Halo 4 Reveals Multiplayer Map Exile

Honestly, Flagsassination was all I needed to hear. I'm so excited for Halo 4, if it ends up being a clunker I may go into an endless downward spiral of alcohol and chain smoking. Actually, that doesn't sound too bad. 

Preorder Halo 4 Limited Edition (referral)

Yes Super Time Force, Yes

The latest trailer for Super Time Force is part GI Joe, part Ren And Stimpy, and part Adventure Time. No idea what I just watched, but yes to this. Please make it 2013 already, Capy. 

Archos Enters the Game with Android 4.1 Powered GamePad

Uninspired name aside, Archos latest piece of hardware looks like it may be on to something

The Archos brand has been synonymous with hit or miss since the company has been pumping out personal media players for as long as I can remember. Today they've announced the GamePad, a 7-inch Android powered tablet with controls built right into the hardware. Two analog nubs join a directional pad and four face buttons to give a gamer just about every input they need, shoulder buttons possibly included. This could be a very big hit. 

The GamePad is Google certified, running Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean", the latest and greatest in Google's mobile operating system. Archos has developed automatic game recognition and mapping tools, which will allow most advanced Android games to have their controls automatically mapped to the physical input with no fuss. Don't expect PeeMaster 2000 to work with the sleek dual analogs, however Shadowgun should map without issue. With full access to Google Play, you can pick from thousands of titles, any of which will function with their original touch controls should your obscure tastes be too hipster for the device.

Under the hood, GamePad is toting a dual-core 1.5 GHz processor combined with a Mali 400mp quad-core GPU, which means not quite cutting edge but way more than enough to run today's top spec Android games. No word on storage and display specifics yet, but Archos has confirmed that the GamePad will retail for under 150 euros, which is a shade under $200. I expect there to be size options which scale up with price, but more on that as the information becomes available.

As a gaming tablet, this bad boy has a lot going for it. Once you take into account the fact it's fully Google certified - Gmail, Google Play, Maps, Drive - this becomes a tablet that is very hard to turn down, especially at the curiously low sub-$200 sweet spot. Hopefully that doesn't mean skimping on the display and the build quality, something which Archos owners have bemoaned in the past. I'm intrigued, Archos. Please don't disappoint me.

Dust: An Elysian Tail: Mewtroidvania

Anthropomorphism is a topic of complete polarization for me. On one hand, I was raised on the likes of Thundercats, Ducktales, TMNT and the like, enjoying every second of it even to this day. On the other, things like My Little Pony and the bronies it has spawned completely incenses me to the point of maniacal rage. Dust: An Elysian Tail is wearing anthropomorphism proudly, as evidenced by the titles play on words. Part of me thought to completely avoid this, what could have been a total ooze-fest of cutesy drivel targeted toward the young, dumb, and full of.. Fur. My other half can't say no to a hack-and-slash inspired Metroidvania action RPG. So I dove in, and well, surprise surprise.

Click to read more ...

A Visual Overview of Halo 4's Spartan Specializations

Halo 4 is going to be pretty good, innit? It's already all but secured my $100 buy-in for the Limited Edition, which will give me access to all these beautiful Specializations, and give you access to the green eyes of jealously as I thoroughly trounce you. The Specializations are Spartan sub-classes of sorts, allowing the player an extra 10 levels per Spec, which will unlock additional pieces of armor, weapon skins, and perks for use in Halo 4's competitive multiplayer modes, known as War Games, as well as the episodic cooperative mode, Spartan Ops.

Check out the visual rundown of the eight total Specializations below. Of these, only Pioneer and Wetworks will be available at launch - unless you pre-order the Limited Edition, which will unlock all Specs right from the start. Sorry regular edition folk, your no-frills asses will have to wait for 343 Industries to release the 6 Specs that you miss at launch on their own accord. Suckaz.

Which Specialization will you choose? Halo 4 releases on November 4. Pre-order before it's too late, and trust me, it will be too late very soon.

Halo 4 Specializations Gallery view

Routine Takes Gaming to Horrors Apex

I haven't been genuinely frightened of a movie since sometime in the 1980s. I'm not sure if that's because I was an impressionable child, or because the movies were just plain scarier. You ever seen ET? That was a damn horrorfest, and one I hope never to see again. So here's Routine, a first-person horror exploration game set on the desolation of Earth's moon circa 198X. This is already hitting all the right notes.

In what I'd call 2001: A Space Odyssey meets Amnesia: The Dark Descent meets Panos Cosmatos, Routine looks all kinds of awesome with a dash of spook. Horror games have been mostly dead the past decade, so to see this attempt to carry the torch from Amnesia sits well with me, like a stomach full of steak and whiskey. Routine is the first offering from Lunar Software, a 3-person studio based in the UK, and is due in 2013 for both Mac and PC. I sorely miss the days of floppy disks, cross-processed colors, and retro-future technology, so I'm eagerly counting the days until I have them all back in my life.

Dark Sector's Successor is Warframe

Sometime 'round 2008 I invested a few bucks in a rinky dink game called Dark Sector, which looked right up my alley. I thought it would be a nice albeit typical trounce around the third-person shooter genre. I was not prepared for how awesome the game truly was, in just about every aspect. A gritty narrative worthy of a Baldacci novel, coupled with smooth action unique to the genre, and graphics that were ahead of the curve made for an enthralling and unexpected experience. Damn near four years later and Dark Sector developer Digital Extremes have since kept themselves busy by creating well received titles such as Homefront and The Darkness II, with nary a peep from their surprise hit. Peep. Dark Sector is back, however in a relatively changed manner.

Warframe is a free-to-play PvE shooter not unlike its progenitor, aside from the F2P and unending Horde mode bits. Digital Extremes haven't revealed much just yet, but here's a kicking trailer which puts on display some of the Tennos' abilities. By the way, Dark Sector's protagonist was named Hayden Tenno, just saying. The Tennos can perform magnificent moves such as teleporting, vanishing, and other things you'd expect of a space ninja. It looks like players will also have the ability to enhance normal actions like running and jumping, all nicely intertwined with gun and swordplay, of course. And the trailer ends with a slowing burst that levitates enemies within a perimeter to be diced to a fine mist, akin to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Yesssss. 

That's really all I got for you right now. We can no doubt expect lots of customizing and micro-transactions to create a more interesting and powerful Tenno. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that DigiEx uses this as a springboard to launch addtional content in this universe. PvP? A full and proper story to fill the gaps between the two games? The return of the glaive?! More info to come as it becomes available. In the meantime, sign up for the Warframe beta to get in on the action.

Steam Expanding to Other Things, Domination to Follow

Steam must play third base, because their corner of the industry is just about the hottest lately. Today, Valve has announced that the upcoming World power will expand beyond games, releasing "Software" titles on the platform as well. Oh snap.

The mysterious "Software" will begin to trickle onto Steam beginning September 5 and will include noted Steamworks features such as easy installation, automatic updating, and the ability to save your work to the Steam cloud.

The base set of Software will range from creativity to productivity applications, with future titles to release via Greenlight, Steam's community powered spam filter, assuring only quality makes it to the store, and subsequently to your library during one of the service's generous sales. 

This is a bold move, but the right one for the bull market minded Valve. I can see drawing and editing programs being a huge success, especially if they are priced right. The market for word processing and data entry is probably a bit (a huge bit) less, but who knows, maybe pricing and features will bring some new customers to the service. With the high-profile troubles of torrent sites in both the near and distant past and future, an aggresively priced, quality crafted application could be the most painless get for bro who was just invited to Demonoid two days before ship sank. Talk about timing, right?

No word on whether or not the Software will support chat and achievements, but I'm you'll know when you get that messge "Your friend is playing Photoshop".

OK Let's GO: Pre-Purchase the Latest Counter-Strike on Steam

I feel like I've already used that "OK Let's GO" bit in a prior article but I don't care - it's a good line. 

Valve has announced today that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is available for pre-purchase on Steam; and doing just that will net you some benefits. For those of you with a weak grip on your grip, CS:GO can be had for 10% less than its normal price: $13.49 as opposed to $14.99. That's $1.50 that you could use on a bag of chips or something. Go on, indulge yourself. 

The additional benefit is early access to the beta on August 14, a full week before the title's proper release, and plenty of time to get your DEagle shined, primed, and aligned for the couple hundred thousand you should expect to face off against in the following months.

As alluded, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive releases on August 21. Good times to follow. 

Deadlight: Wake Up Dead

I am no longer a fan of the zombies, and very rarely do I find myself wanting to play a game that uses the mindless undead as its dominant trait. In an odd turn of events, I felt compelled by new jack developer Tequila Works' initial release, Deadlight. Maybe it's because I've been dying to play a fresh new 2D action platformer for months? Maybe the bits of jumping and climbing punctuated by motion comic interludes worthy of a graphic novel was too much to turn down? Maybe she's born with it? Maybe it's Maybelline. Whatever it could have possibly been, I jumped into the deep, dark, zombie abyss with a 360 controller and high hopes.

Click to read more ...