Yakuza 4 Demo Heats Up PlayStation Plus Feb. 15

In the most unlikely scenario that you have PlayStation Plus AND you won't be spending all your free time playing Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, you'll be pleased to know that a demo of Yakuza 4 will be available for your consumption on February 15. If you are not a member of PlayStation Plus, you'll have to wait until February 22 to get your fix of the Japanese underworld.

Yakuza 4 hits retail on March 15.

Report: Halo: Combat Evolved HD Remake A High Probability

Remember all that talk a few months ago about a Halo: Combat Evolved HD remake? The probability of that actually happening has risen tenfold. 

Bear in mind this is still a rumor, but it's one with legs. Joystiq has sources, you see, and those sources seem confident that this Halo HD thing is going down. Under development in *shudder* New Jersey by TimeShift devs Saber Interactive, it's being said Halo: Combat Evolved HD will NOT run on the Halo: Reach engine. Word is it will support 1080p and 3D. More than just a bump in resolution, 343 Industries and Saber Intereactive are said to be reworking this bitch from the ground up. 

Multiplayer is still being ironed out, but word is Halo HD will likely feature online co-op. Whether it's for two or four players, who knows. The original Halo: Combat Evolved supported two player split screen, but hopefully the remake will expand on that. All I want is a matchmaking playlist where I can Hang 'Em High, baby. 

Targeted day of release is reportedly November 15th, 2011. Get this, not only is 11/15/11 Halo: Combat Evolved's 10 year anniversary, it's a Tuesday, aka the day when most newly released media ships and hits store shelves. That's an encouraging sign. For the sake of all Xbox gamers, I really hope this happens. Don't fuck this one up, New Jersey!

In Deus Ex: Human Revolution, You Are Adam Jensen

Who is Adam Jensen? He's an attractive cybernetically enhanced man who enjoys arm blades, gunplay, hacking, and stealth tactics. When he's not busy breaking into the high security Sarif skyscraper headquarters, he models and takes part in cybernetic fashion shows. 

Indeed, Adam Jensen is a man's man and a cyborg's cyborg. And for all his artificial enchancements, there's one place that's never quite needed any enhancing, if you catch my drift, ladies. 

Interested in learning more about Adam? Here's his bachelor video log, courtest of Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Upon Further Inspection, Dark Souls is Demon's Souls

Yesterday's Dark Souls information-blitz was a short lived bit of fun, because now we've got screenshots and a big, beautiful trailer. Who needs information when we have pics and flicks! 

By looking at the aforementioned media, it's quite easy to see that Dark Souls is Demon's Souls, basically. And, call me a masochist, but I could not be any more excited. 

Dark Souls Screenshot Gallery

Mutilate Beasties with Your Facebook Friends in Dragon Age Legends

Like it or not, Facebook is a viable gaming platform, at least for casual, social games. Don't believe it? Dragon Age Legends, the latest series tie in, is a Facebook game, and it's getting a closed beta. Closed beta for a Facebook game? You bet your Qunari ass.

If you want in on the beta, sign up here. Deep character customization and co-op play sound like good reason to break out the EA account login, no? Additionally, closed beta participants will receive Death’s Hand Armor, inspired by Jade Empire, for their hero once Dragon Age Legends enters open beta. 

If you plan on laying fools out with Hawke in Dragon Age II, it may behoove you to give Legends a shot, as up to five exclusive DA2 items will only be available to players of Dragon Age Legends. Players who purchase and log in to Dragon Age II by March 15th will also receive a special BioWare Signature pack the next time they log in to Dragon Age Legends. This includes Hawke as a companion character, amongst other in-game goodies.

Dragon Age Legends Screenshot Gallery

Demon's Souls Successor Project Dark Becomes Dark Souls

Demon's Souls is an incredibly challenging role playing game which released in late 2009 exclusively on PlayStation 3. While it never became a household name, Demon's Souls has a pretty large and extremely dedicated cult following who still play the game to this day, because it's fun to get the shit kicked out of you and lose all your 'souls'.

Well, not too long ago, a spiritual successor to Demon's Souls was announced. Developers From Software didn't release many details aside from the working title, Project Dark. As of today, we can begin filling in some of the details we never received.

The project is now rightfully named Dark Souls. It will maintain the level of frustratingly delicious difficulty its predecessor had. The premise of the game remains, though the story and the world have no tie in with Demon's Souls. Instead of being broken up into different areas -- which required zoning and a nice, long load time -- the world will be one, big, open playground of the dead.

Character creation is intact, however choosing a job when creating your character doesn't make the jump. No big loss there, the job system didn't seem to make much sense to me anyway. As with most sequels, the selection of weapons, armor, and magic skills will be expanded. I expect all good treasure to be almost impossible to acquire, in classic Demon's Souls fashion.

The online aspect of Demon's Souls will carry over, though in what capacity has yet to be finalized. You will still be able to leave notes to warn future adventurers of forthcoming dangers. However no mention was made of player summoning or PvP world invasion. Also it seems like the world tendency changes have been scrapped.

Dark Souls is slated to release later this year, as a PS3 exclusive in Japan, and for both PS3 and Xbox 360 in the west. 360 owners can thank Namco Bandai for finally being able to get in on the anger-inducing fun.

via Siliconera

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Gives You Voice Options

One of the under-appreciated, but incredibly freaking awesome features of Street Fighter IV was the ability to not only toggle voice tracks from English to Japanese, but to choose which characters you wanted to adjust. Capcom knows what we like, and that's why they're bringing this feature over to Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Sort of. 

While you'll be able to choose which of Capcom's brawlers you want to sound like goof balls in English, and which you want to sound much cooler in Japanese, Marvel's fighters don't appear to have that option. Understandable perhaps, but I would find much twisted pleasure in hearing Captain America scream out his Stars & Stripes in perfect Japanese. 

Oh well. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, it's going to be nice to hear at least some Japanese amidst six fighters beating the X out of each other.

El Shaddai US & European Release Dates Due "Shortly"

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is a visually striking action-adventure title telling the religion-twisting tale of Enoch and friends. One of those friends is a guy named Lucifel (yes, they mean Lucifer), who will apparently be voiced by Jason Isaacs. How does this guy get all these devilish roles? 

Development on El Shaddai has completed, descending on Japanese turf on April 28th of this year. North American and European release dates "will be announced shortly." At one point, I was convinced El Shaddai was not coming to our shores. Luckily, the publishers know a game that looks this fresh will be well received here. I'm looking at you, Mistwalker and Nintendo!

Ignition Entertainment -- sacrilegious developers of this sweet, sweet looking title -- plan on exploring and announcing strategic marketing partnerships as they come along, and this time they won't be limited to Japan. Didn't you hear about the "Enoch" and "Lucifel" styled jeans that sold out online in three minutes? Sorry, must have been too busy to write about that one. At any rate, we need some new jeans up in here! 

None of Marvel vs. Capcom 3's Secrets are Safe!

Update: Videos have been taken down by Capcom. Here's a picture of Galactus being a douche bag instead. Less than two weeks until release, suck it up!

Another day, more leaked Marvel vs. Capcom 3 information. Up today are the full intro cinematic and spoilerrific boss battle. If you plan on being surprised at MvC3's final battle, avoid at all costs. Though I'm sure that if you keep up gaming news on the interwebz, this won't be much of a surprise.

The boss battle can be found here. Do not click if you hate spoilers. This is your final warning.

Beyond Black Mesa Makes its Gritty Debut

Half Life 2 fan film Beyond Black Mesa is finally available in full to be watched online, so do it now. Fans of the Half Life universe, fan films, and independent productions alike can agree that this is awesome. 

Shot with little more than one camera and a budget just over a grand, Beyond Black Mesa is a testament to what a bunch of talented fans can do. A few high-budget studios who have dabbled or are looking to dabble in game-to-film crossovers have some 'splaining to do!

If you're interested in learning more about the film, visit the website. Make sure you give yourself 12 minutes to watch the movie in full beforehand though, definitely well worth it.