Presentation

Monday, EA Sports released a pretty hefty amount of detail on some of their dynasty improvements.  Every year it seems they only rehash old features that were dead or put things in that should have been in this generation.  We’ll have to judge for ourselves, but hopefully this year the improvements are much needed.

As an avid sports fan, those of us that spend our Saturdays following collegiate football closer than Thor follows Loki (Heck yes I just made an Avengers joke) we understand football is a living, breathing entity.  While watching your favorite team play, you can’t help but watch the ticker because you’re simply too afraid to switch channels in fear of missing something but have to know what’s going on around you. Well, this year that problem in the virtual world will hopefully be fixed.

ESPN Bottom Line ticker

This year that logic has been injected inside of NCAA College Football’s dynasty mode.  In past iterations, non-user games weren’t fully simulated until the user finished their game.  The week was then simulated and advanced, making the user go back and navigate to find whom won/lost.

This year NCAA ’13 improved the simulation logic to better reflect what’s going on in real-time.  It now takes into account games played before and during the user’s games, exposing the scores through the new ESPN Bottom Line ticker.

This means if you’re playing at 4:00, all scores of games played beforehand will show up on the ticker, letting you know what happened earlier in the day. Games that start around the time you kick-off will show updated scores, even if they start a bit later.  The ticker will also show upcoming games, filled with team logos and the games kick-off time.  The ticker will also play just as it’s real life counterpart on Saturday.  It will include Priority Score Alerts with the score changing dynamically on-screen, as well as Final Score and Upset Alerts.   The ticker will also remain visible even when you pause the game or choose to look at replays.

Studio Updates

The next update to presentation comes in form of Studio Updates. For those not familiar with Studio Updates, they are live cut-ins to the studio for updates on certain games going on around the country.  With the announcement of this, you have to wonder, “Rece Davis?”  Well rest assured; Rece Davis will be announcing the studio updates in this year’s NCAA College Football.

Studio updates will occur dynamically throughout a given game showing single scores, multiple scores, or a combination whenever big events play out throughout the collegiate landscape.  The development team reportedly but in a tremendous amount of time working on the tech and logic needed to make this work properly, giving you the emersion needed.  The new commentary engine supposedly has given NCAA ’13 the ability to create branching story paths for each Studio Update, allowing Rece to not become repetitive during the course of a game.

Now, these new features can be argued whether or not they should have been implemented in previous games. With the way our world has become via Internet and endless connectivity to updates, the ESPN ticker should have been in this generation’s games.  Same with last year’s “3-D grass”, it was long overdue even if it is a nice addition.  Presentation is shaping up to be on par with Madden ’13 this year though, so hopefully the trend of both games seamlessly keeping things familiar will pay off finally.  What are your thoughts on the presentation for this year guys?

Source: EA Sports

Game Review:

Toy Soldiers: Cold War was launched onto XBLA and PSN in August 2011 and quickly garnered both critical acclaim and praise from gamers. TS:CW took the formula from the original WWII themed Toy Soldiers and updated it by infusing the presentation, mechanics, and scenarios with an 80′s flare that gave  the game some much needed levity and personality. With the new Napalm and Evil Empire DLC packs, Signal Studios looks to give fans of the game some new scenarios to play through and enjoy. Each pack comes with three brand new maps that play and look a lot different than any of the original maps that were released with Toy Soldiers: Cold War.

The first DLC Pack that I played through was the Evil Empire one which focused on the Soviet Union and it’s campaign to rid the world of the capitalist pig threat. Rather than slowly coax you into the game play, Evil Empire starts the player off with a full-on invasion that will force you to quickly dispose of the initial wave before setting up your defenses. To help you along with your ruskie campaign you’re given a full arsenal of emplacements and a couple new vehicles to use as you eliminate the Yankee threat from Mother Russia. Over the three maps you’ll be faced with a mixture of troops that will constantly have you selling off useless turrets to change up your strategy to better defend against the enemy. The trio of maps ends with a heated battle against droves of increasingly difficult American troops that culminates with an all out battle against a huge tank that utilizes advanced weapons and spits out infantry and armored units along the way.

Next up we have the Napalm map that focuses on backdrop of the Vietnam War and utilizes the guerilla tactics and weaponry that were used during that time. Just like with the Evil Empire maps the Napalm map does not pull any punches and will have you immediately thrown into the fray as soon as you begin the first map. Of the two, I found Napalm to be the more difficult as it has the play multi-tasking between multiple targets and even has you at one point defending a triple entrance base that will have you juggling your defenses  throughout the relentless attack by Vietnamese troops. Throughout this campaign I found myself utilizing the vehicles more often than not as the onslaught of enemies proved to be more than my defenses could handle. The maps ended with what seemed like an easy to defend choke point that quickly turned into an all out battle to defend against heavily armored tanks outfitted with high-powered lasers and an eventual standoff against a flying death machine.

All six of the maps had me restarting on more than one occasion but rather than being overly frustrated I took this as a challenge to better tune my defenses to the waves of enemies rather than utilizing my default “catch all” set-ups. I really enjoyed the challenge that these maps provided and I commend Signal Studios for choosing to put a lil effort into providing new scenarios rather than just maps to extend the experience.  Both DLC packs provide experiences that expand on the tight gameplay found in Toy Soldiers: Cold War as well as provide some new backdrops to enjoy as you fend over the evil horde of enemies.

There’s very little that I would change about the Napalm experience, other than perhaps more maps to enjoy. Without a doubt I had a lot of fun getting through the waves of enemies as I made my way through the maps. As for the Evil Empire maps, I’d have to say that I found them to be lacking in originality and that they offered very little to the formula found in the original game. While I enjoyed playing through Evil Empire, I’d say that Napalm was the real must-have of the two packs as it is a  unique experience that expands the universe created by the original game.

You’d have to be a big fan of the original Toy Soldiers: Cold War to purchase the Napalm and Evil Empire DLC Packs, but if you do, you’ll be treated to a suite of maps that are sure to challenge the skills you acquired while playing the main game. For five dollars a piece, you’ll get a group of maps that are sure to satisfy your devious penchant for toy-based destruction.

+Napalm DLC provides a variety of new challenges to overcome
+Sure to challenge veterans and new players a like
+Revels in the 80′s aesthetic through music and scenery
-Evil Empire feels like more of the same
-3 maps per pack leaves you wanting more

Final Scores: Napalm DLC – 8 Out Of 10

Evil Empire DLC – 7 Out Of 10

The Walking Dead, long before it became known as a TV series on AMC, was a comic book series by Robert Kirkman.  I mention this because the game is based on said comic book series, so those people who go into this game thinking they’re getting some sort of continuation of the TV series will be in for a shock, but fortunately no prior understanding of either the show or the comic is necessary to play the game.  This review will be spoiler free, because a game like this needs to be experienced by the player first, not read in some review.  The first episode in this 5 chapter season sets the stage wonderfully, as you take part in the early stages of the zombie infestation that has begun to plague Atlanta and the outlying suburbs.  You’ll meet up with all sorts of characters, all of whom have their own motives and methods of surviving (with various degrees of success).  Your goal through this episode is to establish what’s going on, find help, try to locate your family, and, of course, survive.

How you go about accomplishing those goals is what this game is all about.  Telltale Games has done an excellent job with how you interact with the world.  Rather than having just point and click environments, or just having you move the character around exploring, The Walking Dead mixes them both in.  At times, you’ll be free to explore an area (often a fairly limited space) using either the control pad or WASD keys, depending on your input method.  Other times, you may be crawling along the ground using those same controls, scrambling to get away from a zombie.  And there are instances where it is point and click: you can’t move at all, and must look around at what is nearby to determine what you must do next, such as escaping a vehicle, or distracting a zombie horde.  It’s the fusion of these different types of interfaces that help keep The Walking Dead from feeling repetitive while serving a specific purpose; for example, most point and click scenes are used in claustrophobic environments where you need to act quickly.

And acting quickly is a common theme in this game.  Almost from the start, you’re on a timer any time an interaction is required of you.  Everything from conversation responses to actions to chases are timed, and your reaction will dictate life or death, be it yours or someone else’s.  Conversations in particular require constant attention, as your input is often needed to steer things in one direction or another.  Silence (either no response, or selecting the “…” response) is an option, and sometimes can be the prudent move, but more often than not, you’ll want to say something.  Building relationships in this game is critical, and you will often need to decide between telling people the truth, and telling them what they want to hear.  You’ll have to remember all the stories you tell, too, because characters will either test you on what you previously said, or be listening when you tell your story to others, and if things don’t mesh up, you’ll damage your credibility.  This might not seem like a big deal, until you try to convince them to help you and they blow you off.  Every choice you make will change the story you experience, and in fairly drastic ways.  Telltale Games has stated that the episodes will build off of the choices you make (and this is made evident in the closing preview to the next chapter, in which cutscenes are tailored to the choices you made in the game), so choose wisely (but quickly!).

The Walking Dead does a great job of immersing you in its world quickly, and you learn about your character from the interactions you have with other characters (including the lies you tell). This character interaction is one of the real strengths of the game, and is driven by excellent dialog and voice acting.  The emotions that people feel are real, and with the cel-shaded cartoon style of graphical representation, solid dialog was critical in order to keep the game’s fairly serious tone plausible.  The game does not shy away from forcing tough decisions on your character with real ramifications, and you will quickly learn that slow response time or poor decision making will cost people their lives.  The game takes this all in stride and moves on, but you may find yourself dwelling on whether you could have handled a situation better.  Fortunately, there are 3 save slots, so if you want to try it again on another playthrough, you can do so without overwriting anything.  Another strength is the frantic feeling you get in close combat situations, in which you must quickly find the spot on an attacking zombie to hit before it makes you its lunch.  It’s also worth noting that once you do beat the episode, you’ll want to go back through and just spend time dying at various points.  I played through the episode the first time without dying (though I can’t say the same for my companions), and realized there were some pretty insane (and humorous) death scenes I was missing.  The episode is short enough (~2 hours) that you can play through it a few times to see everything the game has to offer, as it will be impossible to do so in a single run.

My gripes are minor: the animations, particularly with a character’s eyes, can be a little off.  Characters can do scowls, glares and other facial expressions that involve eye squints very well, but when a character is surprised, shocked or using an expression that involves their eyes going wide, it looks awful, and pulls you out of the experience a bit.  Controls on the keyboard for movement feel very awkward; if you can use a gamepad, do so.  There are points in the conversations where there is an out of place silence, or characters will say things that don’t seem in line with how the conversation was going, almost as if the game was choosing the wrong dialog response to the previous statement.  The game is also very linear, with fairly obvious solutions to the various puzzles.  The only real challenge is trying to balance everyone’s emotions towards you, until you realize that you can’t please everyone.  Then it just turns into focusing your efforts on the characters you care about, and letting the others fend for themselves.

Tym’s Take: The Walking Dead is an excellent start to this 5 episode game series.  You quickly become invested both in your character and the characters you meet, and for a game that’s as short as this is, that’s an impressive feat.  You will have genuine moments of terror as you watch companions die while you’re trying to save them, and the mature tone of the game is appreciated.  I truly got the feeling that the way characters behaved in this game is pretty much how real people would behave, and what shocked me most was realizing that how I was interacting with the game is probably a fair representation of how I’d handle myself in that situation in life.  The Walking Dead is as much litmus test of your real-life handling of pressure situations as it is a horror game, and is probably why this game does such a good job of pulling you in, and keeping you engaged.  I strongly recommend this game to anyone.

+ Excellent dialog and voice acting
+ Decisions have real consequences
+ Decisions must be made quickly
- Animations and certain dialog sequences are a little off
- Game is pretty much on rails, relying on character interactions to provide the variety of outcomes

Final Score: 9/10

Yesterday, the official Elder Scrolls Twitter account teased us letting everyone know that the first information about downloadable content for Skyrim would be on the way. Pete Hines continued saying there wouldn’t be a ‘complete download (zip file) of info(formation)’ for the content while warning gamers to manage their ‘expectations’. Today, Bethesda releases the information about the upcoming first downloadable content for Skyrim entitled ‘Dawnguard’ with a mudslide of information.

Except that mudslide would be more of a mud shift. On the BethBlog, a picture was posted with these words underneath: “Coming this summer to Xbox 360. More details at E3.” So we have about a month until we find out any actual information.

Sony Move enthusiasts will rejoice next month when their beloved Sorcery, the long-awaited title touted as The Reason to own a Move, is finally released on May 22^nd.  If they were anything but gamers, you’d probably see them rapturously dancing in the streets.  Instead they’ll be holed up in their living rooms flailing Move wands like closet Harry Potter addicts.

A light at the end of the tunnel

And as well they should—after an impressive showing at E3 2010, the publicity on Sorcery went dark for eighteen months, generating doubt that the project would come to fruition.  When these doubts reached the feelers of developer The Workshop in June 2011, Sony responded feebly, “Yes, Sorcery is still in development.”  Fans continued to doubt—perhaps it was better to prepare for the worst, and if the game never saw the light of day, there would be some comfort in a resounding “I told you so!”

But in December they were happily proven wrong.  Sony confirmed Sorcery for a spring 2012 release and gave some explanation for the publicity silence. Design director Brian Upton told Playstation Blog,

Coming out of E3, we knew there were some things we weren’t happy with… What we showed at E3 was largely organized around a dungeon crawl, and we realized we didn’t want that.  We wanted a full-blown fantasy world, not a series of tunnels. A lot of our re-tooling involved moving the action gameplay into a more free-flowing space. The E3 version also had a much younger hero, and the enemies were a lot more cartoonish. We though, ‘you know, we have a game here that would appeal to a hardcore PlayStation gamer…and it looks a little bit like Spyro!’ [laughs]  We didn’t want people to get the wrong impression, so we wanted to bring the visuals in-line with the gameplay.

I believe that’s code for, “Oh crap!  We didn’t realize how much pressure was on this game to be awesome.  We’d better, uh, do that.”

Awesome story?

Everybody loves a sassy animal companion.

On Tuesday Upton posted a new Sorcery trailer on the Playstation Blog.  A fussy old sorcerer named Dash introduces his apprentice Finn and Finn’s magical cat Erline (sounds like airline) who embodies your typical saucy animal companion, like Jiji from Kiki’s Delivery Service or Donkey from Shrek.  In fact, based on this trailer, Sorcery seems to have taken quite a few tricks from the Shrek playbook:  goofy characters light-heatedly banter while growing close to one another as they set out on a deliberately-cliché quest—in Sorcery’s case, to defeat the Nightmare Queen who wants to cover the fairy land in eternal darkness.  Based on Shrek’s success, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Awesome gameplay

Despite the delay between the E3 demo and the game’s release, developer The Workshop contends that the core gameplay hasn’t altered much from what fans saw back in 2010.  The Move is still reputedly the most fine-tuned of the motion control consoles, and Sorcery aims to show it off at its best.  For example, as seen in the E3 demo, the player’s personal style with the Move controller will affect both the power and trajectory of Finn’s Arcane Bolts.

Additionally, The Workshop also got creative with the ways that different spells affect enemies.  Arcane bolts can be shot in a bent trajectory to hit enemies around corners.  Fire spells are effective against large swarms of enemies.  Frost can be used to freeze and disable potent targets.  You can also combine spells.  For example, you can use Frost to freeze enemies and then shatter them with the Arcane Bolts.  Or you can cast Fire, create a Whirlwind, then push the whirlwind through the fire which turns it into a firestorm.  There seem to be quite a few options, and the game appears to reward creative tinkering with spell types.

Finn can freeze enemies with a Frost spell, then shatter them with his Arcane Bolts.

Another cool gameplay element in the E3 demo is the Polymorph Rat Potion .  Finn shakes up the potion (which changes color when it’s ready), tips it back, and – voila!  He’s a rat now and can access a small tunnel previously inaccessible to his human form.  This reminded me of Samus curling into a ball and rolling through cramped Metroid spaces, and Kameo with her myriad beast forms—awesome elements from awesome games.

Happily ever after?

Sony has put a lot of pressure on Sorcery as one of its key Move titles, and as a title that will open a can of whoopass on Wii and Kinect motion control games.   For many gamers, Sorcery is the reason they bought a Move in the first place.  Hopefully the extended development phase was sufficient for The Workshop to beef Sorcery up to its own hype.

Do we have any Ms. Splosion Man fans on deck? While on the PAX East show floor, I dropped by the Twisted Pixel booth to see what was new with them. Ms. Splosion Man was a major hit on the Playstation Network and Xbox Live Arcade, but for more details check out our old review by Mitchel Broussard. But just recently announced at PAX, Twisted Pixel will be bringing their over the top (and hilarious) platformer to a much wider audience by bringing it to PC (Steam, Games for Windows), plus iOS and Android devices. Community Manager Jay Stuckwisch walked me through the details, telling me that “PC version will include 50 single player levels, 50 co-op levels for up to four players locally or online, ghost replays, achievements, unlockables like ‘2 Girls 1 Controller Mode’, and more. The iPhone and iPad versions will be a unique experience built specifically for those devices with familiar content but all new features, objectives and gameplay modes, brought to you by a new version of the BEARD engine that takes utmost advantage of the latest and greatest hardware to make the game look stunning.” You can check out the official announcement trailer bellow, along with my flip camera video at the bottom.

I had a lot of fun playing the demo on the Ipad, even though I died more times than I would care to admit. Jumper games are not my area of expertise, per say. Controls were very basic, with backwards and forward controlled by a simulated joystick on the bottom left corner, while taping the right for Splosions. In the second video bellow, I redeemed a small amount of my pride as I watch Jay attempt the same level, to give you a taste of what is to come. Do bare in mind, the demo he is playing in this video is not the finished version, as some of the textures and graphics still look a little rough. I would also like to apologize for the glare on the Ipad screen, but it isn’t there the entire time. Enjoy!

Be sure to stay tuned to Platform Nation for even more PAX East 2012 coverage.

Ms.SplosionMan.com

Zen Pinball 2 will be releasing for PlayStation 3 this year. But dont get too excited just yet! While this is a significant change there are no new tables coming out with this release. So what is Zen Pinball 2 then? Well, anyone familiar with the Xbox 360 version of Zen Studios’ game, which it titled Pinball FX, will know exactly what is coming. In 2010 Zen release Pinball FX2, which was a free upgrade from the first game. What it did was revamped the UI, brought in better graphics and physics, and served as a new platform to purchase and manage your tables.

Zen Pinball on PS3 is currently split into a few games. There is Zen Pinball proper, and then two standalone Marvel Pinball releases. When Zen Pinball 2 comes out it will transition all your content from the three games into one, making it easier to get to all your tables. Like the Pinball FX2 upgrade, it will also bring “updated physics, new trophies and integration into a new social system that includes the option to post scores to Facebook” to each table. For those who dont own any of Zen Studios pinball games yet, Zen Pinball 2 will be a free download with each table available for purchase a-la-carte. This drops the barrier of entry from a $10 purchase down to just the purchase of one table, which is around $2-3. Better yet, you will be able to play a trial version of each table before you buy.

If you have a PlayStation Vita your content will be available cross-platform at no extra change. “We have really focused on keeping the community intact, offering compelling new features and connecting the cross-platform experience between the PlayStation®3 and the PlayStation®Vita,” said Mel Kirk, Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations at Zen Studios.

“When Zen Pinball 2 releases, existing Zen Pinball and Marvel Pinball owners will simply download an update and their content will automatically import into the new Zen Pinball 2 platform.” Zen Pinball 2 will launch alongside Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles sometime this spring.

Zen Studios Announces Zen Pinball 2™ for PlayStation®3 system and PlayStation®Vita system via PlayStation®Network

Zen Pinball 2™ is a Free Upgrade for Existing Zen Pinball™ and Marvel Pinball™ Players

Los Angeles, CA – April 9, 2012 – Zen Studios, the definitive leader in videogame pinball, today announced Zen Pinball 2 for the PlayStation®3 system and PlayStation®Vita system via PlayStation®Network.

Set to release spring of 2012, Zen Pinball 2 features an abundance of exciting new features and updates, making it the premiere pinball platform on any digital distribution network. Best of all, Zen Pinball 2 is a free update for existing Zen Pinball and Marvel Pinball owners, while new users can download the pinball platform and try every pinball table for free. All told, Zen Pinball 2 will launch with twenty-six pinball tables!

Additionally, players will enjoy cross-platform entitlement and any Zen Pinball 2 purchase will entitle players to both the PS3 and PS®Vita versions at no additional charge. Zen Pinball 2 will release in conjunction with Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles, a new four-table pack featuring tables based on ‘Marvel’s The Avengers’ Movie, ‘World War Hulk,’ ‘Fear Itself,’ and ‘The Infinity Gauntlet.’

“We are so excited about the future of videogame pinball, and Zen Pinball 2 is the most advanced pinball platform available on any digital network. We are happy to upgrade physics, provide new trophies and introduce compelling new social features and more to all of our existing players at no charge,” said Mel Kirk, Zen Studios Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations.  “We have really focused on keeping the community intact, offering compelling new features and connecting the cross-platform experience between the PlayStation®3 and the PlayStation®Vita.”

When Zen Pinball 2 releases, existing Zen Pinball and Marvel Pinball owners will simply download an update and their content will automatically import into the new Zen Pinball 2 platform. Each table will receive updated physics, new trophies and integration into a new social system that includes the option to post scores to Facebook.

Zen Pinball 2 list of features:

• PlayStation®3 system and PlayStation®Vita system cross-platform entitlement including shared global leaderboards, online friend challenges and tournaments
• The most advanced ball physics simulation to date
• Compete against other players to achieve the highest ProScore™, and team up with your friends to increase your TeamScore™
• Exceptional visuals in full 3D on 3D compatible TV sets
• Free, fully playable demos for all available tables
• Exciting multiplayer modes, including local split-screen and hotseat multiplayer, online, and worldwide tournaments
• New tables released regularly through the PlayStation®Store
• Share your scores on Facebook
• New rule sheets to help you achieve higher scores
• New trophies for each table

Zen Pinball 2 will be a free download for any PlayStatation®Network user on the PlayStation®3 system and the PlayStation®Vita system, and will ship with a robust trial system allowing the player to sample each table in the game.

Enough about all that, though. How does the game PLAY?  I selected one of the new songs to play (Jessie’s Girl), and was given a quick overview of the button schema: the Left and Right triggers would slide me between the playable tracks, and the Left and Right analog sticks would activate the gems on the track (gems on the left side need the left stick hit, and vice versa).  Once the song starts, you are free to move between the tracks in whatever fashion you want, and you will have all of the instruments to move between.  Depending on what track you are on, you will hear that instrument louder than the others.  Obviously, when trying for a high score, you’re going to want to be on the track that has the most notes, but there is something else to consider; a multiplier on screen that increases for each individual instrument.  So while you could spend the entire time on the lead guitar track, and score quite a bit, you’ll never increase your overall multiplier beyond 4x.  If, however, you were to work on each instrument, and increase all of them to 4x, it will eventually open up the next level of multipliers.  I saw up to 12X when watching others play (I got to 9X myself).  There was a lot going on with the board when I was playing, with glowing notes and overdrive notes, and I didn’t quite catch what the benefit of all of them were (some would release the pinball, some would start the next multiplier group if you had everything at the highest), but that will come with more play, and, you know, an instruction manual.

The button configuration took a little getting used to; I kept switching tracks when I was meaning to select the gems (for some reason, my brain wanted to use the triggers to select the notes; I do not know if the controls are configurable).  Once I got it down, though, I was racking up the points pretty well, snagging a 5 star performance out of my one playthrough. The speed of the play is good, and increases as you hit notes continuously.  If you miss one, it slows back down.

Finally, you have access to powerups in the game that will help hit notes that you might not otherwise be able to.  The two that were playable was a rocket, which would launch ahead of you and hit notes on the track further down (good for clusters of notes on an instrument, so that you can hit those while moving to another instrument), and a pinball that would move around the board, hitting whatever notes it came in contact with.  You could keep that pinball going by moving under it as it approached the bottom.  This made for a complex experience, as you were trying to concentrate on the notes and tracks that had the most notes, as well as keeping the ball moving around the board.

The  beeps and boops of the game were both nice and informative, and served as a way of indicating the pace of the game. Overall this game felt very Pac-Man CE DX to me; a re-imagining of a game in a way that is immediately familiar, leaderboard driven, and very addictive.  Finally getting my hands on the game confirmed that this will be much more than a track pack expansion for me.  Talking with one of the folks from Harmonix on the floor, we shared in our excitement over being able to use our DLC in a new way, particularly for songs that were less played, or instrumentals (think RBN).  All of the songs from your Rock Band library will be playable in Blitz (exception to Rock Band 3, whose songs are not exportable yet), and the songs that come with Blitz will be playable in Rock Band 3.  Future DLC will be playable in both games.

Rock Band Blitz is scheduled to release this summer, for PSN and XBLA. No pricing details have been announced as of yet.

Well, at the very least he is kinda good, because he is getting his own pinball table in the upcoming Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles game. Zen Studios is continuing with their superhero theme but this time brining it to a new level. “Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles features four tables designed to tell a more cohesive story from the actual comic or movie material, while incorporating the most dramatic elements as gameplay. Fans of previous Marvel Pinball tables will experience a fresh approach to the critically acclaimed series, including deeper character interactions, more dialogue, and the most explosive action to date.”

The World War Hulk pinball table will tell the tale of Hulk after his banishment to outer space, where “he returns to Manhattan to seek revenge against the Illuminati and wage war against the X-Men, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four and Doctor Strange in World War Hulk.” So after you play the X-Men, Iron Man, and Fantastic Four table in Zen’s other games, you can come see them get destroyed in their new table.

Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles is one of four tables that is “set to release this spring for Xbox LIVE® Arcade, PlayStation®3 and PlayStation®Vita via PlayStation®Network.”

Billy and Jimmy are back! Actually, they came back rather recently for iOS. Still, the Double Dragons have a notable legacy in video games, if not the highest quality one. We can’t forget the movie starring the host of Iron Chef.

WayForward Technologies, with Majesco, are bringing the franchise back as Double Dragon Neon. Billy and Jimmy reunite to save Marian from Skullmageddon. Having fun with the 1980s the franchise was born from, the game looks to be an entertaining blast to the past. This July will see the release of the title on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

I’m all up for a retro-inspired trip to the past.

Source: IGN