Most Recent: News

Daily Scoop: March 15, 2012 – The Ides of March!

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Nicole Kline

Ah, the Ides of March! An ominous day, as always. But tomorrow is sure to be awesome, as it is the first day of Game Fest down in Washington, DC at the Smithsonian American Art Museum! It launches a six and a half month celebration of video games as art. And what better way to do that than to talk about games like Journey and have a conversation with Hideo Kojima? I’ll be there, following him around and trying to get my picture taken with him. It’ll be E3 2010 all over again!

I’ve got a lot of deals for you today! Amazon’s Deal of the Day in video games today is Nintendo’s Tetris: Axis. It’s $14.73 today, and is available on the Nintendo 3DS. Amazon’s also got some other pretty great deals going on as well, including a free copy of Mass Effect 3 when you buy an Xbox 360 Console, a free copy of Uncharted 3 when you buy a PlayStation 3, and a 50% off sale on Gears of War 3, bringing it to $29.99.

EA is also having a pretty wicked sale – buy a copy of Mass Effect 3, get Arkham City for $10. It’s like they want you to buy video games.

And I’ve got another day of three t-shirts for you! Hit the jump for the details. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News, PS3, Xbox 360 |

Diablo III has a release date: May 15

Posted on March 15, 2012 by John Scalzo

According to Blizzard, the end is nigh! Diablo III will be available in stores and online on May 15, 2012.

“After many years of hard work by our development team and months of beta testing by hundreds of thousands of dedicated players around the world, we’re now in the homestretch,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We look forward to putting the final polish on Diablo III over the next two months and delivering the ultimate action-RPG experience to gamers worldwide starting on May 15.”

And if you absolutely can’t wait, Blizzard has begun offering digital pre-orders through the Blizzard.com website.

Posted in News, PC | Tagged

EA nabs new partners to provide content on Origin download service

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Melissa Niedringhaus

Looks like Electronic Arts is aiming for bigger slice of the downloadable pie. Today, it announced partnerships with a number of publishers to provide content for it’s online download service, Origin.

Sega tops the list, bringing games like Total War Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai to the table. Also new to the EA fold are Team 17 Software Limited, Rebellion, Kalypso Media Digital, and others, raising the number of Origin content providers to 35.

Origin provides features like built-in customer service, in-game overlay and chat, cloud saves, and live streaming demos, and has about 11 million subscribers, which is a little less than half the number Steam has.

To see what Origin has to offer, check out their website at Origin.com.

Posted in News, PC | Tagged

Console versions of Risen 2 drop anchor in May

Posted on March 14, 2012 by John Scalzo

Deep Silver has announced that the console version of Risen 2: Dark Waters has set sail for the muddy waters of May.

Previously scheduled for an April 24 release, Risen 2 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 will now be available on May 22. The release date of the PC version was unchanged and remains April 27.

I hope somebody was forced to walk the plank for this! Arrrrr!

Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

XBLA Today: Defenders of Ardania, Shoot Many Robots

Posted on March 14, 2012 by John Scalzo

Two Xbox Live Aracde games vie for your downloadable dollar today. The first, which is priced at 1200 Microsoft Points ($15), is the tower defense game Defenders of Ardania:

Defenders of Ardania is a next generation tower defense game set in the fantasy world of Majesty, where you can take control over both the defending- and the attacking sides. The game is set in the fantasy world of Majesty with 3 different playable races, each with their own, distinguishable locations, towers, and units. Its innovative new game concept adds a RTS element and takes the popular genre to a new level. Multiplayer offers three different game modes with the players assuming either the defensive or the offensive sides – or both!

The second game in this week’s update is a very descriptively titled shooter game, Shoot Many Robots, which is available for 800 Microsoft Points ($10):

Shoot Many Robots is a 4-player co-op run-n’-gun action game starring robot slayer and gun aficionado, P. Walter Tugnut. From a gun that shoots garden gnome missiles to a tutu that boosts speed and damage, there are hundreds of crazy guns and gear to unlock that boost Walter’s stats – not to mention, make him look pretty. You and three friends can team up to exterminate a zillion robots while progressing through tons of missions, facing uncomfortably epic bosses, and leveling up along the way.

Shoot Many Robots was also added to the PlayStation Store yesterday.

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Here’s your Lollipop Chainsaw voice cast

Posted on March 14, 2012 by John Scalzo

Writer/Consultant James Gunn (Dawn of the Dead, Slither) has assembled an impressive voice cast for Lollipop Chainsaw‘s western release. In addition to pulling in some familiar names with geeky cred, Gunn even called in a familial favor for the game’s villainous center.

That’s right, in a move that will be sure to get fans of “The Gilmore Girls” playing Lollipop Chainsaw, James Gunn has hired his brother, Sean Gunn (who starred in GG as Kurt), to play Swan the necromancer (called it). His “Gilmore Girls” co-star, Gregg Henry, is also along for the ride as Juliet’s Father.

So who’ll be playing Juliet Starling, the blonde and perky cheerleader that’s trying to stop this zombie uprising? That’ll be Tara Strong, who most recently provided the voice of Harley Quinn in Batman: Arkham City.

Rounding out the cast will be:

  • Linda Cardelleni (star of “Freaks and Geeks” and Velma from the Scooby-Doo movies) as a fellow demonhunter, Cordelia.
  • will play her sister Rosalind.
  • Michael Rosenbaum (Lex from “Smallville”) will play Juliet’s boyfriend Nick, a disembodied head.
  • Jimmy Urine, from the band Mindless Self Indulgence, will voice the “deranged” Zed.
  • Finally, Shawnee Smith (of the Saw films and “The Stand”) and Michael Rooker (who starred in Slither) will voice two additional characters.

Lollipop Chainsaw will be available for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on June 12.

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Journey, Warp, Shoot Many Robots, more added to PS Store

Posted on March 14, 2012 by John Scalzo

After a week of PlayStation Plus exclusivity, thatgamecompany’s Journey is now available to download from the PlayStation Store for all PS3 owners. And if our review is any indication, you should buy it right now. Leave work if you have to.

Also available this week are a pair of PSN shooters: EA’s warp (which was part of last month’s XBLA House Party) and Ubisoft’s Shoot Many Robots. I guess the question is, do you want to shoot humans who’ve cruelly kidnapped an alien or do you want to shoot alien invaders as the last hope for humanity?

If you’re interested in some gaming on the go, the Vita Store has added a pair of new games: Reality Fighters, an augmented reality fighting game (co-starring Mr. Miyagi!), and the latest entry in the Ridge Racer racing franchise. Excuse me… RIDGE RACCEEERRR!!!

Hit the jump for more details on all of this week’s releases and travel over to the PlayStation Blog for a complete list of this week’s new game add-ons. (more…)

Posted in News, PS3, Vita | Tagged , ,

Pre-order Guild Wars 2 for early access and exclusive in-game gear

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Melissa Niedringhaus

Starting April 10, players will be able to pre-order one of three editions of Guild Wars 2 and not only guarantee themselves a spot in beta weekend events, but also get a three-day head start before launch to rub into their friend’s faces.

But wait, there’s more! As a bonus, early birds will also receive a “Hero’s Band”, an exclusive item that will provide characters with a range of power boosts.

If you have the $149.99 to blow, you can get your hot little hands on a hand-painted 10-inch statue of the bestial warrior Rytlock Brimstone, a custom frame along with five Guild Wars 2 art prints, a 112-page Making of Guild Wars 2 hardback book, a “Best of Guild Wars 2” soundtrack CD, and five in-game items, including a Mistfire Wolf and a miniature Rytlock who will accompany players on their travels through Tyria.

If that seems a little pricey, you could always go for the “Digital Deluxe Edition.” It’s a slightly more affordable $79.99, and you’ll get the five in-game items that the Collector’s edition has.

For the complete scoop on the various Collector’s Editions, head over to the Guild Wars 2 website.

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