I hope the BSR! readers are getting to this one early, or it might not get read at all. Once the game stores open and everyone gets off work today, I have no doubt all the regulars will be swinging and kicking two Spider-Men around a couple different versions of New York City in Shattered Dimensions. I know I will be as soon as I can get my hands on a copy. Before that, the news:
As if you weren’t disappointed enough with Duke Nukem Forever, now it’s been announced that another over the top action star FPS has been delayed. Actually, that’s probably an unfair comparison. I never liked Duke and his newest game ranks about where I expected. On the other hand, I’m not really familiar with Serious Sam, so I can’t really judge. Regardless, Serious Sam 3: BFE has been delayed. It won’t make its planned date of October 18th, slipping instead to November 22nd. So, not a massive delay. I always wonder about these late postponements though. Is it a workable game that just doesn’t meet the developers pursuit of perfection, or is it terrible and this is their last ditch effort to make it useable? According to Alan Ladavac, lead programmer at developer Croteam, it’s the former:
“We have been working very hard on SS3 all the way, and especially in these recent months trying to make it for the promised October 18th.
“In the past few days, we did some reassessments, based both on internal results, and on beta testing feedback, and determined that we would want to do some more gameplay tuning, bugfixing and optimization – more than would be possible within the given timeframe.
“This is the game that we have invested a lot of love and work into, and one that we know the series’ fans are expecting a lot from. So we decided it needed one extra month of development time.
“One month it is – one month of extra tuning and polish that Serious Sam 3 deserves if we really love it and want it to be a great game.”
But delays are nothing unusual in the gaming industry, and Sam isn’t the only one being postponed this week. The first DLC pack for Dead Island has been pushed to an undisclosed date. Apparently some of the post-release tweaks have delayed the code for “Bloodbath Arena.” The new release date should be announced this week.
Medieval hack-n-slasher Cursed Crusade has also been pushed back two weeks in the U.S. While it’s still planned for October 7th in the U.K., this side of the Atlantic will be waiting until October 25th. The game looks interesting enough, but its lack of marketing and even word of mouth doesn’t bode well for it. Releasing the game into this already packed season was probably a bad idea from the start. Delaying it until after Batman:Arkham City launches could kill this one before it ever has a chance.
Speaking of which, far from being delayed, some PS3 trophy information has leaked about Batman: Arkham City. And it hints at something very cool. The trophy information leaked under the title “Pre-Order Bundle Packs.” So you can probably guess it has something to do with Robin. It’s safe to assume that Best Buy’s exclusivity on the extra character is only a timed pre-order incentive. As has been the trend for the last few years with these bonuses, he would eventually be downloadable for everyone at an additional fee. Confirming extra trophies for it makes it obvious everyone will have their chance. But that’s not the real reveal. The big news are the two trophies for Nightwing: Nightwing Revenge – Obtain 78 medals on the original Arkham City and Nightwing Bundle Pack ranked maps (as Nightwing) and Campaign Nightwing – Obtain 114 medals on the original Arkham City and Nightwing Bundle Pack campaigns (as Nightwing). Wait a minute. Nightwing? As in Dick Grayson’s post-sidekick identity? But he isn’t in the game! And he hasn’t been announced as anyone’s pre-order incentive! Now do you see why this is such a cool reveal? Further confirmation of this addition comes from a partial list of upcoming Batman toys, including a two pack of Arkham City Nightwing and Joker. [Apologies for the poor picture, I make do with what I can get.]
Remember how there was supposed to be a free DLC pack for Portal 2? Have you been waiting and waiting? It’s here. “Peer Review” should be available on your download service starting today. You can also get the complete soundtrack, “Songs to Test By,” for free from the official website. Pick up some sweet ring tones for your Android or iPhone while you’re there.
If the amount of things being fixed is any indication of the success of a beta, Battlefield 3 has a successful run. Furthermore, they aren’t shy about sharing what they’re doing to address player concerns. Here’s the list of tweaks being made as a result of beta tester feedback:
- Fixed occasional client crash when reviving.
- Fixed killcam showing glitched area under map if your killer is dead.
- Issue with spawning on dead squad mates fixed.
- Fixed a bug where shooting at a moving enemy could cause more than the intended amount of damage.
- Crosshairs for shotguns have been replaced with a new, thinner, art.
- A subtle low health screen effect has been added.
- Tweaked scores of Medals and Service Stars.
- Tweaked the Rank progression.
- Pushing prone on console will not play the animation twice.
- Fixed loss of Squad Leader after EOR at some times.
- Framerate stability fixes.
- The 3D spotting icons has been tweaked to better match the target’s visibility. Icons will show frequently less on mostly obscured targets.
- Fixed issue with crosshair disappearing after round transition.
- Fixed issue with crosshair disappearing after trying to deploy while the countdown timer still active.
- Squad list now shows specializations chosen, VOIP activity and dead squad mates.
- Non working options in squad menu fixed: “Private” flag and “Switch Teams”.
If you’ve been following this column for any amount of time you’ve probably discovered in the last few months that I love Mass Effect and simply can’t stand teh wait for Mass Effect 3. A source of great rumor, denial, rumor, semi-confirmed, denial, more rumor is the possibility of multiplayer in the franchise. Bioware has not been secretive about its desire to have a multiplayer component to the universe, possibly an MMO or separate series, but have repeatedly stated it would not be in the third game of Shepard’s trilogy. A recent rumor that seem to actually hold a little weight, along with some testers at Gamescom saying they’ve played it, is that there might actually be a few co-op missions, but it’s unclear if this would be a separate mode or somehow tied to the main game. More recently, an ad has been seen in a South African game store that says the Collector’s Edition comes with an “Online Multiplayer Pass.” That seems pretty cut and dried to me. But, there is always the possibility for this to be EA’s newly standard online pass that could be required for something similar to the Cerberus Network from ME2. Personally, I’d like to see them finish Shepard’s series off without adding a multiplayer component. But I definitely think the universe could be expanded in a multiplayer direction. Regardless, the debate sure has the internet whiners motivated.
Sony has clearly decided to step up their game when it comes to PSN titles. The company recently invested $20 million to get exclusive games on their download service. The result is the “Only on PSN” line and we’ve got details. To start, if you spend $60 on PSN during the month of October, they’ll give you a $10 rebate next month. By the way, that’s $60 anywhere – games, DLC, video rentals, PSP comics, even a PS+ membership. Which means now is a very good time to sign up for that, especially since you get 20% off these new titles for the first week if you’re a PS+ member. So what games are we talking? Check the list from the PlayStation Blog:
- October 4
- Eufloria – An addictive ambient game of space exploration and conquest, plant growth and bio-mechanical evolution. Explore a beautifully realized universe rendered in a style that is unique and compelling. Conquer asteroids in deep space and use their resources to literally grow and nurture semi-organic plants and creatures to do your bidding.
- Rochard – A fun and original space adventure game that features a resourceful hero, ominous villains, rugged machinery, big explosions, even bigger stunts and sharp one-liners. The game tests players’ coordination and wits as they use gravity to their advantage, changing it at will to solve environmental puzzles and advance through each level.
- October 11
- Sideway: New York – Help defeat Spray, a sinister tagger who wants to dominate both Sideway and the real world in this unique sidescroller that offers you the chance to leave your mark on the city.
- October 13
- Sodium Collection – A more than $35 value available for $9.99, this PlayStation Home value pack includes the SodiumOne Pilot’s Jacket, which unlocks the full 50-level tank combat Salt Shooter game, and weapon upgrades for your SodiumOne tank. Also included is a variety of upgrades for Sodium 2: Project Velocity, a high-speed, free-to-play, futuristic multiplayer racing game exclusive to PlayStation Home, and the wildly-popular Blaster’s Paradise personal space, which hosts a tabletop version of Salt Shooter. Buy from the PlayStation Store and play in PlayStation Home.
- October 18
- Okabu – An action-puzzler, where players will guide Kumulo, Nimbe and four cloud-flying heroes as they battle to save their people and their world from the industrialized threat of the Doza. Dive into a hyper-tactile toybox world filled with a huge number of puzzles, playthings, adorable creatures and devious machines spread across an epic co-op campaign.
- Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken – Annihilate an evil penguin regime in this cinematic platform adventure game offering full solo and co-op campaigns with stereoscopic 3D support. Destroy enemies with a slew of weapons and illuminate the secrets to his past while uncovering the real enemies of Albatropolis. [I’ve played a PC demo of this one. Very fun, very humorous, but a little clunky on the controls. Hopefully that will be better on console.]
- October 25
- inFAMOUS: Festival of Blood – Vampires swarm New Marais, and revered superhero Cole MacGrath has been bitten. To save his soul and city, he has just one night to find and kill the head vampire. Featuring hours of new gameplay, themed environment settings and new characters/enemies, Festival of Blood explores the darker side of the inFAMOUS universe.
- PixelJunk SideScroller – Q-Games goes old-school with a completely retro side-scrolling shooter that reinvents the genre from the ground up while maintaining that nostalgic feeling. Dodge flurries of alien bullets and strategically upgrade weapons while battling through sweeping stages full of hazardous fluid and endless shooting mayhem.
In addition to those games, “Only on PSN” will also be offering some new releases from their classics library. If you were ever a fan of God Hand, GrimGrimoire, Maximo: Ghosts to Glory, Odin Sphere and Ring of Red now’s the time to play them all again.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 is coming early next year, and the preorder bonuses have been announced. For starters, Amazon will get you the Omega Boss Battle, a unique enemy coliseum battle with a boss who joins your party upon his defeat. GameStop will give you an alternative costume for Serah. And Best Buy will give you hardcover novella tying the first and second games together. So an alternate costume (lame), a collectible book (great for readers and collectors), or an extra party member with the strength of a boss (awesome)? Assuming Omega doesn’t end up as a DLC later down the line, I’d say Amazon wins this one.
It appears development is well underway on Dead Space 3, and some of the new mechanics look very interesting. Apparently Isaac’s descent into madness is nearly complete, as there are now two of him on screen at once. The first is the “normal” Isaac you’re used to controlling as you dismember aliens. The other is “Shadow” Isaac, an imaginary fragment of his personality that can offer tips alongside his bitterly cruel teasing and namecalling. Furthermore, the environment looks to be an ice planet with blizzard conditions where Isaac will take on the “hive mind.” I wonder if he’ll have to cut open a tauntaun to keep his shadow self warm?
If Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 aren’t going to be enough death and destruction for you, there’s good news. Ubisoft has confirmed March 6, 2012 as the release date for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. Then again, this isn’t the first release date we’ve heard for this one. I expect it to stick though, as they’ve also announced plans for the beta in January.
And now we go full circle, ending as we began, with news of a delay. This time it’s Payday: The Heist. This is the capstone of Sony’s PSN Play promotion and was intended for release this week. However, according to the press release, “Word on the street is that to pull off the biggest score, a heist must be planned and outlined to the very last detail with perfect team members, unbeatable weapons and unrecognizable disguises. That being said, SOE & Overkill Software need a little more time to assemble the ideal squad and attack strategy for our highly anticipated adrenaline-pumping first person shooter, Payday: The Heist.” The plan is still to release this month. The preorder promotion has been extended, and you’ll still get the title for free if you qualified for it with the rest of the PSN Play games.
That finishes this week’s early edition of VGQH. Some high, some low, some intriguing, and some very exciting (Nightwing!!!). Check back Friday for the late edition and let us know what you think of any games dropping this week (especially Shattered Dimensions).