Month: June 2009

El Pollo Diablo Back from the Grave, Sorta

Martyn Zachary Leave a comment

We’ve learned that two of publishing company Gamecock’s key ex-members, Mike Wilson and Harry Miller, have set up a new company for working with Croteam in publishing Serious Sam HD. Quoth Wilson, “Croteam owns the IP still since they had a G.O.D. deal, and are therefore able to work with us again on the new version”.Gamecock

This is somewhat peculiar, as while Serious Sam is a great IP, Gamecock and its legacy is decidedly not; for one, most of the games the company published never really reached their goals. Take Fury, for example, which folded in the record-breaking breadth of 10 months, or Legendary, which despite its clever name, got mercilessly and uniformly clobbered in reviews.

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Hitman 2, Hitman 5

Martyn Zachary 1 Comment

In an interesting turn of events, MTV Movies Blog reports that Fox has hired Kane & Lynch screenwriter Kyle Ward to pen the next film adaptation of the Hitman game series.

Hitman MovieWhile some cried foul in conjecture to the first adaptation, I wasn’t too disappointed with it personally; In my mind, and from a gamer’s stance, it was far more faithful an adaptation than last year’s Max Payne, for example, and the cinematic approach was largely true to the source material as well.

The more crucial bit of information sprinkled within the news post, however, is that it finally confirms IO Interactive is working on a proper sequel to 2006’s Blood Money after an unfortunate digression in the form of Kane & Lynch.

Richard aptly points out that there remains some confusion as to the series’ numbering in the MTV post: Contracts, after all, hardly counts for number 3 in the series, and we were subsequently unable to decide whether we’d number the game Hitman 1v2 or 2.5; Blood Money, while obviously a clear-cut continuation in the series – including a follow-up to Contracts – is thus harder to position as number 4. Our point is that the 1-4 numbering only works if you exclude the in-game narrative and focus solely on release dates.

…then again, are there really any long-running game series with clear-cut sequels and numbering?

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The Bald of Max Payne

Nabeel Burney Leave a comment

We were cautious, we told ourselves we’d be open to new ideas, and would withhold judgment ’til the real evidence came along inevitably confirming our deepest dread. A beloved franchise no longer in the hands of its creator has an upwards climb to prove its worth to the core fanbase, and it looks like Max Payne 3 is struggling to make that ascent with the first batch of screenshots released by Rockstar.

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Resembling nothing of the established series, the images feature an unrecognisable Payne facing off against thugs in the latest incarnation of Rockstar’s RAGE engine. The game is set twelve years later in Brazil, where Payne serves as a bodyguard for a wealthy Sao Paulo family. Rockstar promises a return of the bullet-time feature and the protagonist’s voice-over monologues, but it looks like they’re taking the series from its noir roots well into feared GTA territory.

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Getting Out of Hell Soon

Martyn Zachary Leave a comment

Out of Hell, a true dinosaur of an Unreal Tournament 2004 zombie mod – from times before Left 4 Dead or Killing Floor, or even Zombie Panic or Brainbread for that matter – is one of those interesting projects that simply refuse to wither and go away. After all, most hobby mods such as these rise and fall over the course of mere months, but not Out of Hell: This particular game has been in the making, without a public release (sans one antiquated preview demo), for more than six years!

There is, however, a perfectly understandable explanation for the lengthy development arc: The mod is the work of one single man, Long “Chicken+Ribs Combo” Nguyen, with additional music from Justin Lassen. It’s very refreshing to still see one-man army -style modding: Where today’s game engines may already be too complex and unmanageable, UT2k4 is still workable enough for one single man.

More information, screenshots and a new preview trailer after the jump!

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Mass Effect Galaxy Released For iPhone

Nabeel Burney Leave a comment

BioWare have released Mass Effect Galaxy for the iPhone and iPod Touch, available for purchase at the App Store for $4.99 or £2.99.

masseffectgalaxy

The game is a top-down shooter with the story told via animated graphic novel sequences. Players control superpowered soldier Jacob Taylor as he tries to uncover a plot to wipe out humanity. The bite-sized side-story takes place between the first game and the second, and will include plot points and characters appearing in the sequel. Additionally, it appears that there will be unlockable content in ME2 that can be accessed by completing Galaxy and logging into your EA account.

In other ME news – as reported on the twitter feed – new ME1 DLC may be on the way, and Casey Hudson has updated his IGN blog with clarifications on many nagging threads left hanging from the E3 showing of ME2.

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