PixlBit

I Am Disappointed: Beautiful at a distance, disappointing up close.

I’ve always loved the climbing aspect of the Uncharted series. Scaling larger than life structures gave the games an added sense of adventure. There was one problem though; Drake’s ascents were little more than eye candy. There was no danger, no strategy, no challenge just mash the X button until you arrive at your destination. That’s why I was so excited when I first heard about Ubisoft’s new IP, I Am Alive, which looks to meld similar Uncharted-like mechanics with the unforgiving realities of the survival horror genre. Unfortunately much like the scenery of this dystopian title, I Am Alive represents a great deal of potential that is tragically lost.

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Why wasn't Journey named Flowest, anyway?

This week's PB & Jason sees Jason's weigh in on thatgamecompany's latest title, Journey. Also featured? Discussion about the lowest review for the game currently posted to metacritic, as well as discussion of the comments left behind on said review. Once the topic of Journey is exhausted, PB & Jason moves into epic territory with talk about the latest official announcement that Epic Mickey 2 is in development! The podcast wraps up with a couple of minutes spent on Mass Effect 3's ending (again) and Dragon Quest VIII's changes to the franchise, for better or for worse. Click through to find the download, subscription, and listening links.

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Hope you're a fan of musicals...

The decision to make Epic Mickey’s characters silent was a deliberate one.  Warren Spector created the unique Disney adventure game on the Wii as a homage to the silent cartoons that served as his inspiration. This decision, for better or worse, will not be repeated in the recently announced sequel now officially called Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two.  Not only will the characters be voiced, but they will sing and dance as this next game is considered a musical.

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At least the name isn’t false advertising.

If I were to tell you that there’s a game for XBLA that combines the side-scrolling shooting of Contra with the 4 player co-op and loot based RPG mechanics of Borderlands, what would you say? Sounds pretty awesome, right? As someone who loves those two games, Shoot Many Robots sounds like it would be right up my alley. It sounds like a game crafted by the gods of programming, at least on paper. The actual execution of Shoot Many Robots is far from that idyllic image.

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Shut down will impact titles featuring online pass.

EA recently published a list of service updates, indicating an April 13 2012 termination date for online functions of several games.  EA has cited the usual reasons for server shut down, such as lack of customer interest in the titles, and the desire to free up staff stuck supporting unpopular games.  While this may not seem particularly newsworthy, several titles on this list are on servers supported by EA’s infamous “online pass” feature, which charges second hand users an additional fee to use online, server hosted content.

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