NEWS: Ratchet and Clank Into the Nexus - Release Date Revealed/Pre-Order Bonus Details

Into the Nexus will conclude the series on PS3, with no plans of future games.

Senior Community Managet at Insomniac Games James Stevenson has revealed the official release date for Insomniacs upcoming title Ratchet and Clank: Into The Nexus through the EU PlayStation blog.

A release date is set for November 12 in both the US and Europe, retailing for £29.99/€29.99.

The game will be an epilogue, indicating a shorter game that will wrap up the "Future" series, Stevenson said:

"An eplogue to the Future games (Tools of Destruction, Quest For Booty, A Crack in Time), Ratchet & Clank: Nexus is packed with an all new-story, an all-new arsenal, and all-new dagets - and it's only €29.99."

So to not be mistaken, the game will serve as an epilogue to only the future series, not the entire series as a whole.

The official box art showing the loveable Ratchet & Clank.

We know the game will be considerably shorter than previous installments, which in my opinion were quite short already - in regards to this issue, Stevenson went on to say:

"The truth is, we relished this ability to tie a bow on the PS3 era of Ratchet with a shorter title. All of us love the Ratchet universe - and after 12 years developing the series, it feels like a very close friend.

We have a lot of stories to tell, some longer, some shorter. This one just felt right. It's a very polished self-contained return to the Ratchet adventures of yore."

Pre-order bonuses will be available at most known gaming/entertainment retailers, and will include a unique armour for Ratchet known as Pyronox Armour and will give players a 5% damage-reduction. A little more would have been nice, but the game itself should be incredibly fun like past installments.

Stevenson describes the armour as:

"Ratchet's Pyronox Armour is inspired by Gadgetron's popular Infernox Armour. This lightweight durable suit is for the fashion-concious adventurer. Besides granting a 5% damange-reduction, it also all but guarantees "Best-Dressed" awards at high-school reunions."

Ratchet's Pyronox Armour - with a name like that,
you'd have thought more fiery elements would be added.

Will we see more Ratchet on the PS4 in the future? I certaintly hope so, or maybe Insomniac will work on an entirely new series all together. Comment below and leave your thoughts.

FEATURE: The Best Version of DOOM?

Possibly the most influential game of the 90's has been ported so many times, it's hard to keep up - but which is the ultimate version? No pun intended.

Doom - arguably one of the most important games in the industry, definitely the most substantial within the first person shooter genre. 

In 1995, it was reported the game was installed on more computers than the latest operating system at the time; Windows 95. It caused networks to crash due to the sheer amounts of multiplayer deathmatches being played.

To this day the extremely dedicated fanbase still produce new content - from simple mods to completely new level packs, which are known as WADs. Some of this custom content was recognised by id Software and was actually made into the compilation most of us know as Final Doom. 

But let's go back to basics, the original 1993 Doom on MS-DOS/MAC, eventually making its way to The Ultimate Doom in 1995 - the game has been ported over and over throughout the years to all sorts of systems, including Atari Jaguar, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Gameboy Advance, and that's just to name a few.

The box art for the 1993 MS-DOS release,
the game that started a gaming revolution.

Some of those ports are well known as being incredibly bad to play, the Super Nintendo version strikes out the most - it's completely understandable that for the time a game that puts players in a total first person view would have been incredible and exciting, but there's just something about it that makes it very awkward to play and actually enjoy. 

The graphics are really mushy (yeah, I'll use that word...) proving for difficult gameplay, and most of the time it's hard to tell if there's actually an enemy there or not. 

At the time, this would have been incredible -
something the SNES never had before, but is still
pretty horrible to play. Definitely not the best port.

It is argued that the PlayStation port is the best, with its graphical enhancements and overall general improvements compared to the other ports, it's definitely a favourite of many gamers, including myself. The PS version also included Doom II: Hell on Earth, and some exclusive levels created for this specific port, including Twilight Descends, The Marshes, Club Doom, just to name a few. 

If you happened to have two PlayStation consoles and two copies of the game, you could partake in the multiplayer features, which is both a bonus, but quite difficult to actually do. A big highlight is the music and audio, it's incredible and extremely atmospheric, that combined with the smooth gameplay and improved visuals made for possibly the best port of Doom.

Definitely one of the more popular ports,
PlayStation Doom was brilliant, and is still fun to play today.

The Atari Jaguar version has incredible music, especially for that particular system, and the gameplay is generally good, but a huge downfall is the lack of levels, I believe their are only 24 or so. 

Much of the "Doom experience" is taken away, what with  no Cyberdemons or Spiderdemons to be seen - two of the most iconic and memorable enemies in the game. Other than that, it's a solid port with access to multiplayer via the infamous JagLink.

One of the better ports, but lacked a lot of
unique Doom features.

Both Ultimate Doom and Doom II: Hell on Earth have made their way to the Xbox LIVE Arcade, PlayStation Network, and can be played as bonus content within certain versions of Doom 3, these ports are definitely the most identical to the original releases, so in that respect these could be considered the best versions.

With that in mind, I'd like you to explore the ports mentioned above, or even go further with the iPhone version. That's probably not worth doing really, maybe if you're just curious.

Comment below and share which version you think is the best and why. Feature1

NEWS: Super Smash Bros. 4 - Sonic Confirmed

Sonic spins his way back to Super Smash Bros. 4, making his second appearance in the series.

Just last week, "Toon Link" was announced as a fully playable character, today it has been confirmed that Sonic the Hedgehog will making his way onto the roster, for both the Wii U and 3DS versions of the game.

The announcement was made through the Nintendo Direct broadcast, in which president of Nintendo Satoru Iwata said:

"The blue blur is back for Super Smash Brothers for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, continuing on from Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Sonic will join the fight for the second time."

Skip to timecode 8:13 to see footage of Sonic and to hear the official announcement.

NEWS: Kirby - 3DS Debut

Nintendo fan-favourite Kirby makes his way to the 3DS for the first time.

One of most beloved Nintendo characters Kirby will be making his (its?) way to the Nintendo 3DS in 2014, according to the trailer released today from the official Nintendo UK channel.

No actual name has been given to the game, but I'm sure it will involve "Kirby" somewhere. Always a bit risky writing things like in case someone doesn't understand the sarcasm.

The trailer shows familiar gameplay we've grown to love over the years, whilst executing trademark moves on any enemy that get's in the way. 

It actually reminds me a lot of Kirby's Adventure on the NES in terms of level design and mechanics, which is not a bad thing at all.

The only information shown regarding a release date is "Available in 2014" - hopefully a more precise date will be announced soon.

NEWS: Xbox LIVE Gold - Free Weekend (Oct 4-6)

Microsoft are offering a weekend of free Xbox LIVE, running from October 4.

Every so often, Microsoft give you the chance to use their Gold features for a weekend, and I'm sure this time it has something to do with the recently released Grand Theft Auto Online, either way the following territories will have free access to Xbox LIVE Gold from October 4 until October 6:

• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Canada
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Egypt
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Honk Kong
• Hungary
• India
• Ireland
• Israel
• Italy
• Malaysia
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Philippines
• Portugal
• South Africa
• Saudi Arabia
• Singapore
• Slovakia
• South Korea
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Turkey
• United Arab Emirates
• United Kingdom
• Vietnam.  

PREVIEW: Destiny - "The Moon" Gameplay

Fresh footage has been revealed, showcasing promising gameplay from Bungie's next title.

Just as Bungie said, some new gameplay for the highly anticipated Destiny has been unveiled today, and it looks incredible.

The trailer focuses on The Moon and what this specific location has to offer players, which seems to be a lot of action-filled combat.

We see the Guardians embark to The Moon, here they encounter practically every enemy we've seen in previous footage, utilizing their special abilities and weaponry. 

Once the initial battles are over, the Guardians come across what looks like a boss battle - a massive troll-like monster chained to the ground, for about two seconds at least anyway. One shot is put into this....thing, and unfortunately that is the end of the trailer.

However, new information is shown regarding beta access, that will be available exclusively to those who decide to pre-order their copy of the game.

Currently the following retailers are giving early beta access with pre-orders:

• Amazon 
• Game
• Gamestop
• Sainsburys
• Tesco
• Blockbuster (those guys are still around?

Watch the new gameplay below and leave your comments; will you be pre-ordering?

NEWS: PS3 System Software Update 4.50 Details

Sony has revealed details regarding the scheduled 4.50 update.

It seems that not only PlayStation Plus subscribers will be the only ones with access to the auto-download feature according to the latest details on the system software update 4.50 coming this week.

The update will primarily focus on downloading content automatically and transferring data from PS3 to PSVita, as well as the ability to hide trophy data.

Straight from Sony themselves:

• Auto download of system software updates has been expanded to support all PSN users.
• Auto download support of purchases made on the Web Store will be made available to all PSN users.
• New options for trophy privacy settings allows users to set which trophies are visible.
• Data can now be transferred from PS3 to PS Vita using wi-fi and ethernet connection.