Author Archives: Stephen Colfer

About Stephen Colfer

Stephen Colfer plays video games. He is the Editor of www.chronicreload.com as well as well as host of the Chronic Reload and Chronic Rant Podcasts. He also does film, theatre and stand up comedy all of which you can read about through @stephenpip on twitter.

Patrick Liu Interview, Medal of Honor Multiplayer Producer

  By Stephen Colfer | October 8, 2010 - 12:00 pm | Games
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While on a quick trip to show off Medal of Honor’s Multiplayer to Ireland, I had a chance to sit down with its Producer Patrick Liu from Dice. here’s what he had to say concerning Medal of Honor’s Game modes, harking back to the old school and truely balanced gameplay. Culchie: Was the community feedback from the Beta what you were expected or did it take things in a different direction? Patrick Liu: Most of the stuff was expected, the cry for more recoil thing was not so much, at first we wanted to make a game that was more accessible but obviously people wanted something more of a hardcore game and we’re fine with that! We love that and we did that! Culchie: You’ve mentioned how your basic deathmatch mode, Team Assult harks back to old school level design, what aspects do you think have been lost now that … There’s more →

Playstation Move launch Review

  By Stephen Colfer | September 19, 2010 - 7:29 pm | Games, The Culch
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Sony’s answer to the Wii, the Playstation move is available in Ireland from today. I’ve been playing around with the hardware and it’s launch titles for a few days now but keep in mind that the following review is based mainly on from what I’ve seen in its launch titles. Not all of its features are on display yet but in some games by basically dicking around with it I’ve gathered what I think is a reasonable overview of Move’s capabilities. So if in a few months Move is firing toasty ham and cheese sandwiches into our mouths, I apologize in advanced. The Move works in conjunction with the Playstation Eye which tracks the glowy ball on top of it, this and the hardware inside the Move adds an immediately noticeable extra level of control. . One huge difference between The Move and The Wii Remote is that it seems … There’s more →

Review: “Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game”

  By Stephen Colfer | August 13, 2010 - 8:18 am | Games
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With the last of Brian Lee O Malley’s Scott Pilgrim Comic book series released last month and Edgar Wrights feature film only a couple of weeks away, Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game hit the Playstation Network this week and due to appear on xbox arcade on August 25th. With both the comics and film heavily influenced by video games the question is how do you make a game based on a comic based on games? The answer: You make a retro styled beat ‘em up stuffed with coins, extra lives, continues, heart points, combos, co-op and game overs and hire pixel artist Paul Robertson and chiptune artists Anamanaguchi to put it all together. As well as visually being based on the Comic’s Artwork it also loosely follows the story. Scott Pilgrim is dating Romona Flowers and must defeat her seven evil-ex boyfriends, his own personal issues and everyone … There’s more →

Final Harry Potter Games Announced

  By Stephen Colfer | June 4, 2010 - 12:00 pm | Games, Movies & TV, The Culch
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EA Games have announced the final two Harry Potter games; “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1″ and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2″ are being developed to coincide with the final two films. The first part will be released this Autumn, seeing how the film’s release date is November 19th then this more than likely means late October. Here’s the official blurb: With all the action taking place outside of Hogwarts for the first time, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 represents a shift in tone for the Harry Potter games. On the run with a horde of merciless enemies on their tail, players will find themselves in unknown territory, far from the safety of the school grounds, fighting for survival at every turn.

Portal is FREE!

  By Stephen Colfer | May 13, 2010 - 9:11 am | Games, The Culch
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In a landmark day for Mac users everywhere Valve’s Steam is now available on Mac. There is a limited number of games available for launch here but the number will be expanding every Wednesday. Any game you buy will also work on PC and vice versa via a new service called “SteamPlay”. Here’s the official blurb: Valve announced that Steam will launch on the Mac platform this Wednesday, May 12. On subsequent Wednesdays, additional collections of Mac titles will become available, each designed to highlight specific functionalities of Steam on the Mac. The first collection of Mac titles will demonstrate “Steam Play,” which allows customers to purchase a game once and play it on all Steam supported platforms. To celebrate Valve are giving away 2007′s critically acclaimed “Portal” for free to all PC and Mac users until May 24th. This is a chance to play one of the funniest, cleverest … There’s more →

Review: Just Cause 2

  By Stephen Colfer | April 11, 2010 - 3:47 pm | Featured Post, The Culch
3 Comments

I did a lot of things playing Just Cause 2 so many things that I couldn’t put them in words, which is why I made this video, which barely has any words at all. Just Cause 2 is insane. If you didn’t watch that video or watched it and simply refused to believe it, then yes, that was me surfing a jet then grappling to airliner mid flight. That was also me quad biking off an exploding crane, driving an ice cream van off a mountain, gracefully base jumping off a skyscraper and down a water fall, jumping onto the roof of my moving truck to clear a road block with a grenade launcher and last but not least, attaching a sports car to an air liner and driving/taking off into the sunset.

Replay Crucial Moments From 2010 FIFA World Cup

  By Stephen Colfer | April 1, 2010 - 12:29 pm | Games
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Here’s an interesting football/video game thing. As a feature in the upcoming “2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa” EA have announced “The Coca-Cola Zero Story of the Finals” which will be available for free for PS3 and xbox360 owners of the game. Basically only hours after a real-life match is played at the world cup owners of the game can download key moments from said match and have a go them themselves. This compliments the Qualifying mode from the last game which only featured moments from the qualifying, something which I’m sure Irish football fans are glad is returning. The Coca-Cola Zero Story of the Finals will enable gamers connected online to play real matches from the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final and face the same challenges their heroes experienced throughout the tournament. The free service complements an existing game mode called The Coca-Cola Zero Story of Qualifying which enables … There’s more →

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Teaser Trailer

  By Stephen Colfer | March 25, 2010 - 5:38 pm | Comics, Movies & TV
2 Comments

Don’t know if many of you out there are fans of The Scott Pilgrim comics by Brian Lee O’ Malley but I feel like I should state up front they are one of my favourite things ever . But I’m sure plenty of you know of Edgar Wright, director of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzzed and Spaced. Well the trailer was just released and I’ve been watching it on repeat for the last hour and can barely take my eyes from it to write this. I’ll let the blurb do the talking: Meet charming and jobless Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera). A bass guitarist for garage band Sex Bob—omb, the 22—year—old has just met the girl of his dreams…literally. The only catch to winning Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead)? Her seven evil exes are coming to kill him. Genre—smashing filmmaker Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) tells the amazing … There’s more →

Mass(er) Effect 2

  By Stephen Colfer | March 23, 2010 - 8:39 am | Games
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Bioware and EA Games have announced the first Downloadable Content packs for the awesome Mass Effect 2. The first is available from today and is free! Released on March 23 through the Cerberus Network is the Firewalker DLC pack, which includes five heart-pounding missions taking place on five uncharted worlds. Players will be able to explore planets and engage in combat in the new Hammerhead hover-tank. This so called “hovertank” finally adds a replacement land vehicle for the orginal Mass Effect’s not so admired buggy sequences. Finger’s crossed Bioware have used the time wisely but if the improvements of Mass Effect 2′s general gameplay over it’s predecessor are anything to go by it’ll be well worth it. Besides, it’s free… Free! Meanwhile the first Premium Downloadable Content is sent for April 6th:

Mass Effect 2 Review

  By Stephen Colfer | February 7, 2010 - 5:53 pm | Games, The Culch
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I was a little sceptical coming up to the release of Mass Effect 2. Ever since Modern Warfare 2 became the most popular thing ever and somebody discovering that if you make games to make money then taking money from the development team and putting it into advertising instead is guaranteed to increase your sales, I been very cautious of a game that you can see everywhere coming up to its release. Thankfully Bioware and EA Games seem to have gotten the balance right because Mass Effect 2 (PC, Xbox 360) is not over hyped shoot ‘em up rubbish, it’s really damn good Sci-Fi and even better role playing combined with better than average shoot ‘em up bits.

Team Fortress 2 Free Weekend

  By Stephen Colfer | December 17, 2009 - 7:27 pm | Games, The Culch
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Team Fortress 2 is the best online multiplayer game ever. It’s perfectly balanced, competitive, insanely fun, cheap and above all doesn’t take itself in the slightest bit seriously. Valve’s now 2 year old masterpiece is free to play in it’s entirity for the weekend. It’s available to preload on PC now, so you can start playing straight away once it all goes live this evening. No charge, no catch, all you need is a Steam Account which is also free. It should run on pretty much any computer bought in the last 2-3 years. Already own Team Fortress 2? Did I mention there’s yet another completely free update to the game once again adding more content than most paid for DLC expansions.

Command and Conquer 4 - Joe Kucan aka “Kane” Interview

  By Stephen Colfer | November 25, 2009 - 4:32 pm | Featured Post, Games, The Culch
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Joe Kucan tells culch.ie of the many changes in the up and coming Command and Conquer 4. I had a quick chance to play one of the new multiplayer modes which the series now focuses on. Gone are the days of base building with all building based units now being replaced by one mega mobile base unit called “The Crawler”. The Crawler can be constantly upgraded to build stronger and more powerful units throughout each match by sending troops out to collect tiberium crystals. It certainly makes a huge change to the classic Command and Conquer playstyle, within 3 minutes my GDI army was already engaged in a huge firefight with the NOD forces. Gameplay focuses around capturing map points and holding them. In fact should your crawler be destroyed a replacement is immediately sent in keeping you in the game but forcing you to begin upgrading from scratch. This … There’s more →

Left 4 Dead 2 - Chet Faliszek Interview

  By Stephen Colfer | November 15, 2009 - 3:42 am | Featured Post, Games, The Culch
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With Left 4 Dead 2 only days away Chet Faliszek talks about why we should bother, the New Orleans setting, explains “realism Mode” and definitely doesn’t say when Half Life 3 is out. Left 4 Dead 2 is available on PC and X-box 360 from Tuesday. PC users can buy it on Steam from here. See you at 5AM Tuesday morning.

Charlie Brooker’s Gameswipe.

  By Stephen Colfer | October 6, 2009 - 8:52 am | Games, The Culch
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I’m a little bit late posting this but last week Charlie Brooker screened this little number on BBC. He does a fantastic job at summing up the industry in a slightly incomplete but hugely entertaining way and also features Dara O’ Briain and Graham Linehan throwing in their own two cents. While actually aimed at non-gamers I’d certaintly recommened it to those already in the know, especially for those who think gaming started with the Playstation. Charlie Brooker is most famed for his TV series Screenwipe, something I’d recommened even more for you’ll never look at TV the same way again. Interesting facts while I’m here. Brooker started as games journalist before his days in television and the animations used in screenwipe were the inspiration for Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaws Zero Punctuation.

Batman: Arkham Asylum Review

  By Stephen Colfer | September 21, 2009 - 9:30 am | Comics, Featured Post, Games, The Culch
8 Comments

There’s four henchmen below me, three armed and one with a pipe. They’re close together and calm. No chance of knocking three out before one pulls the trigger and the batsuit is far from bullet proof. The un-armed man leaves the group, getting board. He walks underneath a stone gargoyle the same gargoyle I happen to be perched upon. I drop and suddenly he’s strung upside down hanging from the statue. That’s one. His companions rush towards him while one stays behind frantically looking for the bat. But he’s too late, I’m two feet away from gliding feet first into the back of his neck. That’s two. The two remaining henchmen stand back to back but they’re afraid. Pulse rates are averaging at 140bpm when I emerge from the floor grates between them, a swift punch to the back of the neck forces the first to drop his gun, the … There’s more →