We were violent before we played video games.
We may have missed an episode, but we’re making it up to you this week with a bonus episode that gets us back on track. Even though we only recorded a week ago we have some games to talk about, including Sleeping Dogs, Final Fantasy VII PC, and Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance.
If Muramasa: Demon Blade and Metroid had a baby…
When I looked into this year’s Summer of Arcade, this one stuck out to me the most. Between the art style and insane looking combat, I felt like this game would stand out amongst the rest of the arcade titles released. Now that all of them are out, many might consider this Summer of Arcade one of the weakest. Thankfully, Dust: An Elysian Tail delivers on its initial promise of a beautiful art style and intense combat engine, but there is a lot more to the game than just looks.
Such an amazing gaming package that gamers will need a cigarette after experiencing it.
Imagine if you will, that video games never went into the third dimension. Instead of the polygon arms race that began in 1995, game artists and designers simply continued to hone the craft of 2D, hand-drawn sprites. What would the video games industry look like today? With that picture in your head, imagine that character-action games like Devil May Cry and God of War still existed, but were known for their gorgeous animation and parallax scrolling as much for their over-the-top combo systems and precise control schemes. Enter Dust: An Elysian Tale, a game that seems to come from this amazing alternate gaming reality.
The breath of fresh air in the series has slightly more realism to make this the definitive extreme snowboarding video game.
The long awaited return of SSX faithfully recreates some of the world’s most glorious mountain ranges and properly evolves the SSX trick engine. This sixth game in the franchise focuses on teams of extreme athletes attempting to conquer the world’s most dangerous cornices to defeat the challenge set forth by a renegade former member of the team. With a World Tour whose plot focuses on getting the team back together, the action within SSX fulfills the wishes of long-time fans who have been dreaming of diverse characters, high flying tricks and realistic slopes.
The two 3DS exclusives have been given American release dates.
Square Enix previously announced both Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] for the US, but failed to provide a release date for either. Today, both titles have received western release dates, and both are coming in July. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy kicks the month off with a July 3 release date and Kingdom Hearts 3D closes it out, releasing on July 31. For those who can't wait, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy will be playable at PAX East at the Square Enix booth (#850).
Some player accounts are finding EA purchases made at retail or on Steam available on Origin.
Gamers who use Steam or who purchased a game by Electronic Arts in the past two years might want to check Origin to see what games the service says you own. Reports from G4 earlier today are indicating that some games are available to play through the Origin service if they were bought elsewhere. EA confirmed this, with some provisions and clarity.
Soon you can super uber combo in a world where triple corks are weak sauce.
Inspired by real locations and events such as snowboarding, the long awaited sequel to SSX has returned and it’s more social than ever. The sixth game in the SSX franchise focuses on teams of extreme athletes attempting to conquer the world’s most dangerous mountain ranges with their competition hot on their stalefish. By all accounts, EA Canada has returned SSX to its foundation.
Thankfully it isn't another Kane & Lynch game.
Last month information surfaced on NeoGaf that Square Enix had filed for a trademark on “Sleeping Dogs.” Many presumed that this meant that another Kane & Lynch game would soon be forthcoming, as the last game in that series was subtitled, Dog Days. Fortunately for us, Square Enix has put those dogs down and has instead announced Sleeping Dogs as a brand new, open-world action game set in the streets of Hong Kong.
Even though Electronic Arts had a good year, some developers are being let go.
Electronic Arts is in the process of "restructuring", according to a report on The Escapist. The publisher is laying people off in its Canadian workforce, specifically EA Canada and Black Box. The reason for this is unknown considering EA had good sales numbers in 2011.
Also, Star Wars: The Old Republic has 1.7 million subscribers.
Electronic Arts made public its financial results for the third fiscal quarter of 2011 and it's reporting that both Battlefield 3 and FIFA 12 sold 10 million copies each across their respective platforms. It also reports that Star Wars: The Old Republic has 1.7 million active subscribers and has sold more than two million units in just a little over a month.
