New Games |
- Dress up like Clayton Carmine in Minecraft on Xbox
- RTX: Exclusive footage of Halo 4's revamped Forge
- Play a wee bit of Heroes of Ruin
- Spend some time with Marvel Heroes at San Diego Comic-Con
- RTX: Photos of Team Rocket, Mega 64 hugs, and dumb stuff
- The tables have turned in new Of Orcs and Men trailer
- RTX: Rooster Teeth, now with more Elijah Wood and fans
- Clicking with Hoodwink
- Anniversary version of Halo 2 reportedly in the works
- Review: Ether Vapor Remaster
- RTX: Halo 4 Forge details unveiled
- Paul McCartney working on writing music with Bungie
- EVO 2012: Day Two
- Live show: Hangover goes for rock bottom in Spelunky
- Talking to Women about Videogames: Lollipop Chainsaw Pt 2
| Dress up like Clayton Carmine in Minecraft on Xbox Posted: 07 Jul 2012 02:30 PM PDT Honestly, I'm still at a loss as to why Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition does not allow players to import character skins through some sort of PC wizardry. Creating custom skins for Minecraft is a basic luxury, but I digress. Mojang's answer to whatever issue prevents us from creating our own skins is the first of, I assume, many DLC packs. Skin Pack 1, due out in the near future, features themed skins features Fable's Jack of Blades, Banjo, Ms 'Splosion, Gears' Clayton Carmine, and a nondescript prisoner. It's better than nothing, right? There's no date or price as of now, but I'm sure we'll be getting that info soon enough. Moar Minecraft Themed Skins Revealed! [Play XBLA] |
| RTX: Exclusive footage of Halo 4's revamped Forge Posted: 07 Jul 2012 02:00 PM PDT
[This weekend Destructoid is reporting live from RTX in Austin, Texas, the community based gaming expo for Rooster Teeth fans and everyone else.] As promised, here's the Forge demo shown at today's 343 Industries panel at RTX. The video is broken into two parts. The first video shows off the revamped UI and new features of Forge. The second video, embedded below, shows off a level made in the new Forge.
[Special thanks to djnealb for filming] |
| Play a wee bit of Heroes of Ruin Posted: 07 Jul 2012 01:00 PM PDT Your chums at Square Enix have put up a demo for the 3DS multiplayer RPG Heroes of Ruin on the eShop. Aren't you lucky? The demo takes place in the Elder Forest, where you can faff about questing until you feel like beating up a spirit called Michadelle, the boss of the taster. Two of the classes are available, and you can do a spot of customizing too. The Vindicator is a lion fella who takes foes on with his two-handed sword and presumably intimidating roar. He's joined by the Gunslinger, a ranged combatant employing guns, explosives and throwing knives. The Gunslinger is not a lion, however, which might be a deal breaker. Heroes of Ruin hits the Nintendo 3DS on July 17, so there's plenty of time for you to grab the demo and see if it's your cup of tea. |
| Spend some time with Marvel Heroes at San Diego Comic-Con Posted: 07 Jul 2012 12:00 PM PDT It looks like this whole Marvel Heroes thing is actually happening, huh? Back in May developer Gazillion Entertainment popped up to say 'Hey!' and drop a trailer and, surprisingly, it looks like it's got a lot of potential. That said, everything looks good in trailers, that's kind of the point. The only way to really tell is to get your hands on it and Marvel has announced that fans will get that opportunity next week at San Diego Comic-Con. In the mean time, Gazillion has released a developer diary wherein David Brevik (of Diablo fame) touches on why he's excited about the project and what makes it different from the prior attempts at a superhero MMO. I enjoyed DC Universe Online a good deal, but it didn't have the longevity I was expecting. Here's hoping Marvel nail it with their attempt at the genre. |
| RTX: Photos of Team Rocket, Mega 64 hugs, and dumb stuff Posted: 07 Jul 2012 11:30 AM PDT [This weekend Destructoid is reporting live from RTX in Austin, Texas, the community based gaming expo for Rooster Teeth fans and everyone else.] Yes, that's Team Rocket cosplayers hanging out with a stormtrooper. Do you now see what you are missing out on!?! Though RTX isn't the biggest convention or most populated (thankfully), it brought a good size crowd of game enthusiasts, cosplayers, and weirdos I was afraid to make eye contact with. I walked the show floor along with Destructoid writer Kyle McGregor and dtoider djnealb, taking photos of all the bizarre and neat stuff we saw. One thing that stood out was the immersion booth that sought to immerse players through real-world game design by ... uh, shooting a photo of the Mega 64 guys with Nerf guns and throwing a ball while wearing these weird goggles that presented a video feed of your actions from a distance. Cool game, bro? |
| The tables have turned in new Of Orcs and Men trailer Posted: 07 Jul 2012 11:00 AM PDT
Goblins and orcs seem to always be the target of many an RPG adventurer. They've always been perceived as ugly, green things that need to be killed in the name of loot or experience points. It's just not fair on them; they have souls too, you know! That, however, is all about to change thanks to Of Orcs And Men, an upcoming RPG letting you take control of an ogre warrior and a sneaky little goblin as they set out against the Empire of Men to ignite a "green-skinned" revolution. Focus Home Interactive's latest trailer for the game aims to give some more information on the Empire of Men's plans for expansion, while at the same time showing us all how badass those ogres look. Expect to rebel against the humans this September on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3. |
| RTX: Rooster Teeth, now with more Elijah Wood and fans Posted: 07 Jul 2012 10:15 AM PDT [This weekend Destructoid is reporting live from RTX in Austin, Texas, the community based gaming expo for Rooster Teeth fans and everyone else.] From 500 in attendance last year to 4,000 this weekend at RTX, Rooster Teeth had a lot to celebrate during its panel. However, that didn’t keep the guys from poking fun at themselves, discussing accidentally drinking a stranger’s spit with Elijah Wood among other things. Yes, Elijah Wood was on the panel … and it was kind of weird. The five guys went on to discuss details on the past, present and future of Rooster Teeth, including what tools they will use in upcoming productions. While the team is hesitant to jump into Halo 4 on launch -- stating their dissatisfaction with their sudden jump into Halo 2 years ago -- but they are looking into using the Valve Source Filmmaker which Heyman called “an amazing tool.” Going forward, Rooster Teeth plan to make Break Room into a series (despite comparisons to Disney's upcoming Wreck-It Ralph) and start a Let's Play series. |
| Posted: 07 Jul 2012 10:00 AM PDT
What's with all these adventure games cropping up all over the place? It's almost like people still love these games or something. Well, until somebody warns the developers I shall keep enjoying them. The latest potential avenue for my enjoyment is an intriguing title called Hookwink; a delicious, almost edible, looking cell-shaded adventure game from E-One Studio. Apparently it harkens back to the days of yore, when adventure games were played from Lands End to John O'Groats (or Florida to Maine if you'd rather). Pointing and clicking is promised, along with tough puzzles and weird characters. So there's this thief, right? And he's in love with a dame, but a mean ol' corporation is gettin' all up in his business. There are also chocolate loving robots. It's certainly piqued my interest. It's out now exclusively for PC, and is unfortunately exclusive to Origin. |
| Anniversary version of Halo 2 reportedly in the works Posted: 07 Jul 2012 07:30 AM PDT Looks like 343 Industries may have more up their sleeve than just Halo 4. According to OXM UK, they're following up the well received Halo: Combat Edition Anniversary with something similar for Halo 2. Released last fall, the enhanced version of Halo: CE added upgraded visuals and new industry standards like achievements, and featured a multiplayer built on the Halo: Reach engine with remade maps spanning Halo: CE, Halo: CE PC, and Halo 2. Likely, Halo 2 Anniversary will do something similar, though who knows how its release might coincide with Halo 4 coming up on November 6. Do you have any interest in revisiting Halo 2? |
| Posted: 07 Jul 2012 07:00 AM PDT Shoot-em-up enthusiasts hold an odd position in 2012. The best of the genre is behind us, immortalized in the coin-op perfection of Eighting, Toaplan, and Seibu Kaihatsu games, and CAVE is always there to supply us with one gem per 2-3 years. It’s easy to be spoiled. There are even those who downplay Pixel Junk SideScroller and Sine Mora, calling them style over substance (true, but the substance is still in bulk.) Ether Vapor is a nice reminder of just how far south the genre can go at times. It’s not the incompetent mess of Otomedius Excellent, but it's a stunning display of what not to do in the genre. One thing that can’t be said is that the game doesn’t have ambition. Few shoot-em-ups change perspective and style as often as Ether Vapor does, but perhaps there is a good reason for that. Ether Vapor Remaster (PC) There are a lot of Doujin (read: Japanese indie games) shooters out on the Internet. I avoid almost all, because it’s hard to parse which ones are worth my time. Every now and then, one game receives so much buzz that I need to check it out. I wasn’t disappointed with games like Crimzon Clover and Trouble Witches, but others let me down in the past. Despite hearing about Ether Vapor, I decided to pass. Ether Vapor is very pretty for a doujin game and the new coat of paint that this re-release brings only highlights its production values. When I praise this, know that I am praising it in the context of being a doujin game. It doesn’t hold a candle to games like Deathsmiles or Sine Mora in terms of visuals, but Ether Vapor has its own charms, as it captures the look of bright, colorful PS2/Dreamcast shooters. If the attention on visuals seems odd for this review, it’s because aesthetics are so much of Ether Vapor’s focus. Ether Vapor is a very flashy game, but at the cost of playability. It makes many crucial mistakes not uncommon for a debut effort by a doujin developer. Namely, the bullets and enemies often blend too easily with the background. Everything in the game feels designed with aesthetics in mind first and gameplay second. Missiles take the form of neon streaks across the screen, which become very confusing when you are bombarded with them, later in the game. There is rarely a section in Ether Vapor where I felt I could immediately recognize everything happening on screen. In a genre where all info needs to be perfectly communicated and the player requires flawless control, these blemishes are unacceptable and sour the entire experience. This visuals-first philosophy intrudes other larger design aspects as well. Sure, some boss entrances are bombastic and neat but only at the cost of player frustration. I’m all for pattern recognition in shooters, but too often these encounters seem dictated by completely random behavior. Another major problem comes from enemy positioning. Ether Vapor loves to play with perspective (more on that to follow). One way it does this is with enemies flying in from below, either staying in the distance or moving closer to the player. When they are distant, the player can only damage them with lock-on missiles -- a considerably weaker attack from the spread and gatling weapons. It’s near impossible to make out whether an enemy is on the same plane as you or not, so you’ll need to waste time firing your gatling weapon on them to find out. Even worse is when you crash into enemies, assuming they were below you. In addition to this, there are obstacle courses later in the game that suffer from the same problems with perspective. It all looks cool, but these things make Ether Vapor a very frustrating game to play. The most interesting thing about Ether Vapor is its constantly shifting perspective in combat. The game changes between a variety of styles: vertical, horizontal, a Star Fox 64-esque behind-the-ship view, and an Einhander-esque three-quarters view. Beyond this, there are a handful of Rez-like sections where you move a cursor over incoming missiles and explode them with your own. These sections are really dull, since they offer no challenge at all. They make replays a real drag, nullifying any initial "wow"-factor they held. Beyond these visual gimmicks, there isn’t anything else all that interesting going on with Ether Vapor’s mechanics. Your ship has three methods of attack -- gatling, lock-on, and spread -- that each have their own charge shot. The spread summons a defensive bubble that absorb bullets which comes to be very useful later in the game. The gatling charge is just a powerful laser, only used in rare instances for full effect. I can’t figure out what the lock-on charge does; it seems identical to regular lock-on, as far as I can tell. And that’s it. No power-ups. No additional weapons. The story isn’t anything special. There are some interesting details to unravel, but the surrounding dialog is so bad that you soon won’t care very much. I actually laughed out loud at one moment where a friendly pilot earnestly comments on the main character mourning after defeating a teenage pilot: "You have a soft spot for children." Yes, I cry after I OBLITERATE THEM IN SPACE! I’M A REAL SENSITIVE GUY! I can see why Nyu Media decided to localize and release Ether Vapor for the West. It’s a very flashy, interesting shooter that doesn’t bare direct comparison to anything else out in the market. Unfortunately, that’s all it really has going for it since it’s such a frustrating and poorly designed shooter. It doesn’t help that the game is difficult, limiting health and continues until you unlock more through failed attempts. People love to say Sine Mora is style over substance, but the substance is still clearly there. In Ether Vapor’s case, it just isn’t and style can only go so far in this genre. [Ether Vapor Remaster is currently available direct, DRM-free through the publisher. GamersGate, GameStop, GameTap and Steam releases will arrive in coming weeks.] |
| RTX: Halo 4 Forge details unveiled Posted: 07 Jul 2012 06:52 AM PDT [This weekend Destructoid is reporting live from RTX in Austin, Texas, the community based gaming expo for Rooster Teeth fans and everyone else.] Forge, the world-building Halo tool that players have used to make and share levels and films (Red vs. Blue among them), will receive a couple upgrades in Halo 4. During 343 Industries' Halo 4 Panel at RTX, Certain Affinity, who is co-developing the mode with 343, demoed the new Forge and showed off some of its new features, including:
After running through the details, we were shown a chaotic player obstacle course created in Forge. This platforming stage required players to navigate across a ship under attack from endless, falling debris. It was basically Super Meat Boy played from first-person. Awesome. Check back tonight for exclusive video of the Forge demo! |
| Paul McCartney working on writing music with Bungie Posted: 07 Jul 2012 06:15 AM PDT Well, happy Bungie Day everyone! On the seventh day of every July, Bungie fans impatiently wait for cryptic messages of upcoming projects that Bungie happens to be working on at the time. This year's most exciting Bungie Day announcement didn't come from the legendary game studio, but from Sir Paul McCartney himself. Announced through his official Facebook page earlier this morning, he stated that he's "really excited to be working on writing music with Bungie, the studio that made Halo." A photo from Abbey Road Studios taken back in May surfaced this morning that showed Martin O'Donnell collaborating with Paul in the same studio where all The Beatles records were put down on tape. I can't explain my jealousy. It's not clear if this is just new music in general, or music that will be used in Bungie's upcoming unannounced project. We heard way back in January that McCartney was working on videogame music, so could this be what he was talking about? I truly hope it's music for the rumored Marathon reboot/sequel. I would probably explode with excitement. Paul McCartney [Facebook] |
| Posted: 07 Jul 2012 05:15 AM PDT Upset Poongko is upset. After some tense SSFIVAE matches last, night today will be a bit more mellow with Mortal Kombat 9 and King of Fighters XIII semifinals. But, don't you worry, the trash talking and hype will come again as the Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 semifinals begin in the evening. Join us in the chat while we watch the best fighting players in the world duke it out in their game of choice. Live Streams Watch live video from srkevo1 on www.twitch.tv Stream 1: UMvC3 Watch live video from srkevo2 on www.twitch.tv Stream 2: KoF XIII and MK9 Stream 3: Panels & Interviews Join us in the Dtoid EVO 2012 chat, as we watch!
Check back at 4 PM for top 8 results. MK9 Semifinals Bracket (6 - 10 PM PST) Check back at 10 PM for top 8 results. UMvC3 Semifinals Bracket (8 - 12 AM PST) Check back at midnight for top 8 results. Brackets I Wanna Be the Guy: Gaiden to melt brains at EVO 2012 |
| Live show: Hangover goes for rock bottom in Spelunky Posted: 07 Jul 2012 04:45 AM PDT Have you guys been playing Spelunky? I can't seem to stop thinking about it, particularly after the praise Jordan heaped upon the game in his review. So, now that it's out, I'm going to tie Jordan and Katrina down to the couch and make them play it with me at least until I get out of that f*cking jungle. But before we can get to all of that fun, we have a new batch of Xbox Live Indie Games demos to check out first. It's a mercifully slim week, with only half a dozen titles and nothing where I took one look at screenshots and thought, "My GOD, what is that thing?!" Promising titles include RotoSchutzen, a 2D side-scrolling game of aerial combat where you pilot what looks like a crate with a cannon on one end and a propeller on the other. And I'm quite keen to examine Super Amazing Wagon Adventure, a game which plays out a random sequence of short stages to tell a different story on each run through. It's all happening from 10am Pacific over on Dtoid TV! Come hang out with us! |
| Talking to Women about Videogames: Lollipop Chainsaw Pt 2 Posted: 07 Jul 2012 03:30 AM PDT
[Talking to Women about Videogames is a series where Jonathan Holmes talks to different people who are women about the biggest videogame news of the week for some reason.] In this, the second part of a two-part series about Lollipop Chainsaw, we'll be talking about zombies, psychology, how Juliet compares to Bayonetta and other female protagonists in gaming, why upskirts are a thing and what effect a male's gaze has on both creating and playing a game about a cheerleader with a chainsaw. So without further adieu, let's get kicking. [Warning: Spoilers Ahoy] Juliet Vs. The Zombies Lollipop Chainsaw's take on the zombie concept appears pretty traditional at first sight. The majority of the zombies in the game are expressions of the Freudian concept of the ID. They do not value other people's existence, and their psyches have no filters. If they want to fuck your father, they'll feel no shame in telling you so. They are animals, chaotic and evil, ready to kill and hump and destroy. The main thing that makes them different from a lot of other zombies is the amount of shapes and sizes they come in. They come in all forms of mindlessness: mindless sports fan zombies, mindless suicide bomber zombies, mindlessly territorial farmer zombies, and even mindlessly videogame-addicted zombies are all part of the show. People often think that pornography is only sexual content, but by my definition, it's anything that speaks to the animal side of us. These zombies represent all that. The arcade zombies are probably my favorite, as they don't even notice Juliet at first. They're too preoccupied with their games. As someone who's achieved a zen-like mental emptiness on many occasions while high score hunting, it was easy for me to laugh at both those zombies and at myself. It also says something about videogame fans in general. Overall, our brand of mindlessness is lot more harmless than the kind you may find on a football field or the sharp end of a backhoe. That said, even the arcade zombies are pretty violent once they get going. All of the game's zombies are aggressively, relentlessly attracted to Juliet (except for the zombie chickens), which is a pretty accurate reflection of our culture's mindless and idiotic love/hate obsession with the "all-American babe" archetype. The world loved Britney Spears, then loved to watch her suffer after she fell from grace. Either way, we focused on her. The zombies in Lollipop Chainsaw suffer the same compulsion. So where does the compulsion come from? Probably from a lot of places. Some of it is sublimated rage that comes from being spurned by a woman that's "out of their league." That's what drives Swan, the game's evil ringleader, to create the zombie epidemic in the first place. Having always been mocked and rejected by "normal" people, he's always felt that the world was filled with hostile, dehumanizing bastards. The zombie apocalypse is just a manifestation of how he always saw the world. All of the game's bosses (with the exception of killabilly, the game's final boss) represent resentful outsiders who have been taught by our society that beautiful cheerleaders like Juliet are more valuable than "ordinary" people, and resent Juliet for her privileged existence. Killabilly is different in that he represents the gigantic, endless appetite of American culture. He actually wants Juliet to love him, but he also wants to eat her alive. Either way, it's all about him, and nothing is ever enough. Regardless if they are angry punk rock zombies or simple, cannibalistic zombies, they're still zombies. It doesn't matter if they see Juliet as an object of lust or as a symbol for everything that's wrong with pop culture. Either way, they're still objectifying her. They're still treating her like a piece of meat. Thankfully for Juliet, there is an upside to being objectified. Being treated that way gives her full license to treat the zombies with the same level of insensitivity. They see her as a piece of meat to be sexually or philosophically destroyed, and she see them as pieces of meat ready to be carved for fun and profit. The difference between the zombies and Juliet is, she didn't start this fight, but she sure as hell knows how to finish it. In a world where so many videogames are about men who treat sex like a self-interested mini-game, and treat all women like either prostitutes and/or potential murder victims, it's nice to see a game about a women who takes great joy in beheading anyone who would dare to take that tact with her. [Original Art by Sarah T.] Upskirts Vs. Plumbers Butt So what makes Juliet more capable than the zombies? I think a lot of it is due to how much she enjoys expressing herself, and how little she suffers from being self conscious. She's turns the act of slaughter into an art, but it's not performance, as Juliet doesn't care who might be watching her. She's doing it for herself. The opinions of others don't matter. If a punk rock zombie calls her a "vanillaslut," she'll cut the words in half with her chainsaw, and cut him in half next. Their words can't hurt her and their "objectifying gaze" doesn't matter, which brings us to the upskirts. While the majority of Lollipop Chainsaw is made up of gameplay which features very little in the way of sexually charged content, the game's cut scenes do have quite a few blatant upskirt moments. I didn't notice this at first, in part because I played a lot of the game with Juliet either dressed as Ash from The Evil Dead, or as a giant stuffed rabbit. That's just part of it, though. Another reason I didn't notice all the upskirts is that, like Juliet, I just don't care about upskirts. Upskirts are a fetish that doesn't appeal to me. They play on society's notion of a woman's sexuality as being like candy (or in this specific case, lollipops); it's both sweet and bad for you, and you shouldn't give into your urge to have some. Making a woman's sexuality forbidden makes it all the more exciting to some when some of it slips out. A woman in a bikini has very little fetish potential, but a woman who is fully dressed who accidentally shows you a glimpse of her underwear causes some people to flip out. Add the idea of the woman in question being in high school, and the "I want it because it's wrong" fetish factor shoots straight through the roof. Juliet knows this, but for the most part, she just don't care. She'll cover up if the player intentionally moves the camera to try to look up her skirt, but other than that, she's not concerned either way about who sees her bloomers. Like a plumber who carelessly unsheathes his ass crack while bending over to get at your sink, Juliet is unafraid of anyone who might see her buns as she she bends over to allow her boyfriend Nick to make eye contact with friends or family. Also like the plumber, it doesn't occur to her that she could or should be treated as a fetish object. So why bother covering up, especially when the world is mostly populated with a bunch of soulless zombies? It's an awesome idea, one that someone such as myself, who had a scant 15 minutes of fame at one point in life, can very easily relate to. There was a time when I had to completely reject the idea of caring if people were objectifying me or intent on metaphorically "eating me alive" if I was going to get anything done. It was a lesson I took with me and have tried to harness in my videos for Destructoid, which often involve trying to prove a point by casting myself in the part of the fool. So it's easy for me to put myself in Juliet's shoes. Lollipop Chainsaw works as an excellent metaphor for what my college and high school experiences often felt like. The fact that the game pulls this off with a female lead is good thing, right? It shows that gender isn't always a barrier, and that men can relate with aspects of femininity and vice versa, right? Maybe that's true. The other possibility is that I'm just playing another game created by a man, made for a primarily male audience, and that's why it's so easy for me to relate to Juliet. Like so many of today's female videogame characters, she's a metaphorical man in drag -- the representation of a man's idea of what a woman could be, and not an expression of the experiences that women have had. Juliet Vs. A Male's Gaze As much as I love the character of Juliet, and feel as though she is a valid virtual extension of myself, I would still never pronounce that she's "a great woman in gaming." That's really not for me to say either way. As I am not a woman, and have never been a woman, I have no idea if she does a good job of giving women a voice in the world of gaming. That's up for the women of the world to decide. From what I've heard, some women have told me that they were immediately annoyed with Juliet, and were sad that she didn't "own and enjoy" her sexuality like Bayonetta or Lara Croft did. I've heard other women say that they absolutely love Juliet, and can deeply relate with the fact that she's partially ashamed of her love of zombie slaughter. They've told me that it's exactly how they feel about being gamers -- that they've often been afraid to tell people that they have a side to them that loves games packed with wanton violence, but that it's a side of themselves that they can't ever keep in the closet for long. Still other women have told me that they think it's quite clear that Lollipop Chainsaw is a game created by a man for other men, but that doesn't disqualify the game from offering a badass portrayal of a woman. One friend told me -- "Sure, Juliet was clearly created by a guy, but unlike a lot of games, she was created by a guy that thinks femininity is pretty awesome. They also hired a woman to do her visual design, which is a good sign. Considering how many guys refuse to play as a female character, and how many developers won't include the option to play as women in their games, I'd say that Lollipop Chainsaw is a step in the right direction." Hopefully I got the point across that in our current culture, where female protagonists are still in the minority in gaming as a whole (even games based on movies about women), an empowered tribute to femininity like Juliet is something we'd do well to consider (even if she was created by men). So that's enough about Lollipop Chainsaw for now, though I still have plenty more I wish I had the time and the space to talk about. That might have to wait for the sequel, assuming we ever get one. Regardless of whether you like the game or not, I think it's clear that there are still plenty of stories that could be told with a character like Juliet. Boy would it be interesting if it turned out that Juliet had a detachable penis the whole time. |
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