Monthly Archives: February 2009

Rock Band owners will get two White Zombie tracks and one from Norwegian punk band Turbonegro next week.

The master recordings from White Zombie are More Human than Human and Black Sunshine, while the Turbonegro offering is the track Wasted Again.

Each will run the usual 160 MS Points ($2), and will arrive on February 17 and 19 for Xbox 360 and PS3 respectively.

Press release below.

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The British OPM has given Resident Evil 5 8/10.

The review says it’s a lot like Resident Evil 4, the AI for partner Sheva is good, the game is all about “panicked crisis management” and the usual picking and choosing your inventory items wisely.

Game’s out in March.

More here.

Jesus. According to this Variety report, Activision is threatening to sue EA over rights to publish DoubleFine’s Brutal Legend.

Apparently a letter has been sent to EA, and possibly DoubleFine itself. Activision’s supposedly claiming it thought it was still in negotiations to publish the game and therefore see’s EA’s deal on the title as invalid.

This, in no way, sounds as though Activision fucked up by letting the game go only to realise how much buzz surrounded the project a few months down the line. No way.

An EA staffer told Variety, “We doubt that Activision would try to sue. That would be like a husband abandoning his family and then suing after his wife meets a better looking guy.”

Story of the day.

If the Singularity trailers posted earlier weren’t enough to curb your time warp cravings, new shots and details from the latest issue of PC Zone should be welcome.

The game’s protagonist is US Air Force pilot, Nate Renko, who starts out in 2010 on his way to some strange Soviet island.

Things go awry from there, though, as you discover a secret Cold War weapon that manipulates time and allows you to blast objects back into the 1950s with chronostasis. You know: chronostasis.

Massive ticks (yes, the bug), portals, and grenades that freeze time are just some of the stuff involved.

Activison confirmed the Raven game for a Q4 release this week. It’s out for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

CVG has more, along with the new screens.

Valve’s Left 4 Dead is $24.99 on Steam this weekend, a 50 percent discount from the usual price.

So if you’ve been miserly up to now, here’s your chance to see what all the fuss is about. You won’t regret it, especially since the Survival Pack DLC arrives this spring for free.

More on Steam.

PS2′s Persona 4 will arrive in the UK on March 13, Square Enix said today.

The PAL box includes a special soundtrack CD with 24 songs.

The perennial supernatural detectives are involved in a new mystery, and will traverse yet more dungeons to battle even more bosses.

Game’s expected to last around 60 hours, so that should give you plenty to do in your spare time.

More over at Eurogamer, and CVG has 20 new screens for it here.

After it was announced yesterday that Midway would be filing for restructuring through Chapter 11, a top 30 list of creditors was found. It makes for shocking reading.

Looking over the figures, it shows that Midway owes $281,033,000: the firm’s $167,523,000 isn’t going to cover it by a long shot.

• Wells Fargo Bank – $150,000,000
• Acquisition Holdings Subsidiary – $40,000,000 unsecured loan (Thomas is the mystery man who purchased Midway late in 2008)
• National Amusements, Inc. – $20,147,864
• NBA Properties, Inc. – $17,294,849 (License/royalty settlement)
• Tangible Media, Inc. – $8,675,954
• Warner Bros. Interactive – $6,654,203
• Artificial Mind & Movement – $2,000,000
• Epic Games – $1,975,000 (License/Royalties)
• Walmart – $1,576,035
• Far Sight Technologies – $1,279,151
• Best Buy – $1,114,036
• Target – $934,156
• Technicolor Video Services – $637,769
• Toys R Us – $615,276
• Ditan/Synergex Canada – $578,316
• CBS Outernet – $314,600
• David Zucker – $300,000 (severance pay)
• Multi Packaging Solutions – $287,036
• A.A.F.E.S Headquarters – $276,314
• Kmart – $218,497
• Tigon Studios – $200,000(license/royalties)
• Hollywood Entertainment – $190,982
• TNA Entertainment – $160,000 (license/royalties)
• Professional Films, Inc. – $150,000
• Synergex – Latin America – $149,027
• Pioneer.JB Marketing – $133,353
• Eclipse Advertising – $132,687
• GameStop – $127,250
• Sears & Roebuck – $125,495

More over at GamePolitics.

In an extensive interview with Cryptic Studios’ Craig Zinkievich over on MTV Multiplayer, the developer’s confirmed that the likes of Kirk, Spock, or any of the other original cast members from Star Trek the TV show will not appear in Star Trek Online.

The game takes place far in the future, essentially. Tiberius and the gang are all long gone.

Guess that means no promiscuous space sex with green women for us. Damn.

More through the link.

WoW senior game designer Greg Street has detailed the game’s upcoming dual talent system in a Q&A over on the MMO’s official site.

Only two specs will be available at launch and will allow players to switch between customizations easier. One can be for healing and the other damage, or if you prefer, one for raiding and one for PvP.

To apply these specs to your character, you will have to visit your NPC class trainer and pay a one-time fee — after which you can switch between them for free at any Lexicon of Power.

The update’s expected in the next patch.

The option will only be available for level 80s at first, as Blizzard didn’t want lower levels to get bogged down with the “extra complexity” of the changes while still learning the game. However, Street did point out that if the feature proves to be popular, they may consider expanding it to everyone.

Loads more information can be found through the link.

The embargo just lifted on the God of War III LA event this week, meaning a bunch of sites just went live with their impressions, interviews and screens.

And here they are. A new trailer’s been released, if you missed it. It’s bonkers good, to be blunt.

• Destructoid – Preview
• 1UP – Preview
• 1UP – “Sony Will Announce God of War 3 Date at E3″
• 1UP – Director interview
• Joystiq – Preview
• Joystiq – Director initerview
• Kotaku – Preview
• IGN – Preview
• Gamespot – Preview
• Gamespot – Video interview
• Worthplaying – Preview
• Worthplaying – Director interview

The PS Blog‘s gone live with the first God of War III movie. Watch it after the break.

There’s a Q&A through the link as well, taken from the press event earlier this week in LA, but no hi-res screens.

More soon, hopefully.

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The latest OXM UK has the first details on the second DLC expansion for Fallout 3, titled The Pitt, which is scheduled to arrive in March.

Set in Pittsburgh’s steel-making district, OXM describes the industrial area as a “stunning dystopia that’s unlike any other area in Fallout 3′s world,” complete with a large dungeon, abandoned steel yards, and two areas occupied by slaves and their masters.

Expect more side quests, a new unique item called the Auto Axe, the ability to interact with Raiders instead of fighting them, and much more.

More through here.

The Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) has bestowed the title “Video Game of the Year” to Grand Theft Auto IV during the 2009 Video Game Home Entertainment Awards.

Call of Duty: World at War and Wii Fit took home three awards each. Mario Kart Wii won “Racing Game of the Year” as well as one for “Family/Children’s Game of the Year”.

Here’s the full list:

• Video Game of the Year – GTA IV
• Most Innovative – Wii Fit
• Best Third Party Publisher – Electronic Arts

Game of the Year Titles:

• DS – Guitar Hero: On Tour (Bundle)
• PC – World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
• PS2 – Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• PS3 – Call of Duty World at War
• PSP – God of War: Chains of Olympus
• Wii – Wii Fit
• Xbox 360 – Call of Duty: World at War
• Action/Adventure – GTA IV
• Casual – Wii Fit
• Family/Children’s – Mario Kart Wii
• Fighting – Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe
• Game Graphics – Gears of War 2
• Non-sequel – Left 4 Dead
• Racing – Mario Kart Wii
• RPG/Strategy – Fallout 3
• Shooter/Military – Call of Duty: World at War
• Sports – Madden NFL 09

Full press release after the break.

Thanks, GameDaily

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Laura Fryer‭, Gears of War 2′s executive producer, has jumped ship to Warner Bros.

She will now head up FEAR‭ ‬2‭’‬s Monolith Productions, as well as Snowblind Studios, as the general manager of Warner’s Seattle operation.

“‬Laura’s extensive career demonstrates her great understanding of the process and her ability to innovatively grow our development studios,‭” said Samantha Ryan,‭ development boss at Warner Bros.‭

‬“Utilizing her expertise to direct our‭ ‬Seattle studios in several key areas,‭ ‬we are looking forward to developing quality games under her leadership in the most efficient ways.‭”

Press release here.

GameTrailers TV’s to be the first TV show on PSN, Spike’s announced, as you can see in the video after the break.

Geoff Keighley – confirmed this morning as having signed a fresh multi-year deal with Spike – is to kick off the inclusion into Sony’s online service with a visit to Sucker Punch and the first showing a new inFamous trailer.

Dandy. Take a look. No news on whether or not this is going to be available in both the US and Europe.

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Disney’s Black Rock studio has released a teaser for a new racing project, as you can see after the break.

More info’s promised in March.

Black Rock was the outfit behind ATV racer Pure.

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Motorhead frontman Lemmy’s to appear in Guitar Hero: Metallica, as you can see on Metallica’s website.

That’s it. But it’s Lemmy, so good news. Metallica’s promising another character reveal soon, so keep an eye out for that. Probably Kylie, or something.

Game’s out March 20 for PS3, Wii and Xbox 360, in the US at least. The PS2 version is expected to land May 1.

Future’s confirmed to VG247 that 19 staff have been laid off from its US operation today.

“Our colleagues at Future US have today announced 19 redundancies across its teams in San Francisco and New York,” said a UK spokesperson.

“These changes were made in line with Future’s stated strategy of focussing on structure and costs in a severe global economic downturn.”

It’s unknown which sectors of the company have been impacted.

The above statement was issued internally to the company today, and we’ve been directed to the San Francisco office for further details.

Future is the world’s largest publisher of games magazines, which yesterday announced less than stellar circulation figures for its UK books.

It is also the publisher of the GameRadar Network, which contains mainstream sites CVG and GamesRadar.

Raven’s put out some new viral vids for Singularity, its Q4 Acti Blizz shooter. After the break.

The Russians are covering things up. They’re zapping bits of metal and getting vapourised when they “increase power”. There’s an island. Or is there?

Bottom line: hole in time and you get to shoot shit. There’s no gameplay in these, but you’re bored and it’s Friday afternoon. Don’t bother pretending you’ve got anything better to do.

Thanks, RPS.

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Eidos has confirmed that a Trophy patch is in the works for the PS3 version of Tomb Raider: Underworld.

Community manager Keir Edmonds dropped the news on the Tomb Raider forums.

“Lots of people have been asking about trophy support for the PS3,” he said.

“The guys at Crystal have been looking into this for a long time because they really wanted to include it. The good news is that I can confirm that a patch for the PS3 version of Tomb Raider: Underworld is being worked on that will enable Trophy Support.

“I don’t have an exact date for you yet.”

Thanks, TombRaiderFanboy.