LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes comes to Wii U today, along with new features exclusive to this version.

Players can use the touch pad to view the world map off-TV, and even play the game completely on the touch pad away from the TV. Alternatively, friends can join to play separately on the television screen and touch pad. 

LEGO Batman 2: DC Super heroes is already available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PC and 3DS.



 

Sony gamers who love cars love the Gran Turismo series. It's been the defacto racing simulator for many years now. In fact, the series is celebrating 15 years, which is a pretty great feat. 

Gran Turismo 6 is coming and it'll be coming out for both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. PS3 will get first crack at playing the game, but expect a PS4 version later on down the road. Vita folks aren't going to be left out here either as a version for the portable will also be forth coming.

1,200 cars, 71 course layouts, 33 locations, and more through DLC will give you plenty of choices to play with. For now, check out the announcement trailer and gaze at some of the beautifully rendered cars that you'll be able to drive yourself when the game hits the store shelves.
 

When the PlayStation Store updates later today, it will bring with it a some great deals for members of the PlayStation Plus program. First off, Knytt Undergound is joining the Instant Game Collection for both the PlayStation 3 and the Vita. Cyril reviewed the game back in January and found it to be an absolutely marvelous experience.

As great as that is, it is also worth noting that the best deal coming with the update might be the deep discount being offered on the stellar Metro: Last Light. Members of the program can purchase the digital release of the PS3 game, which launches today, for $47.99. That is a 20% discount on a day one release! Not a bad deal, especially considering it is a phenomenal experience.

GameStop stops taking your PlayStation 2 as a trade-in next month, EVE Online shared its tenth birthday with Orson Welles, and EA just announced The Sims 4 for 2014. By the way, if you were to buy The Sims 3 plus all of its expansions right now, it would cost you $539.78.

What are you playing this weekend?

Russell Archey | staff writer | Twitter @neoscyther
I'll be spending more time with Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move. So far I'm kind of liking it as it doesn't control like the past games. In fact, it's kind of like Pipe Dream, of all things. It's a different way to play the series and requires a different strategy than the past games.

Sean Cahill | staff writer | Twitter @seancahill2
Now that my semester is over and I have a lot more free time outside of work, I'll be kicking Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen into high gear. I've been going back to Tomb Raider to try and knock that off the list (47 percent complete) so it can go on the completed stack. Outside of that, I might indulge in some World of Tanks while testing out a couple new mice and a headset.

Nathan Carter | staff writer | Twitter @natedoggcata
I’ll be putting in some more practice with Injustice: Gods Among Us. I started playing Hawkgirl who is now my anti-Solomon Grundy, Deathstroke and Aquaman spam weapon, and I have Green Arrow and Harley Quinn as my backups. I’ll probably be playing some more Zombie Tycoon 2, which is a really fun real-time strategy for consoles. I have never been a fan of RTS because, for me, it’s usually clicking a bunch of boxes that fill your screen and I have no idea what is going on. Zombie Tycoon 2 simplifies all that, and what you have is a very fun and addicting game. Finally, I am about two years late to the party but I actually picked up and started playing Dragon Age 2 which I really enjoy. Now, I never played the first game. Why does everyone hate Dragon Age 2 again? Doesn't seem like anything is wrong with it to me. 

Nathaniel Cohen | staff writer | Twitter @seven_hells
I'll be spending some relaxing time on Far Cry 3’s Rook Island, stabbing dudes, getting inked, and popping hallucinogenic substances. Other items on my to-do list include more Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, and spending some quality time with System Shock 2.

Sean Colleli | staff writer
I'm in full-on review mode for Zeno Clash II, so I'll be exploring the world of Zenozoik for the most part. I'm also wrapping up my reviews for all the cool tech Nyko released for the Wii U, so I'll be revisiting my modest Wii U library for some final testing.

Jeremy Duff | senior staff writer | Twitter @duff3c
Along with Mike, you can make that two for Metro: Last Light. I love this franchise so much. And Mike, the second one is just as lovely. I have a preview build on the debug Xbox 360 with the first couple of hours of the game on it. You're in for a treat.

Travis Huinker | staff writer | Twitter @travishuinker
I plan to spend some quality time with Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and hopefully set some time aside for playing the recently-released Neverwinter with John.

Charles Husemann | editor-in-chief | Twitter @chusemann
Another week a bunch more MechWarrior Online to play. I've gone whole hog with a long-range missile boat build and I'm working on tweaking it so that I can safely deliver the "rain of pain" from a distance without taking any direct fire.

Randy Kalista | staff writer | Twitter @randykalista
One of two things is about to happen. Either 1) I square away my EVE Online account and start turning Gaming Nexus into gameEVE nexONLINEus as far as coverage is concerned--John loves this idea--or 2) I flip through my recent shopping spree of Xbox Indie Games and start bashing them into my face one at a time: Snops Attack! Zombie Defense, qrth-phyl, Kodu Game Lab, radiangames Fluid, Arcadecraft, and Quiet, Please! I somehow managed to avoid the top 20 most downloaded, all of which have the word "miner" in the title.

Mike Mahardy | staff writer | Twitter @mmahardy
I'll be playing Metro: Last Light. Metro 2033 is one of my favorite shooters of this generation, so I can't wait to dig into 4A's sequel, especially since they have creative license to deviate from the book's story now. Other than that, I'll be putting more time into Injustice: Gods Among Us and Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.

Atlus has a pair of new trailers for the upcoming brawler Dragon’s Crown, and it is looking AWESOME. The videos, which you can find below, show off two more of the game’s numerous character classes: the fighter and the sorceress.

When you pick up the game for either your PS3 or Vita in August, these are only two of your options when you head out into this gorgeous hack and slash adventure. Cooperative play, epic boss battles, and a new adventure every time that you play the game, its all here for your enjoyment.
   

The cover vote for EA Sports' upcoming release of NHL 14 is down to the Round of 16.  While the voting continues on the regular  NHL.com website, fans now have an option to take it to Twitter on Thrusdays to double up the voting.  Some of the matchups include Original Six battles between Tyler Seguin of the Boston Bruins against James van Riemsdyk of the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Whoever your favorite player is, be sure to get over to NHL.com to vote and remember to hit Twitter on Thursday to support your player again! [READ MORE]

We checked in with CD102.5 this morning to give a little bit of information on Deadly Premonition, Blood Dragon , and Soul Sacrifice. Plus, we gave away two copies of the XBLA version of Blood Dragon. You never know what we will have to give out on the air so make sure you tune on in Thursday mornings in the Columbus and Baltimore, Ohio areas!


 

Fan voting in the first round of the cover vote for NHL 14 has been completed with no real surprises.  From here, the NHL will commence the second round by narrowing it down to a Top 16 bracket, with eight being selected from each conference in a battle of East vs. West.  Besides the cover vote, EA Sports has completed the simulation of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and predicts that the New York Rangers will defeat the Chicago Blackhawks in the finals for the right to hoist up Lord Stanley's most famous piece of silverware.  The NHL Playoffs begin tomorrow, with President's Trophy winner Chicago taking on the Minnesota Wild. [READ MORE]

Dragon's Crown launched its official--and rather slow-loading--website, with a few months to go for the game's North American release on August 6. Dragon's Crown, spiritual successor to Princess Crown, is a 2-D fantasy action role-playing game exclusive to the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita.

But ignore that exclusivity. Even if you own nothing but an Xbox, or strictly affiliate with the PC "master race," or ignore any game that isn't Facebook spam, go to Dragon's Crown's official site and look over the artwork. Art Director George Kamitani absolutely, positively, has no peer in the industry.

His character designs are masterful. The Fighter is a bullwark of steel and sinewy pectorals. The Amazon is a back-bending display of thigh muscle and Celtic-knotted tattoos. The Wizard's white hair and angular robes cut a sharp silhouette. The Elf rocks a honeybee waist and a bow as big as the moon. The Dwarf is a storm cloud of beard and built like a brick house. Finally, the Sorceress--whose mammoth breasts ignited some playground bickering between gaming site Kotaku and George Kamitani himself--is bewitching in all the right (admittedly somewhat NSFW) ways.

Each character is a fantasy caricature, and their body types tap into the primal machinations of my id. I'm personally offended by how much I love their jaw-dropping outlines. I feel like I should know better. Like there's something wrong with me as a person for appreciating the hyper-masculinity, the hyper-femininity. And yet...

Some video games have successfully crossed the Uncanny Valley and reside safe on the other side. But other games, like Dragon's Crown, are more a celebration of concept art and brush strokes than mo-capped realism and green rooms. I can't help but applaud Dragon's Crown's successful capture of a confident, articulate, heavy-breathing, moving painting.

EA Sports has made sure to appeal to the fans as much as possible before the launching of many of their famed sports franchises, and the cover vote has been the best way to make them feel a part of the process of launching a title.  Sticking with this new-found tradition, the cover vote for NHL 14 is about to kickoff as the playoff race in the lockout-shortened season is at its absolute fever pitch.  There are 60 NHL stars to choose from, which are listed below.  The vote starts with fans of the teams choosing the player from their team, then are pitted against each other in the vote itself.  The schedule will complete on June 2 when the winner is announced after several rounds of voting.  Be sure to check out EA Sports' website for more information. [READ MORE]

"Be Prepared" is the Girl Scouts' motto. I wasn't using "ironic" or "scare" quotes in the headline.

Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles (GSGLA) and Women in Games International (WIGI) are combining forces to create a merit badge in video game design. 

They're placing the Video Game Design badge in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) category of badges. Amy Allison, vice president at WIGI, said in an official statement that she hopes the badge will "get young girls excited in technology and science and let them know that they, too, can have a career in the video game industry." 

Lise Luttgens, chief executive officer at GSGLA, followed WIGI's statement with "Girl Scouts has a long history of developing pioneers in the fields of science and technology, so we are excited about collaborating with Women in Games International to ignite girls' interests in STEM-related subjects."

A brilliantly selected 16-bit heart will be the badge's graphic, a tribute to Nintendo's timeless indicator of health and extra lives. I'd rock that badge and I'm a man!

Note that they're not interested in just getting girls to play games. The emphasis is on the "design" part of Video Game Design. There doesn't appear to be a guide for attaining this badge yet, but it wouldn't be unreasonable for them to mimick the Boy Scouts' requirement for their Game Design badge (though the Boy Scouts' version is not video game-specific.) I checked out that Boy Scout badge: it wouldn't be a bad idea to put video game reviewers and critics through that manual's requirements.

The goal is to get the GSGLA badge recognized and adopted by the overarching Girl Scouts of America, so as to not limit this opportunity to the 40,000 (!) girls in the GSGLA alone.

Perhaps by the time my three-year-old joins the Girl Scouts--should she express such an interest--they could be selling annual copies of Madden and Assassin's Creed next to Samoas and Thin Mints. Though who am I kidding? Unless EA and Ubisoft start coating game boxes with caramel and toasted coconut, I'm going with the cookies. [READ MORE]

With the Stanley Cup Playoffs getting ready to commence in a couple of weeks and teams are still fighting for those last precious spots, EA Sports reminded everyone that the new installment of the NHL series isn't far off on the horizon, part of what I've called the "Summer of Sports" that comes from EA Sports.  Building upon the changes made to last year's title, gamers will see tweaks to the Enforcer engine, precision added to the style of skating that drastically improved the franchise, and many other changes.  The cover vote for NHL 14 also begins on April 22, so make sure you're checking NHL.com to vote for your favorite player! [READ MORE]

Almost out of nowhere, Arc System Works has announced that Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R is launching on Sony’s PlayStation Vita later this month. April 23 to be exact!

The game is being released digitally through the PlayStation Network and is the latest installment in the frantic fighting game series. The arcade version hit Japanese arcades last September and completely rebalanced and reworked the game’s gameplay system. We have now seen re-releases of every installment in the Guilty Gear series; isn’t it time for a new entry? I hope so...