Monthly Archives: January 2009

Sony and Capcom have not been able to clarify to videogaming247.com whether the Resident Evil 5 demo, announced for 360 yesterday, will be coming to PSN.

Sony has told VG247 that it isn’t “told about 3rd party releases on the PSN until they go live” and Capcom says it has “nothing further to announce regarding the RE5 demo at the moment.”

Yesterday’s press release (below) made no mention of PlayStation 3 or PSN which led to questions as to whether PS3 owners would get a demo or not.

By Mike Bowden

More »

The latest Media-Create Japanese software sales are in and Sony is well represented indeed with a total of five games in the top ten.

Most notably White Knight Chronicles which is still doing well for the third week in a row.

Last week’s charts here.

Information is for December 29 through January 4:

01. [PSP] Dissidia Final Fantasy (Square Enix) 49,000 / 818,000
02. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP the Best) (Capcom) 34,000 / 305,000
03. [NDS] Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo) 33,000 / 1,568,000
04. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) 29,000 / 3,155,000
05. [NDS] Wagamama Fashion: Girl’s Mode (Nintendo) 29000 / 644,000
06. [PS3] White Knight Chronicles (SCE) 26000 / 304,000
07. [PS3] Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Spec III (SCE) 25,000 / 292,000
08. [PS2] Gundam Musou 2 (Limted Edition) (Namco Bandai) 25,000 / 225000
09. [NDS] Kirby Super Star Ultra (Nintendo) 23,000 / 1,021,000
10. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) 21,000 / 2,155,000

By Mike Bowden

Valve has release the promised Left 4 Dead patch for PC. 360 owners however, will have to wait as Valve has said that the console patch will be ready “in the coming weeks.”

Want to know what it fixes? Loads of stuff.

Full patch notes below.

By Mike Bowden

More »

Capcom UK has told videogaming247 that there is still no date for a European release of Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix on PlayStation Network.

“[SFIITHDR is still] not on EU PSN and doesn’t have a date yet,” a Capcom rep told us this morning.

The fighter was released on the US PSN and Xbox Live both in Europe and the US last year to great success, selling over 250,000 copies.

By Mike Bowden

The PSBlog has updated to reveal that Capcom’s Ultimate Ghost ‘n Goblins will be available to down for $20 on the US PSP store.

Ultimate Ghost ‘n Goblins was released for PSP in 2006 and was the first in the series to employ 3D graphics.

More through the link.

By Mike Bowden

Koei has issued ten new screenshots and a brand new trailer for its forthcoming handheld hack’n'slash affair, Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce.

The game is shaping up rather nicely and promises up to four player co-op, tougher enemies and big boss fights.

Trailer and images after the break.

By Mike Bowden

More »

Images after the break. Black Blox’s Skate 2 is looking more than we decent we think and if you didn’t already know, a demo was available from Xbox Live yesterday and should be ready to go on PSN today.

EA has said Black Box is to close after Sthe game’s release.

Skate 2 hits the streets January 21 in the US and worldwide on the 23rd.

By Mike Bowden

More »

During a lunch session at the Game Business Law summit, The NPD Group’s senior account manager, Michael Klotz, said that the games industry certainly isn’t as recession proof as some people believe.

“Previously, people thought that games might be recession-proof,” Klotz said.

“The game industry is growing, but it has been impacted by the recession. We probably would have seen even more growth if it hadn’t been impacted by the current economic climate in the U.S.”

It emerged yesterday that analyst firm, Lazard predicted that US software sales were expected to hit $10 billion for the month of December.

More over at GameDaily.

Sony Japan has unleashed new wardrobe app, Dress on unwitting Japanese PlayStation 3 owners today.

Sony has delivered real branded clothes from the likes of Puma and Beams or you can design your own togs if you want – take that Avatars!

The application was originally designed to be integrated with Home, but plans for that “are still up in the air,” writes Kotaku.

See Dress in action here, here and indeed, here.

By Mike Bowden

According to the latest issue of Famitsu, Bandai Namco and CyberConnect2 are preparing Manga RPG .hack//Link for PSP.

The game will be called .hack//Link: Knights of Twilight and will tell “an all-new story set ten years after the first .hack, which Famitsu speculates might be the finale for the series,” writes 1UP.

Release is TBA. Hopefully it’ll go West at some point.

By Mike Bowden

MTV has revealed that the 17 million subscribers to PSN that Sony announced at CES09 last week includes people who have created an account on the website, PS3 and PSP.

MTV said its eyebrows were raised after Sony announced the figure and decided to contact the company for clarification

“The PSN numbers (17M and 2.1M) include people who have created accounts on PS3, the Web site and PSP,” said a Sony rep.

“Note that since the implementation of single sign-on, PSN ID and PlayStation Underground IDs (which were often created at the same time when first making a PSN ID) were automatically merged and rolled over.”

“Additionally, since PSN is a free online gaming service, some households create multiple IDs so that a father can keep a separate list of friends, trophies and stats from that of his daughter for example,” added the spokesperson.

More through the link.

By Mike Bowden

Microsoft has told videogaming247 that Capacom’s Resident Evil 5 demo – announced yesterday – will also be coming to Europe.

“Yep, we’ll be getting this too,” a rep told us this morning.

The demo will land on January 26 on Xbox Live Marketplace.

PlayStation 3 owners get it a week later. Whether the demo will be available on the European PSN remains to clarified.

By Mike Bowden

SCEA director of hardware marketing, John Koller, told Gama the he believes PlayStation 3 is still in the “early adopter phase.”

“The PSP, from a handheld perspective, it’s more of a 13-17 year old, multi-ethnic, a bit lower-income as well,” he said when asked what type of demographic is buying Sony products.

“The PS3 is still in its early adopter phase, tech-oriented consumer… they’re interested in the multi-functionality of the system.”

More through the link.

Thanks, Destructoid.

According to PSU, the month’s Game Informer is talking up the idea that Rockstar will release a brand new Grand Theft Auto title by the end of 09.

“We’re not talking about new DLC or a collection of previously available DLC, we’re talking about a full retail game,” says the piece.

“We expect this title to follow the suit of previous GTAs and use a subtitle such as GTA: San Andreas, etc. Tokyo might be a possible setting for the game, but details are non-existent at this time.” – Game Informer Issue 190

We’re taking the safe, easy route and going with ‘absolutely not true.’

By Mike Bowden

This is what reporting the news is all about: delivering the message that there are now a dozen new free items of clothes to choose from for you Xbox Live Avatar.

Wait. It gets better. You cab even read what they are, right here, right now:

Boys:

• Striped Polo Shirt
• Striped Jacket with Polo
• Checked Jacket with Polo
• Open Neck Cardigan
• Embroidered Pants
• Suspenders with Hi Pants (Dress Up)

Girls:

• Hacking Jacket
• Chinos with Belt
• Rainy Day Boots
• Scarlet Pumps
• Lavender Polo Shirt

This is the news.

Thanks, 1UP.

By Mike Bowden

GSBlog announced last night that Terminal Reality’s BlowOut will be the next Xbox Originals game.

A quick perusal of the comments section reveals that many people were none too impressed with this choice:

• “F*ck off with the sh*t we’ve never heard of. Get some half decent games on there already.”
• “When the f*ck did this come out. How about KOTOR either of them, or any other of the top selling title from the original Xbox. What is Microsoft paying you people for.”
• “Ugh, I wish I could remember the right command. > kill proc PR_Bot.”

BlowOut will cost you 1200 MS Points.

Thanks, Joystiq.

By Mike Bowden

Major Nelson has announced that Capcom’s Resident Evil 5 demo will be available to download from Xbox Live Marketplace on January 26.

The demo is presumably the one that Japan got early last month. We grabbed it back then and can tell you that it’s really rather good indeed.

Earlier today, Capcom claimed that it feels Resi 5 could be the biggest Resident Evil yet in what could be the company’s strongest first quarter in its history.

We’re just checking to make sure that both Europe and PlayStation 3 are included in the January 26th Resident Evil love-in.

Update: According to PS3F, the demo will be ready to go on PlayStation Network from February 5.

We’ll check with Sony to ask if Europe is included.

By Mike Bowden

Activision has told videogaming247 that a release date for Guitar Hero Metallica Wii is still TBC, whilst the PlayStation 3 and 360 versions will have a simultaneous release in Europe in May.

“The release is simultaneous in May with Wii to follow (date tbc),” a company rep told VG247.

French Wii site LiveWii first broke the news yesterday issuing a release that also revealed a new Indiana Jones Wii game that was later removed due its inclusion being a “mistake” on Activision’s part.

By Mike Bowden

The latest issue Japan’s Shounen Jump Magazine (below) has a some details about a DS remake of Saga 2 Hihou Densetsu – or better known in the West as Final Fantasy Legends 2.

There really are no other details at present apart from the game will be in 3D.

Final Fantasy Legends 2 was released for the GameBoy back in 1991. It never made it to Europe.

We’ve contacted Square Enix for comment.

See the Shounen Jump cover below.

By Mike Bowden

Capcom senior marketing manager Michael Pattison said of the company’s “stellar” Q1 09 line up that it could be the strongest ever.

“It’s definitely going to be a strong quarter for us, maybe our strongest ever,” he said.

“Our hopes for our Q1 line-up are very high indeed. Resident Evil is by all accounts going to be the biggest title in the series to date, reaching the widest user base in its history,” he concluded.

For Capcom’s full Q1 line up, hit the ‘stellar’ link above.

Thanks, MCV.

By Mike Bowden