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The Witcher 2 – A Pre-Review To Die For

Dave Oshry — Mon, 16 May 2011 23:45:03 +0000

The time has almost come. The Witcher 2: Assassin’s of Kings is nearly upon us. As a horde of PC gamers cling tightly to their pre-order receipts, there are many of you who are still undecided. You call out to me, “Dave, give us more you son of a whore!” I tweet relentlessly, post hundreds upon hundreds of screens, discuss GPU optimization with you… but yet you want more!! You want information, you want gameplay, you want to know all that I know about the new adventures of Geralt of Rivia… and then some. You refuse to spend a fucking dime unless I spill all the details upon this page like so much barghest blood upon the blade of a Witcher’s silver sword.

Fair enough, here goes:

There will be no spoilers in this preview. Furthermore, any videos contained within this preview are optional, so don’t blame me if you can’t help but to watch them and wind up seeing something so mind blowing you’d wish I’d withheld it from you. Although the game is only a day away, CDProjekt has asked me to keep certain things from you, and I shall, because they’ve earned my respect, and I their trust. But enough of that. What do you wish to know? Where do I begin? How about at the beginning…

The prologue of the original Witcher was, for lack of better words, boring as all fucking hell. If I had to spend one more minute running back and forth amidst the Outskirts of Vizima, I’d likely not have made it any further than that. Luckily the game picked up wonderfully after that, but that’s of no consequence. A question I get asked a lot is, “Dave, do I have to have played the first game in order to enjoy or understand the sequel?” Luckily, the answer is no. Assassin’s of Kings does a wonderful job of catching you up on the details of the original game and then some. Better yet, for those of you who did play the original game, you will be able to import your final save (if you can find it) and the choices you made will carry over into your new adventures. Someone over at CDProjekt has clearly been playing some Mass Effect. They’ve also apparently been playing Alpha Protocol because many of the conversations in The Witcher 2 will force you to make quick, timed responses just as they did in Obsidian‘s flawed yet lovable creation.

It’s in conversations such as these that you will spend much of your time with during Assassin’s of Kings. If you’re not one for story and substance, turn away now, I’m sure there’s a BlOps server somewhere with your name on it. For those of you who like your story as rich as the finest chocolate in the Northern Kingdoms and your narrative as deep and wide as the birth canal of the most putrid wench in all of Flotsam… you’ve come to the right place.

Choose wisely during these conversations, for The Witcher 2 is a game about choice and consequence. The story and narrative will branch as you choose sides and turn tides, so be warned: there is no going back in The Witcher’s world, only forward toward an inevitable end. The translation and voice acting are first rate as well this time around, and it only helps to add polish to this Polish game. While the game is linear, Geralt’s path through it is anything but. I myself had to play through these few chapters multiple times to experience all of the available story options, and trust me when I say that based on your decisions in-game, the world around you will be radically different. If I had to compare the way the choice and consequence in the Witcher 2 works to any game that’s come before it, the only one that comes to mind is Deus Ex. In fact, it feels a lot like Deus Ex the more you take sides… and turn tides.

Maturity abounds in Assassin’s of Kings. The game world is bloody, violent, racist, sexist and vulgar. If that’s not your thing, I’d think you’d have run along by now. I assume it is your thing however since you’re still here and if a truly mature role playing game for a truly mature gamer is what you’re after, then once again look no further. I may as well start with… the love scenes. They’re marvelous. It’s not that they’re explicit, in fact they’re quite tasteful. It’s that someone over at CDP understands human emotion and has somehow, for once, managed to translate that into a video game properly. I could go on and on about this, but if you’re willing, I’d rather show you what I mean. In this love scene between Geralt and the magnificent sorceress Triss Merigold, you can learn everything about their relationship, even if you’d never known a thing about them before. That, my friends, is good storytelling. It’s also damn sexy (and NSFW)

What did I tell you? A love scene done right. After you’ve caught your breath, let’s continue on as we talk about the gameplay in Assassin’s of Kings.

The Witcher 2 Advanced Graphics Options Are “Uber”

Dave Oshry — Sun, 15 May 2011 19:59:03 +0000

You think your favorite PC game has serious advanced graphics options? CDProjekt is busy coming up with terms that don’t even exist for The Witcher 2!!

As you can see in the screenshot of the configuration tool below, there are a litany of options the likes of which would make Crysis: Warhead blush. Although this is a DX9 title, CDProjekt is making sure you will be able to tailor the visual settings to your hearts content to truly test out all of the eye candy The Witcher 2 has to offer.

However, what’s most interesting is the inclusion of UberSampling. You may be asking yourself… “What the fuck is UbserSampling!?“ Good question. According to CDP:

“The whole scene is rendered multiple times to give [the] best possible texture and object details and antialiasing (better than antialiasing and anisotropy even on highest settings).”

So… this one option replaces the need to set your game to highest AA and AF!?

I think I speak for everyone when I say:

Only the L337est of the L337 PC’s will be able to run the game with these settings enabled… you’ve been warned.

CDProjekt, doing PC gamers proud since 2007.

Check out the rest of our Witcher 2 coverage including over 375 of our own “Uber” quality screenshots!!

RipTen Review: Yar’s Revenge (XBLA)

Dave Ernst — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 21:01:00 +0000

In 1981, Atari released what would become the one of the most popular games on the Atari 2600. This year, Atari has rebooted the classic title bearing almost no resemblance to the original art style, story and gameplay. With major changes to the original source material, is Yar’s Revenge for XBLA a game worth playing? Join me on my quest to find out!

Yar’s Revenge is an on-rails shooter that mimics gameplay from games such as Panzer Dragoon, Space Harrier and Star Fox. The first thing I noticed about Yar’s is the graphics. For an XBLA title, the game looks great. It may not have the most crisp graphics, but the game definitely has a colorful, unique artistic style to it. I can always appreciate a game that tries to have its own art style and this game has a pretty interesting style indeed. During each level, you will take control of Yar on your quest for revenge using an analog stick to control a triangle reticule to target enemies. The other analog stick is used for dodging and LB is used to DO A BARREL ROLL! . RB allows you to use a powerful attack, called the Rail Gun. The gun will blast the shit out of any enemy, but will need time to recharge before it’s next use.

As you slowly make your way through each level, scripted paths of enemies will swarm past for you to destroy. The game keeps its arcade flavor by giving you score based on how many enemies you are able to target and destroy during each level. The faster you kill enemies, the higher your multiplier will go, but if you run out of enemies to shoot or miss for a while, you will start back at 1. Yar starts of with a standard Pulse Laser and Rail Gun. She is also equipped with a limited amount of homing missiles for quick disposal of enemies. As you progress through the levels, you will find more weapons to chose from. There is a shield that can be used when your health is running low. It will shield you from enemy attacks while also slowing healing you by a certain percentage. The downside is that you cannot fire while healing. Then there are 3 different types of upgraded missiles, some homing, some just more powerful versions of what you already have. All pretty standard stuff.

After you make you way through what feels like an endless onslaught of enemies, you will find yourself facing a gigantic boss. These bosses usually fill up the screen and contain specific patterns needed to destroy it. Many of the enemy patterns and attacks are very predicable, but the difficulty of the game is still very high. After the first few levels, you can expect yourself to die rather frequently. Fortunately, there are checkpoints to keep this from being overly frustrating.

However, the major downside to Yar’s Revenge is REPETITION! Once you have played the first couple levels, you’ve seen everything that this game has to offer and you’ll likely get bored. The original game may have followed this simplistic style of gameplay, but the developer needs to realize that it’s 2011. Without any voice acting to carry the anime driven story and repetitive gameplay, the game gets very bland very fast. Worse yet, a lot of the story is played out through text dialogue (with no voice overs) right in the middle of levels. I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to try to read tiny text while I’m busy dodging missiles and laser beams. There was potential for a cool story to accompany this game, but it was poorly executed.

Atari has attempted to bring a 2600 classic into the modern day and they have indeed created something that is at it’s core, both unique and easily playable. It’s worth checking out if you have some time and money to kill, but it is hard to recommend highly to anyone. There is nothing particularly “wrong” with the game; it plays just fine. On the flip-side, there is really nothing special about the game either. With 2011 offering so many gems, whether they be full retail or downloadable, it’s very hard to dedicate any time to a game this standard. If you’re a on-rail shooter fanatic with an itch to scratch, this may do the trick, but if not, then maybe it would have been best to leave Yar in 1981.

Here’s The Rundown:

+ Interesting, colorful and artistic visuals

+ Familiar and fun style of gameplay

- Highly repetitive, not much variety

- No voice acting, story text displays distracts from gameplay

- Can be beaten in 2-3 hours and contains little replay value

Yar’s Revenge was developed by Killspace Entertainment and published by Atari. It was released on April 13th for the Xbox LIVE Arcade for 800 Microsoft Points. Our copy was provided for review by Atari for review purposes. It was played until completion which took 2.5 hours. After the game was over, I woke up from my coma and realized where I was and what I was doing. I was depressed and alone. I miss my Atari 2600…

The Witcher 2 – 125 “Ultra” Quality Screens To Die For

Dave Oshry — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 18:17:02 +0000

As you may know if you follow me around the Twitterverse, CDProjekt has been nice enough to provide me with a preview build of the Witcher 2 to mess around with. Better yet, they’ve said it’s a-ok to post as many screens as I like.

So, with my visual settings on “Ultra” (“Uber” if you’ve got the EU version) and FRAPS by my side, I set forth to conquer the first few hours of the Witcher 2. It was not recommended that I do so, as in fact, keeping the game on “Ultra” makes for some hilarious visual bugs in this preview build. However, if I play any game on anything less than ‘maximum’ settings, my PC and the three Nvidia GPUs contained within literally spit at me via my blu-ray drive. But I digress…

"Y U NO Play On Max Settings!?"

The stats on that glowing blue monstrosity above are as follows:

- Asus P6T Motherboard
- Intel Core i7 CPU 975@3.33GHz
- 12GB Corsair Dominator DDR3 Ram
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 590 / Nvidia GeForce GTX560ti (PhysX)
-1250w CoolerMaster PSU
- Asus VG236 23″ HD Monitor (3D Enabled)
- Windows 7 x64

These screens cover the entire prologue of The Witcher 2: Assassin’s of Kings. A prologue that not only brings you up to speed on the events preceding AoK that took place in the original Witcher, but one that also marvelously sets the stage for things to come. I’ve been strictly told not to spoil anything for you, and since I’m such a nice guy and a roleplayer at heart, I won’t.

I’ve also been told I can’t post any video yet, although I’ve already recorded 50gigs worth. Yet, as soon as I edit it all and get it approved by CDProjekt, you’ll be the first to know. I do love you guys after all. Except you Nick… take a shower.

Due to the non linear nature of this game, for all I know, you may never see some of the images I’m about to present you with. The game can branch in so many different directions that there are literally entire towns and cutscenes you may never, ever encounter. I’ve played through the prologue of AoK twice already, and upon making different decisions, I attained different results. Ahh, choice and consequence, don’t you love it? Yet once again, I digress. You came here for screens, yes? Not to read as I blabber about my L337 PC and “What can change the nature of a man?”

So, here you go:

(I apologize for our archaic gallery system, the new RipTen will have a much better one ^__^ )

Want more? I’ve got plenty more to come. A full blown preview, hopefully some video, and definitely a review in the works.

In fact, I just posted 250 more Witcher 2 screens!! What are you waiting for!! Check em out!!

In the meantime, feel free to ask me anything about The Witcher at Dave@RipTen.com or just find me @DaveOshry on Twitter.

The Witcher 2 System Requirements Are Quite Reasonable – These Screens Are Quite Awesome

Dave Oshry — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:55:35 +0000

As we wait patiently for the May release of CDProjekt’s highly anticipated sequel to The Witcher, we now know what it will take to run this glorious looking PC only (for now) RPG.

Behold these extremely reasonable system requirements!!

Mininum System Requirements:
• OS: Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista SP2 / Windows 7 (32/64-bit)
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 Ghz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+
• Memory: 1 GB Windows XP / 2 GB Windows Vista and Windows 7
• Video Card: 512 MB RAM, supporting Pixel Shader 3.0 (Nvidia GeForce 8800 or ATI Radeon HD3850)

Recommended System Requirements:
• OS: Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista SP2 / Windows 7 (32/64-bit)
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad or AMD Phenom X4
• Memory: 3 GB Windows XP / 4 GB Windows Vista and Windows 7
• Video Card: 1 GB RAM, supporting Pixel Shader 3.0 (Nvidia GeForce GTX260 or ATI Radeon HD4850)

Additionally:
• Sound Card: compatible with DirectX 9.0c
• HDD: 16 GB of disc space
• Disc Drive: DVD x8, compatible with DVD9
• Instalation requires administrator access.
• Game supports Xbox 360 controller for Windows.

Very reasonable indeed.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings was originally supposed to be released in March but it was delayed til May so they could add more polish and/or Polish people…

Anyhow, check out our full succubus slaying hands-on preview of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings HERE

What, you want more!? How about these brand new screens!!

RipTen Review: Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime (PC)

Sam Naylor — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 14:01:37 +0000

Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime is the latest effort by Atari to use the Ghostbusters license, but can it escape the ‘good movie = bad game’ disease?

This review is a tough one to do, not because I don’t know what to think, but because it’s hard to convey just how bland this game is. Sanctum of Slime is a budget title, not a full retail release, and as such you might expect a more experimental style of game. Unfortunately, the game is simply another multiplayer dual-stick shooter- and not even a good one.

The gameplay generally consists of your team of four Ghostbusters (not even the film’s characters) fighting to save the city from the evil ghosts. While the story is hardly interesting, it props up the game adequately enough, and the comic-book style is at least better than cut-scenes. In almost every level your team will take out a room of ghosts, run forward for a bit, get locked into a new room, kill the ghosts there, and then the process repeats about twenty times until you get to a boss that is either stupidly easy or manically hard.

This process is sometimes broken up by the occasional driving level, but once again there is so little variety that it just feels pointless. In fact, the whole game feels like that- there is nothing about this game that you can’t get from any other game except perhaps some slightly boring extended Ghostbusters fiction. The shooting revolves around coloured weapons to tackle corresponding enemies which could have been a nice idea if it was at all fun to kill things. Which it isn’t, at all.

It’s not that Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime is a bad game, per se, as with friends the fun scales with how good your friends are. All I can say about this game is that it’s just completely average. There seem to be no redeeming features at all, something that would bring it into a place where I could recommend it. As it is, Sanctum of Slime is just a depressing void of nothingness.

Here’s The Rundown:

+ Not that expensive
+ Acceptable in multi-player

- Not interesting in any way
– Unacceptable in single-player

The version played for this review was provided to us by Atari for PC. The single-player was not completed but since every level is the fucking same the reviewer felt ready to review it. Multiplayer was played for a few hours with similar results. The PC used: AMD Phenom X4 965 @ 3.40 Ghz, 4GB RAM, ATI Radeon 5850 Black, and some shitty hard drive with Windows 7 64-bit installed on it. Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime was released on March 23, 2011 for Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and PC. If you have a PC go play Alien Swarm instead, it’s fantastic, and free.

I Played The Witcher 2 and All I Got Was This Bad Ass Press Kit

Dave Oshry — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 04:13:15 +0000

CDProjekt sure knows how to make us reporter types happy. The only thing we like more than videos, screens and fact sheets, is swag!!

After playing The Witcher 2, I was given a box. Unfortunately, inside the box was not a button that would let me kill Cameron Diaz, but instead a slew of awesome Witcher related paraphernalia. /Woot

Check it out, and don’t forget to check out my hands-on preview of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. If you don’t, they won’t give me any more press kits!

I’ve Played The Witcher 2 – It Was Like F**king a Succubus

Dave Oshry — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 04:11:55 +0000

Now, I know what you’re saying. “Dave, what could you possibly know about fucking a succubus!?” Well, if you’re to ask me that then I’d say you’ve obviously never met my ex girlfriend… but I digress.

When I found out that I was going to be given the opportunity to actually play The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings – I was thrilled. I’d only been given hands-off, eyes-on demonstrations up until this point and had no idea what to expect or how the game actually felt. Although it was not until late 2009 that 2007′s The Witcher took me under it’s spell, since then I’ve undoubtedly become a huge fan of the White Wolf (Geralt of Rivia) and his adventures.

The Witcher 2 will continue the story right where The Witcher left off. Without giving too much away, you should know that an assassination attempt was made on the life of King Foltest, and it’s now up to Geralt, the most legendary monster slaying, babe bedding badass in all of Temeria, to get to the bottom of things.

Check out the final cutscene of The Witcher in which that kingly Assassination attempt is made. Don’t worry, there’s no other spoilers involved:

If you’ve played The Witcher, congrats. You’ll be able to import your last save from the first game, and it will affect the story elements in Assassins of Kings… Mass Effect style.

Tomasz Gop, CDProjekt’s senior producer and a man whom I’ve spoken with on numerous occasions, was more than happy to throw me headfirst into this new hands-on demo and say “go” – knowing how big a fan I was of the series. Well, what actually he said was, “go… to the pub” “With pleasure!” I exclaimed. Yet, before I walked into the pub, I was greeted by a man at the door who gave me a quest. Young men had been disappearing from town and it’s been said a beast was behind it. Sounds like Witcher’s work! So I walked into this Dwarven pub, where all story leads can be found in any RPG worth a damn. It was here I found the new attention to detail CDP had paid to the game’s interior environments.

Dwarven Interiors - Done Right

Tomasz told me they’d studied Andrzej Sapkowski’s (The creator and author of The Witcher books) work extensively to get an idea of what Dwarven architecture and interiors “should” look like in The Witcher’s world. He said they tried to capture a feeling of “warmth” – and quite frankly, they achieved it. As soon as I entered this pub, warmth was all around me. Torches crackling, people eating and drinking heartily, men gambling and fighting, and minigames aplenty!

The Witcher 2 will feature all new minigames such as arm wrestling, as well as old favorites like dice poker and fist fighting. The dice poker is the same, but the fist fighting is now a QTE mini game. You’ll have to think fast and push the right buttons in order to triumph in a pub fight and collect your winnings. While this was off putting at first (I longed for some real fist fighting) It feels much more like a pub game and also a minigame in this way, and that’s what CDP was going for. I was assured that out in the real world, fist fighting is far more visceral and uses the game’s new combat system… but we’ll get to that later. Arm wrestling is an all new part of The Witcher 2, and it will surely play just as strong a role in getting information out of the locals as drinking with them will. It involves keeping your mouse cursor within a small sliding frame, but it’s much harder than it sounds. Win an arm wrestling match with a dwarf and you can be sure he’ll me more than willing to talk to ya now… or maybe he wont.

Want to see these pub games in action? Check out the video below:

You see, while The Witcher 2 is a linear RPG, the ways in which you can approach any and all of your objectives are, for the most part, very non-linear. There is no right or wrong way to go about most of the game’s quests and different players will certainly find themselves paying the game differently. It feels very much like the original Deus Ex in this way.

It’s also been said that the game will have close to 20 endings. Suck on that, Chrono Trigger. You may have already seen this video demonstrating the game’s non-linear linearity. If not, enjoy:

See what I mean? There will be multiple ways to approach your objectives, and they will lead to different outcomes. This all makes for a very personalized experience for the player and clearly adds to the depth of The Witcher 2.

Getting back to my demo adventure: I picked up a quest lead from the pub, arm wrestled and fought a bit, then headed back out toward my next objective – the catacombs. I headed into town and marveled at the textures on the wood and stone, the clear blue sky, and especially the intricate detail on the clothing of the townsfolk. The game world, built on the all new, internally developed RED engine, feels quite alive and vibrant. The original game, which still holds up quite well visually, pales in comparison to what CDP have achieved with the Witcher 2 visually.

Hello 2007 - Say Hi To 2011

As I made it out of town, I started to familiarize myself with the game’s new interface. While similar to the original game, I couldn’t help but notice that the control scheme had become more…”consoleified” No longer do you switch between your magical signs with keys on the keyboard (although you can rebind them, and I likely will) but now a radial menu pops up that lets you scroll through abilities. Does it work fine on PC? Sure. Is it a system clearly more suited to consoles? Absolutely. However, that didn’t matter - it was time for combat!

Atari Set To Release a Trio of Terrific Titles – I Tried Them Triumphantly

Dave Oshry — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 22:55:10 +0000

Atari is a name known by gamers the world over as one of the pioneers of the industry. Well, these pioneers are about to jump head first into the digital download age with three upcoming releases. I’ve played them all, and I’m gonna to tell you all about ‘em.

Who Ya Gonna Call?

First up we’ve got Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime.

Who ya gonna call? Some rookies, that’s who. Sure, this game may be a follow-up to the well received 2009 multi-platform release Ghostbusters: The Video Game, but it’s a vastly (ghastly?) different creation indeed. There will be no voice acting by Bill Murray and Dan Akroyd this time around, and this isn’t a full priced third person shooter (streamer?) Instead what you get is a twin stick shooter in the same vein as Smash TV, Geometry Wars and Burn Zombie Burn. It’s a 4 player co-op romp that has you fighting familiar ghastly foes with familiar weaponry. Namely proton packs and plasma inductors.

I played through a level with Atari and the controls worked flawlessly as we cleared out a psych ward of slimy crazies. The controls and AI were rock solid, and the game wasn’t too easy or too hard, which is of the utmost importance when you’re talking about the fun factor of twin stick shooters. Even with twin stick co-op mayhem running rampant, according to Atari it’s impossible to cross the streams in Sanctum of Slime. This comes as a relief, because you never, ever want to cross the streams. While I know many of you were hoping for a full blown sequel to the game which was more or less considered the third Ghostbusters movie, rest assured that for the price of a couple of NYC pretzels and a Coke ($9.99) you’ll be getting a run, gun and fun twin stick shooter that is very much a Ghostbusters game.

I Will Hack You, Slash You and Loot Your Corpse!!

Next up is Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale.

As you may have guessed from the title… it’s an RPG. Moreover, it’s a 3rd person hack n slash action/RPG. You know, the kind you love. You’ll level up, kill bad guys of the living and undead variety, then loot things and complete quests. You know the drill. However, the big draw here is co-op for up to 4 players. Which suddenly makes this much less like Torchlight and much more like Gauntlet.

I played a bit of Daggerdale and it all felt pretty standard. You map your ranged and melee attacks as well as potions and the like to your controller buttons as you hack your way to victory. If I had to compare the experience to any other game, I’d have to say it felt very much like DeathSpank… except without the funny. Quite frankly, if you like hack n slash RPG’s and you have friends – Daggerdale is easy to recommend.

Yar is Back. This Ain't Your Atari 2600.

Last, but most certainly not least is Yar’s Revege

Now, you may remember Yar’s Revenge as an original Atari 2600 game and oh man… it was sweet:

Oh yeah – those were the days. Anyhow, Yar’s Revenge hasn’t just been rebooted, it’s been completely re-imagined. It’s now a futuristic on-rails shooter that features anime-style artwork and narrative. The action is fast paced and the environments will make your head spin as you fly around the screen taking out waves of baddies and try to rack up points and power-ups. Check out these videos that discuss the game’s design and also show some gameplay:

As I played through one frantic, twisting level of Yar’s I noticed the game had a very Sin and Punishment / Panzer Dragoon feel – and that’s a good thing. Also, the difficulty is definitely there for you hardcore on-rails pros. I played on easy and still had my ass handed to me, even with a 96x combo multiplier and tons of powerups as I soared through space.

Out of all three of these games that I played, not only was Yar’s Revenge the biggest surprise, it was also my favorite. While Sanctum of Slime is likely to get the most attention this Spring – don’t be surprised if Yar’s Revenge becomes a cult hit.

All of these upcoming titles are priced just right at 800MSP / $9.99 and you really can’t go wrong adding any of them to your downloadable collection on PC, XBLA or PSN.

Look for more information and release dates as Spring approaches.

Well played Atari … well played.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 Nabs Top Spot on UK Chart

Sam Naylor — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 11:36:58 +0000

Test Drive Unlimited 2 has beaten Dead Space 2 to the top of the UK chart this week, making a successful debut.

After just a week on sale Test Drive Unlimited 2 has nabbed the top spot from last week’s top entry Dead Space 2, with previous chart-topper LittleBigPlanet 2 dropping all the way to 10th place.

01. Test Drive Unlimited 2 (Namco Bandai)
02. Dead Space 2 (EA)
03. FIFA 11 (EA)
04. Call Of Duty: Black Ops (Activision)
05. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft)
06. Mario Vs Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem (Nintendo)
07. Just Dance 2 (Ubisoft)
08. Mario Sports Mix (Nintendo)
09. Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition (Take-Two)
10. LittleBigPlanet 2 (SCEE)

Mario Vs Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem has also made a strong appearance this week, climbing to 6th place.

Long Before the 3DS and NGP – Atari Almost Dominated the Handheld Gaming Market

Matthew Sims — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 20:10:36 +0000

Let’s take a trip back in time to the magical year of 1989 and all that it entailed; a simpler time when it was acceptable to wear hideous sweaters and video game magazine covers looked like bad fan art. Nintendo was riding high on the success of it’s NES system, and Atari was still reeling from a string of unsuccessful consoles and the public relations nightmare that was the Video Game Crash of 1983. Nintendo, for lack of a better phrase, cleaned up Atari’s mess by introducing the NES and instituting the “Nintendo Seal of Quality.” The seal, known as more of a joke today, was an instrumental part of regaining the public’s faith in good, quality video games.

Nintendo very much represented a “changing of the guard” in the game industry. Atari, the company that had dominated the game industry for a decade, was no longer at the forefront of gaming and had instead lost ground to the upstart NES and Nintendo. However, while the NES was winning over gamers everywhere, publisher Epyx was working on a handheld with the potential to change the industry.

“The Handy” as it was codenamed was technically impressive, but the company hadn’t the money to manufacture of distribute the device. Epyx eventually went belly up and “The Handy,” was shopped around to potential suitors. No one was biting, especially Nintendo, who was secretly prepping the Game Boy for a Holiday 1989 release and they certainly weren’t going to abandon their hardware for an untested machine from a failed publishing company.

Eventually, just when all seemed lost, Atari bought the rights to the machine, renamed it the “Lynx,” and contracted the machine’s creators to make games for the device. Atari felt a handheld was the perfect way to gain some market share, especially when the only competition at the time was Nintendo’s aging Game & Watch handhelds. To Atari this must have seemed like a slam dunk decision but little did Atari know that in a short time it would all change.

The Lynx Certainly Would Have Won a Handheld War Against This

The Lynx was a powerhouse of a handheld. It featured a backlit screen, ambidextrous controls, and vivid 16-bit graphics that, at the time, were not even standard on consoles. Nintendo’s Game Boy was pathetic in comparison to the Lynx, featuring only 8-bit graphics. The Lynx; however, had some drawbacks such as its massive size and short battery life. The handheld was very similar to Sega’s Game Gear, which would be released two years later and be even more technically impressive.

Atari’s Lynx retailed at $189, which was almost twice the price of the Gameboy, putting it firmly out of the reach of the teenage demographic. The Lynx was still was boasting strong initial sales numbers during the holiday season, but could not keep stores stocked with enough units to really make a push. Nintendo, of course, had no trouble supplying stores with enough Game Boy units and so many of the consumers who would have bought a Lynx ended up leaving their retailer with a Game Boy instead. Atari eventually managed to supply stores with enough units, but by then Nintendo had a firm grasp on the handheld industry and hasn’t let go since.

Of course, the holiday season wasn’t enough to break the Lynx; there were a few other contributing factors. For one, the Lynx had a distinctive lack of third party publishers on board. However; if Atari had managed to show strong numbers for the holiday season, it is likely that developers would have jumped aboard after the system had proven profitable. While all of the problems compounded to make a headache for Atari, the Lynx was crushed by one thing, Tetris. The Game Boy was shipping with Tetris as a pack-in title, and that addicting little title sold enough Game Boys to cement Nintendo as the King of Handhelds.

Tetris sold the Game Boy. Period.

The Lynx did re-launch in 1991 with a sleeker design and a $99 price tag, but by then Sega’s Game Gear had hit the market and with strong third party support it steamrolled the new Lynx. With the Lynx firmly in last place, Atari decided to abandon production in 1994 and instead focus on its new console, the “Atari Jaguar”. We all know how well that turned out.

The handheld gaming market, as it stands today, is dominated by Sony and Nintendo. Nintendo’s DS clearly won the last generation, but with the impressive Sony NGP and Nintendo 3DS both releasing this year, only time will tell who comes out on top this time. Who knows what could have been if Atari had managed to hit a home run with the Lynx . . . it may have changed the game industry as we know it today.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 Audi and Multiplayer Trailers

Garrett Hartman — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 18:07:34 +0000

Atari and Namco Bandai have released new gameplay trailers for Test Drive Unlimited 2. One trailer gives you a look at the different Audi cars available, while the other highlights Test Drive’s multiplayer.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 is scheduled for a February 11th PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 release.

Enjoy the trailer below:

NEW Witcher 2 Screens Are Magnificent, Obviously

Dave Oshry — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 00:38:14 +0000

CD Projekt has released some new screens from their highly anticipated sequel to 2007′s PC RPG of the Year. Long story short – they look good … real good.

The Witcher 2 Release Date Confirmed / Collector’s Edition Unveiled

Dave Oshry — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:08:59 +0000

The highly anticipated sequel to one of the best PC RPG’s of this generation has been dated and will be shipping with more collectibles than you can put on your shelf – literally.

Behold the press release – Collector’s edition details below:

The Witcher 2: launch date confirmed! More hot news on the title coming November 18th during CD Projekt conference!

The speculation comes to an end! CD Projekt RED today confirmed the release date of the one of the most-awaited RPG titles of 2011. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is targeted for release on May 17, 2011. Release dates in specific territories may vary, and will be confirmed closer to the date.

“We’ve decided to move the launch date back a few weeks to afford us more time to polish the game” – said Adam Badowski, project lead at CD Projekt RED. “Of course, we know that players would like to get the game as soon as possible, so we hope that they will forgive us! We strongly believe that the extra time spent polishing the title will be well worth the wait”.

There’s more hot news to come during CD Projekt’s autumn conference, which will take place on November 18. What news, you might ask? Most importantly, there will be more detailed information about the approaching worldwide launch of the title, as well as the Collector’s Edition of The Witcher 2. Moreover, CD Projekt RED will present pre-order information from all around the world.

And there won’t be a lack of controversial topics! The developers will explain their philosophy with regards to DRM implementation in their titles and they will let us know how it influenced the edition of the game.

The conference will be transmitted online both for media representatives and players. In order to get the online accreditation, all media representatives are asked to contact tom@thewitcher.com. The transmission itself will start for both journalists and gamers on November the 18th on 18:30 CET (09:30 PST) on http://www.thewitcher.com/ and facebook.com/thewitcher.

But that’s not all – Gamestop has already detailed the collectors edition and it looks as if it’s going to be well worth your hard earned coin:

Here’s the lowdown on the collector’s ed. – yes, that’s a replica of Geralt’s head:

- The Vernon Roche Commando Jacket, which is:
  - Available only in Collector’s Edition
  - Unique item, obtained through one of the early-on quests
  - Very valuable object, that when equipped noticeably boosts player’s sword-fighting abilities.
  - Customization-wise, one of the best jackets the player will be able to find throughout the game (especially for sword-related character build).
- Two Papercraft Figures + Bonus
- Cursed Coin and Pamphlet
Making-of DVD
Official Soundtrack
World Map
Art Book
Geralt Sculpture
Temerian Coin
Dice Set
3 Stickers
Playing Cards and Rulebook

Well, I’m sold – I think Dan Landis would be happy to hear this news as well – he gave The Witcher at 10/10 in our 2008 RipTen Review

Stay tuned to RipTen for more news on The Witcher 2 as we get closer to launch.

Atari Thinking About Rollercoaster Tycoon 4

Sam Naylor — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 14:41:08 +0000

Atari staff member “Zodiac” on the official forums has made a post making note of the fact that Atari are “thinking hard about the next Rollercoaster Tycoon game on PC.”

The post went as follows:

“We are thinking hard about the next Rollercoaster Tycoon game on PC. We have a question for you, our loyal fanbase. How ready are you for the next Rollercoaster Tycoon? In the years since the last version, what are the key features you’ve dreamed about for the next release? What would make you rush out, buy it, and keep playing it? We’d like to know!”

Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 came out in 2004, so it’s about time we saw another one. I expect what most casual fans of the series will want is a return to the superb form of the second game in the series.

Via PC Gamer

Test Drive Unlimited 2 Delayed to Early 2011

Sam Naylor — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:05:18 +0000

Atari and Eden Games have announced today that the much-anticipated millionaire simulator Test Drive Unlimited 2 will not be coming this year after all, but rather Q1 2011.

The Beta for the game has also been pushed back as a result of this- the new dates will be announced shortly. Plus, if you’ve already signed up, you’ll have access to ‘exclusive content’ in the final game.

Eden games cite the need for “a few extra months of polish” and making sure that they “deliver a robust and reliable online service from the day [they] go live.”

Pleasingly, the developer is noting that “TDU2 is a highly ambitious game and also very big. Since locking down the final features, some months ago, we have been busy getting the bugs out of the game, polishing all of the features to make the game as fun as possible.” It’s good to see more developers not just pushing out bad games and taking the time to make them better.

Of course, a new Call of Duty game is coming out this side of Christmas, and that’s tough competition.

New Test Drive Unlimited 2 Trailer Really is Unlimited

Bryce Wilson — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:26:51 +0000

The last Test Drive Unlimited game was big, I still haven’t driven half the island and I’ve had the game since launch. So this new game has got me even more anxious, simply because I will now have to drive down every damned street! The trailer shows off numerous environments from within the game, ranging from built up cityscapes, to beautiful forests and even an awesome looking beach front area.

As well as the driving aspect we get a glimpse at some of the new houses players can buy. I can only hope I can turn them into drug dens and ply my hideous trade all over the island, Scarface style. The game takes place over two islands named Oahu and Ibiza, and each island has been made nearly identical to their real life inspirations. Each island will feature a 24 hour weather cycle that will be based off of the current weather on the real islands, and all in all there is 3,000 kilometers of roads to drive, quite a mind boggling feat if you drive ‘em all!

Activision, As Described by the FedEx Guy

Chad Lakkis — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:18:20 +0000

Gamers and game journalists are always trying to stay on top of the current news and events that surround the games we love, but what about the rest of the world? When we speak of the difference between “hard core” and “casual,” just how big of a gap are we really talking?

Does the mechanic fixing our car know who Miyamoto is? Does the FedEx delivery guy know the difference between Band Hero and Rock Band?

Well, I recently (as in five minutes ago), got up to answer the buzzer. At my front door was none other than the FedEx delivery guy. Smiling, he handed me his electronic signature tablet, and proceeded to take a quick look at the package he was about to hand over while I signed. I handed the tablet back to him, and said “I’m going to guess that’s from Activision,” to which he responded:

“Oh, I remember Activision. They made Pitfall, for my Atari.”

Of course they did. Thought you guys would get a kick out of that.

Why You Couldn’t Find The Witcher 2 At E3 2010: A Video Walkthrough

Dave Oshry — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 20:11:47 +0000

Why are Tomasz Gop of CDProjekt and I giving you the stink eye? Because YOU couldn’t find his game at E3. And even if you did manage to find where the Witcher 2 was hiding, you needed press access and an appointment in order to see it.

Luckily for you, Ripten had both, and we’ve got an upcoming interview with Tomasz filled with all the details a true Witcher fan will want to have. Until then, enjoy my video walkthrough on how you could have found The Witcher 2 at E3 2010.

So is it just me, or did you expect Atari to have a bigger booth at E3? Especially with titles like Test Drive Unlimited 2 and The Witcher 2 to show off? I was at least expecting an open floor showing. However, I can’t say I minded being a part of the select group of people who got to experience the Witcher 2 up close and personal at E3 2010.

Were YOU disappointed? Were YOU one of the many fans who told us they wanted to see the Witcher 2 but simply couldn’t get access or couldn’t find the Atari booth? Sound off below!

Also, don’t forget to look for our upcoming interview with Tomasz right here at Ripten. GET SOME!!

The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings Official Debut Trailer

Dave Oshry — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 20:46:24 +0000

CD Projekt has officially announced The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. They will be holding a full press conference tomorrow and if you happen to speak their native language, you can view it here.

Adam Kiciński, CEO of CD Projekt RED studio said:

“I am really glad that we can officially present what we’ve been working on for the past two-and-a-half years,” said . We learned a lot during The Witcher’s development process, and we are using all of that knowledge to ensure the sequel is one of the best RPGs people have ever played. We’ve concentrated on improving the most successful parts of the Witcher, and I strongly believe that The Witcher 2 will be loved both by fans of the original and newcomers. We know that we aimed very high while producing The WItcher 1. Now we are aiming even higher with The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.”

They also announced distribution agreements, with Atari Inc. being the distributor for the game in the states. I cannot wait for this, I may have to freeze myself Eric Cartman style until this comes out. My god. Debut trailer below.