Author: Maul

Oh, Nintendo. I really don’t know what to think about your E3 presentation this year. On the one hand, I’m all a-tingle with the potential for the Wii-U and its amazing new controller, and can’t wait to see more. So, good job on that presentation. On the other hand, what the shit was the rest of your booth dedicated to? The 3DS had a smattering of games about. The number of titles on the floor from 3rd party developers was pretty small, especially compared to last year’s DS offerings. You did have some good 1st party titles available, and for…

This summer, inspired by both a need to bring some sequels to some money-making franchises and the explosive debuts of some new movie franchises, Marvel and DC comics both see a variety of their Super-Hero characters return to game consoles. Green Lantern debuts with Ryan Reynolds donning the tights, and Captain America gets his first game without his stalwart Avengers beside him. The X-men return, possibly bolstered by the release of First Class, but in a form that’s a bit less familiar. Meanwhile Spider-Man and Batman both get sequels on their respective series. It was a pretty grand year for…

In one of the more surreal moments of E3, Snoop showed up to help Yoostar demo their new expansion disc for their movie re-enactment software. Video after the jump.

Andrew has gotten one of his favorite games in the can with Hitman: Absolution. Now our coverage of Square – Enix continues with one of the hottest games of this year’s E3 (and last year’s), Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Remember last summer when Clash of the Titans came out? That trailer was amazing, all rock and action and great visual FX. … then when the game came out, it was a total cheese fest with legendarily shoddy 3-D imaging. Basically, the final product wasn’t anything like the trailer, and we all walked away griping. So, anyway, I played Dead Island today, a game made famous by its beyond-epic trailer. If anything Dead Island serves as a reminder that fully-rendered, full-motion videos made to advertise a product, well, they aren’t always indicative of the game play within. Not to say…

The moment we’ve all been waiting for… Not to dis on Microsoft (any more than already has been… Break) or Sony, but lets face it, Nintendo is what everyone was waiting for. Their press conference, we’ve known for a little while now, was going to introduce a new console. Nothing builds buzz like new hardware, and all of the  potential it presents. Now, at last, we know what Nintendo’s got up their sleeve. Break is going to launch a podcast from the show floor shortly, but for those who want those details NOW!!!, here’s a quick rundown for you. Introducing,…

So much glitz and glam. Sony lost a lot of face this year, and they were working hard to earn it back. Free food from all the best food trucks in LA, free booze, a concert performed by Jane’s Addiction… But that’s just for us. That’s Sony swaying the press. Ultimately, for you the reader and consumer, the real test comes down to the games.  Beyond the spin, you can look at a list of titles and decide for yourself who’s getting your bucks this year. If you’re like me, you like a concise list, rather than sifting through whole…

For those of you who missed the Microsoft Press conference this morning, here’s a rundown of what they showed. E3 opens with  a bang!… or wait, no, bang isn’t the right word… suck. E3 opens with a suck.

Hey kids! Fellow Padingan Andrew “The Virginian” Allen and your usual Thursday commentator had a wild time at the Konami press event last night, and so he will be delayed as he processes a night of sensory overload into some sort of article. … I’m not going to say what went on at that press conference, but there may have been things that rhymed with brocaine and frostitutes… just saying. In the meantime, this blogpost by Frank X. Shaw, Vice President of Corporate over at Microsoft Games caught my eye this morning. In it, Frankie-X discusses how The 360 is…

Square went ahead and dropped this a few days early. Last year at E3, Deus Ex was my ‘Game of Show’, and I have been eagerly awaiting its release since then. I was disappointed that it got pushed back into 2011, but I’d always prefer a delayed, quality release than a rushed, glitchy piece of crap. It looks like we’ll finally get to see a full build at E3 this year, and there is a release date set for August. I can only hope this game manages to reach some of my expectations. I discussed the background and source material…

There’s a hushed silence in the air. It is the calm before the storm. E3 is coming… But we’re not here to talk about that today. I know, I know, you aaaaall want to hear about whats going to be at the show. But honestly, we can only make so many prediction articles about Nintendo (stealing the spotlight with new system), Sony (releasing tons of new stuff to apologize for PSN hacking, and tip-toeing around a reported $3.2 Billion loss this quarter), and Microsoft (*crickets chirping*) before even we get tired of seeing them. In the midst of a torrent…

This little tidbit came out of GoNintendo today, who claim to have an inside source that gave them the scoop on Nintendo’s upcoming Wii successor, code named Project Cafe. The authenticity of the document has been called into question, not only because of the tight security Nintendo tends to have on these things, but also the poor quality and pixels of the image. However, its worth noting that GoNintendo did have a few  of these for some of Sony’s systems a while back, and they turned out to be authentic. So, what do you think? Look plausible? It seems to…

Last Friday, the Padinga staff sat down to a meeting. And while E3 and its impending awesomeness was certainly on our minds, conversation kept slipping back to mourning. Yes, friends, Macho Man Randy Savage passed away that day, and we were all certainly grief stricken. At the age of 58, Randy Savage suffered a heart attack while driving, which resulted in a fatal car crash. So, let us remember the ways of Macho Man Randy Savage. Not only was he a ten time world champion of pro wrestling, not only was he the purveyor of many a Slim Jim beef…

Virtual Boy, Dual Shock, The Wii, The Move, The Kinect. All of these products and ideas, and many more besides, strive to accomplish one common goal: Immersion. They seek to make the player feel more interactive with the video game they are playing, somehow circumventing the distant relationship of controller and screen, and moving us into a more interactive game world. Some products have been fairly successful, or at least popular… others, well, not so much. But despite this success, games can only really interact with us via two senses: sight and sound (Unless you’re like Q and you have…

The end of an era. Nintendo will be showing off their new system at E3 this year (90.2% sure of that) and that means it’s officially only a year and a half until the 8th Generation (barring an apocalypse) begins in Christmas 2012. The end of a system’s lifespan is always an interesting time. You get a lot of weird shovel-ware games as the in-house crews start looking towards the next system instead. At the same time, there always seem to be some crazy, bad-assed games that come out, push the system to its limits, and make people lament having…

Wait wait wait… who the what now? You know, it never even donned on me that China might not be buying video game systems. I mean, I read the numbers, there are 84 Million Wii systems in the world, and 40 Million of them in the US alone. I just never realized that China, a country fat-packed with 2 Billion persons, might not represent any of that other 40 Million. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Well, turns out the Chinese have something else up their sleeve, and it just may be the dark horse of the next generation. Introducing: the iSec.

In my travels abroad, I have sought high and low for the coolest places to visit. My latest journey was fraught with danger. Whilst driving to Portland to film a horror short, my car was struck and damaged by a moose, and at one point, I found myself hanging from a tree by my neck. Despite that, it was all worthwhile to bring you news of the coolest of Portland localities, a late-night game cave that stands and shines amid a sea of hipster joints and strip clubs. Also, its really close to that anime theater I (unfortunately) went into…

The PSN has been down for about a week now, for some sort of hacking or maintenance or something. No one knew how big the problem was until just now. Sony just released a statement, confirming that their security system was, indeed, breached, and that the vital information, names, addresses, and possibly credit card info of their database of users has been copied into the hands of an unknown assailant. The full extent of the information swipe has yet to be revealed, but it doesn’t look good, any way you slice it.

Longtime followers of Padinga, and previously BreakmanX (and maybe if you were one of my readers in the pages of Extreme Gaming Monthly? Anybody? No?… well, that’s why we got canceled) will know that every year, I like to do a little State of the Union address that covers all of the changes that have, and will, come about in the gaming industry. This one comes almost 4 months late. Why so late? Well, see, I think a big change is on the horizon. Its been building for a while now. The Game Show has become rife with speculation…

At Padinga, particularly on The Game Show, it has been said that one of our favorite aspects of gaming is the social aspect. We miss the days of Nintendo’s Power Fest, and everyone and their brother in elementary school owning an 8-bit system and talking about/trading games. It seems that, despite how much bigger gaming has gotten over the years, the close-knit fraternity that was ‘gamers’ has become diluted. (Exception: Pokemon kids) In truth, the camaraderie still exists, but it has just changed form. What once was link cables, arcades, and game clubs has moved out into the night life. Being…

Its happening, even as we speak. Nintendo is developing a new console. The word is out, and its beginning to spread. And as you read more and more headlines about this next great revolution from the originators of the modern video game model, you begin to realize… we know absolutely nothing. Not us, and not any other news outlet. But damn, its fun to speculate, isn’t it? Here’s what we’ve got so far about Nintendo’s newest, and what we hope to see from the House that Mario Built. Personally, I’m hoping for something a little more Cyberpunk…

Mortal Kombat has returned! Just in time for the new game’s release (April 19th, if you’re curious), MK gets a new video adaptation in the form of Legacy, a series of webisodes attempting to breathe new life into the 19 year-old franchise. This is the follow-up to the trailer released by Kevin Tancharoen for a proposed MK movie, which went viral last year to much acclaim. Originally pitched as a movie relaunch, the film, which is a gritty mix of ‘real world’ serial killers and tech amid the sorcery of the MK world, has morphed into this web series. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s6UiEuCYXA…

Following the trend of 3rd Quarter shakeups by major game developers for the year, Activision announces that it can no longer financially support certain games with particularly expensive licenses and development. As such, Guitar Hero and DJ Hero, this is your death knell.

Anyone who has followed The Game Show for a while knows that I have a knack for finding bizarre stories that are marginally video game related. They’re fun, they’re weird, and, Goddammit, they’re just something different. So, as I don’t get on The Game Show much these days, its time to move some of them to print form instead. Who knows, this might end up being a regular thing. In the meantime, here’s a few that might have been missed…

Lets take a break from video games, for just a second, to talk about something vitally important. That thing is Poo. Once in a while, we like to step back from the ol’ video game console, from our online multi-player death matches, and sit down to a face-to-face free-for-all with some of our IRL companions. Its true! And this time, we decided to do so with a brand new Poo. Brought to you by Sandstorm and Wildfire (a pair of epic names if ever I’ve heard ’em), Poo is a card game that combines two of our greatest passions here at…

Congrats to 2010 EVO Champion, Daigo Umahara, who becomes the second time champ, using Ryu as his character. Daigo has proven himself to truly be the world warrior. He went on to defeat EG.Ricky Ortiz, who was using Rufus, in a close battle that went all the way to the final round of the fifth match, with each player being one hit away from victory. Truly epic. All of the matches’ winners can be found here: http://evo2k.com/?p=740 You can see the final, main event recorded here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKa45Hxb7XQ Congrats to all the champions!

At E3, Activision was cool enough to give us a little play-time with Spider-man’s new game, Shattered Dimensions. The game build we played was incomplete though, featuring only three of the playable Spider-Men, only two of the voices, and none of the story hooks. The mysteries, they say, will be revealed at the San Diego Comic-con. I’m a Spidey guy from waaaay back. That being the case, I can’t help but throw out some spectacular speculation. My Spidey senses are tingling…

Are you a gamer? Do you live in the Vegas vicinity? Then, by God, get your balls to Caesar’s Palace. EVO 2010 is this weekend, a convention hall full of all the glory that is 2-D fighters (and maybe just a smidge of 3-D). Head in, follow the trail of nerds to the convention hall escalator, and take that thing all the way to the top. At the peak of that stairway to heaven, you’ll one of the greatest assortment of fighters from the last 2 generations ever assembled, and maybe even a few besides…

The Grinder, being developed by High Voltage Games, has been announced and public knowledge for over a year now. But if you think you know anything about this game, you’re dead wrong. This game has changed platform, changed game style, changed direction entirely. Throw everything you thought you knew aside, as we show you the grisly new gameplay that The Grinder has to offer.

It may seem kind of odd to mix two different products together, but I think we’ve crapped on the Kinect more than enough already. Oh, sure it’ll get a bit more crap on it, regardless, by the end of this article; in the meantime I wanted to show you a pretty awesome product that happens to use the Kinect. What I’m talking about is the Yoostar, a nifty little product that, if you’re a movie buff like me, might just end up as one of the best party games you could invest in? Remember ‘Scene It!’? Yes, we all love…