BitSnark

In an effort to perhaps stem the tide of casual titles for Kinect, Microsoft today announced in conjunction with Capcom that a new installment of the dormant Steel Batallion franchise would arrive on the 360 sometime next year; and would be built from the ground up for the upcoming motion control system.

It’s official title is Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor.

When it launched in 2002, the original was a decidedly hardcore mech sim that gained substantial noteriety by being playable only with a terrifyingly large controller made specially for the game which encompassed two control sticks and forty or so buttons.

Yep it was crazy, it was expensive but it also felt decidely… authentic. With that in mind it’ll be interesting to see how Kinect support will work for this.

If they are looking to recreate the complex control system from the previous games, presumably there will have to be some kind of on-screen interface for the player to interact with.

Speculation at this stage is all we have to go on, as outside of a release date and the promise of Kinect support, the only other thing we have to go on is this pre-rendered, detail-bereft trailer:

More on this soon.

At the Tokyo Game Show today, perhaps the single most impressive looking title to arrive this generation has finally recieved a date.

The Last Guardian, from ICO and Shadow Of The Colossus developer Team ICO, will arrive worldwide for Christmas 2011.

Below is the new trailer, and it looks fucking sublime:

Mind = Blown.

Sony have today confirmed the existence of the ICO/Shadow Of The Colossus HD Re-release for the PS3 which has been rumoured for months now.

Boasting both titles and of course HD visuals, this upcoming twin pack represents a HD spit and clean of two of the PS2’s landmark titles. Additionally, the HD release will also come with 3D support and the now obligatory trophy support.

The twin pack is tentatively due for release on the PS3 in April 2011.

A trailer for this can be seen below.

2011 can’t come soon enough.

It was only a matter of time until we would see a third Ninja Gaiden title and as luck would have it, that time was at this year’s Tokyo Game Show.

Eschewing a big, glamorous unveiling in favour of a behind closed doors demonstration, Ninja Gaiden 3 supposedly will be upping the gore stakes once again and will endeavour to show players more of the ‘human side’ of franchise hero Ryu Hayabusa.

Very little else is known regarding the title, except for the fact that echoing earlier comments, it will be a multiplatform title released on PS3 and 360 simultaneously.

More on this as it develops.

Yep that’s right.

For you PS3 owners who have been itching to try out the next game from Heavenly Sword developer Ninja Theory, your wait is over.

Namco Bandai have confirmed that a demo of Enslaved: Oddysey to the West is available to download from the Playstation Store.

Win.

For what seems to be months and months the rumour mill seemingly wouldn’t let it die that Heavenly Sword and Enslaved developer Ninja Theory would be at the helm of the fifth Devil May Cry title.

Well, the stubourness of that rumour to come to terms with it’s mortality has been validated; Capcom have announced ‘DmC’, a brand new entry in the Devil May Cry series that is being developed by UK Developer Ninja Theory and is being overseen by none other than Hedeaki Itsuno, who has worked on all of the previous titles in the famed sword and gunplay series.

The aforementioned hallmark sword and gunplay that the series is famous for will be complimented by new weapons, all new powers and what Capcom are mysteriously referring to as a “revitalised gameplay system”. The star of the series, Dante, also appears to be reimagined, sporting darker colour short hair and a much younger look.

‘Dark’ and ‘brutal gameplay’ will also apparently feature.

Well, that’s a relief then.

The trailer can be seen at the link below:

Stay tuned folks.

In addition to extensions and re-imaginings of existing IP, Capcom also had something entirely new to share with us in the form of Asura’s Wrath, an Unreal Engine 3 powered hack and slash affair developed by Naruto developer CyberConnect2.

Very little at all is known about the title, but it is supposedly meant to be very OTT with battles between massive armies and the title character himself able to summon god-like beings to assist him in battle.

The official PR fluff says this:

“Inspired by Asian mythology and fused with science fiction, Asura’s Wrath will redefine the action genre by delivering unprecedented levels of dynamism, drama and interaction,”

“Once a revered deity, Asura was betrayed by his fellow gods and stripped of all his powers. Consumed by anger at the injustice he has suffered and swearing vengeance, Asura discovers he can use this fury to his advantage and turn it against his enemies. By channelling his inner rage, Asura is now able to unleash devastating attacks and wreak havoc as he battles against the deities who have wronged him and their earthly forces. Inspired by episodic dramas, Asura’s Wrath will be split into distinct sections with gameplay and narrative unfolding as one and building to a final climatic conclusion.”

Groovy. The crazy as all hell trailer can be seen below:

The title isn’t very far along in development at all, so a 2011 seems unlikely at this point.

The platforms that Asura’s Wrath will release on are the 360 and PS3.

Presumably the 500,000 units that the Dead Rising 2 Prologue: Case Zero has sold has emboldened Capcom, since today they have announced another XBLA exclusive Dead Rising 2 episode, this one taking place after the events of the game instead of before it.

Dead Rising 2: Case West will be a downloadable episode exclusively for XBLA and continues after the main story of Dead Rising 2 has concluded.

Capcom unveiled the title by showing a short teaser of the game. In the teaser, Dead Rising 2 hero Chuck Greene is seen gazing out over Fortune City saying he must prove his innocence, but for this to happen he’ll be needing some help with none other than Dead Rising 1 hero Frank West showing up.

If they can provide a similarly replayable experience to Case Zero and at a similarly pleasing price point, there is no reason why this shouldn’t be another hit for Capcom.

Capcom obviously think the same, since they also announced that they have purchased the developer of Dead Rising 2; Blue Castle Games, renaming them Blue Castle Studios Vancouver.

Just minutes ago at the ongoing Tokyo Game Show event, EA through their EA Partners development umbrella, have revealed Shadow Of The Damned; a gory third person shooter collaboration between Grasshopper Manufacture’s Suda51 (he of No More Heroes fame) and famed Resident Evil producer Shinji Mikami.

Not looking too dissimilar at all to Resident Evil 4 and 5 with it’s over the shoulder third person perspective and shooting mechanics, Shadow Of The Damned casts the player as Garcia Hotspur(?) a demon hunter who has been sent to Hell to eradicate the Satanic filth wherever he finds them.

While competent graphically and with plenty of dark style to spare (check out the gun decked out with a skull under the barrel), the title didn’t really have a ‘wow’ factor that made me instantly excited about it.

Take a peek at the announcement trailer below and see if it does anything for you:

The title is due in 2011 for the 360 and PS3.

THQ today has confirmed that there will be no less than three different special editions of their forthcoming installment of their yearly WWE grappling franchise, WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2011.

The caveat of course is that each retailer will be carrying a unique special edition, the details of which can be found below:

Hit Man Special Edition
Available from GAME and GAMESTATION for the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3, includes the following items:
• WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 Videogame
• Bret “Hit Man” Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be” DVD
• Bret Hart Exclusive Art Card
• Bret Hart Exclusive Playable Character

Lord of Darkness Special Edition
Available from PLAY.COM for the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, includes the following items:
• WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 Videogame
• WWE Unforgiven® 2007 DVD
• Undertaker® Exclusive Art Card
• “Ministry of Darkness” Exclusive Alternate Attire

Viper Special Edition
Available from TESCO for the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, includes the following items:
• WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 Videogame
• WWE No Mercy® 2007 DVD
• Randy Orton® Exclusive Art Card
• Randy Orton Three-Pack of Alternate Attire Options (T-Shirt, Suit and Referee Uniform)

Depending on your character loyalty, your mileage will likely vary here, but for me the choice is simple; The Bret Hart edition is the way forward. Instead of merely offering alternative attire for existing wrestlers, the Bret Hart Edition actually gives you an entire new wrestler to use from day one in addition to the art card and wrestler specific DVD that you would recieve in the other editions.

New character > Costumes every time.

WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2011 is due for release on October 29th on pretty much every major format, with the special editions detailed above only available for the 360 and PS3 versions of the game.

Credit goes to local Plymouth wrestler Richard Worsley for pointing this out.

Richard, as well as whole host of local wrestling talent can be seen in the forthcoming PWA: Xplosion wrestling event which takes place in Plymouth, UK on Friday November 19th.

Looks like it’ll be quite entertaining indeed.