Check out the cool TV spot for Homefront, weaving live action with gameplay footage.

We take our first look at Piranha Bytes’ sequel to Risen and the spiritual successor to the Gothic series.

If there’s a better reason to attend the 2011 Game Developer Conference than the opportunity to take a first look at Gothic developer Piranha Bytes’ role-playing sequel Risen 2: Dark Waters, we don’t want to hear it. This sequel takes the high-fantasy world of Risen, which took place on a besieged island, and will become a full-on, full-fledged, full-featured, full-monty pirate role-playing game, where you play not only as Piranha Bytes’ established “Hero” character, but also as a seafaring adventurer in a fantastic age of sail.

Risen 2 takes place some in-game years after the events in the first game. Specifically, the Hero has vanquished the threat of the powerful titan monster that threatened his island home after first defeating the evil inquisitor and claiming the villain’s magical eyepatch–an artifact that let the Hero identify the titan for what it was–a malevolent creature disguised as a natural disaster. Unfortunately, bigger problems are afoot–other titans are awakening near other islands in the area, and worse yet, hideous sea monsters have emerged from the deep, completely disrupting trade routes and generally causing the few survivors who exist in the world to be very, very grumpy.

And as it turns out, the Hero is the grumpiest of all. In a first for a Piranha Bytes game, the Hero does not suffer from amnesia and does remember his hard-fought battles and narrow escapes perfectly well, thank you very much. However, his cool reception by an unappreciative populace has made him bitter and frustrated, though he still seeks to save the world by finding some means to rescue the other islands from their impending doom.

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Atlus localizing Japanese horror adventure game for release on Xbox 360, PS3 this summer.

Last month, the heavily hyped Marvel vs. Capcom 3 launched in Japan but found itself a distant second place on the weekly sales charts to a title largely unfamiliar to gamers in the West. Atlus is giving those gamers a chance to familiarize themselves with it, as today the publisher announced a summer North American release for Catherine on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

A horror adventure game, Catherine has players navigating tricky relationship waters as Vincent. When the commitment-phobic protagonist’s girlfriend Katherine starts talking about taking their relationship to the next level, Vincent finds himself straying. While out drinking with friends, he meets a flirty bombshell named Catherine, whom–after a series of events he can’t quite recall–he wakes up next to the following morning.

In addition to helping Vincent make decisions to extricate himself from the situation, players will be called on to fight off the physical manifestations of his fears and guilt as he sleeps. Atlus will also include local competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes, complete with leaderboard support.

Although the game is an original property, Catherine is a collaboration between a number of notable creators. Katsura Hashino, director of Persona 3 and 4, is serving as producer on Catherine, with help from that series’ character artist Shigenori Soejima and composer Shoji Meguro. Going beyond the world of games, Japanese animation shop Studio4˚C (Tekkonkinkreet, Halo Legends) also lent its talents to the project.

Tecmo Koei teases reveal of blood-spattered sequel at upcoming convention; game to ship sometime in 2012; first trailer inside.

Last year at the Tokyo Game Show, Tecmo Koei unveiled Ninja Gaiden III, the upcoming installment in the ultraviolent–and ultradifficult–action series. Little was revealed about the game, other than it would once again feature protagonist Ryu Hayabusa engaged in the bloody combat the franchise is known for.

Today, Tecmo Koei released the first teaser trailer for the game, which also teased the title’s brutal nature. Running around 37 seconds, the clip shows Ryu Hayabusa repeatedly slashing and stabbing someone–from the victim’s point of view. The clip then shows the titular ninja, covered in blood, leaning back to take off his famed mask–and then cuts to the Japanese character for the number three. The words “unmask” and “E3 2011″ then appear before the trailer ends.

The accompanying press release–which never mentions Ninja Gaiden III by name–promises that the “new title” will see release sometime in 2012. Development is underway at Team Ninja under the leadership of the studio’s leader, Yosuke Hayashi. Hayashi took over the shop after former head Tomonobu Itagaki left the company following Ninja Gaiden II’s release in 2008.

“The game is set to introduce this franchise to a broader audience while at the same time retaining the legendary challenge that has drawn hardcore gamers to the series for years,” Tecmo Koei said in a statement. The company promised that a playable demo of the game would be on hand for the press at E3.

We make our way through a slimier version of Aperture Science in a two-hour hands-on demo of Portal 2′s single-player campaign.

“Say apple,” Wheatley commands, surveying you with his twitchy blue eye. You go to speak, but end up jumping on the spot instead. “I don’t want to alarm you,” he starts, trying to keep his voice steady, “but you probably have brain damage. Not to worry, though. We’ll probably be okay. I mean, you know, as long as nothing else goes wrong.”

Plenty of things went wrong during our two-hour hands-on demo of Portal 2′s single-player campaign at Valve’s headquarters near Seattle. We made our way through the opening chapters of the game, before skipping ahead to a new section in the latter-part of the campaign.

Portal 2′s beginning is familiar enough: Chell, alone in a room. It’s not the cold, sterile environment we’ve seen before; this new room is a vast improvement–carpeted floors, a wardrobe, a desk, potted plants, and even art. But something just doesn’t feel right.

The new AI caretaker is male, for one. His baritone voice breaks out over the loudspeakers, instructing you to move around and get used to your surroundings. If you’re feeling up to it, he chirps, you can do some basic mental stimulation exercises by staring intently at the framed painting that hangs above your bed.

Or, if that doesn’t do it for you, he can always provide some classical music. You’re just beginning to think about requesting Bach’s Organ Concerto in G when you lose consciousness; you come to in the same room, although you barely recognize it now: vines creep along the walls, the carpet is a mushy brown color, and the desk and wardrobe have fallen into disuse and decay.

And suddenly, there’s Wheatley (brilliantly voiced by Stephen Merchant)–the neurotic caretaker of Aperture’s 10,000 test subjects–telling you that the whole place is collapsing and you have to escape, now.

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We team up for some good ol’ fantasy action adventure in this upcoming cooperative game from InXile.

For those of you who have been stating your disapproval for the lack of split-screen multiplayer, guess what? Hunted: The Demon’s Forge will have split-screen multiplayer. The entire game is designed around cooperative play with a friend or AI counterpart, so the addition of split-screen is a welcome one.

We didn’t actually get to play split-screen, however (we just saw it on the menu); but during our recent meeting with Bethesda, we were able to spend some time playing through the tutorial and partnered up with a developer from InXile for some dungeon-crawling action.

Described as a cover-based hack-and-slash or third-person shooter–depending on who you’re playing as–Hunted is an action adventure that encourages cooperative exploration with lots of combat included. The story follows a pair of mercenaries: the more serious, mace-wielding Caddoc; and the sassy, silver-haired elf, E’lara. The tutorial felt familiar, especially because it was essentially the demo we’ve seen from last year. Although, it did give us a chance to play as either Caddoc or E’lara to see which one we preferred.

Depending on your play style, Caddoc is your traditional brute that can get up close and melee. He’s got a shield and a big club or axe, so you’re pretty much set as long as you keep mashing those buttons. E’lara requires a bit more finesse to play as because her melee weapons are not as strong as Caddoc’s weapons so she relies heavily on her bow. As E’lara, it will feel more like a third-person shooter, with limited ammo and everything.

There are pick-ups and weapons along the way, but knowing that you can’t just randomly fire one arrow after another will force you to come up with some kind of tactic.

The cooperative play in the game has been described as “co-op at a distance,” meaning that you don’t necessarily have to be right next to the other person at all times. If you ever find yourself lost, you can push down on the left stick to bring up a blue light that will point you in the right direction. Depending on the situation, sometimes Caddoc is going to have to take the brunt of the assault, especially against heavily armed undead creatures that would make short work of E’lara.

When one person goes down, the other has a chance to revive him or her. You can’t carry multiple healing items, so you’ll have to keep an eye out for potions and your health. There’s no inventory to manage either, so when you come across something nice, take it and move forward.

It takes teamwork to solve the puzzles that you’ll encounter, and the ones that we came across basically involved lighting every brazier and exploring all the dark corners. Hunted: The Demon’s Forge looks to be a solid cooperative experience if you’ve been itching to do some dungeon-crawling with a partner. We’re looking forward to more of it when the game ships on June 1.

Get the full article at GameSpot

Chihuahua legislators ask federal authorities to outlaw Call of Juarez: The Cartel saying it will desensitize youth to real-life bloodshed.

Call of Juarez: The Cartel was only announced two weeks ago, but already it is being threatened with a ban. Over the holiday weekend, legislators in the Mexican state of Chihuahua asked federal authorities for a ban on the game.

The reason?

Unlike its predecessors, which were set during the Wild West, Call of Juarez: The Cartel takes place during modern times. As the name implies, the game chronicles a drug war along the Mexican border, casting players as a female FBI agent, a Wild West sheriff type, and an undercover drug agent. Developer Techland said it chose the setting in order to capture a “relevant plot” that would connect with today’s gamers.

Unfortunately, for Mexican lawmakers, the plot was too relevant. According to the Associated Press, roughly 6,000 people died in the Chihuahuan city of Ciudad Juarez–one of the settings of the game–in 2009 and 2010. Legislators worry that seeing the city’s real-life violence translated into video game form will further desensitize youths.

“Children wind up being easily involved in criminal acts over time, because among other things, during their childhood not enough care has been taken about what they see on television and playing video games,” state congress leader Enrique Serrano told the AP. “They believe so much blood and death is normal.”

Geralt of Rivia is called upon to investigate a crime of passion during our hands-on demo of The Witcher 2.

It has been four years since Polish developer CD Projekt Red released The Witcher back in 2007. Inspired by the works of fantasy author Andrzej Sapkowski, this dark, high-fantasy role-playing game followed the stoic Geralt of Rivia, a “witcher” well versed in the study of monsters and other creatures. Set after the events of the first game, The Witcher 2 pits Geralt’s martial and magical prowess against a deadly elven spy, Iorveth, as well as the mysterious assassin Kingslayer. The sequel also changes up the combat mechanics and forgoes the rhythmic timing and constant stance switching of the original Witcher in favor of one fluid system. We got the chance to see a few of the changes in motion during a hands-on demo set in one of the game’s numerous side quests. Be advised that although this story focuses on a side quest, it may contain minor plot spoilers.

Pickaxes are strictly forbidden indoors. But it doesn’t say anything here about giant swords.

Our journey began in the city of Vergen in front of an old tavern. Nearby, an elf was anxiously looking about, and we could tell just by looking at him that he was eager to tell his tale to anyone who would listen. Seeing his distress, we decided to approach but then passed right on by into the warm glow of the tavern beyond. Inside, we took the opportunity to try out one of The Witcher 2′s mini-games in a friendly round of arm wrestling with one of the dwarven patrons. While playing this mini-game, a bar appeared onscreen underneath the characters with a constantly-moving slider. In order to win the match, we had to keep our mouse cursor within the area of the slider long enough for Geralt to pin his opponent’s wrist to the table. Having proven our manliness, we were now properly warmed up for the inevitable adventure and stepped outside.

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Publisher to hand out free in-game items to entire community if 360, PS3, PC sampler goes platinum by March 1.

Electronic Arts will be priming the release of BioWare’s Dragon Age II on March 8 with a demo, due two weeks to the day prior on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Eager to get that sampler into gamers’ hands, BioWare said today that two in-game bonus items will be unlocked for the entire Dragon Age II player base…if the demo accrues 1 million downloads before March 1 across all three versions of the game.

The two items up for unlocking are the Far Cliffs of Kirkwall and Lothering’s Lament tomes. The first is a book of poems written by a Fereldan refugee fleeing the Blight, and it grants money when read. The second tome is also a book of poems from a Blight refugee, and it grants players bonus experience points when read.

Hawke will meet Isabela in the demo. Expect literal and figurative sparks to fly.

As for the demo itself, gamers will be able to play through Dragon Age II’s prologue as one of three character classes. The demo will introduce the game’s primary protagonist, Hawke, and see him journey to Kirkwall to rendezvous with romantic interest Isabela. Gamers who complete the demo will also unlock Hayder’s Razor, a dwarven blade that grants health, mana, and combat bonuses, for use in the full game.

For a download to count, BioWare said that gamers will have to log into their EA account while playing the demo. Gamers looking to keep tabs on how many Dragon Age II demos have been downloaded can do so through the game’s official website.