The Final Countdown...

The Final Countdown... man I hate that song. I hope that none of you out there have heard of it. But only a few short days to go until US release... and I may not be updating again before then !

Keeping the wallpaper tradition going, I actually made a wallpaper very similar to this myself... but once again Algarys comes up with the goods and my wallpaper is obsolete ! I think I'm right in saying this is from an E3 image from last year...

Also a short interview to Donald Mustard to check out... short but sweet !
Xecuted Interview with Donald Mustard

Good luck to all of you getting the game !

A jumping Gideon and some cutscenes...

My favourite effort from Algarys to date ? Possibly... and I can tell you there are still more to come !

Also of note today is that IGN have released a bunch of cutscenes detailing the story of Advent Rising ! Personally, I will be trying to stay spoiler free, but if that doesn't bother you, you might want to check it out.

IGN's Advent Rising Cutscenes

10 things to do while waiting...

The US Xbox launch is almost here... we should be seeing reviews up soon, and if you live in North America you could be playing the game in about a week !

So what to do while waiting ? Here are some ideas, along with some new screenshots to keep you busy for right now.

Boom ! Looks like there will be some nice graphical effects in the game... flames look a lot better in motion, but I still like what I see so far.

--------------------------------------------
A List of 10...
10. Download the prologue comic or find it with DC Comics.
9. Watch the trailers again. The latest one is amazing.
8. Watch Revenge of the Sith. Nothing to do with Advent Rising, but if you’re interested in Advent you’ve got some geek in you. And if you have some geek in you, you have to see ROTS.
7. Enter the Sweepstakes. Entries close May 25... TODAY... so get in fast. Unfortunately only for North American residents.
6. Read some of the previews… The TeamXbox one is probably the best, but some of the post-E3 ones are OK too.
5. Pre-order the game from EB… not because I’m a huge fan of them or anything, but they do seem to have the pre-launch deal going around. Again… only for North Americans it seems 
4. Visit the official forums at Majesco. There are a few other forums around, but at this stage, these are the ones I’m endorsing. Check out what people are saying and start up your own account before it gets very busy post launch.
3. Go for a walk to the supermarket. The fresh air and exercise will do you good. And chances are you might be stuck in front of the Xbox or PC for a while eating whatever you get from the supermarket.
2. Read Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. Mr Card played a big role in developing Advent Rising’s story and is considered a legend in the sci-fi literature circles. You’ll be getting some culture and the right frame of mind for Advent.
1. Keep visiting the Advent Trilogy Blogspot ! I’ll be keeping it up to date with links and summaries of all the reviews when they hit, and offering my own view on the game when I’m able to get my hands on it.
-----------------------

You can see Gideon just in the front of this screenshot. It gives a great indication about just how big those Seekers are.

E3 has been and gone...

So the biggest event in the gaming year has been and gone. I for one was VERY underwhelmed. I was expecting some big announcements to really get excited about around franchises jumping platforms or something.

As a current Xbox fan, I was hoping for some big things from the Xbox360. MS really dropped the ball on this launch. Partially due to the viral campaign, the MTV launch and the leaks, there was really nothing to get excited about in their presentation. I think it will be a good console (the Live features in particular) but it wasn’t a great launch.

PS3 was launched as expected, and again I was underwhelmed. Not much was really shown despite some decent trailers. (Check out the Killzone trailer… impressive, even if it is pre-rendered)

And the Nintendo Revolution was probably the most disappointing thing. I was really excited about what Nintendo might have up its sleeve… in many ways I respect them the most as having gaming its top priority. But… again a letdown. Basically no real information and a very bland looking console in my opinion. (yeah it’s small… but it looks like a router or something… I don’t need a super small console)

And the actual games ? Nothing really leapt out at me. Gears of War for the 360 looks good. Perfect Dark Zero could ultimately deliver… but I’ll be waiting for more news before getting to excited about anything else.

As for Advent Rising ? Not a lot of news has come through as yet (to be expected… its almost release time!) but there were a few new screenshots released.

Check out TeamXbox to see them all.

UPDATE : Some previews based on an E3 play are beginning to surface.
DailyGame.net Preview

Game Target

1UP


Nothing overly revealing... the real reviews will be just days away.

A pleasing comment from the Gaming Target article though "Graphically, Advent Rising is incredible." Nice to hear that those graphical issues may have been put to rest.

The other trilogy

Another certain sci-fi trilogy has been occupying my mind recently ;) I’ve just watched Episode I (fast forwarding about 40% of the movie) and Episode II (skipping about 10%) and are primed for Revenge of the Sith. My excitement is tempered with my experience the last two times (less so AOTC) but it is still a day to be a day long remembered.

Midnight opening - here I come.

UPDATE : 3:46AM... I'm back. No spoilers here - but three words come to mind at the minute : intense, excitement, sadness. If you're a fan, you don't need me to tell you to go and see this movie.

Weekend Wallpapers... x 2 !

A weekend wallpaper blowout ! (to borrow an overused Gaming journalism term...) Another two excellent efforts from Algarys. Personally, I like the clean look of the Wyeth brothers one... you can still have your desktop icons clearly visible and not obscuring the artwork. The excitement continues to build...

OXM Review of Advent Rising

This might get missed in all the Xbox360 hubbub... but not missed here !

There is a little teaser about the OXM review of Advent Rising on the Xbox.com site. And it sounds fantastic.

We in the gaming press have great jobs—let none of us ever say otherwise. As part of our work, we get to see all of tomorrow's hottest games today, so to speak. But sometimes we are shown games too early, when they're not even fully cohesive programs.

Such was the case with Advent Rising, the anticipated, plot-driven, third-person action-adventure from Glyphx Games and Majesco Games with a story penned by famed novelist Orson Scott Card. The game ships at the end of this month, but I first saw it approximately a year and a half ago. Back then it was practically a tech demo, running at a mere 15 frames per second with a couple of vehicles thrown in for testing and experimentation purposes. It didn't leave the most favorable impression at the time.

Well, the game showed up in the office for review recently, and on an optimistic whim I volunteered for the review. It's Orson Scott Card, after all!

I'm happy to report that my optimism was rewarded and that, 18 or so months later, Glyphx's pre-pre-pre-alpha demo turned into one heck of a final package. There's plenty to like in Advent Rising, not the least of which is, naturally, the story line. Of course, you'll have to read my full review in the July issue of Official Xbox Magazine (on sale June 14) to find out exactly how much I liked it, but rest assured that it's a game you want to keep a close eye on.

--By Ryan McCaffrey, Assistant Editor, Official Xbox Magazine

Original Article at Xbox.com

New 'Theatrical' Trailer out... a must see

A new trailer is out and you HAVE to see it. However this game turns out, these guys certainly know how to make a trailer... Click below for the Windows Media version from GameTrailers.

This is the one that is rumoured to be attached to Revenge of the Sith, so it will be great to finally get a bit more momentum behind the game.

Click this one for Quicktime from GameTrailers

There is a lot in this trailer... I could have posted a dozen snaps. It is definitely worth checking out on-line or when it hits cinemas.

UPDATE : The trailer before Revenge of the Sith is confirmed on the official Advent website (link in the sidebar) as well as a super large quicktime version available for download.

UPDATE 2 : Credit apparently for the trailer should go to "D. Christopher Salmon of GlyphX". Excellent work D... the fans love it, and I'm sure it is making many more fans !

IGN Powers #4 - Surge

This looks like a good one. Surge is described as a 'force push' / 'weapon grab' power. The push move (the primary use) triggers a bubble like effect that blows enemies backwards. The secondary use allows the player to grab weapons from your enemies.

Also in the article is a profile of the H.A.Z.E. Blaster... I think its the weapon we see featured on the Advent Comics website.

New Screenshot and $1 mill comp Egg

The cartwheeling wallpaper had to be followed up with this screenshot... one of my favourites. These moves definitely look like fun, and the graphics are also looking pretty nice here. Check out the blurred edge shadows.

Also - Algarys does it again !

A good find here... an example of how the 'Easter Egg' logo will appear in game during the $1,000,000 Xbox Live comp.

Click the above image to a link to the story at the 'DEN'.