Video: Resident Evil 5 "Caves" Gameplay

I hate giant spiders.

The first time I faced a giant spider in Resident Evil 2, I tossed the controller and immediately went out for a walk, unable to even be in the same house as the game. Their enormous furry legs and that unmistakable hissing sound haunted me, and for a while, it felt like every game needed to put some kind of giant spider in, probably just to taunt me. The Resident Evil series had always been a particular bane, at least up until RE4. That one was blissfully free of giant spiders, with only a few smaller ones scattered around, unable to do any real harm. Now, from the video above (a cam vid from the floor of TGS), I see that the makers of the game have decided to bring this particular enemy back for Resident Evil 5, and although these versions don't seem quite as terrifying as, say, the giant tarantula boss from the Resident Evil Remake, I'm sure they will be plenty shiver inducing to major arachnophobes like me.

After the break, see another cam vid from RE5, this one with fewer spiders, and more co-op gameplay versus infected tribesmen.

New Diablo III Class Revealed - The Wizard

Joining the grizzled Barbarian and the spooky Witch Doctor, Blizzard announced a new playable class for the upcoming Diablo III - the brash and youthful Wizard. This is not your father's Gandalf, and in the backstory of the character, Blizzard goes to great lengths to point out the class's independent nature.

Owing to my lack of tolerance for those who would use magic towards their own nefarious ends, many have assumed that I am averse to the practice of the magical arts on a philosophical level. Nothing could be farther from the truth. My quarrel is with those sorcerers who dismiss the ancient traditions and teachings - teachings that have been honed over millennia in order to preserve respect for authority and the rule of law. ...

Recently the youth of Caldeum have fallen prey to the overblown stories of just such a delinquent wizard. That is correct: I used the uncouth term wizard, not sorcerer. It seems that even the title of a civilized magic wielder is too restrictive for this young upstart. ...

Those wiser than you or I determined long ago that certain schools of magic were too dangerous and forbade their practice. It is those magics that this wizard seems determined to explore - magics centered on manipulating the primal forces from which reality is constructed. Imagine, a headstrong nineteen-year-old youth, able to warp time itself to her will! The thought is truly terrifying.

Despite the feminine pronouns, you can play the Wizard as either a male or female, like all classes in Diablo III. The class also brings new skills like Disintegrate, Electrocute, Magic Missile, Teleport, and the very cool looking Slow Time, all of which you can see demonstrated in a video on the character's bio page. After the break, check out the the new character's trailer featuring a few of the above, as well as some other unrevealed abilities.

GayGamer Week In Review - Week Of 9/29/08

• Rock Band 2 for the Wii joins its current gen brothers and will get downloadable tracks.


• Horror icon Dario Argento voiced a character in (the Italian version of) Dead Space.


• The Doctor started his journey to hit level 70 in World of Warcraft before the new expansion hits.


• Our podcast is going into hibernation for a little while, but stay tuned for its triumphant return.


• We left our age poll up one more week to get just a few more responses. Expect something new soon.


• The Professor Layton 3 trailer just makes me want Professor Layton 2 in North America all the more.


• The Doctor opened up the GayGamer mailbag and asked for your questions.


• Our Silent Hill retrospective ended with a look at the various side stories and spin-offs in other media.


• SingStar ABBA is coming to North America. Start planning your parties now.


• Game Boy went for another spin with The Red Star.


• Fable II's Collector's Edition loses $10 from the price, but also drops some of the cooler bonuses.


• We get a look at who our favorite game creators are backing in the presidential race. Really, Will Wright?


• Nintendo introduced the DSi, a new version of their handheld, with a camera, music playback, and application support.


• At the same time they announced a new slate of games for the Wii and DS, including Sin and Punishment 2 and a new version of the classic Punch Out!. As well, the Wii's storage problem is getting a workaround using the SD Card slot.


• Club Nintendo is finally coming to North America.


• Review round-up: Tiny Dancer tackles Lego Batman, The Doctor rates Shaun the Sheep, and Game Boy handles Pure.

Lending Out $5 One Game At A Time: What Gets You To Preorder?

Starting today, you can walk into a Best Buy and pre-order Gears of War 2 by putting $5 down, and if you decide to splurge and get the limited edition, they'll throw in a free remote controlled Centaur tank for free, a replica of a vehicle in the game. The tank will be available when you pick up the game on November 7.

Generally I'm pretty down on pre-ordering. Often I'll put cash down on small games I want to support early or titles I'm worried will have low print runs, but there's really no chance of me not being able to get a copy of Gears of War 2 next month. Microsoft isn't stupid, and I'm sure that entire factories are ready to pump out disks from now until the end of the year. I've also got no need for a remote controlled tank other than terrorizing my cat, but combine the two and now they've got me: pretty much as soon as I post this and close the cover on my laptop, I'm going to grab my keys and head out to happily give Best Buy my $5. Cheap plastic crap wins again.

With this holiday season being so competitive, a lot of games are giving out preorder bonuses. LittleBigPlanet is probably the worst offender, with 5 different bonuses for 5 different retailers, but I generally get frustrated whenever a game gives out "exclusive" in-game content they claim I will never be able to get otherwise (for the record, I'm still torn between the Nariko and Kratos sackfolk). I will say that Amazon.com does not require any cash up front, although that might be part of the reason they seem to get the short end of the stick on these sorts of deals.

I'm sure everyone has a long holiday wish list, but which upcoming games have you actually gone out and pre-ordered so far, and did they do anything that pushed you over the edge or are you just a natural pre-orderer? Has there ever been a pre-order bonus that you thought was worth the effort, or have most ended up ignored, sitting at the back of your closet?

After the break, check out a short commercial explaining the Best Buy/Centaur Tank deal, narrated by Lester "Cole-Train" Speight.

Free Exclusive Tank With Gears of War 2 Limited Edition Offer [Best Buy]
[via: CheapAssGamer]

Videos: Halo Wars Cinematic and Gameplay Trailers

Halo Wars, the RTS spin-off of Bungie's famous shooter, won't be making it to stores this holiday, but here are a few quick looks at the title, Ensemble Studio's swan song. The above video, titled Field Trip to Harvest, sets the events of the title 20 years before the "Halo event," and features (among others) an appropriately grouchy senior officer, predicably handsome soldier, and a sexy blue AI girl with a british accent, Serena. After the break, gameplay clips include a look at flight combat over a sparse, snowy envirornment, including some rather uneven encounters. The last video shows off a little more frantic ground based battle, and demonstrates the game's mechanics a little more thoroughly.

"Interactive Digital Art" Piece Linger In Shadows Gets Dated, Explained (Sort Of)

The Playstation Blog has a post up from Rusty Buchert, Senior Producer for Linger In Shadows, a piece of "interactive digital art" coming to PSN October 9th. Buchert tries to explain what that means in the post, basically boiling the experience down to a tech demo you can play with.

Like games, "demos" went from being made by individuals to being made by groups. The demoscene has created some amazing pieces over the years, and that is why we decided to reach out to the demoscene and see what they could do with the PlayStation 3 hardware. ...

Previously demoscene productions were passive experiences. You ran it, sat back and watched. One of the things that Plastic wanted to do with Linger was to move in a new direction. Linger can be watched passively, but you won't get the whole experience that way. It is meant to be an experience that you explore through. Look beyond the frame of what you see. Search for new things, experiment with the SIXAXIS, and you might be surprised by what you find.

As a result, Linger In Shadows will have trophies like any other PSN title, but from all their "it's not a game (or is it?)" discussion, it sounds like while we shouldn't expect a deep gameplay experience, it should sure look pretty.

Coming Out of the Shadows: Rusty Buchert Talks Latest Project [Playstation.blog]

New Details On Deus Ex 3

CVG is reporting that the next issue of PC Zone will reveal new details about Eidos Montreal's upcoming Deus Ex 3. So far, minus a few concept shots and news of its existence, information about the title has been pretty nonexistent, so I'm sure fans of the series (or at least of the first one) are waiting for any word about the game.

According to the article, Deus Ex 3 will serve as a prequel to the previous two games, set in 2027. Your character is Adam Jensen, a security officer in a lab working on the technology that precedes the original game's biomechanical augmentations. Commandos show up at the lab (that's never a good day), kill a bunch of folks, and Jensen is pulled into a deep conspiracy he must unravel.

Changes to the previous two games seem to up the action, as health regenerates, augmentations no longer improve your accuracy, and a cover system replaces the "hide in the shadows" stealth gameplay. Augmentations will still effect your physical abilities, however, with two examples given being "tentacles that shoot from your back and anchor to a wall when you jump off a building, and the ability to punch through walls to grab enemies in neighbouring rooms."

Although the original creators Harvey Smith and Warren Spector are not directly involved, they have given their "blessing" to the project, and the developers have hired original writer Sheldon Pacotti as a consultant for the new game. Hopefully despite the changes, the designers can maintain the open, branching paths and not eliminate the complexity that attracted people to the games in the first place.

Deus Ex 3: First Details [CVG]

Video: Let's Tap Has Nothing To Do With Dancing

If you heard the title Let's Tap and your thoughts immediately turned to reliving your favorite moments from Singin' in the Rain or All That Jazz, some bad news. Apparently, Prope's upcoming Wii game for Sega has nothing to do with Gene Kelly or Bob Fosse, and instead is a series of minigames played by using tiny vibrations on a surface to manipulate the Wii Remote without even holding it. Waggle out, table-pounding in? The trailer above shows some of the games, such as racing, blowing up a balloon, and something that looks a little like Jenga, as well as more abstract applications involving fireworks, ripples on water, and paint.

The game looks pretty interesting, although I'm a little suspect about the precision of the controls, my interest is piqued and I can't get that damn song out of my head. Right now the game has only just been announced, with no dates or countries attached, although it looks like Japan will be getting first crack at it.

Let's Tap Official Japanese Site [Sega.jp]
[video via: Siliconera]

GayGamer Week In Review - Week Of 9/22/08

• Bungie teased something to do with a superintendent, then released this trailer, which made things about as clear as mud.


• Like fine wine, Asterick only gets better with age. Assuming he doesn't have cork rot.


• Countdown to Silent Hill: Homecoming continued with parts 4 and 5, covering Silent Hill 4: The Room and Silent Hill: Origins respectively.


• Obama defeated McCain in a poll of Xbox Live gamers.


• Fruit Brute went hands on with Resistance 2.


• Our gender poll ever came to a close, and most of our readers are boys.


• This week our poll is asking how old are you?


• Tiny Dancer (and a mysterious caped crusader) attended the Lego Batman launch party.


• Just like a nerd version of Gossip Girl, The Doctor revealed your darkest gaming secrets.


• Jack Thompson was permanently disbarred in Florida. Sometimes schadenfreude is a beautiful thing.


• Lucky bastards ducks Tiny and Fruit are both part of the Little Big Planet beta test.


• Game Boy polled the sites writers to come up with the GayGaming-est soundtrack to use in WipEout HD.


• Review round-up: Fruit Brute took on Samba De Amigo and Buzz Quiz TV, Asterick handled Disgaea DS and WipEout HD, and The Doctor rated Tales of Vesperia.

So You Want To Work In Games...

If our age poll is panning out accurately (vote now!), more than half of you readers are under 25, and potentially in the position of picking what your want to be when you grow up. Heck, a bunch of us over-25s probably have no idea either! For those looking to turn a hobby into something more, Edge Magazine has put up a series of articles from industry professionals about breaking into gaming from nearly all directions, including talent from Rare, Crytek, Ninja Theory, and Starbreeze.

The articles include profiles of a variety of different industry jobs, like writer and various kinds of programmer, as well as interview suggestions and some school advice. None of the articles make it sound easy, but they also don't make it sound a great deal harder than most other in demand industries out there. And here I was convinced that companies were just poaching all their new hires from 1up.

Breaking Into Games: From Every Angle [Edge Magazine]

Rumor: Nintendo DS To Add Camera, Music Playback

Yesterday, reputable Japanese sources started reporting about a new version of the Nintendo DS hardware, apparently aimed at users looking for a more robust multimedia experience. The list of new features, as compiled by NeoGAFfer neo2046, contains the following:

• (digital) Camera included
• music playback function
• Wireless connection function power up
• larger screen
• to be released this year in Japan
• under 20000 yen
• new types of games by using the camera
• get/exchange data from Wii and SD card

From the story it seems like these additions will just affect the current DS hardware, and there's still no word on the next handheld Nintendo system. However there is mention of camera-specific games for the new DS that presumably wouldn't work on older systems, barring this peripheral getting a new push into the market.

It seems ever since the PSP started really challenging the DS on the sales charts, these kinds of stories pop up every few months only to be quickly shot down. This one doesn't seem to be considered a rumor or hearsay by some pretty major media sources, but we'll have to see if it pans out. If a denial isn't quickly forthcoming, I'd assume that we'll hear a lot more at the Tokyo Gaming Show next month.

While I don't really need another device that can take low resolution pictures and play MP3s, I think this might be enough to get me to dump my DS Phat, which is seriously feeling its age. Is this something you want to see from Nintendo, or do you think it's the wrong direction for the company that's always stressed gaming before anything else?

Nintendo to launch camera, music capable DS: report [Reuters]
[via: NeoGAF Forum]

@!#?@! What Are Your Swearworthy Gaming Moments?

The above video shows Giant Bomb editor Jeff Gerstmann having a particularly difficult time with one of Mega Man 9's finger-achingly difficult levels. If you're at work, I wouldn't watch it with your speakers on. It's a situation I'm sure we've all been in no matter how nimble our thumbs: there's always some game, or part of a game that causes us to erupt in a flurry of blush-worthy profanity or controller crushing violence. Sometimes we're cursing a game for being cheap, but sometimes we're just lamenting our lack of skills.

I'm usually pretty reluctant to bash a game for difficulty - I'm not a great player by any stretch, but I can usually tell when a game's being fair but tough and when it's just punishing me for even trying. Is there anything you've been playing lately that's made your blood boil, and who do you blame more: the makers, or yourself? Are those challenges something you live for, or are you just not enough of a masochist to deal with them?

I was pondering giving Mega Man 9 a try when it hits XBLA next week (I've got some Microsoft points to burn or I probably would have grabbed it from WiiWare or PSN already), but seeing Mr. Gerstmann's struggle I'm not sure I want to put myself through that anymore. Part of me says to man up and give it a shot, but another part says my blood pressure doesn't need the hit. "Cause of death: Plug Man" isn't really a classy way to go.