Agencytwofifteen released the first two episodes of Bright Falls, a series of six shorts promoting the release of Alan Wake on the Xbox 360. Apparently, Agencytwofifteen has no shortage of brilliant brains on staff because they not only created these creep-tastic shorts, but were also the ones behind some badass promos for Gears of War, Halo: ODST, Viva Piñata and Xbox 360 which you can check out on their site.

Those of you who were at E3 back in 2005 might remember seeing stuff about the Alan Wake game. But the developers (Remedy Entertainment) wanted to make sure the title got all the attention it deserved and delayed the release. The game is due out on the Xbox 360 on May 18 in the U.S. and from what I’ve found out about it so far, it sounds amazing. Here’s a little blurb from Wikipedia that caught my interest:

Light plays a significant role in gameplay and strategy. The enemies, called “the Taken” in the game, are sensitive to light, encouraging the player to take advantage of environmental light sources and placing significant emphasis on the flashlight as a primary weapon. Players also have the ability to set traps that illuminate when triggered, either damaging or temporarily immobilizing an enemy. They are then destroyed and turned into batteries.

So you’re surrounded by darkness filled with creepy things and light is your weapon? Sounds like this game falls into the “pee before you play” category.

Check out the official Alan Wake site to find out more»

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Remember back in 2006 when the Nintendo Wii came out and everyone was all excited about it? From house parties to nursing homes, folks were peeing themselves with excitement as they anxiously waited their turn to create their Mii or pwn their friends at Wii Sports. It was an amazing phenomenon.

But within a year, our love affair ended.

We realized that flinging around remotes like a bunch of psychos having seizures while staring at simple graphics that never moved quite the way we wanted them to wasn’t really all that fun after all.

My Wii gathered dust and got moved to the bottom shelf. I stopped inviting people over to play. And I waited for something good to come out. And waited. And W-A-I-T-E-D.

Then the New Super Mario Bros. came along.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Mario. Out of all the video games I played growing up, the Mario series was the only one to which I had any major attachment. I remember staying friends with a girl who was racist against Mexicans (which a quarter of me happens to be) just so I could go over to her house and play the original Super Mario Bros. I remember giving my brother the second player controller, playing a single player game and telling him he was in charge of the jumping just so I didn’t have to really share. I remember sneaking into my best friend’s den and playing Super Mario Bros. 3 in the dark with the sound muted about an hour after her parents had seen us in bed pretending to be asleep. Those were the good ole days. The days of great games filled with challenging patterns and side-scrolling action. And they made quite an impact on me. Hell, I even have a Mario MacSlap on my laptop and a question mark box sticker on my phone.

I got the game for Christmas and, during my holiday, I played through the entire thing. If I were forced to summarize my review of this game in five words, I’d say, “Dayum. That shit was tight.” But I’m not, so I’ll keep going.

You may think you could play this with the GameCube controller, but you’d be wrong. This game utilizes the motion sensors, so there’s a whole lotta shakin’ going on. The intro screen tells you to hold the Wii remote sideways to play, but that wasn’t as comfortable for me as using the nunchuck and remote combo so I laughed in its face and did it MY way. That’s right. I’m a rebel. No one can tell me how to hold my remote. NO ONE!

I’m not going to go into a ton of detail about the gameplay because, well, it’s a Super Mario Bros. game. And if you don’t know how those work by now then there is something seriously wrong with you and you should probably just kill yourself.*

The New Super Mario Bros. sticks to the same story line and side-scrolling game play we’re used to but with a few new goodies including:

New Power-Ups
There are several additions to the traditional ones like the Ice Flower that lets you freeze enemies and the Mini Mushroom that makes Mario teeniny so he can get into little pipes and run on water. One thing I really liked about this game was that if you have an Ice Flower or Fire Flower and are hit by an enemy, you don’t lose the perk AND shrink. You just lose the perk.

Multiplayer Cooperative Gameplay
You can play simultaneously with up to four other people as long as you’ve got enough remotes. Online multiplayer is, surprisingly, not an option. I tried playing with one other person and I kind of hated it. You can super jump if you land on another player’s head which seems great until you accidentally super jump yourself into an enemy and die one too many times.

Coin Battle Mode
This is a multiplayer scramble to collect the most coins. I didn’t check this option out, but I got a little taste of it during the end credits. I think this was the first video game I’ve ever played that had interactive end credits. You could jump around and collect coins by busting apart the titles and names. So if you can’t finish the game, but want to act like you did, you can just talk to people about how cool that part was.

Super Guide
If you die eight times in a row (and you will while simultaneously inventing new curse phrase combos such as “MOTHERFUCK YOU!” or “GODDAMNIT TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET!” – a couple of my involuntary profanity explosions) you have the option to turn it over to Luigi who will show you the safe way through the course. You can watch and learn or you can be lame and take over as soon as he gets through the part where you keep dying. Once Luigi finishes the course, you can play it through yourself or skip it completely.

One thing that drove me insane about the Super Guide is that, whether you activate it or not, after eight deaths, it appears as a big green question mark box and has an annoying doorbell sound that won’t stop until you can move far enough away from it to push it out of the screen. And it will be there every time you die and start over whether you’ve activated it before or not. It’s also annoying if you’ve made it to the halfway mark with no problem, but can’t seem to get through the second half because the Super Guide always starts at the beginning of the level.

Hints in Peach Castle
You can spend the big coins you collect to watch hint videos in Peach Castle to find out how to get 1-ups and other goodies.

Overall, I don’t really have anything bad to say about this game. There were times I was literally kicking and screaming and would have to walk away and breathe for a minute, but as Marquis de Sade once said, “It is always by way of pain one arrives at pleasure.” The game delivered exactly what I was hoping it would: a fresh coat of pixels on one of my favorite game series of all time. It helped me remember what hooked me into gaming to begin with: the comfort of challenging patterns. Don’t get me wrong. I love a nice FPS with good AI, but above all I love being able to memorize exactly where something is going to be and the best way to annihilate it. That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

So dust off your Wii, replace those remote batteries and add the New Super Mario Bros. to your game collection. It comes in a fancy red case that screams “MARIO NUMBA ONE!”

* Unless you were kidnapped at birth and held in a cave until just now when you escaped, discovered the internet and found this article – in which case you should probably just ask someone where you can go to catch up on the last 25 years of gaming. I’m sure they’ll hook you up given your circumstances.

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Who’s getting DJ Hero? Sadly, I don’t have the $200 to pop on the full Renegade Edition*, so it’s on my Christmas wish list. Are you listening, Mom? Dad? That creepy guy who always looks me over in the elevator?

I wonder which franchise will prevail when it comes down to sales for 2010 – DJ Hero or Rock Band.

Here’s the scoop on the game from the official site:

• Access Unprecedented Music Variety: Mix and scratch over 102 individual songs, highlighted in over 93 exclusive new mixes that blend genres of music, including hip-hop, electronica, R&B, Motown, pop, and rock. DJ Hero brings the hottest artists including: Black Eyed Peas, 50 Cent, Justice, Marvin Gaye, Beastie Boys, N.E.R.D, and more.
• Experience Music in a Revolutionary Way: The DJ Hero turntable controller immerses you into authentic DJ culture allowing you to scratch, cross-fade, and beat match. Customize your mix with a variety of effects and samples transforming a face in the crowd into the life of the party.
• Rule the Hottest Parties: Where Guitar Hero brought gamers into the world of rock ‘n’ roll, DJ Hero brings you into the hottest scenes around. Party in venues reminiscent of real world locales from around the globe including an ultra plush and sexy Hollywood Hills style mansion to an open air beach club in Ibiza.
• Party with Your Friends: Features online and offline multiplayer competitive and cooperative modes.

Genres: hip-hop, pop, dance, and rock

Game Modes: DJ vs. DJ, DJ + DJ, DJ + Guitar

Supports: DJ Turntable, Guitar

You can pre-order the game now or wait to pick it up later this week.

*Groupies who stand at your booth angling for your number and a personalized mixed CD not included.

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Just wanted to let everyone know that I’m taking a little break from the weekly Level-Update podcasts. I realized I was spending more time researching news stories and writing the script than I was spending actually playing video games and decided it was time to change that.

This past Sunday, for the first time in 37 episodes, I gamed until I just couldn’t game no more. I spent some quality time with Beatles: Rock Band and Dead Space. It was glorious.

Because the podcasts are so time-consuming, I haven’t even had time to post any reviews. That being said, I feel I should give a little shout out to WET – a game I played, loved, and didn’t post anything about. I wish I had time to write a full review, but as I do not, here is a haiku about WET:

You say, “It’s too short.”
I say, “Can it, Goldilocks.”
WET deserves a rent.

So yeah, the game play might be a little predictable, but I felt the patterns were comforting. I think of WET as a modern game that used some of the oldschool rules of: 1) there are baddies 2) they come out in the same place 3) as you level up, there are more of them and they’re harder to kill. I don’t have a problem with that. Combine this with some great voice talent (Eliza Dushku, Alan Cumming, Malcolm McDowell), an interesting story, a mix of animation styles and a promise of a sequel from the final boss battle and I think you’ve got something worth renting. The only thing I’ll say I hated was how infuriatingly easy the boss battle was. The cut scene pretty much does the work for you. You have been warned.

So anyway, I’m not abandoning the podcasts completely, but I was long due for a little breather and thought I’d let everyone know. Hopefully I’ll be able to post a little more now.

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Mashable.com reported that EA Mobile announced the official Rock Band iPhone app today. The screen shots look pretty cool. According to the post:

The app comes with 15 songs – familiar tracks from past and present – with 5 additional songs that you can unlock as you complete the World Tour, as well as options to buy more. The game supports single-player game play, multi-player mode over Bluetooth, and Facebook Connect integration for inviting friends to play.

The Facebook Connect thing is pretty genius. No price or release date have been announced yet, but it seems like this app will be worth whatever it is they decide to charge for it whenever it is that it actually comes out. Just be careful with star power. You don’t want to throw your phone at that creepy dude sitting across from you on the train.

Get the full story and more screen grabs on Mashable.com»

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I hadn’t heard anything about “Dragon Age” until I saw this video on VG247 but it is now officially part of my Christmas wish list. The title is due out on November 3rd on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

From the official site:

Dragon Age: Origins is a dark heroic fantasy set in a unique world. As the spiritual successor of BioWare’s popular Baldur’s Gate series of games, it uses a pause-and-play tactical combat system. Play in over-the-shoulder mode, or the more tactical top-down view. Dragon Age: Origins features a stunning amount of cinematic dialog. Players will be able to acquire unique party members. These party members will have their own motivations for accompanying the player.

BioWare co-CEO Ray Muzyka describes “Dragon Age: Origins” as a ’spiritual successor’ to the “Baldur’s Gate” series, though it is not based on “Dungeons & Dragons.”

Whatever it’s based on, I’m stoked. I’ve been waiting for a game to come out featuring voice over artists that can rival those in “Heavenly Sword.”

Visit the official Dragon Age: Origins site»

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Some radical chick named Peggy made her own Nuka-Cola Machine.
She also posted the AI files and reveals the secret to making
Nuka-Cola Quantum here because she’s cool like that.

As a gaming journalist, I try to stay on top of all the games out there but it ain’t easy. Some series just pass me by and I don’t discover them until their third or fourth iterations. I didn’t get into The Elder Scrolls the Oblivion series until I hit Oblivion IV [EDITORS NOTE: Check out the comments] and I didn’t get into Fallout until my friend Matt let me borrow his copy of Fallout 3 – a copy which, nearly four months later, I’m sure he’d really like to have back. (Sorry, dude.)

Games like Fallout 3 remind me why I can never, ever log in to any MMORPG game. With single player RPGs, you can eventually finish. Even when new expansions are available for download, those only offer a certain number of hours of game play. But when other people are involved, things get complicated. You form relationships and even when you level up completely, there’s an opportunity to keep going and lead others. That’s not a healthy thing for me. If there’s no end in sight, I’ll keep going. And I kind of want to continue receiving a steady income and avoid becoming the subject of a story about game addicts who die at their computers.

Luckily, Fallout 3 is a game that can be put down and picked up again after dinner and a little sleep. The game is structured well and you won’t feel completely lost if you walk away for a few days and then want to come back. I feel like I should give an overview of the game here for those of you who don’t know anything about it, and seeing as how Wikipedia did such a lovely job of summing it up (AKA I’m too lazy to rewrite it right now) I’ll just paste that in here for you:

Fallout 3 takes place in the year 2277, 36 years after the setting of Fallout 2 and 200 years after the nuclear war between the USA and China that devastated the game’s world in an alternate post-World War II timeline. The game places the player in the role of an inhabitant of Vault 101, a survival shelter designed to protect a small number of humans from the nuclear fallout. When the player’s father disappears under mysterious circumstances, the player is forced to escape from the Vault and journey into the ruins of Washington D.C. to track him down. Along the way the player is assisted by a number of human survivors and must battle myriad enemies that now inhabit the wasteland. The game has an attribute and combat system typical of an action role-playing game but also incorporates elements of first-person shooter and survival horror games.

Sweet.

When you launch a new game, your character is being born. You decide if you’re going to be male or female, what you look like, your name and – depending on how you handle new missions – what kind of personality you have. As you grow in Vault 101, the game takes you through a bunch of really clever tutorials that prepare you for the world outside the vault. And then it is on.

The first location I hit after getting out of Vault 101 was Megaton where I ran into a towns-person who was a total jerk. For me, one of the joys of playing RPGs is your ability to react in ways you wish you could in real life just to see what’ll happen, so I promptly bashed her across the face with my night stick. I thought that was hilarious until the entire town started attacking me and I had to load an earlier check point to keep from getting murdered every time I regenerated. Turns out the game wasn’t much different than real life (except for the regeneration part.) If you punch people in the face, or someone catches you stealing there will be consequences. That doesn’t mean you can’t go about your missions as a thieving, aggressive bastard if you so choose, but the interactions you have with other characters will change depending on your karma level. Whether you’re the scourge of the earth or humanity’s last hope, you’ll reach a certain point in the game where you’ll attract an assistant. Because I went the nice route, I made friends with Fawkes, a super mutant I rescued who then followed me around blasting my enemies to smithereens. Having this backup is awesome when you’re running low on health and/or when you’re just not interested in hacking and slashing.

Depending on the approval process, this game was either a copywriter’s dream or worst nightmare. There is SO MUCH CONTENT in this game. From the extensive dialogue you have with other characters to posters on the walls to loading screens to clever documents hidden in computers you have to hack, Fallout 3 has a lot to offer. Even if you aren’t a big fan of RPGs, you should at least rent Fallout 3 (or “borrow” a copy from your friend and conveniently forget to return it for 4 months.) The game offers an excellent balance of RPG gameplay, first-person shooting and puzzles so that you’ll never get bored. I’m proud to say I broke my 10,000 gamer points cherry with this game and I encourage anyone wondering what it’s all about to check it out and embrace the addiction.

Save Your Sanity with the Fallout 3 Wiki»

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I think the best part is at the end. It happens really quickly, but pay close attention to the dude’s last reaction right as the voiceover guy says “Mountain.” I think the camera caught the precise moment when the guy decided he was going to beat the shit out of whoever recommended he take this game testing gig.

Check out the official Cursed Mountain site»

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If you’re the kind of person who has actually taken the time to include a signature line on phone-based text messages that says something along the lines of “Please excuse any misspellings. This was sent from my (insert phone model here) phone.” First of all, please know that even though you are apologizing, receiving misspelled text messages is fucking annoying. If you’re going to take the time to message me, don’t half-ass it. It’s bad enough you’re responding via text and not an actual phone call.

Secondly, if your signature line also includes something about “And I’m probably driving!” Then please allow me to introduce you to a wake up call. The New York Times just published a simple but powerful browser-based game that shows you how much damage you can do by texting and driving. You’re given a very simple task that you’re supposed to complete between reading and responding to text messages. About two seconds after receiving the first text and crashing through three gates (and according to my results a “Gray Lady”) I humbly admit that I cannot be trusted to drive a car and simultaneously text message. Check it out and see how well you do. Here were my results (click to enlarge):

Play the game»

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For years I have refused to play any MMO because I knew I would instantly become completely, ridiculously addicted. But I wore down. When I got an invite to play the beta version of Faunasphere and found out that it was actually Mac compatible, I couldn’t resist any longer. And I was kind of banking on the hope that I wasn’t going to like it. Well, that was dumb. This game is awesome. And while you might think it’s typical for a girl to enjoy a game where you create, nurture, and breed creatures with different powers in order to take care of the environment, I have two words for you: Viva Piñata. That game may have been a bit “girly”, but there were plenty of dudes who sheepishly admitted loving it. There’s something to be said for a well-designed game that lets you do whatever the hell you want at your own pace sprinkled with the ability to breed all sorts of totally insane creatures.

I’ll be delving into a little more detail about the game after I’ve spent more time playing it, but I felt compelled to reveal a little behind-the-scenes action. As a beta tester, it’s my job to find any bugs and report them so that the tech team can get them all fixed before the game is officially released. The second weekend I played, I ran into some problems loading the game. The following is my email correspondence with the Faunasphere technical support team:

Customer 07/05/2009 08:44 PM

Heya – I’ve been playing around with the game tonight (fun stuff) and ran into a loading issue. I’m on Mac OS 10.4.11 using Firefox 3.0.11. When I logged in the first time, I got the loading message, but the estimated time to complete kept increasing (this was around 9:40 PM). I refreshed the page and it loaded just fine the second time. Once I was in the game, however, I couldn’t get my fauna to move. I could see my cursor on the screen and could click links within other pages just fine, but not on the playing field. When I refreshed/reloaded a 3rd time, everything worked. (Around 9:43 pm.)

Response (Angela, Seattle) 07/06/2009 04:18 PM

Hello Kate,

Thank you for your e-mail. I am very sorry for the trouble you experienced. On July 3rd, there was a fire in the basement of the building where all of our major servers are located, as well as flooding due to the emergency sprinkler system that was set off. This immediately terminated all services, and forced our IT department to immediately transfer the servers to a new location and restore all of our data. This is a very time consuming process that took a few days.

We are currently up and running again for the most part, but services are still sketchy at this time and may not be fully restored in some areas such as the Forums. This area of the site may be down as late as Wednesday as there have been some complications with restoring some of the data.

Again, I am very sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you. At this time, our wonderful IT department continues to restore all services. They worked very diligently over the holiday weekend, and will continue to do so until everything is running as normal. We greatly appreciate your patience and understanding during this time.

If you have any other questions please reply directly to this email. I am more than happy to help in any way that I can. Have a wonderful day!

JEEZ! That is some serious customer support! You guys can rest assured that – even if there is a freaking fire and a flood – the Faunasphere tech team will drop whatever they’re doing (EVEN ON A HOLIDAY WEEKEND) and put your game first. There’s got to be some sort of IT department award these guys can be given, but for now, the least I can do is give them a shout out on my site.

Visit the Faunasphere site»

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