by Bret

Bulletstorm 1 Minute Review

Howdy folks, here be a one minute video review of Bulletstorm! (it’s good)

Bullet storm PC

From People Can Fly and Epic games comes an FPS  with a twist.

Game play is based on killing with skill, making special kills that award the player with points, which are then used to modify weapons and get ammo. The more creative your kills, the better result.

This system is extremely tongue in cheek and has the violence fett ish angle covered. Get points for shooting an enemy in the anus. Get points for killing several enemies at once. The unique situations you are asked to set up get increasingly difficult and it certainly is rewarding when you pull off a tricky kill.

The combinations of skill kills are increased by the ability to kick people into a slow motion dive and drag people towards you with a device called a leash. These two are enough to make the game feel unique and it certainly is fun toying with people before killing them.

The frail plot revolves around a team of soldiers out for revenge when they find out that they have been used to kill innocent enemies of the state. The rest of the story is lost to insults and curses. If you like creative swearing and coarse oafish behavior, occasionally joined with self pity, you will love bulletstorm.

Between the points system for special kills and the coarse humour, Bulletstorm feels like an FPS version of Mad world. This is a mindless game, but packs hours of laugh out loud entertainment for those of us who love a good blood bath.

[fb-like]
[tweetbutton]

RAGE comic book set for June release!

Greetings earthspawn. As the European multiplatform release date of RAGE gets closer (September 16^th), more teaser content is being released by the info-harpies at Bethesda…

The latest is the announcement of a RAGE comic book, which follows the newly updated RAGE website (if you haven’t been yet, http://www.rage.com/) that reveals more gameplay information. On the site you can also check out an original song composed for the game, ‘Burning Jacob’s Ladder’ by Mark Lanegan of Queens of the Stone Age fame!

The comic is being published by Dark Horse and will become available June 22. It’s a three issue series written by Arvid Nelsion (Rex Mundi) and pencilled by Andrea Mutti (DMZ). The events in the comic will be set prior to the game but should provide some insights into the game’s storyline and universe.

The game’s creative director Tim Willits has been directly involved in the comic’s creation and takes a bleak stance on the post-apoc vibe: ‘one woman discovers that the survival of humankind doesn’t necessarily mean the survival of humanity. The Earth has been devastated by a collision with an asteroid, with a tiny fraction of the population surviving in life-sustaining Arks buried deep below its surface. Those who survive emerge to find a wasteland controlled by a global military dictatorship called the Authority. But a rescued scientist learns that the Authority has lied to her and the other survivors about how this new world came to be.’

Pretty straightforward fare of course and it’s likely that the grittiness will be watered down by the schlock trigger happy style of the game, but if you like being a pissed off Mad Max mutant sort of person then it should be the setting for you.

Those of us who have played RAGE on the iPhone/iPad will know that the game’s vibe is heavily geared towards a gore and black comedy mash up- but also promises pretty visuals and a certain sleek style, perhaps somewhere between Bulletstorm and Borderlands. The new site tells us much more about the actual gameplay involved in RAGE, from the locations to the weapons. My favourites have to be the Wingstick ‘handheld guillotine’, somewhat like a razor boomerang, and the crossbow- I’ve never disliked a game with a crossbow.

Everything looks good so far and I love this recent game to comic trend- two lovely geeky formats that can only complement each other. Roll on September.

[tweetbutton]
[fb-like]

The Philosophy Shop becomes a charity! Reasoning for all!

Regurgitatum:

The Philosophy Shop, as part of its mission to help UK schoolchildren get the full benefits of its unique pedagogical approach – introducing primary and secondary-school-age children to Philosophy as a way to kick-start their reasoning skills – has become a registered charity, The Philosophy Foundation.

Its new charitable status is part of a consistent Philosophy Shop commitment to finding ways to make the benefits and pleasures of philosophy accessible to all and parallels the group’s campaign to encourage the government to provide a formal place for Philosophy in the school system with its 4Rs campaign (Reading, (W)riting, (A)rithmetic AND Reasoning.).

This commitment has been underlined by the move to become a charity, which guarantees that the organisation is a fully and transparent not-for-profit concern.

The Philosophy Shop, which will operate as a trading name for The Philosophy Foundation, has a five year track record providing training for qualified Philosophers on how to practically employ philosophical methods in a classroom situation for children as young as four. The body also helps to place these subject specialists in schools and offers continual professional development to support them, plus trains classroom teachers in using an aspect of Philosophical method called ‘Enquiry’ to help in facilitating child-centred discussion.

Apart from its work in UK schools, The Philosophy Shop also provides benefit to the wider community by offering recreational education classes to adults, as well as Philosophy summer schools and philosophy in prisons, with ex-offenders, and in hospitals..

Commenting on the move, Emma Worley, The Philosophy Shop Founder and Chief Operating Officer, notes, “A great deal of our work is charitable in nature and becoming a charity is a natural move for us.

“We have had overwhelming support from the educational community and with The Philosophy Foundation we can build on that support and do more to ensure young people from all backgrounds finally gain access to Philosophy and the intellectual benefits that access brings.”

The Philosophy Shop has also appointed its board of Trustees, which includes: Dr Andrew Flynn, Catherine Pamplin and Jasna Simpson. Each of whom has a strong interest in or experience of education.

“We find Philosophy is beloved of the most able, but also nurtures the abilities of students far too easily labeled ‘difficult’ and ‘low-achieving’ as well as adults who did not respond well to a conventional curriculum, all of whom really enjoy the stimulus of discussion and argument,” she adds. “Philosophy can provide all members of our community an outlet for their intelligence and creativity.”

“Philosophy has developed our more able, but also given great confidence to those children who struggle with the more conventional curriculum,” adds Headmistress Mrs Palmer at Eliot Bank Primary school, an institution that uses The Philosophy Shop’s resources.

Reflecting the recent cuts to funding for the Humanities, the group plans to subsidise Philosophy students coming from low socio-economic backgrounds, who will otherwise be unable to continue in Higher Education. It will seek to raise awareness as well as fund research into the impact of Philosophy on learning and education more widely. Finally, The Philosophy Shop plans to offer funded Philosophy teacher placements to schools in disadvantaged areas.

[tweetbutton]
[fb-like]