Reverb Publishing and Phoenix Online Studios are happy to announce a special pre-order deal for their upcoming release of Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller. The pre-order consists of the Cognition Season Pass that includes all four episodes, an exclusive prequel e-comic, and the soundtrack to episode 1 “The Hangman” for $24.99. Upon the launch of the title, episodes will individually cost $9.99, and the season pass will still be available but for $29.99.
Like many of you, I did not know what Cognition was all about. Cognition is a tale about an FBI agent named Erica Reed who has a spectacular ability to see into the past. Erica is tailing four serial killers and is picking up strange clues left in the past just for someone with her abilities. Agent Reed may have more than one person stalking her in this goosebumps, point-and-click adventure.
Pre-order Cognition Season Pass now for only $24.99 (here). Check out the chilling trailer below as Erica Reed slips into the past.
NBA 2K13 featuring JAY Z Developer: Visual Concepts Publisher: 2K Sports Platform: Playstation 3 (Reviewed), Xbox 360, Wii U, PC Release Date: 5th October, 2012
Overview:
The NBA 2K franchise is now officially thirteen years old with the first game being released way back in 1999. Thirteen is widely considered to be an unlucky number, with a large amount of superstition surrounding it, especially when it comes to sports. The number itself has a great deal of connotations but more so in particular with basketball. Many NBA teams have retired the number 13 jersey for a variety of reasons.
The point I’m trying to make is that the number is said to be unlucky. Now that begs the question, are 2K sports unlucky when it comes to NBA 2K13? Or does luck not matter in the case of this game? The answer is no. NBA 2K13 is easily the best basketball game to date and there is nothing a silly superstition could do to stop that.
Gameplay:
What do you get when you combine the most polished and solid top to bottom basketball video-game to date with hip-hop and rap superstar Jay Z? Something simultaneously incredible and naggingly irritating. That something is of course NBA 2K13, an all round solid game with a little too much stroking of it’s apparent Executive Producer’s ego.
The title screen reads, NBA 2K13 Executively Produced by Jay Z. This title card essentially sets the tone for the game as a whole and thankfully at the end of the day the basketball comes first and the overbearing Jay Z comes second. But let’s talk a little bit about Jay Z before we get into how the game itself goes on the court.
Jay Z otherwise known as Kayne West’s best friend and the multi-million dollar rap artist who also happens to own the Brooklyn Nets, has a large hand in the cookie jar known as NBA 2K13. In fact he apparently served as executive producer on the game. Now I’m sure that right there is confusing enough in it’s own right. I mean, what does Jay Z know about game development? Thankfully not much because his appearance in the game was overbearing and intrusive enough as it is and I personally would not want him having too much a role in how the game plays. But unfortunately you can not play the game without being bombarded at times with the man and his posse of rapping friends. There music plays almost constantly, loading screens often feature music videos of his and he is even seen at court-side for some matches. But other than that, one can look past the somewhat obnoxious influence Jay Z has over this game although it is a relatively smart marketing move to bring him on board.
The game itself is great and continues to build upon and expand the tight formula that 2K Sports have built for years with this franchise. There isn’t any real ground-breaking features to speak of but there doesn’t need to be. This game takes the template set from previous instalments and adds a nice coat of polish to it.
The centre-piece of the entire experience is the My Career mode, which returns from NBA 2K12 (previously called My Player mode). The mode allows you to play as your own created character or play as a real life player. You begin this mode by playing a rookie try-out match which leads to various interviews with interested teams and ultimately leads to you being drafted onto a team that found your answers particularly appealing. After this you play through your career, which can involve changing teams down the line and of course developing your character over the course of the career through an RPG-like character building element. The character building allows you to increase your players stats and specialities. It works well and provides a great incentive to try and earn those precious points to build your player.
In this My Career mode there is also the option to create a shoe. I know this sounds like a ridiculously trivial mode and essentially it is, but there is something fun about creating your shoes to be used in a match, especially when you create something rather extravagant that stands out on the court (hot pink please?).
Besides the My Career mode there is of course your standard exhibition mode and online modes which aren’t really a whole lot different than what we have seen in the past. You can select your team (this time around there are legendary teams from the past that are selectable as well) and face off in your standard exhibition match, it is indeed good to flex your muscles and train yourself up a little before hitting the courts online with the more competitive players. Online works effectively the same as the exhibition mode except you are playing against others in a matchmaking scenario. Both modes are incredibly addictive and pleasure to play, especially for basketball fans such as myself.
From top to bottom this is easily the most refined and enjoyable NBA experience that 2K Sports have produced and there is nothing that the overwhelming amount of Jay Z can do to hide that fact.
Visuals and Audio:
Aesthetically NBA 2K13 does not disappoint in the slightest, it is damn near photo-realistic and really immerses you into it’s atmosphere. That in itself says leaps and bounds about the visual experience provides in this game. If you are looking for realism in your sports titles, you can’t do much better than this. 2K Sports have pushed the machines to their utmost limits here and the result is phenomenal.
As previously mentioned the game features a soundtrack heavily influenced by and featuring Jay Z. Now if you like Jay Z and his music then this will be a real treat for you. However if you don’t happen to be a fan of him or his buddies Kanye and P.Diddy then you’re gonna have a bad time, because there are about 3 or 4 songs on the games soundtrack that don’t fit into the genre or discography of these people. If you can look past it though you should be able to enjoy the game for what it is. Unfortunately though the soundtrack is incredibly lacking in variety and features more Jay Z tracks than was really necessary. It gets to the point where you wonder why Jay Z had such a heavy influence over the game and why he was allowed to fill half the game’s soundtrack with his own tunes. If that’s not stroking his own ego then I don’t know what is.
At the end of the day, despite how overbearing, intrusive and sometimes insulting Jay Z’s appearance within the game may be, beneath the music is a damn good game. It’s just a shame that the soundtrack is so heavily unbalanced in comparison to past instalments of NBA 2K.
Overall:
From top to bottom, NBA 2K13 is a solid game that builds upon and expands it’s proven formula to great result. It is bogged down by a superstars imposing ego, but that can be overlooked because the game itself is good enough stand on it’s own without the name Jay Z attached.
If you buy these games every year then I’m sure this year will be no different. 2K Sports struck gold yet again with the NBA 2K franchise and this is quite simply the best basketball game on the market. It’s just that simple. If you love basketball, or heck even if you love Jay Z, this game is definitely worth a look in.
My question now is, how does 2K Sports top this? Can they keep on slam dunking or will they miss the lay up next time? Regardless of the next title, this game stands as a shining example of a sports game done right.
Hm, usually a company waits until a game is about to be released before releasing a launch trailer but considering just how excited people are for Call of Duty: Black Ops II it seems that Activision and Treyarch simply provided the supply to all of the fans’ demands.
The launch trailer can be seen below and it contains so much action and fancy gadgets that you may need to watch it three times simply to see everything that is shown, including things such as rocket jetpacks, wing suits, robotic bugs and more. As for the game itself, Call of Duty: Black Ops II is set to be released next month on November 13th.
Players that haven’t gotten a serious fix of Serious Sam in a while should be happy to hear that they can get a solid helping with the new DLC that just hit for Serious Sam 3: BFE for PC. Serious Sam 3: Jewel of the Nile adds plenty of new content in the form of 3 campaign missions, 7 versus maps, and 3 survival maps. And what better way to see what the DLC has to offer than a video showing off all it’s got.
The DLC isn’t all there is for Serious Sam news though as in addition Steam is having a Midweek Madness sale that has put Serious Sam games at 75% off. If you’ve been looking to get into the series this may be the perfect chance, but act fast as the deals only last until the end of the week. Check out the DLC on Steam HERE and the other Serious Sam games while you’re there, as well as watching the DLC launch trailer embedded below.
Ever since it was debuted, Prey 2 has looked like a stellar game. However it has also been a near non-existent game as well. Bethesda has seemingly done nothing with the title for quite some time and it took rumors of the game being cancelled for the company to even mention the title, though they simply stated that it was not cancelled.
Now Designer Nathan Cheever has taken to Twitter saying: “Prey 1 = Indians in Space. Prey 2 = Cowboys in Space. btw, P2 hasn’t been officially canceled, only in limbo.” He then followed up with: “For everyone thinking this is news — it’s nothing new. Bethesda already stated Prey 2 was on hold due to ‘quality reasons'”
It is good to know that the game is still alive in some form, though it is very strange that the company has done absolutely nothing to acknowledge the game since E3 last year.
A cult game if I ever saw one, Deadly Premonition divided opinion of both critics and players, receiving full marks from some while others didn’t rate it at all. Devout fans of the game, however, will be pleased to hear Rising Star Games is helping to bring a Director’s Cut edition of the game to market, exclusively for the PlayStation 3.
New and exclusive features include; a new scenario from the game’s director, Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro; HD graphics; a reworked control system to improve the combat experience; and DLC to take the mystery beyond just the original game.
Hidetaka ‘Swery’ Suehiro expressed that he was ‘very happy’ to have the opportunity to work on Deadly Premonition again to come up with the Director’s Cut. ‘It’s been a while since Deadly Premonition was released, but I’m still receiving so many messages of support from fans around the world. I’m writing some exciting new scenarios and adding some new features. All will be revealed over the coming months and I’m confident I can deliver an unforgettable experience for you all.’
Let’s hope they don’t change the game too much. We wouldn’t want the game to lose that waywardness that made it a cult game. Long-standing fans keep your ears to the ground for more information as it’s still pretty thin, and newcomers can avoid spoiling the story until the Director’s Cut edition hits Q1 2013 in Europe and the US.
Remember how we only knew about a Japanese release window for Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus and no confirmation of a Western release of the game? Well, it just was revealed via a rather simple list from Major Nelsonhimself.
Nelson has revealed that Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus is going to be released next week on October 24th for a price tag of 1200 MSP ($15). This is quite unexpected but certainly a pleasant surprise for everyone who happens to be a fan of the Guilty Gear series, many of who were growing concerned about the status of this digital title. Currently it is unknown if the game will be released on the PlayStation 3 at the same time.
If you check your favorite gaming device today you will see that Borderlands 2’s first downloadable expansion pack, Captain Scarlett and her Pirate’s Booty, is now available for download on the PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360. While Gearbox hasn’t done much to advertise this expansion, they have revealed a few more details about it today and a trailer which can be seen below.
The expansion itself adds in a new sandy Pirate Bay area, the town of Oasis, new characters, new enemies and plenty of loot to collect. This is the first of four planned downloadable expansions to the game and it will cost you $9.99 or 800 MSP depending on your preferred platform, or if you own the Borderlands 2 Season Pass then this is free for you.
While Tecmo Koei may have released a free pack of costume DLC shortly after Dead or Alive 5 was released, the company has chosen to release a second set of costume packs. Unfortunately, unlike the first pack, these costumes will cost $4.99 or 400 MSP depending on which console you choose to purchase them on.
That being said, these costumes range from very familiar to brand new as we see the return of the Kitty costumes where Tina, Lisa, Helena and Christie all receive some sexy cat girl outfits. Also released is a “What a Character” pack which brings some new costumes to the characters of Hitomi, Mila, Rig and Lisa. Finally the Special Set sees Kasumi, Leifang, Hayabusa and Lisa dressed in new outfits. In fact, Lisa is the only girl to receive a costume no matter which pack you purchase.
Each of these costumes can be seen in high-def in the gallery below, and consumers can purchase all of these packs in one set at a discounted price on the Xbox 360 for 1040 MSP or on the PS3 for $13.99.
Well it seems that all systems are go for Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with their latest film Ant-Man receiving the official release date of November 6, 2015.
The film is slated to be directed by Edgar Wright, who you many better known as the guy who made Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Scott Pilgrim vs the World.
Officially a member of The Avengers in the comics, Ant-Man aka Henry Pym is a talented scientist who discovers and devises substance to drastically reduce his size, and thus becoming ‘Ant-Man’. While that may not sound that exciting, the process can be reversed and he can become ‘Giant-Man’.
It will be interesting to see how Ant-Man will contribute to Marvel’s Avengers storyline as it is set to come out after The Avengers 2. Or maybe we’ll see Henry Pym in The Avengers sequel with his storyline advanced in Ant-Man.
