Monthly Archives: March 2009

Activision is hoping rhythm game DJ Hero will expand upon the Guitar Hero franchise to a younger audience.

Speaking at the annual Wedbush Morgan meeting today, CFO Thomas Tippl told attendees that the company is planning on releasing the game not only more profit, but to draw newer users into the genre.

“We continue to add additional legs to the Guitar Hero franchise with the launch of DJ Hero,” he said.

“What that allows us to do is come up with a very innovative product that allows us to sell a software product plus a hardware product as a bundle so that should be good for our average selling prices.

“But it also allows us to bring in new users to the music genre. Because it is a different kind of music for a different kind of gamer. So we hope to broaden the base there.”

Tippl also mentioned that the firm has been in discussions with Universal Music Group about acquiring content for DJ Hero that’s more contemporary and popular with a younger crowd.

No mention was made regarding artists, but Tippl admitted that the game would include mash-ups.

Hit the link for more.

Rockstar’s released a bit of information on soundtrack for Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, which will “capture the spirit” of the franchise’s genres and stations over the years.

Original music for stations includes: Electro-Choc, IF99, Tuff Gong, The Beat and Radio Broker.

This mixture has been hand-selected by Deadmau5, Truth & soul, Ticklah, Prairie Cartel and Alchemist, who worked “hands-on” to ensure that the music and vibe stayed true to the Grand Theft Auto soundtrack experience.

Good deal then. Game’s out March 20.

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Epic has patched the PS3 version of Unreal Tournament III a week early–but apparently the update’s not as large as planned.

Originally to be released March 5, the date was changed to March 19 due to the certification process taking time.

Now, Epic plans on releasing a second patch containing the goodies left out of this one.

The live update patches split-screen play, Trophies, and tweaks some other bits. No word on when the next one can be expected.

Original patch specs are listed below.

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Guinness World Records has announced some of the biggest feats achieved by gaming franchises.

Of course, you know that the GTA franchise stole the show, but Resident Evil ends up on the list as well, so it’s not just an all Rockstar affair.

For the “record,” they’re all after the break.

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Crytek has announced it will be demonstrating its “all-in-one game development solution,” CryEngine 3, at GDC later this month.

With its engine specifically designed for console, online and MMO development, the firm said it’s ”Next-Gen-Ready” today.

“With CryEngine 3 we are delivering our best game development technology that enables our clients to achieve their vision on current and future platforms to develop games such as MMOs, action games and more”, said Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli.

“Our complete game engine solution enables realtime development, ensures teams are able to maximise their own creativity, saves budget and creates greater gaming experiences. Also with our solution developers can start working on their next generation games today.”

Press release after the jump.

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Midnight Club: Los Angeles South Central was supposed to be released on March 10, but it is going to be a few days late, Rockstar’s just confirmed.

No reason was given for the delay, but mark March 19 down on your calender instead.

The DLC will come with two components – a free South Central Map Expansion with four new neighborhoods which increases the map size by one third; and a South Central Premium Upgrade that includes the map expansion plus new vehicles, parts, music, vinyls, hydraulics, and more, for $9.99 on PS3 and and 800 MS points ($10.00) on Xbox 360.

Additionally, Rockstar has released the Impala video, featuring the 1964 Chevrolet Impala which is one of nine new cars available in the premium upgrade. It’s posted below.

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Cryptic’s Bill Roper has confirmed to Eurogamer that Champions Online will launch for PC only this spring.

Atari and Cryptic seem reluctant to specify when an Xbox 360 version will arrive.

A PS3 version has also be rumored, but no definitive answer has been given on launch.

“All I know is it’s coming out first on the PC,” said Roper in an interview.

“We really, really want to bring it out on console. The consoles are just hungry and perfect for an MMO, and we’ve done a lot of work to ensure that there’s nothing to prevent us from doing that.

“It’s an area beyond my control at this point: I just work on the game.”

Early beta testing is currently underway.

Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed to Famitsu that he felt “sadness” during Nintendo’s GameCube phase.

“There was an era when Nintendo was going in the direction of doing the same things other companies did,” he said.

“The more we competed with new companies entering the market, the more we started acting similar to them. But is being number one in that competition the same as being number one with the general public? That’s the question we had.”

He continued: “Entertainment is something that you have to look at the world with a very wide eye as you create it. I always thought that, but there were a few years where I was unable to get off other people’s trends. It was a dilemma in my mind.”

During Nintendo’s N64 console era and the one following, Miyamoto was fascinated with 3D worlds, but the rendering and processing speed were too much for the team at the time.

“This is a job where you have a plan and you polish it endlessly while getting help from others. If Nintendo’s games fail to stand out as games that aren’t made that way proliferate, then it shows that the creation process is for nothing, which made me very sad.

“That was especially obvious during the GameCube era; Nintendo titles were hardly even discussed by the general public back then.”

Because of his team’s mental block, Nintendo started over and aimed for games that could “be played by people who don’t play games”. The company wanted something that would revolutionize the market — so ex-Nintendo president Yamauchi came up with the ‘two screens’ concept.

The rest is DS history.

More over on 1UP.

Activision CFO Thomas Tippl reckon that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 “looks incredible”.

“Last year we had probably beaten most expert expectations by growing the Call of Duty franchise over the tremendous success that was the first iteration of Modern Warfare,” he said, speaking at the Wedbush Morgan Securities annual meeting today.

“For 2009, Modern Warfare is coming back, we expect it will be the most anticipated game of the year. Perhaps the number one game of the year despite the fact that it’s only going to launch in the holiday season.

“There is no doubt in my mind that it will again raise the bar for the shooter genre.The game is looking incredible and Infinity Ward, the studio that is developing it, is just doing an unbelievable job.”

Kudos to Kotaku on this one.

Capcom’s posted some unreleased Japanese footage of early Dark Void jetpack environments on its blog.

Look and laugh. It’s Wednesday.

Worlds.com boss Thom Kidrin has told SAI that he’s “absolutely” going to sue Linden Lab and Blizzard over the fact they’ve created virtual worlds in Second Life and World of Warcraft.

Kidrin claims the idea of a scalable virtual world with thousands of users is his company’s patented IP, and has already sued NCsoft over the issue.

He said WoW and Second Life would his next targets, assuming his NCsoft case turns out favourably for Worlds.com.

There’s a heap of background on Kidrin’s patent through the link, should you feel the need.

The Chinese government has rejected two applications to launch Wrath of the Lich King in the country, as the WoW expansion’s content did not “meet requirements” thanks to a city raid and skeleton characters — the submitted version left out the Death Knight class.

Blizzard has now deleted the link to the Chinese version on WoW’s North American site.

China apparently has issues with skeletons – for some reason – and undead in the game have had to be “beefed” up in the past so they showed less bone.

More through the link.

Sega’s put out the first video of the snappily-titled Vancouver 2010 – the Official Video Game of the Olympic Winter Games.

The game’s now confirmed for PC, 360 and PS3.

The movie shows a ski jump, and looks pretty much snowy. See for yourself.

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Square’s Star Ocean producer Yoshinori Yamagishi was keen on making erotic games at one time.

Yamagishi explained to Videogamer:

“This is actually a quotation from a conversation I had when I was still talking with Enix before the company merged with top management people,” he said. “I said yes, maybe one day I would like to try something more adult content. That’s true!

“But that’s not to say that we wanted to create something erotic and ended up with Star Ocean: the Last Hope. That’s not the case.”

Right then.

Yamagishi mentioned that the Star Ocean engine makes it possible to do a DS, PSP, or a PS3 version–but that’s just not as interesting.

BUZZ! associate producer Jenny Barbour has announced that two new quiz packs are on their way to PlayStation Network tomorrow.

There’s the National Geographic: Prehistoric Quiz Pack for BUZZ! Quiz TV and BUZZ! Jr.: Jungle Party.

Both will cost $4.99.

Full thing over on PSBlog.

In light of today’s news of a UK Wii price-hike, GI is reporting Nintendo has refused to rule out that British software prices could also end up costing more.

“The final price in the shops is always up to retailers but we will not be increasing the trade price of existing Wii or DS software,” said Nintendo.

“However, the trade prices for new titles yet to be released may rise as a result of the depreciation of the pound.”

Earlier this year, Nintendo posted “strong sales figures for the nine months ending December 31, showing global sales of 1,536 billion yen, an increase of nearly 17 percent over the same period in 2007, along with 501 billion yen of operating profits, up 27 percent from a year ago.”

To celebrate the fact Unreal Tournament 3: Black – Titan Pack included – has seen an increase of over 2,000% in simultaneous UT3 player numbers since it debuted on March 5, Valve’s extending the its 40 percent off sale through March 22

There’s going to be another free play weekend starting this Friday, March 13.

Preloading for the free weekend begins today, so check it out.

When Disney started laying folks off back in January, there was  a rumor making the rounds that Propaganda was at work on Turok 2 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Today, it’s rumor no more.

Garrett Knights worked for Propaganda as a UI designer, and has plastered mock-ups from the shelved game all over his online portfolio.

Looks rather smashing, actually.

Thanks, Joystiq.

If the US government’s Patent and Trademark office’s website is to be believed, Activision’s applied for a trademark for Sing Hero.

Surely it sounds like what it is–a competitor to Sony’s Singstar and Microsoft’s Lips.

Looks as though ActiBlizz bossman Bobby Kotick wasn’t lying during his company’s financial call last month, when he said that five more “Hero” games would be heading our way this year.

Great. More drunken karaoke is in our future.

Nintendo just confirmed by press release that DS has now sold more than 100 million units worldwide.

The figure was reached on March 6, apparently and represents a “significant milestone in the life of this franchise”.

The machine launched in 2004 in Japan and the US, being followed in 2005 in Europe.