Battlefield 3 Caspian Border Trailer WIll Make You Want To Upgrade Your PC

Even though I have zero interest in online shooters (no matter how good they are), it's hard not to (actually, it's IMPOSSIBLE) not to say anything against them when Dice is running the show. With up to 64 players on maps like this amazingly huge showcase they've whipped up (LOVE the jet action!) and that incredible Frostbite 2 engine doing everything it needs to do (and really darn well at that), this one's going to be an instant hit. Yes, on consoles as well, even though the player cap is a "mere" 24 (which is nothing to sneeze at, mind you). All Dice needs to do is find a way to make some PC gamers less lame jerk-ass braggarts about building their own systems and showing off to the point of embarrassment and the would will be a happier place.

Gamescom 2011: EA Press Conference

As usual, Electronic Arts knows how to blow the doors (and walls and eardrums) out with its press conferences and the Gamescom 2011 showing was no exception. Here's a look at the entire thing, so sit back, grab some popcorn and a drink and enjoy. Also, feel free to click down to the BioWare LiveStream feed and contribute to the conversation, as there have been some amazing reveals at the show as well as some decent conversation in the live forums there...

Insomniac's Ted Price Addresses The Whiny Crowd That Doesn't Quite Get It Yet...

Here's an example of a solid effort and helping some folks grow up a little. Some of the super hard-core (read: less intelligent) Insomniac fanboys, many who want the company to move backward into old IP territory have been practically shooting flames from their little ears ever since the learned their favorite company was going multi-playform and things got worse when their new partnership with EA revealed what's looking like a cool little new IP, OverStrike. While I'd prefer to let the goons stew in their juices 'til they pop, Price is a nicer guy than I am as he went to the trouble to explain a bit how the real world works outside the confines on a TV set and the insides of certain small-brained creatures. Excellent. Now, lets hope some of these folks GET IT, move on and enjoy gaming on any console Insomniac makes games for rather than the sound of air escaping from their rant-filled lips and other orifices.

Madden NFL 12 NYC Event Gallery

EA kicked off NFL Draft Week here in NYC in a big way with a unique event that brought newly crowned Madden NFL 12 cover athlete (and Cleveland Browns running back) Peyton Hillis to town for a unique LIVE cover shoot for the upcoming release. Hillis beat out (er, no pun intended) Michael Vick (who was the cover star on Madden 04). Despite a brief rainstorm about an hour or so in, the spirits of the enthusiastic crowd that gathered certainly wasn't dampened in the slightest.

SHIFT 2 Pagani Huarya Trailer (Try Saying THAT Three Times Fast)...

Some folks don't like the direction the SHIFT series took with its focus on more realistic aspects instead of tons of "street" style customization and nitrous overdosing races. ME, I say just calm down, "shaddapyuface" and perhaps play the darn game when it comes out or I'm turning this car around NOW. Damn kids. There's room at the inn for ALL types of NFS games, and if you KNOW where the franchise originated, you'd actually appreciate ALL the different games, not just whine for the same stuff year in and year out. That is all. Release date, by the way: March 29 in North America, and April 1 in Europe. See you on the road!

Alice: Madness Returns Teasers

She's baaaaaaaaaaack and a bit more off-kilter than ever in Spicy Horse's upcoming PS3/360/PC game. No release date yet (other than "2011"), but two more (and earlier) teasers (in descending order, down the rabbit hole and all that!) are below the jump - enjoy!

Battlefield 3 Trailer Shows DICE Is a Big Teaser

Not that I was expecting much in a mere teaser, as the game isn't hitting until this Fall, but gee, DICE... some color, next time? Ah well... here's a cool image I grabbed just to make this post a bit more exciting. Of course, when you see a trailer this dull, that only means the actual game is going to blast you out of your shoes. If anything, based on the beta included with Medal of Honor LE, B3 should be pretty damn insane no matter what console or up-to-date PC rig you play it on.

"Your Mom Hates Dead Space 2" TV Spot Is Just Plain Right And Wrong Simultaneously

Well.. it IS kind of funny and yes, I actually saw a non-gaming journalist have a similar reaction to the multiplayer mode while I was playing it at the last Sony event I attended (he's not into "scary stuff"). So, on THAT front, it's a brilliant ad.

On the other hand (Devil's Advocate cap on), I can see this ad being used by the anti-gaming crowd that thinks EA is clearly targeting children under 18 with Dead Space 2 and any other M-rated games they publish, which may force EA to deal with "news" outlets merely looking to rake them over the coals unfairly (and once again, if you remember the stupid controversy around Mass Effect two years ago). These folks have less of a sense of humor than a jar of pickles (and about eight times as much vinegar in their veins), so giving them this "gift" as more anti-game ammo might backfire a little too much. So, on THAT front, the ad is a giant "WTF were they thinking?"

Thoughts?

Either way, the game will sell, as there's not really such a thing as "bad" publicity these days...

Spare Parts: Concept Review Trailer

Ever wonder where game ideas come from? Well, take a gander at this latest Spare Parts trailer and see for yourself as members of the dev team lets their brains do the talking - enjoy!

Spare Parts Triple Play Video Feature: Developer Walkthrough, Gameplay, Announcement Trailers

Three new trailers for bright light Studios' fun, family friendly co-op centric action platformer show off the game's colorful visuals and snappy, fast-paced gameplay. Grab the kids, plop them in front of the monitor and check them all out. If you don't have kids but love robots in your games, heck - there's TON of fun to be had here. Enjoy!

Spare Parts Beams Up Simon Pegg For A Little VO

When last we saw and played Spare Parts, EA and bright lights Studios fun family-friendly robot-centric platformer for PSN and XBLA was coming along quite nicely. Here's a look at Simon Pegg, who's now attached to the project as the voice of Con-Rad, the ship's computer the two lead robots end up spending a bit of time interacting with - enjoy!

SSX: Deadly Descents Divides (The Fanbase) and Conquers (Much of Their Sanity)...

Nice trailer... but, Holy Belfry, Batman! You'd think that EA drove over a an entire block full of little kids carrying baskets of newborn puppies while on the way to a church bake sale after visiting Grandma. Twice. Some of the responses I've seen to the SSX: Deadly Descents game trailer and new direction the formerly goofy and always exuberant fan fave are probably arrest-worthy and yes, completely unnecessary. Game History 105: Radical Entertainment (Prototype 2, among other cool games) and THQ tried out a mix of action movie and snowboarding on consumers "way" back in 2001 with a little game called Dark Summit. While it didn't exactly blow any sales doors off (or gain a huge enough following to warrant a sequel, for that matter), it received mixed (but mainly positive) reviews, was fun to play and manged to get in a bit of humor during the story. Hell, the whole game idea was pretty funny in a "Hey you kids, get off my secret government test area snow-covered lawn!" kinda way.

Mass Effect 2 PS3 Hands-On: BioWare, Beautiful & Brilliant

PS3 owners may have missed out on the original Mass Effect, but the stellar sequel plus four DLC chapters and a little something extra (plus a LOT of something extra under the hood) is headed your way in a great standard edition pack that's bound to fly off store shelves faster than the new Normandy hits light speed. I had the opportunity to play a demo version of Mass Effect 2 and was immediately floored by the visual upgrade (thanks to what was recently revealed as the Mass Effect 3 engine), the tweaked puzzles and a few other niceties BioWare has seen fit to add. I'd have to safely say this is going to be the definitive console version of the game and even if you've played the Xbox 360 version, you might want to snap up a copy of this one, provided you also have a PS3 in the house.

Dead Space 2 Multiplayer Hands-On: A Visceral Experience, Indeed

As if the thrills, chills and very bloody spills of Issac Clarke's upcoming single player adventures in The Sprawl weren't enough, Visceral Games is tweaking Dead Space 2 with a rather interesting multiplayer component that can be somewhat accurately described as tactical run & gun meets Left 4 Dead. I'll admit to being initially skeptical that any sort of online multiplayer modes added to this decidedly story-driven horror action franchise would be nothing more than another excuse for loudmouthed losers to run around shooting each other in the head while yelling all sorts of M-rated insults. However, I'm indeed thankful to report that I was proven dead wrong.

At Sony's Holiday 2010 event last week, I got to go a few rounds with the multiplayer demo and was very impressed by the experience. What's here is fun, fast, frantic and frequently freakish, thanks to the back and forth player swapping that takes place during matches.

Review: Need For Speed Hot Pursuit

Platform: PS3 (also on Xbox 360, Wii, PC)

Developer: Criterion Games

Publisher: Electronic Arts

# of Players: 1 (online 2 - 8)

ESRB Rating: E 10+ (Everyone 10 +)

Official Site

Score: A-

In Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, Criterion Games' new Autolog feature is very much like a way too loyal robotic dog that lives on a diet of Red Bull-laced motor oil and rechargeable batteries, and that's a both a good and bad thing, boys and girls. If you absolutely THRIVE on competition, It's a good dog (Good dog! Goooood doggieeeeee!) because it keeps you on your toes, notifying you constantly that your formerly best times have been beaten, who beat you and yes, that you should drop everything and go get your record times back. Paradoxically, if you're a casual gamer who happens to plug into PSN or Xbox Live for some friendly competition (or a mere system update before playing the game) Autolog is a bad dog (bad dog! BAD! NO!), constantly interrupting your set racing schedule to let you know someone's peed or pooped all over your best times and how much of a LOSER you are for not going on ahead and racing every fool that's ready to take you down and leave the smell of virtual burnt rubber in your nostrils. Damn you, Autolog! Now go sit in your box... GO!

Review: Rock Band 3 (DS)

Platform: Nintendo DS/DSi

Developer: Backbone Games/Harmonix

Publisher: EA/MTV Games

# of Players: 1 (2-4 via Wi-Fi)

Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10+)

Official Site

Score: B+

You'd have to be crazy to even think of making a direct comparison of any portable game to a console version these days, but that's probably what's going to happen with the console and portable versions of Rock Band 3. I'm not (that) crazy, so I'll tell it to you straight - the DS version is a solid, challenging and fun music game with some excellent songs, plenty of unlockable gear and a peripheral-free control system that's pretty much perfect once you get the hang of it. The game could have used a few more songs, but such are the limitations of the DS hardware. What's here, however sounds great and combined with the overall polish, the game makes for a great on the go RB3 experience.

Rude Gameware's GameGuard Wants YOU!

Rude Gameware is at it again... this time with some cool virus protection software geared toward the PC gamer crowd. click away for the press release.

Spare Parts Hands-On

One of the cooler surprises at EA's Naughty or Nice event was Spare Parts, the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade and PSN release developed by the company's Guildford-based bright light Studios (Create, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) and set for launch later this year. The download-only single or two-player co-op action/platformer stars a pair of super likable robots (Chip and Mar-T) that crash land on a faraway planet and need to locate 100 ship parts scattered around the planet in order to escape. They both can find and use a number of nifty gadgets throughout the adventure to defeat alien enemies, locate hidden items and a pull off number of other special abilities. I spent a nice long time with a build of the game and came away really impressed at how much fun the game is and how well the co-op feature is coming together.

EA Fires Up Dead Space Ignition For Free (sort of...)

So, does EA love you or what? The good thing about the prequel (Dead Space Ignition) in my book is it's a multi-platform download. No Dead Rising Case Zero stuff here, folks. Er, then again... PS3 owners are getting their hands on an HD remake of Dead Space Extraction, as part of Dead Space 2 Limited Edition (or on PSN as DLC) but heck, you really don't want to play that game hands-free anyway, right? Press release below, by the way...

Dead Space Extraction (PS3) Hands-On

At EA's well-packed Naughty or Nice event, I finally got to play a small chunk of the PS3 version of Dead Space Extraction, last year's Wii rail shooter (and one of the best looking games for Nintendo's console to date) headed to PS3 owners as part of Dead Space 2: Limited Edition. Visceral Games along with super-talented developer Eurocom (Goldeneye 007) have done an excellent job porting over their game to Sony's console, adding Playstation Move support and effective Dolby Surround sound to go along with the higher resolution visuals. In case you haven't played Extraction previously, all you need to know is that it's the prequel to the original Dead Space and features a compelling story, some intriguing characters and fast-paced gameplay that's packed full of Necromorphs coming at you from every conceivable direction.