Sorry about the lack of NewsVine yesterday, during the time I had free I couldn’t access the site for some unknown reason. But today, no such problem so here’s the day today in the world of gaming.

Red Steel 2 Scheduled for March 23 Release

Ubisoft has stealthly dated Red Steel 2 for March 23, according to the publisher’s site. We’re hoping they’ve got all the kinks worked out with the extra delay time for its release.

Dishwasher Dev Announces Charlie Murder for XBL Indie Games

From the maker of The Dishwasher and I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1 comes another ingenious creation. Check out the Facebook page for a look at the characters and the gameplay which looks to be an arcade beat-em-up with punk rockers and zombies. The developer says there will be a good chance the game will be in attendance for PAX East and is currently scheduled for a March 2010 release.

Bobby Kotick: Our Spider-Man Games Have Sucked for the Last Five Years

Our favorite CEO Bobby Kotick has finally admitted what gamers have known for years, Spider-Man games suck. Kotick remarked in an issue of Game Informer that the friendly neighborhood hero hasn’t been given its dues in the past gaming installments by pointing out that “they were poorly rated because they were bad games.” Who knew poor quality is directly responsible for low review scores?

Crackdown 2 Demo Coming

Ruffian Games has plans to release a demo of the sequel to the open-world sandbox game, Crackdown 2, before the game hits retail shelves. However, no release date or timeframe was given for the demo’s release nor for the full game. Oh why do you tease us so. And a shameless plug that well be covering it on our Appetizer series when it comes out.

ESPN Sports Streaming Coming to Xbox 360?

Microsoft has a knack to use the Xbox dashboard as a way to “advertise” its featured applications such as Twitter, Facebook, Netflix for those who bother to use it as a means of convenience. Now sports fanatics (not me) can look forward to the possibility of having your 360 updated with the latest happenings in the wide world of curling. Maybe they can also tell us the difference between football and football. However those in the UK can already get access to ESPN via the Sky Player.

This week saw the release of Assassin’s Creed 2 and all of it’s offspring, Left 4 Dead 2, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Tony Hawk: Ride, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles and my personal favourite Jambo! Safari: Animal Rescue for the Wii.

The week also saw Sony reveal their plans for a paid premium subscription service though that won’t affect any online play as that will remain free, basically turning this into another version of Qore only on a more international level. Sony’s also has shown interest in 3D gaming stating it’s support for it in 2010. It’s bad enough seeing every film being released in the cinema being in 3D, I don’t want that for consoles thank you. The PS3 also saw Facebook support making using a easy-to-use website slightly more complicated.

Nothing interesting happened with the 360 this week, other than the report that 60% of the UK’s 360’s have died, which makes me fear for mine, it better not fucking die.

A shit game has been delayed for the sake of mankind. A port of No More Heroes will be coming for the 360 and PS3 titled ‘Heroes Paradise’ but will not be supported by Ubisoft meaning it’s probably going to be Japan only, Ubisoft fail to explain why they don’t want to make more money from a good game. We also discover no-one likes Mass Effect 2’s new awful box-art so Europe replaces it for something just as bad.

There was the sad news that we must say goodbye to Pandemic Studios but the brand will stay intact. Gaming boycotter’s again show how crap they are at actually boycotting as seen with Left 4 Dead 2, though it’s no-where near as bad as those seen with Modern Warfare 2. Kane and Lynch will now see a sequel with the help with Square-Enix, maybe Square can offer more money to keep people’s mouths shut over a review score problems.

Weather

Expect showers of throwing knives all over Italy, be especially careful if your area is registered at Uplay as you will be expected to receive 5 more knives than usual. Bad freaky fog is affecting the southern parts of the USA so if you plan to go outside be prepared with a gun and melee weapon to be on the safe side, actually carry one at all times. Everywhere else can expect a tactical nuke followed by cloudy skies.

MonsterVine

At MonsterVine we saw reviews for Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 2. Our very own Sarah tells us more Blue’s Clues about the next Zelda game. This was technically last week but we also had an Appetiser for GTA4 DLC, The Lost and Damned.

Question of the Week – What do you expect to see with Sony’s planned premium subscription service?

A visually enhanced port of Grasshopper’s No More Heroes subtitled ‘Heroes Paradise’ will be coming to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, revealed in the latest edition of Japanese magazine publication Famitsu.

Improvements include new graphics, “Advanced Mode,” Japanese voice acting, and “Very Sweet Mode” where all ladies wear revealing outfits. Motion gesture controls from the Nintendo Wii version will not be included.

Heroes Paradise will release in Japan on February 25, 2010, a worldwide release date has yet to be announced. Grasshopper Manufacture’s sequel No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is due to arrive in early 2010.

Source: Shacknews, Siliconera

Admit it, you’re excited for Splinter Cell: Conviction. You’ve basically waited three years since it was originally supposed to be released in 2007 and four years since the last Splinter Cell video game came out.

The wait is pretty much over with its impending release in Spring 2010, despite having been delayed once more. Click the image above for a commentated video of the game which indulges into features like interrogations, sweet googles, sticky camera, and the ‘mark and execute’ approach.

Ubisoft has postponed the release of the often-delayed stealth action game among other titles.

Both Splinter Cell: Conviction [PS3, Xbox 360] and Red Steel 2 [Wii] have been move out the 2009 release window into a timeframe that starts between January 1 and ends March 31, 2010. Conviction was originally due in Q4 2007, however now boasts a total of four delays under its development timeline.

Also delayed are the new Ghost Recon and I Am Alive which have been pushed back to a April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011 release window.

A team at Ubisoft Shanghai is at work on the sequel to Tom Clancy’s EndWar, the developers voice-command RTS title.

The team is focusing on depth of the story and gameplay with the sequel. In an interview with Videogamer, Ubisoft creative director Michael De Plater stated that “It’s just something we didn’t give attention to…” and “…giving more attention to the single-player is straightforward to address and will make the game a lot of fun.”

“Changing the way the combat chain works, the paper, scissors, rock, and adding the differentiation between the three factions, again it’s not something that’s even necessarily hard to do…” “It’s something that we chose not to do with the accessibility.”

De Plater refused to state a timeline on the game’s development, stating only that a small team at the original developer Ubisoft Shanghai are at work on the project currently.

Call of Juarez returns for its expositive sequel Bound in Blood in the hopes of delivering on an authentic old-timey experience of the Americas during the late 1800s. The first Call of Juarez blended stealth, platforming, and shooter elements into one game. The prequel, however, eliminates the first two in favor of refining the first-person shooter gameplay that was integral to the overall experience. At its very core, Bound in Blood manages to be successful in bringing you back to the lawless past, however it falters in areas where it becomes detrimental to the game itself.

Ray and Thomas McCall are brothers on the run from Confederate dudes.

The story begins with Ray and Thomas, two brothers who have deserted their post in the Confederate Army in order to defend their mother’s home from the Yankees. As a result, they become marked men by the game’s main antagonist, General Barnsby, who swears to find the brothers and carry out “justice” for their desertion. Ray and Thomas eventually meet with the third brother William, a seminary preacher, and together they set off towards the West in an attempt to rebuild their lives. William has the role of the static character in the game and is unplayable. However, the war has changed the brothers who have become cold-hearted gunslingers with ornery dispositions against authority and the opposite sex. The dark nature of the game is revealed through the search of the lost treasure of the Aztecs where there is plentiful amount of plot twists that coax the player’s progression in the story. However, the game will often throw rather annoying western clichés through a farfetched and over the top narrative. The voice impressions are generally bad, often making me wonder why Native Americas mainly speak English. These generally detract from the originality of the experience.

Hey Ray, have you gained weight?

The two brothers, when working side by side, prove to be a harmonious experience. Both brothers can be selected before the start of each chapter. Ray, the elder brother, is the stronger of the two and can take more damage than Thomas. This is necessary in firefights where Ray and his two gun toting revolvers can dish out the pain against a multitude of enemies without suffering much damage. In contrast, Thomas plays as an agile character and is useful for stealth and platforming situations where you need to climb a ledge and pull your cumbersome brother up. Also, Thomas is handy with rifles and bows, giving him a marksman attribute as he is able to pick off enemies from afar and while shying away from close quarter situations. Despite playing as a single character, the game often utilizes the brothers cooperatively and works well in playing to each other’s strength. The interplay of the brothers is exemplified during the game’s many slow-motion events where you will enter a cooperative dual mode, which entails bursting through a door and aiming your reticule with precision to dispose of foes. Given how frequently the brothers are utilized synchronously, the absence of a cooperative multiplayer mode is questionable as it could have been something that would have enhanced the gameplay experience.

Holding a gun sideways is how cowboys roll.

The gunplay in Bound in Blood is remarkably fun and familiar. As a first person shooter, the gameplay is apt in reflecting the time period. The guns reload slowly and there isn’t much variety to begin with in those days. With that noted the guns available do well in justifying the necessary abundance of killing that you will encounter. As you progress through the game, you will find that the guns will rank from the subpar ‘Rusty’ to the excellent ‘Superb’ and each type of weapon will have their own strengths and weakness. The Volcano Gun proves the most gratifying in disposing your opposition. It has a neat animation which involves the player twirling their gun, firing a shot each time. Weapons and cache are stored within a rotating wheel that acts as your inventory system. Unfortunately, it is restrictive at best since you can’t sell off your weapons nor can you trade and switch off weapons between the brothers. The heads up display for your weapon will often use the ‘auto aim’ function to indicate where you’re supposed to be shooting. Aiming can also be quite touchy when you want to pick off enemies from afar as the draw distance isn’t very competent in its reach. The integral part of the gameplay is found within the dynamic cover system that places the player in control of a sneak and peek system that functions through the game’s camera controls. The cover system automatically activates when you approach anything that detects it. Despite it being clunky at times, it’s rather unique and could be utilized again in the future.

The environments are sort of bland and generic.

Bound in Blood has remarkable aesthetic detail at first glance but up close there are glaring technical problems. The design of the game is confounded by the decision to include open world encounters, as the majority of the game is quite linear. These open world situations reflect a vastly barren environment, and while visually stunning, offers little to interact with. The environments also hinder the gameplay when enemies become virtually impossible to spot as they are blended to the terrain, creating confusion as to where you’re being shot from. During cutscenes, the game suffers from screen tearing which is unacceptable when playing with a high definition television. The draw of Bound in Blood is seemingly the standoff feature called ‘Quick Draw.’ At the end of every chapter, you will be engaged in a duel at high noon and the goal is to be the faster man. This is the game’s representation of a boss fight which is essentially masked as a minigame of timing and reflexes. Often, this would lead to moments of frustration and frequent retries when unable to pull the trigger faster than the opponent.

The Final Word
The experience of Bound in Blood is a mixed produce of sorts. While the game offers immersion of its first person storytelling, it will often repeat similar gameplay elements that results in predominately cyclical and repetitive action. The gunplay and likable characters make Bound in Blood enjoyable however expect it to have bothersome technical hitches along the way.

- MonsterVine Rating: Average

Editors Note: Missing from this review is the multiplayer compoent. The reviewer wasn’t able to enjoy the multiplayer to its full extent as his internet connection was unable to sustain a complete game.

By William Saw

The first Assassin’s Creed 2 developer diary introduces the protagonist Ezio.

The game is due out November 17 on PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3.

Aren’t Rabbids awesome?

Poor Travis Touchdown can’t catch a break after making his way to the top of the United Asassins Association rankings.

Developed by Grasshopper and published by Ubisoft, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle will be coming to the Wii by 2010.