Author Archives: Dark DJ
Prey 2 Still Coming, Just Not This Year
So, turns out the rumors weren’t quite right. When word started circulating that Prey 2 had been cancelled, I got pretty bummed. I’d heard great things, and the idea of being an alien bounty hunter seemed really awesome. But, it turns out that the rumor mill was mistaken. Bethesda has come out today with a blog post stating that Prey 2 is still in development. However, the game has apparently “not progressed satisfactorily this past year,” so the game has been pushed back to 2013. While this is not a great sign, at least the game hasn’t been cancelled outright, and Bethesda is apparently willing to invest more time in order to improve the product. However, with no mention of developer Human Head Studios in the blog post, I’m curious as to whether or not they’re still attached to the project, or if Bethesda has chosen to pass this project on to another developer. If that’s the case, I’ll be very interested to see which elements of the game get changed with a new team at the helm. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
75 Hours and Counting: My Thoughts on Skyrim
You got something in your...ah, nevermind.
So, in case you’ve missed all of the commercials and high praises from the bulk of the gaming community, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim came out on 11/11/11. Now, a week and a half later, I finally feel like I’ve put in enough time with this game to form a complete opinion on it. The thing you need to realize is that this is still a Bethesda game. The combat is definitely improved over Oblivion, and the conversation system is a lot less formal, but this is still a game from the guys that made Oblivion and Fallout 3. Much of the game is spent wandering around the Nordic province of Skyrim, completing quests and discovering various forms of dungeon. If those mechanics weren’t your bag before, I’m not sure that they will be now. Along with that, you’ll have to put up with a little bit of sandbox wonkiness and some goofy stuff that goes on. But, if you’re still interested, then read on and find out why I’m still itching to play more after 75 hours.
Mini-Review: The Binding of Isaac
So, a little over two weeks ago, The Binding of Isaac came out on Steam. The game was created by Edmund McMillen, who comprises half of Team Meat, the developers responsible for
putting out Super Meat Boy last year. Now, while Team Meat continues to work on their next project, McMillen has worked with Florian Himsl and Super Meat Boy composer Danny Baranowsky to release this little side project. As a big fan of SMB, especially the music and art style, I was already pretty much sold on the game. Hit the jump to see if I can sell you on it as well.
Geek Music: Black Materia Edition
I know I’m super late to the party for anybody that’s known about this since it came out, but it was just recently that a friend of mine mentioned this album to me. For people that haven’t heard of Random before, I first became aware of this guy when he put out an album called Mega Ran, a tribute to Mega Man’s music. Random took tracks from the Mega Man soundtracks and wrote raps to go along with some of the beats. While you see groups like The Black Mages, Minibosses, and The Advantage taking video game tracks and performing their own (often awesome) takes on them, Random’s Mega Ran was the first time that I’d seen someone write lyrics for game tracks that actually went well and sounded good. While I appreciated the quality, I was never a huge Mega Man player when I was younger, so I just sort of moved on from the tracks and got on with my life. Now, four years later, I’m rediscovering Random again. Only this time, he’s teamed up with Lost Perception to give the same treatment to Final Fantasy VII’s soundtrack, my personal favorite game soundtrack of all time, and they’re calling it Black Materia. Like Mega Ran, Black Materia is an album full of raps set to the beats of the game’s soundtrack, all being completely related to the background tracks they’re set against (e.g. the rap set to Tifa’s theme is all about Tifa.) The album includes some of my personal favorite like the Cosmo Canyon and Cid themes, as well as the one everyone would expect, One Winged Angel, and many more. All told, there are 16 main tracks to the album, as well as three of what Random calls “Bonus Beats,” which are remixed versions of tracks from the soundtrack that, as he puts it, “weren’t used…yet” that are still great to listen to. So if you like raps or you like Final Fantasy VII’s soundtrack, maybe you should at least check out a few tracks. If you like both of those things, this should be a no-brainer. Head over to this page if you’d like to purchase the album. It’s $7.77 for a digital copy, and there are 3 different sets of hard-copy CDs if you’d like to go that route (one of which even comes with a cool poster.) I’ll definitely be making sure to keep Random on my radar in the future, to see if he keeps up his awesome work.
Overlooked – Shadowrun
In what I hope is a bright idea, I’ve decided to write several pieces on overlooked or underappreciated games that I believe deserve your attention. As with everything I write, these are just my opinions, so feel free to post your thoughts in the comments below. I’m hoping to roll out several of these in the coming month or so, if all goes according to plan. Anyway, I’ve chosen to start this off with what I would call the best multiplayer shooter of the past five years: Shadowrun. Hit the jump to learn why you shouldn’t have passed it by.
Duke Nukem Forever Delayed Until June 14
Did anyone really expect a game like Duke Nukem Forever to ship when people said it would? Not that I wasn’t hoping it would, but it always just seemed…right that DNF should be delayed one last time. Gearbox has pushed the decade-in-the-making game back a month and a half from its original May 3rd release date for a currently unknown reason. However, I’d have to imagine that it’s fairly significant. Gearbox has seemed very intent on making this date. However, they’ve put out a video to tide you over until the game launches. Oddest to me about this is that the international release date is now 4 days prior to the North American launch, as opposed to the original plan to go international 3 days afterwards. I’m a tad disappointed that DNF won’t be launching on my birthday, but c’est la vie. I can wait a month and a half more.
New Captain America Trailer
Why You’re a Fool to Pass Up You Don’t Know Jack: A Review
You may have heard, over the past week or so, about a new version of You Don’t Know Jack hitting all the major systems. I’m here to tell you that that news is accurate. After a little over a 7 year gap between retail releases, Jellyvision is back with all new convoluted questions and hilarious answers. Hit the jump to see why this budget-priced trivia gem is worth your money.Â
Bizarre Creations Closes Its Doors After 17 Years
Sad day today, geeks: game developer Bizarre Creations is shutting down today. After the middling sales of Blur and the poor reception of their most recent project, James Bond 007: Blood Stone, Activision assessed the company and determined that all members of the Bizarre Creations staff were “redundant” (this was back in November). Now, the day has finally come when Bizarre is shutting down for good, and Bizarre’s video editor has put together a montage of all their projects. Lately Bizarre had seemed typecast into racing games, due in no small part to the success of its Project Gotham Racing series. However, Bizarre did not just racing games (although they did produce a lot of them). More notable titles from other genres include the critically acclaimed Geometry Wars series, and a title most people don’t know about called The Club. A lot of what Bizarre Creations was great at was bringing back elements from gaming’s history and making them relevant again. The Project Gotham games were great at mixing the perfect amount of arcade and simulation racing to make a title that could appeal to all sorts of racers, and Geometry Wars is the biggest reason that we’re seeing all sorts of dual joystick shooters spring up these days. We wish all of the Bizarre employees the best, and I really hope they can find work elsewhere or found a new company.
New Thor Trailer: Now With 50% More Awesome
I was never the biggest Thor fan, and the first couple of trailers seemed okay, nothing special. I understood why the movie was necessary, since Thor’s a pretty key member to start off the Avengers, but I was always under the impression that this was bound to be the weakest film of the bunch. Now, I have hope. This trailer is a bit more plot-heavy than the past couple have been, so if you’re trying to avoid all story-related things in favor of experiencing them for the first time in the theater, then more power to you. For the rest of us, hit the link to watch the fresh trailer, and share your thoughts on it in the comments!
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