Apocalypso's Atomic Arcade: 1/3/10

2010/01/09

Carte Blanche Branching out This Month

I know that from looking on the internet, this news has been known for a while, but for me, I only just noticed it the other day while watching TV, and an advert popped up about Carte Blanche. This wasn’t just the usual one though – this was advertising two new additions to the famed South African program, now over twenty years running.

Starting this month, January 2010, two spin-offs, Carte Blanche Medical and Carte Blanche Consumer, will make their debut, in addition to the original Carte Blanche which will still air on Sundays at 19:00. The other two, Carte Blanche Medical and Carte Blanche Consumer, will appear on the 18th (Monday) and the 21st (Thursday) at 19:00 on M-Net, respectively.

I always try and catch Carte Blanche if I can, because not only in a country, but a world, filled with corruption and apathy, at least it shows that some people are still good and willing to stand up for themselves and others.

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http://beta.mnet.co.za/carteblanche/

Call of Duty 7: Vietnam Rumours Arise Once Again

I remember years ago it started off as a joke, or a wouldn’t it be cool? topic in gamer circles, but the rumours have persisted over and over, and now another one says that Treyarch, the guys behind World at War, will be the one to develop the next Call of Duty game, supposedly set in Vietnam – an infamous topic not only in real life, but in gaming too.

There have been attempts in the past to recreate events from one of the worst wars of the twentieth century – one that should have taught the US not to venture into territory that they don’t know, and that the enemy knows off the back of their hand.

The one I remember playing most recently would be Men of Valor by 2015 (the guys who made MoH: Allied Assault). It was praised by some, but I didn’t enjoy it much at all. There have been others like ShellShock and ShellShock 2 which failed miserably.

It certainly hasn’t been explored as much as World War II, in any case. But one thing that was mentioned in these rumours is that the title will basically just be based on Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and Apocalypse Now – three Vietnam War movies that are often mentioned and sited as inspiration.

Another rumour to consider is that the game will come out in 2010. One wonder if there’ll be any zombies in this one.

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http://abstract360.com/2009/12/rumored-call-of-duty-vietnam-to-be-more-story-heavy/

Rumor: Call of Duty 7: Vietnam

Video Game Deals on Amazon, 01/09/10: Spellforce 2, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War Gold Edition

Like usual, I browse through some of the latest deals on video games at Amazon, and any game that goes above $7, sometimes less, off grabs my attention. Weird, but $7 is about R50 in SA, so for me it’s a round number anyway. There’s a huge saving on Spellforce 2 below - $25 off!

Heroes of Might and Magic V [Game Download] - $9.99 - Save $10.00
Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War Gold Edition - $11.12 - Save $8.30
Spellforce 2 - $14.67 - Save $25.32

Heavy Rain now has a Release Date

If it’s one thing that’s being talked about a lot, it’s Heavy Rain – a PS3 exclusive “video game”. David Cage, the director on the project, is in two minds over whether it should be labelled as a game or not. Of course those who have suggested it’s a collection of quick-time events were subsequently whacked on the quiet.

Graphically, the game looks quite impressive, but I don’t know about the gameplay. Maybe a bit slow-paced from what I’ve seen. Anyhow, I guess I’ll never know seeing as the game isn’t available on PC or Xbox 360.

Anyway, the game now has a release date: the 23rd of February in America, with other countries following on the 24th and the 26th, and it can be pre-ordered from Amazon.

2010/01/08

Video Game Deals on Direct2Drive

Well, there’s some top tier games of 2008 and 2009 on sale on D2D just now, as you can get Wolfenstein and CoD:WaW for $39.95 each, and Prototype and Sacred 2 for $29.95 each.

Click the links to go through to the game detail pages at Direct2Drive.

Wolfenstein

Call of Duty: World at War

Prototype

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel

New Mass Effect 2 Screenshots [Screens]

BioWare has released some new screenshots for their much anticipated game, Mass Effect 2, which will release later on this month, January 26th in the US, 29th in Europe, on the PC and Xbox 360 simultaneously.

View Full Album

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Shacknews

S.T.A.L.K.E.R : Call of Pripyat to be Released 5 Feb in UK

We all ready know that Call of Pripyat was released in Eastern and Western Europe last year, in October and November respectively. Now we know that the title will be released on the 5th of February in the United Kingdom, Italy and Nordic (probably means Scandinavia, or Norway), and it’s being published by Koch Media.

The US version of the game is still set for a release on the 2nd of February, 2010.

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Pripyat Precipitates Feb 5th

2010/01/07

Video Game Deals on Amazon

Red Faction Guerrilla - $19.99 - Save $15.00

Women's Murder Club Twice In A Blue Moon - $9.99 - Save $10.00

PS2

The Tale of Despereaux - $6.82 - Save $12.17

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 - $19.99 - Save $9.00

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - $19.99 - Save $8.00

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up - $19.96 - Save $9.03

PS3

G-Force - $19.99 - Save $12.99
Chaotic: Shadow Warriors - $29.96 - Save $10.03
Mad Karts of Madagascar - $19.96 - Save $8.03

Xbox 360

G-Force - $19.99 - Save $17.00
Chaotic:Shadow Warriors - $29.99 - Save $10.00
Fable II - $19.99 - Save $7.50

PSP

Hannah Montana: Rock Out the Show - $19.99 - Save $9.50
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - $19.99 - Save $8.00

Chaotic - $19.99 - Save $9.83
Family Feud - $19.99 - Save $8.00

Wii

Chaotic - $29.98 - Save $10.01
Mad Karts of Madagascar with Wheel - $27.99 - Save $10.00
Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo - $19.99 - Save $7.54

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Nowinstock

Fallout: New Vegas Possibly Coming in June 2010, New Game Info Coming Soon

It came from a forum post on DuckAndCover, a Fallout fan-site, that GameStop and Play-Asia have listed release dates as June 2010 for Fallout: New Vegas, Obsidian’s RPG title that we’ve heard of, but seen little.

I’ve just had a look on Amazon, and the game is unavailable for pre-order, for PS3 and Xbox 360. Not sure where the PC version is. Amazon doesn’t seem to have any release date listed.

In addition to this news, the British version of OXM, Official Xbox Magazine, will have the first exclusive information on the game in next month’s issue. It was falsely reported a few days ago that it would be Game Informer magazine that would get the scoop on New Vegas. Bethesda subsequently refused to comment on these rumours and it’s been proposed that this was false information.

Some of this info on the game that was on a Gamespot forum claimed that there would be character selection (rather than creation), drivable vehicles, and gambling – seeing as the game will take place in Las Vegas… or what’s left of it anyway.

New StarCraft II Screenshot Posted on Facebook

On the official StarCraft Facebook page, a new screenshot of StarCraft II has been posted recently:

By the way, when the game is released, hopefully this year, under the name StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, in addition to the Terran campaign, there will be a Protoss mini-campaign.

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Big Download

2010/01/06

First Dead Space 2 Screenshots Revealed

So, I was just talking about Dead Space 2 on that article about games that might not make 2010, and I’ve added some of the new Dead Space 2 screenshots the the gallery at the top of the page.

View Full Album

Is it just me, or does it look like a really lazy bunch of screens? It’s like one scene and they took different angles of it. Ah, but the original site it appeared on says that it was meant to be like that. It’s a 3D diorama, and the screens are just captures of it.

I see…

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http://gameinformer.com/p/deadspace3d.aspx

http://gallery.thatvideogameblog.com/dead-space-2/

http://www.vg247.com/2010/01/04/dead-space-2-first-shots/

Yep, Published Another Article Today

I’ve sacrificed my time for blogging by focusing on articles lately. I did another one today, and I’m now exhausted. The first week of going back to writing full strength after the holidays has been quite taxing.

This latest article is the one I said would tie in with the other two, and it’s called “PC Games That Probably Won’t Make 2010”.

Here’s the short list of it:

Duke Nukem Forever

Duke Begins

Diablo III

Jagged Alliance 3

Dead Space 2

Prey 2

Half-Life 2: Episode 3

Thi4f (Thief 4)

Doom 4

2010/01/05

Published Another Article Today: 2010 PC Games Part 2

Yeah, if you were reading my twitter account today, you’ll have seen that it was “hot as hell” where I am today, and it’s going to be bad tonight as well. Anyhow, through all the sweat, blood, and tears, I was able to build Part 2 of the series I’ve been working on, today.

What series is that you ask? It’s the “PC Games to Look Forward to in 2010” series. Part 1 is here, and the new episode, Part 2, is here. Not sure if they’ll be an episode 3 yet, but I am going to put up another article related to all this though soon called “PC Games That Likely Won’t Make 2010”, or something to that effect.

Here’s a short list of the games covered in this piece:

Kane& Lynch 2: Dog Days

Mafia II

Mass Effect 2

Max Payne 3

Medal of Honor

Metal Gear Solid: Rising

Metro 2033

Rage

Stalker: Call of Pripyat

StarCraft II

As you can see, a fair amount of post-apocalyptic titles represented here, with Rage, Metro 2033, and Call of Pripyat on the list. True, maybe not all the games here will make 2010, but right not, most of them have release dates set for this year… some time.

2010/01/04

PC Games to Look Forward to in 2010: Part 1 – the Short Version

I told you about the article I wrote the other day, and I decided to do a short list type version here on the blog. Here’s the first ten, mentioned in Part 1. The order was initially supposed to be alphabetical, and it is in Part 1, but from Part 2 onwards, it might not have any real order.

Note that this is about PC games, so even though Assassin’s Creed II is out on Xbox 360 and PS3, it isn’t due for release on the PC until March.

Alien Colonial Marines

Aliens vs. Predator

Assassin’s Creed II

Battlefield Bad Company 2

BioShock 2

Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight

Crysis 2

Deus Ex 3

Fallout New Vegas

Hitman 5

Published a new Article, Updated the aStore

Today I published a new article, called “PC Games to Look Forward to in 2010: Part 1”. It’s not your typical list, and it has pictures and videos on there as well. It’s the first in a series of articles, and I’ll likely put up another one or two articles during the next while.

This is the main reason why I haven’t been focusing as much on blogging for a while, seeing as I’ve been putting this all together. I’m going to shift some of my time to article writing and other things. Buy hey, at least it gives me something to blog about, in addition to the usual stuff.

On another note, I’ve been updating my Amazon aStore lately, making it look a little better aesthetically, and actually stocking it with more new games. In addition to updating the “New Games” section, I’ve added the Classic Games section and put the existing ones in there as subcategories. You can have a look at it here.

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2010/01/03

Duke Nukem Forever Art, Fan Art, Another Article on the Duke

I saw that on duke4.net the latest update points to several new pieces of fan art on the site. Some of it’s pretty good, some of it weird, some of it inspired by classic pieces of art.

I looked at some of the previous posts and there’s some new official art related to Critical Mass too, and some Christmas related Duke art.

On a related note, there’s been another article analysing the infamous Duke Nukem Forever situation, like the one written on Wired recently, this time written by a psychologist, who writes about the psychology of video games. And he/she’s probably never even played any of the Duke games either.

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http://www.duke4.net/news.php
Explaining the Commitment to Duke Nukem — Forever
http://www.psychologyofgames.com/2009/12/30/duke-nukem-forever-escalating-commitment-and-chewing-bubblegum/

Video Games Coming out This Week, 01/03 – 01/09, 2010: Borderlands: Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, Bayonetta

Pick of the Week- Borderlands: Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot

This week, the first real, full-length week of 2010, sees the release of the second DLC pack for Borderlands, Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot, for PS3. Gamespot also claims that the PC version will be this week, but there’s no official word, so not sure about this. Last week the Xbox 360 version came out. Seeing as Borderlands was such a massive hit last year, and was hailed as one of the most “original” games, then you’ll likely want to get a hold of this.

I’d say that the other major release this week is Bayonetta even though I certainly won’t be playing it (not that I could anyway). I’ve seen it, and besides Bayonetta having a nice derriere, she reminds me too much of Fiona Coyne in the SA version of The Weakest Link, and not to mention the soundtrack sounds rubbish. But to the game’s credit, it does seem to have some nice touches, like the hair and everything. Weird.

Links go to Amazon, etc.

Borderlands: Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot (Gamespot said so)

Divinity II - Ego Draconis

PlayStation 3

Borderlands: Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot

Bayonetta

Darksiders

Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond

Xbox 360

Bayonetta

Darksiders

Divinity II - Ego Draconis