Mario Kart 8 New Courses and Items Trailer April 3, 2014

Mario Kart 8 is coming, and not only are they bringing new playable characters but we’re getting entirely new and reimagined courses to drive on, as well as entirely new powerups which have never been seen before in a Mario Kart game.  Take a look for yourselves.

Mario Kart 8 is coming May 30th, 2014 exclusive to the Wii U.

Hitman: Absolution Free With Games With Gold April 2, 2014

It’s a new month, and Microsoft is offering another free game to download for all current Xbox Live Gold subscribers.  Starting yesterday, all Xbox Live subscribers with a valid Gold account can download a digital copy of Hitman: Absolution for free through Microsoft’s Games with Gold promotion.

Hitman: Absolution will be free to download until the fifteenth of April.  After that, the Xbox Live Arcade game Deadlight will become free.  Any game redeemed through Games With Gold will remain on your Xbox Live account forever, and you will not lose it if your subscription ever expires.

The Wolf Among Us Episode 3 Trailer April 2, 2014

I have been following Telltale Games ever since they released the first season of Sam and Max, and with the incredible word of mouth that I’ve been hearing about one of their latest game series currently in development, The Wolf Among Us, I had to give the series a look.  Needless to say, the positive word of mouth was incredibly deserving, and I discovered an enriching game with an engrossing story that is still unfolding.

This week, Telltale has released the first trailer for The Wolf Among Us Episode 3, providing the first tidbits for what we can expect with this newest episode.  Just be aware, this trailer will contain spoilers for the first two episodes, so if you haven’t played them yet, look away now.

The Wolf Among Us is in episodic development for PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Dead Space Free On Origin March 31, 2014

It looks like EA wants to finally get their users an excuse to download their Origin program, as they have decided to offer the original Dead Space for free .  I honestly consider the original Dead Space to be one of the best games of 2008, which is quite an impressive feat as it came up against other major titles that year including Resistance 2, Mirror’s Edge, and Gears of War 2.  EA threw a lot of weight behind marketing this game, releasing an animated graphic novel series online, and a full length animated feature called Dead Space: Downfall on DVD and Blu-Ray that was pretty great.  However, EA was actively including anti-consumer DRM in all of their PC games that year, and because of that, I consciously decided not to buy the game on PC, and instead picked up the console version of the game.

That said, once I did finally play the game, I found it incredibly enjoying.  In fact, I actually listed its opening in my list of the Best Game Openings Ever.  If you have a PC and an Origin account, you really should give the game a look!

You will need to download the Origin client to play the game.  If you don’t have it currently installed, you can install it here.  You will also need to create an Origin account, but if you already have an Origin account through EA (for games like Sim City, Battlefield 4 or Simpsons: Tapped Out), you will be able to use it to download the game.  The game should continue to be available to purchase free until the month of May, but once you do purchase it, it will be yours to play forever.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga Wii U Trailer March 31, 2014

While many 3DS owners may have been first exposed to the Mario & Luigi series with the release of Mario & Luigi: Dream Team last year, I was first exposed to the Mario & Luigi series when Bowser’s Inside Story was released on the Nintendo DS.  Little did I know that there was a game in the Mario & Luigi series that was released on the GBA.  Now, anyone who loves this awesome series who never owned the original platform it appeared on will finally be able to play it.  Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga will be one of the first GBA games released on the Wii U Virtual Console early next month, and here’s the trailer for it.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga will be available to download April 3rd, 2014 on the Nintendo Wii U’s eShop for a price of $7.99 US.

Metroid Fusion Wii U Trailer March 31, 2014

Metroid Fusion will be one of the first Game Boy Advance games ported to the Wii U’s Virtual Console, and Nintendo plans to take full advantage of the Wii U Controller’s screen.  It is currently the final game in the Metroid timeline, taking place after the events of Super Metroid and Metroid: Other M.

To celebrate the game’s upcoming rerelease, Nintendo has released an official trailer.  Check it out!

Metroid Fusion will be downloadable on April 3rd, 2014 on the Wii U eShop for a price of $7.99 US.

First GBA Virtual Console Titles Coming to Wii U April 3rd March 26, 2014

Nintendo’s Virtual Console is one of the best features of their modern consoles and handheld gaming devices.  It gives today’s gamers the chance to play the nearly hundreds of amazing games that Nintendo released over the past twenty years for a reasonable price on modern systems.  When the Wii U’s Virtual Console was announced in North America, Nintendo promised that they would be able to bring over games from the original NES, Super Nintendo, and Game Boy Advance systems.  While the Wii U’s Virtual Console saw a pretty decent official launch last year with titles like Super Mario World and Excitebike, up to this point we have only seen games get released on Wii U from the NES or SNES, with no GBA titles getting a release up to this point.  The GBA has one hell of a great back catalog of exclusive titles including Pokémon Emerald, and Metroid: Zero Hour, and it has been a shame we have been waiting as long as we have for GBA games to get relereleased on the service.  That is about to end.

Nintendo announced today they will start to release games previously exclusive to the Game Boy Advance for sale on the Wii U Virtual Console starting April 3rd, 2014.  Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga and Metroid Fusion will be the first two GBA games released through the service.

Each GBA game will cost $7.99 US, the same price a Super Nintendo game costs on the Wii U VC.

All God of War: Ascension Multiplayer DLC Free Until April 1st March 26, 2014

In honor of the first anniversary of the release of God of War: Ascension on the Playstation 3, Sony Santa Monica has announced that all multiplayer downloadable content items for the game will be free to download until April 1st.  That includes all special armor, tattoos, and weapons that you can customize your multiplayer champion with.  The only thing that hasn’t been made free are the Double XP bonuses, but they are at a reduced price right now, and if you choose to download the complete multiplayer DLC pack (which is also free with the promotion), you should get a limited time Double XP voucher along with it.

Finally, Sony Santa Monica is giving away an exclusive item to anyone who participates in this forum post.  Anyone who enters an answer will get e-mailed a download code for two exclusive items, the Marked One Tattoo, and Studio Cape, which will never be available to purchase or download again after this promotion concludes.  So click the link and post your answer!

The cool thing about God of War: Ascension’s downloadable content is that there’s really nothing extra to download.  Once you purchase or redeem downloadable content for the game, it is automatically tied to your Playstation Network account, and will become unlocked in your game without the need to download anything extra to your Playstation 3 Hard Drive.

God of War: Ascension is out now exclusively to the Playstation 3.

Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars Demo Released March 25, 2014

I’m afraid that I haven’t been following the release of Conception: II Children of the Seven Stars too closely as of recent, but I do know that it is under development by Atlus Games, the same developers responsible for the Shin Megami Tensai series and Catherine.  Today, Atlus has released the game’s official demo on the Playstation Store and Nintendo eShop for free download.

Give it a look!  Atlus promises that your demo progress will carry over to the full version of the game, and the demo will offer bonus content for the full version of the game.

Take a look at this official demo walkthrough!

Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars is coming April 15th, 2014 to the Playstation Vita and Nintendo 3DS.