New Overlord II Trailer Released

Click Here For Official Site!

As a huge fan of the original game in this franchise, I can’t wait to hop back into my evil shoes and send my minions out to die horrible deaths in my name.  Codemasters decided to release of few more details on their game today, along with a new gameplay trailer. Let’s take a look, eh?

In Overlord II the Minions return stronger, smarter, deadlier (and funnier) and are ready to fight in epic battles that will see them squaring up to the Legions of a new enemy– the Glorious Empire. Their horde mentality is as wild and outrageous as ever and their loyalty to their Overlord has not changed– they’ll do anything and everything that’s commanded of them (and then a bit more) to aid their masters’ quest to destroy or dominate the land.

During the Overlord’s onslaught, the savage pack will gleefully destroy the towns of the Empire and decide the fate of their denizens. Given the right instruction, they’ll even gather voluptuous mistresses for the Overlord and infiltrate the very heart of the Glorious Empire’s army badly (but passably) disguised as diminutive soldiers.

Delivering a whole new level of Minion control, players can equip the Overlord’s devoted brown, green and red Minions with mounts, unique and deadly creatures ready to raise hell. Forming the Minion Cavalry division, brown Minions can ride and control packs of vicious wolves (“Aw, lovelies wolfies”). On wolf-back, the Minions can be swept into attacks and knock enemies off their feet through sheer force and then bite and gore opponents in lupine finishing moves.

Red Minions ride fire salamanders, which become living flamethrowers that shoot fireballs as a primary attack. Green Minions can mount giant spiders, enabling them to climb walls to get to places where no other Minion can get. Meanwhile, the blue Minions, the more ethereal and Zen-like of the tribes, wouldn’t be seen dead on a creature’s back; but they will keep their eyes on their Minion pals and, should they take a tumble or get injured, they’ll dash to the rescue and make use of their unique healing powers.

“The Minions are the stars of the show and we’ve brought them back with bigger personalities and with more abilities than before,” said Lennart Sas, Creative Director, Triumph Studios.“Hilariously supercharged, the Minions can tear down scenery and destroy buildings, ride mounts and operate powerful siege weapons in massive battles with the Empire. They became hugely popular from the first game, so we’re upping their profile, abilities and unique characteristics.”

Spider mounts? Fire breathing salamanders? Wenches? Is there anything this game doesn’t have? Oh yeah, the ability to SHOW us any of that…except the spiders. Oh well, the trailer still looks spot on. They seem to be keeping the formula that worked last time, only upping the graphic content and number of minions you’re allowed to have at once. See?

Still no word on whether they fix players’ biggest gripe; the lack of a map system. Nothing is worse than being all dressed up in intimidating plate armor with a horde of minions and then wandering around in a big circle for twenty minutes.

Overlord II is slated for a Xbox 360, PS3 and PC release on June 26th. For the MASTER!

Block & Roll: LEGO Rock Band Confirmed

TTgames, makers of the LEGO video game franchise are teaming up with Harmonix and Warner Brothers to bring together a meeting of two cash cow meccas. That’s right kids. Now you too can play Rock Band without having your parents’ look on in chagrin as you sing the lyrics to “Dani California”. Designed as family friendly, LEGO Rock Band is set for a 2009 release across all current gen platforms save the PSP. Look for little Lego Rockers on your Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and Nintendo DS before Christmas this year.

Some more information from the press release:

The unique family-friendly music experience is currently in development by TT Games in partnership with Harmonix, and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game, which will allow families, tweens and teens to experience a wild journey to rock stardom where they can“Build a Band and Rock the Universe”, will be available for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Wii™ home videogame console. LEGO Rock Band for Nintendo DS™ will be co-developed by TT Games and Harmonix in partnership with Backbone Entertainment, a Foundation 9 Entertainment studio. All versions are scheduled for 2009.

LEGO Rock Band combines the multiplayer music experience of Rock Band® with the fun, customization and humour of the LEGO videogame franchise packed with brilliant chart-topping songs and classic favourites suitable for younger audiences, including:

Blur:“Song 2”

Carl Douglas:“Kung Fu Fighting”

Europe:“The Final Countdown”

Good Charlotte:“Boys and Girls”

Pink:“So What”

Players will become rockers as they embark on a journey to stardom that the whole family can enjoy as they work their way through local venues, stadiums and fantasy locations on Earth and beyond, that mimic the imaginative settings that the LEGO world offers. Also continuing the LEGO“build-and-play” gaming experience, players will be able to create their own LEGO Rock Band style as they customize their minifigure avatars, band and entourage, including roadies, managers and crew. LEGO Rock Band supports Rock Band instruments, as well as other music game controllers.

“LEGO Rock Band combines two compelling properties and creates an experience that family members of all ages will enjoy playing together as a group,” said Tom Stone, Managing Director, TT Games.“Harmonix and MTV Games are the world experts in music gameplay, and we’re genuinely thrilled to bring the unique and humour-filled LEGO experience to their Rock Band universe.”

Upsides as far as I see them:

LEGO universe – hilarious and self-deprecating.

Accessibility – Thankfully the higher ups realized that while charging an arm and a leg for The Beatles is one thing, people with small kids might not have as much disposable income. So making the game compatible with already existing software was awesome.

Music – Hell YES, Kung Fu Fighting!

Customization – As if the custom options of the original product weren’t enough, LEGO is upping the ante by letting you customize damn near everything in the game.

Downsides as far as I see them:

Internet Whining – The purist, the cynic and the childless will all be whining that this is a blatant attempt to cash in on a hot property and nothing more. Gamers with kids (or parents) will not care.

Backwards Compatibility – So far there has been no word on whether songs from Rock Band and Rock Band 2 will be playable on this new version. While that might not necessarily mean anything, it might mean the upper brass aren’t as smart as I just gave them credit for.

So as far as I’m concerned the positive (so far) outweighs the negative by a mile. But that’s just one blogger’s opinion. Feel free to leave your own, differing or like-minded, in the comments section.

Batman:Arkham Asylum Collector’s Edition

Batman has had a bit of renaissance lately. And if any superhero of badassery needed to be revitalized after Hollywood ditched their raped and mutilated body in a back alley, it’s Batman. For God’s sake, they gave the man fake nipples. FAKE. NIPPLES.

That shit ain't right.

And if apologizing for all the horrible things they did to him by making a bad ass reboot of the series wasn’t enough, the entertainment industry is about to unleash Batman: Arkham Asylum on the world this June. If you’ve been living under some sort of rock, on Mars, this game is highly anticipated by anyone that’s ever wanted a Batman game that involved more finesse than punching guys in the face and racing the Batmobile in circles.

There are A LOT of trailers, videos and screenshots for Arkham Asylum and if you’ve found me than you clearly know what a Google search is. If you’re too lazy to utilize that, here is the official trailer for the game, followed by one of some of the awesome sneaky badassery gameplay.

Now that you are all properly hyped, let’s get to the real meat of this post. The collector’s edition. We all knew there would be one. The Collector’s Edition can either be the pinnacle of fan service or the bottom of the barrel. Which way would the Eidos marketing people go? Crappy artbook or some shoddy pen with “Batman” embossed on it? Hell no! Eidos doesn’t half ass Batman!

Holy Mother of God!

That’s right. You get a bloody batarang! The complete collection includes:

■ 14″ Batarang with stand – Matches the Batarang’s in-game design

■ Arkham Doctor’s Journal – 48 pages of notes on Arkham’s inmates, Embossed leather dust jacket

■ 2 Sleeve Digi-pack, including: Game disc, Behind-the-scenes DVD

■ Code for downloadable Challenge Map – Exclusive “Crime Alley” map, available immediately

■ Full-color Manual

I haven’t been this psyched about a collector’s edition since I found out I’d get a genuine Big Daddy figurine with my copy of Bioshock. Of course, all this awesome doesn’t come cheap. If you want to attack your pets with a replica batarang, you’re going to have to shell out $100 USD. Not sure what the conversion for Britain or other countries is; but I’m guessing it’ll run about the same. A little pricey for this economy but for those that can afford it, a feather in their cap.

Look Over There! It’s Bioshock 2!

Big Sister Doesn't Like Subtitles.

I know, I know. I didn’t post a damn thing yesterday. In my defense, the “Easter Bunny” somehow managed to forget that Easter was this Sunday and had to make a last minute dash to Wally World so my kids wouldn’t be disappointed.

By the way, those pre-made baskets might look fancy with their cheap plastic toys, but there is approximately two pieces of candy in them. Lame.

Then, my shiny toy came in the mail today. A mini-laptop/early birthday present from my husband who loves me. In fact, I stopped enjoying browsing the internet from the comfort of laying prone on the couch to bring you this half-assed post. From my adorable, me-sized netbook.

But anyway, to soothe your savage rage (imagined in my head) have some shiny Bioshock 2 gameplay footage.

I can’t tell you how excited I am that even though you are a Big Daddy your vision isn’t impaired. One of the shittiest things about the first Bioshock to me was the lack of peripheral vision once the helmet went on. I don’t care if it was realistic, it bothered the crap out of me.

I was a tad disappointed to not see more of a fight between the Big Daddy and Big Sister, especially after Game Informer built her up to be such a bad ass of badassery in their cover story last month. But I’ll just have to settle for her skipping and acrobatic-ing around like a spider on meth. For now.

What the “Flock!” Capcom?

Well, Flock me!

Have you heard about “Flock!” ?  If yes, please skip down to where Capcom deceived me in my stupor this morning. If no, please check out the following explanation and video.

Flock is your basic herding game. I know, the herding animals genre is so overdone, but stay with me. In Flock, you play from a third-person top down view. As aliens, the clearest way to understand life on this planet is to use your spaceship (a la 1950’s B-movie fame) to rack up points by scaring the crap out of domesticated livestock and get them onto the mothership. Only through this process can you truly grasp the horrors of rural Earth living.

However, the tricksy humans have put up “fences” and “obstacles” to keep their herds right where they should be; grazing on hormone injected grass and getting obscenely obese. Mmmm, genetically engineered cows. So you must use the physics based gameplay ( ie: your laser beam PEW PEW) to pick up objects and crash through the obstacles. And of course, you have a time limit. The mothership doesn’t pay overtime bitches; punch out is at 5pm SHARP!

So call me girly or a heretic or whatnot (please save your pitch forks until the end of the article) but based on these gameplay trailers…

AND

…I was as estatic as possible at 8 am to see this giant headline this morning.

CAPCOM’S FLOCK! AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD ACROSS ALL PLATFORMS

Huzzah! I thought and rushed to my 360 to download the game. Twenty minutes and no game later, I’m thinking “WTF Xbox?” Did they crash the game? Forget to put it up? Hate me and don’t want me to enjoy aliens herding animals? No. For once, Xbox is not to blame. It was Capcom. The bloody liars. In their defense, maybe I should have actually, you know, READ the whole press release, which said:

…today launched their newest digital download, FLOCK!. The Windows PC version launches today April 7, the Xbox LIVE® Arcade version for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft launches tomorrow, April 8, and the PlayStation®Network version launches on Thursday, April 9.

Damn you! Apparently, Capcom is playing favorites and Xbox is the middle child. But then, at the bottom OF THE SAME PRESS RELEASE it says:

Rated E for Everyone, FLOCK! is now available to download for Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360, PlayStation®Network and Windows PC.

But what else should I expect from the same company that cockteases Resident Evil fans about run-and-shoot gameplay only to pull the rug out from under them at the last moment?

So now here I am, all ready to herd some sheep and I have to wait another damn twelve-plus hours?! In this day and age of instant gratification, that’s like…like…twelve weeks!

Saving the Galaxy, Three Colored Gems At A Time

If you had asked any non-casual gamer their opinion of puzzle games like Bejeweled before 2007, most would have sneered at you. Puzzle games were for grandmas and little girls. Then along came Infinity Interactive, shoving puzzle games into bed with RPG’s like  an unwilling arranged marriage. Yet somehow, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords not only didn’t suck but was awesome. Suddenly, hard core RPG consumers were moving around colored blocks to collect magic, experience and money.

Original Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

Now, as this comic shows, fighting an enemy through a series of tile moves seems absurd when looked at through the lens of reality. And like other RPG’s it was easy to wander into areas WAY to high for your level. But Puzzle Quest managed to mostly dance on the edge, artfully blending strategy, story, party members and random encounters into an experience that wasn’t only fun and addictive, but seemed like a natural fit. Why hadn’t we thought of this before? It’s like discovering peanut butter and banana sandwiches for the first time.

Taking their success and running with it, publisher D3Publisher took the formula that worked so well of high fantasy and used it to create this year’s sequel, Puzzle Quest: Galatrix. Like the name implies, the game is based in a galaxy spanning space epic. Changing a few gameplay elements, such as the board shape and letting gravity affect how fast the blocks fall, the game maintains the addictive combination that made the original so much awesome.

Hexagons are sexier than squares.

Already released for for PC and the DS, it was announced today that the game will be dropping on XBLA on April 8th. There are also plans to release it on the Playstation Network but no date was set at this time.

A little bit more information about the game and its features. From the press release:

Puzzle Quest: Galactrix from Infinite Interactive will launch for Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft on April 8th, 2009. Puzzle Quest: Galactrix will support online multiplayer, matchmaking, leaderboards, voice chat and more for a full-spectrum online play experience.

Puzzle Quest: Galactrix is an exciting new addition to the Puzzle Quest universe, incorporating a compelling blend of casual and hardcore gameplay elements, similar to those adored by fans of the critically acclaimed Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, into an all-new futuristic, science-fiction setting. An all-new hexagonal puzzle board allows an extra layer of strategy for players who crave it and the upgradeable spacecraft options allow players to create, develop and customise the ultimate fleet. A rich and detailed storyline and fresh gameplay elements make the world of Puzzle Quest: Galactrix a captivating new adventure to explore and conquer.

Even if you still think puzzle games are for grandmas and little girls, do yourself a favor on April 8th (or at an unconfirmed date in the future for you PS3 fans out there) and download the demo with an open-ish mind. You might be pleasantly surprised at how much depth is involved in matching three of a kind.

Sony Announces Fix To Backwards Compatibility

What's old is new again!

Great news today for anyone that has bought one of Sony’s new Playstation 3 systems that aren’t backwards compatible with PS2 and PSOne games. A peripheral has been released for only $99 that will play ALL of those dusty games on your shelf!

For over a week now, the internet has been buzzing with rumors and theories about Sony’s big announcement. Some thought it would be a sequel for one of their blockbuster titles, some thought it would be a PS3 price drop. Some even ruined the surprise through their network of moles.

Well, I for one am glad to see Sony stepping up and taking some initiative. Too many PS3 owners are hampered by their inability to play PS2 or PSOne games on their systems. But with new and, most importantly, affordable add-on, playing the old games will be a breeze. According to Sony’s website, installation of the “Playstation Two” (interesting marketing ploy that they’re reusing the name of their last generation system) is a breeze:

1. Connect the flat end of the AV Cable to the AV MULTI OUT connector on the back of the PlayStation 2 system.
   

   toggle_box(getObject(‘expander_box1_link’), ‘expander_box1’);

2. Connect the plugs on the other end of the A/V cable to the audio and video inputs on the back of your TV or VCR, matching colors. (If you will be using your PlayStation®2 to watch DVDs, connect the A/V cable to the VCR instead of the TV for best results.) If there is no red input on your TV or VCR, let the red plug dangle.
   Make sure the connections are secure.
   NOTE: Some TV inputs are not color-coded correctly, if this is the case, plug the yellow plug into the VIDEO IN input, the white plug into the AUDIO IN Left input, and the red plug into the AUDIO IN Right input. If there is no input for the red plug, let it dangle..
   

   toggle_box(getObject(‘expander_box2_link’), ‘expander_box2’);

3. Connect the AC adaptor to the AC power cord. Connect the AC adaptor to the PlayStation 2 system.
   

   toggle_box(getObject(‘expander_box3_link’), ‘expander_box3’);

4. Plug the AC power cord into a working electrical outlet.

• Set Playstation 2 system on top of Playstation 3 system.

In all seriousness though, what the hell was Sony thinking? Getting everyone all worked up with their super secret secretness about a “Big Announcement” only to reveal it’s a price drop on the PS2. I mean yeah, it is the one system they have that actually SELLS but other than kids and poor saps that sold their systems to buy the PS3, who doesn’t already own one of these?

What do you think?

Indiana Jones Game Reappears

Hey, remember when Lucas Arts announced they were in the process of making a new Indiana Jones game for the next generation consoles? No? Well that’s probably because it was all over the internet. In 2006. The game was supposed to be developed using the Euphoria engine (same as used in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed) and bring realism in killing Nazi’s to a whole new level. Originally it was slated for release on the Xbox 360 and PS3. Here, watch a clever promotional video for it…

So, it looked kind of cool. Very rough graphically but hey, it was 2006 and in alpha so I’ll cut it some slack. And then things went quiet. Too quiet. Then rumors started bubbling up that the game had been canceled, the team dispersed and the our dreams of playing as a non-Lego form of Indy dashed.

But wait! There is hope. Recently Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings has been buzzing around the video game blogosphere. There was even a neat teaser trailer for it…here.

Hold it! On the Wii? And Playstation TWO, not three? And the DS and PSP? No 360 love? Or gameplay shown in the trailer? What the hell is going on here? Time to dig around.

Okay, so there are screenshots available at the official website and two videos, neither of which feature gameplay. That doesn’t bode well. Game info is also available though no explanation for the change in direction of the game is given.

This news is baffling. Even though Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was almost universally panned by critics, it did gross over $700 million worldwide. You’d think LucasArts would want part of that pie. Of course, insiders are denouncing the rumors that the 360 and PS3 version have been canned but usually when a game goes to ground for this long, its chance of reaching consumers is nil.

Undead Invade Industry Undetected

The zombies are coming! The zombies are coming! Err wait, they’re already here…and no one seems to mind. Awesome.

At least this is the only logical conclusion I can come to. In the last year the game industry has been literally overrun with zombie games, ranging from gory to silly to thought provoking. Don’t believe me? Well then Mr. Skeptic, here is a partial list I came up with off the top of my head after staring at my computer screen for ten minutes.

1. Teenage Zombies: A tongue in cheek DS title that slipped under the radar last April.

2. Left 4 Dead: One of the top Games of the Year. Easily spotted.

3. Resident Evil 5: Zombies go on safari.

4. House of the Dead: Overkill: Wii exclusive prequel to the original title.

5. Zombie Infection: Even your cell phone isn’t safe. Contest for tickets to Comic Con make this flash game even more dangerous.

6. Call of Duty: World At War: Nazis? Zombies? NAZI ZOMBIES?! We can’t kill these things fast enough.

7. Dead Rising: Chop til You Drop: Wii exclusive. Self-explanatory title.

8. Fallout 3: I’m counting the Ghouls here. They’re zombies by another name.

9. Dead Space: Creepy mutated space zombies still count.

10. Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers: Yes, this is real. No, I’m not kidding. Also available on 360!

11. Little Red Riding Hood’s Zombie BBQ: Contra style Gameplay + fairy tales + zombies = bizarrely entertaining DS title.

The two iffiest in that list, as my husband so kindly pointed out, are Dead Space and Fallout 3 since technically neither are classic zombies. But neither species in either game is living or not actively decaying, so I’m counting them. Take that as you will.

The question then becomes why the sudden glut of zombie killing goodness? After all, the oldest title on my list isn’t even a year old. Sure, there were zombies around before that, but mostly in rail shooters in the arcade or in the staple Resident Evil series. So what happened? Oh, lots of things. Some have suggested our renewed love of zombies stems from the repetitive mindlessness of modern living, such as Shagtee’s opinion . Interesting read there, by the way.

I think the release of Shaun of the Dead in theaters and Dead Rising on the 360 brought a sharper spotlight to the shambling undead. After all, people may feel some remorse killing another human…be it mobster, Nazi or random ninja #78, but killing the undead not only feels good, it feels damn good! But what kind of undead can mere humans kill like so many lemmings? Certainly not vampires, as proven by the ill-fated Vampire Rain for the Xbox 360. Even Alucard and the other, ever-expanding cast of Castlevania can’t keep a good vampire down.

Enter the zombie. The red shirt army of the fantasy world. He doesn’t ask for much. Just a road to shamble down, a brain to eat and maybe a shadow to lurk in. With most games needing a fall guy for the hero to mow down, the undead are a masterpiece of ‘false difficulty’. They might all have one hit point, but there’s two hundred of them. Now what, Mr. Only-has-three-rounds-left? Mwa-ha-ha-ha.

Ahem. Sorry about that. So whether it’s our own masochistic need to destroy a strawman of modern living, our need to satiate our bloodlust without remorse or the visceral thrill of fear at the thought of being eaten alive, the game industry has found that nerve and is going to poke it for all it’s worth. I, for one, couldn’t be happier. Braaaaiiiinnnssss.

Nintendo Dominates December Sales

Numbers released this month by the NPD place Nintendo as the clear cut winner in December game sales. Six out of the top ten belong to them.  Five for the company’s Wii and one for the handheld DS.

Microsoft came in second with three titles in the top ten and Sony trailed behind with only one game ranking in at number nine.

Below is the list of December’s best selling video games as rated by the NPD group along with how many units sold.

1.   Wii Play w/ Remote (Wii)                     1.46M
2.   Call Of Duty: World At War (360)     1.33M
3.   Wii Fit (Wii)                                                999K
4.   Mario Kart (Wii)                                       979K
5.   Guitar Hero World Tour (Wii)            850K
6.   Gears Of War 2 (360)                             745K
7.   Left 4 Dead (360)                                   629K
8.   Mario Kart (DS)                                       540K
9.   Call Of Duty: World At War (PS3)     533K
10. Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii)     497K