Mario Kart games are a socialite’s dream. I can’t count how many Mario Kart parties I’ve had and with the release of Mario Kart 7 I may need to clean my basement because more parties are to come. I recently had a chance to sit down with Mario Kart 7 for the Nintendo 3DS and I’m here to tell you that it’s a game you’ll definitely want to pick up.
Since the release of Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Dead Space 2 and the audio-only Deep Sea, we haven’t really seen the release of a legitimately scary game. We have had our share of suspenseful thrillers, but the intense anxiety and helplessness you get from playing horror games is beyond anything else imaginable. Because of this, horror games are probably one of the most unique genres: instilling feelings that become more interactive than usual; feelings that linger for days – perhaps even years. Many gamers will tell you that the Silent Hill series has consistently proven itself to be a charter member of this genre, time and time again. While Silent Hill: Shattered Memories failed in its pursuit to inspire true helplessness, Konami has since realized that the only way to instill that same sense of fear is to go back to the roots. Welcome to Silent Hill: Downpour.
If there’s one video game series that remains consistently exciting, charming and offers the same visual spectacle as a Hollywood blockbuster, it’s Uncharted. Since its inception in 2007, the action-adventure/third-person shooter has maintained its place in the vast gaming library as one of the best and brightest, challenging other blockbusters and always coming away with outstanding results. Naughty Dog, the developer of the series, clearly knows just how to astound its audience. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, the next chapter in the series, proves no to be different than its predecessors.
Click the pic to watch the trailer for Sound Shapes.
Jonathan Mak is serious about making video games. Just talk to him for a few minutes and you’ll literally envision his passion and tenacity to learn and improve. Back in 2007, Mak created an award-winning game called Everyday Shooter (through his development company Queasy Games), a PlayStation 3/PC music shooting hybrid that won much acclaim for its innovative design and tight game mechanics. Since then he has worked on ten game prototypes with musician Shaw-Han Liem (who goes by the alias I am Robot and Proud) in Toronto, but unfortunately none of them have worked the way that Mak wanted them to. There are many developers out there who strive for excellence, but very few create what Mak creates: dreams, aspirations, and the heady sensation of floating on air.
Ok. Follow me on this one: Street Fighter IV is wicked right? And Capcom’s VS. series is totally insane, correct? And Tekken is a classic in the fighting genre, almost as important as Street Fighter, agreed? So I ask you what happens when you combine all those separate ingredients into a blender and hit the button. Will it blend? Well, you don’t need an irrelevant YouTube channel to find out. I recently went hands on with Capcom’s Street Fighter X Tekken and I learned that all of these ingredients do indeed blend well together – with explosive results.
Move over, Wolverine.
When I think H.P Lovecraft, I think “OMG I’m scared. Hold me tight!”; never once did I ever say to myself “This stuff would be awesome as a beat-em up starring a little girl” – oh how naïve I have been. Spooky Squid, a local indie developer, has shown me how wrong I was in previous assumptions. I recently had a chance to sit down with Miguel Sternberg and go hands on with They Bleed Pixels, Spooky Squid’s new game that is drumming up some huge buzz in the indie community. Before I picked up the control Miguel said to me “Don’t worry, you WILL suck at first”. Pfft! Please, I’m no scrub.
I don’t drive (this is a fact), but I am legally allowed to drive virtual representations of cars. For this I thank the legal system; I also thank Turn 10 Studios, makers of Forza Motorsport 4 for the Xbox 360. I had a chance to go hands on with the game recently and I’m here to tell you that if you are a die-hard car fan you are going to freak out over this game.
