Metroid: Other M official site launches, gets release window

Lots of good stuff for Nintendo fans today. At an investors meeting, some legitimately exciting news has unearthed itself (future posts will fill you in, or check out sites like Andriasang for the information).

Satoru Iwata revealed plans for Nintendo’s big games of 2010.

Most notably for me was an updated launch window for Metroid: Other M. I imagine we’re edging toward a firm date, but for now Nintendo is saying summer 2010 for Japan. Unlike the Prime trilogy, this is a Japanese developed Metroid so it may actually hit their first.

If it does, consider me completely jealous and desperate for a North American launch date. READ MORE

Platinum Games announces next game, debuts live action trailer

I may not have had the best things to say about Platinum’s MadWorld, but I always said I saw the potential in it. When the studio released their second title, Bayonetta, they really got it together and unleashed a wicked action game.

So yeah, I’m on board to hype up and get excited about pretty much anything Platinum is working on. They’re now in full stride coming from their transition from Capcom, and damnit if they’re upcoming project Vanquish doesn’t already have my complete attention.

The bummer? Ain’t no gameplay to be found; it’s simply a teaser.

But it’s a collaboration between Shinji Mikami (created Resident Evil) and Atsushi Inaba (former CEO of Clover), and it’s looking to have all the style we come to expect from Platinum.

Judging from the mood of the trailer, I’d expect it to be a sci-fi shooter – I could be way off.

One thing’s for sure, it doesn’t appear that Platinum was too happy with Capcom when it nixed Clover as they continue to steal former bigwigs from the third party giant.

Mass Effect reaches massive audience

Congratulations BioWare, you’ve proven that other companies outside of Nintendo and Infinity Ward can brag about selling millions of copies of software. Today EA announced that Mass Effect 2 has already sold more than 2 million copies.

Well deserved.

In my short time with Mass Effect 2 I’ve been treated to a wealth of amazing scenery, insanely developed characters, and a highly improved combat system – it’s fucking great.

We’re so early on in the year it feels weird getting such a standout game that’s an obvious Game of the Year contender. If you haven’t picked it up yet, you really should.

Please put down Modern Warfare 2 for a moment and scoop this game up.

Better still, trade in Modern Warfare 2 so you won’t neglect all of the amazing titles 2010 has to offer so you can prestige for the 20^th time.

Source

Epic Ocarina of Time medley

Well this Zelda medley is pretty epic. At first it sounded like it was just going to be noise, but both the video and medley of Ocarina of Time tracks are superb once things finally kick off.

Get past the first couple of seconds, dude goes through a laundry list of instruments for this performance and it all comes together with excellence.

Source

Rondo of Blood heading to Virtual Console

Fact: A lot of people love Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. I wouldn’t know why because I’ve never played the damn game, but I do love me some Castlevania so of course I’m interested in the classic PC Engine title.

It’s seen a few releases outside of Japan, but they’ve apparently only consisted of a weak and redesigned SNES game and a remake on PSP.

The Virtual Console will be receiving a completely unaltered port of Rondo of Blood, and us North American folk (Europe, too) are lucky enough to be getting in on that action. It’s literally a direct port meaning text will be 100 percent Japanese, but this being an early Castlevania and all, there isn’t too much of a story to fret over.

I’m in.

Source

Three more mystery titles heading to 360 near you

Microsoft has started some weird ass initiative to get popular titles over to camp 360. While the actual initiative is a joke, the objective isn’t. Along with the recently announced Monster Hunter Freedom Online, three other titles will soon be announced for the console.

We have no idea what these titles could be, but I’d like to hope they aren’t all ports.

The three mystery titles are tagged with a “coming soon” label, so cross your fingers that they’re revealed in a timely fashion.

Source

Ubisoft releases Red Steel 2 trailer; go buy No More Heroes 2

In honor of the launch of No More Heroes 2, Ubisoft has decided to completely ignore it and act as if it doesn’t exist, opting to show off this fancy new trailer for Red Steel 2. Brilliant, I know. Making the matter worse is the reality of things: No More Heroes 2 will likely be infinitely better than Red Steel 2, but still be outsold.

Whatever, I did my part and snagged a copy of Suda’s latest stylish adventure.

This Red Steel 2 trailer does look pretty good, but it’s hard to get excited for the game after seeing it at last year’s E3. Sword fighting still felt super canned and we’ve been seeing the same damn environments since its announcement. The lead dude looks cool though, I’ll give Ubi that.

But you know what? Fuck that guy and fuck this trailer. Go to your nearest videogame retailer and buy a copy of No More Heroes 2.

Fable III scheduled for X10 appearance

Fable III appearance at X10 confirmed.

Coming via Facebook (up yours, Twitter), Lionhead announced that their not-so-subtle hint a few weeks back was indeed in regards to a Fable III showing.

“We hinted at this a couple of weeks ago but today it’s official, a big Xbox event called X10 will take place in San Francisco next month showing all the upcoming Xbox games! Of course Lionhead is excited about showing the latest of Fable III, but we’re also very much looking forward to all other games and announcements… coming from this event! So put it in your diaries; 11th February in SF and on the internet, X10!”

There you have it, folks. If you enjoyed Fable II as much as I did, you’re undoubtedly excited to see what the future holds for the series – no doubt Natal will have some implementation in the game.

The question is, do you want Natal support and how integral to the experience should it be? If I were to guess, I’d imagine this would be the big gamer’s game Microsoft could use to draw the core gamer into adopting Natal.

If Natal is indeed as cheap as rumors have hinted, a bundle could work wonders for getting it into the hands of 360 users.

Source

Marcus and Dom invade Lost Planet 2, forget chainsaw

Would someone kindly get the Gears of War meatheads out of my Lost Planet 2, please? Look, I thoroughly enjoy me some chainsaw gun to the face action, but I don’t look at Marcus and Dom as people I want to see popping up in worlds beyond Gears of War.

Yet here they are, completely mismatched with the Lost Planet aesthetic. It’s funny, too, because it almost looks like Capcom is trying to make them a part of the Lost Planet world – make ‘em neat little extras and leave it at that, please.

I get it though, because this will inevitably help the game sell more copies. It’s an odd collaboration though, isn’t it? I suppose the gameplay mechanics match up to some degree, but I don’t know, it’s just weird.

P.S. I guess Marcus and Dom had to drop the chainsaw bit to their gun for Lost Planet 2, because they ain’t there.

Capcom announces 360 port of Monster Hunter Frontier

So you know that super ultra mega announcement from Capcom? Turns out it’s a port of an old game, Monster Hunter Frontier. Yay?

For as cool as I think Monster Hunter Tri looks, and for as hyped as I’d be for a legit HD console entry into the series, an up port of an old game isn’t exactly what I had in mind.

This is why you should never get hyped for announcements.

There will be a fee on top of your Live subscription, but for now this is only in regards to Japan – I’m sure will learn more soon enough. If Capcom wants the game to succeed here, it might be helpful to offer it up for free.

There is some weird option where you buy access to Monster Hunter Frontier 30 days at a time that adds a free month Live, too, but buying those cards every month sounds like a pain in the ass.

…

But I’d be lying if I said I weren’t at least somewhat interested in it. Hacking monsters to bits over Live with friends could be really fun, even if it’s just a port. I’m looking forward to Tri, but it ain’t exactly going to have proper online when stacked against the 360.

Also, it’s hilarious seeing Sony fanboys cry foul at the series heading to Nintendo and Microsoft platforms. Because after all, the Wii isn’t a real system and the 360 just a shitty console only good for red-ringing, right?

Source