BitSnark

Chalk this one up alongside that ill-fated Halo movie folks as an interview run by website Collider with producer Michael De Luca, alleges that the silver screen version of Konami’s seminal stealth series Metal Gear Solid, simply won’t be happening in the foreseeable future.

In his interview with Collider he went on to say: “I don’t think it’s going to move forward because I got the sense that there may not be enough of a coordinated will at this point on the side of certain parties to see a movie get made.”

He went on to expand on his reasoning, stating that Konami are concerned about a duff movie hurting the image of the game series. “The franchise being as big as it is kind of helps the movie. I’m not sure the movie does the same thing for the game.”

De Luca added: “The videogame companies are very protective of their property and there are certain things a studio requires freedom-wise to market and distribute a movie effectively in a global marketplace and sometimes getting those two things to match up is really hard – it was just kind of impossible to get the agendas to match up.”

Well based on this and Halo’s evidence, movies based on games tend to go one of two ways; they either decide that they can’t do justice to the source material and call it a day, or the movie is released and is usually shockingly bad.

Rebellion, developers of the forthcoming Alien Vs Predator title, have confirmed that a demo of the highly anticipated xenomorph face-off will hit in the near future with a specific date yet to be determined.

Given how the original AvP titles were back on the Atari Jaguar and later on the PC, i’ll be interested to see how this newest effort fares.

If you were holding off on buying it, your chance to do so at least brand new anyway, is fast dwindling.

Nintendo today have announced that Metroid Prime Trilogy for the Wii, is no longer being manufactured which means that after stores have sold out of their existing stock, the only way to obtain the critically acclaimed compilation would be to purchase it preowned.

1UP.com have the full story which can be viewed by clicking on the link below:

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3177553

During their CES keynote earlier today, Microsoft confirmed the release date for their forthcoming 3D camera based motion control accessory for the XBOX 360. Known only by it’s placeholder name ‘Project Natal’, the system will go on sale in all territories this December.

No pricing details or software line up have been announced at this point.

Ever since the successor to Zelda: Twilight Princess was announced at last years E3, Ninty fans have been gnawing at the bit to get any info they can regarding Link’s next Wii outing.

What we do know is that it will be built from the ground up to take full advantage of the Wii motion control system, as opposed to Zelda: Twilight Princess which was essentially a conversion of the Gamecube version.

Now we have one other fact; the next Zelda title on Wii will arrive this year. The release window was confirmed by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata in an interview with Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. What wasn’t confirmed is whether or not the release window pertains to a Japanese or a Western release. My money would be on the former.

Further beans were spilled in what appeared to be a surprising revealing interview, as Mr. Iwata went on to talk about the next machine to follow up the wildly successful Nintendo DS handheld.

According to the Nintendo CEO, the successor to everyone’s favourite dual touchscreen handheld would boast very detailed, high resolution visuals and in-built sensors for detecting and reacting to player motions and gestures. This chimes in correctly with the rumour mill as of late, as Nintendo is known to be currently courting the very powerful Nvidia Tegra graphics chip for alleged inclusion into a successor to the Nintendo DS.

In these times it seems ironic and certainly risky, that a Western developer would take liberal inspiration from Japanese made 2D platforming shooter stalwarts Metroid and Castlevania for their latest effort when the audiences for those games are not only difficult to please, but fast dwindling also. Thankfully however, Chair Entertainment in partnership with Gears Of War developer Epic Games have taken the gamble and in doing so have produced one of the finest titles in Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade software library to date.

Wearing its classic inspirations proudly on its sleeves, Shadow Complex places the player in no doubt as to what type of game it is. Sure, the gameplay mechanics are linked together by a threadbare plot about a shadowy government faction trying to blow up the US or some such drivel, but its the timeless formulae of platforming, item upgrading and backtracking for new areas that defines Shadow Complex.

After an action packed prologue which gives players the merest taste of the weaponry and gadgetry to come, the player is then thrust into the shoes of an average Joe, traipsing through the Canadian Rockies with his fiancée as they stumble upon a cave entrance which leads into the vast subterranean complex where the bulk of the game takes place.

One thing that I have to make abundantly clear here however is this; Shadow Complex is neck and neck with Battlefield 1943 as the most visually staggering game to be released on XBLA at a budget price point. It seems the most obvious benefit of having ‘Uncle Epic’ help produce the game was that developer Chair Entertainment would also be able to leverage their (still) impressive Unreal Engine 3 tech in the game to produce some pretty sweet visuals; and sweet they are. Light sources ignite from mussel flashes and explosions, character models are all impressively detailed and move fluidly, massive arachnid robots move with startling grace and menace all the while boasting the minutest of mechanical details. It truly is a staggering visual display and one which should be raising eyebrows of developers who put out lesser efforts at retail pricepoints.

As it subscribes to the design edict of Nintendo’s Metroid and Konami’s Castlevania series’ respectively, the gameplay in Shadow Complex, is simple yet rewarding. Staying true to its inspirations, the game plays out on a 2D plane, allowing the player to jump to other platforms, shoot, crawl and use special abilities to get to areas that were previously inaccessible. To break up the experience, there are sections where the player can take control of a turret and mow down oncoming enemies from the background. Additionally, the player themselves may also shoot and toss grenades at enemies in the background, although it is notably less precise than taking aim at foes on the same axis as yourself.

3D aiming issues aside, the main character controls well with a number of acrobatic actions such as wall to wall chain jumping, hanging fire and close combat manoeuvres all proving intuitive and easy to pull off.

Anybody who has played any of the Castlevania or Metroid titles will realise that the hook of these titles lie in being able to upgrade your arsenal and the acquisition of items that allow you access to areas that were inaccessible when you first came across them. Shadow Complex follows this genre convention, dangling the figurative ‘carrot on a stick’ as a players seek to upgrade that jetpack so they can reach a ledge or a grappling hook which would allow access to a previously unreachable overhang. Where Shadow Complex trips up slightly, is that it gives the player too much power too quickly. Ironically, newer weapons are no longer sought for their ability to kill enemies, since the player is more than capable of killling most foes in the game with lesser weaponry; instead they are merely used to help the player progress past certain barriers, as some may only be destroyed by a grenade, rocket, plasma shot and so forth. While a minor flaw, the weapons still remain fun to use in combat, with the awesome ‘friction-dampener’ and ‘foam-gun’ proving to be notable highlights.

Still, the classic addictive hook of exploration and loot remains and those of us with obsessive disorders will absolutely have to find every ammo upgrade, gold bar and health maximiser to satiate ourselves. Like every other game in the genre, Shadow Complex boasts boss battles. Such encounters though are not strong points for the title as the bosses themselves often tend to be fought more than once and whilst are visually impressive, they remain uninspired, unchallenging affairs.

Paying homage to their classical muse, Chair Entertainment have worked an RPG-style levelling system into Shadow Complex. With each level reached with valuable ‘XP’ obtained from killing bad guys, comes the promise of better accuracy and more health. Whilst the health benefits appear pragmatic and tangible, the accuracy ones do not as I could still shoot just as well at level 5 as I could at level 25.

Shadow Complex is not a long game, the game clocks in at between five and seven hours for an initial play through. It’s lure of course, lies in repeated playthroughs to see everything, collect everything and reach that 50th level.

As the sum of it’s parts, Shadow Complex is not the best in the genre (that honour would go to Castlevania: Synphony of the Night), but Chair Entertainment have nailed all the basic, fundamental aspects of what makes these often forgotten games satisfying and enjoyable, topping it off with a lush, often beguiling visual veneer.

With a sequel surely in the pipeline after some well-deserved monstrous commercial success in the last four months, I am giddy with excitement to see where Chair Entertainment and Epic Games will take this labour of love next.

Highly recommended.

Overall Score: 8.7

Following the churning of the rumour mill and pulled online retailer listings that indicated a forthcoming Dragon Age: Origins expansion pack, comes the official confirmation from EA and Bioware that the expansion is real and is due out March this year.

Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening (enough subtitles?) will retail for £29.99 and will allow players of the original title to import their characters or choose to start an entirely new origins story based on a Grey Warden from the mysterious land of Orlais.

Taking place sometime after the events of Dragon Age: Origins in the land of Amaranthine, players will once again take on the role of a Grey Warden trying to rebuild the order of legendary warriors. A new set of quests and storylines also brings with it the promise of new foes such as the Spectral Dragon, Inferno Golem and an enigmatic evil known simply as the ‘Architect’.

Players will be prepared however, as the expansion brings with it a higher level cap, extra abilities and five new party members with which to combat this newest menace.

BioWare co-founder Dr. Ray Muzyka had this to say about Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening:

“Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening shows BioWare’s commitment to our fans by delivering new story-driven experiences which enrich the dark heroic fantasy universe our fans have come to know and love. The vibrant worldwide community of Dragon Age fans will relish uncovering the secret motivations of the darkspawn, revealing how the darkspawn continue to infest the world despite the defeat of the Archdemon.”

With so much untapped lore within the Dragon Age universe, Bioware can quite literally bombard us with DLC and expansion packs to keep the game fresh well into their proposed two years worth of additional content support that was promised at launch.

Given the quality of title in question, that is by no means a bad thing.

Hot on the heels (pun not intended *sigh*) of mega hit Bayonetta, Platnium Games have started a countdown on their website which appears to conclude on January 8th.

What could it be? A sequel? A new IP? Well, whatever it is, it will have to go some to match the gold standard set by Bayonetta.

The link can be found below:

http://www.platinumgames.co.jp/

More on this I guess as soon as we get to January 8th.

Unless you own a time machine of course.

Many gaming news outlets are now reporting that a fully fledged expansion to Bioware’s dark fantasy opus Dragon Age: Origins is due hit retailers sometime in March.

The expansion pack, currently known as Dragon Age Origins: Awakening, supposedly follows a completely brand new character through a new prologue adventure that clocks in at around the 15 hour mark. Price details were touched upon too, with the pricepoint of the pack being touted as being around ‘two-thirds’ of the full RRP for the original Dragon Age: Origins.

Speaking of the original game, you will be required to have a copy of it in order to play this expansion pack.

EA/Bioware have yet to officially confirm or deny the existence of the expansion pack.

More as it comes.

In a year that promises to be just as exciting as the last for gamers everywhere, i’ll keep this blog updated as much as I can with the latest (and most relevant) gaming news.

Happy new year everyone!

Now where did I put the asprin…