The Secrets of EA's Catwoman

Let's get this over with. I like the Catwoman game. I'm not even going to try to justify my love for it. It was frustrating as hell, but it has a certain charm. What other game lets you collect bling? Anyways, for some reason or another I was looking at it the other day and noticed a few things.

The title screen changes to add a "Special Edition" tag after you enter a code found while playing the game. Where they originally planning to release two versions?

In another unlockable section I found this concept drawing of Catwoman fighting a Giant Enemy Crab.


The thing that most people remember about this game is the unique idle animation. After about a minute of standing still, the Halle Berry simulacrum begins to bump, grind, wink, ask if you "Like what you see?" and beckons you to "Come closer baby", all the while fondling her digital bits to a low key techno beat. It really must be seen to be believed.

So here's a clip I made of the game doing just that for 10 minutes. Enjoy!

ActionButton.net Podcasts

When I first read Tim Roger's work on Insert Credit 4-5 years ago it was a breath of fresh air for me. It was some of the first writing on games that veered towards the Lance Bangs style of reviews that for some reason I never realized was missing from video games. While I didn't always agree with or even enjoy reading his work, at least it was something different. I realize that he's not the only one out there doing exceptional and unique games criticism, but good or bad, he's the first person I think of.

For about five months now, he and others have been posting reviews at ActionButton.net and again, it's hit or miss but always a good read. Just today I noticed that they have a podcast section. It's essentially just the reviews read by someone entitled Charles Hartley and it's great. His style of reading very odd, almost as if any pauses that might have occurred during the recording were edited out and the first few seconds have you suspecting that maybe(just maybe) these are actually being read by some speech synthesis program trying to sound like Agent Smith. It also reminds me of the book-on-tape version of Neuromancer read by William Gibson himself who spits out his own words with in a near beat-poet style delivery. Again, it's wonderful.

I feel that's it's actually better than reading the reviews themselves. Check out the one for Saints Row and see what you think.

My First Press Release

I've been trying to get access to press releases and haven't really gotten anywhere but I finally received my first batch..from Crave Entertainment. I couldn't be happier. These are right up my alley.
The PSP version of Dave Mirra BMX Challenge that came out last November didn't fare too well review-wise, but maybe it's because that version didn't have a the Monster Energy drink boost meter the the new Wii version has as seen in the screenshot above. It also has the leg up on other extreme sports games that have you unlocking mundane shit like new gear or levels. In Dave Mirra BMX Challenge you get to unlock women's clothing!
Another upcoming title that look interesting and apparently is quite fun to play is Spelling Challenge for the PSP and DS.
The graphics look purposefully clear and simple but the color scheme makes me wonder if they were trying to emulate the look of the late 70's Speak & Spell toy:
Other titles listed are George Of The Jungle for PS2 and DS which is based on the upcoming Cartoon network series, a Napoleon Dynamite game for the PSP and DS, and a Crayola game for the DS that has one of the best screenshots ever:

Aventure games on consoles

I love a good list so here's one I put together of adventure games on last generation's consoles. The term of adventure game is getting harder and harder to pin down but I think that all of these qualify. PCs are usually where this kind of game ends up and I attribute that to why there are so many "true" adventure titles on the Xbox, as they were easier to port to the system. Titles in bold are multi-platform.

Xbox:
Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
Indigo Prophecy
Myst III: Exile
Myst IV: Revelation
Still Life
Syberia
Syberia II

PS2:
Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon
Chulip
Disaster Report
Echo Night: Beyond
Escape from Monkey Island
Indigo Prophecy
Myst III: Exile
Raw Danger!
Shadow of Destiny

GameCube:
Disney's Magical Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse(hey, I had to include something!)

Borderline titles I thought about including were The Da Vinci Code, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, Haunting Ground, Shenmue II, and X-Files: Resist or Serve. It's essentially the amount of combat took most them out of the running.

Any additions or arguments for deletion?

Late-Gen releases

The PS2 is closing in on 7 years of existence and still has some original titles coming out for it, whereas the Gamecube and Xbox flow of titles pretty much completely stopped with the release of their respective hardware updates, Wii and Xbox 360. The only two titles of note that both systems are getting are Madden NFL 08 and Ratatouille. From the research I've done, these are the last titles that will be released for both* systems.

The Madden NFL 08 Gamecube and Xbox titles are interesting not only because it shows the power of Madden but that they will both cost 39.99 as opposed to the 49.99 being charged for the Playstation 2 version! Further proof of the devastating combination of Madden and PS2.

These two versions of Ratatouille are the same price as the PS2 version(39.99), but notice that the Xbox version is an EB Games/Gamestop exclusive. Better buy up a 20 copies for your collection while you can still find them! And yes, it actually has that stripe printed on the cover itself.

*UPDATE: Turns out the Xbox still has an NCAA 08 and FIFA 08 left in it.

Embrace(the public domain movie goodness that is)...The Darkness!

I haven't paid too much attention to the PS3/360 title The Darkness that was released recently, mostly because I'm not much of an FPS fan, but a user comment on some Kotaku post perked my ears. It contains full length movies, music videos and cartoons that play on the televisions throughout the game. While I have no means to play it, I was able to cull together some titles, mostly from this GameFAQs post by "tragicchilds".

Feature Films-
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
The Street Fighter (1974)
Return Of The Street Fighter (1974)
Sister Street Fighter (1974)
The Street Fighter's Last Revenge (1974)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Nosferatu (1922)
Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers (1936)
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940)
Animated Shorts-
Gabby:
Fire Cheese (1941)
Popeye:
A Haul In One (1956)
Cookin' With Gags (1955)
Floor Flusher (1954)
Greek Mirthology (1954)
I Don't Scare (1956)
Nearlyweds (1957)
Insect to Injury (1956)
Parlez Vous Woo (1956)
Shuteye Popeye (1952)
Spree Lunch (1957)
The New 3 Stooges:
Hairbrained Barbers (1965)
The Littlest Martian (1965)

"over 10" Music Videos including -
Pelle Carlberg - "Riverbank"
The Duskfall - "Shoot It"

Ten full-length Top Cow comics(all 1st issues) of The Darkness, Magdalena, Witchblade, Cyberforce, Hunter Killer, The Necromancer, & Strykeforce.

The first thing you notice about the list is that virtually all of it(besides To Kill A Mockinbird)* is comprised of common public domain material. This is an easy, cheap, and I think ingenious way of filling the in game televisions with hours of natural-looking media. There are a few other games I can think of that used PD materials(the Make My Video series, Jack Sprite vs. The Crimson Ghost), but it's still an untapped resource. The PS3 is able to flex it's massive Blu-Ray storage space, as the 360 version is reported to have considerably less material.

It's also interesting to note that both of the music artists I was able to find are from Sweden, which is also where developer Starbreeze hails from.

*I have a feeling that the Flash Gordon episodes used are actually from the 1954 TV series which, unlike the Buster Crabbe serials, is PD material.