Outside of E3, there aren’t many videogame themed events to attend in Los Angeles. Still feeling withdrawal from this year’s show, I was happy to find TETRICIDE, a video game themed art show curated by Walt Gorecki at Pehrspace.
July 13, 2010
Tetricide Art Show
Toronto’s Final Fantasy Music Fix
Distant Worlds, the touring symphony of music from the Final Fantasy series has a date with Toronto, hitting the Sony Centre on Saturday, November 27 2010. Arnie Roth will be conducting the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony through the 2-hour program featuring the compositions of Nobuo Uematsu, whom the event lists as being in attendance to boot.
If you’re in Toronto and interested, more information can be found here.
Not to ignore the rest of the world, Distant Worlds will also be in San Francisco on July 15 and 16, San Diego on July 22, Houston on July 24, and in Washington D.C. on July 30.
July 12, 2010
Check Your Enthusiasm – Crackdown 2
It would be easy to suggest that Pacific City is one of the harder urban spaces on the videogame map for citizens to inhabit, but more accurate to paint it as a battle zone on the losing side of regaining any measure of sanity – aptly demonstrated by an obligatory introduction cinematic that invites the eyes to feast on an ultra-violent spectacle.
Ruffian’s Crackdown 2 plagues Pacific City with the tightly organized violence of the terrorist group Cell fighting against the authoritarian fist of The Agency players work for, flavored further by a setting sun that brings hordes of mutant zombie “Freaks” to the streets to infect the remaining citizens.
Continuing with the straightforward agenda of desperate times calling for desperate measures, it takes a new breed of genetically engineered enforcer to retake such streets, and players fill the heavy boots of The Agency’s human RoboCop – with the added agility needed to patrol Pacific City by street and roof top equally.
With all the turmoil immediately awaiting players in this sandbox, the most surprising aspect is how little is offered to merit the sequel. Crackdown 2 creates a vortex where time becomes meaningless not because it has no value, but rather because of just how much time is wasted in the mix of tedium and monotony that provides damning evidence that this revisit is, at best, a first draft toward a game worth a second of the player’s attention.
Your Taito Fun Fact
I happened to be revisiting Taito’s page on Facebook today and was reminded about this picture of one sweet bus parked outside their Ebina Development Center that I’d seen earlier this month. Apparently there are two of these, used to take employees to and from the train station.
I’m pretty sure the streets here in Toronto would be a lot more fun with a few of these kicking around, but I’d also go for a Capybara themed ride if someone can make that happen.
Review – Transformers: War for Cybertron
My familiarity with High Moon Studios is only through my unpleasant collision with the demo for their previous effort, The Bourne Conspiracy. With that product failing to resonate with me in any way despite my almost physical yearning for a Bourne game (later satisfied by Splinter Cell: Conviction), the discovery that these were the minds behind War for Cybertron was somewhat ominous.
It was encouraging to hear them speak on that game; it filled me with confidence and finally made the reality of the product that much more bitter. If you’ve followed the material released for War for Cybertron, then you may have experienced a similar swell of confidence: they speak as fans, and as you fire up the disc (or immaterial Steam delivery, as the case may be) there is no doubt as to their honesty. To my infinite relief, this release has been calibrated with great care for the Transformers follower, much in the way Arkham Asylum was a love letter to Batman adherents. While War for Cybertron does not quite reach the heights of the latter effort, it represents the game Transfans have long deserved.
July 11, 2010
Refresh Rate Double Dose – Banjo-Kazooie & Conker’s Bad Fur Day
The year is 1984.
You’re watching MTV, where music videos are still played, and Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” comes on. Bruce is rocking out on stage but… he keeps making eyes at this somewhat androgynous brunette in a sleeveless t-shirt. Then, during The Big Man’s sax solo, The Boss actually pulls her up on stage for a brief, intimate, and somewhat awkward dance. And thus the world was introduced to Courtney Cox; she of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Scream and Friends fame. From those dubious beginnings, a long and fruitful career blossomed.
For two of the N64’s most well-known anthropomorphic platform heroes, the beginning was almost as humble.
July 8, 2010
Forests Of Eternity – The Art of Etrian Odyssey
Following the tradition of Atlus spoiling their fans comes Forests of Eternity – your 60 page full-color artwork pre-order bonus for the upcoming DS RPG Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City. Atlus mentions that the book offers up character designs and concept art from the entire Etrian Odyssey series.
While I haven’t been keeping up with Etrian Odyssey much over the last month, I’m glad to see another artbook on the way, especially from the publisher responsible for my much cherished Knights in the Nightmare Tome of Lost Souls.
Etrian Odyssey III is set for release on September 21, 2010 btw.
Check out the full image here, or catch a virtual sample of the book over here.