For instance, the tutorial in the PSP games takes hours. I’m not exaggerating. Every time I thought I was finished with the tutorial, it turned out that I was still learning how to do things by going out on much easier missions than I maybe wanted to. Basically, the game kept you out of the hardcore action and the monsters you want to slay for far too long, which kind of kept people from getting into it if they were impatient. It doesn’t help when it looks like you have hours upon hours of learning to do before you can even kill a monster that wants to hurt you as bad as you want to hurt it.

In tri, the hand-holding is less evident, and you will be out there in the fields fighting impossibly huge creatures before you know it. The tutorial is much more in the vein of, “Hey there, let me tell you about that sword you’re holding” then it is “Now before you can wield a sword, I need to send you out on this overly simplistic sword-based mission”. This lets you learn as you play, and also allows you to dive in to the meat of the game much earlier–I’ll admit I’m a bit of a Monster Hunter rookie, but I’ve played Freedom Unite on the PSP, and I can tell you this is a welcome change.

There are also a lot of little changes that are worth noting–you can now change your gear inside the meeting hall where your online compatriots can see it, rather than going outside to change your equipment and then coming back in. This is nice for showing off some gear you’ve picked up, or if you just need to make a last minute change to your equipment and don’t want to hold your buddies up. Harvesting plants and digging are also much easier now, as a context sensitive button will appear next to these items and let you perform the action–no more stopping and going through your inventory to equip your pick axe before you start mining. This all makes for a smoother experience, and keeps you from having to muck around in your inventory every time you see something you want to dig.

The biggest change is the fact that you now have split-screen co-op and online multiplayer, rather than the more limited online of the PSP titles. In Japan, this service requires monthly payments, but as of now, the American side of Capcom has not made a decision. One reason they can do this in Japan is due to the popularity of the series–people would probably pay way more than Capcom charges to get their hands on it–but that may not fly over here, considering it’s just not as popular. Regardless, the game will be on Capcom’s own servers, and will not require Friend Codes. It’s much more like playing an online game on the Playstation Network or over Xbox Live, which works for me.

I played two levels during my time with Capcom–the first of these had us fighting a brand new monster that would call for help from other monsters if we stopped attacking it for too long. The obvious solution was to beat the thing into submission, but the monster didn’t just stand there and take it, so it’s easier said than done. With four of us working on it though, the fight did not last too long–it showed off how important teamwork can be in a Monster Hunter mission though. I got to mess around with a brand new weapon during this mission, the switch axe. It’s either a huge axe or a massive sword, depending on which mode you choose to use, and you can switch back and forth using the right bumper on the classic controller. Both have their positives and negatives, as axes are obviously swung slower than swords but do massive damage, and vice versa.

One other thing I noticed during this session–you get up from being knocked down significantly faster in the Wii version than in the PSP one, which is great. Monsters won’t be able to get as much of a head start on you if they run, you can get back into the fight faster–nothing bad can come from speeding that up a bit, especially since it took so long to get back up in the older versions.

The other level I demoed was meant for the hardcore Japanese audience that is used to playing Monster Hunter, meaning I had little to no chance of completing it. It did show off the new underwater combat though, which means I needed to give it a go. Water combat is a lot like combat on the ground in some ways–get near your enemy, use your weapon, rinse and repeat–but also very different. Since you need to angle yourself in the water, the combat is more 3D, since the monsters can come from behind, in front of you, on top of you or underneath you. There’s also a layer of strategy here–if you can harass the monster until it gets out of the water, sometimes you help your chances. Not everything that swims fast is as adept on land, and you may be able to turn a once difficult foe into a sluggish, easier target on dry ground. That’s not always true though, as some enemies that you find in the water excel on land, so you will learn when this is a good tactic to employ and when you’re better off fighting aquatically.

Don’t worry about running out of breath, either–you can dive for around 20 minutes without any problems, and there’s an item you can take just like a potion that will allow you to breathe underwater indefinitely.

Lastly, the graphics in this game are fantastic. Despite the gargantuan beasts, Monster Hunter utilizes a realistic graphical style, and it looks like the Wii finally got their graphical showcase for that style of game. Everything is brightly lit, with light and shadows playing an important part in the landscapes (especially underwater) and everything also looks very, very smooth. You can see for yourself in the screens, but the game looks better in motion.

Monster Hunter is one of those series that always intrigues me, and I want to love it, but there’s always something that gets in the way of me either picking it up or diving in as much as I want to. With tri, Capcom seems to have done away with many of these barriers to entry, and may have set themselves up to release their best effort yet on the Wii. We’ll have more info on this game as it nears release, but for now, just know the series seems to be headed in a positive direction.

The latter was a Code Veronica level, with Claire Redfield and Steve Burnside doing the zombie killing on Rockfort Island, as Claire searches for her brother Chris in his pre-boulder punching days. The gameplay was similar to the Resident Evil 2 level demoed earlier this summer, though there was a lot less running from zombies given you were in a more secluded area than a city’s streets.

Here are the basics–the game is on rails, but this has a more cinematic feel to it than Umbrella Chronicles did. There’s a lot more looking around at your environment, a lot more going on in the way of dialogue–it feels much more like a standard first-person game at these times than an on-rails shooter. The shaky cam adds to this feeling, especially since the game doesn’t wait around for you to kill every bad guy in your path. If Umbrella Chronicles was like House of the Dead, then Darkside Chronicles is more like the recent Dead Space: Extraction.

Except for when it isn’t, and after exposure to EA’s latest “guided first-person experience”, Darkside Chronicles may have some catching up to do, at least on the gameplay side of things–the Resident Evil mythology and universe may carry the day as far as story goes, given how much deeper and longer the history is for this franchise. There isn’t much dialogue during the actual gameplay; for the most part, it comes during cutscenes, which affects the games flow. Whereas in Extraction it felt like you could be attacked at any time, from anywhere, because the game did not make distinctions between cutscenes and gameplay moments, the line seems to be drawn pretty thick in Darkside Chronicles–you have a good idea of when you will be attacked, even if you don’t know from where. That being said, what gameplay is here does work, though it’s to be seen if it will stand up to Extraction when we get a full copy of the game for review.

The Code Veronica level was enjoyable, but the highlight was the brand new locale, meant to fill in spaces in Resident Evil history. Those of you that played Resident Evil 4 are aware of the rivalry between Leon Kennedy and Jack Krauser–the history isn’t exactly clear or revealed during that game, but Darkside Chronicles looks to fill in some of those gaps. Krauser and Leon work together in South America in broad daylight, in an area that looks more than a little bit like the African lands that Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar traversed in Resident Evil 5. A Capcom representative even mentioned that developers from Resident Evil 5 were impressed with the way the Wii handled these scenes, and that they felt it meant the system could have handled Resident Evil 5. Mind you, that’s not a confirmation that it’s coming or anything, just an observation from an impressed developer.

This was visually impressive in a few ways–it was well-lit, and despite being essentially a ghost town, had that same feeling that it used to be vibrant, much like the African setting in RE5. On the other hand, without the shadows and darkness to conceal some graphical shortcomings, the stage’s rough edges showed up a bit more–of course, there’s still a few weeks left of development for this game, and this demo was originally from the Tokyo Game Show, meaning it could already be cleaned up.

One thing I could not get direct confirmation on was whether Darkside Chronicles would feature some of the level types that Umbrella Chronicles did, where you were able to play as series’ villain Albert Wesker. It would make sense to have them again, and a “no comment” is more of a positive than a “no”, so keep your fingers crossed.

As a fan of Resident Evil, I’m excited for The Darkside Chronicles. From the looks of things, I may not be as enamored with the gameplay as I was that of Dead Space: Extraction, but the Resident Evil backstory–including new sections created for this game that are meant to fill in the gaps–should do wonders to make this game a quality holiday title on the Wii regardless.

Okay, so maybe Frank West and his freakish fivehead are not part of Dead Rising 2, but Blue Castle Games and Capcom are doing their best to make us forget that. Chuck Greene, a former national motocross champion, is stuck in Fortune City, which is basically Las Vegas with zombies. This means a brand new environment, brand new weapons, and, thanks to advances in technology, loads and loads of zombies. Part of what made the original Dead Rising impressive was the number of shambling, muttering undead on screen at once; this time around, Blue Castle has cranked the knob up to 11 and is telling people that 10,000 zombies can be on screen, at the same time. The zombies are also a lot more animated than they were in the original Dead Rising, so this massive number is even more impressive. Exponentially more zombies with additional animations and more life-like movements? Yes please. Let’s not forget to mention that the camera has been improved so that you don’t lose Chuck as easily as you may have lost Frank in a crowd–zombies now appear see-through when the camera pans in close enough, so you can see what you have to do and where you need to go as you fight with the brain-craving masses.

What stuck out to me about my time with the single-player mode in Dead Rising 2 were the weapons. You had some old favorites–the katana, chairs, trash barrels–but there were plenty of new weapons that demanded attention too. The katana has been overhauled a bit, with improved physics–whereas in the original, if you sliced away, the animations just had zombies fall away from you sliced open with a katana, you now see the exact spot where the zombie was hit slice open and fall away. I just managed to scrape against a zombie’s head with a glancing blow at one point, and part of his scalp came flying off before the blade separated his shoulder from his body.

As for the new weapons, I tried out a few things like the roulette wheel, which acted much like any other large, blunt object from the first. Smash first, ask questions later. More interesting was the chainsaw paddle. This was two chainsaws, duct taped to a pole. You started both chainsaws up and went after the undead like you were Darth Maul and they were mindless, bleeding Jedi. The duct tape is something important to note; it quietly confirmed that you can create brand new weapons by combining other weapons, which, even if there was not a single new item in the game to start, would give this sequel a better weapon selection than the original.

This particular portion of the demo was a mission–I was supposed to kill 300 zombies in 10 minutes in order to unlock a bonus round, which the Capcom reps told me I did not want to miss out on. Heeding their advice, I surpassed that total before time was up, which allowed me to partake in the bonus round. The bonus round gave me a wheelchair. With assault rifles duct taped to it. Did I mention it was a wheelchair that drives itself? Because it was a wheelchair that drives itself with assault rifles attached to it.

You can guess how much fun that was to use–one of the Capcom reps even pointed out that you could see how happy the wheelchair made me as I used it (my poker face was nonexistent, apparently). Like I said, wiping out crowds of zombies never gets old, especially when you do things like equip a motorized wheelchair with high-powered weaponry and tell me to go crazy.

I’m very impressed by the progress of Dead Rising 2’s single-player mode, as this feels like it could be a very different game from the first while still retaining the over-the-top zombie thrashing that drew so many people to the series in the first place. Multiplayer was also a good time, which took me by surprise.

Four games (the only four that have been announced, and Capcom was silent on details of future info on the subject) were available for multiplayer–Ramsterball, Headache, Pounds of Flesh and Slicecycles. Ramsterball may have been my favorite–you were placed inside of a rolling ball and told to run over as many zombies as you could, along with three other players. The twist was that just one player–the one whose ball was lit up–could score points with their kills, and the other players had to smash into them at a certain speed or higher in order to take that advantage away. The player with the points could bank their points by going to one of a few pedestals littered around the playing field, but it appeared as if your points multiplied the longer you held them and killed more zombies, adding a layer of strategy to the game.

Headache was entertaining as well–you slammed colored blenders onto zombie’s heads, with the intention of starting them up and making zombie juice with the press of a button. You also had a stick of dynamite, which you could plant in a zombie near an opponent’s blenders; blow that up when you press the button to nullify their progress and enhance your own.

Pound of Flesh was the only one of the four that left me without a big smile. You have antlers on your helmet, and you charge at a row of zombies by holding X, then press X quickly to flick those zombies onto a scale. There are fat zombies and skinny zombies, so with some practice and finesse you can put the heftier drones on the scale and improve your chances. This was the only one of the four mini-games that didn’t have you interacting with the other players, which may be why I didn’t like it as much.

Slicecycles was my second favorite of these games–you drive around a motorcycle that has two blades attached to it on the sides. Whoever was leading from the previous three games got a few seconds to themselves to start the match as well, which is nice incentive. Drive through the zombie horde, slicing up as many of them as you can by accelerating with the RT and using the LT as a brake–if you tapped the LT correctly, it worked as a handbrake, which allowed you to skate through the crowds at an angle and let the bike turn itself around, saving you valuable seconds and giving you more chances to wipe out zombies. This game also came with a bonus round, where certain zombies had pink balloons on their heads–they were worth bonus points, so you want to nail them.

As our scores were tallied up, a dollar amount also showed up. There wasn’t any word on what that money was for, but it’s obvious it’s going to be used for something–otherwise the game would just use points as a guide for success.

Both the single and multiplayer experiences are shaping up to be good fun, which is good news for those of you waiting for your next go-round of zombie mashing mayhem in an out-of-control controlled environment. We’ll have more info on this game as it nears release, but for now, enjoy the screens–apologies for the lack of zombie slaying gun chair pics.

If you missed our initial hands-on, you can read it here; just know that a lot has changed since I wrote that, as the camera has zoomed back a bit for a better view of the field and the action, the game runs smoother (the framerate was locked in for most of my time playing, whereas it skipped around often in the alpha), and the pacing feels a bit better, as the clock has been tweaked and fixed so that it doesn’t run at random anymore. These are normal things to clean up as a game approaches launch, but it’s nice that you can feel the game getting closer and closer to completion, improving along the way.

The legendary coaches are for single-player matches; you can earn points in these bouts (and a future update will ensure that you keep the points even if you quit early, since it’s just the computer and not a fellow person). It’s a good way to help yourself along to the next level, as well as a place to check out some different plays so you can what they do–and what your team is capable of doing effectively. Legendary players come into play a bit more often, as you get two on your created team when you start it. These players will be more experienced than your other, made-up players, and are selected based on the style of play you choose; for example, if you want to be pass heavy, you’ll probably end up with a legendary quarterback or wide receiver, and if you want to run, you will probably get a running back.

The game feels more and more like a coaching simulation as time goes on, and since it’s more accessible than EA’s foray into that field with their Head Coach series, it also feels like it will stick. You don’t need to be a football genius in order to succeed at Quick Hit–if anything, the game might teach you a bit about play-calling and the like, which can only make you better at it, but it isn’t required.

The fantasy points are the thing I want to focus on, as stated. You earn points for successfully completing plays–such as passes, runs, touchdowns, field goals, etc.–but also for little things. Your linemen can earn points for successfully blocking the opposition or running through them if they are on defense. You pick up points for sacks, picks, extra points, even successful punts. Every action builds towards you earning points and leveling up, and once you have leveled up, the game switches to its more RPG/MMO aspects. You earn coaching points for every level you gain–these coaching points are then distributed among your players as you see fit. You can organize them by worst players, best players, position–you have a lot of options for filtering, and it’s all easy to use. Every few levels, your players unlock new skills which are automatically used in games. Say you have a lineman with a skill that helps the linemen around him block a bit better–that’s valuable, especially when you need to use coaching points on other parts of your roster in order to stay balanced.

It’s a system that I can see getting addicting–people complain about having to level grind in MMOs or more traditional RPGs, but there’s one important point here that you need to remember: level grinding is playing football. I can’t stress that fact enough. If you want your team to be better, you play a game. You don’t have to do anything special, just play, and you will earn points. You don’t have to win–as long as you play, you’ll earn points for what you have done right. Facing harder teams is actually good for you too, as there is an experience multiplier for tougher opponents. You don’t even have to focus on a particular player, like you would if you were playing the franchise mode of Madden. If your running back is awesome, abuse your running game, rack up fantasy points, and use your coaching points on other positions. That kind of freedom isnt’ found in any other football title I can think of, and is a huge positive for the system in place in Quick Hit Football.

Brandon Justice, the Director of Design for Quick Hit Football, let me know that they are working on an update to make rage-quitting a non-issue, for those of you who are wondering if you are going to be screwed out of earning points by other people. The plan is to setup the game so that whoever quits loses their points, but you, the non-quitter, get to continue to play against the computer in order to pick up a victory for your record (assuming you can continue to win) as well as continue to earn fantasy points. There has even been talk of making it so that those who quit, once the computer has taken over, will still earn the loss if the AI is unable to beat their human opponent. Since rage-quitting and whiny opponents are the main reason I get away from online football (and online sports games in general) after a time, this is news I can welcome with open arms.

Quick Hit is looking better each time I play it, which is good news considering the team is still hard at work improving the experience and listening to their fans for feedback. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I suggest you get going and join the open beta, especially since you can start to earn fantasy points now for your team.

Activision unleashed the Band Hero demo on Xbox Live this morning. The trial comes with three tunes from Taylor Swift, Finger 11, and Katrina & The Waves, as well as Party Play mode from Guitar Hero 5, and the ability to try out the game’s brand new Sing-Along game mode.

The first thing you’ll notice about Band Hero is that it looks and feels just like Guitar Hero 5. The game features minor aesthetic changes, mainly adding brighter colors and lots of pink, but it still looks wonderful.

From the main menu you have three options. Play Now, which will drop you directly into the song being performed in the background, Start, which allows you to pick any of the three tunes and start from the beginning, and Sing-Along, the demos’ only new feature.

The addition of Sing-Along mode speaks directly to Activision’s clear pursuit of accessibility and fun. In this mode, up to four players can sing along to a song using one USB microphone or headset. It’s very much like Karaoke. The words appear on the bottom of the screen in two line phrases and you cannot fail. I tried my hand at Paralyzer,ť the only song with a male singing, and I, for the first time, felt good about my general aptitude at singing. Additionally, the scene that transpires on-stage while you’re singing is a sight to behold and one that really makes you feel like a rock-star. Hell, you can even think of Band Hero as a 65-song Karaoke machine if you’d like.

I tried drums, guitar, and singing, and all of them felt just like Guitar Hero 5, but this is no problem whatsoever. Guitar Hero 5 is a truly excellent title and even if Band Hero is simply the same game with a few new features and a different target audience, it still excels at what it needs to: gameplay.

There’s no doubt Band Hero will be quality product when it releases next month, and with its kid-friendly song list, it’ll likely fly off shelves for the impending Holiday season. From my time in game retail I’ve seen first-hand the dismay of parents concerned about scantily clad women and provocative songs, both of which do not exist in Band Hero.

Blast Factor: The Band Hero demo is fun, and lots of it. Party Play is as solid as it was in Guitar Hero 5, and the addition of Sing-Along mode is tremendous, and essentially morphs the game into an always fun session of Karaoke. Sure, the song-list is kid-oriented, but with the Holiday season rapidly approaching, it may be just what parents everywhere are looking for.

Aside from a Tutorial, I got to try out two different online co-op modes: Annihilation and Demolition. Annihilation is a team death match. The EU and NRF fight until one team earns a certain amount of kills or the timer runs out. Highly entertaining and fast paced, this part of the co-op particularly impressed me with their fast paced action which is reminiscent of Call of Duty. Demolition focuses on the EU planting an explosive at one of two targets while the NRF defends these zones from attack. While fighting your way through, you must navigate physical obstacles and actually coordinate with teammates in order to stay alive long enough to complete the objective at hand.

You can choose from three different class types which allow for a variety of weapons to use. Following the formula of most FPS, you have three weapons: Primary (rifle, machine gun, or a sniper rifle), Secondary (handgun), and a Melee weapon (knife). You can change classes while playing so that you are a different class when you respawn. Game play varies depending on the level (Annihilation allows you to respawn as much as you want while Demolition only allows you to respawn once the round is over), but is overall pretty good. Aiming with the mouse is easy but lacks the realistic aim of console FPS. Just point, click, shoot.

Visually, the game holds its own against games like Counter Strike, which is very impressive for a free-to-play game. While the game is entertaining, it is a generic First Person Shooter. While the online multiplayer is very fun, I was disappointed by the lack of a basic campaign mode. The story is basically “Europe and Russia go to war.” This is a fantastic concept which could EASILY be fleshed out in serialized campaigns which players could download, but that isn’t planned for the game. Despite the lack of a campaign mode, there are 6 additional objective rounds available for the North American release. While the Tutorial is a helpful intro, at times it can be difficult to understand. Specifically, when the Tutorial asks you to destroy a tank, you need to get a rocket to destroy it. However, all you get is a box which you can’t open. So the game needs a better Help menu for improved game play for new gamers, which will hopefully include an objectives list.  Aside from these issues, the game delivers what it intended: free FPS game play.

My final impression of the game is that it is a very enjoyable FPS, but it doesn’t really bring anything new to the table. There’s nothing ground breaking about it, but it is a cheap alternative to expensive games.  The game took what makes FPS games great (multiplayer), but left out what gave them substance (the context of a campaign mode). If you have a decent processor and graphics card then this is definitely a game you should check out in your spare time. The game is currently in closed beta, but any minor problems which surface will probably be all set by the time the game is given a wide release by ijji.com.  Swing by ijji.com to learn more about the game. It’s an easy solution to having to pay for games like Counter Strike, and can serve as an introduction to FPS for young kids. Check out the gallery below and let us know what you think!

While no one was able to play the game except for Rockstar’s representatives, Redemption was shown off on a massive screen made up of multiple monitors with the volume cranked, so it was hard to miss what the game was about. You play as John Marston, a former outlaw sent to clean up the outlaws he used to ride with in the early 20th century. You do this in the largest open-world that Rockstar has ever created–yes, larger than even San Andreas.

The thing that stuck out almost immediately was how everyone reacted to being shot or shot at–Rockstar informed us that there were “no canned animations”, so the NPC will react in his death the way you would expect them to, based on how you took them out. The animations and physics involved in this system are also deep–we got a chance to see Marston’s hat shot clean off of his head by an errant rifle blast, and we even saw the world react to the battle when it was over; vultures began to circle and land, ready to feed on the bodies left behind.

Animals like vultures play a large role in Redemption, as you can kill them and skin them so you can sell their pellets. Yes, you can also kill your horse–we saw this accidentally happen, when the Rockstar rep used the Dead Eye, bullet-time aiming system and targeted his horse by mistake–but why would you want to? That horse is going to carry you all around this massive environment, one that spans three themed regions. One is very much like Mexico, the Frontier is like Texas, and the North is like Colorado territory (sans the cannibalism, ninjas and snowmen named Beowulf). Of course, if you do blow your horse away, you can always find a wild horse, lasso it and break it so that it becomes your new steed.

There are other forms of transport, though these don’t work as well for exploration, and are more suited for travel. Coaches, boats, and trains will take you from place to place, depending on where you are in the game world. If you ride around on a horse though, you will get the chance to run from or confront thieves and bandits, which is one way to keep yourself busy as you traverse the southwest.Taking out the thieves may not be such a bad idea either, as the game recognizes whether you fancy yourself a good guy or a bad guy–they will be happy to see you ride into town if you’re the former, but everyone will be running for the hills like you’re Mongo if you’re the latter.

One other thing that impressed me was that there are no loading times between the exterior and interior–this means that, in the example given by Rockstar, you can run into a saloon, start a bar fight, and bring the tussle outside, all without the annoyance or interruption of a loading screen.

Red Dead Redemption isn’t due out until 2010 on both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, but the game is impressive even at this stage. I will be glad to get my hands on the game to give it a whirl eventually, but even just from a hands-off perspective, this looks like one to watch. Check out the screens in the gallery, and let us know what you think about the open-world adventure.

There were three ways Nvidia presented at PAX that deliver the image to either eye. Two of those setups everyone should be familiar with, since theaters and home movies do this. There is the old way of tinting each image either blue or red, and then wearing glasses that have colored glasses so you can only see one or the other color. They had one monitor in their booth hooked up this way so that you can use the cheap glasses to see in three dimensions. The problem with this setup is that obviously it messes with the colors, and looks weird.

The other way theaters do it is using polarized lenses. They then interlace the video and use a special projector so that you only see certain portions of the screen with each eye. One of the other groups in the expo hall was showing off this setup. They were selling monitors that would work with the standard polarized lenses. I tried these out while at PAX; some of the demos that they were showing seemed kind of blocky or pixelated. I’m not sure if this was because it was interlaced, or because they were demos just to show off the technology, and not real games.

Nvidia was mostly showing off their 3D Vision glasses. These didn’t require any special monitor, though, in reality, anyone that would want one of these setups would have to buy a new monitor. These glasses work by opaquing the image to each eye alternately 120 times a second. By swapping the image from left to right eye 120 times a second the monitor just shows the image for each eye every other frame. Most CRT’s will have the necessary 100Hz or higher. With CRT’s people bought high refresh rates because they reduced strain on eyes, and were nicer to look at. With LCD’s the manufactures almost never bothered to go above 60 Hz. The problem is that for Nvidia’s 3D vision graphics you only would get half the fps the monitor naturally gets, so with a standard 60 Hz monitor that is only 30 fps which is far too low for most games.

This means that, fancy new LCD you just bought is becoming obsolete already. Ironically though, if you still have your old, huge CRT around, it will probably work great with that. The demo that they showed of the goggles on looked really good; you can see the image clearly, with no real distortion to the image. How well the 3D feel works somewhat depends on the game, but like mentioned above Nvidia has an advantage on the tech in this field. They are given the 3D model and told to render it for one point of view normally. All they had to do to get the stereographic images was to instead move the point of view slightly to the two sides and render two separate images instead.

While talking to the people in the booths it was interesting to note that this will work with many older games with no modifications. Since almost all Windows games already use DirectX it’s not that difficult to do the modification to double render for them. It’s interesting to note what could go wrong though. 2D objects may not work properly,  and similarly all Full Motion Video Sequences (FMV) are likely pre-rendered so will not work.

Overall I think the technology is pretty cool. And will love to play with it myself some more to see which games work with it, and which do not. Since it works with most Nvidia cards currently on the market, it’s also an accessible technology. The worst thing is that you have to probably buy a new LCD monitor. It’s also ironic that it works with older CRT’s more than the new tech, so for once, those who are technologically behind may have the advantage.

At the least, League of Legends would turn out to be on the same level as DotA, which isn’t a bad thing. After all, the one reason I said I haven’t jumped back in to that game, one I have spent more time than I care to admit playing, is due to the extended break and reeducation that would be necessary for me to get back into it. Here was a whole new experience though, still in beta, that everyone had to learn anew, putting myself and anyone else who feels the same way–or new audiences altogether–on equal footing.That’s why I’m excited to report that League of Legends isn’t “just” as good as as DotA–it’s got the potential to be noticeably better, to the point of keeping you from DotA servers from now on.

For those unfamiliar with this style of gameplay, it’s arena based PvP play. You pick a champion–League of Legends boasts 40 original champions, each with their own skillset–and you, along with your teammates and AI controlled minions, attempt to take out enemy towers along the way to their base, which your goal is to destroy. That was the point of DotA as well, but there have been some changes. First of all, League of Legends is designed to run matches a bit faster than DotA, so you may not have as many epic-length matches (read: drawn out matches where you are clearly going to lose, but the game isn’t ready for that to happen yet) but competitors of even skill levels will see matches go a bit longer. The matchmaking system will also help this along a bit, as it will put you with similarly skilled opponents and teammates.

Second, there’s just one shop this time around, and you can get everything you need there. Anyone who has ever navigated the mess that was the DotA shops will appreciate the refinements made here. There’s a recommended item set, and each item you can create has the full recipe necessary for it listed for you as well, so you can just buy from there rather than searching out all of the individual pieces yourself. Item types are broken down into weapons, armors, etc., but are further broken down into categories, such as life steal, armor, critical hit, etc. That’s going to be wonderful for those who want to go beyond the recommended items and create some nifty pieces on their own.

One other major change that bears mentioning is the new summoner system. Whereas in DotA, each match was a one and done deal, in League of Legends there is incentive to play, play often, and stick around in the matches you are involved in, even if defeat is imminent. The summoner is you; it’s your account, and the summoner is the one who picks the champions for use in each match. Your summoner gains experience from your matches, and this XP leads to earning levels that unlock skills for you to use. Your champion will have their own four skills, but you can add two of your summoner’s powers to their own; things like Teleport and Heal, so you can move around the map more easily or heal yourself and allies close to you. There are tons of these skills, but you have to unlock them as stated, but it gives you another strategic level to work with, and also plenty of incentive to play a whole lot of League of Legends.

The game will have a retail version, but also be available to play for free. Riot Games has reconciled these two different versions in an intelligent manner–the boxed, retail version will have all of the bonus materials unlocked from the start (though nothing that makes gameplay easier for them, just the kind of stuff you would unlock if you played a lot of League of Legends over the course of six months). The free-to-play version will not have those same goods, and you’ll have to earn them the old-fashioned way.

I’ve played a few matches of League of Legends in the beta that’s running right now in addition to my time with the title at PAX, and I’m impressed by its ease of use. It’s very much like DotA in all of the good ways, but has also improved in areas where DotA either did not or could not, and that makes it a title worth paying attention to. We have beta codes to give away if you want to give the game a looksie on your own, and we’ll have more details for you very soon on how you can score yourself one of them. For now, enjoy the massive gallery of screenshots that features almost every champion in the game.

You play as Eddie, who is searching for his father in a semi-real, semi-fantasy world. You will visit real world locations such as Cairo and London, but with that embellished, fantasy vibe to them–for example, when you’re in the pyramids in Cairo, you will be attacked by mummies and monsters, and you will fight them off with magic, guns and swords. +1 for going the 19th century, alternate reality  steampunk route.

While there are four main characters in your group, there will be other characters you can use at different times in the game, so you get to switch things up a bit as you play. In addition to your standard turn-based battle system (attack, magic, skills, etc.) there are also airship battles. Enemies attack you from all directions while in your airship, and you have to fight back using cannons and weapons attached to the front of your ship. Depending on the placement of the enemy, certain characters will perform better against them–you will want to use a cannon on the side to attack an enemy on your left, for instance, while one directly in front of you is a perfect target for the sword jutting out of your hull.You are graded for your skill in battles, so you will want to figure out the best strategy for tackling opponents in order to secure the best grade.

The airship is used to travel long distances–in the demo, you had to set out from London to Cairo, and since both were in the proximity of their real-world location, finding your destination is not a difficult process (unless you failed geography, of course). The airship is also fully customizable as well, and there are more than one of them to fly around–later airships bring you higher and higher, but the higher you fly, the more difficult your opponents will be. Not only do you have to contend with monsters, but other airship owners–many of them sky pirates–will give chase as well.

It’s tough to gauge how entertaining an RPG can be from just 15-20 minutes of gameplay, but what we do know about Nostalgia looks promising. The game is slated for an October release, and you will want to clear some time off your schedule to play it–without even tackling sidequests, the story is upward of 30-40 hours, which is very long for a DS RPG. We’ll have more info for you as the game nears release, and also a review for you once it hits retail.

From a technical and gameplay standpoint, MAG is rock solid. It looks good, though there are better looking shooters on the system (thanks, Killzone 2!) and it plays well–this shouldn’t be a surprise, given Zipper Interactive, the team behind SOCOM, is responsible for this game. The problem is that, in the time I played the game myself, and the time I spent watching others play–I may have been the other person in the room responsible for harassing afiercepancake all around the map–it didn’t feel like you were fighting in part of a larger battle. It felt like you along with two dozen or so other players, somewhat relegated to a specific area based on your spawn points and squad designation. If 256 players is the hook, and you don’t notice the hook while playing, you may have a problem, though there may be reasons for this that the demo didn’t explain.

Now, there are a few things that could have been the fault of PAX, rather than the game. We did not have headsets, so voice chat was not an option. Squad-based gameplay necessitates headsets, and we may have felt like more like part of a larger unit were we donning them. Second, even without the big hook mentioned above, it’s still fun gameplay–you have specific targets you are supposed to take out, so it isn’t straight death match style gameplay, and if you work together with others to take out those targets and move on to the next area safely, then the game improves significantly.

There are some features we didn’t get a chance to check out–MAG has a chain-of-command system that allows you to lead different sized groups of troops, from an eight-man squad to a 32-man platoon to a full-sized, 128-man army. There’s also a “Persistent Shadow War”, which moves back and forth on the world map depending on how well your hand-picked PMC performs each round. I think I’ll have more of an appreciation for MAG once I get to see these items in action, as they could help separate the title from the other FPS on the market.

I don’t mean to sound too hard on MAG–this is, after all, the first bit of time I have spent playing it live, and as stated, the lack of headsets may be clouding what the game is truly trying to offer us. Luckily, we are part of the next wave of beta testing, so we will be able to report further on this for you, including how we feel about the game with the use of headsets and more strategic, planned-out actions. This is a bit of a shorter hands-on preview because of it, as testing the game in an improper environment doesn’t work well for it.

If you like 2D Mario games, you will like New Super Mario Bros. Wii. That’s a pretty open and shut discussion, as it has the kinds of things you look for: tight controls, great level design, secrets to find, nifty power-ups, and of course, a score-based system that the 3D games lack. What this game also has that no other Mario title has is multiplayer. I don’t know the kind you’re used to, when Mario attempts a level and then Luigi gives it a go, I mean four-players at once, in the same level, acting either competitively or cooperatively — or a little of both — in order to clear a level.

If you want to help your friends, you can work together to solve platforming puzzles, or use each other as a springboard to reach out of the way items and coins, divide items evenly and try not to rush through the levels too fast so that they don’t fall behind. While it’s fun to play nice, the real joy in New Super Mario Bros. comes from its competitive nature. Steal items from your friends to keep them from gaining power-ups and extra lives, and to give yourself more points. Run as quickly as you can to ensure they fall behind, or to make sure you always get to item blocks, coins and enemies first. Do your best to bounce off of their heads, using them as a springboard to collect what you want without sharing. While riding Yoshi, eat your buddy and shoot him into a canyon or into enemies, or just hold on to them to keep them from collecting anything. There’s a lot you can do in each level to ensure that you come out on top–you will be ranked by points at the end of each level–so if you’re the competitive type, this is  going to be your kind of game.

Nintendo might not like this comparison, but it’s a lot like LittleBigPlanet in its concept, except with much, much tighter controls and a more well-developed and cohesive universe. I think there’s also a higher emphasis on competition than there was in LBP, which personally I find appealing. I played through a few different levels: the first in the game, which is just meant as an introduction to the controls and some new abilities, like your spin attack/boost which you perform by shaking the Wii Remote (an ability you will utilize with the Propeller Suit, also found in this stage) as well as the two levels that introduced you to Yoshi and the Penguin Suit. Yoshi controls like you expect him to, except now you can eat your friends, as mentioned before. There is more than one Yoshi per stage as well, but you will want to fight over him since having Yoshi allows you to dispose of enemies easily and also allows you to eat the fruit growing in the stage. The Penguin Suit is a neat addition–not only is it pretty adorable, but Mario and company can slide across ice with it, allowing them to break through blocks that they normally could only dispose of by hitting them with a shell. You also can shoot ice balls, much like if you had collected a Fire Flower. Speaking of Fire Flowers and Ice Balls, you can shoot in multiple directions at once while wearing these suits by spinning with the Wii Remote; this is useful if you’re surrounded, or just want to try to steal as many points as possible from your pals.

Even though the basic concept was easy to grasp and there wasn’t anything new unveiled for it at PAX, this was one of the coolest games on the floor, and is one we will continue to cover up through its release later this year. Check back here in the future for more info and assets, but for now, we’ve got some screens for you to check out.

In VOID, you are collecting black beats as they fly across the screen from the left, and avoiding the white beats that come along with it. As you collect more and more of the black bits, the black circle that you control will grow and grow. It becomes harder to navigate away from the white beats as it grows though, and here’s where the game gets interesting. You have to press the A button to shrink your circle back down to starting level before you can be hit by the white pieces — if you’re hit by the white, you shrink as well, but you don’t get to keep the points you have acquired. You basically use shrinking as a way to deposit your points, but you will earn more points by being larger — there’s a lot of strategy involved in this, and in a way, it reminds me of Blast Works: Build, Trade and Destroy, in the sense that you’re trying to collect things to grow larger while balancing the need for more points with the need to avoid being hit by objects in the level.

It wouldn’t be a Bit.Trip game without a high difficulty level, and even in this demo build of the game you could see where this will be hard to play. Sometimes there are tons of bits on the screen to collect and avoid all at once, and they move fast, so you’ll need to react faster. Luckily the game supports both WiiMote/Nunchuk and Classic Controller play styles, so you won’t have to navigate with the D-pad at high speeds or around corners, and in a first for the series, there are mid-level checkpoints, which should make completing this game a bit easier than it was with the other two, though you still have to reach the checkpoints before you can use them.

There are a few other things that make this title intriguing, the most interesting of which is four-player local co-op. Multiplayer improved the experience of Bit.Trip BEAT substantially, so I’m excited to give this game a shot in multiplayer, especially when the object of the game is collection. The game also sports a chip tunes soundtrack, which makes a retro nut like myself happy. The music in the two previous titles was wonderful, catchy and fit the games perfectly, and from what I heard of VOID, that holds true once again.

Bit.Trip VOID will be out this fall for WiiWare, as the third game in a six title series. We’ll have more info for you on the game as it nears release, but check out the trailer and these screens now as an appetizer for later retro goodness.

In reality it’s a keyboard attached to your fingers. They are using hand gestures similar to American Sign Language to control your computer and your computer games. If you touch your thumb to your middle finger at the end it will trigger one key, or macro, if you touch it in the middle it triggers another one. They are claiming that there are over 30 combinations of gestures that the hardware recognizes; when I got to try it, the presenter showed me that he used 40 different ones. All the gestures consist of you touching the end of one of your fingers to the middle of another one, or to the palm of your hand.

The metal cables that are running through the glove were branded, as “military grade” the presenter said that he had abused his glove and was unable to break the metal cables. It seems like the fabric in it would tear long before the rest of the glove was damaged. They said that the glove is also the cheapest part–probably about $20–since all the actual intelligence and work is in the cable that goes from the glove to the computer.

They had areas where there were no contacts like above the palm of the glove with netting instead of the fabric so that your hands won’t sweat. The Fabric was also flexible enough that it can be used while typing. I had no trouble moving my hands when I put it on; it’s a thin glove so shouldn’t give much trouble doing dextrose activities like picking up objects, like say, going to the fridge for a drink. Though, with the metal contacts on it I’d avoid actually spilling water on it. They said that it is hand washable though since it’s durable metal, and just plain fabric, so if you do spill something on the glove you can still clean it.

To make it easy to leave the computer to get things the glove snaps on and off. The glove has a magnet and a proprietary connection on the back that connects to a USB wire. The wire again has all the logic for the glove in it.

The spots on the glove that they sewed into the fabric show where to press your fingers to. The software though is able to calibrate to how you actually press your fingers. Also if you miss the spot you could have two spots do the same action if you want.

The configuration software that they showed me has a picture of the glove, as a guide and then allows the user to calibrate the glove, set the macro’s or setup a configuration for the glove, or setup multiple configurations. The picture has dots for the points on the glove, where you can click on a dot and set the macro, or key in the assignment screen, or go through how you would do a given gesture in the calibration window so the glove fits your exact style of game play. They also were nice when you want to clear data from a point; they make you do that action so you confirm that is really the action you want to clear, and not a miss-click of the mouse.

Different games might need different configurations. One macro that’s good for one application could be bad for another. They have the configuration program as a tray icon in windows that you can click on to quickly set the configuration.

The Actions that are caused by certain movements of your hand can be triggered to a simple keyboard press, or to an elaborate macro, allowing you to execute a complex command with just a simple hand gesture. These macros and keyboard actions are powerful enough that people end up completely replacing their keyboard with the glove.

They were also claiming that it’s faster to learn a new game than a keyboard; I’m not as certain about this claim. It’s definitely a learning curve to starting to use for the first time, once you’re used to the gestures it’s probably easier to learn new games than that first game, and it is nice that with most games they decide that the keyboard hot keys are related to the action by being a letter in the command. This can be hard to remember 60 or so different commands and which key matches to them. In the peregrine they can be mapped based on their location on the screen, such that the index finger is row 1, the middle finger is row two, and so on. They could also be mapped based on type of action. The tricky thing in starting a new game this way is remembering which finger is which and arranging it such that you only have a max of 5 categories. The positional keys are also important if different characters in a game have completely different actions so that they can all be learned in a similar way.

Personally when I played with it, it felt awkward at first but I can see how it would be addicting. I liked how once I got used to it, it could be very easy to do different actions, very little thought to pressing your thumb and ring finger together. This also could be nice for people that have issues with their wrists. Since there is no object to press against, you can make sure your wrist is straight. On the other hand, if you’re lazy, you still might end out bending your wrists when you move your fingers which would prove to be just as bad as a keyboard.

Overall I think if you play a lot of PC games you should definitely give this a try. This may turn out to be the controller of the future. If they added in some motion sensors then they wouldn’t even need a mouse at all.

NFS Shift represents a conscious effort on EA’s part to cater to hardcore fans of the sim-based racing genre. Which doesn’t mean that the mega-developer/publisher has decided to neglect the arcade junkies who used to compose the franchise’s core audience—EA’s also putting out Need for Speed: Nitro for Wii later this year, with Need for Speed: World Online to follow. EA’s Andrew Meakin represented this new direction for the series to me as an initiative akin to the foundation of EA Sports, a large umbrella under which gamers of all tastes and persuasions have been invited to shelter.

As Andrew explained, “The idea behind the game is all about the true driver’s experience—it’s all about the g-forces, it’s about the crashes, it’s about the cockpit, it’s about being the driver. When you are at speed, you feel the speed. When you crash, you feel the concussion.”

My driving naivet�© prevents me from distinguishing between true and false driver’s experiences, and I can’t tell you whether the cars handled like they should (though the fact that I was more or less able to handle them after a brief period of smashing into every available obstacle bodes well). However, I can report that Andrew wasn’t kidding about feeling the concussion. Granted, I was standing mere inches away from a very large screen, so your mileage, as they say, may vary. But EA has done an excellent job at depicting a crash as something very much to be avoided—and, perhaps, to be secretly and guiltily enjoyed.

The psychological impact of the faux-physical impact begins with the level of detail presented on-screen. Andrew assured me that in the unlikely event that I ever do find myself steering one of the game’s 67 playable vehicles (including the ’09 BMW M3 GT2 featured on the cover) in real life, I’d recognize every curve of the cockpit and light on the dashboard, since every detail has been painstakingly modeled in-game. Swiveling the joystick while playing from the in-car view doesn’t just move some disembodied camera; it shifts the driver’s head and perspective. Side and rear-view mirrors perform the functions for which they were intended, and various readouts alert the player to overheating engines and other motor-vehicle minutia.

When your inherent lack of coordination conquers these assorted aids (and the color-coded guide paths superimposed on the road’s surface) and you hurtle head-on into a thoughtfully placed barrier, another set of visual effects takes over. The screen assumes a reddish tinge, followed by a black-and-white vista drained of all color, and a blurry haze and careening camera make you want to rub your neck and blink a few times in sympathy.

The attention to detail apparent in the visuals also extends outside of the vehicles. Each course has been meticulously researched and rendered. Again, I can’t tell you how well they resemble their real-world counterparts, but they sure are pretty. Windmills turn, balloons float by, barely glimpsed spectators snap pictures, and very convincing clouds of dust accompany the squeal of tires. Velocity changes aren’t only reflected on the speedometer—the motion blur and tunnel vision employed to suggest the effect of g-forces make glancing at your instruments only partially necessary.

As you drive through NFS Shift’s scenic environments, regardless of mode, race type, or success level, the game will constantly update your driver profile in response to your tendencies and achievements. The points you earn will allow you to fan the flames of your car fetish with abandon, but the game also classifies your style as “precision” or “aggression,” depending on how you drive. Cutting corners cleanly is considered precise, while ramming opponents and knocking them off the track will result in your being labeled an aggressive driver. Fortunately, the game won’t force you to enroll in a remedial driving program if its sorting hat places you in the racing equivalent of Slytherin; these classifications are made purely for online matchmaking purposes, so you can always race how you want, and against whom you want. Even when you’re racing offline, your adversaries will show some personality; 20 different driver personalities have been included as an alternative to rubberband AI and a pack of opponents racing in unison.

Of course, every aspect of every car can be micromanaged, but EA has also included more simplistic sliders for the less seasoned automobilistas among us. In addition, the devs have inserted the option to take a test drive at the start of your experience, during which the game’s AI will determine, Left-4-Dead-director style, exactly how far it can push you before you break. Nice to know that EA’s still looking out for those of us who wouldn’t know a carburetor from a camshaft.

Be sure to check out the latest trailer and screens. Need for Speed Shift will be released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PSP, PC, and a smartphone near you on September 15.

The demo has four of these 10 sports included–ice hockey, darts, petanque, and dodge ball. You play as a character that is meant to be Hudson’s version of a Mii, but looks more like a Microsoft avatar in its appearance. There are multiple teams to choose from, each with its own personality and some differences that could be important depending on the game, like the size of your players.

Ice hockey is split into halves rather than thirds, but there’s also an option for sudden death overtime included. Ice hockey is fast-paced, since most of the game is passing to your teammates, slamming into opponents on defense with a motion of the Wii Remote (that never stops being satisfying, no matter the sports game) or going for one-timers to get past the goalie, which is controlled by the AI rather than the player. My one complaint with hockey is that the motion for checking your opponents and for a pass is the same, meaning that if you steal the puck before you get a chance to hit the guy holding it, you might accidentally pass it off immediately. That might be more on my end than on Deca Sports 2, but it’s something to keep an eye on when you play. Also, this game has the kind of one-timer success that made games like NHL ‘94 so much fun back in the day, meaning that you will have some high scoring games. Try to go easy on grandma there, champ.

Darts takes some practice, but it’s rewarding once you get the hang of it. You have to hold the Wii Remote like a dart and simulate a throwing motion, but you need to keep the IR on it straight so that it doesn’t go flying off to the side of the dartboard. Countdown is the mode included in the demo, but there are a few different versions of darts you can play. Don’t be discouraged when you can’t get near the bulls-eye during the first few rounds–by the end, both myself and the person I played against were hitting the spots we wanted to with much more regularity. In fact, I screwed myself over by being more accurate than I planned when I hit bust and lost all of the points I had accrued that round.

Petanque is a French game and a version of boules that has you tossing a jack in a specific area, and then throwing metal balls as close as you can to said jack. You can throw from a crouching or standing position, and your throw distance is determined by the speed and force of your Wii Remote motions. This can make for some fun matches given the accuracy a petanque amateur like myself can exhibit, as you can hit the jack of your opponent’s balls in order to secure more points for you. The throwing works well, but if you need to go through some practice throws before tossing, you can. Thankfully there’s also a progress bar that is color coordinated, so you know that if the jack is over in the orange area, you need to get your throw around that to get close. It’s a simple addition, but it makes for a big boost in accuracy.

Last, we have dodge ball, which is my personal favorite from the collection. Hudson used international rules for dodge ball, so when one of your five teammates is hit by the ball and called out, he or she just goes to the outside of the regular playing area, where they are now able to throw the ball and pass it to your other teammates in order to nail your opponents upside the head. You can catch the ball by pressing Z and B at the same time, and if you manage to catch a ball that bounced off a teammate’s noggin before it hits the ground, you can keep them from being thrown out and take possession of the ball as well. Diving out of the way of the ball is as simple as motioning with the Wii Remote, but be warned: you can’t just spam dodging rolls, as you need to get up off of the ground before you can perform another. If you do it wrong, you will get caught in a dodge ball crossfire. This is definitely the most fun, especially since the dynamic of the game changes as more players are put on the sidelines to throw the ball, making things that much more difficult for the target that now sticks out like a sore thumb.

Deca Sports 2 is looking to be an improvement over the original, which was a success with a particular group of consumers. Hudson would like everyone to dig Deca Sports the same way that everyone is into Wii Sports, and things look like they could be heading in that direction based on the time I’ve spent with it. We’ll have more information on the title as it releases though, so be sure to check back.

The team at QuickHit (formerly Play Hard Sports) is made up of two very distinct groups of developers: part of the company has a rich history of developing football and other sports titles, while the other part of the company has a background in developing MMORPG’s. You may think that there’s no use for that MMO experience in a football title, but then you would be wrong, because QuickHit has shown that there is a good reason to have that setup in place. QuickHit Football is flash and browser based–you pick the plays, the game runs them for you. How is the level of skill between players determined then, if the computer is just going to run the plays you pick for you? Well first of all, picking the correct play is half the battle in any football title, but second, your team and its players are capable of leveling up. No, seriously. You earn experience points for completing certain plays and reaching certain goals, such as completing a game. Once you earn enough of these points, you can increase the skill points of your players and choose a direction for them to grow in. Do you want a pocket passer with an accurate arm, or are you more interested in a running quarterback? Do you want a running back that darts and weaves through the defensive line, or do you want a bruiser that plows right through everything in his path? You get to decide this, and you get to level them up–think of playing through games as very strategic and very rewarding form of level grinding.

The game doesn’t use actual NFL teams and player names, but you can customize your roster and use fake names, just like you would in an NCAA game. There are plenty of colors to choose from, though I think the game might need a few more logos in order to keep things mixed up.It is fast and simple though, so you can get right into a game after going through those few short registration screens.

Playing is as simple as picking from the recommended plays and hitting the space bar to hike the ball, but you can also be as in-depth and strategic as you want by filtering for running and passing plays, and then filtering further for the kind of distance you’re looking to get out of the play. Each play is graded (think A, B, C, etc.) for the situation that you are in, so you will know if you’re doing something crazy or not each time out. The play’s routes also shows themselves above the playbook on the field, so you don’t have to strain to see what you’re looking at. Bill Cowher is going to be the color commentator in the announcing booth, and he will also provide a sort of “Ask Coach” type of feature, where you can get assistance from someone who knows what they are talking about.

Games are short and fast paced, so you can play many of them without feeling like you’ve spent too much time at the website. This also allows you to upgrade your team quickly, and you will want to, as QuickHit, in its final form (the game is in Alpha now) will keep track of loads of statistics, including your overall won-loss record. If you don’t feel like playing a live opponent over the Internet (just go to the lobby to see people who are available for games) then you can also play against the AI.

The actual game design is strong, and the use of experience points to level up your team is something that intrigues me, so I’m excited to see how QuickHit takes shape as the game nears release. There are still some bugs and tweaks to be worked out of course, but that’s par for the course with any game at this stage in development. We’ll have more news for you on QuickHit Football as it releases, especially when word of the beta makes its way to us. For now, check out the screens as well as the video featuring the founder and CEO of QuickHit, Jeffrey Anderson, and sign up to create your team and reserve your coach name at QuickHit Football’s website.

Luckily, Activition will soon allow you to manipulate it.

Coming in Spring 2010, a game called Singularity will drop for Xbox 360.  This time-traveling first-person shooter has some hype around it.  Still, I was able to get my hands on Singularity during Comic-Con 2009 and I was quite impressed with what glimpse that Activision had to offer.

Let’s start with a little plot overview.  Singularity takes place in Katorga-12, a small island that passing backwards and forwards through time thanks to the finding of an element called E-99.  Players take control of an Air Force pilot of has crash-landed on this isle-in-limbo and are tasked with the need to solve the mysteries of the experiments and discoveries made on Katorga-12.  There always seems like time-traveling games have interestingly written scripts.  Singularity seemed like its following suit beautifully.

The unique draw to Singularity is that, beyond the use of your basic first-person shooter firearms, this title makes use of another tool called the Time Manipulation Device, or TMD.  The TMD allows the main character to “use time as a weapon,” as the folks at Activision put it.  Players can use this TMD to rapidly alter the age of certain objects in the environment in order to make a situation more advantageous.  For instance, if a staircase has rotted and fallen apart but you’d still like to get to the next floor of the building, just use the TMD to restore the stairs to their former state and walk right up.

My first hands-on experience with Singularity was quite enjoyable.  From the beginning, I loved the feel and look of this first-person shooter.  To describe the gameplay, I’d have to say that Singularity is a mix between FEAR and Bioshock (with perhaps a dash of Portal mixed in as well).  The overall scheme of the graphics was definitely similar to FEAR, while the dark and mysterious look of things (not to mention the fact that players use their enhanced hands as a main weapon) reminded me of Bioshock.  Singularity also resembles both FEAR and Bioshock in its use of ghost-based flashbacks and creative problem solving requirements.  The Portal comp comes from Singularity’s use of a dual-function weapon in the TMD.

The best part of Singularity (during my brief exposure to it) was the many different ways players could fight enemies.  The first way is not very surprising: via the use of a gun.  Most enemies can be taken down with a few bullets to the head.  However, I quickly realized during my demo that ammunition comes at a premium in this game, making complete reliance on guns impossible.

The second and third methods of combat are much more entertaining than the first.  Remember that handy TMD I mentioned a little earlier?  Yeah, well that gizmo also has the capability to mimic what Star Wars fans would call Force Push.  Basically, players can use this function if a group of enemies are charging you and don’t seem worthy of your precious ammunition.  A simple toggle of a button will quickly incapacitate that once extremely hostile group of enemies.

Finally, players can also use the TMD to either age or un-age objects to create cover.  Say you see a giant partially destroyed pipe on the ground while you’re facing heavy enemy fire.  Just point the TMD, press a button and – Presto! – you’ve brought that pipe back to its former luster.  It’s now a convenient piece of concrete cover.  This diversity in the combat aspect really meshes well with the similar mixture seen in the problem solving portions of the game, making me more and more interested in what else Singularity has to offer.

Overall, Singularity seems like it’s going to be a pretty good game.  It’s been a little while that I’ve been this excited over the storytelling potential of a FPS.  Time manipulation is a hard concept to implement into a game, but the fine people at Activision may be on to something here.  At worst, I see Singularity being a rentable game.  At best, I see one of the must-have titles of 2010.

Developer Remedy Games was not at a loss for ideas on how to develop the Alan Wake story: “We’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from different forms of popular culture–books, films, TV. We’ve taken our cues from masters such as Stephen King, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, with his work on Twin Peaks. Bright Falls is the setting, and it’s an all-American town that looks pretty but underneath it has these deep, dark secrets.” You can see the influence just from the demo and from hearing Remedy talk about their game, as Alan Wake is a writer seemingly living in the nightmare created by a book he doesn’t remember writing–that sounds like a playable King novel if I’ve ever heard one. Sadly for Wake, he didn’t write a happy story about rainbows, puppies, and European bikini models, but instead has written a psychological thriller that now seems poised to destroy him and the town of Bright Falls.

Alan Wake is an everyman kind of character, which shouldn’t be surprising given he’s a writer. He’s not a writer that was secretly a former CIA assassin, or some kind of tough guy trying to get away from his past life of violence, he’s just a guy trying to relax so he can write. There is combat in Alan Wake, and there are guns, but your focus is going to be on utilizing light in a way that damages your enemies and allows you to progress. You are armed with a flashlight, and will gain access to more powerful light emitting objects with time, and will also have flares at your disposal. Creating explosions and fires is another way to create light, and if the short demo was any indication, there will be plenty of opportunities for this kind of creativity.

This “everyman” direction affects the gameplay, but in a positive way. “It gives the game authenticity–he’s a writer, he reads books. He’s done research for his work and has been to the shooting range, so he knows how to use a gun, but he’s not a commando or a superhero.” That doesn’t mean Wake is entirely sans powers though, as he believes he has the ability to, “will his light source to burn away the darkness quicker” though as Remedy tells us, that is a limited resource. You can see this power on the right side of the screen as a blue bar, opposite your health. Just because this power recharges though does not mean you should abuse it; just like real batteries, your flashlight batteries will be less effective with more recharges, meaning you will need to find replacement batteries–there’s a limited supply–or be overrun by the darkness.

Remedy has not announced how long the game will be, or how many episodes there will be–the chapters are presented episodically–but they promise that it’s akin to what you are used to with this sort of game. You’ll get what you put into it, as digging deeper into the story and exploring the open-world further will extend the game experience for you.

There is a day/night cycle in Alan Wake, which is intriguing given how important the darkness is to the title. How does this work, if darkness is the key element to Wake? “In terms of pacing, we want to have more story and more interactive segments in the game, and the daytime is a good time for us to show you some of the characters and open up dialogue.” That does not mean that the daytime is going to be limited to just those elements though: “There are dark places during the daytime, so if you have some compelling reason to go into that dark warehouse, something bad might happen.” There may also be daytime segments under the cover of cloud, with stormy weather, rain and the like. “Having the entire game in the dark may make things repetitive; we wanted to avoid that and balance the game out, give you the opportunity to meet the locals of Bright Falls, and have some NPC interaction and some exploration during the day.”

Alan Wake looks to have a tight combat system, some wonderful graphics, and while we know little about the story, what we do know is intriguing enough to make us want to know more. Look for this game in spring of 2010, but we’ll have more details for you as they release.

You know The Behemoth’s work from Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers, two very fun titles that took genres we know and love from the days of 2D, and put them right back in the spotlight in this age of voice acting, cutscenes and cinematics. With Game #3, the aim is to make a single-player experience that’s flanked by an engrossing and addictive multiplayer mini-game collection. The multiplayer is what I got a chance to check out, as three of the different game modes were on display at Comic-Con.

The first of these was a game where you fought for each other’s souls by bouncing on your opponent’s heads (there were two teams of two in San Diego, but Behemoth hasn’t announced just how many people can play in a match at once yet) or by using a variety of weapons–boomerang, explosive frisbee, grenades, fireballs–to take them out. You gained points every few seconds for holding on to their souls, but they can just as easily take yours away and then get themselves some points. It’s very fast, very frantic, and loads of fun. The levels are designed in a way that you can run around aimlessly and still bump into your opposition, which is either a good thing for you or a terrible thing, based on who is better with jumping or with a weapon. I was told that some of the weapons still need to be balanced, as some cause too much destruction relative to the others, but even with that the game was a blast.

The second game mode was somewhat like the soul stealing one, except there was a golden fish flying around that would drop gold. You would pick up the gold blocks it dropped and try to make it back to the drop point for them; whichever team had the most gold blocks at the end wins. You can interrupt people on their way back to making a deposit by attacking them, so if you’ve got a good teammate, you can do some serious damage both collecting and impeding the progress of your opponent.

The last game mode I tried out was a bit different, as the emphasis was not so much on a deathmatch type game, but instead had you trying to finish the level with more colored blocks than your opponent. You run around the level, and every unclaimed block you touch becomes on of your teams. While it flashes, the other team can take it, but once it turns solid it’s yours. The level resets and tallies your points every now and then in order to give you more blocks to color as well. You can still kick around the other team in order to stop them from succeeding, but you won’t want to waste as much with that here unless you have run out of blocks to convert.

All three game types are great fun, even in their early form, and Behemoth promises that there will be more modes when the game does release–whenever that may be. They have not decided on what platforms the game would release on (though the demo I played was on the Xbox 360).

In addition to the game modes, I was shown the character creation screen. There were different heads and faces to choose from so you could give your character a bit of a personal touch, and there are plans to make tons and tons of these in time for release. Same goes for the weapons, which The Behemoth are busy working on to ensure the game is balanced.

We have screens for you above, as well as the first developer diary for the the as of yet unnamed project. We’ll give you more information as it releases, but for now, enjoy.

Yes, Konami Digital Entertainment, creators of the original Silent Hill, is looking to have players return to that dreadful place in the upcoming Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.

Due out in October, Shattered Memories will be a reimagining of the first Silent Hill.  With this in mind, though some general aspects of the game may seem familiar (man looking for his daughter in a mysterious town, etc), Shattered Memories should play like a completely different experience thanks to its development for the Wii console.

Helping nurture this “completely different experience” was the developers’ idea to customize each game for every player.  This is accomplished through a number of in-game mediums.  The first method used is a psychological survey in which a series of questions are asked about the player.  These questions can as impersonal as how easily the player makes friends, to something as forward as how much does the player enjoy role-playing during sex.  Each question plays a role in how the game plays out later.  For instance, when the player is asked if they have ever cheated on a partner and says “yes”, the game will feature more provocative clothing on some characters (ex: the female police officer will show more cleavage, etc).  When taking this survey during an exclusive demo in Konami’s offsite event at Comic-Con, I felt like it could have been legitimate.  Though it was short in length, the survey seemed to be personal enough to be a psychological analysis, but distanced enough to be tolerable in a mature video game.

The Shattered Memories gameplay also helps further customize a player’s experience.  Using the Wii Remote to control the flashlight, the in-game computer monitors how often a player will stop to admire certain paintings or points of interest in the environment.  The game will also keep track of how quickly or tentatively a player will “peek” through a doorway before entering a room.  All of these aspects (and possibly more that we don’t even know about) will be constantly watched by the game, making every play and replay of Shattered Memories unique.  Sadly, however, my demo was too short to be able to appreciate most of the customization features that were in store for me.

What’s great about Shattered Memories’s gamplay (besides the fact that it is constantly monitored), is the fact that it really helps promote the overall creepy feel to the game.  Developed as a third-person adventure game, Shattered Memories really captures the loneliness of the main character.  Armed with nothing but my (lack of wit) and a flashlight, I couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of helplessness during my entire hands-on experience.  Also, as mentioned in an earlier paragraph, players must “peek” through every door they want to enter to check if the room is safe.  Gamers will have the choice of either slowly opening each door to prevent unnecessary attacks, recklessly entering every room with little regard for their safety, or doing something in-between.  This peeking feature was especially affective with me because I take a very conservative approach when it comes to these types of games.  Well played, Konami.

Shattered Memories gameplay is also fairly simple.  Walking around is as simple as moving the joystick on the Wii Nunchuk, while shining the flashlight, as mentioned earlier, requires players to point the Wiimote at the screen.  With the simplicity of the controls and sophistication of the Wii’s technology, making a Silent Hill game for Nintendo’s current console seems like a no-brainer now.  Again, well played.

Overall, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories looks like it’s going to be a pretty solid game.  The gameplay was fun, the customization is fantastic and the title is a perfecft fit for the Wii.  Though I wasn’t able to enjoy all of the customization that Shattered Memories had to offer during my demo at Comic-Con, the details the devs gave me and the excitement they showed make me a believer of this feature.  I know how much fun the Wii can be, but now I’m excited to see how thoroughly it can scare the crap out of me with the release of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, dropping this fall.

Thanks to Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Edios Inc. and Rocksteady Studios, the next major release featuring the Dark Knight may be 2009’s next big hit.

The game, called Batman: Arkham Asylum, will be a third-person action adventure title due to drop on August 25.  With all of the hype surrounding Arkham Asylum, it’s no surprise that Blast Magazine wanted to get a closer look at the highly anticipated game.  With an exclusive sneak peak at Comic-Con and some additional hands-on time with the recently released demo, we at Blast have the inside scoop on what to expect from the upcoming title.

Batman: Arkham Asylum takes place at Gotham City’s high-security center for the criminally insane, where Batman has just returned the Joker to be imprisoned once again.  Batman’s suspicions rise when he starts to realize that the Joker was captured with little resistance.  The Dark Knight’s worst fears are confirmed when the Joker escapes from the clutches of Arkham’s security guards.  Batman’s green-haired foe reveals he is now running the facility with all of his villainous pals. It’s now up to the Caped Crusader’s save the facility and its employees from total devastation.

As with any comic book-inspired game, the first aspect I look at is how authentic that is.  Too often do these types of titles drift a bit too far when it comes to being accurate to the original canon.  However, though I cannot speak for the full version of the game, Batman: Arkham Asylum seems to stay true to the initial stories of the characters while also having some addition stylized flair from the developers.  Case and point: Harley Quinn.  Also known as Dr. Harleen Quinzel, Ms. Quinn is described in her in-game bio correctly (according to my research and cross-checking), but is also presented in a newer, sexier outfit than seen in the original comics.  This seems to be the case for many of the villains (especially of the female gender) and is a welcome change to the outdated costumes of the past.  The folks at Rocksteady did a fine job of dancing on the right side of the fine line between respectable, unique interpretation and overdone elucidation.

The unique interpretations do not end with the enemies.  Rocksteady seemed to pay homage to the comic book that may have partially inspired the game, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, by giving it a very dark and gritty feel.  Also, the developers decided to make Batman’s character model to be almost superhuman.  Looking more like a linebacker than a billionaire, Sefton Hill, director and owner of Rocksteady Studios, told me that they wanted to make it clear that “Bruce Wayne represents the peak of masculine strength and endurance.”  Message received.

Arkham Asylum’s gameplay is quite interesting.  Using the Unreal graphics engine, Gears of War comparisons will be inevitable.  Still, Arkham Asylum has enough unique features to distinguish itself from other Unreal games.  First off, Batman, being a vigilante who refuses to kill, does not use guns to take his enemies down.  With this in mind, Rocksteady made Batman use a “panther approach” in his conflict suppression.  This stealthy-but-aggressive style lets the Caped Crusader use the shadows to his advantage while also putting his hard-hitting martial arts training to work.

My favorite aspect of Arkham Asylum was the need to think like a sleuth.  Acting as the world’s greatest detective, players are required to do some major problem solving (or at least that’s what the demo alludes to).  In short, you have to think like Batman to succeed in the game.  Whether it is with attacking enemies or just putting clues together, taking a Batman mindset is essential when playing Arkham Asylum.  Helping with this is an interesting feature called Detective Mode.  This mode, activated when the Left Bumper is toggled, illuminates nearby enemies, useful objects and points of interest.  Detective Mode will surely come in handy when deciding a course of action to complete missions and tasks.

From what I’ve seen so far, it’s no surprise that Batman: Arkham Asylum is already being deemed as one of the best games of 2009.  With both my hands-on experience with the game and discussions with the owner of Rocksteady games, I have found nothing to dislike with Arkham Asylum so far.  I don’t want to get too excited about a game that hasn’t even come out yet, but I’m finding it harder and harder to imagine me not picking up a copy of Arkham Asylum when it drops on August 25.

Thanks to the folks Paramount Digital Entertainment, soon Xbox 360 owners will be able to feel like they are inside one of the most beloved cult classic films of all time.  Starting sometime in September, gamers will be able to buy The Warriors: Street Brawl on Xbox Live Arcade for a mere 800 Points.

However, before we get too excited, a thorough examination of the features and gameplay must be performed.

Luckily, Paramount Digitial Entertainment was kind enough to let me have an intimate, hands-on preview with The Warriors: Street Brawl.  Below are some of my thoughts, impressions and gathered information of the upcoming Paramount title.

First, let’s have a little refresher course on what exactly The Warriors movie is all about.  Released in 1979, The Warriors is a film based around a gang of the same name.  During a gang summit in New York City, Cyrus, leader of The Gramercy Riffs, the most feared and respected gang in New York, was assassinated during his speech.  Wrongfully accused as the murders, The Warriors must make their way through the streets of New York and reach the safety of their home turf, fighting numerous other gangs in the process.

Making a video game from a movie of this fashion is no easy task, but Paramount did a service for The Warriors: Street Brawl by implementing the most logical game style for the title: side-scrolling brawler.  With this approach, players can get a true feel of what The Warriors movie was all about.  Whether it is used to introduce new fans to the film or just for old fans to get a closer look at the action, the side-scrolling style of Street Brawl is a perfect fit for a game inspired by a film such as The Warriors.

I really liked the dynamic nature of the side scrolling, as well.  As I fought my way through groups of Baseball Furies and Turnbull AC’s, I noticed that the screen would zoom in and out as I progressed through the level.  This would allow the side scrolling to be functional while also being something other than boring.

The makers of The Warriors: Street Brawl also did their due diligence in regards to staying accurate to the movie that inspired it.  When starting a new game, players can select from some of the main members of The Warriors, including Swan, Cochise, Vermin or Rembrandt.  Each of these characters will have certain strengths and weaknesses in their speed, strength and fighting style, which could greatly help them in their quest to get back to Coney Island.  Also, the environments and enemies also come straight from the film as well.

Speaking of environments, I’d have to say that the backgrounds for Street Brawl were probably my favorite parts of the game.  Each environment had a very gritty, dark comic book feel to them, making it clear that my character was traveling through a very dangerous place.  The fights taking place on the subway and in the subway station were by far the most detailed and intriguing backgrounds I’ve seen in a side-scroller in a long, long time.

However, not everything in Street Brawl was quite as aesthetically pleasing as the environments.  What especially stuck out to me as a let down were the character models.  Unlike the game’s backgrounds, the character models were very bland and lacked detail.  The motions of Cochise, the Warrior I chose to play with, were scripted in a way that made every attack and step seemed unnatural and stiff.  A special move that stuck out in my mind (a long-reaching spinning kick) looked good, but fell short of redeeming the overall motion flaws in Street Brawl.  Perhaps I’m overlooking they comic book stylization of the game or maybe I’m just simply spoiled by my experiences with Battlefield 1943, but it just seems like XBLA games should have better graphics than what I saw with Street Brawl.

Still, I think the main entertainment value from The Warriors: Street Brawl will not come from the way the game looks, but how the game plays.  Street Brawl is a title that uses very simple controls.  Toggling the X, Y, A and B buttons serve as a medium to punch, kick and pull of special moves.  Players will also be able to pick up and use weapons, such as knives, bats, crowbars, 2×4’s and pool cues, to deal more damage against the rival gangs.

Street Brawl also has a wide variety of game modes.  First, there is the campaign.  Though I only got to play the single-player campaign, Street Brawl has single player, local multiplayer and Xbox Live co-op campaign modes.  As described towards the beginning of this preview, campaign allows players select a character and fight their way through New York and reach the safety of Coney Island.  Each player will be able to accumulate points by defeating enemies, picking up bonus items (rings, coins, gems) and advancing further into the game.  Players must continuously fight throughout the campaign or else the AI will punish you for stalling by sending in many enemy reinforcements.  Also, the longer you can survive through the campaign, the more characters you can unlock and fight with in future Street Brawl sessions.  Other game modes include Boss mode and Versus mode.  Boss mode lets players fight every boss they’ve seen in the campaign in succession.  This allows players to be immediately challenged without having to complete the entire campaign again.  Versus mode allows players to fight their friends to see who is the most skilled gang member.

Overall, The Warriors: Street Brawl looks like it could be a pretty swell XBLA title.  Running for just 800 Points (about $10), Street Brawl wont convince people to buy an Xbox 360, but it is an affordable option for those who don’t want to buy an entire $60 game.  Fans of those classic SNES and Sega Genesis side-scroller titles should keep an eye out for Street Brawl in September.  Those who are not quite familiar with the genre might want to just check out the demo.

And, well, for the true fans of The Warriors, the question isn’t whether or not they will buy Street Brawl.  The real question is: Can they dig it?

The most significant change is how much of a cinematic feel Capcom wanted to go for with this sequel, which will cover the events of Resident Evil 2 as well as Code Veronica. Whereas Umbrella Chronicles was on rails and moved slowly through each level, Darkside Chronicles is a faster-paced, more horrifying experience. The camera has a more realistic “shaky” feel and look to it, so rather than moving through the game slowly in a defined manner, you will notice that things are more frantic, with more room for surprises. You also feel like you have less control of the situation, since things happen so quickly–it looks like it will do a better job of being a scary game than the previous title in the series.

The shared health bar is gone when you play co-op, but items are shared and now able to be stored later. If player one picks up a shotgun, but player two wanted it, you can now go to a pause menu and swap the guns, so there is no more fighting over the player with quicker reflexes being the item hog.

Besides the move to shaky cam and the use of improved graphics, one other thing you may notice while playing Darkside Chronicles is that zombies react to where you shoot them. You can slow them down, and the reaction to it will not just come off as somewhat generic like it did in the first. This is good for people that want to set up some headshots–which by the way, are still done with that small area on the zombie’s head, but now you will see their heads react to headshots in a gory yet satisfying way.

From a gameplay standpoint, one of the changes that bears mentioning is how grenades are used. There are no more complicated motions or buttons to hold before you do a motion anymore, which should keep you from accidentally throwing grenades when you don’t want to or allow you to toss them when you do. You just select them as an item using the D-pad–which is how you pick your equipped weapons now–and then use it as you would any other weapon. It’s intuitive, and chances are good I won’t curse the grenade controls while playing this time around.

Though I didn’t play long enough to get a feel for this, the title will also support adjustable difficulty. The game bases the difficulty on your own skill, so as you play, it will adjust things accordingly. For those of you looking for a challenge, this could be a serious bright spot, given the game is going to actively attempt to kill you. I’m looking forward to that, given my love for on-rails shooters.

Darkside Chronicles is more promising than Umbrella Chronicles, given these changes to the series. Hopefully the full product is as fun as the demo, because while the original was fun, it showed a lot of room for improvement. From what I’m seeing, Darkside Chronicles is doing its best to fill up that space. It’s set for a release in winter 2009 as of now, but we will give you more details as we get them from Capcom.

Spyborgs is a brawler with two-player co-op and plenty of enemies to take down. It’s also not an easy game by any means. There is a block button, and if you do not use it you will lose. It’s as simple as that. There are three different characters, each in their own class of weaponry. Clandestine is the female ninja that can bounce around the screen much quicker than her male teammates, Bouncer is the large robot that can do some serious damage, but at a slower pace, and Stinger is the male with the gun for an arm; he’s faster than Bouncer and with a bit more firepower than Clandestine from what I witnessed, so he’s a good balance pick among the three choices.

Even if you do not have someone to play with, two of the three characters will be on screen. If you are in single, you can jump between the two characters, so you will get a chance to use all three extensively, especially since the game allows you to choose your team again often. Stringing together attacks into combos with any of the characters is the most efficient way to take down enemies, as you can see in this video:

You may have also noticed the orange orbs collected by Clandestine in that video. Those go towards a meter–the pulsating orange one, for those of you watching–which when full allows you to unleash a team attack. These attacks are very powerful, and are quick-time event based, but as with most QTE that use motion, they work effectively. They can (and should) be used against bosses as well, given how powerful they are. In co-op you must both activate the attack at the same time by holding down block while facing the enemy, and then moving the Wii Remote in a downward motion. While the motions worked, the biggest hurdle I faced doing this was just getting both of us to do it at the same time. It might also be easier to coordinate verbally when there isn’t a Tatsunoko vs. Capcom tournament going on five feet behind you as well though (no hard feelings Tatsunoko vs. Capcom!)

While I did not get to witness any of this during the demo, there are upgrades you can buy for your attacks by collecting “crimson spark”. There is also an achievement system built into the game that allows you to unlock concept art and additional challenges for the game. I’m glad companies are starting to put achievements into their Nintendo titles, even without a unified system like gamerscore or trophies in place.

Outside of the challenging gameplay, the other thing that impressed me the most were the graphics. They have a stylized yet realistic look to them, and the thing that stuck out to me was how impressive some of the effects were. Check out the explosions and fire in the screens included in this preview to see what I mean; Bionic Games knows how to squeeze some life out of the Wii’s graphical abilities, and it shows when you see Spyborgs in motion. We’ll have more info for you on this game as it releases, but you can look forward to a release date of September 29th of this year for now.

Dark Void stars a cargo pilot named William Grey. He crashes in the Bermuda Triangle, and is then teleported to a parallel universe that is just a wee bit more advanced technologically then the time he came from. The Watchers, an alien race that is tormenting this universe’s Earth, need to be repelled, and Bill Grey being the kind of guy he is, joins up in this resistance. He straps on a jet pack he finds and immediately puts it to use–as you can see from the little hiccups he encounters upon firing up the pack, Grey is the kind of guy who dives right into things without a worry or care.

Fighting on the ground is the kind of thing you are used to from third-person shooters. Duck behind cover, fight the enemies doing the same, and try not to get yourself blown up or killed. There are a few different enemy types to deal with, some of which will attempt to take you out with an explosion after you kill them, so trying to melee everyone isn’t the best idea when they are just going to blow your head off after. The other form of ground combat is more like a mix of air and ground; developer Airtight is calling it “vertical” combat, as you use the jet pack to fly upwards and then latch on to platforms around you for cover. You can then fire at enemies or jump to another platform from there. This takes a little getting used to, but it’s much more fun than trying to fly straight up through a complicated mess of platforms and then slamming poor Bill’s head into them over and over because you hit the gas a little too hard. Not that I did anything like that.

If you’re a fan of flying games though, then Dark Void is going to be great for you. The controls feel great; if you have any experience with piloting a ship or a plane or anything like that in games, then you should be able to pick up on what you need to do quickly. You’ll be flying in between structures, shooting at anti-air cannons and taking down your opposition in dogfights in no time, but just wait until you figure out how to hover and slow down on the fly, in order to get yourself behind enemies for an easier shot or to line up a more difficult one. With levels set up to have you doing some fighting in the air, some on the ground, and some in between with the vertical combat, you’re going to have fun mastering all three setups and making your way through a game that seems like it will have variety in its level design.

Dark Void was set to be released in September, but Capcom delayed it for further polishing. While the demo I played was fine, I can’t argue with additional time for tuning the game, even if it means we won’t be checking it out again for awhile. We’ll have more information on Dark Void for you as it releases, but for now enjoy the screens we have included with this preview for you.

Then look no further than Bungie’s upcoming title, Halo 3: ODST.

Halo 3: ODST (the acronym standing for Orbital Drop Shock Troopers) is a stand-alone first-person shooter extension of Bungie’s Halo 3.  In ODST, players take control of “the Rookie,” who is a normal, non-Spartan soldier in the UNSC army.  Unlike Master Chief, ODSTs are not blessed with the speed, strength or resilience an enhanced soldier.  Instead, these troopers must rely on teamwork, defensive cover and smart tactics to survive and complete missions.

Microsoft was kind enough let to get my hands on Halo 3: ODST during Comic-Con this year.  During my brief preview, I was able to get the inside scoop on what is soon to come from Bungie’s upcoming creation.

The first thing I learned about ODST was the fact that each purchase will come with two discs.  The first disc will include ODST’s unique campaign and Firefight modes.  The second disc will include a fully functional copy of Halo 3’s previously released multiplayer mode, complete with 24 maps (including the Heroic, Legendary, Mythic and one previously unreleased map packs).  With each map pack being sold between 600 to 800 Microsoft Points, the inclusion of the Halo 3 multiplayer disc is a worthy addition to the ODST package.  This is especially true for those Halo 3 veterans who haven’t bought the maps already or just the casual gamer who is simply late on jumping on the Halo 3 bandwagon.

With the success of Halo 3’s multiplayer and Bungie always seeming to be able to churn out an interesting campaign, I was mostly concerned with how the Firefight mode would work.  Luckily for me, Firefight was exactly what the folks at Microsoft let me demo.  Firefight is a cooperative multiplayer mode in which teammates must defend themselves from increasingly difficult waves of enemies, similar to Gears of War 2’s Horde mode or Call of Duty 5’s Nazi Zombies.  What was fun about Firefight was the fact that players will be able to face of against waves of classic Halo enemies, including Grunts and Brutes.  All of the classic enemies still have their memorable quirks and movement styles, allowing Halo fans to enjoy a little bit of nostalgia as they try to complete Firefight.

I also appreciated that the increased difficulty of enemies was very dynamic.  Unlike in similar game modes, Firefight does not just improve the shield strength or just increase the sheer number of opponents as you advance to high levels.  Instead, each wave in Firefight will have certain characteristics.  For instance, one feature that I found to be most memorable was when the game alerted me that the next wave of enemies would be more prone to throwing grenades.  It was refreshing to see such a creative addition to a simple idea for a game mode.

From a gameplay standpoint, one thing that bothered me about ODST was the fact that the troopers (who are supposed to be normal, non-enhanced infantry soldiers) had Master Chief-like vertical leaping abilities.  During my time with Firefight, I would often find myself jumping over tall enemies, such as fully armored Brutes.  Though it could be considered nitpicking, I still found this unbelievable jumping to be a flaw in this one of this game’s goal: giving games a view of the Halo 3 universe from inside of the average soldier’s helmet.  Hopefully this will be something Bungie will eventually address as they develop the game further.

The ODSTs do have plenty of differences from Master Chief, however.  First, ODST soldiers are all equipped with a night vision function, which is toggled by the X-button (the only button that had a different function when compared to Master Chief’s controls).  What made night vision helpful was its ability to highlight enemies (outlining them in red) and objects (outlining them in yellow), even if they were behind barriers and obstacles.  Not surprisingly, night vision gave me an incredible advantage on enemies whenever I had it on.  In fact, I didn’t really see a point to not having night vision activated at all times.

To compensate for the addition of night vision, ODSTs are unable to use dual weapons.  So, those of you who enjoyed the days of doubling up SMGs or Laser Pistols, your days are numbered.  I found the removal of the dualing feature was a classic example of “addition by subtraction” and I look forward to the challenges it is sure to bring.  However, even though dual weapons are out of the picture, the addition new weapons is certainly not.  Halo 3: ODST will allow players to get their hands on a silenced SMG and a silenced pistol, both of which are unique to the game.  Though the silenced SMG was fun, I would have to say that the silenced pistol was my favorite of the two new guns just because of the fact that it shoots much faster than its previous counterpart.

My favorite part of my hands-on experience with Halo 3: ODST was the grittiness of the graphics.  Unlike times in Halo 3, ODST looked to capture the look and feel of war in a more authentic fashion.  The settings were dark, the graphics were gritty and the action was nonstop.  It just seemed that ODST could provide a more “real” campaign experience than Halo 3.  I am looking forward to seeing what Bungie has in store.  It should be a good time.

Overall, it looks like Halo 3: ODST could be a success.  Initially, I was afraid that Bungie could be using ODST as a means to gain some revenue without producing a top-notch title.  Instead, I have found myself nearly convinced that ODST will be worth every penny used to purchase it.  The only thing holding me back from completely buying into ODST’s hype is the campaign.  If Bungie can live up to its storytelling resume, ODST will be a worthwhile investment.  However, if Bungie falls short in the campaign department, things could get ugly.  Let’s hope that the former scenario comes through.

Konami would sure like you to.

I was lucky enough to go to Konami’s offsite Comic-Con event and get some hands-on action with Saw.  Though I am usually a little skeptical about the quality of many movie inspired games, my demo with Saw made me think twice about disregarding Konami’s upcoming title.

For those who don’t know, the Saw series is a wildly successful collection of psychological thrillers based around the antics of the man known as Jigsaw.  This antagonist puts various everyday people in impossible situations by making characters often solve puzzles and put themselves (or others) to death or through incredible physical and emotional pain; the ultimate goal being for the characters to appreciate life and reflect on mistakes.

Konami’s Saw game hopes to become a seamless transition between the first and second movies as players take control of Detective David Tapp (Danny Glover’s character).  When the game is started, Tapp finds himself in one of Jigsaw’s traps.  From there, players must find a way out of the deadly game and escape to safety.

All things considered, it is no surprise that Konami decided to make Saw a very puzzle-intensive game.  In my short demo, I was able to solve more than a few riddles and tasks to prolong my life.  The clues in the game are dynamic in that they come in a variety of forms.  Sometimes a clue will be as blatant as some numbers written on a wall, while other times a hint will only be revealed when a player looks at a mirror in a certain angle.

Saw stays true to the movies that inspired it.  The developers worked very closely with the folks at Lions Gate Entertainment to bring gamers the most authentic and interesting Saw experience possible.  Players will be introduced with chronologically past and future characters while also escaping from classic traps and solving puzzles that are unique to the game.

One thing that makes Saw stand out when compared to other movie-inspired games is the way it looks.  From the shadowing to the cut scenes, Konami’s creation is impressive in a variety of ways.  One of the things that really impressed me from a visual standpoint was the look of the environments.  Each room that I got a chance to see established a sense of creepiness and helplessness, complete with rotting and bloodstained walls and that very recognizable cold tint that Saw fans have grown to love.

Unfortunately, not all visual aspects of Saw were so impressive.  What especially stood out to me as lacking were the character models and motion.  I was thoroughly unimpressed with how Tapp looked after I found myself so astounded by the environmental look of the game. Also, being a third-person game, character movement is an important part of the experience.  Sadly, Tapp’s walking seemed awkward.  Furthermore, although the traps in the game looked very good, the motions involving activating the solutions were lackluster as well.

Saw incorporates both mental and physical types of gameplay.  Not surprisingly, Saw, being focused on solving puzzles and riddles, involves a lot of cognitive exercise.  Taking clues from the walls or in the messages from Jigsaw will likely kick your brain into gear as you attempt escape from the latest situation Tapp finds himself in.  Physical challenges include the pressing of buttons or rotating of sticks.  An example of the physical gameplay is when Tapp needs to escape from the classic reverse bear trap.  In this challenge, players must unwind the clamps from the trap within a certain amount of time or else the trap will spring and inevitably kill Tapp.  To safely remove the trap, players must follow the on-screen instructions by rotating the joysticks in a certain sequence, resembling the unwinding actions that would be necessary in reality.

Overall, Saw seems like it has some potential.  With the already impressive visuals and  dynamic, creative puzzle-intensive gamplay, Konami’s movie-inspired title has kept me optimistic.  Keep an eye out in late to 2009 for Saw (which should be at a rentable game, at worst) when it drops.

Soon all you’ll need is a PS3 or PC and a copy of DC Universe Online.

Yes, the age of sewing your own costumes and jumping off tall structures is over now that Sony Online Entertainment will be their new super hero MMORPG based in the DC comic book universe.  I was lucky enough to sit with Wes Yanagi, Senior Producer at SOE, as he showed me all the cool features in the upcoming game.

Yanagi chose to describe DC Universe Online in an interesting way.  He decided to call it an “Action MMO,” making it clear that this game was unique when compared to the numerous Massively Multiplayer Online games available today.  What makes DC Universe Online an Action MMO is that none of the combat sequences need to be scripted and waited on.  Instead of planning out attack sequences, players can improvise with the control their super hero by rattling off seamless punching, kicking or power attack combos instantaneously.

The features in the RPG portion of the game are exciting as well.  Upon creating a character (using the character creator as described a few paragraphs below), players will be able to decide if they would like to become a villain or hero in the DC Universe.  This choice will determine how characters will approach quests and which famous super hero NPCs (Batman, Bizarro and Wonder Woman, just to name a few) they will interact with.  As characters level up, players will be able to “build their own legacy,” as they game namesake within the super hero/villain communities.  Eventually, players get their characters invited to join the Justice League or Legion of Doom, depend on which moral route they take.  Also, with the in-game stories and quests being written by some of DC’s most famous writers, the RPG aspect of DC Universe Online is an exciting prospect for even the most casual of comic book fans.

No DC Universe-based game would be complete without the ability to visit some famous landmarks.  The folks with Sony Online Entertainment recognized this need and developed their upcoming game accordingly.  Players will be able to take their characters to such places as Metropolis, Gotham City, Justice League and Legion of Doom headquarters, STAR Labs and many others.  Though I wasn’t able to get a look at places like Gotham or Metropolis (the concept art of these places is available in our gallery below), I was able to look at some in-game action inside STAR Labs and the Justice League HQ.  The environments seemed authentic, clean and rendered well, which is no surprise given that many of the game’s locations were created and designed by legendary comic book artist Jim Lee.  I especially enjoyed the intricate and brightly colored designs in STAR labs.  I can’t wait to see more in-game renders as they are unveiled.

Sony also stepped up and created a legitimate character creator for DC Universe Online.  The creator is based on three basic concepts of customization: the super power of the character, the power source of that super power and the movement style of the character.  The super powers include options such as fire, ice or mental abilities while the power sources can be anything from a simple ring on your character’s finger to something as complex as your character’s eyes.  Finally, the movement style of your character can be walking, flying or possibly something in-between.  The character creator also allows players to completely customize their character’s costume, color scheme and accessories, making it nearly impossible to find someone else who has the exact same super hero as yourself.

Once a color scheme and costume is established, all items that are picked up and equipped on a player (such as a helmet or body armor) will automatically adjust to your character’s design.  For instance, say you find a green item but your scheme is red.  DC Universe Online’s developers have found a way to change the item’s color to match your scheme when it is equipped.  Also, lets say you’ve found a helmet that looks good on your character, but you’ve also acquired a less-fashionable helmet that has better stats.  Instead of having to choose between the two, players can now just take the statistically better helmet and make it look exactly the same as the better looking one.  These two features allow players to avoid that multicolored “hobo” look that many gamers encounter in MMORPGs.

There’s very little to not like about how DC Universe Online is coming together.  It’s a game that is clearly staying true to its roots and addressing many issues that MMO fans have grown to hate.  Unless there is some fatal flaw in the gameplay or gaming engine, there wont be much that could hold DC Universe Online back from becoming a very popular and entertaining RPG when it drops sometime late 2009 / early 2010.

That might be about to change.

Pandemic Studios is the developer behind The Saboteur, a distinctively designed open-world action-adventure game.  Set in 1940’s Nazi-occupied France, this multi-platform title is focused around Sean Devlin, an Irish car mechanic looking for revenge.  Devlin, whose character is based on an actual person of the same name and profession, roams an exciting and sexy open-world as he kicks ass and takes names.

I was lucky enough to get a close look at The Saboteur at San Diego Comic-Con 2009 months before its December 8, 2009 drop date.  The following is what I gathered from what I saw from the anticipated title.

The first major thing I noticed about The Saboteur was how it looked.  Overall, the graphics of the game were not much more realistic than what you would expect from a Grand Theft Auto game.  Instead of being boring though, The Saboteur makes up for its lack of realistic graphics with a uniquely stylized visual presentation.  For the most part, the streets of France are brightly lit and often full of colorful detail.  However, when Devlin enters an area inhabited by numerous Nazi soldiers, the color fades leaving the oppressed district colorless, dead and dry.  The only colors you see in these instances are black and white, with deep reds highlighting enemies and important quest points of interest.  It was seeing this unique, noir-esque feature in person that turned The Saboteur into a game that mildly interested me into a title that I am truly excited for.

The Saboteur also captures the action-adventure genre beautifully with its cinematic features.  Devlin embodies a character which every woman wants and every man wants to be (AKA he’s a grizzled, tough dude who has an accent), perfect for an action game such as this.  The women Devlin interacts with are all sexy and seductive, while the Nazi’s are evil and constantly scheming.  The Saboteur is full of explosions, blood and car chases, leaving players on the edge of their seat.

Helping contribute to the adventure-centric nature of the game was the use of the Odin Engine.  Odin allows Devlin to climb up, drive in, shoot at and interact with anything a player could possibly desire.  This permits gamers to approach different quests and tasks in many different ways, hopefully giving The Saboteur a diverse experience and significant replay value.

The Saboteur does not only stay true to the genre of a WWII action-adventure game, but to the era as well.  The developers did a nice job of finding authentic cars, clothing and weapons.  Even the in-game maps and loading screens have a 1940’s look to them, as everything seems to be displayed on fresh-but-rustic parchment paper backgrounds.

The gameplay in The Saboteur continues the unique theme to the game.  Obviously, the GTA comparisons are inevitable.  However, it’s the ability to climb and interact with almost anything that really gives The Saboteur’s gamplay a different feel.  With elements of both stealth and action, I think the best way to describe it is Grand Theft Auto meets Assassins Creed, which is not a negative description to say the least.

Unfortunately, not everything about what I saw from The Saboteur was impressive.  As I touched on before, The Saboteur didn’t show everything I was hoping for graphically.  Though I saw a lot of things that I liked (such as the detail of the foliage and a lot of the NPC and vehicle designs), I was left wanting more from the game.  The modeling of the streets as well as other important portions of the environments seemed overlooked and rushed.  Luckily, there are still a few more months until The Saboteur goes gold, leaving time for the devs to work out the remaining graphical kinks in the game.

One of the best things about The Saboteur is that it is headed by Tom French of Pandemic Studios.  Mr. French is a veteran of the video game industry who has incrementally moved up the ranks by contributing to such titles as Mercenaries, Icewind Dale and Fallout 2.  French was at the EA Showcase when I got my first look at The Saboteur and was beaming with confidence for his game.  During interviews, one could tell that French had put a lot of himself into The Saboteur, which a very good thing when coming from the Lead Designer of a game.

Overall, all signs are point to The Saboteur becoming a hit.  There are very few things not to love about The Saboteur, thanks to some creative developing, a keen game engine and a veteran game designer at the helm.  I think more great things are to come as the December 8 gets closer.  Be sure to keep an eye out.

It was the day that Valve’s immensely popular Left 4 Dead title was officially released.

Since that fateful autumn day, both PC and Xbox 360 owners were finally able to truly know what it took to survive the zombie apocalypse.  With shotguns and health packs in hand, even the most average Joe (such as myself) were able to star in their own undead cinematic adventure while harming thousands of zombies in the process, leaving many wanting more.

Valve has recognized the zombie bloodlust they have nurtured and have started development on the sequel for Left 4 Dead, called Left 4 Dead 2.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on Valve’s next apocalyptic first-person shooter at San Diego Comic-Con 2009.  Though the game is still in development, the creators of Half-Life and the Source Engine did not disappoint with what they had to offer.

Taking place in what seems to be various parts of the southern region of the United States, Left 4 Dead 2 focuses on four new playable characters as they move from safe house to safe house, trying to survive until rescue arrives.  Each character has  their own back story and contributes some subtle Cajun twang, giving Left 4 Dead 2 an authentic southern feel throughout the game.

The first thing I noticed when getting my hands on Left 4 Dead 2 was how visually stunning it was compared to the initial title.  I believe Marc Normandin, my boss and temporary Comic-Con roommate, said it best by gasping, “This looks 100x better.”  The longer I played the game, the more I realized that I would not have to stare at dark, grainy NPC models and environments any longer.  It was truly a sight to see.

Helping with the previously too-dark-to-see nature of the original Left 4 Dead had an easy solution: making some of the movies take place during the day time.  In both of the abbreviated stories I played, my team fought through hordes of undead Southerners in almost broad daylight, evoking memories of certain scenes from 28 Days Later.  The motions of the zombies were “completely redone” according to Valve reps, allowing seamless transitions from resting to attacking states.  The developers also made the zombies’ detachable limbs more realistic and thoroughly more enjoyable.

Beyond the impressive visual qualities, Left 4 Dead 2 also had plenty of new content to enjoy.  Valve did every zombie fan a service by adding various melee weapons to the game.  Items such as chainsaws, cricket bats, axes and even frying pans have been added to the mix.  Though I didn’t have the pleasure of using the chainsaw nor the cricket bat, I can vouch for the high level of satisfaction that using the axe and frying pan can bring to the game’s experience.  Melee weapons can be used in two ways; a player can either use a normal attack or a power attack.  Normal attacks or quicker, but take multiple hits to kill enemies while power attacks are slower, but offer a faster and more gruesome takedown of the undead.  Melee weapons are carried similarly to the gas tanks in the original title; players can hold the weapon without having to drop their main gun, but will have to drop the frying pan/axe if they would like to access any other item in their inventory.

The folks at Valve were also kind enough to add some guns as well.  I had a chance to take a sneak peak at the new AK47 and grenade launcher weapons in the game and I was very impressed.  The AK47, though not noticeably different to the M-4 in the way it fired, added some diversity to the upgrade guns received when players progressed to the later parts of the stories.  The grenade launcher, or “friendly-fire hell” as a Valve rep described it, is a completely new weapon added to the game.  Shooting high-powered explosives, the grenade launcher can take out numerous amounts of zombie foes and, as I unfortunately learned, your teammates as well.

Those new weapons will be very helpful when taking out the added “special infected” enemies unique to Left 4 Dead 2.  The two new infected I battled were called the Charger and the Spitter.  The Charger looked like a mix between a Boomer and a Tank, attacking the survivors with power, speed and a terribly destructive arm.  Chargers focus on one character, stampede towards them and smashes them into the ground.  Though the Charger is virtually unstoppable when it is running towards you, teammates will be galad to know that it is fairly weak and can be eliminated quickly.  Spitters had the opposite approach when compared to the Charger.  Instead of running towards enemies, Spitters (shown below) shoot projectile similar-to-napalm saliva at their targets.  The substance covers the ground and does damage to whoever remains standing in it.

There are also unique-to-movie infected within the game.  In one of the movies, players will fight off zombies that are dressed in SWAT gear.  Though these undead officers look like your ordinary horde members, they are actually very difficult to kill as they are unaffected when the front of their bodies hit with bullets.  The quickest way to take them down is a melee attack, making the nearest frying pan your new best friend.

Valve also answered my prayer when it came to final showdowns.  In the first Left 4 Dead title, every movie ended with a final showdown that took place in a small building or shack.  Players would essentially have to hold the fort until help arrived every time they wanted to beat the game.  However, it seems that Valve has developed a new diverse collection of endings for their new game’s stories.  In one of the demos I played, the final showdown actually took place on a bridge.  My team and I had to run across the bridge, killing dashing zombies as they funneled through abandoned traffic.  Once you cross the bridge and survive certain doom, players board a helicopter and finish the movie.  This is a perfect example of how changing even the smallest details can satisfy the most hard-to-please gaming critic.

The Artificial Intelligence (AKA “The Director”) in Left 4 Dead seemed to be over hyped prior to its release in 2008 and, to a certain extent, I feel that there was legitimate disappointment in how it played.  Left 4 Dead 2 hopes to change my mind with its revamped AI 2.0.  Though I don’t have the specifics on the modifications in 2.0, I can say that Left 4 Dead 2 seemed more difficult than its predecessor when it came to spawning health items and pacing.  At worst, Left 4 Dead 2 should be a more exciting and challenging experience if the alterations to The Director are maintained.

A main concern for many fans the first Left 4 Dead title was that Left 4 Dead 2 would end up being what the original “should’ve been”.  While it would have been nice to see the enhanced graphical presentation in the earliest game, Left 4 Dead 2 seems to have plenty of features to be something more than a slight upgrade to the original.  As a fan of the original and optimist for the sequel, I am looking forward to picking up my copy of Left 4 Dead 2 when it drops in November 2009.

Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2 will be released in November 2009 exclusively for Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows.

Lost Planet 2 changes things up from the original in many ways. Visually, you now play in a variety of regions, like deserts and jungles, rather than in levels covered in snow. Capcom focused on what happened to the planet in the aftermath of the original’s conclusion to design, so you get to see what has been hiding under the snow now; this will give you a lot of different looks, much more so than the first game, and should keep the game looking fresh.

Gameplay has seen a pretty significant overhaul too. The speed of both the gameplay as well as the characters has increased, and the large Vital Suits (VS) now have thrusters for speed boosts, which should make moving them around less of a chore as well. You can also pick up weapons off of the shoulders of the VS and use them on foot, which should provide for a pretty big boost to your firepower. VS are also no longer restricted to carrying around one person–now that you have four-player co-op, expect to see VSs that will carry multiple members of your party, so everyone can fire guns at giant creatures together. Producer Jun Takeuchi also stated at Comic-Con that there would be a flying VS, which is something I would like to see in action myself since it’s a major change.

Here’s the rundown on the demo I played. Four players were all together in this tropical swamp looking area, while a giant creature–one that is said to be one of the “smaller” ones in the game, despite the fact you could not see all of it on the screen at once–roamed around. This creature needed to be taken down, and you could do so a few different ways. You could blow out all of its legs with constant fire, or you could shoot the spike in its back until it retreated inside of the creature; from there, if you caused enough damage, you could make it fall and then get yourself inside of its mouth. From there, after a seamless transition from the outside into the belly of the beast, you could fire at the spike until it came out of hiding and was atop the monster once again. Rinse and repeat, and eventually the monster would fall.

You have to use strategy though, because unlike many games where you can just respawn after dying, Lost Planet 2 uses a score based system that determines whether you come back or not. You gain points for completing tasks and successfully attacking and killing, and you lose these points upon dying. They are shared by the team, so if your team dies too often you will fail the mission. You do need to pay attention to your surroundings too, even if you’re dominating, because the creatures do not have scripted movements and actions. They act independently based on context, so if you personally are causing the creature a lot of pain and anguish, he is going to hunt you down and stop that nasty problem in its tracks. Of course, that’s  a good time for your teammates to swoop in, while you haul it out of harm’s way.

There will be six episodes of Lost Planet 2, but there are not a lot of details available about them. You can customize your character for use in both online and offline gaming, which is a new addition to the series. While many of the changes are just for cosmetic purposes, the hope is that no one bumps into characters that look like them, making everyone feel like they have created someone unique. You can unlock new weapons for multiplayer by leveling up your character–completing missions, finishing extra objectives and playing in a unique manner will earn you experience points.

While the game is still slated for a winter release, the early build played at Comic-Con was impressive. We’ll have more details for you about Lost Planet 2 as they emerge. As of now, it looks like Capcom has a potential hit on their hands, one powered in part by suggestions of the original game’s fan base. Kudos to Capcom for listening, because it looks like it could pay off.

That’s the basic setup for this game, and as cool as the concept is, the gameplay itself does well for itself too. War is stylized in a way that makes him look straight out of a comic book, which is a great contrast to the realistic looking (though stylized) real-world earth. You have war fighting these awesome looking creatures that look ripped straight from the pages of fantasy, but all on the stage of post-apocalyptic earth. While you may think from sneaking a peek at the title that it resembles God of War or the upcoming Dante’s Inferno due to its use of combos and large-scale battles against various enemies, that’s not the feeling I got from playing. This feels like a take on the Legend of Zelda formula, and if you speak to anyone working with the game, they will tell you the same thing.

Zelda was a major influence for this title, as you have a main world that you traverse and dungeons that you must enter. More of the main world opens up as you clear dungeons, complete tasks and acquire new items, and when in each dungeon you will learn new abilities or gain new items, then use that new found knowledge or power to defeat the boss protecting it. You even have a Navi type figure, although he’s much angrier and violent than that fairy ever was, and is voiced by Mark Hamill. Battles are a bit more important here than they are in Zelda, and more difficult too from the look of things, so calling it a combination of a Zelda-type game and an action-based brawler would be an accurate description.

You will get to wield giant swords and shoot guns in the game, and ride a horse called Ruin. You will unlock powers that you have lost until you become the true representation of the Horseman, War. While the build I played did not show off his true potential, I did get a chance to see how well combat worked, and what kind of enemies you would be fighting. There are basic grunt enemies, which were likened to, “The grass in Zelda” but as a source of souls rather than rupees, as souls are the game’s currency for buying new upgrades and items. You don’t want to be surrounded by too many of these guys, despite the ease with which they are defeated, because much fouler creatures are around to do serious damage to you. You can take these out either with some magic, low and high powered attacks mixed together in combos, or by picking up objects in the environment and using them to your advantage. I was running around a post-apocalyptic city with cars strewn about, so I picked them up and swung them at enemies, or threw them from a distance with the ease of tossing a football around. This makes for some varied battles, and gives you a bit of freedom as far as taking out your enemies.

The first boss fight encountered in the demo was pretty tough considering how early it was in the game, but when I found out that this “boss” was actually just a standard enemy you will encounter many times throughout the game, I got a bit excited. That might mean good things as for the difficulty and scale of battles you will be involved in while you play Darksiders.

While the game is still a ways away, the demo from Comic-Con put this game on my radar. A mature take on the Legend of Zelda formula using one of the Four Horsemen of legend is a wonderful idea, and with what I have experienced, could turn out to be a neat homage to the gameplay style while also retaining plenty of its own fun and character. We’ll have more info for you on this title as it nears release, but for now, enjoy the trailer and the screens we have for you.

White Knight Chronicles is a mix of traditional single-player questing as well as a co-op mode that differs from the main story. In both modes you fight with a combination of real-time and turn-based actions, somewhat like Final Fantasy XII, but in my short time with it I felt like the menus and battles flowed more smoothly. Each attack has a cool down period in the sense that your turn needs to come up again before you can once again attack, but you are free to move around the map engaging the foes you wish to fight and avoiding those you do not. You can also use this to your advantage to dodge incoming attacks or attack an enemy from behind, which can be helpful with some of the bigger enemies when you try to set up more powerful attacks.

The characters have a variety of moves, such as regular strikes, jumping slashes, lunging attacks, etc. You will use all of them, and on different enemies, especially since you can target specific areas of an enemy’s body. Taking down a tall creature at the knees so you can lunge and jump slash his head is a satisfying endeavor. If you want to wipe out an enemy with a little style, you can do so, as the game features a combo creator. There are no default combos, as you have to create them on your own. You have a number of action points that you can build up as the game progresses, and you refill them by fighting and defeating enemies. When I picked up the controller, the character I was using had his gauge set to seven of these, so I was able to make a combo that used up to seven action points. You can build this combo using any of the attacks you have at your disposal, so what I essentially did was set the combo to slash, lunge, then jumping slash, and while suspended in mid-air iceballs and fireballs would be shot out before the final blow was delivered. You have to press the attack button at the right time in order to initiate each move, but it’s not difficult to time it, as it works just like your regular attacks, only in succession rather than one at a time broken up by cool down periods. Besides combos, you can also customize your battle menu as well, and save them for future use. While it may require some upkeep, that’s a great addition to have as you can be prepared for whatever comes your way.

The game looks very good–it is already out in Japan, so that is to be expected–but that does not take away from it. The art style is nice and bright, as we should expect from Level 5, and you can customize your main character–referred to as your avatar–to your heart’s content before you begin the game. This is where White Knight Chronicles gets a bit confusing, but hear Level 5 out on this one: your avatar is sort of the main character, but he is not the one who can change into the White Knight. That honor goes to Leonard, who is also sort of the main character. You can only change into the White Knight during the main story, which is where Leonard is available. You use those action points for the White Knight just like you would a combo, simply by scrolling through a menu with the D-pad during battle. Leonard turns into a giant that is the equal in size and strength of some of the larger enemies I saw in my playtime, and he delivers the expected beat down from a knight his size. It’s a neat mechanic, especially since the White Knight has his own move set independent of the combos Leonard utilizes.

Your avatar is still important, even if he’s incapable of turning into the legendary White Knight. That’s because this is the character you will control in the co-op and online portions of the game. Quests, each one an hour long, will be available to play, and even though we have had to wait for a longer time to play than Japan, we will also end up with more quests than them. In the end, I’ll take the extra content over the earlier release. I sadly did not get to test out any of these quests, but there will be tons of them–if you dig the quests, you will spend more time with them than the main story, especially if you have three other friends who want to play with you online.

White Knight Chronicles looks to be a mix of a few different RPG ideas, and from what I have seen, it looks like it is going to be a great entry on the Playstation 3, especially for RPG-starved owners. While traditional turn-based lovers may be turned off at first, you may want to keep an eye on this one, as it blends real-time with turn-based in an effective way. Sadly, you have to keep that eye trained on it for quite a bit, as it is due out in the beginning of 2010. We’ll have more details for you on White Knight Chronicles as they release.

Three levels were available to play at Comic-Con, with the first being a tutorial type level. New towers were introduced on each stage as well, along with more powerful enemies. Here’s the basic setup: you have scrap to build towers, and you earn more of it by defeating enemies. You can sell or upgrade towers, and each tower has two different paths for upgrades. For example, with the basic tower, you can either improve its rate of fire or its range, but you can’t do both; if you decide you want to upgrade range after you’ve been upgrading rate of fire, you lose the progress for the latter. The final upgrade for each tower is a healing aura, which takes the load off of your repair bots a bit and keeps them from being stretched too thin. There were three towers I got to try out, the first being your basic turret type, the second a slowdown type tower–this one is my favorite, as rather than using ice or what have you to slow enemies like most tower defense titles, this turns the enemies into toasters and refrigerators so your other towers can blast them–and the third was a missile launching tower.

There are a few basic soldiers scattered across the field as well as medics and construction/repair bots, but you do not control them. They will respawn from your home base after a time though, so you don’t have to worry about them at all. You do control your commando, who, just like in the original RTS title, has a rage mode that allows him to attack with extra fury. This is good for protecting your base or a pathway you haven’t finished constructing yet, and let me tell you, you will need that extra defense, because the AI in this game immediately adjusts to your building if an easier path for them appears.

I was told they plan on introducing more enemy types into the mix before the game comes out (they are aiming for September) but the ones that are there are varied, which is nice. You have basic grunts, suicide bombers, flamethrower-wielding soldiers, and of course, the enemy’s commandos, which do not necessarily come at you one at a time to end a level. The third stage was exponentially harder than the previous two if you did not prepare for the last few waves properly, but it’s good to get some challenge out of a tower defense title. I’ve got my eye on this one, as you should; we’ll have a review for Robocalypse: Beaver Defense once it releases later this year.

Items work a bit differently too, with your character not so much holding the item in their hands as they have it in stock once it is picked up. These items give them special abilities–the one I picked up and used the most often during my three matches slammed a wave of energy into the opponents in front of me, knocking them over and allowing me to start wailing on them while they were defenseless. I was not given a chance to check out how robust the options set was, to see if matches can be handicapped, items can be turned off, lives can be used as a measure for success rather than a timer, etc.–as the demo version of the game used a defined set of rules.

The stages that I played on were fun and diverse, which is great for this type of game. One stage, which was Manhattan, had you fighting on rooftops. You could be knocked off of the central roof, but there were two taller buildings next to this one, which meant you could wall jump your way back to the stage with everyone else. I failed at this the first few times but picked up on it quickly, and the Ubisoft rep had a good handle on it from the start; it’s the kind of recovery move you would expect a ninja to be able to make, so it was nice to see it there. Another stage had the brawlers fighting atop a stage with support columns strewn about; you could destroy these columns through the course of battle (or just focus on them), and once they were all destroyed, they would smash through the center of the map, and cause you to fall to a completely different stage. This new stage had an electric ball in the center that would randomly choose one of the four fighters to shock; you could see which one by looking at which portrait it stopped on. Once it chose, if you were the one selected, you can hit the ball to stop from being turned into fried turtle; at that point it selects another brawler to roast.

Not all of the fighters were available to use–because not all of the fighters have been announced–but I spent some time with Raphael (my favorite turtle from my childhood) and Casey Jones. Raphael was quick, but with shorter range than the other turtles. He still had the big kicks and swings needed to take down other brawlers though. Casey was more of a heavyweight, with a big, slow swing of his hockey stick, but what he lacked in quickness and finesse he made up for with raw power. I got to see April O’Neill in action, as well as Splinter. Both characters were quick to the point where I had some trouble with them even as Raphael, but they didn’t seem to hit as hard. I didn’t play enough to know for sure, but that’s just my initial impression of their fighting style.

The fighting itself is similar to Smash Bros., which strong and weak attacks, grappling, and item use, but the characters seem to play differently, and it moves at a quicker pace than most Smash matches due to the speed of many of the fighters. It will be interesting to see how it plays once all of the characters are revealed, as right now it looks promising. It’s not a Smash Bros. clone, but it is similar to the point where the Ubisoft reps were telling Comic-Con attendees that if you like Smash Bros. you will want to play this. The strategy has worked though, as the booth has had lines of gamers waiting to give it a shot.

Hover Kart isn’t a type of game where you would sit down with the goal of “clearing content” or blasting away enemies in a deathmatch-style event. Instead, it just so happens to be the perfect time killer . . . and is rather addicting. Old fans of Maria Kart will love this game – it is essentially the free, online version of some SNES style tracks.

Gameplay is identical to Kart, though with different inputs: you control your little racer via the standard WASD or arrow keys and have the ability to jump and use special items you collect. During races you try to drive over little squares that randomly select a bonus item you can use, ranging from speed boosts to landmines and hover missiles (banana peels and turtle shells anyone?).

Whether you are racing NPCs or other people just like you, you gain points for doing well and winning races, eventually gaining levels and medals!

Hover Kart also offers a Shop which allows you to spend “coins” to get new types of drivers, karts, and various types of improvements to enhance gameplay. However, these little bonuses have a limited duration and you are only given set amount of coins to begin with. Once your coin supply starts dwindling you do have that option to pay real cash for more (very common amongst F2P games). This is not required of course, so you can be a casual Hover Kart player or a total fanatic who spends some extra cash to deck out their kart.

Though not graphically stunning in the least bit, Hover Kart does achieve its goal – it keeps you entertained when you are bored, then hooks you into keep playing. So next time you find yourself sitting around home (or work!) with a bit of spare time, definitely give Hover Kart a go.

I dare you to try and log off within 10 minutes.

Many unique features are available in this new title, ranging from special abilities to offensive and defensive mutations to exotic weaponry, and I was lucky enough to experience these by gaining access to the game’s closed beta event.

Once the game loaded I was presented with the character creation screen (the beta client lacked an opening cinematic), which is by far one of the most detailed character creation systems I have seen. First you select a sex and name for your character (you also have the option of creating a last name if you so choose), and then are able to manipulate your character’s features in a multitude of ways.

There are twenty-five face shapes alone to choose from, and then you have the option of make you character look progressively older, from a youthful teen to a wrinkly, grandfatherly figure. A large variety of skin tones and hair styles, from liberty spikes to a comb-over, are available as well. The feature I liked most here was the ability to add multiple piercings to the ears, eyebrows, and even the tongue, as well as a variety of tattoos and body paintings to the face. The rest of the body didn’t have as much in-depth customization, which really isn’t a shame since it will be covered in an assortment of armor anyways. However, you do have the option of additional tattoos on the arms and legs, as well as choosing the character’s t-shirt and sneaker styles.

The user interface is pretty advanced and very user friendly. Almost every window you open has the ability to be resized, dragged to another location, and have its opacity changed. At start, the chat box is fairly large, but it is fairly customizable so this provided me an excuse to play with it. The top left of the screen provides information regarding your character: your name, health, stamina, and gamma (used for mutation skills), and experience bar. The top right shows your mini-map, which shows quest icons, non-player characters, gathering locations and an interesting little perk — a meter that measures the volume of sound you are producing, to help you be stealthy. The action bar is pretty customizable as well. You can elongate it as well as create multiple bars and key-map each of them; however, as of this time you are unable to separate the bars from each other.

You play your character in Fallen Earth mainly in third-person view, including combat, though you do have the option to switch to first-person. This is typical of most RPGs, however, combat draws from the FPS genre and uses a circular reticle — the first feature I didn’t like. When wielding melee weapons this seems to fit — no problems so far. Though as soon as you use ranged weapons (for example, your starting crossbow or zipguns) combat gets a little aggravating. I am not at all used to playing an FPS game from the third-person view, so part of this has to do with my gaming history, but it was simply difficult and “clunky.” It’s possible to switch back and forth between views between fights, but this is more of an annoyance than anything. Certain weapons do offer the chance to look down the sights, such as scoped rifles, and this efficiently eliminates the problem.

Though at first this is a minor annoyance, you do get used to it and are able to appreciate the unique qualities of the combat and weapon systems. The types of weapons available to your character are vast, ranging from wooden planks to swords to sub-machine guns and sniper rifles. Many weapons also offer the chance to further customize them, and all of them eventually take durability damage and must be fixed. All of these weapons are able to be crafted and maintained by the player through trade skills, which I will explain in more depth later on, or bought from others.

One of my favorite aspects of the game is the ability to equip not one, but six weapons at once! You have six weapon slots to fill up, which you can cycle through at any point, from the two-handed weapon slot over your back to fitting pistols on either side of your hip. There is nothing like shooting a giant spider with a crossbow and then running up and whacking the bug with a two-by-four. You are able to cycle through weapons by holding the Control key and either pressing the corresponding slot number (1 through 6) or by scrolling your mouse wheel. During the beta test, however, there seemed to be a glitch that would pop up from time to time when using the mouse wheel to select the weapons.

Similar to the advanced weapon selection is the gear selection, which boasts the ability to fill 19 armor slots. There is an incredible variety of armor in Fallen Earth, starting with cargo pants and bandanas, but eventually you’ll find old Kevlar and be able to craft top-end protective equipment. Each piece of gear protects against vulnerabilities to certain types of incoming damage, but no one set protects against everything, so multiple pieces of gear will be needed for different situations. During my testing I was able to craft myself a nice set of starting gear, donning some cargo shorts, a bandana, and some black fingerless gloves — the regular, post-apocalyptic bandit!

The game is under development by Splash Damage, the studio behind the Enemy Territory games.

Brink has RPG elements that require you to build up your player from the clothing and gear he wears to the missions he decides to go on, to which side of a civil war he chooses to fight for.

You’re on a man made city called Ark — a complex of hundreds of islands seen as the last visage of hope for humanity. It was originally one of those “Bio-Dome” green habitats until Earth’s oceans started to rise, making the Ark a refuge instead of a paradise. After 25 uneasy years, the residents of the Ark reached their breaking point. War breaks out.

The game has beautifully stylized visual elements and scenery. It also has an interesting control scheme with a “smart button” that lets you target a ledge or point on the map that your character will vault, leap, climb or fall to automatically. The game understands where you’re trying to go and interacts with the environment around you.

The game is set for a Spring 2010 release, and it wasn’t playable at E3 this year. Though, the demo we were shown looks wonderful.

Blast did get to sit down with the game’s Creative Director, Splash Damage’s Richard Ham. Ham is a powerful name in video games. He invented Syphon Filter and just finished a stint with Microsoft working on Fable II. Ham told us there’s a message behind Brink and other types of post-apocalyptic games, as video game developers, like movie directors and television producers, engage in social commentary with their mediums.

BLAST: What do you hope to add to this project? What’s your vision for Brink?

Richard Ham: When I actually went in to interview with Splash Damage I was actually a little bit nervous thinking “gosh I don’t really have a lot of multiplayer shooter experience.” I mean Syphon 2 had a little bit of a deathmatch game, and that was kind of nice. Fable has a little bit but not very much, and Paul (Wedgwood), the owner, said “that’s perfect. That’s exactly what we want because I’ve got a whole team full of guys who have been doing nothing for the last decade but make kick ass multiplayer shooters and that’s what they’ll continue to do.”

But now that they’re moving over to console, they really do want to kind of bridge a gap, and what I tend to think we’re actually going to accomplish here bringing all this together is with Brink I tend to think it’s almost a gateway drug in that players like me who traditionally don’t play a lot of online shooters — I mean, I love Call of Duty. I play them all, but I get to the end of the story, and then I shelve it, and I never go online because “that’s a dangerous place” it’s a nasty place and it’s a real shame, because for all these years I’ve been missing out on these great experiences. So a big, big push for Brink is creating a great multiplayer experience, but then making it open and accessible so players who would have thought twice about going online actually have a reason to and will find that “wow we’ve really been missing out.”

BLAST What design elements did you immediately want to bring to Brink?

RH: Probably the number one thing for me, the biggest thing that I wanted to push, was the notion of having dynamic objectives. It’s actually something I did a long time ago going back to Syphon Filter 1. You’re going through a mission and all of a sudden “oh a new objective will happen,” based on the preset storyline of the game and of the level you’re in.

We’re going the complete opposite way in that every mission you’re going to go on has a clear set of objectives you are to go through and pretty much plays by the book. …

But your personal story is radically different depending on what class you’re playing, what body type you have, what type of player you are, what level you’re at. Because in the game there’s this kind of invisible commander running the whole show, running your team, who knows what’s going on, knows who’s doing what and can basically give out orders, optional orders, to everybody.

We will bribe you as a player to do these things. “We need somebody to turn into an engineer to repair the crane. First guy that does it, 300 experience points.” That’s the equivalent of killing 30 guys. Why would you not do it? We’ll do it just to get you to change, just to try. Even if you don’t make it, we’ll reward you.

That’s a really big push. All these dynamic objectives are coming up. It’s one of the reasons I think it’s an accessible game. A first person shooter online is a pretty hardcore place. You go in there; everybody’s been playing for days and months, and they know every square inch of that level and you’re like “I don’t know what to do.”

The worst experience I ever had playing an online shooter was the first time I played a capture the flag match, and I got the flag, and I was like “What do I do? Where do I go? Everyone wants to kill me. My team wants to kill me. This is terrible!” You want to kill yourself just to drop the damn thing. You’re completely helpless. In Brink, at any given time there’s always a lot of missions you can take. You can be on the front line where all the hardcore guys are, whooping it up. If that’s not going to work for you, look at that objective wheel that comes up. There’s always going to be lots of options, whether it takes you behind enemy lines to do some sneaking around, whether it’s all about rescuing civilians, capturing enemy command posts.

BLAST: There are a lot of shooters and a lot of online multiplayer shooters. There have also been a lot of lofty multiplayer games — M.A.G. for instance. What specifically about Brink do you feel will turn on players?

RH: Well there’s a standard answer, but the big one is that mission inside a mission. But there’s other things too. Splash Damage, you go back to the Enemy Territory Games, it was the first online shooter that actually had experience points and leveling up, even before Battlefield. So, they’ve been doing this for a long time, and it’s now kind of become en vogue. With Call of Duty’s perks, people go “oh wow this is really exciting.” Killzone has a really deep system. Resistance had one as well. But these guys have been doing it for a long time.

We’re all big fans of MMOs back at the office. I think players when they finally see all the RPG options that are available so they can really customize themselves and create the perfect guy for them that’s going to be really refreshing.

The entire storyline of Brink is the outbreak of the civil war on this remote man made island, kind of the last refuge of humanity — or so they think — it’s a civil war and there are two sides. The important thing is you choose up front whether you fight on the side of “the man” of security, keep the peace … or do you go on the other side and play as Resistance. The important thing is on your side, you’re clearly in the right. When you get to that mission on the other side of the fence, it’s a completely different story and there’s a completely different set of things going on. That’s a really key element in the game is this kind of two sides of the same coin and you don’t know the whole thing until you’ve seen it all.

BLAST: The post-apocalyptic genre has exploded recently. Do you see parallels to modern society with these games?

RH: We’re actually trying to use this platform to actually say something. I’ll be honest; I turned 40 this year. I’ve been doing this for 15 years, and I’m getting to the point where I actually want to say something. I don’t just want this to be about cheap thrills, and I know it has to be. It has to be fun, but when you look at the setting and what’s going on with the two sides, I’ll be honest we’re definitely trying to put parallels into whats going on in our world today, particularly Palestine and Israel.

You look at that situation, and it seems completely intractable. If you look at it from one side or the other, well everything’s entirely justified or justifiable. It’s been in a stalemate forever. We can use a setting like this, because obviously nobody wants to play … a shooter set in modern day Palestine. Nobody would want that.

It’s like Star Trek back in the 60s. “Well we can’ really do anything about race relations on network television, so let’s paint a guy with half his face white and half his face black and have him have an internal struggle.” It was a way for them to actually do stuff, and that’s kind of what we’re trying to do as well.

The setting really just kind of comes out of that naturally.

LOS ANGELES — Bethesda Softworks has a lot of money to develop new games right now. Everything they touch is gold. Oblivion was huge. Fallout 3 is legendary. Video gaming is up in a down economy.

So Bethesda Softworks can bring in Mr. SEAL Team Six, Richard Marcinko and the voice of Mickey Rourke to put you in the boots of a real American badass.

But there’s more to this than just action and explosions. The SEALS have a special meaning to guys in their 20s. It’s the only reason Steven Segal had a career. We all watched Michael Biehn, Charlie Sheen, Bill Paxton and Rick Rossovich in “Navy Seals.” It’s an awful movie, but it’s the stuff of legends. We love that shit.

Enter Bethesda’s Rogue Warrior, which we saw up close at E3. Playing as Marcinko, you go behind the iron curtain to disrupt a suspected North Korean ballistic missile program, uncovering a conspiracy that could turn the Cold War in the commies’ favor. Death and destruction follow.

On your black ops, you’ll mix stealth and assault to infiltrate communist strongholds, swearing like a true sailor along the way.

In the hands off demo, done by Bethesda producer Charles Harribey, the best part of combat were any of the 25 different “brutal kills” moves you can perform by sneaking up on an unsuspecting bad guy, like throwing him off a ledge or stabbing him in the face. Yeah. Brutal.

This is a single player game with multiplayer combat modes. It’s very story driven, and it’s not a Solid Snake type stealth game. There’s a ton of overt combat as well.

The graphics and sounds are beautiful, and this will be a winner when it comes out in the fall for Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3.