Changing culture, one gamerscore at a time.

The trailer for Mass Effect 2 is the most sadistic piece of advertising I’ve ever seen, and I’ve born witness to cliffhanger trailers across my entire lifespan. Oh, I could analyse it all I wanted, I suppose, the bottom line is that Shepherd is currently “status: killed in action”, and frankly I don’t even know whether my buddy Wrex made it out alive. It’s set two months after the events of the first title, but really, considering the trailer I’d rather be playing through those two months, thank you. I want to know what led to Geth in Normandy armour (though my assumption is still along the lines of Geth being reprogrammed for good purposes by the Quarians, finally repaying their debt to intergalactic society). I want to know why in the hell Shepherd should even be missing, let alone presumed dead. Not even presumed, confirmed. “Keep your save files,” say Bioware, “it’ll affect the world in the sequel”. So, what, I get a more Paragon-esque coffin? Sheesh.

Alan’s Awake, His PR Isn’t

Another two Alan Wake extracts have gone up, though they are, once again, riddled with spelling mistakes. After an email conversation late last week with the person to write them on behalf of Remedy, I was assured any spelling mistakes in these extracts were completely unintentional. It’s a shame to see something so unprofessional mar such an exciting title, but I suppose we can’t expect much until advertising in a better capacity rears its head. What worries me more is the fact that ADM, the person to write these extracts, seems to find it quite amusing that his typos are causing people to peg the title’s protagonist as either dyslexic or nervous. A small corrective email to IGN, perhaps? I’ve had one, and I don’t claim many daily hits, but to a site that gets around three million a week? It’s the least you could do.

Seeing Red

It seems all the rumours about a Red Xbox 360 Elite were true, and it looks pretty nifty, too. It’s a shame that at this point, so many people are buying the much, much cheaper arcade and 60 gig editions that it seems like a fairly pointless deal, especially when it’s bundled with a game like Resident Evil 5, which, from playing it and from various other journalistic opinion pieces on the title, looks really terrible. Then again, most of the Xbox 360 deals you’ll find nowadays involve the purchase of some horrible titles. Kung Fu Panda? Transformers?! I have no idea what they were thinking when they came up with those titles. I miss the days when that console game with titles like Gears of War. Now there’s a starting point for a new Xbox 360 owner.

Speaking of Resi Five…

Its creator happily announced the demo had been downloaded four million times since its release, which means he’s either absurdly optimistic or seems not to have realised the reason it was downloaded by so many people is because of the brand name, and not the content. Though, I’m beginning to think all the bad press is getting to Capcom, as phrases like “Resi 6 will re-invent everything” are now being bandied around.

Call me cynical, but honestly, I don’t see this going anywhere good. By the time they even make a sixth title in the series, no one is going to be as interested. If you can’t produce solid title after solid title a la Final Fantasy, expect the next one to sink. That said, I don’t understand how this is the fifth title. It’s not, by any means. I can name at least three other titles in the Resi universe off the top of my head, including one involving a lightgun, though God forbid “re-inventing” means Resi 5 with a Wii Remote.