Welcome to July, and the second half of 2013. Is the year going by fast for you? It’s been moving quickly, but it still feels like the two new consoles and all of the great games planned for the end of the year are just too far away. Time for news.
This week sees the start of XBox Live’s Ultimate Game Sale. We don’t have full details on everything but here is the full list of games with major discounts coming. Confirmed daily and weekly deals are marked as such. Some of these are must-plays, and maybe must-buys depending on the sale price.
- Assassin’s Creed 3 ($15 on 7/2)
- BioShock Infinite
- Borderlands 2 ($10 on 7/2)
- Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway ($5 7/2-7/8)
- Bulletstorm ($5 7/2-7/8)
- Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 ($5 7/2-7/8)
- Crysis ($5 7/2-7/8)
- Crysis 3
- Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga ($5 7/2-7/8)
- Dragon Age Origins ($5 7/2-7/8)
- Far Cry 3 ($20 on 7/2)
- Far Cry Instincts Predator ($5 7/2-7/8)
- Forza Horizon
- Gears of War: Judgment
- Hasbro Family Game Night 3
- Hitman: Absolution
- Kinect Sports 2
- Left 4 Dead 2
- Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes
- Lego Lord of the Rings
- Mass Effect ($5 7/2-7/8)
- Max Payne 3 ($10 on 7/2)
- Metal Gear Rising: Revengence
- Monopoly Streets
- Perfect Dark Zero ($3 7/2-7/8)
- Prey ($3 7/2-7/8)
- Rockstar Table Tennis
- The Orange Box
- Tomb Raider
- The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings
- WWE 13 ($15 7/2-7/8)
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Sony is offering its own Summer Blast Sale as well and we have a little more detail on their offerings. The sale will last about two weeks, but not everything will be on sale the whole time. As you’d expect, Plus users will be getting up to 80% off while free members will still enjoy discounts of up to 60%. There are a lot of “geeky” franchises in here, so if you’ve missed some of them you should definitely take advantage of this sale. [title, standard discount, Plus discount – you can also check Sithbot‘s full post on it that includes the original prices]
- July 2nd – 9th
- Call Of Duty Black Ops II (PS3) – $41.99 / $37.79
- The Amazing Spider-Man (PS3) – $29.99 / $20.99
- Batman Arkham Asylum (PS3) – $9.99 / $5.00
- The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest (PS Vita/PSP) – $4.99 / $2.50
- Mortal Kombat (PS Vita) – $9.99 / $5.00
- Mortal Kombat – (PS3) – $9.99 / $5.00
- Prince of Persia Forgotten Sands (PS3) – $7.99 / $4.00
- Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: the Game (PS3) – $3.99 / $2.00
- Shadow of the Colossus (PS3) – $9.99 / $5.00
- Ratchet & Clank Collection (PS3) – $14.99 / $7.50
- July 9th – 16th
- Fast & Furious Showdown (PS3) – $31.99 / $23.99
- Star Trek (PS3) – Regular Price: $43.99 / $32.99
- Men In Black: Alien Crisis (PS3) – $29.99 / $20.99
- The Simpsons Arcade Game (PS3) – $6.99 / $4.89
- X-Men (PS3) – $6.99 / $4.89
- Hitman Trilogy HD (PS3) – $19.99 / $15.99
- Lord of the Rings: War in the North (PS3) – $9.99 / $5.00
- Silent Hill: Book of Memories (PS Vita) – $14.99 / $7.50
- LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (PS3) – $14.99 / $7.50
- LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (PS Vita) – $9.99 / $5.00
- The Adventures of TinTin: The Game (PS3) – $19.99 / $10.00
- Star Wars The Force Unleashed II (PS3) – $9.99 / $5.00
- LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (PS3) – $9.99 / $5.00
- Just Cause 2 (PS3) – $9.99 / $7.99
- Prince of Persia Classics Trilogy (PS3) – $15.99 / $8.00
- Tron Evolution (PS Vita) – $7.99 / $4.00
- Alice: Madness Returns (PS3) – $7.99 / $4.00
- Fight Night Champion (PS3) – $11.99 / $6.00
It appears the DLC releases for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale have ended. Which is to be expected; the game released in November 2012 and few games get DLC past the six month mark. But it also appears that not all of the DLC planned for the game got released. I don’t know how far along the add-on character of Dart from Legend of Dragoon made it into the process, but it definitely got to the 3D modeling stage. Character artist Mike Edwards’ portfolio has a few images of the character that apparently has been scrapped for title. I can’t say I’m shocked that they dropped Dart as Legend of Dragoon has a strong cult following but not necessarily a great commercial one.
There seems to be a bit of planning problem for Microsoft’s “Games for Gold” program announced at E3. Major Nelson had said that the next two games for the program would be Halo 3 and Assassin’s Creed 2, following the end of Fable III‘s offer (which has expired). That is not the case. Instead, Defense Grid: The Awakening, a tower defense game, is now on the free offer. It will be free until July 15th, after which it will revert to its 800 MSP price and another game, possibly one of the two aforementioned titles, will be free for two weeks. The free games were originally scheduled to continue until the XBox One release in November, but Nelson has indicated they may choose to extend the offer through Christmas.
Over on the Sony side of free games, the July titles for PS Plus have been announced. The month will have a strong start with today’s update when Battlefield 3 joins the Instant Game Collection. Other titles scheduled for the month include Jet Set Radio (PS3), Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee HD (PS3), Metal Slug XX (PSP, Vita), and Dokuro (Vita). Of course, that means several titles are leaving the IGC. Get these while they last: Deus Ex: Human Revolution (7/2), Joe Danger 2 The Movie (7/9), The Cave (7/16), Germinator (7/23), and Zero’s Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward (7/30). [Seriously, pick up The Cave if you haven’t already. That’s definitely in my top five gains from Plus.]
If you’re still on the fence about which, if any, of the next-gen systems you’re buying then you may want to wait just a little longer. Certainly Microsoft’s post-E3 backpedaling means their plans are still in motion, but they also plan to announce more exclusives later in 2013 as well. When asked about it on Twitter, Phil Spencer said, “Yea, we still have exclusives to reveal.” Obviously he didn’t reveal them, so we don’t what he’s revealing. If I were placing odds on those announcements, I don’t think it’s a big gamble to say something in the Fable universe. I’m also waiting to find out why they’ve been hinting at another Crackdown title, despite virtually everyone involved with it basically being out of business. So, if you don’t mind missing out on a day one purchase, maybe you should wait until those announcements come before you put up that down payment.
In case you missed Zombietron’s announcement, The Walking Dead: 400 Days releases today on the US PlayStation Network. Not on PSN? It comes to Mac and PC (Steam) tomorrow, XBox Live on Friday, EU PSN July 10th, and iOS July 11th. I’ll be downloading tonight. And I may not sleep tonight either.
A couple of DLC add-ons have been announced as pre-order incentives for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. The first is the Cloud Strife SOLDIER 1st Class. This will include the Final Fantasy VII hero’s SOLDIER 1st Class outfit, Buster Sword, and Soldier Band fanfare. The second is the Lightning Samurai Set. This set has three outfits (Shogun, Sohei Savior, and Flower of Battle) with unique abilities. The game is set for release February 11, 2014 – but you can pre-order now.
That’s the early edition. Enjoy your Independence Day (maybe by playing Battlefield 3 for free on PS+) and check back Friday for more news from this week.