Recent Articles: XCOM: Enemy Unknown

XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Anarchy Reigns, Guacamelee!, more added to PS Store

Posted on April 10, 2013 by John Scalzo

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Today marks the beginning of Sony’s “Spring Fever,” which will highlight four new independent games on the PlayStation Network over the next four weeks. First up is Guacamelee!, a platformer where players take control of a famous luchador and battle Carlos Calaca for the hand of El Presidente’s Daughter (the most beautiful girl in the entire world). Also, there are chickens. Guacamelee! is also a PS3/Vita Cross-Play title, so buying one gets you both.

Firaxis Games’ alien invasion simulation, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, also comes to the PlayStation Store this week. It’s joined by Platinum’s multiplayer brawler, Anarchy Reigns, Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X., and John Daly’s ProStroke Golf.

The PS2 Classics section grew by one as well yesterday, with the addition of Fatal Frame.

More details on all of these games, and a few PSone Imports, can be found after the break. A complete list of this week’s new game add-ons is available, as always, at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)

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Dishonored declared Best Game at 2013 BAFTA Awards

Posted on March 5, 2013 by John Scalzo

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The 2013 BAFTA Awards have just been handed out in merry old England and Dishonored has been named the “Best Game of 2012″ by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

However, the most impressive awards haul came courtesy of thatgamecompany’s Journey, which collected five awards (“Artistic Achievement,” “Audio Achievement,” “Game Design,” “Online Multiplayer,” and “Original Music”). The Unfinished Swan (“Best Debut” and “Game Innovation”) and The Walking Dead (“Mobile & Handheld” and “Story”) also took home multiple awards.

You can find the rest of the winners after the break. (more…)

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Journey, The Walking Dead clean up at 2013 DICE Awards

Posted on February 8, 2013 by John Scalzo

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A pair of downloadable games came away with almost half of all the awards handed out at last night’s D.I.C.E. Awards show. Journey, developed by thatgamecompany exclusively for the PS3, was the big winner of the night, nabbing eight awards including Game of the Year. Telltale’s The Walking Dead was also a multiple award winner, collecting four trophies.

Halo 4 (Visual Engineering and Connectivity) and XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Gameplay Engineering and Strategy/Simulation) were the only other games to win in more than one category.

Congratulations to the developers at thatgamecompany and Telltale Games. You can find a complete list of winners in all 25 categories after the break. (more…)

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Journey nabs six nominations at 2013 GDC Awards

Posted on January 25, 2013 by John Scalzo

gdcawardsJourney continues its amazing end-of-the-year award run with six 2013 Game Developers Choice Award nominations, more than any other game.

Journey is up for Game of the Year, as well as Best Audio, Best Game Design, Best Downloadable Game, Best Visual Arts, and the Innovation award. The four other nominees that Journey will be competing against for Game of the Year include Dishonored (four total nominations), The Walking Dead (three total nominations), Mass Effect 3 (two total nominations), and XCOM: Enemy Unknown (two total nominations).

The 2013 GDC Awards will be handed out on Wednesday, March 27 during this year’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. You can find the complete list of nominees after the break. (more…)

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Journey lands 11 nominations at 2013 DICE Awards

Posted on January 14, 2013 by John Scalzo

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The Interactive Achievement Awards will be sporting a new look in 2013, but they’ve managed to recognize the great games all the same. Now known as the DICE Awards, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences revealed their picks for the best games of the year this morning, nominating thatgamecompany’s Journey for an astonishing 11 awards.

The game is up for… deep breath… Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction, Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, Downloadable Game of the Year, Casual Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction, Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering, Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay, Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition, Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design, and Outstanding Achievement in Story.

Other Game of the Year contenders include Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, The Walking Dead, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown. All four of those games are up for multiple awards, along with other big hitters like Halo 4 (six nominations) and Dishonored (five nominations).

The 2013 DICE Awards will be given out on February 7 during the 2013 DICE Summit. Our host for the evening will be Chris Hardwick, best known as the host of The Nerdist and Telltale’s Talking Dead (hmmm…).

The complete list of nominees can be found after the break. (more…)

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The Walking Dead shambles away as the big winner at the 2012 Spike TV VGAs

Posted on December 8, 2012 by John Scalzo

The tenth annual Spike TV Video Game Awards have been handed out and The Walking Dead has come away the big winner, trouncing more ambitious (and expensive) titles such as Halo 4 and Mass Effect 3.

The episodic adventure game based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book series won Game of the Year, Best Adapted Video Game and Best Downloadable Game. Developer Telltale Games also won Studio of the Year while Melissa Hutchinson was honored in the Best Performance By a Human Female category for her role as Clementine.

The other big winner of the night was thatgamecompany’s Journey, which nabbed three awards: Best PS3 Game, Best Independent Game, and Best Original Score. Gearbox’s Borderlands 2 also took home three awards: Best Shooter, Best Multiplayer Game, and Best Performance By a Human Male (Dameon Clarke as Handsome Jack). The viewer-voted Best Character award was also given to Borderlands 2′s Claptrap.

Hit the jump for a complete list of winners from this year’s Spike TV Video Game Awards, which also includes XCOM: Enemy Unknown, New Super Mario Bros. U, Sound Shapes, and many others. (more…)

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New Releases: Dishonored, XCOM Enemy Unknown, Just Dance 4, More

Posted on October 7, 2012 by John Scalzo

This week’s new releases will sneak up on us like a ghostly assassin in a steampunk setting. If that analogy seems oddly specific to you, might I point you towards Dishonored (PC, PS3, Xbox 360), a stealth game that has more than a few gamers giddy with anticipation.

Speaking of stealth, this week also sees the release of 2K’s XCOM: Enemy Unknown (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) reboot. Developed by Firaxis, sneaking up on some aliens and giving them the “Welcome to Earth” treatment should be a hoot.

Also available this week is the dancefloor shenanigans of Just Dance 4 (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360) and a trio of Kinect adventures for the Xbox 360: Harry Potter For Kinect, Dragon Ball Z For Kinect, and Fable: The Journey. Maybe I’m just not seeing the big picture, but why would publishers release four of the biggest Kinect games of the Fall on the same day?

Finally, for those looking for a little handheld excitement, Atlus is bringing the action RPG Code of Princess to the 3DS.

Hit the jump for more of this week’s new releases. (more…)

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The Last of Us wins five Best of E3 2012 awards

Posted on June 27, 2012 by John Scalzo

It’s hard to argue with those who believe The Last of Us reigned supreme at this year’s E3 Expo. That claim has been given some further validation by the Game Critics Awards, which handed five “Best of E3 2012″ statues to Naughty Dog for The Last of Us.

The game, which stars two survivors of a post-apocalyptic America, won “Best of Show,” “Best Original Game,” “Best Console Game,” and “Best Action/Adventure Game.” It also took home a “Special Commendation for Sound.”

No other game came close, though Dance Central 3, Halo 4, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown all won two awards and Watch Dogs collected two Commendations.

The Wii U was mostly shut out of the awards show, though the system itself won “Best Hardware” and the multiplatform Injustice: Gods Among Us won for “Best Fighting Game.”

A complete list of winners can be found after the break. (more…)

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