I had the privilege of playing the demo of EA’s Dante’s Inferno at GameX in Philadelphia this past weekend (October 23rd-25th). The game’s target release date is Februrary 9, 2010. Dante’s Inferno the game is loosely, and I mean very loosely, based on the medieval poem written by Dante Alighieri’s called “The Inferno”. Electronic Arts was demonstrating a portion of the Lust level of the game. Why they chose Lust at an event that families were definitely going to be attending, I will never know. It certainly felt awkward fighting the Lust boss, Cleopatra (yes, that one), while her bare breasts were bouncing all over the screen-spilling demon babies-and hearing young boys behind me exclaiming, “WHOA!” I personally don’t find the content of the Lust level offensive in any manner, if anything it brought out the immaturity in me seeing so many phallic references (subtle and not-so subtle) and straight up sexual scenes on statues and sounds from enemies.

After getting over the penis pillars, vagina walls, and female enemy mobs with…spare parts…I started concentrating on the game itself. It’s really as everyone else claims it to be, a God of War clone. Very similar in flow and movement to God of War, even the quicktime events and how you regain health is almost exactly the same. That is not to mention how visually and graphically they’re both similar, and stunning. A God of War double isn’t a terrible thing to some. I know I enjoyed my time with the game still. When starting the demo level I was immediately bombarded with the demon females with “spare parts”. After defeating the waves of enemies with controls that are really easy to grasp and learn (I didn’t bother with the Tutorial before starting and still figured it out rather fast) I had my first couple puzzles to solve. I’m not going to give anything away, of course, but I feel the puzzles have a nice balance in difficulty. The puzzles aren’t “throw-your-system-out-the-window” hard, but just challenging enough to the point where you may have to think about it for a few minutes; it seems like the puzzles will make you really explore every crevice of your surroundings to check if there are levers, ropes, etc for you to use to your advantage. The game has “RPG elements” too, like God of War. Dante doesn’t level, of course, but you do get ways to obtain new skills and strengthen yourself. It’s a shame you couldn’t play with any of these elements during the demo. There was no way for me to test it since EA set you up at a certain level with the skills you would have if you were actually play, but no way to get anything new.

As far as RPG and stories go, when I say this game is loosely based on the original story I mean it. The only aspects taken from the original story were the names of characters and the usage of the layers of hell. Virgil was also torn from his role as the “tour guide” of hell, always by Dante’s side, to more of a background character. Probably the biggest difference of all is the fact that Dante is featured as a Templar in the game. Apparently, EA didn’t think a poet wasn’t cool enough to play in their game. Well, putting it that way I guess I can’t disagree from a gamer stand point, but from the point of view of a college graduate with a degree in Literature it’s highly disappointing.

Dante’s Inferno has a lot of potential with its kick-ass hero, Dante, and the dark, disturbing imagery that flows throughout the game. My main concern is, since the game a lot like God of War, will this hurt it or help it? Like I said, I still enjoyed the game despite the fact that it’s almost exactly the same as God of War. I still had fun fighting the huge boss and solving the puzzles. Will most people snub their nose at the game because of the similarities or be more willing to pick it up because it’s something familiar? We’ll see in February!

Speakers:
Phil Chan- http://www.digitalpimponline.com
Ross Scott- http://www.systemcomic.com
Dern- http://www.dernworks.com
Marty- http://www.artfighthighschool.com

Saturday, October 24th at GameX I attended a panel on breaking into the comics industry. The speakers listed above spoke of their experiences, what helps them, and what people who are interested in getting started in comics (writer or artist) can do to jump start their career.

For awhile Phil Chan was alone and started talking about the best ways for people to begin a business in the comics industry. He stated that it’s harder for a writer than an artist because all an artist basically has to do is just show up at a convention with their portfolio and say, “Hey! Can you take a look at these?” As a writer it is definitely harder to grasp someone. From the artistic side it is imperative that he/she be able to tell a story with their pictures. He suggested that the writer or artist needs to get involved with all conventions so he/she can begin networking and getting themselves out there.

He suggested the best thing to do is pair up a writer and artist right away. From there there are many “comic repositories”-mass publishing sites for web comics-on the internet. Making your own site is preferred, but you can always set up a free WordPress account and use their “comic press” theme at first.

After the rest of the panelists joined in the real discussions began. They continued to give out suggestions to the audience on the best ways to get started. Art design college and photography classes [can help with 2D design] were a couple of thoughts from the panelists. They also suggested some literature to the curious audience: Three Uses of the Knife and Understanding Comics.

An interesting question from an audience member was, “What is your personal creative process?” The panelists’ answers were pretty simple: It’s different every time. Ross said he always tries something different, and may even give himself limitations. Dern likes to start blank and just scribble characters to begin. Phil, and others agree, some of the best times your mind is free to be creative and focused is when you’re in the shower, before bed, riding to work, etc.

It was an interesting and insightful panel for sure! They panelists gave great information for anyone interested in starting a career in the comics industry.

After some hectic confusion in the morning with media passes, I was well on my way to experiencing GameX. GameX is the three-day convention in Philadelphia, PA that offers everything geek culture: video games galore, Steam Punk, robotics, comics, cosplay, and more. It’s similar to a convention like PAX, but on a lesser scale. I’ll be first to admit that the east coast gets the raw end of the deal on these types of events.

Since it was Friday, and the kiddies were in school and the parents at work, it was definitely a slow day. Friday in the middle of the day just doesn’t seem like an optimal day/time for a gaming convention. Due to the way the event was scheduled, there was not much going on Friday anyway. So this gave me a great chance to take a look at everything and really take it all in. I was able to meet a couple of my favorite celebrities like Brian O’Halloran (Dante from Clerks), and three of The Guild members Robin Thorsen (Clara), Jeff Lewis (Vork), and Sandeep Parikh (Zaboo). I did forget to bring cash, sadly, and I have to wait for an autograph until Saturday or Sunday.

I sampled some unreleased games too! I got to play an upcoming MMO by Hi-Rez Studios called Global Agenda, EA’s Dante’s Inferno, and SEGA’s Bayonetta. I will be doing previews of Dante’s Inferno and Bayonetta once I spend more time with them. The highlight of the day was The Guild panel for me. There, fans of The Guild got to watch two episodes from season 2 and ask their questions afterwards. People asked questions about their experiences on The Guild sets, their likes and dislikes about acting on the show, and similar questions. There weren’t many people for the panel, but the people that were there were huge fans. Everyone in the audience and The Guild were laughing during the Q&A as the guildies were making jokes and being very conversational and friendly with the crowd. I’m disappointed in myself because I forgot to record the Q&A part so I would actually remember specifics.

I’m excited for the rest of the weekend because I’ll be attending some of the seminars and sessions GameX put together, playing more new games, as well as hopefully spend some time interviewing a few people. Stay tuned!