Gameloft has today revealed a batch of art and details for upcoming handheld shooter sequel N.O.V.A 2. The game revolves around a civil war between the Terran Orbitals and the Human-Alien Alliance. Protagonist Kal Wardin has moved to the dustry planet of Scorpius to retire, but he soon finds himself dragged back into the battle.
There are four groups that will be central to the plot, and Gameloft dropped details on them so everybody knows who everybody is:
The Terran Orbitals are the central governing power. They administer over the Colonies from the enormous satellites orbiting the now uninhabitable Earth.
The Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance (N.O.V.A.) is the military arm of the Terran Orbitals.
The Human-Alien Alliance is an alliance between a newfound race of aliens and politicians from the Colonies. They promise an ideal future where alien technology will put an end to all of humanity’s problems.
Volterites are the newfound alien race possessing mind control and telekinetic abilities. They seem a bit too well adapted for war to be the peaceful alien friends the Alliance are portraying them to be.
I’m quite looking forward to this one. Anybody else?
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit has hit shelves, and if you like arcade-style racing and you read a word I wrote about it, you’ve probably already purchased it.
Think you’re any good? Well, you can win your choice of any Electronic Arts title, released or to be released, if you’ve got an Xbox 360 and have what it takes to blow away the competition. Here’s how…
- Simply add the gamertag “PrudentRelic75″ to your Xbox 360 friends list. The first 100 folks who send requests will be added, thanks to Microsoft’s friend cap. (Can we get that changed, please? Thanks.)
- Next… start playing Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit! In the coming days, we’ll send you a message via Xbox Live telling you which event we’ll be playing, so keep an eye out.
- On Monday, at 10:00 AM Eastern we’ll check the Autlog and leaderboards for the specified event. The top five players will win a game of their choice from the Electronic Arts library.
A few housekeeping rules:
- This is for folks in the US only.
- Please don’t add us if you don’t have Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. While we’ll be monitoring the leaderboards throughout the week (and even give updates on Destructoid.com), we can’t monitor all of your activity. If you don’t have the game or don’t intend to compete, please be considerate of others — we only have 100 spots!
- Winners can choose an Electronic Arts game for any platform, and the game must have been released or announced. Please don’t request Mass Effect 3 or something, because that will make the EA gods angry. If you request an unreleased and previously announced game, it will be shipped to you when it is released.
- If you do NOT want us displaying your gamertag on Destructoid.com, please note that in the friend request. Otherwise, by adding the contest gamertag you are agreeing to having your tag displayed online.
- PlayStation 3 players, don’t be mad. While this contest is for 360 owners only, if it’s successful, there’s a chance we can run a similar contest on your platform of choice.
Good luck, and for those who make the cut for contest entry, please bookmark this post for any updates over the next few days.
GameStop has listed a curious new title known only as the Dreamcast Collection. Priced at $29.99, no other details are yet to be revealed, but I’d advise against getting too excited yet.
The most likely speculation is that this won’t be an exciting compilation of rare Dreamcast games, but rather it’ll be a collection of the games already announced for XBLA/PSN — Sonic Adventure, Crazy Taxi, Space Channel 5 Part 2 and Sega Bass Fishing. The price point would make this scenario believable.
Somebody wake me up when Seaman is released in some way, shape or form.
‘Dreamcast Collection’ for Xbox 360 and PS3 listed on GameStop [Joystiq]
LucasArts has confirmed upcoming downloadable content for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II by way of IGN.
The content will take place on Endor, set during the time frame of Return of the Jedi. It’s part of what LucasArts is calling the “infinite storyline,” where “what if?” scenarios that wouldn’t necessarily jive with Star Wars canon are played out.
“To be honest, we just thought it was a really cool avenue to explore,” says Executive Producer Gio Corsi of the content. “Take this bad ass Jedi, make him a true Sith and throw him into an established adventure and watch the sparks fly. It’s going to be epic!”
Corsi confirms Ewoks, as well, many of which are electrocuted in the screenshots for the upcoming content. Who doesn’t love the smell of burning Ewok fur in the morning?
No word on release date outside of it hitting before year’s end, and price is a mystery as well. Put at least one dollar to the side, though — IGN also confirms that an upcoming character skin pack will be available for $1.
Starkiller’s Adventure Continues in Force Unleashed 2 DLC [IGN]
This year’s Spike VGAs are shaping up to once again be the home to massive world premieres.
Spike’s Geoff Keighley tweeted today that Batman: Arkham City will gets its world premiere, this in addition to the unknown BioWare title teased earlier today.
Say what you will about the VGAs, but you know you’ll be paying attention to them, especially given the caliber of the premieres. Keighley is also promising a fresh new look for the show, which will be directed and produced by Hamish Hamilton, whose award show credits include the Oscars and MTV’s Video Music Awards.
FarmVille and its evil cousins, FrontierVille and Mafia Wars, are everywhere you look these days, but now they’re set to pop up in even more places as Zynga will launch some of their properties on Yahoo, says Next Gen. I could only take about a week of weed whacking in FrontierVille when it originally launched on Facebook this year. No word on that one yet, but now both FarmVille and Mafia Wars will kick things off for this deal between the social game maker and Yahoo this week. Now even more people will be thrown into the endless, mindless loop.
It was recently stated that over 320 million people have played Zynga games. Some think that they’ve reached their maximum potential on Facebook. Branching out is good for them, but it is good for the American workforce?
When things like these happen, you know it has gone too far. Seriously. Watch the video.
Last Ranker and Arc Rise Fantasia developer Imageepooch is tired of people thinking that the Japanese roleplaying genre is dead. In fact, it has begun an initiative to prove that the JRPG isn’t old fashioned and ready for retirement with a brand new site.
JRPG 2nd Stage sees the Tokyo-based studio fighting in the corner of a genre that many have started to write off, thanks in part to a string of formulaic, uninspired, cookie-cutter games. It’s a noble goal, and Imageepooch is going to have to put its money where its mouth is, but if they can bring some dignity back to the JRPG, then may they have the very best of luck.
The studio will be announcing a number of JRPG titles in the near future. I’m very eager to see what they do.
Imageepoch Asks “Is JRPG Old Fashioned?” [Siliconera]
The business end of this DIY Kinect stand for the top of your thin televisions is ugly. It’s a good thing that it hides behind your set, where no one will see it. Instructables user Riffraff67 has created this little shelf out of some unlikely parts: a metal plate, PVC pipe and velcro. Joystiq says that it costs about $10 and requires about 15 minutes of labor. The alternative is a licensed mount that costs $40. Ouch.
Why not just put the Kinect sensor on the floor? The instructions for this project state that you could get as much as much as an additional foot of virtual floor space to flail around on by putting the Kinect sensor up above your television. You may need that extra foot with the suggested 8 feet of floor space they ask for. Yes, it’s ugly, but this stand could get you there for only $10.
THQ has confirmed the worldwide release dates for its dramatic alternate reality shooter Homefront. The game is due to arrive in North America on March 8 2011, March 11 in the UK and March 10 in Australia. It will release on the same day as Dragon Age II, which is very bold.
Homefront is set in an America that has been invaded by North Korean soldiers. I’m predicting it’ll cause a storm in the mainstream press, but gamers are quite looking forward to it, myself among them. THQ’s been putting out some quality over the past few years, and this looks like another solid original IP. Fingers crossed!
[Via THQ's Twitter]
Proof that even Activision can milk a franchise too much has come with news that Tony Hawk: Shred sold an utterly pathetic 3,000 copies during its first week in the United States. Earnings itself the dubious honor of October’s most disappointing performance, the game may as well not have been on store shelves.
NPD figures dub it a “virtual no-show” which seems to suggest that the skateboarding series has finally reached the end of its life. DJ Hero 2 performed significantly better, but is still classed a disappointment with 59,000 copies sold.
More people will read this post than will have bought Shred. And this, dear Activision, is why saturating the market is a bad thing.
New Tony Hawk flops at retail [CVG]