Along with remastered visuals, this Vita revisit features 1.5 times more voiced dialogue, an online dungeon rescue feature players can use to call for assistance in the TV world, new Personas, new anime cutscenes, new story events and a new character. Atlus also mentions several fan suggested tweaks to the title, which we’ll assumedly find out more about as the game’s Fall release date approaches.

While I’m reasonably sure you don’t need a refresher on how to move characters around within a 2D fighter, there are some valuable notes regarding skills and the use of Personas.

While the video features arcade controls, rest assured that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 title is due for release near the end of this Summer.

You can start studying up early by catching the tutorial video below.

The new story mission returns players to Arkham City, interchanging play between Batman and Robin while uncovering Harley’s plans to avenge the Joker.

While this GOTY edition will hit shelves in the Fall, Gamers looking to slip on the cowl and cape again won’t have to wait that long for the additional story mission, with word that Harley Quinn’s Revenge will be internationally available via the PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE Marketplace on May 30th.

Catch the trailer below.

Capybara Games’ and Superbrothers’ iOS game-changer Sword & Sworcery EP took away five awards by the end of the night, including the award for innovation and best original music, and Eidos Montreal also took five categories with Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

The awards show will air on Citytv on April 28th, and G4 Canada on April 28th & 29th, but if you can’t wait that long, you can catch the full list of winners below.

Game of the Year: FIFA Soccer 12 (Electronic Arts) (Fans Choice)

Best Console Game: Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Eidos-Montreal)

Best Game on the Go: Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP (Capybara Games)

Best Downloadable Game: Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP (Capybara Games)

Best Audio: Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Eidos-Montreal)

Best Social/Casual Game: Margaritaville Online (Exploding Barrel Games)

Best Game Design: Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Eidos-Montreal)

Best Technology: Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012 (Ubisoft Montreal)

Best Visual Arts: Assassin’s Creed Revelations (Ubisoft Montreal)

Best Writing: Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Eidos-Montreal)

Best Indie Game: Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP (Capybara Games)

Best New Character: Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Eidos-Montreal)

Best Original Music: Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP (Capybara Games)

Future Shop Gamers’ Choice Award – Top Selling Canadian Videogame: NHL 12 (Electronic Arts)

Innovation Award: Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP (Capybara Games)

Animal Crossing also aims for a Fall release on the 3DS, in Japan at least, but the more immediate cause for rejoicing amongst 3DS owners should probably be word that the handheld will finally support folders on the 3DS home menu, with each folder storing up to sixty icons – terrific news if your home menu is as overwhelmed as my own. Nintendo of America has already tweeted that we can expect the firmware update on April 25th.

The 3DS will also support software patches, with Nintendo getting that ball rolling in May with a patch for Mario Kart 7 online issues.

One more tidbit, Nintendo plans to release a 20th anniversary Wii disc of Kirby titles, but we’ll apparently have to wait for details there as well.

Meanwhile, catch four precious Mario screens below.

Atlus followed up Ignition’s email to confirm that the band is getting back together, announcing their role as the new publisher and producer for the title, which is still being developed by Vanillaware and will hit the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in 2013.

Dragon’s Crown will be the first Vanillaware title published by Atlus since the release of Odin Sphere on the PlayStation 2.

The more immediate treat belongs to Resident Evil fans however, with word that the game will be releasing slightly sooner than originally planned, with a global release now set for October 2nd, 2012. New video on the subject offers us all a chance to puzzle over how Wesker spawned a child – yes I know the bit about “when two people really love each other”, but I’m betting it probably had more to do with test-tubes.

Catch video for both titles below.

Players will be able to use the Mii characters along with Mario-themed tennis gear, and compete with up to four players in online doubles matches. But the arresting bit of today’s info is definitely the game’s Super Mario Tennis mode, which offers a chance to hit some familiar Goombas with swings.

Check out some fresh video and screens below.

There are only drips of information so far, suggesting that the game puts players in the shoes of a professional executioner or assassin hunting down criminals. Word is that the gameplay will feature sword action reminiscent of No More Heroes, and that’s all we’ve got at the moment – though we will inevitably stare at the Internet until more answers come.

In the meantime, Famitsu has two concept images, which you can catch below.

This doesn’t lessen the physical workout by any means, as four consecutive days of throwing imaginary baseballs at my television has left my body broken. I persisted in working through the pain of strained muscles however, partly because I wanted an achievement for throwing a faster pitch, but also because Diabolical Pitch is the most replayable experience available on the Kinect – or at least the most replayable experience that doesn’t ask you to dance in time to Lady Gaga.

Players step into the cleats of star pitcher McAllister, who loses the use of his pitching arm after his greatest game, and then mysteriously arrives at Queen Christine’s Dreamland, where he is given a prosthetic pitching arm and offered the chance to make all his dreams come true by a somewhat melancholic cow.

If that sounds a bit odd, expect things to get far more bizarre. And welcome back to a delightful place we know simply as the Grasshopper Zone.

Queen Christine’s Dreamland consists of five themed areas, where players will take their position on the mound while freakish robotic animal dolls lurch toward them, hoping to bludgeon them to death. The player’s immediate defense against this threat is their dominant arm, simulating the act of throwing to hurl baseballs at these fiends – all players should be happy to hear that the game allows them to choose their left or right arm to perform this action at the start of the game.

While players are able to hurl balls in any direction they throw toward, their other hand can be used to lock-on to enemies and direct pitches, which becomes essential in scoring headshots and striking certain enemies that require lock-on targeting. Though the game begins with plenty of tiger robots crawling at a snail’s pace toward players, new enemies will prefer to stand back while firing projectiles. Spiked baseballs can be caught by putting both hands forward in the direction of the incoming attack, while saw blades will require players to either duck or jump the assault. There is also a steady stream of missiles unleashed at times, which players can target with pitches.

Though the screen has a tendency to overwhelm players with enemies, it’s important to keep your eyes peeled for bonus items, including bars and cherries that raise your score, self-explanatory health packs, and temporary perks like the catcher’s glove, which will cause a phantom player to block or catch incoming projectile attacks.

Diabolical Pitch presents quite the learning curve as stages progress – each world offers three stages and an additional bonus round. After fighting a stage full of enemies a boss doll will appear, often sporting shielding that only allows players a narrow window of attack – and often using standard enemies to make this more difficult to take advantage of.

The game’s difficulty level climbs dramatically along the way to having McAllister’s wish granted. By the time I’d reached the final world, the screen was littered with enemies and I was struggling to hurl as many imaginary balls as possible. Beyond my own exhaustion was the fact that throwing too many pitches close together also exhausts McAllister and forces him to take a breather just as enemies are closing in for the kill – I don’t mind admitting that I died plenty along the way.

Your ace in the hole is the diabolical pitch. After destroying three enemies, players gain the chance to use a super pitch that is selected prior to each stage. These are over the top actions that require more dramatic gestures and introduce an element of Dragon Ball Z to baseball, throwing fire or lightning pitches to start, and then gaining the ability to fire rabid shots by swinging your arms like a bat with the line drive, or using the cannon arm to fire devastating shots at enemies.

There are more diabolical pitches to be discovered, which join a series of other perks and abilities players can grab by purchasing baseball cards with coins earned within stages. These cards can increase you health, scoring opportunities, damage – long story short, you’ll want them all but spend a lot of time saving up for the better picks.

Diabolical Pitch is essentially a shooter in which the player never has to worry about their own movements, focusing completely on attacking enemies. Aside from the baseball aesthetic offering a fresh entry point, Grasshopper has poured plenty of attention on the enemies in this equation, though the limited variety may seem deceptive at first.

As the game progresses the patterns of enemies gets frantic, filling the screen with them or perhaps dropping the player into a pit filled with opponents freshly ready to strike. Beware your own enthusiasm, because it is amazing how hard I started throwing pitches when stressed.

As mentioned, there are enemies that will walk toward you, and enemies that will fire projectiles from a distance. There are also flying enemies that will swoop toward players if they aren’t hit in time, and enemies that carry shields and offer only a temporary window for attack.

When Grasshopper begins mixing and matching these enemy-types, the experience can feel entirely overwhelming – particularly when packs approach from all sides and there’s no sensible means of destroying them all with pitches. The diabolical pitch and the ability to kick back enemies certainly helps fight back, but players will also discover that Grasshopper offers opportunities to use enemies against one another. Headshots on a robotic elephant will ricochet into other enemies, and striking incoming missiles at the right time will destroy nearby foes as well, leaving your diabolical pitch for use against shielded enemies perhaps.

There’s an earnest strategy at work to surviving some of the final stages that offers far more than shooter fodder and required several sessions on my part to overcome. There’s rarely a sense of repetition despite the limited number of environmental and enemy assets, and Grasshopper doesn’t let the experience end before including a final boss confrontation that allows players to put their skills to use on a grand scale.

Diabolical Pitch doesn’t push bolder into new Kinect territory, but it exploits every opportunity to make the most of existing controls, focusing on simplistic mechanics that work splendidly toward the real challenge of the content, rather than presenting controls that prove to be the real struggle.

While enemy types quickly become familiar, the mix and match shuffle continually raises the challenge and encourages digging through the perk system, inspiring revisits while also providing stages that offer earnest space for short bouts of action in which to do so. That two player’s can tackle the challenge together, combining diabolical pitches for a more devastating union attack and helping pick each other up in times of need only increases the value on Grasshopper’s Kinect curveball, which stands as one of the most focused and polished releases for the peripheral to date.

Diabolical Pitch

Developer
Grasshopper Manufacture

Publisher
Microsoft

System
Xbox 360 (Kinect) (Xbox LIVE Arcade)

Modes
Singleplayer, Local Co-op

Release Date
April 4, 2012

Price
800 Microsoft Points

*A copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review