Tag: Videogames (11-20 of 469)

Mar 5 2013 08:52 AM ET

'Star Trek: The Video Game' and Gorn supremacy

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This is a big year for all lifeforms in Federation space — the Hollywood film franchise returns in May with Star Trek Into Darkness and then Star Trek: The Video Game seeks out new brand frontiers with its April arrival — but no alien race is heating up more than the cold-blooded Gorn, represented above by their rapacious leader.

In the original Trek series, the alien reptile hegemony was represented by but one individual, the menacing captain of a Gorn ship who tussled with Starfleet Captain James T. Kirk in a 1967 episode called “Arena.” That was it for the Gorn on the ABC series; the Vulcans, Klingons and Romulans (the glamour aliens in the Star Trek universe) showed up again and again but the Gorn never got a callback and were cast off like old snakeskin — well, if snakes were made of stiff rubber.

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Mar 4 2013 04:38 PM ET

'The Final Hours of Tomb Raider': App looks at bringing game back to life

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The new Tomb Raider launches on consoles and PCs tomorrow, and it’s a bold reboot of the hit franchise (see this week’s issue of EW for Keith Staskiewicz’ story on reimagining gaming’s most famous heroine, Lara Croft). After 2008’s Tomb Raider: Underworld underperformed, developer Crystal Dynamics sought to reinvent a Lara Croft who could compete with Uncharted’s Nathan Drake and reinstate her to her prior glory. They succeeded spectacularly. But getting there wasn’t easy, as documented by veteran games journalist Geoff Keighley in The Final Hours of Tomb Raider, an app launching today that chronicles the long, arduous task of reinvigorating a gaming icon.

Keighley gave EW a sneak peek at the comprehensive app, which offers an insightful behind-the-scenes look at the making of the game. Having previously detailed the final hours of Portal 2 and Mass Effect 3, Keighley spent nearly two years following Crystal Dynamics, gaining unparalleled access to the studio’s creative process. READ FULL STORY »

Mar 1 2013 12:21 PM ET

Willem Dafoe is acting opposite Ellen Page in the videogame 'Beyond: Two Souls'

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Remember last summer, when auteurist videogame designer David Cage revealed that he was working on Beyond: Two Souls, a game starring Ellen Page? Turns out Page isn’t the only Oscar-nominated actor involved in Beyond. Cage’s studio Quantic Dream revealed this morning that beloved crazy-eyed psychotic Willem Dafoe will also appear in the game. Dafoe plays Nathan Dawkins, a researcher who meets Ellen Page’s character as a little girl and apparently reappears later in her life. Based on the reveal trailer, it looks like Dafoe is playing a combination of Donald Pleasence from Halloween and Lorraine Bracco from The Sopranos. Check out the reveal below: READ FULL STORY »

Feb 28 2013 12:29 PM ET

First image from 'Assassin's Creed IV': Yo ho ho and a bottle of KILL

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The Assassin’s Creed franchise has adopted an annual-release model the last few years, presenting gamers with a new opportunity every fall to jump across the rooftops of their favorite densely-researched historical cityscapes. But last year’s Assassin’s Creed 3 seemed to mark a turning point for the franchise. We don’t know much about the next entry, but Ubisoft just released an evocative bit of key art which reveals two things: 1. The name of the game, and 2. A very rough idea of the setting. Take a look: READ FULL STORY »

Feb 26 2013 06:16 PM ET

'Tomb Raider' actress Camilla Luddington discusses playing the new Lara Croft

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Image Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Lara Croft had approximately 0.6 seconds as the adventurous, crypt-crawling Indiana Jane she was intended to be before she was immediately burdened with absurd physical proportions and tasked with propping up the half-formed sexual fantasies of millions of teenage boys. It’s a fact that mars her achievement as one of the first popular female protagonists in gaming—after all, Mario never had to look like Fabio — and shows that just because you’re polygonal, doesn’t mean you’re three-dimensional. But developer Crystal Dynamics is hoping to change all that with Tomb Raider, their upcoming reboot that hits stores March 5 and serves as a gritty origin story-slash-fresh start for Croft.

The actress who reimagined this iconic character was Camilla Luddington, known for playing Kate Middleton in the royal courtship Lifetime movie William & Kate and more recently for playing Dr. Jo Wilson on Grey’s Anatomy. Not only did the English actress voice Croft, but she also provided her movements, recording most of the game’s action and cut-scenes with elaborate motion capture. We spoke with Luddington about inhabiting the (now somewhat more realistic) body of gaming’s premier action-hero archeologist. (Sorry, Nathan Drake.)
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Feb 25 2013 07:07 PM ET

Videogame review: Lara Croft channels her inner Katniss in bold 'Tomb Raider' reboot

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“I hate tombs,” Lara Croft sighs as she enters a musty crypt in Tomb Raider, Crystal Dynamics’ bold reboot of the long-running series. The franchise had grown a bit musty in recent iterations, bogged down in clumsy shooting and silly supernatural elements like an evil Lara doppelgänger, and distancing itself from the core experience of, you know, raiding tombs. Despite a string of solid if unspectacular efforts, Lara’s star had faded considerably, and Uncharted’s Nathan Drake largely supplanted her as gaming’s top adventurer, in gameplay and graphics –until now. This new Lara has taken a page from Drake’s exploits and is officially reclaiming her throne.

In this new origin story, Lara is not a girl, not yet a woman when she is shipwrecked on a mysterious island. Separated from her crew and visibly scared, she is forced to grow up quickly when a murderous cult kidnaps her friends. Armed with a bow and arrow, she channels The Hunger Games’ Katniss Everdeen in sheer grit and determination, gaining new weapons and abilities that open up the world as the game progresses in a nod to gaming’s first lady, Metroid’s Samus Aran.
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Feb 22 2013 04:09 PM ET

Superhero Smack-down! Check out the new 'Marvel Heroes' trailer -- VIDEO

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Like World of Warcraft – only with way more capes, cowls, and codpieces – Marvel Heroes is a massively multi-player online game. Unlike WoW and most titles currently defining the genre, however, it seems to be more focused on letting fans brawl with iconic comic book baddies than it is having them grind through levels or chat up townsfolk. Featuring a story penned by famed Marvel scribe Brian Michael Bendis, the action-driven, free-to-play entry is also aiming to deliver an authentic tale on par with anything that’s appeared on the paneled page. Of course, you won’t find any narrative depth in the following trailer because, well, it’s all about showcasing its spandex-clad stars crime-fighting skills. I’ve yet to get my hands on Marvel Heroes, but based on what I’ve seen so far, it looks like it could shake up the tired genre like a Hulk Smash to the head.

Check out the new trailer below:
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Feb 20 2013 11:26 PM ET

Sony announces Playstation 4 for Holiday 2013

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When it came time to announce their next-generation Playstation console, Sony did not hesitate. The introduction of the Playstation 4 occurred at a media-packed event in New York, which featured appearances by some of the greatest, most popular, and most self-important videogame creators in the world. They showed off a slate of games that ran the gamut from “exciting” and “visually stimulating” to “confusing” and “wait, so Killzone is still happening?”

The presentation was, in some ways, a bold refutation of Nintendo’s Wii U — Sony made a point of stressing that it had involved third-party developers in the process of crafting the Playstation 4. But this gaming generation wasn’t kind to Sony. The Playstation 2 was a culture-impacting, boundary-bursting force of nature; the Playstation 3 was a high-powered machine with great games that had a hard time competing with the muscular Xbox 360 and the mass-appeal Wii. So, there came the inevitable moment in the Playstation 4 presentation when Sony made it clear that a key part of the PS4 pitch was its compatibility with the PS Vita, Sony’s low-selling mobile-games device. The intention is to allow you to play all PS4 games on your Vita — if you have a Vita, which you probably don’t — a compatibility system which basically makes the Vita into the Sony equivalent of the Wii U’s GamePad. READ FULL STORY »

Feb 19 2013 02:35 PM ET

'Metal Gear' gets a solid makeover with 'Revengeance' -- REVIEW

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It’s been a long, arduous journey for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. The Metal Gear Solid spinoff was originally announced in 2009 starring Raiden, a character once reviled by fans and blamed for ruining Metal Gear Solid 2. After numerous delays, the game was quietly canceled when developer Kojima Productions struggled with the transition from sneaking-based stealth gameplay to crazy katana action. But in 2011, Platinum Games—developer of 2010’s gleefully over-the-top Bayonetta—took over the project, and Raiden was reborn.

Raiden’s redemption began in Metal Gear Solid 4, where the once-whiny, love-sick rookie transformed into a badass cyborg ninja who featured in the game’s most ridiculously cool cutscenes, and continues in Revengeance. It seems as if Platinum’s goal was to match those hyper-kinetic, stylized scenes with actual gameplay. In the first few levels alone you’re racing down the sides of buildings, jumping on rockets and slicing helicopters to smithereens, and you remain firmly in control. Though the game does have its share of button-timed quick time events, they rarely get in the way of the action. READ FULL STORY »

Feb 19 2013 12:31 PM ET

'BioShock Infinite' trailer: 'Are you afraid of God?'

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Image Credit: BioShock Infinite

2005′s BioShock is widely considered one of the great masterpieces of the videogame medium. Next month, BioShock Infinite looks to one-up the original game, with its Jules-Verne-on-hallucinogens adventure tale about a city in the sky and the monsters that live there. A new lengthy trailer for the game just hit the internet, and it’s a stunner, with an extended look at the game’s world. The trailer also offers teasing hints about the relationship between Booker DeWitt (the player character) and Elizabeth (the mysterious woman Booker is trying to rescue.) “Are you afraid of God?” asks Elizabeth. “No,” responds Booker, “But I’m afraid of you.” Watch the trailer:
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