NetherRealm has confirmed last week’s rumor that Batgirl will be the next DLC character for Injustice: Gods Among Us, following Lobo who will be available soon. Also on the slate are two skin packs: Bad Girls (Harley’s Jester, Catwoman’s Selina Kyle outfit, and Wonder Woman’s #600 outfit) and Teen Titans (Cyborg, Deathstroke, and Raven). The skins are not part of the Season Pass. Two other characters are planned for the Season Pass, and the rumor mill seems quite certain they’ll be General Zod and Mortal Kombat‘s Scorpion.
The Australian ratings board has outed yet another game without an official announcement. Considering how excited most of our contributor ‘bots are to see Pacific Rim, I have to wonder how many will be excited to play it on XBLA and PSN. It’s apparently developed by Yuke’s, who have done many of the recent WWE titles. It’s also being published by them, which is interesting only in that THQ used to publish their retail releases. No official confirmation, release date, price, etc. but keep your eyes and ears open.
Lucid Games, the studio created a couple of years ago from ex-Bizarre Creations’ talent, seems to have an incoming announcement about a new game. A picture posted from their Facebook indicates a London setting for what will likely be a racing game. They’ve also stated that “Mid-May will be interesting for the studio. We have some exciting updates coming. Stay tuned!” Turning to the rumor mill once again, we may be seeing that “exciting update” on May 21st at the Microsoft reveal. This could be a next-gen racer along the lines of Project Gotham Racing.
LittleBigPlanet doesn’t get mentioned often in VGQH, at least not in comparison to how many updates come through for it. But this week LittleBigPlanet Karting is getting a sweet set of geeky DLC. You’ll be getting Tron‘s Light Runner and two Light Cycles to go with the costumes that have been available for the franchise for some time.
If the always-online rumors about Microsoft’s next XBox, codenamed Durango, were ever true, it appears the will of the people has been heard by the men in suits. Possibly. The basis for what appears to be an about face by the console manufacturer is a supposedly leaked internal memo. According to the memo, “Durango is designed to deliver the future of entertainment while engineered to be tolerant of today’s Internet. There are a number of scenarios that our users expect to work without an Internet connection, and those should ‘just work’ regardless of their current connection status. Those include, but are not limited to: playing a Blu-ray disc, watching live TV, and yes playing a single player game.” I would still expect the system will require an available internet connection. Online activation codes could still be required to begin playing your single player games, similar to the pass codes currently in vogue for online games. But, once you’ve activated your game, you may not need to be continually online in order to play it. Yes, this may still have affect users who have no internet connection, but that’s a far cry from affecting everyone who doesn’t have a reliable high speed connection for constant use.
All is apparently not lost in the world of Star Wars video games. Following Disney’s shuttering of Lucasarts, EA has now secured a multi-year deal to publish “core” games set in the galaxy far, far away. Disney Interactive will still be publishing “casual” games in the franchise. EA’s agreement reportedly includes publishing games from multiple developers. DICE, Bioware, and Visceral were specifically mentioned. Any titles currently in development will be announced “in the coming months.” Does this mean a second life for Star Wars 1313? Help us Electronic Arts, you’re our only hope.
The sixth playable character for Borderlands 2, Krieg the Psycho, is scheduled for release on May 14th. Krieg is a little weird, you might even say psychotic, and focuses on melee attacks with his Buzz Axe weapon. He is not part of the Season Pass and will cost 800 MSP / $9.99.
Here’s one for the classic PC gamers: Bethesda Softworks has announced they’ll be publishing Wolfenstein: The New Order, currently in development at Machinegames. The Wolfenstein franchise is one of the earliest first-person shooters available, arguably having as much or more influence on the genre than id’s Doom. Release is planned for fourth quarter 2013 (unclear if that’s calendar or fiscal year) on PS3, 360, and next-gen consoles.
May is shaping up to be a good month for PlayStation Plus members. Sleeping Dogs has been out for a while, but it’s a very good game and there’s some fun DLC to add on as well. That one will be added to the Instant Game Collection starting today. Other titles coming to the service in May will be Knytt Underground (cross-buy), Germinator (Vita), BlazBlue: Continuum Shift EXTEND (Vita), and Pinball Arcade (cross-buy). Leaving the IGC this month, in weekly order, are: Demon’s Souls, Mega Man 9 & 10 Combo Pack, Tekken 6 (PSP), Darksiders, and Zombie Tycoon 2. Other discounts and such will apply as usual.
