Batman enters 3D

Square Enix has announced that they will be releasing a Game of The Year edition of Batman: Arkham Asylum with new content and 3-D capabilities.

The game will be packed with six new challenge maps and "TriOviz 3D" support.

Released with the content is a pair of 3D glasses to enhance your experience as the Dark Knight.

For all the achievement whores out there, no need to fret because there is a whole new set of achievements to obtain.

Batman: Arkham Asylum GoTY edition has been set for a March release in Europe. No release date for North America has been confirmed. 

Update: Batman Arkham Asylum GoTY will not be released in North America as confirmed by Joystiq. It will, however, be released in Europe, Asia and Australia.     

Mass Effect Action Figures Preview

Four action figures from the Mass Effect 2 universe including

the default Commander Shepard

Tali

Thane

Grunt

Photos provided by Kotaku. 

Why do you play games?

I was looking at a feature article on Kotaku about the reason gamers game every day of their lives and it got me thinking about why I play video games and I would also like to have you readers think about why you play your Fallouts and your Call of Duties.

Family is a big part of why I play video games today. I’ve been playing games ever since I was a little boy. My cousin introduced me to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Genesis and it was a match made in video game heaven. I played Super Mario World and Sonic and I couldn't stop after those two experiences. . 

Video games take me out of my reality and place me into someone else’s life with someone else’s take on other subjects that I would of either wise never thought about or never of had a clear opinion about. I enjoy my life greatly, but I would like to get the other side of a story and video games are the platform that supports that desire. Video games have gone from being time wasters (which they still are in most cases) to interactive stories. Mass Effect is a great example of a game that is an experience told through mostly conversation I can control.       

I also play games because they help pass the time by between classes. Plain and simple.

Final Fantasy 1 & 2 release on iPhone and iPod Touch

The first two titles in the Final Fantasy saga have been released on the iPhone and iPod Touch. 

It has all of the extras that were released with the Gameboy advance versions which include The Soul f Chaos pack and The Labyrinth of Time as well as the five extra dungeons, the Soul of Rebirth and Arcane Labyrinth pack in Final Fantasy II  

This is great release right before Final Fantasy XIII's release. It makes me think about more RPG games on the iPod Touch like this one. 

When I owned an iPod Touch, I spent most of my time with it listening to music and more importantly, playing games. I hadn't seen any sign of a grand RPG likes Final Fantasy 1 & 2. I saw not one turn based RPG and it made me sad. 

I could never picture an RPG with the grandness of Square Enix's famous title. Luckily today, I can.

Final Fantasy VII remake? How about…no.

Fan-created Logo of an imagined Final Fantasy VII sequel

I am an avid fan of the Final Fantasy series. I am one of many who enjoyed Final Fantasy VII a lot. I love that there is still hope for a new entry in the continuation of the Final Fantasy VII story.

This video on Kotaku made by a fellow fan is not only funny, but makes me sad I will probably never see Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent in a party ever again unless I pull out my old copy of FF VII which I have lying around….somewhere.

Robo-Review: Chime

Give a Little bit of Music

Music games are a dime a dozen and there is not very much variety in them anymore. In most, you play with a guitar, set of drums, or a mic. Some of the best music games are the ones that change the flow of how music games are played and have you enjoying it while at the same time testing your mind. 

Chime is a music/puzzle game developed by Zoe Mode that takes elements from Sony’s popular Lumines and the legendary Tetris to create a wonderful time-waster that challenges gamers for such a small price. 

Chime is a “musical puzzle game” that works depending on the flexibility of the players mind. Quick reflexes also help create a 9, 6, or 3 minute session of music making. You can even play in free mode which grants you an unlimited amount of time of play songs from artists such as Phillip Glass, Moby, and Paul Hartnoll. 

 The objective of Chime is to cover a grid with as many “quads” as possible. Quads are created with Tetris-like pieces and can be a square or any sized rectangle that can fit on the grid. The grids are shaped depending on the song the player chooses. A line crosses the screen from left to right as you build quads. This line will activate the quads and play tunes as it passes them. For every quad you make, a music note is played along with the background theme song. This is what makes the game most enjoyable as you pay because you are creating soothing or exciting music that you start to tap your toes to. 

The developers have decided to do something very selfless by giving no less than 60% of the purchase price of Chime to charity and pricing the game at a mere five dollars. Chime is an exceptional little game packed with enough content to last gamers quite a long time and it is worth spending the money on a title that is giving back to the community.  

Check out the YouTube page to view a clip from Chime.  

Personas in Video Games That Strike the Heart

Mass Effect 2 is a great action RPG with memorable characters. They have so much personality for people that do not exist yet they grab us and don’t let go. Jack and Thane are only two examples of personalities that grasp you with their depth and attitude. They made me think about how characters in video games have become so complex and in some cases give us the desire to hang with them rather than our real friends.

 Tetris and Pong didn’t really give us characters, but icons. The two paddles and small cube they pass around or the L-shaped piece that you needed to create that last square could be considered characters without a personality, but they still were able to grab gamers into their simple worlds for years to come.

Video games like Mass Effect, Fallout 3, and Uncharted have given us characters that are powerful and live such dramatic lives that can’t help but give us a reason to continue to the end of their stories. They are people who we care about and we want to know what will happen to them. They make us hurt for them when they are hurt. They give us strength when they gain power and make gamers feel like the bad asses that they are. 

Some video games create powerful characters by giving gamers the power to use their imagination in order to create the hero of their stories. The Halo series reaching from Halo to Halo 3 have provided a character without a personality but still give the vibe of a hero in the making. Bungie created a character that players can imagine themselves as because there is no exact personality to give, so the gamer must inject him or herself into the suit of Master Chief and become the last Spartan.

Mass Effect’s Commander Shepard is a character that belongs to the gamer. He is your commander Shepard. The gamer sets what skills Shepard has to where he came from. All those little aspects of the game enhance it dramatically and also advance your plot lines with other characters you meet throughout your journey. Shepard is also one of the few characters in video games where he has a voice you can control with the sleek and powerful speech wheel that Bioware has placed in the Mass Effect series.    

Video games have become more than just a pass time; they are interactive stories. They are pieces of art that tell an imaginative tale told by the actions of interesting characters that draw gamers into a world that they will never want to leave.