Sonic 4 official – fanbase wees self.
Feb 4th
Project Needlemouse has been revealed and it's cleverly titled 'Sonic the Hedgehog 4'
What we do know:
- It's console bound (all 3 main platforms, with motion control for Wii & PS3 via SIXAXIS)
- It's 2D
- It's *the* official sequel to Sonic 3/Sonic & Knuckles
- Green Hill Zone features (incl. Mobius Loops)
- It's episodic
- Sonic is the only playable character
- Online Leaderboards
What we don't know:
- How big the episodes will be?
- Will any of Sonic's 'pals' feature?
- Will it be any good?!
The game is due during that barren gaming season we refer to as 'the summer' - Trailer below.
In other news, Ubisoft are scum.
Jan 27th
Back in the mists of time (or 2006, whichever happened first, I forget), Ubisoft used this anti-piracy aberration called Starforce (or however it's spelt).
It pissed off everyone under the sun and, some people say, nearly caused Ubisoft to go bankrupt (after all, who's going to buy a game that might break your PC, burn the cat AND eat your first born, all during the install procedure?).
The system was finally binned and, in a startling show of goodwill, Ubi started releasing games with either simple disc-checks or no protection what-so-ever.
Roll on January 2010 and history looks to be repeating itself.
Space Explosions… IN SPACE! – Mass Effect 2 Launch Trailer
Jan 23rd
Like Infinity Ward & (possibly) Valve, some people at BioWare obviously want to make movies... Big booming grand epics with loads of gravitas.
Evidence A - The Mass Effect 2 Launch Trailer
My Hands! Final Fantasy XIII International Trailer
Jan 13th
Square Enix have sent along the new "international" launch trailer for Final Fantasy XIII.
It's the first trailer to use Leona Lewis' "My Hands", which is the english theme song for the game, and shows off a few new scenes and a bit of gameplay we've not really seen too much of before. You could also consider it quite spoilery (unless you've been looking on internet message boards where people are playing the Japanese version).
We'll have a lot more on Final Fantasy XIII at release.
See the trailer after the jump.
Hey there gurd-looking! – Mass Effect 2 Cinematic Trailer
Jan 5th
It's official - 
Venice-based Blur Studios do some good shit. They even made the only decent bit of the hateful Transformers movie tie-in game.
They have since done a cinematic* trailer for Mass Effect 2 and it looks very nice in its obscenely highly detailed character model-ness.
Find it after the cut...
* - in the truest sense - it's showing with Avatar in multiplexes around the various countries, apparently. Now you too can expose your children/spouse/significant others to violent mutant frogs.
Left 4 Dead 2 – DLC 1 – (Leeds United 4)
Dec 15th
We're hoping to get our Left 4 Dead 2 review out soon, but other commitments have held that up. Now the excuses are done, it's time to mention the first DLC pack for the zombie co-op sequel.
Zoey, Bill, Francis and Louis are due to appear in the first pack, which goes by the name 'The Passing' and features new single & multiplayer content for the game on both formats.
Pricing is currently ambiguously 'TBA', but will probably follow the old 'free for PC, chargeable for Xbox 360 because Microsoft smell' pattern, unless Valve are ready to trigger yet another PR cluster-fuck by charging across all formats.
Press release after the cut...
Bats^2 – Arkham Asylum 2 announced
Dec 13th
I liked Arkham Asylum... so much a little wee nearly came out when the news came in - Batman is back.
No doubt Arkham Asylum 2 is going to be a placeholder name, although seeing as the Asylum has seemingly managed to move brick-by-brick to the middle of the city, it's a surprisingly accurate description.
It's probably not worth expecting to much change (it's to soon for anything more radical than new locations and baddies), but there's nothing wrong with face-punching goons whilst dressed in a cape and wearing your underwear on the outside.
You can start looking for the famous institution here and hit the jump for the teaser trailer...
Making TF2 fun again! – Crafting announced, Soldier/Demoman rivalry
Dec 13th
It's WAR...
The Demoman & Soldier have been getting a little too friendly lately. What with the Administrator being a bitch and stuff, she has initiated the WAR update. Since Friday, the two classes have been at each others throats, slowly adding to a omnipresent counter with each successive exploderised body part. Too the victor, the spoils - a special fourth weapon to compliment the typical three-weapon update cycle the previous classes have received.
The tin-hats are currently blatting the cyclops by nearly 20,000.
Oh, and there's Crafting too, so no more worrying about the awful random weapon drops or achievement whoring to finally net you Jarate! Ok, that's not entirely true, since you need to combine to receive, with blueprints apparently pointing you in the right directi... OMG! SAXTON HALE!!!
*sqwee* Transformers : The War for Cybertron trailer
Dec 12th
Before I start, I completely understand that this might turn out too be a pile of turgid shit.
Transformers is one of those licenses that seem a sure-fire easy way to make the best game in the world ever, yet often falls flat on its face in execution. Actually, following the unchecked brilliance of Arkham Asylum, I think it's safe to say that it's top of the misused license pile following Batman's departure
Still, War for Cybetron is set prior to first contact with Earth (re: no squishy humans), features lots of animated robot violence and is set for Xbox 360, PS3 & Games for Windows.
Fan service is catered for with appearances by Bumblebee, Ironhide, Megatron, Omega Supreme, Optimus Prime (ofc), Ratchet, Soundwave and Thundercracker confirmed by the Game Informer reveal.
Teaser after the cut - more details as we find them out.
