Max Payne has always been an interesting series. To date, it’s still one of the only neo-noir titles to grace gaming, and it pioneered the “bullet-time” phenomenon, which previously was synonymous with The Matrix.

With the third iteration in the series, Rockstar (who have developed their first Max Payne game) has ditched the gritty New York scenery for a more lush tropical setting. But the real question is: does it pay off to have such a stark departure? Read more… »

[Prototype] kind of just came out of nowhere. In a world full of serious sandbox games, the ability to play as infected anti-hero Alex Mercer allowed us to dip, dive, glide, and destroy more objects than any game since Hulk: Ultimate Destruction.

Now, the tables have turned, as Alex is on the other side of the curtain, taking on a more villainous role. Sergeant James Heller is the protagonist now, freshly infected by Mercer and set to do his bidding.. While the story plays itself out, the real question is, from a gameplay perspective, can Heller really fill Mercer’s shoes? Read more… »

Yesterday we reported that DTP Entertainment AG was filing for insolvency, placing Ronimo Games’ Awesomenauts in potential jeopardy. Fear not! Today, despite the publisher’s financial situation, Ronimo Games announced that Awesomenauts will launch as planned on PSN and XBLA.

Tomorrow the game will be available for free for PlayStation Plus subscribers while everyone else will have to wait until Wednesday, May 2nd. Awesomenauts is a 2D MOBA-style game that has an “80s cartoon” aesthetic. It’s a May miracle!

For the longest time my only experience with the world of The Witcher was reading the occasional comic on Penny Arcade. But one day, console-owners rejoiced when developer CD Projekt RED announced they were bringing an expanded version of the acclaimed The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings to the Xbox 360.

This console version seemed like the perfect opportunity for those who missed out on the first two games to dive into the series, but did The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition survive its transition from PC to console?

Well, you know what they say about things that appear too good to be true…

Read more… »

It may simply be coincidence that my birthday’s in May and Ronimo Games’ Awesomenauts is coming to PSN on May 1st, but I choose to believe it’s a sign from the universe…an awesome sign. Better still, PlayStation Plus subscribers can get it for free throughout the entire month.

Awesomenauts is what would emerge if you mixed eighties cartoons, platforming shooters, and MOBA games into a crazy, frantic blender. The game features 3 on 3 online and offline action with 6 different characters, upgrades, turrets, and bunch of other cool things. Awesomenauts will hit PSN on May 1st for $9.99 and XBLA on May 2nd for 800 Microsoft Space Dollars.

[PlayStation Blog]

Carl Franklin, a heavy hitter in Microsoft coding circles, claims to have had an “eureka!” moment with the development of GesturePak. This application and SDK is supposed to simplify the development of Kinect based software, especially around gesture recognition.

While GesturePak is focused on Kinect for Windows rather than XBox 360, we can think of at least one game that could have used some better gesture recognition, ahem.

Read more… »

Resident Evil 6 was initially slated for a November 20th release, but it looks like the Gods have smiled upon us this day, as Capcom has announced a new October 2nd target. Also, more importantly, in light of this news Capcom has released a new trailer for the game, which highlights the real news here: Wesker Jr. will be a playable character in the game. Also, Leon and Chris engage in an epic battle for whatever reason — more news for this game can’t come soon enough!

Considering I played the Resident Evil 5 demo at least fifty times before I got my hands on the main game, it’s safe to say I’m pretty excited to play the July 3rd demo included with Dragon’s Dogma.

Some time ago, cult-creator Goichi Suda set out to create a “mature” game for the Kinect, — a feat that was only attempted by a few brave developers.

What do you get when you mix demonic elephants, a former major league baseball star, and a creepy carnival? One of the weirdest, flawed, and most enjoyable games on the Xbox Live Arcade. Read more… »

38 Studios’ wasn’t kidding around when they said they were going to support Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning after its release. They already put out The Legend of Dead Kel last month, and now today they revealed the latest bit of content coming your way: The Teeth of Naros.

Read on for more information about the aforementioned Naros chompers.

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Shortly following Tiger Woods’ first PGA Tour event win in more than two years, the newest installment of Tiger Woods PGA Tour was released. The past few years of this franchise has brought with it some of the best innovation in sports gaming. A sentiment that many hope stays true in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 and beyond.

Game mechanics like Focus and True-Aim have kept the games fresh and rewarding in years past. And while not all of them were gems – looking at you caddie – EA Sports keeps all of this in mind and does not rest on its laurels. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 successfully polishes its strengths, focuses on addressing its weaknesses, and provides enough new content to keep players entertained for hours on end. Read more… »

The Mistborn fantasy series by author Brandon Sanderson will be “lurching” its way onto PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,  PC, and Mac in fall 2013 courtesy of developer Little Orbit. Sanderson himself is writing the story for the game, titled Mistorn: Birthright, and it will be set several hundred years before the events of the books.

The game is set to be an action-RPG, and Mistborn‘s unique magic system based off metals lends itself well to an interactive medium. This won’t be Sanderson’s first time working with videogames as he did story development for iOS game Infinity Blade II and wrote the Infinity Blade: Awakening tie-in novella. According to the press release, players will “suit up as Fendin “Fiddle” Fathvell, an arrogant young nobleman who must quickly master his newfound Allomantic abilities before forces at work can destroy his entire family.”

[Source: Mistborn: Birthright]

While Ninja Gaiden III is not really up to par with the rest of the series, at times it is still a serviceable action game. Also, at least one of you out there will be playing it at some point in your life, so an achievement/trophy guide is probably going to be requested by someone, and I haven’t seen any yet.

So, without further ado, read on for help on the game’s achievements/trophies. Read more… »