Today Wayforward had great news for fans of their games. The original Shantae game is going to be making its way to the 3DS Virtual Console sometime closer to the end of June. The game was originally released in 2002 on the Game Boy Color but despite being published by Capcom, it became a rather rare title that is expensive to purchase nowadays.
As such, Shantae will be available on the 3DS eShops in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand for a currently unannounced price but it will certainly be cheaper than what a physical version would cost nowadays and more details have been promised closer to the title’s release.
The Dynasty Warriors franchise has been around for quite a long time now and with a roster already bursting at the seams with playable characters, trying to squeeze more unique fighters out of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is probably becoming a difficult task.
However Tecmo Koei was up to the challenge because today they have announced two more warriors which will be joining the battle for the Wu forces in Dynasty Warriors 8 . The first is a skilled veteran named Han Dang who is a humble man and a dependable leader, though he is jealous of his fellow officers and their quick rise to fame and the second is named Lu Su, a governor-general that has the trust of his people and is a capable diplomat that is trying to put an end to the war raging throughout the three kingdoms.
To go along with these two new characters, the company provided the below images of Han Dang and Lu Su. Dynasty Warriors 8 is currently set to be released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on July 12th in the West.
The last time we heard from Relic Entertainment and SEGA about upcoming Company of Heroes 2 they had announced the Digital Collector’s Edition and its pre-order bonus. One part of the pre-order bonus stuck out however, as it was a mini-pack for a mode previously unknown, but today they have released all the gritty details on the Theater of War.
In hopes of providing players with even more content and gameplay, the Theater of War serves as a means to both allow players to see different battles of the war from different viewpoints and bridge the singleplayer and multiplayer. With solo challenges where players must face odds stacked against them or commanders with unique playstyle and co-op scenarios where players can go at it with a friend, Company of Heroes 2 will launch with a total of 18 missions split between the Soviets and the Germans. In addition to the mini-pack from pre-ordering, more Theater of War missions will be released after the game comes out.
Players will be able to experience the Theater of War for themselves when Company of Heroes 2 releases for PC on June 25th, 2013.
Ubisoft’s new IP Watch_Dogs has had much buzz around it since its reveal at E3 last year. Since that time more information has been releasing from securing its release date to this year, to confirmation on next gen consoles, to the last video they released last month. But now new information has hit like a car smashing into a retractable traffic barricade.
The new video gets more personal, but not too personal, with the main character Aiden Pearce letting players get to know him a little and what he’s trying to accomplish. The true depth of information doesn’t come until the end where the release date has finally been confirmed as November 19th in North America and November 22nd in Europe. In addition to the release date the trailer shows off the penultimate edition of the game the Dedsec Edition.
Featuring plenty of physical and digital bonuses, the Dedsec Edition includes:
Physical Bonuses
23cm Aiden Pearce Figurine
Steelbook™
DedSec Collector box
Watch_Dogs Artbook: artworks and illustrations that inspired the game
Original soundtrack of the game
Watch_Dogs map of Chicago
Set of 4 collectible cards: discover Watch_Dogs iconic characters through augmented reality
Set of 3 exclusive badges
Digital Bonuses
Palace Pack
Signature Shot
Breakthrough Pack
However, the Dedsec Edition isn’t the only one detailed today, as three other editions of the game will also be available to those in the UK:
The Vigilante Edition (Only at Game in UK and GameStop in Ireland): Includes physical bonuses of Vigilante Edition Collector Box, Aiden Pearce hat, Aiden Pearce mask, and original soundtrack, but only the Palace Pack digital Bonus.
The Uplay Exclusive Edition (Only at the Uplay website): Includes only has the one physical bonus of an exclusive Steelbok™, but will include all three digital bonuses of Palace Pack, Signature Shot, and Breakthrough Pack.
The Special Edition (Only at Game in UK): Includes only the digital bonus of the Breakthrough Pack.
Players can check out the different editions by clicking on the images in the gallery below and watch the new Watch_Dogs trailer embedded below that. Watch_Dogs will be releasing for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, and PC on November 19th in North America and November 22nd in Europe.
Rockstar Games Co-Founder, Jamie King, has recently joined forces with Soul and Vibe by taking a role in their advisory board. Having a background of Co-Founder and VP of Product Development with a successful franchise will certainly make any career movement quite noticeable. With games likes Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, and Red Dead Redemption at his back, Jamie King will not doubt make a positive impact for the growing game company. Soul and Vibe’s CEO and President Peter Anthony “Tony” Chiodo had the following to say regarding Jamie’s decision to join their board:
We are very excited to have Jamie on board with Soul and Vibe. He knows how to conceptualize game experiences and transform them into hugely successful franchises. He also knows how to leverage licensed brands into valuable transmedia properties. Jamie has a wealth of experience managing numerous developments simultaneously and his network of talent is global. As a Co-Founder of Rockstar Games, he has played a key role in shaping gaming, contributing to the growth of one of the most influential publishing labels in our industry. We are honored that he sees Soul and Vibe as an opportunity to further shape our industry’s future.
In his new’s release, Jamie mentions that he and Tony share a common vision for the future of gaming. With this vision he mentions that “Soul and Vibe will represent a new face in interactive publishing and it’s been a while since I’ve seen an opportunity this promising.” Think King is on to something? Lend us your thoughts in the comments below.
Diablo is about to invade the PlayStation 3. Gamers can now pre-order Diablo III at retailers to receive the exclusive Infernal Helm item, which provides an experience boost to the wearer. Certain retailers are providing special bonuses in addition to the Infernal Helm.
“In addition to including all the improvements from the PC version over the past year, we’ve made several updates to Diablo III for play on the PS3. We got a ton of positive feedback from players who tried the game at PAX East, and we can’t wait to get it into everyone’s hands later this year,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and Co-Founder of Blizzard Entertainment.
Diablo III for PlayStation 3 has been optimized for controllers. Find your local retailer for pre-orders at the official Diablo III site.
The IllumiRoomteam at Microsoft Research released a demonstration of their new technology designed for the next generation Xbox console. The system currently works with a Kinect sensor and a wide angled projector. Eventually, the system will be a small coffee table based unit.
The IllumiRoom is able to expand the game to reach beyond the television screen and take over the living room. The projector is able to produce a variety of effects, allowing the surrounding living room to match the art style of the game, expand the peripheral field of view to include the rest of the room and more.
The project was a joint effort between Microsoft Research and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The full research paper can be found on the official Microsoft site.
Seeing as how a new Call of Duty is being announced every year, Activision has decided to try something new. If you go to the official Call of Duty website you will be greeted by a mosaic, made up of tiny versions of people’s Facebook and Twitter profile pictures. It appears the mosaic becomes more complete as more people add their photo to the site. At time of reporting it seems to reveal a disturbingly sad version of a Pikachu, a tiger or a creepy clown.
Activision community manager Dan Amrich is promoting the page, telling fans “Something’s up at callofduty.com…you might wanna check it out.”
It has been previously rumoured that the next Call of Duty game in the series will be Call of Duty: Ghosts, which will be developed by Infinity Ward and be running on a next generation engine.
Seven developers have come together to resurrect an old project. Seaven Studio has formed with the intention of going indie by developing and self-publishing a soon to be announced game. The developers have chosen to pool together their savings and self-fund their upcoming title. Seaven Studio promises to stay close to the gaming community and develop their game in response to feedback provided by the community.
The team has released a short teaser trailer on YouTube starring a mouse standing on a boulder at night as glowing green rocks fall from the sky. More information about this game will be released in the coming days.
Some great news for anyone suffering from or who knows a sufferer of Lazy Eye or ‘Amblyopia’, as Tetris is here to save the day again, with the latest research showing much alleviated symptoms through controlled use of the much loved retro classic. Not only has it helped us pack cars with 10 times more than they should be able to hold but Tetris is also here to lend a hand with vision improvement as Dr Ben Thompson along with a team of scientists from McGill University have been busy conducting the worlds first Tetris experiments with the ultimate goal of generating enough funding to fine tune the treatment and start offering it to patients.
“Although amblyopia is often known as ‘lazy eye’ the impairment in vision is due to abnormal development within visual areas of the brain, not a defect of the eye,” says Dr Thompson.
The studies have shown that rather than traditional treatment in which sufferers wore an eye patch over the affected eye, patients are far better off using both eyes, with far higher intensity stimulation on the affected eye, which ultimately forces both eyes to work together. A game like Tetris requires both eyes to work together to distinguish the shapes needed to fit into the spaces below, thus sufferers of lazy eye whose primary affliction lies with the brain receiving different images from each eye in childhood have found much benefit through the treatment thus far. Patients who played for 1 hour a day over 10 days showed vast improvements that lasted up to 3 months.
Hopefully more funding will be provided and the team can fine tune the levels of intensity needed to successfully utilise Tetris as a tool for a structured treatment of visual impairments such as this.
Today Wayforward had great news for fans of their games. The original Shantae game is going to be making its way to the 3DS Virtual Console sometime closer to the end of June. The game was originally released in 2002 on the Game Boy Color but despite being published by Capcom, it became a rather rare title that is expensive to purchase nowadays.
