Monthly Archives: June 2008

PSN chief Eric Lempel said in today’s Firmware 2.40 video walkthrough that custom soundtracks will be supported, and alluded to the fact that all games would support the feature.

Up until now no-one was sure whether the feature would be limited to specific titles, but Lempel made no mention of this in his demonstration with his only disclaimer being, “please bear in mind this is a concept and it may not be what it looks like when we deliver it.”

So there you go.

By Mike Bowden

Sony’s released the promised walkthrough video of PS3 Firmware 2.40. Watch it after the break.

The movie shows PSN boss Eric Lempel talk through how in-game XMB will work after the update.

This is only the first part of the tutorial, with a second to follow shortly, says The Playstation Blog.

There’s no release date for 2.40 yet, other than “soon”. Which hopefully means “this week”.

By Mike Bowden

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It was the event that kept on giving. Not content with making what has to go down as the most exciting live reveal in videogames history in Diablo III, the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris this weekend continued to show tons of information on StarCraft II, WoW: Wrath of the Lich King and people getting their faces painted so they look like murlocs. It had it all. Hit this for all our coverage both live from the first day of the show and afterwards, and see below for everything that happened overnight.

• Live blog of the Diablo III reveal, pictures included (VG247)
• Live blog of the Diablo III European press conference immediately after the reveal (VG247)
• Massive link round-up from day one (VG247)
• Blizzard not worried about losing WOW fans to Diablo III (Eurogamer)
• WoW’s global conquest continues: Russian version imminent (Massisvely)
• World of Warcraft’s J. Allen Brack interviewed (Massively)
• Blizzard Worldwide Invitational: The Blizzard Museum Show Diablo 3 Concept Art (Kotaku)
• Cosplay, Live Music And More: The Blizzard Worldwide Invitational In Pictures (MTV)
• Blizzard’s WWI 2008 costume and dance contest (Joystiq)
• All World of Warcraft classes dissected at WWI 2008 (Joystiq)
• WWI08: Diablo 3 design fundamentals (Joystiq)
• Blizzard Worldwide Invitational: Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain Level Up (Kotaku)
• New StarCraft II shots (Gamespot)

Watch Kotaku’s Brian Crecente, MTV’s Stephen Totilo and Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal talk for another week about what to expect from E3 after the link. There’s still nothing in there you didn’t know already, but still it’s fun nonetheless.

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Yesterday’s Diablo III announcement caused nerdworld to explode into hysterics and inhaler usage, but those hoping for a console version can basically forget it.

Joystiq had a chat with the game’s lead designer, Jay Wilson, and the very first question asked was, “Do you have any plans for Diablo on consoles?” And the answer? “We don’t have any plans.”

Fin.

By Gareth Chadwick

Catwoman has clawed her way into the upcoming game Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe game, says GameCenterOnline.net.

Here’s hoping that the Catwoman fighter won’t be as disappointing as the Catwoman film. Judging from how low cut her top is, we don’t think there’ll be any problems.

By Gareth Chadwick

Long video after the break of the Diablo III: World Lore and Environment Art panel at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational today. There’s a lot of art talk there. It’s about Diablo III, so you have to watch it, right?

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Chinese site TGBus has posted 21 new screenshots of Level-5′s Playstation 3-exclusive JRPG, White Knight Story.

Still no other news on this one apart from that it will be released this fiscal year.

By Mike Bowden

Super Smash Bros. World is reporting that custom stages in SSBB can now be shared between regions.

“It all comes down to where you place the stages on your SD card,” says the site. “There are specific directory structures for each region. So, if you’re from America, all your stages (downloaded or created) will go in the same directory. The same would apply to EU and Japanese users.”

Full details through the link.

By Mike Bowden

After the break. This is the multiplayer footage that XBox 360 owners will get with their copies of Unreal Tournament III.

Some great stuff in there, especially when design director Cliff Bleszinski got riled up about “huge gladiators locking onto each other, engaging in this life and death struggle”.

Are you man enough?

By Mike Bowden

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Social media manager for SCEA, Jeff Rubenstein has confirmed that at around midnight Pacific time – 8 a.m. BST – the Playstation Blog will be showing a video of the new PS3 XMB features in action.

“Planning 2 videos, 5 or so mins each. One for XMB features and one for Trophies,” replied Rubenstein to this Playstation Blog entry.

“None of the previous videos has been a short as 90 seconds, just as long as it takes to show off the features and not make you sit through a lot of fluff.”

See you in the morning then.

By Mike Bowden

There’s no point breaking this into parts. Here’s everything we can find from yesterday’s epic Blizzard III reveal at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Paris, and all the stuff that happened afterwards on StarCraft II and Wrath of the Lich King. Going outside’s for losers, anyway. For all our news on Diablo III from the opening ceremony and following press conference, hit this.

• Blizzard Worldwide Invitational: Day One (Kotaku)
• Diablo III preview (1UP)
• StarCraft II impressions (IGN)
• News from the Starcraft II panel at the Blizzard Invitational (Joystiq)
• Diablo 2 now available at Blizzard Store (Blizzard Guru)
• Lead Designer: ‘Diablo III’ To Have Less “Carpal Tunnel,” More Action And Better Story (MTV)
• Diablo III First Look (Gamespot)
• 17 videos from the Diablo III reveal and Jessica Chobot piece (IGN)
• Diablo III: What You Really Need to Know (Joystiq)
• World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King shots (IGN)
• Interview: Blizzard’s Rob Pardo on Diablo III (IGN)
• Movies from Diablo III design panel, game reveal, Rob Pardo interview, day one wrap up (Gamespot)
• Blizzard Worldwide Invitational: Diablo III In-Depth (Kotaku)
• You’re Not Getting Starcraft for Christmas (Kotaku)
• Joystiq chats with Jay Wilson on Diablo 3 (Joystiq)

Update: It’s bollocks.

According to this Neo Gaf post, Sony has issued a press release detailing a new add-on to the Playstation Network called Playstation Edge.

“PlayStation Edge comes with a seamless integration into the already widely popular PlayStation Network® and will allow PlayStation®3 owners to use their trophies earned to receive free gifts and discounts on PlayStation Network by going to the PlayStation EDGE panel located in the PlayStation Store,” says the supposed release.

“PlayStation EDGE is scheduled to be launched in North America at the end of July 2008, followed by the Japanese and European launches in the fall of 2008.”

Full thing after the break.

By Mike Bowden

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According to WoWInsider, nearly every class in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is receiving a game-altering change or two.

Whether it’s Rogue area of effect attacks, Fury Warriors dual-wielding two-handers, better totems for Shaman, or a complete do-over for the Hunter’s pet system, Blizzard will not allow their expansion to fall to mundanity.

For full details, hit the link.

By Nathan Grayson

According to That Videogame Blog, the My Gamerpad promo screen is fake.

The image background was plucked straight from deviantArt’s hallowed halls, says the piece, thus confirming it as a forgery. Never trust anything originating from 4Chan either, apparently.

We won’t.

By Nathan Grayson

Hideo Kojima revealed at a signing event in Tokyo yesterday, that Metal Gear Online’s solo mission will begin on July 17, with a price tag of 1,800 yen (about $17 or €11). However, no details were given about a release outside of Japan.

Kojima also noted that, at peak hours, MGO reaches nearly 12,000 players simultaneously in Japan. He also hinted at an upcoming worldwide tournament entitled Metal Gear Online World Championship 2008, although no further details were given.

Thanks, IGN.

By Nathan Grayson

IGN has got put up a Diablo III FAQ which should answer all the basic questions about the game.

Much of the content is stuff that can be right here on the site, but there’s still some good stuff in there.

Knock yourselves out.

By Mike Bowden

Everyone’s favourite analyst, Michael Pachter, said that as around 90 percent of last-gen hardware sales were inspired by a price point of $199 or below, we won’t see full 360/PS3 mass market penetration until around 2010. From the man himself:

“As consoles come down in price, the manufacturers will sell more of them, and the market will continue to expand. Around 90% of last-generation console sales were made at the $199 price point or below.”

“Only wealthy or hardcore gamers have purchased consoles so far, given that the PS3 is still $399, the 360 is still $349, and the Wii is still $249. When prices drop below $200 (probably in 2010), the mass market [for 360 and PS3] will emerge,” he said.

We hang on your every word Michael.

Thanks, Gamepro.

By Mike Bowden

In an interview with IGN, Crytek president Cevat Yerli says that for every legal copy of a PC game sold, there are 15 to 20 pirates copies.

“The other critique outside Crytek was the fact that the PC industry is really, at the moment, I would say the most intensely pirated market ever,” said Yerli.

“It’s crazy how the ratio between sales to piracy is probably 1 to 15 to 1 to 20 right now. For one sale there are 15 to 20 pirates and pirate versions, and that’s a big shame for the PC industry. I hope with Warhead I hope we improve the situation, but at the same time it may have an impact on [our] PC exclusivity in the future.”

Full Q&A through the link.

By Mike Bowden

Acclaim has announced that Michael “Doran” Zummo is the winner of its Project “Top Secret” competition and therefore will be offered the directorship of an upcoming game, working with David Perry as executive producer. Every man’s dream.

“I think we’ve proven that this is a great way to find super passionate people, by creating an incredibly difficult task, unleashing it on a massive amount of people who live for games, using the latest internet technologies, and hiring the ones that rose to the top,” said super David Perry.

“It’s a win-win and you can be sure we will be doing more of it in the future.”

Thanks GI.

By Mike Bowden