The Elder Scrolls IV Skyrim: Dawnguard DLC Trailer - Fus Ro... Okay None Of It Here

The first DLC for Skyrim will release on XBOX Live as a timed exclusive(this summer). No worries, it will be out on the PC a little later. Bethesda has gone ahead and released the trailer for this DLC in anticipation for E3.  You turn into a vampire and some fella is going on and on about claiming the Elder Scrolls for himself. Yeah, we'll see about that buddy. Watch it below...

Dead Space 3 Screenshots Leaked - Two Player Co-op Seem To Be Confirmed

AllGamesBeta.com has posted up a bunch of screenshots purportedly from Dead Space 3. Looks legit. The screenshots confirm that a new character will play alongside Isaac. Which means... co-op! I wonder what tweaks will will they do to the game with two players in the game. More necromorphs? Rumour has it that Dead Space 3 will be on a snowy planet called Tau Volantis. The reveal should come any day now with E3 2012 fast approaching. Screenshots below...

CD Projekt Announces Cyberpunk - A Futuristic RPG Based Off Of Pen & Paper Game

CD Projekt announced that they are working on Cyberpunk, a futuristic RPG based on the pen and paper RPG Cyberpunk 2020 by Mike Pondsmith. They are calling it 'a mature RPG for a mature audience', which is somewhat similar to The Witcher. Knowing what CD Projekt did with The Witcher, Cyberpunk will most definitely be a non linear RPG with 'a complex and gripping story'. We don't know much about it yet, but you can bet that it is going to rock! I've always wanted an RPG set in a cyberpunk world. This is a dream come true. No release date yet. Press release below...

Torchlight II Beta Impressions - Action RPG Done Right?

Error 37 getting you down? Constant online connections bugging your life? Need freedom to play single player in your action RPG? Are you annoyed by this opening line of this impressions article that sounds like a sales pitch? Runic Games recently had a beta weekend(that was still invite only) for Torchlight II and I had the pleasure of trying the game out. Runic went all out for Torchlight II; 4 player co-op, a bigger hub world with a tonne of random dungeons, offline single player, 4 new classes, new skills, new pets.... the list goes on.

Paradox Announces Crusader Kings II: Sword of Islam DLC

Crusader Kings II has been a medieval European royal family simulator to this point, but Paradox are about to change that soon. Sword of Islam, a new DLC for the character driven grand strategy game will allow player to finally play a Muslim royal family/faction. The DLC will be releasing in June and will cost USD$9.99. Trailer below...

Hitman: Absolution Attack of The Saints Trailer - Sexy Killer Nuns

Eidos released a new trailer for Hitman: Absolution. This one is a CG trailer sees Agent 47 in bad shape in a run down motel. Still... he's a rather deadly fellow. A bunch of nuns... sexy nuns come after him... I have no idea what's happening here. Not a fan of this trailer. E3 2012 is six days away and we might get some new info on the game. Hitman: Absolution releases November 20. Watch the trailer below...

Dead Space 3 Image Mysteriously Appears On The Internet

Two images appeared on the net today that blatantly state that a Dead Space 3 is in the works(one of the images is the logo I used in the image on top of this post). We all know that for certain, EA has never denied it and Dead Space has been a very profitable franchise for them. EA has stated that a new Dead Space game in is the works, so no mystery there. VG247 claims that these two images however, were posted up by GameInformer for an exclusive reveal of the game. While Dead Space 2 introduced a multiplayer mode(which was fun, but lost lots of players quickly), it has been rumoured that Dead Space 3 might see the introduction of drop in drop out co-op. I wouldn't say I would be surprised. I'll be keeping an eye on this news. Mysterious image below...

UPDATE Metro Last Light Gameplay Footage Surfaces - Watch Out For Giant Rats!

UPDATE: While the previous video has been removed, VG247 has posted the same gameplay demo with commentary from Huw Beynon... now in glorious HD! Check it out below...

A 4 minute gameplay footage of Metro Last Light has appeared on allgamesbeta.com. It appears to be a Gametrailers.com footage that hasn't been posted up on the site. The video also features interview from a THQ representative. Watch is now a digital watch... cool! Gas mask time limit is still in, which is rather surprising since that got a lot of criticism in Metro 2033. Metro Last Light surfaces from the dank and dark recesses of the underground in early 2013. Check out the footage below...

Magicka: The Other Side Of The Coin DLC Trailer - Play As The Bad Guy

Arrowhead Games have released the first trailer for the upcoming DLC for Magicka, The Other Side of The Coin. They are flipping things over and you are now controlling shady characters(no more Wizards!). Play as Alucart(yeah we know this reference) and his henchmen necromancers. This one is more like Magicka: Vietnam but with 4 new challenge maps, and objective based campaign with new story. The necromancers are out to kill Vlad! Will they(or rather you) succeed? Check out the trailer below...

World of Tanks British Tanks Trailer - Let's Have Some Tea On The Battlefield

Wargaming.net are rolling out British tanks soon into the free to play World of Tanks. The British Churchill tanks in particular are a renowned heavy tank during World War II. Especially the Crocodile which had a flame thrower on it. I doubt Wargaming.net will implement that variant of the Churchill. Expect to see lots of Tetrarch light tanks zipping about the battlefield soon. We recently review World of Tanks, which we found to be an excellent free to play game barring some minor issues.

IronManMode.com Needs Your Help - Blogging For Charity

IronManMode.com has a rather interesting idea. They play games for charity... with one exception... they write about their experience and only have one life. Once they die, the write up for that series ends. They've written on Terraria, Minecraft, Syndicate(the classic old one), Bastion, Dead Island, and many more games. 100% proceeds from donations go to child's play and their pretty close to their target. So help those guys out by chipping in here. Good luck guys, and stay away from the big zombies in Dead Island.

PlanetSide 2 Massive Air Combat Trailer - Ride of The Valkyries!

Sony Entertainment Online's PlanetSide 2 is looking to be going for massive battlefields. The latest trailer shows off the air combat in the game. It's a demonstration of what can happen if there is no anti air. It's a massacre. One of the ship sound familiar... like an X-Wing. Even the cockpit looks similar.The bullhorn has been sounded, ride of the valkyries! Trailer below...

Tomb Raider Teaser Trailer For A Trailer - New Gameplay Trailer Coming Out On Friday

This is an in thing these days, teasers trailer for trailers. Unlike what Techland did with Mad Riders, whic was to poke fun on the whole teaser trailer idea, GT.tv went the serious route by teasing the reveal of a new Tomb Raider gameplay trailer that will be revealed on GT.tv that would be out in Friday(for South East Asia). It was recently announced that Tomb Raider has been delayed to an early 2013 release date. Watch the teaser below...

1-Minute Gaming News - May 27th 2012

1-Minute gaming news for this week. Some sad news in terms of lay-offs in a much beloved game dev studio. Oh how I wished they did a Rise of Nations 2(I'm referring to Big Huge Games). Diablo III still manages to get a lot of news this week... which is to be expected. A blizzard game is always a big industry milestone. !-Minute Gaming News Below...

Mad Riders Trailer - It's a Video Game! And It Has Races!

Ubisoft are poking fun of the idea of teaser trailers. A teaser trailer for the actual trailer. It's such a ridiculous concept, but it works. This trailer is hilarious! If you like games, and if you like races, you'll like Mad Riders because it's a game... and it has races! LOL Mad Riders is being developed by Techland, the makers of Dead Island. It's out on PC, PSN and XBLA and will be price at USD$10. Coming out on May 30. CHeck out the trailer for the trailer below...

38 Studios & Big Huge Games Lays-Off Entire Studio

Things are not going well for 38 Studios. They took a loan with the Rhode Island government to the tune of USD$75 million and have been under severe financial pressure to repay the loan. 38 Studios developed Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, an RPG that was developed together with subsidiary studio Big Huge Games, with Ken Rolston... the lead designer behind Bethesda's Oblivion and Morrowind(The Elder Scrolls games). Amalur's fiction was also written by fantasy writer RA Salvatore. The game did decently well but not as well as the expected over 3 million units.

An internal email was sent to all staff said, " The Company is experiencing an economic downturn. To avoid further losses and possibility of retrenchment, the Company has decided that a companywide lay off is absolutely necessary. These layoffs are non-voluntary and non-disciplinary. This is your official notice of lay off, effective today, Thursday, May 24th, 2012." This isn't closure, but things do not look well when you have to terminate everyone in your company. Big Huge Games was legendary for developing Rise of Nations and Rise of Legends under the helms of legendary game designer, Brian Reynolds(now at Zynga). Here's to hoping that these companies survive this troubled times.

Source: Gamasutra

Indie Game: The Movie Releasing June 13 On Steam

What is Indie Game: The Movie? It's a film about indie game developers and their passion for making games from two new indie film makers, Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky. It puts the spot light on indie game devs such as Edmund McMillen(Super Meat Boy), Phil Fish(Fez), and Jonathan Blow(Braid). It's available for pre-order on Steam right now! You can also purchase it on the official site. Priced at USD$9.99(with a 10% discount for pre-orders) it's been getting some really good reviews from critics. A must watch if you're fan of the indie game development scene. Watch the trailer for Indie Game: The Movie below...

Skyrim Update 1.6 To Introduce Mounted Combat - Fus Ro Dah From A Horse

Bethesda demonstrated mounted combat in Skyrim in last year's E3 but the feature didn't make it in the released version. They just announced that mounted combat will make its début in the upcoming 1.6 update. No announced release date for update 1.6 but you can opt in the beta for it right now. Under Steam setting, click on beta participation and pick Skyrim beta. If you want to try out other new content that the community has made, check out my Skyrim mode feature here. Update 1.6 change list below...

World of Tanks Review - It's Tankalicious! Like Coffee!

World of Tanks(WoT) is a free to play massively multiplayer online tank combat game where two teams of fifteen tanks blast each other into flaming hunks of metal to claim victory on the battlefield. Is WoT a tank buster or tank busted?

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Trailer Fight Now Trailer - Showcases Features & Game Modes

Here's a new trailer for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier that gives a brief look at the features and game modes that will ship with the game. 4 player co-op looks mighty fun and the gunsmith... is definitely taking a page off of Modern Warfare. They've even got a ghost recon network for mobile devices that will presumably allow you to check your stats and share things with your friends. Yes social networking has infected video games. Check out the trailer below...

Arma 3 Lighting Showcase Video - Dynamic Lighting Extravaganza

Bohemia Interactive is pushing PC technology with Arma 3(when so many developers are content with mediocre graphics and engine). From what we've seen of Arma 3 so far, it looks stunning... no idea how it would run though. This new video shows off the lighting in Arma 3. The night time lighting is quite notable with more realism compared to any other game I've ever seen. They also show off the lighting underwater. Bohemia Interactive, if anyone is reading this... Please Add SHARKS into your game! Video below...

Metro Last Light - Enter The Metro Short Film Released

THQ has put out the full live action short film titled Enter The Metro. This is of course based off of Metro Last Light and shows the cold war ending in nuclear fallout. Hence... begins Metro Last Light. I only wished it was longer(but the it wouldn't be called a short film). The game is due out early 2013.

ShootMania Storm Ingame Trailer - Who Put Jump Pads In My Shooter?

Trackmania devs making a first person shooter? Is it any good?In ShootMania Storm,  much like the Trackmania racing games, you can build your own maps and then share it on it on the Mania Network. Take opponents 1v1 or in team based battles, it's over the top arcadey shooting action. The début trailer is all  in game footage, which looks rather impressive. The engine does an amazing job rendering the environment and distance. It also seems to show some sort of capture the flag game mode, with jump pads... very TrackMania'ish. Watch the trailer below...

Lost Planet 3 Footage Looks Like Dead Space - Significant Shift In Tone

It is unavoidable really... all survival horror game based in space will now be compared to EA's excellent Dead Space. Lost Planet isn't a survival horror game, at least it wasn't. This new video footage from Capcom Germany showing off Lost Planet 3 gameplay seems to hint at a strong shift of tone. It is rather horror survival with bits of mech sections thrown in between. A significant drop in alien count(or rather akrid). I've not been a huge fan of Lost Planet, I'm not sure how fans of the series would take to this. Lost Planet 3 was originally announced only for the consoles, but Capcom has since clarified that it will indeed be released on the PC next year. Check out the gameplay footage below...

Mass Effect 3 Operation Shieldwall Bounty Weekend Announced - May 25th To May 27th

Because you failed, you reap the repercussions. Reap... get it? Eh nevermind. The Mass Effect 3 co-op portion has big consequences. Because of Operation Silencer's failure(which all Mass Effect 3 player had to destroy 3 million Banshees) there's going to be an influx of Banshees this weekend in Mass Effect 3. They are calling it Operation Shieldwall Bounty Weekend. This is cool that Bioware is doing something like an event for a non MMORPG type game. "Due to the failure of Operation SILENCER, more banshees will spawn with Reaper enemies and might also spawn with other enemies", just lovely. Those looking for a challenge will find this weekend's event to be a good opportunity to flex your finger muscles. Victory in achieving the goals of this event could net your squad with a commendation pack and all player will be rewarded with a Victory pack, which comes with a rare weapon. If you loved the co-op section of Mass Effect 3, wait for the reaper invasion this weekend(May 25th to May 27th).

Total War: Shogun 2 Map Editor Released - Make Your Own Multiplayer Battle Maps

Since Creative Assembly moved to Steamworks for their Total War games, there's been some controversy with modders that had normally modded games using modding tools released by Creative Assembly. They then started selling unit packs which further led to the claim that Creative Assembly was holding back modding tools for profiting selling DLC's, which they have refuted(CA states that the modding tools were not ready for the public and required more work on them). CA has just released a map editor for Total War: Shogun 2(which works for Fall of The Samurai. The map editor will allow users to make new custom maps for multiplayer battles and custom battles. Only battle maps... but it's a step in the tight direction. The map editor is available in the tools section of your Steam library.

Source: PC Gamer

Bioware Announces Lay-offs At Star Wars The Old Republic Studio

Bioware founders, Greg Zeschuk and Ray  Muzyka  announced on the Star Wars The Old Republic forums that the SWTOR team will undergo a restructuring process.  Some of the team has been laid off and they regret the need to do this. "Looking back at launch, we all came together and did something historic. We executed one of the largest, most successful and stable launches of any MMO yet in industry history. That is not an easy feat for any development team or company and we are humbled and honored by our fan community’s strong support both at launch and beyond." They are still committed to delivering new content and features for the Star Wars MMO in the coming months. Recently, Bioware had a free pass weekend for SWTOR which I hadn't managed to try out(thanks to the super long download times). Here's to hopping that Bioware improves on SWTOR for the sake of the players.

Source: SWTOR Forums

UPDATE Diablo III Accounts Hacked! Nude Barbarian Is A Sad Barbarian

UPDATE: Blizzard posted an official announcement regarding account security. In essence the post says that like all new releases, accounts can be compromised. Blizzard recommends taking precautinary steps and using the Battle.net Authenticator to safe guard your account. The full post quoted after the break.

Ahh yes... this is some Diablo III news. Like World of Warcraft, and with an item store in the game, this has been predicted. Diablo III battle.net accounts have been reported to have been hacked. Eurogamer reported that there are multiple reports that user accounts have been hacked and their characters have been stripped bare of items. This takes the whole meaning of 'daylight robbery' to a whole new dimension. With items actually costing real world money now in the store, except ugly behaviour such as these online. Blizzard has been working on trying to roll back the characters of those affected to a state prior to the hacking, but some progress will be lost. Most of the incidents occurred during the Diablo III EU server down time last Sunday. If ever you think your account has been hacked, Blizzard has a help page here

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Dated 9th October - Exclusive PC Only Special Edition

Oh dear, console fanboys tear your hair out(maybe they wont even get this game). 2K announced that XCOM: Enemy Unknown will ship on the PC with a special edition that will include an art book, wallpaper, and a digital soundtrack. They've dropped a release date for it, 9th October for North America, and 12th October for Europe. They also said something about a pre-order bonus of an Elite Soldier Pack of some sort. Probably some unique looking items for your soldiers that wont make a difference. VG247 has got an exclusive interview and some new gameplay footage of the game which you can view below..

Company of Heroes 2 Developer Video Interview & Screenshots! - For The Motherland!

PC Gamer had the opportunity to pick the brains of Relic Entertainment's Jason Torres on the upcoming Company of Heroes 2. They've put up a video interview which you can view after the break. As I've written in the reveal, the big thing is snow, and truesight system that replaces the traditional fog of war. I found it odd that the dev says Company of Heroes 2 like Company of Heroes is centred on the smaller scale infantry battles... when the Eastern Front(the new setting for Company of Heroes 2) is known for its huge tank battles! But I must say the screenshots look lovely... ohhh look at the detail on that tank! Video and screenshots below(still no gameplay footage yet)...

DmC PC Release Confirmed! - Later In 2013 On The PC

That's the Devil May Cry game from Ninja Theory, the studio that made Heavenly Sword and Enslaved on the PS3. It's the one with an emo younger Dante(if you remember the trailer they put out for it last year). Okay okay to be fair, he's not so emo now. Capcom announced that DmC will be out for the PS3 and XBOX360 on January 15th, 2013 and will make its way to the PC later next year. Development on the PC version is already under way. Capcom also revealed a bit more about Kat, a supporting character in DmC. "She is a medium and a gifted psychic who can see into Limbo, the demon realm, but not directly interact with it in the way that Dante does", no confirmation if she'll be playable, but she apparently will guide Dante this time around. I've included two new footage of DmC gameplay below...

DICE States Some 2013 FrostBite 2 Engine Game Will Require 64bit Operating System

Johan Anderson, rendering architect from DICE tweeted "We'll have Frostbite-powered games in 2013 that will _require_ a 64-bit OS. If you are on 32-bit, great opportunity to upgrade to Windows 8". What this means is that your Windows 7 would have to be 64bit... not necessarily that you upgrade to Windows 8. The FrostBite 2 engine has since been used for other EA titles such as Need For Speed: The Run and the upcoming Medal of Honor: Warfighter since its début with Battlefield 3. So far the only EA game powered by FrostBite 2 we know to be releasing next year is the Bioware Command & Conquer: Generals 2. Either way, I've always thought for a long time there is no longer a purpose to installing a 32 bit OS any longer. Memory is cheap and games and software will eventually demand more than the 2GB memory threshold for 32bit systems. You've been warned... make sure you have a 64bit Windows to make full use of your uber rigs. But I'm guessing if you already have an uber rig, you would already be running a 64bit OS.

Source: PC Gamer

Aliens: Colonial Marines Release Date Set For February 12, 2013

Gearbox Software has announced that Aliens: Colonial Marines will be released on the PC, PS3, and XBOX360 on February 12, 2013. A group of colonial marines return back to the Sulaco(the ship in Aliens) to find the torn remnants of the ship and a whole host of Aliens. It's not pretty and you and your friends could try to survive the Alien horde next year February(the game has 4 player co-op). Watch the release date announcement trailer below...

Malaysian Gamer & GamerZakh At The Malaysian Games & Comics Convention 2012

It was the 19th of May on a sunny Saturday afternoon when I met up with GamerZakh on the steps of the Kolej Damansara Utama. The occasion, the Malaysian Games & Comics Convention, the first inaugural event for the organisers. The convention aimed to bring together industry experts from the creative industry, the media, comics, and game developers with a mix of people from the community. These sort of comics and games conventions are a rare deal in Malaysia so it was a no brainer that we were going to check out this event...

1-Minute Gaming News - May 18th 2012

1-Minute gaming news! Zakh goes through the biggest hitters and the big boo-boo's(yes I'm calling Error 37 a boo boo) of the week. Watch it below...

Starvoid Announced - Space Western Multiplayer RTS

Paradox Entertainment announced Starvoid, a new RTS game by Zeal Game Studios. Drop in multiplayer with the objective of collecting resources to power space crafts. Sounds like Pikmin but it ain't Pikmin. It's 6 vs 6 multiplayer RTS with a space western theme to it. Your avatar is the commander which you'll have unlocks as you progress through multiplayer games. Think Battlefield 3 unlocks but in RTS. It's due out in Q3 2012. Video interview and alpha footage below...

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Community Video 3 - You Can Suppress Aliens In This Game

A new community video out on XCOM: Enemy Unknown. The Firaxis take on the classic turn based tactical game. Casey O'Toole talks about what they've done to the tactical portion of the game. He details suppression and how it works. The game is still turn based, and suppression will not do any damage(other than messing up the props) to the aliens. It's being developed using the Unreal Engine 3 for consoles and PC. Personally I cant wait to see what Firaxis has in store for this game. They are a good bunch of developers. This might not be exactly X-COM, but it might still turn out to be a kick ass strategy game. Video below...

Gratuitous Tank Battles Out Now - Launch Trailer

Positech Games latest game, Gratuitous Tank Battles is now available on Steam, Gamersgate and Positech's official site. The game is priced quite different on the different sites. On Steam it is going for USD$19.99 but currently has a 10% discount. On Gamersgate it's USD$20.66 but has a 50% discount. On the Positech site it's being sold at USD$22.95 with 50% off for a second copy. The game is a unique spin on tower defence and well... tower attack. Like Gratuitous Space Battles, it features a mad variety of unit customisation and a level designer that allows you to share your created levels with others. Plus it has tanks! Cliffski has released a launch trailer. Watch it below...

World of Warplanes Ground-Attack Planes Trailer - Daka Daka Daka!

World of Warplanes is not all about aerial combat you know... there air to ground attacks as well. The ground-attack planes are the heavy hitters that go for ground targets to make it safe for the dogfighters in the sky to blow each other up to bits. The most well known ground-attack/dive bomber during world war II has to be the Stuka or Junker JU 87. Check out the trailer below...

Epic Games Details Unreal Engine 4 - No Samaritan, Armoured Demon Shows The Power Of Unreal 4

Tim Sweeney from Epic Games talked at length to Wired about the next gen Unreal Engine 4. Epic Games, the studio well known for the Unreal Engine and the Unreal games have been teasing the power of their engine(with the Samaritan demo) of late and has finally spilled the beans on Unreal 4. Apparently it's already done and ready right now! Epic showed off a new demo reel of the Unreal Engine 4 featuring an armoured demon on a volcanic fortress. Lots of fancy lighting and particles effects from the volcano. Epic senior technical artist, Alan Willard, then took control in a first person perspective camera and moved around. Cliff Blezinski from Epic Games stated that the next gen graphics engine has to be on par with Avatar(the CG movie from James Cameron). Wired talked about the lens flare, bokeh distortion, lava flow, environmental destruction, and detailed landscapes miles away which they say was "breathtakingly photo-realistic—or would be if demon knights were, you know, a real thing". Epic Games revealed that Unreal Engine 4 will début to the public at E3 this coming June. Cant wait to see it! I've posted some Unreal 4 screenshots below...

Star Wars The Old Republic Weekend Pass Free Trial Starts Tomorrow

If you haven't had a chance to try out Bioware's Star Wars The Old Republic, you'll be happy to learn that Bioware will be opening the game up for a free trial tomorrow(1 PM) till Sunday May 20th(it probably ends a little later than that for us in South East Asia). This free trial doesn't require an invite... all you need is to go to the official Star Wars The Old Republic Weekend Pass page and click join now! Take note that this is not exactly a free weekend. More like a glorified demo that will restrict your character to level 15 max with some other limitations. I've listed the restrictions and limits below:

From Noob To Pro: DOTA 2 Introduction - I Will No Longer Be A Feeder!

By no means am I an expert on DoTA or any of the MOBA genre games. While I might be a huge strategy game fan, MOBA games tend to infuriate me. I tend to overextend myself too often and get labelled a 'feeder', 'noob', or just 'a problem'(things that cannot be printed... or rather posted in this blog). Often, I thought that games such as DoTA required less micro since the focus is on one hero rather than an army of tiny footsoldiers like an RTS. Not quite... in this new series, From Noob To Pro, I'll be taking you through my trials and tribulations. Learning a game to become decent in it. Perhaps... there'll be cake at the end of it.

Sins of A Solar Empire: Rebellion Releasing June 13 - Vasari Added In The Closed Beta

The epic 4X RTS space war, Sins of A Solar Empire: Rebellion now has a solid release date... June 13, a mere three weeks away. Rebellion, which is a standalone game adds Titan class mega ships, smaller corvette's that buzz about like fighters and splits all the three factions to loyalists and rebels(which have further differences amongst them). The game now is so diverse in terms of strategy and play style that it offers undeniably immense replay value(what with multiplayer with your friends). Currently all that have pre ordered the game have access to the closed beta. Good news is... they've just updated the game, Beta 3 has the Vasari alien faction added! Check out Beta 3 preview video below...

EA's Game Changing Features For FIFA 13 - Yeah There Is An Upcoming FIFA Game... Shocks!

It feels like FIFA 12 was released just yesterday... and EA are already talking up the next instalment, FIFA 13. Due out Fall of 2012, FIFA 13 introduces the second generation of the Player Impact Engine which brings the physical aspect of the beautiful game, into the game. Complete Dribbling is claimed to make the act of dribbling a lot more precise( I think I've heard similar claims for PES 2013). The press release talks about better AI, better control of the ball, better and improved online modes... they all sound about the same as the previous FIFA game. I must say, do all of them use the same press release that they just recycle for every new game. Make no mistake, FIFA is pretty damn awesome... ah sports games and their annual releases. Press release after the jump...

Rumour: EA To Offer Battlefield Premium Service

New rumours abound on EA's plan for Battlefield 3. Battlefieldo.com claims they have info from a reliable source that EA will be unveiling a plan for a premium content service for Battlefield 3. They even say it's going to be called Battlefield Premium. EA are purportedly planning to reveal this new service at E3 2012 happening early June this year. This is sort of similar to the Call of Duty Elite service Activision has been hawking out to console gamers. DICE has always maintained that stat tracking and all that jazz would be free for Battlefield 3 on Battlelog for everyone, so this rumour sort of goes against their own marketing campaign prior to the launch of the game. Perhaps it is for early exclusive access to DLC's(which is likely, I don't think DICE would agree to locking content out to all their fans). A rumour with and unverifiable source is still just a rumour so I'm not putting much weight on it. We shall see.

Source: PC Gamer

Why I'm Not Buying Yet Another Blizzard Game - No Diablo III For Me

Back when StarCraft II was released, as a huge strategy game fan, I made it quite clear why I was not going to get StarCraft II in this post. I'm not going to repeat myself much here. Diablo III I'm pretty sure is an excellent game(as was StarCraft II) but priced at RM218(at average) in Malaysia, makes it roughly at USD$70. The game goes for USD$60 in North America. This makes our region... yet again... one of the most expensive retail price for Blizzard games. Asiasoft, the new distributor for Blizzard games in this region is no better than IAH Games who used setting up network infrastructure and back end for the excuse of pricing StarCraft II at a much higher price.

According to this blog post on NGNT, a Singapore retailer, QiSahn.com, has even been blacklisted by Asiasoft for trying to sell Diablo III at SG$65.90.... lower than the suggested retail price... go figure! This issue has since been settled and Qisahn has said it was due to 'miscommunication'. Diablo III is going for SG$89 on Battle.net which is still USD$70 when converted. Which means, just like StarCraft II, I wont be playing Diablo III. Out of principle, Malaysian Gamer will not be buying or reviewing Diablo III but we will cover whatever news related to Diablo III due to community interests. If you plan on buying Diablo III, I would suggest you seek out cheaper retail avenues than to pay the exorbitant price the South East Asian distributors are forcing on consumers. I'll just wait for Torchlight II.

Tomb Raider Delayed To 2013 - Lara Croft Needs More Time

Crystal Dynamics Studio Head, Darrell Gallagher announced on the Tomb Raider forums that the prequel/re imagining of Tomb Raider will not be released on the original Fall 2012 release date. It is now set for a 2013 release. "We’re doing things that are completely new to Tomb Raider in this game and the additional development time will allow us to put the finishing touches into the game and polish it to a level that you deserve," he said. Tomb Raider sees a young Lara Croft shipwrecked on a mysterious island with homicidal inhabitants and shift to a more survival theme. It the origin story of sorts for Lara Croft. There's that E3 demo they did last year which shows the direction they are going for this new game. We've been getting quite a few news of game delays recently. I hope this is the last of it.

Source: Tomb Raider Forums

What Is Diablo III? Blizzard Answers With This Video

If you are one of the scores of people totally psyched for the release of Diablo III tomorrow, you probably already know what Diablo III is all about. Either way, Blizzard is not letting that question go unanswered. They have released an introduction trailer showing just what Diablo III is. Hell breaks free and is poised to ruin everyone's day... yet again. It has begun!... Video below...

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Mods That You Should Install

Nearly five months have passed since the release of The Elderscrolls V: Skyrim. It's been a phenomenon, clearly topping the best seller charts for months on end. Despite being a gigantic game, Skyrim has since got a lot bigger and better thanks to the gigantic amount of user made content. Thanks to the use of the Steam Workshop, it's never been easier to download and install mods for Skyrim. I've been scouring the list of available mods for a while now and I've compiled the six that have caught my eye below...

MechWarrior Online Trailer & Video Blow-out! - MECHS! ARE...COOL

Perhaps you may not know much about this MechWarrior game. Everything has been rather quite on the Clan Nova Cat front(that's a MechWarrior clan house, a faction in the lore). There's been an explosion of PPC I mean trailers and video for MechWarrior Online. I've posted a new teaser trailer and IGN video previews. Four of them go through the assault mechs, the heavy mechs medium and light mechs. MechWarrior Online is developed using CryEngine 3 and will be out this summer. Check out the videos below...