Guild Wars 2 confirmed for 2012

Happy Chinese New Year to all! ArenaNet founder and President Mike O'Brian posted interesting news about Guild Wars 2 in ArenaNet's official blog. Not only is this the year of the Dragon, but its the year for Guild Wars 2.

The post also mentions that they have recently concluded the closed beta of Guild Wars 2 and is now moving forward in opening the beta to a wider audience. Starting in February, they will be opening the beta to selected press and on March and April, they will be inviting more people to help test out Guild Wars 2.

While there is no official release date yet for Guild Wars 2, the last sentence of the post confirms that Guild Wars 2 will be on shelves this year. So Guild Wars fanatics, just hold your breathe for a little bit longer. Release is near.

This brought a smile to my face, but I'd be happier if they gave us a release date already so I can count the days. Does everybody else agree?

[Source: Massively]

Mass Effect 3 demo dated

Electronic Arts officially announced a date for the Mass Effect 3 demo. The demo is coming on February 14 and will included a single player portion and a coop portion, the multiplayer aspect of Mass Effect 3. 

The coop portion of the demo comes on February 17, 3 days after the single player demo. If you purchased Battlefield 3 though, you get the coop demo together with the single player demo on February 14.

“We are excited to be able to give gamers an expansive demo that will put them right on the front lines of this all-out galactic war,” said Casey Hudson, Executive Producer of the Mass Effect series. “The entire scale of the game is bigger than anything we’ve ever done. With its intense action, deep customization and raw emotional power,Mass Effect 3 will deliver a spectacular action RPG experience to fans of the series and newcomers alike.”

If you plan on trying the demo out on your Xbox, you'll get a treat. The Xbox 360 demo will be the first ever pre-launch demo to support voice recognition of the Xbox 360's Kinect. It will be an exclusive feature on the Xbox 360 version were you may use the Kinect's voice recognition to order your squad or activate your abilities by simply saying it.

Mass Effect 3 will be out on March 6 for Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

[Source: Gematsu]

Super Mario Bros. Crossover 2.0 Trailer

The man who brought you Super Mario Bros. Crossover is doing something that I was not expecting. Not that it's a bad thing, in fact it is something completely awesome. Super Mario Bros. Crossover 2.o!

For those of you how don't know, Super Mario Bros. Crossover is a flash game, made by Jay Pavlina aka Exploring Rabbit, which is basically the original Super Mario Bros. with a twist. The twist is you have the option to choose from a variety of classic NES characters, from Ninja Gaiden's Ryu Hayabusa, Samus from Metroid, Castlevania's Simon Belmont and even the Blue Bomber Mega Man. Most of which control like their original game but with tweaks and abilities to compensate for how different Super Mario Bros. plays.

Super Mario Bros. Crossover 2.0 is basically the sequel of that. With more characters, different stages and, from what the trailer shows, different variations to the stages such as the classic 8-bit Super Mario Bros. look to the 16-bit Super Mario World look and even the original GameBoy Super Mario Land look. This game looks to be even crazier than the last. I don't know of those scenery changes will be active in game or if it was just for dramatic effect in the trailer, I do hope it's the former. I just gotta say, Exploding Rabbit sure knows how to make a trailer.

You can play the first Super Mario Bros. Crossover here.

Thanks to TupaSheep for showing me the trailer.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE1K9yNDNA8[/youtube]

Max Payne 3 Delayed

Can I say this is the first game delayed for 2012? No? correct me if I'm wrong in the comments. But yes, Max Payne has been pushed back from a March release to a May release. 

The new release date is May 15, 2012 for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, the PC version will be out on May 29.

We do not take changes to our release schedule lightly, and this short delay will ensure that Max Payne 3 delivers the highest quality, groundbreaking entertainment experience that is expected from our company, said Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick of the delay

Why the delay? there's no exact answer to why they moved Max Payne 3 to May. One thing's for sure though, Max Payne has no competition during that month. In March, Max Payne 3 will be in the same month as games like Mass Effect 3, Dragon's Dogma, Street Fighter X tekken, and a couple more  . In May, nothing else that I know are coming out on that month.

[Source: Gameinformer]

Dead Space 1 and 2 75% off on Steam

Thanks to Steam's christmas sale last year, checking the Steam store has become somewhat part of my everyday ritual when I log in the net. Today I just noticed that Steam is having a weekend sale for Dead Space 1 and 2. If you haven't played the Dead Space series, its good to start now. For both games, it will only cost you $12(around 500 pesos).

What a coincidence though, an amazing game going 75% off on the first friday the 13th of 2012. Nice one Steam.

Dead Space is the franchise keeping survival horror alive for me. Compared to other genre's, survival horror has the least amount of games coming out each year. I don't remember any new survival horrors that are worth mentioning aside from Dead Space 2 which was a great sequel by the way. It would have been the new Silent Hill, but that was push to 2012. Hopefully we see good ones this year. If there are any horror games last year that was really good , hit the comments.

Head over the Steam store to see the deal for yourself, 75% off is a steal.