Video Games – Page 295

Vader’s apprentice from Force Unleashed now in Soulcalibur 4

In what appears to be a somewhat disturbing trend of cross-overs and cameos, we now have one more outlandish addition to Soulcalibur 4’s roster: Darth Vader’s apprentice. Star Wars nerds will be quick to point that there has been only one apprentice to Lord Vader, and that is the guy from Force Unleashed. So yeah, apparently he’s coming into Soulcalibur 4.

Darth Vader and Yoda have already been included into the roster, and we thought they were pretty much the only ones. For all we can guess now, though – we might have the entire Star Wars cast in a few seconds.

While Vader and Yoda were exclusive to the PS3 and the Xbox 360 respectively, the Force Unleashed apprentice will have no such restrictions and will be available to both consoles, because yeah – the loser apprentice is always nerfed enough to not be exclusive.

Meanwhile, rivalling series Mortal Kombat has got the DC Universe as a crossover. Batman vs. Sub-Zero or Lord Vader vs. Ivy? Must have!

Soulcalibur IV will be releasing on the Xbox 360 and PS3 on July 29. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo DS will be arriving on September 16.

Crytek reveals Crysis: Warhead

Faithful readers will remember that we reported when Crytek registered the Crysis Warhead trademark. It looks like the name has been materialized into what appears to be a brand new game: not an expansion or a console port, a full-fledged title!

Warhead puts you in the eyes of one of the most loved characters in the game, Sergeant Sykes (a.k.a. Psycho). The game will take place parallel to the events of the original game, set through Sykes’ view of the other side of the island. Sykes will be armed with a larger arsenal of fully-customizable weapons, all new vehicles and stuff.

Crytek will be focussing on improving their storytelling (which is a noble move, IMO) and game performance. That means that Crytek will most likely not be raising the graphics bar to superhuman levels. But hell, better game performance at least means it will work on normal computers and not alien mainframes. And for once, we’ll have a sensible storyline.

Warhead is a PC exclusive and is being developed with a new and enhanced version of the classic CryENGINE 2, at Crytek’s Budapest Studio. That is where you go to capture the copies and ransom them. Or do something like that. Yeah.

Stay tuned for more info, most likely in the coming summer. Meanwhile, you can ogle over the official press release here.

Gaming Habits

As we discover in family life, times and technology may change but people stay the same. Although protested in younger years, most discover that turning into their parents is somewhat unavoidable. It’s not surprising then that through history people have always liked to play games. The form and function has changed over the years but that innate human desire to play together finds its expression in every generation.

Games teach us to look for patterns to improve our performance. We learn to collect, order, clean up and generally sort things out to progress through each gaming experience. This works well because we are also driven by these things in real life. We instinctively want to create order out of chaos.

Continue reading “Gaming Habits”

Valve: PC Gaming is where all the action is

We’ve had all sorts of articles going on lately about how PC gaming is “dying”. Valve doesn’t think so. At a press event in Bellevue, Washington, Valve held steadfastly to their love of the PC and declared it as a robust and relevant gaming system. Gabe Newell went so far as to say that “[the] PC is where all the action is, and there’s a perception problem”.

It seems that Valve is placing emphasis on Steam and other online software distribution methods, and with good reason. Citing figures, Newell said that DFC Intelligence data showing that PC online sales have been on an increase since 2001, while retail sales comparatively flat. Valve also expects online sales to overtake retail very soon.

An interesting statement he makes is,

“We don’t really have a champion of the PC platform. If you write a story about the Xbox 360, there’s just an army of people who are going to descend on you to make that picture look as polished and rosy as possible. Same things for the other consoles – but there’s no equivalent on the PC, and the people who are traditionally driving these messages, like Microsoft or Intel or Apple are, for various reasons, not very effective champions.”

As we say from Valve’s latest announcement of Steam Cloud, Valve has been pretty aggressive on establishing the PC as the best video game platform out there. It’s time they got some support!

WTF: Choose Your Own Adventure: Pong

There are some times when I am utterly shocked. I am at a loss of words. “What would you call this?” I ask myself. Is it the most utterly depressing thing that has ever happened to entertainment media, or is it the most ingenious idea ever? This is definitely one of them. The name itself should be enough to satisfy your curiosity: Choose Your Own Adventure: Pong.

It has all the gameplay of Pong, translated into paper format. You turn pages to determine the moment of your bat. The ball remains ominously stationary on each page, its position entirely dependant on what choice you make next, whether you go up or (urp) down. A truly epic adventure. Its something you’ve never experienced before.

This sort of stuff makes us wonder as to what went through the creator’s mind when he thought of it. How could he hope to sell it to anyone without as much free time as himself? Perhaps that is why he lets you “read” the excellent adventure book cover-to-cover in the free online viewer that we have helpfully embedded below.

Go ahead, enjoy your adventure!

Live Video Play Through of Ninja Gaiden II

The playthrough is over and man it’s a good button smasher! The only dowfall is that I’m stuck on the second level boss. I don’t have enough health to beat him. I guess that’s what I deserve after running through the level without destroying enemies…You are warned!

Check out the video coverage here.

Ninja Gaiden II