Games I Finally Got Around To Completing #1: Red Dead Redemption

Well, THAT took a while, but it’s finally done, Undead Nightmare expansion (which I actually completed before the main game’s story)and all. Hey, I did say I like to take my time with games, so here’s a good example of this procrastination. Part of this was due to having so many open world games to go through, me going through them in order of least impressive to most (RDD is still stellar visually and highly replayable) and the fact that yup, I’m pretty awful at poker and there’s a LOT of it to play throughout the game. RDD’s poker games were giving me trouble because I hated to do the save/reload thing and wanted to always try and win fair and square without any cheating. Fortunately, I wised up (hey, it’s a game about the Old West – who the heck was a 100% honest poker player back then? Even the oldest Western films have poker cheats!) and decided to seek a bit of help from a few helpful sources from a friend who’s a pretty decent player to a nice and helpful site that showed me a few tricks I was too stubborn to pull off…

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EA & BioWare Keep The Mass Effect Flames Burning…

Nice. Not only is there going to be a collected set the trilogy coming for consoles and PC soon, the Wii U is getting what’s looking like a superb enhanced version of Mass Effect 3 with a new character, included DLC and a bunch of other cool features. Having played the series already, I’m still planning on looking into the Nintendo version thanks to the Gamepad functionality and being curious about how BioWare pulls off telling the story of the other two games in the series.

As always… we shall see…

DMC “Home Truths” Vignette: Dante Gets Something Big To Swing

More nice cinematic joy from Ninja Theory’s upcoming reboot. It seems that the game has gotten a lot more respect over the months since Capcom has had playable versions at conventions and some decent coverage on other outlets, but of course, you can’t please everyone. Me, I’ve been on board the project from the beginning, as I trust Ninja Theory to make a compelling experience no matter what they do. Well, unless they do a kart racer. No one can make one of those interesting without getting compared right away to Mario Kart and its other successful derivatives…

You’ll Finally Get To Ride Dragons In The Newest Skyrim Expansion (Unless You Own A PS3)…

So yeah, 360 owners are first on the block to brag about getting Dragonborn before everyone else, but I’d bet PC fans of Bethsoft’s RPG are going to be smiling even more broadly because they get to mod that content even more. As for poor PS3 users, wellllll… I’m one of them, so all I can do is hope to hell SOMEONE fixes that version up right so it can actually get new content instead of being a bit too buggy to play after a ton of hours are sunk into the otherwise excellent experience. It’s the one thing that kept me from going through the game a second time (and many from getting through it once). Ah well… in a perfect world, I suppose. Or a spiffy Game of the Year Edition that SHOULD come out with all the DLC on a disc (right? Right.)…

Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut Coming to PS3 in 2013!

OK, I missed posting this news yesterday thanks to a REALLY chuggy connection (and today is actually WORSE, but here goes nothing… again!), but here it is if you haven’t yet seen it. One of the best (and most polarizing) Xbox 360 sleepers, Deadly Premonition,  is finally hitting the PS3 next year with all new content (roll that press release!):

  • New scenario from the game’s director, Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro
  • HD graphics
  • Reworked control system allowing for an even better combat experience
  • Downloadable content to expand the mystery beyond the original game

Hmmm. I was hoping the ENTIRE game would be on the PS3 disc (as in NO new DLC), but I’ll certainly take this update for a spin anyway, as I know it’s going to be completely crazy, completely weird fun just as the original was. According to publisher Rising Star Games’ website, Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut should be available in March 2013. If they keep it close to the same budget price point, I predict it’ll be even more of a winner than it was on the 360. As always, we shall see…

Until Dawn Halloween Trailer: Getting A Move On (As In Running Like Hell, Part Deux)…

Sony’s version of Ten Little Indians (minus two) meets SAW and a few other things is looking pretty nifty and yes, it also gets a nice Halloween trailer to ogle. I’m hoping the game is great, as it’s tough to do a good horror game these days because no matter how amazing it is, there’s going to be some jaded jackanape who starts griping that the game either isn’t scary enough, or is too familiar to something they think they know all about, or has someone cursing in it (hey, it’s a M-rated game, silly – what are you supposed to say when there’s a crazy man coming at you from out of nowhere with a knife?). I want to see this succeed because the Move works well enough (and hell, a LOT better than Kinect in terms of a 1:1 gameplay experience) and could use a many new titles that take advantage of the peripheral as possible. OK, I think that may be the last post for the day, as the connection here is crappy and I still need to get a few reviews done and posted later, PLUS, get around to changing the banner to November on the blogs. Back later… or sooner if I can find time for a quickie post.

Divinity II: Developer’s Cut Set To Steam Up PC’s Today

OK, If you haven’t played this rather excellent game yet, go do yourself a favor and give it a shot. Larian Studios’ well-crafted (and quite lovely) action/RPG is fast-paced and challenging enough that even non-RPG fans can get into it with ease, the story is well done (and often quite funny), there are secrets GALORE and yes, plenty of loot to collect. I’ve played this one three times (the original PC and both Xbox 360 versions) and if I had the time, I’d play it again. All that and you get NEW content in this version. And hey – you also get to transform into a dragon in this game, and that’s always cool. Unless you REALLY hate dragons. Then you’d probably want to be playing something else. But everyone thinks dragons are cool, so you’re good with this game.

Halo 4 “Scanned” Trailer: Get Fincher on the Speed Dial!

Hmmm… perhaps David Fincher should have been tapped to direct that Halo movie? OK, he only produced this trailer, but still – it’s pretty impressive and actually makes me want to see something a bit longer form. Eh, whatever – the game will still sell millions of copies, great trailers or not. I’m wondering why Microsoft even bothers to spend all this scratch promoting a game that really doesn’t need all sorts of excesses spent on marketing. The hardcore fans will eat it up and spread the word, the pro reviewers who aren’t jaded and tired of Master Chief yet will go on and on about feature after feature that they approve of and overall, Microsoft will be sitting on more piles of cash. Hell, even if critics hate the game for some reason (and other than the stupid shoutcasting in multiplayer, it’s hard to see why, given that 343 has poured a ton of effort into what’s looking like the biggest Halo to date), it’ll still sell like hotcakes.

Dead Space Liberation: Something To Read While You’re Too Scared To Play…

My hands-on impressions of Dead Space 3 are embargoed for a bit by EA, but they’re definitely not keeping quiet about this upcoming treat for fans who want even more lore. Liberation arrives on February 15, 2013 and yup, is a prequel to the events of the upcoming third installment in the series. The folks at Visceral certainly have a big story to tell and between the new game and this book, I can see a lot of you out there not sleeping much. For a few reasons…

Rockstar Games Collection Edition 1: Instant Gift Idea For The Open World Novice


Rockstar does it again, folks. With so much content packed onto a single disc, this set is a pretty stellar deal no matter how you slice it. For the price of one game ($59.99), you’re getting FOUR of the company’s biggest titles spanning this current console cycle.  Come November 6, 2012, PS3 and Xbox 360 owners looking to try some great games they haven’t gotten around to just yet (or those who want a great gift for a friend or relative who’s never played an open world game previously) will soon have one of the best deals to date. Here’s what’s in the collection? Just check below the jump for some cut & past action (Hey! it’s late and I need some sleep – been up playing a ton of games again)…

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