Pitchers and Catchers and Gamers

Written by Jimmy Donofrio

With the Super Bowl firmly behind us (though dreams of hellscapes filled with Black Eyed Peas music still haunt me at night), it’s time to finally turn all of our sports-related attention towards baseball. Spring Training is fast approaching, which also means the latest offerings from 2K Sports and Sony Entertainment are stepping into the batter’s box to once again vie (probably not on the same competitive playing field) for our money.

MLB 2K11 has released its second developer’s diary, dedicated to a side-by-side comparison of graphics of this year’s entry to 2K10. The results are clear: player models (at least on these specific players), uniforms (at least with these specific teams), and stadium lighting (at least at AT&T Park) have all been improved.

What should concern Xbox baseball enthusiasts is the return of the not-so-jumbo jumbotron. Sony to the rescue! PlayStation.Blog posted the updates to MLB 11: The Show’s stadium realism and ambiance yesterday, and they're pretty fantastic. The Show will boast stadium-specific jumbotrons, out-of-town scoreboards, dynamic weather, and fan interaction (including cowbells and rally towels!). Could be another long season of 2Kers looking up from the bottom of the division.

REVIEW: Dead Space 2

In 2008, Dead Space was released to great critical and commercial success. The seamless blend of survival-horror, action, and cinematic beauty offered an experience that many games before it attempted to create, and many after attempted to emulate. Fast forward to 2011, and the release of the long awaited Dead Space 2. Eager to prove the series has staying power, does Dead Space 2 hit its Marker, or will it be torn apart by its inner demons?

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The Darkness II is Coming, Jackie

God damn, all these years later and I still can't get the God Mike Patton's rendition of the Darkness out of my head. Aside from the amazing vocals of Mr. Bungle, The Darkness was actually a solid game. 

That's why it's such a pleasant surprise to hear, seemingly out of no where, that The Darkness II is on it's way. Shadow abilities, twisted storylines and visuals, all that good shit. Jackie and friend are sure to have learned some new tricks, like fucking quad-wielding weapons. Holy shit, that's a game changer. Rogues, berserkers, and Chow Yun Fat can suck it with their lame-ass ambidexterity.

No word yet on whether or not Mike Patton will be reprising his role as the Darkness, but he damn well better. We've shot a missive to the proper folks and hope for a reply soon. Until then, embrace The Darkness, and enjoy the following screenshot. Singular screen, quadruple arms. 

Hard Metal Meets Cold Steel in Hunted: The Demon's Forge

Did you ever wonder what a dungeon crawler mixed with a third person shooter and the essence of heavy metal would look like? Me neither. Thankfully, inXile Entertainment and Bethesda Softworks has tackled the unthought notion, and the answer to the question is a resounding "awesome".

Hunted: The Demon's Forge looks to borrow heavily from Gears of War's play mechanic at its face, but it places an emphasis on co-op play. Control the burly Caddoc to slice and dice all sorts of nasties, and have your friend play the svelte E’lara for more of a spell-weaving, arrow-shooting experience. It's like two games in one! But wait, there's more! She casts magic, he follows up with hard slashes, creating a level of dynamic dual techniques between the two. Rad.

Are you a total hermit with no friends and no connection to the interwebz? No problem ya bum, pick your favorite of the two and let the AI control the other, but feel free to switch between the either of the mercenary alliance at any time! Methinks Hunted: The Demon's Forge is on the right track. Confirmation will come on the stateside release date of June 1 for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. Now, back to headbanging. 

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Makes Death at Mach 1 Look Good

I've always been a sucker for the Ace Combat series. Something about majestic metal birds soaring above the clouds at 1195 kilometers per hour, shredding the bloody hell out of each other with various high tech armaments floats my sails, man.

Though the story is never very riveting, the franchise has dog fighting down to an arcade art form, and that fact is just grossly exaggerated in this Ace Combat: Assault Horizon trailer, which focuses on close range combat. Laying back and locking on is a bore. Why let the missiles do all the work? Wouldn't you rather put your nosecone up a fighter's afterburner and pump the damn thing full of 30mm depleted uranium armor-piercing shells at a cool 3,900 rounds per minute? Of course you would.

Buildings taking damage from errant missiles, damaged aircraft splintering to oblivion as your vulcan viciously rips their fuselage apart, close calls, and the camera work! Whew, I'm feeling faint. No release date yet, but you can expect Namco Bandai's high-flying adrenaline rush sometime in 2011.

via VG247

Galactus Celebrates his Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Reveal with 185 Hits

Galactus is a busy man. When he's not eating planets, or being a douchebag, he makes appearances frustrating the shit out of gamers, most recently in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. 

He appears, talks a whole lot of mess, creates Cosmic infused clones of Marvel and Capcom villains, then takes off, presumably to feed his cat. After you're done with the clones, who happen to have the ability to consistently double team you, Galactus returns and casually laces you with 185 hits of finger lasers, before he hammer-fists, and subsequently KOs the Earth. Good times!

The encounter looks like a stressful affair for sure, but taking on Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison at 8 stars was no cakewalk either. Totally ready for Galactus and his cheap tactics.

Kaiyodo's Revoltech Figure Line Flirting with Samus

I try to squeeze in some talk about Kaiyodo's Revoltech figures whenever I can. The line outputs awesome, high quality, inexpensive, insanely articulated figures that wont make you feel like a complete lame for blowing your cash wad on a toy.

A few weeks ago, pictures of a protoype Jehuty from Zone of the Enders was leaked. Hot damn, Revoltech getting it on with video games? Too good to be true, right? Apparently not, as the silhouette teasing an upcoming figure uncannily resembles Metroid's Samus Aran. Of course this is pure rumor, as that chalk outline with the words "Revoltech 2011 Lineup" emblazoned in Japanese is all we got to work with but come on, did you see the header image? 

This could be the start of something big; Samus, Jehuty, and even Iron Man Mark VI. If Kaiyodo cotinues to use the Revoltech brand to release US comic and gaming characters, their market could balloon in the west.

My Figure Collection via Tomopop

Anarchy Reigns Rains Teasers

Platinum Games and Sega have formed a formidable little alliance between themselves, releasing quality games like Mad World, Bayonetta, and Vanquish. Their latest, Anarchy Reigns, is more of the same; unique style and furious action. The two are taking this title into unfamiliar, yet almost mandatory territory, multiplayer story. Sorry, I just wanted to rhyme all that. Sounded awesome, didn't it? Say it again. Louder!

We've yet to see any of the multiplayer in action, but what we've seen of the game in motion thus far ooks promising. Announced late last week, Sega has already hit us with a total of 5 teasers; one overview, and four detailing each of the flavorful cast of characters that you'll be putting the beats on suckas with. For your convenience, I present you the character teasers bundled up into one explosive video.

Hope you enjoy chainsaws, jet hammers, katanas, and big ol' butts. 

Dragon Age II Demo Hawkes Your Platform of Choice on Feb. 22

Earlier this week, there was some back and forth on the status of a Dragon Age II demo. It's happening, no it's not, it is but only for PC, yadda yadda yadda. Well screw all that noise, the final word from BioWare is that a demo will be available on the big three of PS3, X360, and PC. Holla!

The demo will allow you to choose from three different character classes and split skulls through the game's prologue. Your mini-adventure will wrap up Kirkwall, a place of some importance, where you befriend one of your possible romantic interests. Don't get it twisted, you will only befriend, if you want sexy time you're going to have to buy the full version of the game, pervert.

At the completion of the demo, you'll unlock a special weapon, Hayder's Razor, which will give you all kind of awesome stat buffs in the full release of Dragon Age II, which drops on March 8.

Ready your EA account logins, y'all. 

Ridge Racer Unbounded Burns Out

As a PlayStation launch title, the original Ridge Racer was not only a technical and visual marvel, it was awesome fun. The series has been pretty hit-or-miss since then, with the only truly fond memories I have of the franchise after the first entry being the surprisingly good Ridge Racer Type 4.

Fast forward to today, where it's been announced that Ridge Racer is making a comeback and is apparently pissed off. Why else would Reiko, the adorable face of the series, plow through two cars and one brick wall on the way to destroying a city block?

Ridge Racer Unbounded, targeted for release way off in 2012, seems to be taking the franchise down the aggressive, reckless racing path that seems to be fairly popular these days. I've always been a fan of the Burnout series, so if Ridge Racer Unbounded can capture that type of enjoyable destruction and put a unique twist on it, this might be a title to watch.