Well, it’s come to be that time where street dates are announced and like clockwork, Madden will be awaiting to be bought by the masses on August 14, 2009. EA Tiburon announced this via twitter and provided a link to the brand new Madden ’10 site.
Saboteur, like Alan Wake is a game that had coverage in 2007 and has since then vanished. It hasn’t gone the way of vapor ware, but Pandemic has kept a tight lid on the project until now. Pandemic has now launched the website for the game and I’m here to provide a little news on the subject of this game.
Saboteur takes place in Paris under Nazi rule during WWII. Now, wait before you close this page saying, “Great, here comes another shit parade of Nazi’s and grizzled apple pie Americans.” Take into consideration that a studio can do something *gasp* different wih a long dead theme. Why not take one man, a la French Resistance and make him a salty, Irish bloke with an affinity for Formula 1 racing and BAM, you have a grizzled potato eater instead of the cheese burger brigade.
I do have to say that the game has a very slick style to it. One of my favorite effects in games is the saturation/desaturation of colors and this game utilizes these effects into the game mechanics. When the Germans have control over an area, everything will be black and white, except for Nazi arm patches and flags. As you progress, you’ll see that color creeps back into the world showing that the resistance is working and the people have the will to fight off the Nazi invasion.
Before kicking ass
After kicking ass
The site itself is your standard fare of flash heavy flair, screen shots and typical, over the top PR descriptions such as thus:
FEATURES
1st Ever Open-World Paris – Fight, climb, and prowl through the dark alleys, rooftops, burlesque houses, and seedy streets of the City of Lights—the ultimate playground for The Saboteur.
The Art of Sabotage – Being The Saboteur is all about attacking while staying unnoticed. Get your mission intel at underground clubs and cabarets, eliminate your adversaries with stealth attacks, disguise, distractions, and explosives, and master a variety of weapons, automobiles, and skills to sabotage enemy operations.
The Will to Fight – An action-packed experience and thrilling storyline are made even more engaging by an innovative visual style, characters, and the new “Will to Fight” technology. Experience how the city and action change around you and react to you as you free it from Nazi oppression and restore hope and grandeur to Paris.
No date has been set for this game yet, but a safe estimation would land this somewhere in 2010.
I’m sure everyone is having their fill right now of Call of Duty: World at War, but have you ever wondered what else people are playing?
I’m always amazed to see how titles like Halo 3, COD 4 and GTA 4 can consistently stay in the top 5 for a year. It really goes to show that titles with proper backing keep the players playing. I was expecting Gears to be up a little bit higher because of the Map Pack and the new update, but you can’t take anything away from COD 4 or Halo 3. I don’t think anything comes close to the support that those games have. I just wish Halo 3 wasn’t so damn boring, then I’d be almost tempted to join in on some of that mayhem.
From IGN.com:
Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (based on UU’s)
Call of Duty: WaW
Halo 3
Call of Duty 4
Gears of War 2
Resident Evil 5
GTA IV
FIFA 09
Left 4 Dead
Halo Wars
Fallout 3
Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)
Uno Rush
Peggle
Castle Crashers
Worms
Uno
Crystal Defenders
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
3 on 3 NHL Arcade
A Kingdom for Keflings
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Top Community Games (Full Versions purchased)
RC-AirSim
Solar
Rumble Massage
Aquarium HD
DrumKit
ZP2K9
Remote Masseuse
NextWar: The Quest for Earth
Little Racers
A Fading Melody
I’m interested to start picking up some of these community games. Expect some reviews of those to end up on here soon.
This is seriously the coolest thing I’ve seen since the Mega64 video with Kojima. I’ll be the first to tell you that selling the Sega Dreamcast is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done. I know I can pick up a used system right now, but I’m a guy that appreciates shelf space.
While the box itself is a little bulky looking, I could imagine mounting it somewhere on a wall. If I was a millionaire, I would ask this guy to hook this thing up to a 50″ plasma TV.
Looks like I’ve got another one for the bucket list.
Kotaku has a story up about Xbox 360 consoles coming into retailer centers containing personal information, credit cards and saucy home footage. A refurbishment center bought pre-owned consoles from the now defunct Circuit City and received less than what they had hoped.
from Kotaku:
Instead, not only does he allege that the majority of consoles broken (217 of 227 Xbox 360s were “non-functioning”, and 167 of 205 PS3s), but, more importantly, that a “large quantity” of them came with something extra: sensitive personal information.
Friends lists. Photos. Videos. Sexy home videos. Arcade games. Credit card details.
This is kinda scary to think about, but luckily there are centers out there that stick to protocol on this sort of stuff. While this is an uncommon occurance, I can imagine that there are some places where they aren’t so stringent with repairs and double checking this sort of stuff.
So the moral of the story is if you sell your console, wipe the hard drive.
Mega 64 is the trio of cosplaying game nuts from San Francisco, California. Since 2005 they have been producing videos where they act out their favorite games in public areas where people can see them whether they want to or not. In their latest video, they pay tribute to Metal Gear Solid 4 and meet up with famed designer Hideo Kojima. Not only that, but Cliffy B. (or dude huge) makes a hilarious WTF appearance.
The Behemoth was on the top of my gaming list for all of 2008 ever since I picked up Castle Crashers, followed by a late purchase of Alien Hominid HD and as soon as they’ve fallen off of my radar they have managed a way to get back on. They have recently released a trailer showing off an early build of their third game. The charming character designs the company’s been known for are back in what looks like a very co-op orientated platformer. The unannounced title is set to hit sometime in 2010.
There are a lot of good games, decent games and bad games. A lot of times a game can excel in some areas and flounder in other places. For some, wonky controls can kill an otherwise sublime experience. For people certain aspects of games can keep them from enjoying the experience.
IGN has an interesting story up about Alan Wake, the game by Remedy that has been in develeopment for the better part of a decade, made an appearance at E3 ’06 and suddenly vanished like the lost civilization of Machu Picchu. IGN reports that an interview at Norweigen site Gamer.nohas revealed a few story details on the game.
From what has been described, it seems like it’s The Shining all over again. Alan Wake is a once successful writer whose wife takes him to a mysterious place and then all of Gigglesville goes to shit. Furthermore the game is being broken up into episodes that have unique cliffhangers at the end. I’m sure we all know how that turned out with Alone in the Dark.
Alan Wake has caught my eye and all the mystery surrounding it makes me want to play it. The game itself could rip off every horror movie ever, but if the dialogue is dumb and the game sucks then I’m going to be one of many blue balled gamers.
News from Major Nelson is that Alien Hominid HD is available on Xbox Live for 400 MSP or roughly 5 dollars. As a bonus incentive if you purchase Alien Hominid HD you’ll be able to unlock the Alien as a playable character in Castle Crashers. The multiplayer mayhem fest set in the crude crusades can be purchased for 1200 MSP (15.00 USD).