UFC Undisputed 3 Demo

THQ have released a demo for UFC Undisputed 3, downloadable on PSN and Xbox Live now for the US, and tomorrow for the UK and everyone else.  The game itself is due out in the UK on February 17th, on both PS3 and 360.

The demo allows players to fight in a UFC matchup between light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and middleweight champion Anderson Silva, or take part in a PRIDE match between Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and Wanderlei Silva.  Players can also try out a mirror match, against friends or AI, where both play as the same fighter!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EGJgeFE8XI]

TF2 Maps – Level Design Contest

Team Fortress 2 modding site TF2Maps.net are currently running a level design competition for maps with an all-new dynamic payload element.

Exactly what this element involves is up to the level designer, giving them the freedom to exercise their own creativity to come up with something quite different.

More details and rules are available on the competition page.

Warriors Orochi 3

The release date for Koei’s hack-and-slash Warriors Orochi 3 has been revealed as March 30th for both PS3 and 360 in Europe.

The third installment in the Warriors Orochi series continues the story several years on from Warriors Orochi 2, with a new monster threatening to wipe out all the Orochi forces.

Warriors Orochi 3 includes characters from other Koei titles including Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors, and includes new features such as three character tag team, two-player splitscreen co-op and more.

Beta Update for Skyrim

The 1.4 update for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is currently still in development, but you can apply the beta version now, through Steam.

As this is a beta version of the update, Bethesda note that you apply the update at your own risk, and back up your save games, or at least avoid overwriting them.

Full instructions for applying the beta, and removing it again, are available on the Bethesda Blog, along with the patch notes.

Microsoft to Discontinue Microsoft Points?

An article on Inside Mobile Apps suggests that Microsoft’s virtual currency system, Microsoft Points, may be discontinued by the end of the year.

While Microsoft have declined to provide them further information, it is said that developers for the Windows Phone, Zune marketplace and Xbox LIVE have been warned to plan their downloadable content and in-app purchases in accordance with the change.

Microsoft have been criticised for the virtual currency as customers often find they are forced to buy more points than they need for the purchase they want.

Space Marine gets Dreadnoughts!

THQ have announced that The Dreadnought DLC for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is due for release this week!

The Dreadnought DLC is the second premium content pack for Space Marine, consisting of a new multiplayer mode called Dreadnought Assault, three new multiplayer maps; Desolation, Dome Mechanicus and Chem Refinery, two new player skin packs: Iron Hands and Death Guard, and the usual extra achievements and trophies.  Dreadnought Assault is a team versus mode, where teams must control a capture point to be awarded with a Dreadnought, which one player can control to help score points for their team.. until the Dreadnought is destroyed and another spawn point appears.

As well as the premium DLC, all players will receive free content: the new multiplayer Capture and Control mode, where players will be challenged to capture and defend different locations around the map.

Space Marine’s previous DLC releases have included the premium Chaos Unleashed map pack, released in December 2011, and the free Exterminatus mode, released for PC and PS3 at the end of October, and for the Xbox 360 at the beginning of November.

In Exterminatus, players co-operatively battle through two scenarios; Assault on Hab Center Andreas, and Escape From Kalkys Facility, facing waves of enemies in each arena with extra in-game challenges providing extra lives or points.  Chaos Unleashed allowed players to take on the role of Chaos Space Marines in the previously Space Marine-only Exterminatus mode, as well as adding three more multiplayer maps: Habs Ablaze, Station Tertius and Aquila Caonyon, and a new Capture the Flag game mode.

Castle Story – Bricks

The first demonstration for Sauropod Studio‘s Castle Story was released earlier this month, showing a little of what the game is about and causing a bit of a stir..

The guys have now started to reveal a little more about the basics of the game, with a 101 on bricks revealing that blocks will have physics.  A post about the technical aspects of the game is due next week!

Alan Wake coming to the PC

Psychological action-thriller Alan Wake, developed by Remedy Entertainment and published for the Xbox 360 in 2010, is finally coming to the PC in February this year!

The PC version of the game is being developed by a team from Remedy, alongside Finnish indie developer Nitro Games.  It will be available on Steam, using Steamworks rather than Games for Windows LIVE, and will contain both The Signal and The Writer DLCs too.

An FAQ is being maintained on the community forums.

The AGS Bake Sale Bundle (Another Indie Bundle)

The AGS Bake Sale Bundle is the latest set of indie games to appear for sale, with all proceeds going to the Child’s Play charity.

There are fourteen games in this bundle, all made in the Adventure Game Studio (AGS) engine, by members of the AGS Community.  These games have been created precisely for the purposes of inclusion in the Bake Sale Bundle.

Customers can purchase the bundle for any price they like, though with a minimum of $1.50 to cover the cost of the transaction.  The bundle will be available from today, 20th Jan, through till the 29th of February.

Renegade Ops

Renegade Ops, by Avalanche Studios and published by Sega, arrived in my Steam game collection over Christmas thanks to a friend.  Although Tim had already picked this up on the 360, the game has four player co-op, so having it on the PC as well was no bad thing!

While the Great Gift Pile objective list was up over Christmas, we had a quick go at it, with the aim of killing Santa and collecting one of his presents.. and although we discovered that the present only drops for one player, we had a lot of fun destroying things!

If your vehicle gets turned over, the game resets your position without taking up one of your lives.  This was just as well, because we crashed into each other a lot while slipping on the ice or even just trying to overtake each other.

We decided we should play the game properly..  though, that said.. we ended up playing the Coldstrike DLC before the original storyline.

The game has a choice of characters to play as: I played as Steam-exclusive Gordon Freeman, with the ability to summon a pack of Antlions.  During the chase for the objective, I had unlocked some upgrades which meant their deaths would spawn a health pack, or repair kit, depending on how you look at it 😉

As well as Antlion-related upgrades, I had the two other skill trees common to all characters: a defensive tree with upgrades to add extra lives, auto-repair and so on, and an offensive tree, with upgrades focused on improving weaponry.  I took a balance between the two trees as with friends, the game isn’t too hard and we were there to have fun!

For my secondary weapon, I found the Rocket Launcher and Flamer the easiest to use, with the Rail Gun less easy as you had to keep aiming at the target while charging, and I didn’t want to sit still.  I also continued the theme of crashing into everything as we went along, with plenty of smaller enemies and buildings being destroyed this way!

I really loved the sections of the game where we were given helicopters to control..

There was a little niggle in that we weren’t able to fly up and over certain obstacles, and had to go round.. but otherwise these were easy to fly, which meant I was able to focus on the destruction 🙂

The game is easy to play, though that coupled with playing in co-op meant more silliness and therefore more deaths.  Definitely a fun game, though!