The gaming news world moves fast. Every day, thousands of nuggets of new gaming info drips out like a leaky faucet. We understand that most people don’t have the time to keep up with every single gaming blog, but what the to stay on top of the most important news. In addition to the gaming coverage that we bring to you daily, we’re dishing out a weekly feature that’ll keep you informed of the latest and greatest happening, so you can go into the weekend after a hard worked week and just game.
With the launch of Battlefield 3, it’s been a fantastic week to be a hardcore game on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360. But if you don’t care for first-person shooters, fret not, because there’s plenty of Nintendo Wii and PS Vita news that broke out this week. Join us inside for this week’s best gaming news.
Game of the Week: Battlefield 3
It’s without competition that this week’s must-have/must-buy game is the one and only Battlefield 3 developed by DICE and published by EA. It goes up against Activision’s Call of Duty franchise and so far, things are looking pretty good. The FPS managed to get a respectable 90/100 on Metacritic for PC, 84 on Xbox 360 and 85 on PS3. However you wish to perceive the game, the writing is clear on the wall: the singleplayer mode leaves much to be desired but the multiplayer is where the action is at. I’m giving it an initial run on Xbox 360, so we’ll see how it goes. Definitely download the texture pack if you haven’t. It’s a must for the 360.
PlayStation 3
We’re only days away from Nathan Drake’s latest installment of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception – it launches on Monday, November 1. Things are already looking pretty swell for Naughty Dog’s action adventure game. Early reviews have totaled its Metacritic score to a 94/100, making it one of the PS3’s best games yet. It supports stereoscopic 3D. Naughty Dog originally experimented with implementing PlayStation Move support into the game, but ultimately decided against it, saying that tacked on motion controls just didn’t feel right for Uncharted. While we agree that motion control doesn’t always fit, it did work quite well for Socom 4 and Resistance 3 – perhaps they’ll have a change of heart for an update that patches support in.
If you’re interesting in the technology, here’s a great look at the motion capture techniques behind Uncharted 3. It’s quite fascinating stuff.
Xbox 360
Fighting fans are in for a treat with Namco Bandai’s Soul Calibur IV coming out next January. Hardcore fighting games require arcade sticks, not game pads. That’s where MadCatz steps in to fill the gap. Coinciding with Soul Calibur IV‘s release, MadCatz is releasing the FightStick Tournament Edition. It’s ideal for the PS3 and Xbox 360 and if it’s anywhere as well built as the fighting stick that came with Tekken 6 Limited Edition (I picked one up for $35 on Amazon during the summer), it should provide should be able to withstand a good amount of button mashing.
Nintendo Wii / Wii U
Aside from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, the Wii is looking a little dry. That’s okay because the console is already on its way out. Next year, we get the Wii U and Iwata promised in a recent investors meeting that Nintendo has learned from its mistakes in executing the 3DS’s launch. The Wii U’s final form factor will be shown off at next year’s E3 expo in June, which pegs a release for what’s almost assuredly going to be the holiday shopping season.
Nintendo says it’s not going to repeat the same mistake it did with the 3DS’s lack of games at launch. Here’s to hoping the Wii U delivers with games people will actually care about, like Mario, Zelda and Pokemon.
PC Gaming
Those itching to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will have to wait for when the game officially launches on November 8, but a few thieves managed to get their hands on Disc 2 of the PC version of Activision’s latest in the franchise. But, they won’t be playing it.
Activision isn’t taking the theft lightly. In fact, they’ve sent police investigators to hunt down those with the pirated copies and slap them with a $5,000 fine as well as repossess the stolen property. As they say, crime doesn’t pay.
Last week’s major release was of course Batman Arkham City and what better way to cross-promote the game than with Samsung’s new 830 SSD drives. There’s no magic trick here. Just buy Samsung 830 SSD in sizes ranging from 64-512GB and you’ll get a free download code for the PC version of Batman: Arkham City. Why should you go SSD? Way faster loading times.
Mobile / Portable
After reporting nearly $1 billion in annual losses for the first time in 30 year, Nintendo is getting eve more serious about its 3DS. In a surprising move, Nintendo is opening up its eShop digital wares storefront and expanding it to allow users to access it from a PC and a smartphone. You won’t get to buy directly from those channels, but you’ll get to browse, which should at least expand the visibility of Nintendo’s digital downloads.
Last week, Sony blew the lid off the official release date for the PS Vita in the U.S. – February 22 – and now it’s trying to bait in PlayStation fans with a “First Edition Bundle” that’ll give you the next-gen handheld a whole week early on February 15. For $350, you’ll get a 3G model of the PS Vita, a 4GB proprietary PS Vita memory card, a limited edition case and a copy of Little Deviants. Is getting it early worth the extra cash? We’ll let you decide how big of Sony fan you are.
Also in Vita news, Japanese magazine Famitsu broke news that the handheld’s browser will not support Adobe Flash at launch, but will run Javascript 1.7 and HTML5. Considering the Vita has a quad-core processor and 512MB of RAM, we’re not sure what’s going on. As an owner of a PSP, I can attest that the inadequate amount of RAM on the original handheld greatly hampered Flash performance. What’s Sony’s excuse now?
It’s arguable what is the best looking game on a tablet and most will say it’s Epic’s Infinity Blade, but there’s a new contender in town and it’s Shadowgun. It’s kind of like a Gears of War rip off and in my opinion (played iPad version) gameplay is pretty barebones, stale and repetitive with the onscreen analogs feeling like a huge miss rather than a hit and its cover-system completely ripped from Gears, but boy is the game a looker. It’s available now on the Android Market, so if you’re looking to test a new game, make it this one.
Filed in . Read more about 3DS (Nintendo), Adobe Flash, Batman, Battlefield 3, Microsoft, Nintendo Wii, PS Vita, PS3, Shadowgun, Sony, Wii U and Xbox 360.