Inglourious Reviews

Rockstar Games Releases L.A. Noire Orientation Trailer

2011-02-20T16:13:00.001-05:00

The upcoming crime drama, L.A. Noire, created by Rockstar games and Team Bondi is bound to set many milestones in gaming. Much like its open world cousin, Grand Theft Auto IV, Noire promises to feature a fully open and faithful world set during late 40's Los Angeles with a complete and branching dialogue tree that can influence the way the story progresses in the game. Noire is also set to feature cutting edge Mo-Cap technology, utilizing 32 HD cameras to record actors facial and body movements. Rockstar is especially known for their groundbreaking IPs, and L.A. Noire is sure to be no exception. Check out the trailer after the jump!

Click here for L.A. Noire Trailer

Attention ladies and gentlemen- Darkspore is now in Open Beta! (Sort of)

2011-02-20T13:56:00.001-05:00

Electronic Arts, (EA) has allowed for their latest sci-fi epic, "Darkspore", to be in open beta as of the latest patch for those who have redeemed their beta keys and downloaded the client. The time limit for this open beta is until Sunday at midnight, PST. For those of you who haven't obtained a beta key for the latest PC space epic recently, anyone is welcome to sign up here.

"Darkspore" is more combat oriented than its predicessor, "Spore".
Click to sign up for beta.

Quakertown Pennsylvania Hidden Gem

2011-02-19T19:11:00.000-05:00

If one were to drive past the Quakertown Farmer's Market, it would seem ordinary and in place for a rural Pennsylvania market. However, if one were to venture forth and explore the complex inner depths of this market, a vast banquet of retro goodies await those who look!

On the outside walls of "Video Bonanza", there hangs a vast array of classic and modern movie and gaming posters, along with the Video Bonanza Arrow directing the crowds to the retro goldmine. Once inside, everything was covered in nostalgic memorabilia running the gambit of gaming for generations. There was one wall that caught my attention immediately, as it was completely filled with cartridge games ranging from the Atari to the Nintendo 64, and everything in between.

So...Many... Cartridges...

Along the tops of the shelves, were the consoles themselves in their mint to near-mint boxes. Anyone with a passion for gaming should feel obligated to stop on by and take a look at what Video Bonanza has to offer. Not only are they chock full of vintage games for portable and home consoles, but classic hard to find movies litter the shelves throughout the shop, making this a must-see attraction for any gamer.

Quakertown Farmers Market
and Flea Market
201 Station Road, Quakertown, PA 18951

"RIFT" Open Beta Thoughts and Opinions: Character Creation

2011-02-18T21:34:00.000-05:00

In gaming today, one can play a variety of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, or MMORPGs. "RIFT", stands out from the crowd for its polished take on the generic MMORPG formula. After obtaining an open beta key rather quickly, I proceeded to download the RIFT client. Updating and patching took no longer than 40 minutes, considering this was the second day of the week-long open beta.

Character creation is similar to most modern MMORPGs, as RIFT essentially follows the two faction rule of thumb. In this case, they are called the "Guardians" and the "Defiant". Employing three races for each faction; Dwarves, High Elves and Mathosian dominate the Guardian faction while the Bahmi, Eth and Kelari encompass the Defiant faction. After choosing to align with the Defiant faction, and selecting the Warrior calling from the usual list of four, including mage rouge and cleric, I decided to be the human-like Eth.

The creation and customization is quite vast, as all the usual customization features are there. What's most interesting is that the character face modeling tool takes a different approach to manipulating the facial features of a character, to which many may find quite easy to use. Using a triangle and three traits, including how square, round or angular the face should be, players can find just the right features for their character, as long as a bit of time and creativity is invested.

The Future of Music Gaming

2011-02-18T20:33:00.001-05:00

Over the years, publishers have tried to bridge the physical gap of interactivity when it came to implementing controllers for their game systems. One such company managed to change the way musical games were viewed, when Activision released "Guitar Hero" for the Playstation 2 in November of 2008. Featuring a plastic guitar, outfitted with colored buttons corresponding to what was displayed on a running track. The object of the game was to obtain as high of a score as possible while playing familiar tunes, ranging from the likes of Ozzy Osbourne and Aerosmith. Several years after its debut, the Guitar Hero franchise sold millions in hardware, software and music downloads worldwide. Unfortunately, the current owner of the Guitar Hero franchise, Activision-Blizzard, discontinued the series due to poor sales in recent years. What leaves many wondering, is what's next for the future of music gaming? As the granddaddy of rock oriented musical games falls, some may be lost as to what may be next for the ailing genre. Some have turned to games such as "Power Gig", which was the first to include a guitar that more resembled that of an actual guitar. It would seem that realism in the likes of "Power Gig" is the next logical step in musical gaming, as the genre has certainly gone stagnant until abundant innovation is brought in to save the day.

Power Gig Could be the saving Grace this Genre is looking for.