Apocalypso's Atomic Arcade

2009/11/05

Assassin’s Creed II Soundtrack out This Month, Before the Game

This month, before the game is even released, the soundtrack for Assassin’s Creed II , composed by none other than Jesper Kyd, will be out. Jesper did the original Assassin’s Creed OST, and is no doubt also famous for doing the OSTs for the Hitman series of games, among others.

The album is available on Amazon. I've included links to the individual MP3s as well.

Here is the track list for the game:

Disc 1/2
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01. Heart 3:58
02. Venice Rooftops 3:17
03. Ezio's Family 3:57
04. Florence Tarantella 1:51
05. Home In Florence 4:29
06. Approaching Target 1 3:35
07. Approaching Target 2 6:06
08. Venice Fight 2:01
09. Florence Escape 2:49
10. Tour Of Venice 3:15
11. Flight Over Venice 1 5:09
12. Back In Venice 1:32
13. Dreams Of Venice 4:23
14. Home Of The Brotherhood 3:26
15. Leonardo's Inventions Pt 1 2:11
16. Venice Combat Low 1:44
17. Venice Escape 3:26
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57:09

Disc 2/2
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01. Darkness Falls In Florence 4:05
02. Sanctuary 4:05
03. The Madam 1:04
04. Approaching The Target 3 5:52
05. Flight Over Venice 2 5:18
06. Ezio In Florence 2:18
07. Venice Industry 3:09
08. Stealth 2:22
09. Venice Combat 2:03
10. Notorious 1:14
11. Night Mission In Venice 2:11
12. Chariot Chase 3:20
13. The Plague 3:30
14. Wetlands Combat 2:48
15. Wetlands Escape 2:36
16. Leonardo's Inventions Pt 2 2:47
17. Hideout 2:40
18. The Animus 2.0 4:14
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55:36

The Verge is Dissing Assassin’s Creed Again

I don’t mean to sound like this, like some sort of disgusting fanboy, but just wait a minute while I get this off my chest.

I liked Assassin’s Creed a lot, and Assassin’s Creed II is one of my most anticipated titles for this year (well, it was, until the PC version was delayed until 2010). So, it irks me a little when I have to listen to some people run it in to the ground all the time.

On The Verge, Pippa called Splinter Cell: Conviction “Assassin’s Creed: Modern Warfare”. OK, so that might be more of a dig at Splinter Cell: Conviction, but still. Then I had to listen to Muhammed “Mo” Nagdee, one of those deplorable sports fanatics, who only appears on the show when FIFA 10 or some racing game bonanza is on the card, run his mouth off with some other guy about how Assassin’s Creed didn’t “do it for him”, and other nonsense.

Then the other day “Pipsqueak” Tshabalala was doing a little intro on the latest Assassin’s Creed II trailer (the one with the prostitutes), and coughed and muttered under her breath, “Prince of Persia rip-off”.

Strike three.

Tshabalala is trying too hard to be cynical and whatnot these days. I think the whole tattoos and bad girl image is fake, myself, and she’s usually uttering some nonsensical rubbish on The Verge and PlayR. I wish they’d get someone else. She’s starting to get on my nerves. When the show goes off air, she’s pulling faces and making funny noises. She’s clearly insane or immature, or both.

And not to mention her hairstyle. She looks as though she cuts her own hair...blindfolded.

2009/11/04

Did you Know that November is Valve/Half-Life Month?

Yes. It looks that way. It's just something I've noticed over time. If you look at the dates like this, you'll see what I mean:

November 1, 1999: Half-Life: Opposing Force
November 1, 2000: Richochet
November 3, 1962: Gabe Newell
November 8, 2000: Counter-Strike (Retail)
November 14, 2001: Half-Life (PS2 release)
November 14, 2001: Half-Life Decay (PS2)
November 15, 2005: Half-Life 2 (Xbox)
November 16, 2004: Half-Life 2
November 17, 2009: Left 4 Dead 2 (TBR)
November 18, 2008: Left 4 Dead
November 19, 1998: Half-Life
November 20, 2000: Gunman Chronicles
November 22, 2007: Half-Life 2 Episode 2 (PS3)
November 22, 2007: Team Fortress 2 (PS3)

So, it looks like a number of major titles, including both Half-Life and Half-Life 2, among other titles were released in this month in years past. Recently I posted about the tenth anniversary of Half-Life: Opposing Force, and also Gabe Newell's birthday. I guess the next one I'll post about is the upcoming 5th anniversary of Half-Life 2, and perhaps the 11th anniversary of Half-Life. I can't believe how many years have gone by.

You could argue that they are all bunched together because it's right there near Christmas, or perhaps it's because Gabe's birthday is in the month, or there could be some other conspiracy theory as to why this is, but still. Interesting...

Operation Black Mesa Update

I forgot to mention the other day, when I was talking about the ten year anniversary of Half-Life: Opposing Force, that there is a new update on the Operation Black Mesa site. It was posted especially for the tenth anniversary, and it's a media release with quite a few screenshots, concept art, and other stuff.

RIP Don Ivan Punchatz, AKA "the guy who Made the Doom Box Art"

Okay, so I may not have heard much about this guy, even though he's a apparently a big name in the art world. But I do know all about the Doom box art. It's one of my favourite, and it's in fact number 2 on GameSpy's list of top ten best box arts.

Well, the man who created the Doom cover and the logo, Don Ivan Punchatz, passed away last month in Arlington, Texas, on the 22nd of October. He was 73.

Interestingly enough, one of the comments on Big Download (and I found this information on both wikipedia and the Doom wiki) pointed out that his son, Gregor Punchatz, made miniature models of some of the enemies in Doom and Doom II, using steel armatures and foam latex, including the Arch-Vile, Mancubus, Revenant and Spider Mastermind. No Hell Knight- he's one of my favourite. id Software hired him for the job after his father recommended him.

"So how was I to know this thing called Doom would make a jillion smackers?" -Don Ivan Punchatz

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spectrumfantasticart

Stalker: Call of Pripyat- English Translation

So, from what I understand, this is what's going on:

Call of Pripyat is all ready available in Russia, as well as numerous other countries in the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) region, as the game will soon be released in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (this month). The rest of the world will have to wait until Q1 2010...or do they?

I was reading something on ttlg.com, and then later on filefront, that pointed out there are at least two different projects (one on Steam as well) up to translate the Russian version of the game into English. So, if you've been able to get a hold of the Russian version because you didn't want to wait, then you can stand a chance of actually understanding what the hell is going on.

2009/11/03

3DR Hints at New Duke Announcement Soon

So, it was spotted by a guy on the duke4,net forums, that Scott Miller, on his Facebook page had this message posted recently: "Something big and unexpected will soon be announced."

To follow this up, George Broussard left a comment on Shacknews, in response to a fan wishing for a new Duke Nukem game:

"this looks more interesting than the full game. i wish they would have gone back to the roots for duke nukem again. another manhattan project.. man that game would have done better if it came out out much later as an XBLA title"

GB: "You may get your wishes."

I've noticed that comments made by people posting on that forum thread as well as on the news piece are quite cynical. This is likely nothing new on the internet, but I just sense a change in tone. In the last couple of posts, Yatta's been all like, "Nobody gives a stuff about 3DR","3DR doesn't care about us," and 3DR's screwed us enough."

I guess it's probably true though. The kids who waited for DNF have all grown up.

The announcement has been confirmed by Scott Miller as being Duke related, but nobody really knows whether it's about DNF or the Duke Trilogy, or some other Duke Nukem game.

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duke4.net

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