Most Recent: PS3

Resistance 3 coming at you in 3D, includes Move and Sharp Shooter support

Sony’s (obviously) made a big push for adoption of 3D gaming and PlayStation Move. Their first party studios have demonstrated that, yes, you can take your game to the next level with 3D and you can make hardcore games with motion control. So with every big PS3 exclusive coming out, the question on everyone’s minds is: will it be in 3D? And, will it support Move?

Yesterday was an awesome day for fans of Insomniac Games, as they hosted their 3rd Annual Community Event at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. They also took the time to answer those two questions with regards to the highly anticipated Resistance 3, with a resounding yes and yes.

Above you can see Creative Director Marcus Smith and the super dreamy founder of Insomniac Ted Price sporting PlayStation Move Sharp Shooters and 3D glasses (not the kind you’ll use to play the game.) Community Manager James Stevenson attributed the incorporation of these features to fan demand. “After Killzone 3 launched, we heard a massive amount of positive feedback, and were inundated with requests to support both PlayStation Move and sharp shooter.” And now you have it.

I’m about halfway in my play-through of Killzone 3 with Move, and while I can’t say it’ll replace the DualShock for me, it certainly is an interesting and different experience. We’ll let you know how well it was included in Resistance 3 when it launches on the PlayStation 3 September 6.

Posted in News, PS3 | Tagged

Moon Diver, Free Realms, Rush ‘N Attack on PlayStation Store this week

It’s another huge week for PlayStation Store updates.

Yesterday, Sony added seven PlayStation 3 games to the store including Split/Secend, the reality TV racer; Rush’N Attack: Ex-Patriot, a new take on Konami’s other side-scrolling shooter series; Chime Super Deluxe, an enhanced version of the popular puzzle game; Sonic The Hedgehog, the first game from Sega’s signature speedster; Free Realms, the free-to-play MMORPG; Moon Diver, a new sword-swinging side-scroller from the creator of Strider; and Episode 2, “Get Tannen!”, of Back To The Future: The Game. Wow. That’s quite a list.

The portable PlayStation Store also got a big update this week as four PSP games were added. They include new releases WWE All-Stars, The 3rd Birthday and Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky as well as a PSP release of Dragon’s Lair.

More information on all of these games can be found after the break or at the PlayStation.Blog. (more…)

Posted in News, PS3, PSP | Tagged

Dragon Age II Review: Defending Kirkwall Like a Hawke

Though it was greatly overshadowed by Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age: Origins was a high-quality return to BioWare’s days as purveyors of epic fantasy RPGs. It had all the qualities that one expects from the company: an epic plot, great characters & dialog, a huge quest that could be solved in numerous ways, and of course, awkward romances. Dragon Age II brings most of this back – just in a far more intimate, narrow setting. While many things about the game are basic refinements of the Dragon Age: Origins formula, the ultimate result is a game that seems like a reinvention of the franchise, similar to the changes from Mass Effect to Mass Effect 2. The question, of course, is whether the risks taken in Dragon Age II have made for a great game… and hey, that’s what we’re here for. (more…)

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

L.A. Noire becomes first game selected for Tribeca Film Festival

L.A. Noire, Team Bondi’s upcoming take on the hardboiled detective story, has become the first video game ever to be honored as an Official Selection at the Tribeca Film Festival.

“We’re thrilled that L.A. Noire is being recognized by the Tribeca Film Festival in this way,” said Sam Houser, Founder of the game’s publisher Rockstar Games. “It’s a real honor, and another step forward for interactive entertainment.”

Publisher Rockstar Games will present an exclusive preview of L.A. Noire as part of the Tribeca Talks series. The presentation will take place on April 25 and feature a live interactive screening of a case from L.A. Noire, followed by a Q&A exploring the crossover between filmmaking and “interactive entertainment.”

Geoff Gilmore, Tribeca Enterprises’ Chief Creative Officer was extremely impressed with how L.A. Noire has been coming together: “What Rockstar and Team Bondi have accomplished with L.A. Noire is nothing less than groundbreaking. It’s an invention of a new realm of storytelling that is part cinema, part gaming, and a whole new realm of narrative expression, interactivity, and immersion. We are poised on the edge of a new frontier.”

L.A. Noire will be released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on May 17.

Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Bethesda bringing Rage to bookstores in novel tie-in

Bethesda Softworks and Del Rey have announced they’ll be teaming up to produce a tie-in novel based on id Software’s Rage.

The novel, which will also be called Rage, will be written by Matt Costello. Costello has some experience working with id Software. Not only did he write the game, but he also previously adapted two novels based on Doom 3 (Worlds on Fire and Maelstrom).

The novel will feature a similar story to the game in that a lone human emerges from an Ark and finds the Mad Max-like world on the outside:

When Lt. Nick Raine emerges from his Ark, he finds the human race has not been wiped out. And people, as resilient as they are, are scraping together a new world from the rubble of the old. This was not what anyone in the Arks expected–a new society where might is right, mutants plague the Earth, and “friend” is a term for the person who hasn’t stabbed you in the back.

The novel is scheduled for release on August 30 and will appear alongside a Dark Horse-published prequel comic book series. So there’s plenty of Rage tie-in stories to go around.

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

Crysis 2 Review: Not All It’s Cried Up to Be

“Can it run Crysis?” For years, this question was the hallmark of determining the mettle of a PC’s prospects as a gaming machine and the bar was so high that the Xbox 360 and even the PlayStation 3 were said to be incapable of running it. Looking to broaden their audience (and possibly clients who license game engines), Crytek unveiled the CryEngine 3, the escort that would bring Crysis to consoles. It’s actually been done; Crysis 2 runs and runs well, but despite its astounding emphasis on visuals, the game fails to stack up well against the FPS heavy hitters of today. (more…)

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

F1 2011 races to stores in September; coming to 3DS, NGP

Fans of the Formula 1 breed of motor sport can rest easy knowing that F1 2011 has narrowed its release date down to this September. Developed by Codemasters Birmingham, this comprehensive sim features every racer, team, and circuit from the 2011 Fia Formula One World Championship. The game is currently slated for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3, but Codemasters also confirmed the game is in development for the Nintendo 3DS and Sony’s Next Generation Portable (NGP/PSP2). These versions may be more than gimped ports, as each will “take advantage of the new platforms’ unique capabilities.” No official date for the handhelds has been confirmed.

You can get a chance to preview the game early by uploading a video on YouTube asking a question for the development team. Tubers submitting the best questions, as judged by the team, will be invited out to Birmingham in May to check out the game and be taped for a developer diary. Sounds like a pretty great opportunity.

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

Capcom officially announces Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

After being outed last week by Official Xbox Magazine, Capcom has confirmed that Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is in development for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 by Slant Six.

Sensing the grumbling of fans that believe the series is straying too much from its roots, Capcom is returning to September 1998 and the events of Resident Evil 2 and 3. For the first time, players will play through the entire game as Umbrella operatives attempting to cover-up the T-Virus outbreak (while also battlnig zombies and Bio-Organic Weapons like Nemesis):

It is September 1998 and the action centres once more on the ill-fated Raccoon City and the horrific consequences of the deadly T-virus outbreak from the Umbrella facility. With a cover up required, Umbrella orders an elite team into Raccoon City to destroy all evidence of the outbreak and eliminate any survivors. Hearing of this plan, the US Government dispatches its own special forces to uncover any evidence that exposes the cause of the viral infection and Umbrella’s actions. Players take on the role of an Umbrella Security Services soldier (U.S.S.), competing alone or in four player co-op in a battle against all the competing forces at play in Raccoon City.

Operation Raccoon City will feature a variety of callbacks to the earlier games in the series including the Police Station and an appearance by Leon Kennedy (who has to be assassinated in one mission). The game will also include several competitive multiplayer modes pitting the Umbrella Security Services against a United States Special Ops team.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is scheduled for release this Winter.

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