News? What news? The real news is how many heads have exploded since Uncharted 3 was released at midnight. Unfortunately we don’t have a full count yet because the poor relatives who found the bodies noticed the game was still on and started playing it themselves – thus raising the count exponentially.
Actually, there is some news, so let’s get to it:
Fan reaction has been mixed after BioWare’s official confirmation of multiplayer in Mass Effect 3. Online fans are excited for the addition to a hugely popular series, while many longtime fans of the series lament the additional mode. I’ve gotten a few reports from the developer’s closed door press demo of the co-op mode and those are also mixed. The gameplay seems solid enough, but the combat has never been the focus of this series. That would be the story, and there just doesn’t seem to be any of that in co-op. At least not that we’ve seen. BioWare seems confident though. Not only are they committed to online co-op, they’re also planning DLC once enough feedback has been received. What that DLC will be isn’t known yet. Depending on what fans request, characters, classes, modes, races, weapons, etc., are all on the table. Based on the reactions I’ve seen so far, I’d guess Quarians will be added to the list fairly quickly. If you can’t wait until March 6th to experience the title yourself, watch for the demo in January.
I haven’t covered much on Asura’s Wrath, though I have seen a few videos and screens. To summarize, the player character is Asura, a sort of six-armed demi-god who gets more powerful with more anger. He’s on the war path against the gods after being framed for murdering his wife and the emperor. So… kind of a cross between Kratos and Hulk – which could only be more awesome if he had a lightsaber too. Oh, and the gods he’s fighting are massive. Really massive. As in one carries a sword that reaches from the earth to the moon. Regardless, this looks like it has potential, but it’s been a sleeper on the coverage circuit. I only mention it now because Capcom has announced an official release date of February 21, 2012. Hopefully we see a little more coverage of this one before that date. Something with this level of potential could easily fall under the radar without more and better press coverage, especially in the shadow of this year’s holiday season games.
Nothing to get excited over, but kind of an interesting stat in the FPS war this holiday season: EA’s Battlefield 3 has sold over 5 million copies in the first week since release. That’s actually not a bad number for the entire life of a game. I have no plans for this game or Activision’s Modern Warfare 3, but I have been watching the competition heating up between the two with morbid curiosity. Regardless, if you’re into game stats, EA has offered up a few based on the first week of online play. Despite some server issues, players have destroyed 67 million vehicles, revived others 48 million times, and pulled off 73 million savior kills. What does that actually mean? I don’t know, but they did a good job of making it sound impressive.
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is definitely getting a Special Edition, and we’ve got the details. This edition will come with an Umbrella Security Services steelbook case, USS and and US Spec Ops embroidered patches, eight in-game bonus weapons, and new skins for each of your USS characters (Beltway, Bertha, Four-Eyes, Lupo, Spectre and Vector). Despite being heavily favored towards the USS team instead of the USSO, I actually kind of like this edition. Mostly because it’s only $10 more than the standard edition and it excludes the typical art book and making of DVD that I never use. Go ahead and upgrade your preorder now to have those bonus weapons as soon as it releases on March 23, 2012.
That’s it for the news (slow week so far), so I’ll leave you with just a reminder. Not that you need me to tell you, but the Nightwing DLC is out for Batman: Arkham City today. Pick it up from PSN or XBLA for $6.99 / 560 points. Based on the main campaign’s length, this seems to be good timing for some extra DLC.