Assassin’s Creed reveals are always anti-climatic. Somehow, someway we always know what is coming before the official Ubisoft uncovering. This year was no different with images leaking a few days ago of Assassin’s Creed: Unity, seemingly set in 18th century Paris.
After the amazing Assassin’s Creed IV, I have to admit this is a bit of a letdown.
Assassin’s Creed: Unity is being developed by the team that handled Assassin’s Creed III. Let’s hope they have learned a few tricks since then to make their game…well…exciting.
Eurogamer is reporting that Far Cry 4 will see a drastic change in setting and take place in the Himalayas. Far Cry has always been associated with tropical settings (or just damn hot if we are talking about Far Cry 2), so the switch to the mountainous terrain will be a huge shift.
The gameplay will remain close to that of Far Cry 3 (our 2012 Game of the Year) including outposts that need liberating. One new feature will be the ability to ride elephants.
You heard it ride. Elephants…that you ride. I love you Far Cry.
Expect an unveil at the Ubisoft press conference at this year’s E3. A release is expected before the end of March 2015.
“You just earned a seat at the head table and we already got the tuxes.”
Harry and Lloyd are coming back to make our lives better. Here are the teaser posters for Dumb and Dumber To that sees Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels re-team with the Farrelly brothers twenty years after all of us were taught what happens when you breed a bulldog and a shih tzu.
By now, we are assuming you have been done with Killzone: Shadow Fall for some time and have been awaiting Sony’s next first-party title for the PS4.
The wait is over with the release of Infamous: Second Son, Sucker Punch’s third game in the franchise. Seven years have past since the events of Infamous 2 and you control a new hero (or villain), Delsin Rowe.
We will have our review up soon, but let’s look how the first reviews are looking for Second Son.
“Between scraps, I found Delsin’s nearly unfettered sense of mobility exhilarating. He speeds up the sides of skyscrapers, and soars across the Seattle skyline at your whim…once you get all the right power-ups. Until then, you’ll be leaning on the old-fashioned parkour from the previous games, but it doesn’t feel nearly as sticky or reliable as it has in the past. This led to a few frustrating situations where I couldn’t grab ledges that were clearly in reach. It becomes less significant as you expand your suite of traversal powers, put when everything else feels and plays so well, it’s hard not to notice.”
“A big part of the draw of these powers comes from your ability to cause lasting destruction in Second Son‘s playground of virtual Seattle. You won’t be taking down actual buildings or legitimate landmarks in the game, but Delsin finds himself up against the DUP (Department of Unified Protection), a government agency in charge of rounding up and jailing conduits. As part of locking down Seattle for their search, the DUP has built militarized checkpoints, makeshift headquarters and other imposing structures — blights on the beautifully rendered cityscape that are just begging to be knocked down.”
“Delsin Rowe’s mission feels personal right from the start. The new lead character is using his just-discovered powers to become superhuman enough to save the lives of loved ones back in a fictional Native American community. He gets pulled into metahuman drama after a brutal attack by a government-sponsored Conduit (Infamous‘ term for metahumans) injures people in his tribe, during efforts to try and round up escaped super-prisoners.”
“It gives you everything the best open-worlders give you, too. The orb collection gameplay loop of Crackdown, the aerobatic thrills of Assassin’s Creed, the world map with its districts and attached percentages denoting how many of the ‘Things you have Done’, yearning to be brought down to zero, the cutscenes to justify it all. Right components, all present.”
“Delsin gains access to more powers beyond the smoke you start off with, and each transforms both the action and locomotion in interesting ways. You might employ a slow-motion effect to corral your enemies in a precise manner, or mix stealth into your explosive encounters to keep enemies guessing, and such twists ensure that each showdown keeps you thinking up new tactics as you revel in the destructive glory. Sadly, the powers don’t branch in interesting ways depending on your moral choices, so though combat plays out in different ways, the weapons you use are nearly identical.”
“Your Karma alignment additionally unlocks exclusive abilities within Delsin’s skill tree. Good Karma-exclusive abilities generally focus on enhanced traversal and subduing enemies rather than killing them outright, forcing players to adapt their playstyle accordingly. Both Good and Evil Karmas offer their own unique benefits that balance out their drawbacks, and both are viable paths to explore during a first-time playthrough…even if watching Delsin devolve into a murderous, misanthropic jerk during the Evil Karma cutscenes is kind of heartbreaking.“
Sony had a surprise for everyone at GDC 2014. They unveiled a VR headset codenamed “Project Morpheus” for the Playstation 4.
The Oculus Rift has been the big name in VR for the past year and it seems like Sony wants a piece of the futuristic pie.
Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios president and great tweeter, Shuhei Yoshida, made the announcement followed by a video of the development process that has been ongoing since 2010.
The Morpheus is being devised to take use of the Playstation Camera, Move and Dualshock 4 to create a new sense of immersion in games. Demos of Morpheus were made available on the GDC show floor to give an idea of how far Sony has come.
My initial reaction is measured hope. Sony has promised many things over the years that have failed to garner much more than regrettable purchases. The Move still sits on store shelves for some reason with no support whatsoever and I have not purchased a Playstation Camera for my PS4 because there is no way to justify the purchase.
Oculus Rift has been getting people excited that VR could actually work and if Sony can make this accessible to a wide audience through the PS4, we may be entering the future promised to us in the 90’s.
Now we just wait patiently for Mattel to get that hoverboard working.
The final trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is here and it goes mighty big. There is a lot of new footage mixed with what we have seen over the past few trailers including longer looks at the three villains Electro, Green Goblin and Rhino.
I thought The Amazing Spider-Man did a good job of rebooting the series and is the second best Spidey film after Spider-Man 2. It still worries me having so many villains in a Spider-Man film (again). Here is hoping they can pull it off.
In case you missed it (like I did), here are the first looks at Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver through concept art from last night’s special, Marvel: Assembling A Universe. Quicksilver is certainly looking better than Bryan Singer’s Days of Future Past version.
Joss Whedon already stated that Scarlet Witch would not be donning her normal comic attire (sorry, big headdress lovers) and her costume would feel more natural.
Another interesting piece shown is of Tony Stark, in full Hulkbuster armor, taking on the green goliath. So it looks like The Hulk will be causing a few more problems this go round.
We won’t have to wait long to see Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch on screen with their rumored first appearance in the post-credit sequence for The Winter Soldier.
Here are the quick hits from the world of movies, TV, video games, energy drinks, toe socks, whatever catches our fancy.
Movies
Pixar
Yes, we led with Pixar two days in a row. Yesterday, it was because The Incredibles and Ratatouille were being re-released in 3D. Today, it is because Brad Bird, creator, writer and director of the first Incredibles is writing the script for a sequel. If I were not a large man, I would be jumping for joy.
Maleficent
Disney has released a new trailer for Maleficent and it further makes me feel indifferent about the movie. Why do we feel the need make bad guys likable? Sometimes people are fu**ed up. Let them be that, not some person who was good and became bad because they were made that way by someone more evil.
Peanuts
Many (like me) were worried when it was announced that a movie would be made from Peanuts. After watching this first teaser trailer I am hopeful that it will retain the spirit of the comic strip and cartoon. There is something about hearing the Peanuts theme that brings a smile.
TV
Gotham
Here is the first look of Robin Lord Taylor as Oswald Cobblepot in Gotham. Another notch in the win column.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Well, I was excited about Deathlok, until the TV budget showed up. New Power Rangers are a go.
Games
SimCity
The game finally gets updated with offline play today. Only a year late and when most have given up on the game.
UFC
EA Sports has released a new trailer for their MMA game coming to Xbox One and PS4 this spring. It is the first extensive look at the graphics in-game and it is looking damn impressive.
“Because when I beat Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania, the triple threat match will be Batista vs. Randy Orton vs…me.”
And just like that the main event at WrestleMania scares the shit out of us again.
Yep, we all knew HHH would some way get into all this world title brouhaha like a child that sees something he wants in another kids hand.
Mine! Mine!
I really don’t think we are headed in that direction. This is, most likely, a move to make Bryan’s match with HHH mean more. Because, after last week, when it was announced that Bryan would be in the main event if he beat the COO, it has been thought of as a certainty he is getting there. At least with this new stipulation it adds a bit of doubt into people’s minds.
Side Note: Stephanie McMahon’s fingers are rather bony. I imagine hand jobs from her are a painful affair like the Wicked Witch of the West handling your johnson.
Week after week I am looking forward to the Cena/Wyatt match. Last night was another stellar mic performance as Wyatt was decked out in Cena’s attire talking about his “plastic girlfriend”. I know I say it week after week, but there is no one that can touch him promo-wise right now. The character would fail in anyone else’s hands. It does worry me a bit that, since they are making this all about Cena’s “legacy”, it is almost a guarantee he will be getting the win.
Right now in Wyatt’s career maybe a good showing against Cena is all he needs.
My brain is scattershot this morning (like every morning), so now I will bring up the opening of the show. This was the first interaction between Batista and Randy Orton I have enjoyed since Capt. Skinnyjeans McNavaltattoo came back. HHH being in the mix helped and I can’t deny it is fun having Evolution in the ring a decade later.
Promos are always better when “real life” is mentioned. Orton bringing up no one wanting Batista back or HHH saying he is tired of “Hollywood stars” coming back and thinking they know more about the business than him hit the mark. Anyone else think that was a tiny jab at The Rock?
After last week’s Smackdown it looked like The Shield were beginning a face turn with their attack on Kane. Well, we can file that under “The Shield are faces officially”. You bring in Jerry Lawler, the fan favorite, and have Kane tell them to attack him and things don’t go as planned.
Three cheers for The Shield as good guys!
Of course this throws a big ole monkey wrench in my idea for a triple threat Shield match at WrestleMania. A face turn could work…for a short time. The Shield is one of those groups that works better as heels. It is cool to like them because the fans aren’t supposed to.
I am thinking this could be a short term bit with Ambrose and Rollins turning on Reigns or some kind of variation of that.
The Real Americans have gone from imploding to beating the tag champs in one week. That is some TNA quick-moving shit. Guessing this takes them to a title match before or at WrestleMania where they will lose and do the whole break-up thing where they awkwardly see each other in the hallways and try not to make eye contact before things simmer down and they open a small dialogue of “hey’s” and “how’s it going’s” before having intense make-up sex in a janitor’s closet only to break it off again a few weeks later.
Or maybe that was Scrubs.
Who’s that? That is the kid (man) that played Walt on Lost. Da fuuuuuuuuuq?
I began to wonder if the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal would get put on the WrestleMania pre-show, but with the names filling out the roster there is no way of that happening. Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, Dolph Ziggler, Big Show, Christian, Mark Henry just to name a few will be in it so I am calling this as a mid-show breather between big matches.
A Goldust/Fandango match normally wouldn’t be news, but did anyone else notice the look of death Goldy gave to Fandango after the match. It looked like he hurt himself right before the finish and did not like how the ending went down. Cody had to actively calm him down in the ring…and Goldust won the match. I would not want to be Fandango when he got backstage.
It looks like AJ’s run as champion is coming to an end soon. Naomi is back from her eye injury with a bedazzled eye patch looking like one of Jean-Pierre Lafitte’s bar wenches. She beat AJ last night then AJ took out her frustrations on Tamina who wasn’t having it.
Anyone else notice how AJ’s push, or TV time even, has gone way down since Punk left. You wouldn’t think WWE would hold grudges just because she is dating him…right?
As we move closer to WrestleMania, does anyone else have growing concerns on if the WWE Network can handle the server load? It has been working fine for me after the first few days of hiccups, but there has not really been an event the size of Mania watched live by millions of people.
Let’s hope this doesn’t become a Halloween Havok moment where the show cuts out during the main event. I don’t think Goldberg or DDP would like that.
For me and mine, we will be having a party and watching on an Xbox 360, yet I will be bringing my PS3 as a backup in case there are problems with the 360 in some way. Still, if there are server issues, it won’t matter what system we have.
