Dale Weir's blog

Those of us that were looking for some real closure to Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit)—the ending didn't live up to expectations—will have to put our hope to rest. While publishers have approached David Cage, co-founder of Quantic Dream, about publishing a sequel—something I find really hard to believe—Cage himself has no interest in going back to that well.

Maybe it's for the best. That leaves him all the time in the world to focus on Heavy Rain. All accounts point to Heavy Rain as a worthy, spiritual successor.

Could this be the long rumored, and eagerly anticipated "sequel" to the adventure series (ICO and Shadow of the Colossus) that first appeared on the PlayStation 2?

"Project Trico" is purported to be an test footage of the PlayStation 3 follow-up to the two games. It does look early, but shows glimpses of what you might expect from the creators of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. Here's hoping that a real game is in the works and something will make an appearance at E3.

Videos from Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy! have been on YouTube for months, but they were censored versions of what would ultimately become a DVD/Blu-Ray release. That DVD/Blu-Ray launched this month (May 12th) and some of the uncensored videos were put on YouTube.

The content of the video is essentially the same, but now Mario is dropping F-bombs.

(Parental Discretion is advised.)

To the creators of this project, I applaud you for all of your hard work. It looks like it was on par with the RPG classic, at least graphically. However, what did you think was going to happen? Was Square-Enix going to let someone rip content from a ROM and then just release it? Mods are a largely American phenomenon and one that is almost entirely the domain of the PC. Should (Japanese) game developers be more hands-off with projects like this? That's the question we've all been asking ever since our favorite games (Starfox, Super Mario 64, etc.) were released without a proper sequel.

As a fan I would have loved to see the project reach completion and play it for myself. But you have to live in the real world and in the real world, there are copyrights, patents and trademarks. These things are not just here to give the finger to the fans; without them there wouldn't be much of the content that fans flock to. Square-Enix may have been a little heavy-handed, some would say cruel given the groups' not-for-profit claim, but Square-Enix is well within its rights.

I could be callous and say, "Fans should stick to writing fan fiction" but I won't. This was obviously a labor of love and its sad that it had to end the way it did.

Duke Nukem Forever may never see release, but I know that, like me, you've been dying to get a look at the actual game. Whether it was ready for release or not, you want to see something. And here it is.

Now, graphically, it looks like it stands up. I love seeing Duke's legs, arms and hands when he climbs, runs or falls. Lots of shiny sweat on said arms and legs. It looks like they were incorporating all of the visual bells and whistles. And (most of) the enemies look nice, but it's the AI that doesn't seem at all smart. What definitely don't stand up are the one-liners. I don't know if they were added for this demo or what, but they sound canned. Imagine that, the bread and butter of the Duke Nukem franchise just sound out of place and antiquated.

Again, this is a demo and isn't necessarily indicative of the entire game—but having nothing else to compare it to—we have to look at this brief look and come away a little disappointed. Ah, well.

Who could have imagined that the next evolution or revolution in maps would have been influenced by videogames?

We could, actually.

Of course, ours involved three-dimensional, cybernetic, holographic overlays ala Dead Space or Grand Theft Auto.

Jack Schulze and Matt Webb, creators of the "Here and There" map, were indeed influenced by games—even some not so obvious ones—but games were just one of many influences. (This is probably a good thing given how limited most in-game maps actually are.)

So far it is simply available in poster form, but a 3D-perspective melded with a top down view would seem to have profound applications outside of gaming. Not that gaming wouldn't see a benefit. Gaming worlds are getting bigger and navigating them can be as daunting as navigating the streets of Manhattan for some of us. A "Here and There"-influenced map would be a godsend.

The Army Experience Center is the latest effort by the Army to use games to recruit teens and young adults. This has drawn the ire of parents and anti-war activists.

This goes up on the cool wall.

Game-Artist got some computer artists together for a competition to see who could come up with the most authentic, real-time environment from a movie. The winning entries were from Bladerunner (seen above), Steven Spielberg's Hook, Aliens, X-Men 2 and I am Legend.

I won't spoil who won—you can probably figure it out though—because you really have to see more of these recreations for yourself.

I'm not going to defend Bolt Creative, the US-based creators of the very popular Pocket God game for the iPhone. I don't find it offensive myself, but I support the right of any group to vocalize their oppositon to anything they find offensive.

It occured to me that views like this would not only leave us without a popular iPhone app, but also without some of the classic games or gaming characters that we love.

"...there is a kegger down the hall. We can go as soon as I desecrate this corpse. I'm sorry Marge, where are my manners? Did you want to taunt my kill also? Press the "X" button."  - Homer Simpson

If you're like me, on the one hand you're thrilled to see The Simpsons parodying videogames... outside of its own videogames (The Simpsons Hit & Run and The Simpsons Game). On the other hand, you sigh sadly with the realization that the masses are seeing one of the less savory sides of interactive play. Why couldn't the writers lampoon Shadow of the Colossus or Flower? Ah well, it was a pretty funny clip.