From Software has a unique way of saying “you shouldnt be online yet”. Players who have obtained a copy before the street release date are constantly being invaded by overpowered Black phantoms courtesy of From Software. 19,000 HP on a Black Phantom is always good news! Dark Souls official street date is October 4th 2011. There is still time to pre-order and receive the limited edition for $59.99 which includes: Limited edition art book containing premium illustrations of characters and environments from the game Mini-strategy guidebook Behind-the-scenes videos from the development studio Game’s soundtrack for digital download All of this will come packaged with the standard edition game in a custom-designed metal case Also if you’re into using your points from Gamestop to purchase gaming shirts this Pre order is offering double points if ordered before the 3rd of October and paid off before the day of release. Source: Neogaf Original Story via esuteru

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Dark Souls early players beware

The closer we get to the holiday season the more games that are released and this week shows us how there’s always a bit of calm before the storm: PS3 RETAIL RELEASES You Can Buy Supremacy MMA Right Here! PSN RELEASES You Can Buy Saints Row 2 Right Here! You Can Buy Bolt Right Here! PSP You Can Buy Persona 2: Innocent Sin Right Here! minis PSOne Classics It was previously reported that both Chrono Trigger AND Final Fantasy VI would finally show up on PSN so everyone (with $9.99 to spend for each) could enjoy them… but it was a mistake by the Official PS Blog team. How many of you were ready to purchase both once the Store Update went live? Buying anything this week or saving up for the last trimester?

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Releases for the Week (September 19th-25th)

If you watched the Sony press conference at TGS, you would have gotten some small tidbits of information about this new beastly handheld, however before and after Sony’s conference we got a landslide of news. As you can see in the picture posted above, new colors have been announced but that’s just the tip of the ice burg. There were a grand total of 74 games announced for the Vita at TGS bringing the grand total of known games in develop to about 150 games. Many of these games will never see the light of day in the west, but worry not as the Playstation Vita has been confirmed as region free and ALL games will be downloadable. Not just that, but a Sony rep also confirmed that you can have multiple accounts as well. Below are some of the new features mentioned. Features: -Cross Game Voice Chat -Region Free -Multiple Accounts -Custom Soundtracks -Multitasking -Friends Network (Sort of like Home) -Non-Gaming Apps like Calendar and a Clock -Message and Invite notification pop-up plus LED blinks blue -Some Games will share DLC (i.e. Street Fighter X Tekken) Now I won’t spend a lot of time naming off the 74 new games that have been announced, but here are a couple of the bigger titles. Tales of Innocence R Ragnarok Odyssey Final Fantasy X HD Y’s – Celceta, Sea of Trees Click here for the full list of Vita titles

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Post TGS Playstation Vita News Round Up

The $99.99 price point on Sony’s new head set may have you somewhat hesitant to jump on board. With the average gaming headset going for $299, I, too, was a bit reluctant to make the purchase. Having owned a few Turtle Beach sets in the past, I went ahead and made the jump for the sleek design. Sony put a lot of thought into what looks like a simple head set. The ability to scale the volume from in game sound to incoming voice is a welcome feature. The Black Ops sessions were much easier to mute everybody with the simple push of a small voice to sound button found conveniently on the base of the left ear piece. The screaming kids could be dulled down to the point of hearing them but without them being an annoyance. This alone was a win for me. We all have that one friend who is soft spoken and we struggle to hear over PSN. This fixes that with the simple movement by a few tabs. On the reverse side of the Voice to sound tab is the master volume control with the USB charging slot located directly below it. Let me tell you, these suckers are loud. They also have the best noise cancellation I have ever used. With these on, you wont hear your girl nagging for you to stop playing Monster Hunter any more. Speaking of charge, I was able to get 7 and a half hrs out of them in one charge which is simply amazing. You charge the unit by using the included USB that came with your PS3 console for your controller (mini type B). In all honesty, any avid gamer has a quick charge solution for their devices, and your average AC to USB adapter will charge these in a half hr or less. Here is what I use for $5 . I normally use my Plantronics Voyager Pro for chatting and have always disliked the fumbling around required to hit the tiny mute mic button. Luckily, the button on this headset is located on the outer left side of the device, and a quick tap will mute the mic as shown by the on screen display. The on screen display is great for knowing battery charge, virtual sound on/off, and whether your mic is muted or not. The virtual surround button adds so much detail to the sound that you wont bother ever turning it off. Never has been so easy to hear an opposing player creeping up behind me and knowing where he is exactly. Turning this off gives you traditional stereo, which adds more bass, but is simply there for music purposes and/or watching home videos in stereo. The Virtual surround rivals Turtle beach’s quality, and for the price you cant go wrong. The set up requires you to plug in the USB dongle provided and play; that’s it. No receiver, no wires, just one USB. If you have never used a gaming headset, this is where you should start. For $300, there are tons of options, but for $99.99, you are getting the equivalent of those options with on screen display and no power or wiring attached to a receiver. Review Pros Cons Price is unbeatable for the quality Sleek Design Ease of set-up Superb Sound Voice to Game sound controll None Rating 100%

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Accessory Review: Sony Wireless Headset

GameStop quietly started taking in iOS device’s after its trade show in Las Vegas last week. The company is also planning a gaming tablet powered by GameStop. Game stop has chosen Android to power its gaming tablet. “There’s not a lot of tablet/android based games for the consumer that are designed to use an external controller,” Bartel said. “But our thought is that the tablet is a great immersive gaming device so it’s hard for us to envision how that tablet will really function as such without some sort of controller. We’ve created a controller that we’re testing to really allow for immersive gameplay. It’s hard to imagine how to stream a game – let’s say Modern Warfare 3 – onto a tablet and then play it with your finger.” First games to be released are your typical Angry birds and other small touch games. Now word on when though. So if you have an iPhone or the now outdated Apple iPad, you have a place to trade them in. Source: The Escapist

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GameStop Now Buying iOS Devices

The WWE Smackdown and Smackdown vs Raw games have always had some of the most open character creation in gaming (with a host of other ever-evolving creation types). This has even expanded beyond Create-a-Superstar to things like Create a Taunt (which, oddly enough, hasn’t been around for a while), Create a Finisher, heck, even Create a Storyline. But a couple things has been missing that could really help flesh out the whole creation process. Titantron videos have always been pretty limited to what the game included, or, as in SVR 2011, a ‘highlight reel’ created by replays from a single match. With the release of WWE ’12, the next title in THQ’s WWE franchise, that seems to have changed, as intro videos seem that much more interactive (as you can see from the trailer above). As to how they got other background videos to run with it, I am not sure if that’s from stock footage they have included with the game or if you’re allowed to upload your own, but it’s still great to see more options (I’ll shoot them an email for clarification). Another requested feature, THQ has also included Create an Arena. This allows you to design things from ringside barriers, to rope color, to ring aprons, to the lighting (and probably more). A good example from the trailer is the NWO/WCW ring. This would go great with Create a PPV, with a bunch of downloaded superstars from the ’90s, trying to recreate what you might see on Raw is War and Warzone or something. Yeah, I can be nerdy like that. The game releases on November 22nd.

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Upping the Ante: WWE ’12 Creation Suite Adds Long Requested Features

Over a year after it’s release worldwide sales of Quantic Dream’s interactive drama, Heavy Rain, have reached the two million mark. Such an achievement for a unique new IP in this crowded market of shooters is noteworthy but according to studio co-founder Guillaume de Fondaumiere, Heavy Rain’s sales could actually be much higher. “We basically sold to date approximately two million units, we know from the trophy system that probably more than three million people bought this game and played it.” “On my small level it’s a million people playing my game without giving me one cent. And my calculation is, as Quantic Dream, I lost between €5 and €10 million worth of royalties because of second hand gaming.” Fondaumiere blames the state of the economy for the increase in used gaming sales as consumers look for more affordable means to buying games. He also warns that if the situation continues will “stop making games if they can’t recoup a profit”. Source. GameIndustry.biz

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Heavy Rain Sells 2 Million Copies Worldwide But Second Hand Sales Eat At Quantic Dream’s Profits

And then the light started to shine over the monolith under the gaze of the shooting start unicorn… and more and more releases started to pop out that should be added to your collection! PS3 RETAIL RELEASES You Can Buy God of War Origins Collection Right Here! You can buy NHL 12 Rigth Here! You Can Buy White Knight Chronicles II Right Here! You Can Buy Penguins of Madagascar: Dr. Blowhole Returns Again Right Here! PSN RELEASES You Can Buy Bulletstorm Right Here! minis PSOne Classics God of War Origins Collection is a great option for GoW fans that don’t own a PSP since now they’ll get to experience two very fun games in HD and with trophy support! And who doens’t enjoy some penguin lovin here and there every other month? Renegade Ops from SEGA is a game that takes me back to Jackal on the NES which will allow it to take my money this tuesday. And then we’ve got Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness, a fighting game from CAPCOM that is part of the Japan Import line of PSOne games that, thanks to the wonders of technology, can be enjoyed by PS3 users worldwide! How much are you willing to spend this week?

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Releases for the Week (September 12th-18th)

Ugly Americans is a game based on the Comedy Central show by the same name. It’s set on a bizarre world where demons and abominations far outnumber the human population, and everything from the Apocalypse to a giant ape with OCD can happen, all in a day’s work. The game is very simple and straight forward: it’s a brawler with two-stick shooting mechanics, so as you kill man-birds (a half human, half pigeon thing), zombies, and some rocker demons, you’ll be making your way to the right side of the screen. Levels are packed with enemies and it’s not particularly difficult to get overrun by them if you’re not careful. Luckily every character has a special attack that will deal a great amount of damage to all enemies; you can do this every once in a while when the special bar is refilled. Since this game works out as a shooter, you’re better off keeping your distance from everything else on the screen, because you don’t have a melee attack (and that basically means you’re screwed if something gets to close). You have a nice selection of weapons (more like projectiles) that have different properties like exploding or piercing, so you should plan accordingly before entering a level. I wish you could carry at least two at the same time, in order to safely manage all situations. You’ll also be able to carry babies around, each provide you with different bonuses. You can play as one of the four main protagonists of the show, each one has a different special move, but play like all the others. As you kill things (this is a word you’ll see a lot in the game), you’re awarded with experience, and every so often, you’ll level up. You get one point to spend for every level, but you can only choose which attribute you want to raise after the level is done (by finishing it or dying). In this modern day of leveling, where most games allow you to raise every stat as you see fit, there’s an interesting old school feeling to this game, because every character has different caps for each attribute. This means that while one of them might have a super strong attack and lots of health, his special bar refill time and movement speed will be extremely slow. It’s a feature that works well once you find out your preferred play style. Since you’re part of the Department of Integration (something to do with all the different species living together), your missions are referred to as case files, however there are not that many. This is an extremely short game (easily finished in 2 or 3 hours) that should be played in short sessions, because it gets repetitive pretty fast. Levels aren’t particularly difficult (if you’re careful) but boss fights are a pain, it takes many tries with various strategies (alternatively you can grind a lot) in order to get past them. Every case has a hidden file that unlocks everything from more powerful weapons to videos. Graphics are the same as you’ll see on TV, but animations are inexcusably terrible. For a game based on a TV show I’d expect great cut scenes (they show up in between missions to explain the story), but I was greatly disappointed. Mouths stay closed as the characters speak and body parts move just because it’s not supposed to be a static image. The original voice actors dub the game, but I honestly had a hard time getting past the obvious lack of dedication put into the animations to really pay attention to it. On the comedy side, this is fortunately still funny at first, but the too often repeated one liners and the defecating man birds with overgrown penises get old fast. Cut scenes aren’t as funny as the original show, but they’ll suffice; reading all the information the game provides can also guarantee a laugh or two. One thing this game does very well, better than most actually, is how it handles on-line co-op. It’s so simple, all games should be like this. If you’re connected to the PSN, as soon as you start your game, it automatically looks for other players, no need to go trough various menus or anything, simple as that. However, I couldn’t find a single game to get into, but it also has local co-op, which should be just as fun (possibly more). In the end, Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon feels like a disposable game, not because it isn’t fun (it can be if you enjoy half hour sessions of gaming), but because of its poor design choices. This game could improve tremendously if only a little more effort had been put into it. I have really enjoyed the simplicity of the game, but simple does not mean the game should ignore obvious choices that would make it fifty times better and that’s the worst thing: when great potential falls too short. Review Pros Cons Simple gameplay mechanics Easy to navigate Great online co-op system Captures most of the essence of the show Overly repetitive One can only endure so much juvenile humor Lack of polish Way too easy to erase your saved file Unbalanced boss fights Rating 65%

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[Review] Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon

Commencing on Thursday 1st September at 12:00 AM (PT) there will be a daily giveaway on Warhammer 40k: Space Marine’s Facebook page until the 5th September at 11:59 PM (PT). This ‘Five Days of 40k’ promotion will include money-can’t-buy objects as well as digital content and other Space Marine collectibles. Users can enter after they ‘like’ Space Marine on Facebook. Daily prize information is available below: · Thursday 1st September – 1000 Xbox LIVE® Avatar Props On Thursday we have 500 Bomb Squigs and 500 Servo Skulls to give to 1000 lucky winners · Friday 2nd September – 10 Collector’s Editions Featuring an art book, soundtrack, Purity Seal, collector’s cards and limited edition box, this is the ultimate edition for a true Warhammer 40,000 fan · Saturday 3rd September – 500 Xbox LIVE Premium themes Decorate the background of your Xbox 360® with this theme inspired by the universe of Space Marine · Sunday 4th September – Space Marine Xbox 360 Featuring a custom design from world renowned Colorware this one of a kind console isrecolored and wrapped with game art making it the ultimate addition to your gaming set-up · Monday 5th September – Life-sized Chainsword Replica Measuring over 130cm / 51 inches this is a super limited edition ornamental replica of Captain Titus’ in-game weapon complete with Ultramarines heraldry and battle damage Open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia, who are eighteen (18) years of age or older. There is no purchase necessary to participate, and the sweepstakes is void where prohibited. Go to www.facebook.com/spacemarine and enter daily!

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WIN BIG With Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine