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:
- Xenoblade Chronicles Coming April 2012 via Gamestop and Nintendo Only
- Battlefield 3's "Back to Karkland" DLC on PS3 Dec. 6, 360/PC Dec. 13
- South Park RPG Coming to 360/PS3/PC in 2012 Courtesy of THQ and Obsidian, Creators On-Board
- GamePro and GameSetWatch Give Up the Ghost, Sign of More to Come?
- Mario Kart 7 This Week
Xenoblade Chronicles Coming April 2012
The much sought after and available to us only through buying it via Europe game Xenoblade Chronicles will be making its way to this side of the pond sometime in April on the Wii. There will be at least a Gamestop edition of some kind. Early rumor was that you would only be able to get it at Gamestop or Nintendo, but I’m willing to bet there will be some sort of added benefit to buying it from Gamestop versus some other place, but we’ll see. I know a lot of people like this game, but are there enough that haven’t bought the European version to buy it here?
Source: Nintendo
Battlefield 3's "Back to Karkland" DLC on PS3 Dec. 6, 360/PC Dec. 13
The “Back to Karkland” DLC will be making an appearance this coming week on the PS3 for its one week exclusivity and then be out on 360 and PC on December 13. For those that bought the Limited Edition of Battlefield 3 you will be able to download this for free, those who didn’t will have to pony up $15 to play the remastered maps.
Source: Battlefield Blog
South Park RPG Coming to 360/PS3/PC in 2012 Courtesy of THQ and Obsidian, Creators On-Board
Game Informer magazine came out with a big surprise this week with the reveal that their January 2012 cover would feature a South Park RPG. No word on what the game will entail other than you take control of a new resident of the city and that it is an RPG. Good news is that Obsidian is behind it, but then again bad news is that Obsidian is behind it because they often stumble once a game is released and major bugs (or they just slice the ending off at the knees…Knights of the Old Republic II anyone?) pop up. It is believed that Trey Parker and Matt Stone will have a huge impact on the game, I mean they voice most of the characters on the show and you would think this would have voiceovers being an RPG and all. Will be interesting to see what Game Informer unveils when the magazine comes out to subscribers soon and what they may reveal on their webpage.
Source: Game Informer
GamePro and GameSetWatch Give Up the Ghost, Sign of More to Come?
Two notable game journalism outlets turned off the lights this week. Probably the biggest one is that GamePro has called it quits after the release of their first quarterly issue once they moved out of the monthly game. All of us old enough will remember the magazine fondly, but also remember (at least to me) how stupid it was that they gave their writers pen names for many years and had face graphics for the 1-5 scale. They were very popular in the early days of the video game resurgence, but I think as my generation got older we realized just how stupid the pen names and scale was. Maybe that’s just me though, but obviously they have been on a downward trajectory for a bit now. It is sad that they’re gone and I’m afraid of what else could happen in game journalism.
GameSetWatch was kind of its own thing. I didn’t read it much, but I know many people that enjoyed it. I would say it is akin to the passing of the GIA (Gaming Intelligence Agency): a strong niche site that many loved, but one that just couldn’t survive or adapt to the way online game journalism was going. The one difference here is that GameSetWatch is staying on the net, it just won’t be updated.
Source: me
Mario Kart 7 This Week
Nothing much exciting outside of this. The only other major release left before the end of the year is Star Wars: The Old Republic coming on December 20. Enjoy playing these games as well as continuing on with games you’ve purchased recently.
Source: me