Video Games

Alan Wake Preview

It was one of the most talked about titles from E3 2009 and after several delays, psychological thriller fans will finally see their dreams turn into living nightmares on May 18, 2010, with the long anticipated release of Alan Wake for the Xbox 360.

For those of you caught unaware, Alan Wake sees the title character, a horror writer, and his wife taking a vacation in a tranquil Pacific Northwestern city trying to help Alan overcome his writer’s block. Once in the town though, Alan starts having nightmares and wakes up one night to find his wife is missing and a story he can’t remember writing has come to life. As Alan scrounges about the wilderness collecting pages from his otherworldly novel, trying to find his wife and unravel the mystery of where the book came from, he must combat members of the community who have been consumed by a poltergeist-like darkness.

Left 4 Dead 2: The Passing

Valve’s always good about post-release support for their games. The amount of updates Team Fortress 2 is borderline mythical in its scope and ambition and that’s a game that’s nearing its third birthday. Support for both Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 have left most of us wanting, especially when compared to the amount of attention Team Fortress 2 has received. It’s a bit more understandable, considering just what kind of multiplayer experience the Left 4 Dead series is; it’s a co-op/4v4 multiplayer game and any single map needs to work for the vast volume of modes Left 4 Dead 2 contains. The Passing, which will hopefully be the first of many more content updates for Left 4 Dead 2, is a great slice of DLC. It might have taken months for it finally land, but it’s bound to rack up some extra playtime.

Splinter Cell Conviction Review

Splinter Cell: Conviction opens up with Sam Fisher sipping a drink in Malta, a small island nation in the Mediterranean, as he tries to piece back together his life after the death of his daughter in a drunk driving accident three years earlier. Having left Third Echelon after his last mission pushed him past a point he didn’t think he could return from, where he killed one of his best friends in Irving Lambert, Sam appears completely lost. That is until an angel watching over him appears to deliver him from the brink.

Blur (X360) Preview

The developers of Blur, Bizarre Creations, are responsible for one of my most favorite racing games out there (granted I do not play racing games that much), Project Gotham Racing 4. Blur is a step back from the serious Sim-style racing of the PGR series and it delves a bit into the arcade style racing game. Similar to most Kart Racing games, you pick up power ups throughout the race, using them to either protect yourself or cause your opponents some serious trouble.

The first thing that you notice is Blur’s very stylish neon graphics. Everything has beautiful colors reflecting or running off of it and this adds to the beauty of the tracks. Unlike most betas, Blur offers quite a bit in its, giving us 12 cars, 4 game types, and 4 tracks. From the tracks given, they seemed very varied and out of control in a good way.

Halo Reach Legendary Edition Announced

Recently Bungie announced their new edition for Halo Reach. This being the super expensive Legendary edition. The collection will include the game (of corse), a 10 inch statue with the main characters, multiplayer armor, a journal containing info/documents of the history of the Halo universe, and a flaming helmet code for multiplayer. All this will be packaged in a futuristic looking black box that looks like it was taken right out of the game.

Steam Update Soon

For those of you who have already joined the Steam beta, you should already see some of this coming. Valve is releasing a new version of Steam, with an upgraded user interface to smooth out navigation, and some new ways to see information with ease.  Information is simply easier to find in the new version. You can choose between 3 ways to view your game library, and the Store page has some statistics on the right sidebar. When viewing your games you can see how many of your friends play it, how many hours you’ve played the game, and all the update news and editorial news about that game or something relating to it. You can also organize your own game lists, so there’s more user control. In the new Steam, you can see news from sites like Kotaku. If you want a huge list of the specifics, or want to join the beta, go here: http://store.steampowered.com/uiupdate

Halo Reach Beta Info

Bungie has revealed their plans for the Halo: Reach beta, and it’s looking substantially different than Halo 3.

The beta will feature the mode Invasion, which has 3 maps to breach, with Spartans defending and Elites attacking. Invasion looks like a Battlefield take on Halo, with the ability to respawn on your teammate, and being able to pick load outs before battle. The load outs are simply choosing between the different armor abilities to use, and there’s a significant difference between the Elites and Spartans here. Spartans will get a sprint ability, as well as an armor lock which makes you duck and activate shields. This makes you invulnerable, at the cost of not being able to move. If you stay in the armor lock long enough, an EMP will burst from your armor and take down anyone’s shields that are near you. Elites get- unsurprisingly- a cloak mode, which makes the player invisible, as well as jamming the radar of nearby enemies. Elites can match the Spartan’s sprint with a dodge maneuver that somersaults the player to the side.