The Killer 2013 Opening Line Up

2013 is going to be a cracker. We can feel it. It’s in our bones. And not only that, but it’s also in the release schedules as well, and the year hasn’t even begun! As we slot each game into its allotted launch date, it only takes a brief step back to see that it’s going to be a jam-packed year full of extravagant gaming delights enough to make you salivate yourself a bath! Disgusting impossibilities aside, let’s take a look at what you should be preordering this month!

January sees the relaunch of Devil May Cry, the demon shooting slicing dizzy-em-up from yesteryear thunders back into town riding a newly refined pushy attitude. Whilst it doesn’t take place in the same universe as any previous DmC adventures you may fondly recall, it plays very similar, retaining all that lithe accessibility that allows you to perform jaw loosening acrobatic stunts that result in your enemy being simultaneously shot, impaled and sent hurtling through the air with just a few button pushes. There’s a sprinkling of new elements involved as well, adding a strategic element to the way you direct your battles with these post-Earth nuisances!

Things hot up in February, as we see the resurgence of Dead Space, Raiden gets his own game and Aliens Colonial Marines, the game we’ve been waiting for since 2007, finally bursts through your stomach and onto shelves!

The third iteration of Dead Space looks set to send us to the snow-covered plains of Tau Volantis, where our old favourite Isaac dons his iconic suit of armour once more to go antagonise those easily-irritable Necromorphs again. With drop-in/drop-out co-op and a new cover system, Dead Space fans the world over are already quaking in their little space boots.  Metal Gear Rising Revengeance sees whiny feminine ninja  Raiden in his own game. Trust us though, Revengeance has to be played to be believed; it looks incredible and plays like the focussed, solid and innovative experience you’d expect from Platinum Games. Give it a try today by picking up the Zone of the Enders HD Edition, which includes the demo! Lastly, Aliens: Colonial Marines is every bit the corker we’ve been hoping for: we got to grips with the multiplayer back in September and they had to physically prise us off it. Excitement.

March ushers in the true return of Bioshock in the game’s third instalment; Infinite. The beautiful art style, soaring locations and the opportunity to cruise around the level on metallic zipwires, not to mention the promise of that captivating, iconic narrative back in full force, and this is a game of the year contender already! With Gears of War : Judgement and God of War Ascension ticking the exclusives boxes, we’re back in full swing by the third month of the year.

With GTA V heading out in Spring and available to preorder now, not to mention that incredible looking new Metal Gear game Ground Zeroes, this year is the most exciting prospect the industry has had in a long while. Stay tuned to Hitari for all the news and all the latest games throughout 2013!

The Hitari 2012 in Gaming

It’s finally that time again Hitari blog readers! Christmas is upon us and as such, it’s time to take a reflective glance back at the WILD RIDE that was 2012. If there’s anything you’ve missed out on this year, Christmas is an excellent time to demand you be reimbursed by the more generous members of your family; point them in our direction, and you can flick old Queeny over for a bit of Dishonored come Christmas day! Here’s our 2012 in the form of a tumultuous scrawling!

It’s been a right old year really hasn’t it, when you take a good hard look at it. We’ve had no less than TWO new pieces of hardware, we’ve had a number of residual 3’s hitting the shelves after last year’s unending torrential downpour of threequels, Mass Effect and Max Payne among them; we’ve heard no end of rumours about new consoles, we got Smartglass for our Xbox so we can call it up, we got a shiny new Playstation Store not to mention an even shinier new Playstation SUPER Slim; we even learned that 343 Industries don’t do a half bad job of Halo. Skylanders doubled in size, whilst Lego’s Lord of the Rings entry was surely only matched by the appearance of The Hobbit at the cinema. And even better the Moshi Monsters made their return to our screens in their theme park based outing! Great fun all round.

If you picked up a Vita at the start of the year, there are finally some great titles out now and heading out in the direction of the powerful little fellow, with Black Ops Declassified, the series’ portable debut for this new age of handhelds, EA’s latest Need for Speed: Most Wanted AND Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation all sat in our stock room and flying off our shelves at a dangerous velocity: high quality gaming on the go, that doesn’t involve hurling displeased fowl around , is now possible! Oddworld is on its way too, along with Earth Defence Force 2017 and Final Fantasy Type-0, so next year is already looking jam-packed; the perfect time to pick up a portable? Oh we think so.

Sliding on down to the opposite end of the year then and the Wii U launched to the insatiable applauding of fans and new-Ninty-nibblers alike. With its second screen delivering all the fun, let us know how you’re having fun with yours this Christmas! Got it out for the family to see? Perhaps getting everyone involved with your favourite arm flailing dancing game? We want to see pictures and we want to hear stories: who knows what we’ll do for the best ones! There’s a comments section below just for you guys! Further than that, there’s all sorts heading out next year, with the Wii U finally able to take on the Xbox and Playstation in terms of raw power, all the great new games that have been announced for start of next year will be sidling out on the Nintendo offering too. And of course, we’ll inevitably hear from Mario and his Karting friends at some point, so stay tuned Mario maniacs.

We’ll have a further look at everything that’s heading our way next year next time, but that’s it for now! Thanks for a great year everybody and from the whole team at Hitari, Merry Christmas!