UTK: Pokemon Platinum

By MrMean

(Still prefers to be called Mr instead of Dr)

6 months after the release in Japan, Gamefreak and Nintendo gratefully bring you Pokemon Platinum, a spinoff of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. Pokemon Platinum takes place in the same region as Diamond and Pearl, heck it is the same game but with some minor, yet effective changes. Pokemon Platinum came out on on March 22nd.

Storyline

The storyline is pretty much the same as Diamond and Pearl. Team Galatic is trying to conquer the Sinnoh region by acquiring the three legendaries of the lakes, Azelf, Mesprit and Unxie.  Your role is to mind your own business until you bump into Team Galatic’s Headmaster, Cyrus.

You goal now now is to stop Team Galatic and save all of Sinnoh. You are

Misc. Gaming – Killing Floor – London Calling

By OD

(OD? Making videos?! What madness is this!?”)

If any of you have been on steam or just browsing the internet for another Zombie game, then you probably already know about “Killing Floor” for the PC. I recently bought it a week ago and now I am showing you guys a taste of what to expect in Killing Floor. Enjoy, and also watch in High Quality.

Expect a video review of the game in the near future.

Under the Knife – Let the Right One In

by Beeslo

(Twilight ain’t got shit on this!)

Well, its nice to see that I’m not the only one who has been slacking off around here, but since its a new year, perhaps I should make some HealingTouch resolutions. So for one, I promise to write more articles with a more clear cut schedule in mind. Also, I am responsible for the maintenance of certain aspects of this site, like the Under the Knife section…oddly enough. But while I’m sure others are running here to make similar promises…let’s get to the good stuff!

So for New Year’s, my girlfriend and I decided to go to the movies. After much discussion, we decided to go see the movie about a kid who falls in love with another kid who turns out to be a vampire. The best part? The movie was not called Twilight. That’s right! There exists yet another movie about adolescent vampire love and it was absolutely amazing! Sure, one could say that my love of this movie is a little biased considering I think Twilight is highly overrated, but get this: My girlfriend (a rabid Twilight fan) loved it just as much as me and she thought it was leagues better than the movie Twilight (I’m sure she’ll still claim the Twilight book is better overall though).

CAPSLOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL 4 COOL: HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY HEALINGTOUCH!

That’s Right on this day January 1, 2008 we decided to make a blogsite dedicated to gaming and geekery. At the last month it became a little slow, but that’s what’s expected when it’s the holiday…

Bigger things are going to happen this year, and hopefully won’t have a shitty climax like last year.

Nurse Joy’s HealingTouch News: Updates

by Nurse Joy
(SUMIMASEN!)

Hi folks, just wanted to make this quick. We apologize for the ever decreasing amount of post counts. With the American economy in it’s current status many people are losing jobs and/or struggling to keep their jobs. Many of our writer’s can no longer afford the luxury to have free time and write whenever they feel like it, or even be able to keep up with their schedules.

We thank you all for your support, and we will continue to write articles, but unfortunately they will not be as frequent as you are used to. But, never fear, hopefully in the somewhat near future (a few months) things will get back into gear and we’ll be a pumping out fresh content for you on a daily basis.

News of the Now (and The Rant) – Watchmen: The Videogame

by Beeslo

(wonders how Rorschach isn’t suffocating under that latex mask)

Hey, so remember that review of Watchmen I did…like yesterday? Remember how I said, it would be cool if Alan Moore had made some more back story concerning the partnership of Rorschach and Nite Owl? But also remember how I said that would be, in fact, more of a bad idea?

Well, EGM announced that Denmark based, Deadline Games is developing a prequel to the upcoming film adaptation following the early exploits of Rorschach and Nite Owl. You think that’s big? Well not only will it appear on both the 360 and PS3, but its going to be an episodic, downloadable game (a la, Penny Arcade Adventures) to boot.

Early previews reveal that it will be an action game of some type, but at this moment, its not exact what the gameplay will like. However, I have very mixed feelings about this. You might recall that I did say that more back story about Rorshach would actually be a very bad idea. And perhaps this a good point to clarify. There are two things wrong with this idea. One, the thing that drew most people to Rorschach’s character was his enigmatic personality, always shrouded in darkness and cynicism. This game is set in 1973, which places the game in a time where Rorschach is not like the cold and cynical vigilante that we meet in Watchmen. And on top of that, a prequel will give us too much Rorschach. Half of his charm in the graphic novel was that he rarely talked to anyone and mainly kept to himself, lost in himself as it were. But this prequel reveals a lot about Rorschach that could possibly delute his image in the movie or even the original graphic novel itself.

The second thing that makes me not like this idea is like I said before, this appears to be an action game…possibly even a brawler. I know this sounds odd, me not liking the idea of a video game being an action game when its based on a superhero comic. But trust me when I say, there’s actually very little action in all 12 issues. And on top of that, we rarely see Rorschach fight. We see the results of his battles, with very disturbing imagery, but we never are shown how Rorschach takes his enemies down. And so making a game where this is the main mechanic, will once again dilute his character. Half the enjoyment of Rorschach’s encounters with the seedy underworld was that you could tell that he would resort to tactics that were ugly and at times, heinous. But what exactly he does is always surrounded in ambiguity. So watching him fight alongside Nite Owl (who actually does do a lot of on screen fighting), kinda destroys what people like about him in the first place.

While I think Alan Moore is a little too protective of his work…I mean, come on man…adaptations rarely are perfect from their source material (LoExG is the exception), but I will stand behind him and say that this game abominates the source it was birthed from. Poor guy. DC really is selling this guy out… Good thing more of his properties have been adapted. Perhaps he can finally sleep after Watchmen…

Oh and for the record, I actually found out about this almost a month ago. I just forgot about it and realized that it hadn’t been covered yet.

Under the Knife – Watchmen

by Beeslo

(is writing this from his hidden bunker)

Hey guys, yeah…its me again. But no, don’t expect me to stay around too long. I got a nice opening of freedom lately and I wanted to use it for playing Fallout 3. But then I think about all of you with your puppy dog faces and quivering lips that I can’t stand the thought of ignoring you all by killing little kids in Fallout 3 (what do you mean you can’t do that in this version…seriously? WTF?) Nevermind.

As I’m sure many of you are aware, there is a certain movie coming out next March that many people are simply dying to see. The Soloist. Seriously, Jamie Foxx looks incredible in it. But aside from that, a highly anticipated movie based off of a fictional novel and directed by a director with more geek cred that George Lucas is due for release as well. That’s right. Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones. Okay. Okay. Enough of that.

Watchmen is coming.

First Impressions on NXE: Netflix

By Beeslo

(watching every season of every show…because he can)

Well as I’m sure many of you are aware, Microsoft finally released the long awaited update to Xbox Live or as they like to call it, “New Xbox Live Experience.” Well they got two things right: It’s very new and it’s definitely an experience. I hope to cover many of the new features of this update, but I thought I’d start with my favorite and the one I’ve been waiting for since it was announced: Netflix on NXE.

When this was first announced back at E3 this past summer, I nearly fell off my couch. Instantly I understood what this meant…unlimited rentals instantly sent to your TV! Now in reality, this is actually nothing new or really that special anymore. Netflix had already offered this to its customers a couple years back for their computers and only a year ago provided the service for customers that bought their $100 box to receive the movies for their TV. But in my reality, neither of these accommodated me. I hate watching movies on my computer and I wasn’t really liking the idea of dishing out $100 for an ugly ass box taking up space in my entertainment cabinet. But as soon as Microsoft announced this, it hit me instantly: I have both a Netflix membership…and an XBOX360! Which means, I get this service…free of charge.

Heck, I already had the right kind of membership for it too! To really get your fill of this service, you just need to get the 3 disc at a time (unlimited) membership plan and you are set. Unfortunately not every movie is ready for instant viewing (ie, brand new movies like Iron Man) but you can instantly catch up on those movies you’ve been wanting to see (Gone Baby Gone) and TV shows you’ve been missing (30 Rock). Heck, in some rare cases, you can even catch up on episodes of a TV show’s current season (Showtime’s Crash). But literally, you can fill your instant queue up to its maximum and just watch away without any problem (I got 19 in mine already).

Lets All Go to the Movies – Max Payne

By: Rusty (You are in a computer game)

 

Yesterday Max Payne hit theatres. Being the nerd that I am (I write for this blog, need I say more?) I went to the local cinema to catch a showing of this movie. I looked forward to seeing this movie. The trailer looked promising and the fact that Marky Mark errr I mean Mark Walhburg was starring as Max Payne was great. Also with Mila Kunis, Ludacris, and Nelly Furtado involved, this movie had some solid potential.The plot of Max Payne is as follows: Max’s family is murdered by a bunch of junkies on Valkyr (a new designer drug). Having nothing to loose, Max goes undercover the source and flow of Valkyr. However Max is framed for the murder of his partner. He sets on a quest to clear himself.  The movie follows this plot (more or less), however it is just okay.

I’m Already Bored with… Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

by Beeslo

(he has a short attentio…where am I?)

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Every fanboys’ dream comes true…for just one level.

So now that I have all this freedom to relax, I figured I’d get some serious gaming in. Knowing that Dead Space came out today, I decided I’d go rent it and scare the shit out of myself all week. Little did I know that rentals normally don’t get new games until Friday of the release week. Well crud. But hey, here’s The Force Unleashed. That was another one on my list.

While I wasn’t all that impressed with the demo, I figured this full version would have all the kinks knocked out. The first level blew me away. Man, I never felt more powerful and awesome when controlling Darth Vader and just kicking everyone’s ass all over the place. It was totally awesome! And then it ended. Oh, that’s right…we play as this other dude. Well, he’s pretty cool looking…not as badass as Vader, but he could still kick ass.

Nurse Joy’s HealingTouch News: The Touchies – Nominations

by Nurse Joy
(I herd you liek articklez.)

The end of the year is coming and we’re hitting our one year anniversary in a few months. In celebration we will be having our very first award ceremony, The Touchies! Wait… what? Who the heck came up with that name? v_v;;

Right… so… one thing to keep in mind when nominating people for these awards:

This is more than a popularity contest, these nominations should be based off article structure, use of non-text media in their articles, quality, etc. Please don’t turn this into the High School Prom King & Queen again… ::grumbles about Cortana::

To all 50 of our dedicated fans who aren’t staff, we here at HealingTouch ask of you:
“Who is the best of the best?” in these following categories:

Badly Drawn Penguins: Re: Nintendo DSi

By GamerChris (Proud owner of a Nintendo DS ‘Phat’. Now not proud he actually just said that)

With Nintendo’s Fall Press Conference recently rolling out there were a few interesting announcements made. Jim and Tim tackle one of those announcements: The new Nintendo DSi, a sort of redesign of the standard Nintendo DS system.

Badly Drawn Penguins: Mega Man 9

By GamerChris (Man he’s everywhere this weekend…)

Mega Man fever has struck me it seems with another Mega Man related article. It’s worth it though. Badly Drawn Penguins is slowly getting back to buisness. Enjoy.

Under The Knife: Megaman Battle Network 2

By CanuckGamer
(Wishes you would just give it a chance!)

[Introduction]

Today I will be reviewing Megaman Battle Network 2 for the Gameboy Advance. It was released in the summer of 2002, and has helped spawn 4 more sequels in the Battle Network franchise. Widely regarded as the best in the series, in competition with Battle Network 3, this game contains a great mix of story and gameplay that any Megaman fan who isn’t stuck in the past and gives them a chance can surely get some enjoyment out of.

What’s So Wrong With…Final Fantasy VII? Part Sixteen

By GamerChris (BRB being raped on Mega Man 9)

Welcome once again to our journey through Final Fantasy VII. The action returns to after escaping Shinra once again, this time on OD’s wounded plane the Little Bronco.