Tag: Videogames

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.

[nggallery id=138]

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.

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.

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?

Source

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

I’m going to be away from my home consoles most of this weekend. My parents are in Universal City because my Dad is attending some sort of accounting conference (which, I imagine, is like E3…but 1,000 times less interesting). I’ll be trekking up there tomorrow to spend some time with them. Naturally, I’ll have my iPhone and iPad with me. That means lots of Civilization: Revolution, as well as my latest addiction, Angry Birds Star Wars. I should be sick and tired of Angry Birds at this point, but adding a dose of Star Wars totally works for me. It shouldn’t be this much fun…but it is.

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

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

This weekend I shall finish operation “Move My Catch Notes to Evernote.” I’m also going to play some 3DS games. As I was looking for a remote control (I still haven’t completely unpacked), I found my extra 3DS and some other accessories. I’ve been dabbling in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, but finding my other 3DS has inspired me to go full-on with the game. So many of my friends in the gaming industry are head over heels for this one. It definitely has that Nintendo charm and I love its social elements.

That reminds me of this one time at band camp the Ziff-Davis office….. My friends James and I were the only ones in the office, so we visited everyone’s Animal Crossing town and chopped down all their trees. Ha! That’s such a nerdy prank and it still cracks me up to this day. Good times.

Anyway, what’s on your weekend playlist?

Grand Theft Auto Online Trailer

Rockstar Games has posted a gameplay trailer for Grand Theft Auto Online (embedded below). Based off of the video, the game looks like an impressive mix of GTA gameplay, competitive play, cooperative play, and user-created content. That’s…impressive. There’s a very high chance that people will be drawn to the game because of the Grand Theft Auto name and stick around because there’s so much to do. On paper, I really love the diversity it offers; players that enjoy beating each other up can play competitively, those that enjoy tearing up cities with expertly coordinated team-based attacks can play cooperatively, and creative types can construct all kinds of things for players to enjoy.

Now that the trailer is up and you’ve had some time to imagine the possibilities, I’d love to hear what you think about Grand Theft Auto Online. Is it something you’d play? Do you think it will be another smash hit by Rockstar? Do you think we should start an RPad.TV gang? What kind of gang would it be? Would we terrorize cities? Try to make the world a better place? Or crumble due to infighting? Leave a comment and let me know (please!).

Grand Theft Auto Online Trailer

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

This weekend, I’ll be continuing (finishing) the incredibly mundane task of switching my work-related notes from Catch Notes to Evernote. Thankfully, I’ll be mixing in some DuckTales: Remastered to break things up. I’m curious about this game. Several of my friends in the gaming business have been playing it and most of them are raving about it. I have fond memories of the original, but it’s been so long that I don’t remember why it was so much fun back in the day. Hopefully it’s a fun-filled escapade that blends classic platform gameplay with spruced up graphics. My fear is that it won’t be that good and will make me think, “Why did I like the original DuckTales so much in the first place?” Yes, that totally qualifies as a first-world problem.

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

Call of Duty: Ghosts Multiplayer Reveal Trailer

Activision has posted a multiplayer trailer for Call of Duty: Ghosts. I’m looking forward to the game, but honestly, I’m more into the Skylanders franchise these days. However, I know that several of you RPadholics are into the franchise, so kindly check out the video below and let me know what you think.

On a side note, I noticed that this game will be getting two special editions — “Hardened” and “Prestige.” Are any of you planning to get hard or prestigious with Call of Duty: Ghosts? Continue reading “Call of Duty: Ghosts Multiplayer Reveal Trailer”