Halo 4 Champions Bundle Trailer July 8, 2013

The next map pack for Halo 4 has been announced, and it’s going to be offered with a bundle with several new armor sets that have never been seen before called the Infinity Armor, Steel Skin, and Bullseye Packs.  If you want to see the new armor for yourself, check out this new trailer.

Halo 4 Champions Bundle is coming August 20th, 2013 through the Xbox Live Marketplace for $10 US.  Halo 4, which is out now exclusive to the Xbox 360, will be required to play.

The Last of Us 1.02 Patch Notes July 2, 2013

Naughty Dog has released version 1.02 for The Last of Us this week.  Most of the things changed were multiplayer tweaks, but as promised, Naughty Dog did slightly alter a texture file which turned out to have a real phone number listed on it.  They have said that was simply an error and the number should not have worked.  The rest of the updates were related to multiplayer and you can read the official list of the patch’s changes here.

You will be able to update The Last of Us to version 1.02 automatically the next time you start the game while connected to the Playstation Network.  The patch shouldn’t be more than 77MB in size.  The update is required to play the game online.

The Last of Us is out now exclusive to the Playstation 3.

Playstation 3 Firmware 4.46 Released July 1, 2013

The latest required update for the Playstation 3 has been released.  Following in the footsteps of a failed firmware update which had to be pulled quickly after release, Firmware 4.46 did not brick my PS3.  Instead it adds the ability to disable trophy notifications.  Some game developers (like Quantic Dream’s David Cage) have felt trophy notifications (or achievement unlocked notifications for Xbox 360 players) distract players from the gaming experience.  Oh don’t worry, you’ll still acquire trophies during gameplay, you just won’t be notified about them the second you acquire them.  Once downloaded, you can enable the feature manually from the PS3’s options menu.

You can download Firmware 4.46 using the PS3’s update feature.  It is required to access to the Playstation Network.

Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection Trailer July 1, 2013

Eight of some of the greatest games ever made in the past 25 years are getting updated for a current gen console and bundled together.  Metal Gear Solid: Legacy Collection will not only include the updated HD versions of Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistance, and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, but the updated trophy edition of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, the two digital graphic novels, updated versions of the original Metal Gear 1 and 2 games for the MSX, and download codes for the original PS1 games Metal Gear Solid and its expansion Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions.

Oh and did I mention it’s also coming with a massive art book as well?

Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection is coming July 9th, 2013 exclusive to the Playstation 3.

BEYOND: Two Souls E3 2013 Presentation July 1, 2013

Quantic Dream had a 40 minute presentation at the Sony E3 booth this year where they not only showed the complete demo of their real-time PS4 demo The Dark Sorcerer, but a never before seen level from their upcoming PS3 exclusive game BEYOND: Two Souls.

This new level for E3 2013 shows a very different level than what I saw at the Tribeca Film Festival.  Jodie and her spirit companion Aiden are now in the army.  As the scene opens, she has been given a mission to assassinate a warlord who has been violently oppressing a country.  Armed with a ghost on your side, as David Cage put it, this is no Call of Duty.

BEYOND: Two Souls is coming October, 2013 exclusive to the Playstation 3.

Batman vs Deadpool – Super Power Beat Down June 28, 2013

Our friends over at Bat in the Sun have once again paired up two super powered giants, and in the newest episode of Super Power Beat Down we have The Dark Knight, Batman, battling Weapon XI himself, Deadpool.  These two characters are legends in the comics industry, and now the battle between these two iconic comic legends has an interesting video game twist. With the release of the Deadpool video game this week and the Batman: Arkham game series continuing to dominate, director Aaron Schoenke could not have picked a better time for this lineup.

If you ever asked yourself who would win in a fight, Batman or Deadpool, by the end of this video, you will know.

Big props to Bat in the Sun for another great video! Did anyone else notice that their new batsuit bore a very similar style to the one Batman wore in Batman: Arkham City?  What’s next for Super Power Beat Down? Wolverine vs Predator!  Visit their official website to vote on who should win!

The Last of Us E3 2013 Q&A June 27, 2013

Sony and Naughty Dog held a pretty impressive Q&A at the Sony E3 booth with the principle designers and lead actors for this summer’s PS3 killer app The Last of Us.  The video of the event has been posted online and if you’re remotely interested about this game, you should give it a watch.  They give some behind the scenes information about the making of the game’s story, and the actors talk about the process they had to go through to get such a great performance into the game.

Don’t worry if you haven’t completed the game yet.  This Q&A was taped the day before The Last of Us released and had a strict NO SPOILERS policy.  Give it a watch.

The Last of Us is out now exclusive to the Playstation 3.

Dragon’s Lair 30th Anniversary Interview June 25, 2013

This month marks the 30th anniversary of the game Dragon’s Lair.  A pioneering development in the arcade space, Dragon’s Lair used an interactive laserdisc to display content, and the player would have to use the controls to steer the scene to its proper resolution.  The game used traditional hand-drawn animation directed by famed animator Don Bluth, who has made his mark in animation with films like The Secret of NiMH and my personal favorite of his movies Titan A.E.

30 years later, the guys at Traditional Animation has posted up an interview with game director Don Bluth,  In it, they discuss the history of the project, the Dragon’s Lair games and why its taken so long for Hollywood to make a Dragon’s Lair movie!

Give it a read here!

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain E3 2013 Director’s Cut Trailer June 25, 2013

Konami released an amazing trailer for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain at the Microsoft E3 Press Briefing, but shortly after the event ended, they revealed that wasn’t all they planned to show.  A 9-minute Director’s Cut of the E3 2013 trailer has been released on Konami’s YouTube Channel.  The new footage shows some pretty graphic content including scenes of battlefield surgery and even torture, and it could be possible that it was cut from the E3 broadcast because of content.  Regardless, Kojima’s team seems to once again be drawing inspiration from current events (even though this does look to be a period game) and these are very important subjects that should continue to be discussed.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is coming to multiple platforms including Xbox One.

GameStop Confirms Xbox One DRM Policy Reversed June 19, 2013

I have to admit, I was heavily concerned for the Xbox One after the Playstation 4’s E3 showing.  People have been worried for weeks now about the policies that Microsoft had officially chosen to implement with the Xbox One including a required online check every 24-hours, the inability for users to play used games without having to pay extra money, the inability for users to sell their games more than once (and they can only sell their games to people who have been on their friends list for a minimum of 30 days) or for users to share retail games with their friends.  While Microsoft chose not to talk about any of this during their E3 Media Briefing, and instead chose to highlight a spectacular amount of exclusive titles for the platform, Microsoft had outlined these plans to retailers and the media prior to the event, and gamers everywhere have been in a fury ever since.

After Sony explicitly announced during their E3 press event that the Playstation 4 would have none of these features that harmed legitimate owners, many users, including many die-hard Microsoft enthusiasts, announced they had no intention of purchasing the Xbox One.  It was quite a shame because Microsoft announced many great games were coming to the platform like Quantum Break, Titanfall, Halo, and Dead Rising 3.  Since E3, faith in Microsoft has plummeted online to levels I never could have imagined, and many have deemed the Xbox One would be dead on arrival when competing with the Playstation 4.

Thankfully, it looks like this is no longer the case.   Tonight, I received an e-mail from GameStop I never expected.  Microsoft has announced they have reversed their policies on the Xbox One prior to E3. The Xbox One will not have the policies that I outlined above.  Instead, the Xbox One will require a one-time activation the first time it is launched, and there will not be a 24-hour connection requirement.  After the one time online console activation, you will be able to take the Xbox One anywhere you want to play its games, including other countries who do not sell the Xbox One.  You will also not be required to have an online connection to play single-player Xbox One games.

While it is unclear if there is any change in policy to the Xbox One’s installation requirements, such as the requirement for each game to be installed into the Xbox One prior to playing, this was not an issue I had with the Xbox One.  There are plenty of platforms that require their games to be installed prior to playing them, including the Playstation 3 or PC, and I was not concerned the Xbox One would have this requirement.  If the Xbox One will require that games be installed, it will likely be a technical requirement, and you will need to have your game in the Xbox One’s disc drive to play.

GameStop has also confirmed that there will be no limitations to using or sharing retail games on the Xbox One, and emphasized that game trading and sharing will work exactly like they do with Xbox 360 games.  This means you will be able to trade or sell retail discs you purchased, or share them with your friends regardless of if they were on your Xbox Live friends list.

This is without a doubt the best news to come from Microsoft in quite a long time.  I don’t know if this complete change in policy was due to the tremendous negative feedback from gamers online following E3, pressure from competition like Sony or Nintendo who were clearly not implementing similar policies, or just plain common sense, but the Xbox One’s launch is now looking a lot brighter.

The Xbox One is launching November 2013 for a price of $499 US.