God of War Ascension Will Have Multiplayer May 1, 2012

It’s a story as old as time itself.  Man pledges his loyalty to a god in exchange for assistance in slaying the barbarians that outnumber his troops.  The god eventually becomes a megalomaniac and makes his servant slay his wife and daughter.  Okay, it’s not that old, it’s the story of Kratos, the protagonist of the God of War series, which we learn in bits and pieces over the course of the first God of War game.

God of War Ascension, the next God of War game coming exclusively to the Playstation 3 will tell the story of just what happened after that night, when Kratos became the Ghost of Sparta and what he had to do in order to break his oath to Ares, who had betrayed him.

However, that single player story is not all that is going to be included with God of War Ascension (in fact it has been announced that the single-player game may be slightly shorter than previous God of War installments)  God of War Ascension will be the first God of War game to offer multiplayer, and it will be coming in the form of eight player competitive play.

In competitive play you will be able to customize your own character to play as, and adjust things like appearance and clothing.  Eight players will be able to battle at one time in an arena and will have access to a full moveset as well as quick-time sequences for finishing moves.  It sounds like all the gameplay and controls we remember from the previous games will not be compromised in multiplayer.

This is hardly the first game series to bring multiplayer into a sequel after previously featuring games which were single-player only but as far as I know this is probably among the latest any game series has added multiplayer.  Five games have already been released in the God of War franchise (not including the HD re-releases) which featured no multiplayer, whereas most game series which didn’t have a multiplayer component initially will usually add it by the second game (Splinter Cell, Uncharted) and the previously latest I saw was the third game (Max Payne).  I think the latest I’ve seen at this point to add multiplayer may have been Grand Theft Auto, which added multiplayer in GTA4.

God of War Ascension is coming exclusive to the Playstation 3.

Diablo III TV Spot May 1, 2012

It’s exceptionally rare for a video game to have one of its trailers broadcast on network television, even rarer for a PC exclusive, but whenever it happens you just know it will be something special.  Here’s the TV Spot for Diablo III, the first new Diablo game in over ten years.  Enjoy.

Diablo III is coming May 15th, 2012 exclusive to PC.

Portal 2 Editor Announced April 28, 2012

Valve has officially announced that they plan to release an editor which will give players at home the opportunity to create their own challenge rooms.  Dubbed the “Perpetual Testing Initiative” DLC this editor, coming for Mac and PC will allow owners of Portal 2 to create their own Portal puzzle rooms and test in them.

I would make a joke here about Wheatley wishing he could have this type of technology but instead I will just show this short informative film.

The Portal 2 Perpetual Testing Inititive will release through STEAM and have fully integrated STEAM functionality.  You can expect it to be released May 8 to owners of Portal 2 on the PC and Mac.

While there was no mention of a console version of this, remember, if you have a copy of the game on Playstation 3 you may also have a CD-Key included in the game’s package for a free copy of Portal 2 for PC or Mac on STEAM.

Quinni-Con 2012 Starts Today April 28, 2012

For those of you close to my neck of the woods I wanted to give you a heads up that a gaming and anime convention is going to be hosted at Quinnipiac University this weekend, and is going on right now as I type this.

Quinni-Con 2012 is a free fan-created convention hosted by Quinnipiac University.  The convention’s primary theme will be anime and otaku culture.  There are going to be panels of all sorts of subjects, cosplay and there will also be gaming tournaments for Street Fighter x Tekken, Super Smash Bros Brawl, and Soul Caliber V.

Details about the convention can be found here.  Online web registration is no longer active but on-site registration is being offered.  If you’re a fan, go and give it a look, it’ll continue on through Sunday!

Quakecon 2012 Registration Open April 28, 2012

Every year in Texas a celebration happens for all things made by id Software. Responsible for games such as RAGE, Doom, Quake and Wolfenstien, the Quakecon was originally a fan created convention so people could get together, discuss their love of the games, and play against each other in the games that they love.

Quakecon 2012 is going to be happening at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas August 2nd to August 5th.  Registration is now open.  Price is free to all attendees but if you wish there are still packages available for purchase that include swag like t-shirts and posters.

Registrants can go here to register.  Game on!

God of War Ascension Details April 25, 2012

Well, it’s confirmed, a new God of War game is coming exclusive to the Playstation 3 and it is going to be titled God of War Ascension.  Take a look for yourselves at the initial release teaser.

As someone who has played through every God of War game made (and done a pretty lengthy podcast about the series as well) I wanted to make a reference to a few images in the teaser, and what may be coming in the game.

The game is expected to take place at the very beginning of the series, which we had only seen glimpses of in the original God of War.  As was shown in that game, Kratos had pledged his soul to Ares years earlier in order to help him defeat the Barbarians.  In exchange for his loyalty, Kratos became a servant of Ares, and was given the Blades of Chaos (the first version of the classic chain blades Kratos wields).

When Ares betrays him and makes him accidentally slay his wife and daughter, Kratos renounced his loyalty to the God of War and for his actions became cursed by the local Oracle to wear the ashes of his wife and daughter on his skin forever.  The game looks to take place at the time where Kratos rejected the oath he took to Ares, and all the consequences that must have come with it.

Some of you may have recognised the narrator’s return immediately.  In the first game, she was simply the narrator, but in the second game you discovered the narrator was the Titan Gaia, who had been watching Kratos throughout the events of his life.  It’s nice to hear that she has returned and hopefully she will continue her narration through the new game.  There were also references to some classic enemies that Kratos has fought in previous God of War games, in particular the cerberus appears in the announcement video, which shows it may be returning as an enemy in this game as well.

Other artwork, in particular the early game box art shows an image of Kratos bound very similar to Atlas the Titan was in God of War II.  It would be a very gripping metaphor if this image made it into the game as it turned out in God of War: Chains of Olympus that it was Kratos who had originally bound Atlas to hold up the Earth after he tried to destroy Olympus and the rest of the world with it.

God of War Ascension is coming exclusive to the Playstation 3.

Max Payne 3 System Requirements April 24, 2012

Straight from Rockstar’s Official Website, take a look at what PC owners will need to be sporting to play Max Payne 3 on their PC.

Operating System: Windows 7 32/64 Service Pack 1, Windows Vista 32/64 Service Pack 2, Windows XP 32/64 Service Pack 3

Processor: Intel Dual Core 2.4 GHZ –  i7 3930K 6 Core  x 3.06 GHZ / AMD Dual Core 2.6 GHZ – FX8150 8 Core x 3.6 GHZ

RAM: 2GB – 16GB

Video Card: NVIDIA® 8600 GT 512MB VRAM – NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 680 2GB VRAM / Radeon HD 3400 512MB VRAM – Radeon HD 7970 3GB VRAM

Sound Card: 100% Direct X 9.0 compatible – Direct X 9.0 compatible supporting Dolby Digital Live

HDD Space: 35 GB

DVD Drive

Max Payne 3 is coming to the PC May 29th, 2012.

Max Payne 3 is also coming to Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 and May 15th, 2012.  The Xbox 360 version of Max Payne 3 will come on two discs.  The game will make full use of the Rockstar Games Social Club, just like LA Noire and the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 5.

Batman: Arkham City Game of The Year Edition Announced April 23, 2012

Today, Rocksteady has announced that Harley Qunn’s Revenge, the highly anticipated final downloadable content for Batman: Arkham City, which has been teased for the past few days will be released on May 29th, 2012 for Batman: Arkham City.

On that day, for those of you who have not yet picked up the game, Batman: Arkham City will see a re-release in the form of Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year Edition which will include the full game as well as ALL downloadable content released for the game AND Harley Qunn’s Revenge.  Take a look for yourselves!

Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year Edition is coming May 29th, 2012 to Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.  In the United States, a free download of the animated movie Batman: Year One will be included.

Halo 4 Release Date April 18, 2012

Ladies and Gentelmen, I present to you the Red Team and the Blue Team.

Halo 4 coming November 6th, 2012 exclusive to the Xbox 360.

And just as an added bonus, here’s some ways to help you remember the date, or you know, you could just preorder.