Occasionally, the Xbox Live Marketplace brings us a random and yet welcome surprise. This week, that surprise happens to be a hilarious episode of “Ask a Ninja,” the show where a ninja basically gives you tips for life. Him being a ninja, his advice usually involves killing people and disappearing in a cloud of smoke; and I know it’s helped me out many times. This episode though is sponsored by the upcoming Ninja Gaiden II, which he describes as “a flippin’ awesome game.” In truth, this is probably one of the most relevant celebrity endorsement I’ve seen in a long time.
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Valve has released a new trailer for Left 4 Dead that’s basically a walkthrough of the “Hospital” level. In it, four people must help each other in trying to shoot their way through hordes of zombies and make it to a safe room. Along the way, they’ll meet up with literally hundreds of the undead as well as a nasty traps and surprises. It looks really awesome, but I have a feeling I’m going to end up in the corner numerous times just firing wildly. That, and I’ll most likely be seeing those zombie hordes coming at me in my sleep.
Hideo Kojima, the man behind the Metal Gear Solid series, has always acted like a Hollywood movie director. So it kind of makes a lot of sense that this new trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4 looks like something you might actually see in a theater, right down to the “movie trailer voice.” The trailer basically sums up the general story behind the game: Liquid Snake (through Revolver Ocelot) has found a way to control soldiers mind, and Snake is sent to stop him. Okay, that’s like the most incredibly basic way I can explain the story; if I went into further details, I’d probably have to write a full novel. As always though, the game looks awesome and makes me even more excited to finally get my hands on it.
Konami has revealed the first ten minutes of the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4, and I think this goes without saying, but still: SPOILER WARNING. Obviously if you want to wait to get the full experience when the game comes out, don’t watch the video above. But if you’re more like me, then you’re too excited to wait that long. The video shows the opening cut scene along with some short gameplay moments, which sets up how Old Snake made his way to the middle of a raging battlefield. The footage also reveals that hiding in boxes will most likely just get you killed this time around (particularly if you’re Hideo Kojima, apparently). This game just cannot get released quick enough.
THQ has released a new video for their upcoming Wii title, de Blob. The video basically sets up the simple, yet bizarre story for the game — how a race of color-hating aliens invaded this planet and started draining it of all its color. The game will be an action puzzler, where you have the protagonist bounce around the landscape to bring color back to the world. The independently-developed PC version was pretty fun and quirky, so I’m expecting about the same from this title. Plus the gameplay actually seems like it could suit the Wii’s motion-sensitive controls quite well.
When Capcom revealed that the upcoming XBLA/PSN game, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, would involve new hand-drawn visuals, fans of the series responded with enthusiasm. When it was later revealed that there would also be a few changes in the classic game’s balancing though, Capcom was met with quite a bit of harsh criticism. So GamerCyte decided to sit down with David Sirlin, the man in charge of the new balancing tweaks at developer Backbone, to talk about why they decided to change the balancing and what the reaction has been from the fans. Basically, it all comes down to the fact that — let’s face it — the characters in past Street Fighter games have been really unbalanced in certain matches, statistically. Backbone basically set out to try and put the fighters on somewhat more even ground by making slight changes to the fighting moves and such. The tweaks they’re making will probably only be really noticeable to the really hardcore fans, and then they’ll just have to decide whether they can get used to them or not. Of course, I’m not very good at Street Fighter anyway, so I’m totally fine with getting the characters more balanced.
Microsoft and Team Ninja have released new gameplay trailers for the upcoming Xbox title Ninja Gaiden II. The videos for the action adventure hack-n-slash fest feature footage specific to Zedonius, Volf, Muramasa and Joe Hayabusa. There’s also a Bridge Battle trailer as well as more general gameplay footage from walkways and corridors.
Ninja Gaiden II is rated M for Mature audiences only. If you want to see the videos, check in through the age gate and check them out on FileFront. You can also find the latest screenshots on FileFront. Ninja Gaiden II will be out for the Xbox 360 June 3 in North America, June 6 in Europe and June 12 in Australia.
Baja is THQ’s upcoming next-gen racing title for the PS3 and Xbox 360. And as with most racing titles boasting of being “next-gen,” you can expect the physics of this game to have gone through an overhaul. In this developer diary, some of the people behind the game discuss how much detail and effort went into crafting the the physics behind the game as well as even how the suspension in the cars reacts. According the them, even hitting the slightest bump in the road can affect your car’s performance. I’m still wondering just how this game will stack up to MotorStorm 2 though.
Flashcube Studios has released a game trailer for it’s upcoming action platformer Spectraball. This game will have players navigating a series of platforms and traps in a variety of 3D environments. The physics-based gameplay footage is set to electronic music and colorful courses that one of my friends would describe as “trippin.” It’s no geometry wars but it looks like a reasonably challenging and entertaining diversion.
Namco Bandai has released a new Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 trailer for the PSP. The footage shows off the game’s unique combination of one-on-one combat and interactive storytelling. It’s all about team building using new jutsu, secret techniques and characters to defend the Hidden Leaf Village from the forces of the mysterious Phantom Fortress. The “extreme ninja action” is looking good on the PSP. Fans of the original shouldn’t be disappointed
Electronic Arts has released a new trailer for Battlefield: Bad Company. The video features the bad boys of B Company; a wayward band of soldiers that are more interested in Gold and personal financial gain than the glory of battle or patriotism. There should be a demo coming up soon for this single-player and multiplayer first person shooter.
Of course since Battlefield: Bad Company is a game for Mature gamers or at least seventeen years old; I can’t include the trailer here. Just follow the link to FileFront, and mind the age gate.
The Drawn to Life : SpongeBob SquarePants Edition Trailer is ready for viewing. SpongeBob’s evil creation DoodleBoB has taken over Bikini Bottom and it’s up to players to take it back. Gamers will draw their own characters, tools and vehicles to use in this action platformer. Here’s a look at the inaugural trailer:
Funcom has issued another Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures Insiders trailer. Insider 3 talks about Crafting and Citadeling. The gamplay footage is from the beautiful region of Poitain, a lush and fertile region, rich in game and natural resources. Crafting and Citadeling actual works nicely together as crafters that belong to guilds will have distinct advantages over solo characters. For example guilds can build specialized crafting structures like Alchemy Towers that give its alchemists special recipes that other characters of their types won’t have access to.
Flagship Studios has released another trailer for its upcoming Mythos MMO. The project from the original Diablo team is a free to download, free to play MMO that is currently is closed Beta testing.
The Diablo-esque game started out as a test for Hellgate: London and has evolved into a separate entity. This video is the fourth in a series of gameplay videos and heralds the imminent start of the open Beta and the New “Overworld.”
8bit Games has released a trailer for its upcoming PlayStation Network title Elefunk.The game is a side scrolling platformer with puzzle elements. Basically your elephant herd has been kidnapped and you have to help your elephant lead them back home. The title reminds me a lot of Lemmings or The Incredible Machine; both fun and somewhat challenging games.
Check out the gameplay examples in this trailer featured on FileFront:
The first Assault Heroes game featured some huge screen-filling bosses that could challenge even the more skilled player. From the looks of these new videos, the sequel will also contain its share of strange, gigantic bosses to destroy. Sierra has just unveiled two new videos for the game that reveal most of the bosses you can expect to try and take down when the game is released next week on the XBLA. You can watch the second video, which shows off even more bosses for the upcoming game, after the break.
Sega has released video five in its Iron Man Behind the Scene series. The video covers the making of the Wii version of Iron Man. Kevin Feige, Producer at Marvel Studios, and BJ Enriques, Assistant Producer at SEGA of America, and other developers talk about the difficulties of staying true to the whole mythos of Iron Man from the original comics to the movie and the game. They also talk about the challenge of making gameplay intuitive for the Wii and dealing with a character that has so many dynamic capabilities.
Robert Downey Jr. and Stan Lee also make appearances in the video. Check it out.
G4 TV has released a new gameplay video of the long awaited Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The footage demonstrates The new recon droid for MGS4. It also gives gamers a good look at the real time gameplay and the wide variety of weapons that are available. You can ship to a weapon and auto to first person with ease. In this video, your allies, Meryl’s Rat Patrol team, demonstrate smart AI that will actually help you in combat.
Check out the footage narrated by G4’s Adam Sessler:
You can look forward to grabbing MGS4 for the PS3 June 12.
LucasArts has unveiled a new trailer for the upcoming LEGO Indiana Jones, which shows off a few of the gameplay features. Like the past LEGO Star Wars games, the brick-based environments will have you constructing and deconstructing all manner of in-game objects to solve puzzles and such. Of course, since there are no Force powers in Indy’s world, he’ll have to rely on his hands – and his fists — to get the job done. This time around, supporting characters will have more specific powers rather than just being cookie-cutter versions of each other. Look for this game to hit store shelves later this summer.
Hothead Games has announced that the Windows, Mac, and Linux versions of Penny Arcade Adventure: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One (*phew*) have reached gold status and should be ready for release soon. The game is an RPG set in a Lovecraft/comic book setting and featuring several recognizable characters from the Penny Arcade webcomic. The PC versions will be made available through digital download for $19.95. Now all that’s left is for them to complete the Xbox Live version, which will cost 1600 MS points. Hothead also released two new videos for the game that show off the combat. You can watch one of them above and check the other one out here.
