Atlus has released the final two playable character videos for Dragon’s Crown: the Amazon and the Wizard.
Dragon’s Crown will be available exclusively for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita on August 6th.
According to Video Game Acquisition in Canada, a recent study from The NPD Group, physical video game sales are down, while digital downloading – predominantly driven by free downloads – is on the rise. Though many Canadians prefer the old console format, the increased availability of digital content paired with a greater amount of connected devices has driven an increase in the number of consumers gaming online.
On average, 17.3 games were acquired per user in 2012, but this number has declined to 15.4 in 2013. The trend is due primarily to a drop in physical sales attributed to fewer new title releases over the past year (25 per cent less). Further, the way people are playing video games continues to shift, with Canadians spending more time on mobile handheld devices like tablets and smart phones. Consequently, mobile gaming has grown to be a major part of the video game industry. The NPD Group estimates that the digital channel has increased from approximately 50 per cent of total acquisitions in 2012 to 58 per cent in 2013, however paid digital gaming has only seen modest gains over the past three years. Free play has nearly doubled in share of acquisitions since 2011, opening up a world of new casual gamers.
Behaviourally, the average consumer is spending about the same amount of time gaming this year as last, which is roughly seven hours per week. However, over one third of Canadian gamers (35 per cent) claimed to have cut back on how much they spend on video games, while only one in five (19 per cent) are spending more.
Deep Silver has released a new trailer for Saints Row IV, titled “War on Humanity”.
Saints Row IV will be available on August 20th for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
Sega and The Creative Assembly have released a new Total War: Rome II trailer highlighting the story of Cleopatra, with the first glimpse of the campaign map and a taste of the battle action.
Total War: Rome II will be available for the PC on September 3rd.
Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studios today announced that the free action MMORPG Neverwinter, set in the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms universe, concludes Open Beta Testing and launches on June 20th. The launch day also marks the live release of Gauntlgrym, Neverwinter’s free level 60 PvE and PvP content for veteran players. Additionally, the first free content expansion to Neverwinter, entitled Fury of the Feywild, has been revealed.
Neverwinter entered Open Beta on April 30th, which allowed all players unrestricted access to the game world. Those who participate in Open Beta will see their entire game progress rolled over to launch on June 20th, after a short maintenance.
The Gauntlgrym end-game content referred to features a massive PvE and PvP battleground where players fight for the greatest treasures hidden deep in the ancient Dwarven city.
Fury of the Feywild, the first Module for Neverwinter, is a free content expansion due this summer that chronicles an attempt by Fomorian Giants to seize the Elven city of Sharandar.
Square Enix has released a new trailer for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, showcasing new battles and a new location.
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII will be available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on February 11th, 2014.
Techland has released a new gameplay trailer for Hellraid. The first-person co-op slasher is scheduled for a 2013 release on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
After the release of Mars War Logs, Focus Home Interactive and Spiders Studio today announced Bound by Flame, a new action role-playing game targeted for release on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 at the end of 2013.
Bound by Flame lets you play a mercenary possessed by a flame demon in a Dark Fantasy universe. As a victim of this demonic influence, players will have to choose between the powers offered by this evil or to reject the demonic influence, developing heroic talents instead. Dangers, and enemies becoming more terrifying and fearsome in battle, will be temptations to acquire more power by giving up part of the hero’s soul to the demon. Progression of the demonic influence will be reflected by the transformation of the hero’s body.
Bound by Flame will make its debut at E3 next week.
Focus Home Interactive and Cyanide Studio have released a teaser video making official Blood Bowl 2, the sequel to the video game adaptation of Games Workshop’s boardgame that twists American football with a fantasy universe inspired by Warhammer. More details about Blood Bowl 2 will be revealed over the coming months.
Sony Online Entertainment today announced that DC Universe Online and PlanetSide 2 will be heading to the PlayStation 4 later this year as free-to-play titles.
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