First and third party characters invade the roster.
Screenshots taken from the beta version of the highly anticipated PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale have hit reddit, potentially revealing twelve more characters in the All Stars' roster. The list includes:
The popular convention keeps L.A. its home for 3 more years.
Whenever you leave the show floor at E3 on the final day, there is a banner that beckons you back the following year, and provides the dates of the next convention. That banner was conspicuously absent at E3 this year. Our own Jason Ross covered that at length in an episode of PB & Jason, but the main issue had to do with the construction of the Farmers Field Stadium possibly interfering with the convention. There was speculation that the show would end up in Las Vegas or even Atlanta, quite far from the majority of the North American games industry, but those rumors can be put to bed. It was confirmed today that E3 will grace the halls of the Los Angeles Convention Center for another three years at least.
High Moon’s latest impresses.
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is on its way to being just as good, if not better than its predecessor if my latest hands-on with the game is any indicator. 2010’s War for Cybertron left a lasting impression on me, and was one of my favorite games of that year. It finally set the bar for what a Transformers game should be like with the right amount of action, fluidity of gameplay, and the overall production value. Thankfully, Fall of Cybertron continues that trend. The latest demo, which includes single and multiplayer components shows that High Moon has learned from some of its mistakes in the last game and is trying hard to make sure that Fall of Cybertron is a better game overall.
What happens when kids review a children’s title? You get surprisingly honest results.
Reviewing children’s titles is always tricky business. As adults, it really is impossible to mentally travel back to our developmental years and place the game in its proper perspective. The only way to truly get around these limitations would be to have a child perform the task. On the positive side, as long as there’s no motivation for them to lie, kids are usually brutally honest, even to the point of being impolite. On the other hand, children lack the perspective, critical reasoning, and linguistic skills necessary to create their own reviews. They also tend to be very polar in their opinions, meaning anything they like automatically gets 5 stars, while games they hate earn zero with no middle ground. Clearly this is a problem. The solution? Have daddy help.
Give zombies (yet another) chance!
Hey! Remember the ‘80s when those zombie-like creatures took over Seattle and made it into a crumbling and dreary hell hole? Well, even if nothing quite that illin’ ever happened in your 1980s, you can get a good taste of what it would have been like with Tequila Works’ gritty new platformer: Deadlight. Yes, we’re all sick of the shambling undead, but don’t let that scare you off. Deadlight tells an actual story as you puzzle your way through a dilapidated city, sinking axes into zombie skulls while you search for your friends and family. The melding of game mechanics, storytelling devices, art styles, and emotions is done so expertly in Deadlight that it feels like a formula should have been used years ago.
More like Fifty Shades of GAME, amiright?
Sex. Now that I have your attention, why is it something that gaming podcasts don’t talk about very often? Sex sells, and game developers have used it more and more in their games over the years. Your favorite nerdy trio takes off their pants, turns on their mics, and talk at length about sex in vidya games. But before that we talk some recent games, including Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy, Slender, and Unchained Blades.
A devastating tale of love lost… for a game reviewer.
It’s pretty heartbreaking when you are really enjoying a game only to have it all hit a breakneck stop and you just want it all to end already. Such was my experience with Ys Origin - a prequel to the long running Ys series from Falcom that is finally available in English after first being released in Japan years ago. I spent several hours mesmerized: loving the combat, wondering what would happen in the story, and considering if I would soon be buying other games in the series to satisfy my nascent Ys fandom. Then, the game’s off-kilter balancing rammed me into a wall. Then another. And another. Time after time, Ys Origin mires you in lengthy forced grinding situations, and that one fault is the game’s undoing.
September is when you can get your hands on this improved PC classic.
Many fans of BioWare became such because of games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic or Mass Effect. But there was a time when the RPG developer was known as a PC company, working on huge hits such as Baldur’s Gate. That game is still highly respected by PC gamers, but for many younger players or people who cut their teeth on consoles the game has been difficult to play on modern systems. We’ve already reported about Overhaul and their project to bring Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition to PC, Mac, and tablet devices, but we have some juicy new information about the upgraded game.
Did some other video games media site merge with The Onion, or did I miss something?
You've probably already heard the rumor about Final Fantasy Versus XIII's cancellation. You've probably even heard the news about the rumor being false. I've another rumor: A major videogame media outlet has taken my idea about reporting fake video game news! Oh, and they forgot to outright tell people it was fake. Anyway, in this week's PB & Jason, we talk about the Final Fantasy Versus XIII debacle, the Borderlands formula, and we learn of a possible reason why EA's former COO is "Former" and not "Current." Want to listen to PB & Jason? Click through to the embedded player and download links!
Get your "kung fu panda" on when the game drops in September.
Considering that Blizzard is a company known for releasing games at an almost glacial pace when compared to most developers, having two products in the same year from them is almost a news story on its own. Now that Diablo III has come out and shattered all manner of PC sales records it’s time to look forward to the next big thing from Blizzard. Of course, that means World of WarCraft, and that means the Mists of Pandaria expansion.
