Pre-Order Prometheus on BD and See It for Free!

Yup, you read that right. 20th Century Fox is offering an awesome deal for you future Prometheus/current Alien fans. If you're one of the first 5000 to pre-order Ridley Scott's Prometheus on Blu-ray or Blu-ray 3D from Amazon, you will receive a certificate valid for one admission up to $10 to see the movie at participating theaters between June 8, 2012 and August 31, 2012. You can read all about the deal by clicking here.

Naturally, no release date, tech specs or bonus features have been listed just yet. It appears that the Blu-ray 3D combo pack will include the 3DBD, a Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy. The standard Blu-ray combo pack includes a Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy. A DVD version of the film is also available for pre-order, but the free movie ticket offer DOES NOT apply to this disc.

Here's a look at tentative artwork for each release:

Prometheus is already in theaters in the UK. It opens in the US June 8, 2012. You can read our review of the film here or check out our video review below:

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Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/02/pre-order-prometheus-on-bd-and-see-it-for-free

Men in Black: Alien Crisis Review

The bad old days of movie tie-in games are back. MIB: Alien Crisis is an on-rails third-person shooter that is boring to play and ugly to look at. The musty dialogue fails to reproduce any of the charm of the movie franchise, and you can see everything the game has to offer in the span of an afternoon. This creaky relic of the past retails for full price in the present, making it one of the most shamelessly exploitative games in recent memory.

There's nothing aliens hate so much as being encapsulated in bubbles.

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You play as a disgraced archaeologist turned art thief turned man in black, Agent P, who joins the agency after stealing an alien artifact for the villain, the improbably named Emilio Chauncy. Agent P's sardonic attitude is clearly modeled after Agent J (played by Will Smith in the movies), but his attempts at witty irreverence fall flat. The by-the-book female agent you pair up with is a bland foil for jokes about authority and increasingly flirtatious banter, but the hackneyed writing utterly fails to capture the humorous juxtaposition of nonchalance in the face of the bizarre that serves the movies so well.

With the hope of humor dashed, you are left to rely on spectacle and gameplay. Alas, Alien Crisis is an unattractive game that would have looked dated years ago. Homely character models waggle their mouth holes during cutscenes, and the barren backgrounds offer precious little distraction. Action sequences are a visual mess of bright, blurry projectiles and explosions, and your clumsy-looking alien enemies are covered in a milky sheen.

There's nary an echo of the slick visual style of the movies, and so you are left with the gameplay. As in most light-gun shooters, you progress automatically to the next point in the level when you defeat all the enemies at your current point. At any given location you can jog between two or three cover positions or just hang out in the open and fire away. Moving is a good way to avoid grenades and get a better angle on some enemies, but you can usually clear most foes from a stationary position.

Hey girl, let's meet up at DANCING later tonight.

Using the analog stick, the PlayStation Move, or the Top Shot Elite, you slide your reticle around the screen to target your weak alien enemies. Baffingly, there is no way to invert your aim, so if you only have a controller and like your down to be up, you're out of luck. Your small arsenal consists of a few unremarkable guns (the iconic noisy cricket being an explosive exception), as well as a few attachments that add a bit of variety. You can freeze an enemy and shatter him, use an antigravity grenade to lift a group of foes into the air, or slow down time temporarily. The most versatile attachment lets you encase enemies or innocent bystanders in a bubble that you can then shoot it to make it bounce around the area and kill foes.

Yet even with mildly interesting attachments, it's all very boring. Enemies move at an unhurried pace through open spaces, making it easy to spot and eliminate them. You face only about a half dozen different foes, who perform the same few actions (take cover, shoot, reposition), so repetition quickly sets in. By using attachments or spamming your scoped weapon, you can increase your score multiplier and drive your score even higher, but seeing bigger numbers pop out of downed enemies doesn't make the dull action more lively.

When you aren't shooting away willy-nilly, there are short stealth sections in which you must shoot security cameras and trap baddies in bubbles. Wait for the cone of vision to pass, shoot the camera, bubble the alien, move on. Inconsistent detection means you might get caught doing the thing you got away with moments before, but frequent checkpoints keep these setbacks from being more than mildly irritating. Car chases through (or rather, above) the streets of New York City provide some faster-paced action that, while inoffensive, is far from exciting.

I CAN'T HEAR YOU!

Other attempts at gameplay variety are more irksome because they drag on much longer. Investigation sequences have you walking around a small area at a snail's pace, hovering your scanner reticle over anything that glows. This could have been a good place to bring in some humor or fantastical alien mythology, but save one or two interesting descriptions, the writing and dialogue here are as lifeless as elsewhere. Ditto for the conversation sections. The occasional choices you must make are neither interesting nor impactful, leaving you to wait through lengthy dialogue, desperate for a humorous morsel that never comes.

Despite this padding, you can complete the story mode in about three hours. There are timed challenges with target scores to shoot for, and you can run these split-screen with a friend or take turns competing with up to four players locally. But this is the same bland shooting action from the story mode, and the prospect of competition does little to enhance it.

All of this boredom and blandness is exacerbated by the fact that MIB: Alien Crisis frequently subjects you to loading times in excess of 30 seconds, leaving you to wonder what exactly it's working so hard on. But perhaps the most egregious offense is that the game is currently retailing for full price. Even with the included voucher for money toward a movie ticket that may or may not be redeemable in your area, this is a shockingly high price. Fortunately, it makes your decision easy: Don't buy this game.

Source : http://www.gamespot.com/men-in-black-alien-crisis/reviews/men-in-black-alien-crisis-review-6379976/

Max Payne 3 PC First Impressions

With a nearly 30 GB download and Rockstar’s history of performance issues with PC versions (Grand Theft Auto IV, Bully), there’s reason to hesitate before picking up Max Payne 3 through Steam. Based on a few hours of play, though, it appears that Rockstar’s Windows version is stable, runs smoothly , and controls well.

As Max tumbles around environments in slow-motion and blasts bullets from behind cover, lining up headshots and ensuring foes stay down feels natural with a mouse and keyboard. Taking cover behind pieces of the environment, rolling forward, crouching, going prone and smacking enemies with melee attacks at close range is all easily controllable with the keyboard. Weapon switching is accomplished with the mouse wheel or number keys, which is easy enough considering Max can only carry three guns.

On a system with a Core i7 975 CPU, 6 GB RAM and a GTX 580, Max Payne 3 runs pretty much flawlessly, maintaining 60 frames per second even in firefights with five to six enemies. You can check out the screenshot below to see the graphics settings used.

Outside of the story and arcade modes, you can take part in multiplayer games through Max Payne 3’s matchmaking system or through LAN. Unfortunately the matchmaking system is clumsy, and several times I wound up stranded on a loading screen with no way to back out to a menu. I have been able to get into several deathmatch games to play and unlock bonuses, but for now the matchmaking system isn’t exactly ideal.

If you’ve been holding out for the PC version, it seems to be all good so far. Expect a PC version review to show up sometime soon, and in the meantime you can check out what IGN’s Daniel Krupa had to say about the console versions.

 

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/02/max-payne-3-pc-first-impressions

E3 2012: IGN Nintendo's Most Wanted

We're within striking distance of E3 2012. In just a few days, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo will be unleashing a wave of announcements and products to support the remainder of the year, and maintain their momentum into 2013. Though many publishers have been confirming and revealing a variety of games in the past several days (Gears of War, Dead Space, Need for Speed, Castlevania), there are no doubt many secrets tucked away into the depths of next week's press conferences.

For weeks (even months) you've heard plenty from the IGN Nintendo team about Nintendo's fortunes, hopes, dreams and risks. We've spotlighted some of the big Wii U and 3DS games, discussed what we expect and more. But what do we actually want to see? What's interesting to us that isn't related to Nintendo? Here are a few picks for each of us (Rich and Audrey) as we head into the big show.

Rich's Most Wanted

#1 - Zelda. Metroid.

This just feels like a year when we'll get both Zelda and Metroid. Precisely how is more the question in my mind. We've heard Nintendo discuss repeatedly that it has ideas for Zelda on 3DS, ranging from a remake of Majora's Mask to an original game to a sequel to A Link to the Past. We've also seen the Zelda Wii U demo, and while that was denied to be a project in active development, the reception of the footage had to make Nintendo think twice.

On the Metroid front we're looking at a situation where Retro has been rather quiet. Too quiet. Exceptionally quiet. It seems as though it is time for the developer to at least reveal what it's working on, and a Wii U entry of Metroid Prime seems a pretty reasonable assumption. And then, in the spirit of A Link to the Past, it'd be great to see Nintendo look back to the spirit of Super Metroid and deliver a new 2D entry on the 3DS.

It almost seems greedy to want both Metroid and Zelda in one show, but I've got my fingers crossed. I'll be more than happy with just one of these, however.

#2 -
Resident Evil 6

Moving away from Nintendo, I'm very eager to get my hands on Resident Evil 6. The fourth core entry in Capcom's horror series is one of my favorite games of all time, and the fifth was a strong successor, despite some significant flaws. Based on the demo I saw last April, as well as some truly great trailers, RE 6 seems poised to give me a fascinating mixture of RE 4 and 5, which sounds great to me. I love survival horror. I love high-stakes action. This might give me both.

#3 -
Assassin's Creed III

As enticing as Resident Evil might be, Assassin's Creed III just might be commanding more of my attention. From its great historical setting to way Ubisoft is incrementally yet profoundly evolving the franchise's gameplay, this next installment is proving far more interesting than any of its predecessors. I've been a fan of the AC series since the second game hit store shelves, but I've never anticipated an entry as much as this one. Here's hoping Ubisoft shows us something interesting. A glimpse of the Wii U version wouldn't be bad either.

#4 - Nintendo's Third Party Support

I will always buy Nintendo platforms for Nintendo games. The publisher's prowess at developing some of the best games in the world remains its biggest asset, and remains why I will always have faith in new hardware. However... Nintendo can't publish new titles every month - not significant ones, at any rate. That's just one reason why I want third party support for both the 3DS and Wii U to be significant - more than past generations, at any rate.

Nintendo wants Wii U to appeal to gamers of all types, and it needs the 3DS to continue its upward trajectory. Third party support will be key. I hope I get to see that happen next week - and in the weeks to follow.

#5 - Something New

As excited as I am for what's coming for the Wii U or Resident Evil or anything else, what I'm most eager to see is some new material. So much of this late console cycle is dominated by sequels and existing franchises that I want something fresh. Something that doesn't have a number after it. Something that tries something new. That seems like it will happen when Sony and Microsoft fully move to new consoles, but I'm hoping to see a bit this year as well.

 Audrey's Most Wanted

#1 - Zelda Wii U or 3DS

This one almost goes without saying, but I’m absolutely dying to see what’s next on the docket for my favorite Hylian hero. Whether it’s a glimpse of the 3DS project that’s in the works, a sequel to A Link to the Past (gasp!) or an HD logo for Link’s first Wii U outing - any small bit of information about the next adventure in Hyrule would make the show that much more exciting. Do I expect anything playable? Absolutely not. But a screenshot or official title would more than suffice. And if a new trailer surfaces, I may just kick off my shoes and call it a day (just kidding, Rich!).

#2 - Metroid Dread

It’s been about seven years since Samus fans were first teased with the prospect of Metroid Dread - and we still haven’t let the idea go. I’d be thrilled to pieces if Nintendo finally let this cat out of the bag and announced Dread as a new 2D side-scroller for the 3DS - complete with detailed sprites, gorgeous 3D backgrounds and classic, Super Metroid-style gameplay. Retro Studios is my first choice for development, since the company pretty much took the franchise and made it their own with the Prime series. But if Nintendo’s internal team wants to have another go at the franchise I’d be terribly excited to see that as well… so long as Samus doesn’t start blubbering halfway through the first boss fight.

#3 - Long Overdue Localizations

Fire Emblem has long been one of my favorite video game franchises, and it’s been absolutely painful knowing the latest installment has been out in Japan for more than a month now - with no word on a North American release. E3 is the time for Nintendo to make things right and bring this bad boy overseas. I’m desperate to come up with wicked strategies, engage in some epic battles and watch the latest Fire Emblem tale unfold. I also want that gorgeous blue 3DS with the dragons. Is that too much to ask? Me thinks not. And before the show concludes, there better be localization announcements for Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle and Project X Zone. Hell hath no fury like an Aminka scorned.

#4 - Animal Crossing 3DS

Very little news has surfaced about Animal Crossing 3DS since last year’s show. In fact, the game’s release window got pushed from the end of Nintendo’s last fiscal year (March 2012) to the end of this one (March 2013). I’m sick of waiting and wondering and re-watching the same trailer over and over again - it’s time to show off what this new game is made of. I want to run around this new world, swim in that big ocean that’s been staring me down since the original, and hear all about what being a mayor will entail. I want to see what the new store will look like, what new furniture/clothes/bugs will show up, and what new features and capabilities this game will come packing. I also want to find out what the heck happened to Tortimer (if you’re the Mayor, is he… the President?!). E3 is the time to show off this new game, so I’m hoping Nintendo plays nice and doesn’t keep us Nook fans waiting any longer.

#5 -
Resident Evil 6

I’ve been anxiously awaiting the true return of the one and only Leon S. Kennedy for a while now - ever since Resident Evil 4 blew my mind wide open with awesomeness. While Resident Evil 5 didn’t live up to my admittedly sky-high expectations (having a hot girl steal my ammo and feed me herbs kind of kills the horror mood), RE6 looks like it may be everything I wanted 5 to be. I can’t wait to get my hands on this game on the show floor and see how Capcom has balanced action and survival horror this time around, and whether co-op is as big of a mistake as it was in RE5. Also, Leon looks in the RE6 trailer. Just saying.

#6 -
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

When the show floor opens, I’ll finally have my chance to see what Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is all about. I’ve been salivating over the prospect of grabbing this PS3 title ever since I saw the first trailer - and I absolutely can’t wait to see how it plays. From what I’ve seen, it looks like the geniuses over at Level-5 haven’t skimped on their trademark charm. Ni no Kuni looks like a unique RPG experience with gorgeous animated sequences (care of Studio Ghibli) and a fascinating dual world mechanic that sounds simply amazing. I’ll know soon if the game actually plays as well as it looks - and if it does, it will easily start climbing up my list of most anticipated titles.

Rich is an Executive Editor of IGN.com, the leader of the IGN Nintendo team and watches over all things Resident Evil, Assassin's Creed and WWE. Join him in his ridiculous adventures on Twitter, Tumblr and IGN.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/02/e3-2012-ign-nintendos-most-wanted

Lost Co-Creator Damon Lindelof Returning to TV

Yep, you heard right. It looks like Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof is nearing a three-year deal with Warner Bros. TV, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Lindelof, who co-wrote Ridley Scott's Prometheus, will be signed on to begin developing new television series as part of the contract. He will also be joining his frequent cohort J.J. Abrams at the studio.

Lindelof was previously attached to ABC Studios, which produced six seasons of Lost. He didn't develop any other shows in his time with ABC, but he did help fellow Lost writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz develop the hit TV show Once Upon A Time.

In addition to Prometheus, Lindelof is currently working on the sequel to Abrams' Star Trek -- which he co-wrote -- as well as Disney's 1952, a new sci-fi project from director Brad Bird.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/02/lost-co-creator-damon-lindelof-returning-to-tv