All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

One of the most exciting days for a video-game developer is release day, and for those of us who worked on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2, October 26th, 2010 is our day. It’s one we’ve been building up to since the release of the original Star Wars: The Force Unleashed back in 2008. Starkiller has returned as the game’s protagonist, and he’s more bad-ass than ever. But is he really Starkiller? If you played the first game then you know he sacrificed himself to save key members of the Rebellion he helped start. So how is it possible that Starkiller is alive? Not one to stay idle, Darth Vader has been doing some tinkering in a secret laboratory on Kamino, the cloning planet from Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones. I think you can see where I’m going with this.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II is all about a personal journey, one where you attempt to unravel the mystery behind whether Starkiller’s a clone or not. The first game was all about redemption; the second is about identity and searching for the truth. It’s an epic story full of revelation; but it’s also a game full of intense action.

What made the first game so much fun to play was the unleashed nature of your Force powers–never in a game had we seen such a visceral, over-the-top imagining of the Force. Before I go any further, yes, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II is still as over-the-top as the original in the portrayal of the Force, but it’s the improvements we’ve made to the gameplay that’s the real story here. For one, the team really concentrated making the targeting system more user-friendly as Force Gripping and throwing enemies at targets has never been more fun or more precise. The camera system has been reworked to show a better view of the action, opening up the battlefield for epic showdowns.

Speaking of epic showdowns, one our pillars for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II was to create insanely intense boss battles in spectacle, size, and scale—and that’s exactly what we did! Hopefully you’ve seen footage over the past few months showcasing the largest boss in a Star Wars game to date, the mighty Gorog! It’s clearly evident from the start that Starkiller can’t possibly go toe-to-toe, so it’s up to you to figure out what attacks are the most effective. To that end, the team also concentrated on making the Imperial NPCs smarter and tougher to defeat. What this means is that you can no longer blaze through the game using one form of attack. Like the boss battles, you will have to experiment to find out which attacks are the most effective per each enemy type. There is a lot to discover in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II; and we as the developers want you to get as much out of the game as we put into it.

As one would expect, the team also created new gameplay scenarios that weren’t possible while making the first game, and none that were more exciting than the massive freefall that opens the game. Again, when making a sequel, you want to infuse it with bigger and better things, and the freefall was one of the first new innovations we explored when making Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. Initially we planned on using this much later in the game, but when you’re trying to make an instant impression, why save the goodness for later? Oh, and we can’t overlook the new Challenge Mode feature that is new to the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed franchise. Here, you can jump in and play fun mini-games that will help improve your overall Jedi prowess, while unlocking cool extras like lightsaber crystals, costumes, and cinematics.

Gameplay enhancements aside, I would say the biggest strides we made while making Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 were to our graphics and rendering engine. As you can tell from gameplay footage, this game is simply gorgeous-looking! Having built the sequel with most of the people that helped create the original Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was a huge deal. What that meant when it came to making Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II was that our content creators were able to request refinements to the tools that would ultimately help them create a much more polished-looking and better playing game than the first.

Whew! That’s a lot to absorb in one sitting! Now all that’s left is to get out there, grab a copy of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, and experience the adrenaline rush for yourself!

#comics November is shaping up to be the second coming of Mr. Pilgrim. In addition to a DVD/Blu-ray release of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and updates to its game adaptation, the video game-infused comic book series is getting attractively boxed. More »

More of a re-release than a remix.

A PS3 compilation that has everything: guns, explosions, and major gameplay issues.

The Flying Tomato is grounded in this one.

Blizzard has four new multiplayer modes on the way for StarCraft II. We have opinions.

#clips The second cutest epic for the Wii is coming to North America November 30, giving Mickey Mouse fans a chance to explore the morality of Disney's most famous mascot. Epic Mickey's newest trailer focuses on the epic-ness of it all. More »

Blizzard surprised attendees of its BlizzCon 2010 closing ceremonies with the (totally fake) announcement of a trio of new projects -- which, considering the fullness of the developer's dance card, was a pretty solid hint that all present parties were about to be viciously punk'd. If that didn't do the trick, the identities of the games certainly did: Teasing that the reveal of the company's unannounced MMO was just moments away, Blizzard's Paul Sams pulled back the curtain on World of Jersey Shorecraft, Gleeablo and Booty Baywatch.

These announcements were followed by waves of laughter from the patient crowd, which were followed by waves of "great joke but what's that new game," which were then followed by waves of "no, seriously guys, we're not playing around, what's the MMO called," which were followed by waves of sadness. Then Tenacious D played! It was an emotional evening, and you can relive it by watching the video posted after the jump.

Sci-fi shooter finding a place this holiday.

Epic Mickey's getting closer to its release. Check out another look and some brand new footage.

Fallout: New Vegas hit it big on the High Street strip, taking the top spot on the UK Charts and besting Fallout 3's premiere week sales by 29 percent. Last week's top game, Medal of Honor, lost ground and dropped 48 percent in sales to second place, while FIFA 11 also slipped one position to the third spot.

Nintendo DS title Professor Layton and the Lost Future (Unwound Future across the pond) debuted in fourth place, with -- no surprise! -- Just Dance 2 showing the stamina of its predecessor by rounding out the top 5. In case you're wondering, the original Just Dance doesn't look like it's coming back to the top ten this year, but it's still sitting comfortably in the teens at the 14 spot.

Higher-profile premieres that didn't make the top ten include: Vanquish at #12, EA Sports MMA at #23 and DJ Hero 2 at #25. Discover the UK top ten for 10 picarats after the break.

Forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever...

Take them bowling.

Telltale has revealed that it's trimming the list of platforms upon which its next onus, Back to the Future: The Game, will appear. The game will arrive first on the PC and Mac sometime this December, followed shortly thereafter by PS3 and iPad versions. Looks like the Wii and Xbox 360 got the short straws this time -- if only they could travel back in time to before this announcement was made! Unfortunately, time travel isn't real, or else we'd totally have a pet Europasaurus right now.

The game's PC and Mac iterations are currently available to pre-order for $25. Each pre-order includes a free copy of Puzzle Agent (available to download immediately after placing your order) and access to an exclusive "pre-release insider forum" on Telltale's site. Oh! And for every pre-order that goes through the site, Telltale will donate a dollar to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. That's awfully classy, you guys.

Greetings and Happy MNR Monday everyone. Ramone Russell here with another ModNation Monday update!

Kratos Mod and Kart coming next week!

Previously only available via special pre-order offers! Next week, the Kratos Mod and Kart will finally be available. They can be purchased separately or as a bundle from the PSN.

Don’t Forget: Double XP

Double XP week starts on Tuesday! Also, in celebration of Halloween, the Vampy Mod will be free for a week starting October 26th.

We also told you about Parts Packs last week. Remember that the Stunt Pack is FREE FOR TWO WEEKS from October 26th through November 9th.

ModNation Halloween-themed creations contest

Submit your original Halloween themed Karts, Mods, and Tracks here for a chance to win a free Mod and Kart. The winner’s creations will be showcased in November’s first ModNation Monday blog.

ModNation Creations of the Week

Amazing creations in ModNation get shared every day and we are playing a ton of them. If you are interested in submitting your mod, kart or track to be a future “creation” of the week be sure to visit up on the official ModNation Community site and who knows? You might see your handiwork on the PlayStation.Blog.

Mod of the Week

Mod Name: Royal Racer
Creator: Icandy55

Decked in flames from head to toe, this Mod looks ready to bring some heat to any track the Kart is on. The color scheme is simple, and the decals are detailed but subtle. The Royal Racing team definitely has the look. Now, if there were only a matching Kart….

Kart of the Week

Kart Name: Royal Racer
Creator: Icandy55

The perfect complement to this week’s Mod of the Week, the Royal Racer Kart carries over the same classy design and simple but effective color scheme as its Mod counterpart. Unfortunately, using both the Royal Racer Mod and kart didn’t improve my skills, but MAN I looked cool coming in last!

Track of the Week

If you have a video(s) of your track submit them to MNR’s YouTube channel by emailing ModNation@Playstation.Sony.com and we will include them in the blog if your track is showcased.

Track Name: The Elephants Graveyard
Created by: Laidbackcat

Laidbackcat says: “Race through a track dominated by these majestic creatures!”

Laidbackcat is a true ModNation Artist. As good as his track designs are, Laidbackcat goes the extra mile and makes some of the most interesting props I’ve seen in ModNation. This track in particular features some really impressive sculpted elephants.

Track Name: Creepy Crawlie Garden
Created by: Laidbackcat

Laidbackcat says: “These gardens have been taken over by insects and arachnids! Featuring a phenomenally large tarantula as the centerpiece attraction! Not for the squeamish…”

I’ve never been especially fond of spiders, and thanks to this track, I have a full on case of arachnophobia. That giant tarantula is amazing, but it’s a bit scary, and so is the big loop around it. In addition to my new hatred of spiders, I think I also hate water now (stupid difficult fountain shortcut!).

Track Name: Calamity Falls G.C.
Created by: Laidbackcat

Laidbackcat says: “Annoy the upper classes as you interrupt their afternoon game of golf with a race! Enjoy the tour of this majestic country club’s splendid grounds, but watch out for bunkers!”

It was just coincidence that I happened to be driving Gopher in the Golf Kart when I raced on this track for the first time, and it turned out to be the perfect combination. Much to my pleasant surprise, this track actually feels like racing on a golf course. Every time I’m actually playing golf and I get behind the wheel of a golf cart, I dream of mashing that thing all over the course and driving like a maniac. Thanks to Laidbackcat for making my dream come true. This is brilliant.

Hot Lap Roster for this week

Continuing with the trend we started weeks ago this weeks Hot Lap roster features all new community created tracks.

Monday: Mountains of Madness, by voicefarm
Tuesday: Gobi’s Valley, by vikin4
Wednesday: Snake Food, by CIV_BOSS
Thursday: Miami Nice? by atheistsw
Friday: Pine Mountain Gorge, by Its2l84that
Saturday: Mystery Track
Sunday: Mystery Track

More news next week, until then… see you in the ModSpot!

Like a rainbow in the dark. Whatever that means.

A portion of a GamePro review… A commendable re-imagining of a 16-bit classic, Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals is an enjoyable action-RPG that sadly suffers from ill-conceived puzzles and botched balance issues.

#apple Video games like LEGO Harry Potter and fancy new controllers—Kinect and PlayStation Move—are among the most wished-for items this holiday, according to a new survey. But it's Apple's iOS-based devices that kids are demanding most. More »

#food Super Mario cakes? Doom jello sculptures? No edible homage to video games would be surprising unless the edible homage was... healthy? One inspired cook made a dish of Costume Quest for her boyfriend to eat and for us to admire. More »

Nintendo announced an unusual statistic today: 65.3 million Wii Remotes have been sold in the US since the system's 2006 launch. That includes the 30.41 million Wiimotes included in system bundles sold in the country to date (according to NPD data gathered by Nintendo), along with the 12.92 million controllers sold in Wii Play bundles.

Of the standalone Wiimotes, the white model has sold by far the most, at 18.56 million -- which makes sense, given it was the only option for the first three years of the system's availability. The black Wiimote, introduced in November 2009, has sold 2.44 million units; while the pink and blue versions released on Valentine's Day 2010 have sold 467,500 and 465,200 units, respectively.

They will all be obsolete on November 7.

Bowling over puzzles and zombies.

The flood continues this week, with more and more fourth quarter gaming goodies falling from the sky. And with the flood comes the ever-present question: Which games deserve my money? Listen as we ponder the question without ever properly answering it! We've also got plenty of Kinect talk -- because that's coming out next week, remember? And finally, just for the hell of it, we talk about Ice T.

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3)
[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in Zune Marketplace (MP3)
[RSS MP3] Add the Xbox 360 Fanboy Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly

Hosts: Richard Mitchell (SenseiRAM, @senseiram), Alexander Sliwinski (Sli Xander, @xandersliwinski) and Dave Hinkle (KnifefightYaDad, @davehinkle)

Music: Intro/Outro: "Electromooq" by Uma Floresta; Break: "I Remember, You Were Wild" by Kelley Stoltz

For fans: Xbox 360 Fancast Facebook group

Update: Microsoft's Graeme Boyd (a.k.a. AceyBongos) has tweeted that both Bloody Good Time and Haunted House are not confirmed for release this week. Of course, Boyd's wording indicates that both releases could still happen.

It's set to be another packed Wednesday for Xbox Live Arcade releases. First, the previously delayed Pinball FX 2 will bring its bumpers to the table. Plus, Ubisoft's humorous FPS Bloody Good Time is set to debut. And as if those weren't enough, GamerBytes reports 3D Ultra Minigolf 2 (finally, a sequel!) and Atari's reboot of Haunted House will be released this Wednesday, as well.

Oh, no -- we're not done yet: The Hydro Thunder Hurricane Tempest Pack DLC is also coming out this Wednesday ... Okay, we're done now.

#screengrab A zombie Princess Peach? Anyone would think Halloween was right around the corner. By Luke Denby, thanks Glob! More »

One of the best PSN games you probably haven't played is soon to receive a massive add-on. The "Bionic Storm" DLC will add "50 percent more" content to the tower-offense game, including 16 new levels and 10 battle maps ... and nukes -- for $5.