Weekly Recap Feb. 13th: StarCraft II Beta Starting, Alan Wake Film, iPad Fails

Fans of StarCraft II can finally have some assurance that the game is on its way, especially considering that the beta is starting sooner than expected. Blend Games’ own Pete Haas conducted an interview with the crew over at Remedy and they spilled some beans on the Alan Wake franchise, including talk about a new film. And despite all the hype surrounding Apple’s latest technological venture, the iPad, it appears a lot of consumers just aren’t taking a fancy to it, at all. This week also played host to the X10 event where Microsoft made a few revelations along with Capcom. Be sure to check out these stories and more in this February 13th, 2010 edition of the Blend Games Weekly Recap.

Sunday

Consumers Not Interested And Don’t Need An Apple iPad. Maybe people caught on that it’s just a big, deformed iPhone?

Xbox Live Dying For Xbox, Behold The Alternatives. Original Xbox owners may be out of luck with XBL but there are a few free alternatives.

Dead Space 2 New Necromorph. Check out one of the brand new bad guys in Dead Space 2

Molyneux Fable III Info Will Piss People Off. How will it piss people off? Read on to find out.

Lego Star Wars III The Clone Wars Officially Announced. Yes, there is yet another one on the way.

Virtual Egg Sold For $69,69600 USD. How ridiculous is that?

Challenging Conventions 7: Taking Stock Of Mass Effect 2. So how’s that virtual space-romping coming along?

Monday

Shattered Horizon First Moonrise DLC Screenshots. Futuremark released a series screenshots for the new DLC.

Empire Total War Elite Units of the East DLC Release Total War Series Now 66% Off. It’s all about the Total War.

Plants Vs Zombies Gets iPhone Release Date. The ultimate showdown finally gets a release date.

Craft of Gods Open Beta Test Starts Next Week. Yet another MMORPG.

Rise of the Triads Makes A Return For The iPhone A classic from 90s surfaces for the new generation of mobile gaming.

Soul Master Non-Targeting MMORTS Demo Now Available. A brand new kind of MMO experience is arriving and gamers can test it out for free with a new demo.

Sims 3 Coming To Consoles; No Dead Space 2 For PC. Looks like EA is playing it smart…and safe.

Dragon Age 2 Coming In Early 2011 Medal of Honor Arriving Before October. It’s time for the Modern Warfare rival to take a stand.

Free Mass Effect 2 Gear Arrives What kind of gear and is it even worth checking out? Well, if you’re a sci-fi man-nerd, I think it’s gear worth checking out.

Tuesday

Ghost Recon Future Soldier Announced; Xbox 360 Multiplayer Beta This Summer. It was rumored many months ago, and now it’s finally come to fruition.

Deus Ex 3 Retitled Deus Ex Human Revolution. Cool new name or a bad renaming?

RTS Genre Declined From Lack of Innovation Says R.U.S.E. Producer. It’s true, the RTS genre isn’t in “decline” it’s dying.

Lego Universe Beta Accepting Applications. If you fancy building your way up in level using RPG skills in an MMO setting, entirely surrounding by Legos, then this is your kind of game.

IGG Interview: MMOs of 2010; Dreamland Reinvents Contra. IGG talks about a number of topics, including their racy rivals who run Evony.

Ghost Recon Future Soldier Confirmed For Wii. I don’t know how they’ll fit it onto the Casual Crusader but they’re planning on it.

EverQuest II Cross-Server Battleground Coming February 16th. No matter what server you play on you can do battle with others in this new update.

All-Star Karate Coming This Spring, Exclusively For Wii. It’s a mini-game, karate-blasting affair. In other words, total suckage galore.

Backbreaker Devs: Something You’ll Never See In Another Football Game. And so far, what’s on display in the video, it’s entirely true.

Bad Company 2 Gets Day One DLC. Find out what’s in store for day-one consumers.

Aliens Vs Predator Survivor Mode DLC Planned. Despite GI’s awful scores the game is still receiving support.

Wednesday

Champions Online Revelation Is Free Expansion. After paying an arm and a leg for a lifetime subscription, it’s good to know the downloadable content is free.

Yakuza 3 Pre-Order Bonuses Announced. Who said being in the Japanese mafia didn’t have its benefits?

Fairy Tale Fights DLC Lands On PSN, Arriving Later For XBL. New hack and slash content available for Fairy Tale fights, including new characters and stages.

Avalon Heroes RTS-RPG Launches Today. A new kind of MMO…just like all the other new MMOs that say they’re a new kind of MMO.

Dante’s Inferno: 9th Circle of Hell, For Those Who Care. The game is now available…watch it only if you haven’t bought it already.

Samurai Shodown Sen Coming Exclusively to Xbox 360 This Spring. All the sword-swinging (and gun totting) action rolled up in one nice little shodown.

GT Racing Motor Academy Spectacular New iPhone Trailers. You might be pleasantly surprised at how good the game looks.

EA Courts Modern Warfare 2 Fans. If you played MW2 why not try out Bad Company 2?

StarCraft II Beta Begins This Month. Count down the days…count e’m.

Thursday

Google Plans High Speed Broadband Network Trials. Hopefully, an alternative for high-speed gaming for gamers.

Dead Space 2 PC Version Under Consideration. In other words, EA is contemplating if it will sell more on PC than it’ll be pirated. Here’s some advice: EA, play it safe…abandon the PC ship.

Borderlands The Secret Armory of General Knoxx Achievements Announced. Find out what’s worth earning in the new DLC.

Iron Man 2 Game Is A Parallel Experience To Film. Not an adaptation but an interpretation.

Tales of Fantasy Officially Announced; Alpha Test Starting Soon.

Classic Resident Evil Characters Added To New DLC. Resident Evil 5: Gold gets a few familiar faces.

Fallen Earth Patch 1.3 Released; New Content, Monsters And Weapons Available. Gamers bored with the apocalyptic adventure game already? Fear not, for more content is already available.

Shattered Horizon Update Adds Voice Chat, New Rank System And More. The community asked for it and Futuremark delivered.

Alan Wake Release Date Announced. After waiting ages for positive news…lo and behold, it has arrived.

Friday

Deus Ex 3 Resurfacing At GDC 2010. After hiatus of many years, the game is finally seeing the light of day at this year’s Game Developer Conference.

Cross Fire Receives Mutants And Story Missions In New Update. Because who doesn’t like running around as a mutant with ‘roid rage?

Halo Reach Multiplayer Beta Launch Date And Box Art Revealed. Strap up the green armor once more, Bungie is taking its die-hard fans for a galactic adventure once more. Find out how to get in and when it starts by clicking on the link.

Dead Rising 2 And Lost Planet 2 Release Dates Confirmed. One launches in the fall and the other in the spring. Can you guess which one launches when?

Final Fantasy XIII Special Edition Xbox 360; 250 GB Bundle Revealed. Yes,

January 2010 NPD; New Super Mario Bros And Wii Keep Rolling. Steam-rolling, that is.

Crackdown 2 Screenshots And Box Art Released: Pre-Order Bonuses Detaild. Some of the new armor is definitely worth checking out.

Fable III Screenshots And Gameplay Details.

Remedy Says Alan Wake Bigger Than One Game, Could Become A Film Interesting that a game based on books and movies could become a movie itself.

Obsidian Entertainment Signs On For Wheel of Time RPG. Looks like it’s finally coming and thanks to a little help from the guys working on Fallout Vegas.

Five Ideas for the next Sims 3 Expansion Pack. Kelly West lists a few ideas EA could run with for the next expansion.

Interview: Remedy Entertainment. Blend Games’ Pete Haas has a sit-down with the guys at Remedy. They talk all things Alan Wake and then some.

Saturday

Fragile Dreams Farewell Ruins of the Moon Pre-Order Bonus Announced. Full fledged soundtrack is available as a bonus.

Fable III X10 Dev Doc Covers Morphing, Story and Weapons. There's also a lot of touching...but you'll have to watch it to understand.

Bungie Talks Visual Upgrades In Halo Reach; Still Not Close To KillZone 2. Yeah, it’s a far cry from the competition.

Download Command And Conquer Tiberian Sun And Firestorm For Free. Completely free…not buy-this-thing-then-you-get-this-for-free sort of deal.

New Uncharted 2 Multiplayer Maps, Skins, Trophies On The Way.

BioShock 2 PC Patch Released.

Free Red Faction Guerrilla And Darksiders Extras With Darksiders Purchase. Lots of talk about free stuff. Find out what those extras are by taking a leap through the link.

Tales of Fantasy Mount Descriptions And Screenshots. New details on the mount-based fighting, MMO.

Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity Walkthrough Media Blowout. Stardock releases new videos that give a complete walkthrough of the game’s functions and features.

Halo Reach Vs Mass Effect Screenshot Comparison. We round out the week with this little gem. Flame away.

That wraps up this week’s edition of the Blend Games Weekly Recap. Before parting ways be sure to check out a brand new video trailer featuring Leona Lewis talking about her Final Fantasy XIII experience.

Will Usher

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend.