Darkness II Comic Con Panel July 28, 2011

Another SDCC 2011 panel has been released to the web for all to see, and it is for the recently delayed sequel to one of the best comic to game adaptations I ever played, The Darkness II.  The panel is joined by the original comic creator, the game’s project lead, and (of course) Mike Patton as the Darkness.

That Darkling imp statue was a cool giveaway they were doing at Comic Con, but if you were like me, who didn’t attend, 2K has stated they will be giving away some of those in the official twitter feed.

The Darkness II is coming to PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 in Feb, 2012.

Uncharted 3 Comic-Con Panel July 28, 2011

The San Diego Comic Con (SDCC 2011) has wrapped for the year, but there was a huge gaming presence at it this year.  One of the major panels for the show was the Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception Panel, which featured members of the development team and cast.

Writer Amy Henning, actor Nolan North, and actress Emily Rose were among the alumni on the panel discussing the PS3 exclusive, they also showed some exclusive game footage which hasn’t been seen before!  Clocking in at around 45 minutes, it’s a pretty lengthy discussion, but if you have the time it’s totally worth watching.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception is coming November 1st, 2011 exclusive to the Playstation 3.

First Duke Nukem Forever DLC to Release This Fall July 26, 2011

Gearbox Software has officially announced in a twitter post that the first DLC pack for Duke Nukem Forever will release this fall.  The DLC will add four new multiplayer maps, three new multiplayer modes, and a new weapon unique to each map ranging from sticky grenades to the DFG (which might be a parody of the BFG, the Big…uh…freakin’…gun).  New game modes involve a new twist on Hot Potato, which the objective will be to see who can hold onto a babe for the longest, and a new mode called Hail to the King.

Duke Nukem Forever’s multiplayer was not considered one of the major highlights of the game upon release.  There were only a few maps at release, and gameplay was quite unbalanced.  This DLC pack looks to be the answer to that.  From the looks of it, this map pack is intended to be a parody of other multiplayer gametypes ranging from Doom to Call of Duty.

As promised, this DLC will be free to all First Access Club members.  The Duke Nukem Forever Hail to the Icons DLC pack is coming this fall for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.  Details about a chance to play the DLC pack early are included in the link.

Mortal Kombat Legacy Stupidity July 25, 2011

This weekend, the final episode of the online webseries Mortal Kombat: Legacy was released. Now, I’ve been pretty lapse to link the series up on a regular basis (I think the last one I embedded was Episode 4) so since the series was finished, my intention was to link up the newest episode and all the previous episodes I missed, but I can’t do that…because WB has issued copyright takedowns of all the previous episodes. For those of you who don’t know, it was Warner Bros who released that series online in the first place!

There’s stupidity, and then there’s just shooting yourselves in the foot. Does Warner Bros not know they OWN what has been posted up already, and they were responsible for putting it online in the first place? What idiot at WB whose job it is to regularly sue people who show even the slightest second of something they might own thought that video was invalid? Now I understand WB might have owned at some point every movie ever made, but in that case it might be easier to just send notices to the few videos who didn’t put up something they owned on it and ban every other video on YouTube!

Well, here’s the final episode of Mortal Kombat: Legacy. Try to catch it quick before the bean counters take it down for no reason too!

Mortal Kombat is out for Xbox 360 and PS3 right now.

ESA Intends to Collect 1.1 Million in Legal Fees from California July 25, 2011

Just as they had with every state they successfully defeated who tried to pass illegal laws, the ESA has just issued a press release saying they intend to collect $1.1 million dollars from the state of California after defeating them on the Supreme Court level. This money will cover their legal expenses fighting their unconstitutional video game law.

The intention of the ESA all along has been to show these states that passing illegal laws would fail and end up harming their states more than the media publicity brought by their passage would help their political careers individually. According to the ESA, they were able to win eight times in similar cases and collect fees in every win from the various states they defeated. They have made it no secret to the states they will do this to them if they pass laws that violate the first amendment. In fact this tactic had prevented one state governor from signing a similar law which already had passed in the legislature.

As I feel is becoming a repeated statement about the state of California, you couldn’t tell them any of this. Leland Yee (D) and the Govenator (R) thought they were right and they were going to force this passage unless they were stopped. And now, like all tragedies, it is the people of that state who will suffer. The law was clearly not on their side. The similar state laws all lost. They were wasting further state money in legal defenses appealing in a futile battle. No one forced Yee or the Govenator to continue to appeal the law, but they did it anyway at the state’s expense.

So now California has one more bill to pay, one they CHOSE to pay. The Govenator did not seek a new term, but If I was a voter in the state, I would be asking for Yee’s resignation right about now.

Penguin Revealed For Batman: Arkham City July 22, 2011

After announcing it at E3 this year, the game developers for Batman: Arkham City have finally released an official trailer for the game which shows the famous Penguin.

The Penguin is an interesting choice for the game since he has never been so much as a straight out thug villian that Batman could simply beat up, but more of a crime boss in the same vein as Don Corleone, and you get that sense here in the trailer.

Penguin has been previously played by such acting alumni as Burgess Merideth and Danny deVito.  When I was at E3, I was sure I could place this guy’s voice actor when I first heard him speak, but hearing his voice in the trailer, I no longer can recognise the actor playing him.

Unlike the Catwoman gameplay segment I posted up here a while ago, some snippets of the second gameplay sequence I saw at E3 did find its way into this trailer, and it looks just as good here as it did when I saw it back in June.

Also, since we’re revealing villians for Batman: Arkham City here, here’s the announcment trailer for another major villian in Batman’s rogue’s gallery.  He played a major role in the first game, but we never saw his face.  We’ve known for a while that he would be returning in Arkham City, but not what the extent his appearance would be.  Well, now we know.  Ladies and gentlemen, I present you with Edward Nygma, The Riddler.

Batman: Arkham City is coming October 18th, 2011 for PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3

RAGE Behind the Scenes Part 4 July 22, 2011

Part four of a six-part behind the scenes documentary series about id Software’s next game release, RAGE has been released.  This one focuses heavily on the game’s enviroment, called the Wasteland, and the gameplay options that the enviroments give you.  Included are interviews with id employees Tim Willits and Kevin Cloud.

RAGE is coming October 4th, 2011 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

Halo Anniversary Pre-Order Incentive Announced July 21, 2011

Halo is no stranger to providing exclusive preorder incentives when launching a new game, they did it for Halo 3 ODST and Halo Reach, and it looks like Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary will be no exception.

By preordering the game at select retailers you’ll be entitled to a download code which will get you the Master Chief’s Armor for your Xbox Live Avatar, and the exclusive Grunt Funeral Skull, which you will be able to use in game to…well…modify the gameplay…okay you’ll make grunts explode really good after you kill them.  Just take a look for yourselves.

Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary will release November, 2011 exclusive to the Xbox 360.

The Darkness 2 Delayed July 20, 2011

Bringing some relief to what was already going to be a HEAVILY swamped Fall release schedule, 2K Games has officially announced that The Darkness II has been delayed until February, 2012.

No specifics were gone into about what the reason for the delay was, but I’m going to feel free to speculate.  This fall is looking to be the most jam packed three months (September through November) in this console generation, probably in the history of gaming outright.  The sheer amount of major platform releases and major cross platform releases is going to put a dent in any gamer’s wallet, and by delaying until Feb of next year, The Darkness II has a better chance of getting recognition at a time when there will be no competition released.  Of course they could also be delaying it to add multiplayer, but other than the “No Comment” I got at E3 I have no evidence whatsoever to support that speculation.

The Darkness II is now coming February 7th, 2012 for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

RAGE Behind The Scenes July 16, 2011

As you know from some of previous writings, I’m a followed the history of id Software since I was still in High School.  Their next major game release, RAGE.

So far, three parts of a planned six part series have been released on Bethesda’s official YouTube Profile, they start off with a general history of id, and then move on to a more detailed conversation about RAGE’s game design.  If you want a good idea about how RAGE plays (and you can’t wait for my preview) then it’s definatly a good watch.  Plus, there’s a good chance you’ll see some new game footage.

RAGE is coming in October, 2011 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

For those of you who are interested in hearing more about the game, I did get a chance to play RAGE at E3 and I do have some comments about it in the next part of my E3 wrap up video, which I plan to upload Monday.