Monthly Archives: April 2009

Sega said today that it plans to support cross-platform tri-Ace RPG End of Eternity for the next decade, Famitsu reports.

That’s it. The game’s out at the end of this year, in Japan at least.

Thanks, Kotaku.

id boss Todd Hollenshead has told GameSpot that Doom 4 is “not a sequel to Doom 3, but it’s not a reboot either”.

“Doom 3 was sort of a reboot,” he added.

“It’s a little bit different than those, and if I told you why, I would get my ass kicked when I got back. So I’ll just have to leave it at that.”

Don’t fret, though. It’s still Doom.

“It’s very much deep in development. But everything I’ve seen on it is classic Doom, so I don’t really have worries that people aren’t going to like it and start talking about it,” he said.

So, it’s not a sequel and it’s not a reboot, but it’s “classic Doom”. It’s Doom, then.

Thanks, Eurogamer

Nintendo’s confirmed Wii MotionPlus for a June 8 launch.

The peripheral will cost $20.

Wii Sports Resort will follow on July 26.

The new device and game were confirmed earlier for a June 12 and July 24 ship in Europe.

Press release after the break.

More »

Following this morning’s announcement that Edge Online’s entire editorial team has essentially quit, Future’s confirmed that Alex Wiltshire and Tom Ivan have been installed as editor and news editor respectively.

Wiltshire use to dep-edit Edge magazine. Ivan started his gaming life as a staff writer on CVG, and previously contributed to EO’s initially incarnation, Next-Gen.biz.

Congrats, chaps. Welcome to the war.

Nintendo just confirmed Wii MotionPlus for a June 12 release in Europe.

Wii Sports Resort will launch on July 24.

“Everyone who has played the Wii can remember the moment they first discovered its intuitive controls and realised that this was an incredible new way of experiencing video games,” said NoE PR boss, Laurent Fischer.

“Wii MotionPlus will create that feeling again, taking gameplay to a new level of realism. And with Wii Sports Resort, people will get the chance to immerse themselves in a hugely fun set of games that are designed to make the very best of this exciting new technology.”

MotionPlus has already been confirmed for a June launch in Japan.

Press release after the break.

More »

Sega’s confirmed pricing for Outrun Online Arcade, saying today that the racer will cost 800 MS Points, or £7.99/€9.99 on PSN.

It’s out for 360 tomorrow and PS3 on Thursday.

This Eurogamer article reckons the PSN version’s a European exclusive. Tough luck, American PlayStation 3 gamers.

Press release after the break.

More »

Gamestop just sent out a customer email detailing the contents of the Beatles: Rock Band collector’s edition.

It’s going to pack the game; a Höfner Bass controller, Beatlesque and Ludwig-branded Rock Band drums with pearl finish, a metal kick pedal and vintage replica drumhead, plus a microphone with stand and “additional special content.”

It’s out on September 9. More on Kotaku.

Sony’s trademarked Starhawk, as you can see here.

Remember Dylan Jobe formed Lightbox last month to work on a rumoured Warhawk-in-space thing? This is probably it.

Thanks, superannuation.

Microsoft’s confirmed it’s to extend 360 hardware warranties for those suffering the increasingly infamous E74 failure.

“While the majority of Xbox 360 owners continue to have a great experience with their console, we are aware that a very small percentage of our customers have reported receiving an error that displays ‘E74′ on their screen,” the firm said in a statement.

“After investigating the issue, we have determined that the E74 error message can indicate the general hardware failure that is associated with three flashing red lights error on the console. As a result, we have decided to cover repairs related to the E74 error message under our three-year warranty program for certain general hardware failures that was announced in July 2007.”

If your machine suffered from an E74 previously, and you had to pay for repairs, Microsoft will refund you in the coming 4-12 weeks.

If you get the E74 message it essentially means your machine’s cooked.

Thanks, Kotaku.

This Incgamers report reckons Blizzard’s confirmed that World of Warcraft patch 3.1 will launch today.

The update’s a biggie, adding the anticipated Ulduar instance, a new movie of which can be found here.

We can’t see the announcement anywhere right now. Just checking with Blizzard.

Sega said today that Bayonetta will release globally this autumn.

The Hideki Kamiya actioner follows a mental witch having the worst “bad hair day” imaginable.

It’s a simultaneous ship for PS3 and 360.

Thanks, Kotaku.

Both having Microsoft as a publisher and concentrating on 360 as a single format has aided the Gears of War IP, executive producer Rod Fergusson has told VG247.

“Yeah,” said the developer when asked if keeping the franchise exclusive to 360 had been a benefit.

“Microsoft is just an awesome publisher. They’re a great partner for us. They help us in so many ways, both in terms of the obvious with marketing support, and also in terms of usability, tested, play-testing, design reviews, support on the art side and a whole bunch of different things.”

Fergusson described the restriction of having to keep Gear on 360 as a “tax” for working with Microsoft, but explained that the set-up allowed Epic to attempt to make the best possible title for one format.

“We benefit a lot by having Microsoft as a publisher, and one of the ‘taxes,’ if you will, of working with them is that we’re only on one platform, but also it allows us to focus our efforts in terms of development,” he said.

“UE3 runs great on PC, it runs great on PS3 and 360 as well, but for us as a team it allows us to focus and make the best game we can for that one particular platform, which has been great. I think it has helped the IP from that perspective as we’ve been focused on creating the best game possible.”

Gears of War 2 has sold around 4 million units so far.

Fergusson was talking at GDC.

Here you go, BioWare sci-fi fans. Another Mass Effect 2 wallpaper‘s been posted, this time of a ruined junk yard thing with people walking across it.

The game’s out early 2010. Keep watching. Lots more very soon.

Former Edge Online editor Colin Campbell has posted a withering explanation of his reasons for leaving the site, saying that Future’s “fiddling with Excel spreadsheets is a poor defense against revolution.”

Campbell finished a notice period with Future last Friday, having resigned thanks to Future’s decision to bring control of Edge Online from the US to the UK. Writers Kris Graft and Rob Crossley have also quit.

“Edge Online’s new bosses claim they want to ‘integrate’ the online and print facets of the magazine,” said Campbell, writing on the newly-launched GameBizBlog.

“I believe this to be an error. Although the Edge voice ought to be maintained throughout all its activities, any attempt to reshape a dynamic daily website in the image of a monthly print magazine is conceptually and practically highly problematic.”

Future’s insistence on nurturing paper products, Campbell said, was a refusal to accept the truth of today’s games journalism.

“The story of the game industry is now being told via lightning fast websites and blogs of phenomenal competence and editorial quality,” he added.

“The days when giant print brands dominated the mediascape are over.”

You go, girl. Colin’s now heading up Intent’s business in the US, based in San Fran. And just in case you were wondering, pop stars, GameBizBlog “is not competing with anyone for advertising dollars”.

And this one, right here, has bells on it. Good luck with it, dude!

SCEA hardware marketing boss John Koller has told VG247 that Microsoft’s apparent need to pay for exclusivity on certain products – such as the Lost and Damned – is borne from a self-perceived lack of strength in its first-party line-up.

“Microsoft has had a much more lenient policy to writing cheques than we do,” he said.

“We don’t feel the need to write cheques necessarily with every publisher, like they did with the Lost and Damned and some other titles, because we feel very strongly in our first-party line-up.

“I think it’s safe to say that we’d put our first-party line-up against anyone’s, and Microsoft and other manufacturers probably lead a little bit when they’re writing cheques about how they feel about their own internal line-up.”

Microsoft reportedly loaned Rockstar $50 million for two episodes of GTA IV DLC, although the figure’s never been confirmed.

The first episiode, The Lost and Damned, is rumoured to have sold in the region of 1 million units.

Koller was speaking at GDC last month.

The member’s page of the PC Gaming Alliance has seemingly lost its Activision logo.

Why? The PCGA told Kotaku that “a few members have decided they cannot justify the budget (membership and staff) required to maintain an active role in the PC Gaming Alliance at this time.”

While it’s lost a member, however, the PC-loving outfit’s gained one in the form of Sony DADC, the owner of DRM “solution” SecuROM.

Tuesday thrills.

Variety, citing a “good source,” is rumouring that GTA IV DLC The Lost and Damned has sold around 1 million units since it released in February.

Analyst Michael Pachter has already put the same figure on the download, speaking at the beginning of March. Pachter estimated sales would reach 2 million by the end of this year.

The second and final part of GTA IV’s 360-exclusive DLC will release before the end of October this year.

Watch the mountains, hot-shot. Sony’s “wait wait wait” policy may finally be bearing fruit, in Japan at least.

Culminated first quarter Famitsu sales have placed PS3 titles at the second and third positions in Japan so far in 2009.

Yakuza 3 and RE5 were beaten only by Mario & Luigi RPG 3 for DS. We doubt Sony’s that miffed.

See the mountains? They’ve got “Q4″ and “price cut” written on them. Keep watching.

Thanks, ChartGet.

1. 467,891 DS – Mario & Luigi RPG 3
2. 459,876 PS3 – Yakuza 3
3. 428,545 PS3 – Resident Evil 5
4. 356,305 PSP – Monster Hunter Portable 2 G (BEST)
5. 355,784 PSP – Shin Sangoku Musou: Multi Raid
6. 301,609 Wii – Wii Fit
7. 300,753 DS – Rhythm Heaven
8. 296,037 PSP – Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2
9. 243,240 DS – Wagamama Fashion: Girls Mode
10. 220,550 Wii – Taiko no Tatsujin Wii

Stardock’s released Demigod’s digital version early thanks to Gamestop going live with the game early.

You can buy it here, now, for $39.95 (£26.89).

“Many of us had just finished a good solid 8 weeks of massive crunch and were looking forward to the weekend to recover. Instead, we found ourselves back at work having to turn on and configure the multiplayer matchmaking servers…[because of the early release by GameStop] piracy on this title will, in theory, be maximized,” said Stardock boss Brad Wardell.

Whoops. More on Examiner. Help Brad out and get busy with the credit card.

Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter has dismissed talk of games revenues peaking this year as “rubbish”.

The analyst said game stock had underperformed this year, and there was still plenty to get out of this generation.

“Share prices for the publishers have underperformed this year, as concerns about a weak macro continue to linger. Investors appear to remain skeptical about the video game consumer, and investor pessimism was exacerbated by weak industry outlooks from Activision, Electronic Arts, Nintendo, THQ, Take-Two, and Ubisoft. In addition, it appears to us that many investors remain convinced that industry growth will peak in 2009, given that this year is the fourth year of the current cycle, and given urban legend that video game sales always peak in year 4,” he said in a note.

“We say ‘rubbish’, and note that video game software sales typically peak in the year prior to the introduction of a new generation console, as many consumers begin to slow purchases in anticipation of purchasing a new console the next year.”

More on GameDaily. March’s NPD will release this Thursday.