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The Force Is Strong With These Blocks: Lego Star Wars II Demo Out
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Adventure, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, PSP, Xbox, Xbox 360,
The original LEGO Star Wars was a rare treasure—an action game that oozed style and creativity and was easy enough for kids but enough fun for any gamer. Based on the new trilogy (Episodes I-III), the game LEGO-ized scenes from the movies and even improved on them in some instances. (Thank you, Traveller’s Tales, for NOT including voice work!)
So how do you make a sequel that’s even better? Well, for starters, you base it on the original trilogy, but from the looks of it Traveller’s Tales has also improved the gameplay in several ways, including things like adding greater freedom of movement to the vehicle-based missions and a create-a-character mode. But don’t take MY word for it (insert Reading Rainbow jingle here). You can now download a demo of the game for your PC to tide yourself over until September 12th.
And may the Force be with your ‘net connection.
Read More 
| 3D Gamers.com via Opposable Thumbs @ Ars Technica
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Marvel Ultimate Alliance Trailer
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Action, Adventure, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Role Playing Games, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360,
Fresh from the San Diego Comic-Con, TeamXbox has a couple of high resolution trailers from the upcoming action RPG, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. The first trailer shows off more of the expanded character set in the new game. The character models look to be a mix of the more updated Marvel Ultimate look and the classic comic book conventions. Some characters are shown merely as introduction, but gamers also get a look at some of the superheroes in action as well.
In addition to the generic trailer, an introduction movie for the Human Torch is provided. The flame effects seem fairly strong, but the character modeling is somewhat uneven. Ultimate Alliance seeks to vastly expand the game world from the previous X-Men Legends games, and offer much stronger online co-operative game play. The developers have slowly been revealing the characters included in the game, so Marvel aficionados should be able to find one of their favorite heroes to play. The game should ship some time before the holidays, and has been announced for a number of platforms, from the Game Boy Advance to the Playstation 3.
Read More | TeamXbox
Preview for Valve’s “Portal” Hits The Web. Wow.
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Adventure, First Person Shooters, PC, Screenshots, Trailers,
Take your plain vanilla FPS, add a goey dollop of gravity gun, and then top it off with the mother of all cherries—a gun that allows you to create portals in space anywhere—and you’ve got a mind-hemmoraghing sundae of FPS bliss. Don’t believe us? Just play the video below and sit back as your brain explodes.
Portal, to be released for the PC, equips you with a gun that creates rips in space that you can travel between. Want to get to the other side of a ravine? Just shoot a portal at the wall on either side, and it’s as simple as walking across. Want that box to hit an enemy and kill them? Shoot a portal above the enemy, shoot a portal under the box, and watch him get clobbered. Want to create an infinite loop? Shoot a portal at the ceiling, shoot a portal at the floor, and watch as you fall forever. But, as always a picture is worth a thousand words, and a 2 minute 22 second video at 24 frames-per-second is thus worth about 3,408,000 words. So just click the link below and watch!
Read More | GameVideos.com
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EA Support for Wii Grows to Six Titles
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Adventure, Corporate News, Nintendo, Sports, Third Person Shooters, Wii,
Nintendo may still be the console underdog in the next-gen race, but Electronic Arts has dropped some more good news for those folks rooting for the Wii. In a recent statement, EA announced that they will be developing 4 newly-announced titles, bringing their commitment up to 6 titles once you include the already-announced Madden and Need for Speed: Carbon. The new games are from the Harry Potter, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, SSX, and Godfather franchises. Straight from the release:
“Once we started to experiment with Madden on Wii, there was an explosion of innovation. Everyone in the studio is energized by the creative opportunity afforded by both the hardware and controller. By reaching into our catalogue, we are able to bring a fresh and distinctive experience to some of EA’s most popular franchises. Creatively, the game play possibilities are staggering and endless,” said John Schappert, Senior Vice President and General Manager, EA.
So for those worried about graphically toned-down ports of PS3 titles that use the “classic” controller, it sounds like your fears have been allayed. EA most likely will find innovative ways to use the Wiimote and nunchuk attachment to bring these games to life.
Though I’m usually none too excited about sports titles, the addition of Tiger Woods is huge - ever since the Wiimote was announced folks have been talking about how it could be used creatively for sports games like golf and tennis, and it’s great to see the first real golf game (read: not Wii Sports: Golf) that will take advantage of the control system.
Read More | EA Press Release via Gamespot.com
Dennis Dyack Says There’s More Eternal Darkness On The Way
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Adventure, Nintendo, Rumors, Survival Horror,
Over at his blog on IGN.com, Dennis Dyack (director at Silicon Knights) says that “absolutely yes”, they have sequels in mind for Eternal Darkness, arguing that too much time went into creating the universe for that game and that there are “numerous other stories to tell”.
What’s the plot going to be? Who can say. Will it show up on a Nintendo console, since the original Eternal Darkness was on the Gamecube? Again, who knows. SK’s exclusivity deal with Nintendo is ancient history. Will it take place before or after the original? Nope, no answers there either. All we can do for the time being is wait and hope that turning Eternal Darkness into a trilogy won’t result in a Matrix-like fate for the franchise. The original was great - please don’t ruin my memories, guys!
Read More | blogs @ IGN.com via 1up.com
Sam and Max On Cover of This Month’s CGW
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Adventure, Culture, PC, Screenshots,
Ever since Telltale Games, producers of the episodic Bone games for the PC, announced that they’ll be overseeing Sam and Max’s transition to 3D, they’ve been the talk of the town. Sam and Max Hit The Road was possibly the best 2-D adventure game LucasArts ever made (although I’m sure many will make arguments for Loom, Monkey Island, or Maniac Mansion), and Sam and Max: Freelance Police is shaping up to be a hit as well.
This week, Telltale announced that you’ll be able to get your hands on a LITTLE bit more Sam and Max information. The new game is still set to release in the fall of ‘06, but until then you can gaze longingly at the cover of Computer Gaming World, to come out July 24th. The issue features an all new piece of Steve Purcell art done for the cover, as well as interviews with the developers and other assorted goodies. 1up.com will also be running a companion podcast on July 14th, for those of you that can’t wait for the mag to hit newsstands.
And remember, the good word is “creosote”.
Read More | Telltale Games Blog
New Super Mario Codes for the Masochistic
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Adventure, Mods/Hacks, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Retro,
So you’ve made your way through New Super Mario Bros. for the DS. You’ve defeated Lord Bowser, you’ve gone back and opened all the worlds…you’ve even collected all 120 coins and opened every background. What’s a Mario obsessed gamer to do?
Well, 4ColorRebellion is here to help. Now you can access Challenge Mode, a new mode of the game that incorporates forced scrolling, so you can’t go back to collect anything you miss without re-playing a level. To enter this mode, simply press Start on the map screen, then enter the following button sequence:
L R L R X X Y Y
Now we just have to wait a little for the first hardcore gamer to post the video of beating Challenge Mode on YouTube. At the rate folks are tearing through this game, it shouldn’t be long.
Read More | 4ColorRebellion.com
Telltale Releases CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Adventure, PC, Release Dates,
Telltale Games, developer of the episodic Bone games and the (drool) soon-to-be-released 3D Sam and Max game, recently posted that a new sequel in the CSI series, CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder is now available for purchase, along with a download-able demo of a sample case from the game.
The game appears to be receiving some fairly good reviews for its excellent voice acting, good 3D crime scene graphics, and immersive gameplay. For $30, you should be able to squeeze about 8-10 hours of solid gameplay out of this one, which might be a slightly better dollar-per-hour ratio than the similarly episodic Half Life 2: Episode 1 (although who can really say, when it comes to the dollar-per-fun ratio). Check out the demo and the site in the link below.
Read More | TelltaleGames.com
Prey Gets Upstart Human Head Notice
Posted by Thea Davis Categories: Adventure, Corporate News, PC, Xbox 360,
Human Head Studios, an independent game development company located in Madison, Wisconsin, is primed to release Prey, a highly anticipated game for both PC and Xbox 360 due out on 10-July. Prey is the company’s fifth game for PC, and sixth overall title. Human Head was founded in 1997 when seven employees left Raven Software, deciding that they wanted to hold onto the “small company vibe.” The premise worked and the small studio has managed to do well in an industry dominated by large companies.
Recently, Terry Gerritsen, the chairman and CEO of Human Head Studios, demoed Prey and answered a few questions. Prey was developed by a team of only 30, but its robust detail and expansive designs tend to make people think the production team behind the game was much larger. Success may be catching up with the 32-employee company however, it has just moved into a larger location.
Read More | Wisconsin State Journal
Day of the Tentacle To Go!: ScummVM for the PSP Released
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Adventure, Mods/Hacks, PSP, Retro,
It’s been a good week for retro game fanatics with PSPs! Earlier, we reported on news from SEGA that they’ll be releasing a compilation of 28 of the best Genesis games for the PSP. And now, MaxConsole is reporting that a new build of ScummVM (which allows you to play games made with Lucasarts’ SCUMM engine) is available for the PSP. This will allow you to play a ton of those classic Lucasarts games you loved back in the day - think Monkey Island, Full Throttle, Sam and Max Hit the Road, Loom, etc. Support has also been added for the The Legend of Kyrandia games, which were developed by Westwood Studios but also used the SCUMM engine.
For those of you interested in a bit of a history lesson, SCUMM stands for Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion and (surprisingly enough) was created during the development of Maniac Mansion for the Commodore-64 (released in 1987). It saw various iterations and was used by Lucasarts up until 1997 on The Curse of Monkey Island.
Read More | ScummVM.org via MaxConsole.com
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