Monthly Archives: March 2009

Splash Damage’s recruitment drive continues unabated, the UK dev’s latest capture being Killzone 2 designer, Neil Alphonso.

“I love Neil’s considerable focus on advancing our players’ experience, born-out by his refined design talent and stunning accumulation of knowledge while working on games such as Killzone 2 and Splinter Cell,” said Splash Damage boss, Paul Wedgwood.

“He’s the perfect man to lead our team of really skilled level designers. I can’t wait for our fans to see what he and his team are working on.”

Splash Damage is currently working on an unannounced Bethesda game.

Capcom has told VG247 today that a restriction on Resident Evil 5 reviews in the UK – that sought to stop journalists talking about or showing a “native village” in the game’s third chapter – was “accidentally” imposed and “is actually pointless”.

No such restriction was placed on US journalists.

It emerged in Friday night that UK reviewers had been told not to mention the section, where players first encounter spear-wielding African enemies.

Here’s what we asked on the subject this morning:

1. Why were reviewers told not to mention or show the island section of the third chapter in their pieces?
2. What other restrictions were placed on reviewers, and why?

And here’s Capcom’s statement in full, supplied by UK PR manager, Leo Tan:

First let me say that the restriction you listed was one of many restrictions in place for the review of Resident Evil 5. We did in fact supply an entire page of restrictions. This is common practice in the games industry, and we do it for all our games. Every publisher does it, as far as I’m aware. We do this to protect the integrity of our games.

There’s nothing worse than spoilers being published before the game is even out, and we’d rather that people who buy our games get the chance to discover the game in their own time, not when a magazine or website chooses to expose what happens. Our customers’ experience is paramount.

To answer your second question first, we also restricted the final chapter’s content, anything you unlock when you finish the game, any strategy the journalist might have used to defeat any of the bosses and numerous plot details. Again, this is standard practice, and I don’t think anyone who buys our games would disagree with this as being an important practice to maintain.

As to that specific restriction, in truth it was actually a restriction from the preview build that was accidentally carried over into the review document, and wasn’t one that the US team used. There is actually nothing in that section that you encounter that is not present in later parts of the game, so the restriction is actually pointless and not relevant.

And that’s that. The game’s out on Friday for PS3 and 360.

Halo 3′s gone top of the Live play charts, beating off a long run in the lead from Call of Duty: World at War.

Data for the week beginning March 2. Gat all the Arcade and community stuff from the Major.

1. Halo 3
2. Call of Duty: WaW
3. Call of Duty 4
4. Gears of War 2
5. GTA IV
6. Halo Wars
7. Left 4 Dead
8. Halo Wars demo
9. FIFA 09
10. STREET FIGHTER IV

Eidos just confirmed that Tomb Raider: Underworld – Lara’s Shadow is available now on XBLM.

The game’s second piece of DLC introduces a new playable character – the Doppelganger – and will set you back 800 MS Points.

Press release after the break.

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A demo of the PS3 version of Red Alert 3 should be along in the not too distant future, if this PS Blog post‘s the be believed.

“We have been hard at work on a demo, and it should be available for download in a couple of weeks,” said game dev boss, David Seeholzer.

“We sincerely hope that all of you download the demo and try out the Ultimate Edition of Red Alert 3; we know you will not be disappointed.”

The demo’s just the start. It’s all about the extras, apparently.

“The team is hard at work on the first of what we hope will be many DLC packages for RA3: Ultimate Edition,” said Seeholzer.

“This map pack, which should be available very close to our launch later this month, will feature 3 new skirmish maps for both offline and online play.”

It’s out on March 31.

High Voltage boss Eric Nofsinger has told 1UP that Wii MotionPlus won’t be included in sci-fi shooter The Conduit because it didn’t really add anything.

Fair enough.

“When we actually implemented it for The Conduit, it didn’t really add anything for our primarily ranged combat,” he said.

“We had hoped that it would allow for better off screen IR tracking, but the device seems to lend itself more naturally for hand to hand combat where the player can calibrate in-between bouts. And that just doesn’t feel like an optimal fit for how we had designed our moment to moment gameplay.”

There’s still no date on the release of Wii MotionPlus.

The Conduit’s out this “spring”.

Activision boss Bobby Kotick said this morning that the publisher had focussed on PlayStation and Xbox formats up to this point, but that Wii was going to get a lot more attention in 2009.

“In the past we approached the Wii as an extension of what we were doing on PlayStation and the Xbox and I think we can do a better job of creating original content for the Wii, and I think you’ll see more of that this year,” he said in an interview with Reuters.

The exec didn’t add any details on which games are upcoming for Nintendo’s platform, but it’s thought that Bizarre Creations’ Q4 racer is a Wii project.

More through there.

Activision boss Bobby Kotick’s told Reuters that global economic gloom means console-makers should get their machines below $199 to see “mass” results.

“The price on platforms today has still not gotten down to mass-market price points and I think when you’re in the economic circumstances that the world has found itself in, there really is a difference between a $199 game system and a $299 game system,” he said.

Kotick added that he didn’t expect such a move, presumably talking primarily about PS3.

The exec also said that further sales success could also be achieved regionally.

“We’re just scratching the surface of opportunity as a publisher in Europe. There’s a lot more that we can do,” he said.

“In China and Korea, Blizzard has had great success but Activision products have not really had any success there.”

Lots more through there.

Update: Apparently this is a PSN release of the original PSone game. Thanks, deftangel.

The BBFC’s rated the first Silent Hill, which probably means we’re not that far off an official announcement of Climax’s rumoured Wii-make.

No platforms or developer are listed on the ratings board’s site.

Climax is thought to be developing the game for both Wii and PSP.

Thanks, Kotaku.

BioShock 2 teaser site Somethinginthesea.com has been updated again, with time with a few notes and a picture.

The picture’s of a red blob. In the sea. We’re assuming that’s the “something”. One of the notes is about a girl gone missing from La Rochelle, which is pinned on the Indian west coast, for some reason. Probably a space issue.

Lastly, there’s a bit of paper saying, “Doesn’t anyone notice the patterns?”

Yep. We think we do. Keep watching for the Big Reveal, Daddy, fans.

GamePro’s launched GamePro Labs, an independent publisher focussed on digital distribution.

From the label’s site:

With the launch of the Microsoft XNA platform, independent game developers now have a chance to distribute their titles straight through the Xbox360, PC, and even the Zune. Combined with the iPhone app store and evolving Playstation Network, there has never been a better time to make money from your own creativity.

GamePro Labs is a new service that can help you make the most out of these new platforms. By letting us handle all of the sales and marketing for your products, you get more time to code. And that can mean more game titles and bigger paychecks.

It’s your dream come true, Zune game-making students of the world. Get to it.

Looks as though Pandemic hasn’t got Battlefront III after all. Well, if it has, it’s keeping it hidden somewhere.

“As of right now I can say Battlefront III is not currently at Pandemic,” said an admin on the official Pandemic forums.

“While I know the title seems to be up in the air from all the buzz around the web… LucasArts will be the only one knowing where the title is at right now.”

We just went back to our original source on this. Apparently, Pandemic is working on the “spiritual successor” to Battlefront II, but with a different IP. Not Star Wars. So now you know.

CVG’s posted what it’s claiming to be an exclusive trailer of the second piece of Tomb Raider: Underworld DLC, Lara’s Shadow.

We don’t know for sure because the site’s video player constantly crashes Firefox for us. You may have more luck.

Ninja Blade got some new screens today, which should help you along to road to buying it later next month.

Get them from IGN.

The From Software action game’s getting a demo this week. Watch us play it here.

EA’s announced that Godfather II’s gone gold, and will release on April 7 as planned.

The game’s out for PC, PS3 and 360, and fuses action with, um, boardgame elements.

Guerrilla’s posted up all the details from last week’s Killzone 2 patch.

Here’s what got fixed:

• Stability issue regarding randomly named games has been resolved.
• Stability issue where rapidly tapping (X) causes a crash on spawn-select has been resolved.
• Stability issue regarding the Saboteur’s disguise ability has been resolved.
• Stability issue regarding game creation with a blank name has been resolved.
• Stability issue with repeatedly entering/exiting game has been resolved.
• Ignore list functionality has been corrected.
• Unlocking of the “Front Runner” Medal has been fixed.
• Incorrectly awarding victory to clans who don’t show has been fixed.
• Battle Replay for Corinth Crossing not appearing correctly on Killzone.com has been fixed.
• Issue with not being able to defuse the Search and Destroy objective has been resolved.
• HUD issue when playing as a Medic during Assassination mode has been corrected.
• Controller input has been slightly tweaked and modified.
• Exploit of shotgun auto-lock on has been fixed.
• Issue with D-charges in Campaign mode has been fixed.

The developer’s put out a new dev diary for the shooter as well, which is apparently the last. It details the game’s bosses, so don’t watch if you haven’t played it yet. After the break.

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Hardly the world’s greatest shock, but id’s said Rage won’t make 2009.

Todd Hollenshead told GameTrailers those wanting the shooting-racing hybrid are going to go begging for this year.

Were you honestly expecting to be playing this before Christmas? Purlease.

Insomniac’s Twitter says we’re going to hear some news from the company in the coming day.

The update:

“Preparing to reveal some news tomorrow about Insomniac… shhh!”

That’s it. Thanks, Johnny Cullen.

Update: EG’s given it 7/10. Thanks, Blerk.

IGN’s posted the first MadWorld review, giving the Platinum Wii actioner a straight 9/10.

Snip:

I realize that not everybody will find MadWorld’s unique visual and aural presentation appealing, but to me, the game is an instant collector’s item and a Wii showpiece, not just for its amazing style, but for its label-busting content. Anybody who says Nintendo’s console is just for kids will see things very differently after a few chainsaw- induced mutilations.

Video review after the break. It’s out this month.

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According to this MCV piece, Sony is considering suing over the use of a PlayStation controller in the “early death” Change4Life ad.

From the piece:

A source close to Sony revealed to MCV that the agency behind the ad, The Gate, had not contacted the platform holder to ask about using a controller that bears a close likeness to PlayStation’s pad.

The ad, part of a government campaign to get kids to be more active, showed a child sat on a sofa holding what looks to be a DualShock beside the words, “Risk an early death. Just do nothing”.