Dark Souls 2 DLC 'Lost Crowns' announced

It looks like fan feedback was pretty good as DLC is on the way for Dark Souls 2 and has been announced with a new video.

The new adventure is a three-part DLC called 'Lost Crowns.' The first of which 'The Crown of the Sunken King' will be released July 22. The others are 'The Crown of the Old Iron King' (August 26) and 'The Crown of the Ivory King' (September 24).

Mario Golf: World Tour DLC - good or bad?

The recent announcement that the upcoming Mario Golf: World Tour game for the 3DS will feature downloadable content (DLC) and a season pass has received mixed reactions from Nintendo fans.

Mario Golf: World Tour, which tees off on May 2nd in North America, will have three DLC packs. Each of the packs will unlock two new 18-hole golf courses and new playable characters, including Toadette, Nabbit, and Rosalina. The first DLC pack, which includes Toadette, will be available the day the game launches. A season pass will also be available which will give players access to all three DLC packs as they are released, along with a golden Mario playable character.

The announcement has some Nintendo fans puzzled; the game developer has traditionally stayed away from DLC, but Nintendo of America's Scott Moffitt has assured fans that the extra content is there for players who want more out of their experience with the game.

"We’re letting fans expand their experience with Mario Golf: World Tour. Some players might be content hitting the links on the numerous courses already included with the game, while others will appreciate the option of being able to add to their fairway fun with new courses and characters," he said.

Some fans, however, consider the pricing to be a bit too steep for a handheld. Each DLC pack will cost $5.99 USD, with the season pass costing $14.99 USD.

The bigger concern here for many gamers is not Mario Golf specifically, but the precedent that adding DLC characters and courses will mean that future popular Nintendo titles such as Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. will feature them as well.

Reviews for the game have so far been very positive; it has received a lot of praise for having interesting and varied courses while keeping the light, friendly tone of other Mario sports games. Thomas Whitehead, a reviewer for Nintendolife.com, called it "hard to putt down."

What do you think? Are you excited to try out the new characters and courses, or is Nintendo on a path to the dark side?

Opinion: Can EA really be the worst company in America?

EA has once again managed to unleash the anger of the Internet. (Photo Source: The Consumerist)

For the second year in a row, EA has received the dubious honour of being crowned the "worst company in America" in The Consumerist's yearly poll.

Last year, EA rode a wave of discontent that surged across the Internet in response to the ending of Mass Effect 3, among other concerns.

Among the competition that EA soundly defeated last year was the company responsible for the worst oil spill in the history of the planet. No kidding.

This year the issues are different, but the Internet's reaction is much the same. Reddit and 4chan have been hotbeds of support from the beginning, spreading the word to try to have EA regain the title.

Among the many discontents cited are Battlefield's multi-DLC model and the catastrophic launch of SimCity: a launch which, as Kotaku reports, is still in shambles.

This year the likes of Ticketmaster, Comcast and Bank of America were defeated by EA in the final rounds of the contest. While I see a big difference between dubious home foreclosures and not being able to log into a fictional city, apparently a lot of other people did not.

Perhaps Chris Matyszczyk said it best in his recent article on the topic over on Cnet:

Being voted "Worst Company in America" is really closer to being voted "The Company That People Who Are Online A Lot Hate Most," which isn't quite the same thing.

It seems clear, then, that netizens have declared EA to be the worst company in America, but I question whether this is really the case.

In fact, I contend that not only is EA not the worst company in America, but not even the worst game company.

EA is a massive company with a large market share. They have made games which have received critical acclaim right alongside the ones which became the crucibles of the Internet's rage.

Of course, the failures stand out the most, especially when they happen on a scale like the recent SimCity troubles or when they mean that your 300 million dollar flagship MMO is, in your own words, "a disappointment".

They do not have a perfect track record, but then no game company which has been around as long as they have does.

And in fairness to EA, they have tried to fix their mistakes when possible. Even if amending their entire business strategy to fit the whims of the Internet wasn't possible, they did try to respond to complaints about individual products.

The new Mass Effect 3 ending DLC came out, it was free, and it tried to resolve players' concerns. It may not have been perfect, but there was a response.

Am I saying EA is a great company? No, I'm not.

Their current sales strategies are woefully unpopular with the savvy gamer (pile on that DLC!), they have had several botched launches in recent memory and they have a frightening habit of snatching up small developers.

Origin remains a pale shadow of the competitor it is trying to emulate, regardless of the registered users that EA claims.

Those numbers, by the way, seem a bit disingenuous when a lot of your games can only be played on that platform: they're not using Origin for the features it offers, but because you have literally given PC gamers no other option.

But the worst company in America?

I don't see it. Maybe I need my hyperbole-vision goggles.

Review: Dragonborn

You are approached by a group of masked people. They are not friendly of course, as this is Skyrim.

These people are cultists, devotees of Lord Miraak. He is the Dragonborn, so they say, and according to them you are a phony. That's right. A big fat phony. If you are like me you might be tempted to say "I never asked for this," like Adam Jensen would.

Lord Miraak, wannabe ruler of Solstheim. (Photo credit: http://elderscrolls.wikia.com)

Dispatch them before they rid themselves of you. Upon closer inspection one of them is carrying a note with instructions to kill you. Another mystery and adventure awaits.

Your destination is Solstheim, which may be a bit of fan-service for the Morrowind expansion Bloodmoon, which took place there.

World: A nice change of pace from the snow of Skyrim. It also made the world feel a bit more connected, being in one place and being so focused on Skyrim can make the world feel shut off.

Weapons/Armour: Good stuff here, some new sets of armour and new weapons. Bonemold makes a return.

Quests: The quests range from simple (could you get my rare pickaxe out of that mine please?) to creepy (the main quest and another which I won’t spoil but involves a Daedric lord). There are some neat rewards for some of the quests too.

Story: The story is interesting and refreshingly makes your character feel a little less above everyone else. It also has an epic feel to it, a clash of titans type of thing. Nobody and everybody seem to know about your adversary. The name is familiar to them but everything else is out of reach for some reason. What is with the chanting? These are the things you want to get to the bottom of.

Conclusion: Dragonborn is a fine addition to the base game of Skyrim. You get to go to a different area and explore it, which for me at least, is one of the most appealing things about The Elder Scrolls series. New monsters keep things interesting and you get away from being surrounded by Nords and their mead all the time. Instead you get some Dark Elves which were scarce in vanilla Skyrim. Overall it adds some more variety and gives a different flavour of the world to enjoy. The amount of content within is also satisfying with plenty of areas and quests for any DLC. I should also mention you can ride dragons with Dragonborn, though you cannot directly control them as you would a horse.

Skyrim is on sale for Xbox 360’s spring sale, so now would be a good time to grab it.