It’s been a while since the last Video Game Quick Hits from Christmas Eve, but the whole industry tends to shut down at the end of the year and very little in the way of news comes up. The biggest drop you may have missed last week was the PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection for January. It’s quite the interactive plentitude. Check Zombietron’s coverage of it for full details, but let me just say it has Infinite possibilities.
The selection isn’t quite as grand for Games with Gold on XBox Live, but they are two very slick titles from Square Enix. Available now is Sleeping Dogs, a game that snuck by far too many people. It’s like a kung fu GTA. Coming January 16th is the co-op action RPG Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. Again, this one just didn’t get the attention it deserved when it came out a few years back. I believe both of these titles have previously been available in Sony’s IGC and are now making their way to Microsoft’s free service. These releases coincide with a Square Enix sale happening now. Sleeping Dogs DLC is also discounted at 50% off and is joined by massive discounts on 2013’s Tomb Raider reboot (my personal game of the year) for $20.09, Hitman: Blood Money for $9.99, and Just Cause 2 for $7.49.
It also appears a “new” free to play title is heading to XBox One. Digital Extreme’s Warframe has received an XB1 PEGI rating in Europe (that’s like our ESRB). Despite the rating, Digital Extreme says they “have nothing to announce at this time.” The co-op space ninja shooter is already available on PC and PS4.
A recent post on the Batman: Arkham Origins Facebook page hints at the content of “All-new STORY DLC coming 2014! More details to come…” The post also included a picture that indicates we may see Mr. Freeze return to the series.
A slew of Activision’s Marvel titles have been removed from digital distribution on PSN and XBLA. Deadpool; X-Men: The Official Game, Destiny, Origins: Wolverine; and Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, Shattered Dimensions, and Edge of Time were made unavailable at the end of 2013. No official word has been given as to why the games were removed, but speculation is that the licensing agreement has expired. This isn’t necessarily reason enough to remove them from sale, which has many people speculating the move is related to a recent story surfaced by someone claiming to be an artist on the Deadpool game which tells of an especially troubled working environment.
That’s all for this year’s first VGQH. Still not much in the way of news, but that will pick up as the industry gets back to work after their holiday break. And really, it’s okay for a slight break in the news. Hopefully you all have new games to play. Personally, I’m obsessively expanding Kenway’s Fleet and trying to claim ships with larger holds to carry my goods across the Atlantic. Unfortunately, I’ve concentrated so much on that aspect; I’ve been forgetting I have actual assassination targets and an observatory to find.