New and exciting changes are coming to Hearthstone. By shaking up the way that the game is played, Blizzard Entertainment is giving themselves more freedom to try new things without having to worry about conflicting with previous content. One of the many new things the Hearthstone community has been asking for is the inclusion of the remaining three World of Warcraft classes – Death Knight, Monk and the soon to be available Demon Hunter. This retooling of the game provides the perfect opportunity for Blizzard to do just that. Except they’re not going to. Yet. Continue reading →

A couple weeks ago, details leaked out (and were later confirmed) about the impending release of Dead Island Definitive Collection, a re-release of 2011’s Dead Island and it’s 2013 sequel Riptide. The week before, Capcom announced that in celebration of  Resident Evil’s 20th anniversary, they will be releasing Resident Evils 4, 5 and 6 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The zombies these franchises are known for aren’t the only things being reanimated, as dozens of “remastered” games have been released since the debut of the current console generation in 2013. Consumers see this as a way for publishers to milk more money out of already released games. COO of Electronic Arts Peter Moore has come out and said that developers who follow this practice are only running out of ideas. So if the game-buying public and the worst company in America think it’s a bad idea, it surely must be, right? Perhaps not. Continue reading →

With the impending release of the next Hearthstone expansion, The Grand Tournament, Blizzard has offered up a bargain for players looking to jump right in with the new content. For $49.99, players can pre-purchase 50 packs of Grand Tournament cards and receive a special card back only available during this promotion. By itself, this will save you a little bit of money. 50 packs would normally cost you roughly $60 (there is no option to purchase exactly 50 packs in the store, $49.99 only gets you 40). This is an obvious tactic of Blizzard to coerce players to spend money in an otherwise free-to-play game. The question is, are you better off with this promotion or buying the same amount of packs with in-game gold? Continue reading →

Like The Birdman himself, the Tony Hawk video game series is well past its prime. Once heralded as one of the best franchises available, each release over the past decade has received poorer review scores than the last. In an effort to remind people of just how great the games used to be, Activision has released Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD, a beautified amalgamation of the first two titles, with a few new features thrown in for good measure. While there is great joy to be had for those of us with fond memories of the earlier Pro Skaters, I’m afraid we have to deduct points for some nasty bails along the way. Continue reading →

Earlier today, Activision unveiled the first gameplay trailer of Call of Duty: Black Ops II‘s multiplayer mode. It gives a lot of hints as to what we can expect when the game hits retail shelves in November. I’ve always been curious about the little details the guys at Activision include with these types of trailers, even going so far as to analyze every frame of the multiplayer reveals of the previous two Call of Duty titles. So, here I am with a frame-by-frame breakdown of the first glimpse of Treyarch’s multiplayer in Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

All information provided here is speculation on my part, and as the coming weeks and months arrive much of what I say may be changed by the development team or proven false. All images are taken of the trailer provided by GameTrailers. (EDIT: Updated images from a 60fps video for better quality. You can find that video here.) Click on any image to see the full size version. Continue reading →

Last week, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year Edition. Other than being a contender for the worst cover art in existence, this version of the game includes all the previously released downloadable content, a downloadable copy of the Batman: Year One animated movie, and Harley Quinn’s Revenge, a new mission set after the events of the game’s main story. If you have purchased the game already, you can download the new content separately for $10. Unless you are desperate to dust off that copy of Arkham City you haven’t touched in months, you may want to let it sit on the shelf a while longer.

Due to the nature of the DLC, it’s possible this review could contain minor spoilers pertaining to Arkham City‘s story. With that being the case, only read on if you’re comfortable with that information. Continue reading →