Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 review

Remember last year how Tiger Woods was not even on the cover of his own game? And the year before he shared the cover for the first time? It kind of felt like Tiger might disappear from the game he made popular. The fact that Ricky Fowler, the Puma-loving Zac Efron of the golf world, now shares this year's cover with Tiger Woods, doesn't mean Tiger is being pushed out. In fact, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 has more Tiger in it than ever. What it doesn't have, however, is a powerfully motivating reason to buy it if you already own last year's game.

Tiger 13 doesn't have a fancy new tournament to promote like previous two years, and as a result the career mode feels largely the same as last year. The Masters, still a novelty in golf video games after last year's big debut, remains the end goal for your customized golfer, but the game no longer makes as big a spectacle of it. The career mode feels dry, and as other sports games do more with the customized character front (see Fight Night Champion), the idea of just golfing in tournament after tournament and watching your name rise higher on the rankings doesn't hold the same excitement that it used to.

Among Tiger 13's new modes, the most notable addition is the Tiger Legacy Challenge mode. At times a glorified mini-game collection, at other times a historical tour through golf's greatest active player, the Legacy mode offers a variety of challenges, and lets you play as Tiger Woods from a toddler, on into the future (when he decides to grow a goatee apparently). The interactive documentary allows you to relive his entire career in a way that no other sports games, save for the NBA 2K series' homage to Michael Jordan, has done with an athlete. Big fans of Tiger will love the attention to detail and cool interstitial cutscenes and interviews, and everyone else can appreciate the more unique approach to the standard “challenge shot” setup golf games have had for years.

For Kinect owners, Tiger 13 finally makes use of full body motion controls, and they feel substantially different than the PS Move or Wii Motion Plus mechanics. Pantomiming golf feels a bit sillier than normal without something in your hand, but Kinect tracks the motion well and provides a new avenue for gamers to get into the sport. You'll affect draw and fade by swinging at a different angle, which simplifies the experience, bypassing the rather complex menu system that PGA Tour offers before each shot. 

While not new, PS3 owners still get the Move controls that have been around for the last couple of games. Some gamers may prefer the more first-person aspect that Move offers, vs the pulled back presentation of Kinect. They ultimately feel mostly the same, and after swinging your arms to play various golf games for over half a decade, motion controls feel as standard to the game as club selection and putting grids.

The same swing arc used for the motion controls is used for the standard control scheme as well, and the longstanding stick controls take a back seat to a new tempo swing mechanic. Instead of carefully pulling back to where you think you need to, then pushing up on the stick as fast and straight as you can, now you can reel the rhythm of your shot. After selecting a club, the amount of draw/fade, and distance of the shot, the swing plane shows where you should swing, too. Simply pull back to start your back swing, and push forward to hit. Get the tempo right and your shot will be perfect. While some may scoff at the mechanical simplification, the new control scheme streamlines and livens up each round of golf. It feels more rewarding, as opposed to the punishing system of games past. And, hey, if you hate it, you can switch to the classic control scheme as well.

With the 360 and PS3 versions finally taking advantage of the motion control for both, it's disappointing to not see the extra modes that the dearly departed Wii version used to offer. Sure, Disc Golf and Mini Golf are silly, but they were also a lot of fun, and gave PGA Tour a party mode that, frankly, it desperately needed. Tiger 13 also continues the annoying trend of fewer courses on the disc. Over the last few years, the Tiger Woods series has seen the number of disc-native courses dwindle, instead seeing EA offer them as DLC. Thankfully, the career mode doesn't taunt you with them like last year's game, and players can earn those courses through a new reward/microtransaction system, but there's no getting around the frustration that a golf game from a few years ago had 10 more courses than you get now.

When you get online, you'll find Tiger 13's other new addition: online Country Clubs. Acting as a sort of clan mechanic, the clubs allow you to invite other players, and compete with them on courses that you can unlock with coins (earned by playing the game). Top players from each club are invited to special online tournaments hosted by EA, and the clubs combine friendly competition with teamwork, encouraging everyone to get better. Obviously the extent that these features work and are, well, fun, can't be fully determined until the servers are rather well-populated and active.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 improves on numerous areas from last year's game, but they're small, almost inconsequential-feeling areas. Honestly, if you don't play online, don't own and love Kinect, and don't care about reliving Tiger Wood's first hole in one, it's hard to emphatically recommend PGA Tour 13 more than last year's version, which had far better presentation thanks to the fanfare over the debut of The Masters in-game. EA Tiburon offers a well-done golf game, but also reinforces the idea that maybe golf isn't a sport that need an annual release.

Homebrew denied! Sony closes Vita piracy loophole by removing games from the PlayStation Store

Sony has removed PSP title Everybody's Tennis from the PlayStation Store after hackers discovered it contained an exploit that allowed them to run PSP homebrew applications on a PlayStation Vita. It follows the removal of MotorStorm: Arctic Edge which was taken down shortly after the new handheld was launched. We can confirm both games have indeed disappeared from our download list on not only PlayStation Vita, but also PSP Go as well, despite having been there for re-downloading last time we looked. It is a shame as both are rather good.

Above: Everybody's Tennis and MotorStorm Arctic Edge - both gone from Vita's store

Let's be clear that the exploit does not allow hackers to run pirated Vita games, or even pirated PSP games, for that matter. All it does is allow savvy programmers to access the PSP emulation program in the Vita and use it to run their own unsigned software - namely all the homebrew people made for PSP a few years back. So you could, for instance, play a SNES emulator or a home-made PDA application. 

That in itself wouldn't be so bad for Sony (though still illegal). It does, after all, simply allow users to create programs for a computer device that they have bought, although the end user license agreement with Sony expressly forbids it. But, more importantly, it is the first step towards cracking the Vita and running 'backups' of full-blown retail games without paying for them, so it's little wonder Sony is clamping down as soon as anything like this arises. The PS3 took years to crack, but it happened eventually.

Hopefully the two PSP games will be patched and restored to the PS Store, although we wouldn't bet on it. In the mean-time, if you have PSP games that you haven't re-downloaded, perhaps best to get them on your memory card now in case this happens to more titles. Or in case Sony patches out the PSP emulation altogether as it did with PS3's Other OS. Don't say it'll never happen...

PSN+ members getting Shank 2, Silent Hill, and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier beta in April

PlayStation Plus members are in for some heavily armed, pants wetting, futuristic freebies next month. This week, Sony detailed its April PSN+ members perks on the PlayStation Blog, listing PSN's Shank 2, PSone Classic Silent Hill, and early access to Ubisoft's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier as the month's main attractions.

The free downloads will be available April 3, however the date of Ghost Recon's closed beta has yet to be posted. Other PSN+ goodies include no-charge copies of the PS3 games Shift 2 Unleashed and Frogger Returns; as well as PS Minis Canabalt, Farm Frenzy 2, and Mystic Gardens. If dressing up in virtual clothing is more your style, next month's membership treats also include free Escape Plan and The House of the Dead 4 Avatars, as well as sales on Devil May Cry skins. 

On the topic of ravenous mutants and deadly headshots, PSN+ members will gain access to an exclusive demo of The House of the Dead 4, which will be offered at discount to PSN+ members when it releases on April 17 (read: House of the Dead 4: PS3-exclusive port has Move support, trailer and release date).

Sony says it has more to announce for April that it “can't quite talk about yet”. If we had to guess, it'd be the first episode of The Walking Dead video game (last see in The Walking Dead: see first footage of gameplay in new video), but that's more wishful thinking than anything else

Legacy Of Kain reboot – 10 things we want to see

It’s been nearly a decade since Kain and Raziel last graced consoles in 2003’s Legacy of Kain: Defiance, which wrapped up an epic, dystopian-fantasy vampire storyline that spanned no fewer than five games. After such a long absence, it seemed to many fans that the undead anti-heroes had finally been laid to rest. True to form, however, you can’t keep a good vampire down, and rumors surfaced last week that Square Enix has plans to resurrect the beloved series, although details aren’t yet clear.

A reboot could mean any number of possibilities, ranging from an updated retelling of the original games’ storylines, to a brand new origin story like Square Enix’s other upcoming reboot, Tomb Raider. With so much still unknown, it’s to be expected that fan speculation is running rampant. Whatever shape the reborn Legacy of Kain/Blood Omen/Soul Reaver game takes, we’ve got our own ideas for things we’d like to see make it in, and we’ve listed them over the next few pages.

Bulletstorm

Set in a futuristic utopia, an elite peacekeeping force thwarts the rumblings of civil war. But deception within the ranks has caused two members of the most feared unit to strike out on their own. Now stranded on an abandoned paradise, Grayson Hunt and Ishi Sato find themselves surrounded by hordes of mutants and flesh eating gangs. They survive on two objectives: get off the planet alive and extract revenge on the man who sent them there.

As Grayson Hunt, players wield an arsenal of over-the-top combat moves and outrageously large guns that feed into Bulletstorm's distinct 'skillshot' system producing unprecedented levels of frantic gameplay and yell-inducing satisfaction.

Blacklight Retribution – first-look at NetWar and Siege modes

Free-to-play titles are looking better each year. Production values are rising and with those extra development dollars comes higher quality titles than the ones we were used to seeing four or five years ago. We’re even seeing more Western studios setting their sights on your free time with F2P shooters, developers like the folks at Zombie Studios. While its last downloadable shooter Blacklight Tango Down received mixed reviews from critics, its latest online shooter Blacklight: Retribution seems to be thriving in its current open beta phase with plans to go live later this April with a bunch of new content and game modes. 

For Zombie Studios creative studio head Jared Gerritzen, it’s important that Blacklight: Retribution defies the low-budget look associated with F2P games. “It’s Unreal 3, it’s DirectX11,” says Gerritzen. “We wanted to make sure that it’s a badass experience and that people that are playing a free-to-play for the first time go ‘Holy crap. This is awesome.’”

But it’s not just about the visuals; Zombie Studios also has plans for more Blacklight content with two new modes in the pipeline. Inspired by World of Warcraft’s Eye of the Storm Battleground, the new mode NetWar mixes control points with capture-the-flag. Spread throughout the map are four points your team must capture and hold for points. There’s also a flag that can be captured for bonus points. 

Siege mode will introduce the Scorpion Tank, a new mech with a powerful minigun that players can pilot. The attacking team will be tasked with pushing forward along a series of checkpoints while protecting the player piloting the Scorpion Tank. Attacking team members can also help by repairing the tank, scouting ahead and clearing out defenders and clearing roadblocks so your pilot can press forward. On the other hand, defenders will be doing everything possible to bring the tank down, using everything from explosives and heavy weapons to damage it while flanking the attacking team to rob the tank of its defenders. 

Both modes are scheduled to launch this April. If you want to try Blacklight: Retribution for yourself, the game is currently in open beta – and you can head here to register for an account and download the client.

Dungeons & Dragons Online's upcoming DLC welcomes you to the Forgotten Realms

Turbine's preparing to release Menace of the Underdark, the first expansion of its type for Dungeons & Dragons Online since the game's release way back in 2006. The new content expands the game's world to include the Forgotten Realms, scene of some of D&D's most beloved content and setting for no shortage of pulpy paperbacks with unspeakably bitchin' covers. Take a look at these shots and see if you can't imagine a dwarf standing on a pile of flaming skulls somewhere in there.

 

Menace of the Underdark adds the Forgotten Realms and titular cave-world to the game (these shots are from the Forest Cavern, the new content's starting region). It also bumps up the level cap and adds the shapeshifting Druid to the lineup of available character classes. The content's dated for June 25, and will be available in three different Editions ranging from the bare-bones $29 Base Edition to the $79 Collector's Edition, including an impressive surfeit of bonus items which you can read about at the pack's page.

Best 3DS games

While the 3DS might have had a rocky start, the system has more than proven its worth in the months after release. Within a short period of time the handheld’s library was plump, full of unique experiences to enjoy, and we’ve gathered the ten best for anyone looking to fill out their library.

Elemental: Fallen Enchantress prepares to move out of beta with new reveal trailer

Here's the intro trailer for Elemental: The Fallen Enchantress, Stardock's follow-up to its 2010 fantasy-strategy Elemental: The War of Magic. Billed as “strategy in an RPG world,” the game continues its predecessor's tactic of using a classic role-play setup as the basis for a turn-based strategy in the vein of the company's own Galactic Civilizations. Only, you know, with spells and dragons where the computers and spaceships would otherwise go.

We'll be getting a look at Elemental: The Fallen Enchantress soon and are looking forward to bringing you our impressions of the title, which is currently in beta. The game's not dated yet, but Stardock is taking preorders and running a promotion whereby owners of War of Magic can get a discount on the sequel. The Elemental site is also filling up fast with plenty of lore and background info for players to digest while awaiting more details on the title.

Dragon Age 2

Experience Dragon Age 2, the epic sequel to the 2009 Game of the Year from the critically acclaimed makers of Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2.

You are one of the few who escaped the destruction of your home. Now, forced to fight for survival in an ever-changing world, you must gather the deadliest of allies, amass fame and fortune, and seal your place in history.
This is the story of how the world changed forever. The legend of your Rise to Power begins now.

Mass Effect 3 multiplayer tips and strategies guide

Welcome to Mass Effect multiplayer

 

Bioware has taken the glorious hybrid of RPG and squad shooter that is Mass Effect 3 and turned it into a four player co-op mode. If you and your teammates use your brains and your headsets to work together, you can unleash devastating tactics and maximize your credit and experience earning potential. Call up your Horde Mode crew and give Shepherd some shore leave, we’ve got the tips for dominating the galaxy online. And yes, you can be a Krogan.

 

Completing missions earns you the credits to unlock new equipment and characters. To answer your most pressing question, yes, you can be a Krogan. You can also be a Drell, a Quarian an Asari, and a plain old human, each race having their own special abilities and powers. Playing online is also a great way to try new classes. If you’ve never wielded the power of an Engineer’s Incinerate or unleashed an Adept’s biotic combos, now is your chance.

Why Mickey Mouse used to be at the cutting edge of video game entertainment. No, REALLY...

Mickey Mouse hasn't been relevant to anything for a looong time...

 

Not unless you're two years old and addicted to Disney Junior's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (say "hot diggedy dog" one more time and someone's going to get hurt, I swear). Sure we had Epic Mickey on Wii which was cleverer than a lot of people gave it credit for, but even that lacked something magical. Now, I know you probably won't believe it when I say this, but Mickey Mouse games used to be at the cutting edge of gaming. So the news that the 3DS side-scrolling Mickey Mouse game is daring to use the 'Illusion' brand and claiming to be a 'spiritual sequel' is incredibly exciting (Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion revealed for 3DS ). Because the Illusion name means one thing: Triple-A quality. Here's why…

SimCity: The Three Biggest Influences on Art Style

With work featured in the MoMA, Scotland’s Royal Museum and Helsinki’s City Art Museum, Ocean Quigley is an accomplished artist whose early ambition was to not just “paint the world as it is,” but to also “get what it means.” While his landscape paintings may be more reflective of his earlier years in a Costa Rica rainforest and on the island of Maui, Quigley’s current role as Creative Designer for the new SimCity finds him tasked with not just painting “the world,” but also to paint “your world” – and when you think about what SimCity is, “your world” could be anything. Whether that means making a modern metropolis or a destitute cluster of tenements full of homeless people on fire, EA and Maxis are aiming to make the next SimCity a sequel that matters – and that means giving you the tools to bring whatever kind of city your noble (or demented) mind comes up with to life.

We recently had a chance to speak with Quigley about the look and feel of the new SimCity – and the three biggest influences on the overall art style of the game. Read on. You might be surprised!

SimCity multiplayer preview First details on leaderboards, world resources, the global market and how you can collaborate or compete

The new SimCity will have multiplayer. In a media event held at Maxis’ studio in Emeryville, California GamesRadar got a chance to see a demonstration of an early build of the game. With a release date set for some time in 2013, we got a broad stroke picture of what Maxis has in mind.

It sounds like an interesting system, one that will be both cooperative and or competitive depending on who you play with and how you play. In multiplayer, your city will be one of several cities in a region. Although it’s not clear how many players will be able to build a city in each region, the demo we saw featured three players.

As the cities grow and develop, players can link cities in a region together. There are also plans for the option to chat with neighboring players and make arrangements to share resources, like power in exchange for water.

 

Above: Concept art of a region with two cities linked by a bridge

Multiplayer will also include leaderboards, world resources, and a global market for trade. The leaderboards will track your performance in all kinds of areas, keeping tabs on things like the wealthiest city, the greenest city, or the most coal produced. Let's say you have a city that specializes in coal production. As you produce more coal and buy or sell that coal on the global market, it’ll have an impact on the value of coal for everyone else.

It all seems designed to steer players toward the collaborative path. Specialize in one area and you may find that you may need help with another aspect of your city. Cooperation sounds like the best way for two players specializing in different areas to maximize their efforts in reaching their goals. But then again, it’s also quite possible that exact opposite might happen. What if you hate your neighbor? What if some coal crazy baron below you is mucking up the green and energy efficient utopia you’re trying to build? What if you decide to destroy the pipes connecting your cities to deny him the clean water you’ve been providing him? And what if you just want to forget about wealth and all that sweet, sweet coal - and aim to be number one on the leaderboard for homeless Sims instead?

With the final launch date for the new SimCity set for 2013, these are just the first and most general details on how multiplayer will work. Still, the concept is very impressive. With the way that the leaderboards and global market are connected while connecting you with every other player both in and outside of your region, it sounds like SimCity’s multiplayer will make the city-builder sim more of a world simulation.

SHIFT 2 Unleashed

The critically acclaimed SHIFT franchise returns to the track to deliver the most physical racing experience to date with SHIFT 2 Unleashed.

Feel what the Driver’s Battle is actually like in an unparalleled racing experience that captures the physicality and brutality of being behind the wheel going 200mph.

Frighteningly authentic physics and degradation of tracks and cars, thrilling night racing, and an eye-watering sense of speed combined with the helmet camera puts you right in the heart in the action. Feel every scrape, bump, and burn out in an all-out fight to the finish line.

SHIFT 2 Unleashed sets the bar for realistic racing and gives all the excitement and exhilaration of race day in a groundbreaking authentic experience.

Experience racing evolved and unleash your inner driver.

Street Fighter competitive player LPN picked up for sponsorship

Street Fighter X Tekken has been out a few weeks now, and while some of you are soaking up techniques and diving deeper into the game, a friend of GR has caught the eye of an e-sports team. According to Shoryuken.com, Long "LPN" Nguyen is the latest fighter to be sponsored by The Fighters Alliance. We're happy for him, and figure that this is as good a time as any to show off his skills at work in SFxT! Witness LPN bust out the moves that make it fun to watch competitive fighting games:

Congrats to LPN, and we're looking forward to working with him on future content that will make the rest of us feel unworthy of picking up an arcade stick.

LittleBigPlanet DLC roster getting Journey content soon

Both LittleBigPlanet 2 and Thatgamecompany's Journey are enjoying time in the spotlight at present, with the former picking up BAFTA awards for innovation and family-friendliness while the latter receives effusive praise from all and sundry (check our Journey review for an idea of what we're talking about). What better time to issue a tie-in for Sackboy to don the mystic threads of Journey's enigmatic protagonist? Well, about a month from now, when the content's ready to go, but here's a peek.

Above: Click for a large-scale image suitable for displaying on your desktop or wherever else you see fit

 

In addition to this rather darling wee robe 'n' hood for the Sackboy with places to go and people to silently assist, LittleBigPlanet 2's getting a set of Journey-themed stickers for use within your own creations. While you wait for those, the teaser image has also been made available as PS3 or PS Vita wallpaper over at the PlayStation Blog.

Mass Effect 3 Ending Controversy, Day 22: Cupcakes for everyone, because Mass Effect?

A cadre of Mass Effect fans are still steamed about the third game's ending – but have chosen to express their dissatisfaction in a sweet, friendly sort of way. What's sweeter and friendlier than a delicious cupcake? Obviously, 402 cupcakes. And is delivering such a heaping helping of sweet treats to someone's office a good way of punishing them for a perceived oversight? Let's keep an eye on Bioware to find out.

Having had their efforts to change Mass Effect 3's ending for charity stymied, slighted fans decided to send a kindness-bomb directly to the source. The result, reports Game Informer, is a funding drive for over $1000 worth of cupcakes, to be delivered to Bioware's door. “This is our way, as fans, to drive our message home, but in a (literally) sweet way,” explains the protest's page: “In this case, the cake is NOT a lie!” Come on, you didn't seriously expect this to come off without at least one such reference, did you?

Above: See? This real thing is really happening

 

The cakes will be colored red, green or blue, and frosted with the letters A, B or C – to emphasize that the choice between three fairly similar things is not a fair thing to give someone. Except, of course, if you're giving them a cupcake either way, in which case you're actually being quite considerate? The metaphor sort of breaks down if you examine it up close – but look, we're not complaining. 

In fact, we want in on this action. Let's give this a shot: Namco is about to release Bionic Commando 5, Shigeru Miyamoto has been replaced by a team of robots, and Notch has just bought Electronic Arts. There – now if you're unhappy with our performance as games journalists, can we have some cupcakes too, please?

Canadian Videogame Awards finalists announced, Solid Snake to host Assassin's Creed: Revelations and Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP top list

Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP are just a handful of Canada-born nominees set to take a bow during the 2012 Canadian Videogame Awards. The awards will honor 28 games over 14 categories, and are reserved for games and/or major game components that were primarily developed within Canada's borders.

“We are all incredibly excited about the third annual Canadian Videogame Awards!” said Victor Lucas, host of the popular gaming show Electric Playground, and one of the award show’s founders. “This is our chance to thank and honour all of the enormously talented individuals who build the world class entertainment of the future every day in our country.”

Capybara Games' Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP leads the pack with 9 nominations, and will vie for Game of the Year against Ubisoft Montreal's Assassin's Creed sequel, Eidos-Montreal's Deus Ex sequel, and EA's FIFA Soccer 12 Fight Night Champion. 

Root for your f-eh-vorite from the list below:

Game of the Year
(*Open for online voting)
Assassin’s Creed Revelations – Ubisoft Montreal
Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Eidos-Montreal
FIFA Soccer 12 – Electronic Arts
Fight Night Champion – Electronic Arts
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP – Capybara Games

Best Console Game
Assassin’s Creed Revelations – Ubisoft Montreal
Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Eidos-Montreal
Dragon Age II – Bioware
FIFA Soccer 12 – Electronic Arts
Fight Night Champion – Electronic Arts

Best Game on the Go
A Space Shooter for Free – Frima Studio
Assassin’s Creed Recollection – Ubisoft Montreal
Squibble – MassHabit Games
Super Stickman Golf – Noodlecake Studios
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP – Capybara Games

Best Downloadable Game
Capsized – Alien Trap Games
Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes – Cabybara Games
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP – Capybara Games
Swarm – Hothead Games
Tales From Space: About a Blob – Drinkbox Studios

Best Audio
Assassin’s Creed Revelations – Ubisoft Montreal
Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Eidos-Montreal
Fight Night Champion – Electronic Arts
Need for Speed: The Run – Electronic Arts
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Relic Entertainment

Best Social/Casual Game
Cranky Cat – March Entertainment
GreenSpace – RocketOwl Inc.
Margaritaville Online – Exploding Barrel Games
Sissy’s Magical Ponycorn Adventure – Untold Entertainment

Best Game Design
Assassin’s Creed Revelations – Ubisoft Montreal
Dead Rising 2: Off the Record – Capcom Vancouver
Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Eidos-Montreal
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP – Capybara Games
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Relic Entertainment

Best Technology
Assassin’s Creed Revelations – Ubisoft Montreal
FIFA Soccer 12 – Electronic Arts
Just Dance 3 – Ubisoft Montreal
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Relic Entertainment
Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012 – Ubisoft Montreal

Best Visual Arts
Assassin’s Creed Revelations – Ubisoft Montreal
Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Eidos-Montreal
Need for Speed: The Run – Electronic Arts
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP – Capybara Games
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Relic Entertainment

Best Writing
Assassin’s Creed Revelations – Ubisoft Montreal
Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Eidos-Montreal
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP – Capybara Games
To the Moon – Freebird Games
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Relic Entertainment

Best Indie Game
Capsized – Alien Trap Games
DLC Quest – Going Loud Studios
Super Stickman Golf – Noodlecake Studios
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP – Capybara Games
Tales From Space: About a Blob – Drinkbox Studios

Best New Character
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Adam Jensen) – Eidos-Montreal
Sissy’s Magical Ponycorn Adventure (Sissy) – Untold Entertainment
Tales From Space: About a Blob (The Blob) – Drinkbox Studios
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (Captain Titus) – Relic Entertainment
Yeti (Yeti) – Metanet Software Inc.

Best Original Music
Assassin’s Creed Revelations – Ubisoft Montreal
Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Eidos-Montreal
Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes – Cabybara Games
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP – Capybara Games
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Relic Entertainment

Innovation Award
Battlefield 3 – DICE/Electronic Arts
Cows vs. Aliens – XMG Studio
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP – Capybara Games
To the Moon – Freebird Games
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Relic Entertainment

The 2012 Canadian Videogame Awards broadcast live from the Vancouver Convention Centre on April 21, and will be hosted by the voice of Solid Snake himself, David Hayter. 

BioWare's Mass Effect 2 was the big winner in 2011, while Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood also brought home a few trophies for Ubisoft (see: BioWare and Ubisoft clean up at 2nd Annual Video Canadian Videogame Awards). Let us know which of the above deserves top honors this time around, and which surprise you as being made in “America's Hat”.

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters

Start your journey down the “Road to the Masters” with Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters.  For the first time in franchise history, players will be able to experience the rich history and tradition of the Masters Tournament.

Play the famed Augusta National Golf Club, relive and recreate several historical Masters Moments and fully immerse yourself in the experience of playing in the Masters.  Embark on the “Road to the Masters” as your career begins on the amateur tour and work your way through the Nationwide Tour, Q-School, and finally, the PGA TOUR.

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters has something for every golf fan and also includes access to extensive online features via a three-month Membership to Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® Online!

Portal 2

Portal 2 draws from the award-winning formula of innovative gameplay, story, and music that earned the original Portal over 70 industry accolades and created a cult following.

The single-player portion of Portal 2 introduces a cast of dynamic new characters, a host of fresh puzzle elements, and a much larger set of devious test chambers. Players will explore never-before-seen areas of the Aperture Science Labs and be reunited with GLaDOS, the occasionally murderous computer companion who guided them through the original game.

The game’s two-player cooperative mode features its own entirely separate campaign with a unique story, test chambers, and two new player characters. This new mode forces players to reconsider everything they thought they knew about portals. Success will require them to not just act cooperatively, but to think cooperatively.

Darkspore

For a millennium, the Crogenitors traveled the galaxy on their evolutionary mission, genetically altering the DNA of life forms they encountered to grant them new powers and abilities. Their greatest achievement was the creation of super-warriors: the Genetic Heroes.

Discovering the power of “exponential” DNA (E-DNA), extremist Crogenitors sought to make their ultimate soldiers even more powerful. But E-DNA was unstable, unpredictable, and ultimately uncontrollable.  Hordes of mutated abominations broke free from their masters’ control. They were the Darkspore. And after terrible ages of war, the Darkspore closed in on the final Crogenitors.

As a fugitive in the galactic hive of Darkspore domination, you’re a surviving Crogenitor who’s awoken from eons of sleep. Your only guide is HELIX, the AI who’s kept you in safe hiding since you entered suspended animation.

Now, using HELIX’s exhaustive DNA database, you must reconstruct the Genetic Heroes using stabilized E-DNA. Make these Heroes more powerful than their original incarnations to lead them into an apocalyptic battle against the Darkspore.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2

The Final Battle of Hogwarts

Step up and play the parts of your heroes in the epic finale of the entertainment event of the decade.

Playing as Harry and other key characters in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 videogame, you are on a dangerous and urgent quest to locate and destroy the remaining Horcruxes, and with them, Voldemort. Break into the high security vaults of Gringotts Bank, escape Fiendfyre in the Room of Requirement and battle Voldemort’s most powerful allies as you defend Hogwarts in this action-packed experience.

Featuring the most epic battles of any Harry Potter games gone before; this is the ultimate showdown against Voldemort and his Dark Forces. The fate of the wizarding world rests in your hands in the final battle for Hogwarts.

The Sims 3 Town Life Stuff

Enhance your Sims’ neighborhoods and homes with new venues and items!

With exciting content never seen before in a Stuff Pack, The Sims 3 Town Life Stuff* introduces new venues to give your Sims’ entire town a makeover – complete with objects just as perfect for their homes.

Build a chic new library, create an exclusive, high-tech gym, design a fun playground, or make chores a pleasure with a fresh new laundry room.

The Sims 3 Town Life Stuff not only gives you loads of new inspired design to use at home, but includes new community places, like Scrumptious Nibbles Café, for your Sims to visit too!

* Requires The Sims 3 to play

The Sims 3 Hidden Springs

A whole new world for your Sims to explore

Celebrities and the rich flock to Hidden Springs in search of relaxation and escape from the mundane. Many cannot resist rumors of the seemingly miraculous healing powers that linger in the woods and waters. Some of the townsfolk who live in the woods are highly secretive and seem to have a pale green tinge to them. Is it really magic at work?

When you’re in Hidden Springs, you can explore a stunning lakefront, relax at a luxury spa or ski lodge, escape into the woods, or even uncover ancient mysterious at the Museum of Magic and Supernatural. What will you find in Hidden Springs?

*Requires The SIms 3 to play

The Sims 3 Pets

Create perfect—or imperfect—pets for your Sims, from fierce guard dogs to destructive kittens to trusty horses and more as you determine not only how your Sims’ pets look but their personality traits as well.

With a variety of new activities and social interactions, take control of these pets and experience the world from their perspective.

Give your Sims a new member of their household and discover all-new ways to play with life!
*Requires The Sims 3 to play

The Sims Medieval Pirates & Nobles

Experience an epic adventure of Pirates & Nobles!

The Sims Medieval Pirates & Nobles Adventure Pack introduces new quests, treasure hunting, and hundreds of new objects for your medieval kingdom! Your epic story starts when the Pirates of Aarbyville and the Nobles of Tredony arrive in your kingdom, followed quickly by sword fights, love affairs, grand adventures and mysteries. Go treasure hunting to uncover hidden objects. Embark on new quests to help your kingdom achieve a new ambition. Stylize your kingdom and Sims with new pirate and nobility themed objects and wardrobe. The fun never ends with this new adventure pack!

Need for Speed The Run

The Race of Your Life

It’s called The Run. An illicit, high-stakes race across the country. The only way to get your life back is to be the first from San Francisco to New York.

No speed limits. No rules. No allies. All you have are your driving skills and sheer determination as you battle hundreds of the world’s most notorious drivers on the country’s most dangerous roads.

In Need for Speed The Run, you’ll weave through dense urban centers, rocket down icy mountain passes and navigate narrow canyons at breakneck speeds, all the while evading a relentless police force prepared – and willing – to use lethal force to take you down.

STAR WARS™: The Old Republic™

Your Personal Star Wars™ Saga Begins in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Play Star Wars: The Old Republic and be the hero of your own Star Wars saga in a story-driven massively-multiplayer online game from BioWare and LucasArts. Explore an age thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader when war between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire divides the galaxy.

Choose to be a Jedi, a Sith, or from a variety of other classic Star Wars roles, and make decisions which define your personal story and determine your path down the light or dark side of the Force™. Along the way you will befriend courageous companions who will fight at your side or possibly betray you based on your actions. Together, you will battle enemies in dynamic Star Wars combat and team up with other players to overcome incredible challenges.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is an epic, open-world role-playing game set in Amalur, a mysterious and magical new fantasy world created by New York Times best-selling author R. A. Salvatore. Brought to life  visually through the trademark visceral style of renowned artist and Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, Reckoning brings a new level of intense action combat to the RPG genre.

The game is being developed under the leadership of Ken Rolston, lead designer of the critically acclaimed RPGs Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

The Sims 3 Master Suite Stuff

Home is where the heart is! Whether your Sims relax in a bubble bath in their luxurious bathroom, enjoy some down time in their exquisitely furnished bedroom, or wear new intimate apparel for their special someone, The Sims 3 Master Suite Stuff adds some sizzle to their home life! From stylish bedroom sets to spa-inspired bathroom furnishings to romantic new lingerie and hairstyles, your Sims will relax in comfort and style.
*Requires The SIms 3 to play

The Sims 3 Showtime

Share the Story of Your Sims’ Rise to Fame!

Live the rags to riches story with your Sims while being connected to your friends! Experience the rise to stardom as your Sim performs on stage from one venue to the next. And for the first time, The Sims 3 Showtime introduces social features, including SimPort, an all-new feature that lets you send your Sims to a friend’s game! There, your Sim can perform at your friend’s venue in front of your friend’s Sims! You will also be able to post messages and screenshots on your friends’ walls.

For updates on The Sims 3 Showtime, be sure to check out The Sims Channel on YouTube.

Mass Effect 3

Take Earth Back.

Mass Effect 3 plunges you into an all-out galactic war to take Earth back from a nearly unstoppable foe – and how you fight that war is entirely up to you. Groundbreaking interactive storytelling drives the heart-pounding action in which each decision you make could have devastating and deadly consequences. You are Commander Shepard, the only one who can save Earth from annihilation.

But you are not alone. At your side is a team of elite, battle-hardened soldiers ready for your command. Flank enemies with your squad or take them down lone wolf. Use cover or go in guns blazing. Unleash tactical assaults from a distance or go toe-to-toe with enemies using devastating melee assaults and the deadly omniblade.  On March 6th, 2012 the war for Earth begins on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

Warhammer Online: Wrath Of Heroes

Fight for your life in this fast and ferocious 3 Team PvP Arena Game

Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes is the newest Play4Free title from BioWare that puts players in a fight for their lives with competitive PvP arena combat. These explosive three team battles aren’t for the faint of heart as success in the fast paced action hinges on destroying all who oppose your team to strategically claim and hold bases. This is the legendary Warhammer Online like you’ve never seen it before where to emerge victorious and claim your rightful place atop the leaderboards, you must live to fight.

Apply for the Closed Beta today at http://www.wrathofheroes.com and get in the beta this fall!

The Secret World

The Secret World is a massively multiplayer online game set in our own, modern-day world.

Imagine if every myth, conspiracy theory and urban legend was true. Imagine a world where vampires hunt for mortal blood in dingy London nightclubs, where werewolves lurk in the sewers beneath Seoul, and where the undead prey on the living in the shadows of New York City.
Imagine a world where you can become anything you want to be, without restrictions such as classes or levels. This is the premise for The Secret World, Funcom's upcoming massively multiplayer online game set in the modern-day real world.
Imagine a world where entire governments are swayed by the hidden hand and word of secret societies. In The Secret World you get to join these secret societies. The Illuminati, the Dragon and the Templars – each stand united in their war against the rising darkness, but divided in their pursuit for power. What secret society you choose to join will have profound, long-lasting effects on your gameplay experience.

Command & Conquer Generals 2

As the modern world plunges into war, only the Generals remain.

In the near future, world leaders are mere seconds from signing a global treaty and bringing an end to war as we know it when a devastating terrorist attack rips through the peace conference, killing all in attendance. In a world left with no politicians, diplomats, or activists, only the Generals remain. It’s up to you to assume their roles, command of their forces, and put an end to global terrorism once and for all. 

BioWare explains “From Ashes” launch day DLC

BioWare is on the defensive after receiving complaints from fans that its day-one DLC, From Ashes, has no business being sold separately at launch.

This week, BioWare confirmed that the DLC pack, which was always planned as free content for Collector's Edition and Digital Deluxe Edition owners, will be available immediately for everyone else at $10 (800 Microsoft Points) when Mass Effect 3 arrives on March 6 in the US, and March 9 everywhere else. This has prompted some BioWare forum members to accuse the studio of charging extra for content that should have been included in the original game. Defending the move last night via Twitter, Mass Effect's Casey Hudson explained: “On #ME3 content creators completed the game in January & moved onto the "From Ashes" DLC, free w/ the CE or you can buy seperately.”

In non-Twitter talk, that means From Ashes was never part of the original game, but always planned to be included as DLC, which was developed after work on Mass Effect 3 was completed. Producer Mike Gamble relayed the same information on BioWare's forums, stating, “The content in 'From Ashes' was developed by a separate team (after the core game was finished) and not completed until well after the main game went into certification.”

Gamble added the Collector's Edition has been sold out in many locations for some time, so BioWare believes it's being fair by making From Ashes available for purchase for all those who would otherwise miss out.

So why all the hubbub over one piece of DLC? Turns out From Ashes is a fairly significant piece of DLC (warning: spoilers). As confirmed in Gamble's post, the add-on introduces a Prothean squad mate and a bonus mission on Eden Prime; two elements that should be of interest to anyone who has followed the story. In truth, From Ashes doesn't sound essential to enjoying Mass Effect 3, but it also sounds too important to not be considered part of the core game.

Let us know what you think of BioWare's day-one DLC, and if Mass Effect 3 fans have a right to be suspicious of the studio's launch strategy.  

Valve: Fill out a survey, play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive early (maybe)

Valve is giving away keys to the beta for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in exchange for filling out a survey on Steam. Having already given out some 9000 keys, the company's decided (via Digital Spy) to send the next round of keys out to participants in the survey, which gathers information about players' machines and demographic details (that is, who you are and what you're playing on).

CS newcomers shouldn't feel excluded: “There are no wrong answers to the survey questions,” promises Valve. “Sometimes we might add experienced players, other times new players. Sometimes 1.6 players, sometimes CSS players, sometimes people who have played neither.”

The Steam-based survey won't take up your whole day, but you do need to access it via your regular gaming machine for hardware-profiling purposes. The company spells out the relationship between survey participants and CS:GO beta players fairly clearly: “If you don’t fill it out, you won’t be getting a key.”

Find a link on Valve's Counter-Strike blog, then look forward to hours of teabagging, camping, doorway-standing and all the other practices that have made Counter-Strike great over the years.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter revealed, taking on Call of Duty in 2012, EA releases first image

EA's Danger Close Studios is supposedly working on a new Medal of Honor game, according to an article on Game Informer. The title, apparently called Medal of Honor: Warfighter, is said to be running on DICE's Frostbyte 2.0 engine, following the story of US Tier 1 Operators on an operation to... fight bad guys.

We think. We don't know for sure, but with a title like "Warfighter" it's safe to assume there will be wars fought. Or maybe we'll be fighting wars by protesting them. Now, that'd be a nice change of pace, wouldn't it?

So far that's the only real information we have, besides the fact that the multiplayer is to be developed in-house by Danger Close, instead of sent out to DICE as it was with the last version.

This is all apparently coming out of next month's Official Xbox Magazine, which should be hitting newsstands in the near future with screenshots, more details on the game's campaign (which we're praying is better than Battlefield 3's), and a full unveiling of the multiplayer. Probably. Or you can wait until GDC, when we expect to see the game and find out how EA is planning on taking on Call of Duty in 2012.

UPDATE: EA has since confirmed the game's existence and even released the first image on the Medal of Honor site. Take a look:

Also, our pals at Official Xbox Magazine have elaborated on the reveal of their big cover story. You can read it all here.

Box Score: The power of SSX compels two studios to evolve online gaming

Box Score is a weekly column that offers a look at sports games and the athletic side of the industry from the perspective of veteran reviewer and sports fan Richard Grisham.

“Oh #$&@!”

That was Todd Batty’s initial reaction to the revolutionary Autolog feature in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. At that moment, Todd and his team at EA Sports were knee-deep in building the next generation of SSX. As the creative director, he’d long since planned for asynchronous online play – the ability to compete against and track friends even when you’re not online together, called Ridernet – to be a major tenet of his game. When he saw what their corporate brethren at Criterion Studios shipped with Hot Pursuit, though, things got interesting. Quickly.

Above: The unlikely inspiration for SSX's Ridernet

“Autolog came out and we were like, ‘This is the way to do it,’” remembers Batty. “ We saw a bunch of things in there that we hadn’t even considered yet.”

Seeing a concept you’re working on get delivered by someone else in a slightly different way – before the world even knows much about your game – can be jarring. For some people, it would be devastating. Batty took it as an opportunity to make something good even better.

“I think that Criterion is one of the most talented developers in the entire industry,” Batty says. “We spent a bunch of time talking to the guys, and they were super-helpful. They even came here all the way from the UK a couple times to answer our questions and help collaborate with us.”

“We definitely had it on our drawing board from very early on,” he recalls. “We looked at a game like SSX, playing against each other, trying to set the highest trick scores, we thought about ‘How does that translate into an online world?’ We immediately dove into asynchronous play. Every time I go down a drop, I can go to any drop in the game and set a trick score. Then, we’ll upload a ghost of that run to our servers; any time one of my friends logs on, whether I’m online or not, they can dive in, see the ghost of my run, follow it and figure out my line. (We) compete head to head, even though I’ve long since turned off my console. The goal of bringing asynchronous play with our dev team was there long before we saw Autolog.”

Batty is one of the most passionate people in the business, and it shows when he gets into what he feels makes this aspect of SSX so special.  “Ridernet puts your friends square at the heart of the experience,” he says. “It does a lot of the cool things that Autolog does and some cool things that it doesn’t. We’re really proud of it and it is absolutely prevalent throughout the entire SSX experience. You can’t get away from it; it’s always there to hold your hand and show you where the next place and where something else fun to do is.”

One of the ways that it extends the original Autolog features comes as a direct result of playing Hot Pursuit.

“We call it the Tom Monroe feature,” laughs Batty. “A whole bunch of people on our dev team, when Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit with Autolog came out, started playing it. We all got caught in that compulsion loop. We were all playing the heck out of it, and then one of the young designers on our team [Monroe] who’s just too good at video games for his own well-being, took the game home one weekend and he crushed us all. He put scores up everywhere, times up everywhere that were just absolutely unfathomable and unbeatable. Interestingly, over the next few days, we all stopped playing Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.”

Batty considered the demotivation, and acted on it.

“So we added something in SSX,” he says. “At any given point in time, with any one of your friends, you can just press a single button and hide them. It wipes them off the face of every single leaderboard in your game.  You vote them down, you vote them off the island. At any given point in time, you can unhide them, too. It’s a really cool thing; people want competition to be both accessible and relevant. A friend who provides me inaccessible competition is not a good thing. I love voting people off the island, and I do it all the time.”

Whether or not the Ridernet and Autolog concepts continue to be extended in individual titles, or if the next generation of consoles establishes an overall framework for every game to tap into remains an open question. Regardless, the lightning-fast pace of social media interactions has had a direct impact on Ridernet.

“We looked at social media and social communications today; everything now is being driven to be able to happen at your own schedule,” Batty states. “We’ve gone from instant messaging to writing on each other’s Facebook walls. We’ve gone from half the time not even calling people on our cellphones anymore, we just simply text them. Everything today is being driven today by convenience. Online console gaming really to date has yet to make that same evolutionary leap as a lot social media has. I think that we’re on the verge of it. Need for Speed Autolog cracked it open, and we’re trying to run with it from there.”

Richard Grisham has been obsessed with sports and video games since childhood, when he'd routinely create and track MicroLeague Baseball seasons on paper. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and four-year old son, who he'll soon be training to be an NFL placekicker. As a freelance journalist and writer, his work has appeared in GamesRadar, NGamer, and 1UP.

Build Death Stars and team up with pirates (the scurvy kind) in Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

We saw a ton of cool stuff when we sat down with Ironclad Games to discuss Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, the upcoming stand-alone expansion to the beloved 4X strategy series. We saw giant space battles, we saw greatly enhanced graphics, and we saw different races and factions engaging in absurdly large intergalactic wars. But two things we saw during our time with the game stood out more than anything else, and rose above the rest: the inclusion of playable pirates, and Death Stars.

Alright, well, we should probably clarify both of those features. There's no pirate faction or anything, and you can't actually build the real Death Star per say, but both of these elements have been added to the game in some form. 

First, let's go through the other things you need to know: Rebellion is an expansion to Sins of a Solar Empire that moves the series' story a few steps forward. The original games' three factions, TEC, Advent, Vasari, have been split (as the "Rebellion" name implies), creating six factions that sound like they play a good deal differently than each other. Each side now has a "loyalist" and "rebel" side, and each side has its own tech trees and abilities.

The TEC Rebel side, for example, has a unique ability to team up with pirates. No, not the kind that download illegal games and post angry comments on videogame websites complaining about DRM - the other kind. The kind with eyepatches and scurvy and rum and parrots and stuff (though we don't know if the pirates in Sins have parrots). Fans have been asking for years to control the space pirates, and Rebellion finally opens up that option. Besides being able to recruit them, you can also use them to your advantage, hiding out in their special pirate areas. They're also sort of a comedic relief, making pirate quips that sound gleefully out of place in outer space.

The different factions also have access to different Titan ships. Titans are a new class of ship that reminded us, in a way, of an Imperial Death Star from Star Wars. It didn't actually look like the Death Star, but it was essentially the same thing: a moon-sized ship with power unlike the universe has ever seen. Each faction can build their own personal Titan, gaining access to the strongest ship there is. There's a caveat, though - you can only build one, they take a long time to build, and starting the building process alerts all other players of the intent. This, obviously, speeds things up a good deal, forcing everyone to act.

Or else, you know, they can deal with a bunch of Death Stars showing up and messing up their day. But we're guessing you won't want to deal with that. We wouldn't want to, either.

Other additions include an Artifact Planet that can be captured as a win condition, turning the game into a massive match of King of the Kill, and a slew of Steam improvements including voice chat and Achievements. On that same note, the game will cost $29.99 for anyone who already purchased a Sins of a Solar Empire game in the past. If you're new to the series it'll only be $10 more, but it will come with the full version of Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity, which includes the original game and expansions. Ironclad hopes this will give gamers a chance to unite their digital games, as the originals weren't released on Steam until fairly recently.

We were also told that you're finally going to get some solid hints as to what the Vasari are running from, which has been a plot point teased for several years now. Apparently little bits of info will be hidden in the code, and Ironclad is anxious to find out how long it takes the community to sort through it all and crack the clues.

Our guess? Seven minutes. Before the game comes out.

Guild Wars 2 beta signups are live for the next 48 hours

Guild Wars 2 is shaping up to be one of the most exciting releases of the year. We took a good look at it in the recent beta, and can say it’s coming along quite nicely. We tried to answer as many of your Guild Wars 2 questions as we could, but you’re bound to have more. There’s only one way to answer them all, and that’s to play it. Here’s your chance.

The Guild Wars 2 beta sign up page is now live. It’ll only be open for the next 48 hours, so you’ll want to get in there ASAP to throw your name in the hat. Head over to the Guild Wars 2 beta-sign up page now to apply. Good luck!