PS3 – rgbFilter

Puddle game review

February 13, 2012February 16, 2012 Doug Groves Konami, Neko, PS3, PSN, Puddle, review, Xbox 360, Xbox Live0 comment

Back in 2010, six French students won the GDC Student Showcase award for the liquid physics puzzle game Puddle. Konami later picked up the title, and after development by Neko Entertainment, Puddle was released on both the Xbox Live Arcade and PSN a couple of weeks back. The premise of the game is straight forward. The player guides liquids through hazardous environments, while trying not to lose so much volume that you have to start over. In the early levels, this means navigating water through pipes filled with fire and heated…

Animation Arts Featured Film Gaming

Deus Ex – The Title Sequence

January 31, 2012February 13, 2012 Doug Groves Art Of The Title, Deus Ex Human Revolution, interview, PC gaming, PS3, Xbox4 Comments

The always wonderful to read “Art of the Title”, which focuses on the craft of creating effective title sequences, generally using film and TV, has posted its first game sequence, with Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Included is an extensive interview with both Paul Furminger from Goldtooth Creative (director of the sequence) and Jean-François Dugas from Eidos-Montreal (Game Director).

Arts Gaming

MGS HD coming soon

September 16, 2011September 26, 2011 Doug Groves Konami, Metal Gear Solid, MGS HD, Peace Walker, press release, PS3, screenshots, Snake Eater, Sons Of Liberty, Xbox 3600 comment

While Konami has yet to peg down a definite North American release date for Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, there’s news floating around (via Joystiq) that it will land in Japan on November 23th. This suggests that international dates can’t be far behind.

Arts Featured Gaming Show video

Rocksmith Overview at Fan Expo 2011

September 12, 2011September 14, 2011 Doug Groves Fan Expo, Fan Expo 2011, hands-on, interview, PC gaming, PS3, Rocksmith, Show, Ubisoft, video, Xbox 36049 Comments

Ubisoft had quite a bit going on at Fan Expo in Toronto this year. One of the upcoming titles that caught our eye was Rocksmith, which puts a new spin on the rhythm guitar game. It’s specfically designed to work with any electric guitar, which plugs into your Xbox 360, PS3 or PC via a USB adapter, and uses the chords you strum to keep track. In the video above, you can catch Ryan’s talk with Adam from Ubisoft, who also demos the game using an Epiphone Les Paul plugged in…

Arts Featured Gaming

Deus Ex: Human Revolution – review

September 8, 2011September 12, 2011 Peter Brunton Deus Ex, Deus Ex Human Revolution, FPR, PC gaming, PS3, review, RPG, Square Enix, Xbox 3607 Comments

Before we get into the meat of this game, I’d like to start with the lesson I most sincerely hope every other studio takes away from Deus Ex: Human Revolution. How to handle morality systems. Straight, DX:HR has the best morality system ever implemented in a game. It handles player choices in a way that is meaningful, powerful, and allows you to genuinely effect the way the game plays out. How does it do that?

L.A. Noire: A different kind of war

May 30, 2011June 2, 2011 Wesley Fok Dear Game Diary, film noir, PS3, review, Rockstar, Rockstar Games, Team Bondi, Xbox 3607 Comments

Spoiler warning: Everything about L.A. Noire. EVERYTHING. Also a significant spoiler for Heavy Rain, though ultimately incidental to the main story.

Konami’s E3 2011 Pre-Show events and how to win tickets

May 19, 2011May 20, 2011 Doug Groves E3, electronic entertainment expo, event, Konami, PC gaming, PS3, Wii, Xbox 3602 Comments

E3 Is probably the biggest video game exposition, and this year it takes place June 7th to 9th in Los Angeles. That doesn’t mean you have to miss out, as Konami is hosting a series of pre-shows live across 5 different cities, including Toronto. The venue for Toronto couldn’t be more apt, as the Real Sports Bar & Grill is adorned in a slew of HDTVs, inlcuding a display over the bar itself that stands about 15 feet high, and I’m not talking about a bunch of smaller panels with seams.

Playstation Network still down, personal information ‘compromised’

April 26, 2011May 15, 2011 Doug Groves Playstation Blog, Playstation Network, PS3, PSN, security5 Comments

Last Wednesday Sony took both the Playstation Network and Qriocity offline after an external intrusion, taking them a couple of day sto communicate this with the public. It’s now the following Tuesday, bringing the outage to day six, with little official word until now. In an update to the Playstation Blog, Sony has confirmed that there has been a “compromise of personal information”.

Portal 2: 60 dollars well earned

April 25, 2011April 26, 2011 Wesley Fok GlaDOS, PC gaming, Portal, Portal 2, PS3, review, Steam, Valve, Xbox 3601 Comment

I don’t have much to say about Portal 2 for two reasons. First, posting spoilers for the game just feels like a bad idea. Letting you in on some of the gags or the overall trajectory of the plot would be criminal, so much so that even the requisite spoiler warning doesn’t feel like enough protection.

Homefront: Thanks for playing our demo

March 24, 2011March 26, 2011 Wesley Fok Dear Game Diary, Homefront, PC gaming, PS3, review, THQ, Xbox 3602 Comments

Spoiler warning: Plot spoilers for Homefront. All four hours of it. Though I would love to expect a higher level of emotional engagement with my video games, when it comes to military-style first-person shooters, I don’t ask for much—probably because they almost always fail to deliver. You run through a bunch of corridors, shoot a bunch of dudes, pick up some new guns with one of seventeen different scopes, hit a slow-motion sequence, feel like a bad-ass. I’ve just distilled the essence of every modern Call of Duty game into…

Dragon Age 2: Dragon Harder

March 14, 2011March 15, 2011 Wesley Fok Bioware, Dragon Age 2, EA, PC gaming, PS3, review, Xbox 3601 Comment

I’ve poured almost thirty hours into Dragon Age 2 since its release less than a week ago, and in that time I’ve been slowly getting a handle on what exactly I like and don’t like about the game. Narrative concerns I will probably leave for another day, but there were a few things I noticed:

Killzone 3 review: Another Take

March 11, 2011March 12, 2011 David Doel Guerilla Games, Helghast, Killzone 3, multiplayer, PS3, PSN, review, Sony1 Comment

The instant I triggered Killzone 3’s ending cinematic I literally said “Thank ****ing GAWD” out loud. Killzone 3 is like an abusive loved one with deep-seeded issues. There are those moments where you’re having fun with them, moments where you feel sorry for them, and then moments where they make you so angry that you just want to hit them over the head with a baseball bat.