Another weekend has come and gone. I’m still playing LEGO Star Wars III, still crying my way through Mass Effect 2 on Insanity, and I’ve somehow decided it’s a good idea to start yet another game, inFAMOUS 2. All three are fantastic by the way. But Gamefly just sent me Portal 2 as well. That will probably have to wait until I finish at least one of the others. But it’s so pretty and tempting. Can I reasonably be playing four games at once (not counting downloadables) and still enjoy all of them? Especially during summer when I usually only get an hour or two a day and maybe four hours all weekend? Not to mention still keep a biweekly column about gaming news running? Speaking of which:
Is it not enough that new game releases all seem to need a collector’s edition, sometimes two or three? Now it seems game of the year editions are coming out for more games than can reasonably be called “game of the year.” Seriously, has a single publication actually given top honors to Two Worlds II? Not that it’s necessarily a bad game. I’m just wondering why we can’t call it like it is, the “we didn’t sell as much as we think we could so we’re packaging it again with more pretty stuff” edition. And please, don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of pretty stuff. The Velvet Game of the Year Edition (yes, that’s the name) includes the Pirates of the Flying Fortress Expansion pack, two PvP maps, real world double-sided map, real and in-game pirate head pins that boost attributes (no guarantees of real world attribute boosting), and the standard bonus disc with wallpapers, art, music, etc. All of it comes packaged in a fancy red or black velvet box on PC or consoles, respectively. Hence the name. If you’re interested in picking up this version, it goes on sale October 18.
Speaking of Collector’s Editions, Batman: Arkham City‘s has been revealed. The premium edition will retail for $100 and includes a Kotobukiya statue (worth it already), standard fare artbook, early access to DLC (possibly even the Best Buy “exclusive” Robin add-on), Gotham Knight animated content, “and more.” Normally these announcements come with pictures, but this one didn’t. So, how about an awesome new picture of Two-Face instead. He’s reportedly building an army in Arkham City. Batman will be swooping in to stop him, in collector’s or standard editions, October 18.
In recent editions of VGQH we’ve seen more of the SSX roster being revealed for the game’s January reboot. The more I’ve seen, the more I’ve had to admit I’m actually a little intrigued by a game I wrote off the day it was announced. It appears EA is confident they can change my mind, as they have plans for releasing a demo before the game’s release. For a title with this much trepidation, this is either brilliant or foolish. If the demo is good, they’ll win over plenty of people like me. If it’s bad, all of your questionable sales get answered with a resounding “NO!” No word on what or when the demo will be, but the game is scheduled for January 2012.
Last week the rumors started flying about Ubisoft’s pending release of Uplay Passport, their attempt to recoup some of the loss from sale of used games. Ubisoft has since confirmed that this new offering goes into effect with the August 30th release of Driver: San Francisco. All of Ubisoft’s core titles bearing the Uplay logo in the future will utilize the plan. The Passport will provide access to any exclusive content and online play. New copies will use a one-time use code to download the Passport for free. If you don’t buy the game new, you’ll be paying $9.99 to get it from your device’s online service. For good or ill, it appears these online passes are here to stay. Any major publishers who haven’t announced one will certainly be getting it out there soon.
In the cross-media world, the latest announcement is a book based on the upcoming Battlefield 3. The novel, written by Andy McNab, will hit shelves the same day as the game, October 25th.
I’m not sure how much this qualifies as news, but any excuse to talk about Mass Effect 3 is good enough for me. This picture of James Vega was tweeted by Casey Hudson of Bioware to celebrate getting 10,000 followers. Vega is a new character to the series. Like the new players who will just be jumping into the franchise with this game, Vega doesn’t know much about galactic politics. He appears to be the champion of the new player, and that’s a good thing. Veterans may not use him much, not if Garrus, Jacob, or other long time characters are available, but he’ll definitely have his place. But, like Jacob was in ME2, he also strikes me as the sort of new character that could be available for romance.
If you’re one of the many die hard fans of the series, you want any news you can find about when you’ll be playing Final Fantasy XIII-2. An exact date is still pending, but the North American release has been narrowed down to January 2012 (formerly “early 2012”).
I’m trying to decide if this is the first I’ve heard of this one, or if I just filed it under bad “1980s rehash” and forgot about it. Voltron: Defender of the Universe is coming to PSN and XBLA this October. The game will weave clips from the ’80s cartoon into the game as cutscenes, putting players right into the conflict with King Zarkon of Arus they remember from their youth. You can choose any of the five lions, or team with up to four other players online (two player offline) to control them all. I’m not sure how you work five player co-op once you turn into Voltron and start swinging that blazing sword, but for gamers of a certain age that’s not going to matter. Being Voltron has been a lifelong goal for millions of ’80s children. Of course, now we’ll all be reminded of whether Voltron was actually a good show, or we were just too young to realize it sucked and have been blinded by nostalgia for 25 years.
And now that I’ve just angered every reader of a similar age to myself, I’ll just end the news here. Actually, it’s because I don’t have any more at the moment. But I will for Friday’s edition, so check back then.