Exact revenge with a machete and a 40 oz. in-hand.

Shank has attitude. It fulfills all the prerequisites needed for the vibe: lewd, crude language; over-the-top violence; a beefed-up protagonist; buxom babes of the night; and sex appeal (of the literal and innuendo sort). 

All qualities set on the outskirts of Mexican pueblos where the 40 oz. malt liquors -- left behind by downed enemies as a handy health boost -- and ferocious guard dogs run freely. 

Klei Entertainment, with Shank, further cements downloadable titles as a viable, gaming source with great production values and a fighting system as deep as it is ridiculous. Chainsaws, kitanas, machetes, portable Gatlin guns, flamethrowers? All the crowd-pleasers are there to fill out your arsenal.

The lack of restraint from the developers is immediately visible as soon as the story begins with blood splattered all over the wallpaper at a run-down bar and everyone either turns a blind eye to the carnage or joins in on the rumble.

Shank's visual consistency would have it no other way. When everyone is, admittedly, a different shade of the same meathead character, why not? The game will never win any awards in the story department, but it contains a serviceable B-rated movie narrative thread that aptly encompass your violent acts towards avenging your girlfriend's death.

Snappy, ridiculous one-liners are littered throughout the single-player campaign and follow suit in the separate (slightly more difficult) co-op mode that dishes out the back story to Shank. Remember, only after completing single-player will you unlock new, more powerful weapons to aid you in both game modes -- making it a bit easier to blast through co-op with a friend. 

Sure, while Shank's creative battle system reminiscent of the melee-plus-gun combos in Devil May Cry make its 2D side-scrolling wish fulfillment enjoyable...it is Klei's ingenious boss encounters that really steal the show. Unlike most games (even those in sixty-dollar boxed copies) where developers are happy to bombard you with generic end-level bosses that just so happen to be unfair, stronger, and, relatively invisible, Shank takes another route. It provides creative bosses that require some experimentation and definite cooperation in two-player mode. 

About the only thing I can think to complain about Shank are its -- some times -- imprecise controls that force you to use the left analog stick with no option to go with a more accurate d-pad setup. It's not such a big deal once you get used to it, but there were definitely some times where it became bothersome to keep fighting the controls when the gameplay asks you to be more surgical with your movement and attacks. 

The length of the game seemed perfect to me (finished both single- and co-op modes in under seven hours), but I can also see that as a point of contention for some people. Ultimately, the value is there. And for $15, it is one of the shining examples of excellent downloadable titles that forego incredible development costs for a more streamlined, focused, and thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Grade: A

Microsoft has finally heard the cries of fighting and platforming game fans and has decided to do something about its console's "d-pad" abomination. Rumors were going around the interwebs yesterday about the new, redesigned Xbox 360 controller and today we have proof from Xbox's Community Manager, Major Nelson:


Of course, if you've grown accustomed to the "disc" version of the system's d-pad you can "transform," I'd say degrade, it back to its original form. The new controller will be out by the holidays this year and -- unfortunately -- will only be available in the Plug-and-Play variation for $64.99.

Yes. The day has come when Microsoft realizes that it will take advantage of its superior online interface by charging its customers even more for Gold access on Xbox 360. As of November 1, Xbox Live goes up $10 for a yearly subscription that used to cost $50.

The Xbox 360's closest competitor was the PS3 with its free online multiplayer access for everyone but, unfortunately, that console's been taking its sweet time matching anything as close to the functionality of Xbox Live.

Of course, this will mostly affect those gamers who played full price for Xbox Live in the first place. Everyone else, make sure to continue stocking up on the regular $35-40 a year deals that pop up every now and then.

Violence, mayhem, drugs, and a strong narrative focus are all things most gamers associate Rockstar Games as being good at. One thing purveyors of the medium seem to be missing though -- among the quick jabs towards the GTAs' "sophomoric humor" -- is how successful they are at bringing sex into the gaming fold.

As far back as Custer's Revenge on Atari, sex has been something developers have been looking at integrating into their games. Video games, after all, can be described as the real world exaggerated to the nth degree so it would be normal to want to incorporate another aspect of our lives into them.

Here's a few ways sex can be described: an expression of love between two people, the primal act of intercourse, or simply a fun way to pass the time.

Earlier in the year, Quantic Dream's high-profile game, Heavy Rain, went about showing the world two of the characters in their most vulnerable state. The game set the mood where their lives intersected at low periods in their lives and love-making helped them through it. It was a moment that would have worked, had the constructs of how video games not gotten in the way. Graphically, Heavy Rain looked incredible but I'd hardly, like many gamers, be an advocate of robotic hand gestures and stilted animation being a strong image of two characters caring about each other.

Even a game like Viva Piñata have dabbled in sex by creating female and male genders for all the piñatas inhabiting your garden. These games deal with the primal urge of intercourse and as a needed function to procreate.

Being that it's supposed to be a kids game, though, the title portrays sex as two animals dancing around in a hut with heart bubbles popping up all over the place. A cute way to get the idea across as a "romance dance," for sure.

Of course, Heavy Rain's example was so mechanical and robotic that it pulled you out of the experience and the abstract nature of how Viva Piñata goes about it just glosses over the act itself.

Rockstar has inserted it the best because they've dealt with sex as an example of the more reckless, adventurous kind. One that is generally acceptable (and romanticized about) in movies such as the recent drama "The Kids Are All Right" -- and that's a film that involves great actors and mature themes. Easier to spot would be the sex featured in "American Pie" or countless of other teenage sex comedies.

Both Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony and, most recently, Red Dead Redemption featured sex scenes that -- I believe -- has portrayed sex the most accurately in video games...even if for most people these are scenes usually associated with party people or couples of the more adventurous sort.

Both games express sex as is probably the most fantastical it can be from a typical male's perspective: men in between women's legs, riding them in public (in a bathroom for Ballad of Gay Tony and over a kitchen table in RDR).

It's not so much that Rockstar is successful in pushing wish fulfillment fantasies into what is normally known as a medium geared towards the young, male adolescent but that it fits with how the medium is currently made. They are believable scenes that don't pull you out of the experience and aren't afraid to mask them as "romance dances."

There's no need to create intimate, slow-burning scenes when the physicality and precise moments of such portrayals of sex is currently impossible in games. Rockstar went with sexually explicit thrusts and motions that fit their games and actually add to the atmosphere The Ballad of Gay Tony and Red Dead Redemption try to promote.

The real question lies in whether the tech will ever get to where intimate sexual interaction isn't fumbled by the uncanny valley. We're seeing a possible graphics stagnation -- even regression -- in the case of Nintendo's popular Wii console, after all. If that's how video games will be going forward than we may never see a sexual scene past the extreme (and sometimes comical) sex scenes prominent now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rockstar's first of four proposed for-pay DLC packs, Legends and Killers, will be releasing next week August 10 on Xbox 360 and PS3. Red Dead players got a taste of wild westin' DLC with free co-op missions in June and now they can pony up 800 MS points/$10 PSN for the next hit that includes:

* 9 New Multiplayer map locations
* 8 New Multiplayer characters (taken from Red Dead Revolver)
* New projectile weapon: the Tomahawk, with corresponding Challenges for single player and multiplayer
* New Achievements/Trophies

These new additions to the game sure seem a bit under-ambitious when compared to the awesome episodes we got with Grand Theft Auto IV, but we know they didn't sell as well as expected for Rockstar so this was one way to take DLC for their next game.

Eh, I'll still be in line for Legends and Killers, though. What about you guys? Is there enough content there to get you to pony up $10 for?

In a move that will surely make HawtWired's own Patrick Wright happy, Angry Birds is jumping off Apple's App Store waters and launching on the DS, PSP, and PS3 some time in the near future.

Other than the announcement of it coming, there are no other details involving the title. It's likely if they go full retail with it the developer would add new levels, mechanics and multiplayer aspects to the original game. Don't set your expectations too high, though...the game may just be a quick port to the respective systems' downloadable shops.

Apparent from our recent chats on the GamerDeals Podcast, I'm sure Patrick would buy it three times over regardless of any updates or changes.

Announced last week, today realized...you can now make your vote as to the fate of one of the characters in the Gears of War universe: Clayton Carmine. If you're not aware, the last name Carmine represents characters dead-on-arrival in the first two Gears titles.

You vote by buying a shirt for your Xbox Live Avatar that reads "Save Carmine" or "Carmine Must Die." Normally, this would seem like a cheap ploy to sell useless Avatar items but Microsoft has decided to donate all the profits from your purchase to the Child's Play charity run by the Penny Arcade scribes.

So, decide the fate of the last remaining Carmine family member and feel good about donating to charity? Definitely a win-win.

One of the biggest games to show off Xbox 360 Kinect's unique capabilites at E3 this year, besides Dance Central, was Q? Games' Child of Eden. In the game, you use your arms to direct fire, lock-on, and switch weapons in a trip-happy successor to Rez.

But the Xbox 360 was only one of the systems it was announced for. The other was the PS3 -- a natural platform to be on considering Rez was ported over from the Dreamcast there. Unfortunately, Q? Games' founder Tetsuya Mizuguchi doesn't seem too adamant to support the platform's unique features.

PlayStation Move support? "We can't say anything at this time."

3D support? "Unfortunately we can't comment on that at the moment, either."

Kinect-support for the game is out there and heavily marketed, but from the sounds of it, it looks like Child of Eden may only be a controller-supported affair on PS3. For now, anyway. Think we'll see him embrace the PS3's unique features as development continues on the game?

Quotes from CVG.

That new look for Infamous 2's protagonist shying away from the first game's antihero? Eh, it seems that didn't get the reception Sucker Punch wanted for their next game. The developer has announced that it will be going back to the drawing board and making the hero for their electricity-bound open-world game a little closer in style to the one in the original Infamous.

Personally, it doesn't matter what the character looks like as long as the sequel to a game I thought was "Crackdown Plus" is improved. Based on the last trailer shown for the title, gamers are in for a treat. Finally there will be an actual weapon to swing around instead of just the flimsy, unarmed fisticuffs action of the first game!

Here's one to put in the "Betcha' Didn't Know" column of a Nintendo history book: the Legend of Zelda series has a timeline. Nintendo has previously said that there's no such thing and that the games are all separate stories...but they've uncovered that a "master timeline" does exist for them. Confidentially, of course.

The Official Nintendo Magazine got the scoop on where the upcoming Wii title, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword fits in the Zelda world:

"I have already talked to Mr. Miyamoto about this so I am comfortable in releasing this information -- this title [Skyward Sword] takes place before Ocarina of Time," he told ONM. "If I said that a certain title was 'the first Zelda game,' then that means that we can't ever make a title that takes place before that! So for us to add titles to the series, we have to have a way of putting the titles before or after each other."

Any speculation as to where the other games in the series fit in the Zelda timeline?

Via Go Nintendo.

We've yet to hit the holidays -- the time usually reserved for gaming's biggest hits to release -- and 2010, halfway-through, is already looking to rival full years of gaming's past. Here's a look back on our reviews for the year so far.

The (Slightly) Disappointing Game Sequels of 2010

Being that this site is run by a dedicated staff that also attend full-time jobs...we don't generally choose to spend our time with "crappy" games on purpose. Regardless, there are still those few games that we set aside some hours for only to disappoint. Now, these titles aren't necessarily the worst titles we've ever played but were, overall, less than we expected...especially considering the pedigree of which they stem from.

God of War 3 The original God of War on PS2 was a mind-blowing, epic affair unlike anything gamers had seen before. GoWII came along and produced the same effect with more boss battles -- even if the overall story suffered sans David Jaffe's creative direction. Kratos going portable in the PSP's GoW: Chains of Olympus proved just as beautiful and effective as the console outings. God of War 3 comes along and while cementing itself as the PS3's grandest technical marvel, played it safe for most of the journey and, yes, you take out the same boss as the series' last PS2 outing! Pretty graphics are always appreciated in games but the next God of War will need to bring more to the table than the already expected to impress.

Read our God of War 3 review here.

Splinter Cell Conviction Sam Fisher's latest mission had him going rogue and into newly revamped controls territory this year proving that Splinter Cell's makers are not afraid to spice things up in the gameplay department. It's what we gamers ask for all the time: change! Unfortunately, as our review depicts, this doesn't always lead to favorable results. Conviction gave the series a new face but only to detract from the openness of previous entries and a story that was all-too-forgettable. Let's hope the next outing takes the newfangled, streamlined controls and builds a richer experience around it.

Read our Splinter Cell Conviction review here.

Bioshock 2 Bioshock 2 was a great shooter sequel to the original game. It introduced the ability to fire plasmids and weapons simultaneously -- yes, we know, in 2010 that's still a "fresh" upgrade in sequels. The only problem? It was completely devoid of that special something something that made Bioshock so great in the first place: that first arrival into an alternate, degenerating world full of remnants of its bright potential and ultimate destruction. You can try blaming it on the voluntary displacement of Mr. Ken Levine or the 16 million developers that worked on the game. Whatever it was, Bioshock 2 was (slightly) disappointed, but then again...how could it not? It was bound to as soon as it tried its hand at besting one of the best games of this generation -- or any, really.

Read our Bioshock 2 review here.

The Four Star Ratings of 2010

Sour grapes aside, the following are a few of the games that HawtWired thought graced closed to greatness (and still worth your time) but didn't quite reach our highest grade possible: the hawt, hawt "A+."

Heavy Rain The "pressing X to 'Jason'" meme took over much of the gamer's conversation when Heavy Rain released and while not perfect, the title did move the needle forward in what video games are capable of. Heavy Rain wasn't built around the concept of "fun" that our favorite medium has known to host many times over, but it was compelling in it's own way. It told a bleak, brooding story about several characters and how they end up interacting and affecting each other's lives. Conversations flowed freely, daily chores were reproduced in grand fashion, and the characters shined in this follow-up to Indigo Prophecy.

Read our Heavy Rain review here.

Yakuza 3 Three games in -- not counting the feudal era, Japan-exclusive Yakuza: Kenzen, of course -- and you'd think we'd be tired of Kazuma's exploits. Not so based on our review earlier this year. Sega unleashed another fan favorite that's taken the place of Shenmue's legacy with better graphics (not necessarily on par with PS3's heaviest hitters, but better!), new mini-games, and added moves rounded out the experience. Considering it took soap tropes -- Kazuma running an orphanage...wha??? -- and ran with them...it was the perfect virtual vacation for the Japanophile in all of us.

Read our Yakuza 3 review here.

Alan Wake Alan Wake was definitely one of the biggest surprises to get on this list. Remedy had great games under their belts with the Max Payne series but this one really just came in under the radar and proved to be a genuinely scary addition to the horror genre. Yes, it wears its "Twin Peaks" influences right on its sleeves and, at times, featured questionable story elements but! It made us terrified of poltergeist-infused tractors. TRACTORS. That's a notch of awesome toward the game in our book.

Read our Alan Wake review here.

The Jaw-Dropping Wonders of 2010

Earning themselves our review scale's top A+ grade distinction, Mass Effect 2 and Red Dead Redemption proved themselves some of the best games of the year and of recent memory. They've fired up the "Game of the Year" conversation amongst gamers around the web and countless of podcasts; any games releasing in the later half of 2010 need to best these in order to have a fighting chance at "best of" anything.

Mass Effect 2 As far as sequels go, Mass Effect 2 is the only one on this list that not only matches its legacy but surpasses it in every way -- smoother framerate, story elements refined, and generally a much more enjoyable experience. Some may have complained that the first game's emphasis on RPG elements were nonexistent under the guise of the better shooting mechanics this time around, but we felt our epic trek throughout the vast, vast universe Mass Effect 2 presented satiated our RPG-shooter hybrid itch just fine. Bioware delivered on some sweet, sweet gaming in the first month of this year. Just keep the planet-scanning shenanigans away from us next time, K?

Read our Mass Effect 2 review here.

Red Dead Redemption Clint Eastwood! That's the first person you would likely think of whenever anyone mentioned "Westerns" pre-Red Dead Redemption. Now, John Marston is synonymous to the word -- in our mind anyway. Rockstar San Diego truly created a world apart from space marines, orcs, and "hood" gaming we've grown so accustomed to in video games. In Red Dead Redemption you can herd livestock, break horses, play rent-a-sheriff, gamble in some poker, and that's just a few of the mini-games! You can also partake in one of the best, tightly-woven stories Rockstar has produced in some time with incredible shoot-outs and even random events that add all the more flavor to the package. To Rockstar: more, please.

Read our Red Dead Redemption review here.

How dare we discredit God of War 3's obvious perfection on this list?! Pfft, Red Dead Redemption was just GTA IV Plus? Feel free to let us know how wrong this list was in the comments...

Wait a minute, HawtWired! Why are Super Mario Galaxy 2, Crackdown 2, and others not on this list? Good observin', dear reader! The reason is we've yet to get around to reviewing those titles -- and since this is a best-reviewed list they didn't make it in. Look forward to our analysis of those games some time in the near future though!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Singularity has done it for the last time!

I boot up the game from my last save point. Oh, yippee. I'm back about 15 minutes before getting through a difficult section that took me countless of tries to move on last time. I trudge through it again. I die. Die. Die. And die.

Dying is a common consequence of your actions in games, but that's the reason developers have looked for ways to make video games more accessible by implementing regenerating health systems and allow you to play as you wish.

Not so with Singularity. What makes it difficult is not the enemies or the actual context of battles with them, but the game's mechanics are the problem -- health packs and wonky check points are back in style apparently.

While the check points in Raven's last game, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, weren't anything spectacular, the developer did include a regenerating health system. It's puzzling that they would go back to such an archaic system that doesn't add anything new besides another level of frustration and annoyance from dying so often.

Only a few hours in and already I've come across too many "cinematic" moments being repeated ad nauseam due to the fact that they must played through again and again if you don't make it past the next segment. Why not create the check point after the story moments?!

It's a shame, too, that Singularity suffers from these shooter's past faults because the TMD (time-manipulation device) is an interesting concept used for more than just shooting down them "communists." A world put together in similar fashion as Bioshock and gruesome deaths culled from X-Men: Origins's tech makes it a winner in some respects. If only the core mechanics were stronger, I would have solved this game tape. As it was shipped, I'm struggling to see me going any further.

Nintendo's head honcho, Reggie Fils-Aime, guested on last night's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" and he dropped quite a bomb on viewers: the 3DS will not be wrapped neatly in anyone's gift wrappings this Christmas. In America, anyway. Japan is still expected to get the revolutionary portable out by the end of 2010.

In a way, it's unexpected to see such a big product miss the holidays this year but when you're Nintendo? It doesn't matter when you release. Just like Apple at the moment, they can do no wrong and will sell out day one. Get your pre-orders in...the latest the 3DS is expected to land in the States by March 2011.