In October of last year, Valve announced their second project of 2011 would not be Half Life 2: Episode 3 or Half Life 3 or Just Release Another Half Life Game Already, Goddammit, but DotA 2. Much of the gaming world’s response amounted to a collective, “Wha…who…why would…really?”
After my latest Guild Wars 2 article, “Vocal Coaching”, ArenaNet’s lead writer Bobby Stein got in touch, and put some time aside to discuss Guild Wars 2’s voice acting, its dialogue and the audition process. Here’s how we got on…
You know the problem with perfect things? They’re perfect. And the moment something exceeds expectations, everyone expects more. Shadow of the Colossus was – and is – transcendent; “perfect,” even. Except for one thing. And though that one thing wasn’t enough to seriously tarnish the game, after that encounter it was super hard for me to be objective. I found it difficult to forgive or forget a flaw that would have gone unnoticed in any other game. Because Shadow of the Colossus was perfect, imperfections stand out.
Review by Max “Xtal” Boone Anomaly: Warzone Earth Developer 11 bit studios Publisher 11 bit studios Released April 8, 2011 Available for PC/Mac, iOS (coming soon) Time Played Completed Verdict: 4/5 Thumbs Up “Ultimately what I felt I got from Anomaly was a solid campaign which lasted me somewhere between 3-5 hours, and that’s probably …
Developer Eric Chahi Publisher Digital Lounge Released 2006 (originally released in 1991 on the Amiga) Available for Windows Time Played Completed Verdict:5/5 Gold Star “Chahi’s opus is short but sharp, often painfully sharp, but beyond its unforgiving difficulty and relatively simple gameplay lies a unique and enthralling experience that the 15th Anniversary Edition brings bang …
As you all by now surely know, PSN is down. It went and got itself hacked. And there’s no telling when it’s coming back up. Now Sony has admitted that as many as 70 million user accounts have been compromised, with personal information and encrypted credit card numbers in the paws of some script kiddie. A few analysts are speculating that this little fiasco could cost Sony upwards of $20 billion.
Bits ‘n’ Bytes Gaming Overlord Martin Watts has penned a great article about the inherent flaws in game ratings and how both readers and outlets tend to interpret them. This is a longstanding issue, one that everyone seems to hate but for which no one seems able to impose a fix. Check out Martin’s view …
My schedule over at the IGDA has been a complete mystery. I used to stick very rigidly to a next-month’s-column-is-due-by-the-30th-of-the-previous-and-earlier-if-possible approach, but in the last year it’s been getting harder to do that. Responsibilities pile up and I’m not good at fulfilling them. So it’s nearly the end of April (and entirely my fault), that the April installment of the series is now online. As promised in the previous one, I skip morbid subjects and go for something a little more easy to stomach.
Review by Jason Dobry Total War: Shogun 2 Developer Creative Assembly Publisher Sega Released March 15, 2011 Available for PC (Windows XP, Vista, 7) Time Played – 55 hours and counting Verdict: 5/5 Gold Star “CA learned from its mistakes and made a masterpiece of strategy gaming…Everything is better, and most importantly, not so much because it’s ‘bigger,’ but because …
There are few things that I am willing to buy immediately — Portal 2, the VVVVVV soundtrack, half price Ben & Jerry’s, a cling film dispenser — even Steam sales have trouble seducing me into their vortexes of spending. Well, add something else to that swelling list of insta-buys: XOC’s rendition of the Super Mario …