"Heavy Rain" will beat Sony's PS3 motion controller into stores by nearly a year, but the team behind the game at Quantic Dream was a little bit more optimistic when they first started work. In fact, Quantic Dream's co-CEO David Cage said the "Heavy Rain" code still contains leftovers from the early days when motion controls were part of the plan.

Read more...

So you can't really tell in the above shot, but those two placards are actually made of 1/4 inch thick plastic and are done up to be futuristic wanted posters of two of the heroes in "Final Fantasy XIII." They sorta look like those iPad-things that appear throughout "Avatar," except they aren't actually computers from the future. Bummer.

Read more...

The latest "God of War 3" trailer, which you can enjoy above, is titled "Vengeance." The title relates to the fact that Kratos, the series' protagonist, can't seem to let the whole murdered-family-and-ruined-life thing go. In "God of War 3" he'll continue his climb to the top of Mount Olympus, but this time he's got the help of the Titans, who are equally pissed off.

Read more...

I'm color blind and I reviewed "BioShock 2." You'll note in the review that I didn't mention having issues with the hacking system, and that's because I didn't. There have been games over the years that, because of palate choices, were nearly impossible to play (the "Puzzle Fighter" series is probably the most glaring), but "BioShock 2," with its color-oriented hacking system, was no problem at all.

Read more...

Without ruining major plot points in "BioShock 2" (the game did release just two days ago, after all), people are obviously thinking ahead to "BioShock 3" and where it might take place. Does it return to Rapture, or are we moving to another twisted location entirely? Sitting down with Jordan Thomas, the creative director of "BioShock 2," I asked him if they feel like they've finished telling the story of Rapture. Here's what he said:

Read more...

Activision may be excited about Project Natal and Sony's PS3 motion controller, but they want see consoles cut their prices to help out the games industry broadly. Citing poor economic conditions and an evolving market, Activision-Blizzard went on the record this week expressing hope about innovations hitting the market in the coming year, but also pointing a finger of responsibility at console makers.

Read more...

Innovation in video games can be a rare commodity. Every day we see titles pour onto store shelves which are derivative of successful franchises, attempting to copy what the last guy did while making it slightly better to justify another $60 purchase. "Heavy Rain" is not one of those games. While it has roots in classic adventure gaming, it's unlike anything I've ever played. It's also not very good.

Read more...

Fourteen months after its auspicious debut, we are now able to play "Dante's Inferno" in all of its glory. The wait has been unbearable. Who hasn't been chomping at the bit to get their hands on Visceral Games' grand reinterpretation of Dante Aligheri's seven-hundred-year-old poetry?

If "Dante" manages to capture an audience, we might be on the verge of a new gaming zeitgeist, wherein publishers across the land craft their blockbusters from the most traditional IPs in the public domain. Here are five games based on classic lit and the developers most suited to realizing them.

Read more...

Information on the next installment of "Assassin's Creed" continues to trickle out of Ubisoft, and it would appear that I'm playing into their diabolical hands by feeding you said information on a drip-by-drip basis. Today's tidbit comes from Ubi's fiscal report, and it basically confirms the location of the upcoming "Assassin's Creed" Ezio spin-off. Here's the quote from Ubi:

Read more...

Classic literature doesn't always make for the best video game subject matter (yes, "Beowulf," I'm looking at you). With "Dante's Inferno," though, EA managed to pick an epic with a powerful story of love and a fascinating, varied setting. But can a revived classic make for a decent modern day video game? Depends on who you ask. Oh, you're asking me? Ok, fine.

The Basics

You play as Dante, a soldier in the Crusades who dies during an uprising of prisoners and is sent down to hell for his varied sins, only to battle Death and return to the land of the living. But when Dante discovers that his old lady, Beatrice, has been killed and sent down to hell (for his acts of betrayal against her), he decides he's going to save her from an afterlife of eternal torment. A little late, Dante!

The game plays out as a 3rd person, combat-heavy action game. The combat is focused around an extending scythe and a powerful cross, both of which can be used in tandem to create new combinations. There's also some light puzzle-solving and a character upgrade system.

Read more...