Greetings, programs.

Well, it’s been about four weeks since the launch of the newest SimCity, a launch that is, quite possibly, the most disastrous since Blizzard’s Diablo III launch. And the issues were much the same: the games were designed to be played online online, and the servers just weren’t capable of handling the immense traffic that launch brought.

However, EA/Maxis have deployed a couple of patches, brought numerous new servers online to deal with the demand, and things have gotten better with SimCity. And yet challenges remain. Several of us robots have been playing, (most of whom were too busy playing to throw in their two cents, alas) but we wanted to sit down and give everyone a chance to talk about our experience.

Citizen-Bot: Let’s start with the basics. The gameplay is, for the most part, beautiful and incredibly fun. This is the same kind of addictive experience that I’ve had with all of the previous SimCity games. And they’ve improved on some of the problems from SimCity 4: no more building water pipes, the ability to build curved roads, and a ton of new customization options. But it’s still a game of balancing needs, planning, and budgeting. And I still succumb to my #1 problem of the past: overbuilding and too rapid of expansion causing huge deficits. Thank goodness for cheat codes, right?

Well, not exactly. Because the game is all online and EA/Maxis have emphasized a global leaderboard and a global marketplace for resources, so cheating would kind of take away the point of that if you can simply gift yourself millions of simoleans or any other resource, right? But, there is a “Sandbox mode” that you can set which starts you with ten times more money and allows cheating. But you can only enable this for an entire region, and there’s no moving things back and forth from the sandbox. But because of the way the game is set up, issues like this are probably never going to be resolved.

This is the same for the complaint about playing offline vs online. Even though numerous hackers have shown that you can play the game offline (and EA now admits this as well), they went ahead with the concept anyway, largely as a way to keep people from pirating. At least they admit their mistakes, and as a peace offering to folks who ponied up $60 have given us a free game from Origin. So, I get a free copy of Mass Effect 3. . . I am mollified. Partially.

The sad thing? I’ve been having more fun playing ME3 to go back to SimCity. And that goes double for wanting to play Lego City Undercover on my Wii U. I think that says something. After building out a couple of cities to the fullest extent possible, what more is there to do? Keep logging in to see the simoleans pile up? Bo-ring. Even giving me a special Nissan Leaf pack didn’t really get me excited, even as excited as I am in real life for electric vehicles.

But there are still significant bugs in the game. Anyone who has tried to place a train station or ferry can hopefully agree with me. Why can’t I connect them to my ultra-wide avenues? These are supposed to be the arteries to deliver tourists or import/export goods, and I can’t hook it up to my highest capacity roads, but only to single lane roads? How does that make sense? The road guide system is also less than helpful. Guides appear and disappear for no reason. I go try to use one to place a series of roads and they disappear. Must. Fix. The guides also make no sense. Say I want to pre-plan for eventually building a megalopolis, and I want a residential block that can fit exactly four highrise skyscrapers or an industrial zone that will build the largest scale of factory. While the zoning tool shows me exactly how far back it can conceivably build something along that road, the guide lines don’t line up with those measurements. So you are almost just as good not using them.

And while not a bug, it is super annoying that it won’t let me place roads over placed buildings of any kind. I’m glad you won’t let me bisext my police station or school, but, seriously, I can’t make an intersection because there is a bus stop there? Can you just move it down one pixel, please? And no matter how many times I try to get a recycling center to work, the mechanics are buggy. And as one of the most expensive improvements you can make to a city, it’s a bad thing to get wrong.

Another major problem? No Ctrl-Z undo type functionality. You just built a road and it’s not exactly straight how you wanted it? Too bad. You placed your water treatment plant or hospital in the wrong spot? Too bad.

The other problem is I miss having full control of my game. I understand the whole global marketplace/competition idea, but since you have Sandbox mode, why not also include a true full sandbox mode where you can design your own region, place resources, and cities? And since people are always going to whine and complain about the size of cities and not being big enough, give the people what they want.

Speaking of, also allow people to save a copy of their city in sandbox mode at any time for offline play. Allow limited play offline so, for instance, when your server is full, you can still go in and make some changes. This also would allow for the great fun of building up your city only to unleash disasters on it and then recover from them.

SithBot:  Since I have a Mac and don’t feel like dropping the cash to get Windows and Boot Camp or Parallels my system, I’ve found the delay on the OSX version to be a mixed blessing.  Obviously, I’m annoyed that many of my friends and fellow robots have been enjoying the game since day one (or whenever they were actually able to login), but I’m also happy that most of the bugs (hopefully) will have been ironed out once it finally gets ported over (sometime in April, it would appear).

I’ve always been a firm advocate of releasing a game when it’s finally ready to go and all the bugs have been worked out, and it was quite apparent that SimCity shipped chock full of problems, and I’m not talking just about the server issues for the always online DRM.  As Citizen-Bot and countless others online have noted, just because you can play the game, many features still seem half baked and/or not functional, and it’s a shame that such an iconic franchise has stumbled so hard from the get go.

Hopefully once I’m actually able to download the damn thing and get going, these bugs will be a distant memory and won’t leave a bitter taste in my mouth from their still not being fixed.  Which is why I’m probably going to wait even a bit longer than the actual release date of the OSX version just to ensure that I don’t suffer the same frustrations as the players of its PC counterpart.

Citizenbot: Yeah, I think you’re better waiting. In the final summation, I think you have to take a game for what it is rather than what it isn’t. At its core, this is still a fun game. Yes, I think it could use several tweaks. And the hacktivist community has certainly showed that whether EA wants them to or not, those hacks will happen. So I expect we’ll see more changes regardless, and they certainly can’t make it any worse..

As a gaming pop, I’m a big proponent of highlighting kids games that go above and beyond – even if they’re a few months old.

Let’s face it, quasi-educational titles don’t get a whole lot of love and a lot of parents have no idea how to discern a good kids title from a piece of shovel-ware.

And so I present for your approval a somewhat overlooked game that hit the Wii U a few months back. Scribblenauts Unlimited certainly wasn’t high on the must-have pre-Christmas wish lists of a lot of youngsters, but the fact is this is a title that is both entertaining and educational thanks to a unique gameplay approach that taps into the player’s creativity.

The idea is that thanks to a magical notebook (which you access as the Wii U’s tablet controller), the main character, Max, can make anything he writes on said pad appear in his world.

Max is confronted by a series of problems to solve. His ability to conjure tools and find creative solutions to the various dilemmas put in his path is what drives the action. And the fact that you can get ridiculously creative is what makes this game so much fun and gives it definitely replay value.

(And parents, don’t mention the fact your child will have to spell the words correctly in order to make the items appear is, in fact, educational. In a world where spelling seems increasingly devalued in favour of text shorthand, abbreviations and ever-lenient teaching methods that put creativity ahead of accuracy – as if the two can’t co-exist – it’s nice to see a developer and publisher reward smarts.)

The game unfolds as a series of missions in a quasi-sandbox environment. Quasi in that you have to unlock various areas as you progress. However, you’re not limited to just one area or mission. They string together, so there is a degree of choice and open world gaming here. Grand Theft Scribblenauts it is not, however.

The puzzles get increasingly complex, requiring the player to string together several solutions in order to advance the story.

Now, here’s where it gets interesting and where good game parenting can come into play. While many of the puzzles can be solved with mundane approaches – there’s a fire in your way, so you can conjure a bucket of water or a fire extinguisher – you can also get creative. Make a dragon cry tears. Set up a sprinkler. Create a rainstorm.

And by sitting with your child from time to time and encouraging them to get uber-creative, you will fire their imagination.

Reward them by having them come to show you the cool, out-of-the-ordinary solutions they come up with while they’re playing on their own.

The more thought and effort they put into the game – and the more you reward them for doing that and making it an added experience – the better they will be for it. And you can rest assured that your kids are learning something while entertaining themselves.

As well, there’s an object editor system that can be accessed, allowing players to create just about anything they can imagine. This can be tools for the game, or it can even be simply an outlet for artistic kids who want to create virtual items or artwork. It’s an outstanding tool and addition that adds an entirely different dimension to the software package.

You can also share these creations online, or check out the work of others, drawing inspiration that could send you off in your own creative direction.

And in case you fear that your tot will be tying up the TV for hours at a time, that’s where the beauty of the Wii U’s tablet controller comes in. Thanks to what Nintendo has dubbed Off-TV play, the entire adventure can be experienced entirely on the gamepad.

There haven’t been a whole lot of games for the Wii U that I’d describe as must-play experiences so far, especially titles that hold appeal for both young and … more experienced gamers. Scribblenauts Unlimited is one. The game is rated E-10+ for kids ages 10 and older, although younger players can certainly tackle it with some occasional parental guidance. It’s worth the effort.

* Wayne Chamberlain has covered the gaming industry since 2003. Follow him on Twitter @ChamberlainW. He is also co-host of the Star Wars Book Report podcast, available on iTunes.

The final box art for Grand Tehft Auto V has been revealed. All three playable characters seem to have made the cut, and it’s a safe bet the girl with iPhone knock-off probably won’t be found anywhere in the game. Launch is scheduled for September 17, 2013.

Telltale Games seems to be taking a short break from their fantastic success with adventure games and releasing a sequel to their 2010 poker title. Poker Night 2 for PSN and XBLA will have an all-star cast, including Portal‘s GlaDOS dealing the cards. Player characters will include the Venture Bros.‘ Brock Samson, Borderlands‘ Claptrap, Army of Darkness‘ Ash Williams, and others. The game will have Bounty Unlocks for meeting in-game goals that will net you a range of rewards (heads in Borderlands 2, PS3 themes, 360 Avatar items, etc.). Release is scheduled for later this month.

There’s been a quite a bit of bad news for the industry this week. First, of course, is the virtual closing of LucasArts by Disney. That resulted in layoff of around 150 employees. But they aren’t the only ones. Activision-owned High Moon Studios (two recent Transformers titles, Deadpool in development) also suffered layoffs, 40 or so. Square Enix is also restructuring after the resignation of Yoichi Wada, resulting in “a number” of layoffs in the Los Angeles area.

On a somewhat related topic, Rage 2 has been cancelled after poor performance of the first game (which also had its planned DLC cut). Layoffs are not expected with this decision, however. Instead, those employees have been transferred to working on Doom 4, a title that was reportedly delayed indefinitely back in 2011. Turns out, despite having already been in development for several years, it was determined the best course of action was to scrap it all start over for next-gen consoles. Which means this is also an announcement of a next-gen Doom 4, though no word on when it’s coming, as “games are done when they are done” according to Bethesda’s Pete Hines.

Even in my 40s, I’m a sucker for a good kids movie or video game. I remain a kid at heart and unabashedly shed a tear every time I watch Finding Nemo and get my Force geek on whenever I fire up an episode of The Clone Wars with my own monkeys.

And when reviewing them, I try to bring a kids wants and needs into the equation, as well as a parent’s view. Adults who review children’s games as if they’re reviewing Spartacus are, in my opinion, well, out of touch.

It’s always a pleasure as a reviewer and a parent to find a game that will entertain the younglings while satisfying the adult need to know that your child is doing something besides killing hours with a title that offers little in terms of redeeming value beyond sheer entertainment.

Developer Level-5’s Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask is one of those no-brainer titles for game-savvy parents. This 3DS release offers more brain-teasing, puzzle-solving goodness – the hallmark of this franchise.

Layton and his apprentice, Luke, as well as his assistant Emmy, embark on a mysterious journey to a desert world in search of an old friend. They discover the locals being threatened by the Masked Gentleman, a baddie who wears the Mask of Chaos, a device that can turn people into stone.

You are tasked with solving the mystery of Mask of Chaos (which involves playable flashback sequences) and saving the town and citizens from the masked fiend.

You do this by solving some seriously difficult puzzles that will test the creativity and brain power of anyone who picks up this one up. Yes, it can occasionally get frustrating, but they are not so onerous that you will quit the game in exasperation. And there are hints that you can use to solve them if you truly get stuck.

Miracle Mask makes excellent use of the 3DS platform, creating a more engaging storytelling and puzzle-solving experience thanks to the added visual dimension the handheld offers.

The cel-shaded visuals are crisp and gorgeous and this fifth iteration of the Layton franchise (but first on the 3DS) offers more of an actual gaming experience than previous outings. In short, this doesn’t feel like some kind of virtual interactive puzzle book.

Looking for clues in the 3D environments is more interactive than the tap-everything-till-you-find-the-clue approach of the four previous DS adventures.

Kids should find this game quite entertaining and the story and gameplay lends itself to short bursts rather than hour after hour of puzzle grinding.

Adults will also enjoy some of the brain teasers here. Writing this game off as a kid’s title doesn’t do it justice. Given how some brain training ‘games’ have become quite popular, think of Miracle Mask as the Pixar equivalent of a children’s movie. It’s much more nuanced than your typical kiddie title.

* Wayne Chamberlain has covered the gaming industry since 2003. Follow him on Twitter @ChamberlainW. He is also co-host of the Star Wars Book Report podcast, available on iTunes.

Among older hardcore gaming fans, brand loyalty remains a powerful force. Whether you’re an Xbox 360 gamer, a Sony fan or a PC aficionado, the platform means a lot.

To mainstream gamers – and financially beleaguered parents – the idea of a common platform seems like a common sense solution.

Welcome to the two solitudes of gaming (and the splintered factions within those ranks).

Staking out your ground in this battlefield is a personal decision and every now and then a franchise comes along that really focuses a light on the issue. Crysis is one of those.

First, a confession: I am an unabashed console gamer. And I play on all the major consoles in order to review games. I do not, however, typically review PC games. Why? Do I hate PC gaming? Nope. I just can’t afford to stay current with the hardware demands that the ever-changing landscape of PC gaming requires.

As a parent of a teen and tween, I appreciate the fact that if I have to plunk down cash for a console, I can rest assured that there will be games for that system during the course of anywhere from three to eight years, depending on how much market penetration there is and how well the third-party development industry supports it. (The PS2 had product support for about a decade, while the GameCube was dropped like the proverbial hot potato when it failed to impress the mass market.)

As a console gamer, I remember when the original Crysis game debuted as a PC title. It was 2007. Xbox 360 gamers were enthralled by Halo 3, Mass Effect and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Wii gamers were digging on Super Mario Galaxy. The PS3 was struggling to catch on due to massive hardware shortfalls. And PC gamers were raving about this gorgeous shooter called Crysis – a game whose graphics were worlds ahead of what the new 360 and PS3 consoles could offer.

“It’s too powerful for your console,” was a typical putdown used by the PC crowd.

And it stung because at our core, all gamers want to play the best games possible – preferably at the same time as our fellow enthusiasts.

Xbox and PlayStation fans would, of course, eventually get to play Crysis on their consoles (after a 3½ year wait and – ironically – a full seven months after Crysis 2 debuted simultaneously on the 360, PS3 and PC).

And now, finally, we have Crysis 3 in our hands. The game hit for the 360, PS3 and PC in February and has met with generally good reviews (personally I love the game and give it a grade of 85%).

What has, for the most part, disappeared are the taunts of the pro-PC crowd. Console gaming has triumphed, capturing the mass market and the favour of teens and older gamers alike. The fanboy arguments today are largely about whether the PS3 or the 360 is the kick-ass system to own. As I’ve listened to young gamers talk, you don’t hear them spouting off about their new PC graphics card these days. Most of the time, they’re talking about some cool multiplayer kill they made on Battlefield 3, or in Black Ops II.

And about the only thing they seem to agree on is that they wish they could all have a way to play against one another regardless of which system they own. They lament the fact they can’t stab, shoot or blow up one another because one family owns a PS3 while another has a 360.

See, to them, the game is the thing.

Me, I’m fortunate in that I get to play all the systems and I have to remind my children that not every family has all the current consoles to fire up. But then I grew up during a time when, as a gamer, I defined myself by the system I played on.

First it was the Intellivision (hey, not my choice. I was a kid and my parents didn’t know any better, otherwise they clearly would have picked up the more popular Atari system and sparing me a couple years of shame). I messed around with my aunt’s Super NES system while living with her during my college years and then, when I got a job, I bought a Sega Genesis.

From there came the original Sony PlayStation. And then a PS2.

Had I not worked into a position of writing about the gaming industry, I probably would have remained a Sony fanboy. But when Microsoft’s Xbox arrived on my doorstep so that I could review titles, well, Halo blew me away. To this day, if given the choice, I prefer to review games on a 360 over the PS3 (largely because I’m an achievement junkie and Sony’s trophy system didn’t really do much to win me over). In terms of performance, the systems are largely the same, although the fact many third-party developers work off a 360 dev kit means that there are occasional performance issues with games on the PS3. But even that gap has been closed during the consoles’ life cycles, which are now winding down.

Yes, the next Xbox and the PS4 are in development. And no doubt they will be much more powerful when they hit the market.

And yes, older folk like me and the mainstream gaming market of 30-somethings will no doubt still have brand loyalty on their minds.

But the landscape is changing, folks. As I said, kids today just want to play games against one another. Gaming, for them, is as much a social activity as it is a pastime. And they don’t care about whether they’re playing a Sony or Microsoft product. They want to blow one another up, whether it’s at each other’s homes or if they’re just able to do it online.

Parents today often lament the amount of time kids play games, the same way parents complained about the amount of time my generation spent talking on the phone to one another back in those ancient 1980s and 1990s.

Canadian developer Denis Dyack, the head honcho at Silicon Knights in St. Catharines, Ont., has written extensively for years about his belief in a single-platform solution and that, one day, it would become a reality.

I’m beginning to believe him.

Not with this next generation of hardware that’s in the pipeline now. But maybe after that.

The 30-somethings are going to be having kids and the teens of today will one of these days, as well. And their desire to socialize over games will eventually drive the market to adopt a single console, I believe. (Not to mention the fact some of them will become key players in the gaming industry, bringing about change from within, as well.)

I don’t expect Sony, Nintendo or Microsoft to be too pleased about it. But that’s business and if the market wants it, eventually brand loyalty will be sacrificed.

Look at the mobile phone market today. We’re moving to, more or less, a place where content and apps are available across multiple platforms. And an iPhone can easily text an Android phone or a Windows phone. Is it hard to picture a day soon when the market will demand a format where people can play together regardless of the brand of console or PC they own?

By that time, maybe Crysis 5 will let shooter fans lock and load en masse.

Here’s hoping.

* Wayne Chamberlain has covered the gaming industry since 2003. Follow him on Twitter @ChamberlainW. He is also co-host of the Star Wars Book Report podcast, available on iTunes.

I received the following statement from a Lucasfilm spokesperson:

“After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles.”

Before the statement, news broke that 150 employees at LucasArts had been laid off this morning. Rumours about the future of 1313 have been swirling all day as well.

It’s another sad day, but not an unexpected move from the new corporate owners at Disney. The world of publicly traded companies is one of acquisition, layoffs, improving bottom lines. Disney for a long time has been outsourcing their games to other companies, why wouldn’t they do the same for LucasArts?

Over the years, LucasArts has created some of my absolute favorite games and I had hoped they would continue to do so, but the Mouse has been quite unforgiving to the current landscape of Star Wars fandom. The only reason I’m currently not worried about the books and comics since they’re not operated in house, they’re already licensed and licensing means money to the company no matter what.

We’ll see.

News was slow over the weekend, despite GDC. Actually, that isn’t too surprising. Game Developers’ Conference is an industry event to promote creativity among developers, not expose new games or features to the press. The most surprising part is that no unauthorized leaks about next-gen hardware escaped from the insider discussions.

But, slow news doesn’t mean no news:

Rockstar announced that the complete PS2 era GTA experience is becoming available on PlayStation Network. Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories are available for download as PS2 classics starting this week ($9.99/ea). Yes, these were originally released for PSP, but a console version did come a little later. GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas have been available for a few months. This is no substitute for the HD collection fans have been wanting, but if you no longer have the games (or your PS2), it’s another opportunity.

An official release date for Battlefield 4 hasn’t not been revealed, but we’ve got it on good authority that it’s coming October 29, 2013. Whose authority you ask? Well, xbox.com’s, of course. The date was briefly listed with the title before being taken down. While it appears the posting of the date was a mistake, it’s unlikely the date itself is incorrect. This happens a lot in various ways. It’s usually a retailer like Amazon or some obscure Australian game shop that accidentally hits the publish button on an update screen. Once they realize the goof, they fix it and deny everything. Of course, that date is already confirmed for Assassins’ Creed IV: Black Flag. It’s possible that EA doesn’t want to announce yet because they’re concerned about that overlap and may change their targeted release. Time will tell.

The “Uprising” DLC for Call of Duty: Black Ops II has been confirmed via promotional art. Release date is set for April 16, 2013. The pack will include four new maps: Encore, Magma, Studio and Vertigo. Vertigo is reportedly an abandoned map from Modern Warfare 2. A new zombies map, Mob of the Dead, will also be included.

April looks to be a fairly good month for PlayStation Plus members. The first of the changes to the Instant Game Collection starts today with Spec Ops: The Line being replaced by Demon’s Souls. Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition and Anomaly: Warzone Earth will be leaving on April 9th and 16th, respectively. Sony hasn’t announced the release order yet, but it looks like they’ll be replaced by Labyrinth Legends and Malicious. Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny (PSP and Vita) and Zombie Tycoon II (PS3 and Vita, cross-buy) are also coming this month; I’m not sure what’s being bumped for their release. Plus members are also eligible for several discounts in April, including the entire season of The Walking Dead, Rainbow Moon, and Soldner X. Those sales also include less spectacular discounts for non-members.

That sums up this week’s early edition. Check back on Friday for more of the top news throughout the week.

March is over already? The whole first quarter of 2013 is gone? How can so much time have gone by with so few big games to play? Oh, yeah. It’s not Fall. I still don’t understand why media companies think we only want to consume their product at certain times of year. Big budget blockbuster films release from May to July, while the “Oscar-bait” comes in December. The annual shooters (and historical assassins) release in mid-October to early December and we get a few “also-rans” in late Spring. It’s time for game publishers and filmmakers to realize that we want to be entertained year round.

Seriously, if publishers want to address the used game “problem,” they need to address the release schedules. You don’t have time for 13 different titles at the end of the year. So you’ll buy one or two. Come January, you’ve finished them. The other 11 are still out there, but you aren’t going to pay $60 now. Instead, you’ll sell back your two for about $8 a piece and buy a used copy of one you missed for $35. But, if they spread those 13 titles out over the entire year, wouldn’t you be more inclined to buy one new game a month? Then again, maybe companies just need to recognize the new reality of gaming.

This is especially telling this week as we’ve already seen Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada step down due to financial results that didn’t meet expectations. A few more details about those results have come to light. Tomb Raider, despite selling 3.4 million copies (3.4×60=$204million) worldwide, is being considered a relative failure by the company. The company also released Hitman: Absolution and Sleeping Dogs last year, both performing very well critically. Neither should be considered a failure commercially either, selling 3.6 million and 1.75 million, respectively. Maybe my high school accounting classes weren’t Ivy League, but I think making $525million in sales is a good thing. So, what exactly were the expectations?

Okay, sorry. Time to get off my editorial high horse and report on some news:

Konami and Kojima have confirmed what we have long suspected, Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain are Metal Gear Solid V. According to a video debuted at GDC, “From FOX two Phantoms were born… FOX vs. XOF.” Not really sure what any of that means, but since when has anything about this series made any kind of sense. The video showed Snake waking from a coma and being helped to escape by a bandaged man. As soon as anything coherent surfaces about the game you’ll hear about it in VGQH. By the way, longtime voice of Snake, David Hayter, was not asked to voice the role for this go-round. Odd.

watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=xw5t45tEPWQ

In light of the recent Battlefield 4 reveal, you may be wondering about that Frostbite 3 engine. At least two other EA titles have been confirmed as being developed with the engine, Dragon Age III: Inquisition and Mass Effect 4 (or whatever it’s ultimately named).

It looks like Microsoft would like you to spend more time and money on XBLA titles. They’re even going to reward you for it. Starting on April 1, 2013 (no, this doesn’t appear to be a joke) an Arcade Punch Card program will launch. Spend 20 hours playing any XBLA titles (a total of 20 in all of them, not 20 in only one game) and you’ll get a free avatar item. If you buy any four XBLA titles at 400MSP or more each, and you’ll get a free month on your Gold membership. The third punch card will give you 800MSP when you spend 3200MSP on XBLA games. The return on your investment isn’t very significant, but if you were on the fence about buying a few games this could be just the extra push you need.

Despite my earlier rant about good games glutting up the Fall season, there is at least one coming very soon that BSR! readers are probably excited to play. But, if you’re like me and not convinced that super heroes are enough to make fighting games fun (nothing against them, just no really my style) then you’ll be glad to know that Injustice: Gods Among Us will be getting a demo next week. The demo will feature Batman, Wonder Woman, and Lex Luthor as well as the multi-tiered Gotham City level. Three characters and one level is nothing compared to the full game, which launches April 16th, but it will be a good taste of the action. I expect the three selected fighters will also give a good sampling of different styles and controls as well.

That’s all for this week. Come on back on Tuesday, where (hopefully) my editorial rant will be less severe.

It’s official folks, it looks like we will be getting a new Battlefield game from EA this year! Of course, pending any delays . . .

EA has officially revealed 17 minutes of single-player gameplay footage, along with initial details about Battlefield 4.

So here is what we know so far:

Of course, DICE is heading up the sequel, and unlike rumors to the contrary, they are not making a jump to the not-so-distant future like Call of Duty: Black Ops II – it will remain in present time. The game will run on the Frostbite 3 engine, and it is sounding like the single player campaign will have open environments, meaning there will be multiple ways to handle an objective. This was a big feature in Battlefield: Bad Company 2, but was for some reason done away with for Battlefield 3 – which instead was more or less “on rails” much like the Call of Duty single player campaigns.

Of course, the game will be released on PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3. There has been no word yet on a Playstation 4 release for the game (in fact, you can’t even pre-order it for the PS4 yet, but can for all previously mentioned platforms), which to me is a bit surprising since the PS4 has actually been unveiled and has a release date that will most likely closely coinside with this game. Less surprising is that there is also no mention of the next-gen Xbox release.

Also going live this Fall is a Multiplayer Beta for the game. If you purchased Medal of Honor: Warfighter, you are all set to be part of this Beta. If you did not purchase MoH, then you still have an opportunity be a part of the PC Beta by pre-ordering the PC-only Digital Deluxe version. You can do this over at the Origin website.

That’s pretty much all we know so far, but I suspect we will hear much more at E3 in June. Having spent countless hours playing Battlefield 3, I am pretty stoked for the next game. DICE has done a great job keeping the fresh content coming for Battlefield 3, with their final expansion dropping just a few days ago which I think is great timing; plenty of time to enjoy the new multiplayer content before the next game comes out. I’ll be looking forward to more details surrounding multiplayer, as that’s my bread and butter, and report on them as they come in.

In the mean time, here is 17 minutes of PC gameplay footage for you to chew on!

You can follow Arse-bot and all the pointless thoughts he puts out into the interwebs on Twitter @Arse_bot

Truth be told, the only thing I ever felt the need to collect with abandon was Star Wars trading cards when I was a lad back in the day.

As such, Pokemon was something I just never latched onto. I mean, I was 26 when Satoshi Tajiri unleashed the idea of collecting pocket monsters, training them to fight and then dropping them into the ring like some kind of virtual Don King.

Over the years, Pokemon video games have met with varied levels of success. There’s no denying the popularity of the franchise and it marries the idea of collecting and fighting together in such a way that it’s no surprise how many people – young and old – have become fans in the last 17 years.

However, the need to provide varied gaming adventures becomes apparent as people can tire of the same thing over and over again.

Which brings me to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, the new Nintendo 3DS title. It tweaks its approach enough that it satisfies the needs of gamers on the go.

Gates to Infinity makes capturing and training Pokemon entertaining thanks to its streamlined gameplay approach, which puts the turn-based combat at the fore and leaves the typical time-wasting pre-fight video hype by the wayside. You will enter real time, turn-based battles whenever you move your character adjacent to an enemy and while that may not sound like much of a change, those seconds and minutes add up to hours of action rather than passive viewing when all is said and done.

Some may decry this approach as focusing on substance at the expense of some of the franchise’s trademark style, but if the idea of pre-packaged dungeon crawls and copious amounts of exploration are what you want, there are plenty of other titles that can meet that need.

Instead, for a pick-up-and-play mobile handheld title, Gates to Infinity cuts to the chase and it works well in short bursts, which is truly how this game is meant to be played. Just think of it as speed chess with pocket monsters.

Now, if you have some time and if you feel the need to explore the Pokemon world more deeply, you can visit the game’s Paradise area, where you can linger to your heart’s content.

Paradise lets you manage your group of monsters, as well as allows you to spend your money and use the items you collected during fights. You can invest in stores, grow crops to help you during fights and unlock mini games that add hours of gameplay time.

The campaign’s plot will satisfy the needs of younger gamers and give them some context to the collecting and fighting, but older players who just want to get to the meat and heat of battle should find the pared-down approach rewarding enough.

Gates to Infinity is rated E and supports local and online play, as well as SpotPass and StreetPass.

* Wayne Chamberlain has covered the gaming industry since 2003. Follow him on Twitter @ChamberlainW. He is also co-host of the Star Wars Book Report podcast, available on iTunes.