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Review: Final Fantasy XIII
Ever since it was announced at E3 2006, Final Fantasy XIII has been one of the most anticipated games of all time. Though the US release date is still about a month away, I was able to import the PS3 version of the game from Japan. With my Japanese language skills and additional translational help on the internet, I was able to dive right into Final Fantasy 13. About 50 hours later, I was finished and completely blown away. There are many reasons why this game could appeal to you (or not), so I’ll try to look at it as objectively as I can.
This is Awesome: Traditional Japanese Style Pokemon Art
What would the outcome be if you combined the creatures of the Pokemon universe with the traditional Japanese ink line art style seen in Okami? If you answered complete and utter awesomeness then you would be correct. Apparently someone else thought so too, and the artist has gone to the trouble of drawing 251(!) Pokemon in the manner that the Japanese illustrate folklore monsters.
Fallout: New Vegas: War is Still the Same
The Fallout 3 spinoff New Vegas has just received it's first teaser; no gameplay, but some very interesting visuals. While it's not being developed by Bethesda, I think Obsidian (Kotor II
The Best of 2009: Games
2009 was a pretty fine year for video gaming. Among some of the top titles, we had a few pretty amazing followups to awesome games, a number of incredibly original releases, and a game that quite literally shattered records all over the world. And as we look forward to the monster sequels and hotly-anticipated new IPs of 2010 and beyond, let's take a moment to look back upon the highlights of the last year.
Debut Trailer for Vanquish
America gets invaded yet again in this debut trailer for the new game Vanquish, from developer Platinum Games. It's a rather flashy trailer that uses both CGI and live-action cut-scenes (sorry, no gameplay footage) to introduce us to yet another shooter.
Alien vs. Predator: Survivor Mode Trailer
Personally, I'm at the stage where I'll be buying Alien vs. Predator out of principal no matter how good it is. The game was originally banned in Australia, but developer Rebellion stuck to its guns and managed to get the game through the tough ratings system unedited. It pleases me to see the potential for greatness in this game, especially it's multi-player which was highlighted in this latest trailer.
Valve: Steam Has 25-million Users
Today, Valve announced it's latest stats on Steam in the last year. According to those statistics, Steam now has over 25 million users, a 25% increase over 2009. 10 million of those accounts have a Steam profile. To put this in perspective, World of Warcraft has about 12 million subscribers. So, in essence, Steam is quite the popular program. In addition, sales have increased by more than 205% over the last year, and Valves estimates about 13 billion "player minutes" per month. So to all those who say PC gaming is dead, put a sock in it will ya?
Red Steel 2 Caldera Trailer Excites
It's safe to say that 'hardcore' gamers are kind of few and far between on the Wii. The console has been labeled with the dreaded family friendly moniker, abandoned by several key developers and now hardcore releases for the Wii are few and far between. Enter Red Steel 2: the sequel to one of the Wii's launch titles, Red Steel, and those few remaining hardcore Wii fans hopes for a decent, challenging and mature game outside of Nintendo’s own lineup.
Review: Dark Void Zero
Our own Matt Overstreet took a few moments out of his busy schedule to talk to you about Dark Void, Capcom's latest effort. Unfortunately, he failed to mention that Capcom released a tie-in game on the DSiWare service. Does the promotional game self destruct like the source material, or does it fly to new heights?
Matt's Rantbox: Exploding Barrels
Or: Barrels that Explode
So I just finished playing through Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune for the PS3, mostly because I’ve heard some pretty good things about the second one, and I wanted to play through the first game before moving on to the second one (makes sense). While playing through the game, I couldn’t help but notice just how many explosive barrels there were scattered around temple ruins on a remote, uninhabited island.
