Welcome to The Black List, your one stop shop for the stories published on the site this week.

MONDAY REVIEW Journey > Over the past few weeks, I have slowly been getting acquainted with the semi-closed beta for Path of Exile, the debut action RPG from New Zealand based developer Grinding Gear Games. I say semi-closed, because Grinding Gear has taken a rather strange approach for what is a free to play game by selling beta keys to the general public. READ MORE

TUESDAY REVIEW Fez > When I first received Fez, I have to say I wasn’t excited, mainly because 2D puzzle platformers have never quite hit the mark for me. Braid, Cave Story and Limbo didn’t excite me the way I wanted them to. Something seemed off and while others were praising their originality I simply found them annoying. So it was with some trepidation that I began my journey into the world of Fez. Was I going to once again fail to see what the fuss was about or was this the game to convince me that there is a lot of fun to be had with this format? READ MORE

WEDNESDAY NEWS Stealthjam > A new collaborative game event is in the works for budding developers of a devious disposition. It may sound like a surprise follow up to Michael Jordan’s Space Jam, but Stealthjam will actually see participants come together to “design, prototype and explore new avenues of stealth gameplay.” READ MORE

THURSDAY INTERVIEW Frank Simon on Resistance: Burning Skies > The PlayStation Vita has arrived, and with it, the full potential of dual analogue sticks. As the first game to take advantage of the new control scheme, Resistance: Burning Skies is something of a trailblazer. We’re fortunate enough to have the chance to speak with Frank Simon, Senior Managing Producer with Sony America and all round alien enthusiast. We discuss not only the game’s “uncompromised” controls but also the human drama at the centre of Sony’s ongoing invasion saga. READ MORE

FRIDAY NEWS nanoBITES 80 > Blizzard has apologised for the rocky launch of Diablo III. Server congestion has prevented countless players from accessing the game and thanks to ‘always on’ DRM, many frustrated fans can’t even start a single player game. This is just one of the stories in the latest edition of nanoBITES, our ongoing feature devoted to small but important news items. READ MORE

Welcome to The Black List, your one stop shop for the stories published on the site this week.

SUNDAY JUST ANNOUNCED Call of Duty: Black Ops II It’s that time of year again, folks. Activision has unveiled its latest Call of Duty offering. The announcement of Call of Duty: Black Ops II was accompanied by a surprisingly revelatory trailer. The apocalyptic scenes presented in the two minute clip take place in 2025, more than five decades after the events depicted in the first Black Ops title and eight years beyond those seen in last year’s Modern Warfare III. READ MORE

MONDAY PREVIEW Path of Exile > Over the past few weeks, I have slowly been getting acquainted with the semi-closed beta for Path of Exile, the debut action RPG from New Zealand based developer Grinding Gear Games. I say semi-closed, because Grinding Gear has taken a rather strange approach for what is a free to play game by selling beta keys to the general public. READ MORE

TUESDAY JUST ANNOUNCED The Unfinished Swan > Indie studio Giant Sparrow is teaming with Sony to create a Move compatible PSN exclusive. Already four years into development, The Unfinished Swan is a first person adventure in which you reveal your surrounds by flooding them with paint. While the game appears to consist predominantly of blacks, whites and greys, you’ll also come across the occasional splash of colour, such as the multihued hot air balloon at the announcement trailer’s denouement. READ MORE

WEDNESDAY PREVIEW Dragon’s Dogma > If I took one thing away from my time with Dragon’s Dogma, it was that it was designed to deliver wall to wall combat. I couldn’t wander more than 100 metres from a waypoint without being assailed by all manner of monstrosities. My stroll along a mountain path ended abruptly when a lumbering Cyclops tumbled over the edge with me still clinging to its leg. Any notion of enjoying a picnic in the woods was dashed when a vicious three headed chimera invited itself to the party. READ MORE

THURSDAY NEWS nanoBITES 79 > EA has confirmed that new instalments of its Dead Space and Need For Speed franchises are in production. As reported by Joystiq, these titles are scheduled to land on shelves before April 2013. This is just one of the stories in the latest edition of nanoBITES, our ongoing feature devoted to small but important news items. READ MORE

FRIDAY JUST ANNOUNCED Company of Heroes 2 > Even as the gaming community began to tire of the endless precession of World War II titles, one release was welcomed with open arms. Storming the battlefield back in 2006, Relic Entertainment’s Company of Heroes featured smaller armies than other strategy games of the era. This encouraged players to focus on (and become more attached to) individual units. Despite the popularity of the original game, a full scale sequel wasn’t forthcoming, until now, that is. READ MORE

Welcome to The Black List, your one stop shop for the stories published on the site this week.

MONDAY PODCAST Black Panel Podcast Episode 45 > In this instalment of Australia’s grooviest gaming podcast, the gang discuss PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royal, God of War: Ascension, Crysis 3, Lost Planet 3, Journey, the ethics of on disc DLC, Jack Tramiel’s passing and much more! READ MORE

TUESDAY INTERVIEW Developer Playlist 8: Hitbox Team’s Terence Lee > In the latest edition of our series devoted to developers and the games that inspire them, the man responsible for the Dustforce soundtrack talks Chrono Trigger and Counter-Strike: Source. READ MORE

WEDNESDAY REVIEW I Am Alive > I Am Alive is remarkable for the fact that it has made it to market and despite numerous delays and a change of studio, is actually good. A year after the apocalyptic ‘Event’, Adam must climb through destroyed buildings, fend off marauders and scrounge what food he can to survive. The oppressive atmosphere and engaging gameplay more than make up for the average graphics and narrow scope. This one won’t be easily forgotten. READ MORE

THURSDAY REVIEW Yakuza: Dead Souls > This Yakuza series divergence feels like it beats away newcomers as easily as its stars beat back the zombie hordes. What looks from the outside like a perfect entry point is actually more fan-service than fan gatherer, leaving those looking to become a part of the Yakuza conversation no other option than to start from square one. Thankfully, if nothing else, Dead Souls manages to provide an incentive to do so. READ MORE

FRIDAY REVIEW Mass Effect 3 > The final installment in BioWare’s much loved sci-fi trilogy has arrived. Does it live up to the hype? Set in a future in which humanity struggles to find its position in the universe, Mass Effect 3 sees a bold hero fight to save Earth and its interstellar neighbors. With a plot that would not feel out of place in a blockbuster film, this epic release delivers an immersive experience as unforgettable as it is action packed. READ MORE

SATURDAY JUST ANNOUNCED The Elder Scrolls Online > With Skyrim recently confirming the broad appeal of its Elder Scrolls saga, publisher Bethesda Softworks has decided to roll the dice on an MMORPG set in the world of Tamriel. As reported by Game Informer, The Elder Scrolls Online will take place 1000 years prior to the most recent instalment and it appears that the setting’s principal antagonist will be a demonic fiend Molag Bal. READ MORE

Welcome to The Black List, your one stop shop for the stories published on the site this week.

MONDAY JUST ANNOUNCED Grim Dawn > Kickstarter has hit it big. Thanks to Tim Schafer, developers have seen the potential in crowd funding and have flocked to the service. Being quite interested in the phenomenon, I’ve been looking for the right game to slap my hard earned dollars on. Well, I found it with Grim Dawn. READ MORE

TUESDAY NEWS Developer reveals WiiWare headaches > A recent WiiWare developer has emphatically ruled out creating further content for the service. Beamdog ported decade old BioWare shooter MDK2 to the platform in 2011, but as reported by Gamasutra, the studio has been repeatedly frustrated by Nintendo’s approach to downloadable games. READ MORE

WEDNESDAY REVIEW Cry of Fear > There’s a charm to Cry of Fear’s crude textures and straight angles, the ones that it inherits from the Half Life 1 engine that it’s built upon. But there, really, is where the charm stops, replaced instantaneously, and for the rest of the game, by its obsession with a smart, deeply creepy, sometimes sick brand of horror. For those of you now clicking on that download icon, I can only say good luck. READ MORE

THURSDAY PREVIEW Dragon’s Dogma > Despite being a new IP, Dragon’s Dogma is a game clearly influenced by the heavyweights of the third person action RPG genre which have come before it. Much like the first Darksiders did, it wears these colours with pride, showcasing some of the best aspects of the games it imitates. READ MORE

FRIDAY JUST ANNOUNCED Crysis 3 > Twenty four years have passed since alien marauders made a mess of The Big Apple in Crysis 2.  While it probably should have used that time to clean up the mess, the sinister Cell Corporation instead decided to erect some sort of Bio-Dome over the entire city. It didn’t work for Pauly Shore and Kylie Minogue, and if the announcement trailer for Crysis 3 is any guide, it sure has hell hasn’t worked for NYC either. READ MORE