There’s only so much you can do as a Great Gatsby fan as you count down the days until the Buz Luhrmann’s movie adaptation finally reaches theaters.
You can read the book for the zillionth time, cos-play, listen to some old music to get you into the mood. Now you can play a video game version of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic novel in 8-bit no less!
Developed by Charlie Hoey, you play as the book’s narrator Nick Carraway as he flings his hat at butlers and flappers. There are four levels, each with their own unique mission such as finding Gatsby at the party or defeating the laser shooting eyes of Dr. Eckleberg. Of course, the game also features the book’s most memorable character and quotes.
You can play the game HERE.
What do you think of this book-to-game adaptation?!
SEE MORE SCREENSHOTS OF THE GAME AFTER THE JUMP:
Every time I watch the trailer for military-based video games such as Mercenaries or Call of Duty, they are always packed with action and drama.
So in a prediction for army games of the future, the guys from the podcast Bombcast have reenacted a typical video game trailer that features any type of action.
This couldn’t ring truer for any video gamer. But that being said, I think these guys should do one featuring Just Dance 5 because those commercials are always so predictable.
This orange tabby cat was going about his day, minding his own business, while the soothing music of Mario played behind him. Unfortunately, his body just doesn’t react well to some of the video game’s sound effects. It gives a new meaning to the term scaredy cat!
The holiday season is NOT about fighting but Christmas and Hanukkah just couldn’t help themselves in this sketch by CollegeHumor.
The two holidays go head to head with weapons like pine needles, Black Friday, gelt guns and dreidel. Christmas originally knocked Hanukkah down with “Christmas morning” but it didn’t stick because of the “miracle save” card. I nearly thought Hanukkah had this one with “Jewish Guilt” but it ended up backfiring so no real winner was announced.
Choose your own victor under the comments! I’m going with the apathetic answer, Chrismukkah!
Watch it here
I’m bracing myself for all the parodies that are starting to come from the Metro safety song “Dumb Ways to Die,” but hopeful that it won’t get to “Call Me Maybe” or “Gangnam Style” levels. The PSA by Tangerine Kitty recently got an adorable Mars Rover edition and a real life edition. Now someone made a video game version.
The song relates some of the worst ways to die in video games, whether it’s triggering an alien attack or your teammate being an ass. The parody, by Megasteakman, replaces the animation in the original video with dancing video game characters.
What do you think is the dumbest way to die in a video game?
Watch it here
When he’s not busy stealing the hearts of millions of girls around the world with his angelic voice, what does Nick Jonas do, one might ask? Well here’s one answer!
MTV reports that Nick Jonas, one third of the all-brother group, the Jonas Brothers, has composed the music for the new expansion world, “Wintertusk,” of the online game “Wizard101.”
“It’s been a really interesting journey composing some music for ‘Wintertusk’,” Jonas told MTV. “They came to me and said, ‘hey we’d love to have you be a part of this in some way,’ and as I was kind of getting into producing and song-writing, something I always wanted to do was score, so I said, ‘I’d love to be able to score this game for you and create some music specifically for the game and the vibe of the game.’”
Jonas explained that it’s different from anything else he’s ever done, but is looking forward to people hearing the music in the game. And I can guarantee that OJDers (Obsessive Jonas Disorder, for those who don’t know) all over are looking forward to it just as much, since this will be the first dose of anything Jonas they will have gotten in quite a while!
“I think what really helped when composing the pieces for Wintertusk was having some of the musical theater background that I have, obviously epic in its sounds,” he continued. “Specifically with ‘Les Mis’ and some of the stuff I did with that it really helped me open my mind to a couple different things and the way that this music should sound for this game.”
But when it comes to being a gamer himself, Jonas says, “I get into it a bit. I spend more time in the studio more than anything. But my little brother [Frankie] is a big video game fan.”
Sounds like quite an exciting project! It will be very exciting to see how well Nick tackled this one – but then again, there isn’t much wrong this boy can do when it comes to music, since it seems he is incapable of failing at anything musically.
Sarah Michelle Gellar is going to be in a video game, and it’s going to be awesome.
Gellar will star alongside Robert Englund, Michael Rooker and Danny Trejo in ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops,’ fighting off zombies, of course.
Noted horror film director George Romero will lend his likeness to the game, inspired by his zombie film works. The new level, called “Call of the Dead,” will be included in the upcoming Escalation downloadable content pack.
“This is Treyarch’s tribute to the legendary George Romero, who truly defined the zombie genre and whose incredible work has been such an inspiration to our team,” said Black Ops director Dave Anthony. “It was an absolute honor to work with such an amazing and talented cast whose passion and energy brought their characters instantly to life. Fans are going to love this.”
Watch the video below to hear Gellar speak about the process. I’m so excited for her to come back into the spotlight, but I never anticipated this. It’s beyond my wildest dreams! (Yes, I’m fan-boying here, a little bit.)
The trailer for the game can be viewed here.
It seems that the Moon Walk is the new black as more and more Michael Jackson merchandise is in the works.
According to TMZ, the King of Pop is set to star in a new video game that will essentially be a “dance karaoke.” Unlike many other ventures surrounding the deceased Jackson, apparently the pop singer’s estate is totally on board for this plan. Basically, gamers will see Jackson dancing on screen and then will be challenged to imitate his movements.
The game, currently untitled, will be available on multiple gaming platforms including Wii and Xbox 360. The Xbox version will include Microsoft’s new Kinect motion capture technology which will allow players to participate in the game without holding a controller.
Also in the Xbox version, the player will be judged based on full body moves; the game will process the player’s movements and display them on screen, dancing alongside Jackson.
If that wasn’t spectacular enough for aspiring Princes of Pop everywhere, the game also includes a karaoke feature which will allow players to sing along to Jackson songs and even funk up their voices with an autotune feature.
The game is being developed by Ubisoft (the same company behind Assassin’s Creed and Ghost Recon) and they have apparently secured permission from Jackson’s estate, so this is sure to go ahead. The game is scheduled to be released sometime before Christmas.
We already knew that Jake Gyllenhaal is playing the lead role of the acclaimed video game franchise-turned-movie Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. What we didn’t know is that the Brokeback Mountain actor was actually a legitimate fan of the Prince of Persia series as a child.
“I played their original side-scrolling version of the game when I was a kid,” said the 29-year-old actor laughing, in an interview with MTV News.
Directed by Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), the movie tells the story about the origins of young Persian Prince Dastan, and his quest to rescue the Sands of Time, a gift from the gods that controls time, from an evil nobleman.
Move aside, guitar, there’s a new Hero taking over the video game world: the turntable.
Video game creator Activision has released the much-anticipated massive set list for the DJ Hero video game, which comes out on Oct. 27, according to CHARTattack.
The game features 93 exclusive mixes by some of the industry’s top DJs, including Cut Chemist, DJ Shadow, and the late DJ AM. On the game these DJs slice up songs by artists such as Daft Punk, The Killers, Jay-Z, Public Enemies, and the Beastie Boys.
DJ Hero aims to expand on the technology used in video games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band. The game will use a turntable controller to help immerse players into DJ culture. It will give aspiring DJs the chance to learn DJ techniques including sampling, crossfading, and scratching.
andPOP was given a special opportunity to have a look at EA NHL 10 which comes out very shortly. Jordan and Josh spoke with Patrick Kane and John Tavares about being on the cover, and also had a quick play of the game. What we can say is it’s the best EA NHL game yet!
This week’s topic: Top five video game clichés
Hey readers,
For this week’s rant, I thought I would take a page out of the Brett blog and do a top five list. Not to steal his thunder, but a topic like this has been nagging in my head for a good long while now. This week, I’m going to take a look at the top five clichés that annoy me but often pop up in video games. Perhaps because it works well in that specific title, perhaps because the story writers or coders or someone along the supply chain was lazy, perhaps we will never know but until that point, at least you, the viewers will know how I feel about them. Read more…
JUJU MAKE ME GO CRAZY. 
Alright lets get one thing out of the way, I enjoy video games regardless of the age and gender they are created for. If it is a good game then I will classify it as a good game. In my books there is no such thing as a ” I guess for a kids game this is alright.” You wanna know why? Because even simple kids games have to abide by some sort of standard. And don’t get me started on those pre-preschooler games… at that young age you shouldn’t be playing games in the first place. I played Super Mario Land for the Gameboy when I was 6, it was challenging, immersible, and got me to love games ever since.
Now that’s not to say Tak and the guardians of gross is a game designed for kids, I honestly wish that were not the case but tons of things within the game lead me to believe the only person to get some mild joy out of the title would be someone around that age.
The game is the third story iteration in Tak series and after a long hiatus now returns to the Wii. Developed by Blitz games and published by THQ this game sports the nickelodeon splat right on the box letting us know that this is a fine game based on the cartoon based on the game.. In fact one of the special extras on the disc is an episode of the cartoon. Read more…
Fans of the Need for Speed franchise may have to wait until fall to get Need for Speed SHIFT, EA’s latest entry in the 15 year franchise. But they may rejoice with the knowledge that the BMW M3 GT2 will be featured on the cover of the newest game. EA had the game on showcase at E3 this week, where gamers got their hands on it for the first time.
Players will have 65 cars to choose from. The game boasts a diverse selection ranging from the classic 1972 Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R to the exotic 2007 Lamborghini Reventón. The tracks will include newly designed circuits and actual locations like the legendary 20km Nordschleife in Nürburg, Germany.
NFS fans should already know what to expect. “Need for Speed SHIFT is about the intense power and emotion of being behind the wheel,” said Patrick Soderlund, senior vice president, EA Games Europe. The game is being developed for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC by Slightly Mad Studios in London, England. EA’s Bright Light Studio is developing a version for the PSP. Need for Speed SHIFT ships on September 22, 2009 in North America.
Just a heads up for those loving the new X-Men Origins: Wolverine game by Activision (or those who have grown tired of the story mode already). We now have the ability to download the Weapon X arena, yes, the very same arena DLC that came with a Wolverine pre-order is now available to the masses on both Xbox 360 for 800 Microsoft points, and Playstation 3 for $9.99.
The Arena is comprised of four combat simulators for your gory enjoyment. In the Custom Combat arena, Logan potentials can ‘grow’ and combination of enemies (big or small) to fight, creating your ultimate brawl dreams including Sentinel Prototypes, Machine Gunners, Machete Men and more! As well, the Ladder Challenge mode gives those that have fought ever enemy in the game the ability to fight through an onslaught of preconfigured challenges, starting weak and easy and growing gradually until the room fills with the hardest battles imaginable; there are 50 ‘levels’ to plough through in this mode. The Environmental Simulator gives you the ability to utilize all the environmental weapons throughout the game, things like broken tree branches, electric panels and all the fun stuff you can throw enemies into are all here for your Canadian chucking pleasure. Finally the Weapon X Arena provides an extra bonus room that has heightened enemy reaction effects.
So you heard it here folks, those Wolverine fans that didn’t get the pre-order no longer have to wallow in self pity that they don’t have access to this arena because now for 800 MS points or $10 bucks, you too can have hours of mutilating mutation entertainment!
Logan, Weapon X, James, Jimmy, Wolverine. Whatever you want to call him, there’s no denying he’s one of the biggest names in super-hero history. Then why has he been so hard to franchise for? Could it be that it’s hard to market a children’s video game where the main character is a raging animal? Could it be that with such a deep story line a game could never encompass everything that wolverine is? Could it be that it’s hard to have a game where players can die, when the character himself has survived bullets in the brain, being ripped in half, AND walking directly into the sun? For these reasons and more I feel there has never been a video game that has done wolverine justice… that is, until now.
With the increasing level of quality connected to licensed games (Spiderman: Web of Shadows and Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Athena come to mind), X-Men: Origins: Wolverine raises the bar with this exceptional title. It could be because in the past only children played games, but as those children grew up, they required more adult oriented action. Enter Wolverine. This is by far one of the bloodiest, gruesome-ist, and most stylized carnage I have ever had the pleasure of controlling, and after the lack of blood found in the X-Men: Origins: Wolverine movie, I felt this was much needed.
“Fast and Furious” star Vin Diesel is getting ready to break all sorts of road rules again as the star of Paramount Pictures’ “The Wheelman.”
According to Variety, the movie is a live-action adaptation of the Diesel-produced Ubisoft videogame “Wheelman,” which hit store shelves last month.
The game features the voice and visage of Diesel himself as the main character, an expert driver who emerges from retirement to help a woman from his past. His mission takes him to Barcelona, where he gets tangled up in the middle of a gang war.
Testosterone, check. Darkness, check. Funky glasses, check. You ARE Vin Diesel. The sequel, Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, released 5 years after Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay puts everyone’s favourite night seeing, space flying protagonist from the motion picture Pitch Black in yet another action packed sci-fi. Yes, that’s right, this IS a movie licensed video game, but wait, don’t leave, don’t click that close button because Dark Athena isn’t all that bad!
Still with me? Good! Dark Athena takes place shortly after Escape from Butcher Bay ends, as such (I don’t want to spoil anything, but the game came out 5 years ago!) you begin with yourself and Johns in stasis on a ship, your stasis short circuited and you woke early. The benefit of this coincidence is that you get to see your ship being reeled in like a trout by one of the scariest looking ships I have ever seen, the Dark Athena. The mercenaries (or space pirates, whatever you want to call them) board your ship with just enough time for you to hide in the darkness (a recurring theme in this game) and watch as they break your ship and capture Johns, who spends a lot of time sleeping throughout the game. It’s up to you, Riddick, Vin Diesel, the only chance of getting the other prisoners off the ship and the only one capable of pulling off the feat, to kick some ass.
I was the very best, like no one ever was. I caught them all, as my real test, I trained them as my cause. I had travelled across the land, I searched far and wide. Each Pokémon I did understand, the power that’s inside. The question is, since I already did this with Pokémon Red, Pokémon Gold, and Pokémon Diamond, is it really worth it to go another round with Pokémon Platinum? As it turns out, maybe not as much as I think. If you were to compare this newest addition to the over 5 series of Pokémon titles out there, Pokémon Diamond to Pokémon Platinum would be the same comparison to Pokémon Red to Pokémon Yellow. What I mean by this is that it is the same game, same characters, and same story line but with a few new additions and changes. For this reason I won’t go too deep into the game but rather discuss all there is to do (and believe me, there is A LOT to do) and the new additions to this title.
Developed by Game Freaks and published by Nintendo, you play the role of a young boy or girl (with different clothing than in Pokémon Diamond) in the world of Sinnoh, you and your friend decide to go get some Pokémon (which by the way are a variety of almost 500 little monsters you capture, befriend and train to battle for you), when you are stopped by a Pokémon researcher, he gives both of you a choice of three starting Pokémon and your off on your very own adventure of growth and life lessons.
Spyro’s back for another romp on the next gen platform circuit. And this time, it’s personal. No, not really… or at least I’m not sure if it is or not. You see, I haven’t played a Spyro game since the first one came out on the original Playstation, and from the first minute of gameplay in The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon (Spyro), it’s obvious that the little purple dragon has grown into his own and spread his wings.
Activision’s Spyro begins with two purple small dragons encased in a crystal, a goblin touches the crystal and it explodes, then two snake necklaces are placed on the two dragons as they wake up in an underground laid fighting a giant fire monster. The green necklaces bind the two together and while they can fly, fight, and use elemental powers (Spyro can use fire, ice, earth and lightning, while Cynder (the evil other dragon) can use dark powers such as fear, poison, shadow, and wind?), they must work together to escape with the help of a tiger named Hunter and a loud mouthed dragon fly named Sparx. Make any sense? No? That’s how I felt playing this title as it seems to be a direct continuation from the past title, unless you played that last title they don’t give you any back story to work with. While on the topic of not making any sense, Cynder controls the evil elements, I understand that, but since when was wind considered bad? Linka never used her wind power for evil when calling on captain planet. Another issue I have with sense-making is that these two small dragons can fly at any given time, they can glide through entire levels, EXCEPT when there is a wall covered in vines, then all of a sudden they forget how to fly and must physically climb up the walls.
Changing subjects a little bit away from my rant, when playing Spyro, I couldn’t help but feel like this game felt very similar to something and after an hour of gameplay it hit me. Spyro is an E rated version of God of War! All the mechanics from GoW are present: action buttons, colour specific gems that provide health, mana, or exp, and when you have enough experience, you level up your spells the same way as GoW. The same scale battles and feel of fights are present, wall climbing, similar puzzles, rolls, giant monster battles ending with action buttons and an overall feel of GoW is present throughout the game, but cuter, colourful and with the ability for two player coop.
The controls are again, much like gears of war, using the D-pad to select your elemental spell, having a weak attack, strong attack, block, dodge, elemental attack A, elemental attack B, grab and player change. To fly you triple jump then beat your wings to gain altitude. Specific actions must be made by either Spyro or Cynder to open doors using specific elements such as blowing wind into a horn, or shocking a switch, so puzzle action utilizes more than one dragon at any given time. With two dragons flying around and as many as 10 bad guys on the screen at once, the gameplay can get a little hectic, add on top that both players can fight to control the camera angle and you get confusion and fire blasts left right and centre.
Graphically I was taken back by how great this title looked compared to the only other Spyro game I ever played over ten years ago. The detail in animation of all the little monsters running around, as well as the quality in terms of level design were great! The reflections on the monster’s slimy skin and the scales of Spyro are seen throughout the game and along with the artistic stylings of each element (especially Sypro’s fire and Cynder’s shadow elements) the game is a fast paced graphical enticement for the eyes.
With full voice over acting, and aside from cheesy script writing and unfunny jokes, Spyro’s voices are great. In fact, the voices are all filled by A-list stars that each fit their roles very well. Elijah Wood voices Spyro, Gary Oldman Ignitus, Wayne Brady as Sparx, Christina Ricci as Cynder and Mark Hamill as the evil Malefor. If I didn’t read the names on the back of the box, I would have never guessed these big names lent their talents to this game, and am amazed at how great they sound and work in a mysterious dragon world.
In an epic feeling conclusion to the Spyro world, The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon doesn’t leave much out, if only they could have clued in new gamers to their world before diving head first into continuing the story. The one thing I missed most was Spyro’s confidence issue about being the smallest dragon in his clan. It seems somewhere within the last ten years he overcame his height issues and became a full fledged dragon hero.
Gameplay: 3.5/5
Graphics: 4.0/5
Sound: 4.5/5
Replay Value: 3.0/5
