The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is a game that takes pride in itself, a trait oddly foreign in this market, but being a dark deconstruction of the usual medieval fantasy tropes may be riding that very sensitive line between extremely nerdy and tragically beautiful. It was an ambitious thing. This is probably why developer CD Projekt is taking pride in the upcoming Xbox 360 port of the game. Of course, don’t let them hear you calling it a port.
The much anticipated Mass Effect 3 will conclude Commander Shepard’s trilogy with the addition of Kinect compatibility. Players will be able to issue all squad commands with voice controls, eliminating the need for the “wheel.” Game developers have stated however that these controls will NOT be applicable to Mass Effect 3’s new multiplayer mode. In order to give orders to your squad, all you’ll have to do is say their name, followed by a command. You can find a list of commands below, but it might be more fun to try and figure them out on your own if you’re into that kind of thing. The list is quite extensive, and it could potentially enhance the gameplay experience by essentially eliminating the Power Wheel.
Despite what you may have heard, there is not a new Resident Evil movie coming out this year, I mean surely they can’t keep making those dreadful movies, right… RIGHT?! Speaking of Resident Evil though, Resident Evil 6 was totally announced last week with a release date and trailer and everything! Just got to wait now for the inevitable delay where it gets moved to March of 2013 but going by that trailer, the series is yet again heading in a new direction. In other news, there has been a ton of DLC announced for Modern Warfare 3 over the next 9 months, which includes expansions for the Spec Ops mode and the Mass Effect 3 beta will launch mid-February for all your Battlefield 3 players, and three days later for everyone else for some reason.
Indie developer Tequila Works announced their first game, Deadlight, will be released exclusively on Xbox Live Arcade. Described as a “cinematic puzzle-platformer,” Deadlight takes place in an alternate United States in the year 1986, where you control Randall Wayne through a world where a mysterious disease has transformed everyone (except you) into mutants. Deadlight will be released this summer, but pricing has not been released.
The demo of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning begins by letting you see the death of your character. Luckily, you are the first person ever to be revived in the Well of Souls and thus Kingdoms sets up both a tale of vengeance and gives your character a clean slate. When the Well resurrected you, the weave of fate left you without a destiny which creates a dynamic where the protaginist of Kingdoms is the only one in the world who can carve out their own destiny. This plays a role in the class system as, at regular intervals, you can swap your “fate card” in order to have a certain class such as rogue, warrior, or mage.
Japanese shooters have never fared well in the states with the maybe-exception of Earth Defense Force, but the team of Sega and new developer Yakuza Studios are putting their dreams and ambitions behind a future shooter Binary Domain, heavily influenced by Gears of War.
Rockstar San Diego is an interesting little developer. Having worked
on smaller titles like Table Tennis and Smuggler’s Run, the moderately
popular Midnight Club series and then knocking it out of the park with
Red Dead Redemption. Their open-world Western odyssey captured the
hearts and imaginations of everyone who ever caught themselves
admiring a pair of cowboy boots or has ever grunted a subvocal ‘Howdy’
when no one was looking.
