Daily Scoop: July 21, 2011 – Feeling hot, hot, hot

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Nicole Kline

Another record hot day is upon us here in Philadelphia. It’s supposed to get over 100 degrees both today and tomorrow. Hopefully I don’t melt when I have to go outside!

Not too much going on in deals today. Amazon’s Deal of the Day in video games is Heatwave Interactive’s Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising for the PC. Marked down to $19.99 from $49.99, this MMORPG has “fully customizable estates,” in which your character can “begin the game with their estate at the foot of Mount Olympus” which has been “destroyed by an army of cultists.” Beat down those jerks and rebuild your estate!

There’s also a 20% sale going on over at Play-Asia.com – just become a member and reap the benefits of the sale!

Today’s Ript shirt, titled “Game of Blades,” is one I know a lot of you must buy:

Press Start to Continue →

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News, PC |

Prototype 2 gets dated with a first look at Comic-Con

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Chris Urie

Alex Mercer, that other gravelly voiced super-anti-hero, will be back for another round (this time as the bad guy) against a new starring character, Sgt. James Heller, in Prototype 2. We also know when this showdown will take place as Activision has tagged Prototype 2 with an April 24, 2012 release date.

Radical Entertainment will be on hand at the Activision booth at the San Diego Comic-Con to unveil a first look at the new game. They will be hosting 15 minute stage presentations to showcase parts of the wild shape shifting action as well as to give out some Prototype branded goodies like Heller’s leather jacket and a custom Alex Mercer skinned Xbox 360. You can get a taste of the Comic-Con reveal in the trailer above.

For this new jaunt into the Prototype universe you will be assuming the role of Sgt. James Heller. You will need to use all the genetic and shape shifting weapons in your arsenal to take down Alex Mercer. But don’t worry, you will be slurping down people to assume their identities again in no time!

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

The Darkness II delayed; demo available at Comic-Con

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Chris Urie

Jackie Estacado returns with the Darkness at his back… on his back? Maybe it is that the Darkness has his back…

First, the bads news. 2K Games has delayed the release of The Darkness II. Previously scheduled to ship to stores in October, the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 game will now be released on February 7, 2012.

Anyway, 2K is celebrating 15 years of The Darkness comics at Comic-Con this year. They will be co-hosting a special panel called “Spreading The Darkness: From Comic Book to Video Games and Entertainment” featuring Marc Silvestri (co-creator of The Darkness) and Mike Patton (the in-game voice of The Darkness) amongst other talented people from Top Cow Productions.

2K also plans to have 8 playable demos of The Darkness II up and running for your enjoyment at the Top Cow booth. You will get to experience first hand what they are calling Quad-Wielding. Now you can use those two extra demon arms to maim and dismember some poor schmoes while your hands remain free to perpetrate mayhem with heavy ordinance.

It is nice to see a video game respecting the source material enough to emulate it in style and spirit. It won’t be October, but you’ll get a chance to wield those extra demon arms you always wanted soon.

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

Do a barrel roll in 3D with Star Fox 64 3D trailer

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Chris Urie

If you had a Nintendo 64 back in the day and took time out from leaping on goombas and playing your ocarina, then you certainly must have played Star Fox 64. It has become one of those games that has risen up into classic status alongside Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Mario 64, and Conker’s Bad Fur Day.

And now you can do a barrel roll in 3D! Check out the new trailer above complete with all that stellar voice acting you know and love.

Along with some funky new features to play along with your friends, Star Fox 64 3D should provide us all with that warm blanket of nostalgia we need until Nintendo releases The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Star Fox 64 3D will be released on September 9, 2011.

Posted in 3DS, News | Tagged

Nintendo planning downloadable GameCube games for Wii U

Posted on July 20, 2011 by John Scalzo

The NintendoGal spoke to Amber McCollom, Nintendo’s Director of Entertainment & Trend Marketing, at E3 and she has dropped a pretty huge bombshell. It looks like the Wii U’s online store will include GameCube games in its download offerings.

Here’s the relevant exchange from the interview:

NintendoGal: I noticed on backwards compatibility at the press conference that the GameCube was missing. Why is this?

McCollom: You know it’s interesting that you bring up backwards compatibility and Nintendo’s history usually goes back one system. The Wii was compatible with GameCube and Wii U will be compatible with Wii and that’s pretty traditional in launches from Nintendo.

NintendoGal: So the Wii U will not support the discs or accessories?

McCollom: Actually the GameCube discs will not be compatible with Wii U, but a number of the games that were playable on GameCube can be downloaded from WiiWare.

The one thing McCollom didn’t mention is how GameCube games will be made available on the Wii U. Will they be the original games running off a Virtual Console-like emulator? Or will they be HD ports rebuilt from the ground up like we’ve seen on the PS3 and Xbox 360?

Hopefully, we’ll find out soon.

Posted in News, Wii U |

A cop, a wrestler, and a porn star walk into the Saints Row 3 voice cast

Posted on July 20, 2011 by John Scalzo

It sounds like the beginnings of a bad joke, doesn’t it? And yet, that is the perfect description of the newly announced voice cast for THQ’s Saints Row: The Third.

Daniel Dae Kim, known to Saints Row fans everywhere as the voice of Johnny Gat, will reprise his role in The Third. In the new game, Gat has become “the face of high class crime,” which is a far cry from Kim’s appearances as Jin on “Lost” and Chin Ho on “Hawaii Five-0.”

The wrestler is none other than Hulk Hogan. The Hulkster will fill the (thankfully) yellow boots of Angel De LaMuerte, a legendary professional wrestler. According to THQ, Angel was “betrayed by his former tag-team partner Killbane, now the merciless leader of the Lucadores street gang.” To exact his revenge, he teams up with the Saints.

Finally, the porn star is none other than Sasha Grey. Surprisingly, the “Entourage” star won’t be playing a porn star (THQ refers to her as just “Actress Sasha Grey” in the press release). Instead, she’ll lend her voice to Viola DeWynter, the mastermind behind The Syndicate’s financial empire.

So anyway. A cop, a wrestler and a porn star walk into a bar and the bartender says…

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

Halo: Primordium to continue story of Forerunner Saga

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Nicole Kline

Halo: Primordium, the sequel to Halo: Cryptum and the second novel in the Forerunner Saga, will be coming out on January 3, 2012. Published by Tor Books, the novel – which will be available in both print and audio versions – will be penned by Greg Bear, who was also the author of Cryptum.

Fans at San Diego Comic-Con will be able to see the award-winning science fiction writer at two Halo panels, “Writing in Videogames: In-Game, Novels, Comics, and Other Franchise-Building Offshoots” (Room 32AB), and “Halo Universe” (Room 6BCF). Those panels are at 10 AM and 11:30 AM, respectively, on Friday, July 22. Also on Friday, at 2 PM, Bear will be at the Tor Books booth (#2707), where there will be a giveaway as well as signing of Halo: Evolutions books, totebags and posters.

Posted in Etcetera, News | Tagged

Family Guy Online MMO announced by 20th Century Fox; customize your character today!

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Nicole Kline

20th Century Fox has announced Family Guy Online today, a new MMO based on the popular television series. An open beta for this free-to-play, browser-based, 3D game will be launching later this year. Eager players can start customizing their own characters today at the game’s website. You can then annoy your Facebook friends even more by posting your character directly to your Facebook page. Lucky fans attending San Diego Comic Con can make characters right there on the show floor, and can get limited edition Family Guy Online posters signed by the mayor himself, Adam West.

Fans can explore all of Quahog, from Spooner Street to the Drunken Clam, and interact with characters from the show, including the whole Griffin family and all of their wacky neighbors. You can choose to either go solo in a single-player experience or team up with your friends. Fans will also be happy to hear that the show’s writers are a part of the development team.

The social online game production company, Roadhouse Interactive, is at the helm of development. Hosted on the Unity platform, the game will have “vibrant graphics,” and “the flexibility of the platform will allow the game writers and developers to continuously evolve the game play and content.”

I bet whoever made the call to bring Family Guy back on the air is celebrating right now.

Posted in News, PC | Tagged