Strange Bedfellow News

So who’s hooking up and having illicit dark corner interludes in the gaming industry? Why no other pair of harlots than Microsoft and Sony! I know, totes OMFG!

Calm down though, it’s not the long made up rumour of a combined next gen platform. Sony Electronics, who it should be noted handle stuff like TV’s and not the PS3, are strongly rumoured to be working with Microsoft to integrate the Kinect tech into the next generation of Sony televisions. Basically it’s a move to eliminate the concept of a remote all together from the technology of television, all controls will be handled by gestures and voice commands, although I’d presume it’s likely they’d still include a remote control for those disabled and unable to use gesture or voice commands, and also Sony Fanboi’s adamantly against using any MS tech.

So far this is only a rumour based on ‘sources close to the technology’ reported on in The Daily (http://www.thedaily.com/page/2011/11/23/112311-tech-news-kinect/). But it’s interesting, for all its critics the Kinect has garnered a lot of industry attention. But if it’s true I can imagine the next Sony company Christmas party will be awkward, the PS Move team will be hitting the dakari bar pretty hard.

I Am SUPER Pissed News

As has been previously established, I am a massive, MASSIVE, fan of Koei’s stalwart Dynasty Warriors series. I imported Dynasty Warriors 7 early to get it a month before I would have received a free review copy, that’s how crazy I am. I bought Dynasty Warriors 7 on Xbox because my kids have Xbox’s and I knew they’d want to play it, and also because I’m in a long standing gamerscore battle with fellow TAGS staff member Derek.

Now, the cycle of Dynasty Warriors games is as follows. First the new game comes out with some new features but often missing features from the last game, six months later we get the hefty Extreme Legends expansion adding a bunch of characters and weapons, plus the things that didn’t make it into the main release. A few months later we get the Empires expansion with its strategy component. The Extreme Legends expansions have been banging around since Dynasty Warriors 3, the Empires ones since 5. You haven’t really got the complete game until you’ve acquired these two supplements.

Imagine my furious surprise that despite the fact Dynasty Warriors 7 was multiplatform, the Extreme Legends expansion, released this week, is a PS3 exclusive.

What. The. Hell. Koei?

WHAT THE HELL! Seriously? You’re really doing this to me? After all we’ve shared? Conquering Hu Lao Gate again and again and again and again.

I understand the reasoning behind this; Dynasty Warriors does big business in Japan and very little outside of it. Likewise the PS3 is by far the dominant console in Japan, while Xbox’s are used as door stops and cheap building materials for government houses. But if you’re going to release a much loved franchise on multiple platforms, you should at least plan on releasing its expected expansions on multiple platforms.

If anyone needs me I’ll be in my bunk with a bottle of Kahlua and my Diao Chan pillow.

Unwanted Sequel News

Dante’s Inferno, the controversial and ultimately disappointing release from EA’s Visceral Studios, they of Dead Space fame, may be getting a sequel. Assassins Creed scribe Joshua Rubin strongly hints in his online bio that he was the sole writer for a major unnannaounced sequel from EA and Visceral, with the subtle hint of a link to a Dante’s Inferno commercial thrown in for good measure.

I didn’t play any further than the demo so I can’t comment on how good or bad I think the game is, or if Dante ever rescued his smoking hot naked girlfriend. But without the long shadow of God of War over the game maybe the sequel has a good chance for more life.

Firefall News

Here’s a new dev diary vid for Firefall. To me the game continues to look pretty cool. Just wish I had a decent PC to run it.

Local News

An indie studio based out of Perth Australia has just released their first game, an iPad title called Star Hammer Tactics. Developer Paul Turbett describes it as a tactical battle game than can be played in small bursts with battles lasting only about five to ten minutes.

Best of all Star Hammer Tactics is available as an initially free download giving you access to the first four missions. If you want the other 11 campaign missions you can lay down $2.99 for the lot. Star Hammer Tactics is in the app store right now.

Korean News

In South Korea the government has taken it upon itself to become everybody’s mother, enacting a so called Cinderella Law that bans anyone 16 and under from playing games online past midnight. All online game servers, including Xbox Live and PSN will block access to players identified as being under 16.

Pretty harsh, but we are talking about a country where people are found dead in front of their monitors, wearing adult diapers, after a week of straight gaming. For them game addiction is a genuine social issue as opposed to an entertainment news bogeyman.

Motor News

The test drive series returns next February with a game focusing on the illustrious Italian willy extender, the Ferrari. This is just a rumour for now, but a rumour backed up with images, that appeared on the Neogaf forums recently. The game will be titled Test Drive: Ferrari, some where a marketing department was paid money to come up with that title.

Scurvy News

I Am Alive, the long awaited survival adventure game about someone who is alive, while most other people are dead, will not get a PC release. Creative director Stanislas Mettra, has gone on record that dastardly pirates have basically scuttled any potential profit a PC release would earn.

Mettra even went so far as to say the game would need to sell over 50,000 copies on the PC to break even but thinks those figures are unlikely given the rate of piracy on the PC.

Return of a Hero News

If you’re over the age of 30 you may remember the adventures of an anthropomorphic egg character named Dizzy and his quest to protect the Yolkfolk. The platforming puzzle series was big during the Amiga 500 days and mainly only in the UK. It was a title I didn’t play much off; as with many games of the era it was insanely difficult (a little hard boiled even? Ah ha... ha... sorry).

Codemasters are working on a remake of Dizzy: Prince of the Yolkfolk for the iPad, iPhone and Android. I’ll be interested to see if they dumb down Dizzy for our quick save, health recharging generation.

Amalur Combat News

Every time I see something new for Kingdoms of Amalur I get ten percent more excited. Currently I’m at about 50% excitement levels for this game. Really I’m just pleased to have another chunky epic RPG on the horizon.

Here’s a video demonstrating the combat of Kingdoms of Amalur, what will apparently one of the games stand out features.

Mysterious Game News

Bioware and EA are keeping mum about the mysterious game attached to the above screenshot. The current rumours are that it’s either a new take on the Command and Conquer franchise or a reworking of abandoned Pandemic title Mercenaries Inc, an online multiplayer focused version of their sandbox air strike heavy Mercenaries titles.

An announcement is apparently forthcoming.

Not SOCOM News

Zipper interactive didn’t have such a good time with the SOCOM series lately, pretty much driving it out of all game relevance with a couple of mediocre to terrible instalments. Enter Unit 13 for the PS Vita which is TOTALLY NOT SOCOM, and looks kinda coolish.

BatSimpsons News

Why did no one tell me about Springfield Punx before!? The art blog of a man I’m going to call a staggering artistic genius, Dean Fraser. It’s a simple premise, deftly executed Dean takes popular characters and Simpsonises them for fun. His latest series has been the characters of Batman Arkham City, and they look pretty amazing. Check em out at the full site http://springfieldpunx.blogspot.com/

It Keeps Growing News

Skyrim is pretty big, pretty damn big, pretty damn crazy big. So was Oblivion though. But Skyrim, well, it seems Oblivion is in Skyrim, as in the country of Tamriel, the one bordering Skyrim to the south, is actually there in the game, just not accessible. It’s not completed texture and design wise, but it’s also pretty easy to see from the environments and landmarks that yes, it’s pretty much the whole of Tamriel. PC players are able to travel into ye olde Tamriel and check it out.

But what’s it there for, optimistic minds might think DLC, pessimistic minds might think just for reference. Either way, it’s pretty weird.

Super Update News

December 6 sees the update of the Xbox 360 dashboard adding such funky features as cloud storage for game saves and profiles, beacons and Facebook sharing, enhanced family settings (don’t know what that means), more voice commands and if you live in the UK, US and Canada (ha ha, suck it Australians!.. oh wait) Bing voice search (actually I think we can live without that).

Naturally the dashboard will also get prettied up and you’ll have to relearn how to do everything like a chronic amnesiac.

Gaga News

As part of half assed weight loss campaign I’m playing a lot of Kinect, especially Dance Central 2 which I enjoy far more than a fat 32 year old in his underpants should.

Several new tracks will soon be available from Lady Gaga, “Marry the Night” and “the Edge of Glory” for 240 MS points each. Now to Google what a Lady Gaga is, gimme a minute... OH MY GOD WHAT THE FLIP MAN!

Movie News

Because the first two were so awesome, Hollywood is rolling ahead with a new prequel film for Lara Croft tying into that upcoming franchise reboot game you just remembered about as you read this. Producer Graham King says that the film will be “a character piece”, presumably he means it will have characters in it as opposed to a montage of images Cremaster Cycle style .

Still no Halo movie.

More Next Gen Rumour News

More purported information on the next Xbox, apparently Microsoft enjoyed being despised for selling two models of the Xbox 360 way back in the day that they’re going to do it again. A bare bones model with none of the basically accepted requirements usually purchased by clueless parents, and the ‘proper model’ with specialty accessories, like a hard drive, will both be released.

It’s assumed by the mysterious sources that the bare bones model will serve as a kind of set top box/Netflix streaming device that can potentially be upgraded for proper gaming. So again, pretty much useless for Australians.

Trailer News

Here’s a super pretty trailer for Final Fantasy XIII-2 to remind you that the main issue with Final Fantasy games of late has not been that they’re super pretty.

EB Games Does Something Crappy News

I’m probably not going to get invited to the Australian EB Games expo again this year for this but...

The Canadian arm of EB Games has decided they’re not going to promote games as being used anymore for sale. Their press release language makes it sound like they’re getting out of the used game market, or at least it did to me at first glance. But oh no, that’s not what they’re doing.

What they’re actually doing is restickering and wrapping used games and putting them right up on the shelf next to new games. It’s not clear yet exactly how they’re doing this, but it’s hard to see a way that isn’t dastardly.

I’ve had issues with my local EB, specifically their price match policy that seems to change on a daily basis. But if they started doing something like this I think I’d have to just suck it up and order all my games online from now on.

The New Reality News

Did you know the PSP Vita had Augmented Reality games? You did? Well you know everything don’t you. Why don’t you just become the mayor of Knowitallville.

Now I’m mad. I was going to show you the video of the PSP Vita AR games, but now I might not. I’m going to post them up for other people to see though. Just not you!

That's it, see ya!