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THQ’s Darksiders: Wrath of War is a game I’ve been keeping an eye on ever since it was announced way back at E3 2007. It’s been repeatedly delayed; the game is now set for release on January 1, 2010 (how very cheeky of you, THQ).

But I recently got some hands-on time with the comic book-styled action-adventure game, and from the time I spent with it, I gathered that the full product may very well be, as Jim hoped, ridiculously awesome. Hit the jump to read about things like killing demons with a big-ass sword … while riding a horse.

Darksiders: Wrath of War (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)
Developer: Vigil Games
Publisher: THQ
To be released: January 1, 2010

There’s more to Darksiders than meets the eye. People seem to be worried that it’s yet another cookie-cutter third-person action game, but that’s not what I saw. The game has an intriguing, unique storyline, and its gameplay takes elements from a wide variety of genres. Here’s the deal: you play as War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. War has been accused by the Charred Council — a mediating body between heaven and hell — of prematurely triggering the apocalypse (y’know, where heaven and hell descend on Earth to fight it out once and for all, with humanity caught in the middle).

The game actually kicks off during the apocalypse, when War is at the height of his power. But shortly afterward, he’s brought in chains before the Charred Council. They strip him of his abilities and send him back to Earth, doomed to walk the now-desolate landscape for all eternity. War isn’t going to take this lying down, though — he’s been falsely accused of a crime he didn’t commit, so he sets out to right this wrong and find out who was really behind the early apocalypse. (After all, it isn’t due to hit until 2012, right?)

Darksiders is the first title from Vigil Games, an Austin, Texas-based studio co-founded by comic book writer/artist Joe Madureira. (You may know him from his own series, Battle Chasers, as well as Marvel’s Uncanny X-Men.) Madureira serves as the game’s creative director, and that comic book influence is apparent in the game. You’ll see Gothic and demonic architecture juxtaposed with extant modern human buildings. Everything in the game was designed with that classic, Gears-style “bigger, better, more bad-ass” mantra in mind — even doorways aren’t just simple wood-block-on-hinges affairs.

The whole game takes place on Earth, which is missing six billion inhabitants; in their stead are angels and demons, remnants of the cataclysmic clash that eradicated the human race. With such a killer premise, I was surprised by how often THQ’s Waleed Kamel, who explained the demo to me, drew comparisons between Darksiders and the Legend of Zelda games. I can see where he’s coming from; Darksiders features the same basic hub/dungeon structure that Zelda has (you’ll come upon doors that can’t be opened until, for example, you’ve upgraded your powers).

Combat in the game is immediately reminiscent of franchises like Devil May Cry, but Kamel noted that it’s less focused on memorizing combos and based more on rhythm. In that way, it made me think of the melee combat in Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, where you don’t want to merely mash buttons. Here, timing your button inputs correctly will allow you to chain attacks together, making for some awesome-looking demon killing. And don’t worry — Kamel assured me that there are no quick-time events in the game. You can transition seamlessly between your weapons — which include a sword, pistol, and scythe — during combat. So just like in Bayonetta, you can slice some enemies and then shoot ’em up, too. There’s also a wonderfully gory God of War-style quick kill for enemies who are low on health.

But what I found to be worthwhile in Darksiders was the combination of this classic action game combat within the framework of an adventure game. You collect blue souls, the game’s currency, by killing enemies; these can be handed over to the demon Vulgrim, the merchant of the game, to upgrade your weapons and “Wrath” powers (magic). The prolific voice actor Phil LaMarr, whom you may know as Vamp in the Metal Gear Solid series, plays Vulgrim. In fact, Darksiders has a pretty significant voice cast. Liam O’Brien, best known for his role as Gaara on Naruto, voices War; Mark Hamill basically does his Joker voice as The Watcher. And Moon Bloodgood, of Terminator Salvation fame, voices the Archangel Uriel.

The Watcher is another interesting character. Since the Charred Council doesn’t trust you, they send the Watcher to accompany you back to Earth; continuing with the Zelda comparison, Kamel likened him to an “evil Navi.” The Watcher is “not someone to be trifled with” — because you’re so weak, he has complete control over you. He can bring you to your knees, and he could even kill you on a whim if he wanted to do so. He acts as a guide of sorts, but there’s definitely not a congenial relationship between him and War.

A creature that is loyal and helpful is your horse, Ruin. This mighty beast is actually invisible — the “phantom steed” is made of ash, so he merely disintegrates when he’s hit. You can summon him at the press of a button as long as you’re not in an enclosed area, and he’ll even catch you if you’re falling. (Of Ruin, Kamel said, “He’s like a bad-ass Epona.”) Ruin will allow you to get to places you couldn’t reach without him, and he’s also a necessity in certain combat situations, à la Agro from Shadow of the Colossus. In a boss battle in the Ashlands (which are literally composed of human ash, by the way), you can’t step on the ash without being devoured by the boss. But you can ride around on Ruin with impunity.

THQ and Vigil wanted to stress the puzzle elements in the boss battles. It’s not just about hacking away until a screen-filling health bar is depleted; instead, like Zelda, you’ll often receive a new weapon or ability in a dungeon, and — guess what? — you’ll need to use it against the dungeon boss. I saw this in action when War was given not a hook shot, but a “cross blade.” It’s a sweet bow, but what’s neat is that you can lock on to multiple targets with it (it’ll fire at all of them at once). In the fiery dungeon, the boss isn’t harmed by regular attacks. But the cross blade also transfers elements. If you hit something that’s on fire, your arrows will then be imbued with flame — and that’s how you can defeat the boss.

Since it’s an action-adventure game, a major part of the game is exploration. I spent some time running around and found what looked like a subway entrance — it led to a small underground area where, after doing some platforming, I came upon a chest full of souls. Sweet! There will also be a number of sections where you’ll be given a heavy weapon to play with. These segments are intended to break up the gameplay. One of the special weapons was a Fracture Cannon, a demon-designed remote-detonated rocket launcher. You have unlimited ammo in the short time you have the weapon, so it’s a blast (ba-dum-tish) to use.

The environment is interactive, too. If something looks like it can be used, then it can be used. I killed many a demon by picking up objects like cars and hurling them at the monsters. It’s also a lot of fun to break a fire hydrant and watch the geyser-like torrent of water raise enemies high into the air.

Darksiders incorporates gameplay from plenty of sources, and its developers aren’t afraid to admit it or even to invite comparisons. That’s because they feel as if they’ve got something special on their hands, and while we’ll have to wait until New Year’s Day to know for sure, I definitely enjoyed what I played so far. For more, hit up the game’s official Web site.

EA Canada has the unenviable task of developing a follow-up to NHL 09, arguably one of the best sports games ever made, and so far, it looks like they’re up to it. We’ve heard of all kinds of additions and improvements that will surely make the franchise better, such as a focus on emotion. After the jump, you’ll find the recently released second trailer for the game, in which Producer David Littman goes over the changes you can expect to see in NHL 10.

He doesn’t talk about anything that hasn’t already been revealed, such as the features on the GameStop description for the game, but it’s still good to see all the new stuff in action. I can’t wait to embarrass goalies with fake shots.

NHL 10 will be out on September 15th for the PS3 and 360 with Patrick Kane on its cover. For more video, check out the debut trailer here.

2K Sports scored a hit with its 2007 arcade baseball title, The Bigs, and after two years of lackluster baseball sims, they’re trying to recapture past glory with a sequel, The Bigs 2. I got my hands on the game at E3, and last week, I listened in on a conference call with Producer Rob Nelson and Associate Producer Damon Purdue, both of whom gave details on the game.

So what can you expect to see in The Bigs 2 when it hits stores tomorrow? Follow me to the jump to find out.

The Bigs 2 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 2)
Developer: Blue Castle Games
Publisher: 2K Sports
To be released: July 7, 2009

As you might expect, The Bigs 2 is an over-the-top sports game; as Nelson told it, “playing the game is like watching a highlight reel of baseball.” But he also noted that developer Blue Castle Games was “not out to break baseball” — perhaps a subtle jab at Midway’s last-gen MLB SlugFest series, where infielders could literally punch baserunners. The challenge with this kind of game, Nelson explained, is to provide a fun, easy-to-grasp, pick-up-and-play experience … without going too far into the arcade realm. So for more dedicated veteran sports gamers, there’s actually a level of baseball strategy to The Bigs 2 — but the game doesn’t require less-skilled gamers to know the ins and outs of the sport.

Since the original Bigs provided such a solid foundation, they didn’t want to change the controls too much; the goals with the sequel were to improve on the original by tweaking things that hadn’t been done right and adding new features. The three major additions to the franchise are: a full 162-game season mode, which gamers had been clamoring for; the Legendary catch system on defense; and the Wheelhouse mechanic. And the gameplay has been improved as well — for example, you have to make many more choices about when to use turbo.

Each hitter has a part of the strike zone that glows orange — their “Wheelhouse,” an area where they have an increased chance of getting a hit, and where their hits will be harder. Better hitters have larger Wheelhouses. As a pitcher, there’s a classic risk/reward situation with the Wheelhouse: you’re taking a chance by throwing into it, but if you’re able to get the pitch past the hitter, his Wheelhouse will shrink for the rest of the game.

On defense, players who you might consistently see on the “Web Gems” segment on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight will be able to make “Legendary” catches. This entails things like leaping ten feet into the air to snag a line drive or snaring a would-be home run from high above the wall. Legendary catches are controlled by context-sensitive mini-games (in other words, quick-time events that will require you to press a certain button at the right time). For example, a circle that shows where a fly ball is going to land will flash green when you’re supposed to dive for the ball.

The Bigs 2 also features a varied power-up system. Again, it’s baseball’s upper-echelon players who feature special characteristics. A-Rod has the “all home runs are no-doubters” power-up (in other words, his homers can’t be caught, even by outfielders with a Legendary catch rating), while Derek Jeter — Captain Clutch himself — gets a boost to his attributes when the Yankees are behind. Red Sox DH David Ortiz also has no-doubter home runs, but after seeing how anemic his hitting has been this season, maybe that’ll be changed in a later roster update (PS3/360 only).

Blue Castle has also changed up the franchise’s unique career mode, Become A Legend. In the first Bigs, you simply created a player and attempted to lead your team to World Series glory. This time around, things have taken a turn for the worse: your player has suffered a career-threatening injury, and after rehab, you start off in a Mexican league to build up your reputation from scratch and work your way back up to the majors. On the way, you’ll play in Japan as well, though Nelson and Purdue were quick to point out that the game doesn’t have any affiliation with real Mexican or Japanese baseball leagues. The game actually offers a full career this time, instead of just one year.

In the career mode, your player starts off with a one-star rating for each attribute (out of a possible six; the first Bigs only had five rating stars), and he improves as you go along. The create-a-player interface is more robust, with new swing animations and options for home run celebrations and walkup music. The end goal here is to make it into the Hall of Fame; you collect votes as you go along by performing well. Sadly, you’re limited to only creating hitters once again — maybe pitchers will be available in The Bigs 3. New to The Bigs 2 are mini-games: power, contact, glove, and speed. They’re intended as fun diversions: the speed mini-game, for example, has you racing along rooftops outside of Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

The all-new season mode wasn’t designed to be as deep an experience as what you’d find in a baseball sim — you’re not going to be managing players’ salaries or anything like that, and there aren’t any injuries — but you’ll be able to take a team through a full 162-game season with trades and an All-Star Game. Damon Bruce returns as the game’s commentator, and he’s just as great as he was last time, though it isn’t clear if new audio was recorded for the sequel.

Purdue and Nelson also touched on online play. The Bigs 2 offers an exciting new feature: 2-on-2 online co-op, which is something that the developers of the first game wanted to implement but couldn’t get done in time. The graphics have been altered, as well — players’ body sizes were decreased slightly to look less outlandish. With all these enhancements to the gameplay from the original, as well as the new features, The Bigs 2 is looking like a solid follow-up. Check out the game tomorrow!

As Jim is busy hobnobbing with furries and ambulatory homeless shelters at SGC 09, I am happy to take up the torch and deliver to you this week’s edition of Games of the Week — a task for which he didn’t even bother to thank me by the way, the rotten pr*ck. But that’s okay, because Adam Dork currently has a handlebar moustache.

There he is, ladies and gentlemen. The Lovely Adam Dork, in all his curly JOURNALISM moustachioed glory. Go on, gaze upon its majesty. Yeah, that happened. He even went for Chinese food with that thing on his face yesterday — a move that would make Geraldo Beedog shed a single tear of prideful admiration, not unlike a father watching his son win the goddamned Super Bowl. Mr. Dork is deserving of your respect and applause, folks, f*cking rockstar that he is.

Since the rest of us are not nearly as awesome as him, we just played some games. You can find out what they were after the jump.

The Tom Fronczak: Still playing DotA more than anything else. Friday night my friends and I tried the Level 1 Roshan trick I found from league replay videos where Enigma kills either Rexxar’s bird or Furion’s treants to make eidolons so the whole team can rush Rosh before the game even starts (usually he’s not possible to kill until everyone is Level 13 or so, unless you have an Ursa). Seeing the other team’s comments was hilarious. Basically all insta-leavers, or if they missed the global text announcement, they would scream "OMG HOW ARE YOU LEVEL 4 ALREADY?!" Only one out of three games’ enemy teams stayed, but even with a few leaver items, after 3 Rosh rushes in 30 minutes (he respawns ten minutes after you kill him) they could only take one of our 6 lane towers, and the only tower fall was a deny. Level 1 Aegis is about as imba as Level 1 Tauren Chieftain! You few DotA players out there should try it out.

Other than that, my new HDTV is now hooked up, so I’m finally dusting off my PS3 again and plan on starting Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune this week. Anyone have some good non-Pixar (that’s cheating!) suggestions for amazing-looking Blu-ray films? Transformers and Iron Man look pretty damn slick. And Wall·E is ridiculous-looking.

The Jim Sterling: Mostly played Overlord II for review and you can go read that for my views on it, you lazy fucks. Outside of that, been plugging away on Megaman Starforce 3, also for review. It really is quite a good game, despite all the bullshit attached to it. Still at the ScrewAttack Con, but I hear I have three Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen games waiting for me when I get back … shudder.

The Chad Concelmo: @Fronz, Yeah. You pretty much can’t do any better than WALL-E on Blu-ray. It really is the best-looking high-def movie I have ever seen in my life. The Pirates of the Caribbean films look pretty good as well if you want to give your eyes a treat. Try those!

As far as videogames, I am doing a Harry Potter spree in preparation for the new movie that comes out in a week and a half. Honestly, though, there is only one good Harry Potter videogame, and that is the Chamber of Secrets for the GameCube. And it’s not even just passable — it’s actually pretty fantastic!

I also am replaying Final Fantasy VII for the first time in years thanks to its recent release on the PSN. And, of course, I am loving it. Tifa FTW!

The Jonathan Ross: Get Demigod. Been getting in a lot of TF2, and also picked up BlazBlue, which has been pretty good. Started Devil Summoner on DS, which I’m really enjoying, and I’ve also gotten back into Picross DS.

The Topher Cantler: I’d tell you I played stuff like Flower, Sun and Rain for the DS, ‘Splosion Man and the new TMNT: Turtles In Time remake this week, but what’s more important to me right now is what I’m NOT playing, and that is Metal Slug 3 on XBLA. Not for lack of trying, I assure you.

For some reason, no matter how many times I delete and redownload the game, clear the cache on my console and perform all manner of voodoo rituals to the contrary, shit don’t work, son. The game freezes at random points, more often than not on the last fucking level, when my score is already far superior to that of Wilbo, who has dared challenge me. It’s not the console, either, as when the action on screen freezes I can still bring up the Xbox guide and even scroll through the pause menu of the game itself, adjusting settings, etc. Anybody else having this problem? Or am I just doomed never to finish a game of MS3 on my 360 again? If someone knows who I can call and yell at to get it working, please enlighten me. Otherwise, suck it, Wilbo.

The Jonathan Holmes: Was playing The Conduit online for review, but the game has consistently glitched on me for the past three days. Rumor has it that High Voltage just changed their servers so that anyone with the Homebrew Channel installed can’t play their game online, presumably to bust cheaters. Bummer. It’s a great online FPS, but not great enough to sacrifice Another Code R, Disaster: Day of Crisis, and Captain Rainbow. Going to contact High Voltage on Monday to see what’s up.

Also playing BlazBlue for review. It’s everything that Street Fighter IV isn’t, but in a good way. Fans of KoF, Guilty Gear, and Street Fighter III should pick it up ASAP.

The Justin Villasenor: Not a whole lot this week. I’m still chipping away at Super Robot Wars Origional Generation, and I also picked up Lost Odyssey for the first time in months. That’s about it.

The Samit Sarkar: I finished my Fight Night Round 4 (review coming this week!) Legacy mode with Samit Sarkar, retiring with the ranking of Greatest Of All Time and a record of 50(47)-1-0 (for those of you who need a translation, that’s 50 wins — 47 of which were knockouts — one loss, and no draws). I also lost twice to Anthony online, but that’s because he’s a cheating, spamming little bitch who doesn’t have any interest in fighting even close to the way an actual (or CPU) boxer would.

Since I’d been trying to complete the career mode for the upcoming review, I didn’t really play all that much else this week. I spent an hour or two with MLB 09 yesterday, playing a number of RTTS games. In one of them, against the Blue Jays, Samit Sarkar scattered six hits over 7.2 innings while giving up no runs and striking out eight. Later on, I played two games each of Worms and 3 on 3 NHL Arcade with a friend.

Fronz, regarding your question about great-looking Blu-rays to show off your HDTV, check out this thread on the AVS Forum. It ranks Blu-ray Discs in order of their picture quality. Well, actually, Tier 0 ("Blu") ranks the films in order of picture quality — for example, the original Pirates of the Caribbean movie looks slightly better than WALL-E. But the rest of the tiers are split into sections in which the movies are merely ranked alphabetically. (Notice how most of the movies in the top tier are CG films like Kung Fu Panda and Ratatouille! And as you can see, Chad was right about the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.)

The Anthony Burch: If making shitty excuses for sucking at a genre he’s supposed to be great at was a sport, Samit would be MVP.

The Brad Nicholson: I also beat Samit.

The Samit Sarkar: Uh…no, you didn’t, Mr. I Want The Xbox 360 Version So I Don’t Have To Play Samit Or Anthony.

The Dyson Grigsby: Believe it or not, I’ve been playing Prince of Persia for the 360. Yes, I know I’m always months late to the party when it comes to games, but whatever… Maybe in a month I’ll get around to that Left for Dead  game that all the kids are talking about.

The Colette Bennett: I’ve been playing nothing but Project Diva on my PSP, and I’m convinced it’s the best thing on earth.

The Dyson Grigsby: Samit Sarkar also wins the "referring to himself in third person more times that Dyson does" award.

The Ashley Davis: It’s okay Dyson, I’m just now playing Knights of the Old Republic. It’s really freaking awesome, by the way.

The Brad Nicholson: I beat Samit in FNR4.

The Tom Fronczack: Oh man, how could I forget to pickup the Pirates movies on Blu-ray! I’m on it, thanks!

@Jonathan — I’m not saying I think Demigod will be bad, but there’s just no way it would offer as much adrenaline in an equally awesome 10 player environment online. 90+ heroes times 4+ spells each plus 90+ items = highly reluctant to try Demigod for a long time. Plus DotA is free.

P.S. I beat Samit in FNR4

The Brad Nicholson: You did, too? Samit really sucks at sports games, right?

The Nick Chester: Been watching my wife, Debbey, play BioShock all weekend. Started yesterday, she’s just about done as I write this. I had nearly forgotten how beautiful the game is, how perfect it is as setting and keeping a tone. Just incredible.

When I have been playing games, it’s been handheld stuff, specifically Mecho Wars on the iPhone. Also: blew through Turtles in Time: Re-Shelled (XBLA), picked up The Conduit for a few hours; played a few preview levels of Twisted Pixel’s upcoming XBLA game ‘Splosion Man; and continued my Fight Night Round 4 career (haven’t fought Samit, but there’s little doubt I’d beat him to a pulp).

The Samit Sarkar: Dyson, I wasn’t exactly referring to myself in the third person — the games I was talking about allow you to create your own player for the career mode, and I created myself in Fight Night Round 4, MLB 09 The Show, and NHL 09! And by the way, I got Prince of Persia for my birthday last November, and the Blu-ray has never seen the inside of my PS3. I also just got Mirror’s Edge last week, so I’ll probably start playing through that soon.

While politicians and moral crusaders have done their best to criticize videogames and preach about their perceived ill effects, Sesame Street (by way of the Joan Glanz Clooney Center at Sesame Workshop) approves of their existence, and sees games as a force for good in the world.

"Despite their reputation as promoters of violence and mayhem, digital games have in fact been shown to help children gain content and vital foundational and 21st century skills," explains the center’s Game Changer report. "We know enough about digital games and how they work to recognize their promise. Now we need to invest time and resources to turn this promise into a real ‘game changer’ for America’s children."

The report focuses on various elements of videogames that have value in the development of children, discussing the educational value they have, the potential to develop problem-solving skills, creativity and systems thinking.

It’s a shame that those who rail against videogame don’t try and do something to enhance the game industry’s positive aspects, rather than simply focus on the perceived negative aspects. That never really helps anybody or anything. Still, we now officially live in a world where Big Bird is making more sense than Jack Thompson, so that’s something.

During the EA press conference at E3, Peter Moore revealed that Madden NFL 10 will have an online franchise mode, an announcement that got Madden fans everywhere pumped for the upcoming football game. In addition to the previously detailed Pro-Tak animation system and online cooperative play, the game’s 32-player online franchise is another exciting new feature for the series.

In the developer diary after the jump, you can hear EA Tiburon’s Ian Cummings, Ryan Ferwerda, and Phil Frazier discuss the significance of this addition to Madden. They place a special focus on Madden app for mobile phones, which will be released alongside the game — even when you’re not playing the game on your PS3 or 360, you’ll always be attuned to the goings-on in your franchise.

Madden NFL 10 will be out in only six weeks, on August 14th. For more, check out my preview of the game, as well as all of our Madden-related posts.

Madden NFL 10 Video Documentary Series Details All-New Online Franchise

June 30, 2009 – The culmination of all things Madden NFL has arrived with Online Franchise in Madden NFL 10. The latest Madden NFL 10 Video Documentary series is now available, which includes details and perspectives on the all-new, award winning Online Franchise mode – direct from the development team.

Enjoy 32 team leagues, featuring anywhere from 1 to 32 human controlled teams, in Online Franchise mode that provides full team management, including trades, live drafts, depth chart changes, and more…and it’s all just one click away!

Online Franchise is the biggest feature to ever grace Madden NFL and it’s all manageable from your console, remotely through a web browser, or via a custom iPod Touch Application. Have full control of your team from anywhere you can log on. With new mobile updates and web connections, Online Franchise is available to you 24/7, and with immediate updates to your console, you’ll never miss a down.

Online Franchise revolutionizes gameplay in that it acts as a true NFL season with 32 teams and a full season, including playoffs and the Super Bowl.

Online Franchise is exclusive to the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 versions of Madden NFL 10, which will be available in stores on August 14^th.

For more information about Madden NFL 10, visit http://maddennfl.easports.com/

The ScrewAttack Gaming Convention starts this weekend from Friday, July 3 to Sunday, July 5 and it promises to be a fun-stuffed weekend of games, geekery and … maybe Jack Thompson. It’s looking like it’ll be a very amusing 72 hours, and naturally Destructoid will be there to support our good friends at ScrewAttack.

Unfortunately, Mr. Destructoid himself is unable to attend due to Friday Night Fight commitments, so the Destructoid Panel will not be a featured part of the shenanigans. However, your ol’ pal Jim Sterling and a group of drunkards from DtoidAustin will be in attendance, so if you see us, make sure to say hello and please, if you must punch me, don’t hit my beautiful face. 

There has been news that Jack Thompson chickened out of his debate at the convention, but Destin from SG tells me he’s back on. We’ll have to see if JT has the stones to go through with it, and if he does, I’ll be liveblogging the affair. Fun times!

We’ve all seen plenty of decked-out versions of games — you know, those super-duper editions that are given monikers like “special,” “collector’s,” and “limited.” A lot of them end up being wastes of money: the content inside the big box turns out not to be worth the price premium over the game itself. (And of course, not every game deserves a special edition.)

2K Sports apparently knows that, and it looks like they’ve ensured that the Anniversary Edition of NBA 2K10 will be worth your while (and your money). This is the tenth year of NBA 2K basketball, and that’s certainly an occasion to commemorate, don’t you think? We haven’t received anything official from 2K Sports announcing the set, but yesterday, TeamXbox “obtained details” of the special edition, which is apparently only going to be available with the PS3 and 360 versions of the game. We’ve found a promotional poster that corroborates the information; you can find it in the gallery below. TeamXbox also noted that a “source close to the product” told them that the set will be priced at $99.99.

So what, exactly, will you be getting for an extra forty smackers? Some pretty damn cool stuff: a numbered locker (with combination lock) that can hold twenty games; a 6" Kobe Bryant figurine from McFarlane Toys; a 16" × 36" Kobe Bryant poster designed by Shepard Fairey’s Studio N^o.1; a video “exploring the history” of the NBA 2K franchise; and access to the Gold Room, which is a “VIP online lobby” for the game. For NBA 2K fans, this sounds like a pretty damn cool package, doesn’t it?