The Walking Dead, from comics to TV and now to consoles! PAX East, UK retailer GAME, reaches it’s own GAME OVER screen and much more in this extra large edition of This Week In Gaming News, only on Gamester81.com!
I have to admit something right now, and it has to be in the public because for the past year or so I have missed arguably one of the greatest shows on television in history.
Yeah, I just said greatest in history.
Ironically I said arguably as one could easily argue to infinity that The Walking Dead is a terrible show or a smash hit.
When AMC first debuted the first six episode season of The Walking Dead, I’ll admit…I though to my self…”zombies on cable TV? No thanks.” and being the over bearing cynical horror fan that I can be sometimes, I ignorantly lifted by chin to this series.
Not until lately did I decide to finally give this show a try; hell I was bored and Netflix had Season 1 for streaming. So I powered up my 3DS knowing that I would have the show as background noise while playing Super Mario Land 3DS, and boy was I wrong… this show was anything but background noise. Suddenly my 3DS became the background noise as the complicated yet well fleshed out story had begun to unfold before my very eyes on my television screen. This show was exactly what I wanted it to be and more. Now that we are at the end of the very hefty 13 episode Season 2, AMC has recently green-lighted a 3rd season which has begun production…thankfully.
Will it be the last? Only time will tell, but I will tell you this, if they can land the magic of the show and bring it over to the console for a more hands on approach, we could have pure gold on our hands.
Am I faithful of this? Of course not, just look at the last LOST game…great show, terrible game.
It was recently rumored and then announced that The Walking Dead will be getting a video game release in the near future, but it will not be based heavily on the TV show. Instead it will be based a little more on the graphic novel comics…which is fine by me and I’m not even a huge comic person. Telltale games will be at the helm of this future release, and it looks so far to be an interesting one. From it’s semi-cell shaded look and games main protagonist, it’s hard to tell just where exactly this game will be going, but one thing is for sure, there will be plenty of zombies.
While officially un-confirmed, I would be a betting man to say that The Walking Dead game will be released in a DLC only format, spanning through a series of games.
Is this a good thing? Just take a look at my more recent review of Alan Wake’s American Nightmare and you can judge if downloadable only releases have proven to be worth while so far.
Until then, let’s keep our fingers crossed and our guns loaded that Telltale’s The Walking Dead will turn out to be a blood drenched roller coaster and not a lifeless corpse. That and I strongly urge you to check out this fantastic TV series as Season 1 is on Blu-Ray and DVD in various forms as well as on Netflix for streaming enabled users.
It’s got all the heart of a good zombie flick with just enough drama to keep you coming back for more.
UK Retailer GAME has recently begun to feel the sharp sting of the recent loss of rights to selling blockbuster hit, Mass Effect 3 recently.
As if the retailer hadn’t already begun to notice sales decline over the 1st quarter of 2012, events in recent days have begun to surface and they have reared their ugly head out to gleefully say to the world “I’M GOING BANKRUPT…but I’m not going to tell you”.
When this recent photo surfaced on the web a few day’s ago, speculation began that UK retailer GAME was starting to liquidate their merchandise and was steering towards a quick and cold end. After a shaky meeting with EA, UK’s GAME could not reach a proper agreement for the buy prices of the upcoming Mass Effect 3 title, as well as future EA releases, and in return UK retailer GAME lost the rights to sell new EA based titles, which eventually hit at a bad point because as we all know Mass Effect 3 just had a major launch and has been selling at an alarming rate around the world right now.
Hell, even I was surprised when I noticed that my local Best Buy and Gamestop was out of Xbox 360 copies. When I reached out to GAME and their main office I was over so kindly greeted with a cut and paste copy that they have been sending to all press lately; which was “We are not going out of business, we are simply doing our version of “spring cleaning”. Well I guess “spring cleaning” is code word in the UK for…YOU’RE GOING OUT OF BUSINESS AND DON’T WANT STOCK HOLDERS TO PULL OUT SO YOU CAN RAPE THEM OUT OF EVERY LAST CENT THEY HAVE!
Did I just say that out loud? Oops.
Battlefield has done it, Call Of Duty has done it, and of course Halo has done it.
All the great games that have had a strong focus on multiplayer have done it, so the question is…why isn’t Halo 4 doing it?
That “it” of course is a multiplayer beta and in recent news a large outcry has been heard from the gaming community as it seems that Halo 4 will not be seeing a beta in any form.
For most people this is a shaky thing in this day in age as it’s not like this is Halo: ODST where it was just a fresh coat of paint but still the same old thing, this is a brand new Halo game with a brand new engine and everything.
It would seem extremely wise to Beta test the game online to fix all of the bugs present before release. Microsoft and 343 Industries have decided (or so it seems) that what will be one of the Xbox 360’s biggest game releases of this year, Halo 4, whom bases 99.9% of it’s fanbase from online play, doesn’t need a Beta to test online play.
Now, maybe I’m getting old but I know I am not getting crazy, and the fact that they are just skipping a process like this all together really makes me weary of things to come, and it should make you weary too.
Could it be that this aren’t confident in the product? That they feel if they release a Beta and people find out that it’s just a pile of absolute “do-do” that sales will decline?
Or are they actually planning to just release this title and to take us by surprise as we become engaged and engrossed in a phenomenal multiplayer experience?
I would be a betting man on the first answer; that this game will end up being rather lack luster. Though I will give 343 praise where praise is due and say that the remake of Halo: Combat Evolved was extremely impressive and sparked my interest back into the universe of Halo for a short while. Holding the title of Halo 4 is a heavy crown to bare, and 343 may not be ready for what lays in wait down the road. Hopefully they will get their act together and understand that Beta testing has now become a staple in FPS shooter titles.
Not too long ago we saw the release of Alan Wake’s American Nightmare to generally critical acclaimed.
While Gamester81 and I thought the game was fantastic for a downloadable piece and price, some fans were a little disappointed that they did not receive a physical release.
However, another large portion of gamers out there were that of the PC crowd.
As we saw the release of the original Alan Wake on the PC via STEAM, it ended up being a massive success and took developer Remedy by storm and turned what was supposed to be a digital download release only game for the PC and made it into a soon to be physical release of the flashlight bearing hit. To top it all off, the PC release will receive an exclusive “Collectors Edition” release which will come packed with tons of extra content.
Below is a leaked picture of the UK version.
While we can’t see much to what is in side of it, it’s clear that this edition will include various other forms of content, including the 2 additional DLC post release add on’s “The Writer” and “The Signal” at no additional content, even for the standard release.
Will it include American Nightmare also? That is a very good question as rumors have speculated that if Alan Wake sold well on the PC, that American Nightmare will be making a special appearance of sort onto the PC, could this be just that?
We’ll have to wait and see!
Lastly John “Gamester81” and I will be at this years PAX East event, be sure to come up and say hello to us. Unfortunately I will not be able to make all three days, but I will be there on Day 1; Friday which is April the 6th.
Gamester81 however will be there for all three days of the event and will be providing you with tons of great and exclusive content for www.gamester81.com, and I will be doing updates throughout the entire day for April 6th on the website. It’ll be almost like a virtual tour of the floor of PAX East, so be sure to check back the site then.
I also want to urge people out there that if you have NOT bought a pass yet, to go out and do so. Three day passes are sold out, and Saturday is now sold out also. So be sure to check www.paxsite.com for more details and scheduling.
We will be holding a huge meet and great Friday before the event, so if you are interested in meeting up with us, be sure to send one of us a message for details.
If not, then we will see you inside the event!
Also, Gamester81 and I will be heading up to the worlds largest arcade Funspot in New Hampshire on Monday to dump endless quarters into the various arcades they have up there that range from retro to modern. So if you are interested in meeting us up there be sure to be there on Monday April 9th starting in the afternoon. If you need directions go ahead and look up Funspot in New Hampshire and they will provide you with all the information needed.
Besides John and I being there, many more from the YouTube community will be there too. It’s bound to be a great weekend, and we can’t wait to see you there!
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