This month’s GamesTM review scores are as follows:
BioShock Infinite – 10
Gears of War Judgment – 7
LEGO City: Undercover – 6
Castlevania Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate – 5
SimCity – 8
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 – 3
WRC Powerslide – 5
Year Walk – 7
Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk – 4
Starcraft II: Heart of The Swarm – 7
Hawken – 7
Runner2 – 8
The Banner Saga: Factions – 8
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus – 4
Beastie Bay – 7
Badland – 8
HarmoKnight – 8
Darkstalkers Resurrection – 7
Kentucky Route Zero – 8
Thanks to joclo for the tip.
This week’s GameStop ad has gone live. Highlights include Naruto Powerful Shippuden for $29.99.
The full lineup of deals can be found in the circular below:
Bloom: Memories has a strong shot of landing on the Wii U eShop. Indie developer Studio Fawn certainly has interest, and a release would likely happen after the initial launch for PC and Mac.
According to Studio Fawn’s Dani Landers:
“We definitely plan on a Wii U version after the initial release (since we are such a tiny team, doing a simultaneous release across all of our planned platforms is difficult). This also gives us a little extra time to implement some Wii U specific controls and test to take full-advantage of what the system has to offer.”
If you’d like to see Bloom: Memories happen, perhaps you’ll consider a small donation on the official Kickstarter page. Studio Fawn would like to raise $50,000. At this time, only $20,000 has been collected with eight days remaining.
Detune is continuing the KORG series of titles with a new release for the 3DS eShop.
KORG M01D expands on the music workstation features first displayed in the DS versions. The amount of voices has been doubled to 24, and users can create music with up to 99 scenes through the 8 track / 64 step sequencer and 342 sounds. KORG M01D also lets you save MINI song data to an SD card.
KORG M01D launches on the Japanese 3DS eShop next month for 3,000 yen. It will be available overseas this summer.
For the first time, Rocksteady won’t be making the next mainline entry in the Batman: Arkham universe. That task has now been delegated to Warner Bros. Montreal, the team that ported Arkham City to Wii U.
There is some worry among gamers that Arkham Origins, the next console release, won’t be up to the series’ usual standards. But with official backing from Rocksteady, perhaps there isn’t much to be concerned about after all.
Rocksteady’s Sefton Hill and director of Batman: Arkham’s first two games told Game Informer this month:
“Rocksteady is excited to see WB Games Montreal developing the prequel to the Batman Arkham franchise. We are confident this talented team will craft a fantastic experience, bringing the origins of the Arkhamverse to life.”
And Origins director Eric Holmes commented to the magazine about how the shift in developers “gives us the opportunity to refresh things a bit”:
“It gives us the opportunity to refresh things a bit. Refresh characters, refresh ideas, refresh the dynamic between Batman and other characters, and refresh the world, too. Batman hasn’t become the character that we know and are very familiar with.”
Ubisoft announced that it would be delaying Rayman Legends on Wii U a couple of months ago so that it could bring the title to additional platforms. This was something that didn’t surprise Rayman creator Michel Ancel, who is also the driving force behind Legends.
Ancel told ONM:
“No, I wasn’t shocked, but it was really hard for us. Of course, there are more important issues and problems in the world but we worked really hard to make something and were so involved, it was difficult for us and the fans.”
Because of the delay, the Rayman Legends team was able to add in more content. It now features 30 additional levels along with new bosses.
“Trust me, the things we are adding aren’t minor. We’re not talking about adding some polish here and there, but 30 new levels and several new bosses.”
The latest Japanese hardware sales from Media Create are as follows:
3DS LL – 34,180
3DS – 22,684
Vita – 19,328
PS3 – 16,807
Wii U – 14,783
PSP – 8,876
Wii – 1,718
Xbox 360 – 536
For comparison’s sake, here are the hardware numbers from last week:
3DS LL – 38,442
Vita – 31,795
3DS – 28,538
Wii U – 22,829
PS3 – 19,069
PSP – 12,594
Wii – 1,858
Xbox 360 – 598
Update: Added in one more screenshot and boxart.
Nintendo and Ubisoft have shared the first screenshot of Splinter Cell: Blacklist on Wii U following the news that the game will indeed be released on the console. Take a look below:
We’ve known for some time that The Denpa Men 2 is set for an overseas release. Its launch on the North American and European 3DS eShops could be just on the horizon if a new rating from the OFLC is any indication.
The Australian ratings board added an entry for “The Denpa Men 2: Beyond the Waves”. So yep, the game has a quirky new subtitle and the rating is hopefully a sign that we’ll be seeing it soon on the eShop.
