When I fired up Dark Void I had no real notion of what the game was about. I knew there was flying and that the game was a cover-based shooter. With the birth of my son in December, I was glad of an excuse to really sit down and play through a game. The list of unfinished games for both 360 and PC is growing ever so steadily.

But I digress – Dark Void, developed by Airtight Games and published by the good people at Capcom is an experience that has a distinct feel. And that feel is unfinished.Riddled with small annoyances and loose controls, and a story that has more holes than Star Wars (I say that with love), I would have loved to see this game in 6 months or more when it would have been finished. With no singular direction, the game suffers but still manages to pull off a passable 8-10 hour single player experience that has some satisfying moments. However, with a distinct lack of multiplayer

Read on to know the whole story… Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 11% [?]

COSMO2389!!

Thanks everyone for entering our contest! Happy holidays and keep reading Kennedy New Media in 2010 for more contests, reviews, and general game awesomeness! Here’s a pic of a happy Cosmo2389 who is now playing Batman: Arkham Asylum free of charge thanks to Kennedy New Media. Here’s our winner sporting a rogue-ish smile with his new game. Congrats!

A Happy Comso2389 with his FREE copy of Batman: Arkham Asylum from KNM!

Popularity: 8% [?]

X-Men Origins: Wolverine was one of the many box office hits from last summer that was an ultimately hollow movie, deviod of any nuance, a good plot, and, with the exception of Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber, just generally awful acting.  So how is the video game based on the movie?

I am quite pleased to say that the game is way better than the movie.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Edition is easily the best Wolverine video game ever made.  This game has everything you want out of a game starring our favorite bezerker raging mutant.  You follow the events from the movie with additional material from RAVEN, linking specific events from the film seamlessly to an overarching storyline that involves several flashbacks to Africa, as well as a visit to Project Wideawake, which for your non comic geeks, is the project that unleashed these three story tall robots that hunt mutants on the X-Men.  You play as Wolverine, as you hack, stab, maim, slash, and kill anything and everything in your path. I think it’s safe to say that  this is by far the goriest game that has come out with an X-men character.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a good thing.   A really good thing.

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Popularity: 9% [?]

As a rule, I remain unaware of most of the big game award shows, because they are mostly hype above substance. HOWEVER, Mark Hamill is up for the “Best Voice” award and this dude deserves to win. Not only is he THE Joker, but he’s a really cool guy to boot.

As I was made aware of this by my friend Mark Walters of Bigfanboy.com, I am linking both to his article as well as the voting page directly. Feel free to vote anywhere else you choose, but make sure you put Hamill on top for voice.

Bigfanboy.com Article

Spike Awards – “Best Voice” in a Video Game

Popularity: 16% [?]

In this jam-packed holiday release season there are some obvious next-gen titles that are must-haves: Modern Warfare 2, Brutal Legend, Dragon Age: Origins, Assassin’s Creed 2.  Historically, hand-held ports released simultaneously with their console-cousins have been sad attempts to convert on the huge numbers of gamers that own a DS. Marketing meetings had people applying what would seem to be sound logic, citing the number of DS’s is circulation and saying they need to capitalize on their big-name title. The name alone should guarantee at least moderate sales numbers and justify its development.

These decisions had to have been made without the slightest consideration if, in any competent way, it can be transferred to the handheld medium. Then, the developer is given half of the regular dev cycle to crank it out. Sadness ensues, and poor reviews follow.

Assassin’s Creed 2: Discovery, however does its best to break this stereotype. With quick action, varied kill methods, and challenging level design the game brings some entertaining action to quickly maturing DS. I was pleasantly surprised by some of the fun mechanics in the game, allowing me to relish in some of the more badass moments of Assassin’s creed while still feeling a Mario-esque connection to the gameplay.

Read on for more… Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 68% [?]

As someone who once hosted a Star Wars themed podcast, I am predisposed to give SW licensed products a chance. I mean look how great Republic Commando was – a diamond in the rough of bad Star Wars games. Even The Force Unleashed was a lot of fun, if a little frustrating at times. I am a big fan of the new Clone Wars cartoon, as well. They have taken a lot of characters and added meaning to their existence in a good way.

Unfortunately, Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes is not a gem, but more coal in our Christmas stocking this year. I can’t help but think that Krome was not given enough time to finish the project, or possibly set their sights too high for this venture.

Republic Heroes, other than having far too long of a name, places you in the roles of big name Jedi’s and clone troopers and expects that to make up for infuriatingly erratic controls, horrible level design, and possibly the worst AI since… well, ever.

Read on for more…

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 29% [?]

As of Friday (11/20), almost all of the features of first time Publisher and Developer Riot Games, the original DotA creators, are available and live, and I can finally give you the 4-1-1 on what Riot has been up to. They have taken their concept of playing the pivotal role in a battle to new heights and put their money where their mouth is with League of Legends. Oh, and did I mention – they’re giving it away for free. A risky move to take, when some developers and publishers try to bank off of licensed names to catch the consumer unaware for a quick buck this holiday season.

Riot is sure you’ll like the game, and with good reason. For those of you unaware, there are international competitions for the now legendary Defence of the Ancients, a full Warcraft II conversion mod. If you haven’t played DotA, now there is little reason to bother other than nostalgia. Riot has put together, in my opinion, the best free game to be released in 2009.

I was only recently acquainted with Defence of the Ancients, or DotA (pronounced doh-tuh). Being only moderately skilled in RTS games, they are not often on my list of games that I must buy. Outside of Blizzard’s `Crafts (Star and War) and the relentless Command and Conquer entries that feature a story, the rinse and repeat nature of RTS games don’t really grab and hold me for long periods of time. You build a base and kill the enemy in increasingly difficult situations. While challenging, its not the most refreshing of gameplay.

Apparently Riot was thinking the same thing.

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Popularity: 100% [?]

For those of you who check KNM on a regular basis, you know that I really don’t post a lot of press releases. This site is (mostly) about game reviews and my ramblings. However, every once in a while something jumps out at me because of its awesomeness, and this is one of those times. NVIDIA has built a ri-dic-u-lous rig and are auctioning it off for charity as of the time I’m posting this, its up around $4,000 with only about 18 bids. The auction ends in 4 days (Monday night/Tuesday morning around Midnight) so if you’ve got some cash you wanted to donate to a good cause, get in there and throw some bids down. I’ve lost family members to cancer, and this is a plague that can’t be eradicated fast enough!

Full Press Release below…

Ultimate NVIDIA Themed Gaming System for Auction on eBay – 100% of proceeds going to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!

One of the fastest and most tricked out PCs ever built is up for auction on eBay

What:

One of the fastest, most tricked out PCs ever built has just been put up for auction on eBay. With a one of a kind NVIDIA themed paint job created by Smooth Creations, the system features two watercooled GeForce GTX 295 graphics cards in SLI, NVIDIA 3D Vision Glasses and Samsung 2233RZ 3D Vision Ready Display, an Intel Core i7 975 Extreme Edition CPU, 12GB of Crucial Ballistix DDR3 Memory, an ASUS Rampage II Gene X58 Motherboard, two 256GB Crucial SSD Hard Drives in Raid 0, two 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black Hard Drives, and more. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 17% [?]

Star Wars Battlefront I and II were epic creations, meant to be fast paced and played with friends. You had many classes that tailored to many different play styles. Earning the right to pick a Jedi as your class showed a strong ability to play the game well. You played against your friends and enjoyed epic battles on what seemed a grand scale. They weren’t the prettiest game you’ve ever played, but they were fun.

As fans, we’ve waited for the next iteration of Star Wars Battlefront for over 4 years now. We were all crestfallen when we heard Free Radical had been taken off the project, and even more bummed when we saw the footage of the game that could have been.

Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron is, unfortunately, not the game we’ve been waiting for. Before you go jumping in thinking this is going to be the what the Sith ordered to satisfy your Battlefront craving, there are a few things you will want to know… Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 27% [?]

The title says it all – we’re looking for people to spread the word about KNM, and for doing so they will get a chance to receive this sealed retail copy of Batman: Arkham Asylum for PC. Its as easy as that. I picked up an extra copy just to give  away to one of our awesome readers. We’d love to be able to cover more games for you, but those pesky jobs get in the way, ya know? So, in an effort to boost traffic to the site, we’re going to start having giveaways! This is the first of what is likely to be many more to follow.

To enter:
Link to us on your blog or retweet this post on twitter. Cool note, you can do both and be entered TWICE. So, if you create a blog just to link to us and also post on twitter will you get two entries? YES.

For twitter, you can even just click below or click the bird up top:

CLICK HERE TO RETWEET

To link to KNM from your blog, we need to be either in your blogroll or links section. It needs to be easily viewable wherever your links are kept. Link directly to the main website:

http://kennedynewmedia.com

TO HAVE YOUR ENTRY(S) COUNT:

Send an email to: tim@kennedynewmedia.com with the URL of your blog and where I will find the link. Also, link your twitter feed so I can see the RT.

That’s it, folks! We will be running this contest until 11/22/09. So you have 2 weeks to get those links and retweets going. KNM will cover shipping costs of mailing the game to you as long as you’re in the US. If you’re outside I’ll see what I can do. It will arrive for you to play or to gift to your favorite gamer in early December.

Good luck!

Popularity: 63% [?]