Most Recent: Xbox 360

First Hitman: Absolution gameplay trailer released

Posted on October 10, 2011 by John Scalzo

So you’re undercover as a police officer, wouldn’t you try to hide the very distinctive barcode tattoo on the back of your head? Apparently, not if you’re Agent 47.

Square Enix has released the first gameplay trailer for Hitman: Absolution, the first game in the series designed exclusively for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. In the minute-long trailer, 47 is stalking a group of cops by dressing up as one of them. The publisher has promised an uncut gameplay walkthrough will be available soon at YouTube.com/hitman.

Hitman: Absolution will be available in 2012.

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Check out CoD Modern Warfare 3’s latest single-player trailer: Redemption

Posted on October 8, 2011 by John Scalzo

I know what you’re thinking, who plays a Call of Duty game for its single-player campaign? Well, for those that do, Activision has released an awesome new trailer, titled “Redemption,” that showcases the World War III-like shenanigans of Makarov and the rest of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 cast.

Oh, and you might also want to know that the game is exactly one month away. That’s right, Modern Warfare 3 will be available in stores on November 8. But I’m going to guess that you actually knew that already.

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New Releases: Forza 4, Dead Rising 2 Off the Record, Skylanders, More

Posted on October 8, 2011 by John Scalzo

Several very different types of games will drive onto store shelves this week and Microsoft’s Forza Motorsport 4 is leading the way. Turn 10’s racing simulator is back for more and now it’s packing a bunch of Kinect-exclusive features as well.

Also available this week is Capcom’s retelling of Dead Rising 2 (from Frank West’s perspective): Dead Rising 2: Off the Record (PC, PS3, Xbox 360). If you ever wanted to see Mr. I’ve Covered Wars You Know as an overweight wrestler fighting zombies, now’s your chance.

Activision’s ambitious action figure/video game mashup Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure is also being released this week. The package (which touts its use of “smart toys”) is a bit pricey, but it’ll be available for the 3DS, PC, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360.

Finally this week, we get some new air adventures in Namco Bandai’s Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (PS3, Xbox 360) and some old west adventures in Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption: Game of the Year Edition (PS3, Xbox 360).

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 ,

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron rolls out in Fall 2012

Posted on October 6, 2011 by John Scalzo

Activision and developer High Moon Studios have announced that the war for Cybertron will continue in next Fall’s Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. The game will be receiving the Game Informer cover treatment with two different images. The first, which you can see above, features fan-favorite Grimlock alongside Optimus Prime. The second, which can be seen at GameInformer.com, features the possible death of Bumblebee. No!

Fall of Cybertron picks up right where Transformers: War For Cybertron left off and it promises to retell the “final, darkest hours of the civil war between the Autobots and Decepticons as they fight for control of their dying planet, ultimately leading to their storied exodus from home.”

“High Moon Studios is an extremely talented development team having raised the bar of gameplay and Transformers authenticity in their games,” said David Oxford, Executive Vice President at Activision Publishing. “Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is an extraordinary project both for the studio and the Transformers gaming legacy – the stakes are higher and the scale much larger than ever before, and we absolutely cannot wait for fans to see all the new characters and epic action that awaits them.”

Platforms for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron weren’t announced, but a PS3 and Xbox 360 release seems likely.

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Gears of War 3 Review: An Epic and Enjoyably Violent Conclusion

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Troy Matsumiya

Awesome. That’s all you need to know about Gears of War 3, the final chapter of the groundbreaking, chainsaw-loving trilogy. This is not to say Epic Games won’t make more – after all, they’ve sold over three million copies in the first week, so it’s pretty much a no-brainer that the franchise will continue. Rather, it is only Marcus Fenix’s story that has come to a close – and wow, what an epic, thrilling, and enjoyably violent conclusion it is. (more…)

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XBLA Today: Crysis, NBA Jam, Orcs Must Die!, Space Channel 5 Part 2, Sega Bass Fishing

Posted on October 5, 2011 by John Scalzo

Yesterday’s PlayStation Store update was chock full of big new releases and today’s Xbox Live Arcade update is nearly as large.

Leading things off again is the en fuego NBA Jam: On Fire Edition. The downloadable basketball game has been priced at 1200 Microsoft Points ($15), the same price as the XBLA-exclusive Orcs Must Die!, a tower defense game from Robot Entertainment.

Also available this week are a pair of Dreamcast ports for 800 Microsoft Points ($10) each: the self-explanatory Sega Bass Fishing and the rhythmic button-pressing of Space Channel 5: Part 2. Ooh-la-la!

Also available this week is the XBLA version of Crysis, which has officially been cataloged in the Games on Demand section of the XBL Marketplace. You can get your graphically-intensive alien invasion on for a price of $19.99.

More details on all of this week’s new releases can be found at Major Nelson’s blog.

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Driver: San Francisco Review: Playing Mind Games

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Adam Woolcott

It would be very easy to dismiss Driver: San Francisco as yet another failed attempt to revive a franchise that really hasn’t meant much to gaming since the days of the original PlayStation. Some might even say that making a new Driver game is a complete waste of time and resources, considering how tarnished the brand is. However, doing so might actually be a disservice to anyone who’s a fan of unique, open world driving games. If anything, Driver: SF does something that very few games do in the year 2011… it actually wants to be a video game. (more…)

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

id’s Tim Willits on Rage 2, Doom 4, more

Posted on October 1, 2011 by John Scalzo

On the eve of their first game in seven years, id Software Creative Director Tim Willits sat down with GamesIndustry.biz to discuss the company’s present and future including Rage, Doom 4 and… Rage 2?

On the subject of a Rage sequel, Willits said that DLC for Rage will come first, but the developer did reveal that id plans to begin work on Rage 2 if sales of the first game are good enough:

When I came to see you for the Rage announcement you were already talking about it being a franchise, can developers just not afford to make standalone titles in the current climate?

Willits: You need to make a franchise, especially for us. We’re doing everything we can to turn it into a franchise, “please let it sell so we can make another one!”

So we definitely, from the get go, planned to make this a much bigger franchise, a much richer world, that allows us to have different games, and we can make more mobile games, heck, we could make a social game with Rage if we wanted to. And hopefully we can make a Rage 2. Hopefully.

And what of id’s other major project, Doom 4? Willits revealed that at the time of the game’s 2008 announcement, only one person was working on Doom 4. Apparently, the game’s ultra-early announcement was all a ploy to get resumes:

Willits: We had to say that we were hiring folks [for Doom 4], so we had a long internal debate and we were like “why don’t we just tell people?” So we said we were hiring, but at that point we only had one guy working on it. But it was the best way to get resumes, because everybody wants to work on a Doom game.

So Rage will be available this Tuesday, Doom 4 is in the works for some time after and Rage 2 will come out in the far future… hopefully.

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