Last week, the official Injustice: Gods Among Us Twitter account has confirmed that Batgirl will be joining the playable roster.

She is the second character after Lobo that will make up the four additional characters to be added to the core roster of 24 heroes in the game.

Batgirl’s introduction was leaked early on the Xbox Live Marketplace last week.

The alien bounty hunter Lobo will be available for purchase on May 7, no date for Batgirl has been given at the time of writing. However, a gameplay video of Batgirl has been scheduled to be released this week.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

On April 23 Nvidia announced that the GeForce 320.00 Beta Driver was available for download, the update included a SLI profile for a game called “Human Head 2″.

At the time of writing there is no game that has been announced under the name “Human Head 2″ but, Human Head is the studio that was working on Prey 2 which was reportedly put on hold last year.

Prey 2 had an impressive showing at E3 2011, it featured a beautiful open-world in a first-person perspective with some interesting iterations on traditional first-person gunplay. Concerns have since been made on whether Human Head could replicate what was shown consistently on a larger scale.

We have reached out to Bethesda for a comment on this and will update if we receive a reply.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Sony confirmed today that “The Jak and Daxter Trilogy” will be heading to the PlayStation Vita in June 2013.

The collection is priced at USD$29.99, €29.99 and AUD$39.95.

The game is being handled by Mass Media, who also developed the PlayStation 3 port for this collection.

Sony has said that the game will feature “.. new touch based applications of certain mini games throughout the collection,”.

This precedes the June 11 launch of the Mac version of the game; players who buy the Windows version of the game will automatically be able to play the OSX version by signing in to the Origin client with their credentials.

The most notable updates include:

• Mayor’s transportation (Your mayor will now take a Simcoptor, sports car, or limousine to work from his mansion).
• HUD shows correct colours when filters are turned on (unless colorblind mode is activated).
• Casinos are now more profitable.

A full list or changes can be found here.

Today Bethesda announced “The Evil Within”, a title developed by Shinji Mikami’s (of Resident Evil fame) studio Tango Gameworks.

According to Bethesda, the game will release on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and “next generation consoles” in 2014.

IGN the exclusive debut of the live-action teaser trailer for the game here.

It’s priced at 1000 Microsoft Points ($12.50 USD) and will include:

• 3 new maps
• a new multiplayer mode titled “Master of Arms”
• 6 gun and armour skins

The “Call to Arms” map pack is included in the $20 season pass for Gears of War: Judgement.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Today EA announced FIFA 14 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Interestingly the Wii U is not included in the list of platforms for the game, there has also been no word on a PS4 or “other next-generation platform” versions.

FIFA 14 aims to iterate on it’s established formula with the introduction of the “Pure Shot”, “Protect The Ball” and “2nd Chance Tackles” mechanics and the adjustments to the ball physics,teammate AI, Skill Games and Career Mode career mode systems.

Acording to EA, the new features and refinements to the existing ones are as follows:

• Pure Shot— “Players have the intelligence to adjust their stride and approach angle to find the best position for hitting the back of the net. Well-hit balls feel satisfying and goals are rewarding.  As well as quality strikes, players can now shoot while off balance or rushed.”
• Real Ball Physics— “Realistic ball physics now determines the trajectories of balls in game, enabling players to strike the ball with force from distance, drill low rising shots with accuracy, and blast dipping or swerving shots …”
• Protect The Ball— “Fend-off and block defenders from the ball while dribbling at any speed. Protect the ball from opponents to control play through midfield and dictate the pace of the match.  Plus, out-muscle opponents for position before receiving the ball, then turn defenders to carve out opportunities.”
• Teammate Intelligence— “Better decision-making delivers tighter, smarter marking and improved run tracking. Defenders recognize opportunities to provide support and win back possession. Attacking players have new ways to outsmart their opponents and break down tighter, more intelligent defences by creating space for themselves, running along the backline and checking their pace.”
• Sprint Dribble Turns— “Utilize quick, explosive cuts and turns to beat defenders one-on-one while sprinting with the ball. Players can move in any direction, preserving their natural momentum and maintaining possession of the ball.”
• Variable Dribble Touches— “The First Touch Control of dribbling varies a player’s touch when dribbling with pace.  Skilled players have the touch and control to stand out while less skilled players will experience fewer perfect touches and more uncertainty dribbling, creating opportunities for defenders to win back possession, and placing emphasis on building play through midfield.”
• 2^nd Chance Tackles—”The tackling zone has been extended to enable defenders to combine different types of tackles, recover from missed tackles quickly, and have a second chance to compete for the ball in any tackling situation.”
• Curling Lofted Through Balls—”Players have the ability to curl the ball around opponents to deliver precision passes to teammates or send the ball into space.”
• Skill Games– You can now compete against your friends in skill games, in the new competitive practice mode.
• Career Mode— Improved scouting with the Global Scouting Network. A new hub delivers easy navigation, fewer interruptions and live scouting reports.

Nintendo held a announcement-heavy livestream yesterday, several new titles were announced and additional details were given for a number of announced titles.

The reveal of ‘The Legend of Zelda’ (or The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 2 as it’s known in Japan) generated a lot of excitement, a 3DS sequel to the Super Nintendo classic.

The conference was heavy with 3DS announcements, which suggests that the company’s E3 press conference in June could have a focus on the Wii U.

3DS Announcements

• A Link to the Past sequel announced, coming late 2013
• Yoshi’s Island 3DS announced, also coming late 2013
• Mario Party 3D announced, arriving in Winter (Summer for southern hemisphere residents) 2013
• Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy coming later this year
• Mario Golf: World Tour releasing in the Summer in Europe and the US (Winter in the southern hemisphere)
• Mario and Luigi: Dream Team Bros. is hitting the eShop July 13, 2013
• The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages & Seasons coming to the eShop in Europe and Australia May 30, 2013

Wii U Announcements

• Pikmin 3 is coming on July 12 in Japan, August 4 in North America; no dates were given for Europe or Australia.
• The expansion for New Super Mario Bros. U, New Super Luigi U is releasing in June, 2013 in Japan. Nintendo of Australia have confirmed a ‘Winter’ release date for the expansion. The game will take place on the same map as the retail game but, will feature revamped levels that are supposedly harder than those present in the core game.
• Cult classic Earthbound is finally hitting the Wii U Virtual Console sometime this year. This is the first time that fans from Europe and Australia will be able to purchase the game.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

BioShock Infinite is set in the floating city of Columbia, a city that is completely obsessed with the three founding fathers of the United States of America and the founder of the city Zachary Comstock. Most of the residents are fiercely patriotic and revere Comstock as a saint; grand statues and posters paying tribute to him are littered throughout the city. An underclass toils away in Columbia, comprised of immigrants that were taken to the city to undertake menial tasks. This has spawned a major class system where many Jewish, Hispanic and African-American workers despite their industrialist employer Jeremiah Fink. Behind the façade of a city trying to spread the “American” way of life to the rest of the world lays the story of Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth.

The story that BioShock Infinite tells would have to be the biggest drawcard, for a game that only has two game modes with no element of multiplayer it lives and dies on the strength of the storyline. I have mixed feelings about this; the developers have done a great job of giving the city of Columbia a living-breathing world filled with people who have their own stories. In many ways I think that the story behind the Founders and the Vox Populi was more interesting than the story of Booker DeWitt and his fight against Zachary Comstock.

Given the current global sentiment on the topic of the wealth divide faced by many Americans it seemed like such a waste to barrel through this side story instead of exploring it further. There are two different stories that are going on simultaneously throughout the game. The story of Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth and their struggle to escape Columbia and reconcile the secrets of the city, and the story of Daisy Fitszroy and the Vox Populi’s ongoing battle with the Founders over class conflict, racism, and intense nationalism. The conflict between the founders and the Vox Populi escalated very quickly, far too fast for my liking. It glazes over key events and just barrels through to a conclusion. I can’t help but feel that there was more backstory planned but had to be cut in order to make deadlines. This was a source of massive disappointment and would have elevated the game to new heights for me (pun definitely intended).

For the most part the story is pretty well done, the game’s dialogue between the characters and through the Voxophones (audio logs) is where it excels the most. My main gripe is the pacing of the storyline, during the first 60% of the game information is presented to you in a fairly constant fashion. The second half of the game expedites this process leaving you with the feeling of information overload. This is particularly evident during the last hour of the game where you are assaulted by a barrage of information about the main characters, Columbia, and the BioShock franchise. The ending was a letdown; it did more to set up further games in the franchise than to tie up the story of Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth. It certainly explains a lot of questions you may have but it also raises many more.

Irrational has done a fantastic job at making it seem like Columbia was a living breathing city rather than a playground for the player character to shoot up. Everything from the name of the vending machines to the posters, the architecture and the dialogue all contributed to the game bridging a form of entertainment and a piece of art. A special mention has to be made of the Comstock propaganda that is littered around the city; it really ties the story and the environment together.

Irrational Games spent just over four years making BioShock: Infinite, in that period of time they had the opportunity to assess the flaws of the original BioShock game and look at the response that BioShock 2 received. Infinite takes the best from both of the previous games in the franchise. You are now able to use your vigors while simultaneously using firearms; this was introduced in BioShock 2. Vigors are abilities that the player is able to utilize through the use of a salt meter. It is the equivalent of magic powers that would use a mana/energy bar. BioShock Infinite also introduced a magnetic shield; this is the first time that the franchise has used a recharging shield to increase the longevity of the player.

The combat in BioShock Infinite is mixed; in some areas they have made great strides while in others they have taken a step backwards. You move from one combat scenario to the next at a brisk pace. This is expedited by the use of sky-lines, these are essentially railway lines that are suspended in the air throughout the city. In certain parts of the level you are able to jump and latch on to the sky-lines, which in turn gives you a means of traveling around the combat areas to access higher ground or escape, heated conflicts. The added verticality of the levels allows you to exploit different angles that you otherwise would not have been able to. Call of Duty’s success has deeply affected the genre, games such as Gears of War 3 traded in the slower pop and shoot mechanics for a more direct and faster kill speed. BioShock Infinite feels the same way, BioShock 1 moves at a tortoise’s pace compared to Infinite.

In the original game you often had multiple ways to approach the battle; through the use of tonics, plasmids, and weapons you could achieve some devilishly creative ways to engage and finish a battle. I have fond memories of attaching proximity mines to a gas cylinder and then using telekinesis to hurl it at an oil slick to incinerate some splicers. This is perhaps the one area that I think the gameplay has taken a step backwards.

You are not able to engage the enemies in the same manner in BioShock Infinite; you have far fewer powers and options to engage enemies on your terms. This is partially offset by the assistance that Elizabeth provides. Thankfully she is immune to damage and the enemies will ignore here (could you imagine playing the whole game having to babysit a non-player character, no thanks!).  She is able to toss you health packs, salts, and ammunition when needed. She is also able to open tears from another dimension in the landscape to provide turrets, weapons and friendly non-player characters available to you for a limited time. By far the biggest benefit Elizabeth can afford you is throwing you supplies during the longer fights. This lets you continue to use the weapons you want and lets you concentrate on the shooting while she scavenges the environment to keep you alive.

The game has a customization system for clothing, weapons, health, salts and shield strength. You can pick up infusion bottles and choose to increase your shield, health and salt capacity. These bottles are often hidden and in order to maximize your ability of choice you will need to explore the levels in detail. A large proportion of these bottles are hidden behind doors that Elizabeth can pick, using lock picks found in the game. For weapons you are able to purchase upgrades from the Fink Armory machines, while Vigor upgrades can be bought at the “Veni! Vidi! Vigor!” machines. Weapon upgrades are pretty standard; faster reload speeds, less recoil or an increase to damage dealt.

Vigor upgrades differ slightly, upgrades to Murder of Crows for example will allow the bodies of slain enemies to become a nest trap for the next assailant to walk in to. These upgrades are purchased using Silver Eagles the in game currency, you will find these coins by scavenging furniture, looting bodies and opening safes. While exploring Columbia you will encounter “Gear”. Gear is various pieces of clothing that that imbues you with different statistic upgrades. You find clothing semi-frequently and each piece will help you in different ways, for example you can find a hat that will give you a 50% reload increase or boots that cause a shockwave when you land from a skyrail. The biggest problem I had with this system is that I found my favourite combination by the middle of the game and never found anything better; this is a disincentive to try on different pieces of gear towards the end of the game.

BioShock Infinite is a fantastic looking game; there are no two ways about it. Even on the current generation consoles the game looks absolutely amazing with large vistas and great textures. The art style in Infinite is also quite strong, it really sets the game apart from everything else. Unlike the last game, Irrational have ensured that there are not any issues with texture pop-in. There really isn’t a lot to say about the graphics except they are best in class. The only real complaint I could level would be the draw distance could have been better in some levels on the console versions. Given the fantastic job that was done to make the city of Columbia a living city, seeing a table and chairs manifest out of the mist in the distance was a bit of an immersion breaker.

BioShock Infinite has a great soundtrack that really hit nail on the head, it set the tone for the city and it’s residence perfectly. Songs like Lions walk with Lions also did a good job of tying back the story. The voice acting was also fantastic, not only from the main characters but even from the Voxophones (audio diaries). The firearms didn’t have the same impact as they could have, they aren’t bad they just don’t hold a candle to the work that DICE has done in the past with the Battlefield franchise. One improvement that could have been made would be scaling the sound of the weapons to the upgrades they receive; it makes little sense to have the same sound for all the sniper rifles for the entire game when I have a fully upgraded one that has been heavily modified from the base model.

In truth BioShock Infinite is good game, a game that you should go out and buy right now. From the gameplay, to the story it has something to appease the inner Call of Duty player to the Skyrim adventurer in all of us. Despite this one cannot simply look over the mistakes made. The game had the potential to be so much more, it could have been an example for future games to follow in order to push the medium from a form of entertainment to a piece of art the same way in which film is regarded by the general public. If the game let players engage enemies with more options, explored the story behind the Vox Populi in more detail, and handled the pacing of the game differently than it could have been a close-to-flawless experience.

Official Site | Windows | Mac OSX

Games like Memory of a Broken Dimension is the reason I find indie games to be the most interesting area of the games industry, it does something that no commercial title with milestones and marketing budgets could hope to. Memory of a Broken Dimension (or MOABD) is a monochromatic, perspective-based puzzle game set in a disturbing distorted virtual world. It is surprisingly good at making you feel utterly lost and uncomfortable thanks to its fantastic sound design and great distorted visual effects.

The game is currently still in development and the download links above are from a build November, so don’t make too many assumptions about the final game from this vertical slice of the game. Well worth a look if you want to try something different.

                                                  Read the article on Grantland

For those of you who do not know, Tom Bissel is a well-known journalist who has written about video games in the past and also helped write Gears of War: Judgment recently. After playing through the game to completion, he interviewed Ken Levine.

The back and forth between the two is interesting because both have written for various forms of media (including film and video games), my favourite exchange between the two was on the topic of the “three-act structure” and how well it works for games. If you have played BioShock Infinite and are looking for some deeper discussion check this out.

Downtime is disappearing in modern games. Is that really a good thing?

by Craig Bamford for Nightmare Mode

Games are really direct now and rarely slow down and let you soak it in, is this what we want? Do you always want to be “achieving” something?

A lot of genres show this shift. It’s obvious in social games, noticeable in FPSes, and even changing RPGs. Games are becomingtremendously streamlined thanks to some serious economic and cultural changes. It seems good‒but this might say something really scary about us as an audience:

Games might have lost their indirect progression because we can’t just handle it anymore.

Why Aren’t Video Game Actors Treated Like Stars?

by David Griner for Polygon

Why are they treated differently by video game companies and fans? An interesting look into a relatively unexplored area of the industry.

“Nathan Fillion said to me, ‘If you don’t do one of these games, fans are going to be upset, but they’re still going to buy the game,’” Taylor recalls. “There’s only so much footing that you have as a voice actor. I don’t know if it’s because you don’t see us physically or what.”

 

Official Site | YouTube | Vimeo

Lune is a game of exploration and adventure about reflection and solitude where you can control the Moon, which implies influencing tides, reflecting light in various ways and modifying gravity. You overcome obstacles that are blocking your way in an abandoned tower on an island in the middle of an ocean.

Use your capacity to manipulate water to flood rooms and free stairways. You can also trigger Moonset and walk in the shadows to avoid the unwavering stone Guardians. Your actions have a global impact on the whole environment of the island.

Hiversaires Launch Trailer

Fantastic art style, really keen to check this out when it hits the iOS App Store later this month. Check out the game’s website here

Created for adventurers who remember drawing maps to survive, the dark world of Hiversaires features an original Aliceffekt soundtrack to lure you through its entangled corridors.

 

Today, Disney announced that it will be closing it’s recently acquired game publishing subsidiary, LucasArts. Disney has released an official statement on the matter which can be read below:

“After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles.”

Through the licensing model other publishers will be able to bid on the rights to make games based on LucasArts properties, which is the only piece of good news to come out of this.

This news isn’t exactly surprising, LucasArts has had a lot of management issues over the years despite some success with games like the Star Wars: Battlefront, Knights of the Old Republic and The Force Unleashed games. As far as we know, development on Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault has ceased. The company has seen five men at the helm of the company since 2004.

Disney’s internal game development success now relies on Disney Infinity and mobile games, having closed Junction Point Studios earlier this year.

Dean Dodrill and Alex Kain announced during a panel at PAX East that the previously XBLA exclusive title will be heading to the PC via Steam. Dean Dorill said that he hopes to have the game ready by April.

“I’m really excited,” Dodrill said. “I’m very happy with the port, I’m not going to do a whole lot different.”

Dust: An Elysian Tail was released on Xbox Live Arcade in August last year.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

The game is currently referred to as the ”Unannounced Giant Sparrow Project” and has “no release date yet or platforms announced”. However the title of the game page on the company’s website is “Edith Finch”.

The game is not a sequel to The Unfinished Swan but looks to continue the surrealist tone present in their first game from their description of their upcoming project:

If you like surreal experiences and games that aren’t much like anything you’ve ever played before then you’ll probably like it.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

All of those who bought SimCity earlier this month will be eligible to pick one of eight games from EA’s Origin service. The list of titles contain Battlefield 3, Bejeweled 3, Dead Space 3, Mass Effect 3, Medal of Honor Warfighter, Need For Speed: Most Wanted, Plants vs. Zombie and SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition.

To be eligible for the free game, you must have bought the game before 5 p.m. Pacific Time on March 25.

Owners of SimCity will be presented with a “Featured Today” pop-up with a link to the free game selection. This pop-up will continue to appear until you have selected your free game.

On March 8 Maxis General Manager, Lucy Bradshaw said that EA would be handing out a free Origin game to get back in the players’s “good graces”, after the disastrous launch and server stability issues in the weeks following. Since then modders have revealed that the game can actually be played without a internet connection forever, by simply removing a single line of code.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Electronic Arts announced today that effective March 30, John Riccitello will step down as CEO and EA Board member. The publisher also announced that current chairman of the board and former EA CEO Larry Probst, will serve as executive chairman in the interim period while the company looks for a new CEO.

The Wall Street Journal has published the internal memo that Riccitello sent to EA Employees today, which is included below:

After spending nearly three years at Double Fine, Ron Gilbert has announced that he will be leaving the company.

“Now that The Cave is done and unleashed on an unsuspecting world (ok, we did do a bunch of PR, so it wasn’t exactly unsuspecting), it’s time for me to move on from Double Fine and plot my next move.

So many games left to be designed.

I want to thank all the amazing people at Double Fine for all their hard work on The Cave.  It was a true pleasure to work with every one of them over the past two years.  So much fun.  I will miss them all.  And of course to Tim for creating the opportunity to come there and make The Cave.”

There has not been any comment on why Ron has left the company but, Tim Schafer (the Founder of Double Fine Productions) wished him well on Twitter:

“Sad to say @grumpygamer feels like it’s time to spread his grumpy wings and fly” “Good luck, Ron! Thanks for The Cave!”

Austin Wintory (who worked on Journey’s soundtrack) has signed on for the first project with Giant Squid Studios and Nicholas Clark (Lead Designer at thatgamecompany) has taken an advisory role at the company.

Giant Squid’s mission statement on their website states:

 ”- We strive to create artistic games that deliver beautiful, meaningful, and timeless experiences to a wide range of people.

We plan to create innovative and deeply moving games that will inspire players, challenge convention, and push the boundaries of experiential and narrative interactive entertainment into new and unexpected areas.”

Giant Squid’s website shows that they are currently looking to hire a Studio manager, Lead Engineer, Gameplay Engineer and Tools and Gameplay Engineer. Giant Squid certainly has an interesting and experienced base, it will be very interesting to see what their work ends up looking like.

Quantic Dream’s latest production Beyond: Two Souls, has just revealed that Willem Dafoe (who you might recognise as the Green Goblin from the Spider-Man films) will join the mo-capped cast. Dafoe plays as a mysterious scientist named Nathan Dawkins, who is working for a government division that investigates paranormal activities.

Willem Dafoe talked about the project:

“It’s a beautiful story and because the player participates in the scenario and chooses the character’s actions, the possibility of where the story goes is fantastic.”

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Beyond: Two Souls is due for release on the PS3 on October 8, 2013.

Bohemia have released quite a lot of information all at once here so, I’m going to have to break it up a bit to hopefully make it easier to understand.

Alpha

Next Tuesday (March 5th), players who purchase the “Arma 3 Alpha” or the “Arma 3 Digital Deluxe Edition” will have access to the Alpha version of Arma 3, which will include:

• Four showcase missions (Infantry, Vehicles, SCUBA and Helicopter)
• A limited subset of weapons and vehicles
• Two multiplayer scenarios
• Scenario editor and modding support
• The 20km² island of “Stratis” which is just of the coast of the main Arma 3 landmass, “Altis” which is apparently 270 km².

The Alpha will receive regular updates and will be playable until the Beta is released.

Alpha Lite

There will also be a free, more limited version of the Alpha available on March 14; “Arma 3 Alpha Lite” will not include multiplayer or modding support and is only available to those who are invited by those who have purchased Arma 3 Alpha or the Digital Deluxe. Invites will also be randomly distributed through Arma 3 Twitter and Facebook accounts and through giveaways by select media outlets. The Arma 3 Alpha Lite expires on June 15, and does not provide access to the Arma 3 Beta or the full game.

Beta

Those who purchased the Arma 3 Alpha or the Arma 3 Digital Deluxe will also have access to the Beta for the game later in the year. You will also have the option to buy-in at this point for an increased price over the Alpha buy-in price, similar to how Mojang handled Minecraft’s ongoing development.

Arma 3 Digital Deluxe Edition

• A digital soundtrack
• Digital maps
• Digital Tactical Guide
• A Steam gift of Arma: Cold War Assault
• Access to the Arma 3 Alpha and Beta

Arma 3 Supporter Edition

This purchase is for “those who would like to sponsor development further” it will include:

• All extras present in the Digital Deluxe version of the game
• A Steam version of Arma X
• All future Arma 3 DLC
• A special forums medal
• The opportunity to have your name featured in the game’s credits.

This version of the game can only be purchased from store.bistudio.com .

Capcom revealed the release dates for their new cyberpunk-styled title, Remember Me. The game will launch on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on:

• June 4 in North America
• June 6 in Australia and New Zealand
• June 7 across Europe

Capcom also just uploaded a new trailer which you can check out below:

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Riot Games Sydney is official. Known for its beaches, opera house, sports scene and friendly-looking marsupials, we’re excited to introduce a little bit of riotousness to Australia’s biggest city.

With no signs of Riot Games’ League of Legends slowing down, they have just opened an office in Sydney, Australia to support the growing community in the Oceania region. Riot Games’ already has offices worldwide in: Santa Monica, Saint Louis, Dublin, Seoul, Sao Paulo, Istanbul and Moscow. In October, 2012 Riot Games’ announced that they had tripled their player-base to 32 million monthly active players – with those numbers the need for expansion is clear.

It was odd seeing Blizzard cancel plans for Blizzcon 2012, because they were too busy working on games to host the event. Thankfully fans of the ultra successful developer will be able to return to the convention this year, where they will be able to get there hands on some Blizzard’s upcoming projects, watch one of the biggest Starcraft 2 tournaments of the year and attend a bunch of panels filled by Blizzard developers.

It sounds like a fantastic convention for fans of Starcraft, Warcraft and Diablo to attend but, the question is: Will we finally get an official “Titan” (Blizzard’s next MMO) announcement?

Bungie’s recently unveiled title Destiny, is apparently a year or more away with Activision confirming via press release yesterday:

“Activision reiterated that although Bungie’s amazing new world was revealed today, Activision has not included the launch in its 2013 outlook and there should be no speculation or expectation of a different result.”

I don’t think there is much room for any mis-interpretation there, Destiny will likely be a 2014 release on both current and next generation consoles. Why 2014? The extra time could be needed for a variety of reasons, as it is MMO-like in nature a lot of content will need to be created and tested to keep the people playing the game over a extended period of time. The press release also mentions that the game will “come to life” on “other future console platforms.”, instead of rushing the game for launch perhaps Bungie wants to ensure that the versions of the game on the ‘soon to be announced consoles’ take full advantage of the system, unlike many launch titles.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Hiroshi Kawano, SCE Japan president has just announced a price drop for both the Wi-Fi only model and the 3G/Wi-Fi models of the PS Vita. The new price has dropped to ¥19,980 (approximately $212 USD) from ¥25,000 (~$266 USD). They did not mention anything about the price drop bleeding over to Europe or the US.

• All Japanese Vita users will also get PlayStationPlus for free for 7 days (valid between 28/2 – 18/3). Ridge Racer Vita, Uncharted: Golden Abyss and 4 other titles will be free for PlayStation Plus users.
• “PS Store Vita Debut Campaign” running from 28/2 – 14/3. First time buyers on the shop will get a ¥200 (~$2) credit.
• “Torne” (DVR service) on PS Vita free download campaign extended through to 13/3.
• Any current “Reader Store” users will be given free points to buy electronic books.
• Phantasy Star Online 2 to be available as a free download on the Vita, coming 28/2 . Players will be able to play online and use their PC version character(s).
• The “Ice Silver” PS Vita will be available on 28/2.
• Toukiden (also being developed for the PSP) will have a PS Vita demo at the end of April.
• Keiji Inafune (famous for his work on Mega Man &Resident Evil. He was also Capcom’s global head of production before leaving the company) demoed Soul Sacrifice, and will be showing the game off to the public at the end of February in Akihabara, Japan.
• Valhalla Knights 3 will be available on the 23/5.
• Gundam Breaker to be released in 2013 (no date specified).
• Between 28/2 – 31/3 God Eater Burst (a PSP game) can be transferred to the Vita free of charge.
• God Eater 2 still scheduled to be released in 2013.
• Dragon’s Crown trailer shown, still set for a 2013 release on both the PS Vita and PS3.
• Final Fantasy X HD is currently in development, the official announcement for the game will be “soon”.

Nadeo and Ubisoft announced today that Shootmania: Storm has now entered open beta. The game has been in closed beta for a few months now and I have spent a decent amount of time in the game; between the lack of populated servers and game modes that were available at the time, it just wasn’t as fun to play or anywhere near as crazy as Nadeo’s Trackmania franchise. With the game entering open beta, I might give it another shot and see how the game has changed over the last few months.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Mere days before we ‘see the future’ of PlayStation, Sony Japan has announced that it will be hosting a pre-recorded, PS Vita focused news broadcast at 5pm Japan time (you can convert that to your own time zone using this link). Hiroshi Kawano, SCE Japan president will be exhibiting the event. We presume that a few games will get announced at this event which is pretty likely to be Japan-centric, so I would not expect any western game announcements.

You can watch the live stream here, and if your looking for a translation; Twitter user @cvxfreak is going to ‘give it a shot’.

Nintendo has lost a Wii U exclusive and now has to compete with the other versions at launch. Rayman Legends has been Nintendo’s flagship third-party exclusive since the system had been announced. It was a pretty good fit and Ubisoft had thought up a few cool ways to utilise the Wii U GamePad. Last week Ubisoft announced that the game was now coming to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 and was also going to be delayed till September (presumably to port the game to the two new platforms).

“We decided to give the fans what they wanted while at the same time broadening the audience exposed to this innovative and memorable game.” said Ubisoft’s Geoffroy Sardin in the press release.

Why did this happen? My guess would be that the Wii U is doing worse at retail than Ubisoft initially expected and has probably used the sales data from their titles that are already available on the Wii U to predict that they would make a loss on this game. Instead of sitting around and letting that happen, they have delayed the game and invested in porting it to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3; hoping to make a profit on the entire project.

From what I have seen of this game it looked fantastic and while I am not against the game being available to more people but, this is not fantastic news for the early Wii U adopters.

As well as access to the demo on the 20th of February, participants are also in the draw to win in-game rewards; to enter the competition you need to have either a Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus account. More details on Sony’s “Rise of the Warrior” competition are available here.

God of War: Ascension comes to the PlayStation 3 on March 12, 2013.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Colonial Marines is a first-person shooter set after the events of Alien, you put on the heavy boots of Corporal Winter, a marine fresh from cryrogenic sleep on a ship infested by Xenomorphs. The story is incredibly thin throughout the game until the final (relatively lengthy) cutscene, unfortunately this final cutscene was the most engaging part of the entire arc that plays out in the game. The story is told through a mixture of ugly, low framerate cutscenes, some in-game dialogue and a number of audio logs. The writing in all of these isn’t offensively bad, it just doesn’t really go out of its way to surprise or engage you; it feels like a “good enough” script. While there are a few rubbish performances, overall the voice acting is serviceable  There is one impressive effect where if you are within earshot the vocal audio sounds normal, but when you are a good 50 meters (or more) away from your squad the game applies a few distortion effects over the audio that makes it sound like you listening to them over the radio. It’s a simple effect that I can’t really recall being used in any other game.

While I was playing single player campaign I was trying to think of a time that this game would have been considered “good”. I came to the conclusion that it would have had to have been pre-Halo (1) and even then I don’t think people would have enjoyed playing most of it, the game would have only been praised for its control scheme (which is essentially Call of Duty’s) and for looking as “good” (relative term) as it does. For the first third of the game most of the weapons available to you have a huge amount of recoil, which is fine for simulation shooters because that is what happens when you fire a gun. In Colonial Marine’s case though, (a game that does not promote itself as a simulation) the guns just end up not being very fun to shoot. This can be remedied somewhat by spending your rank points on upgrades that reduce recoil, or you can wait till you get your hands on more satisfying weapons such as the M56 Smartgun; which is essentially a minigun with auto-aim attachment.

Ammo is never an issue in Colonial Marines, as enemies drop plenty when killed and you can switch to any weapon you have unlocked at any time. One of the worst parts of the game is fighting human enemies, they are usually found in large numbers and can take you down pretty quickly if you stay out in the open for too long. They are not particularly smart either, they are not capable of flanking your or performing any other advanced maneuvers  Because of this you are forced to just sit back and slowly chip away at them until they are all dead. The Xenomorphs at least have the ability to climb on the wall and roofs and attack you from multiple angles, giving you a much more interesting battle than the human enemies. The framerate also constantly drops below 30 frames per second on the Xbox 360 version of the game, which makes the experience even worse. The gunplay does get slowly better as you progress through the campaign and unlock better weapons and yet; it plays so much worse than Gearbox’s 2012 release Borderlands 2.

Thankfully the game does include a few moments that do not involve shooting, these also happened to be my favourite moments of the campaign. In the first few chapters, your character regains conciousness inside a heavily infested part of the ship. He struggles out of the slimy shackles that have attached him to the wall, as you make your way out of the infested zone the Queen spots you and starts sprinting after you. Your squadmate who has recently dealt with this creature instructs you to run and seal the doors behind you, which you proceed to do. This was just a great unexpected sequence, that managed to make me feel distressed as I was trying to seal these giant mechanical sliding doors before the Queen arrived and tore my body to shreds. Sadly, there are only 2 other moments like this one; it would have been great if there was more content like this in the game to break of the shooting segments better. As you make your way through the campaign you can also collect dogtags and legendary weapons from key characters from the franchise. There are a number of challenges that you can complete, which earn you experience points towards the next rank. Each time you rank up you are given points to spend on attachments for your weapons, these include: scopes, underslung shotguns and flamethrowers. Interestingly these unlocks are available to you in the multiplayer component of the game and vice versa, which is a nice bonus.

Visually the game looks horrible, it looks like an upscaled Wii game. The game runs on Unreal Engine 3 and has the really bad texture pop-in that was present in launch games for the Xbox 360 and PS3, so for a good portion of the game it looks like you are traversing a planet made out of plasticine  Even when the textures do pop-in they are commonly blurry upon close inspection. The animations for both enemies and squad members feel like there are frames of animation missing, and both allies and enemies will slide along the floor occasionally instead of using their limbs to move. The frame-rate is a big problem in both single player and multiplayer, in both modes when you display the scoreboard the game turns into a slideshow. With over 5 years of development time, you would think that they would have been able to find and fix all of these technical issues that I experienced while playing the game.

The multiplayer redeems the package somewhat, there are four different modes to play: Team Deathmatch, Extermination, Escape and Survivor. Team Deathmatch is what you would expect with the twist being that one team will be playing as the Xenomorphs. When playing as marines you have the choice of picking one of your loadouts, which let you customise your equipped weapons, their attachments and your tactical slot (grenades or C4). When playing as a Xenomorph you can customise the abilities, armour type and perk. When playing as Xenomorph you can attach to walls of the map, it is far from a smooth experience as you frequently get caught on geometry. Extermination utilises the same 5 maps used for Team Deathmatch but, places areas on the map that Xenomorphs must defend and Marines must capture.

Escape is the most interesting of the four modes, four players play as Marines that have been are given the order to escape the area, while the other 4 play as Xenomorphs trying to stop them from escaping. There are safe rooms along the way and the mode does a pretty decent job making it feel like you just made it every time you run through the door into the safe room, there are two unique modes for this mode. Survival is a horde-type mode that pits 4 Marines against a horde of player controlled Xenomorphs, once a Marine dies that player is out of the game – Xenomorph players however can continue to spawn until the match is over.

Conclusion

Aliens: Colonial Marines is a wasted opportunity, the Aliens universe is rich, and has more than enough depth to create an interesting game. Colonial Marines has obviously had some problems during it’s 5 year development and we have no idea how many times the whole project has been scrapped and started again. With first person shooter genre being as crowded as it is there are so many better options available. I could only recommend this game to the most hardcore of Aliens fans who would appreciate any piece of Aliens related media, even then I would probably wait for a sale. Then again if you care that much about the universe, you should maybe just consider avoiding this completely.

Honestly, the less you know about this game before you play it the better. If you enjoy experimental “art games” and can afford to take a $10 risk then take a look at this trailer for the game and stop reading – if you want to learn a bit more about what exactly Proteus is and what I think about it then continue to read down the page.

In Proteus you are hovering over the sea just off the coast of strange island, if you want you can choose to just float endlessly in the opposite direction of the island towards the never-ending horizon. Or you can move towards the mysterious landmass and investigate the beat-making flora and fauna of the island. There isn’t any clear-cut objectives or challenges to be found in Proteus, what drew me was the fantastic combination of the impressionist, retro-infused visuals and the animals, trees and stones that react with their own sounds as you walk by them. The overall effect is emotionally uplifting (the same way parts of Journey made me feel), the game put me into a semi meditative state were I was completely immersed in the experience.

While walking across this island you may encounter frogs that can leap over hills that emit a high pitched, escalating tune as they fly through the air. Owls that just silently observe you from the trees and fly away when you get to close and mystical rocks that produce a deep bassy ‘hum’ when you walk past them. The trees and small ground shrubs are a constant source of interesting synth sounds. The game does a great job of giving the player the freedom to interact with anything on the island while making all of the separate sounds sound good in harmony. Each time you start the game it creates a new island, and while there definitely some recognisable elements from island to island, they are different enough to warrant exploring again.

Visually the game shares the blocky aesthetic of Minecraft but having blocks that are only a single colour. What really makes Proteus stand out is the fantastic colour palette, the orange sunsets, dark nights and snowy winters all look great. The look and inhabitants of the island do change once the player steps into the star filled, magical season switcher. The four seasons changes aspects of the landscape dramatically and gives you a reason to explore the island yet again.

Proteus is only an aimlessness experience if you lack curiosity, the game slowly reveals the seasonal theme as you explore. Despite its simple aesthetics the game establishes a stronger mood and sense of place than games with a budget a thousand times bigger. If you enjoyed Dear Esther or Journey, Proteus should be right up your alley.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Destiny is an online-only first-person shooter from Bungie, the original developers of theHalo franchise. It will be published byActivision and marks Bungie’s first foray into development for Sony consoles since the release of Oni. It has currently been confirmed for release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and Activision’s financial statements have indicated that the publisher is not expecting to see Destiny on shelves during the current (2013) fiscal year, setting the stage for a 2014 release, at the earliest, though there was an accidental listing on French retailer Micromania’s website which had a release date of October 6, 2013.

Destiny is said to be Bungie’s focus for the next 10 years, with the developer working to expand its universe beyond this first game. How those expansions will take shape and be sold remains to be seen, but the team has gone on-record and stated that Destiny will not require a monthly fee to play.

Destiny is set in our solar system, and players will form groups and traverse the galaxy in player-owned ships to conduct first-person shooter missions on planets like Mars and Venus. Humankind has been beaten back into one long city that sits beneath the Traveler, a large, mysterious sphere that helped defend the human race–or what’s left of it–from various alien threats. Players will take on multiple enemy races in Destiny, including time-travelling robots, hulking rhino men, and more.

Unlike Bungie’s past work, the story in Destiny is built around custom characters. The game has a class-based system, and three classes–Hunter, Titan, and Warlock–have been revealed as of this writing. In addition to firing rifles, pistols, rocket launchers, and sniper rifles, players will also have access to magic-like abilities, granted by the Traveler.

As an online-only game, Destiny will feature separate, third-person social spaces where players can collect, group up, and prepare for the missions ahead. Some mission zones will also be public spaces, allowing for players to encounter each other while out in the field and group up on-the-fly. Bungie has stated that the goal is to not show lobbies, matchmaking, or connection screens, instead delivering a more seamless experience. Player-versus-player combat will not be a factor out in the general world, but the game will feature some sort of competitive multiplayer component. Player counts for public spaces are not known at this time and will likely vary depending on the platform and network connection of the player.

Destiny is an online-only first-person shooter from Bungie, the original developers of theHalo franchise. It will be published byActivision and marks Bungie’s first foray into development for Sony consoles since the release of Oni. It has currently been confirmed for release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and Activision’s financial statements have indicated that the publisher is not expecting to see Destiny on shelves during the current (2013) fiscal year, setting the stage for a 2014 release, at the earliest, though there was an accidental listing on French retailer Micromania’s website which had a release date of October 6, 2013.

Destiny is set in our solar system, and players will form groups and traverse the galaxy in player-owned ships to conduct first-person shooter missions on planets like Mars and Venus. Humankind has been beaten back into one long city that sits beneath the Traveler, a large, mysterious sphere that helped defend the human race–or what’s left of it–from various alien threats. Players will take on multiple enemy races in Destiny, including time-travelling robots, hulking rhino men, and more.with the developer working to expand its universe beyond this first game. How those expansions will take shape and be sold remains to be seen, but the team has gone on-record and stated that Destiny will not require a monthly fee to play.

Unlike Bungie’s past work, the story in Destiny is built around custom characters. The game has a class-based system, and three classes–Hunter, Titan, and Warlock–have been revealed as of this writing. In addition to firing rifles, pistols, rocket launchers, and sniper rifles, players will also have access to magic-like abilities, granted by the Traveler.

As an online-only game, Destiny will feature separate, third-person social spaces where players can collect, group up, and prepare for the missions ahead. Some mission zones will also be public spaces, allowing for players to encounter each other while out in the field and group up on-the-fly. Bungie has stated that the goal is to not show lobbies, matchmaking, or connection screens, instead delivering a more seamless experience. Player-versus-player combat will not be a factor out in the general world, but the game will feature some sort of competitive multiplayer component. Player counts for public spaces are not known at this time and will likely vary depending on the platform and network connection of the player.

Destiny is an online-only first-person shooter from Bungie, the original developers of theHalo franchise. It will be published byActivision and marks Bungie’s first foray into development for Sony consoles since the release of Oni. It has currently been confirmed for release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and Activision’s financial statements have indicated that the publisher is not expecting to see Destiny on shelves during the current (2013) fiscal year, setting the stage for a 2014 release, at the earliest, though there was an accidental listing on French retailer Micromania’s website which had a release date of October 6, 2013.

Destiny is said to be Bungie’s focus for the next 10 years, with the developer working to expand its universe beyond this first game. How those expansions will take shape and be sold remains to be seen, but the team has gone on-record and stated that Destiny will not require a monthly fee to play.

Destiny is set in our solar system, and players will form groups and traverse the galaxy in player-owned ships to conduct first-person shooter missions on planets like Mars and Venus. Humankind has been beaten back into one long city that sits beneath the Traveler, a large, mysterious sphere that helped defend the human race–or what’s left of it–from various alien threats. Players will take on multiple enemy races in Destiny, including time-travelling robots, hulking rhino men, and more.

Unlike Bungie’s past work, the story in Destiny is built around custom characters. The game has a class-based system, and three classes–Hunter, Titan, and Warlock–have been revealed as of this writing. In addition to firing rifles, pistols, rocket launchers, and sniper rifles, players will also have access to magic-like abilities, granted by the Traveler.

As an online-only game, Destiny will feature separate, third-person social spaces where players can collect, group up, and prepare for the missions ahead. Some mission zones will also be public spaces, allowing for players to encounter each other while out in the field and group up on-the-fly. Bungie has stated that the goal is to not show lobbies, matchmaking, or connection screens, instead delivering a more seamless experience. Player-versus-player combat will not be a factor out in the general world, but the game will feature some sort of competitive multiplayer component. Player counts for public spaces are not known at this time and will likely vary depending on the platform and network connection of the player.

Destiny is an online-only first-person shooter from Bungie, the original developers of theHalo franchise. It will be published byActivision and marks Bungie’s first foray into development for Sony consoles since the release of Oni. It has currently been confirmed for release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and Activision’s financial statements have indicated that the publisher is not expecting to see Destiny on shelves during the current (2013) fiscal year, setting the stage for a 2014 release, at the earliest, though there was an accidental listing on French retailer Micromania’s website which had a release date of October 6, 2013.

Destiny is said to be Bungie’s focus for the next 10 years, with the developer working to expand its universe beyond this first game. How those expansions will take shape and be sold remains to be seen, but the team has gone on-record and stated that Destiny will not require a monthly fee to play.

Destiny is set in our solar system, and players will form groups and traverse the galaxy in player-owned ships to conduct first-person shooter missions on planets like Mars and Venus. Humankind has been beaten back into one long city that sits beneath the Traveler, a large, mysterious sphere that helped defend the human race–or what’s left of it–from various alien threats. Players will take on multiple enemy races in Destiny, including time-travelling robots, hulking rhino men, and more.

Unlike Bungie’s past work, the story in Destiny is built around custom characters. The game has a class-based system, and three classes–Hunter, Titan, and Warlock–have been revealed as of this writing. In addition to firing rifles, pistols, rocket launchers, and sniper rifles, players will also have access to magic-like abilities, granted by the Traveler.

As an online-only game, Destiny will feature separate, third-person social spaces where players can collect, group up, and prepare for the missions ahead. Some mission zones will also be public spaces, allowing for players to encounter each other while out in the field and group up on-the-fly. Bungie has stated that the goal is to not show lobbies, matchmaking, or connection screens, instead delivering a more seamless experience. Player-versus-player combat will not be a factor out in the general world, but the game will feature some sort of competitive multiplayer component. Player counts for public spaces are not known at this time and will likely vary depending on the platform and network connection of the player.