Dreamfall has finally gone GOLD!!! This is great news for adventure fans. The game is set for an April 17th release. Mark it on your calendars folks 'cause it's going to be a good one...make that a great one!

Check out Ragnar's blog for more info:

www.ragnartornquist.com

Wow Gamespot or should I say Wow Greg "Gamespot" Kasavin. Gamespot's first ever Game Marathon was a blast. I was one of the many people that stayed up the entire...well that's a lie I fell asleep from 5AM-7:30AM, sorry I let ya down Greg. But that's beside the point, I'm already looking forward to the next 12 hour marathon. Oblivion was a great game for this type of thing and it makes me want to go out and get myself an XBOX 360 just so I can have my own Oblivion Marathon. A round of applause should go to Greg Kasavin for staying up and doing this for us and Gamespot of course for setting it up. Greg it was a blast buddy!! I hope the offices didn't burn down.

PS. Everyone drop what you're doing and go see V for Vendetta, so far the best movie of 2006! What a great ride!

I know that Killer 7 is more than half a year old but if you are a fan of the game you should check out this detailed Plot Analysis for the game:

http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/gamecube/file/killer7_plot.txt

It's quite the read. It's been out for awhile but it gives you an insight into what that game is all about. I had a great time reading it and it really makes you think.

Check it out.

PS. Killer 7 would make one hell of a rad flick! Just imagine this cast:

Samuel L. Jackson as Garcian

Clint Eastwood as Harman Smith

Natalie Portman as KAEDE Smith (she could pull it off)

Jared Leto as Dan Smith

Hugh Jackman as Coyote Smith

??? as MASK De Smith

Elijah Wood as Con Smith

Giovanni Ribisi as Kevin Smith

Benici Del Toro as Kun Lan (they could make him look Japanese and for some reason I could just imagine him being awesome in this part)

...then you could get someone awesome like Chis Walken to be Traivs haha

Finally some new footage of the two biggest adventure games coming out in 2006!

The boys at Funcom finally gave us something new to look at by releasing the second Dreamfall trailer. It shows some new gameplay footage and displays some sirius gorgeous scenery. All that amazing stuff aside, the biggest info we can gather from the trailer is that the second biggest star of The Longest Journey will be back, (first being April of course) Crow!! The greatest bird character of all time will make his triumphant return in Dreamfall. Hit the Dreamfall gamespace for the trailer to check it out or the official Dreamfall website for all the Dreamfall news. www.dreamfall.com

We also got a new look at the upcoming adventure game from Benoit Sokal, (Syberia) Paradise. By the looks of the screenshots and the new trailer, (which you can find a link to in the Classic Adventure Gamers Union) this game looks absolutely stunning. And don't forget to check out the new Preview and Developer Interview in the gamespace

Both of these games arrive in stores in the Spring so we should be seeing more and more of them as the release date creeps nearer.

By the way both of these games would make great movies, don't you think?

...now all we need is some updates on the new Zelda and all will be well in the jungle.

Well the three biggest games of the year have been released…Doom 3, Halo 2 and Half-Life 2; and although they might be three fantastic games it’s had to say that they all lived up to what we were all hoping they would be. Now like many other people here have said I think I know why they all haven’t quite been the perfect games we were hoping them to be. That one key element that you will find missing in each of these games and is referenced too in each of Gamespot’s reviews is that the story has been a major disappointment. They have all either depended on a) graphics ie. Doom3 or b) they are just continuing on the original game without adding much more ie. Halo 2, but it seems to be enough for them to sell millions of copies. However these game companies are limiting themselves to what could be millions more and are only creating a video game, nothing more, nothing less (it most cases). But what us gamers want is to be put into a world that has life, which granted all of these three games have done but not given us a point to be there except a) hell has broken loose b) aliens are invading or c) aliens are invading.... but this time we can use a gravity gun to pick up objects to kill them with (sweet!)...hey I'm not complaining but once I make it to the end and utter these words then I'm complaining...

That’s it??...The two words that a game developer should make sure is never said after anyone finishes their game. There’s nothing worse than feeling like the game is not finished when the credits start to roll. Now you ask why exactly wasn’t Half-Life 2 the spectacle that we were led to believe it would be…well it did improve on graphics but it didn’t depend on them either and it is continuing from Half-Life but it’s more a stand alone game than a sequel it seems to me, but the one thing that held it back from achieving that perfect score was it didn’t have the story to make it a perfect game. Now being a film student it seems to me that this problem could easily be solved and we could finally be seeing some perfect scores being handed out. I’m not sure why game companies seem to over look the story of their games. I mean Valve delayed Half-Life 2 by more than a year and based on Gamespot’s review the story was a major disappointment. It obviously wasn’t to add a story. Gabe should email the designers of MGS for some ideas.

Now that I've gone off from what I was originaly talking about...as a film student I find that story is a major factor in making a game. I feel that over looking story is a big mistake. Solutions? Well what game companies should start doing is assigning designers to do nothing but develope the story or what they could do is get what they call a "script doctor" does in the film biz which is to look over the "script" or story of a film and make sure it's what it should or could be and if it isn't they make changes. So we get "game doctors" to go over the story of a game and make sure it's a good one. I also think maybe what games should go is step back from spending all their time trying to put in different gameplay mechanics which by the way all end up being the same but if one minor ajustment (in most cases) and spend more time on the story end of their games, and if I see one more game that throws in slow motion-bullet time i'm going to go insane.