About Nick Santangelo

Gone are the days when publishers needed to have an actual launch date hammered out before releasing a “launch trailer.” D3 Publisher and 2XL Games have released just …
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The Worms Ultimate Mayhem Customization Pack will be releasing one week from today on March 28, developer Team17 has announced. Customization DLC is nothing without crazy hats, and that’s exactly what players will get with the download. Of course, that’s not all they’ll receive for their 400 MSP: gloves, speech-banks, gravestones, new payloads for the Weapons Factory and a trio of XBL achievements will also be part of the deal.

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Sine Mora was developed by Digital Reality and Grasshopper Manufacture and produced by Microsoft Studios. It was released on March 21, 2012 for 1200 MSP. A code was provided for review purposes.

How far would you go to avenge the death of your son? If you’re a Hungarian-speaking, biplane-flying, handicapped, anthropomorphic “revenge serial-killer,” the answer, apparently, is pretty damn far. Ronotra Koss isn’t a perfect man, er, beast, but he’s one heck of a loving father. As such, he flies off into the bright blue yonder with a crew of crack-shot animal and AI “allies” to take on an imperial military with such overwhelming force that he’s essentially looking at a suicide mission. In other words, Sine Mora is a bullet hell game.

Players are thrown right into the thick of a brutal war between the Empire and the Enkies (branded terrorists by the Empire) from the onset, and figuring out what exactly everyone is talking about is more difficult than keeping the score multiplier up by maneuvering safely through the torrent of enemy fire scribbling across the screen while sending imperial pilots to their graves.

The larger story of imperial rule, terrorism, repressive caste systems and time travel is a complete mess that only dances with some semblance of coherence down the final stretch. Koss’ stubborn goal of punishing all those involved in his boy’s death is far more interesting, but it’s really the gorgeous art direction and fine-tuned combat that will push would-be diesel punk pilots forward.

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Recreating a classic game is never an easy feat. No matter what approach the developer takes, there always seems to be some group of detractors complaining either that not enough or too much was changed. That means that — despite the abundance of remakes that are green lit each year — recreating something that was once popular is hardly a surefire path to sales success, so it’s not surprising that Robomodo hit some pushback from Activision when they first discussed the idea of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD.

“To be honest, Josh (Tsui, president of Robomodo) and I pushed Activision to do it repeatedly until we laid it out that this can happen, in this timeframe, for this cost. It was a long battle,” Tony Hawk explained to GamesIndustry International in a recent interview.

The major concern that the world’s biggest third party publisher had was that the development costs for such an undertaking would be higher than what could be recuperated through sales. Hawk understood Activision’s trepidation, but neither he nor the team at Robomodo were about to let that stop them. “We knew that once people saw it in this light it would get the attention it needed,” Hawk said.

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Australian developer Halfbrick Studios (Fruit Ninja) has gobbled up Spanish middleware developer Onan games, Halfbrick has revealed. Onan is responsible for crafting Mandreel, a tech that permits iOS, Android, Flash …
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Toylogic CEO Yoichi Take told Dengeki in an interview today that his studio’s upcoming 15-on-15 hack ‘n slash XBLA exclusive Happy Wars “feels like pizza or potato chips,” as compared to the “steak” feeling of Call of Duty’s multiplayer. It’s become commonplace for designer, journalist and gamer alike to use CoD as a measuring stick for something — even when that something appears wildly different from Activision’s FPS behemoth. With the 2012 release flying mostly under the radar in the English-speaking world, though, Take isn’t afraid to do what’s necessary to call attention to it.

In that vein, the studio boss promises that his team is working hard to create more English language content on social networks and the game’s website to convey to the West just what Happy Wars is all about. Gamers won’t have to wait around for that to happen, however; Take shared a number of details about what he sees as a party/action title. While it’s his studio’s first Xbox 360 title, Take himself has previous experience with the platform in the form of 2007’s Bullet Witch. While he once viewed Microsoft’s console as being strictly for extreme core gamers,” Take was eventually introduced to Castle Crashers — a game that makes for a far more apt comparison than any Call of Duty title — and realized the platform had a much wider audience.

Take said that The Behemoth’s colorful sidescroller “changed [his] mind” about what type of content is appropriate for the Xbox. Specifically, he cited the fact that the game was commercially viable, to say the least, even though it has a “comical” style that he previously felt wouldn’t have jived well with 360 owners.

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Microsoft announced today that its next console will not be shown at this June’s Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, nor will it be launching in calendar year 2012. Bloomberg‘s Dina Bass relayed a message from Microsoft Corporate Public Relations Manager David Dennis over Twitter earlier in the day explaining that that the Xbox 360’s successor would not be displayed or discussed at this year’s E3 or “anytime soon.” Dennis stopped short of completely ruling out showing/announcing it later in 2012, but his words seemed to strongly imply as much. Additionally, such a move would draw attention away from the holiday 360 games and would therefore seem to make little sense.

It is a revelation that should finally silence the tsunami of rumors and stories that have originated from “insider sources” and claimed the exact opposite these past months. Speaking of insider sources — of which there never seems to be any shortage of when the topic of next generation is broached — Bloomberg has also learned from anonymous parties that the next Xbox’s first appearance is currently not planned until E3 of next year. Those same tipsters also believe the console will hit the market at an unknown point in 2013. Yet, as has been a common theme with Microsoft’s next home gaming platform, rumors and plans are constantly in flux.

No doubt aware of the media storm and public reaction that Dennis’ words would incite, the console-maker then released a more detailed explanation. The Washington-based firm showed its desire to keep consumer focus on its current console in the year ahead, rather than scare the market by prematurely discussing specifics of what the public has come to jokingly refer to as the “Xbox 720.”

While we appreciate all the interest in our long-range plans for the future, we can confirm that there will be no talk of new Xbox hardware at E3 or anytime soon. For us, 2012 is all about Xbox 360-and it’s the best year ever for Xbox 360. The console is coming off its biggest year ever-a year in which Xbox outsold all other consoles worldwide. Xbox 360 didn’t just outsell other consoles, it also outsold all other TV-connected devices like DVD players, as well as digital media receivers and home theatre systems. And in our seventh year, we sold more consoles than in any other year-defying convention.

This year, we will build on that Xbox 360 momentum. With ‘Halo 4,’ ‘Forza Horizon,’ ‘Fable: The Journey,’ and other great Kinect games on the way, our 2012 Xbox lineup is our strongest ever. This year, we will deliver more TV, music, and movie experiences for Xbox 360-as we’ll make it even easier to find and control your all entertainment. And this year, Xbox games, music, and video are coming to Windows 8 so people can enjoy their Xbox entertainment wherever they go.

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Trendy Entertainment has revealed that Dungeon Defenders DLC Quest for the Lost Eternia Shards Part 2 will release on XBLA April 11 — one day after it arrives …
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Polytron’s Fez has been getting a lot of exposure lately, but anyone who’s still pining for coverage of Gomez and Dot’s adventure just got their wish granted. The …
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Qooc Software and 7Sixty Games’ Kung Fu Strike: The Warrior’s Rise will be available for download on Xbox Live Arcade beginning March 28, according to a Game Informer …
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