MadWorld Comic-Con 09 Footage: THE MUTHAFUCKIN DEATHPRESS!

The MadWorld footage shown at Comic-Con 09 has got so pumped that I want to rip out a stop sign and stab it through the face of the nearest S&M street-punk.



The "kill-by-kill" commentary is brilliant. Hopefully, towards the end of the game, Jack storms the television studio and mashes the Death Watch commentators into a bloody pile of goo.

March cant come soon enough!

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The Warriors Gets Beat'em Upt'

This came out of nowhere.

The Warriors, is getting a bona fide old-school brawler this summer on XBLA courtesy of Paramount Digital Entertainment.

Is the movie-licensed beat'em up making a comeback? God I hope so!

Here's a short list of movies that need 2D beat'em ups.

-Pirates of the Carribbean
-300
-Kung Fu Hustle
-The Incredibles
-Tropic Thunder
-Any action franchise that has an ensemble cast.

Somebody put a search warrant out for the 12 guys that created The Simpsons, X-Men and TMNT beat'em ups from the early 90's. Check every alley-way and karaoke bar in Tokyo!

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Show Us Your Demo: Killzone 2

Getting a copy of the Euro demo of Killzone 2 was easy. Trying not to let the massive hype jade us was a bit more difficult. So, wanna know what we think???

Adam's two cents:

Graphics. This is the first thing that anyone mentions about this game. It's a good looking game, but to be fair, there are A LOT of good looking FPS games this generation. What makes K2 stand out from the rest? It's a sci-fi FPS that doesn't make your eyes roll into the back of your head. The game looks serious. Clearly someone in the art department went to art school.

Okay, so the graphics are great. How does it play? Like you're underwater. Perhaps I've been spoiled by intuitive pick-up-and-instantly-have-fun control schemes in games like Call of Duty 4 and to some extent Gears of War. Maybe it's just me, but I found the Killzone's controls to be sluggish and overtly tedious. Hopefully, after time, I'll get the hang the controls and learn to appreciate the various system quirks, but as of now, I'm a bit disappointed that I couldnt just dive into this world and instantly "get" it.

The demo is pretty short, but appears to be a good representation of the final product. Although I didn't enjoy my first experience with Killzone 2 as much as I'd have liked to, I really REALLY want to like this game. Here's hoping I can put my druthers to rest before the game launches at the end of the month.

Chris's two cents:

With gigantic games like Killzone 2 it's hard to not have an opinion before you play them. By this point, we have seen so many trailers, screen shots and game play videos, that I basically felt like I knew just about everything the demo was going to offer. In a lot of ways, I sort of did. Killzone's demo brings the same dark, violent world that you have seen in the trailers and there are no surprises in the cover system, weapons or design.

However, when expectations are set so high and the hype is so huge, not being surprised isn't an entirely bad thing. Visually, Killzone 2 brings the heat; the lighting, explosions and particle effects are among the best I have ever seen, if not the best. As dark as the game is there is actually quite of bit of color in the palette, which is nice to see. Also, the sound design is top notch; everything sounds the way it should even if the music is a bit dull.

The one thing any amount of video or hype can't tell you is how the game actually feels when you have the controller in your hands. I can't lie, when the first scene opens up and the visuals wash over you, I got some chills. Again, the game looks incredible and the production value is unreal. Once I had the chance to jump into the action however, the initial shock started to wear. The game play is really heavy; your character moves a little slower than in most current shooters and the controls seem just a little too loose. At first I felt like I just didn't know what I was doing, but it soon became apparent, this is just a slower paced, more methodical shooter. Not really a bad thing, I just don't know if it is going to be as enjoyable for me personally as I might have hoped.

Right now, as Adam, I expect an FPS to be instantly fun and the controls to come to me right away. I don't know yet if that is just expecting too much or if that's the way it should be. Either way Killzone 2 left an impression of being a incredbley beautiful demo of what the PS3 can do visually, but left me wanting more from the gameplay.

Hope the boss fights and game pacing can keep things interesting all the way through the full title.

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Resident Racism

When's the last time you heard someone say something GOOD about Resident Evil 5? People are upset with this game, and for valid reasons. Some don't like the straight-out-of-1996 control scheme, others are rubbed wrong by the forced co-op gameplay, and the select few are get this...offended by the games supposed racist overtones.

Eurogamer's recently went hands-on with the final build of RE5 and came away with some pretty condemming accusations.

"Later on, there's a cut-scene of a white blonde woman being dragged off, screaming, by black men. When you attempt to rescue her, she's been turned and must be killed. If this has any relevance to the story it's not apparent in the first three chapters, and it plays so blatantly into the old clichés of the dangerous "dark continent" and the primitive lust of its inhabitants that you'd swear the game was written in the 1920s. That Sheva neatly fits the approved Hollywood model of the light-skinned black heroine, and talks more like Lara Croft than her thickly-accented foes, merely compounds the problem rather than easing it. There are even more outrageous and outdated images to be found later in the game, stuff that I was honestly surprised to see in 2009, but Capcom has specifically asked that details of these scenes remain under wraps for now, whether for these reasons we don't know."

It's a shame that the successor to Resident Evil 4 has become such a hotbed for controversy. To be fair, I'm reserving judgment on the matter until I actually play the game in it's entirety.

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Who Cut Off My Jams!?!: Struggling with Modern Game Music

I can definitely see the draw of games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero; having attended and hosted many parties where Rock Band was up and running, I have seen first hand how it can attract even the most hard-nosed non-gamers. Great music is a powerful thing and this recent wave of music-themed games all aim (many of them quite effectively) to tap some of that power. The incredible success this genre has experienced shows us how closely bound music and gaming can be and most importantly how vital music is in the gaming experience.

Looking back on some of my all time favorite games, the music is usually one of the first things to enter my mind. I couldn’t possibly imagine what a game like Castlevania would have been like without those amazing melodies, or what a shoryuken or hurricane kick might have felt without the timeless Street Fighter II themes filling the arcade. Great music is critical for any game that wants to stand the test of time, so why is it that so many modern games have such lack luster soundtracks?

Even the blockbusters, with their multi-million dollar budgets, seem to skimp on the music. Take a game like Gears of War for example: some people might be fooled by the bloated, over the top orchestral stuff, but not me. I have played a shit-ton of Gears and I can’t hum to you not-one -damn-note of it’s sound track. That game should have had screaming shred guitars, raging double bass, all of that shit. What did we get instead: choirs. What is it about an ambient choral piece that says “I am going to slice your ass in half via a machine gun with a goddamn chainsaw on it?” It’s pretty obvious Dude Huge and company aimed for the hardcore action-movie-cheese, so why not take it all the way?

I would argue that had all of Mr. Fenix’s cringe-worthy dialogue been replaced with shedding guitar solos, there could have been potential for that game to literally make your head-a-splode. Especially during that bit where you are hacking your way through the giant worm.

So let’s break it down as I see it.

The problem: When you have millions of keyboard patches and samples at you fingertips it’s easy to mash on a few chords, run some shit through effects and call the boss into your office to convince him that you have created an atmospheric masterpiece. Just because Radiohead makes a career out of it, doesn’t make it right. Sometimes the minimalist stuff works (Silent Hill series), but a great deal of the time it just comes off boring and uninspired.

My proposed solution: Let’s limit all game music composers in the writing phase of their productions, to the original NES sound chipset. I think the limitations of those sounds are exactly what forced all the old boys to make everything so catchy. If it doesn’t sound good, then it needs to sound GOOD. Limitations drive the truly creative to be even more so (need proof? check out this guy. )

Once you have a solid melodic foundation, you can easily build and layer with modern elements. A perfect example of how well this can work is Bionic Commando Rearmed. The techno influenced remixes of the original NES music was some of the best stuff I have heard in quite awhile and played a large part in what made that game so damn cool. Damn, that intro music…

I know the talent to make awesome game music is still out there, SEGA, despite their serious flaws seem to be able to pump out the jams. Also, Castle Crashers had some great music and that was all fan submitted stuff from New Grounds. So, really there is no excuse: we should demand our game music be every bit as fun and exciting as the games themselves.

Notes: Stuarts comments on modern games with great music got me thinking: Katamari, Little Big Planet and Mirror's Edge do indeed all have fantastic soundtracks. So, what is it take makes all these totally different music choices so good; is there a common thread between them? After a bit of thought, the one key for all great game music seems to be how appropriate it is for the game it was created for. When a game's music is done just right, it becomes part of the game and the game becomes part of the music: you can't think of one without the other, it just all fits. It doesn't matter what kind of soundtrack you chose, just as long as it fits and complements the game well, be it metal, techno, rap, ambient and so on. Does that make any sense???

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Let's Tap: Coming to America

Tabletop drummers rejoice! Sega is bringing Let's Tap to the U.S.of A.

For those not familiar with Sonic creator Yuji Naka's latest outing, Let's Tap is a collection of 5 mini-games that revolve around "tap" gameplay.

Any Wii game worth it's weight in waggle comes with a gimmicky peripheral—Let’s Tap comes packed with…(drum roll please)…A CARDBOARD BOX! No joke; you lay your wiimote facedown on the cardboard box and tap your fingers on it’s surface to play the game.

The graphics looks nice and the theme song is dangerously infectious. Let’s Tap could be a sure thing, if the price is right.

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Christmas in February: Ready Your Wallets

For those of you who still haven’t put your Christmas tree away yet, put the box back in the attic.

February is shaping up to be a legendary month for game nerds.

Here’s the lowdown on this months glut of gaming goodness...

Loco Roco 2: PlayStation Portable (February 10th)

Got the winter blues? Loco Roco 2 is good for what ails you. Sony’s follow-up to the 2006 original looks to spread more sunshine on the world with its sherbet visuals, peewee soundtrack, and addictive roly-poly gameplay.


House of the Dead: Overkill: Nintendo Wii (February 10th)

OVERKILL is the first game in the House of the Dead series to completely bypass the arcade (remember those?) and is also the first entry developed outside of Sega. Although coin-op fanboys may cringes at these milestones, based on what has been shown so far, OVERKILL looks to deliver.

The arcade was the grindhouse of the videogame world. House of the Dead: OVERKILL’s sleazy B movie-inspired aesthetics fit the series like a glove.


flower: Playstation 3/PSN (February 12th)

Thatgamecompany's flower is a tough sell—it’s a game were you literally play as a breath of fresh air. Poetry in motion indeed.

It’s doubtful that this game will set the sales charts on fire, but it is almost certain that you wont experience anything else like it this year.


Grand Theft Auto 4: The Lost and the Damned: XBOX 360 (February 17th)

Motorcycles gangs, brass knuckles and sawed-off shotguns—sounds like the ingredients to a killer video game.

It will be interesting to see how well Rockstar North incorporate episodic content into the sprawling world of GTA4. Liberty City is so dense and intricately detailed that it could be used as a digital back lot for many games to come.

Here’s hoping that somewhere down the road, Liberty City gets a taste of the zombie apocalypse. That, or giant monsters. Why not both?


Street Fighter 4: Playstation 3/XBOX 360 (February 17th)

There really isn’t much to say here. In February 2009, a new Street Fighter will be released. Hell has indeed frozen over.

Capcom has whipped their fan base into frenzy over Street Fighter 4 while simultaneously exciting the casual crowded who hasn’t touched a SF title since 1994.

Fighting games are making a big comeback in 2009. Hopefully gamers will put the shooters down to play a few matches.


Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?: PlayStation Portable (February 17th)

Never mind the fact that this is a spinoff of a 100+hour tactical JRPG nerd-fest. Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero is a 2D action side-scroller that wears it’s heart on it’s sleeve (or should I say flipper?).

What other game this year lets you play as a swashbuckling, pegged-leg penguin whose slash attack has more RPMs than an F1 car? Something tells me that Prinny CAN be the hero.


Noby Noby Boy: Playstation 3/PSN (February 19th)

Noby Noby Boy creator describes his upcoming budget PSN title as “the perfect break after winding down from a game of Killzone 2 and before starting up God of War 3." I think what he really meant to say was “give your eyes a rest from all that blood and brown by playing my game.”

If Soulja Boy thinks that Braid “aint got no point to it”, I cant wait to see his review of Noby Noby Boy.


Killzone 2: Playstation 3 (February 27th)

No month jammed-packed with a ridiculous lineup of promising looking games would be complete without a AAA FPS set in a doom-and-gloom future. Enter Killzone 2; Guerilla Games follow up to the series 2004 PS2 debut.

Sony shot themselves in the foot back in 05 when they unveiled K2 with a pre-rendered “in-game” video. It’s amazing that 4 years later, recent real footage of Killzone 2 not only matches the pre-rendered footage in graphic fidelity, but also maybe even surpasses it in terms of overall atmosphere.

Here’s hoping that Sony’s “Halo-killer” (remember that?) lives up to it’s unprecedented hype.

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