E3 2012 Tomb Raider teaser trailer

The Tomb Raider reboot may have been  pushed back to 2013, but Square Enix is definitely going to showcase the game in E3 next month. Game Trailers, just like last year, will be  having a pre-E3 show blasting us tons of E3 exclusives to get us all hyped for this year's E3, and to start things off they have a Tomb Raider trailer to reveal next thursday(May 31) with actual gameplay. To get us all excited, they released a 30 second tease showing what to expect in the full trailer.

I'm liking where Crystal Dynamic is taking the Tomb Raider series. The setting, the game's concept of survival, and the change in Lara Croft in general. But actual gameplay footage is still rare. Gameplay demo of Tomb Raider was featured in last year's E3 showing gameplay for the first time, but wasn't enough to give you an idea on what you'll be doing throughout the whole game. The game is all about Lara Croft surviving and of course combat, which we still have not seen. So hopefully the trailer next week will fill that void.

Tomb Raider was pushed back to early 2013

Mass Effect 3's new DLC adds more content to multiplayer

Bioware continues to support Mass Effect 3's multiplayer by announcing the mode's second DLC. Best part of this announcement is that this comes out free for those that have redeemed the online pass included in the game. The DLC comes out on May 29 in all platforms(May 30 for PSN Europe).

Compared to the first free DLC released, this one brings a lot more content. Rebellion Pack adds two new map - Firebase Jade’s jungle reservoir and Firebase Goddess on Thessia. Three weapons were also included - Reegar Carbine, Krysae Sniper Rifle, and Cerberus Harrie. Together with six new playable characters to level up - Quarian engineer and infiltrator, Vorcha soldier and sentinel, and ex-Cerberus adept and vanguard. The pack will also include a new mission objective that happens on waves 3, 6, and 10.

Rebellion Pack will also add a new gear slot to further customize your character before pressing that deploy button.

This is pretty rare. Bioware giving content for free. But hey, were not complaining, keep it coming. The free DLC don't stop there for Mass Effect 3. Bioware is currently working on an extended cut of the campaign's ending and will also come as a free DLC.  Almost 90% of the Mass Effect community hated the how their beloved series ended and strongly suggests Bioware to make a change or extend the ending for closure. With enough push, it's actually happening now.

[Source: Bioware Blog]

Lost Planet 3 gameplay seen on Capcom Germany

Capcom Germany revealed first gameplay footage of Lost Planet 3. Its 4-minutes long and it's not looking like Lost Planet at all. Aside from the frozen world and aliens with glowing weak points, you have a game that feels more like Dead Space mixed with some Gears of War. The reveal trailer did show some promise. Hopefully they are hiding something to get us all excited for the third installment. But for now, I'm a bit worried on how this will turn out.

Take note that Lost Planet 3 isn't being developed in Capcom. Spark's Unlimited is working on it and is definitely giving the game a whole different feel. Not impressed one bit.

Lost Planet 3 might be released early 2013 for Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

[Source: Kotaku]

Aliens: Colonial Marines gets delayed to 2013, but at least a new trailer is out

Yet another title schedule for a 2012 has been delayed and pushed to 2013. Aliens: Colonial Marines is being developed at Gearbox Software and I guess it sort of makes sense.

With their more successful title, Borderlands 2 coming out in September, the move seems to just avoid the two title going against each other, or avoid going against other big titles this year. It's a bummer I'm sure if you've been waiting for yet another Aliens game, but think of it this way - Delay means a more polish product. This is pretty much the third title pushed out of the 2012 line-up and placed in early 2013. Check the new trailer below.

Aliens: Colonial Marines' new release date is February 12, 2013 for Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

Diablo 3 impressions - Day 1, error 37, and the lack of offline

Since last week, it's all about Diablo 3. Well, for me that is. All my free time has been heavily invested in this addicting Action RPG and I'm enjoying every minute of it. But every time I run Diablo 3, I'm always reminded how this game would have been better appreciated if we had the option to play without internet connection. This is definitely Diablo 3's biggest flaw and every time lag occurs reminds me of this fact.

I bought Diablo 3 a few weeks before May 15. Where I live, day one releases for video games are pretty unpredictable. You can't really trust that they will have a specific game on a specific date. So to avoid  calling and bugging store clerks if Diablo 3 copies have arrived, I just decided to buy the digital copy of the game. An online option if your just that lazy to the point you can't even take a 15 minute drive to pick your copy up. Was I that lazy? A bit, but the real incentive to purchase Diablo 3 was the opportunity to pre-install the game to be able to play at midnight on May 15. That and I was a bit worried of being more expensive in stores. But with me living in South East Asia and planning to play the game on the Americas servers(SEA servers), I had to wait until 3pm of May 15 for the servers go up. .

I was all set up. Chips on the side, game fully installed, friends on Skype also waiting to do our first playthrough as group. We just wanted 3PM to hit so badly. When 3PM came though, in just 15 minutes, excitement turned to frustration. It took us an hour and 30 minutes after 3pm to get in and create our first character. Error 37 -That was the error I was experiencing every time I tried to enter the servers. There were just that many people trying to enter the game. It felt like a bottle neck traffic jam, everybody trying to get inside this tiny door all at once. Blizzard said they prepared for it, obviously they weren't.

When everybody finally got a chance to enter the game. Problems did not stop there. Constant reports of horrible lag, connection issues, achievements disappearing(I experience this one), and many more left Diablo 3's launch a complete nightmare for most players. Thanks to all those issues, emergency maintenance were happening, leaving players unable to play. Servers tend to crash every once in a while. Problem after problem, in short - first few days wasn't pretty.

In all online games, issues like this occur, but this one was just bad. The whole game was actually being overshadowed on how bad Blizzard prepared for this launch. The last thing you want is to have fans that have been waiting for this release for years to finally battle server issues rather than butchering countless demons for loot.

Offline missing...

Some people prefer playing Diablo 3 solo, and it is just bizarre to experience lag spikes as if your playing an MMORPG. So why is there no offline feature? Blizzard claims that Diablo 3 is better played online, thus creating Diablo 3 as an online-only video game. It is also online only to fight piracy which is a load of bull since Starcraft 2 has an offline mode.

Some people say that it's because of the game's Auction House that will soon give the players the option to sell/buy gear with real money. Which by the way, will go crazy when it goes live. Players will definitely abuse it. But I still think it's doable since offline characters was separated from online characters in Diablo 2. It's possible that the lack of an offline mode is mostly because of the real money Auction house, since Blizzard is actually going to get a cut from every successful transaction. Crazy. Instant profit for Blizzard right there and is pretty much a win-win for both the player and Blizzard.

Diablo 3 having no offline feature is really the biggest issue right now. We are forced to go through all that lag and server maintenance whether you like it or not. The chances of doing well with a Hardcore character(Character with one life) is pretty slim at the moment thanks to the current lag in servers. Definitely will give Harcore a try but I won't last long that's for sure.

Aside from this game's online service being a pain, the game itself  is worth the wait. Maybe not for some hardcore D2 fans, But I'm definitely feeling that addiction way back when Diablo 2 was released. Will work on my full review of Diablo 3 soon But for now, must reach level 60.