Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordoris now available on next generation consoles and Windows in Europe. The game stars Talion, a Gondorian Ranger of the Black Gate who dies with his family at the hands of Sauron’s army. For some unknown reason, Talion is resurrected by a wraith-spirit and is blessed with new powers to compliment his ranger skills. Now, Talion is on the war path to avenge the murder of his family and discover more about the wraith that has given him a second lease on life.
The game is an open world action RPG. Players will shape a unique world based on their actions with the Nemesis System. Over time, Talion will develop nemesis that will grow and change their behaviour based on their previous encounters with Talion.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is out now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows in Europe and North America. Australia and New Zealand will have to wait until October 8th, 2014 for their copy. A PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 release will follow in November.
One of the most highly anticipated Xbox One titles, Sunset Overdrive, has come to EB Games Expo Sydney and today I had the pleasure of speaking to Insomniac’s Creative Director, Marcus Smith.
What drove you to Sunset City? How did you come up with this amazing idea behind Sunset Overdrive?
Oh boy. Well originally Drew Murray, the game director and I, we worked on Resistance 3. I was creative director, he was lead designer and we worked together really well – great friends. We were having lunch and it came up, ‘what kind of game would you make if somebody gave you the money to do it?’ Like your own idea and everything. And we started talking about something that was much more traditional zombie apocalypse-y. We were both about to be parents at the same time, and so I think we were thinking about the end of the world a lot, ‘cause it’s just nerve racking to bring a life into the world and so we started thinking about it. We just came out of Resistance 3, which is a very dreary existence right and the idea of going into a new franchise like that was kind of depressing. So we just started thinking about everything that we like in the world of those zombie apocalypse type games. Every once in a while something happens and it just seems super fun, like the end of the world where Will Smith is hitting golf balls off an aircraft carrier or Charlton Heston is driving a big boat in the empty streets of L.A. It just looks awesome to me.
Yeah and those are the games that everyone wants to play.
Right. And so that was the main twist – what if it’s not the end of the world, but like a new beginning? You play a character that is basically just not living up to their potential and all that, and when the end of times come about, it’s kind of like they find their place in the world. And you know all those sorts of video game fantasies come true is the new existence – the new end time. So that was the main thing and then we just ran from there for this idea of fun in the end times and then the team just came together and made amazing stuff happen.
Do you think in 2027 our world will be anything like your creative idea?
Uh, I think in a lot of ways the world’s already like . . . (chuckles) you know an energy drink turning people into mutants is already, it’s not really preposterous.
It could happen.
Stuff happens all the time, where major corporations release things and get away with stuff. I mean GM, American carmaker, they knew about a problem with their car and they didn’t do anything about it. Thirteen people died as a result, and that kind of stuff happens all the time. So it’s hard, as silly as it is, it’s also sort of reflecting society as it stands now. And yeah . . . it’s not that far off.
Do you drink energy drinks yourself?
I do, I totally do. Yeah, yeah – I think diet Red Bull has gotten more of my money over the years, than I care to admit. Yeah, sadly I do drink a lot of energy drinks.
I think everyone here as a gamer drinks a lot of energy drinks.
Absolutely – so it seems like it fits right (chuckles).
Do you think the Xbox One community will respond well to Sunset Overdrive? How do you anticipate they’ll react?
I honestly don’t know because, I mean obviously Xbox One has sold millions of copies and how do you, how do you define millions of people? You know I am certainly hopeful; we’ve made a game that is entertaining. We’ve seen that people, whether their new to gaming or are experienced, there’s something to do in Sunset Overdrive. You know and it’s inviting and accessible, but its got layers of complexity that skilled players can get into, so we’re hoping that everybody gets along with it, but at the end of the day its also got a point of view, it’s colourful and different and there are frankly going to be people who just don’t like that. Everybody has their own taste in games and we fully expect that there are going to be people who just hate the game, and there is nothing we can do about that. As long as we can get people who really like it.
Do you think you will get a lot of Tony Hawke fans into the game as well?
I hope so, yeah maybe cause most of us were Tony Hawke fans and this definitely was a game from early on, we said ‘it’s going to be like Tony Hawke with guns’, because most games have traversal , a lot of times it’s in the negative space that you’re traversing. Like you get off the environment and then traverse, whereas this game, like Tony Hawke, you have to have that awareness of the world, you have to know what’s bounce-able, what’s grind-able and all that. So there are a lot of similarities to Tony Hawke and this game. Also that accessibility that you can just pick up Tony Hawke and it was fun to play off the bat, but then you could learn how to do all the advanced moves. So yeah, I definitely see a lot of similarities in Tony Hawke, certainly an inspiration.
So what aspect then do you think gamers will value the most about Sunset Overdrive?
You know right now I think in the climate of games, we don’t have very many games that don’t take themselves very seriously. I mean, I used to love games like Sam & Max that were just funny, and there’s just not that many games that have a sense of humour right now. Saints Row is funny, but it’s its own kind of humour and we’re definitely . . . I think it’s right to have more games that have humour in them frankly. So hopefully people will respond well to that.
Yeah and I think they will.
Good! (chuckles)
Would you like to say anything else about Sunset Overdrive?
Buy it! It comes out here October 30th and I hope that everybody loves it.
Thanks Marcus Smith for taking the time to participate in the interview. Be sure to test-run Sunset Overdrive at EB Games Expo this weekend!
Madman has announced that it has acquired the latest series in the long-running Mobile Suit Gundam franchise, Gundam Reconguista in G. The anime has exploded onto AnimeLab earlier today and will stream every Friday, 7:30am AEST shortly after the Japanese broadcast. That’s good news for us early birds looking for an anime fix right before work.
35 years after the original Mobile Suit Gundam we have the oddly-titled Gundam Reconguista in G, a brand new and stand alone entry in the franchise. But it’s also a sequel to the classic Universal Century line of Gundam shows that have been released since the late 1970s, set in a new era known as the Regild Century (R.C.). A new protagonist known as Bellri Zenam and the poster mobile suit G-Self will head the new Gundam anime.
Episodes 1 and 2 are now available to view on AnimeLab while the trailer is viewable below. If giant robots in outer space aren’t your thing, Madman have recently added a stack of new shows.
Pokemon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire are getting ready to blast into the sixth generation with third gen nostalgia on the 3DS. While our mouths are already watering, Nintendo have released yet another trailer to make the wait feel even longer. In this clip, we revisit the legendary Rayquaza and see a brand new transformation – which of course is Mega Rayquaza.
Mega Rayquaza will be able to use the ability Delta Stream and now has access to a move by the name of Dragon Ascent. Unlike other “Megas”, Rayquaza can only evolve under certain conditions not yet revealed. Check out the clip below to see the latest evolution in action.
We know a release date. We don’t know the roster. Over the next seven months, we have a lot of speculating to do as Netherrealm are sure to slowly reveal more and more of the final roster. Quan Chi is making his grand return in Mortal Kombat X, and today, WB Games have a nice tease for all fans who want to see the sorcerer in action.
While we only get a tease of a fatality, some standard gameplay, and an x-ray movie in the clip – we still get a good deal of information from producer Shaun Himmerick, who takes us through the four minute video. Watch the trailer below and stay tuned, as Mortal Kombat X is set to launch this April for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, and PC.
Ubisoft released a new trailer today teasing some of the many guns that will make an appearance in Far Cry 4. The trailer features a KRISS Vector .45 sub-machine gun, a WWII-era MG42 machine gun, a mortar tube, a Nepalese kukri, a P416 assault rifle, a flame thrower, and an auto-crossbow. Although note explicitly mentioned, a few extra guns are featured in the trailer. I spotted a Skorpion SMG, an unknown machine gun, some sort of AK variant, a shortened M79 grenade launcher, and what looks like the shotgun from Far Cry 3.
Far Cry 4will be released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Windows on November 18th, 2014.
Epiphany Games (Frozen Hearth) released the first video look at their upcoming conspiracy thriller Majestic Nights. The game is takes place in the 1980s, the days of Madonna, MTV, and some intense paranoia. Lead Designer Samuel Jensen is our guide to Chapter Zero: Sunset After Dark on PC, which serves as a free intro to the game. The game features real-time stealth and action in a isometric view.
The first episode of Majestic Nights, Chapter Zero: Sunset After Dark, will be released for free some time in October on Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac. The rest of the game will follow in six chapters. Each chapter will cost $4.99 or the entire season can be purchased for $19.99.
Styx: Master of Shadows released a gameplay trailer today as a followup to the first Assassin’s Green video. The new trailer makes great use of Styx’s clone ability to temporarily disable guards while he makes his way to the top of the tower. The clones behave like a magical controllable smoke bomb, allowing Styx to run right up to guards and blow up in a puff of noxious smoke or jump on their faces to keep them busy.
The trailer continues to show how Cyanide Studios has emphasized the vertical design of the levels. There is generous shots of Styx deftly scaling walls to ambush enemies from above while the rest of the level sprawls beneath his feet. Outdoor and indoor areas seem to have been combined into a smooth transition, as Styx is spotted climbing around outside, then sending a clone indoors to blind a pair of unsuspecting guards.
Styx: Master of Shadows will launch for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows on October 7th, 2014.
Known for their acclaimed adventure horror games Scratches, Serena and Asylum, game developers Senscape are back again to give us some more nightmares with The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. It is heavily based on its namesake, a novel by the legendary H.P. Lovecraft.
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward is set in Lovecraft’s home town of Providence, following a young man who covers the secrets of his town, its ancestors and the Necronomicon. He researches into the history of witchcraft and occultism dating back to Salem as he races against time to save Providence from the return of a powerful evil warlock.
Tales and themes of H.P. Lovecraft has always turned heads of horror fans and this game should be no exception. Though this is not the first game we’ve seen based on this Lovecraft novel, this new game will be much more true to the storyline and characters. The Necronomicon: The Drawing of Darkness was so loosely tied to the story it even changed the character names and ending.
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward has still a fair way from completing its Kickstarter campaign, but if you’re a fan of a good ol’creepy game, it is a worth checking out. Also if you are a generous backer, you can get your name immortalised in the game somewhere, like in the town records or as a witch of Salem.
Let me start off with some cautionary advice to you, dear reader, NEVER AGAIN should I be let anywhere near a microphone while there are working eardrums within range… This is something which the polite and accommodating employees of Sony learnt for themselves firsthand when I oriented myself towards their stall at the EB Expo and tried my hand at Singstar: Ultimate Party on the PS4.
Now, don’t get me wrong; I am not terrible singer. I’m a trained actor and have done singing classes, so I know how to modulate and warm up my voice for a performance. The problem was that this was a press event and there was a bar tab so I had been chugging booze and coke since the doors opened. This combination of intoxication and lack of preparation by a tipsy yours truly lead to a rendition of Frozen‘s ‘Let it Go’ which was a lot more Black Metal than when Idina Menzel was singing it. I also slipped up a couple of times with the words as I came to realise that this was NOT the version of ‘Let it go’ which I so dearly loved from the movie. Turns out that the in-house Sony devs, London Studios, couldn’t secure the rights to the original song and had to settle for the current version in the game. My disappointment was palpable, and was further compounded by the limited starting song collection which was available to me.
The game comes included with 30 pop songs from the last couple of years, but didn’t have anything harder (in terms of sound) than pop rock in the form of ‘5 Seconds of Summer’. I instead decided to go with an ear worm to force my disappoint onto everyone else present; Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘Call me, Maybe?’ with my own Death Metal style. I took this opportunity to also play around with PS4 camera’s functions in the game.
There were a number of overlays and effects which the game provided to mess with the live feed of myself ‘singing’. The game records the players as they sing and takes snapshots at intervals throughout the song. This photos and videos can then be uploaded to social media and the Singstar website for other people to enjoy (or not). By using the touch pad on the PS4 controller I was also able to add in filter effects, virtual masks to the people in shot, and smoke effects coming from the controller. They don’t really add anything to the gameplay and their use in creating a music video would be limited as far as I can tell but the infinite creativity of a gaming community might be able to come up with some interesting stuff. Understandably, it’s difficult to innovate game design when your game is basically karaoke.
In terms of hardware however, the game changes things around by not having not having dedicated microphone peripherals. Instead, there is a free app which can be downloaded by any smartphone and be used to play the game. I assumed that this would allow more players to join in on the song (i.e. how awesome would it be for the game to have 10 people singing along to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’?). But alas, this was not to be as the game only allows for 2 players at the most.
The game will launch with a reasonable $40 AUD price tag. This is a bargain, especially with the fact that you no longer need to invest in expensive hardware like microphones to play the game. The problem kicks in when you want to go beyond the starting 30 songs which come included, as every other track in the catalogue (of which there are over two thousand) will set you back $2 AUD. This might seem inconsequential at first, but as any accountant worth their salt would point out: it’s easy to let little things add up to a lot. To play this game with your own personal track list might set you back anywhere between $60-$100 AUD. This is more in line with other big name titles, but at least Singstar will let you decided exactly how much you want to spend.
After I finished, the booth attendant offered through gritted teeth to upload the recording of my performance onto social media. I told him to delete it, lest it fall into the wrong hands and cause the downfall of humanity…
