Toronto Thumbs

FanExpo 2010
Item 3 - Checking Things Out

The Halo: Reach tent.

By noon, the Metro Toronto Convention Centre was packed with people, both fans and superfans alike! In some areas were relatively easy to traverse, while others were like rush-hour in Taiwan. I do not pretend to understand how the sites for the different booths are chosen; whether they are picked by the companies that are represented, or by the governing committee of the event itself.

In our travels, we managed to visit a number of booths…

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Posted in Events, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony | No Comments »

FanExpo 2010
B Number 2 - Tron: Evolution

Easy to recognize.

When Tron 2.0 came out, it was pretty clear to me that only those of us who saw the original movie would be excited, if at all; fans are a fickle bunch; resistant to change; any departure from the plot is met with a frown and an insistence that “this never would have happened in the original”. Monolith did a good job toeing that line between canon and the introduction of new material. Even with generally favourable reviews, Tron 2.0 underperformed from a sales perspective, and support was eventually dropped; a shame, really, since the faithful user community kept producing mods for it, as well as an expansion.

Tron: Evolution, though, is a whole other story, and has something going for it that 2.0 did not: an accompanying motion picture (Tron: Legacy); even though that film may not be as closely tied to the game as one might expect.

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Posted in Events, First Impressions, Move, PC, PSP, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360 | 2 Comments »

X’10
Chapter 7 - Spin Me Another

Music games and I have a love/hate relationship; due to the fact that I live in a relatively small house, I don’t really have a lot of space for games like Rock Band or Guitar Hero. My gaming area is also located right under my daughter’s room, so playing games that involve singing are usually a no-no; this may be about to change. DJ Hero allowed me to get a music game that was awesome to play and had a controller that could be easily stored away (although I did buy the Renegade Edition). As I burned through the whole game, I wondered how they could possibly make this game better; I wonder no more…

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Posted in Events, First Impressions, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | No Comments »

X’10
Chapter 4 - We Are All Brothers

As I walked through X’10, I rounded a corner and my smile widened impossibly; two screens were displaying Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood in vibrant majesty. As many who read this site know, I have a thing for the Assassin’s Creed series, and for good reason: it’s one of the best franchises in the history of video games? Some may think that this is a lofty statement: they obviously haven’t played it yet…

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Posted in Events, First Impressions, PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | No Comments »

Excited
Tales From Space: About a Blob

I am going to be interviewing Drinkbox Studios about this game very soon, but I need to gush. I am a sucker for games with a great story and this looks to be an awesome experience. Tales From Space: About a Blob is about an innocent creature that grows and grows until it eats the planet. It’s a puzzle-based platformer for the PS3 that looks like a lot of fun! Stay tuned to this space to read about what they have to say about it.

Click here if you want to check out the dev blog! »

Posted in News Bytes, PlayStation 3, Previews | No Comments »

Late To the Party
Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines

My final destination (for now) in my mad quest to play everything in the Assassin’s Creed franchise was finally reached the other day upon my completion of Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines for the PSP. When Bloodlines hit the shelves last year, it received a lukewarm reception from many; I, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed it.

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Posted in PSP, Reviews | No Comments »

DON CHAKA!
Patapon 3 Multiplayer Demo Jam Session

The Patapon multiplayer demo is a fantastic foray into the world of those feisty giant-eyeballs-with-feet-and-hands; you will be tapping your toes to the beat in no time. There is no single player mode to the game, other than the introduction (which does a great job of establishing the mood and pulling you into the world of the DON CHAKA).

When the single player intro is completed, the game will ask you -nay, implore you- to try out the multiplayer mode.

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Posted in First Impressions, PSP | No Comments »

ZOMG!!
Patapon 3 Multiplayer Demo

Yesterday I downloaded the multiplayer demo of Patapon 3 from the PSN Store. I played through the intro stage on public transit and I seriously think that people must have thought I was crazy because of the look of sheer glee on my face. I don’t normally buy into a game during an intro stage to a demo; my acceptance comes into the meat of the demo. But man, this game looks like everything Patapon 2 had with even more DON CHAKA!

I will report more on this later…

Posted in News Bytes, PSN, PSP | 1 Comment »

Free Rambling
Mirror’s Edge In 7 Hours

Mid-June saw “EA Week” hit Valve’s digital download service, Steam. In amidst the crazy discounts on titles like Dragon Age and the Mass Effect series, DICE’s parkour title Mirror’s Edge was listed at 75% off. I’d always been intrigued by the concept of a game centred on free-running, so with no price point to hold me back I pushed everything else to the bottom of the “To Be Played” pile and started downloading DICE’s 2009 darling.

Jamie Love’s previous articles  for Toronto Thumbs on Mirror’s Edge do an excellent job of reviewing and retelling the game in eloquent depth. Those of you looking for a well-thought-out review would be better served by reading those; I would be doing the game a great disservice were I to re-review the game with Jamie’s works already on the site. Instead, let’s recap what my seven hours of the game were like.

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Posted in PC, PlayStation 3, Reviews, Xbox 360 | 1 Comment »

Review
ModNation Racers

My romance with kart racing games is a fickle thing. While I prefer other racing genres (arcade - NFS, simulation - GT), I occasionally engage in trysts with kart racing. Usually there is a period of great excitement at first, accompanied by a healthy amount of playing time; eventually, though, this wears off, and the tracks get boring because they’re all the same, or perhaps just not really challenging enough. But a recent title has stolen a portion of my racing heart, and that title is ModNation Racers for the PS3.

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Posted in PlayStation 3, Reviews | No Comments »