Last week I discussed my feelings about downloadable content which is one of two things that have drastically risen in the last few years to become a common site in the video games industry. Today I want to take a look at the second which are Special Edition releases. Before I actually get to the different pieces that are actually packaged within, I’d like to share what I think should be the definition of various special editions because I’ve seen several different variations in my time. Obviously these are the Special Edition, Collector’s Edition, and Limited Edition. I know that for many people there really is no difference, but I disagree. Read More...

Jean Grey is a great many things. She is one of the original five X-men. She’s a mutant possessing Omega-level psychic abilities. She’s contains the power of the Phoenix Force within her. She’s smoking hot and she’s dead. Being one of the original X-men, Jean went along with the team to Krakoa, the Living Island. When they were captured, Professor Xavier put together a second team comprised of mutants from across the world to rescue his students. Following their return from Krakoa, Jean left the team for a time. Read More...

I guess when you’re a hot shot like Johnny Storm, pyrokinesis seems a little on the nose. But when you’re dealing with cosmic radiation, sometimes you just have to play with the cards you’re dealt with. At the age of 16, Johnny went along with his sister Susan as a member of the crew for Reed Richards’ experimental interstellar ship. Of course the ship was bombarded by cosmic radiation which altered the genetics of the four people inside. As a direct result, Johnny developed the ability to ignite himself and generate fire. Read More...

Today is the 20th Anniversary of the launch of the Sega Genesis (Mega Drive) here in North America. I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of articles on the birth and rise of the Genesis, its bitter fight against Nintendo and the eventual downfall with the addition of the Sega CD and the 32X. Most of them are tongue-in-cheek, which is unfortunate. Here is a humble recollection of a console that I never owned until recently. After my parents bought me an Atari 2600 when I was born, the next console I got was the PlayStation 2 I bought myself just after college. Read More...

Normally when I write a new installment for this series I tend to focus on a specific video game that I would like to see come to fruition. For the next two weeks though I’ve decided to change it up a little and discuss more general subjects. This week I’d like to discuss downloadable content with next week shifting focus to collector’s edition. Both are areas of video gaming that have become staples over the last few years and both have given us distinctive examples of what works and what doesn’t work. We’ve seen so many DLC packs and limited edition releases that I think you could create a perfect stencil that every developer and every publisher should follow because it would deliver the best extension of a game every time. Read More...

Lead Designer at Raven Software Offers To Pay For Wolfenstein In a stroke of what could be seen as marketing genius, or insane offerings by an over worked designer, the offer has been thrown out to get your copy of Wolfenstein paid for. All offered by the game's Lead Designer, Manveer Heir, over his Twitter account in the early hours of the morning on the 11th of August. There are a few catches that go along with this, but he swears he will pay for your copy if all the requirements are met. What would those requirements be? Read More...

Dante's Inferno: Gluttony Developer's Diary Continuing down the path of Hell from Lust, Visceral Games keeps with their fun and dark developer's diaries. This time they cover the third level, Gluttony. A level that should be as gruesome as the scene from Se7en and starts to look that way with some of the concepts they show in the video. One thing that kind of bothers me though is the fact that they talk a lot about defecation, feces, and poop in the video. A lot. Read More...

Continuing to add to the exclusivity of its new DJ Hero franchise, Activision today announced that The Scratch Perverts and DJ Yoda created exclusive mixes for the upcoming release. I think this new release of information shows us two things: Activision wants the fans to know that they are really putting it all into this title and they are also shrewdly telling any competition that may spring up, "Yeah, don't bother, we got this." Not exactly a bold move on the large corporation's part and it's hardly a new concept. Create barriers to entry for your competition even before it exists by firmly planting in the consumers' minds that you are "the one and best. Read More...

Three Incredible Capcom® Hits For The XBox 360® In The Affordable Platinum Hits Triple Pack Looking for a great deal on some great games that you may have just rented or borrowed from a friend in the past? Like a really great deal. We're talking three AAA XBox titles for less than the cost of a Wii title. $39.99 for three XBox games. Read More...

I guess when you grow up living a hard life it’s easy for a good person to turn bad. Throw in hanging out with the wrong crowds and the decision pretty much makes itself. With her mother being imprisoned for a robbery attempt and her father a drunk, Melissa Gold ran away from home at an early age. Living on the streets, she developed a “harder” personality she named Mimi. As Mimi, she was taken in by a group of female wrestlers known as The Grapplers. Read More...

From the articles I have written or hearing me on the Aggrocast, you probably know I'm excited for a little title called Darkest of Days. Well today independent game developer, 8monkey Labs, and Phantom EFX, a leading developer and publisher of entertainment software, has announced today that on August 11th 2009 a demo of Darkest of Days will be available on the PC. Aaron Schurman, Chief Executive Officer at Phantom EFX had this to say: "Custer's infamous last stand at the Battle of Little Big Horn, and the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American history… these are just a few of humanity’s darkest days, and you can dive into both of these in the Darkest of Days demo. This hour-long demo lets players experience unrivaled carnage and to experience what it’s like to use futuristic weapons in period settings and see what happens when you alter history while fighting against hundreds of enemies during some of man's greatest struggles in History! Read More...

World of Warcraft: Oh how you can send a community into a frenzy just by leaking a tiny bit of information. WoW.com is reporting that, through multiple sources, they have discovered the name of the new World of Warcraft expansion as well as the new races that will be populating Azeroth. This new data leak comes two weeks before Blizzcon. Where I am sure they were going to announce something along these lines. The new expansion name will be called World of Warcraft: Cataclysm and the two new races will be Worgen for Alliance and Goblins for Horde. Read More...

I have to be honest, I haven’t heard a single positive thing about the tie-in game to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen save for the fact that it has multiplayer. Beyond that though, I can’t really say that I’m enticed to drop $60.00 to buy this game. However if you’re one of those die-hard fans that actually went out and bought the game, well at least you have a bunch of new goodies that are on the way. Activision and ROTF developers Luxoflux have been working hard to prepare a fairly sizeable amount of downloadable content. As I mentioned, multiplayer is probably the only thing that has me even remotely interested in ROTF so it’s nice to see that a lot of the downloadable content is targeted on bolstering that part of the game. Read More...

In the past I’ve talked about some of the things that are universally cool. Things like ninjas, kung fu billionaires, the zombie apocalypse. Now I come to another one of these staples and that is a heist. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a law-abiding citizen and I believe that people are innately good and only a very small percentage of human beings are legitimate criminals. However having said that, no matter how much I would never go along with it in real life, I have to admit that part of me would be excited to be a part of a crew that takes down scores. And with so many movies that has successfully portrayed this kind of thing, Heat, Ocean’s Eleven, Public Enemies, etc. Read More...

Finally some closure. After a very long and grueling process, Activision and Double Fine Studios have come to some even ground and we do not have to worry about Brütal Legend being delayed in all it's rocking glory. According to the Associated Press and the New York Times, the Lawyers for Activision told court officials that they had finally come to a settlement with Double Fine Studios on Wednesday. For a brief recap see my previous article Activision tells EA to Back off The Los Angeles Superior Court spokeswoman said that Activision settled with Double Fine and a hearing, that was supposed to occur this fine Thursday morning, was canceled. What was heard last week was that the Superior Court Judge Craig Karlan had told Activision's lawyers that the request was probably going to get denied and the game was going to get released on time anyways. Read More...