The Last of Us Announcement Trailer December 14, 2011

A secret reveal this year at the VGAs included this Playstation 3 exclusive which is in development at Naughty Dog, the company responsible for the hit Uncharted series.

When I first saw the game trailer during the VGA’s I was reminded of Namco’s Enslaved, which also took place in a colorful post apocalyptic world where the vegetation reclaimed the cities.  The game released in 2010 for the PS3 and Xbox 360, and I considered it an overlooked little gem worth whatever price you may find it at right now.  Apparently the similarities in style between the two games is no coincidence, I heard one of the designers of that game is working on The Last of Us.

The Last of Us is coming to the Playstation 3.

Duke Nukem Forever Single Player DLC Released December 14, 2011

The first single player downloadable content for Duke Nukem Forever has been released to the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game.  “The Doctor Who Cloned Me” follows our hero Duke Nukem as he faces with his longtime mortal enemy Dr. Proton, who is planning to unleash a clone army of Duke Nukems with the intention to use them to…take over the world (of course!).

For those of you who may remember when I talked about what had been cut from Duke Nukem Forever, this synopsis may sound familiar to you and that’s probably because this was included in the original design document for Duke Nukem Forever, written way back in 1998 or so.  Still no mention of Bombshell in it, but rumors have it that one more DLC for the game is expected.

The Darkness II Co-Op Trailer December 14, 2011

From the looks of it, 2K Games is no longer on a “no comment” policy when it comes to asking questions about multiplayer in The Darkness II, as they have just announced that the game is shipping with an entire cooperative campaign.

Four new characters have been introduced, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and each with their own axe to grind against the evil brotherhood which endangers Jackie Estacato.  Want to know more about them?  Well this new trailer breaks it down perfectly.

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

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare Announcement Trailer December 14, 2011

First shown at the Spike VGA Awards this year, here is the full trailer for the next story in the Alan Wake universe.

Its exciting to see where the series is headed.  The character of Mr. Scratch was first introduced towards the end of the first Alan Wake game.  He has the exact same appearance as Alan, and it is said that, “his friends would be meeting him soon.”  Originally, Scratch’s name was not spoken clearly.  When his name was said, a scratch sound effect was played over it, almost like it was being censored by something otherworldly.  When interviewed about him later on the developers made it clear that the name Mr. Scratch was another name for The Devil, teasing just what would be in store for us in future Alan Wake games.  Did anyone else notice that when Alan saw Mr. Scratch on the drive-in screen he almost looked as if he was Max Payne standing over his wife in the prologue of the first Max Payne game?

Well, what we have in store for us looks just fantastic.  It looks like all the gameplay of the original Alan Wake game is intact but we will be seeing just a major expansion of that.  The signature light versus darkness gameplay (a staple of the first game) remains, with Alan using flashlights and flares to harm his enemies before firing on them.  We also see Alan firing his first ever automatic weapon in the trailer.  Since all the weapons in the first game were semi-automatic, this hints that there will be new weapons in this game.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is coming Q1 2012 exclusive to Xbox Live Arcade.  No price has been confirmed yet.

Halo Waypoint Released for iOS December 10, 2011

In another surprising move, another program Microsoft designed that was originally designed as a Windows Phone 7 exclusive has been released to the iOS through the App Store.

Halo Waypoint started off as an Xbox 360 program which allowed you to watch exclusive videos and track your game progress.  It started off by creating its own ranking system but with later revisions allowed you to track your multiplayer statistics online.  A smartphone version was released in conjunction with Windows Phone 7 and featured almost all the features of the original Xbox 360 version for people on the go.

Unfortunately, this iOS release of Halo Waypoint lacks almost all the features Halo Waypoint offers through other means.  You cannot watch Halo Waypoint exclusive videos or check your Halo Waypoint Ranking.  The only thing you can do is check the daily Halo Reach challenges or your multiplayer statistics, and you could already do that with the Bungie App!  If you want multiplayer tips and strategies, you’ll have to pay extra for the ATLAS feature.

There really is no excuse for features like video to be omitted from this version of the program, as they have been included in the mobile version of Halo Waypoint for Windows Phone 7 since that OS released.

You can download Halo Waypoint for free through the App Store.  It has also been made avaible for Android.

Xbox Live App On iPhone…Officially December 8, 2011

The days promised to us back in 2006 with the Live Anywhere announcement may finally be coming to fruition. Or you could say that Microsoft has decided to just give up a major exclusive feature that was previously only officially on Windows Phones, because lets face it, nobody had one.

My Xbox Live has just been added to the iTunes app store free of charge. With the app you’ll be able to read your messages, achievements, view your friends list and achievements, and modify your Xbox Live Avatar. You will also be able to stream various videos you can stream on your Xbox 360 like Talk With Tina or Major’s Minute.

I’m hoping this means we’ll see more programs which were only on windows phone coming up for more widely used platforms, like Halo Waypoint and some previously exclusive games, like the one I got to play at E3 while in line for Gears of War 3.

You will need to have previously accepted the recently updated Xbox Live Terms of Service in order to access your profile on the phone. You can do that when you log into Xbox.com or your 360. The My Xbox Live app is free.

Xbox 360 Dashboard Update Coming December 6th November 23, 2011

It’s been in testing for a while now, but it has just been announced by Major Nelson that the next incarnation of the Xbox 360 dashboard update will release on December 6th.

First shown at E3 2011, the new dashboard will greatly expand the Kinect functionality of the Xbox 360, give a whole new interface, and add new features like cloud saves.

When released, Xbox 360s will automatically update to the new dashboard when connected to Xbox Live.

Doom 3 Source Code Released November 23, 2011

As John Carmack has promised for several years, the source code to Doom 3 has been released with the help of Timothee Besset.

Doom 3 was released in 2004 and was at the time considered to be one of the best looking graphics engines of its day. Since then, graphics engines have improved, but Doom 3’s unified lighting and shadowing system still holds up today.

Doom 3 wowed everybody when it first came into the spotlight at E3 2002, but I had been eagerly awaiting it for the entire four years it was being developed.  The morning it was released I intentionally took an early shift at work just so I could have a break when the stores opened.  I had preordered it at three different locations because they had three different preorder incentives (which were little pewter figurines of the original Doom enemies).  I had no idea one of the stores I preordered at just so I could get one of the figurines would be the place I would actually pick it up from!  When my boss saw what I was playing on my computer during lunch, instead of repremanding me, he sat down just so he could see how the game looked on my computer!

The code is released under the GPL. If you intend to modify it to create your own product with it, you MUST release it under GPL and include your source code with it.  According to the terms of the source code, no game content is included with the code, as that is still protected under the game’s EULA.

Give the code a download here!  This code is literally a huge footprint in the history of gaming and should be seen by software engineers and coders everywhere!