Video Games

Bring it Back: MechWarrior

Giant robots and especially mechs are still the coolest thing in the world for
me and if there is one game franchise that defines them it is MechWarrior. If you didn’t grow up playing these games, let me give you the quick
rundown. They are set in a universe known as the Battletech-verse,
as named after the original release of the board game titled Battletech
in 1984,
which later went on to spawn numerous offshoots such as a collectable
card
game, a table top game and what I am here to talk about specifically, a
video
game series.

2K Games Announces Borderlands 2 Preview at Gamescom

2K
Games announced yesterday via their Twitter account that they will be featuring a first sneak peek of
Borderlands 2 at Gamescom.  Save the date,
because on August 19th 2K Games’ blog will be streaming live the
Borderlands 2 reveal.  In case you didn’t know, Borderlands 2 is the follow-up to the very successful Borderlands game developed by Gearbox. 

Sony and LG Make Nice

After filing a series of lawsuits
against each other, Sony and LG have finally decided to hug it out. 
The two companies had been locked in messy disputes, most notably when
the Korean electronics giant had customs officers seizing PS3 consoles
in the Netherlands due to a court injunction.  The litigation
bombardments stemmed from the two companies failing to renegotiate a new
technology sharing agreement.  The previous agreement had gone stale
three years ago.

PS3 Update: Faster Trophies and Cloud Saves

PlayStation Network update 3.70 is live and with it comes
two big features exclusive to Plus subscribers: instant trophy syncing and cloud saved game data. But sadly for us regular users of PSN, they may as well have
not been included. I personally would love to have cloud saves, especially for
my aging PS3 with its oh-so tiny and thus near-useless hard drive, but alas I
have too many expenses already right now, especially at this point in the year
with a ton of big games I have to
buy. Nonetheless, this is great news for anyone who does have Plus; it’s
because of additions like these that really do make the upgraded
service compelling.

Chantelise – Review

This article on Chantelise: A Tale of
Two Sisters could simply go on about its gameplay, the
story, or that it is a light and fun independent title that can now be
found on Steam. And it will cover those things. But first and foremost, this is about how
two studios managed to work together to come out with Chantelise as
we know it in English.

Once upon a time, there was a Japanese
independent circle called EasyGameStation. They made fan games and
independent titles like Recettear. But Chantelise was their first
original-content game; it features all original characters and an
original story. In Japan, Chantelise has been available since 2006,
but it has not been as widely available to overseas gamers until the
release of Carpe Fulgur’s English localization this past July.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Promises to Address Criticisms of the Original

Director Motomu Toriyama has responded to many of the Square Enix faithfuls regarding their complaints from the original Final Fantasy XIII.  In just the second true sequel of the perpetual Final Fantasy series, Toriyama claims that the development team for Final Fantasy XIII-2 has given tons of thought to both fan and media criticism from the first game.  

Those
who are familiar with the first game would be able to replace the
definition of “linear” in the dictionary with the words “Final Fantasy
XIII.”  Toriyama made it clear during an exclusive interview with IGN
UK that the brief glimpse of open-world exploration at the very end of Final Fantasy XIII will be more prevalent in the sequel.  Toriyama stated that while FFXIII-2 will not be entirely open-world like in Elder Scrolls or Mass Effect, it will certainly allow the player to “enjoy the freedom of searching and exploring the world.”

Razer Megalodon – Review

Razer specializes in hardware for the
gamer, ranging from mice to keyboards to even audio. Within their
audio line, there are many choices, so how do you know which would be
the best, the ultimate, the most-value-for-your-money for your gaming
rig? After all, you put in time and money into your rig, and you want
a headset to match.