Monthly Archives: March 2009

Well, potentially. Amazon US’s Mass Effect 2 product page appears to have some basic plot details of the upcoming BioWare sequel. And they are:

The second chapter in the Mass Effect trilogy takes you to the darkest reaches of space, where you must uncover the mystery behind the disappearance of humans across many worlds. Prepare yourself for a suicide mission to save mankind. Travel the galaxy to assemble a team of soldiers and combat specialists, and launch an all-out assault on the heart of enemy territory.

Expect to hear more on the game at GDC this week.

Thanks, Kotaku and Blerk.

EA put out a first in-game trailer of Need for Speed Shift this morning, as well as announcing the game’s September date.

After the break. It’d be pretty churlish to say this looked shabby.

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Heini Schmitt, head of the Hessen German Police Union (DPolG), has called for a ban on violent games following a recent German school shooting.

For him, the fact that roughly a third of children and youths “regularly and addictively escape into a virtual world” sets off alarm bells. Age restrictions for such games are often ignored. There is admittedly no proof “that these frequent escapes into virtual killerworlds can contribute to such insane deeds”, said Schmitt, “But neither can the role killergames be completely dismissed.”

Schmitt added: “The world would be no poorer if there were no more killergames.”

Thanks Echo Online and GamePolitics.

Need for Speed Shift will release on September 17 in Europe and September 22 in the US, EA just confirmed.

The good-looker’s down for PC, PS3, 360 and PSP.

Press release after the jump.

Update: A trailer’s gone up on Live by way of celebration.

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The first image of Zombie’s Blacklight’s popped up on FirstShowing.

It’s a shooter. In the future.

The game was announced recently as being constructed as a cross-media IP, with a movie and comics also in the works.

Thanks, Kotaku.

God. 2K’s told Eurogamer that BioShock 2 is still to carry its Sea of Dream subtitle, despite reports last week the contrary.

Not sure what’s going on here. 2K Games community manager Elizabeth Tobey told Primotech last week, “You won’t be seeing ‘Sea of Dreams’ moving forward, just ‘BioShock 2′.”

We’ll drop 2K a line.

Here we go. Game Developers Conference 2009, the first major call for the global industry’s trade show circus, kicks off in earnest in San Francisco on Wednesday.

As ever, some of gaming’s biggest names are queued up for the event, with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata delivering the opening keynote, followed the next day with a lengthy talk from Konami’s Hideo Kojima.

You probably want to know what’s happening, when it’s happening and whether or not you should tune in to see us cover it live, right?

Hit the link.

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According to this All Things D story, former Yahoo COO Dan Rosensweig has now been placed as CEO and president of the entire Guitar Hero franchise.

Rosensweig previously worked at CNET and Ziff-Davis before Yahoo.

There’s no confirmation of this at the moment, but there’s plenty of background through the link.

GDC boss Megan Scavio’s admitted that the global recession will cast a shadow over this week’s GDC, but that game developers are a creative lot that thrive on a crisis.

“People are finding ways to make money with smaller budgets, and that takes creativity,” Scavio told the AP.

“The thing about game developers is that they are a resilient bunch. What they do is find their way through this downturn.”

The exec said she expects attendance for this year’s show to be slightly down this year from last year’s 18,000 people thanks to cost-cutting, and also expects fewer, more informal parties.

“It’s kind of like let’s celebrate, but do it quietly,” she added.

More not-so-doom-and-gloom through the link.

High Voltage Software’s Josh Olson has decided FPS The Conduit isn’t just pleasing on the eye. No sir. It’s the best-looking videogame on Wii. Don’t hold back, Josh.

“Much has been made of our tech and rightly so – we feel that that we’re the best-looking game on the console,” Olson told CVG.

Nintendo will be pleased to hear that. Graphics don’t matter, however, ever if yours are the “best”.

“It’s really all about the gameplay though, and in targeting the Wii we focused very heavily on the unique controls,” the developer continued.

“We feel that with The Conduit we have a perfectly viable ‘third scheme’ out there for FPS games and we look forward to throwing ourselves into the never-ending debate between the relative merits and shortcomings of the dual analogue and the mouse-and-keyboard among fanboys.”

Sega’s publishing the shooter this “spring”.

PlayStation 3′s year-end software isn’t “good”. It’s not even “great”. It’s “absolutely amazing,” according to Scott Rohde, SCEA’s VP of product development.

“I think we had a very good lineup in 2008, especially for the holidays, but in 2009, it’s an absolutely amazing line-up,” he told Edge.

“It’s one of the best lineups that we’ve ever put out in a single calendar year, so it’s very, very exciting.”

PS3 exclusives confirmed for this year include InFamous, MAG, Heavy Rain, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and God of War III.

And there’s more to come, obviously.

“There are several titles that are in the works that we have yet to announce,” said Rohde.

GDC will throw up info on announced 2009 PS3 exclusives this week, but you should be watching E3 in June for the main event.

It’s GDC week. Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux’s kicked this off by dropping yet more hints of “landmark” projects beyond the Fable franchise.

“Lionhead stands for much more than just what Fable is, and we’re working on things beyond that,” he told Develop.

“We’re working on Fable things – we’ve just done the DLC and we are working on other stuff. But we’re also working on other innovational titles – and I’m not going to say title or titles, whether it’s a prototype or experiment, whether it’s near or far away – but I can say that what we’re always trying to do is create something that is meaningful.

“When we think why we want to do this, it’s because we want to make a landmark title.”

Peter’s speaking at GDC this week, and he’s already said he may announce his next game at the California show.

Expect to see muchose Molyneux quotes in the coming days.

A lot of the mainstream MMO news was posted up during the week, so this isn’t as thick as usual.

There’s bound to be something in here for you, though. Read on for the full thing.

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Good Old Games has a sale going on, giving 25 percent off loads of action titles.

To get in on the promotion, according to D’toid, add the following games to your cart and apply promo code “ACTION” at checkout:

• Die by the Sword + Expansion
• Earthworm Jim 1 & 2
• Earthworm Jim 3D
• MDK
• MDK 2
• Messiah
• Shattered Steel

Promo ends on Monday, March 23 at 11.59pm EST.

The LucasArts and BioWare teams have posted a new Old Republic documentary, this one talking about how story and setting will enhance the player experience.

The movie says you’ll be creating your own personal Star Wars saga in the MMO.

It’s posted below.

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Logitech has created an adapter that connects to the company’s Harmony universal remotes. Big thing though it is, it works for PS3.

Hooks right into the remote instead of your console, no USB port needed.

No price or release date availability at present.

Technology is a wonderful thing.

Thanks, Kotaku

NCAA Football 10 has been canceled for Wii, according to Gamespot.

Come July 16, the game will only be hitting PS2, PS3, PSP and Xbox 360.

“In the interest of providing our consumers with the best possible college football experience, we are currently evaluating our approach to the NCAA Football franchise on the Wii,” said an EA spokesperson.

“As such, we will not be releasing an NCAA Football title in 2009 for the Wii”.

Hopefully no one is too disappointed.

Via Kotaku

Loads of multiplayer improvements are on the way with the next patch for the 360 version of Far Cry 2, along with better browsing features, game options, and “new additions in order to let you play the game the way you want.”

The update was supposed to have released in February, but has been delayed for tweaking.

You can find out more over on the Ubi forums.

Nintendo’s been bowling a near-perfect game lately, but even so, we can’t help but scratch our heads at a recent proclamation from one of its biggest moneymakers. In an interview with What They Play, Pokémon series director Junichi Masuda was asked whether or not Pikachu and his 492-mon posse might be making their way into an MMO in the near future. He responded:

“At this point, we’re not thinking of going in that direction. Trading is a core concept of Pokémon. So when you’re trading, you meet with a friend and decide which one you want and which one they want.

“I would like to emphasize real-world communication. You don’t see each other online.”

Recent Pokémon games have allowed players to trade their critters or pit them against each other in shirtless, weapon-free man-fights through the Internet’s reality-warping wizardry, so an MMO seems like a logical next step.

But then, we’re not entirely sure if designing a series about adorable cockfighting animals screams “logic” anyway. So yeah.

For some of us, autumn, and the console versions of The Witcher, can’t get here soon enough. There’s new screens of Rise of the White Wolf after the break.

Sure, we’ve already played it on PC. Sure, it’s the same game despite a major rebuild. Doesn’t matter.

It’s Geralt. The Captain Kirk of the medieval world.

Woot.

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