Monthly Archives: May 2009

RPS has alerted us to the fact that if you install Gametap’s app on your personal computer, you can download Deus Ex, Hitman: Blood Money, Psychonauts and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Cheronbyl for absolutely nothing.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. can’t be modded apparently but hey, don’t be greedy.

Get them through here.

SouthPeak Interactive posted its Q3 revenues today showing a substantial Y-o-Y increase.

Revenues jumped from $2.2 million to $13.5 million, while profit rose $20,000 last year, to $289,000 this year.

“The successful execution of our business plan during the post holiday season is exemplified by our strong growth in the third quarter, with sales reaching USD 13.5 million,” said Terry Phillips, chairman of SouthPeak.

More over at GI.

Below you can see irrefutable evidence that Wii Fit is yet again number one in the all format UK software charts supplied by GfK Chart-Track.

What is also undeniable is that FIFA 09 is at number two, and X-Men Origins has slipped from second to third.

More image facts down there.

KOEI has announced that Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires will be out for PS3 and Xbox 360 on 26th June.

This new addition to the hack’n'slash franchise will include tactical elements and allow to create your own hero.

Awesome.

Thanks, EG.

High Voltage has said that it will be unveiling a brand new unannounced IP to behind closed media types at E3 next month.

From the release:

“2009 is already shaping up to be a groundbreaking year for this studio,” said Kerry J. Ganofsky, CEO and founder of High Voltage Software. “The release of The Conduit is just around the corner and there is more to come. We feel that E3 is the perfect opportunity to show off our hard work and give a taste of our very latest project.”

“I won’t say much about our new property until we unveil it at E3,” said Eric Nofsinger, Chief Creative Officer of High Voltage Software. “But I can guarantee that we are continuing to push our technology to the absolute limit in order to deliver experiences that are beyond jaw-dropping.”

Full thing after the break.

More »

Capcom isn’t letting its foreign employees travel due to the Swine Flu pandemic, meaning that Keiji Inafune will not be talking at Nordic Game this year.

“I’m sorry to announce that Keiji Inafune has cancelled his appearance at Nordic Game 2009, due to corporate policy restricting foreign travel during the current influenza outbreak,” said a spokesperson for Nordic Game.

That’s a shame. Hopefully he’ll make it to E3.

id Software has launched its “6 new maps in 6 weeks” campaign, meaning we get a new Quake Live map every Monday for the next six weeks, Eurogamer reports.

DreamCast classic Hidden Fortress is up fist and will be followed by what the company promises will be both new and classic maps for the rather superb multiplayer shooter.

Download it. It’s free.

Microsoft has told VG247 this morning that the rumour which emerged over the weekend pertaining to a new a new handheld called ZuneX is simply that: a “rumour”.

The article has got pictures of the ZuneX, deatiled specs and moe importantly it reveals that the handheld can play XBLA games.

However, Microsoft said that it does “not comment on rumour or speculation,” so whether this is just an elaborate hoax or the real deal remains to be seen.

Xbox Live Policy and Enforcement dude Stephen Toulouse has said that not only will cheaters’ total gamerscore be reset to zero, their gamercards will also be branded – so the fact that you’ve cheated will follow you around forever.

“The bar is a little bit higher than that,” Toulouse replied when Major Nelson quizzed him about gamerscore reset on latest podcast.

“The other thing it does is, it puts a tag that you’ve been cheating on your gamercard. That’s a pretty big Scarlett Letter.”

So don’t do it, innit!

Full podcast through the link.

Shares in Take-Two have jumped to $8.81 – an increase of 7.6 percent – after financial guru Carl Icahn increased his investment in the company.

Icahn raised his share stake to two million, writes GI.

Take-Two was subject of a potential buy-out from EA last year.

It has recently emerged that Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division head honcho J Allard has co-signed a November 2007 patent application for a “Magic Wand” peripheral for Xbox 360.

According to the patent, the Magic Wand “can utilize one or more sensor from a collection of sensors to determine an orientation or gesture in connection with the wand, and can further issue an instruction to update a state of an environmental component based upon the orientation.”

This information comes less than a week after the Wall Street Journal published an article saying that “360 motion-sensing was on the way.”

This one just won’t go away, will it?

Thanks, Engadget.

Sean Brennan, managing director, Bethesda Europe, has told GI that the company is set to follow in Sega’s footsteps by working on a mature Wii title. He also revealed the company plans to “make an announcement on a really big Wii game this year.”

“I’ve got consoles at home but I wouldn’t sit and play an 18-rated game with my family on the Wii,” he said.

“Is there space in the Wii market for that? I think there is, but again, it’s all about finding out how big that is. Is it 5 per cent? If it’s five per cent of the market and you can own that space it’s worth doing because you can achieve volume.

If you can’t own it at five per cent, it’s not worth doing, quite frankly,” he added.

“We have huge respect for the Nintendo platforms, and from a marketing perspective globally they’ve been phenomenal. It would be churlish to ignore that space,” Brennan went on.

“It was a problem with the DS space as well, because as soon as you spot the bandwagon, it’s already too late. People don’t get that. There are still some people jumping on the bandwagon but it’s not within our business philosophy.”

Update: Could this laptop be what the fuss is all about? Whether it is or not, we want one.

According to this BigDownload piece, Dell’s gaming unit – which means Alienware – will be strutting its stuff at this year’s E3.

The excitement doesn’t end there however, as the article goes on to say that the word on the street whispers there will be a major Dell/Alienware announcement at the show.

Only two more weeks to go.

Update: Looks like time told quicker than we thought: EA has put up a post on the official Battlefield Heroes website saying the information is incorrect and the company has “no plans to release Battlefield Heroes on either PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.” And that’s that.

Original story:

Joystiq is running a rumour which states that Battlefield Heroes is coming to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Apparently, EA’s press site now has the game listed under both of those platforms as well as the PC.

Mental, huh? But wait, there’s more: GOONL!NE has noticed that a console version of Battlefield Heroes is due out in June whereas the PC version is slated for September.

Last we heard, BH was due for a “summer” outing.

Time will tell.

The official website for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat has gone up revealing system requirements and a few new screenshots.

In order to play GSC’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R. add-on you will need:

Minimum System Requirements

• Intel Pentium 4 2.0 Ghz / AMD XP 2200+
• 512 MB RAM
• 128 MB DirectX 8.0 compatible card / nVIDIA GeForce 5700 / ATI Radeon 9600

Recommended System Requirements

• Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 / AMD 64 X2 5600+
• 2 GB RAM
• 512 MB DirectX 9.0c compatible card / nVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX / ATI Radeon HD 4850

Screenshots are through here.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat is out in later this year. Thanks, PCGamesHardware.

On Saturday 16th May, a special Punch Out!! pre-sales event was held at the Nintendo World Store in New York ahead of the game’s US release today.

GoNintendo has got all the info you need, including pics of kids playing Punch Out!! and generally having a whale of a time in Nintendo’s capable hands.

Punch Out!! arrives in Europe on Friday.

Had to happen, really: someone’s gone and scanned all ten pages of Game Informer’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 piece. Naughty.

Fill your boots here.

Expect much more Modern Warfare info to blast its way out of E3 in June.

Tunnel Rats, Uwe Boll’s excursion into the murky world of making an actual game, is now available on Steam.

Apparently, it’s “a dark and intense single-player shooter for PC that depicts the horrific realities of the Vietnam War as seen through the eyes of a young US soldier.”

£16 to you.

After the break you can see a couple of Japanese language videos showing golf and table tennis in Wii Sports Resort.

The sequel will feature Wii MotionPlus support and is due to land in July.

Hit NintendoEverything, for a few other “making-of” vids showing other events featured in the game. They too, are all in Japanese. Lovely.

Check ‘em all out.

More »

Square’s ended speculation surrounded an April trademark application for Dragon Quest Wars by announcing the game for DSiWare.

It’s a two-player boardgame for Japanese release. It’s out in June for 500 Nintendo Points. Western release? No idea.

Via 1UP and 4Gamers.