It's that time again - where we reticulate our splines, reconfigure our browsers and delve into the deepest portion of the internet to bring you all the latest gaming news. And this week it's a big one, with two huge pieces of Poke-news.
Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
Easily the biggest news this week (and quite possibly the biggest news we're going to get until that giant games convention, E3 rolls along in just a few weeks time) is the announcement of Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, which would appear to be 3DS remakes of two old Game Boy Advance games, Ruby and Sapphire. We say "appear", as while we have a bit of a teaser trailer and an announcement press release, there's been very little else released so far - and the wording of what we have got seems to be designed to be ambiguous. Described as a "fresh take" on the Game Boy Advance favourites which will let you collect, battle and trade the famous 'mon, the press release also says that "The new titles promise to take players through a dramatic story within a spectacular new world.", which does make you wonder. How can it be a new world if it's a remake? We guess we'll wait and see.
Nintendo bank on Skylanders-style Near Field Communication
It hasn't been a great few months for Nintendo. Despite a fantastic line-up of games, and Nintendo's best efforts, their latest console, the Wii U hasn't really gained as much traction as they could have hoped for, handing the company a hefty financial loss of £135 million in the last financial year. Hidden in amongst the investor meeting that followed, though, was news of Nintendo's strategy to turn things around - which would appear to be a decision to take on Skylanders and Disney Infinity directly. Taking advantage of one the Wii U GamePad's lesser known features - its ability to scan in figures and effectively act as a de-facto portal/base station for transferring figures into your games - Nintendo plan to produce their very own range of Skylanders style figurines, which will let you scan and use said toys across a range of games. Rather than being tied to a specific yearly update of a single game, the figures will apparently be compatible with a range of titles, and will let you save game data/customisations directly to the figures themselves. It's exciting stuff to say the least - and it's been confirmed that Nintendo will be giving them their first public showing at E3 in a few weeks time.
EA shutting off online play for more games
One of the more disconcerting aspects of modern games is their reliance (or perhaps, over-reliance) on online modes. With games like Titanfall now ditching a single player story altogether in favour of an online only (and therefore, time limited) experience, it's only so long before the servers get switched off, and the game is rendered inaccessible forever more - something that's certainly fresh in the mind with today's news that servers will be being turned off for a number of EA titles over the next few weeks. (For more on our take on Titanfall, see - Why I won't be buying Titanfall)
Effectively removing the online portion of the game for good, it's worth mentioning that this one isn't actually EA's fault - rather, it's a third party service, known as GameSpy, that EA used to create the multiplayer services for dozens of their games that's announced it'll be closing down its servers on the 30th June. After that date, online multiplayer for the games below will be inaccessible, although split-screen multiplayer (where available) will still work fine. The full list of titles (and it's quite lengthy) can be found below:
- Battlefield 1942 for PC and Mac (including The Road to Rome and Secret Weapons of WW2 expansions)
- Battlefield 2 for PC (including Special Forces expansion)
- Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for PlayStation 2
- Battlefield 2142 for PC and Mac (including Northern Strike expansion)
- Battlefield Vietnam for PC
- Bejeweled (r) 2 for the Wii
- Bulletstorm for PlayStation 3
- Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars for PC and Mac (including Kane's Wrath expansion)
- Command & Conquer: Generals for PC and Mac (including Zero Hour expansion)
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 for PC and Mac
- Crysis 2 for PC
- Crysis for PC
- Crysis Wars for PC
- Dracula - Undead Awakening for the Wii
- Dragon Sakura for Nintendo DS
- EA Sports 06 for PC
- F1 2002 for PC
- FIFA Soccer 08 (KOR) for the Wii
- FIFA Soccer 08 for Nintendo DS
- FIFA Soccer 09 for Nintendo DS
- FIFA Soccer 10 for Nintendo DS
- FIFA Street 3 for Nintendo DS
- Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers for PlayStation 2
- Global Operations for PC
- GREEN DAY: ROCK BAND for the Wii
- James Bond: Nightfire for PC
- Madden NFL 08 for Nintendo DS
- Madden NFL 09 for Nintendo DS
- Master of Orion III for PC
- Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for PC and Mac (including Breakthrough and Spearhead expansions)
- MySims Party for Wii
- MySims Racing for Nintendo DS
- MySims SkyHeroes for the Wii and DS
- NASCAR Sim Racing for PC
- NASCAR Thunder 2003 for PC
- NASCAR Thunder 2004 for PC
- Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 for PC
- Need for Speed: ProStreet for Nintendo DS
- Need for Speed: Undercover for Nintendo DS
- Neverwinter Nights 2 for PC and Mac
- Neverwinter Nights for PC, Mac and Linux (including Hordes of the Underdark and Shadows of Undrentide expansions)
- SimCity Creator for Wii
- Skate It for Nintendo DS
- Sneezies for the Wii
- Spore Creatures for Nintendo DS
- Spore Hero Arena for Nintendo DS
- Star Wars: Battlefront for PC and PlayStation 2
- Star Wars: Battlefront II for PC and PlayStation 2
- THE BEATLES: ROCK BAND for the Wii
- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 for Nintendo DS
Wargaming Do. 17 exhibition brings WW2 history to life
Whatever your stance on free-to-play games, it's hard not to be impressed at the efforts World of Tanks creator Wargaming.net have put into helping players learn a little bit more about the history behind the battles they're virtually taking part in. Upon hearing that a German Dornier 17 bomber had been resting undiscovered at the bottom of the English Channel, the team at Wargaming not only helped fund its resurfacing, but have paid for the creation of two exhibits at the RAF Museums - one in London, and one at Cosford in the Midlands, where guests will be able to see artefacts from the rare plane for themselves, and learn more about the conflict and history surrounding it. It's a project that may never have gone ahead were it not for the funding from Wargaming.net, and one which everyone with an interest in history can be grateful for. For more on how the team actually managed to get a 60+ year old plane out of the water intact (or at least, as intact as it was when it went under), see the full documentary here.
Free Just Dance 2014 downloadable song
And to end the news round-up on a high note, it's recently been announced that Just Dance 2014 will be receiving a free downloadable song, in the form of 'The World is Ours', which is apparently the Coca-Cola anthem. Never mind that we thought the closest Coke ever came to having an anthem was the "Holidays are Coming" tune they play over that Christmas advert - a free song is a free song, and it's not to be sniffed at. Available from the downloadable stores on your console of choosing, the free track is out now - so make sure you give it a download!
