Classic.

[Via The Tech by way of Joystiq]

Another gem from the Tokyo Game Show. In this video, we get to see a playthrough of part of the Aqua Capital level. Before the demonstration though, the Executive Producer for the game, Tomonobu Itagaki, gives a brief breakdown of the improvements of the sequel over the original. He explains that for the original, they concentrated on squeezing as much out of the Xbox hardware as they could, so they weren't able to get all the features in that they wanted. However, because of the processing power available with the 360, they were able to focus more on features for this release. Anyway, we'll let the really bloody demo video speak for itself as far as new features and graphics go.... Read More »

Kotaku has a brief video of an interesting?... odd?... lame? controller they were able to test out at the Tokyo Game Show. It's a broom controller (yes, an actual broom) for the upcoming game, Parse Rorunpe. It can tilt around and stuff. Ten degrees even! Just like in real life! The game's premise is basically to fly around on a broom and shoot stuff, which is reminiscent of the Cotton series of games that enjoyed a following in Japan, although this game doesn't seem to be of any relation. The controller itself has a simple bicycle-type seat and buttons on the broom handle itself, which makes perfect sense, but there's an added twist. You also have to interact with a touch screen to perform certain actions... Read More »

Here's a collection of GameTrailers videos on the upcoming Star Wars title, The Force Unleashed. Included in the full post is the trailer and a few interviews that should give you a detailed view of what to expect from the game, and what went into its creation. So far, the game looks very promising, and appears to have very high production values. Then again, other Star Wars games appeared that way during development, and ended up being disappointments (KOTOR excepted, of course). It is difficult not to get psyched about being able to wreak all sorts of havoc on your enemies and surroundings with The Force, but the Spring '08 release will tell the tale.





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For those of you interested in game development, here's an article in Popular Science detailing the roadblocks that lie ahead for developers. Impeding progress are things such as AI complexity, making human-like 3D models that are realistic yet not creepy, modeling fire and water, realistic physics, lighting and shadows, and a few others. The article describes what the current problems are with these design elements, and how they will likely be solved in the future.[via Popular Science by way of Joystiq]

GameTrailers posted this new video showing what's in store for players of the upcoming game Crysis, which uses the much ballyhooed game engine by the same name. The video demonstrates an icey, mountainous level with a few enemies being dispatched via shotgun. Pretty impressive.... Read More »

I just read this article on gamecritics.com and had to post something on it. I myself fall into the category of "older gamer," (I'm only 27!) as defined by the gamecritics.com post. At any rate, the pestering those guys get from other people is all too familiar to me. "Aren't you too old" blah blah blah, "Will you ever grow out of" yadda yadda yadda, "Why do you waste so much time" etc etc etc, "You have a blog on video games, isn't that a little juvenile?". NEWSFLASH, THIS JUST IN! People who grew up listening to radio, still listen to radio. People who grew up watching movies, still watch movies. And people who grew up playing video games, still play video games. Embrace the horror and quit complaining, they aren't going anywhere. They're bigger than Hollywood now, resistance is futile. In contrast to radio and even movies, video games have... Read More »

GameSpot recently posted a review of the newly re-released Streets of Rage 2 for Xbox Live Arcade (also for the Wii Virtual Console). If you never had the pleasure of playing this one back in the day on the Sega Genesis, now would be a good opportunity to experience one of the best beat-'em-ups ever made. If you get the chance, and it ever happens to be re-released, check out Streets of Rage 3 as well, it's just as good as, if not better than, the second one.

I've been in a somewhat nostalgic mood of late, revisiting a lot of revered, older titles that many people seemed to have missed (ignored?) when they came out. There's something to be said for these older gems too, many of which came out during the crossover from 2-D to 3-D gaming, since there was seemingly so much more effort that had to be made to get the formula right.A lot of companies struggled with just how to successfully bring their vision for a game into the third dimension. There were a lot of new possibilities, but also a lot of new problems to deal with (camera issues always seemed to plague that generation), so for a company to do it right, they really had to be on their game (pun intended). To be honest, though, this didn't happen very often, and a lot of the titles released during that time ended up in the rubbish heap. In all fairness, that was likely a necessary step, as developers had to get through the growing pains of 3-D development, and refine the types of tools that would be used... Read More »

While I didn't break down and weep with tears of joy or anything (not that I would actually reveal that anyway), a recent Joystiq article I read did strike a familiar chord. You can read the nostalgic fluffery for yourself, but to sum it up, a father and gamer wrote to Joystiq that his wife found their son had been playing Metroid Prime 3: Corruption from the wee hours of the morning up until breakfast. He then goes on to say how he had one of those "I saw myself through my father's eyes" moments, when he saw himself in his son... awwwww, how touching. Hold on a sec... tissue... ... ahem... I have to give a nod to the Joystiq blogger's mother playing Final Fantasy III (VI in Japan at the time) in the early morning, as I understand the attraction with that game, it being the first game... Read More »

IGN's got a brief bio on the man who was responsible for the soundtracks in games like Ecco the Dolphin, and Sonic CD. It tells how he started out, how he got into video game music, and what he's doing now. He's a very talented individual and the article should be an interesting read for anyone who remembers those games and the great music they had.

[Via IGN]