Another week has come and gone here at Co-Optimus, and that means it's time once again to take a look at all that other non-cooperative gaming news that's circling around the web. There are a couple of stories coming out from Gamescom, which is currently underway in Cologne, Germany, an interesting/convoluted story about a game service that seemed too good to be true, and a blast from the past returns this December.
- Seven Minutes of Gameplay Footage for Quantic Dream's Beyond: Two Souls
- EA's Origin Service Headed to Mac
- Neo Geo Handheld Returns This December
- OnLive Service Dies and is Then Reborn?
Seven Minutes of Gameplay Footage for Quantic Dream's Beyond: Two Souls
David Cage, and his development studio Quantic Dream, are well-known for pushing everything they can to blend the gaming and cincematic experience as much as possible. In their latest outting, Beyond: Two Souls, players will assume control of Jodie Holmes and then be able to switch to her ghostly friend/protector Aidan to cause some havoc. At Gamescom, a journalist captured the gameplay footage being shown to the audience (footage that was previously shown behind close doors at this year's E3) and put all seven minutes up on the web. The footage shows Jodie escaping from police, briefly, before getting surrounded. That's when all kinds of havoc lets loose as Aidan helps Jodie escape by possessing certain police officers, flipping over cars, and some other very "not going quietly" behavior.
Check out the full seven minutes over at Eurogamer's website.
EA's Origin Service Headed to Mac
The digital distribution model for games has taken off over the past couple of years, thanks in large part to the success of services like XBox Live Marketplace, Steam, and the Playstation Network. EA launched their own service last year, Origin, and has been doing everything they can to compete with the big/well-known services, including making major sellers like Mass Effect 3 only available digitally through its provider. Continuing with this aggressive push, EA announced at Gamescom this week that it would be bringing Origin to OS X/Mac, and other platforms like Android. No specific release date has been given, just that it would be available February 2013.
Source: Polygon
Neo Geo Handheld Returns This December
I love handheld gaming - whether you're on a road trip or out of town on vacation, having a handheld ensures you're never too far from a good gaming experience. I grew up with a Nintendo Gameboy, playing it almost non-stop during our family trips or whenever the TV was otherwise occupied. I never played the Neo Geo, but I certainly got the occasional glimpse of what it could do from my friends. It looks like I will get a chance to experience it for myself, though, as manufacturer Tommo, Inc. has announced that the Neo Geo X Gold will be hitting store shelves on December 6 (just in time for my birthday!) and will cost $199.99. The handheld will come pre-loaded with 20 games, have a card slot for additional games, and have an HDMI and A/V port so it can be connected to your TV for some classic arcade gaming.
For a list of all 20 games and the full specs on the Neo Geo X Gold, Shacknews has got the full scoop.
OnLive Service Dies and is Then Reborn?
Games are getting better and better looking these days, but that also means that the specs required to run them are having to get better as well. For some gamers, upgrading a system to the latest and greatest may not be feasible. Along came OnLive, a cloud-based gaming service that promised to deliver all those games to you without worrying about your hardware. The service delivered some major games straight to your PC, Mac, or their own console over a constant streaming connection. News started trickling in this week that the company was in some financial trouble, with news finally hitting yesterday that around 50 percent of the workforce was layed off. Then, almost as quickly, news hit that OnLive wasn't over and done with, but that it had been acquired by a major backer and was reforming in a slightly different capacity. It has been promised that service will continue during the transition, though it's unclear for how long or what will happen next.
Joystiq has an interesting piece about what happened and the reactions from OnLive's CEO Steve Perlman over on their site.