Like many older gamers I was first introduced to Lara Croft in 1996 on the original PlayStation. By today’s standards it controlled terribly and featured a murderous camera. The environments were blocky and the movement digital and unnatural. Lara may have been cool, smart and strong, but she also looked like a blind arthritic carved her from driftwood with a trowel.
I devoured the game. When I finished it, I immediately started it over and devoured it again.
You are Dawn. Tall, beautiful and dressed as a Parisian vaudevillian acrobat. You’re the mute companion of the precocious young Didi. You’re also imaginary. Or, perhaps, you’re not. Didi, of course, has a firm opinion in the matter, but as this entire experience may only exist inside her head we may not want to rely on her.
YouTube user “DuskBit” has uploaded a nearly thirty minute video collecting much of what we know about Sucker Punch’s highly anticipated PS4 exclusive “Infamous: Second Son”. The video presents several behind-the-scenes vignettes and includes 15 minutes of actual gameplay footage that I hadn’t seen before.
While I presume that the footage is from a pre-final build (I assume the final game will have a HUD of some kind) it’s incredibly impressive. The destructibility of the environment, the fluidity of the movement and quality of the particle effects are all amazing, but expected on a next-gen console. What really struck me, however, was the increased quality of the experience.
The ambient animals, fluttering banners and fully-rendered fallen leaves will likely be missed, but add subtlety to the reality. You’ll see enemies use their powers to alter the environment and create “shelves” for them to stand on to get a height advantage over our hero. You’ll see others decide to give up the fight completely and attempt to flee. Building from
“Infamous 2” there are also clear improvements in the in-game cinematic cameras that add dramatically to the personality of the game.
I’ve made no excuses about my adoration of the series as can be seen in my review of “Infamous 2”. This is the game that my PS4 is waiting for and from the looks of it I won’t be disappointed.
“The Last of Us” [My Review] is, rightfully, being lauded as one of the best games of 2013. It provides mature gamers a tight, immersive gameplay experience framed in a smart and engaging story. It also handily demonstrates the high quality that can be wrung from seven year-old hardware. I enjoyed the game deeply but, as is often the case with something so close to perfection, small issues take on significantly more weight.
The Steam Controller was recently unveiled as part of the larger set of Steam Machine announcements. The Steam Machine is an open specification for console-like PCs allowing for easy integration of PC games into your living room. While boxes can vary in power and capacity – and so in cost – the Steam Controller is an attempt to normalize the interface.
The controller represents a significant evolution of what’s become a relatively stagnant controller design. While this is a pre-release design that may change it’s unlikely that the core features will change drastically. It shares the two lobed, split-surface design first popularized by the original PlayStation controller but with significant differences.
20 years after a pandemic fungal infection has wiped out civilization and created a feral hunter-class of infected, humanity lives on the edge. Rigidly controlled but exquisitely vulnerable quarantine zones represent the last of organized government. People get along as best they can under constant threat from sickness, starvation and their fellow survivors.
In celebration of the release of the Playstaion 4 the PlayStation Greatness Exchange is giving away all of the props from the excellent “A Perfect Day” commercial (below). In what is a certified stroke of marketing genius this is the second contest which has allowed fans to leverage their PSN Trophy collection to win actual prizes.
(Yes, my PSN handle is “kiwidust”. Feel free to ping me if you catch me online. Apologies in advance: I rarely do multi-player due to the enormous, towering, stack of unplayed games looming over me.)
I tossed my lot of trophies on the Elder Scrolls Online Dagger and…. please provide your own drumrolls, I won! I haven’t actually taken delivery yet (who know how long that will take) but I’m already in negotiations with my lovely bride on how (and where) to mount and display it. Here’s a few close-ups of the piece provided by PlayStation:
Here’s the commercial. You can see the dagger in the first few seconds being drawn for combat by the thiefy-looking guy on the right. He better not have scratched my dagger!
Once I take official ownership, I’ll be sure to gloat some more!
I’ve waited to do this review. Having funded the system during the original KickStarter campaign, I’ve had it for quite some time. Truth be told the system, as originally delivered, was more than a little rough around the edges and the games available less than impressive. I decided to allow some time for the software (and a few minor hardware) issues to be settled before forming my opinion.
[This isn’t technically a movie. Rather it’s a web series whose first season has been cut into a movie for distribution on NetFlix. I’m going to treat it like a movie. So there.]
This entire thing is unabashed, shameless pandering to the video game crowd. In this world video games are king. Good players are the rock stars and every teen wants to go to “Video Game High School”. Brian D is an everyman schlep who accidentally frags the school’s star, “The Law”, and gets a scholarship for his trouble.
Big budget gaming is a glut of sequels and mimics. The reason for this is lamentable but obvious. Namely that big budget gaming needs big budgets. Selling lots and lots of games gets you those so you make games that you know will sell. In an arena filled to bursting with Battlefighterwarduty thirty-eight, it’s especially refreshing to find a game both so originally minded and perfectly crafted.
“Tomb Raider” Official Website
“The Last of Us” [
