Adventure/Explore

Won't anyone think of the monkeys?

HIGH Pink Pajama Pierre...say that three times fast.

LOW Wandering the jungle in circles, trying to figure out the map when you're not good with maps.

WTF Voodoo root-beer.

You didn't really think Ubisoft was going to make a sequel to Beyond Good & Evil did you?

IndustryGamers: Most publishers make decisions based on sales, so what made Ubisoft decide to pursue Beyond Good and Evil again?

Laurent Detoc: Well, I didn't say there's definitely going to be another game. I said something had leaked, which means we've been working on some Beyond Good and Evil stuff, but whether there's going to be another game or not, that's something for the future. But getting to your question as to why there's work on the IP again, it's a creative people business; the creative talent is interested in it and possibly exploring how to do it from a new angle.

Can't get enough of seeing your favorite video game vixens (and Link) in risque pictorials? Well, how about a burlesque show? The show was put on by the Devil's Playground burlesque group for a Video Game Girls event in Los Angeles. The dancers here aren't female gamers, but for the most part they did a job on the costumes and the seductive dancing.

Words can not begin to express just how much I truly want to play Team ICO's The Last Guardian. Playing ICO and Shadow of the Colossus evokes emotions I used to only have while playing the Legend of Zelda games. Now that Nintendo is running that series into the ground, all that are left are the Team ICO games.

From the first sighting of the boy's monster/pet/friend, I have been eager to jump into that world, explore its environs and see where the story will take them.

Below is the inevitable comparison between the leaked proof of concept video that made the rounds a few weeks back and the final trailer that Sony showed off at E3 2009.

The Last Guardian is set for release sometime in 2010. If the game is anything like the trailer, that will be a very long wait.

A star is born

HIGH Finding new nooks and crannies to explore.

LOW Bubble-hopping in Sogwood Forest. Man, that's hard.

WTF Rainbows are for swimming in, apparen

If you've been reading this blog then you will know that I was quite impressed with the recent Bionic Commando game, updated and re-imagined by Swedish developer GRIN. So impressed, in fact, that I felt motivated to track down someone on the development team and ask them a few questions about their superb effort.

Thankfully, Bionic Commando producer Dan Eriksson was quite willing to chat with me for a bit about the work involved in reinventing such a classic game.

Reaching into the past with a bionic grip

HIGH Mastering the arm and swinging effortlessly through levels.

LOW Some checkpoints are set too far apart.

WTF The elements of a great story are here, they're just hardly used.