Weekly Video Game News – 12/16/2011
By Patrick Newman
Ninja Gaiden III gets Street Date
On March 20th, 2012, the third installment of the astoundingly difficult Ninja Gaiden series hits stores. The game, which will be available for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, includes both competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes. Tecmo Koei has additionally confirmed a GameStop-exclusive Collector’s Edition for $100, and a demo of the upcoming Dead or Alive 5 for those who either purchase the Collector’s Edition, or pre-order the standard version from Amazon or GameStop.
Anarchy Reigns Delayed Again
Anarchy Reigns, a game dubbed by Sega West marketing VP Gary Knight as “A new take to the brawler genre,” has experienced its second major delay. The postponement is due, apparently, to the addition of new features. Anarchy Reigns, which is being developed for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, is a third-person fighting game set in a post-apocalyptic environment. Continuing his statement following the game’s delay, Sega’s Knight teased, “Let’s just say traditional one-on-one or two-versus-two fighters will be a thing of the past.”
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD – Announcement Trailer
[hana-flv-player video=”http://videos.punchdrunkgamer.com/videos/tony Hawk Pro Skater HD Announcement.flv” width=”550″ height=”430″ description=”” player=”4″ autoload=”true” autoplay=”false” loop=”false” autorewind=”false” /]
Zelda Art Book
To celebrate the Zelda franchise’s 25-year history, Nintendo is releasing an art book encompassing the fantasy series’ entire lineage to the Japanese market. Clocking at 274 pages, the book will contain tons of conceptual art that has never before been released, as well as text fleshing out the world of Hyrule. No word has been given as to whether or not the book will eventually be made available to North American retailers.
Alan Wake PC Update
Alan Wake, the horror-and-suspense game that first gave Stephen King a run for his money on the Xbox 360 in 2011, is finally coming to the PC. This new release will also contain two DLC packs for the game: The Signal and The Writer. Set to debut in early 2012, the PC version should see release at about the same time that a new adventure – Alan Wake’s American Nightmare – reaches Xbox Live Arcade.
Megadeth Song Pack – DLC Trailer
[hana-flv-player video=”http://videos.punchdrunkgamer.com/videos/Megadeth Song Pack DLC Trailer.flv” width=”550″ height=”430″ description=”” player=”4″ autoload=”true” autoplay=”false” loop=”false” autorewind=”false” /]
Metal Gear Solid News & Notes
In the wake of Konami’s announcement that Metal Gear Solid: Rising, formerly a Kojima Productions project, had been replaced as an in-development title by Platinum Games’ version, additional details about what game elements were compromised in the transfer have been revealed. Firstly, the time frame was moved from just prior to the events of Metal Gear Solid 4 to the period immediately after that game. Secondly, the stealth aspects of Rising have been ditched in favor of a pure-action premise for Revengeance (the new title), which dovetails nicely with Platinum Games previous projects Bayonetta and Vanquish. Lastly, the “Solid” portion of the new game’s title has been dropped, so as to not confuse fans of the former franchise, to which this new installment will only loosely belong.
PlayStation Vita = One User
The fervently anticipated PlayStation Vita, once thought to be able to interface with multiple PSN accounts through the swapping of memory cards, has been brought back down to earth by an official statement from Sony. In a terse response to Wired, a Sony representative explained, “If a second person is using your Vita, it’s not just a case of switching out memory cards, it’s clearing out all of your saved data on the Vita itself when you do the factory reset.” Which is another way of saying “One PlayStation Vita, one user.”
Grand Theft Auto III – 10 Year Anniversary Mobile Trailer
[hana-flv-player video=”http://videos.punchdrunkgamer.com/videos/grandtheftauto3-ipadtrailer_en_us_1280.flv” width=”550″ height=”430″ description=”” player=”4″ autoload=”true” autoplay=”false” loop=”false” autorewind=”false” /]
Skyrim Patched
A new patch, version 1.3, for the wildly successful Skyrim is now available for both Xbox Live and PC users. A PSN version is on the way, with Bethesda noting the various fixes included on the patch:
• General stability improvements.
• Optimize performance for Core 2 Duo CPUs (PC only).
• Fixed Radiant Story incorrectly filling certain roles.
• Fixed magic resistances not calculating properly.
• Fixed bookshelf glitch inside player-purchased homes.
• Fixed dragon animation issues with saving and loading.
• Fixed Y-look input to scale correctly with framerate.
3DS Consoles in the Louvre
Paris’s Louvre museum, the current residence of the Mona Lisa, is making a deal with Nintendo to replace their current audio guides with 3DS consoles. Agence France-Passe reports that 5,000 of Nintendo’s handheld devices will be in circulation at the Louvre starting in March 2012. This is the first time any museum in the world has promoted the new technology.
WWE 12 DLC: The Bella Twins Entrance Trailer
[hana-flv-player video=”http://videos.punchdrunkgamer.com/videos/WWE_12_DLC_The_Bella_Twins_Entrance.flv” width=”550″ height=”430″ description=”” player=”4″ autoload=”true” autoplay=”false” loop=”false” autorewind=”false” /]
