Monthly Archives: March 2009

GameTrailer’s posted up an annotated version of the stunning God of War III reveal trailer, as you can see after the break.

Apparently the final edit was far less violent tat the original cut, but the ERSB wouldn’t allow it. Fuddy duddies, one and all.

Take a look. Out this year, if you’re lucky.

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Criterion’s Matt Webster’s confirmed the Burnout Paradise Boost Specials Collection will release this Thursday.

The pack was unveiled a few weeks ago by accident on XBL.

We’ll let you know when it goes up.

On EG.pt. Can’t work out whether or not they’ve been grabbed from a trailer, but they’re very pretty nonetheless.

No date on the id action project as yet.

There’s a video of the high elf’s special mount in Sacred 2 after the break.

It’s blue and it floats. It has snazzy stripes on the side. It looks a bit dragony.

The Koch RPG’s out on Marh 24.

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Good result for Sega this week with Empire: Total War, the Creative Assembly PC sequel debuting at number one in the UK chart.

Killzone 2 was straight down to second place, and Halo Wars is off at fifth.

Data for the week ending March 7. Last week’s chart here.

Dawn of War II’s looking solid at the top of the US PC chart, taking pole for a second week.

Last week’s chart here. Data for February 22-28. Thanks, Shack.

1. Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II / Relic / $48
2. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King / Blizzard / $38
3. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe / EA Maxis / $20
4. The Sims 2 Deluxe / EA Maxis / $2
5. World Of Warcraft / Blizzard / $16
6. World Of Warcraft Battle Chest / Blizzard / $35
7. Spore / EA Maxis / $44
8. The Sims Carnival: SnapCity / Electronic Arts / $2
9. The Sims 2 Apartment Life Exp. Pack / EA Maxis / $19
10. World Of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade / Blizzard / $25

PopCap puzzler Peggle’s launching on XBLA this week, complete with online multiplayer.

It’ll cost £6.80.

The online mode’s called Peg Party, and is playable by four people on Live.

There’s also local multiplayer, a 2-player Duel mode, achievements, online leaderboards, and support for future downloadable content.

More on Eurogamer.

Southpeak’s joined ESA, making a nice change from companies leaving the US trade body.

“We welcome Southpeak Interactive to the ESA, and look forward to experiencing first-hand the array of creative products for which it is known,” said Michael Gallagher, CEO of the ESA.

“We are proud to represent the entire videogame industry and look forward to working closely with Southpeak Interactive’s leadership and its employees as we continue to fight piracy, combat unconstitutional legislation, and expand our industry’s contributions to the economy and society overall.”

Right on, Mike. We have nothing else to add.

According to this post on the official Lips site, a title update’s on the way for the karaoke game that promises to stop players being able to rack up points by blowing on the mic. Or rubbing it on the carpet.

“We’ve added algorithms to help detect white noise and reduce its impact on scoring, so simply blowing into the mic won’t rack up the points anymore,” said a Microsoft rep.

“We’ve also made rap-marker detection more precise than before; no more mumbling your way through Bust A Move or Lip Gloss — now you’ve got to enunciate and elucidate.

“Finally, adjustments to pitch-detection, vibrato detection, and scoop detection have balanced out gameplay that some people have complained is too ‘easy’ or random.”

There’s more stuff on the way as well, such as a ticker for news updates and “a mic calibration tool”.

No date, though. See all through the link.

Live’s Deal of the Week this week is The PGR4 Premium Challenge Pack.

Normally priced at 400 points, it’s now available to Gold Members for 240 points, a saving of 40 percent.

That’s literally amazing. Get your 360 on and save pounds pounds pounds, right now.

God. Edge has posted its “100 Best Games to Play Today” feature, with Ocarina of Time at number one.

Apparently, “Over a decade after release,‭ ‬The Legend Of Zelda:‭ ‬Ocarina Of Time has achieved a distinction reserved for a true classic.‭

“It’s been forgotten.‭ ‬Writing about it garners nothing but grandiose adverbs and scattered memories of Hyrule Field.‭ ‬It’s‭ ‘‬unquestionably‭’ ‬and‭ (‬even better‭) ‘‬indefinably‭’ ‬great.”

Goodo. This is actually an abridged version of the piece from the mag’s 200th edition. Read the whole “unquestionably indefinable” thing through the link.

In case you hadn’t worked it out already, there’s a looming press embargo on BioShock 2. It’s PC Gamer’s next cover, as you can see on CVG.

It’s out on April 9. Expect all the information to leak long before then.

Steve McGill, Microsoft’s head of entertainment, has told Videogamer that he simply doesn’t believe Sony when it said “the cumulative number of registered accounts on PlayStation Network has exceeded 20 million as of February 20, 2009,” in a recent press release.

“Sony do what Sony want to do and if they think that’s right for their business to say those kind of numbers then they can do and will do whatever they want to do,” he said.

“Do I believe them? No.”

Further, McGill said there were “a lot of questions” yet to be answered about Sony’s claim.

“When we talk about our numbers we feel they’re active users who are actively engaged in all the forms of entertainment we offer on Xbox 360. I think if you look at the comments made on the forums, or the comments made by analysts at Screen Digest then there’s questions over, well what does Sony’s numbers really mean? Are they duplicates? I think there’s a lot of questions there,” he said.

“All I’m really worried about is, I know I’m the largest online video on demand service in the UK, we are worldwide, we’ve got a great online service the others can’t come close to. They’re not right now. When you think of our heritage as a company Microsoft has proven we are probably the only company in the world that can offer great online experiences for millions and millions and millions of people. And that’s what we do every day with Xbox Live.”

More through there.

After the break. Rockstar put this out a few minutes ago. It’s over a minute of solid gameplay.

The movie shows how the two screens work with play, and there’s some gun-building with the stylus in there too.

The DS crime title’s out on March 20.

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G1GAHURTZ has won our limited edition Mega Drive Ultimate Collection competition, meaning he gets a 12″ blue vinyl record and the game on either PS3 or 360.

Here’s why he wins:

I deserve to win it, because I was once working on a new IP at a small start up company and SEGA had agreed to publish it.

Then on the exact day that we were due to go into full production, they decided to pull the plug, causing me a lot of stress while we looked for a new publisher or project to work on.

So they OWE me!

Big time!

Mail patrick [at] vg247.com and let us know which format you want the game on, G1GAHURTZ, and we’ll get Sega to send over a copy.

A noteable second goes to crackdude for this:

My whole life is Sega. My first videogame expirience was Sonic followed by Super Hang-On when I was 2yo. I got my Mega Drive when I was 5yo. Until I was 10, I always pulled my hair back and said I looked “like Knuckles now”. When I was 7 I got a Sonic light lamp, which I still have in my room shining brightly after a decade (funny how it lasted longer than Sonic O_o). My favourite band is Crush 40. My dream is to have a Daytona USA arcade machine in my room. I still sleep with my Sonic-themed shorts. I skipped a math exam once just to play House of the Dead 2 at a friend’s house. The first word I wrote was SEGA. Second was Sonic.

But even besides all of this, I want to win this vinyl to give it as a gift to my best friend. He knows how much it means to me if I win it. Unfortunatelly, I don’t have any money to buy one off eBay or such =(

I just love to think that.. if Sega is the history of my life and owner of a piece of me, I would love to make part of Sega’s history too. If only by owning this little bit of it.

So please vg247, make me win this =)

It’s too heartfelt for us to ignore. We’ve got a copy of Empire: Total War here for you, crackdude. It’s published by Sega, so hopefully it’ll help ease the pain.

Send your addresses to patrick [at] vg247.com, both of you, and we’ll post everything off.

It’s a barren, newsless desert out there. So have the review scores from Edge’s 200th issue.

• Resident Evil 5 – 7
• Empire: Total War – 9
• Shellshock 2: Blood Trails – 2
• Afro Samurai – 5
• Stormrise – 4
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – 7
• 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand – 7
• Tom Clancy’s HAWX – 6
• Time Hollow – 6
• Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride – 8
• Resistance Retribution – 6
• Cryostasis – 6
• Puzzle Quest: Galactrix – 7
• Henry Hatsworth in The Puzzling Adventure – 8

Thanks GAF and Blerk.

Mike Simpson, studio director at The Creative Assembly, has told GI that real-time strategy’s constant push towards consoles isn’t doing Total War any damage.

“I don’t think it’s a threat,” he said. “There’s certainly no sign from our franchise that’s happening. We’re always looking at ways to expand it, rather than working on an assumption that it’s going to decline.

“It is quite a complicated issue, and some of it’s related to the whole console life cycle as well – when a new generation of consoles comes out, PCs suddenly look quite unfavourable by comparison.

“But three of four years later, when you compare the price of a PC with the price of a console, suddenly you’re getting more power for your money with a PC, and things tend to shift back.

“That’s happened with all the previous generations – so I think there is a natural cycle.”

Ubisoft canned the console versions of World in Conflict: Soviet Assault last week, following the closure of Ensemble after the release of Halo Wars.

Update: Edge went with 7 as well.

Update 2: CVG’s posted a 7.3. Thanks, Blerk.

Eurogamer’s gone live with a 7/10 score for Resident Evil 5, following the lifting of a general embargo this morning.

Fellow UK site Videogamer.com has put up a 9/10 score.

The game’s currently tracking on Metacritic at 89 percent for PS3 and 86 percent for 360.

So far, the only other English-speaking website to publish a review is IGN.

The game’s out this Friday.

It’s been confirmed to VG247 by UK sources that Army of Two: The 40th Day is very real indeed.

The game’s title is exactly as described. People are playing it already, Ringo.

The EA Montreal game is to be announced this Thursday.

A ton of “rumoured” information was released last week, saying the game’s based in Shanghai.

We’ll knock the “rumour” of this one. It is true.

Kotaku’s rumouring that Big Sisters are to make an appearance in BioShock 2, featuring a more effeminate suit over their male brethren.

This is probably true. Why not? Hint: you “may” be about to find out a whole lot more about this.