VGRC

Hello fellow VGRC folks, how are you doing this fine Sunday? Sure it's NFL time soon, and yes my Brewers are in the NLCS today, but we really should get to the gaming. Our sister site, Zelda Informer, has been working around the clock to prepare and enhance their Skyward Sword Walkthrough. It's really shaping up to be something special. Remember, Skyward Sword is slated to arrive in the states on Novemeber 20th.

I also want to briefly touch upon my very short experience with the Battlefield 3 PC beta experience. Simply put, the game crashed. 3 times. The major issue causing it is the fact you cannot change the settings before playing. It's not really a big issue for higher end pc's, but my computer is now 2 years old, and struggles with the game on highest settings. On the bright side, what I did experience was absolutely gorgeous. I also have to give some major props to the Origin system. It's very intuitive, and Steam could really take some lessons from this.

The head of Take Two had this to say about LA Noire Sequels:

"We have every reason to believe that L.A. Noire is another strong franchise for this company." And... "We do see this as a powerful new franchise."

My hands are full getting Zelda Informer ready to begin our Skyward Sword Walkthrough, but the moment I get some free time after E3 I'll be popping LA Noire into my 360. I have to admit, the thought of LA Noire 2 is definitely enticing. Especially if it comes out on Wii 2 in 2012.

Alice in Wonderland is a all time classic story, now told in two video versions a couple other older games as well. Of course, it is also in book form for those wondering where it all started. However, Madness Returns (being created by EA) seems to take place after all of those events in Wonderland, giving it a lot of creative freedom to create whatever sort of story they want. With how bizarre and messed up the story is in the original, we could be in for a lot of surprises. The visuals look good, and the atmosphere seems spot on from this small trailer. The questions is: Can the game play be good enough for this to be a success? Time will tell, but I would be lying if I didn't say I was a little excited. Screenshots after the jump.

Assassin's Creed is one of those series that has a clear cut love or hate relationship with gamers. While everyone admits the game looks stunning, there have been complaints about it's story and even some of it's basic game play elements. Of course, I happen to fall on the love side the debate so when I found out Brotherhood was being delayed for the PC I almost cried. While I was not a big fan of what they did in requiring me to have an internet connection to play Assassin's Creed II (something Brotherhood naturally requires for multiplayer reasoning) I was also one of the few people that never had a hiccup with it. I have never had any issues connecting to the servers, and it never stopped or slow downed my play.

That being said, the delay for PC on the upcoming title is a bit disheartening, as Ubisoft is clearly showing that the PC market just doesn't matter much to them. This is a common trend in gaming, even if Steam has helped head a massive revival of the PC gaming market. Of course, World of Warcraft, Counter Strike, Dragon Age. and games like the Total War series may have had a bit to say in the revival as well. Brotherhood will arrive in quarter one of 2011 for PC gamers, and this holiday for console owners.

Video Games | EpicBattleCry | Skirmish 89

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

For starters, I am not the biggest Halo fan. I have enjoyed playing it online while intoxicated, and there were some great lan party experiences I have had with the series, but overall it just felt like another generic shooter to me. Now, I have been an avid pc gamer my entire life, so sometimes my feelings are skewed by the fact that I feel PC shooters are just a much greater experience. Still, it is possibly the biggest game launch of the year, so it's neat seeing conversation about how relevant Halo is long haul, especially in the wake of today's Halo Reach release.

According to researchers at the University of Rochester, playing action shooters actually makes people better at multitasking and can even extend into the realm of becoming a far more aware driver. According to the study, which took two groups 18-25 year olds, the response time was quickened by 25%. The first group played 50 hours of Unreal Tournament and Call of Duty 2, while the second group played 50 hours of The Sims 2. The first group, in response to a series of questions and tests, not only got them all correct (as did the second group), but did so at a rate that was much faster than the group that played the slower paced game.

While this is far from definitive evidence that all those nights playing Halo and Modern Warfare 2 have practical applications to helping you make quicker decisions in your every day life, it may be just enough evidence to throw at your parents when they tell you to stop gaming and go study. In fact, you may be able to somehow twist this into playing shooters = the ability to study quicker. Don't ask me how you will pull that one off, but you have this small sliver of science to back it up.

Video Games | PAX 2010 Panels | Content Creators Showcase: Part I

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

This was possibly one of the most entertaining watches in a long time for me. While I may have a different mindset than many of you out there (as being someone who needs to consider a lot of what they talk about in terms of entertaining our audience) it's still informative overall for anyone considering getting into the industry. Hop inside for parts two and three.

After what much have been much prodding and prying from ravenous fans, Nintendo finally put out a shiny press release revealing the release dates for many highly-anticipated upcoming releases for the fall. On the list were Donkey Kong, Kirby, Goldeneye, and Sonic, along with many others.

Some upcoming Wii games include Metroid™: Other M on Aug. 31, Samurai Warriors™ 3 on Sept. 27, Wii Party™ on Oct. 3, Kirby's Epic Yarn™ on Oct. 17, PokéPark™ Wii: Pikachu's Adventure on Nov. 1, FlingSmash™ on Nov. 7 and Donkey Kong Country™ Returns on Nov. 21. Some marquee third-party games include New Carnival Games® from 2K Play on Sept. 21, NBA JAM from EA Sports™ on Oct. 5, Just Dance® 2 from Ubisoft® on Oct. 12, GoldenEye 007™ from Activision Publishing, Inc. in November, Sonic Colors™ from SEGA on Nov. 16 and Disney Epic Mickey from Disney Interactive Studios this holiday season.

See their DS and downloadable lineups after the jump.

Source: Nintendo

Given the decade-long wait fans of the Starcraft series have had to endure for a sequel, it should be no surprise that Starcraft II's sales were insane at launch. First-day sales were estimated at 1.8 million in the U.S. and U.K. alone (that's of course leaving out Korea where Starcraft is the national pastime). A little over 30% of those sales came from digital distribution via Battle.net. Not too shabby for a PC-exclusive. In the U.K. the game performed at legendary levels, becoming the first PC game to reach the top of the multi-platform charts and (get this) outselling the cumulative sales for the first game within the first week.

With excitement for the game this high, I have to keep reminding myself that I'm just a poor sap operating on an ancient Toshiba and a bottom-line netbook. May the grace of the video game gods shine down, that I may soon join in the Zergling hunts.

Source: gamrfeed, Joystiq

Comic-Con 2010 was host to a few surprises. One of them was at Yoshinori Ono's 'Street Fighter IV and Beyond' panel where 'Street Fighter x Tekken' was revealed, boasting tag team gameplay on a 2D plane, pitting the two franchises against each other. Capcom look to be rewriting the Tekken characters into a Street Fighter style, and adapting them to the 2D playing field, whilst Namco have also announced 'Tekken x Street Fighter' which gives their take on adapting Street Fighter to the Tekken universe.

Pictures and videos after the jump.