News: Video games trailers GALORE [Bumper Edition] Part 2

It's not my birthday anymore ): sadface, but that doesn't mean I can't send my love out into the world in the form of VIDEO GAME TRAILERS.

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Natural Selection 2



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IznYWy3aR0

I honestly never played much of the first Natural Selection (which was a Half-Life mod). But the idea of melding RTS with team-focused FPS sounds like good fun. Provided people listen to the commander or whatever.

Also, I like games that have humans vs monsters. Aliens vs Predator was supposed to be the game to do that, but it was disappointingly bad. As opposed to entertainingly bad, which would be tolerable but not horrific. Anyway, this is definitely one to look out for. The graphics are nice.

Battlefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQaG20mWlAA

Oh noes! Of course, Dice had this planned for awhile now, and nooo, its release had nothing to do with Black Ops which is also set in Vietnam. BF Bad Company 2 Mouthful was not bad for an epic scale war shooter, but running to your death every so often and not having that individualized competitive feel that Call of Duty taps into so well meant I stopped playing after awhile.

The Vietnam expansion pack essentially reskins the game plus throws in some new maps which look more jungley. But an epic scale war in Vietnam sounds like a good time (not the real war of course, because that was not fun for a lot of people).

PS. Unlike the other games in this post, BFBC2: Vietnam is already out.

Dragon Age 2



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ojefQlGTzE&feature=player_embedded

Dragon AGEEEE! DRAAAGOONNNNN AGEEEEE!!!! 222222222222

Yes. I'm excited for this. IN THE SAME WAY I AM FOR MASS EFFECT 3. So yeah, I'm totally Bioware's bitch right now.

Only thing that I'm a bit wary of is DA2's new art direction, which is supposedly a lot simpler and stylistic as compared to the heavy duty detail of Dragon Age 1. Also apparently, fully voice acted characters. As long as I get to fool around with different girls, make them angry, and then instantly happy again with gifts, then this game will win.

Batman: Arkham City



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muCtJsy-d9w

Grouchyman is back. He's tearing his hair out that no matter how many bad guys he puts away, they keep breaking out of jail and his life is one big never-ending vicious cycle. One day, he will realize this and go away to the mountains to meditate. Screw Arkham City, it can ROT for all he cares.

But not Batman. He just keeps going. He's cooler than everybody, richer than everybody and beefier than everybody.

I like Batman Arkham Asylum, the combat system was slick and fluid, and dropping down on bad guys from gargoyle statues never gets old. Now we're letting the Bat out in the big city. Then we'll have a surprise reveal to find that Christopher Nolan is directing this game. That would rock.

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News: Video games trailers GALORE [Bumper Edition] Part 1 + My birthday

Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me! Yes, I'm shameless but it is my birthday today, it only comes once a year so I get to joyously announce it wherever I please.

Also, please take a look below at some sweet trailers for games coming out in 2011. If my birthday won't get you excited, at least these videos will.

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGMOMkACtn4

Who doesn't like Oblivion? It's such an awesome game. Free-roaming beautiful lands in search of adventures, NPCs to mess with and loot to steal. Now we can do more of that in Skyrim, the only difference being it's set up in the Nordic frigid highlands where people be ugly and coats fur-lined.

And dragons. No surprise there though, it seems we're having dragons make a comeback (read: unimaginative) in a big way. WoW's done it with Cataclysm, Guild Wars 2 is doing it, Dragon Age 2... (duh), and now Skyrim. As long as I get to fight a big, bony, fire-breathing lizard sometime, I'm not complaining.

Crysis 2



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOyD7SoY7LU

Crysis was a decent game. Sure, the graphics were mind-blowing but the gameplay was alright. There was some sense of choice thanks to your nanosuit powers, but the environments were pretty linear.

Now Crysis 2 looks to open up that linearity with a massive, sprawling, highly detailed New York city which lets you approach objectives from any angles. That's exciting. Plus the new Cryengine 3 is going to kick some serious graphical ass. And the trailer is well made. So much chest-beating and man-ness.

Mass Effect 3



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnEej1RfqTs

Mass Effecttttt 3... MAAASS EFFECTTT 3 .... MAAAAASSSSS EFFEEECTTTTT 3333

I loved Mass Effect 2 to bits, and Bioware's done good so far. So yeah, Mass Effect 3 will rule. 'Nuff said.

Homefront



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhJfzejPyOM

It's a tad bit prophetic, if not inappropriate that Homefront is developed and announced around the time when North Korea decided to start shelling the South, with talks of war possibly breaking out.

Regardless of what's happening in the real world, countless uninformed gamers worldwide will sit in their basements and live out fantastical stories like if North Korea really DID invade the rest of the world. Because them be evil, tyrannical communists, and the only appropriate country left for game developers and Hollywood execs to use as villains for their stories.

Looks like a bit of good shooting fun though.

[Part 2 to go up in a bit]

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Review: Minecraft

You know that moment in the movie Castaway when Tom Hanks makes an imaginary friend out of an old, washed-up football? It's such a heartbreaking moment, the realization that Hanks has gone loony from being utterly alone on an island.

And now you can have that feeling too with Minecraft.

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I know I'm late to the Minecraft party. So, so very late when countless people have already waxed lyrical about this ultimate sandbox game that throws you in the deep end from the get-go.

The notion of leaving players defenseless, unknowing in a procedurally and randomly generated world is frightening, and one that many modern big-name developers just don't have the balls to attempt. It's gaming excellence for the very concept of letting us discover for ourselves what we are capable of, kinda' like letting a baby figure out which building blocks go where if left alone long enough. It's a very simple form of play and yet capable of such complexity.

In Minecraft, you start with nothing, possibly on a beach somewhere, or in the middle of the woods, or even by a cave, but you have this realization that this endless world is laid out before you. You start exploring, and explore some more, and come across some charming lo-fi graphics cutesy pigs or cows that hop about the landscape. Then you notice the sun come down over the horizon, and then it is soon dark. Pitch black even. Your heart rate quickens, uh oh, it's pretty scary out here with no lights and no sense of orientation.


Then you hear the twang of some bow, some arrows fly in your direction. Or maybe a blood-curdling groan or hiss. You fumble around in the dark and then boom! Something hits you. Your life depletes. What the hell is going on!? And then you DIE a horrible death.

You learn the hard way that by nightfall, this peaceful and cutesy blocky land turns evil with all sorts of ghouls out to feast. That you're completely and utterly alone makes it even more frightening, and so your first objective is organically realized. To find or build shelter for the night.

Everything in Minecraft is breakable, from the trees, to the dirt, to every block of stone in the mountainside. And then they are all reformable into various objects/tools/furniture that will make your life easier in the world of Minecraft. Need a shovel? Simple, just join some planks of wood in a straight line to make the handle, and add a block of stone to the top for the shovel bit. Or form a series of planks in an arch to make a door. There's a very intuitive feel to all of this, no one tells you how to build this or that, but you just have a sense that by putting this and that together, it'll surprisingly form the thing you were needing. For instance, I know I needed glass, and science has taught me glass is made from sand. So I just went and shoveled some of that, threw it on a fire, and voila! Sand.


For a city-dwelling urban rat such as myself, a game that lets me put things together with my "virtual hands" is satisfying in that "nature retreat" novelty way that a lot of urban-types like to do once in awhile. We think we're outdoorsy just cause we get out there and prop up a tent. But there's something more to exploring an untamed landscape, deciding "here, this is where I shall build my next home", and actually carving a hole out of a mountainside, or laying the foundations to your castle. And at night, you sit in it all safe and sound whilst monsters bay for your blood at the threshold.

Play long enough and you settle into this tranquil rhythm. Morning arrives, and you are out again searching for resources or exploring more landscape. By mid-day, you'd have wanted to head back to your base, or if you're nomadic, you're pushing forth and looking for the next place to set up camp. Nightfall comes, you build your base and spend the night forging various things on your furnace and workbench. All this to some very light piano tinkles that add a very mellow, melancholy, and almost spiritual air to the whole game.

It's absolutely lonely too. There is no one ever. It's like you're the only person in the entire universe, you know this fact, and you're doing everything you can to stay alive instead of succumb to the monsters. And for what? To keep building shelters, structures, and super-structures that no one but only you can marvel at? What is the point? Is there a higher being out there somewhere that will ever come to your salvation? Is this a personal hell or heaven?


There is some inherent philosophical musings to take away from Minecraft, but the bottomline as far as gameplay is concerned, is that it is a very strong foundation for future possibilities in complete sandboxing. Its only limitation is that after awhile, you do wonder "what do I do now?" And unless you have a strong penchant for crazy wild ideas and experimentation with engineering feats of wonder, you will perhaps lay this game aside after sometime. But the beauty of it is that you can always come back to it just as easily. There is no pressure, no hindrance of game structure. You're dropped back in the world, and it's like you never left.

The graphics is far removed from the shininess of more expensive triple-A titles. It's a game that can run on your dingy old laptop too, it just needs some RAM to ensure smooth rendering of the never-ending world as you venture forth into it. I feel like the lo-fi graphics actually adds to the game's charm, distills the concept of survival in a foreign world to its essence. Because heavy duty, photorealistic graphics like the kind you'll find in Crysis will only serve to distract you from the tight game mechanics.

The most interesting thing about the graphics however, is that despite its lo-fi engine, there is a deep beauty to the game's setting. The natural rock formations, over-hangings, waterfalls, steeps, canyons, rivers, forests all are a sight to behold. You stand atop a hill and look at the vast natural untouched lands before you, and it really is something. And that it is all procedurally generated makes it even more of a wonder.


I know there's a multiplayer component, but that's still being tweaked, not entirely bug-free, and takes Minecraft to a more cooperative level. But the singleplayer is the game's core, you make what you want in the world; your entertainment comes at the price of your hard work, but the rewards are deeper rather than superficial.

I know Notch (the game's founder) is continually adding content to Minecraft, and for its relatively cheap price, you're getting more than you paid for. And if you buy it now rather than later, it is also going to be cheaper in the long run. So go do so here if you want a different experience from the whiz bang explosions of 2010.

PS. My little bit about Castaway at the start of this post? Well, it's relevant to Minecraft because I got so lonely in the game, I started talking to a pumpkin. Bobby the Pumpkin was my constant companion.

PPS. For the infinite possibilities that Minecraft affords, I leave you with the image below.

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News: Telltale's Back to the Future trailer is a-go!

When I was a kid... don't you just hate it when blog posts start like this? You just know that it's going to be a fucking long thing about some guy's childhood that meanders for a long time, going on about his mum and dad and how they took him to see Bongo the Clown and had his first hot dog, or some shit like that. And that out of nowhere, it ties back to whatever thing the writer wanted to talk about in the first place, like Telltale's got a new Back to the Future trailer which can be found below.

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Yes, when I was a kid I loved Back to the Future. I still have a soft-spot for it. Pre-Parkinson's Marty McFly was the right combination of naive and relatable, and yet tough on the inside. And boy, was Doc the coolest madman scientist I'd ever seen in my life.

And the ability to time-travel just blew my mind. The adventures they had were beyond anything for a kid's imagination and set the stage for some pretty epic imaginings of my own from then on.

So when Telltale of new Monkey Island and Sam & Max reboots fame announced they were doing a Back to the Future adventure game, I had a nagging wariness in the back of my mind that this may not be good. How on earth would they do something like that? It hurt my head just thinking about it so I watched the trailer and was thankfully proven wrong.



IT LOOKS REALLY COOL and the music is so dead-on with the original trilogy's wackiness. It makes me want to watch all of the movies over again. And then play this game and save Doc. Because Doc should never be captured.

I wonder who does the voices?

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