Tee up on March 8 for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters demo

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

If you have a fetish for green jackets, you might want to check out the demo for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters, coming March 8 to Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network.

The demo includes “Play Now,” where you play as Tiger on the last hole on the last day of the tournament, at the Augusta National’s par-4 18th hole. “Road to the Master’s” mode lets you play five holes, at the new TPC San Antonio Oaks course, appearing for the first time in the series. As EA likes to do with their demos nowadays, you can already start earning XP for the full game by sharing the demo with your friends, and completing the five holes allows you to bypass the EA Sports Amateur Tour and go straight to the National Tour. In addition to San Antonio Oaks, the demo showcases a couple other new features for the game, including the voice talent of Masters announcer Jim Nantz and True View mode, where you swing in first person, much like last year’s definitive John Daly’s ProStroke Golf.

It’ll be interesting to see if EA can top ProStroke’s highly immersive combination of first-person gameplay and PlayStation Move. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters will be available March 29 for Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, with full PlayStation Move support.

Oh, and my right arm’s just a little longer than my left…

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Dead Space 2: Severed priced and dated, new trailer freaks me out

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

EA announced today that Dead Space 2: Severed will be released on March 1 for the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace for $6.99 and 560 MS Points. This expansion contains two new story chapters featuring Gabe Weller and Lexine Murdoch from the rail shooter Dead Space: Extraction, which we loved the crap out of. The good news is their voice actors appear to be returning; the bad news is I think they’re screwed. The trailer above shows them returning to The Sprawl of Dead Space 2 (which we REALLY loved the crap out of) around the same time Isaac Clarke is struggling there, and Weller appears to have an awesome and unique security suit. The trailer is full of terrifying images and glorious fanservice, so if you’re a devout follower of the Church of Unitology, you absolutely have to check this out. I got goosebumps.

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New Battlefield 3 gameplay trailer, pre-order bonuses detailed

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

I’m really torn about Battlefield 3. I’ve been a huge fan of the Bad Company series and certainly lost a lot of time in Battlefield 1943, but I don’t feel I’ll be up for the true sequel to the original franchise. Without a PC to run it, I’m kind of disappointed the console versions will only support up to 24 players, which is what we’ve come to expect in Bad Company. Getting the same scale as the console spin-off just feels like I’m not getting the authentic spirit of the game.

In any case, DICE gives us another amazing trailer showcasing the new engine and features for the game. Frostbite 2, their “next-generation engine for current-generation platforms” sports some seriously impressive lighting, as well as destruction that seems a lot more unpredictable this time. The gameplay shown is standard – a little running, a little gunning, but it displays the return of going prone, something a few players complained about being absent in Bad Company.

The official Battlefield 3 site has also revealed the first tidbits about pre-order bonuses: reserving the game will net you the “Back to Karkand” expansion, including four legendary maps from Battlefield 2, weapons and vehicles, unique rewards, new achievements/trophies, and more. That’s a pretty big pre-order bonus; it sounds as robust as Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam (which was excellent). Battlefield 3 is scheduled for release this Fall 2011 on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.

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Test Drive Unlimited 2 patches incoming, first DLC pack will be free

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

We gave Test Drive Unlimited 2 a decent score, but the game wasn’t free of issues, and it certainly had a couple bugs. Network issues, exploits, and corrupt saves have been fixed on the PC version, even repairing some corrupted save files, and console patches are in the pipeline at Sony and Microsoft. Taking it one step further, Eden Games have announced that the first DLC, the “Exploration Pack,” featuring Lancia Stratos version Rallye, 1969 Dodge Charger, and new wrecks to explore will be available for free. Eden wants you all to know, “the team spends a great deal of time looking at community feedback, so please keep posting your comments to the official TDU2 forums and we look forward to seeing you in Ibiza.”

Sounds like a good PR move on their part, and free DLC is always a good thing. There’s no date on when those patches will be certified or when the Exploration Pack is coming, but stay tuned for more Test Drive Unlimited 2 info.

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Bejeweled Blitz Live matches up with XBLA

Posted on February 23, 2011 by John Scalzo

After taking Facebook by storm, PopCap’s Bejeweled Blitz has been released on the Xbox Live Arcade as Bejeweled Blitz Live. Blitz Live is the second entry in Microsoft’s second annual XBLA House Party promotion. The game is available to download for 800 Microsoft Points ($10) and includes a ton of bonus features not found in the Facebook application.

The biggest change to Bejeweled Blitz Live is that the game includes the “Twist” gameplay style. Players will be able to rotate four gems instead of two while making matches during the frantic 60-second rounds. Players will also be able to compete in local versus matches and 16-player battles over Xbox Live.

More information on the game, direct from Microsoft, can be found after the break.

Press Start to Continue →

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Gears of War 3 emerges on September 20

Posted on February 23, 2011 by John Scalzo

If things had gone according to the original plan, we’d all be sitting down to play Gears of War 3 in a few weeks time. Instead, the trilogy-capping game was delayed to an unspecified “Fall 2011” date. But now, Microsoft and Epic Games have confirmed that the game will make its worldwide debut on September 20th.

Marcus, Baird, Dom and company will continue their fight against the Locust Horde (and “new threats”) in the aftermath of GoW2 throughout new maps and with new weapons. Microsoft has promised that more details about all of the game’s new features will be revealed in the future, including the full scoop on the Gears of War 3 “Official Multiplayer Public Beta.”

My only question is, if this is the end of the trilogy, what’s Gears of War: Exile going to be about?

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Pokemon Black & White getting special DSi bundles

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

March 6 will no doubt be a special day when the latest generation of Pokemon games launches with Pokemon Black Version and Pokemon White Version. If you want to make that day just a little more special, you can grab yourself one of the snazzy bundles pictured left.

Each bundle will come with a version of the game, with a matching DSi sporting new legendary Pokemon Reshiram and Zekrom etched on them. Rounding out the bundle is a custom Pokemon carrying case for your system. Playing the game on a DSi also allows you to use the new video chat feature in the game, the Xtransceiver. The package will sell for a $179.99 suggested price.

If I weren’t so hooked on Pokemon Heart Gold or perfectly fine with my launch DS Lite, this would be a very, very appealing bundle. Pokemon Black and White finally arrive on American shores March 6.

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6.37 million copies of Gran Turismo 5 are out in the wild

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Polyphony Digital has released new shipment figures for Gran Turismo 5, and it seems the game has lived up to the success of the franchise. Since releasing late last November, 6.37 million copies of the game have shipped to retailers. Granted, that’s not how many copies have been actually sold, but it’s an impressive figure nonetheless. If you combine that with the 5.2 million of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, the series has shipped over 11 million units this generation alone.

GT5 was a fantastic game and it’s great to see the final product enjoy this kind of success after so many years of work went into it. Unfortunately, my time is consumed by another PS3 exclusive right now.

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