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Beyond: Two Souls Live Stream at Tribeca Film Festival Tonight
Tune in right here at NoSleepGamer at Midnight UK time (7pm EST, 4pm EST) to see a live stream of Beyond: Two Souls from the famous Tribeca Film festival in New York. The event will last about two hours and will include a 35-minute scene from the game, including gameplay. The game’s official trailer will also be debuted.
After the screening, there will be a live panel Q&A with the game’s lead star Ellen Page, the director David Cage and supporting cast members Kadeem Hardison and Eric Winter.
This is the first time a video game has been selected as a part of the Tribeca Film Festival selection. Geoff Gilmore (a founder of the Sundance and Tribeca film festivals) described the upcoming PS3 exclusive’s inclusion as “a watershed moment in storytelling and media.”
Why We Love… Single Player Games
Recent news has seen gamers lash out over the launch fiasco surrounding EA’s latest SimCity title. The game requires an always-on internet connection, which meant it broke as soon as it went live as thousands of enthusiastic gamers tried to play at once.
This happened days after Crytek CEO, Cervat Yerli, said, “I think the notion of a single-player experience has to go away.” Instead, he believes there should be more integration with the online world with “online single-player.” So, while keen to plug his upcoming online game, Warface, he’s stupidly kicked his other game -Crysis 3- in the stones. Guess we know why Crysis 2 and 3’s single-player modes can only muster a rental recommendation then.
Games at Retail: Adapt or Die
Last week finally saw HMV find a new buyer, ensuring one more traditional bricks and mortar business would enable gaming to have a high street presence alongside Blockbuster and Game. With most of us using online retailers to buy and pre-order games nowadays, you may wonder why we still need video games to be represented on the high street.
As this console generation winds down, we’ve seen a steep decline in game sales across the board. In 2012, retail sales were hit the most and dropped by over 20%. Game, Blockbuster and HMV barely survived, as gamers’ attention wavered. The original Wii’s bubble burst and there was a lack of any serious mass appeal products to renew lapsed players’ (read: more casual than you and I for example) interest. The numbers for Call of Duty are down and we’re repeatedly hearing of sequels selling only a shadow of what the previous game did – hello DMC.
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 (Review)
Lost between long-range brilliance and shooting itself in the foot
A glitchy but somewhat enjoyable first game had us crossing our fingers for an improved sequel from City Interactive. The sniping genre has intensified of late with stiff competition coming from Sniper Elite V2 last year so they need to hit the ground running this time.
The CryEngine 3 (also used for Crysis 3) certainly gives the game a graphical boost. The game is off to a sunny start in the Philippines with wonderfully bright lighting in the jungle environments being a fine tonic to any gamer fatigued with all the grey corridors and city environments in others shooters.
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (Review)
Review note: This review mainly focuses on the Vita version of the game. A few days ago (after already finishing the game on the Vita), I was also sent the PS3 version, which allowed me to test the Augmented Reality and cross-save features too. All images are my own screen grabs from the Vita version of the game. If you buy the PS3 version, you will get a free digital copy of the Vita game too.
Aside from the excellent HD re-release a while back, we’ve not had a Sly Cooper game since 2005. This has left a gaping wound in the platforming genre that nobody has even attempted to heal. Sucker Punch have long since left to work on the InFamous games, leaving unknowns Sanzaru to take over full-time after successfully overseeing the aforementioned HD collection. While probably not under as much pressure as 343 Industries with Halo 4, there are parallels. Let’s see how they got on.
The Sunday Seven: Coming to Terms with PS3’s YLOD
The YLOD. The Yellow Light of Death. This is the dreaded sickness that PlayStation 3 owners fear. With my PS3 nearing its sixth birthday, it finally happened to me. While hardly as prevalent as the Red Ring of Death in the Xbox 360’s early days, the flashing yellow light is still cautiously feared amongst the PS3 community.
In order to cope with this grim occurrence I’ve incorporated the experience into my regular feature, The Sunday Seven. This isn’t a guide on how to fix the problem yourself, no, no, that’s a different fire hazard for a different day and for someone else to tell. This is what was running through my mind as I tried to come to terms with it and ultimately how to bring it back to life.
Aliens: Colonial Marines (Review)
Gearbox’s first -and hopefully last- bug hunt
After Duke Nukem’ Forever, you wouldn’t be insane to doubt Gearbox Software’s capabilities. But hold on a sec, they were only finishing off someone else’s mess right? They were just keen to finally get the game out. Even so, pride should have stopped them releasing it in such a poor state.
Then Borderlands 2 came along and was met with great sales and wide critical acclaim. So, maybe their frequently delayed Aliens: Colonial Marines would be ok on the day. After all, it’s been Gearbox’s game since birth and numerous videos clearly show a franchise-adoring staff. So, they wouldn’t f**k it up, right? Cue the angry sobbing.
Killzone HD (Review)
There have been many HD re-releases over the last few years and it’s always a tough ask when the game was pushing the original hardware to the limit. Exactly how much more can we expect from a HD remaster? Rest assured though, Killzone HD looks, and more importantly, still plays exceptionally well today.
I was worried that having been such a fan of the original game, I may have been remembering the visuals with rose-tinted glasses and the HD reworking would shatter those memories. Thankfully, the game looks fantastic today and pulses with graphical finesse. It’s fortunate that the original game featured a texture-friendly grainy filter and a lot of mist, which transfers well today, giving the game a distinguished look.
The Sunday Seven: Most Wanted Franchise Comebacks
Maybe it’s seeing Stallone and Arnie back in the cinemas recently that has me feeling nostalgic and hankering for the good old days. I even had a good root through some of my older games that I’d packed into the attic. Or perhaps I can’t blame it on the return of the aging action stars, it’s more likely to be the amount of kickstarter campaigns for retro game reboots, studio closures, stagnating sequels and brand retirements that made me think about what games from years gone by could lift gaming out of this over-familiar slump in which it finds itself.
Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault (Review)
The Ratchet & Clank series has been somewhat unpredictable in recent years as it seems to be trying to reinvent itself with the last few games despite a strong following and decent review scores. Its blend of planetary exploration, platforming and fantastically fun weaponry was a hit every time, culminating in the excellent A Crack in Time in 2009.
In 2011, the series delved into co-op gameplay and despite dumbing down the controls to remove manual aiming and allow all players to share a single screen, the game was an enjoyable blast with the usual polish we’ve come to expect from the series. It was surprising to hear the studio was working on yet another R&C title after announcing the multi-platform Fuse. We were hoping for something along the lines of A Crack in Time again, but alas we have a PSN tower-defence download title. Wait… what?
The Sunday Seven: Gaming New Year Resolutions
Seeing as the apocalypse couldn’t quite be arsed turning up, it looks like we better shape up and carry on with the tradition of making up New Year’s Resolutions that we have no intention of keeping. Or maybe not. While eating five fruit and veg a day and swearing less is a distant and obscene pipe dream, there’s plenty of room to improve our gaming time with some healthy steps to enjoying our favourite past-time to its maximum potential.
PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale (Review)
Requested and rumoured for years, we finally have a game putting together a rich collection of the finest PlayStation-exclusive characters along with some top names from third-party brands for a mighty punch-up. The comparisons to Nintendo’s Smash Brothers are obvious, as they always were going to be, but I’m here to review the game on its own merits.
Buying the PS3 game also gives you access to a free download of the Vita version and I’ll go into details about the portable options later on. Let’s get stuck into the game itself on PS3 first.
Game of the Year 2012: Dealspwn Staff Highlights – Brendan Griffiths
What with the gaming industry still being keen to strangle itself every year by releasing all the good games at once, I’m going to be playing catch up on some of the great titles long into next year. This might even give me something to do next summer if the lineup for the ‘sunny’ bit of the year is as grossly thin as it was this year.
I’ve played some great stuff this year though, many of them get a mention below, but a few other honourable shouts go out to Dishonored, Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, Black Ops II,Sports Champions 2 and WipEout 2048 and Virtua Tennis 4 on the Vita.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified (Review)
Nihilistic’s first Vita game, Resistance: Burning Skies, proved that first-person shooters were a suitable match for Sony’s dual-analogue sporting handheld. Admittedly, the game was a bit basic, a bit ugly and rough around the edges, but compared to using the face buttons instead of a second analogue stick like we were forced to on the PSP, it handled like a dream.
On learning that they’d be handling the Vita’s first Call of Duty title though, I was a little concerned as I thought development would go to someone with a more impressive CV. But hey, I was probably worried when Sony gave a little known studio called Ready at Dawn the reigns to create aGod of War PSP game and they utterly nailed it.
The Sunday Seven: Far Cry 3 Survival Tips
Far Cry 3 is a hot contender for Game of the Year and should be on any FPS fan’s Christmas list. The postcard-perfect tropical location is fraught with danger though so you’ll want to take note of our handy survival guide before you pack those grenades, assault rifles and sun cream. These seven tips will make your life much easier and allow you to enjoy the game to its maximum potential. Feel free to add in your own tips in the comments section or anything cool you may have come across in the game.
Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse (Review)
Join Brian and Stewie in their dimension-hoping adventure as they use the Multiverse remote to stop Bertram, Stewie’s evil half-brother, who plans to use his own remote to build an army and destroy the Quahog duo’s Universe.
This gives the game a chance to provide a wide range of settings. From Amish farms, Santa’s weapon workshop with inbred elves, to a world populated by the handicapped and so on. Bertram has convinced everyone in these universes that you must be killed, so in turn you’re shooting pretty much everyone in sight. Be they Amish farmers, jocks, cripples on crutches or small homicidal alien chickens.
The Sunday Seven: 2013’s Most Wanted Games
We’re used to all the big games coming out in the months leading up to Christmas and this year is certainly no different. However, many of our most wanted titles slipped into the 2013. Many of them are coming out in the first quarter, essentially giving us Silly Season Part 2. We’re still trying to get this year’s line-up finished but next year looks set to be even busier. Hopefully, we’ll actually have something to play in the summer next year instead of everything bookending the release calendar.
The Sunday Seven: Top PS3 Exclusives
The PlayStation 3 has just turned 6 in the USA, so what better time to give it The Sunday Seven treatment and put down a list of the Top 7 PS3 Exclusives. Frankly, in terms of the number of high-quality exclusives, the PS3 is a tough machine to beat. Looking through the long list of PS3-only releases, I instantly regretted setting myself a lowly target of seven instead of at least ten. It may be a while before I’ll be able to forgive myself for leaving some outside. I’ll be taking a look the top PSN exclusives in the near future too, so keep an eye and we’ll see if I have the guts to put Calling All Cars at the number 1 spot.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Review)
Subtle is never a word I thought I’d use to describe any element of a Call of Duty game, but the pre-title cutscene that paints a picture of how Black Ops II’s villain was formed is beautifully put together, in no short thanks to an excellent song choice with Elbow’s ‘The Night Will Always Win.’
The emotional reactions from most COD moments are usually sudden violence, be it first-person execution, slowly dying in a nuclear blast, the death of a child and so on, it’s never had anything like this. After this strangely heartfelt and sympathetic opening, subtlety kind of goes out of the window as it’s all slit throats and shotguns to the knees for the other scenes. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. After all, we’re here to blow shit up.
The Sunday Seven: Reasons to Buy Black Ops II
We’re sure most of you are planning on picking up Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 on Tuesday. If you’re still on the fence though, we think you should take a look at our new Sunday Seven feature that gives you our Top Seven reasons to buy the game. Even if you already have your pre-order down, take a look and join in the excitement for the year’s biggest shooter. Don’t forget to sound off in the comments section with your own reasons for or against the game too.
