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Criterion adds its own style to Need for Speed series
It was obvious that the Need for Speed series needed fresh blood. Electronic Arts has been tinkering with the series for a while now. The company had adjusted the development cycle. Then, it split teh franchise into three different flavors to appeal to three different audiences. They came up with NFS: Nitro; NFS: Shift and [...]
Unboxing the Xbox 360 Slim
Microsoft sent over a special piece of mail the other day. Actually, it was several items put in one big package. They sent over a new chatpad, a data transfer cable, a 16GB USB drive and lastly the Xbox 360 Slim. So how does it stack up against the old Xbox 360? Check out the [...]
Dead Rising 2 looks to be in good hands with Blue Castle Games
I was worried that Dead Rising 2 would fall short of the first one. I always expect this when the original developer hand the reins to an unproven studio. Going from a Keiji Inafune-led internal team to Blue Castle Games didn’t spur much confidence. The last titles Blue Castle put out were, in order, MLB [...]
Homefront ups intensity with drama, story that hits close to heartland
One of the most harrowing things about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was the premise. It imagines a war between the United States and Russia, in which the battle isn’t abroad, it erupts in suburbia. It connects the fighting we see on TV to the touchstones of American life — the strip malls, the [...]
Red Faction: Armageddon takes franchise in new direction
I’m standing at the THQ’s E3 booth, waiting for Volition designer David Abzug. I have just seen a demo ofRed Faction: Armageddon, and I have to admit: The sequel wasn’t what I expected. I wanted more open-world gameplay, more destructable environments, more of Mars to explore. What I saw seemed like a step back with [...]
Deux Ex: Human Revolution looks to capture magic of original
Before shooters were genetically modified, there was Deus Ex. I have an unrelenting affection for Warren Spector’s cyberpunk shooter. Back then, I never played a game that allowed so much player choice and incorporated role-playing elements. It had a distinct vision of the future that captured the dark sense of fear and paranoia that pervaded [...]
Nintendo comes out of E3 with the most buzz
There are two kinds of surprises at E3. The first strikes suddenly like a lightning bolt to the spine. It’s the announcement of Twilight Princess, an event that made grown men cry, or the unveiling of Fumito Ueda’s upcoming The Last Guardian. The other surprise is more complicated. It’s knowing vaguely about a game or [...]
E3 2010 Day 4 in pictures
The last day of E3 ended with booth tours through Konami, EA and Activision. Along the way, I had a chance to snap photos of some booth babes and some unusual wrestling matches. Toward the end, I had to bail early because game 7 of the NBA Finals was starting next door and I didn’t [...]
Concrete Blonde to reunite at Regency
By Jim Harrington
http://twitter.com/jimthecritic
Johnette Napolitano sounds relaxed as she chats by phone from her home in Joshua Tree. The conversation is full of hearty laughs as she quickly jumps through a variety of topics, ranging from her undying love for Roxy Music to her passion for wine.
The vocalist claims she usually isn’t this calm in the [...]