Toronto Thumbs

Video
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

Let’s say you love Prince of Persia but just can’t stomach any more soft-focused publicity images of Chesty Jake. Good news! Ubisoft has your PoP fix sans Gyllenhaal.

Check out this gameplay trailer (complete with developer commentary) and prepare to be enthralled by the Prince yet again. What’s not to love about parkour mixed with elemental control and lots of baddies?

Read the rest »

Posted in Awesome, DS, DSi, Microsoft, News Bytes, Nintendo, PSP, PlayStation 3, Previews, Sony, Videos, Wii, Xbox 360 | 1 Comment »

In ʘur Sights
Sniper: Ghost Warrior

Anyone has ever listened to one of our Thumbscasts would know that I am a big fan of snipers. In almost every war-like FPS-type game that allows you to choose a class, I will be hanging back in the bushes or the trees picking off clueless people with abandon thanks to a very powerful rifle.

So what is the first thought that enters my mind when I find out that City Interactive is releasing a game in which the main character is a sniper? Hell yes!

Read the rest »

Posted in Microsoft, PC, Previews, Xbox 360 | No Comments »

Announcement
New Management

The halls around the office don’t echo with the light-hearted banter that it once did.  When Shaun was picked up by The Electric Playground, a good deal of the wind behind the sails of this site changed; our momentum started to diminish.  Truthfully, Shaun is a dynamic and incredible person with enough work ethic, enthusiasm, and creativity to power a small country.  Perhaps that may not make a lot of sense to some of our newer readers, but to those who know Shaun, it is probably an understatement.

Read the rest »

Posted in Awesome, Blah Blah Blog, Blog, Events, True Gaming Friends | 7 Comments »

Who Buys This Shit?
Jesus Hates Zombies, Lincoln Hates Werewolves

I know I was a little harsh on our friend Abraham Lincoln and his star-turn in Time Lincoln a few weeks back.

Recently, during my travels around the Internet, I came across a Lincoln-related comic that I could definitely see myself getting behind. It is perhaps the most interesting historical figure crossover comic ever produced: Jesus Hates Zombies featuring Lincoln Hates Werewolves. Here’s the publisher’s description:

“The zombie plague has swept across the Earth, and Jesus has been sent down to take care of it. Along with Laz, his loyal zombie sidekick, Jesus must unite the remaining humans to stand up and defeat the zombie menace. With a time-traveling Abraham Lincoln at his side, and a zombified Angel hot on their heels, can this mish-mash of heroes save humanity - or themselves?!”

I am concerned, however, with the historical inaccuracies of this book. Everyone knows that Jesus loves zombies. In fact, Jesus was a zombie himself! I was taught as much during my youth as a part of the Church of Zombie Christ. We learned all about the importance of feeding on the body, blood, and brains of our saviour so that we could unify as one large zombified army against the forces of evil. Of course, we didn’t have any of Jesus’ actual brains, so we substituted animal brains most of the time.

Before the RCMP burned our compound to the ground and seized all of our assets, we were quite busy preparing for the joy of the upcoming rapture and zombie apocalypse. Ah, those were the days!

Jesus Hates Zombies is the creation of writer Stephen Lindsay and artist Steve Cobb. From the preview pages I saw online, it looks like it would be a funny and entertaining read. Jesus has quite the chip on his shoulder and he is not afraid to show it! I will be ordering the book into my comic store, and you can do the same at your local shop.

Why does Lincoln always end up being a time traveler in comics? Is there something in his genetic makeup that makes him an ideal candidate? Personally, if I were Jesus and facing an army of zombies I would choose to partner with a dead president who had a little more combat experience, such as Ulysses S. Grant or Dwight Eisenhower.

In any event, I believe this book has definite “cool shit” potential. What do you think?

Posted in Awesome, Comics, Who Buys This Shit? | 4 Comments »

Late to the Party
Assassin’s Creed

As many of our readers know, I’m late to the party for a lot of things. Assassin’s Creed by Ubisoft was one of those games that I was never interested in; whether the marketing didn’t reach me, or I wasn’t really looking for it, I never bothered to pick it up. What little I saw of it showed a hooded man running around the Middle-East, parkour style, murdering people. As a concept, that did not appeal to me.

Of course, I was completely wrong. Drawn into the display at the 2009 Sony Holiday Preview Event, I got to watch Assassin’s Creed II. Not only was it spectacular to behold, it also included an actual plot! Of course, after this I did some reading and realize that there was far, far more to this franchise than I initially thought. My timing could not have been more perfect to purchase the game, too, as it had just attained Greatest Hits status.

While my overall feelings about this game are positive (I would recommend it to anyone that enjoyed a good story), the experience did have moments that were trying, and I will deal with those up front so that I can end on the note that I ended on when I finally finished the game.

Read the rest »

Posted in PC, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360 | 2 Comments »

VIDEO
DJ Finish Him VS Oxvylu

If you missed the DJ Finish Him VS Oxvylu gig last month in Toronto, not to worry. Someone has uploaded a 10 minute clip of it!

It’s weird for me to see myself on video, but I suppose I’ll get used to it. In other news, I couldn’t see anything with those 3D glasses on, but they did look cool. Also: We didn’t really practice before this gig, so pretty much everything we’re doing is ad-libbed.

While a next gig has yet to be booked, we are planning on hooking up in the future for some more creative projects.

Posted in Canada, Music, TORONTO, Videos | 1 Comment »

OMG
Mega Man 10 on WiiWare Today

It doesn’t explain my absense over the last six days, but Mega Man 10 is now available via WiiWare. So if you’re a glutton for difficult games, sharp graphics, and chiptune goodness, it’s a title you might want to check out. In related news, this could explain why I won’t post anything for the next six days.

But on a serious note, I was out of town for another gig. It’s nice to be back home, even though I’ll be spending most of the time playing videogames.

Posted in Awesome, News Bytes, Nintendo, Wii, WiiWare | No Comments »

Tribes of Mexica:
Makeover for a Cipactli

Toronto developers Incubator Games is giving its upcoming game, Tribes of Mexica, a makeover. Over at their official site, interested parties (that’s you!) can vote on a new look for the Cipactli character (that’s the green guy up top). Cipactli currently looks pretty cool, admittedly. But the poll includes some very awesome and quite different renderings from various artists – all of which are even better than the current version.

I won’t post those here, as I don’t want to unintentionally influence your vote, but I do urge you to head on over to vote. It’s not every day that a games developer asks the community for such direct feedback. How cool would it be if the design you chose made it into the game? Think of the indie cred you’ll gain!

Speaking of cred, Incubator Games is a small team comprised of former project leads from Capybara Games. They’ve worked on some titles you probably love, including Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes and the original Critter Crunch.

Posted in Art, Canada, Indie, TORONTO | 2 Comments »

NES Zelda Cartridge
Converted to a Hard Drive Enclosure

Some months ago, a friend of mine grabbed a bunch of NES cartridges from a thrift store with the intention of converting them into hard drive enclosures. If there’s one thing geeks love, it’s re-purposing old stuff into new stuff. I’m not sure if he got around to making the enclosures, but today I found this really awesomely done enclosure made from The Legend of Zelda for the NES.

This cartridge has sold out since I spotted it, but the seller does have several other cartridge-turned-enclosures. Sadly none look as great as this one, even though a great game was compromised to make it. Would you buy a hard drive enclosed in an old NES game, or do you think it’s sacrilege?

Posted in Art, Awesome, Nintendo | 3 Comments »

First Trailer For
Guerrilla Gardening: Seeds of Revolution

Today Spooky Squid Games released a teaser trailer for Guerrilla Gardening: Seeds of Revolution, a game I’ve been following the development of somewhat closely. Even though the trailer contains footage from an early build of the game, it still looks like a lot of fun to play.

In it, Molly Greenthumb is a revolutionary who tries to cheer up oppressed and depressed citizens by planting beautiful trees, flowers, and the like. The isometric game has a heavy puzzle element to it, where certain plants need to be placed in specific locations to provoke a desired result. For instance, and the video shows this, you can use a screaming flower to draw the attention of patrolling officers in order to make a run for another section of the map. Other flowers emit bursts of pollen, attracting citizens to the area. It’s a good way to gather up protestors in key locations.

Check out the trailer »

Posted in Art, Awesome, Indie, TORONTO, Videos | 3 Comments »