Monthly Archives: May 2008

Nintendo of America’s senior director of project development, Tom Prata, has said in a lengthy interview with IGN that “currently, there are about 100 games in development for WiiWare at various stages of completion.”

Prata unfortunately didn’t have any download statistics to hand for WiiWare so far, and skirted the issue of Wii storage by saying, “Consumers have the option of either deleting the game and downloading it again for no additional Wii Points, or transferring the game from Wii to external SD memory card.”

Read the full interview through the link.

By Mike Bowden

And what mighty colourful graphs they are, too. They can all be found over at Gamerinvestments, who’s report points out that although Sony sold more, Nintendo made more, the company now being the only platform holder now having made a profit for the last nine years consecutively.

Fill your boots though the link.

By Mike Bowden

Infinity Ward comms guy Robert Bowling has confirmed that the Call of Duty 4 Variety Map Pack will release for PC on June 5.

PC gamers are getting the content free thanks to NVIDIA sponsorship, a nice bonus: the PS3 version cost $9.99. We can’t remember what was charged for the 360 version, as our brains are leaky.

The pack includes the new Broadcast, Chinatown, Killhouse, and Creek maps.

There’s an eight-minute video thingum of Activision’s Fracture over on CVG, showing new in-game footage mixed with developer interviews. The near-future action title’s all about terrain deformation, from the look of it, and a plot fusing genetics and global warming. Looks OK. Take a look.

Fracture’s for 360 and PS3, and it’s out in October. Official site here.

Sega’s put out the first honest to goodness trailer of upcoming action remake Golden Axe Beast Rider, and all things considered it’s looking good and respectable. It’s out this autumn, according to the video, and looks set to feature a lot of blood and beasts. And riding.

See for yourself after the link.

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Someone’s scanned and posted up Edge’s entire Metal Gear Solid 4 review, joint lowest so far according to Metacritic, alongside Eurogamer‘s identical score. The pages are huge, so you may have to wait a while for them to load. Hit this and this for the entire thing.

Microsoft’s formally announced the “Gears of War with Maps” SKU GameStop listed earlier this week, confirming a new price, all the previously released extra content and the ability to earn another 250 Gamerpoints through 360 multiplay.

The game will carry an ERP of f $39.99 (360) and $29.99 (PC) throughout North America. No word yet on a European release.

Press release after the link.

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After the link. It does show the female character, as promised, as give a very clear indication that the latest in the Capcom horror franchise is triple-A with bells on. Just take a look.

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Destructoid’s bothered to post the daft amount of Street Fighters IV shots Capcom released yesterday. The screens show wrestler El Fuerte and fat-chap Rufus doing the do. Fill your morning with pictures of virtual men fighting.

According to this Joystiq report, Sony’s confirmed that the 80Gb Motorstorm PS3 pack will not longer be circulated in the US.

“Retailers aren’t getting any new inventory of the 80GB Motorstorm bundle,” said an SCEA spokesperson.

More through the link.

British newspaper the Daily Telegraph has seemingly removed a story from its website claiming extremist monitoring agency SITE was left “red-faced” after it circulated a piece of Fallout 3 art as al-Qaeda propaganda.

The original story URL now brings up a 404 error.

Videogaming247.com has been told by Telegraph editorial staff this morning that “lots of legal wrangling” took place overnight after SITE issued a statement claiming the story was “entirely false.”

The staffer we spoke to, however, refused to confirm the story had been removed from the Telegraph’s site, saying, “I haven’t seen it this morning, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still live somewhere. I’ll have to confirm that for you.”

No such confirmation has been received at the time of writing.

In its entirety, SITE’s statement reads:

On May 30, 2008, the Telegraph newspaper ran a misleading story, “SITE red-faced as Islamist ‘Washington ruin’ image turns out to be from Fallout 3 game,” which incorrectly and falsely described analysis provided by the SITE Intelligence Group.

Discussing a computer-generated image of a destroyed Capitol Building in Washington that was posted to a jihadist forum, the Telegraph claimed, without any basis, “The SITE Intelligence Group said that the image, showing a ruined Capitol Building in Washington, was created by extremists as part of discussions about the feasibility of nuclear strikes against the US and Britain.”

This claim is entirely false, as is the characterization that SITE is “embarrassed” or “red-faced.”

SITE rejects the claims by the Telegraph and stands fully behind the accuracy of its information and analysis. SITE at no time maintained that the image “was created by extremists.”

SITE reported to its subscribers that extremists posted the image to a password-protected forum affiliated with al-Qaeda. This is entirely accurate. Moreover, this information was part of a report describing the general atmosphere in this forum with regard to extremists’ discussions on weapons of mass destruction, making its context all the more important. This report in its entirety is also completely accurate.

The Telegraph is not a subscriber to SITE’s services. Apparently, the newspaper made these erroneous claims without actually reading SITE’s original report, and the basis of their information for their incorrect article is unknown to us.

The SITE Intelligence Group, a leading provider of intelligence and analysis to governments, organizations, and institutions across the world, has contacted the Telegraph to correct their factually inaccurate and misleading article.

The SITE information was picked up by both the British Daily Mail and the Australian News.com.au yesterday, the Mail claiming the image depicted “Al-Qaeda’s terrifying vision of a devastated America in the wake of a nuclear attack”.

Thanks to Kotaku for the SITE statement.

According to this PlayStationLifestyle.net piece, Sony tested a motion-sensing PS3 controller in California earlier this year. From the site:

You can have up to 4 of these “PS3motes” connected at one time. A demonstrator at this focus group was there showing off the “PS3motes” capabilities, along with some mini-games to play. The mini games ranged from tennis, to fencing, to a “really really cool” paintball game. The demonstrator even used the “PS3mote” to play “Quake” on his laptop.

The “PS3mote” is said to be incredibly responsive and accurate. When the demonstrator crouched while playing the paintball game, the character on screen did as well.

The biggest concern of the demonstrator was that for these “PS3motes” to work they needed the tripod, which connected to the PS3’s USB port. It also needed to be set up in the middle of your gaming area, much like a “batter standing above home plate”. So this may not be in the final version as it seemed they were trying to come up with a more convenient method.

Blimey. This is the first anyone’s ever heard of Sony working on a motion-sensing PS3 device, as far as we know. We’ll check the SCEE on Monday. Full thing through the link.

Gamespy’s posted the first review of The Bourne Conspiracy, giving the Sierra action title 4/5. From the site:

Whether or not you follow the films and books is irrelevant to your potential enjoyment of The Bourne Conspiracy, because it so brilliantly communicates the story’s themes. The resulting combination of fierce fighting, fantastically integrated interactive cut-scenes and just plain awesome graphics punctuate the sad story of this amnesiac elite operative in a thoroughly entertaining package.

Sounds good to us. Full thing through the link. Bourne’s down for a June 27 launch for 360 and PS3.

According to Major Nelson’s Twitter, the Ninja Gaiden II demo released in Japan yesterday will be with the US by the end of next week. We’re assuming this means Europe will get it as well, but don’t take that as read. Thanks, X3F.

For those of you that don’t live in the UK, the Daily Mail is a revolting right-wing newspaper that shames Britain with its existence.

But today it’s done itself proud. It’s posted a piece of Fallout 3 concept art on its website and claimed the image of a ruined Washington DC has been put together by al-Qaeda.

The picture was posted on an extremist website, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, and has also been picked up by Australian outlet News.com.au.

Please read that Mail piece.

“Washington is laid to waste,” said Barry Wigmore, writing for the paper. “The Capitol is a blackened, smoking ruin. The White House has been razed. Countless thousands are dead.

“This is the apocalyptic scene terrorists hope to create if they ever get their hands on a nuclear bomb.”

“The computer-generated image below was posted on an Islamic extremists’ website yesterday.”

Beyond. Belief. Barry: you stain us all.

MTV’s claiming that journalists reviewing MGS4 in the US were told to not mention the length of the game’s cut-scenes and the size of the title’s PS3 install by Konami. From the site:

I’ve been told by two gaming media sources who asked to remain anonymous that Konami representatives had been asking print reviewers to keep some technical details out of their reviews, namely the length of the game’s cut-scenes and the size of the game’s installation on the PlayStation 3.

Full thing through the link,

There are some sketchy videos on MaxConsole of what appears to be the PS3 in-game XMB functionality in action. The feature is shown in two movies working with, um, Bioshock. That famous released PS3 game. Take a look.

This looks awesome. Konami’s put out the first video of upcoming Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia and there’s no way you’re going to be disappointed, fan or otherwise. It does show, however, that you’d better be prepared to be ultimate hardcore if you’re going to the end. After the break.

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As you can see from this developer diary on the THQ site, upcoming racer Baja has ridiculously large environments. According the the chaps working on the game, maps covers some nine square miles, and really don’t look shabby in any way. Take a look.

Baja’s out for 360 and PS3 this September.

Seriously. See here. You need to send a photo of yourself into the bods at Lionhead before June 4 and there’s a chance you could get out into upcoming RPG Fable 2. Make sure you read the small print, apparently.