Day: May 17, 2007

Smallville Season 6 Finale

[UPDATE]: Lex and Lana becoming extras – NOT full time characters – to the Smallville series!

Smallville

Wow I didn’t even realize that this episode was on tonight! Thankfully I watched Everybody Loves Raymond and a promo for this season finale aired. Of course it took me a while to comprehend that the new episode was airing today, but that’s besides the point.

The good news is that we’re here! Done with another season! How many more do we have to endure?! Seriously though this episode wasn’t bad, it was actually confusing. I think that’s a first for the series, ok maybe since season 4.

Lana’s dead, Cloe is dead, Clark is alive, Clark’s mom is a Senator, Lionel is dead, Lex was arrested, some other random people died. The best part was the fight scene between Clark and Clark which ripped off The Matrix Revolutions Neo vs. Agent Smith end battle sequence. At the very end they eluded to Clark 2 being Bizarro…

Does that make sense? I hope you see why I was confused.

Damn you LittleBigPlanet and your cuteness!

Long time no write, but that’s besides the point. At GDC this year Sony unveiled their new Online sandbox platformer, LittleBigPlanet. The title blew me away, and made me giggle like a little school girl. It combines sandbox creativity, ala Garry’s Mod, online co-op, ala Crackdown or Gears of War, and 2.5D platforming, ala Viewtiful Joe.

In the title uses small canvas fabric dolls as a small pallet. With the doll you can create your own character in almost anyway you can imagine. You can add small items you collect through the game, like hats and shirts, to your character. If that’s not enough you can add stickers and items that you usually use to decorate the level on your character.

Level design is also a big part of the game. On top of the levels that the game comes with you can create unique levels from scratch using everything you come across by playing through the premade levels. After you’ve made the levels using anything from large rocks, stickers, and soccer balls you can set them up on the PSN where millions of people can try the game, rate it, and endorse it.

Now this all sounds kind of boring if it’s not fun, right? Well the development team that’s making LBP is the same team that made a small indie game that popped up on Steam years ago called Rag Doll Kung Fu. Just like RGKF you use physics and rag doll to control your character, but not as freely as rag doll did. The characters walk just like they would in any 2D platformer, and then use rag doll physics to hold and control items around the environment, like large oranges, small pullies, large skateboards, or even your own friends.

The features are many and exciting. The design is cute and creative. The music is adorable and addictive(think Katamari Damacy or LocoRoco). If you don’t have a PS3, or just lack a reason to get one, look into LittleBigPlanet. You’ll want to pick one up just for it, I know I do.

Nintendo Rules America

Already riding a streak as America’s No. 1 seller of video game consoles, No. 1 seller of portable game systems and No. 1 publisher of video games, Nintendo added more chips to its pile in April — with not just one, but the country’s four best-selling games.

According to independent sales data gathered by the NPD Group, the two best-selling games in April were Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl, exclusively for the Nintendo DS hand-held game system, followed by Super Paper Mario and Wii Play for the Wii home video game system.Combined sales for the two related Pokemon titles exceeded 1.75 million units in just 14 days of availability during the reporting period.

The DS remained the most popular game system of any kind in April, with projected sales of more than 470,000 units. At the same time, the Wii from Nintendo, despite nearly universal sold-out status, was still purchased by twice as many consumers as any other home game console, according to the NPD data. Unit sales of 360,000 Wii systems in April bring the console’s installed base in America to nearly 2.5 million in less than six months on the market.

“Nothing is more valuable in the entertainment world than an evergreen franchise,” says Reggie Fils-Aime, president and COO, Nintendo of America. “These new Pokemon titles have cemented their place alongside the most enduring intellectual properties of the book, music and movie industries. And that appeal will expand even further with the introduction of PokemonBattle Revolution to our Wii home console next month.”

GameTap Goes All Out for Lara Croft

Not only will they be adding the new Tomb Raider: Anniversary game to the library of almost 1,000 titles – they’ve released a retrospective documentary and they will also be releasing a new animated series called “Re\Visioned” airing July 10th on GameTap TV!

GameTap logo

Not only will they be adding the new Tomb Raider: Anniversary game to the library of almost 1,000 titles – they’ve released a retrospective documentary and they will also be releasing a new animated series called “Re\Visioned” airing July 10th on GameTap TV!

“10 Years of Tomb Raider – A GameTap Retrospective” profiles the creators, the games, the live-action models, and the fans who have collectively made Tomb Raider a pop culture phenomenon. The documentary will be available for free for all fans to view at www.gametap.com/tombraider and new segments will be added each week through June 7th.

“The Retrospectives series explores the most beloved game franchises and their impacts on pop culture. With ‘10 Years of Tomb Raider,’ we show the history of this legendary series of games,” said Ricardo Sanchez, GameTap’s vice president of content. “Fans of Tomb Raider will get an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at one of the industry’s most successful game franchises.”

“We wanted to do something special for Lara’s 10th anniversary,” said Larry Sparks, Eidos’ head of brands management. “Working with GameTap allowed us to tell the Tomb Raider story like never before, complete with fan interviews from around the world and a first ever photo shoot that brought together the live action Lara Croft models.”

GameTap has also created a new original animated series, “Re\Visioned”, for GameTap TV. This all-new animated series explores and reimagines well known video game franchises. The first season features interpretations of video gaming’s leading lady, Lara Croft, by well-known animators, comic book artists and writers.

To create “Re\Visioned: Tomb Raider” GameTap commissioned Peter Chung, Jim Lee, Warren Ellis, Cully Hamner, Gail Simone, David Alvarez, Michael Stackpole, Brian Pulido, and Christos Gage, among others, to provide their ‘Re\Visioned’ view of the famous video game heroine. The first episode in this original animation series will debut on July 10th with new episodes running through August 23rd. There are 10 episodes in total and they will be available to view for free at GameTap.com.

“Lara Croft is an icon, so we brought in some of the most iconic creative talent of today,” continued Sanchez. “These writers and artists have created or worked with some of the best known characters from comics and animation and we’ve been honored to work with them to make the first season of our ‘Re\Visioned’ series a reality.”

Visitors to the newly launched micro-site, www.gametap.com/tombraider will get access to the new Retrospective documentary, “Re\Visioned: Tomb Raider” animated series, trailers and clips for both programs.

Fans can also purchase the PC version of Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary at GameTap.com’s new digital retail storefront and GameTap subscribers can play the game day and date when it hits retail shelves on June 5th, 2007.