Atari: Game Over Trailer

The AVGN movie is coming out in a few months with a story revolving around the mystical landfill where thousands of E.T. cartridges can be found. For years this was an urban legend, there was no real information out there about this. So this year next to the AVGN movie we get a documentary about Atari's demise and the magical landfill, here is the trailer for it:

Video Games: The Movie

Here is a brand new documentary about the history of video games - looks really interesting and well done, check out the trailer:

Weird Video Game Tribute Video

As a big fan of retro video games it's always a treat for me to see a tribute to the 8bit or 16bit era, this is a little bit too weird though... but what do I expect from Japan anyway?

Jason Oda aka JODA!

Jason Oda is a one-man-army visual artist specialized in web based games and online viral campaigns. He's a big fan of retro games: Atari, Nes, Genesis etc. and if you have a soft spot for these kind of games as well you are going to enjoy what this guy is doing.

He created many great games for different clients varying for agencies, bands and entertainment websites.

Lately he released a client independent game called Continue?9876543210... You are a dead, failed video game character wandering through the recesses of the Random Access Memory, trying to find peace in the final moments of your existence before being deleted forever…

Sounds interesting enough? Interested in experimental video games, check this one out for sure:

Check out his website for more interesting games:
http://jasonoda.com/

Cuphead

Cuphead is a game developed by StudioMDHR. What's interesting about it is the visual style, it looks like a cartoon from 1930's, very well designed and carefully put together. It's a very short teaser but special enough to get my attention, hope to see more from this game soon:

Memory of a Broken Dimension

Here is an experimental game which is difficult to describe, it's mostly an fps exploration game but very different from anything I have ever seen, it's really dark but fun and it's a treat visually if you are into demoscene style graphics. It's free to download and play, check it out. Oh, and you will need some basic DOS knowledge to even start playing.

Download the game from here:

http://indiestatik.com/2013/04/01/ive-been-inside-memory-of-a-broken-dimension-and-now-you-can-too/

Live Action Game Trailers

There are more and more live action trailers shot with well known actors for games. Many years ago there were games like Mad Dog, Phantasmagoria or Wing Commander games which were like an interactive movie but there was a reason for that, the studios were trying to do better and better graphics and animation and one way to do it was to shoot the whole game as a movie.

Slowly with the evolution of games it went out of style but now it's coming back in a different form and for a different reason, check out these live action trailers made to promote games:

Dead Island

Call of Duty: Ghosts

Sleeping Dogs

Prototype 2

Flashback is Back!

Lately we can see a rise of very old titles being rebooted, and not only the hyped titles but ones like Rise of the Triad or Shadow Warrior. These games of course can't bring back the old times and make you feel like the first time you've tried these games. Flashback was one very different game back in the days, because it was slow, it needed patience and a lot of tries. It came after Another World but it had much superior graphics and amazing looking cutscenes.

A few years ago we he an HD remake of the game which looks quite nice (the same thing happened with the Monkey Island games), but now we have a complete reboot with 3D graphics, but gameplay mechanics seem to be the same, so it might be a great release, check it out if you ever played Flashback:

Games as an Artform # 2

Botanicula (PC, Mac) is a beautiful 2D handdrawn game with cute and weird characters, funny scenes and loads of adventures in a lush environment. The game's basic style is point and click with exploration with the occasional puzzle solving, but it's all done in a real artistic way, you feel like you're inside an indie animated feature while you are playing, check it out:

Tearaway (PS Vita) hasn't been released yet, though I've seen the first images and videos about it more than a year ago - and mind you, this is not a GTA style huge game, it's for a handheld console, so it should take a lot less time to produce it. The interesting thing for me in this game is not only the style, but the way you play it. The PS Vita has a touch-screen like surface at the bottom of it and utilizing that you can "reach" into the game and interact with the characters in completely new way. I don't have a PS Vita myself but this game itself looks promising enough to make me interested.

Lastly here is Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery (PC, Mac,  Linux), it's also a point and click exploration style game but with pixel graphics.

The look of the game is amazing, every location is different and though graphically it's simple still there are enough details to keep you sucked in as you try to find your way out. Very cool little game, check it out:

New Thief game coming out!

Back in the day when the first Thief game was out it was a totally different experience from the other fps games. Instead of being a one man army you had to hide, sneak in the dark, club people from behind, most importantly, stay in the shadows. The game was slow but very rewarding and the with the steampunk setting it was a very atmospheric ride too. It became an instant classic and it had two sequels: The Metal Age and The Dark Project (which was more like a DLC), and in 2000 the series ended... until now.

There is a new Thief game in development coming out in 2014, Feburary. Here are some videos from the upcoming game, they all look very stylish and dark, I really hope that the lovers of the old games will be able to grasp some of the originals atmosphere through this one. Looking forward to it.

Gamescom trailer:

Gameplay with commentary:

Games as an Artform # 1

There are many debates about whether games are a form of art or not. I'm not going to try to convince anyone or write a long essay about it, I'm just going to show a few games (three at a time) to prove that there is potential.

The first one is Limbo, a very well known and successful indie game. The graphics and the atmosphere are dark but really amazing. A little boy is trying find his way out of a dangerous world of strange creatures, dangerous obstacles. Check it out, it just might suck you in.

Teaser trailer:

Gameplay:

The next game for today is Guacamelee, another 2D/3D sidescroller but this one is more of a mixture of classical beat'em up games with a Metroid style map system.

  

The game's visual style is really a treat, colorful backgrounds, crazy characters and a lot of fun it's what this game is. If you like fast action and non-stop entertainment check this one out:

Debut trailer:

Gameplay:

The last one for today is a quite old game for the Dreamcast system: REZ. The game has a very uniqe style and gameplay, it's basically more like an interactive music video where you have minimal control over your character, but you don't really mind because the Tron-like visuals and cool music sucks you in right away, check it out.

Gameplay:

Far Cry 3 - Real Life Experience

It's been a long time since the last Far Cry related post, so here is one. Though this video came out before the game I haven't seen it until I've finished the game, so the first time I've seen Vaas walking around, I thought he was animated because he moved and looked exactly how he did in the game. After watching the this short film for several minutes and the first closeups are shown I realized that it's a real actor, not CG and I was amazed. Micheal Mando is the actor playing one of the antagonists, Vaas, who gained instant cult status as one of the best villains from games.

It's really interesting how the character was created thanks to Micheal Mando, here is an interview with him, check it out:

And here is the short film shot to promote Far Cry 3, it was released as a web series, but here you can watch all the episodes together, enjoy:

Sonic - First Person

Several months ago I've posted the Super Mario FPS video, now Sonic got the same treatment. Not as amusing as the Mario one, but still fun to see if you were a Sonic fan back in the days.

MAD MAX - The Game

Here we have another sandbox title coming up: Mad Max. The game is not based on any previous or upcoming Mad Max movie, it just uses the movies to create the world, but the adventure is up to you. They promise a huge world to discover, customizable characters and cars, never before seen vehicular combat. Coming next spring!

Gameplay Reveal:

Cinematic Trailer:

Grand Theft Auto 5.

Every episode of the GTA series was highly acclaimed by critics and praised by players. I remember playing the first two games when I was a teenager and it was so much fun roaming around freely in a city, doing whatever I wanted, even if only in 2D. Then the 3rd part came along and it was a blast, you felt like you're really living a different life. Since then expansions came out, then the 4th installment which was again great and highly detailed with many possibilities.

Now here we have a the 5th game in the series and it looks like it's going to be another blast with a huge world, interesting characters, side quests - a living, breathing sandbox paradise. Can't wait to play it.

Tom Clancy's The Division - E3 Gameplay reveal

Another amazing looking FPS coming soon. I've never seen such beautiful smoke and light effects in a game before, another step towards realism, enjoy:

Blood Dragon: Cyber War

Another Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon related post, but this time it's a "fan" movie by Corridor Digital. It fits perfectly the style of the game and it looks fucking awesome. Check it out at once:

After check out Corridor Digital's youtube channel, you'll have a blast:

http://www.youtube.com/user/CorridorDigital?feature=watch

Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon - Update

The game's official release date is May the 1st, and I can hardly wait to ride this train. It just looks like we are teleported back into the past to fight a war for the future on VHS tapes. Here is the official trailer for the game:

The other great thing about this game is the music. It puts you exactly in the right mood. Check out Powerglove's soundcloud site for more cool 80' style music: https://soundcloud.com/powerglove

Battlefield 4 - First game footage

For the past few years first person shooters started to look more and more like action movies. Cinematic sequences with pseudo interactivity, realistic looking and moving characters, atmospheric scenery, great sound effects and never ending over the top action. With this evolution came also the de-evolution of the gaming aspect, the gameplay losing it's freedom. Of course we have the open world games to make up for it, but they can never achieve the same level of realism as these new kind of linear, roller-coaster like games, and the Battlefield franchise is one of these games. These 17 minutes of game footage shows just that, an amazing ride with the strange feeling of your ass being attached to rails. It's a great experience even if only for the first time.