BitSnark

Bioware’s upcoming dark fantasy RPG has at last been given a date. 360, PC and PS3 owners can get their hands on copious amounts of gore, sex, swords and sorcery on October 23rd.

I personally cannot wait for this and hopefully E3 will shed some much needed light on the console versions of this gleefully gritty, adult fantasy RPG.

Developed by Quake Wars developer Splash Damage and published by RPG powerhouse Bethesda, comes Brink; a title in which something known as ‘The Ark’ a so-called milestone in human engineering and science goes wrong, with the predictable end result of people shooting each other in the face.

Given the developer pedigree of Splash Damage, it doesn’t seem likely that the title will be anything else other than a large scale FPS.

The teaser trailer below however, sheds very little on this:

Hopefully Bethesda and Splash Damage will be more forthcoming with details regarding this curious title.

Right, it’s only fair that I should warn you at this point that this newest Front Mission title isn’t a Front Mission title in the truest sense; instead of the fondly remembered (by some at least) strategical trappings that the series is famed for, what we get instead is a seemingly by-the-numbers third person shooter with robots, known as ‘Wanzers’.

Developed by Double Helix Games (GI Joe: Rise Of Cobra The Game *shudder*), the title features an extensive single player campaign as well as the obligatory online multiplayer modes.

All this leaves me with one question; where the hell did my strategic gameplay and narrative go?

What a load of Wanz.

Look, I know what you’re thinking ‘Oh FFS not *another* Lego game!’, well I do kinda mirror that sentiment, however this newest title (once again developed by those trusty hands at Travelers Tales) gives me a glimmer of hope as it allows players to create their own levels.

The extensiveness of this new feature is unknown at this point (sharing levels Little Big Planet style would be quite welcome) but what is known is that the game itself will base itself off of the recently released Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull movie and like all other Lego games before it, allow drop-in/drop-out co-op and a host Lego character body swap shenanigans.

The title is due to arrive in the Autumn.

Fans of the FPS that started it all (like myself), will be enthralled to know that the original Wolfenstein 3D will be arriving on Xbox Live Arcade and the Playstation Network next week.

In regards to price point, the XBLA version will hit for a modest 400 MSP whilst its PSN counterpart will cost UK gamers around £3.99.

There’s just something timeless about reducing mecha-Hitler down to a pile of metal and gore isn’t there?

Ahhhh….

Prior to the show kick off early next week, Square Enix have announced the action title ‘Nier’ for PS3 and 360 platforms. The Cavia developed title appears to bear many similarities to Devil May Cry and the forthcoming Dante’s Inferno title by EA.

Take a look at the first leaked trailer:

Well from this early glimpse at least, the title doesn’t appear to be doing much new (either visually or in terms of gameplay mechanics) so it will really have to up its game to compete with the likes of the forthcoming God Of War 3 and Bayonetta.

My mediocrity spider-sense is tingling…

Hopefully satiating the salivating, drooling tongues of Kingdom Hearts and NDS RPG fans alike, Square Enix today confirmed that the highly anticipated NDS entry in the Final Fantasy/Walt Disney will see a European release this autumn.

Promising to provide exposition on the connection between the mysterious Roxas and Sora as well as packing in your favourite Disney and Final Fantasy characters, stages and a new multiplayer mode, all signs point to Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days making a big splash on NDS when it hits European stores this autumn.

Now we just need a confirmation on Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep for the PSP and everything will be rosy 🙂

Yup, as the title suggests.

Go get!

Wii owners jealous of the online co-op goodness that is Valve’s Left 4 Dead can hopefully breathe a sigh of relief, as High Voltage Software, the talented folks behind forthcoming Wii FPS The Conduit, will be releasing The Grinder late next year.

Billed as an online co-op horror FPS experience; a first for Nintendo’s shovelware infested console and certainly more than a little inspired by Left 4 Dead (the developers reference Valve’s seminal title frequently in the IGN interview shown below) the title will be aiming to give an experience similar to that seen on more demographically ‘mature’ consoles.

Like Left 4 Dead the premise is simple; players can choose from a selection of different characters and then hop online and set out to kill not just zombies but also werewolves and vampires in horrifically violent ways.

A four-player, mature, online co-op shooter for the Wii? Hell yes.

I mean as far as the ‘bottom line’ goes maybe yes, mature games don’t sell in the huge numbers that the suit wearing stiffs at the investor and analyst firms would like, but its refreshing to see a developer taking a brave step and pushing the Wii platform in both technical and conceptual ways, that it really ought to have been before now.

This is especially true in the current climate of garbage-ware and ‘me-too’ titles which plague the platform; serving not to exploit any of the Wii’s considerable (and perhaps forgotten) potential but rather to line the pockets of recession-paranoid, innovation bereft publishers.

The Grinder, is due to be shown at E3 2009.

IGN have the full rundown below:

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/986/986663p1.html

Pirates haven’t exactly been graced with good videogame representation have they? I mean outside of Sid Meier’s Pirates!, the licensed PoTC videogame properties have been on the wrong side of complete gash.

Luckily, it would seem that a change of direction is in order, with the newest title being set in an open world environment, Armada Of The Damned is set before the events of the first film.

In this sandbox, players can run their own ship, go after treasure, swash-buckle, make moral choices that affect gameplay and story elements and watch their character ‘age’ through an over-indulgence in the ale or battle scars picked up from vicious sword fights.

From my perspective the change to an RPG style sandbox is a good one, taking the series away from it’s shoddy brawler roots that made the most recent installments based on the films so drearily banal and dull.

Pirates Of The Caribbean: Armada Of The Damned is due to hit PS3, 360 and PC platforms in autumn 2010.

IGN have the full scoop:

http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/986/986415p1.html