Due to some email problems last week I missed an item that I probably should have included in Friday’s VGQH. To make up for it, it’s the lead item today. Peter Molyneux has left Lionhead Studios for “something really amazing, scary and brave a new company called 22 Cans.” Molyneux is the renowned creator of the Fable series as well as Black and White. This move effectively takes him out of Microsoft publishing leading to the question of whether he’ll be going multi-platform with 22 Cans. News of his departure came just one day after Fable Heroes, a hack and slash spin-off, was announced for XBLA, to be released later this year.

Releasing today is another chunk of Uncharted 3 DLC, the Shade Survivor Mode. This is a co-op mode consisting of eight waves of Djinn who can catch fire and teleport. Later waves give them extra armor and firepower so cooperation is key. Completing all eight rounds gives a nice cash and experience bonus. Price for the add-on is $5.99 but it’s included with the Fortune Hunters Club. The 14th and final add-on promised for FHC is coming next month. Look for more details here when they are announced.

Deadly Premonition, the 2010 360 exclusive (in North America), is finally making its way to western PS3s in a director’s cut of sorts. The game is a pretty out-there murder mystery that sees Francis York trying to solve a ritual murder of a young girl. In addition to following clues, leading you to supernatural creatures and weird locals, you also need to take care of York’s daily hygiene like shaving and showering. Other secondary activities including playing darts and fishing. The new PS3 version will have full Move support and other additional content. A release date hasn’t been confirmed but it looks to be coming later this year.

A UK retailer recently published a list of upcoming titles that comes with a few surprises. First, they’ve mentioned a movie tie-in with The Dark Knight Rises. The success of the Arkham games probably encouraged this release, something they didn’t do for the last film. We all love playing as Batman, but could a licensed release like this one possibly be as good? Shouldn’t they be concerned with diluting the brand loyalty created by Rocksteady? Second, is Battlefield Evolved from EA. This raises its own questions because it looked like Medal of Honor would be the publishers major FPS this year. Some rumors are indicating this might be a GotY version of Battlefield 3, or an arcade spin-off. I can’t help but notice the title’s not-so-subtle jab at the original Halo. Finally, this retailer’s list still shows Grand Theft Auto V as coming in fall. That’s been the line since Rockstar announced it, but the entire inductry is expecting it delayed to Spring 2013. It can’t come soon enough in my book, but I still think a 2012 release is doubtful considering Rockstar’s track record and the imminent release of Max Payne 3. I would like to point out that I received the information from a trusted source, but I could not confirm which “major UK retailer” had this list. That makes it unconfirmed rumor in my book, but still believable.

I’m generally a fan of Mixed Martial Arts, but I’ve always avoided the video games. I just can’t wrap my brain around it being any good. How can they port the constantly changing styles from each match into a game? How can they the technical grappling of jiujitsu fun? I’m sure it’s possible, as the games sell and review quite well, but I can’t talk myself into spending money on them. That’s why I’m happy to see the announcement of Bellator: MMA Onslaught. The “arcade style” game is being developed by Kung Fu Factory and published by 345 Games specifically for XBLA and PSN, suggesting a significantly lower cost of entry than its retail brethren. In addition to some of the sports’ top names, players will be able to create and customize their own fighter. Online and couch multiplayer is included, as well it should be for a game of this style. Other online functions planned are leaderboards and the like. Describing it as “arcade style” tells me this won’t be the most realistic MMA fighter available, but it also hints that the learning curve and barrier to entry will be a lot lower for gamers like me. Release is currently scheduled for Summer 2012.

How do you know when a game is actually getting close to get excited? When the preorder incentives start dropping. Sure, some get shown way too far in advance, but most of the come when there’s about three months left. Prototype 2 has waited just a little longer for their Amazon and Best Buy bonuses. Prototype 2: The Anchor is the comic you can download from Amazon. The comic details story of Alex Mercer’s decline from protagonist in the first game to antagonist in the second. Best Buy will net you a steelbook case and Hardened Steel Vehicle Armor Upgrade. If that upgrade is anything like the worthless armor and guns GameStop gave me for Mass Effect 3 they can keep it; I’d rather have the comic. Of course, all preorders mean you’ll get the RADNEt Edition which includes 55 pieces of extra DLC. The game releases on April 24, 2012.

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is also going the Signature Edition route. The free upgrade with pre-order gets you the MK-14 rifle, AK-47, tiger stripe and winter digital custom weapons skins, custom headgear and additional co-op content, including the Moscow Suburbs map. Pre-orders are available now and the game is set for release on May 22nd.

Coincidentally, that’s also the new release date for Risen 2: Dark Waters. Sorry to disappoint the pirate fans. Deep Silver and Piranha Bytes haven’t given a reason for moving it from April 24th to May 22nd, but go ahead and assume it’s the standard “final polish.”

So how big is DLC in the current gaming market? This is a question Fade LLC tried to answer with their “Download Dominance” presentation at GDC. I’m not privy to all the details of their research, but they certainly brought loads of data. According to Benjamin Schlichter, after tracking data on 350 different pieces of DLC (mainly “macro” content as opposed to alternate outfits or weapons) and 7million users, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Fallout 3, GTA IV, Halo 3, and Red Dead Redemption have done the best in terms of add-on content in this generation. Each of these games averaged $7-11 revenue per copy of the game sold! What does that mean exactly? Fallout 3, for example, had five additional chapters at $10 each, meaning a total of $50 extra income potential. If we assume that anyone who bought one piece must have bought them all (a stupid assumption but I’m simplifying here), then 20% of all copies sold also resulted in DLC sales. That’s actually pretty incredible considering Bethesda shipped (not sold) 4.7million copies in its first week. On average, 12.2% of physical copies sold results in a DLC sale as well. The king of DLC according to their data? Call of Duty: Black Ops, of course, with an estimated $250million in map packs and a 29.7% attach rate. Bulletstorm was one of the worst performers in 2011, averaging only one dollar of DLC revenue per copy sold. Two other interesting facts came out of the presentation. First, not surprisingly, better Metacritic scores means better DLC sales ($9million for scores of 90% or higher versus one million or less for 60-70% ratings). Second, good for developers/publishers but bad for consumers, was Schlichter suggesting DLC costs should be increased. Apparently price and popularity are not connected as content sold equally well regardless of price point. Interesting figures to say the least, I’d like to see more of their research.

As if that bit of information hasn’t convinced you the CoD franchise is making money hand over fist, Sony will be putting a large chunk of the property on sale for its PSN Spring Fever 2012 promotion. CoD 4: Modern Warfare, CoD Classic, Modern Warfare 2, World at War, and Black Ops are all 30% off (50% for PS+) this week. Many of them have additional DLC discounted as well. Games in the Final Fantasy and Tom Clancy franchises will also be getting sale prices in the coming weeks for the promotion. New titles to watch for are thatgamecompany’s Journey (available to PS+ last week, everyone starting today), Rayman 3 HD, and Closure.

Zombietron’s got the full story, but it looks like Blizzard is planning to release part of Diablo III instead of delaying the whole game. In a nuthsell, the single player and co-op are coming soon, but PvP will have to wait for a patch as they aren’t satisfied with it yet. This tactic has been tried before, to mixed results. If anyone can make it work it’s Blizzard, I guess.

Mass Effect 3 has now been dominating all of my free time since it released last week. I still haven’t beat the game but I did manage to get 100% readiness for a day in the Galaxy at War mode. I’ve been primarily using a Turian Sentinel, but that could be changing soon as it appears multiplayer DLC is on the way. The only image I’ve seen so far is a leaked screen shot from a tester, but it clearly shows additional races and classes as a playable option. The unlocks apparently happened by purchasing an “unknown pack” from the in-game store, just as your would a Spectre or Veteran pack. This item unlocked “everything” according to the leak. I’m assuming that means all of the current races, classes, and weapons in addition to the extras from the leaked image. Geth Engineers and Infiltrators, Batarian Soldiers and Sentinels, a Krogan Battlemaster, and an Asari Justicar all look like good bonuses. Now if we can just get official confirmation with a release date and expected price.

If/when these characters come to Mass Effect 3, which race and class are you most excited to play? Comment below.

Announced on Blizzard’s Diablo site. The PVP portion of Diablo III will not release with the game on day one in order to “speed up the release”. Instead it will be delivered to users in a patch after launch. WIth all of the delays based on expectations this is a smart move for Blizzard. We’ve only been waiting for Diablo III for almost 4 years, and the fan base seems to die a little every time a delay is mentioned. I guess I can finish playing the story and co-op before diving into PvP on this one. Blizzards information below.

As we’re counting down the days until we’re ready to announce a release date for Diablo III, we’ve come to realize that the PvP game and systems aren’t yet living up to our standards. Today, we wanted to let you know that we’ve made the difficult decision to hold back the PvP Arena system and release it in a patch following the game’s launch. After a lot of consideration and discussion, we ultimately felt that delaying the whole game purely for PvP would just be punishing to everyone who’s waiting to enjoy the campaign and core solo/co-op content, all of which is just about complete.

While we work on making sure PvP lives up to its full potential, we hope you’ll find some consolation in the fact that soon, you’ll be having a blast leveling characters, finding items, learning the classes, and perfecting builds…and that when the Arenas do arrive, you’ll be all the better prepared for battle.

When the PvP patch is ultimately ready, it will add multiple Arena maps with themed locations and layouts, PvP-centric achievements, and a matchmaking system that will help you and your team get into fairly matched games quickly and easily. We’ll also be adding a personal progression system that will reward you for successfully bashing in the other team’s skulls.

[comment below]

If you have been following the insanity at kickstarter.com, then you’re aware gaming legend Tim Schafer has raised 2.7 Million dollars in the last month to create a new adventure game. You’re also aware that you have less than 2 days to back this project. Update number four released recently letting gamers everywhere know that for a scant $100.00 you get the ultimate collector’s edition containing: Backer T-Shirt, full size game box (built classic style), blu-ray of the documentary, a signed art book, and mad street cred. I’m still baffled that Mr. Schafer has raised so much, this proves what a good fan base will do. I backed him 3 weeks ago, what have you done with your life? Video below

In more news from Bioshock Infinite, the development team released a video discussing their latest villain. I was surprised at their belief in a lack of heavy hitting enemies in the first two games. There were a few enemies I remember being heavy, but there were a few splicers that were intense. Watching this video I couldn’t help but find myself chuckling. Only in a game like Bioshock could they make a creepy-robotic George Washington with two American flags strapped to his back like wings and a gatling gun, and it would be a fit. I can’t wait to battle this mechanical nightmare on October 16. Let’s hope they announce a collector’s edition.

Yesterday, Nintendo released an extended trailer of Kid Icarus Uprising that gives a lot more insight into what we’re getting in the next few weeks. I’m sure it’s just the trailer, but the cheesy voice overs hurt the appeal. Luckily we get to see the comparison to the original NES version. Pandora went from a goofy looking circle to a flaming orb. Medusa transforms from an odd mess of pixels into a terrifyingly large creature. The control scheme looks really intriguing – a 3rd person shooter meets hack-and-slash combat. I still think the action elements have a lot to go on, and Pit looks good. I’m super excited to fight Dark Pit and can’t wait to break this one out. March 23rd can’t come soon enough.

[Comments welcome below]

First, if you haven’t read Ticelli Bot’s Journey review you definitely should. This is the latest from thatgamecompany and it’s getting high praise. As I mentioned in my comment, I want to play the game but it’s timing is poor and it will have to wait.

I say the timing is poor because it released, for PS+, the same day as Mass Effect 3. Why is that a problem? Because that game is consuming all of my time. Read my incomplete review, my experiences in the first three days but not having completed the game, for more information.

In other news, GDC 2012 has been happening this week, but nothing huge in the way of announcements has made it across my desk. It seems everyone is saving the big reveals for E3. However, David Cage of Quantic Dream did show off Kara. It’s not a game yet, more of a way to make them, but it’s pretty amazing. Check out the video running on PS3 hardware.

Namco Bandai has announced a street date for the recently delayed third-person shooter, Inversion. It was scheduled for February and obviously missed that goal. The new release date is June 5th. If you like gravity defying shooters, mark your calendars.

It seems Valve’s plan from last August over-stepped their technical capabilities a little. Many PSN users were thrilled to hear that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive would have cross-platform multiplayer with PC and Mac users on Steam. Thanks to their experience with the beta, this plan has been scrapped. It’s disappointing, but that’s why they have betas. According to Valve’s Chet Faliszek, “the beta has proved we want to update not just the beta, but the game itself post-launch frequently on the PC. To do that we need to separate the platforms so one doesn’t hamstring the other. So for that, we have removed the idea of cross-platform play – essentially make all platforms stronger by not mixing them.” I’m wondering which one was the real limiting factor, but it doesn’t really matter. If they feel all versions will be better through separation then I’m trusting them. This is Valve after all.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter has slowly been building up press power. While there’s nothing major to report today as far as gameplay or other surprises there is a release date. This one is coming October 23, 2012.

If you love EA FPS you probably want to get a little more action before MoH in fall. That’s why they’ve announced three new Battlefield 3 expansions, starting in June. The “Close Quarters” pack will bring new weapons, assignments and dog tags for an infantry-only mode. “Armored Kill” goes the opposite direction, bringing new driveable tanks, ATVs, mobile artillery and more to huge battlefields, making for an outrageous vehicle assault. This pack will also include the biggest map in Battlefield history. Finally, “End Game” is scheduled for this winter, but no details are yet available.

Dead or Alive 5 has also gotten a release window, though not an exact date. Your jiggly fighting action begins this September. It was recently announced that Akira of the Tekken franchise would be making a guest appearance. He may not be the only one though, as Yousuke Hayashi has hinted that his pestering of SEGA may result in more Tekken appearances.

I don’t know how many of you will remember Linger in Shadows. It was a strange sort of interactive video that released very cheaply on PSN several years ago. I’m not even sure I’d call it a proper video game but it was very interesting. (It’s still there, of course. You should try it if you haven’t already.) Well, the minds behind that one have been working for two years on a project to utilize the Move controller. Datura will be coming later this year, but no firm date is available yet. It sounds like it might also be as bizarre as their last outing but will have more “gaming” elements. Players will use the Move to controller the hand in the game, touching trees. faces, and other objects. There will also be some sort of narrative where the player will need to make choices. The choices are designed with the intention of creating anxiety and having to deal with the consequences. It sounds interesting and I’m looking forward to hearing more about it.

While we’re on the subject of Move, Sony has announced that they’ve sold over 10 million of the things. I had no idea it was that successful, as I barely use mine. They’ve also finally announced a release date, May 22nd, for Sorcery. This was one of the earliest titles announced for the peripheral and by far the most interesting. Players take control of Finn, a sorceror’s apprentice, and cast spells with his wand through controlling the Move. Unfortunately, the art style has evolved since it was first announced at E3 many moons ago. The visuals have taken on a more realistic flair and embedded it a little further into the fantasy, medieval world you would expect.

Play.com, an online games retailer may have let the cat out of the bag on four upcoming Vita titles. Four new games were listed for a few minutes before being hastily taken down. The four titles were Final Fantasy Type-O HD, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Nights, Monster Hunter Portable 3, and Tales of Innocence R. None of these are confirmed by their developers or publishers so they’re all just rumor for now. However, leaks of this kind happen often and they’re rarely false. In the meantime, GTA on Vita? Just so you know, Sony, if that happens I guarantee you at least one more Vita sold.

How did you feel about the endings of Final Fantasy XIII-2? Would you like to know the “hidden truth?” It looks like you’ll be finding that truth in the story DLC based on Lightning that’s coming in May. Still waiting on pricing and an exact date. In the meantime, the Jihl Nabaat DLC has confirmed for release on March 13th for $2.99.

This will be as spoiler-free as possible.

First things first, just to make sure we’re clear, I have not completed the game. I merely want to express my opinion of my most-anticipated game of 2012 before the weekend when I know many fence-sitters will decide whether to purchase. If you don’t want to read everything, let me just get the answer to that out of the way: YES! Should this have been my most-anticipated game this year? Perhaps not. It’s very good and I’m enjoying the hell out of it. But, seeing the Assassin’s Creed 3 media recently (which, I doubt was coincidence that it started right before Mass Effect 3 launched) I’m pretty excited for that one as well. If GTA V happens in 2012 I’ll be overexcited for that one too. But anticipation has nothing to do with it. The game is good and well worth the $60.

My first impression of the game was a little bit of confusion and doubting my own memory. I decided I would continue the adventures I had with Mass Effect 2 and imported Commander Betch Shepard. She’s a severe woman and rightly named. She was my renegade character. Immediately upon importing I noticed something missing in her appearance, the scars that represented her renegade choices and glowed red were nowhere to be seen. Disappointing, but move on. As I’ve put 15 hours and 12 minutes into the single player campaign (I have no idea how close I am to the end but my minimum galactic readiness hasn’t been hit) the scars have started to return. That’s because she’s still rightly named. It goes a little against my nature, but I’ve made that character a horrible person. I had also noticed that her face didn’t look quite as angular and her hair was too light. That’s when I started doubting my memory. I’m not getting senile. Bioware has acknowledged a glitch that causes imported character appearances to be a little different. A patch may be coming but it’s really no big deal. You have a chance to refine the appearance if you care that much. So you know a little about my import:

• Betch Shepard: 47 hours in Mass Effect 2 (PS3 so I used the comic for ME1‘s choices)
• Origin: Colonist
• Reputation: Ruthless
• Class: Infiltrator
• Killed Rachni Queen (1)
• Rescued Ashley on Virmire (1)
• Chose to save council (1)
• Destroyed Maelon’s data (2)
• Had Wrex die on Virmire (1)
• Destroyed Geth heretics (2)
• Left Collector base to Cerberus (2)
• Survived Suicide Mission with 11 crew members – Jack died (2)
• Romanced Kaidan, now deceased (1)
• Romanced Jacob, current whereabouts unknown (2)

It’s important to note that your class still determines your “abilities” but it no longer detmerines your available weaponry. There are sniper rifles, assault rifles, SMGs, shotguns, and pistols. All classes can use all of them. Their weight and your power recovery is the limiting factor. If you’re a gunner, take them all, but don’t plan to use your abilities very often as you’ll be 200-300% slower in regenerating power. If you’re a Jedi, you could probably drop them all. Melee will still work and your Warp or Incinerate powers will regenerate much faster.

After 15 hours I have a nice little crew of five. Two of them have been in your crew in previous games. There’s a third recurring character, whom I won’t spoil, that left the party early on. One of the five is also the bonus character included in the “From Ashes” DLC. Javik’s race has been spoiled everywhere but I won’t mention it in case you’re hiding. Of the other two, one you know from a previous game, in a weird way. It’s kind of creepy. The last is the new character, James Vega, voiced by Freddie Prinze, Jr. He’s kind of a dink, but I like him. He definitely likes Betch. She may like him, but she’s weighing options at this point. I’ve picked up four other character that just hang out on the ship so far. Two of them, a reporter I took against my better judgment and Dr. Chakwas (from the previous games), are apparently optional. The other two are story-related so I won’t name them.

Throughout the first two missions, which are forced narrative (the game doesn’t get open-world until they’re done), I couldn’t help but concentrate on what many conversations could be like with a different Shepard. There’s an immediate reference to Shepard’s destruction of an entire Batarian star system right away. That event happens in “The Arrival” DLC. What if I hadn’t played it? I know there’s a built in system like ME2‘s comic to give you the prior choices, but I didn’t use it since I imported. Shepard also meets up with Ashley or Kaidan (Ash in my case) right away. One of my other Shepards romanced Kaidan, kept him alive on Virmire, and was celibate in the second game. How will her conversation differ?

When it comes to the story, you should know that no matter how you left things with your former employer, the Illusive Man, you now oppose Cerberus. If there was any doubt of that, Betch erased it when she sniped the first Cerberus operative she saw on Mars. Which brings me to the gunplay. Totally solid. This is just as good as ME2.

The upgrade system is more extensive. Rather than maxing a single power and then evolving it, you now have choices three times throughout the six levels of upgrade. Do you increase your Overload’s area of effect, or its damage? Do you make your specialized ammo stronger, or share it with your friends? If you choose one at level four, you can’t choose the other at level five. Each of the last three levels has two choices, and you’re stuck with them. Actually, that’s not true. You can reassign them later, but at some expense. Your squad’s abilities can be unlocked for Shepard through interaction with the character, rather than by beating the game as in the last one. The first of these I unlocked was through an interaction with James Vega, definitely one of the most enjoyable conversations I’ve had so far.

I took a lot of notes, but rather than venture into spoiler territory I’ll just list what I would have tweeted as I played (in order), if I were on Twitter that is:

• “Sorry, Garrus.” (That was me, not Betch. I actually apologized to him through my TV.)
• Is it strange that I’m worried about Cylons? (This was not in regards to Geth, actually.)
• What does it say about me that I don’t trust the reporter?
• Protheans have teeth. Why do I think that’s strange?
• Where is my space hamster?
• Cortez is awesome. I simply can’t be hardass to a guy that just lost his husband.
• Maybe I’m thinking too much like Betch, but I don’t think Garrus has the proper respect for Shepard.
• Call it Grissom if you must, but I know the Xavier Academy for Gifted Youngsters when I see it.
• Did Javik just take me to task for not earning Jack’s loyalty? Or for letting her die? He better not try that shit when Bub Shepard’s in command.
• I am an asshole. If machines and humans want to grind gears, what business is it of mine?
• I’ve been talking to people on the Citadel for 2 1/2 hours. Sure the Kasumi thing was worth it, but this is kind of boring.
• Is that the Death Star?

That list thing worked well, so let’s try it again. Here are the basic pros and cons I’ve discovered:

• Pros:
• Heavy, blind decisions that last. Make them and move on. Saving and reloading doesn’t work because you won’t know the consequences immediately.
• Seth Green.
• Squad interactions sometimes have instant rewards, rather than feeling like an investment.
• Side missions are added dynamically, almost organic.
• Critical path is much more clear. If you want to just end-run it
• Cons:
• Critical path is much more clear. It’s open-world, but feels too linear.
• Very talky.
• Weapon modding and upgrading is tricky and never explained.
• Citadel as a hub world is terrible.

A lot of my gripes are actually pretty minor. My issue with spending so much time on the Citadel is partly my own fault. I let several reasons to go there pile up then tried to tackle them all at once. More tasks appeared while I was there too. I could have left at anytime, but I’m a little OCD and I don’t like loose threads.

The last part I haven’t mentioned is the multiplayer. This is a mode I’ll normally skip, but I played quite a bit in the demo and had a lot of fun. Based on pre-release media I expected the single player campaign would eventually introduce me to the mode but it hasn’t happened. I put in a few hours today just to try it. There are a lot of variables involved, but it seems the demo was a lot easier than the true game. Is it because I was starting over at level one? Because the map is unfamiliar? Because the enemies are more robust? More people playing it that haven’t figured it out? Probably all of those. Or maybe it’s just harder. In the demo my teams completed bronze level missions 95% of the time. I even beat a few silvers. Golds never made it past Wave Five. Of 12 matches in the retail version, I’ve completed one bronze. At least ten of those matches were on bronze difficulty. The other two may have been but I didn’t actually check.

As for what the mode contains, it’s just waves of enemies on a map. You have up to three companions. Usually you just have to kill people. Sometimes you have to kill specific people quickly. Other objectives will require you to defend a certain zone for a period of time, or four different zones for a smaller period while one of your characters is ineffective. None of this is groundbreaking. You’ve done it all before in other game universes. What makes it compelling is the Mass Effect universe. In addition to your two weapons (you choose which two), you’ll have three “powers.” Your class determines the powers and they’re all familiar from the single player campaign. It’s forgettable, but enjoyable.

Ultimately, if you’re a fan of the series this should be a no-brainer. If you’ve enjoyed them but haven’t decided if the finale is worth your time, DO IT! If you’re new to the franchise? I don’t know. I do think you could be lost, but I also think you could still have fun. The story is complex, but the segments are enjoyable enough on their own that you’d probably adapt. Combat is a little bit specific, but if you play video games you’ll adapt in no time. I’ve had a great time so far and fully plan to work my way through this one at least three times. For now, my only question is whether I want to try an Insanity run to get the platinum like I did in the second game. That was hard and I think I might just like to enjoy this on normal.

If you played Heavy Rain on the PS3 (and their previous outing with Indigo Prophecy on PS2), then you know that Quantic Dream does an amazing job portraying not only a great story with excellent writing, but also exceptional acting and characters to really care about. They revolutionized gaming theory and graphics. When I first played Heavy Rain, I could hardly believe the gorgeous character models and the realistic way they acted and moved – especially when faces displayed emotion.

Well, Quantic has done it again with the short film, Kara, that shows off their new motion capture tech. This new technology will be used in an upcoming and currently un-named project. According to Quantic Dream, this demo movie has nothing to do with the new game being developed. I find that somewhat sad as it presents a great, albeit been-there-done-that storyline, emoted in ways never seen before in a video game.

The video is presented in real time on current technology, PS3, and is slightly NSFW. Enjoy!

[comments welcome below]

The latest episode from Telltale games discusses how they’re building the story for their Walking Dead game. The game will feature a new lead character completely. His name is Lee and he will actually have a very dark origin story. My favorite comparison of Lee comes with their discussion linking him to Rick Grimes. It is said perfect that Rick is perceived as good in the Walking Dead and we slowly watch him become, dark, maybe a bit crazy. Lee is starting the opposite as perceived as bad (being a convicted murderer and all). But we will watch him do things that are perceived as good.

Again they reiterate that the game will be based heavily on choices, small ones about how to reply, or big ones whether or not someone lives or dies. This game looks like a phenomenal piece of content.

“Don’t Stop Believing” and  “Wheel in the Sky” are probably some of the greatest rock songs that have ever been created but of course, everyone knows Journey for these songs. In this review, I aim to bring light to some of their lesser known musical creations that are just as good. With founding vocalist Gregg Rolie,  the band was on its way to…..nah….just messin’ with ya.

Journey is the latest game to be released from those artistic fellows over at thatgamecompany. It’s slated to release next Tuesday but us Playstation Plus-ers get it a week early. I knew it was worth it. Thatgamecompany brought us such games as “Cloud,” “How Flower Petals Saved the World” and “That Cell Stage from Spore.” I honestly really enjoyed these games, for their artistic aspirations and wonderfully composed music, mostly that of their latest game, “Flower.” The beauty of the environment and the ability to get lost in the colors and music was a very engaging idea and even now I show it to new people all the time. I have been anxiously waiting for the next game in their catalog to be released so I could have this experience again.

I would like to share my experience of the game with you as I played it:

The game opens with the most impressive looking sand I have ever seen. I mean, sand in real life doesn’t look this good. I rotate the camera, my character stands up and then I’m free to do whatever I want. There are dunes as far as I can see and a mountain, maybe Sauron, off in the distance. I started running in the opposite direction the game obviously wanted me to go and quickly decided I was about to get very lost in this expansive wasteland of nothingness and it would probably be a good idea to turn around. I came over the crest a hill with posts sticking out of it and I am presented with the title screen. Very nice presentation, thatgamecompany. I SSX my way down some hills (which is actually really fun) and into this graveyard looking area where I find some floating pieces of cloth that bestow upon me the greatest video game power of all; jumping. Yadda yadda yadda, three hours pass and I beat the game. Woot!

Now my thoughts:

I would like to first point out that the graphics and ambient music are top notch.  More than a couple times I just had my character sit down and look at the environment for a couple minutes. I never once thought that getting lost in a desert would be this soothing…

The game itself seems to be driven by nothing other than the curiosity of the player. I feel that people who want fast-paced action or an intensive plot might not find this game very appealing. However,  I absolutely love playing games that aren’t the same thing I’ve experience hundreds of time so I welcome thatgamecompany’s creations.

As you progress through “levels,” you come across new obstacles and environments to traverse which keeps things interesting. Later in the game, there are a few moments that were truly breathtaking (especially the end) but I really don’t want to give anything away. Not long after starting the game you will inevitably run into another wayward traveler. If I’m not mistaken, you can progress through the entire game with this other player if you choose to. If not, you’ll find another person shortly after separating from the previous one. From my experience, there is pretty much always someone else running around with you, whether you notice them or not. You can only communicate with them through making your character shout at different volumes which really adds to the anonymity.

The biggest downside to these games they put out is usually the length. I beat the entire game in about three hours and I know, that’s pretty damn short. The experience itself makes up for it though. The $14.99 price tag might scare some people away but if it’s any consolation, the game definitely has re-playability. I missed some of the collectibles and secrets and I actually like the idea of going through the game again. Then ending sequence was also pretty damn cool and had me yelling at my in-game partner.

If you can get past the price tag and the how short the game is, this is definitely a game worth getting.

I give “Journey” 4/5 current members of the band Journey

Also, I’d like to leave you with one of my favorite music cross-overs involving the aforementioned band: