New Darksiders 2 weapons for players of the original

Vigil Games announced a reward for loyal players who played and completed the first Darksiders game. Players will receive two pieces of gear in Darksiders II; the Pauldrons of the Horsemen a level 5 armor piece that increases Death’s stats and critical damage, for playing Darksiders, as well as the Chaos Fang, a level 1 scythe that boosts Death’s regular and critical damage, for completing the first game on any difficulty.

These items are will be awarded for all players regardless of platform, and are based on achievements through Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, or Steam. Darksiders II releases on August 14 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

Bethesda missed the window on Dawnguard for PC and PS3 players

The summer drought of games is ending soon. Both Darksiders II and Sleeping Dogs release in nearly two weeks, followed up by Transformers: Fall of Cybertron the week after. After that, it’s a cascade of games flowing all the way into December. So when will PC and PlayStation 3 players have the time to play Dawnguard? They won’t.

Dawnguard, the expansion for last year’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, adds additional content and quests along with an entirely new set of vampire-centric powers. Xbox 360 players have enjoyed the new content since June 26 thanks to Bethesda’s deal with Microsoft for a 30-day exclusive on the platform. But 30 days came and west last week, and there still hasn’t been an announcement or reveal of when this expansion will come for the other platforms. To put this in perspective, the last official number of Skyrim copies sold was 10 million, 59% of those the Xbox 360 version, while 27% of copies sold for the PlayStation 3, and 14% for the PC. That leaves 4.1 million potential players waiting for the expansion, during a time when games are slow and the addition to a one of last year’s hits would be welcome.

Will Dawnguard come to the PC and PlayStation 3 at all? It’s up in the air right now. Vice president of PR and marketing at Bethesda Softworks Pete Hines said in a recent twitter post, “We have not announced Dawnguard for any other platform, nor given a timeline for any such news. If we have news, I promise I'd tell you.” So it’s possible it might not something we see anytime soon, but then Bethesda updated the PC version of Skyrim on Steam with patch 1.7, adding a few bug fixes and stability issues. Could this patch be in preparation of Dawnguard? Road signs point to yes as Hines responded to an inquiry on twitter, saying, “Nothing has been said/announced about it. We should have info later this week.”

Even if Bethesda does confirm Dawnguard for PC and PlayStation 3 and gives a release date, it will have missed its mark. Take for example the last Bethesda published title that had an Xbox 360 timed exclusive addon, Fallout: New Vegas. Dead Money released for the Xbox 360 on December 21, 2010 and didn’t show up on the PC or PlayStation 3 until February 22, two months later. If the same rings true for Dawnguard, we’ll already be knee-deep in games vying for our attention.

Catherine is Coming to US

Just a week after Altus announced no plans for a North American release of its upcoming game, Catherine, a press release revealed today that the game is in fact headed to US shores. Altus, the creators of the Persona series, describe the game as, “an unprecedented exploration of the pleasures and horrors of love.” The game follows Vincent, whose girlfriend Katherine is asking him for a committed relationship. After a night of drinking, Vincent wakes up in bed next to a beautiful blonde named Catherine. Unaware of what happened the night before, Vincent’s fears about commitment and fidelity take shape in his dreams as “horribly disfigured monsters,” and sheep men. Vincent must maneuver his way through block puzzles as he makes heavy moral decisions that could affect his future. The game will feature four different game modes, The Horrors of Love (time trials), Between a Rock and a Soft Place (story), The Nightmare of Your Dreams (theater), and Escape With or From a Friend (co-op). Atlus says Catherine will be coming to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this summer, but Amazon has it listed for release on July 26.

Portal Guns Make Excellent Valentine's Day Gifts

Portal 2 is now available for pre-order and Valve created a video to let everyone celebrating Valentine's Day know know. While chocolates, flowers, and diamonds may be tranditional gifts, portal guns are the top choice this year. Watch the video below and be sure to give someone special the gift of portals. Portal 2 is now available for pre-order and will hit shelves on April 18 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

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.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Outsells Modern Warfare 2 in Pre-Orders, and in 3D

In November 2009, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, developed by the now shell of its former self Infinity Ward, set the pre-order record by selling nearly 3 million copies before its release. Day one says reached almost 5 million between the US and UK, generating $310 million in revenue and making it the biggest entertainment launch in history. The game went on to sell over 20 million copies worldwide and amass over $1 billion in sales.

But that was so last year. The newest iteration of the annualized Call of Duty franchise, Black Ops, is already shaping up to break records set by last year’s model. GameStop’s Senior Vice President of Merchandising Bob McKenzie told Gamasutra that the game is looking to overtake where Modern Warfare 2 was last year.

“GameStop is tracking to all-time, record reservations on Call of Duty: Black Ops. We are ahead of where we were with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 last year, which previously set the industry standard.”

Treyarch, who is developing Black Ops, also announced this week that game would ship with support for stereoscopic 3D for all platforms. VG247 had a first hand experience with the 3D enabled version, which you can read about here. A 3D TV and 3D glasses are still required, but it is a nice gesture for early adopters who have already invested in 3D technology for the home.

I haven’t played a Call of Duty game since 2003 when the first one was released, so I’ll be picking up Black Ops, though I’m not sure how close it will come to actually breaking Modern Warfare 2’s record-setting sales. EA’s reboot of the Medal of Honor franchise, being released on October 12, is sure to take some of Black Ops’ potential customers, but Call of Duty: Black Ops will surely reach high sales numbers. Whether those numbers actually beat Modern Warfare 2’s in the short or long term, is a toss-up.