Stardust Drive Podcast Episode #3

Episode 3 Podcast is up live. Featuring the return of myself, Carter, Anthony, Chris, and featuring our first guest host, Emily.

On this month’s podcast, we cover the topics of Pokemon and Red vs Blue, as well as discuss games we regret no buying and games we played to death.

It’s a fun mix of treats, with a whole bunch of videogames and forms of entertainment discussed.

It will most likely be one to die for….but please, don’t die. We like you too much to die.

SD Podcast Episode 3

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale: a mere Smash Bros. knock-off?

A screenshot from the game. You can't say that doesn't look like Smash Bros.

It has been confirmed that Sony is developing a Smash Bros.-esque fighting game, featuring a roster of characters from Sony’s library of games.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, as bitter of a pill to swallow in its cheesy title, is as much of a knock-off to the Smash Bros. series created by Nintendo.

According to an article on Kotaku.com, some comments on the title taken from the official announcement release stated:

With PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, we set out to make an experience accessible enough for all PlayStation fans to enjoy while also creating something deep enough for the serious fighting game aficionado. We think this “accessible yet deep” strategy is the perfect way to bring PlayStation fans of all stripes together.

The game is set to feature game modes for both single and multiplayer, with a focus on online play which features a robust tournament mode. Players will be able to compete against each other as well as play cooperatively.

Currently the confirmed roster includes the likes of  Kratos, Sweet Tooth, Parappa, Fat Princess, Colonel Radec, and Sly Cooper, with more names to be confirmed as more details arrise.

For now, watch this trailer for the game, and make your own opinions on it.

With files from Kotaku

Super Smash Bros. to head in a new direction

IGN recently sat down with Nintendo’s Masahiro Sakurai about the future of the Super Smash Bros. series, and what direction he expects to take when developing a new sequel for next-gen platforms.

Since its arrival on the Nintendo 64 in 1999, the Smash Bros. series has followed a carefully similar trend over the course of three titles and three consoles. With the inclusion of new items, new characters, new stages, homages to classic stages, unique storylines and the edition of third-party characters and a stage creation option, the Smash Bros. series follows in the fashion of hit Nintendo titles like Pokemon and the Legend of Zelda, who need only to build off of what appears to be a perfect formula for a videogame. But Sakurai says he wants to change his direction.

“There is a certain dead end we come to if we just expand the volume of the game,” said Sakurai in an e-mail to IGN. “I intend to change direction a little as we go. The key to that’s going to be its dual support for 3DS/Wii U.”

So of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean the end to a continually expanding roster, stages and other extra features, but Sakurai is definitely expressing his interest in cross-connection between console and handheld.

“I’m really just getting started on this so it’s going to take time, but I’ll come up with something that uses that link as the game’s central axis, so I hope you’re looking forward to it.”

So its too early to really know what his true intentions are for the game, or at least the main issue of the minds of many fans, “who’s coming to Smash Bros. next?”

With files from IGN.com

Online Comics (hopefully) for Gamers

I’m Online Comics today, kids! Most of us enjoy the Sunday Funnies or at least remember getting an Archie comic or two when we were kids. As with most things, there’s the Rule 34 online variety. From Rage Comics with troll-faces to weekly strips you find on deviantART’s front page every time you log in. By the end of this post I hope you’ll find a comic to your tastes.

The first comic I’ve found is of the adorable variety. GaMERCaT reminds me of Garfield, except rather than eating lasagna and tormenting his owner’s dog, this cat drinks Mountain Dew and eats Doritos while playing a variety of video games. Between the cute adaptations of gaming and internet memes and the fun of just seeing an animal play video games, I love it. Maybe I should be on 4chan? Kitties <3

This next one is more on the…muscular side. Literally. Manly Guys Doing Manly Things is just that. Although it centers around an employment agency for retired game heroes like Duke Nukem and Kratos (from God of War) who need help rejoining society, I found myself entertained by the antics of Commander, Jared and Mr. Fish and loved seeing characters from games I haven’t played in a while (like Dragon Age! Makes me want to go back and make a new character. Oh the Pigeons!) Speaking of birds, it has silly references to little things like Shale’s hate of them. She’s from Dragon Age, for those who don’t know. Maybe I’m just a sucker for men with bulging biceps, but I doubt it. Have you seen how skinny my boyfriend is? Well, anyway…

This one is a bit more of a Nintendo throwback. It Sucks To Be Weegie is about that green guy from the Mario Games. Remember him? What was his name? Centered around how there are very few Luigi games and he’s almost never in the Mario games. It’s cartoony and witty and makes you wish that there were more Luigi’s Mansion games…or, well, more Luigi games in general. The guy’s depressed enough. With a gay best friend (Link) and an older brother with a shadow WAY too long for his height, Luigi’s got a lot on his plate. I especially like bar strips! Those cute little Potions for drinks! It’s awesome. Check it out when you get a chance!

Minor Acts of Heroism (or MAOH) is about little heroes! This is a very stylized and colourful series with fun characters–WITH SUPER POWERS! I love the idea of becoming friends with the Superhero, or kid in this case, you idolize. This comic has magic in it. You begin to love the characters as soon as you meet them and kind of wish you were younger and use some sort of rift-opening device to enter the comic and hangout with these kids.

Here we have Paranatural. The premise is that Max and his family have moved to a new town and live about his father’s convenience store. But Max isn’t quite “normal.” HE SEES DEAD PEOPLE!! Actually, he sees spirits. Along with the rest of the Activity Club at his new school, he gets into shenanigans fighting evil spirits and possessed toilet plungers.

From gaming kitties to little boys with super powers, I enjoy these online comics! I hope you will, too. As I get back into online comic reading/following, I may add more or make another post. For now give me suggestions!

- Lauren

P.S. I’m a big sister now! =D

Teaser Trailer for Red vs Blue Season 10 revealed

Season 9 of Red vs Blue ended in quite the cliffhanger. You can go and check out my review of the final episode here on my old blog.

Season 10 hopes to finally bring the Freelancer storyline to an end, and through this new teaser trailer, we get a glimpse of the history of the Freelancers developed over the previous 9 seasons of the long-running Halo-based machinima.

Season 10 looks to introduce a familiar face to the cast. Elijah Wood, who played as Frodo Baggins in the popular Lord of the Rings franchise, joins the cast of Season 10 as Sigma, the AI fragment of Agent Maine/The Meta. He is shown at the end of the trailer as a fiery Artificial Intelligence unit, and most likely will serve as one of the main antagonists of the season.

Season 10′s first episode will premeire on May 28th.

With files from Wired.com

The History of RBG (Red/Blue/Green): The Machinima

The definition of a “Machinima”, according to the great Wikipedia.com is as follows:

Machinima (play/məˈʃnɨmə/ or /məˈʃɪnɨmə/) is the use of real-time 3D computer graphics rendering engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation. Machinima-based artists, sometimes called machinimists or machinimators, are often fan laborers, by virtue of their re-use of copyrighted materials.

In simpler terms, with the right technology, equipment, patience and time, you could create your own story within the world of a videogame. One outlet that made machinimas more popular was Rooster Teeth Productions, responsible for the critically-acclaimed science-fiction comedy “Red vs Blue”, based off the popular video game series Halo. The story follows a Red and Blue team who are battling within a box canyon, and neither team knows why or to what avail their battling and existence does for the military. The first episode aired on April 1, 2003. The show was only supposed to last a few episodes, but the success and popularity of the show stretched the show even farther, as the team behind RvB are heading into their 10th season. Although they weren’t the first to make machinimas, they were the main inspiration for what would become RBG (Red/Blue/Green), created by myself, and co-created by Anthony Cusimano and Shanise Stewart.

Originally under the title, Our Attempt at RvB (Red vs Blue), the original show idea followed very closely to Red vs Blue’s storyline, and followed two teams in a box canyon in battle with one another. The show was created solely as an inspiration and fan-fiction, and was to be filmed online on the PC version of Halo, but plans for that fell through when we lacked the technology and time to dedicate towards it. The three of us disbanded writing the show, and the final episode of season 1 (Episode 12: To Infinity and Beyond), was written by myself, and I continued the show for another 2 seasons, and 2 sequel series afterwards.

To go into better detail about the story and characters, Season 1 introduced us to the Red Team, which consisted of Lincoln, Rose, Johnson, and Higgins, and the Blue Team, Innes, Leeroy, Dex, and Johnny, who are met by Captain McCloud, an ex-freelancer, and ex-Prophet whose come to Blood Gulch to finish a prophecy that was sealed in stone more than 500 years ago (fiction- by the original RvB soldiers). The Reds and Blues are taken under the wing of Captain McCloud, being forced to put aside their differences and work together to save the universe from the tyrannical leader of the AI (Artificial Intelligence) Corporation, the corporation responsible for the creation of the original AIs from RvB’s story, and is now working with the Gravemind/Flood to create artificial super-soldiers, and declare world domination. The series spanned 50 episodes and 3 seasons before moving to a new sequel.The original 50 episodes/scripts are available below.

Our Attempt at RvB (Red vs Blue)

Season 1:

Episode 1: Pilot

Episode 2: The Blue Team Storm

Episode 3: Don’t Fuk Wit My Treads!

Episode 4: White and Whiterer

Episode 5: Short-Term Invasion

Episode 6: Don’t You Ever Listen?

Episode 7: The Usual

Episode 8: Turbo Lover

Episode 9: Blue vs. Red?

Episode 10: Return to Sender

Episode 11: Initiation of Epic Porportions

Episode 12: To Infinity and Beyond

Season 2:

Episode 13: First of Plenty

Episode 14: No Hope

Episode 15: Where are my 72 Virgins!?

Episode 16: Close, Yet So Far

Episode 17: In the Heat of the Moment

Episode 18: Enjoy the Silence

Episode 19: Farthest from the End

Episode 20: Burned

Episode 21: Getting the Facts Straight

Episode 22: Returning to the Basics

Episode 23: An Ideal Waste of Time

Episode 24: Pasta Tense

Episode 25: It’s a Bird, No a Plane!

Episode 26: You’d Need Big Balls

Episode 27: Leader Abuse

Episode 28: Grass is Always Greener On the Other Side

Season 3:

Episode 29: Cover-up

Episode 30: Side Tracked

Episode 31: Captain Asshole

Episode 32: All Work and No Pay

Episode 33: The Word of the Day Is…

Episode 34: Plan ABC Squared

Episode 35: Last Words

Episode 36: Bright Tasks

Episode 37: Green Fever

Episode 38: Saving Private Higgins

Episode 39: Tainted Blood

Episode 40: Seems All Too Easy…

Episode 41: All Seriousness Aside

Episode 42: Lights, Camera, Action!

Episode 43: It Was a Pleasure Serving You, Dumb Ass!

Episode 44: Reunion

Episode 45: Tick-Tock

Episode 46: Can We Procrastinate?

Episode 47: Preparations Complete

Episode 48: Re-Schedule or Come Back Later

Episode 49: Broken Bridges

Episode 50: Next Stop: 1000 Years

END OF OOARVB SERIES

The end of Our Attempt at RvB was another turning point for the series. It was here that I decided it was best to continue in the direction I had been taking the series since the end of Season 1. No longer could the show be an attempt at another Red vs Blue, but it soon morphed into its own sort of thing. The name RBG came during the turning point in the middle of Season 3, when Innes’ character disbands the Blue Team, starting his own team with three of the AI Spartans that turn against their master and develop identities of their own. Reverend was killed during Episode 41, and then had his body infected by Ric later near the series finale. The remaining three green team members, Orion, Duncan and Digit, stayed with Innes and continued on to RBG as regular series characters. RBG in the color scheme stands for Red-Blue-Green, which represents all three teams, and serves as the extended sequel to the OOARVB series, with 27 episodes in total.

The series continues 1000 years in the future (filmed in Halo 2 universe), as the remaining three teams must reunite back at Command and continue their pursual of Ric, the revealed leader of the AI Corporation and bring him down. The series adapts a new genre of science-fiction-action-dramedy, as is considered to be one of the biggest turning point series of the three, as it also brings to conclusion the end of the AI Corporation as well as the original Reds and Blues.

RBG (Red/Blue/Green):

Episode 1: Recovery

Episode 2: Gunpoint

Episode 3: Judge

Episode 4: Survivor

Episode 5: Return

Episode 6: Elites

Episode 7: Disagreements

Episode 8: Mislead

Episode 9: Throne

Episode 10: Bitchonary

Episode 11: Tease

Episode 12: Suicide

Episode 13: Pressure

Episode 14: Pinned

Episode 15: Regroup

Episode 16: Takeover

Episode 17: Yield

Episode 18: Persona

Episode 19: Precision

Episode 20: Issues

Episode 21: Blindside

Episode 22: Gathering

Episode 23: Election

Episode 24: Course

Episode 25: Pawn

Episode 26: Package

Episode 27: End

End of RBG Series

Higgins, Orion, Duncan and Digit remain behind with Captain McCloud and Ruby to enlist in the freelancer program in the second sequel series, RBG Z, which delves further into the histories of both AI Spartan Orion, who carries a huge secret that could tear the very fabric of the remaining Freelancers apart, as well as Raine, the business partner of Ric from RBG who carries a much larger connection to the Freelancer tale. The soldiers face off against a new threat, Governor Grady, a corrupt dictator bent on bringing down the Freelancers once and for all. The series also introduces a new squad of Red and Blue soldiers as secondary characters who get caught in the middle of this growing war.

RBG-(Z):

Episode 1: The First Day of the Rest of Your Life

Episode 2: History Lessons

Episode 3: Getting Your Hands Dirty

Episode 4: Beliefs are Redonkulus

Episode 5: Cheap Shots

Episode 6: Making the Best of the Worst

Episode 7: Neighborly Disputes

Episode 8: Assert

Episode 9: The Watchful Eyes of the Innocent

Episode 10: Here Comes the Punch

Episode 11: Just Messin’ with Ya

Episode 12: The Other Guys

Episode 13: Re-living the Past

Episode 14: The Crossroad

Episode 15: So the Story Goes

Episode 16: Split Personality

Episode 17: Breaking out of the Cage

Episode 18: Survival Instincts

Episode 19: Hellfire

Episode 20: On to Bigger and Better Things…

End of RBG-(Z) Series

The series concludes on a rather bittersweet note, as Higgins and returning Blue Team member Johnny are discharged and the new Reds and Blues are sent off to their next location, which is hinted at being Halo: Reach. The show ended and was not continued, until last year, when the series was rebooted, and Carter and I were able to film in-game footage and produce a three-part mini-series called “Squadron 1337 (LEET)”, which followed the original eight soldiers from the Red and Blue armies under command of Captain McCloud in a custom-made mountain base, as the two teams co-mingle and are sent on various missions throughout the galaxy. Although when the fight comes home and the Elites storm the base, Squadron 1337 must band together in order to fight back against the Aliens.

The scripts were lost in limbo, and the only evidence left of this series is in this reveal trailer, that was custom-created to showcase all the work that had been put in last summer to get this done. In the video, I took audio from past videos that included my voice, and the voices of Anthony Cusimano, Adam Pahor, Carter Kee, Ryan Van Bendegem and Matthew Muscat. I hope you enjoy, and thanks for taking this journey down memory lane with me.

The Ghost Of Sparta returns for blood in God of War: Ascension

For all you God Of War fans, myself included, developers studio Sony Santa Monica are back with another God Of War game, God of War: Ascension. You may be thinking, “Where could they take Kratos now? He has been through hell and back, what’s next?”

Well, we have seen all his struggles after his main life altering experience. For the non-GoW fans or future fans a bit of a spoiler – he kills his wife and child by accident in the name of the gods, thus the blood-lust revenge. But we have never been given a clear story of the events leading to this point.

This upcoming game seems to fill that void, in other words it is a prequel to the other 3 games (main story wise). It will cover the events leading up to his hatred of the gods, and his replacement of Ares, the original god of war.

After watching the teaser trailer released by IGN Entertainment, I myself felt the fire burn inside, and I’m ready to take control of Kratos again and discover all the events of his haunting past. Hopefully this game  won’t be just a money grab, and hopefully the story will be as interesting as the other games.

With that said, I await a demo, in which case I will write another short review to cover it. Watch the trailer and leave me a comment with your thoughts. Though the trailer is kinda short, hopefully as we move through the months more will come out.

Till next time!

Ace

Book Review: Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer

Growing up, I prided myself on my ability to remember dates and past events that I promised myself I would never forget. I kept a journal, a diary and then when I perceived writing as a frivolous pastime I simplified my daily ramblings to the 1.5” square on my yearly themed calendar. I keep all the past year’s calendars in a box at my mom’s house and I often look back recalling a specific date, bring up a specific memory. I have done this casually since I was 12.

And then, last summer, as I was acting like a lady getting my nails done, I picked up the latest issue of Discovery Magazine and I opened it to a review of Joshua Foer’s, “Moonwalking with Einstein”. Immediately, my science taste buds were tickled and I promise myself I would remember to read it one day. That day came mid December – a present from my brother.  It was a darker time, when the candle of my love for journalism was slowly burning out. I sought refuge in Foer’s words and experiences as a freelance science journalist who also fancied the memory, and that’s when I learned that what I had been doing with my calendars was ultimately training the specific part of my brain that optimizes my memory limit.

“Moonwalking with Einstein” is investigative journalism at its finest. Foer surrenders himself and his seemingly “normal” memory into the hands of his interviewees turned coaches and one year later, finds himself in the US Memory Championships. The “normal” short term memory can hold seven things at once (accurate to two points), this is where Foer began and by the end he could memorize a freshly shuffled deck of cards in less than two minutes. Everyone Foer talked to about the extent of one’s memory and its relation to one’s IQ, claims, “anyone could do it.” This, is where I became intrigued.

“I’m anyone,” Foer thought, and he proved it true, through constant observation over the entire memory optimization process, bringing us along with him as he describes his transformation from his perspective being sure to stay honest, like a true journalist would.

I worship Foer’s ability to connect with his interviewees, he approaches it cautiously and often asks questions on impulse, but because of his genuine interest and expert-like way of being honest about not knowing anything about memory tests or memory functions, I still sat on the other side wanting to partake in his exploration.

He interviews the best memories in the world and the worst, and somewhere in there he defined what it means to have memories and that we are the sum of all of them bound up in the picture book of our life. He outlines the negative effects humans created when we invented time.

“You can exercise daily and eat healthily and live a long life, while experiencing a short one. If you spend your life sitting in a cubicle and passing papers, one day is bound to blend unmemorably into the next – and disappear. That’s why it’s important to change routines regularly, and take vacations to exotic locales, and have as many new experiences as possible that can serve to anchor our memories. Creating new memories stretches out psychological time, and lengthens our perception of our lives.”

Now, would I recommend this book? Well, the answer is without any doubt yes, and I knew this before the second chapter. So if you’re a sucker for casual non-fiction writing then I’m sure you’ll appreciate “Moonwalking with Einstein”, and if you ever find yourself daydreaming about the inner workings of one’s thought process or just have a soft side for science, or a curiosity for why you sometimes reach your intended destination but can’t figure out why you’re even there in the first place, then I’d say it’s for you.

Even though Foer explains that it is not a self-help book, I still found it to be a great introduction tutorial.

Rating: 8.5/10

Support Outbreak campaign hopes to bring the series back

Deep within the underbelly of a virtual city that was once home to one of the largest pharmaceutical corporations on the planet, is the story of Capcom’s Resident Evil franchise. From its humble beginnings on the PlayStation in 1996, Resident Evil has grown to be known as one of the greatest survival horror game series of all time. According to ranker.com, a site that provides top charting lists of movies, games and more, Resident Evil games are listed multiple times in its Top 51 Greatest Survival Horror Games, claiming top spot with Resident Evil 4 and eight other spots on the list. However in 2003, Resident Evil brought a different kind of survival horror to PlayStation 2 owners, with its first-ever online cooperative game, Resident Evil Outbreak. Outbreak later spawned a sequel in 2005, Resident Evil Outbreak File #2 and, since its release, the series has gained a cult following deep within the Capcom community.

Top Row (from left to right): George, Kevin, Mark, David
Bottom Row (from left to right): Jim, Yoko, Alyssa, Cindy

Outbreak’s lack of sales on both games led Capcom to close down its online servers worldwide because of lack of players. A statement released by Capcom back in March of 2007 revealed that online servers for Resident Evil Outbreak File #2 shit down. This decision came a week after video game publisher Konami pulled their plug on their online servers for their video game, Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence:

“Capcom regretfully announces that the server for our PlayStation 2 online game Resident Evil Outbreak: File #2 will be closing at the end of March 2007. Since Resident Evil Outbreak File #2 was released in August 2005, Capcom has provided a server enabling consumers to experience the online element of this game free of charge. Regretfully, conditions now dictate that we must close down this server effective March 31, 2007. Naturally it will still be possible to play this game offline, but the online component will no longer be available. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who have been loyal members of the RE Outbreak community for the past months.”

Only a few months later did Capcom post on their blog on Capcom-Unity.com that the original Resident Evil Outbreak game would shut their servers down indefinitely on December 31, 2007, along with another title, Monster Hunter. This post further explains the reasoning behind the servers shutting down:

Capcom is the developer behind the Resident Evil franchise.

“This news was just confirmed internally, and I wanted people to know ASAP. After more than 3 years of online service, the external company providing server hosting for both Resident Evil: Outbreak and Monster Hunter has decided to exit the PlayStation online business altogether, with no possibility of outsourcing either the service or the technology. This means that online gameplay for both games will come to an end on December 31, 2007. Fortunately, the single player campaigns in both games will be unaffected by this change and will continue to provide hours of entertainment on both PlayStation 2 and backwards-compatible with PlayStation 3 hardware. Thank you for supporting Capcom’s online titles over the years! — And just so you know, although these are older titles, we did want to make an effort to keep the fans happy and continue supporting online play. We’ve tried to extend the contract, move it someplace else, etc. It’s not happening. The hosting partner (who I guess remains nameless here) is just quitting the business entirely and doesn’t want to mess around with the time/money involved in porting anything. Thanks to everyone who has kept these games fun online for so many years.”

A forum on Capcom-Unity.com has brought together fans of the classic two-part game series to voice their thoughts on the game, as well a petition to bring Outbreak back in high-definition (HD) to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles.

Chris Hodge (a.k.a. TwiGGy), is the forum discussion creator on Capcom-Unity.com, and created the forum pertaining to the discussion of the Resident Evil Outbreak games. Hodge said he wanted the Outbreak community to congregate and chat about their favourite series.

“The Outbreak games aren’t the most popular games in the Resident Evil franchise, but the do have some of the most loyal and die-hard fans out there,” he said.

So far, the forum has the largest amount of views and replies across all threads, racking in more than 2 million views and over 21,000 replies. That’s more outcry than all general discussions about the game’s main series combined.

That most likely didn't end well...

The Resident Evil Outbreak series follows eight regular citizens of Raccoon City who get caught in the middle of the initial T-Virus spread caused by the Umbrella Corporation. Suddenly, the survivors are held up at the local bar and band together in order to fight back against the reigning terror that’s struck their once peaceful city.

The most common enemy in the Resident Evil series is the zombie, which are regular citizens of Raccoon City who have lost their battle to the T-Virus outbreak, or have been infected by the hordes of zombies enough that the virus has re-animated their bodies, and they hunger for the flesh of the living.

Graeme Arkell, also known as Zombie_Professor on the Capcom forums, is a senior member of the Support Outbreak campaign. Arkell studies History and English at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, British Colombia, and has been a member of the campaign team since 2009.

“I specialize in contacting game websites and spreading the word about our campaign,” said Arkell. “We are a strong team, consisting of over 700 members. We are the largest group of Resident Evil Outbreak supporters on the internet.”

Arkell’s campaign was featured in a January 2012 issue of a magazine called “Evil-Mag”, which is based out of Germany’s largest Resident Evil fan site, Resident Evil Zone.

Arkell said he enjoys discussion on his forum on Resident Evil Zone, which he has been writing on for many months. “It really has been a pleasure discussing the Resident Evil Outbreak series with fans who are as passionate about the games as I am,” he said.

Hodge said he really enjoys the Outbreak series, and adds that it was ahead of its time, “Playing games online with your friends is common today. But, back then, it was new and exciting,” he said.

In a world where online gaming has become the norm, many fans of Outbreak do feel that the game needs to make a comeback. Resident Evil’s style of framework has changed over the last few years, and it has shown in their games. According to Giantbomb.com, the early days of Resident Evil, including Outbreak, subjected players to a fixed camera angle in an area of the room that watched the player like a surveillance camera on the walls of a top-secret military facility. The concept added a cinematic perspective to each room, but made the controls slower overall.

When Resident Evil 4 came to life on the PlayStation 2 back in 2005, the series adopted a third-person-over-the-shoulder camera angle, which gave players a face-to-face approach with their enemies. Giantbomb.com adds that Resident Evil 4 not only went in a new direction with the camera angle, but there were no more zombies, only parasites. The “Las Plagas” became an even greater threat for the protagonists of Resident Evil 4 and 5, which required more than a bullet-in-the-head approach to defeat.

Something smells funny...

The inaugural multi player installment to the horror franchise, Resident Evil: Outbreak challenged gamers to team up with three others online in an attempt to escape the T-Virus and Raccoon City, as stated on Resident Evil Outbreak’s page on Giantbomb. Online play offered a completely new experience to Resident Evil — the chance to play as one of the infected. When players died in an online server, the player could play for a few minutes as a zombie, and mimic the movements and moves a zombie makes within the same servers as their friends, and therefore asked an extra-challenging question: would you kill your friends, the same friends you just played with and worked together with? One could choose not to attack their friends, but really, that’s not the concept Capcom was going for.

Arkell states that, along with the online petition in place, fans would enjoy seeing not only a sequel to the Outbreak series, but ports of the original Outbreak game and Resident Evil Outbreak File #2 to consoles such as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

The petition created to bring the Outbreak series back to life has gathered close to 8,500 signatures since 2007, and the Support Outbreak campaign hopes to hit 10,000 before sending their petition results to Capcom directly. The petition states:

“This is a petition asking to please continue the Resident Evil Outbreak series. Many fans would really like to see a File #3. We really enjoyed playing Resident Evil online and would like to see another game. All we really want is all 20 levels including the levels from File #1 and File #2, We would also like for the loading times to be fixed so that they can be shorter. Perhaps if you make it for the PlayStation 3 then you will have everything you need to make the game perfect. You can make a lot of money with Resident Evil: Outbreak if you just give it one more chance.”

Hodge said that he doesn’t believe in online petitions, but feels the Outbreak petition could turn heads.

“I do feel that the petition is at least doing better than nothing, and at the very least, could bring to the attention of Capcom executives that there is a fan base for this series.”

Arkell adds that he encourages players to join the campaign and to share their thoughts on the series.

“With a few more fans of the series voicing support, our campaign may succeed in convincing Capcom to bring back Resident Evil Outbreak,” he said.

An example of an online server game in the level "Below Freezing Point,", featuring Yoko, George, Kevin and Jim.

Capcom sadly could not be reached for comment directly on this story. E-mails and phone calls were sent out over the course of this story’s development process, but to no avail. Many fans on the forums suspected that Capcom shut their servers down because of “hacking issues.”

Hodge tells the fans that continued support is necessary to grab Capcom’s attention.

“Keep supporting Outbreak! Capcom has been known to give their fans what they want,” Hodge said, as encouragement to the many fans of Outbreak that have yet to raise their voice.

Hodge adds that the discussion forum he runs is a great place to start in having one’s voice heard.

“The best way to have your voice heard is to get on the Outbreak Discussion topic on Capcom-Unity.com and let them know how you feel.”

With files from Ranker.com, Giantbomb.com, Kotaku, and Capcom-Unity, as well as interviews with Chris Hodge and Graeme Arkell

Pokemon Black and White 2 Updates (Apr 22/2012)

A new trailer was revealed through Serebii.net which depicts more of the same game footage, but also introduces Keldeo, a special event Pokemon available to Black and White originally.

An image of CoroCoro magazine, confirming Keldeo's appearence in the new Black and White 2 games.

What connection does Keldeo have to Black and White 2? Keldeo is seen during the trailer in combat with Emboar briefly, and is supposed to have a much larger appearence during next week’s new information reveal on Pokemon Smash in Japan.

The trailer also gives a better look at the new Water gym, which looks to be flooded, and allows your character travel across the water by lillypad. If history repeats itself, it shall be another gym shaped in the fashion of a puzzle, complete with trainers and all.

So as for next week, keep an eye open to Serebii.net for anything relating to the legendary Pokemon, Keldeo. Until then, here’s the second trailer for Black and White 2.

 

With files from Serebii.net