Hunted: The Demon’s Forge – Around Dark Corners “Making of Video”
Bethesda have been kind enough to provide us with a “making of video” for the upcoming ‘Hunted: The Demon’s Forge’. In the video, you’ll find inXile Entertainment discussing sound design in the game. You can watch the video after the break!
APB: Reloaded Open Beta Starts Today
With APB being already delayed, last week in-fact due to a connection bug. GamersFirst have posted on the APB: Reloaded blog to say that the problems have been fixed. The beta should now continue and the open beta is set to kick off today.
To make sure you don’t miss it make sure you are online at 6:00am PST/ 9:00am EST/ 14:00 UK and 15:00 CEST. You can also find out more on the APB: Reloaded Twitter account, and their Facebook page.
Get $10 of Skyrim with Oblivion
The highly rated fantasy role-playing epic The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion sets its eyes on a re-release in June.
Online retailers have started to list the 5th anniversary edition of the game. Nitro Beard have to take the credit on the great find.
It includes:
- Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game Of The Year Edition.
- Collector’s Edition Content (map, ‘Making Of’ DVD with an added Skyrim trailer).
- A $10 Off Coupon (redeemable at any retailer, nationwide) for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
According to the site the game will also come with a steelbook and with slip cover. A June PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 release is planned.
EA Reveals Details of Battlefield 3: Limited Edition Pre-Order Pack
With Battlefield 3 deploying this November, Electronic Arts has announced a limited edition of the eagerly sought after First-Person shooter. The Battlefield 3 Limited Edition: Physical Warfare Pack is now available for pre-order exclusively at GAME and gamestation UK.
The Physical Warfare Pack comes with an exclusive arsenal of weaponry to claim superiority against your foes, including;
- Type 88 light machine gun with bipod
- SKS sniper rifle flash suppressor
- First day access to the DAO-12 semi-automatic shotgun. Armor-piercing flechette ammo is also included.
As well as these exclusive weapons, the Physical Warfare Pack will also include the Back to Karkand digital expansion pack; four of the most popular multiplayer maps from Battlefield 2, including; Strike at Karkand, Gulf of Oman, and Sarqi Peninsula, all beautifully re-created by the impressive Frostbite 2.0 engine.
Want to hear some more good news? Well, the Battlefield 3: Physical Warfare Pack comes at no extra charge for anyone who pre-orders exclusively at game.co.uk or gamestation.co.uk right now.
Battlefield 3 will be released this autumn for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Portal 2: The Final Hours Now On Steam
Have you finished Portal 2 and want to know more about the game? Well if your willing to pay for it you can Portal 2 – The Final Hours is now available on Steam as well as iPad. It’ll set you back £1.49/$2.00
Geoff Keighley has created the 15,000 word multimedia experience/interactive documentary/digital book was created during Portal 2′s development.
Geoff Keighley was a fly on the wall during the production of the game and scrounged together the dramatic story brought to life by exclusive photos, videos, interviews, interactive experiences, and other surprises.”
Below we have found out some details about The Final Hours of Portal 2
- That Portal 2 actually began as a prequel to the first game without portals or GLaDOS.
- The Directed Design Experiments created after Half-Life 2: Episode 2, including video of a never-before-disclosed project, Two Bots, One Wrench.
- How the story of Portal 2 evolved during development. See images and read surprising details.
- How it worked with Jonathan Coulton to create “Want You Gone,” the closing song to the game.
The interactive bits from the iPad version are also intact for the Steam release, albeit with less fingerprints/smudging. You’ll get to:
- Play with portals in an interactive diagram where you learn how portals work.
- Muck about with a 360 degree panorama photos of the Valve office and design labs.
- Listen to the songs that inspired the Portal 2 development team.
- Hear Jonathan Coulton’s Portal 2 song in various stages of development.
- Puppet Wheatley in an interactive experience
- Destroy Aperture Science by wiping your fingers over the screen (we assume you’ll need a touch screen for that)
- Interact with fans and voice your opinion via polls and a feedback form.
Looks like I will be spending £1.49 this weekend.
Evidently hell had no vacancies for Hellgate: London
The history of Hellgate: London is a bit of sob story. It was a wildly ambitious Diablo style PC dungeon crawler with a very heavy emphasis on online multiplayer that was launched WAY back in good ol’ 2007 by Flagship Studios. Unfortunately it was considered by many to be somewhat of a mess, with critics lambasting everything from the monotonous gameplay to the overly complicated subscription model. Of course this is usually bad news for any developer, but for Flagship it was a total disaster; they’d taken out at least one very large lone in order to fund the title’s development and maintenance, and now the repayments were quickly starting to catch up with them. With their only published project being a total failure they had no way to pay any of it back, leaving them no choice but to close their doors in 2008 and give up Hellgate to Korean publisher HanbitSoft as collateral.
But after a very long hiatus Hellgate: London is set to return as a “free to play” title in North America this June with HanbitSoft now taking the helm. They’ve actually be running the game for several years over in Korea under the rather appropriate name of Hellgate: Resurrection, but this will be the first time English speaking players will be able to experience the online component since the western servers went down in 2009.
I don’t know about you, but my big question is simply WHY? I’m all for games being given a second chance and all, but coming from someone who played Hellgate almost 4 years ago I can’t really say it was a game that’s actually worth saving, and judging by a lot of the reviews on Metacritic I’m far from being alone in that opinion. I suppose some of the ideas in there were neat and all, but without a significant shake up I can’t see it being being that successful in the incredibly crowded free-to-play market. That said, it’s a very complicated sector of the market where crazy stuff happens all the time, so I guess only time (and a bunch of ridiculously expensive microtransaction offers) will tell.
Push-Start: Our Most Anticipated Games to still come out in 2011
Up to now, 2011 has already seen an awesome stack of games lining our retail shelves; Little Big Planet 2, Killzone 3, Dead Space 2, Portal 2, Mortal Kombat, Crysis 2… the list goes on. But we are not even half-way through the year, and there are so many more games to look out for in 2011. And lets not forget, we still have this years E3 to look forward to.
So, each member of the Push-Start team have taken the liberty of giving you their top three most anticipated games to be released in 2011.
Daniel Williamson::
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PS3/360/PC)
“I remember last year how much I was blown away by the trailers, and ever since just got more excited, especially when all the gameplay footage started coming out. The universe looks so vast and complex, I cannot wait to explore it. As a game that allows players the choice of what plan of action to take, Deus Ex: Human Revolution looks like a title that will challenge me on a strategic level as well as delivering one hell of a storyline, not only that, it looks amazing.”
- Batman: Arkham City (PS3/360/PC)
“Batman: Arkham Asylum for me was everything that I ever wanted from a Batman game and more… so much more. And Arkham City is setting itself up to be better in every respectable way. This time set in Gotham City, there will be so much more to explore in this ultra-dark adventure. This mixed with brand new enemies, new gadgets and abilities, and everything that made Arkham Asylum so good!? Damn right I’m looking forward to donning the Batsuit once more.”
- Battlefield 3 (PS3/360/PC)
“Like most others, I am a huge fan of Call of Duty. But after so long, I want something else to come out of the woodwork and put COD in its place, and I think Battlefield 3 can defiantly do that. After the jaw-dropping gameplay footage being released, thanks to the brand-new Frostbite 2.0 engine, no one can deny that we could potentially have a brand new king on the FPS throne. My favourite multiplayer ever was Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and if Battlefield 3 even comes close would be incredible. The developers seem pretty confident that it’ll destroy the competition, and after what has been seen, why shouldn’t we?”
Daniel Richard Pepper::
- Uncharted 3 (PS3)
“I am looking forward to Uncharted 3 because the previous two titles were amazing; the use of level design and character design has shown what the PS3 is capable of.”
- Driver: San Francisco (PS3/360/PC/Wii/3DS)
“I am huge fan of the PS1 classic and I am very happy for its return. I just hope it stays simple like it was keeps the classic duke of hazard style gameplay.”
- Battlefield 3 (PS3/360/PC)
“I am most looking forward to the Call of Duty Killer, Battlefield 3.I have enjoyed both of the previous titles (so has my dad) and we both play competitive online and it has been one title we have both spoken loads about and what we have seen so far it looks amazing.”
Lewis Williams::
- Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS (3DS)
“An absolute classic revitalized with modern graphics, 3D visuals and extra content, all on the go? Yes, please!!”
- Gears of War 3 (360)
“Final game in story arc which will prove itself to be pretty darn epic. One shall stand, one shall fall. Not so much looking forward to the multiplayer but, shall be an epic game nonetheless.”
- Batman: Arkham City (PS3/360/PC)
“Only just beat Arkham Asylum earlier this year and was completely blown away about how engrossing the game was and how good it looked. Combat was a pain at times but hopefully that will be worked on in this highly anticipated sequel!”
Gary Sanderson::
- L.A Noire (PS3/360)
“This has been on my radar for a long time. I am a huge fan of Heavy Rain, and I can see this taking the interactive drama genre forward. The new animations look fantastic. Rockstar continuous…sly produce brilliant games, and Red Dead Redemption is one of my favourites to date. It is unlike Rockstar to let us down and I think this will be another cracker.”
- Call of Duty MW3/Battlefield 3 (PS3/360/PC)
“Now I know a few people may yawn when reading that I have put Call of Duty, but the series has taken away hundreds of hours of my life, and it will be interesting to see what the new team of Infinity Ward / Sledgehammer manage to come up with this year. Battlefield 3 is looking graphically brilliant from the trailers I have seen, and it looks like they could really put Call of Duty to the finish line for this one. Call of Duty needs to have something different in this year’s game; people are starting to get restless of feeling like they are playing the same game with different maps.”
- Uncharted 3 (PS3)
“Another not so surprising pick; As a kid I enjoyed the odd game of Tomb Raider, sadly since the new / current gen, none of the Tomb Raider series has managed to really produce a brilliant game. But then Uncharted came along and blew me away. The winning formula doesn’t need changing too much but it will be interesting to see if they do make any. The game is worth playing for the storyline alone, and hopefully we will get to see a movie that will do the series justice.”
Dane Richards::
- Sonic Generations (PS3/360)
“Sonic Generations because it’s a celebration of Sonic the Hedgehog with them going back to Sonic’s beginnings and then doing level re-imaginations of places from the last 20 years of Sonic games.”
- Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS (3DS)
“I absolutely loved the original but I weren’t a Gamecube owner during the time that Master Quest was included alongside Ocarina as a pre-order extra for Wind Waker. Now that this re-release has both on one cart and I acquired a 3DS, before it’s come out, has now given me the ability to purchase it.”
- Mario Kart 3DS (3DS)
“Where can I begin on talking about this? It’s no lie that I absolutely love the Mario Kart franchise what with its well designed tracks, rubber-band AI and over-the-top competitive-causing multiplayer. It’s a hopeful thing that Nintendo will be able to make Mario Kart 3DS such a great experience for everybody and to push the 3DS’ true capabilities. Also it’s just that I don’t want to downgrade my Wi-Fi’s security just to play on Nintendo WFC on Mario Kart DS.”
Tom George Andrews::
- Gears of War 3 (360)
“Gears of War was the first Xbox 360 title I purchased, and it was a hell of a ride from start to finish. Prior to playing, I had never really jumped into many third-person shooters before, but the story and multiplayer aspects behind Gears of War made me grateful I did. The campaign was gripping, and the multiplayer was highly addictive. This series to me is exemplary to why I decided to own an Xbox 360 from the beginning. It is a juggernaut alongside the Halo series, and I cannot wait to see how the third instalment concludes. Throw in new weapons for multiplayer and dedicated servers, beast mode, and another stellar campaign and we’re on course for a more than fitting bow out for Marcus Fenix and co.”
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PS3/360/PC)
“I never got the chance to play Morrowind on the original Xbox sadly, but I made swift amends by purchasing Oblivion on the Xbox 360 upon its release date. What followed was one if not, the greatest RPG/Adventure game I have had the pleasure of playing through. Fast forward a few years and we have Skyrim descending upon us in winter, dragons and all. A new continent means new lands to delve through, alongside an improved questing system where choices you make will radically change the outcome of quests, for good or bad. I’m looking forward to exploring the beautifully crafted environments, and battling through non-linear dungeons unlike those in Oblivion. Excitement levels are a high for me with this title; the sky truly is the limit.”
- Battlefield 3 (PS3/360/PC)
“The Battlefield series has always seemed overshadowed by the Call of Duty series in recent years, but Battlefield 2 really stepped up to the plate in the first-person shooter market. I’ve always considered it to be one of the most enjoyable multiplayer games online, and the arrival of Battlefield 3 in the autumn could well likely take Call of Duty to the absolute limit. With the implementation of the frostbite engine 2.0, the game now looks more visually striking than ever before. Destructible environments now look even more devastating, which subsequently means online play is going to deliver more carnage than its predecessor. We can also expect much more customisation and unlockables in contrast to Battlefield 2. If the teaser trailers are anything to by, the third instalment could no less be described as an exceptionally epic first-person shooter.”
James Keating::
- The Last Story (Wii)
“Hironobu Sakaguchi said of his latest project and first as a director since Final Fantasy V, which he’s “working on it as if it’s his last game”. The last time he did that it produced the original Final Fantasy, and his studio, Mistwalker, have made some of the best RPGs of this generation in Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. No European release has been confirmed as of yet, but it’s already been received extremely well in Japan.”
- Child of Eden (PS3/360)
“The spiritual successor of Dreamcast classic Rez could be the first Kinect game to give gamers who don’t dance something to literally jump for. Rez was a brilliant combination of rhythm and on-rails shooting, as you created the games music, leading to the almost trance like state of synesthesia. If Child of Eden can use Kinect right, and be even half as good as Rez, it should be fantastic.”
- Project Zomboid (PC)
“After speaking to the developers of this indie title, it’s obvious they know and love zombies; well, as much as a human can love something that wants to eat his brains. They also have a vision of what the ideal zombie game should be a true survival game in which shelter, protection and even madness must be dealt with. If they can match the blurb with quality when the alpha release hits in late May/early June, this could beat out Dead Island for ‘best zombie product of the year’ – If last year is anything to go by, this should be a crowded category too.”
Gerrard Winter::
- Duke Nukem Forever (PS3/360/PC)
“What can I say? This game, or specifically the lack of it, is one of the few persistent urban legends the gaming community has ever had. So to see this saga finally… coming to an end is a momentous occasion that I intend to celebrate with a purchase, both for my own entertainment and for posterity. I should be clear however: I do not like the old Duke Nukem games, I did not play them as a kid and I have absolutely no affinity for the franchise whatsoever. But god damn am I curious to see what the hell this game is like.”
- Catherine (PS3/360)
“I used to love Japanese games; they were literally all I ever played. But with a few notable exceptions the vast majority of Japanese developed games over the last few years have been fairly awful in every conceivable way, lagging behind even the standards of the previous generation by a significant margin. So games like Catherine are a big deal to me, they represent the few nuggets of quality the Japanese industry manages to squeeze out every now and then, ones that aren’t mass produced generic RPGs or lame attempts at aping western market, but quirky unique storytelling devices like the ones I used to indulge in so feverishly. Of course that assumes that Catherine doesn’t suck, in which case ignore everything I just said.”
- The Darkness 2 (PS3/360/PC)
“I often fell like I’m one of the few people that were genuinely very excited when this game was announced, and that makes me very sad. I’m very firmly of the opinion that the original Darkness (way back in 2007) was a massively overlooked gem that really showed what future PS3/360 generation games were going to be capable of. But after 4+ years of waiting I had totally lost all hope of the series ever resurfacing, so the idea of it finally coming back after all this time was as pleasant a surprise as I could ever ask for. Although I’m slightly nervous about Digital Extremes being at the helm instead of the original developers Starbreeze Studios (especially considering their recent track record) but I’m more willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for the time being.”
Gabriel May::
- The Witcher 2 (PC)
“I thankfully started playing The Witcher when the Director’s Cut version released. I expected a decent game but instead what I found was something great. It was ambitious and more importantly it delivered – story wise and gameplay wise. While not perfect, it is a great example of how to do a western RPG. Now CD Projekt have seemingly taken what worked and made it more profound, ironed out what didn’t work and made it more expansive. I’m quite fond of sequels that promise to have improved on the original and The Witcher 2 looks set to deliver.”
- Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)
“Because quite frankly I need a good excuse to blow the dust of my Nintendo Wii. But also it does look like a very polish RPG with fantastic looking graphics, a battle system that promises to be in-depth and features such as “extensive customization” which actually displays the change in characters outfits and saving anywhere, which RPG’s should start using more.”
- Dead Island (PS3/360/PC)
“Left 4 Dead meets Borderlands meets Fallout” is how this game has been described and if that doesn’t make you the least bit excited then there is something wrong with you. The trailers may have gotten people talking but it’s going to be the gameplay that will hopefully have people’s jaw drops. The Zombie genre may be starting to get over saturated but Dead Island may hopefully give it a shot in the arm.”
Do you guys agree? Are there any games that have not been mentioned that your looking forward to in 2011? Then let us know and post a comment.
DiRT 3 Soundtrack List released, listen now!
Codemasters have been kind enough to release the soundtrack list for the upcoming game, DiRT 3 and you can listen to it now via Spotify! Link and list after the break!
New Dead Island Hands-on screenshots
Today some hands-on images have been released for the survival horror game Dead Island.
MW3 Release Date Leaked?
An anonymous retail source for IGN has revealed a poster of the upcoming First-Person shooter behemoth Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, with a ‘definitive’ release date.
