20th September 2010 - Hail to the King baby! We may have had a week off, but the gaming world surely did not, with both The Tokyo Games Show and PAX 2010 providing a slew of new informations. New MMOs, Plenty of movies and the mother load of vapour-ware titles continue to titillate us with new details across all platforms, so strap in and get comfy for this, the 42nd Week that was. Part I will cover the PAX 2010 wrap up, while Part II later this week digs deep into the Tokyo Games Show.
Game releases for week ending September 10th:
R.U.S.E. (PC, 360, PS3)
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (PSP)
Tom Clancy’s HAWX 2 (PC, PS3, 360)
Batman: The Brave and the Bold the Videogame (Wii, DS)
Ninety-Nine Nights 2 (PS3, 360)
Chime (PC)
Amnesia: The Dark Descent (PC)
Rugby League Live (PS3)
Metroid: Other M (Wii)
Chicken Blaster (Wii)
In a week topped off with kicking ass and chewing gum, gamers were all out of gum when at PAX 2010, Gearbox software, of Borderlands fame, revealed that Duke Nukem Forever was in fact coming out early 2011- and it was complete.
More or less intact after mommy and daddy stopped fighting last year, Duke has apparently been saved by Gearbox and as it was almost 12 months ago; unaltered and still completely adulterated. Complete with Duke flicking off aliens, receiving blowjobs and generally crapping in alien dismembered heads, the faithful re-imagining and recreation of the 1996 classic is now one of the most anticipated title of a stella lineup for Q1 2011, including Gears 3, Deus Ex and now Duke Nukem.
If a playable version of the game at PAX is not good enough, how about a brand new MMO, or news that Batman: Arkham City is more or less complete. New screens surfaced this week along with strengthening rumours that co-op is almost a certainty, with Catwoman the most likely contender.
Red 5 studios was created by former World of Warcraft designers back in 2005 and finally the fruits of their labour are here with a new shooter based MMO 'Firefall'. The space shooter come RPG is a free browser based MMO that in part looks like Borderlands with a nice mix of Cell shaded graphics.
In less exciting news, Lucas Arts laid off a bunch of people not least, the people working on The Force Unleashed II. Although unlikely to effect the final rollout of the game, it casts doubt over future titles, including the point and click adventure of Back to the Future. If political correctness in Mafia II was not bad enough, the military is now weighing in on Taliban being a playable faction in the next Medal of Honour game. Ten years is too soon apparently, as politically 'insensitive gameplay' takes a hit.
Microsoft
Two big news items for MS this past week, in the lead up to fans pants wetting from playing Halo: Reach, Microsoft has partnered with The Starlight Childrens foundation to donate 100% of all money from all Halo: Reach Avatar items sold to the charity, not to mention $5.00 from every H:R headset and controller sold. Buzz Aldrin headlined the press event in Sydney with a live demo of Kinect Adventures and Halo Reach single player campaign.
Finally, MS are making a push back into the PC market with a renewed promise at PAX of a brand new title that players will “have to upgrade their rigs” for. Then they went and announced Civ online and a flight simulator for Internet browsers...
Dead Rising 2: Case 0 also hit the marketplace with an exclusive sneak peak into the prequel of the much anticipated title. This has gone on to spark some controversy about little girls in games, but is none the less the most fun for 400MSP you could have (and an easy 200 achievement points)
Sony
Amidst live Killzone 3 demos, was streams of information about Portal 2: co op, but not before Valve went and canned multiplayer VS. Although not specific to Sony, Valve has come out to say that it has a “bunch” of very cool and big game changing announcements over the next year that will effect how we play games. Half Life 3 remains to be seen.
Valkyria Chronicles II is now playable and Sony has apparently been said to say that 3D Bluray DVDs will be playable on the PS3 as soon as next month!
There are more GT5 videos and screens around but the finished game is yet to be released with a PAX video highlighting a nasty bug..not to mention Need for Speed Hot pursuit giving it a run for it's money.
Nintendo
Metroid: Other M has revealed herself to a raving but luke-warm reception, while Donkey Kong Country remade some fond memories now with added co op. Everyone’s favourite golden eye continues to get people excited. And this Christmas, the hot new console to have in your hands? Not Kinect or PS Move but the 3DS. This really doesn't surprise as Nintendo continues to push ahead of the curve giving gamers the games they actually want to play in a new and innovative way. Last but not least for Nintendo: Their new WiiWare title fluidity....
The weeks other news in brief:
- DeLorian Timemachine rocks up to PAX
- Mortal Kombat 9 playable fatalities easy to pull off (RB+RT)
- Starwars the Super Smash Brothers Unleashed
- New Borderlands DLC does a 69
- PS3 jailbreak is jailbait
Article By Ian Crane