When Left 4 Dead Becomes Left 12 Dead

You all know of my nerdy fanboy-slobbering love for all things Valve, specifically Left 4 Dead in recent months. As many have discussed on this before and even today, it’s a great co-op game that requires the utmost teamwork between 4 players in order to survive.

Well, what happens when you add 12 players? It becomes awesome, that’s what. Check out this new mod that requires lots of trickery but ends in good times. Kind of great.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF0fm5zvfeU[/youtube]

Source- L4D Mods

Dead Rising 2: It’s Over Six Thousand

dead-rising26000 is a lot no matter how you slice it. With 6000 bucks I could buy a kick ass computer and a killer monitor. Or 6000 dollar menu burgers. Or 12000 sodas. Either way, it’s a big number. Especially when you’re talking about the number of zombies that could be on-screen at once in Dead Rising 2.

Apparently, the development dudes at Blue Castle Games, the studio making Dead Rising 2, confirmed at GDC last week that the target number for simultaneous undead baddies on-screen at once is around 6000. In addition, it’s rumored that there will be over 800 different versions of these zombies, which means you won’t be looking at the same zed-heads over and over again every 5 seconds or so.

If they can actually pull this off, color me impressed. Left 4 Dead has some of the most characters I’ve seen at once, but the thought of fighting 6000 zombies at the same time is exhilarating. So, what do you guys think? Excited about the game?

Source- MTV Multiplayer

Mass Effect 2 Leaked Gameplay Footage

I’m not always the biggest fan of watching handheld shaky-cam-o-vision, but I couldn’t resist it when it comes to Mass Effect 2. They showed off some level building techniques at GDC recently, and someone in the audience filmed it. In this day and age, you can’t expect that to not happen, right?

It’s definitely interesting to see them show the different stages of putting a game together, from cut scenes to level design. Already, it seems like there have been improvements made to the shooting mechanics. Man, I can’t wait to see more of this game.

Batman Dominates Arkham Asylum

So, I’ve been skeptical but still hopeful about Batman: Arkham Asylum up until now. Well, you can officially put me aboard the crazy train for this game, after this new gameplay video featuring the challenge rooms. These really show off the “invisible predator” game style that the creators are going for, and it’s unbelievably Batman. I worried that this was just going to be a simple beat-em-up, but this video is like Solid Snake with a grappling hook. And it’s awesome.

Source- Kotaku

Modern Warfare 2 Teaser Dissect-ified

modern-warfare2Well that didn’t take long. In case you’ve been under a rock all day, the first Modern Warfare 2 teaser debuted last night, giving us little to go on but sound clips, flashes of video and lots of green. Oh, we also got a release date.

Anywho, some crazy dudes have already dissected the trailer nearly second-by-second, and have found some interesting things including a screenshot of some perks, potential hints at settings (South America, anyone?) and even translation of that Russian you heard. Frankly, I’m amazed whenever someone goes to all this trouble, so I must tip my hat to these fine folks.

It’s definitely worth a look if you’re interested in the game at all, especially once they start busting out the frame-by-frame captures of the montage that takes place near the end. So, what are your thoughts?

Source- Binge Gamer

R.U.S.E. Trailer: The Sneaky RTS

Ubisoft debuted a new RTS today called R.U.S.E., coming to the PS3, PC and XBox 360. The idea behind the game is certainly an interesting one. Basically, it’s a typical war-based RTS, but with a twist. At the beginning of each round, each player is dealt a hand of cards, which give special abilities.

These cards do a range of things, such as allowing your units to be invisible until they get behind enemy lines, or revealing what the other player is doing, or disguising your heavy tanks as light infantry. It’s a unique tweak to the genre, and I’m curious to see how it plays out. Here’s the R.U.S.E. trailer– thoughts?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ohNzHWL7FI[/youtube]

Source- GameSpot

Whoops, The Pitt is Kind of Borked

pittLots of people are excited about the new Fallout 3 DLC, the Pitt, which released today for the XBox 360 and PC. Or at least they were, until it all turned out to be a big crazy mess.

Apparently, many who have downloaded the new pack on the 360 have experienced everything from freezing machines to graphical glitches galore. It’s so bad that some places in the game even feature floating red exclamation points where missing textures should be. Yikes. Bethesda is now investigating and setting out to fix the problem.

I understand that this kind of stuff is complicated, but how does something go so fundamentally wrong with a release like that? I mean, back to the point I made earlier about micro transactions- if you’re going to charge me money, at least make it somewhat workable. So, was anyone excited about The Pitt DLC? Has anyone had these problems?

Source- Kotaku

Layoff: The Game

Ah, gotta love the news media. They can take a story about a video game and twist it however they want. Take this story about a new game called Layoff, for example. It’s a bejeweled clone which lets the player lay off workers, and instead of a high score, your points come across as the amount of money you’ve saved the company.

Clearly, this game is made to demonstrate a greater point through satire. But even still, the news show can miss that point, go on the streets, get soundbites from uninformed interviewees and then claim that the game has upset quite a few people. This is why I don’t watch the news anymore.

What do you guys think? Is the game too far?

By the way, if you want to play the game yourself, check it out here.

CoD: World at War Zombie DLC Gameplay

Well, if you’ve been wondering what the new DLC zombie stuff looks like for Call of Duty: World at War, Treyarch was kind enough to release a brand new gameplay video for all of us. It shows off the new map which definitely has a cool feel to it, and some great lighting to boot. Looks fun.

How Diablo is Diablo III?

diablo3Next to The Old Republic MMO, Diablo III is pretty much one of the only PC games that I’m really dying to get my hands on these days. I loved Diablo II, and playing co-op accounts for some of my favorite gaming moments.

As with many sequels, change has apparently come to the Diablo franchise, and many fans have voiced their unhappiness at the change in art style from the dark and gritty to the vibrant and colorful nature seen in WoW. Personally, I don’t really care that much, because the game will still be a blast to play.

But who cares what I think, since I’m not Bill Roper, one of the original bigwigs behind the Diablo series. And his opinion? He preferred the dark and gritty style better, but sees why Blizzard would go the way they did. Check out the quote after the jump.
Continue reading How Diablo is Diablo III?

Bioware: Mass Effect 2 is Bigger and Better

me2Even though we all knew it was going to happen, Mass Effect 2 has finally been officially announced for the Xbox 360 and the PC, so it’s time for us all to stand up and take notice.

Not only is it now official, but Bioware is also bringing out the big funs, saying that Mass Effect 2 is going to surpass the original through better combat, more customization and a rocking story. While I know that it’s every company’s job to hype their product like this, I can’t help but get giddy about the prospect of another game set in Mass Effect’s universe. This is easily my most wanted game for 2010.

So who is on board the hype train with me for Mass Effect 2? Does anyone believe that it will surpass the first?

Source- Kotaku

Call of Duty World at War DLC Details

cod-3I’m a big fan of what Treyarch did with Call of Duty: World at War. While many of us doubted that the game would be any good at all, they put out a respectable sequel to one of the greatest shooters of all time, which was no easy task.

Right now, the game’s online multiplayer is still crushing the competition, some would say, but it’s about time for some new stuff to freshen everything up. That’s why a new DLC pack is coming March 19th, complete with not only a few new multiplayer maps, but also a new map for the oh-so-loved Nazi Zombie Mode. Sounds awesome.

Details after the jump!
Continue reading Call of Duty World at War DLC Details

Batman: Arkham Asylum Gameplay Trailer

While I haven’t ever known what quite to think of the new Batman Arkham Asylum game that’s coming out later this year, this new gameplay trailer looks pretty promising. Combining the mechanics of a Splinter Cell or Metal Gear works perfect for Batman. Let’s just hope that it’s got some great sneaking, and even cooler boss fights. What do you guys think?

Bioshock 2 Reveal in Next PC Gamer

bioshock-1In a day where print is dying a sad, slow, miserable death, it’s a wonder that anybody else besides Game Informer gets any kind of exclusive first-looks anymore. Apparently, however, we must all watch on as gaming magazines continue to limp forward.

But like I said, sometimes these things happen, and it just so happens that the world’s first look at Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams is going to occur in the next PC Gamer magazine. If you weren’t aware, there’s already a Bioshock 2 viral site that has gone up in the last week or so, complete with a tease about little girls getting kidnapped by something mysterious in coastal towns.

So, who’s excited about Bioshock 2? Who played the first one?

Source- CVG

Doom and Diablo, Together at Last

doomabloSometimes we get curious about video game mash-ups. Call it an adventure to blend things together that don’t normally seem to fit. While it may turn out to be crap, sometimes it’s total gaming gold.

Take Doom: Fall of Mars, for instance, which combines Diablo and Doom in a shockingly fun and really inspired way. How does this work, you ask? Well, imagine if you married the click and attack style view and mechanics from Diablo and the sprites and weapons of Doom, and then you’ll have a fairly accurate picture of the gameplay. And the most surprising thing of all is that I would actually pay money for this.

Luckily though, you can download the 3.3 MB demo for free, and enjoy the three levels. So what do you guys think? Face explodingly awesome or what?

Source- Rock Paper Shotgun and If Software

GamerSushi Asks: Old School Downloads?

mgsOne thing I love about the newest consoles is the ability to download and play old school favorites straight onto the system. Whether it’s XBox Live, PSN or Virtual Console, each one is allowing gamers to download and experience old favorites at their leisure.

However, I’ve noticed that there are a lack of some of my favorite previous gen games on some of these networks. I think that the Virtual Console is probably doing the best job of giving some of the classics like Super Mario RPG, Zelda and the like. While there are some options on the PSN and XBox Live, there are some notable entries still missing.

So, if your console (or PC) could download any five previous gen titles for any system onto it, what would your choice be? I think I could easily go for KOTOR, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Super Mario RPG, Final Fantasy VI and Metal Gear Solid. What about you guys?

First Old Republic Webcomic Is Live

swtorBioware is hard at work on The Old Republic, the MMO continuation of the KOTOR franchise. Right now, this is the only MMO that I’ve ever really been tempted to play, and the more content I see, the more I just salivate and have to avoid the Internet altogether. Seriously, this game might ruin me.

In preparation for the inevitable albeit mysterious release date of the Star Wars MMO, Bioware has published the first TOR webcomic. By the time the game comes out, there will be six total. Perhaps when the second one comes out, we’ll have a better idea of when this game might launch.

As far as webcomics go, I’m a big fan of the art, and it looks like it’s setting us up for a pretty grand and epic space opera once the game hits. While many of the commenters hilariously feel the need to gripe about what is just a bit of a prequel piece, I enjoyed it. What do you guys think?

Source- Star Wars: The Old Republic

Dragon: Age Origins Trailer Makes Me Happy

I can’t remember the last time I’ve played an honest-to-goodness fantasy game. Most RPG’s that I pick up these days are more sci-fi in nature, or steampunk, or anything else that decidedly does not have uber-awesome dragons and dudes in chainmail slugging it out in epic battles. This new Dragon Age: Origins trailer definitely has all of that and more, and really kicks up my excitement for the game to a new level. Anyone else geeking out with me?

So What Kind of Rig Does Valve Use to Make Games?

valveAs we know, Valve makes PC games. Some rather sweet PC games. So, you know how when you sign on to Steam, and you always get bugged by that survey asking what kind of rig you have? Well, Valve’s got their own that they use to develop with, and they are quite beastly. Do any of you have comparable PC’s?

* EVGA 780i SLI FTW Intel Motherboard
* Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz Quad-Core Processor
* 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 1066MHz ram
(Crucial Ballistix, Kingston ValueRam)
* 1 x NVidia GTX280 1GB – OR – ATI 4870 1GB graphics card
* 1 x 250GB 7200RPM SATA HD
(Seagate, Western Digital)
* 1 x 500GB 7200RPM SATA HD
(Seagate, Western Digital)
* Antec Sonata III desktop case
* Zalman CPU Cooler
* 850W Antec power supply
* 1 x Dell 3008FPW-HC 30″ LCD – OR – 2 x Dell 2001FP 20.1″ LCD monitors
* Windows XP 32bit

And if you think that’s good, wait until you see what they’re upgrading to…
Continue reading So What Kind of Rig Does Valve Use to Make Games?

Valve Wonders if Games Are Too Expensive

gabenewellIn an echo to something I was saying just the other day, it seems that Valve is claiming that games are over-priced. Gabe Newell recently gave a talk at DICE on Wednesday, giving some impressive numbers about Steam, and showing where game companies are currently missing the mark with retail.

In particular, he notes the promotional offers that companies run for their games on Steam. His main example was Left 4 Dead, which was half price this last weekend. How did it affect sales, you ask? They rose. By how much? Three thousand percent. Yes, you read that right.
Continue reading Valve Wonders if Games Are Too Expensive