Monthly Archives: May 2009

How long is inFamous? Let Sucker Punch co-founder Chris Zimmerman enlighten you.

“It depends on how you decide to play it,” said the developer, talking in the PS Blog movie interview you’ll find after the break.

“If you play straight through as fast as you can, maybe 15 hours.”

There is more, however.

“In addition to the 35 stories in the game, we have 100 side missions, and we have a whole bunch of collectibles to pick up,” Zimmerman added.

“If you do all that stuff, we’re [talking] 20-25 hours, maybe.”

The game’s out on May 21 in the US and May 29 in Europe.

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Megaton. Nelson’s confirmed that Avatars now have new shoes. Here’s what you get:

Men

• Flip Flops
• High Top Sneakers
• Socks and Sandals
• 70’s Leather Platforms

Women

• Sunny Day Sandals
• White 60’s Boots

As ever, there’s no cross-dressing allowed, just in case a child sees something “inappropriate” and suddenly craves homosexual intercourse.

Full thing through there.

Dawn of War II got a whopping patch last night, adding two new maps, 2v2 ranked play, new kill animations and tons more.

Geek yourself out here. The game should patch itself when you start it up.

Blizzard’s secret MMO is an entirely new property, the firm said overnight, one that’s being built from zero in what’s been described as an “overwhelming process”.

“We have nothing to advertise for the new MMO because it’s a shell of a game thus far,” said a blue poster on the official WoW forums.

“We’ve already stated it’ll be a brand new franchise, which means the lore, art, and game play are being developed entirely from scratch.

“It’s an overwhelming process, but a process through which we excel. Our track record supports this.”

You’re not going to be seeing this for a long time, Ringo.

“Games take years to develop from concept to release,” the poster added.

“Diablo III was in the works for years before being announced. StarCraft II was announced two years ago and isn’t even in beta yet.”

Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter has told Edge that he thinks MotionPlus could sell as many as 10 million units this year.

“I think around 20 percent of Wii owners in the US and Europe will have bought Wii Sports Resort, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 or EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis,” which will come bundled with the Wii Remote add-on, “so that’s around eight million,” he said.

“I think another two million will buy MotionPlus with new consoles.

“I expect MotionPlus to be a sneaky success (like Wii Fit), and ultimately attach to at least one third of the [Wii's] installed base,” he added.

MotionPlus releases in June. Full thing through there.

Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete will release in the US on June 2, priced $38.96, Kotaku reports.

Unlike the Japanese release, however, there won’t be a FFXIII demo included. For shame.

Still no confirmation on a European date.

In case you needed any more of a hint that Microsoft’s about to announce a motion-sensing device for 360, the Wall Street Journal, citing “people familiar with the matter,” has said that “Microsoft Corp. is developing a new videocamera for the Xbox 360 console that will allow players to control games with the movement of their bodies”.

“Unlike the Wii,” says this report, “the Microsoft camera won’t require users to hold any hardware to control on-screen action, the people familiar with the matter said. The camera would sit near the television and capture when players move their hands, legs or head.”

E3, kids. Yes, sir. Read the full thing through there.

Creditors are suing several parties involved in the recent bankruptcy and original sale of Midway, including Mark Thomas, and Sumner Redstone along with his daughter Shari and his holding company, National Amusements.

The lawsuit stems from what the creditors called a “breach of fiduciary duty, corporate waste and unjust enrichment” pertaining to the financial crisis within the company. The suit states that the current situation “arises out of a series of disastrous and ill-advised financial transactions that largely occurred during 2008.”

According to a 29-page document filed by the creditors, Midway’s board turned a blind eye to the sale of the company and wasteful spending by having “either approved of the transactions or, upon learning of them, looked the other way — taking no steps to investigate and unwind them.”

Redstone’s sale of Midway to Mark Thomas for $100,000 was described in the document as not only a shady deal, but as nothing more than a “massive tax refund” to Redstone which left Midway “insolvent” since 2007.

Loads of accusations there.

Gamsutra’s got the rest of the details. Go have a look.

You’ve heard loads about the Going Rogue expansion for City of Heroes today.

Now watch the introductory teaser-trailer for it. It’s interesting.

Thanks, Joystiq.

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Sony and Level 5 released a story trailer today for White Knight Chronicles.

The RPG certainly looks very colorful, fanciful, suspenseful, plotful and other words that end in “ful”.

Have a look after the break.

Not sure when the PS3 exclusive will be released outside of Japan, but the trailer said “soon”.

Thanks, D’toid.

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Greg Canessa has taken a position with Blizzard which entails work on an “unannounced project in the online space” alongside VP Rob Pardo.

Previously Xbox Live’s group manager, Canessa left Microsoft to work for PopCap before moving on his new gig with Blizzard.

While PopCap was sad to see him go, the company wishes him nothing but the best.

“We are sorry to see him go and we wish him the very best”, said company rep arth Chouteau. “It’s been a pleasure working with him and his move is largely predicated on it being a big personal and professional opportunity for him.

“This isn’t going to have any material impact on our console presence and our strategy with respect to the consoles and the DS and the areas that Greg was heading up. We’re still very committed to those.”

Good thing that.

We’ll let you know if any word on what he’s working on at Blizzard pops up.

Thanks, Joystiq.

A new video for inFamous has surfaced.

Watch Cole stop a bombardment of firepower that’s trying to suppress a prison break.

Looks electrifying as usual.

Games out May 26 in the US and May 29 in Europe.

Video’s below and two others can be viewed via IGN here and here.

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Eat adorable bugs, digest them and then regurgitate rainbow vomit into the mouths of your young. That’s Critter Crunch, which will be making it’s way to PSN this summer.

Watch the trailer after the break to see for yourself.

Developed by Cappy, the game was originally an iPhone title and is a “food chain” puzzler. You will be feeding critters to each other until they burst.

The game features single player modes, 1080p art, online and local multiplayer in versus and co-op, along with the chance to earn Trophies.

A demo is expected sometime before release, and will cost under $10.00.

Dunno if you really get to vomit much, but that’s the prettiest technicolor yawn we’ve ever seen.

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Valve has announced that another free weekend of gameplay is coming up for Team Fortress 2, and alongside of that, it also announced more updates for the Sniper class.

This ranged class is armed with a hunting bow complete with 18 arrows and a one-second charge for full power shots, all the better to make your enemies look like a porcupine.

According to the site: “You will shoot them and they will stick to the wall and they will die.” Nice.

One headshot from these bowmen can result in an instant critical, and updates include achievements, head-slot items, maps, and three unlockable weapons.

Expect the update to arrive “soon”.

Those keen on pre-ordering Overlord II for PC, PS3 or Xbox 360 can get a special bonus when doing it through GameStop.

Once you lay down the cash online or in-store, you will get one of four collectible minion figurines along with the game when it’s released.

Creepy looking things aren’t they?

More over on GameStop.

The video posted after the break shows loads of footage from Damnation, along with lead game designer Jacob Minkoff chatting about the villains you will be up against in the game.

Looks and sounds interesting, what with all the steam powered machines, guns and what look like super soldiers.

Game’s out for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on May 22 and 26 in the UK and US respectively.

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Geoff Keighley has tweeted that this coming Thursday night, GameTrailers TV will air a first look at Uncharted 2′s single-player mode.

“And it looks great,” said Geoff.

No doubt it does, but we’ll be sure to watch anyway.

A rumor that Kojima Productions are to announce a new project in three days has surfaced over on 1UP.

The news comes from a very strange and “cryptic email” sent to the site this morning from a source claiming to be a Komani insider.

The subject line read “T -3 days” and contained a link to a blank space on Konami’s website.

Not sure what any of this means – if anything – but we will keep our noses to the ground for you.

Final Fantasy XIII may not be bilingual on Xbox 360 due to memory issues, according to producer Yoshinori Kitase.

The PS3 version of the game will, however, support both English and Japanese languages because thanks to Blu-ray, there is enough memory.

“Obviously, when we talk about XIII it’s for PS3 and Xbox – with PS3 being on Blu-ray there would be enough memory, but on Xbox probably not,” he revealed to IGN.

“At the moment we’re thinking of releasing the voice in English only. Are there many people who would like to play with Japanese voices?”

We’re sure of it.

More through the link.

Halo 3 isn’t going anywhere. The past four weeks have proved it.

Differences this week include FIFA 09 taking the seven spot away from Left 4 Dead, and the Bionic Commando demo falling off the chart and being replaced by Fallout 3.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles

1. Halo 3
2. Call of Duty: WaW
3. Call of Duty 4
4. Gears of War 2
5. UFC 2009 Undisputed Demo
6. GTA IV
7. FIFA 09
8. Left 4 Dead
9. Fallout 3
10. Resident Evil 5

Get all the Arcade and Community stuff after the break.

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