Black Mesa, a Half-Life remake using the Source SDK 2007, is now available for free!
The 40-person ‘Black Mesa Modification Team’ has put in an excruciating 8 years of effort, all for this free-to-download remake; a total conversion of Half-Life 2. With new models, voice acting, maps, textures and a new soundtrack, Black Mesa aims to be a new but familiar experience for Half-Life fans, re-introducing the beloved hero Gordon Freeman. The mod is currently available via the official Black Mesa website, however the project has been green-lit for release through Steam at a later date, which is fantastic news for this dedicated team. The soundtrack, which was composed by one Joel Nielsen, is and has been available for free download since September 2nd. Although donations to the team are prohibited due to their use of Valve’s intellectual property, they are allowed to Joel Nielsen for his work on the OST. Click hereto download the soundtrack and donate if you so please.
It came as a total surprise when Platinum Games revealed Bayonetta 2 at the Nintendo Wii U Preview Event earlier this week. It was an even bigger shock when they announced it’s exclusivity to the Wii U. Fans have  been wondering why this decision for exclusivity with Nintendo was made, especially since those disappointed Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 owners who loved the first are the ones that  made it a cult hit. Bayonetta wasn’t even released on the Wii after all!
Well now, Bayonetta 2’s director Yusuke Hashimoto and supervisor Hideki Kamiya have made statements on the official Platinum Games blog. Their comments center on their experiences on working on the first, and their joy and motivation going into making Bayonetta 2. However it’s company President & CEO, Tatsuya Minami, who has given some insight on why they’ve made an exclusivity deal with Nintendo:
Bayonetta has fans the world over, and we would never dream of alienating them from participating in the future of PlatinumGames. That being said, the console games market is in a state of upheaval, so establishing a new game franchise requires a considerable amount of will, determination, and love. Bayonetta is a brand that we want to see become stronger, reaching the hands of more and more gamers, so we have continued to consult with SEGA, the previous game’s publisher, on how we can make sure this takes place. Our answer was a new partnership with Nintendo.
Along with their new hardware, Nintendo, as a company, is dedicated to establishing a new future for the games industry, as you can tell by their record of passionate support for gaming. Alongside Nintendo, we hope to grow the Bayonetta brand beyond where it stands today, allowing even more gamers around the world to experience the action of our beloved witch.
Although Kamiya’s comments are a great contradiction, stating the desire not to desert fans, yet abandoning them, this may be a case of timing. We’re in the transitional stage between generations, and whilst also keeping money and resources in mind, this decision could be the most realistic, responsible and hopefully most profitable one that Platinum Games could have made.
How do you guys feel about this? Has this tipped the scale for any Bayonetta owners out there to buy the Wii U? Or maybe you already planned to and this news isn’t a big deal to you? Let us know!
Following the news that in the U.S., the iPhone 5 sold out within the first hour, it’s now been determined that there have been a whopping 2 million pre-orders of the iPhone 5 within its first 24 hours of it’s availability! Both feats are extremely impressive when comparing to the 22 hours it took for the 4S to sell out, and the 1 million pre-orders it reached in its first 24 hours.
The prediction made through Bloomberg newsby Yankee Group analyst Carl Howe that “This is going to be the best-selling consumer electronics device of all time, bar none…” is seemingly going to ring true. Bloomberg also details how the outstanding pre-order numbers had boosted Apple’s share price over $700 for the very first time, headlining a 73% stock increase from the beginning of the year.
For those in the U.S. who haven’t pre-ordered and still want an iPhone 5, Apple, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, Best Buy, Radioshack, Target and Walmart will be selling limited quantities in-store from September 21st, but you will have to be quick to get in-line. It’s likely that these initial supplies won’t last long.
If you have been keeping up, Nintendo have been celebrating Kirby’s 20th this year all over, but the centerpiece to the celebration has now hit stores for all of you pink puff fans to swoop up. Kirby’s 20th Anniversary: Special Edition features Dream Land 1, 2, 3, Adventure, Superstar, and Kirby 64, along with a soundtrack and nifty little history book. There are also a lot of extras on disc, such as three episodes of the animated series, Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, as well as a video for every game released in the franchise to date.
We will soon be posting our review for the collection, but let me assure you…it is worth it. Go pick up your own piece of birthday cake on the Wii today, and enjoy every last glee filled minute of it.
If you were jumping with joy with the fact that FUNimation would finally be bringing A Certain Magical Index (To Aru Majutsu no Index) to North America in English, a few years after its initial release, then you will probably want to cool your jets just a little bit.
It was revealed today by the Anime Corner Store that FUNimation has actually had to delay their release of A Certain Magical Index by six weeks. Rather than the two-part collection coming to store shelves on October 30th, the first season of the show will now be released on December 11th, with various online retailers already adjusting the release date of the series. No reason was given for the delay at the moment, though we have reached out to FUNimation for comment.
While Atelier Totori Plus: The Adventurer of Arland is only set to be released on November 29th in Japan at the moment, there is a relatively high chance that the game may be making its way overseas to North America and for this exact reason you should check out some of the screenshots, and yes one piece of Totori artwork, recently released for the Japanese version of the game below. One thing to take note of is that despite the fact that Totori Plus is a portable version of a console title, the game’s impressive visuals remain mostly intact.
One of the new inclusions that Atelier Totori Plus will feature, besides being portable on the PlayStation Vita, is a new dungeon called Orthogalaxen which can be seen below, though it is worth noting that this dungeon actually appeared in Atelier Rorona first. This new dungeon will contain some special materials and enemies that will provide what you will need to create some of thew new costumes and weapons that will be added into the game.
Some of you may remember that back when 999 was released, a special pre-order bonus was also given in the form of a watch. Well now that the game’s spiritual sequel is set to be released on October 24, it seems that Aksys Games has chosen to go along with a similar promotion for Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward.
Aksys Games announced today that anyone who pre-orders either the Nintendo 3DS version or PlayStation Vita version of the game will be able to get a special wristwatch that will be similar to the one in the actual game. As for the game itself, there will be twenty four different endings and it will play similar to the previously released 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors.
Some of you may remember a certain little expansion disc for NiGHTS into dreams… which was nearly impossible to get unless you were one of the biggest Sega fans back when they were being distributed. The rason for this was thanks to the fact that this disc was only given out through special giveaways or through certain magazines.
Well, now that NiGHTS into dreams… and Sonic Adventure 2 have a release date of October 2nd on the PSN and October 5th on the XBLA, that special Christmas Nights expansion pack will be available to anyone who downloads the HD version of NiGHTS. Aside from the “free access” to content from Christmas Nights, players can also purchase Sonic Adventure 2’s “Battle Mode” for $3 or 240 MSP extra. This battle mode adds in some special Gamecube only content such as new maps and characters. Both games will cost $10 or 800 MSP when they hit consoles.
Up next in Riot Games’ champion lineup is Kha’Zix – the Voidreaver. By the pool of gushing blood flowing from its mandibles, I would say we have a challenger.
Being the product of the void, Kha’Zix is a well adapted creature. In fact the vicious beast can adapt to any environment! Players will be able to choose Kha’Zix evolutionary path to develop wings, spiked racks, or even scythe-like claws. Sounds like the team at Riot Games want to shake things up a bit. At any rate this champion should prove tough to master with the multiple building paths. Stay tuned for “A new champion approaches… Kha’Zix” to get all the details.
The legendary classic Final Fantasy VII returns with a PC release. Australians can purchase the game for a special launch price of $11.99 AUD. The game comes optimized for PCs and sports modern features such as cloud saves (no, not that Cloud), achievements, and of course, in app purchases in case players find themselves stuck and in need of a stat boost. Final Fantasy VII was originally released for the Playstation in 1997 and quickly became a memorable classic and has a large legion of fans who believe it is the best in the entire series. Whether you are new to Final Fantasy VII or a veteran looking to relive one of the best games in history, check out the game at the Square Enix store here.
