Lots to cover this week, so let’s jump straight to the news:
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon has more DLC on the way. This time they’re teaming up with a top fighting franchise to make your fighter jet look more like a bareknuckle fighter. Coming November 15th for $4.99 will be two skins, Jin Kazama and Kazuya Mishima of Tekken. Seems like an awful price for two skins, but maybe they’ll include some sort of stat boost?
Also coming next week is a patch for Dead Island. The game tried to be very groundbreaking in its use of online co-op in a single player campaign. And, for the most part, it worked. Unfortunately they still had plenty of bugs at launch and Techland has been committed to fixing them. I doubt this patch will handle all of the problems everyone is having, but it certainly seems to address some major issues. In addition to general stability and freezing glitches being repaired, here’s a partial list of tweaks you’ll see with the patch:
- Level cap raised to 60
- new blueprints for weapon mods
- Infected being nerfed
- 50% increase to Purna’s ammo capacity
- skill level required for picking a lock is now clearly indicated
- respawn point selection is now smarter
- and plenty more
Take Two Interactive got a double dose of bad news this week. First, their second (fiscal) quarter report shows a net loss of $47.3 million for the period. This is opposed to an $8 million profit for the same period last year. Mostly this appears to be the lack of a major release. Last year’s second quarter saw both Mafia II and Civilization V hit shelves. The second piece of bad news is that X-COM will apparently not be making its planned release in March. The title has been delayed to next fiscal year (April 1, 2012 thru March 31, 2013). This means Take Two is now relying heavily on their already released games from top franchises, including L.A. Noire, Borderlands, Red Dead Redemption, and Grand Theft Auto. Think this puts much pressure on the recently announced GTA V? Damn right it does.
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations is hitting shelves next week, and we’ve already got a scoop on some upcoming multiplayer DLC. Much like we saw with Arkham City, the announcement of trophies/achievements has exposed four additional playable characters and six extra maps. I imagine, like Arkham City, that some of these are related to preorder incentives. The four characters (Brigand, Corsair, Gladiator, and Privateer) each have a special trophy unique to their skills. Dyers, Firenze, Imperial District, Jerusalem, San Donato, and Siena will be taking you through Italy and the Middle East with the map pack add-on. If you’re curious, here are the relevant trophies:
- Character Pack:
- Stopped Dead – Obtain 3 Hidden Gun kills during a session of Steal The Artifact as The Corsair (Multiplayer).
- The Vulture – Obtain 5 Ground Finish bonuses in Manhunt during a session as The Brigand (Multiplayer).
- Pirate’s Bravery – Use the Bodyguard against your pursuer as The Privateer (Multiplayer).
- The Juggernaut – Perform 3 kills using the Charge as The Gladiator (Multiplayer).
- Map Pack:
- Carnival – Stay blended for 3 minutes during a Wanted session in Siena (Multiplayer).
- Wild Rage – Perform 3 Stuns without dying in Jerusalem (Multiplayer).
- Restrained Violence – Obtain 5 Kill Assist bonuses during a session of any Team Mode in Dyers (Multiplayer).
- Straw Hat – Perform 2 kills from haystacks during a session in San Donato (Multiplayer).
- The Spice of Life – Obtain 2 Variety bonuses during a session in Firenze (Multiplayer).
- Up and Down – Perform 5 Leaps of Faith during a session of Assassinate in Imperial District (Multiplayer).
In further news for Assassin’s Creed, Ubisoft has already announced that the next game is under way and it is a “major” release. According to Yves Guillemot (CEO), “There will be another great, full-fledged Assassin’s Creed title next year. It will be another major release and we will be communicating more about it in the coming months.” It’s probably safe to assume that this will be Assassin’s Creed III and will release about this time next year. Early rumors suggest it will be related to a December 2012 end of the world scenario. Does this mean a whole new historical assassin, possibly connected to the Mayan calendar? Or are we finally getting our Desmond game? Exciting prospects. I’m looking forward to the “coming months” to learn more.
Ubisoft isn’t the only company looking to the future of a franchise whose latest game is still unreleased. Saints’ Row The Third from THQ is also coming next week, but that isn’t stopping them from talking about Saints’ Row 4. In an interview with G4 TV, Danny Bilson (Executive VP) said the next game is underway and will be “much wilder.” Whoa. The third entry has zombies, dildo bats, Professor Genki, giant Hulk fists that disintegrate pedestrians, and a myriad of other crazy shit. Going “much wilder” doesn’t even compute as a possibility.
While I’m on the subject of announcing next year’s sequels, EA and Activision have surprised absolutely no one by announcing another Battlefield and another Call of Duty, respectively, for 2012. What I do find interesting about these announcements is something EA’s Patrick Bach said about using Frostbite 2 on the next title: “”There’s nothing we know about now that the new consoles would do differently, rather do more. More processors. Bigger memory pools. Everything we have and more.” Wait, what? New consoles? I’d be surprised if we see release of the rumored XBox Project Ten or a PlayStation 4 next year, but this comment makes me thinks it’s more likely than I’d thought.
I wouldn’t normally put this in my news category just because it’s about something that’s already happened, but it’s just too cool to ignore. With the Playstation Store’s update on Tuesday came a new outfit for your Little Big Planet 2 Sackboy, and he’s strange. Stranger, actually. Stranger than what? No, no, you misunderstood. The skin is Stranger. As in Stranger from OddWorld. How freaking cool is that? Take a look:
Then again, this is supposed to be a news column, so how about something related? According to Stewart Gilray of Just add Water (CEO), “Stranger’s Wrath HD is being submitted to final Sony QA in the next few days, with a launch as soon as we can get it to you.” Assuming QA approves this, and with JAW’s reputation for quality I am sure it will, we should be getting some Hi-Def Stranger very soon. Get your live ammo ready….
SEGA’s upcoming Binary Domain had a special multiplayer character announced this week. Seeing as the game is being developed by Yakuza Studio, it should come as no suprise that Kazuo Kiriyama, of the Yakuza franchise, will be shooting around in a near future Tokyo this February. While fighting for the government, Kazuo will be sporting his signature white suit. Fighting for the resistance, he’ll be showing off his dragon tattoos with no shirt. Special characters are always a fun fan service treat, and this one just seems appropriate considering the setting and developer.
We’ve got a potential game announcement gaming from the Australian ratings board. These ratings pop up occasionally before the developers and publishers have announced the game and I’ve rarely seen them when the game doesn’t get officially announced within a week or two. This time, it’s The Simpsons Arcade Game for multiple platforms. Seeing as its being developed by Backbone Entertainment and published by Konami, this looks like a repeat of the quality action we saw when those two companies teamed up to release the X-Men Arcade Game to PSN and XBLA. I wasted a lot of quarters in the arcades on this one. I think my brother and I spent so much one day that we actually beat the damn thing. And I plan on doing it again when this hits the download queue.
I love ratings board leaks. This one comes from Germany and its an HD remake of another classic trilogy from the PS2. We’ve had God of War, Sly Cooper, and Team ICO collections. What’s left? Don’t even ask. The two obvious franchises are Ratchet & Clank and Jak. And the German rating leak seems to confirm that Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Jak II: Renegade, and Jak 3 are coming soon as the Jak & Daxter Trilogy HD Collection. If you somehow missed these games in their first generation, you owe it to yourself to play the HD remakes. These were developed by Naughty Dog, the same people whose success on PS3 is so great it’s Uncharted! [Oww. I’m officially fired from puns.] No word yet on release date as we don’t even have an official announcement, but this looks like a spring/summer title to me.
By now everyone knows that Batman: Arkham City is fantastic. But what about that other “Batman” game that’s coming? You know, the FPS one? Gotham City Impostors is now set for January 10, 2012 with a $14.99 price tag. But, if you want to get in on the action early, sign up for the beta now.
About a month ago we got our first look at two European special editions of Final Fantasy XIII-2. So what do the North Americans get? Well, our Collector’s Edition will contain a 20 page artbook and a four disc soundtrack. All of it will be bundled in a nice, limited edition, hardcover case with art by Yoshitaka Amano. It looks very nice, and the soundtrack for this series has always been top notch. This would be a great deal for a $10 premium. Unfortunately, this package will run $79.99, which I’m just not convinced is worth it. Take a look, and then decide which version you’re preodering for January 31st.
I reported on Tuesday that the servers for NBA 2K11 would shutting down later this month. 2K Games has heard the fan reaction and will be extending the servers to April 2012. With the My Crew and Online Leagues available on this version, but not 2K12‘s, as well as the continued instability of 2K12‘s online connections led to the fans’ reactions. Strangely, NBA 2K5 is also listed as having its servers shut down in April. Why does that one last so long, when 2K11 was originally slated for only 13 months?
We’ll close today’s VGQH with a public service announcement. Buy Rayman Origins! Why? Is it a great game? Does it break new ground? Hell if I know. It is getting good ratings from reviewers, mostly in the 7.0-9.5 range and has an 87/100 on Metacritic. But, frankly that’s of secondary importance. Mostly it’s because Tony Key, Sales Executive at Ubisoft, has stated that supporting Michael Ancel by buying this game will enable the creator to better proceed with Beyond Good and Evil 2. I realize that’s the corporate mindset, but do you really need to just throw it out to the public like that? Oh well, if that’s the only way to get a sequel to one of the best sleeper hits of the last generation, I guess I’ll be buying my first Rayman game. At least it looks like a good one.