Review: Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS)

If you easily get seasick, this horror zombie adventure from Capcom is unlikely to go over well. If you are sensitive to 3D at all, it will just make the experience that much worse.

First, a little background. Revelations is set in the year 2005 (between Resident Evil 4 and 5). The story revolves around Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield, who you might remember from the first game. Jill and Parker are sent to search for Chris and Jessica on the “SS Queen Zenobia”, which is a cruise ship that serves as the main setting for the game. The typical storytelling crutches such as flashbacks are used to “flesh out” the story (sorry for that pun) which is told via a third-person perspective (although you can switch to first person if you wish).

Review: Out of the Park 13 (PC)

This is certainly not MLB The Show

Baseball simulations like Out of the Park Baseball 13 are perhaps the most anachronistic of all video games. In an era when the focus of most developers is on realistic graphics and physics, it is amazing a game can not only survive, but actually thrive, with no graphics or physics (to speak of). Instead, games like Out of the Park 13 and its competitors focus on being the most detailed, accurate simulation of all aspects of professional baseball. Out of the Park has changed a lot since I last played it (apparently OOTP 2012 was a major overhaul), but the core simulation engine remains the games focus and its strength.

Review: The Walking Dead Episode 2: Starved for Help (PC)

As the time between the first episode and the second episode of The Walking Dead dragged on, hopes that the end result would be worth the wait were unreasonably high for this reviewer. And even though the story of Episode 2 plays out predictably, especially if you have any familiarity with the graphic novels or The Donner Party, it's still a good experience and worth the wait.

"Good" being an entirely subjective word here.

News: Final Fantasy VII Coming to the PC...Again

Years and years ago Final Fantasy VII came to the PC (and so did VIII for that matter).  The game wasn't terribly well received because the thing was a terribly half-assed port, and left gamers of the time with the feeling that if they want to play a Final Fantasy game, they might as well get the console version.  Now Square-Enix is taking another kick at the can for a PC version of FFVII.

News: Neon Alley To Deliver Anime and Otaku News On Console

Viz Media, known for producing anime such as "Inuyasha" and "Naruto" announced a couple days back they would be creating a new 24-hour video channel called Neon Alley.  Today, at Anime Expo in Los Angeles, more details have been revealed.

The first is the price point, a monthly subscription of fee of $6.99, which puts it in line with other paid VOD services currently out there.  Anime News Network will be providing a dedicated forum channel as part of the effort to build the community and will also serve as the official news outlet for the new channel.  Most interesting is the announcement that the channel will be available through "a major game console," as yet unannounced, but there is a strong possibility the console will be the PlayStation 3.

More as this story develops.

- Axel Cushing

The Weekly Checkpoint 14

This week we discuss Radical Entertainment going under, Battlefield 3's premium service, and Diablo III dropping the 3 day trial mode for digital copies, among other things.

Hardware: Zotac GeForce GTX 560Ti

There's nothing quite like a new graphics card to provide a quick and very obvious boost to games experienced on a PC.

That's precisely what the Zotac GeForce GTX 560Ti supplied.

After the easiest installation and set-up I've ever experienced -- I had the card up and running in what felt like a matter of minutes -- I had the Zotac GeForce GTX 560Ti chewing on games like Batman: Arkham City. And over the last number of months, I've had the opportunity to play many current and older games (2-3 years older) with no issues whatsoever (provided I stayed on top of ensuring I always had the latest drivers installed).