One of the most awesome first person shooters i played back when i was a kid was Duke Nukem. Duke’s one liners were simply catchy and epic. In 1997 they started working on the new title “Duke Nukem Forever” but over the years they kept on changing the game engine, repeatedly announcing and deferring release dates and simply said after a while that it will be done when it is done.
In 2009 3D Realms was downsized for financial reasons, resulting in the loss of the game’s development team. Statements by the company indicated that the project was due to go gold soon with pictures of final development. Take-Two Interactive, which owns the publishing rights to the game, filed a lawsuit in 2009 against 3D Realms over their failure to finish development. 3D Realms retorted that Take-Two’s legal interest in the game is limited to their publishing right. The case was settled with prejudice and details undisclosed in May, 2010. On 3 September 2010, after 13 years, Duke Nukem Forever was officially reported by 2K Games to be in development at Gearbox Software,with an expected release date of 2011.

Now with the new developers been working on it they released some first hand footage of Duke Nukem Forever at the Firstlook gaming convention in Amsterdam. It looks awesome and this is also by far one of the most anticipated games to be released after Starcraft 2 and Diablo III.

“Hail to the king baby!”

i’ve been anticipating and salivating about the release of starcraft 2 for months now and monday night was finally the time i got my hands on the collectors edition! I pre-ordered the collectors edition a few months ago and paid for it as early as possible to make sure i got a copy. I went to BT Games in Tygervalley who had a midnight launch from 10pm – 1am and got there at 10pm and a queue was already formed. Stood in line for the initial “show your receipt and then they process it and put your copy aside.” My copy was right there but they may only release it at midnight, bastards. so just stood around chatted to some guys until midnight and they started to hand out the orders.

got home just after 1am and unpacked the box and put everything in the box to one side and grabbed the game disc and started installing it. after 2 initial patches had to be updated, i was ready to play! i only managed to play the first mission and decided to go sleep and wakeup earlier than to play all night.

all i can say is, WOW! blizzard are yet to disappoint with ANY of their games. starcraft2 is just awesomely put together and the game play is outstanding. the graphics are superb and the detail is phenomenal.

the storyline is pretty much what you expect from starcraft but it is still very well put together. a few old faces, a few new ones and some interesting new allies and enemies. the gameplay has some sort of variety in the missions and makes you want to see what the next one is like as they are fun and enjoyable to play.

what makes starcraft2 different from the first one is that you can research new technologies from the zerg and protoss for you terran units and buildings, upgrade units and buildings and also hire some mercenaries. you also sometimes have to make decisions which affects your relationship with certain people or allies and enemies. you also have an achievement system where you complete certain scenarios in missions and you get achievement points, just like world of warcraft’s. you don’t get to use those points for anything, it’s more of a “i have more points than you, which makes me cooler than you!”

oh oh oh! and another kickass feature blizzard introduced is the realid which you can now add friends who have battle.net account to your friend list across blizzard gaming platforms. this means that my friends who play world of warcraft can chat/talk to me while i play starcraft! how awesome is that?

i’m not doing a detailed detailed review as i do not want to spoil it for the rest.

if starcraft2 impressed me this much, i do not want to think what diablo III is going to be like!

here is what was all in the collectors edition:

• The Art of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, a 176-page book featuring artwork from the game
• An exclusive 2GB USB flash drive replica of Jim Raynor’s dog tag, which comes preloaded with the original StarCraft and the StarCraft: Brood War(R) expansion set
• A behind-the-scenes DVD containing over an hour of developer interviews, cinematics with director’s commentary, and more
• The official StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty soundtrack CD, containing 14 epic tracks from the game along with exclusive bonus tracks
• StarCraft comic book issue #0, a prequel to the comic series
• A World of Warcraft(R) mini Thor in-game pet that can be applied to all World of Warcraft characters on a single Battle.net account
• Exclusive Battle.net downloadable content, including special portraits for your Battle.net profile, decals to customize your units in-game, and a visually unique version of the terran Thor unit

need to clean my keyboard now.

click on the image to make it bigger (image is 3MB – 5,000px × 2,922px)

it will be downloadable  for Xbox Live Arcade, PSN and PC. no ETA on release.

the playstation blog release this:

So, what can you expect from LittleBigPlanet 2?

First of all, it’s developed by Media Molecule, the extremely talented team that brought you the first game, so you know you’re going to get a special experience. LittleBigPlanet 2 will provide a whole new collection of tools and rules for fans to Play, Create, and Share, including an evolved approach to control and customization that has never been seen before.

LittleBigPlanet has always empowered users to create their own levels by utilizing the same tools as the development team. Now in LittleBigPlanet 2, we’ve upped the ante, giving players the ability to not only make better levels, but completely new games – think top-down racing games, multiplayer shooters, flying side-scrollers, RPGs, etc. The possibilities are really endless.

LBP2 will also have a loads of new features, including revamped graphics, a fresh storyline, added accessories and equipment for Sackboy, and much, much more – trust me I’m only scratching the surface here!

Below is the latest trailer for LBP2 !

i pre ordered the collectors a month back and i cannot wait to pick it up when it arrives! bring on 27 July!

taken directly from blizzard site…

PARIS, France – May 3, 2010 – Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that its highly anticipated real-time strategy game, StarCraft® II: Wings of Liberty, will arrive in stores throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Mexico, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau starting on July 27, 2010. Players will also be able to purchase StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty directly from Blizzard Entertainment shortly after the retail launch.

“We’ve been looking forward to revisiting the StarCraft universe for many years, and we’re excited that the time for that is almost here,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Thanks to our beta testers, we’re making great progress on the final stages of development, and we’ll be ready to welcome players all over the world to StarCraft II and the new Battle.net® in just a few months.”

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the sequel to Blizzard Entertainment’s 1998 hit StarCraft, which has been hailed by players and critics worldwide as one of the top real-time strategy games of all time. Sporting a vibrant 3D-graphics engine, StarCraft II will once again center on the clash between the protoss, terrans, and zerg, with each side deploying legions of veteran, upgraded, and new unit types. Unparalleled online play for StarCraft II will be available through a new version of Battle.net, Blizzard Entertainment’s world-renowned gaming service. Battle.net has been redesigned from the ground up to be the premier online gaming destination for Blizzard gamers, with several enhancements and new features, such as voice communication, cloud file storage, leagues and ladders, achievements, stat-tracking, and more.

The solo campaign for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will continue the epic saga where it left off in StarCraft: Brood War®. The story line chronicles the exploits of marshal-turned-rebel-leader Jim Raynor and features both familiar faces and new heroes. Players will be able to tailor the experience, choosing their own mission path and selecting technology and research upgrades to suit their playing style throughout the 29-mission campaign. Several challenge-mode mini-games will also be included, with focused goals designed to ease players into the basics of multiplayer strategies.

For more information on StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, visit the official website at eu.starcraft2.com. Further details about the game, including the alternative pricing options previously mentioned for certain regions, will be announced in the coming weeks. With multiple games in development, Blizzard Entertainment has numerous positions currently available — visit http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company/careers/ for more information and to learn how to apply.

link from zelda
bill from contra
megaman
samus from metroid
simon from castlevania
mario

The characters all control as they do in their own games!

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