General gaming

General gaming

Postcard from PAX: Skulls of the Shogun is Finally Nearing Release

Posted: 28 Aug 2011 08:18 PM PDT

It seems like Skulls of the Shogun, a slick 2D strategy game by Haunted Temple studios, has been a faint-but-intriguing blip on our radar for ages now. But according to producer Jake Kazdal, the game is nearing the final stretch, with a target release date shortly after the holiday season.

Skulls was looking better than ever in its PAX Prime 2011 showing. It's packed with bold, colorful art that really matches the game's unconventional mechanics. Despite generally resembling a strategy title like Shining Force, Skulls has a highly simplified interface and a resource-gathering-free design that Kazdal describes as having been inspired by '90s-era Capcom brawlers. It's an unexpected matchup, but it definitely works.

Postcard from PAX: Sega's Renegade Ops Marries Arcade and Sandbox Style

Posted: 28 Aug 2011 05:50 PM PDT

Renegade Ops is only a couple of weeks from release on PSN and XBLA (with a Steam release to follow), but for some reason PAX marks the first I've ever heard of it. Frankly, I'm sorry to say it, because it's fantastic.

Renegade Ops was developed by Just Cause creators Avalanche, and you can tell: It's set in Latin America, and it's not entirely straight-laced. Where the studio's best-known work involves immersive 3D open worlds in the GTA tradition, however, Renegade Ops feels like a callback to the classic days of the arcade. On its simplest level, it's a twin-stick shooter -- though that description is an unfair simplification at best, a gross mischaracterization at worst. Where most twin-stick shooters are set in simple, flat, open arenas, Renegade Ops transpires across convoluted jungles. Its maps are huge and can be traversed freely; aside from rock walls and cliff faces that define the contours of the land, anything you see can be exploded or smashed through.

Postcard from PAX: The Tick Makes a Comeback at PAX

Posted: 28 Aug 2011 05:17 PM PDT

Ha ha, suckers.

Postcard from PAX: I Just Realized That Rescue Rangers is a Masterpiece

Posted: 28 Aug 2011 11:06 AM PDT

Last night we staged the now-traditional Retronauts-at-PAX classic free play room takeover, a bloodless flash mob coup in which listeners descend upon the retro console play zone and hog all the machines. One lucky (?) attendee even enjoyed an impromptu Retronauts mini-episode as Bob Mackey, reader Brian Kent and I provided running commentary on his playthrough of Blaster Master.

The real highlight of the night, however, was our discovery that Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers for NES was a masterpiece decades ahead of its time. Seriously, the thing Rescue Rangers accomplished 20-odd years ago are only now being followed up on by modern platformers. Co-op play, including mutual harassment? Returning to play after dying by floating around invulnerably on a balloon? Yeah, that's basically New Super Mario Bros. Wii in a nutshell. But it gets better! The game was also clearly worked on by some of the people who made Mega Man 2, aka one of the greatest games of all time.

Postcard from PAX: Someone Gave Me a New Hat

Posted: 28 Aug 2011 10:58 AM PDT

As I was chatting with the folks from Fangamer.net, someone walked up and handed me a cookie. Apparently Pink Gorilla sells these in their checkout lane and was giving away the ones that didn't pass quality assurance to passersby. I was given a misshapen Mario hat, while friend of 1UP Jade Kraus got herself a malformed Pikachu. Because 1UP is all about the hard-hitting news, I'll report back on how it tastes in an in-depth follow-up article. I guess I should see what the big deal is with this Halo 4 game first, though.

Postcard from PAX: Colonial Marines has Aliens' Look, but can It Capture Its Spirit?

Posted: 28 Aug 2011 10:53 AM PDT

A space marine takes aim at Sega's Craig Harris outside the company's demo room for Aliens: Colonial Marines. The squad-based shooter, tentatively slated for a 2012 release, was present at PAX for a hands-off demo and work-in-progress demo reel. The game looks solid, but the presentation serves as a reminder that the thing which makes ACM so appealing -- its license -- is also its greatest challenge.

Aliens was a landmark work of pop culture, and its troupe of bantering marines is possibly one of the single most imitated tropes in video games. And, frankly, they all tend to run together. What many people fail to recognize is that the marines weren't the soul of the movie; rather, they were the extra details that livened up its core tale of Ellen Ripley's coming to terms with the events of the original Alien. It's tough to sell a story on a squad of soldiers who are mostly going to be dead by the third act unless you're making the next Saving Private Ryan. ACM looks and feels faithful to its movie inspiration (and it should, as series concept artist Syd Mead consulted on the game), but hundreds of films and games have ripped off Aliens over the years. Colonial Marines' challenge is to rise above its imitators and make Aliens feel fresh again.

Postcard from PAX: No Halo 4 Beta in Anniversary Edition

Posted: 28 Aug 2011 10:51 AM PDT

One not-entirely-surprising bit of news from today's Halo 4 panel at PAX and Halofest is that a Halo 4 multiplayer beta won't be included in this fall's Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Editions. "A lot of people have been asking about this, and we probably should have clarified sooner," said franchise creative director Frank O'Connor, "but there won't be a multiplayer beta in the Anniversary Edition." Given Halo 4's target release date of late 2012 and the fact that Halo betas usually hit about half a year before a game's launch, this year's release will fall much too early for the inclusion of a public beta.

Postcard from PAX: Halo 4 is All About Master Chief

Posted: 28 Aug 2011 10:28 AM PDT

You know, it still a little surreal to see former 1UP coworker David Ellis play master of ceremonies for Halo events. But here he is, hosting a panel of Halo 4 creative leads like franchise boss Frank O'Connor and executive producer Kiki Wolfkill at Halofest. The Halo 4 team is currently discussing their general philosophy for the game, but they're doling out interesting facts at a measured rate as well. Perhaps most significant is the fact that the trilogy Halo 4 marks the beginning of is called the "Reclaimer Trilogy" and will focus primarily on exploring the actual character of Master Chief, who in the games has generally been a blank tool of killing stuff. Also intriguing is O'Connor's statement that the Halo series to date has always transpired across abandoned alien structures, and that something new for the upcoming trilogy will be the way its environments are still living and populated.

Posted by Shri Krishna

Total Pageviews

statcounter

View My Stats