Take A Peep at PEEPS

Been a few weeks since I've been active here. Moving amongst a host of other things. So I'm still sitting on stuff from South By Southwest, that Final Fantasy XIII gamelog amongst other things. Things will pick up soon on a load of fronts.

One of which is a show format I've been tossing around and finally put together in a bit of a test form. Some parts inspired from Video Game Hour Live from which I worked on at the University of Texas and some parts inspired by Invisible Walls, I wanted to do something of a show using video that didn't require getting my ugly mug in front  a camera.

What is coming of it is PEEPS. Called so from the love of using the word and also what it entails. The core of the show is game trailers and video developer diaries. Things that allow people to take a look at upcoming games. Truth me told, it's one of my more abundant resources I never really use and making them the core of show allows less work to put other things together I may or may not having the freedom to do for some time.

What you'll see is it at it's most barebones. Just trailers. Over time more things will be added as official episodes are put out, voice-over, funny things from Youtube, music video and other stuff I may be able to get my hands on. But this is Episode -1 - negative episodes of anything I do are basically concept or special episodes that are unofficial.

Featured for this test run is Backbreaker (a trailer and two developer diaries) as well as Dante's Inferno: Trials fo St. Lucia, Just Cause 2, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, Red Dead Redemption, Red Steel 2 and Soul Master.

Peeps Ep. -1 - The Ghost Show

Count To Five: AC2 DLC, FFXIII Box Art, and Dante's Demo

This blog really isn't a place I plan on putting a lot of news. The 1UPs, Gamespots, Gamasutras and JoyStiq's of the world or place better fit for breaking news being they actually have full-time staffs dedicated to that. Besides, I more or less reserve my actual reporting for The Game Reviews and some of my opinions for Bitmob. But when I'm not doing a full-blown highlight of something here, I do want to quickly highlight certain news and other random thought I'm probably tweeting elsewhere anywhere.

Welcome the Count To Five. Here I'll highlight five bits of news or things that pique my interest or quick thoughts for which I'm not dedicating full articles here or elsewhere. And being practically everything else new I'm debuting around start with it....

1. Final Fantasy XIII Box Art Reveal

 See, not exactly huge news. But being I'm anticipating this game like a person dying of thirst anticipates fresh water, I'm showing it the love.

2. Spring 2010 Blooms More Assassination

Ubisoft annouced two packs of DLC for Assassin's Creed II set for next spring. Entitled "Battle of Forli" and "The Bonfire of the Vanities" (releasing in January and Feburary repsectively), the DLC would presumably be set near the latter part of AC2's Ezio's timeline or soon after if the actual bonfire is any indication.

3. Abandon All Hope Next Week

EA annouced "Hell's Gate", the Dante's Inferno demo, will release on PSN December 10 and on Xbox Live Christmas Eve. The demo will feature the entire first level of the game.

4. Dan Hsu and Demian Linn Back At EGM

As announced via a press release, the new Electronic Gaming Monthly has brought former EGM Editor Chief Dan Hsu and former Reviews Editor Demian Linn to oversee the reboot of the magazine. Hsu shared his thoughts on coming "full circle" on Bitmob today.

5. Game of the Year Thoughts

Still yet to play some of the major title (Uncharted 2 and Dragon Age: Origins stand out) but my short list of games I'd be considering for year end honors are coming together. Modern Warfare 2, Assassin's Creed II, an Batman: Arkham Asylum stand out in my thoughts as nominees for best console game, Splosion Man and Shadow Complex are personal favorites on the downloadable sphere. Won't be tossing out any nods officially until after Christmas, but there's my thoughts are now.

Dante's Inferno Animated Trailer

Okay sure, Dante's Inferno so far looks like it has three things going for it. 1. It may be in the running for video game with the most opportunistic grab of a well-known book title that has as little to do with it passable. 2. A marketing campaign that's so far been so awkward, if not bad, it's hard to not notice. 3. It looks like such a blatent God of War clone we can only hope it's as fun.

Here's a recent trailer for the game.