- Uncategorized
Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor Trades Its Massive Controller for Really Low Review Scores
In 2002 Capcom released Steel Battalion for the Xbox, a mech game so complex it was bundled for $200 with a massive proprietary controller. It didn’t sell particularly well, but Capcom didn’t let that stop them from creating a sequel that will probably sell worse. By combining the Xbox 360 controller with Microsoft’s motion-sensing Kinect…
By Mike Fahey - Uncategorized
NHL 13 Crowns Its Cover Star at the League’s Awards Night
Claude Giroux, a pivotal figure in the Philadelphia Flyers’ run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2010, was named the star of the cover of NHL 13 at the league’s annual awards banquet on Wednesday night, prevailing over Pekka Rinne, the Nashville goalie, in a fan-voted contest. Giroux won out after an extremely long—March 29…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
Syndicate Developers Knew They Wouldn’t Please Everyone, Or Possibly Anyone
Early this year, Starbreeze Studios and EA launched Syndicate, an FPS reboot of a 1990s tactical classic. The game met with decidedly mixed reviews, and although some players enjoyed it, in terms of sales it’s mostly gone down as a flop. Speaking with Edge, Starbreeze CEO Mikael Nermark said he and his studio were proud…
By Kate Cox -
- Uncategorized
NBA 2K13 Starts to Tease its Next Cover Star
News and notes from around the world of sports video gaming: • The second week after E3 is typically when 2K Sports cranks up the hypeotron for NBA 2K, and we’re hearing the engine hum right on schedule. The game’s social media operation is asking people to tweet what they hope or want to see…
By Owen Good - Uncategorized
How Long Can NCAA Remain Above the Anger Against Madden?
Both are made by EA Sports. Both are American football titles. Both are made under exclusive license, and both come out every year. Speak the name of NCAA Football, and no one brings up NCAA College Football 2K3. But say anything about Madden, and every gamer with a commenting account starts chanting for the ultimate…
By Owen Good -
-
UncategorizedStan ‘The Man’ Lee Soaring Gracefully Over New York Might Be the Most Beautiful Thing I’ve Ever Seen
I was initially skeptical about Stan Lee’s cameo appearance as a playable character in The Amazing Spider-Man. Now that I’ve see this video, I might be persuaded to buy an entire Stan Lee game. Stan’s mission to save his script pages, likely written by someone else, is an Amazon.com exclusive preorder bonus for Beenox’s The…
By Mike Fahey -
-
UncategorizedBrand-New Indie Game Resonance is the Best 1990s Adventure Game I’ve Played in Years
I am a big fan of adventure games. They’ve been my favorite genre for decades. I like them quite a lot. Enough to have named my cat Guybrush. I have sampled and enjoyed many indie adventure games, both old and new, this year. And I mention all of this so that you will realize the…
By Kate Cox - Uncategorized
Divinity: Original Sin Turns a Single-Player Killfest Into Turn-Based, Group Combat. And Succeeds.
Larian Studios’ Divinity franchise has had an uneven past. The first game, Divine Divinity, was very good, but others have been more mixed. At E3 this year, Larian showed off two games set in the Divinity universe. One, Dragon Commander, is a real-time strategy game focusing on the dragon knight idea introduced in Divinity II.…
By Kate Cox - Uncategorized
Any MMO Can Take You to Hell. The Secret World Takes You to an Amusement Park
My first guided tour of Funcom’s upcoming paranormal MMO The Secret World saw me descending into the depths of hell. Many massively multiplayer online role-playing games go there; it’s a popular spot. But only The Secret World follows up hell with a visit to a demented theme park. Funcom’s Craig Morrison escorted a group of…
By Mike Fahey - Uncategorized
The End of Chivalry, Cheesy Action Movies, and Fascist Elves: A Chat With the Man Who Runs Paradox
The first morning of E3, I sat down to talk with Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive. Paradox has, in the past, generally specialized in careful, strategic games with historical settings. But their upcoming titles all deviate from that scheme in some way. While The War of the Roses is historical, it’s anything but a…
By Kate Cox
