I kind of had my recommendation for Paper Man yesterday (as well as a waaaay too-political post for MD) so I will fudge a bit today and instead of recommending something else, I’ll just recommend that you spend a little time and boggle at something *AMAZING* coming down the pike. Dude. We are living in the future.
Rockstar (dude, that’s another essay I need to write) is coming out in May with one of the most amazing looking games I’ve yet seen. Not because of the gameplay or the explosions but because of the mouths. Look at these mouths. *THAT* is my recommendation for you this week.
I Do believe that footage is resting on the upward slope of the uncanny valley.
Yeah, when I’m recognizing the actors they used for modeling from the trailer without hearing their voices, I do think we’ve crossed over into some kind of new territory.
Sorry, I just cannot get excited at moving lips in a video game. Yes, they do a very good job of looking like real lips talking. I would rather have a good game (not that I know one way or another that the game is good, just stating my priorities).
This is Rockstar. I have high hopes that you’ll get that too.
PORTAL2PORTAL2PORTAL2!!!!!!!!!
No lips in Portal2.
Seriously, I was impressed with the clip, but I always wonder what the actual gameplay is going to look like when I see those highly produced trailers.
Fwiw, the fine print at the end says it was actual game play footage (vice the usual disclaimer that specifically says it’s not)
Saying that an in-game cut scene is “actual game play footage” is technically accurate but feels like a stretch to me.
Yes! I am picking up my copy today at lunch.
It is on the couch in the next room. I will play it when I finish catching up here.
Oddly while I love the humor and story in Portal I have no interest in the game itself. Glaados: yes; promotional video’s screaming about boots: yes; puzzle game involving leaping through space/time apetures? No. I’d rather someone else play it while I watch.
Portal 1 is short enough you could probably watch it that way, I think 2 will also be a relatively short SP game, depending on how long it takes you to solve the puzzles.
I’d urge you to give it a shot if you haven’t if you’re afraid it’s a high-frustration jumping puzzle game. HL1 was much, much harder as a jumping puzzle game than Portal was, not to mention real precision games like Super Meat Boy.
Coincidentally, I have a free copy of Portal thanks to the preorder to give away via Steam, if anyone around here would want it. All my friends have it already.
Start here. I know there are 9 videos (plus the ending for 10) and I am pretty sure it goes all the way through to the end of the game, so, spoilers and stuff. Also the sound pops a bit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWj781LiMtc
Alas neither Portal game is on my list to play. I have difficulty with first-person perspective and that precludes me from playing either.
James, you can get the best flavor of Portal by going to youtube. Consider, if you will, their promotional videos for Portal 2 which has fictional CEO Cave Johnson promoting various Aperture products to potential investors. Hysterical. Type in Portal 2 and boots. You’ll be amused.
“When life gives you lemons, don’t make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don’t want your damn lemons! What the hell are these?! Demand to see life’s manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I’m the man who’s gonna burn your house down! WITH THE LEMONS! I’m gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that BURNS YOUR HOUSE DOWN!” -Cave Johnson