Daily News - 29th October 2011 - Vita, 3DS and Sexy Bargains

Fresh Vita News - Sony Predictions and Early Vitas

A bit of new PS Vita news today, well, 2 new bits of news-ish. First off, Sony seem to have tremendous faith in their next product (not a surprise), so much so that they've come out publicly and that according to their data, 63% of PS3 owners say they will buy a Vita. Not bad, but not exactly guaranteed numbers, even though I admit it looks good enough to perform close to, if not above that. Next bit of news is for those of you who can't wait for a Vita. Turns out, if you're that desperate for a Vita, Sony wioll totally let you get one a week earlier! For a price... For an extra £50 you can get your Vita a week early! You'll also get a case for your Vita and 4GB memory card. Seems fine, if you're into that sort of thing.

"What's that? You get yours in a month?... CHUMP!"

Nintendo 3DS eShop Is Getting A Much Needed Upgrade!

If you have a 3DS you may have noticed that the online shop is a little... lacking. Nintendo, aren't stupid though, they know that the standard for online content has already been set numerous times and that they need to catch up, which is why soon they're going to be adding DLC, Demos and a Web Store, aswell as the ability to download things from the eShop while your 3DS is in sleep mode. All this sounds great, certainly will be a couple of welcome additions, but no word yet on when the improvements will appear.

"...and demos, DLC, web store... to be added later"

And finally...

Bargains! Bargains! Bargains!

Indie Royale is a brand new website that's launched, taking inspiration from the Humble Indie Bundle but taking things a step further. The site will feature a different combination of indie games every 2 weeks, with a pay-what-you-want structure, with the minimum price determined by the average of all the other amounts people have sold. It's a good idea, and the first bundle contains Sanctum, a combination FPS/Tower Defence game that's pretty cool. I'd recommend it, especially for £2!

Indie Royale

And the other big deal this weekend is Steam's Halloween sale. There are a tonne of games in the sale, but my personal highlights are the Borderlands Game Of The Year Edition, the Left 4 Dead Bundle, and both Bioshocks for cheap as chips! Have a look!!!

Steam Halloween Sale

 Bioshock + Bioshock 2 - £3.49 each

 Borderlands Game Of The Year Edition - £4.99

 Left 4 Dead 1 + 2 Bundle - £7.81

Daily News - 27th October 2011 - GTA 5 and Battlefield 3 Fuck-ups

Grand Theft Auto 5 Is A Thing That's Happening!

Rockstar have announced what we all knew would be announced eventually, and said that they are making a Grand Theft Auto 5. Now normally an announcement isn't anything too special, but they also said that on November 2nd they'll reveal the first trailer for the game! I'm curious to see how they address the complaints they got for GTA IV, with that game being "too" realistic, although my suspition is that it will be just as story driven as GTA IV, with basically no changes to the formula at all... But that still will be a game I want to play.

Dunno quite how I feel about that logo

Battlefield 3 Playing PS3 Owners Just Got Screwed Over

Cast your mind back to E3, Sony's Jack Tretton is on stage and mentions that the PS3 version of Battlefield 3 will come with a free copy of Battlefield 1943. Fastforward to the Battlefield 3 launch and PS3 owners are kind of miffed to find absolutely NO copy of 1943 on their disc. Turns out, EA just decided not to put the game on the disc and not tell anyone. There have been plenty of chances since E3 to tell us this, literally months where any of the days in those months would have been a great time to tell us, but no. There a small consolation, in that PS3 owners will get Battlefield 3 DLC first, but really that's not going to make anyone happy in light of this. Poor show EA, poor show...

I'm still looking forward to the game, even despite EA handling shit so poorly

Daily News - 25th October 2011 - Diablo 3 and Battlefield 3

Collector's Edition Of Diablo 3 Detailed, Looks Suitably Ridiculous

Diablo 3 is what some might call a fairly anticipated game, so I would imagine pre-orders for it are pretty popular for it, BUT, maybe hold off on your regular pre-order Diablo fans, unless you WANT to miss out on a Diablo skull Soulstone USB drive holder! The collector's edition will come with the afformentioned memory stick and holder (comes ready loaded up with Diablo 2 bytheway), a behind-the-scenes dvd and blu-ray, a book of Diablo 3 art, the collector's edition soundtrack and some exclusive in-game goodies. I've still got to try the beta (so many games coming out though!) but I've seen enough collector's editions in my time to know that this is one of them. The making-of, the art booklet, the soundtrack... all classics, although a Blizzard making-of, art booklet and soundtrack are pretty much guaranteed to be better than most.

It'll probably cost a pretty penny, but remember, it does come with diablo 3...

DO NOT Play Battlefield 3 If You Can't Install The High Res Texture Pack!

Last week Battlefield 3's producer equated the game without the high res textures to a "standard definition" game. He was being generous. A Youtube video has popped up today that isn't pretty. It shows footage of the game with the textures and without them side-by-side. Notice the lack of any kind of detail and horrific blurriness of the game without the high res textures and then weep if you don't have a hard drive without 9 gigs of spare room.

Trailer Round-Up - Week of 17th October 2011 - Starcraft 2, WoW and A Few Big Launch Trailers

Trailer Of The Week belongs to Starcraft 2: Heart Of the Swarm. For fellow Starcraft players out there, this will probably be fairly arousing, and for those that aren't, well, just scroll down a bit, there are plenty more trailers for you to take a gander at.

Starcraft 2: Heart Of the Swarm - Blizzcon 2011 Trailer

Looks like the Zerg are doing pretty well in this lil' old war of theirs...

Happy Action Theatre - Fun With The Family On Kinect

Maybe it's Double Fine's influence but this actually looks damn fun!

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link DLC Trailer

The game was good, this looks interesting. They continue to do a good job with the game, good for them.

The Hidden - Fighting Ghosts In Altered Reailty

This looks outright terrible... So ofcourse I have to post the trailer

World Of Warcraft: Mists Of Pandaria - Blizzcon 2011 Reveal Trailer

Plenty more reason for WoW players to stay glued to their screens

Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken - Out Now!

the game looks pretty good to me, PSN exclusive though

Modern Warfare 3 - Check Out Their Packages

Love a good package? Then sit back and enjoy!

Uncharted 3 - Launch Trailer

It's not launched yet, but here's it's launch trailer anyway

Battlefield 3 - Launch Trailer

Another pre-emptive launch trailer. Goodies!

Daily News - 21st October 2011 - Ezio, Doom 4, Gears 3 DLC and More!

Ezio Will Be Playable In Soul Calibur 5

Last week there was a rumour circulating the internet that Ezio would be in Soul Calibur 5 following a photo that appeared on the internet. Opinion was divided on whether it was a photoshop or not, so I didn't post about it (to be honest, if I posted about every rumour I saw, I'd have to rename the site Rumour Banter) but now it looks like the believers side was the one to be on, as a trailer came out today showing Ezio threatening to puch Nightmare in the face. Everything about the trailer is pretty cool... except for, ironically, the fighting...

Doom 4 Put On The Backburner After Disappointing Rage Sales

id Software, makers of the classic Doom series had a game out a week or so ago, you probably saw quite a few adverts about it even! Well, you saw the adverts but you didn't buy the game, as Zenimax and Bethesda (id's parent companies) aren't happy. Citing iffy reviews and poor sales they seem to have lost faith in the company, forcing them to postpone Doom 4 "indefinitely". I haven't played Rage yet (and with the raft of games sailing our way in the next few weeks it'll be a while) but I fully intend to give it a pity play at some point, even though it doesn't look like my kind of game at all. Ah well, Doom fans will be sad, but atleast you're got a million other games to play before the year ends. It's the gaming equivilent of comfort eating.

Well Rage, when you're £5 maybe you'll see a huge sales increase. Maybe.

Nintendo 3DS' Next Update Will Add 3D Video Capture

While I admit that this is actually going to a cool feature, and Nintendo say we'll be able to record videos of upto 10 minutes and upload the videos to Youtube, I can't help but fear for the elicit recorded shenanigans this feature's gonna bring about. Shudder in your beds parents, 13 year-old Bobby probably aint gonna be using that thing to film Pokemon cards...

Remember when video games we're innocent?

Gears Of War 3's First DLC Detailed

Titled Raam's Shadow and taking place after Emergence Day, the DLC serves as sort of a prequel to the series, which sounds fucking awesome to me! You'll play as both Raam and Zeta squad, made up of  Lt. Minh Young Kim (Delta squad's leader from the first game), Tai Kaliso (from Gears 2) Michael Barrick (a character from the Gears comics) and a new character named Alicia Valera. It will cost $15 (£10-ish) and will also add new multiplayer characters, weapon skins and achievements. I really want to play this. ALOT. I dunno if you heard but I quite enjoyed Gears Of War 3.

Raam's a bit of a beast, playing as him will be fun!

And Finally...

Every Grand Theft Auto For Just £4.99!

Yeah, you read that right, £4.99 will get you GTA, GTA2, GTA3, GTAIV, GTA: Episodes From Liberty City, GTA: San andreas and GTA: Vice City. I'm not kidding. go buy it, you're not stupid, you know you want to!

Daily News - 20th October 2011 - L.A. Noire, Battlefield 3 and Assassin's Creed: The Movie

L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition Coming Next Month

Those of you who liked L.A. Noire (which I'd wager is more than a few) probably saw this coming, what with it's obvious potential for an easy "Game Of The Year Edition", but today it's become official, and it'll be in gamers' hands next month, on November 18th. The Complete Edition will contain all 5 DLC cases: "Nicholson Electroplating", "Reefer Madness", "The Consul's Car", "The Naked City" and "A Slip of the Tongue", aswell as all the game's added weapon's and outfits, plus Badge Pursuit challenges. If you haven't played the game yet this will be a good excuse to experience it for yourself. Personally, I got pretty bored of the game about half way through, but I know I'm in the minority there, and I did enjoy the game for the most part so I'd definitely recommend it if you're looking for a change from the gritty combat of Modern Warfare 3 or Battlefield 3 next month.

"BUY IT!!!!!!!"

If You Can't Install Battlefield 3 To Your Xbox, Maybe Give It A Miss?...

I mean it's up to you, obviously, but the game's producer Patrick Bach doesn't make it sound like a very enticing prospect:

"The thing with the 360 is that you need to be able to give consumers a game where you don't have to install it on a hard drive, because there are 360s without a hard drive. So we need to give you the option of installing it, rather than just demanding it. You could call it a 'standard-def' version for the 360 if you don't have a hard-drive."

Calling anything "standard-def" nowadays is akin to slapping it in the face, kinda crazy you'd say it about your own game, although to be fair if you own an Xbox and know Battlefield 3 exists, then your Xbox almost definitely has a hard drive already. This doesn't really change much as far as the game's overall quality goes, but I thought you guys without hard drives should know.

Not long to wait now, for either the HD or SD versions (same version though)

Seems Like An Assassin's Creed Movie Deal Is Close

Apparently the bidding war in Hollywood for the rights to an Assassin's Creed movie franchise os drawing to a close, with Sony Pictures looking to come out on top. Now while movies based on video games aren't usually worth getting excited about, this one may be different, as part of the deal to buy the film rights includes the clause that the film can only be made if Ubisoft get to keep a very close eye on the project. Logical to assume then, that the eventual movie won't be abolutely shit! Although maybe that's asking a little bit too much of a video game movie adaptation.

The series definitely seems like it would lend itself to movies fairly well

Daily News - 19th October 2011 - DC Comic Games, Vita Launch Date and Game Offers

Warner Bros. Have Another DC Superhero Game In The works

Whilst bragging about how well they're doing for profits this year (what with Mortal Kombat, Batman and all the LEGO titles under their belts) WB President Martin Tremblay also let slip that they have a game in the pipeline based on another undisclosed DC superhero. Given that the Batman: Arkham games have nothing to do with the films, the fact that there's a Superman movie due out next year doesn't really mean anything, frankly I wanna see a good Flash game... although basing a game on a man who can run around the world in a few seconds may be a fairly impossible task.

If a Batman game can be awesome, who knows what else we'll get treated to!

PS Vita Gets It's Non-Japanese Launch date

Finally! It's been ages since we heard any relevant Vita news, but now we know not only the launch date, but also the pricing. The system will come out on February 22nd (2012 obviously) and cost $249 for the Wi-Fi model and $299 for the model that adds 3G. Converting those into good old British pounds we're looking at about £160 and £190 respectively, although it's far more likely that they'll just switch the dollar signs for pound signs and screw us over. Ahh video games, you so expensive!

in 5 months you'll be backtouching to your hearts content!

Broken Sword And Arkham Asylum For Cheap

Those of you who love a good bargain are well catered for the next few days, with the Broken Sword trilogy and Arkham Asylum up for sale. If you've missed the Broken Sword series in the past it's an absolute classic, and well worth £2.99 per game, and with Arkham City out on Friday there's never been a better time to play the original!

 

Broken Sword Series - 50% off until Friday

Batman: Arkham Asylum: Game Of The Year Edition - 50% Off Until Thursday

Trailer Round-Up - Week of 10th October 2011 - Syndicate, Zelda: Skyward Sword and Uncharted 3

Trailer Of the 2 Weeks Ago is the Syndicate trailer. I missed it a few weeks back, (not sure how) but it definitely leaves an impression. Sweet soundtrack and cool action, good trailer.

Syndicate - Debut Trailer

Bowm! Wob wob wob wob wob, wob wob wob wob wob, bowwwwwwm!

The Darkness 2 - Powers Of The Darkness: Quad Wielding

Nothing like a little super-violence to get the blood racing

Infamous 2 - Festival Of Blood DLC

In this DLC Cole will become a vampire. Wonder if it'll be out in time for Halloween...

Trine 2 - Unlimited Mode

Puzzle solving with friends! Doesn't sound frustrating at all...

The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword - Opening Cinematic

I hope you like coffee stains telling you a story, because that's what you're getting

Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 - Phoenix Wright

I hate this game, but they sure know how to make a character look absurd

Rayman: Origins - Bubblizing

I mean, obviously you want to turn your enemies into bubbles, right?

Hitman: Absolution - Extended Gameplay Sequence

It's a good 15 minuteslong, but it's a gooooooood 15 minutes

Uncharted 3 - Drake Shoots People

I really don't understand why people enjoy Uncharted games.

Daily News - 16th October 2011 - Halo Anniversary, Ultimate MVC: 3 and Spiderman

Sorry for there not being an update the past few days guys, but it's been a slow few news days.

Halo: Anniversary Edition's Kinect Functionality Revealed

If you were expecting a holographic Cortana to appear in your living room simply by saying "Xbox, Cortana hologram!" then you're going to be disappointed, also, if you were expecting the Kinect functionality of next month's Halo: Anniversary Edition to be useful in any way then I'm afraid you're going to be similarly disappointed. The most interesting use will be that saying "Analyze" will scan items in the environemt around you and let you read about them in an in-game encyclopedia, although for the most part the Kinect will be used for pointless things like throwing grenades and reloading. The library is also exclusive to Kinect users, for reasons absolutely unknown to anybody with any common sense. Shambles.

I'm not a fan of Halo, but Anniversary will have achievements so I'll probably rent the fucker

Play As Galactus In Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3

Not a massive story this, but better than nothing. Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 is gonna have itself an extra little mode, in which you play as Galactus and simply kick the fuck out of the other characters. I can see why that'd be fun, but Marvel Vs Capcom is still shit as fuck, so let's not get too excited now.

Not an easy guy to fuck with

Open World Spiderman Game Coming Next Year

A new Spiderman game, edge Of Time, just came out a week or so ago. Ignore it. Wait for this one. At New York Comic Con it was revealed that developer Beenox (the team behind Edge Of Time) have had a team working on a different Spiderman game for the better part of a year now, and this one is open world. Due to come out alongside next year's Spiderman reboot, the footage they showed in New York was all gameplay and looked a hell of a lot more "Spiderman" than we've seen in any Spiderman game for a while now. The trailer's embedded below, though has been filmed off a seperate camera, so looks pretty shaky, still has me excited though!

Daily News - 13th October 2011 - Mass Effect 3 and Twister Pixel

Mass Effect 1's Script + Mass Effect 2's Script = Mass Effect 3's Script

All this Mass Effect 3 news is making me unbelievably happy. It's really a great lesson in building excitement for a game, just keep bombarding it's fans with new, awesome info on the game until you've sold more pre-orders than Cliff Richard has sold albums. Now some people will see a news story about a game's script and say "Bah! What a boring story! Nobody gives a chuff!" and for 99% of games you'd be spot on, but for a Mass Effect game my GOD is this sexy news! I spent a tonne of my time just talking to people in Mass Effect 1 and 2, so while I fear my real life will gradually slip away from me during Mass Effect 3, I can't wait for it!

Alright guys, let's sit down, pour some hot chocolate and shoot the breeze for a few hours

Twisted Pixel Picked Up By Microsoft

Twisted Pixel, makers of 'Splosion Man, Comic Jumper, The Maw, Ms 'Splosion Man and The Gunstringer were doing pretty well for an independent studio, making good quality games and putting them out nice and often on Xbox Live (except for Gunstringer, which was a disc release). Microsoft, not being ones to miss an opportunity, have finally acquired Twisted Pixel, making them a Microsoft exclusive studio. This makes a lot of sense, their games get great reviews and have a solid fanbase, and the studio already know how to develop good games on the Xbox anyway. A marriage made in heaven? Personally, I can see only good things coming from Twisted Pixel games with a bigger budget.

Powered by beard, and now Microsoft's vast mountains of money