Universal Studios Home Entertainment will bring Battleship, the loose adaptation of the popular Hasbro game, to Blu-ray, DVD and digital download August 28, 2012.
The big budget action film (theatrical review here), directed by Peter Berg (Hancock) and starring Liam Neeson, Taylor Kitsch, Brooklyn Decker and Rihanna, was not a major hit in the US, but did soak up some serious cash overseas for a worldwide box office total of over $300 million.
Battleship will come to Blu-ray presented in 1080p (2.40:1 aspect ratio) mixed in 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio. The disc will also include English DVS 2.0 and 5.1 DTS French and Spanish audio. The DVD will be presented in anamorphic widescreen with 5.1 English Dolby Digital audio, and optional 2.0 English and 5.1 French and Spanish tracks. English SDH, Spanish and French subs are available on both discs.
Bonus Features on Blu-ray and DVD:
Preparing for Battle – Hear how Hollywood teamed up with the US Navy to transform a beloved board game into a big-screen blockbuster.
All Hands on Deck: The Cast – Witness the actors getting into the military mindset and Navy veterans having their time in the spotlight in this salute to the people at the heart of the story.
Shooting at Sea – Experience the crew taking on the daunting challenge of shooting on the open ocean on their “soundstage at sea.”
All Aboard the Fleet – Cast and crew members share their experiences shooting on the ships, particularly the historic USS Missouri.
Bonus features exclusive to the Blu-ray will include the following:
Alternate Ending Pre-visualization with commentary by Peter Berg
The Visual Effects of Battleship – From ground-breaking water-simulation programs to cutting-edge motion capture, see how the team at Industrial Light & Magic pushes the boundaries of visual effects to bring the aliens to life.
All Access with Director Peter Berg – Join director Peter Berg as he gives fans an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie.
USS Missouri VIP Tour – Come aboard the historic “Mighty Mo” for an exclusive tour with director Peter Berg and actual Navy veterans as they reveal some of the coolest facts and amazing action that has graced the decks of this legendary ship.
Commander Pete – Watch as director Peter Berg energizes the cast and crew with his endless enthusiasm and relentless good humor.
DVD, UltraViolet and Digital Copy
Universal Standard BD Features – pocketBLU, Advanced Remote, BD-Live and more
Universal's Second Screen – Viewers can enjoy an innovative an interactive viewing experience, that allows them to control, interact and explore Battleship with groundbreaking features right on a networked tablet or computer, in synchronization with the movie on the television screen! While the movie plays, experience features such as:
- Alien Tech 3D Model Turntable Explosions: During the movie, 3D models of the aliens and the shredder become available to the user to view at various angles. For instance, as the user turns the Regent Alien, the armor flies off in parts and then re-assembles. (Exclusive to Second Screen.)
- All Access with Director Peter Berg: Viewers get an all access look at the making of the film featuring interviews with cast and crew.
- Flick View: Interact with the movie, move content from the Tablet to the TV screen, and compare storyboards, animatics, and other executing content by “Flicking” them from on their tablet to their TV screen, simply by gesturing their fingers upwards on their tablets.
Below is a sneak peak at what to expect from the Second Screen app:
Suggested retail for the Blu-ray is $34.98. Amazon's Blu-ray pre-order price is set at $24.99. SRP for the DVD is $29.98. Amazon's DVD pre-order price is $19.99.
Stay tuned for more news, and be sure to check back for a look at the Blu-ray in August.
"Mahalo, motherf..." Follow R.L. Shaffer on Twitter, Facebook andMyIGN for quotes, rants, reviews, news and more!
Remember Homefront? Of course you do. It was the second (and final) game from the now-defunct New York City-based developer Kaos Studios. And it was pretty good, too.
The thing is, even over a year after the game’s release and the subsequent closure of Kaos Studios, fascinating stories continue to leak regarding Homefront’s development and the myriad problems the team ran into while creating the game. One such absolutely fascinating, must-read article comes by way of Gamasutra, which has blown the doors off Kaos Studios’ behind-the-scenes rumblings with a slew of incredibly interesting revelations.
It’s one revelation buried in three pages of text, however, that’s possibly the most interesting of all. And it has to do with Homefront’s purported writer, John Milius. You may know Milius best for being the writer behind cult favorites Apocalypse Now and Red Dawn, the latter of which is very Homefront-esque. But according to the ex-Kaos staff members that spoke to Gamasutra, Milius didn’t actually write Homefront like it was originally claimed.
“Although Red Dawn scribe John Milius is credited with writing the script,” the article says, “multiple staffers tell Gamasutra he ultimately wrote not a word of it, despite the game containing at least 20,000 lines of dialog. Most former employees credit Kaos writer C.J. Kershner with Homefront’s script.” The “high-level story ideas for the game” are credited to Danny Bilson, the man recently replaced as THQ’s president by Naughty Dog co-founder Jason Rubin.
This is a fairly significant revelation considering a great deal of the attention paid to Homefront before it launched was due to John Milius having been promoted as the man behind the game’s story. We’ve reached out to THQ for official comment on Gamasutra’s claim regarding Milius and will update when we hear back. In the meantime, definitely read the entirety of Gamasutra’s article for an incredible behind-the-scenes look at the rise and fall of Kaos Studios.
Colin Moriarty is an IGN PlayStation editor. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN and learn just how sad the life of a New York Islanders and New York Jets fan can be.
Zen Studios has been cranking out some impressive downloadable pinball games over the last few years, including the Pinball FX series for Xbox Live Arcade, the Zen Pinball tables for PlayStation Network, and the Marvel Pinball line-up. The Marvel includes specific designs for Spider-Man, Blade, and Wolverine. Now, the company is ready to take its pinball act on the road, as it has officially announced Zen Pinball 3DS, which will soon be available as a downloadable title through Nintendo’s eShop.
The game will feature four tables that were previously released on Zen Pinball, but remastered in 3D and with a number of enhancements that take advantage of the 3DS. These tables include the sci-fi oriented Earth Defense, the spiritual Shaman, the medieval Excalibur. and the adventurous El Dorado. More tables could be available in the future, but for now, Zen Studios is focusing on these four.
Zen Pinball 3DS will feature local hot seat multiplayer, with folks passing it around, trying to top each other’s scores. It will also include online leaderboards, so you can compare your best times with other 3DS users—without the need to share Friend Codes. A Pro Score competition will also be announced following the game’s release, as players can compete to see who the best pinball players in the world are. Team Score will also be an option, with your score combining with your friends in a team effort. If you’ve never seen Zen Pinball before, it’s as good as digital pinball gets. Each of the tables resemble an authentic pinball table, like the ones you see in arcades from Stern Pinball and other companies. There are ramps to shoot at, interactive video screens with plenty of activity, bonuses to go after, and special events that you need to complete to get big points. You can also earn bonuses like extra balls and credits for replays—though the tables are obviously open for free play anyway. Sometimes it’s just the pleasure of earning a little extra on top.
Additionally, Zen Pinball 3DS enables the shifting through several viewpoints. If you prefer a higher-up view of the table so you can keep an eye on the ball at all times, it’s here. Mostly, though, you’ll want to do with an isometric, top-down view, like you would facing a real pinball table, so you get the authentic look nailed down pat. You can switch anywhere between the two, finding what works best for you.
Of course, the gameplay should be quite authentic. Players should be able to use shoulder buttons to control the game’s flippers, while occasionally jolting the touch-screen (or perhaps using the 3DS’ gyroscopic features to shake the table) to keep the ball in play. Just make sure you don't tilt!
“Releasing Zen Pinball on a Nintendo platform marks an amazing milestone for Zen Studios. We are really excited for Nintendo fans to experience one of our greatest passions—the timeless game of pinball!” said Mel Kirk, Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations. “Playing pinball in 3D is killer, it’s like the game has been totally reinvented, and a whole new world opens up right before your eyes.”
We’ll be going hands-on with the game very soon, and will provide a full review upon its release later this year. No word on pricing, but $7.99 sounds like a reasonable enough window. Look for more info soon!
That’s it. I give up. No longer will I keep my own cash and credit cards, as I’m handing everything over to Zen Studios. That’s because whatever table pack they come out with next, I know I’m going to buy it. The deal has been sealed with The Avengers Chronicles, a four-pack of tables out now via Xbox Live and the PlayStation Store, which is one of the most impressive entries into the pinball world that I’ve seen in my life. And I’m old. I know what I’m talking about.
There are only two companies out there putting out digital editions of pinball tables: Zen Studios and FarSight Studios. Both do equally amazing work, but where FarSight puts out incredibly accurate versions of pinball tables from the past (their Pinball Arcade is not to be missed, particularly for Bride of Pinbot), Zen Studios steps into the fantastic by putting out tables that never existed, but that still adhere to the laws of pinball.
The Avengers Chronicles is a perfect example, and might be their finest work to date. The company is actually branching out beyond pinball for the first time ever, and we were able to check out CastleStorm and KickBeat at E3 this year. But this new addition to their Marvel Universe of tables proves that when it comes to the silver ball, they really know their stuff.
The Avengers Continue Their Adventures
It also represents one of the best values in gaming you’re likely to see all year at only $9.99 on PSN and 800 points ($10.00) on XBLA. That’s only $2.50 per table, and each one of them offers a deep gameplay experience that will keep your fingers busy for hours.
Each one is a piece of art, and here’s how they break down:
THE AVENGERS: This table is based on the hit movie from this summer, and the table itself is the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier cruising over a city far below. Loki himself is at the top of the table, and you have to do battle with him with the Avengers, and you have them by the balls. Literally. This is the first table from Zen to utilize special pinballs, each of which is based on one of the Avengers, and which will require different gameplay for each ball. There are lines from the movie in here, but not read by the actors from the film. Regardless, it’s a fun extension of the film in a unique pinball form.
WORLD WAR HULK: Following the events of the comic book series from 2007, this table has the Hulk enraged (shocker) and seeking revenge after he was shot into space by a cadre of superheroes. He misses the planet they intended for him to land on, and now he’s back, and he’s pissed. He constructs a massive arena and forces Earth’s heroes to fight against each other. You’ll be alternately trying to evacuate Manhattan and controlling the more intelligent Hulk here, while dipping into a Madison Square Garden mini-playfield and listening to cameos from some of Marvel’s mightiest heroes.
FEAR ITSELF: This table has the Avengers battling the Asgardian god Serpent, who has ensnared the world in the grip of fear … itself. The table uses a ton of magnets, and you’ll find yourself battling the magnetic pinballs of the Worthy – warriors of Serpent who are given massive amounts of power through hammers not unlike Thor’s Mjolnir. There’s an extremely deep mini-game here, as well as a table full of gorgeous artwork. I love how the flippers are flanked above by Captain America’s shield, which has been split in half and covers the bumpers.
THE INFINITY GAUNTLET: This table is my favorite from the collection, hands down. But that shouldn’t be seen as a slight on the other three, because each one of these is a truly beautiful piece of physical wizardry. In The Infinity Gauntlet, you battle Thanos with Adam Warlock and the Silver Surfer as they seek to wrest away control of the Infinity Gauntlet and its gems. The Gauntlet itself looms large above the playfield to the left, and successive hits on it will trigger one of the gems, each of which has a different effect on the game. I won’t spoil the fun for you here, but be ready to reach for a clean pair of shorts when you happen upon the Reality Gem.
Sometimes Pinball Can Be A Punch In The Balls
But even though these tables will blast your eyeballs with visuals, there are some slight drawbacks. One thing we can fault it for is that some of these tables are incredibly hard to master. We’d love to see a table tutorial mode for each entry, especially since there are so many impressive events on each table that are more than worth showing off. The operator’s menus can be confusing as well, unless you really know what you’re doing. A Flythrough mode of each table, explaining the events and the tweaks would be a welcome addition.
What makes this notable is the fact that many of Zen’s other pinball tables are very user-friendly in the sense that it will be very clear what you need to do in order to advance the game. Whether it be ramp design, indicator lights, or a cue on the in-game LED screen, tables like Excalibur and Ms. Splosion Man can guide you to the next event or jackpot total without holding your hand. In the tables in Avengers Chronicles, it can be a complete mystery as to what you need to do next. Is there a particular reason to select certain Avenger pinballs?
Also, given the fact that the game supports online multiplayer, there is nothing in the game to inherently draw you into it. The Autolog feature from Need For Speed puts down a good roadmap that can coerce you into multiplayer, and Zen should follow suit. I don’t only want to know what the next Superscore is above mine: I also want to know that Dana just started playing The Infinity Gauntlet table, or that Jake wants me join a matchup on The Avengers.
Also, it would be nice to be able to buy these tables individually, rather than as a pack. Granted, ten bucks is a low price point, but maybe you’re only a fan of Thor, and just want the Fear Itself table for $2.50? That should at least be an option, rather than having to pick up all four at once. If you break Pinball FX 2 down into its component tables, you might end up spending a ton of money on this game, only to play a handful of the tables.
Truly, These Are Pinball Wizards
These tables bring the total of Zen Studios entries in the Marvel pinball world up to an impressive sixteen, and it feels like they keep getting better and better. Zooming in on any of these tables will show off the impressive artistry and work that goes into creating a pinball experience. What’s even more amazing is that they keep everything within the confines of the physics of pinball itself, to you’ll see seams on the table and lights that are plugged into the playfield. The only thing missing is a slot for the quarters to make you think it’s a real table.
Ultimately, we can’t deny that this game is incredibly fun. The tables are gorgeous, and it’s a fantastic way to breathe life back into a seemingly dead arcade genre. We just wish that The Who was there singing us through the game as we go for the high score.
SideQuest Studios may be an unknown quantity to most gamers, but for the hardcore PlayStation Network audience, the small German developer has made a name for itself. Its two previous titles -- side-scrolling shooters known as Soldner X and Soldner X-2 – were popular forays into a retro genre. And for its third outing, SideQuest Studios decided to throw a curveball in the form of an equally retro RPG called Rainbow Moon.
Rainbow Moon may have a deceptive name suggesting that it’s more of an ‘80s cartoon than a hardcore role playing experience, but rest assured that it’s very much the latter. Taking inspiration from a variety of games from the past, Rainbow Moon combines obsessive grinding, equipment and character upgrading with strategy-based battling. While it doesn’t quite soar to the heights occupied by the best RPGs ever created, it’s still a worthwhile purchase for those looking to dump scores of hours into something that we don’t see too much of today: a bona fide old-school RPG.
The plot of Rainbow Moon is simple and, like many old-school RPGs, largely unimportant. The game’s protagonist, Baldren, finds himself stranded on a mystical satellite aptly known as Rainbow Moon. The same dimensional rip that deposited him there also brought a plethora of monsters to the once serene moon, and it’s up to him, along with the various characters that join him on his adventure, to rid the moon of its unwelcome new inhabitants before getting back home. Don’t expect a story in the vein of Final Fantasy VI or Wild Arms here; Rainbow Moon emphasizes mechanics and gameplay far more than plot. Mountains of roughly-translated (yet strangely endearing) text and an almost complete lack of character development affirm this fact.
As soon as the game begins, it becomes impossible to ignore Rainbow Moon’s crisp graphics and vivid colors. Sure, the character designs leave something to be desired, but the enemies you fight might as well have been lifted straight out of Dragon Warrior on your NES. Battle a poison-hurling scorpion here, a laser-firing mech there, or a fast-moving zombie in another locale; the variety of enemies is fairly vast, but expect palate swaps as enemy types get stronger (no doubt a nod to the RPG glory days of yore). Rainbow Moon also benefits from a strong soundtrack with some truly catchy tunes and a limited voice track that gives virtually all characters you speak with quirky “hello” and “goodbye” sound bytes bound to put a smile on your face with their ridiculousness.
But let’s get down to the nitty-gritty: gameplay and, more succinctly, combat. As you explore, you’ll run into enemies both directly (like in Chrono Trigger) and via random battles (like in Final Fantasy IV). Regardless of how an enemy party is engaged, things typically play out the same way. Your party – which can consist of up to three characters at a time – will be pitted against a hostile crew that may only contain a single enemy, 20 enemies, or anywhere in between. Even if the way you initially get launched into battle proves conventional, the actual fights themselves are anything but.
Don’t assume you’re going to get a deep combat experience like Final Fantasy Tactics here, but you’ll still get something very much inspired by that kind of game. Turn-based combat plays out on a grid, forcing you to think more tactically than many other games in the genre. Your characters will have various skills at their disposal, varying speeds at which they move, and even a certain amount of moves they get to execute each turn. Enemy and character strengths and weaknesses also play a huge part in combat. Fighting is only marginally deep, but still exceptionally satisfying and quite different from what you’d find in other likeminded games.
Outside of battle, Rainbow Moon assaults players with all manner of options, upgrades, equipment and more. The game’s two currency types – Rainbow Coins and Rainbow Pearls – serve different purposes that make your party stronger in equally different ways. Coins purchase items, weapons, armor, skill scrolls and more, while Pearls upgrade specific character traits ranging from strength and defense to speed and luck. Purchased equipment can be further upgraded by using items found during and after battle. These items provide varying types of permanent statistical boosts to your gear that can make a strong character setup even stronger.
All of these features mix seamlessly with a fairly straight-forward questing and side-questing system that’s shallow on story but still fun to work your way through. The main quest often sends you from character to character for brief conversations, an occasional fetch quest or a foray into a deadly dungeon. Side quests have you doing all kinds of activities, from retrieving lost items to killing devious enemies. Combined with Rainbow Moon’s vast map to explore – rife with geographic diversity and plenty of territory to cover – the game is dense. For the audience that this game is aimed squarely at, that’s a good thing.
Upon my arrival to my meeting at CCP Studios to come check out Dust 514, I was asked whether I'm familiar at all with EVE Online. Sadly, I had to say no since the space exploration/mining/ship combat never really striked me as interesting. On the other hand I also know its largely successful thanks to its format, but it just isn't for everyone. Why was I asked whether I'm familiar with EVE? Dust 514 is a persistent online shooter that isn't just based off of the same universe as EVE Online, but is based in the same universe.
At first, I was of course confused by how this works; after all, one is an MMO with very little action, while the other is a straight up shooter. Dust 514 puts you in the role of a mercenary looking for any job that pays well, and these jobs take place in the same maps, on the same planets, that appear in the PC MMO.
The way it works is quite fascinating. There are essentially three tiers to Dust 514's style of gameplay. The first tier is essentially you hopping online, selecting a quick match and shooting up some enemies in various maps — a simple way to get online and rank up some credits, without really needing to delve into the politics of EVE Online.
The second tier then involves various battles to be mandated by EVE Online, depending on the status of various planets, mining outposts, etc. The game will systematically make matches based off of the political status of various systems, which players can then take part of.
The third tier, and arguably the most interesting and ambitious, is the fully user-based model, where players on EVE Online will put bounties on various planets. The bounties then get offered to the mercenaries playing Dust 514, and they can choose to fight for the player who is attacking that system, or choose to help the player who currently owns that system to defend it. The defending player can then counteroffer a higher reward for choosing to fight on his side, which makes this dynamic completely unpredictable. Talk about amazing! This essentially means that the game can be fully driven by the community, rather than the devs having to develop new content.
This user-driven system is what the devs behind Dust 514 hope that the game becomes. Being free-to-play will allow anyone to jump in and take part in the fight, though as any free-to-play game, you can bet that there is an in-game marketplace. Luckily, the marketplace supports both in-game money as well as real money, and will offer stat boosts, exp boosts, various vehicle drops, and a slew of weapons.
Dust 514 easily impressed me as the most ambitious title of E3, and willing that players will participate on both ends of the spectrum, one being EVE Online, and the other being Dust 514, this synergy of the two titles along with the planned community-driven missions will make one to watch out for.
Today, former MLB pitcher and 38 Studios founder Curt Schilling gave his first interview since the demise of his Rhode Island-based developer. The interview was given on The Dennis & Callahan Morning Show on WEEI in Boston, a program on a sports radio station that covered Schilling extensively during his days on the Boston Red Sox.
The lengthy interview was distilled by the Boston Globe-owned Boston.com, though you can listen to the extensive interview for yourself. Here’s Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.
The crux of the issue, according to Schilling, was that 38 Studios was never able to raise additional venture capital. “We tried for a long time to do that and it didn’t come to fruition,” he said. The money was largely needed to continue the development of Project Copernicus, the MMORPG set to take place in the universe of Amalur. This is the same universe where Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning took place, a game released earlier this year to critical acclaim.
38 Studios, at the time of its Chapter 7 bankruptcy declaration, had outstanding debts of over $150 million, with controlled assets valued at nearly seven times less than what’s owed. The state of Rhode Island is on the hook for a majority of the money, according to Boston.com. The Boston Globe report notes that “The company reported it owed money to more than 1,000 people and companies, most of whom likely won’t recover any money.”
Notably, Schilling talked about how 38 Studios began to fall apart at a rapid pace once a $35 million deal with a still-unknown publisher fell through to allow the development of a sequel to Reckoning. When a private investor, according to Schilling, tried to give 38 Studios up to $20 million of the needed money under an agreement with Rhode Island that would restructure the outstanding loan, the deal fell through. “If that happened,” this investor “would come in and save the company,” Schilling claimed.
Schilling also talked a bit about his own financial stake in the company. The Boston Globe notes that “he personally invested more than $50 million in the company, in addition to the $5 million to $10 million from other wealthy investors and a $75 million loan guarantee it received from the state of Rhode Island to entice it to move to Providence last year.”
“I put everything in my name in this company. I believed in it. I believed in what we built. I never took a penny in salary. I never took a penny for anything,” Schilling told Dennis & Callahan. He apparently told his family that “the money I saved and earned playing baseball was probably all gone... life is going to be different.”
Colin Moriarty is an IGN PlayStation editor. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN and learn just how sad the life of a New York Islanders and New York Jets fan can be.
In a revealing interview with Develop Online, Sony Worldwide Studios’ President Shuhei Yoshida admitted that Sony may have made an error at E3 by not concentrating more on the PlayStation Vita.
When asked if he was “happy with the Vita’s first showing at E3,” Yoshida answered that he “got lots of Tweets” to his Twitter account noting that people wanted to see more Vita games. “In retrospect,” he admitted, “we should’ve spent more time showing and talking about PS Vita titles.”
He notes that there were 25 Vita games playable on the floor, and there were indeed some games to look forward to. The likes of Snapshot, Sine Mora, Sunflowers, New Little King Story and Zen Pinball 2 all looked promising. But they weren’t mentioned at the press conference due to Sony trying to keep it shorter this year, attempting to stray away from the longer press conferences Yoshida says Sony is “notorious” for doing.
Still, he admits that “from the perspective of people who are waiting for more information on Vita titles, we weren’t able to provide that.”
Movie-based video games aren’t always that great, especially when they’re based on an animated film. Disney Interactive Studios has been breaking that trend, especially when it comes to Disney-PIXAR movies. Both Cars 2 and Toy Story 3 were really good games. Now, they’re trying to continue their success with their upcoming release of Brave, based on the Disney-PIXAR film. I got some hands-on time with Brave at E3 this past week.
Brave is going to be released on all major platforms, but when I tried it out it was on Xbox 360. Brave is a third-person action game that puts you in the role of Merida. It’s your standard fare of melee and ranged attacks, with melee assigned to the face buttons and ranged attacks handled by the right analog stick—giving it a twin-stick shooter feel. With all off your attacks, you can scroll through four different elements to use with your attacks, such as fire, wind, and earth. These elements will help you against certain enemies. For instance, an enemy that is made of ice will be susceptible to fire.
The other element of the game, besides action, is puzzles. As Merida or the little, cute bear cubs, you solve puzzle segments based on logic or the elements you can equip. The ones I encountered were easy, but seeing as this game is geared toward a younger audience, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
As you progress through the game, you will be able to unlock new attack combinations, swords, bows, and outfits. You will also be able to upgrade the effectiveness or your abilities and elements. However, I didn’t see a difference in the weapons besides the obvious visual difference.
Co-op is available with a friend. The first player will play as Merida and the friend as a Will O’ the Wisp. It’s pretty much a wisp—a mystical blue cloud that can do attacks and cycle through elements just like the first player. The unfortunate part is that the camera only follows the first player, so sometimes your friends won’t be able to see where they are.
While the platforming is solid, the game doesn’t quite have the visual flair that Toy Story 3 and Cars 2 had. By no means is it bad, but it doesn’t live up to movie trailer or other Disney Interactive Studios games. As vibrant as Merida’s hair is in every piece of advertisement you see with the movie, the video game just doesn’t have that same vibrance.
Brave the Video Game also comes with Kinect of PlayStation Move functionality with an archery mini-game.
If you’re looking for a kid-friendly third-person action game, Brave is more than capable of filling need. It has fun platforming segments, puzzles, action, multiplayer, and the charm of the movie. Brave is scheduled to release on June 19, 2012 on all major platforms.
For months Nintendo fans, and the entire games industry, have speculated about Retro Studios’ next project. With the company laying low since 2010’s Donkey Kong Country Returns, the timing is right for Nintendo’s trusted western developer to unveil its next game. Rumors and theories were running rampant, ranging from Star Fox and Zelda to a return to the Metroid Prime universe.
Yet no one was quite expecting the suggestion that the company was in fact preparing a crossover between the worlds of Fox McCloud and Samus Aran. The notion of these two worlds colliding seemed insane. And yet... not so insane. Rumor or not, the idea that Nintendo’s different universes might interact is plausible. We’ve been seeing this sort of thing for more than a decade - and characters like Mario, Samus and Link fit together better than one might expect. In fact, it’s probably time that Nintendo adopt this practice more formally. It’s time these creations, despite their disparate gameplay experiences, to guest star more often. The only thing more powerful than Nintendo’s vast array of IPs is a scenario in which they can co-exist.
We’ve seen subtle winks and nods to Nintendo’s shared universe for a long time. Mario and Donkey Kong seem to have their own lives and supporting casts, yet frequently interact, particularly when it comes to sports - or jumping over barrels. And we’ve seen plenty of cameos over the years, from R.O.B. in F-Zero GX to Mushroom Kingdom enemies in Link's Awakening to characters that strongly resemble Mario and Luigi in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The references, hints and clever winks could fill a book. Which simply begs the question - why not let the characters interact formally?
This isn’t to say Kirby has to be playable in a Metroid game, or that we simply must see Link piloting a ship in the next installment of Star Fox. These games have specific aesthetics and gameplay ideas, and forcing too much interaction would no doubt corrupt what makes each one unique. Yet there’s nothing saying Nintendo can’t let them interact or acknowledge they’re able to run into each other. Let the fun cameos be bolder. Let the Easter Eggs be more entertaining. Give Nintendo fans, who tend to embrace the publisher’s vast catalog in a fairly comprehensive manner, more of what they crave. Don’t be shy. Have fun with a legacy that has been developed for more than 25 years. It’s not as if we’re dealing with startlingly realistic concepts. The Zelda and Mario universes are insane enough, packed with bizarre characters and ideas. What are a few more in the stack?
That’s why, as insane as the idea of a Star Fox/Metroid crossover might be, it’s not as untenable as you may think. The resistance to such a notion doesn’t seem to focus on the actual concept, but whether the two franchise’s different gameplay styles can accommodate one another. Star Fox is a fast, energetic, third-person aerial shooter, often on rails and often featuring over-the-top action. Metroid is the opposite of just about all of those things. In fact the only thing it has in common with Star Fox is that players need to shoot things, sometimes in space. Samus Aran’s isolated, cold, slow-paced adventures couldn’t be farther from Fox and friend’s quest to stop an evil space monkey.
Yet that reconciliation might be where a considerable amount of innovation can come from. Nintendo is often chastised for leaning on its familiar franchises and strictly operating within those franchise’s boundaries. There is no realistic or sensible way to suggest the company should abandon its iconic characters. They are responsible for billions of dollars in sales, and have single-handedly propelled the publisher’s unique hardware for close to three decades. But, in addition to more traditional installments of Mario and Zelda, what if the company looked to joining and sharing these worlds as ways to explore new ideas, both in terms of franchise and gameplay design?
Sure, it’s insane sounding. But so was the idea that all of Nintendo’s heroes and villains would join together for a fighting game. The thought of Mario’s Mushroom Kingdom banding together to race in go-karts was a little crazy too. Now we’re at the point where Samus Aran and Fox McCloud could team up to save the galaxy, and while we pause at the thought of this, Pikachu is preparing to join forces with Japanese warriors. At this point the barrier to a full, formal, shared Nintendo Universe has about a thousand cracks in it. Nintendo might as well embrace it, allowing developers both internal and external the ability to experiment a bit more, while still giving millions of fans around the world what they want.
And, you know what, if a little hand-wringing and compromise can get us our Zelda/Fire Emblem team-up, we’re not going to complain. Let’s see what one of the world’s greatest game publishers can do when it kicks down a few doors and experiments with some of the greatest game franchises in history.
After almost nine years, Max Payne, the pill-popping, bullet dodging, cop with nothing to lose and a penchant for horizontal gunplay has returned in Rockstar Studios’ Max Payne 3. When it was first revealed that MP3 was going to be the next title from Rockstar Games, there was a nearly audible reaction of, "Why?" from a good portion of gamers. After all, it had been nearly a decade since anyone had seen Max in action, and it seemed that it would stay that way, since he wasn’t exactly a character gamers were clamoring to see resurrected.
Thankfully, Rockstar ignored our collective abandonment of Max Payne, and decided to once again put Max at the forefront of the third-person action genre by delivering a bullet-adoring, genre-defining, shooter experience to rival this generation’s best, and the result is Max Payne 3.
When the original Max Payne burst onto the PC scene back in 2001, with its melodramatic, film noir-inspired presentation and Matrix-style bullet time-centric combat, it was definitely a breath of fresh air, and a large number of gamers no doubt still remember sinking countless hours into the game just because the bullet time turned standard shootouts into something completely unique. It also told a twisted and unforgiving tale of corruption, redemption, and desperation, presented in a comic book-panel style in between scenes of explosive violence.
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne carried its predecessor’s torch admirably, maintaining the core mechanics, tone, and style fans loved while adding a still impressive layer of physics that took the slowed down action to a whole new level. Watching thugs get spun violently into the air in slow-mo never got old, and it helped make the sequel a worthy successor to one of the most groundbreaking shooters ever, even if it did feature plenty of similar scenarios (the least appealing of which involved navigating window ledges). In short, it felt like a natural, less game-changing next step.
With Max Payne 3, Rockstar once again hits all of the expected series beats, most of which players have come to expect from the genre in general, but it does so with such flair, polish, and focus of vision that what you end up with is a game that has an old-school heart in a next-gen body. You’ll still need to track down painkillers to heal yourself, but you’ll be doing it as a fully motion-captured James McCaffrey who moves at a noticeably slower pace than the much younger Max Payne from the previous games. Max narrates the story in his familiar pseudo-noir wordiness, but now it’s accented with a system that projects choice words and phrases into the scene and turns video into still images that are then used to pull off the comic book panel effect.
This artful balance of old and new is mirrored in the game’s story as well. The narrative jumps between flashback and present day, telling the painful tale of how Max was pulled out of his whiskey-soaked stupor by former policeman-turned-hired gun Raul Passos and thrown (bald) head first into the gang and corruption-fueled madness of the Brazilian criminal underworld via his political powerhouse of a client, the wealthy and supremely connected Branco family.
The story itself has more twists than a Twilight Zone-themed roller coaster (damn you crazy metaphor-laden narration!), some of which are rather obvious, but others that completely caught me off guard. I can already anticipate some players referencing the Mexico portion of Red Dead Redemption when discussing the closing chapters of MP3, but as was the case in RDR, I found myself being pleasantly surprised by the meatiness of the final act, pudge included.
The scope of the story is equally impressive, taking you from the snowy streets of New York City to the sun-baked back alleys of Sao Paulo to the over-the-top decadence of a multimillion dollar yacht under siege in the Panama Canal. Each setting brings with it a unique color pallet, and is crammed with a staggering amount of detail. Imagine all of the effort Rockstar puts into bringing its open worlds to life. Now imagine all of that effort concentrated down to individual set pieces (that are still quite substantial in their own right), and you’ll start to get a sense of how remarkable these place spaces truly are.
But for as slickly told as the story is, it’s the presentation--the stuttery video feed camera effects, the sans-loading screen transitions between gameplay and cutscenes, etc.--that bring MP3’s "cinematic" vision to life. You should know though that while there technically aren’t any load screens, the first half of every cutscene is an unskippable load time. Obviously, being forced to watch a brilliantly directed and well-acted cutscene instead of staring at a load screen is hardly a bad thing, but I figured you should know.
You should also know that those gameplay/cutscene transitions I mentioned before will have you screaming with girlish joy, because they flow so naturally that you honestly won’t even realize they are happening. One second you’re watching Max run at a dude to push him out of a nearby window overlooking a dance floor and the next you’re crashing through said window only now you are aiming at other enemies scattered around the club below, picking them off as you fall towards the ground surrounded by glass and the bracing against the body of the dude you just tackled out the window. There are numerous action-packed transitions like this, but even the standard move from cinematic to gameplay is slick as all hell.
Honestly though, the crowning jewel in Max Payne 3’s multi-jeweled crown is the combat. The animations systems driving Max’s movements are easily the best of any third-person action game I have ever played. The way he shifts his weight when changing directions to the way he is able to roll around while prone, enabling him to blast fools in a full 360 degrees to how he looks popping painkillers with one hand and popping caps with the other are nothing short of extraordinary. And that’s not even taking into account what happens to the poor bastards on the receiving end of Max’s remarkable actions.
Building on the Euphoria-powered AI behaviors established in Grand Theft Auto IV, and then expanded in Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne 3 brings death to life in more moan-inducing ways than you can imagine. The way bullets impact bodies in the game is cringe worthy enough, but thanks to the new and improved final kill cam--another series staple--you get you watch in slow-mo and, if you hold down A/X, super slow-mo each individually rendered bullet rip through the flesh and bone of your enemies, before their bodies slump to the ground, filled with gaping, blood-spurting wounds. Action doesn’t get more joyously and bloodily balletic than this, and it all plays out without a single hiccup or slowdown even during the most chaotic of shootouts.
For as glorious as MP3’s action and presentation are, the game is not without its missteps, as small and few as they are. Similar to the oddly placed platforming sections in the previous two games, MP3 includes a couple of equally odd quick-time sequences at specific points during the story. Considering that you have to pull them off successfully to progress, these moments could have easily just been part of the cutscenes they appear in and nothing would have been lost.
The golden guns feature introduced in RDR makes its return in MP3, but it feels a bit out of place given the game’s linear design and more narrow narrative, because it means you’ll be spending time scouring every corner of every level to find the various gun pieces needed to unlock the golden weapons. While I do like that it pushes you to take in every inch of the gorgeously designed environments, it defuses the game’s otherwise fantastically frenetic pacing.
The same could be said for the television programs (despite the pertinent info provided by the newscasts detailing your actions) and the returning ability to play a little ditty on various pianos scattered throughout the game. You can also find clues (a picture, news clipping, a character hiding in a bathroom stall, etc.) that can give additional context to the story events, but this at least fits in with Max’s detective past, and therefore feels much more organic than tickling the ivories while someone you’re supposed to be rescuing is somewhere with a gun pressed against their head waiting for you to show up.
Once you’ve finished Max’s lengthy single-player campaign, you can then replay every chapter in the game in either Score Attack (new to the series) or New York Minute (a franchise staple), both of which will have leaderboard fanatics coming back on a daily basis to ensure their name remains at the top. You’ll want to play through the story mode again and again anyway because the combat is just that good, but having the option of doing so while racking up points and/or racing against the clock are welcomed additions.
As was the case with GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne 3 includes a robust, challenging, and super fun multiplayer component in addition to its substantial single-player offering. The standard deathmatch and team deathmatch are the perfect places to witness/cause massive amounts of fluid death, but Gang Wars mode is where I found myself having the most fun. Not only does this mode tie directly into Max’s story (you play as members of the gangs Max fights against in New York and Brazil), but it plays out over five chapters, each of which gets a specific voiceover narration setting up the story behind the showdown, and 10 game modes. So one round you might have to grab cash and bring it designated drop off points, and the next you’re trying to stop the other team from blowing up key points around the map. This sort of multiple game type setup is nothing new to multiplayer, but it works beautifully here.
One of the big questions for MP3 mulitplayer was how bullet time was going to work. The answer is remarkably well, because it’s based on line of sight. So when you dive and there’s no one around, you just dive. But if you have an enemy if your crosshairs, time slows for you and the targeted player. If the other player breaks your line of sight, time speeds up again. It’s an elegant solution, and one that rewards quick thinking and map awareness while also letting players enjoy the franchise’s signature gameplay features outside the main campaign.
The multiplayer also features a mega crap ton of challenges to complete and perks/weapons/gear/attachments/characters/outfits to unlock. The perks (Bursts/Sutures) system adds a great deal of strategy to multiplayer, as they offer all sorts of ways to counter opposing perk-based efforts. Having weight impact health regen and movement speed is another nice touch, since it discourages tanking in favor of lean, mean fighters.
Perhaps the most talked about multiplayer feature in MP3 is Crews. These are just clans--complete with fully customizable logos that can be crafted over at Rockstar’s Social Club site--but MP3 crews will eventually be transferable to GTA 5. Initiating vendettas against another player in multiplayer matches is one thing, but being able to start feuds with other crews is just good fun, and it adds an extra layer of camaraderie to the entire multiplayer experience.
Max Payne 3 is a technological tour de force that will have you screaming "Dear lord!" more times than midnight mass. The performances are top notch, the action plays out with unrivaled fluidity, and the multiplayer is deep and rewarding. Silly distractions aside, Max Payne 3 is an action lover’s wet dream that also happens to employ some of the slickest direction and transitional trickery this side of a David Fincher box set. Lock and load. It’s bullet time...time.
After almost nine years, Max Payne, the pill-popping, bullet dodging, cop with nothing to lose and a penchant for horizontal gunplay has returned in Rockstar Studios’ Max Payne 3. When it was first revealed that MP3 was going to be the next title from Rockstar Games, there was a nearly audible reaction of, "Why?" from a good portion of gamers. After all, it had been nearly a decade since anyone had seen Max in action, and it seemed that it would stay that way, since he wasn’t exactly a character gamers were clamoring to see resurrected.
Thankfully, Rockstar ignored our collective abandonment of Max Payne, and decided to once again put Max at the forefront of the third-person action genre by delivering a bullet-adoring, genre-defining, shooter experience to rival this generation’s best, and the result is Max Payne 3.
When the original Max Payne burst onto the PC scene back in 2001, with its melodramatic, film noir-inspired presentation and Matrix-style bullet time-centric combat, it was definitely a breath of fresh air, and a large number of gamers no doubt still remember sinking countless hours into the game just because the bullet time turned standard shootouts into something completely unique. It also told a twisted and unforgiving tale of corruption, redemption, and desperation, presented in a comic book-panel style in between scenes of explosive violence.
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne carried its predecessor’s torch admirably, maintaining the core mechanics, tone, and style fans loved while adding a still impressive layer of physics that took the slowed down action to a whole new level. Watching thugs get spun violently into the air in slow-mo never got old, and it helped make the sequel a worthy successor to one of the most groundbreaking shooters ever, even if it did feature plenty of similar scenarios (the least appealing of which involved navigating window ledges). In short, it felt like a natural, less game-changing next step.
With Max Payne 3, Rockstar once again hits all of the expected series beats, most of which players have come to expect from the genre in general, but it does so with such flair, polish, and focus of vision that what you end up with is a game that has an old-school heart in a next-gen body. You’ll still need to track down painkillers to heal yourself, but you’ll be doing it as a fully motion-captured James McCaffrey who moves at a noticeably slower pace than the much younger Max Payne from the previous games. Max narrates the story in his familiar pseudo-noir wordiness, but now it’s accented with a system that projects choice words and phrases into the scene and turns video into still images that are then used to pull off the comic book panel effect. This artful balance of old and new is mirrored in the game’s story as well. The narrative jumps between flashback and present day, telling the painful tale of how Max was pulled out of his whiskey-soaked stupor by former policeman-turned-hired gun Raul Passos and thrown (bald) head first into the gang and corruption-fueled madness of the Brazilian criminal underworld via his political powerhouse of a client, the wealthy and supremely connected Branco family.
The story itself has more twists than a Twilight Zone-themed roller coaster (damn you crazy metaphor-laden narration!), some of which are rather obvious, but others that completely caught me off guard. I can already anticipate some players referencing the Mexico portion of Red Dead Redemption when discussing the closing chapters of MP3, but as was the case in RDR, I found myself being pleasantly surprised by the meatiness of the final act, pudge included.
The scope of the story is equally impressive, taking you from the snowy streets of New York City to the sun-baked back alleys of Sao Paulo to the over-the-top decadence of a multimillion dollar yacht under siege in the Panama Canal. Each setting brings with it a unique color pallet, and is crammed with a staggering amount of detail. Imagine all of the effort Rockstar puts into bringing its open worlds to life. Now imagine all of that effort concentrated down to individual set pieces (that are still quite substantial in their own right), and you’ll start to get a sense of how remarkable these place spaces truly are.
But for as slickly told as the story is, it’s the presentation--the stuttery video feed camera effects, the sans-loading screen transitions between gameplay and cutscenes, etc.--that bring MP3’s "cinematic" vision to life. You should know though that while there technically aren’t any load screens, the first half of every cutscene is an unskippable load time. Obviously, being forced to watch a brilliantly directed and well-acted cutscene instead of staring at a load screen is hardly a bad thing, but I figured you should know.
You should also know that those gameplay/cutscene transitions I mentioned before will have you screaming with girlish joy, because they flow so naturally that you honestly won’t even realize they are happening. One second you’re watching Max run at a dude to push him out of a nearby window overlooking a dance floor and the next you’re crashing through said window only now you are aiming at other enemies scattered around the club below, picking them off as you fall towards the ground surrounded by glass and the bracing against the body of the dude you just tackled out the window. There are numerous action-packed transitions like this, but even the standard move from cinematic to gameplay is slick as all hell.
Honestly though, the crowning jewel in Max Payne 3’s multi-jeweled crown is the combat. The animations systems driving Max’s movements are easily the best of any third-person action game I have ever played. The way he shifts his weight when changing directions to the way he is able to roll around while prone, enabling him to blast fools in a full 360 degrees to how he looks popping painkillers with one hand and popping caps with the other are nothing short of extraordinary. And that’s not even taking into account what happens to the poor bastards on the receiving end of Max’s remarkable actions.
Building on the Euphoria-powered AI behaviors established in Grand Theft Auto IV, and then expanded in Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne 3 brings death to life in more moan-inducing ways than you can imagine. The way bullets impact bodies in the game is cringe worthy enough, but thanks to the new and improved final kill cam--another series staple--you get you watch in slow-mo and, if you hold down A/X, super slow-mo each individually rendered bullet rip through the flesh and bone of your enemies, before their bodies slump to the ground, filled with gaping, blood-spurting wounds. Action doesn’t get more joyously and bloodily balletic than this, and it all plays out without a single hiccup or slowdown even during the most chaotic of shootouts.
For as glorious as MP3’s action and presentation are, the game is not without its missteps, as small and few as they are. Similar to the oddly placed platforming sections in the previous two games, MP3 includes a couple of equally odd quick-time sequences at specific points during the story. Considering that you have to pull them off successfully to progress, these moments could have easily just been part of the cutscenes they appear in and nothing would have been lost.
The golden guns feature introduced in RDR makes its return in MP3, but it feels a bit out of place given the game’s linear design and more narrow narrative, because it means you’ll be spending time scouring every corner of every level to find the various gun pieces needed to unlock the golden weapons. While I do like that it pushes you to take in every inch of the gorgeously designed environments, it defuses the game’s otherwise fantastically frenetic pacing.
The same could be said for the television programs (despite the pertinent info provided by the newscasts detailing your actions) and the returning ability to play a little ditty on various pianos scattered throughout the game. You can also find clues (a picture, news clipping, a character hiding in a bathroom stall, etc.) that can give additional context to the story events, but this at least fits in with Max’s detective past, and therefore feels much more organic than tickling the ivories while someone you’re supposed to be rescuing is somewhere with a gun pressed against their head waiting for you to show up.
Once you’ve finished Max’s lengthy single-player campaign, you can then replay every chapter in the game in either Score Attack (new to the series) or New York Minute (a franchise staple), both of which will have leaderboard fanatics coming back on a daily basis to ensure their name remains at the top. You’ll want to play through the story mode again and again anyway because the combat is just that good, but having the option of doing so while racking up points and/or racing against the clock are welcomed additions.
As was the case with GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption, Max Payne 3 includes a robust, challenging, and super fun multiplayer component in addition to its substantial single-player offering. The standard deathmatch and team deathmatch are the perfect places to witness/cause massive amounts of fluid death, but Gang War mode is where I found myself having the most fun. Not only does this mode tie directly into Max’s story (you play as members of the gangs Max fights against in New York and Brazil), but it plays out over five chapters, each of which gets a specific voiceover narration setting up the story behind the showdown, and 10 game modes. So one round you might have to grab cash and bring it designated drop off points, and the next you’re trying to stop the other team from blowing up key points around the map. This sort of multiple game type setup is nothing new to multiplayer, but it works beautifully here.
One of the big questions for MP3 mulitplayer was how bullet time was going to work. The answer is remarkably well, because it’s based on line of sight. So when you dive and there’s no one around, you just dive. But if you have an enemy if your crosshairs, time slows for you and the targeted player. If the other player breaks your line of sight, time speeds up again. It’s an elegant solution, and one that rewards quick thinking and map awareness while also letting players enjoy the franchise’s signature gameplay features outside the main campaign.
The multiplayer also features a mega crap ton of challenges to complete and perks/weapons/gear/attachments/characters/outfits to unlock. The perks (Bursts/Sutures) system adds a great deal of strategy to multiplayer, as they offer all sorts of ways to counter opposing perk-based efforts. Having weight impact health regen and movement speed is another nice touch, since it discourages tanking in favor of lean, mean fighters.
Perhaps the most talked about multiplayer feature in MP3 is Crews. These are just clans--complete with fully customizable logos that can be crafted over at Rockstar’s Social Club site--but MP3 crews will eventually be transferable to GTA 5. Initiating vendettas against another player in multiplayer matches is one thing, but being able to start feuds with other crews is just good fun, and it adds an extra layer of camaraderie to the entire multiplayer experience.
Max Payne 3 is a technological tour de force that will have you screaming "Dear lord!" more times than midnight mass. The performances are top notch, the action plays out with unrivaled fluidity, and the multiplayer is deep and rewarding. Silly distractions aside, Max Payne 3 is an action lover’s wet dream that also happens to employ some of the slickest direction and transitional trickery this side of a David Fincher box set. Lock and load. It’s bullet time...time.
Bethesda Softworks confirms that Arkane Studios' action/stealth game Dishonored will be coming to PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows PC platforms -- specifically, Games for Windows -- in North America on October 9, 2012. A European release will follow on October 12.
Dishonoredputs players in the shoes of Corvo, a disgraced bodyguard who ends up on the run after he's framed for the murder of the empress he was charged with protecting. Corvo sets out to clear his name in the city in the fictional city of Dunwall, which feels like a steampunk reinterpretation of Victorian London. Early previews peg the game as a blend of Thief: Deadly Shadows and BioShock, but we should get a better sense of it once the media gets its first hands-on at E3 2012.
To get a better sense of the game's multi-path mission focus, be sure to check out our latest Dishonored preview.
Playing this week's Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition is like stepping into a time machine for fans of the PC game. The console port from 4J Studios faithfully re-creates Mojang's blocky world-building game, but it's an earlier version of that game, and a somewhat stripped-down one as well, in comparison to the original. It's still totally fun and addictive, but fans of the PC version will experience a somewhat unpleasant sense of deja vu the first time they play.
The most important addition that we'd like to see is of course the release of the various updates that would bring this Minecraft alongside the PC version in terms of in-game features. We're talking hunger and experience meters, jungle biomes, ravines, Nether Fortresses, Strongholds, abandoned mine shafts... lots of cool stuff that adds to the experience of exploring the world. This content is supposedly coming in future updates, though no release plan has yet been revealed.
There are other features though, elements from the PC version of the game that don't necessarily fit into one of the capital-U Updates, but are nonetheless essential to delivering a proper Minecraft experience. We're going to take a moment now to highlight those, in the hopes that mentioning these absent features will somehow magically transport them into the Xbox 360 game.
Or, you know, 4J will take notice and do something about it. Magic would be cooler though.
On-The-Fly Difficulty Adjustment
Jumping in and out of Minecraft's Peaceful difficulty -- which stops monsters from coming after you -- is a hallmark of the PC version of the game. Sometimes you just want to explore and not worry about dying 56,015,963,831 miles from your spawn and losing all of your hard-gathered resources in the process. You can adjust the difficulty of a saved world on the Xbox 360 anytime you load it up, but there's no option for doing that in-game, like you can in the PC version.
Rent-A-Server
Players can't rent their own servers in Minecraft on PC, but they can create one using a secondary piece of software. That's not really an option with your Xbox 360 for a variety of reasons, but being able to rent server space and store a persistent Minecraft world somewhere in the cloud would go a long way toward creating the sort of multiplayer community that exists on the PC side. The max player count would also have to be upped from the current eight-player limit on the console side, but it would be cool to see some of the elaborate group construction projects from the PC world find life in the Xbox 360 version as well.
On-Screen Coordinates
In the PC game, you can press F3 at anytime to bring debug information up on the screen. It's a common enough thing in PC games, but it's especially useful in Minecraft since your coordinates within the world along X, Y, and Z axes are listed along with the rest of the info. For those who are serious about Minecraft building, having access to those coordinates is invaluable. Since the world is laid out along a blocky grid, being able to use numbers makes construction planning -- both aboveground and below -- much easier to deal with.
Creative Mode
This is a serious no-brainer. Minecraft didn't start out with the survival elements you see now that turn the experience into more of a "game." It was born as a sort of virtual LEGO set, and that prototypical take lives on in the PC version as Creative Mode. Loading up a new world in this way starts out just like any other. You're deposited at a random spawn point and the world then becomes yours to explore. The difference in Creative Mode is that there's no need for resource management. Your inventory is filled with an infinite supply of every block, resource type, and craftable item in the game. Also, you can fly. Creative Mode strips out the "game" portion of Minecraft and lets you focus squarely on the building.
Bigger Maps
This could simply be a hardware limitation, but you'll quickly learn as you explore your world that the overall map size in the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft is actually quite small compared to what you get in the PC game. Surely we can go bigger, right? Walk for 10 or 15 minutes in one direction in this console release and you're going to hit an invisible wall. Walk for the same amount of time in the PC game, and you'll just have that much distance to cover as you retrace your steps back to wherever you were carving out your piece of the world.
The Avengers may have just opened in theaters, but already superhero fans are looking towards the next wave of Marvel Studios films. That new wave kicks off next summer with Iron Man 3. Robert Downey Jr. and the gang will return once more to save the world and deliver some snark.
What makes this latest sequel interesting is that, more so than the previous Marvel Studios films, Iron Man 3 looks to be drawing inspiration directly from the comics. Recent reports suggest that the film will be based on Iron Man: Extremis by writer Warren Ellis and artist Adi Granov.
But just what is Extremis, and how does it fit into the world we've seen develop over the course of three movies so far? That's what we explore in this guide as we hypothesize what direction the story will take in Iron Man 3.
The Story
Extremis debuted in 2005, shortly after the various Avengers titles were relaunched in the wake of the Avengers Disassembled storyline. As the tale opens, Tony Stark is dealing with the collapse of the Avengers and the end of his short-lived stint as Secretary of Defense. The day-to-day pressures of running his company are conflicting with his desire to hide from the world and tinker with the Iron Man armor.
Tony has an unexpected reunion with an old colleague named Maya Hansen. Hansen is a scientist responsible for the creation of the Extremis process, essentially a computerized version of the super-soldier serum that created captain America. When Extremis is stolen by a terrorist group, Hansen calls in Iron Man to help stop a new super-powered foe from unleashing the power of Extremis on Washington D.C.
The core struggle Tony faces in Extremis is the need to evolve. His past as a weapons manufacturer still haunts him. He questions whether the Iron Man armor has actually helped the world or just brought more death and destruction. And when faced with the perfect fusion of biology and technology in the form of his new foe, Mallen, Tony comes to the realization that Iron Man is behind the curve. So what comes next?
The Characters
Robert Downey Jr. will reprise his role as Tony Stark/Iron Man (it may also be his final performance depending how contract re-negotiations with Marvel Studios go). Despite recent victories over Iron Monger, Whiplash, and Loki, Tony still faces newer and greater threats and will need an even more advanced version of the Iron Man armor to keep up.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle will also reprise their roles as Pepper Potts and James Rhodes, respectively. What role these two will play is unclear given that neither character appears in the original Extremis storyline. However, it's a safe bet that Rhodey will suit up as War Machine again, which may invite more conflict between Stark Enterprises and the military. Meanwhile, we're crossing our fingers that Pepper will be given her own suit of armor and that Rescue can make her live-action debut.
Jessica Chastain was slated to co-star in a role believed to be Maya Hansen, the co-creator of Extremis. Hansen is both Tony's intellectual rival and a potential love interest. However, as an alcoholic and a person who places her work over her morality, Hansen also represents what Tony could become without a conscience. Though Chastain has now dropped out, Diane Kruger, Gemma Arterton, and Isla Fischer were all rumored to be in the running as well and may once again be contenders.
The character Sal Kennedy serves as a mentor figure to both Tony and Maya in the comic. Sal is a futurist who pushes both characters to move their industries forward. He's also a bit of a hippie and a recreational drug enthusiast who spends his free time sampling various mushrooms and other psychedelic drugs. The character would be perfect for Jeff Bridges if Bridges hadn't already played Obadiah Stane in the first film. So far there's no word if Sal will actually appear in Iron Man 3.
Guy Pearce has been cast as Aldrich Killian, Maya's colleague and co-creator of the Extremis process. Killian commits suicide early in the first issue of Extremis, but we have to assume that Marvel Studios wouldn't hire Pearce if the character was going to bow out of the film so quickly. One possibility is that Killian will be combined with the Mallen character and that he will be the first Extremis-enhanced villain Iron Man is forced to battle.
Finally, Ben Kingsley has been cast as a mystery villain, while Andy Lau will reportedly play an unknown character. And despite early reports to the contrary, Scarlett Johansson will not reprise her role as Black Widow here.
The New Armor
The most significant outcome of Extremis was a new suit of armor and a new slate of abilities for Tony. Initially, he proved no match for Mallen's Extremis powers because his armor was too clunky and slow. Now matter how advanced the weaponry in his armor, Tony couldn't move at the speed of thought like Mallen did.
That all changes when Tony injects himself with the Extremis process. It rebuilds his body from the ground up to the point where Tony can now directly interface with computer systems and satellites. The crucial circuitry for the Iron Man armor is now stored inside the hollows of his bones. Like Darth Vader, Tony is now more machine than man, except he actually gets to keep his good looks.
With the new powers comes a new suit of armor. The "Extremis Armor" is a streamlined version of his previous suit. It features a smoother, more organic look and can now move and operate as fast as Tony can think.
We expect to see a similar sort of transformation for Tony in the film along with a new, streamlined Iron Man armor. Interestingly, Adi Granov illustrated the Extremis storyline and worked on the armor designs for the previous Iron Man movies, so the look of Iron Man is already heavily inspired by his art. Will the movie version of the Extremis armor still resemble Granov's art? Or will it take cues from the current "Bleeding Edge" armor in the comics, which is constructed of liquid metal and stored entirely inside Tony's body? That could be a cool sight to witness on the big screen.
If Iron Man has a primary nemesis in the same way that the X-Men have Magneto and Superman has Lex Luthor, it would probably be the Mandarin. This villain, besides being a formidable martial artist and warrior, gains power trough the ten rings he harvested from an alien spacecraft. Mandarin's rings lend credence to the old saying "any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic." His rivalry with Iron Man is one of science vs. mysticism and West vs. East.
Fans have been waiting for a Mandarin appearance for years now, and we suspect that their wish may finally come true in Iron Man 3. For one thing, the previous two movies have been teasing his eventual rise. The terrorist group that kidnapped Tony was called The Ten Rings, and their leader Raza can be seen handling his master's Flame Blast ring. The Ten Rings appeared again in Iron Man 2, providing Whiplash with information and helping Justin Hammer break the villain out of prison.
There's also the fact that the new sequel is being partly filmed and produced in China. Coincidence? We know that Ben Kingsley has been cast as a villain in the film. And despite reports that he isn't playing the Mandarin, we're still not convinced. Kingsley's character apparently weaves a plot that "revolves around the spread of a virus through nanobots." That sounds like Extremis to us, and using Extremis as a terrorist weapon is something Mandarin has done in the past.
Expanding Extremis
Even if Iron Man 3 does end up borrowing heavily from the Extremis storyline, significant additions and changes will have to be made along the way. Though the comic is presented in very cinematic fashion, it simply isn't long enough to form the basis of a two-hour movie. The problem is even more pronounced because one issue focuses largely on providing a modernized take on Iron man's origins, something viewers already saw in the original film.
Perhaps the most sensible idea is to use Extremis as a foundation for the first act of the movie. After gaining his Extremis powers and defeating Mallen (or his equivalent), Tony should go on to face a larger threat. The movie could easily work as an adaptation of two comic storylines. The Iron Man series was temporarily relaunched as Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. During this time, the overarching conflict involved The Mandarin returning from exile, disguising himself as a scientist named Tem Borjigin and working on a plot to unleash Extremis as a worldwide pandemic. He knew that Extremis would be lethal to 97.5% of the world's population, but that the survivors would emerge as a new, highly advanced race.
That sounds like the sort of conflict that could carry the remaining two acts of the film, whereas a one-on-one battle between Iron Man and Mallen would seem dull in comparison to the previous final showdowns. It fits with director Shane Black's desire to craft a movie that is as much a techno thriller as it is a superhero adventure. A more global conflict also allows characters like Rhodey and Pepper to do more, whereas the original Extremis storyline leaves no place for anyone outside of the limited main cast. And the conflict still works even if it turns out that Kingsley won't be portraying Mandarin.
In a more general sense, we'd like to see the sequel explore how the creation of the Iron Man armor has affected the modern battlefield. Tony may have built the suit in order to end war, but the longer it exists, the more opportunities there are for less philanthropic men to abuse the technology. This has been a focus of many Iron Man stories over the years. We're picturing stories like Matt Fraction's "The Five Nightmares of Tony Stark," where 21st Century suicide bombers use arc reactors instead of dynamite to cause death and destruction. Or maybe "Armor Wars," where Tony embarked on an unsanctioned, one-man war against all the foreign powers who sought to corrupt his invention.
Extremis is a good foundation, but there's plenty more potential in the Iron Man universe.
