Mitch has written a total of 335,654 words on this site.

mitch@gamersushi.com Twitter: @mi7ch Gamertag: Lubeius PSN ID: Lubeius SteamID: Mister_L Origin/EA:Lube182 Currently Playing: PUBG, Rainbow 6: Siege, Assassin's Creed: Origins, Total War: Warhammer 2

All Points Bulletin Trailer Hits the Streets

Have you been wondering what Crackdown developer Realtime Worlds has been doing since 2007 when their game launched? Well, wonder no more as you absorb the awesome trailer for All Points Bulletin (APB), a free-to-play MMO. It looks a lot like GTA IV multi-player, and as long as they can get it to be a lot more stable than that I think we’ve got a hit on our hands.

In APB, you can join one of two sides, the Enforcers or the Criminals. Once you’ve chosen your side, you can fully customize your own gang and roam around the city with friends hitting fools with you car. The shooting looks pretty tight as well, and I’m very intrigued by the option to recreate the look of the Beastie Boys out of their “Sabotage” video and rip around the streets.

APB is set to debut on both the PC and the 360 in March 2010. Given that Crackdown was a huge sleeper hit, I think that there’s going to be a large player base when this game comes out. Who’s going to be giving APB a try, and on what platform?

Ready to Get BrĂĽtal?

Are you prepared for Rocktober, the most heavy metal month of the year? If you are, brace yourselves for the opening six minutes of the Jack Black-starring, Tim Schafer-produced BrĂĽtal Legend, a journey through the most raging of fantasy worlds! No doubt you’ve already heard about some of the voice stars in this game-which includes Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy Kilmister and Tim Curry-and you’ve probably heard about the various legal troubles that the game has had, what with Activision being a vicious font of evil and all that. Anyways, check out the video, which feature some awful “music”, surprisingly sober voice acting by Black, and a giant monster that reminds me of Mannoroth from Warcraft III.

So, who’s picking this up? October’s a packed month as far as releases go, but I’m making room for a little BrĂĽtal Legend on my calendar.

Assassin’s Creed II and the Developer Dialogue

Assassin's CreedIt’s often gratifying as a gamer to hear that developers do listen to the complaints we have against their games. As small as we can sometimes feel against the pull of design committees, release dates and budget crunches, having a developer say that he’s heard our opinions and is taking them into serious consideration feels like a victory well deserved.

One of the games that has come out in the past couple of years that has seen the most amount of griping by the community at large is Assassin’s Creed. While the game found almost universal acceptance among its players, there were still a few points of contention which people felt needed to be addressed for the inevitable sequel. Things like the repetitive nature of the side missions and the over-all sameness of the actual assassinations were among the biggest criticisms raised against the game.

This is where the conversation with the game’s developer springs up. It’s not as literal as sitting down at a table with the design staff and reading off a list of grievances and what you would have done differently, but it can sometimes have the same effect. The best part is that when developers listen and change things, they’ll sometimes try to get us to differ our views by making us take a harder look at the tropes we’ve come to expect from games.

Continue reading Assassin’s Creed II and the Developer Dialogue

Meet the Team: Borderlands

If there’s one game coming out this holiday that has style leaking out of its cel-shaded ears, it’s Borderlands. In this new trailer for the upcoming FPS-RPG, we’re introduced to the various characters that we’ll be controlling as we explore the wasteland looking for sweet guns. There’s plenty of gory game-play (censored to tantalize you) and awesome music packed into this video, so check it out.

Gearbox’s CEO Randy Pitchford, notable for being slightly outspoken about his games, has said that he thinks Borderlands has the moxie to stand up to the big dogs this Christmas, and based on this trailer, he might be right. We’ve looked at this game before at GamerSushi, but I just couldn’t pass up sharing this trailer with you guys. I’m picking this up on PC for sure.

GamerSushi Taste Test: Tropico 3 Demo

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With the glut of shooters, brawlers, and generally anything being associated with action set for release this holiday season, it’s sometimes easy to let a game that doesn’t focus primarily on racking up a huge body count escape your notice. However, amidst all the big tent-pole titles, there’s usually a few that deserve at least some of your time, if only to cleanse the pallet from all the shootery-goodness.

Enter Tropico 3. Developed by Haemimont Games for the PC and X-Box 360, Tropico 3 is a building and management simulation that puts you in the boots of “El Presidente”, iron-fisted dictator of a small banana republic in the Caribbean. The time period is the 1950s and onward, so you have to play the US and the USSR carefully against each other, managing all your resources wisely if you don’t want to be invaded by one of the super-powers.

In the demo, you’re given a tutorial and two separate campaigns to play around in: one focusing on building a successful banana-fuelled dictatorship, and the other features a scenario where you’re deposed by your twin brother, taking your former government’s treasury and a few loyal supports onto a new, less hospitable island to start anew.

So, how does the demo stack up? Does this tropical city management sim have what it takes to stand against the deluge of holiday titles, or is it a few bananas short of a republic? Read on.
Continue reading GamerSushi Taste Test: Tropico 3 Demo

Cross-Contaminated Media: Expanding Universes Outside Games

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Hello and welcome to Cross-Contaminated Media, a short series on video game franchises that have taken their fictional settings and expanded them into books, comics, and film. As the video game industry becomes even more wide-spread, we’re seeing a lot of companies try their hand at developing their intellectual properties by taking them off of a game disk and put them into forms of media that are less graphically intensive, but require more attention on the story and characters.

Of all the companies currently trying their hand at pursuing different avenues of story-telling, Halo is the one that stands out to most people as the current leader of this pack. When we popped Halo: Combat Evolved into our X-Boxes for the first time, we were vaguely aware that there was some history behind this game, at least according to the small preface in the manual. There was some planet named REACH that had been destroyed, Humanity was fighting a losing battle with a genocidal alien hegemony, and the character you were going to be controlling was the last of his kind, a genetically engineered super soldier.

But why had these events come to pass? The story of Halo was preceded by 25 years of brutal warfare and intrigue, and those of us who were engrossed by the game’s universe could only scratch at the surface of the story. Microsoft, perhaps being aware at the great selling power their new IP possessed, had had the foresight to employ Eric Nylund to write The Fall of Reach, which told of the beginnings of Master Chief’s career as a soldier and of the destruction of REACH. The Fall of Reach went on to be a New York Times Bestseller, and the stage was set for a variety of Halo licensed media to continue the story outside of the games.
Continue reading Cross-Contaminated Media: Expanding Universes Outside Games

Sega Teases US With New 2D Sonic Title

If there’s one classic video game mascot that has his fans clamoring for a return to the days of old, its Sonic the Hedgehog. The speedy blue Erinaceidae has suffered more than his share of bad games over the past few years, and every time Sega has tried to change Sonic by adding new game-play mechanics and annoying side-kicks, the more it seems obvious that Sonic does what he does best in a simple side-scroller. Indeed, the most enjoyable parts of Sonic Unleashed were when you were controlling Sonic as he speeds through the day-time stages, whipping past beautiful vistas.

The new Sonic game, which is tentatively titled “Project Needlemouse”, is due for release in 2010, being built from the ground up in an all new HD 2D engine. No systems have been confirmed yet, but a PSN and an XBLA release is safe to assume. Check out the teaser, and get ready to have your hopes dashed once more.

Awesome Mod Brings Call of Duty to Star Wars

If there’s two things I love, it’s Star Wars and shooting people in the face. Thankfully, a nice group of modders calling themselves blackMonkeys shares my love of sci-fi warfare and are hard at work on a total conversion kit for Call of Duty 4 called “Galactic Warfare”, which takes the silky smooth game-play of CoD and fits it in with classic Star Wars imagery.

The trailer for the mod showcases Stormtroopers and Rebel fighters battling it out in Mos Eisely, and it looks like everything that I hoped Battlefront II would be. With the future of the Battlefront series in limbo, I’m looking forward to trying this out when the mod is complete. Check out the video:

Live Action Halo 3: ODST Short Premiers Tonight

Tonight at 10:30pm ET/PT, SPIKE TV is going to debut “We are ODST”, a live action short in the vein of “Landfall”, the Neill Blomkamp directed project from 2007.

This may be the first time that I can remember that I tuned in to specifically watch what is essentially a very elaborate commercial, but this is probably worth it. Who else is going to be watching this?

Edit: The full version is up for your enjoyment.

Microsoft Charging for New Left 4 Dead Content

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Poor Valve, they just can’t seem to catch a break. Hot on the heels of the Left 4 Dead 2 boycott debacle and the newly brewing Team Fortress 2 item-deletion snafu comes the news that the new Left 4 Dead campaign, Crash Course, is going to be free for PC users, but will cost 560 Microsoft Banana Bucks for 360 users.

Is Valve heading for another ill-deserved boycott? Maybe not, says Left 4 Dead writer Chet Faliszek. According to Chet, the decision to charge for the X-Box 360 mission lies solely with Microsoft. As Mr. Faliszek tells it, Steam is Valve’s distribution platform, so they can charge whatever they want, even give stuff away for free. Microsoft of course owns LIVE, so pricing for downloadable content there is a whole different ball game.
Continue reading Microsoft Charging for New Left 4 Dead Content

BioWare Weighs in on Video Game Piracy

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I think that we can all agree that piracy sucks. The worst aspect of this type of digital high seas shenanigans is that companies are forced to punish legitimate customers to make sure that their games are harder to pirate. Most recently, EA tried to regulate piracy by forcing all copies of their games to include SecuROM, possibly the most draconian form of copy-protection currently available (with the notable exception of the Sony BMG CD copyright scandal).

The most infamous of the SecuROM stories was that of EA’s Spore, Will Wright’s procedurally-generated creature creator simulator from last year. The digital lock-down on Spore enforced a three-install limit upon the game, much to the lament of the internet savvy. As a result of this heavy-handed maneuver, Spore ended up being the most pirated game of 2008 with over 1.7 million downloads.

So, what did the games industry take away from this horrendous back-fire?
Continue reading BioWare Weighs in on Video Game Piracy

Dead Space: Extraction Developer Diary Brings the Fear

One game that seems to be slipping under everyone’s radar this holiday season is Dead Space: Extraction, an on-rails prequel to last year’s surprise hit. Visceral Games is making every effort to ensure that their Wii based outing is set to match up with the chills and thrills that players felt when they explored the USG Ishimura as Isaac Clarke.

On-rail shooters definitely play to the Wii’s strengths, and the transfer from the 360 and PS3 doesn’t seem to have affected the awesome atmosphere of the derelict ship we all know and fear. Check it out:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abpTSLh8YqA[/youtube]

Modern Warfare 2 Continues to Look Hot

Infinity Ward has released another Modern Warfare 2 multi-player footage video, and I can’t believe how amazing this game looks. The user interface has been completely changed, and the new blood splatter effect that replaces the traditional pulsing red screen when you’re wounded is pretty slick. The guns also look a lot more detailed, and the player models have gotten a complete over-haul. With a good engine in place from CoD 4, it looks like Infinity Ward went a little wild, and we all get to reap the benefits.

Just like the last multiplayer video IW released, this preview is chock-a-block full of little hidden clues as to what you can expect when the game launches November 10th. Keep your eyes peeled after the video “ends” for a nice little surprise.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4PMRFkx07g[/youtube]

Here’s something I’m wondering, though. With Modern Warfare being released on three platforms (360, PC and PS3), will it outperform Halo 3:ODST on sales, or will the power of Halo continue to shine through?

Review: Batman: Arkham Asylum

batman arkham asylum reviewWhy are super-hero games so hard to get right? You’ve got tailor made settings, abilities and bad guys that you can just lift straight off the funny pages. Seems like an easy sell, right? Well, if you’ve been paying attention to the number of below-average super-hero games this generation, this task seems like a trickier prospect to pull off than at first glance.

The problem with most super-heroes is that they’re just that: super. When you think about it, every comic book character is practically invincible. Superman only has kryptonite to fear, and Spider-Man has his astonishing reflexes to fall back on. Only one comic book crusader has the right amount of limitations to make a challenging video game: Batman.

He’s almost perfect for a developer to take a hold of. No super-strength, no bullet-proof skin. He’s only got his wits, his body, and a handy assortment of gadgets. Many studios have tried to make the lightning strike with Batman, and now it’s Rocksteady’s turn to put the Dark Knight through his paces.
Continue reading Review: Batman: Arkham Asylum

Final Fantasy XIII Combat Walkthrough

Are you eagerly awaiting Final Fantasy XIII but still aren’t too clear on its new combat system? Here’s a nice little video out of Gamescom that gives a short and sweet overview of the fighting mechanics of the next Final Fantasy. The English localization is still being worked on, but I’d imagine that this game is (finally) close to being done.

I’ve never actually played a Final Fantasy game, so I’m excited to give this a whirl. Who else is going to sink their time into some J-RPG goodness?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeD9RTALW1Q[/youtube]

Sneak Peak: Modern Warfare 2 Gameplay

Christmas has come early for you Modern Warfare fans, as some considerate soul has put up a minute and a half of juicy single-player footage. It’s off-screen, unfortunately, and the music is placeholder, (it’s actually the track Scorponok from the Transformers film), but it’s a good indication of the changes from Call of Duty 4. Take a look:

Gears of War 2: Game of the Year Edition Curbstomps Retailers September 1st

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Bundled releases seem to be a growing trend this fall with Gears of War 2 joining the Metroid Prime Trilogy and Fallout 3 as an all-in-one package that includes the downloadable content (DLC) released for the “stop-and-pop” shooter since it first went on sale last year. This includes all the map packs as well as the cut level for the single-player game.

While I’ve heard mixed reviews about the cut level and the multiplayer continues to be spotty, I really can’t complain about the price tag, which is a nice reasonable $39.99. Considering that the game originally launched as a full priced title, and you’re getting all the DLC included (which ran at about ten bucks a piece), this is quite the sweet deal. If you’ve been on the fence about Gears 2, or you just haven’t gotten around to picking it up, September first is when this bad boy drops into stores.

I can’t quite seem to recall Gears 2 actually winning any Game of the Year awards, but I’m certain that it’s sold enough copies to warrant a bundled version. Who’s going to treat themselves to some Gears of War, and what do you guys think of re-releases that package DLC?

Source: Destructoid

Halo 3: ODST Welcomes You to the Front

Still sceptical about Halo 3: ODST? Well, let all-around bad-ass and ten time consecutive winner of the Aliens Character Look-Alike contest Sergeant Major A.J. Johnson walk you through FireFight, ODST’s new co-operative mode. The thought of Halo having a Horde-like mode appeals to me greatly, as I’ve always found the enemy designs in Halo to be fantastic; just one look into the crowd of enemies lets you know your chances of survival. Seeing the hulking silhouettes of two Hunters ambling through the bushels of Grunts is clear indication that now would be a good time to panic.

I’ve been sold on the ODST expansion since it was announced at the Tokyo Game Show last year, but I know that some people aren’t as stoked about this as I am. After seeing the dearth of information about this game, who’s had their mind changed, and who’s sticking to their guns?

StarCraft 2 Map Editor Can Raise the Dead

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Well, this is a fine how-do-you-do. Looks like Blizzard’s plan to charge for custom maps is starting to make a bit more sense. This beast of a map editor was unveiled at BlizzCon, and is probably the most powerful editing tool ever released alongside a game.

Besides being able to make your vanilla strategy maps, the map editor demo given at the Starcraft 2 panel displayed its robust abilities by showing off an Action-RPG and a Galaga-type shooter. StarCraft: Ghost was even brought back to haunt the audience thanks to the fact that the main character’s model is included in the editor.

This is really exciting news in my opinion, but what do you guys think? Are you willing to pay money for some LittleBig StarCraft action, or do you think that maps made by the community should be doled out for free?

Source: Destructoid

Champions Online Beta Impressions

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I’m a big fan of MMOs. I played Star Wars Galaxies almost every day until Revenge of the Sith came out, and brought with it the Trials of Obi-Wan Expansion, which totally ruined the game with dumbed down controls and even more powerful bugs than before. After that, I started playing World of Warcraft, making first a Mage, then a Paladin, and finally a Death Knight. With Star Wars: The Old Republic and the newly announced World of Warcraft expansion, Cataclysm, looming in the distance, I took it upon myself to try out one of the smaller MMOs on the market.

Cryptic Studio’s Champions Online, based on the pen-and-paper RPG, launched an open beta last week for those of us who had either pre-ordered the game or have a FilePlanet subscription. Not exactly “open” in every sense of the word, but at least it gives people an opportunity to try out the game before they lock into a monthly subscription. (And only for the low, low price of $49.95!)

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Cryptic Studios, these are the people behind City of Heroes/Villains and the forthcoming Star Trek Online. They have the pedigree of a successful MMO crafter behind them, but does Champions Online have the hooks necessary to combat Blizzard’s juggernaut? Continue reading Champions Online Beta Impressions