Electronic Arts’ SimCity launched—kind of—earlier this week, to much initial fanfare. While many bemoaned the game’s use of always-online DRM, anticipation was high for the return of EA’s classic world builder, especially due to developer Maxis’s implementation of multiplayer, allowing gamers to cooperate with or sabotage their friends’ cities to fulfill challenges. Then launch day came around, and disaster struck—best exemplified by the screen above, courtesy of perhaps the most fitting review of the game on the internet by Jonathan Cresswell.

[This jump will not take 75 minutes to load. Promise.]

File this one in the “Well, that was predictable” category. There are heavy rumblings in the gamingverse that Microsoft is set to unveil the Xbox 720 sometime in the near future. While the gaming giant is currently playing it coy, IGN did a little digging and discovered the registration of a few potential Xbox event websites, to which Microsoft declined to respond. Community scuttlebutt pegs the big reveal to be happening sometime in April.

[Click for the juicy stuff...]

Let the rumors and speculations come to an end. In a spectacular and lengthy press conference last night, Sony finally unveiled the PlayStation 4 live in New York, and revealed that their next-gen console will be released in time for the 2013 holiday season. In addition to confirming the speculated hardware specifications (which essentially give it the graphical and processing power of a high-end gaming PC) and the console’s increased emphasis on social networking, Sony announced a few of the major titles that will be coming to the PS4 at or shortly after launch.

[Click for the games of Generation Next...]

Aliens: Colonial Marines launched earlier this week, and early reviews are... well... not good. Despite the early promise the game showed when we previewed it at PAX a few years ago—a few of the cool things going for it included storyboarding with Ridley Scott himself and the power of creating a true, canon sequel to Aliens—something clearly went horribly wrong somewhere along the six year development curve. So, what happened?

[“It’s game over, man! Game over!”]

Naughty Dog turned the third-person adventure genre on its ear in 2007 with the release of the first game of the Uncharted franchise, Drake’s Fortune. In 2011, the developers announced they were taking a break from Uncharted and its charming protagonist, Nathan Drake, to pursue a new, darker project—and thus did we learn of the development of The Last of Us. Last year, Naughty Dog showed an exclusive playthrough to long lines of diehard fans at PAX 2012. This week, as the game nears completion, reports have surfaced of the first hands-on play sessions with reviewers and, well, our most anticipated game of 2013 is sounding spectacular.

[How far would you go to survive?]

The impending release of BioShock: Infinite has developer Irrational Games slowly lifting the veil on game details and information, the latest of which is a sitdown with IGN to discuss the major themes of their latest game. The BioShock universe has never been one to shy away from literary grandeur—most notably, the first game’s exploration of choice and Objectivism springs to mind—and Infinite is no exception. So what themes are Irrational tackling with the floating city of Columbia?

[“Would you kindly... read on?”]

The War of the Damned begins tonight as Spartacus fights his last battle on Starz’s blood-soaked hit series.

To non-viewers, Spartacus comes across as a violent, pornographic 300 knock-off with delusions of David Milch-esque dialogue. To be sure, that was my initial impression when watching the first three episodes of the first season, Blood and Sand. I kept watching for that so-bad-it’s-good vibe. Then, during episode four... Spartacus actually became good. Really good. And got even better by mid-season. The devious mind of show creater and former Buffy scribe Steven DeKnight—and the flawless performances of John Hannah and Lucy Lawless—elevated the show to a roller coaster of shifting sympathies, stunning and cruel betrayals, and steamy romance all framed in a graphic novel look.

[And now it’s BACK]

While the image above hearkens to a simpler time in console competition, the modern day battle is no less heated between contemporary industry giants Sony and Microsoft. What will the next generation of consoles bring to the table? We received a small taste late last week when plans leaked detailing the processing power, control scheme, and graphical output of Sony’s next contribution to the field—the PlayStation 4, code-named Orbis.

[Want details? Of course you do.]

As we return from a holiday full of catching up on the year’s best and revisiting Skyrim via Dragonborn (an excellent DLC, by the way), gaming finds itself once more a part of the discussion in a serious debate. The events of  Newtown set off age-old arguments on age-old issues—from the mouths of a defensive NRA, an outraged media, and a nation searching for answers. As video game violence once more became a hot-button issue, the industry responded this month with varying perspectives.

[Many questions, no clear answers...]

When the Halo franchise changed developmental hands, one of the questions gamers everywhere were left with was: what would Bungie do next? Well, thanks to IGN and an ad agency document leak, now we know. Let’s talk about Destiny.

[Giant motherships and hostile takeovers, oh my...]

Rockstar’s recent barrage of Grand Theft Auto V footage and news is what has the gaming world buzzing this week, as the masters of sandbox gaming return to the West Coast to tackle Los Angeles, a.k.a. Los Santos. After a half-decade of development, the GTA series returns in 2013 to satiate your basejumping, jet flying, tank driving, rampaging needs. So what do we now know about GTA V, aside from the freshly launched trailer above?

[“Bounce. We’re bouncing now.”]

Wreck-It Ralph is a sweet bit of nostalgia for the good ol’ days of gaming, those colorful characters and simple platformers of the arcade generation. But what about the movies for people who never stopped playing games? Current franchises Resident Evil and Silent Hill make enough bank to justify sequels that decline in quality and increase in 3-D, but the horror survival genre in general is popular. The fact that these movies are based on video games is practically incidental. Angelina Jolie donned tiny shorts and a Brit accent for Tomb Raider. And there’s a slew of films in pre-production limbo—Uncharted and Halo spring most readily to mind. But none of these movies capture the cultural zeitgeist of the next generation of gamer, the sandbox generation.

In fact, the best movies about today’s gamers—and tomorrow’s—aren’t based on existing video games at at.

And they’re certainly not brought to you by Disney.

[Powered by adrenaline, pure id... and puke.]

Fake coughs are starting to echo in offices around the world as Halo fans everywhere prepare for Master Chief’s return this upcoming Tuesday. The impending release of Halo 4 marks the first time a developer other than Bungie has made a major contribution to the Halo canon. So how did developer 343 Industries handle Microsoft’s most expensive video game ever, to date? Early reviews hit the net just yesterday and, well... see for yourself.

[Prepare to burn through your sick days...]

Last night’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon brought about the debut of a new, Hollywood-powered Halo 4 trailer. Produced by David Fincher (Fight Club, The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and directed by Tim Miller (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), the new CGI/live-action hybrid trailer provides a few hints as to plot direction and also teases the series’ new big bad – after all, Master Chief can only kick Covenant butt for so long until he requires a change of pace.

[“An ancient evil awakens...”]

This past week saw the release of Dishonored, an FPS/RPG hybrid developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks, and early word indicates a critical verdict of awesome. Gamers take on the role of a framed royal guard on a quest for vengeance in a plague-ridden, whale-powered steampunk dystopia called Dunwall, loosely based on Victorian-era London (if that locale alone doesn’t sell you on this game, we give up). The true allure of Dishonored comes not from the quests  you must complete, but from exploring the vibrant, beatifully realized torment of a languishing city.

[Don your plague masks, you’ll need them in Dunwall...]

The striking image above comes with the Ubisoft press release that announces five downloadable content packs for Assassin’s Creed III. Three of the DLC packs will be single-player episodic content exploring post-Revolution history “as it could have been.” Namely, what if George Washington fashioned himself a tyrant instead of a president? It’s an intriguing romp into an alternate America. Evil George Washington is so much more interesting than yet another zombie mode.

As the October 30th release date approaches, Assassin’s Creed III is definitely one of the biggest games of the fall season. Never huge fans of the franchise ourselves, we have to admit that this installment looks like madcap, badass, gorgeous fun and the timeframe (and the historical research) for the story really makes it stand out.

In other gaming news: CliffyB leaves Epic Games! And watch the first episode of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn.

[Would you like to know more?]

Having accidentally omitted the release of Black Mesa in last week’s roundup, we here at Tor.com set out this week to remedy our criminal oversight. For readers unfamiliar with Black Mesa, it’s a free, fan-made remake of the original Half-Life using the Half-Life 2 engine. If the phrase “free pretty Half-Life remake” alone hasn’t sold you... keep reading.

[“They’re waiting for you, Gordon... in the test chamber.”]

BioWare announced their latest triple-A title this week, a sequel to the triple-platinum Dragon Age II. Targeted for a vague late 2013 release, not much info was shared about the game beyond its title. What we do know is that it’s going to look great, using as it does the same engine as military shooter Battlefield 3. Less recycling of levels is expected, too. But a lack of concrete fact has never stopped fans from speculating. BioWare, in fact, seems to encourage fan feedback. Potential theories about the plot and setting are rampant. Some reasonable theories say that players will get to visit Orlais and that the Divine, reigning papal figure of Thedas will figure into the plot.

What no one knows for sure is how players’ past decisions in the prior two games factor into the events of the third game. So, for now, keep those old saved games around.

Hunting robots, free music, and more await in this week’s Gaming Roundup.

[Read more...]

Seattle, Gilded City of Utilikilts, was once again host to thousands of gamers for the annual PAX Prime convention. Thus far, there have been no reports of controversy or rampant sexism, just a ton of cosplay and an exciting batch of new games from some of the industry's biggest (and smallest) studios.

And we got to play some of them.

[Firefall, Torchlight 2, Playstation All-Stars, and a delicious platformer punching its way to the top of critics' best-of lists...]

Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us was one of the most talked-about demos in the PAX exhibit hall; those who braved the epic wait times were treated to an exclusive twenty minutes of live gameplay footage from the forthcoming post-pandemic action/survival title. Emphasis on the survival.

Patient gamers were herded through a door and locked in a small, filthy, fake bathroom, complete with rotting corpse in a tub—a set piece from the game’s teaser trailer. Before the hands-off demo began, Naughty Dog reps introduced the main characters of The Last of Us, Joel and Ellie. Joel is a survivor of the plague that destroyed modern civilization two decades prior. He remembers life before the collapse. Ellie, a streetwise young girl, only knows the brutal environment of infected mutants and ruthless gangs of outlaws.

[Stealth strategies, topnotch AI, and danger at every turn...]