Looking for your first taste of Need for Speed: The Run? The demo will be hitting your download service on October 18th. Two pieces of the Frisco to New York course will be available, California’s Desert Hills and Colorado’s Independence Pass. I’ve been over Independence Pass in the snow. I’ll be curious to see how well EA Black Box is able to recreate it. Of course, the demo won’t recreate my experience, as you’ll be doing it in Lamborghini Gallardo or Porsche 911. I did it in a rented Toyota Yaris with my wife in the passenger seat clutching a duckie pillow and cursing my ancestry for at least seven generations. The full game will be available November 15th.
Preorder incentives have been announced for The Darkness II. It appears the bonuses are not retailer specific. Rather, the preorder simply gives you a free upgrade to the Limited Edition. Included in this edition are the “Crazy Abdul” skin for your Darkling minion, the Gourmet Hearts ability (bonus for eating hearts), Relic Hunter ability (helps to locate collectibles), and a code for free digital downloads of Volumes 1 and 2 of the digital comic. Not a bad addition just for knowing you want it before it releases in February.
As mentioned in Tuesday’s edition of VGQH, it looked like Nightwing was going to be making an appearance in the much-anticipated Batman: Arkham City. As expected, Rocksteady has confirmed that appearance with pictures of his alpha build (looks kinda emo, but whatever). The most recent issue of PS3’s Qore also included a new video revealing the Mad Hatter as a villain, alongside his white rabbit henchmen. This only has me even more excited for October 18th.
If you like really hard puzzles and Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Ubisoft is giving you a chance at the trip of a lifetime. Head on over the their contest website and sign up. You’ll get one Strand from the Animus every seven days, and you’ll get one chance to solve the Strand each day. The contest ends November 8th. The winner will get a four night trip for two to Istanbul (flights and £500 spending money included). I don’t know about my puzzle skills, but for that kind of opportunity, I’m definitely giving it a try.
A recent issue of VGQH mentioned a European trademark application for Yakuza: Dead Souls, which we speculated was a localization of Yakuza: Of the End. The speculation was correct, as SEGA has confirmed the title is making its way west. The Japanese DLC will be included as well as a new mini-game, Pachislot. The game is scheduled for for March 2012, but if you have a Japanese PSN account you can play the demo now.
Another item that was covered some time ago was the upcoming DLC for Duke Nukem Forever, “Hail to the Icons.” The expansion, which includes three new modes and four new maps liberally taken from well-known multiplayer franchises, has been given a release date of October 11th. Yeah, that’s next week. It’ll set you back $9.99 for regular people. First Access Club Members get it free.
Sony had an awesome teaser for something last week. We’ve finally seen it and you can too, right here on Big Shiny Robot! Turns out it was an advertisement for an advertisement. But if the teaser was awesome, the full ad is even better. Somehow they managed to basically make a short film that almost brought a tear to my eye and made me proud of all the time I waste playing games. It begs the question, if I don’t stop that plague in New Marais, or get Drake out of a tight spot, what will become of them?
Transformers games have been a mixed bag over the years. Developer High Moon made one of the best by telling us the story of the Autobots and Decepticons before they came to earth in War for Cybertron. They’re now set to follow that up with their next entry, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. I have very little information on it, as the developers have given Game Informer the exclusive premiere of the game. What I do have is the two covers for the November issue of the magazine. As soon as I get more details, you’ll find it in a later edition of VGQH.
Remember how Warhammer 40k: Space Marine was supposed to have four player co-op, but it didn’t? Relic and THQ were quite open about wanting to release the game even though that mode wasn’t ready yet, with the promise that co-op DLC would come soon after release and would be free. They are holding to that message. You’ll be able to download the free “Exterminatus” co-op add-on starting October 25th. This gives you three character classes from which to choose and two scenarios in multiple arenas. XP earned in co-op does transfer to competitive multiplayer. Andy Lang, Producer, says they are “…working on some more DLC.”
Just for fun, I thought I would end this edition with some updates from my GameFly GameQ. My top five games requested are 1. Spider-Man: Edge of Time, 2. X-Men Destiny, 3. Captain America: Super Soldier, 4. LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game, and 5. Catherine. Hmmm, those first three seem to be making a pattern. Someone might get the idea I like Marvel comics. Collectively, the user ratings for my Top 5 average 7.0. X-Men Destiny is lowest with a 5.2, and LEGO PotC is highest at 7.8. Alternatively, I keep my “coming soon” games at the bottom of the list until they release. It says something about this time of year that I currently have eight games in this section: Batman: Arkham City (10/18/11), Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (11/1/11), LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 (11/11/11), Assassin’s Creed Revelations (11/15/11), SSX (1/24/12), Mass Effect 3 (3/6/12), Tomb Raider (TBD), and Hitman Absolution (TBD). I won’t necessarily wait for GameFly on all of those, it’s just a good way to keep track of everything I’m awaiting. Anything with really high replay value I’ll probably end buying – meaning Mass Effect 3 is basically preordered.
Do you have GameFly? What’s in your Top 5?