Entertainment Electronics Blog

Burnout Crash is coming to iOS later this year, the platform it arguably should have been on from the start.

Burnout Crash sounded like an exciting proposition when its name first popped up. After the absence of Crash mode in Burnout Paradise, a game dedicated to the fan-favorite mode would be most welcome. More details made their way out before its official announcement, namely that it would feature a top-down camera view — a fact that turned many people off. 1UP’s review last month pointed out how the game felt out of place on consoles — it was released as a downloadable title on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 — but would feel right at home on iPhone or iPad.

Electronic Arts apparently felt the game was a great match for iOS as well. It’s now slated for a release this “holiday season” on select iOS platforms — iPad, iPad 2, and iPhone 4 are mentioned in the press release, but we’re checking on 3GS and older models with EA. It still features three game modes, 18 traffic junctions, six locations, Autolog support, and an ’80s soundtrack with Vanilla Ice and Gloria Estefan, among others.

A lot of new features are on the way to Xbox Live later this year: a redesigned dashboard, enhanced Kinect support, Bing voice search, and a UFC app are just some of the new features you can expect. An Xbox 360 update released earlier today doesn’t provide any of those new features. In fact, as far as you’re concerned as an end-user, it doesn’t do anything — though that doesn’t mean you won’t get an earlier look at those new features than expected.

The Microsoft Connect site has an area set up for interested Xbox 360 owners to apply to become a beta tester for the new dashboard update. Earlier today it was accepting users, but as Joystiq reports, the site has been altered to note that registrations are not being accepted at the moment. That’s likely because this went public sooner than expected and Microsoft isn’t ready to begin soliciting users for testers. The good news is that some 360 users won’t have to wait until the update is out to try out some of the new functionality.

We’re still without an exact date for when the update is coming. The UFC app has been dated for December 1, ahead of the December 10 PPV that can be ordered through it. Presumably the dashboard update itself will be out before then; November 15 was reportedly a date being eyed, as indicated by an internal PayPal email. More recently, GigaOM reported that the update is based on Microsoft’s Silverlight and that a release on Black Friday — November 25 — is instead being targeted.

Leisure Suit Larry is largely regarded as a pretty poor franchise by those who have only played the more recent entries in the franchise. Years back, it had its unfunny moments but was an extremely popular point-and-click adventure series. Nowadays it might be difficult to track down its better iterations, so Replay Games is hoping to revive them all for modern platforms.

Back in June, Replay announced it was working with Larry creator Al Lowe to bring the original Leisure Suit Larry to tablets, netbooks, and mobile devices. According to EGM, it now has plans to bring remastered, HD versions to an even wider variety of platforms: Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, PC, Mac, iOS, Android, OnLive, and more.

The first game in the series, Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, was originally released in 1987 and then got a remake in 1991. This took the original 16-color EGA graphics (featured in the video above, which shows off the game’s first ten minutes) and upgraded them to 256 colors.

Even before Mass Effect 3 was announced last December, there were rumors that it would feature multiplayer, or that a separate Mass Effect game was being developed which included multiplayer support. Talk of multiplayer has only continued over the past year, though BioWare has refused to confirm its presence.

The latest such sign is a tease for an upcoming issue of Australian game magazine PC PowerPlay. Its cover (pictured above) states “multiplayer comes to Mass Effect 3,” and right below that it reads, “Fight alongside your friends as the galaxy goes to war!” The accompanying text on PCPP’s website provides little in the way of additional details, only promising Mass Effect producer Casey Hudson talks about the decision to incorporate multiplayer.

Based on what little text there is on the cover, it sounds as if there will, at the very least, be some kind of co-op mode. That’s precisely what we heard back in June — Mass Effect 3 will feature a four-player, online co-op mode. At the time there was also a report about “original missions” that could be played cooperatively, as opposed to a Horde-style mode where you fight off waves of enemies.

One of Microsoft’s surprises during its E3 press conference this year was the announcement about UFC content coming to Xbox Live. We’re now less than two months away from seeing that become a reality, and we have some new details on what will be possible.

The focal point of the UFC app appears to be pay-per-views. And that should come as no surprise — PPV revenue is a huge aspect of UFC’s revenue and it’s in its best interest to make purchasing a PPV as easy and convenient as possible (and watching an unauthorized stream online as unattractive as possible). Both standard definition and high definition (in 720p) versions of PPVs will be available, each at their own respective prices, which will presumably be the same amount you’d pay through your cable provider. Microsoft Points won’t be necessary; you’ll be able to pay directly with your credit card through Xbox Live, so there’s no need to worry about purchasing points and having some left over that may never be used.

The first PPV to be available through the Xbox Live app is UFC 140 on December 10, headlined by Jon “Bones” Jones versus Lyoto Machida for the light heavyweight title and Frank Mir versus Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira.

I like me some cross-over events in comics but I sure hope this is the last time it shows up in a Spider-Man video game for at least a couple of years. Last year’s Spidey adventure was split across various dimensions — this time around we have a time vortex as the central plot device starring Spider-Man 2099 and Amazing Spider-Man in developer Beenox’s latest, Spider-Man Edge of Time. It’s a capable superhero action game that demonstrates that the team is getting better at crafting a Spider-Man game, but like most comic-licensed properties there is still room for improvement.

The plot itself is… a little silly. But that’s why I like my superhero comics. This game nails the whole “comic book mini-series cross-over event” and Peter David (co-creator of Spider-Man 2099) deserves some props for the story. Each of the Spider-Men are well written and performed just as well with O’Hara’s inability to take a joke clashing with Parker’s wisecracks throughout the adventure.

L.A. Noire was a curious omission on PC given its genre. It launched on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and it was only after weeks of waiting that Rockstar delivered the official word that a PC version would be coming before the year was up. Each time I’ve covered a story about Noire’s PC port, I’ve mentioned the absence of another Rockstar hit, Red Dead Redemption, on PC — it’s been out for upwards of 16 months and Rockstar has still given no indication it plans to bring the game to computers.

The subject of Red Dead on PC and Rockstar allegedly abandoning the platform came up in an FAQ Rockstar published this week. The answer didn’t dive into any specifics, which is what we really want to know, but it did imply RDR on PC wouldn’t be viable.

“We hope that with the announcement that L.A. Noire is coming to PC this fall, and the knowledge that our next big game Max Payne 3 will have a PC release (plus that we’ve released both Grand Theft Auto IV and the Episodes from Liberty City for PC), we can finally put to rest any misconceptions that we’ve ‘abandoned the PC platform,’” the FAQ reads. “We do know that, yes, there is just one title absent from our PC release plans — that game of course being Red Dead Redemption, and of course we’re well aware that some fans have been asking for it.

In addition to Microsoft’s other big announcement today — it’s bringing a great deal of new on-demand video content from a variety of providers to Xbox 360, in addition to a selection of live TV — it also teased the ability to control your 360 with a Windows Phone. This can be seen briefly right at the 1-minute mark of the video below, and we now have some additional details on that functionality.

This is possible with the new Xbox Companion app for Windows Phone devices. It’s not available yet and is currently without an official release date (”coming soon” is the best date we’ve got to go on). A Microsoft blog post explains some of what’s possible with the app. You can browse Xbox Live Marketplace content (games, movies, TV shows, and music) and get additional information about any of it. A specific example of this is seeing the cast for a movie and then being able to select an actor or actress to view other movies he or she has been in.

Timed in such a way that it’s almost going head-to-head with Microsoft’s upcoming Forza Motorsport 4, Polyphony Digital is set to deliver a major update and new DLC for the newly-discounted Gran Turismo 5.

As of this week, the PlayStation 3’s signature racing sim can be had for $39.99. That $20 in savings will come in handy quite soon — new downloadable content is expected out in the “coming week” which adds new vehicles, tracks, and more.

Also coming in the next few weeks is a free, major update for GT5. It adds and changes a number of things, including the introduction of 11 new NASCAR vehicles from the 2011 season, reduced load times when entering a race, more responsive menus, and new AI settings for Arcade mode.

Dark Souls might not be for you. Of course, that’s not saying much; thanks to the universal rule of, “there’s no accounting for taste,” even the most lauded games have their detractors — and on the same note, altogether crummy productions often earn a devoted cult following. In this wild and wooly world of game reviews, scores don’t necessarily apply equally to everyone; one man’s “A” for something like Fifa 12 could be an “F” for those who find soccer a terrible waste of time. That said, I have a few questions: Are you patient? Can you devote dozens upon dozens of hours to a single game? Does the thought of unbridled independence fill you with elation rather than abject terror?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, it’s very likely that you’ll agree with this review of Dark Souls. If not, you’ll be happy to know that there are literally hundreds of games you’ll undoubtedly enjoy much more — and there’s nothing wrong with that.