Grave Gamer News & Views — deep silver

New Dead Island 2 Screens

Caving in zombie heads is why mankind created video games. The creator of Pong was said to have imagined the little pixelated dot darting across the screen as an undead severed head*. Virtual zombie killin’ is ingrained to gamer culture. That and killin’ virtual Nazis. And sometimes zombie Nazis (they’re like the Reeses’ cups of video game cannon fodder).

*May not be a genuine fact.

Dead Island 2 Gets Itself a Gameplay Reveal

They say that no man is an island. Well, neither is Hollywood, California. But, hey, branding. Whatever. The real point is that the hacking, bashing, breaking, and bloodletting that made the unevenly enjoyable Dead Island a cult hit is back for seconds.

Since series originators Techland are off bending the concept of open-world zombie survival in Dying...

Escape Dead Island Announced; A Tropical Adventure Game Spiced Up with Madness and the Undead

Publisher Deep SIlver is not about to let the zombie infested gravy train that is Dead Island ride away into the sunset without taking a bite…out of…zombie gravy… All right, I don’t have a degree in metaphors. Screw it.

What I’m saying is Deep Silver is making a shitload of Dead Islands. From dipping into the MOBA genre with Dead Island: Epidemic to barreling at next-gen with Dead Island 2, it’s a lttle eye-widening to hear that a third release is imminent, heading for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 this Fall. With this horde of the digital dead shuffling after our wallets, it’s a fortunate thing for Deep Silver that Escape Dead Island looks so promising.

Forgoing the Action-RPG setup of the original Dead Island (which was heavier on the action than the RPG), Escape is actually a third-person adventure game where you have to mix up stealth maneuvering and advantages in the environment to bust some undead skull.

More mindful of story in this single-player narrative, you’ll control Cliff Calo, an investigator sent this doomed chain of islands to figure out why the locals are bitier than usual. Cliff’s noticeable shortcoming as an intrepid photojournalist would have to be his loose grip on reality. Throughout the game, you’ll hallucinate outlandish sights that even reshape the environment – or outright kill you, thus pushing you through a “time loop” to before you went all Hunter S. Thompson.

The result makes Escape Dead Island seem like a combination of Far Cry 3’s dream sequences with a Darksiders-ish adventure game where your surroundings play into gameplay much more than just scenery. Sure, they might be flogging the zombie horse cranking out these Dead Island titles. But they at least show the same imagination and promise Escape does, I say ride that undead gravy train of horse flogging.

Escape to Dead Island in This Escape Dead Island Trailer!

Aliens, Superpowers, and Dildo-Charged Chaos – Saints Row IV Must’ve Been Announced Today

Before THQ sank to the bottom of the sea, as all companies do when they file for bankruptcy, the troubled publisher’s last captain in charge, Jason Rubin, felt it was time for Volition’s Saints Row property to grow up.  “I look at that title and I say, ‘Who cares what it is and why it got to be what it is?’ From that team we can make something that isn’t embarrassing.”

Gears of War’s co-creator, Cliff Bleszinski, echoed similar sentiments, musing that Volition’s open world crime series could go toe-to-toe with GTA if only the games would ditch the dildos for a mature tone.  “[Battlefield] didn’t go after [Call of Duty] by putting dicks on their guns…It doesn’t help industry perceptions.”

In just over a minute, Saints Row IV’s trailer proves Volition doesn’t give a high-flying shit about “industry perceptions,” and bless them for it.

The Third Street Saints have moved up from lowly gangsters, shirked their suited mafioso ways, and have evolved into the ultimate thugs – high ranking politicians.  As soon as their leader is inaugurated as our nation’s President, things take a wide turn for the insane in hallmark Saints fashion.  An alien invasion (you read that right) traps the Saints in a simulated version of their old haunts, Steelport, and in retaliation, you’ll get to harness their technology, going as far to even imbue yourself with superpowers like flight and a freeze ability to smash their interstellar faces in.

It’s all just…fucking lunacy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.  The gaming world doesn’t need another serious-faced GTA imitator; the world needs the Saints.  New publisher, Deep Silver, thankfully supports Volition’s applied madness, and letting them go nuts on the concept will surely lead to more immaturity, more embarrassment, and – most importantly – more fun.

Saints Row IV releases for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on August 20th.

The Dissolution of THQ: New Publishers Pick Up the Fallen Company’s Assets

The battle was hard fought and long drawn out, but the once mighty publishing house that was THQ has succumbed to bankruptcy.

Despite last ditch efforts to keep themselves above the red line – like putting Naughty Dog co-founder, Jason Rubin, at the head of the company (though, how far could you really go with a man that openly found Saints Row embarrassing?) – THQ folded, with an auction held yesterday for prospective buyers looking to grow their own catalogs by acquiring the former publisher’s assortment of development studios and IP’s.

Bear in mind that the dust has yet to have settled, so most of these acquisitions won’t receive the stamp of approval/blood-signature until the U.S. bankruptcy  court has a say…That being said, the following is a list of notable transactions that took place yesterday:

• Crytek now owns the Homefront brand.  Crytek UK (Timesplitters as Free Radical) has been working on Homefront 2, so it’s a convenient buy.
• Koch Media purchased Saints Row developer, Volition, Inc., as well as publishing rights to the Metro series.  You may be more familiar with Koch’s subsidiary and publisher, Deep Silver (Call of Juarez, Dead Island).  Deep Silver has been tasked with overseeing all development and publishing duties surrounding both franchises with impending news on the way.
• Sega has scored RTS experts, Relic Entertainment (Company of Heroes, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War), beating out ZeniMax (Bethesda’s parent) for the studio.  The recently announced Company of Heroes 2 is still on track for release.
• Take-Two – parent to Rockstar and 2K Games – bought up the unrevealed shooter tentatively dubbed Evolve, developed by Turtle Rock Studios (best known for their work on Counter-Strike and Left 4 Dead with Valve); Take-Two evidently outbid Turtle Rock for their own game.  In another big win, Take-Two negotiated outside of the auction for the WWE video game license, effectively ending THQ’s long established choke-hold on the property.
• Ubisoft is now set to publish Obsidian’s foul mouthed homage to the old school RPG, South Park: The Stick of Truth.  THQ Montreal was also bid on and bought; the studio’s staff will be dispersed among Ubisoft’s existing dev teams.

Among the assets not already sold off sits Vigil Games and their Darksiders property, just two games young into the franchise.  Apparently, both studio and game went without a single damn bid (yowtch).  Given Darksiders II considerable improvement over the original, and its positive critical reception, I don’t expect the Horsemen to stay homeless for long.

Also, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, or drunken snapshots of hyper-extended middle fingers on Instagram, we’re becoming more and more aware that THQ has left a lot of unemployed people in its wake.  My heart goes out to those that have to put up with such shit luck of the draw – and thank you for all you’ve done for this industry.  I wish you the best, folks.