The beta begins 18th of  May until the 22nd of May! I have applied and hopefully will get to see what this game is all about.

$99.99 Deluxe Vault Hunter Collector’s Edition

$149.99 Ultimate Loot Chest Limited Edition

Will you be getting either of these? I do not go for Collector’s Editions usually so not for me! Just the regular edition for now but I can see a lot of people going for them.

EA stated on their website in an announcement post that more details on new game modes and additional game changes will be revealed in the coming months. I for one am hoping that Fifa 13 gets a showing at E3 for EA’s live conference.

Attacking Intelligence:

• FIFA 13 Attacking Intelligence allows the space opened up by tactical defending to be used more intelligently.
• The AI now evaluates the whole of their run leading to much more decisive and aggressive runs.
• Attacking AI will now recognise when they are about to run offside and they’ll hold their run and even curve it to stay onside and keep the play alive.
• Around the box, AI players will now be able to curve their runs in behind defenders to make themselves available in the more valuable space creating a wealth of new attacking options.
• The AI will now think 2 moves ahead supporting play off the ball creating much more fluidity in build up play.

Tactical Free Kicks:

• The FIFA 13 free kick system has been updated to allow a much more diverse range of free kicks.
• A 3^rd kick taker has been added to the line up allowing up to 2 fake shots and enabling a lot more creativity in set pieces. You’ll even be able to pass it in to the run over players.
• Because of this, defending free kicks has become more of a mind game.
• You can add another player to the wall and jump the wall a number of times (it will regroup if there’s time).
• You can even edge the wall forward (so long as the ref doesn’t see…)

First Touch Control:

• In FIFA 13 contextual errors whilst controlling the ball will now separate the ball from the player creating a battle for possession.
• It makes you evaluate the risk versus reward of situations right across the pitch and makes you think like a real footballer.
• For example, as a defender you could have to make the decision whether to take the difficult ball down and risk losing possession or do you hit it into row Z?
• The changes are subtle but make a huge difference to how real the game looks.

Complete Dribbling:

• Complete Dribbling is being billed as a huge gamechanger in dribbling contols.
• The direction the player is dribbling has been completely removed from the direction the player is facing and both can now be performed independently.
• “360 Degree Mobility” lets you dribble in different directions whilst keeping your body facing the danger area.
• It lets you face up to defenders whilst dribbling and move laterally using changes of direction and pace to skip passed them.
• EA have made all dribbling controls contextual making FIFA 13 Complete Dribbling accessible to all levels of players.
• It allows more protection of the ball whilst shielding (which is also now contextual).

Impact Engine:

• The FIFA 13 Impact Engine has been taken back to base level to eliminate the large number of bugs we saw this year.
• Push –pull defending has been revamped. Players now push-pull relative to their attributes and the effects of push – pull are far more varied.
• Referees have been re-engineered to compensate and are far more aware of the effects of push – pull therefore more lenient.
• A whole new suite of shot animations has been introduced to compliment the push – pull element of the FIFA 13 Impact Engine.

Gameplay Fundamentals:

• Contain: In FIFA 13 you’ll be able to more laterally as well as forward and back whilst containing.
• This will enable you to force the attacker one way or the other. (away from danger or cutting off options)
• New Celebrations.
• Increased variety of goal line clearances (including diving headers).
• The game will realise when you’re trying to shield the ball out of play.
• Loads more shot animations (including off balance shots).

Max Payne 3 is right around the corner, in fact – it’s coming out in only a couple of hours (minutes if you’re in another timezone)! We’ll be broadcasting the game’s multiplayer exclusively starting tomorrow, all the way until Thursday. On Friday (damn you Rebecca), we’re doing a 24 Hour Marathon of the single player component of the game at Twitch.TV/GamingOwlTV (it’s also embedded on the right hand side of this article as well as on the homepage).

It’s certainly exciting to be doing another one of these, since the last marathon (L.A. Noire, coincidentally another Rockstar published game) was so successful. Not only that, but the fun that goes on during them. There’s really nothing like experiencing a brand new game for the first time live with hundreds of other people talking about it in our chat room – it’s really something special. I’ve created a small schedule for how things are looking right now. Any changes will be updated immediately below.

* Click any of the times to convert it to your local timezone

• Tuesday, May 15th | Multiplayer Only | Uncertain at the moment.
• Wednesday, May 16th | Multiplayer Only | 11:00AM – Unknown
• Thursday, May 17th | Multiplayer Only | 11:00AM – Unknown
• Friday, May 18th | Full Game | Played for 24 hours starting 11:00AM

Buying any of these games this week?

Max Payne 3 (PS3/360):

• Tuesday 15th May (US Release)
• Friday 18th May (EU Release)
• PC release is delayed until week beginning May 28th 2012

Diablo 3 (PC):

• Tuesday 15th May (Worldwide Release)

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (PC):

• Tuesday 15th May (US Release)
• Friday 18th May (EU Release)

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II (PS3/360/PC):

• Tuesday 15th May (Worldwide Release PS3 PC)
• Wednesday 16th May (Worldwide Release 360)

Last night EA announced that this weekend would be the first Battlefield 3 double XP weekend from May 12th – 14th. This is where your hard-earned XP from all multiplayer maps when you’re ‘killin dem newbz’ will be, yes…you guessed it, doubled. Your extra XP will show up as “additional points” at the end of each game. So basically, if you rage quit you miss out on all that XP goodness. It is already well under way so grab a controller (or a keyboard…) because the Battlefield 3 double XP weekend is live on all platforms.

Edit: DICE messed up the PC XP weekend start so in order to give you guys a whole weekend, it has been rescheduled to May 26-27. Put the keyboard back for now.

You can view player stats, receive accomplishments and battle it out with thousands of other Crews. This feature will be applied to all future RockStar games, making the social interaction between players that much better. If you’re interested in joining our crew, go ahead! You can join by following this link: http://socialclub.rockstargames.com/crew/gamingowl

I highly recommend this to anyone who likes Action RPG click-fest games such as Diablo, Titan Quest, Dungeon Siege and so on. On release, Path of Exile is going to be F2P with the usual items and customisations you can purchase with real money that are in most F2P games today.
I doubt I will try this second Open Beta as I had completed the game in the first Open Beta (Yes, the full game is unlocked for the beta!) and not enough new things have been added for me to play this before full release.

Example of some gameplay for the Witch class:

The Open Beta begins Saturday 12th May 00:00am BST/ Friday 11th May 7pm EST and you can see the timer to the start here on the homepage at http://www.pathofexile.com/. Open Beta should end sometime on monday so enjoy this offer while you can!

Date: Friday, May 11th, 2012
Start Time: 11:30AM US Eastern [Convert]

Schedule:

Drivers in lobby – 11:30AM
Qualifying – 12:00PM (+30 minutes from start time)
Race – 12:30PM (+30 minutes from Qualifying)

Regulations:

• Kart Type: PDI Racing Kart 100
• Allowed Assists: None
• Start Type: Grid Start with False Start Check
• Grid Order: Fastest First
• Boost: Off
• Penalties: None
• Mechanical Damage: Light
• Slipstream Strength: Weak
• Tire Wear/Fuel Consumption: On
• Grip Reduction on Wet Track/Track Edge: Real

• To register, send an email to events[at]gamingowl[dot]com that includes your PlayStation Network ID.