Most Recent: PS3

InFamous 2 Review: InFamous Harder!

Posted on July 26, 2011 by John Llewellyn Martin

It’s good to be bad. But sometimes, it can also be badass to be so good. Sucker Punch’s sequel to 2009’s InFamous delivers on all fronts with its spectacular graphics, gameplay, and story. Gone is the original voice actor for Cole, the one who eats gravel for breakfast, lunch, and presumably dinner. We have a new Cole who sounds closer to a gruff version of Jay from Kevin Smith’s Askewniverse. Perhaps coincidentally, Cole’s new character model also happens to look a lot like a battle-scarred Jason Mewes. Once you’ve taken in all of the graphical and audible changes, the game bounds through the introduction and pulls a Samus Aran, wiping you clean of all but your most rudimentary powers. While this was a big annoyance, regaining powers helped me make the push through the game, dangling a carrot of electro-destruction in front of my face. (more…)

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The Lord of the Rings: War in the North “Fellowship” trailer is kind of emotional

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Despite featuring a stereotypical fantasy narration, the latest trailer for The Lord of the Rings: War in the North really goes at the heart of what friendship and courage are all about. Although completely rendered in CGI, it gets you amped for the story and excited for the co-operative gameplay.

War in the North will hit PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 on August 24. You can get an arrow quiver if you pre-order it.

Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Choose the official female Shepard for Mass Effect 3

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Fans and critics alike praised Jennifer Hale’s portrayal of the female version of Commander Shepard in the highly acclaimed Mass Effect games. As the feminine version of the protagonist garners more attention, BioWare wants to shine more of the spotlight on her with an official rendition. Fans may go to this Facebook page to let their voice be heard and “Like” their choice for the official, standard version of Commander Shepard for Mass Effect 3. Right now, contestant number five, featured left, appears to have a clear lead, with an alleged 2,300 votes. As the only blond of the lot, it would appear fans are subconsciously associating Mass Effect with Metroid, or there’s a strong Aryan demographic amongst Mass Effect fans.

Personally, I applaud BioWare for letting fans have a say in the development of the game. We’ve all seen how well that’s worked out in the past.

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Mortal Kombat: Legacy concludes with Sektor & Cyrax

Posted on July 26, 2011 by John Scalzo

The ninth, and final, episode of the Mortal Kombat: Legacy webseries has finally arrived. Director Kevin Tancharoen’s wild ride, from the self-funded Mortal Kombat: Rebirth short to the Cyrax & Sektor-focused finale, is finally over.

There was a nearly two month gap between Episode 8 and Episode 9 and the fantastic special effects used to bring the two cyborgs to life was clearly the cause of the delay. This episode actually takes places before the Jax/Sonya/Kano showdown of Episode 1, so it’s hard to call the cyborg shenanigans of Episode 9 an “ending” for Mortal Kombat: Legacy. But maybe that just means Tancharoen, NetherRealm and Warner Bros. are looking to create a second season or a new feature-length film.

And maybe it’ll have a Freddy Krueger cameo.

Posted in Etcetera, News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged ,

Alice: Madness Returns Review: Almost the Nightmare of Your Dreams

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Chris Urie

mad·ness, Noun
1. The state of being mentally ill, esp. severely.
2. Extremely foolish behavior.
3. The state of that grayish-pink thing in American McGee’s skull casing.

Only once before has American McGee dared to present an intriguing new spin on the classic tale of Alice in Wonderland. Alice: Madness Returns dives back into a nightmarish Wonderland where the very fabric of poor Alice’s mind is being torn asunder from overly long levels and a maddening lack of story. Let’s see if American McGee is insane. I certainly think so. (more…)

Posted in PC, PS3, Reviews, Top Story, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Epic hints at more Unreal universe titles

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Unreal Tournament III was kind of amazing. With cross-platform play between PC and PlayStation 3, keyboard & mouse support for the latter, as well as the ability to put any mod off the internet on that version, it was the ultimate bridge between PC and console gaming, something no title since has come close to matching. Some saw it as a simplification, but I would absolutely love to see what Epic does with a new entry.

Epic Games President Mike Capps acknowledged that Unreal has been off the shelf a little too long since it’s last 2007 release. “It’s been a long time since we shipped an Unreal game, and it’s an awfully loved franchise that we hold pretty dear here. We haven’t been giving it the attention it deserves because we’ve been focusing on Gears of War and we’re still a relatively small company.” Capps went on to say that Unreal may have plans in their upcoming business strategies. “We’ve been sort of focused on making new properties, which you’ve seen with Shadow Complex, BulletStorm and Infinity Blade, but sometimes I think just as a businessman that maybe we should be spending some more time with our existing franchises.”

I love it when business and fandom collide.

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Resident Evil 4, Code: Veronica X HD coming in September

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Comic-Con may be over, but one of the last big announcements to come out was the release schedule for the upcoming Resident Evil HD updates. Resident Evil 4 HD will be coming September 20 and Resident Evil Code: Veronica X HD will arrive September 27 on Games on Demand for Xbox 360 and the PlayStation Store.

Unfortunately, one thing Capcom did NOT announce at Comic Con was an American localization of the 15th Anniversary Box, which includes both HD remakes as well as some PlayStation discs of the older games. If you’re a Resident Evil fan and you know Japanese, you seriously might want to consider ordering one of those.

[Source: GameSpot]

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Ed Boon talks Freddy in Mortal Kombat, Jason/Michael/Freddy fighting game

Posted on July 24, 2011 by John Scalzo

Have you gotten used to the fact that Freddy Krueger will be invading your Mortal Kombat nightmares in August? If not, perhaps Ed Boon can convince you. The Mortal Kombat creator sat down with Sid Shuman of the PlayStation.Blog to discuss his reasons behind bringing Freddy into the fight and who else was considered for the fourth DLC spot.

According to Boon, having a downloadable guest character was always in the cards and Freddy was just one of several names thrown around. Jason (who is owned by NetherRealm parent Warner Bros.) and Michael Myers (who isn’t) were also both considered:

PlayStation.Blog: So what is the inspiration for bringing Freddy Krueger to Mortal Kombat as a DLC character?

Boon: When we had the discussions about the DLC characters, we knew that we wanted to add a returning character, a new character, but also a guest character. That was one of the goals right from the beginning. A number of names were run by us: Jason, Michael Myers and all those guys. Freddy Kreuger, we felt, was the most instantly recognizable and he fits in with Mortal Kombat with his claws. It just seemed like the best fit.

While Boon and company are only adding Freddy to Mortal Kombat (for now), the original team at Midway actually considered creating a slasher-filled Mortal Kombat with all the biggest names in 80s horror:

PlayStation.Blog: Ten, 15 years ago when Mortal Kombat was early in its lifespan, did you ever fantasize about getting Freddy Krueger into MK?

Boon: Yeah, yeah. Over the years, we’ve certainly had a number of conversations about guest characters. At one point, we had a conversation about having a group — imagine Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers, Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre — of all these killers from the 80s and 90s flicks come in as a group of characters.

Wow. Ed Boon, I promise you, if you make a slasher fighting game I’ll buy ten copies.

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