Wow, it's been a while since I checked in! Sorry I haven't been reading and commenting, but things have been busy here. I should be around a bit more now that our annual birdwatching festival is over and our next crew member on board starts on Sunday.
A lot of noise has been made of THQ’s supposed downfall recently. Yesterday the company revealed that they have filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and as can be expected within the confines of the video game industry’s supposed journalistic quarter, articles started coming out wondering where some of THQ’s assets and IPs would be heading in light of its complete and utter decimation.
Aliens: Colonial Marines finally has a firm release date. After having its release window pushed back on several occasions, fans of the xenomorphs will be able to finally return to the doomed colony of Hadley’s Hope on LV-426 on February 12, 2013.
Activision is celebrating James Bond's 50th Anniversary with a new game, 007 Legends. Rather than a video game interpretation of the upcoming James Bond film, Skyfall, the game will combine scenes from the new film along with five other classic Bond films. Eurocom, the studio behind last year's Goldeneye 007: Reloaded, will be developing 007 Legends for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, which is currently slated for a fall release.
The original Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64 should have been just another movie tie-in game. However, with Rare at the helm, it became one of the most important games in video game history. The fast paced gameplay and incredible multiplayer made it one of the best games of 1997. After being a beloved game for 13 years, Activision (now holder of the James Bond license) released a reimagining of the game for the Nintendo Wii. Now that reimagining is available on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and the rules are a bit different because of that. Although there are shooters on the Wii, they are absolutely plentiful and then some on the PS3 and 360. So it’s not enough to be a good shooter; you need to be different as well. So does Goldeneye 007 Reloaded stand out from the crowd?
With HD collections of our favorite games of the past becoming a regular occurrence, we here at PixlBit have been trying to decide how best to cover them. When reviewing an HD remake, do we do a normal critique of the original game? Do we evaluate the quality of the HD conversion and special features? Or is the answer found with a little of column “A” and a little of column “B”? Well, I’m going to try a little experiment with this review of Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, and hopefully you wonderful readers will let us know if this format works well for you.
When EA outed Syndicate early this year it was met with a fair amount of criticism. Critics specifically belabored the fact that the reboot was taking the beloved isometric action-adventure-strategy game and molding it into a “visceral first person shooter.” In a video game landscape where the FPS is king the move makes sense, but that doesn’t mean that longstanding fans are going to be understanding of the change. So it is perhaps with an olive branch extended that publisher EA has revealed that the new Syndicate will contain a robust four-player cooperative campaign to go along with the single-player experience.
Secret Agent Clank is the second PSP spin-off title in the Ratchet & Clank series, and like its counterpart, Size Matters, was also developed by High Impact Games. Released originally for the PSP in 2008, Secret Agent Clank was eventually ported to the PS2 in 2009 by Sanzaru games. Since I'm not a big fan of the analog nub on the PSP, I opted for the PS2 version instead, and it seems as though I chose poorly. While I can't vouch firsthand on the improved quality of the PSP version, the difference in review scores paints a pretty clear picture. What I can say is the PS2 version of Secret Agent Clank is a sloppy experience full of issues that sadly ruins the unique gameplay and overshadows the quirky character of the title.
After swirling rumors, today, Activision officially announced GoldenEye 007: Reloaded for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Though a port of last year's Wii shooter, GoldenEye 007, the game will launch with a number of new modes and options as well as higher graphical fidelity this fall.
With the 2010 PixlBit Game of the Year awards come and gone, the staff have taken a more detailed look at the games of 2010. Since the usual awards deal only with choosing overall best games in general categories, we've created some very specific awards to give some attention to titles that don't quite make the cut for a general award. Which title was most unique? Which game had the best in co-op? What was the best minigame? See what the staff has to say.
It is becoming a tale that we're hearing all too often in this economic situation, and something we never want to hear: a development studio closing its doors for good.
Yes, you read that right, GoldenEye is back. But it's not back like you're thinking. If you're reading this, chances are you have some fond memories of the original title, released on the N64 by Nintendo and Rare. At the time, the game set the standards for console-based first person shooters, as the genre really had no significant presence in the market. Fast-forward thirteen years and the story is quite different. The first person shooter dominates the market, though its construction has deviated significantly from the design of GoldenEye 007 years ago. Most recently, the Call of Duty series has taken the market by storm, and has clearly had a huge influence on this re-imagination of story and gameplay of the original title. As such, GoldenEye 007 straddles the line between old school and new school first person shooter design, making for an experience that's not nearly as memorable as the title it borrows so much credibility from.
Bizarre Creations, creative minds behind the Project Gotham series, Blur, and The Club, have put together their talents to create the latest video game based on James Bond. A combination of third person shooting and intense car chase sequences, James Bond 007: Blood Stone is a wholly original story involving the international spy from MI6. The game is undoubtedly in the upper-echelon of Bond experiences, but its quality is all over the board, ranging from spectacular to yawn-inducing.
Employed at Eurocom this past summer, Craig Peck, claims to have been involved in animation work for a title dubbed GoldenEye 2010.