PC indie title Sanctum is getting a sequel and this time it’s coming to Microsoft and Sony’s consoles too.

There isn’t a lot of info about Sanctum 2 yet, other than it’s coming. That’s probably because the game isn’t going to be with us until 2013, so there’s plenty of time for them to get around to revealing it all.

The original Sanctum is a mixture of tower defense genre and first person shooter, where the player must tackle an incoming hoard of invading creatures. With fully-upgradeable weapons and the player taking a key role in the defense of their stuff, the original game has shifted quite a few copies, 300,000 units in fact, for the PC via Steam.

While details are scarce, we’re expecting the sequel to build on all this and we’ll have more news as we get it.

You certainly can’t fault the developers of Shoot Many Robots for making sure the game lives up to its name.

As this latest trailer shows, there’s quite a lot of them. In fact, there’s many of them. Which is kind of the point.

Still no firm date for the release of the game on PSN or XBLA, but it’s still scheduled for a 2012 release.

With the opening month of 2012 now behind us (did that go as quick for everyone else too?) we’re at that time of a new month when we have a look at the best of the content on offer from the other members of the Character Select Network.

Without further ado, here’s some of what the others were up to during January:-

Introspective Retrospective

2011 may be old news now, but that doesn’t mean there’s no scope for people to sit down and have a natter about what gaming treats they enjoyed. The Cane and Rinse podcast gets a few members on board to talk about their favorites.

To conclude our thoughts on the year in videogames that was 2011, Cane and Rinse contributors Karl Moon, Darren Gargette, James Carter, Joshua Garrity and Darren Foreman each offer their own personal perspectives on the previous twelve months of digital delights.

And while you’re there, and if you’re a fan of Halo, you might want to check out their podcast all about Halo:Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition

This week Leon and Tony are joined by Karl Moon and, making his Cane and Rinse podcast debut, Darren Gargette, to discuss 343 Industries Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.

 

The Changing Demands of Gamers

Onyersix (possibly not his real name) ruminates over just how gamers tastes may be changing as the medium pushes ever onwards, including things like value for money and catering to everyone’s different play styles.

Although the character is an important aspect of the game, modern day RPGs have taught us that you can, to a certain degree, role-play and develop characters in your own styling.  You might choose to play Fallout 3 as a psychopath, homicidally murdering people in their sleep and insulting everyone you speak to.  (Telling a woman she was bats**t crazy was hilarious to me!)  If nothing else, it lets us mold the story to our own choosing, rather than dictating a linear path in the style of games like Uncharted 3.

Syndicate Preview

While the change into a First Person Shooter may not site well with some,  sci-fi title Syndicate is soon to be reborn. Tony Chandler has a look at how the game is shaping up with a hands on preview.

The new Syndicate takes the basics of this, and spins it into a very modern game. Gone is the old fashioned isometric viewpoint, replaced instead with a first person perspective. The characters look has been changed too, from the very 90s sunglasses and trench coats look of the original to a futuristic cross between a character from Mass Effect and Killzone. The demo we were given to play was the four-player online cooperative mode, on a mission to find and kill a rival Syndicate’s Colonel. There were three classes of agent to choose from, Offense, Defense and Support, so for the first game I picked Defense.

Meanwhile Dan Bendon takes a look at the latest in the series of Boobs and Battles…sorry, Swords and Souls with a review of Soul Calibur V

Once fully unlocked you’ll have a choice from a cast of around 28 characters made up of returning characters and newcomers in about equal measure with some of those newcomers being inspired by older characters, remade and revamped into younger bodies. All of the newcomers have entirely new move-sets and fighting styles so while it might look like Taki, Kilik and Sophitia have just undergone some plastic surgery and been given a new name it’s not the case. The cast feels very well rounded with very little overlap in styles, even the Alpha and Omega versions of Patroklos and Pyrrha play quite differently from their standard alter egos.

For what it’s worth, this latest Skullgirls trailer tries to suggest there’s a story to the seemingly random, over the top cartoon violence.

Pft! Like you’re going to be playing it to be regaled with the gaming equivalent of War and Peace.

Regardless they’ve lifted the proverbial lid off the different game modes and some features, which will include:-

- Story Mode
- Arcade Mode
- Practice Mode
- Ranked and Unranked Online Play
- Custom Soundtracks

They’re taking their sweet time in getting the game out, so expect the drip feed of info to continue for some time yet. Or at least until the game hits the still projected `early 2012` release date.

It’s a dire week this week for PSN users expecting original gaming content. Sadly there’s no other way to describe today’s releases.

After getting everyone a tad bit excited that The Simpsons Arcade Game was coming, they then turned around last minute and said it’ll be next week instead. What does that mean for releases this week? Pretty much just Puddle in the US for $9.99.

Europe gets naff all, except for opening up the Gotham City Imposters Beta. That is unless you want to download the Kane & Lynch games or Mini Ninja’s for an exorbitant price, when you can buy the disc based releases in the shops for mere pennies…

Just be strong everyone and remember, Sony loves you!

Today Capcom made a little announcement that we’re finally getting Phoenix Wright: Ace Attourney 5.

No more messing about playing Miles Edgeworth.

No messing about with wannabe Apollo Justice.

And no special guest starring from Professor Layton.

They’re actually releasing an honest to goodness new adventure featuring everyone’s favourite shouty lawyer, Phoenix Wright. Hooray!

But alongside this news, they announced that the first three Phoenix Wright titles (so that’s the original Phoenix Wright, Justice for All, and finally the excellent Trials and Tribulations) would be getting a HD release for the iPhone 4 and iPad.

So the burning question right now for me is, if you’re going to do a HD release, why not spread your net as wide as possible and include as many platforms as you can? After all, I know I’d love to play through the games again if they’d been giving a loving spruce up and some HD visuals. I bet there are lots of other people who would too – throw in some decent Kinect / Move integration and you’re half way there.

It wouldn’t be the first time the Phoenix Wright titles have been given a downloadable release on the consoles either – after all, they were released bit by bit on WiiWare in 2009 – 2010. But we’re guessing they didn’t exactly sell like hotcakes due to Nintendo’s terrible behind the times approach to downloads.

So you have to question why Capcom would pass over the consoles for this sort of release? Sure, almost everyone and their dog has access to an iDevice but then they’ve already released at least one of the Ace Attorney games on the platforms less than a year ago.

So the question I have to ask is why are the titles being overlooked for Xbox and PlayStation users? Are Microsoft and Sony not interested in having the titles on their machines? Or is it just that Capcom have yet to break the news?

Let us know what you think.

Konami’s Puddle (yes, that does sound very dirty) hasn’t been seen for a while. Since E3 last year in fact.

But out of the blue they’ve announced that the game is coming next week, starting on Microsoft’s platform.

The winner of the 2010 Independent Games Festival Student Showcase prize, Puddle certainly looks a bit unconventional with the player required to dodge heat beams and rays of electric current, handle a blob of radioactive fluid, guide a virtual puddle of rocket fuel through a hand drawn blueprint, and follow a sip of water as it makes its way through a human body.

Now there’s not many games where you’re asked to do that!

The game will launch on XBLA next Wednesday with a date of 31st January pencilled in for the PSN release. It’s unclear right now if that’s just the North American release or not, so you’ll have to wait and see along with the rest of us.

While the world and its cousin is slavering over the new Resident Evil 6 trailer, Capcom have also announced a little something for PSN users to get excited about, in the form of Resident Evil Chronicles.

Chronicles will be a HD update of the on-rails light gun games of Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles and Darkside Chronicles (both previously released for the Nintendo Wii). As well as getting some HD visuals, the game will predictably feature Move support, making it yet another title to add the to rapidly expanding list of lightgun centric games that seem intent on finding a second home thanks to Sony’s wand-like peripheral.

There’s no talk of date or pricing yet, but it’s a safe bet that it’ll arrive before number six in the main series launches in November.

From Codeglue and Sparweed, ibb and obb looks like a PSN title that’ll be easy on the eyes and gentle on the ears.

Colourful and bright, the minimalist platformer is a cooperative puzzle platformer that “allows players to journey through a world with two directions of gravity”.

Sounds confusing, and it probably is, but when it looks this enchating it’s hard not to be drawn towards it.

The game is currently expect to release in the second quarter of this year.

Quicker than we ever expected, Klei and EA have announced that they won’t be wasting any time in thrusting Shank 2 upon the world. You’ll be able to download the game on PSN and XBLA during the week of February 8th for $9.99 / 800 Points.

There’s two interesting points here for me – the first is the lower price point and the second that it’s being fired out so quickly, both of which would suggest a couple of things. The fact that it doesn’t look too different from the first means it actually isn’t and was easier to cobble together in such a shorter period of time and secondly the price point is reflective of the fact that it’s might just be more of the same. Or even that the first was slightly overpriced, if you’d like to look at it another way…

Time will tell if that’s the case and I certainly hope it isn’t; after all, Shank had a lot of potential that it seemed to fail to live up to. Fingers crossed that this sequel will deliver the gameplay icing to go atop this particularity good looking slice of blood soaked cake.

Figuratively speaking of course.

I Am Alive, confirmed to be coming as part of this years Xbox Live Arcade Block Party, is all about survival in a world gone to hell.

It’s always seemed like an ambitious title and this trailer shows the game’s take on combat – the emphasis on making every bullet count, whilst improvising or bluffing your way through encounters rather than going in all guns blazing.

And no, there’s still no word of a PSN date yet.

North American PSN users get looked after best of all this week. Along with the release of wonky survivial horror wannabe Amy ($9.99), there’s also the release of action platformer Zack Zero ($12.99)

There’s also the 12 for 12 Sale which is on for right now, featuring some reduced titles you may want to check out

• PixelJunk SideScroller – Regular $9.99, Sale $6.99, PS Plus $4.89
• PAYDAY: The Heist – Regular $19.99, Sale $13.99, PS Plus $9.79
• Dungeon Defenders – Regular $14.99, Sale $10.49, PS Plus $7.34
• Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection – Regular $9.99, Sale $6.99, PS Plus $4.89
• Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition – Regular $14.99, Sale $10.49, PS Plus $7.34
• Eufloria – Regular $9.99, Sale $6.99, Plus $4.89
• BloodRayne: Betrayal – Regular $14.99, Sale $10.49, PS Plus $7.34
• Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken – Regular $11.99, Sale $8.39, PS Plus $5.87
• Cubixx HD – Regular $9.99, Sale $6.99, PS Plus $4.89
• Sideway New York – Regular $9.99, Sale $6.99, PS Plus $4.89
• Rochard – Regular $9.99, Sale $6.99, PS Plus $4.89
• Okabu – Regular $14.99, Sale $10.49, PS Plus $7.34

Meanwhile the European PSN gets a really poor selection of titles. If you discount the release of PSOne title Arc the Lad (£3.99/€4.99) and Pandemonium 2 (£3.99/€4.99), the only original download release is Stickman Rescue for the Minis (£2.49/€2.99).

Talk about a poor showing! Seems Sony can’t even be bothered to match the 12 for 12 Sale outside of the US to make up for it.