About a week ago via Twitter hip-hop icon Soulja Boy unleashed his nerdy fury stating

I just want to say yes I play Pokemon on nintendo ds and I dont want to lose an swag behind that. Dont judge me lol i made it too far.

So if he plays, then theoretically the 350 hours I have invested into Heart Gold is totally justified right? Hanging out at Gamestop’s to download the legendary they’re giving away that day is totally cool right? I say based on his tweet, that all Pokemon players are 1 Pikachu away from music industry fame and fortune, … His official tweet is below. Pokemon comes 1 week from today and yes folks I’ll be there buying both versions and once again attempting to catch them all, who’s with me?! Comment below.

And here’s the collected bits for the end of the week:

As you probably know, one of the most destructive series in gaming makes is making its comeback with Red Faction: Armageddon. The reason this is news is that THQ has announced the game will be hitting stores on May 31, 2011.

In a rare show of corporate decency, Atari and Eden Games have promised the “Exploration Pack” DLC for Test Drive Unlimited 2 will be free. This is the companies’ way of saying “thank you” to the fans who have given supportive feedback on this notoriously glitchy game. Glitches have run the gamut of online connection troubles, in-game currency losses, and corrupted game saves (the worst kind of glitch). The new DLC and a patch addressing most of the issues is ready to go pending quality assurance testing. Look for that through your console’s online service soon.

Not really big news for anyone in the U.S. but I mention it because it seems very strange, Two Worlds II has been delayed a week in the U.K. and will be available exclusively through Amazon U.K. Why? The game has done well in preorders in the U.K. but they’ll now need to be cancelled and customers will need to use Amazon exclusively. I’m a huge fan of Amazon for their prices and convenience, but if they’re working the economic muscle to get this deal I might have to reconsider. Seems a little too much like a Wal-Mart move. Then again, it may be the distributor is just lazy or they’re having production problems and this is a way to limit the impact.

Can’t get enough of Dead Space 2? The “Severed” DLC will be available on March 1st for $6.99. But I hope you’ve also played Dead Space: Extraction because you’ll be playing as Gabe Weller, not Isaac Clarke. But at least you get an upgraded pulse rifle….

Capcom is releasing yet another version of Street Fighter 4. But I’m not sure if that’s good news or bad. The new Arcade Edition will not be coming to consoles. Makes sense, considering it’s called “Arcade Edition” but is there still enough arcade market to warrant this? Apparently their reasoning is that they’ve worked very hard to make all the characters balanced in the home version, but the arcade version is deliberately unblanaced, making some fighters much more powerful than others. Four new characters, Yun, Yang, Oni, and Evil Ryu, will make their debut in the new version.

If you love tower defense or action strategy, you may want to pick up Orcs Must Die! from Robot Entertainment this summer. It’s a download only title, and will likely be available for PC, 360, and PS3. Normally I’d ignore a simple game announcement like this, but with a title like that I just had to spread the word. Even if the game sucks the name is good for a laugh. No word on pricing yet but these games typically hit the $10-15 mark.

Considering Rockstar has basically become the goose that laid the golden egg, you really should be looking forward to L.A. Noire (May 17th). Preorder bonus information has started to trickle out. In North America it’s been confirmed that GameStop will have exclusive downloadable content. You’ll get an extra case from the Vice department regarding an apparent suicide and an extra collectibles challenge that can earn players the Button Man outfit. In the U.K., GAME will have the GameStop deal while three other retailers (including Amazon.co.uk) will also have exclusive content. Two different suits will be available and one extra Traffic case. It’s probably safe to assume that some U.S. retailers will be getting that content as well. You can probably expect all of it as paid DLC sometime after release.

That looks like most of the relevant stuff for now. Come back next week for more video game news. Rockstar has promised they’ve got something big to reveal about L.A. Noire.

EA Released this on their Battlefield 3 site, and we here at Big Shiny Robot thought, “Hey! I know some folk that’ll wanna see this!”  The visuals look good, and even though the shots of gameplay are limited for a “game play debut”, I think it still has a great chance to shine.  Fall 2011 release looks promising to me, hopefully this is good enough to rise out of the piles of games released during the holiday.  Check it out below, and tell us what you think!

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Oblivion, and Fallout 3 are some of my favorite games of all time, and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim looks like its going to be the best one Bethesda Softworks has created yet.

I mean… all I have to say is: “ZOHEMGEE– DRAGONS!!”  here… watch the newly released trailer… do it… watch it… NOW! (thanks to IGN and YouTube)

-M

The thing about this trailer that got me wasn’t Max Von Sydow’s voice-over… not the shiny overly realistic graphics… not the epic music… not that there were giants and stealthy deaths… and wicked creepy ridiculously large spiders…  it was the guy running from the dragon at 36 seconds… If that was gameplay- and I’m almost sure it was- it was the most realistic running animation I’ve seen in a video game!

The universe they’re building looks vast and almost endless… and when the character gives the final blow to the dragon at the end and it’s blood splatters all over him, and he’s breathing heavily (gameplay mind you)… geezy eezus! I about wet myself!  The graphics are beyond good in this… makes me want to go out and buy an amazing computer just to play it at it’s fullest capacity… (luckily I already have an amazing computer so I don’t have to actually do that)

I will say though, that I doubt any piece can suck me in and keep me there like the Fallout 3 franchise did… but this one looks like it might just walk all over it, I mean… there are GIANTS! There are EFFIN’ DRAGONS!!… and if you know anything about the ES series… that’s a big deal. It makes me curious if they’ve added a spell to let you tame the dragons, make them travel companions… This is  free-roaming fantasy that doesn’t look ridiculously boring and repetitive like some MMORPG’s out there… wow… just… …. … WoW… does it look like its not a terrible game… like some other fantasy… based… games…

Weigh in-

I am not a hardcore gamer. I am not a casual gamer. I am a retro gamer. I’d much rather eat mushrooms and stomp on enemy craniums than fill them full of lead. Because of that, the download services offered on current console really appeal to me. Not only are there re-releases and remakes of classic titles from my youth, there are a good number of new titles that try to evoke that same sense of style and gameplay, which brings us to Explodemon, exclusive to the PlayStation Network.

At first glance, the titular Explodemon does indeed look like he jumped out of the Super Nintendo era, and that does seem like that’s the intention of developer Curve.  While he kind of looks, and to a small extent plays like a palette-swapped Mega Man X, Explodemon’s main gameplay feature is that he main weapon is exploding. While it may seem derivative, seeing as a couple of other notable games recently have used the main character’s explosions as a core element of the game, Explodemon stands apart in its execution. While you can just blaze through the 12 levels, the game is much more rewarding when you sit back and try to find all of the hidden little trinkets in the stages.

While the game is undoubtedly fun, it can be very frustrating at times, with puzzle elements seriously teasing your brain at times. Thankfully, any puzzles that impede your progress through the game are overcome much more easily that the ones keeping you from the aforementioned hidden stuff. If you blaze your way through the game, you can expect maybe 3 hours of gameplay, but if you stop and smell the roses, you can probably up that to 12-20 depending on your puzzle-solving expertise.

As for the game’s story, it’s not as important as some, but it isn’t without its charm. This is mainly due to the character of Explodemon himself, what with his broken English providing some genuine laughs throughout the game. As it is, Explodemon is considered a menace to society, what with him you know, exploding all the time. He is locked away, never to be released, but when the forces of the Vortex hit his home planet, they inadvertently destroy the facility Explodemon was holed up in, setting the game in motion.  Explodemon must fight his way through 3 planets, thwarting the plans of his evil brother Absorbmon.

An example of the dialog that made me smile.

My bottom line is, if you like old-school action/platformer games, you can’t go wrong with Explodemon. It has a few faults, but they are not detrimental to your enjoyment of the game. If you’re curious, give it a shot!

Explodemon is available on the PlayStation Network for $9.99 A copy of the game was provided by the developer for review purposes. The game was played to completion and replayed a bit to increased rankings.

Guest writer Triscut of Doom stumbled across this list on 1UP.com today and clued us in to the epicness of the announcement. Nintendo announced the launch titles for the 3ds that will be available next month and confirmed the game pricing. 3DS games will release with a 39.99 price tag, and the following will be available alongside the handheld on March 27th. If you’re checking for Zelda, don’t worry, as usual Nintendo doesn’t have it ready and will probably end up pushing it to Holiday 2012, mark my words folks it’ll be a minute before we see even a rehash of our old friend Link available for the 3ds.

From Nintendo themselves

• Pilot Wings Resort
• Steel Diver
• Nintendogs +Cats

The 3rd party titles will be

• Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition
• The Sims 3
• Madden NFL Football
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D
• LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
• Ridge Racer 3D
• Super Monkey Ball 3D
• Bust-a-Move Universe
• Samurai Warriors: Chronicles
• Asphalt 3D
• Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D
• Rayman 3D
• Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Shadow Wars

I hope Pilot Wings can live up to the reputation of its predecessor, I loved Pilot Wings 64. I’m also pleased to see that Ridge Racer has continued their launch title status…(insert sarcasm here). Honestly of the 18 games showing, the only thing I’ll be buying is Street Fighter and Pilot Wings. I’ll pick up my Pokemon Black and White when they release and play it on the 3DS, but they will be missing 3d functionality of course. Any ones on the list you folks are excited for?

Even with a long weekend there isn’t a whole lot to report for the early version of VGQH. Maybe that’s because everyone took a long weekend and we’ll see a bigger update on Friday.

To start, the Dragon Age II demo should be available today on your respective online service. Demos are great for undecideds, but even if you have it pre-ordered you should probably get this anyway. Completing the demo unlocks an ancient dwarven weapon in the main game (March 11, 2011). If you want to unlock two in-game poetry books (coin and experience boost) get your friends to download it as well. EA says these two books will be available if the demo reaches one million downloads. I was planning to skip this game since I didn’t care for Origins, but I’ll still get the demo to help out the other fans. I’ll even play it just to see if it changes my mind.

I’ve never been a racing fan so the closure of Bizarre Creations doesn’t affect me personally but it’s still sad to see any creative enterprise have to shut down. Bizarre’s bread and butter has been racing since 1994. In the last few years they’d expanded their repertoire with The Club and 007 Blood Stone. Underperformance of these titles were among the issues that forced the developer to close their doors on Friday.

One of my most anticipated games this year is inFamous 2. The first game was sheer brilliance and the next iteration looks just as great. Sucker Punch recently dropped a ton of release information on the game, scheduled for June 7th. Preorder bonus reports are a confusing mess at the time of this writing. It may be all or only some of the following depending on retailer: vouchers for the Lightning Hook power, Kessler skin, soundtrack, and possibly some of the Special Edition items. The Special Edition comes in a lenticular box with a voucher for the Electrocution Grenade power, original Cole skin, and Golden Amp. For some reason I can’t find any retailers with this version listed and no one’s offering an MSRP for it. It may just be the normal version will be packaged this way for a limited time or it could be involved with the bonus item confusion. I have found solid information on the Hero Edition though. That one’s booked for $100 and will include a Cole figurine, replica sling bag, limited edition comic book, and soundtrack.

Danger Close (formerly EA LA) met with some success on the recent Medal of Honor reboot, to the tune of five million copies sold. Success like that doesn’t get ignored in the gaming industry. Greg Goodrich, Executive Producer, has announced the sequel is in the works.

Wrestling games can be sort of a mixed bag. I avoided them for years because the quality was so bad but I recently got Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 from Gamefly and I was surprised at the quality improvement. Now I’m looking closely at WWE All Stars (March 29th). As bizarre as professional wrestling can be, this game looks to take it way over the top, NBA Jam style. Sounds fun, and THQ recently announced a few of the characters (old and new) you can expect to play. While names like Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Andre the Giant, Ricky Steamboat, Bret Hart, Macho Man, Sgt. Slaughter, Roddy Piper, and Jake the Snake all deserve the All Star title, I have to wonder about some of the newer stars. Not The Rock, HHH, Kane, Big Show, John Cena, Eddie Guerrero, Edge, Randy Orton, or even Rey Mysterio. Those guys are All Stars too. I mean people like John Morrison, Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger, and Sheamus. They’re decent performers, I’m just not quite sure I’d call them All Stars yet.

If you remember the 2009 RPG Risen, you may be excited to know Risen 2 is in development. Very little details have been released so far. The story seems pirate-themed, with the main character tracking down a tale of pirates who know how to rid the seas of giant monsters. Intriguing. While the first game was exclusive to PC and 360, developer Piranha Bytes did say “consoles,” plural, in their press release. This could mean the sequel will be reaching a larger audience.

Players of Mass Effect 2 on PS3 got a patch recently that has updated the game with three new trophies tied to the upcoming DLC, “Arrival.” This would indicate the DLC is probably coming to PSN and XBLA within the next week or two.

That’s it for now. I’ll be back later in the week with more updates.

Multi-console:
Bulletstorm
Knights Contract
De Blob 2

PS3:
Killzone 3

XBox 360:
Dreamcast Collection
Gun Loco

Wii:
Beastly Frantic Foto
TrackMania: Build to Race

PSP:
YS: I&II Chronicles

Nintendo DS:
Beastly Frantic Foto
TrackMania: Build to Race
Radiant Historia

I need to note a few things here after the fact. Some of these games may not actually be out this week everywhere. My resources conflicted. Some retailers had them listed as already available, some for this week, and some for next month.

Also, if you’re getting, or even considering, Bulletstorm you should get the demo from your console’s online service. You unlock a few in-game items by completing the demo. FPS aren’t my cup of tea but Rick Remender’s dialogue is hilarious. The game itself is insane and ADD-glorious.

I’ve said before that I think that movie trailers should have awards, and that if they don’t… someone should get on that… oh and by the way- I’m going to add “video game trailers” to my list of things to review and things that need awards.

The following is the Official Announcement Trailer for the upcoming Deep Silver and Techland video game release: Dead Island.

The most f**ked up and beautiful trailer I have ever seen for a video game… in fact, I’ll say straight out that is right up there with ANYthing I’ve seen for being beautiful and f**ked up… there is an artistry to this trailer. A mastery of the craft I have never seen- right down to how REALISTIC the it is and the detail is unparalleled… (I don’t know, maybe the detail stands out more because of the style in which they made the piece) either way, watch it… watch it right now- and I PROMISE you, it is worth your time to make it past the :40 second mark. If you end up not agreeing, I take full responsibility. (thanks to IGN for providing the trailer and youtube for hosting it)

Now that you’ve watched it I can say this: never have I seen such careful use of reverse… of the rewind… beautiful, absolutely beautiful music juxtaposed over horrifying, almost unforgivable imagery… I was in tears by the end- I don’t even want to play the video game… I just want a DVD copy of this trailer for my collection. For those of you who really liked it here’s a link to the hi-res download that the developers have made available

Eff it! I’m going to start giving out awards for trailers- every month! This is my first nominee for “Best Trailer; Feb. 2011”, and most likely “Best Trailer; 2011” UPDATE: apparently there IS a movie trailer award, learn more about it here… (this doesn’t change the fact that I’ll be doing my own awards.)

What do you guys think? Am I just being overly emotional, or is this just not amazing?

(ps- watch for my “Best Trailer; Jan. 2011” award article sometime this coming week.)

Releasing on DLC this March, the press material flood gates for this game have opened up. Let’s start with the cover, featured to the left. Nit-pickers will notice the recruit is holding the proton wand upside down and apparently it now has a gun grip. But really, who cares? Let’s start with the press release:

Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime brings arcade style gameplay to the beloved franchise. Strap on your proton packs for an all new ghostbusting adventure! Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime brings paranormal activity to Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network and PC Download! With 4 new playable characters and a whole new team of Ghostbusters, get ready for a fast-paced battle against the evil spirits that lurk in New York City to take down Dumazu the Destroyer!

Game Features
•12 levels of arcade-style Ghostbusting fun with an all new cast of Ghostbusters
•Immerse yourself in the fight against the paranormal – battle ghosts in NYC’s sewer tunnels, cemeteries & more
•Explore the unique powers of 3 different ghost fighting weapons
•Ride through the city in the all new ECTO-4WD as you battle evil ghosts while in transit
•Up to 4 player co-op multiplayer – combine weapon attacks with your teammates to increase the power of your attacks

It should also be noted that the original four ‘busters will be in the game. They will be featured in comic cut scenes between missions. The latest ghost outbreak is so out of control the fab four had to hire some recruits to help. These recruits are named Allan, Bridget, Samuel, and Gabriel (a woman Ghostbusters? Next thing you’ll tell me they can vote too). IGN.com described the gameplay to “Castle Crashers with proton packs”. Which excites the hell out of me. Check out IGN’s thoughts below:

Yanosh? Button tapping mini games? I’m totally in. And last but not least, how about a list of the achievements:

HERO 10pts
Revive any teammate 20 times.

SPEED DEMON 15pts
Get 100% score with the trap.

STORY TELLER 20pts
Watch each comic without skipping.

ROOKIES 10pts
Finish the first level.

BUSTIN’ MAKES ME FEEL GOOD 10pts
Unlock every level and defeat the final boss.

NICE THINKING, RAY 10pts
Find all the hidden collectibles.

FULL HOUSE 20pts
Finish an online level with the help of 3 other players.

RUSH HOUR REVENGE 20pts
Defeat the Subway Smasher.

DON’T TOUCH THE CAR 40pts
Finish a chase level with at least 75% of the Ecto-shield up.

TEAM OF FOUR 15pts
Play with each character.

ROCKSTAR 10pts
Destroy all the expensive LCD televisions in the hotel.

COLORBLIND 20pts
Kill a Slime Abomination with the wrong weapon.

Thanks to Proton Charging, GhostbustersNews, IGN and Xbox360 Achievements for all the info. Lots of screens below: