At long last we have a set release date for what may be Microsoft's biggest Xbox 360 exclusive of the year. Gears of War 3 will launch on September 20th in Japan, Europe, Australia and the United States. U.S gamers were originally going to get the game first back when it was intended for an April release. Microsoft also provided details about new maps and weapons alongside the release date. New map titles include Trenches, Overpass, Mercy, Checkout, and Thrashball- all of which sound totally extreme. There are also new weapons like the Bayonet Charge, Retro Lancer, Sawed-off Shotgun, OneShot, Incendiary Grenade, and the Digger Launcher that will help you turn foes into ground beef faster than ever before. More details on the public beta will be released soon.
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A lot of gamers groan when they hear of movie-game tie ins. Some turn out great, like "Goldeneye" and "The Chronicles of Riddick," but most turn out like the recent "Iron Man" games, very bad. I think a movie game's quality depends on the technology available at the time and how much interest the developers have in the film. Many developers develop cheap cash ins to draw in fans of the movie, but put little effort into the product. If the right amount of care is taken with a movie property there is a good chance it will succeed. Here are the top five movies I would like to be made into games.
Click here to read my choices EscapeVektor has just been announced as a new WiiWare title from Aussie video game developer Nnooo. The game can be played with just the wii remote, but also supports the classic controllers. You must navigate Vektor through 30 levels spanning 5 worlds in order to rescue him from the confines of your Wii's CPU. It doesn't seem like the game utilizes motion controls in any way, instead having players use classic d-pad controls to navigate Vektor along a grid. By bordering cells Vektor is able to gain unique abilities like boosting and laying bombs, accomplished by pressing the 1 and 2 buttons respectively. There are also several interesting enemy types in the game that will give you much more trouble than any Pac-Man ghosts ever did. Patrol enemies are stuck on paths that the player can learn and take advantage of. Hunters will search the whole level for intruders and speed up when Vektor enters their sights. Even more dead are the Interceptors, who enter the level at full speed fully aware of your presence. Fortunately they can only cross a set number of junctions before they expire. Watch the trailer above for a glimpse of escapeVektor's retro inspired gameplay and some nice music. The game is set to launch on WiiWare at some point in 2011.
Website: escapeVektor Nintendo has been keeping the list of games that will launch with the 3DS on March 27th a complete secret, instead referring to a nebulous launch window for their releases. All of that has changed today- here are the 18 games that will be in stores on day one for an MSRP of $40:
• Pilotwings Resort (Nintendo) • Steel Diver (Nintendo) • Nintendogs + Cats (Nintendo) • Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition (Capcom) • The Sims 3 (EA) • Madden NFL Football (EA Sports) • Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D (Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.) • LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (LucasArts) • RIDGE RACER 3D (Namco Bandai) • Super Monkey Ball™ 3D (Sega) • BUST-A-MOVE UNIVERSE (Square-Enix, Inc.) • SAMURAI WARRIORS: Chronicles (Tecmo Koei) • Asphalt 3D (Ubisoft) • Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D (Ubisoft) • Rayman 3D (Ubisoft) • Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Shadow Wars (Ubisoft) Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Star Fox 64 3D, Kid Icarus: Uprising and Mario Kart 3DS are slated for release later in the year. While that may be disappointing to fans that are looking forward to Nintendo's big franchises, understand that Nintendo is trying to space software releases out so that there is never a drought of quality content available for the system. It will also give third parties a better chance to succeed at launch if they don't have to directly compete with any of Nintendo's largest properties. Although I'm sure Nintendog's + Cats will be a huge success, Pilotwings Resort and Steel Diver will probably be more modest successes. All in all I think this is a decent lineup that will surely please early adopters. It is certainly one of the strongest Nintendo launch lineups I have seen. There is also plenty to keep you interested in the hardware itself, mini games like Face Raiders are pre-installed on the 3DS alongside Mii creation apps and a 3D camera. It was 25 years ago today that the original Legend of Zelda launched on the NES. I should really turn in my gamer card, I regret to inform you that I still haven't beaten the first two Zelda games. I did get within 1 or 2 dungeons of beating the first one, but eventually got lost and forgot where I was. Even though the game originally came with a map I refuse to use guides to help me beat games. I oftentimes struggle with choosing which Zelda game is my true favorite, as all of them are pretty great. Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time and Link to The Past are among my favorites, each one of them could be my all time favorite depending on what kind of mood I am in.
Zelda games offer a unique blend of adventuring, puzzle solving and combat with unique weapons that scratches a gaming itch that no other series can. I get thrilled every time a new one is announced, even if the series has become a bit stale as of late. I am hoping that when Skyward Sword comes out later this year it wows us with its originality and fresh take on the beloved franchise. Is Nintendo going to put out a special collection for Zelda like they did with Mario for his 25th birthday? We already have two Zelda games coming out this year, the Ocarina of Time remake for the 3DS and Skyward Sword for Wii, will gamers actually be able to handle more Zelda than that? I know I will. I have been wanting to get this off of my chest for awhile- achievements and trophies are completely worthless. They oftentimes reward gamers for completing entirely mundane things like finishing tutorials or simply beating a game. Instead of buying or playing games based on what you like, we now have people trying to measure themselves online with achievement points earned by playing games that no one in their right mind would play.
I write this now, years after the implementation of achievements and trophies because some people are acting like it's a problem that the 3DS doesn't have a standardized achievement system in place. Read More Nintendo Wii now accounts for 25.4% of Portugal's gaming hardware market after moving 375.000 units last year in Portugal for a YOY growth of 52.2%. Why is this important you may ask? These numbers look like a single month's NPD in the U.S., but this is big news because Portugal was one of the last countries in the world where Sony held the lead in console sales. Sony once had a 90% market share in Portugal, making this market shift quite remarkable. Sony's PS3 consists of 24.3% of Portugal's gaming market and sold 359.000 units last year for a YOY growth of 11%. The Xbox 360 also saw nice growth last year due to the popularity of Kinect with a 43% increase, but the system still remains in a distant third.
Source: i Software
01. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, WII, NDS, PC) Activision Blizzard 02. Just Dance 2 (WII) Ubisoft 03. Dead Space 2 (360, PS3, PC) Electronic Arts 04. Little Big Planet 2 (PS3) Sony 05. Zumba Fitness: Join the Party (WII, 360, PS3) Majesco 06. NBA 2K11 (360, PS3, PSP, WII, PS2, PC) Take 2 Interactive 07. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (360, PS3) Ubisoft 08. Dance Central (360) MTV Games 09. Michael Jackson The Experience (WII, DS, PSP) Ubisoft 10. DC Universe Online: The Next Legend Is You* (PS3, PC) Sony Hardware Xbox 360 - 381,000 (+15%) Wii - 319,000 (-32%) PS3 - 267,000 (-3.6%) An astounding 4 out of the top ten selling games this month were dancing games. Just Dance 2 is still doing amazing, beating out Dead Space 2 despite the latter coming out on three different platforms. It is still nice to see Dead Space 2 chart, along with Little Big Planet 2. It's interesting to see Zumba Fitness: Join the Party chart seeing as how I hadn't heard anything good about it. Same with Michael Jackson: The Experience, you would have thought word would have gotten around about how bad it was by now. The truth is clear, America has a sickness and the only cure is more dancing. I'll post hardware numbers when I get them. Source: NPD The Custom Bar Guys are now offering the Gamerator, an extreme mash-up of a keg refrigerator and an arcade machine, on their website. The Gamerator comes with a built in tap and refrigerated interior for housing a standard keg of the player’s favorite beer. It features two convenient cup holders and a 26" flat-panel HDTV. All Gamerator units come standard with dual joystick setups and a trackball, allowing for old school arcade action. Any video game system can be hooked up to the Gamerator via optional special adapters. It also comes with over 85 licensed classic arcade titles pre-installed on the Windows-based PC inside each unit including classics like Castlevania, Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition, and Gauntlet. Gamerator owners are able to add other games, programs and online access to suit whatever their gaming needs may be. All of this will only set you back $3,499, with additional charges if you would like a different color scheme than the standard black and brushed metal. A bit too pricey for me, but looks like a perfect fit for any man cave. Valve is sorry for its past transgressions against the PS3, like an outsourced Orange Box and complete lack of Left4Dead, and intends to make up for it by making the PS3 version of Portal 2 completely awesome. Not only will the game come with a free code for the PC version of Portal 2 and cloud saving, but it will also offer Playstation Move controls. I haven't used the peripheral for pointer controls myself but I hear they are as accurate as Wii pointer controls, which makes this quite an excellent proposition. If you own a PS3 this is definitely the version of Portal 2 you want to get.
Update: Valve has now stated that their employee was mistranslated, the game will not support Playstation Move |