Sort of a slow news week again so far. Maybe we’ll get something to be hyped about over the next couple days to end the week with a bang.
Not that you really need much news to be excited about since Marvel vs. Capcom 3 came out yesterday. If you’ve already picked this one up you’ll be glad to know the first pack of costume DLC has been announced for March 1st. The $5 pack will get you Chris Redfield’s original STARS uniform, Ryu with red gloves and sandals, Dante’s father (Sparda), unmasked Steve Rogers, classic Thor, and Iron Patriot (standing in for Iron Man). If you’d like to win a copy of MvC3 or just want to show off your mad fighting skills to other geeks, come see us at our third anniversary party this Sunday at Brewvies.
In other news, the rumored HD remake of the cult hit Beyond Good & Evil is happening. Playable demos have already made their way into some journalists’ hands and the reviews are good so far. The game is expected on XBLA and PSN sometime in March. Predicted price is $10 (or equivalent points). Good sales of this game could mean the long-awaited sequel may finally come to fruition.
Sticking with the same developer, Ubisoft has surprised no one by announcing another installment in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Considering Brotherhood sold over 6.5 million copies they’d be fools not to follow up. The next title in the series should be hitting stores later this year, I’m guessing October. Ubisoft hasn’t said much, but plans to reveal more in May. Whether the multiplayer is included again is up for debate, as is the setting. Based on clues from Brotherhood it will probably be the French Revolution. Let’s just hope they make a logical progression with Desmond’s story and end it reasonably instead of losing focus just to keep making money.
Batman: Arkham City will not have multiplayer. This has been confirmed by Sefton Hill of Rocksteady. I completely agree with their decision as there seems to be no reason for multiplayer in a Batman game, especially this one. Then I get to thinking, what if you didn’t play as Batman? Multiplayer strategic battles between Bat-villains as they vie for control of the prison city has potential. But I’m glad they decided to commit their resources to excellent single-player instead of tacked on multiplayer.
Do you like Transformers? Of course you do. What about Transformers games? You’re probably thinking, “Yeah, the War for Cybertron game was pretty bad ass, but the movie tie-in ones suck.” Well, that’s true for most movie tie-ins. For Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Activision is hoping to make a good tie-in, by not making it follow the story of the film. Instead it will be a prologue leading up to the new movie. This kind of plan has been tried before with mixed success. One little detail that has potential though is the idea of a “third state.” This new mechanic will be a partial transformation, not quite robot and not quite vehicle, that will allow for new gameplay options. Expect release around the same time as the movie (July 1st).
Whatever the cake may be, pre-order bonuses are not a lie. Valve has announced that pre-ordering Portal 2 (April 19) at Gamestop or Amazon is good for a $5 discount and downloadable skins for Atlas and P-Body, the co-op bots.
Another pre-order bonus you may want is Cloud’s Kingdom Hearts gear (Gamestop) or an alternate costume for Tifa (Amazon) designed by Yoshitaka Amano. These alternate outfits are available for Dissidia 012 [duodecim] Final Fantasy, coming March 22, 2011.
The latest reveals for the Mortal Kombat reboot (April 18) are Noob Saibot (with weird shadow clone) and Sindel. Neither are huge in my opinion, but this game keeps sounding better and better.
So with all of the great games coming this year, what one franchise could make 2011 break the awesome meter? If the meter isn’t shattered by fall, shield your eyes. Voltron is coming! Considering the new toy lines planned and the new cartoon coming to Nicktoons, this is a great time to bring the giant-robot-made-from-many-smaller-robots-that-are-also-lions concept to the game world. Since no consoles have been announced I’m expecting it will hit all of them. If it’s exclusive they usually say so right away.
I don’t normally follow many XBox exclusive items but one caught my attention today. Double Fine, Tim Schafer’s company that created Brutal Legend, Costume Quest, and Stacking, is now working on a Kinect game for Sesame Street. Once Upon a Monster will be a series of motion-based minigames (dancing, flying, etc.) starring Elmo, Cookie Monster, and other Sesame Street favorites involving players in an interactive episode of the 41 year old series. I’m in my 30s, don’t own an XBox and have no children, yet I love the idea of this game. I’m thrilled to see games being marketed for children that involve exercise, learning and interactivity. Sure it means your kids will be making noise, and they might even want you to play with them. But kids have a ton of energy and this is a much better way to keep them occupied than just sitting them in front of the TV with a bag of corn chips.
Finally, this is a bit of a loose fit here but I’ll include it anyway. You may want to watch (or at least DVR) Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Tonight. I wouldn’t bother with it any other night. Previewing on the show will be the six-part Dragon Age web series coming later this year. Frankly, this would sound terrible if it weren’t written by and starring Felicia Day. Felicia Day in elf ears and fantasy gear? Yeah, I’m watching that.
Which of these bits have you most excited?