About John Laster

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Deadliest Warrior: Legends Quick Facts:

• Vlad the Impaler ruled the Transylvanian princedom of Wallachia during the time that the Ottoman Empire was trying to expand into Eastern Europe. His reign was bloody and treacherous.
• At age 11 Vlad and his brother Radu were taken captive by the Ottoman Turks. They were used as leverage to prevent their father from warring against the expanding Ottoman Empire.
• While held captive, Vlad was instructed in the ways of Ottoman warfare. This included being forced to poke out the eyes of another prisoner who had sent unfavorable letters to his home country.
• Vlad is most famous for his forests of impaled foes. He stopped a revolt by impaling its leader and later took revenge on families who plotted to kill his father by working them to death as slaves.
• Vlad’s anti-crime measures included placing a gold cup atop a fountain, then impaling hundreds of suspected criminals when it went missing. It was returned the next night and stayed there unguarded.
• Vlad lost the throne when his generals refused to support him. He regained his crown for a short time, but died fighting the expanding Ottoman Empire. The details of his death remain a mystery.

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Image source: Joystiq

Deadliest Warrior: Legends Quick Facts:

• Hannibal was the commander of the Carthaginian army, a neighbor of the expanding Roman Empire.  He most famously led war elephants over the Alps into northern Italy to oppose Rome.
• Hannibal’s father lost Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica to Rome during the First Punic War. At age 9 Hannibal was made to swear an oath that he would forever hate Rome and seek revenge for the defeat.
• At Trebia, Hannibal’s elephants scared off Rome’s allies. The legions forded the near frozen river, and found Hannibal’s brother at their rear while Hannibal’s army stayed warm by their fires.
• At Lake Trasimene Hannibal made his camp look open, and hid his troops on either side of the only road in. The Roman commander led a disorganized charge and Hannibal’s army cut the legions to pieces.
• After the alps crossing Hannibal’s army was only 23000 infantry and 17 elephants (of 37 at the start of the crossing). At Canae, he lured the Roman army into a trap and defeated their army of 80000.
• Hannibal’s only defeat occurred at Zama, about 5 miles from Carthage. Scared elephants, veterans refusing to fight and a Roman general who declined to negotiate all contributed to Hannibal’s downfall.

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Image source: Joystiq

Deadliest Warrior: Legends Quick Facts:

• William Wallace is known as Scotland’s liberator having spent his adult life in guerilla war against the English. His outlaw career began when he killed an English constable’s son in a street fight.
• Wallace was found while secretly visiting his bride and new child, forcing a bloody escape. The sheriff executed his wife as retribution. Wallace returned that night killing every Englishman in town.
• At Stirling Bridge Wallace’s band waited for the English army to cross the narrow span. The Scots attacked, the English couldn’t mount a defense on the marshy ground, and were killed nearly to a man.
• After the victory at Stirling, Wallace spent the Autumn raiding and pillaging. Early the following year (1298)  he was knighted and named the Guardian of Scotland. He now led all of Scotland’s armies.
• In July, 1298 he met the English armies at Falkirk. Wallace’s spear walls held, but his horsemen deserted, leaving his archers open to attack by the English cavalry. Wallace’s losses were near total.
• Wallace never rebuilt his army, spending several years as an outlaw. He was captured in 1305, and was sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered in a trial that lasted less than a day.

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Inside a booth hidden in the back left corner of the South Hall at E3, Robot Entertainment showcased Orcs Must Die, as the looming shadow of the astronomically larger Activision booth served as foreshadowing of the impending storm coming for developers of digital downloadable games. Come this September, the onslaught of retail AAA titles, with massive marketing budgets beings, and all eyes will be on them. But in the months leading up, the digital download space will be offering on of its most impressive lineups ever of polished and innovative titles, including one of our favorites: Orcs Must Die.

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When I look at From Dust I see the vast, treacherous deserts plaguing an aboriginal society. I see people literally walled off by rocks formed from years of volcanic ash. I see a lifestyle of forced reliance on the temperamental flooding, life-giving waters. I see a microcosm of human history, and it’s all under my control.

Launching this summer, From Dust is a god game where players will have to keep their villagers alive without directly controlling anyone of them. Instead players will have to shape the landscape of the earth to make inhabitable for their people. A typical interaction requires players to create a pathway from one totem to another, before a timer runs out. Players can pick up and drop sand, water or lava and utilize these in any combination to accomplish their goal. Should they be unsuccessful a roaring flood will wash away their village and they will need to start over.

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I’ve always agreed with the comedian Whitney Brown one thing: if I became a vegetarian it would not be because I love animals but because I hate plants. Thankfully someone heard my cry. Halfbrick has adapted their bestselling iOS game Fruit Ninja, bringing it the Xbox 360 and trading in touchscreens for full body tracking. Until the actualization of Fruit Ninja Kinect, there has never been an adequate way to unleash this pent up rage against nature’s bounty. All joking aside, coming into E3, I was skeptical if Kinect could handle the precision required for a title like Fruit Ninja. By the end of the week, I was not only a believer but an advocate.

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This is a new piece we’re starting to let our readers know what we’ve been playing the past week. This will be coming out once a week from this …
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Co-written by Kaitlyn Chantry

Now that our trip to video game heaven has come and gone, it’s time to give you the run-down on the very best XBLA titles from E3 2011. We spent five hectic days getting our eyes and hands on every XBLA game possible and we’ve picked out fifteen games that stood out from the crowd.

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During E3 week, I had the opportunity to speak in great depth with Michel Gagne about the upcoming title Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet as well as pilot the demo for myself. The result was an entirely original experience from anything I have ever seen or played before. It was impossible to not be impressed.

The full story of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet starts nearly five years ago when Joe Olson, head of Fuelcell Games approached Michel about bringing feature quality animation to video games. Known for his unique style of animation Michel was a well-respected figure in the movie industry working on titles such as Prelude to Eden, The Iron Giant, Osmosis Jones, and Ratatouille. At the time, Michel was hesitant citing his lack of knowledge of the game industry. Michel informed me that before he started work on Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (ITSP) he did not know simple video game concepts like what a boss was. Joe was persistent and thankfully persuasive and eventually got Michel onboard under one condition. They would not make a game, but a work of art.

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Upon booting up Trenched, it’s quickly clear that this is a Double Fine game, as behind the quirky, machismo humor lies a title with some serious character. Trenched scraps the traditional formula and instead recycles the leftovers to create something entirely different and completely reinvigorating. Gone are the days when leaving a tower defense match in the middle to make a sandwich was acceptable. There will be no time to reach for the jar of mayo, as players will find themselves constantly engaged by the battles surrounding them.

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