Dragon Age: Inquisition Gameplay Trailer: October Will Be A Nice Month To Take Off, I’d Say…

DA_I_posterWell, now. BioWare and EA want you to know that you probably should take October off. Well, not ALL of October nor ALL of you reading this post, mind you. However, if you own a decent gaming PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 Xbox 360 or Xbox One and happen to also be a fan of epic-length role-playing games… yeah, start making plans, people. Dragon Age Inquisition rolls out in North America on October 7 and in Europe on October 10, meaning you have a week during the beginning of the month to get your things in order and prepare yourself for whatever script you’re going to run on your boss to get out of that job for as long as possible (while still collecting a paycheck, of course). Or you could just move whatever vacation time to October in order to spend that time (and a lot less money) buried in all that wonderful hard work on your system of choice.

Naturally, there will be standard and collector’s editions of this one and of course, the inescapable pre-order bonuses and DLC that add to the experience (and help beef up the games sales figures early on for some guaranteed big numbers). I still prefer walking into a game shop to buy physical product, so I wish there were a way to get that DLC, as I happen to have a crappy online connection and other than the Wii U (which has a screen on its GamePad), no home console is built to lug around to a wi-fi hotspot to get games, game content and updates, which is too bad. Of course, this game isn’t appearing on Nintendo’s beleaguered console at all, which is also too bad. Anyway, if this gameplay trailer is any indication, DA:I will be a pretty spectacular experience (to put it mildly!)…

Random Art: Making Your Monday Better Since, Oh About 3:37pm…

the right angle 

Hiding Place IIFEH. So, I log onto PSN to download the games I bought this weekend (two bucks well spent) and WHAMMO! Yep, PSN is down for maintenance. In the middle of the afternoon. On a Monday. Bleah. I did get some good news in the mail in the form of my FruitChia bar shipment arriving, but as there’s a replacement mail carrier while my regular guy is on vacation, the package was shoved and squeezed into my mailbox instead of hand delivered to my hot little hands. I didn’t see her woman-handling my goods, but I happened to drop downstairs as she finished up and was closing the mailboxes so I know who to give a glare to the next time I have to perform surgery on something packed into my mailbox in order to get the darn thing out. Anyway, whee- more trees to ogle, this time more or less complete. Hey, someone has to have a good day on this otherwise goofball Monday, right?

Raiden IV: OverKill Coming To PSN April 26: Itchy Trigger Fingers Will Get You Nowhere…

 
Why? Because you’ll stop to scratch them and *BOOM!*, your little spaceship gets blasted to powder and you’re screaming at the TV that the game “cheats” while jumping up and down on that expensive controller. Anyway, UFO Interactive is bringing this arcade gem to PSN in its complete form featuring the brand new OverKill Mode with new mission stages and a revamped scoring system along with all the previously released DLC items. If all that makes some kind of sense, you’re grinning uncontrollably right about now. If it doesn’t, well, hmmmm… I offer Video Gamespeak to English translation services at the low rate of a dollar a word.

Big PSN Flash Sale! 34 Games, 99 Cents Each! Stock Up NOW Or Miss Out!

PSN Flash Sale 
Yeah, I’ve gone and used a few too many exclamation points above, but this is a super deal no one with a PSN account should pass up. Sony is letting loose some more great deals in this PSN Flash Sale and you don’t even need a PlayStation Plus account to take advantage of this offer. However, the catch is this sale ends on Monday at 7am Pacific time so you’ll need to snap up what you want FAST. My bet is PSN takes a hit on its servers thanks to these deals, but we’ll see.

Anyway, here’s the complete lineup of titles with their original prices (if you’re too tired to click that link):

Back to the Future: The Game – Full Series $0.99 $19.99
Blast Factor $0.99 $9.99
Braid $0.99 $14.99
Crash Bandicoot $0.99 $5.99
Crash Bandicoot 2 $0.99 $5.99
Crash Bandicoot 3: WARPED $0.99 $5.99
Crash Commando $0.99 $9.99
CTR: Crash Team Racing $0.99 $5.99
echochrome ii $0.99 $9.99
Everyday Shooter (PS3) $0.99 $9.99
Everyday Shooter (PSP | PS Vita) $0.99 $7.99
Gex: Enter the Gecko $0.99 $5.99
Gotham City Impostors $0.99 $14.99
Jurassic Park: The Game – Full Season $0.99 $19.99
Plants vs Zombies $0.99 $10.49
Red Faction 2 PS2 Classic $0.99 $9.99
Red Faction PS2 Classic $0.99 $9.99
Red Faction: Battlegrounds $0.99 $9.99
Retro City Rampage (PS Vita) $0.99 $9.99
Retro City Rampage (PS3) $0.99 $9.99
Retro/Grade $0.99 $9.99
“Sam & Max” The Devil’s Playhouse $0.99 $19.99
Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage! $0.99 $5.99
Spyro: The Dragon $0.99 $5.99
Spyro: Year of the Dragon $0.99 $5.99
Stuntman: Ignition PS2 Classic $0.99 $9.99
Super Stardust HD $0.99 $9.99
Tales of Monkey Island $0.99 $19.99
Tokyo Jungle $0.99 $14.99
Urban Trial Freestyle (PS Vita) $0.99 $9.99
Urban Trial Freestyle (PS3) $0.99 $14.99
When Vikings Attack (PS Vita) $0.99 $9.99
When Vikings Attack (PS3) $0.99 $9.99
World Gone Sour $0.99 $4.99

Uh-huh. PS1 and PS2 Classics, PSP, Vita and PS3 games all up for grabs in a crazy deal that even if you despise digital, is very tough to pass up. I have a bunch of these already as physical copies, but a few of the games I don’t are tempting me a buck at a time.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel? Wait, What? GEARBOOOOOOOOOOX!

 
Well, actually, this is 2K Australia’s fault, but still, I blame Gearbox for creating the unstoppable juggernaut that is the Borderlands franchise (one of the only shooters I’ll still play because of the wild, stupid fun to be had and SO many millions of weapons to discover and collect). Wow. Okay, I ignored this news earlier at first because I’d just woken up and thought it was either a late April Fool’s joke or just a joke, period. Ah ha ha… the joke was on me. So, this is happening and it’s coming SOON. As in this Fall 2014 to Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Yeah, THAT’S RIGHT, dammit – the “OLD” consoles are getting this BEFORE the new ones because 2K Games is SMART and knows there are still more millions of you (and me) out there who haven’t committed to one of the new systems just yet. They’re getting my money (again!) for sure…

Wolfenstein “Nowhere To Run” Trailer: But If You Tried Walking, You’re Very Much Dead!

 
Although I’m quite bored with the FPS genre, I’m keeping an eye on these Wolfenstein: The New Order updates because the story is pretty intriguing and Machine Games seems to have made series hero B.J. Blazkowicz into more of a character with an actual personality instead of just a one man army and part time bullet sponge, tossed him into a world that’s actually an interesting place (well, an interesting place full of Nazis in an alternate future where they WON World War II) and has you trying to put a stop to the menace using (what else) extreme prejudice. So Blazkowicz isn’t going to be getting the Nobel Peace Prize at all, but he will be taking out a LOT of trash by feeding it a lead and other ordinance diet until he’s whittled things down to the more manageable size of zero (or something close to it depending on whether or not this one’s got a sequel idea brewing).

Okay, the one man army thing is still in effect, but at least it’s well done so far. Wolfenstein: The New Order, will be available on May 20, 2014 (and in Europe on May 23) on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Pre-ordering gets you into the upcoming DOOM beta test, so slap down a deposit on this one and prepare to see another classic shooter get the reboot treatment…

Dark Souls II TV Spots: Oh, The Places You’ll Go (Just To Die Over and Over)…

Heh. I get a phone call during The Walking Dead finale from a friend asking me “So, what’s this Dark Souls II all about?” right after this ad airs. Whee! Of course, I had to tell him to ring me back in an hour or so or just wait for a quick email. He’s not a gamer at all, so I’ll give Namco Bandai props for getting an ad out that gets people not into the hobby all hot and bothered. Amusingly enough, I actually don’t have a copy of the game yet – it’s in my backlog of stuff to grab for the PS3 once I make a bit more money. I’ve played a bit of it already thanks to walking another friend through the first two or so hours of the game as he grabbed it on launch day and was having a hard time because yep, it was his first time playing something that difficult. Anyway, I got to play and he got to keep the character I made, so that’s a fine trade off, I’d say. Naturally, he got the poor guy I created killed a few times since, but my tech support ends when I leave the premises. Otherwise, I charge a flat fee (and it’s not cheap), heh…

Alien Isolation Gets October 7, 2014 Release Date

AI_GEN PACK FRONTWow, I need to pay more attention (Part XVIX), as I didn’t know that Alien Isolation was being made for the PS3 and Xbox 360 as well as PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Well, now… that changes things up considerably as I can live with the game on the PS3 as long as it’s got a solid frame rate and has the same content as the new-gen versions. Sure, I like fancy graphics and all, but my PS3 still gets a load of usage and I’m not about to knock Sega or The Creative Assembly for thinking smart and realizing from the outset that casting a wider net on this game means MORE people will play it if it gets great scores and they still don’t have a new system in their homes. Granted, as a system SELLER, it’ll work quite well indeed for those looking for a reason to snap up that nice new console or upgrade their gaming rig. On the other hand, those who can’t buy into the newer systems yet will appreciate not being let out of what could be the best Alien game to date. As usual, we shall see… but as I’ve said previously, I trust the CA to do this one up right (and then some)…

Bound By Flame Gameplay Trailer: Could This Be My New BBF? We Shall See…

Spiders’ upcoming action/RPG gets a quick gameplay showing and it’s looking pretty good so far. Granted, devotees of the many schools of RPG combat who don’t like this sort of hack/slash gameplay are perhaps a little skeptical and cranky, but I say hold off on the “it’s not realistic” complaints as it’s a fantasy setting and characters and a little balletic license is fine for a game like this. A dash of God of War and hints of The Witcher and a few other inspirations aside, Bound By Flame could turn out to be a decent little sleeper hit that grabs genre fans by the short ones when it drops into stores on May 9, 2014 (two days after my birthday, so everyone get me a copy!) for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and PC. I’ve got my eye on you, game – don’t let me down!

Wolfenstein The New Order: Meanwhile, On A Train To Berlin… Heißen Kaffee und neue Freunde…

Well, now. So much for a peaceful train ride through a rather unique version of post WWII Germany, hmmmmm? This in-engine scene from Machine Games’ upcoming Wolfenstein: The New Order made me want a cup of strong coffee, but not the headache that comes later on from caffeine withdrawal. It doesn’t quite feel like a big mech stomping on my head, but I’d rather have a headache from one over the other. If I’m not mistaken, Tommy Tordsson Björk (see below!) wrote the dialog in this scene. That Frau Engel is a real witch (with a capital “B”) isn’t she? Granted, I’m all for strong female characters in games, folks… it’s the Nazi part that kind of bends my straw a bit. But hey, the best villains are the ones you love to hate, so she’s added to the my list of characters to keep an eye on.

Remember, Wolfenstein: The New Order, will be available on May 20, 2014 (and in Europe on May 23) on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. As an added bonus, pre-ordering the game gets you invited to access the DOOM beta