Konami will be rewarding the PS3 Castlevania fans for their patience with some included extras.  An extra map (Pyramid of Ruin) and two additional characters (Julius Belmont and Yoko Belendes); previously released as paid DLC on the Xbox LIVE version that will be included with the purchase of the game with no additional cost.  Also couch co-op for up to four players (online muliplayer will support six) will be added.  Tuesday can't come any sooner!  It'll be time to show Dracula once and for all just what a real man is!

 Deus Ex: Human Revolution has you playing as Adam Jensen a mechanically augmented human that didn't ask for this.  The game has a heavy focus on rewarding players for stealth and exploration.  Experimentation is also encouraged and made apparent by the different ways you can play the game and accomplish objectives.  Here are some tips that will help you to augment your gameplay.

Use the environment to your advantage

• You can use movable objects (boxes, vending machines, dumpsters, etc.) to block off  enemy AI.  e.g. Putting a vending machine in a doorway will prevent guards from entering.

• When picking up boxes or crates sometimes you will find hidden items under them.  Especially pick up moveable objects that are up against a wall to look for alternate paths through vents or a breakable wall.

•  You can use movable objects as weapons and throw them at enemies.  Throwing a crate or vending machine can knock out or at least knock down a guard.  Some barrels you find are explosive or filled with gas that you can use to knockout or kill guards. Throwing objects also can create a distraction for guards to investigate.

• You can stack objects on top of each other to help you advance higher or over a wall.  Also stacking objects together can help provide good cover to stay out of sight from guards or help provide cover from fire.

• If you don't yet have heavy lifting some movable objects can be destroyed.  Similarly most doors can be destroyed instead of hacking them.

• With heavy lifting you can pick up turrets and move them out of the way facing a wall so they aren't a threat or throw them.  Also if you hack the turret you can carry it around and use it to mow down the enemies.

Stealth

• You can shoot security a camera to destroy it, just be sure to use a silenced weapon and if guards are near they may be alerted.  

•  You can use the stun gun to temporarily disable a camera, turret, and robots.

• Cloaking is very useful when you're going for a stealth run.  Cloaking can help you get past difficult parts without being seen.  When cloaking you won't be detected by lasers.  Shooting while cloaking won't break invisibility.

• Closing the doors cuts down the noise level dramatically.  Just be aware that guards can hear you opening and closing doors if they are close.

• Dragging bodies can be very useful.  You can drag bodies out of sight even inside vents so the other guards won't be alerted.  

•  You can drag an unconscious body in the patrol path of another guard while he's not looking then find a good spot to hide.  When the guard on patrol sees the body he will go off the patrol path to the body.  When he crouches down to wake the other guard you can sneak behind him and take him out too or use the tranquilizer rifle from a distance.

• Throwing a box or shooting a silenced bullet against the ground or a wall near a guard will make him go off patrol to investigate it.  Making it easier to take him out or sneak by him.

• If you have a group of enemies close together as long as you are out of sight you can use the tranquilizer rifle on one and also do the same to the others while they try to wake up their friends.

• Guards turn off lasers just by walking by them, take advantage of that.  Even if you drag an unconscious body near the lasers it will cut them off.

Hacking

• The hacking augmentations are very useful and it's recommended you pick up a few early in the game. 

• Sometimes when hacking you can capture the red tracker node to complete the hack and get bonus experience points or money.  There is also a glitch you can use to exploit that for infinite experience points or money.  The computer in Jensen's office is the best one for xp.

• Hacking alarm terminals can be useful as a backup in case the guards have gone hostile.  Some guards will go for the alarm terminal and be confused there for a while why it isn't working and that time you can easily take them out.

• You are able to look around the area while you are hacking if you need to check if the coast is clear.

• If all else fails you can always use an automatic hacking device.

Boss tips and strategies **WARNING SPOILERS**

• Typoon is a great boss killer and it helps you clear rooms

• Mines and grenades work well on most of the bosses

• The stun gun and gas grenades/canisters work on most of the bosses and give you time to either retreat or offload on them.

• The first boss can be dealt with easily by throwing the gas canister right in front of you at the start to stun him then unload on him with your most powerful weapons.  You can also use the explosive barrels in the area if you'd like and even his own grenades that he throws will kill him eventually.

• The second boss is easier if you have the armor augmentation that makes you immune to EMP.  You can also use the stun gun on her or shoot the terminals against the wall to stun her while you offload with Typoon or a powerful weapon.

• The third boss is a lot easier if you choose to NOT get the new chip implant from the limb clinic the second time you go to China.  You can even take him out in one punch after he jumps a wall just do your melee attack.

**END BOSS SPOILERS**

General Tips and Strategies

• Mines can be disabled by carefully walking up to them and picking them up.

• Search for walls you can break even if you don't have the augmentation where you can punch through them you can still blow them up.  You usually find some useful items or alternate paths.

• The AI fires at the last place that they saw you.  Keeping that in mind as long as you stay hidden you can move safely to another location and get the jump on them (cloaking helps).

• You are rewarded greatly by exploring in this game search for alternate paths and make sure to get the Icarus landing, higher jumping, heavy lifting, and the punch through wall augmentations to help you explore everywhere.

• Make sure to buy 2 praxis kits each time you visit the limb clinic of a new area.  When you go back to the areas a second time you are able to buy 2 more.

• The best tip I can give you is to save and save often.  The game lets you save anytime and anywhere you want, make sure to take advantage of that.

• Don't be afraid to try out something different, you might be surprised with the results.  The game is designed for multiple ways of doing things and multiple playthrough. Have fun with it!

I  hope you enjoyed reading these tips to help augment your gameplay in Deus Ex: Human Revolution.  Be sure to post your tips and tricks in the comments below, I'm sure there are lots that weren't mentioned.  Check back on GamersGameplay for more tips, tricks, strategies and reviews!

Atlus has been staying busy lately.  Recently they announced via the latest Famitsu the development of three new Persona titles!  Persona 4: The Golden for the Playstation Vita is a remake of Persona 4.   

The Golden will add a new character named Mary, more voiced dialogue, new opening with a new song, new animated movies, and wireless support.  Other elements that fans of the original heavily requested will be added, but no further details are available on that at this time.  A release date has been set for Spring 2012. 

A first for the series is a Persona fighting game titled: Persona 4: The Ultimate In Mayonaka Arena set for release on PS3 and Xbox 360.  The game is being developed by Arc System Works (the team behind BlazBlue) to make a 2D fighter using characters from Persona 3 & 4.  The game will have a unique story that takes place two months after the events of Persona 4.  It will first be released in Spring 2012 at arcades, then for PS3 and Xbox 360 in Summer 2012.

 Last but not least Atlus confirmed the development of Persona 5.  Not much is known about the fifth entry into the series but it is rumored to be using the same game engine used to make Catherine.  All of these new Persona games along with the Persona 4 anime that will be airing this October in Japan will hopefully bring more fans to this amazing series.  Be sure to post in the comments below which Persona game you're most excited about and your wants for Persona 5.  Check back at GamersGameplay for updates and more information on these titles as they become available.

Today Konami announced that Castlevania Harmony of Despair will be coming to the Playstation Network later this summer.  The Pyramid of Ruin level as well as the playable characters Julius Belmont and Yoko Belnades previously released on the Xbox 360 as DLC will be included on the PSN version with the purchase of the game.


 
In addition to the included DLC content the PSN version will also have a new 4 player local co-op mode.  You can also play online with up to six players.  Castlevania Harmony of Despair is a Castlevania fan's dream come true.  You are able to battle together with friends playing as some of the most memorable characters of the series including Alucard and Soma Cruz.  Be sure to look for this game coming out on the PSN later this summer.

 Today NAMCO BANDAI announced the Dark Souls Shield Design Contest. It's open to anyone who goes to the official Dark Souls Facebook page and likes it.  The contest starts today on June 27th and ends on July 28th.  After liking the contest page all you have to do is download the three blank shield templates and start creating your own original design.  You are able to upload one entry for each of the three shield designs for the contest.

Make sure to submit your finished designs via Facebook on or before July 13th.  Fans are able to vote for their favorite and the voting will be open until July 20th.  The top ten designs for each of the three shield templates as voted for by the fans will be submitted to FromSoftware for the final decision for the winners.

The winners will be hand-picked by the Dark Souls development team at FromSoftware in Japan.  The three winning designs, one for each shield template will be added as DLC to be used in game!  Each of the ten winners will receive a copy of Dark Souls signed by game director Hidetaka Miyazaki.  The final three winners will have their designs added in game, and will receive a signed copy of the limited edition game plus their names in the game's credits.

Dragon's Crown is a 2D action fantasy RPG developed by VANILLAWARE.  The game uses the same unique art style that you'll recognize from other VANILLAWARE titles like Odin Sphere and Muramasa: The Demon Blade.  This will be their first HD title and it looks spectacular.  The gameplay will be similar to the old Golden Axe games; which are side scrolling hack & slash beat 'em ups.


Of course Dragon's Crown is modernizing the genre with some exciting new features.  The game has you exploring a massive labyrinth which is comprised of all of the lands ruins and monster lairs in search of treasure.  You can play the main story or do quests together with up to 4 people from around the world with online multiplayer.



Dragon's Crown has lots of treasure, items, and weapons for you to collect to power up your character.  There is also a level up system for the weapons and ways for you to customize your character's features.  Not much is known yet about the level up system or what you can customize as the game is not yet fully developed.  Just knowing that you can level up and customize in this type of game is enough to peek interest.

One of the more innovated features announced was the ability to resurrect fallen characters of actual players and have them aid you in battle as an NPC.  As you play the game you may see the bones of other players who have died.  If you collect the bones and take them to the temple you can resurrect that player's character to fight with you as an NPC.

There are 6 classes that you can chose from:

Fighter:
Wearing full plate armor and a shield the Fighter has the strongest defense of all the classes. This is an easy class for beginners to pick up and play.

Amazon:
Wielding huge 2-handed weapons the Amazon deals heavy damage that attacks multiple foes.  This class has a berserker style of play; low defense, but dealing high offense that increases with each strike landed.

Wizard:
Able to cast elemental magic the Wizard is very powerful.  Their spells are the most damaging out of all the classes, but they take time to cast and take up a lot of power.

Sorceress:
As a jack-of-all-trades support class the Sorceress is useful to have for any party.  They are able to turn foes to frogs, create potions for healing, and control golems or skeletons to aid in battle.

Dwarf
The Dwarf is a dual wielding grappler that can grab foes and send them flying at each other.  His great strength and large body can be used as a weapon, but it also slows him down.

Elf
Using a bow to attack from a range the Elf is very agile.  She also has a variety of special skills and can react quickly to any given situation.



Dragon's Crown is being developed for the PS3 and PSV.  Both systems are able to connect and play with each other online.  The game also won't be scaled down in any way on the PSV.  If you have both versions of the game you are able to transfer your data seamlessly between them.  Dragon's Crown is scheduled for release spring 2012.

From the moment I saw the first trailer for Dragon's Dogma I was immediately excited.  I've been waiting for a Monster Hunter type of game to finally come to consoles.  Dragon's Dogma shares one core similarity to Monster Hunter; which is being able to battle huge creatures.  If you look deeper you will see that they are very different games.


Dragon's Dogma is a mixing of high fantasy elements with Capcom's action game style of gameplay.  The game will be story focused and more of a single player experience.  The developer did say that there will be no traditional multiplayer and online elements will be announced in the future.  I'm hoping what they mean by "no traditional multiplayer" is something akin to how Demon's Souls did it.  After all battling huge creatures is a lot of fun solo, but it's even more fun with friends. 

Burn Chicken! Burn!

Don't worry though, even as a single player experience you won't be alone.  You will have a party with you throughout the game to help you out.  You can select from different pawns or partners to come adventure with you.  They all have different styles and bonuses so you may want to swap them out depending on the situation.  If they die, they can be revived or you can just replace them.

Your party members are able to help fight along side of you and do combination attacks.  The smaller enemies they will sometimes grab and hold so you can strike them down.  The larger enemies they can help give you a boost up into the air so you can grab onto the creature and do massive damage.  Your party will also give you battle advice and tell you about enemy weaknesses.  The AI is supposed to be done fairly well so they don't just stand there like in most games and will be an active participant in battle. 

I don't trust the look in that Goat's eye!

The game has 3 classes that you can choose from: Fighter, Strider, and Mage.  The Fighter is a sword and shield brawler type that gets up close and personal with the creatures.  I imagine the Fighter to take on the role of tank distracting the monster for everyone.  The Strider uses dual daggers for close range, and a bow for long ranged attacks.  The Strider is also the best at grabbing onto the enemies which gives tactical advantage for doing massive damage.  The Mage uses elemental magic attacks to fight with.  The Mage can also give elemental buffs to the parties weapons, and can heal or revive fallen comrades.
 
Dragon's Dogma will be Capcom's first open world game which I'm really excited about.  Capcom has said that it will be a full open world action game.  They want you to experience a real sense of adventure when you quest.  You will be able to see creatures attacking villages in the distance and you can decide if you want to venture there to help or not.  Where you choose to go and who you want to help can impact the story later in the game.

Somebody get these mutha effen snakes outta this mutha effen castle!

Fighting against massive creatures and impossible odds gives you a sense of life or death anxiety that you can't get from anywhere else.  I'll be keeping an eye on this one and will keep you updated as more information becomes available.  Dragon's Dogma is slated for release early 2012 for PS3 and 360. 
 

Rusty Hearts is an upcoming free to play multiplayer hack 'n' slash dungeon-crawler.  Currently they are accepting applications into the closed beta which will be starting soon.  If you're interested in applying head over to the official website: http://rustyhearts.perfectworld.com/

If you don't get accepted into the beta and need a key I have 1 extra to spare.  I'll give out a beta key to the person that comments first below this post and asks for the key.  If I come across any extra keys I'll be sure to hand them out as well in order of posting below this article.

Half-Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax is the Xbox Live Arcade port of the popular PSP title Half-Minute Hero.  The Xbox version is going to have a new graphic style, 4 player co-op, and other extras that wasn't in the original.  A new trailer was just released, here it is for your viewing pleasure:

If you are a fan of RPGs be sure to check it out.  It's very charming, fast paced, and doesn't take itself too seriously.  The game will be out on June 29th, 2011.

A new trailer for Final Fantasy Versus XIII was shown last night at a closed theater in Tokyo.  Although filming of the trailer was prohibited, it somehow ended up on YouTube a few hours later.  You just gotta love YouTube; it's got just about everything you wanted to see, and everything you wish you hadn't seen.  I'll post impressions of the trailer just in case it gets removed.

I'll also update this post with a translated version when it becomes available, currently the trailer is only in Japanese with very little English.  The trailer officially won't be revealed to the public until later this month, so if you missed it, you won't have to wait long.  Without further ado here is the new Final Fantasy Versus XIII trailer!



Going by this trailer the game is shaping up pretty nicely.  The facial animations and graphics are very realistic.  There is a lot of detail done to the characters and environments.  Noctis seems like a cool guy maybe a bit grumpy when he first wakes up, but who isn't.  I gotta say though having hair in my face all the time would probably bother me, but overall I like his character design.

The game has a darker and more gritty feel compared to most Final Fantasy games which I like.  In this trailer it showed some more scenes from the party shown in the previous trailer.  This time at least it shows a bit of gameplay with Noctis walking around a bit before some party crashers show up.  Military type guys busting through the windows riding what looks like giant mechanical flying whales.

As always they are doing a great job of mixing in pre-rendered cutscenes and events in with actual gameplay.  Which makes for a really cinematic and awesome gameplay experience you'd expect from a Final Fantasy game.  Getting to watch more of the combat gave a better idea on how the battle system works.  It looks like it plays a lot like Kingdom Hearts and Crisis Core.

You're able to dodge, jump, and do combos all in real time.  The menu bar on the side shows that you're able to use your standard item, magic, summon, and EX arts.  The combat looked really fluid and flashy, I saw a few times where Noctis did a teleport move mixing in magic and swordplay together.  There was also a few times it showed if you're using a gun you can aim in a 3rd person behind the shoulder view.

The trailer showed one part where a party member aimed a shot at an explosive barrel.  It made a huge explosion that staggered the Behemoth they were fighting.  Noctis was able to control a mounted cannon on a tank blasting away enemies.  Not only that but he also got in and controlled a giant mech.  So vehicles may play a big part in the combat, or at least a bigger part than past FF games. 

It was also nice to see there was a jungle environment that you'll get to explore.  Noctis and crew were fighting flying DemonSaurs; a mix between a demon and a dinosaur (not the official name, just a nickname I gave them).  Possibly there will be day/night cycle I couldn't really tell, but it did switch from day to night in the trailer while they were fighting.

Overall I was pleased with the trailer and it helped answer a lot of questions I had about the game.  It also left me with a lot of new questions and a craving for more.  This game has been in development for about 8 years now, I'm ready for it to come out!  I'll continue to be patient, I just hope it'll be worth the wait.  Going by this trailer it's looking promising, and more information should be revealed soon.

I'll keep everyone updated on new developments, be sure to check back.  Also, post your comments below and let me know what you thought about the trailer if you were lucky enough to see it early.