Monthly Archives: March 2009

Capcom’s Jun Takeuchi has told GameDaily that Capcom’s considering other platforms for Lost Planet 2.

The game’s currently only confirmed for PC and Xbox 360, bt Takeuchi said that the firm is “currently investigating other platforms”.

He also discussed the current economic climate, saying he felt that the game industry is relatively safe despite the naysayers.

“I agree with the theory that the game industry is far less susceptible to the current economic downturn, and the market appears to have proven the theory,” he said.

Good to know.

More through here.

Speaking in the latest issue of Edge, Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux’s predicted “Godfather” levels of storytelling in games by 2016.

“We’re starting to realize our uniqueness, and that we’ve got the ability to do things that no other medium has had before”, he said.

“I think by 2016 we’re going to have a truly amazing story, which will be cited as the equivalent of ‘The Godfather’ on film.

“The uniqueness and adaptability of the content, the fact you feel you are the hero character more than you are empathizing with the hero — these are all things you can see evolving. I look at ‘Grand Theft Auto‘ and the Niko Bellic character, and I realize that we’re really getting a handle on how to characterize somebody.”

Continuing on the subject, Molyneux said that early games were more plot-oriented instead of focusing on the characters.

“If you look at early storytelling in film, it was much less character-driven and much more plot-driven: Harold Lloyd falling off a skyscraper or trying to move a piano”, he continued.

“Part of the revolution that Niko Bellic started to unveil — and what we’re attempting with Fable — is to say the characters, especially who you are as a character, matter as much as the plot.

“Moving forward to 2016, you’re going to see new forms of characters that we’ve never seen before, and those characters totally adapting to what you’re like as an individual.”

Thanks, MTV.

New screenshots have popped up for Demigod, Stardock’s team-based action RTS-RPG, and while they look good — they’re pretty much more of the same. Just get on and release it.

Check them out on Gamespot.

It’s finally out in April.

Steam has the Fortunes Pack add-on for Far Cry 2 up for $4.99.

It’s only compatible with the Steam version and adds three new weapons, two new vehicles, and five new multiplayer maps.

That’s the same content PS3 and Xbox 360 users got last year, but with the addition of an extra map for PC gamers.

The opening of Square Enix’s LA Studio is an effort to catch up in the multi-platform dev raced, the company said today.

“Square Enix as a whole fell behind in multi-platform development”, said Square-Enix’s Fumi Shiraishi

Currently at work on a new game aimed at catering to North American audiences, Shiraishi said the project was not an FPS and won’t be filled with gore.

“We’re not trying to make a game with a western-looking main character and with blood and gore,” he said.

“The developers at Square Enix aren’t afraid to try new ideas. There is no point in making another FPS. Our task is different.”

Thanks, GoNintendo.

Mistwalker boss and Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi isn’t worried at all about the world’s current economic woes. He says so on his blog.

Instead he feels that it is a good opportunity for us to take stock and “restrain human activity”, which in his mind equates to being more creative instead of being financially-driven.

These days I feel the hard economic times are a kind act for the planet to restrain human activity. Economic activity is as important as blood flowing. However, the blood should be flowing smoothly, which I suppose means the quality of what flows in that stream must be as important.

There is a lot of business behind creating a game, yet I would like to keep 51% towards “creation” rather than “merchandise.” I feel it shouldn’t go over 75%, though. Setting sights on where the good blood flows.

Go see for yourself.

Just-released NPD data has shown overall game revenues rose 10 percent in February compared to the same month in 2007, up to $1.47 billion.

Hardware sales were up 11 percent to $532.7 million, while software revenue climbed 9 percent to $733.5 million.

Accessories were up 13 percent to $207.1 million.

“The U.S. video games industry continues to post strong year-over-year comps despite the tough economy,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

“Unit sales increased even more than dollar sales did, reflecting a slightly lower average retail price for all categories as compared to last year.”

Rather large wolves, to be quite frank. More like wargs, even.

Pretty scary imagining one of these coming for you. Just look at the villager’s faces. No wonder they look so scared.

Overlord II’s out for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in June.

Hit the link for more shots.

Despite Wii Fit taking the US number one in February’s NPD with 644,000 units sold, Street Fighter IV claimed a split-platform victory with 849,000 units moved over 360 and PS3.

Bit of a shock result for Killzone, there. Probably expected a bit more than just over 300,000 units.

Here’s the top ten:

1. Wii Fit (Nintendo, Wii) – 644K
2. Street Fighter IV (Capcom, 360) – 446K
3. Street Fighter IV (Capcom, PS3) – 403K
4. Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) – 386K
5. Killzone 2 (Sony, PS3) – 323K
6. Wii Mario Kart (Nintendo, Wii) – 263K
7. Call of Duty: World at War (Acti Blizz, 360) – 193K
8. Mario Kart DS (Nintendo, DS) – 145K
9. New Super Mario Bros (Nintendo, DS) – 144K
10. Guitar HeroWorld Tour (Acti Blizz, Wii) – 136K

As predicted, Wii came in at around 750,000 units sold in the US last month, according to just-released NPD data.

Both 360 and PS3 were over analyst predictions, at almost 400,000 and 300,000 units respectively.

Here’s the lot:

• PlayStation 2 – 131K
• PlayStation 3 -276K
• PSP – 199K
• Xbox 360 – 391K
• Wii – 753K
• Nintendo DS – 588K

February was a significant month for both PS3 and 360.

“The Xbox 360 realized its biggest non-holiday sales month, save for September 2007, when the Halo 3 release brought in a large group of new owners,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

“Compared to last month, the PS3 realized the greatest month-over-month unit sales increase of all platforms.”

The Resident Evil 5 Minna de Spelunker lounge hit Home today.

The lounge allows players to launch multiplayer inside Sony’s social service.

In addition, an RE5 Photo Studio mini-game, along with Chris and Sheeva costumes, will be made available on March 26 outside the mall space via Adam’s Shop.

More info through the link.

An Australian parents’ group is upset over the rating given to Sega shooter House of the Dead: Overkill for Wii. Apparently, MA15+ is not steep enough.

Guinness recently awarded the game a record for “most swearing in a videogame,” and this is what has caused the uproar down under.

“The gaming industry has been mischievously misrepresenting the classification system on this issue”, said Pro Family Perspective director Angela Conway.

“I feel very distressed that a large number of teenagers and adults would play this game and soak up this amount of sexually aggressive violence and aggressively violent language.

“We need to draw a deep breath and look at the research, which will show a need to scale back this level of violence. Given the increasing amount of knowledge now available of the effects of exposure to intense levels of violence on the adolescent brain, we should be reviewing the level of violence the MA15+ classification now allows.”

Australia doesn’t have an 18 rating for games.

More over on GamePolitics.

God update for the European PSN today. FIFA 09 got its Ultimate Team pack for free, Silent Hill PS1 landed, and Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 1 was made available.

Full thing below, courtesy of Joystiq.

Playable Content

• SOCOM Confrontation full game (£19.99)
• PowerUp Forever full game (£6.29)
• Silent Hill PS1 game (£3.99)

Add-on Content

• Call of Duty World At War map pack 1 (£7.99)
• FIFA 09 Ultimate Team pack (free)
• Midnight Club Los Angeles South Central map pack (free)
• Midnight Club Los Angeles South Central premium upgrade (£7.99)
• LittleBigPlanet Killzone 2 costume kit (£2.39)
• High Velocity Bowling “Jill’s Totally Straight” pack (free)
• Street Fighter IV Shadaloo pack (£3.19)
• Rock Band DLC (continued)
• Guitar Hero World Tour DLC (continued)

Videos

• God of War III launch trailer
• FIFA 09 Ultimate Team trailer
• FIFA 09 Ultimate Team tutorial video
• Midnight Club Los Angeles South Central trailer

Themes and Wallpapers

• FIFA 09 Ultimate Team theme (free)
• 2x MotorStorm Pacific Rift themes (free)
• Crash Commando wallpaper (free)

Rock Band DLC

Get the Funk Out 01 3-pack (£2.49)

• “Pick Up the Pieces” – Average White Band (£0.99)
• “Shining Star” – Earth Wind & Fire (£0.99)
• “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine – Pt 1″ – James Brown (£0.99)

Individual songs:

• “Thrash Unreal” – Against Me! (£0.99)
• “All the Things That Go to Make Heaven and Earth” – The New Pornographers (£0.99)
• “Use It” – The New Pornographers (£0.99)
• “Last Resort” – Papa Roach (£0.99)
• “Lifeline” – Papa Roach (£0.99)

Guitar Hero World Tour DLC

• Jimi Hendrix track pack 2 (£4.39)
• European track pack 4 (£4.39)

• “What Have You Done” – Within Temptation (£1.59)
• “Hier Kommt Alex” – Die Toten Hosen (£1.59)
• “Carolina” – M-Clan (£1.59)

PSP Content

• Silent Hill PS1 game (£3.99)
• Resistance Retribution full game (£24.99)
• SOCOM Fireteam Bravo full game (£14.99)
• Twisted Metal: Head On full game (£14.99)
• Splinter Cell Essentials full game (£15.99)
• Everybody’s Golf full game (£14.99)
• Ratchet And Clank: Size Matters full game (£14.99)
• Spinout full game (£7.99)

According to the Major, Xbox Live’s currently experiencing some billing issues.

From the man himself:

[Billing issues] means difficulties with account recovery, account management, Marketplace functions and/or making purchases. Users who already have Microsoft Points in their account will be able to redeem them. Until these issues are resolved, you will also be unable to sign in to Xbox.com, which includes posting in the forums and queuing up downloads on the Marketplace.

Matchmaking, friends lists, messaging, and so on, are still good to go and unaffected at present.

Engineers are working on resolving the issue, so keep watching the status page in the support section of XBL for a resolution.

Capcom’s Unity blog said today that Xbox 360 owners can expect Age of Booty avatars to arrive soon.

March 29 soon.

No word on what they are going to look like. Pirates would be a safe guess.

Neversoft’s told GamerTagRadio that working on Guitar Hero: Metallica was great working with the band thanks to Lars being such a perfectionist.

Apparently this helped “drive the game”.

Bet it did.

Full interview is through the link, and a partial vid is after the break.

More »

The UK’s Princess Anne formally opened the Paddington Academy today.

The specialist school for performing arts, media, business and enterprise was co-funded by the United Learning Trust and GamesAid.

Official classes started in 2007, but the ribbon cutting did not occur until today, with a ceremony attended by volunteers and philanthropists.

“The Academy has been one of the focal points for money raised by our industry over a number of years,” said ELSPA chairman Andy Payne. “It’s a very proud day for everyone involved and a real thrill to be here to witness such a positive learning environment.

More on MCV.

Word from a recent event in Tokyo was that a new Ys game was in the works, and confirmation of that came today via IGN.

The PSP game’s called Ys Seven, and in it you take control of Adol Christin. The battle system has been retooled, and party play will be implemented for multiplayer.

Game’s out in September in Japan, with release dates for the rest of the world to be announced.

A new Wolfenstein trailer will be popping up during tomorrow night’s episode of GameTrailers TV.

Raven will be showing “exclusive first-ever look at the new Wolfenstein in action”.

The half-hour special gives you a glimpse of the bosses, gameplay, cut-scenes, and the usual interviews with development staff.

Technically, GameTrailer TV episodes are posted on Saturday at 1:00am and that the actual “first look” at the game was during E3 last year. That does not matter though.

What matters is that it is Wolfenstein.

Also, check out the game’s official site. It just went up, and has new screens.

Thanks Blue!

ESA told VG247 today that this year’s E3 will nearly fill the LA Convention Center’s floorspace. The show’s most certainly back for 2009.

“We’re going to use almost everything but Kentia Hall,” said an ESA spokesperson.

For the uninitiated, the Kentia Hall was the rubbish bit where all the “add-on” companies camped out. The West and South Halls are going to be back to their former glories.

ESA said this morning that 90 percent of the reborn show’s available floorspace has now been sold.

But no, that doesn’t mean consumers will get anywhere near it, despite the fact EA’s Jeff Brown warned gamers today to “get out your calendar and circle the first week of June.”

“The important part about Jeff’s quote is that it’s nuanced,” the ESA rep told us. “As we’ve always said, E3 Expo isn’t open to consumers. He’s telling consumers to circle it on their calendars so they can keep an eye open for news from E3.”

E3 runs from June 2-4.