One track brainnnnn

After reading my buddy’s blog down there about the Left 4 Dead cover and zombie fiction, I simply had to add my 2 cents. Color me inspired. (Thanks, David!)

I’m a fan of pretty much zombie anything. If it ends with “… of the (Living) Dead” I’ve seen it. Be it Shaun, Dawn, Night, Day, Afternoon, Morning, Brunch, whatever. Zombie games? Yep, I love those too. Resident Evil(s)? Check. Left 4 Dead? Check. Stubbs the Zombie? Double check! (If you have a few Xbox Live Credits lying around I highly suggest downloading it. It’s a gem.) Dead Space? Not quite zombies in the traditional sense, but Check anyway. Anyhow, I think you get the point.

So when I saw David’s suggestions for zombie fiction, I thought I’d stop by to add a Zombie fiction “lite” recommendation to his magnificent list. You know, all the zombie with half the calories. Enter The Walking Dead graphic novels. Though I was a bit skeptical at first, I thought I’d give it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised. It’s not heavy reading by any means and there are only zombies every fifth page or so, but that’s the beauty of it. It’s not about zombies, per se, but rather about what happens to us after a zombie outbreak. In fact, the author, Robert Kirkman, begins his Introduction by stating that he’s not trying to scare anyone. Odd for a zombie story, no? He’s more interested in exploring how people press on and persevere in such extreme situations. And really, how much more extreme can you get than a full blown zombie outbreak?

So if you’re a zombie freak, appreciate graphic novels (or just aren’t into books that don’t have pretty pictures), give the Walking Dead a shot.  You might be surprised. I was.

 

Now if you’ll excuse me I have to get back to Ghostbusting. 🙂

PS. David was right about Dying to Live. It is an AWESOME read.

Todd McFarlane One on One

Our author, Fernando Bueno, got the chance of lifetime, to sit down and interview Todd McFarlane:

Not everyone gets to live their dream and make a living of all things leisure-time like sports, comics, movies, and so on. One person has, however. Todd McFarlane, Spawn creator, founder of Image Comics and McFarlane toys, was kind enough to grant me an interview recently. We talked about his involvement in creating the Halo collectible action figures, his approach to work, and his view on video games.

Todd McFarlane

Fernando Bueno: Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to speak with me, Todd.

Todd McFarlane: No problem.

FB: So tell us, how did you end up here?

TM: Well, I broke into the comic book industry out of college and sort of hit the ground running there. I worked my way up the ladder, working on some big characters like Batman, Spider-Man, and Hulk. From there I started my own comic company, Image Comics, at which point I pulled this comic character named Spawn out of my portfolio that I had since high school and made him sorta the flagship title of my studio. From there, I started to push Spawn up the mountain, if you will.

I decided that I needed to get into other things like TV, movies, toys, and video games. Sometimes I used other companies, and in the case of the toys, I couldn’t find any that would understand what I was trying to do artistically, so I started my own toy company. As time went by with the toy company, I decided that I couldn’t have all my eggs in one basket so I decided to make toys of other stuff. I mean, what happens if people don’t like Spawn after a while? So from there I was able to dive into doing all the sports figures, because, well, I’m a big sports geek. I went to college on a baseball scholarship, y’know. Anyhow, as we began growing the toy company, we started doing sports and comic book [characters], and [taking on] movie licenses, music licenses, and TV licenses. In fact, I think our first video game license might have been Metal Gear Solid 2 a few years ago. That did pretty well for us.

FB: McFarlane Toys has covered a lot of ground!

TM: To me it’s all pop culture. It’s moving the radar across the nation and trying to tap into that.

End War Strategy Videos

Our friends over at G4 have posted up some of our official strategy videos for End War.

We have a Basics overview teaching you the combat chain, followed by three different mission type walkthroughs: The Conquest of Rovaniemi walkthrough, The Raid on Rozenburg walkthrough, and The Siege of Washington D.C. walkthrough.  You can check out the End War Video Strategies at G4 here.

You can also go to our Tom Clancy Feature Page and purchase them in a discounted HD or SD bundle or with their eGuide.

Fallout 3 Guide Preview

Fallout 3 Regular Edition Cover

Get a chance to read a free preview of the Fallout 3 guide (or click the cover image!).

The guy behind the guide [from the Bethblog]

Our friends over at the Bethesda Blog (aka, bethblog), had the awesome opportunity to interview David Hodgson aka sothothyog.  Included below is a Prima favorite picture and a great interview from Bethesda:

Now that you’ve had a chance to get a little more background on the Fallout 3 Strategy Guide, check out the interview below I conducted with David Hodgson.

Fallout 3 is the 67th Strategy guide you’ve authored. How did you get into this business?
Bear in mind that my body of work includes everything from The Official Strategy Guide to Gex: Enter the Gecko, Akuji the Heartless, and Star Wars: Demolition to Half-Life 2 and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I started off in the UK, working for some defunct video-game magazines that no one has heard of (Maximum, for example). I then fled the UK and landed a job at the part-fraternity, part-sanitarium known as GameFan magazine in 1996. During that time, I helped out with GameFan Books, wrote a guide for Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, then helped start up a magazine called Gamers’ Republic, and also wrote a well-received guide for Metal Gear Solid shortly before that venture imploded. In 2000, I decided to go freelance, and work for a “proper” strategy guide publisher, and I’ve been working on Prima guides ever since.

About how many guides do you work on in a given year?
Due to the sheer enormity of the tasks (of which Fallout 3 has been far and away the most challenging and rewarding), I’ve cut down my workload to 5-6 books, but these are usually very challenging. I’ve done anywhere from 5 to 12 in a year, but the latter almost hospitalized me.

In your blog post, you mentioned the guide’s fold-up map is massive. Can you talk about the effort that went into putting that together?
There are two terms I’d like to use here to describe this effort; “collaborative” and “deranged.”

dismember the good times

I have a soft spot in my heart for horror games. And horror movies. And horror books. Ok, I like horror anything. So it goes without saying that Halloween might be high on my list of favorite holidays. This year, Halloween will be your favorite holiday too! (Sorry, Flag Day! Better luck next year.) That’s because Dead Space releases about two weeks before all hallow’s eve. By that time you’ll have plenty of play time with EA’s fantastically fearsome survival space horror title.

I often find it very difficult to talk about a game and not ruin the plot. Especially if the plot is very engaging. So instead of walking down that potentially disastrous road (disastrous for you, not me), I’ll instead prime you with a few tips and tricks so that you’re ready on release date. That way, you can get the most out of your experience in space, and still have a few minutes to trick-or-treat.

Tip #1: Dismember to kill! The necromorphs in Dead Space are tough. In fact, you won’t often be able to kill them by conventional methods. Headshots don’t do much and blasts to the torso do even less. Instead, take careful aim at their limbs and blast away. I like to start at their legs to slow them down, then work my way up to their arms or other limbs.

Tip #2: Combine your abilities. As you progress through the game, you get some pretty nifty abilities. I won’t go into them here, but suffice it to say that the best way to survive is to get creative. Combine your abilities to make enemies easier targets, or even turn certain baddies into weapons themselves!

Tip #3: Spend your Power Nodes wisely. Power Nodes are used to upgrade your RIG (your suit) and your weapons. However, there’s an art to upgrading your weapons. There are two kinds of slots in the upgrade menu– empty “bridging” slots, and enhancement slots that upgrade the weapon’s abilities (like damage). In order to reach some of the enhancement slots, you must first fill the empty “bridge” slots. Ya dig? Don’t use Power Nodes on empty “bridge” slots unless you have enough Power Nodes for the “enhancement” slots as well.

Tip #4: This one is my favorite. Pay close attention to the walls. Scrawled on the walls are special messages that can only be deciphered using a special “key”. I’m not talking about a door key, I’m talking about a special “codebreaker” key.  All I can tell you is this… the key is on a wall in Chapter 6. *gasp* The messages on the walls explain a lot about Unitology and what happened on the Ishimura prior to your arrival, so I highly suggest you play Sherlock Holmes and get to decodin’!

Comic fans should also know that the events leading to your experience in Dead Space are covered in a six issue series of comics published by Image Comics. Check them out and you’ll have everything you need to get your through Dead Space alive.

“May the Force Blow Your Mind”

I saw that tag line in a commercial for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed recently and it instantly brought back a flood of memories from my time with the game(s). I think I sometimes take it for granted that I get to play these games months before they come out and am often caught off-guard when a game actually releases. Given the fact that I’ve been living in a Star Wars worldas of late (yes, be jealous), it was easy to go on about my daily life thinking that everyone had already experienced the awesome that is Star Wars: The Force Unleashed… or SWTFU as we cool kids call it.

Anyhow, for those of you lucky enough to wield the Force for the first time, here are three quick tips to help you along the way.

1. Combo, Combo, Combo! This is not a button-masher, ladies and gents. The control system is complex and takes some practice to master, but once you do, nothing can stop you. Combos like Leaping Slam and Sith Saber Smash are extremely effective against tall enemies.

2. Combine your skills. What good is the ability to pick up and throw enemies with the Force if all you do is use your lightsaber? Combine your ‘saber skills and Force powers to formulate some awesome combos. Force Push and Saber Sling, for example, are a great one-two punch for dispatching enemies from afar.

3. Upgrade your abilities! Not only can you wield the Force, but you can also tailor it to suit your fighting style. If you find that you prefer one Force ability over another, then increase that power’s strength to become a better assassin.

Bonus Tip: Take advantage of your amazing destructive powers. You are, after all, Sith. Nearly all of the environments in the game are destructible! As you go, tear the environment apart. Remove wall panels, cut down trees (in-game tip only! plant them IRL), destroy sarlacc teeth until your heart’s content. etc. to find all of the hidden Holocrons throughout the games. Sometimes, the only way to find a Holocron is to destroy the environment, so have at it!

Enjoy the Force, friends. And yes, “May the Force Blow Your Mind!” It did mine.

Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Ahoy, lubbers! Today is a great day.  In preparation for the long awaited Ninjas Vs Pirates battle, the Pirates have come together in a single uniting event.  It is TLAPD, or for the uninitiated, Talk Like a Pirate Day! Yes, you too get to walk around with eyepatches and a hearty “Yarrr!” I have me trusty bandanna on with my eye patch and skull and crossbones shirt.

In honor of these great celebrations, Prima Games has 25% off all Pirate related Swag aka eGuides (well, we have 25% off all eGuides, but as Captain of this Blog, I decree that today, it is because of TLAPD!):

Pirates of the Burning Sea (with Parrot item)

Pirates of the Burning Sea Revised Edition (with Lizard item)

Sid Meier’s Pirates!

You should talk like a pirate, and play like one too!  If you need a little help with your piratese, here is a small dictionary to help you out and you can always get some “official” information over at the TLAPD blog.

Fair Winds!

Free Warhammer Online Loot Table

Click here to download the Free Loot Table!

Get the excluisve Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Loot Table for Free by clicking the image above!

Prima Official Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning™ Game Guides Available Early!

Exclusive In-Game Item!

Prima will be releasing their suite of Warhammer Online eGuides, from Atlas to Bundle to Class Specific, Saturday, 9.13.08 at midnight to get you ready for WAR!  Download load them now and receive notifications when updates will become available to keep your guide current with the vast, ever-growing Warhammer Online World.  Visit the Warhammer Online Feature Page for additional information!

The six following eGuides will be available:

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (eGuide)
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Atlas (eGuide)
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Guide and Atlas Bundle (eGuide)
Warhammer Online: Dwarfs vs. Greenskins (eGuide)
Warhammer Online: Empire vs. Chaos (eGuide)
Warhammer Online: High Elves vs. Dark Elves (eGuide)
All will be updated!  Click here for more info.