Couldn’t make it to E3? Fear not, we’ve got the video that was shown behind closed doors in LA. It begins by showing you as the President of the United States in your first encounter with the alien forces at the white house, including the use of a massive cannon in the garden. Later on, you get to see more action out on the streets. They really have ramped up the crazy to 11.
Looking at all the over-the-top action and sci-fi enhancements that you can add to give you super-human powers, it couldn’t have distanced itself from GTA and further. This is a good thing though and we can’t wait to play the game at the end of August. Check out the video after the break and have a read of Matt’s hands-on preview too. Continue reading Have 10 Minutes of Fresh Saints Row IV Footage→
A few weeks ago, Microsoft were fighting a losing battle against the PS4. Every time they said anything via statement or twitter, gamers would become enraged and bewildered at why the company seemed determined to alienate consumers around the world. But then they sobered up ditched the two features of the Xbox One that may have handed an early victory to the PS4 – pre-owned blocking and daily online requirement.
However, is the damage already done? We’re far from writing off the big company yet, just look at how many times they’ve screwed up Windows and survived. So here’s our Sunday Seven on How the Xbox One Could Win Next-Gen.
Despite its CERO Z rating, which is higher than an M rating in Japan, The Last of Us has manged to exceed its sales expectations. In fact, 88% of the initial shipment has flown off the shelves, with 117,465 copies sold in its first week. Outstanding work for a new IP, even more so given the traditionally off-putting age rating. Continue reading The Last of Us is Big in Japan→
Well, the Naughty Dog studio have been caught with their pants down here. One of the phone numbers posted on an in-game bulletin board in The Last of Us for a pest exterminator is actually a real phone number, for a sex line. Not the Easter egg gamers were after upon spotting the phone number.
Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann explained how this happened, “What happened was, they put some phone numbers in the game and then they thought they could just change the area code to 555, then it’s invalid because it’s what they do in movies. But I guess that doesn’t work when you have a 1-800 in front of it.” Continue reading The Last of Us Patch Removes Sexy Phone Numbers→
Lead architect of the PS4, Mark Cerny, has given a presentation about events leading up to him helping to design Sony’s new console. Cerny is a famous industry figure who has a long relationship with Sony and has worked on games including Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet & Clank, Spyro, Jak & Daxter, Resistance and Uncharted.
While designing the PS4 he’s also found time to develop upcoming launch title, Knack. With such a platforming pedigree behind him, we wouldn’t bet against Knack being something as bit special. Enjoy ‘The Road to PS4’ after the break. Continue reading Mark Cerny Talks ‘The Road to PS4’→
In an interview with MCV (print edition), EA Sports’ EVP Andrew Wilson has admitted that the digital-only release of Euro 2012 as DLC for FIFA 12 was “a little ahead of its time quite frankly.”
He also added, “We didn’t get the take-up that we thought we would, although things picked up when we lowered the price. We may have got the value proposition a little off.”
*This collection encompasses ThatGameCompay’s previously download-only games including Flow, Flower and Journey. I’ve reviewed all three and discussed the extras also included.
Flow
The first time I played Flow six years ago, I started it late and ended up glued to the screen until 6am. It’s an experience you can just be swallowed up in. Just as it gets difficult, it expands and resets.
You play as a basic underwater life form that must eat smaller creatures in order to grow. The game takes place on a series of 2D stages and movement is controlled by turning the PS3 SixAxis controller with a press of any button making you move faster. As with all of ThatGameCompany’s PS3 games, there isn’t a heads-up display and next-to no tutorial, but you should find this an easy experience to get into.
If you watched Sony’s E3 press conference and were left wanting more after that brief new trailer, then wrap your eyes around this. This new video from IGN shows live gameplay from a forest outside of the walls of the city shown in the original Shadow Fall reveal. Arjan Bak, the game’s Environment Art Director, gives us a commentary throughout, discussing the weapons and the OWL bot that can be used to assist you by distracting the Helghast and hacking computers to cut off enemy reinforcements.
Don’t forget to whack up the YouTube setting to HD for maximum effect. Killzone is not for SD. Fingers crossed Sony’s shooter will be at Gamescom this year as we really want to touch it and whisper things about Halo meaning nothing to us in its ear. No, just me? Ahem, video after the break. Continue reading Killzone: Shadow Fall Extended Forest Gameplay Video→
Another video has snuck out from the E3 storm and frankly it deserves your attention more than most. that’s right Walking Dead fans, we finally have some concrete details about 400 Days. This is DLC content for Season One of Telltale’s excellent The Walking Dead, so you’ll need to own that in order to play this. Stateside it’s going to release at $4.99 in July, with a similar price and release date for Europe yet to be confirmed, but highly likely. The DLC will also come packaged with the upcoming Vita version of the first season, set for release in August.
The story will feature new characters and take place during the first 400 days of the outbreak. Choices made in the previously released season will affect details and choices made in this DLC will carry over to Season Two. Curiously, you’ll also be able to play the chapters of the DLC in any order, pointing towards multiple characters threads rather than a group theme.
It’s hard to believe after all these years we’re only a few months away from getting an online Final Fantasy game on the PS3. The latest trailer from E3 does its best to show off the gorgeous environments, cutscenes and in-game action. With Final Fantasy XV seemingly taking a new gameplay direction, this may be the best bet for RPG fans. Provided you have the coin that is.
With monthly subs starting around the £8/$14 mark we’re still a little on the fence about this one. On the fence, but damn near falling off it as we lean in for a better look that is. A Realm Reborn is out August 27th on PC and PS3, check out the new trailer after the break. Continue reading Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Gets 5 Minute E3 Trailer→
Now there’s a line of dialogue that’s a bit difficult to hear on a bleary-eyed Sunday morning. Fans of the mega-hit anime series rejoice, there’s a new Dragon Ball Z game on the horizon and it’s looking as delightfully demented as ever and it’s coming to PS3, Vita and Xbox 360.
The new trailer for Battle of Z has an emphasis on the game’s enhanced co-op features with up to four players able to take on fearsome enemies. Naturally there’ll be epic eight-player rumbles too if you just want to have a huge brawl in a cloud of fit-inducing colours and special moves. Solo players shouldn’t be worried though as you’ll be able to go it alone if you don’t want the help. Looking at some of these bosses though, you may reconsider. Enjoy the trailer after the break.
This, this is getting ridiculous! How are we meant to play all of these games? Well, let’s give it a go anyway. From July 3rd, PlayStation Plus subscribers will be able to download a fresh batch of free titles. This time we’re getting EA’s classic FPS, Battlefield 3 and the wonderfully fun Saints Row: The Third. Online bank-heist shooter Payday: The Heist will also be available to whet your appetite for the upcoming sequel.
Vita owners can look forward to more awkward memory card management as they try and fit in the third-person military shooter Unit 13 and the slice and dice action of Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus. Isn’t it about time Sony released some decent sized memory cards over here and made them cheaper too? Continue reading Battlefield 3 and Saints Row 3 Coming to PS Plus in July→
After an impressive 28 months sitting atop the US hardware charts, the Xbox 360 has finally been outsold, by the 3DS no less [Joystiq]. This was achieved with considerable help from Top Ten appearances in the all-format charts from Donkey Kong: Country Returns (3), Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (5) and Lego Batman 2 (10). Continue reading 3DS Ends Xbox 360’s 28 Month Hardware Number 1 Streak→
We posted a deal earlier this month, highlighting a potential error on the Xbox Live store where Fable 3 was available for free. Well, it’s now an official gift to all Gold subscribers and will be available to download until the end of the month.
This seems to be a prelude to Microsoft’s new service, giving subscribers two free games per month. In July you’ll also be able to grab Assassin’s Creed 2 and Halo 3 for free. Cheer up, they may give out some newer freebies down the line. Oh, wait you’ve left to look at PS Plus subscriptions instead.
Fans of graphically superior versions of games, rejoice! PC gamers won’t be the only ones getting the prettiest version of Square Enix’s upcoming MMO. Last night, Sony announced that Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn will be coming to the PS4 as well as the PS3 and PC.
This comes as good news but hardly surprising as Square Enix will be keen to keep the game running on modern hardware to keep those paid subscriptions going. With the original release crashing and burning in spectacular fashion, we’re surprised they haven’t shifted to a free-to-play model, which has done wonders for both numbers and revenue for the likes of DC Universe Online and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
The brand new E3 Dragon’s Crown trailer gives us a look at various aspects of the game, instead of just action and boobs (also included). There’s treasure collecting, XP spending, multiplayer footage and a bloody massive Smaug-style dragon.
The hand-drawn art-style ticks all our retro-fanboy boxes by staying 2D, but looking new at the same time. Coming from Vanillaware, the dev team behind Muramasa, we’ve got high hopes for the Vita/PS3 game. We’re still waiting for an EU release date, but American gamers can expect the game August 6th. Enjoy the video after the break.
A new trailer featuring gameplay scenes was debuted in the early hours this morning at Sony’s E3 presser. We get to see Bats enjoy his trademark brawling and play with some new toys. Our favourite has to be the double grappling hook that tethers two enemies together and knocks them out by slamming them into each other.
Some new cutscene material also shows us a few enemies who are all out for the reward money provided by Black Mask for killing the Dark Knight. Bane, Deadshot, Deathstroke and even the Joker make an appearance, making us glad we’re getting a prequel. A third Arkham game just wouldn’t be the same without the lovable loon. Enjoy the trailer after the break.
Insomniac’s first outing since leaving Sony’s nest was always going to be a tough task. But with such a strong history of inventive weaponry in the Ratchet & Clank and Resistance games, chances were that anything they put their minds too involving boomsticks would be fun.
Fuse is a third-person cover shooter with a heavy emphasis on co-op. With the multiplatform competition consisting of the like of Kane & Lynch and Army of Two, it’s all there for the taking. Fusepacks a little extra punch by allowing for four-player co-op action, rather than a paltry two.
UPDATE: We can confirm via a press release that the game will indeed be a reboot origins story: “The new Mirror’s Edge reboots the franchise for the next generation with advanced visuals and an all-new origin story for Faith.”
EA and DICE have just announced at E3 that we are finally getting a new Mirror’s Edge game. A new trailer even shows us some early gameplay using a new engine.
What is also interesting is how we see Faith getting her trademark tattoos for the first time. The star over the eye and the weird grid thing on her arm are getting inked onto her inbetween the action shots in the trailer and the one her face looks like it’ll be stinging for a while. Rather than keep it out of the sun though, we’re sure she’ll be running around crisp, bright and clean rooftops again soon.
Another hint that it’s not a direct sequel, at no point do they call it Mirror’s Edge 2, even in the small print at the end. We’ll keep you posted.
[UPDATE]: We can confirm via a press release that the game will indeed be a reboot origins story: “The new Mirror’s Edge reboots the franchise for the next generation with advanced visuals and an all-new origin story for Faith.”
EA and DICE have just announced at E3 that we are finally getting a new Mirror’s Edge game. A new trailer even shows us some early gameplay using a new engine.
What is also interesting is how we see Faith getting her trademark tattoos for the first time. The star over the eye and the weird grid thing on her arm are getting inked onto her inbetween the action shots in the trailer and the one her face looks like it’ll be stinging for a while. Rather than keep it out of the sun though, we’re sure she’ll be running around crisp, bright and clean rooftops again soon. Continue reading CONFIRMED: DICE Making a New Mirror’s Edge Game. A Prequel?→
Gaming reviews, previews and features by Brendan Griffiths
The No Sleep Gamer 