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Rainier's Articles


X360/PC Preview - 'Darkest of Days'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2009

Genre: First-Person Shooter
Publisher: Phantom EFX
Developer: 8Monkey Labs
Release Date: TBA

Time travel and its paradoxical twists have always been popular tools for fiction to use as convenient foils in wrapping up loose threads or in creating new ways in which to create the same. The adventure game Timequest, from now-defunct developer Legend Entertainment, casts you as a time agent sent back to pivotal moments in history in order to correct subtle changes that another renegade agent had left behind. The Journeyman Project series had also explored the same approach, and in both, you could screw

Wii Preview - 'Shiren the Wanderer'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2009

Genre: Role-Playing
Publisher: Atlus
Developer: Chunsoft
Release Date: Q1 2010

Mystery Dungeon: Shiren The Wanderer was a roguelike for the Nintendo DS, with most of the trappings thereof (when a character dies, all items are lost, etc.) The game has had several console releases in Japan, and now the third is coming to the U.S. for the Wii. At E3, they were showing attendees a demo of the Japanese game and explaining everything to those who were interested.

The basics of Shiren the Wanderer are your standard roguelike. The game even features two difficulty levels, with a hardcore mode

PS3/X360/PC Preview - 'Alpha Protocol'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2009

Genre: Role-Playing
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Release Date: October 2009

Stealth and adrenaline-soaked action are part of the spy genre's hallmarks, whether it is in trying to stop nuclear annihilation in Metal Gear or in slipping past enemy security by climbing along the outside of a cruise ship in Splinter Cell. Obsidian Entertainment is now set to shake up these conventions with a spy-based RPG that includes the combat, stealth, and plenty of options to allow a player to mix James Bond and Jason Bourne into the ultimate black ops agent.

While most spy games only have

PS3 Preview - 'Demon's Souls'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2009

Atlus U.S.A. has secured the North American publishing rights for Demon's Souls, a groundbreaking PS3 exclusive action RPG experience. Beautiful, compelling, and unforgiving, Demon's Souls is the hardcore RPG experience PS3 fans have been waiting for.

PC Preview - 'FreeStyle Street Basketball'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006

Genre: Sports
Publisher: Vivendi
Developer: JC Entertainment
Release Date: Q1 2007

It is within the bounds of possibility that you could sell a million copies of anything in Korea, as long as it was a massive multiplayer online game. Ideally, it should be an MMO you can play with one hand, freeing up the other hand to smoke a cigarette.

Freestyle Street Basketball is, at once, a demonstration of this principle and an idea I'm surprised we haven't seen before now. This is a game where you can create and kit out a cel-shaded cartoon avatar, and then

Wiiware Preview - 'Redneck Chicken Riot'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2009

Genre: Shooter
Publisher: City Interactive
Developer: City Interactive
Release Date: Oct. 2, 2009

Shooting should be one of the most generic genres on the Wii. Just look at all the gun-shaped items that have already been sold, and consider that some of the Wii's gem titles have included House of the Dead games. But the more I think about it, I haven't seen that many. As City Interactive's most complete game that isn't near release date yet, Redneck Chicken Riot is odd, perhaps inspired by Wallace & Gromit, but with a confusing idea of its very own.

The game is a pretty

PSP Preview - 'Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman!'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2009

Genre: Role-Playing
Publisher: Nippon Ichi Software
Developer: Ride On
Release Date: July 1, 2009

Before we go any further, let's listen to that little voice of Robin in our heads. You know you want to. Now, wonder who at Atlus decided this would be a name to trademark. Imagine that the title fits the actual game just enough to be even more hilarious. Just three minutes convinced me that Atlus has invested wisely in a game that truly captures its name like few other games on market. I mean, a lot do better and a lot

Wii Preview - 'Deca Sports 2'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2009

Genre: Sports
Developer: Hudson
Publisher: Hudson
Release: Q4 2009

Sports-based mini-game collections might be the most specific genre you can get to on the Nintendo Wii and still find a metric ton of competing products. Wii Sports, Big League Sports, EA Playground and, of course, Deca Sports are just a few examples of the area and how crowded it can be. Now, Hudson's giving its work a sequel with Deca Sports 2, and they were showing it off at E3.

Fortunately, they've added several new ideas to the series to match with the 10 new games. Not only will

NGC/PS2/Xbox Preview - 'The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006

Genre: Action/Adventure
Publisher: Vivendi
Developer: Krome Studios
Release Date: October 2006

Spyro's newest venture is entitled A New Beginning, and for good reason. With this new game, the reset button's been hit on Spyro; all past adventures have been forgotten in favor of giving one of the hardest-working mascots in video games a fresh start.

In this case, it means shifting the onscreen action's focus from cutesy platforming to surprisingly intense action. Krome Studios, the dev house that gave the world Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, has set out to make Spyro's newest adventure feel like "playing through a

'Tatsunoko vs. Capcom' (Wii) Developer Interview

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Pre - E3 2009

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom pits Capcom's iconic characters against Tatsunoko Production's anime superheroes. This clash of heroes face off in two-on-two battles for the ultimate 2D tag-team battle. During the E3 madness, we sat down with Capcom's senior communications director, Chris Kramer.

WP: Who has the honor to speak with us? State your name, rank, and occupation!

I'm Chris Kramer, and I'm the senior director of communications and community at Capcom.

WP: One of the big announcements for E3 was the fact that Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is coming to the U.S. and Europe. What was it like getting that brought over? We kept hearing