Author: Rahul Shirke

Buy kickass Covenant Weapons!

Covenant Weapons

Right when you thought we’d spend some time without reporting news on Halo 3 merchandise, we hit you with this. These are full-size replicas of the famous Halo weapons, the Plasma Pistol (left) and the Plasma Rifle (right), both of which are decent weapons. I still want the assault rifle very badly, though. 🙁

These babies actually light up, recoil, vibrate and do all the cool shit that the things in the game do. And no, these are NOT props for the upcoming movie (which that real-life Warthog is). You can actually buy these!

They’re made of glossy rubber and plastic and don’t fire plasma as of now, though that must in development. The pistol is priced at $70 right now and the rifle is at $120. Buy them while stocks last, because there aren’t many of them yet. But just wait till the Covenant actually invade the planet. We’ll have plenty then.

[Via Digg. Buy it here.]

Gearbox’s next shooter to offer “near-endless variety” in stuff

Borderlands 1

Yep, it’s me – the Garbled Zombie giving you your near-daily fix of awesome games. Today we shed light on Borderlands, under development at Gearbox, the famed dudes who made the Brothers in Arms series, the Halo: Combat Evolved PC port as well as several Half-Life expansions. All in all, Gearbox is one kickass developer, that I’m sure will not disappoint.

Borderlands was revealed when Game Informer showed off the cover for their September issue, which is where we’ll probably learn more. The game will be published by 2K, another splendid company. It’s going to be a post-apocalyptic sci-fi (deja vu?) and will feature 4-player online co-op, several RPG elements and vehicular action.

What gets the gears rolling, though is the game’s “content generation system” that will make for “near-endless variety in mission, environment, enemy, weapon, item and character customization”. Now that sounds too sexy to be true. A game that reinvents itself over and over?

As you can see, comparisons between this and id’s Rage are rife, with both looking near-identical now. I wonder if after the famed id-Epic rivalry, is id going to lock horns with Gearbox? The gossip keeps building, but till then we’ll wait for Borderlands, which will be coming out in Holiday Season, 2008. As you can probably guess, it’ll be coming out for the usual stock – the PC, PS3 and the Xbox 360.

Check these screenies out, by the way.

Borderlands 1 Borderlands

From the horrors of Dungeon Siege… Space Siege!

To be completely frank, Dungeon Siege wasn’t the best RPG I’ve ever played. And its story wasn’t the richest I’ve seen. But Gas Powered Games aren’t quitting and last month, they announced Space Siege – a sci-fi version of Dungeon Siege. A brand new trailer has also come up which you’ll find at the bottom.

The game boasts a “deep and compelling storyline”, which I’m highly skeptical about and “intense” action. The trailer definitely looks like it is in with the times and even bears a slight resemblance to Mass Effect, which is good. Maybe GPG can save itself after all. The only premise we know of right now is that a colonization ship is under siege by aliens who have annihilated Earth. At least the title “Space Siege” makes more sense than “Dungeon Siege”.

You will play as Seth, a robotics specialist who becomes hero of the day. The story will be fraught with moral dilemmas as you will have to decide whether you want Seth to pick up robotic upgrades and other such useful prosthetics at the sake of your ‘humanity’. The irony the writers wish to express here, is that you are trying to save the human race, but giving up your humanity. I like that.

These cybernetic modifications will actually play a large role in the story, as it may alienate (pun intended) Seth from the people he’s trying to save. NPCs will react differently and quests will differ as you get new modifications for every part of your body (if only Seth were female…).

This interesting new game will make its way to your PC next year, with no other details announced as of yet. Check out the official press release here, and the official site here. The official trailer can be found in The Pipeline (above).

Sierra and Radical working on PROTOTYPE

Prototype Preview

Sierra Entertainment will be releasing a new open-ended, do-anything sort of game next year, under development by the almighty Radical Entertainment, known for games like Scarface: The World is Yours and The Simpsons Hit & Run. The game is titled ‘PROTOTYPE’ (the caps are entirely intentional) and will be set in New York City.

The game will revolve around a man named Alex Mercer, who has had a disturbing past and is currently raging a war. Things go downhill and you find yourself wrapped up in a story full of deception, double-crossing, conspiracy and perhaps more video game clichés.

Mercer will have unique powers that allow him to change shape and morph into anyone who crosses his path, complete with skills and powers. While I wouldn’t the call the ability particularly innovative, I’d like to see it in a video game! This ability will be no doubt connected to Mercer’s shady past which he must uncover while saving the world. C’mon, when are there going to be more original plots?

But good plot or not, Kelly Zmak, president of Radical Entertainment made me happy with the following lines:

Radical Entertainment set out to create the most dynamic video game character ever imagined. From free-form movement to over-the-top combat action; PROTOTYPE can climb or wall-run across any surface, jump 30 stories high, and destroy anything that crosses his path. Our team at Radical has built upon the technology that drove our previous best-selling games and now has the freedom to dream big and imagine a powerful character in a sprawling city like New York, cloaked in a conspiracy and ripped from today’s headlines.

Sounds real sexy, doesn’t it? I just hope these uber abilities aren’t some lame stuff added near the end of the game for an hour. I hate it when they do that.

PROTOTYPE will be coming out for the Xbox 360, the PS3 and your good ol’ PC in the Summer of 2008. Watch for it, but first check out these screenies:

Prototype Image 1 Prototype Image 2 Prototype Image 3 Prototype Image 4

Unreal Wars: Episode II – The Epic Strikes Back

Gears of War

One of the more popular topics doing the rounds these days in the games industry is that of the ensuing Epic Games – Silicon Knights legal war. To summarize, Silicon Knights claims that Epic gave them a faulty engine, while they used a better (but same version) of the engine to make their shiny Gears of War. Epic has declared war and claims that Silicon Knights is just bitching and that they haven’t even paid Epic. You can find the complete details here, in the Stuffwelike Archives.

Epic’s lawyers have thrown a counter-motion against Silicon Knights, which reads:

Silicon Knights wants to take Epic’s Licensed Technology, pay nothing for it, and use it any way it pleases. Having exploited Epic’s intellectual property to its advantage, Silicon Knights now seeks to renege on its payment obligations under the License Agreement. It is Silicon Knights, not Epic, that has engaged in deceit, infringement of Epic’s intellectual property rights, breach of contract, and unfair business practices.

But what is most interesting is the way Epic slaps SK in the face by claiming that when the Unreal 3 engine was licensed, Epic gave no warranty. Silicon Knights demanded one, and didn’t get it. They (Denis Dyack, head of SK, to be specific) signed the License Agreement anyways (he must have skipped it, like the rest of us). The agreement reportedly reads:

[Epic does] not include any warranty that (i) the functions performed by the Unreal Engine… will meet [Silicon Knights’] requirements, nor (ii) that the operations of the Unreal Engine… will be bug free or error free in all circumstances, nor (iii) that any defects in the Unreal Engine… can or will be corrected.

If that is for real, Silicon Knights may have very well stepped on a minefield by shooting a lawsuit. If Epic wins, Silicon Knights will be forced to produce lots of money. We wonder where the Gears of War will turn now in this truly Epic conflict that is simply Too Human to be Unreal and Silicon…
I’d better leave now.

[Via Shacknews]

Finish the fight. In a soda can.

Halo 3 Mountain Dew

Out now in stores is another ridiculous piece of Microsoft’s Halo 3 promotional merchandise – the official Halo 3 Mountain Dew “game fuel”! “Game Fuel?!” how much cheesier can you get?

Thew new citrus-cherry flavoured ‘Dew sports The Chief on the can, together with the Halo 3 logo. I don’t care about the drink itself (although I like Dew over all the other drinks out there), but this is going to be one hell of a collector’s item. Maybe years later you can tell your grandchildren that you actually had this awesome Master Chief soda can! That is, of course, if you haven’t sold it for a ridiculous price on eBay.

[Via Kotaku]