New Games

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• The Legend of Zelda: A Portal to the Past
• From Fairytales to Fortresses: The art of Robin Keijzer
• Live Show: The rain is heavy indeed on Backlog
• New Destructoid Episode: The Origin of Ms. 'Splosion Row
• PC patch for Super Street Fighter IV: AE delayed slightly
• Explore the ocean with The Magic School Bus game
• More high-priced items are coming to EVE Online
• Freedom: What's the whole story, again?
• Octodad 2 shows up on Kickstarter
• Metacritic founder agrees game ratings are imbalanced
• The King of Fighters XIII: New date, screens and trailer
• Comments of the week: Front page get edition
• All the game panels at San Diego Comic-Con 2011 listed
• Debut Dishonored screenshot teases first-person swordplay
• Live show: Mash Tactics vs Battle Bears with guest
• The next Harry Potter has a very Gears of War feel
• Catherine demo out tomorrow, prepare the sausage-yogurt!
• 'Dead Air' DLC for Left 4 Dead 2 will release early
• Review: Ms. Splosion Man
• The Jimquisition: Linearity versus Replayability

The Legend of Zelda: A Portal to the Past Posted: 11 Jul 2011 04:30 PM PDT more videos like this The wisecrackers over at Dorkly have been on fire lately with their video content. Here we see what might have gone down if Aperture Science operated a campus somewhere near Hyrule, putting a Handheld Portal Generator in the hands of a plucky elfin boy with a princess to save. I'm torn between the manner of Gannon's demise and what happens to that poor Blue Bull Knight as to which is the most entertaining use of the weapon.

From Fairytales to Fortresses: The art of Robin Keijzer Posted: 11 Jul 2011 04:00 PM PDT Odds are you're not terribly familiar with Robin Keijzer, but we'd like to remedy that. From 2005 to 2010, Keijzer held down an artistic role at Dutch developer Playlogic. His time there lead to 2007’s Xyanide Resurrection and 2008’s interactive screensaver, Tori-Emaki. Then there’s Fairytale Fights, a hyper-violent spin on classic fairytale tropes. The visual style and character design definitely took on a starring role in the cartoony hack-and-slasher with Keijzer at the studio’s artistic helm. After wrapping up Fairytale Fights and spending some time working DLC content, Keijzer made the decision to leave Playlogic to explore some of his own projects. Keijzer primarily works on his comics and so far two books have been completed, ‘Treasure Hunt’ and ‘Splash VS Clean.’ A third project is currently in the works under the codename ‘Project X.’ The goal with ‘X,’ Keijzer says, is to “catch up and get some focus back into my art.” Dtoid Admin Though comics are the focus, there is a game project being worked on in the background. Super Mighty Fortress (working title) is a collaboration with two other Fairytale Fights alums, coder Sjoerd Grevelink ("Super") and designer Rob vand der Sloot ("Mighty"). Does that make Keijzer the "Fortress?" We'd like to think so. Super Mighty Fortress is an RTS/Tower defense where, Keijzer describes, "the goal is to build the biggest fortress ever." Keijzer’s work revolves around one concept that he refers to as the “weird battle,” but it didn’t start that way: “Ever since I played Double Dragon 2 and read 'Battle Angel Alita' I was hooked on battle scenes.” His infatuation with battles only increased as he absorbed the work of chief weird game designer Suda51, Chinese film director Stephen Chow, and web artists/animators Paul Robertson and Dan Paladin. As he puts its, “The weirder it became, the more I liked it." We'll just let his art do the rest of the talking.

Live Show: The rain is heavy indeed on Backlog Posted: 11 Jul 2011 03:00 PM PDT Last week on Backlog, we started one of the most controversial games of 2010, Heavy Rain. We pressed "Move" to Jason, saved a call girl from a former customer and awkwardly asked the police at a crime scene for coffee. Clearly, this is the pinnacle of storytelling in games if I've ever seen it. All kidding aside, I have to admit that I'm having a lot of fun playing the game for an audience. Hopefully once we've moved past some of the more juvenile entertainment that I'm having, we'll find an enjoyable game underneath. Come join me and the goons in our live chat as we press on in Heavy Rain right now over on Destructoid's Justin.tv channel!   Watch live video from Destructoid on Justin.tv more videos like this more videos like this

New Destructoid Episode: The Origin of Ms. 'Splosion Row Posted: 11 Jul 2011 03:00 PM PDT more videos like this Hey! You! We got some news about video games. Pay attention! First, it looks like Battlefield 3 won't be on Steam, and the special edition of Mass Effect 3 has robot dogs or something. The Riddler makes his big debut, sort of, in Batman: Arkham City. Cliffy B has an opinion about that new Nintendo thing. Ms. Splosion Man is easily worth your ten bucks, and it's out on Wednesday. Dead Island is probably worth pre-ordering, but not on Amazon if you like cool bonus things. Saints Row The Third is definitely worth pre-ordering because you'll get an octopus gun. Finally, the fine folks over at CM4 were good enough to send over a few of their Catalyst 3DS cases, and we'll happily give them away. Just make a picture (drawing, Photoshop, oil painting, whatever) of the worst possible way a 3DS could get destroyed and send it to show@destructoid.com. Go nuts. Be sure to include your name/address. You've got until this Sunday night at midnight (PST) to submit, and we'll announce the winners on Monday's show.

PC patch for Super Street Fighter IV: AE delayed slightly Posted: 11 Jul 2011 02:30 PM PDT Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition fans have a substantive PC patch incoming after a short delay. Originally expected to hit sometime today, the patch probably won't go live until Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning. Capcom is making up for the wait by adding a few features that weren't originally planned for this update. Support for more keyboards and input devices that were not initially recognized Allowing re-mapped keys Changes Faxed Mode as the default graphic setting NVIDIA 3D Vision Enhancements DRM removed for non-Steam version of the game That last one makes me happy. While I can't honestly say I've played Street Fighter (ever... ), I am pleased to see a publisher willingly strip a title of DRM. I recognize its purpose in preventing piracy and all that jazz but it's a show of good faith on their part and well... good on them, I say! The rest of the fixes really just address input and graphics issues that have caused gamers some trouble. Update on the Arcade Edition PC Patch [Capcom-Unity]

Explore the ocean with The Magic School Bus game Posted: 11 Jul 2011 02:00 PM PDT Growing up in the 80's, one of my absolute favorite cartoons was The Magic School Bus. I was entertained by the ridiculous animations, wacky writing  and catchy tunes while actually learning things that I would probably tune out in school. I have not watched that show in many years, but it has continued to educate and entertain in book and cartoon form, with games soon being added to that list courtesy of The Magic School Bus: Oceans on the Nintendo DS. The game will consist of seven levels, each one featuring a new School Bus transformation and new areas to explore. Each section, once unlocked, will give players a chance to interact with various sea creatures and environments. This is a learning platform, so expect quizzes from Ms. Frizzle based on both the main adventure and mini-games. Overall there will be about 200 ocean interactions with roughly 100 facts and sea creatures each. I may not buy a copy The Magic School Bus: Oceans immediately when it comes out this Fall, but considering how much I enjoyed the cartoon as a child I hope the game receives a warm welcome from younger audiences and their parents. Who knows, maybe this will be an excellently developed title and even we older audiences will want to own it. There is no harm in being optimistic.

More high-priced items are coming to EVE Online Posted: 11 Jul 2011 01:30 PM PDT In the latest expansion to EVE Online, called "Incarna," CCP introduced the Nobel Exchange, which allows players to purchase vanity items for their avatars. Players were outraged at the high prices, since the store included a monocle that cost $70 and $25 shirts. Now the developers are talking about introducing more items with an even higher price point. In a recent blog post on the official EVE Online site, CCP gives a rough overview of their plans for the Nobel Exchange. They want to have different tiers of items with varying price points. A cheap outfit would cost one PLEX (an in-game item worth 30 days of game time, which equals $14.99). They would also have a mid-tier, and a high-end tier for the incredibly wealthy. So not only will you have a $70 monocle, you will have an entire expensive outfit to match it. In a press conference, senior producer Arnar Gylfason told Eurogamer that they have plans to include an extravagantly priced tier for EVE's super rich players, and he mentioned the possibility of gold scorpions that could be worth $10,000 and how people are willing to buy Spectral Tigers in World of Warcraft for $850. CCP's new attempt to explain their future plans comes as a reaction to players' outrage over lofty prices of the items available on the Noble Exchange. CCP went so far as to call an emergency meeting with their Council of Stellar Management (CSM), a body of players elected to represent the hardcore players of EVE, to discuss the recent changes. CCP assured players that they have no current plans to introduce items that will influence gameplay. CCP and the CSM feel that if players are willing to spend their money -- whether in-game currency or cash -- on ridiculous vanity items, EVE should allow that. They aren't forcing anyone to buy these things, and they won't make you a better player if you have them. CSM chairman Alex "The Mittani" Gianturco said that "Humans spend their money on stupid s*** all the time, whether they're playing an MMO or whether they're buying sports cars or houses that are too big for them." Just to make it clear, you can buy these items without spending real-world money. The currency for the Noble Exchange is Aurum, which can be purchased with PLEX (Pilot's License Extension). PLEX can be purchased from the EVE website, and can be traded in-game for ISK (EVE's in-game currency), and vice versa. So in theory, you could earn enough ISK (about 1.7 billion) to buy that fancy $70 monocle. Good luck with the weeks of asteroid mining it will take to earn that much, though. Future Eve NEX goods dwarf $70 monocle [Eurogamer][Image]

Freedom: What's the whole story, again? Posted: 11 Jul 2011 01:00 PM PDT [While you all work on your Digital Distribution blogs for this week's Bloggers Wanted topic, I'll be promoting some of my favorite blogs from last week's assignment. Our first blog comes from KingSigy, who shares his thoughts on many of the recent open-world free-roaming games. Want to see your own blog on the front page? Write a blog about Digital Distribution, and it just might get promoted next week! -- JRo] Freedom is something we all strive to obtain. Whether it is freedom from our parents, freedom from paying bills or even just psychological freedom, most humans take great efforts to be on their own. The topic, alone, is ripe with opportunities for deep storytelling. Why is it, then, that most open-world games lack any kind of proper narrative? I’ve played a huge chunk of the free roaming titles out there; Assassin’s Creed, Fallout 3, Oblivion, Dead Rising, inFamous, Prototype, Red Faction: Guerilla, Grand Theft Auto 3/4. I’ve enjoyed some more than others, but I almost never have any idea about what is going on. Assassin’s Creed is one of the few to include a very thought-provoking story. Other than that, though, I really have no idea what the “vault” is or how the hell Alex Mercer created the demon within. Even when cutscenes are sprinkled in the mix, I still can’t figure out what’s happening. The game that started this craze, Grand Theft Auto 3, doesn’t even really have a coherent plotline. It begins with a failed bank robbery and the main character getting gunned down. He then turns to the mob to find the girl who betrayed him and I get lost. How do you go from the mob to random drug dealers and then back? Grand Theft Auto 4 made huge strides in the presentation of a narrative, but even that failed due to rudimentary mission structure. Niko Bellic would often talk about how he didn’t like killing people and that he needed more money to live, but the missions would make you murder upwards of 100 bad guys and give payouts of around $40,000. Why would you even continue at that point? Red Faction: Guerilla starts off as a fairly interesting take on terrorist actions, but then it devolves into something involving native Martians and how some woman was hiding amongst the Red Faction for years. I don’t even know the characters names, but the writers were definitely pulling at threads when they through that mid-game twist into the mix. inFamous takes the cake for the worst story, however. Not only do I have no idea whom Sasha is, but the whole duality system the game plays up with differing moralities amounts to nothing. Regardless of what action you pick, the outcome of every event is the same. If you stop the train or blow it up, everyone hates you. If you save the group of people or the single person, your girl friend dies. What is the purpose of choice, then? Easily the best plot line I’ve seen in any of these games comes from Assassin’s Creed 2. While there are some bits that I don’t understand (mainly the entire middle segment), the way the game follows Ezio’s growth from a headstrong young adult to a combat hardened assassin is fairly breath taking. Not only is it epic in scope, but it almost acts as a character study. Hell, it even brings to light how people take advantage of their every day possessions (such as family). I’m not sure what the problem is with writing a story for open-world games. Maybe it has to do with player freedom? The Zelda series still offers a fairly in-depth plot, but allows players to explore the world at will. Maybe it’s with character customization? If that’s the case, then how do you explain Rainbow Six: Vegas 2? (Even if that plot has little cohesion). Where I think the problem lies is with the increasing trend of shooters becoming the dominant genre in the industry. Everyone sees that Call of Duty sells by the bucket load, so developers are trying their best to offer different gameplay experiences first before worrying about plot lines. It shows with linear games, too. Rockstar had to restrict the freedom of players for L.A. Noire’s story to even work. That just goes to show you how far scripted events and plotting can go to make a narrative effective. You don’t often see films taking non-linear paths, but they usually don’t work (Crash is a prime example). Do I have any solutions to the problem? I think hiring more unknown writers would do the trick. Recently, F.E.A.R. 3 came out and boasted a script helmed by John Carpenter. It stands as one of the worst examples of story in a videogame that I’ve ever played through. If you give some lesser known person the ability to weave a tale, I’m sure they would try their best to make it special. My other solution would be to completely strip plot out of free-roam games, though that seems incredibly drastic. Not every single title in the genre is awful (especially not Assassin’s Creed), but developers just seem to start off with bangs and then fizzle out over the course of the game. Whatever the future holds for soapbox/free roam/open-world games, I’m honestly not very eager to keep going. I like sitting down and getting my mind wrapped around the experience. It’s hard to keep me intrigued when the most introspective and in-depth thing going on is an explosion.

Octodad 2 shows up on Kickstarter Posted: 11 Jul 2011 01:00 PM PDT more videos like this Hopefully you've played Octodad, the indie game where you take control of an octopus trying to be a person. Simple tasks become impossible challenges when filtered through the game's crazy controls, resulting in you hilariously flailing around the room. If you enjoyed the free game, then perhaps you'll consider chipping in a bit of start-up cash for a sequel? The team wants to make a full-fledged sequel with an actual budget behind it, and they need your help via Kickstarter. If the team gets $20,000 by August 10, they can put it into full production for PC and Mac. Any money gained over that initial amount would be put towards getting dev software to make an XBLA or PSN port (with potential motion controls), or possibly making an iPad port. If you're like me and would love to see this get made, head over and see what bonuses they're offering for backers!

Metacritic founder agrees game ratings are imbalanced Posted: 11 Jul 2011 12:30 PM PDT Marc Doyle, co-founder of Metacritic, was given an opportunity to actively defend his site's methodology and  its role in the industry on the latest A Jumps B Shoots Podcast and he thinks he's got the answer to our review score woes. How do we achieve review score balance? "Review all the sh*t." Doyle states that reviewers need to be more aware of the fact that every score serves a purpose. We all know the differences between an eight game and a nine, but who can really differentiate between a three and a four? Critics need to review everything (not just AAA titles) so that we can, as Doyle puts it, "get that precision on the low end to reflect the precision on the high end." In order to truly understand how scores should work, we need to review every game and build a better concept of "average." Head over to A Jumps B Shoots and give the full audio a listen for more of Doyle's insight on game scores, weighted metascores, and how exactly publications are picked for and dropped from Metacritic. It's really a great interview and a welcomed look at their side of these ongoing issues. Episode 12 – Critically Speaking [A Jumps B Shoots]

The King of Fighters XIII: New date, screens and trailer Posted: 11 Jul 2011 12:15 PM PDT more videos like this The King of Fighters XIII has been confirmed for an October release here in North America. To celebrate, Atlus has sent along a new trailer and a batch of screenshots to share with you. In this new trailer you'll get a peek at some of the new characters of KOF XIII. It goes quick but you'll also get a look at some of the moves, including the NEO MAX supers. Atlus also confirms that the North American version will have the console-exclusive content that the Japanese version does. Billy Kane is one of the new characters only found in the home console version. KOF XIII also features more stages and game modes not found in the original arcade release. We're told to expect more details on these soon.

Comments of the week: Front page get edition Posted: 11 Jul 2011 12:00 PM PDT Welcome to the Comments of the Week! Comments of the Week is a feature where we scour the front page, community blogs and forums picking out comments. The ones that make you think, the ones that make you laugh and the ones that make you cry (but also laugh), and consolidate them into an entertaining package for the viewing pleasure of you, the Destructoid community. I will be taking captaincy of the feature, but will be enlisting the help of other community members. Not any old chap or chappess with an avatar though. These men and women are no strangers to comments round-up, having cut their teeth on past comments of the week with Commentoid, a series that has been running for almost a year in the community blogs. It is with pleasure that I will introduce these folk to you each week and thank them for their support in the transition to the front page. Comments will fall into three categories: TRUTH: Pure sagacity. LOL: Pure hilarity. WUT? Pure absurdity. Now the rules are clear, let's get started:  From Don't buy Deadly Premonition on Games on Demand yet! : ) : (   From The Question: Are you getting a PlayStation Vita? This makes complete sense to me. Even if you agree it is an amazing sounding piece of hardware, why would you not wait and see if there is a game worth giving a damn about first? From I love you, Dtoid. I imagined this read in the style of whoever Cate Blanchett played in The Lord of the Rings. From No More Heroes PS3 'viewer mode' is pretty naughty ... Sold. From DICE isn't making any modding tools for Battlefield 3 Fanboys! I knew it was them! Even when I thought it was the bears I knew it was them! From So I'm terrified of you and I don't want to be anymore I didn't see the photo, but I doubt you'd want to. Especially if you've never been to a bowling alley after closing time with a jar of Vaseline. From Venting Anger I'm painting a really pretty picture about what the forums are like, aren't I? From Gears of War 3 leaked due to Microsoft's incompetence? But it goes deeper... Gear of War 3 is due out in 2011 and the non-final build was reported leaked on 7/2/2011. Now, 722011 - 2011 = 720,000 Microsoft have said 1,000 times that they are not focusing on a new console yet. 720000 / 1000 = 720 XBox 720 is often reputed as the successor to the Xbox 360, since 360 * 2 = 720. Who was responsible for the leak? A cabal of dissidents within Microsoft themselves! Why? So that they can push for development of the new console, the Xbox 720! It all makes sense now!  From Review: Sumo Lounge Titan Gives a whole new meaning to the term "promotional shoot," doesn't it? From I'm sorry about this: Pokemen at Anime Expo If this turns out to be Samit, and Samit is a Pokeman, then I say all power to him. I won't judge. From Left 4 Dead 2 community challenge offers early DLC access Try it yourself: The "Don't agree with me? You must be a fanboy!" gambit. The choice of the winner. Ruminations on a comment stream From No Quick Time Events or vehicles for Prey 2 There are a certain group of people that are constantly on attack mode. Sometimes there is a period in space and time in which the forces of LOL, WUT? and even TRUTH collide in a cosmic event. The Beginning The Reaction and Attack The observation Crossing the line The wise man Also, just because, the Greatest Comeback Ever Told: [Many thanks go to LawofThermalDynamics for his invaluable contributions to this week's Comments of the Week.]

All the game panels at San Diego Comic-Con 2011 listed Posted: 11 Jul 2011 11:30 AM PDT Here's your quick and dirty list of all the videogame panels scheduled this year for San Diego Comic-Con 2011. Not game-related panels, as that would be just about everything! No, I've just listed the videogame ones. There's a ton of them, and reveals and announcements are expected at ALL of them listed here. You'll find a full list after the jump, complete with games, times and even the room number for the panel. There's going to be a lot of news coming out of Comic-Con this year. Game publishers love to release game features and DLC at Comic-Con, but there's even a few new game announcements coming.  I'm going to be at just about all of these panels. That doesn't give me much time to look at all the cosplay girls, though.  Thursday 21: Journey 10-11 a.m. - A look at the upcoming beautiful PS3 exclusive - 23ABC  Kinect Star Wars 10-11 a.m. - A new announcement, new modes - 32AB Street Fighter x Tekken - 3:15-4:15 Ono will be there, on-stage matches, surprises - 6BCF Star Wars: The Old Repubic: 3:30-4:30 p.m. The upcoming MMO will be shown off, "exclusive reveals" -  6BCF Resistance 3: 5-6 p.m. - A first look at new game content and other surprises for this PS3 shooter - 7AB Batman: Arkham City 5-6 p.m. - Reveals for game and characters -  Sefton Hill Iindigo Ballroom Gears of War 3: 6-7 p.m. - Cliffy B. to give "key announcements" - 6BCF   Friday 22:  Halo Universe 11:30-12:30 - Frank O. and friends discuss what's next - 6BCF Uncharted 3 4-5 p.m. - Nolan North and others on hand to discuss the mo-cap, story side of game - 25ABC  The World of Capcom 5-6 p.m. - A new game reveal, Hiroyuki Kobayashi on hand, Dragon's Dogma and more - 25ABC Resident Evil Round-up 6-30-7:30 - 15 anniversary celebrated, RE4 & Code Veronica HD shown, surprises - 5AB   Saturday 23: Activision: 10-11:30 a.m. Stan Lee visiting, a big panel of all things Activision - 5AB Marves vs Capcom 11-12 - New announcements expected! - 25ABC Marvel Interactive: 12:30-1:30  -It's Marvel, Baby. All their games coming this year, reveals planned - 6A Dark Horse and Bioware 4-5 p.m. - Covers Old Republic and Mass Effect games and comics -  23ABC Namco Bandai Fighting Panel 4-5 p.m. - All their stuff coming: Tekken, Tekken movie, Naruto & Soul Calibur - 25ABC Twisted Metal 6-7 p.m. - David Jaffe will show of the opening movie, new content, a new boss - 5AB   Sunday 25: Starhawk 10-11 a.m. Lightbox will be there to show their new baby off - 25ABC

Debut Dishonored screenshot teases first-person swordplay Posted: 11 Jul 2011 11:15 AM PDT I wasn't the only one taken by surprise over Arkane Studios and Bethesda's reveal for Dishonored, looking at your reactions. The Game Informer cover was mysterious enough, and then we found out about some of the big industry names attached to the project. We're hooked. Now, Game Informer is back with more details as well as the first screenshot, shown above. As a wrongfully accused bodyguard with supernatural powers and odd gadgets at his disposal, you'll be assassinating in style. Apparently, you can summon a swarm of rats and then possess one of them to escape. Uh, yes. I would like to do that, thanks! Dishonored is also said to track the amount of collateral damage you cause, behind the scenes, with the obligatory promise of a changing world based on your actions. We've certainly heard that one before, but I'm cautiously optimistic, given the talent responsible for this game. Getting To Know Dishonored [Game Informer]

Live show: Mash Tactics vs Battle Bears with guest Posted: 11 Jul 2011 11:00 AM PDT [Mash Tactics airs Monday through Friday from 4-8pm Pacific. Join Jon Carnage and Pico Mause as they host a wacky and interactive show on Justin.Tv. Join us for your chance to win prizes, talk to industry guests, and experience jaw-dropping stunts.] Today on Mash Tactics, we will be showing you live gameplay footage from Battle Bears with Special guest Benjamin Vu. Are you on the edge of whether or not to pick up a game? Stop by Justin.Tv at 4-8pm Pacific to get a taste of new titles. Follow Mash Tactics on Facebook to vote for which games you would like to see on an upcoming show. We're also going to be giving away some really cool Runes of Magic prize packs, featuring a Steel Series headset, mousepad and a bunch of other cool stuff. Tune in to the show to find out how you can win! CLICK HERE for sexy time. Watch live video from Destructoid on Justin.tv more videos like this more videos like this

The next Harry Potter has a very Gears of War feel Posted: 11 Jul 2011 10:45 AM PDT During the EA Summer showcase, the newest entry to the Harry Potter videogame series was available to check out just before it becomes available this Tuesday. In this final chapter of the story, you must save the world and your friends from the evil Lord Voldemort and his followers otherwise know as the Death Eaters. Your job is also to destroy the remaining Horcruxes in order to remove power from Voldemort.  The game plays like a third-person shooter and is somewhat similar to Gears of War in terms of the play style. You will run from cover-to-cover shooting the Death Eaters with your wand in order to progress through the levels. For a Harry Potter game, this title looks pretty gritty. Sure there is no blood in it but the color pallets used in the backgrounds and in the character designs give it a dark ambiance to the overall feel. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PC) Developer: EA Bright Light Publisher: Electronic Arts To be released: July 12, 2011 There are quite a few other similarities between this game and Gears of War. For example, in Harry Potter, you lead a team of grizzled high school veterans against hordes of Death Eaters. In Gears, you lead a team of grizzly military types against evil aliens. Your lead character in Harry Potter has a scar on his face as does Marcus Phoenix of Gears. They both like making big explosions and running around with their friends blowing stuff up too.  The team says that they have addressed what the fans were asking for from the previous version of Deathly Hallows, such as being able to play as other characters in the story. During the demonstration,  Professor McGonagall was used to fight off one of the giant bosses in the game. They also simplified the control scheme. Each spell in Harry's arsenal is mapped to a button on the controller and you simply pull the R trigger on the controller to cast whichever spell is equipped. There is quite a bit of strategy in the way that you will have to defeat your enemies. Certain spells are just for defeating your enemy's shields and other spells are for dealing damage. You will have to find the right method of knowing which spell is going to be needed to take out the bad guys. Later in the game, you will also get the Apparate spell which will allow Harry to teleport to nearby cover in case of a surprise attack which seemed to happen often. This game is a great starting point for kids whose parents will not let them have the Gears experience or if they are just Harry Potter fans in general. Either way, it is definitely a game that can be enjoyed by all. If you really want to spoil this game, there is a movie that will be coming out on Friday based on the exact same story. You should watch it. It's a big deal, apparently.

Catherine demo out tomorrow, prepare the sausage-yogurt! Posted: 11 Jul 2011 10:30 AM PDT Don't have a Japanese account? Want to play Q*Bert With Tits? Well, tomorrow is the day you've been waiting for, as Atlus is popping a Catherine demo up on the PlayStation Network! If you've played the Japanese demo, this is the same as that one, save for the language difference (spoiler: tomorrow's demo will be in English). It consists of the game's opening hour, so there should plenty of content to check out ahead of the game's July 26 release date.  We'll have a review coming soon, but make sure you check the demo out too!

'Dead Air' DLC for Left 4 Dead 2 will release early Posted: 11 Jul 2011 10:15 AM PDT Last week, Valve made a promise that if 20,000 people on Steam could get the "Stream Crosser" achievement that they would release the upcoming downloadable campaign "Dead Air" for Left 4 Dead 2 early. Players jumped on board to accept this challenge, and within 24 hours, 60,774 people had earned the achievement. The "Stream Crosser" achievement is earned by completing the campaign "Cold Stream," which was created with the help of the community. Valve wanted people to play this campaign to help beta test it, and by offering a nice reward, they have accomplished their goal. When this challenge was first issued, the early release date was set for July 22. But now Valve might release it sooner, if it's finished before then. Streams Crossed [Left 4 Dead Blog via Joystiq]

Review: Ms. Splosion Man Posted: 11 Jul 2011 10:00 AM PDT Twisted Pixel's Ms. Splosion Man is like 'Splosion Man, but with more pink -- and the lead character wears a bow in her hair. Wait, she doesn't have hair... how does that bow stay in? Why doesn't it just burn up? This game makes no sense. Score: 2 out of 10 -- Lacks realism; too pink; every button does, like, basically the same thing Just kidding. The game's pretty awesome. No duh, right? Ms. Splosion Man (Xbox Live Arcade) Developer: Twisted Pixel Games Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios To be released: July 13, 2011 Price: 800 Microsoft Points ($10) To say that Ms. Splosion Man is simply 'Splosion Man with a bow wouldn't do justice to the actual work Twisted Pixel has done with this follow-up. Even still, much of what I've already said in my 'Splosion Man review in 2009 applies, at least at its most basic level. The game immediately feels like 'Splosion Man; if Twisted Pixel has made any tweaks to physics or speed, it's not evident. The gameplay remains the same, and fans of the original will find there aren't any real new tricks to learn. The game is still all about exploding to reach new heights, avoiding environmental hazards, and crossing the finish line without pulling your hair out over the game's tricky combustion-based platforming. But that's not to say that Twisted Pixel hasn't taken every measure to make Ms. Splosion Man feel wholly novel within that fundamental gameplay framework. You're not a few 'splosions in before the developer is revealing its new cards, and they're all about the game's environments. Ms. Splosion Man can play on and interact with everything from rails to Donkey Kong Country barrel-inspired cannons, and more. The result is that the game's 50-plus stages are more interesting and more varied, as Twisted Pixel is able to play with the world and level design in all sorts of clever (and sometimes devious) ways. True to life, Ms. Splosion Man has a tougher time in the workplace than her male counterpart. By mixing and matching tools both new and old, Twisted Pixel has managed to design levels that are even tougher than those found in the original. Ms. Splosion Man requires precision and killer reflexes to a far greater degree than its predecessor. With all of the "just made it" moments scattered throughout the game, Ms. Splosion Man is an easy candidate for "Most Toes Curled" and "Most Butt Cheeks Clenched" awards in 2011. Some areas can become frustrating as you die repeatedly at the hands of Twisted Pixel's sadistic level designers, but nothing truly feels "toss the controller at your pet" impossible. With every failure, I knew it was of my own doing, and I was constantly pushing myself to try again and again until I got it right. New to Ms. Splosion Man is a Super Mario Bros. 3-inspired world map, versus the last game's vanilla level-select screen. (Boxes with level names on them are so 2009, really.) It's not only an aesthetic improvement, but a functional one as well. The new map design allowed Twisted Pixel to add "tougher" levels (marked in red, with a scary skull face!) on non-critical paths for players looking for an extra challenge. Some levels even have alternate exits that lead to hidden levels, including a cute reference to Super Mario World's "Star Road." While the most resolute players could probably clear all of the worlds in one or two sittings, I wouldn't recommend it. As I mentioned earlier, the game can become irritatingly difficult at times, and you'll likely want to step back and take a breather before tackling some of the challenges. Even still, if you were to make it to the final boss encounter (and find all of the hidden shoes and levels) in one sitting, there are more than a few reasons to keep playing. Multiplayer is back, with up to four Ms. Splosion Men (both online and off, in any combination) blasting through a fresh set of levels. As it was with the first game, these levels are often tougher than the single-player levels, chiefly because many spots require stellar communication between players. And you know how that goes, especially online. There's also an unlockable "Two Girls, One Controller" mode that has one player controlling two Ms. Splosion Men on one controller. Or you can cuddle up with another player and play on one controller. Either way, it's probably one of the most batshit crazy ways to play a videogame outside of just waving your hands at a camera or something. Ms. Splosion Man also keeps track of scores (based on a number of variables) and level completion time, and posts them to online leaderboards. I found myself headed back into levels I had previously conquered simply to best the five people who were playing the game last week for review. As extra incentive to become the best Ms. Splosion Man you can be, Twisted Pixel has also included "ghost" data, allowing you to not only race against your own previous runs, but the runs of the world's top performers. Twisted Pixel's offbeat sense of humor is featured prominently in Ms. Splosion Man, although there appear to be more pop-culture references and inside jokes than in any of its previous games. While this isn't a bad thing by any means, it also means that the humor may not be universal. For example, I find Twisted Pixel's obsession with '90s-era Arnold Schwarzenegger films hilarious, but it might not click with some who aren't familiar with those movies. Still, it's nice to see that while Twisted Pixel obviously takes its game design seriously, it's more than willing to have a little fun (sometimes at its own expense) to get a laugh. Ms. Splosion Man, in every respect, is a step up from Twisted Pixel's first foray into the Jumpsplode genre.* It's more of an evolution than a revolution, though: if you didn't like what the developer had to offer with 'Splosion Man, you're free to take a pass. (Also, consider taking up wasp nest collecting instead of playing videogames.) If you enjoyed the developer's first incendiary platformer, you've got no excuse not to go pink for Ms. Splosion Man. * Later perfected by Capcom's MaXplosion, of course. Debug: 2

The Jimquisition: Linearity versus Replayability Posted: 11 Jul 2011 09:45 AM PDT more videos like this As online multiplayer and extra, post-game content as become the norm, people seem to have forgotten exactly what makes a game worth coming back to again and again. A "linear" game, without extra modes, is considered bargain bin fodder now and I think that is wrong.  The Jimquisition, of course, shall set things right. It literally saves lives, remember.

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