Monthly Archives: April 2009

Brutal Legend’s all over the place today, thanks to a preview embargo being lifted.

We have loads of links for you. With so many different impressions, rumors, and assets floating about, we wanted to make it easier on you.

• Joystiq impressions

• No Guitar Controller

• Gamespot preview

• Coming to Wii

• Kotaku impressions

• OK, maybe it’s not coming to Wii

• IGN preview

• Loads of new screens and art

• MTV’s take

It’s out for 360 and PS3 (and Wii, probably) later this year.

Square Enix has announced Crystal Defenders R1 and Crystal Defenders R2 for WiiWare.

Jobs and location from Final Fantasy Tactics are included, and the game will require players to strategically deploy units to fend off enemy hordes and prevent them from stealing their party’s crystals.

A worldwide ranking system is also included.

Crystal Defenders R1 will be made available in April. Crystal Defenders R2′s release will be confirmed at a later date.

Get more information from the press release below.

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Iron Fist will be one of 24 playable characters in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, according to Kotaku.

We know this for a fact: we saw it first hand at GDC.

Need more proof? Watch the video after the break.

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Wendy’s burger chain has an online promotion called ’99¢ Bid for Value’ that gives participants a chance to win the “Ultimate Game Room”.

All for under a buck.

The contest is a reverse auction of sorts, where answering trivia questions will bid down the price tag. First bidder to reach 99¢ wins the Ultimate Game Room, consisting of a gaming chair, plasma TV and an Xbox 360 Elite.

These prizes are given away separately too.

New prizes go up for bid every half hour starting at 11:00am EST today:

• 11:00am EST – 11:29am EST Microsoft – Xbox 360 Elite Console
• 11:30am EST – 11:59am EST Ultimate Game Chair – Ultimate Game Chair V3
• 12:00pm EST – 12:29pm EST Panasonic – 50″ 720p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV
• 12:30pm EST – 12:59pm EST Ultimate Game Room – Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite Console, Ultimate Game Chair V3, Panasonic – 50″ 720p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

Good luck folks.

Via Joystiq.

Bullet For My Valentine and The Shins will make their Rock Band debut next week, along with another track from Black Tide.

Tracks:

• Black Tide – Warriors of Time
• Bullet For My Valentine – Waking the Demon
• The Shins – New Slang

Each will land April 7 and April 9 on Xbox 360 and PS3 respectively, for 160 MS Points ($1.99).

Don’t forget, the Toby Keith track pack lands on the same dates as well. Yeehaw.

Kimihiko Fujisaka has said that artwork recently released on Mistwalker’s official site does not pertain to any current project, but was instead related to the canceled RPG, Cry On.

“My illustrations and designs keep piling up without seeing the light of day. It happens a lot, but I think of it like medals of honor from battle,” said the developer.

“The project I had been working on never made it through to completion, and the one thing that I really realized was that I was very disappointed in my lack of skill. I’m also very sorry for the people who were hoping the project would get done.”

Thanks, Siliconera.

UK account director Mark Ward has left Bastion before the start of a restructuring at the PR firm.

Ward, a well-liked face in the British trade, said his departure will help with the reorganization of the company contributed to over the last 13 years.

“Tough times call for tough choices and my departure will contribute towards the restructuring of a company that I’ve helped to build and grown to love over the past 13 years,” he said.

Ward said that his future plans include “some good opportunities in the interactive entertainment industry.”

Analyst firm Screen Digest has estimated that MMO subscriptions grew 22 percent in 2008 and accumulated over $1.4 billion in Europe and North America.

World of Warcraft dominated the sector.

In a report titled “Subscription MMOGs: Life beyond World of Warcraft,” it is estimated that 58 percent of the share of western spending on subscription-based MMOs has amounted to $2.2 billion since 2005.

Free-to-play, micro-transaction-based games were not included in these findings.

By 2013, Screen Digest expects the subscription market to top $2 billion.

Press release after the break.

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After the break. It’s an Obsidian dev diary showing off plenty of upcoming action-RPG Alpha Protocol, including grenade combat, hand-to-hand fighting, the inventory system and more.

Lots of developer talk in there, too. Knock yourself out.

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

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Following an earlier announcement that the Lips microphone is to support Guitar Hero: Metalica and Rock Band 2 via a title update, Microsoft’s confirmed that loads of new stuff is heading to the title’s in-game store this month.

Especially music from bands that begin with the letter “C”.

Here’s the breakdown for you:

Today

• Creedence Clearwater Revival – Bad Moon Rising
• Fallout Boy – Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down
• Incubus – Wish You Were Here

April 10

• Coldplay Song Pack – Speed Of Sound, The Scientist, and In My Place
• Ne-Yo Song Pack – Closer, So Sick, and Hate That I Love You by Rihanna feat. Ne-Yo

• Creedence Clearwater Revival – Looking Out My Back Door
• Ne-Yo – Closer, So Sick

April 17

• Creedence Clearwater Revival Song Pack – Looking Out My Back Door, Bad Moon Rising and Who’ll Stop the Rain

• 3 Doors Down – Kryptonite
• K-Ci & Jo Jo – All My Life
• Travis- Sing

April 27

• Cranberries – Linger
• Mika – Love Today
• Yellowcard – Ocean Avenue

Microsoft has announced that Guitar Hero: Metallica and Rock Band 2 will be the first music titles to support the Lips wireless microphones.

No exact date for the updated functionality was mentioned in the press release, but GH: Metallica will get it first followed by Rock Band 2 later this summer.

Other compatibility updates are expected to be announced at a later date.

Knew it would happen eventually.

Full thing follows.

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After the break. There’s lots of talk from Virtua Tennis 2009′s developers in there to go over the game itself, so there’s something to watch while you pray for home time.

The game’s out in May for PS3, 360 and PC.

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Far Cry has landed on GOG.com for $9.99. Being called a surprise release even.

It’s also DRM-free, should that make any difference to you.

More information and details for the classic shooter can be found here.

Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann has likened violent games to child porn and drugs. Because they’re so obviously similar.

Translated by Gamepolitics from a press release issued by the politician today:

The statement contains the usual accusations that “such games are one of the causes for youth violence and also for school shootings, where images from killer games become reality”,and that “more and more children are getting mired in this virtual world of violence”, so that “they have no time left for school or job training, and are lost to our society”.

However, this time, he’s taking it a bit further. The last sentence states: “In regards to their harmful effects, [violent video games] are on the same level as child pornography and illegal drugs, the ban on which rightly is unquestioned.”

All German game associations (G.A.M.E., BIU and ESB) have demanded an apology.

A second German official, Commissioner for the New Media Thomas Jarzombek, has heavily criticised the remarks:

“The comparison is completely inappropriate,” he said. “Anyone making such statements is unqualified to participate in any further debate [regarding the] protection of minors from harmful media.”

More through there.

Play too much DS? You probably need a gadget that switches your console off for you after a predetermined amount of time.

And here it is. The Health Control Game Timer not only flicks the power switch after 30, 60, 90 or 120 minutes, but also alerts you to holding your DS too close to your face.

Obviously, you can just remove it at any time, making the entire thing largely pointless, but you know. Different stroked.

They cost ¥3,990. Thanks, Engadget.

Interplay’s MMO – the one no one’s supposed to know is based on the Fallout IP – has pulled in some help in the form of Bulgarian outfit Masthead Studios.

The game, codenamed “Project V13,” will benefit from Masthead’s tech, while Interplay is to retain control of the dev process.

More on Eurogamer.

Remember that ESRB posting that said Ghostbusters was coming to PSP? It was a giant, marshmallow-shaped lie.

Atari told Eurogamer so today.

You’ll just have to play it on DS, Wii, PS3, PS2 and 360 when it releases this June.

After the break. The Doublefine Jack Black action thing looks sweet. Will you see more of this very soon? We think you might.

Take a look. It’s out for 360 and PS3 later this year.

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The next Team Fortress 2 class upgrade will beef up the Sniper, as detailed on the game’s blog.

“The next class pack will focus on the Sniper,” said Valve’s Greg Cherlin. “It’s actually shaping up to be the largest TF2 update yet, with multiple new maps and a bunch of gameplay tweaks.

“In addition, we’ve got another update in the works that should be done before the Sniper, and that one will include some new content for all classes.

“The Xbox 360 update is still being worked on.”

No specifics on what Sniper fans can actually expect from the download, but it’s bound to be good. Always is.

DSi launched in Europe today, to a fairly muted fanfare. Just so you know, it is actually here.

The new handheld adds a camera and fresh general design to the 100-million selling DS.

Five DSiWare launch titles were confirmed yesterday, and the DSi Shop is now live in both the US and Europe.

And that’s kind of it. Mike’s gone to buy one. We didn’t get sent one. People are updating Twitter on them, according to IMs this morning.

It’s a new dawn. Press release after the break.

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