Gaming Addict

Lord Of The Rings: Conquest officially has a date finally. Despite my hopes for the game to release next month, Conquest won’t be out until January 9, 2009. That disappoints me because I was looking forward to playing Conquest as soon as possible, given that Pandemic is developing the game with the Battlefield set-up in mind. And especially considering how well Pandemic’s last attempt at bringing a Battlefield game into a movie franchise worked out, as all the Star Wars: Battlefront games were spectacular.

I can’t wait to execute the concept in the LOTR universe. Just seems like the battles from the books and films were made to be played out in a game. Who wouldn’t want to defend, or attack, Helm’s Deep changing unit tactics on the fly and participating as a lone warrior in the massive battle. Conquest will be especially awesome if they keep the hero option from Star Wars: Battlefront 2, where you were able to play as popular characters from the universe.

I would certainly appreciate being able to score enough kills or points within a level to summon Sauron, or to play as Aragorn, something awesome.

But the real promise here is online play. If Pandemic pulls it off capably, there will be nothing more fun that sword swinging action with your friends online, especially if you can still have the massive battles with few to no NPCs.

Too bad we have to wait another two months to see just how much fun Conquest is going to be.

First off before any of the core elements of Gatheryn can be explored, one thing needs to be made known, this game will have steam powered robotic monkeys. Tell me you don’t want to play it now.

Gatheryn features a rich Victorian world where steam powers all the fantastic and impossible machines, in Mindfuse’s brand new MMO targeted at more casual gamers. I’m guessing the Mindfuse goal is to get the attention of gamers that don’t have the time to invest in a World Of Warcraft or Everquest type MMO, in which accomplishing a lot can take a lot of time.

Instead Gatheryn will feature a community based world, focusing on tasks and adventures that won’t be too daunting for even the most inexperienced MMO players, or those that have never played an online game before.

No doubt it’s not primed to be anything like a WoW killer, which now is up to 11million players paying upwards of $13 a month. But Gatheryn promises an engaging premise, and will no doubt be worth a try. I know I’m interested in a world where Victorian clothes are fashionable, and where any number of impossible and creatively developed steam machines line the streets.

And once again, steam powered monkeys? Who doesn’t want to see that.

Call Of Duty: World At War is starting to look like it just may live up to expectations. Despite the fact that COD 5 is being developed by Treyarch, the studio responsible for the so-so COD 3 that you completely forgot even existed because of COD 4. But hopefully Treyarch has learned from COD 4 and will completely delete the negatives of 3, like the idiotic melee button press sequences frequented throughout the single player campaign.

But COD 5 has some very good ideas, because it’s going to have an online mode where you fight off never ending waves of Nazi zombies. Apparently surviving each wave rewards you with money you can use to purchase items to barricade yourselves from the next attack, and new weapons and ammunition.

Apparently the zombie waves become so increasingly difficult in a demo of the new online mode, developers Treyarch could only make it to the 23^rd wave before they were completely overrun.

I completely respect Treyarch for taking a risk like this with a franchise that has become so beloved by the gaming community. I mean c’mon COD 4 has far surpassed the amount of players always online for Halo 3, a feat that seemed impossible. So let’s hope zombie mayhem mode will be as cool as it sounds, and that Treyarch can keep COD 5’s frame rate up to 4’s standards.

Only then can we forgive them for the horror that was moving from the great COD 2 only to be downgraded to 3.

Bethesda is one of my favourite game manufacturers, and now I respect them even more, because we all know their brilliance at producing game content, but now I respect them for being in full support of download services like direct2drive. Fallout 3 is set to be released through the service, just as Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was. Why aren’t more games like that, I don’t understand the need for buying the software on disc and installing. I understand it’s easier to stop theft when the game is on disc, but it’s more convenient and accessible for the consumer if you release the game via download.

F.E.A.R. 2 is also set to follow this trend and will be available at launch on direct2drive and Steam. And why not?

I understand a few companies are nervous about the rampant about of piracy found on the internet, but why not combat that by making your product much more accessible. That’s the mistake of the music industry and the growing mistake of the film industry, availability. If you can’t find a copy of Fallout 3 at launch because your store of choice is completely sold out, where else are you supposed to turn?

You can order the game and wait a few days for it to arrive so you can finally play it, or you could just illegally download the thing and start up immediately.

That’s what makes direct2drive brilliant, availability to the consumer will increase the sales and reduce the theft in itself. It’s nice to see Bethesda and Warner Brothers catching on to this.

Electronic Arts is going a bit crazy with the videogame based films lately, given the fact that they are somehow trying to squeeze a movie out of The Sims, and now attempting a movie based on Army Of Two.  I don’t understand those at all.  Army Of Two isn’t about plot AT ALL.  Army Of Two is about running and gunning with your friends on Xbox Live through a fairly entertaining campaign, while ignoring the frustrating control issues because you’re desperate for a decent co-op shooter.

How do you make a film out of that, same concept except instead of playing the game, it will be an awful action movie you only go to when you’re desperate for some gunplay?

And The Sims?  Seriously, what do you do with that in a movie?  Are you going to put in dialogue, or just the weird sounds your Sims make as you play the game. Will the movie be as uneven and boring as the game, in that fun things could be happening on screen but instead the bulk of the movie will concentrate on going to the bathroom, sleeping and trying not to starve to death because you don’t have time to do anything else?

But there is hope from Electronic Arts movie obsession, Mass Effect is getting a film adaptation, and the source material couldn’t be better for a Sci-Fi film franchise.  The world is big and complicated and intriguing enough, and as long as you have a good director, and a composer who can remember how good the game’s soundtrack is, and you have the first good videogame film adaptation.

But then chances are pretty high that all us Mass Effect fans will want to forget the film ever existed, and will shudder a bit at the mention of such a film having ever been produced.

Hellgate: London is completely spitting on their fans, again.  After being a rare FPS that required a $10 a month fee just to take the game online, ludicrously not worth the fee considering all the much better free FPS online content out there in the PC market, is shutting down January 31st, 2009.  So all those fans that spent the money for Namco Bandai to afford the game servers, and those poor souls that put down the $150 for the lifetime subscription, are completely screwed out of the content they paid to play with the game.

Considering the game came out in 2007, only two years of online mayhem and you’re shutting down on your fans?  Doesn’t seem right to me.

On the other side of online content, i.e. the good side, Rockstar is releasing a Halloween spirited event for online GTA IV games.  That being a zombie skin that your character can wear.  The cool part is that any player wearing a zombie skin that kills a player will then cause that player to respawn wearing the zombie skin.

Sounds like a ridiculous amount of fun to me.  I actually wish more games would do things like this, kind of reminds me of the World of Warcraft holiday specific downloads that allow you to participate in Christmas or Halloween activities with a WoW twist.

Hopefully if the feedback is good, more Xbox games will feature awesome holiday specific content.  How about GTA thanksgiving DLC, like pilgrim skins against players in turkey skins.  Now that would be awesome, stealing a car dressed like a turkey?

Sure the name makes you want to play the game, just because it sounds interesting.  Well, downright entertaining actually.  You have to love the seemingly wacky approach to some things that the Japanese have, and Bikini Zombie Slayers for the Wii sounds like it will fill that curiosity completely.  

 The game will feature two sisters Aya and Saki who are in the midst of a zombie invasion of Japan, both take it upon themselves to combat the foes using a Katana of course.  But despite the fact that this sounds like a recipe  for mindless Japanese button mashing, the game will feature a unique take on the zombie combat genre.  That being the amount of blood and grit on your blade affects combat.  You have to wipe down your blade before it gets too coated with blood or else it will be more likely to stick into your opponent, making you waste valuable time prying the blade back out, all whilst being under attack.

So scantily clad ladies, Katana swinging action, and hordes of zombies to brutally dismember, sounds like a whole lot of fun right, only downside is that it will be with awful Wii graphics huh?

But wait, there’s also going to be a 360 version in all it’s beautiful bikini clad bloody glory.  Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad, which will be a prequel to Bikini Zombie Slayers.  Fun fun.

Oh yes, there’s also a movie coming out based on the videogame, so get ready for a lot of bikini clad zombie mayhem hitting the rest of the world very soon.

Bioware announced what we were all suspecting today, that being a new Star Wars title.  The new game will be Star Wars: The Old Republic.  The setting is going to be 300 years after the events of both Knights Of The Old Republic games, and 3,500 years before the events of the Star Wars films.

So far the game is touted as involving unique characters and classes depending upon which faction you choose, Republic or Sith.  Each player will also travel with AI companions that will be representative of the choices you make during the game, such as appearing good or evil in presence.  Sounds absolutely awesome.

Also in news that surprised the hell out of me, Gears Of War 2 has been dropped for release in Japan and Germany altogether.  Germany I sort of understand as Germany’s censorship standards are a little crazy.  But in Japan the first Gears was one of the few games to crack the 360’s lackluster sales into halfway decent.  So why no love for those Japanese fans Microsoft?

I think everyone should be able to participate in bloody chainsaw, shooting, blowing people into pieces mayhem.  But I guess that’s just not so.

The new Halo game is reportedly going to be developed by Gearbox, and I ask you why exactly?  Gearbox makes horrible FPS games.  You know, like the Brothers in Arms series.  The horrible unpolished first person shooter that feels stale and almost uncontrollable at times, is going to take on a series that is renowned for it’s incredible controls.

Halo just feels pretty to play, but Brothers In Arms is just a WWII shooter mess that makes you question why you aren’t playing the much better Call Of Duty 2 or 3.   And apparently that’s what the next Halo is going to be.  One big advertisement for playing Gears Of War for your hopeless battle against alien forces fix. 

Also of note is that Playstation Network is getting an awesome exclusive in the future, in the form of a new Punisher game.  The Punisher No Mercy will be coming at some undisclosed future date, and will feature crazy deathmatch online battles involving many of the stars in The Punisher’s universe.

Such as:

• Jigsaw
• Silver Sable
• Barracuda
• Bushwacker
• and of course Frank ‘The Punisher’ Castle himself

 The price has not been announced, but considering it’s fairly next-gen graphics, and the killer online play promise, the game is likely not going to be cheap.  But so far as looks have it, The Punisher No Mercy will be completely worth it.

Oh Yeah, did I mention it’s powered by the Unreal III engine?  Yes Punisher will completely be worth your money and hard drive space.  

Fable 2 is going to be the best game ever, and it’s coming tomorrow.  Some of the new features I’m most excited about?

Well the fact that the game is around 10 times larger in scale than the original Fable.  A good thing because the first Fable was much too short, and much too small for an epic RPG.  And stop complaining about the length of the story arch people.  I understand a lot of RPG nuts are mad that the main story will only take about 13 hours to complete, but that’s the same as the first Fable.  It’s an RPG, the main point of the game is becoming your character, and that’s why there’s over 100 hours of things to do overall in the game.  

Another cool factor is that you have to get a job to earn money now, instead of just completing quests.  So you can become a blacksmith and make swords for cash.

Or of course you can gamble with the wicked awesome looking casino stylized games.  You’ll need a lot of money, as lead developer Peter Molyneux has said that it will take around 100million gold to purchase every item in the game. 

But the real draw here will be online co-op.  There will be floating orbs as you play which will represent your friends playing, by accessing the orbs you can bring then into your world for drop in drop out co-op, or you can trade items and gold with them on the fly.  Coolest edition ever.

The only thing that keeps me from being as excited as I should be, is the fact that Molyneux talked up so many features before the first Fable, and most of them were cut leaving gamers with an experience that felt less than complete.  I’m praying that this doesn’t happen for the second time, or else I’ll be completely uninterested in Fable 3.