Gamertell

Title: The Horus Heresy: False Gods
Author: Graham McNeill
Publisher: The Black Library
Release Date: 2006
Price: $7.99
Rating: One thumb up and one down, 79/100, C+, ** 1/2 out of five.
Pros: Incredible writing, great story, memorable characters are built up more, hard-hitting description
Cons: Same problem most sequels have. Too much attention to smaller details and it occasionally blocks out the story. Also inconsistently deals with characters.
Overall: It’s full of flaws but for a sequel it’s worth the money.

With False Gods, Graham McNeil has written a great second installment to the Horus Heresy series that tries too hard to outshine Dan Abnett’s Horus Rising.

Click through for the full review…

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In this upcoming three-part series, Gamertell will take a closer look at the evolution of the Prince of Persia franchise, chronicling where it started and where it’s headed. Each segment focuses on a different era of the franchise:

• Part 1 (Monday, June 16, 2008) - We remember the earliest years of PoP when Broderbund was cranking out 2D games for the Apple ][.
• Part 2 (Wednesday, June 18, 2008) - We revisit the Ubisoft takeover of the Prince’s adventures, its glorious leap into 3D and a new darker, grittier Prince.
• Part 3 (Friday, June 20, 2008) - We take a look at the upcoming PoP game and - gasp! - movie.

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• Gamertell Review: The iPod Touch as a game system

Starting later this week (Wednesday, February 27, 2008), we’re offering an exclusive 10-week long insider’s look into the world of independent game development, focusing on Burning Man Studios.

The series is written from inside the fire pit by Burning Man’s lead designer and writer (and Gamertell staff writer), Christopher Buckner, who will offer plenty of insights, suggestions, observations and exclusive interviews while following the development of a game from its conception to the release of a playable demo.

So you won’t miss a single segment of this 10-week series, sign up now for the Gamertell RSS feed and join the newsletter (the quick form to the right of this post). Otherwise, be sure to check back at 10 a.m. every Wednesday for the next 10 weeks for each installment.

Read all 10 weeks of “Burning Ambition: How to make your mark on the videogame industry:“

• Introduction: An insider’s look into indie game development  (February 26, 2008)
• Part 1: Start burning your dreams into reality (February 27, 2008)
• Part 2-A: The man with the burning dream (March 5, 2008)
• Part 2-B: An interview with founder and CEO Steven Hammans  (March 5, 2008)
• Part 3-A: The origin of an intellectual property (March 12, 2008)
• Part 3-B: An interview with lead designer and writer Christopher Buckner (March 12, 2008)
• Part 4: The nightmare of turning a story into a game (March 19, 2008)
• Part 5: The bigger nightmare of finding a concept artist  (March 26, 2008)
• Part 6: From paper to screen (April 2, 2008)
• Part 7-A: Colorists, the unsung heroes (April 9, 2008)
• Part 7-B: An interview with colorist Jesse Heagy (April 9, 2008)
• Part 8-A: The sound of beautiful music (April 16, 2008)
• part 8-B: An interview with composers Allen Pinard and Eike Steffen (April 16, 2008)
• Part 9-A: Managers, programmers and modellers, oh my (April 23, 2008)
• Part 9-B: An interview with Project Manager Andrea Wieslander  (April 23, 2008)
• Part 10: The dream becomes a bit more real with a working demo (April 30, 2008)

Site [Burning Man Studios]

• Gamertell’s Prince of Persia three-part series
• Gamertell Review: The Horus Heresy: False Gods by Graham McNeill
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Cnet’s Don Reisinger posed a very heated question to gamers of the world today on the Digital home: “What’s the best videogame series of all time?“. He lists a few of the bigger (and safer) franchises - Halo, Mario, GTA, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, Zelda, etc. before positing a couple of more obscure series like Lunar and Shenmue. Then, he wisely turned to the masses, opening up the comments section to the

discussion of the greatest series ever to hit the gaming world.

The results were relatively unsurprising. The above mentioned standbys got the largest number of shout-outs, along with the Command & Conquer, Civilization, Mega Man, Half-Life, Madden, Splinter Cell, Fall Out, and Smash Brothers series. It seems as if the bases are fairly well covered, but I’d like to open the floor yet again - what are your favorite series?

Read [Cnet Blogs]

• 250th Gamestation set to open in the UK
• Halo Trilogy 5-disc soundtrack set to be released tomorrow
• Nintendo offering two limited edition DS bundles for Black Friday 2008

She’s back and she’s ready for her next adventure in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary for the Nintendo Wii system.

The Wii edition is already available in stores nationwide with more than three hours of special gameplay designed exclusively for the Wii using the Wii Remote and Nunchuck controllers to its fullest capacity to give players a unique and intense action adventure game for the system.

The game was developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Edios Interactive. Available now, Tomb Raider: Anniversary is rated “Teen” by the ESRB for violence and mild suggestive themes and retails for $39.99.

Morgan Grey, senior producer for Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary, explains how this game is played.

“Basically we let you, through Lara, touch the game world for the first time. We’ve added whole new tools and gears. We call it the archaeological tool kit. For example if Lara walks into a wall that’s sort of obstructive she can get a pickaxe and use it to open it up.”

There are other features of the game Grey is somewhat proud of that players will simply enjoy. In the tool kit players can help Lara pick a variety of items to help her uncover something hidden in the room, brush it off and reveal hidden panels, hieroglyphics and more. Then there’s the traditional Tomb Raider action of swinging through trees, encountering hostile environments and even fighting a Tyrannosaurus Rex in a tropical rain forest.

“What used to be walking up to a wall and pulling a switch, now there’s all these steps that really feels like this is what Lara does in Tomb Raider,” Grey continued. “We’ve even added a new way for Lara to sort of grab and spin these cryptic puzzles to find a combination lock ... actually with the Wii we’ve been able to add more Tomb Raider to Tomb Raider. With the new gameplay elements ... it’s probably a definitive realization of Lara Croft.”

The game looks gorgeous, with challenging levels and interactive puzzle solving. See for your self in this trailer.

According to a review posted by Ryan Davis on CNet, the game is totally worth it although, from what I gathered, the game falls short as far as bad camera angles. Being physically involved in the game using the Wii Nunchuck attachment, however, makes a world of difference.

The game series has always been a challenge for me on the PSP, PC and PlayStation formats and being a PlayStation fan I do sort of feel guilt ogling a Wii console. But then the thought of playing a game that requires too much effort just to cast a line into the river like the fishing games makes we keep walking down the aisle. With games like Tomb Raider, the temptation to buy the game and a Wii system is back. And it’s waiting with pitchforks, flamethrowers and angry villagers screaming my name.

Read [CNet] Site [Tomb Raider Anniversary] Site [Tomb News]

• Amazon offers RPG bargain buys in honor of Cyber Monday 2008
• Aonuma will not stop until he makes a game better than Ocarina of Time
• PlayStation 3 firmware 2.53 available now, may make you underwhelmed

“We are taking a break from the Metroid series and from Samus”, said series director and Retro, Mark Pacini during a video interview on Yahoo Games. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption which shipped for the Nintendo Wii console last week was the series third and final installment.

Retro Studios, owned by Nintendo, blew the dust off and revitalized the old Nintendo sci-fi favorite when it began creating the Metroid Prime series. While many were skeptical about the game’s character Samus moving from the old side-scrolling action adventure to a first person shooter, the game was able to…

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From now until November 30, 2007, DirecTV is offering 11 months of free subscription to World of Warcraft to new DirecTV subscribers who use the promotion code ‘57417 NEW”.

DirecTV and Blizzard Entertainment have teamed up to promote the Championship Gaming Series which recently announced that World of Warcraft will be added to the list of competitive games in 2008. New DirecTV subscribers will receive a trial version of the WOW plus a free upgrade to the full version. Those who subscribe to DirecTV through the CGS website and are not interested in receiving WOW can choose to accept a $100 Gamestop gift card instead. Current DirecTV subscribers can contact their local customer service representative to receive the WOW offer.

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Marvel Comics announced at this year’s Comic Con that it plans to develop an ongoing Halo comic book series:

“We can’t reveal any details at this time, but seriously, what more needs to be said than Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev and Halo ongoing series?“

Eisner Award winner Bendis has worked on several Marvel comics including Ultimate Spider-man and co-executive producer for MTV’s Spider-Man: The New Animated Series. Bulgarian artist Maleev has worked on Daredevil and Spider-Woman. Both Bendiss and Maleev worked on the Halo four-part series, Halo: Uprising (August 2007). Maleev is also known by fans as the guy who drew the art painted by Sylar in the TV series, Heroes.

No word yet on the title of the series (likely to simply be “Halo“) or expected start date.

Read [Marvel] Via [ICV2]

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