Monthly Archives: May 2009

Horror shooter Killing Floor is now available on Steam.

Tripwire’s latest features multiplayer co-op for up to six players, over 40 Steam Achievements, perks to level up your character, a level editor and single-player mode for offline play.

The game will run you $19.99. Hit the link for all the gory details.

The Birdman himself’s just dropped the first details on his new Ride controller on Twitter, calling the just-announced peripheral a “marvel”.

“The board controller is a marvel of new technology,” said Hawk.

“Responds like a real skateboard. You can even go for grabs and the sensors detect it.”

Tony Hawk Ride was announced this morning, making the first show of what looks to be a very snazzy plastic skateboard.

This really is going to be the ultimate in self-esteem destruction. Grown men, bent over on a piece of plastic in front of an HD TV, making “pretend” grabs on the stained carpet. Shouting “sweet”. All alone.

It’s out later this year.

Criterion Games is rumored to be working on the next iteration of the Need for Speed franchise, and it’s slated for a 2010 release.

According to a Primotech source, the development was announced during an internal presentation at EA Redwood last week by John Riccitiello.

EA responded to queries regarding the news with a side step, stating that “right [now] we’re focused on Need for Speed World Online, SHIFT and NITRO.”

Need for Speed developers, Black Box, are currently at work on the MMO title and will return to the racer for the 2011 release.

Last month, Need for Speed: Shift producer Jesse Abney from Slightly Mad Studios told us that Criterion would be a “great team to work with” on the series.

Get more through the link.

Thanks, ShiroGamer

The multiplayer demo for Red Faction: Guerrilla has been dated for PS3 and Xbox 360.

On May 21, Volition will give you a taste of the Damage Control mode. It entails building and rebuilding key structures on two maps, using nine weapons and five backpacks.

Players who try it out can earn 15 experience levels which will transfer over to the game when it ships June 2.

See the official website for more details.

Via Joystiq.

EU officials are proposing that games be brought in line with a European law that states people are entitled to refunds if products don’t work “with fair commercial conditions”.

Like, if it’s broken. As in, if it’s buggy.

Commissioners Viviane Reding and Meglena Kuneva want to expand the EU Sales and Guarantees Directive to cover games, meaning they’ll carry with them a two-year guarantee.

Games body TIGA thinks it’s a bad plan.

“They have to be careful not to stifle new ideas,” TIGA boss Richard Wilson told the BBC.

“Consumers need good quality products – that is only reasonable – but if the legislation is too heavy-handed it could make publishers and developers very cautious.”

More through there.

An XBLA version of Wolfenstein 3D’s been confirmed by Activision, according to IGN.

There’s no date on it as yet, and it’s without multiplayer, as was the original. In fact, it almost certainly is the original.

But people will buy it. Why not? Hit the link for more.

Telltale’s to announce a new series at E3, according to this press release.

“The episodic model has been incredibly rewarding from a development standpoint,” said boss Kevin Bruner.

“It used to be we only made two or three games a decade. At Telltale, we release a new game every month, which fosters greater creativity with the teams, and the customers get to enjoy more content on a regular basis.”

The developer’s now five years old, and have served more than 1 million downloads.

EA jut put out new screens of Need for Speed: Shift. Feel its realism.

It’s out on September 18 for PC, PS3, 360 and PSP.

Telltale Games is now five years old. Hooray.

To celebrate, the company’s dropped half the cost from the first two seasons of Sam & Max and a complete season of Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People until May 18.

Details here.

Sega Europe just confirmed Tri-ace’s Resonance of Fate for a “spring” 2010 release date in Europe.

The RPG – End of Eternity in Japan – is in the works for PS3 and 360.

Press release after the break.

More »

Nintendo Europe’s passed Overlord Dark Legend for release.

“The production phase of the game is now over,” producer Dean Scott told Eurogamer.

“But what we have done is receive confirmation from Nintendo of Europe that the game is all approved. So yeah, the big news this week is that we’re allowed to release it.

“That’s the most exciting thing for us. Sorry it’s not something about tits.”

It’s out on June 26.

Game Informer’s going to drop two “huge” exclusives today, the magazine’s promised on its Twitter.

Nothing could be bigger than Bony Tony’s plastic skateboard, and we can therefore only assume that this is somehow incorrect.

A plastic scooter with no wheels? Warm the edge of your seat right now.

Nintendo stuck to huge DS sales as the focus of its post-NPD release last night, saying Nintendo hardware yet again accounted for the majority of US figures.

“Nintendo systems and software represented 56 per cent of the industry total shares in April, indicating continued strong consumer preference for quality and value,” said NoA marketing boss Cammie Dunaway.

“Looking ahead, we are excited to introduce active-play games like Punch-Out!! and Wii Sports Resort into the market,” she added.

More on GI.

Microsoft’s post-NPD statement spun a year-on-year dip for 360 hardware into a yearly positive.

“Xbox 360 is the fastest-growing game console in the US so far this year, with retail sales jumping 28 per cent year-over-year in the first four months,” said the company.

“In April, Xbox 360 US retail sales were 175,000 units. Although this represents a dip of 7 per cent compared with a year earlier, April 2008 saw the release of the blockbuster Grand Theft Auto IV, significantly boosting Xbox 360 sales this time last year,” added the release.

More on GI.

SCEA ignored the fact PS3 only sold 127,000 units in the US last month in its post-NPD press release, focussing instead on the console’s upcoming slate.

“We’re revving up the new fiscal year with a broad tent of content and services across our platforms with envelope-pushing PS3 games like inFAMOUS, MAG, and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves,” said US comms boss Patrick Seybold.

He added: “We often hear from our customers that they’re surprised by everything the PS3 does in addition to what they purchased the device for – including features like DLNA, free access to Wi-Fi and internet browser In some ways, this serves as a reminder that there’s more we can do to relay the full breadth and power of the PS3.

“We know our consumers have varying entertainment lifestyles from the Blu-ray movie fanatic to photo enthusiast, so we’ve outlined our most aggressive marketing plans to help showcase this tremendous value proposition to all our consumers.

“We’ve got a proven history in delivering the best entertainment experience and there is no doubt the PlayStation brand is staged for another big year.”

Thanks, GI.

Sega America’s confirmed a western released for Tri-ace RPG, Resonance of Fate. Yep: that’s End of Eternity, the company’s PS3 and 360 project.

“This is actually the first time in history they’ve fully partnered up with a publisher other than Enix/Square-Enix, and their past roster of games – like Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile – are a very good benchmark for the quality of games their team pumps out,” said the publisher.

No real specifics. Some screens here.

Valve’s announced an electro-charged shield for the sniper in Team Fortress 2, as you can see here.

The Razorback only survives one stab from the spy, but turns him into a Christmas tree in the process.

Full detail through there.

DSi’s on top in Japan this week, taking pole position back from PSP a week ago.

Looking pretty woeful for 360 and PS3, there.

Data below for the week ending May 10.

• DSi – 55,382
• PSP – 43,009
• Wii – 24,397
• PS3 – 18,483
• DS Lite – 7,821
• PS2 – 5,137
• Xbox 360 – 5,068

Take-Two’s filed a suit against Apogee for continually delaying Duke Nukem Forever.

The publisher is now $12 million to the bad after 3D Realms went bust, Forever never being delivered.

“Apogee continually delayed the completion date for the Duke Nukem Forever,” Take-Two said in the complaint.

“Apogee repeatedly assured Take-Two and the video-gaming community that it was diligently working toward competing development of the PC Version of the Duke Nukem Forever.”

More on Bloomberg.

Rockstar’s Twitter‘s claimed you’re not going to have to wait long for a first look at 360′s follow-up to The Lost and Damned.

“Details on 2nd episode of GTAIV downloadable content coming soon,” said the Tweet.

So. E3, then. Thanks, GoOnl!ne.