EA announces features for NHL 12 as 2K Sports
silently kills the NHL 2K series

post from Gaming Nexus on 26 May 2011 11:52:00 PM. © Gaming Nexus

by: Charles Husemann
NEWS - We brought you the first screenshot from NHL 12 earlier this week and now we bring you the list of new features we'll see in the game this year. As you might guess from the screenshot, goalies are now fair game and you can run them, get in their face, and even have goalie fights in this year's version. I'm not necessarily sure that big selling point but when you've about perfected the genre it's sometimes hard to come up with big ticket improvements. The goalies will also get some adjustments to their AI to accommodate the new rules.

This year's version will also feature tweaks to the Be a Pro mode which will now adjust your playing time by how well you play (which makes sense). There are also some tweaks to the physics engine, the addition of the NHL Winter Classic game at Heinz Field, and a bunch of other minor tweaks and fixes. I booked my appointment to see the game at E3 today so expect more info by the end of E3 week.

It's also worth noting that 2K Sports will not be producing any kind of NHL game this year according to an interview with Kotaku and it looks like this is the end for the venerable franchise which started strong but went out with a whimper. Let's all pour out a 40 of unfrozen rink water for the franchise and hope that EA Sports doesn't let up without any competition.

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Modern Warfare 3 to hit shelves on November 8th

post from Gaming Nexus on 26 May 2011 11:41:00 PM. © Gaming Nexus

by: Charles Husemann
NEWS - It looks like a lot of people are going to be "getting sick" on November 8th this year as Activision has selected that date as the release date for Modern Warfare 3. We've already seen the new trailer and both Sean Nack and John are stoked about seeing the game at E3 this year.

Personally I know I'll buy a copy and play through it but the magic is kind of gone for me as it seems like a lot of more of the same as we've seen for the last couple of years. The preview that Ben Kuchera did over at Ars Technica has affirmed my feelings for what to expect this year. More stuff blowing up, more incomprehensible plot points and twists, and new variations of the same things we've been seeing for years. That doesn't meant that the game will be bad or won't sell like hotcakes but getting a yearly version of the series is wearing thing on me a bit. What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

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Touching is good with Anomaly Warzone Earth

post from Gaming Nexus on 26 May 2011 11:24:00 PM. © Gaming Nexus

by: Sean Cahill
NEWS - 11 Bit Studios is taking another step with its PC and Mac based game, Anomaly Warzone Earth, by including touchscreen compatibility this June. While many PC gamers prefer to build their systems by hand, there has been an influx of touchscreen capable PCs that have been hitting the market. While tower defense games are not graphic intensive and require a heavy hitting graphics card, you have to wonder what the touchscreen is going to do, if anything, for such a game. With the touchscreen add-on becoming available in just a few weeks, we will get to see first-hand how it handles it.

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Sega brings back one of the classics, Shinobi.

post from Gaming Nexus on 26 May 2011 11:19:00 PM. © Gaming Nexus

by: Sean Cahill
NEWS - Back in the day, Sega had a pretty firm grip on one of the top spots in gaming with great franchises. Now, one of those franchises is making a return. Shinobi, which was originally launched on the Sega Master System back in the 1980s, is going to be making a return to handheld gaming. Teaming up with Nintendo, Shinobi will make a triumphant debut on the Nintendo 3DS, coming in September. While this is not exactly a shock since Shinobi found its way onto WiiWare as downloadable content, this is a big deal for Sega to get into 3D gaming. It will be interesting to see how the classic side-scroller turns out on the handheld system.

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EA briding Alice timelines with free iOS
storybook

post from Gaming Nexus on 26 May 2011 11:17:00 PM. © Gaming Nexus

by: Charles Husemann
NEWS - With the upcoming release of Alice:Madness returns the folks at EA are releasing a free storybook on the Apple App Store that bridges the gap between the first game and the second game. I'm pretty intrigued as to what exactly they are going to be doing with the new game as the first Alice game was a bit of a cult hit.

I kind of dig this type of metagaming thing as it is a fairly cheap way for them to get the word out about the game and it's free. Of course I'd like to see it on the Android market as well so hopefully we'll get an Android version before the game ships.

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Take on Red Faction: Armageddon's Sketch mode

post from Destructoid on 26 May 2011 11:07:07 PM. © Destructoid

Take on Red Faction: Armageddon's Sketch mode screenshot

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Between the unicorn weapon in Red Faction: Armageddon and now this Sketch mode, I'm starting to wonder. Is there something in the water at the offices of Volition?

THQ says Sketch is just one of the unlockable visual modes, so there's the potential for even more weirdness. And, I probably don't need to tell you this, but an otherwise serious sci-fi game mimicking a certain '80s music video is pretty darn weird already.

I'm all for unusual extras, though. Sure, why not?

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David O. Russell ditches Uncharted film project

post from Destructoid on 26 May 2011 11:07:07 PM. © Destructoid

David O. Russell ditches Uncharted film project screenshot

Variety is reporting that David O. Russell has walked away from the film adaptation of Sony's Uncharted series. Industry insiders are referenced as saying that Sony will continue to pursue the project. The split is described as amicable, with creative differences cited as the cause for Russell's departure.

Gosh, it's hard to imagine that there might be some disagreement considering that what Russell described as his plans for the film sounds nothing at all like Uncharted, save for character names. I didn't even think what was described would have been a bad film necessarily, but it wasn't the franchise we're familiar with.

Now the process will begin again. Sony will tap another director, story ideas will become public and the internet can be outraged about it all over again. Neato.

DAVID O. RUSSELL BOLTS 'DRAKE'S FORTUNE' [Variety via slashfilm]

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Mahjong gets Cub3d

post from Gaming Nexus on 26 May 2011 10:18:00 PM. © Gaming Nexus

by: Sean Colleli
NEWS - I remember playing mahjong in the Windows entertainment pack waaaaay back in the day. After a rough day of 7th grade (I can't believe I typed that) it was always calming to boot up my Windows 98 compatible PC and run some relaxing mahjong on it's 200mhz Pentium II. Such a puzzle is timeless, but Atlus's take on it might make my head hurt.

Mahjong Cub3d (cute) for the 3DS takes the classic tile puzzle into the THIRD DIMENSION!--not only with the 3DS's gimmicky visuals, but also by letting you rotate the puzzle 360 degrees for mind bending possibilities. Of course you can play classic mode, and the top screen makes the tiles so 3-dimensional you can almost feel them...ah well, it's better than clicking a mouse.

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Mizuguchi shows Child of Eden at TEDxTokyo

Mizuguchi shows Child of Eden at TEDxTokyo screenshot

video details and more

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Tetsuya Mizuguchi spoke this week at TEDxTokyo, one of a growing multitude of events organized independently from TED, extending the organization's mission of "ideas worth sharing" to the local level. Kicking off his fifteen minute presentation, we get a couple of minutes of the man himself playing his current project, Child of Eden.

Of course, that's not the real meat of the presentation but I'm hoping it will induce you to listen further to what Mizuguchi has to say. He discusses sensory experiences, the blending of our real world with the worlds we experience in our games and how technology is enabling that further. He also briefly beats the drum of positive social change resulting from games geared towards that end, as you might expect considering the nature of the conference.

Rez Creator Talks About Positive Power of Games, Plays Child of Eden at TED [Kotaku via GameSetWatch]

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Even more Battlefield 3 'Back to Karkand' concept
art

Even more Battlefield 3 'Back to Karkand' concept art screenshot

A bunch of us got fired up over the Wake Island concept art for Battlefield 3, and for good reason. It's one of four maps included in the game's incentive for pre-ordering, the Back to Karkand expansion pack.

Art for the Sharqi Peninsula and Gulf of Oman maps has been posted as well. Interestingly, the Battlefield Blog is saying that "the goal from the separate development team behind [Back to Karkand] is to make it every bit as ambitious and full of content as Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam."

"Closer to the launch of the base game, we will be able to show you just what that means."