Monthly Archives: May 2009

Update: It is real.

After the break. Is it real? Call us bluff old traditionalists, but we’re going to go for “yes”.

We’re trying to keep our pants on. It’s pretty hard, to be honest. Take a look.

Thanks, PSL.

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Poor Tai Kaliso. He was easily a favorite of ours and we hated the way things went down for him in Gears of War 2.

To make up for it though, DC Comics and Wildstorm provide a backstory to the “proud warrior with a gentle heart” in the upcoming Gears of War No.7.

This special issue was illustrated by Simon Bisley and written by Joshua Ortega and Henry Flint.

It goes on sale May 20, and Kotaku has a nice preview of it posted on the site.

Game Informer always gets scanned to death. The latest bit to get the treatment comes from Activision’s DJ Hero.

According to the write up and the scans provided by Joystiq, players can set tunes “via a three-note track with the outside tracks (green and blue) crossfading left and right. As a note track shifts in position, players must use the crossfader switch on the controller to correctly play the note (think of it as drawing within the lines).”

Ok, still with us? Good.

The game also allows players to customize certain gameplay sections using the dial to add sound effects. Tracks will tell players when to scratch and the rewind setting lets certain sections be replayed.

There is also Star Power in the form of “Euphoria” mode which, like the previous Hero games, is activated by pressing a button, while the two-piece controller can be separated and swapped for left handed players.

Full thing is through the link.

BioWare has released loads of new concept art from Star Wars: The Old Republic.

CVG had the lot of ‘em.

While you are at it, head on over to the official website and check out a the new video.

It tells you all about the Mandalorian Blockade.

Insomniac Games has tweeted some hints regarding possible Ratchet and Clank DLC for LittleBigPlanet.

Here’s the tweet:

“Replies from @mmalex, lbp levells coming, r&c content done, coming soon hopefully, up next for mm, big pack, bigger than mgs even.”

Guessing this means that Media Molecule is currently working on a large R&C pack for LBP, that’s bigger than the Metal Gear Solid pack. Sounds fun.

Hopefully we will know more soon, until then keep your shirts on.

Via Joystiq.

Another multiplayer video has popped up for Codemasters’ open world racer Fuel.

It’s posted after the break.

Game’s out at the end of the month for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Via BigDownload.

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Avalanche Studios has given 20 of its employees three months notice while assuring the public that Just Cause 2 and The Hunter remain unaffected by the redundancies.

As a matter of fact, the company is at work on an unrevealed third project that already has publisher backing.

“It is a difficult business climate, but this is not nearly on the scale of the redundancies last year,” said CEO Christofer Sunberg to GI.biz.

“As any other company we need to manage risks and sometimes that unfortunately means that we have to give notice and lay off staff. It’s not more complicated than that.”

Eidos confirmed that all is well with Just Cause 2 and it will still be shown at E3.

According to a recent interview with Capcom’s Jun Takeuchi, Lost Planet 2 will contain in-depth character customization going beyond changing your appearance along with weapons configuration that suits individual style.

New gameplay elements have been added to co-op, forcing players to work together in news ways allowing players to apply new strategies to each mission.

A reward system along with new controls, and a bigger Akrid have also been implemented.

The full interview is over on GamePro. Go read it.

Thanks, Snow.

The US PC charts don’t change much from week to week, ya know. The titles just play musical chairs.

World of Warcraft traded places with the Battle Chest, Spore went from number nine to seven, Empire: Total War and the Fallout Trilogy both went down a notch and Bejeweled knocked Demigod out of the top ten.

Direct2Drive numbers are posted after the jump, courtesy of Shack.

NPD’s Top Ten

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

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A new Need for Speed: Nitro video is posted after the break.

Expected for an Autumn release on DS and Wii, gamers build up boost as they drift and drag behind their opponents and use it to strategically to change the course of the race.

Features a variety of fully customizable and licensed cars too.

Hit the jump to watch.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

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Blizzard released Patch 3.1.2 for World of Warcraft this morning.

Other than what you’ve been expecting for a while now in the way of character balances , faction mounts are purchasable through the Argent Tournament Quartermasters for 5 Champion Seals and 500 gold while the Argent Hyppogryph’s price has been reduced to 150 Champion Seals.

The Equipment Manager is the the most talked about change by far, and IncGamers has posted a video tutorial if it here.

The full list of patch notes can be found over on the official site.

You can also get the patch through the usual way or over on FileFront.

Not content to rest on its laurels after selling over a million copies, Guerrilla Games’ Killzone 2 had a great month in April by selling an additional 58,000 copies.

According to the latest NPD numbers, these figures bring the total of US units sold to 677,000.

Sony previously stated that the game “has garnered the biggest initial success at retail of any first party PS3 title to date, and will continue to drive incentive for hardware sales throughout the year.”

More through Gamasutra.

Legendary Pictures has announced its intention to start internally developing videogames based on its original and existing properties.

First one on the list will be based on The Lost Patrol, a supernatural thriller expected to arrive at theaters in 2010, along with the game tie-in.

Activision and EA alumna Kathy Vrabeck will head the division and, according to this Variety piece, she already has plans for mobile and casual internet portals.

Currently, Legendary are adapting Gears of War and World of Warcraft into feature films.

Thanks, Eurogamer.

Looks like the next Tomb Raider flick will be more of an “origins” experience by focusing on a a younger version of Lara Croft.

Producer Dan Lin confirmed the project during the premiere of his film, Terminator: Salvation.

“We’re rebooting Lara Croft. Really excited – it’s a great origin story that we’re going to tell. A very character-oriented I would say more realistic than the past Lara Croft movies,” he told About.com.

“I would say it’s like Terminator – character-driven action. I think for me the Lara Croft games and movies have gone a little too action-oriented. I wanted to have action, but with character.”

An actress has yet to be cast, but it has been rumored that Megan Fox is up for the role.

Thanks, TombRaiderFanboy.

Following the already announced European release date, Koei has revealed that Dynasty Warriors 6 will land in the US on June 23.

It too will be made available for PS3 and Xbox 360. Fancy that.

Press release is posted below in case you are interested.

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Following news this morning that Sony was to release the Dutch, French, German, Spanish and Italian version of inFamous without English language support, SCEE has just told VG247 that the firm has u-turned on the decision – English is to be patched in at a later date.

“Following feedback from the community, we realise that there is a strong demand for English language on the Dutch, French, German, Spanish and Italian version of InFamous,” said the company in a statement.

“To remedy this situation, we will be providing a patch shortly, which will add English language to the game. As soon as the patch is ready, we will ensure that everyone is informed.”

The PS3 exclusive releases at the end of May.

EA has announced that Spore: Galactic Adventures will have downloadable content made available from the wacky Robot Chicken folks.

The content will contain everything from angry yetis, exploding poo, librarians with rulers, and who knows what else from the demented minds of co-creators Seth Green and Matt Senreich.

“We’re big fans of Spore, so teaming up on Spore Galactic Adventures was a natural fit and so much fun for all the guys at Robot Chicken,” said Green.

“We’re all gaming geeks, so when the Spore guys said they had an alluring proposition for us, how could we say no?” added Senreich.

“Instead of creating absurd worlds with toys, this gave us the opportunity to create literally anything we wanted as gamers. Geek moment. We think that RC fans will love the pretty random and absurd adventures we created and we can’t wait to goof around with the ones the fans create.”

The Robot Chicken DLC will be free and launches on June 23 with the game.

Press release is below.
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David Cage has said in an interview that his reason for choosing the US instead of his native France as a backdrop for Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain, was the sense of “danger and disparity” in one of the larger cities gave him the perfect background for writing a thriller.

“We spent time in an east coast city for three weeks with cameras, and it was a real shock to see the poverty, the ghettos, the abandoned factories, and the sense of danger that the social disparity creates,” Cage told 1UP. “When you live in Europe, the US is most of the time depicted as the country of success, power, money, heroes saving the world, and sexy girls. Discovering the social side of America that you rarely see in movies was something absolutely scary.

“I came [across a particular city coincidentally], not really knowing what I was looking for, but I found the exact background I needed to tell my story, and I must say it really fed the writing of Heavy Rain.”

When asked why he didn’t set the game in France, Cage gave a number of reasons for the choice.

“France is a fantastic country for food, history, nature, culture and art, but I guess it is easier to write about another culture you feel familiar with but that is not yours,” he said. “I don’t have any specific desire to write a game set in France.

“I don’t have enough distance with my country to be able to tell something interesting about it…for the moment.”

You can read the rest of the interview through the link.

A Sims 3 video called Living the Life is posted for you after the break.

Shows families, picnics, videogames, butterflies, kissing, dancing, fishing, happy people – the usual stuff you’d see in a Norman Rockwell painting, along with exercise and walking around in your underwear.

Play UK has the game listed for a June 5 release in Europe, while the US gets it on June 2.

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Bizarre’s put out the first proper screens of upcoming racer Blur, as found on Gamersyde.

The titles was finally announced today, as an autumn release for PC, PS3 and 360.

You can see the same screens on CVG. They’ve even still got Gamersyde watermarks on them, which is sweet.

Update – Aw. They just linked to NeoGAF. That pesky logo just isn’t coming off, is it?

Update 2 – Yay! Just the one watermark, now. Good work, sir.