Link is back in a new DS Zelda Game

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I have already been a die-hard Legend of Zelda fan. Well, you can just imagine how ecstatic I was last week when Nintendo announced a new Zelda game for the DS during the GDC conference in San Francisco. Using the graphics engine and the same stylus-only controls as Phantom Hourglass, this new title mainly seems to be focused around a single island where Link uses a train go get around the various locations. I can’t wait

You can see the first video of the new game on the IGN site.

A new project for VAPS Creator

If you’ve known me for some time, you know that I have been working at a company that works in the Aerospace market that is currently called Presagis. Well, before being bought by CAE, Presagis was called Engenuity Technologies and even before that, it was called Virtual Prototypes. The original company was created around a tool called VAPS, created by Eugene Joseph, that was designed to accelerate the creation of aircraft displays.

Since then, Eugene has moved on to other projects and the latest one of these was announced today at GDC, a video game called Bot Colony. Based on research on natural language analysis that Eugene’s company (North Side), has been doing for many years, Bot Colony is an adventure game where the player interacts with a variety of robots living on an island using natural speech. The results are quite impressive and you can see a demo on YouTube.

Good luck to the whole North Side team on bringing this game to market.

Ubisoft takes Tom Clancy’s Game World to the Skies

Tom Clancy has long been one of my favorite authors. Along with this, I have always loved aircrafts and have been working in the creation and simulation of aircraft simulators for many years. This said, you can easily understand why the latest game from Ubisoft, based in the Tom Clancy universe, called HAWX, would excite me.

After reading about this new game for some time, I downloaded the demo made available on the Playstation store yesterday and was quite impressed by the high quality of the 3D terrain database that they have created and the fluidity of the graphics. I am considering adding this game to my collection if reviews turn out positive for this title.

If you own a PS3, get the demo from the Playstation Store for free and enjoy the skies.

All hail the Prince!

As I posted a few months ago, I started playing the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time game on my new PC and really enjoyed the world that the wizards at Ubisoft Montreal had put together. Now that I have a PS3, I was easily swayed by the amazing graphics and interesting storyline of the new Prince of Persia game. Its visual style is quite a departure from the original trilogy. While some people are a bit turned off by this change, I quite enjoy it myself. Here is a quick snap of what it looks like:

Click on the image to see it in a larger size. The gameplay is great and the combo attack system makes for some very dramatic fights. I am going to have a lot of fun playing this one. Hats off to the Ubisoft Montreal team for putting this together. It is even nicer to know that one of my ex-colleagues, Jean-Luc Pedneault, worked on this. Thanks for the great entertainment.

Busting some ghost butt!

I have been a fan of Ghostbusters even since I saw the first movie on TV. I must have seen it over 30 times and it’s still one of my top favorites. I was overjoyed when I heard that they are soon going to be releasing a game based on a new storyline written by Dan Ackroyd and Harold Ramis, the original writers and actors of the movies. I hope that they pull it off and make an interesting game out of this. Here is a sneak peak:

The bargain PC Gamer returns

I have always been what I refer to as a “bargain gamer”. While I love playing games, I am not willing to pay the full price to get them when they first come out. I am also not one to always try to keep my PC up-to-date to be able to play the latest and greatest of game titles.

This approach is paying off right now since I just got myself a new mid-range computer for home and am now looking at all of the titles that I’ve missed over the past four years. The first thing that I did was to pull out a few games that I had bought as part of a collection but had never even played (yes, kind of lame, I know!), namely:

• Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, a wicked remake of the classic action puzzler that got my hooked immediately.

and Splinter Cell

I have also been looking at the Best PC Games Compilations from the past few years and am currently looking at getting the following titles to augment my game collection:

• Orange Box: A collection of Half-Life 2, HL2 Episode 1, HL2 Episode 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2. Since I have never even played or seen Half-Life 2, let alone all the other titles, this should be hours of fun.

• Company of Heroes: I’ve always loved RTS games and this one seems to be quite amazing from everything I’ve read. I have also tried out the demo version and am already hooked.

• Sam & Max: Season 1: Another type of game that I have also been fond of is adventure games (Full Throttle, Syberia). The return of Sam & Max in an episodic format seems like it would be a lot of run to play through.

You can click on any image to see a higher resolution version of them.

If you can think of any other memorable game titles that you’ve played in the last 3-4 years that you think that I should check out, just leave a comment or drop me an e-mail.

Another promising title for the DS

After talking about some cool adventure games that will be released this year yesterday, I wanted to mention that the Action-RPG front is also looking promising on the Nintendo DS for this year, starting with the release of Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles – Ring of Fates. This new title is a continuation of the GameCube title that is really more action-based than RPG based. You basically control your character in a 3D environment and fight monsters in real time instead of a turn-based mode. After reading a hands-on preview on IGN, I think that this will definitely be a title to get this year.

The best adventure games come to the DS in 2008

I have always been a big fan of adventure games on the PC. Titles such as Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango were just amazing games to play through with their creative content, great graphics, and funny situations.

The adventure game dies off a bit for a number of years and then came back more recently with titles like Syberia and Runaway. Both of the companies producing these games have recognized that the Nintendo DS, with its two screens and stylus, is a perfect platform to play adventure games. So, in 2008, we will see at least 3 great adventure games on the DS.

• Last King of Africa: A DS version of Benoit Sokal’s Paradise
• Sinking Island: A DS version of the Benoit Sokal game with the same title
• Runaway: The Dream of the turtle, available April 1st, a DS version of the second game from spanish company Pendulo Studios

I’m going to have fun this year with my DS

Just tried the new DS Lite

I stopped my Best Buy two days ago and got to try the new Nintendo DS Lite that I have been about a few times on the site already. The new unit is everything that they advertised. It is smaller, fits better in the hands, and has two amazing screens with very strong backlights. With these characteristics and its internal rechargeable, the DS Lite is looking like a very nice upgrade from my first-generation GameBoy Advance with no backlight and standard batteries. Since it plays all GBA games, it would be perfect.

However, I’ll sit back and wait some more before making a move. I first want to see if prices will go down before Christmas or if they bundle the system with a game (the new Super Mario Bros. would be awesome). I also want to see if they release new colors such as the cool-looking black version that has been released in the UK. If prices don’t go down by Christmas, then they will probably do so in the month or two following the holiday which would be right in time for my birthday. So, let’s wait and see

I’m starting to want a DSJe commence à vouloir un DS

When the Nintendo DS (Dual-screen) came out with its first games, my first thought was that it was very bulky and would only have 3D Games that I don’t like that much. However, a few factors are changing my mind.

• A new version of the DS is coming in a month or two that will be better looking, thinner, lighter and have brighter screensgame
• A lot of new upcoming games are going to mix classic 2D playing style with 3D graphics.

Here are a couple of screenshots of the new Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. and Final Fantasy III over which I have been drooling for a few days.
Quand le Nintendo DS (Deux écran) est sorti avec ses premiers jeux, je trouvais qu’il n’était pas très beau et qu’il n’aurait que des jeux 3D qui ne m’intéressent pas beaucoup. Cependant, quelques facteurs sont en train de me faire changer d’idée:

• Une nouvelle version du DS va bientôt être disponible qui sera plus joli, plus mince, plus léger et avec des éclairs plus clairs
• Plusieurs nouveaux jeux mélangeant un style de jeu 2D avec des graphiques semi-3D sont en développement

Voici d’ailleurs quelques images du nouveau jeu de Zelda, du nouveau Super Mario et du nouveau Final Fantasy qui me font saliver depuis quelques jours.