Gamer Shelf

Borderlands Demo Still Up In The Air

Interested in trying Borderlands before it arrives in October? Gearbox would love for you to do just that, but it's still possible that you may have to purchase it on faith alone. According to a recent interview on Shacknews, a demo is still up in the air.

"We talk about a demo every day. We would love to do a demo," writer Mikey Neumann said.
"If and when we do one, I don't know if it'd be pre-launch or post-launch, because there's a lot of factors there."

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Ever since I was a kid, I've loved the Ghostbusters. From the catchy, yet allegedly plagiarized theme song by Ray Parker Jr., to the pitch perfect per

Japanese developers ranging from Square Enix to Capcom have set their sights on the western market of late, aiming to take advantage of a sector of the industry that is perceived to be on the rise. Tecmo Koei has likewise adjusted their strategy, with CEO Kenji Matsubara saying that the Japanese market hasn't seen "such a big change" since last year.
"The problem is, as you know, the PlayStation 3 and 360 - the new games platforms - are not as popular in the Japanese games market," Matsubara told Computer and Video Games.
"The reason is that gamers are waiting for the right time to buy one. They're waiting for a good title made especially for either platform. But this is a publisher and developer problem - we haven't yet provided such a title to satisfy such users."

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Ghostbusters (PS3)

Ever since I was a kid, I've loved the Ghostbusters. From the catchy, yet allegedly plagiarized theme song by Ray Parker Jr., to the pitch perfect performances from its three main stars (Harold Ramis, Dan Akroyd, and Bill Murray), the original Ivan Reitman film played a huge part in the lives of many children (and adults) in the 1980's. But how does Ghostbusters fare in the transition from film franchise to a modern day third-person shooter?

Basically, the story fits in perfectly with the tone of the original movies, and the voice acting from the original cast (featuring Dan Akroyd's best work since Driving Miss Daisy) is fantastic. The game does an admirable job of giving the player a taste of what it takes to be a Ghostbuster, but the technology isn't quite there to deliver a Hollywood-quality story in a videogame.

Set in 1991, a scant two years after the events of Ghostbusters 2, the game begins with a strange supernatural shockwave that comes from the Gozer exhibit at a New York museum. Not cool enough to play as any of the main characters, the player instead wears the coveralls of the Ghostbusters' new, unnamed "experimental weapons specialist." The game constantly points out your anonymous existence, with the gang often referring to you with humiliating monikers such as "sport," "chief," or simply "the kid."

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Need for Speed: Shift Authenticy vs. Simulation Interview

Need For Speed: Shift is due on shelves in a few months and, while DICE is confident that it will be the racing game of 2009, it will face stiff competition this year from Forza 3 and Split Second. We set up an interview with Shift's producer, Jesse Abney, to talk about the game's unique AI, internal and external car customization, and what makes Shift stand out from other racing titles. 1UP: If someone's getting into Need for Speed for the first time, what can they expect?

Jesse Abney: We want new fans to experience authentic racing, so we built an authentic racing game. But it's not a simulation game. It's not a grind; it's not overly punishing to the point that you lose sight of what's fun.

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Raven Squad Hands-On Preview (PC, XBOX 360)

Despite the relative success of games like Halo Wars and the long-running Command and Conquer series, real-time strategy games don't seem to get as much attention these days as their more popular first-person shooter counterparts. Developer Atomic Motion is trying to change that trend by combing "a first-person shooter experience with the command and overview advantages of tactical real-time strategy" in their upcoming title Raven Squad.
I was able to check out a demonstration of the game recently, and as a hybrid, it looks like a lot more fun with friends than as a solo campaign. You can play alone, or cooperatively with a friend online (and through system link on 360), but regardless of who you're playing with, you always have two friendly squads on-screen at a time (assault and support) made up of three members each. Within those squads, your team members each have unique weapons and skills (like the medic and the sniper) so it's important to keep all your teammates alive so you can switch between characters (and squads in single-player) on the fly. Routing out some enemies with a quick grenade assault then switching over to a sniper to pick off any unfortunate survivors is just a few button pushes away.

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The Maid Uniforms & Machineguns

You gotta give it to D3: Their budget games are often terrible, but they make the best of it by basing them on cracked-out ideas -- you can't deny the certain appeal of Onechanbara, after all. This game is less gory, but is still shy a few degrees of common sense: You play as one of two maids who use big guns to mow down waves on oncoming enemies in order to keep their young master out of harm's way. As D3's product page says, "This is the ultimate in Maid Stylish Action!!" And who are we to argue?

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Pepsiman

Before the Burger King Xbox games, there was Pepsiman, the game devoted to Pepsi's old mascot in Japan. Technically, it's not that great a game, but the pure absurdity of Pepsiman perpetually running through suburbia while jumping over obstacles and occasionally escaping giant rolling Pepsi cans more than makes up for whatever shortcomings it actually has. Don't forget the interstitial movies, which feature an obese American guy who sips Pepsi and tells us that the drink can, among other things, be used "FOR TV GAME!"

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