Episode 5

Pause Break returns with a vengeance! Well, maybe not a vengeance. More like slight disgruntlement. In this episode, we discuss all sorts of vidjagames! Like Gears of War, Fez, Team Fortress 2, Minecraft and the obligatory mention of Mass Effect. We also talk about the E3 press conferences and how everyone except Ubisoft pretty much dropped the ball.

Bear in mind, we drop a couple of spoilers during this episode, so if you want to avoid them, make sure to mark the times where we discuss them:

Mass Effect: 3:23 - 5:23

Fez: 17:09 - 22:30

We also gave a shout out to Michael Corrigan and his Let’s Plays with Nic. Be sure to check ‘em out here!

Remember, Pause Break is also available to download from the iTunes Store! Tell your friends! Tell your folks! Tell your dog! Pin him down until he hits the ‘download’ button! If he co-operates, give him a treat.

Until next time…

The house that Bill built has wrapped up its E3 keynote; announcements were made, trailers were shown, demos were demonstrated. Predictably, Kinect featured heavily, and much noise was made about exclusive franchises like Gears of War and Mass Effect. We watched the whole thing on livestream, here’s what we thought of the most significant showcases.

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I think this marks the first time that I’ve discovered some interesting news on my own website. As Nic has outlined before, HD collections are a heavily debatable topic, but the simple fact is this…

Forget Metal Gear Solid, Zone of the Enders is getting HD’d. It’s no understatement to say that I have been waiting for this day since I bought my PS3. For me, ZOE and its sequel - The 2nd Runner - define the phrase ‘cult classic’. I know gameplay isn’t often touched when remastering games but, dare I say it, if they could maybe sort out the camera in both games…well, then maybe I would look into building a shrine for Mr. Kojima. 

Oh, and being able to play MGS3 on my PS3 without it crashing will be pretty sweet too. 

Sorry, LittleBigPlanet 2, but my reason for fixing my PS3 just became this.

EDIT: Oh, they’re both coming out on Xbox 360 as well! I guess the Sony fanboys just lost their biggest bargaining chip…

Incidentally, I first fell in love with the ZOE series upon watching this trailer. I’d still say it’s my favourite video game trailer ever, certainly of the last generation (the LittleBigPlanet 2 reveal trailer gives it a good run for its money). At nearly eight minutes in length, it does give away quite a bit of the plot though, so if these remasters will be your first taste of the series, consider this a warning.

EDIT EDIT: If you want an idea of how good ZOE 2 is going to look in HD without getting spoiled, check out 2:27 to 3:05 in the trailer below.