Monthly Archives: May 2009

Anyone with a Steam account can play Unreal Tournament 3 Black free of charge starting this Thursday, May 28.

Pre-loads for the game begin today, and thanks to the previous free weekend back in March, the game claimed the number one spot on the bestseller list with simultaneous player numbers jumping by more than 2000 percent.

The game comes with the free Titan Pack and over 50 Steamworks Achievements.

Press release is posted below.

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Senior Bioshock 2 character designer Colin Fix has posted some awesome concept art from the game on his blog. Stick some on your desktop and lighten up your life.

The title was confirmed tonight for a October 30 Euro release, to be followed by a November 3 launch in the US.

Thanks, GameSetWatch.

Take-Two says that all future titles will have at least something on the back end for consumers, be it DLC or multiplayer.

The company refused to go into specifics, stating that it’s considered on a title-by-title basis, but it said it understood the consumer need for extra content.

The news comes from tonight’s Take-Two Q2 earnings call.

Take-Two’s posted a $10.1 million loss for the second quarter, or 13 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $98.2 million, or $1.29 a share.

Revenue was $229.7 million, down 57% from $539.8 million in the year-ago period that featured the debut of Grand Theft Auto IV.

The company has projected a fiscal third-quarter loss of 55 cents to 65 cents on revenue of $145 million-$165 million.

The firm announced the second piece of GTA IV DLC today, as well as pushing two key titles in Red Dead Redemtion and Mafia II back into the second half of the fiscal year.

The Civilization franchise has sold over 9 million copies worldwide, Take-Two said today.

The news came out of the publisher’s Q2 earnings call.

It’s on going so stay tuned.

Take-Two has just confirmed that BioShock 2 will release on October 30 in Europe and November 3 in the US.

The news comes from the publisher’s Q2 investor call.

Update – The company has just described these dates as “tentative” in a post-call Q&A.

Update: Our contact at Rockstar said that the reasons for the delay will be announced during Take-Two’s earnings call which takes place any minute now. We will be sure to listen for you.

Update 2: The games have been delayed to allow for more development time, it’s just been confirmed in the company’s earnings call.

Original story:

Twitter just keeps pumping out the news.

Looks like Red Dead Redemption and Mafia II have both been delayed into “first half of fiscal year 2010″.

Here’s the Tweet:

ibe_goad RT @samhouston: Mafia II & Red Dead Redemption delays. Now slated for Nov 2009 – April 2010 (“first half of fiscal 2010″)

We’ve put a call into Rockstar for clarification. We’ll let you know when we hear something back.

Basically, its was musical chairs again this week on the US PC charts. Only difference is that Fallout 3 is back in the Top 10 Bejeweled Twist is out of it.

Not much else to get fired up over, but it’s posted below courtesy of Shack.

Direct2Drive numbers are after the break.

NPD’s Top Ten

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
3. Empire: Total War
4. World Of Warcraft Battle Chest
5. Left 4 Dead
6. Spore
7. World Of Warcraft
8. Fallout Trilogy (Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics)
9. Fallout 3
10. The Sims 2 Apartment Life Exp. Pack

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Rockstar just confirmed the second piece of GTA IV DLC is called The Ballad of Gay Tony.

The company also said today that both pieces of DLC, the new episode and The Lost and Damned, are going to be made available on disc. The DVD will cost $39.99 and will be a standalone product: you won’t need GTA IV to play it.

Gay Tony hits this fall, priced 1600 MS Points.

Press release after the break.

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Turbine gave us a nice Twitter update earlier announcing that Book 8: Scourge of Khazad-dum will arrive for Lord of the Rings Online in June.

This is part of Volume 2, also known as Mines of Moria, and it’s the second update for the expansion which landed in November of last year.

The first bit of extra DLC arrived in March with the addition Lothlórien to the game.

Sega has announced an E3 lineup that pretty much includes the obvious.

And here it is:

• Aliens vs. Predator (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) – due early 2010
• Alpha Protocol (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) – October 2009
• Bayonetta (PS3, Xbox 360) – due late 2009
• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (DS, Wii)  – October 2009
• Planet 51 (DS, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii)  – Fall 2009
• The Conduit (Wii) – June 23
• Vancouver 2010 – The Official Video Game of the Olympic Winter Games (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) –  January 2010

Full press release is below.

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Sony may be releasing a new PS3 SKU, according to Best Buy stock data.

According to the product database, a new limited edition bundle is to ship complete with the 80Gb system and two games, and will release on June 9 for $399.

It will be a Best Buy exclusive. It’s unknown what titles will be included.

Via Joystiq.

Nintendo just confirmed its E3 press conference exec line-up.

From the release:

– Mr. Satoru Iwata, Nintendo Co., Ltd., global president
– Mr. Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America president and chief operating officer
– Ms. Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America executive vice president of Sales & Marketing

No Miyamoto? The event takes place in LA next Tuesday morning, at 9.00am PST.

Shots of Secret Agent Clank for PS2, High Impact’s port of the PSP version, are up on Kotaku.

Game hits stores today. Looks clanky.

DiRT 2 is intended to appeal to a wider, US-dominated audience and today’s “extreme-sports generation,” Codemasters has told RPS

“As you might expect, the presentation for all this is much more exciting than it has been in Europe,” said lead designer Matt Horsman.

“We’ve traditionally had one guy commentating and a camera on various corners, but in the US they have helicopters tracking cars, cameras on wires above the track, big crowds, and so on. It’s very much tied into the ‘cool’ branding of the extreme sports, and DIRT 2 reflects that.”

The menus have also been changed, along with real locations and vehicles, to appeal to more excitable crowd.

“The presentation, as you’ll see in the menus and such, reflects this more youth-orientated branding, but the focus of the game remains on realism, and on off-road racing being incredibly exciting as gameplay,” producer Adam Askew added.

“Every location in the game is real, all the vehicles are real, and handle realistically. We’ve got nine locations: three European, three Asian, three American.”

More through the link.

A Different Game has announced Ghostwire for DSi, which promises to use the handheld’s built-in camera functionality to its fullest.

The Swedish studio’s augmented reality title has players using the camera to scan their surroundings: the game superimposes ghosts over what is presented on the screen.

Originally announced as a mobile game, lead designer Anders Bergman says Ghostwire is a perfect fit for DSi because it “allows us to enhance the integrated real-world experience with the combination of camera, microphone and touch screen.”

Sounds interesting at least. No idea what the gameplay entails yet.

You can find out more over on D’toid and the link posted above.

There’s also a teaser posted below.
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David Perry’s abandoned plans to showcase Cloud gaming service Gaikai at E3, according to BigDownload.

The OnLive competitor has been yanked from the event thanks to patent issues.

“Unfortunately David is going to have to postpone all E3 interviews relating to Gaikai – until various patent filings are complete,” said a PR rep in statement.

“He had hoped that they would be finalised prior to E3 however, it’s now apparent this is not going to be possible.”

Looks like Noby Noby Boy’s Girl has reached Mars a lot sooner than expected, thanks to a Lucky Week promotion that multiplied lengths submitted by players.

Back in April, player levels had dropped for the title, and it was estimated that it would take Girl another 2,000 days to reach the Red Planet.

Girl’s next goal is Jupiter.

Via GameSetWatch.

LucasArts has announced Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron for DS and PSP as an expanded take on Battlefront’s gameplay.

Expected for release sometime this fall, the game will allow players to wage war on multi-level battlefronts, on the ground and in space.

Gamers assume the identity of X2, a clone trooper created from the DNA of a Jedi Master who instead of doing his duty and assassinating the Jedi, changes sides and joins the Rebellion. Fighting can be done on foot, or via land vehicles and space crafts.

Personalization of armor, characters and weapons has been implemented, along with class-based gameplay.

The PSP version supports 16-player multiplayer with stat tracking, while the DS version allows four-player skirmishes across a number of modes, including Heroes and Villains.

Loads more information is posted in the press release below.

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Capcom’s released a decent-sized dev diary of Airtight’s Dark Void, featuring a distinctly older-looking Keiji Inafune and showing a good chunk of CG and in-game footage. It’s after the break.

Story – You play a pilot that slips through “the Void” into a parallel dimension. Think Bermuda Triangle.

Looking good. More from E3.

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