Monthly Archives: February 2009

A very busy, flashy inFamous trailer is posted after the jump.

Called “I am Scared”, you may wish to skip it if you’re prone to fits and twitching.

The PS3 exclusive’s out May 1 in the US and scheduled for March or September in the UK–depending on which retailer you check.

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Bill Roper has told MTV that it’s too early to write off Warhammer Online just yet.

“It’s so funny, I hear half the people are saying, ‘Oh gosh, Warhammer looks like it isn’t doing so great’, because they said they had [dropped to] 300,000 subscribers”, said the Cryptic boss.

“Those are not bad numbers. And I think people look at it and go, ‘Well, WoW has got 11 million and your game only has 300,000, your game must not be doing good’.

“I know many games out there that would love to have 300,000 subscribers”, he added.

Roper said that MMO players go back and forth between games – especially when new expansions come out – so you have to give numbers time to rise again.

To help balance out server populations, Mythic announced that more free character transfers began yesterday, and as an incentive to switch you’ll get a 20 percent experience and renown bonus for a limited time.

Thanks, Massively

Never one to shy away from topical humor, Rockstar has put out a new Chinatown Wars promo poking fun at the recent bank bailout, saying that only “corporate criminals” get handouts.

Youch!

The small commercial was made exclusively for GameStop. Watch through the jump.

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Two new shots of The Old Republic were released today, but they’re nothing more than artwork. Nothing near as interesting as last week’s look at Hutt.

No word yet on when we will be able to bring balance to the force.

In the meantime, check out the screens over at Gamespot.

Want to know why the Unreal Tournament 3 Titan Pack won’t be released on 360? Simple, really: there’s loads of reasons.

This from an Epic email sent to fans, as published by Destructoid:

The file size limitations prevent us from releasing it, not to mention we have things like split-screen support (which 360 already has), maps that are already in the 360 version, the integrated mod browser (which 360 doesn’t support)… the list goes on. Obviously, we are big supporters of Xbox 360 (Gears, anyone?) but there are significant hurdles keeping us from shipping the Titan Pack for Microsoft’s platform.

And there we are. More through the link.

Codemasters plans to release multiple downloadable content packs for Dirt 2 after the game’s September release.

“We have plans to launch a number of small DLC packs soon after launch which players can use to personalize and augment the boxed game,” dev boss Gavin Raeburn told CVG.

The game was shown in the US this week as part of Codemasters’ Gamer Day.

Thanks, Joystiq.

After the break. There’s in-game footage there, and it’s all very shooty.

Not much to say, really. If you’ve got an iPhone or iPod touch you’d be a bit daft not to buy it.

Official site here. No date.

Thanks, Johnny Cullen.

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BioWare QA chap Jack Lamden has confirmed that those hankering for Mass Effect 2 will benefit from hanging onto their progress from the first games.

“Hang on to your Mass Effect 1 saves,” said the developer in a forum post.

How saved from the first game will affect play in the sequel is unconfirmed.

The first Mass Effect 2 movie was shown last night, as seen here.

No date or platforms for the game have been announced as yet.

Never saw this coming.

Deep Silver has released details of Russell Grant’s Astrology, the “infotainment” game for DS.

Players will be able to check horoscopes, enrol in the AstroAcademy, and play numerous puzzle games.

It’s out this spring.

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Variety‘s rumoring that Activision’s now confirmed Q4 Hawk game will have a “skateboard” peripheral. Big shock there.

A source has told the site that the peripheral will be more about “grabbing and manipulating the board to pull of all tricks” than for actual balancing.

It’s expected to release on PS3 and 360. Apparently the Wii version will not use the Wii Balance Board.

Robomodo’s supposedly working on the peripheral, and future Tony Hawk titles are expected to use it if all goes well.

More through the link.

Sony Japan’s put out a call for testers for a “new games machine,” although details haven’t been supplied.

The job listing says that, if accepted, applicants will “be part of an advisory staff that will play PlayStation series software on this new machine and check its functionality.”

They will also be able to “test game machines not yet released or new functionality of PS3 peripherals before they are released.”

While no new hardware iterations from Sony have been confirmed as yet, Eurogamer rumoured towards the end of last year that PSP-4000 would launch in 2009.

Thanks, Gamespot.

Warner Bros has revealed that Common, Moon Bloodgood, and Rose McGowan will lend their voices and pixelated forms to upcoming Terminator Salvation.

Common and Bloodgood are reprising their roles from the film, while Rose McGowan voices a role exclusive to the game.

She plays Angie Salter, a ex-elementary school teacher.

Christian Bale isn’t involved, apparently.

It’s is out May 22, alongside the film.

Press release below.

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After the break. They’re bits of art, but images nonetheless.

BioWare showed the hugely anticipated sci-fi sequel for the first time last night, although solid details went begging.

Take a look at these in the meantime.

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US PS3 owners’ video update this week has ten different HD offerings including Saw V, Igor and Pineapple Express.

Loads of non-HD offerings include Dead Like Me, Quarantine, and Kiss of the Dragon.

There’s TV stuff too. Stargate SG-1: Seasons 1-10, The Simpsons: Season 20 and the ongoing Season 7 of Family Guy are all in there.

Head on over to the PS Blog for the full list.

Koei is to double its workforce in Singapore because of its merger with Tecmo.

The company is planning on hiring an 60 extra staff members in April to help compete with the other firms in the area such as Ubisoft, EA and LucasArts.

Currently, there are 50 staff at Koei’s Singapore outfit, and founder Keiko Erikawa will not be “satisfied until we further strengthen the development capabilities of the Singapore studio,‭ ‬both in quantity and in quality”.

“Our objective is to groom a pool of talented and passionate developers who want to do Singapore proud and work relentlessly towards creating best-selling titles targeted at the global audience,‭” ‬she added.

Rock Band’s getting five new country alternative acts, along with Jimmy Eat World, on Xbox 360 and PS3 February 24 and 26 respectively.

Individual tracks will run you 160 MS Points ($2.00), the Alternative Country Pack 01 will be 680 points ($8.50), and the Jimmy Eat World 3-song Pack 440 points ($5.50).

Alt Country Pack includes:

• Neko Case – People Got A Lotta Nerve
• Lucinda Williams – Can’t Let Go
• Steve Earl – Satellite Radio
• Drive-By Truckers – Three Dimes Down
• Old 97’s – Timebomb (live)

The Jimmy Eat World Track Pack includes the tracks are Lucky Denver Mint, Futures and Sweetness.

The senior games buyer for HMV says the chain has received “substantial pre-orders” in-store and online for DSi, and expects more over the weekend.

“We’re all really excited about what we can do with this product in store and are working closely with Nintendo on some great launch day plans”, Toby Burton told GamesIndustry.biz.

“The price will sit very well with consumers, and we’ll be communicating the key benefits of the DSi to our customers to reinforce the excellent value of this product.”

Burton said he felt that despite having two Nintendo handheld models, there is plenty of room for both on the market.

“I think the price difference is enough to really give the consumer two clear options when deciding on purchasing a console.

“Those that want the core gaming experience but are worried about spending too much money will still come out and pick up the DS Lite as it represents excellent value for money.”

Starbreeze Studios has reported $2.84 million in sales and $627,000 in profit for the three months ending on December 31.

And the future’s bright. Announcing an upcoming EA Bourne game hasn’t hurt matters any.

“This news was enormously popular in the industry and also in many newspapers outside the games world,” said CEO Johan Kristiansson.

“Revenue figures for the books and movies on Jason Bourne show that it is one of the largest properties currently in existence in the entertainment industry.

“It feels like a very good vote of confidence for our work that the EA, the world’s leading game publisher, wants to start a project of this caliber with Starbreeze.”

As well as the new Jason Bourne title, Starbreeze is working on the Atari backed Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, expected in April.

Speaking at DICE today, Gamestop CEO J Paul Raines claimed that secondhand sales don’t impact the success of new games.

“Do used game sales hurt new game sales?” he asked. “No.”

Raines said that only 4 percent of GameStop’s used game sales are for titles that debuted in the last 60 days.

The retailer’s surveys of 2,000 gamers show that gamers view used games as a way to try out new kinds of games they wouldn’t otherwise have played, said Raines.

Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter was sitting in the audience at Raines’ talk and begged to differ, however, saying that around 20 percent of Gamestop’s business – some $2 billion – was based on used game sales.

More on VentureBeat.

Janco Mike Hickey has forecasted that US video game sales will reach $20 billion in 2009, growing 6.7 percent over 2008′s $18.8 billion.

The figure is minus accessories.

“We continue to believe video games offer an exceedingly strong value proposition for consumers in the current economic malaise, and should continue to over index other forms of entertainment,” said the analyst.

Software sales will account for $12.6 billion of the figure, said Hickey, up 15.3 percent over $10.96 billion in 2008.

More on Gamasutra.