Trailers: Tribes Ascend Announcement

After over five years, Tribes is back with jetpacks, skiing, and vehicles.

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Monday Night Combat PC gets Cardboard Tube
Samurai

Uber Entertainment is showing off new content -- a map dubbed Uncle Tully's Funland -- for the PC version of Monday Night Combat at PAX East (booth #560).

In anticipation of fresh meat getting into the team-based multiplayer game, Uber has introduced an All-Star rating system to help ease them into the fight with gear-laden veteran players. The update also brings new Outlander gear, taunts, and the Cardboard Tube Samurai (of Penny Arcade fame) outfit for the Assassin.

There's also balancing, bug fixes, and more, which you can read about in Uber's post here.

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Trailers: Star Wars: The Old Republic Fate of the
Galaxy Trailer

The Old Republic is in danger, and it's up to you to determine its fate.

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No Dragon Age 2 for Suspended BioWare Forumite -
UPDATED

A BioWare fan received a nasty surprise when he learned that his suspension from its forums means he can't install his newly-purchased copy of Dragon Age 2.

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Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes hits XBLA, PSN
in April

Well, my day has been made. A couple of weeks ago, I almost broke down and bought Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes for DS, thinking that Capybara's high-def version for PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade was stuck in development hell.

Not so! Joystiq reports that the studio has finalized mid-April as its release window. Incredibly reassuring news after such a long period of silence.

Between the slick hand-drawn art, rebalanced units, and online multiplayer, this is looking like an absolute must-buy. April 13 is my birthday, guys. You know what to do.

Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes on PSN, XBLA mid-April [Joystiq]

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Other Capcom Brands Could Get the Case Zero
Treatment, Says Exec

Capcom US vice president Christian Svensson says that it's "inevitable" that the publisher/developer will make more downloadable prequels in the future.

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Well, looks like we're getting Prey 2

by: John Yan
NEWS - Prey wasn't a bad game. Even though it didn't turn out the way it was originally intended, I did have fun with it. The portal technology was pretty cool for its time.  Well, Bethesda looks like it's working on a sequel.

NoFrag has a cover of Joystick magazine and on the cover is Prey 2. I kinda forgot about the series so I was surprised to see such an announcement. I wonder if it's going to use the Rage engine since it's now going to be from the folks at Bethesda and iD Software. 

Anyways, I'll be on the lookout for some news on this one.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.gamingnexus.com/FullNews/Well2c-looks-like-were-getting-Prey-2/Item218
73.aspx

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Technical Difficulties: He teabagged me!

_{[For her Monthly Musing, Elsa discusses the enjoyable difficulties that you can only get in an online multiplayer environment. Promotions are continuing throughout the month, so go ahead and write up a blog on our topic while you still have time. -- JRo]}

I'm a huge fan of online FPS games. One of the reasons I love online gaming is that there is always a challenge. There is always someone out there who's better than me... always someone who will kill me, win the game, or provide a challenge. There's always "that guy". You know the one. The one that you start a dancing duel with - and in the end you're lying there on the ground grasping your trusty shotgun, with them doing that teabag thing over your dead head with their non-existent genitals, but imbuing that sense of utter defeat and humiliation.

Difficulty in a game is rarely determined by the game, but instead by the players. For me, this is a truer sense of difficulty. It's not a false difficulty of simply giving me more A.I. enemies with more hit points, or giving me ineffective weapons or time constraints or other programmed challenges. Instead it's the difficulty of facing an opponent who is equal. It's another person, sitting in their living room or bed room ... clenching a controller in their sweaty hands.

It's not even the one on one challenge ... there is also the difficulty challenge of teamwork. In many of today's FPS games you can be an awesome killer of potential teabaggers, but still lose the game if you don't work with your team and have a coordinated strategy. The current points systems in games are also changing to accommodate this teamwork. Racking up massive numbers of kills may not enable you to place first in your squad anymore. Its the players doing the repair work, or taking objectives, or healing their teammates that often place first. If you are competitive and want that MVP status in the game you have to use strategy. You have to have several loadouts, you have to gauge the game, your current teammates, and your current opposition. The difficulty level in online gaming is always fluid and requires constant adaptation. It rarely becomes repetitive or boring.

I still enjoy single player games, though generally I enjoy them in a different way. These are my "relax" games. I tend to choose the easiest mode and like to run through them feeling as badass as possible. These are the games where I get my ego stroked - be it the single player campaign of a shooter game or a lengthy RPG where I generally play as a tank class and get to slice and dice my way through hordes of critters with my awesomely huge +4 damage sword. These single player, offline adventures are where I go to regain my sense of zen, my feeling that I am in charge, that I CAN save the world.

Multiplayer is where I go to be challenged, to encounter a difficulty setting that makes me invent new swear words. While multiplayer is also filled with very true technical issues like lag, cheaters, hackers, disconnect issues, server issues and game balance problems - it's also a place where I can encounter imaginative challenges of the kind that could never be imagined by mere A.I. or even by the developers. Last night while playing MAG, our squad spawned with a vehicle on the right side of the map. We're supposed to take out a barricade and a gate in order to get our vehicle over to the left side of the map to help out the rest of our platoon... but this is a mere "technical difficulty". There's a hill with rocks and trees, but with determination it's possible to bump the vehicle up over the hill, through the trees... and over on to the left side of the map. It's not a huge strategic advantage... but it's unexpected... and stupid... and fun. By the end of the game, we finally managed to get our stupid vehicle over the hill and where we wanted it. If we'd continued driving, we could have had a submersible APC like the one pictured here:



A.I. follow the rules. People don't. People are capable of overcoming the game's technical limitations to create inventive solutions. In Warhawk people used to balance on a plane's wing and have the plane gently lift them to high sniping spots that were never meant to be used. By working together they overcame some of the game's limitations to enable play in a new way. People were inventive enough to put land mines on their jeeps... then kamikazi their jeep into a group of enemy players, usually blowing up several of them, often at a time when they were taking an objective. In MAG, it's not unusual to see humvees with their mini-turrets in unusual places... including the ingenious solution shown below which allows the gunner a higher vantage point to mow down enemies.



Playing against real people, those crazy, imaginative, competitive idiots - this is the type of difficulty challenge I love. It's a generally a fair fight as I have every opportunity to do exactly what my opponent does. I can use the same weapon and the same armour, the same strategies - though people will continually come up with things that make me stop and stare and say "I wish I'd thought of that!" ... usually while I'm being teabagged.

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Batman Arkham City Dated, October 18 in North
America

Rocksteady’s bat-tastic sequel, Arkham City, will release October 18 in North America and October 21 in Europe. The publisher, Warner Bros, finalized the date today for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC platforms. Arkham City confirms that villains Hugo Strange, Two Face, Harley Quinn, and the Joker will make an appearance in game as [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://monstervine.com/2011/03/batman-arkham-city-dated-october-18-in-north-ameri
ca/

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Sincerest Thanks: Destructoid's readers are
amazing

I love Destructoid's readers for checking on me after Japan's earthquakes yesterday and this morning. So many people contacted me to check on me through various means, like email, private message, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and through other Destructoid and Japanator editors. The messages continue to pour in, either checking on me or wishing me well, all showing concern and love. Some of the kindest messages I've ever seen clog my inboxes, and I'm still reading them all, but I appreciate the triple digit counts of concern in all of them. I can't tell you how great this makes me feel.

Thousands of people have the same job I do, I'm sure. Just like they do, I get up in the morning and blog my face off, sharing news and opinions for anyone that will read it. But how many of those people can say that some of their readers are generally concerned with their well-being? How many would be able to say that their inboxes exploded with love? Again, I am so lucky, and you people reading this are the best. I love you all. I can't say that enough.

And as for how I am, I'm fine. More on that after the jump.

I had just had a fantastic lunch with CheapyD of CheapAssGamer and we had returned to his place to hang out for a bit. We felt a small tremble and shrugged it off at first, but then it got really crazy with swaying and things falling on the 16th floor of his building. I had a clear view of all the skyscrapers in downtown Tokyo as the quake happened, and watching them all wobble was absolutely terrifying. The shaking and swaying went on for what felt like forever. When it stopped, I continued shaking, scared. We both said every cussword in the language, probably.

When we thought it was finally safe, after quite a while, and when the building stopped swaying, we took the stairs down to solid ground. Unfortunately another tremble hit right then, sirens went off, and people were gathering in clear spaces. People were crying, dogs were barking, and rows of hard-hatted businesspeople paraded down the streets, scared. Sirens whaled and announcements warned of incoming tsunamis, telling coastal residents to get to higher ground. Stresses like this continued throughout the day, into the night, and well into the morning, as you've likely seen on the news.

Tokyo was at a complete standstill last night. We walked the streets to find countless people wandering. No stores were open, no trains were running, and many were stuck. Many slept in shelters and stations last night. I was stuck as well, as I live west of Shibuya, which requires two line changes from where I was at. I was very, very fortunate to be where I was, as I had a place to sleep last night. CheapyD and his family were very kind and offered me a place to sleep, and took me to dinner. I ate their cereal this morning and used their spare toothbrush. I had a pillow and blanket, and power/Internet to communicate with all my worried loved ones in America. I felt terrible having all of these things while watching everyone else on television running around scared, in the cold, some without a place to sleep, others with lost family members. And the tsunami victims. Those poor people. My heart hurts.

I'm forever indebted to the tallest white man you'll find in Tokyo. You always hear people talking about how CheapyD is the nicest person in the world. You have no idea. It goes even beyond that. What an amazing human being.

All of you are, actually. Again, it's amazing to see how many people continue to check on me. I won't forget your kindness. My sincerest thanks.

And for those that asked, yes. I'm coming home. Home home. I'm moving back to America. SOON.

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