Monthly Archives: August 2008

You can’t say fairer than this. EA’s giving away the original Red Alert as a promo for the upcoming Red Alert 3, which comes with Red Alert 2 if you pre-order. That’s a world of Red Alert. What are you waiting for? Go be a Russian and strategise while you wait for the beefed up version resplendent with Gemma and Jenny.

There’s a movie on GameVee of the Major doing a presentation of Xbox Experience at PAX. There’s plenty of info in there about migrating groups within the Live update, Avatars, and so on. Worth watching.

Xbox Experience launches in November, says the internet.

Lionhead Studio’s Sam Van Tilburgh has told Kotaku at PAX that Fable 2 is on the verge of final master. Which is odd, seeing at Big Pete proclaimed the game as “finished” at E3.

“We have one or two bugs that are keeping us from going gold,” Van Tilburgh said.

In addition, Van Tilburgh said that the game’s official site is to soon contain a web-based game for gathering pre-launch Fable 2 gold, much like the recently released XBLA pub games. From this piece:

When the game’s official website relaunches it will include a web game or two that allows you to earn Fable 2 gold and unlock goodies like dye pots and a chicken suit for the game. All told, gamers will be able to unlock six to seven special items through the website, Van Tilburgh said. You can also earn coin through the games.

Game’s out at the end of October.

PAX has been pretty news-free so far, truth be told, but AddictGaming did snap something called Halo 3 Mythic on the Microsoft stand.

Here’s the only info known so far:

• There’s a Dev System underneath, which could mean a fair few things.
• The options in the menu are Multiplayer only, no Campaign options.
• The version of the game is 1.2 (Retail Halo 3 is currently 1.1)

No one seems to know what it is, basically. More through the link.

IGN’s given Mercenaries 2 7.9/10, citing “numerous bugs, the terrible AI, and the lackluster missions.” Snip:

Mercenaries 2 is like a newsstand; it has a lot of issues. Still, I can’t deny that there were some hootin’ and hollerin’ moments. For every time I cursed the stupid AI, I cheered at the demolition of another building. For every bug that got me stuck in some bushes, there was an attack chopper waiting to be jacked. If Mercenaries 2 had more polish, it would have been a great game. As is, it’s still worth playing – and enjoyable – but falls far short of its promise.

And that’s that. Video review after the break.

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Play Asia’s listing a Chinese version of LittleBigPlanet, as you can see here. The game’s got English in it as well, so US importers should take note. There’s no shipping to Europe, unfortunately, but them’s the breaks.

Thanks, PS3Hyper.

Following news that 2010′s PAX EC will be held in Boston, the organisers have confirmed that the event will take place in March and will be held at the city’s John B Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center.

There’s more on BigDownload, including a shrug-off about competition with San Francisco’s GDC and what looks to be a cautious approach to growth.

This French retailer page apparently confirms a European PS3 LittleBigPlanet bundle for €400.

According to this site, the pack contains an 80Gb machine and a DualShock 3, so this may well be the bundle you’re looking for. Full details through the link.

Devil May Cry creator Hideki Kamiya clearly doesn’t mince his words. He can’t be bothered playing Ninja Gaiden. It doesn’t have the power to interest him.

“I’ve never played Ninja Gaiden, and to be honest, I’m not that interested,” he said in the latest issue of EGM.

“The quality that gets you interested in something is that you feel something for them. Like on TV, or a movie, or a song, or whatever. You just feel something, and you get pulled into it, and then that’s how you pick something up.

“But Ninja Gaiden just didn’t have that power, so that’s why I wasn’t interested in it.”

Japanese developers, eh? Why can’t they all just get along?

Plenty more through there.

EA has slapped back at critics of Mercenaries 2′s “fully destructible Venezuela” saying those opposed to the title on political grounds are just being silly.

“All the controversy around this is kind of comical,” said EA comms head Jeff Brown. “At the end of the day you have to remind yourself it’s a damned video game.”

The game’s out this weekend on the US, which, according to this Reuters piece, is “likely to anger allies of President Hugo Chavez, a Washington foe, who has in the past threatened to cut off oil exports to the United States.”

We reckon Mr Brown may have a point, Mr Reuters.

EA’s announced pre-order incentives for Red Alert 3 today, the best part of which is that you get Red Alert 2 free with your purchase.

It looks as though the offer’s only open to Americans, unfortunately, but if you do happen to live in the Land of the Free, buying from Gamestop, the EA Store of EB will net you the extra game.

More stuff you get for taking the early plunge includes a bonus multiplayer map and a DVD featuring:

According to this 1UP piece, the 360 version of Left 4 Dead will have its own dedicated servers on Xbox Live, meaning congestion shouldn’t really be an issue.

The news comes from the latest edition of the 1UP Show, which also bore the following info on the console SKU of Valve’s upcoming zombie shooter:

• There are four campaigns, with five chapters each
• The hospital level seen in demos is based on Philadelphia
• Another level is based on Pittsburgh (evidently Valve has some Steelers fans)
• Other levels cover a small town and an airport

Loads more through the link.

SCEA’s John Koller has confirmed that PSP-3000′s brighter screen means less battery life. Whoops.

“Battery life will decrease by a small amount, it’s about 20 minutes maybe 30 minutes and that’s because there’s a larger power draw with the brighter screen,” he said in the Gamespot interview you can see after the link.

The new PSP model launches on October 15.

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According to this MCV piece, a GameVision report has shown that Britain has the oldest gamers in Europe, on average.

The research showed that 29 percent of male active gamers, and 30 percent of female active gamers are said to be 35 years old or over in the UK, compared with 24 percent and 25 percent in Spain and Italy.

No mention’s made there of France and Germany. Which does, like, leave something of a hole in the whole “Europe” thing, to be honest.

“Generally any chat about the average gamer is a bit nuts – it’s a mass market pursuit now with the associated niches and segments – you can’t sell anything to gamers en-masse, you have to pitch it at the appropriate niche,” explained GameVision’s Sean Droomgoole.

More through the link.

Despite the fact Life with PlayStation was promised for an August launch – delayed from July – the US PS Blog informs that it’s not going to happen.

“We’re still pushing some paperwork on Life with PlayStation — so hold tight just a bit longer,” said SCEA senior dev manager Noam Rimon.

Life with PlayStation is the PS3 live news thingy you can access from your XMB. More through the link.

IGN’s put up a bunch of new Silent Hill: Homecoming videos, and it’s not looking halfway bad. The horror still doesn’t have a fixed date, but it’s promised for 360 and PS3 before the end of the year. Take a look.

Kikizo chap Adam Doree dropped us a line this morning to say he’s looking for a London games writer. Get all the details here. From the ad:

You will work from home, and have the necessary equipment to start work immediately (certain game systems and preview / review code will be provided by us), however, you will be expected to report in person to Kikizo’s HQ in Leicester Square, London, as often as necessary, and therefore you must be able to travel into Central London at short notice.

Go on, then. What are you waiting for?

Stardock’s announced a series of “micro-expansions” for Sins of a Solar Empire, the first of which – Sins of a Solar Empire: Entrenchment – is currently in development and will be released later this year for $9.95 via Stardock’s Impulse digital distribution platform (here).

More on IGN.

On the US PS Blog. To be fair, there’s some great stuff on there. Why would you not want to watch the first two seasons of Futurama? Predator 2′s on there! “This is not aboot money: this is aboot power.” We could do that all day.

But we won’t. Full thing through the link.

According to this Kotaku piece, Ghostbusters pre-orders have been cancelled at Gamestop and full refunds are being issued.

It also looks as though the Terminal Reality title has been delisted at the retailer.

Not looking so good. The game was a casualty of the Activision Blizzard merger. Someone publish this, please.