Apocalypso's Atomic Arcade: 4/18/10

2010/04/24

Video Game Character Lookalikes: Doom 3 Marine

I don’t know if this occurred to anyone else out there, but one of the first things that came to my mind when I saw the Doom 3 marine, other than the fact that he looked almost nothing like the guy in the original Doom games, was that he bore a similarity to the T-1000 in Terminator 2, otherwise known as Mr. Liquid Metal, played by Robert Patrick; probably one of the most menacing villains in any movie.

It’s the eyes, and the silence; the way the player moves that makes me think this. Okay, so the marine’s face is a little fuller than the T-1000’s gaunt looking mug, but the hair is similar. It’s just that blank expression. Similar ears too.

Gang Starr’s Guru Dies of Cancer at 43

I saw this the other day on Digg, and now on Kotaku. Guru, otherwise known as Keith Elam, who performed with the hip-hop group Gang Starr, died this week after an extended battle with cancer. He was just 43 years of age.

Guru voiced the character 8-Ball in GTA III.

Interestingly, Guru did some voice work in video games, most notably in Grand Theft Auto III, as 8-Ball. In the beginning of the game, you play as the main character, Claude, who escapes the prison transport along with another character – that’s 8-Ball. He’s a tall black man who had his hands scalded – hence the bandages. His trade later became apparent as he helped the player in some missions, such as arming cars with car bombs and the like. He was Liberty City’s underground demolitions expert.

Hard to believe that game was made nearly ten years ago.

In other media, I remember listening to one of Gang Starr’s best hits, “Gang Starr”, while watching the DC skateboarding video years ago in Josh Kalis’s part, as well as hearing it at various points throughout the last several years, particularly at skate comps.

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Source: Guru, Rapper Who Portrayed Grand Theft Auto III’s 8-Ball, Dies At 43 [Kotaku]

2010/04/23

Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 out by Christmas, Voice Actors and Characters Revealed

“You better not be joking…”

Kevin Conroy, the voice actor for Batman in Arkham Asylum, revealed details for Arkham Asylum 2 at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, saying that the game should be out by Christmas this year.

“We just recorded the primary tracks two weeks ago. But now it goes to the artist. I know we’re doing a second batch of recording in August, so I think probably they are hoping to have it out by Christmas. That’s really… I don’t know, probably closer to spring.”

Rocksteady is working on the sequel to one of 2009’s best games, according to many people, and it was said late last year all ready that a 2010 release date might be in the cards.

Also, two actors have been revealed to be playing characters in the game. Stana Katic will be taking the role of Talia al Ghul,

“Just recorded a character voice on the next Batman video game. Never did that before. Helpful hint: plenty of water and pineapple slices.”

“For those who were asking: I’m voicing Talia al Ghul, the daughter of Ra al Ghul”

These tweets have since been removed, prompting some to think that she wasn’t meant to reveal this information.

And the character Two-Face, or Harvey Dent, will be in the title as well. A possible candidate for this role is Bruce Greenwood, though unconfirmed. Vincent Martella will star as Robin, Batman’s sidekick.

Maurice LaMarche is going to play Mr. Freeze. He revealed this in an interview with Geekcastradio.

“Video games is hard work, I’ll say that. I’ve only done a handful, and I’m very lucky right now, I’m about to go in and do Mr. Freeze for Arkham Asylum 2.”

“To tell you the truth, I think, contractually, I can’t. I’ve got to keep it under wraps. Yeah, he’s out for blood right now because, err… I can’t tell you the situation but he’s actually somewhat a sympathetic character within the framework of the game.”

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Sources:

Arkham Asylum 2 out before Christmas? [TVGB]

Mr. Freeze and Talia Confirmed for Arkham Asylum 2 [1UP]

Good Old Games, or GOG.com, Gets new Classics, Blood Flowing Soon

Good Old Games recently added Atari classics, Outcast and Master of Orion 1 & 2 to their catalogue. They’re all available for $5.99 each.

But what caught my eye more than those two was that Blood might be debuting on the site soon. Blood is one of the big four build engine games from the 90’s. The others were of course Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, and Redneck Rampage.

Blood, in my opinion, is the 2nd best build game ever. Duke Nukem 3D is first, with RR third, and SW last. There were of course other build games, some of which I’ve played, but I digress.

Blood is a cult classic, which I still have on my PC and play from time to time. The game was followed by a less successful sequel, and for a long time people campaigned for the release of the Blood source code, said to be held by Atari. Instead people have had to resort to making Blood mods for other games like Quake or Doom, namely Transfusion and ZDoom, using source ports for those games.

By the way, there’s a list on the website where you can vote for a game that you’d like to see added to the list of games all ready on the site. The last time I checked, System Shock 2 was high up among those “most wanted”.Yep, it’s still there in the lead, with Planescape: Torment in 2nd, and the original System Shock in 3rd.

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Sources:

GOG.com

GOG Gets Outcast, Master of Orion 1 & 2; Blood Coming Soon [Shacknews]

7-Eleven Going to Sell Used Video Games in the US

For years now, as long as I can remember, there’s been a 7-Eleven right down the hill from where I live, less than a kilometre away. And they cater to a number of things, mainly culinary.
But I was reading that soon in America, GameStop won’t be the only one dabbling in used video games, seeing as 7-Eleven, together with Game Trading Technologies, will start selling used video games in half the stores nation wide, at prices below $20.

Game Trading Technologies president and CEO Todd Hays:

"What this means to consumers is that they will have many convenient locations, most open 24/7, to buy value-priced video games.”

Michael Jester, 7-Eleven category manager:

"We partnered with GTT because of their experience and expertise as a third-party provider of video games and the terrific selection they'll offer to our customers. More than 60 percent of U.S. households now have at least one video game console, and consumers are searching for convenient ways to stretch their entertainment dollar in this challenging economy."

Not sure if this scheme will ever see the light of day down our way. Probably not, since the 7-Eleven I talked about- the one just down the hill – now belongs to Friendly.
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Source: 7-Eleven to Begin Selling Used Games [1UP]

2010/04/22

Theory: Sleep Helps you Learn, Beat Games

I read an article by Jamie Madigan, who popped up on the scene not too long ago when he/she wrote and article on Duke Nukem Forever last year. Anyway, there’s another article on there talking about sleep and games.

Here's just a few excerpts:

“And while we’re at it, why is it that I spent an entire controller-crushing hour trying to figure out that one level in the puzzle game Braid before giving up and then nailing it on the first try after a good night’s sleep?”

“Actually, both these questions have a related answer. Sleep, it turns out, is integral to learning… This is one possible reason why babies sleep so much: they literally have to shut down to assimilate what they’ve taken in.”

“And in addition to generally refreshing you and “resharpening” your reflexes, sleep seems to have a similar effect on learning tasks that involve precise, manual finger movements... researchers found that those who had gotten a full night of rest saw dramatic improvements in their performance while those who had just taken a 15 minute break saw no such increase.”

“But that’s not where the benefits of sleep on task performance end. Other research has shown that sleep also increases creativity and problem solving. So the next time you’re enraged your inability to time a series of jumps or figure out how to make a moustache out of a piece of tape and a cat, try sleeping on it.”

I can vouch for this myself. There was one game I played a long time ago, just some Doom clone - and not a very good one – called Assassin 2015. There was one point in the game where I was stuck for days. Then one night while I was asleep, I had a thought or dream which showed me the way – the way to get past this mech in a hallways that kept bursting through the door and wasting me over and over again.

The next day I started the game, loaded up the checkpoint savegame, and tried out what the dream had shown me… and low and behold, it worked. I was able to get past this obstacle, and I went on toe finish the game many times.

I even have a series on this blog where I write about video games and dreams and so on, called “Keen Dreams”.

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Source: To Sleep, Perchance to Pwn [psychologyofgames.com]

Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw’s Novel, Mogworld, Available for Preorder

I knew about Yahtzee before he blew up and everybody started talking about him on the internet.

Ben has a website, fullyramblomatic.com, where he has everything from stories to video games he’s made in AGS. Then he started writing video game reviews on The Escapist, called Zero Punctuation. He even started a pub in Australia. Now he a novel called “Mogworld”, which is set to be published by Dark Horse, and available in August, 2010. It’s retail price goes for about $8.00.

The 350 page novel is of the comic fantasy type, and takes place in an MMO.

"In a world full to bursting with would-be heroes, Jim couldn't be less interested in saving the day. His fireballs fizzle. He's awfully grumpy. Plus, he's been dead for about sixty years. When a renegade necromancer wrenches him from eternal slumber and into a world gone terribly, bizarrely wrong, all Jim wants is to find a way to die properly, once and for all.

On his side, he's got a few shambling corpses, an inept thief, and a powerful death wish. But he's up against tough odds: angry mobs of adventurers, a body falling apart at the seams and a team of programmers racing a deadline to hammer out the last few bugs in their AI."

You can preorder this novel from Amazon.

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Source: Mogworld: Yahtzee's Game-Themed Humor Novel Available To Preorder [GameSetWatch]

Eyjafjallajökull Volcano Affecting Video Game Release Dates

If you’ve been reading the news or listening on TV, chances are you’ve seen or heard something about this volcano in Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull, that was dormant for nearly 200 years, and how it’s affected air travel in Europe, with planes not risking flying and getting all that volcanic ash clogging up their engines and so on.

It’s obvious when you think about it, but this is also affecting video game releases in Europe, the UK, and down here in SA, even. Quite a number of titles have been delayed reportedly, including Dead to Rights: Retribution, God of War Collections, and Scene it? Twilight, all originally scheduled for this month, but now possibly delayed until next month or at least when the dust settles, or ash clears, more appropriately.

Kotaku Australia also claims there are delays there too. And in Iceland, where the Volcano is actually situated, there are concerns for Icelandic game development studios, such as CCP, who made EVE Online.
Thanks for all your hard work, Lazygamer.

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Sources:

Icelandic Volcano Wreaks Release Date Havoc [Lazygamer]
Iceland's Volcano Cannot Destroy Iceland's Video Games! [Kotaku]
European Volcano Causes Aussie Game Delays [Kotaku]

2010/04/21

Imp Gibs Mod, GIP, for Doom 3 Released

“I hate you, you hate me.”

My old friend, Neurological, is a mainstay in the Doom community, having made some mods for Doom 3, as well as Wolfenstein, and possibly Quake 4, as well as making covers of the music in the original Doom games.

This is his latest mod for Doom 3. Do you remember Doom 3, and how after you killed the demons, their bodies would just disintegrate into ash? Neurological made a mod where the process of disintegration [instead of decomposition] is halted, and you can slice and dice their remains with your arsenal. He calls it the “Gibbable Imp Prototype”. It seems it’s exclusively for Imps, probably one of the most irritating creatures in any Doom title.

The nearest thing I’ve come across in a mod like this before, was in Enhanced Doom years ago, where the process was slowed down to allow more time before the process started. In vanilla Doom 3, the bodies vanished almost immediately sometimes.

You can get the mod with info here.

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Source: Imp Gibbing Time! [Planet Doom]

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Coming to PC in June

It’s always good to see that a game that was previously console-only is ported to the good old PC.

That’s what’s happening with BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, as it’s set to arrive on PCs in the UK in June, as well as the PSP. I’ve done some looking up and it’s an anime styled 2D fighting game, or beat ‘em up developed by Arc System Works. It’s gotten good reviews for the console versions so far.

Now there’s no word of a US release date, but the good thing for us down south in SA is that European and UK release dates can usually mean that we’ll get it not long after.

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Source: BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger coming to the PC in Europe in June [Big Download]

Singularity Release Confirmed for June, 2010

Singularity is a game that might have come out last year if it hadn’t been for Modern Warfare 2, which Activision pushed majorly. Singularity was said to have been kept back until 2010.

After some delays and so on, they’re finally going committing to a release date, which is June 29, 2010, and Activision has confirmed that the game will ship for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 simultaneously.

Singularity is a game developed by Raven Software, but unlike some of their other titles, mainly id Software creations, like Quake 4, and Wolfenstein of last year that both received a lukewarm reception at best, this is an original title that looks pretty good from what I’ve seen. It involves using time to overcome obstacles and defeat enemies.

There’s also been a new trailer released for the game too.

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Source: Shacknews

2010/04/20

Direct2Drive’s Spring Sale: Week Two Deals and Price Drops

This Monday kicked off week two of Direct2Drive’s Spring Sale. Deals listed below have at least 50% off, but go up to 83% off for some titles.

Grand Theft Auto IV - $7.50
Supreme Commander Gold - $7.50
Star Wars(TM): Knights of the Old Republic (TM) - $4.95
ArmA 2 - $24.95
Fallen Earth - $14.95
Manhunt 2 - $4.95
Guild Wars Trilogy - $19.95
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition - $14.95
Total War Collection - $44.95
East India Company - $4.95
Medieval 2: Total War (TM) - $7.50

In addition to this, there’s another lot of titles which are under $10 each. Same deal here. There’s at least 50% on the titles, with others at 75% and some at 83% off.

Men Of War - $2.50
Men of War Red Tide - $4.95
A Farewell To Dragons - $4.95
Infernal Uncensored - $7.95
Imperium Romanum Gold - $4.95
Tropico Reloaded - $4.95
The Path - $4.95
Capitalism 2 - $4.95
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! -- A Reckless Disregard for Gravity - $4.95
Eufloria - $4.95

The deal ends before next Monday, and the same applies that if you spend $75 you get in-store credit to spend at D2D.

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Source: Direct2Drive

Techno Times Competition: Win a PS3 and God of War III

The Techno Times is a small insert that comes with the Cape Times every Tuesday or so, and they usually run competitions of sorts in some issues. The latest of these is a chance to win a PS3 250 GB along with God of War III. The console also comes with a controller.

All you have to do is SMS “PS3WAR” [sans quotation marks] to 34445, starting today. The competition closes on Friday, April 23, 2010 at 12:00 PM. Each SMS costs R2,00.

Note that this is for South Africans only.

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Source: Techno Times

Doctor Who Video Game Coming in June

This isn’t a new piece of news, as I’ve read something about it before months ago, but didn’t bother to post about it. Now some further details have been revealed and so I thought I would give it a go.

The BBC recently released a sneak-peak video of the upcoming Doctor Who game, which followed Saturday evening’s episode of Doctor Who, which I missed, seeing as I don’t watch the show that much – I did when Chris Evans and Billy Piper starred. I preferred Chris to this Matt Smith fella.

The best part about this game is that it’s being released for the PC and the Mac as a downloadable title, and it’s free! The title is being developed by Sumo Digital, with Charles Cecil, creator of the Broken Sword series of games, on board, and the first episode in a planned series of four, just like the TV show – just shorter, should release on June 5th. The game will also be supervised and produced by some of the team who have something to do with the current TV series, and the stars will provide voices for the characters.

The official title is Doctor Who: The Adventure Games.

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Source: NowGamer

2010/04/19

Video Game Deals at Amazon [April 19, 2010 Edition]: Prey Collector’s Edition, Red Alert 3, GRAW

Found some good deals over the past few days and stored them to make this. There are three worthwhile games to get your hands on. There’s Prey Collector’s Edition for the 360 for $43.21, Tom Clancy’s GRAW for less than 50% of the price for the PS2, and Red Alert 3 for nearly half off as well, for the PS3.

As usual the best deals are listed just below, and the rest below that.

Best deals:

Prey Limited Collector's Edition - $43.21 - Save $26.78 [360]

Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun - $13.48 - Save $26.51 [PC]

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter - $23.62 - Save $26.37 [PS2]

Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 - $27.60 - Save $22.39 [PS3]

SingStar 80's Bundle (Includes 2 Microphones) - $26.48 - Save $20.01 [PS2]

Guitar Hero (Game Only) - $14.62 - Save $17.50 [PS2]

Littlest Pet Shop Friends: City - $12.99 – Save $15.00 [DS]

Charm Girls Club: My Fashion Mall - $17.98 - Save $11.51 [DS]

[PC]

NeverEnd - $20.17 - Save $9.82
Everquest II: Sentinel's Fate Collector's Edition - $49.99 - Save $8.07
Mahjongg Escape Collection - $20.32 - Save $7.69
Everquest II: Sentinel's Fate - $29.99 - Save $7.00
Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun - $13.48 - Save $26.51
Legend Hand of God - $7.59 - Save $11.40

[PS2]

Guitar Hero (Game Only) - $14.62 - Save $17.50
SingStar 80's Bundle (Includes 2 Microphones) - $26.48 - Save $20.01
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter - $23.62 - Save $26.37
Crimson Sea 2 - $25.43 - Save $8.38

[PS3]

Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 - $27.60 - Save $22.39
Test Drive Unlimited 2 - $49.99 - Save $10.00

[Xbox 360]

Halo 3: ODST - $29.99 - Save $7.00
Prey Limited Collector's Edition - $43.21 - Save $26.78
Test Drive Unlimited 2 - $49.99 - Save $10.00

[PSP]

Dragonball Evolution - $9.56 - Save $10.00

[Nintendo DS]

Littlest Pet Shop Friends: City - $12.99 – Save $15.00
Deca Sports 3 - $29.99 - Save $10.00
Galaxy Racers - $29.99 - Save $10.00
NARUTO Shippuden: Ninja Council 4 - $19.99 - Save $10.00
Charm Girls Club: My Fashion Mall - $17.98 - Save $11.51
Charm Girls Club: My Fashion Show - $17.98 - Save $10.01
Legend of Kay - $19.99 - Save $10.00

[Nintendo Wii]

Rubik's World - $20.17 - Save $7.91

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Sources: Amazon - Nowinstock

Possible BioShock MMO in Development [Rumblings]

Some rumours were confirmed in the last week, and now new ones, or not so new ones it seems, have surfaced.

It was finally confirmed after a lot of rumours that a new X-com title, called XCOM is in development at 2K Marin. But something that could quite possibly be another title kept under wraps at 2K is a BioShock MMO.

This apparently isn’t the first time that this rumour has cropped up, and 2K has reportedly suggested in the past that they might have plans to do just this. About two years ago, in March 2008, it was said by the boss of Take-Two, Strauss Zelnick, that it was a potential possibility.

As for a particular studio working on the project, rumours have it that it’s 2K Marin, but remember that 2K Marin is working on XCOM, or at least the Australian branch is, mainly [complicated, I know].

It’s kind of funny though, when I think about it, a BioShock MMO could just work.

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Source: Rumor: BioShock MMO in the works [Destructoid]

Police Quest Series Consultant, Daryl Gates, Dies at 83

I fondly remember playing the Police Quest games by Sierra many years ago. My cousin had most of them, and I would hog the computer while he had to sit and watch TV. I also recall the laugh I had with those old Sierra On-Line games where if you typed something like “F@$k you” then it would reply with a message like “same to you buddy”. Clever.

Anyhow, there was a consultant behind the games in the Police Quest and Police Quest: SWAT spin-off series known as Daryl Francis Gates, and he sadly passed away on Friday at the age of 83. He died of bladder cancer after a long battle with the disease.

Daryl was a former Chief of Police in the LAPD, who was criticized heavily during the Rodney King saga years ago and the riots in Los Angeles thereafter in the early nineties. He retired soon after. He served a total of 43 years in the LAPD. Gates is also considered the father of SWAT [Special Weapons And Tactics].

He is credited with creating Police Quest IV: Open Season, the fourth game in the series, released in 1993, Police Quest: SWAT, otherwise known as Police Quest 5, as well as Police Quest: Swat 2 and Swat 3.

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Source: Police Quest Game Consultant Daryl Gates Dies [1UP]

2010/04/18

Gamer and Computer Business Man Murdered in Cape Town

Conrad Griss, a 23 year-old man from Hout Bay, Cape Town, whose passion was video games and worked with his father from home in a computer business, was murdered on Friday morning.

In the early hours of Friday morning this week, Conrad was playing games in his house on the ground floor. Burglars broke into the house just after 01:30 AM, when Conrad grabbed a pellet gun and tried to confront the men. He hadn’t even been able to load the gun when one of the men took a knife and plunged it into his face, driving it down deeper into his head from the cheek.

Conrad’s father, Charles, woke up after hearing dogs barking and his son’s cries, and rushed downstairs, grabbed a chair, and raced towards the commotion, shouting and scared the men off, as he watched them break a window in the house in order to escape, much like they had in order to gain entry.

Despite his efforts, he couldn’t stop the intense bleeding from his son’s face - trying to stop the bleeding with a towel, while simultaneously phoning the police. He literally watched his son die in his arms.

Paramedics arrived on the scene 15 minutes later, at 01:45 AM, but couldn't resuscitate him. He’d lost too much blood.

Conrad Griss left school without a senior certificate or matriculation, and went into working for his father’s home-based computer business. Conrad’s favourite past time was playing video games.

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Source: 'My son died in my arms' – requires registration to read [Cape Argus]

Video Games Coming out This Week [April 18-24, 2010]: Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper

AAA’s Target of the Week: Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper

No major releases this week. Quite quiet actually, but after nearly a year, the Xbox 360 version of Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper is coming out. The PC version came out last year in May. And I’ve always been such a fan of the legend – and who isn’t? Jack the Ripper gets his own video game. That cements his legacy and popularity right there. There’s even a branch of science or investigation called Ripperology. Did you know that?

Apart from that, there isn’t much to see. Admittedly, I haven’t seen or heard of most of these games before. Sorry. Slow week, yeah. Awkward…

Available links go to game detail pages at retail and digital distribution outlets like Amazon and Steam, etc.

You can also check my Amazon aStore to see the latest and greatest games released this year so far.

[PC]

The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom [Steam]

[Xbox 360]

After Burner Climax [XBLA]
Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper

[PlayStation 3]

After Burner Climax [PSN]

[Wii]

All Star Karate
Monster Hunter Tri
Monster Hunter Tri Classic Controller Bundle

[DS]