Monthly Archives: February 2009

EUK’s former games bossman John Stanhope has a new job with Tesco as its senior buying manager, says MCV.

Stanhope was previously Woolworths’ head of the commercial division before the chain went under in November 2008.

Entertianment director for Tesco, Rob Salter, said that “John has the respect and trust of the industry and the appointment will enable us to continue to work closely with our partners as we drive the business forward.”

Good for John. Hope all Woolworths employees are as lucky.

God of War 2 director Cory Barlog has admitted in a 1UP interview that Phil Harrison questioned the wisdom of putting God of War 2 on PS2 instead of PS3, a tactic endorsed by now head of worldwide studios at Sony, Shuhei Yoshida.

The full quote:

Shuhei was handling a lot of the projects through all the studios in America. He was pushing for PS2, and I was kind of on the fence. PS2 for me was like, “We can make a really great game; we don’t have to catch up with the technology and start from scratch.” We could focus on just making a great game, hence the reason that it was bigger and just had more content, and we could focus on refining everything that we had.

But Phil had brought it up, “Why aren’t we doing this on PS3?” I was actually in a presentation for the game I think a year into it, or maybe eight months into it, and Shuhei and Phil and bunch of other Japanese executives were there. We did the whole dog and pony, and then the first thing Phil said was, “Very good, thank you. I just have to ask this, since it seems like the obvious question. Why are we not doing this on PS3?” And I was like, “Uhh.” I kind of looked over at Shu and was like, “You want to take this?” He was a big proponent of it, but in the end I think a lot of people were like, “It’s a smart move to do it on PS2.”

You must read these 1UP features. One’s being put live every day this week, running up the the God of War III reveal on Friday.

Adult Swim has always been known for having quirky, out-there and sometimes hilariously obscene flash games on their site, and today they have released a new one called My Lil Bastard — which is no exception.

Pamper, toilet train, feed and punish your very own virtual pet that is much more wacky than anything Tamagotchi could ever come up with. The best (worst) part of it is the poo and vomit.

With games like 5 Minutes to Kill Yourself, Ultimate Vending Machine Challenge, and Bible Fight who knows what those lovable weirdos will come up with next.

Most likely something fun.

See for yourself here.

Following earlier news of a further zombie infestation in Call of Duty: World at War, Activision’s announced more details for the multiplayer map pack over on the official website.

The content will land on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 sometime in March and includes the following:

• Nightfire: Take to the streets of a war-ravaged Berlin with only the flames of the burning city to expose the enemy.

• Station: A bombed out underground train station littered with hidden passageways and destroyed subway cars.

• Knee Deep: Takes place on the island of Peleliu in a once tranquil village turned chaotic Japanese command center.

• Verrückt (Zombie Asylum): The fan favorite 4-player co-op Nazi Zombies Bonus Mode returns with “Verrückt,” a terrifying Zombie asylum featuring more weapons, perks via the addition of Perks-a-Cola machines, electroshock defenses and the endless zombie horde.

No word on pricing or an exact release date as of yet, but keep checking back with us.

Just how many pre-orders has Killzone 2 received in North America? SCEA isn’t saying.

When news of Euro Killzone 2 pre-orders surpassing 1.1 million reached us last Thursday, we were curious as to what the North America equivalent was.

No dice, unfortunately. Sony told us earlier this afternoon that the company doesn’t “provide pre-sales numbers for North America”.

Killzone 2′s been a main event in Europe in the past week, with a well-received demo and stream of reviews keeping the game at the top of the hot list.

You’re missing a trick, SCEA. Just think of the headlines.

The game’s out on the February 27.

1C Company and The Farm 51 have released the single-player  PC demo for NecroVisioN.

The first-person horror shooter puts players in the fatigues of American soldier Simon Bukner, who must fight his way through the bleak trenches of WWI and into the very jaws of Hell. Spooky.

No matter what the setting, time frame or historical inaccuracies, killing zombies equals good times.

The game is out February 27; until then get the demo on FileFront and the official website.

Press release and more game info after the jump.

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Harmonix announced today that seven new tracks from Rush will be made available from the Rock Band Music Store for Wii.

Master recordings from the band’s 1981 Moving Pictures album include: Limelight, Red Barchetta, The Camera Eye, Tom Sawyer, YYZ, Witch Hunt and Vital Signs.

They’ll arrive February 10 and run you $2.00 (200 Will Points) each.

Press release after the jump.

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If you watched the new trailer for Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 we posted on Friday you may have noticed at the end of it that the word “Fusion” was no longer in the title — and for good reason: it’s been removed.

A spokesperson for Activison confirmed the name change when contacted by Evil Avatar saying:

“The title previously announced was a working title, and they decided to go with simply ‘Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2′ for the name.”

So there ya go.

Konami’s confirmed to VG247 that it’s to make announcements related to Kojima’s GDC keynote before the event.

“With regard to Mr Kojima, we have to keep things tight-lipped for now,” said a rep when quizzed on the speech’s content.

“We will be making some announcements closer to GDC, so stay tuned”.

The father of the Metal Gear Solid franchise will be delivering a keynote titled “Solid Game Design: Making the ‘Impossible’ Possible” on the morning of March 26 in San Francisco.

This will be not be a something you would want to miss.

GDC opens its doors on March 23, so keep checking back with us as more details emerge.

D3 Publisher will unleash its Japanese hack-and-slash Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad on an unsuspecting American public tomorrow via the Xbox 360.

The 360 version takes place before the Wii version, Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers, and while both stories feature Aya and Saki battling zombies, more is planned for the Xbox 360 outing further down the road.

According to an interview with D3′s Alex Coward over on Strategy Informer, a variety accessories and outfits not in the Wii game will be made available, along with a Zombie Wale, sword fighting on a motorcycle, and the girls Misery, Himiko and Reiko.

PS3 users take heart: while the Onechanbara games are not currently heading your way, Cowards says it hasn’t been ruled out yet.

OXM’s put up its Brutal Legend cover feature, featuring new screens and an interview with revered designer Tim Schafer.

Don’t kill us if they’re not new shots. We just thing they are. Go and read it, anyway. It does definitely sound great.

Thanks, Joystiq.

Whoops. The Vancouver Winter Olympics’ director of licensing and merchandising, Dennis Kim, has inadvertently confirmed a new Sonic & Mario game for the event. About as shocking as the sun coming up in the morning, but still.

“Last year, 2008, [Sega] had a very successful game using Mario and Sonic at the Beijing Games, as well as a multi-sport simulation type of game,” Kim told The Province.

“That’s what’s being discussed and planned for Vancouver. We are feeling optimistic about sales because of the Beijing experience.”

Sega won’t be pleased. The game hasn’t been officially announced yet, although Sega’s partnership with the Winter Olympics was confirmed last week.

There’s also confirmation of a “simulation” game through there. And stuff about how royalties from the titles will be split. And the colour of Sega’s president’s pants.

ONM’s delayed its next issue to February 14, warning subscribers the move’s “due to some great exclusive content”.

Nintendogs 2! Here’s the mag’s apologetic email, courtesy of GoNintendo.

This is a courtesy email just to let you know that you will be receiving your next issue of Official Nintendo Magazine on or around the 14th February. The delay is due to some great exclusive content that has resulted in us having to send out your subscription copy slightly later than planned.

With best wishes

Official Nintendo Magazine

Fulfilment Team

ONM has a “fulfilment team”. Only Nintendo.

Stardock announced today that Entrenchment, the first micro-expansion to Sins of a Solar Empire, will now available February 25 from Impluse, Stardock’s digital distribution site.

Entrenchment was originally slated for a November release, but is currently undergoing further testing after beta feedback.

Ironclad’s Blair Fraser aid, “It’s of paramount importance to everyone that what we’re releasing is the best and most robust content we can.”

There’s going to be extra testing after tweaks are made. Let’s hope the “robust” stuff doesn’t go out the window with this round of changes.

Snoop Dogg is to release some of his original songs on Rock Band.

Seriously, no joke.

No dates, content, or pricing are mentioned in the press release, but just knowing that soon you’ll be able to “bow wow wow yippee yo yipee yay” in your living room to Rock Band is enough.

Full thing after the jump.

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EA’s released four hi-res grabs from the last Brutal Legend trailer, as seen on GamersHell.

Small hunch, but it’s likely you’re going to be seeing this in some shape or form before too long. Schafer fans can start holding breath immediately.

The Battlefield Heroes beta re-starts tomorrow, as you can see on the official site.

The test’s closed, but you can still sign-up and chance your luck.

The free-to-play DICE shooter’s supposedly releasing this quarter.

PS3 users whose Home avatars are in serious need of “coolness” can download some ninja outfits for their pixelated selves on February 12.

To celebrate your new ninja duds, head on over to the Gamer’s Lounge community site on February 13 in your all-black attire for the “I Love Ninjas” contest. You can win vouchers for SOCOM and Warhawk.

More info on the PlayStation Blog.

SCEA’s launched SOCOM.com, your home for all things PS3 terror-death, as you can see on the PS Blog.

The portal features a rolling ticker relaying live stats on the best SOCOM players, as well as MySOCOM, which contains all your leaderboards, clan updates, and so on.

The game launches in Europe next month.

DICE producer Patrick Liu wants to reassure fans that the company is not going casual. The Battlefield and Mirror’s Edge developer plans to “continue to do what we are best at”.

Speaking with Videogamer.com, Liu’s comment stems from the fact free-to-play cartoon shooter Battlefield Heroes is aimed at casual PC gamers.

“We are definitely still making PC games, we’ve not forgotten about that”, he said.

“We are not going casual, just because that is the trend. We’re not good at that. It’s not our core focus for the studio.”

Hopefully the worried few will feel a bit better now.