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Rainier's Articles


PS2/Xbox Preview - 'Red Ninja: End of Honor'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - E3 2004 May 12th

Genre : Action
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Developer: Tranji
Release Date: Q4 2004

Thanks to my alarming ninja fetish, I’ve been looking forward to Red Ninja: End of Honor for a while now. Any game starring a female ninja will automatically grab my attention, for some strange and undoubtedly psychologically significant reason, and Red Ninja raises the ante in many significant ways.

For one thing, it is extraordinarily and unapologetically violent. The story, written by the Japanese writer/director Shinsuke Sato (Princess Blade; if you ever have the chance, check it out), is another bleak tale of a cycle of revenge, with

Xbox/PC Preview - Men Of Valor'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - E3 2004 May 12th

Men of Valor
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Developer: 2015
Release Date: November 2004

Is it actually possible for one console to have too many good first-person shooters? We’re starting to reach that point, here.

You might know 2015 as the developers of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and its expansion pack Spearhead, published by EA. They have taken that experience, used it to make Men of Valor, another high-intensity, ruthlessly difficult, accurate-to-a-fault first-person shooter, and switched publisher to Vivendi.

You’ll be going in-country as Dean Shepherd, a black Marine, during the early stages of the Vietnam War. To fight the Vietcong, you’ll be rescuing

PS2/Xbox Preview - 'Predator: Concrete Jungle'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - E3 2004 May 12th

Genre: Action
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Developer: Eurocom UK
Release Date: TBD

Here’s what we know.

Predator: Concrete Jungle takes place on Earth, in a city called Weyland on the west coast of the United States, in two separate chapters a hundred years apart.

In the first chapter, a young Predator has come to Earth to hunt humans. Specifically, he’s come to hunt the members of the Borgia crime family, who rule Weyland with an iron fist. 1930s-style mob violence meets alien technology in the ensuing bloodbath. It does not go well for the Predator.

A hundred years later, that same Predator, fresh from a

PS3/X360/PC Preview - 'Prince of Persia Prodigy'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2008

Genre: Action/Adventure
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Release Date: Q4 2008

As a kid, one of my favorite games was the PC classic, Prince of Persia. It was a crushingly hard and deeply unforgiving game that nonetheless manages to be addicting enough that I memorized every pixel of it. A variety of sequels have ranged from fun to terrible, but few could ever match the enjoyment of the original Prince of Persia. When they announced Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, I wasn't expecting much and found myself blown away by some of the finest action-puzzle gameplay

Xbox 360 Preview - 'Rock Band 2'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2008

Genre: Rhythm/Music
Publisher: MTV Games
Developer: Harmonix
Release Date: September 2008

Rock Band launched at the end of 2007 to great hype and anticipation, quickly becoming the holiday gift for those who could afford the hefty price tag ($169.99). Garnering an average of 93% at Metacritic and moving over three million units, it would seem that MTV Games' gamble has paid off. Coming this September is the inevitable sequel, Rock Band 2, and the devs have taken fan feedback into account to figure out how to optimize the hardware and software experience.

First thing's first — the

Star Wars Battlefront (PS2/Xbox-PC) - Screens

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - E3 2004 May 12th

'BioShock' (PS3) - Screens

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - E3 2008 - July 15th

BioShock for the Xbox 360and PC was released in 2007 and received numerous Game of the Year honors from prestigious organizations including Associated Press, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), Game Informer, Spike TV's VGAs and Paste Magazine. BioShock's extension to the PS3 will bring exciting new content to this amazing title and reach many new players, while giving the title the opportunity to once again be named Game of the Year.

"Since BioShock for Xbox 360 and PC won countless 2007 Game of the Year awards, we are excited to see the impact of this

Xbox Live Arcade Preview - 'Braid'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2008

Genre: 2-D Platformer
Publisher: Number None
Developer: Number None
Release Date: Q3 2008

At just about every turn, Braid thumbs its nose at your expectations.

To hear one describe it, you'd think that it's all been done before, but the approach in this 2-D platformer title is fresh and new. The player journeys through a series of five worlds in Braid, collecting puzzle pieces along the way. The platforming sequences pay homage to everyone's inspiration, Super Mario Bros. — right down to a creature coming out of the castle at the end and proclaiming, "I'm sorry, but the

PS2 Preview - 'Cold Winter'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - E3 2004 May 12th

Cold Winter (PS2)
Developer: Swordfish Studios
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Release Date: Q1 2005

If the Cold War’s over, no one bothered to tell Andrew Sterling. A captured MI-6 agent, he’s endured months of torture in a Chinese prison, and expects to be killed at any moment. Suddenly, thanks to an old friend, he’s free, armed, and has a shot at escape. His problems, strangely, are just beginning.

Cold Winter is a first-person shooter, both like and unlike any other. You may have seen gore zones, ragdoll physics, and intelligent enemies in a FPS before now, but you rarely see them all at

Xbox 360 Preview - 'Fallout 3'

by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2008

Genre: RPG
Publisher: Bethesda
Developer: Bethesda
Release Date: Fall 2008

For those unfamiliar with the awesome Fallout world setting, imagine that the future we had pictured in the '50s had actually come true. Household robots and ray beams exist, and there is still that bizarre '50s sense of misogyny and racism that is somehow both hilarious and offensive at the same time. Unfortunately, one of the other big '50s predictions — the entire world would blow the crap out of each other in a nuclear war — also came true. Most of the world is a