If we’re to believe this is in fact the next Team ICO game (and I do), you need to play ICO and Shadow of the Colossus (especially the latter) to appreciate what’s going on here.  So go out and play them right now if you haven’t already.  OK, good.  Welcome back.  Weren’t they awesome?  What we take away from these two titles isn’t necessarily their storylines alone, but that combined with their gameplay styles.

In the video for TRICO, we see a boy very similar to the hero in both ICO and SotC.  We’re then introduced to a giant, feline-esque animal who shares a special connection with the boy.  A creature so enormous, we immediately think of a colossus.  From here on out it’s just a bunch of climbing and jumping around, the boy riding the giant cat looking like the kid from The Never Ending Story.

What I think we’ll see in TRICO is an interesting sort of dichotomy of gameplay styles.   Clearly, the animal can jump over chasms and valleys–and where it can’t investigate, you’ll need to control the boy.  I think we’re going to see a lot of back and forth between the two, and I’d imagine the user will have control over both–maybe activated by some sort of “switch-player” button (think Donkey Kong Country).

Just think of what an intense boss battle would be like where you need to switch between the boy and animal, cleverly connecting attacks and acrobatics.  Such an original style would undoubtedly need to be complemented by first-rate level design, something we all know Team ICO is more than capable of crafting.

This sort of unique teamwork will probably be offered as an on or offline co-op feature too, since every damn game on Earth feels somehow compelled to offer this overrated mechanic.

It’s tough to draw a lot conclusions from such a short video.  It’s clear the magic that Team ICO is capable of creating is still very much alive and well in the form of whatever TRICO winds up being called.  We’ll see if this video gets replayed during the Sony press conference at E3 and whether or not there’s more to learn about this boy and his abnormally large animal friend.

Make sure you check out my CNET coverage of E3 2009, where I’m sure we’ll learn a bit more about Project TRICO.

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- A new Zelda game is headed to the Nintendo DS - We need this like we need another, well, Zelda game for the DS.

- Motion control for the Xbox 360 - PDP gives Xbox 360 the motion control nobody asked for.

- A storage solution for the Nintendo Wii is finally here - Nothing snarky to say here, this is actually kind of awesome.

- Some brand spankin’ new info on DSiWare - Don’t worry, you’ll probably be rebuying old Game Boy games before you know it.

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Check out my CNET First Look video at the Nintendo DSi.

I’m not going to lie, the story in F.E.A.R. 2 is forgettable.  Besides the fact that you’re constantly being telepathically poked by a half-dead she-zombie named Alma, there’s really no background information you need to know in order for things to make sense.  For some reason, you’re special and she wants you.   That said, there are some really cool creepy moments that make for fantastic displays of technical eye-candy.  Some of them feel a bit cheap, but most are welcome moments of legitimate fright.  Calling the game “gory” is a bit of an understatement.  F.E.A.R. 2 has some scenes of straight-up maniacal carnage.   These scenes become truly disturbing as some of them are set against paradoxical backgrounds like an elementary school.

Gameplay here is solid.  F.E.A.R. 2 controls just as you’d expect with a few wild cards thrown in meant to separate the game from other generic shooters.  Enemy variation is weak, as I can’t recall more than four character models I had the pleasure of shooting.  Level design gets a bit redundant–something the original game suffered from–but there’s a good enough change of pace to keep the action moving along smoothly.  I personally enjoyed the mech segements of play, where the main character is thrown inside a seemingly indestructible steel robot that fires all kinds of rockets and bullets.

The classic F.E.A.R. slow motion effect is back and is where the game truly shines.  Figuring out how and when to use the time-control asset takes some mastering.  There’s plenty of diverse weapons to toy around with and the game does a good job at encouraging you to try them all out.

At the end of the day, F.E.A.R. 2 is an above-average  first-person horror-shooter with a solid slow-motion gimmick that begins to go stale just in time for the game to end.  It exceeds other titles in terms of production value and polish and allows for an ultimately satisfying experience when all is said and done.

B-

Vitals:

• Release date: 2/10/09
• Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
• Completion: Story mode, 100%

My buddies at Wallstrip were shooting some pilot segments for CBS Interactive called “Thoughtless Thoughts.”  Roman and Amanda asked if I could give them a few minutes of blathering about anything, so I figured I’d talk about my inability to grow facial hair.

[click photo for full size]

At first you think it’s sort of making some sort of statement.  Washington, Bin Laden, it looks like this is totally political.  But wait, is George Washington riding some sort of triceratops looking thing? Then you see Waldo, The Fonz, Robocop, Steve Irwin–and you’re like “alright, now this is weird.”  Oh wait, now I’m looking at the sky there’s a bunch of flying dragons and wait–what’s that?  Yeah, that’s the Deathstar in the distance.

The DSi takes with it most of the features the DS Lite had to offer, but adds new multimedia capabilities. The DSi has been on sale in Japan since November 1 of last year and has already sold well over an astonishing 1 million units. Now that Nintendo has announced that the DSi will go on sale April 5 in North America, it certainly leaves everyone asking one big question, “Should I buy one?”

First, let’s look at what exactly separates the new DSi from the DS Lite. In terms of actual form-factor, the difference between the two portables is negligible. The DSi is slightly slimmer, but you’re not going to see the massive change in size like we saw when Nintendo upgraded the original DS to the DS Lite. What you may notice is that both screens are a quarter of an inch larger. The DSi hardware also actually eliminates the Game Boy Advance slot found on the Lite, so you won’t be able to play older Game Boy Advance games or DS titles that make use of the port, such as “Guitar Hero: On Tour.”

What the DSi does introduce is an SD card slot, two 0.3 megapixel cameras, and a brand new menu system. The new upgradeable firmware will be exclusive to the DSi and offers a DSi Shop online store, photo editor, music player (sorry MP3 fans, it only supports AAC files), audio recorder, and PictoChat. The DSi Shop is basically the portable equivalent of WiiWare, the online store found on the Nintendo Wii. From the DSi Shop you’ll be able to download applications and games directly to the device’s internal 256 MB of storage or an SD card. The DSi also features speedier hardware than its predecessors–its main processor doubles the speed of the DS Lite’s and has four times the RAM, as well. Whether or not this will make a drastic change in performance remains to be seen. What we do know is that the DSi’s battery life won’t last as long as the DS Lite’s.

Are all of these features enough to warrant an upgrade? In our opinion, the simple answer is “no.” We don’t think the feature set of the new DSi is worth the price if you already own a DS Lite. (Don’t forget, the new DSi is $40 more than the current DS Lite.) We just don’t see the DSi as being a legitimate music player or photo editor. That said, if you’ve yet to hop aboard the Nintendo DS train, there really isn’t a better time to get on than right now. An already impressive library of games, plus the ability to play locally and online with friends, makes for a great user experience. If you’re an owner of the original “fat” DS and Game Boy Advance compatibility isn’t a deal-breaker for you, we fully endorse the step-up to the DSi.

One thing is for sure: it seems that Nintendo is trying to slowly invade the turf that the iPhone and iPod Touch have started to inhabit, being media players that support downloadable touch-based games. With the introduction of the DSi’s multimedia capabilities, it seems we may be witnessing the beginning of a new handheld gaming battle.

The Nintendo DSi officially ships on April 5 in North America. With a retail price of $170, it’ll first be available in either black or blue.

Post originally written for Crave