David Emery OnlineGrand Theft Auto V Trailer
The Grand Theft Auto series is probably my favourite set of games released by any single developer; not so much for the violence, but for the storytelling and amazing open world gameplay (without tying it down to anything tedious like levelling up or any of that rubbish).
This trailer for GTA V (which is confusing the 7th full GTA game, confusingly) looks pretty amazing to me; yes, it’s not exactly a radical departure – I know some people are disappointed it’s not in a new setting, maybe one outside US – but for me that’s not the point; the location will be actually different, with different things to find, but most importantly with a different story (and it does look like a different take this time, as it’s seems to be eschewing the “work up from the bottom” storyline the last few have employed).
I’ve written previously about how games are their own art form, and I think the GTA series is one of the perfect examples of that. Interactive storytelling, without skimping either on the “interactive” or the story.
Visit ➔A Super Mario Bros version of Portal?!
Wow. Someone is making a video game featuring the original Super Mario Bros worlds but Mario is outfitted with a Portal gun. Watch the demo:
This looks amazing.
Visit ➔Watch these kids play Star Wars on a giant touch screen
Coolest thing ever, right? The world needs an iPad version of this, stat.
Visit ➔Hollywood shuns intelligent entertainment. The games industry doesn't. Guess who's winning?
And then there's LA Noire, the James Ellroy-inspired crime drama, which has caused a stir, and rightly so, with its firm focus on narrative and staggering new facial animation technology. I'm a massive dweeb who keeps up with the latest gaming developments, and even I was astounded at what they've pulled off here. You're watching actors give genuine performances – within something that is still defiantly and unapologetically a video game.
There’s no doubt that LA Noire isn’t perfect – the game elements in places are a little bit repetitive maybe, and I for one have frequent issues with the interrogation scenes where I have no real idea what my character is going to say next – but there’s also no doubt that it has pushed the medium of interactive storytelling on several great strides.
If anything, it gets all the film-like bits right more so then the game like elements (and more right then many films do), but the way it melds the two together – you really are interacting with the story – is what’s most impressive.
Visit ➔Kill Screen Profile: Craig Adams
To put it mildly, the hype machine has shown nonstop love for the upcoming Superbrothers production Sword & Sworcery EP. I played through a fair bit of a mature beta, and it is every bit the smartly crafted affair I had hoped for. Sword & Sworcery feels like a game created by one of us. Among those who desperately try to convince non-gamers that Super Meat Boy is a feat of engineering genius, or that Metroid Prime can go toe-to-toe with many of the great narratives of the past 50 years, someone has quit talking and decided to just create something beautiful. Sworcery isn't grandiose-- but the sneaking suspicion is that it may be our "one small step for games" moment.
Sword & Sworcery EP is one of the best games I’ve played in ages; if you’ve got an iPad I urge you to download it if you haven’t already, it’s beautiful.
Also, whilst I’m not sure if Pitchfork should be losing focus from music it’s nice to see a decent bit of writing about games for a change.
Visit ➔Papa Sangre – who needs graphics anyway?
This game is an impressive technical achievement. It uses a binaural sound engine to place the player in a three-dimensional sound stage when using headphones. Binaural recordings are made by placing a pair of microphones in a position which corresponds to the position of our human ears and can be extremely effective
Love the concept of this iPhone app – it recreates a 3D world without using graphics, just using sound. It’s amazingly – almost freakishly – effective.
Visit ➔VW launches Real Racing GTI on iPhone
[…] Volkswagen got smart and instead partnered with developer Firemint, which already has a well received racing game for sale in the App Store called Real Racing. Together, the two companies have put out Real Racing GTI, a free version of the $6.99 app that exclusively features the new 2010 Volkswagen GTI.
Very nice free iPhone game there from VW, and a smart way of spending those marketing dollars…
Visit ➔OnLive Makes PC Upgrades Extinct
You may never buy a new video card ever again. Actually, the only PC gaming hardware you might ever need will cost you less than a Wii, should OnLive’s potential live up to its promise.
[…]
The concept is simple. Your controller input isn’t going from your hand to the controller to the machine in front of you, it’s going from your hand to the controller through the internet to OnLive’s machines then back again as streamed video. Whether you’re using a USB gamepad, Bluetooth wireless controller, or tried and true keyboard and mouse, the processing and output happens on OnLive’s side, then is fed back to your terminal, with the game “perceptually” played locally.
Very interesting, especially considering the rise in netbooks and other low performance, connected platforms (cough iPhone cough).
Visit ➔TUAW goes hands-on with Rolando
This looks absolutely lovely, although I’m not going to get it yet as I’ve just bought Sim City for the iPhone instead (which seems to be pretty good from the 10 minutes I’ve spent with it). It’s very encouraging that there are already got too many games to get for the iPhone – I think it’s very rapidly establishing itself as a very viable platform fo games developers.
Visit ➔SimCity iPhone Impressions
I am far too excited by the idea of this – it could totally be the iPhone killer app games-wise. Better not cost too much…
Visit ➔