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Top Gaming News -March

Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, dragons, dragons and more dragons!

Update:

Release date confirmed : November 11th 2011.

Without a doubt, my favorite gaming series of all time, Bethesda are sure to do it yet again with the newest addition to the Elder Scrolls series, Skyrim. Bethesda Studio’s creative director Todd Howard announced the capabilities of the all new Creation engine in an interview with Game Informer.

"The big things for us were to draw a lot of stuff in the distance so we have a really sophisticated level of detail, more so than what we've had in the past for how things stream in and how detail gets added to them as they get closer to the camera. The creation engine does just that, it allows for more realistic environmental effects than other Bethesda titles have. Snow falls dynamically, and wind will affect the landscape, such as altering the flow of water and blowing leaves on their branches. All in-game objects will cast a shadow on the ground, and the draw distance is much farther than before"

Elder Scrolls for the PS3

Set 200 years after the top seller Oblivion, Skyrim not only boasts a brand new game engine but Bethesda have even scrapped their traditional class leveling system for a more MMO like approach. They also released details about a new feature called Dragon Shouts. These new abilities are gained by slaying dragons and offer unique abilities such as dragon summoning and teleportation. I find it almost impossible to find flaws in any of Bethesda’s games but if there’s one small gripe I have with the Elder Scrolls series, there are never enough big dragons to go toe to toe with. Confirming over 20 unique Dragon Shout abilities, it’s clear we’re going to get plenty of dragon slaughtering goodness.

Pokémon Black/White Release
Breaking the Japanese records for pre-orders, Pokémon Black/White is the first game in the fifth generation of the hugely popular Pokémon franchise. Whether you’re a young gamer that loves Pokémon and isn’t afraid to admit it or an older gamer that plays it but would never admit it, the newest addition to the Game Freak franchise has fans foaming at the mouth. Introducing 156 brand new Pokémon bringing the total to a colossus 649, scheduled for release 6th March, this game is sure to fly off the shelves.

Update: Within 2 weeks of release Nintendo tweeted a thank you to all Pokemon fans for reaching a massive 2 million sales. Could the US sales top the huge 4.5 million sales for the first year in Japan?

Balls, Balls, Balls, Balls, Balls of Steel!!
Duke Nukem Forever PS3

If you’ve been living in a cave the past few months you may have missed the announcement that confirmed the release of Duke Nukem Forever, arguably one of the most highly demanded gaming titles of all time, the announcement was followed by another that detailed the release of the Balls of Steel addition. If you’ve not caught the Balls of Steel bug, check out one of the funniest gaming related videos on the internet

Duke Nukem Balls of Steel Video

As well as some of the best one liners ever released in video game history included with the Balls of Steel Edition is the following:
• Collectible bust of the greatest alien ass-kicker of all-time
• Numbered, limited-edition certificate of authenticity
• 100-page hardcover book: The History, Legacy & Legend: Duke Nukem
• Duke Nukem Forever postcard series
• Duke Nukem Forever radioactive emblem sticker
• Duke Nukem Forever collectible comic
• Duke Nukem Forever foldable paper craft
• Duke Nukem Forever poker chips
• Duke Nukem Forever mini-card deck
• Duke Nukem Forever radioactive emblem dice

Update : At the moment Amazon has the Balls of Steel limited edition priced at;
Playstation 3: $99.99
Xbox360: $99.99
PC: $89.99

No Encore For Guitar Hero
Activison announced early last month that the next game in the popular Guitar Hero franchise will cease development after a recent decline in the music genre. Despite the game being one of the companies most successful titles they will no longer release any new games for the series but fans aren’t left totally sour as Activision said they would support the series in the forms of DLC’s. Luckily for music genre fans we still have Rock Band but skeptics have argued that if a huge company like Activision can’t straighten out the books with music games, then the far smaller Harmonix studios will likely struggle. I don’t think the music genre will die for a long time yet but with industry giants pulling the plug on what appeared to be foolproof projects, it’s definitely cause for concern.

Mass Effect 2 DLC Incoming
A recent message on the Cerebus network confirmed the release of “Arrival” the latest in Mass Effect 2 downloadable content. Little was announced about the content of the DLC but any fan of the game would appreciate more content, almost regardless of quality. This is a copy of the message displayed on the Cerebus Network:

"Historians and astronomers alike are abuzz tonight over a new paper published by Dr. Amanda Kenson of the University of Arcturus. Her team claims that by testing the dust trapped in the gravity wells around a mass relay, and comparing its composition to that of dust clouds in the same system, scientists can create a timeline of when the relay passed through the dust. Her conclusion? "Only a small fraction of the mass effect relays date back 50,000 years," she writes, "The majority are far older, indicating they were created by a species predating even the Protheans.” Dr. Aurana T’Meles of the University of Serrice met the information with skepticism: “While Dr. Kenson’s methods appear sound, the asari tried a similar procedure centuries ago and discounted it. What civilization could have spanned the galaxy for not thousands, but millions of years? If this were the case, we should have found mountains of evidence of their passing. Where is this species now?"

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Article by - Blaine Smith

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