Monthly Archives: January 2009

D-Pad has noticed that within the new Burnout Paradise: Ultimate Box trailer is proof the police are coming to Paradise City.

On 19 seconds you can see a police car (pictured above), and on 60 seconds you can see the new Burnout Store you can see a mouse hovering over a PCPD Badge (Paradise City Police Department) with the words ‘coming soon’ underneath.

We’ve contacted Criterion for comment.

See for yourself after the break.

By Mike Bowden

More »

Halo Wars lead producer Jason pace has to EG that a new company formed from the ashes of Ensemble will be taking care of aftercare for the console exclusive RTS.

“Ensemble is, as I’m sure you know, forming a new company, and they will be helping us support the title moving forward, so: bug patches, any kind of fixes – we’ll have all those folks available to work on it,” said Jason.

“As a studio right now, we’re talking about what we’d like to do to carry this game forward. We’re really excited about this game. We obviously have a lot of ideas of areas we’d like to go.

“We haven’t committed to anything yet, but I believe you’ll probably be hearing something soon.”

More through the link.

By Mike Bowden

Jason Pace, lead producer on Halo wars and keeper of the Halo franchise, told Eurogamer that Microsoft Game Studios is looking to expand the “entertainment property” that is Halo in as many different directions as possible.

“We tend to view the franchise side of Halo as an entertainment property, and something that we hope to expand in many different directions: both through additional genres of gaming and additional ways to tell the story that may not be game-related at all,” said Pace.

“So I think it’s fair to say we’re always looking for new opportunities, new genres to tell the story in. And whenever we find a great fit we’ll pursue it.”

When quizzed on the now fabled Peter Jackson Halo game that was announced 100 years ago at X06, Pace replied: “That I’m not at liberty to comment on.”

By Mike Bowden

Kotaku’s rumouring that 55 members of EA Canada’s Burnaby studios are looking for work after becoming victims of the ongoing lay-offs at the company.

The “source” also reckons that these latest cuts could mean the untimely demise of Need For Speed PSP.

When the site contacted EA, it was met with the standard response:

“As announced in February, all EA divisions and facilities worldwide are subject to a cost cutting initiative that will impact roughly 10 percent of the employee population,” read a statement.

“Those cuts will take place between December and the end of our fiscal year in March.”

By Mike Bowden

The official Austrian Xbox blog done a poo poo. The site apparently posted shots and info from the upcoming Halo 3 Mythic map pack last night, content that appears to have magically disappeared.

1UP stole it all, fortunately. Bungie’s since posted them on its site.

There’s a shot each for one of the three maps involved, namely Sanbox, Assembly and Orbital.

No date on release.

KBC Financial Products analyst Hiroshi Kamide has clarified a comment he made yesterday in which he said “something big has gone wrong” at Nintendo.

Kamide made the remark in light of a 33 percent drop in yearly profit expectation from the Kyoto firm.

“It’s big in the respect that Wii demand is not being seen at all in Japan, and that they felt they had to reduce annual guidance,” the analyst told Kotaku.

“Why didn’t they just pre-plan and cater to markets where there was demand (or heaven forbid they have enough supply perhaps)?”

Nintendo reduced its estimated full-year profits yesterday with the release of third quarter financials.

Kamide said the move signalled a tough time for the company in the fourth quarter, where margins would be squeezed harder than Nintendo had experienced in the past three years.

According to the latest Pulse edition, LBP DLC was the most downloaded content from PSN last month.

The Metal Gear Solid Level Kit topped the chart, with the MGS Costume Kit in second. The COD4 Variety Map Pack was third.

Get the full top ten from Joystiq.

In a nutshell: everything sold less well than it did last week, but DSi won. Be sure to check back for more in-depth analysis next Friday.

• DSi – 51,618
• PSP – 38,280
• Wii – 26,770
• PS3 – 17,708
• DS Lite – 13,686
• Xbox 360 – 7,663
• PS2 – 5,077

According to this PS3Attitude report, shooter Faith and a .45 has been put on hold thanks to a lack of publisher.

The game was shown around this time last year with a view to securing a deal at GDC 08.

Total Overdose outfit Deadline Games is responsible for it. Watch the video after the link. Is this really unpublishable?

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Disney’s confirmed it’s to drop some American staff, namely “less than 20″ employees from a consolidation from the firm’s Fall Line Studio into Avalanche, according to spokeswoman Angela Emery.

Both outfits are based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

In addition, around 30 staff are to be cut from Vancouver-based Propoganda.

In a note to staff, Disney Internet Group president Steve Wadsworth said, “The elimination of existing positions that we communicated today was a necessary step that we had hoped to avoid.

“In addition to all of these changes, we have also determined that Directors and above will not be receiving merit increases this year. All of these actions are part of a focused effort to ensure we are closely managing the organization through the current economic climate, balancing our need to respond to the current environment with our goal of driving significant long-term growth.”

More on Kotaku and GameDaily.

Get it from the PSBlog. Burnout Paradise has been dropped to $20, making it now officially the most buyable game in the entire world. Bejeweled 2′s there as well, as promised yesterday.

Chuck in a LittleBigPlanet God of War Mini Pack and it’s all coming up roses. Coming up something, anyway.

Ensemble head Bruce Shelley’s made his final blog update before the studio closes, confirming that “at least” two new studios are to be born from the ashes.

“There are at least two new studios being formed by ES employees and I expect both to do very well,” he said.

“There were a lot of outstanding game developers here and it will be interesting to see how and what they do, both individually and as new groups, in the years ahead.”

Microsoft decided to close the studio following the completion of Halo Wars.

Shelley added a sentimental note to the closure: the development legend was employee number four at Ensemble in 1995.

“We are working our way through the final week with mixed emotions,” he said.

“We have a lot to be proud of and new opportunities are beckoning, but it is also sad to see this particular great adventure coming to an end.”

Halo Wars releases on February 27.

THQ is to restructure its wireless division, the publisher said today, amid ridiculous rumours of the company itself closing.

N-Europe originated the talk with this piece, which drew baffled MSN messages from UK trade chatterers.

THQ eventually debunked the story, saying its wireless division was to take a hit.

“Today, we advised our staff of a restructuring of our wireless subsidiary in Europe,” said European PR boss Sam Forrest.

“That’s all that has happened. The remainder of the Woking based THQ operation were unaffected by this restructure in the wireless subsidiary.”

Down to DEFCON 3. Unlock the mountain.

Update: Kamide’s clarified this comment here.

Following news of a major check in estimated yearly profits from Nintendo today, one analyst has predicted the firm will face serious trouble at the end of its financial year. That’s the quarter ending March 31 this year.

“Today’s revision suggests that the roaring pace of Wii growth that we’ve seen until now may be over,” KBC Financial Products analyst Hiroshi Kamide told the Times.

“The numbers also imply that we are going to see a sudden collapse in the fourth quarter from record margins to some of the thinnest margins Nintendo has experienced for three years.”

The downgrade could imply that “they know something big has gone wrong, and that people are not buying the machines,” Kamide added.

Is this it? The end of the waggling, stylus-driven dream? Place your bets now.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

Blizzard’s put out some new Starcraft II shots today likely to have fans dribbling at the prospect. See them on Shacknews.

One of them shows a huge Zerg rush, with hundreds of the little blighters going bonkers on the Terrans.

Probably serves them right. No date on it yet.

Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket Powered Battle Cars! What more could you want? A free Mirror’s Edge map? You really are in luck. Full update below, thanks to Joystiq.

Playable Content

• Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket Powered Battle Cars full game (£7.99/€9.99)

Add-on Content

• Mirror’s Edge PS3 Exclusive map (free)
• Skate 2 “Filmer” pack (£4.79/€5.99)
• Lord of the Rings: Conquest “Hero Arena” bonus pack (free)
• LittleBigPlanet DLC (listed after the break)
• Rock Band 2 DLC (listed after the break)
• Guitar Hero World Tour DLC (listed after the break)

Videos

• Magic Ball trailer
• Final Fantasy XIII trailer (!!!)
• High Velocity Bowling “characters” trailer

LittleBigPlanet DLC

• Ground Hog Day costume (free)
• Chinese New Year costumes (free)
• Ape Escape costume (£1.59/€1.99)
• Kratos costume (£1.59/€1.99)
• Toro costume (£1.59/€1.99)
• God of War level kit (£2.59/€2.99)
  

Rock Band 2 DLC

Grateful Dead Pack 2 (£4.99/€7.99)

• “Hell In a Bucket” (£0.99/€1.49)
• “Don’t Ease Me In” (£0.99/€1.49)
• “Cold Rain & Snow” (£0.99/€1.49)
• “Doin’ That Rag” (£0.99/€1.49)
• “Fire On the Mountain” (£0.99/€1.49)
• “Uncle John’s Band” (£0.99/€1.49)

Guitar Hero World Tour DLC

• Bruce Springsteen track pack (free)

Themes

• Crash Commando “Maps” theme (free)

PSP Content

• Fight Night Round 3 full PSP game (£15.99/€19.99)
• Buzz! Master Quiz full PSP game (£19.99/€29.99)

After the break. Unless you’ve been under a brick today, the first reviews are in and everything’s looking dandy. Don’t look if you want to stay unspoiled, obviously.

Game’s out on February 27.

More »

We’re clearly in the wrong business. Gold farming site MyMMOShop.com has sold to private equity firm My MMO Inc. for a cool $10 million, according to this Kotaku report.

“MyMMOShop.com appealed to us because of its strong reputation for providing optimal customer service,” says Hunter Crowell, My MMO Inc.’s PR chap. “That focus will continue with our purchase.”

Crowell added that this type of investment is safe in rocky economic times.

Gamespot’s gone live with what looks like an exclusive on Eidos’s Batman: Arkham Asylum, including words, screens and video.

The preview’s based on an interview with Rocksteady lead designer Sefton Hill, and includes detail of the opening sequence, the general look of the Unreal Engine-developed game and more.

It’s out in the second quarter.

Update: IGN’s given it 9.4.

Update 2: More scores:

• Jeuxvideo – 17/20
• IGN AU – 9
• Gamereactor Denmark – 9
• Eurogamer Portugal – 10
• Eurogamer Italy – 9
• Eurogamer Spain – 10

Eurogamer’s gone live with its Killzone 2 review, giving the game 9/10.

Snip:

This is a methodical shooter that makes few concessions to those not already interested in its single-minded approach to cover-based military action. I’ve compared it to Rainbow Six in the past, but it also calls to mind F.E.A.R, another tough tactical effort that was often misunderstood by those expecting a frag-happy spook hunt. Killzone 2 is a taut and muscular game, a shooter that gives back more than you put in, provided you have the intestinal fortitude. It may take its time revealing its true depths and pleasures, but the journey is well worth taking. Between Killzone 2′s unforgiving grit and Resistance 2′s alien-bursting excess, the PS3 finally has both ends of the shooter spectrum covered in grand style.

We’ll bring you more scores as they come up. Game’s out later this month.