Author: Maul

Well, Andrew just got a boner. Yesterday, it was confirmed, via the Australian game magazine PC Power, that Mass Effect 3 would have multiplayer, following months of speculation on the topic, fueled by cryptic phrases on foreign game ads. This was the exact verbage used, “That’s right – Mass Effect 3 is getting multiplayer! We travel to BioWare’s office in Edmonton for hands-on time with the series’ first foray into online gameplay, and chat with Mass Effect Series Producer and Mass Effect 3 Project Director Casey Hudson about the decision to go multiplayer in the epic battle for the galaxy.” The blurb…

Yep. Just like it says. I know a few of you really seemed to enjoy/enjoy railing the Mortal Kombat and Fallout videos I posted up here, so I thought I’d share this one, despite its lack of substance. Halo: Helljumper is a new fan-made film series coming soon. If the six seconds of teaser footage peaks your interest, give ’em a subscription.

At last! It took a whole friggin’ year, but Castlevania, Harmony of Despair finally jumped to multi-platform, and is on the PS3. I was afraid that this, one of my favorite franchises, might have left this 2-D curio behind on the 360, forever taunting me, but now I finally get my chance.

I was kinda sad when I found that the MGS board game, which I thought could be a cool espionage style spy-game, was actually just a retooling of Risk. But, I gotta admit, that’s one bad-ass looking board. Much like Risk 2210 (a great game, btw), the game has alternate rules and win conditions in addition to the usual Risk play style. “The game board transports players to a Metal Gear Solid saga with a custom designed map of earth that includes six zones and spans 42 territories. Among the game contents are: 275 custom plastic playing pieces representing five…

So it looks like Marvel’s #1 film property, the build up to which has seen 5 $80 Million commercials… er, films… hit the big screen, heralding its release, has been having trouble garnering the requisite video game tie-in. Marvel announced today that their Avengers game licence had come back to them, and they were looking for a studio to develop the franchise. But wasn’t another studio already working on this game? Yes, THQ was developing the title, but it was scrapped by Marvel for unstated reasons. Likely, they just weren’t liking the direction of the game, but who knows. Subsequently,…

I don’t think there was any doubt that at the close of E3 this year, Battlefield 3 was one of the most anticipated titles. After an impressive technical display and an incredibly limited demo, it had become like some sort of mythological beast. Gamers could hardly wait to get their hands on a copy, and rip their tiny, muscular fingers into its virgin flesh. Virgin mythical beast flesh… All mixed metaphors aside, your opportunity is coming. EA announced this morning all the details about the open multi-player Beta and anyone can give it a shot. Plus, you can get in…

Oh Jesus, its coming. Yep, Dragon Quest, one of the longest lasting, successful, and most addicting RPGs of all time, is rounding out its decalogue. This is the series that has release laws in Japan to prevent businesses from shutting down and riots from ensuing when a new installment comes out. This is one of the most influential game titles of all time, even if many gamers don’t realize how far its reach extends. And, in a startling reveal, a coup de tat on Japanese gaming households, Square-Enix has announced that Dragon Quest X is an exclusive for the Wii…

Dead Island has finally arrived, and the public at large can decide for themselves if the hype generated by one of the greatest trailers of all time was worth it. Many will flock to stores to pick up this title, but I know that many of you out there are Steam users. Lord knows we (justifiably) crank the shaft of that service enough that I don’t know how a Google search for Steam could not lead you here. I think any Steam purchase should come with a subscription to Padinga. Anyway, its on there, and its a hell of a…

Max Payne, Max Payne wherefore art thou, Max Payne? Wow, that’s a title that’s been lost in developmental Hell for a while now, right? I mean, its no Duke Nukem, but its we’re balls deep into this generation with nary a whisper of Max. But, why the buzz for this franchise, still? I mean, I loved the first game. Loved it. And then it spawned a bazillion cheap knock-offs and a lame, lame sequel. For me, the franchise is 50/50… or if you count the shit movie with Mark Wahlberg, its 1 outta 3. Not a sure thing. And yet,…

A little indy film troupe called Wayside Creations recently created a fan webisode based on Fallout called Nuka Break. Its a fun, clean looking short film. Apparently, its also gotten enough attention for them to start getting financial backing, so the group is going to be producing an ongoing Fallout Webseries. Good work, gang! For those interested, here’s the short that started it all. We’ll bring more news when the series is ready to roll.

Hey gang! The ever-exhausted Maul checking in real quick to share something I got in my mailbox last night. 2K Games saw fit to bless us with a debut copy of their new trailer for Borderlands 2. I’ll admit, its not much. Just a taste. A morsel. A smidgen, if you will. Borderlands was so awesome, however, any look at the follow-up is damn exciting. Also, the video hardly warrants the age gate that they’ve asked me to hide it behind, so, in order to warrant said restriction, I’ve decided to add the following comment: Fuck. Also, tits. Thank you.

Those who do general searches for game news will no doubt notice today that Sony’s London warehouse was set ablaze yesterday. For those of you without an eye on world news, you should know that this is just one incident amid a wave of violence overtaking London, and surrounding areas in the UK. The reasons given are myriad, but the result is singular, angry people lashing out at their home, their fellow citizens, in a misguided attempt at forcing ‘change’. Or, for some, its simply the joy of lunacy, of chaos. At Padinga, I think I speak for all of…

One of my favorite strange news stories of the day. One of. Damn the world is a weird place. Anyway, it seems that word of China’s goldfarming scheme has spread into other Asian nations, and may now be used to fuel terrorist cells. Last Spring, the New York Times reported about a group of prisoners in China who were forced to play MMOs day in and day out, under supervision of guards, in order to goldfarm, develop accounts, sell said accounts, and hack user data, on games that were being played in the US. Supposedly, the 30 prisoners earned, over…

Hey kids, I just realized that I ‘m going to be driving to Kansas aaaaaall night long, and my usual post schedule is going to be disrupted. Shit. I came on to post about the EVO winners this year, and it seems Q has beat me to it. Double shit. But, I do have one distinct advantage that he does not: I was on the floor for the Grand Championships. The room was packed. While the Rio, this year’s venue, does not have quite the touch of elegance that last year’s venue, Caesar’s Palace, does, it does provide a bigger…

EVO fighting Championships are going on right now, burning up Las Vegas. Who is the best fighter in the world? Who will they play? The answers are forthcoming… tonight! In the meantime, here’s  a live feed of the main-stage event, and you can check out the tourney bracket at Shoryuken.com. I’ll be back on Tuesday with a wrap up, and some pics from the show floor! EDIT:  Aaaand EVO 2011 has come to a close. I’ve removed the live feed. Congrats to all the winners, match breakdowns will be up soon!

Maaaan, you may think you know San Diego Comicon (SDCC) but brother, you don’t know shit. SDCC hasn’t been just about comics in a long, long time (for better or worse). Its become a pop culture mecca, the focal point of all things nerd in the US. So, where else would this pop aristocrat go for vacation? For four glorious days (and one preview night), the beautiful city of San Diego is converted into a towering monolith of geekdom, and filled to the brim with unwashed chubby guys and hot nerd girls in costumes. Glory. Comics, novels, artists, musicians, movie…

Its the year 20XX. Capcom, super-fighting video game machine, has just defeated Mega Man Legends 3. They get equipped with: Dead Franchise Blaster… and Rush Jet. Yep, in a move that’s sure to upset fans of the Blue Bomber, Capcom announced (very casually) on their blog that the title didn’t meet their quality standards, and rather than rework the title, they have chosen to cancel it outright.

The folks at 2K games have been very, very excited for The Darkness. They were all over us to take a look at it at E3, and it seems like I get a new press release for it every day. “Hey guys, can I get some Bioshock press releases? No? The Darkness… well… ok.” Here’s their newest, copy-pasted right out of my inbox. “2K Games announced today that The Darkness™ II, for all previously announced video game consoles and PC, is now planned for release on February 7, 2012 in North America and February 10, 2012 internationally. Currently in development with Digital…

With San Diego Comicon comin’ up this weekend, details from the panels start to leak out, including various celebrity presences that might get a little more media attention. To that end, Activision has released the cast list for their upcoming Marvel Comics-related properties. The voice talent has a surprising number of B-list stars with some built up nerd cred. Leading the pack is Val Kilmer who, ironically, will not be voicing Iceman in the X-men game, but rather the lead villain in Spider-Man: Edge of Time, a malicious scientist who’s fiddling with the time-stream to remake the world in his…

Sometimes, we fanboys have a lot of time on our hands. Maybe too much. Still, this was too cool to not spread the wealth. The fellas over at Games Radar have proven that they just don’t have nearly enough to do in the course of a day, and they’ve created Magic: The Gathering expansions for three Legends of Zelda games now. The newest expansion is enormous, at 242 cards, covering pretty much every creature, item, and event in the game. Anyway, I thought they were pretty sweet. I’d actually be interested in playing a deck made of these cards, if…

It is a dark time for Star Wars. Games like Clone Wars: Republic Heroes and The Force Unleashed II have been tanking, and Star Wars Kinect isn’t faring much better off of initial demos. Lucas Arts has been downsizing, and they don’t have a lot of new games on the slate at the moment. It would seem that, if I had to hazard a guess anyway, that the company and development partners are suffering from a severe lack of creativity. And, I’m sure, after the multitude of games that Star Wars has inspired it might be difficult to come up…

Hold up, we’re going to stop sucking Steam’s dick for just a sec, so we can bring you some other game news. *gasp* This is probably my favorite story of the past few weeks. Here’s a little game called Glitch Hiker. It won some awards and crazy accolades at European game cons. The gameplay is pretty inventive, you’re a little dude trapped in a video game, gathering coins. Easy enough. The interesting bit is that the game is intentionally programmed with glitches all over, similar to when you get dust contamination in an 8-bit NES cartridge. The result is a…

First off, happy 4th of July to all of our readers out there (except, I suppose, for the British. Go have a nice cuppa and we’ll give you yours on November the 5th) . I hope everyone was able to celebrate and blow off some fireworks without, in the process, blowing off any digits, eyes, or genitals. Now, on to games. Ever notice how the more ‘adult’ the content of a game title is, the more juvenile it somehow becomes? Ironic that. More poop jokes, crude language just for the fuck of it, blood and nudity everywhere… Despite that, if blood,…

Hey! Its Maul! I’m drunk and should probably be in bed, but I’m here, casting aside all journalistic integrity to write to you on some very important matters. That’s right, video games are now protected by the first amendment as ruled on by the supreme court. You see, now… I… oh, it seems Andrew has already addressed that. Well, okay, how about we talk some more about the Wii U? I was really down for that at first, and I may be still, but only one of the new controllers? Man, that is some BS right there. One of the…

Usually, I try to open up the week with some sort of big, bad-ass story, or maybe a lengthy, witty post featuring a half-naked Princess Peach. But frankly, I got nothin’ like that today. Its post E3, and the gaming industry has blown its collective load all over our metaphorical backs, and we have to give it a few minutes before its ready for round 2. In the meantime, though, more details about some already known stories slipped out over the weekend, and you might have missed them while you were busy chasing the ladies, or…

Last week, I sauntered up to Konami’s booth, crowds parting the way from my manly swagger. As I approached the table, with a gleam in my eye and a mischievous grin on my face, I demanded they show me what was up. Promptly, they responded, “Check this shit out.” … okay, maybe that wasn’t exactly how it went down, but close enough. Konami had three cornerstone games to show off, though, when I approached them. Three games worthy of highlight. After the jump, we’ll have a look at Never Dead, Silent Hill: Downpour, and No More Heroes: Heroes’…

First off, sorry about the age-gate for an article that has a surprising lack of blood or nudity within. Its a Capcom thing. Secondly, Capcom had a small but extremely solid line-up this year. While no games at E3 had them lining up around the booth like last year’s Marvel vs Capcom 3 did, they certainly had more than a couple head-turners… also probably a factor that made their booth a bit less crowded, they weren’t giving out T-shirts that ebay for over $100 each. Regardless, it just wouldn’t be E3 if we didn’t at least touch on…

There are probably quite a few of you out there who, like me, find yourself strapped for time and often unable to find a solid 3 or 4 hours of free time to commit to the new hotness that’s burning up the world’s consoles. Even now, I could be getting caught up on some Zelda titles or LA Noir, long begging for my attention, but I’ve got work to do. Padinga work. For those of us who are forced to get our games in quick-fixes, or are looking to get something creative from an indy developer at a…

This year, WB Games presented a game line-up that focused heavily on 3 genres: Fantasy, Super Heroes, and Muppets. Yes, Muppets. But while we’ve focused heavily on those latter two topics, the two premiere fantasy titles have yet to be looked at; and they have to be, as they’re top-notch quality. After the jump, we’ll talk about Lord of the Rings: War in the North, and Break’s favorite, Bastion.

We’ve covered a lot of stuff at this year’s E3, and Square-Enix had some of our most anticipated titles on the show floor. You can click on these links in case you missed my look at Deus Ex: Human Revolution, or Andrew’s sneak peek at Hitman: Absolution. Both of these titles looked fantastic, and made our respective trousers just a little tighter. You know, a little game-chub. Meanwhile, Dead Island, which Square is publishing for Deep Silver, came out as a good game, but one totally different than expected.