Archive for the ‘Video Games’ Category

Over the weekend, producer and director Naoki Yoshida announced at the Nico Chokaigi 2 event in Tokyo that Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn will be launching this summer on the PC and PlayStation 3.

The relaunched and revamped MMORPG is set in the land of Eorzea, where you can explore alone or with friends to undertake epic quests and battle familiar Final Fantasy monsters. And that’s whether you have a PC or PS3, because the game supports cross-platform play. FF XIV: A Realm Reborn is scheduled to enter the third phase of closed beta testing in June. Beta Phase Three will introduce PS3 gamers to the game where they can join the PC adventurers. If you’re interested in becoming a beta tester, you can click here to apply. If you’re selected, you’ll also get a bunch of new content, including new city states like Ul’dah and Limsa Lominsa.

Are you excited to play Diablo III on your PlayStation 3? Well, select retailers are now accepting pre-orders for the game, which is set to release later this year. (They still haven’t settled on an exact date, so maybe don’t start clearing your calendar just yet since you won’t know which month to work on first…)

“We’ve poured blood, sweat, and hellfire into creating an epic Diablo III experience for PlayStation gamers,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “In addition to including all the improvements from the PC version over the past year, we’ve made several updates to Diablo III for play on the PS3. We got a ton of positive feedback from players who tried the game at PAX East, and we can’t wait to get it into everyone’s hands later this year.”

The PS3 version of Diablo III features an all-new user interface with a new control system and a different camera perspective. Different retailers will be offering their own pre-order bonuses (GameStop is offering a double-sided poster) but every pre-order will include an exclusive in-game item: The Infernal Helm. This gives an experience point boost when you’re wearing it so you can level up faster. It’s not great, but I guess if you’re psyched for this, pre-ordering it will have you leveling up faster than your friends, so there’s that!

Such a tease! Regular readers might already be aware of my affinity for the LEGO games, but for those who aren’t — I can’t get enough of ‘em! I collect ‘em like those tiny little LEGO studs in the games! Traveler’s Tales is hard at work on LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, and this teaser trailer gives just the tiniest hint of what fun to expect when it finally releases this fall on basically every single system known to man. Well, except iOS and Android, but seeing as how they recently released LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes on iOS, I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if the Marvel heroes made the same jump at some point in the future.

Also, if you pre-order the game, you’ll get some goodies, depending on where you do it. Over at Walmart, you’ll get an exclusive Iron Patriot mini-figurine, at GameStop, you’ll get a Spidey keychain (Power Up Rewards members will also get a free DLC pack (PS3/Xbox 360 versions only)) and pre-ordering through Amazon will get you $10 credit to your Amazon account. Personally, I’d pass up the toys for $10 off the game! But you can check the pictures below and make up your own mind…

With the Eurovision Song Contest coming up (Seriously, why doesn’t BBC America run it in the US? There are a lot of people — like me — who would love to watch it!), this SingStore Update offers this year’s entry for Norway, “I Feed You My Love.” I have to admit that I completely fell in love with Alexander Rybak’s ” Fairytale” which won Eurovision in 2009, so I totally downloaded that one. But I don’t know this one. (Watched it on YouTube, though, and it wasn’t bad.) I’m more interested in the old-school R&B! Here’s the SingStar DLC this week:

“I Feed You My Love” by Margaret Berger
“New Age” by Marion Roudette
“Nina de papa” by Pereza
“Love Machine” by The Miracles
“The Great Pretender” by The Platters

I know that I’m going to absolutely suck at it, but damned if I’m not totally going to download “Love Machine” and give it a go (while dancing around like an idiot, no doubt)!

Last week we were all gagging over the news of RuPaul’s Drag Race: Dragopolis for iOS. This collaboration from So Much Drama Studios, World of Wonder, Logo, and RuPaul is ready to hit the catwalk just in time for the season five finale. And now we have a trailer showing off the game’s sickening action.

I demand that every game feature an Eleganza! option in the character customization menu. BioWare, you better sissy that walk. But until Command Her Shep Hard can become a reality, RuPaul’s Drag Race: Dragopolis will rule the roost as gaming’s best squirrelfriend.

Check out my post from last week with all the details of the game, and don’t miss this bad girl when it drops Monday May 6th on iTunes. (And don’t fret anti-i-people, the Android version is on its way)

I’m going to need Nintendo to stop releasing these trailers for Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and just release the dang game already! Because I can’t resist spoiling myself by watching the videos, and it just makes the wait for June 9 so much harder! This most recent trailer focuses on the stores that you’ll find in the shopping district. I have to say that Leif, the mole who runs the garden shop is absolutely adorable and in the running for my new favorite character. And K.K. Slider’s nightspot Club lol is absolutely hilarious. I absolutely cannot wait to have my friends over for some big gay dance parties in that place! Of course, at the end, you’ll notice that the scenes of the storefronts shift from empty to finished, so it makes me wonder just how long we’ll have to wait before we get all of the shops open for business.

Although that wait can’t be nearly as bad as the wait we’ve endured for New Leaf itself!

When it comes to fighting piracy, there are a few approaches one can take. If you’re the RIAA, you can make examples of people by threatening to sue them into poverty. If you’re looking for something absolutely foolproof, you can try this newfangled “always-online” business. Yet there is a third way: one that brings the promise of aversion with a few dollups of prankishness: releasing a “pirated” version of one’s game that has been deliberately sabotaged. Such was the route taken by Greenheart Games, developer of Game Dev Tycoon.

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