The master becomes the student

E3 2011 is almost here and the yearly new game buzz has started, the newest trend being the ‘Pre-E3′ conferences and demonstrations becoming more and more public, I just wanted to quickly spread the first theatrical trailer for the Tomb Raider reboot we have been hearing about since early last year.

Following the naming convention set up by Medal of Honor, Prince of Persia and Mortal Kombat: Crystal Dynamics’ “Tomb Raider” is a reboot in the most literal sense. Along with the redisigned heroine and new gameplay focus Crystal Dynamics has the clarity and humility to see that for the last few years we have had two excellent non Tomb Raider games that have givien us those semi-mystical, globe trotting shenanigans we are used to from Lara, and take inspiration from it. Iam of course referring to Naughty Dogs Uncharted series, this latest trailer is definitiely giving me that Uncharted vibe, you know; the gritty, more grounded high adventure feeling that has been missing from Tomb Raider since 1997

Good then that Crystal Dynamics have effectively started clean with this “new” Tomb Raider and no where is that more apparent than the newly vulnerable, young, hip and skinny (by game standards) Lara. Rather than the famously under dressed, buxom, over confident, femme fatale Lara of the nineties. There is a lot of talk about this being a more realistic portrayal, attempting to be less sexually biased towards Women in games etc etc but let’s be honest, if they were really trying to tip the genre on it’s head we’d have a sexually ambiguous middle aged unattractive protagonist. So no no boys and girls Crystal Dynamics is still selling sexy it’s just updated it’s image to that of the times, as well they should. 90’s Lara, for all her faults, broke ground as a female lead character and in her own way I think new Lara will too.

Watch below and remember 1080p because the more p’s the better:

See what I mean about the tone? I could almost envision a Lara Croft/Nathan Drake crossover, all in all I am looking forward to see how Tomb Raider comes along.

– notable here is the authentic products she is using in the early stages of the trailer. What looks to be an Iphone4 and a pair of Earphones by Monster. Say what you will about product placement but I like the ‘grounded in reality’ sensation you get from non-overt nods to authentic gear like this.

-Expatriategamer

The Rise begins.

The first official teaser shot for The Dark Knight Rises has hit the net after being “decrypted” through the hard work of many an internet detective sorting the clues from what has been the first stage in the upcoming films viral marketing campaign. it’s a rather moody shot of Tom Hardy as Bane seen above; it’s early days but I like where this is going, we aren’t seeing the classic Lucha Libre inspired mask which seems to fit well both with the visual tone of Nolans mythos and the casting choice for Bane himself, whether we will see a Hispanic back story for Hardy’s Bane is yet to be seen but what ever the choice I expect it to work with the overall feel of what will be the final of Christian Bales Batman films.

Before I sign off I do want to commend the design of the mask, it keeps the lines that we recognise from the comics, with an added functional feel. Appearing to be half re-breather and half gas mask the design speaks to a vaporised delivery of the performance enhancing venom rather than the bright green liquid that is so often associated with Bane. A fine choice Mr. Nolan and Crew.

Now bring on the Selina Kyle teaser am I right?

-Expatriategamer

More modern, Modern Warfare

So taking the gaming world by storm, a surprisingly unexpected teaser trailer for the next installment in the Call of Duty franchise has landed!……………. sarcasm, don’t you just love it?

The new teaser below is our next tidbit of information from a hobbled multi-team development effort comprised of the remnants from Actiblizz/Bobby Koticks batshit insane legal fiasco, duct taped together with greed and capitalism.

Originally rumoured to be a prequel but recently confirmed at Kotaku to be the direct sequel to Modern Warfare 2 (in my opinion the worst entry in the franchise so far) we have a relatively untested dev team, picking up where Infinity Ward left off, and from the spoiler laden details in the above link, they’re aiming a little higher towards the fantastic than the slightly more grounded storyline of the previous two Modern Warfare titles, not a bad decision if you ask me.

The move to hand off the inevitable sequels to a new cast of main characters comes as a surprise, considering the main goals of the new development team (At CEO Koticks instructions I’m sure) are a bug Free release and a Metacritic rating of at least 95, I would have expected them to take the safest road to release. Well, it will still sell like water in the desert, singularly occupy millions of highschoolers for a few months and hopefully fund the upcoming sequel to last years Black Ops.

So what can be gleaned from that? the conflict obviously partly takes place in the US , but we already knew that. Otherwise?……. Steve Blum’s Russian is really coming along nicely.

-Expatriategamer

Good news, Death has a new name

And the name is Absolution.

I had intended to start this, my little slice of web with a self serving delicatessen of why’s and whofors explaining who I am and what I intend to do here. Then Hitman: Absolution was announced, so frankly I now have more important things to talk about.

After IO Interactives rather inexplicable focus on the Kane & Lynch games for the past few years I wasn’t expecting any solid details on a new Hitman title any time soon, fortunately with the release of the teaser trailer below, I was pleasantly surprised.

Rattle snake coiled ’round the signature Silverballer? yup, I like where this is headed. I want to envision this as a well thought out symbolic representation of the next chapter in 47’s story, but it is more likely that someone thought it looked damn cool.

They were right.

Tore Bylstad (The Director of Absolution) said in an announcement earlier in the week “For the first time we are taking Agent 47 on a personal journey which allows us to explore other parts of the Hitman fantasy, This is both a familiar and yet significantly different experience from other Hitman games; something our silent assassins will relish, as will all those new to the Hitman world.”

The guy gets extra points for referring to me as a “silent assassin” hopefully that was a reference to the 2002 game and its more philospohical tone. If so, I am onboard.
I haven’t heard anything definitive yet regarding whether or not this will be the final installment of the Hitman saga, absolution would seem to suggest that there isn’t much more to be done once the story in this game comes to an end but who knows, if it sells like hot cakes we may have a new beginning for the escapades of Agent 47, It’s early days but I am excited to see how this comes along.

-Expatriategamer