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.
The Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, featuring HD revamps of five classic Metal Gear titles (Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 and MGS: Peace Walker) has finally been given a concrete release date. February 3rd, 2012 is when the collection will hit your Xbox 360 or PS3 screen, giving gamers who may never have owned a Playstation 2 (an admittedly small group) the chance to experience the greatness of MGS 2 and 3 for the first time and the rest of us the chance to reminisce.
Since its release on October 18th, Batman: Arkham City has already shipped more copies (4.6 million) worldwide than its predecessor, Batman: Arkham Asylum has sold to date. According to Warner Bros., the sequel to 2009’s Arkham Asylum has already sold over 2 million copies worldwide.
Those numbers are sure to increase in a little under a month, as the PC version of Arkham City is set to be released on November 15th in North America, and November 18th in Europe.
The next in line in the Grand Theft Auto series has been confirmed by Rockstar Games. The announcement of the appropriately titled Grand Theft Auto V comes with absolutely no details, but the announcement alone is newsworthy. The only tidbits that the Rockstar Games website reveals are the logo for the game and that a trailer will be released on Wednesday, November 2nd.
The Xbox Live Shocktober event, which
began on October 18 and will conclude on the 31st, features
spooky-related games and add-on content. Gamers looking to get into the
Halloween spirit will be able to purchase games such as Castlevania Harmony of Despair, Zombie
Apocalypse, and Metro 2033 at a
discounted price. While these are the only games on sale, it’s unknown whether
more games will follow, so check out the official Shocktober page for the latest
details. The Shocktober event also features items for your avatar, dashboard
themes, and family-oriented “scary” games such as Plants vs. Zombies.
Mass
Effect 3 developer
Bioware has announced on their forums that a pre-release
demo of the final game in the trilogy will be available in January. While the
exact date is TBA, the demo will include portions of the single and multiplayer
portions of the game. Those who purchase EA’s Battlefield 3 and activate their Online Pass will be granted early
access to the multiplayer demo, regardless of platform. Mass Effect fans who aren’t going to purchase Battlefield 3, don’t fret, because Bioware also announced that “there will be another program whereby
players and fans of the Mass Effect franchise can unlock this early access
(with no purchase necessary) – this will also be announced in late November or
early December.” The length of the early access period is still under
wraps.
Nearly six years after its launch in 2005, Microsoft has announced that they have sold over 57 million Xbox 360 units worldwide. Despite these impressive numbers, the Xbox 360 still lags far behind the Nintendo Wii, which has sold 87 million. The 360 still holds a lead over the Playstation 3 with its 51 million sales worldwide.
The direct sequel to the
beautiful but somewhat flawed Final
Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII-2 doesn’t follow in particularly
auspicious footsteps- the only other direct sequel in the Final Fantasy
franchise was Final Fantasy X-2, which
despite being a hardcore Final Fantasy fan, I found pretty bad. Nevertheless, Square-Enix have revealed some
information about the special editions of the upcoming game, including what
extra goodies will be included with the game itself.
In the form of announcements this week, we will be taking user questions. Yes, that means you! So get in touch either via Twitter, Facebook or just post your question here in the comments. As always, you can catch up on all the episodes on our official podcast page http://playeraffinity.com/podcast.html
As if the excitement and buzz for Batman: Arkham City, released yesterday in North America and on
Friday in Europe wasn’t high enough, we’ve a couple of screenshots to coincide
with the game’s release. Arkham City has been sweeping the board
amongst the critics of the gaming world, and currently holds a breathtaking 95
out of 100 score on Metacritic, based on 37 reviews; keep an eye out for our
review of the game for the full story, but in the meantime (in case you haven’t
yet picked it up), these screenshots should keep your juices flowing.
