Shank 2 gets some new screens

by: Russell Archey
NEWS - Last month we announced that Shank 2 will be coming out in early 2012 for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.  Today, Klei Entertainment has released some screens for the upcoming sequel to Shank.


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Minecraft playable on Xbox 360 at MineCon next
month

Our first opportunity to play Minecraft for Xbox 360 is naturally going to be offered at MineCon 2011. The Las Vegas convention, which takes place November 18-19, is being partially sponsored by Microsoft. Of course!

In addition to the aforementioned preview, Microsoft is set to show other "cool stuff" in the exhibition area of MineCon. Not to knock it or anything, but are you (or anyone you know) actually making the trip? Seems like one of those events that'd be hard to warrant as a non-Las Vegas native.

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The DTOID Show: New releases, Skyrim, and
BlizzCon 2011

Good evening, children! Let's all gather around Auntie Tara's arms as she tells you the tale of a far-off land - a peaceful, pungent place where elves and trolls and all manner of basement dwellers roam free from the persecution of popular society.

That place is, of course, BlizzCon, and that troll is me.

Yes, I'm back from Anaheim and eager to talk all about my BlizzCon experience during the second half of today's show. It wouldn't be a news program without news, though, and fortunately we have some of that, too. Bethesda released an incredible live action Skyrim trailer, and some video games came out this week. We're also giving away a War of the Worlds prize pack on our live show this Friday. Watch today's episode to find out how to win!

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Review: MotoHeroz

Ever since Jumpman faced off against Donkey Kong all those years ago, 2D platform games have been a staple of the gaming diet. While their popularity ebbed with the advent of 3D gaming, platformers saw a resurgence in recent years in the indie game scene. Sadistically difficult platformers like VVVVVV and Super Meat Boy set the new standard for the genre. Although some may disagree, I personally group the Trials series with them as one of the great examples of modern 2D platforming. While Trials developer RedLynx has been tantalizing fans with details on the upcoming Trials Evolution, they have also been working on a similar title for WiiWare called MotoHeroz. Though it may not quite live up to the pedigree set forth by Trials, it turned out to be a pretty solid little game.

MotoHeroz (WiiWare)
Developer: RedLynx Ltd.
Publisher: RedLynx Ltd.
Released: September 15, 2011
MSRP: 1500 Wii Points ($15)

Those familiar with Trials in any of its iterations will immediately grasp the concept behind MotoHeroz. Players control a dune buggy in a two-dimensional plane with only two buttons: forward and reverse. The D-pad can also be used to lean forward or backward, but that's about it. Despite its simplicity, it takes a fair amount of practice to truly master. While anybody can relentless step on the gas and eventually get to the end, skilled players learn the need for finesse. Indeed, another trait MotoHeroz shares with its HD cousin is that the time requirements for gold medals on any given track range from pretty tough to ludicrously difficult. MotoHeroz makes the player work for a gold medal. Every ramp needs to be taken at the perfect speed, and every landing must be stuck flawlessly in order to maintain momentum. Of course, players aren't required to achieve gold medals on a level in order to progress to the next one, so the less masochistic will likely get through the story mode's 75 levels in much less time. In a smart move that strays a bit from RedLynx's previous games, an element of exploration was also added into MotoHeroz. In each level, there are two hidden Spirit Orbs to be collected, as well as a varying amount of coins. While the exploration certainly slows down the pace, it stays true to the difficulty of the time trials. Some of the orbs are diabolically hidden; I'm still missing one on an early stage that I scoured with a fine-toothed comb.  Another reward for exploration is in entirely separate bonus areas, with interesting twists on the lean/forward/reverse control scheme. One type turns the buggy into a submarine, which takes some getting used to but makes sense after awhile. Another set of bonus levels transforms the player's vehicle into a helicopter, but that opts for a more mundane control scheme of "press the D-pad in the direction you want to go." It probably would have been more difficult if they had made the controls consistent with leaning, accelerating, and decelerating, but I would have liked to have seen that. And of course, Spirit Orbs and coins can sometimes be found in these bonus areas as well. Collecting Spirit Orbs and coins help to unlock new vehicles, though it appears they are only unlocked in the multiplayer mode. While a lot of the marketing for MotoHeroz has focused on the party game aspect of it, the multiplayer race is easily the weakest section. It can be fun for about a half hour, as it features some inventive levels for up to four players to race on. Many have Raskulls-style rubber banding, where the leader triggers shortcuts for the players behind, but a lot of the levels seem to be left more to random chance than actual driving skill. Otherwise, there is an online multiplayer mode, in name at least. The online races cycle through levels, challenging players to play only one run and post their times to the leaderboard. Truly, it is just a time trial mode with leaderboard support, which should be featured on every level in the game rather than just a few at a time. To top it off, there are only about five hundred people total on the leaderboard at the time of this writing, highlighting how few people are playing.  Visually, MotoHeroz is about what one would expect from a WiiWare game. It's brightly colored, with a few cool visual effects like Donkey Kong Country-esque silhouetting, but the art direction does little to make it stand out from other WiiWare titles. Truly, MotoHeroz is a solid little game on a download service that sees few great titles that don't start with the words Bit.Trip. The major sticking point I think most will have trouble with is the price. When Trials HD released on Xbox Live Arcade for fifteen dollars, many scoffed at the price for the game offered (myself included). However, most skeptics who took the time to try the game quickly recanted their preconceived ideas. MotoHeroz sells at the same price, and while it does offer a good amount of content with huge replay value for those crazy enough to go for 100% completion, it is still significantly less content than RedLynx has provided in the past.

Still, MotoHeroz is the first game to make my thumbs hurt since Super Meat Boy, so it can certainly be worthwhile for a certain type of gamer. But perhaps the most telling thing about my time with MotoHeroz is that while I definitely enjoyed myself, it inspired me to go back and play Trials HD some more. Pain junkies can get a quick fix of MotoHeroz methadone, but it will only tide them over until the next hit of Trials heroin shows up.

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Blizzard shows off the Diablo III Collector's
Edition

As terrific as digital distribution can be, you can't help but miss the days when games -- particularly PC titles -- came in large boxes with novel-sized manuals. Those wanting a physical version of Diablo III can optionally go for the Collector's Edition of the game, which Blizzard has detailed:

• DVD-ROM of Diablo III
• 4 GB USB Soulstone which includes Diablo II and Lord of Destruction, and a Diablo Skull base
• In-game content: Aesthetic Artifacts (Diablo III), Fetish Shaman Pet (World of Warcraft), and Battle.net portraits (StarCraft II)
• Behind-the-scenes video content on Blu-ray and DVD
• 208-page art book
• Diablo III original soundtrack

The CE will be available for both Mac and Windows (XP, Vista, 7) users. The price hasn't been disclosed yet, much like the release date. I'm digging that white box quite a bit.

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Dark Incursion Review (iPhone, iPad)

Gamezebo Rating:

One of my biggest gripes in recent years is that Konami still hasn?t brought a proper Castlevania game to the iOS platform. The series has already proven itself a mobile success time and again through countless GameBoy Advance and Nintendo DS releases, but for some reason Konami hasn?t mustered up the courage to bring the formula to the App Store. Drag your feet too long, though, and somebody else will always beat you to it. Such is the case with Dark Incursion, a game that draws great inspiration from the Castlevania formula, yet isn?t without a few tricks of its own.

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http://www.gamezebo.com/games/dark-incursion/review

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New screenshots and details for Final Fantasy
Type-0

With Final Fantasy Type-0 soon to be released to the masses of Japan on October 27, a new influx of screenshots and details on characters have arisen. Along with new details for the characters and a look at the cinematics, we still get to see some classic Final Fantasy creatures make some cameos.

If there is one thing that Square Enix know how to do well in recent years, it is making a PSP game look fantastic. The character textures are crisp and locations are unique and full of smaller details. I can't wait until the demo get localized for North America audiences, not that I mind jumping through hoops to download a demo. I just prefer to play my RPGs with some idea of what is being said.

In these screenshots we are introduced to the secondary characters Emina, Kazuka, Quon, Mtsuki, Ryid, Tiz and Lean.

Emina is the former student turned officer, and has the odd hobby of collecting swimsiuts..Kazusa is a researcher at Suzaku school who is known for his strange theories, and his friendship with Emina has become strained, since they haven't gone on a mission in a very long time. Quon is a mage to his core; he is the most knowledgeable mage at Suzaku and lives to find new and more powerful magic.

The fashionable Mutsuki is known for more then her ridiculously long sleeves. This genius inventor carries her death-dealing tools everywhere she goes. Ryid is a Genbu fighter that trains hard to develop the strength he needs to protect what matters to him. The mysterious Lean and Tiz (in the cloak) are the only two characters in this group that have a connection to Class 0. As for there intentions, not much else is known.

Final Fantasy Type-0 Update [andrisang]

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Gabe Newell explains Valve's pricing and free to
play

Steam sales are both a blessing and a curse to most gamers; they're great because they offer value, but they suck because most of the time you never play the games you buy in the sale! In a recent appearance at a videogame conference, Valve's Gabe Newell explained some of the facts behind videogame pricing on Steam.

Once again, Gabe claimed that piracy isn't a problem caused by pricing, it's the service that's the issue. "The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work," Gabe said. "It’s by giving those people a service that’s better than what they’re receiving from the pirates." He then gave the example about how people said Steam wouldn't work in Russia but that is now the Valve's second biggest market in continental Europe.

Gabe also talked about how surprising information Valve got from free-to-play games, namely how "free" and "free to play" are perceived differently. "We don’t understand what’s going on," Gabe admitted after Valve's data didn't give any conclusive answers for growing a game's audience. "All we know is we’re going to keep running these experiments to try and understand better what it is that our customers are telling us." It's some really interesting stuff and it's exciting that Valve are taking chances.

How Valve experiments with the economics of video games [GeekWire]

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Atlus Adds Two Characters To Persona Fighter

Atlus has officially unveiled two new characters for Persona 4: The Ultimate In Mayonaka Arena. One's a young girl who looks like a boy and the other is a bear who occasionally also looks like a boy.

View Article

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http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113803-Atlus-Adds-Two-Characters-To-Per
sona-Fighter?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=news

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Where is that Battlefield 3 review

Battlefield 3 reviews have started going live on a number of sites, and you might be wondering where ours is. In fact, I know some of you are because you've already pestered me about it. Don't worry! The review's on its way, folks. 

Basically, the reviews you saw go live this morning were based on a three-day review event that writers were invited to. Destructoid recently adopted a policy of not attending such events for a number of reasons beneficial to editorial (it was an informal rule for almost two years before we decided to officiate it). For the record, we weren't invited to this one, but since we've refused to write reviews based on events for Call of Duty, RAGE and many others in the past, it wouldn't have mattered. 

Review copies for the console versions arrived today and I am downloading the PC version as I type. The PC version unlocks at midnight tonight. I am hoping to get it all played by tomorrow afternoon, though it may go through to Wednesday if I don't feel I've played enough. Depends on how much there is to do. 

So that's where we are with the review, and why we're not being lazy when you see other reviews go up in the meantime (reviews that were written anywhere up to several weeks ago!)

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