Today EA announced that Black Box’s PC exclusive free-to-play MMO racer Need for Speed World will launch sometime this summer.

According to the press release: “Need for Speed World brings together best in class action racing with an unparalleled social experience. For the first time in a racing game, players will be able to compete against any one of their friends, family or pick from thousands of top ranked players to challenge in intense online battles and police pursuits across 150 miles of sprawling open world. Need for Speed World takes the well known and popular cities from Need for Speed Most Wanted and Need for Speed Carbon to create the biggest, most exciting race world ever released in the Need for Speed universe.” Read more… »

Final Fantasy, as a series and cultural phenomenon, has evolved far beyond its roots, growing and molding into something of an institution. The name alone invokes a thousand emotions, admirations, complaints and disturbing amounts of fan fiction and cosplay. Arguably, each and every game in the series has, in one way or another, altered the dimensions and scope of what a JRPG can accomplish and how bold, epic and apocalyptic stories can be told.

After 3 and a half long years, Final Fantasy XIII has finally arrived on the shores of the West, promising to bolster the increasingly irrelevant and dry genre that was itself birthed over 2 decades ago. Has the Yoshinori Kitase lead team succeeded in refreshing the stale stable of innovation that has been sorely lacking within this console generation, or is Final Fantasy destined to become its namesake?

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[You can check out previous installments of this series at Overdoing It: Sequelmania and Overdoing It: Boobies]

I think we can all agree that the vast majority of people that call themselves “gamers” would doubtless own a PS3, Xbox 360, or both. With the introduction of these consoles came a brand new feature that has undoubtedly become something of a viral sensation: trophies and achievements.

Whether it’s pumping hundreds of hours into your 360 in order to reach that coveted 100,000 GamerScore, or searching for the last hidden item that will grant you yet another Platinum trophy, games are now giving players the opportunity to showcase their (forgive me) prowess in the gaming arena.

So when did we decide that it was okay for gaming to become a job?

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Today Bethesda Softworks announced that it has teamed up with developer inXile Entertainment to publish a new “third-person co-op fantasy action game” for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Dubbed Hunted: The Demon’s Forge, the new game promises to be a throw-back to the dungeon crawler days of yore combined “with the intensity and action of a modern-day shooter.”

Players will be able to pick one of two characters: a sword-wielding warrior named Caddoc and a bow specialist Elara. While either of these characters are capable on their own, inXile has designed the game so that the two work best together, hence the co-op feature. Read more… »

Those who have been hotly anticipating the upcoming Sony-exclusive racer ModNation Racers will be relieved to know that a release date of May 25th has finally been announced. A European date has yet to be confirmed, but SCEE have stated they are aiming to release it the same week as North America. If this is the case, we can presume it will be available May 25th if Europe’s traditional Friday release dates are anything to go by.

ModNation Racer’s innovative track creation and share facilities have gained a fair amount of publicity since its debut at E3 last summer, so Sony must be feeling confident about this one. Hit the jump for a lowdown of some pre-order exclusives that are to be bundled with the game.

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Among the realms of anime, Bleach is generally considered a big deal, and whilst I am not going to claim I am an expert in the mythos, I at least know my Bankai from my Rukongai. I also dress up in a robe, wear sandals, and run through the streets telling people I’m fighting invisible spirit beings. But what can I say? A man needs a hobby.

I’m not sure I can say the transition from anime to games has generally been met with staggering success in the past, so have Sega struck gold with their tactical RPG on the DS? Read more… »

If you are one of the millions of people who are still playing Modern Warfare 2, even though its multiplayer is broken beyond repair, then this is your lucky day.  Details and pricing for the game’s first downloadable map pack have been released, and it appears that killing has a steep price tag attached to it.

For the completely absurd price of $15 (1200 MS Points), you’ll be able to slaughter your enemies in one of five new maps, two of which are actually “slightly reworked” maps from the original Modern Warfare.  Xbox 360 owners will get first dibs at this DLC when it launches on March 30th, followed by the PS3 and PC versions which will be available at some undisclosed date in April.

For more information about these new maps, hit the jump. Read more… »

Welcome to the first Weekly Recap of daylight savings time. Thankfully, everything except my microwave auto-set themselves for the time change; and, honestly, I’m fine with having to do the microwave myself… if it was hooked up to the WiFi it might share how awful my diet is with anyone who cared to check. Then I’d have to defend my diet of burritos, ramen, and EasyMac to my mother… who would be horrified at the prospect of my malnutrition.

And speaking of malnutrition, the past week has been pretty slow here at GL due to the launch of Square Enix’s latest life destroying game, Final Fantasy 13. This week’s LimitCast is about it, most of the staff are playing it, and for some reason, there is even someone (*cough*JAMIE*cough*) that got it for the Xbox 360. I guess he didn’t hear that his inferior version of the game is why the PS3 version didn’t live up to it’s full potential. Or maybe he did, and just likes making horrible decisions.

Either way, Jamie should be thoroughly scolded for such a senseless waste of money. But that can wait until after the recap, can’t it?

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Well folks, the video game landscape has changed significantly since our last chat. Final Fantasy XIII’s release has shaken us here at Gamer Limit, and we have been debating its place in Final Fantasy history with a little bloodshed as possible (mind the puddles).

Josh, Chase, Shawn, and Paul can’t wait for you to join us live at 7pm EST tonight as we debate this hot topic, and more on the Limitcast! Read more… »

I have a distinct memory of playing Raiden II when I was younger, and loving the hell out of it.  There’s something immediately fun and nostalgic about playing a classic top down shmup.  This is why that memory of Raiden II stays with me to this very day, and also what led to my interest in Shoot 1UP.

An indie title from developer Mommys Best Games, Shoot 1UP is very much in the vain of the Raiden series, in that it’s full of the top-down goodness that has kept this genre prominent (and more importantly, fun) for so many years.  However, the game adds in a unique, and dare I say brilliant, mechanic that really differentiates it from the multitude of other similarly designed titles. Read more… »

One of the things that’s eternally frustrating about the Xbox LIVE Indie marketplace is the fact that it’s cluttered with terrible thumbstick shooters. They bring nothing new to the genre and most are plagued by worn out gameplay and terrible music that makes your ears bleed. Fortunately, Gnomic Studios seems to have it right with Square Off.

The basic formula for Square Off stays true to the genre, with the two thumbsticks controlling movement and fire, but Square Off departs from the usual in both graphics and gameplay. It’s a great combination that is only marred by the fact that it has no support for Xbox LIVE play, even if the local multiplayer is a complete blast.
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