Giant Bomb Video Game News

Uwe Boll and Paul W.S. Anderson better be sweating under their hacky collars right about now. Sure, they're currently the kings of game-to-film adaptations, but Jerry Bruckheimer's involvement in the upcoming Prince of Persia movie is raising both the visibility and the stakes--if not necessarily the quality--for the much-maligned sub-genre. And now a proper movie star is getting in on the action, as it was today announced that Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment has optioned the film rights for Dark Void.

If you're not already familiar with Dark Void--which wouldn't be too terribly odd, as the game hasn't actually come out yet--it's got a premise revolving around the Bermuda Triangle, alien abductions, an unlikely hero strapped with a jet pack, and Nikola Tesla that seems high-concept and bizarre enough to make for a decent popcorn companion. My sensationalist headline aside, this deal doesn't guarantee, or even necessarily suggest, Pitt's personal involvement in a Dark Void film project. I like Brad Pitt and the weirdo roles he chooses well enough, but I'm plenty intrigued by the fact that Plan B is producing, having previously had a hand in Martin Scorcese's undeniably excellent The Departed, as well as the promising-looking teen superhero comic adaptation Kick-Ass. Optioning rights is a long way from actually making a movie, but getting people who seem to know what the hell they're doing is a promising start.

Capcom also used this announcement to casually mention that Dark Void would be coming out on January 19th, 2010, which is a week later than the previously announced date of January 12th. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, and it does nothing to mitigate what is shaping up to be an intense first quarter for new games.

You know what I'd actually like to play more of? Resident Evil 5. Despite having gone through the single-player story three times--something I never, ever do anymore--I would gladly sit down and blow away a few more big weird-looking bugs in that game, and not just because I'm still lacking a few easy achievements.

Well, forget about achievements. Capcom's got some honest-to-goodness new content on the way for RE5, and it isn't more half-assed, bolted-on multiplayer modes. It's a couple of all-new single-player episodes, and some new costumes in which to swaddle your characters while you play through the new action. The first of the new episodes, called "Lost in Nightmares," is due on the Xbox 360 on February 17 next year, with the PS3 version following a day later. Here's the official description.

Previously only seen during cut scenes of the original RESIDENT EVIL 5, the first new episode titled “LOST IN NIGHTMARES”, finds BSAA agent, Chris Redfield, working with his partner, Jill Valentine, as they investigate Ozwell E. Spencer’s hideaway.  Spencer, the evil mastermind and co-founder of Umbrella Corporation, has been hiding a new evil deep within the basement of his mansion. Chris and Jill discover this grotesque evil standing in their way as the two enter deeper into the catacombs beneath the mansion.

Chris and Jill, together again! In a big, sinister mansion! It's 1996 all over!
 

But wait, there's more! The first round of new costumes for Chris and Sheva is due on the same day. The second, as-yet-untitled episode and costume pack will follow on March 3, along with a "refresh" of the Mercenaries mode called "Mercenaries Reunion" that, from what I can tell in the vague press release, will pack two new playable characters and two new weapon loadouts into each of these four

No pricing is listed for any of this DLC, but it's worth noting that if you don't have RE5 at all yet, Capcom will happily sell you a Gold Edition starting March 9 (or 12 in Europe) for $49.99 that includes the original game and all of this DLC action in one tidy package. While the PS3 version of the Gold Edition will pack the whole shebang onto a single Blu-ray, the 360 release will oddly consist of the original RE5 disc and a voucher for all of the new DLC. I wonder if all that content plus the base game is too much to cram into one DVD?

Anyway, here are some more screens of all the business. Who else is ready to play more RE5? 
 

Atlus has announced plans to bring the incredibly cool-looking 3D Dot Game Heroes to North America. The From Software action-RPG has been out in Japan for a bit, but Atlus will be bringing it here on May 11.

As the game features all sorts of sly winks to gaming's pixelated past, it's drummed up a fair amount of online interest. Here's how Atlus is describing it:

About 3D Dot Game Heroes
A long, long time ago, the Dark King Onyx brought an age of darkness upon Dotnia Kingdom.  Only by the bravery of a hero with a legendary sword was Onyx sealed in an orb, restoring peace to the world.  But Fuelle, a powerful Dark Bishop, has stolen the orb, and with it, peace.  Dotnia requires a hero once more!  Can you live up to the legend?
 
Key Features

• Ultimate retro love letter -- Seamlessly fusing new and old, the golden era of gaming is felt in every detail of this lovingly-crafted adventure. Eye-popping visuals capture the nostalgic charm of pixel graphics in cutting edge 3D. Simple, but deep action-adventure gameplay is a throwback to the 8-bit era. Veterans will find references and jokes that pay homage to the great games of yore.
• Awe and adventure live again -- Embark on the next generation of classic exploration and discovery in a grand story-based quest. A hero sets out to gain the power of the six sages and the six orbs that protected the kingdom of Dotnia, which now stands on the verge of destruction.
• Customize your hero -- When pixels are your building blocks, the possibilities are unlimited. Freely edit the look of your character, or design one completely from scratch, and then trade designs with friends via a compatible USB storage device. Your hero's blade is also upgradeable, letting you add length and width to create a sword that fills the whole screen!

 The game will hit shelves at a discounted price of $39.99, which sure sounds reasonable. Here, look at some screenshots of this thing! 

It's not going to hit shelves until next year, but it looks like work on Super Street Fighter IV is progressing nicely. I recently got the chance to head down to Capcom and take a look at the three characters who have been confirmed to appear in this SFIV update, and though it's still a little early to tell how the whole package is going to come together, Juri feels like an interesting addition, and the returning duo of Dee Jay and T.Hawk feel about how you'd expect.

Right off the bat, Juri feels like a more exciting character than any of the four that were introduced in Street Fighter IV. That's probably just my personal style talking, but I never found myself too interested in C.Viper, Rufus, Abel, or El Fuerte. Well, maybe a little Abel here and there. Anyway, Juri's a fast-moving character with a built-in counter move, as well as a delayed fireball that starts with a little kick animation, but the projectile doesn't actually appear until you release the kick button. Like some of the other projectiles in SFIV, Juri's comes at you differently depending on which kick button is used to perform the attack. This lets her throw them low, high, or at an upward angle. The projectiles don't live long enough to make it across the entire screen, but they don't move very quickly, making them a bit of a lingering threat. Juri also has a spin kick, and a mid-air dive kick, both of which can be spotted in the gameplay footage Capcom has released. Here's a look at Juri and Dee Jay.
    
Yes, that's a new announcer. He sounds like some kind of out-of-control robot that just says crazier and crazier things as the fight goes on.

Dee Jay, of course, first appeared in Super Street Fighter II, where I did my best to basically pretend he didn't exist. Let's be honest here: Fei Long and Cammy were the real stars out of the "New Challengers" added back then. But most of his action remains intact here. Dee Jay continues to be a charge character, throwing projectiles and offering a couple of charge kicks. The machine gun upper is currently done by pounding on punch buttons, much like Honda's slap, and the EX version of it absorbs fireballs. T. Hawk returns with the same moves, including the devastating typhoon, his version of the spinning pile-driver. I was left with the impression that a lot of the gameplay specifics and properties of the different moves was still up in the air, so it seems like any of this stuff is still subject to change before release.

There will, of course, be more characters in the final product, but those three are all that anyone's talking about right now. The full roster of SFIV characters will also be available in some sort of updated and/or rebalanced form, and the publisher is currently committing to "about eight" new characters. There will also be an "enhanced Ultra Combo system."

All of this will come with a redesigned online mode that will offer some additional options, like a team battle mode that matches up to eight players together for a group throwdown, a quarter match-style mode where the winner stays on while other players rotate through, and a "replay channel" that lets players watch and discuss other matches. Bonus stages, where players bash apart a car or beat up barrels will also be added.

All told, this sounds like a really substantial update to the original Street Fighter IV, but a lot of that will depend on the quality of the characters that have yet to be announced and the specifics of whatever changes are made to the existing characters. With plenty of those left to announce, you can probably count on a very slow drip of information out of Capcom between now and the game's release this Spring.

You can stop worrying: There are in fact games coming out early next year. One of them is Final Fantasy XIII, which Square Enix has just confirmed will release in North America on March 9. That's both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game.

The company also confirmed the game's requisite pop song will be performed by... Leona Lewis. Still scratching my head a bit over that one, though at least this choice will curry more favor in Western markets than the Japanese pop stars that have contributed to previous games in the series. This also marks the first time Final Fantasy and Simon Cowell have come together in a meaningful capacity.

Hey, Square put out a trailer to promote this announcement. This trailer has a host. They are serious about this. 


  

While I'm throwing promotional business at you, here are three new shots of the game, along with the company pitch on the game's story and features (WARNING: STRAIGHT OUT THE PRESS RELEASE). Square would also like you to know that three new characters--Fang, Hope, and Serah--are now on display at the official site, too.

Story

Cocoon — a utopia in the sky.
Its inhabitants believed their world a paradise.
Under the Sanctum's rule, Cocoon had long known peace and prosperity.
Mankind was blessed by its protectors, the benevolent fal'Cie, and believed that tranquil days would continue forever.
Their tranquility was shattered with the discovery of one hostile fal'Cie.
The moment that fal'Cie from Pulse — the feared and detested lowerworld — awoke from its slumber, peace on Cocoon came to an end.
Fal'Cie curse humans, turning them into magic-wielding servants.
They become l'Cie — chosen of the fal'Cie.
Those branded with the mark of a l'Cie carry the burden of either fulfilling their Focus or facing a fate harsher than death itself.
A prayer for redemption.
A wish to protect the world.
A promise to challenge destiny.
After thirteen days of fates intertwined, the battle begins.
 

Features

• Take Part in a Gaming Experience that Sets New Standards – The first in the series developed for a simultaneous release on multiple high-definition consoles, FINAL FANTASY XIII pushes new boundaries in cinematic presentation, sound and gameplay.
• Experience the Unity of Speed and Strategy with the Ultimate Active Time Battle system – The familiar system has evolved, granting players the freedom of executing numerous commands in a single turn with the multi-slot ATB gauge. Whether inputting singular commands in each slot for consecutive attacks, or expending multiple slots at once to activate a devastating blow, it’s up to the players to respond effectively to the battle conditions at hand.
• Adapt to the Ever-Changing Tide of Battle with Paradigms – A brand-new game mechanic enabling players to assign roles to their party members at any time during battle, shifting between combat paradigms. Consisting of various combinations of the game's six roles, ranging from Commando, the offensive specialist, to Medic, the quintessential healer, paradigms allow players to respond and adapt instantly to any given situation to turn the tide and seize victory.
• Witness the Battle Scene Transform with an All-New Summon System – Introducing Gestalt Mode, a powerful dimension of the summon system that elevates the action to a whole new level. In Gestalt Mode, characters and their transformed Eidolons fight as one, dealing massive damage to enemies through simple button commands.
• Delve into an Emotional Experience – An immersive storyline connects players to an intriguing cast of characters. Will they have the strength to confront their cursed fates, or will destiny prevail over all that they believe in?

  






Now that FFXIII has a release date and consequently is starting to feel more like a video game and not some nebulous idea, I'm actually kind of getting excited about this thing. Where's your hype level and what platform are you feeling for this one?    

Kotaku's Michael McWhertor got a line on a deliberately blurry video hosted off of MTV's German games site. The video isn't really surrounded by text that tells you what, exactly, it's supposed to be, but it sure as heck looks like Adam "Kane" Marcus and James "Lynch" Lynch, totally naked, and totally busting into a restaurant to escape gunfire and dogs. That could mean that this is the first piece of promotional material for the sequel to IO Interactive's Kane & Lynch, which was released in 2007.

Here's a machine translation of the German text that's alongside the video.

Disturbing, confusing and a bit erotic. Thus one could describe the surveillance camera footage, which we make you this world exclusive access, if you wanted. Let's not. 

It was pretty difficult to find the. I had several of my dubious and ill-smelling Contacts anhauen, (PR-people are truly the very worst) bribes changed their purses and a dirty piece of paper was signed with blood and sweat. 

But now times butter for the fish: Does anyone have the two types identified in the video? What are they doing anyway? And why? And what has that to do with games? Give me your speculations, and Spiced gingerbread! Soon it's Christmas! 

You do not even come on it anyway.

Yes, that's right. You do NOT even come on it anyway. Thanks, Google Translate.

While Eidos has stated that a sequel to the first game is in development, there haven't been many announcements about it, just trademark filings for "Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days." If having a pissed-off attack dog attempting to rip up a naked dude is IO's idea of "Dog Days," then I'm pretty interested in seeing more.

Actually, I'm super-interested in seeing what this game ends up being. The first one, for better or worse, will always hold a "special" place in my heart. I'll probably never be able to think about that first game without a rush of extremely mixed feelings, which, obviously, have very little to do with the actual game at this point. It's been my secret hope for some time now that K&L2 comes along and turns out to be completely amazing from top to bottom... basically everything that the first game wasn't. Something that actually capitalizes on the concept of "hey, what if we took Freedom Fighters and crossed it with Heat?" instead of pissing it away with poor shooting and bad squad AI. Something with a script that doesn't make you feel like you need to take a shower after you finish it. Hey, better, more random AI in the online mode would be nice, too, while I'm making a list.
 
Anyway, if you want to see the video and missed the part where I linked to it already, click here to see it.

Looks like PS3 owners looking to get in on Netflix's instant streaming will be ready to go as soon as this week. This showed up in my inbox this morning: 

Rad.

If you read yesterday's Tekken 6 review, where I go on for a bit about how the online part of the game falls somewhere between "unpleasant" and "unplayable," then you might be interested in this update. We received this note from the game's publisher today...

Hello,
 
To improve the online game experience for players of TEKKEN® 6, NAMCO BANDAI Games is developing a downloadable update which will be available as soon as it has passed rigorous testing procedures.
 
More details regarding the content of the update and the timing of its release will be announced shortly.
 
This is separate from the online co-op Scenario Campaign mode update which is scheduled for release this winter.
 
Thanks for playing TEKKEN 6, and keep on fighting.
 
- NBGA PR

Color me hopeful for the future. Tekken 6 with more functional online is a much more appealing product than what's currently on shelves. We'll let you know if we hear anything more specific.

Any notions I had that BioShock 2 was going to diverge in a significant way from its inventive, esteemed predecessor went right out the window when I got to sit down and play this sequel from 2K Marin for myself a few weeks ago. The crumbling, art deco utopia under the sea; the crazed splicers; the genetic weapon modifications known as plasmids. All that stuff is back in force. Rapture may have become a nastier place over the decade separating the two games, but it's still familiar territory for anyone who went to the lengths necessary to put Frank Fontaine in his place during their first visit. I would have liked to see a BioShock sequel with a new setting and new themes, perhaps with subtler ties to the original. Then again, I'm not the guy tasked with following up such an ambitious and unique game in the space of only two years, and I can't really fault the new team at 2K Marin for picking up that specific torch and running with it.

If the team hasn't exactly changed what BioShock is, they've at least crammed a lot more BioShock into this sequel. You're going to see more of everything that made the world of Rapture as perilous and exotic as it was the first time around. There's the new hulking, imposing "Rumbler" version of the Big Daddy protecting the Little Sisters this time around. The Splicers have also gotten more spliced in the 10 years since the first game; I saw a burly, ape-like guy known as the Brute that will charge straight at you like a linebacker. Of course, there are more and heavier weapons that are in the spirit of the first game's arsenal but also seem tailored for use by your own bigger, badder Big Daddy protagonist. I especially liked a spear gun that would pin Splicers to the wall with a single shot, leaving them dangling wildly through the game's ragdoll system.

Then there's Sophia Lamb, the real villain, BioShock 2's brand new antagonist. She's the Andrew Ryan of BioShock 2. But where Ryan's objectivist philosophies excluded and ignored the less capable members of society, Lamb's a collectivist who wants to gather all of Rapture's remaining poor huddled masses to her and restore the failed society to its former splendor. But she's stepping on a lot of toes to do it. Just like Ryan, Lamb is the one who will be piping in over the radio from time to time, taunting you as you make your way to her. She's got minions, like the religious fanatic Father Simon Wales, establishing her empire inside Rapture. He acted as a boss encounter in the hands-off portion of the demo I saw.

The presence of Lamb was the biggest revelation about what I saw of BioShock 2, and it exemplifies the sort of feature-for-feature approach 2K Marin seems to be taking with this sequel, checking off every item on the list of what you need to make a BioShock game. New Big Daddy, new Splicers, new villainous ideologue. There are even some helpful new people, like a fancy Southern gentleman, yapping at you with funny accents over the radio. It even turns out that the Big Sister you've heard so much about, the one that you may have previously thought was the big baddie in this game--well, she's not alone. She's got other sisters. The Big Sisters are Sophia Lamb's enforcers, the telekinetic heavy lifters when things need to get done. But they aren't as tough as you might have thought. I took one of them down at the end of my hands-on time, which was a grueling but not impossible fight. You've got the tools to counteract most everything the Sisters throw at you, if you use them right.

Speaking of which: getting your hands on a controller, this game feels like BioShock, top to bottom. The feel of the aiming and shooting, the use of health kits and Eve hypos, the Circus of Values vending machines; it's all just like you left it two years ago. By far my favorite improvement to the action is the dual-wielding between handheld weapons and plasmids. You can now fire off your spear gun with the right trigger and then pop off an Incinerate without having to swap between the two. While it still doesn't make much sense to me in the context of playing as a Big Daddy, in gameplay terms this makes the action a lot faster paced. Believable or not, it's something the game probably needed. The hacking minigame has also been simplified so that you're just timing a button press to a moving marker. This doesn't take you out of the action the way the first game's Pipe Dreams-esque minigame did, and helps to streamline the gameplay a little more.

I will give credit to some imaginative level design in BioShock 2, especially the "Journey to the Surface" level that I got to play most of the way through. It was designed as a theme park for the youngsters born inside Rapture that would indoctrinate them against the evils of the surface world. You get to run around a series of big animatronic dioramas, punching little "play" buttons that start an Andrew Ryan voiceover and depict the oppression of some scientist, entrepreneur, or other captain of industry by the evil giant hand of Big Government. Rapture became sort of a character unto itself over the course of the original game, so if 2K Marin is going to go back to that well for the sequel, I'm glad to see they're at least fleshing out that character further.

Then, of course, BioShock 2 has multiplayer. The game has free-for-all and team deathmatch modes, and a "Capture the Sister" mode that works more or less like it would with a flag, but looks kind of creepy as you run around carrying a thrashing little girl with you. The game's got the de rigeuer multiplayer bases covered, with persistent character progression between rounds that uses the Adam (or experience points) you've racked up to improve your chosen character, who takes the role of one of several Splicers with a short backstory included. The multiplayer exploits the BioShock trappings in a couple of other interesting ways; you can hack turrets to attack opposing players, and you can research each player's corpse individually with your camera to gain a damage bonus against that particular player for the rest of the match. But then, I never felt like BioShock's first-person shooting was as accomplished as many other games in this category, so the multiplayer didn't completely grab my attention here.

What does have my attention is where this story goes. BioShock 2 may trade heavily on the reputation of its name, and looking at this sequel on paper, you could be forgiven for thinking of it as falling into a predictable pattern that was established two years ago by its predecessor. But sometimes being forced to stay within the lines breeds creativity and ingenuity of its own. Getting to see exactly what it is that 2K Marin does with this tale, trapped within the dank confines of Rapture and situated squarely in the shadow of BioShock's legacy, may prove to be interesting indeed. 
 
Until then, here's an interview we hustled at the hands-on event to fill in a little more detail about BioShock 2. 
 
 

My favorite feature of the newest Buzz! trivia game for PlayStation 3, Quiz World, is that you can't type in your own name.

Whoa there, sparky! Hang on a minute. I'm not regressing into company-shilling apologist mode. Instead of typing in your name, you select from a huge list of monikers that includes common first names and a number of silly nicknames. It's a cool feature because the game's Muppet-headed host, the exuberant but vaguely unsettling Buzz, then verbalizes your name during each round. That's attention-getting and useful for people like me who tend to zone out a bit during games like this. It's also weirdly funny from time to time; "Dude" is a name option, for example, which Jeff rightly pointed out we would all probably respond to.

Along with the preset name selections, there are a bunch of cartoonish avatars including knight, alien, cheerleader, and Snidely Whiplash-looking railroad baron guy with tophat and curly mustache. You can customize these characters with different outfit options and then make them do goofy animations between questions that will get Buzz yapping at you. These profiles are persistent across matches once you create them, and Buzz remembers your statistics and favorite categories to make recommendations in future play.

Speaking of, there are over 5,000 questions in here, and you pick a specific category from four choices before every round, including things like art history, musical instruments, and '80s television. I noticed the TV category had a strange predilection for Knight Rider and The A Team. Wait, there's nothing strange about that. And would you believe Ryan killed it in the art round? We were playing a mode where you could bet your current points, and his strategy of betting big on every question really paid off when he went from third to first at the end of the round. 

Other round types include variations on the answer-first formula, and one I especially liked that had each player's podium raised into the air at a height proportional to their score. As each question's time ticked down, the podium lowered toward a trap door that your character would dump right into if your overall time ran out. That sort of round really levels the playing field, if you can answer faster than your competitors.

From what we played around here, Quiz World is honestly a good, silly sort of fun in a group setting, if you're into trivia games. I think our match actually got a little heated here in the office. It's also interesting to note that, despite the name and the controllers with gigantic light-up red buttons that ship the game, you rarely actually buzz in to answer questions. But who's splitting hairs?