Videogames

The list of nominees for 2013's annual D.I.C.E. Awards, to be held in February at the close of the Las Vegas conference, is out and the leader of the nominations packs is none other than thatgamecompany's PlayStation 3-exclusive Journey, with nods in 11 categories, including Game of the Year.

It's a commanding lead over the other contenders, with the critically acclaimed Telltale Games adventure The Walking Dead settling into the second place position with eight nominations. Other multiple category nods go to Far Cry 3 (seven nominations), Halo 4 (six nominations), Borderlands 2, and Dishonored (five nominations apiece).

The D.I.C.E. Awards will be held on the evening of February 7 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas to close out the annual conference. The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences also confirms that Nerdist.com creator Chris Hardwick will host. You can check out the full list of categories and nominees right here.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 fans on PlayStation 3 and PC platforms finally get to sample the joys of the Nuketown Zombies map on January 17, 2013. Nuketown Zombies map started life as a pre-order bonus before being released in December 2012 for all Season Pass subscribers on Xbox 360.

The Call of Duty Twitter feed confirms the 1/17 release. It doesn't actually say that Nuketown is tied to Season Pass ownership the way it is on Xbox 360, but the fact that the tweet links to a Season Pass product page is pretty telling. We're checking with Activision just for the sake of clarity, but for now figure that you'll have to own a Season Pass in order to get Nuketown.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment seems to be preparing for the next phase of its Rocksteady Studios-crafted Arkham franchise, that is if a chunk of newly registered domains is to be believed. Domain manager MarkMonitor, which reps WBIE and many others in the entertainment biz, registered 15 new domains that all share a common theme: some mention of 'Arkham' and many mentions of 'Batman' (via Fusible).

There's no way of knowing if these domains were purchased on behalf of Warner of course. What's more, the varied assortment of titles in the registered domain list suggests that this may be more of a protective maneuver, to guard against web squatters chomping up potential domains for a future game, film, or some other work of entertainment. You can hit the jump for the full list of newly registered domains.

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What exactly is Resident Evil: Revelations Unveiled Edition? If a newly posted Achievements list at Exophase (via Joystiq) is to be believed, it's a console port of the Nintendo 3DS title Resident Evil: Revelations. The game is certainly console controls-friendly enough, though one has to wonder what an HD port of a 3DS game might look like.

Keep in mind that Capcom hasn't actually confirmed the existence of such a port. The list of Xbox 360 cheevos certainly seems to nod in the direction of the 3DS game's content, but it's nothing that an Internet hoaxster couldn't have conceived. We're checking this out with Capcom, so stay tuned for more when we hear it.

We learned earlier this week that TT Games is going to be tackling LEGO Marvel Super Heroes as its next adorably geek-friendly game, and a newly released video from Game Informer offers an early look at how things are going at the studio. While you'll see various heroes in action, including Iron Man, Wolverine, and Hulk, the character you DON'T see is the most exciting one mentioned: GALACTUS.

Yes, Marvel's planet-sized Devourer of Worlds is going to play some part in the story for LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. OF COURSE HE IS. If you're going to gather all of Earth's mightiest into a single, LEGO-fied game, who better to pit them all against than a LEGO-fied Galactus? TT Games' LEGO efforts tend to run hot and cold with me, but LEGO The Lord of the Rings is pretty outstanding and LEGO Marvel Super Heroes is looking like it could definitely follow suit.

Having recently played Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Far Cry 3 in the same week, it wasn’t long before I started craving that FPS middle ground between ultra narrow linearity and a story-driven sense of direction. The “wide linear” design of Crysis 2 hit that sweet spot, and after a brief but satisfying hands-on session with Crysis 3, I’m pleased to say that I’m wholly optimistic about Crytek’s 2013 sequel.

The traditional FPS controls (and having reviewed Crysis 2 only last year) made getting into Crysis 3 nearly instantaneous. Nor did I need much orientation with the added bow and arrow, which is toggled with the d-pad. Its tactical advantages complement an already fortified Prophet, the game’s protagonist, particularly when it comes to stealth. You'll  find enough tools and environmental options that you can’t help but be proactive, and it’s a joy to mix things up during a firefight, confusing the enemy by dropping in and out of stealth and keeping steadily fortified with the armor.

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Electronic Arts and Crytek have fired off the latest episode of the Albert Hughes-directed and -produced web series, The Seven Wonders of Crysis 3, titled Cause and Effect. Taking a page from the acclaimed Dead Island reveal trailer, the all-CG short spins the clock back on Prophet's wanton destruction of CELL Corporation property.

This continues to be a sweet little web series based on Crytek's upcoming game, one which seems to serve little purpose beyond serving up a bunch of "Hey, that's really cool!" slices of action inspired by the game. Do you prefer this approach to a more typical gameplay trailer or dev diary? After all, a trailer can only do so much to sell you on a game; the final call can only be made when you actually play the thing.

Release Date: February 19, 2013

Developer: PlatinumGames

Publisher: Konami

Platform(s): PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance has a silly name, but it's much more than just a title. It's a first step in a new direction for a franchise that has never shied away from trying something different. The nearly canceled, Raiden-focused (read: CYBER NINJA-focused) brawler is now in the hands of the best possible developer for this sort of release: PlatinumGames. Who else is crazy excited for over-the-top face-meltery?

What We Know:

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a canonical story set in the Metal Gear universe, but it's not the proper next chapter in the ongoing saga of Snake-related codenames. This action-centric adventure focuses on the cyborg ninja-fied Raiden, fully restored to peak condition after his alarmingly frequent maimings in Metal Gear Solid 4: Sons of the Patriots. The story follows Raiden, a PMC soldier boy, as he takes on a competing PMC that is wrapped up in various terrorist actions. The cutscenes are shorter but the story is just as wacky as you'd expect or hope for from a Metal Gear game.

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Crash Bandicoot was very nearly the star of his own Nintendo DS game, called Crash Landed. Renegade Kid was reportedly working on the title for Activision sometime in 2008/2009, and a newly posted video from Nintendo World Report gives a glimpse at what might have been.

The demo video's gameplay, which Renegade Kid's Jools Watsham tells Destructoid was put together in two weeks, features Crash as he hops and spins his way around a 3D beach setting. It's not clear why the game was canceled, but that's often the case with this sort of thing.

When Tomb Raider hits stores on March 5, 2013, it'll be joined by a limited edition wireless Xbox 360 controller with a design inspired by Lara Croft's rebooted origin story. The red-hued gamepad features artificial scuffing and the image of a tourniquet wrapped around its left hand grip. In more practical terms, the controller also features one of those nifty transforming D-pads.

Microsoft worked with Crystal Dynamics artists to fine-tune the look of the controller, which will sell for $59.99. The package also includes an Xbox 360-exclusive download token for the Scavenger Archer multiplayer character. We should be hearing more about that recently announced component of the game soon, but if you're in the market for a new controller and you're a big Lara Croft fan, you might want to wait a couple of extra weeks.

CD Projekt Red has been teasing gamers with the title Cyberpunk 2077, and now we have our first glimpse of what The Witcher 2 dev has in store thanks to a newly released trailer. You won't see any gameplay here, but you will see a slick CG short featuring a scantily clad robo-woman with a pair of nasty-looking arm-length blades protruding from her elbows. So there's that.

The trailer notes a release date of "when it's done," though the dedicated NeoGAF community (via Joystiq) discovered a hidden message from CDPR embedded in a single frame near the end of the trailer. The message states that 2015 is the scheduled launch window for Cyberpunk 2077, adding that CDPR is also working on a different "fully open-world game with an intense story" that will be revealed on February 5, 2013.

In addition to the trailer, the dev also released some details about the world of Cyberpunk 2077. You'll find the info-packed rundown, ripped straight from the press release, after the jump.

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When Dead Island: Riptide arrives on April 23, 2013, you'll have the option of showing what kind of fan you are with the newly announced Rigor Mortis Edition. Priced at $79.99, this collector's set adds a bunch of tchotchkes to your purchase, as well as all of the digital content included with the Dead Island: Riptide Special Edition that will be available at launch.

The Rigor Mortis Edition includes a zombie hula girl bobblehead figurine, a bloody zombie arm bottle opener that does double-duty as a magnet, a bungalow key with a logo-branded wooden keychain, and an adorably beaten-up miniature travel suitcase to pack all of that stuff into. This one's for the serious fans; if in-game bonus content is all that you're looking for, the Special Edition release will suit you just fine.

Rejoice, Deadpool fans. The smartass Merc With A Mouth will be joined in his upcoming High Moon Studios-developed, Activision-published Deadpool game by Cable. The tidbit is confirmed by Rob Liefeld, creator of both of those characters, on his personal website.

Cable has a lot of history with Deadpool in the comics, with the two having paired up in a 50-issue series that ran from 2004 to 2008, appropriately titled Cable & Deadpool. The silver-haired, telepathic mutant is the son of X-Men team member Scott Summers and his first wife, Madelyne Pryor, who is actually a clone of X-(wo)Man Jean Grey.

Comics. You've gotta love 'em. Now bring on Headpool already!

Release Date: February 19, 2013

Developer: Crytek

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Platform(s): PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows

Once a franchise that was known for straining the capabilities of gaming PCs the world over, Crysis now seems to be settling into a groove that embraces open environments, varied play styles, and jaw-droppingly stunning graphics. All three of those elements have been very much at the forefront of everything we've seen so far from Crytek for Crysis 3.

What We Know:

Crysis 3 picks up in 2047, a full 24 years after the events of Crysis 2. Our Nanosuit-clad hero -- the body of Alcatraz wearing the suit of Prophet -- returns to the ruins of New York City, which is now encased in a massive CELL-controlled Nanodome. The city itself is a disaster zone, completely overrun by vegetation and littered with the remains of the alien Ceph technology. The Nanodome is ostensibly there to protect the city and cleanse it of alien life, but CELL is also using it as a cover to mask an attempted global takeover.

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Add one more supported platform to the pile for The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, the Activision-published first-person take on AMC's hit series: a new AMC blog post confirms that a Wii U version of the game is coming. The touchscreen on the Wii U's tablet-like GamePad will be used for inventory management and weapon switching in Survival Instinct, as producer Glenn Gamble revealed in an interview with Digital Spy. 

All versions of the game -- PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC, along with the now-confirmed Wii U release -- will arrive in North America on March 26, 2013. Season three of AMC's series returns from it's mid-season break on February 10, 2013 and it runs for eight more episodes from there, until the finale on March 31.

Survival Instinct focuses on the Dixon brothers, Merle and Daryl. It's worth noting that the back half of season three will likely spend a lot of time exploring the siblings' relationship, so don't be surprised if there end up being connections to draw between season three's revelations and the upcoming game.