Videogames Archives - Page 11 of 185

Plastic Piranha Jason Brice Interview

Here’s a short interview with Plastic Piranha president and CEO Jason Brice. For those of you not familiar with the company, it’s the developer of the upcoming first-person shooter Rekoil. Going from movie marketing to creating a hardcore first-person shooter sounds like an odd career path, but that’s the one Jason Brice has followed. Listen to him talk about his coworkers recreating a Call of Duty level in the office to creating CoD maps to creating Battlefield 2142 maps to starting his own development studio. Due to his atypical and unique background, Jason Brice is particularly passionate about giving gamers powerful and robust mod tools for Rekoil.

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

For the last 10 days or so, I’ve been playing a secret game for a secret job for a secret company. There have been some aspects of it that I’ve greatly enjoyed, but also some aspects that annoy the hell out of me. Based on the gameplay alone, I don’t think it’s something I’d keep playing. However, the license it uses holds my attention and there are definitely some addictive aspects to the game (at least for RPG nerds). All that aside, I’m enjoying the job a great deal. It’s certainly better than coal mining. With the biggest game of 2013 already released and several hot titles hitting this month, I’m curious to see what everyone is playing.

So how about it? What’s on your weekend playlist?

This Week’s Videogame Releases

With the Yankees 2013 season ending in failure, I’m ditching baseball and getting psyched for the 2013-2014 NBA season. NBA 2K14 should be a great help. I have no idea how this season will end, but when I play, the Miami Heat will not win another title. I know that many of you regular RPadholics aren’t big on the Nintendo 3DS platform, but there are a pair of lovely JRPGs hitting the Nintendo handheld this week: Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl and Rune Factory 4. Lastly, Ubi Soft has a pair of trilogy bundles for those looking to maximize their gaming dollars: Assassin’s Creed Ezio Trilogy Edition and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Trilogy Edition.

So, any of you picking up new games this week?

Need For Speed Movie Trailer

Here’s the trailer for the upcoming Need For Speed movie starring Aaron Paul. The vibe I’m getting is…not so good. Need For Speed looks like a dumber version of Fast & Furious. The charming thing with the Fast & Furious franchise is that it didn’t take itself too seriously; there was a certain amount of cleverness in its stupidity. By comparison, Need For Speed appears to take itself seriously and looks completely vapid. Plus, Aaron Paul doesn’t have the cute learning disability that makes Paul Walker so mesmerizing.

Speaking of which, I had to look up Aaron Paul on IMDB. His credentials aren’t that impressive. To be fair, it’s tough competing with Walker, Vin Diesel, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, etc. In addition to having a flaccid leading man, Need For Speed doesn’t have the babe concentration that made the Fast & Furious movies so appealing to men (fast cars and hot women are a winning formula).

On the plus side, the movie doesn’t look budget. I was totally expecting Need For Speed to be a ghetto version of Fast & Furious. The production values in the trailer are very high and the action sequences look expensive to make. At the very least, the movie will have a few thrilling minutes.

One possible savior is Michael Keaton. The man is an incredible actor that’s equally adept at comedy and drama. It’s possible that Keaton could have a few scene-stealers that make Need For Speed entertaining. Yeah, it’s probably wishful thinking on my part, but I’m hoping that 10 minutes of excellent action and a handful of Michael Keaton showstoppers will make Need For Speed tolerable at worst and surprisingly fun at best.

Anyway, check out the clip below and let me know what you think of the Need For Speed movie trailer (please!). Is it something you’d see in theaters, wait to see on Blu-ray, or accidentally watch it when it’s on cable/satellite?

Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns Opening Cinematic

Embedded below is the opening cinematic for Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 3. The five-minute clip is a typical Square Enix cinematic, which is to say that it has some of the most gorgeous visuals you’ll see on a console. Keep in mind that some of the details are lost due to YouTube compression, but I assure you that the Lightning Returns video is quite dazzling. The clip shows several familiar faces and some new ones. As you’ve probably figured out, Lightning isn’t dead, which kind of makes her the Jean Grey of the Final Fantasy universe — she’s alive, she’s dead, no wait she’s alive again, lather and repeat as needed.

Many longtime fans have blasted the Final Fantasy XIII series, but I’ve enjoyed it. Yes, it’s quite different from the older games and the exploration aspects are either non-existent or minimal, but the games’ others aspects have entertained me. With that in mind, I’m really looking forward to Lightning Returns. I’m curious to learn about how she came back and to see how her conflict with Snow is resolved. That said, I’m sure there will be plenty of other details that will confuse the hell out of me.

While I’m certain that the graphics, gameplay, and music will be strong, I’m only mildly hopeful about Lightning Returns‘ story. It’s true that several Square Enix stories make more sense with iteration (it took more than a decade, a PSP prequel, and an animated feature for Final Fantasy VII to make sense), but many gamers still find several Square Enix tales confounding. I love me some Kingdom Hearts, for example, but I need to keep the Wikipedia page handy to keep up with the plot and characters.

Anyway, check out the Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns opening cinematic below and let me know what you think of it (please!). Are you excited for the game? Is it a day-one purchase for you?

Sonic Lost World Video Interview

Here’s a video interview and screenshot gallery of Sonic Lost World for Wii U. Sega of America associate brand manager Aaron Webber chatted with me about Sonic’s new enemies (The Deadly Six), new gameplay elements, mixing classic Sonic gameplay with those new elements, cooperative play, tie-ins with the Nintendo 3DS version of Sonic Lost World, and more. Some of the more interesting features include the parkour system (Sonic will no longer come to a dead stop!) and power-ups influenced by the excellent Sonic Colors.

As someone that grew up with old-school Sonic games, I’m always apprehensive about new twists to the old formula. However, Sonic Lost World looks like it has enough classic elements to satisfy longtime Sonic fans and several new features that will appeal to modern gamers.

After you’ve watched the video, please be sure to check out PaulSemel.com’s excellent preview of the game.

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What Are You Playing This Weekend?

While many of you will be enjoying Grand Theft Auto V this weekend, RPadholic N8R and I will be at the first annual Electronic Cigarette Convention. It’s always awesome seeing Nate and I’m looking forward to catching up with him. The show should be a lot of fun. Vaping companies from all over the world will be displaying goods and a few companies are launching new products or limited-edition products at the show. It’s going to be Nate’s job to keep me from getting too distracted from all the shiny new toys and tasty new e-liquids. I have a bunch of interviews planned with vaping companies from America, the Philippines, Finland, and more. I’ve attended several shows at the Anaheim Convention Center (Blizzcon, NAMM, etc.) and I’m curious to see what a large convention center full of vapers will be like. Will we be able to see anything?!?

So yeah, Nate and I will be at ECC. How about you? What’s on your weekend playlist?

This Week’s Videogame Releases

Grand Theft Auto V will hit store shelves this week. That’s pretty much all you need to know, right? Rockstar’s latest GTA will be one of the biggest games of 2013, if not the biggest. If you’re late to the PlayStation 3 party, you can pick up the GTAV PS3 500GB bundle. If open-world hyper-violence isn’t your thing then there’s…uh…Hot Wheels World’s Best Driver and We Sing: 80s. Right.

So, who’s picking up Grand Theft Auto V this week? Anyone? Anyone?

Coffee Talk #600: September Tech Awesomeness

September was an awesome month for tech enthusiasts. Major consumer electronics companies unveiled major devices in mobile tech, entertainment tech, and videogames. These product announcements, along with the upcoming releases of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, have Q4 2013 looking awesome (and expensive) for tech nerds. Here’s a summary of some of the big tech announcements. After you check ’em out, I’d love to hear your thoughts about these products, as well as any recently announced tech gear I didn’t mention…continued

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, anticipating the messianic return of Derek Jeter in 2014, inexplicably watching flash mob videos for hours, or the return of X-Factor USA, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite: The best-selling e-reader has gotten even better. The (already awesome) screen and UI (that still needs work) have been improved. Amazon is killing this niche and the competition is dwindling. While it’s not as sexy as some of the other tech products that were announced this month, I’m really excited for the new Paperwhite. It’s cheap, easy on the eyes, and is backed by an immense library. Check out more details on the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite from PaulSemel.com.

Samsung Galaxy Gear: First off, I can’t think “Galaxy Gear” without thinking about “Galaxy Glue.” Tech pundits have been predicting the rise of the Smartwatch in 2013. Samsung’s Galaxy Gear is the first release from a major smartphone player. While it does some interesting and useful things, I’m not sold on it. To be fair, I’m not big on the Galaxy S series, while a large portion of the world loves them. With that in mind, a smartwatch tied to a Galaxy smartmatch/tablet doesn’t work for me. That said, there are millions of Galaxy S and Galaxy Note fans, and I’m sure that a percentage of them will be high on the Galaxy Gear. I’m really curious to get your thoughts on this…and am equally curious to hear if you think that Apple will come up with a far more elegant smartwatch product.

Apple iPhone 5c: Tech pundits predicted that Apple would release a “cheap” iPhone available in colors. It was reasoned that the colors and low price would do well in China and India. The “experts” were completely wrong. It’s easy to say through the retroscope, but I never thought that was happening. Apple generally doesn’t do “cheap” anything. Instead, the iPhone 5c is a (very) slightly improved iPhone 5 that’s available in colors. It sticks to Apple’s strategy of using last year’s model as the mid-level choice, but spruces it up with colors. The kids (like RPadholic Tokz’s sister) love colors and there will be millions of people that buy this phone because it’s available in green, blue, yellow, etc. I’m not interested in this product personally, but am super-impressed by Apple’s execution. The profit margins on the iPhone 5c will be silly and the company will make a killing selling last year’s tech in new clothing.

Apple iPhone 5s: In the past, Apple has incrementally upgraded the iPhone every other year (iPhone 4s, iPhone 3gs, etc.). This year’s model is deceptively advanced. A lot of people are paying attention to the fingerprint scanner and many are dogging it. The camera is improved too, but that’s not what’s fascinating about this product. There’s a ton of potential with the iPhone 5s’ 64-bit architecture and M7 coprocessor. The jump to 64-bit is huge and I’m anxious to see how developers take advantage of the CPU/GPU power. The M7 is used to collect all kinds of motion data from the gyroscope, compass, and accelerometer. It will lead to a new wave of inventive location-based apps. While I’m completely bored with the form factor (Can I get a bigger screen already?!?), I’m intrigued by the guts of the iPhone 5s.

PlayStation Vita Slim: It’s like the PSP Vita, but slimmer.

PlayStation Vita TV: This is the Vita product that I want. It’s a set-top box that also lets you play some Vita games — think Apple TV, but with better games and worse media services. The Vita’s library is great, but it’s also completely ignored by people that don’t like mobile consoles. This sub-$100 product would give home gamers access to that underrated library. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Sony hasn’t announced plans for this product outside of Asia. The company says it has “no plans” for North American and European releases at this time, but hopefully customers in those regions will clamor for it. I want this now!!!

Support Mighty No. 9 on Kickstarter!

Mighty No. 9 is being touted by videogame journalists as the spiritual successor to the MegaMan series. This side-scrolling action game is being headed up by Capcom legend Keiji Inafune. The Mighty No. 9 team is comprised of several talents that have worked on the MegaMan series (and for full disclosure, my excellent friends at 8-4 are handling localization and PR). In addition to packing a ton of MegaMan experience, the dev team is stacked with people that have created dozens of games you’ve played (Onimusha, Dead Rising, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Darkstalkers 3, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, and more).

Here’s the one-line summery of Mighty No. 9:

Mighty No. 9 is an all-new Japanese side-scrolling action game that takes the best aspects of the 8- and 16-bit era classics you know and love, and transforms them with modern tech, fresh mechanics, and fan input into something fresh and amazing!

Between what the game is attempting to be and the talent behind it, I’m sold. Just in case you’re not, here’s some additional info.

Kickstarter rewards include a digital soundtrack, getting your face in the game, beta access, t-shirts, and more. There’s even an opportunity to have dinner with Inafune himself.

Mighty No. 9 is currently being developed for Windows PC. One of the intermediate stretch goals ($1,350,000) is to extend development to the Mac OS X and Linux platforms. Those versions are likely to happen. PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii U versions will be made if a more aggressive stretch goal ($2,500,000) is reached. As of this writing, the game’s initial $900,000 goal has been reached and is currently sitting at $1,183,864.

Check out the Might No.9 Kickstarter video below and kindly let me know what you think of the game. Any of you interested in playing it? How about backing it?

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