Image courtesy of Siliconera.

We’ve already discussed the announcement of Dark Souls 2 by From Software at this year’s Spike VGAs. It’s also been announcedthat Tomohiro Shibuya, along with Yui Tanimura, will be taking over as directors for the dungeon crawling RPG, with series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki. Miyazaki will still stay on to act as a supervisor for the game.

Shibuya stated that the sequel will be “fresh while not forsaking its roots in presenting players with challenging gameplay. Our goal is to surprise and delight our fans with new experiences.”

Speaking to Edge, he stated that, “I personally am the sort of person who likes to be more direct than subtle. [Dark Souls II] will be more straightforward and more understandable.”

Which is interesting, because Lord knows that if you want to make a buck in today’s triple A industry, you need to cater to the masses. Hopefully this won’t lead to a dumbing down of the core gameplay. That doesn’t seem to be the case though, as Namco Bandai PR stated (according to CVG) that Dark Souls 2 will have “the kind of unrelenting challenges that have become a hallmark of the series, while presenting devilish new obstacles for players to overcome.”

Dark Souls 2 is currently slated for release on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Dark Souls 2 was announced by From Software at the recent Spike VGAs 2012, and praise be to the great magic being in the sky, its trailer looked awesome. The game will look to have a ton of new elements, according to its director Tomohiro Shibuya, who replaces creator Hidetaka Miyazaki (though the latter will still act as supervisor on the game).

Speaking to Siliconera, Shibuya stated that, “This new chapter in the Dark Souls saga presents opportunities for us to drive innovation in gameplay design, develop an entirely new story, and expand the scope of the world in which the player interacts with the game. We have taken these necessary steps with Dark Souls 2 in order to evolve the overall experience of the Dark Souls series.

“The entire development team is striving to make Dark Souls 2 an experience that is fresh while not forsaking its roots in presenting players with challenging gameplay. Our goal is to surprise and delight our fans with new experiences and plot twists while enticing new players to join our dark journey.”

To that end, Shibuya promises a “twist” in the multiplayer, introducing a different way to play with others. There is currently no release date for the game due to arrive on Xbox 360, PC and PS3.

There are always some major announcements that happen at the VGAs, and if you remember The Last of Us was revealed last year at the show, surprising many. This year, however, we will see a new character in the game and she is supposed to be pretty damn amazing.

We know for a fact that The Last of Us and Gears of War: Judgement will be at the show, but there are plenty more planned as well. The show will be hosted by Samuel L Jackson, and you can expect Geoff Keighley to play a major part as well.

Keighley started hyping the new reveals and said, “and of course we’ve got some amazing surprises of announcements of new games that will be coming in the future, far beyond sort of summer of 2013.

“And can’t say a lot about them until the show happens, but I think we have a pretty good reputation for revealing some new games and there are going to be some fantastic titles to reveal.”

The VGAs will be held on December 7th i.e. next Friday. Will Microsoft give a tease of its next-gen console? Will Sony announce some new exclusives? Or maybe, we could see Mass Effect 3 winning GOTY and honored at the show… but that definitely looks unlikely heh? *ducks for cover*.

EA has announced a tentative release window for Dragon Age 3, which is set for sometime next year. So if that ends up being true, we could see a trailer at the show. However, recently there was a rumour about the game being delayed to next-gen.

Thanks, Major Nelson. Via GamingEverything.

So said the man who would become Dracula and eventually become a man, sitting on a throne while his blood pools out over his fancy shirt. But, you know, whatever.

The important part is that Mercury Steam’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 will finally see a gameplay reveal at none other than Spike’s Video Game Awards 2012. The event marks the 10 year anniversary of the awards.

Meanwhile, while we wait for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2’s release in early 2013 for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the spin-off titled Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate will release this year for Nintendo 3DS. The game seeks to bridge the gap between the two Lords of Shadow titles and ultimately reveal how our dear Belmont managed to wrest free from being the lord of darkness.

The Spike VGAs 2012 will be held on December 7th and feature other premieres like Gears of War: Judgment and The Last of Us.

Source: Siliconera

Game Informer also showcased a couple of interesting details, with a picture from The Last of Us featuring the caption, “It looks as though Joel and Ellie are joined by this mysterious woman in The Last of Us. Who is she? Can she be trusted? Stay tuned.”

Gears of War: Judgment, on the other hand, promises some never before seen environments and a “new look”. Check out the pics below to get a better idea.

Spike VGA 2012 will mark the 10th year of the awards function and will be held on Saturday, December 8th.

Source: GamingEverything

The nominees for Game of the Year 2012 are a little surprising, to be honest. The include Bioware’s Mass Effect 3, Arkane Studios’ Dishonored, Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead series, ThatGameCompany’s Journey and Ubisoft Montreal’s Assassin’s Creed 3.

Studio of the Year nominees include 343 Industries, Gearbox Software, Telltale Games and Arkane Studios.

Immediately, the questions arise: Where are Borderlands 2, Halo 4, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, XCOM: Enemy Unknown and a ton of other games that should’ve made it into the prestigious Game of the Year category? Granted they’ve been nominated in their respective categories but still.

What do you think of the nomniations? Think they’re accurate enough to reflect the achievements of each game this year?