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This week's releases: 2/8 - 2/14

Prepare for another shocking plunge into Rapture. Bioshock 2 is the big headliner for releases this week and comes with many expectations. The highly anticipated first-person shooter that mixes in action/adventure and horror has huge shoes to fill thanks to its predecessor. Also fighting its way into retailers this week will be the eagerly awaited hack-n-slash Dante's Inferno, which will have the challenge of standing on its own as the middle-child between earlier released Bayonetta and fast-approaching God of War III.

Here's the full list of this week's releases.

DS:Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning ThiefScene It? TwilightWorld Cup of Pool

PC:BioShock 2Stargate: Resistance

PlayStation 3:BioShock 2Dante's InfernoStar Ocean: The Last Hope International

PSP:No New Releases

Xbox 360:BioS...

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LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars announced

TT Games and LucasArts are at it again and are revisiting the LEGO Star Wars Universe. The two companies announced today that they will release LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, based on the wildly popular CGI-animated TV show of the same name. The game will be based on the first two season of the show and feature characters from both the show and the movies. The game will also add new features to the current LEGO formula, including head to head combat, an upgraded level creator, allowing the creation of battlefield and bases. New character classes will have unique abilities which include "squad command, Lightsaber slicing, Lightsaber jumping, and Grapple Tie-Ups."

LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars will release in Autumn 2010 on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, NDS, and PSP.

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Wii is successful outside first-party hits

Satoru Iwata, current president and CEO of Nintendo, gave a briefing to investors in Japan on January 29th, and had a lot to say about the future of Nintendo.  Among those was his response to allegations that the Nintendo Wii isn't a console friendly for third party developers, at least not to the extent that the PS3 and Xbox 360 have been.  His initial remarks on this issue explained that the Wii has required developers to learn a new language in making games because of the "revolutionary controls".  According to Iwata, this is what caused third party developers to shy away from the Wii initially.

However, Iwata followed this information with some numbers and a few charts, two of which are particularly interesting.  First, Iwata showed the graph below which shows that while there may have ...

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Game Informer: First Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Re...

The first review is in for Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and it does not disappoint.

Through Metacritic, the score from Game Informer Magazine is a solid 95/100 with this short blurb already released:

"Not content to settle for second place, DICE throws down the gauntlet with Bad Company 2, delivering its best multiplayer package since Battlefield 2 and a remarkably improved single-player campaign that openly mocks its rival while cribbing from them at the same time."

More to come in the next weeks.

[Metacritic]

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Fable 3 may be "upsetting" says Peter Molyneux

In a recent interview in Copenhagen with Game Reactor, Peter Molyneux, creator of the Fable series, said that there will be some elements in Fable 3 that some players may find "upsetting".

Aside from that, not too much is known about Fable 3, aside from the possible compability with the upcoming Xbox 360 peripheral, Natal.

Let the speculation regarding what will upset gamers... BEGIN!

[GameReactor]

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Bioshock 2 Merchandise Now Available

According to 2K's Bioshock enthusiast website, Cult of Rapture, Bioshock 2 merchandise is now on sale, including artwork prints and the always classic syringe pen. Here's the details for each item from the website:

"We have a limited run of each artwork from the BioShock 2 Artist Series for sale on the 2K Store for $19.99. Each print is on 100 pound glossy cover stock and measures approximately 14"x12"."

"In addition to the prints, we have an exclusive, limited edition Sinclair Solutions Syringe Pen for preorder for $34.99. The metal pen is fitted with refillable rollerball ink, is engraved with the Sinclair Solutions logo, and comes in a BioShock 2 gift box. These pens will be shipping out at the end of February, but supplies are limited, so if you want a pen straight out of Rapture, snag i...

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New Dante's Inferno "Descent" Trailer

This new trailer was just released for Dante's Inferno, the current video game marketing juggernaut that will also have a different trailer premiere during the Super Bowl this Sunday.

Get pumped, to go to hell.

[VG247]

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The Old Republic explains the Sith Inquisitor

Many fans awaiting BioWare and Lucasart's upcoming MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic wonder why there are going to be two different classes for the Sith and Jedi. BioWare writer Rebecca Harwick explained today what caused the developer to create the Sith Inquisitor along with the Sith Warrior.

"I could tell you that the Sith Inquisitor is the Emperor Palpatine to the Sith Warrior's Darth Vader, but that sells it short," said Harwick. "The archetype is just inspiration. It's not the destination, or the road we take to get there, but the guide. The Sith Inquisitor is Raistlin. The Sith Inquisitor is Lucifer. The Sith Inquisitor is Julius Caesar. The Sith Inquisitor is what you make him."

She then went on to explain how even in the movies and Clone Wars series, there are several different Sith...

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Xbox Live Arcade tops $100 million in 2009

According to a recent report by the Forecasting and Analyzing Digital Entertainment (FADE), Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade generated $103.4 million in 2009. This is a 34 percent increase from the previous year.

This could be in part from the rise in price of the average arcade game, which went from $8.33 to $9.12. Most best-sellers for the service were up around the $15 mark.

Some of the big name arcade games sold extremely well, with Castle Crashers at over 1 million copies sold over the entire year and EA and DICE's Battlefield 1943 estimated at over 800,000 units sold. Electronic Arts had announced in July that the game was the fastest-selling game to date on Xbox Live.

Events such as the Summer of the Arcade also helped raise sales for the service. That promotion in particular helped bring ...

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Bioshock 2 interview reveals story, plasmids, sist...

A recent interview by the EU Playstation Blog with 2K reveals some important details about Bioshock 2, while of course not giving away any spoilers.

Here's the basics:

The length of Bioshock 2's single player game will be "comparable" to that of the first Bioshock.

Jack, the main character from Bioshock, will not be in the sequel directly, but his influence will be apparent.

There's only one new plasmid, the Scout plasmid, but the upgrading tree for all the other original plasmids will be the main improvement on that mechanic.

The amount of interactions you will have with Big Sisters in the game is directly related to how you deal with the Little Sisters.

DLC is a definite yes for Bioshock 2.

Lastly, a small detail, one of the clips shown in the interview reveals the player walking around in an ...

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Dark Void "Survivor Missions" DLC and soundtrack r...

The first batch of DLC for Capcom's high flying shooter, Dark Void, is set to drop next week and brings a new Survivor Mode to the game. Players will fight through 10 rounds of increasingly difficult waves of enemies. Combat will be a combination of ground and air combat, in what Capcom describes as, "an arcade-esque experience where the player battles through hoards of enemies on the ground and in the air while collecting points and upgrading weaponry." The maps will take place in key events in Dark Void's campaign.

The DLC will release on February 10 on Xbox Live for 400 Microsoft Points ($5.00) and February 11 on Playstation Network for $4.99.

The game's soundtrack will also debut next week, featuring 80 minutes of hand picked scores from composer Bear McCreary, who you may know as the c...

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Famitsu: Square Enix working on five unannounced p...

According to a report by The Examiner, Square Enix revealed that they are working on five unannounced projects in the latest issue of Famitsu magazine. Two of those projects are planned for 2010.

The report also claims that Square Enix will be making a Dragon Quest related announcement in the summer. This announcement could be related to Dragon Quest X for the Wii.

Square Enix's next big title to be released is the highly-anticipated Final Fantasy XIII, which is set to hit stores on March 9 in North America for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

[Examiner]

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