Microsoft certainly has a long way to go in matching Games with Gold to PS Plus, but the August offerings are certainly a step in the right direction.
[amazon_link id=”B000HCQK0A” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Crackdown[/amazon_link] will be the first game available from August 1-15. For those of you looking for a good intro into the super-powered open-world game before [amazon_link id=”B00BRQN2H4″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Saint’s Row IV[/amazon_link], Crackdown is some decent, dumb fun.
On August 16th you will be able to download [amazon_link id=”B002EE5ROO” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Dead Rising 2[/amazon_link] and its DLC prequel, Case Zero. With [amazon_link id=”B00DB90AHA” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Dead Rising 3[/amazon_link] one of the biggest launch games for the [amazon_link id=”B00CMQTVMI” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Xbox One[/amazon_link], this is a great way to get some excitement drummed up for the sequel by offering both of these for free. Plus, it is hours of wacky, zombie-killing fun for absolutely nothing so you can not go wrong.
Gamestop is trying to give you some extra incentive to buy a new Xbox 360 250GB E console. With every purchase of the newly redesigned system, Gamestop will give you a copy of [amazon_link id=”B00CJ7IUGS” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Legendary Edition[/amazon_link] for the massive price of free.
Now if you have a perfectly good 360 sitting at home this may not be a good enough deal, but is a great bonus add-on for whoever is in the market for a new system.
Microsoft is releasing a new bundle for the Xbox 360 that will combine a 250 GB hard drive with Batman: Arkham City and Darksiders 2. The Spring Value Bundle will costs $299.99 and is available now at all retailers.
Along with the games you will also receive a free month of Xbox Live.
This past weekend Bungie, the creators of Halo, finally took the covers off of their next project, Journey. Ambitious does not begin to describe what Destiny is. Not only is this the company’s first game outside the safety of Microsoft’s umbrella, but it is an entire series of games that will involve a brand new universe and occupy the developers next ten years. Ten years!!
When they struck a deal with Activision to publish the game the documents revealed showed that Destiny is being made already sequel ready and the first game will release this fall on Xbox 360 and PS3 and also, presumably, for the next gen consoles as well. Every sequel after will be released strictly for the next generation.
Destiny’s plot revolves around the last portion of humanity to survive an apocalyptic event. The only piece of humanity left were saved when a mysterious ship, known as The Traveler, began to float above a section of Earth. It is always there, hanging as a somber protector for what reason no one knows. Humanity has put the pieces back together under The Traveler and begun to explore the galaxy again. With this comes new threats in the form of alien life that is looking to finish off the remnants of humanity. Destiny will see you play as a guardian, tasked to push back these forces and protect humanity.
Bungie is coining a new term for Destiny’s gameplay, the “shared world shooter”. Not wanting to call the game a true MMO, Destiny will be available to play completely in single player, or at any time, you can join some friends or strangers and help out in missions they are doing and decide to stick together or go do your own thing with your story. How this will work cross-platform remains to be seen. Will it be only 360 players that can match up with 360 players and vice versa or will Bungie somehow work there magic and have all consoles playing on Destiny’s world in one big sci-fi love fest?
Watching the video above also shows off that social integration will play a big part in Destiny. While the specifics are not known as to what will be the basis of the app, it would be easy to assume you would get story updates as well as messages from friends as they interact in the world. You may be able to set up party missions but that is just pure speculation on my part.
Photo courtesy dorksden.com
It looks as though you will not be stuck on Earth in Destiny. You will have the ability to go to other planets, but it is not known if the space travel will be able to be controlled or if Destiny will have space battles. Even if the first game does not, it would not surprise me to see them added in sequels, especially with the horsepower of the next-gen consoles.
This is just the opening salvo of Destiny from Bungie. Expect to see a lot more from now until its planned fall release. I would expect a massive blowout at E3 this year to truly give gamers a sense of the scale of this project.
When the original Prey was released on 360 in July of 2006, it was met with high praise for its graphical prowess, original story, unique gravity-bending gameplay sections, and its generally ability to horrify / terrify players. Shortly thereafter a sequel was said to be in development by a team at Human Head Games, and in 2011 it was officially announced by publisher Bethesda. Check out the trailer, courtesy of IGN’s YouTube: Prey 2 E3 2011 Trailer.
Looks pretty amazing, right? Unfortunately, that was the last information released concerning the title. Since then, it has been repeatedly reported as cancelled, and on August of last year it was officially pulled from the products page on Bethesda’s website. Most fans saw that as the final nail in Prey 2’s coffin.
Until today, when the web is buzzing about www.aliennoir.com, a “countdown site” in the style popularly used for movie and video game reveals. The countdown is obviously in a fictional language, but the internet quickly deciphered the cycle and came up with a date: March 1st, 2013. While we can’t say for certain until then, the symbols seemingly match those used by the aliens in the original Prey, and the four letters at the top appear to spell “PREY” when shifted slightly.
[amazon_link id=”B0050SVLI2″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Resident Evil: Revelations[/amazon_link] is making the jump from 3DS to consoles. The handheld adventure released last year for Nintendo’s 3DS and sold well enough (or bad enough) to warrant a port over to home consoles. The game will release on May 21st for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and PC.
The game will receive an HD upgrade (duh) as well as new playable characters, new weapons and difficulty level not found in the handheld version.
Epic Games has a new trailer for [amazon_link id=”B002I0H2AG” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Gears of War: Judgment[/amazon_link] entitled “The Guts of Gears”. In it protagonist and general smart-ass Damon Baird tells of all the new games features that the newest Gears title will have including new weapons, the Smart Spawn System (S3) and the declassified missions that are unlocked in the game where Baird and Kilo Squad’s back story will be played. A whole new three star ranking system will be implemented on each mission as well.
Months ago images were leaked of Microsoft’s plans for the ability to transform your entire living room into a massive screen where the gaming experience would be stretched beyond the television and plastered onto the walls that surround you. Many speculated that this could be the next generation of Kinect and no one really knew how far off this technology was.
It seems like the wait will not be too long.
At the Samsung keynote during CES yesterday, Microsoft showed off a proof-of-concept video that showed some ways that this new experience would change how you game. It is called IllumiRoom and Microsoft said that the video was done in real-time with no after effects added. While some may surely cry the easy word of “gimmick”, I say it is far less of a gimmick than the Kinect was. This is not a needed technology, but I will admit that I am excited about trying it out and more than that, excited about what developers can do with it.
The video shows an Xbox 360 on the shelf but I am going to go out on a very thick, sturdy limb here and say that IllumiRoom will be one of the selling points for the next Xbox. Maybe it will be a feature than will come with a new Kinect when the system releases. Right now we are all throwing our hats in the rumor mill ring but I will say that if IllumiRoom can meet the expectations set by the concept video then Microsoft may have something special and game changing on their hands.
Special edition controllers are a regular sight. I am currently still using my [amazon_link id=”B002I0H79C” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Gears of War 3[/amazon_link] [amazon_link id=”B0050SYTJK” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]controller[/amazon_link] but I have not been tempted to buy another until now.
This is the special edition Xbox 360 controller for the upcoming reboot of [amazon_link id=”B004FSE52C” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Tomb Raider[/amazon_link]. It comes with a damaged, used look complete with pre-etched scratches, fingerprints and bandages. Now some may look at this and wonder why in the world would anyone want this but I look at it and think it works because of how well it connects with the game that it is designed for. It is dirty, damaged looking and bandaged up just like Lara will be during the game. It would have been easy to slap a picture of Lara’s face on a controller and sell it but I am glad someone thought outside the box.
Purchase of the controller will also give gamers access to a special character skin in Tomb Raider’s multiplayer. The controller will cost $59.99.
[amazon_link id=”B004FS8LYK” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Tomb Raider[/amazon_link] releases on March 5th.
Deadpool is here to wish everyone a Happy Holidays and to say that he has taken over as president of High Moon Studios who happen to be releasing his game fittingly titled, [amazon_link id=”B008LW4SCU” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Deadpool[/amazon_link]. Hopefully your holiday turns out better than it did for Rudolph.
Deadpool releases in 2013 for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.
