Rage

Oh, the legendary id Software, how much have you done for all of us...
The creators of Doom, Quake and um... Quake 2. While the studio's past has made a huge impact on today's gaming, they haven't been up to much lately. Mainly they're outsourcing their intellectual property to other - almost competent - studios to make games like Quake 4 or Wolfenstein. The people working there nowadays probably didn't have much to do with Doom (except for that annoying geek John Carmack) and to justify their existence they have been working for years on some game that would maybe have been a little bit original when it first came out.
It's called Rage - a post apocalyptical shooter/racer game that's trying to be a blend between Borderlands, Fallout 3 and Grand Theft Auto and does really nothing better than these games. It's a fairly linear game where you run around completing quests by shooting mutants and winning races with cars that shoot rockets. So you can add Mario Kart to the mix. No wait, Borderlands already did that. GTA too actually. Anyways...
Despite it's complete lack of originality (the bad authority guys are called Authority, the resistance movement is called Resistance. Seriously.), Rage does some things pretty well. First, it looks pretty good, especially landscapes. Apparently the game uses some sort of new technology that wraps the whole level into one huge texture to get better results while using less resources. Unfortunately this pays back with smaller items which look bloody awful at times. Secondly, the characters are well designed and animated, with unique looking NPCs gesturing wildly while giving out quests and mutants are jumping, crawling, climbing around the locations and stumbling onto walls when being shot. However, neither the shooting mechanics or driving offer anything above the average.
This all said, it's not a bad game. You can shoot mutants and drive buggys that shoot, graphics and sound are good enough, so what's there to complain about? Yeah, it's too easy and casual but after a hard day it can be nice and relaxing, just dumb fun. If only it wouldn't have been terribly overhyped for the past years but then again, would I even have touched it then?

Saiko

Blizzcon 2011

Blizzard, the gaming company behind the very successful Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo series, are once again hosting their annual Blizzcon festival. There's something new going on with each of their "intellectual properties", so here's a link to the new Diablo 3 cinematic (watch in highest possible quality, this is some nice shit):

Nice stuff, though a little basic story-wise. Still, we get to know that Azmodan is going to be an important character. To clarify, in Diablo 3's universe (called Sanctuary), there are 7 evils - 3 prime evils (Mephisto - Lord of Hatred; Baal - Lord of Destruction and Diablo - Lord of Terror) and 4 lesser evils (Duriel - Lord of Pain, Andariel - Maiden of Anguish; Azmodan - Lord of Sin and Belial - Lord of Lies). Diablo was first defeated in the first game but resurrected through the first game's main character. So he was destroyed once again in the second game, along with Andariel, Duriel, Mephisto and Baal. So now we know that Diablo and Azmodan will going to have a strong presence, also Belial will be involved. Goodbye social life...
Then there's Starcraft 2 keeping their fans waiting for their first, zerg-orientated expansion:

And lastly, the World of Warcraft MMORPG, making it's announcement for the fourth expansion, Mists of Pandaria:

Lol srsly? While the Chinese-themed world looks somewhat appealing, the childish kung fu panda stuff (yes, I'm not the first one to make this connection)  has received a lot of negative vibes. The pet battle system is often compared to Pokemon and the pandaren monk stuff to well... kung fu panda. Have to admit though, that pandas have been existing in Warcraft's lore since Warcraft 3, so probably way before Kung Fu Panda was a thing. Admittedly, they existed more as "eastern egg" jokes than real lore characters. Not sure I will try this expansion out but if Diablo 3 is out by then, why should I?
There's something behind this... Maybe a shift in target demographics? If that means that WoW is left for children and Diablo 3 is something for older gamers looking for a darker experience then by all means, throw Mickey Mouse, Twilight and Guitar Hero into WoW and make my Diablo 3 experience as dark and visceral as possible. Fuck yeah...

Saiko

Paranormal Activity

Uh, should go to the movies more often, lately all the films I watch is more like filling the gaps of what I've missed in the recent years. "Paranormal Activity" caused some ruckus a year or two back, being an independent low-budget horror movie that received widespread attention after scaring the shit out of the audiences that first viewed it (which was very effectively used in marketing, as you can see from the trailer). Then it was noticed by some studio bigwigs (including Steven Spielberg) and eventually became one of the most profitable films ever made. Now there has been a sequel (actually a prequel), which hasn't been that warmly received and also the third episode is in the works. From what I hear, it's going down the "Saw" path - brilliant mindfuck film being bought off by a big studio and turned into a mindless money-milking gore-or-whatever-fest.
"Paranormal Activity" itself is a found-footage type of horror film (like "Blair Witch Project", which also got a crappy sequel by the way. Well, crappy by audience's and critics' opinions, I was probably the only person to actually enjoy the film, although I was like 15 at the time) about a young couple having trouble with a demon. The demon has followed the woman since she was young and might have been behind her house burning down as a child. His boyfriend finds the whole thing fascinating and starts videotaping her when she sleeps to get video evidence of something paranormal happening. He gets what he wants but the demon gets more and more agitated from the attention. It's a very tense movie with a "less is more" attitude. The characters are shallow yet believable and the pacing fits the premise wonderfully.
I don't want to spoil anything but the ending is utter crap. No real conclusion, just a cheap sell-out. I found out from Wikipedia that there actually three different endings. Apparently they chose the most boring one for the theatrical release. Shame...
Anyways, filming the audience's reaction has since then become a real hit. It was one of the things behind the success of a horror indie game "Amnesia: The Dark Descent". Search for "amnesia the dark descent reactions" from youtube if you're interested in that sort of thing. Didn't enjoy the game much myself for some reason. Now "Call of Chthulhu: Dark Corners of the World", that was a scary fucking game.

Saiko

Sword of the Stranger

"Sword of the Stranger", 2007, is an anime from Japan. Taking place in feudal Japan, it's a story about a young boy with a dog being hunted by chinese mercenaries for some reason. So the boy pays to some stranger with a sword for protection to escape to a monastery. As it turns out, that stranger is one of the baddest badasses in the history of badassery, just tired of fighting. He is so badass that until the final scenes he doesn't even (have to) pull out his sword. Of course, he soon finds himself in the midst of some of the bloodiest swordplays in recent history.
"Sword of the Stranger" might be best described as a Japanese anime version of a Hollywood blockbuster action movie. I wouldn't go as far as to call it outstanding but it's definitely good. The character drawing is somewhat simple but the film makes up for it with excellent choreography, sound design, interesting characters and battle scenes. Somewhat formulaic, I'll admit, but a very worthy popcorn samurai film. Also made me really want to get a dog...

Saiko

Dead Island

Earlier this year, Dead Island – a zombie sandbox first person game – released a cinematic trailer which you can see above. It went viral and exploded over the internet, lots of people calling it the best trailer ever made. I must admit it’s very good, check it out.

 A couple of weeks ago I made a post about cinematic trailers and how little they really say about the game. My argument just got a little stronger as Dead Island – released in September -  is a pretty shitty game. It takes place in a tropical island resort after an outbreak of “oh my god, it’s the zombies again”. Not that there’s anything wrong with zombies, I’m a bit of an enthusiast myself. In essence, the concept of a tropical paradise resort turning to hell might work pretty well. However, the gameplay is weak and seems half-finished.  For example, most of the game is built around melee fighting and melee drains your character’s stamina. Which means is that a lot of time is just spent waiting for stamina to return while furious zombies bash your eyes out. It’s possible to simply jump in to other player’s game, if their progress is similar to yours. Again, good idea, poor execution. And the graphics are just awful.

However, Dead Island has potential. Nice soundwork manages to pull you in at times and I get the feeling that there is a good game director behind this, who has sincere love for the project. Sadly, the means for making that vision a reality have been very limited. I hear that Dead Island has sold very well, so maybe with their next project they have the funds to do it properly. Meanwhile, I guess I have to play more Left4Dead…

Saiko