Castlevania is one of the most prolific titles of our generation. Yet depending on who you ask, the series has staled of late. No matter who you ask, it's a universal truth that the Belmont clan's quest to slay Dracula and his minions has never successfully made the jump from pixels to polygons. Fans of the series were hoping that Konami could, with Hideo Kojima's stamp of approval, turn their floundering franchise into something grand, worthy of the Vampire Killer's history. Does Castlevania: Lords of Shadow live up to the legacy, or is it a miserable little pile of secrets?
Rockstar Games has today announced that the oft-forgotten L.A. Noire will reveal a new trailer this Thursday.
For those of us who are not completely familiar with the embattled detective story, here's a bit of a recap. Set in "a perfectly recreated Los Angeles" circa the late 1940's, L.A. Noire, clearly, is in the stylistic composition of 40s and 50s film noire; black and white, low-key lighting, offset camera angles, and dark storylines. Well maybe not black and white, who would want to play a game devoid of color? Rockstar isn't gutsy enough to take that gamble. Nevertheless, gumshoes, sex, drugs, corruption, and a touch of jazz music will surely be a good chunk of Noire's subject matter, how it will all intertwine is yet to be seen.
The game has some promise, if done right. And it wouldn't be a Rockstar release if it didn't come with buckets of hype, but the thing is, this game has been hyped for more 8 years. Yes, L.A. Noire has been in development since sometime around 2002. That's an awful long time to develop a game, true-to-life Los Angeles or not, isn't it? After multiple delays, the title is finally on track for a mid-2011 release. We know what happens when your game gets delayed too many times. Sure, delays are for the best, iron out everything that could be wrong, put out a refined product, all that jazz, but damn. We've seen a lot of platforms and a lot of technologies come and go in a span of 8 years. As a once PlayStation exclusive, you can't have us believe Noire's been in development for the PS3 since 2002. If your game has to be adjusted for more powerful hardware mid-development, you're playing with fire in a bad, bad way.
For those of us popping the Noire Viagra, Rockstar's announcement couldn't be better news. Though in honesty, I wonder how many people wiped the detective story's existence from their memory. As an ever-vigilant Rockstar contrarian, Thursday's trailer better be something really fantastic if L.A. Noire plans on capturing my affection. 1940s GTA ain't gonna cut it here, for that, I could just be playing Mafia II. If you want us to drink the Kool-Aid this time, you need to come correct, R*.
Make sure you check in Thursday morning for the full L.A. Noire trailer in glorious high definition. In the meantime, here is the very first look at Noire, released way back in 2007. Old trailer is old.
You know about Retro City Rampage, right? If you don't then you should promptly kick yourself in the ass, but not until you get yourself up to speed.
The old-school homage-fest has released a 10 minute music sampler, chock full of fun, hilarious, and oddly familiar scenes from the game itself. The soundtrack is composed by chiptune pros virt, Norrin Radd, and Freaky DNA. With the rise of the indy game, and the chiptunes reclaiming some of their former glory of late, let this sampler be music to your ears.
And because you might not have to time or patience to sit through one video for more than 30 seconds, you can download the mixtape, as well as the theme song, right here. That way you can listen to it on your own accord. Everyone wins!
5th Cell, the minds behind the incredibly cutting edge Scribblenauts series for Nintendo DS, have just revealed their next project, a futuristic shooter named Hybrid.
A huge departure from the colorful, kid-friendly world of Scribblenauts, Hybrid seems to fit the mold of a Vanquish or Crysis in the teaser trailer; bleak urban setting, fancy super suit, and soldiers performing crazy feats of superhuman agility, guns a'blazing.
Why 5th Cell decided to take their new IP to the overdone genre is beyond me. Though as innovative as the Scribblenauts series is, hopefully they'll discover a way to make this Xbox Live Arcade exclusive stand apart from the truckload of similar titles out there.
Okay kids! Today's phrase of the day is Black Ops. Can you say Black Ops? Bla, khops. Very good.
Treyarch community manager, Josh Olin, has written up a post on the ever helpful PlayStation.blog, detailing some of the lesser known facts about Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Most pressing; the addition of split-screen online multiplayer. Sweet! You can log in as a guest under any profile and immediately start blowing stuff up. The guest will be able to gain rain, earn unlocks, the whole nine. Unfortunately, all guest progress is lost when the player signs out. Bummer.
Also of note is the Custom Games Editor, which will allow you to fine tune the parameters of any custom game you create; time limit, weapon set, perks, gear, and on. When you're done creating your very own boring ass custom game, you'll be able to drop it in a file share, where your friends and the anonymous community alike can ridicule how terrible your decisions are. Hooray!
Come November 30th, you'll have a few more maps available to get your Killionaire on. The kind folks at Bungie.net have constructed three slick new settings for us would-be Spartans to craft our kills. What this means is just new locales to play SWAT and Infection, over, and over, and over.
The maps - Tempest, Breakpoint, and Anchor 9 - should tickle the fancy of most Halo: Reach players, as it appears there is a good balance of open-space, thinking men's battles and cramped, clusterfuck action between them. Never hesitant to pile on the achievements, there will also be an extra 250 Gamerscore for the seasoned achievement whore to earn.
The $10 price tag seems reasonable, though maybe that's in part to expecting any little piece of DLC to cost at least 1200 points.
Sega fan since grade school, yo. And that's a long, long time ago. So it's clear to see why the appeal of an attitude-laden hedgehog was a stronger call than the pipe-surfing escapades of a stocky Italian man. Don't get me wrong, I loved both, but Sonic had the charismatic edge. So why is it that Mario games continue to sell well while the Hedgehog series just can't seem to hit the mark? Can Sonic 4 change the series' fate of late? Can a return to 2D reinvigorate the franchise? Can I haz speed?
Taking a page from Poe, Rockstar rhymes the details of Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare's multiplayer mode, Undead Overrun. Zombies haven't been this artsy since Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Or the Williamsburg Zombie Prom from 2009. Damn hipsters.
Today, Microsoft herald Major Nelson has announced some much needed changes for the clunky Xbox.com. Taking effect sometime after 5am EST tomorrow, October 20th, the new Xbox.com will look something like this.
It only makes sense that Microsoft would update the tragically designed Xbox homepage to match the sleek new look of its Xbox 360 dashboard. Together with the sexy new appearance of the site, many new utilities will be added to complement the tweaks to some of the older function. Lists are professional looking, so here's an unordered one for that ass.
Browser based Avatar editor: Edit your avatar and preview avatar items before purchase
Combined views for messages, friend and game requests
Improved notification of your account subscription
Leverage Family Reports to understand what your family is doing and how they are using LIVE
Play web games with your Xbox LIVE friends on the web or on Windows Phone 7
Marketplace: More powerful search and more intuitive ways to browse and filter
These changes will no doubt allow Xbox 360 supporters to feel more connected at all times, whether they be killing time between projects at work, or doping around on their new Windows Phone 7. Knowing a majority of 360 users though, they will probably be in grade school, on their $5,000 laptop, in between calling someone a racial slur or homosexual and listening to rap music, while describing to their friends how they totally pwnd last night's cycle of 5 Halo: Reach SWAT games in a row. Sigh, stay classy, kids.
As you should be aware of by now, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II released a downloadable demo this week. The original Force Unleashed, while heavily flawed, was a blast to play. It made you feel like an all powerful Jedi/Sith surrounded by masses of mostly inferior enemies, allowing you to use your great power to dispatch of anyone foolish enough to stand against you with great fun and creativity. You also got to be part of one of the most compelling canon Star Wars stories we've seen in some time. Funny how all the best Star Wars content these days comes from everyone but Lucas himself.
TFU2 once again puts the player in control of Starkiller, Darth Vader's secret apprentice. Uncontent to just let his fearsomely strong pupil die at the end of the first game, Vader has created clones of Starkiller who have all of his power, but also the uprising memories of the original. During a practice exercise, Starkiller's memories overwhelm him, preventing him from striking down his love, Juno Eclipse. Seeing this weakness, Vader plans to kill the nostalgic clone and start anew, but this Starkiller is smart. Sensing Vader's impending lightsaber to the chest, our clever carbon copy Jedi blasts his mentor back with Force lightning and flies the coop. Demo on.
+ The surprisingly decent story of the original Force Unleashed is expanded on + The powers make you truly feel like a fearsome disciple of the Force + Destructible environments and unique enemy reactions always offers something fresh
- Difficulty on normal felt way too easy - Dual sabers don't act much differently from a single saber - Bland stage design showcased in the demo - Something about the game experience feels empty
Fans of the Star Wars universe should probably buy this game without asking any questions. Fans of a solid gaming experience, well that remains to be seen just yet. There is a lot of promise in the demo, but the stage the action is set on is a little unspectacular and disappointing. The full version of the game will no doubt have more exciting backdrops to torture stormtroopers, but will that empty feeling the game seems to have be filled?
Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 1:45AM 
