Armchair Diplomat

No more needs to be said, really, I’m all preordered up and waiting for release day.  So this gorgeous looking cinematic trailer is just filling in the time:

Red vs Blue? It's like they WANT their own machinima series

EA has released a new trailer for Army of Two: The 40th Day, showing off the variety of co-op moves open to Rios and Salem.  I’ve linked you to the YouTube version, as the original version doesn’t seem capable of playing correctly for me (even on ADSL2+).

While there are several old favourites from the first game (step-jump, back-to-back, etc.), the lads also have a couple of new tricks up their sleeves, including a “mock surrender” ploy used to flank your enemies, and some good old fashioned body shields.

They’ve also released a selection of new screenshots showing off their multiplayer component, which you can check out here.

Most importantly, however, the Army of Two twitter feed has been abuzz about the announcement of a Custom Mask and Armour Creator, which is supposedly in private beta at the moment.  No other details appear to be forthcoming, but it sounds as if we’ll be making our own pretty looking face-protectors this time around (I bags the tux print armour!).

Now for those of you with weak stomachs, please be advised that neither these new screenshots or video includes any bro-fists (although at the end of the video there’s something in the “bro-elbow” department).  Viewer discretion is advised.

Aaaaand no more bets...

Plenty of new details out of this year’s Tokyo Games Show concerning the next installment of Dead Rising.

First of all a whole batch of new screenshots have been released showing off protagonist Chuck Greene’s zombie maiming skills. Everyone’s got them, but let’s point you in Kotaku’s direction if you want to check them out.

Blue Castle Games have also released a new trailer for Dead Rising 2’s multiplayer mode. Multiplayer is set around a reality TV show called “Terror Is Reality”, where contestants have to slaughter more zombies than their opponents … all while not being eaten alive. The trailer (for argument’s sake, let’s send you over Village Gamer’s way to check this one out) shows off the many, many new ways to dispose of the zombie horde.

Speaking of the many ways to clean up the streets of Fortune City, Destructoid has attempted to chronicle as many of the weapons they could find in the Terror Is Reality demo and post them up for your perusal. While the original Dead Rising was well known for it’s “use anything” approach to undead slaying, DR2 appears to take that idea to even dizzier heights with the use of two little words. Duct tape.

Lastly, just to show that I can link The Big 3 all in one post, Joystiq has posted up a hands on with with Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. Why do we care? It’s because star of the original Dead Rising, Frank West, is a playable character. And apparently he’s capable of doing over two billion damage to people. That’s like over 9000 multiplied by over 9000. Always knew he had it in him.

His enemies tremble at the sight of his purple bikini-briefs

For all us schmucks who didn’t get to go to Penny Arcade Expo last weekend (and you may end up thanking yourself, considering apparently there was honest-to-goodness swine flu going around), there have been plenty of sites accomodating enough to give you the low-down on goings on.

Two that caught my eye today are both off Giant Bomb.

The first is a gameplay demo of Mass Effect 2, which on top of looking drop dead gorgeous, seems to have been able to integrate the old and the new quite smoothly.  Community manager Jay Watamaniuk explains all the new features, and covers quite a few questions as the demo works it’s way through.  From the sounds of things, while Shepard’s companions from Mass Effect 1 may not star in the game, they will shape segments of the storyline.  We can only hope it’s better than KoToR 2’s “Wait, wasn’t Revan a female?” kind of mechanic.  I’m sure it will be, as those bringing forward their games will have a lot to look forward to regarding their previous decisions.

A few of the new biotic and weapon powers get shown off, along with new elements of the conversation mechanic.  Apparently, via the use of a quick-time event, you’ll get a few opportunities to “cut conversations short” with the game’s Interrupt system.  According to Jay, players won’t know for sure in exactly what manner the conversation will be cut short, only that using the system probably lends itself to Renegade style players.  A majority of pistol headshots, would be my guess.

The second trailer that caught my eye was the gameplay demo of Ron Gilbert’s Death Spank.  Billed as a cross between Monkey Island and Diablo, Death Spank is a comic RPG from the father of SCUMM himself, and to hear Hothead Games’ Joel DeYoung tell it, Ron Gilbert went out of his way to be involved in every aspect of the game.

It shows.  The visuals look great, using a rather odd combination of both 2D and 3D artwork.  The dialogue system is classic LucasArts adventure, filled with Gilbert’s sense of humour.  According to the video, there will be more than enough references to previous Gilbert games, but apparently we still won’t find out the secret of Monkey Island.

Also?  Local multiplayer co-op!  Bless you, Hothead!

Both work a look, so check them out (check out Mass Effect 2, check out Death Spank)