q3 2011
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Dream Trigger 3D becomes a reality May 10
D3 Publisher revealed today that its startlingly difficult 3DS shooter Dream Trigger 3D now has an official release date: May 10. Mercifully, the publisher also provided two gameplay videos, which will help you figure out what's going on.
Disgaea 4 coming in September, dood
This fall, you can look forward to massive level numbers and dead souls turned into explosive penguins. That's right, Disgaea's coming back. NIS America announced that it's strategically launching Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten on PS3 this September. It's coming to Europe, too, with a less clearly-defined "fall" release window. In addition to localizing the netherworld strategy game itself, NIS is also importing the naming contest used to market the Japanese release of the game. The "Come up with Dis-name-a" contest seeks new names for a sword, a skill and "a scantily-clad NPC." To see the objects in need of names, and hopefully to find inspiration, check them out here.
Captain America: Super Soldier taking aim at July release date
With the Captain America film hitting theaters on July 22, it makes a lot of sense that the game will arrive around the same time -- July 19, actually, as revealed this morning by Sega. Alongside the new release date, Sega handed over several new screens of the Captain in action on Xbox 360/PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, and Wii. There's also the totally sweet shot of Cap hanging out in an airplane -- straight chillin' -- as seen above. You just know that any second he's gonna totally flip out. Aaaaany second now ...%Gallery-119407%
Catherine confirmed for North America, coming this summer
Your dreams have come true! Atlus has confirmed plans to bring Catherine (and Katherine), "the HD adult horror title from the makers of Persona," to North America. The game's official site pegs the release for "Summer 2011" (but a link to Amazon therein offers a more precise target: July 26). Just like the Japanese release, the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions will feature different box babes, as seen above.
Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon ready to bug you July 5
If Earth's bugs seem a little more skittish than normal, it's with good reason: They finally know exactly how many days they have left. According to the game's official Facebook page, Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon will ravage our six-legged friends on July 5. The page also says that the game will be on hand at PAX East next month, so you can get a sneak peek at a world without bugs. Now, as to how we'll go about pollenating plants, procuring silk and honey and helping dead matter decompose after July 5, the official site makes no mention. Honestly, where's the accountability?
Gears of War 3 emerges on September 20
Start saving your cash and begin building up your mental tolerance for gore. Microsoft just announced that Gears of War 3 will be released worldwide on September 20. If your calendar isn't at hand, don't worry about marking the date -- we're quite certain Microsoft will spend more than the GDP of some countries on Gears advertising. Later this summer, you won't be able to not see the Gears of War 3 date. In the meantime there's Bulletstorm, which serves both as a way to build up that mental tolerance and as a delivery system for the upcoming Gears 3 beta.
Australia sees 3DS release on March 31
Nintendo detailed its plans for the Australian launch of the 3DS today at an event in Sydney. The device will be available March 31, just four days after the North American release date, at a price of AU$349.95 (around US$354). It'll be available in Aqua Blue and Cosmo Black, the same two colors available everywhere else. Strangely, the Australian 3DS won't have StreetPass (which allows 3DS systems to wirelessly communicate with one another) or SpotPass (through which the 3DS seeks available wireless signals for automatic downloads of content) when the device is first available. Those will be released as an update late this year or in early 2012.
Battlefield 3 targeting Fall 2011, teaser trailer out now
EA has launched the official website for Battlefield 3, revealing a Fall 2011 launch window for the DICE-developed warfare fest. The game utilizes the Frostbite 2 engine, which delivers "earth-shattering destruction" and compels official product descriptions to insert phrases like "real as hell combat gameplay" and "dramatic immersive First Person Shooter experience." To catch an early glimpse of those dramatic immersive things, you'll have to watch the game's all-too-brief teaser after the break. (Does anyone else hear a garbled Terminator theme in there?) Update: The Battlefield Blog has updated with a few more details. In addition to the "signature multiplayer," Battlefield 3 offers both single-player and co-op campaigns, a prone stance, 64-player multiplayer in the PC version and -- as seen in the trailer -- wonderful, shrieking jets.
UFC Trainer grappling with delays, launching in June
According to THQ's Fiscal 2011 third quarter report, the forthcoming motion-centric title UFC Personal Trainer has been moved out of the company's "March quarter" launch window and "into fiscal 2012" (starting April 1, 2011). A press release noted that the company's new financial projections, as mentioned in the report, are a reflection of "the move of UFC Personal Trainer into fiscal 2012." During a financial call directly after the release, company prez and CEO Brian Farrell pins the game for a June release. Plenty of time to build that octagon in your living room!
Iwata: Zelda Skyward Sword expected to launch after Ocarina of Time 3D
It seems that the hero of Hyrule will remain bound to Nintendo's forthcoming 3D handheld in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time before turning his sword skyward at some point after, the company's third quarter financial report indicates. "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has been in the process of being remade for Nintendo 3DS, and this Nintendo 3DS version is expected to hit the market earlier [than Skyward Sword]," Nintendo head Satoru Iwata states in the piece. Though Skyward Sword apparently won't launch until sometime after OoT (which is expected sometime after June's E3, outside of Nintendo's "launch window"), the report also reveals that Miyamoto's team is currently "entering into the final completion stage" of the Wii title. That being the case, we'll expect a much more impressive demonstration of the game at Nintendo's E3 presser later this year.
Platinum's 'Max Anarchy' coming to the west as 'Anarchy Reigns' this fall
Platinum Games' new multiplayer online brawling game, announced in Japan as "Max Anarchy," won't have as punchy a name when it hits North America and Europe, but at least it'll have the same punchy ... punches. Today, Sega announced that the game is being released this fall as Anarchy Reigns, on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Anarchy Reigns "challenges the boundaries of the conventional brawler genre" with its simultaneous online multiplayer, Sega says. The announcement reveals that several different multiplayer modes will be available, including tag team and "Battle Royal, where players can challenge others in a full-on fight for victory." So it's violence as sport? Sounds a lot like MadWorld -- whose main character, coincidentally, appears in this game.%Gallery-115237%
Catch the prison bus to Silent Hill: Downpour this fall
Konami officially unveiled Silent Hill: Downpour this morning (leaving, of course, the veil of fog around the town), announcing a fall European release for Vatra Games' exploration of our favorite psychological punishment destination, and sending out a bunch of new screenshots. We're no longer limited to looking at a guy looking at a truck! In addition to giving us a good look at Murphy Pendleton, the poor sucker doomed to guide us around the new version of Silent Hill, these screenshots offer a glimpse at a few in-game locations: the diner, always a staple of Silent Hill, and the "Devil's Pit," some kind of mountainous area with a rickety-looking ropeway train between peaks. There's also some unidentifiable subterranean area that appears to be covered in rusty grates, in case you were concerned this wasn't actually a Silent Hill game.%Gallery-114964%
No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise slicin' fools on PS3 this fall
No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise was oddly placed (misplaced?) on a PlayStation 3 2011 "exclusives" list, and given a tentative release window by the US PlayStation blog: "fall 2011." Last we heard, the up-rezzed third-person brawler was heading to PlayStation 3s at some point in 2011, but now we know the game won't arrive until the back half of the year. "But why," you ask, "is a port of a 2007 Wii title taking so very long to bring to the PlayStation 3?" Besides making the graphics look much, much nicer, and adding Move support, a handful of No More Heroes 2 content will make its way into the PS3 re-release. We're also hoping that developer AQ Interactive is secretly working on more wacky TV shows for Travis Touchdown to flip through, but we're not holding our breath.
Retro City Rampage hits XBLA in summer 2011, WiiWare version delayed
If you were looking forward to buying Brian Provinciano's Retro City Rampage on WiiWare, we have some bad news: it's been delayed significantly. The WiiWare version of the satirical 8-bit sandbox game was originally targeted for the end of this year, but now won't arrive until fall 2011. But you'll be able to play it before then. Like Super Meat Boy before it, the announced WiiWare release of Retro City Rampage will be preceded by an XBLA version, which comes out in the summer. "In order to continue making these games and not have to start flipping burgers after Retro City Rampage is done," Provinciano told Destructoid, "it needed to be multi-platform." Provinciano is using the extra time to put additional content, including playable characters and missions, into both versions of the game.
RIM beats earnings estimates, falls just shy on subscriber growth; co-CEOs now co-chairmen, too
For now, RIM's looming mindshare problem is more theoretical than it is practical -- as far as Wall Street's concerned, at least -- on today's news that they've beaten the consensus estimates for fiscal Q3 revenue and income with $5.49 billion and $911.1 million, respectively. The company also shipped a record 14.2 million units in the three-month period, up a whopping 40 percent year-over-year, but subscriber additions fell a bit short -- 5.1 million versus the 5.2 million that analysts had counted on. Interestingly, RIM has elected not to report adds anymore, which means they're not offering guidance on adds for the next fiscal quarter, either -- which certainly doesn't seem like a good sign. Be that as it may, Waterloo's confidence in its long-running leaders seems stronger than ever before, because co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis have just been made co-chairmen of the board... presumably just so they can crack jokes about running "dual-core" board meetings. Anyhow, they're looking at revenue for the next quarter of $5.5 to $5.7 billion and earnings per share of $1.74 to $1.80, both of which outstrip estimates, on device sales of 14 million. Any PlayBooks in that figure, do you suppose?
Forza 4 announced with live-action trailer
Forza 4 was unveiled with a dramatic live-action trailer during tonight's Spike VGAs. The teaser gave an idea of what the game will include -- namely, simulation driving in really fast, expensive cars. Did you expect any less? See it for yourself after the break. Also, we're guessing that the Kinect functionality that we saw with Forza back at E3 could end up in this forthcoming title. Color us interested, just please, please don't make us pretend there's a steering wheel in our hands. Forza 4 arrives on Xbox 360 in Fall 2011.
Bring Okamiden home this March
Prospective pet owners: we're delighted to announce that you'll be able to adopt a beautiful baby wolf-god this March. Capcom will release Okamiden, the ever-adorable DS sequel to Clover Studio's Okami, on March 15 in North America and March 18 in Europe. In the US, pre-ordering Okamiden from GameStop will get you a paintbrush stylus and a screen cleaner with Okamiden artwork. While we think it's a missed opportunity to produce any Okamiden goods that aren't a) puppy-shaped and b) huggable, the stylus is pretty neat. We'll shake our heads while we pre-order. Capcom is also giving away prizes like Chibiterasu plushes, a 3DS and more, to people who play its Goblin Mask Facebook game, in which you doodle new faces on your photos.%Gallery-106472%
QuakeCon: Rage to be released Sept. 13, 2011 in the US, Sept. 15 in Europe
id Software just announced during a QuakeCon live presentation that Rage will be hitting store shelves on September 13, 2011 in the US and September 15, 2011 in Europe. Kotaku reports on the release date via its liveblog, highlighting one of the reasons the game still has another year of development time -- the Xbox 360 version crashed during the presentation. If you're really itching to jump into Rage's universe, the iPhone/iPad version of the game will launch sometime this year. That could help tide you over until the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC versions arrive next September.%Gallery-99359%
