And here’s the collected bits for the end of the week:
As you probably know, one of the most destructive series in gaming makes is making its comeback with Red Faction: Armageddon. The reason this is news is that THQ has announced the game will be hitting stores on May 31, 2011.
In a rare show of corporate decency, Atari and Eden Games have promised the “Exploration Pack” DLC for Test Drive Unlimited 2 will be free. This is the companies’ way of saying “thank you” to the fans who have given supportive feedback on this notoriously glitchy game. Glitches have run the gamut of online connection troubles, in-game currency losses, and corrupted game saves (the worst kind of glitch). The new DLC and a patch addressing most of the issues is ready to go pending quality assurance testing. Look for that through your console’s online service soon.
Not really big news for anyone in the U.S. but I mention it because it seems very strange, Two Worlds II has been delayed a week in the U.K. and will be available exclusively through Amazon U.K. Why? The game has done well in preorders in the U.K. but they’ll now need to be cancelled and customers will need to use Amazon exclusively. I’m a huge fan of Amazon for their prices and convenience, but if they’re working the economic muscle to get this deal I might have to reconsider. Seems a little too much like a Wal-Mart move. Then again, it may be the distributor is just lazy or they’re having production problems and this is a way to limit the impact.
Can’t get enough of Dead Space 2? The “Severed” DLC will be available on March 1st for $6.99. But I hope you’ve also played Dead Space: Extraction because you’ll be playing as Gabe Weller, not Isaac Clarke. But at least you get an upgraded pulse rifle….
Capcom is releasing yet another version of Street Fighter 4. But I’m not sure if that’s good news or bad. The new Arcade Edition will not be coming to consoles. Makes sense, considering it’s called “Arcade Edition” but is there still enough arcade market to warrant this? Apparently their reasoning is that they’ve worked very hard to make all the characters balanced in the home version, but the arcade version is deliberately unblanaced, making some fighters much more powerful than others. Four new characters, Yun, Yang, Oni, and Evil Ryu, will make their debut in the new version.
If you love tower defense or action strategy, you may want to pick up Orcs Must Die! from Robot Entertainment this summer. It’s a download only title, and will likely be available for PC, 360, and PS3. Normally I’d ignore a simple game announcement like this, but with a title like that I just had to spread the word. Even if the game sucks the name is good for a laugh. No word on pricing yet but these games typically hit the $10-15 mark.
Considering Rockstar has basically become the goose that laid the golden egg, you really should be looking forward to L.A. Noire (May 17th). Preorder bonus information has started to trickle out. In North America it’s been confirmed that GameStop will have exclusive downloadable content. You’ll get an extra case from the Vice department regarding an apparent suicide and an extra collectibles challenge that can earn players the Button Man outfit. In the U.K., GAME will have the GameStop deal while three other retailers (including Amazon.co.uk) will also have exclusive content. Two different suits will be available and one extra Traffic case. It’s probably safe to assume that some U.S. retailers will be getting that content as well. You can probably expect all of it as paid DLC sometime after release.
That looks like most of the relevant stuff for now. Come back next week for more video game news. Rockstar has promised they’ve got something big to reveal about L.A. Noire.