Monthly Archives: April 2009

Geoff Keighley has tweeted that he will be shooting the next episode of GameTrailers TV today, and revealed he would also be “hanging out with [Tony Hawk].”

Sounds like a GTTV episode on the latest Tony Hawk game, doesn’t it? No biggie though, we all know the game’s coming.

Later, another Twitter post directed at Hawk himself popped up, saying that Geoff was looking forward to chatting about “the new game.”

Oh what a tease you are Geoff, tweeting exclusivity for the world to see.

Hopefully the new GTTV episode will shed light on the rumored skateboard peripheral for the next Tony Hawk game, and maybe some other unknown details.

Until then, just keep an eye fixed firmly right here.

Thanks, D’toid.

EA Sports has announced that as of this week, more than 500 million online games have been played since launching its ‘09 product line last June.

On average, more than 2.2 million EA Sports games are played online each day, which reflects an increase of more than 175 percent over last year representing the entirety of the EA Sports lineup.

“Online game play allows real-time competitions with fans from around the world who speak the global language of sports,” said Peter Moore.

“EA Sports is committed to providing personal access to the emotion of sports by continuing to create immersive online features, compelling new downloadable content and daily real-time stats updates.”

Also mentioned was the astounding figure of six titles claiming more than 500,000 registered online users and Madden NFL 09 and FIFA 09 pulling in more than 2.4 million each.

Users have also logged more than 4 billion minutes since last summer, and played the equivalent of more than 35 years gameplay per day.

Press release is through the break.
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Damnation assets popped up over on CVG earlier this afternoon. Five screens and a trailer are posted.

Looks mighty fine. You should go take a look.

Codemasters confirmed a May 22 release for the shooter on PS3 and Xbox 360 just last week.

Cowen Group analyst Doug Creutz has predicted that Guitar Hero will be the sole winner in the music genre category, and beat out all others this year.

“We believe music genre sales for the company will be driven by an expansion of the release slate in 2009, which should broaden sales to core consumers,” Creutz told Gamasutra. “We also believe that Guitar Hero is likely to face less competition from Rock Band this year, driving a gain in market share for Activision Blizzard.”

Creutz does not see The Beatles: Rock Band as being a threat to Activision.

This is mainly due to the high price point of the collector’s edition. Creutz said it will do nothing to help out peripheral sales.

He does, however, believe that Acti’s DJ Hero will freshen up the genre and cause a surge in peripheral uptake.

More through the link.

A Nintendo representative has told CVG that the company has “no plans to release a Skype application for DS or DSi”.

Skype is already available on PSP, iPhone and iPod Touch via its VoIP application, leading some to suspect it would only be a matter of time before Nintendo got in on the trend.

Further adding to the speculation, a Skype rep stated previously that a release on DSi could be possible.

“Whilst we can’t comment on any future plans to bring Skype to Nintendo’s DSi, it would technically be possible,” the spokesperson said, explaining the company’s policy of “extending the Skype infrastructure and platform to bring Skype functionality wherever, whenever, and on whatever device or site people choose to use it.”

But, Nintendo says no dice. End of story.

A Battlestations: Pacific demo will hit PC and Xbox Live on April 30.

The teaser will showcase the Divine Winds of Leyte mission, which tells the tale of a Kamikaze attack on a US carrier fleet.

The game allows you to take control of either the US or Japanese fleet in WWII, and will release in North America on May 12 and May 15 across Europe and Australia.

It’s a PC and Xbox 360 affair.

NCsoft has entered the Steam age, and is now offering all of its MMOs through the digital distribution service.

Starting today, all current NCsoft titles are available, and once it’s released, the lovely Aion: The Tower of Eternity will also make an appearance.

Over the next few weeks, the service will be offering exclusive deals for the publisher’s MMOs, although no specific details have been announced at this time.

Full thing below.

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Famitsu reports that Ada Wong is to make an appearance in Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles.

This time around though, Ada will appear with Claire Redfield instead of just Leon.

Probably a no-brainer move to anyone who has played Resident Evil 2, especially considering how closely tied it is to Darkside Chronicles.

It was previously revealed that Sherry Birkin will make an appearance as well.

Via IGN.

Marvel has announced that the new Halo comic Helljumper is set for release in July.

According to the plotline posted on Spong:

“When the colony planet Ariel sends out a mysterious distress signal, it’s up to the UNSC’s elite, highly skilled special-ops Marines, the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers from the 105th, to find out what’s happening. Also known as ODSTs or ‘Helljumpers’, these soldiers are some of the toughest in the galaxy…and some of the roughest as well.

“When the distress signal comes, two Helljumpers will find themselves at the center of the mystery on Ariel, and before it’s solved, they’ll have to put their friendship—and their lives—on the line…”

Helljumpers is the first in a five part series and is written by Peter David and illustrated by Eric Nguyen.

Another series in the Halo comic sphere, titled Spartan Black, is also in the works.

Sega’s Takayuki Kawagoe says the firm is looking at changing its current management structure in order to integrate the eastern and western divisions

“We need more integration so projects and initiatives on both sides can benefit from everyone’s experience and expertise,” said the head of Sega’s CS division.

Citing the recent ups and downs of Sega tiles, along with the downturn in the Japanese industry, Kawagoe admitted that the company’s offerings had better critic ratings in Europe than in the States.

Critic ratings aside, it still did not translate into high sales and Kawagoe used MadWorld and Yakuza 3 as examples of this trend. MadWorld having sold 66,000 in the states and Yakuza 3 breaking even over in Japan.

One way Sega hopes to combat the slump and close the east/west gap is by extending its IP into media platforms such as the anime adaptation of Valkyria Chronicles for television.

More over on Edge.

Updates to Left 4 Dead Survival Pack have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted.

Specific changes:

Survival Mode

• New gameplay Mode
• 16 maps including Last Stand
• Leaderboards
• 7 new achievements

Versus changes and other fixes are after the break.

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EA has announced MySims Agents, a mystery-solving adventure game for the Wii and DS where players are agents who must stop a plot that threatens the fate of an entire city.

Players take on the role of a special agent hired to foil the sinister plans of the lord of the criminal underworld. By recruiting different MySims, each with their own special characteristics, players can build up their very own crime-busting dream team.

Using using forensics, picking locks, hacking into computers, following leads and collecting clues, players will use puzzles to put gadgets together to help solve the mystery.

Sounds interesting.

Game’s out June 16.

Read on for the press release.

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Black Rock Studios’ Tony Beckwith has told Develop that the racing genre is “dying out” and the firm’s new title Split/Second will save it.

“If you look at the sales figures, the racing genre is, in many respects, dying out,” said Beckwith. “Take Mario Kart out of the equation and the genre is in a dire way.”

“We’re all fans of street racing here, but as a genre it is relatively stale – the evolution is only coming from how customize cars, which can only serve to remove you from the action. I think Split/Second will do the opposite.”

Made by the same folks who developed Pure, Split/Second enables players to strategically take out their opponents by altering the course in real time.

It’s slated for a 2010 release for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

More through the links.

Thanks, DarkZero.

Sorry folks, looks as though Amazon doesn’t plan on bringing WiWare codes to UK patrons.

Nintendo has told CasualGaming.biz that it has no plans to bring the offer to the UK, just like Microsoft.

So far this is a North American affair only, but if it proves popular there, it could eventually make its way to the UK.

Read on through the link.

Retailer Game has posted record financial results for its fiscal year which ended January 31, 2009.

Reporting turnover gains of £1.97 billion (up 32 percent) and a profit of £126.2 million (up 68 percent), Game chairman Peter Lewis attributes the success to the chain’s international expansion and the acquisition of Gamestation.

“These were exceptional results for the Group with a 67% increase in profit before taxation and non-recurring costs to £126.2m (2008: £75.5m) and continue a consistent growth trend for our business,” he said. “The Group’s basic earnings per share before non-recurring costs in the last four years have increased by a compound annual average of over 44%.

“The principal drivers have been third generation formats with many products now having a wider demographic appeal, the further development of our specialist credentials, successful international expansion and the many benefits arising from our acquisition of Gamestation.”

Lewis also stated that current trading performance is “ahead of our expectations” which has the board confident for the year into January 2010.

More over on Edge.

Nintendo UK has started pushing its online multiplayer games via an eight-week marketing campaign on the official website.

Called ‘Get it Online’, the campaign heavily promotes the online capabilities of Wii through a banner. When clicked, the visitor is taken to a series of 16 different videos touting Wii’s various features and explaining how to get online through the console.

According to Edge, loads of of multiplayer footage is featured in the spots along with the Wii Shop, web browser, and visitors to the site can submit their mobile number so they can watch the videos on their cell.

The purpose of the campaign is to become more competitive in the online market. Xbox Live is predicted to rake-in $1 billion (£680 million) in subscription fees by 2013, according to research firm In-Stat.

Amazon has started offering WiiWare games through the site by selling download codes.

First one up is World of Goo for $19.99.

The online retailer already does the same for Xbox Live titles, and digital downloads for PC games.

Wonder how long it will be before PSN titles are offered.

Via NeoGAF.

EA’s confirmed a PSP version of Dante’s Inferno, slated to release later next year.

The project’s a combined effort between EA’s Redwood Shores studio and Artificial Mind and Movement in Canada.

We’ve just seen this in London. There’s an embargo on info for April 24.

Atari confirmed today that JRPG Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of a New World will get an autumn release this year for PAL Wiis.

The version will be a new one, apparently, containing extra content.

PAL gamers are to get a “new monster collection system that lets players capture, evolve and do battle with more than 200 monsters alongside a huge cast of new and returning characters.”

So hooray for that. Press release after the break.

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GfK Chart-Track’s released lifetime figures for games hardware in the UK, as reported by Edge.

And here they are:

• Wii – 4.9 million (launched December 2006)
• Xbox 360 – 3.2 million (launched December 2005)
• PS3 – 1.9 million (launched March 2007)
• DS – 8.8 million (launched March 2005)
• PSP – 3.2 million (launched September 2005)
• PS2 – 10 million (launched November 2000)

That puts combined PS3, Wii and 360 sales at 10 million. Lots of millions.

More through the link.