New Dark Souls Trailer

A new trailer for Dark Souls, sequel to Demon's Souls, is out showing some new gameplay footage and a release date. Not an exact day was given but the game will be out on October. This game will be frustrating and amazing at the same time. 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDxQrJnbOfg&feature=player_embedded]

Hitman Absolution Teaser Trailer

A teaser video of  a new Hitman game is out letting us know that it's coming. It's called Hitman Absolution and they are stating that it will be a completely different experience than previous games of the series. 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShOudDoIt-U]

Not that much information yet about the game but expect Square Enix to show the game on this year's E3.  The game's site is also up but only provides the teaser video above.

Game director Tore Blystad is quoted as saying, “For the first time we are taking Agent 47 on a personal journey which allows us to explore other parts of the Hitman fantasy. This is both a familiar and yet significantly different experience from other Hitman games; something our silent assassins will relish, as will all those new to the Hitman world.”

Hitman Absolution will be released for PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

[Source: Gameinformer]

Sign up for the Spy Party Early-Access Beta

Chris Hecker, the man behind the genius that is Spy Party, has just tweeted a link to sign up for the early-access beta of the game.

I’m really excited to finally open up SpyParty playtesting to people outside of my local friends and the few hundred folks who get to play the game at public showings!  For me, this will mean I can balance and tune the game to the intense player-skill depth I’m striving for, using real data and feedback from a large number of players over a long period of time.  For you, it means you finally get to play SpyParty without standing in line at a show, and you can have a real and meaningful impact on the game’s development; you will get to see and feel new features and changes to the game as they happen, instead of just reading about them on the blog or on a news site.  I’m pretty sure we are both going to have a blast!

A lot of the details of how the Early-Access Beta will operate are still in flux, but I’m now accepting sign ups so you can reserve your place in line.  I’ll start inviting batches of players into the program over the next few months as I scale the game’s backend servers to deal with the load.

This is going to be a paid beta program. It doesn’t cost anything to enter your email address below and confirm your sign up, but I need to figure out scalability and balance issues, so please only sign up if you’re planning on paying for the Early-Access Beta when your email invite arrives.  I want to be able accurately predict how many people will enter the beta program from the number of sign ups I get and invites I send.

The current plan is it will cost $15 for beta access.  This will let you play the beta as much as you want as I update it over SpyParty’s development, and also get you a copy of the finished game when it’s released on PC.  I still have a lot of work to do in figuring the details out, so this stuff could change, but $15 is what you should expect when you get your invitation.  The game requires a Windows PC right now (but not forever).  The hardware requirements are fairly low at this point in development, so any 3D graphics card from the past few years should be okay.

If you want to follow SpyParty’s development but don’t think you’d pay for the Early-Access Beta, that’s cool! Instead of signing up below, please follow the game on the blog feed, Twitter, and Facebook.  This list will not be used for SpyParty news updates, it will only be used for beta invitations.

SpyParty is a long way from the finish line, so there are going to be lots of bugs, and balance issues, and your favorite feature will get nerfed, and there will be downtime, and resets, and the general misery that accompanies any game in development.  That said, peopleseemtoreallylikeplayingthegame even in its current state, so I hope you will too!

You can sign up for the beta here.

http://www.spyparty.com/beta-sign-up/ http://twitter.com/spyparty http://www.facebook.com/SpyParty

Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Ep. 5 - Kitana & Mileena (Part 2)

Episode 5 of Mortal Kombat Legacy is here and we get an awesome fight scene between Kitana and Mileena, the best fight scene so far, in my opinion at least.

Animated segments are again present in this episode. I don't really have much of a problem with these animated segments since this is probably the only way they can show off a lot of gore without being too disturbing and without people flipping out on youtube and flagging the video.

Sit back, relax and enjoy the cat fight between the two sisters. I wish they picked a hotter Kitana though.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4QRSbf9H5M&w=640&h=390]

Review - Dissidia 012 [Duodecim] Final Fantasy

The battle between Order and Chaos rages on in this portable prequel to 2009's RPG/Fighter/Brawler Dissidia Final Fantasy. With new characters, various improvements and an added story sequence, will this be worth another trip into the endless cycle of battle?

Dissidia 012 [Duodecim] Final Fantasy

Developer: Square Enix

Publisher: Square Enix

Platform: Sony PlayStation Portable

Rating: T for Teen

Release: 3/22/2011

When you hear Final Fantasy and fighting game, you usually don't put two and two together. Having said that, the thought of a fighting game having heavy RPG elements would not be possible. Square Enix has proved our little minds wrong with their Final Fantasy fighting game on the PSP.

Story: The goddess of order, Cosmos, and the god of discord, Chaos, are locked in conflict and both sides have summoned warriors from the Final Fantasy multiverse to fight as their champions. During the 12th cycle of this conflict, beings known as Manikins, who take the form of memories of the summoned warriors, have surfaced and are continiously growing in number putting the side of Cosmos at a disadvantage. A few of Cosmos' champions have banned together to find the source of these Manikins and put a stop to their seemingly infinite numbers.

The story may not be for everyone but is still very Final Fantasy and fans of the franchise will appreciate it as it still retains a lot of cinematic flare the series is known for. You might find some significant plot holes in the story but Reports (side missions and extra cutscenes) in the game try to fill those gaps in by showing events that lead up to the 13th cycle. The 13th cycle being the main story in the 1st Dissidia game.

Its not everyone's cup of tea but hey, its flashy and to me that makes up for it.

Gameplay: The action in this game is a mix of 3rd person brawling and heavy RPG development. Each character can level-up, learning new abilities and equip different items and accessories to boost stats.

There are two main types of attacks, the brave attack and the HP attack. Each character starts off with a base brave value, attacking your opponents brave will reduce theirs and add to your own. You brave value corresponds to how much HP damage you can deal to your opponent. Giving enough damage to reduce your opponent's brave to below zero puts them in a break state. Being in a break state make you the wimpiest character in terms of attack and defense, you basically have no attack power until your brave recovers to its base number. Putting your opponent in a break state awards you with their bravery and the stage bravery.

Sounds complicated but the basic gist of it is that you work to deal a lot of damage to build up your brave and use that brave to deal HP damage on your opponent. This unique fighting system makes a very intense back and forth between characters in battle and with the game having such a fast pace, you are always on your toes.

This game can ask a lot of precision, especially if you are facing strong opponents who have a higher level. What type of move to use, when to use it, when and where to dodge or block and landing that counter hit can be a thrilling experience. Summons are also present in the game and have various effects that can turn the tide of battle completely around.

This may all be very overwhelming at first but the game eases you in with a well explained tutorial when you first boot the game and picture tutorials that you can view multiple times in the options menu to a point where most of the motions you will be performing will be second nature.

Features: With the full roster of the 1st game and 9 new characters added in the second game, I'd say that's a pretty rich selection of characters. Every character feels unique and different enough to cater to any kind of style you like. From the straight forward power fighter to the trap setting magic user to a combination of both. Experimenting with different characters just adds to the fun.

A team battle system has been added to the game which lets you choose 5 characters to face off against another 5 in either a tournament style or a round-robin style. This is a great way to farm experience as each character in your party gains the experience of the character you are currently using.

Another new feature which I think will play a significant difference in the play style of the 1st game is the addition of a new assist system. You build up your assist bar by performing and chaining attacks. The assist bar consists of 2 segments, the use of 1 segment is for brave attacks and HP attacks cost 2. Depending on who you choose your assist character to be, where your opponent is on the battle field and what type of attack you wish to use can play a huge role in your strategy and can change up the game in a great amount. Aside from using your assist character to attack, you can also substitute your character with when you're in a bind. It may lock your assist bar for a set period of time but that's better than taking that huge 9999 brave damage right?

I can go into the other changes and additions but to notice and appreciate them, you'd have to have played the 1st game as much as I did.

Multiplayer: Multiplayer hasn't changed as much as in the 1st game, you can partake in 1 on 1 battles via adhoc, trade ghost data and friend cards. Still no online play but really, who plays online on their PSP?

Bottom line is I think this game is still awesome despite having a somehow forced story and retains majority of the same mechanics as the 1st game. I loved the 1st game but the additions and changes made in the 2nd game are more than enough for me to acknowledge Duodecim as a worthy addition to my PSP library. Oh and did I mention, when you beat the 012 story you unlock the revamped story of the 1st game?

Score: 95 / 100

Pros: Very rich varied roster

Ridiculous amount of content

updates, changes and additions are for the better and add to the overall game

graphics are still top notch

you can still cheat the special day on the calendar

Cons: story can get very confusing

grinding is still required

Feral Chaos is an annoying bitch

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1irjosrI6g&w=560&h=349]

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTWNthnswWE&w=560&h=349]