With all of the excitement for next-gen consoles coming in November, Microsoft is reminding you not to forget about the existing hardware. A lot of families may be behind a generation for financial reasons. You may enjoy your legacy games and want to insure you have adequate for playing them years from now. To that end, Microsoft has announced a few deals for this holiday season on the XBox 360. Beginning this week and ending January 4th, most retailers are knocking $50 off these three bundles (all include one month XBox Live Gold):
- 250GB w/ Kinect includes Kinect Sports: Season Two, Kinect Adventures, Forza Horizon ($400)
- 4GB w/ Kinect includes Kinect Sports: Season Two, Kinect Adventures ($300)
- 250GB w/o Kinect includes Halo 4, Tomb Raider ($300)
Sony Santa Monica has announced that their DLC plans for God of War: Ascension have come to an end. A balancing update is still in the works and online support is not ending. There will also be a double XP event this weekend. Haven’t bought the DLC yet? Haven’t bought the game yet? Good news. A digital version will be available via the PSN Store this today and all of the DLC will be going on sale to celebrate. The soundtrack will also be free for a limited time.
I’ve never made any secret of my ridiculous joy at playing the LEGO video games, so I’m obviously anxious for November’s LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. If you’re not convinced, download the demo that’s available today on XBox Live and PSN. I don’t need a demo to know I want to play as brick versions of over 100 of my favorite characters. Just 100? Nah, they’ve also announced an Asgardian Character Pack for day one DLC to celebrate the upcoming Thor 2: The Dark World. That expansion will add Kurse, Hogun, Malekith, Volstagg, Odin, Fandral, Sif, and Jane Foster.
It must be safe to say that Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX was a success for Square Enix as they have announced Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX for 2014, exclusive once again to PS3. This will include Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, PSP’s Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Final Mix, and cut scenes from Kingdom Hearts Re:coded on Nintendo DS. The Final Mix versions were previously exclusive to Japan. Ideally the timing should be perfect for you to finish the two ReMIX titles to get yourself Squared away in preparation for Kingdom Hearts III on next-gen in 2014.
WWE 2K14 (October 29th) will have a new mode this year, and it will be decidedly difficult. In 30 years of Wrestlemania, The Undertaker has the longest standing perfect record at 21-0. Countless greats have taken their shot, but the undead phenom has buried them all. Can you break it? Better yet, can you defend it? You have two options in the mode. Playing as the Undertaker you will take on an infinite number of contenders with no health bar reset between bouts. You will lose, but your goal will be to top the leaderboard in stats, finishers, reversals, and streak length. As a challenger you can choose from any existing Superstar on the roster, or choose your created grappler. This will not be a normal match as The Undertaker will be extremely overpowered, like a 21-0 psychotic, supernatural beast should be. He’ll do anything to win, so expect unconventional tactics, like shutting down the arena’s lights.
New York Comic Con saw WB Montreal reveal another of the hired guns set to kill Batman in Arkham Origins in just a few weeks’ time. Lester Buchinsky, AKA Electrocutioner, isn’t the first rogue in the Dark Knight’s gallery you would name. He probably isn’t even number ten. But he’ll still try to kill Batman come October 25th.
This week’s addition to the PS Plus Instant Game Collection is Poker Night 2. The true joy of this one is the crazy cast of characters. It’s bumping Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower, but the weekly update will also launch an extensive sale on a plethora of Capcom content. And don’t forget the spend $50 get $10 deal is still going on the PSN Store; between the Star Wars Pinball “Balance of the Force” pack and the Wolf Among Us season pass you’re already in for $30.
Speaking of Zen Pinball tables, Doctor Strange is the next table coming from their Marvel line. Coming in December, expect this table to cover all the great beats of Doctor Strange: Clea, Wong, Baron Mordo, Dormammu, Nightmare, Shuma-Gorath, etc.
Bioware has made no secret of their plan to make a Mass Effect 4, regardless of the fact that (spoiler alert) their main character most decidedly dies during almost all of the mixed endings in the third game. Marc Walters, the writer on Mass Effect 3, has explained a bit of their plan, if not the details. According to Marc, “the idea is that we have agreed to tell a story that doesn’t relate necessarily to any of the Shepard events at all, whatsoever.” He elaborated that “one of the key things is that it has to be Mass Effect. It can’t just feel like a spin-off. It has to feel like a Mass Effect game at its heart… without the Shepard character or the Shepard specific companions.” The obvious route is prequel. Shepard’s choices in the third game had a huge and varied impact on the universe, the consequences of which can’t easily be scripted away without sacrificing the players’ choices. Bioware met with a lot of grief when they ended Shepard’s trilogy, but I still enjoyed and can’t wait to get back to that universe. I’m expecting a story during the war between humans and turians but I wouldn’t mind seeing one that happens before humans even leave Earth. I can even foresee a trilogy featuring the rachni war, the krogan rebellion, and human expansion. Where would you like to see the story go? Where do you think it will go?