God of War: Ghost of Sparta just announced for PSP!
May 4th
More info on this at the playstation blog!: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/05/04/god-of-war-ghost-of-sparta-announced-for-psp/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=gow_sparta_050410
DJ Cliche Darkness Reviews The God Of War Trilogy For Ratt Fink Magazine!
May 1st
http://Whosetheratt.com
OH MAH GAH! RUMOR: BLACK WII COMIN TO US MAY 9TH!
Apr 27th
KOTAKU FOR FACKZ!
http://kotaku.com/5525000/rumor-black-wii-comes-to-north-america-in-may
[Via Kotaku.. just with less Billy Maye-- err caps lock]
Movies: Inception poster vs. Dark Knight poster
Apr 21st
Game Development: Is Japan No Longer the Place to Be?
Apr 21st
Abroad, university grads, grad school grads, and even PhDs make games. The vast majority of Japanese game industry people have a university degree or some game-design school diploma at best. There’s no way we can win.
It’s an interesting idea — I know people who are, to this day, still convinced of Japan being the center of the gaming world. I know people who (foolishly, really) have plans to try t move to Japan and make it big developing games. But is that really where it is these days?
When you look at the major block-buster games that are released, they are overwhelmingly developed by American studios. One of the largest PlayStation 3 games of last year — Uncharted 2 — was an American-developed game for a Japanese-made console. Even Nintendo gave their prized Metroid franchise to an Austin, TX based developer for a number of games.
Some might argue that Americans — and Western gamers in general — desire a different kind of game than what Japanese developers offer, and as such we don’t see the best content from Japan. The point becomes moot, though, when you consider the fact that the largest game markets these days are outside of Japan, so the Japanese game market is becoming less relevant and less influential… which also means that Japanese developers are going to have to start to change the style of games they develop, or be relegated to a niche market.
Lost Planet 2 Ice Block Time Lapse Melting!
Apr 20th
After a while of fighting with a few different types of editing software, I finished the time lapse video of the 1 gallon ice block melting. I took the video with my PS3 Eye using Eye Create. After editing a bit it lost some quality, but this does the trick. Enjoy!
~DJ Cliche Darkness
Marvel vs. Capcom 3, REVEAL!
Apr 20th
the effects and quality of the cinematic are reminiscent of the Street Fighter 4 Ink Trailer, which leads me to believe that it’s probably a fair assumption that the trailer is all done with in-game effects. The hadouken at the end looks like it could be in-game.
With over 30 characters, it’s following the MvC tradition of including as many characters as absolutely possible.
Here’s to hoping we see my personal favorite, Deadpool, in this game.
The Sev to Start Selling Used Games
Apr 20th
According to Koktaku, Slurpee vendors 7-11 are going to team up with Game Trading Technologies to start selling used video games in a ‘used bin’ manner. These games will allegedly be offered for under $20, which I’m sure means $19.99.
It it just me, or does it already feel odd buying new games from 7-11? I visit the Sev behind my house on a regular basis to stock up on applejuice, applesauce, and other apple-related products on a regular basis, and the idea of buying a game from the disenchanted people with the dead eyes behind the counter is just … odd.
[via Kotaku]
Starcraft II Beta; or, How Far We’ve Come
Apr 19th
Quickly did I go to Battle.net and login to my long-neglected account, and a 2gig download later I was installing the new beta. As follows is a recount of my time playing the beta.
First game. Feeling: nervous excitement. I quickly get back into the swing of SCV -> SCV -> Supply Depot -> Barracks, and within minutes I’ve got a small force of Marines pounding across the Lost Temple map.
There are certain issues that exist that really are holdovers from the first one, or even exacerbated. The game rewards rushing, and it doesn’t make it any easier to defend against the rush. There exist very little strategic options other than having the biggest army. There is a bit of a push toward using support units’ special abilities in order to turn the tide of combat — using the Raven for Terran; Sentries for Protoss; and Infestor for Zerg — but there’s probably not enough. Each race has their one “support” unit that has a variety of abilities, but controlling them and their abilities is no less cumbersome than it was in the first game.
And that’s really what it comes down to in the end: the biggest issue — and the biggest strength — of Starcraft 2 is that it is exactly the same as the first game. I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if the core code of the game were exactly the same as the first game, with shiny new 3D, Warcraft 3-ish graphics slathered on top. For some, this won’t be a problem. For others… well, I’ve certainly played a lot of Starcraft in my life, and I’m just not sure how I feel about playing the same game again.
Battle.net is actually something that deserves mention. They’ve really improved the interface — no longer are you presented with a chatroom screen, but instead a Message-of-the-Day. When you go to play a game the list of games is 
replaced with a match-making feature… and it works really damn well. You select what type of match you want (1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, FFA), and which race you want (Terran, Protoss, Zerg, Random), and then it matches you up with players close to your rank (ie, win/loss ratio). It can’t be overstated how relieving it is to not have to sit there trying to find a game that you won’t get kicked out of due to a poor game record.
[+] (Multipalyer, 2v2 only)
- It’s the same thing — you played the first one? You’ll get this one. With a few additional/modified units.
- Fast and satisfying games — it’s easy to jump in and just have at it, and games start and end quick. 2v2 matches should take around 15 minutes each.
- Revamped Battle.net — regardless of whether or not b.net is going to go pay, it’s really well done. It just works — you press ‘Find a Match,’ and within 30 seconds you’re matched up with some other players and you’re good to go.
- Needed tweaks — it’s the little changes that were made that really make the difference. Being able to lower Supply Depots, using Chrono Boost to speed up Protoss unit building/tech upgrades, or being able to spawn an increased number of larvae for the Zerg; these are the things that really effect play.
- The battlecruiser has multiple guns on it now. I can’t explain how much it annoyed me that the battlecruisers only pew-pewed one laser at a time in the first one.
[-] (Multiplayer, 2v2 only)
- It’s the same. Damn. Thing. If you played the first one, you’ve played this one.
- Beat the rush — if you can do this, then you can win. But if you can’t? You’re boned, and you’re going to have a lot of 5 minute matches.
- One chance is all you get — in 2v2 matches there’s not quite the space to expand, and chances are that your opponent will be massing one large army. And you’ll probably do the same. So when these two armies meet, the fight will last about 10 – 15 seconds, and then the winner will steamroll the loser, with very little chance of a comeback.
I’m excited to play the campaign — Starcraft’s story has always been the highlight of the game for me — but if this beta is indicative of what the finished multiplayer game is going to be like (and it is), then it really feels like an expansion to the first game, not a worthy sequel to one of the most successful games of all time.
Of course, you’re all still going to play the hell out of it.