Posts Tagged ‘gaming’
E3 2012 – Microsoft Press Conference: Tomb Raider On-stage Demonstration
Another glimmer of gaming bliss at the Microsoft presser (there weren’t that many, so really, you take whatever you can get), was the on-stage demonstration of the forthcoming Tomb Raider reboot.
The biggest surprise of all actually turned out to be the combat system, which despite all of the cinematic QTE bollocks going on around it, appeared solid and satisfying. An interesting little tidbit was that the first lot of DLC will be exclusive to the 360 version. Marvelous I guess.
Take a look at the trailer below:
Tomb Raider is due to be released on 360, PS3 and PC on March 5th, 2013.
E3 2012 – Microsoft Press Conference: Splinter Cell Blacklist Unveiled
Perhaps the highlight of their entire briefing, Ubisoft were on stage to showcase the Ubisoft Toronto developed Splinter Cell Blacklist for the first time.
Displaying a marked evolution rather than revolution of the gameplay introduced in 2010’s Splinter Cell: Conviction, this title showed Sam using his mark and execute whilst running and jumping over obstacles; as well as falling down on top of enemies too. The game also gets bonus points for including a use for Kinect that isn’t totally nonsensical; here, you can use it to distract the enemy by saying things to get their attention before you do a steathly kill.
Overall, it was very impressive stuff indeed.
Take a look at the trailer below and see for yourself:
Splinter Cell: Blacklist is due to release on the Xbox 360 in Spring 2013. Other platforms have yet to be announced.
Pre-E3 2012: EA reveals then pulls, Battlefield Premium trailer. Good thing we have it here then eh?
In a little boo-boo that’s quite likely to send somebody to the back of the unemployment queue, feasting on a spectacular diet of Transform-A-Snacks and White Lightning, someone at E3 accidentally published the Battlefield Premium trailer a few hours ago. Obviously, somebody who actually liked their job at EA has since taken it off the internet, preventing the mass-prying eyes from looking at it prematurely.
Well good job we have it here then eh?
The trailer shows off the primary perks of the Battlefield Premium package which include:
- Access to all five Battlefield 3 expansion packs
- Two-week early access to every pack from this month’s ‘Close Quarters’ pack onward
- Access to twenty new guns
- Access to ten brand new vehicles
- Additional dog tags and customisables
Best of all, the server says that Battlefield: Premium is out now; though obviously that is complete bollocks – unless of course somebody else at EA has a OCD for signing unemployment cheques.
The trailer can be seen below:
Battlefield: Premium is expected to launch late tonight for around 4000 MSP/£39.99.
Pre-E3 2012: Bethesda releases a trailer for Skyrim vampire focused DLC expansion ‘Dawnguard’.
The best RPG of 2011 gets it’s first DLC expansion in Dawnguard, to be released this summer for 1600 MSP on the 360, with other versions and pricepoints to follow.
In Dawnguard, a vampire-themed expansion, you can either play as the titular Dawnguard themselves to root out the Vampire threat or you can join the brood yourself and inflict carnage and death upon those who would do you harm.
You can also engage in mounted combat, among other things if the trailer embedded below is any indication.
Enjoy:
Dawnguard will be released this Summer on Xbox 360 for 1,600 Microsoft Points. Release details for the PS3 and PC versions are due to follow at E3.
Pre-E3 2012: Stainless Games confirms Carmageddon re-release for iOS & Android
After successfully meeting their Kickstarter funding target for a new Carmageddon title, developer Stainless Games has today confirmed that the original videogame motor-slaughter nasty will arrive sometime late this summer on iOS and Android mobile platforms.
Better yet – the game will be free to all and sundry for 24 hours to celebrate the Kickstarter meeting it’s funding target.
What lovely chaps they are.
The debut trailer for the mobile re-release can be seen below (that generic metal bollocks can die in a corner though):
Carmageddon is due on iOS & Android platforms in the late Summer
You now have another reason to go to indie show Rezzed; the next Total War title will be shown there
With developers The Creative Assembly lapping up much critical praise and commerical success for their last title Shogun 2: Total War, fans were desperate for their next fix of Creative Assembly coded historical conflict. Lo and behold then, that the developers themselves will be holding a little chinwag on the ‘future of the Total War franchise’ and it’s a chat that will apparently involve the next Total War title being showcased for the first time on July 6th at 1PM, within the hallowed halls of the Eurogamer Network’s ‘Rezzed’ indie show.
Really, this is just one extra reason to go what will be a superb show.
Now, if you’re already going to the show then brilliant; you’re officially not on my shit list. If you have yet to purchase a ticket to a showcase of some of the finest indie content on God’s green earth, then we’re going to have problem aren’t we?
Seriously, if you have even a passing interest in innovative and creative gaming experiences that extend beyond the norm, grab a ticket and get your ass over to this show. It’s also being run by the chaps who ran the Eurogamer Expo, which if the last three events are any sort of indication, will mean that Rezzed will be slickly produced show and a great time for all and sundry.
Oh and Aliens: Colonial Marines will be there too. Just saying.
Tickets can be bought at www.rezzed.com. £12 gets you a one day ticket, £20 gets you a two day ticket.
Get a ticket. You know it makes sense.
Rezzed takes place on Friday 6th – Saturday 7th July at the Brighton Centre, Brighton.
‘Because We May’ indie sale starts today on DirectPC/Steam/iOS/Android – lasts a week.
One of the reasons why I love the indie gaming scene, besides the general positive swell in innovation, is the pricing. Generally, indie games find themselves subject to more sales per year than Lindsay Lohan does DUI infractions and the nattily named ‘Because We May’ sale is one more example of independent creativity being sold on the cheap. Below, are links to the various sale category listings such as iOS, Direct PC, Steam, Android, Mac and everything else.
Direct PC: http://www.becausewemay.com/direct.html
iOS: http://www.becausewemay.com/ios.html
MAC: http://www.becausewemay.com/mac.html
Android: http://www.becausewemay.com/play.html
Steam: http://www.becausewemay.com/steam.html
Other: http://www.becausewemay.com/other.html
Particuarly for mobile gamers, there are a lot of decent discounts there on some cracking little titles. I mean really, if the likes of Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor and Waking Mars at their reduced prices don’t cause you to plunge your hand in your pocket; you must be some sort of disgusting pervert or something.
- Creativity on the cheap is a GOOD THING.
Far Cry 3 gets ‘Insane Edition’. Now available to pre-order.
In the grand tradition of fleecing the gullable and financially senseless, comes along this latest collectors edition for Ubisoft’s forthcoming Far Cry 3.
Just look at that bobble head for heaven’s sake.
The ‘Insane Edition’ for Far Cry 3 includes the following tat:
Exclusive Survival Kit Packaging: It’s supposed to look like a survival kit. It doesn’t.
An Insane Vaas Wahine: A 12cm Wahine with Vaas bobble head that looks totally fucking hideous.
A survival guide: Discover unique artwork and inside information to help you survive the insanity of the island: Does anyone actually look at ‘unique artwork’ as a selling point these days for collectors editions?
Monkey Business: Discover Hurk, a new memorable character and quest giver, and his 4 unique missions. An extra hour of gameplay exclusive to this collector’s edition! A WHOLE EXTRA HOUR! He’s memorable too!
The Lost Expeditions: 2 Suspenseful Action Missions and an exclusive World War II Flare Gun. An extra 40min of gameplay! FORTY MINUTES (Count em’) of extra gameplay!
- The Hunter Pack: The M700 hunting rifle and its three collector’s skins.
- The Warrior Pack: A handcrafted dagger and two exclusive tribal tattoos
- The Predator Pack: 4 exclusive rare predators and a multiplayer bow.
Really, the allure of the multiplayer tidbits listed above will depend completely on the strength of the multiplayer – a bit of an unknown quantity at this point. Still, you get all of that tat for £49.99, so it’s not like they’ve violated you for the usual £69.99 price point that so many collectors editions seem to be set at these days.
The Insane Edition of the game is available to pre-order at Zavvi.com. Linkage here: http://www.zavvi.com/elysium.search?search=Far+Cry+3%3A+The+Insane+Edition
There’s also a ‘reveal’ trailer for the Insane Edition that i’m sure you probably couldn’t care about.
Here it is anyway. It looks awful.
Far Cry 3 is due to release on 360, PS3 and PC on 7th September 2012.
Post-Halo, Bungie’s next IP – Destiny, is a Sci-Fi FPS with MMO stylings and will arrive on Xbox and Next-Gen formats from 2013 onward. Apparently.
That was a mouthful wasn’t it?
Yep, it would seem that the current hot topic right now on a number of sites is the reveal of new details pertaining to ‘Destiny’; the codename for the next franchise from Halo developer Bungie.
These details were actually brought to light as a result of the now apparently closed litigation between EA and Activision over that whole sordid Infinity Ward business. Specifically, the deets were contained in an Bungie/Activision contract which can be seen courtesy of the L.A Times at the link here: http://documents.latimes.com/bungie-activision-contract/
If you can’t be arsed to trawl through all that the details basically boil down to this:
– The codenamed ‘Destiny’ IP is being positioned as a sprawling franchise which encompasses “sci-fi fantasy, action shooter” mechanics with additional MMO stylings which lend itself to “client based mission structures with persistent elements”.
– The franchise is supposed to kick off next year (likely Q4) and will arrive on both the 360 AND the next Xbox as timed exclusive. Timed exclusive releases eh? They never get old.
– In 2014, the game will finally arrive on the PS3 once the timed exclusivity period has expired for Microsoft.
– A second Destiny game is then apparently due to arrive on ‘Xbox consoles’ (presumably they would be holding out to see if a 360 release remains feasible), PS4 and PC in 2016. A PC release of the second game, but not the first? Um, what?
– Essentially the plan is to release a Destiny title every other year from 2014 (excluding the early period of exclusivity that MS would have for the first game in late 2013), resulting in Destiny titles all the way up to 2020. 2020!
– DLC is naturally a big part of the strategem for getting this franchise embedded in the hearts and minds of us ordinary folk and as a result, DLC expansions (codenamed – ‘Comet’), are set for staggered releases between each major Destiny instalment.
– Microtransactions are also revealed to be part of the deal; although in what capacity is yet to be known.
Now comes the great bit, usually when leaks like this happen you get a huge fucking stonewalling from the official sources.
Not this time.
None other than Bungie themselves have confirmed the leak saying:
“Well, that just happened…”
“So, yeah. While we’re not ready to show you what we’ve been working on, we can reconfirm that we are hard at work on our new universe. We can’t wait for you to see it.
“See you starside in 2013.”
Brilliant stuff. I imagine this will make a sodding huge splash at E3 this year.
A Destiny Prototype Logo. Yesterday.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 confirmed to release on 360 & PS3 platforms on September 14th, 2012. GAME gets a swanky collectors edition.
The latest addition to the ‘King of the Iron Fist’ franchise now has an official date.
Publisher Namco Bandai has today confirmed that Tekken Tag Tournament 2 will unleash it’s unique brand of fistic action on September 14th this year, for both 360 and PS3 consoles.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is the first sequel to the Tekken Tag Tournament spin-off series that began way back in July 1999 when the original Tekken Tag Tournament hit the arcades. Just over a year later, Tekken Tag Tournament would find it’s way onto the PS2 as a crucial part of the machine’s launch line-up way back in the mists of the year 2000.
Now that the history lesson is done, you might also like to know that some retailers are being slaves to fashion and are packing DLC with pre-orders of the game.
First up is Zavvi, who are tossing in two DLC characters for free – Kunimitsu (a watered-down Yoshimitsu clone last seen in the original Tekken Tag) and Ancient Ogre (the final bad dude in Tekken 3).
Linkage to the Zavvi deal can be seen below. Meanwhile, other retailers will likely follow with other free DLC characters given that Angel and Michelle Chang were both announced as Day One DLC characters a few days ago.
http://www.zavvi.com/elysium.search?search=Tekken+Tag+Tournament+2+
Furthermore to this, GAME are apparently hosting the only collectors edition available for the game. The ‘We Are Tekken Edition’, comes in a steelcase, has a 200 page artbook, soundtrack and a DVD with hints and tips from various expert Tekken players – including Harada-san himself. All this tat will probably go for £69.99 and i’ll certainly preorder it. Because i’m a moron. Pre-orders for the collectors edition have yet to go live on GAME’s website.
And you want a trailer I suppose too don’t you? Fine, cast your eyes downward you bunch of pushy bastards.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is due to release on Septmeber 14th 2012, on both 360 & PS3 consoles.
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