Warner Bros. inviting gamers into September’s closed beta for upcoming Monolith-developed shooter.
When Commissioner Gordon throws up the Bat signal, he’s seeking a meeting with the Caped Crusader. Warner Bros. is issuing its own Batman sign today, seeking gamers to sign up for the upcoming closed beta for Gotham City Impostors.
Gamers can now leave their information at the closed beta sign-up page and hope they are chosen for the trial period, which will start in September. It is unclear which platforms the beta will land on; however, the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC platforms are mentioned on the beta page.
Developed by Seattle-based F.E.A.R. creator Monolith, Gotham City Impostors is “Batman with guns,” according to its developer. However, as fans know, Batman doesn’t usually wield guns. Thus, Impostors casts players as citizens of Gotham City who are inspired by either Batman or The Joker.
Sony, no doubt in answer to Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade promotion, has taken the wraps off their own summertime game galla (three times fast). The PLAY program will launch later this month and give players the chance to score four of PSN’s hottest titles and a fifth for free.
Here’s the schedule of game goodness:
August 23: Street Fighter III Third Strike Online Edition ($15)
August 30: The Baconing ($15)
September 6: BloodRayne: Betrayal ($15)
September 15: Renegade Ops ($15)
And in exchange for purchasing all of the aforementioned titles, you will receive a voucher for a free copy of the oh-so-bad-ass looking Payday: The Heist, when it comes out later this year. Players can pre-order the PLAY titles (which also nets you some free themes), each purchase comes with some in-game goodies, and PSN Plus subscribers will save 20% off each title.
Leading the pack of XBLA releases is Fruit Ninja Kinect, which releases this Wednesday on Xbox Live. A motion-control-enabled version of the popular title for mobile platforms, Halfbrick’s latest version of Fruit Ninja challenges players to slice up airborne produce while avoiding bombs.
Yes, you heard me right. You can now now enjoy the thrilling excitement of playing a $1 iPhone game on your
$200 console. It’s no Angry Birds, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
European entertainment software regulation body reveals new motion-control game for the Xbox 360.
During the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Microsoft rolled out Kinect Fun Labs, which serves as a download hub for apps that make use of its motion-sensing peripheral. Additions to the Labs thus far include Googly Eyes, Kinect Me, Kinect Finger Tracking, and the recently added Kinect Sparkler. However, it appears the additions aren’t stopping there.
The USK–Germany’s entertainment software regulation body–recently rated what appears to be a new game called Kinect Fun Labs Air Band (first spotted by Siliconera). The listing indicates that Air Band will be a music game for the Xbox 360, but no further details are available. And as of press time, Microsoft had not responded to GameSpot’s request for comment.
Microsoft’s ambitions for the Kinect–which has shipped some 10 million unitsas of March–are evident. In addition to Kinect Fun Labs, Microsoft has expressed interest in implementing Kinect support into all first-party games and is targeting to release one Kinect-enabled Xbox Live Arcade game every month.
The next instalment of Blops multiplayer cash-for-maps, Rezurrection, is to be set on the moon. Activision claim that the DLC will feature an “enhanced zombie soundtrack”, whatever that means, but the core of it is a new “low-gravity” map set on Earth’s favourite orbiting rock. So Moon Zombies, then. The Windows version of the DLC will be available after 23rd of August (although precisely when isn’t clear) and the price isn’t yet clear either. This is a terrible news story. Must do better.
This concludes your Call Of Duty news for today. (Probably.)
A number of readers have written in to express concern about this clause in the terms of service for Electronic Arts’ new digital distribution, Origin. Here’s the key bit: “If you have not used your Entitlements or Account for twenty four (24) months or more and your Account has associated Entitlements, your Entitlements will expire and your Account may be cancelled for non-use.” The “entitlements” it’s talking about are “paid and free downloadable content, unlockable content, digital and/or virtual assets, rights of use tied to unlock keys or codes, serial codes and/or online authentication of any kind, in-game achievements and virtual or fictional currency.”
We’ve asked Electronic Arts for clarification on this, but it suggests you might lose DLC, achievements, and even your account if you don’t log on for two years. Not exactly the kind of permanence we’ve come to expect from certain online services, is it? I can think of quite a few services I’ve not logged into for two years, and I’d still expect all my stuff to be there. Is anyone aware of similar clauses in other distribution systems or online game services?
The morning brings a trio of horror-news about Diablo III. I’m outright bewildered about what Blizzard have done, and shuddering about the likely reaction in comments. I won’t muck around here, and instead shall just wade straight into the things that are probably going to end up being PC gaming’s biggest controversy of 2011.
1) The game requires a constant internet connection. It cannot be played offline.
2) Mods are “expressly prohibited.”
3) Items in the auction house are bought and sold for real-life money.
In the case of Pixel Blocked, it plays like a cross between Nintendo’s Picross series and any of the many Sokoban clones out there.
You’re given a grid of blocks you can rotate at a 90° angle and a gun thingy that shoots more blocks.
The object is to fill in the missing blocks on the grid with nothing out-of-place. The puzzles feature three different block types already in place in which to construct around.
Steel blocks are the easy ones to work with. Magnet blocks grab any blocks that pass directly by them. And finally crumble blocks break as soon as a block lands on them.
At E3 this year, THQ showed an impressive, if somewhat unrepresentative, demo of Metro: First Light. Instead of showing the game as it will play, they created an all-action sequence that shows off quite how remarkable the engine is. Rather than offering slow, spooky the atmosphere you’ll really be playing in. The first part of that video, broken up into three chunks for maximum annoyance, is below.
The trailer shows off how you can manipulate the environment to your advantage, bringing darkness to areas infected by light.
We thought we had seen the ultimate street brawling crossover when Street Fighter X Tekken hit the scene. We were wrong. In fall 2012, Street Fighter and Hello Kitty will finally be one, at least from a merchandising perspective.
Hello Kitty parent company Sanrio and Capcom are teaming up to mash-up Street Fighter and Japan’s favorite feline in a line of co-branded merchandise featuring Kitty and friends dressed up in iconic Street Fighter garb. The announcement was teased yesterday during the Capcom panel at the San Diego Comic-Con yesterday, when an image of Hello Kitty in a Chun-Li outfit briefly flashed on the screen. I’ve not seen the image, but I assume it looked something like the above picture, the work of artist and illustrator Karen Hallion.
While no specific merchandise has been announced, we can probably expect figures, t-shirts, pencil case, and whatever else Sanrio has sitting around its warehouse, waiting for cat heads to be stamped on them.
“Capcom has long admired Sanrio and their ability to create memorable and cherished lifestyle brands so it is a distinct pleasure to partner with them for this new cross-over line of merchandise,” said Joshua Izzo, Director of Licensing, Capcom Entertainment, Inc. “The combination of Street Fighter and Hello Kitty will offer fans a whole new way to experience our characters.”
I’ll reserve my excitement until there’s a video game that lets me punch that little jerk Badtz-Maru right in the face.
