Gravity Rush 2: Will be for the PS VITA!

     In some exceptional news for the day, I see someone questioned Sony's Yoshida on Ask Playstation:

Hello Mr. Yoshida :) I have a questions. You know something about Gravity Daze 2? Console? Release Date? Something? Thanks. @yosp #psvita
— Adherley Cruz Ortiz (@AdherleyCruzO) December 23, 2014

     His wonderful reply was:

@AdherleyCruzO Yes, it is designed for the PS Vita.
— Ask PlayStation (@AskPlayStation) December 23, 2014

     It is an excellent thing to hear that Gravity Daze (Gravity Rush in America) is getting a Playstation Vita specific sequel.  It has been over a year since the "Fall Again" teaser trailer was first put out and we get a late Christmas gift of a new update.  Gravity Rush still stands, to me at least, as the best game the Vita has available, and the system could definitely use a few more like it.  I think the Vita needs more amazing games developed specifically for it on its own.  So now we wait to see if there'll be another Uncharted or the like on the way.

     Source [ Niche Gamer ]

Guardians of the Galaxy: The Universal Weapon Game Review (Android)

I finally get to play as Quasar! (Lower right)

     After a couple months of being out, I have returned to this game because they've had multiple updates to expand the roster of playable characters and fix some bothersome bugs.  So now Guardians of the Galaxy: The Universal Weapon has finally added the character I originally wanted to play as - Quasar (also known as Captain Marvel, Phyla-Vell, and Martyr)- I am once again invested in playing.

     Honestly, with all the doomed movie tie-ins I'm fairly surprised that this one isn't too bad.  It is essentially a tap-based action game with some light RPG elements.  Thankfully there are no IAPs hindering the way to enjoyment either.
 What Guardians of the Galaxy: The Universal Weapon has going for it is a slew of characters and a fairly decent story.  There really isn't any need to know the history of the comics, or a need to have seen the film, as they've woven all the backstory you would need right into the game.  It starts with a couple limited characters in a prison break and ramps up to saving the galaxy.

Interesting that they added the newly Marvel character Angela, formerly from Image comics.

     Along the way through the Battle Mode (the story campaign) you can collect in game currency in the form of coins and shards for unlocking characters.  The items you can buy with coins increase various damage and defense stats.  Really simple stuff.  There are only so many characters you can us in the story mode, but everyone purchased with shards is accessible (after unlocking) to use in the second game mode: The Arena.  A combat arena of wave after wave of enemies.  So it is standard horde mode stuff.  But it is also a really nice time waster, as difficulty is gradually increasing while you level your characters up.

     Combat is simple, drag from character to enemy or tap to initiate attacks.  SPecial moves and combos can also be done through quick taps on characters and icons then onto an enemy.  Nothing as smooth as a true beat-'em-up, but entertaining no less.  The only issue I've found is when characters get bunched up there is a problem tapping the individual you want.  Often times you'll have to waste valuable battle seconds in a pinch to move someone out of the way to get the person you wanted in the first place.
     In addition there are a lot of small challenges to complete for bonuses.  Like surviving a number of waves with Gamora, or defeating so many guards with Drax, and heal so many points with Groot.  Very small little things to keep an eye out for during the 2 modes of play.

     During this you'll also be gathering ISO-8 to slowly add stats through play.  Like the equipment to boost damage and defense, ISO-8 does similar things with crystals, just on a much slower and smaller scale.  Nothing huge or game changing, but by the end of the game's tale, you'll likely be far under-powered for the last battle's onslaught.  This is the one place I felt the game failed miserably.
     The last battle is hundreds of times harder than any other level in the game- it would be safe to say it is more difficult than all the other levels combined.  For some reason if you don't have Mantis (best healer) and someone that can immediately drop a shield at the beginning of the match at least one of your characters will die within 2 seconds.  I am not joking about this, I played the level roughly 40 times.  Tried recombining crystals and creating much more powerful larger ones, and I still got crushed.  Over and over.  With numerous power ups that take forever to put together for defense- and I was still being obliterated in seconds.  
     In the end I lucked out with the team of fully leveled Star Lord, Mantis, Rocket, and Beta Ray Bill I managed to pull through with 3 of the 4 still standing.  A very frustrating battle more suggestive of a need to do weeks of grinding rather than the casual style the rest of the game led me to believe it would be.

     Overall, Guardians of the Galaxy: The Universal Weapon is a lot of fun and very worth the $4.99 price tag.  It is a little repetitive, but has enough variety to keep players engaged.  The fact I keep going back to it should be telling enough.

     I see it is at a discounted price currently:

     iTunes has it at $2.99, Windows for $1.99 (until Jan 1, 2015), and I can't see the Google Play price because I bought it already.

     And if you'd like to see my review of the [ Guardians of the Galaxy ] film.

The Last Guardian: Progress: Dec. 11, 2014 News Update

     It's a strange thing to still hold high hopes for The Last Guardian.  The production woes it has had since the original announcement at E3 in 2009 are huge.  In late 2011 both the executive producer (Yoshifusa Hayama) and the Team ICO founder and director Fumito Ueda left the project.  But the game is still progressing.

     Sony's worldwide President Shuhei Yoshida has confirmed many times that the game is still coming.  But it has been the slowest burn possible.  Today we get some decent news that makes the wait much more tolerable.  Well, at least a little bit easier.  I've always said I'd rather wait for a heavily delayed good game, than a rushed pile of crap.

     According to creator Fumito Ueda, The Last Guardian is not only still being developed, we get a curious new statement to explain the long years of delays.  He says that the progress is "under completely new conditions."

     Ueda had this to say to Kotaku Australia:

“Talks with Sony Computer Entertainment on The Last Guardian have been ironed out, and we’re making progress under completely new conditions. I’m also working on some other things that I’ll hopefully be able to show in time if progress is smooth.”

     I can only speculate here, but I've long thought they have been cranking the graphics up as far as possible and porting it to PS4, with perhaps a multiplayer function with the PS Vita.  I've mentioned it in plenty of other posts, I just wish we'd get a little more information.

     Some other posts [ The Last Guardian ]

     Source [  Dengeki PlayStation via Kotaku via IGN ]

Mad Max: Fury Road: New Official Full Trailer!

     I'm not quite sure what it is about this trailer that appeals to me.  It has got awesome actors, ludicrous stunts, and for some reason oil is being used up and water is being depleted- but they can drive vehicles constantly which makes no sense (yet- maybe they'll find a different fuel for automotives)- but it still looks amazing.

The Penguins of Madagascar: Dr. Blowhole Returns – Again! Review (PS3)

     Over the last two months, in preparation for the film release of The Penguins of Madagascar, I've been replaying their games.  I'll be starting with this game first, the PS3 version of The Penguins of Madagascar: Dr. Blowhole Returns - Again! because it's been the easily the best of the five games I've played through.

Terminator Genisys: Full Trailer and Thoughts

     A day after the initial Terminator Genisys teaser to the full trailer, the whole one arrives.  After my comments yesterday about being somewhat hopeful, I must say I'm pretty impressed so far.

     There could still be plenty of issues with the movie, as it looks like they've somehow altered the timelines to create a reboot.  The result is an old T-800 protecting Sarah Conner long before the one in 1984 arrives to kill her.  A genuine curiosity has fallen on me as to how they'll pull this off.  WIll John send Kyle Reese back, then send a T-800 further?  Will Sarah think to have her protector send the newer arrival back after defeating it?  That would also make me wonder when time travel is created in this universe.
     That being the case, how is it that Skynet ALWAYS comes to power?  It appears that some things are always destined to happen.

     My impressions after watching the full trailer are that the film stands a pretty good chance of being the true return of Terminator to blockbuster status.  It's awesome to see Sarah Conner be a badass, and Arnold looks good in both old and young forms.  The cast overall is pretty decent.  I'm pretty excited to see Byung-hun Lee as a new T-1000.  He was great in The Good, The Bad, and The Weird, and did a decent job of playing Storm Shadow in those abysmal G.I. Joe movies.

     Now the things that are a little irritating.  I'm bothered by some of the extremely absurd and over-the-top stunts, particularly the bus flipping, these things don't have to occur in every damn new Hollywood film.  You know why Terminator and T2: Judgement Day worked so well?  They kept it mostly small.  Tight stories in small areas.  The cast was small, the effects were fairly practical, and they didn't involve the entire world in the world-changing events.  The biggest, in the "now" times of the movies, shoot-out in the first two movies was the Cyberdyne showdown.  That wasn't even a large scale war- it was a small military group.

     Regardless, I'll be seeing this in hopes it'll be awesome.  I can only hope that it'll rejuvenate the series after the last couple films' ending up being flubs.
 

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel: Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack: The Holodome Onslaught

     Today 2K Australia and Gearbox have announced the 2nd DLC pack for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel.  It will consist of two parts.  The first being the paid portion, The Holodome Onslaught, and a second free portion, the Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack (a free patch)- which adds 10 more levels (10 more skill points!!!) and a 3rd playthrough that scales all enemies to at least your level.  It also has the additional benefit of allowing players to reset the campaign progress at any time!

     Here's the official blurb about the Holodome DLC:

     This add-on pack features all-new narrative content including appearances from veteran Vault Hunters Gaige and Axton, who recently returned to the Crimson Raiders HQ. While they were gone on a mission, they missed out on the events of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and ask Athena to recount the story. Since they’re not the most patient badass Vault Hunters on Pandora, they just want an abbreviated version – only the juicy, violent stuff. 

     As Athena tells the tale, you’ll play through The Holodome Onslaught, a new challenge arena where you’ll fight wave after wave of foes, including some of The Pre-Sequel’s most memorable badasses as well as several new enemies. You’ll also be able to earn new weapons, new class mods, and some radical new heads and skins.

     This DLC will add a little more narrative and a lot more slaughter, mimicking most players' least favorite Borderlands DLC Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot.  This is still better than simply a new character, although I really enjoy the Handsome Jack Doppelganger, and it is adding a bit more story for all of us that are looking for more expansion of the Borderlands saga.
     It is a little disappointing for those of us that bought the Pre-Sequel Season Pass hoping for 4 campaign enhancing story-based DLCs and instead getting a character and a horde mode for the first two, but maybe they'll expand with extra DLCs like Borderlands 2 did with all the bite-sized Holiday add-on Headhunter Packs.

     The Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack: The Holodome Onslaught will be available Dec. 16th and will be available on PSN, Xbox Live, PC, Mac, and Linux.  If you have purchased the Season Pass it will be free, if not it will be $9.99.

     Source [ Borderlands Official ]

Terminator Genisys: Teaser Trailer

     When I first read about Terminator Genisys, my first thought was, "Genisys?  Are you effin' kidding me!?!  That sounds so f***ing dumb!"  It's an absolutely stupid spelling, and it immediately dashed my hopes of seeing a decent version of the franchise again.  Honestly, Terminator and T2: Judgement Day were tremendous films.  Since then we've gotten a couple more awful films and a decent television show with the Sarah Conner Chronicles.

     This teaser has renewed my hopes enough to have me slightly excited once again.  A reluctant hope, but it's there.  It also bothers me that we are getting trailers for trailers as a fairly common occurrence lately.  They regained my curiosity with these 15 seconds.  Maybe tomorrow, they catch my support.

     The cast seems a little odd, with a nearly 70 year old Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his role as the killing machine.  Emilia Clarke, of Game of Thrones fame, as a young Sarah Conner, Jason Clarke from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes as John Conner, Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese, and a few others.  Nothing about this sounds too amazing yet.

     The premise sounds a bit more interesting though:

     On the verge of winning the war against Skynet, Connor sends his trusted lieutenant Kyle Reese back through time to save his mother's life and ensure his own existence. But what he finds on the other side is like nothing he ever expected. After being orphaned at age 9 by a Terminator, Sarah Connor has since been brought up by another Terminator, played by Schwarzenegger, programmed to protect her. This Terminator has then trained her to face her destiny, which she adamantly tries to reject. [ 1 ]

     Of course, I assume she'll be a lippy, headstrong portrayal of the mother of the future's salvation- Sarah Conner- like Edward Furlong's John Conner from T2 in an effort to appeal to the younger crowds.  It looks like they are trying to gain the hip and with it factor of younger individuals with each movie.  If this keeps up we might end up with toddler Sarah Conner and Kyle Reese at a Terminator Day Care.  If that is the case, it'll probably be animated.

     Terminator Genisys is set to release on July 1, 2015.

     Genisys is still a f***ing stupid name.

Game of Thrones: Iron From Ice: Launch Trailer (Telltale Games)

     After the embargoes have lifted, Telltale Games' 6 part Games of Thrones series based upon the show of the same name begins.  This trailer from Episode 1: Iron From Ice launch trailer looks pretty decent.  Some of the characters resemble their HBO counterparts, but not as much as I'd hoped.  That's all right, if the game is good it won't matter.

     This new story tells of House Forrester, a noble family from the north of Westeros, loyal to the Starks of Winterfell. Caught up in the events surrounding the War of the Five Kings, they are thrown into a maelstrom of bloody warfare, revenge, intrigue, and horror as they fight to survive while the seven kingdoms tear themselves apart.  

     You will take on the role of different members of the Forrester household, and determine their fate through the choices you make; your actions and decisions will change the story around you.

     Game of Thrones: Iron From Ice will be available tomorrow Dec. 2.