Review of the Week

As another eventful week ends, let's see what has been happening:

PlayStation News - New Console and a Promising Future

On Wednesday this week (or Thursday depending on where you live in the world), Sony announced the existence of their next home console which will come to no surprise to all of us that it is titled PS4. While the console itself didn't make an appearance during the meeting, the next dualshock controller (dualshock4) did and it's basically just the same as the others, just with a touch pad and a share button (for social interaction) and also a blue thing at the back. Its obvious that they want to bring something that has never been done before (*cough* Wii U) and despite that we didn't see the console, we did get a chance to see what the many first and third party developers had in store for it which included games for the console (Diablo III, Watch Dogs, InFAMOUS: Second Son and another KillZone game to name a few) and from the first party developers, a look into some of the many things developed for the console itself. The console will also be able to connect with mobile devices and the PS Vita in a similar way to Xbox SmartGlass. So far, everything about the console looks promising, now all we need is for Sony to show the darn thing itself (maybe at E3) and for Microsoft to hurry up and show of their next console.

Bioware News - Farewell to another Mass Effect game

With the Mass Effect 3 adventure coming to a close, BioWare have announced 2 final DLC packs for the game. The first is a single player pack dubbed Citadel which has Commander Shepard team up with his many squad members from the last 2 games (presumably, the ones who are still alive) to stop a sinister conspiracy targeting him. The other is a multiplayer DLC pack dubbed Reckoning which gives players 4 new characters and 7 new weapons with some new mods for them. The multiplayer pack will be arriving on Febuary 26th and 27th in North America and Europe respectively while a release date for Citadel has yet to be announced. Both DLCs look promising, but will it be enough to reel in fans who hated the ending? Maybe.

Star Wars News - Original Cast to Return for VII?

As more news emerges for the next Star Wars film, Mark Hamill (who played Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy), in an interview with Entertainment Tonight said that he heard rumours of the original cast returning for the film. While there has been no official word of this, he states that he and the old gang as he refers, have not signed any contracts yet, but are in talks with the filmmakers along with Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy who have asked them if they are interested in returning. Also in the world of Star Wars Ewan McGregor (who played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the prequel trilogy) had an interest in returning but in one of Disney's planned spin off titles, should they dedicate a film to his character. As well as that, Lawrence Kasdan, a writer of the last 2 original trilogy films will be joining Simon Kinberg in writing and producing the upcoming film. So from a certain point of view, the partnership with Disney and LucasFilm is going well. Just as long as Lucas doesn't direct the next film (or worse, make constant changes to it).

And now for this week's releases in Film (Cinema only) and Gaming (Retail only):

Film:
Dark Skies - US Release, Worldwide Unknown
Kai Po Che! - Worldwide Release
Snitch - US Release, Worldwide Unknown

Gaming:
Crysis 3 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 - Worldwide Release
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance for PS3 and Xbox 360 - Worldwide Release
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition for MAC - Worldwide Release