I’m still not entirely sure if Too Human is going to be a slam dunk, but after a demo at GDC one thing is clear: Silicon Knights’ Xbox 360 title has some serious technical chops.

“Take a good look at this loading screen,” said director Denis Dyack as he started up the game from the title screen. “It’s the only time you’ll see it during the demo.” By the time he was finished with the sentence, the near-final version of Too Human was off and running, and not once did we see a load screen for the first thirty minutes of the game.

Even as it jumped from environment to environment. Silicon Knights are master storytellers above all, and their Too Human tech is there to serve this purpose. The first half hour of the game zips back and forth between gameplay and cut-scenes and expository flashbacks, each taking place in different, wide-open, detailed environments, and not one transition brought with it a halt in the pacing.

Too Human, due out sometime later this year from Microsoft for Xbox 360, is best described a cross between God of War’s cinematic, epic action sequences and loot-grinding RPGs like Diablo. On the one hand, you’ve got these wonderful cut scenes telling a story of Norse mythology in a cybernetic age, where robotic Valkyries take departed souls to Valhalla on golden metal wings. While Silicon Knights still doesn’t want to spill many story details, what I saw thus far has me hooked.

And on the other, you’ve got the massive menu screens full of “epic loot” and skill trees. While you are constantly finding new armors, weapons, and runes to give them stat boosts, the menu system used to swap them out is pretty intuitive — if complex. You can scroll through all your various types of stuff and compare it to what you’re currently wearing, to see if you want to swap it out. Armor does degrade, so eventually you’ll want to put on something new because you won’t have the protection anymore.

Since all the cut scenes are in real-time, main character Baldur’s gear will always reflect what you’re wearing — even if the armor is degrading and flashing red, that’ll show up in the cinematics.

You can choose from five character classes at the start, all of whom are rathed on hit points, melee, ballistics, armour, and skills. The “Champion” is good with both firearms and melee, critical strikes and air combat. He’s the well-rounded choice of first-time players, for sure.

The “Commando” is best with firearms, explosives, and the “spider”, a device you get early in the game which allows you to deploy a variety of attacks. The “Bioengineer” is a healer who uses nanotechnology to heal and fight. (He gets “mana fuel” from killing enemies, which allow him to use these powers.)

The “Berserker” has low HP, but excels in melee combat and can dual-wield. His best defense is a constant offense. And the “Defender” is a tank who wears a Cylon-style helmet and is the only class who cannot get knocked down by enemy missiles.

One of the key areas in which Silicon Knights and I agree is that a gamer should never have to control the camera in a game like this. While you do in fact have some limited camera control — you can recenter it behind you by hitting the left shoulder button — the camera is for the most part best left to its own devices, as it will automatically move to give you the best views of the action. Playing the game, I found that it was mostly good at it, although there were a few times when I had to slap the L button to get my bearings.

You can use the D-pad to adjust the camera’s position in relation to the action. If you want it zoomed up tight, that’s fine; if you want it zoomed far out looking like Diablo, that is also appropriate. I found I liked it zoomed out, as there are a lot of enemies at times. In fact, the battle system is based on juggling a whole bunch of foes at once — between 50 and 70 at times, says Dyack.

Melee attacks are done by holding the right analog stick in the direction of the enemy you want to hit, and Baldur will automatically slide there, zooming right along the floor up to them. The game’s producer at Microsoft described the optimal strategy as “playing ping-pong” — you want to slide up to an enemy and attack it, then slide to an enemy behind you and attack it, and bounce back and forth. Longer slides let you build up your combo meter, which makes you attack enemies faster. But once you build the meter up enough, you can spend some of it on a super-move that crushes all the enemies around you. It’s an interesting tradeoff, because while it kills everything, it palpably slows you down back to the slowest combat speed.

You can just jam straight through the levels, but there are also “challenge rooms” that you can enter and try to wipe out a group of enemies in a certain time (two minutes, in the room we played). If you succeed, you get to bash open a breakable object full of loot; if you fail, you’re booted out and you can never try again.

Another way you can have fun while grinding enemies is to do mini-quests that you can see in the menu screen. To get a few more runes to upgrade your weapons, for example, you can kill six trolls by mounting them. “Trolls” in Too Human are giant walking mechs, of course. To kill them you can shoot or bash out their armor, then press A when you are near them to jump on them. This initiates the “troll-surfing” portion of the game, where you will push the analog stick back and forth to balance on the troll, then slam the right stick to smash his head in.

Anyway, all this is surely only a tiny slice of Too Human. Did I have a good time? I am not exactly an RPG person. I do not grind epic mobs for loot, or mob epic loots for grind, or any of that. But Too Human was certainly fun, and the story is definitely intriguing, and if anybody can have me looting epic grinds, it’s Silicon Knights.

Last week’s debate was a big Kum-Ba-Yah around the Dtoid campfire, in which we all discussed the games that have consumed the most hours of our lives. Some looked back lovingly while others shook their fists in regret Over two hundred votes were cast, and surprisingly the majority of them were all for completely different games than others had mentioned. Here are some of the games that stood out among the rest:

This week’s debate question came to me when reading one of urbanyeti’s comments last week. I realized that we’ve never had a debate over which are the most loved levels in popular multiplayer games. So, with easily dozens of great online and offline multiplayers to choose from, this will become the theme of the next few debates for the next month or two. On top of casting your vote this week, feel free to request which multiplayer games you’d like to have level debates over in the future!

For the first week of this new trend, the easy choice was GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64. Take a look at the picture above and you’ll probably see images of what several of your Summers revolved around as a child. The early Facility fad followed by the Complex Christmas of 1997, the Bunker days locked away in your basement, the Summer of slappers-only — the list goes on and on, and every level deserves respect in its own way, but only one can win. Which level was your favorite, and why? Give each level some serious consideration, cast your vote, get some friends to share their opinions as well, and check back next week for the winner.

Bonus: Which multiplayer gameplay modes and/or cheat codes were your favorite to play with, and why? Also, which characters did you play as the most, and why?

Sure, we post our share of risky toys, but here’s something slightly different. Something without plastic jubblies. Something totally grody. Something like this Gears of War Locust with its head being blown into iddy-bitty pieces. As we previously hinted at, this was spotted at the US Toy Fair. Close-up after the jump, complete with plastic blood squirtage.

Locust Toy [Action Figure Insider Thanks, Chris!]

For you Okami fans out there, check out the newest video from the game… it comes straight from GDC 2008 - enjoy.

From msnbc.msn.com:
[QUOTE]
Bloggers and reporters have been buzzing about the possibility of a partnership for almost a year, ever since Netflix CEO Reed Hastings joined Microsoft’s board of directors last March. But there have been other hints that the two were inching toward a more formal marriage.

Microsoft won’t comment on the rumor. An e-mail query to Schappert netted only a “Stay tuned!” reply.
[/QUOTE]

Kotaku.com has other guesses about what Microsoft might announce during their GDC keynote:
[QUOTE]
* Gears of War 2: This has almost moved beyond rumor and become fact. Word of some possible Gears 2 announcement has been making the round for weeks now.

* XNA Arcade: Obviously something has to be said about Microsoft’s casual game development tool, XNA. They even have an area in their XNA space at GDC still underwraps until 11:30 a.m. tomorrow. (Right after the keynote). Our money is on Microsoft unveiling a broader distribution model for XNA produced games, like, perhaps, a new blade on Xbox Live.
[/QUOTE]

Full Story: msnbc.msn.com | kotaku.com

At long last, Game|Life The Video has returned. This week, we take a look at the game you’re all dying to get your hands on: Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Get a look at the new features that have impressed us the most from our hands-on time, from Final Smashes to the stage creator to the controller configuration options (which truly is an awesome idea).

And then, stick around for a very special public service announcement.

As you can see, we’re still trying new things with the videos, so keep giving us your thoughts.

Producer: Annaliza Savage, Editor/Camera: Michael Lennon

See Also: Game|Life The Video, Episode One

Shocker: Heavenly Sword developer Ninja Theory are working on a new title. OK, so while it’s not shocking, it has been confirmed in an update to the company’s official Web site. 

“Right now we’re working on an exciting new concept that has got everyone we talk to buzzing,” the Ninja Theory team posted. “We can’t say a lot except that it’s going to be great to work on and should be even better to play!”

They go on to say that everything the team loved about Heavenly Sword will be made bigger and better. To me, this hints that the title will not be a direct sequel to Heavenly Sword, and rumors I’ve heard also point in this direction. Frustratingly, they say nothing more about the “new concept,” but they’ve certainly caught our attention.

Scattered across their site is what appears to be concept art for their next title, all of which I’ve posted in our gallery below.

[Via NeoGAF]

Capcom have loosened the leash holding their Okami Wii assets back, and today have released a ton of screenshots for the upcoming port, along with some video footage. The video, which you can find after the jump, looks as lovely as you’d hope, so you might want to focus on it if the screens leave you a little underwhelmed. Oh, and remember, while there’s black bars along the sides in the screenshots, Ready At Dawn told us yesterday that the final, retail build of the game will feature “full” 16:9

Are you not a fan of playing racing games with a “wheel”? If so your in luck, as it’s been said that you can use whatever controller you want while playing Mario Kart Wii.

Wii.Kombo has a writeup with a good quote about the controller situation for Mario Kart Wii…

According to the hands-on, players will be able to use the wheel, Wii Remote and Nunchuk, Classic Controller or GameCube Controller options. What ever you prefer, Nintendo still says that testers prefer the steering wheel.

So which controller are you going to use?

(Via Wii.kombo)

From 8bitjoystick on seattlepi.nwsource.com:
[QUOTE]
One of my sources for Microsoft stuff, Xboxfounder has chimed in the comments on Digital Joystick on the developments of HD-DVD/Blu-ray for game systems.

“We’ll see over the next few months. Either MS will come out with a Blu-ray player, or they will file suit to force Sony to share, in much the same way many others sue MS for the same reasons on Windows compatibility. It will be interesting to watch this unfold.”
[/QUOTE]

Full Story: seattlepi.nwsource.com