The EA press conference came and went pretty quickly. 10 games previewed by 10 developers. A lot of established titles and nothing really new or exciting to show for. There isn’t a real gamble and with that there is no real pay off. I think it’s a missed opportunity when you have that many eyes on your company to not show anything unique or interesting. For the most part, you already know if you will like or not like one of the games shown because you’ve had experience with it’s predecessor. That being said, it looks like they may have dropped the ball with Dead Space by introducing co-op. Sure, it’s a neat feature on the checklist, but it kills the atmosphere of the game and turns it into another cover-based shooter clone.
The only other mentionable before I get to the trailers, is that Star Wars: The Old Republic is free to play up to level 15 in July. I’m not sure if I will ever give it a go, but if you were on the fence it’s the best opportunity to try it out.
I guess the sequel I’m looking forward to the most is Sim City. It looks very polished and pretty. They mentioned that it will be a connected multi-player game with the world constantly changing and offering new challenges to your game. A smart way to keep the game fresh since, from my experience, after the initial build it can get a little boring and tedious.
The one FPS that looks like I would really like to play (but probably won’t play). Which is not knock to the game, just that I haven’t been intrigued by the warfare FPS in a long time. That being said this gameplay trailer looks really good. The Frostbite engine really adds a nice level of realism. Not sure how it compares to the other ones out there in this genre but normally I feel underwhelmed and this did look entertaining at least.
I feel like showing this simply because I really love the CryEngine. I love the environment of the “urban jungle”. However, after Crysis 2, I’m not enthusiastic about this. Looks about more of the same, all I can hope is they even out the kinks in the PC port because it was horribly done last time around.
Remember the 70 minute Phantom Menace review on Youtube that took the world by storm? Well it’s back! Now in glorious 3D! Just like it was always meant to be seen! As a genius movie maker once said “Moving from 2D to 3D is like the difference between watching a film in black and white and watching a film in color. It works in black and white but it works better in color.” Oh wait, that was George Lucas who said that. I take it back.
Also released today is the commentary track for the movie. So sync it up with your Blu-ray edition or put it in your media player when you go watch it at the cinema. Who wouldn’t want to listen to Plinkett droning on for an hour? It sure beats listening to the movie. I started listening to it on it’s own and it’s pretty damn funny if you’re a fan of the reviews.
There is a cool new Star Wars comic coming out next month published by Dark Horse. Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi is set in the earliest days of the Jedi Order before the polarization of the light and dark sides of the Force.
It began with the mysterious pyramid ships–the Tho Yor–scattered to the eight corners of the galaxy, and ended with the establishment of an Order that would change the universe forever.
Here’s your first look at the Star Wars of 25,000 years ago–before there were lightsabers, when the ties to the Force were new, and before the Jedi spread out into the galaxy.
Which sounds pretty damn cool. The material set around the Knights of the Old Republic era has always been my favorite part of the universe to read. If you’re a Star Wars fan you will like some of the other comics and books set around that time. This comic is going much further back and it basically sounds like a origins story. If you’re jaded by the prequels or sick of hearing about Skywalker/Vader than going this far back should protect you from all of that.
I should mention that another miniseries which is a continuation of the finished Knights of the Old Republic has started this month. Knights of the Old Republic – War is set after the final issue of the last series and carries the protagonist into the Madalorian Wars. If you were a fan of the first video game then you should go ahead and pick up the trade paper backs of the previous serious and start getting into this one. Again, being set in a time period far away from the tainted movies allows you to geek out to Star Wars without all the ridiculousness that George Lucas invoked with the prequels.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic—War is an upcoming comic book miniseries from Dark Horse Comics written by John Jackson Miller. Set shortly after the final issue of Miller’s previous Knights of the Old Republic series, War will follow Zayne Carrick as he gets drafted into the Mandalorian Wars. The first issue was released on January 11, 2012.
This is also a good opportunity to mention The 4th Wall, a great Montreal comic store if you are just interested in getting new comics. They have a great service called ComicPull that allows you to see all the new single issue comics that are about to come out and lets you create a custom list of what you want. You can then have them shipped to you or pick them up at one of their two stores in the area when they are available.
Take it from someone who was never a regular at a comic store this online feature is very handy. Dark Horse, for one, is not known for hitting release dates on time. Also, I find comic stores cluttered and sometimes unhelpful. Besides, I hate knowing that I want something and then having to look for it only to find out it’s not in stock or they don’t even receive it to begin with.
So this is a great service. It makes life a lot easier. (Plus they are right down the street from me).
