Our quasi-official statement on the status of our SimCity review:

http://gamingtrend.com/2013/03/07/so-amazon-has-de-listed-simcity/#more-51432

I realize everyone's already played the game by this point (hooray for having to review a copy of the game I paid for!) but my official GT review is up.

http://gamingtrend.com/game_reviews/we-have-to-go-back-tomb-raider-review/#/vanilla/discussion/embed/?vanilla_discussion_id=0

Want to watch a train wreck in action? Ron and I played through a good hour or so of the game, and made various comments as we played.

http://gamingtrend.com/2013/02/18/hit-points-aliens-colonial-marines/

My final review is up: http://gamingtrend.com/game_reviews/its-like-one-of-my-japanese-animes-strike-suit-zero-review/

One look at Far Cry 3 on a PC versus an Xbox is proof enough that we're in dire need for an upgrade.

Thanks for the info, Turtle. I was debating on skipping DS3 but now I'm back on board. I'll be getting it on PC as well, I'd love to play it coop.

What's your origin info? I'm getting it on PC too, and it'd be nice to actually try out co-op without dealing with the plebeians.

My body is ready.

Wait...

No good reason if you have the space on an SD card and a fast enough connection. 

Well that isn't totally true.  The other good reason is for resale.  When I am done I can sell it here or take it to a store and get something for it. 

For portable games (Vita and 3DS) I like to trade the trade-in potential for the convenience of carrying all my games around with me.  Not the same for consoles, because I don't have to carry discs.

This x 1000

From Media Molecule comes another reason to own a Vita: Tearaway. Ron got his hands on a preview at an event in LA, and he seemed to really enjoy it: http://gamingtrend.com/2013/01/31/getting-it-down-on-paper-tearaway-preview/#/vanilla/discussion/embed/?vanilla_discussion_id=0

Ron's at a preview event right now where he just got his hands on it. Sounds awesome: http://gamingtrend.com/2013/01/31/killzone-stub/#/vanilla/discussion/embed/?vanilla_discussion_id=0

We spent a good hour with Chris Taylor from Gas Powered Games on this week's podcast. He helps us weigh in on this week's news, and speaks candidly on the state of GPG, as well as what his Kickstarter Wildman is all about. Check it out, he's an awesomely hilarious guy.

http://gamingtrend.com/2013/01/31/gaming-trend-podcast-01-31-13-the-wildman-himself-chris-taylor/#/vanilla/discussion/embed/?vanilla_discussion_id=0

Edit: A link would probably be nice.

Our very own Travis Northrup reviewed this one, and it just went live:

http://gamingtrend.com/game_reviews/fire-emblem-awakening-review/#/vanilla/discussion/embed/?vanilla_discussion_id=0

Based on this review, I'm personally very excited for it. My birthday can't come soon enough.

Shortly after reaching Al Mamoon you'll be able to take a set of trials that will allow you to start training familiar. You're almost there.

Stoopid forum effect. I picked this up today at a local Target. I tried to get a copy at Gamestop because their website said it was available and even gave me the option to Pickup @ Store. I only live a few minutes away so I drive over and they say they only have copies for pre-orders. I asked: "What if I'd filled out the pickup at store" form? They said sorry, they only have pre-orders in stock. Weird.

That's crap. Pre-orders are only supposed to be held for 48 hours.

I've been playing a copy I'll be reviewing soon, and I've been using the controller... Is it just me, or is the mapping odd? I had to remap the analog sticks to fly the ship with any reasonable ability, and I can barely fly the strike suit at all, no matter how I map the analog sticks. Do I just suck, am I doing something wrong or are the controls weird?

The Strike Suit is too loose...  Your forced to use the auto-target to keep tracking..   If you looked at most of the Dev's videos they use a flight stick and throttle, so I am thinking that's the optimized way to play


Still having fun with this I give this 7 out of 10.  The music which I normally turn off has been surprising good

Yeah, I'm starting to get the hang of it. I'm really digging it, but it can be frustratingly difficult in some parts. Reminds me of Colony Wars mixed with giant robot anime. Which is always a good thing.

Found something I don't like about the game.   The taming mechanics.

I have spent HOURS today trying to tame a Shrimpaler.   I can't get the damned thing to show hearts.    I saw hearts over one when I didn't have room in my party, and since then it's been HOURS since one has offered to let me tame it.   I've been running back and forth continuously fighting them trying to get one.

 

If you tame one when you don't have enough room it just gets sent to the Monster Retreat, you don't miss out on it.

Wow, soundtrack is incredible. Now I wish I bought the Wizard edition, from a third party of course

Wizard Edition's soundtrack "sampler" is two friggin' tracks. You're not missing much there if that's what you were looking for.

Aaaaand the servers are down. Of course when I actually have time to jump on and play.

This may be a stretch, but I had a crazy idea.  What if they.... produce more copies?

*cue Inception horns*

http://gamingtrend.com/2013/01/25/gamestop-halting-growth-for-at-least-two-years/

What do you think? Good riddance? Hooray for digital distribution? End of an era?

I've been playing a copy I'll be reviewing soon, and I've been using the controller... Is it just me, or is the mapping odd? I had to remap the analog sticks to fly the ship with any reasonable ability, and I can barely fly the strike suit at all, no matter how I map the analog sticks. Do I just suck, am I doing something wrong or are the controls weird?

I've now played 8 hours and I have that game itch where I can't wait to get home and play it some more. That to me is the sign of a great game.

It actually reminds me of my child hood when a fantasy story could really suck me into the world, man I wish I could have played this when I was 10 years old.

There really is this charming, magical quality about the entire thing.

This game looks amazing... Has there been any mention of length in the reviews?

IGN says around 40 hours to beat the game, but there's more to do after the credits roll, and it'll take at least 80 hours to get the Platinum trophy.

Btw ->  The pet you have in your avatar is hot garbage according to IGN wiki for this game.  :p

Whatever, he's adorable.

This game looks amazing... Has there been any mention of length in the reviews?

IGN says around 40 hours to beat the game, but there's more to do after the credits roll, and it'll take at least 80 hours to get the Platinum trophy.

Poor Vigil...that's like being the last kid standing after everyone has been picked and the teams are full.     

Darksiders was a decent seller too. If THQ had actually marketed the thing, it would have sold a lot better. Shame Vigil got screwed. I hope they come out of it ok, but it's looking doubtful.

Homefront 2 will use the Crytek engine... ?

That was the plan originally, actually. Crytek was developing that game. Now they own it.

http://gamingtrend.com/2013/01/23/thq-sells-off-assets-as-reported-in-final-letter-to-thq-employees/

Official report out of Kotaku -- in a letter from CEO Jason Rubin to employees -- states that:

The proposed sales of multiple assets is as follows :
Sega agreed to purchase Relic
Koch Media agreed to purchase Volition and Metro
Crytek agreed to purchase Homefront
Take 2 agreed purchase Evolve and
Ubisoft agreed to purchase Montreal and South Park
We expect these sales to close this week.

Some assets, including our publishing businesses and Vigil, along with some other intellectual properties are not included in the sale agreements. They will remain part of the Chapter 11 case. We will make every effort to find appropriate buyers, if possible.

I've been following the sale of THQ's assets on Twitter today, and I don't want to report anything officially (as this is all rumor and hearsay), but I figure I'd open up the discussion here.

Sega is getting Relic, to possibly be merged with Creative Assembly. Sega now has both Warhammer licenses.

Ubisoft to get South Park and THQ Montreal (Patrice Desilet's studio)

Koch Media (Deep Silver) to get Volition and Metro.

Take 2 to get Turtle Beach.

Vigil -- no one, apparently.

THQ is officially done. Twitter is lighting up with job openings and requests.

What a crazy day. I will update more as I find out.

Typically lackluster, today's Nintendo direct was a lot of new announcements without a whole lot of concrete information.

First up, two Wii U updates will be hitting in spring and summer. With them comes the Virtual Console, which will now support GBA games and Gamepad play.

Also, it's Famicom's 30th anniversary and each month Nintendo will make a Nintendo classic available for download at 30 cents.

New 3D Mario, Mario Kart, Yoshi, and Zelda games were announced, along with an HD remake of Wind Waker.

Also coming is a Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem crossover from Atlus and a new game called X from Monolith Soft, makers of Xenoblade Chronicles.

Check out the front page, there's a ton of new info. It's going to be a good year to be a Wii U owner.

Maybe I'm weird but when I see the words 'list below' I expect to see a list below.  When I see a game title below a screenshot with left/right arrows, I expect those arrows to give me more screenshots from that game.  While I appreciate the creative functionality, I think it fails the basic dumb user test.  Also I'd like to be able to sort by genre and platform.  It looks like great work that might be missed by casual visitors.

Thanks for that! I wrote the blurb before we finalized the slideshow method, I've changed it to give some basic instructions on how to work the thing.

I have absolutely NO idea how the hell we are going to survive March.   

This should help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agwa_de_Bolivia_(liqueur)

picked the wrong year to not buy any games until I finish what i have

Played only and hour so far early this morning, but I have to say that the English dub is outstanding. I usually play my JRPG's in original Japanese with subtitles given the option, but for Xenoblade, Last Story, and now this game I prefer the dub.

Drippy absolutely steals the show. I want to meet the guy who did the voice work for him and shake his hand.

I got the PC version from Greenman Gaming for $11.25, and now I'm just waiting for Steam to unlock it tomorrow afternoon.  Reviews are in the 7-8 range, with a 7 from Gamespot and 7.9 from IGN.

I picked it up on the Wii U, played it for a few minutes before popping in Ni no Kuni. It's a fun little sidescroller, with some weird Ron Gilbert-y puzzles in there. Love the atmosphere and the art style. Jumping feels weird, and the framerate drops pretty consistently. Not enough to be unplayable, but the stuttering is definitely noticeable. According to Colin Moriarty, it has the same problems on XBLA, so it's not the Wii U. Hopefully those problems are mitigated on PC. I'm glad I dropped the money on it though, gotta support my favorite developers.

I wonder if they'll get Nolan North to voice the main character (and I'm only 75% kidding )

He voices all of the characters. Even makes high-pitched "girly" voices for all the female characters.

I loved Flashback when I played it on the Genesis, one of the main reasons I think because of the great animations and the sense of weight behind your character.  Like the original Prince of Persia and Out of This World there was also some real frustration at times because of the long animations and rigid timing.  I'm hoping they can update it to give it a more modern feel without losing what made the old game special.

And then there's this from Eurogamer:

Worryingly, Vector Cell's only game to its name was the critical flop Amy, a survival horror game our Dan Whitehead gave a 2/10 to in his review where he stated it "fails on all counts."

Well, it's not like they have to make the game this time around. How badly could they screw this up...?  

Strike Suit Zero - backed them on Kickstarter

This game looks amazing, and I'd never heard of it until literally 2 days ago. It'll have to wait though...

Nice article, guys.

Thanks! Ron and I spent a good week writing everything out, and Mike put together the slideshow bit. I think it turned out nicely.

Are these rankings of the most anticipated?  If so, wow that Tomb Raider ranks in only at 10th  behind 2 PS3 exclusives and a WiiU and PC exclusive. I've seen nothing but heaps of interest in that game on sites across the Internet. It's certainly in my top 3.

It's actually ordered by release date.

After watching a review of the game they mentioned having to look at the in game book a lot if you don't get the collectors edition.  I wish they would make an iPad app for it.

I'm sure some obsessed fan will be making a .pdf of it at some point, and you can just throw that on the iPad.