Cam Newton, Aaron Rodgers are #1 seeds in Madden NFL 13 cover bracket

Posted on March 21, 2012 by John Scalzo

The votes from the “play-in round” have been tabulated and the 32-man Madden NFL 13 cover bracket is now live at ESPN’s SportsNation site.

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers were seeded by EA Sports in the number one slots. New England Patriots Tight End Rob Gronkowski and Victor Cruz of the New York Giants are nipping at their heels as the number twos.

By scheduling the “play-in round” before the beginning of free agency, several teams won’t be represented in the final bracket while others have multiple players in the tournament. Brandon Lloyd was selected as the player from the St. Louis Rams, but he’ll don a Patriots jersey this Fall and Tim Tebow was traded to the New York Jets just minutes before the bracket was unveiled.

You can check out the complete bracket after the break and remember to vote in Round One of the Madden NFL 13 Cover Vote, which runs from today until March 28.

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

XBLA Today: Sine Mora, Rayman 3 HD

Posted on March 21, 2012 by John Scalzo

Wednesday is here and Microsoft has updated the Xbox Live Arcade with two new titles today.

The first is a side-scrolling, steampunk, shoot ’em up from Suda 51 titled Sine Mora. It’s available to download for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15):

Sine Mora is a horizontal shoot’em up that provides a unique take on challenge, where time is the ultimate factor. Mixing classic shooter sensibilities with contemporary presentation, SINE MORA is a gorgeous shmup that offers a Story Mode that weaves an over-the-top tale and an Arcade Mode that provides deep, satisfying gameplay to challenge fans of the genre. With many ways to manipulate time, Sine Mora features over 60 weapon combinations to complete each beautifully-crafted stage that form fits to the player’s skills with scaling difficulty. Soundtrack composed by Akira Yamaoka and featuring boss designs by Mahiro Maeda.

Also available this week is a classic platformer remade in HD for the XBLA, Rayman 3 HD. It’s available to download for 800 Microsoft Points ($10):

Embark on a fantastic and humorous journey with Rayman and Globox to save the Crossroad of Dreams. Masterfully enhanced with eye-popping High Definition visuals and sounds, Rayman 3 HD is the definitive version of the Rayman classic Rayman 3: Hoodlum’s Havoc, and a must-play for all Rayman fans and platform adventure game enthusiasts.

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged ,

First Walking Dead trailer, pricing details shamble into focus

Posted on March 21, 2012 by John Scalzo

After months of teasing, Telltale Games is finally ready to satisfy the hunger of gamers everywhere looking for details about The Walking Dead. The first episode of the five-part series will be available for the PC, Mac, iOS, PlayStation Network, and Xbox Live Arcade. PSN, XBLA, and iPod/iPad owners will be able to purchase it for $5 (or the Microsoft-approved equivalent) while PC/Mac players will have to pre-purchase the entire series for $24.99.

However, those that pre-order the PC game before it’s release will receive a 10% discount and be entered into a contest to become a character in the game. According to Telltale, “they will be modeled as a human survivor before being killed and then returned to life as a ravenous zombie.” Kick ass!

In addition to a release window, pricing information, and the first trailer, Telltale has also released a story synopsis:

An untold story following convicted criminal Lee Everett; a man given a second chance at life in a world gone to hell. With danger around every corner, protecting an orphaned girl named Clementine may offer him redemption in a world of true horror.

Dan Connors, Telltale’s co-founder and CEO is understandably excited: “This trailer really shows off how our artists have managed to take the 2D art style of the comic books and create a 3D world allowing fans to truly interact with Robert Kirkman’s world for the very first time. We hope that fans will like what they see and be excited by the chance to join the cast of the game; we promise they’ll die horribly!”

That better be a promise, Mr. Connors!

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

GAME Group enters administration; “no equity” left in company

Posted on March 21, 2012 by John Scalzo

Looks like it really is Game Over for British retailer GAME.

The chain’s parent company, The GAME Group, announced this morning that it was removing itself from the London Stock Exchange because “there is no equity value left in the Group.” Things went from bad to worse a few hours later when the company announced that it would also be entering administration (the British equivalent of bankruptcy).

The GAME Group operates over 1,200 stores throughout Europe and almost 100 in Australia. Their troubles began when they could no long afford to stock those stores with the latest releases like The Last Story, SSX, Mass Effect 3, and more.

Hopefully this ends well for GAME’s many employees and gamers all across Europe.

Posted in News |

PSN Today: Rayman 3 HD, Sumioni: Demon Arts, more

Posted on March 20, 2012 by John Scalzo

Tuesday is ticking to a close and Sony has updated the PlayStation Store with a quartet of new games. There’s the inky Vita adventure Sumioni: Demon Arts; Tecmo Koei’s demon brawler, Warriors Orochi 3; an HD remake of a classic platformer, Rayman 3 HD; and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, THQ’s action spinoff of the tabletop game.

Details (and pricing) for all of these titles can be found right here with a full list of new game add-ons at the PlayStation Blog.

PSN Games

Warriors Orochi 3 ($49.99)
Years after the battle against Orochi, the Serpent King, the heroes of the Three Kingdoms and Warring States face a new threat. A terrible and colossal monster casts its shadow across the land and defeats most of the brave warriors.

Rayman 3 HD ($9.99)
Embark on a fantastic and humorous journey with Rayman and Globox to save the Crossroad of Dreams.

PS3 Full Games

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine ($39.99)
Step fearlessly into the heart of combat as Captain Titus of the Ultramarines, unleashing visible violent death against the enemies of mankind in the first 3rd person action shooter set in the dark future of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

PS Vita Games

Sumioni: Demon Arts ($19.99)
Take control of Agura, a Sumioni, or “Inkdemon”, who’s been called upon to white out a blot of evil upon feudal Japan. Guide him through 2D side-scrolling levels and unleash his powers by drawing brush strokes on the touchscreen.

Posted in News, PS3, Vita | Tagged ,

Game industry giants join PlayJam advisory board

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Melissa Niedringhaus

PlayJam, a “Smart TV” games platform that utilizes cloud technology to stream or download content to televisions, has managed to lure a few heavyweights to it’s corner.

Newly on board are GameStop President Tony Bartel, who will advise PlayJam on expanding it’s network of publishers and developers, co-founder of Red Octane Charles Huang, who plans to help the company develop original games in both the music and fitness genres, and co-founder of FreeStyleGames and Media Molecule Chris Lee, who will help build the global developer community for the company’s games network.

PlayJam has also recently signed a few developers to it’s beta program, including Relentless, First Star Software, GameHouse, and Slingo.

Jasper Smith, CEO and founder of PlayJam, sees this support from prominent figures in the industry as a “great endorsement”, and believes that “the market for TV gaming will see exponential growth” due to enhanced connectivity of modern TVs, Blu-ray, and other media players.

Posted in News |

GameFest: Pioneers of the Gaming Industry Talk, We Listen

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Nicole Kline

GameFest, a three-day festival to commemorate the opening of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “Art of Video Games” exhibit, was held last weekend. The exhibit itself will run from March 16th to September 30th, 2012, with a ten-city tour planned for 2012-2013. But all weekend long, excited participants were able to play games, go to talks by important members of the industry, and attend performances of video game-inspired music. It was inspirational, memorable, and most importantly, a complete blast.

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Posted in Features, Top Story |

Daily Scoop: March 20, 2012 – Whew!!

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Nicole Kline

It has been quite a busy few days for me, dear friends! I went to Game Fest this weekend at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. It was an amazing little festival to kick off their newest exhibit, “The Art of Video Games.” It was a weekend full of Pac-Man cookies, celebrity sightings, and video games. I couldn’t have asked for more! Keep checking back here for my articles about the event.

Also, I’ve got a bunch of deals for you today! Amazon’s Deal of the Day in video games today is Ubisoft’s The Black Eyed Peas Experience. It’s $29.40 on the Wii and $30.02 on the Xbox 360. They’re also running an awesome deal to buy Final Fantasy XIII-2, get Final Fantasy XIII free! Seriously hop on that. If you’ve already got the first game, they’ve also got the Collector’s Edition of the sequel for $59.99 for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

That’s not all. There’s also the Red Dead Redemption Game of the Year Edition on sale for $29.99 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. This includes the original game, plus Undead Nightmare, as well as all the other DLC available for the game. This is a must-buy if you don’t already have this game! And last up is $50 off the Xbox 360 250GB Holiday Value Bundle, bringing it down to $249.99. This is a pretty good deal for the 250 GBs of space, plus two games, a controller, a headset, and three months of Xbox Live. Considering that Star Wars one I want is nearly twice the price, this one is awfully tempting…

No game-related shirts today, but there’s a repeat up that I promised myself I would buy if I ever saw it again…

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