Monthly Archives: April 2009

SCEA’s Peter Dille has told Gamasutra the PSP’s got a big piracy problem. Like you didn’t know.

“I’m convinced and we’re convinced that piracy has taken out a big chunk of our software sales on PSP,” Dille told Gamasutra.

“It’s been a problem that the industry has to address together; it’s one that I think the industry takes very seriously, but we need to do something to address this because it’s criminal what’s going on, quite frankly.

“It’s not good for us, but it’s not good for the development community,” he added. “We can look at data from BitTorrent sites from the day Resistance: Retribution goes on sale and see how many copies are being downloaded illegally, and it’s frankly sickening.”

Full interview through there. Thanks, Eurogamer.

According to this latest issue of Famitsu, Dead Rising 2′s lead character is called “Chuck”.

Sensational. The game’s being shown this week at CAPTIVATE in Monte Carlo, so you don’t have too long to see Chuck going mental with a chainsaw in a casino, all being well.

More on Kotaku.

Ten Guitar Hero Arcade machines have been placed at Brighton Pier’s Palace of Fun, according to Activision.

Playable since Easter, the Arcade will “officially” launch the machines on April 25 with public competitions.

Developed by Activision, Konami and Raw Thrills, the machine has its own guitar – like, dur – as well as a large selection of licensed tracks, 11 different characters, and co-op.

Brighton Pier is the first location in the UK to feature the arcade game.

Press release below.

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There’s a video of Square Enix’s 0 Day Attack on Earth after the break.

The game was announced during the Microsoft Japan Spring 2009 Title Preview yesterday, and is expected sometime this year.

Via D’toid.

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Grandia Online’s to be announced in Japan on May 20. Seriously.

From this 1UP report:

The news was broken today via a page on Gungho’s website inviting fans to apply for a chance to attend a Grandia Online conference in Akihabara on May 20. 60 lucky applicants will be able to play the game at the event, which will feature series composer Noriyuki Iwadare as well as voice actors Kikuko Inoue and Mariya Ise as special guests.

To commemorate the announcement, the original Grandia is now available on the Japanese PSN for 600 yen.

More through there.

Sims 3 associate producer Grant Rodiek has told Gamespot that his game was delayed partly in order to assure both Mac and PC versions could ship at the same time.

“The Sims 3 June launch gives more time for tuning and polish, and the ability to launch the game on PC and Mac platforms simultaneously,” he said.

Polish ws also a key factor in pushing back launch, the developer added.

“This is a key EA franchise and title and it deserves a bigger bet on the best Sims game EA has made,” he said.

“These last few months will give us a little more time to tune, tweak and polish the game. Our players have been waiting for something awesome and that’s exactly what we intend to give them.”

The game was originally supposed to release on February 20, but was pushed back to June 2 earlier this year.

French mag Joypad has apparently reported that Bizarre Creations’ 2009 racer is a weapons-based affair called Blur.

The game has been likened in many circles to Mario Kart. Armour and a damage model are also supposedly included.

More from E3, hopefully. Thanks Kotaku.

According to Famitsu figures, Wii has passed the 8 million barrier in Japan.

The machine launched on December 2, 2006 in Japan.

While the news is a major achievement for Nintendo, company top brass recently admitted that sales were stalling and that Wii was in an “unhealthy condition” in its home territory.

G4 has been named the official broadcaster of E3 2009.

The cable channel will be broadcasting the Nintendo conference live, along with the following schedule:

• Over 22 hours of live coverage
• Steve Wiebe live world record Donkey Kong high score attempt
• Live on-air coverage of five major press conferences, including Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo
• G4TV.com to stream all E3 press conferences live and unedited
• Hands-on game demos
• Exclusive interviews with top gaming executives

Coverage kicks of Monday, June 1, and continues through Thursday, June 4.

Looks like no Ninja Warrior for us those nights. Cry.

Read on for the full thing.

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Zeno Clash has landed on Steam for $19.99, as promised.

ACE’s FPS uses the HL2 engine, and looks pretty darn good so far.

In the game, you play as Ghat, who’s forced into a “desperate journey past the forbidden desert and to the end of the world”.

Go see for yourself.

Konami has announced Karaoke Revolution for PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii.

The game comes with multiplayer modes, 50 all-new songs from master recordings, 16 customizable venues, and enhanced customizable characters complete with facial and body morphing.

In addition to creating playlists, PS3 and 360 users can utilize the co-op Party Mode with multiple game modes for up to 16 players and character customization recording can be implemented with the XBL Vision Camera or the PlayStation Eye.

It’s expected to be released sometime during Q4.

Press release follows.
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Will Wright has confirmed to GameDaily that his involvement with Spore is ongoing, despite leaving EA.

When asked if he had plans to revisit his hold franchises, he said he has entered into a consulting agreement with the publisher.

“I don’t think it was widely reported, but alongside this whole [Stupid Fun Club] thing, I also entered into a consulting agreement with EA,” he said. “I’m spending a certain amount of time every month actually working with the Spore team on future versions of Spore and expansions. So I will [still] be involved with EA on developing the Spore franchise as well.”

When asked why there as been little-to-nothing heard about a PS3 and Xbox 360 version of the creation game, Wright explained that there’s a cost issue.

“I know there’s been a lot of talk about it internally,” he admitted, “but for us it’s really an opportunity/cost issue. You know, we either do that or we continue creating new applications on the PC or we kind of go into the handheld arena. I can’t specifically say what the plans are right now, but really all these things are measured against each other.

“We can’t do everything at once, so we have to say, ‘What platforms would it kind of evolve the fastest on?’ So you can sort of look at a straight port to the PS3 and Xbox 360 and basically have the same game we have on the PC… or we could say, ‘What can we do on this platform that will help us explore different parts of the design?’ I think the Wii is really unique in that sense, with the things you can do on Wii that you can’t do on other platforms right now.

“It’s represented a lot of learning for us in terms of the directions we might take it. So I’d say that’s one of the under-appreciated aspects of how we choose to deploy this on different platforms.”

The full interview will be posted later this week, but hit the link to learn what Will wants to be included in the next iteration of Spore.

Tom Clancy’s HAWX’s first piece of DLC, the European Assault Pack, will release on April 23 for PS3 and Xbox 360.

Extra planes include the multi-role carrier-borne version of the Dassault Rafale, the Saab-37 Viggen and two Mirage aircraft designed for nuclear strike and long-range interception.

The delta-winged FB-22 prototype bomber, based on the F-22 Raptor, also made the cut. The XA-20 Razorback featured in Tom Clancy’s EndWar is in there too.

The DLC will run you 400 MS Points ($5.00) and $4.99 for PS3.

Joystiq has loads of images featuring the new planes. You’ll want to have a look.

Valve released a new update to Team Fortress 2 yesterday. The patch will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted.

Specific changes include:

• Reworked the character load-out screens to support future features
• Added the ability for players to permanently delete items from their inventory using the new Backpack menu. This does not reset achievements. Once an item has been deleted it can never be re-earned.
• Added the ability for players to reset their player stats using the Reset Stats button on the Stats menu. This does not reset achievements.
• Added a “player_teleported” game event that is sent when a player is teleported.
• Updated cp_junction_final to score per-capture instead of per-round. This fixes the map not working correctly with Tournament mode and the stopwatch.
• Scouts now drop the flag if they’re carrying it when they start phasing.
• Fixed instances where Steam connection problems would cause some unlocked items to be unusable.
• Fixed the custom crosshair menu not clearing itself when “None” is selected for non-English clients.
• Fixed warning about not being able to execute skill1.cfg when starting the dedicated server.

Hit the link for more.

A Kotaku tipster has sent over a retail listing for The Beatles: Rock Band, which seemingly gives credence to the three-part harmony rumors that surfaced last week.

Here’s the scoop:

The Beatles: Rock Band is the music game experience that allows players to follow the legendary career of The Beatles from Liverpool, to Shea Stadium to Abbey Road. Featuring the ability to play drums, lead guitar, bass guitar or sing three part harmony with up to three microphones, The Beatles: Rock Band will focus on authentically recreating the feeling of performing The Beatles music on stage and in the studio.

No word on which retailer has it listed as such, but it shouldn’t be longer before this is all confirmed or denied.

Looks like it’s gonna cost more than you planned if you want to actually pretend to be the Beatles. The collector’s edition only comes with one mic and one stand. You’ll need three.

Hit the links for more.

Sonic Chronicles and Dragon Age team-manager Dan Tudge has left BioWare to work for Disney Interactive.

Tudge’s new position as the VP and general manager of Propaganda Games will oversee 130 employees and two unannounced games.

With over 13 years experience in the industry, Tudge previously worked for Exile Interactive, Relic and and Morgan Media.

BioWare has told Gamasutra that Mark Darrah has assumed the role of executive producer on Dragon Age: Origins.

Hit the link for the rest.

Ignition will publish Vanillaware’s Muramasa: The Demon Blade exclusively for the Wii this September.

The game supports 16:9 widescreen display, two playable characters, a cast of 100 NPCs, lovely 2D art, optional challenge stages and mini-games throughout.

Based on ancient Japanese lore, the game drops players into the Genroku era, ruled by shogun Tsunayoshi, whose desire for power leads to a conflict over the Demon Blades.

Some brand new images for it have popped up over on IGN. You’d be silly not to take a look.

Read on for the press release.

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During tomorrow’s Earth Day celebration, PSN will donate $1 for every download purchased – up to $10,000.

The event is in partnership with Conservation International, a nonprofit organization that “seeks to protect Earth’s high-biodiversity wilderness areas and important marine regions around the globe.”

To top things off, the environmentally friendly video game Trash Panic (Gomibako in Japan) will be hitting PSN this spring. No exact release date was announced, but there are a couple screens for it here, and, thanks to Joystiq, a video of it below.

Hit the link for more information.

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Warhammer Online’s Beyond the Sands event went live yesterday and will run through April 27.

The next phase in the Call to Arms live expansion, the event pits both factions against the Liche Priests over artifacts that once belonged to Nehekharan Kings.

It is mainly a RvR event, but don’t worry PvE-ers. There’s something in it for you too.

The Call to Arms live event is a prequel leading up to the release of the Land of the Dead, which is expected to host new dungeons, a new RvR zone and new instances.

Hit the link to learn more.

Released today, a new Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood trailer not only details the reasons why the McCall brothers are in search of a buried Aztec treasure, but also reveals their whiny priest brother.

There’s also a Q&A with product manager Pawel Kopinski on Gamespot, discussing the story, characters, and gunfightin’.

Ubisoft says to expect it in June for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Watch on below.

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