Trials Evolution teaser gives brief glimpse of
whats to come

post from Gaming Nexus on 07 February 2012 11:42:00 AM. © Gaming Nexus

by: Jeremy Duff
NEWS - Red Lynx doesn’t deny the fact that they had a hit on their hands with the XBLA version of Trials HD; surely the developers behind a title that racked up more the 2 million in sales has big plans for the sequel. Right? You bet they do!

Red Lynx is finally beginning to open up about their upcoming Trials Evolution after announcing the title at last year’s E3. The game is due out sometime this Spring on the Xbox Live Arcade courtesy of Ubisoft and a new trailer has surfaced which gives us our first glimpses of the new game. This may start off similar to the teaser trailer we saw for the game previously, but if you wait until the end you will get a few shots of what you can expect in the new game? Is that multiplayer races I see?!?!

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Skullgirls story mode featured in new trailer

post from Gaming Nexus on 07 February 2012 11:30:00 AM. © Gaming Nexus

by: Travis Huinker
NEWS - The quirky and beautifully rendered 2D fighting game Skullgirls has received a trailer that gives a glimpse of the story mode and its fierce playable characters. Throughout the course of the story, gamers will be introduced to a large cast of characters over 200 pieces of unique art and music. The story mode is described as including "what if" scenarios that take place across multiple timelines. In addition to the story mode, gamers can try their skill in the arcade mode that includes tutorials, practice room, ranked and unranked online play, and a custom soundtrack.

Skullgirls is scheduled for release in early 2012 for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

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Pixeljunk Eden Review (PC)

post from Gamezebo: Casual Game Reviews, Previews, Cheats, Tips, Forums, Free Games, and More on 07 February 2012 11:17:02 AM. © Gamezebo: Casual Game Reviews, Previews, Cheats, Tips, Forums, Free Games, and More

Gamezebo Rating: 100

Q-Games has been on a weird tangent lately. In the beginning, they made and released their Pixeljunk brand of games only on the Playstation Network for the PS3 and PSP. They enjoyed a decent amount of success that way, developing a reputation as a developer of niche, daring and interesting games. Since then they've branched out, announcing a version of Pixeljunk Monsters for Facebook of all places, and have followed that up by porting what some consider to be their best game, Pixeljunk Eden, to the PC.

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Lollipop Chainsaw will be censored in Japan

post from Destructoid on 07 February 2012 11:03:46 AM. © Destructoid

Lollipop Chainsaw will be censored in Japan screenshot

Apparently Lollipop Chainsaw is getting the censorship treatment in Japan...unless you're willing to buy the premium version of the game.

Two different versions of Suda 51's latest will be released in order to tone down the game's violence and gore -- a CERO D (17 and up) and a CERO Z (18 and up/Adult) version. In Japan, CERO Z (Adult) games are placed in an entirely different section and have many more purchasing restrictions. If you're more interested on the CERO system, IGN has a neat little page dedicated to it.

While censorship is never a good thing, there is one good bit of advice out this report, however. It is said that the Japanese version of the game contains both English and Japanese vocal options. For those who are interested, I can't see them taking it out of the localized edition, since the ability for both languages is already there.

Lollipop Chainsaw Is Censored In Japan… Unless You Buy The Premium Edition [Siliconera]

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Trailers: Shoot Many Robots - Meet the Enemies

post from The Escapist : Latest News on 07 February 2012 11:00:00 AM. © The Escapist : Latest News

Take a look at some of the mechanical monstrosities you'll face in Shoot Many Robots.

View Video

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the-Enemies?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=news

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Crusader Kings II pre-order details and demo

post from Gaming Nexus on 07 February 2012 11:00:00 AM. © Gaming Nexus

by: Travis Huinker
NEWS - Paradox Interactive have announced pre-order bonuses for the upcoming strategy title Crusader Kings II, along with the release of a demo that allows for gameplay with 4 different characters over 20 years of history. The pre-order bonuses consist of two additional DLC packs that add a variety of new content to the game:

Crusader Kings II Mongol Families DLC - The Mongol Families DLC contains thousands of unique face combinations for male and female characters of the Mongol cultures. It also contains seven new unit sprites for Archers, Horse Archers, Heavy Infantry, Pikemen, Light Infantry, Light Cavalry and Heavy Cavalry.
Crusader Kings II Dynasty Shield DLC - Containing 50 unique dynastic shields for the 50 most famous families of Medieval Europe

Gamers can find the single-player demo on the official website as well as pre-order options. Crusader Kings II will be available on February 14 for Windows PC.

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Kingdoms of Amalur is ready to test the threads
of fate

post from Gaming Nexus on 07 February 2012 10:31:00 AM. © Gaming Nexus

by: Jeremy Duff
NEWS - Today is the day! 38 Studios highly anticipated action-RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is now available on the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. Fans of both the RPG and action genres are in for a treat as you will find out by either playing the game or checking out our full review.

EA and 38 Studios have also released a new trailer to celebrate the launch of the game which gives you an idea of just how much effect you can have on your own destiny in the world of Amalur! Check it out:

Click here to view the rest of the content.

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ds-of-fate/Item25505.aspx

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Notch wants to make Psychonauts 2 a reality

post from Gaming Nexus on 07 February 2012 10:09:00 AM. © Gaming Nexus

by: Jeremy Duff
NEWS - Psychonauts 2. Does the thought of that very game make you excited? The chances are that is does; fans have been begging Tim Schafer and Double Fine to craft a sequel to the classic Xbox game Psychonauts. Tim hasn’t been shy about the fact that he would love to do it, but the fact of the matter is that Double Fine just doesn’t have the funding for the project. Perhaps that is about to change...

Minecraft creator and self-made millionaire Markus “Notch” Persson has taken his desire to see the game public, and directly to Schafer himself. In a recent Tweet directed to Tim Schafer, Notch came straight out and said

“Let's make Psychonauts 2 happen.”

Persson definitely has the bank to fund such a project, and I don’t think anyone would complain about seeing two great gaming minds such as Notch and Schafer teaming up. What do you think? Do you think that this offer will go any place or is this just the case of a famous fan of the series going public with his own wishful thinking? Let us know in the comment section below.

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Twisted Metal dev hit with layoffs, David Jaffe
leaving

Twisted Metal dev hit with layoffs, David Jaffe leaving screenshot

Eat Sleep Play is the latest studio to be hit by the, "develop big game, kill off a bunch of jobs" phenomenon. The Twisted Metal developer has lost eight employees to continue with a staff of 26, and it would appear that even the infamous David Jaffe is leaving.

The studio will be sticking to iPad and iPhone games in the future, with co-founder Scott Campbell calling the move "pretty exciting" and looking forward to "reaching a lot more people." Even so, it looks like a step down for a team that's got a major PS3 exclusive on the horizon.

As for Jaffe? There's talk of him going into the casual games market, but he has said on Twitter that such rumors are "highly exaggerated" and they won't be casual games "as you know them." He has, so far, said nothing else beyond that.

Whatever happens, there's something fundamentally wrong with this industry where things like this happen so regularly.

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Review: The Darkness II

Review: The Darkness II screenshot

The Darkness was a rather solid first-person shooter and a good example of a license being properly handled. Developed by Starbreeze Studios, it featured some bold gameplay choices that didn't always pan out but managed a solid game worthy of a sequel.

Picking up two years after the events of that game, Jackie Estacado has become the de facto organized crime leader of New York, and his time since has been spent keeping The Darkness subdued. Now, a new enemy has targeted Jackie and plans to take his gift to use as a weapon of mass destruction. In order to save himself and his family, Estacado must again unleash The Darkness and cut a bloody path through the city.

The Darkness II (PC, PS3, Xbox 360 [reviewed])
Developer: Digital Extremes
Publisher: 2K Games
Released: February 7, 2012
MSRP: $59.99

This is a case of an unremarkable story being handled remarkably well. The surface-level plot line in which Jackie fights against this new enemy doesn't keep its secrets long and quickly becomes little more than one bloody conflict after another. Meanwhile, a second story thread slowly develops which changes Jackie's goals dramatically in the game's final act towards a rather predictable conclusion.

Were that all The Darkness II had going for it, things would be dire. But the presentation is more than up to the task of keeping things interesting. Pacing is very deliberate in attempting to keep the player on their toes. While some developers are content to throw in a scripted explosion sequence or two as a mid-level surprise, Digital Extremes will completely change the emotional tone on a dime, nail it and then throw the player right back into the fray when they're done. Little touches here and there plant seeds to reward observant players and demonstrate that there are greater aspirations than the standard licensed game.

Effective use of cel-shading gives a feel evocative of the comic books from which these games originate and makes it surprisingly easy to get sucked in. The effect does wonders to keep a game all about being in the dark remain vibrant and lends itself well in a practical sense to the gameplay as everything is easily distinguishable. It also sounds quite nice. In combat, guns are noisy, screams are bloodcurdling and Mike Patton feels bigger than life as the voice of The Darkness. Voice acting overall is stellar and while the plot may not be particularly original, the dialogue is pretty good and made all the better by some top-notch performances.

It's a fairly short solo campaign, clocking in at around six hours, and fun from beginning to end with a very strong emphasis on killing people. Even at the outset controlling Jackie feels like a bit of a power trip with his tentacles in play. Mapped to the bumpers, the right tentacle bashes either vertically or horizontally while the left allows Jackie to grab objects or enemies and throw them. In concert with firearms in his hands, he's lethal at any range. Killing enemies and eating their hearts gives Jackie dark essence which may be spent on new and improved abilities with bonus essence awarded for more violent kills.

These abilities are both fun and useful. Grabs can become executions and reward a kill with health, ammo or even a shield made of pure dark essence (as well as some stomach-churning animations). Gun channeling buffs your guns with more damage, infinite ammo and rapid-fire for a few seconds and can eventually do the aiming for you. The bashing tentacle can fling enemies or sprout blades for a big damage boost.

When upgrading, abilities are organized in a wheel with each quarter having its own skill tree relating to different types of powers. A steady flow of dark essence ensures upgrades are always there for the taking, but the game's length is such that it would be quite challenging to unlock much more than two trees to the point at which their more valuable powers become available, providing replay value in attempting different configurations of powers or achieving Jackie's full potential in the "New Game +" mode.

Also supplementing the solo campaign is the multiplayer "Vendettas" mode. Playable with up to four people (or solo, if you like), each controls one of Jackie's four supernatural enforcers. These characters are each centered around one of Jackie's Darkness powers which they can use as well as support abilities that contribute to the team. Like Jackie, they collect dark essence from kills and spend it upgrading their own unique ability wheels. Unlike Jackie, they aren't a whole hell of a lot of fun to play. With only one real power at their disposal each, the lack of variety makes the combat significantly less interesting.

At around two hours, the Vendettas campaign is worth playing through, offering a different set of missions which run concurrent to Jackie's story and add some additional flavor, but could easily be dismissed. Greater challenges can be found in The Hit List missions, arena-style boss fights where the odds are much less in your favor. These are really difficult, to the point where it feels necessary to have more people helping to keep some of the heat off (or, you know, just Jackie).

The Darkness II succeeds far more than it fails. The single-player experience features some genuine emotion in its narrative, something games which don't feature skull-extricating tentacles rarely manage to accomplish. And while the Vendettas cooperative multiplayer content feels lackluster by comparison, it's not bad either and serves to pad out this short but otherwise delightful game.