Worth Checking Out - The Chainsaw Incident

After the success of the recent Skullgirls Kickstarter and the massive popularity of Divekick, it's time for another indie fighting game to step in and pull some attention. The Chainsaw Incident is a one-on-one fighter developed by the folks at ORiGO GAMES, composed of talent from the likes of Soul Calibur, Tekken and Virtua Fighter.

I'm always envious of an Indie studio's ambition to create an original IP in the fighting game genre, the amount of QA is enough to make a person's eyes bleed let alone the difficulty of breaking the game into the fighting community. The video does a decent job at showing a brief look at the game's fighting, but probably the most standout feature of the project is the game's art direction, featuring a style very reminiscent of artist Jamie Hewlett (Tank Girl, Gorillaz). 

While not a lot has been shown in-terms of the game's mechanics (outside of the 5-button layout for the game), the studio seems very keen on providing a top-notch fighter while maintaining a solid story. We can all agree that stories in fighting games have never been a strong suit, but ORiGO GAMES seems committed to the idea.

Clocking in a total at just under $20,000 of the $275,000 goal, the game is far bellow the required amount (fighting games are expensive, yo). Luckily 21 days remain, giving plenty of time to boost the game's chance of success. If you're interested in seeing more/donating to the game's development head to their Kickstarer page for more! 

Santa Monica and Ready at Dawn's The Order 1886 Has Zombies AND Steampunk

Edit: Mistakenly posted this as a Naughty Dog game instead of Santa Monica, sorry about that!

It's not everyday I get to spend my time watching announcement after announcement for the upcoming next-generation, but this week I've been given the opportunity and it's making me feel all giddy inside. While the Xbox One brought some fantastic looking games to the table at their press conference, Sony definitely didn't sit back and let them steal the show. With an announcements of 12 original IPs currently in development, Sony showcased The Order 1886, which features some incredible in-game visuals.

Co-developed by Naughty Dog and Ready at Dawn, the game has players take the role of a knight of an ancient order. While the game seems to focus on a steampunk style alternative-universe (a seemingly popular route reent games have been taking) I can't help but be excited to see what the two studios have up their sleeve. After all of thethe fantastic God of War entries, The Order 1886 is a title no future PS4 owner should lose track of. 

Crypt of the NecroDancer Has You Dying To The Rhythm

Rhythm games may have died out in the AAA scene, but indies are still churning out some charming games like Crypt of the NecroDancer. The roguelike dungeon crawler has you battling through floors of enemies with a music-infused twist, all actions performed must be on rhythm and the faster the rhythm the harder it gets. The developers have also confirmed that custom tracks can be used to give players more replayability, which sounds awesome in it's own right.

The game is due out this year, so we'll definitely keep you updated as it gets closer to release. I'm incredibly intrigued and it's hard not be excited about the prospect of jamming to M.C. Hammer's Can't Touch This while looting a dungeon.

The Law Of The Jungle - Destiny Official Trailer

As E3 draws near, Bungie has released a new cinematic trailer for their upcoming multiplatform epic, narrating the ancient code regarding the struggle for survival: 'For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.' The emphasis on that passage along with the actual content seems to emphasize the need for teamwork to make it in the evolving world of Destiny.

Featuring the man we've come to love and hate as Gustavo (Giancarlo Esposito) in Breaking Bad narrating these passages to his child while the mysterious 'Traveler' sphere looms off in the distance, we grow ever more intrigued as to whether this series might also get a live action treatment to accompany it's release as part Bungie's multimedia experience initiative.

Banjo-Kazooie Symphony Is A Thing (An Amazing Thing)

I still find myself humming the tunes of Rare's past, the work that composer Grant Kirkhope put into each game may be one of the most memorable parts of each entry. As much as I hate to say it, video game music just isn't what it used to be. Yes, nostalgia definitely plays a large role, but there's something about early video game composers and their ability to push the boundaries with what little budget and technology they had to work with, especially during Rare's glory days.

While Rare is merely a shell of what it once was, their past still lives on in the minds of many, especially the twangy yet addicting soundtrack of Banjo-Kazooie. Releasing May 31st, Blake Robinson will be releasing a fantastic orchestrated arrangement for Banjo-Kazooie. The samples released thus far are pure bliss and I'm already in love with what I've heard. Check out the songs below (via) and try to convince yourself not to purchase the album.

Wildstar - Meet The Dominion

Carbine Studios' Wildstar continues to perplex me with it's interesting direction. Aside from it's very appealing, highly stylized art direction, the developers are layering some really interesting gameplay on top of the traditional class system, called 'paths.' This path system will offer interesting perks based off your preferred style of gameplay, rewarding players who prefer combat over say, exploration. In a way it's similar to how Guild Wars 2 asked questions during character creation to customize your play experience, but it's shaping up to be a little more in depth.

The latest promo video offers some truly charming, amazingly well animated goodness, offering a perspective on the world of Wildstar through the eyes of a rather villainous sounding Dominion officer, dropping hints about races and some motivations behind colonizing the galaxy. It looks like the folks at Carbine have put a great deal of thought into fleshing out their world, and we really look forward to learning more about this universe. Wildstar has yet to receive a release date, but we're hoping to get a chance to play it sometime in 2013.

Aliens : Colonial Marines Gets A New Kickass Trailer (Aka How Marketing Can Work Against You)

Gearbox has been at it for a few years with Aliens: Colonial Marines, and I'd go as far as say that this game's been stuck in development hell, with it's development cycle starting around 2006. The concept for the game is solid, with a plotline spanning between the events of Aliens and Alien 3 regarding a search team with orders to investigate the U.S.S. Sulaco and figure out what happened to Ripley, Colonel Hicks and the rest of the team dispatched to LV-246. From a story sense, the game is so canon that the title is officially a part of the Aliens franchise.

But then came this 'Kickass trailer,' which has raised quite a few eyebrows among fans and even Gearbox employees alike. The trailer brings us dubstep, awful voice overs contradicting earlier trailers with a macho marine spouting out the types of phrases you'd expect from the latest Call Of Duty trailer. Over the years I've come to understand that game developers and marketing teams don't exactly work hand in hand, and this is a textbook example. This new trailer was so forced that the creative director at Gearbox took up to Twitter to reassure concerned fans that he had nothing to do with the dialogue for the trailer.

From a marketers perspective, their job is to appeal to as many people as possible in order to sell as many copies as possible, yet this borders into gray area when the title gets marketed as something it is not. This awful practice has been on the rise lately in the entertainment industry, with movie trailers especially deceptively edited to appear something they're not to lull people into buying tickets (Too many times to count in the last few years). To be honest, there's nothing that pisses me off more than being mislead by warped marketing, and I wish people creating these trailers would understand that it works against them.



Compare the above trailer to the actual story trailer released a few weeks earlier, above. Notice a 100% difference in tone, subtlety and attention to story? Notice how the protagonists act like real people, with a concern for their own safety  This is the type of trailer that gets me excited for an Aliens game, an honest trailer representative of the narrative driven experience you're going to get. So please, let's nip the dubstep treatment at the bud and not let this trend spread to gaming as well. Aliens: Colonial Marines is coming out on February 12th.

Primal Carnage - Dinosaurs Versus Humans

We featured Primal Carnage sometime last September, and reveled at the attempt to create a multiplayer experience that pitted dinosaurs versus humans. Lukewarm Software's game is shaping up to have some serious potential, especially by tapping a niche (Jurrasic Park much?) that has never really received the love it deserved. Featuring 5 classes on dinosaurs and human hunters, the game will feature what appears to be a Left 4 Dead style gameplay system, with players working together to achieve objectives while making sure they don't turn into the prey. With the beta honing in, I'd highly recommend signing up for a chance to get in early and give this game a run.

The addition of the Jurassic Park era dino Sound FX gave me goosebumps, so please take my money and let's get this indie game/gem released already. Check out the first character showcase after the break for a glimpse at night combat and some of the other classes!

Capcom And DontNod Announce Remember Me

If you guys haven't been following the blog for a long time, we posted a proof of concept trailer for a BladeRunner-esque title last August called 'Adrift,' which has finally resurfaced as a highly cinematic looking experience with the new title of 'Remember Me.'

The premise follows a heroine with the ability to recode people's memories who ends up getting the tables turned on her, resulting in her own memory getting wiped and her quest to find out the truth. With a fantastic looking scifi setting and potential for an interesting narrative, this is shaping up to be a title worth getting excited about. The title is slated for a May 2013 release date, so stay tuned for updates! Check out a small taste of the memory remixing gameplay after the break!

TRIP Launch Trailer

Trip kind of reminded me of Journey, if it had collided into a truck filled with abstract shapes, colors and rythms. The title, which was coded in Unity by Alex Shokk has been described as a 'Surreal abstract exploration experiment' by it's creators, which means no enemies or objectives, just exploration.

The game is finally out, so if you're looking for a new experience just head over to meltme.be/trip to purchase your one way ticket into the bizarre, colorful, disturbing world of Trip.

E3 : Watch Dogs Looks Pretty Decent

With all the excitement of this year E3  announcements, and with proper press attendees and coverage from RoboBrain and Chris, I just couldn't pass the chance to post this video game play/ trailer from what seems like a pretty promising new release from Ubisoft. As a new IP, I kind of feel that the game has been flying under the radar (at least my radar guys) until yesterday.

The playability and interaction shown reminds me a little bit of Heavy Rain, quite possibly one of my favorite titles of this generation, with the addition of some more action-y features like gunplay. Hope the game lives up to this terrific and well executed demo. If so, I can shut up and they can take my money. Enjoy the video.

Hitman: Absolution Trailer Raises Some Eyebrows

Hitman, unlike most IP's in this current generation has been dormant since 2006, an exception among a sea of sequel happy franchises. The last installment that we saw, Blood Money garnered good reviews and was just as enjoyable as all the other titles, offering an open ended approach to solving the same problem/assassination. What I loved about the franchise is that it offered so many variables to play with, including disguises, stealth, and sabotage which made it possible for each replay to offer a completely new experience. And if you thought you could go in, guns blazing it typically resulted in a hasty death.

Square Enix just released this trailer for 2012's Hitman: Absolution, which seems to imply that Agent 47 might be finally trying to move on from his assassination career, while his past continues to catch up with him. People were pretty outraged at the whole 'latex nun assassins' aspect of the trailer, which really didn't seem to fit the typically stealthy, grounded in reality nature of the Hitman franchise. However, I'm willing to reserve judgement till I actually see some gameplay, which I'm sure will feel familiar to the previous titles.

M3CH : Mecha Combat In The Palm Of Your Hand

(Via)

Props to Small Impact Games for M3CH, an upcoming game that is truly pushing the potential of iOS games way past what I thought was even imaginable. Harnessing the power of the Unreal 3 engine, Small Impact wants to bring a solid, and deep mech combat sim to your iPhone or iPad, and the current concept art and early alpha footage looks amazing already. Its been cool to see a few games pop up (Hawken comes to mind) that promise to give a much needed breath of life to the stagnant mech combat genre.

The team has put up a small fundraiser on Indiegogo to help push development along, so if you'd like to contribute in seeing this project come to fruition, send some funds their way! Check out some alpha footage showing off the visual fidelity, and a ton more mecha eye candy after the break! Cheers.

Making Of The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings Intro

It seems this week is getting off to a Witcher flavored start. I recently ran into Platige Image's making of featurette, showcasing all the visual R&D that went into creating the beautiful, and impressively violent intro for the game. Making of up top, fantastic final intro below. The intro was directed by Tomek Baginski for CD Projekt.

Tokyo Jungle Continues To Confuse And Amaze

Tokyo Jungle has truly never failed to blow my mind since its first appearance in 2010, with its absolutely baffling, yet intriguing premise. The game, set in a deserted Japan features a veritable smorgasboard of animals competing to survive in an urban jungle with an action survival gameplay style.

With a stable of over 50 playable breeds, and 80 types of animals, I'm actually starting to feel like I'd actually play this game due to the sheer variety of gameplay styles that this game will probably offer. The fact that you'll be able to grow packs to have strength in numbers against larger, more dedicated predatory animals is a cool gameplay element that will even out the playing field. Single player will focus on figuring out what happened to humanity through missions played through the perspective of a Pomeranian and a race horse. I can appreciate this concept for its sheer originality, so I'll be keeping an eye out for more updates. The game is set to release in Japan on June 7, 2012 with no mention of US localization just yet.

The Other Brothers

So, I'm not quite sure what to expect from The Other Brothers. While it's definitely playing direct homage to the Mario Brothers, I haven't quite figured out what the game is. Still, gameplay aside, The Other Brothers is looking to be a sharp sidescroller, with a sleek retro style. Color me intrigued! The above trailer definitely helps cement my interest in the game. I look forward to seeing more in the coming future. Check out the game's website here!

Hit the jump for some awesome screens from the game.

Journey's Journey Between Two Strangers

Play this game ASAP

Judging from Thatgamecomapny's track record, it shouldn't be much of a surprise when I say Journey is fantastic. The small studio has managed to push out some of the most refreshing and overall engaging games since I started gaming, yet Journey manages to surpass all expectations I had for the studio. In a recent article by Jim Sterling, a plea was made to refrain from using the word experience when describing “art” games, but to do so would simply detract from from the overall explanation of just why Journey is so damn good.

Yes, Journey is a game, a very good one at that, but as a whole, it's an experience. It's the kind of experience where you set aside a portion of your day to do nothing but play the game, only because you enveloped yourself so deep within the world of Journey that you forgot what time it was. It's the kind of experience where nothing around you matters, even if your dog is being an asshole and taking a massive sh*t in front of you, only because Journey is capable of such deep immersion that nothing around you matters anymore. It's also the kind of experience where you find yourself feeling such a deep level emotion that you end up connecting pieces of the game to your own life without even realizing it.

Journey is the full package, providing enjoyment on so many levels that it becomes near impossible to pinpoint each and every one. Although, one level manages to stand out more than the rest.

Skullgirls Manages To Look Better With Every Trailer

During last years E3, RoboBrain was lucky enough to get his hands on Reverge Labs' Skullgirls and came back with nothing but great things to say. Now, I don't know about you, but ever since the game's announcement I've been frothing at the mouth for more information on the indie title. Thankfully, Reverge Labs isn't keeping us completely in the dark, as seen by the trailer above. 
What a surprise, there's a story mode in a fighting game! Not necessarily the most revolutionary announcement, but even so, the game looks god damn beautiful. It's hard to imagine the time that's gone into the development of this game, but it's definitely showing. I don't think I've ever seen a hand drawn fighter with as smooth of animations as this. While no release date is confirmed, I imagine some sort of announcement is somewhere in the pipeline.

Joel Furtado's 'Zelda: The Lost Oracle'

The Wind Waker has always held an extremely special place in my list of favorite Zelda games; first place. The scope of the game was magnificent, and provided players with one of the most epic journeys ever seen in a Zelda entry. While the game was magnificent, it's the commercial that pumped me up more than anything (that commercial still gives me chills).  Joel Furtado has managed to recreate that feeling of Zelda epicness with a fake commercial for the fake game, Zelda: The Lost Oracle. I've never been more excited for a game that doesn't exist. The end Ganon scene is simply amazing! 

Skyrim: Unarmed Badass

I was holding off on Skyrim for a bit, while I waited for Christmas break to hit so I can dedicate my full attention to Bethesda's newest time sink. However, things changed since this video came out, featuring a Swedish guy narrating his quest (in awesome English) to be a badass with nothing but his fists. At that point it kind of became unbearable to not have the game and follow in this mans epic footsteps, punching the sh** out of everything and everyone. See for yourself.