Before I get to reviewing last week's Fringe (sorry about that delay by the way), I have another surprise! New Doctor Who!
In honor of Comic Relief's Red Nose Day, the BBC have produced a new Doctor Who short, which leads into the new season in April. Thankfully, because Red Nose Day isn't acknowledged in America apparently, the BBC have posted the new short in 2 parts on YouTube:
Red Nose Day Special - "Time" and "Space"
When this mini-special was announced a week ago, it said there would be two 4-minute shorts. One called "Time" and another called "Space". The video itself only has one title card, and it says "Space" but the YouTube page from the BBC calls it "Time" Parts 1 and 2... so, I'll just call it "Time" and "Space".
It's a short special, but it's sweet. If you needed to compare it to anything, it's like the Children in Need specials, Doctor Who: Children in Need, and the fanboytastic "Time Crash". Since I've actually posted the episode I don't think there's a need to summarize anything for you.
But I will say this, while I enjoyed it, it's kind of annoying that the rules of time seem to change in every episode of this Moffat-Who era. I still love the new series to bits, but the law has to be laid down at some point. Plus, right before there was two Matt Smith's in the room, I crossed my fingers hoping for Christopher Eccleston or Paul McGann to appear; not that it would make any sense, but after all, "Time Crash" did happen. Otherwise, fun short, and I can't wait for "The Impossible Astronaut," but these time rules have gotta be made clear.
Seems like the last time I did this was back in 2009, but who can blame me? It's not like there were that many great films last summer... Regardless, I watch the big game for the commercials, more specifically, the trailers:
There's a few missing, like Fast Five, Battle: Los Angeles, Limitless, and Rio... but they weren't very exciting trailers. But that Super 8 trailer... that's the most awesome thing I've seen in a long time. Can't wait!
Panasonic has just released information on a new handheld they plan to release in the near future, The Jungle. Hopefully, it will do better than the last video game device they released; the 3DO.
The handheld is geared for MMORPG players and will feature a full qwerty keyboard, d-pads, shoulder buttons, touch screen and much, much more. The screen is rumored to be very high-quality, displaying HD-like graphics, and ... run on Linux OS. And, as it's touted as bringing players online games, it will assuredly have wifi if not more, say 3G, though I can imagine that running MMOs very poorly. I assume this will end up being a pricey little device, but only time will tell.
I can't really see it competing directly with the DS, PSP, or iPhone/iPod touch, but rather, cater to a completely new market of PC gamers who want a similar experience, you know, outside of their mom's basement. Just kidding, but seriously...
No news yet on release or price, but I'm sure more information will come soon. Hopefully the official site will be updated with some of the more important news soon, such as price, release date, and launch titles. But, with the popularity of current portables and the upcoming 3DS, who's to say Panasonic's return to gaming won't go the way of N-Gage, Tapwave Zodiac, and Gizmondo?
Not enough Scott Pilgrim articles for one week? Well, here's this: a three minute animated short produced by Adult Swim and animated at Titmouse (the studio behind Metalocalypse) that brings to life the Lisa Miller/Kim Pine back story fromthe book Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (and later followed up in Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together), which was left out of the recently released film. But, the cast of the film reprises their roles, while Mae Whitman and Jason Schwartzman play different characters.
This supposedly aired last night, but I missed it, so here it is from Adult Swim themselves. I have no idea how long the clip will actually last on their site, so I hope it gets included in the DVD/Blu-ray release of the film or something. Kind of makes you wish there was some sort of Scott Pilgrim animated film... though something a bit better than Flash puppets would be appreciated.
Nick sent me this video tonight, but refused to post it himself, so I'm doing it...
Thought Kirby's Epic Yarn was awesome looking, like I did? Now how would you feel if you found out it was actually done before? Yup, in a 1992 Japanese commercial for Kirby's Adventure on the Famicom, completely done in stop motion. As you can see, the style of Epic Yarn is almost identical to this commercial, give or take some tweaks in Kirby's modern design.
Is that a bad thing? No, the game still looks freaking awesome and the animation is great, thanks to computers, it's smoother than any 2D platformer I've seen before. Who knows? Maybe Good-Feel did look at this commercial as inspiration for the game's unique style, if not, whatever I'm still really pumped for the game.
There were definitely some neat things to see this year at the big three's press conferences. The Metal Gear Solid: Rising trailer shown during Microsoft's conference makes it look like a really cool, fresh entry into the Metal Gear franchise, and looks to be the most promising of the games that will use Kinect. But otherwise I wasn't amazed by the rest of the execution of the device.
Today, during Nintendo's conference, I thought the new Zelda, now named Skyward Sword, was going to be my favorite of the show. But the technical hiccups during Miyamoto's presentation really turned me off, but it's a new Zelda, so I'll end up buying it anyways; plus I really love the Wind Waker-ed Twilight Princess graphic style they're using. Heck, as awesome as it was to see a new Kid Icarus and the 3DS, one game still really stood out for me... Kirby's Epic Yarn. Which, despite the silly name, and even sillier timing by presenting it right after Disney Epic Mickey, is honestly one of the coolest looking games I've seen in a long time.
Like, seriously, LOOK AT THAT! I don't think I've ever seen another franchise get such a drastic visual overhaul and still feel like it should... except maybe Wind Waker. Point being, I really love the way the game looks and moves and I'd say it's a Day 1 purchase for me, based on this trailer alone. Now... if the Wii could output 1080p that'd make this even better, but I'll take this as is.
Sony, a new Last Guardian trailer would've surely won my heart, but ya blew it.
To create something cool for the 2010 World Cup (and promote their new line of clothing to an extent I suppose), Lucasfilm and Adidas put together this neat little video mash-up of the famous Cantina scene from Star Wars (a.k.a. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope), but with famous (or should I say semi-famous) athletes, actors, and musicians.
Among the inclusions are Daft Punk, ex-Oasis member Noel Gallagher, Ian Brown (of the Stone Roses), Snoop Dogg, David Beckham, and the annoying voiced Jay Baruchel (She's Out of My League, How to Train Your Dragon). Apparently there's a couple others in there as well, but I don't recognize them.
The mash-up is done pretty well, but if I was to start a sci-fi flame war right now, I'd say the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode, "Trials and Tribble-ations" was a way cooler use of new footage in old footage, and did it fourteen years ago. And there's Forest Gump.
I mean, Daft Punk looks awesome and extremely fitting in the Cantina, but who really wants to see a classic scene covered in product-placement and including Jay Baruchel in there like he's actually in the same realm of accomplishment as the rest of the people here are in their respective fields. Just saying, to use a pun, Star Wars is out of his league.
Thanks to getting 100,000 fans on Facebook, Universal Pictures has released a new trailer for Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, and it looks even better than the first!
I love how the comic book effects seem to fit in so well despite being somewhat unconventional. It's good to see that Wright really wanted to make this look and feel like the books. August 13th can't come soon enough!
It's not often that we post news anymore, but I got a hold of the trailer and uploaded it to VFHvideo, so... why not, right?
Yes, LittleBigPlanet 2. I would have never thought that a game with so many updates and frequent user-generated and other downloadable content would get a proper sequel, but it looks like it's happening, and it surprisingly looks awesome without looking like more of what I've already payed to play for the last year and a half. And even better, it looks like any of your content, including created levels, will transfer over to the new game, which is a really nice touch.
I'm sure we'll hear and see more of LBP2 at this year's E3.
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Season Cinco premieres February 28th. You better watch it. And no, This Week in Adult Swim still isn't returning.
I bought Monsters far too late to review it, and Eden I bought at release but never got around to reviewing it. But I'm not going to let that happen to Q-Games' latest entry into the PixelJunk series, PixelJunk Shooter, and perhaps my most favorite game in the series yet.
Just a slight note, the screens SCEA had available are from what seems to be a really early build of the game. For a better reflection of how the game actually looks, check the video I recorded and included in this review.
Story Because of the nature of the PixelJunk games, story has never been a huge factor. In this sense, Shooter is no different, although there's actually some sort of back story this time around that deals with a group of scientists investigating a mysterious planet, and it's up to you to rescue them. Nothing inventive, but something that gives the player motivation and something that gives the game a point.
Gameplay The gameplay of PixelJunk Shooter relies not only on the titular shooting mechanics, but also puzzle solving with elements. The game itself is divided into three 'episodes,' each with their own levels, and each level is divided into sections. With each episode comes new elements and mechanics to deal with; so while the games first chapter only deals with lava and water, come the game's second chapter you'll be dealing with lava, ice, water, and gas, and figuring out how they all interact. But you're not just going around messing with elements, and fighting off enemies, but you'll also be rescuing scientists and collecting treasure. Come the end of each episode there's a huge boss battle, but they rely as much of the elemental features as they do with shooting... making the name more fitting.
Control-wise the game is quite simple. L1 and L2 (you're choice) are used to pick up scientists and items, and R1 and R2 (once again, it's preference) are used to shoot; flight is controlled with the left stick, and the angle at which you shoot is on the right stick, and it seems to work with ease. If anything, I found the gameplay and the progression of Shooter to be much more user friendly than that of Monsters and Eden. It really bothered me that for games that relied on simplicity would become so frustrating/unforgiving at early points in the game; Shooter has seemingly remedied that issue by having no time restraints, brutal enemies, or life limits. These may put off gamers looking for a challenge, but if I'm going to spend $10+ on a game, I should at least be able to enjoy it instead of being enraged by it, so I'm happy. Heck, it's the first PixelJunk game I've not only been able to beat, but actually earn a Trophies in.
The game also includes a two-player mode and a Remote Play mode. Since I still don't have a second DualShock 3, I wasn't able to try out the multiplayer (it's local only, the only online feature is leaderboards like in Monsters and Eden). But, I have a PSP, so I tried out Remote Play. While the game still looks decent, minus the compression from streaming, it plays a bit differently, mainly due to the PSP's lack of a second analog stick/nub which is crucial to the regular gameplay. Instead, when you move the nub, the ship will fly and shoot in the same direction, meaning when you're aiming you'll still be flying towards the enemy... which defeats the purpose of avoiding the enemy.
Graphics Graphically PixelJunk Shooter is much more like Eden than it is Monsters or the flat-3D Racers. The game features an outline-less 2D style, with a unique color-scheme, that all together just looks fantastic when you're playing it in 1080p. The liquid elements, despite being flat, flow like liquid should, and the varying environments and elements between each episode are a treat to see in HD. It's not as much variation as Eden's levels, but at least Shooter offers unique levels in each environment instead of just making you replay the same map for longer. I also appreciated that this is the first game in the PixelJunk series to not use the annoying 'black bar' HUD, instead using a display that feels like it's part of the game. (The screenshot here is from an early version, but you can check the video to see the game's much improved HUD).
Sound Not the most enticing soundtrack of the PixelJunk series, but the music in Shooter works really well at giving the game the right mood for exploring the depths of a planet. But as I said before, unlike Eden, which had 10+ different environments, Shooter only has you playing in 3 majorly different settings, and because of that a lot of the music repeats. Sound effect wise... the monsters in the game don't have unique cries or noises when they attack, and the ship can't really make much noise. If there's any sound that amusing to hear it's the sound of the scientists being killed, sure it indicates that you won't get a 100% score, but it's the cutest death cry ever!
Final Thoughts I definitely enjoyed playing through PixelJunk Shooter, and I have all the intention of completely the game 100%, which is something I can't say about Eden and Monsters despite enjoying them a lot. Maybe it's because the Trophies are actually achievable without getting angry or having to change a difficulty setting (which doesn't exist in Shooter, but the other two games had them patched in). Or maybe it's the fact that the game is the first I've bough that has PlayStation Home rewards for completing certain (though I have no clue) objectives. But regardless, PixelJunk Shooter is definitely my most favorite in the series so far, and I'm looking forward to the inevitable Encore expansion.
It's been a couple of weeks since this fantasticly fun game release, and while I've yet to review it (I will soon!), I did manage to get my PS3 hooked up to an HDTV today so that I could record some proper footage from the game's three episodes.
Note, each of the game's "episodes" feature multiple levels, and each level contains its own areas. So the footage I have is just the first levels of each episode. Enjoy! [As of posting this, the videos were not fully processed. If the quality looks like crap, check back later. Sorry]
My review for PixelJunk Shooter should be up sometime later this week.
With The End of Time now aired, and Matt Smith's run as The Doctor beginning, it's finally time to see our new Doctor in action, with this brief trailer released by the BBC yesterday,
Well well, notice much of the scenes have Smith in Tennant's outfit from The End of Time, just battered up a bit from the crash at the end of the special; the tie and the an Chuck Taylor's are a dead give-away. And also note how The End of Time featured quite a lengthy scene between The Doctor and Wilfred about he'd never use guns, eventually taking the thing anyways, and now in this trailer we see the new Doctor firing a pistol. Oh, and Daleks and Weeping angels are back! AWESOME!
Oh, and that's a new logo if you were wondering. Like every Doctor before him, Matt Smith's eleventh version also comes with a new series logo. It's much more of a drastic change than the logo used from Eccleston to Tennant, which was essentially just a color swap. More about the logo change at the BBC's Doctor Who website. Oh, Spring 2010, get here now!!!
Here's some awesome news, announced via trailer on their newly updated website, it seems that Blur will be releasing a documentary film about their reunion from this past summer, titled No Distance Left To Run, after their song of the same name. The trailer says "In Cinemas January 2010," assuming that means in UK theaters, but perhaps other international theaters will get screenings as well... I hope.
To say the least, I'm pretty excited, but I'm just really hoping that there will be a way I can see this in America. The last documentary Damon Albarn did was Bananaz, which nicely documented the Gorillaz first two albums. I'm thinking this is a completely unrelated project, but it'd be really fantastic if this got the same online distribution that that film had. Because right now I'm kind of giddy over that trailer...
UPDATE: From an official release on the band's Facebook:
"A feature length documentary film telling the story of blur is due for cinema release on January 19th. “No Distance Left to Run” is directed by 32 (Dylan Southern & Will Lovelace) and is a Pulse Films production.
Filmed throughout the band’s 2009 rehearsals and acclaimed summer tour, No Distance Left To Run finds all four members of blur together for the first time in nine years. With previously unseen archive material alongside new interviews and reportage, the film recounts the highs and lows of a very British band from the late 80’s to their headline return at Glastonbury and Hyde Park. The result is a musing on Englishness and identity and a portrait of friendship and resolution."
So the film is not just about the reunion, but about the band's entire career (which I hope doesn't just end here). But at least the title of the release says "NO DISTANCE LEFT TO RUN OPENS IN CINEMAS WORLDWIDE IN JANUARY 19TH 2010" Which pretty much means I thankfully should be able to find it playing somewhere in America come January.
Call this oddly coincidental, but the day after I randomly decided to buy Noby Noby Boy from the PlayStation Store, the in-game GIRL reached Jupiter, unlocking a whole new planet to play with. And thanks to the game's YouTube recording feature, I can show it off to you now.
For those who don't know, Noby Noby Boy is a sandbox title for the PSN from Keita Takahashi, best known as the creator of Katamari Damacy. There's no real goal other than to just screw around with the character, BOY, and the environment. And, by stretching and uploading your length, every player contributes to the length of GIRL, who stretches across the Solar System. The 2D aspect that pops up in the middle of the video is a hidden mini-game.
Not much else to say, but a decent waste of $5 regardless. I may even review it in the coming week... maybe.
Seriously, why I haven't I heard anything about this film? This is one of the best trailers I've seen in a long time!
Warning for young-ens, this is the red band trailer, meaning there's cursing and nudity.
Black Dynamite, despite its look, is actually a new film, and is releasing on October 16th in theaters. As you can also see, the film is a homage/spoof of the Blaxploitation films of the 1970s, and quite frankly, I enjoy me some Blaxploitation films.
Starring Michael Jai White as the titular character, and directed by Scott Sanders, Black Dynamite is about an action legend who must stop "the Man" after they killed his brother and brought heroin into the orphanage, awesome. Prior to tonight I had no knowledge of this film, but that trailer just made it a must see!
Here's a surprise, guess what's coming to LittleBigPlanet? WATCHMEN? Why now? Why an R-rated franchise in an E rated game? I DON'T KNOW!
Now, I understand that you can only have four characters on screen at once... but why the Dr. Manhattan and Comedian costume snubs? I mean, at least Manhattan is represented on the wall there, but if you look, The Comedian is completely missing. I know he's dead for most of the film/comic, but in the part they recreated for this trailer he exists.
And again, why now? The movie's been long out of theaters, and the DVD already released (though the Ultimate Edition has yet to release). If any other DC Comics license was more fitting for now it would have been Batman because of Arkham Asylum. Or even at that, why base it on the movie version? I'd of gladly preferred a comic book environment to design/play with various DC Comics characters designed to fit the LBP world.
I guess this just shows the type of DLC variety we can expect...
Darksiders for the Xbox 360 and PS3 is a new a action RPG in the tradition of God of War. What sets this new game apart is the wonderful art direction, done by comic veteran Joe Madureira. Madureira (or Mad! for short) is one of the main art directors for this game, known for illustrating comic classics like X-Men, Batman, Superman, and the amazing Battle Chasers.
Anticipation for the game has increased significantly over the last year, focusing on the wonderful visual aspects as well as the fusion of different gameplay ideas. It has been described as a comic book telling of the Book of Revelations, with giant monsters and bad-ass warriors.
Set in the post-apocalyptic future, you take control of War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who is bent on revenge and redemption for his part in bringing about the end of the world. Over the course of his journey, War challenges the forces of both Heaven and Hell, and is forced to make some unlikely allies along the way.
Gameplay wise, Darksiders features a mix between melee combat, similar to God of War and other hack and slash beat-em-ups, and the exploration elements of a Metroidvania game. Inspiration for the game comes heavily from classic titles like The Legend of Zelda and Symphony of the Night, where you enter a dungeon, collect a unique item that allows you to solve puzzles and master new fighting techniques, and progress to the final boss.
Thanks again to the team at GeekTyrant for always finding new, interesting videos for me to tell you about.
This neat little featurette for Wes Anderson's next film, Fantastic Mr. Fox, has Wes, along with Dahl's wife, Felicity Dahl, discussing his inspiration for the film from Roald Dahl's (the author of the original Fantastic Mr. Fox book) home in England.
The way the set-builders photographed and recreated Dahl's home in miniature for is really impressive, I must say. I'm still a little shakey on the American casting, and the fact that I never read the original book, but as of right now it's looking neat.
Guess I should find me a copy before November comes!
UPDATE: GeekTyrant happened to have another video, this one is much more informative in terms of the animation/recording process. Really neat stuff!
It's short film documentaries on MySpace are new thing for grunge bands, as Pearl Jam had one last month. This time around however, Alice In Chains discuss their reformation and the making of their first album in fourteen years, Black Gives Way To Blue, following the passing of lead singer Layne Staley.
I can't explain the reasoning for the KISS make up though (I keep thinking of this)... otherwise the video is pretty insightful regarding the band's motivations for starting again and how new singer, William DuVall, got involved.
Black Gives Way To Blue releases later this month on September 29th.
