Don’t go running to your local game retailer hoping to pick up Fire Emblem Awakening today... or tomorrow for that matter. It appears that the game has suffered a minor delay in the shipment of the physical game which will set it back a few days. The game was scheduled to be in retailers yesterday, but is currently nowhere to be found (aside from digital distribution).

The delay is reportedly due to a manufacturing error, which should be remedied by now. The game will likely show up later this week for those seeking the actual, physical game cartridges. We will also have our full review of the game very soon.

Nintendo has never been a company that crams obligatory multiplayer into their products just for the sake of it--one of the things I like about Nintendo. So when they add it to one of their longstanding franchises, odds are it will be good. That's what I'm hoping for Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon, which will have a multiplayer mode when it launches on March 24th.

Players team up as different colored Luigis, which makes me wonder why they don't just have various other Mario characters working together. The multicolored Luigi team will have to work their way up the haunted ScareScraper, clearing one floor at a time and wondering if they'll run into Drs. Veknman, Spengler and Stantz in the process. It sounds interesting but I'm not sure if it will be more addicting than the Luigi's Mansion minigame in Wii U's Nintendoland, which had everyone rolling their eyes at last E3 but now has them all glued to their couches.
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If you're on the fence about Etrian Odyssey IV, you can give the game a spin on February 7th. Atlus is releasing a pretty meaty demo that not only plays up until the first dungeon, but also numerous side quests and the full set of skills, classes and equipment in the main game. Not only that, but your progress in the demo can be applied to the retail version if you decide to but it. Considering how unforgiving the Etrian series is, it might be a good idea to test the waters first. I love that Atlus goes the extra mile to do cool stuff like this for their loyal customers.

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On Wednesday of CES, my appointments finally brought me into the Las Vegas Convention Center to begin the meat of my schedule.  As Dan and I have both mentioned before, audio seemed to be the primary focus of this year's show, and sticking with that theme brings us to the Sennheiser booth.  The goal at this booth was to get my hands on the latest PC gaming headsets that Sennheiser had to offer in the form of the U320 and the PC363D.


U320 Gaming Headset

The U320 is a multi-platform gaming headset, meaning it isn't just for use with a PC or a Mac.  Sennheiser realized that console gamers need some love as well, so the U320 has been made to be fully compatible with the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.  The highlight of this headset is the fact that a user can change the audio levels independently to either raise the in-game volume, or to raise and lower the volume of the other players in the match.  The sound quality is stereo sound, so it is not a surround sound headset.  Still, even with it being just a simple two-channel audio headset, the sound quality was excellent.  There was no cracking at higher levels and the comfort of the headset itself is good initially.

The U320 Gaming Headset retails at $169.99



PC363D Gaming Headset

This was the headset I was really wanting to try out.  Sporting a virtual 7.1 Surround Sound system in a powerful package, the PC363D was directly developed with Dolby to ensure a beautiful array of audio while playing any proper title.  The 363D is designed to be used with a computer system only, due to the output of sound that it needs.  Comfort isn't an issue here either, and the microphone is specifically designed to mute when moving it up from the talk position to a side position on the headset, which is a great feature to have.  If it's a great surround feeling that you are looking for in a headset, the PC363D may very well be your best option.

The PC363D Gaming Headset retails at $299.99

Not to be out done by Toys for Bob and the Skylanders franchise, Disney Interactive Studios has revealed Disney Infinity. The game, which is scheduled for release this coming June, will take the Skylanders concept but utilize Disney and Pixar characters.

Disney Infinity will be available for nearly every platform that you can imagine: Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and 3DS. As you would expect, the whole business plan for this title revolves around additional purchases after your initial investment. After you pick up the start pack for the game, which will contain the game, three figures, and three playsets for $74.99, addicted gamers will be dropping addition cash to pick up additional character and playpack sets. Character three-packs will sell for $34.99 while single-character packs are $12.99.

If you thought that kids were addicted to collecting Skylander figures, wait until they see the lineup of familiar faces coming with this game. Announced characters for the game include the following:

• Cars: Lightning McQueen, Mater, Francesco Bernoulli, Holley Shiftwell
• The Incredibles: Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, Dash, Violet, Syndrome, Edna “E” Mode, Mirage, Rick Dicker
• Monsters, Inc.: Sully, Mike
• Nightmare Before Christmas: Jack Skellington
• Phineas and Ferb: Phineas, Ferb, Perry the Platypus
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow, Barbosa, Davy Jones, Joshamee Gibbs, Pintel, Ragetti, Tia Dalma
• Toy Story: Woody, Buzz, Jessie
• Wreck-It Ralph: Wreck-It Ralph

You can check out the first screenshots and trailer for the game below and start saving your pennies now, especially if you have children.

One of the great things about CES is the proverbial "shows within in the show" that are attended in the first half of the week.  One of these shows is called ShowStoppers, which gives a chance for companies to spotlight specific products in a more intimate setting instead of on the main show floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center.  Dan and I had the chance to meet up with Peter Nygren, the CEO of Mionix, at ShowStoppers to check out a couple of the new products that Mionix is bringing out for PC gamers in the form of the Zibal 60 keyboard and the Naos 8200 mouse.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:

Naos 8200

Right handed truly ergonomic design, full palm grip
Netto weight: 320 g



Zibal 60 Gaming Keyboard





Impressions of the Naos 8200

The mouse is incredibly comfortable.  Having larger hands, it can be difficult for me to find a mouse that truly molds to my palm and fingers, but the Naos 8200 is about as good of a fit as I've found.  The design of the mouse is very ergonomic and has a natural grip to it.  The material is soft and offers a nice cushion for long sessions of gaming.  Of course, the impressive part of the mouse is the 8200 dpi laser that it offers.  Gamers that require quicker motions need the extra dpi to make sure that there is a distinct advantage over their opponent.  The Naos 8200 looks to be a good choice, though I want to have longer sessions with it instead of the few minutes we had at ShowStoppers before coming to a final conclusion.



Impressions of the Zibal 60 Gaming Keyboard

This isn't your everyday gaming keyboard.  In a world where there are a ton of gauges, monitors, macros, and so forth, on just about every keyboard, it's nice to see a company provide a product that is built to last and is no frills.  The Zibal 60 stands out simply because it is a beast of a keyboard.  It is heavyweight, durable, and can take a beating from any gamer.  The solid body of the Zibal 60 means that durability isn't an issue, and the keys are quick-firing even though they stand out higher than standard gaming keyboards.  

One of the overriding themes at the 2013 International CES was lots and lots of audio products, including headphones of all shapes and sizes.  One of the companies that is now producing headphones is Onkyo, who is usually known for their high-quality A/V components.  Sean and I went to visit with them in the Gibson tent, which is an awesome place to check out products as musicians are strumming away on a variety of guitars.  Heck, while we were in there, Felicia Day gave away a guitar to one luck guy in the audience.

What we went to see was the Onkyo ES and IE lineup of headphones.  I posted about them early last week, but after we actually had a chance to try out the ES-HF300 over-the-ear headphones, both Sean and I were quite impressed.  After listening to a variety of music, the one word that we came up with to describe them was “precise.”  Meaning that whatever song we listened to, the music came out beautifully, as we would expect and without any sloppy audio sounds or muddiness.  The ES-HF300 on display were in white, black and purple and were quite comfy and with an MSRP of $179, on the lower end of what you would normally pay for that type of quality headphones.

There was one other Onkyo product that really caught my eye (other that the massive TX-NR5010 9.2 Networked A/V receiver), and that was the RBX-500 3D music system/dock that was being shown.  The RBX-500 had an incredibly compact design, comes with a remote and connects with Bluetooth or digital dock.  Internally, it has a 6.1 array of speakers (six 2” drivers) including a ported 4” sub.  The best feature may be the Sonic Emotion Absolute 3D Sound Technology that drives the RBX-500.  As with all wireless speaker systems, the possibilities are endless for gaming, video or music playback.

I stopped by the Ion Audio booth again this year to see what they had in store for iOS and Android users.  While they weren’t showing off any updates to their popular iCade lineup, they did have quite a few cool accessories for gaming on hand.  As with most things at this CES, there was a heavy emphasis on audio, as Ion was showing off DJ gear, speakers and party rockers.

I first looked at the All-Star Dance, which is a wireless dance mat for the iPad.  The mat comes with a free dancing app that teaches the basic moves while playing the game, it connects via Bluetooth and lights up (with embedded LED light) as you dance on it.  It was quite responsive and works seamlessly with the iPad and application it ships with.  One other item of note, there is a stand for your iPad included that will elevate it to the height you need to watch while dancing.  The All-Star Dance will ship in May at an MSRP of $49.99

The next item I looked at was the Party Rocker cubes.  These are a combination speaker, amp and karaoke machine all in one solid wood box.  It will ship with a microphone and has an internal 50-watt amp with color choices of white or black and also connects via Bluetooth to your iOS or Android device.  The coolest feature (especially if you are hosting a slumber or New Year’s Eve Party) is the light show that moves to the music.  The Party Rocker will have an MSRP of $149.99, and a slightly smaller version called the House Party will come in at $99.99.


Probably the smallest gadget Ion brought to the show was the Clipster.  This is a very portable wireless speaker that can clip to just about any object.  It includes a built-in rechargeable battery, connects via Bluetooth and will be available in April for $29.99 in Red, Green, Blue, Black and Pink.  This would be great to use for music, games or video when you are working outside where headphones would get in the way or just chilling out sitting on the couch.

The last item that I saw in Ion Audio’s booth was their DJ accessories.  The iDJ 2 Go Plus (shipping in June for $99.99) and Scratch 2 Go ($19.99) give aspiring DJs a way to convert their iOS devices into instant music machines.  The DJ 2 Go has a physical board and works with several DJ apps (including Ion’s iDJ 2 Go app) and connects via the lightning connector, making it compatible with iPhone 5 and iPad retina or newer devices.  The Scratch 2 Go comes with physical controls that sit on any iPad, so as long as there is a compatible DJ app, this will hook up and work.  I am not big into DJ games or apps, but both options seemed to work well during the demo and should appeal to those that enjoy the creativity of being a DJ.  You can probably hook it to the Party Rocker to create some interesting effects.



I would like to thank Wendy, Ion Audio’s Product Manager, for showing me around the booth.

When we visited both Sony and LG, each company was prominently displaying their dual-play TV capabilities.  The technology essentially lets two gamers (or viewers depending on content) view a single 3D TV and see two different images by using different polarity 3D glasses.  Although both companies were using the word “first” on their demos in their respective booths, the technology has been around for some time and we have seen it as prototypes the last few years from both companies.  If you view the screen without the 3D glasses, there is a "ghosting" of the two images that appear on top of each other.

The Sony version is called SimulView and was being shown off on an 84” 4K (3,840 x 2,160) television.  We were treated to a little Gran Turismo 5 racing action for the demo and depending on which glasses you chose (left or right eye) it does truly work.  In addition, PS3 titles such MLB: The Show and Battlefield 3 that support 3D will also work in SimulView.


LG’s technology didn’t appear to have an official name, but was released on their Smart TVs using Mini Motor Racing.  The game was originally released on to Android and iOS, but did not have the dual play option that LG showed off.  To play this particular game, we used the LG Magic Remote, but going forward the technology can be used with any type of controller, as it is independent to the TV and glasses.


One thing to keep in mind is that neither Sony nor LG was using active shutter glasses to showcase their technology.  Sony plans to ship to SimulView glasses along with four traditional glasses in their 4K TVs that support the tech.  Additional glasses can be purchased for $299.99 ro $99.99, or you can have any optical company order a pair for you to get something a bit more comfortable.  LG is compatible with any third party passive 3D glasses, so that means you just need to track down a comfy style and get one in polarity for both the right and left eye.

As for the tech itself, it is a cool concept, and if 3D survives to the point where it is just another option available in all TVs I can see where this could possibly take hold.  However, like any technology it is always about cost and content, and at this point, it seems like we may be a few years out for dual Play TVs to make much of a foothold.

Last Friday, John posted his thoughts on our sit down with the folks at Square Enix for our first look at the new Tomb Raider multiplayer modes.  During the sit down, I shot about five minutes of video as Sean and John were getting hammered by the developers (who they had no idea they were playing against.)  Also, I grabbed a few still of the in-game, after-party menus and splash screens.  Take a look and let us know what you think.

Nintendo has recently revealed that Fire Emblem Awakening, slated to hit store shelves on February 4th for the 3DS, will have DLC on launch day, as well as SpotPass and StreetPass functionality.  The first DLC map will be free for a limited time and will be an intro to a weekly stream of new maps, which will be offered at various price points.  To access the DLC, players will need to get access to the Outrealm Gate which is located on the in-game world map and will be accessible after players complete the fifth mission in the main story.

Players will also be able to obtain new maps with new storylines via Spot Pass that will be distributed around the launch window.  With Street Pass, players can exchange certain game data with other players, which will make other characters via StreetPass randomly show up on the world map and allow you to recruit the team leader with gold, battle and win the privilege to recruit the leader for free, or can buy weapons or items that the team is carrying.

If you're not sure if you're ready to pick the game up on February 4th, you can download the free demo on the Nintendo eShop starting January 17th.  For more info, check out http://fireemblem.nintendo.com. [READ MORE]