In the Making of God of War featurette on the God of War game, game director David Jaffe uses the word “brutal” frequently, citing the adjective as a driving force behind the development of the now-legendary first installment of the God of War franchise. It can only be imagined that, in development meetings for Dante’s Inferno, a God of War clone if I’ve ever seen one, that the phrase “more brutaler” was used with even more frequently. Read the rest of this entry »
A feature article of mine can be found over at Games Abyss. It details my thoughts on the direction video game narratives are headed and how they can become more effective of their immersion of the player.
After hitting up two local retailers today, one of them being Game Crazy, and not finding the God of War Collection anywhere, I hit the Playstation blog. The blog says that the game launches today, as does Amazon, though Amazon states that it won’t ship til Thursday, November 19. It seems though, that I’m not alone. If you peruse the comments on the Playstation blog, you’ll see that customers all over the place couldn’t find the game. A number of commenters noted that Game Stop said the game will come out tomorrow, November 18. Here’s hoping it’s the same for the rest of the retailers. My local Game Crazy manager said they received the GoW Collection guide books, but no games.
So, Sony, does “launch” really mean “Fed Ex-ing it from our warehouses”?
Spore Islands was released this week on Facebook. Until now, there was little interest for hardcore or even novice gamers to pick up a game on Facebook. Restaurant City and other games from the likes of Play Fish offered little by way of game play. Somehow, decorating and patience aren’t the most engaging game mechanics. Spore Islands is one of the first games to spawn from a PC or console title and may attract some more hardcore and novice gamers. While Spore Islands provides genuine competition and customizable characters, there are still some major kinks to work out. Read the rest of this entry »
Brutal Legend is the latest from one of the most recognizable developer names in the industry: Tim Schafer. After creating several legendary titles for the likes of Lucasarts, Schafer started his own company, Double Fine. Their first game: Psychoanuts, the tale of a boy in a summer camp for psychic kids who saves the day when a lurking evil attacks the camp and its counselors. It is a well-crafted platformer, but really stood out in the areas of plot, character, level design, and overall concept execution. Schafer and co. packed Psychonauts full of memorable dialogue and kept the game play fresh (if not a little infuriating) at every turn. Though its sales weren’t huge, Psychonauts became one of the most talked-about titles of the last generation, even going so far as to be released as one of the earliest fully downloadable titles from Xbox Live. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s fourth quarter and the publishers are making their big pushes. Major franchises are lengthening their legacies and new IPs are vying for attention. I’ll admit that October 13, or Rocktober 13, depending on the game you bought that day, was a day of tough decisions. Support one of my favorite developers and a new IP in buying Brutal Legend, or believe the hype and dive into Uncharted 2? Read the rest of this entry »
Brutal Legend came out on Tuesday and has received mixed reviews. Below is a brief review I wrote of the demo, more or less as an exercise for myself. I’m posting it here so it can be compared to the final product. I’ll likely do a full review once I get my hands on it. In many instances, I’ve found demos deceiving. We’ll see how this turns out. Read the rest of this entry »
Batman: Arkham Asylum has been hailed as one of the best games of the year (which is saying a lot, so far), and the best comic book franchise game of all time. I read the fantastic reviews and anxiously picked up the game, only to nearly stop playing half way through. While the music, general atmosphere, and stealth sections/challenge modes are where the game shines, it’s far from a perfect, even very good, experience. For my money, Arkham is at minimum a decent game and perhaps even a good game. Not that the praise it’s garnered hasn’t been earned, but I think the high praise it’s received need some tempering. Read the rest of this entry »
Greetings! Welcome to Shadow of the Consoles. Bad joke in our name aside, we will soon provide you with game commentary, reviews, and thoughts. Advancements in technology and high revenue have collided in gaming and the result is the production of revolutionary games. The PS3 is poised for its big push, the XBox Live Arcade is making way for some revamping and innovating in old genres, and motion controls are poised for… well, something. We’re here and we’re gonna talk about it. Thanks for stopping by.
Shadow of the Consoles 