Star Wars: The Old Republic Taking Beta Signups July 9, 2010

Want to play the highly anticipated MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic before it hits shelves?

Bioware, who is making the game, and is responsible for making such hits as the original Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and Jade Empire, is now taking beta tester requests for Star Wars: The Old Republic, a massively multiplayer online game which will continue the popular Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic storyline.

In an MMO, beta testing is critical.  Problems need to be found and fixed before the game hits store shelves, and with the amount of users expected, the servers need to be stressed to make sure they’ll be able to take on a full load of users.  It will also clue the developers into just how popular the game is going to be, and allow them to plan ahead how many servers will be needed, and just how many copies of the game should be manufactered.

Go to this website, sign up, and get a good chance you can play this game before it hit store shelves!

Star Wars: The Old Republic will be released to the PC.

Enslaved Coming October 5th, 2010 July 9, 2010

Ninja Theory has announced the release date for Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.

This is the same company that worked on what was for at least a few days, the PS3 killer app, Heavenly Sword, a really underrated game that I enjoyed tremendously, which had fantastic graphics and a fantastic story along with God of War style gameplay that worked pretty well given the subject matter.

Enslaved is a whole new gameplay style, where you play as two completely opposite characters.  One has “enslaved” the other (get it?) so they both can survive this post apocolyptic wasteland reconquered by nature.  Graphics look phenominal and very colorful.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West will release for PS3 and Xbox 360 October 5th, 2010.

Dead Rising 2 Website Launched July 9, 2010

Capcom has activated their official website for the upcoming Dead Rising 2, a sequel to one of the first killer apps for the Xbox 360, and a game that really stood out to me early on in the HD Console generation as graphically incredible and with a unique gameplay style that has not been attempted again until now.

The mall is being replaced with Las Vegas, well not really Las Vegas, but a fictional town just like it.  With a new main character, more freedom, and more opportunities to slay zombies, it looks like a really fun game.

You can check out the game’s official website here.

Dead Rising 2 will be released  on September 28th for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.  A downloadable prequel which will chronicle the events between Dead Rising and Dead Rising 2 will be released exclusive to the Xbox 360.

PS3 3D Blu-Ray Support in September July 9, 2010

You may have previously noticed Sony was promoting what they called 3D Support for the Playstation 3 back when Firmware version 3.30 was coming out, and then activated that functionality when they released 3D-Enabled Bravia HDTVs.

Well apparently, that 3D firmware did not include the full functionality of 3D, it only enabled native 3D in supported video games, not for 3D Blu-Ray as I had originally believed.  Blu-Ray.com sets the record straight and reports that 3D support for Blu-Ray is coming, but not until September.

Seriously?  Unless you really had your heart set on watching “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” (and only that movie) in 3D you should be just fine.  However I just don’t think 3D is going to be as successful as all these companies think it’s going to be (because the price is just out of this world and content is still pretty non-existant).

3D photo support will come some time after Blu-Ray support, making the PS3 compatible with 3D images taken by the upcoming 3D Sony Cyber-Shot.

Dragon Age II Announced July 8, 2010

Bioware has announced today a sequel to their extremely popular Dragon Age series is in development.

Dragon Age: Origins was a harken back to the early days of Bioware’s successful fantasy RPGs such as Neverwinter Nights. The game was critically praised and commercially successful.

Unlike the first game, which offered many possible origins for your character, this sequel will offer a new character and a new story. You will play as a male or female character, forced to survive in an ever changing world. Your backstory will be constant in the game, and you will likely delve deeper into it as you play.

Dragon Age II is slated for release March 2011. The first game was released for PC, PS3 and XBox 360, and Dragon’s Age II is expected to support the same platforms.

Bungie Day News, The Return of Blood Gulch July 8, 2010

7/7 is Bungie Day, and this was a major one.  Bungie has announced some major updates for their next game, Halo Reach, the big one being the return of Blood Gulch as a multiplayer map.

The return of Blood Gulch has made the team at Red vs Blue very happy, as this official video demonstrates.  Blood Gulch has been a staple of their series since the very first episodes, but the map was not included in Halo 3, and was replaced with Valhalla.  It’s nice to see the map is back, and that the Reach version will be expanded.  The original Blood Gulch is considered one of the best multiplayer maps ever made, perfectly balanced for free for all, capture the flag, and team deathmatch.

Gamestop has announced it will offer exclusive downloadable armor permutations to preorders of Halo Reach, including an exclusive grenade belt and chest armor.  Looks like I’m switching my preorder to them.  There’s already the offer of Recon Armor to all day one purchases of the game.

More will be shown at Comic-Con this year.

Halo Reach will release September 14th, 2010 exclusive to Xbox 360.

Dead Space Ignition Announced for XBLA and PSN July 8, 2010

EA has announced that its first downloadable game in the Dead Space franchise will be Dead Space Ignition, a downloadable game in the same vein as a choose your own adventure graphic novel.  With a story from Anthony Jenson, the writer from  fantastic Dead Space Graphic Novel (free download on Xbox Live and Playstation Network, and included with Dead Space Extraction) this downloadable game will be a must own for people unable to wait for Dead Space 2.

I’m pretty excited about this one.  Ignition will tell the story leading up to Dead Space 2, hopefully it will tell some information about what happened to Issac between the first and second games, and perhaps if we’re really lucky, McNeil and the rest of the characters from Dead Space Extraction.  There will be three hacking minigames included with the game and will unlock an exclusive suit in Dead Space 2.

Dead Space Ignition will release for download on Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network Fall 2010.

I was Partially Right, In Halo Reach you Play as a Girl…OR a Guy June 30, 2010

I was watching a Halo Reach gameplay demo and caught an interesting tidbit I theorized but simply left in the editorial comments.  I was pretty certain that the protagonist of Halo Reach, known as Noble 6 or the “Lone Wolf” would be a female character based on something I read in the Halo Encyclopedia.

Well I was partially right, in Halo Reach you play as a girl…or as a guy.  The game allows you to choose the gender of your playable character in the single player campaign and that carries over to the multiplayer game.  Previously, you were forced to play as a male character in the Single Player of Halo, known as The Master Chief, but in multiplayer since Halo 3, you could choose to play as a female Spartan.

Since Halo 3 ODST, I’ve noticed Bungie has become less and less inclined to put a strong personality upon their protagonists.  Granted, the Master Chief was not the pillar of communication in the Halo trilogy (most of the chatter and personality came from Cortana) but he spoke when needed, and when he did speak, it was strong.  That was just a testament to the good writing.  In Halo 3 ODST you played as “The Rookie”, another faceless character who this time didn’t speak at all, and who’s backstory was never gone into, not even in the Halo Encyclopedia.  In fact, because “The Rookie” never spoke, I was surprised they didn’t give the option in that game to make gender selectable in that game.

If Bungie is choosing again for a mute player, gender selection is a good decision.  However, Bungie has excelled at creating strong protagonists in the Halo universe, it’s sad to see that personality go away.

Firmware Updates for Playstation 3 and Playstation Portable Live June 30, 2010

The recently announced firmware update for the Playstation 3 (version 3.40) has gone live on the Playstation Network.  It is a required update in order to continue to use the network for multiplayer games and Playstation Store access.  The update adds the previously mentioned video editor, picture viewer, and support for Playstation Plus.

However, it’s gone under the radar that the Playstation Portable (PSP) has been updated as well, also bringing in Playstation Plus support.  It requires 30MB of storage capacity, originally I said “memory stick” but then I realized people with PSP GOs do not require memory sticks.

Playstation Plus and Firmware Update Tomorrow June 28, 2010

Sony has announced that their premium subscription service, Playstation Plus, will launch tomorrow with a new firmware update (version 3.40) for the Playstation 3.

I’ve already talked about the Playstation Plus system before in a previous post that you’re more than welcome to read.  It is nothing like Xbox Live Gold, it will allow subscribers unlimited access to Playstation 1 downloadable games (as they’re made avalible) and Qore issues for as long as they have the subscription for fifty dollars a year.  Honestly, I’d rather buy the games individually and own them forever than pay five times more and lose access after a year.

Firmware 3.40 will also add a 2-hour power saver option for the Playstation 3, and a program to edit and upload your videos to YouTube.