There's this game. You might have heard of it. It's called World of Warcra-- Oh. You have heard of it. Well, you may have also heard about their upcoming expansion, Mists of Pandaria. You can get a shot at an early beta key thanks to Raptr, the gaming social media site. The WoW beta key is the latest Raptr Rewards offer, so you can enter just for playing your favorite games.

Check out the full press release below!

RAPTR TO GIVE AWAY 5,000 BETA KEYS FOR WORLD OF WARCRAFT: MISTS OF PANDARIA AS A NEW REWARD

Gamers Eligible to Redeem Beta Key of Highly Anticipated Expansionon July 5, 2012

WHO:

World of Warcraft players who have been waiting to get their hands on the limited Mists of Pandaria beta now have the opportunity to get in on the action through Raptr Rewards.

WHAT:

Raptr will give away 5,000 beta keys for World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria to Raptr users as a new reward. The World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria reward is one of many available to gamers just for playing their favorite titles.

In Mists of Pandaria, players will be able to explore an all-new continent while reaching new heights of power on their way to an increased level cap of 90. In addition, adventurers can choose whether to side with the Horde or the Alliance as World of Warcraft’s first neutral race -- the pandaren -- and master the ways of Pandaria’s ancient martial arts as the all-new monk class.

WHEN:

Gamers can begin redeeming the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria reward on July 5, 2012 on Raptr.com, but are highly encouraged to join today as all rewards will be offered on a rolling first come, first served basis.

WHERE:
Gamers can learn about and view available Raptr Rewards at http://raptr.com/rewards.

HOW:

Eligibility to redeem rewards will be based on games played and ranks earned on Raptr; ranks are determined by time played and achievements unlocked. The World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria reward is available in all regions with the exception of China and Korea. All rewards will be offered on a rolling first come, first served basis. More details about the reward and who is eligible to earn it will be available on July 5, 2012.

WHY:

Gamers are encouraged to join Raptr to take advantage of this beta key offer, along with numerous other current and future rewards via Raptr Rewards. More than 350,000 rewards have already been granted; rewards include free videogames, downloadable content, beta codes, and major discounts.

If only firefighters could predict fire patterns and behavior as well as the Glassbox engine that's going to power next year's SimCity. Check out the quick preview below to see how the fire simulation will run in your city.

...and it looks pretty sweet so far. We don't have much to go on, but this recently released look at the game's engine (dubbed "GlassBox") is quite encouraging.

EA, apparently encouraged by Activision's success with the Call of Duty Elite service, is "looking at" implementing a similar subscription service for its Battlefield games. Head of EA Games Patrick Soderlund said, "I think it's fair to say that we're looking at that. Like all other companies, we're looking at how we can maximize our investment in this and get the most out of our investment and get more people playing this product. That may take us to different places, but we're not really talking about where that is yet."

Check out more info at GamesIndustry.

It's official, folks. Blizzard's long, long, long-awaited Diablo III is finally hitting store shelves on May 15. In his obligatory press quote, Blizzard CEO and co-founder Mike Morhaime said, “After many years of hard work by our development team and months of beta testing by hundreds of thousands of dedicated players around the world, we’re now in the homestretch. We look forward to putting the final polish on Diablo III over the next two months and delivering the ultimate action-RPG experience to gamers worldwide starting on May 15.”

Check out the full press release here.

There's a new independent horror game coming out right before Halloween next year. It's called Shadow of a Soul: Chapter I, and based on this new trailer, I have high hopes. Amnesia: The Dark Descent is one of my favorite horror games -- in fact, it's one of my favorite any games -- and this trailer has a similar creepy feel to it. Check it out after the jump. You can also head over to the developer's blog to see how the game is progressing with some pretty frequent updates.

Battlefield 3's Back to Karkand expansion pack launched yesterday, and EA is celebrating the launch with a new gameplay trailer. From EA: "This launch trailer features gameplay footage from the legendary Battlefield map Sharqi Peninsula, now reimagined and powered by the Frostbite 2 engine." If you've got the Limited Edition version of Battlefield 3, the Back to Karkand expansion is yours free. If not, you're out of luck. Or out $15. One or the other.

Deep Silver, the publisher behind this year's Dead Island, has announced that their upcoming game Risen 2: Dark Waters will be releasing April 24. In this sequel to the 2009 game Risen (which, to be honest, flew below my radar), it seems as though "monstrous sea creatures" are causing quite a ruckus for a little harbor town called Caldera.

Screenshots and official press release after the jump.

[Show as slideshow]

Release Date for Risen 2™: Dark Waters Announced

Pirate RPG by developer Piranha Bytes sets sail for a April 24^th, 2012 release date (North America) and April 27^th, 2012 (Europe)

Deep Silver and Piranha Bytes today announced the official release date for the epic pirate RPG “Risen 2: Dark Waters” as April 24^th, 2012 for USA and Canada and April 27^th, 2012 for countries in Europe.

About Risen 2: Dark Waters

In Risen 2: Dark Waters, the Inquisition dispatches the hero to seek a remedy against the monstrous sea creatures that are interfering with the shipping lines, thus cutting off the islands' supplies. The pirates seem to know how to deal with these critters ... but they are hardly cooperative.
New gameplay elements add to the diversity of Risen 2; for example, players can also use firearms now. And, being pirates, adventurers can also employ special new skills called Dirty Tricks, allowing them to confuse or attack enemies in combat.

Deep Silver will release Risen 2: Dark Waters for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Windows PC, and PlayStation®3.

Official Website: http://www.risen2.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/risengame

Community: http://forum.deepsilver.com

Capcom just released the latest trailer for the upcoming Nintendo 3DS title Resident Evil Revelations. And, damn, does it look yummy. After the break.

Does Nintendo have some home improvement to do, or will the Wii U bring casual and hardcore players together under one roof?

E3 has come and gone, and enough time has passed to percolate on the Wii U and its potential. Very little tangible information was given, which when considering Nintendo is not too much of a surprise. But the conference did beg the question, exactly how will the Wii’s next iteration fit into the future gaming landscape?

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll say right from the start that I grew up as a staunch Nintendo supporter. I played my older brother’s NES as a toddler and owned every Nintendo console (save Virtual Boy) since. But as my Wii gathered dust, my interest in Nintendo waned. Then with its lack of 3^rd party support, sluggish release of cornerstone titles (Metroid, Zelda, Donkey Kong, etc.), and inability to adapt to the western market’s desire for a robust online experience, any excitement I had came to a screeching halt. My faith in the charming company from Kyoto finally evaporated into a fine, nostalgic vapor.

That’s not to say I hate Nintendo, merely that the increasingly aged carrot it dangles in front of me is no longer dazzling. Where I used to dream about getting my hands on Ocarina of Time before its release, I now check up on Skyward Sword’s development only when I remember that it even exists. I suppose Nintendo’s vision for the Wii came true, in that I treat the console almost as casually as I would my George Foreman Grill. Nintendo has turned me into a casual gamer in regards to its products - it’s not a great feeling.

In Nintendo’s defense, the Wii opened up the gaming industry to the masses in a way that had not been realized before. With its introduction came millions of new gamers, of all shapes and sizes – which perhaps helped clean up the stigma associated with being a “gamer.” It let the community discuss the value of new game mechanics that were led by peripherals, rather than internal hardware. It even helped some of us get in shape. It has certainly succeeded very well on some levels.

But with the Wii U, something will have to happen that probably has never happened before – The casual gamer will have to upgrade. Will your grandma (the one that loves to play cooking mama and waggle to her heart’s content) take the rather daring step of buying another Wii? It’s hard to say at this point, but I wouldn’t count on it. The Wii U has to do something special. Something so special that it captures not only the hardcore, a demographic keen on upgrading whenever a new system is available, but also the casual. Of course, hardcore gamers might not care about whether their senile relatives are interested in the same platform as them. Most of us closely tied to the evolution of this medium are curious – does the Wii U have what it takes to win gamers like me back?

To answer this question, we need to look at what Nintendo promises the Wii U can do, and then see how that might translate into what it actually will do.

Let’s start with graphics. The Wii U will reportedly be more powerful than both the Xbox 360 and PS3. During E3, Nintendo showcased a little bit of its potential in a HD imagining of Zelda, in which Link fights a giant spider. While the demo ran, the user was able to switch between day and night, which changed the lighting effects and cast shadows dynamically. While it tantalized my dormant Nintendo taste buds, it was not enough to get me fully on board. After all, the Wii was supposed to be more powerful than Gamecube. Yet there are plenty of titles for the purple box with a handle that are much easier on the eyes than many for the white oblong… thing. It comes down to how this power will be used by Nintendo and other developers to achieve the graphical prowess that Nintendo fans have been waiting for. On this note, the pre-rendered tech demo of a bird flying around some Japanese scenery looked surprisingly lackluster.

I have no doubts that, in general, the Wii U will enjoy a significant jump in quality of graphics from that of the Wii. However, I am a little bit skeptical as to how evenly spread this newfound fidelity will be amongst Wii U’s library. After all, the Wii is the console that released such shovelware as Cruis’n, Ninjabread Man, and Chicken Shoot. Who’s to say that lower shelf Wii U titles won’t end up looking like something from the original Xbox, or even Dreamcast (R.I.P.)? In the coming months, Nintendo needs to show us multiple titles that not only match current generation aesthetics, but ones that clearly surpass them. Still, if I am buying a game on the Wii U in lieu of picking it up for the 360 or PS3, is there any reason it would be a better experience other than its graphics?

Well?! Is there? This is precisely what the Wii U’s controller is slated to bring to the table. In fact, most (if not all) of Nintendo’s Wii U demonstration focused on showing off the controller. It goes without saying that this will be the real focal point of the Wii U. The controller has been described as a sort of lightweight iPad with buttons. In the center is a fairly large screen that is framed by the current standard of D-pad, four face buttons, and triggers. What is not standard are the analog sticks – which aren’t analog sticks at all but rather sliders more akin to the 3DS’s circle pads. Nintendo claims that this layout will allow for hardcore gamers to have the control they desire, while providing a new “window” into the gaming world. The controller is designed for tandem use with one or more Wiimotes, and many of the conceptual demonstrations involved just such a grouping. One of the more striking ones showed a player using a Wiimote as a golf club, with the Wii U controller on the floor displaying a golf ball.  When the player swung, the golf ball left the confines of the controller’s display for the television’s roomier real estate as it travelled down range. This was promising, but a bit confusing. If the main focus of the Wii U is the controller, why am I still using a Wiimote (even if it is a Wiimote Plus)?

So what does Nintendo have up its sleeve for control schemes? Will gameplay more likely focus on the new Wii U controller, a Wiimote, or a combination of both? The first option is sadly unlikely, as Reggie (President of Nintendo of America) has stated that the Wii U was not intended for simultaneous use of multiple Wii U controllers. The second option would be a downright disappointment, as the Wiimote has spent the last five years frustrating the hell out of me. And the third (and most likely) option only seems to favor single player experiences and buyers who already own Wiimotes. This is a huge issue – and one that Nintendo desperately needs to clarify before I can start getting excited about its new console.

Finally, Nintendo needs to show me that it is still a developer. More explicitly, it needs to prove to me that it has full, AAA retail titles coming down the pipe – and ones that are more Windwaker and less Twilight Princess. If Nintendo must stick to iterating past IP’s instead of creating new ones, then show me Earthbound, Pikmin, Animal Crossing, Eternal Darkness, a real Pilot Wings – then maybe we’ll have something great. Hell, it might even bring things back to the N64 days of awesome.

So you see, it is possible for the Wii U to be everything Nintendo says it can be. It has the potential to retain its casual market and still recapture the hardcore’s attention. However, its success in this is clearly yet to be seen. If the console does not come through with well-realized aesthetics, cohesive and innovative gameplay, and a decent lineup from both Nintendo and third party developers – it might find itself losing the next generation console race before it even begins.