legend. He meets her when they both wind up looking for the same giant axe, then Ophelia introduces Eddie to her gang and their romance blossoms.
At Nintendo's E3 2011 press conference, the company officially revealed its next line of home consoles, the Wii U. Very little was revealed at the time, outside of the system's much discussed tablet controller. One thing that was confirmed, however, was Wii U's ability to in some way interact with the Nintendo 3DS.
Far Cry 3 has been given an official release date of September 4th in the U.S. and September 7th in the U.K.
The third installment of the popular franchise returns to its root, setting the action on a tropical island.
During an earnings call today, Ubisoft revealed that Assassin's Creed III will be released in October.
According to CEO Yves Guillemot, the game will hit stores on October 30th. Guillemot revealed that the game has been in development for three years and that "what we have seen is just fabulous."
Previously, Ubisoft teased that a major Assassin's Creed title would come this year, but this is the first outright confirmation that it's AC III. The game is said to complete the story of Desmond.
A trip to the DC Direct showroom today at Toy Fair in Manhattan turned into a visit to Arkham City, as Series 3 of the action-figure line based on the hit game was revealed -- including Ra's al Ghul, Azrael, Clown Thugs and more -- as well as deluxe versions of Titan Joker, Mr. Freeze and Killer Croc.
Mass Effect 3's single-player demo is set to come out tomorrow, but we got our hands on it early. Check out a full play through of both chapters of the demo below, but keep in mind that FULL SPOILERS for the demo, including a boss, are contained in these videos.
It's been ten years since the last entry in the Spec Ops series, and the world of military shooters has changed significantly in that time. While the series was presumably successful enough to produce several games, the diminishing level of quality and bargain-bin status of each new title meant that the franchise disappeared into obscurity. Our own Mark Nix described Spec Ops as 'the poor man's Rainbow Six' in his review of Spec Ops: Stealth Patrol back in 2000, in which he awarded the game a score of 3.0. It's safe to say, then, that this isn't a revered franchise.
Metal Gear Solid 5 is expected to launch at some point during Konami's 2014 fiscal year, according to Nomura Securities, a Japanese investment analyst company.
That puts the game on course for a release sometime between April 2013 and March 2014. Yes, not precise but still. It's unclear if the investment firm has any substantial insider knowledge, or if this is just a well-educated projection.
The previous two games in the UFC Undisputed franchise did a great job of representing the sport: its impressive amount of depth, tons of licensed fighters, and a presentation that successfully mirrored the look of actual Pay Per View events. However, there were definitely some issues to be had, as many decried the franchise's high learning curve and daunting control schemes, which made the overall experience pretty tough to get into. Smartly, the developers took a break to focus on the issues that people had and like a seasoned fighter, UFC Undisputed 3 took some time off, trained up, and returned to the Octagon hungry to fight and ready for action.
Four new trailers were released by BioWare today for Mass Effect 3. Each is unique, but more importantly is the plethora of new details that we can see in each. New enemies from Cerberus including who we believe to be Kai Leng from the novels makes his first appearance, the amount of customization available to players is shown and the new abilities that Shepard will be wielding are displayed.
Patch 1.4 for The Elder Scrolls V was recently released through Steam for the PC version, and it appears the console version is just about ready to be released. According to a Twitter update from Bethesda, patch 1.4 should be made available tomorrow, February 9, for Xbox 360 as well as PlayStation 3.
Based on the wording of the tweet it seems the PlayStation 3 update may slip, but for now, expect it to hit tomorrow. Many quest and crash fixes are included in the patch, but perhaps most important is the "Long term play optimizations for memory and performance" fix for the PlayStation 3 version.
The nominations for the BAFTA GAME Award have been revealed.
The Award recognises the best games of the year, and lining up to claim the award this year are:
- Batman: Arkham City
- Battlefield 3
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
- FIFA 12
- L.A. Noire
- Minecraft
- Portal 2
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
- Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Yesterday, we reported on a special event we attended courtesy of Sony Pictures that showed off the brand new 3D trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man, along with about 8 minutes of sizzle reel. We were rather excited about it, to say the least.
In a blog post on #AltDevBlogADay, Durall writes, "Personally I think this would be a fantastic change for our business. Even though the consumers would be up in arms about it at first, they will grow to understand why and that it won't kill them."
Wii U continues to evolve, even ahead of its scheduled "second debut" at E3 2012 later this year. At its most recent investor conference, Nintendo's global president, Satoru Iwata, revealed the company has added "NFC" technology to Wii U's tablet controller. The communication standard allows for proximity-based interaction between the controller and a nearby device with similar capabilities. Think of key cards that simply need to be near a card reader, or Activision's Skylanders game, and you are thinking in the right direction.
Naughty Dog has revealed that a new Jak and Daxter game was almost made instead of The Last of Us. Following Uncharted 2, Naughty Dog split into two teams and got ready to move onto its next game. That game was originally planned to be the next Jak and Daxter, but the team ran into trouble while attempting to design the game.
This past September, Square-Enix made a surprise announcement. Even though fans have been clamoring most for remakes of past Final Fantasy games like VI and (especially) VII, the famous RPG developer and publisher revealed that it would instead by working on a re-release of the PlayStation 2-era RPG Final Fantasy X.
The staff has also been working hard to minimize the visual differences between pre-rendered and game-generated cutscenes by homogenizing the lower- and higher-quality character models. Nomura says that the only significant difference will be seen in the characters' hair. Other improvements to cutscenes will include more realistic conversations; voice actors have been recording their lines together so that characters will sometimes talk over each other, and laugh together more naturally.
The PlayStation Network has been alive and kicking for nearly five years, and it's been a hell of a ride. There have been games that have scored a perfect "10," service blackouts, and plenty of Platinum Trophies. Now, the time is right for IGN to celebrate the network and pick the 25 best games on the PlayStation Store. IGN Editor Colin Moriarty and myself -- IGN PlayStation Executive Editor Greg Miller -- cobbled together a massive list of worthy PSN games and then whittled the crop down to these 25 games with the help of IGN's editors, the reviewers, and a dart board.
What legendary developer Shigeru Miyamoto does at Nintendo is rather unclear. Back in December this lack of clarity led to rumours of him stepping down from his role as Senior Managing Director and General Manager of Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development Division.
He was quick to dismiss the rumour, however, saying that he was actually stepping back to help nurture new talent at Nintendo.
Now, through one of the regular Q&As held for investors, which take the form of a dialogue between Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata and Miyamoto, we now have a clearer idea of what Miyamoto is actually up to these days. Sort of.
When word of a sequel spread, the fear of that linearity persisted. But it seems the developers at Square-Enix wanted nothing more than to prove the gaming populace wrong with the same level of defiance Lightning and her friends showed the gods. Final Fantasy XIII-2 showers you with choice and branching paths. The battle system functions faster and includes several new features like tamable monster allies. But with these improvements, the story sheds much of its focus. Characters act without clear motivation, and the only driving force is to find Lightning. Without question, it's a better game, but Final Fantasy XIII-2 makes costly sacrifices to its narrative in order to achieve mechanical advancements.
Resident Evil 6 is the second main Resident Evil series game coming to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. It has not been announced for Wii U. Capcom has confirmed that the North American release date for Resident Evil 6 is November 20, 2012 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions. No release date has been announced for the PC version, but it will be after November 20
A few years back, in a former role, I had the misfortune of playing and reviewing Rebellion's Rogue Warrior.
A workmate of mine at the time wandered up to me as I was playing it, picked up the case and inspected it with a screwed up face, like you would a stain on your favourite T-shirt. Or anything starring Rob Schneider.
Mike O'Brien, President and Founder of developer ArenaNet, posted on the ArenaNet blog today announcing several important steps in the finale of Guild Wars 2's development. According to O'Brien, the Guild Wars 2 beta will open to select press in February. In March and April, ArenaNet will "aggressively ramp up the size of [the] beta test events" to include gamers outside the press.
On January 31, the latest entry in the long-running Soulcalibur series, Soulcalibur V, will arrive on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. You can get an early look at the fighting game -- including a new boss that hasn't been seen before -- right here on IGN. Tune in for our Soulcalibur V live stream on Monday, January 23 at 12:30PM Pacific to watch us play a straight hour of matches against a member of the game's team. We'll be taking your questions from Twitter and answering them right before your very eyes.
In November 2004 I got into a full on shouting match with some guy in my Art History 102 class over which game was going to be more epic: Jak 3 or Halo 2. The next day he came to class infuriated over Halo 2's all-too-short campaign and I was still deep within Jak's engrossing story, so I think I won that argument (kiss my ass, Stephen). The point is, the Jak series is something I hold very dear. It's the reason I bought a PS2, it's the reason I have the dumbest screen name of any IGN editor, and it's the reason I am finally excited about an HD collection.
These HD collections aren't new. We've seen two different God of War bundles, Sly Cooper, Team ICO, and a slew of third-party entries. Some might say they're bordering on being too much, and I tend to agree. But the inevitability with these collections is that eventually a company releases one of your favorite games and then you become a hypocrite.
In Reckoning you'll be able to tool up with some trendy Omni-Blade daggers, for example, alongside a slightly more weathered variation.
Complete the Reckoning demo before playing Mass Effect 3, meanwhile, and you'll unlock Todd McFarlane-designed Reckoner Knight Armor and a disc-chucking Chakram Launcher. EA says the armor "will maximize damage done in close-quarters combat while a beefed-up power cell feeds energy into weapon systems to increase projectile velocity," and that the launcher "uses a fabricator to manufacture lightweight, explosive ammunition discs."
Great adventures often spring from tragedy. When faced with unmatchable sadness, anger, or fear, we more readily face the unknown and launch into quests of self-discovery. In the wake of death, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch propels us into another world filled with strange creatures and stranger evils.
Ni No Kuni represents some of the best JRPG traditions, but it also suffers from an enigmatic title and sparse international press. With its western launch approaching with head bowed, it seems fitting to highlight some of Ni No Kuni's strengths based on my time with the imported Japanese version. Though as you'll soon see, words fail to capture Ni No Kuni's beauty and charm.
This origin story tells the tale of how Lara Croft developed her tomb raiding skills. Turns out it wasn't by choice -- she was shipwrecked on a hostile island off the coast of Japan at the age of 21, left to fend for herself against the elements and unfriendly natives. Tomb Raider begins with Lara waking up after the wreck to find herself strung upside down in a dank cave. By rocking the analog stick of your controller back and forth you can get her swinging into a lit flame that will burn the rope and set her free. It is immediately apparent that this isn't the Tomb Raider we've become (perhaps too) familiar with over the years.Read more: IGN
The Sly Cooper trilogy on PlayStation 2 was devised by none other than Sucker Punch, the Sony-owned studio responsible for Infamous. What makes Sly 4 so fascinating isn't only how good it looks and how it seems to play like a true Sly game, but that it's being developed not by Sucker Punch, but by Sanzaru Games. Sly 4 appears to be one of those games that will sneak onto the PS3 quietly only to bludgeon you in the head with its rock-solid gameplay.
Few games do so much with so little. The team at thatgamecompany -- a small group of talent -- tells incredible stories and paint pictures of beauty with a minimalist design. Journey dazzles from the moment you hit "start," and the precise usage of music and sound promises an emotional quest through the desert. This is one PSN download you should ready your wallet for.
I used to be excited for The Last Guardian because it was coming from Team ICO and I wanted to see if the studio had another classic up its sleeve. Now -- after the creator leaving Sony, the executive producer quitting, and pre-orders being cancelled -- I'm just excited to see how this game ends up. Will it be a hit or a Duke Nukem Forever bomb? We'll know soon.
You can never have enough weapons. Even if you never use them, the knowledge that they're out there and available to be picked up and stabbed into the nearest hostile bandit or saber cat helps us all sleep better at night. To that end, we present you with the keys to an upgraded arsenal of Skyrim weaponry, including ornate axes, fine imported Morrowind glass, and crossover hits from other games. Oh yeah: and freakin' lightsabers.
As both the game's title and developer Bugbear Entertainment stress, Ridge Racer: Unbounded is not Ridge Racer 8. So, what does the curious subtitle bring with it other than the surprise that it is, in fact, a real word?
On the one hand, to be unbounded is to provide in abundance: certainly the variety of game modes, customisation options and wealth of creation tools of both the basic and advanced track editors fulfil this part of the offbeat moniker.
There's the carnage of Dominate mode, which encourages the creation of short cuts through the destruction of sign-posted environmental targets; this is made possible thanks to a power bar that's fed by indulging the series' iconic drift ability. Survival mode is based on the same premise, but being taken out by another driver, or colliding head on with an unbreakable structure, puts you out of the race for good.
From the moment you first log in, Star Wars: The Old Republic puts you in the mindset of a star-hopping badass. The opening cinematic, where the Sith appear out of nowhere and reclaim Korriban, introduces you to the conflict between the Empire and the Republic. Then you choose which faction you're going to play for, and another cinematic sets the tone of your alignment. For Empire players, the focus is on power, control, and anger. The Republic cinematic portrays a need to take back what's lost through planning and tenacity. The cinematics are spectacularly compelling and make me wish Blur, the creators, were contracted to do a feature-length film.
