Video Game Quick Hits 12/18/12

Those eager for a first look at Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, but have no interest in the Zone of the Enders HD Collection, have something to look forward to after the holidays. The demo included with ZoE HD will be available to all in January. You may need to clear a little room on the old hard drive though; the demo’s a whopper at 3.5GB. The game is set for launch February 19, 2013.

The Spring 2013 release window for Sly Cooper: Thieve in Time has been narrowed and confirmed for March 26, 2013 on PS3 and Vita. For those who’ve forgotten or hadn’t heard, this game will be part of the cross-buy program. Buy it on PS3 and you’ll receive a voucher to download it free on Vita. A retail Vita version will be available as a standalone product at a slightly lower cost. But it’s not only cross-buy, it’s also cross-play and cross-controller. When playing on your PS3 you’ll actually be able to use the Vita AR functions to find treasures in the game. The Sly series has always been a fun one, and Sanzaru games is definitely pushing the technology in their first new entry to the series.

Borderlands 2‘s next DLC was leaked last week and is said to be called Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt. Gearbox still hasn’t officially announced anything, but more details have been revealed through more illicit sources. According to file hackers, here’s what you should expect:

  • One new head and one new skin for each class.
  • A new vehicle – the fanboat (summoned from a Catch-A-Boat station), with 68 of its own skins and corrosive, incendiary, and shock weapon mods.
  • 12 side missions and 5 longer main story missions.
  • A new raid boss – “Imagine, if you will, a Stalker the size of a small building. Now imagine yourself killing it.”
  • More new Seraph items.
  • New kinds of enemies, like the borok and the scaylion.
  • Lots of monster-tracking side missions assigned by Sir Hammerlock.
  • A new swamp/jungle continent named Aegrus.
  • A self-important but not-so-well-known new enemy who is “super-pumped we’re archenemies now,” leads a tribe of jungle savages, and has an evil plan that might actually work.
  • A new treasure room brimming with goodies… but with a time limit.

The PlayStation Store has big plans for three weeks of sales to end 2012. Beginning with today’s update, many top titles will be up to 30% off (up to 50% for Plus members). The sale kicks off with 14 titles today. The discounts will be good until next week’s update when those titles will be replaced with others. The three week sale will at least 40 games discounted when it’s all said and done. Here’s the 14 you’re getting today (title, sale price, Plus price):

  • Catherine $27.99, $19.60
  • Counter Strike Global Offensive $10.49, $7.35
  • Dyad $10.49, $7.35
  • Escape Plan $10.49, $7.35
  • I Am Alive $10.49, $7.35
  • LittleBigPlanet 2 $13.99, Free
  • LittleBigPlanet PS Vita $24.99, $17.49
  • Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 $6.99, $4.90
  • NHL 13 $41.99, $29.40
  • Rayman Origins $13.99, $9.80
  • Rayman Origins PS Vita $20.99, $14.70
  • Resident Evil 4 $13.99, $9.80
  • Retro/Grade $6.99, $4.90
  • Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition $10.49, $7.35

LittleBigPlanet is the franchise just keeps growing for Sony. Outside of Rock Band, very few games have released as much consistent DLC – and most of it crosses through multiple titles in the series. The latest news is especially attractive for BSR! readers: more Marvel costumes. This week will see the release of Marvel Costume Pack 5, and Pack 6 is coming early next year. This week’s pack will include Black bolt, Black Widow, Iron Fist, Nova, and Star Lord. The next pack isn’t fully revealed, Community Coordinator Steven Isbell has indicated Deadpool will be included. He also promises an update on the LittleBigPlanet 2 cross-controller add-on will be coming very soon (like maybe this week).

Looks like that’s it for this week’s early edition. We’ll have one more on Friday but no early edition next week on Christmas day. There should be a late edition on 12/28 to end the year though.