On Amazon.com’s listing of the product, a note on the Xbox 360 version reads, “Due to high demand (and possibly the imminent Reaper invasion), we have unfortunately run out of our pre-order allocation for Mass Effect 3 – Collector’s Edition for Xbox 360.

“We are looking to secure additional allocation from the publisher and will update this page if that occurs. Please note – if you have already pre-ordered this edition – do not cancel as you may not be able to re-order.”

Even though warned back in November that CE versions of the game would probably run out, that didn’t stop some fans from replying angrily on BioWare’s forums. Priestly responded, saying that the items included in the Collector’s Edition simply can’t be made in time for the launch. “The items included in the physical edition cannot be made in time for launch,” he said.

Priestly then suggested that those who were unable to get the physical Collector’s Edition in time may want to purchase the digital version. Procrastination never was a good idea, but in this case, it’s your mortal enemy.

Via BioWare, Eurogamer.

Initially hinted at back in September 2011, there have been little information since then. Now, Square-Enix has revealed that Final Fantasy X HD will be arriving for both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. According to a translation by Andriasang, Square-Enix producer Shinji Hashimoto said that Final Fantasy X HD will be more of a “remastering” as opposed to a straight up remake. Questions had been swirling around what exactly the difference was at the recent Taipei Game Show.

In this case, “remastering” would be much like Team ICO’s Shadow of the Colossus HD Collection, or the upcoming Silent Hill HD Collection. Remakes would mean a complete facelift and additional content, although the latter doesn’t sound too bad either.

With this project under Hashimoto’s supervision, there’s no reason to fret. This man’s impressive resume includes Final Fantasy IX, Kingdom Hearts, Einhander, and The World Ends With You.

Well now, Final Fantasy IX HD does have a rather nice ring to it. Hmm…

Via IGN, Andriasang.

“To be honest, I think that the HD images which have become mainstream in the TV industry are, for me personally, still rather over the top for the world of video games,” said Sakaguchi during a recent episode of Iwata Asks. “There’s a tendency for developers to allow all their energy to be diverted into maintaining the high quality of the graphics.”

His latest creation, The Last Story, is set to release on the Nintendo Wii which is notably less powerful than other consoles of this current generation. While he could arguably be trying to tell us that he was trying to work with what he had, Sakaguchi says that he had the option of making graphics a secondary concern. “I was really averse to allowing the quality of the graphics to drop just because we were working on Wii, which doesn’t have HD graphics,” said Sakaguchi. “I do really think that, in the end, what we’ve created can hold its own against other hardware.”

As someone known as a superb storyteller rather than an artist dead-focused on the most cutting-edge graphics, Sakaguchi said that his most favorite feature of his upcoming title is the fast forward feature. No, it wasn’t the story. In fact, the fast forward feature lets you skip dialog and cut scenes. Yeah, it sounds a little weird coming from someone who has earned a reputation as being a superb tale-weaver. “What I really want the player to look out for is this fast forward function,” he said. “It’s my favorite feature. It’s amazing. It’s true, you can fast forward [dialog and cut] scenes. It’s different from just being able to skip the whole scene and interrupt the flow of the story.

“What I like about fast forward is that you can still see the subtitles and follow the story. It was something I was determined to do.”

Sakaguchi is also quite happy with the way the world itself came out. The Last Story is set wholly in one city (or rather, an island) called Lazluis Island (or Ruli Island in the Japanese iteration). Because you’re going to spending all your time in this place, Sakaguchi wanted a unique appeal, so as gamers wouldn’t get bored with it. “The player is going to spend a lot of time in this city, so I wanted them to like it,” he said. “Even with just a single city, there is a world with its own feel.

“With a location that’s familiar to the player, they can pick up on even the slightest difference. It has the advantage of making it possible to communicate even very subtle nuances. For example, early on one of the passers-by will barge into you with their shoulder and say: ‘Hey! What are you doing?’ But then when the hero has become a little more established, they’ll say: ‘Oh, I’m terribly sorry!’ That’s a really nice feeling. But it’s such a huge place, with so much going on, that even I still find myself getting lost down some out-of-the-way backstreet.”

The dev team filled in the blanks on their own. Players willing to pick up the title will see the most minute of details — people doing their laundry, buskers, and even drunk people sitting on a fountain. Sakaguchi said that it almost became a competition between team members to see if they could one-up each other. “I’m sure that if the staff are trying to impress and surprise each other, and just having fun with it, the city will be much better for it,” he said.

The Last Story is set to launch in Europe on February 23rd. No North American release has been planned, but if it’s commercially successful in Europe, then perhaps we might just see it across the ocean.

Via VG 24/7.

Ever played a game where it was all cut scene, and barely any play time? That’s exactly what Sakurai is referring to. At that point, you might as well make it a movie instead of a game. “…while there is a story, we don’t advance it by forcing players to sit and watch some tedious briefing scene or anything,” said Sakurai in the latest issue of Nintendo Power.

Sakurai continued that the newest installation in the Kid Icarus series does have a “ton of talking,” but it’s not to tell a story at all. “…movies and such are much better at telling stories in an effective and enjoyable way than games are,” he said.

Would you rather sit through some lengthy cut scenes, then proceed to dismember a couple of guys? Or would you rather sit and watch it with a bag of popcorn in your hands? Whatever path you choose, just know that Kid Icarus: Uprising is going to have a lot of chatting.

Kid Icarus: Uprising launches for the Nintendo 3DS on March 23rd in North America and Europe.

Via Destructoid.

Hilariously, while this will catch known offenders such as GTA and Call of Duty, this also catches all kinds of other not-so-violent titles. While the latest Leisure Suit Larry title may send one into a fit of rage, one could hardly consider it to be a violent title.

I won’t rehash Fourkiller’s anti-violent game rhetoric here. If you are unfortunate enough to remember what Jack Thompson was like, then Fourkiller literally has nothing new for you to hear. He touts the same weakly-sourced studies and platitudes as every other anti-game activist looking for some media exposure.

It just goes to show how weak politicians are when it comes to understanding anything tangentially related to our esteemed hobby. Internet? Video games as free speech? Jailbreaking? Whaaaa???

Fourkiller. Actually sounds like a Final Fight boss. Yeah, I’m pretty sure you fight him after the car breaking bonus stage.

Right now, games come to retail and they are automatically slapped with a $60 retail price tag, regardless of what is in the package. There is never a question of whether the game is worth that price; it just comes to the console at a $60 price point.

The problem here is that not every game is worth that price tag. Some would say that is an opinion, but I think it there is more truth to this point than publishers would like to believe. Let’s look at a controversial title like Brink. It is a game that had a long development cycle and had a distinct hook and style to its own. It was a game that looked decent through several E3 presentations, but when it came time to release, it came out at $60. That is $60 for a game that was essentially eight multiplayer maps that could be played in solo, co-op or in multiplayer, but that was it. Eight maps for the $60 price tag. How does that make any sense? Of course, people are going to buy it used for a lower price, because the value proposition is not there.

The industry seems so focused on wanting to put a $60 retail price tag on everything coming out, they never think about whether it actually deserves that price. It is only a guess on my part, but I have a feeling that a $40 price tag would have made something like Brink a far more attractive title at that price. I think it would have reviewed more favorably and it would have sold better when compared to some of the other $60 fare that was on shelves at the time.

Of course, the reason that publishers never want to make that decision is on us, the consumer. Somehow, we have made the unconscious decision to equate anything less than $60 as being a lesser or inferior product than something that is priced at $60. Maybe we have been conditioned into this by the publishers, but I have a feeling that if a title was to come out at $30 or $40, in the long run it could be far more successful.

Some might be skeptical of this at first, but one only has to look at the PC marketplace to see how this works out. Games are more dynamic in their pricing on the PC, with titles priced out all over the gamut when it comes to release. Hard Reset was a first person shooter that came out at $30, and did great. Brink was put on sale by Bethesda shortly after release on the PC for half price and did gangbuster when it came to sale numbers.

Consumers look to used games as a way to save money on a game that they do not feel is worth the full price of $60. One might look at something that does not have a longevity factor, like a solo played adventure or action title and feel that they will only play it once, and that becomes tough at $60, but if they see it used for $50 or $45, they will be more likely to pick it up.

Yes, Microsoft could easily embed serial numbers into the disc that attach to a console or a gamertag and it would work the same way serial numbers work on the PC, but it will not kill used game sales. Sure it would stop the next Xbox games from being sold used, but all that would do is lower sales of the console and lose valuable retail partners in the long term. Hardware needs to be sold at retail outlets, and I doubt Microsoft wants to be the sole distribution chain for their console. It would be a poor business decision to be certain.

But combating used games is an easy proposition. Value price things more often, using a more flexible scale when it comes to pricing and publishers will see reap huge rewards on titles in the long term. It is an idea that the PC marketplace has embraced and it has been successful, as many publishers have noted huge sale gains in the digital distribution arena.

Will this eliminate used game sales entirely? No, of course not, but I think it would put a big enough dent in the problem to make it a nuisance rather than a full blown issue. Of course, I could be completely wrong on this, but I honestly think pricing is the key to killing the used games market.

And of course, there are our musings about what we are doing during the week and random tangents galore. Even my son makes an appearance during the bloopers because his discussion was more interesting than myself and Fourhman tonight.

The podcast is mixed by Joseph “Junior Illusive Man” Haygood and includes, Joe Haygood, Tony Sadowski, Stephen Munn and Joe Fourhman on vocals. You can download the podcast directly from here or click on one of the links below to subscribe. The music for this week’s podcast is as follows (in order of appearance): “The Incredible Hulk Them” by Daniel Crane and “Somebody Told Me Remix” by The Killers and Team 9.

Each robot has its own personality, frankly I doubt you’ll be that bothered with the amount of frantic machine gunning you’ll be doing, and they also have their own unique skills. They vary from a gatling gun turret to a robotic mudworm.

Graphics are very akin to Borderlands (or if you’re like me Borderlands is akin to XIII), we’ll see if the gameplay is reminiscent of a 2D Borderlands though the trailer seems to have an edge of that. “Never judge a game by it’s trailer”, the gameplay may well be thoroughly awesome. We’ll see. In the meantime check out the trailer below.

Meet the Enemy – Shoot Many Robots from Demiurge Studios on Vimeo.

Missing from the list is SOE’s DC Universe Online, which famously held an extravagantly stupid Valentine’s Day event last year. Creative Director Jens Anderson recently took to the DCUO forums to explain that the game  would not hold a Valentine’s event this year, citing last year’s offering as “not worthy of the standards we strive for.” Anderson promises a better Valentine’s experience for 2013, for those of you broken-hearted over it.

Here’s SOE’s official blurbs on the three games waiting your hugs and kisses this year:

Free Realms™: The annual Festival of Hearts is once again descending upon Merry Vale from February 7 – March 8! Players will surely catch the love bug as they learn about the origins of one of the most beloved holidays in Free Realms. Featuring a one-of-a-kind pixie love story, the Festival of Hearts is a time of love, joy and friendship. Players will be treated to Valentine’s Day-themed environments and invited to participate in quests to earn special Valentine’s Day items, including heart blocks and petals from the Heart Flower. For detailed information, please visit:www.FreeRealms.com.

EverQuest II®: Romance is in the air as Erollisi Day arrives in Norrath from February 7-20! Erollisi Day, an annual in-game event that celebrates love and passion, invites lovers and the often infatuated to visit Antonica, Commonlands and the cities of Qeynos and Freeport to participate in contests and quests. In New Halas, Priest Swornlove and several Sisters of Erollisi are looking for players to help them in fulfilling the call of love. Meanwhile, love notes and message candies hold new worth with holiday merchants (in Qeynos Harbor and Freeport) and tradeskillers, alike.  For detailed information, please visit: www.eq2players.com.

Additionally, starting February 10, Star Wars®: Clone Wars Adventures™ will re-introduce special Valentine’s Day items to the Marketplace including a Cupid Clone Trooper, Mouse Droid Valentine’s Day Candy Dispenser, and more! Visit:www.clonewarsadventures.com for a full list of Valentine’s Day items and more information.

Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor 2 has you fighting demons, meeting up with new characters and melding and merging demons into new creations. It also has a solid story and takes advantage of the touch screen capabilities of the Nintendo DS platform.

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 is set for release on February 28th, 2012 here in the US from Atlus for the Nintendo DS.