Ubisoft announces Beyond Good and Evil HD

Sadly it’s not BG&E 2, but an HD rerelease of the 2003 original (For Xbox, PS2, GameCube, and PC: Watch the trailer).

It could be in anticipation of a major announcement about the sequel that was originally teased in 2008 and has since been rumored canceled on and off for the past year or two because of a total media blackout. This footage leaked back around E3 2009 and was never shown officially.

“BG&E” is often called a “Zelda clone that is better than Zelda”. I’m sure Zelda fanboys would disagree, but it’s one of the great games that you just shouldn’t miss-out on. Thankfully this already beautiful game is being rereleased in HD for download on Xbox Live and PSN sometime in 2011 so you can check it out if you missed it the first time.

Hopefully a new HD trailer will be out soon, I’ll be sure to post it.

Player One Podcast ep 116: About 1UP UGO buyout

No game talk this week. Instead, we dedicate the whole episode to talking about EGM’s closure and the 1UP layoffs in the wake of Hearst/UGO’s purchase of 1UP.com. In addition to regular hosts Chris “CJ” Johnston (ex-EGM News Editor) and Phil Theobald (ex-EGM editor and former GameNow Reviews Editor), we welcome a couple more ex-Ziff guests to the program: Kevin Gifford (ex-1UP editor and gaming magazine expert/Magweasel), Greg Sewart (ex-EGM Previews and Reviews Editor), Greg Ford (EGM Managing Editor), and Andrew “Skip” Pfister (ex-EGMer, GMRer and 1UP.com Reviews Editor/Podcast Producer).
A great behind the scenes look on 1UP and EGM. It’s also turning-out to be a good video game podcast.

1UP Video Game Podcasts “Replacements” Impressions 1

On my quest to fill the 1UP Podcasts void in my life I am listening to a bunch of podcasts I have never listened to before. So far I’ve listened to:

  • Player One Podcast (iTunes link) I picked-up on an after holiday episode so it was rather bland. The hosts are ex-EGM staff so I went back to the previous episode to get a better taste. It might grow on me but I’m not overly impressed yet… I’ll give it a chance and stay subscribed for now.
  • Gamers With Jobs (iTunes link) This was also an after holiday episode where they were missing someone but it was still actually enjoyable. In the episode I heard they talked a bit more about obscure PC games than I’d care to hear about. I’ll stay subscribed.
  • Giant BombCast (iTunes link) It’s a bit more informal than the 1UP podcasts. If they added slightly more structure it could be great. I do like that they jump right into what they were playing after the opening silliness. I’ll be subscribing and I’m sure it’ll grow on me.
  • Idle Thumbs (iTunes link) I enjoyed this one within the first 5 minutes and was fun all the way through. They actually have the best “1UP podcast” style synergy between the podcasters that makes it much more engaging. They also stay on the subject of games better than some podcasts. Less structure than 1UP podcasts, but still very good.