Most Recent: PS3

Call of Duty: Black Ops II expands again with Vengeance Map Pack on July 2

Posted on June 18, 2013 by John Scalzo

Four new multiplayer maps are coming to Call of Duty: Black Ops II soon. The Vengeance Map Pack will be available to download from the Xbox Live Marketplace on July 2. You can check out the first trailer above for a quick look at the upcoming maps:

  • “Cove” - A small island in the Indian Ocean that offers no escape.
  • “Detour” - A battle both atop and below a suspension bridge.
  • “Rush” - A paintball arena with a lot of different configurations.
  • “Uplink” - A reimagined version of Black Ops favorite “Summit.”

The Vengeance Map Pack will also include “Buried,” a new Zombies Mode adventure. Taking place in a “lost town in the old West,” players will be able to lay waste to the zombie horde with the Ray Gun Mark II. Because when I think of Westerns, I think of Ray Guns.

A PC and PS3 release for the Vengeance Map Pack will be announced soon.

[Source: One of Swords]

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Injustice: Gods Among Us scores another sales knockout in the May 2013 NPD report

Posted on June 18, 2013 by John Scalzo

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Yup, you can definitely tell we’re in a console transition period. Just a single new release was able to crack the list of the top ten best-selling games of May 2013.

Deep Silver’s Metro: Last Light was that game and the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 shooter was able to claim the sixth spot for the mutants of post-apocalyptic Russia. A pair of sorta-new releases helped push the profile of two titles that were originally released in years past. The 3DS version of Donkey Kong Country Returns lifted the game to #3 and the Wii U re-release of Lego Batman 2 helped the Brick Knight squeeze into the #10 slot.

According to Game Informer, sales of retail games are down 31% from May 2012 and retail sales are going to continue to drop as Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony move towards an all-digital future. Althugh, to be fair, May 2012 did include the release of Diablo III, which sold a ton of copies at retail.

The NPD Group’s complete report on the top ten best-selling games from May 2013 can be found after the break. (more…)

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The Walking Dead: 400 Days is five tales of survival that set up Season Two

Posted on June 15, 2013 by John Scalzo

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Only someone with a heart of stone would say that Telltale’s The Walking Dead didn’t move them. That movement may have been something as simple as running from the horde of zombies at the game’s center or it might be something deeper. A second season of episodes, appropriately titled The Walking Dead: Season Two, is in the works for this Fall. But first, the developer wants to give players one last taste of Season One.

Known as The Walking Dead: 400 Days, the new episode will tell five tales of survival. Bonnie, Russell, Shel, Vince, and Wyatt will all come face-to-face with the undead and (hopefully) live to tell about it:

Centered on a truck stop on a Georgia highway, The Walking Dead: 400 Days is a DLC episode for Season One of Telltale’s award-winning game series. 400 Days tells five linked stories; each taking place at different points in time and from the point of view of a different survivor, from day one of the undead apocalypse to day 400.

The five stories can be played in any order and will change based on the choices that you make. Echoes of the choices you made in Season 1 will carry over into 400 Days and the choices you make in 400 Days will resonate into Season 2.

The Walking Dead: 400 Days will be available this Summer for the PC, PS3, Vita, Xbox 360, and mobile platforms. You can view the first trailer after the break. (more…)

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KNEEL BEFORE ZOD with the next Injustice DLC pack

Posted on June 14, 2013 by John Scalzo

injustice-zodThe latest “Clueless Gamer With Conan O’Brien” segment from his TBS talk show, Conan, aired on Wednesday and it featured NetherRealm’s Injustice: Gods Among Us. It also featured the debut of the next DLC character… General Zod!

Zod will be available to download in July through the PlayStation Store and the Xbox Live Marketplace. Presumably, he will carry the same $5/400 Microsoft Points price as all of the other DLC characters.

But Conan wasn’t done. He also debuted The Flaming C, a Conan-like reskin of Superman designed by Bruce Timm. It’s unknown if this skin will actually be added to Injustice, but gameplay footage of The Flaming C kicking ass and taking names was shown on Conan.

You can watch the full segment after the break. (more…)

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Shinji Mikami wants to scare you with The Evil Within’s gameplay

Posted on June 13, 2013 by John Scalzo

The PlayStation Blog hung out with Bethesda’s Pete Hines during this year’s E3 Expo and he proudly showed off Shinji Mikami’s The Evil Within. The Resident Evil creator is returning to survival horror in a big way and this quote from Hines sums up why that’s a very good thing:

“[Shinji Mikami's] got some pretty twisted, warped ideas on how to scare people. And you know, that’s one of the things that he’s talked about. What used to scare people, like back when he created Resident Evil 1, doesn’t really work today. Things like blood and guts and gore… that stuff is in all kinds of games now. [...] So you have to think of new ways to shake people up and some of the creations that he and his team have come up with are going to be introduced along the way so that just when you feel like you wrapped your head around it… OK, I can’t possibly see anything more horrifying than that last thing, here comes something else.”

I highly recommend watching the gameplay walkthrough/interview above. But be sure the lights are on.

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Pac-Man Battle Royale finally comes home in Pac-Man Museum collection

Posted on June 12, 2013 by John Scalzo

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Namco Bandai created Pac-Man Battle Royale specifically for arcades in 2010. The (up to) four-player Pac-Man title made each player compete for a limited supply of Super Power Pellets that would increase Pac-Man’s size and allow the player to eat the other Pac-Men. Using the graphics engine from the excellent Pac-Man Championship Edition, it was an interesting new take on the Pac-Man formula that was only available in arcades.

Until now. Battle Royale will come home this Winter as part of the Pac-Man Museum collection.

The game will be released for the PC, PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, Wii U eShop, and 3DS eShop. In addition to Battle Royale and Championship Edition, the collection will also include the 1980 arcade original and several other Pac-Man games from the character’s 33-year history. Sadly, the PS3/Xbox 360 version of Pac-Man Museum won’t include Championship Edition, as that game is already available as a separate download on the PSN and XBLA.

I’m not sure I like that, Namco Bandai. However, I’m thrilled that Battle Royale is finally coming home and I’m willing to overlook it (especially since any obsessive Pac-Man fan already owns Championship Edition).

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Earth Defense Force 2025 release shooed away to February 2014

Posted on June 12, 2013 by John Scalzo

Bad news out of this year’s E3 Expo… D3 Publisher has delayed Earth Defense Force 2025. Instead of getting a chance to squish the Ravagers this year, fans of the insane alien invasion series will have to wait until February 2014.

To make up for this delay, D3 has released a new “E3 2013 trailer” starring the Air Raider, but it’s more-or-less an English translation of this trailer, which has been available since December.

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PSN Today: The Last of Us, Tekken Revolution, Big Discounts, more

Posted on June 11, 2013 by John Scalzo

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Has wall-to-wall E3 2013 news knocked you for a loop? How about a good old-fashioned PlayStation Store update to cleanse your palette. This week, PS3 and Vita owners will be able to download…

  • The Last of Us (available Friday), Naughty Dog’s ridiculously well-reviewed post-apocalyptic tale of a man named Joel and his teenage companion.
  • Tekken Revolution, a free-to-play version of everyone’s favorite fighting game. OK, second favorite. Um, third favorite. Eh, it’s alright.
  • Aliens: Colonial Marines, Gearbox’s bungled attempt to create a sequel to Aliens.
  • Final Fantasy XIII-2, with Lightning set to return next year, now’s a good time to play this one.
  • Contra: Shattered Soldier, one of the greatest PS2 games ever is now available on your PS3.
  • Pirates: Legend of the Black Buccaneer, a PS2 pirate game, now available on the PS3.
  • Flying Hamster HD (Vita), a hamster shooter. Enough said.

In celebration of the E3 Expo, Sony has also discounted a ton of games in the PlayStation Store this week including Dishonored, Tomb Raider, Borderlands 2, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and many more. If you’re looking for deals, you need to consult the full list at the PlayStation Blog.

That PlayStation Blog link also includes a complete list of this week’s new game add-ons. And be sure to hit the jump for more details on the new releases for this week. (more…)

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