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Go Ahead and Shoot Elizabeth in BioShock Infinite. Ken Levine’s Way Ahead of You
“It’s in the simulation.” When I spoke with Ken Levine about BioShock Infinite at E3, I was struck by his use of that phrase. The game as he describes it will be a complex concoction of different AIs, each of which exists independently and interacts in unscripted, emergent ways. Two NPCs get into a fight…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 27, 2011 -
In a Minute and a Half, BioWare’s Gabe Amatangelo Explains Why The Old Republic Isn’t Just Another MMO
We’ve written our fair share of skeptical previews of BioWare’s upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. So I thought I’d catch Gabe Amatangelo and ask him to explain what, specifically, it is that will set The Old Republic apart from other MMOs. Believe it or not, his response was not “Because it’s Star Wars,…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 27, 2011 -
What Does Jennifer Hale Think of the Nickname “FemShep?” (and Other Things)
From Facebook beauty-contests for the character she plays to big New Yorker profiles to a hilarious case of mistaken Twitter identity, we’ve been talking a lot about Mass Effect 3‘s female lead Jennifer Hale lately. So when given the opportunity to chat with her one-on-one at PAX, I jumped at the chance. We covered a…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 27, 2011 -
This is Easily The Single Worst Piece of Marketing at PAX
If you visited any of the restrooms at PAX (well, the Men’s rooms anyway. I don’t know about the ladies’ rooms. I could have checked, but… er, anyway). If you visited any of the men’s rooms at PAX, you probably saw this Prototype 2 sticker on the inside of the stalls and stuck above the…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 27, 2011 -
No Origin-Story Comic For New Players in Mass Effect 3
A small but neat feature of the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 was the “Mass Effect: Genesis” comic that allowed new players to go through the story of the first Mass Effect and make all of the decisions that would come into play in the sequel. Mass Effect 3 is surely being designed with…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 27, 2011 -
PAX Day 1: The Expo Booths
As I make my way around the PAX Expo Hall, I’m trying to take as many pictures as possible. Here are some shots I grabbed yesterday; from the completely awesome Skyrim dragon to Bioshock: Infinite‘s Songbird, dramatic props, creatures, and models cover the halls and skybridge. My personal favorite is the GoG.com booth, which is…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 27, 2011 -
PAX After Hours: Behold the Screen-Fields of Freeplayvainia
During the day, PAX is a chaotic bustle of fans, enforcers, media and game reps, thousands upon thousands of people flocking through the Seattle Convention Center, bright lights offset by dark expo floors, and a constant hum of excitement, cheers, and laughter. But I like it here at night. After hours, the rooms dedicated to…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 27, 2011 -
Choice, Consequence, and Snake-Skins: The Deus Ex Letters Continue
Our retrospective letter series continues with part three. An index of all letters can be found here — From: Kirk Hamilton To: Leigh Alexander Subject: I Choo-Choo-Choose Leigh, “What do you choose, and why?” I’m glad you asked. I’m tempted to answer, “I choose choice!” but there’s more to it than that. Player Choice has…
Kirk Hamilton & Leigh Alexander Published August 26, 2011 -
Halo: Anniversary Deftly Repaints Gaming History
Confession: I wasn’t all that excited about the E3 announcement of Halo: Anniversary. I think it was some combination of remake-fatigue, the fact that Tomb Raider had already snagged the Anniversary title for their remake… all that top of the fact that the grand Halo Reach went so far beyond the original that an up-res’d…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 26, 2011 -
The Classic Magnum Returns in an Upcoming Halo: Reach Title Update
At PAX’s Halo-fest, 343 Industries detailed a coming title update for Halo: Reach, slated for release sometime in October. The title update will balance several of the suit abilities, changing Armor Lock’s damage absorption to be based on the amount of energy a player has remaining. It will also shorten the duration of Active Camo…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 26, 2011 -
Have to Say, Deus Ex: Human Revolution‘s Loading Screens are a Total Drag
I like Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I like it a lot, even. I’ve written about the things I really dig and even made a video detailing some of them. But the game does have its share of flaws. One in particular stands out: the atrociously long loading screens. Good lord, you guys, these loading screens…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 25, 2011 -
These People Played Starhawk, and They Liked It
Sony has posted a new video for Lightbox Interactive’s upcoming Shooter/Builder/Flyer/Strategy hybrid Starhawk, which shows some serious building’, shooting’ action, as well as the excited reactions of a bunch of Comic Con attendees who got to play the game. Surprise: they liked it! Much like our own Brian Crecente, who had a chance to play…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 24, 2011 -
Blizzard Launches Diablo III Community Site, Beta Sure To Follow
The official community site for Blizzard’s hot-hot-hotly anticipated dungeoneer Diablo III has launched, giving the game’s hordes of fans a centralized place to post about, you know, how mad excited everyone is about the game. The activation of the community site seems to underline a high probability that the Beta will be released soon, at…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 24, 2011 -
Risk Gets Even Riskier With Risk: Legacy, a High-Stakes Game of Permanent Decisions
The classic board game Risk is getting a turbocharged (and somewhat controversial) update in the form of Risk: Legacy. In Legacy, players will permanently mark up and change their boards, each round leaving the battlefield permanently altered. Sounds… kind of epic, actually. The game’s designer, Rob Daviau, hopped onto the BoardGameGeek forums to talk about…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 23, 2011 -
Have Some Heavy Metal With Your Moon-Zombies in Call of Duty: Black Ops
In space, no one can hear you scr… yeah, you know the drill. No one can hear much of anything actually, except for the groans of endlessly advancing zombies, and the choked coughs of machine gun fire. Thankfully, Call of Duty: Black Ops‘s DLC zombie map “Moon” features an unlockable musical easter egg that dials…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 23, 2011 -
To Stab or to Karate-Chop? Deus Ex: Human Revolution Is All About Options
Yesterday, I wrote a post about some of the things I really like in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Today, I thought I’d share a video demonstrating some of them. This video shows some highlights from the first mission in the game—stealth, hacking, cover, takedowns, conversation, negotiation, and exploration. Since it takes place near the start…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 23, 2011 -
Coming Up This Weekend at PAX: Kinect Sports Baseball
This coming weekend, Stephen, Joel and I are going to be heading to Seattle for PAX—we’ll be fighting our way around the show floor, taking pictures of as much crazy stuff as possible, playing a whole lot of upcoming games, including… well, including baseball. Microsoft, Rare and Big Park will be debuting the baseball portion…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 22, 2011 -
A Few Favorite Things About Deus Ex: Human Revolution
There are a couple of things that one must say about Deus Ex: Human Revolution up front to assuage the fears of the faithful. “It is true to Deus Ex.” “It feels like a PC game.” So there you go: both of those things are true. I’ve spent the past week playing the pants off…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 22, 2011 -
Intel is Everything in Ghost Recon: Future Soldier‘s Multiplayer
Just in time for Gamescom, Ubisoft has dropped off a new multiplayer dev diary for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. In the video, Tommy Jacobs, the multiplayer creative director on Future Soldier, walks us through a bunch of features in the upcoming tactical shooter. After playing a good chunk of GRFS at E3 (and allow me…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 19, 2011 -
Hey BioWare, That’s the Wrong Jennifer Hale
It’s pretty cool that Jennifer Hale was the subject of such a great New Yorker profile. Not just because she finally played Mass Effect while doing it, and not even because I totally have a quote in the article. No, it’s cool because Jennifer Hale is the queen of voice acting, and she deserves the…
By Kirk Hamilton Published August 19, 2011
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