The newest Dead Space developer diary is all about the sound and music. David Feise and Don Veca, the sound and audio designers on Dead Space, walk us through some the workings of audio and sound they’ve implemented into the game to heighten the atmosphere.

One thing that really separates the audio in Dead Space from other games is the fear emitter system. In other games, such as Resident Evil, there would be a dramatic score playing, but it would keep playing if you just stayed in one place. In Dead Space, the fear emitters control the audio and music based around what the player is doing, so the sounds are rarely ever the same, ensuring a suspenseful feel throughout the game.

One really cool detail that’s revealed at the end of the diary is that they’ve taken the sound the San Francisco BART train makes when it’s crossing the bay and used it in the game. I have to cross the bay every time I go into San Francisco, and this sound really is one of the worst things you’ll ever hear.

If you’re still itching for more info on the game, just head on over to the official Dead Space Web site. What do you all think about what Dead Space is doing with the sound and audio design: will it make for a more frightning gameplay experience?

Popularity: 2% [?]

Share This

Looking back, it’s all to easy to point to the launch of the PlayStation 3 as the low point in Sony’s otherwise domineering position in the console landscape. However, it’s a bit of uncharted waters to hear the CEO of Sony himself, Howard Stringer, finally admit to the bleak outlook of the PS3 at the time.

While speaking at the Wall Street Journal’s D6 conference, Stringer commented that although the PS3 seems to be smelling like a rose at the moment, it wasn’t all that long ago when the console was very much on the ropes — and basically on life-support. Thanks to games like GTA IV, and other unmentioned titles that tapped into the PS3’s powerful architecture (Uncharted comes to mind), things have been on the up and up for them ever since.

That, and the eventual success of the Blu-ray format, kept the PS3 alive long enough for developers to release the games that would make the console relevant in the eyes of consumers. All too aware of what was riding on the battle against HD-DVD (and Sony’s previous record of proprietary formats), Stringer joked that had Blu-ray lost this battle, “Betamax 2″ would be etched on his tombstone.

For once, it’s nice to see Sony admit the obvious, and having it come from the top-tier is a great start. Let’s just hope that they keep this information (their missteps) filed away in the back of their minds, so that we don’t end up with a repeat of a part of what nearly killed a dominant brand in the first place — smoke and mirrors.

[Via GameDaily] 

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Better late than never, it’s finally here — the Destructoid review for Grand Theft Auto IV. Wanting to give this review our fullest attention, we wanted to make sure we had played enough to feel comfortable in our knowledge of the latest GTA before we attempted a review and give you the most honest, unaffected-by-hype review on the Internet.

Given the vastness of GTA IV, you can see how this might take us some time.

The hype train for Grand Theft Auto IV was a large one, and one that is still continuing to roll. With such high expectations, Rockstar would have had to deliver an opus to avoid disappointing the fans, and continue its long trend of spearheading the sandbox genre. 

So, does the current generation rendition of Liberty City meet demand? Have Rockstar truly outdone themselves, or has the series finally cracked under pressure? Join me for the full review after the jump.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Share This

Tom Clancy’s EndWar, probably Ubisoft’s biggest hyped up game of this year. And for good reason too. This is the stepping stone in a new direction Ubisoft is going towards. It’s an RTS game designed just for consoles and implements other Tom Clancy games such as having Ghost Recon soliders and H.A.W.X fighter jets. This is also the first current-gen game allowing players to just use their voice to control every aspect of the game.

Hit the jump to see what I thought of Tom Clancy’s EndWar and it’s voice command system.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

I already previewed a good portion of Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway last month, so I skipped the latest build of the game during Ubidays. I did take a glance at what was going on at least and the only difference was that this preview was for a level towards the end of the game. What can I say? It looks exactly like it did last time. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m really looking forward to the game. In fact, after playing it last month, it made me finally get Band of Brothers on DVD. I’m just tired of all the trailers already. You lose your friends, your soul and blah blah blah. Yeah, war sucks. We get it.

[Editor’s note: Don’t think for a second I’m making fun of the men that fought for this country in World War II. I’m just tired of bullsh*t hype trailers.] 

Popularity: 2% [?]

Share This

Wait, what? What’s Ubisoft doing with Soulcalibur IV? No need to worry folks, Ubisoft is simply handling the PAL distribution of the title. This is still Namco Bandai’s little baby. 

The latest trailer for Soulcalibur IV gives us some insight to the story for the game. Of course, it’s always been pretty much about the same thing in every Soulcalibur so nothing too surprising here in that aspect.

One thing that I did just noticed for the first time is that you can damage your opponents clothing. A few of the ladies lose parts of their outfit as they get sliced up. Either I haven’t been paying enough attention, or this is a new feature in IV. 

THAT’S NOT ALL FOLKS! As well as having bunch of new screenshots for the game, Destructoid is offering you two new gameplay videos! These aren’t just any kind of videos, folks. These two videos show off Darth Vader and Master Yoda battling it out against a couple of other fighters from the Soulcalibur world. Click READ MORE to accept this limited time offer! 

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Let it be known that boxing promoter Don King is totally and completely bats**t crazy. And while there’s no doubt about that, the jury’s still out on 2K Sport’s upcoming boxing title, Don King Presents: Prizefighter. But as King himself declares, he can promote anything.

So promote Prizefighter he will, this time at the newly launched Hypekingdom.com. Whether or not the game is good has become irrelevant, because this is clearly the best Web site to ever exist on the Internet. With features like a Don King “Nickname Generator” (I’m Nick “Convict” Chester, thank you very much), and a dictionary so you can figure out what the legendary promoter is talking about, there’s at least ten minutes worth of fun here.

Disappointingly, the Mad Lib-style customizable hype spoken by Don King that’s promised in the press release didn’t work for me (it just kept “combinating”). But I’ll surely go back to check for Prizefighter screenshots and updates. Because when someone promotes a game by yelling “Buy my game,” you really don’t have a choice, do you?

Prizefighter is coming to Xbox 360, Wii, and Nintendo DS this year.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

“Oh great, another snowboarding game. Whoa, wait a second. This snowboarding game actually looks good!”

That’s pretty much what went through my head when Ubisoft showed off Shaun White Snowboarding during Ubidays in San Francisco a few weeks ago. Ubisoft is trying to do something completely knew with this genre and thanks to the help of Shaun White, it looks like they have a solid title here. 

The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game will be offering up a completely different experience over what the Wii will offer. The 360 and PS3 versions will be more geared towards players that are looking for a very realistic approach while the Wii version will be focusing on the casual player. Hit the jump for my impressions of Shaun White Snowboarding for the PlayStation 3 and Wii.  

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

While it was more or less a definite about BioShock’s PS3 appearance, without a formal press release from 2K, all we could go on were the details we could steal like tiny breadcrumbs: it seemed to be a direct port, all the little fixes would be taken care of, Andrew Ryan’s pants are removable in a mini-game (but why not make that last one TRUE, 2K!).

You can read the full press release after the jump, which unfortunately sheds almost no new light, merely mentioning the port would have “new features and content”. There are also two new screens from the PS3 version, which you can see large versions of in the gallery. 

I think the big point of discussion here is fairly obvious: Would you buy it again if it has a significant amount of new content? I have to admit, I’m considering it, but that’s more because of my love of the game than any promise of new features — I just want to experience it all over again. I can do that for free though, as my 360 copy is sitting on the other side of the room. What do you think?

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Ever since Pilot Wings for the Super Nintendo, I have always adored the flying games. The genre, as of late has been rather stale sadly. Not much is out there, and it’s only once in a blue moon that we see something decent come out.

For the longest time now, everyone has held the Ace Combat series in high regards as one of the best flight sim out there. That’s going to change after Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X comes out. To put it simply, this game is unbelievable. This is the exact type of game flying fanatics have been waiting for and I can’t believe it’s taken this long for this type of flight game to be made. Hit the jump to find out all about H.A.W.X.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This