Dead Space 3 Demo Announced December 26, 2012

EA has just announced that Dead Space 3 will get a demo on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on January 22nd, 2013. However, if you meet the requirements and are fast enough, you can play the game’s demo early on the Xbox 360.

EA Origin Members who have Xbox 360s can register their account on this website for early access to the Dead Space 3 demo.  If you register early enough, EA promises to send you an Xbox Live code you can redeem for early access to the demo on January 15th, 2013.  Registering for an Origin account is free of charge to anyone with an e-mail address, regardless of whichever platforms they play games on.

Dead Space 3, is coming in February 2013 to PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Nintendo TVii Released December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas, everyone!  Just in time for the holiday, Nintendo has activated the long anticipated Nintendo TVii service on the Wii U.  All Wii U owners will immediately be able to access the TVii service and start watching it.

What is the Nintendo TVii service?  This short film should explain everything.

Nintendo TVii is free to all Wii U owners.  No separate download is required, but you may need to have the most recent Wii U firmware installed.  Just click on the red TV icon on the lower portion of your Wii U and you can get started.  The service will also be compatible with Netflix and Amazon Prime customers.

The Last of Us Cinematic Process Video December 14, 2012

For those of you who have been following the development of The Last of Us as closely as I have, you’ll know that its being made by Naughty Dog, the creators of the Uncharted franchise.  Part of the reason why Naughty Dog was able to do such a phenomenal job bringing a realistic virtual performance out of their characters is because they had their voice actors actually perform their scenes in a motion capture studio.  Naughty Dog is continuing this tradition with The Last of Us, their newest game, which tells the story of the survivors of a new parasitic apocalypse.

Sony has saw fit to post up a quick video of just how this process works and introduce a brand new character, named Tess, to us.  Take a look.

The Last of Us is coming May 7th, 2013 exclusive to the Playstation 3.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Boot Camp 2012 Gameplay December 14, 2012

Next year, one of the most classic in gaming franchises of the 3D era is going to be headed into a brand new direction for the franchise.  Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance follows Raiden, the hero of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty as he tries to make his way through a world free from the shackles of the Patriots and which the latest and greatest technology for war has become cybernetic augmentation.

We all saw a taste of just how powerful Raiden had become in Metal Gear Solid 4: Sons of Liberty.  Well, he’s gotten upgraded since then.  Just how powerful is Raiden this time around?  You will be able to take out a Metal Gear Ray single-handedly using only a sword.  Take a look at this gameplay clip for what looks to be an epic boss fight.

But fighting Metal Gears is not all you’ll be doing in the game.  If you would prefer to see some all new gameplay (that hasn’t already been seen in the recent demo) take a look at this new level shown at Boot Camp 2012, where Raiden has to navigate the sewers filled with augmented mercenaries.  Will you attack up front or sneak around them?  You decide.

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance is coming February 2013 for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.  A demo is currently out with the Zone of the Enders: HD Collection.

Dead Space 3 Two Ways to Play Trailer December 13, 2012

Dead Space 3 is going to bring more than just a single player campaign that looks to conclude the entire Dead Space story, it’s also bringing an entirely new cooperative feature which has never been seen before in a Dead Space game, and probably hasn’t been seen before in any other game.

Previously, games which featured a single-player campaign which could be played cooperatively would justify this in the game’s story in one of two ways.  One, that the second player would take control of a previously AI controlled sidekick already explained in the game story.  This sidekick (or sidekicks) will follow you through the game’s story, allowing friends to drop in or drop out of controlling them at their leisure.  The other option is the more common one where a game will create an identical second protagonist which looks by all appearances to be a clone of the main character and no mention will be made that our game hero now has a clone fighting with them.

That’s just not happening with Dead Space 3.  By yourself you play as Issac Clarke, the same hero which survived the Necromorph attacks on the USG Ishumura and the Sprawl.  You’ll be alone, and your only friends will be your wits and whatever weapons you can craft this time around.  If you’re playing with a friend however, Issac won’t be alone.  A new character, John Carver, will join Issac as they will work together to survive.  The game’s storyline, while it will follow the same general path, will be altered to reflect the addition of a second player in the game.

So how does this dynamic story change with the addition of a new player?  Take a look.

This is phenomenal and other game developers who plan to bring cooperative play.  So really, if you really want to get the entire story in Dead Space 3, you’re probably going to want to play it alone, and then with a friend.

Dead Space 3 is coming February 5th, 2013 to PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Mario Warfare Episode 1 Released December 12, 2012

Did you ever wonder what would happen if the story of Super Mario was depicted a little bit more, realistically?  Or perhaps, you just wanted to see heroes like Mario and Toad fighting with guns and kung-fu.  Well, Beatdown Boogie, the makers of Modern War Gear Solid, has just released exactly what you want!

The first episode of the highly anticipated independently made fanfilm Mario Warfare was released to the internet yesterday, and it is just amazing.  The film takes all the classic characters that we remember from the Mario series and completely turns the Mushroom Kingdom on its head, as King Koopa prepares to attack.  Just who will defend them, and who will rescue the Princess?

This fanfilm was in production for quite some time.  It was announced shortly after the conclusion of Modern War Gear Solid, and there was a lot of teaser material released about it, so people have been anticipating its release for months.  I was planning to include this as part of Mario Weekend, but since it wasn’t out yet at the time that happened, I decided not to mention the series during that event and instead to hold off talking about it until the first episode released.  Enjoy!

The Phantom Pain Spike VGA Trailer December 12, 2012

There was probably no game that showed at the VGAs this year that was more controversial or praised than The Phantom Pain. On the surface it looks like an entirely new concept for a game. You play a wounded war veteran who lost his hand and has no memory of who they are or where they came from. Meanwhile everyone is trying to kill you and the rest of your squad.

Now I would be remiss to mention that it seems like everyone on the internet believes this to be a hoax trailer and that in reality this is a trailer for Metal Gear Solid 5. People have noticed several clues sprinkled through the trailer as well as during the Spike Awards Show which give credibility to this theory. Before this trailer launched, no one had heard of Moby Dick Studio, who the trailer credits as their developer.

Two days ago when I tried to do a simple search on them, I could not find their website through Google (however that problem has since been cleared up). If Google hadn’t heard of them until recently, that would mean that their site was so new that it hadn’t been added to Google’s search algorithms yet. Also, the fact that the website has a .se extension has made it harder for me to look up just who owns it through the usual search channels.

In particular, Hideo Kojima himself was at the VGA event, and witnesses saw several people wearing Moby Dick Studio shirts in the Konami VIP area. This could be because Konami is publishing the game, or the game is simply using Konami’s technology. Many people online think the game could be using Kojima Team’s FOX Engine, the engine powering Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. The rhetoric is the same from the other Kojima FOX Engine game, that everything in the trailer is running in real-time and the game is currently running on a high-end PC but will be on the PS3 and Xbox 360.

The first name of the person credited to be the game’s project lead is Joakim, an anagram of Kojima, the father of Metal Gear. Although I have been told that Joakim is a very common Swedish name and that could just be a coincidence.

There have also been a few Twitter accounts that have popped up claiming to be Twitter accounts for Moby Dick Studios, and while they have been obviously set up to continue the running joke that Joakim and Kojima are the same person, the official Moby Dick Studio site has said that all of them are fakes.

The Phantom Pain is coming to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

The Last of Us Spike VGA Trailer and Release Date December 10, 2012

Since its announcement, a lot of people in the industry have been looking forward to Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us.  Created by the same development studio that brought us Uncharted, arguably one of the strongest franchises for the Playstation 3 platform, The Last of Us had a brand new trailer which premiered at the Spike Video Game Awards Show on Friday.

Up until this point, we’ve seen only glimpses of the game’s story, and only the briefest teases about the enemy that humanity finds itself battling against (when not battling each other).  Now, prepare to get a good look.

The Last of Us is coming May 7th, 2013 exclusive to the Playstation 3.

Halo 4 Spartan Ops Episode 6-10 Trailer December 10, 2012

Spartan Ops has been a fantastic addition to the Halo franchise.  It has offered a whole new cooperative campaign where you can take your multiplayer character, join up with friends, and tackle an entirely new story which bridges the gaps between Halo 4 and Halo 5.  After Episode 5, Spartan Ops is taking a bit of a mid-season break, but 343 Industries promises that it will be back in the new year.  Just what do they have in store for us?  Well, the original trailer premiered at the Spike Video Game Awards Show.  If you missed the show, take a look at this trailer for yourselves.

Spartan Ops Episode 6 is coming January 21st, 2012.  Halo 4, which is out now for the Xbox 360, is required.

Oh and by the way, the Crimson Map Pack is out today for Halo 4 as well.

Second Wii U Firmware Update Released December 5, 2012

On the first day of the Wii U’s release Nintendo also released a massive day one firmware update.  The update brought in very important features to the Wii U which were not included with the system.  For the most part, so long as the user followed Nintendo’s instructions and didn’t pull any plugs, the firmware update would go in without a hitch during the Nintendo Network set up process.

Today, Nintendo has released the second Wii U firmware update, and the rules for updating it are a lot different.  The Wii U will automatically download the firmware update in the background, so you can still play Wii U games or mess around on the Miiverse as the download progresses.  If you want to check on the status of the download, just hit the Home button on the Wii U Controller and select Download Management from the touch screen.  This is another pretty big update and depending on your connection will take quite a while to download.

Once the firmware update has finished downloading, the user simply needs to quit any programs they may be running and return to the Wii U Dashboard.  From there, they will be prompted about the system update and given the choice to install it.  The new Wii U firmware installation should only take about 5-10 minutes if you already have the first firmware installed.  I haven’t tested the update on a brand new Wii U which didn’t have the day one firmware installed, so it might take longer to install for new users.

No patch notes were included with the update, and it is currently unknown what was included with it.  It is likely the update simply contains bug fixes and optimizations.  I had read some players comments the new update did decrease load times in some programs, but not all of them, and I haven’t personally been able to confirm that yet.

Do not unplug the Wii U system during the update.