Monthly Archives: April 2009

TV Judge Greg Mathis and filmmaker Matty Rich are teaming up to create game for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 called Mathis “Detroit” Street Judge.

The game is expected to be reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto – but with prison rape.

Huh?

Mathis says his goal as a judge, and as a gamer, is to introduce consequences today’s youth and the best way to do that is through videogames.

“The main difference between our game and Grand Theft Auto is that players will have to deal with the justice system and consequences for their actions,” said Mathis.

“When you go to prison, you gain credibility when you come back on the streets. On the other hand, when you go to prison you can also be raped. So take your chances. We may see young people who make the wrong choice and go to prison and are assaulted repeatedly (in this game).”

The third-person open-world shooter takes place in the rough end of Detroit, where players assume the role of ex-convict La-Ron Washington. La-Ron has two strikes against him and if he messes up again, Judge Mathis will throw the book at him – if the Detroit underworld doesn’t get to him first.

“Video games allow you to obtain the fulfillment of [a violent] lifestyle without being in it,” he added.

Loads more through the link.

Q Games’ Dylan Cuthbert’s announced via Twitter that PixelJunk Eden Encore will release on PSN next week.

“You really don’t want to miss out on this one,” said the developer. “It’s jam-packed with cool!”

Cuthbert showed off Eden Encore at GDC last month.

The Japan-based boss confirmed yesterday that a demo’s in the works for PixelJunk 1-4, so hopefully we’ll get to see what’s next in the excellent strategy series very soon.

Watch for Capcom announcements soon, chaps. CAPTIVATE09, this year’s Capcom games showcase, has been announced on Unity as a Monte Carlo affair.

Hardly anyone’s going from the UK. We’re not. We’re not bitter.

We’re not exactly sure when it’s happening. It may have already taken place, in fact. We were told, but we can’t remember. But according to that post there, you should be watching on April 29 for all the media, and there’s going to be plenty to look at.

Dead Rising 2, Lost Planet 2, Dark Void, Spyborgs and Resident Evil The Darkside Chronicles are all to feature in some shape or form, and there’s promise of new announcements.

Full details through there.

Dan Aykroyd has told Newsweek that he prefers how the characters look in the Wii version of Ghostbusters as the style resembles The Incredibles.

“Honestly, I love the way we look in the Wii platform, because it resembles the animation that was done in The Incredibles,” he said.

“Anybody who looks like an Incredible is automatically a superhero. And I was so pleased that they shaved off at least 60 pounds from my current bulk. The boys look good. We resemble the actors who were in the first movie. You wouldn’t want us out there looking as we do today.”

Aykroyd went on to discuss the differences between doing voiceovers for a movie and a videogame, as well as talking about the motion capture process.

It really is a good read, so hit the link for more.

Via Kotaku.

Italian website MondoXbox has posted some scans from the May issue of Game Informer, showing Assassin’s Creed II in all its glory.

Looks great, and here is what we translated for you thanks to the wonderful BabelFish.

Images of Assassin’ s Creed 2 published from the review in Game Informer: We see new acclimatization, the enemies who Ezio will meet in the course of the adventure and, moreover, an interesting photographic comparison that puts in prominence faithful way the places of the city of Venice are rendered.

Now we really can’t wait to get our copy in the mail.

Four different videos have popped up for Marvelous Entertainment’s Muramasa: The Demon Blade.

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.

The hand-drawn 2D Wii exclusive is slated for a July 31 release.

One video is posted below, and three others can be viewed here.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

More »

Braid is finally available on PC, folks. Start dancing in the streets right now.

Available through various direct download sites, the folks over at Steam were the ones who sent us notice, so they get the credit.

It’ll set you back $14.99.

BioWare has released a new video and some screen captures of the Mage in Dragon Age: Origins.

The video shows some of the different aspects of the class with actual gameplay footage. Same with the screens.

Head on over to the official website to take a look.

Game’s expected by the end of the year.

Loads of concept art, game shots, and wallpaper depicting the planet Ord Mantell has been released for Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Over on the official website, BioWare has unloaded tons of lore surrounding the planet, which is in the grip of a corrupt government and a civil war that pits the Republic and Separatists against each other.

If you want to look at the screens only, head on over to Massively.

EA has sent out a press kit for Godfather II to US journos, including a set of brass knuckles as a promo stunt. Hilariously, brass knuckles are a first-degree misdemeanor in many states.

When asked for comment, an EA rep told GamePolitics that hopefully the folks over there were enjoying the game/ EA wants the weapons back, and is even sending out a prepaid envelope just to make sure the offensive material is disposed of properly.

When pushed, the rep clammed: “I can’t discuss this any further.”

No word yet on whether or not EA could face charges for sending illegal contraband through the mail service.

According to a recent Twitter post from Dylan Cuthbert, Q Games is working on a PixelJunk 1-4 demo.

Here’s the tweet:

“About to go collect an order of MOS burgers for everyone still at Q working on the PixelJunk 1-4 demo”

Cuthbert told Wired back in March that his company was currently at work on PixelJunk 4 and other titles in the series.

Hopefully this means we won’t have to wait much longer to take a gander at it.

The official site for Feel, Grudge director Takashi Shimizu’s upcoming Wii horror, is open here.

There’s a great picture of a scared, blue child there, if that does anything for you.

No date on the game as yet.

Via NeoGAF and GoNintendo.

The PC patch for Call of Duty: World of War is ready for download, fixing all multiplayer issues and including Map Pack One.

You’ll get three regular multiplayer maps and the Nazi Zombie map.

The full patch notes:

• 3 new Multiplayer maps: Knee Deep, Nightfire, Station
• Nazi Zombies map with more weapons, Perks-a-Cola machines, and electroshock defenses: Verruckt
• Improved spawning logic.
• Auto balancing improvements. Players are no longer auto balanced while completing objectives.
• Mods: IWD’s can be placed in the usermaps folder.
• Mods: Hold Breath / Sprint functions as intended.
• Mods: MissingAssets.csv is generated when maps are run with developer set to 1.
• Fixed lag caused by shooting at tanks.
• All rifle grenades fired during the first 15 seconds of Search & Destroy will be duds.
• Players who equip a Bouncing Betty and melee teammates in Hardcore game modes are now credited with a team kill penalty.
• Players are now deducted 200 points for team killing the bomb planter/defuser in Hardcore Search & Destroy.
• Martyrdom no longer causes direct impact deaths in Hardcore modes.
• “Bayonet jumping” has been disabled.

Seth Rogen has told Entertainment Weekly that a game based on the Green Hornet movie will not be made.

“It’s something we wanted to do with The Green Hornet but the rights were tied up in a complicated way and we weren’t able to get it off the ground in time,” said Rogan.

“We were even talking about how fun it would be to do a videogame when we were working on The Pineapple Express.

“For me, it’s cool with movies because what those Matrix games showed is that it can actually be part of the narrative and fill in some of the gaps. It can be an interactive accoutrement to the story, you know? And that concept really blew my mind when those guys did that. It really blew my mind.”

Seth talks loads more about games through the link.

The Green Hornet is slated for June 2010 theatrical release.

Rare has released a new video on Xbox Live showing off the Stop ‘N Swoop feature in Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie.

Depending on which of the two games you choose, Stop ‘N Swoop will unlock content providing you reach a goal in the other game.

Banjo-Tooie’s in the way to Arcade, so this gives a look at what to expect from the feature, which was promised but never implemented in the original games.

The teaser is posted below, and more information is through the link.

More »

The Peggle Complete Pack, including both Peggle Deluxe and Peggle Nights, has been reduced by 50 percent this weekend only on Steam.

Great deal there if you are in the mood for some puzzle action over the Easter break.

Todd Hollenshead has told Gamespot that developing Wii titles as an independent may cost you a lot more than a few years’ work.

“Independent Wii-centric development is not really justified yet,” he said.

“Maybe it’s just that we don’t know how to exploit it, and Nintendo does because they made the Wii, and they’re really that good,” he added.

“I’m not trying to take away from those guys at Nintendo. Their games are awesome–I’m a fan, too. But as a company that doesn’t make Nintendo-type games, the Wii is less of a compelling platform for us to really sink a lot of resources into.”

The exec claimed that Wii was a loss-leader for all but first-party and licensed product.

“if you look at the data, the Wii is Nintendo and then everybody else,” he said.

“And then among everybody else, it’s licensed properties and then stuff that people lose money on.”

We’re going to start developing a Wii game right now.

Full thing through the link.

Good gravy. There’s a video after the break showing Bayonetta gameplay that made us do a proper circle-mouth.

It may be “sadistically hard,” but if this is anything to go by it’ll be a must-own when it hits later this year.

Watch and see.

More »

Capcom’s put out a new trailer for the soon-to-be-released Bionic Commando, and it’s fair to say the game’s looking officially “better” than it used to. A good thing.

The movie shows off abilities of our hero’s robot arm, and it looks as though a ton of work’s been done on general presentation. Hooray for that.

It’s out in May.

More »

Dallas-based attorney Mark Methenitis has told Law of the Game that GameStop’s policy of selling opened games as new may be “deceptive”.

Kotaku claimed yesterday that Gamestop was taking discs from new games before putting them on shelves – presumably to prevent theft – but that staff were allowed to take them home to play.

Dodgy? Methenitis thinks so.

“From a legal standpoint, ignoring any pragmatic analysis, it certainly seems that way from the letter of the law. Certainly, it’s something the FTC could investigate, but more practically, it may be a matter for state deceptive trade practices law,” he wrote.

“In Texas, for example, it is a deceptive trade practice if you are ‘representing that goods are original or new if they are deteriorated, reconditioned, reclaimed, used, or secondhand.’”

Methenitis said that GameStop is not “as nefarious as many people seem to think it is” but in theory it is deceptive.

You can read the full back and forth on all of this through the links.