Monthly Archives: April 2009

Webzen has a teaser site for Huxley: The Dystopia up, complete with a countdown timer.

Gotta love a tease.

The site includes a flash video featuring game footage, and it looks rather awesome.

The MMOFPS is for PC and Xbox 360, and there’s still no release date – we’re getting a bit antsy for it.

Press release is below.
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Someone hacked into Atlus’ website yesterday and embedded a trojan that has quite possibly spread to online users.

The publisher warns that those who visited its website between 9:00am PST and 2:30pm PST could have been infected.

“The faith and trust of our fans is of the utmost importance to us, a responsibility we don’t take lightly,” said a statement released by the company.

Atlus has since temporarily shut the site down and urges those who stopped by to run a malware scan immediately.

Thanks, Joystiq.

Xbox Live customers who purchased Braid back in February will be getting 500 points credited to their account, due to a technical glitch that overbilled for the game.

Gamers were charged 1200 MS points instead of 800 when the game was the “Deal of the Week”.

Realizing its mistake, Microsoft’s crediting the extra 400 points back into gamer accounts plus an extra 100 points.

If you were one of those that experienced this glitch, Microsoft said that your credit will post within “the coming weeks”.

Via Kotaku.

The ESRB website has a listing for Mad Dog McCree: Gunslinger Pack over on the site.

Dunno how many of you remember this arcade game, but basically it’s a light-gun shooter with live-action along the lines of Dragon’s Lair. You would “shoot” actors on screen, cinematics would load, and you watched your victim fall to the ground.

Rumors surfaced last month that Majesco was bringing it to Wii, and now it looks as though it’s true.

Here’s the listing:

Mad Dog McCree: Gunslinger Pack
Platform: Wii
Rating: Teen

Content descriptors: Alcohol and Tobacco Reference, Crude Humor, Mild Blood, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence

Rating summary: This is a first-person shooter featuring live-action scenes instead of traditional animation. Set in the Wild West, the game allows players to engage in gunfights with bandits, rescue innocents, and shoot objects for points. Players use crosshair targeting to fire their gun at various outlaws who yell, flail, and crash through the scenery. In once scene, a character is depicted lying by the side of the road with several arrows sticking out of his body. There is red blood on the shafts of the arrows. In another scene, a woman says to the camera, “You’re my type, everyone is,” while a man in his long johns (i.e., underwear) moves past her. There is also a reference to “dirty peeping toms” and occasional depictions of women with exposed cleavage. The game includes attempts at slap-stick humor, including a scene in which an outlaw falls face-first into a pile of animal dung. During the course of the game, characters can be seen handling bottles of alcohol in saloons, slurring their speech after drinking from a flask, and holding unlit cigars.

We’ll keep an eye out in case you are interested.

Thanks D’toid.

Turbine’s lovely MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online turned two yesterday, and in celebration you can get the game at a discounted price of $9.99 a month.

This is a limited time offer running from now until June 30 so if you have been holding off on trying it, go get the trial version, play it, and lock in this cheap price.

“Our anniversary is a chance for us to celebrate with our past and present players and enjoy everything that is special about Middle-earth,” said executive producer Jeffery Steefel. He also said this was a way to thank gamers for “their wonderful support with some special subscription options.”

The special pricing is not all that’s going on either.

In-game celebratory items include rare coins dropped from mobs which you can exchange for gift boxes containing various item, and current subscribers will receive a special in-game item called the Writ of Passage. It gives you 20 percent off when renting ponies  – which can get a bit pricey.

Find out more on the official website.

Telltale’s Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People series can now be ordered on DVD for the first time.

The DVD contains all five episodes for PC, an MP3 soundtrack sampler, desktop wallpapers, game trailers, the complete “Behind the Bad” documentary series, footage from Telltale’s “Make a Scene with Strong Bad” panel at last year’s Penny Arcade Expo, cartoon shorts, and a barrage of hidden surprises.

Pre-orders can be made via Telltale, and the DVD is available for just the cost of shipping to customers who have already purchased the full Strong Bad season from Telltale.

If you only bought one episode, you can get a limited-time discounted price of $19.95, but newbies will have to pay $34.95.

It ships in June.

Joystiq has posted a new video for Terminator: Salvation showing off a bit of co-op gameplay.

Kind of gave us a bit of a headache watching it, but judge for yourself.

Grin’s shooter is out in May for PC, 360 and PS3.

Hit he jump for the video.
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EB Games has listed the contents for The Conduit’s Limited Edition package on it’s website.

Some of these you may already know about, some you may not.

• 24-Page art book featuring exclusive concept art and digital imagery sharing the creative process in bringing the world of The Conduit to life
• The in-game “All Seeing Eye” (A.S.E.) Device featuring custom detailing and projected light. Allowing you to unlock puzzles and discover the secrets of The Conduit
• “Secret Agent” Multiplayer skin which helps you dominate your enemies in intense multiplayer battles

Game’s out for Wii June 23 and 26 in North America and Europe respectively.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

EA has released another video for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10.

Loads of golf stuff in it, including talk about the tournament challenges, clips of Tiger chatting about his mindset during some of his most memorable moments and other, well, golf stuff.

The game’s out for PSP, PS2, PS3 and Xbox 360 this summer along with the Wii MotionPlus bundle.

Watch on.

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The Gardening Mama demo’s live on Nintendo’s Wii channel.

Look, it’s Saturday, and news is slow at the moment and we have not had enough coffee. Sorry.

The demo gives players a sample plant to grow and demonstrates ten stages of game play, which include sorting the bulbs, tilling the soil, applying serum and spraying for pesky creepy crawlies.

Mess things up? Don’t worry, Mama will save the day should your gardening skills abandon you at the crucial moment.

Game’s available May 1 on DS.

WiiWare title Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Dark Lord will be released in Japan this June, and thanks to Famitsu and IGN we now know more about it.

The followup to My Life as a King, this time around you are the demon heiress to the Dark Lord’s throne. Thirsting for world domination, you take control of  Mira, and try to thwart people from ascending your tower and stealing the dark crystal.

You will have monsters and traps in said tower to hinder their progress. Fun times.

Square Enix announced the game at GDC this year, but a release date for the rest of the globe has yet to be announced.

Head on over to IGN and take a look at it.

The newest video for Alpha Protocol highlights the dynamic dialog included in the game and gives you a walkthrough of an early stage that takes place in Moscow.

Obsidian’s spy-RPG is looking more interesting to us all the time.

It’s out for PC, PS3 and 360 in October.

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EA’s put out a bunch of screens and art for The Saboteur, containing both new and old stuff.

There’s some nice bits of art there, but we’re pretty sure the screens are old.

The Pandemic actioner was shown in London earlier this week.

Get them after the break.

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Ubisoft’s trademarked Driver: The Recruit, as you can see here.

A new Driver game was confirmed to be in the works by a BBC report last June, although Ubisoft studiously skirted comment on the issue.

E3? Sure. Thanks, superannuation.

Universal has stopped pre-production on Gore Verbinski’s BioShock movie over cash worries.

According to this Variety report, a planned budget of $160 million for an LA shoot was too much for Universal to stomach, so alternative locations – like the UK – are being looked at in an effort to get things moving again.

“We were asked by Universal to move the film outside the U.S. to take advantage of a tax credit,” Verbinski said.

“We are evaluating whether this is something we want to do. In the meantime, the film is in a holding pattern.”

Whoops. More words through there.

According to this MCV report, Empire’s entered administration.

Says the piece, all staff have been sent home from the firm’s London offices and redundancies are being worked through.

An official announcement’s expected on Monday.

Games Investor Consulting’s Nick Gibson has said that the games industry is not recession proof after all, and MMOs may be the way to go.

Gibson reports that private funding for games companies declined 60 percent in 2008 and into this year, and in 2007, investment was down 70 percent. Due to the current economic climate and banks not lending money to small and medium businesses, he predicts it will only get worse.

“The bullish industry insider may be thinking that the relative success of games would act as a beacon to attract investors and lenders, but this is not proving to be the case,” he wrote. “There are a variety of complex reasons for this.

“Most investors will have less capital to invest than they did a year or two years ago, many will be spending a higher than expected proportion of their available capital on ensuring their existing investments stay afloat and they will also have become incredibly risk-averse, making new investments within their comfort zone only.

“Given that few investors really understand the games sector, and so many distrust it, this will have left few investors willing or able to take a punt on a privately-held games company.”

Gibson points out that $4 billion has been invested in the smaller owned games companies and enabled innovation that big publishers would never even consider backing. Over 60 percent of that $4 billion has gone into network and online gaming.

He goes on to say that the MMO and virtual world markets can actually boast sustainable business models, so any venture capital fallout should be less harsh than normal.

More through the link.

Killzone 2 went on sale in Japan yesterday, and so far the shooter has sold 20,000 copies.

Some retail outlets are reporting that the game is sold out and others claim supplies are dwindling.

The game’s on the fast track to outselling Resistance 2, another Sony exclusive, which burned through 33,000 during it’s opening week in Japan.

More over at PS3center.

According to the latest Twitter post from UK rag, XboxWorld360, the Joker DLC is not PS3 exclusive to Batman: Arkham Asylum.

It’s coming to Xbox 360 as presumably paid for content, and the game is the cover story for the May issue.

“You’ve heard The Joker is playable in Arkham Asylum on PS3, right?” says the tweet. “Those stages are DLC on 360. It’s our May covergame; look forward to it.”

Guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Sega has announced that Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram will be available for download on April 29 via Xbox Live.

Keeping with the classic mech fighting style, the game sports HD graphics and one-on-one online multiplayer.

Details:

• Giant mechs: Enjoy all the thrills of the classic arcade mech fighter in the comforts of your home on Xbox LIVE Arcade.
• Full roster: Choose from 15 playable Virtuaroids, each highly stylized with unique characterstics and moves.
• Multiplayer: Online multiplayer mode allows players to battle head-to-head with friends from around the world.
• Fast action: Fast visceral action is heightened by the intense HD graphics.
• Customization: The unique “color editing” feature lets you customize your Virtuaroid in the style of your choice.

The game will run you 1200 MS Points ($15).