UP and Away With a New Pixar Adventure

By Brad Cook

Pixar has seen nothing but critical and box office success since the release of “Toy Story” in 1995, and developer Heavy Iron Studios has matched the studio stride-for-stride with complementary videogames since 2004’s “The Incredibles.” (The lone exception was “Cars” in 2006.) So when the time came to translate Pixar’s tenth feature film, “UP,” into the world of videogames, senior producer Brian Wiklem and his team at Heavy Iron were ready to do the heavy lifting.

He recalls: “From the minute our screening of ‘UP’ — in storyboard fashion nearly two years before the film’s release — ended, the film team was talking to us about gameplay ideas, games they had played previously that could be inspirational, and ways we could explore the ‘UP’ universe using angles that perhaps wouldn’t make it into the film.”

Wiklem adds: “The film team are avid gamers, and they’ve been vocal about what we’ve created for the UP videogame. On average we were talking to members of the film team bi-weekly. Oftentimes they were blown away that we could prototype full game sequences before they had even blocked them out in the film version.”
The Essence of the Tale

The movie’s storyline features the unlikely pairing of elderly widower Carl Fredericksen and eight-year-old Wilderness Explorer Russell. With the threat of being moved into an assisted living facility over his head, Carl decides to fulfill his late wife’s dream of seeing South America by tying thousands of balloons to his home and taking to the skies. Russell, who had visited Carl to earn his “Assisting the Elderly” merit badge, becomes an accidental companion on the voyage.

“We tried to capture the essence of UP’s most exciting film moments and offer an experience that happens between those big moments in the film.”
- Brian Wiklem, senior producer

After Carl and Russell arrive at the majestic table-top tepuis of South America, however, their journey takes a sharp turn when they encounter famous adventurer Charles F. Muntz, his airship, and his pack of talking dogs, including one named Dug. A prehistoric flightless bird called Kevin adds to the intrigue as Carl and Russell try to keep him from being captured. Soon the pair find themselves embroiled in an adventure worthy of Indiana Jones.

Wiklem explains: “We tried to capture the essence of UP’s most exciting film moments and offer an experience that happens between those big moments in the film. The Pixar team was very detailed about what they saw and witnessed in South America on those tepuis, and we tried to be as faithful as possible to the reality of not just that area of South America, but also what was visually expressed in the film.”

He adds: “For example, we have a couple boss levels that you won’t see in the film, but all of the animals and vegetation in the game were thoroughly researched and taken directly from the geographic region.”


Rounding Out the Characters

As gruff Carl slowly warms to energetic Russell, the two work together to navigate the harsh environment, fend off enemies, and keep each other safe from danger. That dynamic encompasses the movie and the game, as Wiklem explains: “The entire game is based on cooperation, rather than individual challenges that require only one character. Even in single-player mode, the player will have to switch characters so they can work together and achieve their goals.”

Kung Fu Panda: The Bodacity of Hope

By Brad Cook

“Let’s try to make it a real martial arts movie, albeit one with a comic character, and let’s take our action seriously,” Kung Fu Panda co-director John Stevenson says in an interview with ComingSoon.net. “Let’s really make sure that our kung fu is as cool as any kung fu ever done … and make sure it’s a beautiful movie … and then let’s see if we can imbue it with real heart and emotion.”

As it was in the movie, so shall it be in Kung Fu Panda the videogame. As in the movie, our hero is Po, a panda living in the Valley of Peace. He’s destined to become the Dragon Warrior — “a fighter of extreme skill and bodacity” — but for now, he finds himself working in his goose father’s noodle restaurant and dreaming of bigger things. Given the opportunity to learn kung fu, however, Po rises to the occasion, increasing his repertoire of skills as he battles the evil forces of Tai Lung the snow leopard and other enemies.

During Po’s adventures, you’ll meet the red panda Master Shifu, who takes Po’s abilities to the next level, as well as the Jade Palace’s martial experts, known as The Furious Five: Master Tigress, Master Monkey, Master Mantis, Master Viper, and Master Crane. You’ll unlock The Furious Five as you progress through the game, giving you access to their unique powers in a variety of multiplayer battles that expand the action in new ways, including all-out brawls, target practice, and more.

Stevenson explains: “The Furious Five are based on the original five animal fighting styles in kung fu — tiger, crane, monkey, mantis and snake-style — so our big conceit was, ‘Well, how does it look to see the original animals that inspired the kung fu moves that shaolin monks adopted? How does an animal do that as opposed to how a human being imitates that animal?’” Patience, panda cub: you’ll soon learn the answers.
Expanding the Movie World

As you learn new fighting styles and explore the game’s 13 levels, keep your eyes open for coins that you can collect and cash in to increase Po’s health and chi (the latter lets him execute special moves, such as the rolling attack known as Stumbling). You can also spend the money to enhance Po’s attacks and obtain special outfits, including the legendary Dragon Warrior attire. Find rare coins and figurines of The Furious Five to unlock special prizes, including video clips and new multiplayer levels and characters.

The game expands on the movie’s vision of ancient China in many ways, introducing new places for you to explore and new enemies to defeat, such as Great Gorilla and the Wu Sisters. You’ll also encounter new characters who need your help, like a mother turtle who needs you to save her hatchling from the Imperial Golden Croc Gang. While many tasks are optional, completing all of them will grow Po’s powers.

You’ll need all the help you can get for the final battle, which features the fearsome Tai Lung. You’ll need to bring all of Po’s skills, including his prowess with weapons, into play, proving, as he says, that he’s not “a big fat panda,” he’s “the big fat panda.” Skidoosh!

Suicide By Video Game

10:18 A.M. Wednesday
I log into WoW and dick around for what feels like fifteen minutes, standing on top of a busy mailbox and /flexing every time someone approaches.
Every now and then we hear stories of people playing video games for so long that they neglect their basic needs for rest and nourishment, eventually passing away before the bluish glow of their screens. Can such a thing really happen? Is it possible to be so oblivious that you'd throw away this precious life that you've been given for a video game? You bet it is, and you can do it yourself! While the process is fairly straightforward, I'll show you what to expect by keeping a simple liveblog of my own attempted gamicide.

Before getting started, there are a few things we'll need:

- Computer and/or consoles and games in one location that you can easily reach from the comfort of that leather gaming chair that cost more than your wardrobe.

- Nothing to live for.

- A last will and testament (probably scrawled on a roll of toilet paper tucked away beside your monitor) that saves your loved ones grief by clearly spelling out who gets your collection of dusty video game boxes and that Steel Battalion controller.

- Approximately six hundred cans of Halo 3 edition Mountain Dew Game Fuel. I'm pretty sure this stuff is devoid of water and any nutritional content, but it will keep you awake, which makes it ideal.

- One framed picture of Shigeru Miyamoto for moral support. I would specify a picture when he's smiling, but I dare you to find a picture where the dude doesn't look like he just won the lottery.

Note that I didn't specify which games you should use, because that's a matter of preference. Pick something that will draw you in and really consume your time. My games of choice will be Peggle, Team Fortress 2, and the old standby World Of Warcraft.
2:31 A.M. Thursday
Alt-Tab out, only to realize that sixteen hours have passed. I instinctively move to get out of my chair and go to the bathroom, but stop myself before ass breaks contact with cushion. Mustn't leave the seat. What do I do?

I briefly consider going the route of the poopsocker, but think better of it. No, I still have my dignity. I'll just hold it in and hope that the waste building up inside of my body will act as a toxin to speed up my impending death.

2:40 A.M. Thursday
Load up Peggle and attempt to complete the 750,000 points in one level challenge, which is a lot like dropping a quarter from a space shuttle orbiting the Earth and getting it to land on a saucer floating in a stormy sea without breaking it, with the coin standing perfectly on its side.

6:58 A.M. Thursday
After getting 749,500 points in one round before losing, I angrily close the game. I've got a headache, and the fact that I'm starving and dehydrated doesn't help. I pound three cans of Game Fuel to fill my stomach, bringing my total slightly past "entirely too much".

The cherry-flavored bile that's been sloshing around my esophagus for the past few hours finally eats its way through the lining of my throat. I can sort of taste neckbone. Does this count as eating? I hope not.

3:03 P.M. Thursday
I hop on a goon-run Team Fortress 2 server. My class? Pyro. My strategy? Stay in the spawn room and try to figure out why /flex isn't working.

10:52 P.M. Thursday
My knee blows out. Wasn't quite expecting that. Luckily, none of the bone fragments that penetrated the underside of my desk hit anything important like the keyboard. The pain is good. It keeps me awake.

4:18 A.M. Friday
I'm beyond exhausted now. Do you remember that part in 2001: A Space Odyssey when Ed Harris is traveling through the cosmos and it's flashing all these weird colors and his eyeballs keep darting around and you're not really sure if he's dying or hallucinating or what? That part just came on, I love that. What a great movie. I can't believe people used to play games without a video iPod nearby.

5:03 A.M. Friday
The librarian just told me I have to leave because "other people need to use the computer". Oh, I'm sorry, lady who's watching over my shoulder as I type this. I didn't realize we lived in a POLICE STATE, or that such a limited amount of power could go to someone's hea

Video Game Cosplay Highlights

Nerds are drawn to Comic Con every year like nerdy moths to a glowing lightsaber. As the convention continually grows larger, the outfits displayed by cosplayers grow more elaborate. In turn, our country becomes more deserving of the hatred of people in third world countries who can't afford to buy AIDS-free loincloths, much less a fully-functional Iron Man suit with a custom built 52-inch waist.

Most of the costumes represent characters from comics, anime, and action films, but video game characters have come into vogue in recent years. Now that this year's Comic Con has wrapped up, it's time to highlight some of the most impressive and understated video game cosplayers from the event.

F1 World Grand Prix for Dreamcast

The Dreamcast delivers a new sense of realism to the racing-games genre with F1 World Grand Prix. Not only is it one of the most beautiful games of its kind, with lavishly modeled cars and tracks, but it's one of the deepest ones as well. Almost every aspect of F1's cars can be customized, including gear ratio, suspension, brake sensitivity, front and rear wings, as well as tires and the amount of fuel racers choose to carry. Pit stops let players refuel and repair damage--which cars take realistically--and an announcer identifies racers' ranking, position gains and losses, and specific car damage.There are 16 races in championship mode, each with weather conditions based on conditions found in the real event. A match-race mode lets two friends compete, which is ideal when you want to go head-to-head against a buddy. The only real drawback to this game is that it lacks the speed of an arcade-style racer, but this fact alone may be enough to scare away nonracing fans.

Grand Theft Auto (GTA): Vice City for PlayStation 2

he no holds barred world that has had critics up in arms for years is back with Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. All of the carnage and mayhem of the previous GTA games is back with a 1980s flair taken right out of such films as Scarface. Set in a fictional Miami, players must work their way to the top of the organized crime world using any means necessary. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City not only packs more violence and mayhem than the Godfather, but it’s also a fantastic achievement in the world of video games.

Final Fantasy XI: Chains Of Promathia for PlayStation 2

Final Fantasy XI: Chains Of Promathia takes you into the aftermath of a great war, as you answer a desperate call to defend your people. In this first ever cross-platform massive multiplayer online game, you'll unite with other warriors as they save their world from utter destruction. Volunteer for missions to defend the world and its people, across 100 different gameplay areas -- mountains, deserts, oceans, castles and dungeons, all with lives of their own. Fight the constant time and weather changes and create a legend