Diablo III Officially Dated: Wake Me When There’s An Offline Solo Mode…

Yeah, yeah, I was bitching earlier about people bitching about Mass Effect 3’s ending, but this is entirely different and worth it’s own special gripe. Sure, Blizzard wants to be in better control of its long-awaited baby, but shutting out Diablo III to those who don’t have constant online connections, don’t WANT to play nice (or nasty) with others or hell, just want a game they can play when they want to without having to rely on constant updating just blows. Not everyone who wants an offline mode is a hacker, cheater (or whatever is considered “bad” for DIII) looking to bilk Blizzard. We just want to enjoy the story as solo players and not go near the Internet, that’s all.

Yes, Blizzard will make a MINT on DIII pre-sales and launch day sales and based on what I’ve seen of the beta, they deserve every penny of your hard-earned gold. However, YES, you’d better believe there will be such a download crunch-fest on and around day one that a lot of people will be screaming that they can’t get online or download the game or are suffering through whatever other issues that ALWAYS crop up in a big release like this. A lot of you guys and dolls will be doing the happy dance on May 15, 2012, but for me and a lot of other folks, it’ll be business as usual until we hear of some solution that can get us enjoying SOME form of the Diablo universe (even if it’s a console side-story set in the same period as the game).

Games You Just NEED To Play: Yakuza: Dead Souls

Sure, it’s all about Mass Effect 3 for many out there, but for total goofballs like me, Sega’s just-released wild Tokyo nightmare is going to be more fitting for a few reasons. The mix of horror and humor makes for a wacky bit of balancing, but the game isn’t trying to be “serious” at all (zombies versus Japanese gangsters would make a great Takashi Miike flick, I say!). Those weird Yakuza 4 geisha club mini-games are back (enough said there) and hell, it’s just cool to support Sega and the supremely talented Yakuza team again this year, as Binary Domain was also a really nice surprise that’s worth a buy. Don’t get me wrong, though – I’m not skipping out on BioWare’s latest at all, folks. It’s just that it’ll always be around to dive into on multiple platforms (and will no doubt get some sort of reissue down the road) while this one’s a PS3 exclusive that’s only going to get a limited release and that’s that… unless there’s a Yakuza BOX on the way (note to Sega: hint, hint, hint…)

Deadly Premonition FINALLY Hitting PS3 (At Some Point)…

Awesome. Access Games’ outstandingly weird and polarizing horror adventure game will at some point, be headed to the PS3 in North America, according to comments made by Yasuhiro Wada at a GDC 2012 panel. In case you missed it, the US version of Red Seeds Profile (made for the PS3 and Xbox 360 overseas), was only released here as Deadly Premonition on the Xbox 360 back in 2010 to a mix of really positive or really negative reviews that marked some sort of odd tipping point to some in how games are judged.

While not the best-looking or controlling game of this generation, the offbeat characters and bizarre storyline with even weirder imagery made the game a favorite of many folks (including yours truly) that loved the off-kilter craziness on display. While Ignition Entertainment (now UTV Ignition) published the game as a budget release on the 360, no news of a US publisher has yet been announced, but you can bet that we’ll be keeping an eyeball on every publisher’s E3 lineups to see who will be bringing this one stateside. Hopefully, the low price point will be similar and the game won’t be yet another PSN-only release that those who don’t have, want or use the service will miss out on…

Max Payne 3 Cover Art Update: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow…

Here’s the official cover image, courtesy Rockstar Games. Considering that variants of this art have already been out there for a while, it hasn’t changed too drastically… at least in terms of the color palette. Well, Max having hair in that pose is new, probably to make sure the diehards hating on the bald Max image are happier campers. You all DO know he still shaves it off in the game, right? Anyway, it’s a still really cool image. Yeah, yeah, I’m a few days late in posting this, but hey, my spam filter was hungry and I just got around to fishing out stuff that it gulped down. This was the most important thing, so it wasn’t too bad this time…

I’m also obligated to cut and paste the game summary below the jump, just to keep things even more old school. Click away, dear reader, click away!

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Mass Effect 3: “The War Begins” Trailer: Er, You Mean With Folks Who Hated The Ending, Right?

Yeesh. I haven’t even played the game yet and already I’m hearing and reading bitching about the ending to the game. I guess all those who wanted a happy (or sad) Hollywood ending were shocked to see a door left swinging or whatever, but man, I wish they’d shut up about it and maybe think about great books and films that ended in a similar fashion. Let us adults who don’t mind ambiguity or hell, even an ending that’s bleak and one-way ticket-y as can be play a game like this and get in our knowing nods and perhaps chat up those of you that didn’t get what just happened or something. Eh, what can you do? Everyone wants to make their opinions mean something these days and the internet is “perfect” for just that one thing… argh.

At First, BioShock Infinite’s “Motorized Patriot” Was A Bit TOO Timely For My Tastes…

When I first heard the name “Motorized Patriot” last night before seeing the video, I laughed for a good two minutes or so. Thankfully, the actual enemy from BioShock Infinite isn’t amusing at all and packs quite a wallop with that “pepper mill” machine gun. Why was I cracking up, do you ask?  Well, I instantly thought of footage from a few Tea Party events that had some cranky old people riding Rascal scooters or in wheelchairs protesting hard and getting it all WRONG about wanting the government here to get its paws off their Medicare benefits. They’d been so brainwashed and willing to believe anything bad about the current president that they thought (and still think) the Medicare and SSI payments they get each month are doled out by someone else (I have no idea who, by the way).

Of course, if you ask these folks who think the government is wasting too much money if they’d love to give that monthly check back to partially pay off the debt, they’d want to roll over your feet a few times. In a motorized patriot sort of way (ouch)…

It’s Intenational Women’s Day? FemShep To The Rescue!

Ha! I was wondering just what to do with this FemShep trailer from Mass Effect 3, but thankfully, an email about IWD being today gives me the perfect chance to show BioWare’s on the case when it comes to bringing equality to the forefront. Amusingly enough, I’ve not yet played as a female Shepard in any ME game, but that’s because I haven’t gotten around to it just yet. I have done a complete play through of Dragon Age: Origins using a female character, so I’m at least partially practicing what I’m preaching…

OK, that’s my good deed of the day and much better than running around the UN trying to pass out flowers and candy to random women. That’s only good for a few slaps to the head and a trip to the closest jail cell. Er, that’s what I’ve heard. Not speaking from any experience, mind you…

Medal of Honor Warfighter Trailer: Yup, A Lot Of People Liked That Reboot…

Warts and all (and some of them were pretty big warts), EA’s Medal of Honor reboot had some really solid moments in its single player campaign plus a decent enough multiplayer that was worth messing about with for a while. I figured that a sequel was inbound not too long after I completed the campaign (the game sold decently despite a few less than impressive reviews) and what do you know, we’re getting one come October 23. New settings, some of the same characters and even more action are planned (which hopefully means a longer campaign) along with the move to the Frostbite 2 engine, which should have both single and multiplayer fans jumping for joy. Um, lock and load, I guess. I’m not a total military FPS nut at all, mind you. I just dig a decent story (no matter the genre), want to see where the team ends up this time and how insane things get in terms of pacing and big set pieces that stick in your head long after you’ve played them. Hell, as long as it’s better as a game than Act of Valor was as a film to sit through, I’m going to be suitably impressed.

Exclusive DLC Mode For Xbox 360 Version Of REORC Gets Some PS3 Owners Cranked…

Well, here’s how to get a wee bit too many folks ticked off for yet another kooky reason: console exclusive content in a multi-platform game. PS3 owners have had this in Batman Arkham Asylum, Mafia II and Battlefield 3 among other games and there have also been a number of cool 360-only downloads that now include the Nemesis Mode DLC from Slant Six Games’ upcoming Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.

Of course, I can understand any PS3-only franchise fans being royally ticked off about this (given that the RE series began on and became a staple of Sony’s consoles for a few key years), but that’s business, I guess.  I know I’m beating a dead (and soon to be zombie) horse here, but I’ll say it again: hopefully, REORC will sell well enough to net an updated edition down the road with ALL of the additional content. But again, that’s Capcom’s call and not mine.  In any event, March 20 is creeping up mighty fast, that’s for sure…

Clan of Champions Isn’t What You Think It Is (And That’s Probably A Good Thing)…

 

This spring, NISA will be publishing Acquire’s upcoming downloadable PS3, Xbox 360 and PC fantasy action game (for up to six players), Gladiator VS under a name that makes it sound exactly like either a RPG or a League of Legends pastiche. This of course, could work for or against the game as I can see JRPG fans wanting to snap it up automatically because of the Nippon Ichi connection and overly protective LoL fans thinking it’s a shoddy rip-off of some sort. Yours truly falls under the happy medium label, as I want to see the game succeed on its own merits and not just some accidental honors blessed upon the game by those who automatically support ANYTHING certain companies put out just to add another notch to their gaming belts. Of course, i don’t want it to fail miserably because it gets bad word of mouth from too many people who haven’t a clue (and nope, uninformed opinions based on NOT touching the game don’t count). In English: personally, I like what Acquire has done here (and with previous entries in the series) and want to see how it’s all turned out, no matter who publishes it and under what name.

Granted, if it were titled “Mr. Pablum’s Peanut Butter Palace” or something similarly silly, I’d wonder who the hell was thinking up these game names and how the hell I could get a piece of THAT particular pie. I can think up dopey names all day, so I should at least be able to collect a paycheck for that…