Sleeping Dogs, the open-world Hong Kong cop drama has been given a release date by Square Enix. It will be available on August 14th. The announcement also included several pre-order incentives. Get it from Amazon for the Martial Arts Pack – Shaolin Showdown mission, special combat buffs, additional training dummy, Shaolin Warrior Outfit, and Wang Chun decorations for your safehouse. Best Buy has the GSP Pack based on the game’s combat adviser, mixed martial arts superstar Georges St. Pierre – GSP Outfit, Signature Flying Punch attack, in creased grappling and throwing damage. Finally, GameStop has the Police Protection Pack – High Speed mission, SWAT Cruiser, Assault Rifle, and Outfit.
Another announcement with pre-order bonuses is Crysis 3 from EA. It was unofficially announced last week with listings leaked all over and no official confirmation. EA has responded with an official confirmation and retailer specific packages. A Hunter Edition will be available for pre-order and includes the signature bow weapon with attachments and exclusive skin, the Hunter nanosuit module, a level five XP boost for multiplayer, and three extra dog tags. The extra multiplayer bonuses at specific retailers are the Stalker Pack (silenced shotgun, weapon skin, two dog tags), Overkill Pack (Typhoon assault weapon and skin, two dog tags), and the Predator Pack (Feline submachine gun and camouflage). The exact retailers haven’t been announced but it’s safe to assume this is the usual Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop arrangement. The real question is which pack goes where. My money would be toward a silenced shotgun. That concept is just too awesome to ignore.
Bethesda has dropped an interesting tease. Over on their yfrog account they posted a picture of dirty and tired looking man and the word “tomorrow” with no other apparent clues. It seems the actual reveal should happen sometime today but as of this writing it was not yet shown. The planned Kinect functionality for Skyrim is coming at the end of this month, and they’ve hinted at incoming DLC. Is that related to this? Or are we looking at the next game in the Fallout franchise? Or maybe something completely new? No matter what it is, it’s coming from Bethesda and that should tell you a few things about it. One, it’s probably going to consume far too many hours of your life. Two, it’s going to be very interesting and make you want to play it. Three, you won’t actually be able to play it on PS3 because it will glitch out and brick your system every three hours.
[UPDATE: Turns out this is a screen grab from a trailer for Dishonored that was just released.]
Remember those puzzle pieces we saw last week from EA hinting at SSX DLC? Remember how they looked like the game was going Tricky? Well, that’s the gist of the announcement, but we’ve also got some great details. There is a brand new mountain coming with nine new race and trick drops. Mt. Eddie is definitely Tricky-inspired, taking the basic laws of physics and flipping them into the negative zone. The heights, kickers, and even icy loop-de-loops don’t belong anywhere on the satellite images EA used to create the rest of the game’s mountains. But what good is a new mountain without new riders? Actually, it’s plenty good, but EA is getting your more riders anyway – seven of them. Two of the new riders are actually retro Eddie and Elise, but it’s still awesome. The mountain and the riders are technically two different packs. Both of them will be available May 1st for $5.99 (480MSP), or bundled together for $7.99 (640MSP). One of the two packs also includes three classic additions to the soundtrack but it wasn’t clear which one, probably the mountain. Not that it matters, that bundle’s a steal so you’re getting them both.
With 343 Industries taking over the Halo franchise everyone’s eager to see what gets changed and what parts of perfect stay the same. One of the first reveals for the new developers take on Halo 4 is an all new multiplayer mode, Regicide. For those unfamiliar with the term, it means killing a king (or any regent really, but king is by far the most literal). The actual description doesn’t sound so innovative, however. In fact, it seems a little more like the old schoolyard favorite, Smear the Queer. [My God, did we really say things like that as children?] Essentially one player is selected as the king (read “It”). Everyone else is looking to commit a coup and claim the throne for themself. All other would-be assassins are fair game as well, with each kill scoring you points. Killing the king though is worth a hefty bounty, one that increases throughout the match’s duration. More revealing content is promised soon, possibly even today. Like Bethesda’s announcement, it won’t be making it into today’s VGQH as this publishes in the morning. But if I know my fellow ‘bots, you’ll see a headline item once the news hits. Though my sources indicate one of the announcements will be a November 6th street date. [UPDATE: My source was correct, that is the official launch date.]
And it looks like we’ve reached the end of this week’s early edition. Check back on Friday for updates from the rest of this week. Then spend the weekend enjoying your games instead of worrying you missed a big announcement.