Certainly not as big of an update as Tuesday’s early edition, but still some fun news. Let’s get right to it:

Kind of a quiet announcement, which is unusual, but Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse has a release date. Activision plans to release it November 20, 2012. The odd part is there was no trailer, gameplay footage, artwork, etc. released with the announcement. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just weird in today’s market.

While Activision has announced a nearly immediate release, TT Games and Warner Bros. Interactive quietly announced a delay. Actually, they didn’t even say that LEGO Lord of the Rings was delayed. They simply announced a November 13th release, despite earlier information indicating October 30th. At least they announced a pre-order incentive. Ordering at GameStop will get you a “special LOTR Middle-earth Weapons & Magical Items Pack” as well as an Elrond mini-figure. That’s an actual mini-fig, not an in-game one.

GameStop also has a special pre-order bonus for God of War: Ascension. “Donning King Leonidas’s red cape, iconic helmet, and armor you will stand apart as one of the ultimate warriors of Sparta. King Leonidas also comes with his iconic spear, which has its own set of unique combat moves.” The Leonidas skin and a double-sided poster will come with both the standard and limited editions March 12, 2013.

Capcom has confirmed several rumors about an update to Resident Evil 6. The update is apparently scheduled for mid-December. The addition of the No Hope difficulty setting, and opening Ada Wong’s campaign without unlocking it will be the most obvious changes. Other, more subtle changes will include a slightly more pulled out camera for increased visibility, and new options that allow for the audio to be a different language than the subtitles.

343 Industries and Microsoft have confirmed Halo 4 will be using the season pass trend. Their “War Games” pass will save you about 15% on the three planned DLC expansions: Crimson (December), Majestic (February), and Castle (April). Each pack will have three new maps. You’ll also get two in-game helmets and a unique emblem. If you’re planning on purchasing the Limited Edition, your pass will be included. In case you hadn’t heard, the game releases November 6th.

That’s it for this week. Next week sees the Fall gaming season begin in earnest with two Assassin’s Creed titles and Halo 4 follows up one week later. Since you’re probably going to be busy with that one on November 6th, get out and vote early. In Utah, the polls opened on Tuesday and will be open daily through November 2nd. I don’t know the schedule for other states, but I saw President Obama voting early in his hometown of Chicago yesterday. And that’s enough political talk for my humble gaming roundup.

Also, don’t forget to join the Geek Show Podcast crew and some of our Big Shiny Robots at Brewvies this Sunday for the Halloween costume contest edition of Geek Show Movie Night.

Simply put, this episode is fantastic. Its loud, chaotic, as well as both terrifying and thrilling.  There’s a lot of action and shit goes down. The Covenant are here in full force, the cadets fight for survival, and we finally get to see the Master Chief! If you haven’t watched yet, I’d recommend doing so before reading on.

This episode again starts with another Cortana intro then drops us about where the previous one left off with the cadets thrown right in the middle of the Covenant invasion. They make their way through the deadly battleground and take cover back inside the academy. The remaining cadets band together and are clearly on the edge of panic. They are attempting to make their way through the academy to arm themselves while also dealing with one cloaked Elite that made its way inside. These scenes are fairly terrifying and its not a situation I’d want to end up in. Just when the cadets think they are done for, Master Chief saves the day. Well, for them anyway. It turns out they are the only survivors on the entire planet! Chief radios fellow Spartan Kelly for evac via Pelican. From there the group makes their way to a Warthog to head to the rendezvous point, but not before Chief says my favorite line: “Cadet Lasky, can you drive a Warthog?” An awesome battle takes place and the episode ends with the Chief and cadets speeding away in the Warthog.

So far I’ve really loved the introduction scenes with Cortana alone on the Forward Unto Dawn ship. This one is no exception, but I liked the first 3 better. Everything inside the ship is now frozen with a layer of ice. A pipe breaks sending a perfect shiny metal ring floating. It glistens in a ray of light and in that moment small lines and engravings can be seen on the ring’s surface. It definitely resembles a Halo ring, but beyond that I’m not sure of its significance. Right after this an orange wave flashes through the ship, the same orange wave seen in the live-action launch trailer for Halo 4 as well as the “>live-action trailer shown at E3 that introduces the UNSC Infinity ship. This places this Cortana scene very near the start of Halo 4 and if you’ve paid attention, it has some hints about how the game might begin.

I couldn’t be more pleased with how the Covenant weaponry turned out. There’s Plasma Rifles, Needle Rifles, Carbines, and an energy sword. The sounds are incredible. They sound highly familiar to the Halo games but with extra fidelity. The way the Carbine’s bright green beam flashes then fades in a wavy trail is perfect. What’s really spectacular though are the needle rounds as they zip by and shatter on impact. If you watch closely, Colonel Mehaffey dies in the beginning to a brief supercombine. Its brief and partly off screen, but enough needles hit her to combine and explode in a shower of pink mist and blood. I was hoping for a bigger more clear supercombine, but I’ll take this one.

Master Chief. After 3 weeks of waiting we finally get to see you in action, and it is good. My main impression was that Chief is a badass. I’m quite happy with the way Chief is presented. His actions, voice, and movement are all spot on and I found the scenes featuring him to be really exciting. His suit isn’t perfect, it looks slightly cheap and a bit plasticky, but I think it works and the lighting does a lot to help it. If a Halo movie ever happens (hopefully with Stewart Hendler!) I’d expect a suit like the ones in Iron Man or the latest Batman movies. Daniel Cudmore does a great job playing the role of Master Chief. Check out our interview with Daniel if you haven’t yet and see what it was like for him to be the man in the suit.

This web series has been really exciting and while I’m excited to see how the next episode wraps things up, I’m also bummed it’ll be over. I hope the final episode is closer to 20 minutes long and features more closeups of the Covenant besides the Elites.

Checkout our reviews of the past episodes too:

• Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Episode 1 Review
• Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Episode 2 Review
• Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Episode 3 Review

Telltale Games announced this week that their episodic version of Walking Dead, which is phenomenal if you’re wondering, will be getting a release through retailers for Playstation 3, and Xbox 360. On December 4, 2012, all 5 episodes will be available for $29.99, which is about what the episodes cost online, unless you caught some kind of sale. It raises the price of the game by $1 per episode, but that covers disc and packaging I suppose. The real value is in the collector’s edition, and here’s why.

The collectors edition will come with The Walking Dead Compendium. This is a 1000 page paperback with exclusive Charlie Adlard cover art, that collects the first 48 issues of The Walking Dead comics. Individually these issues would have cost you $200.00, or buying the trades you would have shelled out roughly $60.00. The collector’s edition itself, is $69.00. It is exclusive to Gamestop and is pre-order only.

If you don’t own the comics, this is a great way to start reading the series, and get a phenomenal game. Don’t ya think?

We’re back with another early edition of this week’s gaming news.

Personally, I’m not much of a music ‘bot. I like what I like but can’t usually explain why. I have a fairly eclectic taste, but I can’t really say I have a deep appreciation for any of it. When it comes to games, I only tend to notice the music when it’s really bad, becomes part of the gameplay, or just kicks too much ass to ignore. The first and third are pretty few and far between for me. But, I know there are tons of people with a serious love for game music, and this first one is just for them. If you’re one of those people, you probably already own an album called “The Greatest Video Game Music.” Well, like all things video games, successful ventures get sequels. The Greatest Video Game Music 2 is on its way and is currently available for preorder on iTunes. This second volume will feature 17 tracks from popular games recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. For a limited time you can actually download a free track from the album, Halo‘s Never Forget / Peril. You can snag the free track here. The full album will be released on November 6th. Here’s the full tracklist:

1. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations – Main Theme
2. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Far Horizons
3. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker – Dragon Roost Island
4. Final Fantasy VII – One-Winged Angel
5. Mass Effect 3 – A Future for the Krogan/An End Once And For All
6. Halo – Never Forget/Peril
7. Sonic the Hedgehog – A Symphonic Suite
8. Chrono Trigger – Main Theme
9. Luigi’s Mansion – Main Theme
10. Kingdom Hearts – Fate of the Unknown
11. Super Metroid – A Symphonic Poem
12. Diablo III – Overture
13. Batman: Arkham City – Main Theme
14. Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Icarus Main Theme
15. Fez – Adventure
16. Portal – Still Alive
17. Little Big Planet – Orb Of Dreamers (The Cosmic Imagisphere)

In a presentation at the first Edmonton Comics & Entertainment Expo, Bioware has revealed that Dragon Age III: Inquisitions was in pre-production longer than both of its franchise predecessors and Mass Effect. Jon Perry, Cinematic Designer, also bragged that “one level in Dragon Age III is as big as all of the levels in Dragon Age II.” That’s a pretty massive scope. Beyond that, there was a hint that the player will be able to control their own castle, and a few pieces of concept art. No release window has been set, but it’s possible this picture of castle could be one you control in the game:

Zombietron’s certainly made no secret of his excitement for BioShock Infinite. Are you just as excited for February 26, 2013? Then you will want to get started on unlocking in-game content through BioShock Infinite: Industrial Revolution, a puzzle game available to those who preorder any of the three upcoming editions. That link will let you order from several mass retailers or direct from Irrational’s store. I may be crazy, but I think I might be more interested in the preorder bonus than the actual game.

Quite some time ago I reported in VGQH that Michael Fassbender was getting involved with the possible Assassin’s Creed movie. News has been pretty stale on that project ever since, but new activity has roused the story. Ubisoft Motion Pictures announced yesterday that they have teamed up with New Regency to develop in “close collaboration.” While the screenplay is currently a work in progress, production is being “fast tracked” as “the creative pieces come together.” Ubisoft will reportedly retain creative control over “key elements.” New Regency apparently became interested in the partnership after recently working with Fassbender on Twelve Years a Slave (2013; with Brad Pitt and Benedict Cumberbatch; directed by Steve McQueen). Release windows were not discussed, but more details will likely be developing soon.

You’ll likely notice today that the PlayStation Store update you were expecting didn’t happen (assuming you’re North American). The switch has already taken place in Australia, New Zealand, and several European countries, but it has had some technical hiccups. While most of the issues have been address, SCEA has decided to postpone the American launch until they can insure it will run smoothly. The “old” store is completely functional and will continue to be the interface until further notice. A revised release date has not been revealed, but you’ll read about it in VGQH when we know more.

On a somewhat related note, PS3 System Software 4.30 will be launching today. For trophy hunters, you will now see your trophy list un PlayStation Network on the XMB. Additionally, your current level and progress to the next level will also be visible in your list. At long last, your Vita trophies will now be visible in your PS3 list as well. Don’t care about trophies? There is one other big change. Beginning in November, Sony is retiring the Life With PlayStation services on PS3. New users will unable to obtain the application with the new firmware. Among the services being discontinued is Folding@home, “a distributed computing project aimed at understanding protein folding, misfolding and studying the causes of a variety of diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s as well as various cancers.” Since the introduction of the PS3, over 15 million users (myself included) have contributed over 100 million hours of processing time to the Stanford University project. An explanation for ending this service was not provided, but Vijay Pande of Folding@home did provide a little information about what we’ve accomplished with it over the years:

The PS3 system was a game changer for Folding@home, as it opened the door for new methods and new processors, eventually also leading to the use of GPUs. We have had numerous successes in recent years. Specifically, in a paper just published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, we report on tests of predictions from earlier Folding@home simulations, and how these predictions have led to a new strategy to fight Alzheimer’s disease. The next steps, now underway at Stanford, are to take this lead compound and help push it towards a viable drug. It’s too early to report on our preliminary results there, but I’m very excited that the directions set out in this paper do appear to be bearing fruit in terms of a viable drug (not just a drug candidate).

Sony isn’t the only one with an interface update. The new dashboard for XBox 360 is rolling out worldwide, bringing with it the SmartGlass application which will go live this Friday. According to Microsoft’s Major Nelson, “When the Xbox SmartGlass app launches on tablets, PCs and smartphones, it will include key foundational experiences for interacting with your Xbox 360, such as dashboard and app navigation and Internet Explorer control, like text input, scrolling and pinch and zoom.” This new app is basically Microsoft beating Nintendo to the punch on the WiiU. In addition to announcing its imminent release, Nelson also provided a list of what games and apps will see immediate use of the function:

• Ascend
• Dance Central 3
• Forza Horizon
• Halo Waypoint
• Home Run Stars
• Karaoke
• Kinect Sesame Street TV
• Prima Games
• ESPN
• NBA Game Time
• UFC
• Elections 2012
• HBO GO
• MSN
• NBC News
• NOW TV
• Slacker Radio
• TODAY
• Univision

Do you remember the XBox Hardware with Subscription model Microsoft was talking about several months ago. It has been released in Microsoft stores for a while now and it is being deemed not just a success, but “absolutely pivotal” to the Microsoft business model. Having already expanded the pilot program to Best Buy and select GameStops, the strategy will be moved to all GameStops, Wal-Mart, and Toys ‘R’ Us in the next few months. The strategy is similar to a cell phone contract, where you can get your XBox 360 and a Kinect for the introductory price of $99, provided you sign a two year contract for a Gold Live membership at $14.99 a month. It has been so successful that Microsoft’s general manager for interactive entertainment marketing, Matt Barlow, apparently told The Wall Street Journal that they already plan to include it on future hardware. Read that how you like, but it seems pretty obvious that Microsoft’s mythical next-gen console will use this structure. While I initially loathed the concept, I am slowly warming to it. A Gold membership wouldn’t mean much to someone like me, who primarily plays offline, but a similar set up from Sony with a two year PS+ membership seems right up my alley, assuming Sony doesn’t turn to a pay to play online strategy like Microsoft’s with the PS4.

Interested in accessing the God of War: Ascension multiplayer beta? Of course you are. Sony has revealed that there will be two paths to the beta. First and obvious, join PlayStation Plus. All members will get the beta. Second, play the Rise of the Warrior social game. This “graphic-novel style story” will see you “embark on a quest for redemption that leads you toward becoming the next Champion of the Gods.” During the game you will be choosing a faction, Spartan or Trojan. By competing in challenges you will be able to earn a week’s beta access for your faction. Learn more at the official website. The game is coming March 12, 2013. Actual launch date for the beta is not yet announced.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD:
************************
Steve Masters, Lead Designer for Assassin’s Creed III, may have exposed a clue to what we’ll be seeing in next week’s game. He recently told the Official XBox Magazine that what they’re “trying to do is bring some finality to Desmond’s story… to actually wrap up what you’ve opened and experienced with him. So we’re trying to make it a little bit more direct with the storyline, but at the same time there are still going to be plenty of little mysterious bits for you to dig into, especially in the side stuff.” There will apparently “be a big leap forward in the story.” That seems pretty final for Desmond, in one way or another. However, Masters went on to say that they want “you to feel a good sense of progress in what’s going on in the story.” Progress is not an ending. I expect that we will finally be able to see resolution on the horizon, but I’d expect that Ubisoft has plans to make an Assassin’s Creed III trilogy for Connor, much as they did for Ezio. Does that mean we wouldn’t see Desmond’s story end until Connor’s third trip? Or would we somehow see Connor’s tale be completed by a new, modern assassin. It seems odd that they would end their star’s tale in what would essentially be a side game, like Brotherhood or Revelations, instead of a numbered title. We’ll all know in shortly over a week, as ACIII releases on October 30th.

Also a possible spoiler is the PlayStation Blog‘s coverage of the PS3-exclusive missions for Assassin’s Creed III involving Benedict Arnold. All you’re getting from me is that link though. If you want to know what they have to say about it, you’ll have to read it from them. I don’t want to be spoiled any further.
***********************

That wraps it up for this edition. What I was expecting to be a short one today turned out pretty robust. Will we have another big installment on Friday?

Thanks to Team 17 and Evolve PR for the review copy

I remember spending hours side-by-side with my friends trying to master the ninja rope, while blowing them up in the most creative ways I can discover. Seeing a remake of this for Xbox live seemed like a no-brainer purchase. I love worms, and they love me, or at least they say they do in between games, and sometimes while I dream…

Brass tacks, this game is a touch on the expensive side, but phenomenal to play. It has a sharp sense of humor, great arsenal of weapons, plenty of replay value, and solid multi-player. For those that haven’t played any games in the Worms franchise, I’ll try to describe it for you. You have a team of 4-8 worms, that you use to battle in a specific order. The goal is to kill your opponents worms with whatever pieces of the environment, or weapons at your disposal. The game play is similar to scorched earth (if you played that pc game 20ish years ago) meets a side-scrolling plat-former. That is a rough description, but truthfully for a unique title like worms, that’s about the best I have.

Basics:

This is not a hardcore action packed shooter. Worms is a zany game of chess, where your character placement is just as important as your weapon selection, and environment use. On the outside you can simply play worms for zany explosions and laughs, and if you choose to go deeper, there is plenty of depth for strategy, puzzles, and online practice.

Ledges leave you vulnerable to air-strikes, or water bombs

Soundtrack:

It’s a basic soundtrack with goofy worm voices (which you can change as you progress through the game), light music, and great explosions. Overbearing music would have ruined the point of Worms so the light music fits perfectly.

Gameplay:

I cover this lightly in the basics section, but it plays like a side-scroller meets scorched earth. Teams take turns worm by worm, selecting a weapon and firing at one another attempting to destroy the opponents team members. Of course it wouldn’t be any fun if you were simply playing on a flat surface, so you have weapons like the ninja-rope, blow-torch, gurders, and teleporters to help you navigate the landscape efficiently, or manipulate it to your advantage. Environmental hazards such as water barrels, acid containers and land mines, give another angle to attack by trying to push your opponents into the hazards. I spent one game trying to get my worm out of a pool of water, while he slowly drowned. Poor fella. You’d think that’d be all to the game play spectacle, but you’re wrong. Unlike previous games in the series, Revolution introduced classes. Now you can have 4 different types of worms that you unlock as you progress through the story. The Scout is fast and wiry, but has much less life (he can also jump farther, and get away from timed weapons better than his comrades). The Heavy is slower, but has a ton of HP and can’t be poked and prodded around as easily as his counterparts. The Scientist provides a health bonus to his team, and can produce better weapons for combat. Last but not least, the Solid is your general all around worm, decent HP, decent movement, and utilizes weapons well. This is the biggest addition to the worms series, and truthfully gives it the depth it needs. Not only do gamers get to utilize their skills with different weapons, and manipulation of the landscape to win, they now can build a team with different class set ups and use them to their advantage. This is an excellent change.

The new classes left to right: Soldier, Scientist, Heavy, Scout

Replay:

Worms is all replay value, the single player is pretty decent, and the puzzles are fun. But the real joy in this game is sitting down with friends and talking trash while you destroy them with the vast array of weapons. The entire drive for Revolution is the multi-player either on console, or on XBox Live. If you’re an unlockitall style junkie have no fear. As you progress through the various game modes you unlock costumes for your team, and of course new weapons of worm destruction. Worms is purely replay value.

Price:

It’s tough to balance the gamer and the cheap skate on this one. I love the game, but the price hurts a little bit. Coming in at 1200 Microsoft points or $14.99, I feel the game would be better suited at 800 points. Since I can’t change the price, it’s still worth picking up for anyone that needs a great competitive game to let off steam.

Summary:

Worms is a well put together fun filled strategy party. Adding online integration and a puzzle mode is simply the icing on the cake for a quality arcade title. I can only hope to see this hit mobile devices next to give me some Worms on the go. If you want a strategy game to demolish your friends online this is the game you should purchase. You won’t regret the zany combat.

Score:

• Graphics : 8
• Story : 8
• Replay : 10
• Controls : 9
• Sound: 9
• Overall:8.75

Wow. Covenant, Master Chief, and wild Warthog rides in the dark of the night. The last 2 episodes of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn look awesome. I now believe I may have jumped the gun about the fun starting too late in my review of episode 3, there looks to be plenty left. I got chills watching this, man I’m excited. Part of it may have to do with a quote from my review of episode 1 made its way into the trailer. If you haven’t seen Forward Unto Dawn yet, get caught up now, episode 4 hits this coming Friday.

February 26 cannot come fast enough!! Released through their Facebook earlier today 2k and irrational, have sent us this trailer of their new game. Showing some more of the weapons, and a bit more of the handyman, who’s ready?!?

I love October. I like the weather turning chilly, but not yet horrible winter. I like the Fall colors, the seasonal beers, the fresh pumpkin, and football. I also love that it sees the beginning of “video game season.” Dishonored, X-COM: Enemy Unknown, and Borderlands 2 have kicked it off nicely. Unfortunately October also see me getting ridiculously busy each year and I haven’t played any of those games yet. I’m always a little behind, but my wife’s Fit in Six has seen the inside of my PS3 lately more often than my action games. As I look at my calendar (deer hunting, football, Halloween parties) for the next couple of weeks, I realize the soonest quality time I’ll be seeing with my thumbs on a controller will likely be October 30th. If all goes according to plan, that’ll be the day I finally get a PS Vita, with the Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation bundle.

That’s going to tap the budget pretty heavily though, so it looks like I’ll be keeping its PS3 counterpart at the top of my Gamefly GameQ instead of buying it. Revelations went pretty cheap on a Black Friday sale; maybe I’ll get this latest entry at a discount next month. But I’m getting ahead of myself. NEWS!

Speaking of the PS Vita though, Jet Set Radio for Sony’s handheld has been delayed for “necessary development optimizations.” How’s that for vague PR speak. My guess, they need to tack on some touch screen and motion controls. The PSN version released last month, and SEGA is promising a Vita release date “soon.”

Many gamers have never even heard of Deadly Premonition, and that is their loss. Yeah, it’s sort of like Twin Peaks: The Video Game, but more weird, but it’s also very unique and awesome in its own milieu. If you’re one of the many that missed out on this one back in 2010 on XBox 360, keep waiting. Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut will be coming to PS3 with added content sometime in first quarter 2013. The newer edition will come with revamped and updated graphics, a reworked control scheme for better combat, a new scenario from Hidetaka Suehiro (the game’s director), and additional DLC to expand the story.

Still looking for a reason to get an XBox 360, or just need a new one? Microsoft has revealed three new bundles for holidays, as well as discount on existing SKUs. Depending on what you want from your bundle, one of the three is probably right for you. Just looking for a Kinect and a low-cost entry point? You can get a 4GB system with Kinect, Kinect Disneyland Adventures, Kinect Adventures, and one month of Xbox LIVE Gold for $299.99. That package doesn’t pack much punch in the hard drive department, but it’s a good option for kids. Maybe you’re a hardcore gamer and want something that will allow plenty of downloads and installs, and you don’t really care for Kinect. they’ve got one for you too. Also at the $300 price point is a 250GB Xbox 360 with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Forza 4 Essentials Edition, and one month of Xbox LIVE Gold. The third option costs a little more, $400, but gets you the 250GB hard drive, the Kinect, and three games: Dance Central 2, Kinect Sports, and Kinect Adventures. It’s unfortunate that they include three games, but none are for the core gamers. If you’re not in the market for any of those games, four other bundles will be offering a $50 discount for the holiday shopping season. Those bundles are the 250GB Xbox 360, 4GB Xbox 360 with Kinect, 250GB Xbox 360 with Kinect, and the Xbox 360 Limited Edition Halo 4 console bundle (November 6th).

Much as the Captain Scarlett’s release was outed ahead of schedule, the next chunk of campaign DLC for Borderlands 2 has been revealed through a title update that’s exposed its three new trophies/achievements. This is expected to be the second of four packs included in the season pass and appears to be titled “Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage.” Since this hasn’t been officially announced by Gearbox, we obviously don’t have a date yet, but I’m guessing it’s within the next two weeks.

One of next year’s most anticipated games, Bioshock Infinite (February 26, 2013), is getting the double special edition treatment. The Premium Edition will include 3-inch keychain version of the Murder of Crows vigor bottle, A 5″ x 7″ lithograph from Jorge Lacera, A 25 millimeter Handyman miniature from the BioShock Infinite board game, a mini art book with a hand-distressed cover, exclusive in-game gear, a digital soundtrack, and platform specific downloadable content (themes for PS3, avatar costumes for 360). The Ultimate Songbird Edition will come with all of that, plus a nice bonus. The 9 1/2″ statue of the game’s terrifying Songbird is quite the thing to behold. It’s striking, but I’m prone to nightmares so I’m not sure I could actually display this thing in my house.

Whatever that weird guy is supposed to be from Scribblenauts, he’ll have some familiar friends this November in Scribblenauts Unlimited for the WiiU. According to the press release, “Players can summon dozens of their favorite characters and items from the Mario™ and Legend of Zelda™ franchises.” I’m not sure which characters or objects they mean, but the promo art they sent may provide a clue. I just know that if I can’t use a Tanooki Suit and the Master Sword then the concept has failed. The game is being developed by 5th Cell and is coming in November for WiiU and 3DS. The handheld version, however, will not be getting this exclusive content.

Disney’s upcoming Wreck It Ralph has managed to get a licensed characters from several different gaming companies onboard for one film. and it appears the House of Mouse is returning the favor. SEGA’s Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed will feature the film’s star as a playable racer. He looks right at home in the screen shots we received, and he should make a great addition to the cast. The game releases November 20, 2012.

We’ve got a timely report about 007: Legends to match up with our month of Bond. The game released earlier this week and many of you have probably noticed by now that the Skyfall mission isn’t on the disc. Sorry, no preview for you. The content will be released as free DLC on November 9th for PS3, the same day the film releases. Unfortunately for 360 players, there’s a timed exclusivity deal. You won’t be getting the content (still free) until November 20th. Ouch. As if it isn’t bad enough that Eurocom and Activision have held back an “integral” part of the game’s story, they managed to burn a huge segment of the audience twice.

Regardless of your ending in Mass Effect 3, Bioware assures that Shepard’s story has ended. That doesn’t mean they’d walk away from such a valuable franchise though. Mass Effect 4 is happening. But it will feature not just a different star, but a different type of star. Bioware Montreal’s Producer Fabrice Condominas states they “don’t want to make ‘Shepard 2′, or Mass Effect 4 with like, ‘oh there’s no more Shepard but you’re a soldier in the universe’. So this will be a very, very different context for sure, and nothing has been decided on the rest.” He did clarify that the game will take place after Shepard’s trilogy, but no time frame beyond that is decided. Will it be the rebuilding phase? Or the next cycle? We’ll just have to wait and see. For the impatient ones, you will be getting more Mass Effect soon when the “Omega” DLC releases November 27th.

If you’ve been hiding under a rock, Telltale’s The Walking Dead is amazing. PC and console players are already on Episode 4. But, if you’re on iOS, you’re running behind. Good news though. Episode Three became available earlier this week. It sucks that you’re sucking hind teat on this one, but reports say the game is just as fun on iOS, so go ahead and pick it up now.

Finally, Halo fans, SenadorKooch has a couple fun things for you from Halo 4. First is the live action trailer produced by David Fincher. Next is a review of the third episode of Forward Until Dawn. Kind of a fun series, good hope for an actual Halo movie, but not necessarily the best episode so far.

That’s all for this week. Come back Tuesday for more, and hopefully it will be written by a ‘bot made fat on venison.

The 3rd installment of the web series, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, hits today!

I really like this series so far, and this episode was great overall, but its the first to disappoint me. Its not necessarily this episodes fault though, but more the fact that the conflict doesn’t really build up or start until the end of this episode meaning we only have 2 episodes for what I would consider the real meat of this series. This bums me out. I’ll come back to that though.

Once again in this episode we see an awesome beginning with Cortana and the Chief in cryo. I think these beginnings scenes could be my favorite parts of each episode. They give me chills. They take place in the half of Forward Unto Dawn itself which was severed at the end of Halo 3 and is free floating in space and likely heading to the planet Requiem which Halo 4 takes place on. The CG used looks really great and looks just like some of the footage we’ve seen of the beginning scenes of Halo 4. Cortana gets a little…violent. We know she is dealing with her rampancy in Halo 4 and its likely a key plot point, but this shows its effects starting even before the events in the game, and its very interesting to say the least. I’m excited for what this means in the game, and I’m interested to see how the opening scenes differ from the intro scenes of each episode.

Further character development of Thomas Lasky takes place and things get kind of grim for him. His reactions to cryo come to a point and he is faced with a decision. He also seems to be struggling with the fate of his brother and family affairs. I am finding that I really like Lasky. He’s the noble character type that always sucks me in and I think Australian actor Tom Green plays the part well.

One of the cadets, Sully, decrypts and pieces together video shown in the first person from a battle. As the viewers, we know its likely from Master Chief’s point of view. It shows Spartans fighting alongside the Insurrectionists against an unknown threat.  Again, as the viewers we know its the Covenant and green plasma fire and the familiar sounds of plasma weapons are heard. The video pauses on an image (pictured below) of a Spartan with the numbers “104” on his shoulder. This is Fred, a Spartan that has a role in the events of several of the Halo books as well as one of the shorts on the Halo Legends film set. This is exciting for Halo fans and hopefully means we’ll see Chief fight alongside Spartans in the coming episodes. Seeing this video makes the cadets question who the real enemy is. Another bit worth mentioning is that the cadets don’t know what the Spartans are, nor the Covenant and adds emphasis to the timeline of the events of Forward Unto Dawn.

The first two episode features bits of action through training exercises and cafeteria brawl when Vickers insults Lasky who retaliates. This episode though, we see some real action. Things get hairy real fast and the Academy prepares for battle and evacuation. ODSTs drop in hot, Covenant ships show up in the night sky, and structures explode. The space tether gets knocked out presumably leaving the cadets stranded. It looks terrifying and they’ve done a great job showing how scary an attack like this might be. Things look bleak. We’ll have to find out what happens next week.

Now, to return to my first point and why I am disappointed. I’ve liked each episode as a whole, but with only 2 episodes left I feel the action and conflict are coming too late in the series, and Master Chief still hasn’t made his appearance! I don’t doubt that the final 2 episodes will prominently feature the Chief and loads of action, but at this point I can’t help but feel its coming a tad too late, especially since its just getting started in the final quarter of this episode. I worry that the action and Master Chief get cut short or don’t get the time and attention they deserve, but that remains to be seen. Perhaps Forward Unto Dawn will flow better as a single experience. I liked the events of each episode so I’m not sure I’d cut anything to speed it up. I have to remember that so much of the story is about the development of Lasky and we’ve seen a good amount of that. I could also be jumping the gun, but I’ll have to wait and see.

Overall I’m really pleased with this series so far and I’m really anticipating the fourth and  fifth episodes. What I assume will happen in the fourth episode with the Chief and some sort of rescue and battle, I had hoped would happen in this episode. My disappointment isn’t great, however, and I still highly recommend this episode and catching up if you haven’t seen them yet.

If you haven’t already, definitely check out our review of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn Episode 1, as well as Episode 2, along with our interviews with Master Chief himself, Daniel Cudmore and the Frank O’Connor of 343 Industries! A new live-action trailer, “Scanned”, also just dropped.

This new live-action and CGI trailer was produced by David Fincher of Fight Club, Se7en, and The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo fame, and directed by Tim Miller. Master Chief is being held captive by the Didact, a potential enemy in Halo 4, but I have my doubts about him being the Ancient Evil. The trailer shows flashbacks about how Chief came to be a Spartan and takes aim at showing that while super-powered, he is still human. Check it out.