Ghosts: Call of Duty or COD: Ghosts will be released on November 5th 2013 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, as well as next-generation systems (which most likely means Xbox 720 and PS4. WiiU was not specifically mentioned. Does that mean the game is skipping WiiU? God let’s hope not…. If that happens it is a major, major blow to Nintendo’s next-gen system).
The newest installment in the ever-loved, ever-hated, ever-popular, phenom of a FPS series is being developed by Infinity Ward, who was responsible for the Modern Warfare series. It is not being developed by Treyarch, who is responsible for the Black Ops series. This thus continues the tradition of switching off between the two developers for the yearly COD installments.
Call of Duty: Ghosts (the official title) will feature an all-new storyline with all-new characters, a next-generation engine (for both current and next-gen consoles) and an all-new setting; although more details will be forthcoming as we speed ever-closer to E3 2013.
Activision promises that COD: Ghosts features “a riveting all-new gameplay experience built on an entirely new story, setting and cast of characters, all powered by a new, next generation Call of Duty engine that redefines the series for the next generation.”
“Everyone was expecting us to make Modern Warfare 4, which would have been the safe thing to do,” said Infinity Ward executive producer Mark Rubin, “but we’re not resting on our laurels. We saw the console transition as the perfect opportunity to start a new chapter for Call of Duty. So we’re building a new sub-brand, a new engine, and a lot of new ideas and experiences for our players. We can’t wait to share them with our community.”
“Infinity Ward set the gold standard for first-person action for a generation, and they’re going to do it again with Call of Duty: Ghosts,” said Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg. “Ghosts delivers an all-new story, all-new characters, an all-new Call of Duty world, all powered by a next generation Call of Duty engine, which is a leap forward for the franchise. Infinity Ward is going all-in to create the next generation of Call of Duty worthy of the world’s greatest fans.”
Although COD: Ghosts is not a console-exclusive entry, Activision has already stated that the game WILL be shown for the Next-Xbox (Xbox 720?) on May 21st when Microsoft fully reveals and announced their new, next-gen console. So Call of Duty fans won’t have long to wait! Don’t forget to check out the official COD Ghosts Box Art.
Batman returns in a younger state with Batman: Arkham Origins.
Batman: Arkham Origins has been announced for WiiU, Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, outted by Game Informer magazine which will go in-depth into this 3rd game in the highly acclaimed series as it’s cover-story and World Exclusive reveal for their May 2013 issue of the American magazine.
Batman: Arkham Origins is a prequel tale telling the Origin-story not young Bruce Wayne, the that everyone knows and loves of how he turns into the menacing Caped Crusader and dons the cowl & cape to hunt criminals in the night as Batman (although I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of that pop up in the game), but rather the origin of Batman’s relationship with a lot of various characters and villains in the series. This game will also mark the first time that Batman gets to explore the streets of the iconic Gotham City.
Game Informer broke the worldwide exclusive on their cover.
The biggest change this time is the fact that Batman: Arkham Origins is being developed by Warner Bros. Montreal, an in-house WB Games studio, instead of Rocksteady; who was made famous by developing the first two games to incredible critical acclaim (highly regarded as the greatest superhero games ever made) and super sales that put the studio on-the-map. Thankfully, the team will be utilizing existing assets from Rocksteady’s portfolio in order to ensure that this game maintains the look that fans expect.
Hopefully we’ll get to see what Rocksteady is working on for WB Games (who bought them out after the wild success of Batman: Arkham Asylum) at E3 2013 in a couple months.
One of the lead designers on Batman: Arkham Origins is Eric Holmes who previously worked on the critically acclaimed Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction for last-gen systems as well as the Prototype series, so he knows a thing or two about creating successful superhero games. Thus Batman: Arkham Origins is in capable hands.
Looks very similar to the previous Rocksteady games.
Players will encounter new villains that haven’t yet been seen in the franchise (although that’s pretty much a given), including a number of assassin’s who converge on Christmas Eve to kill The Bat as a team.
Batman: Arkham Origins will be released on October 25th 2013, just in time for the holiday season. And may very well be one of a group of “swan song” triple-A titles released for current-generation consoles as we transition to the next-generation. Although a PS4/Xbox 720 release wasn’t announced, I wouldn’t be surprised if the game hits those systems at some point in the future.
Press Release:
“Batman: Arkham Origins features an expanded Gotham City and introduces an original prequel storyline occurring several years before the events of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City.
Taking place before the rise of Gotham City’s most dangerous villains and assassins, the game showcases a young, raw, unrefined Batman as he faces a defining moment in his early career as a crime fighter that sets his path to becoming the Dark Knight.
As the story unfolds, witness identities being formed and key relationships being forged.”
She’s turned into quite the beloved videogame film character.
Resident Evil 6 movie?! That’s right, Paul W.S. Anderson is back to direct a Resident Evil 6 film for release on September 12 2014, with Milla Jovovich returning as Alice. The film will be a direct-sequel to Resident Evil: Retribution and may be the final film in the current Paul Anderson film series.
Here is a trailer for the Resident Evil: Retribution film (RE5).
The original 2002 Resident Evil film starred Milla Jovovich as Alice, and she has returned to reprise her role in each subsequent film, including Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) and Resident Evil: Retribution (2012). Like those films, this film will mix all-new elements and characters with elements lifted from the videogames… Which began to incorporate more Resident Evil staple characters (including Chris Redfield, Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine and Albert Wesker) starting with the RE2 film (Apocalypse) which featured Nemesis from Resident Evil 3. Other movies have featured everything from the Crows, Zombie Dogs (Cerberus) and Lickers, to the scythe wielding enemy (The Executioner) from Resident Evil 5.
That means that we can expect the Resident Evil 6 film to incorporate elements from the Resident Evil 6 game into the film. Resident Evil 6 will also be shot in 3D, just like Afterlife and Retribution before it.
While the Resident Evil films have been panned by critics and dissed by many fans of the videogame series, the films have been a success at the box-office and on home-video, and have really helped establish the Resident Evil franchise as even more of a powerhouse series (despite the Razzie Award nominations the film franchise has been given for bad acting and the like). The Resident Evil brand is more well known now thanks to these films, and they have an audience of fans (like my dad) who really enjoys them.
For fans of the games, they are not what we would like to see… So I hope that Resident Evil 6 will be the final film by Anderson and we can get a film that is more faithful to Resident Evil remake or Resident Evil 4 in feel and tone….
Anderson has a number of other projects in the works, including a possible film adaptation of Castlevania and a disaster movie called Pompeii in which he’s directing (based on the famous Mount Vesuvius eruption that destroyed an entire city way back in AD79).
Personally I really enjoyed Afterlife, and I thought it was a cool action film. Apocalypse was my favorite before that, I prefer the action to Anderson’s (sad) take on horror, so the first film and Resident Evil Extinction absolutely sucked in my opinion. Btw Retribution grossed over $220 million worldwide, so you can see why Screen Gems wants to continue making these films.
The American box art for the Yellow 3DS XL Pikachu Edition!
A Pikachu Yellow 3DS XL will be released in America on March 24th 2013, hitting day and date alongside Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates To Infinity, the newest game in the awesome Rogue-like RPG spin-off series “Pokemon Mystery Dungeon”. Also releasing on this day will be Luigi’s Mansion 2: Dark Moon for 3DS! WOW! What a day! :D
The Pikachu 3DS XL is yellow in color (naturally) and features the adorable rat square and center in the middle of the front of the system. It will also include a 4GB SD Card and will cost $200. I’m pretty positive that this is the first yellow-colored Nintendo system since the Yellow Game Boy Color that came with Pokemon Yellow way back in the day! (i.e., 1999 I believe).
However it’s worth noting that the Pikachu 3DS XL system is NOT bundled with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates To Infinity, the two are sold separately. Which is an odd decision, I’d think Nintendo would want to raise the profile of the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series by including it with the yellow Pikachu 3DS.
Oooo very yellow!
Maybe Nintendo thinks that the Pikachu 3DS would go better with the upcoming Pokemon X & Y, and will bundle it with those games at a later date? Time will tell. Nintendo also recently released a special Fire Emblem: Awakening 3DS system bundle, for those who are keeping count.
This Pikachu 3DS-XL is a really neat looking system. I’ll definitely want to get my hands on it at some point!
As for Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity, it is the 3rd installment in the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series, which began on the Game Boy Advance with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team in 2006 (If “Mystery Dungeon” sounds familiar, that’s because it in itself is an RPG line of games developed by Chunsoft. Few of the games have made it to the West, but you may have heard of Chocobo Mystery Dungeon or “Chocobo’s Dungeon” or Siren the Wanderer, both titles in the “Mystery Dungeon” line).
A Blue Rescue Team version was also available for the original DS in 2006, making it one of the few games ever to get a simultaneous release on both Game Boy Advance and DS. The sequels followed in 2007 with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness for DS. An enhanced remake (similar to the extra-colored Pokemon editions like Yellow, Emerald, Crystal, and Platinum) was released in 2009 for DS called “Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky” that included updated features over the original Explorers of Time & Darkness games.
And finally that brings us to the 3DS game Gates to Infinity in 2013. It’s also worth noting that a WiiWare Pokemon Mystery Dungeon spin-off was released exclusively in Japan and no where else called “Blazing Adventure Squad”, “Stormy Adventure Squad” and “Light Adventure Squad” (different versions).
All Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games are a subset of RPG called a “Roguelike”. These games are normally extremely difficult, but Pokemon Mystery Dungeon makes them more accessible and gives a “for everyone including kids” spin on the Roguelike genre. Rogue-likes feature randomly-generated, turn-based maps/dungeons, tile-based battles, hardcore level-grinding (where you have to keep fighting many enemies to get strong enough to proceed) and often feature perma-death (meaning characters that die stay dead forever). Most of these games are dungeon-crawls, meaning the vast majority of the game takes place inside dungeons with multiple floors. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon however features fantastic character development, extremely witty and hilarious writing, and an incredibly deep storyline where the Pokemon themselves actually speak and talk, and are their own unique characters.
If you’ve never played a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game, I highly recommend it. And this is coming from someone who had never played a Rogue-like before nor is a big Pokemon fan!
Here is a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates To Infinity trailer video.
In addition to the dungeons you’ll delve into during the main story, you can use the Nintendo 3DS Camera to discover Magnagates—entrances to new dungeons—by scanning everyday objects around you!
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team for 3DS has been announced as an all-new title in the highly acclaimed Mario & Luigi RPG series! This marks the 4th game in the franchise, following Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga for Game Boy Advance, Mario & Luigi: Partner’s In Time for DS, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story for 3DS, and now Mario & Luigi: Dream Team for 3DS.
This time, instead of entering the innards of Bowser, Luigi’s dreams will serve as the environments and setting for this game! During the game, Luigi is sleeping, and you can interact with his face in unique ways to cause all kinds of interesting things to happen in the environment you are exploring as Mario! You can even summon Swarms of Luigi to attack groups of enemies! PSYCHO!
The game will be released in Summer of 2013!
Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story is one of the greatest games ever made IMHO, so I am SUPER EXCITED for this new game! It looks amazing, the writing is always top-notch and absolutely hilarious, and having a game set inside a weirdo like Luigi’s dreams, is absolutely INGENIOUS! Once again, the developers at Alpha Dream look to impress! They always include the most interesting settings, environments, characters and story hooks, and this game will definitely be no exception!
The original Mario & Luigi is also among my favorite games of all time, but Partners In Time (which I never played) was not as critically acclaimed. Hopefully this game will be just as good as the third title, and not more like the second. Time will tell!
Pokemon Y and Pokemon X have been officially announced for 3DS! As the next all-new core games in the Pokemon series!
Update: The legendary Pokemon named have officially been unveiled! They are the Flying Legendary Yveltal (pronounced ee-VELL-tawl) and the deer-like “Xerneas” (pronounced Xerneas).
The games will feature the first ever fully, 100% polygonal 3D graphics, finally bringing the Pokemon series into the modern gaming world with a game that has cut the trappings of tradition that the series has stubbornly held onto ever since the first Pokemon hit way back in 1996 on the original Game Boy! The new name is also the first time that the color theme has finally been broken, signaling the true next-generation of Pokemon (From Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow to Gold, Silver and Crystal to Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald to Diamond, Pearl and Platinum to FireRed and LeafGreen to SoulSilver and HeartGold to Pokemon Black and White to Pokemon Black 2 and White 2)
Three all-new Pokemon were revealed as the main Pokemon from this title that players will be able to select at the beginning of the game, per tradition. They are: Chespin (Grass), Fennekin (Fire) and Froakie (Water) in what look similar to a raccoon, a fox and a frog.
Sadly, those who were looking forward to having a real unique mix like a Steel or Dark Pokemon at the start of the new games will be sorely disappointed.
The biggest new improvements for Pokemon Y and Pokemon X come in the department of Pokemon Battles, where the visuals have been given a huge and complete overhaul, with all-new animations and much more dynamic battles that are a 100 fold improvement on previous Pokemon games.
But don’t take my word for it, watch the first official trailer for Pokemon Y and Pokemon X!
The official logo for Tales of Xillia, the 13th entry in the long-running Namco RPG series.
Tales of Xillia is coming to the USA! In addition to an American release, Europe will also be getting the game confirmed Namco via their Twitter account.
Here’s a Japanese Tales of Xillia Trailer, showing tons of cutscenes and story sequences, along with gameplay at the end.
This is huge news for fans of the Tales series of RPGs from Namco, who were a bit worried that the latest game in the series, a PS3-exclusive, would not see the light of day outside Japan.
Thankfully, Namco has come to their senses, although no word on exactly WHEN the game will be released has been announced. But it is extremely likely it will hit sometime this holiday, if I had to wager a guess.
This is what the RPG battles look like in Tales of Xillia exclusively for PS3. Coming this Fall 2012.
The latest game in the Tales series was the 3DS Tales of the Abyss 3D released last year, a remake of the PS2 title from 2006. Before that we got Tales of Graces f for PS3, an enhanced port of a Wii game in the series that was never released outside of Japan. The game most players will remember from the current generation is the Xbox 360-exclusive Tales of Vesperia (also released for PS3 in Japan with an updated version). Sadly there are two fairly recent DS entries in the Tales series that never got released outside of Japan. Hopefully Namco can combine them into a dual-pack and release it for 3DS or something along those lines eh?
Otherwise, releases of Tales games in the West have been somewhat hit or miss, but it’s great to hear that Tales of Xillia will finally be getting its day on Western shores.
Apparently some pretty cool cats from Tales of Xillia. What with the shades in all…
The beautiful Nights is ever-more beautiful in HD! Coming this Fall 2012 to XBLA, PSN & Steam!
A Nights Into Dreams HD Remake has been announced by Sega! It will be coming to XBLA, PSN and Steam this Fall!
Here is the debut Nights HD trailer!
The game will include updated high-definition graphics, making this the most beautiful version of the game yet seen, all-new Achievements and Trophies to earn for the first time! A 16:9 aspect ratio, and support for Leaderboards. Even better, this Nights HD version will feature a “Saturn Mode”, that allows you to play the exact original version of the game with its retro graphics!
Boss fights will be better and clearer than ever in the Nights Into Dreams HD remake!
“Initially released for SEGA Saturn 16 years ago today, on July 5, 1996, NiGHTS into dreams is one of the best-regarded games in SEGA history and a favorite of many fans thanks to its innovative 3D gameplay and multi-faceted level design. This new version will bring Nightopia to vivid life with improved HD graphics and a 16:9 aspect ratio, as well as added support for leaderboards, trophies, and achievements. It will also feature an optional Saturn Mode that will let players experience the game with the original graphics intact.”
“The SEGA Saturn offered many unique gaming experiences, and NiGHTS into dreams stands out as one of the most recognizable titles that found a home on the system,” said Chris Olson, Vice President of Digital Business at SEGA. “We’ve gotten a lot of requests about this game over the years, and are very happy to be able to give both former Saturn owners and new players a chance to play it in its most beautiful form to date this fall.”
Hopefully more great Saturn games are in the offering following Nights! Games like Panzer Dragoon Saga and Burning Rangers!
All the gameplay you love from the Saturn original is back in the Nights HD Remake.
You’ll finally be able to unlock all-new Achievements and Trophies in Nights HD!
Fire Emblem: Awakening coming to America in 2013 exclusively for 3DS!
Fire Emblem: Awakening for Nintendo 3DS (or “Fire Emblem Kakusei” as it’s called in Japan) has been confirmed for American release thanks to the June 2012 Nintendo Direct Conference! It will be released sometime in 2013.
Here is a Japanese gameplay trailer for Fire Emblem: Awakening.
During the Nintendo Direct video, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime briefly mentioned the game, a title that has been highly anticipated in the Land of the Rising Sun; but garnered a lot more attention than is usual for the very fact that Nintendo was tight-lipped on whether the game would ever see the light of day in the West.
Thankfully it will!
Fire Emblem: Awakening marks the first time that the series has been released for the Nintendo 3DS next-gen portable, and the first-time that the series has seen paid downloadable content released for it. Unlike some of the more recent Fire Emblem games, Fire Emblem: Awakening marks an ALL-NEW entry in the critically acclaimed strategy RPG series, with all-new characters, story, scenarios, gameplay elements and more.
Battles are more dynamic and cool looking than ever before in Fire Emblem: Awakening 3DS.
The new ability to Team Up with supporting characters for combo attacks is newly introduced, as is the ability to create your own customized character in the “My Unit” feature. You can have five skills at any one time, with surplus Skills held in a character Skill bank, and the game features a traversable World Map as seen in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones and Fire Emblem Gaiden, with the Special Skills from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance returning.
Relationships play a big role in Fire Emblem: Awakening, not only can characters get married, they can even have children! This includes your player-created character. Already released in Japan is the first DLC for the game which features Marth making his grand return! The popular Roy character (made famous in the West in Super Smash Bros. Melee) also returns as DLC.
Skip to 14:10 in this Nintendo Direct June Conference Video to see more information on Fire Emblem: Awakening (just called “Fire Emblem” for 3DS in the video).
As you can see, the 3DS XL is HUGE compared to the original 3DS model!
3DS XL is an all-new redesigned, streamlined but extra-large jumbo 3DS system that Nintendo just announced. It will be released in America on August 19th at a cost of $200!
The all-new system is what Nintendo is banking on to spur system sales even higher as the holidays approach, and the new extra-large 3DS with it’s awesome large screens will be sure to attract whole new audiences and interest in Nintendo’s next-gen handheld. Making things even better, the 3DS XL will be launching on the same day as the new 3DS Mario game, New Super Mario Bros. 2. A game that sees Nintendo on a quest to collect as many Coins as possible.
Nintendo claims that the 3DS XL offers handheld gamers a 90% increase in screen space! The top, stereoscopic 3D screen has got a huge increase from a paltry 3.58 inches to a huge 4.88 inches. While the lower non-stereoscopic 3D touchscreen has gotten an increase from 3.02 inches to a gigantic 4.18 inches! All in all, both screens look HUGE in comparison to the original 3DS.
The entire system itself is 46% larger than the original 3DS system. It’s specs are 93x156x22mm compared to 74x134x21mm and its weight is 336 grams compared to the 235 grams of the original 3DS.
Here’s a picture of the 3DS XL open with the screen on, compared to the regular 3DS.
Thankfully there are even more improvements where those came from. Battery life for the 3DS XL has been greatly improved from 3 hours to 6.5 hours! That’s for 3DS games, it will last 8 hours (from 5) for original DS games. Quite the improvement!
The system will also get its own Circle Pad Pro XL Accessory, which adds another control stick on the right, along with extra trigger buttons to make playing games like Resident Evil: Revelations, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, and the upcoming Monster Hunter Tri 3G much easier. No word on when the new Circle Pad Pro XL will be released or through what retailers.
The system will ship in Black, Blue and White colors, and will be released in North America on August 19th and in Europe next month on July 28th.
Here is the reveal of the 3DS XL announced at the Nintendo Direct 3DS Nintendo Video Conference on June 22nd.
Ghosts: Call of Duty or COD: Ghosts will be released on November 5th 2013 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, as well as next-generation systems (which most likely means Xbox 720 and PS4. WiiU was not specifically mentioned. Does that mean the game is skipping WiiU? God let’s hope not…. If that happens it is a major, major blow to Nintendo’s next-gen system).
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