Max Payne was a movie that came from a video game. It kind of reminded me of the darkness and revenge of original The Crow with Brandon Lee.

The Happening carried on with M. Night Shyamalan freakiness in storyline, but the acting was just okay. In my opinion the premise of the movie was a bit far-fetched, but the visual impact of the story line was quite disturbing.

Mark has had quite a productive career in Hollywood since dropping his pants and singing in his Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch musical career. I prefer his work in movies far higher over his musical endeavors.

From my perspective some of Mark Wahlberg’s best movies were the following:

• The Italian Job
• Invincible
• Shooter
• The Departed
• The Perfect Storm

What did you think about Max Payne and The Happening? Which one of Mark’s movies was your favorite? Let us know in the comments.

Post from: EveryJoe

Mark Wahlberg Movie Reviews

There’s a new preview for Gears of War 2 over at 1UP, and it tackles the sequel’s single-player campaign. It’s interesting to see that the next installment presents some new sequences that break up the familiar cover-oriented gameplay the series is known for.

Don’t forget to mark November 7 on your calendars. That’s when Xbox 360 owners are getting Gears of War 2, and it’s arguably the console’s best game for 2008. We can’t wait to play it.

Post from: EveryJoe

1UP previews Gears of War 2

It pays to look past the hype. Take Dead Space, EA’s upcoming survival-horror shooter, for example. The game has been publicized lately by “news” of being banned in several countries. If you take it against the game, there’s a chance you might tune out everything about Dead Space, including this interesting new video preview.

What is most fascinating about the video is the bit about “strategic dismemberment,” which causes the decapitation of body parts. As a result, headshots aren’t always the best course of action in Dead Space because it would just cause the removed limbs to transform into smaller monsters that waste precious ammunition.

Another interesting tidbit: Dead Space seems to have a potential to be a gun porn sort of game, thanks to the option of tricking out weapons. Of course, this would still depend on the number of firearms available. If it would rival Metal Gear Solid 4, then gun porn this game is.

Dead Space is set to come out on October 14 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and would be released for the PC on October 20. Just a tip: stay away from the Windows version. If you know how EA works, then you’re probably aware that its PC games have been using SecuROM, a form of DRM that limits the number of times a customer is allowed to activate a copy of the game. The limit is usually at three, and is currently the bane of Mass Effect PC owners–present company included.

Post from: EveryJoe

Dead Space requires unlearning of headshots

Speaking of Resident Evil 5, a new trailer for the survival-horror game was recently released and it’s looking mighty fine. The new Resident Evil is looking more and more “deliberately-paced shooter” than “scary action adventure game.” Want proof? Watch the trailer after the jump.

See those nasty machine-gun-on-rails sequences? Chris Redfield and his partner may still move like a tank, but the series truly has evolved since its first installment a dozen years ago. Cooperative online mode? Check. Badass guns? Check.

While all these changes are welcome and have given the franchise an even wider appeal, I just hope there won’t ever be a point that Resident Evil 32 would come with rocket jumping or bunny hopping.

Image is taken by FPS Rantings. Resident Evil 5 is being developed and published by Capcom.

Post from: EveryJoe

Resident Evil 5 is turning into a shooter

Some of the questions were quite specific (i.e. zooming, difference between the PK470 and G2A2 assault rifles, medpacks versus regeneration), but the query that got my attention was if players can use Alma in multiplayer.

Sadly, you can’t use Alma in the core game. However, Mulkey said it’s a great idea for a mod.

One question I did want to ask is if John Mulkey and Valve’s Gabe Newell are long-lost brothers. Coincidentally, both work in the games industry, and are developers of first-person shooters.

Post from: EveryJoe

Project Origin community asks Monolith some questions

We finally had our “told-you-so” moment when Bioshock was confirmed for the PlayStation 3. Now that it’s out of the way, we’ll tell you when it’s coming out. According to a 2K Games press release, Bioshock for the PS3 will be available in October 2008.

The press release also mentioned that there will be new content included in the PS3 release. However, there were no other details revealed. I guess it’s safe to say that the DLC that 2K Games released sometime last December ’07 would be included. Question is—would there be more?

Image of Bioshock is courtesy of 2K Games.

Post from: EveryJoe

Bioshock PS3 release date revealed

Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay is just one of the many games in my backlog list. I recently resumed my adventure in the PC shooter recently and got snagged with a particularly tricky boss fight. I love every moment of it, but I’m still clueless as to how this foe can be taken down.

I’m supposed to make my way to the spaceport hangar and meet up with a certain character, but a huge armored guard is in my way. This isn’t your typical armored suit, however. If you’ve played Chronicles of Riddick, then you probably know how to take one of the “regular” armored suits down. All you have to do is use either a couple of grenades or a minigun to pierce through the shell.

This bigger enemy is resistant to both grenades and miniguns. There are several shotgun shells that can be picked up in the area, but they don’t seem to work. I’ve tried distracting the enemy and shoot the armor’s back, but to no avail.

As of this writing, I have no idea how to defeat this behemoth. If you do know how, you’re welcome to laugh at my inability to beat this stage boss all you want, but please keep off the spoilers.

Image: FPS Rantings

Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Baywas developed by Starbreeze Studios and Tigon Studios, and is published by Vivendi Universal Games.

Post from: EveryJoe

Stumped: Armored boss gives Riddick a tough time

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the last game that garnered a 10 in GameSpot was 1998’s Ocarina of Time. It took almost one decade for the industry to produce something of the same magnitude.

Are you excited about GTA IV? I sure am.

Forget about the hype that Rockstar has been bombarding us, forget about the delays that we gamers have endured for GTA IV, and just think of what this game means to the average shooter fan. Remember how terrible the previous GTA games’ shooting mechanics were, and how it caused so many unnecessary deaths? You probably thought at one time or another that the 3D GTAs weren’t really that good when you think about it. The games were probably great as a whole but the gunplay, which was a huge chunk of the experience, wasn’t satisfying at all.

Frankly, I was never more excited about GTA IV until I started getting details about the gunplay in the slew of almost-perfect reviews. Consider that dedicated shooters look great and play great since the focus of the entire game is just that–shooting. What makes GTA IV remarkable is that it’s as pretty as any of the current “next-gen” shooters out there, its shooting/cover mechanics are as engaging, and that there’s still much more to the game other than the shooting.

There’s also the sandbox-style open city, the action-packed car driving (that is combined with the shooting) and vehicular combat, the extremely-deep multiplayer, the myriad of things to do, the insane amount of detail, and the usual great writing, among others. And you know what? Since I haven’t laid my hands on GTA IV, I’m sure there are a lot more I’ve failed to mention.

GTA IV sure looks like a shooter fan’s utopia. Rest assured that Liberty City would look like Swiss cheese when I’m done with it.

Post from: EveryJoe

GTA IV is a shooter fan’s utopia

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is no stranger to controversy. Perhaps what would be remembered most about the third-person shooter is the chaos that it caused at GameSpot late last year. Then-executive editor Jeff Gerstmann came out with a very negative review of the game, which ended up being edited and its video review pulled out.

That’s not the worst part. Gerstmann was terminated from the popular video game site, causing rumors of pressure from Eidos, Kane & Lynch’s publisher, to have the journalist terminated. If that wasn’t enough, GameSpot’s reputation was tarnished, employee morale hit rock bottom, and several editors resigned from their posts.

Everything that happened would always be remembered as ‘Gerstmanngate.’ All that caused by one game.

Whether the speculations were true or not, one thing is for certain: Kane & Lynch is really a bad game. It’s so bad that there are only a couple of good things going for it, while the rest is a laundry list of negatives.

Bright spots
Multiplayer is one of the bright spots that keep Kane & Lynch from slipping into firewood material. You and seven other players team up for a heist and fight AI-controlled cops. The loot is normally divided equally among players but if one suddenly decides to keep it all himself and shoots a teammate, things start getting really interesting.

Like any good thing in Kane & Lynch, there’s always a hitch: you always get to see the names of other players and cops. It means there’s no such thing as surprise when playing multiplayer, so the fun goes down the drain fairly quickly.

There have been complaints regarding the game’s shooting mechanics, but it’s really just a matter of getting used to each firearm’s nuances. In fact, it’s possible to gun down distant opponents with unwieldy rifles if one knows how to take advantage of a weapon’s quirks. The favorable aspect of Kane & Lynch’s gunplay is its smoothness when aiming, even with the sensitivity turned all the way up. This sensitivity issue becomes a problem with other games because their targeting cursor starts skipping all over the place. Not so with Kane & Lynch.

The third and last strong point: The levels are quite inventive in their own right. One takes place in a Tokyo nightclub full of people, the other pits players against a huge truck, another is an escort mission where a character must be provided with sniper cover, and perhaps the grandest is a full-scale war in Havana, Cuba. There are a good variety of levels in Kane & Lynch that could keep players from quitting altogether, at least until another irritation would cause people to think twice.

How not to design games
Beyond these benefits, everything else is a lesson in “how not to design games”: the characters are despicable; the cover mechanics kick in automatically but is very erratic; the camera has a tendency to act up; story sequences can’t always be skipped; teammates and enemies are downright stupid; visuals are inexplicably choppy at certain points, among others.

Parts of Kane & Lynch may keep you hanging on but in the end, the bad would eventually outweigh the flashes of brilliance. There’s also an awful aftertaste thrown in so it’s best that people stay away from the game altogether (you’ll understand this when you finish the game). There’s nothing here that would keep you from playing Call of Duty 4 or smack your lips in anticipation of Grand Theft Auto IV. Rent Kane & Lynch at your own risk.

Image of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is courtesy of Eidos, IO Interactive, and Kazoo.

Post from: EveryJoe

Kane & Lynch leaves a bad aftertaste

Here’s something that could slip by your radar: Eidos said it will release four new downloadable maps for the Fragile Alliance multiplayer in Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. Like anything I enjoy downloading, the DLC will be free on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. Strangely, there was no mention if the free goodies would be available for the PC.

The maps will be released in one pack entitled “The Dope Bag.” The press release gave a brief description of each map:

Take on local dope dealers and the Russian mafia at a construction site in “Clean Cut,” clash with the Yakuza in Tokyo in “Hooker’s Trail,” raid a drug baron’s mansion in a Venezuelan jungle in “Flying High” and ambush General Fuentes’ military convoy in the streets of Havana to steal the gold hidden in his vehicles in “Hasta La Vista.”

Up to eight players can team up in Kane & Lynch’s multiplayer against police or various enemies in a series of heist scenarios. The objective is to steal the bounty and make it to a getaway point. The winner is the player who escapes with the most loot.

If you recall ex-GameSpot editor Jeff Gerstmann’s video review, Kane & Lynch’s multiplayer is the “neatest” idea the game has to offer. This DLC would hopefully make up for the single player element’s sorry state.

When is this DLC coming out? You won’t have to wait long. “The Dope Bag” is set for release on April 17th.

All images of The Dope Bag DLC for Kane & Lynch: Dead Men are courtesy of IO Interactive and Eidos Ltd.

Post from: EveryJoe

Kane & Lynch gets free DLC