Hellgate: London Will Return May 21, 2011
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Hellgate: London was a game that at release tried to be too much too fast. It was a full paid and free MMORPG along with a full Single Player game. There were paperback novels, manga and a full collectors edition which released with the game. This was planned to be one of the new major PC franchises…only it wasn’t.
The game suffered from poor initial reviews and while a lot of its problems were fixed after launch and content was being released on a steady basis, the costs to keep it operating did not match up with the income from the paid MMO component and sales of the game. Because of that, Hellgate: London was shut down some time ago.
Publishing rights in North America were in limbo for some time while the game was being maintained in other territories. Now the company who bought its rights plans to bring it back online for free in North America. Beta testing will be happening between June 3rd and June 5th.
Dust off your copies guys. I’m going to London!
History of Duke Nukem Part 2 May 20, 2011
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Gearbox Software has released the second part of their history of Duke Nukem series to the web. (My guess is they didn’t want to be upstaged by my contribution.) Part 1 mostly focused on the first two Duke Nukem sidescrollers, this part focuses on Duke Nukem 3D, which released in 1996.
Another part is coming, which will focus on Duke Nukem Forever.
Duke Nukem Forever is coming June 14th for Xbox 360, PC and PS3.
Gears of War 3 Campaign Teaser May 20, 2011
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Epic has released the first footage from the Gears of War 3 SP Campaign, and points the way to just what the story of this new game could be (and what that post-credits teaser at the end of the credits in Gears of War 2 alluded to).
The full version of this trailer will be made availble on May 28th. They intend to premere the trailer during two sporting events…okay seriously? Are they kidding me? Do the people who do marketing know anything whatsoever about gamers? If you want gamers to have a chance at seeing your new game trailer play it on something they’ll actually watch!
Gears of War 3 is coming September, 2011 exclusive to the Xbox 360.
Nintendo Wii Price Drop Confirmed, Wii Now $149 May 19, 2011
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This is a bit bleated news, especially given the fact that many were speculating about this for the past few weeks, and a few retailers probably started jumping the gun in anticipation for this happening, but Nintendo has confirmed that the Nintendo Wii’s official MSRP is now $149US, and has lowered the price of many of it’s first party games to $19.99 US including Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Mario Sluggers, Animal Crossing City Folk and Wii Sports.
The Nintendo Wii is now being bundled with copies of Mario Kart Wii, come in the color black, and include a Wii Racing Wheel.
I have to admit, this is pretty great news. Obviously this price drop is in anticipation for the formal reveal of Project Cafe (the Wii’s successor) at E3 this year, but more than that the Wii has a fantastic library of first party titles as well as some great third party titles that have cult status. Maybe I should do a list of my personal favorite Wii games for people interested in it.
Gears of War 3 Epic and Limited Editions Detailed May 17, 2011
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Epic announced that the highly anticipated Xbox 360 exclusive Gears of War 3 would have two Collector’s Editions in a similar style to Halo Reach. Gears of War 3 will ship with a Limited Edition and Epic Edition. However, now we know exactly what will be in those Collector’s Editions, straight from Epic.
- Limited Edition ($79.99 US)—A must-have for fans who want to celebrate the
culmination of the trilogy, this edition includes:- Octus Award Display Box and Octus Service Medal—Replicas of the honors
bestowed on Adam Fenix, Marcus’s father, for his work on the Hammer of Dawn. - Unlockable Adam Fenix Multiplayer Character—Each Octus Service Medal replica
is engraved with a unique Xbox LIVE code that unlocks Adam Fenix in multiplayer. - Fabric COG Flag—Proud colors that once flew above the House of Sovereigns.
- Personal Effects of Adam Fenix—Includes his “Last Will and Testament,” the
initial Hammer of Dawn schematic, and other Fenix family mementos.
- Octus Award Display Box and Octus Service Medal—Replicas of the honors
- Epic Edition ($149.99 US)—The ultimate collection for hardcore fans who
can’t get enough Gears of War 3, this edition includes:- Collectible Marcus Fenix Statue—The collaborative work of Chris Perna and
the artisans at Triforce, this fine PVC collectible makes an evocative living
room conversation piece for any true Gears fan. - The Art and Design of Gears of War by Tom Bissell—Through unprecedented
access to the Epic Games team, acclaimed author Tom Bissell (Extra Lives) gives
readers an incisive behind-the-scenes glimpse into one of the most celebrated
sagas in video game history with 96 pages of interviews, photos, concept
artwork, and more. - The Gears of War 3 Limited Edition—Nuf said!
- Infected Omen Weapon Pack — Custom multiplayer skins for the game’s five
starting weapons; Lancer, Retro Lancer, Hammerburst, Sawed-off Shotgun, and
Gnasher Shotgun.
- Collectible Marcus Fenix Statue—The collaborative work of Chris Perna and
I am a huge fan of Collector’s Editions but I have to admit I realy don’t like this growing trend of EXCEPTIONALLY expensive releases. Fortunatly this has been tempered with only one or two of these released a year, but this year has major console releases with the top properties across the board getting releases, my wallet is going to kill me. Why oh why does it have to be so awesome?
Gears of War 3 will release September, 2011 exclusive to the Xbox 360.
Duke Nukem Forever Demo Release Date May 17, 2011
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Ladies and Gentelmen, Randy Pitchford.
Duke Nukem Forever demo coming June 3rd on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 only to First Access Club Members. If you want to become a First Access Club Member, buy the Game of the Year Edition of Borderlands or preorder Duke Nukem Forever at GameStop.
Duke Nukem Forever is coming June 14th, 2011 for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
InFamous 2 Beta Takes a Swipe at the 360 May 15, 2011
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I just started beta testing the inFamous 2 UGC and so far have been quite impressed by the comprehensive access to the game testers are being given right now.
When cruising around the city I happen to catch this storefront.
inFamous 2 Story Trailer May 15, 2011
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Now that the Playstation Network is coming back online I thought I’d cover next month’s PS3 exclusive release inFamous 2.
The story of inFamous is inspired by the classic super hero staples. A realistic hero getting powers out of sheer coincidence and how the world around him treats him as a terrorist or as a savior. You have an entire city to roam around in. You can choose to do good deeds and become the city’s hero or selfish deeds and make the citzens hate you.
In this new game, you’re entering a whole new city in search of a way to enhance your powers in order to defeat this super powerful foe hinted upon at the end of the first game. Here, take a look for yourself.
I got in on the game’s User Generated Content beta, but due to the network being down, was unable to shoot anything from it and post it online. The toolset looks really in depth for modders to just have a blast with, enabling you to create missions, download new missions, and alter downloadable missions all you want. Here’s a quick runthrough of that.
I have seen a more in-depth video about the feature online, but unfortunatly Sony hasn’t yet posted it to their YouTube Channel. If I can find a YouTube embed of it, I’ll make sure to link that.
This feature is what the current beta is testing. The beta started around a day before the PSN went down, and I have no idea if they extended the time for the beta, but rest assured if I can get the beta running, I’ll capture some footage of it.
inFamous 2 is coming June 7th, 2011 exclusive to the Playstation 3.
Duke Nukem Forever First Access Club Members Might Get their Demos Next Week May 11, 2011
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If you bought the Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition or preordered Duke Nukem Forever at GameStop (or both) you were given a code with access to the Duke Nukem Forever First Access Club (FAC). The major selling point of being a member of the FAC was that FAC members would get access to the highly anticipated Duke Nukem Forever demo before anyone else would.
Well, I’ve been in da club for a few months now and it’s had a few benefits so far. I got first announcement of the Duke Nukem Forever Balls of Steel Edition, and now Gearbox is allowing FAC members first chance at access to their first Gamer’s Day.
Well, a very interesting e-mail came into FAC members mailboxes yesterday. They are requesting that everyone update their requested platforms before Sunday the 15th. If they don’t know what platform you want specifically, they said they’re going to just default to giving you the PC version.
The key point to that email is that the cutoff date for the platform choice seems to be Sunday, could this mean that the demo is going to ship out next week? That would make it come a little less than a month before Duke Nukem Forever hits store shelves (and a little more than 10 days past it’s original release date).
Regardless, Duke Nukem Forever (the full version) is coming June 14th, 2011 for Xbox 360, PC and PS3.
Major Alan Wake News Announced, What Could it Be? May 10, 2011
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UPDATE: A member of the Alan Wake forums has reminded me that Remedy was in fact looking for a Kinect developer in their jobs page a few months ago following the release of Alan Wake. I thought I remembered that when writing this article, which is why I devoted a whole section to the possiblity they might do a Kinect game, but I couldn’t find the exact posting when I took the article to print. Now the possiblity of a Kinect game has a bit more credibility.
After a few days of speculation, Remedy has announced today that they are working on a new Alan Wake related project. However, this project is NOT Alan Wake 2 and it is not DLC for Alan Wake. What it is, is being saved for later.
My speculation. First. The time of reveal, “later” is not defined, however Remedy will be doing meetings at E3 this year, and it might coincide with that. Given this extremely vague statement is that there are only so many things that this new project could be. If it’s not Alan Wake 2 and it’s not DLC for the first game then what could it possibly be?
It could be a Alan Wake iPhone game. Remedy had just completed the iPhone version of Death Rally, and Barry Wheeler from Alan Wake did make an appearance in the game as another car driver. Remedy owns the Alan Wake rights, and can develop games for whichever platform they choose. If they wanted to tell a side story as some are speculating might take place between Alan Wake and the projected Alan Wake 2, the iPhone may be the best platform to tell it. Side stories of Mass Effect, Mirror’s Edge, Dead Space, and RAGE have all been released to the iPhone platform and been quite good, as well as been popular purchases. Remedy has posted up requests for mobile developers on their jobs page, and while it could’ve been because they plan to release more games for mobile phones, having mobile developers working there could give them options on expanding more of their properties to mobile platforms.
It could be an Alan Wake Kinect game. Other than the fact that Alan Wake was on the Xbox 360, the platform of the Kinect, Remedy was hiring producers for a Triple-A console title after the release of Alan Wake, and since Remedy has announced this is NOT Alan Wake 2, a Kinect side story might be something they might be interested. It was also noted on a few gaming sites that Remedy was hiring Kinect developers after the release of Alan Wake and the possiblity could exist that it could be for this project. The Kinect has a very impressive install base for such a new and expensive peripheral, but since its launch there has not been a large wave of regular Kinect game releases, making Kinect a prime market to tap into.
It could be the long requested PC version of Alan Wake with support for better graphics, controls retooled for the PC, and offering new features like the Xbox 360 DLC included. This has some credibilty given the fact that the announcement included phrases like “This will be a good jumping point for new Alan Wake players.” PC users have been demanding this game on the platform since it was announced it would release only on the Xbox 360, espessially given there were demos of the game on the PC done during it’s five years of development. Alan Wake would have required a pretty high end pc to run at optimal performance (A Multi-Core CPU and Shader Model 3.0 GPU with Windows Vista/7 would practically be required), which might have made Remedy rethink releasing it on the PC platform at launch, but over the last year those features are now pretty much standard in most PCs, and it could be the time to launch it. Plus, if you add in new levels or features to the PC version, it would give a good incentive to make a PC version the platform of choice.
The only other possiblity I can envision is that the next game could involve an open world Bright Falls, something along the lines of Alan Theft Auto or Grand Theft Barry. The original design document for Alan Wake called for an open world Bright Falls with dynamic day, night and weather effects, and based upon the toolsets I saw in the behind the scenes documentaries in the LCE version of the game, and the pictures posted in the Alan Wake: Illuminated book, or in various official screenshots released over the year (such as the image of Alan standing in the bookstore in daylight). Unfortunatly, we never really got to see day and night transitions happen in real time in the game, all transitions like that happened during cutscenes, and the player always had a set direction or showpiece during day scenes with very little opportunity for further exploration. There were going to be things included in the game had they gone the open world route like explorable buildings including a museum, and even a dirt track for racing and time trials. These would’ve been fun little diversions during the story. Although, what the storyline that would be about for a game that provided an open world Bright Falls (which would not be Alan Wake 2) would be anyone’s guess. I have seen open world expansion packs for games which just involved easter egg hunts (Like the Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force Expansion), but these were just small expansions released for a budget price and that was a long time ago.
I’ve also recieved speculation from a peer of mine that thought this new game might be a prequel and reminded me that Max Payne 2 was released just 18 months after the first Max Payne, which made sense. The Max-FX tools were already built and they just needed to be upgraded for Max Payne 2. Very comprehensive Alan Wake tools already are built and tons of unused Alan Wake assets did not make it into the final game, any of it could be used in this new Alan Wake game.
Regardless, this announcement is fantastic for Alan Wake fans who are hungry for more from this franchise. I have sent a press inquiry to Remedy about their E3 plans. If I hear any response I’ll be more than happy to inform all of you when the time is right.
The project, whatever it is, currently has a projected release date of Fall 2011.
