Grave Gamer News & Views — sega

Original Alien Cast Talks Up Isolation

It’s been 35 whole years since the world was introduced to the titular alien in Ridley Scott’s infamous space-faring horror film. Now, Sega and Creative Assembly have brought together key members of that flick’s original cast to reprise their roles from Alien. Why? So that we get to enjoy looking at 3D models of their younger counterparts walk around armed...

Alien: Isolation Reunites the Original 1979 Film’s Cast in Bonus DLC

After 35 years since its release, the original Alien cast is having a reunion. In a video game. Remember – no one can hear you fangasm in space.

Creative Assembly’s upcoming survival horror ode to dying at the hands of an eyeless allegory for man rape brings together the voice talents of Tom Skerritt, Ian Holm, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, Yaphet Kotto and Sigourney Weaver (reprising her career launching role as Warrant Officer Ellen Louise Ripley for the first time since 1997).

The cast features in two missions ripped straight from the film. The first, “Crew Expendable,” is included in the Nostromo Edition of Alien: Isolation and lets players choose between Dallas, Ripley, or Parker moments after Brett is double-jawed to death by the ship’s stowaway. You’ll explore the Nostromo and look for a way to lure the alien to an airlock (as in “Blew it out the goddamn…”).

Slapping down a pre-order at Gamestop gives access to a second DLC chapter called “Last Survivor” recreates the third act of the film wherein [SPOILERS] Ripley is the last crew member to have not been double-jawed to death. You’ll have to dart your way through the shadows of the Nostromo, set the self-destruct, and backtrack all the way to the ship’s lifeboat in order to make a spectacular getaway. It’s unclear if the cat that played Jonesy in the original film will lend its vocal talents to the DLC.

The bonus content dances upon the “totes excite” quadrants of my brain. However, I’m pretty sure this is a part of that sickening future where retailers withhold not just skins and bonus weapons to guide your dollar, but entire chunks of exclusive gameplay, which the latter piece of content definitely is.

Alien: Isolation hits current and next-gen console October 7th.

Alien: Isolation Dated for October

Creative Assembly’s “lo-fi sci-fi” love letter to Ridley Scott’s deep space horror masterpiece has received a release date: October 7th, 2014.

Alien: Isolation looks to holster the series’ pulse rifles and send its colonial marines on shore leave. You won’t mow down an army of xenomorphs; you’ll have to outsmart just one. The effect is an elongated game of cat and mouse… if the cat were a double-jawed, acid-blooded hate creature bred to be perfect killing machine straight out of the womb (the womb in question being your exploded chest cavity).

For a sci-fi horror franchise that practically invented sci-fi horror, it’s astounding Alien has yet to dip into the survival horror genre, but better a few decades late than never. Especially after 2013’s Travesty That Shall Not Be Named.

Mark your calendars and remember, while no one in space can hear you scream, your neighbors can certainly hear the high-pitched, glass cracking fright coming out of your apartment playing Isolation. Maybe give ‘em a heads up so they don’t call the cops and have them laugh at you.

Nintendo Ain’t Backing Down From Console Biz

In the face of some pretty dire losses as reported Friday during a company press conference, head honcho Satoru Iwata agrees its time for Nintendo to rethink their strategy. But that still doesn’t mean you’ll find Mario leaping onto smartphones.

The Wii U pegged as a central cause of financial disappointment, Nintendo has lowered their original projection of 9 million units sold all the way down to 2.8 million for the fiscal year ending in March. Industry analysts are already comparing the struggling Wii U to Sega’s doomed vessel the Dreamcast. The Dreamcast’s unfortunate – and, may history not forget, heartbreaking – failure dumped Sega out of the hardware business, forcing them to recoup their losses in software; subsequently publishing first-party IP’s like Sonic the Hedgehog onto former rivals’ machines.

Investors are seemingly pushing for a similarly drastic overhaul in Nintendo’s business, narrowing their eyes on the potential profit to be mined by releasing the company’s world renown properties on mobile and home devices not manufactured by the Japanese juggernaut.

Iwata, though illustrating his thoughts more eloquently, obviously believes that’s horseshit.

“The spread of smart devices does not spell the end of game consoles,” said Nintendo’s president to The Wall Street Journal. “It’s not that simple. It doesn’t mean that we should put Mario on smartphones.” Dishing out titles such as Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, or Pokemon on other platforms would only disrupt Nintendo’s current success: the 3DS.

While the sales forecast for their handheld has also been lowered, the disparity is nowhere near as severe – down from 18 million units to 13.5. With the 3DS having dominated the hardware market worldwide in 2013 (even outpacing both the PS4 and Xbox One’s total sales in the month of December), it’s no wonder Nintendo doesn’t want to shut down its manufacturing shops.

While Iwata stands by the Wii U as a product, he subscribes to the notion that, at the end of the day, games will sell a console. And, once again, Nintendo relies on its flagship titles to do the convincing. For some, this strategy won’t cut it.

Stock analyst and notable talking head Michael “Pach-Attack” Pachter thinks it’s already too late for the Wii U, stating in February’s Game Informer, “I don’t think they recover. I think they screwed [the Wii U] up royally. They’re going to have to scrap it.”

Even suffering losses and a constantly shifting market, I wouldn’t soon expect Nintendo to drastically change how they rule the kingdom they’ve spent decades building. We’re not just talking about a financial player here – this is a development/publishing/manufacturing powerhouse that helped define modern gaming. Trends, tastes, and practices all change. Through it all, Nintendo has somehow remained constant.

That’s not to excuse the Wii U and the underwhelming decisions keeping it out of gamers’ living rooms (mine included). And that’s not to say I wouldn’t be tickled pink at the opportunity to play Zelda on my PlayStation 4. Christ, I would love that. It’s just, if that happened, I’d have to accept Hell has frozen solid and that the sky was moments away from crushing me. I don’t see it happening but, then again, if I were old enough to invest in Sega right before the Dreamcast launched… Let’s– Let’s just cut the article here, huh?

Isolated

Fun fact about Creative Assembly’s Alien: Isolation – the game is playable from start to finish. With the core experience laid out, the developer is using the time between now and the game’s Q4 release date to polish, tweak, and refine the game.

I’m feeling pretty good about this one. It helps that it looks phenomenal. But I feel especially good that CA is approaching the material at a different angle and that, all around, even on Sega’s part, Isolation is being handled with the same meticulous care you’d show a newborn baby. Or a bomb capable of leaving a crater the size of Nebraska.

Check out more screens hereabouts.