Thursday, December 6, 2012

New Release Date Info for The Last of Us and BioShock Infinite

I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that one of the most highly anticipated games in recent memory has finally been given an official release date. The bad news? Another highly anticipated game has been delayed.....again. So what would you like to hear about first? The bad news? Well, in the words of the great farm boy/pirate Westley, as you wish.

The bad news is that BioShock Infinite has been delayed yet again, this time until March 26, 2013. This news came directly from Creative Director and Co-Founder of Irrational Games Ken Levine. In an interview about the delay, Levine was quoted saying, "When Rod Fergusson came on board, we looked at the game. He was there for about a month and he said, 'look, I've been looking at the schedule and looking at the game and frankly you could really benefit from another three or four more weeks for polish and bug fixing.'"

"We talked about it. I knew I'd probably get beat up in the press a little bit about it. But at the end of the day, if it's going to make a better game we're going to do it. So the new date is March 26. That's my bad news."

This marks the second delay for BioShock Infinite, as the game was originally supposed to be released in October of 2012. After the first delay was announced, two key BioShock Infinite developers left the company. Delays can severely hurt a game, though they can also do wonders for it as well. A game that is released later than originally announced can benefit from not having the bugs and having more polish, though the game has to be worth the wait. Interestingly enough, the original BioShock was delayed and it turned out just fine.

Now on to the good news! The good news comes courtesy of the Spike TV Video Game Awards. During the awards show, Naughty Dog released a brand new trailer for its incredibly anticipated action-survival-horror game The Last of Us. Ever since the first trailer for this game appeared, gamers have been chomping at the bit to know exactly when they will be able to play what could very well be 2013's Game of the Year. Well, aside from showing off a ton of new game footage, including more characters and our first real look at the mutants (is that what they are?) in the game, the end of the trailer debuted the official release date for the game, which is May 7, 2013.

That's right, about five months is all that separates you from playing The Last of Us. Needless to say I was giddy with excitement when I saw this trailer. I mean, this game actually made me go out and buy a PlayStation 3 for crying out loud. I, and so many others, have extremely high hopes for The Last of Us and I think I speak for everyone when I say it's about darn time we get a release date! Check out the Spike TV VGA trailer below. There's also a new gameplay trailer for BioShock Infinite from the VGAs as well.