Video Games

Dust 514 Attempts to Take Epic Scale to Epic Levels

If you haven’t already heard about DUST 514, it’s a new FPS that takes place in the universe of EVE Online.  EVE Online is an MMO sci-fi game with its own economy of corporations and populations spread throughout.  The premise of DUST 514 is that corporations will literally battle over  important worlds, handing out contracts to DUST mercenaries to do their  dirty work. 

DUST 514 offers a unique gameplay hook.  The skirmishes and battles players take part in will actually have an impact on the world of EVE Online.  Planet side battles can be influenced by players in EVE via support roles.  An EVE player with a warship can provide orbital strikes to opposing forces and swing the tide of battle.  If the EVE player gets distracted though, his allies on the ground could be overwhelmed instead.  It’s a brilliant idea and developer CCP thinks DUST 514 will be a less intimidating and more accessible entry into the EVE universe.

Long Live Play Goes Next Level

Think you have HOP potential?  Sony thinks you do!  Today, the next phase of the Long Live Play campaign rolls out with the Hall of Play.  An obvious pun on Hall of Fame, the Hall of Play is an online lounge designed for gamers.  Announced on the PlayStation blog by Scott Steinberg, Hall of Play also includes a Facebook app that will enable you to create your own “To Michael!” video that has been well received as Sony’s new ad campaign starts to get under way.

Get the PS Vita a Week Early if You Pre-Order

Those who are especially excited to get their hands on a PS Vita are in for a rare treat.

Starting today, anyone is able to pre-order Sony’s next handheld, slated to be released February 22 next year.  Do so, however, and you will get yours a full week sooner than everyone else (on the 15th) which is pretty awesome, I have to say. Of course, the craziest of Sony fans will probably just import a Japanese model Vita in December.

4 New PSN titles coming from Ubisoft

Ubisoft has four exclusive games coming to PlayStation Network in the coming months.

The titles in question are: I Am Alive, Shoot Many Robots, Babel Rising and Project Haste.  I Am Alive in particular has generated interest as it is a somewhat unusual and new type of survival game.  Rather than be centered around horror, as such games usually are, it follows a cataclysmic event that turns the world into a post-apocalyptic wasteland and the player must find ways to stay alive in the harsh environment.  Finding food, collecting water and traversing hazardous landscapes are all central to the game’s overarching experience.  I Am Alive has been in development for some time, having been rumored to be canceled on more than one occasion, but after the latest trailer showcasing the Uncharted-esque climbing and combat, the game seems to be well on track to be released.

New Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor Trailer

Do you like Japanese games?  Desolate, post-apocalyptic cities?  Giant, walking tanks?  If so, the new trailer for Steel Battalion: Heavy Armour looks
like it might be right up your alley.  The game is developed
by FromSoftware, the minds behind the Armoured
Core series and more recently, Demon’s
Souls and its sequel Dark Souls;
both renowned for their difficulty and challenging gameplay.

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet – Shadow Hunters DLC Review

We enjoyed Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet here at Player Affinity; its visual style, familiar-but-challenging gameplay and clever puzzles made it worthy of being one of the games featured in Xbox’s Summer of Arcade.  It’s primarily focused on a single-player, but came with a simple co-op multiplayer mode called Lantern Run that had players working to drag a fragile “Lantern” away from an unstoppable wall of death.  The new DLC, Shadow Hunters tries to combine elements of both game types into one experience.

Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga Review

Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga is an apology. It
apologizes to
those who bought its earlier iteration: Divinity
II: Ego Draconis. You see, Larian Studios, the developer behind both
games,
released a bug-ridden and overly difficult game in January of 2010.
Players and
reviewers alike saw the game’s potential, but were often turned off by
the
problems mentioned above.

Well, Larian listened. In
November of 2010, they released The
Dragon Knight Saga. They basically took Ego
Draconis and fixed the majority of complaints, while also including
an
expansion pack called Flames of Vengeance.