14 DAY TRIAL // This week we have two very different reviews on Softpedia: one for King Arthur II – The Role-playing Wargame, a strategy and text adventure mix from Neocore Games and Paradox Interactive, and another for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, the action and role playing mix published by Electronic Arts and created by 38 Studios and Big Huge Games.
We also have new installment in our continuing Incoming 2012 series, spotlighting the biggest titles to be launched this year, and two concurrent Game Diaries, one for King Arthur II and another for Kingdoms of Amalur.
We also have a Quick Look for Shank 2, focusing on the survival mode, one for the remake Jagged Alliance – Back in Action and one for the grand strategy title Victoria II.
We also deliver twin Weekend Reading features, one about piracy when it comes to video games and other types of media, and another one about the impressive success that Double Fine has achieved raising money via Kickstarter.
The EndWeekGame piece deals with what titles we are planning to enjoy during our free time.
And, as usual, we deliver a selection of the most interesting news of the week that has passed.
On Monday analysts talked about how Activision should use its spare cash to buy Take Two so that it can controlGTA and BioShock,while BioWare warned gamers that they might be disappointed by how their particular Shepard ended up once Mass Effect 3 finished.
Tuesday was the day when the full Achievement an Trophy list for Mass Effect 3 got leaked for the pleasure of fans, while Rockstar began hiring for a secret open world project .
On Wednesday the newly integrated Steam Workshop was flooded with a number of mods designed to enhance the newly patched Skyrim, while the PlayStation 3 got a firmware version, 4.10, but Sony failed to deliver a clear list of the changes.
On Thursday Mass Effect 3 was once again in the news, as BioWare suggested that they would keep making games in that universe, while Skyrim developers offered a glimpse into what content the game might get via DLC.
On Friday the NPD Group released a number of very disappointing sales numbers for January 2012, with the Xbox 360 and Modern Warfare 3 taking first place, while SEGA offered the official version of the Aliens: Colonial Marines cover.
On Saturday Epic Games talked about a future with less home consoles, while Steam revealed the kind of information that hackers might have obtained.