Remember Explodemon!, the sidescrolling action game than looks like a mash up of Mega Man X and 'Splosion Man? You don't? Probably because it's been flying under some radars, unjustifiably so.
Curve Studios' colorful and boombastic upcoming PSN exclusive has been given a loose release of Winter 2010. That's like, next month yo!
Explodemon! will feature 12 levels of play, a "deep" control system, upgradeable abilities, comic book styled cut scenes, to go along with the pulse-pounding, up close and personal, spontaneous human combustion battle system. Not to mention a busy-as-hell hud. What are all those marvelous meters for? I have no idea, but I do know they look rad!
We're looking forward to this one, so you'll be the first to know when Explodemon! finalizes it's release date.
It's heeeeeere. The oft-speculated PlayStation Phone has finally made its first appearance, effectively silencing its doubters and knocking the pants off anyone who didn't see it coming.
The crafty folks at Engadget have gotten their hands on what appears to be a prototype model, which looks pretty impressive. Rumored to run the yet-to-be released Android 3.0 OS, the PSPhone runs on a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655, 512MB of RAM, 1GB of ROM, with an approximately 4-inch screen. Fancy!
To go along with all that's under the hood, the PSPhone's touchscreen slides up to reveal a directional pad and the usual PlayStation face buttons. I suppose analog sticks would be too bulky for this tight little package, so they've been replaced by a multi-touch pad. Shoulder buttons included, Memory Stick not. In place of Sony's much pushed, less than ideal storage solution, is the more universal MicroSD slot. That's a good look.
As a prototype model still, it's hard to say the PSPhone Engadget got their hands on won't change, but even if it didn't, it's still an impressive piece of phone. Sony turned a lot of heads when they confidently entered the console wars years back, can they do the same in the mobile market? Will they send the police to kick down Engadget's door and reclaim the device? Will the PSPhone be any good? Stay tuned.
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.
Diablo III is still shaping up a little too much like World of Warcraft, isn't it? That's not necessarily a bad thing; Warcraft's world is captivating and beautiful, it's characters diverse and memorable. Diablo has always had a dark and dying setting, one whose appearance parallels the state of things in the world of Sanctuary; Hell is trying to run shit.
Fanboys are up in arms about the world of Diablo III resembling WoW's Azeroth a little too closely. Dark towns, grimy dungeons, and the fires of hell are starting to give way and coexist with lush forests set on a backdrop of waterfalls. One of these things is not like the others. Although a little variation doesn't hurt, maybe the Diablo faithful are jumping the gun here. A wide range of of settings to spill demon blood can't possibly be a bad thing, can it?
Diablo III features a cast of five playable classes, and for the first time in the series, each class can choose male or female variants. In the rich fantasy world, with the ability to create a near endless amount of classes, Blizzard has ripped one archetype straight from the books of Warcraft; the Witch Doctor. A questionable choice, the Witch Doctor's initial screen shots, trailers, and lore has gotten nothing from me but yawns. I'm not even hating that Blizzard is jacking Warcraft characters, but the Witch Doctor? C'mon son. I'd rather have a paladin than that noise.
Over the weekend, the fifth and final class got its big reveal. The Demon Hunter; ranged weapons expert, skilled and agile, who makes use of crossbows (akimbo, at tmes) and traps. Sounds a bit familiar? World of Warcraft's Hunter, is also a master of ranged weaponry, uses crossbows, and sets traps. The Demon Hunter does look pretty cool, as evidenced by the trailer, but my qualms lie with the lack of originality, something that seems to have been plaguing D3 since it's first screenshots have leaked.
I don't know how to feel about all these shared resources. Is Blizzard alienating the dedicated Diablo fan base in an attempt to capture a piece of the obscenely large World of Warcraft market? I'm on board for Diablo III, even if the final confrontation pits the player against Onyxia. I won't be happy about it, but I'll play it. In the end, fans are just going to have to hope the latest entry in Diablo's prestigious line retains enough of its former glory, while keeping the influence of it's relative as minimal as possible. But damn, it's gonna be good to play Diablo again.
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.
Disclaimer: The following review may unintentionally contain excerpts which some readers may find inappropriate yet hilarious. Any use of the word "meat" in a giggle-inciting manner has not been done on purpose. That said, are you ready throw throw your Meat headfirst into a gauntlet of circular saws?!
The Professor Layton series on the Nintendo DS is a big deal in Japan, and has been making headway here in the States. The recent release in the popular puzzle adventure series, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, is the third Layton title to make it to the US. Japan has four Layton games in total, and is already working on a fifth entry, for the Nintendo 3DS. Add the animated movie released in 2009, and it seems that developers Level-5 have found pay dirt with this franchise.
OBJECTION! The catch phrase of everyone’s favorite Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright. This Capcom-bred franchise is also very near to superstar status, selling like hotcakes in gaming markets across the globe. If Gameboy Advance games are being ported to the Nintendo Wii, DS and iPhone, there is a certain charm and profitability to be found in said games. The Ace Attorney series currently has five titles in the books, with more to come in 2011.
As Capcom seems to have a penchant for co-developing quality crossovers, it was only a matter of time before these two worlds would collide. Last night, the trailer for a collaboration of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 magnitude hit the internet. Level- 5 and Capcom will be crossing popular franchises, under the working title Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney. The trailer doesn’t show much aside from some great animation and what platform it’s being developed for, Nintendo 3DS.
A lot of questions can be raised pertaining to this near perfect mash-up. How did a modern day lawyer end up in medieval England? Will the gameplay follow the puzzle dynamic of the Layton series, or Ace Attorney’s visual novel and detective format? Will the 3DS’ 3D function play a crucial role?
As a fan of both series’ I’m intrigued and excited to learn more about Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney. Be sure the watch the trailer and formulate your own thoughts. Got any interesting speculation on how this is going down? Share with us in the comments!
John is a technogeek with a gangsta edge. If it's new and cutting edge he probably already owns it; phones, computers, games, you name it. He is a school teacher by day, but a gamer for life.
One of the game-related stories of New York Comic Con that might have slipped under your radar was some new information about Square Enix’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution line of comics. Due in the first quarter of 2011 from DC’s Wildstorm imprint, the series will run for six issues and have a same-day and date digital release on both the DC and PSP comic apps. For anyone not initiated on the nuances of the digital comic book marketplace, it is still very uncommon for titles to be released digitally on the same day that they are released in stores, making this a significant feature of the release.
Writer Robbie Morrison stressed that the comic is not an adaptation of the game, and that it would revolve around the back-story of Adam Jensen, the series’ protagonist. Only a select few “very important” events from the game will appear in the comic; otherwise, the story will run simultaneous to the game, but feature all-original content.
The creative team seems well suited to the franchise. Morrison is best known for his work in 2000AD, a British science fiction weekly, and the Judge Dredd franchise, so he knows his way around a dystopian sci-fi setting. Editor Ben Abernathy has also worked on a significant number of licensed franchises, including Gears of War, Starcraft, God of War, Ratchet & Clank, and Fringe. While these titles have had varying degrees of quality, they have typically been about as good as their source material, rarely elevating above the cloth they’re cut from. So while it’s a virtual lock that fans of the Deus Ex franchise will enjoy the comic, the audience will probably be limited to existing fans.
Kyle is a comic book geek. He's been gaming long enough to know how to cheat at NES Track & Field and that CLVVRCEK is the password for the last level in Sega Genesis' Jurassic Park, but these days he can tell you more about Luke Cage's home life than Solid Snake's last mission.
We're all game enthusiasts here. We play, we watch, we read and write about, and then we play some more. Given the opportunity to develop a game, do you think you could? If you had the skills, knew the people, and was driven by a sense of entrepreneurship, would you create a game development studio? There's no need for could have and would have anymore, with Game Dev Story, now you can do just that.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010 at 12:21PM 
