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Inversion gameplay trailer flips dudes all over the place
Inception called and it totally wants its BWAAAAAHM back.
Inversion multiplayer preview: Grab a Gravlink and go
Sometimes an otherwise-uninteresting looking game has a few tricks up its sleeve. Just about all of Inversion smacks of mediocrity -- its generic storyline (aliens invade Earth!), derivative gameplay (maybe you've played Gears of War?) and unoriginal multiplayer modes (two different kinds of deathmatch!) are all a big turn-off at first glance. But Inversion has one thing going for it: the Gravlink. It's a device that enables the core mechanic of the game, gravity manipulation. By firing off a red or blue beam, you can increase or decrease the gravity of an area or object. It's one-time use, however you can pick up little energy boosters around the environment that allow you to use it more than once. When I became comfortable with the Gravlink, I found myself having some fun with Inversion. %Gallery-133111%
Inversion's gravity gameplay explained in trailer
Inversion's grav link allows you to inflict low gravity around enemies, lifting those meatsacks for easy targeting, and then high gravity to smush 'em with environmental objects. But the real stomach drop happens with the perspective-altering "vector shifts." Wait at least 30 minutes after eating before play.%Gallery-130923%
Inversion trailer shows off buddy co-op
My buddy. My buddy. Wherever I go, he goes. I'll teach him to flip gravity like I know. My buddy and me like to climb up a tree. My buddy and me, we're the best friends we could be. My buddy and meee!
Inversion preview: New perspectives on an old game
The gimmick in Saber Interactive's Inversion -- combat across multiple planes -- isn't quite enough to carry the lackluster shooting. Like Dark Void, Fracture, and Timeshift before it, Inversion relies heavily on its unique twist to set it apart from other shooters, while leaving the central mechanic unpolished. As the perspective flipped repeatedly throughout the demo, I was distracted how similar the game's set of flimsy guns felt. Sure, baddies stick to walls in completely separate gravity planes (turning firefights into more than just what's directly in front of you), but shouldn't shooting at them be more fun?%Gallery-126047%
'Halo Anniversary has Kinect integration,' says Microsoft Studios' chief
When Microsoft registered KinectHalo.com, we all imagined an intense cardio jumping routine punctuated by occasional cries of "Energy sword ON!" While we hope that prototype still exists somewhere in Redmond, it seems like Kinect functionality in Halo won't be as intrusive as we imagined. Microsoft Studios boss Phil Spencer told GameSpot, "As a first party we believe that Kinect will be important to all genres of games [...] even games like Halo Anniversary has [sic] Kinect integration." Of course, this is the same Halo Anniversary that we first broke news of way back in February, and previewed at E3 this month. Notably, Kinect functionality was never mentioned (or showed) leaving us to speculate on what kind of integration the update has. With games like Forza Motorsport 4, Ghost Recon Future Soldier, and Mass Effect 3 going for a "Better with Kinect" strategy, that's as likely a scenario as any. And it's also the kind of non-intrusive, level-headed implementation we were worried they'd settle for. [Update 2:15pm – Halo Waypoint forum admin 'bs angel' had this to say about Halo Anniversary's Kinect integration: "Just to let everybody know, the Kinect features we're exploring with Halo: Anniversary are optional and won't affect your core gameplay experience. Our mission, from day one, has been to deliver a faithful recreation of the original game, and we remain dedicated to seeing that through to completion." Sounds like "Better with Kinect," right? Called it!] [Image credit: 'LaughPong']
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary preview: Combat revolved
We knew it was coming. We've known it was coming for a long time. So, what's the skinny? What's the story behind the Halo remake, now titled Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary? As it turns out, it's the same game we all played back in 2001. I don't mean that figuratively. The same engine that powered the first Halo is literally still thrumming underneath Anniversary. %Gallery-125553%
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary vs Halo: Combat Evolved: FIGHT!
You've seen Halo: Combat Evolved. You've seen Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. But have you seen the two compared side-by-side? We've got you covered! As seen above and in the gallery below, the remastered version of the original Halo has seen some pretty enormous updates. Check out that lighting!
Battle: Los Angeles becomes a downloadable FPS for PS3, Xbox and PC
Sony Pictures' upcoming Battle: Los Angeles movie is pretty much a video game. Aliens attack L.A. and the American military swoops in to defend it. It sounds like most every other military sci-fi shooter ever made, which is why "Konami jumped at the opportunity to team up with Columbia Pictures and publish the Battle: Los Angeles video game," says Konami Digital's Careen Yapp. The downloadable tie-in will "mirror" the story of the feature film. According to Konami's press release, you'll assume the role of a Marine, shooting aliens with an "arsenal of weapons" -- meaning, your standard issue "assault rifle, sniper rifle, rocket launcher, frag grenades, and a turret gun." TimeShift developer Sabre Interactive is working on the title, which will be released next month on PSN, XBLA and digital PC retailers like Steam. It's gotta be better than the Flash game (pictured above), right?%Gallery-118418%
Battle: Los Angeles game being made by Saber Interactive, ratings board suggests
It seems that upcoming alien invasion flick Battle: Los Angeles is receiving a tie-in game. According to Australia's classification website, a Battle: Los Angeles game is being developed by Saber Interactive, the studio behind TimeShift, Inversion, and an unannounced Halo: Combat Evolved remake. The movie's imminent release this March, coupled with the surprising absence of an early announcement, means a Battle: Los Angeles game is unlikely to be a regular retail release. We're currently following up with Saber and publisher Konami for more details.
Inversion preview: War of gravity
In late 2009, Namco Bandai announced a gravity-manipulation FPS from TimeShift developer Saber Interactive. It was to be called Inversion, and it went completely MIA following the announcement. So imagine my surprise when the publisher premiered the first footage of the game this week at its Ignite 2011 event, and then topped that with a hands-on demo. Inversion's premise remains unchanged all these mysterious months later (even if you don't remember it -- I sure didn't): Ex-cop Davis Russel fights an invading army of aliens -- the "Lutadores" -- with an awesome, gravity-altering gizmo called the Gravlink. In its most powerful state, this device allows players to manipulate objects and enemies as if they were in zero-gravity space: Shoot a car with the Gravlink and it'll float up into the air, at which point the player can lasso the vehicle (still using the Gravlink) and employ it as mobile cover, or simply toss it as an offensive projectile. The shortcoming of the short demo I played, though, is that it didn't feature access to the full capabilities of the Gravlink, as I'd seen in the pre-demo footage. In the demo, I was only able to toy with smaller objects, like traffic cones and random boxes. Without full access to the Gravlink, the game mostly plays like a straight-up cover-based shooter -- a competent albeit uninspired experience that's highly reminiscent of Gears of War. %Gallery-115714%
Inversion flips out on February 7, 2012
Saber Interactive's sci-fi shooter, Inversion, was announced back in 2009 and was scheduled to arrive in late 2010 -- and it's still in development. Publisher Namco Bandai has announced today that the game is currently pegged for a February 7, 2012 launch on Xbox 360 and PS3. Inversion allows you to create isolated zero-gravity fields, forcing objects caught inside to defy nature's laws and provide some cover against enemy fire. You can read our preview of the game later today -- in the meantime, you can check out a new teaser trailer just above below the break. %Gallery-115714%
Halo: Combat Evolved remake coming this holiday
Joystiq has learned that the previously rumored remake of Halo: Combat Evolved will indeed launch this holiday season for Xbox 360 with a full visual overhaul. Sources explain that the re-release is not Bungie's 2001 Xbox game simply running at a higher resolution -- it's being remade with new art assets. While Halo's audio will likely remain unaltered, the controls will allow for more recent Halo configurations. The Halo: Combat Evolved remake is allegedly being developed by New Jersey-based Saber Interactive, the company behind TimeShift and Namco's upcoming Inversion, but we've been unable to confirm the nature of the engine powering it. We understand that it's something other than the Reach engine. The Halo: Combat Evolved update, one of two Halo games currently in development under the watchful eye of 343 Industries, is expected to support 1080p resolution and 3D televisions. Details on multiplayer are supposedly still being worked out, but we understand the remake will likely feature online co-op (the original game supported two-player split-screen co-op). The game is expected to re-evolve on November 15, 2011, ten years after Halo: Combat Evolved launched alongside the Xbox. Our sources didn't know of any plans to similarly upgrade the recently disconnected Halo 2, but it's hard to imagine Microsoft playing favorites with its biggest franchise.
Namco Bandai introduces gravity-flipping shooter Inversion
click to fall up into our galleryNamco Bandai and TimeShift developer Saber Interactive hope you'll flip for their new shooter Inversion. Because it literally features the ability to reverse gravity.The third-person shooter takes place during an invasion by the alien luchadores Lutadore, which happens to coincide with the appearance of random "bubbles" of anti-gravity or gravitational vector change (just go with it). That means that at various times throughout the game, you'll enter an area and start floating, or be flipped over as the ceiling suddenly becomes the floor.The player, as cop Davis Russel or, uh, cop's neighbor Leo Delgado, is armed with a Grappler weapon that allows the manipulation of gravity to move giant objects around. This permits the player to move enemies' cover or make their own out of items in the environment. Or to just throw stuff.Inversion will ship sometime in 2010 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.%Gallery-75993%
TimeShift dev taps Havok for 'several' upcoming games
Developer Saber Interactive has been keeping to itself since its time-bending shooter, TimeShift, first bored critics in 2007. Employees have been spending their hours competing in weekly dance-offs doing the Time Warp, a heated competition that'll likely be put on hold now that the company has a new game to work on. Make that games -- plural -- as middleware firm Havok announced that its Havok Destruction tech is now in the hands of the company for use in "several" upcoming games.While no games have been announced, Saber Interactive teases that Havok Destruction will help bring "a new scale and complexity to the fully destructible city" in its next title, including the ability to punch holes through walls. In addition, the developer notes that the software allowed it to realize "large-scale destruction sequences" and reduce costs, with the outfit's budget for interactive assets dropping by 40 percent or more as a result of the Havok license. Exploding barrels, is there anything you can't do?
Free TimeShift DLC shifts to not free
Remember that free TimeShift DLC that dropped earlier this week? We hope you snapped it up quick, because it looks like it wasn't supposed to be free. It seems some Xbox Live Marketplace ninjas have infiltrated Microsoft HQ and changed the price of "Urban Redual" to 800 MS Points. The other piece of DLC "Futures-Past," however, remains free. We're not quite sure what happened, but it's clear that there was a mix-up somewhere. Whether or not time powers were involved has yet to be confirmed. Whether or not "takesies-backsies" was declared is also unconfirmed at this time.
TimeShift multiplayer demo now on XBLM
If you weren't sold by the previous demo of TimeShift, you may want to check out the new demo available on Xbox Live Marketplace. The new demo includes the same single player section from the previous demo, but the real meat is the addition of multiplayer. Several game modes are available, though we were unable to find a game when we tried earlier today. If you've got the hardware, system link is available, too. If you haven't tried TimeShift, you may want to give it a go, as the time control elements are also a part of its multiplayer. Then again, maybe you're too busy playing Assassin's Creed.
New shifty TimeShift multiplayer deets
IGN recently took a moment to talk to Kyle Peschel, lead producer of TimeShift, the upcoming time-bending shooter from Saber Interactive and Vivendi. The focus of multiplayer, according to Peschel, is customization. Players will be able to create and name their own special game modes, which they can save for later use. Several aspects of the game, from damage ratios to gravity to run speed, will all be adjustable by players. As Peschel put it, players can design a gametype just to "instantly offset their buddy who comes over who is nothing but a spawn camping whore." Sounds good to us. On time manipulation in multiplayer, Peschel doesn't go into details, but notes that time powers won't work exactly as they do in single player, as it's hardly fair for one player to freeze and entire field of players and wreak havoc. Hopefully we'll hear some more specifics on multiplayer time control soon.
TimeShift multiplayer: name your own mode
Shooting stuff in slow motion isn't as original as it was way back in Max Payne days. That's why TimeShift is making that now "meh" function the focus of its gameplay, promising to breathe new life into time altering mechanics. We gave you a pretty comprehensive look at the game a while back, but we skipped over the multiplayer details. Now we have them, so we'll give them to you. Customization: you can create and name your own play modes, so if you want a no-gravity knife match, you can call it "Space Shiv" or something. The customization also presents ways to level the playing field. Sorry, "spawn camping whores," but you won't get kills that way in this game. Implementing time mechanics is still shaky, but it'll play like some kind of rock-paper-scissors. Using "slow" should trump "reverse" while reverse trumps "stop" ... full circle, "stop" trumps "slow." So it's Reverse -> Stop -> Slow -> Reverse. At this point in time, at least. It's not much detail yet, but from the excitement the dev team over at Saber Interactive, they believe in it strongly. It might be the most customizable multiplayer shooter ever. We'll see!
Everything you want to know about TimeShift
If you're unfamiliar with TimeShift's development life, you should know it was originally slated as an Xbox and PC title. Original, fatty black n' green Xbox, we mean. It got stuck in development hell for reasons only the developers truly knew, but we now realize what was wrong. Saber Interactive was waiting. Waiting for the next-gen consoles, because what they wanted to do wasn't possible on old hardware. Forget about the full visual makeover it received, we're going to tell you some more detailed information about the game itself.The old story, recorded dialogue with Dennis Quaid and Michael Ironside included, has been scrapped. Gone is the tragic war veteran who lost his daughter and replacing him is you, the player. Taking on a classic RPG style of unnamed protagonist, you're just a player in the war game, so to speak. If you were a silent protagonist, that'd be awesome, but unlikely. Regardless, you travel to an alternate timeline and take on an army of warriors protecting the man who changed the flow of time to make himself leader of all things gritty, dark, and somber.A new time-control scheme lies in your suit, dubbed S.S.A.M. and given a female persona. One button controls the ability to stop, slow, or rewind time, depending on which would be most beneficial in a given situation. Using these in the levels would be nice, but the first four completed levels were completely scrapped, replaced by gigantic new ones, each with a specific purpose to advance the story. There's plenty more to discuss, like the enhanced AI, puzzle-solving opportunities and other gameplay gimmicks, but we'll stop here and let you check the rest out on your own. Shooters have to try harder to differentiate themselves from one another and this game is trying harder than most.
