As we reach mid-September, the holiday release season is upon us and games are finally getting good again ™.
Two long-awaited titles, Need For Speed: Shift and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, hit this week. Shift, particularly, has been getting rave reviews around these interwebs for bringing the NFS series to simulation-minded gamers.
As for L4D2, things seemed balanced and ‘tight’ and did not feel like a rushed job. While we were visiting their offices we personally witnessed what can only be called a small army of artists, coders, mappers hard at work, which explains the rapid transformations in artwork that we’ve all seen…What we can say with confidence is that the quality of gameplay in Left 4 Dead 2 is not in question; and it will only get better (from what we understand, almost daily testing of game builds by most of the staff at Valve).
Ultimately, however, Walking_Target and his friends promise they won’t stop the boycott until their “individual concerns are addressed.”
The long-awaited and much-hyped Guitar Hero 5 hits stores shelves this week, followed by super MMORPG Champions Online.
Action fans can take a bite out of the unfortunately-named Section 8 (hint: Naming your game after a government housing program associated with urban decay isn’t the best decision ever).
Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gamers can battle in our team-based competition. Team sizes are flexible, from 2v2 to 4v4, to give you more options to play.
The tournament is currently in its practice ladder stage. On 9/2/09, the practice ladder will reset and convert to the tournament ladder. Follow these links to get in:
Recent footage out of a Game Crazy company convention, leaked yesterday, shows Modern Warfare 2 in all its single-player glory. Thanks to the magic of YouTube, you can watch it too. See below (and turn down your volume–the crowd noise is a bit much).
Today’s the day that all bat devotees around the world have been waiting for. Batman: Arkham Asylum, which is purportedly a good Batman game (think about that for a second) is out now.
To celebrate the launch of the game, Eidos and Rocksteady have released an obligatory launch trailer; see below. Additionally, Toys R’ Us is running a gift card deal today only from 10PM to 2PM for those of you who still have time to grab the game. Pick up Batman: Arkham Asylum at TRU and they’ll lob a $30 gift card at you, recession-style.
The content will hit XBLM and the PSN on Aug. 27. In order to get your hands on the eight new character, all with tweaked weapons, the new skins for existing characters, three multiplayer maps, a more challenging difficulty mode, and the addition of Aerialbot to the single-player campaign, you are going to need to pony up 800 Microsoft Points ($10).
For the complete breakdown of all the new content, hit the jump. Read more »
Today at GamesCom, Housemarque, developer of Super Stardust HD, revealed a new zombie shooter exclusive to the PS3.
Dubbed Dead Nation, the downloadable title features a top-down perspective, dynamic lighting, and more zombies than you can shake a chainsaw at. While little else is known about the title, we can gather from the trailer that there will be several different weapons and a world map that, I assume, lets you pick which level you want to play.
As of now no release date or price point has been announced. As soon as official word arrives, you can be sure I’ll post it here on The Wire.
Today Sony announced that the PlayStation 3 will be receiving a slimmer version, that will hit retailers during the first week in Sept.
The new model, which is priced at $299 USD and 299 Euros, includes an internal 120 GB hard drive, 2 USB ports, and and is said to be one-third smaller. Sony stated that the new PS3 Slim will have the same functionality as the classic PS3, meaning no backwards compatibility.
One strange subtraction has been made to the PS3 Slim. The “Install Other OS” feature, standard in all previous PS3 models, has been removed. Sony explained the subtraction by saying, “the new PS3 system will focus on delivering games and other entertainment content, and users will not be able to install other Operating Systems to the new PS3 system.”
Sony also announced that a $100 price cut is now in effect for all old PS3 models. This means that the 80GB model is now $299 and the 160GB model is $399.
Today Sony announced that the PS3 and PSP will be receiving a digital reader service, allowing gamers to download and read comic books on their consoles.
According to Sony, the “biggest names in the comics world” have signed on to the new service, which debuts this Dec. So far, the only publisher known is Marvel Comics, publisher of Spider-man, X-Men, and The Avengers. Sony has stated that other publishers are “to be announced soon.”
So far we know that the service will be made available in both North America and Europe. More details are set to arrive when Sony takes the stage at the GamesCom 2009 conference.
Today EA Montreal announced that Army of Two: The 40th Day will be arriving on the Xbox 360, PS3, and PSP on Jan. 12, 2010.
The developer also announced a pre-order bonus for those who jump aboard The 40th Day early. When the game ships, one of the four multiplayer modes will be lock to everyone except those who pre-ordered the game. The ‘Extraction’ game mode, which according to EA “Pits a team of four players against a series of unique enemy waves as they move from point to point in the ruined city,” will become unlocked after the first month.
While The 40th Day is still on my list of games to check out, I can’t say I agree with this pre-order “bonus.” If I’m paying $60 for a game, I expect to be able to access all parts of it right off the bat. In all reality I expect the online community to react poorly to this news. Hopefully EA will reconsider their stance on the ‘Extraction’ mode.
As we reach mid-September, the holiday release season is upon us and games are finally getting good again ™.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote up a post about the 
Today EA Montreal announced that Army of Two: The 40th Day will be arriving on the Xbox 360, PS3, and PSP on Jan. 12, 2010.