News was slow over the weekend, despite GDC. Actually, that isn’t too surprising. Game Developers’ Conference is an industry event to promote creativity among developers, not expose new games or features to the press. The most surprising part is that no unauthorized leaks about next-gen hardware escaped from the insider discussions.
But, slow news doesn’t mean no news:
Rockstar announced that the complete PS2 era GTA experience is becoming available on PlayStation Network. Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories are available for download as PS2 classics starting this week ($9.99/ea). Yes, these were originally released for PSP, but a console version did come a little later. GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas have been available for a few months. This is no substitute for the HD collection fans have been wanting, but if you no longer have the games (or your PS2), it’s another opportunity.
An official release date for Battlefield 4 hasn’t not been revealed, but we’ve got it on good authority that it’s coming October 29, 2013. Whose authority you ask? Well, xbox.com’s, of course. The date was briefly listed with the title before being taken down. While it appears the posting of the date was a mistake, it’s unlikely the date itself is incorrect. This happens a lot in various ways. It’s usually a retailer like Amazon or some obscure Australian game shop that accidentally hits the publish button on an update screen. Once they realize the goof, they fix it and deny everything. Of course, that date is already confirmed for Assassins’ Creed IV: Black Flag. It’s possible that EA doesn’t want to announce yet because they’re concerned about that overlap and may change their targeted release. Time will tell.
The “Uprising” DLC for Call of Duty: Black Ops II has been confirmed via promotional art. Release date is set for April 16, 2013. The pack will include four new maps: Encore, Magma, Studio and Vertigo. Vertigo is reportedly an abandoned map from Modern Warfare 2. A new zombies map, Mob of the Dead, will also be included.
April looks to be a fairly good month for PlayStation Plus members. The first of the changes to the Instant Game Collection starts today with Spec Ops: The Line being replaced by Demon’s Souls. Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition and Anomaly: Warzone Earth will be leaving on April 9th and 16th, respectively. Sony hasn’t announced the release order yet, but it looks like they’ll be replaced by Labyrinth Legends and Malicious. Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny (PSP and Vita) and Zombie Tycoon II (PS3 and Vita, cross-buy) are also coming this month; I’m not sure what’s being bumped for their release. Plus members are also eligible for several discounts in April, including the entire season of The Walking Dead, Rainbow Moon, and Soldner X. Those sales also include less spectacular discounts for non-members.
That sums up this week’s early edition. Check back on Friday for more of the top news throughout the week.