Most Recent: News

New Releases: El Shaddai, No More Heroes Heroes’ Paradise, Age of Empires Online

Posted on August 13, 2011 by John Scalzo

The weekly New Releases roundup is back after a bye last week, but there’s still not much to talk about.

This week we have Ignition’s apocryphal bible tale El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron. The trippy hack ‘n’ slash will be available on the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Speaking of trippy, Konami will be bringing the Suda 51-developed No More Heroes to the PS3 as No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise. The port of the once-exclusive Wii game includes Move support, HD graphics, a new boss rush mode and a “character viewer” to get a closer look at the game’s leading ladies.

Also available this week is the retail version of Microsoft’s Age of Empires Online and a DS puzzler known as Puzzler World 2.

And that’s it for this week’s new releases.

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

Gotham City Impostors sneaks into Gamescom with new trailer

Posted on August 12, 2011 by John Scalzo

Monolith Productions has unveiled a new trailer for Gotham City Impostors in advance of next weekend’s Gamescom show. Promising that “customization is key,” the video showcases the many weapons and wearable items that players will be able to get their hands on in this whacked out version of Gotham City. Wait’ll they get a load of me, indeed.

The fun begins in the first few months of 2012 on the PC, PS3 (PlayStation Network) and Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade).

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

Valve bringing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to PC, PS3, Xbox 360

Posted on August 12, 2011 by John Scalzo

Get your crowbar ready because Valve has just announced a sequel to one of their most popular properties. That’s right, Half-Life 2: Episode Three Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will be coming to the PC, PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade during the first few months of 2012. This is good news and all, but maybe we can use those crowbars to “convince” Gabe Newell to start working on Episode Three.

A joint development between Valve and Hidden Path Entertainment, Global Offensive will “will expand upon the team-based action gameplay that [Counter-Strike] pioneered when it was launched exactly 12 years ago.” To that end, CS:GO will feature new maps, characters, and weapons alongside new gameplay modes, matchmaking, leaderboards, and more. But don’t think Valve has forgotten the past. Updated versions of classic CS maps, such as de_dust, will also be included in Global Offensive.

“For the past 12 years, [Counter-Strike] has continued to be one of the most-played games in the world, headline competitive gaming tournaments and selling over 25 million units worldwide across the franchise. CS:GO promises to expand on CS’ award-winning gameplay and deliver it to gamers on the PC as well as the next gen consoles and the Mac,” said Doug Lombardi of Valve.

Valve plans to bring a playable version of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to this year’s PAX Prime at the end of August and the Eurogamer Expo in September.

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

New Saints Row: The Third trailer has you “Freefalling”

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Nicole Kline

THQ’s Saints Row: The Third just keeps looking better and better. The latest trailer, “Freefalling,” is from the second mission in the game. The Syndicate gets miffed when the Saints rob one of their banks, and capture you, Johnny Gat, and Shaundi. After it’s clear the Syndicate won’t get what it wants from the Saints, they try to take them out – but you and Johnny have a different idea. I love the humor in this – Johnny Gat says he’ll go fly the plane, to which Shaundi replies: “Johnny, you can’t even drive stick. How are you going to pilot a plane?” Check out the trailer to see some of the freefalling action, and how you have to catch Shaundi before it’s too late.

Saints Row: The Third will be out October 15 on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

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

NBA 2K12 soundtrack revealed

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Nicole Kline

NBA 2K12‘s soundtrack was released today by 2K Sports, featuring tracks and collaborations by Eminem, Cee-Lo Green, Busta Rhymes, and many more. Alex K. and D.J.I.G. made the soundtrack through a contest called “Duck Down,” giving them the opportunity to collaborate and create the track “Now’s My Time.”

2K Sports’ Vice President of Marketing, Jason Argent, emphasized how important music is to the series. “Music has always been an integral part of our NBA 2K video games, as it further immerses players into the world of basketball and enhances their gaming experience,” he said. “It was important to us that the NBA 2K12 soundtrack was not only what you hear while navigating the menus, but also in real-life situations like pre-game highlight introductions and during timeouts, just as you would hear a song while at a game or watching on TV.”

NBA 2K12 will be available October 4 for the PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, and Xbox 360. Hit the jump for the full track list. (more…)

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Google+ adds games, surprises no one

Posted on August 12, 2011 by John Scalzo

We all knew it was coming, but yesterday, Google officially added a “Games” stream to their Google+ social networking service.

Facebook users have often complained about feeling overwhelmed by the amount of game notifications in their feed, so Google+ plans to segregate all game activity under a “Games” button.

“The Games page is also where your game accomplishments will appear. So you can comfortably share your latest high score—your circles will only see the updates when they’re interested in playing games too. If you’re not interested in games, it’s easy to ignore them. Your stream will remain focused on conversations with the people you care about,” said Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice President of Engineering.

But if you think games and social networking are two great tastes that taste great together, then you’ll definitely want to hit the break for the full list of games now available on Google+. (more…)

Posted in News, PC |

Daily Scoop: August 12, 2011 – Please buy Pokemon!

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Nicole Kline

Hello everyone, and welcome to a beautiful Friday! Today, my biggest advice to you is: please buy Pokemon HeartGold or Pokemon SoulSilver! They are currently $24.99 at GameStop, and they come with Pokewalkers! What does that mean? That means they come with pedometers that look like Pokeballs that you can put your Pokemon on and level them up as you walk around. Has your brain exploded yet? This also means that if you see me at PAX, we can connect our Pokewalkers and our Pokemon can play together. Yay!

Also up for today is Amazon’s Deal of the Day in video games, which is the Rock Band 3 Wireless Fender Mustang PRO-Guitar Controller for Xbox 360 by MadCatz. It’s $92.99 down from $149.99 today, and has an “advanced tilt sensor for Overdrive activation.” Bring the noise!

Today’s shirt.w00t is entitled “The Perfect Moment,” and captures my life so succinctly: (more…)

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News, Xbox 360 |

NCAA Football 12 is the valedictorian of July’s NPD chart

Posted on August 12, 2011 by John Scalzo

The NPD Group has revealed the top ten bestselling games for the month of July and NCAA Football 12 jumped to the head of the class. None of the rest of the month’s new releases managed to crack the list (including the awesome Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon or the alluring Catherine). Even the heavily-hyped Duke Nukem Forever was unable to maintain its place in the top ten.

With few new releases, only 17 titles were released during the month, gamers spent their money on other things in July. According to The NPD Group’s Anita Frazier, July was the “lowest month [for game sales] since October 2006.”

Maybe that’ll show publishers that the gaming community is pretty desperate for new games in the Summer. So maybe they shouldn’t backload every worthwhile game into the September-November period. In the meantime, check out the full top ten after the break. (more…)

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