Xbox 360

2011 Spike VGA Awards: A Recap

The Spike VGA Awards are a yearly fixture in the gaming industry’s calendar, a celebration of the titles that have really set the gaming world alight and an opportunity for developers to tease and torment fans with footage of their upcoming releases.  This year’s awards, held at the Sony Pictures Studios in California last Friday, did not disappoint. A number of the superb games that have been released this year walked away with well-deserved awards, and a number of developers took the opportunity to build even more anticipation for their upcoming games.  Without further ado, here’s our (fairly brief) round-up of the Spike VGA Awards 2011.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD Coming to XBLA and PSN

The
Birdman is back, and is finally returning to his video game roots. Tony Hawk
himself announced at the 2011 Spike VGAs that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD will release sometime in summer 2012 for
XBLA and PSN. Fans disappointed with the recent Hawk releases of Ride and
SHRED will be thrilled to hear that Pro Skater HD will in fact be an actual Pro Skater game. HD remakes of classic
levels such as “School” and “Downhill” will be offered in the game. The game is
said to blend the first two Pro Skaters together,
but what that implies is still unknown. Pro
Skater HD will be released for under $20.

Red VS Blue Season 9 DVD – Review

In the final moments of the commentary track on this DVD the writer, Burnie Burns, wonders aloud why Red VS Blue is the only webseries in its 10^th season.  He quickly answers his own question with because “No one else is this stupid”.

Skullgirls Screenshot Showcase

I have a soft spot for crazy, over-the-top 2D
fighters, and when they also sport lovingly hand-drawn animation I’m mostly
sold.  To that end, I was pleasantly
surprised to find some new screenshots from Skullgirls, an upcoming fighter from Autumn Games which seems to
have frenzied 2D action, lovely art courtesy of Alex Ahad and a team led by
fighting game champion “Mike Z”- all pedigree factors which should add up to a
pretty impressive title.

More Shiny SoulCalibur V Screens

Swords are cool.  It’s fairly hard to disagree with that statement. They’re more skillful and precise than a gun, and in the paraphrased words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, “elegant weapons for a more civilized age.”  So the SoulCalibur series has always been close to my heart, suffusing the basic fighting game template with a large dose of medieval weaponry as it does.  Some new screenshots of the next game in the series, Soul Calibur V, have appeared on the internet, and they certainly are shiny.  Take a look!

Siegfried’s glowing eyes aside, these screenshots certainly confirm one thing: the game is looking very shiny indeed.  Soul Calibur IV was a pretty good-looking game, but the sequel seems to have taken it up a notch, with the characters in particular looking pretty snazzy.  There are other screenshots that show what looks like a story mode – a pointer on a map of Europe, with some accompanying text that seems to be providing a reason for the character’s next battle.  It’s a feature that I personally enjoy because it gives the battles some context. I like to know why I’m beating up each outlandish, anime-styled character on my way to claiming Soul Edge.  Check out the screenshots and let us know what you think!

Gift Buyer’s Guide: Xbox 360 Shooters

Do you know someone who lives and dies for the deathmatch?   You know, the guy who pounds mountain dew after mountain dew to assure his dominance of all who dare to challenge him through the late night hours?  Well, if he hasn’t already played all of the games on this list, one of the following games could very well make a great gift for the guy whose reflexes are just too quick to measure.

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.”