Welcome to Beyond Co-Op, a weekly piece that talks about industry stories that may or may not be related to co-op gaming.
The stories for this week:
- Diablo III Moved to Early 2012, Beta Length Expanded
- Battlefield 3 Expansions Exclusive to PS3 for One Week
- Battlefield 3 Multiplayer Beta Opens for All September 29
- England Crytek Studio to Develop Homefront 2 for THQ
- FIFA 12, X-Men: Destiny, ICO/Shadow of the colossus Collection This Week
Diablo III Moved to Early 2012, Beta Length Expanded
Blizzard and Diablo III has had a busy week. The beta finally opened and hopefully you got an invite like I and many others did. Then there was sad news at the end of the week with the announcement that the game will not meet its original “before the end of 2011” release, but will be out in early 2012. Now, what constitutes early is not known since you could go all the way to June 30th and still be in the first half of the year. The added good news in this announcement is that the beta length will be expanded (not sure a date was ever given) and the amount of people invited will be as well. So, we take the good with the bad. I hope to get some playing in this weekend, I did install it, but have not had time to play as of yet.
Source: Battle.net
Battlefield 3 Expansions Exclusive to PS3 for One Week
Many of you may be aware that the expansions to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be exclusive to the 360 for a while (a month I think) before being available to other platforms. Sony announced this week in conjunction with EA that the Battlefield 3 expansions will be available on the PS3 for one week before it goes to other platforms. The Kirkland 2.0 expansion will be the first one available at some point before the end of the year. Good news for PS3 owners and it may push some people to picking up the PS3 version over the 360 version…well, those that don’t have a computer capable of playing the game.
Source: Playstation Blog
Battlefield 3 Multiplayer Beta Opens for All September 29
News also came down that the Battlefield 3 multiplayer beta will be available for all to download on September 29. This will give you a chance to play the game a bit before its release on October 25. Granted, it is the multiplayer section, but it should give you a good idea of what the game is like.
Source: Battlefield 3 Homepage
England Crytek Studio to Develop Homefront 2 for THQ
People were surprised when Crytek was announced as being retained to make the next Homefront game for THQ. People assumed this was Crytek proper that was developing it, but it was later announced that Crytek UK has been retained for it. You may best know Crytek UK as the former Free Radical, the development group that made the Timesplitters games and the honestly horrendous Haze for the PS3. It isn’t bad news and the game will be developed with the newest CryEngine, but I think many were disappointed that the Crytek studio that made the Crysis and first FarCry game is not the one involved.
Source: Joystiq
FIFA 12, X-Men: Destiny, ICO/Shadow of the Colossus Collection This Week
Although it may not look like it, this is a pretty big sales week with worldwide phenomenon FIFA 12 coming out. Activision also has the Silicon Knights’ developed original game X-Men: Destiny coming out. I am intrigued by this game, but it is a risky venture for the license, I hope it will turn out good. It also is the first game from Silicon Knights since Too Human.
Finally of special note is the ICO/Shadow of the Colossus Collection that has remastered HD visuals and 3D support for the PS3. Both games are fantastic and it is interesting that they come out this week. I distinctly remember finishing ICO right around this time 10 years ago. The reason I remember it specifically? Well, this week is my 10 year marriage anniversary on September 29. I beat the game just days before getting married and I had made it a priority to do so. I thought the game was beautiful and even though it was only 4 hours long it left a permanent landmark in my gaming history. I also thought Shadow of the Colossus was a fantastic game and it has its own special place in my heart. These two games are well worth the $40 price if you have never played them before and I can’t wait to see the HD visuals.
Source: me