General Game News

[Pak-Man]

Attention 3DS users! Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies comes out today, but it's only being sold digitally through the eshop, so you won't stumble on it at stores.

[The Lurker]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/KAz5VnE3wMg" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/KAz5VnE3wMg</a>

[Variety of Cells]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/KAz5VnE3wMg" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/KAz5VnE3wMg</a>

Pinball Arcade is out for steam now.  Not sure if you're interested in that at all.  It is annoying that you have to buy tables twice if you want to play. 

But if you do play on steam and are experiencing flipper delay like I was, read the link bellow.  Plays much better after that fix.

http://pinballarcadefans.com/showthread.php/6365-If-you-re-experiencing-flipper-delay-in-TPA-PC-version-please-read-this

[Compound]

Just an FYI, Notch will be The Late, Late Show on CBS Thursday Nov 7th. That's Craig Ferguson's show IIRC.

[Compound]

And Age of Empires II gets a new expansion pack today, 13 years after the release of it's last expansion. Wow.

[Edward J Grug III]

And Age of Empires II gets a new expansion pack today, 13 years after the release of it's last expansion. Wow.

I hadn't heard that! That's the game that made me quit gaming on my PC (Because I would just sit and play for an entire day before I realized what had happened )

[Compound]

First a general warning- should you get an XBox 1 early, do not take it online. Some stores (Target, for example) shipped a few early and the consoles that have gone online since then have gotten banned. This seems to be a temporary thing, at least until the system actually goes live, but just in case, don't do it.

Secondly, Blizzcon news. A plethora of stuff.
World of Warcraft-
Next XP: Warlords of Draenor. Features include:
Level cap raised to 100
Player-run Garrisons and followers (which remind me of Trek Online's Starbases and Duty Officer system)
Gear revamping. Again.
An instant raise to 90th level for one character per account so that those who've been away from the game can get back to the new content.
And some changes to raids, UI and inventory that folks who don't play won't care about.

Diablo III
Aside from a PS4 release (probably a XB1 release too since it's also on the 360, but Blizz never mentioned the platform by name), and the new character class (Crusader) and removal of the Real Money Auction House, Blizz will be introducing an "adventure mode" in the XP where you can ignore the plot and travel around killing random mobs for bounties and exploring randomly generated dungeons.

Hearthstone
Open beta begins next month and Blizz is currently working on an iPad and Droid port of the game as well. And as an FYI- the Invitational Championships got 100k people viewing it. Wow. (Great games too.)

Starcraft 2
Not a single thing announced.

Heroes of the Storm
Blizz's "Hero Brawler" game, not to be confused with a MOBA or DOTA game, even though it totally is one. Blizz is not doing the "3 lanes"  of LoL or DOTA2 or Smite, but rather is doing a wide variety of BG maps. For example, in one map you need to gather coins to return them to a ghost pirate who when he has enough will spawn and attack the other team's city. In another, you're trying to escort Bone golems so that they can bash the other team while stopping their golems from doing the same. (So, they're Baron-sized creeps, basically.) It looks like a big shakeup of the usual MOBA formula and got a lot of traffic over the weekend.

Warcraft Movie
Starts filming in January. Director is Duncan Jones who directed "Moon" and has actually played the Warcraft games. The FX supervisor notes that while working on the first Narnia film, he was spending his off hours levelling his toon. (An Alliance Mage, BTW.) It'll apparently be set during the time frame of the first Warcraft game, rather than in the current WoW era. Other than that, they were very evasive on the plot, casting and shooting location. Although since Jones was wearing a "Canucks" jersey, Vancouver might be a good bet there. (Although one of the guys from "Vikings" seems to have nabbed the current unnamed lead role, according to rumors.) Oh, and Chuck Norris might be cast. Maybe.

And a final note- Conan O'Brien showed up at one point to do play by play for a WoW arena tournament. It'll probably be funnier when edited down to a few minutes for his show.

[Darth Geek]

Warcraft Movie
Starts filming in January. Director is Duncan Jones who directed "Moon" and has actually played the Warcraft games. The FX supervisor notes that while working on the first Narnia film, he was spending his off hours levelling his toon. (An Alliance Mage, BTW.) It'll apparently be set during the time frame of the first Warcraft game, rather than in the current WoW era. Other than that, they were very evasive on the plot, casting and shooting location. Although since Jones was wearing a "Canucks" jersey, Vancouver might be a good bet there. (Although one of the guys from "Vikings" seems to have nabbed the current unnamed lead role, according to rumors.) Oh, and Chuck Norris might be cast. Maybe.

I'm not a gamer, but I am looking forward to this. And while I didn't like Moon as a whole, it was directed well and glad to see someone who isn't known for making dumb blockbusters tackling this. I was really hoping for a Bruce Campbell cameo when Sam Raimi was going to direct. I still think he'd be perfect as a side character.

[d00hickey]

They have to have a character named Leroy Jenkins, at least in the credits or background.

[Compound]

Okay, Best Buy just revamped their "Gamer's Club" program, which used to have a free version and a $15/ year version, which game you coupons and discounts on used games. Which naturally my local BB didn't have.

The new plan gives you a 10% discount on used games, a 10% bonus to your trade-in credit, and a coupon for a 50% strategy guide. Oh, and 20% off all new game purchases for any platform.

So, what's the catch? Well, the new price for the Club is $119.99 for 2 years. However, if you're already a member, you'll get the benefits until your membership expires. Also, there seem to be coupons that will be sent out to current and recent members to extend your membership for 2 years for a more reasonable $30.

So if you buy used games, yeah, Gamestop's used program will be cheaper. But if you plan to make 10 new game purchases over the next two years, this might be worth looking into.

[Compound]

So...


One lucky person in New Zealand will be the first person in the world to buy an XBox 1 console, since NZ is just past the international date line and they'll get first swing at it. So what are the Kiwis doing with that special console?


They've got it stored in an aquarium. Inside a shark tank.





Well, at least they're taking their security seriously.

[RoninFox]

Only an insane lobster would think to look for it there.

[Blasarius Yonder]

I wouldn't mind seeing an insane lobster try to steal New Zealand's first Xbox 1 from a safe guarded by sharks.

[Space version 2.0]

A new Ratchet and Clank game was just released. Back to the old style, meaning it's the same game you've played 10 times before with a few adjustments to keep it fun.

[Quantum Vagina]

A new Ratchet and Clank game was just released. Back to the old style, meaning it's the same game you've played 10 times before with a few adjustments to keep it fun.

It works for the Pokemon Games.