We all know Comic-Con and Captain America are the big news this week, but there’s still been some slowly breaking video game news. I imagine Tuesday’s update will have more information from Comic-Con itself. Then again, the ‘bots on the ground in San Diego could have it covered already by then. But that’s the future talking, what do you need to know right now?
As mentioned on Tuesday, the Batman: Arkham City Collector’s Edition has been announced. But you may recall that I didn’t have a pitcure at the time. Now I do. As a refresher, this edition will be $100 and comes with a Kotobukiya Batman statue, art book, early access to the Iceberg Lounge challenge map, a Dark Knight Returns character skin, game soundtrack, and the Batman: Gotham Knight animated film. It’s all available October 18th.
Clearly not enough Arkham City am I right? How about the announcement of two more characters? Talia al Ghul and Solomon Grundy (“born on a Monday”) have both been revealed. Not much more to say than that other than Talia is being voiced by Stana Katic, so just take look at the pictures. Sorry they don’t really match.
Yet another game mentioned on Tuesday that gets more new today. The SSX reboot has been making a splash with character announcements, getting long time fans excited to see some familiar faces. In that vein, Griff Simmons of SSX3 has just been revealed with an updated look. But there will be new faces as well and the first one has been revealed. Tane Mumea is a surfer type with a thing for tie-dye. As excited as I’ve been getting for this game, seeing him as the first new character announced is pretty disappointing. Mostly just looks like a douche. Oh well, hopefully we see something better before the game comes out in January.
With new games coming out in two of their top franchises, Marvel is slowly amping up excitement. Activision recently announced the voice cast for Spider-Man: Edge of Time and X-Men Destiny, both of which have a mixed pedigree for game quality but have improved in recent outings – especially in the quality of voice work. [Both of these games are playable at Comic-Con, by the way. I’m sure we’ll have some coverage, but please let us know your experiences with them as well.] In Spider-Man, you’ll hear Val Kilmer as Walker Sloan, Laura Vandervoort as Mary Jane, and Katee Sackhoff as Black Cat. Looks like Katee is keeping busy with voice work. Milo Ventimiglia, Jamie Chung, Scott Porter will be the three playable mutants in X-Men Destiny (Grant Alexander, Aimi Yoshida, and Adrian Luca, respectively). You’ll be playing as the new X-Men September 27th, and taking on the role of two Spider-Men October 4th.
A little extra Spider-Man news for you: Pre-order incentives are popping up for Edge of Time. Pick up the game from Amazon for an early unlock of Spidey’s new Future Foundation costume. GameStop is offering the Identity Crisis pack which includes four new suits: Hornet, Dusk, Ricochet, and Prodigy. Only Prodigy is listed as a GameStop exclusive, so I’d expect you can get the rest through other retailers. Or it could mean that the FF suit and Identity Crisis packs will be future DLC but won’t include Prodigy without using GameStop. I’ll update with more information when I get it. [If you don’t know the Identity Crisis thing, don’t worry. They’re just alternate personas Peter created for a while to escape the pressure of the Daily Bugle. And because he was wanted for murder.]
More on the voice talent front, but on a game I’m far less excited about, Saints’ Row: The Third. Daniel Dae Kim of Lost will be reprising his role from the first two games as Johnny Gat. Additionally, former porn star Sasha Grey will be voicing Violet DeWynter, and wrestling legend Hulk Hogan takes on the voice of Angel de la Muerte, leader of a luchadore gang. As if my feelings on this game weren’t mediocre enough as it was, now they’ve got this gang of misfits as their “celebrity” voice talent? Whatever. If you still care, the game is set for release on November 15th.
While I’m a little surprised both of those games are still meeting their planned release windows, I’m not at all surprised The Darkness II has been pushed back. That’s just the way it goes in game development. While it was announced for October 2011, the game is now slated for February 7, 2012.
Activision has finally made an official announcement about GoldenEye 007: Reloaded. It’s coming to 360 and PS3 in fall 2011, an already crowded time for top shelf games. Temper your excitement a little though. It’s actually an HD upgrade of the 2010 Wii game, not the 1997 N64 title. There is a difference, but for fans it’s not going to matter much. If you didn’t waste way too much time playing this game’s pioneering multiplayer when it was first released, you probably didn’t know how to hold a controller. Actually, you may not even have that excuse this time as it will support the Sharpshooter and Move on PS3. Multiplayer will be a part of the “reload” as well, but now it will be online.
Do you remember a little game that came out earlier this year called Homefront? The concept was brilliant, but it was widely panned for its ridiculously short single player campaign. But the multiplayer got decent reviews and it looks like there will now be more of it. “The Rock” Map Pack is coming soon on XBox 360, with a PS3 release to follow soon after. For $4.99 you’ll get two brand new maps (including Alcatraz, hence the name) and two new Team Deathmatch areas. Mostly I just have to wonder why THQ is releasing DLC for a game whose development studio, Kaos, was shut down almost immediately after the game shipped.
Back to Marvel, for the announcement of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Not content to release 37 versions of Street Fighter, they’ve taken the practice to their crossover fighting game as well. The new version ($39.99, possibly with a DLC enhancement option for existing owners) will include the pre-existing DLC fighters, Jill Valentine and Shuma Gorath, plus 12 new combatants. From the Marvel side, Ghost Rider and Hawkeye have been announced, while Capcom’s new fighters will be Firebrand from Ghosts n’ Goblins (awesome) and Strider Hiryu. More from each brand will be announced soon, possibly at Comic-Con. A new spectator mode has been included as well as some rebalancing. Look for it in November. [Actually, a leaked list of the new fighters is already available, but file it under rumor for now – Marvel: Iron Fist, Doctor Strange, Nova, and Rocket Racoon; Capcom: Vergil (DMC), Nemesis (RE3), Phoenix Wright, and Frank West (Dead Rising).]
If you’re looking for Frank West news that isn’t rumor-milled, look no further than October 11th. That’s the day Dead Rising: Off the Record is announced for release. Bringing back the washed up, photographer hero of the first game and depositing him straight into the seedy underbelly of Fortune City from the second could be a homerun for Capcom. Or it could be just a little too much milking of the franchise (and fan goodwill).
Yet another game getting a recently confirmed release date is Prototype 2. Shockingly, it’s not coming this fall/winter. The game is actually scheduled for April 24, 2012. But you won’t be taking the tendrils as Alex Mercer again. Instead you’ll be out for revenge against Mercer as Sergeant James Heller. Heller blames Alex for the death of his family in New York City. The first game has been in my GameQ for a while, but I keep pushing it below all the other great stuff that’s been coming out, and I just don’t play games that fast anymore. Sounds like I’ve got a few months to move it up and get up to speed, because the second one is looking very good.
Have you been playing Shadows of the Damned? Have you played anything else by Suda-51? Do you want to see what he’d do with the zombie genre? Then keep your eyes on Lollipop Chainsaw. This is the next game being developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and it looks just as bizarre as everything else Suda-51 has touched. Characters will take the role of Juliet, a cheerleader turned hero, after zombies invade her high school. No dates have been announced and it’s currently only announced for Japan.
Sonic fans are surely waiting for a little more information about the upcoming Sonic Generations. I don’t have much, but I do have something. The Chemical Plant Zone from StH 2 will be making a comeback. For the 2D levels it’s pretty much just converted to HD. But it’s also been completely reimagined for the 3D perspective. The other piece of news regarding this game is that the loved and hated Metal Sonic will be coming back as well.
If you’ve been eagerly awaiting the ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection and have been disappointed that a release date has not been forthcoming, rest easy. Come September 27th you’ll get two PS2 classics in 1080P with 7.1 surround and sterescopic 3D. Sony has also announced some bonuses for the release. There will be additional video content for both titles and some exclusive footage of The Last Guardian. You’ll also get download codes to score an XMB theme for each game.
Do you remember when the DLC character announcements came for Mortal Kombat they said there would be a fourth mystery character? Mystery solved. Freddy Krueger (yeah, that Freddy Krueger) will be hitting Outworld on August 9th for $4.99. I still feel the prices for these characters is a tad high, but if you don’t think this is awesome then you have no concept of joy. This is definitely the coolest character addition to any video game since they announced the Kratos exclusive.
This is running long and more stuff is coming in faster than I type. I’ll sort the wheat from the chaff over the weekend and you can find the highlights in Tuesday’s edition. Meantime, keep your browser here at Big Shiny Robot! as Swank and Citizen-bot keep you up to speed on all the biggest goings-on at Comic-Con 2011.