q2 2011
Latest
Rio tie-in game out tomorrow, sans Angry Birds
THQ announced a Rio movie tie-in game today, and it'll be available ... tomorrow. The minigame collection "inspired" by the upcoming animated movie will be available for all current home consoles and DS. The title will be budget-priced at $29.99 on all platforms. The console versions support up to four players who can compete in over 40 minigames, with "three additional exclusive" games in the Xbox version. The DS version is a rhythm game with 20 levels featuring Latin and hip-hop beats, and also includes four non-rhythm minigames. For a minigame Rio experience that'll cost a lot less, the Angry Birds phenomenon has made a Rio version available on the Mac and iOS App Stores for $5 and $1, respectively, as well as on the Amazon Appstore for Android.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 'Escalation' DLC drops on Xbox 360 May 3
Remember that retailer leak a week ago that thoroughly detailed an upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops DLC pack called "Escalation?" Turns out that was totally spot-on -- surprise! -- and Black Ops multiplayer will be escalating on May 3 with the injection of five new maps: Convoy, Zoo, Stockpile, Hotel, and an unnamed Zombies mode map. Still unknown about the just revealed pack? The price, though we imagine it'll mirror past Call of Duty DLC packs at a cool $15. Either way, we'll find out soon enough, as the pack drops in just three short weeks for Xbox 360 players and on PS3 and PC at some point after, per Microsoft's exclusivity agreement.
DSiWare animation program 'Inchworm' races toward April 25 release
Remember Inchworm? Chances are, unless you've been employed as a DS blogger for the last three years, you don't. Inchworm Animation is a DS animation program by Bob Sabiston's Flat Black Films, the company responsible for the rotoscoped animation in Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly. It was shown off at GDC in 2008, and then it disappeared for a while, before being announced as a DSiWare application last year. And now, finally, the drawing and animation app has a real release date. "Great news!," the developer announced on the website. "Inchworm Animation has been approved! It will be released as DSiWare for 500 Nintendo points on April 25, 2011." To see what kind of art you can make with that five-dollar outlay (if you are also a professional animator) check out the gallery, and watch a new trailer after the break.
Get fighting fit with UFC Personal Trainer in June
Ready to get your Affliction t-shirt all sweaty? THQ has announced a June launch for UFC Personal Trainer, allowing you to spend your summer pantomiming mixed martial arts in front of your Wii, PS3, or Xbox 360. It's got the talent to be a credible training game: it's designed by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, THQ says, and received input from three MMA trainers who have worked with top UFC fighters. THQ was quiet about the features in the PlayStation Move or Wii versions in the press release, but the Kinect version will feature "content exclusive to Kinect for Xbox 360, voice command navigation and a full-body tracking system."%Gallery-120595%
Otomedius Excellent dated for Japan ... again
Otomedius Excellent might as well have been titled "Game for Japan Only," being a shmup starring anime girls wearing spaceship parts, but for some reason Konami has announced plans to localize the Xbox 360 oddity anyway. It was set to come out last winter, but a delay in Japan pushed it to spring. A new trailer, after the break, shows an April 21 release date for that region; the new American date is currently unannounced. Other things featured in the trailer include every anime stereotype of the last 10 years, and just enough jiggling that we feel ashamed for posting it.
You can give Sega's free-to-play Spiral Knights a spin now
Spiral Knights, the new free-to-play multiplayer action-adventure from Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates developer Three Rings Design, is now up and running. If you're ready to jump into some dungeons with friends, you can find the game here; if you're only prepared to watch a video, that's after the break.
Final Fantasy V on Japanese PSN this week, also coming to Europe
PSN will see a re-release of a re-release of Final Fantasy V in Japan this week. Square Enix's Shinji Hashimoto announced the PSOne Classics release -- compatible with PS3 and PSP -- of the PlayStation port of the Super Famicom RPG a couple of months ago, and revealed the April 6 release date today on Twitter. Square Enix Members then confirmed that the downloadable RPG will be released in Europe as well, though the release date for Europe's battle against Exdeath is much less definite. "We'll be announcing the release date closer to the time, but we thought you might like to know that the game is currently being arranged for a release."
Magicka: Vietnam is seriously coming out April 12
Okay, we're starting to believe that Paradox Interactive and Arrowhead Game Studios' upcoming expansion to their successful, arcane action-RPG, Magicka: Vietnam, is not the most elaborate hoax ever pulled on the gaming industry. See, we were operating under that assumption, but earlier today the creators revealed 10 screenshots for the add-on, and gave it some formal release details: It's coming to "all major digital distribution channels" April 12 for $4.99. We're excited to check out this bizarre-sounding addition to Magicka -- especially after perusing the gallery below -- but we're going to temper our excitement for another 36 hours or so. Tomorrow would be an awfully appropriate day for the developers to reveal that we all done got goofed.%Gallery-120101%
BloodRayne: Betrayal this summer on XBLA and PSN, courtesy of WayForward
Everyone's favorite (by default) redheaded, Nazi-fighting half-vampire is rising once again, this time with the help of an unlikely ally. Majesco is bringing back its pre-Cooking Mama, pre-casual property Bloodrayne in BloodRayne: Betrayal. The new game is the work of WayForward Technologies, a developer best known for games like A Boy and His Blob, Contra 4, and Shantae, and not really for grimdark games. It's also the developer's first Xbox 360 and PS3 project, due for XBLA and PSN this summer. Betrayal is a 2D side-scroller with "new characters, gruesome environmental puzzles and a full arsenal of lethal weapons including Rayne's signature arm blades" -- and, of course, a "deadly dose of bloodshed."
Duke Nukem: Critical Mass for DS is apparently still happening
You may remember Duke Nukem Trilogy as a trailer and nothing else, but allow us to refresh your memory about this particular illusory Duke Nukem game: it was a set of three Duke adventures announced by Deep Silver and Apogee for PSP and DS. But then the games lost their Duke license ... or something, and the first one, Duke Nukem: Critical Mass, was being developed as "Extraction Point: Alien Shootout." And now it's back as Duke Nukem: Critical Mass, and coming out in Europe on April 8. Publisher Deep Silver tells Joystiq that it is still slated for release in North America, with a release window around May. In addition, Apogee tweeted that "The Duke Nukem License was never yanked. Apogee owns the agreement for the license, not some third party work for hire developer." Faced with that curveball, we've asked Apogee and Deep Silver exactly what happened, and exactly what is happening. All we can say -- and this is advice that's backed up by recent events -- is don't trust anything Duke-related until you see a game in a store.
Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D dated in Japan
Along with the announcement of Resident Evil: Revival Selection, the latest Famitsu reportedly has some smaller-scale Resident Evil news as well. According to leaks from the magazine, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D will be released in Japan on June 2. The Famitsu article also introduces Albert Wesker and Jill Valentine as playable characters, with Jill as a more "balanced" character, and Wesker more skilled with heavy weapons. The last we'd heard about any release date was Capcom's announcement during the January 19 3DS event of a "summer" release in North America. If it's hitting Japan in June, it seems to be on track to make that summer date here.
Trine 2 delayed to 'late summer,' this trailer is here to help
The original Trine suffered delays on PSN and worse on Xbox 360, and it looks like Trine 2 is continuing this unfortunate tradition, though on a smaller scale. Originally announced for release this spring, Trine 2 has been bumped to "late summer," according to a press release by publisher Atlus. In order to help us remain calm, and keep our Trine PTSD in check, Atlus sent out a new trailer. Look, it's still happening! Atlus still says it's coming out on PC, PS3, and Xbox. It's going to be okay.
Beyond Good & Evil HD arrives on PSN this May
After getting the special House Party promotion treatment on XBLA, Ubisoft is taking a Pey'j from Microsoft's book and working with Sony to promote the forthcoming release of Beyond Good & Evil HD on PSN. In addition to the game itself, all PSN members "who pick up the game within the first two weeks" will snag two free avatars (of Jade or Pey'j, seen above) for their PSN cards. Of course, knowing when those two weeks will be, exactly, could be an issue -- Ubisoft has only given the game a "May" launch window. We'll let you know if we hear something more specific, but for now there's a new trailer embedded after the break.
Bastion's story narrated on XBLA this summer
Bastion, Supergiant Games' beautifully hand-painted isometric action-RPG, is coming to Xbox Live Arcade this summer, thanks to a publishing partnership with Warner Bros. Interactive. It'll also be on PC "later this year." Bastion follows "The Kid," who travels through a destroyed world whose paths are constantly rebuilt around him, as he attempts to reach and give power to "The Bastion," a location that will somehow restore the world. Along the way, a voiced narrator tells the story of exactly what is happening on screen.
Dungeon Hunter: Alliance hacks and slashes onto PSN this April
In Gameloft's long-running series of ... borrowed game archetypes, we've yet to see a console dungeon crawler from the company. With Dungeon Hunter: Alliance, however, the French developer is setting its torch to "light" and confronting the diablos of the darkness head on. The neverending search for loot begins this April on PSN, and features both online and offline co-op play -- Gameloft promises "30 levels with an immense world of dungeons, villages and forests to explore." Perhaps "Dungeon/Village/Forest Hunter: Alliance" would've been a more apt title. It's also got a certain je ne sais quoi to it, no? That one's free, Gameloft. The next one'll cost ya.
The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile bites into XBLA on April 6 for $10
James Silva has finally dated his sequel to The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai and it's coming just in time for Easter. On April 6, The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile will debut on Xbox Live Arcade for 800 MS Points ($10), complete with 3D functionality. Sorry, dish soap not included. PAX East attendees will be the first to sample the final build of the game, which Ska Studios will have available at its booth. A few of the luckier attendees will even be able to snag some preliminary download codes. %Gallery-86333%
Red Faction's Battlegrounds open up in Europe this April
THQ's downloadable game about Mars cars, Red Faction: Battlegrounds, will launch in Europe in the first week of April, according to a statement from THQ to Eurogamer. No North American date has been announced, but the overwhelming majority of PSN and XBLA releases arrive here the same week as they do in Europe. It's therefore safe to assume you'll be blasting the surface of Mars in walking mechs, rovers and other vehicles for a good month and a half before Armageddon hits. We're checking with THQ ourselves to make sure.
EDF Insect Armageddon preview: Bug spray
It's natural to worry about the new Earth Defense Force game, Insect Armageddon. D3 has taken the series away from developer Sandlot and handed it to a Western team, its own Vicious Cycle, best known for the Matt Hazard series. However -- and this works out in the new game's favor -- the EDF games were never technically good to start with. So if Vicious Cycle designed it too well, it would feel inauthentic. So far, it seems that the team has been good to the source material, making worthwhile changes and keeping what works, all in an engine that can actually keep up.%Gallery-118492%
PSN-exclusive 'Amy' inbound from Flashback creator
You may know French game designer Paul Cuisset from what is widely considered his masterwork, Flashback, an adventure game released by Delphine Software in 1992. You might also know him from his work on what is widely considered to be a really bad game ... Shaq Fu. Cuisset is no doubt hoping that his latest project, a PSN-exclusive action game called Amy, has little in common with the latter. In development at VectorCell, a sub-division of Flash and mobile game company Lexis Numérique, the planned Q2 2011 title, as described by UK site Electronic Theatre, stars a female protagonist named Lana (not Amy -- twist!), who, along with a young girl named Amy (ah, there we go), must escape from the fictional Silver City. The town's been struck by a meteorite and has, as a result, become overrun by mutated humans -- and the special forces battling them. The synopsis sounds like the makings of a survival-horror game, but no actual gameplay specifics have been detailed. Still, we're intrigued to see what Cuisset can do with what could easily be just another zombie game concept. [Image source: Electronic Theatre]
Virtua Tennis 4 lobbed to retail May 10
Sega is sending Virtua Tennis 4 for PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii over the net May 10. Now if don't know the release date, it's your own fault. (And with that, we're out of tennis jokes.)
