Diablo III has a release date: May 15

Posted on March 15, 2012 by John Scalzo

According to Blizzard, the end is nigh! Diablo III will be available in stores and online on May 15, 2012.

“After many years of hard work by our development team and months of beta testing by hundreds of thousands of dedicated players around the world, we’re now in the homestretch,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We look forward to putting the final polish on Diablo III over the next two months and delivering the ultimate action-RPG experience to gamers worldwide starting on May 15.”

And if you absolutely can’t wait, Blizzard has begun offering digital pre-orders through the Blizzard.com website.

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EA nabs new partners to provide content on Origin download service

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Melissa Niedringhaus

Looks like Electronic Arts is aiming for bigger slice of the downloadable pie. Today, it announced partnerships with a number of publishers to provide content for it’s online download service, Origin.

Sega tops the list, bringing games like Total War Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai to the table. Also new to the EA fold are Team 17 Software Limited, Rebellion, Kalypso Media Digital, and others, raising the number of Origin content providers to 35.

Origin provides features like built-in customer service, in-game overlay and chat, cloud saves, and live streaming demos, and has about 11 million subscribers, which is a little less than half the number Steam has.

To see what Origin has to offer, check out their website at Origin.com.

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Silent Hill: The Terror Engine Review: An Academic View of Survival Horror

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Nicole Kline

Silent Hill: The Terror Engine is an academic text about the Silent Hill franchise that touches many aspects of that series as well as those of other frightening game franchises. It also goes into horror films and their influence on the survival horror genre of gaming. The author, Bernard Perron, also refers to many texts and articles, drawing from a huge reservoir of data on the horror genre across all media. But it’s more than just a dry academic text – it’s obvious that he is a fan of not just the series but also gaming in general. His voice is a critical one that comes from a place of dedication, passion, and affection. But is this enough to make the book one that is palatable to the non-academic reader?

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Posted in Etcetera, Reviews, Top Story |

Console versions of Risen 2 drop anchor in May

Posted on March 14, 2012 by John Scalzo

Deep Silver has announced that the console version of Risen 2: Dark Waters has set sail for the muddy waters of May.

Previously scheduled for an April 24 release, Risen 2 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 will now be available on May 22. The release date of the PC version was unchanged and remains April 27.

I hope somebody was forced to walk the plank for this! Arrrrr!

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XBLA Today: Defenders of Ardania, Shoot Many Robots

Posted on March 14, 2012 by John Scalzo

Two Xbox Live Aracde games vie for your downloadable dollar today. The first, which is priced at 1200 Microsoft Points ($15), is the tower defense game Defenders of Ardania:

Defenders of Ardania is a next generation tower defense game set in the fantasy world of Majesty, where you can take control over both the defending- and the attacking sides. The game is set in the fantasy world of Majesty with 3 different playable races, each with their own, distinguishable locations, towers, and units. Its innovative new game concept adds a RTS element and takes the popular genre to a new level. Multiplayer offers three different game modes with the players assuming either the defensive or the offensive sides – or both!

The second game in this week’s update is a very descriptively titled shooter game, Shoot Many Robots, which is available for 800 Microsoft Points ($10):

Shoot Many Robots is a 4-player co-op run-n’-gun action game starring robot slayer and gun aficionado, P. Walter Tugnut. From a gun that shoots garden gnome missiles to a tutu that boosts speed and damage, there are hundreds of crazy guns and gear to unlock that boost Walter’s stats – not to mention, make him look pretty. You and three friends can team up to exterminate a zillion robots while progressing through tons of missions, facing uncomfortably epic bosses, and leveling up along the way.

Shoot Many Robots was also added to the PlayStation Store yesterday.

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Here’s your Lollipop Chainsaw voice cast

Posted on March 14, 2012 by John Scalzo

Writer/Consultant James Gunn (Dawn of the Dead, Slither) has assembled an impressive voice cast for Lollipop Chainsaw‘s western release. In addition to pulling in some familiar names with geeky cred, Gunn even called in a familial favor for the game’s villainous center.

That’s right, in a move that will be sure to get fans of “The Gilmore Girls” playing Lollipop Chainsaw, James Gunn has hired his brother, Sean Gunn (who starred in GG as Kurt), to play Swan the necromancer (called it). His “Gilmore Girls” co-star, Gregg Henry, is also along for the ride as Juliet’s Father.

So who’ll be playing Juliet Starling, the blonde and perky cheerleader that’s trying to stop this zombie uprising? That’ll be Tara Strong, who most recently provided the voice of Harley Quinn in Batman: Arkham City.

Rounding out the cast will be:

  • Linda Cardelleni (star of “Freaks and Geeks” and Velma from the Scooby-Doo movies) as a fellow demonhunter, Cordelia.
  • will play her sister Rosalind.
  • Michael Rosenbaum (Lex from “Smallville”) will play Juliet’s boyfriend Nick, a disembodied head.
  • Jimmy Urine, from the band Mindless Self Indulgence, will voice the “deranged” Zed.
  • Finally, Shawnee Smith (of the Saw films and “The Stand”) and Michael Rooker (who starred in Slither) will voice two additional characters.

Lollipop Chainsaw will be available for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on June 12.

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Journey, Warp, Shoot Many Robots, more added to PS Store

Posted on March 14, 2012 by John Scalzo

After a week of PlayStation Plus exclusivity, thatgamecompany’s Journey is now available to download from the PlayStation Store for all PS3 owners. And if our review is any indication, you should buy it right now. Leave work if you have to.

Also available this week are a pair of PSN shooters: EA’s warp (which was part of last month’s XBLA House Party) and Ubisoft’s Shoot Many Robots. I guess the question is, do you want to shoot humans who’ve cruelly kidnapped an alien or do you want to shoot alien invaders as the last hope for humanity?

If you’re interested in some gaming on the go, the Vita Store has added a pair of new games: Reality Fighters, an augmented reality fighting game (co-starring Mr. Miyagi!), and the latest entry in the Ridge Racer racing franchise. Excuse me… RIDGE RACCEEERRR!!!

Hit the jump for more details on all of this week’s releases and travel over to the PlayStation Blog for a complete list of this week’s new game add-ons.

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Journey Review: A Trip You’ll Want to Take

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Nicole Kline

Thatgamecompany’s latest creation, Journey, is more like a work of art than a video game. In fact, I’d go so far as to venture that this game is going to revive the whole “video games as art” argument all over again. Journey brings to life the story of a lone traveler, trekking across the desert to the source of a fallen star at the apex of a mountain. The trip is a spiritual one, something of a pilgrimage, and the symbiotic relationship the main character has with the fabric creatures creates a unique experience that is startlingly emotional for such a short game.

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