Uncharted 3 Information Teased December 9, 2010

Uncharted, arguably the biggest series in the PS3’s lineup since the release of Uncharted 2, has gotten a bit of press recently for the rumors that a third game of the series will premiere later this month.

Original reports had it that Uncharted 3 would premiere at the Spike Video Game awards show, and the latest musings is that the game will also get a showing on the Jimmy Fallon Show on the 13th of December.  Why game developers would actually contribute to the VGAs after the farce it’s proven to be year after year is beyond my comprehension (I’ll probably write-up an article about that at some point, but I assure you I’m not alone in my opinion, and if you watched one of these shows you’ll likely share that opinion) but what surprises me further is why they wouldn’t wait for an actual major gaming event to premiere the game, like E3, PAX or TGS.

The latest information was posted (of all places) by Entertainment Weekly, which has the game’s official title as Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.  The game will follow series hero Nathan Drake and partner Victor “Sully” Sullivan as he searches the Arabian Desert for the fabled Atlantis of the Sands.

All of this has been confirmed by the Playstation Blog.  Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception is coming next year exclusive to the PS3.  The game will natively support stereoscopic 3D.

UPDATE:  Here’s the teaser trailer straight from Sony!

Dead Space 2 Demo December 21st December 8, 2010

The original Dead Space was another one of the sleeper hits of EA’s 2008, alongside their other new property Mirror’s Edge.  It was next-generation scary.  It spit in the face of previous space themed horror games.  You were an engineer operating alone, you weren’t a space marine.  Headshots were useless, the monsters had to be dismembered to be killed.  The graphics were beautiful and horrifying at the same time.

EA is giving an early Christmas present to gamers who own Xbox 360s and PS3s.  A demo of the game, which promises to include the Chruch of Unitology level demoed at E3 this year, has been announced to arrive before Christmas, five weeks before the release of the full version of the game.

Dead Space 2’s demo will be released for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 on December 21st in the US and December 22nd in Europe through Xbox Live Marketplace or Playstation Network Store.

Dead Space 2 will be released Jan 25th, 2011 for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.  A Collector’s Edition is coming for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Playstation Rewards Listed December 7, 2010

Sony has e-mailed their initial Playstation Rewards users the first list of activities to advance themselves in the program.

Some of the activies on the list include downloading an episode of Pulse in HD, Rent or buy a movie on Playstation Store, Visit the Central Plaza in Playstation Home.

However, another new activity, use of a Playstation Move game, was posted but which games were supported were not listed in the FAQ yet.

Playstation 3 Firmware 3.55 Released December 7, 2010

A required update for the Playstation 3 (PS3) has been released to the console for download using the Playstation’s Software Update feature.  Firmware version 3.55 is required for use of the Playstation Network.

No features were detailed in the release notes, however this is expected to break Playstations which have been homebrew modified.

Rock Band Reloaded Launched on iPhone December 2, 2010

A sequel to Rock Band has been released for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.  It is called Rock Band Reloaded.  The major addition to Reloaded over the original Rock Band iPhone game has to be full support for vocals over microphone, a feature that was suprisingly not in the first Rock Band iPhone game.  The game also features 2-player Co-Op on one iPad.

Track list is as follows:

• 3 Doors Down “Kryptonite”
• Alice in Chains “Your Decision”
• Beastie Boys “So What’Cha Want”
• Billy Idol “White Wedding”
• Drowning Pool “Bodies”
• Duran Duran “Hungry Like the Wolf”
• Evenescence “Call Me When You’re Sober”
• Megadeth “Peace Sells”
• NIN “The Perfect Drug”
• Nirvana “In Bloom”
• No Doubt “Hella Good”
• Pat Benatar “Heartbreaker”
• Seether “Remedy”
• Steve Miller Band “Rockn’ Me”
• Vampire Weekend “A-Punk”

There are also extra tracks that can be downloaded through the Rock Band in-game store.  Some of the track packs are free.

Rock Band Reloaded is $4.99 US and you can buy it on the Apple App Store.

New Ghostbusters Game Announced December 2, 2010

A sequel to last year’s summer release, Ghostbusters: The Video Game, has been announced.  It is titled Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime and it will be for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

What’s special about this game is that it is going to support four player cooperative play through local or online multiplayer.  The whole concept of Ghostbusters always revolved around the team.  In fact one of the rules of being a ghostbuster (as said by Egon in the first episode of Extreme Ghostbusters) is “Never go it alone.”

That said, the game will likely not have any of the likenesses of the Ghostbusters cast.  Bill, Dan, Harold and Ernie are not scheduled to appear.  The game is going to revolve around the Rookie, who at the end of the first game got the rights to his own franchise in another city.  This is probably why the original four aren’t going to appear in the game, as they’re probably too busy in New York to help out.  Here’s to hoping he starts a franchise in Denver!

Oh and there will be bosses.  BIG bosses.

Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime is coming multiplatform Spring 2011.

Portal 2 Delayed November 19, 2010

Valve Software has delayed their highly anticipated game Portal 2 again.

Portal 2 has currently been delayed twice.  This is seriously nothing new for Valve, they’ve been known to delay their games all the time, starting back to the original Half-Life.  Half-Life 2 was famously delayed over a year after it’s inital release date announcement.

Portal 2 will be released April 2011 for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Rage is out…on iPhone November 18, 2010

The first game in what is expected to be the next major IP of famed developer id Software has been released…on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

As initially promised by programmer John Carmack, Rage iPhone has been released in two seperate versions.  The HD version of Rage (Rage HD) will only work on the iPad, iPhone 4 and current generation iPod Touch.  It supports a higher game resolution and a higher framerate.  It retails for $1.99 US.  The second version, intended for older iPhones and iPod Touch devices, simply called Rage, boasts a lower framerate but also a lower price, which is $.99US.  If you want to check if your device will support the HD version, iPods and iPhones which do not meet the hardware requirements will not be able to buy the HD version.  Due to the enormous filesize, you will not be able to download the game through a 3G connection.

The full version of Rage is expected to launch next year for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Pre-Order Halo Reach’s First DLC, Get a Flaming Helmet November 18, 2010

GameStop just notified me that they are now taking preorders for the first DLC map pack for Halo Reach.  I have no idea why they’d bother taking pre-orders for something you can just buy directly from your console, but I digress.  As an incentive to pre-order the DLC at GameStop (instead of just waiting for it to come out and buying it on your Xbox) GameStop is offering a special extra DLC item for your Xbox Live Avatar, the Mark V Flaming Helmet.

Halo Reach’s first Map Pack will be released at the end of November for 800 MS points.  You can pre-order it at GameStop right now.

Enslaved DLC to bring 3D HDTV Support November 16, 2010

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West has been considered by many gamers and reviewers to be the sleeper hit of October 2010.  In fact, you could probably pick it up right now from most retailers for $40US, a very fair price for a game released within the last month.  When I went to check out the official website for any DLC news I noticed that a whole DLC mission is being prepped for release revolving around the secondary character Pigsy.  What makes this DLC special is it will add 3D support to Enslaved, and it will be fully compatable with both native 3D HDTVs and 2D HDTVs using a technology called INFINICOLOR by a company called TriOviz.  Once the DLC goes live you can buy 3D glasses on TriOviz’s official website, or just use the ones that come with your 3D HDTV.

Enslaved and it’s DLC can be played on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.  The DLC is coming Winter 2010.