Tuesday, December 22, 2009

We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties


Chronic is having some technical issues and will be offline for an unknown period of time.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

80s Transformers + Gears Gameplay = ?

According to an article posted on IGN, the new game planned for 2010 will feature 1980s styled Transformers with Gears of War inspired gameplay and graphics.

"This new entry, Transformers: War for Cybertron, looks to erase all those years of mediocre titles. Developer High Moon Studios (Dark Watch, The Bourne Conspiracy) isn't messing around, either. They're taking cues from Epic Games' highly acclaimed Gears of War franchise to build its gameplay foundation, which the developer is focusing on first and foremost, they say.

Transformers: War for Cybertron is a third-person, over-the-shoulder shooter that utilizes the Unreal engine. Cover is less of a focus, however, as players will be able to transform at any time causing battles to be more about speed and agility.

The story isn't part of any previous movie or comic series. It's brand new, and takes place before the Transformers leave Cybertron and head to Earth. Hasbro is even adopting this story as canon for the franchise.

Transformers: War for Cybertron contains two separate single-player campaigns, one for Decepticon and Autobots each, which are interlinked throughout the main storyline. The game promises online co-op and other modes, too, but details are still under wraps for now."

Monday, December 14, 2009

War!

Tensions have reached a boiling point and War! was recently declared on the Team Fortress 2 servers over on Valve's Steam network. The two warring parties are the Soldiers and the Demo-men, as they each vie for a special super secret class upgrade which will be awarded to the winner. As of this writing the tally is still pretty close, with over a million and a half dead on each side. Who will be victorious? Log on to Steam and help determine the outcome.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

lol 6 Figure Flippaments

A group of top poker players go all in blind for $100K each.

Monday, December 7, 2009

New Super Mario Bros Wii: Impressions


I dont have too many deep thoughts (by Jack Handey) about this game - this isnt a game that makes you think - it just makes you want to keep playing. It doesnt ponder the vagaries of the modern human condition; its essential narrative is that of two brothers who eat mushrooms by the fistful and cavort around a magical fantasy kingdom. It has none of the technological advances of a modern game. The gameplay is all on a strictly 2D plane, there is no real voiceover work, no real cutscenes to speak of, no advanced animation technology, no 1080P, or 720P for that matter, no online play, no online leaderboards, etc etc etc.

But despite all this, NSMBW is not just one of the very best games to come out in 2009, its one of the best platforming games in history - a true sequel to Super Mario World with a feel thats like a hybrid of SMB and SMB3 on LSD. Its easily the most challenging Mario game ever made, surpassing SMB: The Lost Levels for level complexity and overall game length. The difficulty ramps up perfectly: it doesnt get too hectic until around World 7, and then its on like Donkey Kong. The addition of local multiplayer is simply brilliant: with two players many of the stages become more difficult to navigate, while you will be able to access special areas not available in single player, and the boss fights become a breeze. The controls and graphics are perfect, theres not too much to say about them other than that.

For gamers who yearn for the days of yore, when games were 2D and hard as hell, this game is like a minor miracle. I really thought that we might never see a new 2D Mario game on a Nintendo console again in my lifetime. But now I see that I was all wrong. It just took a decade or so of experimenting and finally mastering 3D game design before the higher ups at Nintendo realized that there is a lot of merit to 2D game design as well. Gamers have responded in kind, as of this writing NSMBW is on its way to becoming one of the best selling Nintendo titles of all time. Unlike some of the other waggle-ware that has plagued the system since its launch, NSMBW is a title truly deserving of all the success it gets.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Just Cause 2: Vehicle Stunts


These developers clearly understand what makes a game fun.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Pandemic Studios Farewell Tribute

Mercs 2 and The Saboteur had so much wasted potential. Shame.