Monthly Archives: March 2015
Killer Instinct Hisako Trailer Teases Cinder
Iron Galaxy is rolling out another Killer Instinct character this week, and teasing the next one in the process.
The ghostly warrior Hisako will be available tomorrow for Ultra Edition owners, and next Thursday for those who got the Combo Breaker Edition. At the very end of the Hisako release trailer, we get a brief glimpse of the next roster addition: Cinder.
Iron Galaxy has made a habit of using one character's trailer to tease the next one, like when Golem was shown off at the end of Omen's trailer. Hisako herself was detailed at PAX East, after being revealed in yet another character's trailer. The 19-year-old spirit woman uses her father's naginata for long-range attacks, and relies heavily on counter-attacks.
Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition Finally Comes to Steam
Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition is now available on Steam.
Capcom has announced the long-requested content is out now for Steam, and people who already own the base game can pick up the Gold Edition for $15 USD. In addition, if you already own a boxed copy of Resident Evil 5 with Games With Windows Live, you can acquire a Steamworks copy of the core title for free.
The regular retail price for Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition on PC is $30 USD, though Capcom is offering a special $21 USD promotion for the newly released enhanced version.
The original release for Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 occurred in March 2010. This edition of the game includes two new story-based chapters (Lost in Nightmares and Desperate Escape), a versus mode, four additional costumes and Mercenaries Reunion.
This New Trailer Answers Our Halo Online Questions
Microsoft recently announced a free-to-play PC-exclusive shooter called Halo Online for Russia only.
Yes, we had questions too.
Today, some of those questions were answered in the form of a Halo Online announcement trailer, which shows off plenty of combat, maps, armor sets, and more. Guardian is back, there are tons of weapon variants, and some older maps might have received face lifts.
Two of IGN's Halo experts, Ryan McCaffrey and Brian Albert, watched the trailer frame by frame and picked out the details you need to know.
Watch the trailer above if you haven't seen it yet, then check out the rewind video at the top of the article for some extra insight. If you'd like to follow along with us, check out the timeline below.
Life is Strange, Episode Two Review
Life is Strange is at its best when it's letting you talk to people. Some of the best moments are between Max, the hero of this story, and Chloe, her new/old best friend. Others involve Max delicately navigating a verbal encounter with little to wield other than words...and if need be, her time-bending superpower. Life is Strange's first episode was a great setup for the world of Blackwell, where young adults struggle to find meaning and purpose in their lives, but was ultimately a little too bogged down by its time-rewinding mechanic. The mechanic still gets in the way of some poignant moments in Episode Two, Out of Time, but it is here that the game slowly begins introducing the limitations to Max's power. This not only makes for some interesting encounters but drives the episode to an emotional high point that left me feeling raw, empty, and very impatient for the next installment.
Max's story is getting darker. Chloe has warmed up to Max, and the episode opens with our young heroine on her way to meet her old friend for breakfast. She's still dealing with the fallout of her run-in with Nathan Prescott in the previous episode, and--depending on choices you made in the previous episode and a few ones you'll make early in this one--has becoming a looming, omnipresent threat to Max's existence. She's doing her best to balance this danger with being a good friend; not just to Chloe, but to Kate Marsh, another troubled girl. On top of all that, Max is getting wrapped up in Chloe's problems, which turn out to be more sinister than having a militant stepfather. And as before, the adults in Life is Strange act like frightened children, completely inept at being helpful to these angsty teens and behaving in ways that no sensible real-world adult would.
In Episode One, I was bothered by the throwaway mentions of Rachel Amber, the girl who took Max's place as Chloe's bestie after she moved away, and who has since gone missing. Episode Two drops large hints that maybe we're looking at the wrong people; this might not be Max's story after all, but the story of an even greater mystery. There may only be just enough room for Max in Chloe's and her friends' world to solve these horrible problems. A missing girl. An approaching tornado. The one person with the power to stop it all may be the least important in the equation.
Adding to the uptick in narrative intrigue is the gradual introduction of the limitations of Max's power. Red splotches crowd the sides of the screen every time you rewind, indicating that Max is physically harming herself with her abilities. Out of Time slaps Max, and you, with the realization that these powers come with a price. This fragility, the knowledge that these powers don't make Max some infallible entity that can perpetually change her choices, gives the choices you do make more weight. Max is no longer balancing teenage problems with unlimited power; she's balancing teenage problems with a dangerous tool that can harm as well as help.
The tone of Episode Two is confusing to place, largely because of lengthy sequences that come across as too "gamey" and thus detract from the story. There are two instances in this episode where Life is Strange aggressively reminds you that it is a video game; the heartfelt narrative of a young girl's struggle to be a force of good takes a backseat to fetch quests and memory puzzles. These moments weaken the tension of Life is Strange and I felt frustrated, as these sequences seem to take up time for the sake of adding some kind of game element. However, I learned to tamp down my impatience, as these moments give limitless breathing room to explore. I learned more about Chloe's relationship with Rachel by scouring a junkyard and more about Kate Marsh's home life by lingering in her dorm room. It doesn't become apparent until the end of the episode that these tedious stretches have huge story impact. This is why I say the tone is confusing; Life is Strange wants you to stay tense and pay attention, yet simultaneously encourages you to stop and smell the roses, without much warning of when you're supposed to do either. The solution is to keep on your toes, look at everything, and talk to everyone, because you genuinely never know when something will be important later.
This is never more evident than at the episode's end, when "make or break" becomes too light a description for what Max has to do. Every choice you've made in the first two episodes, every decision you made connected to someone around Max, comes to a head here. This is where it ends, and where Life is Strange becomes more than an episodic video game. It becomes a window into the world of the young, where it's either your oyster or it's ending, when you're too naive to think of the future. Bullying, drugs, wanting to be liked, feeling misunderstood, channeling emptiness into lashing out at others--this is why life is strange as a young adult. It's a rare person that doesn't wish she they could go back and get just one more chance with someone, with something.
Out of Time gives real meaning to the choices you've made. And by its conclusion, you'll know whether or not Max, your version of Max, is a bad confidante. The episode's turning point depends on how well you've paid attention to your classmates, how flakey or how helpful you've been for a certain friend. It requires you to have scoured every nook and cranny, poked into every room and fed your curiosity by examining everything. Because if you haven't, the outcome can't be undone under any circumstances. Life is Strange is actively testing how much you, the player, care. It's a subtle way to imbue a lot of power into the choice mechanic, and it sneaks up on you without warning.
Despite the great way Out of Time handles emotional payoff, it suffers from problematic dialogue. Characters will display conflicting emotions over the course of a conversation that ping pong between extremely positive and extremely negative, without cause. In one instance, a character warms up to you and comments how you've been missed, and when you respond positively she suddenly, nastily, ask if you're making up for something you did wrong in Episode One. Another instance has someone admit she knows you care about her, and when you say that yes, you do care, she suddenly shouts that nobody cares about her. It makes no sense and makes many of these conversations feel like uphill battles in the dark. It's harder to placate someone or do what you think is right when there's a good chance that no matter what you say his or her response is completely out of your control.
Life is Strange still has problems with its dialogue and pacing, but Episode Two reaches emotional heights that are worth the journey. Your choices as Max are finally beginning to take on meaning, and the trajectory of her role in this messy story is more unclear than ever. But that's a good thing; stories about people with infallible power are boring. Max is no superhero; she's just a girl trying to be just and do right by everybody. But like in the real world, trying to please everyone has consequences, and Life is Strange lets you know that with a shot right to the heart.
Unlocked HTC One M9 Launches Friday for $650
The HTC One M9 smartphone, announced during the Mobile World Conference earlier this month, will go on sale starting Friday in the United States. An unlocked version of the One M9 will cost $650, and will be available on HTC's site after midnight.
According to PC World, mobile carriers AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon will begin selling the One M9 on April 10. Unfortunately, it's not immediately clear what those carriers will charge for the device, or the specific configurations of the handset from each provider.
Alien Nation Movie Reboot in the Works
Twentieth Century Fox is giving the 1980's sci-fi buddy-cop film Alien Nation a reboot.
THR reports that Iron Man scribes Art Marcum and Matt Holloway will handle the script for the first Alien Nation installment, which will be an origin story that explains how and why the aliens came to Earth. There are no producers attached yet.
James Caan and Mandy Patinkin in 1988's Alien Nation.
Pre-Orders for Galaxy S6 Start Tomorrow
Samsung has announced pre-orders for its upcoming S6 and S6 Edge phones will begin tomorrow, March 27. If you're the forgetful type, you can sign up for an update from Samsung.
Samsung will offer a version of its Gear VR headset that works with the new phones, and the current version of its Gear VR designed for the Samsung Note 4 will be available at select retailers tomorrow, as well.
Carriers and electronics dealers also want you to come in and lay down some money on a shiny new phone, so you can register for information about pre-ordering the new phones on Best Buy, T-Mobile, or Verizon, among other places. Think of it as promise ring for the eventual engagement and subsequent nuptials to a new smart phone.
Rockstar to Fix Reported GTA 5 Graphics Issues
Rockstar has made a post on its support forum promising it was looking for a solution to reports of a "deterioration of graphical quality" after the latest title update for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of Grand Theft Auto 5 Online.
Some users report that Title Update 1.08 for the new consoles has caused problems with the game's graphics. Rockstar says it's aware of some issues and is working toward a solution. Fans who want to be notified when Rockstar shares more details can subscribe to the post by logging in to the support page.
Title Update 1.08 came on the heels of the Heists patch and brought a number of stability fixes for GTA online as well as a number of tweaks to both Online and Story Mode.
Pegg: Star Trek 3 Is About Adventure & Optimism
Star Trek 3 co-writer (and Scotty actor) Simon Pegg says audiences can expect the third film in the rebooted sci-fi franchise to be about frontierism, adventure, optimism and fun.
Speaking to Spinoff Online, Pegg indicated that he and co-writer Doug Jung intend to bring the movie franchise back to its TV roots, saying, "
e just want to take it forward with the spirit of the TV show. And it's a story about frontierism and adventure and optimism and fun, and that's where we want to take it, you know. Where no man has gone before – where no one has gone before, sensibly corrected for a slighter more enlightened generation."
Check Out These Awesome Marvel Statues
As Avengers: Age of Ultron nears release, we're seeing more companies shed light on their AoU-themed toys and collectibles. This week alone, we're getting our first good look at the new Hot Toys Hawkeye figure and Kotobukiya's Iron Man Mark XLIII statue.
Black Widow Joins Hot Toys' Age of Ultron Lineup
Hawkeye is the latest addition to Hot Toys' growing Age of Ultron lineup. This 1:6 scale figure measures just under 12 inches tall and is modeled after the hero's new winter weather costume from the movie. It includes various accessories (swappable hands, bow and arrow, display base) and a scarily accurate portrait of actor Jeremy Renner. Check it out below: