Childhood fears come to life in “Among the Sleep”

Ever want to relive your childhood fears, in mind and body? Well Krillbite Studios’ upcoming horror title, Among the Sleep, may be just what you need.

Among the Sleep puts you in the body of a two-year old child. Accompanied only by his teddy bear, the child roams the home after being put to bed one night, only to discover a true living nightmare.

Set in the first-person perspective, the game focuses on playing with the child’s imagination, which has yet to be fully developed to understand the difference in perceptions between reality and dreamscape. The game hopes to challenge players through the limitations brought on by embodying a young child, including physical, emotional and mental obstacles during your journey.

The game is set for a 2013 release on both the PC and Mac. For more information, you can visit www.krillbite.com.

Review: Rayman 3 Hoodlum Havoc (Gamecube)

Love him or hate him, to me, Rayman is one of the most iconic video game characters of the last decade, and sadly thanks to the Raving Rabbids spin on the series, I feel Rayman was pushed back a few notches. Albeit, Rayman Origins and its upcoming sequel, Legends, are looking to bring back a once classic Rayman side-scrolling experience that was only last seen on the Game Boy Advance port of Rayman Advance (a remake of the original Rayman from 1995).

Whether or not you all agree or disagree with me, I feel that Rayman 2: The Great Escape was definitely the best Rayman game to date, so much so, that it would crack my Top 10 favorite games list if I were to expand my list some more.

And so here we come to Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, the next-gen console sequel to one of my favorite games of all time. Does it hold up as well as its predecessor? The answer is a big fat no. But first, let me explain the story of Rayman 3.

Andre, leader of the Black Lums, is transforming all the Red Lums (which are used for healing Rayman in-game), into Black Lums and creating a Black Lum army. Of course, Murfy stumbles upon this catastrophe and returns to alert Rayman and Globox of what is happening, for which they must now partake on a brutal quest to rid the world of these infectious Black Lums. A big problem that arrises near the beginning of the game, is that Globox has accidentally swallowed the Black Lum leader, Andre, and its up to Rayman to help his buddy out, by bringing him to three doctors during the game, who must help in ridding the Black Lum from Globox’s insides.

Rayman 3 was recently ported to Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network on March 20th of this year, so if you are somehow intrigued by the series, go pick it up, but if you want my opinion, I’d say to stay the hell away from this one.

So when you first pick up this game, you will either receive it one of two ways: it will either be the most hilarious game you’ve ever played, or perhaps the most annoying one. You can tell which of the two this game drove me to.

A screenshot from the third level, Bog of Murk.

For starters, why is it that these characters can talk? In Rayman 2, they talked in their own language with english subtitles, and I felt that was really cool. And now, the voice acting has changed so drastically it feels like a completely different experience. In the first 20 minutes, I wanted to put earplugs in my ears so I didn’t have to hear the bickering between Globox and Murfy, who are the most annoying characters I’ve heard in a long time. Thankfully, Murfy doesn’t stay around for too long, but Globox is enough to drive me to drink.

Now I can accept the controls, which seem to carry over much the same since Rayman 2, but with the sequel came new abilities, new punches, and of course, new restraints.

So now, Rayman is rendered almost completely useless, besides the traditional long-arm punch and various angles for which you can attack a bad guy. But now, every ability Rayman can use has been transferred into five power-up containers. Green containers are the “Vortex”, which allow Rayman to shoot mini-tornadoes, which can be useful in taking down enemies on stilts, changing enemy size, or bringing a platform closer for you to jump on. Red containers are the “Heavy Metal Fist”, which allows Rayman to charge up stronger fist attacks, which could help defeat tougher enemies and break wooden doors. Yellow containers are the “Throttle Copter”, which allow Rayman to fly higher, but under a restricted amount of time. Orange containers are the “Shock Rocket”, which allow Rayman to shoot a rocket, which Rayman could guide in small areas to help in opening blocked paths. And finally, the Purple containers are the “Lockjaw”, which can help Rayman grab Purple Lums to reach areas inaccessible without the ability, and when grabbing enemies, delivers an electric shock.

This all sounds pretty overwhelming yet quite diverse, and at times it can be, but sadly after a while, you kind of get used to it.

The dialogue in this game feels really dumbed down, and a lot of the platforming and difficulty this game carries holds itself at a 10-year old level, which I feel is probably the core target audience for this game.

A lot of the “humor”, and I say that with quotations, is unneeded and out of place, and tries too hard to be “cool” and “hip” with the time period. I even heard the Duke Nukem joke about “kicking ass and chewing bubblegum” used during the game, which will not register with any young people playing this game other than sounding a little humorous to their simple minds at the time.

One redeeming quality this game does carry is in its level design. Although by the end, I was hoping every level was the last level, I was impressed that the Rayman series could still develop interesting levels, minus how easy they all were.

By the end of the game, I didn’t feel any sense of accomplishment, rather I felt like I had wasted about 4 or 5 hours total, only to find a terrible conclusion to the game. I want to know what Ubisoft was thinking when developing for this game, because if it was to target a new audience on its next-gen consoles at the time, well you not only gave them that, but you gave hardcore fans of the series a swift kick in the pants. This game has been praised for its graphics and sound quality, which it has of course, but given the sound quality, its poor quality on the ears, in my opinion.

So in the end, I’m going to do my best and pretend this game just doesn’t exist. I will also completely ignore the Rabbids series as part of the Rayman series as well, but thankfully this game doesn’t change how I feel about Rayman 2, but it makes me believe how hard it must be for developers out there to make a successful trilogy, especially by its third game.

Final Score: 3 out of 10

Rumor: GTA V Massive Story Leak + Character List

Could many of the original rumors be wrong? Prior rumors suggested that the main character of this new Grand Theft Auto game may be one Albert DaSilva, but it seems that GTA V’s latest rumors share an even closer tie to San Andreas than we first thought.

Here is the massive leak that was displayed on grandtheftautov4.blogspot.co.uk on Friday, as leaked by a Take Two employee:

Chico Vialpando, he has the car, the money, the charisma and the way with women. He has the luck in life. In a time where money is scarce, Chico was one of the lucky ones, although his parents are struggling to make ends meet.

Taken under her care as a baby, Kendl raised Leo as her own, after the fatal shooting of CJ in late 1992 and the fatal car accident in 1995 of Leo’s mother, Denise Johnson, leaving Leo an orphan.
Denise had spent all of her husband’s money and when she died, there was nothing left. Some say it was suicide, regardless, Leo was now 20 years old, with not a dime to his name. 

Day by day he is being persuaded to join the street gang syndicate…Chico’s family are on the border of disowning him, Chico wants to help his cousin Leo, he doesn’t want to see his family go under, but at the same time doesn’t want to give them all of his money.

Cesar cannot continue to operate the garage business due to lack of business and failing economy. He is lured by the thought of escaping to Vice City.
Cesar had told his son Chico the legend of Carl Johnson, how he had saved the streets and that Leo was all that remained of Carl’s legacy.

It is when Chico meets the business man, Toni, that things start to change. Toni Cipriani arrived in Los Santos after leaving behind his failed marriage and kids, meeting Chico, who’s own family are on the border of destruction, the timing was perfect. Time and money were of the essence. Little does Chico know, Toni has his own agenda in San Andreas.

~GAME EXTRACT~
Los Santos, 2012. The playground of the rich and famous, now a city folding under an economic crisis. Difficult political issues, crime and poverty hang over the streets. Where the rich stay rich and the poor die trying.
 
For Chico, it’s been fun. Now it’s time to get serious. In an epic journey that will take him across the entire state of San Andreas, Chico must save his cousin Leo, put an end to the street gang syndicate and stop his family from self destruction. The question is ‘At what price?’
CHARACTERS:
CHICO VIALPANDO - 20 yr old, successful and lucky in life
CESAR VIALPANDO - Father of Chico, struggling to make ends meet
KENDL VIALPANDO - Mother of Chico, was CJ’s sister. Adopted Leo after the death of Denise Johnson. Trying to keep the family together
LEO JOHNSON - The son of Carl Johnson. Being persuaded to join the street gangs syndicate
TONI CIPRIANI - Just arrived from Liberty City, head of the Leone Corporation, has had failed marriage, two children who live with ex wife. Is in Los Santos ‘on business’
JOEY FARRINGO - Sindacco mobster, in Los Santos on the trail of Toni for alimony owed to Toni’s ex wife
FRANK BASTACCI - Also Sindacco mobster, in Los Santos with Joey. Is a former mental patient
GREG MACILVOY - The Los Santos CutGrass golf pro, he is seen in the trailer #1 teeing off at the par 3, 8th
ELI PAYNE - Is a ‘man of the street’ – he knows a lot of people
VERONICA FANNING - She is a girl that Chico wants to date, she loves to tease him about it but secretly admires his style. Seen crossing the street in #1 trailer, she is into the band ‘Love Fist’
REGGIE WILSON - African American who thinks he has style, seen in #1 trailer with colorful sweater
CHUCK ‘DADDY’ LOW - Pimp of Los Santos
DEX KINTON - Computer genius who is in love with an avatar
HOSÉ GONZALES - This Mexican has connections to the street gang syndicate
AGENT 69 - This man works undercover for the F.I.B.
CINDY BUCKSTUD - Young upcoming movie actress in adult entertainment
ED WALLBERGER - Fast talking lawyer who mixes his words up and confuses even himself.
Like we’ve mentioned, this should all be taken with a grain of salt. As of right now, all of this information remains unconfirmed, but it leaves us to question just how accurate a story this could be. Take Two Interactive will be seen next at this year’s E3 2012, taking place between June 5th and 7th, and you can bet GTA Gamers will keep their eyes open for any confirmations.
Until then, what do you think of a possible direct sequel to the San Andreas tale, with the descendants of classic characters? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.

Red vs Blue Season 10 arrives on Monday

A pretty wicked CGI-clip from the trailer, showing a firefight in the sky, where the Freelancer ship, Mother of Invention, seems to be caught in the crossfires.

So in light of Red vs Blue’s memorial day launch this coming Monday, the guys from Rooster Teeth decided to provide a little treat for the fans, giving them a new trailer.

This trailer debuted yesterday on redvsblue.com, but you can catch it here on their Youtube Channel, “RoosterTeeth”.

Here’s the new trailer, which features a lot more CGI-clips from the Freelancer backstory saga, and maybe only a few short clips from the actual Red vs Blue we know and love. Enjoy.

Back to the Past with “The Movies” video game

I’ve got quite a treat for you today. Ooh boy, and its an embarrassing one to boot.

So about six years ago, just entering high school at around the age of 14-15, I played a lot more computer games than I do now. I was actually just starting to using my own desktop computer around that time, and would talk on MSN like a champ, and play RuneScape (well that was Grades 7-8), and most likely was playing a lot of Guild Wars: Factions with Anthony at the time, since it was a big game around that time that we played.

You control every aspect of your Hollywood Studio, right down to the very name. Hiring and firing actors was always a favorite of mine, and picking who will playing in which movies was a treat.

But one other game that I played, and loved to death at the time was a game called “The Movies”. Developed by Lionhead Studios, The Movies was a business-simulation game that ran similar to The Sims and SimCity games in which you ran your own Hollywood Movie Studio, and hired actors and crew to help build movies from the ground up, in a fashion very reminiscent of typical movie editing like in Final Cut Pro nowadays.

The game could start you in the 1920s, where you will have very limited access to the advanced technology for movie-making, but you can still work within those limits and make something really special. As the game progressed (and believe me, it progresses pretty quick), you can move forwards into the 2000s and beyond, acquired high-technology equipment, amazing set designs, and costumes that were out-of-this-world.

Of course, being in the early stages of high school, I was a very different kid than I am today. For one, I’m not a kid anymore, I like to think I’m a full-fledged adult. Secondly, my style of writing has made a vast improvement since I was in Grade 9, and I don’t resort to utilizing potty humor at every expense.

So wouldn’t you be surprised to learn that today I decided to go searching for my old Movies account, “archer173″, the same name I used for my old RuneScape character back in elementary school.

The online site that I used to upload any of my finished movies had closed down a few years ago, due to the decline in popularity of the game, I’d assume. The Movies had only released one expansion, which was the Stunts and Effects Expansion Pack, which was really cool at the time, but didn’t provide any more than a few stunt scenes, cool explosions, and a few extra sets and miscellaneous props.

So I type in “The Movies game archer173″, into Google, and the first link that pops up is a FileFront archive, where I see two of my old movies: Resident Evil Reanimation and Genres Episode 1: The Heist, sitting there available for download. I thought, what the hell, I missed the Movies, and I really wanted to see them after six years.

So of course I downloaded them, and watched them, and to my embarrassment, they’re terrible. I admit it, they’re really terrible. Terrible, terrible pieces of work. But at the time, I thought I had made movie gold, I thought I was pure genius. I’m sure my friends and my brother would’ve thought the same at the time, but now, it’s just a joke. The films are cursed with poor potty humor, too much sexual references (especially in Genres), plot-holes, scenes that make absolutely no sense, and the writing, oh my god the writing, is forever cursed with MSN-texting lingo. I couldn’t even spell “your” properly, because I was so fixed on how simply I wrote it on MSN, it shows up as “ur”.

It’s embarrassing, to say the least, but of course, I feel I should share my embarrassment with everyone, like a good adult, and site editor. So here it is, six years later, the two films in terrible quality. Wmv files suck.

In Grade 8, I wrote a five-part mini-series around my love for Resident Evil, and at the time, I couldn’t think of anyone better to include in the series but my friends and I, as well as cameos from classic RE characters like Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine and Rebecca Chambers. Well this video is Part 4 of the mini-series, in which my brother Carter has been kidnapped by Umbrella scientists and turned into a virus-flooded monster, turned against the remaining survivors and myself. So the video is a loose representation of an early short-story I wrote when I was 13, so its bound to have some writing irregularities.

Of course, I was fascinated with the five genres of possible filmmaking in The Movies, so I decided to give each genre a mascot, and bring them all together in a five-part miniseries called “Genres”. The series got better after each episode, but sadly, Episode 1 is the only one I’m cursed with remembering, and the only one I had put on my old account. So enjoy….at least as much as one can enjoy garbage.

“Shadow of the Colossus” live-action film in the works

Remember the name Josh Trank? Well it would be familiar to those who read my review of the film “Chronicle”, the found-footage story about a group of teenagers who stumble upon a mysterious crater, and uncover powers beyond their control, and chronicles the very descent into one of the character’s madness, to the point where he becomes uncontrollable.

Well Trank has just recently taken on the challenge of bringing the ever-popular, best-selling 2005 Sony PlayStation title, Shadow of the Colossus, to the big screen.

Trank has recently signed with Sony pictures to direct the adaptation, with Kevin Misher producing.

Shadow of the Colossus follows a young man desperate to bring his deceased lover back, as he heads into a forbidden land teeming with wildlife, as well as 16 colossal giants that he must slay in order to bring his lover back.  The colossi travel on land, water and in the air. As the young man works through his quest on horseback, he begins to wonder if he is on a noble pursuit to bring back his lover, or perhaps has made a deal with the devil and is being used.

According to deadline.com, Trank has been a fan of the game since it launched in 2005, and sought out the job.

Shadow of the Colossus isn’t the only big project Trank has been tied to in the last few months. He also has the responsibility of bringing a rebooted Fantastic Four to the big screen, as well as the big-screen spinoff for Venom, and aligned to the Warner Bros comic book adaptation Red Star.

With files from Deadline

“007 Legends” unveils first mission trailer: Moonraker

More than five-decades of James Bond story arch have come together to build the ultimate Bond experience, through this new title, “007 Legends”.

The first mission trailer was recently revealed through Machinima’s Youtube channel this afternoon, detailing the mission of Moonraker from the 1979 classic of-the-same-name, starring Roger Moore as the title character.

Here is the premise of the game, as it appears on the official website,

Our story begins deep in murky, watery depths. You’re James Bond, and you’re drifting, unconscious. You don’t know
why – only that you’re struggling for your life like never before. In moments of cognizance, you recall epic moments
from the last 50 years. The harrowing chases. The uber-villains. The exotic locales. The girls.

What will be your legend if this is the end?

In 007 Legends, you’ll take on the role of James Bond as played by Daniel Craig, running missions in the most iconic
settings of 007’s five-decade film history. The places and times remain classified, but each retains the look and feel of
the original movies, updated with reimagined characters, expanded gameplay and exciting new plotlines.

Which brings us back to your current predicament. The clock is ticking. Will this be yet another close brush with death,

or has your remarkably good luck dried up at last?

Only you can answer that, Bond.

Jaws, the villain man with the steel-teeth, is set to appear in the Moonraker mission

In this first mission of Moonraker, it showcases an epic moon-based adventure mission, and classic Bond music that’s been edged into our minds for decades. The game also plans to delve into Bond’s most anticipated film, Skyfall, hitting theatres this year.

According to the message from the developers on 007 Legend’s official site, the game is expected to be rich with action, choice, story, characters, secondary missions, intelligence to gather and bonus content to discover.  As well it will see great online and offline split-screen multiplayer modes that fans will be happy with.

So are you excited for this new anticipated Bond title? Five-decades of Bond history tied to a new story that is going to be a welcome return to a long-time classic series.

Now check out the new trailer for the Moonraker mission.

The game is being developed by Eurocom, and published by Activision. The game is set to be released on October 16th, 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles.

With files from 007Legends.com

Aliens: Colonial Marines delayed to 2013

It looks like May has become the month of delays, in light of recent delays to such titles like Bioshock Infinite and Silent Hill: Book of Memories.

But now, SEGA’s Aliens: Colonial Marines will be joining the list of delayed games, and won’t be seeing a release to consoles until February 12th, 2013.

The game will ship on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC, and a planned Wii U version is still in talks, with a release date being revealed at a later date.

Gearbox Software CEO and President Randy Pitchford commented on the delay on the Gearboxity blog, saying,

Our vision has been to create a video game sequel to the original Alien trilogy. Our vision is for the game to be fully featured with an exciting, suspenseful, thrilling and action packed narrative campaign that can be played alone or cooperatively combined with a robust competitive game where human players can take on the roles of Colonial Marines or Xenomorphs and do battle online. The game must be authentic.

So in the end, players should finally be glad that the game has a confirmed release date, and with the extended time between now and February, that should give the development team enough time to perfect their game and stay true to the Aliens universe.

Although this is not the first delay the game has seen in the last few months, players should be patient and expect great things come February 2013. A new release date trailer was also revealed in light of the delay.

With files from GameSpot and Gearboxity blog

Stardust Drive Podcast Episode #4

A new month, calls for a new episode of the Stardust Drive Podcast.

I hope you all enjoyed your Victoria Day long weekend, or May 2-4 as we like to call it here in Canada.

Joining myself again are regular co-hosts Carter Kee, Chris Kuzmin, and Anthony Cusimano.

This month we discuss the Bioshock Infinite delay, as well as the Avengers, and the releases of Diablo III and Minecraft Xbox 360.

Branching off those topics, we discuss superheroes and superhero films as well as movie-licensed games, Lindsay Lohan (don’t ask me why), dreams, and talks of our very own Battleship live-action short video.

We also experience a slight technical difficulty around 50 minutes in to our podcast. You will hear a bars and tone drone noise and it will continue on in the recording. We still haven’t figured out why the recording screwed up.

But enjoy, and look forward to Episode 5 coming in June. Highlights will be up on the Youtube channel soon.

SD Podcast Episode 4