More and more games these days are locking out certain content and online multiplayer access to those that buy used games and don’t purchase a $10 digital Online Pass. Electronic Art’s upcoming SSX reboot will be employing said Online Pass, but you actually won’t need one in order to play online.

In a statement given to Game Informer, EA said that while new copies of their snowboarding game will include an Online Pass, you’ll still be able to play SSX’s Explore and Global Events’ online game modes without one. The catch? You won’t be awarded with in-game credits from Global Events; instead, they’ll be stored away. When you buy an Online Pass, though, you’ll be rewarded with all of your accrued credits, which, according to GI, lets you unlock more character gear.

Additionally, “Economy balance makes it possible to unlock all available content and allows you to participate in all event drops across both Explore and Global Events, with credits earned solely in Explore,“ EA told GI.

Online Passes may be the bane for used game buyers, but what EA’s doing with SSX is much better than the alternative: not being able to play multiplayer at all.

SSX’s Online Pass Doesn’t Sound Too Bad [Game Informer, via Destructoid]

• Born This Way, Lady Gaga
• Every Little Step, Bobby Brown
• Y.M.C.A., Village People
• A Midnight Rendezvous, Shanice
• Still unbreakable, Des-ROW Ft. Vanilla Ice
• SAY A PRAYER, Des-ROW Ft. Maxi Priest
• BEFREE, Des-ROW Ft. Vanilla Ice
• Summer Fairytale, Design-MAD crew
• HEARTBREAK (Sound Selektaz remix), NAOKI feat. Becca Hossany
• All Thu The Night, jun feat. Lisa Lisa

Not the best track list to dance to, but maybe some DLC will become available some time in the future. You can expect Rhythm Party for the XBOX 360 via XBL Arcade on February 1, 2012. For now check out take a look at the trailer and track list up top.

First-person shooters are hugely popular these days and the Call of Duty series is currently the king of FPSs. Other shooters try to copy the CoD formula, but they have never been able to dethrone the king.

Previous CoDs including Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops have each earned a whopping $1 billion in sales, and with both titles touted as the biggest entertainment launches in history, the next CoD, Modern Warfare 3, has much to live up to. This is especially true with whole MW 3 vs. Battlefield 3 war that raged the last few months, as well as the Infinity Ward departures in 2010 that saw the IW founders/CoD creators fired, resulting in some staffers quitting.

So with that last bit in mind, Sledgehammer Games helped IW develop MW 3, which is a direct sequel to MW 2. In the threequel, Russia invades the U.S. and Europe resulting in World War III, and the main antagonist this time around is Russian terrorist Vladimir Makarov (you may remember him from MW 2’s infamous airport level). Like in previous CoDs, you’ll jump in the shoes of different soldiers all around the world like “Frost” from U.S. Army’s Delta Force, “Yuri” from Task Force 141 and “Burns” from U.K.’s S.A.S.. Price and Soap, the main characters from MW 1 and 2, are also back, and like the aforementioned games, there’s a bunch of set pieces packed in as well.

From the get-go, MW 3’s six or so hour single-player campaign puts you right into the action. After a few brief cutscenes and some flashbacks of the events leading up to MW 3, the game wastes little time in letting you gun down enemies. As you fight alongside A.I. teammates, who will almost always accompany you and whom you usually have to follow, you’ll play through various levels set in different parts of the world. You’ll shoot your way through 17 levels that range from a London subway, an African village, and hazardous gas-filled streets of Paris to Germany’s ruined streets and buildings, a bunker in wintery Russia, and a fortress in nighttime Czech Republic.

The variety of levels and environments are great, even if they’re linear like in previous CoDs. While there’s really only one route to take in each level, this is partly compensated with fun gameplay variety and action-packed set pieces (more on that below). So not only are there on-foot shooting levels, but there are also various gameplay sequences that let you use certain weapons and vehicles. For example, in certain sections you get to be the gunner of a chopper, tank and AC-130 aircraft; drive a raft and an underwater vehicle; call in A-10 gun run support; and remotely operate a turret-equipped UAV and unmanned ground vehicle. There’s also some stealth gameplay like a sniper level, as well as one awesome moment that let’s you basically become a “Juggernaut” as you wear heavy bullet-absorbing armor and wield a light machine gun.

All of those gameplay moments are fantastic and keep the game fun and interesting. There’s never really a dull moment since the game changes things up at a nice rate. On top of that, the overall experience is supplemented with solid, familiar controls, smooth 60 frames per second gameplay, and thrilling set pieces that you’ve come to expect from the CoD series.

From beginning to end, MW 3 is filled with that familiar high-octane action complete with explosions, bravado, gunfire, and bombast. It’s like a Michael Bay action movie, and there’s a lot of explosive set pieces thrown in for good measure including slo-mo door breaching, buildings/monuments exploding, and vehicle chase sequences. Yes, for CoD series’ veterans, you’ve already seen these before, and, thus, the awful familiarity keeps the set pieces from being truly out of this world, despite them being spectacular in nature; nevertheless, though, they’re still great eye candy and new CoD players should find them amazing. Even as someone who’s played previous CoDs, there are still a few set pieces that manage to wow and surprise. One that really stands out is an airplane level that has you shooting enemies in zero G. There’s also another moment where you have to shoot two guys in a car in slo-mo while you ram them with your vehicle. And driving a military raft on NYC’s Hudson River with jets flying above and missiles raining down causing warships to explode all around you is pretty awesome as well.

In terms of the game’s weapons, MW 3 has plenty including assault rifles, submachine guns, light machine guns, sniper rifles, and rocket-propelled grenades. With an abundant supply of guns and ammo lying around from enemy corpses, the weapons, overall, feel satisfying to shoot. Thankfully, unlike some shooters, you usually won’t be shooting enemies far away like little ants, and any pesky foe that is at a distance or hiding behind cover can be taken out more easily thanks to a mechanic that lets you instantly and precisely aim at enemies by quickly tapping the aim trigger on the controller. This is a great feature that eases the frustration of shooting hard-to-aim enemies and every shooter should include this kind of aim-assist.

Meanwhile, the game’s story is similar to previous CoDs as it’s somewhat split into multiple paths when switching between different military teams throughout the game. For example, the U.S. Army’s Delta Force is focused on fighting the invading Russian terrorists, while Task Force 141 is primarily focused on finding and killing Makarov. At the end of the day, though, your goal is to still kill Russian terrorists regardless of what team you’re playing for, and, overall, the story seems less convoluted than MW 2’s; however, it’s still a bit hard to keep up with the story with all the heavy talking that’s done during the CG cutscenes.

During in-game moments, your NPC teammates are also a tad bit hard to hear since their voices are slightly lower than normal, even when the game’s volume is maxed out (the background noise didn’t seem to be the issue). The biggest problem with game, though, is that both the visuals and gameplay are pretty much exactly like MW 2’s. There are no noticeable graphical improvements, whatsoever, and the gameplay is just like every single non-WWII CoD game. It’s a big disappointment for sure, and the game’s copy-and-paste feeling may cause more harm than good, but, ultimately, MW 3 does become more likeable and enjoyable the more you play since the gameplay is still that same, fun action-packed experience.

There are, however, two problems that can’t be overlooked. Like from previous CoDs, the first issue is that there are seemingly unlimited enemy respawns (at least in some areas), while the second issue is the fact that your NPC teammates won’t advance forward until you advance first (i.e., you seemingly have to cross an invisible line in order for your squad to move up). On top of that, these two problems are interconnected and it seems that the enemies stop respawning once your teammates advance forward to a certain point, which, again, ultimately means you have to advance first. For a game that puts such a strong emphasis on following your teammates, it’s contradictory having to advanced forward all by yourself. What’s more, sometimes there isn’t a good opportunity to move up since enemies keep respawning.

Additionally, most of the game’s aforementioned stealth sections are cheap, contrived and way too easy. Like previous CoDs, there are parts in the game where you have to sneak around enemies, but what this really entails is simply following your teammates around who tell you what to do and when to move; most of the time you don’t even have to be aware of your surroundings to make it through part of a level undetected. While the stealth gameplay in MW 1 was the same and not a problem (since it was the first MW experience), this has quickly become predictably too artificial in subsequent CoDs, including MW 3.

Excluding the stealth missions, having to follow your teammates around instead of leading them isn’t a big issue as it might seem since the scripted, cinematic nature of the game feels cool. Plus, it helps that your teammates seem helpful and feel kick-ass to be around with.

As for MW 3’s versus multiplayer, it’s the same great, fast-paced and rewarding experience from past CoDs, except with a few additions and tweaks. First and foremost, “killstreaks” have been replaced by “pointstreaks” which let you earn killstreak rewards without actually killing anyone. So completing objectives like capturing territory/flags will count towards your killstreak reward, in addition to, of course, just good old fashion killing. Additionally, depending on which “Strike Package” you choose, your killstreak count won’t reset upon death.

The aforementioned Strike Packages groups killstreak rewards into three categories: “Assault,” “Support” and “Specialist.” Selecting Assault will give you destructive-based killstreak rewards just like in previous CoDs. Some are familiar like the Predator Missile (controllable missile), Attack Helicopter (attack helicopter that flies overhead and shoots down enemies), and AC-130 (be the gunner of turret/missile-equipped AC-130 aircraft), while news ones include Strafe Run (a row of five attack helicopters that fly across a given area shooting down enemies), Reaper (shoot laser-guided missiles via a Reaper UAV), Assault Drone (remote-controllable turret/missile-equipped ground-based drone), Juggernaut (wearable heavy bullet-absorbing armor), and Osprey Gunner (be the gunner of an Osprey aircraft while delivering care packages). Dying with the Assault package equipped will reset your killstreak count.

Meanwhile, the Support package contains more defensive-based killstreak rewards that are meant to help out your teammates. Some include Counter UAV (scrambles enemy mini-map), Advanced UAV (displays both enemy location and direction on mini-map), Ballistic Vest (deployable heavy armor that you and your teammates can pick up and wear), and Recon Drone (small, flyable remote-controllable helicopter that marks and identifies enemies). While these may sound lamer compared to what you get in the Assault package, there are thankfully more offensive-based rewards like Remote Sentry (remote-controllable turret), Stealth Bomber (stealth bomber aircraft that rains down bombs along designated path), EMP (disables all enemy electronics as well as any aircraft in the sky), and Escort Airdrop (Osprey gunship that delivers care packages while shooting enemies nearby). And, to top it off, not only can you rack up your pointstreak count by, say, capturing territory/flags, but your killstreak count won’t reset upon death. This is a fantastic, much-welcome change to the CoD series that gets rid of the utter frustration of the inability to get a killstreak reward because of the constant dying like in previous CoDs. It also helps more causal players, who may not be good at getting kills, experience killstreak rewards. The only caveat is that you’ll end up getting the aforementioned top-tiered destructive-based rewards near the end of a match since they require more kills/points than the Assault package; because of this, you may not even get a reward.

Finally, there’s the Specialist package, which is very interesting since it rewards you with additional “Perks” instead of air support or equipment. Perks, like in previous CoDs, are enhancements/special abilities that can be equipped to your character. Some, which offer even more abilities in their upgraded “Pro” versions, include Sleight of Hand (faster reloading; Pro version: faster weapon-swapping), Blind Eye (undectable by air support and sentries; Pro version: faster rocket launcher lock-ons and extra bullet damage against air support and sentries), Marksman (identify enemies at longer range; Pro versions: hold breath longer for steadier aim when firing scoped guns), and Hardline (decreases amount of kills you need to earn killstreak rewards by one; Pro version: every two assists count as one kill).

While you can have up to three perks by default, the Specialist package allows you to have even more perks for every two kills you get without dying. So getting six kills in a row will result in three additional perks, while getting eight straight kills will net you all, if not, almost all perks. Additionally, destroying enemy aircraft will count towards your killstreak count, which is a really nice, helpful touch, but you’ll lose all of your extra perks if you die.

Speaking of dying, “Deathstreak” perks also return which activates when you die a certain number of times in a row. Dying five times, for example, will let you temporarily see the position of the last enemy that killed you, while dying six times will let you blow yourself up with C4 when incapacitated, which hopefully kills the person that shot you down. Like the Support package, deathstreaks make MW 3’s multiplayer experience less frustrating, and are a nice way of helping out less skillful players.

In terms of MW 3’s multiplayer modes, some of the familiar ones include Free-For-All (players kill each other for points), Team Deathmatch (two teams kill each other for points), Domination (capture and hold territories), Sabotage (plant bomb in enemy’s base to win), Headquarters Pro (capture and hold base to win), Mercenary (various game types randomly selected with no parties allowed), and Search and Destroy (defend/destroy objectives with no respawning and online chat).

New game modes are also included such as Kill Confirmed and Team Defender: the former is basically deathmatch except you have to collect enemy dog tags in order for kills to actually count, while the latter requires you to hold the flag the longest to score points. These game types, as well as the “Advanced” and “Community” ones, are great, natural inclusions. Some of said Advanced game modes, which add in-game modifiers and are ideally for more experienced players, include Barebones (disables killstreaks), and Hardcore Team Deathmatch and Hardcore Domination (enables extra bullet damage and friendly fire). Meanwhile, one Community game mode seen so far is “Drop Zone” which involves players holding a drop zone in order to score points and care packages.

Most game modes allow up to eight to 12 players in a single match, with “Ground War” supporting up to 18 players for more big-scale battles. There are 16 maps in MW 3 and the size of most feel just right. They’re not too big and not too small, and you won’t have to run very long to get to the action. With that in mind, thankfully, there aren’t many places to camp (i.e., hide and kill people in a “safe” spot) for very long before you’re found, especially with the instant respawns and handy “kill cams” (upon death you get to see a short replay video of where an enemy killed you through his/her eyes). That doesn’t mean you won’t die, though, whether it be from campers or enemies that are prone. The latter can be annoying since it’s hard to see players lying down, especially in the shadows or at a distance.

Like in any multiplayer game, MW 3’s multiplayer can be brutal at times, but what will keep you playing is the bevy amount of customization options and unlockables. When creating a character, you can choose from a variety of primary and secondary weapons including assault rifles, submachine guns, light-machine guns, sniper rifles, shotguns, riot shield, handguns, machine pistols (can dual-wield), and rocket/grenade launchers. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages (for example, submachine guns are better for close-quarter combat than long-ranged combat), and weapons can be leveled-up the more you use them. At certain levels, various weapon enhancements and attachments can be unlocked like reduced recoil, increased range, red dot sight, rapid fire (increase fire rate), silencer (gunfire prevents you from appearing on mini-map), extended mags (increased ammo capacity), and thermal scope (enemies appear as white heat signatures through a scope). You can even change weapon color and reticules ala Black Ops.

In addition to an assortment of weapons and add-ons, MW 3 also has various types of equipment and explosives, both old and new, including semtex (sticky throwable explosive), throwing knife, bouncing betty (land mine that shoots up in the air and explodes), concussion grenade (slows and disorientates enemies), scrambler (disables enemy radar based on proximity), EMP grenade (disables enemy electronics), and “trophy system” (turret-based device that shoots down enemy projectiles like grenades).

The variety of weapons and equipment are great, but what makes the multiplayer really shine is the player progression system. It’s very rewarding leveling-up and gaining experience points as you earn new ranks, weapons, attachments, perks, accolades, emblems, and player titles (or ”Callsigns”). You can also accomplish in-game “Challenges” that include things like killing “X” number of enemies with “X” weapon to earn experience points. The highest level you can reach in the game is 80, and, like in past CoDs, you can enter “Prestige” mode multiple times once you hit the level cap. When this is done, you have the option to reset your character back to level one, which will make you unlock everything all over again. Aside from doing this just for bragging rights, this time around you’ll earn “prestige tokens” that unlock rewards like double experience points for your character/weapons, extra custom class slot, and more titles and emblems.

MW 3’s versus multiplayer offers a very rewarding and addictive experience with high replay value. Even as someone who was planning to stop playing after accomplishing personal goals, I ended up coming back for more, regardless. One of the only minor gripes is that nearly everything from the start is locked out including, but not limited to, game modes and even the ability to create a character. It’s understandable to lock out certain things like weapons early on, but it was off-putting to see how many things I couldn’t access until I reached a certain level. At least, though, it’s pretty quick to unlock said things, and, thankfully, there are pretty solid pre-selected character loadouts that are available from the start, so it somewhat negates the feeling of being held out on.

Aside from MW 3’s versus multiplayer, there are also “Special Operation” co-op modes including “Missions” and “Survival.” In Missions, you can tackle various mini-missions either by yourself or online/split-screen with another player. There are a total of 16 missions and they range from rescuing embassy staff being held for ransom to capturing the Russian president while playing as a terrorist on a hijacked plane. Other missions include clearing out a Russian submarine and defusing a bomb, and collecting samples of nerve agent gas in Juggernaut suits while equipped with light machine guns.

The coolest missions, though, are the ones that put a real emphasis on co-op instead of simply having two players running and gunning side-by-side. For example, one mission starts off with you and your partner in the same chopper shooting down enemies in a town below. But then, at some point, one of you has to go on foot through the enemy-infested town, while the other player provides gunfire support from a chopper above. There’s also another similar mission where one player has to work their way through a level while the other player shoots enemies through the eyes of turret-equipped surveillance cameras.

As you can imagine, these levels, and more, are much more fun when played with another player since they feel designed for two people. For instance, in co-op teammates can revive each other when incapacitated, but in solo play there’s no revive option or even an incapacitation mechanic. If you do manage to die, you’ll have to restart an entire mission all over again since there are no checkpoints (even if there’s two people and just one of you dies, you’ll have to redo an entire mission anyway). This can seem harsh and stupid, but thankfully missions are pretty short and you can memorize enemy patterns to help get through a level more easily (for example, “X” number of enemies will always appear in “X” location).

The missions, overall, are great additions to the single-player campaign and versus multiplayer. They provide a good mix-up of gameplay, and it’s great how completing missions lets you level up, earn ranks, and unlock weapons and gear for “Survival” mode.

Survival mode is new to MW 3, which pits you against waves of enemies like bomb squads, attack dogs, attack choppers, and Juggernauts. The goal is to survive as long as possible and up to two players can play either locally or online. To help you survive the onslaught, weapons, equipment, perks and killstreaks rewards can be purchased with money that you earn from killing enemies. Some of the things you can buy once you’ve unlocked them via your character level include guns, grenades, weapon sights/scopes, bullet-absorbing body armor, sentry gun, self-revive ability, predator missile air strike, extreme conditioning perk (sprint longer distances), and coolest of all, Delta Squad and Delta Shield Squad air support in which weapon-equipped NPCs drop in via choppers to lend a helping hand. It’s these inclusions that make Survival mode, which has been done to death before in other games, more interesting.

Overall, MW 3 is a fun, great and polished game with solid gameplay and a good amount of content. The single-player provides a top-notch action movie experience, while the multiplayer offers addictive, rewarding gameplay that will keep you coming back for more. The biggest problem with MW 3, though, is that it’s too similar to previous CoDs. From the graphics to the gameplay, it’s disappointing how little has changed and the “been there, done that” feeling definitely drags the game down. But, ultimately, it’s not enough of a reason to skip the game, and with the little additions and tweaks done here and there, MW 3 is still worth picking up and playing. Let’s just hope, though, that the next CoD really changes things up.

It looks like that online petition for a PC port of Dark Souls has gotten the game publisher’s attention. Posting on Namco Bandai’s official European forums, Namco’s administrator “shoupinou” gives PC players hope that the acclaimed action RPG Dark Souls might be headed their way:

I honestly wasn’t expecting such a massive support. My boss(es) even came to talk to me about this, after it explodes all around the world. If you wanted to have the attention of Namco Bandai Games, now you have it. The future is in your hands, and I hope you will keep supporting this. I make a personal objective to make sure every relevant people in Namco Bandai Games is in touch with this formidable effort. Great Thanks!

Currently, the aforementioned petition just reached over 74,000 signatures. Keep it up guys!

Is there a possibility of a PC version? It would be a huge success for Namco and FromSoftware [Namco Bandai Games' forums, via Rock, Paper Shotgun]

Outcry ensued when folks learned that 2K Marin’s upcoming XCOM reboot was a shooter instead of a real-time strategy game like the original. But, folks can now calm down: an XCOM RTS game is in the works.

It’s titled XCOM: Enemy Unknown and it will be a turn-based strategy game, reveals Game Informer. As if that wasn’t good enough news, the game will be developed by Firaxis Games, the team behind the acclaimed Civilization series. And, not only that, XCOM: EU will be released this fall for the PC and home consoles (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3).

“It’s been a dream of ours to recreate X-COM with our unique creative vision. We’re huge fans of the original game and it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to re-envision a game that is as beloved as X-COM,” Firaxis’ president Steve Martin told GI. “We were careful to keep XCOM: Enemy Unknown true to the elements that made X-COM such a revered game while delivering an entirely new story and gameplay experience for both die-hard X-COM fans and newcomers to the franchise.”

Featuring turn-based combat with a mix of “real-time strategic view,” XCOM: EU will have players controlling a gun-toting anti-alien unit in “destructible tactical environments.”

More details are promised in GI’s upcoming February issue, which is said to hit next week. In the meantime, let’s see what we can do about the Syndicate reboot.

Following rumors/leaks earlier, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment officially announced the sequel to Lego Batman: The Videogame which will see the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder teaming up with other superheroes from the DC Universe.

Titled Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, the TT Games-developed sequel will star Batman and Robin, as well as Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern as they try to save Gotham City from Lex Luther and the Joker.

Within Gotham City players will able to explore new areas and use vehicles like the Batmobile and Batwing. There will also be new gadgets and suits like Batman’s Power Suit and Robin’s Hazard Cannon, in addition to new abilities like “flight, super-breath and heat vision.”

“Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes builds upon the action and cooperative gameplay experience established in our best-selling LEGO videogame to date, LEGO Batman: The Videogame,” TT Games’ managing director Tom Stone said in the press release. “We’re offering fans a rich and expansive Gotham City environment filled with cool characters, great customization options and plenty of surprises that families, young gamers and DC Universe fans can enjoy together.”

WBIE’s senior vice president of development and production Samantha Ryan added, “Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes further extends and combines both the Batman and LEGO videogame experiences to create very fun gameplay. Fans of all ages are going to enjoy the action and light hearted humor that TT Games and LEGO provide.”

Lego Batman 2 will be out this summer for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PC, Nintendo DS/3DS and PlayStation Vita.

[Pic]

Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes brings in Dark Knight’s super friends [GamesRadar]

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, TT Games and The LEGO Group Announce LEGO® Batman™ 2: DC Super Heroes [BusinessWire]

Microsoft’s next Xbox home console might include a digital video recorder, according to a Microsoft patent discovered by Kotaku (via GamesRadar).

Originally applied on Jan. 5, 2007 and then granted on Dec. 27, 2011 by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, Microsoft’s DVR patent details the ability for a gaming console to record things like TV programs, music, DVDs, and even video games either locally or online.

With a DVR “application running alongside a television client component,” users would be able to record media content while playing games. This could also be done when the console’s turned off or when doing different things on console like switching between gaming and watching TV.

Whether any of this becomes a reality is unknown, as Kotaku reminds us that patents don’t mean guarantees. But with Microsoft pushing the Xbox 360 as more of a media center, especially after the most recent Xbox 360 dashboard update that provided more video content, DVR functionality for the next Xbox sounds like a good step forward.