Capcom has revealed that the upcoming port of Resident Evil: Revelations will support the gamepad only play feature on the Wii U. You know, the feature that lets you play the game on the Wii U gamepad….kind of like playing it on a 3DS…the system it is being ported from. Thus is the circle of Capcom double dipping.
Revelations was a fun 3DS game and is being given the HD treatment with new weapons and characters for the console release.
[amazon_link id=”B00B59L9T6″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Resident Evil: Revelations[/amazon_link] releases on May 21st.
Crystal Dynamics is putting the finishing touches on their reboot of Tomb Raider and today they showed off a new video with eleven minutes of gameplay. The footage shows some of what we have already seen in snippets from previous looks including Lara’s ride down the rapids and parachuting out of the collapsed airplane. We do get to see Lara’s first interaction with a shanty town as well as the cover system for the game and multiple pathways in certain areas.
[amazon_link id=”B004FS8LYK” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Tomb Raider[/amazon_link] releases on March 5th.
The more I see of Lego City Undercover, the more I really think this could become a game that could move some Wii U consoles….with the right marketing. This newest trailer has a lot of gameplay footage including car chases, tightrope action between rooftops and a look at how the Wii U gamepad will be used in the game. Now that I have just finished Sleeping Dogs this should easily fill the hole in the open-world game spot in my heart.
[amazon_link id=”B002I0K3PM” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Lego City Undercover[/amazon_link] releases on March 18th.
In news that should surprise absolutely no one, Ubisoft president Yves Guillemot announced that a new Assassin’s Creed game would be coming in fiscal year 2014, which might as well mean November 2013 like with every AC game.
He went on to say that the story would involve a completely new character and take place in a new time period as well as represent a giant leap forward for the franchise. It will be developed by a new team as well so hopefully they will figure out that a game that focuses so much on parkour action should actually be able to control the parkour moves well. One can hope.
Where do you think the next Assassin’s Creed will go? Will they stick with a different point of American history or go different like a samurai story? Hmm.
While the Big N has gone on record saying that there will be no Wii U price cut (until the fall, mark it down) they did not say anything about not giving gamers awesome bundles. Behold the Zombi U Wii U bundle. The correct way to try and sell a system that is hitting a plateau. Let’s give you the rundown: a Wii U deluxe set including the 32GB black console and all the bells and whistles it comes with, a copy of Zombi U, a digital code for NintendoLand, a Wii U Pro Controller and even a Zombi U artbook.
The bundle will be available on February 17th and retail for $389.99. With Zombi U being $60 and the Pro Controller running $50 that comes to a $70 savings by my meager high school level math skills.
One of the good things to come out of the violence in video games discussion that has flared up since the Sandy Hook tragedy last December is that it has given people in the video game industry a chance to stand up and let their voice be heard on the subject. Last month, Adam Sessler had a very intelligent interview over on Fox News (which normally doesn’t happen on that channel) and now it is David Jaffe’s turn.
Yeah that David Jaffe, the very outspoken creator of Twisted Metal and God of War. It seems CNN reporter Erin Burnett did not want to take no for an answer in an interview on the rise of violence in America where video games were concerned. Take a look at the video and see for yourself.
http://youtu.be/blH3Shg3nX8
Here is Jaffe’s response to the interview.
This should go well.
Dear @ErinBurnett : you, ma’am, are at best an idiot that @cnn should be ashamed to have as an anchor. At worst, you are the worst kind of American: one who has allowed the healthy desire for success to morph into a capitalistic cancer that makes it ok to ignore the facts in order to make your product more appealing, regardless of the consequences. To make matters worse, your own views about video games- which you seem to have no problem sharing with your hundreds of thousands of viewers- clearly have not been formed by any actual research or real life experience with the medium.
I am sure you will think yourself quick and insightful when you tell me- a video game director/designer accusing someone from another industry of making products for profit regardless of consequence- that I am the pot and you are the black kettle. However, if you actually listened to your guests and read the studies (aka if you actually did some….some….hmmm, what’s that word you journalists have for it? Oh right: RESEARCH!) you would see you are wrong; you would see there remains- after years of studies- zero evidence of video games with violent subject matter causing real life violence.
On the flip side- you know: YOUR side- there is very real evidence that our society suffers greatly when our news media fails to properly inform the public.
The fact that you think a guy who ‘trains’* on a shooting video game would be granted the skill to horrifically, tragically kill those CHILDREN in Norway only serves to show how little research you do before you open your mouth in front of your world wide audience under the guise of delivering news. I’m not sure what makes your argument look more ignorant: the fact that you don’t back up your idiotic statement by showing a correlation to the current health of America’s agriculture sector with the popularity of Farmville OR the fact that the sick, deranged evil loser who killed those poor kids in Norway had picked such a poor ‘training’ tool that after 700 hours of play, he was only capable of hitting little kids with his bullets versus the well armed pretend terrorists and highly skilled virtual soldiers that he was battling in the game.
Shame on you. But more importantly: shame on your profession. It deserves so much better.**
We are less than a week away from the release of [amazon_link id=”B005THAX6K” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Aliens: Colonial Marines[/amazon_link], which Gearbox seems to have had in development since Bush was in office. We will have your review up for it as soon as we can, but to get you ready for your return to the Sulaco and LV-426 here is an extended trailer which shows the marines fighting their way through the xenomorph horde level by level.
And if this wan’t enough, be sure and check out all the rest of the Aliens: Colonial Marines videos.
Aliens: Colonial Marines releases on February 12th.
Speaking to different outlets at this year’s DICE, Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman revealed that the Ouya console, which will release this March for Kickstarter backers and is up for pre-order for June release to everyone else, will have yearly iterations taking advantage of cheaper component prices year to year and better processors.
“As it relates to iterating the console and refreshes, our strategy is very much similar to the mobile strategy. There will be a new Ouya every year. There will be an Ouya 2 and an Ouya 3. We’ll take advantage of faster, better processors, take advantage of prices falling. So if we can get more than 8GB of Flash in our box, we will. And in so doing, make sure that all games are backwards compatible.”
Uhrman also talked about what the Ouya will launch with internally, “We’re launching on the Tegra 3. It’s a quad-core A9 chip. Because it’s not a mobile device, we don’t have to balance power for battery life. So when all four quads are running, it’s 1.6GHz. It’s gonna be the best Tegra 3 device on the market.”
Each owner will have an Ouya account that will link to the user no matter what version of the Ouya they are using.
Some may scoff at the thought of a yearly console, but for the premium price of $99 it really is no different from getting a yearly phone, which many people already do.
The newest trailer for [amazon_link id=”B004FS8LYK” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Tomb Raider[/amazon_link] is here and it unlocks a few more of Laura’s abilities she will learn on the island.
First is the fast travel option which is unlocked when Laura finds new basecamps throughout the island. When these are opened up Laura can access them at any time by going to the map and can fast travel between the camps much like Far Cry 3. This is important because it looks like backtracking is the name of the game for unlocking all the secrets the island has to offer. Much like Metroid you can not access all of the island to begin with but can return later with your new found abilities which include making your own ziplines with your bow and arrow and rope you find as well as a powerful shotgun that can blast its way into new areas.
Tomb Raider releases on March 5th. It can not come soon enough.
The good folks over at Edge have put their ears to the ground and heard some rumors about the next Xbox. First we will go through the list, then discuss.
1. The new Xbox will require an internet connection in order to function and come with an overhauled version of Xbox Live.
2. Games will be put on 50GB Blu-Ray discs.
3. The rumored specs of the system (AMD eight-core X 64, 1.6 Ghz CPU, 8GB DDR3 RAM) are what will ship inside the system.
4. The system will launch with a new version of Kinect packed in.
5. Final size of the hard drive has yet to be decided.
OK, here we go.
First off, I don’t believe that the first rumor will be true. Now Microsoft could easily say that to get the full Xbox experience it is suggested to have an internet connection at all times, but Microsoft also has to realize that there is still a large batch of the population that either don’t have internet or just refuse to get it. I know, I know it is hard to imagine, but take it from me and where I live (insert southern joke here) there are people like this and they play plenty of games, just not online. So to require a connection may burn a bridge to some customers who would have otherwise bought a system especially if Sony is looking at them with arms wide open saying they don’t require internet to play.
The games being put on Blu-Ray discs is almost a no brainer. Microsoft put all there eggs in the HD-DVD basket and came out on the losing end of the HD battle last go round. Now if they are going to keep up with data capacity disc wise, they have to break down and use Blu-Ray. No one will want to play an eight disc DVD version of Fallout 4 when they could have one disc on PS4.
The guts of the system is most likely what is coming inside the new Xbox. There have been too many rumors and reports about the internal make-up of the system that are exactly like the specs above or extremely close.
The Kinect being packed in is making me think that Microsoft will go with a two sku launch. If it is true then I can see a $399 launch without a Kinect and maybe like $449 with a Kinect 2.0 packed in. If Microsoft didn’t want to break that $400 point then they either go one sku at $399 and Kinects all around or drop the Kinect free bundle to $349.
I am already on record thinking that Sony launches with a 1TB hard drive. I may be wrong in that but it just seems right especially if there will only be one Playstation bundle (which i also think). I don’t believe Microsoft will be as generous. I am of the mind that the new Xbox’s will launch with a 500GB hard drive, 750GB if they are feeling frisky. I think 500GB is the one we get.
With Sony’s Playstation event set for February 20th, the wraps of the next generation are slowly being removed. Microsoft should not be far behind with their announcement so Sony won’t have the spotlight all to themselves.
