I’m just going to jump right in today with Splinter Cell HD Trilogy. I’ve known for a while that this was coming and I can’t honestly say I think it’s a good idea. The God of War collection, the Sly Cooper collection (which I just finished yesterday), and Team ICO all seem like good fits for the HD treatment. But Splinter Cell, and even Tomb Raider (also set for remastering), don’t seem like the mechanics have aged well enough to make it enjoyable, even with prettier graphics. To make it worse for Splinter Cell, it won’t even have multiplayer according to a recent announcement. In fans of modern shooters, this is likely to a deal breaker. That means your only real audience is nostalgia players, those who probably don’t care about playing the three games in 3D (with apporpriate hardware), which was also recently announced. One last piece to note with this story is that the ports apparently are coming from the PC versions, not the PS2 versions, as Ubisoft felt those were the best starting quality. The retail version will see release June 21 and each will likely be available as separate downloadable games at the same time.
By and large, anyone I know that’s ponied up for PlayStation Plus has been pleased with the value they’ve received. If you want to get in on the Resistance 3 multiplayer demo, you may want to consider joining their ranks. Outside of North America, PS+ is the only way to get that demo. Here in the States, you’ll get access for buying SOCOM 4 next week. Presumably US subscribers to PS+ will also get access without the game purchase. Resistance 3 is coming September 6, 2011.
The long-delayed Duke Nukem Forever is still scheduled for June (for now). But it looks like a playable version actually exists and is debuting at the Gadget Show Live in the UK today through Saturday. The only report I’ve seen of it so far is that it looks very old school and is clearly more about the humor (or “humour” in British) than the game play. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Perhaps this isn’t the biggest news, but VGQH needs more pictures dammit. Several new screen shots of Sucker Punch’s inFamous 2 have been released. The one I like shows not only the massive new Behemoth enemy, but also gives a bit of a tease about Cole’s new powers. As I’ve recently read in Game Informer, the hero will have two female companions that can merge their powers into Cole. One gives fire, the other ice. For more screen shots, check the Playstation Blog’s Flickr.
Friday’s VGQH had a bunch of Mass Effect stuff so it only seems appropriate to have a little more today. It’s been a poorly kept secret for some time that Bioware has been wanting to put the franchise into MMO territory. According to Casey Hudson (executive producer), “A lot of people say that they want to see an MMO, I think that kind of makes sense for this universe. Part of what you’re trying to do is save the universe so you can live in it. That’s part of the promise, I think, for any great IP. It has to be a world worth saving. I think Mass Effect has that quality to it. If you get rid of the Reapers and win that, wouldn’t it be amazing to just live on the Citadel or just take a ship to Omega? That makes sense.” Obviously things change quickly and a lot in the world of gaming, and MMOs take a long time to develop, so this might not ever get completely off the ground. But Bioware is also making Star Wars: The Old Republic, so it’s not that much of a stretch to think they could do the same treatment with another space saga.
This seems like a strange time to release DLC for a game as old as Red Dead Redemption, but since it’s stuff that already exists I suppose they might as well try to make some coin off it. Starting today, the preorder bonus packs for the game will be available for a buck each. The game was released in May 2010 and the final expansion, Undead Nightmare (which I’ll finally be starting tonight), came out in November. This DLC will give those who didn’t preorder the benefit of the Deadly Assassin Outfit, Golden Guns Weapon Pack, and the War Horse. A side note to this story is that they’ve also announced the preorder packs for L.A. Noire will also hit the DLC scene in a much shorter window.
In addition to finishing the Sly collection yesterday, I also earned the platinum trophy on Fallout: New Vegas on Saturday (I played a lot this weekend). It’s no secret I love the Fallout universe and it’s that love that kept me playing through a disgusting number of glitches, sometimes getting less than ten minutes of play before needing to restart the system. Once the plat popped I pulled the disc and decided I was done permanently. Even though Dead Money had only one minor glitch, I determined I’m not willing to pay for any more of their DLC. Then I see the leaked screen for Honest Hearts and I’m already questioning my resolve. If screens are being leaked, it’s a safe bet the next chapter is coming soon. Knowing full well this will likely be the story of Josh Graham, former Mormon missionary and Legate to Caesar, now known as the Burned Man, has its draw. Knowing that it will likely take the courier to the Grand Canyon is also cool. But, knowing that much of it will likely happen in New Canaan, formerly known as Utah (confirmed by a long ago line of code regarding a snowglobe for Zion National Park), means I probably can’t skip it no matter how much I hate the glitches. This has been an area of the country I’ve longed to see treated to the Nukepunk, post apocalyptic world of one of my favorite gaming franchises. That weird retro-fifties feel, combined with bizarre characters, and nuclear mutations seems a perfect fit for my home state.
Here’s a weird one in the gaming world. Not only is Brink not being delayed, it’s being moved up a week to May 10. Games are usually pushed back, not up. In the case of Duke Nukem, they get pushed back a few dozen times and even canceled more than once. Delays often hint at games that release with a certain lack of polish. I wonder if moving up means this one will absolutely shine?
I mentioned Friday that there was a web series starting soon called Mortal Kombat: Legacy. Two things to update on that one. One, the first episode is out at machinima.com. I haven’t watched yet so I can’t review it. Second, and I wish I had known this on Friday, Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica, Dollhouse) is playing Stryker. Maybe that’s not huge news, but I have a bit of a man crush on the guy.
Activision has been doing a bit of a backpedal on the death of Guitar Hero. According to Dan Winters of Activision, “Actually, just to clarify, we’re just putting Guitar Hero on hiatus, we’re not ending it. We’re releasing products out of the vault – we’ll continue to sustain the channel, the brand won’t go away. We’re just not making a new one for next year, that’s all.” The company is instead focusing “disproprtionately” on Bungie, Call of Duty and Spyro. So maybe the music franchise will be making a comeback, just not in 2011.
Portal 2 comes out next week and I’m excited. If you’re wanting to get completely caught up in the story beforehand, you should check out the tie-in comic, Lab Rat, available now. You can read it here, or get a PDF here. I haven’t finished it, just skimmed a few pages, but this looks great. It appears just as psychotic as GlaDOS.
I’ll end with a little Dungeon Siege III news for those wanting to preorder it. Despite being delayed until June 21st, there is some good news. Unless you’re committed to a physical copy of the game, Steam is clearly the way to go for this one. Pre-purchasing will get you all the way up to speed by not only giving you the game, with all of the Steam perks, but you get Dungeon Siege I and II free. Three games for the price of one seems like a good tradeoff for skipping the disc.
That’s all I got for now. Come back Friday for more.