Last night’s episode of Conan featured a pretty funny bit about the upcoming Halo 4 and 343 Industries!
Nothing terribly substantial was revealed about the game being that this was for laughs, not for a “huge reveal” of any sorts, it’s a good nine-minute bit featuring O’Brien poking fun at the franchise and Frank O’Connor and Kiki Wolfkill. Enjoy!
In the last few weeks the WP7 Live marketplace was blessed with two new (well actually old) titles. Firaxis developed and 2k published both these gems; Sid Meier’s Pirates! and Civilization Revolution. If you’re into strategy games these two are right up your alley. Still not convinced, well then how about they each only sport a price tag of $2.99. That’s an absolute steal if I may say so.
Sid Meier’s Pirates!
The game is everything from the original PC version of the game. You get your ships for sea battles, attacking ports, sword fighting, maps for finding treasure, and the list goes on. It looks good on my HD7 as well the graphics are exactly what I expected, the same as the original. You can find yourself losing lots of time on this game which is good for the game and also it seems required for the achievements involved. My only complaint would be in the sword fighting, I found myself just randomly going at it because there were no instructions on how to fight on my phone. All in all, this one is everything I remember it to be and it stills lives up to my expectations.
Civilization Revolution
Civ. Rev. has been modified a bit from its recent jump to the consoles. It’s still the turn based strategy of old. They’ve taken the controls and simplified them a bit more from the previous version. (Stop crying about the controls PC fans, do you really expect a smart phone game to be that in depth?) They have also turned the graphics down from the previous iteration which makes sense. The game still includes the three types of cultural, economic and domination, so you can still tailor the game play to your style. The game includes 16 different civilizations to try your hand at, and each still contains their own timeline bonuses. Terrain and the building of new cities still makes a very important difference as to what and how fast they can harvest what’s around them. My only minor complaint is that when you get a lot, and I mean a lot, on the screen you might encounter a bit of lag and at that point moving so of your troops gets a bit wonky, but those are very minor and really don’t detract from the overall performance. Be prepared to sink a lot of time into this one as each match can take anywhere from one to five hours. Luckily you can save it at anytime and come back to it.
Both games score a 4.5/5 in my opinion and are well worth the money.
For fans of: simulation/strategy games, any previous Sid Meier game (board or video), Risk, Lord of the Realms
Sleeping Dogs, the open-world Hong Kong cop drama has been given a release date by Square Enix. It will be available on August 14th. The announcement also included several pre-order incentives. Get it from Amazon for the Martial Arts Pack – Shaolin Showdown mission, special combat buffs, additional training dummy, Shaolin Warrior Outfit, and Wang Chun decorations for your safehouse. Best Buy has the GSP Pack based on the game’s combat adviser, mixed martial arts superstar Georges St. Pierre – GSP Outfit, Signature Flying Punch attack, in creased grappling and throwing damage. Finally, GameStop has the Police Protection Pack – High Speed mission, SWAT Cruiser, Assault Rifle, and Outfit.
Another announcement with pre-order bonuses is Crysis 3 from EA. It was unofficially announced last week with listings leaked all over and no official confirmation. EA has responded with an official confirmation and retailer specific packages. A Hunter Edition will be available for pre-order and includes the signature bow weapon with attachments and exclusive skin, the Hunter nanosuit module, a level five XP boost for multiplayer, and three extra dog tags. The extra multiplayer bonuses at specific retailers are the Stalker Pack (silenced shotgun, weapon skin, two dog tags), Overkill Pack (Typhoon assault weapon and skin, two dog tags), and the Predator Pack (Feline submachine gun and camouflage). The exact retailers haven’t been announced but it’s safe to assume this is the usual Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop arrangement. The real question is which pack goes where. My money would be toward a silenced shotgun. That concept is just too awesome to ignore.
Bethesda has dropped an interesting tease. Over on their yfrog account they posted a picture of dirty and tired looking man and the word “tomorrow” with no other apparent clues. It seems the actual reveal should happen sometime today but as of this writing it was not yet shown. The planned Kinect functionality for Skyrim is coming at the end of this month, and they’ve hinted at incoming DLC. Is that related to this? Or are we looking at the next game in the Fallout franchise? Or maybe something completely new? No matter what it is, it’s coming from Bethesda and that should tell you a few things about it. One, it’s probably going to consume far too many hours of your life. Two, it’s going to be very interesting and make you want to play it. Three, you won’t actually be able to play it on PS3 because it will glitch out and brick your system every three hours.
[UPDATE: Turns out this is a screen grab from a trailer for Dishonored that was just released.]
Remember those puzzle pieces we saw last week from EA hinting at SSX DLC? Remember how they looked like the game was going Tricky? Well, that’s the gist of the announcement, but we’ve also got some great details. There is a brand new mountain coming with nine new race and trick drops. Mt. Eddie is definitely Tricky-inspired, taking the basic laws of physics and flipping them into the negative zone. The heights, kickers, and even icy loop-de-loops don’t belong anywhere on the satellite images EA used to create the rest of the game’s mountains. But what good is a new mountain without new riders? Actually, it’s plenty good, but EA is getting your more riders anyway – seven of them. Two of the new riders are actually retro Eddie and Elise, but it’s still awesome. The mountain and the riders are technically two different packs. Both of them will be available May 1st for $5.99 (480MSP), or bundled together for $7.99 (640MSP). One of the two packs also includes three classic additions to the soundtrack but it wasn’t clear which one, probably the mountain. Not that it matters, that bundle’s a steal so you’re getting them both.
With 343 Industries taking over the Halo franchise everyone’s eager to see what gets changed and what parts of perfect stay the same. One of the first reveals for the new developers take on Halo 4 is an all new multiplayer mode, Regicide. For those unfamiliar with the term, it means killing a king (or any regent really, but king is by far the most literal). The actual description doesn’t sound so innovative, however. In fact, it seems a little more like the old schoolyard favorite, Smear the Queer. [My God, did we really say things like that as children?] Essentially one player is selected as the king (read “It”). Everyone else is looking to commit a coup and claim the throne for themself. All other would-be assassins are fair game as well, with each kill scoring you points. Killing the king though is worth a hefty bounty, one that increases throughout the match’s duration. More revealing content is promised soon, possibly even today. Like Bethesda’s announcement, it won’t be making it into today’s VGQH as this publishes in the morning. But if I know my fellow ‘bots, you’ll see a headline item once the news hits. Though my sources indicate one of the announcements will be a November 6th street date. [UPDATE: My source was correct, that is the official launch date.]
And it looks like we’ve reached the end of this week’s early edition. Check back on Friday for updates from the rest of this week. Then spend the weekend enjoying your games instead of worrying you missed a big announcement.
An interesting new way for EA to update us on their upcoming features but this guy is just a mess…
#!
I’m pretty sure this is the first time he has ever read these lines and when the video starts, he seems to be headbanging to music that nobody can hear but him. Seriously, every time he finishes a sentence, he has to retract his head. The more he says, the more angled downward his head becomes. Too bad he didn’t talk for longer stretches of time, it would be interesting to see if he’d fall over before he stopped talking. I think he also is waiting to be passed a baby or something. The hand jive he has got going on here is pretty ridiculous. I think someone was seriously messing with him.
“No, no, we need you to do that again but make a lot of the same hand gestures and rock your head back and forth constantly. Yes, that’s it. Perfect”
During his Medal of Honor preview, I’m fairly certain that he just straight up stops at the beginning of a sentence. Upon hearing it again, I don’t even think it was the beginning. I just randomly hear, “few explosions” and then it continues on like it made sense.
I’m just glad that they end the video with the promise of more to come. Looking forward to it EA.
Also, it’s not “Mass Effect Free” it’s “Mass Effect 3.”
It isn’t “Teef of Naros” it’s “Teeth of Naros.”
…and I can’t wait to play “NHL Firteen.”
British people and their ‘th’ consonant blends…amirite?
Evil Avatar posted this video from Japan courtesy of vg247. It’s all Japanese, but you get the idea of the look and feel. Can’t wait for more U.S. information, the Pokemon site is still saying Fall 2012. Are you folks ready?
Joystiq reports that Nintendo registered supermario4.com recently. When the URL is entered currently it sends you straight to the Nintendo site. Nintendo has been known to register any URL that they may use in the future, but the possibilities could be quite endless. Maybe a new Mario title for the 3DS, or something for the Wii or WiiU? Maybe we’ll grab more info at E3 stay tuned folks.
Happy Friday the Thirteenth everyone! Is that even a thing anymore? Are people still suspicious about it? Were they ever suspicious about it, or was that just me being a kid? Regardless, there’s news to be read:
SEGA has finally announced a release date for Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II. It’ll be coming to PSN / XBLA on May 15th / 16th for $14.99 / 1200 points. Good news if you already own Episode I, you’ll be getting an extra mode, Episode Metal Lock-On. Just ignore the stupid name, this is SEGA after all. It’s an unlockable chapter (four acts) that you play as Metal Sonic and bridge the story gap between Sonic CD and Sonic 4. Yes, the idea of “story” in Sonic games is kind of ludicrous, but you will learn more about Metal Sonic’s origins.
So you have your PlayStation Vita. You’re planning to pick up Street Fighter x Tekken this Fall. But all of your friends are playing it on PS3. Sucks right? Not to worry. You can still fight each other. Capcom is definitely embracing the PS Vita in a way rarely seen by a third party. Not only will PS3 and Vita have cross-platform play, but buying the Vita version will unlock the additional 12 fighters on your PS3 for free using a saved data link. Considering Capcom has already made the Vita a functional controller for the PS3 version of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, I’d expect to see similar functionality with this title as well. If you are playing against friends on the Vita, you’ll be able to go online via Wi-Fi or locally with 3G. Kudos to Capcom for pushing the envelope with the handheld’s many functions instead of shoehorning touch screen controls and calling it a day. If other third parties put in this much effort the Vita could very well be an integral part of this next generation of gaming.
With Capcom’s annual Captivate event happening earlier in the week, you’d think there would be a whole lot more news from them. Unfortunately, their event this year was a bit lackluster, just showing off some trailers and screen shots from upcoming titles. There are two impoprtant bits though. Resident Evil 6 has bucked video game convention and had its released date moved up instead of delayed. Rather than face the stiff competition of November in a heads up battle, the title has been moved to October 2nd. And really, isn’t October a better month for zombies anyway? In a conversation about the game, Eiichiro Sasaki (Director) stated “In terms of length, each character’s story is a little bit less than RE5 but when you combine them together you’re getting something that is much longer. While each character’s story stands alone, all of the characters wind up in the same area of the game, in China, so there is a certain level of overlap. They stand on their own but they do overlap in certain areas. You don’t have to play them all, of course.” He’s referring Leon Kennedy, Chris Redfield, and Wesker, Jr., the three playable characters in the game. All told then, it looks like you should be spending about 30 hours on this one. But how much money are you willing to spend on it? The standard version should the standard $60, while the special edition looks to be running about $1,300! It’s a pretty unique version though, with four cases (one for each character and a mysterious fourth) and real-life replica of Leon’s leather jacket. It’s a sweet jacket, but I don’t see myself spending $1,300 on it, even if it does come with a game.
Even if you don’t want a ridiculously expensive version, preordering the game will be a good idea if you’re looking forward to the Mercenary mode in multiplayer. GameStop, Amazon, and Best Buy will each be featuring a bonus map when you order from them – The Catacombs, High Seas Fortress, and Rail Yard, respectively.
The other notable Captivate announcement was the reveal of Lost Planet 3. It’s being developed by Spark Unlimited (Legendary, Turning Point: Fall of Liberty) and is set for release in 2013.
Crysis 3 is coming. That should go without saying. Which is why I’m a little confused that EA and Crytek aren’t saying anything. Instead we’re forced to rely on internet posting errors to confirm what we all know to be true. This time, instead of Amazon or some obscure European retailer accidentally putting the game up to soon, it’s EA themselves. The Crysis 3 Limited Edition was briefly seen on EA’s Origin service for XBox 360, PC, and Digital Download. A PS3 release is presumed, but was not actually seen on the listing. With a leak of this magnitude, I’d expect a full announcement next week.
Based on the popularity of the TV show and books I imagine many of you are eagerly awaiting the upcoming Game of Thrones RPG. Sorry, but it looks like you’ll be waiting just a little longer. The game has been pushed back about a month and is now set for release in early June.
As you’d expect, Hitman: Absolution has a special edition announced. The Professional Edition is fairly standard as these things go. It will come in a slightly nicer cover, include a hardbound art book, a making of DVD, and some DLC weapons. The weapons included are the Agency Jagd P22G (silenced pistol), Agency HX UMP SMG, and Agency SPS 12 semi-automatic shotgun. I didn’t see a price announced, but this just screams $70 instead of the regular $60. The standard and Professional editions are both scheduled for later this year.
You know the fighting renaissance is in full swing when you finally get an announcement for a sequel to a game that launched with the PS2. Namco Bandai has confirmed that Tekken Tag Tournament 2 will be coming to PS3 and 360 this September. The game is expected to feature at least 50 fighters! In addition to the tag team fights, expect solo battles and one-vs-two match-ups.
Atlus introduced some interesting “multiplayer” concepts to the gaming world with Demon’s Souls – many of which were improved in its spiritual successor, Dark Souls. Unfortunately, the hidden catch of online games is that servers can’t be maintained forever with no profit motive. According to Atlus, they’ve maintained the servers for the game long past the time when they could expect additional sales to benefit. As such, they are shutting the game’s multiplayer down on May 31st in North America. They will be running two World Tendency promotions (May 1-15, May 16-31) immediately prior to the shutdown. They’re also encouraging players to sign in one last time on May 31st “before saying goodbye.” I’m sure it will be a little sad for players who’ve enjoyed these features over the last few years, but it also raises again the questions we’ve seen this entire generation. Do modern games, with their heavy multiplayer components, have the sort of longevity of their earlier counterparts? I still go back to my SNES on a regular basis for my fix of JRPGs and Super Mario All-Stars. Will I be able to say the same thing about my PS3 in 20 years?
Sony has released a tease for an announcement next Thursday with a simple image:
So what’s it going to be? Obviously we have to wait until next week. But, if it’s a Sony exclusive focusing on vengeance and redemption it’s a pretty short list. Another inFAMOUS is a possibility, but does that banner look like something from Cole’s world? For my money, I’d expect Kratos and an announcement for God of War IV.
With EA rebooting the SSX franchise last month current gamers finally have an extreme snowboarding title again. The new additions are interesting and the death defying runs down the Earth’s most awesome mountains is certainly a rush. Unfortunately, for many of us it just didn’t scratch that itch we’ve had for snowboarding lunacy since we first played SSX Tricky so many years ago. What could they possibly do to fix that? Oh yeah, this is EA, and we have online stores. Enter the puzzle pieces the SSX community have been receiving in their email boxes recently. The puzzle is not yet complete, but there are enough clues for the eagle eyed Tricky addicts to tell you this is probably a DLC announcement that will take the game that much farther over the top in terms of physics-breaking maneuvers. If this really is a Tricky addition, and it makes it so I quit falling down all those holes, I might be ready to call this the best one in the franchise.
The next legacy game to be re-released onto PS3/PSP via PSN is Legend of Dragoon. This JRPG from 2000 is one of the most beloved of the PSOne era. As soon as classic games started releasing on PSN this one was at the top of many fan lists and it’s finally. Look for the game with the May 1st store update. No price is announced yet but I’d expect it at the higher end of the $6-10 spectrum for PSOne Classics.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has apparently not taken over your life enough yet. A free update to the game is set for later this month that will add the long-awaited Kinect compatibility. Over 200 commands can be handled by voice, including the dragon shouts as well as hotkeys and menu commands. But that’s not all. According to a Bethesdsa press release, “Bethesda Game Studios has been hard at work on creating the first set of game add-ons that will be exclusive to the Xbox 360…. This additional content will add new quests, locations, features, and much more to the world of Skyrim…. Stay tuned, we hope to officially announce what it is soon.” Early indication is that the “exclusive to XBox 360” part is actually a timed exclusive, meaning the contect will be available for PC and PS3 at a later date. We’ll need to wait for confirmation from Bethesda to be certain.
Looks like that’s it for this week. Check back on Tuesday for all the news drops from the weekend.
I have been an avid player of Heroclix for about 3 years now and each set that comes out gets better and better. Last year Heroclix added an online version of the game for those wanting to never leave their house, or wanting a wider range of people to play with. This week the newest set, Galactic Guardians, was released. Along-side the physical release the online game is recieving digital versions of the Fast Forces set which is based on the Annihilators team. Those of you that play the game can now get Nova, Silver Surfer, Ronan the Accuser, Gladiator, Quasar, and Beta Ray Bill to use in your online gaming. And for you gamers that prefer the physical game you can pick up the same pack, which comes with a code to redeem in the online game for the same set. As someone that has played the game for a bit this is without a doubt one of the best Fast Forces set that Wizkids have released for the game! Heroclix is available at most gaming and specialty shops.
HEROCLIX ONLINE RELEASES NEW FIGURE SET, ANNOUNCES MARVEL’S GALACTIC GUARDIANS
Hillside, N.J. & Cary, N.C.—April 11, 2012— NECA/Wizkids, the makers of HeroClix Online, today released their latest Marvel HeroClix collection,Galactic Guardians Fast Forces. The figures not only hit retailer shelves in physical form, but are available now in virtual format in HeroClix Online, adding six new figures to the online game.
New figures from the collection include Nova, Silver Surfer, Gladiator, Quasar, Beta Ray Bill and Ronan the Accuser and can be used with all other Marvel figures and maps currently in game.
For more information on HeroClixOnline, visit http://hco.heroclix.com/.
For news updates and announcements, follow HeroClix Online on Facebook and Twitter.
About WIZKIDS/NECA, INC.
A wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Entertainment Collectibles Association Inc. (NECA), WizKids/NECA is a New Jersey-based game developer and publisher dedicated to creating games driven by imagination. The HeroClix brand is the most successful collectible miniatures games on the market today, with over 250 million miniature game figures sold worldwide. For additional information, visit www.wizkidsgames.com.
About Marvel Entertainment
Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing. For more information visit www.marvel.com.
There’s been a lot of chatter about Mass Effect 3 and its ending since it launched a little over a month ago. We’ve covered the controversy here like many other news sites. A new development in the situation has now arisen with the Better Business Bureau calling Bioware’s claims to meaningful choices to actually have been false advertising.
What this means in the long run is fairly irrelevant, though it may have some portent to the sort of litigious person who takes advantage of the U.S. legal system. The BBB is a consumer advocacy group with no actual legal authority. While complaints have been made to an organization that does have legal power, the FTC, no mention has yet been made of whether they’re even investigating the claims. The BBB’s interpretation of the claims is available on their blog.
Their essential argument rests on one bullet point from Bioware’s advertising:
“Experience the beginning, middle, and end of an emotional story unlike any other, where the decisions you make completely shape your experience and outcome”.
According to them, this is an “absolute” statement and therefore must be upheld as true in the final product. I can see the point, as many of the decisions, though they did change a few in-game events, did not actually shape the outcome.
As I mentioned above, this doesn’t actually change anything, and likely won’t make a difference in the long run. The BBB could lower their rating of Bioware and EA as a consumer-friendly companies. But who checks that stuff when they’re buying a game? That’s why we use Metacritic. With no legal authority, the BBB likely can’t take this any further than simply expressing an opinion.
But what if they could? Does that mean I can sue a studio for calling a movie the “feel-good comedy of the year” or other such nonsense? Maybe sue McDonald’s for advertising their best french fries ever?
What do you think? Did they actually falsely advertise their game, or just not fulfill an expectation? Sound off in the comments.
Not a lot for the early edition this week, but basically every item is about a strong game or franchise. Read on:
The fan backlash against the ending of Mass Effect 3 led to the announcement last week of the Extended Cut coming this summer via free DLC. Apparently this change is not the only thing Bioware has been working on however. While it’s certainly taking some of their time, they are still in production of the DLC they were already planning berefore the release. I do wonder if they had intended to make this free though, or if that’s a response to regain some goodwill. Regardless, the Resurgence Map Pack will be available for free today. This pack includes the leaked additional characters we saw a few weeks ago, as well as maps, weapons, and consumables. The new maps are Firebase Condor (an outpost on a Palaven moon), and Firebase Hydra (an abandoned Quarian colony converted to a power plant). It’s doubtful these will have single-player versions like the original maps, but you never know with Bioware. The new unlockable characters are the Asari Justicar Adept, Krogan Battlemaster Vanguard, Batarian Sentinel, Batarian Soldier, Geth Engineer, and Geth Infiltrator. New weapons to unlock include the Striker Assault Rifle, Kishock Harpoon Gun, and Geth Plasma SMG. The four new single-use equipment boosts are the Strength Enhancer (melee), Targeting VI (headhsots), Stabilization module (firing and movement accuracy), and Shield Power Cells (cuts shield regeneration delay). Considering a melee’d a Geth Prime to Death on Sunday with my Krogan Soldier, I can’t wait to see how mean I can get with a Battlemaster. [There’s also an update to the game available today. This fixes some major glitches, particularly face importing and a few game breaking crashes.]
Can it really be? Two stories about free DLC in a row? Yes, it can. Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is getting its own batch of free add-on this week as well. The first of seven missions to come has the Spec Ops team looking for evidence of Umbrella’s involvement in the outbreak. The remaining six missions, all telling the campaign’s story from the perspectives of Dee-Ay, Harley, Party Girl, Shona, Tweed, and Willow, will be paid add-ons. Four multiplayer maps are also planned for the near future. You can get this first chapter for free, starting today.
Borderlands 2 was already near the top of my list for next quarter’s preorder breakdown. Now they’ve announced a new bonus for ordering the game, the Mechromancer playable class. The Mechromancer is part human, part machine and controls a giant robot, D374-TP (known as Deathtrap). If you don’t preorder you’ll still be able to get the extra class via paid DLC. Additionally, Gearbox has confirmed you’ll be able to customize the look of whatever class you choose with unlockalbe wardrobes and the ability to swap heads. Additional heads and skins will be unlockable for those who’ve played the first game. Finally, a special edition of the game has been announced. This will include a bobblehead, the game, and other goodies packed into a real-life version of the in-game loot boxes. No word yet on the other extras, but they better be pretty extensive for the $150 price point. Both versions will be available on September 18th.
Last year saw the release of plenty of shooters, some good and some bad. But one of the most unique was Bulletstorm. People Can Fly and Epic Games moved outside the typical shooter tropes for this one and it became a funny, raunchy, title that filled a big hole in the gaming industry. People Can Fly have done some “initial developments” on Bulletstorm 2 but it has since been shelved for now. Despite its popularity with a segment of the gaming audience, it only counts as “good, but not amazing” on the sales front according Mike Capps (President, Epic Games). So what will People Can Fly be working on now? According to Capps, “we haven’t announced that yet, but we will be announcing it pretty soon.” It depends how far along development has come, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see an announcement at E3 this June.
Epic Games certainly seems to be concentrating on their titles. Not only are they shifting People Can Fly’s next game, they’re also cancelling the Kinect spin-off of the Gears of War franchise. According to Cliffy B, “Gears of War: Exile was an unannounced game that I can’t give any details about that has since been cancelled.”
While it a little painful to see a new game in a top franchise get benched, the trepidation most fans feel about Kinect moving its way into “hardcore” titles offsets this a lot. The lackluster response to Kinect and Move is an important factor for console manufacturers to consider as they move into the next generation. Microsoft has already confirmed that an improved Kinect will be standard fare for the next XBox, which they still haven’t actually said is coming. Is motion gaming the actual way of the future, and our current gaming culture is simply suffering growing pains? Or is it a silly add-on like racing wheels or plastic instruments – fun for a lark, but not a necessary part of the gaming as a whole? For gamers of my generation, I think we’re just coming to the realization that the holodeck isn’t happening in our lifetimes. On the one hand, if it’s not happening for us, we’re getting old and cantankerous enough to want to stick with what’s comfortable. On the other hand, every step closer we get still holds a little of that excitement. And it’s clear that Kinect, Move, Wii Motion Plus, 3D TVs, and 7.1 surround sound are actually getting us closer to that completely immersive game. The question is, how will they notify you of your latest achievements without breaking that immersion?
That’s all for today, check back Friday when we’ll have more details on the Lost Planet 3 announcement happening today.
