N-visioning the Future

(I meant to post this nearly a week ago, but I forgot to put it up)

Well it's finally landed, the official release date and pricing for Nintendo's new console, the Wii U. It's slate for release on November 18, and there are two planned models you can buy. The standard model will be white with all the basic trimmings, like an HDMI cable, power adaptor, and sensor bar, but it's limited to 8gb of data storage. The premium bundle though is black and also comes with the game Nintendo land, a system stand, a charging cradle for the tablet controller, and has 32gb of internal storage.
The price difference is nominal too, as the basic package has an MSRP of $300 and the premium is $350. I think that the extras are worth the cash, but then again I was planning to reserve the console no matter what.

Some people may disagree with me, but I like Nintendo and their games. Sure I may not have gotten as much use out of the Wii as I would have liked; And Nintendo’s North American localization support of Japanese games has been less than impressive, but I still think I've gotten my moneys worth. Especially since it only cost $250 on release day.

----Strife Out----

Losing the Bio but Keeping the Ware

A sad announcement came across today, Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka two co-founders of BioWare, are retiring from BioWare. These two men have left an enormous mark on the videogame industry. With games like Baulders Gate, Neverwinder Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age; the pair have been involved with some of the most recognized and influential RPGs the industry has seen.

After twenty years, the doctors are leaving the videogame industry and moving on to different fields. While this is a sad bit of news, what really worries me is how the Company is more or less in the hands of EA now. In addition it was just recently announced that the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series additional installments.
Maybe I'm being pessimistic, but I just look at this series of events and say "well Looks like EA is already moving in to cash in and ruin the last two games Greg and Ray helped to build".

What do you guys think, does BioWare have a future under EA and without it's co-founders?

----Strife Out----

Torchlight 2 Soundtrack

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a fanatic for collecting game soundtracks. I have a pile of music from various titles I've played over the years, and I have so many I haven't even listened to all of it. Well I'm adding another soundtrack to my library, and it's before the I'll even play the accompanying game too.
Torchlight II is set to drop in about a day or so, and just because they're awesome, Runic Games has decided to publish the game's soundtrack for free.
you can download it here.

One of the things I love about the Torchlight music is that it's composed by Matt Uelmen, the man behind the awesome music from the first two Diablo games and the WoW burning Crusade expansion. His music is distinct, and it's also very eerie at the same time, which is what I love about it.

As far as the second Torchlight goes I'll be playing it at some point, but I don’t' know when. The Holiday slew of games is beginning to drop, so I'll be very busy playing through title after title for months to come. Bu anyway.

There's nothing quite like a free soundtrack to make my day.
----Strife Out----

Thirty Second Saviour

Several years ago in 2009 there was an interesting little title published for the PSP called Half-Minute Hero. It was a parody game that basically made fun of JRPGs, summing up what they were about, and making you save the world in only half a minute.
It was a game that caught my eye, and I wanted to play it. Unfortunately though I had no working PSP to play the game. Thus I was left to simply wonder how novel the title could have been for me.

Now much to my surprise, three years after it's initial release, Half-Minute Hero is getting a port to the PC and Steam. It'll be landing later this month, September 27, in all it's glory.
As a long time RPG fan I look forward to giving this game a shot. It may not be new, but interest hasn't faded, and if anything I'm more excited because now it also has a budget price tag of $9.99 to boot.

----Strife Out----

Grounds of the Fringe

I'm looking forward to some extended play time in a few weeks in the Borderlands. I played the first game and was sufficiently satisfied with the experience, even though it was a bit redundant.

I've been following the development of Borderlands 2 on and off for months now, so I haven't really missed any big about the game. However, the video below refreshed my memory of all the news I've picked up bit by bit. Sir Hammerlock, the host of the video, will bring anyone up to speed on just what borderlands 2 is, how it plays, and what makes it special in very short order.

Honestly this has to be my favourite BL2 video they've put out yet.

Are you going to visit the new and improved borderlands just like me?

----Strife Out----

Ground Zero

I'm a fairly big Metal Gear fan. I've been playing the games since the original PS1 Solid release back in 1998. As a result the large convoluted story web doesn't phase me in the least, and I actually enjoy the complex story. Thus I'm super hyped by this new installment Metal Gear Ground Zero.

The trailer above actually doesn't do a whole lot story wise, but graphically it really amazes me. It's not pre-rendered, but real-time, running on the current gen PS3 hardware. I was very skeptical of this as I watched the trailer, but between 9:15-9:23, where the cinematic turns into gameplay I about shat myself. It really is real-time, and those rain effects are jaw dropping, especially to be running on Current (but honestly outdated) Generation hardware. Moreover this game is supposed to be open world, and decidedly much less linear compared to preceding Metal Gear games.
I'm just astonished by how much Kojima and his group can get out of the PS3, which is FAR more than I've seen out of any other developer (naughty dog included).

----Strife Out----