Posts tagged Splinter Cell: Conviction
The Backlog: Hey Ken, can I borrow that lawnmower? edition
May 15th
Street Fighter season is officially back in full swing, and you know what that means: Ken jokes are in vogue once again. Whether you’re poring over exhaustive guides to master Ken’s deeply nuanced fighting style or just enjoying a brain-dead pun, there’s no time like the present to dig into Capcom’s latest fighter.
Of course, there are a whole lot of other great games you could be playing too, whether you’re gaming on-the-go or squeezing every last ounce of enjoyment from a couple of recent big-name console games like a certain site editor. Anyone who can finish Mass Effect 2 on insanity is a stronger person than I.
Anyway, let’s get down to it.
The Backlog: We Are The World Warriors Edition
May 1st
Plenty to discuss this week — racing games, zombies, spaaaaaaaaaaace! (warning: funny, but spoilers!), and world warriors.
Oh, the world warriors!
Enough of this nonsense, on to the backlog!
The Backlog: Go Get Some Sun edition
Apr 24th
This is how I spent my last weekend in Seattle: taking a ferry to Bainbridge Island. Walking around I got the impression I'd stumbled onto the village belonging to The Others from Lost. I later discovered that the actor who plays Juliet actually lives there, so…there you go.
Can you believe it? A third post in a single week. You’d almost get the impression that we like writing about games.
There’s no tongue-in-cheek theme this week. Just…c’mon. Have you looked outside? It’s supposed to be sunny and almost 70 degrees. This probably isn’t gonna happen again until July, so put down that controller, call off that Icecrown Citadel raid, and grab your iPhone so you can experience the great outdoors…with a bit of an insurance policy in tow, of course.
The Backlog: Better Late Than Later edition
Apr 21st
Last week’s post, which was intended for Friday, had to be re-appropriated by our crack team of internet henchmen at this tardy hour, and even though it’s late it’s fashionably so. In fact, it’s so fashionably late, Tim Gunn would be proud.
He’s from Project Runway.
Why do I know that?
Our most anticipated games of early 2010
Dec 15th
Editor’s note: While discussing topics for the most recent podcast, Nick and Aaron took some time to talk in detail about which games they felt might be worth paying attention to as their release dates draw near. Thanks to the bizarre magic of Google Wave, our collaboration ended up turning into a full-fledged article. We hope this list serves as a helpful guide and gives you some ideas of what to look forward to.
The heroes from just a few of the major releases coming in the next few months: Sam Fisher (Splinter Cell: Conviction), Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII) and Shepard (Mass Effect 2).
After building this list from a shorter one we borrowed unceremoniously from Kotaku, we weighed the evidence presented to us so far and drew up our own shortlists of essential titles, as well as a handful of potentially great purchases.
You’ll find our own lists, along with our justifications, after the break. And if we ignored a great game or missed one completely, please let us know. Thanks!
2010: The Year We Make Contact…and subsequently go broke
Dec 8th
Well, would you look at that — another podcast! And this one’s blessedly much shorter than the previous, meaning you get plenty of on-topic discussion and analysis without having to meander through dozens of games and several months of backlogged news to cover.
This podcast picks up where the last one left off, with the gang discussing the myriad top-tier releases of the first quarter of 2010. A near-complete list of titles is available after the jump for your perusal.
As always, thanks for listening, and let us know what you think!
(P.S. Wanna receive our latest podcasts automatically? Subscribe with iTunes here!)
E3 2009: Day 1 Reflections
Jun 1st
Day 1 of E3 2009 — full of press conferences from Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and the big press event from Microsoft earlier this morning. Having spent the day taking in what each of these groups had to offer, we’ve got a little bit of judgment to pass now. Sure, it’s early, but here are some thoughts coming out of the first day…
Based purely on what’s been shown today, and assuming things go to plan:
The Sure-fire Big Winner: Xbox Live
Direct download capability for 1080p movies and Xbox 360 games; an expanded Netflix lineup; Facebook, Last.fm and Twitter tie-ins to come in the fall; and a whole host of exclusive downloads and DLC content for games coming this year. That $50 a year spent on an Xbox Live gold account keeps looking better and better, and regardless how the games turn out, what you’ll be able to do with the system grows and grows.
Most Important Announcement: Microsoft’s Project Natal
It's waggle, Jim, but not how we're used to: Microsoft's Project Natal could well be the biggest announcement at E3 2009.
We knew it was coming. It may even have been shown a year ago, before Microsoft acquired the company responsible for the technology. But actually seeing Project Natal — Microsoft’s code name for its controller-less motion control device — was very stunning. Sure, some of the tech demos displayed (a ball kicking/punching/heading game, motion to control the Xbox dashboard) were a bit hokey…but they showed a level of motion-recognition that was very tight and reactive. The big deal was Lionhead Studios (publishers of Fable 2, Black and White and many other games) and the tech demo they created where players could interact with a schoolboy named Milo. To say it encroached on the uncanny valley is an understatement; if it’s what the video demonstration billed it to be, it’s less a game and more interacting with a legitimate AI character. Absolutely stunning.
To say that Microsoft could capitalize on the market the Nintendo Wii has pioneered while also pushing the boundaries of what’s possible as an interactive activity with Project Natal is an understatement. The potential is there; whether it comes to fruition in the final form will be interesting to see.