The Darkness II Consumes InsertCoins Event
A night of true darkness, plus beer!
by : GrathiusXR
©2012 Arthur Kotsopoulos
On Thursday the 19th of January 2K Games took over the Oxford Arts Factory which is becoming the “Unofficial” Mana Bar of Sydney.
It’s home to Patrick Kolans and Shannon McKinnon ‘s infamous InsertCoins event, a night where the venue is decked out with retro arcade systems, alcoholic beverages and an upcoming title soon to be released on Australian shores.
The Darkness II was the game of choice and consumers were treated to quad-wielding combat and a slice of the story featured in this cel-shaded sequel.
Prior to the event kicking off 2012′s gaming calendar, the media were invited to interview Seth Olshfski from 2K Games who flew down for the special occasion.
2K gave us a 20 minute window to ask a few questions to get a better understanding of the direction The Darkness II has taken.
Let me say that speaking to Seth Olshfski, I left having a better appreciation for what the development team at Digital Extremes have done.
It was a great chat where we spoke about the graphical noir style of the game and how each piece of scenery such as the brick wall, rubbish dumps, lamp lights etc.. were hand drawn and detailed by the artists, so virtually no texture has been recycled throughout the game like you see with most titles of today.
It was interesting to hear that the RPG-Stlye upgrade tree went through different variations before it became what we see in the demo.
They spent a good 2 years balancing out all the perks before they had what they felt would be a perfect combination for the gamer.
These included anything from:
- Amount of damage each ability causes
- Duration of each ability when used
- Cost for upgrading each tree
The fact that I was able to hear this from Seth’s mouth gave me a level of appreciation not only for what he brought to the game but for what the whole development team went through to deliver us a cinematic narrative full of jaw-dropping moments.
If you’ve played the demo then you’d know exactly what I’m talking about.
The Darkness was a diamond in the rough back in 2007 and offered one of the most unique and brutal gaming experiences I’ve had whilst gaming on my console.
The Darkness II looks to up the ante.
Let’s get into what the rest of the night featured.
Extra curricular activities
In its 3rd iteration Patch Kolans’ Insert Coins event had an attendance record of roughly 900 people coming in and out throughout the whole night playing and engaging in a variety of fun filled activities which ranged from:
- Playing The Darkness II
- Eating scrumptious hot dogs
- Visiting the milk bar for mixed alcoholic and milk beverages
- And enjoying the retro arcade machines located throughout the venue.
Some attendees even came straight after work for some beer and gaming whilst others actually dressed up in cos-play for the event.
It was great to see gamers from the community of sorts enjoying the night from sobriety all the way to drunk town.
Let me tell you these gamers can drink and still have the ability to kick 3-4 other people’s butts in a row in Street Fighter.
Around the Street Fighter machine, crowds gathered to take turns at being crowned the king.
It didn’t matter if you were good or not; what mattered was being involved. When someone beat the champion who had 3 wins under his belt we cheered for them like they had just won the gold medal at the Olympics.
To top off the whole night, up on the main stage the organizers had set up 2 canvas boards for 2 artists to draw up art from The Darkness.
As you can see from these photos these amazing works of art were crafted through plenty of distraction from start to finish bit ended up looking spectacular.
If The Darkness II InsertCoins event is anything to go buy, the next InsertCoins needs to be bigger and better in every way to top off what was a successful night.
It’s successor is already in the works, it’s just matter of when and where and what game will be featured.
With so many great titles on the horizon it’s going to be tough.
My thanks to Oxford Arts Factory Proprietor Mark Gerber for hosting the event.
©2012 Arthur Kotsopoulos
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Filed under: 3rd Party Games, Console gaming, Demo impressions, Events, Game Impressions, Game Industry News, Gaming Videos, New Xbox 360 Games, PS3 News, Software News & Updates, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 3rd Party Games, Xbox 360 Game Previews, Xbox 360 News Tagged: | 2K, 2k australia, 2K Games, Darkness II, Digital Extreme, Street Fighter, The Darkness, The Darkness 2
