Monthly Archives: March 2009

A new bit of art’s popped up on the Mistwalker site, prompting speculation that it’s from the developer’s next RPG.

There’s precisely nothing to suggest it is, obviously, aside from the fact it’s there at all.

Another Blue Dragon? Could be pink frigging cheese for all we know.

Via Kotaku and GAF.

Paleo accidentally released the alpha version of FPS Merchants of Brooklyn to Steam last night, prompting pink cheeks and disgruntled customers all round.

“Unfortunately, the incorrect version went up on Steam,” said a rep in the indie’s forum.

“The alpha version was released initially, this has been corrected. Please log in/log out of Steam to receive the correct version of M.O.B.”

Merchants of Brooklyn is Paleo’s first game, and looks cool. Shit happens, guys. Roll with the punches, etc.

Atari’s told MTV that Terminal Reality’s upcoming Ghostbusters title is essentially a casual take on Gears of War.

“We’re trying to make this pretty mainstream as far as a third-person shooter goes,” said senior producer Garrett Moehring.

“Because that’s really what it is for the most part, it’s an action-shooter — Gears of War lite, in a way. But it’s not as complex.”

Moehring explained that sincere efforts have been made to increase the game’s pick-up-and-playability.

“Since we’ve gotten the game, we’ve made whatever strides we can to make it more accessible,” he added.

“Controllers, layout, and what the actual player felt like when they were moving the character around was one of the hallmarks of where our focus was.”

It’s out for every platform in the world on June 19.

The Last Remnant releases in PAL terrotories for PC tomorrow, sporting “improved character animations” and “increased speed of gameplay in battle sequences” over its 360 counterpart, according to a Square press release today.

Other improvements over the 360 version include the ability to form unions with multiple leader units and autosave between consecutive battles.

Enough to buy? Decide with the full info, after the break.

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German games media publisher Computec has claimed its sites now hit 2.945 million unique users per month.

The number’s taken from Q4, and apparently represents a 48.1 percent increase over the third quarter.

PC Gaming Hardware and Buffed and both Computec brands.

Full thing through the link.

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IGN’s posted up some new art and screens of the next Professor Layton game, the Devil’s Flute, showing pictures of cats, hats and a girl with her finger in the air.

It’s as thrilling as it sounds, and will sell 40 billion copies.

Professor Layton and the Devil’s Flute is set three years before the events in the Curious Village, and is the first of a new trilogy to accompany a Japanese feature film.

There’s no date on the game for Europe and the US as yet. It’s out in Japan next year.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 will hit both Japan and the US this autumn, with a European release to follow later, according to this Joystiq report.

And yes, this is the Tecmo game the publisher’s going to unveil next week at the Metreon in San Francisco.

The PS3 action game was announced in Famitsu this week.

Indie developer Tale of Tales has released The Path on Direct2Drive, Steam and its own site for $10.

It looks fantastic, and that’s a price not to be sniffed at.

There’s full details of plot, and so on, after the break.

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Metal Gear boss Hideo Kojima’s been given a new job title, making him even more important that he was before.

As of April 1, the developer will be “Managing Director Operating Officer and Studio Head of Kojima Productions.”

Before the founding of his own studio within Konami, Kojima was a company VP.

He’s keynoting GDC next Thursday with a talk titled, “Solid Game Design: Making the ‘Impossible’ Possible”.

Thanks, Kotaku.

Murray Pannell has left Microsoft to join Ubisoft UK as marketing director.

Pannell spent six years at Microsoft as group product manager for Xbox 360 and Games for Windows.

He replaces Jon Rosenblatt, who’s just left for EA Sports.

Congrats, Murray. Thanks, MCV.

The UK Advertising Standards Authority has dismissed complaints made against a government ad campaign which promotes exercise by showing a child holding a gaming controller.

But Tiga and MCV lodged complaints against the Change4Life image, which they claimed suggested the government was linking early death to playing videogames.

“Whilst the ASA Council understood the concerns of Tiga and those complainants who worked in the videogames industry, it noted that the ad did not claim that playing computer or console games alone would lead to illness or premature death,” wrote the agency.

“The Council considered that most readers would understand that the ad was discouraging a sedentary lifestyle and used the example of playing a console game as an illustration of the type of behaviour which might lead to long-term health problems if no exercise were taken alongside more sedentary activities.

“The Council considered it unlikely that most readers would infer from the ad that playing videogames was the sole contributory factor in the development of the health problems mentioned in the ad.”

More on GI.

More scans from the latest PC Action popped up on Gamekyo this morning, showing new screens and art from Raven’s Q4 shooter, Singularity.

The article’s in German, but there’s a great picture of some kind of radioactive ship there, so it’s come one, come all.

The game’s set on a Soviet island, and involves nuclear testing and time-bending.

PC and HD consoles. Thanks, Blerk.

Nintendo just confirmed that Punch Out!! will release for European Wiis on May 22.

The game’s already been confirmed for a US launch on May 18.

The company also said this morning that the original Super Punch-Out! will release on Virtual Console March 20.

Press release after the break.

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While the latest Japanese charts show Yakuza 3 approaching the 500,000 unit mark, Sega announced today that the game has passed the milestone in terms of shipped games.

Sega’s already said the title won’t be released outside Japan, which makes a bunch of sense considering big PS3-exclusive action games definitely don’t spike interest at the moment.

We’re betting on an English language version. We may be wrong. But what the goddamn hey.

A former Ensemble Studios developer, the phenomenally-named Dusty Monk, has founded a new developer called Windstorm Studios.

The start-up is working on an online game “unlike anything you’ve ever seen,” according to Windstorm’s site.

Windstorm’s games are to be brighter and more hopeful than traditional post-apocalyptic offerings of the minute, Monk said.

Fingers crossed.

Thanks, IGN.

Former EGM editor Dan Hsu’s confirmed his new project is a website called BitMob.

There’s nothing to look at there as yet, but Hsu’s assured the site will launch “soon”.

“Assuming tech, design, God, and karma all cooperate with us, our scaled-down prototype alpha site should be live in less than two weeks,” he said in a blog post.

Thanks, 1UP.

Q-Games’ Dylan Cuthbert’s slapped down talk of a showing of the next full PixelJunk game at GDC next week, saying the title he’ll be demoing in the PS Blog lounge is, in fact, Eden Encore.

“Everyone seems to think we are showing PixelJunk 1-4 next week at GDC, but it ain’t true,” the developer said on his Twitter.

“Eden Encore will be there in its full glory tho.”

Cuthbert will showing the game next Thursday at SCEA’s W suite.

Epic’s releasing the huge Titan Pack expansion for the PS3 version of UT3 today, as confirmed on the PS Blog.

The update’s completely free, and will be made available through the PS Store.

There’s a ton of stuff included in the DLC, sch as new gametypes Greed and Betrayal, “the Titan mutator, 19 maps, the Link Station and X-Ray Field deployables, the Stinger Turret and Eradicator Cannon weapons, the Stealthbender vehicle, the Slow Field power-up, and characters Kana and Nova.”

The pack has already been released for the game’s PC version, and won’t make it to the 360 SKU at all.

Considering you can buy the PS3 version for £18 from Play, there’s never been a better time to get involved.

BioWare’s Dragon Age: Origins is to get a full showing at GDC next week.

The anticipated fantasy RPG is to be demoed at the San Franciscan show, so don’t expect play-time reports.

Origins is planned for release in the second half of this year, apparently for consoles as well as PC.

Hopefully details on platorms and ship dates will be cleared up at the show.

Resident Evil 5 has already dipped from the top of the Japanese charts, dropping to second place after only a week.

Lots of new stuff in there this week, and a good show from Yakuza 3, there, which closed in nicely on 500,000 sales.

Last week’s chart here. Data below from March 8-15. Thanks, ChartGet.

01. [PS3] Musou Orochi Z (KOEI) 112,000 / NEW
02. [PS3] Resident Evil 5 (Capcom) 61,000 / 381,000
03. [NDS] Picross 3D (Nintendo) 38,000 / NEW
04. [NDS] Mario & Luigi RPG 3 (Nintendo) 38,000 / 389,000
05. [PSP] Shin Sangoku Musou MULTI RAID (KOEI) 33,000 / 316,000
06. [WII] Wii Play: Pikmin 2 (Nintendo) 29,000 / NEW
07. [PS3] Ryu ga Gotoku 3 (SEGA) 24,000 / 449,000
08. [NDS] Seventh Dragon (SEGA) 22,000 / 102,000
09. [PSP] Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP the Best) (Capcom) 16,000 / 484,000
10. [PSP] Resistance Retaliation (SCE) 16,000 / NEW