It’s good to be the king. You get to sleep in under comfy silk sheets while your vassals wake at dawn and go out to till the land. Architects build your towers. Wizards slave over mysterious, glowing artifacts. All the while, your coffers fill with gold.

One day, you’re awoken by one of your purple robed advisers alerting you that a rival lord’s army is at the gates. Such a travesty! Who does he think he is? And why does your adviser sound like a caricature of Sean Connery?

Defenders of Ardania (DoA) for Xbox Live Arcade starts with the player waking to find the enemy at the outskirts. Tower defense battles quickly carry you off into the lands of Majesty, in search of ancient evil, gathering key allies and powers along the way. With effective gameplay twists (yes, there is tower offense), DoA offers a gaming experience that may be rough around the edges, but is thoroughly entertaining.

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Hope you like your Xbox 360 because you’re not getting a replacement. Well you will eventually, but Microsoft isn’t talking about that this year. Company spokesperson David Dennis recently told Bloomberg that they have no plans to show off any new Xbox hardware at this year’s E3 conference.

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Mass Effect 3 is here, and much to the chagrin of non-Collectors-Edition buyers, there is day one DLC — specifically a downloadable pack that adds new squad member costumes, a new weapon, a new mission, and a new very spoilery squad member.

In fact, this DLC character in particular is the absolute focus on this pack, as original Mass Effect fans most likely have been dreaming about this moment for years.

Do not click the break or continue reading unless you’re ready for spoilers for this DLC only — specifically regarding the squadmate. Read more… »

Mass Effect, over the years, has been quite the chameleon. At first, it started as a pretty RPG heavy title that involved tons of customization and obtuse design choices. Then it evolved into possibly the most streamlined product Bioware had ever produced.

Mass Effect 3 attempts to marry the two types of gameplay into one action packed conclusion. But does it succeed? Or is it too action packed for its own good? Read more… »

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning by newcomer 38 Studios doesn’t feel like a debut game. The pure confidence with which it presents itself is refreshing because it knows what kind of game it wants to be. While some might be tempted to write Amalur off as just another Western RPG like Skyrim with some World of Warcraft thrown in for color, they’d be wrong.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning might be built upon the backs of familiar fantasy and RPG tropes, but it gets them right more often than it gets them wrong.

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Our review for new RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is coming later this week, but today developer 38 Studios announced a new batch of DLC for the game. The pirate-themed The Legend of Dead Kel will drop anchor on March 20.

Hit the jump for more details about Amalur’s latest DLC pack. Read more… »

The Smithsonian opened registration Wednesday to attend a special lecture held by famed game designer Hideo Kojima. This conversation with Kojima will take place on the second day of the Smithsonian’s Game Fest, a three day festival kicking off the museum’s new The Art of Video Games exhibit. Game Fest begins Friday, March 16 in Washington DC.

If there ever was hesitation around attending this event, the Smithsonian seeks to dispel not only with the confirmation of Kojima but also with the price of attendance — free.

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Well, the space cat’s out of the bag now. A listing for a piece of Mass Effect 3 DLC was spotted today on the Xbox Live Marketplace. It’s already been pulled down, but the listing revealed the title “From Ashes” and the fact that it will cost 800 MS Moon Dollars, also known as Microsoft Points, when it comes out.

The description also listed some spoilers, but the vanilla version of it is we’ll “unearth lost secrets from the past” in the add-on. Some people believe that “From Ashes” will be included as free content for consumers who purchase the game new. EA and BioWare did something similar with Mass Effect 2 and the Zaeed character. IGN has a more spoiler-heavy write-up of what’s known so far about “From Ashes.”

[Source: Destructoid]

Prototype was a game about somebody with mutant powers and killing helicopters. I never played it, so that’s the extent of my knowledge. But the new Blackwatch Edition for Prototype 2 that was revealed today just might convince me to get into the series.

Read on for more info about what this collector’s edition includes. Read more… »

Death rides on June 26, 2012…rides into stores that is! Today, the official Darksiders Twitter account revealed the release date for Darksiders II.

They also tweeted a link to details about the (obligatory) pre-order bonuses. Hit the jump for more details about the various packs. Read more… »

[Edit: the Facebook page says there are no codes left!]

Valentine’s Day? What’s that? Everyone who’s anyone knows that tomorrow is Mass Effect 3 Demo Day. It’s the day when St. Valentine himself defended the rights of lovers everywhere by making the Mass Effect 3 demo available on PC, Xbox Live, and PSN.

Spend tomorrow blasting Reapers and aliens apart with that special someone in your life. For those of you who can’t wait one more day, you can play a short Facebook game where you can win a demo code early.

SoulCalibur has always been a flashy franchise — in more ways than one. When the original came out on the Sega Dreamcast, I was completely awestruck, and wasted hundreds of hours clanging swords and flinging people out of the ring.

By the time SoulCalibur III rolled out, I was a bit disenfranchised, and became more a casual fan — that is, until I came back full circle for SoulCalibur V. Read more… »