Saturday 26 March 2011

Mortal Kombat King of the Hill Glimpse


A recently released extended trailer for Mortal Kombat shows us a brief glimpse of what fun features await us in the online modes. In every interview recently, Ed Boon says how excited he is by the features that they've still got left to announce with less than a month until release. This then is evidence of that. From 1.00 onwards we catch a quick look at King of The Hill mode online.



From this we can tell that there will be at least up to 10 player lobbies in KOTH mode, and if you are not one of the two kombatants duking it out, you watch their match in a theatre-esque environment. Every spectator has a little cartoony avatar of their character and by the looks of it you can control them and make them taunt the players, cheer and do character specific animations (Mini Sub-Zero is seen making an ice projectile). This looks like a load of fun and something neat to pass the time before you re-enter the arena.

Note: These avatars are MK avatars, not Xbox Live or Playstation Home Avatars. The same avatars appeared in MK: Deception in Chess and Puzzle Kombat.




We'll have a full preview of Mortal Kombat coming up soon, but keep checking back here for the most recent announcements and updates to the game.

Friday 25 March 2011

The Sims 2: Pets

Prepare for a picture-heavy trip down memory lane. I was never much of a Sims player, but the standalone Pets title for the PlayStation 2 was much enjoyed. I also have a version on the DSi, but it is simply terrible and we shall not talk about it here.
My friends and I adored this game a few years ago. We got together and designed households based on ourselves and running in-jokes. First came the Something family up at Lemming Falls. This harks all the way back to GCSE Information Technology, and boring data entry examples. We had to input the names of fictional people into a database. I couldn't come up with anything exciting, and entered "Somebody Something". This was funnier than it should have been at the time, and spawned a character.
We also made houses of Resident Evil characters, ourselves and even my then-partners had one with their dogs. There were also green-skinned aliens distantly related to the Somethings with purple, green and red pets. Then, the save on my memory card corrupted. We lost everything we created. I managed to remake the Something family but didn't want to devote much of my time to it when the same thing could happen again. So, the game was shelved among my wallpaper-obscuring collection.
This week, I decided to revisit the title for review purposes.


Monday 21 March 2011

Dog's Life

This game has the bizarre ability to make me yearn to buy a barn in rural America. It evokes a strange sentimentality for a place I've never been to.
Developed by England-based Frontier, Dog's Life was much loved by my thirteen year-old self. I'd always wanted to play a game wherein a dog, horse or other fascinating four-legged creature was fully operable as a main character, but wasn't absolute crud like Mary King's Riding Star. Dog's Life was very much the answer, although I'd still like a title where I can be a horse for the entire time.

All of my original freebie stickers are still intact:


Sunday 13 March 2011

Japan

I'm sure there are few who have yet to hear of the 8.9 (upgraded to 9.0) magnitude earthquake, resulting tsunami and nuclear scares that struck Japan and other countries in the Pacific Rim just two days ago. With many astounding games having originated from this great nation, I have deemed this an appropriate topic to post about here.

Nippon-koku has always been close to my heart. I have second and third cousins there, friends, an ex-partner and classmates from the language course I attended at college. I do not have social networking connections with all of them but I know that one old classmate is safe. I am also concerned about my former teacher and her family.


src="http://japan.person-finder.appspot.com/?small=yes&lang=ja"
width=400 height=300 frameborder=0
style="border: dashed 2px #77c">
[Japan Person Finder should appear above]


あなたのガスが動作していない場合../ If you are living in Tokyo and are having problems with your gas supply, click here:
http://www.tokyo-gas.co.jp/

There have been cruel joke announcements of deaths of franchise creators, because apparently people have nothing better to do than revel in the grief of others. You should only take to heart information from a credible, authoritative source. The death of anyone, famous or otherwise, is a terrible thing.

Since the 11th my thoughts have scarcely concerned anything other than Japan and its inhabitants, including the Ainu. Because of the country's positioning in regard to multiple tectonic plates, this will sadly not be the last disaster, but hopefully coping strategies will improve with time.

This certainly did not happen because it was the karmic reward for Pearl Harbour or the slaughtering of sea creatures only a select few know about, especially considering that those in such professions are seen as the "tainted" Burakumin and are discriminated against in society. When something happens to this country, I hope people won't refuse to help me because of what the army or industrial workers do. This event was a sad fact of nature. There are always going to be asshats with asshat views, none more so than on the internet. Life is a very precious thing, and sometimes it can take a disaster to remind us of this and its fragility. Although it doesn't work for everybody.


Something good to come out of this was my discovery of Shelterbox, and becoming a Response Team member is something to aim for when I'm in better health. I set up a fundraising page intended for crisis supplies and met my overdraft limit to get it started, which might not have been wise but I was compelled nonetheless.


Japan is a beautiful country that, along with its people, has always had a place in my heart, and I would gladly endure the Gaikokujin Tourokushou to spend time there.

Videogame-related ramblings shall resume shortly.

ハーリー スカーレット






Friday 4 March 2011

Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus



Sequel to Oddysee, is Exoddus. I was trialling the PSN edition when I was reunited with my original PlayStation disk version halfway through, but continued with the former. This is a great game and one I'm glad to have, but some aspects of this instalment genuinely frustrated me.

Continuing the previous title's obvious digs at consumerism, Abe once again finds himself thrust into being the saviour of the Mudokon race. After the destruction of RuptureFarms, the Glukkons are back with SoulStorm Brewery, named after the working-title for the original game. There's something a little different about this brew; it's made from Mudokon bones and tears! Workers Slaves have their eyelids sewn shut so they can dig up the bones of their ancestors.
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