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Preview: The Grinder
It only took me a few minutes into my E3 appointment with High Voltage Software -- a company I am admittedly not too familiar with -- to understand the inspirations behind the PS3 and 360 versions of the studio's upcoming project, The Grinder. I didn't pay too much attention to the game when it was announced as a first-person shooter for the Wii. Imagine my surprise when I learned that, on the other two platforms, it's actually a current-gen iteration of one of my favorite games from the generation past -- one I spent countless nights during my high school career playing with three friends, occasionally from start to finish in a single, rapturous sitting. "You know what game this really reminds me of," I stated to the game's on-hand developers. "Hunter: The Reckoning." "Yeah," one of them replied, "we made that game." "Oh? Awesome."
Said@E3: On Babies and Grenades
Our hands-on preview of High Voltage Games' The Grinder brought about a fairly surreal statement on our part. A brief explanation: Players pick up a number of throwable secondary weapons, including your basic frag grenades, as well as weirder fare, such as baby dolls which monsters will swarm on when dropped. Of course, once we'd grabbed a number of these pickups, a completely logical question came to mind: "What's the button to switch between babies and grenades?" (A pause.) "By the way, that was the most ridiculous thing I've ever said."
High Voltage Studios reveals The Grinder to be multiplatform
Speaking exclusively with IGN, The Conduit developer High Voltage Studios has revealed its upcoming game The Grinder to be heading to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, as well as the Nintendo Wii. Previously announced as another of HVS' exclusive games for the Wii aimed at teh hardcorez, the game will now end up on every console, which "allows us [High Voltage] to show off what our company can really do and get it into the hands of the most gamers." While we're inclined to argue that most gamers' hands are in possession of a Wiimote and Nunchuk (at least that's what the numbers tell us), moving to the other consoles is a fairly understandable choice given the relatively low sales of HVS' previous Wiisclusive title. "We are extremely proud of the sales for The Conduit, with over 350,000 copies sold, numerous 'best-of 2009' nods, and over a million hours played according to the Nintendo Channel," noted CEO Kerry Ganofsky. From the interview, it appears that the studio's proprietary game engine ("Quantum 3") will also be heading to the other consoles. Does that mean a Conduit port to the 360 and PS3 is in the cards? Hopefully we'll find out when we next see HVS at the Game Developer's Conference this March. In the meantime, we've embedded a new trailer after the break.
E3 2009 highlights: The Nintendo roundup
Nintendo E3 2009 checklist: Mario? *check* Zelda? *check* Metroid? *check* Are we missing something? Head past the break to find out!
Impressions: The Grinder (Wii)
The Grinder is the first of the two new Wii projects from High Voltage that were revealed just prior to E3, and we got to check it out at the company's booth. It's a game that takes the cheesy grindhouse pictures of old and converts them into an FPS experience. The result is a game full of frenetic monsters and tension.
High Voltage announces another new Wii game: 'The Grinder'
The Conduit developer High Voltage Software has announced another new Wii game, and, like Gladiator A.D., it's a brutally violent game designed to attract the bloodthirsty "hardcore gamer." The Grinder is an online co-op FPS starring "a sort of the cryptobiological A-Team," in the words of High Voltage's Eric Nofsinger, who goes on to refer to "a team of freelance hunters that ruthlessly exterminate savage armies of bloodthirsty monsters."The FPS shows a clear (and acknowledged) Left 4 Dead influence, with each member of the team different in skills and personality. The game differs from L4D in that instead of just zombies, your team fights werewolves, vampires and all manner of other mythical shootables.
