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Alan Wake Collector’s Edition Arrives

The full package

It finally showed up – it’s as if Amazon don’t want you to get new releases until the official release date. 3D Dot Game Heroes arrived from another online retailer on Wednesday Amazon! Anyway, you can probably judge from the fact that there’s a post and picture, that I’m pretty chuffed. I first saw a trailer for Alan Wake in October 2006 when I bought my 360. Since then I have played so many great games, but I was still absolutely stoked to see Remedy at Microsoft’s press event at E3 last year, fueling my hope that this will be all that I hope for. It’s now less than a month to E3 2010 and the game is finally here.

The Collector’s Edition, which was very reasonably priced comes packaged in a facsimile of a hard bound book, but instead of Alan’s latest work you get a soundtrack CD, making of DVD and hardbound book with Bright Falls related facts and of course the game. You also get a voucher for the DLC, releasing later this year and a I was also sent a PDF of the guide for the first episode, but I won’t be spoiling anything by checking that out.

I plan to play this with my wife at my side – not because I’m scared you understand, but we both enjoy narrative driven adventures, especially if they have a bit of the Twin Peaks/ Stephen King about them. Check back to see what I think when I publish my review.

An Hour With 3D Dot Game Heroes

Hyrule as you imagined it to be

Even though the word on the street is that 3D Dot Game Heroes plays just as if you had added a 3rd dimension to A Link to the Past, I have to say that I didn’t really know what to expect. I quickly discovered that it played exactly like From Software had added a 3rd dimension! That is just such a good way to think about this game because even though the graphics are a million miles from what the SNES could produce, the movement and animation absolutely capture those top down adventures.Before the adventure began I took a quick look at the character creator that lets you design your own pixelated heroes (see here for more), but starting from scratch was just so daunting I decided to leave it alone for now. Not that when you start your game there aren’t a myriad of different characters to choose from which range from the genre staples to the bizarre. How about questing as a tank or a shark?

Fallout: New Vegas Box Art Unveiled

New Californian Republic Ranger is the cover star

Just a quick one to say that this is the box art for Fallout: New Vegas, which just  happens to be our most anticipated title of 2010. With the art that’s already been published by Bethesda the final cover art isn’t a huge surprise showing a New Californian Republic Ranger. Nice to see what we’re going to get though. Remember you can send the developers your questions via Bethblog.

Do You Like Fallout? Do You Like Collector’s Editions?

Gambling paraphenalia

Of course you do. In that case you’re going to love the freshly unveiled Fallout: New Vegas Collector’s Edition. The extra-large box contains a host of Vegas inspired physical items, which depending on how full your man cave is getting will delight fans of the series.

3D Dot Game Heroes – What Hero Will You Be?

Gordon Brown leaves number 10

One of the best features of 3D Dot Game Heroes is the ability to create your own hero model.  Not only can you create your own hero, but you can then share it on the official website. Once here they can be downloaded and used within your game, so even if you don’t have any artistic ability you may still be able to use a Link looky likey. My dad, who spent many hours with graph paper making his game sprites would have been in heaven with the simple editor included in From Software’s homage to games gone by.

See below for some of those already posted.

April – Month in Review

The writing's on the wall

For most people April was a welcome relief in the release schedules finally giving gamers a chance to catch up after the best start to a year ever. Depending on your platform though it wasn’t a completely barren month and definitely had a greater number of decent games than 2009. A theme for this month is perhaps games that have been previously released on other platforms or should have been released as DLC.

Next Generation Consoles – Must Have Features

With Microsoft and Sony heralding the arrival of their motion controllers for this generation of hardware, the next generation seems like a very long way off. However, for those boffins that are beavering away in secret labs the feature set for the new consoles is probably being nailed down even as I write. What is likely to make the cut next time around?

Next God of War Game on PSP

More rage ensued

When Sony announced God of War: Ghost of Sparta for PSP today it was a little surprising to say the least. Not surprising that there would be a new God of War,but not many people would have predicted a new game this year, on PSP and being developed by Ready at Dawn.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be shocked that Sony would use their greatest mascot to try to prop up what appears to be a light year for PSP releases, especially on the back of a very successful launch for God of War 3 on PlayStation 3.

Fallout: New Vegas – Will You be Playing Hardcore?

How hardcore are you?

When I’m playing video games, my wife often makes comments such as, “how can your health just recover?” or “why does picking up a bandage heal bullet wounds?” These conventions are part and parcel of video games and part of the compromise developers make to ensure that playing games remains fun. What would happen though if they threw away those conventions and combat was as potentially fatal as it would be in real life? That is what Obsidian are offering with Hardcore mode in Fallout: New Vegas.