Monthly Archives: January 2009

If you’re enough of a Metallica fan to spring for tickets to Metallica’s first virtual concert, you probably also visit Metallica’s official website and have already allowed your hands to scream in sheer horror at the game’s recently revealed tracklist. However, for the few who don’t fall into the aforementioned contradiction, we’ve posted the full 49-song list after the break. Enjoy!

By Nathan Grayson

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Microsoft recently posted what appears to be the first English Star Ocean: The Last Hope trailer, and we’re pretty stoked.

Prepare your feeble, un-blown mind for — among other things — earth-engulfing nukes, madcap battles, and some guy who kind of looks kind of like Darth Vader. Or, if Mass Effect isn’t your thing, just fast-forward to 1:05, where the game becomes Quake III.

So yeah, now you can probably understand why we’re counting down the days until Star Ocean: The Last Hope hits shelves. April – or February if you live in the US – can’t come soon enough.

Direct feed trailer through the link or see it after the break.

Thanks, jnms.

By Nathan Grayson

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You’ve got be really quick as Eurogamer has only 1100 beta keys left at the time of writing.

All you have to do is make register for a free Eurogamer account and then click here.

Couldn’t be easier, could it?

Now quick! Before they all run out.

Update: Too late. They’re all gone.

By Mike Bowden

Microsoft has moved Gamefest, the company’s annual game developers conference, to the first quarter of 2010, writes Gama.

Apparently, several attending development houses had contacted Microsoft requesting the move due to it’s usual summer slot proving inconvenient this year.

“Gamefest … should revolve around game developers,” said the official site. “We sought out feedback from developers who attended Gamefest 2008 and we found that, given development schedules and ship dates, the conference would be more convenient if held at a different time in the calendar year.”

Gamefest is the devlopment conference formerly known as Xfest and is based in Seattle.

More through the link.

By Mike Bowden

Ars is claiming that according to insiders source, Xbox 360 is getting an exclusive red console Resident Evil 5 bundle.

The Resident Evil 5 bundle will contain a red console and controllers, a copy of the game, a Resi 5 NXE theme and a download coupon for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD.

No price was mentioned.

We’re checking with Capcom now for more info.

By Mike Bowden

Halcyon Games production executive Mic Rogers told IncGamers that idea of making a Terminator MMO is something the company is considering.

“You know what, it’s something we’ve looked at … and it’s an interesting space for sure,” said Rogers when approached about the possibility.

Halcyon Games is a subsidiary of The Halcyon Company who owns the rights to the Terminator franchise.

Thanks, Destructoid.

By Mike Bowden

LucasArts put out new shots of Star Wars: The Old Republic this week, showing a Mon Calamari for the first time.

The BioWare MMO isn’t due out for ages yet, but we’re still praying for a beta to come sooner rather than later.

All six screenshots below.

By Mike Bowden

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Director Len Wiseman’s spoken for the first time on plans for the Gears of War movie, revealing the plan is to actually create three of them.

“It’s going to be much more [on the] science fiction side of it than the creature side of it. I’ve always been much more of a sci-fi action fan than a horror fan,” he told Bloody Disgusting.

“The hope is that were wanting to do a three movies and really cover the bases on everything. Basically a harder edged Lord Of The Rings.”

The first film’s due in 2010. There’s nothing else available on it at the moment.

Around 30 percent of Microsoft’s game testers have been made redundant, VentureBeat reports.

The actual number laid off isn’t included in the story.

The news follows confirmation by the firm that 1,400 are to be immediately shed as a first round of 5,000 losses.

Microsoft’s Entertainment Division is said to be taking the brunt of the lay-offs, with it being confirmed last night that the entire Flight Simulation team has been relieved of duty.

Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings has been spotted in movie form, and will apparently be landing on DS, Wii and an unidentified PlayStation platform – presumably PSP – this spring.

It’s after the break. There’s nothing in the way of gameplay footage in the video, but at least it’s got Nazis in it, which is always a bonus.

From Mixnmojo, via Joystiq.

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Joystiq’s getting what looks to be a major revamp next week, changing the site’s structure from being a separate entity to the Fanboy blogs into something it terms as a “spokes” design.

Editor Chris Grant explains:

Beginning early next week, we’ll be launching an all new design. But it’s not just a new look. We’ll also be launching 3 new “spokes” of the main site by moving our Fanboy blogs under the Joystiq domain. PS3Fanboy.com and PSPFanboy.com will become PlayStation.Joystiq.com; NintendoWiiFanboy.com and DSFanboy.com will become Nintendo.Joystiq.com; and Xbox360Fanboy.com will become Xbox.Joystiq.com.

The old Fanboy domains will redirect readers to the new spokes which – like the Fanboy sites – will have a platform-specific look and feel. The majority of the posts on each spoke will also be specific to that site; however, we will now have the ability to push posts across the four Joystiq sites. So important Nintendo-specific news can be pushed to the main Joystiq.com page (“Nintendo buys moon, builds Super Mario Galaxy theme park”) while less urgent, but no less entertaining, news will live on just the spoke (“Samus-shaped potato chip signals Nintendo’s snack market move”). “Fanboy” readers get the same niche experience, while Joystiq readers get the same curated coverage they’ve come to expect for the last four years.

Make sense? Goodo. More through there.

Team Bondi’s posted up a heap of job ads on its site, so those looking forward to LA Noire should be cheered a little by the fact work appears to be properly happening on the mysterious Rockstar game.

Don’t get too excited, though. We’re assuming the fact the Australian outfit is advertising for a “lead animator” and a “senior gameplay programmer” probably means you’re not going to be playing this for a good time yet.

Still. LA Noire! Thanks, Kotaku.

In the absence of anything concrete on Halo: ODST, Bungie’s grabbed new hi-res shots from the TGS trailer. A slow day for the chaps in Seattle, clearly.

Something’s better than nothing though, obviously. Out at the end of the year. More from GDC, please.

Images after the break.

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PS3F‘s got a bunch of direct feed Uncharted: Among Thieves screens, and very lovely they are too.

There’s no date on the PS3 exclusive as yet, and few details apart from confirmation of a Tibetan storyline.

Still. Nice, aren’t they?

Insomniac’s detailed Resistance 2′s v1.4 patch on the PSBlog, listing a ton of stuff to be added to the shooter next Monday.

The update brings tweaks to multiplayer progression, new conditions for existing Trophies and loads more fixes.

Get everything through the link. Thanks, Gekidami.

Why not? CVG‘s got ten new Madworld screens for those of you that really don’t have anything better to do that look at videogames on the internet on a Friday night.

Out for Wii in March.

Littlebigplanet’s scooped ten Interactive Achievement Award nominations for the year, and will go up against Fallout 3, Grand Theft Auto IV, Left 4 Dead, and Metal Gear Solid 4 for game of the year.

The awards will take place during the D.I.C.E. Summit 2009, on February 19 at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas.

“This was an exciting year for games,” said Joseph Olin, president, AIAS.

“The depth of talent and creativity in this industry continues to amaze me and we are honored to highlight some of the most impressive games of the year at the Interactive Achievement Awards. The 2009 nominees indeed reflect a stronghold of talent embodying the best and brightest in this field.”

Press release after the break. Thanks, Kotaku.

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Criterion’s posted up details of a free Burnout Paradise patch slated to release on February 6, including news of an in-game browser, an in-game store and a “vehicle dynamics overhaul”.

“We’ve tweaked the handling on the first available cars, like the Hunter Cavalry, to make the game easier and more accessible,” said the developer in the post.

“These cars are now slower, harder to crash and less likely to spin out at low speeds. This’ll help any newcomers get into the game, but it also delivers greater variety between the early cars to the faster, more challenging later ones.”

Burnout Paradise is the single most heavily post-launch supported game in existence. Go buy it again so you can download some more content.

Microsoft’s confirmed ACES has been shuttered as part of 1,400 immediate job cuts.

The internal studio was responsible for the Flight Simulator series.

In a statement, Kelda Rericha of Edelman, Microsoft’s public relations firm, said that the decision was made within Microsoft’s Internal Entertainment Business “to align our people against our highest priorities.”

It’s not the end for Microsoft flight simulation, however.

“We are committed to the Flight Simulator franchise which has proven to be a successful PC based game for the last 27 years,” Rericha added.

“You should expect us to continue to invest in enabling great Live experiences on Windows, including flying games, but we have nothing specific to announce at this time.”

The closure was rumoured overnight.

There’s more on IGN.

Halo Wars is now gold, Microsoft’s announced, describing the RTS as “genre-defining”.

The Live demo will release on February 5 prior to launch on February 27.

Halo Wars is Ensemble’s last game: the studio will now close.

A series of vidocs is to be released in the run up to the game’s release, the first of which can now be downloaded from Live. Check Nelson for details.

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