Posted on: May 29th, 2009 Bleep Bleep, Bloop Bloop. Video Games.
For the week of May 24-30, 2009: The calm before the storm. Review for inFAMOUS, E3 predictions and we twiddle our thumbs.
To be honest with you, not a hell of a lot happened this week. We saw the release of the long awaited PS3 exclusive inFAMOUS and believe it or not, brand new original NES game, Ultimate Frogger Champion. The rest of the week was filled with people talking about last weeks release of Punch Out!! and talk of E3 predictions. Just a few more days people!
NEW RELEASES:
PS3 exclusive inFamous hit the shelves this week and people like it! You play a dude with the power of electricity and are set loose on an open world city. You progress through the game by completing missions and deal with moral choices along the way. Be bad and your dudes bad and vice versa, encouraging multiple play throughs. Not completely redefining the way we look at games, but it plays really nice and scratches the Crackdown itch you may or may not have. It’s nice seeing developer Sucker Punch applying their talents to a new IP. The Sly Cooper series they’ve been doing for years now has been really great, but that world is getting a little stale and this is just what they needed.
Check out Giantbomb.com for full video review.
The other new release this week worth noting is a project Kevin Hanley has spent the last 7 months working on. Coming out of Retrozone is NES title Ultimate Frogger Champion. Yep, new NES game. Granted it is the original arcade version with a new 2 player mode (Battle Frogs), but the best part is that it comes packaged as if it were an NES game straight out of 1986.
The full Retrozone package includes a labeled green cart, a little frog toy, a black dust sleeve, a color manual, a five-year replacement warranty, and a sealed die cut paperboard box with a great twist on the seal of quality.
A new B-side episode of A Life Well Wasted came out this week putting the question from episode 3 out to the public, Why Game? He got a lot of responses and cut together the best into this months show. If you haven’t checked it out yet and have any interest in video games and the culture that surrounds them, this is one of the best video game podcasts around and shouldn’t be ignored.
Just a reminder that while E3 runs from Tuesday June 2nd to the 4th, the real action starts monday (10:30am) with the Microsoft Press Conference, then Nintendo and Sony are set to show tuesday at 9am and 11am. A lot of sites like Gamespot.com are streaming the conference live, if you care to hear the news as it happens. Personally, the press conferences are hands down the best part of the show and sadly, the highlight of my year. Anybody have any predictions they want to put on the table before the big unveiling? 360 motion control? PS3 hardware redesign? Nintendo repeating the embarrasement of Robbie Drums?
Dale can also be found over at www.8bitcyclops.com, looking at design, photography and old video game magazines.