Fan Made Arkham City Trailer and New Site Launch for L.A. Noire

Fan Made Arkham City Trailer Shows Batman and Joker Team-Up

A new trailer for Batman: Arkham City, released last week via YouTube, started the internet rumor mill with what could potentially be a new team-up for the caped crusader. The trailer, which is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Warner Bros. Entertainment., depicts Batman and Joker meeting in a dark alley for what appears to be a fight, but they are quickly ambushed my thugs. They go on to defeat the thugs, working together and even performing some air-defying crushing blows.

Sony Announces Next-Gen Portable, Coming This Holiday

Hot on the heels of Nintendo’s 3DS announcement last week, Sony held a press conference yesterday in Japan to announce their newest handheld device. Being referred to by its codename NGP (Next Generation Portable), the device was said to be available this holiday season, though a prices is still undetermined.

Black Dahlia Salvation

Yesterday Rockstar Games released a new trailer for their upcoming game, L.A. Noire. The trailer, which originally leaked last Friday, teases the plot for the Team Bondi developed game. Set in 1940s Los Angeles, you play as a Detective Cole Phelps (voiced and acted by Mad Men actor Aaron Staton) trying to solve a case of a serial killer targeting young women, leaving behind clues and messages. Think of it as mixing L.A. Confidential and Red Dead Redemption. As suggested by the title, the game’s atmosphere and environments play heavily on the look of film noir, using low-key lighting, crime, and ambiguity. The game also features a unique facial animation system and boasts the ability to decipher the truth from lies from facial cues. L.A. Noire is set to release on May 17 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Hell Freezes Over and the Dead Walk?

The Return of the Duke

After 12 years of proverbial development hell, Duke Nukem Forever is finally being released. On May 3rd, players will be able to experience the game that redefined the term vaporware.

The Duke Nukem series began in 1991 as a side-scrolling shooter. Several follow-ups and iterations were released until its last appearance in 1996 as a first-person shooter, titled Duke Nukem 3D. Then developer, 3D Realms, promised a sequel to be released within the next few years, titled Duke Nukem Forever. However, several unsubstantial release dates came and went. 3D Realms later said in 2001 that the game would be released when it was done, denying to announce any more possible release dates.

They’re Coming Out of the Walls

This whole Infinity Ward v. Activision suit is really getting out of hand. New information seems to be coming from everywhere about who schemed with who. After filing a motion last month to amend its countersuit against Vince Zampella and Jason Wast, former heads of Infinity Ward and now founders of Respawn Entertainment, Activision let loose a bevy of documents today that could prove EA’s indirect involvement in the whole debacle.

Nintendo 3DS available March 27 for $249.99

Nintendo held a press conference today in New York to announce details of their upcoming handheld device, the Nintendo 3DS. The device creates a realistic 3D effect, without the use of glasses, pushing the market in a direction where televisions can some day support the same technology. Sorry Sony. The device also features an analog stick (a first for Nintendo handheld devices), ability to play games and video in 3D, and take advantage of 3D photography. It will come with a 2GB SD card, charging cradle, the ability to transfer data from the Nintendo DSi. The 3D effect is also adjustable, allowing games to be played in both 2D and 3D. The Nintendo 3DS will be available in blue or black and retail for $249.99 starting March 27, 2011. Starting today, it is also available for pre-order at GameStop, Amazon, and other retailers.

Nintendo said that the launch window for the Nintendo 3DS will have over 30 games, leading up to E3 in June. First-party launch titles for the Nintendo 3DS include Animal Crossing, Kid Icarus Uprising, Mario Kart, Paper Mario, Pilotwings Resort, Star Fox 64 3D, and Steel Diver. Third-party highlights include Dead or Alive Dimensions, Madden NFL Football, Rayman 3D, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, Ridge Racer 3D, The Sims 3, Splinter Cell 3D, and Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition.

Check out Joystiq’s media round-up including videos and screenshots of all the games for Nintendo’s newest handheld console.

Your Mom Medium Disapproves of Dead Space 2

Electronic Arts started a new ad campaign over the weekend for their upcoming release, Dead Space 2. The ads use the idea that “a mom’s disapproval has always been an accurate barometer of is cool.” Based on this notion, EA recruited over 200 moms for focus testing of Dead Space 2. Obviously EA knew that Dead Space 2 is not the type of game a mom would be interested in, or enjoy. Below is a behind-the-scenes view of what took place, and the results.

Welcome to Jurassic Park

Cue the John Williams music, Jurassic Park is making a comeback, but not in theaters. Last June, Telltale Games, developer of the Sam & Max and Tales of Monkey Island adventure games, inked a deal with NBC Universal for the rights to create two games based on the Back to the Future franchise and Jurassic Park franchise. The first episode of a five episode Back to the Future season was released last December, with the next episode coming in February.

New Spider-Mans Abound

The first photo showing the look of the new Spider-Man film coming 2012 was released today. It shows actor Andrew Garfield walking down a dark alley, looking very beat. There are a couple of things to point out about the suit. First, I’ve heard a lot of complaints about the look of the spider on the chest. To me, the suit looks to be damage in a fight, and we can see bloodied scratches on his face to support this. We also know from reports that The Lizard will be a villain in the film, so these battle scars could be from an encounter with him. Also, if you very carefully, you’ll notice small bumps on his wrists, which could possibly suggest the presence of mechanized web shooters.

Some other Spider-Man news came today. Activision announced that Beenox, developer of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, will be in charge of the publisher's future Spider-Man titles. Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions received fairly good reviews, so its my hope that Beenox will good as well, if not better, on future Spider-Man releases. Many might complain that no Spider-Man game will live up the open-world gameplay of Spider-Man 2. I personally have not played Spider-Man 2 or Shattered Dimensions yet, but from what information and footage I saw of Shattered Dimensions, it looks like they handled the idea of four different Spider-Mans pretty well, this coming from a long-time Spider-Man fan that still has his comics somewhere in storage.

I’ve Been Saying This All Along

THQ revealed their new company logo today. Brian Farrell, THQ President and CEO, said the new logo, “epitomizes the change, innovation and creative growth that are the cornerstones of the new THQ.” This might be considered marketing talk by some, however, it’s true. THQ is setting themselves to go up against the big boys in the industry and they are going about in the right way: building strong brands with great games.

DC Universe Online Launch

It’s been more than five years since I played a game by Sony Online Entertainment. My last encounter with SOE was Star Wars Galaxies and their introduction of the New Game Enhancements. I’m not going to get into why, but suffice to say it was less then stellar. So why am I interested in an SOE game now?

The Silver Screen is a Little Less Silvery

This post was supposed to come a few days after Christmas, after I had saw Tron: Legacy and re-watched the original Tron. Between family and the holidays, things got pushed back. But I’m finally able to get some time to tell you my thoughts. This isn’t so much of a review as it is just an observation and what I’ve come to know.