Each console on the market has their fair share of exclusives. Nintendo is obviously leading the pack with an expansive line up of exclusives including Zelda, Mario, Kirby, Donkey Kong and much more. However, the Xbox 360 and PS3 have their own exclusives including Gears of War and Halo on the Xbox side of things and Killzone and LittleBigPlanet on the PS3 side of things. LittleBigPlanet, in particular, is a very unique game largely thanks to the expansive customization tools the developers have provided gamers.
In fact, it seems that these tools were so popular that Sony has just announced today that LittleBigPlanet 2 has now surpassed 4 million levels. Pretty incredible. If you’re not aware, gamers have made everything from playable Wolfenstein 3D levels to full fledged computers completely utilizing the in game tools.
Angry Birds is without a doubt the most well known game made initially for a mobile phone to ever hit the market (not counting games like Tetris and the like, of course). Now that Angry Birds has dominated mobile platforms like Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android Rovio is looking towards other platforms that will serve their game well. As you may or may not know, Angry Birds is available for platforms such as Apple’s desktop Mac OS X and even the PlayStation 3 through the PlayStation Network.
In fact, it was just noted today that Angry Birds has already topped the charts of the PSN after being available for a few months. If you haven’t played Angry Birds yet now is a great time to do so as it’s available through the PSN for just $4.
Rockstar has managed to release some pretty hard hitting games over the years. Namely, their Grand Theft Auto series has largely cemented their name as one of the most iconic game development studios of all time. However, they also have some other great games on the market with a prime example of this being Red Dead Redemption.
Just like Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption is an open ended sandbox game where the player must find their way around the world completing various tasks and participating in various activities. However, instead of being set in a major city like many of the more recent Grand Theft Autos, Red Dead Redemption takes place in the old wild west.
If you’re one who loves playing Red Dead Redemption but are wishing that you could squeeze a bit more content out of the game you’re in luck. It was just announced that the content reserved exclusively for those who pre-ordered the game will soon be made available as DLC. Included in this pack are several different things including the Assassin Outfit which increases your rate of Dead Eye regeneration, a Golden Guns Weapon Pack which increased the Fame you’ll be earning and last but not least a War Horse for, well, obvious purposes.
All 3 of these items will be made available for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 at some point next week with a $.99 price tag.
BioWare is one of the more loved development studios on the market today with the Mass Effect franchise, in particular, causing waves. However, they’ve also been causing quite a bit of buzz with their Dragon Age franchise as well which usually receives critical acclaim across the board. In fact, it seems that reception for Dragon Age II was so high that BioWare has just come forth to announce that the game has managed to sell 1 million units. Normally, this wouldn’t be too much of a cause for commotion but BioWare is giving back to the community in a big way.
According to the studio, those who purchased a copy of Dragon Age II can now download a free copy of Mass Effect 2 for the PC by inputing their online play number at this location. No, this isn’t an April Fool’s joke – they’re literally giving Mass Effect 2 away for free. Hop on it now!
Epic Games has made quite a name for themselves over the years with much of their success being attributed to the critically acclaimed Gears of War series. However, Epic Games has looked to stray away from developing solely for the Xbox 360 going on to release Bulletstorm – their take on a multi-console FPS that strays away from the standard layout of such games put forth by titles like Call of Duty. Of course, they also have the Unreal Engine but we’ll save that for another story.
Anyways, for those looking to get their hands on Bulletstorm before purchasing it you’re in luck. It’s just been made known that a demo for the game is now available on Steam. of course, you’re not going to be able to play this demo on your Xbox 360 or anything of the store as it’s quite obviously Windows only. Luckily, the Xbox 360 demo has been available for some time.
Don’t want to get your hands dirty on the game but still want to know what it’s all about? Check out our Bulletstorm review, here.
Valve is one of the more iconic game companies on the market today releasing heavy hitting titles like Half-Life, Counter-Strike and more recently, Portal. If you’ve been following this innovative puzzler you’ll probably know that the game’s sequel is due out for the Xbox 360, PS3 and Mac/PC on April 19th. If you just don’t want to wait a minute longer you’re in luck as Valve has just released a single player demo for the game. According to Valve, this demo includes the first 4 levels but is a “bit rough around the edges”. The best part? The download clocks in at just 975.7 GB. That way, if you start the download now it will be done just in time for Portal 58 in year 2050.
Grab the download here.
While there are quite obviously many different ways to purchase physical media many consumers are making the shift towards digital distribution. In fact, just about every home video game console on the market has its own form of digital distribution. For the Xbox 360 it’s Xbox Live, PS3 the PlayStation Network and on the Nintendo Wii ti’s the Virtual Console (among other outlets).
The Virtual Console, in particular has been known to be saturated with many different classic titles that give consumers a chance to relive the fun without breaking the bank. For example, it was just announced today that the Japanese Virtual Console will be getting access to both Mega Man X and Chrono Trigger. Both of these games were made available on the Super Nintendo in the 90s and have gone down as iconic titles.
Unfortunately, there is currently no word on whether or not Nintendo plans to bring these games to the North American Virtual Console but considering they are such highly popular games we’re going to assume that us here int he States will see them soon.
One of the more popular fighting games to hit the shelves as of late is none other than Marvel vs. Capcom 3 for the PS3 and Xbox 360. If you couldn’t tell from the title (or haven’t played a Marvel vs. Capcom game in the past) the Capcom developed game allows you to choose your favorite Capcom characters such as Ryu and face off against your favorite Marvel characters such as Iron Man.
However, just because the game is on the market doesn’t mean the developers are done with the onslaught of content - not by a long shot. In fact it’s been known for a while that Capcom would get around to releasing the Shuma and Jill DLC for the game which, quite obviously, adds the characters Shuma-Gorath and Jill Valentine. Unfortunately it seems that the DLC has been delayed from March 15th to an unannounced date.
When the DLC does drop, however, you can expect it to be priced at 400 Microsoft Points or $5. We’ll keep you posted on a release date
While there are many different first person shooter titles on the market, many of them are more of the same. This, quite obviously, isn’t a bad thing business wise as each Call of Duty release has effectively managed to sell like hot cakes without changing much in terms of gameplay. However, if you’re looking for something a little bit less conventional while still maintaining the same general game mechanics that we’ve all come to know and love then you’ll definitely want to check out Crytek’s Crysis 2. We all know how graphically appealing the first title is so I won’t bore you with a history lesson but instead remind you that the Crysis 2 demo is out right this instant on the PC. If you weren’t aware this demo is a fully featured multiplayer demo that will let players duke it out on both the Skyline and Pier 17 playing fields.
Seeing how this game has potential to be one of the best FPS releases of the year, if you have a PC that’s up to par, you’ll definitely want to check this out. A direct download link is available here.
For those wondering where the Xbox 360 demo is, expect it to hit the Xbox Live Marketplace later today.
As we’ve told you in the past; despite the fact that there are dedicated mobile consoles on the market like the PSP and Nintendo DS, mobile platforms like Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android have been gaining a considerable amount of market share. However, when comparing the gameplay of a typical iOS/Android game to a Nintendo DS game, for example, there are some clear distinctions as more likely than not the game made for mobile smartphones will bare the resemblance to a minigame while the Nintendo DS game will feature much more depth. Of course, this is to be expected considering many smarpthone games are priced at 99 cents while Nintendo DS games are priced upwards of$30 but it’s definitely something to make note of.
Luckily, some game developers are doing what they can to change all of that adapting technology to create higher quality mobile games. The latest such of such comapnies to do such as thing is Gameloft who have developed games for just about every console on the market. Well, today, Gameloft has announced that they will be adapting Epic Game’s Unreal Engine 3 to work with future iOS, Android and PSN downloadable titles.
If you’re not well versed in these matters Unreal Engine 3 has been used to power hard hitting titles like Gears of War and Unreal Tournament 3 – just to give you an idea of the ammunition Gameloft is working with here. While there isn’t a very solid release date, Gameloft has said that they will be releasing games 2 games powered by Unreal Engine 3 in this year with another 2 coming next year.
Any additional information we receive we’ll be sure to pass it your way.
