Knowing that several of you are Walking Dead fans, I thought you’d be interested in this clever promotion from Telltale Games. Players that pre-order the game have a chance to star in it! Five lucky winners will get to be zombies in the game. The grand prize is the role of a human that gets killed, returns as a zombie, and gets killed again! As someone that has experience being a zombie, I assure you that this is a cool experience. Check out additional details in the video above.
Any of you going to pre-order Walking Dead for a chance to be an in-game zombie?
Square Enix has released a bunch of DLC for Final Fantasy XIII-2. This most anticipated of which is the $3 Ezio Auditore (Assassin’s Creed) costume for Noel Kreiss. Serah fans get a free outfit called “Style and Steel”, which was designed by Japanese pop star Yuko Oshima. The coliseum get two new combatants: Final Fantasy V Gilgamesh ($4) and Final Fantasy VIII PuPu ($2).
The new costumes are pretty sweet and I can’t wait to add the two coliseum characters to my FFXIII-2 monster arsenal. I’m such a mark for this game that I’m going to buy all of this week’s DLC, Etro be damned. Anyway, check out screens of the whole lot below.
There’s sweet FA coming out this week at retail, but there’s a downloadable game that you should keep your eye on. Skullgirls hits PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade this week for $15. This is a sweet 2D fighting game with a really cool art style. The voice acting was directed by Cristina Vee and the game features tracks composed by the awesome Michiru Yamane (Castlevania, Suikoden). Full disclosure: a friend of mine works for the developer and I want this game to do well. That said, I’m not being a homer about it; just look at the video below to see Skullgirls in action — it’s cool!
Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, American Idol being 46 percent less entertaining since Heejun Han’s elimination, missing your friends at PAX East, or this very nice web site, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
One of the many things I dig about Final Fantasy XIII-2 is Mog. He’s pretty much the best videogame weapon I’ve encountered in the last decade. His versatility is astounding! Mog can transform into a sword. He can serve as a bow. He can find inter-dimensional treasure. You can chuck him so that he can find inter-dimensional treasure in hard-to-reach places. Although he overuses the word “kupo” to a staggering degree, he’s not a bad conversationalist. I’m certain he’d be an awesome chick magnet too. Mog is a formidable weapon that’s part metal detector and part friend. How do you beat that?!?
So yeah, if I could have any videogame weapon that ever existed, it would be Mog from Final Fantasy XIII-2. How about you? What’s the videogame weapon of your dreams? Do you have visions of slicing up baddies or opening cans of soup with Master Chief’s energy sword? Would you use the Gears of War Lancer as a letter opener? How cool would it be to have the Master Sword from The Legend of Zelda? The possibilities are awesome!
If you could have one videogame weapon in the world, what would it be and why? Leave your answer in the comments section (please!).
Yesterday I received a bit of news that changed my gaming weekend in a way I wasn’t expecting…at all. I’ll be spending a lot of hours playing a secret game…on my MacBook. I can’t say much about it yet, but I assure you that it’s super cool. It’s just surprising that the game is for Mac. That was completely unexpected. In other news, my gaming worlds are colliding thanks to Skylanders Cloud Patrol for iPad. Some of you will recall my fascination with Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventures in 2011. The business is fascinating and the games are fun. I know all the code is already there, but it feels cool when my action figure shows up in my Xbox 360 game or my iPad game. In the immortal words of Queen, “It’s a kind of magic.”
The excellent people at Capybara Games have announced that Superbrothers: Sword & Sorcery EP will soon be available on Mac and PC. The game was one of my favorite iOS titles in 2011. The gameplay and graphics are old-school. The sound design and music are fantastic. The writing is cute and clever. Put it all together and Sword & Sworcery is just a completely charming experience.
The game will be available through Steam on April 16, with a Mac release before the summer solstice (June 20). I’m thrilled that S:S&S EP will be able to reach more gamers than ever! Any of you interested in Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP for Mac or PC?
Here’s a short and sexy teaser (not Brian Leahy) from The Avengers. This time around, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) is tied up and wearing a sexy outfit. Watch her bust through her…uhm…bonds and beat up the bad guys. Also, this scene has some awesome jiggling. While there’s still a small part of me that worries about the movie, I’m sure that it’ll be totally worth it just to see this scene on the big screen.
Agree? Disagree? Leave your thoughts in the comments section (please!).
For its next game, Harmonix is mixing its recent past (Rock Band) with it distant past (Frequency, Amplitude) to create Rock Band Blitz. Available for PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade this summer, Rock Band Blitz is a rhythm/music game (duh!) that uses popular music, similar to the company’s recent hits. Unlike Harmonix’s most recent games, this one uses a standard controller, similar to the company’s early PlayStation 2 games. My question for you today is this: Do yo care to play a music-rhythm game without plastic instruments?
On the plus side, the game is more accessible since everyone that has a PlayStation 3 or an Xbox 360 has a standard controller. The game also works with thousands of songs from the Rock Band Music Store. That said, games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band caught on because of the plastic instruments; they gave gamers a different kind of interactivity and helped them connect with the music like never before. While I loved Frequency and Amplitude, those games weren’t nearly as popular as Harmonix’s plastic-instrument titles.
My initial reaction to Google’s Project Glass was, “Wait…Sunday was April 1….” After reading more about it and watching the video above, I see that it’s just the latest in a long line of rip-offs from Google. This is nothing more than a Saiyan scouter, like the one Vegeta used in Dragon Ball Z. The company claims that it’s a lot more — it’s a wearable tech initiative “that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment”.
I’m totally down with Project Glass. I just want it so that I can do things like stare at a kitten and scream, “Power level 9000?!?” I figure that’s at least five-years worth of entertainment. Totally worth it.
Seriously though, are you interested in wearable tech like Google Project Glass (in a non-DBZ way)?
Amazon and Sony have launched Amazon Instant Video for PlayStation 3. The service allows PS3 owners to buy and rent video content that’s streamed to their consoles. Amazon Prime subscribers also enjoy a “free” library of streaming movies and television shows. Amazon Instant Video has been available on numerous Blu-ray players, smart televisions, and streaming-video boxes. The PlayStation 3 is the first console the service has been available on.
I played around with Amazon Instant Video on my PS3 and was most impressed by this first effort. The navigation was smooth and content was easy to find. Playback wasn’t as good; the interface felt a bit clunky compared to Netflix. Perhaps I’ll get used to it over time, but right now I prefer the way Netflix handles playback.
Looking at the bigger picture, this is just another sign of what consoles have become. It’s no longer enough for consoles to play great games. They have to offer video, music, and social services too. While Netflix is available on all three major consoles, Amazon Instant Video is only available on the PlayStation 3 (for now). The console companies will be competing fiercely to differentiate their services as well as a native software. While Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony are fighting it out, gamers will get to enjoy the most powerful and diverse consoles ever. Cool.
Any of you excited to use Amazon Instant Video on your PS3?
