Dragon Age: Origins Update: Meet Zevran!


In this latest Dragon Age: Origins character reveal, we meet up with one of the game’s more interesting personalities and yes, he can be part of your party, i hear. Check out the bio on this guy and check to see if you still have your wallet afterward…

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Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Goes Gold

Just a little bit longer… Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising has gone gold and is set to hit retail on October 6, 2009. Naturally, Codemasters is going all out with a bunch of cool stuff happening on the game’s official web site. Peek below for a few screens, boogie on over to the game’s site and go pre-order what’s looking to be one of the best modern tactical military games to date.

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Fallout 3 News: Broken Steel + More DLC on PS3, GOTY in October for All

PlayStation 3 owners can now commence with the dancing around the room stuff, as they finally get to catch up on what’s happening in the Wasteland their 360-owning buddies have been bragging about for some time now. Bethsoft has released the first in a series of download content packs for the PS3 version of Fallout 3, Broken Steel, for a paltry 10 caps (or $9.99).

In addition, the next few weeks should be a regular beefsteak mine bonanza for PS3 owners as more content becomes available. For those of you who’ve never played the game, have no broadband access or just want a physical product you can hug as you sleep or send off as a gift to your favorite person (Hey, I’m your new friend, right?), there’s also the upcoming Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition, set to hit retail on October 13, 2009. Details you want, Details you got – (cut, paste):

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Pinball Hall of Fame: The WIlliams Collection Rolls Onto PS3, 360

In the “It’s about time!” department: Crave has announced that Farsight Studios latest collection of classic pinball tables (in handy digital form), Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection is now available at retail. If you’re looking at that cover art and wondering “What’s pinball?”, well… that’s exactly WHY you need to spend the $40 on this one. Me, I grew up playing pinball (back in 1972, Gottlieb’s ‘Batter Up!’ was my introduction to the silver ball) and I was a big fan of FarSight’s PHOF: The Gottlieb Collection from a few years back, so this new set of silver ball oldies should be a real treat.

Anyway, here’s a bit of the press release:

“The Pinball Hall of Fame franchise was built on delivering the highest level of authenticity to the most discerning pinball players,” said Betsi Gijanto, executive vice president, Crave Entertainment. “With three brand new Williams tables, leaderboards, the 4-player multi-play option and high-definition graphics, Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection for Xbox 360 and PlayStation3 upholds that standard while providing gamers with everything they’d expect on the latest game systems. Value-priced at $39.99, Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection is destined to become a classic in many gamers’ libraries.”

True to the franchise, Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection, developed by FarSight Studios, offers 13 Classic Williams tables from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, including three new tables: Medieval Madness™, The Tales of the Arabian Nights™ and No Good Gophers™. In addition, the award-winning franchise is marking its debut on Xbox 360 and PlayStation3 with online leaderboards and trophies, multi-player for up to four players and HD Compatibility (1080i and 1080p). The game also features expanded table goals and bonus features throughout.
Rated “E10+,” (Everyone 10+) by the ESRB, Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection is now available at major retailers nationwide for a suggested retail price of $39.99

– go buy a copy already!

Review: The Beatles: Rock Band

Platform: PS3/Xbox 360/Nintendo Wii

Developer: Harmonix Music Systems

Publisher: Electronic Arts

# of Players 1 – 6 (Online: 2 – 6)

Rating: T (Teen)

Official Site

Score: A

You don’t need to be a die-hard Beatles fan, hardcore Rock Band groupie or even a blazing fast Guitar Hero to appreciate The Beatles: Rock Band. Harmonix has come up with a supremely accessible Magical Mystery Tour through some of the best of the Fab Four’s catalog and thanks to the stellar presentation, this is one Ticket to Ride that will leave you Feeling Fine up to Eight Days a Week. If you’re a Rock Band fan looking for the game to be a big step forward, you may find Something lacking. The experience isn’t quite the Revolution you’re probably expecting, but after A Hard Day’s Night of rocking, you’ll find the game has its ways of making you Twist and Shout ’til the cows come home.

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Update: Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Challenge!

I hate these darn coded messages. Either I get a rock thrown through a window here, a message-toting pigeon pooping on my windowsill or a big headache after someone conks me on the head and i wake up afterward with top-secret game info taped to my forehead.

Anyway, this latest dispatch came in from Codemasters. Yes, it was in code, and as I’m no master, I had to have some kid down the hall translate this. Cost me five bucks and when he found out I write a game blog, I almost went deaf listening to his whining for cheats and tips and such on games i don’t even play. Darn kids…

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Review: WET

Platform: PS3/Xbox 360

Developer: Artificial Mind & Movement (A2M)

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

# of Players: 1

Rating: M (Mature)

Official Site

Score: B

The best way to enjoy Bethesda’s new action game, WET is with tongue planted firmly in cheek, controller planted firmly in hand and butt planted firmly on couch. The game is a fun, funky mash-up of cinematic influences – Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, John Woo and more than a few others all get riffed on here and for the most part, it works perfectly. Despite the metric tonnage of “grindhouse” gimmickry, the game manages to click from the moment you press START and the fireworks begin. With its over-saturated color palette layered with an intentionally scratchy graphics filter, actual old movie intermission reel clips and outrageous, bloody arcade-style action throughout, the visual overkill outdoes itself over and again as the levels fly past.

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Agetec & UFO Announce Way of the Samurai 3 for PS3 and 360

In a unique co-publishing agreement, Way of the Samurai 3 is set to hit stores on October 13, 2009 thanks to the fine folks at Agetec (PS3 version) and UFO (Xbox 360 version).
According to the press release, Acquire’s latest entry in the ongoing swordplay saga is an all-new Action/RPG that promises a “completely new, highly refined style of gameplay, a rich weapon crafting system, beautifully detailed graphics and a deep branching storyline that that will unfold multiple endings based upon player’s actions.”

With that in mind, here’s a look at the game’s story (click the pic to enlarge and read) and characters (ditto) as well as a nice set of screenshots and a pair of CG stills from what looks like the intro movie. In addition, an exclusive iPhone/iPod Touch app has also been announced – see below the jump for all the  details…

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Natsume News: Afrika Goes Gold


Until now, Natsume hasn’t published a PlayStation 3 title, but that’s about to change as its upcoming PS3 exclusive, Afrika has gone gold and should be available soon. I remember this photo safari simulation as being one of the earliest PS3 games announced (through some amazing screenshots in Japanese game magazines a while back) and as you can see throughout this post, it still looks pretty darn good.

Anyway, here’s the press release, a bunch of screens and CG renders. Given the success of Natsume’s family-friendly Harvest Moon games as well as the company’s status among gamers of all stripes and a publisher of well-crafted niche games, this one might be a bit of a sleeper hit when it’s released.

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Fairytale Fights Pre-Order T-Shirt Gets The DAF Seal of Approval…

Ah, my ladies in action! Remember, I DID say this one wasn’t for the kiddies…

Gamestop also has an exclusive trailer on the pre-order page (link below), so take a peek that way if you still haven’t seen the game running yet – it’s pretty spectacular stuff.

The GameStop Fairytale Fights pre-order program is available now through October 26, 2009 at GameStop. Please visit your local GameStop for more information and incentive details. Incentive items will be available at the retailer at time of pick-up starting October 27, 2009.

Fairytale Fights will be released on October 27, 2009 in North America and October 23, 2009 in Europe on the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. Fairytale Fights will be made available on PC in 2010.