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NeverDead artwork and screenshots look great

We haven’t seen a whole lot of Konami’s NeverDead for quite a while now. The last time we saw a bunch of screenshots from the game was back on Halloween of last year. But now Konami has released a whole mess of screenshots from the game as well as a decent amount of concept art that gives us a better look at some of the enemies and main characters.

You can check out the gallery below. There are a multitude of enemies shown off as well as in-game action scenes. NeverDead still does not have a definitive release date other than some point in 2011 and the unique concept of a main character that never dies and can be dismembered and put back together at will is certainly the biggest highlight for the title.

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L.A. Noire gets a lengthy ESRB rating description

Want to know how you can tell that a game is going to either have a whole ton of content or a whole bunch of questionable content? When the ESRB writes a small essay about the content that they think you should know about when you consider purchasing the game. Such is the case with L.A. Noire as The Entertainment Software Rating Board has given it an expected M rating.

Much of the rating is commonplace as the ESRB describes all of the violent content with blood spurting and realistic gunfights. There is also a lot of nudity involved including pubic hair so take that as you will. You can expect a good amount of racist content and foul language as well; read the entire ESRB description below:

This is an ‘open-world’ action-adventure game in which players assume the role of Cole Phelps, a rookie detective on a mission to stop a deranged serial killer. Set in late 1940s Los Angeles, the game allows players to advance through various ‘desks’ at a police department (i.e., Patrol, Traffic Squad, Homicide, Vice, Arson) by interviewing witnesses and suspects, searching crime scenes for clues, and apprehending criminals.

Players use pistols, rifles, machine guns, and flamethrowers to engage in firefights with various enemies — these shootouts are highlighted by realistic gunfire, cries of pain, and blood spurts that stain injured characters and the surrounding environment. Cutscenes also depict instances of violence, including a character being beaten with a crowbar (off screen)—large spurts of blood are depicted in the foreground.

During the course of the game, players may come across crime scenes in which badly beaten or mutilated corpses are subject to investigation; players are able to examine victims’ bodies close-up, surveying various bruises and bloody cuts for evidence — a few female corpses are depicted fully nude with fleeting images of pubic hair.

Investigations sometimes pertain to sexual assault crimes, and details are often conveyed in clinical terms through dialogue or on-screen text (e.g., ‘He’s some kind of sex fiend,’ ‘Woman’s briefs torn at seams, forcibly removed,’ and ‘Head trauma . . . external bruising to genitals.’). In one cutscene, there is an implication that a character is engaged in a sexual relationship with a teenager (e.g., ‘You take love where you can find it as you get older, Jack’/That has nothing to do with love . . .’). Some sequences allow players to collect/manipulate drug-related evidence such as marijuana packets, morphine syringes, or amphetamine pills; in one cutscene, a doctor can be seen injecting a character with morphine.

Language such as ‘f**k,’ ‘sh*t,’ ‘c*nt,’ ‘n**ger,’ and ‘sp*c’ can be heard in the dialogue.

Dead or Alive: Dimensions arriving in stores May 24th

Tecmo Koei announced today that they have set a release date for the next installment to their fighting franchise. Dead or Alive: Dimensions will be coming to North American shores on May 24th and Australian shores on May 26th and with it comes all 25 fighters that have ever been available in past Dead or Alive games; of course this includes staff favorite Kasumi.

Dead or Alive: Dimensions will make use of the Nintendo 3DS’ SpotPass feature which will download outfits automatically every day when the game is released. This was previously mentioned for Japan and will be implemented during the US release as well. A total of 34 alternate costumes will be available and will start being distributed from May 24th until June 26th when all of the costumes are gone.

Dead or Alive: Dimensions will add another fighting game to the 3DS’ game list and most certainly looks like one of the more anticipated titles that isn’t coming from Nintendo themselves. I know I’m certainly anticipating this release, how about you?

Yar’s Revenge gets a Launch Trailer; Available now on PC & XBLA!

If you haven’t heard, Atari’s re-imagining for the classic Yar’s Revenge is now available on the Xbox Live Arcade and PC as of right now. This title completely changes up the classic game with a new anime art style and on-rails gameplay as players take control of a nameless Yar who is on a quest for revenge against her former master.

Of course with any launch, Atari have now released a launch trailer to coincide with release that shows off the intense gameplay and scenic levels that as well as the inclusion local co-op play. I have been playing Yar’s Revenge a bit today and it definitely lives up to it’s promise of intensity, so stay tuned as our review will be coming soon. For now though you can check out the launch trailer for yourself and you can pick up Yars revenge for 800 points via the Xbox Live Arcade or $9.99 (US) for PC download. For more information on obtaining either version, check out the Atari’s official site for the game at www.playyarsrevenge.com.

Star Fox 64 3D barrel rolls into July 14th release

With the launch of the 3DS already finished, the next big thing that can happen for the title are more games being added to the release list. Nintendo has launched a website today that shows a little bit of footage from the game and of course a release date. Now the release date is only for Japan at the moment but it will most likely be receiving an international release either the same day or shortly after.

Now unfortunately besides the few clips that are shown on the website, not much is known about the title other than the fact that it will be an enhanced remake of the Nintendo 64 edition of Star Fox. The release date also places the title only two days away from the release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in Japan as well.

DRAGON AGE 2 PATCHED! PC

Today Bioware and Electronic Arts have released their latest patch for Dragon Age 2. They claim that there is over 100 fixes within the patch.

At launch, Dragon Age 2 was plagued with nonsense bugs and, well, the entire community complained. But now there are fixes! Juicy, Juicy fixes for everybody to enjoy. As you can probably tell, I’m quite excited by this latest patch! Woo-Hoo!!!!

Grab the patch here.

Patch notes –

Patch 1.02 includes over 100 major and minor fixes, including the following:

————————
Dragon Age II 1.02
————————

AMD and NVIDIA have recently released new graphics-card drivers. Using old
drivers may cause Dragon Age II to crash, run poorly, or display graphics
incorrectly. Please visit your hardware vendor’s website for further
information on obtaining new drivers:
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx?lang=en-us
http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Catalyst114earlypreview.aspx

NOTE: Some plot fixes are retroactive, but not all. Players with plot-breaking
bugs may need to revert to an earlier save, particularly a save prior to
visiting the affected area during the current year in the game.

GAMEPLAY
– The effects of various follower talents and item properties are now being
properly removed and re-applied when loading and saving.
– Anders’s default set of tactics will now activate Haste when appropriate.
– Aveline’s final armor upgrade is now available during “Favor and Fault.”
– Aveline’s Retaliation talent no longer imposes a delay when activated.
– The warrior’s Rally talent now functions as described.
– The rogue’s Lacerate talent now functions as described.
– Party members who are resurrected during a fight now rejoin combat properly.
– Hawke no longer gains random spells or talents after using the Maker’s Sigh
potion, then saving and reloading.
– Potions, poisons, grenades, and runes can now still be ordered from the Hawke
estate after the main campaign is complete.
– Various minor gameplay issues no longer occur.

QUESTS (SPOILER WARNING)
– “Duty” will now appear on the Chanter’s Board even if the player accepted
all of the board’s quests before installing the Exiled Prince premium content.
– The journal for “Duty” will now update if the player left the Docks (Night)
area immediately after killing the Flint Company mercenaries.
– In “Finders Keepers,” the door to Woodrow’s Warehouse will now open if the
player steals the location to the warehouse from the harbormaster’s office.
– In “Finders Keepers,” if the player leaves Woodrow’s Warehouse before finding
the crate, it is now possible to return to the warehouse to complete the quest.
– In “Herbalist’s Tasks,” the varterral’s heart is now available even if
the player killed the varterral before receiving the quest.
– Merrill no longer refers to the aftermath of “A New Path” before the plot
has been completed.
– Varric is no longer confused about which character Hawke has been romancing.
– Various minor story-scripting issues no longer occur.

PC/MAC-SPECIFIC FUNCTIONALITY
– Varric’s Embellishment talent no longer incorrectly refers to movement speed.
– It is now easier to select party members by clicking on their portraits when
the level-up arrow is displayed.
– The game now functions correctly if the Windows desktop is set to 150% size.
– The video options menu now allows a wider full-screen gamma range.
– Various issues specific to DirectX 11 no longer occur.
– Various technical changes should improve performance and limit crashes.

————————
Dragon Age II 1.01
————————

PC-SPECIFIC FUNCTIONALITY
– Game progress now saves correctly on computers with single-core processors.
– The game no longer shows an error message about requiring a disc in drive A:\.
– The game no longer checks whether the release date has passed.
– Audio now plays correctly if the user changes languages through Steam.

L.A. Noire Original Artwork: “What’s in the Trunk?”

As usual, Rockstar Games has some more exciting news for all of us who just can’t get enough of L.A. Noire. The latest release in L.A. Noire’s series of original artwork features an investigative discovery from a night in 1947 Los Angeles.

The artwork, titled “What’s in the Trunk?” shows Detective Cole Phelps and a patrol officer gazing into a trunk, and both of them seem to look slightly revolted. The artwork can be downloaded either as a wallpaper, buddy icon, or avatar and the coolest thing is that Rockstar gives you plenty of options for the size you want for the image. There are also plenty of other original artworks on the L.A. Noire website download section, which can be found here.

Needless to say, I can’t wait until L.A. Noire stops adorning my PC screen and starts eating up my life in gameplay time.

Powerup Heroes for Kinect from Ubisoft

Today, Ubisoft revealed their newest title for the Xbox360 Kinect: Powerup Heroes. Developed by Longtail Studios, this full body combat game allows players to turn their avatar into a customised superhero to do battle against various evil-doers.

The game promises that players will be able to fully utilise their bodies to manipulate objects in the game, dodge incoming attacks and to counter some more deadly attacks. There is also both online and local multiplayer for the title. With online being a two-player showdown and local multiplayer being available for 2-4 players in various game modes, such as a two player battle and a four player tournament.

Players can collect 20 unique super suits within the game for their Xbox 360 avatar to utilise in battle against a range of foes. Once a player defeats an opponent in a particular super suit, they then gain that super suit for use in the next battle. Some examples of super suits are the Necromancer super suit, which allows players to summon a horde of undead skeletons to do their bidding; and a mentalist suit, which allows players to take control of an opponents mind.

For more information visit –

Powerup Heroes homepage.

Facebook page.

Gameloft Gaming News & Updates

If your a fan of Gameloft then you will be very happy to read this post as there is some big news regarding their titles. First of which is that Modern Combat for the iOS devices has got a new update chuck full of new content. The update contains bug fixes and protection from any hackers who would want to ruin a player’s experience with the game. Available as an in game purchase is 3 new map packs for Modern Combat and you can take a look at some of the screenshots on their Facebook page

Next : If you love your racing games, Asphalt 6, Gamelofts iOS racing game will be on sale on the 14th-15th of this month for only 99 cents. Pick it up via the iTunes Store here.  Remember it’s still $5,99 at the moment. 

The final piece of news is that Gameloft’s new Xperia game Backstab has got a brand new trailer showing of gameplay of this title. Backstab is an action platformer that has you play as a former British naval officer in the 18th century who is out on a quest for revenge against those who wronged him. Trailer is posted below.

Wii Play: Motion Set to release this June..

If you own a Nintendo Wii there is a good chance you probably picked up Wii Play. The game included pool, table tennis, and the ever popular Tanks! as well as several other casual titles and was quite a value at the time as it was bundled with a Wii Remote. Wii Play went on to sell over 12 million copies worldwide and now it is looking like Nintendo is out to repeat that success with the newly announced Wii Play: Motion.

Though not much has been detailed at the time, Nintendo have promised that the games will include such activities as “catching a gust of wind by tilting an umbrella to fending off garden pests by swinging a mallet”. There is going to be 12 games in all and the game like it’s predecessor will come bundled with a WiiMote, but this time with the Wii Motion Plus built in. I am sure Nintendo will further elaborate on this title soon as the release for Wii Play: Motion is set at June 13th, and once we hear any more updates we will be sure to let you know.