MMO update: Chronicles of Spellborn

Well, since I know Aeon suffers a love hate relationship with the darling MMO genere, I thought I'd take it upon myself to post up some news semi-not-really-regularly.

Chronicles of Spellborn is a new fantasy MMO in development, slated for a release sometime this year. While boasting an interesting art style and a soundtrack by Within Temptation, the game also features some very different ways of playing through combat and the overall AI.

Combat in Spellborn is very different, and may cause some issues when introduced to latency. The player must actively target their enemy with their mouse, throwing away the traditionally passive and repeditive click and button mash technique for something far more involving.

The AI too is a source of interest, as creatures travel in groups, and act as any party would when attacked; the tank runs to the source, the healer stays in range of the tank and the caster will backpeddle and attempt to root the player. This creates a new dynamic in play style, and means utilising different skills and strategies for attacks will be necesarry as the game progresses.

Hopefully we'll see something new with Spellborn, and fingers crossed that it won't disappoint like so many others.

We <3 you, Bioware

Here is the latest trailer for Bioware's next game, an original IP named Dragon Age: Origins. The trailers from the GC convention are streaming in! All I can say is that it looks the way I think Neverwinter Nights II was meant to look!

We can all expect more information to come in from the convention on this title soon! I think bioware is becoming, if they weren't already, one of those developers with a nigh-on-perfect track record. With Neverwinter, Mass Effect, and the whole range of Black Isle games behind them, here's hoping Dragon Age will be another title in Bioware's A-Class lineup. It sure has come a long way!

Lara's Looking.. A little less like a man!

The first true gameplay trailer for the upcoming Tomb Raider: Underworld revealed plenty of things for us to see! The trailer is set in Thailand, with Lara (invariably) scouting around some ancient temple or other and uncovering something she really shouldn't (Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation anyone?).

What excited me most is that in action, Lara looks a little less like a man, and more like the Lara we all know and love... If you know what I mean... It's also the first chance we've had to see the game really in motion, outside of cutscenes and glimpses of gameplay inter-spliced in two-second shots in previous trailers. Anyway, go ahead and watch, and enjoy!

Force Unleashed Demo... August 21st!

Your salivating can start now, with the Force Unleashed demo set to prepare gamers in only a few days! LucasArts have announced their next Star Wars title will have a demo up on Xbox Live and PSN on the 21st of August!

We can't wait for this game, so the thought of getting our hands on it early is just a little... hot! The full game is expected to release in Australia on September the 17th. We await you!

Aion... It's hot

Here's the trailer of little known upcoming MMORPG by NCSoft, Aion. Not a lot to say except gosh-darn it looks pretty! Enjoy!

Source: GameTrailers.com

Batman!

Well, as a lover of the new Batman films, the old-school comics and Thief, I was absolutely thrilled to here that Eidos and Rocksteady Studios are making a new game for the series; Arkham Asylum.

Set in the insane asylum of Gotham City, home to the madmen and women that haunt the town, the player takes the role of Batman, sneaking and fighting their way out of a trap laid by the inmates and the Joker. There'll be sneaking, terror and gadetry, forcing the player to use all of their detective skills.

And the inmates? So far Joker and Croc are confirmed, as is my personal favourite Harley Quinn. Poison Ivy and the others are still maybes though, so fingers crossed for those childhood favourites.

The game will be coming out on the PS3, Xbox360 and the PC, and is slated to release sometime in 2009. Oh, and to make it even better, the script will be written by legend Paul Dini, so it should be fantastic!

Looking forward to some horribly scary moments, hehehe. XD

Greetings, Price

Oh the lamentations of those who sleep in. After kicking myself for a good 10 minutes this morning for sleeping in and missing my ride in and first lecture, I found a single positive.

JustJared have posted pics of Jake Gyllenhaal as Dastan, a 6th century Persian prince, soon to be accompanying the princess Tamina (where the f*** is Farah!?) to stop the Sands of Time being unleashed by the evil visier.

You can find more pics of Jake dressed as the prince here. Now you've seen it.. what do you think?

Rejoice in waste!

Brothers and Sisters of Steel (in Australia!) rejoice, for the wondrous Fallout 3 has been classified by the OFLC for Australian shores. We can now expect the game to land about a week after the US release (here on the 15th of October, US on the 7th) as it has passed classification!

No word on what was modified or cut from the game, after it was recently refused classification due to drug references (and the in-game direct use of morphine), and if it was a simple re-name of the drugs or if large chunks of the system have been removed (although I have enough faith in Bethesda's game ethics not to deprive us of such). The game is classified MA15+, based on "Strong Violence, Drug References and Coarse Language", which seems fine by me.

So prepare your hand-held atomic bomb launchers, your trekking boots for making your way through post-apocalypse downtown DC, and POSSIBLY your veins for some drug references. Oh god I hope this isn't misinterpreted horribly.

Fallout! We lust for you!

Source: IGN

Diabolical Rainbow

Well, after travelling around the internet in my super purple box of inter-dimensional (eat your hearts out Dr. Who) travel, I have come to the conclusion that there is far too much interesting stuff out there that I can't even think of how to comment on.

So instead I'll just have a bit of a mindless rant!

First off, there's been a lot of complaining about Diablo 3's art direction; that it's too bright, too cartoony etc etc. Really, look outside the window and tell me what you see? 

Blue sky maybe? Green trees? Perhaps it's autumn, and they're, oh I don't know... changing colour?

I personally think the art direction is rather nice, and since we've seen about two whole areas from the game, we shouldn't be screaming about how much it resembles a kiddy picture. I think it's atmospheric and realistic, and is a good move from the cliched 'this is a hack and slash game therefore the only colours used are black brown and red.' 

Use some creativity people! There is nothing more boring in my eyes than the same colour scheme used over and over and over again until you're bleeding sepia. (for the record, there is nothing 'realistic' about making something brown and glowy)

Old school Diablo 2 was, yes, quite monotone in regards to colour. However, even I, in my sorcering greatness lost my character. Make quips about my vision if you must, but unless my character was wearing bright purple, or the beasties I was fighting were assisting my in painting the landscape red and chunky, it was a little hard to navigate around in certain bits.

Troll me if you must, but I really think people should keep their artistic pants on for a bit, at least until we know of a other few areas. Things can be scary, and still in colour.

It really WORKS.

For all those who have scoured the net (aka Google) to find diaries or logs of users progress on the Wii Fit, I'm happy to provide a link to one of the most successful ones out there! (Or that I have seen, other than the IGN Wii Fit blog)

Using only the Wii Fit, Wootini (the reviewer) has lost about 12kgs, and appears to have put on some muscle too! I guess this proves that the Wii Fit can actually make you fitter when you actually use it. If you wanted motivation to see if it can really work, it's the perfect example. You can read the whole article and view pictures here.

Congrats!!

Oh hai...

Meet the new Lara Croft. Yes, old stand in, the beautiful Karima Adebibe has been replaced by Alison Carroll (picture above). Eidos have announced the new real life counterpart to everyone's favorite (or most loathed) video game queen, Lara, for her upcoming game, Tomb Raider: Underworld.

Carroll beat out over a hundred other applicants for the role, and, like previous Laras, will have to take up an SAS course and Archaeology tutoring before she can fully take the roll.

Why the switch? The Tomb Raider franchise typically has a new model for each game they release, with the exception of Karima, who stood in for both TR: Legend and TR: Anniversary. Personally, the Legend Lara (both in game and real life) to me seems to be the hottest. The new Lara looks a bit like she used to be a Russian man (in the game.. not so much the new real life lara), and it's all in the brow and cheek bones! Little too harsh for me juxtaposed with the itty-bitty nose and small but full lips, but hey, it could all work out. You can find high-res pictures of the new lara here.

Hot Conan Cybersex

Here's a little something to make your day... It's not quite our follow up to our Age of Conan review, but it sure made me laugh. A GM was caught by a trolling player, after the player lured the GM into cybersex by telling him that he was a male avatar but was played by a female.

It really raises a few questions about the GM in question. 1/ as a GM, one would assume it's your job to find such action more than just a little dubious, and 2/ if you were cybering with a female in real life, who had a male avatar, would you really have an urge to get naked with said male avatar?

At any rate, the GM in question has apparently been fired, which, although bad for him, is to be expected as, with anyone else, he needs to act in a professional manner appropriate to his job. Then again it is Age of Conan, and all their trailers pre-release touted the "sexy" game. The full transcript can be found here.

Source: Kotaku

If you are easily offended...

Something to make you lol...

"Using some of the gaming industries top talent Somavision has assembled a team of top industry talent to bring their perverse vision of the future to the PC. Some members have even worked on high profile games such as Dreamworks Interactive and EA games popular "Medal of Honor" franchise. "The staff that has been pulled together for this game are top notch talent", says Booker who boasts that his production carries over 30 years of combined industry experience."

So if you're easily offended... then DO click HERE.

Lets get wet!

I have loved Heavy Rain ever since Quantic Dream (of Fahrenheit fame) put out the theatrical trailer back in E3 2006. Heck, it was one of the reasons I wanted a PS3! (as a side note, I've loved Quantic Dream since Omikron, one of my favorite games of all time).

At any rate, long after that demo, Quantic Dream went dark. No press releases, no information, no trailers, no interviews, no nothing. Back in march this year, a few bits and pieces started to emerge, including the above video looking for artists. Now a few new screens have come out, which you can check out here, as well as some more information about the game.

Personally, I can't wait for heavy rain! It's time to get wet.

Source: Ripten.com

I'm in your Fable.. pwning ur covenant?

You just have to love unlockable outfits in games... Whether it's brand new g-strings in Dead or Alive 4... brand new g-strings in Soul Caliber 4... brand new g-strings in...

Er well, you get the picture! Heck, Altair in Metal Gear Solid 4 was still pretty damn cool... (although, did NOT have a g-string)

Latest on the list of games with cameo appearances is Master Chief appearing in Fable II... albeit in a somewhat period-ised version of his very well known spartan armor.

We reckon it's pretty cool. You can find more about this over on Loinhead (yeah, that's right, via the Lionhead forums) here.