What with the holiday and all, here's Release List to start the week. This week brings long-awaited racer Grid 2, intriguing RTS Wargame: Airland Battle, Insomniac's shooter Fuse, the Wii U Virtual Console release of Mega Man X, and more.
Ubisoft recently began showcasing its co-op in Splinter Cell Blacklist, and today the company delved into a bit more detail. The 14 unique co-op missions are split into four mission types, each given by a different member of the team.
Two decades after Tower of Doom stormed arcades, Capcom is reviving their highly-regarded Dungeons & Dragons games. After spending some hands-on time with Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara, it's clear that the original arcade experience has been successfully remastered and enhanced without compromising the legacy of the original classics.
Starting up with Shadow over Mystara, the first thing of note is that the HD update is done with respect to the games' 32-bit roots. Everything from the medieval town houses and lush landscapes to the cloak of my selected character (which you can customize the name of), the elf, retains a lightly pixelated look, but with greater clarity and color depth.
Following comments from last week that Electronic Arts has no games currently in development for the Wii U, another voice from the company has seemingly contradicted that claim. EA CFO Blake Jorgensen says they are making games for the Wii U -- it's just not concentrating as heavily on Nintendo's platform as it is the other two.
Read more: 'We are building titles for the Nintendo console' »
Yesterday, veteran Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy said he would be playing a role in the next Arkham game. Since we already knew that Roger Craig Smith would be voicing the Dark Knight in Arkham Origins, we naturally figured that Conroy would be playing another character, or perhaps an older version of Batman. As it turns out, the situation is a bit more complex.
Ever since Wario struck out on his own game style with Mega Micro Games, the character has been Nintendo's window to lightly parody happenings in the industry. Now that crowdfunding is all the rage, Nintendo has kicked off a promotion for Game & Wario taking a jab at the trend with the utterly juvenile (but character-appropriate) "Crowdfarter."
The Merc with a Mouth has made it quite clear that his new game is coming on June 25, and while Deadpool has acknowledged his appearance on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, he may have forgotten to mention the Wii U.
Resident Evil: Revelations is coming tomorrow, and you know what that means. It's time for the downloadable content announcements. Today Capcom detailed various sets of upgrades and extra characters that will be releasing throughout June.
A new trailer for Splinter Cell: Blacklist shows off the game's cooperative mode. We get to see some cinematic and gameplay footage of Sam Fisher and agent Isaac Briggs, complete with all the takedowns and buddy-quips you would imagine from such a scenario.
Ubisoft has detailed some of the pre-order bonuses for its GTA-style, Chicago-based hackfest Watch Dogs, with exclusive single-player missions and goodies available from Amazon and GameStop.
Kevin Conroy, the voice actor known for his iconic pipes as Batman in the classic animated series and the previous Arkham games, says he just finished a long stint of work on the "next Arkham" game. While he doesn't specifically name Batman: Arkham Origins, he did mention that his 9-10 months of work has gone into a game that has recently been announced, allowing him to talk about it.
Batman: Arkham Origins takes place early into the career of the caped crusader. According to developer WB Montreal, Origins will show off a "rawer, scarier Batman." So, of course they got the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog to play Batman this time around. (We're not kidding.)
Read more: The surprising voice actor behind the new Joker »
Fans feel rightfully cautious whenever a beloved franchise switches developers. Batman Arkham Origins is the first game in the Arkham series developed outside of series progenitor Rocksteady. The newly established WB Montreal assumes development duties on this prequel. Fans are undoubtedly going to question if an untested, unproven team can make a Batman game worthy of the Arkham label. Based on an early hands-on with the game, it appears Montreal doesn't plan on changing the formula too much. Instead, Origins largely follows the blueprint established by Arkham City.
The Arkham series loves making its villains playable as DLC. In Arkham Asylum, you could play as the Joker in free PS3-exclusive DLC. In Arkham City, you could play as Catwoman in a story integrated into the main campaign--provided you bought a copy of the game new. And in Arkham Origins, you'll be able to play as Deathstroke, provided you pre-order the game from Amazon.
Next week will see the release of Resident Evil: Revelations' home edition, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, Call of Juarez Gunslinger, Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes, and other things you can play for entertainment.
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