July 28, 2009

The story of Nintendo's comback.

This video is surprisingly awesome. Plus, it's always cool to see Luigi in a lead role.

July 27, 2009

The 7 Best Modern Game Trailers Ever

Everyone knows that a good trailer can really build up the hype for a movie, but games are no different. Typically, people don't think of game trailers in the way that they think of trailers for movies. The truth is, though, that they can have just as powerful an effect on the viewer. I've noticed that in this console generation, game trailers have become much bigger and more professional, even riving movie trailers (hence the launch of gametrailers.com). So, let's take a look at the very best game trailers in the last few years.

7. The Conduit- "Story Trailer"
I'm not just putting this one on here because I'm a fan of the game. This trailer honestly surprised me with its production quality. Although it shows actual gameplay, which most of the trailers on this list will not, it has all the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster trailer including a gravely-voiced announcer and epic trailer music that appears no where in the game. It certainly builds up the hype, though, and it actually shows you what the game plays like, which is a plus.



Also check out the trailer for The Grinder. The Jason Statham sounding guy makes the trailer at least 30% more epic.

6. Metal Gear Sold 4- "War Transforms Us"
This was not an official trailer from Konami, but God knows Kojima doesn't make the most exciting (or short) trailers for his Metal Gear games. This trailer, however, is downright epic and did its job in really making me want to play this game. It uses various scenes with Beauty and the Beast characters and ends eerily enough to leave you wanting more. It pinpoints the brutality and intensity of the scenes with the excellent choice of music.



5. Assassin's Creed- "Lonely Soul"
Ah, game trailers with licensed music. Nothing like them. When it's done well (more on that later) it really hits home. When it's done poorly, well...
In any case, this trailer does more right than wrong. The song goes very well, especially accompanied with the slow motion gameplay. This trailer in particular, caught my attention about the game as it did with many other people.



4. Gears of War series- lots of stuff
Since its launch, the Gears series seems to have become somewhat famous for its trailers. It seems to be for a reason that most other trailers lack. Whereas most of the time the trailer tries to ignite intrest with a tour-de-force of epic action, the trailers employ another tactic- emotion. While the choice of theme or music may seem strange it does leave you thinking. In short, you remember it. There are may fine examples of this, but the most famous is the first and most memorable trailer using Gary Jules' version of the song "Mad World."



But there are many more unique trailers from the Gears series. Check out "Rendezvous" which makes effective use of poetry and "Last Day" which is also quite emotional.

3. Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep- "Birth By Sleep"
Little did players of Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix know, but the game's secret ending was actually a trailer for the next game. And what a trailer it is. The game still hasn't been released, yet I've been anticipating it ever since this secret ending was discovered. Not only is what is happening considerably epic, but so is the original score in the background. It is definitely one of the best teasers ever, in my opinion. It doesn't explain what is going on, but it makes you wish it had. Here it is, translated and in HD.



2. Dark Sector- debut trailer
I cannot possibly put together this list without mentioning Dark Sector. You may not know that Dark Sector was the first "Xbox Next" and PS3 game ever announced. It was no surprise that when the trailer premiered, it caused quite a bit of buzz. It looked fantastic, maybe not by today's standards but at the time it was running on the first true "next gen" graphical engine- Unreal Engine 3. Not only that, but the trailer provided a decent look at how the game played. It looked awesome, to say the least- perhaps the start of a great new sci-fi series. Anything that mixes science fiction and tradition Japanese music has to at least catch your interest, right? Unfortunately, the game over went a major overhaul and became extremely generic. It's really too bad we'll never get to play that original version because it looked really good.



And finally, the number one game trailer ever made....


1. Halo Wars- "Cinematic Trailer"
This trailer was never intended for release. It was an internal promotional thing at Microsoft that somehow leaked onto the internet and was consequently pulled down. Fortunately, many curious eyes watched it in that short time. It's too bad that Microsoft never released this trailer publicly because, frankly, they would have sold more copies. Trailers typically build up hype for something that is already anticipated or they announce something new in a grand way. It was different with Halo Wars. Many, many people, Halo fans included, were skeptical about buying the game. This trailer was so good that it actually sold copies. People that were on the fence changed their mind and people who had no interest whatsoever felt compelled to try it out. It's that good. I imagine that if a Halo movie was ever made, the trailer would be something like this. The trailer was completely cinematic (with the best CGI I've ever seen- literally!) and used music from the movie Transformers. There is only one good copy available on the internet that I know of, and I have it for you. Enjoy.

July 24, 2009

Remember the Halo Graphic Novel? Yeah, it's like that but animated.

Microsoft revealed, on the very first day of Comic Con, the first project from the newly formed 343 Industries. It's called Halo Legends and it's an anime series in the style of Batman: Gotham Knight and The Animatrix. Microsoft has recruted the biggest names in Japanese animation to compile seven animated shorts set in the Halo universe. Like the afrormentioned series, these short films will range in style with the studios getting full creative freedom. The stories however, are being closely monitored by 343 lead by Creative Director Frank O'Connor, a former Bunige employee who joined MS to work further with the Halo property. Rest assured, Halo Legends is in good hands and will be cannon.

Personally, I loved the Halo Graphic Novel and think this anime compilation is a great idea. I was wondering when Microsoft was going to get Halo involved with the animated scene since they seem to love the comic book and novel medium. Perhaps this will pave the way for that oft-mentioned, yet elsuive, film or perhaps even a full fledged animated series. Who knows. It's all very possible and I'm sure it'll all happen at some point anyway.

You can find the very first teaser footage in the trailer below. Certain episodes will be available for preview this fall on XBL in the newly announced Halo Waypoint section of the dashboard (your one stop shop for everything Halo) and will be available on DVD and Blu-Ray early next year.

July 17, 2009

Indie games are win these days

Behold the next great indie game entitled Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet! With it's uniquely memorizing world combining the art styles of World of Goo and Patapon, this game looks to be just the thing to cure that side-scrolling adventure itch.



Between this and Fez, indie games have a bright future.

July 3, 2009

Best of their Time

Basically, in my opinion, these are the Top 5 games on each system that I had/have had a lot of time playing. Feel free to add your top 5.

SNES (my first system):
1. Super Mario All-Stars (this continued Super Mario Bros 1, 2, 3, Mario the Lost Levels, and a few other games)

2. Super Mario RPG (as a kid, I hated this game but now I still go back and play because I appreciate what a fantastic game it was).

3. Now, I didn't play very manyRPGs and recently started playing Earthbound on my R4 which is great, but back in the day I loved playing Kirby Super Star (like Mario all-star, it was a college of several games).

4/5. This is a tie between Mario Kart (which I also hated back in the day), and my favorite kid games like Tom and Jerry, Aladdin, and Tiny Toons Whacky Sports.

Honorable Mentions: Porky Pig's Nightmare, Bonkers, The Lion King, and basically every kid game (they were all fantastic). I kinda miss the simple nature of this system, because it's games still rank with the best.
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PS1: I only played a few PS1 games
1. Metal Gear Solid

I'm planing on downloading Final Fantasy VII later this summer on my PS3

Other games I've played are all the Spyros (which I love), all the Crash Bandicoots, Croc 1 and 2, and that's about it

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N64:
1. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (imho, best game of all time)

2. Mario 64 (another contender for best game of all time)

3. Perfect Dark 64 (again, possibly best shooter of all time)

4. Golden Eye 007 (another best shooter contender)

5. I want to put a bunch in here, so Donkey Kong 64 (one of the most underrated games of all time), Banjo Kazooie, Mario Party 2, Mario Kart 64, Star Fox 64

Honorable Mentions: The N64 had the best games of any system all across the board, so honorable mentions would be many games but I picked these out: Mario Party, Jet Force Gemini, Super Smash Brothers, Silicon Valley, Paper Mario, Snowboard Kids 1 and 2, Mario Golf, Rayman 2, Gauntlet Legends 1 and 2
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Xbox:

1. Halo (the first one redifened shooting games)

2. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic (one of best rpgs I've ever played)

3. Splinter Cell (made the stealth genre mainstream) / Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow

Is it sad that I'm having trouble with more? Problem is looking back, no games really stand out. It's not like with the SNEs and N64 that I could fill pages with praise.

Now I'm not going to list 5 for systems still "open", meaning that games are still available (ie PS3, Xbox 360, PS2, DS, PSP, etc ) for those I'll list top 3. I'll also list handhelds later.


NDS:
1. The New Super Mario Brothers

2. Mario Kart DS

3. Mario/Luigi Partners in Time


Xbox 360 (again, i'm hard pressed because now, games are available for every system and none really stand out. Sadly, I can't name many exclusive games for 360).

1. Gears of War

2. Call of Duty 4 (I consider it a 360 title because of live play)

3. Bioshock (great story line)


Ps2:

1. Metal Gear Solid 3

2. Kingdom Hearts 2 (very close to #1 spot) and Kingdom Hearts

3. Dragon Quest VIII.

4. Only obvious ones that come to mind are Onimusha 1 and 3.

5. God of War


Ps3 (I've only played 4 games, so this is really fair):

1. Metal Gear Solid 4 (this is pretty universal)

2. Ratchet Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

The rest I'll just say: Untold Legends (still playing with my dad), Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (see review), Valkyria Chronicles (currently playing also, it's between a 9 and 9.6)

Nintendo Gamecube I'll do later, and for Nintendo Wii:

1. Super Mario Galaxy

2. Mario Kart Wii

I g2g now so c y'all later

Random Rant

I feel like angry ranting so I will.

Most Overrated Game of All Time: Grand Theft Auto 4
Let me make this clear, the game is good, but it's the same crap over and over again with the GTA series. In my opinion, both Vice City and San Andreas were better than number 4. The only difference was a new character, a new setting where you do the exact same criminal stuff as in every other GTA game, and a new story with a few add-ons, yet IGN and the entire gaming world hail it as a Masterpiece and give it a 10. WTF is wrong with these people? I'd give it an 8, maybe a 9, but nooooo, GTA IV is the God of GTAs. I wonder what prostitute Rockstar hired to garner such high remarks.

Most Underrated Game of All Time: Dragon Quest VIII
Why is it underrated? No one has EVER PLAYED IT in the US except for me........The game is fantastic. Plain and simple. If you like rpg games or fantasy games, or just a heart-warming story, buy it now.