After more delays than most fans would care to count, Gran Turismo 5 now finally has a new official release date. Polyphony Digital have confirmed the PS3 exclusive will be released on November 24, 2010 in both the United States and Europe.
The release line up this week is dominated by what is likely to be one of the best selling games of the year. But other than Black Ops there are a couple of smaller titles worth looking at. The Fight: Lights Out is the latest MOVE compatible release, and the up-dated PS2 games in The Sly Collection still play well. There is only one Playstation Network game out for PS3 this week, which is Crescent Pale Mist.
Beginning November 16th, Best Buy will be offering 3D dunking and dribbling to adopters of 2K’s NBA 2K11. The 3D enhancements will be exclusive to Best Buy and the Playstation 3, and will come in the form of a DLC voucher. If you already own the game, it will be possible to score a free download of the DLC from the Playstation Network in January 2011, but who wants to wait?
Bethesda, the publisher behind Fallout: New Vegas, have announced they will be releasing what they have described as a “Comprehensive” update to fix a number of the problems with the game. Many gamers have been left disappointed by what was expected to be a solid sequel to the hugely popular Fallout 3 as a number of significant bugs and glitches have plagued the game. The patch will be available for all three versions; PC, PS3 and Xbox 360,
If voice actor David Bateson’s confirmation of a new Hitman game was not enough to convince you that a new entry in IO Interactive’s stealthy assassination series was on the way, take heart. A fifth entry in the franchise is looking increasingly likely thanks to a few postings made recently on LinkedIn. IO employees Theo Engell-Nielsen, Rasmus Hoejengaard, and Damien Simper have all updated their resumes on LinkedIn to include Hitman 5, some of them even going as far as to list a 2011 release date for the game. With all of these people coming out of the woodwork claiming to have worked on the game, a public reveal for Hitman 5 seems all but inevitable. Maybe IO should change the focus of the next game, because this Hitman’s approach has been anything but stealthy.
I went into Hoard with almost no expectations. Other than one vague press release a made public around a week ago, I knew virtually nothing about the game. Still, the game’s description on the PSN promised much castle burning and villager scaring, which was enough for me to justify throwing down fifteen bones without a second thought. Sadly, Hoard never quite lives up to my wondrous visions of flames and chaos.
Although Hoard is technically a dual joystick shooter in the vein of Super Stardust HD or Everyday Shooter, the focus is less on the shooting (or, since you play a dragon in Hoard, perhaps it is more apt to call it breathing) and more on strategy. Burning buildings, farms, and roaming wagon carts will earn you money, which you can then deliver to your lair for points. You can only carry so much gold, though, so repeated trips to your hoard of gold will be necessary. Occasionally it will also be possible to nab a princess from one of several royal carriages that travel from kingdom to kingdom. Returning the princess to your hoard and subsequently defending her from the knights who will come to rescue her will earn you a large ransom bonus.
In the past, The Sims games were split into two distinct categories. In the first category were the hit PC games, which sold millions of copies and changed the way that people looked at simulation games as a whole. Then there were the console spin-offs, which mostly played like lackluster knockoffs of the real thing. Sure, they were still decent games, but it often felt like EA had to sacrifice some of the depth and flexibility of the PC games for a more “console oriented” approach. This created a large divide between the games, one which EA has finally filled in with the release of The Sims 3 on consoles. This is the closest you’ll get to a pure Sims experience without booting up a computer.
