What is id Trying to Say? October 10, 2011

The Unknown Camerperson has been playing RAGE this week and just sent me this.

I think they were used to make Clive Barker’s Jerico.

iPhone 4S Announced October 5, 2011

Yesterday, Apple has announced the next model iPhone which will be the premere device to house their new version iOS, iOS5.  Called, the iPhone 4S, the phone will sport the same dual-core processor as the iPad 2, will have an 8 Mega Pixel camera capable of taking 1080p video, be capable of mirroring through HDMI, and feature the most comprehensive voice recognition system ever devised.  These features are exclusive to the new phone.

The gaming capabilities of the iPhone is going to be greatly upgraded as well.  GameCenter will be expanded and supported apps will now feature cloud saving, similar to what is already offered through supported STEAM and Playstation Plus.  These features are coming with iOS5 and will be made avalible to any supported iDevice.

The iPhone 4S will be made avaible through Sprint, Verizon and AT&T and will have iOS5 already installed.  Current iDevice owners (who have an iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, any iPad, or third and fourth generation iPod Touch) will be able to upgrade to iOS5 on October 12th through iTunes.

You will be able to preorder iPhone 4S starting on October 7th at your local supporting phone store.  The phone will officially be on sale on October 14th, 2011.

Duke Nukem Forever DLC 1 Dated October 5, 2011

The 2K Games Twitter feed has made the announcement that the first downloadable content for Duke Nukem Forever will be released on October 11th.  The “Hail to the Icons” pack includes maps which distinctly parody games made famous over gaming history, and each contain at least one unique weapon from the game they are parodying.  Three new game modes will also be included.

The DLC will be free to Duke Nukem Forever First Access Club Members (yes, those same members who got the demo early).  All members should be expecting download codes for their respective platform in their e-mail at the DLC release.

Aliens: Colonial Marines E3 Demo Video October 4, 2011

Okay, I just have one thing I need to say before I show you guys this.

Aliens: Colonial Marines was the very last thing I saw at E3 this past year.  People have been really looking forward to this game for many years.  The line had been several hours long for most of the three days the event was going on for.  On the final day, after demoing the Playstation Vita, I saw the line was short and they were still letting in people to see it, so it became the final game I saw.  You can check out my E3 vlog for more details.

The video you’re about to see is exactly the same video I saw at E3, narrated by the owner of Gearbox Software just as he had at the show, and from the looks of it, shot on the exact same setup, which was made to look like an APC.  We were told before the theatre demo started that we were not allowed to film the demo, and the SEGA security would do terrible, terrible things to us if we reached for a camera…

Why they chose to do the opening of the demo shot off this setup’s screen is beyond me.

Rant over, ladies and gentlemen, Randy Pitchford.

Aliens: Colonial Marines is coming in 2012 for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

The Darkness II Limited Edition Announced October 4, 2011

The official Darkness II twitter feed has broken the announcement that the quad wielding comic book inspired game, The Darkness II, will have a Collector’s Edition for it’s February release, and it should not cost any extra.

The Darkness II Limited Edition will feature cover artwork by Mark Silvestri, and included in the package will be codes for digital versions of The Darkness Origins Volume 1 and 2.  Also, there will be some free DLC content included for the game, including the Gormet Hearts DLC, which gives a bonus for eating hearts (eating hearts leveled you up in the first game, or was the only way to put down some supernatural enemies).  The other DLC will help you find all the game’s collectables.  In the first game there was 100 collectables, all of which unlocked special content, and finding them all was very difficult without a hint guide.

The final DLC will be a special outfit for your Darkling, based upon one of the funniest stories of the first game.  In the first game, during level transitions, Jackie would make a small monologue to the player, either about what he was feeling in the game at that moment, or if you were backtracking, a small story about the area you were entering.  One of the funniest stories Jackie told in the first game involved a good friend of his and you can hear him say it occasionally when entering a subway station.

“Anybody who ever thought the subway was scary had never sat in the backseat of a midtown cab. driving in the wrong direction, up the midtown tunnel, by a guy who doesn’t speak a lick of English, my buddy, Crazy Abdul.”

Apparently Crazy Abdul is now a darkling, and Limited Edition buyers will be able to have their darkling look like him in their games.

For those of you intersted in how this new game is going to play, take a good look at the latest trailer for it, which features the game’s signature new feature, Quad Weilding.

The Darkness II is coming Feb 2nd, 2012 for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Portal 2 Peer Review Free DLC Out Today October 4, 2011

Those of you who have been aching for some new Portal 2 content finally have their wish granted today, as new downloadable content for Portal 2, called “Peer Review” has been released to the Xbox Live Marketplace, STEAM and the Playstation Network.  The best part is, this DLC is completely free of charge.

This content was initially promised to be out during the summer, but Valve is historially still on Valve Time, which means it came out in early October.  Included with the DLC is more co-op levels to play as Atlus and P-Body on, as well as new single-player and multi-player challenge maps.

On a seperate note, the third volume of the Portal 2 soundtrack has been released for free download.  You can download the whole album (or just sample a listen of it), as well as the other two released volumes free of charge on the official site.   Yes, “Want You Gone”, the end theme to Portal 2, is included in Volume 3.

Psychonauts Recieves Mac Version, Major Patch and iOS Companion Today September 29, 2011

Released in 2005, Psychonauts was considered to be one of the most beloved games of the last generation of gaming.  It was quirky and exciting, with a great sense of humor enjoyed by players and reviewers alike.  Initially released on the PC, Xbox and Playstation 2, it did not get the initial sales such a highly rated game deserved, but for the past five years reviewers across the internet (including myself) look back at the game as one of the staples of the last gaming generation.

If you want to hear more about my thoughts about the game, you can feel free to check out my Top 5 Psychonauts Cutscenes Video.

Today, a major patch was released for Psychonauts, the first in years.  Why the patch?  Well, ownership of the game has reverted back to its creator, Tim Schaffer, who was responsible for games like Grim Fandango and more recently Brutal Legend, and money from the sales of the game are now going directly to him.

Also, today marks the release of the game for the Mac platform, which you Mac users can purchase through either the Mac App Store or STEAM.  With the Mac Pscyhonauts release has come a bevy of new features that have come across the platform for the Psychonatus PC Steam users as well, including Steam Cloud Saves, minor tweaks to the Meat Circus difficulty, and most importantly, achievements!  PC owners of this game through Steam will have their games automatically patched with the new features, Mac users will get them upon install.

Finally, a Psychonauts companion program, dubbed the Vault Viewer, has been released free of charge for the iPhone and iPad, and it contains all of the images from the in game mental vaults, as well as developer commentary!

Now, there have been some pretty great reviews of this game over the years, but for those of you who haven’t played it, I would like to defer you to one of my personally favorite reviews of the game, done by Lindsey “Z” Briggs, who is better known as Little Miss Gamer.  Joined by Lee from Still Gaming (who seemed to be recovering from his condition where he was stuck in only two dimensions), this was one of the final reviews she did, and she went out with a bang.  Check it out!

Batman: Arkham City Joker Trailer September 28, 2011

With the lengthy list of Batman’s infamous rogues gallery being extended for pretty much every new trailer of Batman: Arkham City, this new trailer just serves to remind everyone that the very first villian shown in the very first trailer for the game is still in this game, and he’s got the voice to go along with it.

The Joker, the most famous of Batman’s villians, is coming back to Arkham City, and from the looks of it, he is not well, still in recovery from what Batman did to him at the end of Arkham Asylum.  Joining him is his very famous personal pep rally girl, Harley Quinn, sporting a brand new outfit this time around.  I guess a girl has to keep up her appearances.

For those keeping count, other than The Joker and Harley Quinn there have been confirmed reports of Catwoman (who will be playable), Dr. Hugo Strange, The Penguin, Two Face, The Riddler, and Mr. Freeze, just to name a few.  Also, Poison Ivy was mentioned in the E3 demo I witnessed.  While she herself didn’t appear in the E3 demo, some of her plants did, and I was told she was the one who gave the task to Catwoman.

Batman: Arkham City is coming in October, 2011 to Xbox 360 and PS3.  The PC version is coming in November.

Thoughts on the Halo Reach Title Update and Halo Anniversary September 27, 2011

At PAX’s HaloFest, 343 announced they were going to be doing a major title update to Halo Reach.  Their goal, was to bring Halo Reach as close to the feel of Halo: Combat Evolved as possible, and they believed their work on Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (which is coming in November) was instrumental in helping them capture that feel.

From what I read, the title update is going to COMPLETELY revamp the whole game.  This means that there will be more than just bloom tweaking options (although that is coming), the gameplay is going to be altered.  Most of the stuff I’ve read involved tweaking to armor lock, but 343 did say that they were also making the pistol more in line with Halo 1’s (something that Halo developers have been saying they wanted to bring back since Halo 3: ODST).

I really don’t know how I feel about it.  I do think it’s a little unnecessary to do a title update THIS drastic to gameplay a little over a year after the game released (especially since the game has had no problem selling since it released).

Another cool announcement about Halo Anniversary is the game will feature firefight, and since the game is running it’s gameplay almost entirely on Halo 1 code, it will capture the Halo 1 feel exactly.  In my experience, having firefight in Halo 1 is a very smart move.  If there was one map that Halo 1 fans would want firefight on, it would be the entire Silent Cartographer level.  When Bungie did their hour-long documentary, hearing Bungie and press talk about the early test version of that level brought a lot of people to ask if it could become a firefight arena.

Me?  I’m just happy that developers answered my request to take some of my beloved games from the previous console generation and update them to run on modern widescreen HDTVs.

Also, there was something else to come out recently, and that is the first look at the new Warthog.  No longer the M12-LRV, this is a beast that has been upgraded with all new futuristic technology for the next generation of Halo.  I’m a huge fan of Top Gear, and for a car this awesome, the host of Top Gear just had to break it down.

It kinda looks like a puma.  The new Warthog is going to be first seen in the game Forza Motorsport 4.

Halo Reach is out now exclusive to the Xbox 360.  The title update is probably out by the time you read this.  Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is coming in November, 2011, also exclusive to the Xbox 360.