Looking forward to playing some Guitar Hero 5 when it releases on September 1st? You might want to check out the five new screenshots released today After the Break!
The game’s new art direction for the franchise looks very cool and makes me wonder if Harmonix is going to go the same route in Rock Band 3.
If you ever wanted to hear the orchestral sounds of Video Games Live but did not want to purchase a CD or attend a live show you can now purchase a specially-branded MP3 player for $50 dollars which comes pre-loaded with ten of their best covers. The MP3 player also comes with 2GB of unused memory with which you can add more music on the player.
The pre-loaded player will also come with Vivo earbuds as well as a USB connection cable.
It looks like Eidos has confirmed with Kotaku that they will be doing some more cuts at Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics. The developer was hit earlier this year with cuts and it is possible that the low sales of their most recent title Tomb Raider Underworld could be the cause of these cuts. With Eidos being bought by Square Enix it could be possible that they are looking to move the franchise to a different development house. Check out the official quote below.
Eidos Spokesperson:
‘We can confirm that Crystal Dynamics
has made a reduction of approximately 25 people at the San Francisco
studio. This decision is a reflection of the continued drive to focus
resources at the studio. We would like to thank all of the employees
affected by this difficult decision for their hard work…’
Via Kotaku
Hi-Rez Studios is making a MMO currently in closed beta called Global Agenda and they seem to not be a fan of the pointy ears. An obvious dig at World Of Warcraft but funny none the less as the two different styles of games go head to head. Check out the video below of the Recon class sniping a mage right between the eyes.
In the real world crime does not pay in the end and in the video game world it pretty much follows the same path. The dark underbelly of society fueled by power and money is always appealing to video game buffs like myself.
At E3 2009 we had a chance to go behind closed doors with the sequel to 2K’s popular title Mafia. Mafia II is being developed by a brand new studio in 2K Czech and is the first title for this studio. (cont)
Mafia II is set in the city of Empire Bay in the 1940’s. You are a fellow by the name of Vito who has immigrated to this city in hopes of finding a better life. His next obvious choice is to get involved with the local crime family to make a living. You start out as an entry level thug working your way up through the family and eventually the story takes you through 10 years of Vito’s life.
Empire Bay is inspired by real US cities and is a sandbox world that seems very alive. Local citizens go about their daily business and weather takes its toll on the environment. We were treated to the beginning of a missions where you had to drive to pick up your wingmen and the snowy weather was causing some problems. The developers were sliding all over the road as it continued to snow and had to ramp down the speed a little bit in order to avoid killing some innocents.
There are 20 different neighborhoods that you will find your way into with the story and everything has an authentic 1940’s feel. Billboards and shops are very reminiscent of 1940’s New York and you will even hear the music of the time playing out of cars. This really melted into the story well and gave you a feel of immersion to the world. Driving was a main issue for me in the original game as it was a simple drive from point A to point B with no real mechanics to it. From the looks of it the environment really comes into play this time around.
There is tons of action to Mafia II but my fear is that it is more of the same. That is not a bad thing as I really enjoyed the first game but I really did not see anything shiny and new for the series. Combat is done 3rd person in a sandbox world and everything is very story driven. We got to see a very well put together cinematic that leads you into a missions where you botch a hit on a rival target. Your team chases the men into a distillery and the fight is on. Graphics looked clean and I did not see any FPS problems or glitches in the demo.
Targeting was simple and the camera did not seem to be a pain as most 3rd person shooters are these days. There are going to be your normal weapons found in a gangland game including tommy guns, grenades, and molotov’s. I am hoping we see a little more variety or some surprises in the arsenal we use on the missions but in the demo it was standard weaponry. This is definitely a mature story line full of cursing, bullet wounds, and heartache.
I don’t want to spoil some of the story elements so I won’t go into deeper detail about what we saw but the developers did tell us that there will be some twists and turns just like the original game. Mafia II really follows along the line of thinking of ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it’. I tend to agree as the original title was a very compelling and fun to play again. I am interested to see what little tweaks 2K Czech has for the game when it comes out. Mafia II is set to release this fall for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and the PC.
Phantom EFX, long-known for their vast line of casino games is shifting gears slightly and publishing Darkest of Days, a time-traveling shooter title being developed by 8Monkey Labs. While at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, we were fortunate enough to get a behind closed-doors walk-through of the title.
The story of Darkest of Days is set, initially, in what we would call the future. At some point, mankind discovers time travel and begins research expeditions into the past. They are finding that someone has been changing the past as people who were recorded as dying at military battles and other major events in our history are living while others who were recorded as living are ending up dead… (Cont.)
(Cont.) Obviously, this represents a potentially world-altering threat as there is no telling how widespread throughout the time line such changes could effect. So, the agency responsible for the technology to begin with (‘Mother’s Organization’) starts sending back agents to these historical events to right the wrongs. This raises the question of just where, exactly, to get these agents? Having people from the future go back is out of the question as if they should die on a mission, it would be depriving the future of their existence (and could further alter the time line in the process).
Enter you, the player. In the walk through we received it showed the player starting as a member of General Custer’s 7th Cavalry at the Battle of Little Big Horn. During the course of the battle you receive some serious injuries and, before you die, time stands still as a portal opens up from the future. An agent walks out of it and recruits you to this organization. It would seem that Mother’s Organization found their agents in what the future would call M.I.A’s (or people who ended up ‘missing in action’). Since there is no record of what happened to these individuals, the organization feels they are their best hope of correcting the time line.
The game engine used by Darkest of Days, codenamed: ‘Marmoset’, was developed in-house at 8Monkey Labs and was made to accommodate a large number (hundreds) of characters on the screen at one time without a sizable performance loss. The game levels we saw played featured some very respectable visual quality and, yes, a ton of NPCs on both sides of the conflicts. When you travel back in time to the Battle of Antietam and you will be amazed at the sheer number of Confederate soldiers which charge from the cornfields at Union lines.
Thankfully, this is not just your normal shooter as if you make a mistake during the missions at hand, which could be killing too many of the wrong people or altering the course of the battle you will have to go back in time once more but as the ‘other side’ to balance these changes. The battlefields provided by the game are very large and while they have a number of scripted events they are largely sandbox-style in terms of what you can choose to do.
In the Antietam level the developers showed us, they decided to ‘chuck’ the orders at hand and single-handedly charge Confederate lines. The corn fields seemed to go one forever but, sure enough, at their end was the Confederate army complete with cannons.
Weaponry was a big issue for the developers as while they wanted to make use of historically-accurate weapons they also wanted to add a few big, futuristic armaments for the player to use. You need use these sparingly though, as it can alter the time line if you cut down rows of Civil War-era soldiers with your sub-machine gun. While cool and reminiscent of the opening scene in Time Cop, it just isn’t a good thing to do. The big coup de grace of the title looks to be a battle between Mother’s Organization time agents and their antithesis organization which is messing with history. It takes place in Pompeii during its historic (and devastating) eruption. Since all of those individuals are destined to die, both organizations see no problem with letting loose all the futuristic weapons and armor they can muster. After all, who are they going to tell?
The game also, at one point in its development history, featured a couple of the more controversial events in history, one of them being the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11th, 2001. One of your fellow time agents was a firefighter listed as missing during the tragedy. While it would have been respectfully-implemented, the developers chose to wait on telling those stories in such a vivid fashion. Although, according to at least one developer on-hand at the walk-through, it is still something they would like to explore at some point down the road (DLC perhaps?).
Personally, we hope they do: Video games depicting scenes of tragedy such as those (see the recently-canceled Six Days in Fallujah) may be hard to stomach at times but like all great art they have something to say beneath the surface, especially when handled respectfully with regards to history – something that the developers of Darkest of Days take to heart, first and foremost.
Darkest of Days looks to tell an intricate tale of time-travel, war, and the nature of fate all while featuring an in-game engine capable of some pretty surprising things. It is due out on the PC and Xbox 360 platforms on August 25th.
Hey there Shogunites! We were lucky to get a sneak preview (with hands on time) of Warner Brothers/Eidos’ Batman: Arkham Asylum at E3 2009. Thankfully, the game lives up to all the hype, and it’s not just another button masher. It’s free-form combat system, combined with mandatory stealth movement, make the game suspenseful, challenging, and dammit… exciting! (cont)
Story-wise, the Joker has taken control of Arkham Asylum in an attempt to lure Batman into a fatal trap. The Joker’s goons control the whole building and you, as Batman, have to work your way through the Asylum to pacify the facility, and re-capture the Joker.
The freeflow combat system is very well done. Instead of having to manuever Batman through a myriad of enemies, there are a limited number of attack buttons, and Batman chooses his enemies in a manner which kicks maximum ass. Lightening bolt-shaped indications above an enemy’s head indicate when Batman should press his counter-attach button. If your reaction time is good enough, Batman should mow through his enemies like Neo battling his way through a dozen incarnations of Agent Smith.
Batman doesn’t use firearms, of course, so the game is not just button mashing. In our hands on preview, we had to employ stealth more often than hand-to-hand combat. In Arkham Asylum, Batman has an ‘investigative’ mode where his cowl switches to a view which is part x-ray, part night vision. The game highlights objects Batman can interact with, and using this information, the player can stalk the night, taking enemies out one by one.
In our hands on preview, for example, we had to get past a number of armed guards. It only takes three or four shots to bring Batman down, so the goal is to be as quiet, and as stealthy as possible. Using the grappling hook, we went from corner to corner along the roof, occasionally swooping down on an enemy only to jump quickly out of sight again. This process requires a lot of thought and pre-planning. You can’t just jump in and be ready to melee your way through a fight. Your strength is in the shadows.
The developers we spoke with indicated that there were six major villains in the game: Zsasz, Poison Ivy, Bane, Killer Croc, Harley Quinn, and the Joker. We asked two different developers how much time it took to complete the game and received two strikingly different answers. One quoted us a play time of 10-15 hours, while another assured us the average was 25 hours.
In addition to the story mode, there are a number of quick play ‘challenge’ modes, where the player could choose to play as either Batman or the Joker through a number of scenarios.
Batman: Arkham Asylum comes out on August 25 on all platforms. Visit the official site and stay tuned for more info!
While at Valve Software’s ‘confidential’ meeting (thanks for spoiling the surprise Microsoft Press Conference) for Left 4 Dead 2, we got the chance to speak with Doug Lombardi once again on the upcoming game. I say ‘once again’ as you may or may not remember that last year at E3 we spoke to him about Left 4 Dead.
In this follow-up interview a year later, we talk about what improvements we will see in the game as well as the short dev cycle between the sequel and the previous title.
Half-Life 2 fans, know that I did ask him about episode three and you can hear his response towards the end of the interview.
While at the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles the other day, we were treated to interview Codemasters Executive Producer Sion Lenton about their upcoming Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising.
Aside from the interview below, I got the chance to ask him if the compass and other UI elements means that the game was ‘dumbed-down’ from the original. He said that the demo they showed us was set to ‘easy’. On the harder difficulties these elements goes away – even the targeting reticule!
Hidden up in the meeting halls of the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo was what may have been the gem of the show. GamingShogun got the chance to go behind closed doors and check out Pandemic Studios Nazi action game The Saboteur.
We arrived to the meeting room and sat down with one of the games producers who gave us a quick run through of the story in the game. (cont)
You are a resistance fighter in France by the name of Sean Devlin. Sean Devlin has a fancy for brothels and race car driving but his secret life has a resistance fighter against the Nazi regime is the focal point of the game. Sean Devlin’s fight against the Nazi’s is based off of revenge and the story is very dark. The producers pointed out that the entire story is based on the real life of French resistance slash race car driver during those times.
The first thing you notice about the game is the graphics. Hands down the Saboteur was the most beautiful looking game of the entire show for me. It’s noir look reminds me of the film Sin City as the areas controlled by the Nazi’s are in black and white except for certain things in color. Street lights and Nazi arm bands all glow their respective color in the Nazi held parts of the game catching your eye. The city is alive with things going on all around you. If you are in Nazi controlled section of the city you will see guards marching, beating on citizens, and different military exercises.
The non Nazi controlled areas are alive and bright with color. Citizens go about their daily business and can even lend a hand in certain situations. Pan around the city and the sky is a bright blue and if you happen to look into the direction of a Nazi controlled city you can see the change in color. Buildings are detailed and all natural landmarks are there. The team studied French history and made sure every little detail was in place. The landscape is huge as you can go from France to the shores of Germany and there is always something going on.
We got the chance to see some action as well. The simple motto of the game is ‘quiet in and loud out’. Sean Devlin was shown sneaking into a Nazi factory and slipping behind a guard to take care of him. The animations were smooth and our hero took the guards clothes disguising him as a Nazi officer. Sneaking through the factory he placed an explosive on a his target and had about 10 seconds to get out of the way before the explosion. You have several options at this point. You can either slip out quietly or stay and attempt to fight. In this case we stuck around and were bombarded by Nazi’s as the alarms went off. The producers decided to book it and hopped into a car. The chase was on as Nazi’s followed our her but in the end we hid out in a local brothel. We told you he had a fancy for ladies right? Driving is an important part of the game as it does work with the story. while I am not a fan of driving missions the one we saw looked very smooth and easy to pull off.
We were shown another small mission where your goal is to take out a large Nazi cannon. On the way to the target we went back into the black and white Nazi controlled zone. On our right was a Nazi outpost that was highlighted in red. It was explained to us that these were side missions to help improve your standing and could also effect the current missions you are on. Having a problem with a missions because of a sniper tower? You can leave that missions and take out the sniper tower instead thus paving the way for you to better complete your goal.
Once arriving at the mission area we were shown the climbing aspect of the game. Sean Devlin has a fondness of heights as well. You can climb rooftop to rooftop in order to get a better line of site with your targets. Animations were not jerky at all and the character climbed easily from different rooftops. There are tons of weapons to be found along the way. Pistols, sniper rifles, flame throwers, and bazookas. Some of them hard to get as the developer does not want you just going around and blowing stuff up.
As we worked our way through the cannons base camp we were able to kill enough Nazi’s to be able to plant the explosives at the cannon. Once out of range the cannon exploded and one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen in video game happened. Like a stroke of a paint brush the black and white harsh world of the Nazi regime went away and was replaced by the bright and colorful free world. This was jaw dropping visually and I thought it was a unique new concept. the mission ended with a fun little surprise from the developers. They grabbed a bazooka and aimed to the sky at a passing zeppelin sending it crashing down to the world below.
The Saboteur without a shadow of a doubt was the game of the show for me. You are looking at fifteen to twenty hours of gameplay with the main story and forty plus hours if you do everything in the game. It is set to release fall 2009 for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. Do not miss this game!
