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Is Sleeping Dogs a More Relevant Sandbox Crime Game Than GTAV?

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After viewing (and briefly playing) a recent demo of Square Enix's Sleeping Dogs, I found myself less taken by the history of the game -- it was known as True Crime: Hong Kong until a few weeks ago -- and its design than I was by its setting. The game itself looks good, but it's nothing extraordinary: An iterative addition to the ever-expanding open-world action genre. It simply adds a few refinements (along with an absolutely excessive patina of violence) to the formula established a decade ago by Grand Theft Auto III without adding any particularly bold innovations. Yet as gamers and the industry alike brace for the fifth chapter of the Grand Theft Auto series to arrive later this year, I find what I've seen of Sleeping Dogs to be far more forward-thinking than what little Rockstar has shown of GTAV. Of course, from a play mechanics perspective, who can really say? We've seen nothing of how GTAV plays. And our demo of Sleeping Dogs consisted of a 45-minute patchwork of game -- random sequences strung together in rapid succession. One moment the hero was hanging out with a rangy childhood friend in the back room of a restaurant owned by that friend's mother; the next, he was vowing revenge for that friend's death to that same mother, now grieving. While we caught a few glimpses of Dogs' dense free-roaming world, they were largely limited to the handful of moments when the demo guide stopped to rotate the camera and take in a scene. Certainly we didn't take much away from the playable portion, which offered nothing more than a brief car race and a sequence involving an on-foot chase. The chase and the subsequent brawl had already been shown off in the demo session, and straying too far from the mission goals in the playable portion to explore the streets resulted in instant mission failure. Dogs' may be an open world, but we were offered only the briefest guided tour.

Watch Us Wrap Up A Link to the Past on the Retronauts Lunch Break Finale

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Retronauts Lunch Break: an ambitious project, but sadly, not popular enough to continue in its current state. Over the past six weeks you've laughed, learned, lived, and loved with our humble little livestream, so there's no way we could snuff out this video series without any fanfare. To thank all of you devoted viewers who've been watching since the early days of January, we're going to take on the rest of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past in one go. How long will we stream our efforts? AS LONG AS IT TAKES.Join us this Wednesday, February 22 at 10:00am PST at The Retronauts Lunch Break page for our final stab at A Link to the Past. We'll be cycling through editors from both 1UP and IGN in our final efforts to storm the dark world's dungeons and restore peace to Hyrule. And if you need to catch up with our backlog of Zelda videos, steer yourself to this page and scroll down to the archives. Patience will be tested, skills will be displayed, and you will be entertained. See you then!

Why We Love Video Games: The Movie

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For Valentine's Day we examined 35 reasons why we love games, but we're not done expressing our affection yet. Prose alone couldn't handle out boundless adoration; we had to make a video. Watch as we discuss our personal favorite reason to love.

Twisted Metal Review: Buy it For Nostalgia, But Keep it For Multiplayer

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Twisted Metal: Black was the reason I bought a PlayStation 2. As a huge fan of the PS1 installments, the prospect of playing my favorite vehicular mayhem simulator on brand new hardware was one that I just couldn't pass up. So, for the first six months I owned the console, Twisted Metal: Black was pretty much the only disc spinning in the tray. By myself or with a group of friends, Twisted Metal was my drug of choice for the latter half of 2001. Needless to say, I was a fan. Cut to over 10 years later, and the series has now made its way onto the PS3. Would my addiction return -- transforming me into a Sweet Tooth junkie once again?

When I got my hands on the new Twisted Metal for the first time, I felt at home. The controls were exactly as I remembered them. In no time at all, I was zipping around the battlefield, making 180 degree turns, and blasting my opponents with Homing Missiles. My first arena battle was as frantic and fun as the Twisted Metal that I remembered and loved so dearly. Controlling Sweet Tooth in his ice cream truck of destruction remains one of my defining memories of any Sony console, and it looked as if it were happening all over again. When the round ended, I collected my thoughts; if I were going to review this game honestly, I'd have to overcome my addiction and look at the final product through a critical lens. With this realization, I took a deep breath and began my descent into the single player campaign mode.

Three Reasons Zenimax Would Cancel Prey 2 GDC Talks

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Responding via Twitter to a question from another developer, Prey 2 lead graphics programmer revealed that publisher Zenimax forced developer Human Head to cancel all talks relating to the game at this year's Game Developers Conference. "Yes, Zenimax forced us to pull all Prey2 related talks from GDC. I'm pretty devastated by the news. This was to be my first conf talk." He explained over a series of tweets. "We are trying our hardest to get the decision reversed but for now all 3 are canceled." The tweets caught the eye of fans who pressed for more information, "Thanks all for the kind words. Needless to say this not a good day for me." explained Karis before stating that he couldn't answer many of questions coming from inquisitive followers. Anyone who has ever invested themselves in a project can empathize with Karis. GDC presents a unique opportunity to really show off everything a developer or team accomplished over the year. As rewarding as giving a demo to fans or press can be, only the audience at GDC can truly grasp many of the complex technical accomplishments found in games and the effort that went into them.

Sony Denies Vita Losing Support Among Japanese Developers

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A worrying quote emerged in Japanese publication Nikkei this week suggesting developers in Japan were dropping plans for Vita development in favor of 3DS. With Vita already in the hands of many gamers thanks to the First Edition bundle and others preparing to pick up the system at its proper launch next week, this isn't the sort of news you like to hear just before or after spending $250 or more on an unproven piece of hardware. Sony is, as expected, trying to downplay the report and as it was only a single anonymous quote, there's no reason to become overly concerned just yet. "Major Japanese companies are canceling all projects intended for the Vita and are changing development to the 3DS," the anonymous source said, per a translation by Gamasutra. There isn't much ambiguity in the statement, which is said to be from a member of the Japanese development community. The article itself was authored by Kiyoshi Shin, the former head of the International Game Developers Association's Japan branch.

Check Out What PSP Games Look Like on Vita

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If you're buying a PlayStation Vita, backwards compatibility support gives you an alternative avenue to enjoy a catalog of great games. But how well does Vita handle emulating PSP games, and what can the OLED do to help?Jeremy and I decided to put Vita's emulation prowess to the test and do a side-by-side comparison. The system on top is a PSP 2000 (sorry, our 3000 was in the shop at the time), and the one below it needs little introduction at this point. Both are running the game off of internal storage. Check out the video above to see the results and feel free to ask questions or comment below.

Act of Valor Prize Pack Giveaway

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Everyone loves movies and free stuff. 1UP has partnered up with Relativity Media for the release of the upcoming Navy SEAL thriller, Act of Valor. Relativity Media has provided us with an impressive prize pack including:

• Official Act of Valor book, t-shirt, backpack, and water bottle
• Xbox 360 Console
• Battlefield 3 Game for Xbox 360

Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus Review: Another Excuse to Revisit a Great Action Game

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I didn't realized it until recently, but we've played an awful lot of Ninja Gaiden in the last eight years. In 2004, the Xbox debut delivered a fast and fluid action game that showcased lighting quick gameplay and surprising amounts of combat depth. Then, a reworked compilation that repackaged the original into Ninja Gaiden: Black quickly followed in 2005 -- adding bigger monsters, new weapons and modes, and improved camera controls. And in 2007, an HD port called Ninja Gaiden Sigma graced the PS3, adding high-resolution graphics and other extras to the dizzying ballet of deadly bladed weapons on display. Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus is the fourth release of developer Team Ninja's landmark title -- only now in a portable form -- and adds small improvements next to some funky touch functions. If you're a fan of action games that hasn't played Ninja Gaiden by now, shame on you. While the Xbox debut transformed the narrative-centric NES series into a fast and furious action game, the sublime combat gave players the ability to move swiftly and offered multiple options for besting the hordes of the Vigoor Empire -- a fictional nation and home to the mystical tyrants of Ninja Gaiden's world. It's true the action focus took center stage while Team Ninja's incomprehensible storytelling came in a distant second, but the nuanced combat mechanics more than made up for it -- providing a bevy of weapons and combos to eradicate any threat.

With Dragon's Dogma, Capcom's Big Gamble Just Might Pay Off

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Before playing the first few hours of Dragon's Dogma a few days ago, I didn't really know much about the game. In fact, my awareness of Capcom's upcoming RPG basically boiled down to a vague awareness that it's supposedly the most expensive product the company has ever produced, and the fact that the nickname for the game around the office is the rather pejorative "Monster Hunter for white people." Having spent a little hands-on time with the game, I can't speak to the former -- honestly, it's a little rough around the edges for what's supposed to be a big-budget Capcom project -- but I can definitely see where the latter comes from. Yet where others have expressed scorn about the Dogma's seeming intent to create a Monster Hunter-sized success in the West, I don't see it as a bad thing. On the contrary, Dogma has potential to be a real hit. Granted, there's no such thing as a sure-fire formula for success, especially with a new game that has no ties to existing series or properties, but the game has a lot of things going for it here.