After Burner Climax Video Shoots a Lot of MissilesPosted by Mitch on February 23rd, 2010

I don’t know how I missed this trailer, but apparently Sega is bringing After Burner Climax to XBLA and the PSN later this year. The trailer for this game looks freaking sweet, and I can’t wait to play it then promptly give up in frustration.

Fix up the music and you’ve got yourself a sale, Sega. Between this and Sonic the Hedgehog 4 coming to consoles later this year, it looks like Sega is back on the path to winning gamer’s hearts once again. Who’s going to pick this up, and for what system? Do any of you remember playing the old version of this in that massive arcade cabinet?

Review: Halo: LegendsPosted by Mitch on February 22nd, 2010

It’s actually kind of surprising that the Halo franchise has been bereft of a film adaptation at this point; considering the massive amount of acclaim the series has garnered, bringing it to the screen, big or small, has been a curious process. A few years back, it looked as if Halo was making definite strides towards a movie: Peter Jackson was tied to the project with promising newcomer Neill Blomkamp tapped to direct. A short film directed by Blomkamp surfaced around E3 2007 depicting a battle between human soldiers and Covenant troops and it was widely praised. After that, though, the Halo film got caught in development hell and it has since been canceled.

The next mention of a cinematic Halo came at ComicCon 2009 where Microsoft announced the creation of 343 Industries, an internal company focused solely on the management of the Halo IP. With former Bungie veteran Frank O’Conner leading the newly formed team, 343 showed off a trailer for Halo: Legends, a collaborative effort with several renowned Anime companies.

Comprised of seven short films, all about ten minutes in length, Legends promised to give an in-depth look at snippets of the Halo universe, including a peek at the oft-mention but curiously absent Forerunners, the race that built the titular ring-shaped space stations of the series. A couple of the shorts were released as a preview on the X-Box LIVE exclusive Halo Waypoint, with the full retail version being hitting stores on February 16. Now that the whole product it out in the wild, how does it stand up?
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New Splinter Cell: Conviction Story Trailer Channels Jack BauerPosted by Mitch on February 18th, 2010

Splinter Cell’s release date is finally set in stone, so we can all sit back and enjoy the upcoming barrage of videos to remind us that, yes, the game is coming out this year. Ubisoft just released a trailer to give us a quick refresher on what everyone’s favorite grizzled super spy, Sam Fisher, has been doing since Double Agent. Take a look:

Man, all he needs to do is headbutt a fashion designer and he’ll be Keifer Sutherland. All jokes aside, the game does look sharp, but I’ll still worried about the game’s controls, specifically the ability to queue actions and watch them go off. I’m sure that the game will pull it off just fine, but it does make me a bit nervous. I’m going to pick it up regardless, but what about you fellas? Is this one your purchase list, or will you still be playing one of the millions of games that comes out between now and April? Has the news about Assassin’s Creed II’s DRM done anything to dampen your enthusiasm for Ubisoft products?

Life After Halo: What Does Bungie Have Planned?Posted by Mitch on February 16th, 2010

When you’ve been basing all your games for the past ten years around one franchise, at a certain point I’d imagine that you’d like to spread your wings a bit and try something different. With Halo: Reach drawing ever closer, various Bungie employees are starting the hype machine for their next title after Reach, a game that will be set in a brand new universe; “something totally original from Bungie”, in the words of Brian Jarrard, the studio’s Community Director.

It’s been a recurring theme whenever anything Halo crops up: people come out of the woodwork maintaining that Bungie can’t do anything but make sub-par (yet extremely popular and lucrative) shooters set in the same generic sci-fi universe. As an avid Halo fan, my automatic response is to defend these claims but after ten years I’d like the see what else Bungie can make. While their talents for building worlds and back-stories haven’t really come across in the games themselves, those of us who cared to read the Halo novels found that the setting of Halo was a lot more deep and varied than a guy in green armor smearing aliens into paste. I for one would be interested to see Bungie take a stab at a Western-style RPG, but that’s just me.

Now that Bungie is an independent studio it’s no longer tied to Microsoft’s whims, so it’ll be interesting to see where their next title ends up. I’m guessing that they will still be a 360-focused studio, but the thought of Bungie making a PlayStation 3 title has me interested. What do you guys want to see out of Bungie post Reach? Do you think this is actually Bungie’s last Halo game, a claim they’ve made in the past? Sound off!

Source: Kotaku

Alan Wake for PC Gets Lost in the DarkPosted by Mitch on February 13th, 2010

Bad news for all you PC hopefuls out there: it turns out that Remedy and Microsoft have officially canceled the PC version of Alan Wake, a story about a novelist with writer’s block who goes to vacation in a small town Stephen King style, only to get embroiled in some paranormal shenanigans. Originally announced as a PC exclusive when Remedy started making the game five years ago, the development had since shifted to be 360 centric but up until yesterday it was assumed that a PC release would be following shortly after the 360 version drops in May.

As to why the PC version got canned, a Microsoft spokesperson had this to say:

“Some games are more suited for the intimacy of the PC, and others are best played from the couch in front of a larger TV screen. We ultimately realized that the most compelling way to experience “Alan Wake” was on the Xbox 360 platform, so we focused on making it an Xbox 360 exclusive.”

The spokesperson goes on to maintain that although Microsoft and Remedy both have a history of crafting PC titles, this choice was all about making the right decision as to which platform could best represent the game.

How do you guys feel about this development? Considering that Alan Wake was a PC title first, this seems to be a bit of a slap in the face, but that’s just me. Not to toot the “PC is dying” horn, but this is just one more nail in the coffin. Tell us you thoughts!

Source:1up

Halo: Reach ViDoc Prepped for Combat InsertionPosted by Mitch on February 12th, 2010

Microsoft’s X10 event wrapped up yesterday, and what a day it was for casual fans and X-Bots alike. Long-coming psychological thriller Alan Wake actually has a release date, and Crackdown 2 is looking very fine in my opinion. The only real disappointment to come out of X10 was the rough-looking trailer for Dead Rising 2, which tempered my excitement for the zombie-slaying sequel a bit. The best news to come out of X10, though, was the announcement of the date for the Halo: Reach beta! Slated for May 3, this beta may be a bit far away but I’m sure that Bungie has some excellent treats to keep the rabid fans sated for a while, like the following ViDoc.

This documentary, even though it’s full of Alpha footage and concept art, has me ridiculously excited for this game. Honestly, when the video gives you a comparison of the graphical changes of the Marine and assault rifle models from Halo 3 to Reach, it’s enough to warm my jaded heart. What do you guys think? Can Bungie finally pull off a more human Halo story? Who else is getting this game?

Get Your Games in Now: Original X-Box Losing LIVE SupportPosted by Mitch on February 5th, 2010

It seems like the end of an era somehow, but as the current generation pushes into the future it had to happen. Microsoft announced their plans to discontinue support for the original X-Box on LIVE today, and that includes playing backwards compatible games online on the 360. X-Box LIVE general manager Marc Whitten explains this move as necessary to facilitate the continued evolution of LIVE as a service, but I’m sure that more than a few people will be disappointed with this action. Microsoft has continually stated that the furtherance of original X-Box games have been holding up certain LIVE features on the 360 such as raising the friend list cap to 100 Gamertags.

While the official press release does do a lot to trumpet the Microsoft horn, it’s good to see that the LIVE team is taking steps to make sure that those who will be adversely affected by this move are being taken care of. Users who are still subscribed to the base LIVE service will receive prorated refunds, and Mr. Whitten had this to say about those being left behind:

“We will contact the X-Box LIVE members directly impacted by this change and if this includes you, I encourage you to check your LIVE messages and associated e-mail account over the coming weeks for more details and opportunities. We view you as a partner in this process.”

Interesting developments indeed, but what innovations are coming to LIVE that required this change? Who here is going to get in a few more games before the serivce gets axed on April 15? Just for kicks, what were your favorite original X-Box games to play online? Halo 2 was a good one, obviously, but who played Crimson Skies? Oh yeah, have you heard that XBL Arcade crested a hundred million in sales last year?

Source: Major Nelson and X-Box 360 Press

What The? Gears of War in Lost Planet 2?Posted by Mitch on January 26th, 2010

As far as video game cross-overs go, we’ve seen some great ones (Marvel vs Capcom 2) and some not so great ones (Spawn in Soul Caliber). This new promo for the X-Box 360 version of Lost Planet 2, I just can’t place. On one hand, Marcus and Dom have had a lot of experience slaughtering strange abominations of nature; on the other, putting two characters from an exclusive Microsoft game in a Capcom multi-platform title seems odd. One wonders who the PS3 purchasers will get as bonus characters.

Consider me officially intrigued, though. I tried the original Lost Planet but couldn’t really get into it, though I’ve always felt that the title may have some merit. What do you guys think? Worth a purchase, or more of a rental? Who do you think the PS3 owners will get, if anyone?

Halo Legends Clip is a Thing You Can WatchPosted by Mitch on January 22nd, 2010

Most of you have probably figured this little factoid out already, but I am GamerSushi’s resident Halo fan-boy. I seriously loves me some Halo, so naturally you would figure that a series of animated shorts would be right up my alley.

Well, as anyone who becomes engrossed with a franchises’ fictional history can tell you, if you outsource a project to a collection of companies and they do not get it exactly right you will have a large amount of butt-hurt nerds on your hands. That sounds weird, but I digress. If you haven’t caught any of the Halo animes on Waypoint, now’s your chance to see what you haven’t been missing.

The full DVD/Blu-Ray (irony lol) release is in early Feburary, but I think I’ll pass. What about you guys?

GamerSushi Game Night Part Two: Halo for HaitiPosted by Mitch on January 19th, 2010

There’s been a huge outpouring of support for Haiti from all over the world, but the Caribbean nation is still a disaster zone and more help is needed. For those of us who can’t contribute directly, Bungie Studios, makers of the hugely successful Halo series, is holding a charity where they will donate $100 per every thousand players on Wednesday January 20 and Thursday January 21.

Bungie is hoping to raise over $77,000 dollars, and we here at GamerSushi think that playing some Halo is a great way to assist in this noble cause. On Thursday January 21, we’re having another Halo 3 game night to benefit the humanitarian efforts in Haiti. It’s simple: all you have to do is log onto X-Box LIVE bearing a specific emblem (directions contained within this link) and your contribution will be counted.

Same deal as last time, Eddy (Pwnocchio) and myself (Lubeius) will be sending out invites at 7:30 pm CST (check your time zone here) so leave your Gamertag in the comments below. News about PC and PS3 Game Nights forthcoming, so don’t think we’ve forgotten about you!