Video Games
In an interview with Geoff Keighley on GameTrailers TV, Valve's Chet Faliszek revealed that while the upcoming DLC for Left 4 Dead 2 will find the new characters crossing paths with their counterparts from the original Left 4 Dead, there will be one conspicuously absent, tying into the campaign's tagline, "Nobody Survives Forever."
There's no word on which character has left us, although speculation abounds. Faliszek also announced that after The Passing, they're planning on releasing DLC for the original game that will let you play out the scenario leading to that character's sacrifice. While the playable campaign will let players make a few different choices, a canon story bridging the two games will be released to comics between the two new DLC campaigns.
So is this a fitting send off for the original team, or just contrived for drama? I guess we'll have to wait and see when it all gets released. The Passing hasn't been officially dated, although they'll have to get it out soon to meet that original "in March" deadline. The comic and the L4D1 DLC have no firm dates at the moment.
Chapter 4: Valve and Crackdown 2 Exclusives [Gametrailers]
[via: Kotaku]
The first few hours using Final Fantasy XIII's battle system may seem chaotic. The action queue and Active Time Battle gauge can make your options seem limited at first and the Paradigms, while giving you more skills, will move you even further from direct control over the battle. There were so many times I wished I could just enjoy unlocking a spell or skill and enjoy trying it out in battle but the constant shift in my defensive priorities, and the introduction to the "Stagger" mechanic really made it difficult for me to always select my series favorite spells and skills, especially if I wanted to survive the tougher battles.
Make the jump for more impressions.
Amazon has sent word that this Monday's Gold Box, their shrine to the impulse buy, will consist solely of PS3 games. Expect a PS3 deal of the day to show up around midnight pacific time, and then to be showered with moderate to significant discounts on other games throughout Monday. [Note: In an email, the company actually claimed the Gold Box was happening on Tuesday, March 22, but considering Tuesday is actually the 23rd, and the website and image provided confirm the day as Monday, I'm going with that one as correct.]
No hints or clues on the games yet, but considering the bounty of decent and high profile PS3 games in the last 6 months or so, there's a lot of potential for some great deals. Will any of the holiday hits like Uncharted 2 or Demon's Souls make the cut, or will the entire thing be filled with the season's rejects? Are Heavy Rain, Final Fantasy XIII, and God of War III too new to get a discount? Might as well make up your wish lists now.
Gold Box [Amazon]
The social gaming present on networking sites like Facebook and MySpace has spread like wildfire over the past few years and the companies producing games like Lil' Farmlife and Mob Wars are battling for your time and your money.
Major social gaming contender Playdom, known for games like Mobsters 2: Vendetta has recently placed funding of 5 million dollars into Argentine gaming company MetroGames in hopes to expand its already large presence on MySpace and push its way further into the Facebook market. MetroGames currently has a large stock of games on its own gaming site and many more already on Facebook. John Pleasents, Playdom's CEO has joined the board of MetroGames and had this to say:
"MetroGames has a proven track record for developing very appealing social games, so we are convinced that with Playdom's help they will become a big player in the social gaming market."
Playdom has also recently purchased Facebook game developer Offbeat Creations, suggesting it has a strong interest in diminishing competitor Zynga's control over the Facebook market.
It looks as if Playdom will continue to produce even more of its ubiquitous and addictive games, continuing to make the niche that was "Facebook gaming" into a full scale video game phenomenon.
Playdom Fuels MetroGames' Plans For Explosive Growth [PR Newswire]
Dear Diary,
I did pretty well this week in Narnia, as long as I don't lose another good friend. The town bulletin board says that the cherry blossoms are coming, but they're not here yet. I love them — they're so pretty. Though we did have a lovely little sight this week. Make the jump and see what it was!
Today, Sony released that patch for Heavy Rain, which they hoped would address the issues that people have been having with the game, from graphical and sound glitches to not being able to load your saved game. Well, I would like to happily report that while they didn't sound entirely confident that it would take care of 100% of the issues people were having, it totally fixed my black loading screen of frozen death! A quick download of the patch and I was able to pick up where I left off and play the last hour or so of the game! Hopefully any of you who were also having this problem will also find it solved. And hopefully other glitches have been taken care of as well. While I agree that the game probably shouldn't have shipped with these kind of bugs, I appreciate the reasonably fast response. Now I can try to get all the rest of the trophies... and a better ending!
Can love bloom on the battlefield? If you're among the many North American fans waiting for Kojima's next hit,
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, the blooming may be even prettier than you imagined. Over at the
Playstation Blog, Sony's revealed the first details of their next PSP Entertainment Pack to be available upon the game's new release date of June 8.
This new bundle will include a "Spirited Green" PSP-3000, a copy of the related game, download codes for extra content and an as-yet-undetermined movie, and a 2GB Pro Duo stick at an MSRP of $200, or $30 more than just the PSP. This puts it just in line with all the other Entertainment Packs - any way you look at it, you're getting the game and a memory stick at a discount, and a shiny, dark cyan PSP.
Of all the PSP bundles in recent memory, this one seems the most likely to draw in franchise fans who haven't had interest in the system yet. While Kojima's earliest countdowns claimed Peace Walker to be an "MGS 5 class game," even newer revelations on the official blog actually show marketing with the words Metal Gear Solid 5: Peace Walker. It's a bit of a shame this branding wasn't quicker, as there are still plenty of Snake loyalists out there who might only be seeing this game as a spinoff. I guess the rebranding will give Kojima time to consider porting this one to console platforms, at least.
However you want to number it, Peace Walker and its attendant bundle will be coming to North America on June 8.
As most people know, one of the key elements to looking great is proper accessorizing; however, like most things, you must do so in moderation. With too many items or too gaudy of accessories, your "fab" can easily go "bad". Such is the case with this recently discovered Mario Pendant found on eBay. Granted, the item is made with 10K yellow gold and 4.25 CT worth of diamonds, which have some worth, but the object itself comes off as pretty horrendous. Plus with this many diamonds on a statuette, people are going to start wondering if the Grand Theft Auto on your profile is more of a rap sheet than a favorite game.
All of that said, apparently the company selling this item thinks that someone will "Buy It Now" for $2,600, which they claim is a steal since it normally is priced at $9,000. What is even more hilarious is that when I went through the other items the same store was selling on eBay, while I mainly found diamond stubbed crosses, I also found a Poppa Smurf, a Mickey Mouse, and an Incredible Hulk. So now you know where to go to find any of your childhood memories bedazzled into gaudy greatness. Speaking of which, maybe I should pull my BeDazzler out of the closet and try to 1up this pendant; maybe I can make a small mint off of it.
How To Be a Nintendo Pimp [gameSniped]
Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Heavy Rain, but today seems to be the day to highlight some of its flaws. The opening section in the mall left the actor in me cringing (at least the English voice acting--I've heard the French is much better). Leave it to a flash game to be able to express my thoughts on that section of the game with a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor: Press X To Jason.
Warning: the flash game ends with a spoiler for the real game, so if you plan on playing through the latter and have not done so yet, you may wish to hold off a bit.
Complete with four achievements and a ranking board, the game takes all of thirty seconds to complete. Since Heavy Rain is one of those games that seems to be polarizing gamers in a seemingly binary reaction, it is interesting to see how the reactions are expressing themselves.
Since I started writing about games, I have developed a little penchant for rabbits--particularly the violent kind (more true to life). Having also been a fan of Usagi Yojimbo as a wee lad, I found Rock Paper Shotgun's interview with Overgrowth developers Wolfire Games to be of particular interest.
What is Overgrowth? Martial rabbit fighter, simply put.
Longer answer?
Overgrowth is what happens when you mix one cup of Assassin's Creed with a seasoning of Redwall, add a pinch of Donnie Darko and stir it around with a broadsword. Following the tradition from Lugaru, our goal is to really force players to come up with their own survival combat strategies and tap into their primal kill or be killed instincts.
The game is a sequel to Lugaru, an indie game released six years ago by one of the developers on this title. This time there will be more enemies: rabbits, wolves, cats, rats, and dogs. The premise is that this both gives them an easy to understand enemy structure (as they remarked, "Wolves eat rabbits because they are hungry, which is more insight into the motivations of the 'bad guys' than you will get in most AAA games even after sitting through hours of cut-scenes.").
Currently it has no set release date, but if you want to support the project (in case, you know, the game interests you already), you can pre-order right here.
The rest of the interview covers basic thoughts of indie developers, how the fighting will work, what sort of learning curve exists, and the decision to keep with a martial arts based rabbit instead of human.
This week over at Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin'? "Dad" is playing Heavy Rain and is having about the same level and type of fun that I'm having with the title. Now before you go judging me, don't pretend that you didn't think about doing some of these things too.
I know what the lords of the GayGamer castle talked about it on the podcast and Tiny even gave it a glowing review, but not everyone's experience with Heavy Rain is the same. While far from terrible, I think the game has more similarities with Space Ace than Silent Hill 2, Bioshock, Half-life and other games known for their masterful plots and story telling, but hey... that's just me. I better not say anything more or else I'll end up in the castle's dungeon again. Enjoy the video, folks!
When Clover first released as an Xbox Live indie game, it instantly became one of the top games on the service. A well written adventure game with a beautiful watercolor art style and smart social commentary? Sign me up! But alas, few people actually venture onto the Xbox indie game channel, and so to bring Clover to a wider audience developer Binary Tweed has released a PC version with Clover: A Curious Tale. But this isn't just a simple port, think of it more as the Director's Cut with a ton of extra content added in. Nearly double the content in fact. But do the additions blend well with the original game, or has Binary Tweed created the definitive version with Clover: A Curious Tale on PC?
I am told that a helpful comparison for Clover: A Curious Tale is to the Dizzy series of games. Hopefully that comparison means something to some of you, but having never played a Dizzy game myself, all I can draw from the comparison is that I must have missed out on something amazing. Clover: A Curious Tale is an adventure game in the classic sense. There are seemingly hundreds of items to use, combine, collect, and interact with to solve puzzles to advance the story. However, unlike the classic adventure games I'm more familiar with, Clover plays in the style of a sidescrolling platformer. This works very well since it alleviates the pixel hunting typically associated with adventure games. Just walk over an item and press down to pick it up.
Since it's fairly easy to find the objects you'll be using in Clover, the real challenge is figuring out how to use them. Puzzles are everywhere, and there are some real head scratchers that had me trying just about every item available to figure out what to do. This isn't helped by the fact that there are some extra items thrown into the world that, having completed the game multiple times, I have yet to find a use for (cuttlefish bone, what do you do?). It can get frustrating at times, but careful observation will always point you toward the right answer (even if you only realize it in hindsight), and when you do finally discover the solution it is followed by a satisfying "A-ha!" moment where you feel absolutely brilliant.
Perhaps it is because of the frustration of the puzzles that everything else about Clover is such a calming experience. Hauntingly beautifully piano music (which can be downloaded in free soundtrack form here) accompanies every handmade watercolor scene, painting the world of Clover with vibrant color and sound. It is also impossible to die or lose in Clover, with the worst punishment being sent to the jail and having to backtrack from there to wherever you were trying to go. And even this punishment is not necessarily always bad, since there will be times that the quickest way to relocate an item needed for a puzzle is to get yourself arrested.
As I said at the beginning of this review, Clover: A Curious Tale expands on the content of the original Xbox release in a huge way. There are tons of new items, areas, puzzles and characters that have been added to considerably lengthen the game. What works so well about these additions is that those who never played Clover on the Xbox 360 will never know what was originally there and what's new. All of the new content blends seamlessly into the story, including three new alternate endings depending on some of the choices you make throughout the game. And more than just new plot and puzzles, there are other additions like full voice acting - which, dare I say, is a cut above the voice acting found in most AAA games. New gamers should definitely go for the PC version if given the choice, and even Clover fans from the 360 will find that A Curious Tale offers enough new content to warrant a second look.
And though I don't want to delve too much into Clover's story, it is best discovered on your own as you play, it is worth noting that this is one of those rare politically and socially conscious games. I do not mean this in a derogatory way, far from it in fact. As much as Clover makes you think to solve the game's puzzles, it's also a game that you'll think about long after you've finished playing. The messages in the game can be a bit overbearing at times (though not quite to the degree of a game like, say, Eternal Sonata) but whether you agree with the messages or not you will at least be inspired to think about them. Too few games even attempt to bring out something introspective in the player, and the fact that Clover succeeds while wrapping its messages in satisfying puzzles makes it all the more refreshing.
In case you couldn't tell, I really enjoyed my time with Clover: A Curious Tale. It's an adventure game that will stick with you, and with enough replay value to warrant multiple playthroughs. Some of the puzzles are quite the challenge though, and that is a point that I can't emphasize enough. Unless you're a psychic, you will get stuck and you will get frustrated. It's inevitable. Even still, looking back at my time with Clover, the satisfaction from solving those particularly hard puzzles outweighs the frustration. For gamers who aren't afraid of some hard thinking with their games, Clover: A Curious Tale is a no-brainer.
8/10
Clover: A Curious Tale is available for download at Blitz 1Up, Direct2Drive, GamersGate, and GetGamesGo for $9.99 (£5.99).
And girls who like girls who like rumble packs!
Gay Gamer of the Week
Name: Ben B.
Forum Name: Cicero
Age: 22
Location: Jacksonville, Fla
Gay, Straight or Bi: Gay!
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