4th Resident Evil Film Due 2010
Kotaku are reporting (via a leak to ShockTillYouDrop.com) that an internal memo has penciled in Resident Evil: Afterlife for a US cinema release on the 17th of September next yearIt was known that W.S. Anderson wanted to do a 3rd film, and that Extinction performed better than its 2 prequels, but so far little else is known. One large unknown is whether Milla Jovovich is going to return as Alice, but as her career currently seems to be nothing but Resident Evil I don't see why she wouldn't
We haven't reviewed any of the RE films yet for Loading Screen, but we will get to them. Loading Screen is going on a bit of a holiday soon, just so we can stock back up on films, but Resident Evil seems as good a place as any to start when we come back.
0 comments
Ben 2009-07-02 08:39:25permalink
Playstation Portable Review:
Rock Band, it's a bulldozer of a game that just keeps absorbing more and more people and more and more money from further releases and weekly downloadable content. So do we need a portable version? Harmonix and EA say yes we do.
A portable version of "Rock Band" can't work though can it? Surely the purpose of Rock Band is a group of people, packed into a small living room with plastic instruments and making lots of noise? Well, yeah, it kind of is, so with that in mind Rock Band as we know it wouldn't work in a portable form. So instead, Harmonix have gone back to a template they used prior to the first Guitar Hero game, namely the mildly popular cult titles Amplitude and Frequency.
So Rock Band Unplugged is Rock Band in appearance and name, but technially and in terms of how it plays it is well and truly a descendant of Amplitude. You set up your band in the normal manner, and begin a tour, once the song you want to play is selected from there on out things change to what Rock Band fans know and already love. You're immediately presented with four bars, one for each member of the band (from left to right, bass player, drummer, vocalist and guitar player) and you're given a short combination of notes to play for each instrument (I might add not simulatenously), using left, up (both d-pad), triangle and circle you play the notes and upon completion that band member will play itself for a short period of time, allowing you to tap a shoulder button to cycle to another band member to play their instrument and increasing your combo meter. You still have to save a band member if things go awfully wrong by using the Overdrive button (X), which can make things pretty tense as it can take a while to recover completely, if 3 band members require rescuing, the song is failed.
It actually sounds more contrived, complicated and difficult than it really is, but it does provide a genuine, yet fun challenge. However, it doesn't feel like your performing the music, it feels like your the conducter in an orchestra and are instructing each band member as to what they should be doing, which is a very odd feeling considering this is Rock Band and not Orchestral Band.
The tour mode too feels a little odd, you have a handful of cities to choose from to begin with, with 3 songs in each, as you progress you unlock more cities, and therefore more songs, but you also unlock "sets" where you have to play a set number of songs that are either of your choosing, chosen at random or based on a theme depending on the title of the set. This forces you to play through a song numerous times and is actually really helpful in helping you cope with higher difficulty levels as you get used to each set of notes for a specific difficulty. However, it can become incredibly repetetive and tedious when you have to play a song that you're not particularly keen on.
However, this is only really a small niggle, and overall Rock Band Unplugged is as easily addictive as its bigger brothers on the home consoles, with a pair of headphones it lends itself well to portable play, and load times are suprisingly short. The presentation is as high as you'd expect and overall the game is great fun and different enough to what you normally expect from the series to warrant a purchase. Harmonix have once again proven themselves the king of the rhythm action genre.
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Duane 2009-07-02 08:19:01permalink
In the second of our summer backlog reviews we take a look at BeeWorks' adorable DS adventure Touch Detective 2½
As inexcusable as it may be, we at Bitparade never reviewed the first Touch Detective game. Part of the reason for that was that it took an age to reach our shores, which should have acted as a warning because this sequel is never going to get a UK release.
For anyone reading this who didn’t play the original (the majority of you), Touch Detective centres around MacKenzie, a pre-teen detective, and her friends Penelope (who happens to be Mack’s best client) and Chloe (Mack’s greatest rival). Gameplay is fairly standard point & click, with some light adventuring. The touch screen is used to guide Mack around, and select items to touch and investigate.
You’ll also be able to talk to the many weird and wonderful characters littered throughout the game. In gameplay terms this is vital for getting missions and clues, but this should be important to you because it’s these interactions that provide the game with its abundant charm. Even if you take that you’re playing as a 10 year old detective as a given, there’s still her 300 year old zombie butler Cromwell, the self-centred town mayor (a turkey), a big red yeti thing, a surly freeloading mouse, the attractive but atrociously out of shape Inspector Daria, and the hilarious ticket inspector.
The presentation of the game has something of the Tim Burton about it. Characters have shadows under their eyes, the palette is washed out, and the environment is ever so slightly skewed. The top screen is used solely for Mack’s asides, sometimes endearingly naïve, sometimes witheringly biting. It all adds up to make for a game you cant help but feel some affection for, and one that is genuinely funny.
Of course that all means nothing if the gameplay doesn’t match up. The first game was criticised for its obtuse puzzles, it had its own bizarre logic and it wasn’t always clear where you were supposed to be. This is an issue that’s been addressed in Touch Detective 2½ somewhat. Perhaps it’s that playing the previous game acts as preparation for what this game expects from you, but the puzzles this time around seem much easier. Yes you will still spend some time touching every single thing on screen, but those occasions are few and far between.
Condensing the play area for most of the missions, whether a deliberate design decision or not, has really helped the flow of the game. Rather than have to trek through every location in town, instead you‘ll often be faced with a smaller play field. The first of which is the train mission, but there’s also a space ship, both of which are made up of multiple areas, but it’s much more linear than the first game. Helped too are the restrictions placed on which locations are accessible when you’re in town, there’s very little wasted space anymore, and that makes a huge difference.
I thoroughly enjoyed Touch Detective 2½, and would wholeheartedly recommend it on charm alone. However this is supposed to be a critical review, and as such it would be remiss of me not to draw attention to the games flaws. At points it is too easy, and it is conceivable that you’ll never click with the game’s logic. There were times where I was wandering around without a clue what to do, but these really were rare. In short, so long as you don’t go in expecting a life changing experience, there’s very little reason why you shouldn’t fall just a little bit in love with Mackenzie and her insane world.
0 comments
Ben 2009-07-01 07:59:28permalink
360 Last.FM Details
You may remember a few weeks back Microsoft announced that Last.FM was coming to the 360. Well today they've let Joystiq in on a few of the detailsIf you've got a Gold Live sub then you've have access to an ad-supported version of Last.fm. However this will be missing some features (like 'Loved tracks'). Silver members will have a trial allotment of 3 hours a month, with video ads.
However if you're willing to pay the £3 a month subscription charge (assuming that stays the same) then you get the full service ad-free
Or you could just not bother, as a free piece of software it does no harm, but why anyone would want to pay for this when they'll likely have a PC around the house baffles me.
1 comment
Ben 2009-07-01 06:05:33permalink
Story of the early British computing industry to be told in comedy-drama format
Martin "The Office" Freeman and Alexander "Have I Got News For You" Armstrong are to star in Syntax Era, a one-off comedy drama to screen on BBC Four later this year.Playing Chris Curry, inventor of the BBC Micro, and Sir Clive Sinclair respectively, the programme will document the intense rivalry between the two as they both strove to create the most popular home computer of the 1980s.
Those of us who lived through the 1980s will remember the sense of excitement when gadget and technology started to appear in our homes, but not many of us will know the fascinating stories behind their arrival, said Richard Klein, controller of station BBC4.
Very little additional information available at MCV.
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Mark 2009-06-30 18:09:18permalink
New DS Chibi Robo
If this is to be believed, the dS will be recieving a second Chibi-Robo game.Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Rich Oosouji is due out July 23 in Japan, no news yet of it being released outside of The Land of the Rising Sun.
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Duane 2009-06-30 15:36:01permalink
SEGA: More Adult Wii Games on the Way
Obviously by 'adult' we mean violent, but it's still good news.GameIndustry.biz spoke to MD of European development for Sega, Gary Dunn regarding the success of the companies 'mature' Wii games, and how likely we are to see more
"House of the Dead: Overkill was a profitable title for us... Whilst it had a rather sharp tail at full price, they do bubble away at a lower price point for a long time. You get your money back and a bit on full price, but over the years, if we do the final product return on investment, profits come from the lower price point."
A lot of the dismissive talk about Overkill's sales tends to forget that it actually did really well in Britain, for a few weeks at least. And for wwhat it's worth we really enjoyed it.
We haven't reviewed Madworld yet, and it still might be one of our revisit reviews over the summer, but here's what Dunn had to say about it.
"You have to push boundaries and explore. I think whilst MadWorld commercially didn't sell what we were expecting I wouldn't say it's game over for mature Wii titles from Sega."
"We're taking a look at the resources we have now. We've got money to invest in development, we're just considering where to invest it next,"
So there you go, there's more violence on the way to Wii at some point
1 comment
Ben 2009-06-30 14:46:04permalink
TrackMania Coming To Wii
I don't speak French (although I do speak the language of love, right ladies ;-) ) so some of the details are taken on good faith, however Trackmania is coming to Wii early next year.According to the video HERE, not only is the game coming to the Wii but it will also have 4 player split screen, online, and track editing
I wouldn't write off HD ports in some form or other, though it may take a while, but I'd have thought the game is less likely to get lost on the Wii, just a question of whether enough people will pick it up.
0 comments
Ben 2009-06-30 14:29:57permalink
I'd Tap That Edition
Truth be told I've mainly been playing Dragon Quest VIII this week, but that's old news (and there's a chance I'll still be mentioning it next time I do one of these)
Instead let's talk about Let's Tap. Ignoring the state of the art peripheral, Let's Tap is budget priced for a reason, there's not a whole lot of game there. There's a few modes, all of which have different levels or tracks, and there's even unlockables should you get good enough. I've yet to play it single player (and so dont expect a review until next week), but my main worry is that there isn't quite enough incentive to entice your friends back above Wii Sports and the incoming Sports Resort.
I've also played a little bit of Wii Music, not enough to give a definative opinion on it, but enough to know it's far from as bad as it's made out to be.
Similarly Flower, Sun, and Rain, I've not played enough to really go into detail, but I can tell you it's intriguing, difficult, and absolutely bizarre.
2 comments
Ben 2009-06-30 11:10:33permalink
I may have mistakenly given the impression that Uwe Boll’s films were getting better, and for that I apologise. He is becoming a gradually better director, on a technical, and in fairness his more recent directorial efforts (in regards to game adaptations, Postal and Far Cry) are leaps and bounds ahead of Alone in the Dark and House of the Dead.
Let’s get this out of the way from the start, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale is a poor film. In fact the only thing that saves it from being an abomination is the sizable budget, and a handful of decent performances from actors only involved because of the budget.
Jason Statham plays Farmer, a farmer funnily enough, whose home and family are attacked by the Krug (think Orcs from LotR). He rounds up Ron Pearlman and sets off to save his family, ultimately becoming embroiled in his country’s war against the Krug and discovering he is in fact heir to the throne. Running parallel to this is the ‘political’ battle for the nations throne, with Matthew Lillard’s (Scream) Duke trying to off the king (Burt Reynolds) at every opportunity, all the while being manipulated by Ray Liotta.
It’s quite a cast, but the results are mixed. Statham is Statham, doing no more or less than you’d expect, he is a solid enough lead and doesn’t do a huge amount wrong. Pearlman’s the same, it’s hardly the highlight of his career, and seeing him playing someone so devoid of aggression is a little bizarre given his more notable performances. John Rhys-Davies takes the film though, playing Merick the king’s sorcerer, he‘s regal and sophisticated, without hamming things up. Hardly a surprise that Rhys-Davies should shine in a Lord of the Rings rip-off, given that he was in the Rings films (also at least 2 Anaconda sequels, but let’s not dwell on that).
Most of the cast hands in solid performances, Will Sanderson is better than in BloodRayne, and Reynolds certainly has the presence to play a king, it’s just the emotional scenes where he struggles a bit. Liotta and Lillard don’t get off quite so lightly.
When Liotta first appears, flailing his arms around surrounded by sinister mist, like some sub-par maniacal Bowie impersonator, I started paying attention. Up until then the film lacked impact, it was a dull by numbers affair, but never have I felt such a wave of confusion as when I saw that scene. What was he doing? Was he told to overact that much? I know Ray Liotta isn’t hired for his subtlety, but he can do quiet menacing very well. I can only assume he thought he was doing voice work and needed to overdo things a bit.
Liotta’s performance is comical, but at least he’s convincingly evil. Lillard’s performance needs to be seen to be believed. Again it seems inconceivable that the actor was so unaware as to hand in this performance. Either when playing against the stoic Reynolds, or surrounded by restrained action stars, Lillard can’t help but have noticed his performance was hopelessly out of place. Frankly sheer embarrassment should have been enough to dial it down. As such I can only assume Liotta and Lillard were given poor direction (this is not just a cheap pop at Boll), as it’s these two who are removed from rest the cast for the majority of the film, and as such it’s conceivable that they are unaware of the tone of the rest of the film until it’s too late.
It’s not as though the acting alone brings Dungeon Siege down, there’s also the weak dialogue and shoddy CGI. The film is extraordinarily poorly cut, apparently there’s a directors cut which explains this to a point, but the leaps in the narrative are still hideously present. The action scenes are epic and long winded, but they too are cut poorly, feeling less like a flowing battle, more set piece to set piece.
The really curious thing about Dungeon Siege though is that there’s no real reason for it to be so bad. As already mentioned it apes the Lord of the Rings trilogy pretty heavily, the action isn’t too bad, and only Liotta and Lillard deliver truly bad performances. However everything lacks impact, someone dies and people give the bare minimum acknowledgement then move on. Get kidnapped, don’t worry about it I’m sure you’ll be rescued. Farmer’s a prime example, his son is killed, yet in a matter of hours he’s quite placid about the whole thing, only really mentioning it in the last five minutes.
To be fair the final half hour of Dungeon Siege is solid enough (ish), but the first 90 minutes are a mess (it’s over 2 hours long by the way). It’s certainly a more accomplished film that many of Boll’s previous, but it’s also a harder watch. Apparently the directors cut is superior, but I’ve no intention of finding out. So a technical improvement for Boll, but it’s still an overlong and arduous trial of a film.
0 comments
Ben 2009-06-28 14:05:21permalink
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this week's events
Mon29.06
Tue30.06
Wed01.07
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Fri03.07
Sat04.07
Sun05.07
What We're Playing
I'd Tap That Edition
"YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!!??" Edition
Nearly Forgot Edition
I've Got Soul But I'm Not A Soldier Edition
Tennis elbow edition
Wednesday Game
Pwong
TAG: The Power of Paint
Xwung
High Definition Tetris
Dyson
Loading Screen
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
Alone in the Dark 2
Tomb Raider Cradle of Life
Tomb Raider Ascension
Tomb Raider