Jul 6, 2012
Telltale's The Walking Dead to get second season, retail box
Shacknews - Andrew Yoon

How hot is The Walking Dead? Hot on the heels of Activision's announcement of a game based on AMC's television series, Telltale has announced a follow-up to its currently ongoing adventure game based on the comic book.

After all five episodes of the current season of Telltale's adventure game are released, Telltale will be producing a compilation that will be available at retail. Then, the studio will be working on a second season. "Following the digital release of our fifth episode we will also be coming to North American retail shortly thereafter and this will not be the last The Walking Dead game series that we do," senior vice president of marketing Steve Allison said.

With so many differing games based on the popular zombie apocalypse universe, one has to wonder: is it too much? "Regarding today's announcement of a project based [on] the AMC TV series coming in 2013," Allison told The Verge, "as huge fans of the franchise and the show, we're looking forward to seeing Terminal Reality's game when it comes out."

Episode three of season one of Telltale's game will be available next month.

Jul 6, 2012
Rumor: Halo 2 Anniversary in the works
Shacknews - Steve Watts

With Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary out of the way and Halo 4 just around the corner, what's next for Microsoft's Halo-dedicated studio? One rumor suggests 343 Industries will be moving on to updating another classic, Halo 2.

The rumor comes from Official Xbox Magazine (via CVG). The magazine calls it "Halo 2 Anniversary," which raises questions about when it will be targeting a release. The game's 10-year anniversary wouldn't be until 2014, giving gamers well over a year to enjoy Halo 4 and its post-release episodic missions.

A Microsoft spokesperson told Shacknews "our focus right now is on developing Halo 4. Beyond that, we do not comment on rumors or speculation."

Jul 6, 2012
What are you playing: Independence Day
Shacknews - Tyler J. Smith

Happy weekend, Shack! I hope you had a wonderful fourth of July, filled with lots of charred meaty goodness and colorful explosions. Mine was spent watching the special edition of Independence Day, just like every other year. The dialogue is horrible, sure, but I always get a kick out of it.

How did you spend your holiday? Play any good games, or were you too busy planning for Shackcon?

(Click any editor's name to visit their Twitter page. Follow Shacknews on Twitter for regular updates.)

Jul 6, 2012
The Walking Dead Episode 3 due mid-August
Shacknews - Alice O'Connor

It was a full two months between the first two episodes of Telltale's undead adventure adaptation The Walking Dead, or longer in certain regions, but it seems the wait will be a bit shorter for the third. Reiterating its plans for simulatenous releases, Telltale has said we can expect Episode 3: Long Road Ahead "in the middle of August."

"Our goal from day one has been to deliver your game episodes as quickly as possible, and where we can, simultaneously across all platforms and regions. We've been working closely with our phenomenally supportive partners to try to make this a reality," Telltale said in a blog post.

"We will continue to work on this and furthermore, we will strive to improve our communication with you so that you know what's happening. Please rest assured that we are doing all we can to get your game episodes to you as quickly as possible."

The Walking Dead sold a whopping one million copies in its first two weeks because, as our review of Episode One said, it's pretty jolly nice.

Jul 6, 2012
Weekend PC digital deals: mega-bundles galore!
Shacknews - Alice O'Connor

We're still waiting for the Steam sale but Amazon has launched its own and hoo boy, what a cracker! There are many ridiculously cheap bundles with top games, as well as discounts like 50% off the brand new Spec Ops: The Line. Splendid stuff, and something for everyone. And that's just Amazon, let alone everyone else.

Here's our selection of this weekend's PC deals:

GameFly

Amazon

If you like the look of a game in one of Amazon's many bundles but don't want all the rest, have a look--many of them are discounted individually too.

Alice: Madness Returns

Blizzard

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

GamersGate

GamersGate is running a sale on loads of games published by Nordic Games, including:

Gothic III

Get Games

Sniper Elite V2

GOG

Chronicles of Riddick

Green Man Gaming

Get 25% off anything with the voucher code 25OFF-ALLTH-EGAME. You can use that on any old game, or stack it on top of existing discounts to get these prices:

Hitman: Absolution

Impulse

The Witcher 2

Indie Gala

Pay what you want for Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines, Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty, and The Void. Beat the average price to score Air Conflicts: Secret Wars, Cargo! The Quest for Gravity, Commandos 2, Commandos 3 and Ion Assault too.

Commandos

Indie Royale

Pay what you want for Acceleration Of Suguri, AirMech, Dino Run SE, GundeadliGne, Gundemonium Recollection, Harvest: Massive Encounter, Hitogata Happa, Serious Sam 2 and The Journey Down: Chapter One. Many can be activated on Steam.

GundeadliGne

Steam

Some Call of Duty DLC or something

Jul 6, 2012
The Walking Dead FPS coming from Activision and Terminal Reality
Shacknews - Andrew Yoon

Telltale has been doing quite well with its game based on The Walking Dead comic. However, Activision has its own game coming out as well, one based on the AMC television series.

The Walking Dead will be a first-person shooter developed by Terminal Reality (Kinect Star Wars). The game serves as a prequel as players control Daryl and Merle dixon on a "haunting, unforgiving quest to make their way to the supposed safety of Atlanta."

Players will have to be stealthy and scavenge the environment for supplies, food, and ammo. Like in Telltale's game, Daryl will encounter other characters, and whether or not these characters help you will be dependent on the "major decisions" you make while playing.

The game will be available in 2013 on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. IGN has the first trailer for the game, which has absolutely zero gameplay footage.

Jul 6, 2012
Weekend Confirmed 120 - Dawnguard, Day Z, Diablo 3
Shacknews - Garnett Lee

Despite the summer's dearth of new releases, the Weekend Confirmed crew get into some spirited discussions about Diablo 3's questionable end-game, and what it's like to be a vampire in Skyrim's new expansion, Dawnguard. Garnett, Jeffs Cannata and Mattas, and regular guest Andrea Rene also delve into some talk about the Day Z beta mod that brings hardcore zombie survival to ArmA 2, and opine a bit about ZombiU and Sim City Social as well. The eclectic mix of topics all wraps up with another batch of Finishing Moves.

Weekend Confirmed Ep. 120: 07/06/2012

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Here's a handy pop-up player so you can listen from right here on the page. Let us know how it works for you.

If you're viewing this in the GameFly application, you can play Weekend Confirmed Episode 120 directly.

Weekend Confirmed comes in four segments to make it easy to listen to in segments or all at once. Here's the timing for this week's episode:

    Show Breakdown:

    Round 1 00:00:30 â€" 00:28:15

    Whatcha Been Playing Part 1 00:28:49 â€" 00:58:47

    Whatcha Been Playing Part 2 00:59:43 â€" 01:29:24

    Listener Feedback/Front Page News 01:30:16 â€" 02:04:42

Jeff Cannata can also be seen on The Totally Rad Show. They've gone daily so there's a new segment to watch every day of the week!

Follow the Weekend Confirmed crew on Twitter, too!

Weekend Confirmed @WeekendConfirmd

Garnett Lee @GarnettLee

Jeff Cannata @jeffcannata

Jeff Mattas @JeffMattas

Andrea Rene @andrearene

Remember to join the Official Facebook Weekend Confirmed Page and add us to your Facebook routine. We'll be keeping you up with the latest on the show there as well.

Original music in the show by Del Rio. Get his latest Album, The Wait is Over on iTunes. Check out more, including the Super Mega Worm mix and other mash-ups on his ReverbNation page or Facebook page, and follow him on twitter @delriomusic.

Del Rio's next album, Club Tipsy, is also just a few days away from its July 10 release. Check out his official web page for more information.

Jul 6, 2012
Dead or Alive 5 Collector's Edition includes bikinis (of course)
Shacknews - Andrew Yoon

While Team Ninja attempted to go a more serious route with Ninja Gaiden 3, it appears the studio is back to its old ways with Dead or Alive 5. The busty female leads of their fighting franchise are going to be showing off their goods yet again.

A GameStop-exclusive collector's edition promises to include a steel case, hardcover art book, soundtrack CD, and a "I'm a Fighter" poster. Oh, and "premium swimsuit costumes for the full cast of playable female characters in the game."

The premium edition will cost $80, or $20 more than the regular game. Coupled with the game's photography mode, these costumes should yield interesting results for those that want to seek them.

Why these two are fighting, we're not sure

Jul 6, 2012
Devil's Third planned for 'digital devices'
Shacknews - Steve Watts

Now that Valhalla Game Studios has snagged the rights to Devil's Third, the company is detailing more of its plans for the title. In a statement formally announcing the rights transfer, Valhalla CEO Satoshi Kanematsu said it will bring the game to "a wide range of digital devices."

The statement didn't outline precisely what it meant by those devices, but it did say those releases are in addition to the existing plans for PC and consoles. In fact, the studio is looking into other outlets for the franchise as well, like manga, novels, animation, and film.

Last we heard, the game is planned for early 2013, and Valhalla is considering putting it on Wii U as well. It sounds a lot like the studio is intent on making a big investment in the game, so it wouldn't be surprising to see it hit the new Nintendo system.

Jul 6, 2012
PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale launches on October 23
Shacknews - Andrew Yoon

With so many games coming out in 2013, this holiday season is looking a bit sparse. Not to worry, though. Sony has at least one big game slated for Christmas shoppers: PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale. It will be available on PS3 and Vita on October 23rd.

While the game's full roster has yet to be revealed, Sony has announced the game's requisite pre-order bonus: an exclusive set of costumes for all the characters in the game. The image above only shows the outfits for announced characters; obviously, there will be more characters in the game.

The PlayStation.Blog confirms that there will be "multiple costumes" to unlock for each character in the game, but that these costumes are pre-order exclusives.

Unfortunately, Sony has been tight-lipped about other release details. Specifically, is there a discount for purchasing both the Vita and PS3 versions of the game? And how many characters can we expect? These are the questions we'd like to know before slamming down money on a pre-order.

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