iPad 2 Announced March 3, 2011

Apple has announced in a press event which featured Steve Jobs himself that a successor to the popular iPad, dubbed the iPad 2, will be coming in March.

The iPad was the first consumer tablet released by Apple which was based around the operating system which was used in the iPhone and iPod touch.  It was a larger iPhone with a faster processor.  You could get online access either through local WiFi or if you paid $130 extra you could buy a model which ran off AT&T’s cellular network for a monthly fee.

The problems from the first model all seemed to revolve around the fact that two people could not communicate through them, as you could with the less expensive iPhones, even if you had a cellular model.  This model seems to answer that.  Similar to the current iPhone 4 and iPod Touch designs, the iPad 2 will have two cameras (one on the front and one on the rear) which can be used for taking pictures or capturing video in 720p.  The cameras will also fully support Apple’s Facetime client, which allows for full duplex voice and video chat between iPhones, 4th Generation iPod Touch, and camera equipped Mac computers.

The iPad retains the same screen size and resolution as the previous model, boasting a resolution of 1024×768 (slighly higher than an iPhone 4’s screen resolution).  The new iPad 2 processor is dual core, promising faster processing speeds, and Apple promises this will not impact battery life.

The iPad 2 will release at the same price point and storage capaity options as the current iPad, which are expected to be phased out entirely in retail.   The operating system that powers it, iOS 4.3, will be made avalible for current iPads, 3rd and 4th generation iPod Touch, iPhone 3GS and the GSM equipped iPhone 4. iOS 4.3 will bring WiFi tethering options to the iPhone 4.  It will be released March 11th, 2011.

inFAMOUS 2 Release Details Announced February 28, 2011

Sony has just e-mailed an enormous amount of details over the release of the upcoming PS3-exclusive game, inFAMOUS 2.

The game will release in two editions, a standard edition and a collector’s edition dubbed the “Hero” Edition.  It will include a 8.5″ limited-edition Statue of Cole, a replica sling pack (which Cole wears in the game), a mini comic made by DC, and a game soundtrack.  The Hero Edition will MSRP at $99.99 US.

There will be a ton of DLC offerings for the game at release, and you can get it for free depending on which retailer you order from.

Amazon.com orders will be given 24k Gold Amp Weapons

Best Buy customers will get a code for a playable Kessler skin, the villian of the first inFAMOUS game.

Gamestop customers will get the Lightning Hook power, which will allow you to pull enemies and ammo off rooftops.

Finally, Walmart preorders will include the electrocution grenade power, which shocks nearby enemies with arcing electicty and holds them a few seconds before detonation.

You can read more details about the pre-order content here.

inFAMOUS 2 will release June 7th, 2011 exclusive to the PS3.

Official 2K Games Videos from Duke Nukem Forever Event February 25, 2011

Upset you missed the Duke Nukem Forever Vegas event?  Well, 2K Games has posted up their footage of the event, which shows some content that hadn’t been seen before.

To cap it all off, here’s a short interview with Jon St. John, the voice of Duke Nukem (and Doug Huggem), who was at the event and answered a few questions that everyone wants to know.

Duke Nukem Forever launches May 3rd, 2011 for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Dead Space 2 Severed Coming March 1st February 23, 2011

The first major single player campaign DLC for Dead Space 2 finally has a release date.

As previously reported, the game stars two of the main characters from the PS3/Wii rail-shooter Dead Space Extraction (Gabe Weller and Lexine) and you’ll be able to play as Gabe in this single player campaign.  You can also expect some familiar enemies from Dead Space that weren’t in Dead Space 2, like the twitch necromorph, to make an appearance..

I’m plenty excited to play this expansion.  The story in Dead Space Extraction was very well fleshed out and because of that the tension was much higher.   The four main characters, as well as the secondary characters, were all well written, and their voice actors’ performances capped this off (and it sounds like they’re returning).  I want to play this just to find out what happened to the old gang.

Dead Space 2 Severed is coming March 1st, 2011 for the Xbox 360 and the PS3 (March 2nd Internationally).  It will cost $6.99 US or 560 MS points.  You will need a copy of Dead Space 2 to play.

Happy 25th Birthday Zelda and Link February 21, 2011

Today is the 25th Anniversary of the release of the classic game The Legend of Zelda for the Famicom in Japan.  It was of course also released in English the US for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).  Created by Game God Myamoto, who’s contributions to gaming are unquestionable.  Twenty-five years later, The Legend of Zelda and its protagonist Link are still a staple of the Nintendo platforms, with releases on all the modern Nintendo platforms and the gurantee that more will be coming in the future.

Given this auspicious event, I decided to post up some of my favorite Legend of Zelda related videos and articles, which I have seen over the years.  First up is a facinating video done by (of all people) James “The Angry Video Game Nerd” Rolfe, where he took a look at the Zelda Timeline, and where each game’s place came in a coherant sequence of events.  He didn’t provide a definite list (Nintendo hasn’t even done that) but he does try the best he can and it’s a really well done and enjoyable video.

1UP is also doing a pretty impressive series of ten articles today.  These articles range everything between the history of the series, the worst in-game items, the best covers of the iconic theme song, even the commericals.

It also turned out that there were a series of Zelda games that people in the US had never heard about.  Between 1995 and 2000, the SNES (Super Famicom) had an optional download service similar to the Sega Channel service in the US, except that this service was provided through satelite.  Roo from Clan of the Gray Wolf did a great video detailing this service and the exclusive Zelda games that were streamed through it and only seen in Japan.

If you missed out on them back in the day, you can get most of the classic games in the Legend of Zelda series on the Wii Virtual Console.  There are still current games for both the Nintendo Wii and DS like Twilight Princess and more are promised both for the Wii and the DS’s successor.

Happy Birthday Link!  You’ve done well.

Jurassic Park The Game Teaser Trailer February 20, 2011

Telltale Games has posted up the initial trailer for the highly anticipated Jurassic Park game.

Finally, I always wondered what the heck happened to that shaving cream can!

This is NOT the style of game that Telltale has made before.  This is not a cartoonish style, this is a high definition realistic look which works much better for Jurassic Park.  According to initial previews and promises the gameplay is, while its going to be an adventure game, looking to be more along the lines of Heavy Rain than Sam and Max.

Jurassic Park The Game is coming in April 2011.  Platforms have not been totally finalized, but its currently expected to come to PC and Mac.

Mirror’s Edge 2 Not So Stalled (Maybe) February 18, 2011

Okay, I’m stumped right now.  A few days ago I posted up information from an article posted that a Mirror’s Edge 2’s demo was rejected by EA and the people who worked on it are working on other projects.  I also noticed quotes from the executives working on the project saying at this point that making a sequel to Mirror’s Edge would equal “charity”.  That to me (and a lot of other press members it seemed) means that your project is dead.

Now people from EA are saying that Mirror’s Edge is an “important” EA franchise and the media so far has been commenting on rumors and speculation about the game’s cancellation.  All I’ve seen up to this point is the media quoting on what the DICE and EA executives had to say about the franchise and EA will not comment further on what they mean by this new statement.

I guess this is what happens when all of the major sources for this event quote a news story that was originally written in a different language, but still when you’re saying things like “Our EA demo was rejected and the people who worked on it are now working on other projects” it doesn’t sound to me like Mirror’s Edge is an “important” franchise to EA.

So right now the project status has shifted back from stalled to unknown.  I’ll try to keep you guys updated on this if any more news takes off.

Back to the Future Episode 2 Released February 18, 2011

This has been a big week for Telltale Games.  On Tuesday, the first episode of Back to the Future The Game was released to the Playstation 3, as well as the iPad.

Today was also the day that anyone who had previously contributed themselves for a free copy of the first episode were given access to it via e-mails.  If you did sign up for a free episode and haven’t recieved your email, just log into your Telltale games account and you should be able to download it there no problem.

But the major reason free users didn’t get access to the first episode until today is that Telltale wanted to make everyone buy the second episode of the game, or at least the rest of the series.  The second episode is out today, and you can see the trailer for it here.

Back to the Future The Game promises to have five episodes and while it is currently only out for PC and Mac, you can expect a full release for PS3 and iPad as well.

For those of you interested more in other game series that Telltale is releasing, worry not.  The first trailer for Jurassic Park The Game has also been released, but it just hasn’t been posted up on their YouTube Channel yet.  I’ll be sure to post it up when it finally does get uploaded, but until then you can check it out on their official site.  It’s expect to launch in April 2011.

Rage – Untethered Trailer February 17, 2011

The boys at id Software are cooking up something rather special.  Rage will be the first major release for them since 2004’s Doom 3, and their first new Intellectual Property (IP) since Quake in 1996.

Take a gander at the latest trailer, you get to see the enviroments and some of the new gameplay.

Rage will release September 13th, 2011 for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.