Digital Extremes, developer of the upcoming Star Trek game, and publishers Paramount and Namco Bandai rolled out a new trailer for the much-anticipated videogame companion to film director J.J. Abrams’ 2009 canon-bending epic at last week’s Gamescom event in Cologne, Germany. The game, currently scheduled for an early 2013 release on the Xbox 360, PS3 and the PC, features an original plot and the opportunity to play as either Kirk or Spock in co-op mode.

There are very few things that’ll get me on a plane. I hate flying, I really do, what with dealing with traffic and security, then getting on a plane that has seats that always seem way too small. What few things would get me to get on a plane? Family emergencies, game conventions and big comic conventions. As luck would have it, I was invited to go to the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) this year as part of an ambassador program for Tomb Raider through Eidos and Crystal Dynamics. Putting all fears aside, I was able to visit E3 2012 on Wednesday and Thursday. The only other time I attended E3 was back in 2004, and I had a blast, so I was really looking forward to 2012.

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Jack Tramiel, the founder of Commodore International and creator of the Commodore 64, died on April 8 at age 83, according to Forbes. A concentration camp survivor, Tramiel came to America after World War II and opened a typewriter repair business in New York City before moving to Toronto, Canada, where he formed Commodore International in 1954. He introduced the Commodore 64 in 1982, and later purchased Atari and created the Atari ST. He is survived by his wife and three sons and their families.

Source: MSNBC

If you haven’t loaded up Mass Effect 3 recently, be prepared for an update when you finally return to the final act of BioWare’s space epic. A new patch has been released, the highlight of which is to fix the problem many players had when they tried to import their Shepard’s custom facial features from the previous two games in the series. Most of the other fixes involve possible crash bugs; a complete set of patch notes is available here. And before you ask: no, the ending hasn’t been changed.

Junction Point creative director Warren Spector has announced that Mickey Mouse is headed to the Nintendo 3DS in Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, set in the world of the 1990 Sega Genesis side-scroller Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse. Mickey continues his battle with Mizrabel the Witch, but this time you can help him out by drawing items on the touch screen. “We’re honored to be able to pay tribute to this classic video game by creating a title that truly takes advantage of the unique capabilities of the Nintendo 3DS,” says Spector, an accomplished game designer with the Wing Commander, Ultima, Deus Ex and System Shock series on his resume. Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion is scheduled for a fall 2012 release.

Source: Gamesindustry International

Nerd god Marcus Persson (aka “Notch”), creator of the indie gaming juggernaut Minecraft, is reaching for the stars (literally) with his new project, 0x10c. According to the game’s official site, it’s an adventure in a sci-fi setting, 281 trillion years in the future, when a software glitch traps a group of space travelers in hypersleep for millennia. The game is promised to include space battles, loot-filled ships to plunder, and duct tape (?). A multiplayer mode will be available, but it will likely carry a subscription fee. Development of the game has just started, so no release date was announced.

While rumors continue to fly about the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo is quietly gearing up to beat both of them to the stores by a year. Time Magazine has seen a memo from a Japanese retailer that puts the release of the WiiU on November 18, 2012. But some developers who’ve had experience with Nintendo’s new hardware are expressing doubts about the console’s graphics quality and performance. One such developer (who requested anonymity) says that the WiiU’s graphics are “…not up to the same level as the PS3 or the 360. The graphics are just not as powerful.” Speculation is that an effort to keep the retail price of the unit down is causing Nintendo to stay just short of state-of-the-art, especially considering that the much-hyped LCD tablet controller shipping with the WiiU is not a cheap item. Expect official news about the WiiU launch at Nintendo’s E3 press conference this year.

Source: Gamesindustry International

It seems that Sony isn’t planning to be late to the console release party this time. Sources have reportedly told VG24/7 that the Japanese electronics giant plans to have their new gaming console ready for store shelves before Microsoft releases theirs, possibly around the 2013 Christmas holidays. The gaming website’s unnamed source indicates that Sony believes they have the jump on their Redmond, Wash., rivals, and that the order in which they present their 2013 E3 keynotes will have some significance (Microsoft is usually first out of the gate, presenting their E3 conferences as early as the day before the summit convenes, so this might not be as important a factor as the source believes). Few details have been leaked concerning the new Playstation, code named “Orbis,” but it’s believed that the console will drop the PS3′s Cell processor in favor of an AMD chipset, and will use their competitor’s API, DirectX, instead of a proprietary solution.

Details about the new Xbox console are slowly and steadily leaking out, but how reliable they might be is anyone’s guess. According to VG24/7, the new hardware will include a Blu-ray player, something that Microsoft has denied in the past. Also inside the new box are rumored to be two graphics cards, a CPU with four to six cores, and built-in Kinect devices. And the icing on the cake: it will also require a constant Internet connection, which will likely raise the blood pressure of the anti-DRM crowd. Microsoft has said that they will not be featuring the new console at this year’s E3 summit, and conjecture is that the machine will arrive in stores for Christmas in 2013.

Andy Davidson, who created the Worms franchise in 1995, then dropped out of the games business three years later to pursue other opportunities, has decided to return to developer Team 17 to help them bring the newest entry in the series, Worms Revolution, to the finish line. “It’s nice to be back at Team 17,” says Davidson. “There’s been a revolution in the studio itself — there’s a real creative buzz about the place.” Originally created for the Commodore Amiga computer, Worms has become one of the great gaming success stories, with almost two dozen titles published on almost every available platform.

Source: QTE Gamers

Avalanche Studios is positioning itself for a spot at the table with other developers trying to attract the attention of Microsoft and Sony, who are poised to bring the next generation of gaming consoles to market in the next few years. Avalanche founder Christofer Sundberg says that their Just Cause franchise would be a perfect fit for the new hardware. “We would obviously like to see a very bright future for Just Cause,” Sundberg recently said to Pikigeek.com. “My opinion is that the JC IP is perfect for everything that next-gen has to offer.” Avalanche is currently staffing up in its New York and Stockholm studios in anticipation of the good word from the hardware manufacturers.

Gamers of a certain age will have fond memories of their Commodore 64 and Amiga PCs. Soon a new generation of PC gamers will have a chance to share the nostalgia. Commodore USA has announced a new line of their iconic home computers, to be released later this year. And these are definitely not your father’s C-64 PCs. The new models will boast some very impressive components, including Intel 3.5 GHz i7 2700 CPUs, 16 GB of RAM, 1 GB GeForce 430 graphics cards and 1 TB hard drives. “This is an historic day,” says Commodore CEO Barry Altman. “The team here has been working around the clock to fulfill the vision of a reunited Commodore and AMIGA branded computer.” Check out the Commodore website for more info.

What do you get when you cross Minecraft with castles and Legos? Well, you could get one cool idea, or you could get Castle Story. While the game is still in the early phases, it’s shaping up to be a really awesome game. An early trailer has been released showing many of the ideas being incorporated into the game, and while everything is not there yet (a la early Minecraft), it still shows a lot of promise. Check out the demonstration trailer. So many great games in the works. With 2012 supposed to be the end of the world, at least I’ll die with a smile on my face and a game on the screen.

Did I not just say 2012 will be known as the year of the X-COM? Well, here it is! A real X-COM game that’s not an FPS is on the way from developer Firaxis. Not only did we get the great news of the game, but a whole series of pictures to peruse. X-COM was one of the first games that I purchased for my Amiga and PC. While the sequels failed to live up to the original, I have high hopes for this one.

This little gem is coming for the iPhone and Android sometime in 2012. You design and control a spaceship and explore the galaxy, meeting and blowing new species to bits. You also hire and manage your crew. Generally, you attempt to take over the universe, with a view style and gameplay very reminiscent of X-COM (aka UFO: Enemy Unknown) and a graphic style similar to Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters.

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