Zelda: A Link to the Past Intro Game of Thrones Style

Title speaks for itself, enjoy.

Great Game Trailers From The Past: Bioshock X06 Trailer

To continue my new feature Great Game Trailers from the Past I decide for a real classic right in the second posting. Yep, it is the amazin Bioshock X06 trailer. As Bioshock is one of my favorite games of all time this trailer has a special place in my heart. Mind you, this was the year 2006 and - correct me if I'm wrong - the first video footage of a highly rumored game. Well, it's not ingame footage, but it gave you an introduction into the wet, mysterious and somehow twisted underwater world of Bioshock. And the trailer - like the game itself later - had a fantastic story twist where you actually were quite suprised that Big Daddy was there to protect the Little Sister. It instantly hooked me.

E3 2014: Zelda Trailer

I'm not much of  a Nintendo fan, but as a gamer for sure played a lot of their consoles and games in the years leading up to now. I always liked The Legend of Zelda, with Twilight Princess being my favorite from recent memory. So, good to know a new Zelda game is on its way. For whatever reasons it abandoned the 'realistic' look of the E3 2011 tech demo and presents itself now again in a cell shaded style. I guess this especially relates to the younger fans and even for long time players like myself it is acceptable as it is admittedly pretty. More importantly, the game is announced to have an open world and non-linear campaign now. That's a welcome change as the series nowadays has to compete with RPGs like Skyrim which offer ridiculously large worlds and hundreds of hours of gameplay. I don't need Zelda to become like this but I sure hope they introduce a lot of innovations that make me want to pick up a Zelda game again (and probably give me a reason to buy a WiiU).

Enjoy:

My E3 2014 Highlights

As a lifelong gamer of course I've been very excited for this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo. Not that in Germany we wouldn't have our own giant game show called GamesCom but all the relevant stuff and the biggest news are announced at E3, so that's the one show to watch as a gamer. So, given the time gap I watched the Microsoft and Electronic Arts press conferences live and catched up on Sony and Ubisoft today. This post is just to highlight the games that excited me most.

But of course some words have to spoken about the big companies' performances. Generally speaking I really liked Microsoft's approach this year a lot. Right in the beginning they said they'd focus on games and damn, they did. They showed close to forty games and even while there hasn't been that big must play title it was all in all a good press conference (a thousand times better than what Don Mattrick delivered yesteryear, I'm so happy he's gone). EA won me with their short update on the Mass Effect series and Dragon Age Inquisition also looked nice. Ubisoft had two games that I liked, Far Cry 4 and Assassin's Creed Unity. Also Valiant Hearts, a 2D sidescroller playing in World War I, is somehow unique. Sony's press conference I liked a lot. Far Cry 4 had an impressive gameplay but I was really surprised by two things: No Man's Sky, a SciFi-indie-space-exploration game, and the reveal that GTA V will come to next gen and PC later this year (nothing's sure Red Dead Redemption never made it to PC). And Batman: Arkham Knight, of course. So all in all a very nice E3 so far. No big surprises, but lots of games to look forward, too. Let's see what Nintendo has to announce later today, even though this admittedly doesn't interest me that much. Not sure who has "won" and who "lost" just yet.

In any case, here are my personal favorites of this year's E3 (in alphabetical order):


Assassin's Creed: Unity





Assassin's Creed is mostly a quality series. I still haven't made it into ACIII yet (lagging back due to real life), but this one looks far better than this pirate bullshit from last year.

Batman: Arkham Knight



I love Batman and avidly played Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. This gameplay here looks just incredible! Should become a real must play title.

Dead Island 2



I'm not really interested in this game, but the trailer is hilarious.

Dragon Age: Inquisition







This could be a cool fantasy RPG. Graphic is stunning here.

Far Cry 4





Really hot gameplay, very well done, Ubisoft!

Inside



I didn't play Limbo who knows if I will play this one, but I like it's 1984-ish feeling.

Lifeless Planet



Exploring in a space suite!

Mass Effect 4



I'm happy to know that Bioware is working on the next title in one of my favorite gaming series of all time!


No Man's Sky



This has been a real surprise as it is an indie title. I just like what this game is offering. To seamlessly travel from space into the atmosphere of any planet, just wow!

Ori and the Blind Forest



I found this 2D sidescroller a welcome change during the E3 press conference.

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt



The Witcher III: WRPG's highest hope. I'll try to get into all games (the second at least) and the books before playing this one, so it can very well take a long while.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End



The finisher of Sony's press conference. The game's title teases the death of Nathan Drake? Really?

Valiant Hearts



A story driven sidescroller about the First World War? Interesting for sure!

Great Game Trailers From The Past: Rage (Uprising Trailer)

Time for a new feature on my blog: Great Game Trailers From The Past.

I'd like to use this blog in a more personal way, to give space to the things I care about and love. So no need to post only up to date stuff. For example trailers. I love them, especially game trailers. In this new feature I'd like to present some trailers from my gaming carreer I found especially memorable. I'd like to open this with Rage.

Rage was an at the times (2011) probably overlooked new FPS game by the inventors of the FPS genre, id Software. Rage in a way was very conservative as it didn't reinvent the wheel but used proven concepts like the post apocalyptic setting everyone knew from Fallout 3 and was heavily inspired gameplay wise by Bioshock. I found that even when it didn't offer something fresh, all it did it did very well executed. The trailer here is in my humble opinion the best one for the game and a good trailer in itself. Enjoy.

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt E3 Trailer Is Mind Blowing

The first true next gen game, The Witcher III: Wild Hunt. The Witcher is  a game series based on a Polish literary origin and it looks just like the revelation for video games. I am highly excited to see more from this game at this year's E3 which will start just next week. Playing the The Witcher series is part of my long time To Play List as I own the first game on Steam, but lack a decent PC and, more importantly, the time (partly due to the time consuming beast Skyrim) needed for more gaming. In any case, this simply looks fantastic and CD Project Red is also a good guy company.

Let's see what E3 will bring. Hopefully some demos for The Witcher 3.

Terminator 2: Truck Chase Done in Grand Theft Auto V

It is just wonderful how people keep playing this game and do incredible things. Now an re-enactment of the famous truck chase in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Perhaps you also remember this one, the train scene from James Bond: Skyfall.