As exciting as an expanded Nemesis system and an itsy busty spider might sound for Middle-earth: Shadow of War [official site], Warner Bros. had been sitting on a hot, juicy, and thrilling marketing blast. Now they have finally let rip: heck yes Shadow of War will have optional microtransactions to hasten powering-up in this singleplayer game. Come on gang, give me a “Hell yeah!”

I said give me a “Hell yeah!”

No? I thought one of you Willennials would at least do it ‘ironically’. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re anything like me, you’ve likely often wished that spiders were hot babes. “This giant spider is okay,” you thought while watching the biggun in Peter Jackson’s And Then And Then, “but I wouldn’t kiss her. That’s far too many eyes for me to stare lustily into. I wouldn’t stroke her spinnerets. And she’s not even wearing a dress for thigh to cheekily peek though.” Mate, we’re in luck, you and I: Shelob is back in Middle-earth: Shadow of War [official site], and this time she is hot. Here, watch Shelob take human form to be all magic and cryptic: Read the rest of this entry »

LEGO’s classic Space set is coming to the Minecraftbut LEGO Worlds [official site] in its first themed DLC pack. To some, the sight of that little spacecar and the honking great spaceship might inspire nostalgic joy. Myself, I am reminded that the greatest shame of my childhood was stealing a LEGOman from a family friend because LEGO was a once-a-year birthday treat and I ached for that knight with a horse wearing a dress. As soon as I finish explaining about the DLC and how it’s due out in July for a couple quid, I will phone and apologise. First, let’s look at this trailer: Read the rest of this entry »

“A wizard is never late,” said Merlin in that documentary about New Zealand. “Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.” I forget what happens after that – probably not much – BUT the quote felt applicable to this entirely separate bit of news where the open world combat of Middle-earth: Shadow of War [official site] is being delayed for release until 10 October 2017. Unless you’re Merlin in New Zealand because they have a different release date anyway.

Let’s unpick this! Read the rest of this entry »

Kam! Zonk! Wappo! Seeing as Marvel’s own crossovers are usually over-serious affairs, both on paper and the silver screen, I’m glad that LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 [official site] is coming to smoosh supermen together in silly ways. The sequel to the game John called “bloody brilliant” will jump across space and time, visiting places and characters from Sakaar to Spider-Man 2099. Also it’ll have your regular plain old Avengers and seed babies and rubbish burglars and all that rabble. The game is due on November 14th/17th but now, a week after its announcement, here’s a new trailer showing a load of supermen: Read the rest of this entry »

Those dastardly villains at TT Games have again turned their plasticising ray on the supermen of the Marvel universe, announcing an intent to trap these plasticmen in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 [official site] later this year. Once again, it’ll bring minimen fighting minimonsties in BAM! BIF! POW! action across time and space with jokes and all that. Our resident cackling villain John really dug the original LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, calling it “bloody brilliant” in 2013 and later declaring it one of the best action games. More of that sounds good. Here, have a peek in this teensy trailer: Read the rest of this entry »

After leaving goggheads mumbling “Na na na na na na na nah really mate, thanks for giving us a go on your goggs” on PlayStation, Batman: Arkham VR [official site] is coming to PC. Arkham VR will be on Oculus Rift and HTC Vive cybergoggles on April 25th, Warner Bros. announced today. It lets players see through Batman’s Bateyes and engage in Batdetective work using Batgadgets to solve Batmysteries – all in a Batnight’s work. Batpeep this Batrailer: Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a moment in the 16 minutes of footage of Middle-earth: Shadow of War [official site] below where the clipped voice-over refers to the “RPG systems” as player finds some new armour. It seems odd to me to think of that as the RPG system though when the rest of the game greatly expands the original’s Nemesis system and is about relationships forming dynamically between procedurally created characters. That sounds more like roleplay, to me. Watch it below, it’s cool.

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Clip clack snap, LEGO Worlds [official site] is out. After almost two years in early access, the Minecraftbut with LEGO bricks has hit version 1.0 and officially launched. The big change in shifting from early access to full release seems to be adding quests and unlockable stuff, which is curious for a game that was a freeform sandbox for so long. Still, its LEGO Minecraftbut building does seem quite nice, with all those different LEGO shapes rather than your regulation cubes (and, in more advanced Minecraftbuts, pyramids). They’re not bad, those there LEGO bricks. Read the rest of this entry »

Update: Following a little leak, Middle-earth: Shadow of War [official site] is now officially announced. It’s coming on August 22nd and yup, it sounds like more of the same but with an expanded Nemesis system. Check out the announcement trailer: Read the rest of this entry »

Some dark cartoon necromancers have been at work. Avalanche Software, the developers who were shut down after Disney Infinity laid out its roadmap of slow death, marking an end for Disney as a games publisher, have been reopened under Warner Brothers. And they’re going to make the tie-in game for Cars 3. Why are Time Warner making Disney’s videogames for them? I don’t know. That’s just how the childhood dream barons work these days.
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LEGO City Undercover [official site] is finally on its way to PC, having been banged up on Nintendo’s Wii U since 2013. It’s the LEGO game I’ve wanted most in yonks, an open-world ‘Grand Theft Auto for kiddywinkles’ sort of dealio parodying ’70s cop movies and TV shows. Expect gangs of punks, big boxes of donuts, deep cop funk, and villains with names like Rex Fury. I heard good things about it and I’ll be keen to see myself when the game swings by our way in spring 2017. Read the rest of this entry »

When the konsole versions of Mortal Kombat X [official site] got fancied-up earlier this year with new netcode and more (silly) DLC characters, we sat like lemons. Publishers Warner Bros. stepped away from the game, murmuring incoherently as they left.

Well, better late than never. Improved netcode, bug fixes, balance tweaks, and other technical improvements are now here, as MKX’s big overhaul patch launched yesterday. Also out is the Kombat Pack 2 paid DLC, adding new characters like, uh, a Xenomorph. You may now resume crushing skulls and whipping out spines.

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Mortal Kombat X [official site] sat bolt upright with a gasp last week, coughing up old pixels and bytes. After the spine-ripping fighting game had seemingly been abandoned in January, suddenly it had an open beta test of a big ole update. Quite how that would translated into updates or new releases was unclear, but now we know the plan. Come October, things will be better around here.

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It seemed that Warner Bros. had given up on the PC version of Mortal Kombat X [official site]. The fighting game’s last DLC, adding new pugilists including the Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s Leatherface and one of those there Aliums out the Alium films, was not released on PC. Nor was the new ‘Mortal Kombat XL’ version which brought better netcode (plus all the DLC) to the console version. It seemed like, after that whole Batman fuss, Warner Bros. were backing away from PC. Well! MKXL is coming our way, goofy characters and all, and we can all try it in an open beta this weeked.

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Warner Bros. paid “online influencers,” including PewDiePie, to post positive videos of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. The publisher have reached a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission over their alleged failure to adequately disclose these payments, as announced by the FTC yesterday.

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Oh! I’d entirely forgotten about LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens [official site], possibly because its announcement leaked out with a pffffft. But yes, a plasticised adaptation of last year’s boldly-going megahit movie is coming on June 28th, a new trailer reminds me. It’s not the greatest trailer, unless you’re really, really into Poe Dameron (yeah, I’ve seen your fan art), but hey, I’m glad to be reminded this is coming. Click on, where no one has gone before, to see Poe in action:

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Scribblenauts developers 5th Cell have laid off 45 employees but, contrary to initial reports, the company say they’re not closing down. 5th Cell had been working on a new mobile version of Scribblenauts, their series about solving free-form puzzles by drawing almost anything into existence, but its surprise cancellation left them overstaffed. The situation’s a bit unclear at this point, but they had also been working on a free-to-play PC action-RPG.

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