Most Recent: PC

Obvious News Alert! Modern Warfare 3, Skyrim top November NPD list

The NPD Group has released their report of the best-selling games in November 2011 and in a stunning upset, the number one spot went to… Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

OK, a stunning upset that is not. And the rest of the top ten wasn’t any more surprising as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim breathed fire on the number two spot and Battlefield 3 was redeployed to the front as the third best-selling game in November.

The industry’s biggest month was able to supply even more new releases for the list as Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (#4), Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (#7), Saints Row: The Third (#8), and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (#9) all earned a spot on the top ten.

In fact, November 2011 turned out to be one of the biggest months for game sales ever. Anita Frazier, a spokesperson for The NPD Group, said, “This November marks the best November on record for sales of new physical content.”

Here’s the full top ten:

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PC)
2. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
3. Battlefield 3 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
4. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (360, PS3, PC)
5. Just Dance 3 (Wii, Xbox 360)
6. Madden NFL 12 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, PS2)
7. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (PS3)
8. Saints Row: The Third (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
9. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii)
10. Batman: Arkham City (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

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Bastion gets Stranger’s Dream DLC next week

With five nominations, Bastion is in line for a very big night at this weekend’s Spike TV Video Game Awards. But whether or not it wins any of the awards it’s up for, developer Supergiant Games plans to expand the popular action RPG next week.

The Stranger’s Dream will be available to download from Steam (for free) and the Xbox Live Arcade (for $1) on December 14. The DLC will add a new, fully narrated Who Knows Where sequence to the game along with a Score Attack Mode (which unlocks all Spirits and Idols) and a No-Sweat Mode for those who want to enjoy Bastion’s story and the dulcet tones of narrator Logan Cunningham.

Players who want to tackle The Stranger’s Dream and Score Attack Mode will have to have completed the main game, but they’ll be rewarded for their efforts with a new monster arena that delves deeper into Rucks’ backstory as well as the history of Caelondia. And what does the voice of Rucks have to say about that?

“Exciting Bastion-times are afoot.” Indeed they are.

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Battlefield 3 “Wake Island” gameplay trailer makes waves

Battlefield 3 Back to Karkand is now available for PlayStation 3 owners. Xbox 360 and PC players will just have to watch that trailer and drool over the incredibly ridiculous things DICE has accomplished here… at least until December 13th. Then you can pick it up for $14.99 or 1200 Microsoft Points and play on the “Wake Island” map yourself.

Can you say Modern Whatfare?

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2012 IGF Awards add XBLA Prize

The organizers of the Independent Games Festival have announced that they’ve partnered with Microsoft to create the XBLA Prize.

The prize is open to any entrant in the Main Competition or the Student Showcase. And the IGF entrant who wins the XBLA Prize will receive a “guaranteed first-party publishing deal to release the selected title on Microsoft’s Live-enabled platforms, including the Xbox Live Arcade, Windows Phone, and Windows.” Funding to complete the title will also be offered to the winning development team.

Microsoft’s Ted Woolsey, Head of First Party Publishing for XBLA, said, “Playing a role in empowering creative, independent developers, and then delivering the fruits of their labor to a wide fan base on Xbox 360, Windows Phone and soon Windows 8 is an amazingly rewarding job for me and the publishing teams at Microsoft Studios. We can’t wait to see what will come next!”

The 2012 IGF Awards will be handed out during next year’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco on March 7th, 2012. The complete list of entrants for next year’s IGF Awards can be found here.

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Saving Benny: The Bromance of Fallout: New Vegas

Howdy Folks! This article includes spoilers for Fallout: New Vegas. There is also some swearing, partly because the game is rated Mature, and partly because the writer is Scottish. You have been warned. Have a good ‘un.

“You sick, vindictive fuck!”

These were Benny’s last words to me when I finally gave up trying to save him, opting instead to crucify him and pushed forward through the rest of Fallout: New Vegas, a brilliant yet bug-ridden game that entertained as much as it frustrated. By the bitter end, after numerous screen freezes and load errors, stuttering frame rates and other exasperating glitches, I stumbled through to the final fight, killing Legate Lanius and handing General Lee Oliver the conditions for the New California Republic’s withdrawal from New Vegas as dictated by Mr. House. All this while wearing a spacesuit helmet. I watched the epilogue narrated by the various characters I had met, but through it all, someone was missing. (more…)

Posted in Opinions, PC, PS3, Top Story, Xbox 360 | Tagged

New Releases: Fortune Street, Adventures of Tintin, Just Dance 3 for PS3, More

2011 continues to wind down, but a steady trickle of bigtime games continue to make their way onto store shelves.

This week, players will get a chance to try out Nintendo’s board game mashup, Fortune Street (Wii); Ubisoft’s latest movie-to-game adaptation, The Adventures of Tintin (3DS, PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360); and the PS3 version of Just Dance 3.

Check out the full list of the rest of this week’s new releases after the break. (more…)

Posted in 3DS, DS, News, PC, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 | Tagged ,

Battlefield 3 ships 8 million, Back to Karkand pack coming next week

GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that Electronic Arts CFO Eric Brown has confirmed that eight million copies of Battlefield 3 have been sold since the game launched on October 25. Insert a “low whistle” here.

Not only has the DICE-developed shooter sold a lot of copies, but a lot more are available in stores for the Christmas rush. According to Brown, an additional four million copies have been shipped to retailers, which explains Battlefield 3’s discounted status (some stores sold it for as little as $30) on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

EA has also revealed that the Back to Karkand map pack will be available to download from the PlayStation Network on December 6. Gamers who purchased the Battlefield 3 Limited Edition will receive Karkand for free, while the rest of us mere mortals will have to pony up $14.99. The DLC pack will be available for the PC and Xbox 360 on December 13 for the same price.

After downloading Karkand, players will have access to four classic Battlefield maps including “Strike at Karkand,” “Wake Island,” “Gulf of Oman” and “Sharqi Peninsula.” The pack will also feature the return of the Conquest Assault mode (last seen in Battlefield 2), three new vehicles, ten new weapons, five new dog tags, five new Achievements/Trophies and “an added layer of persistence where players complete assignments to unlock items and earn rewards.”

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Goin’ down to South Park, Obsidian’s making an RPG

To quote the main characters from Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s (poorly) animated television show: “Son of a bitch!”

The January 2012 cover of Game Informer will be devoted to South Park: The RPG Game, which is being developed by Obsidian and published by THQ. A South Park RPG? I repeat: “Son of a bitch!”

Scheduled for release next year, South Park: The RPG Game is being described as “a full-scale RPG” and will be released on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. The game even has a full-scale RPG-type plot: “As the new kid in South Park, it’ll be up to you to make friends and defend the town from a wide range of threats.”

Parker and Stone will lend Obsidian a hand by writing the game’s script, voicing the characters, and generally overseeing development. Of course, the same thing could be said about the South Park FPS from 1998. Actually, let that be the only thing said about the South Park FPS from 1998.

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