Review: Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Having only barely played the beginning of the original Deus Ex three or four times, I had little knowledge of what to expect from Deus Ex: Human Revolution. All I did know was that in terms of PC classics, the original is up there with the best of them and being an RPG nut I had high hopes for the rebirth of this franchise. I think most people who have been gaming for a certain length of time have lived to see franchises come back after ‘x’ amount of years only to spurn the hopes and expectations of the fans. It’s great to see then that the folks at Eidos Montreal have managed to create a game that is genuinely a lot of fun based on its own merits.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution tells the tale of Adam Jensen, head of security at Sarif Industries in the year 2027, 25 years prior to the events of the original game, where mega corporate companies are focused on creating and advancing ‘human augmentation’ (think cybernetic limbs etc). The story kicks off with a bang as Sarif Headquarters comes under attack and after a brief tutorial-esque segment of gameplay Jensen is severely injured and must undergo extensive rebuilding that fuses him together with multiple augmentations. It’s here where the game really starts as Jensen is fuelled by the desire to find out the truth behind the attack and who was responsible.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time Reveals El Jefe

Meet the super villain of Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, El Jefe, a cigar smoking wild cat that apparently took over a country with just three blind mice and explosives. Impressive.

Thieves in Time is in development at Sanzaru Games, the folks behind the recent Sly Collection and Secret Agent Clank. The game is due to hit us next year with no solid date set down by Sony.

Five Against All - Gears of War 3 Horde 2.0 Trailer

A new trailer for the revamped (and mighty awesome looking) Horde 2.0 mode for Gears of War 3 has been released entitled 'Five Against All'. It showcases all the crazy action you can expect to be involved in when playing as well as showing off the fortifying and boss aspects of the mode.

In addition to that you can also hear the song written for the game by Ice-T and his old band Body Count which we heard about at E3. Let us know what you think!

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Not to Recycle Content

For those fearing that the sequel to Final Fantasy XIII will be full of recycled cut content from the original need not worry according to director Yoshinori Kitase.

Speaking with Xbox World 360 magazine, he explains:

"I think those comments have been really badly misinterpreted. The fact is that when making any game you need to come up with lots of different ideas and designs that you weigh up against each other before picking the best one. Obviously in that process a lot of ideas and designs have to be discarded,"

"We have never knowingly picked up these kind of ideas and recycled them. That's not what we do. It's natural for anyone making games to throw away ideas but the scenario of FFXIII-2 is completely newly written and has no connection to anything we didn't use for FFXIII"

There we have it, although it was said enough content was cut from FFXIII to make a new game in and of itself it seems the team is headed for fresher ideas with the sequel.

Sucker Punch Acquired by Sony

Sucker Punch, the studio behind critically acclaimed series such as Sly Cooper and inFamous has been acquired by Sony for an undisclosed fee. So as you'd imagine all future titles from the developer will be a PlayStation exclusive, no questions asked.

Here's the announcement:

"Sucker Punch Productions is one of the most highly acclaimed development studios in the industry and we have enjoyed a wonderful relationship with the company for over 12 years. We are delighted to officially welcome them to the SCE family," said SCE Global Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida.

"The addition of Sucker Punch to SCE WWS reiterates our dedication to developing world class gaming experiences that can only be found on the PlayStation platform. With one of the strongest exclusive software lineups in the PS3′s history, combined with the diverse, innovate content in the works for PlayStation Vita, consumers have a lot to be excited about this year."

As for what title Sucker Punch are making next, that's unknown for now, but we do know that it's going to be a fresh IP for developer and console alike.

[Source - CVG]

True Crime Hong Kong Saved by Square Enix

So it was announced a while ago that Activision had cut and cancelled True Crime: Hong Kong even though the title was pretty much a finished product and playable from beginning to end. It's good news then that Square Enix has decided to save the project and publish the game themselves albeit under a different name due to Square not owning the IP rights.

While no date has been set or any other information given, Square Enix London Studios general manager Lee Singleton had this to say:

"When we first saw and got our hands on the game we fell in love with it," "It's one of those games where you don't want to put the controller down; it's what we call 'sticky'," "When we met the team at United Front Games, it was a done deal in our eyes - we instantly recognised the huge potential in the game and the team."

It's nice to see that United Front Games will get to see their game finally see the light of release now that Square has stepped in.

[Source - Gamasutra]

Itching to try Battlefield 3 Early?

DICE has outlined it's plan for Alpha and Beta testing of the highly anticipated Battlefield 3 on the game's official website.

The Alpha testing stage is a closed invite only affair while the Beta will be open to those of you out there who bought a copy of Medal of Honor that had a beta label on it. Here's how it's going down straight from DICE:

How can I get into the Alpha Trial?

It is a highly tech focused test period where the main purpose is to do a number of server related tests in preparation for game launch requiring a set amount of players online to ensure the final experience is as much fun and easy as possible.


Is this the Beta promised to buyers of Medal of Honor: Limited Edition?

No, this is an Alpha Trial, meaning this software is still not at the "Beta" development milestone. The Open Beta will start in September. The exact date for when Medal of Honor: Limited Edition players can join the Beta will be announced at a later date.


Can I join the Battlefield 3 Closed Alpha Trial?

The Alpha is a closed test and by invitation only. If you'd like to have a chance to be called upon make sure to register for our newsletter and ensure your Veteran status is up to date.
We are also not giving away keys to the Alpha Trial on any of our social networking platforms.


Recently a Medal of Honor: Limited Edition Beta newsletter went out to users. What is that all about?

Well, that newsletter says you are entitled to play the beta in September. It is however not a ticket or a code. If you purchased a copy of Medal of Honor with the Battlefield 3 Beta sticker on it, you are eligible for the Beta. If you have not received the newsletter, make sure you opt in on your EA Profile to receive them. Also, if you havent received the newsletter and own a copy of Medal of Honor: Limited edition, you are eligible to play in the beta.

So get registering folks if you wanna have a chance of being in the Alpha.

Trio of X-Men Destiny Behind the Scenes Character Trailers

X-Men Destiny is shaping up to be an interesting title to say the least, although not a great deal has been shown since announcement apart from the odd trailer here and there. However Activision have released three behind the scenes videos focusing on the different characters of Silicon Knights upcoming title.







Hold any hope or excitement for this game? Let us know!

Lack of Multiplayer for Darksiders Explained

Darksiders was a game screaming for multiplayer with its plot and gameplay set around a hack'n'slash adventure style with the four horsemen of the apocolypse as the focus and yet it was missing from the original title. With Darksiders 2 also set to launch with multiplayer being absent you may be wondering just why that is.

What it comes down to is data and animation, game director Marvin Donald explains:

"You've got completely different animation sets. It's 800 to 1,000 animations for Death alone and they're all unique. One thing great about working with Joe [Madureira] is that he comes up with awesome characters but they have completely different proportions, so you can't share any of the animations across them."

It's not just animating the characters but balancing their powers that would also take time. "Of course there's balancing with the different abilities. We're going to want them to play differently, so we wanted to spend some time developing each of the characters individually."

He was keen however to reiterate the desire that multiplayer is indeed something the team want to do at some point, it's just a case of when.

[Source - Shack News]

Call of Duty 4 Star Wars Mod - Galactic Warfare Released

By Mark

Star Wars Mod: Galactic Warfare has been released by German modding outfit Black Monkeys, the project has taken over two years but a final release is now available.

The mod is a total overhaul and conversion of CoD 4's multiplayer and pits players as an Imperial Forces Trooper or a Rebel Alliance Soldier, in addition to the skin changes there are seven playable maps and even killstreaks such as the Airstrike and Viper Droid. These use the Y-Wing and Tie-Bomber starfighters.

It looks great in all honesty and it's available here - ModDB

Battlefield 3 Mod Tools? Fraid Not

By Mark

Back in February executive producer of DICE Patrick Bach let us know that they were still undecided as to whether or not mod tools will be implemented into Battlefield 3 when it releases later this year.

Now it seems we have the answer and that is unfortunately for some, no. When speaking to German gaming magazine GameStar, EA's Senior VP Patrick Soderland had this to say:

"As of now, we are not going to make any modding tools." "If you look at the Frostbite engine, and how complex it is, it's going to be very difficult for people to mod the game because of the nature of the set up of levels, of the destruction and all those things. It's quite tricky. "So we think it's going to be too big of a challenge for people to make a mod."

A blow to some no doubt who were chomping at the bit to see what they could come up with when messing around with the buffed up Frostbite 2.0 engine that's being used for the game.

[Source - GameStar]

Tribes: Ascend Gameplay Ahoy

By Mark

Tribes: Ascend may not be known to everyone, especially the franchises PC origins that were massively popular from a multiplayer standpoint. Watching this video it's incredibly easy to see the similarity to certain other games but remember, Tribes has been around for a loooooooong time.

Another huge bonus this game has going for it is the fact that it is going to be a free to play title on both Xbox Live Arcade and PC this fall. Gameplay after the break!

Bodycount Sets a Date

By Mark

Bodycount, an upcoming FPS published by Codemasters and developed by Guildford Studio has set a solid release date for you to note in your calendars should you choose to do so. Some are saying it's the spiritual successor to Black that released on PS2 and the original Xbox in 2006 with some of the same staff working on the game.

The news comes by way of the titles official Facebook page in a statement that said:

Great news everybody! Bodycount will be coming out on the 30th August in North American and 2nd September in EMEA

For those of you unaware about the game or want a refresher here's a trailer for the game, just head past the break.

Skyrim: Less But Bigger DLC?

By Mark

Bethesda's DLC planning and releasing has always been a bit haywire and with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim the company is planning to rectify this by releasing less packages but more substantial ones instead. 

In an interview by AusGamers, game director Todd Howard stated:

"We would like to do DLC; we don't have any specific plans yet, but they've been really successful and we like making them," "So right now I can say that we'd like to do less DLC but bigger ones - you know, more substantial."

In regards to the Fallout 3 addons and Skyrim DLC direction (after the jump):

Uncharted 3 Multiplayer Beta Video - 11 Minutes

By Mark

Itching to see some footage of the multiplayer side of things from Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception? Now you can, eleven minutes in fact. It's all based on someone playing as Sully and located on the 'Airstrip' map.

It's interesting to see how cinematic Naughty Dog seem to have made the experience, at least on this map shown as you can see from the start of the round; players are jeep hopping around alongside a plane on a runway, it's different to say the least. Check out the video after the jump.

Achievement List revealed for Deus Ex: Human Revolution

By Jonny

The complete achievement list for Deus Ex: Human Revolution has recently been revealed and for you completionists out there it looks like multiple playthroughs will most likely be needed to snap up all of them. All story related achievements are secret achievements so be warned if you do not want any possible story spoilers, check out the full list after the break.

Binary Domain Release Date Revealed

By Mark

Binary Domain, the upcoming third person squad based shooter from Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi has received a solid release window of February 2012 according to the latest trailer released by SEGA.

As for what else is in the trailer, it's focused on the narrative aspect of the title where a breach in the Geneva code has spurned a turn of events that leads to machines turning on the human race.

Wii U Won't 'Dramatically Outperform' Current Competition

By Mark

There's been a lot of rumours recently as to whether or not the entry of the Wii U will force Microsoft and Sony to release new hardware as well or at least force them to speed up with their 'next gen' schedule.

Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto has somewhat quelled these however when speaking to GameSpot. He states, regarding balance between price and technology, that:

"when you look at what we're trying to do this time, which is I think maybe to a certain degree somewhat reckless, because we're trying to include this somewhat kind of tablet-like device - this controller with the screen. We're trying to do that by finding the right balance between the CPU and the GPU, the graphics processor, and bringing all of that together with the ability to take advantage of the HD capabilities of the system, and wanting to do the most that we can on that front as well."

In reference to competitors he said:

"We're very sensitive, of course, to trying to do all of this at an appropriate price. So I don't know that we would be able to sit here and say that it's going to necessarily dramatically outperform the systems that are out now. It's part of the balance that we strike in terms of trying to find entertainment that is new and unique."

Regardless of whether or not the console has the ability to 'outperform' the 360/PS3, things are looking good for Nintendo as they have again brought a different perspective to the playing of games and even landed strong third party support this time.

As for Nintendo's actual price plan, there has been very little said other than the fact that it's unlikely to be 'cheap', whenever anything does roll out regarding price we'll be sure to let you know.

[Source - GameSpot]

CD Projekt Senior Producer Parts Ways

By Mark

CD Projekts senior producer Tomek Gop has parted ways with the company according to the business social networking site LinkedIn.

The studio has just recently enjoyed success with the recently released The Witcher 2: Assassin's of Kings on PC which is also now scheduled for an Xbox 360 release toward the end of the year.

[Source - LinkedIn]

BioShock Infinite Skyline Gameplay Trailer

By Mark

A new video released by 2K showcases Irrational Games creative director Ken Levine explaining the 'Skyline' transportation vehicles seen in BioShock Infinite and how they were changed to suit vertical combat.



It's a fairly short affair but we do get to see some more ingame footage which is still looking as fantastic as always.