Valve Teases Suprise At E3 June 2, 2010

Valve and Aperture Science have cryptically confirmed they CANCELLED the Portal 2 E3 Presentation to instead give a completely unnamed *suprise* and will only say whatever it is, will be during their E3 presentation. This likely will tie into the Portal ARG expected to resurface at E3 this year.

I’m hoping it’s cake. Portal 2 is expected for Xbox 360 and PC this holiday season.

There are Codes in Beatles: Rock Band Manuals, Why? May 30, 2010

I picked up a copy of Beatles: Rock Band today, bit belated I admit, but I noticed something when going through the packaging.  After discarding all the leaflets about the newly re-re-remastered CD albums of The Beatles looking for the Code for the Avatar T-Shirt, I noticed a string of numbers on the back of the game manual.  What purpose this string of numbers serves eludes me.  The code is too short to be a Xbox Live download code (those are 25-key) and they didn’t fit the required pattern.

Currently, you cannot import your copy of Beatles: Rock Band to any other Rock Band game, could this string of numbers be a loophole just in case they change their mind later on?

Mark Hamill Will Return to Voice The Joker in Arkham Asylum 2 May 27, 2010

Mark Hamill, known as the voice of The Joker since 1993, and who voiced The Joker in Batman: Arkham Asylum, had officially retired (or so I thought) the character’s voice after the conclusion of that game.  Now it’s been announced that he will return one last time to do the voice of The Joker in Batman: Arkham Asylum 2!

This is suprising to me.  I know The Joker was incredibly important to the plotline of the first game, and Hamill did an amazing performance as expected (Hamill’s Joker ALWAYS has been amazing, if you don’t believe me, watch the uncut version of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker), but Hamill had announced after the game’s release that he was retiring the character, because he felt he couldn’t outdo the performance he had previously done.

When you watch the Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 teaser trailer, you’ll notice that The Joker is on resperators and machines, unable to speak (or laugh) without coughing and wheezing.  I theorized at the time that they designed him this way because Hamill wasn’t returning.  I guess Mark changed his mind.  Should be another fantastic performance.

Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 has no release date or officially announced platforms.  The first game was released for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.

Day One Purchases of Halo Reach Grant Recon Armor Helmet May 26, 2010

There is no greater holy grail for Halo 3 fans than the coveted Recon Armor.  Originally only avalible to Bungie and rare canadates, with the release of ODST, Recon armor became unlockable to people who could complete seven unbearably difficult achievements, and unlocked it in their bungie.net profiles.

Well, I cannot for the life of me get four players together who have copies of Halo 3 or ODST for any length of time, so achieving Recon in Halo 3 has been slow and probably impossible.  Well, looks like it’s not going to be a problem in Halo Reach.

Bungie has announced that owners of Halo Reach on release day will recieve unlock codes for an exclusive Recon Helmet to use in Reach.  As far as I can tell, this will be a day-one preorder incentive regardless of which version of the game you buy.

Halo Reach Coming September 14th! May 24, 2010

Now that the Halo Reach multiplayer beta has ended (I didn’t consider it anything special, I’d play Reach for the single player), Bungie announced today that the full version of the game will be released September 14th, 2010 in the US and Europe, September 15th in Japan.

There are going to be three editions of the game, as mentioned earlier.

Halo Reach will be exclusive to the Xbox 360.

Alan Wake DLC Episode 2 Announced! May 23, 2010

Alan Wake’s downloadable content page updated yesterday with further information about the upcoming downloadable content, and announced a whole new episode to boot.

The first DLC, redeemable by the download codes in all new copies of the game, is actually going to be a two part story, concluded in the recently announced second episode.

The new episode, dubbed “The Writer” will conclude the new storyline started in the first episode, “The Signal”.

The episodes will retail for 800 MS points each ($10US), however that cost is waved for the first episode if you redeem your game’s included DLC code (shipped in all new copies of the game) when it’s released.  No release date has been announced for Episode 2, Episode 1 is still expected to be released July 27th, 2010.

My Local GameStop is doing a Midnight Launch Monday, Yours Might Too May 16, 2010

I went into my local GameStop today to confirm my preorder of the Alan Wake Limited Edition, just regular run-of-the-mil stuff.  By this point I had given up on GameStop doing a midnight launch of the game since the game is going to be released in two days, and there haven’t been any posts about that on their official website.

When I talked to the clerk as I was paying my preorder off I just decided to ask if they were doing a midnight release.  He told me that because practically five new games were coming out on Tuesday, including Alan Wake and Red Dead Revolver, they were doing a midnight release.

I had heard some GameStops were doing midnight releases for Red Dead Revolver, but I had assumed if they were going to be open, they would be selling only that and you would still have to wait until the morning to buy Alan Wake.  The guy assured me since they would have the right to sell Alan Wake at the same time as Red Dead Revolver, they would have no problem selling any game that came out Tuesday after midnight Monday night.

So even though GameStop lists no midnight releases on their official website, check with your local stores to see if there will be a midnight release, you might be lucky enough to have one that will.

Final Bright Falls Episodes Released (Just not on Live) May 15, 2010

Bright Falls, the official live action prequel series to Alan Wake, has concluded it’s six episode run.  The final two episodes have just been released in anticipation for Alan Wake‘s release on Tuesday.

As per usual, the episodes are currently not up on Xbox Live, as they were intended to premere there, however, every other host of the videos, including the series’ official homepage, do have the last episodes uploaded.  I’m sure at some point they’ll make it to Xbox Live, but until they do, here are some alternatives.  Of course, you can always just watch the videos embedded below.  Enjoy.  Hopefully this’ll tide you over until Tuesday.

First Alan Wake DLC Coming July 27th May 13, 2010

In an announcement today on Remedy’s official forums, the first downloadable content for Alan Wake, entitled “The Signal” will be released on Xbox Live July 27th, 2010.

All new copies of Alan Wake will come with a one time use download code to obtain this content for free.  The codes will not be active until the DLC is released.

“The Signal” will be a whole new single player episode, taking place after the conclusion of Alan Wake.  More episodes are expected to be released via DLC depending on sales.  This will be part of what Remedy is calling the first “season” of Alan Wake.  If a second “season” is merited, Remedy will begin work on a sequel.

Alan Wake will be released in the United States on May 18th, 2010 for the Xbox 360.

Steam Mac Released, Portal Included Free May 12, 2010

Valve has released a version of Steam for the Mac OS X operating system.  All Mac users are welcome to download the platform to purchase and play the games on it.

To Celebrate the release, all Steam users will be offered a free copy of 2007’s Game of the Year, Portal, which will be free for PC and Mac users until May 24th.  Current Steam users who don’t have a copy of Portal can get it for free here.