Daily News - 10th December 2011 - DC Comics, Peggle, Dead Rising 3 Rumour and Xbox Live Indie Games

DC Comics Games Won't Be Movie Tie-Ins

Movie tie-ins are almost universally terrible, so it's a relief to hear the people behind DC Comics games say that they won't be making any movie tie-ins for a good while. Arkham Asylum didn't line up with a major Batman movie release, and neither did Arkham City, and both were fantastic, so they're definitely onto something. Warner Brother's Martin Carrier said this:

"Forget the movies. We're not satisfied anymore with sub-par superhero games, now, it's like they should be better than all the other games. It's not about hitting the movie date or some arbitrary date, it was giving the game the time it needs to be successful and really just concentrating on the quality of it."

Now if only everybody else everywhere had the same attitude!

As if Batman didn't have enough to be smug about!

Popcap Are Rebooting Peggle

Peggle is awesome. It's simple, fun and entertaining, but still has enough complexity to keep you interested. I have mixed feelings then about the fact that Popcap have released a hiring call, asking for a new Art Director to oversee a "stylistic reboot" for the franchise. The gameplay isn't mentioned in the call which means, hopefully, it should stay largely the same to play, but I really liked the game's style so I can't help but feel iffy about it.

Good old Peggle, here's hoping you don't change too much!

Crazy Dead Rising 3 Rumour Surfaces

The Dead Rising games are renowned for their craziness, and apparently, none moreso than Dead Rising 3 will be. Granted, this is a rumour Capcom have openly shot down, but it's fun anyway. Apparently, Dead Rising 3 will occur in a town in California where a zombie outbreak has occurred, an event the world had thought it had seen the back of. A bomb is going to get dropped on the town to wipe the virus out for good, but before it does, "Rick" hopes to rebuild a plane and fly it out of there. The game will supposedly have undercurrents of illegal immigration, which I can believe. Despite Capcom saying this is definitely just a rumour, it's probably the most believable rumour I've heard in a long time.

Ignore the Spanish, focus on the zombie dismemberment

Xbox Live Indie Games Developers Unhappy With The New Dashboard

The new Xbox Live Dashboard update happened earlier this week and I think it's pretty good, it adds a lot of new features and looks pretty swish, but it hasn't occurred to me yet to look for the Indie Games section. Supposedly, it's not easy to find, according to Robert Boyd of Zeboyd Games:

"I actually had to ask around as to where XBLIG was located because I couldn't find it when I was looking. If I had trouble finding Xbox Live Indie Games when I was actually looking for it, I can only imagine that few people are going to stumble upon it accidentally."

I'll admit I haven't delved into Indie Games too hard in the past, but I can sympathise with these Indie Developers. Imagine taking your time creating something only for barely anybody to ever see it... Oh wait, I do know what that's like! Perspective!

So many new features... but so much harder for Indie devs

Daily News - 8th December 2011 - Ninja Gaiden 3 Release, 'The Amazing Spiderman' Trailer and What The 3DS Firmware Added

Ninja Gaiden 3 Dropping in March 2012

I never played Ninja Gaiden... or Ninja Gaiden 2, so I'm not really too bothered about giving the third installment of the mega-hard series a try. The game is coming to all the usual suspects (PS3, Xbox) but Team Ninja have said, rather interestingly, that a Wii-U Version will follow later. My lack of interest doesn't come from the series' difficulty, I mean, I've completed Super Meat Boy and Earth Defence Force 2017 for god's sake, it's that the series attempts to take itself seriously, with characters being angsty and caring about things. I think we've outgrown taking games like this seriously, now I'd much rather play a Bayonetta or an Asura's Wrath, something more ridiculous that adds crazy finishing moves and insane magic powers. There's definitely a market for the game... I'm just not it. Umm, to conclude: Ninja Gaiden 3 - Xbox 360, PS3 - March 2012.

Oh, bytheway, not for kiddies!

Amazing Spiderman Game Teases VGA Reveal

We're overdue a good Spiderman game. Spiderman 2 for the previous generation of consoles was genuinely awesome, but since then it's been slim pickings on the Spidey front as far as desirable experiences go. That's all set to change with The amazing Spiderman, which depsite not showing much, has me pretty excited. The game looks to combine the open-world of Spiderman 2, with the same freedom of movement of Spiderman 2 but throws in proper massive bosses. Another reason to be pumped for the VGAs in 2 days!

3DS Firmware Update Adds Video Capture And Achievements?

Yesterday an update to the 3DS' firmware was released, adding the DLC support to Nintendo's E-Shop, 3D video capture and something called "Accomplishments". Now, while there's no value allocation tied to an individual Accomplishment, it's a very Achievement-esque system, basically you'll earn an Accomplishment by performing an action like, for example, having a certain number of Streetpasses. So far Accomplishments are only tied to Street Passing but it's not a massive stretch to imagine a future where slicing Ganondorf's head off will net you a cool, shiny Accomplishment to show off to your friends. I've had a play around with the 3D video capture stuff aswell and, despite making me crosseyed, worked as advertised. A glowing endorsement, I'm sure you'll agree.

Photo affectionately borrowed from Giantbomb

Daily News - 6th December 2011 - Epic Games Tease and The New Xbox Live Experience

Epic Games To Unveil Brand New Game At the VGAs

The Video Game Awards are starting to become kind of a big deal (kind of by default but whatever, let's not split hairs) and as such we're gonna see a fair few new, shiny things at the event on December 10th. One such thing we shall be seeing will be whatever the guys at Epic Games are up to next. They've had a busy year, what with Infinity Blade 2, Bulletstorm and Gears Of War 3 all coming out, but Cliff Blezinski ("The Cliffster", "Brozinski", "Clifton McBrewster".... I just made all those up) says this announcement will be about an absolutely brand new game. Look at the attractive little bugger below.

Epic Games Tease
Get More: Epic Games Tease

The New Xbox Live Experience Hits Tomorrow!

Us Xbox 360 owners have a fair bit to look forward to tomorrow, as the new dashboard hits, and with it comes a shitload of awesome shit! Amongst the new things we'll be getting are Cloud Saves, Cloud Profiles, the ability to post Achievements to Facebook (DUDE!) and better Kinect integration for all you lazy folk out there! Have a gander down there for a little bit more info then enjoy the new toys to play with tomorrow!

Take a gander here to see the webpage for yourself

Trailer Round-Up - Week Of 28th November 2011 - Serious Sam 3: BFE, Battlefield 3, Fez and Resident Evil: Revelations

Trailer Of The Week goes to Serious Sam 3: BFE. It's hard for me to explain it, you'll just have to see it for yourself, I guess.

Serious Sam 3: BFE - "The Hard Sell"

The game scores alot of points with me for things like this.

Gunpoint - Rewire Your way To Success

Am I the only one that thinks this looks awesome?!?

Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Jedi Consular

Not sure what I make of Old Republic, but a Star Wars trailer is a Star Wars trailer.

Battlefield 3 - Gulf Of Oman Map Debut

Kill dudes from the front of a bulldozer? That'll do me!

Gotham City Impostors - Citizens Take Up Crime

Early nominee for weirdest game of 2012 is based on a pretty awesome concept

World Of Warcraft - Dragons Blacken The Sky

Welcome back... to World Of Skyrim! ...I mean, Warcraft!

Fez - Another Moving Screenshot

Fez may have been delayed, but I haven't forgotten about it!

House: Episode 5 - House Versus Horse

This... Umm, I'm unsure...

Resident Evil: Revelations - 3D Zombies On The Loose

I'm shocked how much like a proper Resident Evil game this looks. Impressed, even!

Daily News - 2nd December 2011 - Skyrim Mods, NeverDead Release Date and Half-Life 3?!?

Skyrim To Get Steam Workshop Support For User-Submitted Mods

The Steam version of Skyrim is the lucky version for 2 reasons: First of all, because Steam's much less picky about their certification process so the PC version of the game (whether you bought it on disc or digitally) gets updates for the game as soon as they're ready (which comes in handy when dragons start flying backwards), and also, now, it's been confirmed that the game will be getting Steam Workshop support. The "Creation Kit" will allow users to create mods, and the integration with Steam Workshop will allow users to rate, browse and install mods quickly and easily. I've been more than happy with the Xbox version of the game, but this makes me really yearn for a PC version of the game!

The Dragonborn fight ghosts, whilst Bethesda fight the ghosts... In the machine! Yes! That's wordplay right there!

NeverDead Will Be With Us January 31st

I dunno how many of you are familiar with NeverDead but I'm looking forward to it like a biatch. The game focuses around a guy killing demons in the 3rd person style... Oh, and he can't die. Dude can rip his own head off and throw it at enemies. Needless to say, it looks awesome, and it turns out it'll be out fairly soon. Those not acquainted with the game will want to watch the video below... and prepare to want to buy it.

Half-Life 3 Shirt Spotted On Valve Employee At Local Game Developer's Event

Here's the Tweet. Have a great weekend!

Daily News - 1st December 2011 - More Deus Ex, Skyrim Patch Fail and Battlefield 3 Sales

More Deus Ex Promised By Square Enix

This year's Deus Ex: Human Revolution was pretty good, it did alot of things right and managed to create a new world that was believable and interesting... So it's a good thing we'll be seeing more of it! Square Enix promise more entries into the franchise, even citing it as one of their "Core Intellectual Properties". Also on that list are Tomb Raider, Dragon Quest, Hitman, Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy, so I would say the odds of Deus Ex taking precident over those titles is pretty good.

It may not be Adam Jensen, but you can almst guarantee more impaling dudes from behind.... that came out wrong

Skyrim Patch 1.2 Kind Of Fixes Things, Definitely Breaks Others

If you played Skyrim yesterday you will have noticed the game finally got it's glitch-fixing patch, to sort out the texture and lag problems that have plagued the game since launch. Well, while they may have fixed the existing problems, a few more have come to light. Most notably some dragons flying backwards, and anything that had any kind of magic resistance now doesn't (for example, a Flame Atronach isn't immune to fire anymore). Needless to say, that's a problem, and one that Bethesda will try to fix quickly, but until then we'll just have to put up with things like this:

Battlefield 3 Sells 8 Million

It's been a fairly good month for Battlefield 3, the game's done well critically and now has 8 million players worldwide, on account of it selling 8 million copies. Sounds like a lot, but Modern Warfare 3 sold 6.5 million units within just the first 24 hours, so I guess when you look at it like that it's not as impressive, although nobody can really compete with COD, so it's still a victory for Battlefield 3... Just not a victory over Modern Warfare.

Not quite MW3 figures, but then, no game's figures are.

Daily News - 30th November 2011 - Mass Effect 3 and Resident Evil 6

Abandoned Mass Effect 2 Level To Appear In 3rd Installment

Mass Effect 3 is out soon.... well, not soon, but within the next year so I'm extremely excited, as such, you guys will be subjected to any and all news on the game as I slowly get more and more pumped. One such news story follows! So it turns out, that despite the massive size of Mass Effect 2, not everything the producers wanted could make it into the game. Apparently, a mission on the Citadel was chopped out of the game, but will be rejiggered to become part of Mass Effect 3's story. Mass Effect's Lead Writer had the following to say to OXM:

"That's the nice thing about trilogies, sometimes you get a second chance. There was a Mass Effect 2 plot that was a kind of callback to the first Mass Effect that was going to be on the Citadel, and we cut it, but now it's made a resurrection in Mass Effect 3, so I'm happy, but I can't say what it is."

The story also shed some light on the difficulties Bioware have imposed upon themselves with the nature of their storytelling:

"Sometimes they're hurdles that we've given ourselves, so we kind of smack ourselves in the head and say 'What the hell were we thinking? Why did we do that?' The classic example is, 'Hey, let's make the ending of Mass Effect 2 a suicide mission where all your henchmen can possibly die, and Shepard can even die!' Oh right... and then we're gonna do another game after that. What the hell are we gonna do with all those guys?"

Mass Effect 3 is gonna be sick, and I can't wait!

It. Is. So. Gonna. Be. ON!!!

Resident Evil 6 Is A Thing That's Happening?

Rumours in the game industry are nothing new, nor are games getting revealed through inadvertent means. The interesting thing about the latter is that those almost always turn out to be true. One of these popped up yesterday when Resident Evil 6 popped up on a voice actors' voice credits. The voice actor was Joe Cappelletti, whose previous VO rolls include Black Ops, Saint's Row and Command And Conquer. Obviously the Resident Evil 6 reference on his website has gone now but the fact remains... it was there. Roll on E3 and the inevitable announcement!

I really like Resident Evil 5... Guess why.

Trailer Round-Up - Week Of 21st November 2011 - Serious Sam 3: BFE, Spec Ops: The Line and Final Fantasy XIII-2

Trailer Of The Week is Serious Sam 3: BFE. The game looks mental, and genuinely fun a way Duke Nukem: Forever could only have dreamt of.

Serious Sam 3: BFE - It's Kicking Off In Egypt

Who doesn't want to fire cannon balls at headless, screaming kamikaze bombers?

Battlefield Heroes - Capture The Flag

Considering this game is free, you can't really complain.

Spec Ops: The Line - Themes And Choices

I really like this trailer, it sets a really cool tone and sticks in your mind.

Mario Kart 7 - Ways To Play

I still think this game looks utterly pointless, but here's a trailer

Fortune Street - "What The Hell Is Fortune Street?!?" Trailer

Marionopoly?...

Final Fantasy XIII-2 - Battle Of Valhalla

It's kicking off!

Daily News - 24th November 2011 - Retarded Splinter Cell Trilogy Patch, 3DS "Join Game" and The Unlimited Detail Engine

Splinter Cell Trilogy Gets Important Patch - Inverted Aiming

In what has to be the stupidest thing I've heard for a while, the much "meh"ed by the world Splinter Cell Trilogy (a collection for then PS3 which contains Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell Pandora, and Splinter Cell Chaos Theory) has been patched, and players' prayers have been aswered, as FINALLY, the game received the option to invert your controls!!! You can see why this would be worthy of the top spot of today's news, this is the kind of story that comes along once in a lifetime... truly, this is the future.

NOW YOU CAN PUSH THE STICK UP AND THE RETICLE WILL GO DOWN! MADNESS!

3DS Firmware Adds "Join Game" Function

Last week, alongside the release of Super Mario 3D Land, Nintendo released a firmware update that adds the ability to join a friend's online game in progress. The first game that will use it will be Mario Kart 7 and it works. Considering this feature is coming to a Nintendo console, this is pretty exciting, and despite being a tiptoe in the right direction, definitely bodes well for the company's online future.

Euclideon's "Unlimited Detail" Engine Explored

The "Unlimited Detail" engine is something that has been around for a while now. The first video showing off the system (which I'll embed below) had alot of people shouting "scam" at the time, and even some well-respected game designers weren't believers, but according to GameInformer (who got an exclusive look at the demo) the hype is to be believed. If you watch the video and are fascinated, then go look at GameInformer's article, seems like pretty exciting stuff for the years ahead!

And Finally...

Steam Autumn Sale 23rd - 27th November

Crazy savings to be had in Steam's Autumn Sale! Steam sales are the best part of the year, especially if you've missed such amazing games as Portal 2, Mass Effect 2 or ...Duke Nukem: Forever? Okay, well, they'll change every day, so get your bargains all this weekend! Woop! I know I will!

Dude, play Portal 2 right now. Do it motherfucker!

Daily News - 22nd November 2011 - Skyrim Patch, COD Elite and Counter Strike: GO Closed Beta

Two Weeks Until Skyrim Gets Patched

Skyrim is awesome, though since it's launch a few technical hitches have come to light which are a shame, but to be unexpected in a game as massive as this. On the Xbox, if the game is installed onto the system the high res textures for the game won't load (something to do with caching and how it's not optimized to work with an installed title), and on the PS3, the game can become incredibly laggy and save files grow to massive size due to the amount the game is attempting to keep track of. Both bugs are platform exclusive, but fixes are in the works for both of them, aswell as to fix minor problems within the game. The patch should be with us in around 2 weeks.

I can't see that shield being of much use...

Call Of Duty Elite Due To Be Ready December 1st

Call Of Duty Elite, the pay-for program that will make you better at Modern Warfare 3, hasn't... well... worked, yet. Activision have given all it's members a free month, which admittedly will almost be up by December 1st, but the service should be up and running by then, atleast according to Activision Vice President of Production, Daniel Suarez.

"It was our fault that the service wasn't up and running the day [fans] put in their token or the day they bought it. They kind of have to bear with us while we bring this all back up, but for us it's literally 'Give us those couple weeks, we're giving those to you for free and come December 1 the goal is that we'll have everything up and running. As we're doing competitions and more things specific to stats and generating those stats and creating leaderboards for people, we don't want to create a situation where the service itself becomes invalidated by people having crazy stats because they've been able to do something to the game."

So there you have it. Lucky Call Of Duty fans!

That's basically my tactic aswell: Use explosives and hope for the best... Maybe I need to use COD Elite!

Counter Strike: GO Kicks It's Beta Off Next Week

Counter Strike is a pretty big deal, I think. There are still a tonne of people playing both the original and Counter Strike: Source daily, all of which are, I'm sure, massively pumped for GO. Well the good news for you is that you could potentially be playing the game in just 8 days time, on November 30th. The Beta will be closed at first, and feature 2 maps: Dust and Dust2 (imaginitively named), eventually becoming an open later.

who will shoot first? You! If you get into the closed Beta!