Sands of Destruction certainly lives up to its name in certain respects: there are a few characters that seem to get off on being extremely violent, to the point where it’s disturbing. Just as well. If one plays their cards right, “destruction”  is the only adequate word to describe what happens when the heroes engage in combat.

However, the way in which the title suggests a story about the destruction of the planet is the one place where I’m left wanting. It’s a pity, because the premise of destroying the world to bring about its salvation had a lot of potential. Maybe some ideas are better left untouched?

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All you sports lovers out there who own Xbox 360’s better listen up.  According to a recent New York Times article, Microsoft is currently conducting “in-depth talks” with the Walt Disney Company to bring ESPN programming to the Xbox 360.

It appears this new streaming service could be very similar to ESPN360, which streams live sporting events from all over the world to your home computer.   Unfortunately the rumor is this would be a premium Xbox 360 feature which would cost an extra fee on top of the already existing gold membership fee. Read more… »

In a recent interview, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has some choice words regarding the publisher’s use of the Spider Man IP.

Kotick stated, “Our Spider-Man games have sucked for the last five years. They are bad games. They were poorly rated because they were bad games. We went away from what is Spider-Man. It’s about web-slinging. If you don’t do web-slinging right, what is the fantasy of Spider-Man?” Read more… »

Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter is a remake of Serious Sam: The First Encounter, GameSpot’s 2001 Game of the Year.  The graphics have improved, achievements were added, but that’s really all that’s changed in the platform transition.

Does a nine-year-old game hold up to the standards set by dozens of other GOTY-worthy shooters released in the intervening years – or even against its closest comparable XBLA competitor, Battlefield 1943?  Well… no.  Time has not been kind to Sam.

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["Stop It" is a new editorial I am taking on which is a forum for me to express my opinions on things in the video game industry or community that need to stop. Despite the fact these things may never stop, this will, at the least, fuel discussion. In turn, discussion can fuel change. A man can pray can't he?]

Preconceived notions are something every gamer is guilty of at least once. In all honesty, it can make or break a game for one or many individuals, even before playing the game. This isn’t fair to anyone, especially yourself. It needs to stop. Read more… »

Today word got out that Korean games developer and publisher Hanbitsoft has acquired the rights to Flagship Studios’s new defunct MMO Hellgate: London in North America, Europe, and Japan. Apparently Hanbitsoft feels like there is some money to be made there because the company plans to re-release the game is those regions, as well as in China, Taiwan, and South East Asia later this year.

For those of you who don’t remember (or chose to forget) Hellgate: London was an MMO made by a team of Blizzard Entertainment veterans who parted ways with the gaming giant in hopes of founding their own studio, Flagship. When Hellgate launched the game was plagued with bugs and billing issues, causing many gamers to cancel their subscriptions. Read more… »

VVVVVV is a modern 8-bit game by Terry Cavanagh.  He has gathered clout with his other games – Pathways and Self- Destruct, to name a few – but his new platformer looks to cement his acclamation in the indie community.

Combining inspirations from Metroid, Metal Storm, and frustratingly hard NES titles (Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man), VVVVVV mixes styles from the past to create a quick and entertaining dimensional romp.

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It’s been out for a few years now, and while it perhaps didn’t get the makeover it deserved for 2010, Be A Pro has been integral to both the online and offline success of EA Sports’ annual franchises.

I guarantee that most sports fans have, at some point, fantasized about playing at a professional level; scoring the winning goal and earning the adoration of your fans. Be A Pro is only in its embryonic stages, but there are already countless reasons why it could easily be the future of sports titles.

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I’ve always been a fan of both flight simulators and anime, and the announcement of Sky Crawlers game for the Wii emblazoned me to go research the novels and film, in an attempt to better understand the property as a whole.

While the movie is a bit slow, there’s no doubting that the subject material is deep, intense, and incredibly unique. Read on to see if the developers behind Ace Combat created a game worth checking out. Read more… »

Fans of the Fatal Frame survival horror series were disappointed when Fatal Frame IV was refused localization. The cut-and-dry is that there were many bugs in the Japanese release that publisher Nintendo wanted corrected before it came to the West, but developer Tecmo wouldn’t comply unless Nintendo payed for extra development time.

Enter the superfans! Like the Mother 3 translation project, the Fatal Frame IV translation was a labor of love. All you need is a copy of Zero: Tsukihami no Kamen, an SD card, and the patch itself. Follow the instructions and you’ll be able to play the game on a Wii from any region without modding your console in any way!

The team promises to offer updates should future firmware block the patch, and it’s also hard at work on bonuses like complete English dubbing. Exciting stuff!

A couple of weeks back, Jeff Effendi posted that “games without storylines suck”. He claims that without a strong narrative to guide our actions, not even the deepest mechanics or the most cohesive designs can carry a game. Players do need direction, but only basic incentives are required. Expanding the role of story very rarely makes games any better.

Where is line drawn to separate “good” narrative from “bad” narrative? A lot of the most beloved games feature the simplest of narratives that, while not Oscar-quality epics, are not necessarily “terrible” either. As long as the game provides the right amount of context for your character and his/her mission, you’ll never worry about not getting enough mileage out of your ride.

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Here’s a peek at the sopping wet special edition of Heavy Rain, which is looking rather tempting. The pack is set to include a snazzy collectors foldout box complete with realistic artificial raindrops, a poster full of hints, a copy of the game’s soundtrack, a dynamic theme, an origami thing and a voucher to download the DLC episodic content before it’s released. As far as special editions go, it doesn’t sound bad at all.

But before you get excited, I should point out that the special edition package will only be available to Europeans. And then to add insult to injury, it turns out the US version will be plagued with some truly terrible box art by comparison.

Considering the amount of extras on offer, you would presume this would cost considerably more than the standalone version of the game. And you would be wrong – HMV are selling it exclusively for £39.99, which is more or less the same price as what most retailers are charging for the standard game. Sold.

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