Steam

Steam’s weekend deal is the latest Call of Duty title, Black Ops 2 with a 33% off sale. For the duration of the weekend, gamers can also download the multiplayer version of Black Ops 2 for free.

Green Man Gaming

GMG has a number of lesser known titles on sale this weekend, including; Shattered Haven, A Valley Without Wind (1 & 2), Asguaard, Laxius Force 1 through 3 and more. There’s also a 20% off voucher code; GMG20-GGN5D-FC3NA.

GOG.com

Adventure and indie fans will find themselves in fine company, as GOG has no less than 16 adventure titles on sale for 60% off, including The Longest Journey and Dreamfall: The Longest Journey.

GamersGate

If you’re an RPG fan or even a straight up Bethesda Softworks fan, then GamersGate has got you covered this weekend. They’re running a 50% sale on all Bethesda titles; The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind through to Skyrim, Fallout 3 and New Vegas, Rage, Dishonoured and more.

Happy gaming.

Gearbox has posted on their forums saying, “Brian Martel, Gearbox Software’s Chief Creative Officer, has great love and respect for Relic’s brilliant, fun and innovative game and personally spearheaded the acquisition.” As of my writing of this, no new information has been released about a new game in the Homeworld series.

Gearbox’s recent release of Aliens: Colonial Marines was met with poor reception, Joystiq going as far as giving it a 1/5. I have not played this game my self, but I hope they do better with the next Homeworld game, as I love that series and would hate to see it ruined, which hopefully is a trend that doesn’t stick around.

German publisher UIG Entertainment, original creator Al Lowe and original writer Josh Mandel have teamed up for Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded. The King of Innuendo will make his triumphant return in June, not only on PC but Mac and Linux as well.

You can watch the premiere trailer at IGN.

2013 has already seen some great games like the Tomb Raider reboot and BioShock Infinte, and really we’re only just getting started. With the likes of GTA V, Battlefield 4, Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag and more on the horizon, this year is certain to be as big as any that has preceded it.. So that begs the question, which 2013 release are you looking forward to the most?

To enter, all you have to do is post a comment below letting us know which game you are looking forward to the most.*

The winners will be chosen completely at random, via Random.org’s number generator. Two people will win a copy of Torchlight II, whilst another will win the copy of Terraria.

*Entrances will need to have a registered account, or their entry will be void.
*One Entry per person.
*Games are the Steam (PC) versions only. Don’t ask for XBLA or PS3 versions instead.
*Entries close 12pm American standard time, April 6th. Winners will be drawn after and notified.

*Competition is now closed. Winners will be listed in the comments section.

EVE Online: Odyssey will take the exploration of space to a whole new level with an entirely revamped scanning mechanic, a fresh and accessible user interface and enticing new rewards for finding and interacting with sites hidden among the stars. All of Odyssey’s exploration changes are designed to make space feel even more alive and they will make it easier and more compelling for pilots to forge their path through the mysterious and dangerous universe.

Universe-wide resource redistribution and ship rebalancing will shake up the entire EVE metagame across social, economic, military and political levels, leading to new types of conflicts, fresh strategies and shifting allegiances amongst EVE’s player alliances. EVE Online: Odyssey will also debut new ships, star base improvements, graphics updates and a few surprises to be unveiled in the future.

“Odyssey is an expression of our love for space and exploration,” said Andie Nordgren, Senior Producer, EVE Online. “It brings changes that will wake the wanderlust and taste for adventure in both new and veteran pilots.”

The launch of Odyssey comes as CCP celebrates EVE’s tenth consecutive year of player growth, having passed the 500,000 worldwide subscriber mark in March.

More features and information about EVE Online: Odyssey will be revealed in the coming months, including April’s EVE Fanfest, where CCP will reveal all upcoming EVE Universe plans and kick off a year-long “Second Decade” celebration in Reykjavik, Iceland. With tickets sold out for the first time, the renowned player festival will feature talks by forward-thinking scientists, a performance of EVE music the by Icelandic Symphony Orchestra and a chance to play the latest version, never seen publicly before, from CCP’s groundbreaking PS3 shooter DUST 514®. For those who can’t attend in person, CCP will stream live from the event for free in standard definition and in HD for a one-time payment.

This game sure doesn’t live up to some of the hype I have heard for it. I mean I was promised a foul mouthed party guy and instead all I got was a black haired punk. I was promised hard fast visually stimulating action game-play  Instead I got some of the dullest button mashing combos for hours. I got AI that forgot to attack me while I manage to kill it effortlessly. I don’t get why it’s so hard for a developer to test their games before release. I mean at a bare minimum there’s a few dozen people working on a major title. If they all devoted 1 hour each to test every new major addition they would have hundreds of test hours before ever even letting a tester touch it. It’s inexcusable that a major developer would be so sloppy in their production of a game. Were they all too busy partying to try? I just don’t get it. It’s like they didn’t really care all that much.

Game-play: 1.5/5

Terrible. Glitches are to be found everywhere. Being able to fly infinitely. Enemy AI that forgets to attack or enemies that glitch into a simple loop they can’t break out of. I even managed to get stuck in a death loop after falling into a pit. Now when the game is actually working the game-play is still bad. It’s far too easy to hold the interest of all but the simplest of children. I found the game-play less stimulating for my brain and less challenging for my reactions than is acceptable by my standards. The only reason I’m not giving this a 1 is because it is at least broad enough in audience with how dumbed down it is. I’ll just consider the unbroken game-play as intended for the sweet mentally challenged kids. I can’t imagine anyone else feeling even slightly challenged by this.

Why did the developers feel the need to dumb down their fighting system so much? It’s like they are afraid players will run away if the game is too difficult. Here’s a tip for you Ninja Theory. The more challenging a game is (while being fair) the more fun it is. Games are challenges by nature. They are supposed to involve at least a bare minimum of skill. When they require no skill they might as well be movies. Whether you pack them full of movies or pack them full of dull game-play the result is the same. Me sitting there pressing a button dispassionately while I watch bright visuals and hear crisp sounds. Kinda like a movie.

Story: 2/5

This was alright. I mean I get the feeling that the writers are trying too hard. Demon Fox News takes the cake. I mean how many times do people make fun of that? Isn’t that kind of old and out of place for a game like this? Is it supposed to be edgy? Is it supposed to make you laugh and feel like you are in on some special kind of joke? Fox News is trash. This is well understood and has been made fun of thousands of times. Try harder to come up with something fresh. Instead of just beating your political message through. The story is rife with this terrible effort in creativity. That’s not to mention when that lack of creativity is hurt even more by a heavy handed message that Ninja Theory crammed into every scene.

Even if it’s mostly uncreative boring tripe I will at least give it a 2 for making basic sense. It’s unfortunate that the only positive I can give the story (the thing that is actually supposed to engage the players) is that it makes basic sense. As in it has no huge plot holes or unexplained anomalies. That’s a terrible thing. It isn’t hard to come up with a good story that actually is interesting. This game’s story seems like it was written as a 7th grade project.

Graphics: 3/5

Not bad. Well that is the detail of the areas and effects for scenes are pretty good. However where the game fails is in character animation. It’s very choppy. Seems to be a FPS issue. Also the character designs are pretty bad. Those being minor issues though the score manages a 3.

Sound: 2/5

The music is not very interesting. Sounds like it’s inspired too much by garbage garage quality instrumentals. The sound effects are often ridiculously fake, irritating, or just under powered  Voice work is alright. Except of course when it comes to the bosses. Which just sound ridiculously cliché.

Final Rating: Add the scores together and then divide by 2. So 8.5 divided by 2 equals 4.25, which we round down to 4. The game is not worth buying at all. Maybe rent it if you don’t mind dumbed down game-play and story. Maybe rent it if you want a good laugh. I must stress that you at most rent the game and at least never even touch it. I know I regret wasting my $60 on it. Could have gotten myself something more useful. Like a couple hundred rolls of toilet paper.

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The selection isn’t particularly large just yet, but more goodies have been promised.

I’d settle for the “I Hate Morndas” mug.