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Calvin Johnson is your Madden NFL 13 cover athlete

Posted on April 25, 2012 by John Scalzo

The votes have been counted and we have a winner… Calvin Johnson, wide receiver for the Detroit Lions, will be the Madden NFL 13 cover athlete.

Johnson, also known as “Megatron” to friends, fans, and well wishers, beat out Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton in the final round. A total of 651,790 votes were cast and Johnson came out on top with 52%, an almost razor-thin margin of victory. Nearly 20 million votes were cast throughout the entire tournament.

Johnson is the first player from the Lions to appear on the Madden cover since a shadowy image of Barry Sanders was inserted behind John Madden himself for Madden NFL 2000. Sanders retirement a month earlier and subsequent appearance on the cover is cited by some as the impetus of the “Madden Curse.”

Will Calvin Johnson be able to avoid the curse? Everybody hopes so, but after years of trying, Starscream did eventually manage to kill Megatron. So you never know.

Posted in News, PS3, Vita, Wii, Xbox 360 | Tagged

The Walking Dead, Battlefield 3, Skype for Vita, a lot more added to PS Store

Posted on April 24, 2012 by John Scalzo

Welcome to this week’s massive PlayStation Store update!

First up is The Walking Dead: A New Day, the first episode the Walking Dead episodic game series. PS3 players can buy the first episode today for $4.99 or the Season Pass (which includes all five episodes) for $19.99. Also available today is a trio of PopCap PSN releases (Bejeweled 3, Feeding Frenzy 2: Shipwreck Showdown, and Zuma) and the Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds “Complete Collection,” which includes all previously released DLC.

Full PS3 games available this week include EA DICE’s Battlefield 3, rhythm game Grease Dance, and action RPG The Cursed Crusade.

PS3 owners can also now find another PS2 Classic (Red Faction), two PSone Classics (Darkstalkers 3, Future Cop L.A.P.D.), and a Dragon’s Dogma demo on the PlayStation Store.

And if you own a Vita, you can add the Skype app to your handheld for free today.

More information on all of these games can be found after the break. And a complete list of this week’s game add-ons can be found at the PlayStation Blog. (more…)

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Cam Newton, Calvin Johnson duel for Madden NFL 13 cover

Posted on April 18, 2012 by John Scalzo

After several weeks of intense voting, only two players remain. Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton and Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson have reached the finals of the Madden NFL 13 cover vote.

Newton defeated Patrick Willis of the 49ers in a squeaker (53%-47%) while Johnson demolished Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers (67%-33%).

The final round of voting is now open at ESPN.com/maddenvote and it’ll continue until Wednesday, April 25. The winner will be announced after the voting closes on April 25 on ESPN2’s SportsNation.

Posted in News, PS3, Vita, Wii, Xbox 360 | Tagged

House of the Dead 4, StarDrone Extreme, more lumber onto PS Store

Posted on April 18, 2012 by John Scalzo

It has taken seven long years, but The House of the Dead 4 has finally come home, courtesy of the PlayStation Network. The light gun shooter features both DualShock 3 and PlayStation Move support, so you get to choose how best to dispatch the zombie menace.

If blasting zombies isn’t your thing, a few other PlayStation Store titles are new this week including StarDrone Extreme, a Vita release that promises “a mix of arcade action, pinball, breakout, physics and collect-the-objects,” and Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention, a Vita remake of the formerly PS3-exclusive strategy RPG. Two new full PS3 games are also being added to the store this week: Dead Rising 2: Off the Record and NHL 12.

For more details on all of these titles, hit the jump. And for a complete list of this week’s new game add-ons, shamble over to the PlayStation Blog. (more…)

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New Releases: The Witcher 2 Enhanced Edition, Disgaea 3 Vita, More

Posted on April 14, 2012 by John Scalzo

Welcome to another relatively dry week of new releases in the relatively dry month of April.

The biggest new release of the week is the Enhanced Edition of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings for the PC and, for the first time, on the Xbox 360.

Also new this week is Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat, a compilation that brings together the downloadable games Deadliest Warrior and Deadliest Warrior: Legends in one retail package. It’ll be available for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Finally this week is Atlus’ Vita RPG Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention. It’s a shrunk-down version of the PS3 game with nearly the same name, so if you love strategy RPGs, it might be one to look into.

Wait! There’s one more. Budget publisher Viva Media will bring Dark Strokes: Sins of the Fathers to the PC this week.

OK, that’s all of your new releases for the week.

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

Mass Effect 3 tops NPD bestseller report for March 2012

Posted on April 12, 2012 by John Scalzo

Whether you loved Mass Effect 3‘s ending or you hated it, one thing’s for certain, BioWare made a ton of money selling you the game. In what should be a surprise to no one, Mass Effect 3 took the top spot in The NPD Group’s report of the bestselling games in March 2012.

Even though March was a bit of a slow month for new releases, the remainder of the top ten is populated almost totally by games released in the last four weeks including Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (#2), MLB 12: The Show (#3), SSX (#5), Street Fighter X Tekken (#6), Mario Party 9 (#7), Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations (#9), and Major League Baseball 2K12 (#10).

Whew!

Hit the break to see the full top ten, including the pair of holdovers from the February 2012 report. (more…)

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Newton, Rodgers, Johnson, Willis are your Madden NFL 13 cover vote final four

Posted on April 11, 2012 by John Scalzo

Round Three of the Madden NFL 13 cover vote is complete and the final four has emerged. Semifinal voting will run from today until April 18 as these players vie for your votes:

Left Bracket
Cam Newton (#1) vs Patrick Willis (#11)

Right Bracket
Aaron Rodgers (#1) vs Calvin Johnson (#6)

Both of the top seeds still remain and both are competing against some surprising opponents as we near the end. The 11th-ranked Patrick Willis has had the kind of run that Peyton Hillis had last year. A dedicated fanbase pushed him to the finals, which eventually pushed him over the top against the divisive Michael Vick. Johnson is less of a surprise as he was far and away the best wide receiver in the league last year, but anytime Rob Gronkowski gets bested, it’s a surprise.

But I would be surprised if either man makes it to the finals. Those two positions are reserved for Newton and Rodgers, I guarantee it.

Posted in News, PS3, Vita, Wii, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Skullgirls, Persona 3 FES, World Gone Sour, more added to PS Store

Posted on April 11, 2012 by John Scalzo

Sony pushed out a massive update to the PlayStation Store yesterday. In addition to a huge assortment of new PlayStation Plus freebies and discounts, the consolemaker has added a half dozen games to their downloadable network including…

  • Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES – The classic Atlus RPG that is now part of the PS2 Classics section.
  • Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City – The expansion pack compilation has shockingly never been available on the PSN until now.
  • World Gone Sour – Capcom’s sidescrolling suicide march
  • Skullgirls – A 2D “tournament level” fighter.
  • The Pinball Arcade – The pinball platform is PS3/Vita cross-compatible, so you can buy one it for one system and get it on the other for free!
  • Treasures of Montezuma Blitz – A “shiny new puzzle game” that makes use of the Vita’s unique features.

You can hit the break for more detailed information on all of these titles. And be sure to visit the PlayStation Blog for more on all of this week’s Plus bonuses and new game add-ons. (more…)

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