The March edition of Game Informer features a big exposé on Rockstar's L.A. Noire, but already the first details have leaked from the publication's forthcoming coverage.
Not done celebrating the Superbowl and looking for some more Football action? 505 Games sends along a developer diary for their upcoming sports title, Backbreaker.
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505 Games today unveiled the first behind-the-scenes look at Backbreaker, showcasing how developer NaturalMotion is engineering the next generation of football for the new generation of football fans. With the Euphoria engine's ability to create completely unique tackles on the fly, Backbreaker proves that it's finally time to retire canned animations. The game amps up the adrenaline with unique bone-crunching plays each time the player picks up the controller and takes the field. Following the perspectives of the players at field level, Backbreaker delivers realism like no other football title, dropping gamers into the middle of every tackle in all of its gut-wrenching glory.
Starting tomorrow, February 9th, ME2 owners will be able to get the Ceberus Assault Armor and M-22a Eviscerator Shotgun from the Cerberus Network for free! Want screen shots or more information? Click here!
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Cerberus Assault Armor
Cerberus assault armor is designed for shock troops, turn the tide of battle against creatures or forces that would decimate normal soldiers.
Increases heavy weapon ammo capacity by +10%
Increases shields by +10%
Increases health by +10%
M-22a Eviscerator Shotgun
The M-22a Eviscerator Shotgun is a longer-range shotgun with armor-piercing loads. This design also violates several intergalactic weapons treaties, so the M-22a is not distributed to militaries.
Check out EA's latest viral campaign for Dante's Hell possessing websites here.
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The PR campaign for Dante's Inferno has been quite the adventure. Booth babes were listed as prizes, game writers were sent $200 checks, and EA paid for "Christian" picketers to protest the game at E3. True, these things may have been controversial, but they were successful in their intent to get everyone talking about the game. The latest stunt is eerie, and gets bonus points for both creativity and giving the fans some fun bonuses.
If you looked at the source code of certain social networking sites, as well as gaming locations, you may have found a surprise in the past few days: ASCII artwork from Dante's Inferno and a password to be put into a mysterious site. The site shows six slots for the passwords, meaning there were six hidden images scattered around the Internet.
I am getting more excited about playing this game, even though I thought the demo was FAR too God Of War.
In case you were hoping for a great triple-team bit of awesomeness with Aliens vs Predator from Rebellion, keep hoping. The first review is out from the latest Game Informer magazine and it's a paltry 5.75 out of 10.
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If the first Aliens Vs Predator review’s a sign of things to come, Rebellion had best be dug in like an Alabama tick for the next few weeks.
Game Informer’s given the shooter a tooth-sucking 5.75/10, saying, “We have a title trying to live off the fumes of two dormant franchises.”
VG247 has the scans, but I'd recommend just buying the magazine to read the text. We don't have many paper mags left anymore for reading on the loo.
Shellshock 2 and Rogue Warrior, folks. lost stealth edit: Fuck. Ing. Told you so.
Need some reading material while your toon is grinding away at mining for green Orion slave women? The official website for publisher Simon & Schuster has a listing for Star Trek Online - The Needs of the Many by Michael A. Martin and Jake Sisko.
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Prior to the terror-filled times of the Long War—the seemingly endless struggle against the Undine, a paranoid, shape-shifting race once known only as Species 8472—enemy sleeper agents quietly penetrated every echelon of Federation society, as well as other starfaring civilizations throughout the Alpha and Beta quadrants. The ensuing conflict shook humanity to its very core, often placing its highest ideals against a pure survival instinct. All too frequently, the Undine War demanded the harshest of sacrifices and exacted the steepest of personal costs from the countless millions whose lives the great interdimensional clash forever altered.
Drawn from his exhaustive research and interviews, The Needs of the Many delivers a glimpse of Betar Prize–winning author Jake Sisko’s comprehensive "living history" of this tumultuous era. With collaborator Michael A. Martin, Sisko illuminates an often-poorly-understood time, an age marked indelibly by both fear and courage—not to mention the willingness of multitudes of unsung heroes who became the living embodiment of the ancient Vulcan philosopher Surak’s famous axiom, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."
For those of you who are not a slave to Amazon.com's free shipping, Toys R Us has a double deal for BioShock 2 or Dante's Inferno. Pick water and BioShock 2 comes with a $10 gift card and a Big Sister/Little Sister action figure two pack or you can go for the fire and get Dante's Inferno with a $20 gift card.
Steam sets fire to our wallets once again with a new insane week-long sale.
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This week we're celebrating the release of the Elite Units of the East, new Downloadable Content for Empire: Total War™, with a huge sale on Total War™ games, packs and DLC from SEGA and The Creative Assembly.
All Empire, Rome, and Medieval II: Total War™ games and packs, including the Total War™ Mega Pack are 66% off, while all Empire: Total War DLC and the new Empire: Total War™ - Downloadable Content Pack are 10% off.
Whether you're new to the series or looking to round out your collection of Total War™ games and content, this week is the time to buy.
I've never played the Total War games, but the 10€ price for Empire is hard to argue against.
The new romantic drama Dear John unexpectedly ended the seven-week reign of Avatar at the weekend box office in North America, pulling in large numbers of young female moviegoers.
Here is the Weekend Boxoffice Chart for the weekend of February 5th to February 7th.
LONDON, UK – 8th February, 2010 – LucasArts and TT Games today announced the development of LEGO® Star Wars™ III: The Clone Wars™. The next chapter in the award-winning LEGO® Star Wars videogame franchise, LEGO® Star Wars III: The Clone Wars will combine the best elements of all previous LEGO® games while adding brand new gameplay to make it the most action-packed LEGO® videogame to date. Developed by the same team at Traveller’s Tales that created the critically acclaimed LEGO® Star Wars and LEGO® Indiana Jones™ series, the game will ship on the Wii™, Nintendo DS™, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, and Xbox 360®videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows in the Autumn of 20
The folks over on VG247 saw an interview with Peter Molyneux on the Game Reactor website. He states that some of the announcements that are coming out of Microsoft's X10 event this week will most likely upset some fans of the series. What are they? I'm guessing they're going to change the game completely and make you wave at the screen with Natal. We'll know more later this week.
Description: BLASTER MASTER OVERDRIVE is an action-adventure game that takes place on an Earth infected by an aggressive, polymorphic virus. Poor, defenseless animals worldwide have been turned into flesh-eating, hemoglobin-swilling terrors. Fortunately, the world has Alex, who happens to be one of the world's foremost biologists and specializes in viral mutation profiles and genetic manipulation. Every studious biologist facing imminent global annihilation needs a sweet ride, and Alex is no exception. He has S.O.P.H.I.A., a shape-shifting, gas-guzzling, projectile-spewing paean to destruction on four wheels. Things look grim, but with Alex and S.O.P.H.I.A. on the case, the world just might have a chance.
Description: Businessman Hitoshi Susumu is behind schedule and in quite a rush. In fact, once he starts running, he won't stop! Dashing past samurais, T-Rexes, cowboys and all manner of wacky obstacles, Mr. Susumu must get to the goal as fast as he can for the ultimate 2-D dance party. Tomena Sanner is a high-speed side-scrolling action game with a unique timing-based control system that's as challenging as it is fun. As they fly, jump and dance over the many zany obstacles, players need to time their moves to keep their speed up and perform awesome tricks. Using just one button on the Wii Remote™ controller, players of all ages and skill levels will be able to play and help Mr. Susumu get to his goal. Four players can compete to see who is the fastest at running through the bizarre and comical world of Tomena Sanner.
Description: Bloons is an exciting puzzle game based on the simple fact that popping balloons is fun. Pop your way through dozens of puzzling levels in this exciting puzzle adventure. Each level will have a different arrangement of balloons. Using the darts you're given, try to pop as many as you can. Look out for special balloons, blocks and darts, and have fun discovering what they do. You can pick up and play for a few minutes or spend hours working your way through the game's 70 levels. As an added bonus, there's also a level editor that allows you to create your own balloon puzzles.
Hubert The Teddy Bear Winter Games Publisher: Teyon, Players: 1-16, ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Comic Mischief, Price: 500 Wii Points
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Description: Hubert The Teddy Bear is a party game in which players confront crafty bunnies. Outsmart them in eight winter activities including snow fight, sleigh ride, Christmas tree decoration, fishing, catching a bunny and more. Create a teddy bear and customize it to fit your own style. Choose its name and gender and dress it up by combining elements from plenty of clothes and accessories. Play solo or engage your family and friends by competing in one of the multiplayer modes. As many as 16 players can take part in one competition. Thanks to the balanced levels of difficulty – kid, youngster and adult – everyone can enjoy the game. This collection of casual winter sports provides a new experience for the whole family.
Click the headline to check out DSiWare and VC Releases.
Here we are, another week, another show! This week we've got an interview with the CEO from Jedi Mind, Inc about their brain reading technologies along with some fantastic discussion regarding Doodles and Bugs. Adam recaps some time spent with Bioshock 2 Developers and how he didn't like The Battle of Forli for Assassin's Creed 2 while Ben cries about the AvP multiplayer demo. Jim says some stuff too.
Games Discussed: Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Assassin's Creed 2, Your Doodles are Bugged, Aliens vs Predator, Bioshock 2
Please feel free to leave us feedback here, to our email address at podcast@evilavatar.com, via our voicemail number (619) 573-6699, or come join us on IRC (irc.slashnet.org #evilavatar)
More news from Major Nelson today, Darwinia+ will be available this Wednesday for 1200 Microsoft points.
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The world of the peaceful Darwinians has been decimated by an evil virus and without your help they have no hope of survival. Play the full campaign or take control of a Multiwinian army and challenge your friends to some digital carnage in this IGF award winning action-strategy classic from Introversion Software. It's a stick man slaughter where only the flattest survive.
It doesn't really make sense to put Sonic in a car, but if you want to race the hedgehog you can now grab the Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing demo off of XBL.
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Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions
Dash Text: Join Sonic and his SEGA friends in the race of your life. Dodge weapons, perform tricks and drifts, seek short cuts and look out for that elusive all-star move pick-up as you blast past your rivals in to pole position. Winning has never tasted so sweet!
Showing this excellent book some love, I haven't for a while. I get the feeling DC are beginning to realise they have an emerging hit on their hands, it's only taken a few issues, and it no longer feels like a b-list book. It's the penultimate chapter in the rebellion against Starro but things aren't looking too bright at the moment. Could Vril Dox's calculations of success be improved by an unknown variable?
Batman and Robin #8
Cameron Stewart brought in some very cool art in issue 7 and, along with Morrison, left us on a total cliff hanger. The body of Bruce Wayne, at least the body that Superman delivered, has been stewing in a Lazarus Pit for a good hour and he's ready to make his come-back. The preview page promised Batman vs. Batman and I expect no less! Wonder who it really is under that cowl...
Tails of the Pet Avengers #1
There were a few fans of 'Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers' so I expect this book to sell reasonably well, especially with this cool Deadpool variant cover. I think the main purpose of this one-shot is to set up the more ongoing Pet Avengers book that releases next month. With that in mind expect some individual tales (I refuse to say 'tails') for the likes of Frog Thor and Zabu. I might get it just for that cover though, very cute.
X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back #1
A team of teenage X-Men take on the ultimate threat, High School! Oh noes! This book has a far more significant purpose however in that it will explore the origin of Pixie and, supposedly, reveal her father as one of the X-Men's most dangerous foes. Sounds interesting. Taking place within the whole Utopia thing this may well be a more straight-forward book than the fairly complex dealings of the other X-Books.
Let us know about your picks for the week and what you thought of these titles! Click the headline for this weeks full release list!
GameSpot has posted a hands-on preview of Relic Entertainment's upcoming standalone expansion, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising.
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We had the opportunity to play through a handful of head-to-head skirmishes and some free-for-all matches as well, and found Chaos to be a faction that seems to benefit from leapfrogging from expansion to expansion, capturing a key strategic point and fortifying it as soon as possible. Although the faction has powerful military units, its basis of support lies with heretic units--these are now used to build supporting shrine structures (best placed near control points), and can then be used to worship at these shrines. Depending on which commander you've chosen, worshipping at a shrine will produce different effects--chaos lord shrines will briefly summon some bloodletter melee daemons that will disappear after a short period; plague champion shrines will heal nearby allies; and chaos sorcerer shrines will cause nearby units to infiltrate and can also fire energy bolts like a turret. Chaos seems to have a very even mix between powerful melee and powerful ranged units and will afford players more than enough opportunity to mix and match to their tastes.
Reverie World Studios, the developers of the upcoming MMORTS, Dawn of Fantasy, unveiled a new, fully 3D World Map for the game's Online Kingdom mode.
This map features a brand new user interface, dynamic seasonal changes, scale replicas of the NPC strongholds, quest areas, and the player's homeland, as well as markers representing the player's armies and allied armies. Players will be able to group their units into armies and send them on anywhere in the map, track their progress over each region with a zoomed-in instanced view, and set up army camps with varied defenses (for a small fee) anywhere on the map. These armies can scout, quest, trade, or lay siege to any of the NPC and enemy strongholds.
While the new map represents the whole game world of Mythador, the developers state that the map will add very little load time in comparison with the former 2D World Map, as it is instanced together with the player's homeland and every precaution has been taken - including creating an entire new set of objects with shrunken models and textures - to reduce load time.
With MLB 2k9 being a travesty of epic proportions, it looks like the only real game in town for a console baseball game is Sony's first party title. GameTrailers released some new videos yesterday that showcase just how incredible MLB 10: The Show is looking.
Yeah so anyone ever hear of Blaster Master before? Looks like Sunsoft is releasing a sequel of sorts, out of nowhere, for WiiWare in a few short days for only 1000 Wii Points.
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SUNSOFT, a division of SUNCORPORATION (JASDAQ: 6736), has today announced that BLASTER MASTER™:OVERDRIVE will be available in North America on February 8th for WiiWare.
BLASTER MASTER™:OVERDRIVE is an action-shooting game that takes place on an Earth infected by an aggressive, polymorphic virus. Poor, defenseless animals worldwide infected by the virus have been turned into flesh-eating, hemoglobin-swilling terrors. Fortunately, the world has Alex. And, even more coincidentally, he happens to be one of the world’s foremost biologists - specializing in viral mutation profiles and genetic manipulation.
Every studious biologist facing imminent global annihilation needs a sweet ride, and Alex is no exception. He has S.O.P.H.I.A., a shape-shifting, gas-guzzling, projectile-spewing paean to destruction on four wheels. Things look grim, but with Alex and S.O.P.H.I.A. on the case, the world just may have a chance.
Fallout New Vegas is supposed to be the cover story for a few console and PC magazines next week, apparently some people have received their copies already and have posted some info. Bethesda:
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It looks very similar to Fallout 3 and uses some new art and some old art
There's a new hardcore mode that addresses many things that were added in mods, as well as a normal mode
Hardcore mode includes :
--- You need to drink water to survive
--- Ammo has weight
--- Healing isn't instant
The storyline involves NCR vs. Slavers (Ceasars Legion) vs. New Vegas residents
You aren't from a vault, but you get a Pipboy from someone who is, as well as a Vault Suit
There are special moves for melee weapons in VATS, for example there's a groin shot available for a golf club weapon called "Fore"
The Hoover Dam is supplying the electricity
There's a quest to rescue a Ghoul from some Super Mutants who can then become a companion
Nightkin and Geckos are back
Ceasars Legion are the slavers and one of the 3 main factions
There's a topless bar in a casino in a town called Primm
There's a Super Mutant base called Black Mountain
The NCR base is McCarran Airport
There's a town called Fremont
Ceasers Legion are based on the Strip
There is a map in the magazine showing locations in the game including Area 51 and the Hoover Dam
The NCR armor is similar to brown combat armor
Your skill levels have a greater effect on the choices you have in conversations.
There's a reputation system as well as karma
There's a grenade launching machine gun
There are both intelligent and dumb Super Mutants, and Nightkin are elite.
Hit the headline to check out the rest of the goods.
Edge Online has posted an article on the making of Codemasters' racing game from 1998, Colin Mcrae Rally.
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Still, as fine and enduring as it is, AM3’s creation wasn’t the only inspiration. “On reflection, the key games which have influenced the design of CMR all share a common theme – in each case the physics and control system are fundamental to their enjoyment,” says Wilday, before quoting Screamer Rally on PC as another exponent of excellent yet controllable car dynamics. And, wisely, the team cast its influence beyond the four-wheeled realm: “WaveRace for the N64 is a fine example of a game with realistic physics and an incredibly well balanced control system. The game is easy to pick up and play but it is only after playing it for some time that you start to understand the additional nuances of the controls. Initially it's just about going left or right, but later you start to use the weight of the rider to fine-tune the movement of the jetski in the corners and over the waves. I loved the fact that this game was easily accessible but had that greater depth for more hardcore players – this was a key design goal for CMR.”
Last October, Alpha Protocol was supposed to come out and then SEGA edited the release date on their website without announcing that it had been delayed. Ten days later, they finally addressed it and told everyone it would be released in Spring 2010. MTV Multiplayer has word that it has been delayed again till Summer.
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We had a few reasons for doing it. One: We wanted to position it better, give it a lot of time. The main reason: We really wanted to polish the game up, make it everything Obsidian planned it to be, and give the consumer a very polished game.
"We added a couple of other things. Tweaks in lighting here and there, added the inventory comparison screen so you can compare what you're buying to what you have equipped. Just bringing the whole quality level up."
Despite the October delay debacle, it's probably best to push this one off until they're truly happy with it.
This weekend on Steam you can purchase Crytek's shooter, Far Cry ($4.99), and Ubisoft Montreal's sequel, Far Cry 2: Fortune's Edition ($9.99), at 50% off. Or you can get them both in the Far Cry Complete pack for $14.98. Far Cry 2:
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You are a gun for hire, trapped in a war-torn African state, stricken with malaria and forced to make deals with corrupt warlords on both sides of the conflict in order to make this country your home.
You must identify and exploit your enemies' weaknesses, neutralizing their superior numbers and firepower with surprise, subversion, cunning and of course brute force.
I sat in on a call this evening with 5 Developers of Bioshock 2 and I collected a decent size list of information about the game. While on the call we discussed everything from plasmids, story, environment to multiplayer, development time and even character models. While the call was very informative it was also full of a lot of information already presented on Wikipedia but served its purpose in introducing us to Rapture and its inhabitants.
I didn't get an audio recording of the show because of technical difficulties so you'll have to live with my notes!
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Spokespeople:
Moderator: Chase, Access Communications
Jordan Thomas – Creative Director, 2K Marin
Zak McClendon – Lead Designer, 2K Marin
Hogarth De La Plante – Lead Environment Artist, 2K Marin
Mat Tremblay – MP Art Director, Digital Extremes
Jesse Attard – MP Lead Programmer, Digital Extremes
You can check out the whole list of information that I gathered by clicking the headline.
There's some ominous loading screen text that some of you may or may not have seen through Mass Effect 2 that reads something along the lines of "Import your Mass Effect 2 Save into Mass Effect 3... if you survive," and it appears as though that's the straight dope. Mild spoilers are here, but they've been talked about a ton about this, so it's nothing you probably don't know.
Casey Hudson from BioWare recently went on record to let everyone know that, if some reason you don't survive the story of Mass Effect 2, your save game straight up won't work in ME3. GameInformer:
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"Dead is dead. Mass Effect 3, as with the rest of the trilogy, is Shepard’s story. If you have a dead Shepard at the end of Mass Effect 2, that saved game won’t import into Mass Effect 3. You can play Mass Effect 3 if you died in Mass Effect 2 of course, but you’ll have to create a new Shepard. Harsh? Yes. But we wouldn’t be serious about the concept of a suicide mission if you couldn’t die and your death didn’t have serious consequences."
IGN gets out another early review giving Bioshock 2 a 9.1 / 10.
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It's going to be a familiar experience for anyone that played the original, but BioShock 2's improvements to gameplay and its more focused storyline make for a game that's more playable and easier to digest. Some of the sense of awe and mystery is lost in transition, but the strength of the setting and more interesting implementation of moral choice make for an experience that's more consistent and rewarding. Anyone looking for a first-person shooter that offers more than flat, stereotypical characters and copy-and-paste supersoldier plots, one that attempts to establish a sense of right and wrong and loops you into the decision making process, and one that's set in one of the most vividly realized settings around should pick up BioShock 2. It's a game in which story, setting, and gameplay are expertly blended to create an experience that's as thought-provoking as it is entertaining.
We're just chalk full of awesome today; check out the latest trailer from Just Cause 2 entitled "Freedom & Chaos."
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Friday 5th February/...With over 400 square miles of some of the most incredible gameplay locations ever seen, Just Cause 2 gives you the freedom to take on the world in more ways than you can possibly imagine. Freedom to decide where to go: snow-topped mountain ski resorts, sun-kissed tropical beaches, beached oil tankers in the middle of a desert, floating brothels or lost Japanese WWII soldiers on ‘skull’ island.
Zeno Clash was released to quite a bit of fanfare early last year for the PC and now the ACE Team developed title is coming to Xbox Live Arcade next month. Today we have a trailer from that release showing off some of the new attacks that you'll be able to pull off.
We're really close to the launch of Dante's Inferno now so today, Electronic Arts brings another trailer titled "Descent" to keep the hype train rollin'. You won't see this during THE BIG GAME.
Despite being available in a finished stated for only a week, Eurogamer has decided they've played enough to review it, giving it a 6 out of 10.
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There is some insultingly basic mission content that's a variation of Exploration on the Federation side, and Klingons can fight each other and the Feds on a variety of undistinguished space and ground maps, but that's it. Players are miserable, and Klingon chat channels are among the most dispiriting places to hang out on the internet right now. This faction will need to get some serious love if it's to foster a community healthy enough to provide the happy hordes of Starfleet with proper competition.
Despite all of these complaints, those hordes of starship captains are quite happy. They may not have many different things to do, and the missions and UI may be rather buggy, but there does seem to be enough content to sustain them - at least until the endgame - and even at its worst that content is knockabout fun with more instant appeal, and more suitability for casual, short-session, low-commitment play than most MMOs.
And more spaceships too - Star Trek Online is in a field of one in terms of its theme, its only real rival being the intimidatingly complex and political EVE Online, right at the other end of the accessibility scale. It's a unique offering then, in many ways a loveable one, and for Star Trek fans if not MMO gamers it's a great social experience. It makes its licence a blessing, not a burden, but it's a blessing this rickety voyage into the unknown badly needs.
I don't know about you, but I kind of feel that you can't really review an MMO until about a month after release... unless of course they really did see everything in a week, which doesn't bode well for STO.
For those of you who do not buy games on their release date and are still trying to see where your money should go, here is a collection of some of the more popular releases for the past weeks in the order of their overall scores. The scores and quotes are provided by Metacritic.
Sorry for the lengthy post, but there was a lot that came out this month worth mentioning.
Mass Effect 2 is the perfect fusion of the shooter and RPG genres. When you're not playing it, you wish you were. When you are playing it, you can't imagine doing anything else. Engrossing, captivating, stunning. Roll on DLC, and Mass Effect 3.
It's the way that Mass Effect 2 expands upon the narrative established in the first game that marks a true breakthrough for interactive storytelling.
Storytelling, atmosphere, playability, graphics, music, characters, everything in Mass Effect 2 screams the word KOLOSSAL out loud! This game, and this saga, deserve to sit right next to Sci-Fi classics such as Star Wars and Star Trek. Masterpiece.
It’s an almost flawless exhibition of gaming greatness, which can effortlessly make even the most ham-fisted of gamers feel like they’ve got elite skills. Bayonetta is already an early contender for GOTY for 2010.
Bayonetta is a refreshing and somewhat surprising addition to an already extensive catalogue of action games. A must-buy for any anime gaming fan, and an excellent representation of the genre.
Should I judge it for the hours of fun I had and its frequent brilliance, ignoring the commensurate hours I sat through some of the most self-indulgent pseudo-intellectual mumbling masquerading as a cutscene since Metal Gear Solid 4 (and the fact that the game drags on approximately five hours longer than it should?)
Though it may be a little short, No More Heroes 2 is, undoubtedly, one of the best titles on the Wii to date. Turn down the lights, jack up the sound, grab a box of tissues, and let No More Heroes 2 make sweet, sweet love to you.
This isn't a game that begs you play it. It's a game that knocks on your front door, waits for you to answer in a towel and your favorite pair of slippers, rips your head off, and shoves itself down your throat.
The game never gets too heavy though; the simple-but-fun beat-em-up combat and ridiculous boss scenarios rise above any minor remaining issues with No More Heroes 2...Finally, Suda51 delivers a game that almost anyone can appreciate.
Aside from these small issues, though, Tatsunoko’s one of the best you’re going to find as far as current fighting games go, and is without question the best available for the Wii.
There’s a lot to experience here as the total package was intelligently crafted. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars is a glimpse at what the future holds for Capcom and utilizing the Nintendo Wii platform.
Unlocking all the characters requires beating the single-player arcade mode no less than 16 times, a mind-numbing chore that borders on Super Smash Bros. levels of grind-ness.
Darksiders is a great way to start the New Year, it offers high quality action and brain teasing puzzles topped off by wonderful presentation. Don't miss this game.
At its best, Darksiders plays like an interactive compilation of this console generation's most interesting game mechanics. At its worst, it's like sitting through a mediocre cover band as they fumble their way through your favorite tunes.
Darksiders has an engaging story, beautiful visuals and plenty of badass characters, but THQ/Vigil Games' reliance on tired concepts prevent it from being a must buy.
MAG is unlike anything else on PS3. In fact, it's unlike anything else on any console system.
The constant frame rate and the shear number of players shooting at the same time on its vast maps don’t seem enough to compensate for the scarce level of graphics, textures, sound effects and game modes MAG has to offer. Disappointment.
If anything, the game is a tech demo of sorts for what is possible in online gameplay. It delivers a fun experience and whether or not that's worth the price of admission now or until the game drops to $40 or $30 is up to how dedicated the person is.
Bigger, better and meaner, Army of Two: The 40th Day represents an overall improvement from its previous installment. It’s a spectacular urban guerrilla simulation, with good textures, complex scenarios, solid framerate, and… a lot of humour!
Many of the issues with the original title have been addressed, but the brevity and lack of replayability make this co-op third person shooter a strictly-for-hire title.
Although it was mostly a bore, the combat was ‘stupid’ enough for two players to take pleasure from watching the train-wreck.
It's certainly flawed, especially when it's trying to be a third-person shooter, but it also has lots of great ideas. It will surprise you sometimes, but mostly it'll leave you feeling like it could have been so much more.
Dark Void sounds a lot like a missed opportunity. Flying sections are good, but samey, and ground ones are nice, but could have been much better and Dark Void is over a little too soon, too.
Even though some stages (like the penultimate aerial battle) felt like they lasted forever and ever, Dark Void is a pretty short game with an anticlimactic ending that does little more than set up a sequel.
ModNation Racers is a game where you can create your own karts, drivers and tracks on the PlayStation 3. It hasn't been released yet, but today Sony has announced that it will also be coming to the PSP, day and date with its big brother. There's a trailer of this version over on the PlayStation Blog if you're interested.
I hope they improve the game greatly, it kind of sucked in the beta.
What a better way to round out your Friday morning than to look at a whole bunch of Street Fighter screen shots? Well Kotaku has a handful of them featuring Sakura and Rose, you can check them out here.
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Ka-pow! Joining the SSFIV fray are schoolgirl Sakura and fortune teller Rose. Fists out, cause these characters are rarin' to fight.
Both Sakura and Rose appeared in the console version of Street Fighter IV.
Bayonetta's voluptuous body and ass kicking attitude has aided in selling 1.1 million copies of the game. This makes it Sega's second most popular title next to Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games.
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he Platinum actioner was beaten out by Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games.Here’s the top five:
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii, DS) – 5,670,000 units
Bayonetta (PS3, 360) – 1,100,000 units
Football Manager 2010 (PSP, PC) – 740,000 units
Phantasy Star Portable 2 (PSP) – 540,000 units
While the demo doesn't hit the PSN for another week for everyone, looks like there's an alternate reality game that you can play and gain early access. Kotaku has a simple walkthrough to Precinct 52 which will grant you early access to the demo.
I'm trying to avoid the demo and other pre-launch media, but I fear that curiosity will better me.
Major Nelson just broke the news that as of April 15, 2010, Xbox original games will no longer be supported on Xbox Live. Amongst other things, this means there will be no more Halo 2 Live play, which in turn means, Microsoft will no longer be shackled with the various limits that that game has imposed. From Xbox LIVE general manager Marc Whitten:
Quote:
...as we look down the road, we’ll continue to evolve the service with features and experiences that harness the full power of Xbox 360. To reach our aspiration, we need to make changes to the service that are incompatible with our original Xbox v1 games.
Now that the sky is the limit, what features do you want?
Gamesradar got their hands-on Brink and wrote about it here. Dedicated servers confirmed! (for PC, not confirmed yet for consoles)
Spies are in!
Quote:
“The Operative class has an ability they can earn to uncover enemy Operatives who are in disguise as well,” explains Ham, “so if you’re on a server where another player disguises themselves as somebody on your team, you get a mission to go and track him down.
Mutual buffing is encouraged!
Quote:
“One of the cool things about playing online,” claims Stern, “is the cooperation. So the very first time you play, and somebody buffs your health, you’ll get a message telling you that you can buff him back, and immediately your team is better off as a result of that. It was a facepalm moment when we wondered why we hadn’t thought of doing this earlier, but we’ve designed it so it costs two pips to buff yourself and one to buff a teammate. Straight away that makes it worth seeking out a teammate and doing that to one another.”
Oh, and if you look closely at the image above, you will notice that it shows buffed individuals who are not just long, but wide as well! There are were some great new screenshots over there but it seems they've been taken down.
Dragon Age: Origins is a great game, but lets face it... there's certain aspects that are a bit strange. Yes, I'm talking about the sex scenes. Take for example our lovely Mage Morrigan. Her standard outfit is more revealing than what she's wearing during certain close encounters, and I'm pretty sure no one wore underpants till like 1950. Additionally, only certain in game characters are romance-able. So, what's a person to do? Leave it alone? Of course not.
Over on Social.Bioware.com are a few mods available to help remedy this situation. The are currently the two most popular projects and you'll need an account to check them out.
First we have Natural Bodies which is your obligatory 'nude mod,' removing the underpants from all the models in the game. Next, we've got the Sultry Female Romance (Girl on Girl) mod which, you guess it, lets you have lots of lesbian encounters.
There are other mods available too, so I'll leave it to you to... experiment... with what works best for your experience.
