Booze, painkillers, and guns? Sounds like a vacation to me. While it’s fairly common in the game industry for a new set of developers to take the reins on a series, it has to raise some questions when the series is one that is more story-driven. And even though Rockstar games has shown the capability for some strong storytelling with games like Red Dead Redemption, you still have to wonder what the results will be when they tackle something like Max Payne. How will they handle telling a story through a much more linear type of game, and will they [...]

Almost isn’t good enough for Ninja Gaiden 3 Ninja Gaiden 3 nearly delivers an enjoyable experience. It almost pulls off the over-the-top action and zany boss fights the series is known for. The story isn’t that bad and the mechanics are only a little broken. In short, Ryu’s latest is almost good. The story braids together threads of mythology, science fiction, B-movie ninja tropes, and mindless action-movie drama. The result is a mildly interesting convoluted mess. Themes include cloned and re-birthed gods, blood curses, global conspiracies, and a love interest that forms so quickly it borders on desperate. The story [...]

Others could learn a thing or two from CD Projekt’s first console release I’ve been eagerly waiting for The Witcher 2 to come out on Xbox since it’s PC release last year. Last night, I finally got my grubby little monster-killing hands on my copy. While I haven’t played the game long enough to make any intelligent comments on it, I do have to applaud it for one simple, but invaluable thing: presentation. The Witcher II‘s packaging is a love-letter to what retail release should be. Picking up the game, the box felt like it weighed 80 lbs. That’s because [...]

More developers are speaking out against the sale of used games. The practice has been blamed for studio closures, increased reliance on paid DLC, and even the decline in single-player gaming. Consumers argue that games cost too much as is, and that every other industry also contends with used sales. What makes video games special? Enough irrelevant or misleading statistics get thrown around to make even Al Gore blush. Each time a new used-game debate crops up, I can’t help but notice that there is something distinctly lacking from the discussion. We focus on the short-term monetary effect of used [...]