Recently in XBox 360 Category

I hadn't heard of EA's forthcoming Dead Space game until I saw a preview on Spike TV's GameTrailers program.  I was blown away by what I saw, kind of like the moment I first became aware of COD4.  The graphics are awesome, and it looks like a really eerie outer-space survival horror game.  Beyond the action there are some neat zero-gravity puzzles.

Here's one of their latest videos of in-game footage.  I can't get over how great the lighting effects look in various scenes...it's like DOOM3 taken to the next level.

And here's a video of the Image comic by Antony Johnston and Ben Templesmith:

Nuff said.

Let's not waste any time: as a videogame, LOST Via Domus completely sucks.  I have learned this because I have played the game to 100% completion, not once, but twice, on two game consoles.  Yet there may be a small minority of people out there who will enjoy playing the game.  Crazy people.  Like us.

Reading the previews about this game, I was very excited.  The LOST writers contributed a lot of good things to the game, helping to create a brand new character, Eliot, a survivor of Oceanic Flight 815 that we've never seen before.  The main problem is that Eliot has amnesia and people are trying to kill him.  This is really cool, because Eliot has his own flashbacks that you play through and his own mysteries that will be uncovered.  He has connections to Locke and the Widmore/Hanso conspiracy.  Eliot will explore many key areas of the island that we've seen in the first three seasons of LOST, from the Black Rock to the Hatch to the Others camp.  Due to what he learns about the Hanso foundation, Eliot is driven to escape the island and triggers a wild ending that appears to be approved by Damon and Carlton (Lost's showrunners).  Damon remarked on an ABC podcast that the Via Domus ending is not a dream sequence.  It echoes some of the time-bending island aspects that we've seen in Season Four.

However, the game play really sucks in LOST and it won't be worth it for most people.  Eliot really does not have very many moves in the game.  He shoots a gun, very briefly, in 2 scenes toward the end.  He runs through the jungle a lot.  Eliot can interact with the famous LOST cast members (Jack, Locke, Ben, Juliet, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley), but only a few of them are voiced by the real actors.  In order to barter for things like torches, lamps, guns, etc., Eliot has to collect stupid things like coconuts, papayas, and candy bars.  There are many levels in the game that are extremely frustrating, such as navigating through waypoints in the forest and ducking into banyan trees whenever the smoke monsters is around.  Navigating through dark caves, which you do twice, is also miserable, because there are no clues of where you need to go.  In order to get through the flashbacks, Eliot has to take pictures with his camera, at exactly the right angle and the right moment in time.

I am such a die-hard LOST fan that I just had to play it as soon as possible.  Gamefly had it readily available for the Playstation 3 and I received it a few days after it came out.  It was frustrating, but with the help of an IGN strategy guide, I made it to the ending.  Then I realized, this game may be one of the few that I can get 1000 achievement points on XBox 360.  I rented it for that console and in a few hours did receive the magic 1000 point achievement of my dreams.

Bottom line: if you are not crazy, don't buy it.  If you have to play it, then rent it.  Nuff said.

LOST Via Domus ending on YouTube

IGN LOST Via Domus Review

IGN LOST Via Domus Strategy Guide

LOST Via Domus XBox 360 Achievement Guide

Wow...look at this game clip from Mirror's Edge.  It's Prince of Persia in first person viewpoint.From DICE and EA, IGN says coming 2008, let's hope so. 

Nuff said.

Looks like the whole nation was infected with Iron Mania.  Shellhead's silver screen debut raked in $100 million for the 3-day weekend, above the projected $70-80 million.  This is good for everyone: Marvel, comic book fans, and Hollywood.

Marvel already projects higher earnings as a result.  They are also planning on an Iron Man sequel in 2010 along with a possible Thor movie.  Will it be the Ultimate Thor or the classic Dr. Don Blake Thor?

Over at Entertainment Weekly, Ken Tucker actually proposes that Downey deserves an Oscar for Iron Man.  Wow...Downey's career has been fully resuscitated.  Don't go mad and fall off the wagon, Robert!  Good things are in store for Mr. Favreau's directing career as well.

Not everything in the Iron Man universe is so rosy.  The Iron Man videogame looks to be getting terrible reviews.  I played the XBox 360 demo a week ago and found it to be a justifiable rental, if you are an Iron Man fan.  The game demo consisted of a level based on the movie where you fly around Afghanistan, blowing up terrorist camps using Stark technology.  Mostly you fly around and use repulsor rays to blow up shit.  The full game is supposed to deviate from the plot and puts you in combat against infamous IM villains.  You can also unlock classic versions of IM armor.

Here's an interesting behind the scenes look at the game.  Looks like good fodder for XBox achievement points, but a clear rental.  Nuff said.

I beat Guitar Hero 3 on Easy mode today.  No doubt many GH experts are laughing this.  Easy mode requires only 3 buttons but that is the best I can ever do at this game!  It's still a thrill to play the songs of my youth: Slow Ride, School's Out, Sunshine of Your Love, etc.

In the last level you play a concert in Hell and eventually do a Guitar Battle against Lou the Devil.  The first time I played in hell, I lost concentration due to those scrumptious devil-babes.  They kind of look like Gidget but with horns and red skin.

I picked the rocker chick with low-rider jeans and the visible thong straps.

This is the life.  Nuff said.

IGN is the first online site to have an extensive video review of GTA IV.  It looks fantastic, as I expected.  It seems to me that they are pushing the sexual content even further this time around.  I know that there is an achievement called "Warm Coffee" which you get when a woman invites your character up to her apartment--a comedic backslap against the Hot Coffee easter egg from GTA San Andreas.

There is also an IGN Podcast where the staff (including Hilary Goldstein) talk extensively about their experiences playing GTA IV.  IGN has rated this game a 10 out of 10, their first such rating in many years.  Hilary says this is the best video game he's played since Zelda Ocarina of Time.  Wow, and I thought I could not get anymore hyped up.  Nuff said.

I don't know how this happened. I played GTA 3 and GTA Vice City only for a few hours each. I never bought San Andreas or the PSP versions. But now after reading several articles I am obsessed with Grand Theft Auto IV and I've pre-ordered it from Amazon. Part of the reason for this is that I dug out a game from last year--Crackdown for the XBox 360--and started playing it with the help of a guide, map, and several online video tips. What did we ever do without YouTube showing us how to play video games? It made me think, wow, this world is so cool--partly the coolness comes from levelling up your cop character to do Hulk-like jumps throughout the city--how cool is the city in GTA IV going to be?

GameVideos has an analysis of all 4 trailers for the new GTA game. GameTrailers' Bonus Round program has a discussion between Geoff Keighley, Michael Pachter, and others. Speaking of everyone's favortie analyst Pachter, there's a long interview with him on the Official XBox Magazine Podcast about GTA IV--if you are interested on the business side of things, like how much Microsoft paid for GTA IV's exclusive content downloads. Over on EGM Live's 3/31/2008 podcast, you can here Crispin Boyer talk about his visit to Rockstar North in Edinburgh, Scotland--where programmers work without having any action figures on their desks--go figure that out! Finally, I read a very long and interesting interview with Rockstar's Dan Houser on one of Variety's blogs:

That's how we chose New York and once we'd chosen that, in terms of the character, we wanted something that felt fresh and new and not something that was obviously derived from this movie. We also felt over the last few years there hadn't been a great standout gangster movie. Maybe could do something ourselves that would live alongside that stuff. We wanted someone who felt tough but also like an alien. So we began to develop the character of Niko. The idea of this immigrant story began to seem fun and interesting and he was a good character. On the one hand he's an innocent, on the other hand he's battle hardened and world weary. A modern "arriving in America" story felt very interesting to us.

Cool, I am geeked out about this and ready to play. Especially with so many guides and video tips to help out a lame gamer like me. Decisions, decisions...order the Grand Theft Auto IV Special Edition (with CD, art book, Rockstar keychain, etc) or get the Grand Theft Auto IV regular edition? I'm certainly getting the strategy Grand Theft Auto IV Signature Series Guide (Brady Games).

Addendum: IGN's GTA IV: The City That Never Sleeps.

Addendum: Sam Houser Interview at 1UP.

Gamespot has an online video show called Button Mashing. It's basically a game show where they get players to compete against each other on a series of videogames. This particular episode had players squaring off on NES RC Pro Am Racing (loved that game to death), The Warriors, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance. The winner, Homer from Pleasanton, CA, got a big surprise at the end: he got to fly to LA and challenge Jack Black! Black is funny to me no matter what he does. He goes down in flames on Fight Night but redeems himself on Project Gotham Racing 3. Black actually conquered PGR3 on the Platinum level, spending months on the achievement. Then he took a picture of himself, giving the finger to Bizarre Creations: "I was so mad because it was too hard...I hate you designer!!!" The Black section of the video starts at 14:30 minutes if you want to skip to that point. Nuff said.

External Link:
Button Mashing at GameSpot