Monthly Archives: January 2009

Following on from the earlier story that the Star Ocean IV US release date moved forward a week, Sqaure Enix has told IGN that there are currently “no plans” for a PlayStation 3 release.

“…there are currently no plans for a PlayStation 3 version,” said the development team when asked.

Square Enix issued the exact same statement back in June last year.

Full interview with the Star Ocean devs through the IGN link.

By Mike Bowden

Over on THQ’s site you can see a rather super looking new Dawn of War II gameplay video showing the Tyranid race.

The amount of sprites on screen, the complete array of colour, all running at a rock solid frame rate is really rather impressive we hope you’ll agree.

If Relic’s strategy slayer is your cup of tea, then you’ll be pleased to know that the Dawn of War II beta starts at the end of the month.

Now go watch.

By Mike Bowden

Oh sure, you’ll sneak a DSi into your stringent, economy-friendly budget because your DS Lite’s obsolete insides can’t handle a spicy slice of DLC, but you’re probably some form of “hardcore” gamer. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, though – he believes that every member of your family pines for two full screens of their own. The greedy, disgusting pigs.

The DSi, Iwata explained in an interview with Yomiuri Shimbun (via Wired), by virtue of its ability to download games, can be “customized for the individual.” Thus, he hopes to “create a trend in which each family member will have his or her own DSi with their favorite software installed.”

Certainly, downloads are the way of the future, but isn’t Nintendo’s holy writ able to be stored on an SD card after being downloaded to the DSi? Couldn’t family members simply supply their own SD cards while gathered around a communal DSi?

We fear we’ve said too much.

By Nathan Grayson

Square Enix RPG Star Ocean: The Last Hope is officially hitting the streets one week early – at least, if you live in North America.

According to an email received by GameCyte, Square Enix has decided to give the Xbox 360-exclusive’s release date a slight tummy-tuck, resulting in a February 24 release date.

Other territories’ dates, however, remain unchanged, with Japan joining Edge Maverick and co. on February 19, and Europe on April 24.

We intend to slay this three DVD-ed beast as soon as humanly possible. How about you?

By Nathan Grayson

As you’ve probably realised, the Consumer Electronics Show was held in Las Vegas this week and we’ve done our level best to capture everything that we felt was newsworthy.

However, these all stories are scattered randomly around the site which simply won’t do, as we’re sure you’ll agree.

What we’d thought we’d do is put everything in one place to make it easier for everybody as we know clicking a mouse and using a scroll wheel is really hard work.

So, after the break you’ll find every CES 09 story ever published on videogaming247.com ever.

By Mike Bowden

More »

Warner Bros. confirmed to SI today that a demo for F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin will be released on both the EU PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Marketplace at the end of January.

News broke earlier that the US PS3 demo would be exclusive to Qore subscribers only.

More through the link.

By Mike Bowden

Square Enix has launched the official websites for its so-anticipated-it-hurts RPGs Final Fantasy XIII and FFXIII Versus.

The Versus site is a little threadbare at present but the main FFXIII site is full to the brim with high resolution images meaning that scans are just a thing of the past.

Looking very good indeed, but then again, it has from day one. Just release it already.

Final Fantasy XIII is out for Xbox 360 and PS3 later this year whilst FFXIII Versus remains a Sony exclusive.

Thanks, PS3F.

By Mike Bowden

Not content with giving us new Street Fighter IV, Dead Rising Wii and Resident Evil 5 media, Capcom has released a new trailer (after the link) and 25 new screenshots of its XBLA/PSN title, Flock.

Wanna make some crop circles and herd some sheep? Then Flock is for you.

Out next month. Check it all out.

By Mike Bowden

More »

Speaking at the Sony keynote at CES 09 yesterday, CEO Howard Stringer said that PlayStation 3 and PSP now have an accumulated userbase of over 61 million units.

Stringer then gave the mic to Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Kaz Hirai who proclaimed that $1m dollars of gumpf has been sold through Sony Home.

You can watch all of Stringer’s speech here.

By Mike Bowden

According to this GI piece, Eidos has lowered its forecasts for 2009 from £160 million to £180 million, compared to previous estimates of £180 million to £200 million blaming disappointing sales of triple A products as the cause.

“On a global basis our sell through to 31 December, which we estimate at approximately 1.5 million units, is below our internal forecasts, primarily due to a lower start in North America,” said the company.

“In a difficult North American economy we have seen retailers restricting inventory levels and triple-A products being price discounted above our expectation.”

So, Tomb Raider not doing as well as expected, perhaps?

The company added that it has “passed our peak net debt position and we retain sufficient headroom within our committed banking facility but given revised profit expectations we may need to enter into discussions with our lending bank regarding our June 2009 covenants.”

More through the link

Watch every second as maestros like CEO Howard Stringer and CEA president and CEO, Gary Shapiro, talk about the economy, Sony’s ‘Innovation Checklist’, PlayStation 3 and Home at CES 09 after the break.

Oh, and there’s Tom Hanks and Reggie Jackson as well.

After the break.

By Mike Bowden

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Speaking to videogaming247, Terminal Reality chief Mark Randel confirmed the news that Ghostbusters: The videogame will release in June and declared: “It will be a huge Ghostbusters week!”

“Yes, that is correct, we have always been planning day and date release with the Blu-ray discs,” said Mark.

“It will be a huge Ghostbusters week!”

As to whether we will see any kind of special edition Blu Ray movie/game box set, Randel said: “I cannot comment about the contents of a special version of the game other that it’s still in the planning stages…”

Ghostbusters was recently snapped up by Atari after being put out to tender by Activision last year.

By Mike Bowden

In this, the last chart of the Japanese calender year sees last week’s winning débutante White Knight Chronicles slip to sixth with sales down 65% from 206,954, to just 71,000.

Last week’s charts here. Thanks, Media Create.

Information is for December 29 through January 4:

01. [PSP] Dissidia Final Fantasy (Square Enix) 104,000 / 770,000
02. [NDS] Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo) 89,000 / 1,535,000
03. [NDS] Kirby Super Star Ultra (Nintendo) 77,000 / 998,000
04. [WII] Wii Fit (Nintendo) 74,000 / 3,125,000
05. [WII] Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo) 73,000 / 949,000
06. [PS3] White Knight Chronicles (SCE) 71,000 / 278,000
07. [NDS] Wagamama Fashion: Girl’s Mode (Nintendo) 68,000 / 615,000
08. [WII] Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo) 67,000 / 2,133,000
09. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Best) (Capcom) 62,000 / 271,000
10. [NDS] Momotaro Dentetsu 20th Anniversary (Hudson) 57,000 / 204,000

In what can only be described as a CES 09 Killzone 2 media blowout, five new gameplay trailers for the Guerilla super-shooter have crept their way off the show floor and onto the internets.

Amongst gunplay and cut scenes, you can even see a whole building completely collapse (4th video down) as just as we told you when we played it at last year’s Expo.

In fact, to use the more everyday colloquial vernacular, this game looks bloody stunning and we can’t bloomin’ wait for it.

Go watch.

By Mike Bowden

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Watch below as your character runs around electrocuting people in the face in a tunnel. It’s what games and gaming is all about.

Sucker Punch’s inFAMOUS is a PS3 exclusive and is due out this year.

More »

We’re combining the two updates this week with the US info coming from PSBlog and the EU update courtesy of PS3F.

There’s enough content to keep every one happy this week, we reckon, with the US getting a sweet sounding Uncharted II behind the scenes movie and Europe getting the Lord of the Rings: Conquest demo.

Full content list for both regions after the break.

By Mike Bowden

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The official SOCOM sitehas revealed that the 1.30 update has been approved and should have gone live at around 10am this morning.

The update fixes over 100 issues and promises that “framerate/lag hitches fixed and many gameplay issues resolved.”

So there you have it.

By Mike Bowden

Included in a press release issued yesterday detailing Gamestop’s Christmas sales surge and share hike, company chief executive Daniel DeMatteo described Sony’s PlayStation 3 as a “great machine” but added that he felt it was a little too pricey for the current economic climate.

From the release:

DeMatteo called Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3 a “great machine,” but said it is just a bit pricey for the current economic environment. The cheapest Xbox 360, which comes without a hard drive, costs $200 and the Wii is $250. Sony Corp.’s 80-gigabyte PlayStation 3 console, which includes a Blu-ray player, sells for $400.

Sony issued a statement yesterday essentially saying that PS3 is better value for money than any of its competitors.

By Mike Bowden

After the break. Although many people think an RTS can’t be adequately done on a console, we must say, this does look rather special.

Ensemble Studios’ swansong goes on sale Feb 27 in Europe with a demo due February 5.

By Mike Bowden

More »

Cryptic has published its first “Ask Cryptic” article this year and it’s chock full about artwork and your ship’s capabilities.

For example, on the subject of art:

We’re aiming for a fantastical style, not a “cartoony” one. It’s going to look realistic, in terms of planets, environments, and characters, but we want to take it up a notch and make it feel more fantastic. We’re going to give it that sense of wonder and vibrancy that you expect from Star Trek.

Much more through the link.

By Mike Bowden