Video Games – Page 322

Rock Band On Tour

Although it started last Thursday, a Rock Band tour has begun and it is coming to cities all over the country. With this tour comes a huge stage, a chance to play about 7 of the songs from the game, and a chance to participate in the Rock Off Audition with the winners being able to participate in a Battle of the Bands live on MTV.

Defininitely go check this out as it is free and obviously awesome. Also, it’s coming to pretty much every region of the country in the next two months. You can find the dates and places here.

Bioware’s top-secret MMORPG based on KotOR?

Good followers of gaming news will have known by now that Bioware’s Austin Studios have been working on an MMORPG project for quite a while. They still haven’t announced what the hell it really is, then again, they didn’t tell us the meaning of life when we asked them. But Primotech is reporting a rumour that this mysterious game is in fact based on Knights of the Old Republic franchise, owned by LucasArts.

KotOR, entirely developed by Bioware and published by LucasArts, quickly became an RPG masterpiece and yet another notch in Bioware’s worthy hat. It’s a really great game – you should go play it right now. It was followed by a very rushed sequel, developed by Obsidian. While Obsidian didn’t do a bad job on it, LA gave them an unreasonably small development time, which made for a hurried game. It could have been an epic game had it been given its time. Even then, it’s a decent game worth playing.

This is Bioware’s first MMORPG project, but it isn’t a first for LucasArts (that is, if the rumour is right). LA had earlier come out with Star Wars: Galaxies, whose popularity graph resembles Microsoft’s sales graph – in reverse. With a world so dense and rich to tap, there is no doubt that LA will persistently try open-world games in Star Wars, and another MMORPG, based on one of their best property’s – KotOR is rather predictable.

Now, I’m a KotOR fan and my response is mixed. First off, KotOR is LucasArt’s first singleplayer RPG in the Star Wars universe, which makes it an important game. It did not ship with a multiplayer, and hence was completely built on singleplayer (which ended up in one of the most richly-made singleplayer game I’ve ever played.

Taking KotOR straight into massive multiplayer is a bold, albeit predictable step. After all, the stories of both KotOR games were epic enough – it’ll be sort of silly to have a string of epic events within a span of fifty years. A MMORPG’s story will be considerably toned down and open. How that will fare for KotOR-style gameplay, I find it difficult to guess. But even then, I’m a little disappointed, because if the rumour is right, there is a good chance that a singleplayer KotOR III will not come not. (

But fear not, spacers. We will bring you more news and toilet paper as they become available.

What’s Jack Black doing now? Only making the most metal game EVAR

Years ago Tim Schafer, creator and writer of games such as Grim Fandango and Secrets of Monkey Island, created a game for the Xbox called Psychonauts, it was critically praised for it’s gameplay, level design, story, humor and just about everything else under the son. The game did not sell so well (as many aesthetically pleasing games do), but it became a cult classic. Despite the game’s poor sales Double Fine Studios and Tim Schafer signed a contract with Vivendi Universal to create another game for them. For many months it was unknown what this game would be called, or what it was about.

Double Fine eventually released the next game they were working on, but it wasn’t what most expected. It was a flash fighting game (which can be seen on their website), and it was rather funny, but it was no Psychonauts. Then Jack Black, the world famous comedic actor known for his role in School of Rock and in the band Tenacious D, was seen wearing a T-shirt. No big surprise there, but what was on it was a hint on what was to come from Double Fine.
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Super Smash In February: Good or Bad?

Super Smash Brawl has been officially moved to February 10th, 2008. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Personally, I believe this is a good thing because in my mind, if a game takes longer to come out but it actually needed that time to fix things, it is completely worth it. I don’t want a game to come out a few months earlier just because that’s when they said it would come out. I want the game to come out when the creators feel that it is ready.

Additionally, who can really say that there’s not enough games out right now, or coming out in the next couple of months as it is. I know I definitely don’t have enough money to spend on these games but if you do, you probably have better stuff to do than think about when Super Smash is coming out.

Also, February is generally a month in which a small number of games usually comes out. In addition to spacing out the times of these awesome games coming out, it is filling in the some of the gaps during a usually gameless month.

Weekly Games: 10/14

Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground Cover

Ok, so where I live it’s still officially 10/13. Who cares?! It’s a week in games, meaning someone’s gotta tell you all what you’re missing while you play Orange Box’s Portal or Team Fortress 2.

PS3

Tony Hawks Proving Grounds (10/18): In case Skate wasn’t good enough for you and you need something to cling on to for the weekend. Because apparently Everyday Shooter ain’t good enough fer ye.

PSP

Thrillville: Off the Rails (10/15): Ever have the need to build amusement parks on the go?
Swat: Target Liberty (10/18): So, liberty’s the target, eh? Well, good luck shooting her with a missile.
Spiderman 3 (10/18): Amazingly late, we thought this one was all but forgotten. Silly us. Activision doesn’t leave a man behind. Ever.

360

Thrillville: Off the Rails (10/15): Same as above, but from the comfort of your own home. Like a real architect would.
Beautiful Katamari (10/17): Rolling your way, this nonsensical puzzle make-everything-part-of-you game is fun…for whoever likes that weird stuff.
Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground (10/18): In the event you have a PS3 but remembered that achievements are meaningful in your life.

Wii

Thrillville: Off the Rails (10/15): Hey, why bother taking it with you or using a standard controller. Use the damned wiimote like everyone else!
Rockstar Presents Table Tennis (10/17): Finally, the 360 exclusive gets put on the console it was really intended for. That is, if it plays well.
Spyro: The Eternal Night (10/17): Say hello to fire breathing dragons and goodbye to…wait, nothing really.
Victorious Boxers: Revolution (10/18): Wii Sports, eat your heart out. This boxing game will give you a real workout. And when you throw an uppercut, it’ll work.
Tony Hawk’s Proving Grounds (10/18): Well, at least it’s not on the PSP.
Ultimate Duck Hunting (10/18): This must be the greatest game of all time. I mean, it has the word “ultimate” in it. That makes it magical.
Avatar: The Burning Earth (10/18): It’s a damn good thing you play as the Avatar, so you can blow those bad fires away and make sure the Earth doesn’t get too roasted. It doesn’t taste good burnt.
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core (10/18): As if the long and pointless name wasn’t good enough, it’s probably a fighting game with 2d graphics. ’nuff said.
Mercury: Meltdown Revolution (10/19): Three words that would never go together, put together, and still have no meaning.
Ultimate Board Game Collection (10/19): Can’t get any more straight forward than that. Because hey, you can’t play all these games on Yahoo! games. Or can you?

Nintendo DS

Thrillville: Off the Rails (10/15): This would complete the demonic circle of game consoles, but the PS3 was spared of it’s pity. Well played Lucasarts.
Cheetah Girls: Pop Star Sensation (10/15): Ahh, to be young, fit, attractive, and a cheetah girl once again.
Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day (10/17): Yes, staring at a small 2 inch screen that’s 2 feet from your face is a great way to improve your vision.
Bee Game (10/17): Not to be confused with the Bee Movie Game, this is like Catz. Not NintenCats, but close.
Prism: Light the Way (10/18): There is no way to be more inspirational then lighting the way.
Avatar: The Burning Earth (10/18): This Nintendo exclusive is for you people (all 5 of you) without a Wii, yet with a DS.
Pet Wild Animals: Dolphinz (10/18): Oh, for sure. Add a Z to the end of a word where an S should be and now it’s cool. Why didn’t anyone see this earlier?!
Fish Tycoon (10/18): Imagine, the best way to spend time while sitting in a car or train or plane, is to deal with virtual fish. Peachy. MAN THE HARPOON!
Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground (10/18): That’s right, someone had to do it. Be on every system. There’s always one, and this bad boy did it. Congrats to insanity.
Mahjong Quest (10/18): The board games may stay at home, but if I had to take one with me, it would definitely be Mahjong. If I knew how to play.

PS2

Thrillville: Off the Rails (10/15): blah blah blah…
Tony Hawk’s Proving Grounds (10/18): …blah blah blah…
Avatar: The Burning Earth (10/18): …blah blah blah…

Seems like that’s it for now. Stay tuned next week when we bring you more of those outrageous bloopers!

Oh, and don’t forget that there will be a ton of demos coming around, hopefully, from E for All. We may be a bit slow on updating with all that, so keep checking your local PSN/XBL provider!