I earned my platinum trophy on inFAMOUS 2 last night. What a great game. After viewing both the positive and evil karma endings, without spoilers, I think it’s safe to say that an inFAMOUS 3 should be pretty much out of the question. It’s so hard to believe that anyone would just end such a successful franchise, but it would be refreshing. Movies, TV, games, comics, all of these media seem to suffer from the same problem. Nobody wants to end on a high note if they can keep making money. Oh well, on to the news, which is chock full of comic goodness.
After the leaked trophy list and additional artwork, Rocksteady has finally made an official announcement regarding Nightwing in Batman: Arkham City. Nightwing will be playable in all challenge maps, including two add-ons – Wayne Manor and Main Hall. He also has his own special moves and gadgets, taking full advantage of his twin fighting sticks. As with the other characters, you can expect at least one additional (animated) skin. You can download Nightwing, and Robin if you don’t get him through pre-order, on November 22nd for $6.99 each. The additional skins for Batman himself that have been spread around to retailers across the world will also be available December 6th for $4.99. The game will be out on Tuesday, October 18th.
If you like your playboys a little less stealthy, and little more… well, smarmy, there’s good news on the horizon. Replay Games has secured the rights to Leisure Suit Larry and have promised HD remakes for your download service, as well as new adventures for the lovable Larry Laffer. Leisure Suit Larry In The Land Of The Lounge Lizards will be released to PSN and XBLA “as soon as it’s suitably awesome!” Which is expected to be fourth quarter of 2012. The best part of this news is that Al Lowe, Larry’s creator, is back on the job, overseeing all Larry productions in his new home at Replay. Development will be handled by Adventure-Mob.
If you’re looking forward to Final Fantasy XIII-2, you may want to load up on Microsoft Points or PSN Cards. Square Enix is planning a strong amount of DLC for the upcoming RPG. And they’re not just talking extra costumes and weapons, though they’ll have those too. Yoshinori Kitase, Producer, recently told a Japanese gaming magazine, Dengeki Playstation, that they’re planning one or two add-ons per month. It’s when he went on that I got confused. Kitase mentioned that the player may have to kill a certain enemy or accomplish some other goal to gain a DLC item. So we’re paying for a chance to unlock an item, not for the item itself? I’m hoping something is lost in translation. I’m thinking if we buy an extra mission, one of the rewards for the mission would be special items. That’s much more like the Fallout 3/New Vegas model. But Japanese gamers and developers don’t always think the same as their Western counterparts. We’ll find out when the game releases in Japan in December. But it won’t be relevant for the rest of us until January 31st.
You may be wondering why I said you want to stock up on PSN cards in that last story. Why wouldn’t you just use your credit card? Remember that fiasco where Sony had been hacked and some users information was breached? No, not that one from Spring of this year. The one that happened earlier this week. In case you missed it, 93,000 Sony accounts were hacked. Click here to read about it in more detail.
When you bought the inFamous 2 Special Edition, you were supposed to get early access to the Uncharted 3 beta. Turns out, because of Sony’ first hacking breach, everyone ended up with PS+ and got in at the same time. Despite that, it was a cool bonus. One of Sony’s flagship franchises hooked you up with the beta for another one of their flagship franchises. Now it’s Drake’s time to return the favor. If you buy a new copy of Uncharted 3 (starting November 1st) you’ll get a voucher code for early acces to Starhawk‘s multiplayer beta. No word yet on when that early access will begin, but the public beta is scheduled for “early 2012.” Which means you could possibly be getting a start on Starhawk as a nice Christmas present.
If you’re itching for details on Gran Turismo 5‘s DLC pack coming next week, here they are:
- The Racing Pack: 12 new cars (Dodge, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota), three custom carts, Red Bull X2011 Prototype, $7.99
- The Course Pack: Belgian Spa-Francorchamps track, indoor karting arena, $4.99
- The Special Paint Pack: 100 extra paint colors and finishes (incl. aluminum, chrome, and matte), $1.99
- The Racing Gear Pack: 25 new helmets, 15 race suits, Simpson helmets, Alpinestars GP1 overalls, plus famous NASCAR and WRC driver gear, $2.99
- The Complete Pack: All four of the above, $11.99 (discount planned for PS+)
Looking for the next title in the list of games no one wants? Here it is: Men in Black III. You have no idea how much I wish I were kidding. But it’s going to be a major blockbuster next year, it requires a video game, doesn’t it? I don’t suppose Activision would consider actually making this game fun would they? It looks like it could have some awesome third person shooter gunplay, a la Mass Effect, but it probably won’t. I’m expecting it to be on the same level of quality as the last two travesties in the series. It’s scheduled for Spring 2012, near the release of the film, so there will at least be some good games in the time frame.
There is at least one movie tie-in game on the 2012 horizon that could be pretty good though, The Amazing Spider-Man. I don’t think anyone ever believed there wouldn’t be a tie-in for the web slinger’s latest film outing, but its existence was apparently confirmed by a poster seen at New York Comic-Con. I don’t have a super-great picure of it, but rest assured, the Activision and Beenox logos are on the poster, and you can just barely see the Rating Pending logo on the bottom left. Beenox is the developer who recently overhauled the Spidey gaming franchise with Shattered Dimensions and Edge of Time. Hopefully tying a game in with a movie won’t affect their already proven formula too much. Expect the game to release around the same time as the film, July 4th, 2012.
In other Marvel news, Zen Studios, makers of Zen Pinball and Pinball FX (depending on your console), announced at San Diego Comic-Con that they had four more tables coming to their popular line of Marvel Pinball. Called the Vengeance and Virtue pack, the plan is for two Vengeance tables and two Virtue tables. The first half of the Vengeance team has been announced as the Spirit of Vengeance himself, Ghost Rider. But who’s the other half? My guess is Punisher. And who are the two Virtue characters? We’ll know one of them tomorrow. At the NYCC Marvel panel, from 1:15-2:15 Saturday, they will be making the announcement of the first Virtue table. If you aren’t bloodhounding everything that comes out of NYCC, just check back here on Tuesday. I’ll have the update. And, as if that isn’t enough, Zen Studios has also announced that Marvel Pinball is coming to the PlayStation Vita whenever it is the new handheld launches. And it’s going to be a launch title.
Comedy Central’s latest gaming venture is South Park: Tenorman’s Revenge. You’ll be able to play as Cartman, Kyle, Stan, and Kenny with up to four players, locally or online. The South Park kids will be battling Scott Tenorman and his Ginger army in Spring 2012, only on XBLA.
In other news on the downloadable front, Payday: The Heist (PSN exclusive) and “The Missing Link” add-on for Deus Ex: Human Revolution have both been listed for release on October 18th. Payday is a first-person co-op shooter that is included free for anyone who purchased all four PSN Play titles. It’s $20 if you haven’t. The Deus Ex DLC expands on Adam Jensen’s time aboard the Belltower freighter and will cost about $15.
That wraps it up today. Come on back on Tuesday for another round of gaming news. I’ll be sure to include everything I can find from NYCC.