Gaming Follow Friday - The Darkness II

You know what? I've never made a horrendous Rebecca Black reference in one of these opening paragraphs. It seems like the perfect opportunity, what with it being Friday, and thank god it is friday. I mean at this point everybody's just looking forward to the weekend. But still, Made2Game is less concerned about that two-slow-news-days hiatus and is much more focused on delivering some raw info to your cerebral cortex in the form of Twitter accounts you should totally follow.

In previous weeks we've concerned ourselves with Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, video game composers, independent game designers and Soul Calibur V. This week? Well no-one from the NeverDead team seems to want to own up to working on what we consider to be a fine fresh little slice of bizarro-gaming, so we're turning our attention to The Darkness II instead.

As we said in our 2Game or not 2Game Darkness II feature, Starbreeze's 2007 title The Darkness was a stunningly solid game. Grim, touching and unique, The Darkness mixed demonic ultra-violence with stark humanity through the tragedy of leading man Jackie Estacado, a hitman possessed by The Darkness; a set of murder happy tentacles with an insatiable hunger for human hearts.

The Darkness II may not be developed by Starbreeze, they're busy re-booting Syndicate for EA, but we consider it in very safe hands at Digital Extremes. Penned by Paul Jenkins, a rather prolific comic book writer who has already lent his narrative abilities to The Darkness comic, The Darkness II improves many aspects of its predecessor. The gorgeous cel-shaded visuals are the first clear change, they truly evoke the vibrance of the comic without compromising the nitty gritty of Top Cow's New York. If anything the garish, bright red splatter of claret is even more arresting than ever before, in this comic book world it almost feels taboo. The next clear tweak comes from the combat's new 'quad-weild' mechanic that sees Jackie handling two guns simultaneously to slashing with his Darkness tendrils. The combination of boistrous, life ending blammo and 'hot knife through butter' dismemberment from your extra appendages fills you with a raw, malicious, silly-smile creating sense of power.

Therefore we Digital Extremes our support by pointing you in their Twittering direction. Go forth, follow and annoy!

Official
2K Games - @2KGames
Location: Novato, CA
Bio: ‘Official 2K Games Twitter http://www.2KGames.com’

2k Games - @2KInternational
Location: Windsor, England
Bio: ‘Official Twitter page for 2K in Europe. http://www.2kgamesinternational.com’

The Darkness II - @thedarknessgame
Location:
Bio: ‘Official Twitter account for The Darkness. http://www.embracethedarkness.com’

Community
Top Cow Productions - @TopCow
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Bio: ‘We Create... Comics. Home of Witchblade, The Darkness, Wanted, Artifacts, Magdalena, Pilot Season, and more. http://www.topcow.com’

Marc Silvestri - @Marc_Silvestri
Location: California
Bio: ‘I own Top Cow Productions and create stuff that people watch, read, and play like The Darkness & Witchblade. I'm married to Bridget Silvestri and thats cool. http://www.topcow.com’

David Eggers - @davide
Location: Oakland
Bio: ‘Hi! I'm a Community Manager for @2kgames. I mostly tweet about games, web stuff, and the SF Bay Area. Sometimes I post a picture of my dog. http://about.me/david.eggers’

Jackie Estacado - @j_estacado
Location: New York
Bio: 'Professional Hitman. Bearer of the Darkness.' 

Developers
Sheldon Carter - @sheldoncarter
Location: Between Beal St. and Oblivion
Bio: ‘Darkness 2 - Creative Director. Digital Extremist.’

Digital Extremes - @DigitalExtremes
Location: London, Ontario
Bio: ‘Founded in 1993 by James Schmalz, we've been developing games for almost 20 years. Currently working on The Darkness II and Star Trek. http://www.digitalextremes.com/’

Elizabeth Tobey - @dahanese
Location: San Francisco, CA
Bio: ‘Head of 2K Games Community & Interactive Marketing. I enjoy juxtaposing things. Also: Cheese and tiny dachshunds. http://www.2kgames.com’

Michael Schmalz - @mpschmalz
Location: iPhone: 42.979127,-81.334043
Bio: ‘President of Digital Extremes Ltd. A videogame development company in London Ontario http://www.digitalextremes.com’

Mathieu Bérubé - @Mat_Stomp
Location: London, Ontario
Bio: ‘Lead Designer working at Digital Extremes. Last worked on The Darkness II & BioShock 2. Before? Level Designer on many Splinter Cell titles at Ubisoft Mtl.’

Scott Johnston - @ScottDJohnston
Location: Brantford, Ont. Canada
Bio: ‘Animator at Digital Extremes in London, Ontario, and enthusiast of a variety of things, including animation, tattoos, Scotch, volcanoes, Formula One, etc, etc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wii9a_EyKmA’

Dean Bergmann - @SuperDeanio
Location: 42.962353,-81.280895
Bio: ‘Video & Production Assistant, Digital Extremes. || PR Extraordinaire, N-Sider.com http://www.n-sider.com’

allen_goode - @allen_goode
Location: London Ontario
Bio: ‘Lead Multiplayer Designer at Digital Extremes’

Cliff Daigle - @kliffd
Location: London, Canada
Bio: ‘Senior Lighting Artist @ Digital Extremes on The Darkness II. Writer, photographer, game developer and bar-stool philosopher.’

Braden Bahen - @bradenbahen
Location: London, ON
Bio: ‘Level Designer @ Digital Extremes. http://ca.linkedin.com/in/bradenbahen’

Ben Edney - @Slainchild
Location: London, Ontario, Canada
Bio: ‘Level Designer at Digital Extremes’

Steve Sinclair - @sj_sinclair
Location: London, Ontario, Canada
Bio: ‘Video Game Director@DigitalExtremes. Currently working on Star Trek. Opinions expressed are personal. http://www.digitalextremes.com’

Rebecca Ford - @rebbford
Location:
Bio: ‘I help make Video Games @DigitalExtremes. www.digitalextremes.com MIT Student @westernu I, for one, welcome our new technology overlords.’

Gavan Acton - @GavanActon
Location: London, Ontario
Bio: ‘Gav(xbl/psn: mediahaze). Founder of Story Jar Entertainment ( http://storyjar.ca), AI Programmer at Digital Extremes. http://storyjar.ca’

Don't Forget...

Made2Game - @Made_2_Game
Location: England
Bio: 'The home of video game opinion '

Words by James Bowden (Twitter: @Dalagonash)

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