Monthly Archives: April 2009

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk has placed Canada on the Priority Watch List for piracy alongside Algeria, Argentina, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Israel, Pakistan, Russia, Thailand, and Venezuela.

This is the first time Canada has been put on such a list by the US government, and after complaining to the country for some time now over it’s need for copyright reform, it has now been “listed”.

The ESA seems pleased, as the game lobbyist  has been pushing Canada’s parliament to outlaw mod chips and adopt some sort of Digital Millenium Copyright Act for quite some time.

“Putting Canada on the ‘Priority Watch List’ is a signal of the Obama Administration’s commitment to strengthening global intellectual property protection, and its intent to address this issue firmly with the Canadian government,” said ESA’s Michael Gallagher.

“Canada’s weak laws and enforcement practices foster game piracy in the Canadian market and pave the way for unlawful imports into the U.S.”

To counteract piracy in Canada, the USTR suggests it:

• Enact legislation outlawing game circumvention devices, such as “mod chips” and “game copiers,” in line with Canada’s international treaty obligations
• Create adequate legal incentives for internet service providers (ISPs) to work with copyright owners in combating online piracy
• Provide Customs officials with adequate authority to make ex officio seizures of counterfeit and pirate product at the border
• Provide adequate resources to anti-piracy enforcement efforts and make prosecution of intellectual property crimes a high priority.

More over on GamePolitics.

Binary Tweed has put out a trailer for Clover. It’s expected to arrive on Xbox 360 Community Games soon and will run you 400 MS Points ($5.00).

Daniel “Deejay” Jones said on the company blog that the game would be out by now if not for a “framework bug in Microsoft’s XNA”, and what he considers “a flawed approvals process”.

We’re a bit thrown as to why the protagonist keeps his hands in his pockets, even while jumping, but any game that gives you to option to “pick up xxx scrumpy cider” is alright with us.

Trailer’s rather pretty and has sad music.

Have a watch.

Thanks, D’toid.
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Not much difference this week between Europe and US updates for PSN, only notable change being Disgaea 3 downloads and the Marvel vs. Capcom 2 demo.

Jane’s Addiction and Nirvana were added for your music games, and there’s the obligatory trailers too.

If you are American and wondering what you should get this week, hit the link to find out.

There’s a mini dev diary of sorts for Dead to Rights: Retribution posted over on Eurogamer Germany.

In it, the developers chat a bit about recreating the franchise for a brand new audience, and reinventing it at the same time.

Says the storyline starts at “year zero” for Jack Slade and Shadow, and Jack must get to the bottom of a conspiracy.

A single control system will give you the ability to use hand-to-hand combat along with guns during gameplay, and not only will you be issuing commands to Shadow, but you get to play as the trusty canine companion too.

The game’s due sometime this year.

Overlord II will release in the US and UK on June 23 and 26 respectively.

The evil, minion-filled title will release simultaneously on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, and promises to be “the game that puts the laughter into slaughter.”

Glorious. Can’t wait.

Gamestop has two videos.

A demo for X-Men Origins: Wolverine is hitting PS3 and Xbox 360 tomorrow.

Raven’s Dan Vondrak dropped the news while recording a guest spot on Gamertag Radio.

That’s not all. We also have another video for you.

You got a look at the first 11 minutes of direct-feed gameplay for Wolverine earlier, now check out the Gambit trailer after the break.

It’s out tomorrow.

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Necromancers, crazy ghost hobs and the return of Theresa are just some of the things the developers chat about in the latest and last Fable 2 video diary from Lionhead.

Just in case you want to remain slightly surprised with See the Future’s content, don’t watch after the break.

But how can you not? It’s Fable 2 and you love it.

Thanks, Joystiq.

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Cyanide Studios released some new shots of Blood Bowl today, this time for the PC version.

Like the name suggests, it still looks bloody, orcish, and footbally.

This time we get a look at cheerleaders though, and we know how you like those. Go ogle ‘em over on Eurogamer Germany.

Game’s out for everything but PS3 and Wii this year, just in case you forgot.

GSC Game World has announced it is indeed working on S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat for PC.

Rumored earlier in the month, the third title in the series is a stand-alone version that will continue the storyline from S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl.

Expect a new story, characters, side quests, interface, and a new A-Life system combining best-liked elements from the first two games.

Call of Pripyat is just the working title at the moment, so if it changes don’t blame us.

The game is set for an autumn release.

Via DarkZero.

Don Mattrick is unlikely to announce a Microsoft MMO for 360 at E3, Cryptic design director Bill Roper told VG247 in a phone interview today, as the Xbox boss isn’t a fan of the genre and doesn’t have the infrastructure to support a perpetual online 360 product.

“I actually would be a little surprised,” he said when asked if we’re likely to see a first-party Microsoft MMO revealed at the show.

“I don’t think that’s something they’ve been really pushing towards. From any discussions I’ve ever had, or heard with Don Mattrick, Don’s not necessarily a huge MMO fan.”

Roper added: “[There's a] a sticky and difficult thing they’re still going through of how do they do it with third-parties. All those same concerns about business models and technology are going to be the same on the Microsoft side, and they don’t really have that online server platform, especially on the console, because they’re not developing one.

“I would actually be surprised, pleasantly surprised, but I actually would be surprised if they were announcing something first-party.”

Roper said that console MMOs in general are unlikely to be a hot topic at this year’s E3 due to the problems involved in getting them up and running on first-party hardware.

“There could be a lot of people sticking toes in the water, but maybe less than you would imagine, only from the standpoint that there are so many logistics to work through,” he said.

“There’s just so much to go through in terms of how technology interfaces and how the business model works. So much has to happen outside the walls of the developer or a publisher.

“That’s the thing that would potentially be slowing people down from saying they’re going to be creating MMOs on the consoles, but I think we’ll probably see one or two big announcements about it, would be my guess.”

Roper’s Champions Online is currently in development for 360, but no date’s been set for the game’s launch as yet. It’s PC SKU is out June 14.

Valve has filed suit against Activision Blizzard, claiming it has failed to cut a check for $2,391,932 in unpaid royalties.

An agreement was reached on April 6 regarding the original 2002 dispute, and while the above amount was less than what Valve felt was due, both parties agreed to the final figure and were bound by the arbitration process.

Here’s where it gets messy.

Activision claimed Valve had been overpaid $424,136 by the company over the years, and cut the firm a check for $1,967,796 instead of the amount agreed upon.

Valve claims that since the firm failed to bring this  bit of information up to the arbitrator, the company is now in direct violation of the legal order and are taking Activison back to court.

Activision has refused to pay the extra amount and said that if brought back into court, it will countersue.

Still with us? Good.

Read the rest on GamePolitics.

A new trailer hits PSN today for Battlefield 1943, and to get you excited over it, DICE has released not-so-brand-new screens for it over on the US PS Blog.

Nice looking for a WWII shooter, and it looks loaded with aerial bombing – from the plane and at the plane.

Gotta love bombing stuff in games.

The multiplayer shooter comes out for PS3 and Xbox 360 this June.

Go have a look.

New shots for Borderlands showing off the changed art style popped up over on Rock, Paper, Shotgun for the open-world shooter.

Looks like there’s going to be some rather tense moments, from what we can tell.

Gearbox promises it before the end of the year for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

Activision has announced that the second map pack for Call of Duty: World at War will land on PS3 and Xbox 360 in June.

Treyarch has included four new maps, Banzai, Corrosion, Sub Pens, and Zombie Swamp which expands the cooperative Nazi Zombie mode.

The add-on will also bring ten new Achievements and Trophies.

Pricing and PC availability hasn’t been announced.

Official announcement is posted below.

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Capcom has implemented a dynamic difficulty feature in Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles to give players a bit of a run for their money, or an easy ride through Raccoon City.

The game will gauge your shooting skills and make appropriate adjustments to challenge you, which means that being good at head shots will make pulling them off a bit more difficult.

Also, if you find you are intolerable at it, the game will ease up a bit.

Should be good for those of us who can’t aim for scat with the Wii remote.

More over at Siliconera.

During yesterday’s conference call to investors, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stated that the company has preparations in place for the next generation of consoles and handheld gaming systems.

“We need to get ready for the future generation of consoles,” he said.

“In the next few years, there will be new home and handheld consoles, and if you don’t invest… you will not be able to cope with both [the existing and new generation consoles].”

The big three have yet to announce anything in the way of new home consoles.

More over on Gamasutra.

Bethesda wants you to get excited about the new Fallout 3 DLC pack, Broken Steel, arriving on PC and Xbox 360 May 5.

So much so, the developers sent out five new screens giving you a quick peak at what to expect.

Looks post-apocalyptic to be sure.

Head on over to CVG and see for yourself.

The retail version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine dropped through the letterbox this morning. Get a video of the first 11 minutes of direct-feed gameplay after the break. It’s grabbed from the 360 version.

It’s amazingly violent, on first inspection. The movie runs from the opening sequence through a jungle level, which has already been seen in trailers.

We won’t spoil it. Look if you want to. It’s out tomorrow.

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Dead Rising 2 will include actions that will help your character Chuck Greene level without killing anything.

Speaking with Kotaku, Keiji Inafune said that there will be specific “things” that will help, but he refused to mention what it may entail.

Same sort of thing was implemented in the first game if you recall. Saving people, taking photos, etc.

Nothing too earth shattering, but still – it’s in Vegas, there’s zombies, and you get to use a chainsaw.

More through the link.

The content list for the European PSN Store is not very thick this week, but it packs a wallop in the way of ad-on content.

Killzone 2: Steel and Titanium map pack, Need for Speed Undercover, Burnout Paradise: Cops and Robbers, LittleBigPlanet Egyptian Mythology minipack, the list goes on.

You can see the full thing after the break, courtesy of Joystiq.
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