Geek Revolt

Shin Megami Tensei IV “The Samurai Way” Trailer

DeShaun Zollicoffer — Fri, 24 May 2013 15:47:37 +0000

Trailer Description: The Eastern Kingdom of Mikado is a city of the chosen, sitting on high and protected all around by towering walls. Yet its people are at risk from an ongoing demon threat that the player as a newly appointed Samurai are duty-bound to fight against. Throughout the player’s journey, they must choose their own path. The choices will affect them, other NPCs, and the overall outcome of the story. Decisions players make throughout the course of the story will have lasting repercussions, as the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

A third-person RPG epic, Shin Megami Tensei IV is the latest addition to the main Shin Megami Tensei series. Developed by the award-winning ATLUS team, Shin Megami Tensei IV features powerful new demons, expansive dungeons, epic story arcs with branching plot lines, game-altering decision making, and more. Built specifically for the Nintendo 3DS system with optimized graphics, 3-D dungeons, voiced dialogue, and StreetPass functionality, Shin Megami Tensei IV is a premium title that should grace every RPG fan’s collection.

Available July 16, 2013 for Nintendo 3DS.

Source: Atlus

Movie Trailer: Short Peace

Andrew Kirschner — Thu, 23 May 2013 20:04:55 +0000

Katsuhiro Otomo needs no introduction in the world of Anime. As the creator and director of Akira, he introduced the western world to mature Japanese animation. His new omnibus, Short Peace, looks to continue to push the boundaries of both animation and story telling. Teaming up with some of the biggest names in the industry, this 95 minute film appears to be just as promising as Otomo’s last omnibus, Memories.

Destiny ‘The Law Of The Jungle’ Live Action/CGI Trailer

DeShaun Zollicoffer — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:51:59 +0000

Trailer Description: As a Guardian of the City sets out on an epic, action-packed adventure to reclaim our Solar System, he recalls the moment when he was first taught the most important lesson of all — The Law of the Jungle.

Watch this live-action/CG trailer and get a sneak peek at Destiny, the bold, new action game from the creators of Halo® and the company that brought you Call of Duty®.

See the official worldwide Destiny gameplay reveal on June 10th, 2013 during Sony’s PlayStation E3 Press Conference.

Source: Bungie

Need for Speed Rivals Coming to PS4, Xbox One, PC, PS3, and Xbox 360

DeShaun Zollicoffer — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:35:46 +0000

EA Just announced the next installment in their long running Need for Speed series. It’s called Need for Speed Rivals and it’s being developed by Ghost Games, a new studio made up of veteran developers from the racing genre. Check out the teaser and Rivals will be available on everything later this year — except for the Wii U. Burn!

Source: EA

Check Out Call of Duty: Ghosts’ Motion Captured Dog

DeShaun Zollicoffer — Thu, 23 May 2013 01:56:44 +0000

Trailer Description: Call of Duty: Ghosts brings lifelike characters and immersive worlds together on a new, next-generation engine. Side-by-side graphical comparisons show the advances made from Infinity Ward’s last release, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

Call of Duty: Ghosts releases globally on November 5, 2013

Source: Activision

Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet Episode 7 Micro-Review

DeShaun Zollicoffer — Thu, 23 May 2013 01:49:06 +0000

Finally, some conflict! Ledo’s military ~~brainwashing~~ training kicks in and he goes aggro on a squid. The logic behind his actions are understandable — the squid looks like the creatures he was fighting in the first episode. And after doing a DNA test Chamber tells Ledo it’s essentially the same creature.

This makes me wonder why the ones in space or waging war on humanity while the ones on Gargantia won’t attack unless provoked. Overall this was a great episode with a few tense moments, and I can’t wait to see what happens next week. (Rating: 8/10)

OreImo Season 2 Episode 7 Micro-Review

DeShaun Zollicoffer — Thu, 23 May 2013 01:31:39 +0000

Minor Spoilers Ahead

Kyosuke is such a hypocrite. He freaked out when he though Kirino had a boyfriend, but he starts dating Kuroneko. Also, did his personality change? He seems more hyperactive and over the top than usual. Overall this was a solid episode, but I’ll be happy when Kyosuke’s new relationship inevitably ends. I don’t like Kuroneko — she’s boring. (Rating: 7/10)

New “Man of Steel” Trailer is Action Packed

DeShaun Zollicoffer — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:56:01 +0000

I’m burnt out from all the Xbox One news. Check out this new Man of Steel trailer. The film hits theaters on June 14. Now, where’s my pillow?

Source: YouTube

Four is Greater Than One: Our Thoughts on Microsoft’s New Console

DeShaun Zollicoffer — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:26:41 +0000

DeShaun

First off, I love the Xbox One’s design and OS. The fast app switching, Skype, and Snap looks cool. Meanwhile the design is sleek and industrial. Showing the console already gives Microsoft a slight edge over Sony. The Next… umm Xbox One is more tangible than the PS4. We can start planning our entertainment centers around it. But Microsoft should’ve picked a better name. I can already hear the jokes — four is greater than one, the PS4 is four times better than the Xbox One, etc.

Now here’s where the praise ends. Microsoft spent too much time talking about entertainment. It was like E3 2010 – 2012 all over again. We get it – you want to rule the living room. That’s why you’re calling it Xbox ONE. Clever! It’s an all in one device. But we’re gamers – we want games!

Sure, they said that there’s 15 Xbox One exclusives coming in the next 12 months and 8 of them are new IPs. But how many of those are core titles? I have a bad feeling that half of those are Kinect 2.0 games.

The PS4 event had a few exclusive game reveals, but Microsoft only showed off Forza and Remedy’s new game. They were more interested in pimping out third-party software. Call of Duty Ghosts and Fifa 14 are coming to the PS4 too – they aren’t Xbox One console sellers.

This wasn’t announced at the event, but the Xbox One has a form of used game protection. The games are installed to the hard drive and we have to pay a fee to play them on another account. Details are still scarce, but it’s a terrible idea.

I don’t trade in games or buy used, though. So I’ll never have to pay said fee. Right now I just care about games. Microsoft needs to impress at E3 2013. Talk is cheap. It’s time to show off some of those exclusives. Sadly I don’t have much confidence in Microsoft, and that’s why I’m still more excited for the PS4.

Andrew

So far, I’m pretty underwhelmed. I understand all of the game companies are trying to market the next gen consoles as “entertainment systems” because they have to compete with the Apple’s of the world, but so far the Xbox One looked like a bad Apple TV. Add in the fact that you have to have Kinect for most of the new features, the games can’t be traded in, no backwards compatibility, etc. I’m not sold on it as of right now. Obviously I have to wait for E3 to really have a full opinion on it but today was disappointing in my eyes. I liked the dog from the call of duty trailer though, he was rad.

Oh and it looks like VCR so that’s probably not the best thing going for it

Bryan

Basically, I feel the Xbox One was exactly what we were pretty much expecting. The conference was mostly bland with Microsoft not focusing on what they really NEEDED to, which was us, the gamers. They put 80% of their focus on the entertainment aspect (hence the “One”) and really, it was no different than the current Xbox.

Kinect 2 was mostly what we expected, which was a nice HD upgrade but making it mandatory for the Xbox One to function, I think, is a no-no. I think showing off Call of Duty was a no-no as well considering we didn’t see any live gameplay of any of the 3-5 games they actually showed. Again, focusing too much on entertainment over the gamer.

No mentions of really how much of Xbox Live is going to be new but they did mention some of the obvious fears. One, no Backwards Compatibility. While I called this quite a while ago, I am surprised I was actually right. I felt Microsoft wanted that little edge over Sony and considering Sony now owns Gaikai, that adds an edge to Sony’s new PS4. Two, always online and well, that wasn’t so much a bad thing anymore (I know, I was wrong) but given how they are handling used games and all the entertainment functions, at least we won’t need to be online for single player.

I felt the strongest thing to come of this event wasn’t the appearance of the Xbox One (which does look appealing), but rather the announcement of Halo’s TV series. We may not get a movie, but if this series is as strong as the Forward Until Dawn, then I think it’ll be better in the long run (Steven Spielberg ftw!). I think Microsoft saying “blu-ray” was a little awkward but with their own recording function as well as a 500GB hard drive, Microsoft is in a good position. I also found the “15 exclusive” comment to be slightly off considering games get delayed all the time, we may only see 5-8 of those next year.

I really don’t know what else to say in terms of the reveal and I’m sure I still have a lot more (maybe I should make this an actual article). I am sure I will get some comments somewhere regarding this but as a whole, I was pleased but I am edging more towards Sony right now but I think that is more of a given considering my prior feelings on Microsoft. I feel Microsoft really doesn’t understand how to truly hype out the gate and it was mostly bland promises that I hope will get clarified for E3. IN SAYING THAT, E3 will be a deciding factor not only for me, but for the majority of gamers, because pricing and release dates will be shown off at that time.

Daniel

I think the Xbox One reveal did exactly what it should have. I now know the Xbox One as a device, and think the things it can do as a device are quite cool. As for the specs and games whose absence disappointed so many, just remember, E3 is right around the corner, and it makes more sense for them to capitalize on the hype of the 15 exclusive games that will be reportedly coming out in the next year – 8 of which will be new IP’s – then, rather than now, while they were just trying to introduce us to their new console. Why blow their load before E3? I took it for what it was, and left a satisfied man.

Camara

Xbox? Won?

If I were to rate PS4′s showing it would be at 6/10, for XBOX ONE 5/10. Sony’s conference was very disappointing to me, it actually made me dislike Sony a little. I thought surely Microsoft would be able to swoon me back, I did own an original xbox and it was fantastic machine, with some stellar IPs to match. Today however, was a let down, from the monstrous console, the lack of actual gameplay, the yawn inducing Call of Duty to executives who fail to grasp what the modern gaming experience should be.

Shoveling over the rumors and introducing further elements that stray away from gaming was what I got from it all. Will used games be blocked, no answer, will it be always online, no answer. Sure some website’s are giving answers to these questions but its all heresay and pointing fingers and retractions. Retractions from press releases, you know your point was not conveyed correctly when they’re retractions. 15 new IPs (gee) Quantum Break, Remedy can do no wrong…right, when I first saw Alan Wake I knew I wanted to play it, same goes for Max Payne. That title though no gameplay was shown was enough to off put me.

Sony demonstrated variety in the gameplay department at their conference. With Microsoft either you will be a gun (violence) or not so much (kinect waggles). In order to win this upcoming gen the behemoths need to do a few things, awesome, clever and emotion inciting games with varied mechanics, slight graphical fidelity leaps, and design a machine that does it without hiccups and one that would encourage daily participation. I must applaud Microsoft they made the decision of choosing Next gen consoles much easier for the fanboys, but what do I know? Hopefully something more develops at E3, but don’t hold your breath.

Antoine

Where do I begin?

Let’s start with the Xbox One reveal press conference. Actually let’s start with the name first. The third Xbox console to come out is called Xbox One. I really wanted to be in the meeting where they came up with the name so I can smack the person who came up with that and the higher ups who approved it. Xbox 720, Xbox infinity, heck even the codename Durango would have been good names that set it apart from its predecessor while sharing the brand name. Xbox One is such a weird name and it will be interesting to see the marketing involved with the name.

Now back to the conference. The conference overall was passable. The conference in some ways felt unnecessary, especially with E3 coming up in three weeks. I know Microsoft wanted to do a two part story with the console unveiling being the first part today and focusing on games during E3 as the second part. The conference had the revealing of the console, TV integration, talks about OS and interface involving Kinect and Skype, the revealing of two exclusives(Forza 5 and Quantum Break) , HALO……….TV series, and finally finished with EA Sports partnership and Call Of Duty. Microsoft, never end your conference with a game that is going to be available on multiple consoles, even if DLC is first on your service. It is not very impressive. Also, it felt like there were people placed in the audience to make sure someone was always clapping; it was kind of weird in some places.

The problem I have with the conference is I’m not quite sure who it was geared towards. Core gamers had nothing to really get excited about besides Forza and (maybe) Quantum Break and they only took up about 7 minutes of the conference. Any casual gamers probably didn’t know too much about the conference and if they did, seeing games they can play on their 360/ps3 and a simpler way to switch between live TV and games is not going to make them rush for a preorder. It felt more like a stockholders meeting then a press conference. The PS4 conference felt that way as well but the gravity towards games for a good part of the conference helped it along.

Then reports started coming out after the conference. As of now, It seems that the Xbox One will require an internet connection every 24 hours, each game will have a one-time activation code that needs to be entered in order to play it, the game needs to be installed, If a person gets a game second hand, they will have to pay a fee to play the game on their console, Kinect(which comes with the system) will be required for the Xbox One to function, and an internet connection is required for quite a few functions while the system is on and off. Right now some details are still being ironed out and I’m sure that Microsoft will discuss these functions later on at E3 and Gamescom, but this news is not going over very well with quite a few people. I like the design of the controller and the console scares me due to its size but it looks nice and love the HDMI in/out. I would love to get everyone’s take on the direction that Microsoft is taking with this console. I will admit I’m not a fan of these reports and hope that Sony does not reveal the same things for the PS4 at E3.

I wasn’t too impressed with the conference and I’m not a big fan of the direction that Microsoft is taking with the Xbox One (still a terrible name), but I’m going to see what E3 holds before I make a final decision and hopefully Microsoft has a strong second act, because the first act definitely lowered my expectations.

Edgar

Sporting a much larger hard drive space, a touch-up on the original Xbox controller design, and (finally) Blu-Ray support, the Xbox One is indeed a superior machine over its predecessors. However, I felt the overall presentation was focused too much on the media-related functions of the Xbox One. While all cool, nifty, and no doubt useful, I found it to be nothing but extra fluff that I personally would never care for, such as the whole voice-recognition feature. Being a semi-quiet guy in real life, I prefer pressing a few buttons as opposed to yelling to execute commands for my Xbox. And just how good is the Xbox One in drowning out background noise anyway? That remains to be tested.

Like an old-school gamer, I would have preferred it if the show’s focus was more on games, such as what titles would be coming exclusive to the system as well as the new types of engines developed. Sure, they dedicated a whole segment to Call of Duty: Ghosts and a few EA Sports titles, but they weren’t enough compared to what Sony offered during their reveal of the PS4. I suppose I would have to wait for the upcoming E3 convention to really see what the Xbox One is capable of, but so far in the end I found myself not totally sold on the system as far as games are concerned.

Damion

The tech is impressive. The games look spectacular. However, I can’t get past all the unnecessary “features” involved that do little to support anyone. Example: to combat used games by tying them to one account is an appalling feature that is wholly unnecessary no matter how it’s worded. I shouldn’t have to pay a fee just to play a game at a friend’s house, nor should I have to log in to my own account at his place just to bypass that. The 360 had guest accounts, which negated the necessity for anyone to log in, and allowed friends to just sit down and play the game. What’s the positive reasoning behind the new setup? Why lock people out of borrowed games just so you can force your own trading service on us?

On top of this, why does it need to be connected to the internet “every so often,” even with single player games? And why keep indie developers from self-publishing?

I don’t get it – you’ve got this amazing machine, one hell of a machine. The fast-app switching, the cleaned up home screen and even the little features demonstrated make the One very interesting – at first glance. I do like the idea of having just one box for my room, thus negating my DVR, Blu-Ray player, etc, etc. Yes, the presentation was bland, and didn’t give much for gamers to go on (wait for E3). But I can see the appeal. That said, there are way more problems than positives, and as far as I’m reading across the net, the hole they’re digging isn’t getting any smaller. It simply seems as if Microsoft has forgotten what got them started with the first Xbox, and are now catering to their own values.

Developing….