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Secret Agent Clank goes deep undercover

Filed under: Ratchet and Clank, Video

Secret Agent Clank is undoubtedly the next really big game on PSP. This addition to the Ratchet franchise adds a fun new spy element. Clank will have to done a few outfits, as evidenced by this video. Being an undercover robot — we can dig it.

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Joystiq hands-on: Left 4 Dead

Filed under: PC, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters, Online

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Having fortunately escaped a swift booting from last night’s EA Spring Break event by PR folk for making an innocent (we swear) “If you make a sequel, will it be titled Right 4 Dead?” query, we sat down and got our kill-on in Turtle Rock Studios‘ PC and Xbox 360 shooter. Our first thought: Maybe this shouldn’t be published under the EA Games brand; EA Sims might suit it better. Because, frankly, we can’t conjure a game that could better be described as a “zombie apocalypse simulator.” Take that, GT5, with your “driving” simulation.

Highlighting the four-player Survivor co-op mode, the event’s Left 4 Dead station featured four HP Blackbird PCs, so we were definitely experiencing the game as an owner of a high-spec gaming rig would. To that end, the game is looking even better than it did at previous showings, wowing us with a bevy of neat visual tricks (flashlights produce rainbow halos when you stare at them straight on, for instance) and fluid character animation that had us making mental comparisons to Call of Duty 4’s lifelike character motion. Left 4 Dead’s visual style — which is largely realistic with just enough style and saturation to lend it a delicate arcade hue — worked its magic and we were soon firmly in the game world’s clutches. Not that we were complaining.
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Alone in the Dark shows off driving gameplay

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Adventure

If you like cheese, then you’re gonna love the new Alone in the Dark gameplay trailer after the break. Try to ignore the giant pop-up on how to turn off the car’s headlights and just focus on the voice acting, which even Resident Evil fans might cringe at. Who knows, maybe the game is supposed to be filled with fromagey goodness?

Considering Alone in the Dark is expected to sell 2-3 million copies this year, that confidence might be a little hard to understand after seeing this “GTA in hell” video. Oh well, hopefully we’ll still be able to light plenty of stuff on fire.

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Joystiq hands-on: Battlefield Heroes

Filed under: PC, First Person Shooters, Online, informal

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Producer Alexander Grondal said the team wants Battlefield Heroes to run on your Grandma’s PC and — with a sub-250MB download and the ability to run on Intel’s anemic integrated video offerings — we’re sure it will. But that doesn’t mean Grams is going to kick the Pogo crack pipe and be racking up levels in Heroes anytime soon. It’s about as simple a shooter as you can imagine — everything from the cartoon aesthetic to the streamlined controls reinforce the game’s message: have fun — but it’s still a shooter at heart.

It’s a curious message coming from the same team that’s been bringing the popular, and complicated, multiplayer Battlefield games to the hardcore shooter fans of the world. Has some of their audience grown up? Run out of free time? Still using the same gaming rig they built to play Battlefield 1942 in 2002?

In our concise experience with the game at EA’s Spring Break event in San Francisco last night, we were initially disoriented by the third-person perspective. Even though you see your character, Heroes doesn’t play like a third-person shooter; it’s an FPS through and through. A quick mental adjustment later, and we were running after enemies, grabbing flags, flying planes, and driving tanks.
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Lego Indiana Jones demo now available for PC

Filed under: PC, Action, Adventure

With early buzz for the new Indiana Jones movie being wishy-washy, fans may need to find solace in playing the Lego Indiana Jones game on June 3rd. The PC demo is now available for download and should also be packaged with the Indiana Jones DVDs coming out today.

No word yet on console demos for Xbox 360 or PS3, but we’ve got some calls out for info. We can’t imagine there’d only be a demo for PC. Clearly, somebody from marketing would’ve “chosen poorly” if that were the case.

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Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G sells two million

Filed under: Monster Hunter

While American gamers are still busy playing Grand Theft Auto IV (we still are!), the Japanese have embraced a wholly different kind of game. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G continues its ridiculous sales drive, and has reached the 2 million milestone, in less than 50 days since the release of the game. Are we the only ones that suspect that Capcom might be putting some happy candy in these UMDs?

[Via PSPHyper]

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Go!Explore GPS system on French amazon.com: July release

Filed under: Peripherals

The Go!Explore pack looks to be a rather fun and useful addition to the PSP’s lineup of features. The GPS system is hitting France (and perhaps other parts of Europe) on July 2nd, if amazon.com’s French site is to be believed. There are packages bundling both a GPS and PSP system: giving brand new consumers the chance to jump on the PSP bandwagon. We hope SCEA will announce a similar program in the not-too-distant future.

[Via MAXCONSOLE]

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Vigil Games details Warhammer 40K MMO

Filed under: PC, MMO

While what we know about the game is barely knee-high to a gretchin, PC Gamer magazine recently had the opportunity to speak with a pair of folks behind Vigil Games’ upcoming Warhammer 40,000 MMO, specifically general manager David Adams and studio creative director Joe Madureira. Both shed a few details on what we can expect while we wait patiently to kill rats aboard space hulks for the emperor.

Says Adams, the game will be “much more intense” and combat-focused than the traditional fantasy MMOs upon which we’ve cut our teeth, giving us all the more reason to want to trade up our broadsword for a storm bolter. However, the dev notes that the MMO “will be an RPG,” adding that “Relic has the RTS angle covered with the awesome Dawn of War series - we are making an RPG.” Other interesting tidbits from the article include note that the game will include all of the tabletop game’s “important” races, customizable characters, a assortment of solo, party-based, and PvP missions, and the possibility of in-game vehicles as well. We can’t wait to see how the tabletop war game makes the leap to MMO, but as it stands, in the grim darkness of the far future … there is only waiting.

[Via Massively]

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