The Game Druid

Ya, so the next NFS game is coming out November 18th. while I don’t have a lot of details on this right now, but from reading about it, i think its gonna be like most wanted.

what we do know so far: EA officially announced Need for Speed Undercover for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Nintendo DS, PC, and mobile devices. True to Riccitiello’s word, the street racer will feature a number of live-action cutscene sequences, and the publisher has secured the talents of starlet Maggie Q (Balls of Fury, Mission Impossible III) to lead its efforts. Ms. Q will play the role of Agent Chase Linh, who oversees players as they infiltrate the underground racing scene to upend an international crime syndicate

After months of rumors and clamoring from PC gamers, Rockstar Games has finally made it official: their best-selling console title Grand Theft Auto IV is headed to the PC on November 18th in North America and November 21st in Europe.

In the press statement Founder of Rockstar Games Sam Houser was quoted as saying, “We are very excited to be releasing the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV. The whole team is dedicated to bringing an amazing gaming experience to the PC. The game looks and plays beautifully on PC and we can’t wait for people to play it.”

This should come as no surprise really, considering all the other GTA titles - except for the hand-held versions Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories - eventually made their way to the PC platform. But in the media blitz surrounding the initial release of Grand Theft Auto IV in April on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, Rockstar Games was decidedly tight-lipped about even the possibility of a PC version.

Very few details are available about the PC version of GTA IV, but the press release did contain an interesting snippet in the paragraph on the game’s features saying “…and newly expanded multiplayer just for the PC.” Now I wonder what this will hold in store

Questions regarding other common PC platform considerations like digital distribution, copy protection, system requirements, mod tools, map editors, DX 10 support and integration with Games for Windows - Live were all deftly deflected by representatives from Rockstar public relations. However, the issue regarding copy protection has to be first and foremost in the mind of Take Two Interactive, publisher of Grand Theft Auto IV. Game piracy is one of the major concerns for any company looking to publish games on the PC.

So stay tuned and wait for us as we bring you more juice on this

well the post i put up earlier, flooded my inbox… do I really have the spore game?

My bad. I meant to say Spore Creature Creator. Yeah, old news that. But we’re still getting the game a few weeks before the release date after confirming with TOI, our supplier. So Stay tuned for that too

I’m sure you’ve already head about the latest and apparently greatest upcoming horror game from EA called Dead Space…

Here’s the story so far: Earth’s appetite for natural resources has become a major motivator for deep space exploration. When the communications go dead for the privately-owned mining ships called “planetcrackers” goes dead, Systems engineer Isaac Clarke was sent in to fix the problem. Once boarded, he discovered a malevolent alien presence and was left alone and weaponless to survive this horror ordeal.

Sounds great eh? um..the druid’s here are not too impressed. However…

The key success of survival horror games such as Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Dino Crisis to name a few, is the element of surprise and new generation features that were introduced. Survival horror is about experiencing a terrifying, and deeply personal fiction.

So Quoting EA on this game’s features:

Strategic Dismemberment – The core game mechanic is the strategic and brutal dismemberment of Necromorph appendages. It’s all about seeing bone fragments and arterial spray fly across the room.

Terrifying Setting and atmosphere – An immersive, interactive horror movie experience. State-of-the art graphics and effects built on an EA proprietary engine, an emergent, panic-inducing audio system, and a nuanced, scary pace will wrench you headlong into the terror.

Zero gravity – Survive and destroy the Necromorphs in zero G environments. Manipulate gravity with Havok physics to solve puzzles and destroy the infestation.

Thrilling story – Isaac will discover the Ishimura’s fate by picking up the last logs of the Ishimura’s murdered and hideously transformed crew. The game experience is just a small part of a larger story tapestry that extends through different media and line extensions.

I think the features look super cool from here, it all depends on execution (remember Max Payne??). We’ll have more on this next week, but for now, here’s a screen shot for you to drool over

Oh and also over the next couple of days, we’re getting loads of new Xbox 360 games shipped to us. So expect tons of reviews 

It seems that Gamespot had an affair with StarCraft..here’s an excerpt

While the big announcement at this weekend’s 2008 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational was the announcement of Diablo III, strategy fans had plenty to cheer, as the show floor contained a section specifically devoted to StarCraft II. Hundreds of PCs were on-hand, allowing attendees to be among the first in the world to play this highly anticipated sequel and, judging by the the attendance in the StarCraft II section, it seems attendees weren’t disappointed at all. We had a chance to spend some time with the game as well and, though there wasn’t a lot that was new in the game since our last look back in May, every chance to play StarCraft II is an enjoyable one.

read the whole story here

here’s a single screen shot for you to drool over

click on the image to view

The ice sheath splash has finally melted, it’s now official, Diablo 3 is coming soon!…and while I’m not exactly barreled over by the announcement because I’ve always felt a trifle conflicted about the merits of the Diablo series, I’m definitely intrigued.

What I (and plenty of others) speculated might happen came to pass at approximately 12:18 p.m. on June 28th at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris, France, where Blizzard finally confirmed that yes, Diablo 3 is in the works, eight prolonged years after Diablo 2, and over a decade after the original gave oceans of relentless finger-tappers a conduit for their compulsion.

Don’t believe me? Peep the the Blizzard homepage Flash splash (if you can get it to come up once folks on this side of the pond start to rise and shine).

What else do we know so far? Not much, but Blizzard says it’s going to be the biggest Diablo yet, that it’s going to retain the series focus on cooperative play, and that it’ll feature the return of Deckard Cain (the old dude from the last two who crooned “Stay a while, and listen!” when you clicked him). You’ll also get a new class called the Witch Doctor who’ll have access to jungle magic and be able to summon animals and insects, inflict diseases, and mind-control enemies.

As the game is now finally fully 3D, you’ll be able to zoom in or out on the fly. The interface has been unsurprisingly tweaked with onscreen hotbars for skills as well as the option to swap between them quickly with the tab key or your mousewheel. Instead of quaffing potions like Professor Snape on a bender, you’ll roll over red orbs to replenish your health. Environments can be pretty thoroughly pulverized, as well as utilized to effect the destruction of enemies. Certain enemies will be considerably larger, finally filling the screen like proper boss monsters. Armor now relates to class and renders uniquely depending on the character wearing it. And girls, you’ll finally have the option to pick female versions of character classes, including the Barbarian and Witch Doctor.

I’ve also got the exlusive HD trailer for the game. Will be uploading that soon as well. So watch out for that

Earlier this year, Activision unveiled Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, the first installment in its billion-dollar rhythm series based entirely on a band. No sooner had the publisher announced the deal than speculation began to spread about what the second band-based Guitar Hero game would be. Along with Van Halen the most mentioned group was Metallica, the legendary San Francisco Bay Area heavy-metal quartet.

Now, talk of Guitar Hero: Metallica is no longer a case of wishful thinking or idle speculation–it’s fact. When sifting through an SEC filing of Activision’s over the weekend, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Edward Woo–associate of the highly visible Michael Pachter–uncovered a gem in the section where the Santa Monica, California-based publisher discussed its upcoming game slate.

“In fiscal 2009, we plan to publish Guitar Hero: On Tour for the NDS; Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Guitar Hero: Metallica, and Guitar Hero IV across multiple platforms,” the company said in its report. Activision’s fiscal year ends on March 31, 2009, which means that the game will likely follow the holiday release of Guitar Hero: World Tour (nee Guitar Hero 4).

Guitar Hero: Metallica will be the first time a game based on the multiplatinum-selling band–which has become only slightly less famous for its antipiracy efforts as its musical achievements–has made it to retail. However, it is the second such game to be announced. In 2003, Vivendi Games–which will soon merge with Activision–struck a deal to create a vehicular combat game inspired by Metallica’s music. Unconfirmed reports stated that the project had been quietly canceled in 2005.

So i got this courtesy gamespot:

Capcom’s been teasing us with the promise of Resident Evil 5 for quite some time. The highly anticipated follow up first appeared on our radar in 2005 when it was first announced. Since then there have been a few appearances and teases on the game but nothing too meaty outside of trailers and the odd interview. We got a nice surprise at Capcom’s recent press event in the form of a new trailer, and short look at the game in motion on the Xbox 360 which has us intrigued.

Producers Jun Takeuchi and Masachika Kawata gave a short presentation that led into a new trailer which they freely admitted would merely raise more questions about what’s going on in the game. Takeuchi essentially ran through most of the high level information out for the game. He noted RE5 is set in Africa and follows Chris Redfield on an adventure that will lead him to discover the origins of the progenitor virus seen in RE: Code Veronica. The trailer was a montage of images and clips that offered a tiny hint at the game’s scope and some of the additional locales you’ll get to. We saw ruins, some country side, riots in the now familiar village, brutal imagery of locals clashing, and Chris running from a mob. Other parts of the montage included sewers, dogs, fighting on rooftops, a factory explosion, Chris using various weapons, dealing with chainsaw wielding foes, and a mysterious new female character who welcomes him to Africa. At the end of the trailer Takeuchi noted that the game is roughly 60% complete and should wind up being over 20 hours or so.

Once the trailer was over Takeuchi sprung the surprise and fired up a work in progress version of the game on the Xbox 360 for Kawata to play through. The demo opened with Chris Redfield in a house fending off zombies (or whatever the heck they’re calling them in this game) as they came in through the front door. From the look of things the game is sticking pretty close to the core of RE4’s combat systems. We saw Chris shoot, stab, and get off a context sensitive kick on the horde foes coming at him. As time passed, enemies started pouring down from the ceiling, which added a whole new dynamic to the action. As if all that wasn’t challenging enough, a massive warhammer wielding punched a whole through wall, showing off the new destructible environments and allowing more enemies in.

With the house compromised, Chris is sent running outside through the ruined streets with a mob of foes behind him–including his hammer wielding friend. The open space offers some new defensive opportunities as Chris is able to ignite some conveniently placed drums which flame up nicely and deal with the smaller enemies. Chris also switches weapons to his shotgun which tears through groups of foes at close range. Of course none of this matters to the massive hammer wielding foe who continues to shamble after the hapless adventurer. We then see Chris take to the rooftops to try and avoid enemies who simply head on up after him. The persistent bunch weather Chris’ throwing grenades and weapons fire to keep on coming at him. When none of that work Chris nabs a machine gun and incendiary grenade and gets up to a higher level on the roof in order to put them to good use. During his maneuvering he’s caught by an enemy and has to shake them off by moving the analog stick and matching a button prompt.

The remainder of the demo showed Chris making use of whatever he could in his surroundings in order to avoid or defeat his enemies. Takeuchi noted that the town is considerably larger than the one seen in RE4. In addition he stated that the large enemy with the hammer was basically a one hit foe (Kawata was using an invincibility cheat for the demo) that players will know to respect fairly quickly. Outside of the demo Takechi didn’t offer too much more insight into the game, noting only that more would be revealed at E3.

The work in progress 360 version of the game was richly detailed to convey its African town setting and sported impressive graphics. RE5 will run using the most current version of the framework engine that Capcom has been using. While elements of the visuals were unsettling, they certainly kept with the disturbing theme. Lighting and the like were looking very sharp as the settlement reflected its environment. The detail on Chris is really well done as are all his foes and their twisted minions. In terms of audio, the game is sounding great with everyone’s moans fitting quite well.

Based on what we saw, Resident Evil 5 should continue the rejuvenation of the series which got an impressive jump start with RE4. If the controls can be as solid as the original game but add some cool stuff we’ll be sold. We’re also hoping that there’s one hell of a story to be told, hopefully explaining the unsettling imagery. Resident Evil 5 is slated to ship during Capcom’s fiscal year which means it’s due at the end of this year or the start of 2009. Look for more on the game at this year’s E3.