Monthly Archives: April 2009

SCEA hardware marketing boss John Koller has claimed that upcoming multiplayer shooter MAG can only be built on PS3.

“MAG is a 256 online-player game which is spectacular,” he said, talking to VG247 at GDC last week.

“If you look at that competitively, it’s something that’s only possible on PS3. The processor speed, the ability of PS3 to showcase 256 players at any given time, and their actions.”

Koller went on to detail the Zipper Interactive game’s concept.

“It’s basically like an iteration of SOCOM, where you’re maybe commanding the SEALs, and someone else has the Rangers, and the Green Berets, and so on,” he said.

MAG was Sony’s “big” announcement at the end of its 2008 E3 press conference.

A movie was shown of the title, featuring soldiers, vehicles and lots and lots of guns.

It’s planned for release late this year.

Update: John Koller’s sent us the following statement as clarification to the comments made in this story:

“I wanted to clarify my comment as the broader point I was making is that our biggest franchises and our best developers from PlayStation 2 are continuing to transition to PlayStation 3, which will help spur PlayStation 2 fans to move toward next-gen gaming on PS3. Zipper Interactive is best known for its great work on the SOCOM franchise, and they’re building on their development experience to create a brand new IP in MAG. MAG is not a sequel to nor built upon SOCOM, and when the title launches this fall, PS3 owners will be able to experience intense 256-player combat, which is something that’s never been available on console before.”

THQ just announced that Brit gamers are going to be in with a shot at getting in early on the Red Faction: Guerrilla demo. From the firm’s site:

Following the recent announcement that gamers in the USA can gain early access to the upcoming Red Faction: Guerrilla single player demo by pre-ordering from GameStop, THQ can confirm that UK gamers will also have the opportunity to sample the demo early via the PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE Marketplace thanks to a soon-to-be-open key giveaway on THQ-games.com.

Get to it. You’ll need to register to be in with a chance of getting key. The game’s out in June.

The last 11,059 words of Dan Boutros’s Street Fighter IV review lie can be found after the break, including his score.

Sorry. We planned doing this in three parts two weeks ago, but only did one. We failed because of GDC. We watched the finger. Not the moon.

Dan was the first ever US SFIV champion. He is also a general life-hero.

Hit the link to see why. There’s a score at the bottom.

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It’s true. The original Game Boy launched on April 21, 1989, meaning you – yes, you – are officially old.

The 8-bit Game Boy family dominated portable gaming from launch until its 32-bit successor, GBA, came along in 2001.

The system was discontinued in 2003, giving it a 14-year lifespan. It sold 60 million units.

Much, much more on 1UP.

Cyanide has released DS screens for Blood Bowl. D’toid’s posted the lot of ‘em.

Loads of blood, football, goblins and orcs, as you’d expect.

Game is expected sometime this year for DS, PC, PSP and Xbox 360.

Qore’s April edition and the “4D” interactive Killzone commercial are the star of America’s PSN update this week, as you can see on the PS Blog.

Not too much else going on there, really, unless you’re a Red Alert 3 addict and get giddy over free maps.

Look and see.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Senjou no Kizuna Portable took over the Japanese chart this week, with Musou Orochi Z edging out RE5 as the best-selling HD game.

Chart March 23-29 below, courtesy of Kotaku.

1. Mobile Suit Gundam: Senjou no Kizuna Portable (PSP) – 85,000
2. Makai Senki Disgaea 2 Portable (PSP) – 39,000
3. Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Stardust Accelerator: World Champ. 2009 (DS) – 37,000
4. Mario & Luigi RPG3!!! (DS) – 36,000
5. Super Robot Taisen K (DS) – 32,000
6. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2009 Live (PS2) – 27,000
7. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP the Best) (PSP) – 24,000
8. Musou Orochi Z (PS3) – 21,000
9. Resident Evil 5 (PS3) – 17,000
10. Rittai Picross (DS) – 16,000
11. Sunday x Magazine: Taisen Action (PSP)
12. Vitamin Z (PS2)
13. Hayate no Gotoku! (PSP)
14. Metal Fight Beyblade (DS)
15. Wii Fit (Wii)
16. Shin Sangoku Musou Multi Raid (PSP)
17. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu Next (Wii)
18. Wii de Asobu: Pikmin 2 (Wii)
19. Taiko no Tatsujin Wii (Wii)
20. Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s: Wheelie Breakers (Wii)
21. Suzumiya Haruhi no Heiretsu (Wii)
22. Rhythm Tengoku Gold (DS)
23. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
24. Bokujou Monogatari: Sugar Mura to Minna no Negai (PSP)
25. Trigger Heart Exelica Enhanced (PS2)
26. Wagamama Fashion Girls Mode (DS)
27. Seventh Dragon (DS)
28. Amagami (PS2)
29. Yakuza 3 (PS3)
30. Crayon Shin-Chan: Arashi o Yobu – Nendororo~n Daihenshin (DS)

A law’s been passed in Quebec banning games with no French subtitles or VO.

According to the Toronto Star, it’s now illegal to sell an English-only game in the region.

Haig James Toutikian, a Montreal game designer, said delays thanks to the law are now probable.

“I know how much of a pain they can be,” he said. “They take up a lot of bug-tracking time… I don’t think [the new law] will encourage people to buy the French version.”

Surprised? Don’t be. Mr Quebec takes French really fucking seriously.

Thanks, GamePolitics.

Variety’s the latest site to claim DoubleFine’s Brutal Legend’s in development for Wii.

Apparently Schafer’s company isn’t working on it, however.

The game’s only confirmed for 360 and PS3 at the moment.

Is it true? Probably. Can we all not talk about it now?

HMV today announced that the gaming expo and eSports event Game On! London will be held at the Olympia Exhibition Centre June 20-21.

It’s expected to draw more than 25,000 attendees.

“Game On! London represents a superb opportunity to create a memorable landmark event that will enable us to get even closer to the game-playing customers that we value so much,” said HMV games chap, Tim Ellis.

An announcement regarding ticket availability and prices will be made shortly.

Read on for more details.

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Empire: Total War’s made it as number one in the US PC chart for a third week in a row.

Per the usual, Blizzard rules the roost in general, though.

NPD sales

1. Empire: Total War
2. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack
3. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
4. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War II
5. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest
6. World Of Warcraft
7. The Sims 2 Apartment Life Expansion Pack
8. Spore
9. Civilization IV
10. Mystery Case Files: Return To Ravenhearst

Direct2Drive

1. Defense Grid: The Awakening
2. Command and Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising
3. Tom Clancys HAWX
4. Men Of War
5. Empire: Total War
6. Rome: Total War Gold Edition
7. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
8. The Path
9. World in Conflict: Soviet Assault Expansion
10. Final Fantasy XI Vana’diel Collection 2008

Ubisoft’s Michel Ancel has told All Gamers that Beyond Good and Evil 2 will be bigger, more immersive and include more investigations.

Loads of returning characters are expected, and it’ll retain the spirit of the first game, the developer said.

Ancel also mentioned that due to the constraints of PS2′s Emotion Engine last time out, the firm did not make the game the way it was envisioned. That’s all changed for the sequel, he said.

The game’s currently in pre-production, so it’s going to be a while before a concrete release date is announced along with platforms.

Thanks, Gamezine.

It’s uneventful in the world of Japanese hardware sales this week. Everything dropped, pretty much, compared to the last chart.

We don’t know why. More insight next week!

• DSi – 57,401
• PSP – 54,148
• PS3 – 22,825
• Wii – 17,276
• DS Lite – 8,408
• PS2 – 5,246
• Xbox 360 – 4,849

HanbitSoft is interested in relaunching Hellgate: London in the US and Europe, but Namco Bandai’s western publishing deal prevents it, reports Gamasutra.

“There have been many inquiries from US and European Hellgate players surrounding the availability of the game in those respective territories,” said CEO Kee Young Kim.

“HanbitSoft does own the intellectual property of Hellgate: London and is interested in providing the game in the US and Europe, but is unable to do so at this time because Namco Bandai has the publishing rights for those regions.

“We cannot open up the server in Korea to allow access by US and European players as this will constitute infringing upon Namco Bandai’s publishing rights in the US and Europe. HanbitSoft is currently doing its best to improve the game.”

Namco was supposed to shut Hellgate servers down on January 31 this year.

More though the link.

According to reports, UK shops are already dropping the price of Madworld to below the £20 mark.

It’s only been out two weeks, and suggested retail price is £34.99.

Gameplay’s selling it for £16.99, GameStation £17.99 and GAME for £19.99.

MadWorld debuted at number 34 on the all-format Top 40 at launch and quickly fell off thereafter.

Activision has released the first behind-the-scenes video for X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

You can watch it after the break.

We’ll repost our GDC impressions of the game once the new embargo date passes.

More »

A World of Warcraft Guild Director in Santa Monica has actually offered to pay someone $25,000 a year to take over his gaming duties.

He even went so far as to post it on Craigslist before it was flagged for removal, says WoW Insider.

Therefore, at his point it’s unknown whether the position was filled or if it was a big hoax.

The position required recruitment, bank and auction monitoring, organizing day-to-day operations, keeping up with raid stats, and loads more. Could even use the fella’s multibox station to do your work.

Most likely this was an April Fool’s gag, thus the reason it was pulled.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask will be arriving on the Virtual Console sometime tomorrow: look.

Wii Classic Controller or the GameCube Controller is required to be able to play.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

Good God. It just won’t die will it?

Turns out Sea of Dreams was the title of the BioShock 2 teaser, not a subtitle to the game. Got it? It’s not the game’s subtitle.

“We name most of our trailers at 2K and the name of the teaser trailer we released last October for BioShock 2 is called Sea of Dreams,” 2K’s Charlie Sinhaseni told IGN.

“There was talk about adding that as an official subtitle, but we decided to simply keep it BioShock 2. We’re sorry for the confusion, but we’re glad people are so interested.”

Hopefully that’s the end of the matter. Until 2K changes its mind again.

Online registration for GDC Europe has gone live.

The event will take place alongside Gamescom in Cologne from August 17-19 at the Cologne Congress East Center.

Over 80 lectures, panels and keynotes will take place.

“GDC Europe will serve as the premier pan-European developer event in 2009,” said Frank Sliwka, event director.

“Bringing together the best speakers and peers on the most important issues and opportunities in European game development today. Together, we will bring the quality, and reach of the GDC to Cologne but with a uniquely European flare and global outlook.”

If you plan to attend, sign up through the link.