Gears of War: Judgment Launch Trailer March 8, 2013

The latest game in the Gears of War series may be a little over a week away, but that hasn’t stopped developer Epic Games from releasing the game’s official launch trailer.  In a story told from the point of view of Damon Baird and Augustus “Cole Train” Cole, we’re about to know what it was like for the Gears just after the Locust attacked on Emergence Day.

If you can’t wait until release to check out the game’s new multiplayer mode just remember that a beta test will be made available for players shortly before release.  You can get in it by preordering the game from GameStop .

Gears of War: Judgment is coming March 19th, 2013 exclusive to the Xbox 360.

Dead Space 3 Awakened DLC Launch Trailer March 7, 2013

I just completed Dead Space 3 for the first time yesterday and without spoiling the game’s ending, lets just say that the game ended on a pretty big cliffhanger, and I was heavily concerned if it would get resolved.  From the looks of it, we’re not going to have to wait long to have that cliffhanger resolved.  EA plans to pick up the Dead Space 3 story from the moment the game ended with the downloadable expansion Dead Space 3 Awakened.

I know what you’re thinking, how can there be a story after the events of Dead Space 3‘s ending?  Well, I guess we’re going to find out.  Take a look.

Dead Space 3 Awakened will be released for download on the Xbox 360, PC and PS3 March 12th, 2013.  Dead Space 3 required to play.

Wii U System Update Released March 5, 2013

A small system update was released to the Wii U today which greatly shortens load times when running or quitting programs.  This was probably one of the biggest complaints that people had about the Wii U’s Operating System at launch, and it looks like Nintendo has listened and fixed it.

The update will download automatically in the background whenever you start your Wii U today.  For people who had the latest version of the Wii U firmware already installed before today, it is a small update and shouldn’t take too long to download.  Once the update has been downloaded, you will need to restart your Wii U in order to apply the update.  The system update will launch once you turn the Wii U back on.

Since installing the update, I’ve noticed load times when loading and quitting programs to be greatly cut down.  Nintendo promises that more updates and bug fixes which will further improve system performance will be coming to the Wii U down the road.

BEYOND: Two Souls Release Date March 4, 2013

The next major game from developer Quantic Dream finally has a release date.  Following in the tradition of previous games Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit) and Heavy Rain, BEYOND: Two Souls is an interactive adventure game which follows the story of a young girl named Jodie Holmes, who is spiritually connected to a ghost named Aiden.  The player will get to follow her through many years of her life as she adjusts to this peculiar situation.

We have known since E3 2012 that the game will star actress Ellen Page as the lead character, Jodie.  This weekend, we learned that heavily credited actor Willem Dafoe will be joining the game’s cast of characters as Nathan, the man who has followed Jodie’s case since the very beginning, trying to understand and explain it.

So how does he look in the game?  Take a look for yourselves.

Is the Academy paying close attention to this?  They should be.

You can also check out this interview with Willem Dafoe to see what the process was in digitally capturing his performance so it could be put in the game.

BEYOND: Two Souls is coming October 8th, 2013 exclusive to the Playstation 3.  An additional DLC scene and free upgrade to the game’s Special Edition will be offered for those who preorder from GameStop.

God of War: Ascension Demo Released February 26, 2013

For those of you unfortunate enough to be part of the Trojan Army during the God of War: Rise of the Warrior Promotion or who never participated in it can rest easy now, as Sony has officially released the God of War: Ascension demo to all PS3 users.

So what can we expect in God of War: Ascension?  Lets check out the game’s newly released launch trailer.

You can download the full demo right now for free on the Playstation Store.  Just search for God of War: Ascension and download the demo from the game’s information page.  According to Sony, the demo takes place at the very beginning of the game, and can take around thirty minutes to complete.  It also includes a ton of game trailers and some behind the scenes videos which hopefully will be included with the final game.  It is 3.7GB in file size, so you might need to delete a few things off your hard drive before you start your download.

God of War: Ascension is coming March 12th, 2013 exclusive to the Playstation 3.

Quakecon 2013 Dates Announced February 26, 2013

The biggest gathering of id Software fans has been hosted annually since 1996 and today, that tradition continues.  Quakecon 2013 is a go and it will be hosted August 1st through the 4th at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, TX.  The event will bring together some of the biggest fans of the Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstien series, show off some new games still in development, and feature one heck of a huge LAN party.

Quakecon registration is not yet open, however they are taking reservations at the hotel the convention is being hosted at.  If you want to stay at the Hilton Anatole during the convention, they are offering a special $159 a night rate if you mention Quakecon 2013 at the time of reservation.

You can check out all the information on the convention at their Official Website.

Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX Coming to North America February 25, 2013

North American and European Kingdom Hearts fans can let out one big cheer.  Square Enix has announced today that Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX, which was previously only announced for a Japanese release, is now coming worldwide exclusive to the Playstation 3.

The Kingdom Hearts games were released by Square Enix and Disney Interactive to multiple platforms.  They combined the epic history of the Disney characters and movies and melded them with classic characters from the Final Fantasy series.  In the games, you can travel from world to world, revisiting all the classic Disney movies, with the intention to set the worlds right from the darkness that hopes to claim their hearts.

To me, the reason why this series worked so well was because the characters acted exactly as I remembered them from their original stories.  Square Enix did a fantastic job recreating the look and feel of the worlds and the characters that inhabited them.  Many of the original Disney voice over actors reprised their roles for the games, including actors like Jim Cummings, James Woods, and Wayne Allwine.  There were also a ton of special nods all over the place.  For example, Mickey Mouse’s Royal March will play in the background in his castle.  What’s his royal march?  It’s an instrumental version of the Mickey Mouse Club Theme.

Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX is made up of the very first Kingdom Hearts game and Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories, both previously released only on the Playstation 2.  A very nice surprise is that Square Enix has promised that they are going to use the Final Mix version of the first game.  That version had a lot of new features and bosses and was never released outside of Japan. To top it all off, a fully remastered HD cinematic movie version of Kingdom Hearts: 365/2 Days is included.

If you’d like to read all the details, you can do it here.

Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX is coming Fall 2013 exclusive to the Playstation 3.

Watch Dogs Playstation 4 Demo February 22, 2013

There probably wasn’t any new game reveal more interesting to the gaming press at E3 2012 than UbiSoft’s Watch Dogs.  Wednesday night, UbiSoft officially announced the game is coming to the Playstation 4.

In a very welcome return to cyberpunk style the game allows the player to travel around an open-world Chicago.  A new system, called ctOS has been implemented with the intention that it will provide peace of mind and security to all of the citizens, solve problems like traffic congestion, and allow law enforcement more flexibility in apprehending criminals.  You have control over this system, and you can do whatever you want with that control.

In this demo, we take a look at all the cool things that we’ll be able to do in this new game, and see how it works on the new hardware.

Watch Dogs has no release date and is coming to multiple platforms including the Playstation 4.

Knack Announcement Trailer February 22, 2013

The first game announced for the Playstation 4 was interestingly enough a quirky little game which sported a unique art style and gameplay which Sony promises will show PS4 owners the fullest extent to what their platform can deliver.  Developed by Sony Japan, this is Knack.

Knack is coming exclusive to the Playstation 4.

inFAMOUS: Second Son Announcement Trailer February 22, 2013

To me, this was my favorite game announcement of the night.  Nate Fox of Sucker Punch did a fantastic introduction to this game, and up until the moment the game’s name appeared on the screen, the audience had no idea what we were seeing.

I was expecting that if Sony was planning to show games at their PS4 event, their best bet was to reveal entirely new game installments from some of their core franchises.  My expectation was that they could really show just how much of an improvement this new hardware was over the previous generation, because gamers would have previous games to compare it to.  On Wednesday night, they only showed two new games from their core franchises, and this is one of them.

inFAMOUS: Second Son is exclusive to the Playstation 4.