Video Game Quick Hits 8/31/12

Say “goodbye” to August. Fall isn’t officially here yet but it’s definitely that time of year. If you’re into NCAA football, the season is on. The Utes opened last night by embarassing Northern Colorado 41-0. The pros in the NFL start next week. In the world of video games the blockbuster titles are starting to roll out for the busy holiday season. Before you know it you’ll be stuffing turkey and buying presents.

Sony is opening the Fall season with a deluge of retro gaming to get you motivated for the new stuff. The 1.80 firmware for PS Vita has launched, bringing PSOne Classic support with it. Europe’s list of Classics is much more extensive, but the North American batch is off to a good start:

  • Arc the Lad
  • Cool Boarders 2
  • Final Fantasy VI
  • Hot Shots Golf 2
  • Jet Moto
  • Syphon Filter
  • Tomb Raider
  • Twisted Metal 2
  • Wild Arms

If you’ve already purchased any of these for PS3 or PSP they’ll be in your download list. You can download them straight to your Vita, assuming you haven’t already reached your system cap for that game. This list is pretty meager considering the library available. Hopefully more will be added to this list soon.

Techland, the developer behind Dead Island, has a new project in the works. Little is known about Project Hell except that it’s currently only being developed for PC. Consoles have been discussed as a possibility, but at this point in the cycle it’s anyone’s guess whether the console targets will even be this generation. We do know that project is a first person hack and slash that started life as a Dead Island mod but looked so good it’s become its own game. It’s too early for a release date, but we do have some concept art.

Remember that trademark I mentioned recently for Hearthfire? The assumption at the time was that this was the next DLC chapter for Skyrim. Turns out that’s exactly the case. Unlike Dawnguard, this new chapter won’t focus on as much story or combat. This add-on gives you the option of settling down. You’ll finally be able to buy yourself a plot of land, build a house complete with a library and garden, and start a family. Gardens, fish hatcheries, and beehives make collection easier. If you don’t want to tend to the day to day tasks of your new home, you can hire a steward to handle it. This seems like a strange add-on but I can see it being very popular. It’s releasing for XBox 360 on September 4th for 400 MSP.

Don’t get your hopes up for that same DLC on PS3 though. As you’ve probably noticed, Sony’s console hasn’t received Dawngaurd yet, let alone Hearthfire. According to Bethesda’s Community Lead, “gstaff,” you may not ever get it. According to “gstaff”

“It’s been a few weeks, and we wanted to make sure everyone knows where we’re at with Dawnguard. Skyrim is a massive and dynamic game that requires a lot of resources, and things get much more complex when you’re talking about sizeable content like Dawnguard. We have tried a number of things, but none of them solve the issue enough to make Dawnguard good for everyone.

“The PS3 is a powerful system, and we’re working hard to deliver the content you guys want. Dawnguard is obviously not the only DLC we’ve been working on either, so the issues of adding content get even more complicated. This is not a problem we’re positive we can solve, but we are working together with Sony to try to bring you this content.

“We wish we had a more definitive answer right now. We understand the frustration when the same content is not available on all platforms. When we have an update, we will certainly let you know. We deeply appreciate all the time and support you have given us, and we’ll keep doing our best to return that.”

It’s strange coming out of Star Wars Celebration VI and not hearing anything about Star Wars: First Assault only to find out it’s penetrated the internet with all sorts of empty domain registrations. A trademark has also been filed for the title to cover everything from pencil sharpeners to “interactive entertainment software.” My guess is that this is nothing important. I’m expecting a simplistic online game as part of a new promotion for the franchise. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. George will tell us when he’s ready.

Metal Gear celebrated its 25th anniversary this week (I’m so old). At an event for the celebration, Hideo Kojima had a closed doors showing of a new game in the franchise, Metal Gear: Ground Zero. Everyone was sworn to secrecy, but this is the age of the internet. “Well other people are talking about it so… next Metal Gear shown, and it looks… HOT.” “Snake crawled, avoiding searchlights, killed guard, rode jeep, called in helicopter for evac.” “Sounds like Metal Gear, but the scale & atmosphere… Wow.” I’m not going to out anyone who said these things, but I trust the sources to have actually been in the premiere. The demo ended with a Snake in a helicopter and Ride of the Valkyries playing. The Apocalypse Now is hard to miss. According to all reports this is going to be an open world game, a first for the franchise, but will still include all of the steath action appropriate to the franchise. Kojima did make one major announcement publicly, Avi Arad (of Marvel fame) is producing a film based on the series. Dates and details for both projects are pending.

Metal Gear‘s Raiden and Evil Cole from the inFamous franchise have officially been added to the cast for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. Both characters were on the leaked list of characters a few weeks ago. A private beta is currently in progress (I’ve played a little but this isn’t really my style) and a limited public beta is scheduled in the EU for September 11-18. The full game releases November 20, 2012.

The season pass for Borderlands 2 has been announced, outing four planned DLC add-ons. The add-ons “each feature several hours of gameplay and introduce new adventures, allies, enemies and environments.” The season pass will be $20, a $10 savings versus buying each pack separately. The game, as you should know, launches September 18, 2012.

Borderlands 2 developers Gearbox Studios is working on “a few” next-gen titles according to Randy Pitchford (Founder, President, CEO). As for what those games are, he’s not saying. He did mention that doesn’t care about the future of motion controls, but his enthusiasm about the “many steps between now and the holodeck” indicate that’s not entirely true. This mostly just has me wondering about all the secrecy from Microsoft and Sony. The developers have announced you have new systems coming, but you haven’t. Why not?

Of course, Gearbox isn’t the only developer building on the mysterious next generation. Team Bondi (L.A. Noire) has finally made an official mention of Whore of the Orient, and it’s coming to PC and next-gen consoles. The official blurb reads “Shanghai, 1936. Whore of the Orient. Paris of the East. The most corrupt and decadent city on the planet, where anything can be had or done for the right price. Plaything of Western powers who greedily exploit the Chinese masses. Boiling pot of Chinese nationalism, with the Kuomintang ruthlessly trying to suppress Communism and the labour movement. Home to the International Police Force, a group of Western cops hopelessly trying to keep the lid on and keep the peace.” The game has a great premise, though the issues Team Bondi had recently have mea little leery. This is why I’m anxious for next-gen consoles to be announced. Not necessarily because I’m ready to buy a new one, but because I want to hear more about the games I know are coming for them.

That looks like all the news for this week. Enjoy your long weekend. Try not to do anything productive. Stay inside and play video games all weekend. I’m not actually taking my own advice but I wish I were. Instead I’ll be running my first half-marathon Saturday morning out on the Bonneville Salt Flats. And what better way to cap that off than heading a little further west to Wendover for the imbibing of adult beverages and the losing of money? Maybe on Sunday and Monday I’ll be able to partake of that mythical activity known as a nap.