FIFA Soccer 13 will bring the innovation this Fall

Posted on May 15, 2012 by John Scalzo

EA Sports has officially announced that FIFA Soccer 13 will be available this Fall on the… deep breath… 3DS, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Vita, Wii, Xbox 360, and iPod Touch/iPhone/iPad.

The latest addition to EA’s footie franchise promises to take a few revolutionary steps forward with an improved Career Mode, improved online play, and more than 500 officially licensed teams (clubs in soccer-speak).

The publisher has also revealed that big changes are coming to the on-field action, which you can read more about after the break.

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Birds of Steel Review: A Quick Flight Over World War II

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Ryan Littlefield

Before playing it, I was subconsciously convinced that Konami’s Birds of Steel was an airborne rendition of Konami’s classic Nintendo hockey game, Blades of Steel. After starting the game, and realizing that no one was wearing ice skates or hitting hockey pucks, I was a bit disappointed. But alas, this review is not for Blades of Steel, it’s for Birds of Steel – the half-flight-sim, half-aerial-combat title which is the spiritual cousin to IL-2 Sturmovik, and was created by the same development team at Gaijin Entertainment.

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

Video Game High School is like Glee… but with less singing and more shooting people

Posted on May 14, 2012 by John Scalzo

Welcome to “Video Game High School,” where instead of math and history and science, you learn important subjects like off-road drifting, the correct way to perform a hadoken, and how best to shoot your classmates in the face.

Needless to say, this new webseries from RocketJump would probably have been the subject of protests a decade ago. But if a bunch of teens can break into song for no reason on television in 2012, a different bunch of teens can jump onto a flagpole from a staircase for equally no reason.

The series features the coming-of-age antics of BrianD as he attempts to woo the girl and fend off his nemesis, a blond-haired Zack Morris wannabe known as “The Law.” Will he get the girl? Will he make the first person shooter team? Will he learn a valuable lesson?

Does Yoshi lay eggs?

“Video Game High School” will run for nine episodes with a new episode debuting every Thursday. You can check out the trailer above or view the full-length series premiere at RocketJump’s website.

Posted in Etcetera, News |

Blizzard is still unsure if Diablo III will come to consoles

Posted on May 14, 2012 by John Scalzo

Remember a few months back when Blizzard “confirmed” that a console version of Diablo III was in the works? Yeah, it turns out that definitive yes may have been less definitive than we were lead to believe.

Speaking to Gamasutra, Director Jay Wilson revealed that the console version is still very much in the theoretical stage and that the developer still isn’t ready to announce it:

Gamasutra: Are you still experimenting and exploring the console version of Diablo III?

JW: Yeah. We haven’t officially announced it, because we’re not “experimenting.” We tell people that basically we’re experimenting, because it helps us hire people. The better people we hire, the better chance we have to actually make it. That’s why we haven’t kept it super secret, but we also haven’t confirmed it, because we’re not sure yet whether we think it will work, and whether we think we have the resources to do it.

I hope they don’t cancel it. I’ll forever wonder if the devil made them do it.

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Download Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown from PSN/XBLA on June 5/6

Posted on May 14, 2012 by John Scalzo

Sega has announced that Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, the latest addition to their fan-favorite fighting franchise, will be available to download from the PlayStation Network on June 5 and from the Xbox Live Arcade on June 6. Both versions will be priced at $14.99 (that’s 1200 Microsoft Points in Xbox 360-land).

Sega will also be adding character customization DLC packs to the PSN and XBLA for all 19 fighters on June 5/6. Each pack will be priced at $4.99 (which is 400 Microsoft Points) and include 600-950 customization items. Two other mega packs, one consisting of nine characters’ worth of DLC items and the other with 10 characters’ worth, will be available to download for $14.99 each. (again, that’s 1200 Microsoft Points).

If you ever get sick of customizing your favorite character and want to do some actual fighting, here’s what you can expect from Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown:

Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown brings the latest arcade version of the Virtua Fighter 5 series to consoles worldwide, adding two new characters… Virtua Fighter 3 favorite Taka-Arashi and newcomer Jean Kujo… and dynamic and interactive fighting arenas. Console-only features include a robust and detailed Training Mode, eight player Online Room Match Mode, and a match record feature to replay, save, and upload fights.

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Daily Scoop: May 14, 2012 – On the eve of Diablo III

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Nicole Kline

Are you excited yet, people? It’s almost time for Diablo III to ruin your life. I know my boyfriend and I are thrilled at the prospect of all of our free time being smashed by this game!

Amazon’s got some new deals up today, some of which are pretty tempting:

Just one shirt today, and this one’s for Zelda fans…

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Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 |

Pikmin 2 coming to Wii on June 10 with latest batch of Nintendo Selects

Posted on May 14, 2012 by John Scalzo

Nintendo has announced that Pikmin 2 will finally make its way to the Wii on June 10, more than three years after the “New Play Control” version was released in Japan, Australia, and Europe.

Instead of carrying the “New Play Control” banner that the other GameCube re-releases were saddled with, Pikmin 2 will be released as part of the Nintendo Selects line, complete with a $19.99 budget price.

Nintendo plans to add three more titles to their Nintendo Selects line on June 10 alongside Pikmin 2. Mario Power Tennis (another GameCube re-release), Donkey Kong Country Returns, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl will all be given new maroon packaging and a price cut.

Donkey Kong Country Returns and Super Smash Bros. Brawl will be priced at $29.99, while Mario Power Tennis will match Pikmin 2’s $19.99 pricetag.

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Crystal Dynamics buries Tomb Raider until early 2013

Posted on May 14, 2012 by John Scalzo

Darrell Gallagher, the Studio Head at Crystal Dynamics, has revealed that the developer’s long-awaited reboot of Tomb Raider won’t make it out this Fall as previously planned. Instead, the game’s release has been pushed back to early 2013 for “polish” and to implement some “finishing touches”:

We’re doing things that are completely new to Tomb Raider in this game and the additional development time will allow us to put the finishing touches into the game and polish it to a level that you deserve. We believe this is the right choice and I guarantee it will be worth the wait.

You know, the game looked pretty darn polished when Crystal Dynamics showed it off at last year’s E3 Expo. But speaking of E3, the developer once again plans to make Tomb Raider the showpiece of the Square Enix booth. To get the gamers of the world excited, they’ve released a new screenshot dubbed “The Reach,” which supposed to offer a hint as what the E3 demo will look like. Hit the jump to see Lara Croft make “The Reach.”

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