Bullets and Blades – The Top 5 Weapons in Modern Gaming
What would Link be without his sword? Samus Aran without her patented arm-mounted gun that doesn’t resemble Mega Man’s at all? Other cliches without their weapons? With the possible exception of Street Fighter and/or Mortal Kombat, many games have legendary heroes and villains that wield weapons and armor of a similarly epic nature. This week, we’ll be looking over another Top 5 List, this time focusing on the greatest gear in gaming, and who wields it.
I’d like to mention right off the bat that the Mega Man Blaster or the Master Sword won’t be making an appearance in this list. When I say weapons in modern gaming, I’m talking new games from the Playstation 2/Xbox era forward. As much as I would like to mention epic weapons from times past (cough – Masamune! – cough) let’s stick to the more current list. With that in mind, let’s take a look at our list! Read more…
I have been waiting for Inglorious Basterds since it was announced. I have been waiting for the newest Wolfenstein game since I finished the last one I played. What can I say? I enjoy killing Nazis. Read more…
He can remix a song before the original band has finished recording it.
High Score: Music in Video Games
Dah-dah-dah doo dah-da – duh. If you totally called that as the beginning of the Mario theme, then you’re one step ahead of this article. If you didn’t, prepare to be schooled baby.
Music has always been a part of video games, with a few minor exceptions (Pong, anyone?). From the classic themes of the Mario franchise to the epic scores of Halo and Metal Gear Solid, music has provided a strong influence on the tone and theme of the game in question. By the way, Guitar Hero doesn’t count. Read more…
Well, we can’t have everything.
Bayonetta, SEGA’s sword-swinging, gunslinging, spell-casting uber-witch is the titular character in the upcoming title for the PS3 and XBox 360. She is arguably the sexiest and deadliest character SEGA has produced since Sonic the Hedgehog (I have a fetish for colourful rodents – sue me).
With that in mind, SEGA has started promoting a fan art contest. Artists can submit their entries to wizarduniverse.com on or before August 28th, and fans will then vote on the entries over the month of September. The winner will see their submission shown in Wizard magazine and receive an Xbox 360 console, a 50 inch Panasonic HDTV Plasma TV and a developer-autographed copy of BAYONETTA for Xbox 360. For the details check out http://www.wizarduniverse.com/bayonettacompetition.html.
As a personal request, I would like all artists to keep those sexy glasses. Bayonetta is the sexiest librarian ever.
On second thought, scratch that. They make her look like Sarah Palin. Yeah.
Cheers!
The latest title in the Forza Motorsport series introduces a slightly different selection of vehicles than what we’ve seen before – and your parents probably wish they had one.
Yes, SUV’s and luxury cars are the autos of the day in FM3, with such land-yachts as the Porsche Cayenne or the BMW M5. As with all racing games, the tried-and-true template stands with plenty of… racing. The XBox 360 title also features a wealth of customization for all vehicles involved. Perhaps child-locks or kiddie seats for the SUV’s are in store. Who knows?
I, for one, am anxiously awaiting Forza Motorsport 4: The Moped Edition. Yay Vespa!
Cheers.
Capcom’s new action-packed beat-em up title Spyborgs continues such successes as Final Fight in the two-player co-op brawler genre.
Players will take control of one of three cyborg heroes – Bouncer (the heavy hitter), Stinger (the balanced fighter) and Clandestine or “Clan” (the quick, agile-fragile one). Together or solo they can traverse the four-chapter saga and pound on robots and other enemies.
Looks interesting… with “look” being the operative word in that sentence. Spyborgs‘ real surprise is the graphics, which are way above the bar set by previous Wii titles.
So if you’re looking for some good old bionic death-dealing cyb0rg chainsaw nuclear cross-dressing megadeath action, check out Spyborgs on the Wii, being released September 29th!
Cheers.
Spider-Man has an equal opportunity costume in Web of Shadows.
Ok, so for the past week or so I’ve been on a Spider-Man: Web of Shadows binge. Nothing but web-slinging through New York, symbiotes and ass-kickery. It has been awesome – definitely the best “comic-book superhero” game I’ve played in some time, if not ever (I wasn’t going to include comic-book just now, but then I remembered inFAMOUS and Prototype). So that got me thinking how many bad superhero games I’ve played. That got me thinking about how much worse those games could have been if they were about even crappier superheroes – I mean, even Spider-Man 3 had Spider-Man in it, right? So, with that in mind, I’d like to present:
5 Superheroes That Should Never Be in Video Games
*disclaimer – if a game has already been made that should contain one of these characters, then there’s no need to mention it – the damage has been done. Read more…
Franchise Games We’d Like to See – Firefly
I’ll be 100% honest with you. I’m totally watching Firefly right now, as I write this article. Such a rich universe, interesting characters and amazing balance between action and comedy, the short-lived cult hit TV series Firefly and it’s cinematic companion Serenity completely blew me away when I first encountered them. It never occurred to me whether or not they would make a good video game until just now, as I sat down to write my latest blog. In that spirit, here is the first in (hopefully) a series of articles I like to call “Franchise Games We’d Like to See”.
**disclaimer – I realize that one of these articles may be posted after an announcement of an actual game coming out in the future. In that case, I don’t care. Read more…
Swords and Shields, or Cyborgs and Clones?
When you’re walking down the aisle in the store, shopping for a new game, do you pick up Oblivion or Fallout? Are you looking to fly a dragon or a hovercraft, swing an axe into someone’s face or kneecap them with a laser pistol? This week our big question is… fantasy vs sci-fi?
I myself am not really sure which I prefer. I was at Games Day Toronto 2009, which showcases the tabletop wargame Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 (and also the MMORPG Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning), I find myself to be drawn to both equally. So to put my personal curiosity to rest, and hopefully provide some entertainment in the process, here’s my List of Why Sci-fi is Better than Fantasy (or vice versa). Enjoy! Read more…
The newest blockbuster movie of 2009 now has it’s companion game being released for a multitude of consoles. Gamers can now play as their favorite Autobot or Decepticon to champion or destroy the human race across a number of levels spanning the Cairo desert to Shanghai cityscapes.
The ability to instantly transform from vehicle to juggernaut of destruction remains from the original game, with the new addition of brutal online play. The next-gen consoles and PC versions of this game include a great selection of characters, with equipment and weapons unique to each. They also will have several modes to experience online multiplayer action. Read more…
Only a Carpathian would be upset at Atari’s announcement today that Ghostbusters: The Video Game is on the shelves across North America. The long-anticipated return of the Ghostbusters is causing mass outbreaks of nerdgasms from Vancouver to Miami – which will be represented in this article by this indicator – [nerdgasm]. The release of the game is accompanying the 25th anniversary of the original Ghostbusters film, which is being released on Blu-Ray [nerdgasm]. Read more…
CHEATS – The Gamer’s Moral Compass
Up, Up, Down, Down, Up, Up, Up, Up. And all of a sudden, I can level select in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 on my Sega Genesis. So what if I don’t earn my way to the Ice Cap Zone? I’ve played this game 50 times already – it’s been done. But you’d never catch me sprinting through GoldenEye or Quake with God Mode on – ruins the game for me. So my cheating in games is based on convenience and sportsmanship (after a fashion). But am I the rule, or the exception to it?
Cheats and secrets have been around in games since 8-bit systems. I really wouldn’t be surprised if there was a cheat to make your Pong paddle bigger (and I’m not referencing the herbal medicine junk email we get every day). Back on the Genesis and NES/SNES, we had Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat codes to unlock characters, and Battletoads, Sonic and many other codes for level selection. Later, on platforms like the N64, Playstation and PS2, codes became a way to unlock secret features of the game, features that you couldn’t unlock without the codes. A great example of this is Star Wars: Rogue Squadron for the N64, which had a code to unlock the Naboo starfighter from Episode I. However, LucasArts only released the code after the movie had been released in theatres – so noone was unlocking that baby by accident a few days before opening weekend at the box office. Cheats and secrets are still a big part of games, but as the core gamer demographic grows out of the desire for codes (and more importantly, grows out of hard-core gaming into casual gaming), these become more rewards than hustles.
Alright folks, this is the premier review by yours truly on andPOP. This week I’m taking a look at iNFAMOUS, from Sucker Punch Productions.
inFAMOUS follows the story of Cole, a messenger given strange electricity-based powers from a devastating explosion that destroys a good chunk of Empire City and cripples the rest. As Cole struggles to understand and control his new powers, he sets out to discover how the blast happened in the first place, and who’s responsible. He may not like what he finds out.
I’ll start off by saying that inFAMOUS is a lot of fun. This sandbox game is open-ended entertainment. As you travel the length and breadth of Empire City, you can play through the game’s story missions or venture off on side missions and scavenge for extras. But nothing is perfect, and inFAMOUS is not an exception to this rule. There are glitches and oversights that, if corrected, could have made this a potential heir to the PS3 throne (the “throne” being the throne of Awesome).
The control scheme here is sort of a blend of Assassin’s Creed meets Force Unleashed. It’s intuitive and very quick to master, even though you gain abilities throughout the game. The biggest reason that these controls are so easy to pick up is that after you gain a new ability, you are put through a very brief sequence that involves situations relevant to your new power. It’s not too obvious, and it works. The most exciting feature is the freerunning, though. Apparently our hero picked up some intense parkour skills in his life as a messenger/urban explorer, and puts them to use climbing anything and everything in Empire City with a handhold (except for chainlink fences and some stairs, apparently – yes, really). Aside from some invisible walls here and there and Cole’s seemingly uncontrollable need to grab anything in his reach to hang on to when falling or jumping, this freedom of movement is above par for any game that’s come before. Read more…
Poet? Warrior-king? Egomaniac? If any of these words describe you, then we have something in common. This is good news, because I’m going to be writing for our new blog!
I grew up playing video games, like a good chunk of the men in my age group. That’s not to say I huddled in the basement with a controller 24/7, just that I enjoyed the classics growing up. I owned a Sega Genesis (and later a Sega CD) and for the cost of a kiss or two, I had frequent access to my neighbour’s Nintendo. She was Player 1. Not much has changed in my love life since then.
My brothers and I used to rent games from a small, family-owned video store not too far from our house. Which meant that for 2 dollars we could play a game for a week, and if we got bored of it there was another one next week. We only owned 2 games – the ones that came with the system. My parents were good with money. Read more…
With the upcoming release of Guitar Hero 5, Activision is pulling out all the stops in getting the fans on board. An online scavenger hunt is underway that will send fans across websites, TV and other media. The prize – 5 tickets to 5 concerts featuring bands included in the new game. Fans can check out the GH5 site for current updates on the bands that have been announced already, as well as information on upcoming announcements.
As for the game itself, it looks like… well, a Guitar Hero game. I mean, what exactly has changed? There are a few new features to the game, though. You can now actually play with multiple instruments of the same type – vocals, guitar, bass or drums. So less arguments about who gets to play what… meaning less entertainment for those of us who don’t play Guitar Hero watching those who do fight over the drum set. Ah, party drama.
