crash-of-the-titans posts (Subscribe to this feed)

Writer's Guild of America announces nominees for game writing award

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Jan 15th 2008 at 7:30PM }

The only thing that's consistently more ham-handed and embarrassing than the writing in games is the writing about games. Unlike the latter, however, small glimmers of hope emerge every year with the few games that thought it wise to deliver engaging dialogue and thoughtful plotting. This year alone saw titles like Mass Effect, BioShock and Portal being praised for exceptional writing and the emotional heft it lent to gameplay.

Of course, none of those were nominated for the Writer's Guild of America's first ever Video Game Writing Award, but never mind. The winner to grace the stage during the Writer's Guild Awards held in Los Angeles on February 9, 2008, will be chosen from this list of witty nominees:

Crash of the Titans -- Written by Christopher Mitchell for Sierra Entertainment
Dead Head Fred -- Written by Dave Ellis and Adam Cogan for D3 Publisher
The Simpsons Game -- With lead writer Matt Selman, written by Tim Long and Matt Warburton, dialogue by Jeff Poliquin for Electronic Arts
The Witcher -- With lead story designer Artur Ganszyniec, dialogue by Sebastian Stepien, additional dialogue by Marcin Blacha and writers Sande Chen and Anne Toole for Atari
World in Conflict -- Story design by Christofer Emgard, story consultant Larry Bond and script consultant Ed Zuckerman for Sierra Entertainment.

A game's eligibility hinged on being released between Dec. 1, 2006, and Nov. 30, 2007, and credited writers must have been or applied to become members of the WGA's New Media Caucus. Though we're undecided about which game deserves to win, we're certain that highlighting and rewording the good righting in games are vary importent.

Video: Crash of the Titans trailers ... nuff' said

by Dustin Burg { Dec 1st 2007 at 5:00PM }

This may be a bit out of the ordinary, but we came across a few new Crash of the Titans trailers featuring our favorite bandicoot doing some dare-devilish stunts. The two commercials (one above and another after the break) involve a random dude dressed up in a Crash outfit who climbs on the backs of extreme sports stars' shoulders and ultimately gets hurt in the process. Odd? Yup. Entertaining? Double yup. Do we know why we enjoy this kind of commercial foolery? Nope.

Continued →

DS Fanswag: Give thanks with this three-pack!

by Alisha Karabinus { Nov 21st 2007 at 3:40PM }

What with the holiday this week, it seemed fitting to show a little gratitude to you -- yes, you, over there, in the back -- by offering up a pack of games for the grabbing. One lucky DS Fanboy reader can take home Crash of the Titans ($29.99) and The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night ($29.99) for the DS, as well as our beloved GBA version of The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night ($19.99), for you to cherish (and compare to the DS title). In order to win, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post about giving thanks between now and next Monday, the 26th of November. The contest will end that day at 11:59 PM EST, so get cracking! You can only enter once per day, and as usual, the contest is limited to U.S. citizens over the age of 18. We'll announce the winner on Tuesday, November 27 -- and it could be you!

Don't forget to check out the official rules if you have questions.

Worldwide PSP release for the week of November 18

by Chris Powell { Nov 18th 2007 at 11:00PM }

The next few weeks are going to be pretty boring for U.S. PSP owners as it's looking like we'll have to wait until early December before we get any meaningful releases. However, the outlook isn't quite as bleak for our friends across the pond as they're getting a few games this week.

US Games

No new releases

EU Games

Jackass

Crash of the Titans

Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command

Asia Games

Ape Escape Racing (PSP the Best)

While it's certainly a bummer not to have any new games, we can always fall back on recent releases like Silent Hill Origins and Warhammer 40K: Squad Command to get us through these dark times.

Fanswag: And the Crash winner is ...

by David Hinkle { Oct 26th 2007 at 11:15AM }

Well, our giveaway came to a close last night and we have chosen our two winners. As you all know, the grand prize winner will not only receive a copy of Crash of the Titans, but a Wii skin from RedBeard. Our runner-up receives the other skin. So, without further delay, let's present our winners:

Grand Prize winner: Ponweed, who likes the "the one about the orange rodent guy and the guy with an N on his forehead."
Runner-up: Eddie Lopez, who enjoyed Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

And there we have it. Thank you all for entering and be sure to check back with us next week where we'll be giving away another piece of swag. Thanks for entering and thanks for reading Wii Fanboy!

Fanswag reminder: You only have hours left

by David Hinkle { Oct 25th 2007 at 12:00PM }

You like free stuff, right? Well, then maybe you would like to enter our giveaway we have running right now. Today is your last day to do so. And we're dying to give this stuff away, because our closet is too full of the corpses of fallen comrades, who gave their lives for a very good cause.

So, be sure to head on over to the contest post (we'll link it again for you) and get your entry in before 11:59pm EST tonight. Oh, and remember: one entry per person. We'd hate for you to be disqualified.

PSP Fanboy review: Crash of the Titans

by Andrew Yoon { Oct 23rd 2007 at 11:30AM }

Remember when Crash Bandicoot used to be a major player in the games industry? As the mascot of the PlayStation brand, millions of gamers looked to him for gaming's latest. Of course, that changed over the years, and he's become much less relevant. His newest game, Crash of the Titans, shows lessened aspirations in a game that's incredibly by-the-numbers.

The platformer genre has been of a dying breed, and it's not hard to see why: there haven't been very compelling entries to the genre in quite some time. Crash isn't going to change anything, relying heavily upon standard genre conventions. In the light of a different PSP platformer, Daxter (or even Ratchet and Clank), Crash of the Titans simply doesn't provide enough.

Continued →

DS Fanboy Review: Crash of the Titans

by Alisha Karabinus { Oct 20th 2007 at 1:00PM }

Ah, Crash Bandicoot. I remember your early days on the Playstation. We had some good times pitting our wits (okay, let's face it: your brawn) against the evil Neo Cortex, and we busted up a lot of crates along the way. For years, we were tight ... and then came Crash Boom Bang!.

Frankly, you let me down. But it's okay. I can forgive you ... if only because Crash of the Titans is exactly the kind of thing you should have been doing all along. Developer Amaze Entertainment has taken the franchise back to its roots, despite throwing in a few things to change up the series. Even though Crash himself looks a little different, and you find yourself punching and kicking your way through the baddies, it still feels like an old school Crash game -- and that can only be a good thing.

Gallery: Sierra's Crash of the Titans

Continued →

Shipping this week: burn rubber edition

by Richard Mitchell { Oct 1st 2007 at 3:45PM }

Alright, so we haven't really delivered on promises to stop talking profusely about Halo 3, but at least you can take comfort in the fact that there are other games coming out for your favorite console. Not only that, but this week we have a lot of new games coming out. Even better, we have some big name titles hitting the 360, namely Project Gotham Racing 4. Behold this week's glorious bounty:

Project Gotham Racing 4
Flatout Ultimate Carnage
Crash of the Titans
NBA 2K8
NBA Live 08
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe

Yup, that's a lot of games. Will it be enough to draw you away from Halo 3?

[Via Joystiq]

Wii releases for the week of October 1st

by David Hinkle { Oct 1st 2007 at 11:15AM }

Plenty of games releasing this week, so if you're looking for something new to play, especially a sports game, then you should be good to go. Some other titles of note include Crash of the Titans (we're glad to see the bandicoot is back) and Spider-Man: Friend or Foe.

Titles releasing this week are:

NBA Live 08
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe
MLB Power Pros
Dave Mirra BMX Challenge
Crash of the Titans
Balls of Fury
Hot Wheels: Beat That!
Ninja Bread Man

So, any of you plan on picking up a new game?

Crash of the Titans demo crashes onto XBLM

by Richard Mitchell { Sep 25th 2007 at 10:30AM }

Once something of a Sony mascot (remember when consoles had to have mascots?), Crash Bandicoot gave in to the sparkling allure of multiplatform cash long ago. The latest incarnation of the series, Crash of the Titans, now has a demo available on Xbox Live Marketplace. Honestly, we don't know much about the title at all. In fact, the official website still seems to be under construction, as all the relevant sections are still listed as "coming soon." Still, even with the minimal knowledge that we have, we can make a few educated guesses. There will be things to collect, there will be boxes just aching to be broken, and Crash will spin around like a mad man to do so. Go try out the demo and tell us if we're right or not.

Mastering Minions in Crash of the Titans

by David Hinkle { Sep 11th 2007 at 6:09PM }

This latest trailer for Crash of the Titans has us damn excited for the game. It's not taking control of minions so much that has us all excited, but just the desire for some platforming action on the Wii. We know we'll get quite the fix when a certain other game comes out, but this might not be such a bad diversion while we wait for that other game.

What do you all think?