Tag: Videogames

Mortal Kombat Reboot With Michael Jai White and Jeri Ryan

Here’s a very cool clip of what appears to be a rated-R Mortal Kombat movie starring Michael Jai White (Tyson, Spawn) and Jeri Ryan (Star Trek: Voyager). It’s violent, dark, and bloody — much different than the other Mortal Kombat movies. However, it also has some changes that purists might not dig. Baraka and Reptile are no longer creatures from other races; instead one is a psycho doctor and the other is a psycho mutant.

The video has White portraying Jackson “Jax” Briggs, narrating a bunch of plot points to an incarcerated ninja (that loves the color yellow and impaling his opponents). Johnny Cage is shown getting his ass kicked and eventually decapitated. Jeri Ryan — who is still sexy for her age — walks in as Sonja Blade. The two convince the ninja to aid them by using his nemesis Sub-Zero as bait.

Despite the changes, I love the direction this movie is going in. Check out the clip and let me know what you think of it. Are you down with a dark Mortal Kombat without Robin Shou’s glorious hair?

Coffee Talk #157: E3 Games That Excite You

E3 is next week! There are going to be oodles and oodles of fantastic games at E3 2010 — some of them you know about already and others are sure to surprise. I want to know what games you’re looking forward to learning more about at this year’s show. Shoot off one game you know about and one game you’re hoping for.

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, the NXT invasion, Elton John singing at Rush Limbaugh’s wedding, or your prediction for the NBA finals, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

E3 is next week! There are going to be oodles and oodles of fantastic games at E3 2010 — some of them you already know about and others are sure to surprise you. I want to know what games you’re looking forward to learning more about at this year’s show. Shoot off one game you know about and one game you’re hoping for.

As for me, I can’t wait to see more of The Last Guardian for PlayStation 3. I loved Ico and really liked Shadow of the Colossus. I can’t wait to see what Team Ico does next! As for surprise titles…I can’t really say right now. The one I’m looking forward to the most is something that was told to me off the record. *tease*

So let me know what E3 2010 games you’re looking forward to (please)!

Dragon Age Anime Movie Coming in 2011

FUNimation has announced that it is partnering with BioWare and Electronic Arts for a Dragon Age anime movie. FUNimation is one of the largest anime companies in America, responsible for the North American releases of Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, Yu Yu Hakusho, and more. Here are more details from the press release:

Production of the Dragon Age anime movie is slated to begin this month with a home video release in 2011. Executive producing the film are BioWare’s Executive Producer Mark Darrah and Creative Director Mike Laidlaw, as well as FUNimation’s president and CEO Gen Fukunaga and Director of Original Entertainment Chris Moujaes.

As a huge Dragon Age mark, of course I’m excited for this. I’m happy that Darrah and Laidlaw are involved. I wonder if FUNimation will go with voice actors from the game or anime veterans. Any of you interested in this movie?

Source

PlayStation Move Developer Diary: The Shoot

Here’s a Sony developer diary for The Shoot. It’s an interesting example of motion controls in a traditional game. With motion controls set to play a huge part of E3 2010, I wanted to hear what you guys and gals thought about this developer diary. While nothing beats hands-on experience, this clip should give you a good idea of what to expect from Move in a shooter.

This Week’s Console Game Releases

Last week was pretty much a dud, but this week’s videogame releases are here to save the day! On the multi-platform front you have Green Day: Rock Band and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11. The Nintendo DS has Mega Man Zero Collection for those of you looking for some old-school platformer excitement. Last, but certainly not least, is Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for Sony PlayStation Portable.

What new games are on your wishlist this week?

Coffee Talk #156: What Would Make You Enjoy Motion Controls?

Perhaps this is a lost cause, but I’m going to go ahead and do it anyway. I mean, I know most of you guys hate motion controls. A lot of you dismiss them as gimmicky and limited. I maintain that they can be lots of fun in the rights hands (I’m talking about developer’s hands, not your hands or Reona Rewis’ hands).

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, Ray Allen lighting up the Lakers last night, tonight’s three-hour episode of WWE Monday Night Raw, or what the hell happened to Mark Teixeira, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Perhaps this is a lost cause, but I’m going to go ahead and do it anyway. I mean, I know most of you guys hate motion controls. A lot of you dismiss them as gimmicky and limited. I maintain that they can be lots of fun in the rights hands (I’m talking about developer’s hands, not your hands or Reona Rewis’ hands).

Do you see a way for you to enjoy motion-control games? Perhaps a particular developer or genre would work better for you? Maybe you have a great motion-control experience in your head and haven’t seen a game that executes it properly. Share your thoughts on motion (please)! Do you see a way that Wii, Natal, or Wave can be fun for you personally?

Project Natal Leads to Father Smacking Son (Accidentally)

Ah, the perils of Project Natal. A writer for Parade recently tried out a few demos for Project Natal with his family. While he seemed generally impressed with Microsoft’s motion-control peripheral, playing with it led to a funny incident that caused him to smack his son to tears:

We next tried an obstacle course where you have to dart under trees and jump over logs. I was really working it, leaning my body and windmilling my arms. Unfortunately, Zane, 3, wandered a bit too close to me and, well, I inadvertently smacked him in the face. He started crying. The Microsoft representatives on hand for the demo looked like they might cry, too.

Personally, I would have went on a Tom Hanks rant from A League of Their Own. “Are you crying? Are you crying?!? There’s no crying! There’s no crying in Xbox!!!” I’m sure I wouldn’t find this as funny as I do if I had a son of my own…but I don’t, so it’s frickin’ hilarious.

Source via Engadget

PaRappa Creator Developing WINtA Pro Bono for OneBigGame

WINtA, by PaRappa the Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura, is being developed in a unique way for a unique publisher. Matsuura-san’s company NanaOn-Sha is working on the game pro bono for OneBigGame, which is a non-profit publisher that donates at least 80 percent of its profits to various charitable organizations that help kids. Here’s more info on this game for the iPhone and iPod Touch:

Designed by godfather of music games Masaya Matsuura, WINtA is the next logical step in the genre as it comes up with a new way of involving players in a song’s music and lyrics. Combining elements of pattern recognition challenges with the natural tendency of humans to tap along with music and words, WINtA goes a step beyond the highway of colored symbols which has become synonymous with music games ever since PaRappa the Rapper set the tone in 1996. Making full use of the iPhone and iPod touch’s touch abilities, WINtA provides a fun and natural way for people to tap along to their favorite songs whilst creating a unique and addictive game challenge at the same time.

I hope the project does well, partially because Matsuura-san is frickin’ awesome and partially because I want OneBigGame to succeed. With all the crap that publishers have been pulling lately, the concept of a non-profit publisher seems so alien to me. I’d love for OneBigGame to knock one out of the park with WINtA. Hopefully some of you support the game too!

I could use some more fuzzies today. Please let me know what you think about this cool project and unique publisher.

Coffee Talk #155: Worst Addition to Gaming in the Last Five Years?

Yesterday we had a fun discussion about the best thing to happen to gaming in the last five years. Today I want to talk about the worst thing. While EA’s Online Pass has been making the news lately, I’m sure there are worse things we can think of, right?

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, Drogba missing the World Cup with a broken arm, Miley Cyrus getting in touch with her lesbian side, or Rasheed Wallace being the only Celtic thay played last night, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Yesterday we had a fun discussion about the best thing to happen to gaming in the last five years. Today I want to talk about the worst thing. While EA’s Online Pass has been making the news lately, I’m sure there are worse things we can think of, right?

I’m actually having a hard time thinking about the “worst” thing. Perhaps I’m a generally positive person (at least, when it comes to this business). Some people think Bobby Kotick is gaming’s anti-Christ, but I love him simply for giving me so many things to write about. A lot of people hate DRM, but I’m not much of a PC gamer anymore so the problem doesn’t bother me. I guess the thing that bugs me the most is that game creators still aren’t recognized for their awesome works. Things have gotten a little better, but this business is still more about the publisher than it is the developer, sadly.

Now it’s your turn! What’s the worst thing about the last five years of gaming?

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

For some reason, my recent gaming choices have been all Nintendo. This weekend I’ll be playing more Glory of Heracles for Nintendo DS. It’s a fun RPG written by Kazushige Nojima, who worked on several Final Fantasy games, various Kingdom Hearts titles, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. On the Wii  I’ll be playing Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love. It’s a strategy RPG that’s…well…very Japanese — very quirky and unusual in a way that I love.

How about you? What’s on your weekend playlist?