Video Games

Epic Games Announces New Project at 2011 Spike TV Video Game Awards

Epic Games’ design director Cliff Bleszinski has stated that his studio is sharing a “big announcement” at this year’s Spike TV 2011 Video Game Awards show.  With expected announcements regarding a new Bioware project, a new Alan Wake project, and the mysterious Last of Us, Spike TV’s annual awards show appears to be morphing closer to E3 than the academy awards.

In a Spike TV teaser video, Bleszinski says that “2011 marks the 20^th anniversary for Epic as a studio, and while we’ve been busy supporting Gears of War and Infinity Blade, we have something new in store for you,”and that “It’s an entirely fresh and new experience we’ve been crafting here in our North Carolina studio.” 

New Xbox 360 Dashboard Update Scheduled Today

The new version of the Xbox 360 Dashboard is expected to hit the masses today, and it features many useful updates and fixes to streamline the Xbox 360 experience.  This user interface update is one of many for Microsoft’s console, and its sleek style and easy-to-use model stays mostly true with the last version of Dashboard.

The new menu layout is more centrally focused than previous iterations, and you will immediately notice the prevalence of advertising.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it is a step towards the inevitable “in-game” advertising blitz that’s sure to come sooner rather than later

Galactic Civilization II Gets a Steam Release

The classic 4X space strategy game Galactic Civilizations II is now available on Valve’s hugely successful digital distribution platform, Steam. It’s the latest in a number of releases of Stardock games on Steam, the last of which was Sins of a Solar Empire.

The re-release of the game is the Ultimate Edition of the game and as such includes both of the game’s expansion packs – “Dark Avatar” and “Twilight of the Arnor“, each of which adds numerous new campaigns, tech trees, spies and enemies to the already massive game.

Fresh Details Emerge on the Game of Thrones RPG

Fresh details and screenshots have arrived on the upcoming Game of Thrones RPG game in development by Cyanide Games. The screenshots show off more of the games very strong looking graphics as well as give a glimpse into the nature of the games combat system.

Battlefield 3: Back To Karkand Coming Soon Real Soon

Downloadable Content is just the thing needed to keep people talking about Battlefield 3, especially after Modern Warfare 3 and Skyrim have just come out.  The first Battlefield 3 DLC pack, Back to Karkand, is coming out on Tuesday (12/6), part of a timed exclusive agreement between Sony and EA.

Rumors Abound Over the Status of Fumito Ueda’s Employment at Sony

While not yet official, recent rumors have been circulating that Fumito Ueda, the head of Team ICO (the team that brought you ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, and the upcoming The Last Guardian), had some sort of falling out with Sony and has most likely left the company.  Following this news, people started wondering what impact this would have on the production of The Last Guardian, the main question being if it would be completed at all.  Well, it looks like us Team ICO fans have reason to rejoice, as Ueda himself recently updated his twitter stating that production is on. The Last Guardian would not stop, whether or not he was still contracted under Sony (which is still not 100% confirmed).

I guess the question that I have is if the rumors are true and Ueda has left Sony, what would he do next? If he made a separate studio and went multiplatform, that would certainly be devastating for Sony (as the Team ICO games are a big first party pull), but in the big picture, wouldn’t it be better if more people could experience the games that he makes?  Regardless of Ueda’s employment state at Sony, The Last Guardian is set to release sometime in 2012, and I could not be more excited for it.

Gift Guide: PC Indie Games

When giving AAA titles becomes too mainstream, give the gift of indie to your gaming-orientated friends and family. 2011 has been a huge year for indie games and there’s a great number of indie gems to choose from.

If there’s one indie game that everyone should pick up this year, it’s SuperGiant Games’ Bastion. Its unique fusion of awesome isometric action-RPG gameplay and solid presentation (particularly the excellent narration) made for one of the most compelling experiences of the year and it makes a perfect gift for any gamer.