Spong reviews Animal Crossing New Leaf
9/10 - "Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a breath of fresh air for veteran players of the series, and an enticing new experience for those who have never had the delight"
spong.com impressions
gamingeek
Gunpoint Out Now!
2d stealth puzzle game that lets you rewire its levels to trick people.
gunpointgame.com
Mondo Zappa
The Daily Telegraph reviews Animal Crossing new Leaf
5 stars out of 5 - "Unfailingly generous and constantly surprising, Nintendo’s charming, humane life sim is another 3DS delight"
telegraph.co.uk impressions
gamingeek
Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut - impressions
Looks like they haven't implemented FXAA yet
dailyjoypad.co.uk impressions
gamingeek
Polygon Animal Crossing: New Leaf review
9/10 - "Animal Crossing: New Leaf has a magical way of making you care about the littlest things before it metes them out in liberal fistfuls. "
polygon.com impressions
gamingeek
Shadow of the Eternals crowdfunding ending
Precursor refunding money and starting a new one
precursorgames.com
gamingeek
Modojo reviews Animal Crossing New Leaf
4.5 out of 5 - "Cherish it."
modojo.com impressions
gamingeek
Sniper Elite V2 - no DLC plans, no word on screenshot update
"The game also runs at a higher resolution on Wii U than it does on Xbox 360 and PS3 due to the platform's hardware strengths."
coffeewithgames.com media
gamingeek
Square Enix's New IP
Murdered : Soul Suspect
New trailer. Shows some gameplay.
youtu.be media news
Mondo Zappa
Xbox One: It's For Publishers, Not For You
Microsoft is no longer worried about pleasing you.
nowgamer.com editorial
gamingeek
Killer is Dead trailer is a montage of blood-fountains
swords and blondes
polygon.com media
gamingeek
Nintendo turns to Facebook, YouTube and Twitter
as alternative to E3 press conference
polygon.com
gamingeek
EA has no Fall Wii U games, will consider in future
Gibeau added that the developer and publisher does consider the Wii U a generation four console
polygon.com
gamingeek
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SupremeAC (9m)
"Multiplayer captures the ideology of single-player beautifully..."
At&T strikes again!!!!
Well Leo, how is State of Decay. I will probably buy it the second I get home.
I plan to buy it when it goes to steam, looks smexy.
lol
GG I tried to talk about Lego City at GS and just got "I', sick of lego games". "That is why the Wii U lineup stuff, the best game is Lego City"
So yeah.
You ain't going to believe what game I am playing right now. Nor my reaction to it.
I am under emabrgo though, can't say anything until the next podcast.
Today at 1pm EST KONAMI CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pre Taped, at GS at 1pm est.
TONS OF MGS5!!!
A recent game? That is shocking.
Hey I beat Tomb Raider! And I get Last of Us next week.
I'm proud of you.
I will be working during the Konami conference.
Will have to pop in a few hours later. Also later at night Kojima will be on GTTV.
E3 basically begins tomorrow.
Personally I think Lego City should be seen as Wii U's first system seller. It's even feasible that some reviewers just played through the campaign which is literally only one third of the game.
Unfortunately for City, it's being tarnished by the series heritage, people cannot see outside that. In the GAF thread, if you read from page 41 onwards it peaks at a certain point when people realise how much fun they are having and they love it. It took me 13 hours to get to that point and then I had another 47 hours with it. People who don't like the Lego games, or who have played the others, found this to be much better. A GAF guy said it was his GOTY so far and at the point I was playing it I could not see it. Then if you do get hooked by the collecting bug and try to do it all it becomes your potential GOTY. It's just brash, exuberant and unabashedly gamey. To me it's a shame that Zombi U is seen as the best game on the system.
GAF individual users:
"So I beat the story mode just now and let me tell you guys that you have no idea what is waiting for you. This goes from 80's cop movie to (massive end game spoilers cropped). Holy crap this was goddamn amazing, my jaw was to the floor for the entire final sections. Nintendo, lock these guys down. You would be fools not too. This game needs a sequel so bad. I never saw this coming, I never dreamed it would get so epic."
"So far this game has exceeded my expectations, the world is more detailed and interesting than 90% of the open world games on the market. Its smaller than most but the attention to detail is better than anything ive played this gen besides red dead redemption. Also the voice acting and sound track is top notch. Ive played almost all of the lego games and this is by far the best, just wish it had co-op "
"Im really blown away by the writing in this game, its really clever and has made me laugh a lot. Also it seems like every inch of the map has somthing to do or collect. I really hope the game does well"
"If you have a Wii U you need to buy this game! The 49.99 price makes it even more of a steal. No more thinking... go find a copy (if you can! "
"Wow, this game is truly something special. I am having a blast with it, and I can't imagine how much fun I would have had when I was ten. So far my mission play time:scavenging-around-for-super-bricks play time ratio is like 1:4. Nintendo would be wise to keep this developer happy and exclusive as long as they can. Lego City has the potential to be a huge franchise, especially if someone were smart enough to make a cartoon."
"Aside from the ridiculous load times, this is by far my favorite game on the Wii U. It's humor is absolutely brilliant and it's a lot of fun. Would love to see this become a big franchise on the Wii U."
"No seriously man, GET THIS GAME. It's a hilarious, intensely fun, addictive open-world collecathon that feels like a blast from the past. It's also great value for your money--the game is hundreds of hours long if you want to 100% it."
"I can say with confidence that LEGO City Undercover has been the most fun, most addictive, and most hilarious experience that I've had with the Wii U. It would be my #1 recommended game for anyone who is looking to buy a Wii U, and in my opinion, it's a reason to go out and buy the console now. It's a TRUE video game."
"Ive put 10 hours into this game and this might be my favorite open world game, you can tell the love and care put into it every corner you turn in the city. The game is filled to the brim with little touches and details, there literally something to do everywhere you look."
"Overall, this game is amazing. It's doesn't set the world on fire but it does so much and does it so well that I almost forgive all of its shortcomings. I see myself keeping my copy as a permanent staple in my Wii U catalogue."
"This game just gets better as it goes and is overall a better game than I'd have suspected. I think as word of mouth spreads it will have some legs to it and have an impact on wiiu sales. After Mario this is the must have wiiu title."
"This game is awesome. So many corny jokes, all delivered by such good voice actors. Each mission has been a delight. The city design is just outstanding too; maybe the best in any GTA clone. I've spent hours goofing around and I've been finding optional paths, jumps, bricks, easter eggs, and mini-missions every few minutes. I especially love the free run missions, which are like little slices of platforming joy."
"The more I play this game, the higher up the list of "favorite open world games" this game rises. This game is really incredible. Just unlocked time trials, so fun. I can't believe I am saying this, but this game has a real chance of unseating San Andreas for me."
Nintendo's E3 presence. Great picture to use if their showing is total fail.
Last of Us reviews
IGN 10/10
Its unrivaled presentation in particular sets the bar even higher than the Uncharted trilogy already did, and its writing, voice acting and layered gameplay combine to create what is very easily the game to beat for Game of the Year 2013.
And it ended perfectly.
It combines DNA strands from across the genre, yet reworks and recontextualises them to become far more than the sum of its parts. Its storytelling is peerless, as affecting and multi-layered as it is grounded, underplayed and real. In terms of everything the modern action game has strived to be, The Last of Us is the full-stop at the end of the sentence, leaving no more to be said. Until next-gen. If this is our starting point for that, then the next five to ten years could be truly amazing.
But there are moments of beauty in the tale, both physically and emotionally, between a mismatched duo that end up relying on each other far more than either thought they might. The bright moments are overwhelmingly powerfully so, the innocent ignorance of Ellie’s upbringing slotting perfectly between Joel’s dark, barbed decades of his own private hell, and those they meet on the way.
There’s one fleeting, momentary respite near the end of the tale as Ellie stares out onto a rich green field, Joel at her side. It’s quiet, poignant, delicate and shows an element of nature untouched by the disasters around it. A reminder that not all is bad, not all is lost, and, after everything that’s happened, it’s hard to fight back the tears. These things you can’t help but carry with you long after it’s all over, and few other games can have that kind of hook, that kind of reaction.
The Last Of Us does. Several times. Just be ready.
Examiner 5/5
However, it's the studio's ability to make this past-pandemic world and its contrasting cast of characters feel so believable and credible that really makes The Last of Us stand out from its peers.
Interesting thread from GAF: Putting Little Girls in Danger is emotionally manipulative
The Walking Dead
Bioshock Infinite
The Last of Us
Beyond: Two Souls
I'm beginning to notice a pattern here, and I'm not sure it's positive.
These games are all great, no doubt. I'm just afraid developers have found an easy narrative gimmick, exploiting a gaming audience that isn't used to nuance or complexity. It's not that these titles all feature a little girl as a character, it's that the emotional center of gravity rotates around her, and pretty much her alone. Putting defenseless women and children in jeopardy is a cheap way of generating emotional stakes.
Game Dev 1: "Alright, our game needs an emotional anchor. We need a character that players can really invest in, and develop a human relationship with. Who can we put in danger that people instinctively want to protect?"
Game Dev 2: "Uhh...should we just go with a little girl?"
Game Dev 1: "You're a goddamned genius."
Maybe this bothers me because I'm so susceptible to it. I'll admit I got choked up at the end of the Walking Dead. You'd have to have the emotion of Spock combined with a bag of bricks to endure the last scene of that game totally unmoved. I'm just afraid developers are starting to use it as a narrative crutch. And maybe that's not such a bad thing. Maybe interactivity means we have to eschew some degree of subtly to convey thematic elements other mediums take for granted. But I would hope to eventually move beyond it.
So yeah, the title of the thread may be a little hyperbolic, but I wanted to get you in here. Must we keep putting in jeporady the literal personification of innocence and fragility for our frigid hearts to feel the slightest twinge of human emotion? Anybody can make me feel for little Maddie, the adorable seven year old. But the first developer that makes me cry when Big Lou (sweaty, balding and overweight as he may be) takes a bullet at the end of the game -- well, that developer is the true goddamned genius.
All games critically acclaimed, mostly for story?
^This is not just present in gaming, but everything. It is ingrained into our very culture, in fact.
Also, Clementine was only part of why the ending of The Walking Dead was effective. She as a character by herself also wasn't the emotional core of the story.
How is State of Decay? It's totally unique! It's basically a Zombie Stealth game! Hordes of Zombies are everywhere and you must fend for yourself in a post-apocalyptic world. You are not a super-human... You can do things like climb small ledges and vault over small gaps, but that's it. You can melee attack; pick up a 4X4 and bash some brains in, if it comes to that. You'll find resources are the most important commodity since guns and ammo are in short supply. You can find some but they aren't plentiful. Gun play is the "hold the left trigger, fire with the right variety." You'll find other human beings but they may not always be willing to help...
Hmmm... this sounds familiar... can't place it though...
(NOT REALLY A) SPOILER: Go here! It has an incredibly similar premise to The Last of Us, but it has a lot of very unique features too. It's basically an action-RPG-Zombie game. You need to earn influence and Fame in order to gain command of groups of people around you to have them fight for you and with you, build fortifications and fend for themselves when you are not playing because the game is A PERSISTENT WORLD; game continues when you are playing and when you are not! It's very possible to load your game and find all of your people DEAD! There's (supposedly) a lot of data crunching in the background as you play as your decisions influence the world around you... yada, yada... but I couldn't go into detail about that as I have only played an hour or so. Read the review! It can explain much better than I can!