BioShock Infinite now out, locally distributed by X-Play Online Games, Inc.

 BioShock Infinite finally hits Philippine shores today! X-Play is the exclusive distributor for Irrational Games' latest entry in the BioShock series and if you did any pre-orders with any of their accredited retail partners, your copies should be available once they are open. If you didn't pre-order, go ahead and drop by anyway to score yourself a copy. More details like price below.

X-Play Retailers

You hardly get games on time here, so its good to see that we get a triple A title on the given release date. With X-Play(not the show, a game publisher in the Philippines) as the official distributor of 2K Games, BioShock Infinite will available in their accredited retailers once their doors open:

• A-Deals (online website- https://www.a-deals.com/home)
• Achieve
• Brochiere
• Netopia
• Game Extreme

• Gameline/GameGizmo/Teke
• iTech

The game should also be available on other stores, so check in your preferred local store if it's available.

Aside from the Standard Edition of the game, a Premium Edition and Songbird Edition will be available, if you want to get some extra goodies.

The Premium Edition of the game will include:

• A 3-inch baby version keychain of the sold-out Murder of Crows vigor bottle replica.

• A 5 x 7-inch lithograph by Jorge Lacera.

• A 25 millimeter, resin-cast Handyman miniature from the upcoming BioShock Infinite board game by Plaid Hat Games, makers of Summoner Wars.

• A mini art book, full of BioShock Infinite concept art and commentary, with a hand-distressed cover.

• Various digital goodies: exclusive in-game gear, a digital soundtrack, and platform specific downloadable content (Avatar costumes for Xbox 360, and Themes for PC and PlayStation 3).

If you want to go even further and really go the collectors route, there is also the Songbird Edition. It provides all that the premium edition has to offer with just one added feature - a 9-and-a-half-inch statue of Songbird, that mechanical bird that you will soon get acquainted with once you fire up your copy of the game.

Songbird Edition

Here's the given price for BioShock Infinite by X-Play:

Edition	PC	PS3	XBOX
Standard	Php 1,895	Php 2,295	Php 2,095
Premium	Php 3,295	Php 3,350	Php 3,350
Songbird	Php 6,495	Php 6,495	Php 6,495

I can't wait to get my hands on this game, and I'm sure people that are reading this feel the same way. So far, reviews are pouring in and it looks like it won't disappoint from what I'm reading.

New to BioShock? Don't worry. BioShock Infinite is not in any way a sequel to the first two games, so having this game as your first entry to the series won't ruin your experience story-wise. But I highly suggest you try the first two games when you have the chance, so you can really appreciate what Irrational Games have created.

BioShock Infinite Launch Trailer

BioShock Infinite has been in development for  four years with 200+ people working on it, and Irrational Games took their time in developing this game to get everything right. From Elizabeth's AI, the story telling, down to every detail and gameplay mechanics to make it worthwhile for any player.

Monday Impressions: Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

It’s such a strange but potentially awesome concept that I had to check it out: Level-5, one of the best JRPG developers out there, teams up with the world-renowned Studio Ghibli to make a game with a hybrid Tales real-time fighting system where you battle with Pokemon-like monsters. How are the results? Ten hours in, and I’m torn. By all rights I should love this game, but somehow I can’t quite bring myself to use that word yet.

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Publishers: Level-5 and Namco-Bandai Developers: Level-5 and Studio Ghibli Platform: PS3 Release Date: January 22, 2013

This supposed JRPG to end all JRPGs begins in a 1950s American suburb. Driven by the titular White Witch, out-of-this-world forces forge a terrible accident in which our young protagonist Oliver loses his mother. But worry not: his tears reanimate the stuffed toy Drippy (the self-proclaimed Lord of the fairies), who convinces Oliver that by helping save his world from the Dark Djinn, he can resurrect his mom. This sets off a journey to the parallel realm and sees the player staring at the beautiful overworld within the first hour of gameplay.

It’s a strong opening, and it sells you on the experience, but it’s also kind of misleading, since it begins with a whole bunch of voice acting and fully animated sequences. The hours that follow have progressively less of these cinematic flourishes, and stick to the fetch-quest paradigm that’s traditionally associated with JRPGs.

I guess if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Still, the game’s presentation is so polished, one would think that the same level of efficiency would follow in its storytelling, but such is not the case. Of course, your mileage may vary. Many role-playing fans will appreciate that the game takes its time with its story, setting up rather elaborate threads and many likeable characters right off the bat.

Right away you’ll see that Studio Ghibli’s short but voice-acted animated sequences boast the quality of their feature-length cinematic work and rise above even the impressive in-game graphics, which are used for the vast majority of cut-scenes.

Once you reach Ding Dong Dell, the game introduces the “Give Heart” mechanic, wherein Oliver redistributes some emotional wealth by taking virtuous aspects like enthusiasm, kindness and courage from the well-endowed and passing them over to the less fortunate. Ailing the hopeless and despondent makes for a heart-warming gameplay mechanic, but there’s really not much more to it than finding the right people and talking to them. Also, some quests require you to travel back and forth to Motorville, since affecting an individual in one realm will influence their soulmate in the other.

You’ll be able to tell by this point that this is a meaty game, but giving and taking hearts are just the start of it. There are spells to learn, tales of wonder to read, pop quizzes on those tales, familiars to defeat, acquire, metamorphose and buff, and various bounty hunts and side quests to attempt. There’s never a moment where you’ll find yourself at a loss as to what to do, either, as waypoints are clearly marked on the maps.

The familiar system is also very robust, a welcome addition for fans of games such as Pokemon and the Dragon Quest Monsters series. There are a ton of critters to collect and train, and storing, retrieving and upgrading them is never a chore. Here’s a hint for you: don’t metamorphose them as soon as you’re able to. Waiting a few levels will increase their stats when they drop back to level 1 in their next form. Combat is fun and fast-paced, especially once you’ve got your full team assembled.

That’s not to say that the entire experience has been perfect, however. I’ve taken issue with the fact that it takes a lot longer to lay out its full gameplay mechanics and get from place to place than I might have liked, and that for much of the time you’re not going to have the voice acting or fully-animated cut-scenes you were spoiled with near the beginning. Instead, you’ll be grinding, hunting for monsters and doing (mostly short) heartbreak-healing quests. A lot.

When the game brings it, though, it’s more than capable of handing the smack-down, with some seriously challenging boss fights. They’re a great deal more difficult than your average random encounter, and besting many of them will require a lot of preparation and strategy.

This isn’t the sort of epic journey you can hope to complete in a week or two, unless you have unlimited free time and skip every side-quest. It is a long-term commitment, even moreso than the typically lengthy Tales games. The idea is that it eases you into the battle system bit by bit, and Oliver gains power at the same pace that the story progresses. You begin with one familiar, and then two, then three, and then another person joins your human party. Then there’s another trial before you even gain the ability to tame wild enemies into becoming your familiars. I would have preferred that the game had dropped me into the middle of all of these things at once rather than stretching out the experience with hours-long introductory sections, but perhaps it's to make the experience easier for younger players to get into.

Perhaps the game’s slow pace is affecting me moreso than others because I’ve been embarking on every optional side-quest, but I’d really like for the story to kick into high gear. Usually I like to know what the stakes are up front. There’s still a long way to go until Oliver gets to throw down with the White Witch, and I do care for these characters, so I’ll give the game the benefit of the doubt and carry on fighting. I hope my affair with the game will go from puppy love to full-blown adoration.

Gameplay footage of Diablo 3 running on the PlayStation 3

Just in case you missed the announcement, or choose not to acknowledge it, Diablo 3 is coming to PS4 and PS3. PC gamers are not too happy about the announcement since it doesn't include an online connection to play, while console players not familiar with the series are excited on how its going to turn out. Well, here's some gameplay footage showing how the console version in action.

If you noticed, the first bit of footage shows a Barbarian rolling, this is a new feature for the console version to give a bit more control when it gets messy. The video shows the new UI which doesn't seems right to me, especially how you switch gear.

The feature that will pretty much be a big selling point is the fact that the console version will not include an online connection to play. A simple feature stripped from PC players last year, owners of the console version will be allowed to play the game online or offline. You can also play the game locally without splitscreen. Playing locally with a player online is also possible.

Diablo 3 will be available for the PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 3. No release date was given yet.

DuckTales Remastered

My nostalgia has been hit so hard. Not only was DuckTales a kickass series but it also had a pretty kickass NES game, back when Capcom was awesome. Now we have this, with the opening theme of the cartoon with sing-a-long lyrics playing through out the whole trailer.

DuckTales Remastered is coming to PSN, Xbox Live and the Wii U eShop.

EA prepping for Battlefield 4 reveal. site and teaser video now out

Prepared for an all new Battlefield game? well EA is almost ready to reveal to the world Battlefield 4. A new site for the soon to be reveal game is now live informing viewers to check back on March 27. But that's not all, a small video teaser was placed on the site called "Sea". it's 20-seconds long but gives a good idea one big new feature to the game.

marine warfare, or to be exact, underwater warfare.  Nothing of course is for sure but its safe to say it involves water.

We'll just have to wait and see, the world reveal should kick off around March 27-28 so check back on the site during those times.

is it too soon for a numbered sequel? Maybe, because a lot are still enjoying Battlefield 3 thanks to the many DLC that have supported the game for more than a year. Question is, will this be EA's FPS game for this year? or next year for next-gen consoles. Either way, excited to see what they will include for the fourth.