Aaaah, Christmas week. Unless you work in retail or have some big year end project due this is probably a good time of year at work. Then again, it’s also a good time of year not to be at work. Seriously, I wonder how many readers are seeing this from home instead of while slacking at the office. I’m actually working my day job this week, but I took the next week off instead. The ratio of vacation time I have to take versus the consecutive days of sleeping in and drinking too much is just too good to pass up. Regardless, there is still a little news to report this week, so let’s get to it.
Remember Demons’ Souls? This was the game that was released in October 2009 and you rage quit in November because it was so hard. Then, for some reason you remembered how awesome it was so you bought Dark Souls and rage quit that one a month later too. Well, Atlus is hoping you kept that first disc around because they’ve temporarily made it easier. From now through January 2, 2012 you can participate in the Pure White World Event. The event makes the world of Boletaria slightly easier and unlocks new areas and items. I’m sure you’re backlogged on all the great Fall games, and you may get some new material for Christmas, but if you’ve been wanting to work on Demons’ Souls again this is a very good opportunity.
Square Enix has long been promising that Final Fantasy XIII-2 will have an extensive DLC plan after retail release (which has already happened in Japan, scheduled for January 31, 2012 in the U.S.). So far it doesn’t look that extensive. Based on the Japanese release scheduled announced at Jump Festa, the Omega DLC, featuring a robotic beast you can defeat and recruit to your own party, will be first. After that will be a costume pack giving Serah a pink bikini and Noel his Ezio get-up. All of this was previously known, so I would expect to see more DLC announcements in the coming weeks, with some big news coming on or around the full retail release in North America.
Are you on Twitter? Want to have your face in a game? Are you okay if that face gets torn apart in “bullet time?” If you answered yes to all of those questions, Rockstar can use you in Max Payne 3‘s multiplayer. Here’s how this works: Step 1 – Follow @RockstarGames on Twitter. Step 2 – Use #MaxPayne3 when Tweeting about the game (and do that a lot). Step 3 – Rockstar will pick ten random people each week and send them a direct message. Step 4 – Respond to your DM with a picture in 48 hours or less. (They’ll be selecting two finalists each week for a total of eight winners.) Step 5 – Use your face in multiplayer when the game releases in March. Step 6 – Have said face shot off! Of course, it is a contest, so it’s probably a lot more complicated than I make it sound. Check their website for full rules and details.
Are you still hunting down trophies in Batman: Arkham City and starting to itch for yet another new costume? Today brings good news. To celebrate the success of the game, and to thank fans for their support, Rocksteady is releasing a free Batman Inc. skin for use in the game. But, what if you haven’t finished the game yet? We all know you can’t change your skin until you’ve beaten the campaign. Right? Actually, no. Along with the new outfit the developer has announced a cheat code to allow new skins during the first play. To unlock this treat, go to the menu screen after selecting your save slot, enter Left, Left, Down, Down, Left, Left, Right, Up, Up, Down and listen for the tone. If you’ve done it correctly you’ll now have the option to change your Batskin.
Seems to be lots of DLC news today. This next one is kind of a downer though, especially compared to a free Batsuit. King of Fighters XIII‘s “Nests Kyo” DLC is being delayed until January 10th due to a technical error. Not one to suffer bad press lightly, Atlus is offering a temporary discount for the add-on (making it $2.99) when it does release. SNK Playmore is also hard at work on a patch to fix the game’s online service and will be releasing it as soon as possible.
Must be a good week for announcing delays to DLC for fighting fans. The Ancient Warrior pack for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is also delayed, for a much more ridiculous reason. Originally set for this week, the pack will be held back until March 6, 2012 to allow Capcom the time to remove one of the costumes. I’d certainly expect the $3.99 price tag to be cut along with Magneto’s House of M skin. Why on earth are they removing the costume? Apaprently it is too similar to the royal garb of King Juan Carlos of Spain. Really? Marvel introduced Captain America with a picture of him punching Hitler in the face. Now we’re afraid we’re going to offend the king of Spain because he shares a wardrobe designer with Magneto? The costumes are remarkably similar, but shouldn’t this be more Juan Carlos’ concern and not Marvel’s? After all, he’s the one dressing up like a comic book character to lead a nation. I suppose we should just be glad he’s not dressing up like Victor von Doom.
That’s it for today and this week’s early edition of Quick Hits. Check back Friday for more updates.