BioWare has released a video detailing the musical score of Star Wars: The Old Republic. As many of you are aware, we here at the Axe are HUGE fans of musical scores for games, as apparent in our EBA Trax player (for those of you who haven’t, you should really check it out).

The score appears to be coming together nicely, merging some of the original music from the movies and game (KOTOR), then creating something completely new – but that’s not the only thing that got us excited about the video. Several new in game shots popped up throughout, including a player zooming across the Tatooine desert on a swoop (near the end of the video) and some footage from Hoth.

Nice!

It’s not like we needed yet another reason to get excited about the game, but this new video is extra special, especially for our Axeheads that have an appreciation for music in games. So, check it out right here and let us know what you think, and how you feel about the direction BioWare is taking with the game’s musical score.

Cont’d from Brent’s Behind Closed Doors With The Old Republic

After the presentation from Jake Neri, we filed out of the small presentation room and began our highly anticipated wait for the hands-on.  While in line, we met up with Sean Dahlberg, Community Manager for BioWare and Alyson Bridge, Community Coordinator.  Some of you who watched the reality gamer show “Ultimate Gamer” may recognize Alyson.  She was a contestant (but unfortunately didn’t make it very far) who obviously has landed on her feet coordinating a massive community – a community absorbing every detail of this highly anticipated game.  While we were chatting, I couldn’t help peaking around the corner every few seconds to awe at the Old Republic “Game Room” .

There were 12 workstations set up – but only 6 playable classes: Sith Warrior, Sith Inquisitor, Imperial Agent,Trooper, Smuggler, Bounty Hunter. Brent and I were able to play side by side – he playing the Sith Warrior, and myself playing the Sith Inquisitor. I began the demo standing amongst a group of Sith (..there was a Mon Cal!) where I picked up my first mission, and experienced the first instance of the story driven content.  Not going into details, he basically said I was a scrub until I proved myself and that I would probably die on the mission. Go figure.  I then followed the map indicator (in the upper right of the screen) that told me the direction to go for the mission.  Brent was in another area of the temple with his Sith Warrior, but we soon met up outside, facing the valley of the Dark Lords. that’s when I slash waved – and my character performed a waving emote
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When I first saw Mortal Kombat, it was at my first job. The grocery store where I worked cycled 1 new arcade game every 3 months. Since it was how I spent all my break time, I always hoped we would get something cool and fun to play.

When I walked into work on the day of ‘delivery’ I was skeptical – It appeared to be a fighting game similar to Street Fighter, but with a more ‘realistic’ look to it and a block button?!. A couple of quarters later, I was wondering why the hell the other character dizzied around and the game kept yelling ‘FINISH HIM!’ after the matches. WTF? One of my co-workers walked up and asked if he could play. “Yea, I played this before,” he said, “lemme show you something.” So, he challenged me – and whipped my ass with Sub-Zero. Then, something strange happened. He walked up to me, performed a button combination, and then ripped my characters head off (I was playing with Scorpion) with his spine attached. Nothing like some over the top violence and innovative combat to hook a new generation of gamers.

Over the past several years, the Mortal Kombat name has taken a beating (with the exception of the critical success of MK vs. DC). Midway went under, and subsequently was acquired by Warner Brothers. Fortunately, Ed Boon side stepped the Nerd Rage and quit; and NetherRealm Studios was born. On the heals of the 3D side scrolling monster that is Street Fighter IV, Mortal Kombat looks to draw on next generation power and an improved style to draw in a new era of fans (without all the quarters).
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It’s been a long time coming, but we will soon have a worthy follow up to the Contra franchise – even though it’s not an ‘official’ sequel. Hard Corps: Uprising is a classic style side scrolling shooter loosely following up the original Contra: Hard Corp title released on the Sega Genesis.

After playing the demo on the floor I have to say, the visuals are amazing. In full HD, the hand drawn artwork will satisfy the fans of Arc System Works’(http://www.aksysgames.com/) style (developer and publisher of Guilty Gear and BlazBlue).

Even though the ‘Contra’ title has been stripped, the gameplay is classic Contra. I was playing the XBLA version of the game in 2 player mode. After blasting my way through most of the level, I received a weapon upgrade that was reminiscent of the Spread gun (damnit, I used to get so pissed after losing this weapon in the original!), and later an enhanced ‘laser’ upgrade. We quickly blew through the first mission which ended with a very familiar mini-boss – a blockade which you had to blast your way through to continue the level (nearly identical to the mid level boss in the original Contra).

So visuals and play mechanic similarities aside from the Contra series, there are a couple very noticeable differences, which I feel are definitely bad ass. First off, you have a health bar!!! You will, however, lose your weapon if you are hit. The other difference is a type of player advancement system. You will gain experience and level attributes to your character, and there will also be a shop with which you can pay for upgrades. Although I didn’t see this feature hands on, it will make it’s way into the final release.

It may not have the Contra name on it, but this is the definitive next generation Contra title. I only left wishing I could play it once I left the E3 floor, but I’ll have to wait for the Winter release date.

Check out some of the gameplay footage HERE, courtesy of Gametrailers.com

Now it’s your time to sound off, fellow axeheads! Is it not Contra without Bill and Lance??! Will the title be the definitive reboot of a classic franchise?

Last week Blizzard announced they would be ending their successful beta testing campaign for StarCraft II on May 31st.  Initially available on an invite-only basis, Blizzard later opened the beta to everyone that pre-ordered the game and subsequently opened the floodgates of feedback. Several patches later, Blizzard recently introduced their latest fix which opened up several new features to Battle.net and updates to the game, such as map sharing (for custom maps) and the ability to play 3v3 and 4v4 online matches.  You would expect a ‘flow’ to the new updates, only making slight changes leading up to the beta closing and prepping for a July 27th release date – but, as I will soon explain, this was far from the case.
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Have you ever had one of those moments where reading just a few words suddenly impacted your entire life? Let’s take a few examples:

Your fired.
Your hired!
I want to see other people.
The internet’s down.
Your dying.
Your WOW account’s been hacked.
I PWND U….

I could go on, but you get the point.  Well, not too long ago a Korean Times article reported that StarCraft II would be getting an Adults-Only rating in Korea. Mega Ouch. The headline must have read like one of the above statements to the throngs of Korean StarCraft fans. Now, while North America has given the game (currently in closed beta) an “over 12 rating”, the adults only stamp means you would have to be 18 years old to purchase the game in Korea.  The financial impact to Blizzard not withstanding, it brings up an interesting topic – is the issue of compulsive gaming replacing the once prevalent issue of gaming violence?  Korea has been in the news a lot lately for its proactive roles in curbing this type of behavior,  such as imposing midnight curfews for gaming.

According to the article, Blizzard hasn’t decided yet what strategy it will take, considering that if they restart the evaluation process, it could delay the release of the game in Korea by another year.  Blizzard, “Ok, so the asses have changed their mind and are trying to screw us out of a shitton of money. WTF? North America doesn’t care about their kids, why should Korea?” (not a direct quote…)

Having been playing in the beta for several weeks now, I can say that there isn’t a large difference in violence from the original StarCraft. I mean, the deaths are a little more ‘graphic’ when the units explode and blood goes everywhere, but that’s nothing new, last I checked. So, I’m wondering how YOU feel about the news…Do we applaud Korea for taking steps to help with an overwhelming gaming addiction problem? Do we weep for Blizzard because they may initially only make 1 billion instead of 2? Do we give a flying f*ck because we’ll get to play the game ourselves and to hell with the rest of the planet? Your voice, your opinion – we’ve heard what some industry insiders think, but what do YOU think about the situation? Oh, and BTW, there’s several new interviews/videos of StarCraft II available for you to check out now right here.

Not sure if you’ve heard, but it’s recently been revealed that if you go to Gamestop and pre-order StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, you get a beta key to play the currently live beta.

Sweet!

Here is the official word from GameStop:

“Reserve StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and receive an invitation to the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty beta. Available online and in-store while supplies last. Once you receive your Beta Code your order cannot be canceled.

Online Customers (web delivery): A code and instructions on how to join the beta will be emailed within 1 business day of when your order was placed.

In-Store Pickup Customers: Please wait 24 hours after your order is placed, then proceed to your store to pick up your beta code.

Store Customers: A beta code will be printed on your pre-order receipt”

OK, so, there ya go…If you’ve been dying to get your StarCraft 2 on and already plan on picking up the game then you might wanna consider throwing down some cash online or at your local GameStop. Let the EBA Community know what you decide to do!!!

February 16, 2010 wasn’t exactly a Tuesday for the ages…it was more like a release date that will go down in gaming infamy. Topping the list was SEGA’s Aliens vs. Predator, a game that despite its level of potential seems to have delivered with all of the beauty and grace of a facehugger on Valentine’s Day. Then, there was a much lesser hyped game that, depending on your experience with the franchise, had the potential to become somewhat of it’s own classic..that game is Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce. Since it’s original release on the PlayStation console in 1997, the Dynasty Warriors franchise has slowly evolved over time (for better or worse depending on who you ask), and it is easily one of KOEI’s most successful ongoing series.

With that being said, I want to tell you a story. Although I’ve been somewhat disenchanted by the game over the past couple of releases, the PSP release of Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce wasn’t that bad, so when the demo was released on Xbox Live, I checked it out and thought the online co-op gameplay (for up to 4 players) and the weapons/ leveling system was pretty sweet, so my brother-in-law and I decided to pick up the game. We figured the inclusion of the 4 player co-op would be an awesome opportunity to share the gaming experience with some of our friends back home. Instead of reserving the game, we figured we would just go out the day of it’s release and pick it up. And so, the story of a Dying Dynasty begins…
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Several weeks after the announcement of Apple’s new iPad there has been a lot of talk regarding the presence of the new device and how it will impact the gaming industry (if at all).  Some sites have gone so far as to blatantly make fun of the device (not that it doesn’t necessarily warrant it) but after having some time to let it all soak in, I thought it would be good to put things in perspective and see what the EBA Community thinks about the matter.  Not to single out Kotaku (even though I will with Example 1 and Example 2), but it seems to me that some of the information being put out there for gamers is not being properly put into perspective.  After all, this is Apple, a HUGE company, and while hardcore gamers might not feel the impact directly, publishers and developers dedicating time/resources to the platform means that gamers will most likely be impacted in some shape, way, or form. So, let’s take a couple swigs of the ‘ole spirits and discuss, shall we?
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BioWare has made it a point to update their fans every Friday with new information regarding Star Wars: The Old Republic via the game’s official website.  Well, following an earlier announcement revealing the final two classes available at launch (Jedi Consular and Sith Inquisitor), another playable planet was revealed late last week – Alderaan.

For those that don’t know, Alderaan has always played a major role in the expanded universe of Star Wars – and briefly in the films, before obviously being the ‘test’ planet to be destroyed by the first death star as our friends Vader, Tarkin and Princess Leia looked on.

The in-game footage along with the concept art look amazing – the thought of a Jedi and Bounty Hunter duking it out on a snow capped mountain seems very intriguing.  Check out the screen shots and back story for the planet HERE and stop by the EBA forums to chime in on how you feel about the newest addition to the list of playable planets in SWTOR.