GameRants

Hey 1UP, <3 Your Desperate Struggle Coverage

I don’t often have a reason to direct people to articles written by others on my personal blog, but those who know me well will no doubt have glimpsed the admiration I have for a certain Suda51, most recently known for the creation of the Wii exclusive (for now at least) No More Heroes franchise. With the first sequel being one of the hotly anticipated 2010 titles (at least for those who actually care about such niche – and awesome – experiences, we all know Suda51’s works of art aren’t exactly mainstream stuff), 1UP has been doing a 5-day feature presenting new information, screenshots, upcoming videos, and what will no doubt be the climax of their work, an interview with Suda51 himself. In both text and video!

I squealed like a girl when I saw the man is wearing the same t-shirt I am, that was quite the awesome coincidence. Or was it (perhaps my admiration has crossed a fatal line)? Make your way to 1UP for the first three parts of their feature, or hit the jump for a small taste.

Read the rest of this entry »

‘The Witcher’ Sequel Unveiled

CD Projekt have sent out a video showcasing the very first footage of their “The Witcher” sequel, currently named “The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings”. While it’s early footage (though I don’t think anyone believes a video with this kind of production values is meant for internal use), vast improvements over the first game are easy to spot, from the scale of the areas and how populated they are, to the flow of the combat.

Hit the jump to take a look, just ignore flaws like the voice acting as elements that will most likely be replaced when the game grows nearer to completion. Read the rest of this entry »

‘Icarian: Kindred Spirits’ Hands-On

“Icarian: Kindred Spirits” has been unleashed on the European WiIWare service, where you can purchase it for just 10 euros (1000 Nintendo points). As you may have seen, it’s a charmingly stylised platformer that at one point was thought to be the next “Kid Icarus”. You can’t get more praise than that, but it’s actually an independent effort by a small Spanish studio (don’t miss their video on the Nintendo Channel), ‘Over the Top Games‘.

While I haven’t exactly spent a lot of time with it just yet, I figured some first impressions may be useful for anyone too eager to wait for actual reviews. You can see the visuals for yourself, so I’ll restrict myself in saying they’re even better, and focus on the experience.

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PSP Go Officially Unveiled, PS3 Slim Confirmed?

Sony’s cat is already out of the E3 bag. PlayStation 3 users were happy to find that the upcoming Qore subscriber episode, initially  scheduled for June, is (accidentally?) available for download and contains juicy information about the next iteration of Sony’s handheld, the PSP Go. What is it all about then? Hit the jump to find out. Read the rest of this entry »

Konami & Atomic Games Bring You Iraq

The Wall Street Journal recently revealed that Atomic Games is creating a game called “Six Days in Fallujah”, for Konami of all publishers. As you can imagine, this title is all about one of the bloodiest battles of the recent Iraq war. They more or less hype it as a title that will raise the realism bar and become more than a mere game, and in fact an interactive documentary portraying the harsh realities of such a conflict. Read the rest of this entry »

Have Eastern Developers Really Lost The Magic?

Konami’s Akira Yamaoka, responsible for “Silent Hill” and its score, first stated – near the end of 2007 – that Japanese developers are lagging behind Western studios. The sentiment seemed true with market shares constantly swinging in favor of Western productions. A couple of days ago, Platinum Games’ Atsushi Inaba made a similar statement. Is this happening for real, and how dangerous is it for the industry as a whole? Before you answer, consider some of what I have to say. Read the rest of this entry »

SCF Releases RPG Freebie ‘Exit Fate’

This is as good a first post as any I suppose. SCF, the one-man Netherlands outfit developing games using the popular RPG Maker suite, has released its latest project, “Exit Fate”.

Following in the footsteps of the popular “Last Scenario”, it’s one of the better freebie RPGs you’re likely to find on the www, and as such is well worth the download. Hit the jump for more.

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Freelancer

Disclaimer: Links to samples of past freelance work.

• “King’s Bounty – The Legend” Review – Written for GameCyte.

More of my GameCyte work can be seen here.

• “Mount&Blade” Review – Written for TheGameReviews.

‘The Ship’ Review

Disclaimer: This review was originally written for my first website, Mod HQ, and posted on 12 Jul 2006. The images have since been lost, but the text remains in its original form.

Basic Premise
There’s not much of a story to “The Ship”. The mysterious Mr X has built a series of beautiful big ships and all the passengers received a free ticket to a luxury cruise aboard one of them. Upon boarding they discover that they are to take part in Mr X’s twisted idea of a game as their life and the lives of their families are at risk. Their only chance for safety is to win. Read the rest of this entry »

Ritual Entertainment Q&A

Disclaimer: This interview was originally done for my first website, Mod HQ, and posted on 15 Feb 2006, three months before the release of “SiN Episodes: Emergence”, and of course before MumboJumbo acquired Ritual Entertainment.

I was able to send a set of questions regarding “SiN Episodes” and its development to Ritual Entertainment for the interview you will be reading here. First of all I’d like to thank Tom “ParadoX” Mustaine (Director of Development / Vice President) for setting the whole thing up and of course Levelord (Co-owner / Level Designer) and Steve “Badman” Hessel (Community Relations Manager) for the time they took to answer all these questions. Also for putting up with me being a pain in the neck. Read on for the goodies! Read the rest of this entry »