Daily Scoop: February 3, 2011 – No, really, it’s a trap

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Nicole Kline

Good morning, dear readers! Welcome to another edition of the Daily Scoop. Today we’ve got an Amazon Deal of the Day in video games, and it’s one that I find to be winter-friendly. It’s Activision’s Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2011 with Top Shot Elite for the Wii. Buy this for the gamer who likes to hunt but not when it’s ridiculously frigid outside. It’s $39.99 from $59.99, so grab it while it’s hot.

Remember that addiction I talked about in yesterday’s Scoop? Well, I don’t think I’m going to be able to stop myself this time. I mean…just look at today’s shirt.w00t:

My threshold for temptation is being tested. Will I be able to resist?

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Killzone 3 Retro Map Pack revealed, public multiplayer beta begins today

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Mike Gutierrez

Pre-orders at participating retailers for Killzone 3 were revealed to include not only access to the multiplayer beta for SOCOM 4, but the mysterious Retro Map Pack, which was to include two fan favorite multiplayer maps from the previous game, Killzone 2. Guerilla Games finally revealed yesterday on the PlayStation Blog what those maps would be – Salamun Market (a market district in between high-rises and the winding alleyways running through them) and Blood Gracht (slums adjacent to a canal). Both maps are a little different this time, as they both take place during the day. Also, Helghan’s wild vegetation has started to overrun Blood Gracht while the mechs from the Killzone universe, now available in multiplayer, will be up for grabs on the Salamun Market map. Salamun Market was particularly great for large scale skirmishes, while Blood Gracht was arguably perfect for four-on-four matches. The map pack comes free for those who pre-ordered the game at select retailers (again, only Gamestop, Best Buy, and Amazon are listed) and will be available for purchase from the PlayStation Store.

I’m very, very surprised the maps weren’t Radec Academy and Pyrrhus Rise. Killzone 2 still has tons of servers running 24/7 Radec Academy Body Count games (re: Team Deathmatch) and Pyrrhus Rise was always the favorite for the full seven rounds of Warzone. The two maps here are pleasantly surprising and excellent choices, though, especially with the changes Guerilla introduced. Also, be sure to check the PlayStation Store at 10:00am Pacific Time (1:00pm here on the East Coast) for the public multiplayer beta of Killzone 3. You’ll also be able to win a super exclusive Limited Helghast Edition of Killzone 3 if you play this weekend from Friday to Sunday.

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New Homefront release date revealed… March 15

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Ryan Littlefield

Through a post on Homefront’s own Twitter account, the new release date of March 15th has been revealed. This is the US release date for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 versions; the UK will have to wait a few days longer (until March 18th). The game has been pushed back several times for various reasons, but it looks as though it will finally make its way to shelves soon enough… just a week later than expected. It seems as though the publishers have about as much vision on a shipping date as the character on the game’s cover art.

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Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2 lands on XBLA; new trailer released

Posted on February 2, 2011 by John Scalzo

Nathan “Rad” Spencer is back for another battle against another evil dictator in Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2. The sequel is now available on the Xbox Live Arcade for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15).

If you’re away from your Xbox 360 and want a look at how the bionic arm works this time, you can check out the game’s launch trailer above.

Oh, and Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2 is available on the PlayStation Network too.

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EA working on “exciting” new FPS

Posted on February 2, 2011 by John Scalzo

Electronic Arts held their quarterly financial briefing yesterday and their CEO, John Riccitiello, revealed a small slice of the publisher’s 2011/2012 plans. Riccitiello has vowed to return EA to the top of the heap when it comes to first person shooters and he revealed that the company has a secret shooter in the works:

“This year, with the trail end of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 still doing well, Medal of Honor doing well, Crysis and Bulletstorm, we’re clearly going to make more progress on our goal, and that’s before we get to what I think is going to be a very exciting entry later in the year that we’re not yet announcing.”

The briefing also revealed that EA has three games planned for the 3DS launch window (The Sims 3, Madden NFL Football and FIFA Soccer) with a plan to release two of three alongside the 3DS hardware on March 27. This is our first confirmation of any 3DS launch day titles, even if it is still a bit of a guessing game.

Finally, EA used the briefing to gloat a bit. They announced that five of their 2010 releases, FIFA 11, Medal of Honor, Madden NFL 11, Need For Speed Hot Pursuit and Battlefield: Bad Company 2, have all sold more than five million copies apiece. And even though it’s only been available for a week, EA also announced that Dead Space 2 has already sold two million copies, nearly doubling the sales figures of the first game.

Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 |

Namco Bandai to publish Dark Souls, Armored Core V in America

Posted on February 2, 2011 by John Scalzo

Namco Bandai is teaming up with From Software to bring two of the developer’s most anticipated titles to North America. The Ridge Racer publisher has signed on to release Dark Souls in 2011 and Armored Core V in 2012.

Armored Core V is still over a year away, but From Software is promising that it will revolutionize the series with a stronger emphasis on tactics and geography that straight up shooting. The online multiplayer mode will also receive a facelift with team play and “huge battles on a global scale.”

Darks Souls is the spiritual sequel to From Software’s sleeper hit from 2009, Demon’s Souls. Like it’s predecessor, it’ll be an action RPG “set in a rich, dark fantasy universe.” But unlike it’s predecessor, it’ll be available for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. You can check out the game’s first trailer after the break.

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Daily Scoop: February 2, 2011 – I love t-shirts

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Nicole Kline

It’s no secret that I have a pretty serious t-shirt addiction. I had a lot of t-shirts before my first PAX, and now, four PAXes later, I’ve got another 50 – and that’s just the free ones. E3 wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but I still got a handful of shirts there, too. No matter what the vessel, this addiction has been getting fed pretty regularly.

Anyway, writing this Daily Scoop has done nothing to curb it – if anything, it’s made it horribly difficult to stop myself from buying these shirts every day. This one from Tee Fury is certainly not helping:

I mean, really. Just look at that. I feel like some days, these daily t-shirt sites are singing songs to me, asking me to show them what love is.

That’s all for now. Oh wait, it’s not. Go read my review of Dead Space 2!

Posted in Daily Scoop, Etcetera, News |

Dead Space 2 Review: Eviscerates the Hype With a Frighteningly Good Game

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Nicole Kline

EA’s Visceral Games got the attention of the gaming community back in 2008 with the original Dead Space. The universe has since expanded, spawning comics, novels, animated movies, and a Wii rail shooter. Dead Space 2 is a superior game to the first one, but not at the expense of it. The original is excellent, but the second took every aspect of the first game and made it better, from the character development to the navigation in zero gravity. Even the story and characters have a depth the first did not and, to make matters even better, now there’s multiplayer, bringing Necromorphs to life in unimaginable ways. Isaac Clarke is back, and – despite a little issue of not remembering what happened in the last three years since the first game ended – he’s tougher than ever. The sequel has better graphics, better guns, and better mechanics – but does it live up to the hype that’s been building up around the series for more than two years?

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