Here is a pretty film-oriented trailer for Doublefine's new beat 'em up, Brütal Legend, out in October. Conceived by Tim Schaefer (known for Psychonauts, Grim Fandango) and starring Jack Black, this game looks like it's going to be very hit or miss for most gamers.
In a flourish of typecasting, Eddie is voiced by Jack Black. Listening to some of his voice work in trailers, Black comes off as less wildly spastic than in his movies (School of Rock and High Fidelity come to mind). One wonders if this was due to a voice director having him tone it down or his own interpretation of the writing. Regardless, Black's presence is likely to suit Schaefer's goofy sense of humor quite well.
The few videos of game mechanics available show Eddie swinging a huge axe and jumping around a bit. What we want to see at E3 is a real demonstration of how Eddie fights and maybe a boss battle or two that mixes things up.
Now it's sequel time, and from what I've seen, Naughty Dog seems more than ready to deliver the same adrenaline pumping action we saw in the first game. With improved graphics, enemy AI and virtually no load screens, gamers are in for a true showcase of what the PS3's cell processor can do.
Uncharted 2 finds treasure hunter Nathan Drake following the path of famous explorer Marco Polo's last voyage. Rather than the tropical jungles of the Caribbean, he'll venture through the Himalayas in search of the lost city of Shangri-La.
The original game took a queue from Metal Gear Solid 3's locations, showing us how gorgeous a jungle environment can be in a video game setting. I'd imagine jungles are one of the hardest bits of scenery to make, envisioning the vibrant plant life, the random spread of trees, rivers and so forth. So far, we've seen what looks to be an abandoned village where most of the action takes place, but by no means does this restrict Nathan in any way.
Every detail of this city is expertly crafted. Lamp posts, broken cars, dilapidated buildings, everything in the environment can be scaled or used to Nathan's advantage. It's a marvel to watch how he improvises a path to the next location, casually vaulting up a streetlight, or scaling the protruding bricks of a destroyed chunk of wall. His hand movements and body parts all are animated to match the environment, as he grasps each and every corner when scaling the wall. Clearly a lot of time and effort went into making Nathan as realistic as possible.
Realism however, has always been a unique take for Naughty Dog. In the original game,players could unlock bonus movies featuring interviews with the developers. In these interviews, they mention inspiration coming from wanting to separate themselves from other "darker-toned" games such as Gears of War or Metal Gear Solid 4. Wanting to go a new direction, they strived to make the game as vibrant and colorful as possible.
This "colorful realism" shows in Uncharted 2 just as well as in the first game. Water looks like water, dust explodes from bullets pelting into bricks, and Nathan's sarcastic commentary still guides us through the experience.
While Uncharted was primarily a single player experience, save for the occasional AI character coming to your assistance, this time a new multiplayer experience will be added to the game. So far, only a few traditional methods of multiplayer have been seen, namely a deathmatch game, and a capture-the-flag mode. We won’t get a good glimpse of this game in action until E3, but those of you who pre-ordered Infamous were given codes to the beta test starting on June 1st. We'll have more details on that when it arrives.
Still, the game is all about the single player experience. As Nathan searches for the next mythical artifact on his quest for...well...whatever it is he's looking for, he can still take cover behind walls or kick over benches and tables, taking out enemies from behind objects scattered about the environment.
This time, instead of killing South American drug smugglers, (in what I can only assume was the systematic genocide of an entire race of people in the first game...) he'll be fighting a military faction aimed at beating him to his destination. Now, usually when I hear that a military faction is involved, that sounds to me like a good excuse to make more bad guys look the same, as all they need to do is put on a helmet, and use one of three voice actors to regurgitate notable one liners such as "Get him!" or "He's over there!" Still, with the amount of attention to detail in this game, it's a minor point I can overlook. What really impresses me about the bad guys is the AI. While they won't take a dozens rounds to the chest like the last game, upon spotting you, they will progressively hunt for you in the surrounding area, instead of sticking to the usual set walking paths.
So far the game seems to be coming along pretty well. I just hope they focus more on the single player experience than the multi-player. While Tomb Raider may have done the "Indiana Jones game" to death, there is still something intriguing about journeying through a lost city, especially with the graphics of today's consoles. While partly rooted in fiction, a good story and good writing are what kept the last game interesting for me. While I admit, I don't think Uncharted 2: Among Thieves necessarily needs multi-player, there's still something satisfying about grabbing your opponent by the ankle and pulling him off a ledge. Look for this one at E3.
Gamasutra posted a story after 3D realms sent a press release stating that they aren't' dead, just...shaken. After letting the entire team go, 3D Realms will continue on as a smaller company, with a new team of devs. Yet another setback in the ongoing Duke Nukem Forever saga. No word yet if that means the game is still in development.
I'll also be posting up some interesting stories about young gamers here at UNM in the next day or so, as I was invited to cover the final gaming projects for Carolyn Miller's class. There's some neat ideas coming up so be sure and keep an eye on what's coming up.
Lastly, there's one day left before they announce the winner for 1up.com's blog contest, so thanks to everyone for your kind words of support. This summer is going to be a real test of what we can do as writers. I'm looking to bring on another staff member of my site, a real professional writer, so we'll have a great collaboration of articles, reviews, and opinions for you to keep track of. Thanks again to everyone at 1up.com as well, for being...well, the whole inspiration for well...everything!
Here are a few things I'll look forward to bringing you at E3 if I'm sent.
Slim PS3 in the works!?
What is this thing!?!? Where did it come from!?!? How did it end up in the hands of the Chinese?!?
WTF is this !?!?!!?
What the hell is this!?!? What does it mean!?! Why does Hideo keep making these teasers!?!?!
Where the hell is Sam Fisher!?!?
What!?!? HAS THE WORLD GONE MAD!? SAM FISHER MISSING!?!? WHERE DID HE GO!?!?
All this mystery! I can't take much more of it!!! The world and everything I know is rapidly descending into chaos!!! 1up better send me to E3 so I can investigate!
3) Consume and Become Anyone - You kill a guy, you take on his appearance and weapons. We only see Alex do this to soldiers, but "anyone" implies I can walk up to any NPC in the game and consume them. Let's hope to god the developers have had the good sense to not allow you to do this to children because Australia bans enough games as it is.
6) Brutal Devastator Attacks - Alex can do super attacks and explode dozens of tentacles out of his body, spearing anyone in their radius and consuming them. Japanese schoolgirls, avoid this man. You've been warned!
10) "Run and Gun" Firepower - It looks essentially like the gunplay from Mercenaries with possibly some form of auto-targeting. Really, in a third-person action game like this, I wouldn't expect it to change the genre. However, it's nice to see the camera is pulled back enough from the action to show more of what's going on than is typical for this style of game. I'm curious to see how targeting will work in a game where you potentially have a dozen targets on screen simultaneously. I'm thinking... not well, but it still looks fun.
Aidan Turowski vs. Jim Sterling 
Jim Sterlin's article
PS3 Trophies and how they underachieve
One of the few good things Microsoft did for the games industry was introduce the concept of Achievements. Some of you may disagree with me, especially as it's considered quite hip to hate Achievements and claim they ruined videogames, but the extra level of interest and longevity they add to a game has certainly had an impact on my own game playing habits, and a great deal many others.
It was only a matter of time before Sony tried to follow Microsoft's lead and introduce its own take on Achievements. As of this year, PlayStation Trophies are now a mandatory part of all PS3 titles, working very much in the same way as MS' Achievements, with a few structural differences. However, unlike MS' Achievements, Trophies have so far failed to really add much of anything to my gameplay experience.
A rather underwhelming addition, marred by some key problems, Trophies have underachieved, proving that perhaps it's not always best to just try and copy someone else's successful idea and expect the same level of success (*coughmotioncontrolscough*). Read on as we explain the problem with PS3 Trophies.
When a game is loading on the Xbox 360, I'll often fill the seconds by quickly glancing over some Achievements to check my progress, or look at some messages, which can instantly be done with a quick tap of the controller's Guide Button to bring up a useful mini dashboard. You can easily bring up the dashboard and pass time in there while waiting for the next level to load. Not so on the PS3. Usually, by the time you've actually navigated to the Trophies and waited for the information itself to load up, the game is ready to be played. There is no checking out other peoples' PSN IDs in a pre-match lobby either, not with the same ease and swiftness of an Xbox 360 lobby.
When a game is loading on the Xbox 360, I'll often fill the seconds by quickly glancing over some Achievements to check my progress, or look at some messages, which can instantly be done with a quick tap of the controller's Guide Button to bring up a useful mini dashboard. You can easily bring up the dashboard and pass time in there while waiting for the next level to load. Not so on the PS3. Usually, by the time you've actually navigated to the Trophies and waited for the information itself to load up, the game is ready to be played. There is no checking out other peoples' PSN IDs in a pre-match lobby either, not with the same ease and swiftness of an Xbox 360 lobby.
Even worse, and completely inexcusable to boot, is the fact that Trophies need to "sync" before you can view them on the XMB. I don't quite get how the Xbox 360 can have your Achievements all ready for you to glance over at any time, while you need to sit through a loading screen in order to look at anything PS3-related. On the 360, it's incredibly easy to compare your Achievements to others on your friends list. On the PS3, you have to spend your time watching little rotating circles as the PS3 sluggishly fires up the Trophies.
Another glaring fault is the fact that, unlike Achievements, very few Trophies actually carry with them a sense of value, arbitrary or otherwise. Every single Achievement feels like it's adding to this colossal E-Peen that grows with every Achievement you unlock. It's thoroughly meaningless, I fully admit that, but so is a lot of things in the world of gaming, and the mindless collection factor is addictive and adds to the fun of unlocking Achievements. Even the smallest and most insignificant of Achievements feels like it carries a "value" of sorts. 5G is still 5G, and those small Achievements all contribute to increasing that E-Peen's all-crucial size.
The Gamerscore, while accomplishing nothing of true value, at least stands as a testament to your history with the Xbox 360's game library, and quickly gives people a rough idea of how much quality time you've spent with the system. Every Achivement collected adds to that.
Not so with Trophies, that are split between Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Straight away, we are taught that only a few Trophies actually matter. Who cares about common Bronze Trophies? The way in which different values are assigned to the Trophies practically admits that a huge amount of them are worthless. Nearly all my Trophies so far are Bronze, and I struggle to give a shit about any of them, because we all know that Bronze is for losers. Unlike Achievements, which have an "every little helps" aura about them, the PlayStation Trophies don't feel like they work towards anything. Don't get me wrong, both Achievements and Trophies are, at the end of the day, meaningless tokens. Trophies, however, make it far too obvious to inspire anything but apathy.
Trophies also carry with them some "level up" system which I suppose is meant to rival the Gamerscore except it ... doesn't. It's rather senseless and just sits there, proving very little. While the idea of leveling up your PSN actually has potential, until it does more than simply sit buried in your profile with its thumb up its arse, it won't beat the Gamerscore.
Even the visual aspect of Trophies are unappealing. The "Achievement Unlocked" image has become almost iconic this generation, with its distinct sound and look becoming a welcome occurrence during the course of any 360 game. Sony's small, whimpering little gray box that announces, in tiny text, that "You've earned a Trophy" brings with it all the fanfare of an old lady's wet fart.
The interesting thing is, Sony has just as much opportunity, if not more so, the make Trophies stand out, thanks in part to the PSP, and this may be where Trophies might eventually justify their existence. There has been talk in the past about PSP games having their own Trophies, and if your PSN ID remains linked between both your PS3 and PSP, then we're definitely looking at something interesting. The ability to unlock these extra rewards across multiple platforms as well as multiple games is something that Microsoft simply does not have right now, and it's something Sony could definitely capitalize on in order to start steering the direction of a gamer's identity, rather than just follow in the footsteps of a rival.
Of course, the first thing Sony needs to do is make the that aforementioned identity something to identify with. Until that happens, Trophies will always mean very little compared to Achievements and the Gamerscore. Sony has a lot of games, several consoles and even social experiments like Home and LittleBigPlanet. However, everything right now feels disconnected from one another. The PlayStation brand has an incredibly amount of tools to make Trophy support something worth bragging about, but until it pulls the drawstrings and brings all of its separate parts together, the PSN experience is always going to feel like a step behind what the Xbox brand currently offers.
A greater sense of personality, a more convenient way to interact with your gaming rewards and a feeling, however false, that Trophies actually mean something. Sony could do all that and really go toe-to-toe with the idea of Gamertags. Unfortunately, until Sony realizes that just trying to mimic Achievements with the bare minimum of effort doesn't make for much competition, Trophies will remain quite the underachievement.
Aidan Turowski's response
