Video Games

Diablo 3 Scheduled for February 1st

A Minnesota Best Buy has published an advert for Diablo 3, which lists the game’s release date as February 1^st. The game is officially scheduled for release in “Q1 2012”, but the Best Buy advertisement has appeared only days after Jay Wilson, Diablo 3’s director, announced that the game was“almost done.”

Speaking in interviews released on Diablo’s website, Wilson appeared alongside Blizzard Entertainment vice president Chris Metzen to discuss the upcoming third game in the hit RPG series:

Pachter: “Zero Chance” of New Consoles at E3

Industry analyst Michael
Pachter has spoken out to debunk rumours that the next generation of home
consoles will be previewed at this year’s E3. Speculation
began after an article appeared on website MCV, which claimed that “third party
publishing sources” had been in discussion with Microsoft over an upcoming
successor to the Xbox 360.

Gran Turismo Gets Super Sized

Polyphony Digital and Sony are making the right moves with Gran Turismo 5. The new Spec 2.0 is soon going to be available as a full retail game as soon as January 17th.  Named the Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition and priced at just $39.99, it comes complete with the original version of GT5 plus the update to Spec 2.0 on the disc.  It also comes bundled with a $20.00 voucher that can be used to buy the DLC packs that have recently come out.  The XL Edition will also come with a reversible sleeve for the case that features the Red Bull X2011 Prototype designed by Adrian Newey, the Technical Director of Red Bull Racing F1.  The X2011 is an evolution of the X2010Vettel that was designed for the original version of GT5. 

Digital High Episode 22

It seems like there is a new “next gen consoles will release in
2012” story every month, doesn’t there? That and more this week on Digital High
such as Mass Effect 3 pre-order bonuses detailed and some information about the
possibility of a God of War 4 that actually seems reasonable. This causes a
pretty long talk about the future of that series, as well as what we’ve been
playing this past week, including Resistance 3, Renegade Ops and Bastion.

Bright Light Studios Shut Down by EA

Developer of most of the Harry Potter games published by EA, Bright Light Studios has sadly been shut down.

While the cynic in me would jump to the conclusion this was because there are now no more Harry Potter books or films to “piggy-back” off, I imagine the real reason was the usual business decisions in cost management in the ongoing shaky economy. It’s not all bad news however, as some of the employees of the now closed EA United Kingdom developer have been moved over to companies like Criterion and Playfish.  How many managed to get new jobs is unknown, but it was believed that as many as 100 people were once part of the team.

Gotham City Imposters Delayed

While no reason has been given as to why, Gotham City Imposters – the unusual Team Fortress-esc shooter from Fear developer Monolith has been pushed to next month.

The game was slated for release on PC, Xbox Live and PlayStation Network later this month.  In case you haven’t seen or heard of it, the game is set in the Batman universe, though despite Monolith Studios being tied to the same publisher (Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment) Gotham City Imposters shares no links with Arkham City besides the obvious Batman context.  The title is a regular old first person shooter focused on co-operative team play similar to Team Fortress 2, but with its own unique set of modes and mechanics, based off the footage I’ve seen and the people I’ve talked to who managed to get in the beta.  It also boasts a creative cast of strange looking characters who are either aligned with Batman or the Joker.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Preview

Kingdoms of Amalur:
Reckoning,
developed by Big Huge Games, looks to revolutionize the RPG genre. By having Ken Rolston on board, who was
the lead designer of Morrowind and Oblivion from The Elder Scrolls series, this goal certainly seems possible.