Awesome DC Universe Online Trailer + Pricing Info

If you weren't excited for the superhero MMO DC Universe Online before, then you will be after seeing the awesome trailer that was shown at San Diego Comic-Con (embedded below). And if you're still not excited for the game after watching the trailer, then you never will be, so I guess you can stop reading this then.

More DC Universe Online Videos

Pricing details were also announced at the Con (via IGN). The monthly fee will be $15 a month, which is about par for the course with MMOs.

The release date is November 2 later this year, so start charging your power rings, arming your utility belts, or whatever kind of preparations you need to do to start laying some superhero smackdown come this Fall.

There Is Indeed a Master Timeline to Zelda, Says Aonuma

Congratulations Hyrule historians, all of your countless hours of research and theory have not been in vain. A true master timeline to the Legend of Zelda series does, in fact, exist according to Eiji Aonuma. He says in a recent Official Nintendo Magazine interview, via ZeldaDungeon.net:

“Yes there is a master timeline but its confidential document!” explains Aunuma-san. “The only people to have access to that document are myself, Mr. Miyamoto and the director of the title. We cant share it with anyone else! I have already talked to Mr. Miyamoto about this so I am comfortable in releasing this information – this title [Skyward Sword] takes place before Ocarina of Time. if I said that a certain title was ‘the first Zelda game’, then that means that we cant ever make a title that takes place before that! So for us to add titles to the series, we have to have a way of putting the titles before or after each other.”

So there you have. Will the timeline ever be revealed to us? Probably not, but I'm sure a lot of Zelda fans will take solace in the fact that it exists at all.

Play Alien Swarm for Free, Get TF2 Hat

If there's one thing Team Fortress 2 players covet more so than anything else, it's the almighty hat. Valve, knowing this, smartly decided to add an irresistible incentive for TF2 players to play their new free-to-play game, Alien Swarm. Complete a couple of co-op missions and a new hat is yours (as you can see in my screengrab below).

Like I said, it's free, so go out there and claim your hat!

On the Horizon: Metroid Other M

In a little over a month, August 31 to be exact, comes the next installment in the great Metroid franchise, Other M. Retro Studios had been developing the console Metroid titles for nearly a decade, but with Other M, Nintendo hands the reigns over to Team Ninja, known best as the developer of Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive. Team Ninja is taking Metroid in a more cinematic direction in hopes of fleshing out Samus' character a little bit beyond just being a badass space bounty hunter. On the gameplay side, expect a mesh of classic 2D sidescrolling with Prime-style first person shooting.

So, dear reader, are you excited for Other M, or could you care less? Do you have high hopes, or has what you've seen so far make you prepare for disappointment?

(Here's a little GIF I threw together just to have something pretty to look at on the site.)

Site Note: Sorry For the Delay, Folks

I know this blog has hardly any readers yet (if any at all), but I still feel like I have a duty to keep it updated. It's been a week since a new post, so I apologize and promise that I'll post some new stuff real soon.

And if you readers are out there somewhere, please feel free to leave comment so I know you exist! I have yet to get a comment yet, so it'd be pretty cool to know that someone, somewhere, read this little ol' blog of mine. Also, the first person to comment gets a prize! The prize of knowing that you helped provide a sense of worth to a fledgling gaming blog, which is really the greatest prize of all when you think about it (not really...).

The Game Critics Awards for E3 2010 Are In

A few weeks after the event took place, I think we can finally call it a wrap on E3 2010 as perhaps the definitive "Best of E3" awards, the Game Critics Awards, have been announced. For over a decade, the Game Critics Awards have brought together a number of different industry media publications in order to pick consensus winners for the biggest event in video games. So, without further ado, the winners of E3 2010 are:

Best of Show
Nintendo 3DS
(Nintendo)

Best Original Game
Dance Central
(Harmonix/MTV Games/Microsoft for Xbox 360)

Best Console Game
Rage
(id Software/Bethesda for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360)

Best Handheld Game
God of War: Ghost of Sparta
(Ready at Dawn/Sony Santa Monica for PSP)

Best PC Game
Portal 2
(Valve)

Best Hardware
Nintendo 3DS
(Nintendo)

Best Action Game
Rage
(id Software/Bethesda for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360)

Best Action/Adventure Game
Portal 2
(Valve for PC / Mac, PS3 and Xbox 360)

Best Role Playing Game
Star Wars: The Old Republic
(BioWare Austin/LucasArts/EA for PC)

Best Fighting Game
Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
(Capcom for PS3 and Xbox 360)

Best Racing Game
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
(Criterion Games/Electronic Arts for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360)

Best Sports Game
NBA Jam
(EA Canada/EA Sports for Wii)

Best Strategy Game
Civilization V
(Firaxis/2K Games for PC)

Best Social/Casual Game
Rock Band 3
(Harmonix/MTV Games/Electronic Arts for PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii)

Best Motion Simulation Game
Dance Central
(Harmonix/MTV Games/Microsoft for Xbox 360)

Best Online Multiplayer
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
(Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360)

Special Commendation for Graphics
Rage
(id Software/Bethesda for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360)

Engineer Update Nigh for Team Fortress 2

The long awaited, much anticipated final class update for Team Fortress 2 seems to be close at hand. The Engineer is the only remaining class without class-specific weapons and achievements of his own. Over at the official TF2 blog, an Engineer-centric comic serves as a harbinger for the upcoming update.

There are several clues within the comic that hint at what might be included in the update. There is a sequence in the comic that explains that all of TF2's sci-fi-esque gadgets (teleporters, cloaking devices, etc.) are the inventions of the Australians (global leaders of the "moustache sciences"). Their technological prowess is a result of their possession of the transformative element Australium, a gold-looking metal that can only be found in Australia. This provides the backstory to the first semi-confirmed weapon in the update: the Australium (or Gold) Wrench. As you can see in the video below, killing an enemy with this wrench turns them into an Australium statue which can be gathered up to replenish your metal supply.



Also within the comic is a lot of talk about Life Extender Machines, the blueprints of which end up in the hands of the Engineer. What will the battlefield applications be for such a machine? An ÜberCharge-capable dispenser? Let us also not forget the new-and-improved shotgun we saw a glimpse of in the trailer for the Mac update. What kind of perks will that provide? All will be revealed (hopefully) soon, so just grab a sandvich and stay tuned.

Sony's Feelings Hurt Over Nintendo's 3D Glasses Jabs

It seems like there's a wry bit of happenstance going on in the gaming industry right now as it pertains to 3D gaming. Just as Sony begins its big push forward to promote the PS3 as the ultimate 3D gaming experience (and sell a few Sony 3D TVs along the way), Nintendo subverts them by introducing the 3DS. Unlike nearly all other 3D media (including the PS3), the 3DS doesn't require big, goofy glasses, and Nintendo's letting people know that every chance they get. Well, I guess they could be a little bit nicer about it, because it seems like they're hurting some feelings over at Sony.

A recent IGN article quotes Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony's Worldwide Studios, as saying about Nintendo;

"When you listen to what they are saying about the effect of 3D perspective to the games, they are saying the same message we are, but they don't have to bash some small part of what the other company is doing." 

He goes on to give a "can't we all get along" message to Nintendo, saying;

"I think as an industry we should preach this new perspective, from a very large cinema screen to a small portable, because that helps advancing the games and the game industry. We'd like to work together to promote 3D."

But ultimately, he of course champions glasses-3D above all else, saying;

"If you really want a big theater experience, of course you have to wear glasses. With the latest technology, the glasses are light and you kind of forget you're wearing them after awhile."

 So it seems like the dawn of the 3D Age in video games is upon us. Whether the best way to experience this brave new world is to don cumbersome glasses or have limited viewing angles on a glasses-free system is to be determined

New Sponsored Stats for Madden 11

In case you hadn't heard, Madden 11 will introduce sports gaming's first ever sponsored stat with the "swagger" rating (SWG) sponsored by Old Spice, as you can see below:

 image from Kotaku.com

The corporate fun doesn't stop there, though, as Madden 11 will also feature three more sponsored stats that will revolutionize Madden as we know it. I'm proud to announce that Three-Life Legends has the exclusive scoop on these game-changing stats, and here they are:

Choke Factor (CHK) sponsored by the American Heart Association

In an effort to promote awareness for CPR and Heimlich Maneuver training, the American Heart Association has sponsored the CHK stat. The higher a player's CHK rating, the more likely they are to completely botch a play in crunch time of important games. Brett Favre's CHK rating see's a big increase in Madden 11 after his game-ending interception in last year's NFC Championship game.

Diva-ness (DVA) sponsored by Victoria's Secret

Finally, a stat that chronicles a player's propensity to act like a diva! Dropped passes, lackadaisical effort, and sideline arguments abound for players with a high DVA rating. Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco lead the league in this category.

Al Davis Factor (ADF) sponsored by the SyFy network

A team stat that measures how much Al Davis has permeated a football franchise. If your team has a high ADF, players you draft become busts, players your trade for become worthless, and players you sign as free agents become over-payed shells of their former selves (in Madden terms, this means all of their stats go down the toilet). The specter of Al Davis' ghoulish visage haunts those with high ADF ratings. The Raiders have a 100 ADF, while every other team in the league gets a 0 ADF.

No 3DS Until Next Year, Says Reggie

As many other outlets are reporting, last night, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime made an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to show off Donkey Kong Country Returns (you can see the whole segment right here). While they were playing, Jimmy casually (albeit in a scripted way) asked Reggie about the 3DS, to which Reggie replied that we can expect it to launch "next year". Then Reggie subsequently pulled out a 3DS and blew Jimmy's mind (judging by his reaction).

I'm not sure we can take this as gospel just yet, but it would makes sense. After getting a lot of feedback from E3, Nintendo can use this extra time to make hardware tweaks. Developers can also use this time to finish preparing their launch titles, since I'm sure most of them haven't been working on their games for more than a few month.

While it sucks that we won't be able to get our hands on the 3DS this year, it's much better to wait for it to come out when it's ready rather than play an incomplete system that was rushed to market.

UPDATE  (6-28): Now people within Nintendo are saying that this was a mistake on Reggie's part, and that the 3DS will actually be released this year. This all gets rather confusing when you try to figure out whether they mean "calendar year" or "fiscal year". I guess the bottom line here is that we don't know anything more about the 3DS launch date than we did at E3. Cool...

3DS Virtual Console: 3D Updates to Classic Games?

After the addition of the DSi Ware shop service on the DSi, it was pretty much a forgone conclusion that Nintendo's true next generation handheld would likewise feature a download service of some sort. Lo and behold, company prez Satoru Iwata says in a recent interview: "I can’t go into detail on what the plans are today, but of course, with a device like Nintendo 3DS, we do intend to offer some type of digital distribution." What kind of digital distribution? Nintendo fans have long clamored for a handheld virtual console that would offer up classic handheld games from the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, etc. in a way akin to what the Wii virtual console does with old school console games. Well, there may be a virtual console service for the 3DS, but it may not be what you're expecting.

According to IGN's Nintendo Voice Chat podcast, 18 NES and SNES games were demoed on the 3DS at E3 this past week, including Super Mario Bros. and Mega Man 2. Plus, we know that a pair of N64 classics, Star Fox 64 and Ocarina of Time, were also shown at the convention. It sure seems like a lot of "old" games were being shown for this brand new system. Why would Nintendo do that? Did they just want to throw together a bunch of quick demos with games people were already familiar with in order to highlight the 3D effect? Or maybe, and rather likely, Nintendo was showing off some of the titles it will be offering in a new, 3D-updated virtual console for the 3DS. While it may seem like it would be a long and arduous process to go back through entire libraries of games and update them to utilize 3D effects, but Iwata said in the same interview that: "From a development perspective, it actually does not make much of a difference in terms of development costs to create the 3D visual effect." So maybe this is actually a great business decision by Nintendo: jazz up the classics with a 3D effect on the cheap and sell it back to us for a tidy sum. Think about it; how many times has Nintendo repackaged the original Super Mario Bros. to consumers, and how many times have you bought that same game?

So in all likelihood, we're going to see a 3D virtual console for 3DS that enhances classic games with new visual magic. Will Game Boy games be included in there somewhere, even if only in 2D? I'm thinking probably not, and definitely not at launch. What about those unlucky few games that were doomed to appear on Nintendo's first major foray into 3D: the Virtual Boy? Maybe. It makes a lot of sense, so that means Nintendo probably won't do it just so they can cackle callously at the suffering masses while they sip virgin blood from a solid gold goblet. So that just leaves us with the console games. Am I excited by the prospect of playing side-scrolling NES games in 3D? Not really. Am I excited by the prospect of playing Star Fox 64 and Ocarina of Time in 3D? Absolutely. So bring on the 3D virtual console, I say, just try and make sure it gets better support than DSi Ware.

Run, Iwata and Miyamoto, Run!

The new Mario Bros.?

Look Back: The Bosses of Zelda Twilight Princess

Last week at E3, we all got our first look at The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for Wii. Technical issues during the press conference notwithstanding (I still feel bad for Miyamoto), it looked fantastic. With the next console Zelda on the horizon, it's a great time to take a look back at the last iteration of the great franchise, Twilight Princess, and its awesome boss battles.

Now, if you consider yourself a gamer of any credence, chances are you've played Ocarina of Time. Hopefully you have finished said game, in which case you've experienced the epic final showdown with Ganon. So far, nothing has come close to topping that as far as boss battles in Zelda games are concerned. However, if you consider all of the bosses throughout the game as a whole, I think you'd have to give the nod to Twilight Princess as tops among Zeldas. I mean, OoT is an amazing game certainly, but do you remember the water temple boss? The development team must have phoned it in the day they came up with that thing...

But, what I want to talk about here is Twilight Princess' bosses. They're easy to dispatch once you figure out their patterns/weakness, yes, but they are well-designed and make for some memorable moments. So with that said, let's take a look at some of those big bads:

Forest Temple - Diababa

To start things off, the first boss you encounter is this giant plant thing (technical term). It's pretty a decent take on the plant-type creatures that show up throughout Zelda games, though not exactly awe-inspiring as an ultimate embodiment of evil among floral folk. For a first boss, though, it wasn't bad at all. Use the gale boomerang to carry bombs over to it and wham-bam-boom, it's dead. Solid design, first dungeon, pretty good.

Goron Mines - Fyrus

First made famous for his appearances in E3 trailers and demos, this big burning dude is the next foe. For you Lord of the Rings fans out there, he's essentially a Balrog. Arrow to the face, drag his chains while weighted down with the iron boots, and he's a goner. Simple, easy, but the scale of this boss lends a certain level of epicness (another technical term) to the game that will build up as you progress.

Lakebed Temple - Morpheel

OK, now we're talking. This is where I think the quality in the boss designs starts to really pick up. It first appears to be some kind of lame squid thing, but after a couple of eye pokes, it busts out from under the sand and OH SHI-. There's definitely some inspiration taken from Majoras Mask's water dungeon boss, but this one dwarfs it in scale and impact. Swim around, clawshot onto its back, and take that sucker down. I think you'd have to consider this one of if not the best boss of a water dungeon in Zelda history. But the hits just keep coming, because next up...

Arbiter's Grounds - Stallord

... you come face to face with this dude. Seriously, this thing is huge. In an inspired use of the spinner gameplay mechanic, you ride around on the spinner until you get behind Stallord, then you launch yourself at its spine and knock it down a peg. After a couple of strikes, it crumbles and a giant pillar emerges from the ground. You head over to the, uhh, head, only to have it come back to life. This is where this boss gets even more awesome; you engage the skull in a high-speed chase while on the spinner, jumping from wall to wall as it tries to hit you with its fireballs. Really fantastic sense of scale with some great action to boot.

Snowpeak Mansion - Blizzeta

In this case, it's not the boss itself that makes this great; it's the means by which you take it down. With the floor covered in ice, you look at the reflection on the ice of Blizzeta to determine where she will strike. It also didn't hurt that you used the game's most awesome item, the ball and chain, to defeat it.

Temple of Time - Armogohma

For the boss of the famed Temple of Time, one of the most sacred and important places in all of Zeldadom, the boss is... a giant freaking spider! Somehow I was expecting more than a giant spider for the Temple of Time. What was it even doing in there to begin with? Well, I guess as far as giant spiders go, this was a pretty good one. It was bigger and badder than the one in OoT, and to boot, you use the dominion rod to have giant statues to crush it. Thumbs up for that.

City in the Sky - Argorok

Now, you knew who the boss here was the moment you launced up to the City when Ooccoo pointed out, you know, the immense dragon terroizing the rest of the Oocca, but that didn't detract from the battle. In fact, it actually built up a little bit of suspense and dread. Once you finally get up to the top of the structure, it's go time. In order to take him out, you have to double-clawshot your way up two of four skycraper-sized chain towers, then clawshot onto it and put on the iron boots to pull it down and break its armor. After that, floating plants will rise up and circle the middle of the airspace. Using those to Spiderman your way around the dragon (while he's shooting fireballs at you, BTW), you take him out in the same fashion as before. Best boss fight in the game, I'd have to say. Such an epic scale for a dungeon boss.

Palace of Twilight - Zant

Zant! The mighty Zant, the boss of bosses in Twilight Princess. Well, it's not quite the Zant we all came to know and loathe. Prior to your confrontation, he goes a little bit insane. It kind of makes the boss fight itself rather pitiful in a way that almost makes you sorry for the guy. There's some great irony in him being built up as such an ultimate badass, only for him to reveal that he's just a power-hungry average joe who was being used by Ganondorf in order to make his evil return. Still, it would have been cool to actually have a new villain in the Zelda series to save us from Ganon fatigue. Oh well...

I think I'm going to stop there for now, lest I get into too deep of spoilers for some of you out there. I know it's an almost four year old game now, but I've made my point by now, right? Twilight Princess bosses... good. Now, I do know that there's a bit of a controversy about the final boss fight, Ganondorf, and how it failed to live up to the expectations of some. So, possible material for a future blog post? Perhaps...

Hello World!

Welcome to the site! This is Three-Life Legends, a blog covering video games and game culture from yesterday and today. I know what you're thinking: oh man, not another crappy video game blog. That's understandable, but I'm going to try my darnedest to make sure that I provide enough new, unique, and interesting content to stand out in this ocean of information we call the internet. What kind of content, you ask? Well, it could be anything, really: news, reviews, videos, rumors, op-eds, retro articles, and so on. Now, I'm not trying to replace the big video game sites out there (you know, the ones with the actual journalistic connections), but I do think I can be good enough to garner something of a following.

Seeing how this is a brand new blog and all, I'm not above shamelessly pandering to you, the reader. So really, give this blog a chance, and you may be pleasantly surprised. Or you may not. But you probably will be..... maybe.

To close this inaugural post, let me just say this: I love video games. I love gaming culture. I'm sure if you do too, you'll enjoy reading this blog. This is a brand new site, so there's not much here just yet, but be patient and I hope you can become a fan.

And please, feel free to leave a comment!