Monthly Archives: May 2009

Gears of War screenwriter Chris Morgan has told MTV that the film is in the budgeting phase now, and when asked who he pictured when writing the part of Marcus Fenix, he said Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

“Normally when I write, I think about the actor I’m writing for, but this one’s been difficult,” said Morgan. “It is a vital casting choice. It’s counter-intuitive really, because it seems like you want to get a big character — a big tough guy who can play it stoic the whole time.

“But in my experience, dealing with macho sorts of movies and dealing with Dom [Vin Diesel's character in "Fast & Furious"] and that kind of stuff, it’s harder to play the tough guy than an emotional character who’s all over the place.”

What the casting director needs to do, he added, is find “a really f’ing good actor to pull off being a silent tough guy and put some humanity into it.

“The Rock is awesome. There’s a genuine actor. Not only can he play the tough guy, but he can also play the nuanced, sensitive funny sad moments as well. But finding that guy is incredibly difficult.

“If you just play the big tough guy, it comes off as one-note and cardboard and not a believable character. So an actor has to find little things and put emotion into them that works in a more subtle way than just being stoic.”

Cliff Bleszinski, who is one of the film’s producers, stated previously that he wanted a “Clive Owen type” to play the part of Fenix in the film.

Good luck.

Those playing the inFamous demo will notice when they come upon the  Empire City cinema that the “film list” contains Sly Cooper 4.

Sucker Punch has been rumored to be working on the stealth-action game since 2007, and this little bit of tease is either a thumb of the nose, an Easter egg, or an announcement of sorts. We don’t know.

Maybe E3 will shed some light. One can only hope.

You can see the offending image of the Sly Cooper tease first-hand over on Joystiq.

Ubisoft will kick off the Assassin’s Creed II campaign this weekend with both a full trailer and a teaser video appearing on UK television.

The premiere will air on Five during The Da Vinci Code, Sunday at 8pm.

Suppose you will have to sit through the whole thing to catch a glimpse. Shame that.

This will be the first video showing actual footage of the game.

More over on CVG.

Codemasters has dropped a few details on its upcoming F1 2010 racer, and claims it’s “the best F1 game ever”.

The game boasts online play, uses the GRID engine, makes use of racer rivalry, technical handling, and dynamic weather patterns that change the surface grip on the track.

“F1 games haven’t set the world alight over the last decade and we think that the sport deserves a game which really captures its excitement and glamour,” exec producer Gavin Raeburn told OXM.

“The online component is as important as the single-player experience. Key to this is enabling people to find and play with the right people.

“If you’re an arcade fan playing F1 online you probably want to play with like-minded players in shorter racers, rather than end up in a hardcore sim session.”

PSP and Wii versions of the title are expected this year, while a 2010 release window for PS3 and Xbox 360 versions has yet to be announced.

Head on over to CVG for a video of it.

Capcom has listed it’s biggest-selling franchises of all time.

It’s filled with no surprises really, but it’s posted below, anyway. You like lists.

All figures come from the company’s 2009 fiscal year and combine worldwide sales of all games in each series.

• Resident Evil – 40 million
• Mega Man – 28 million
• Street Fighter – 27 million
• Devil May Cry – 10 million
• Monster Hunter – 8.5 million
• Onimusha – 7.8 million
• Dino Crisis – 4.4 million
• Ghosts ‘N Goblins – 4.4 million
• Final Fight – 3.2 million
• Ace Attorney – 3.2 million
• Breath of Fire – 3 million
• Lost Planet – 2.7 million
• Commando – 1.2 million
• 1942 – 1.2 million
• Sengoku BASARA – 1.2 million

Via Kotaku.

2K just released first proper details of BioShock 2′s multiplayer aspects.

Online players will get to see Rapture “before the fall,” and have access to enough Plasmids and weapons to construct the warrior of their pleasing.

Digital Extremes is now confirmed as developing the online stuff. Key points:

• Evolution of the genetically enhanced shooter – Earn experience points during gameplay to earn access to new Weapons, Plasmids and Tonics that can be used to create hundreds of different combinations, allowing players to develop a unique character that caters to their playing style.
• Extend the Rapture fiction – Players will step into the shoes of Rapture citizens and learn more about the fall of Rapture as they progress through the experience.
• See Rapture before the fall – Experience Rapture before it was reclaimed by the ocean and engage in combat over iconic environments in locations such as Kashmir Restaurant and Mercury Suites, all of which have been reworked from the ground up to deliver a fast-paced multiplayer experience.
• FPS veterans add their touch to the multiplayer experience – Digital Extremes brings more than 10 years of first person shooter experience including development of award-winning entries in the Unreal and Unreal Tournament franchise.

The shooter’s out for PC, PS3 and 360 later this year.

Press release after the break.

More »

A demo for SBK 09 Superbike World Championship is now available on Xbox Live Marketplace.

The game includes all bike racing tracks along with the official teams and riders, plus “visible damage on fairings and rider leathers.”

Game’s out in May 29 for PC, PS2, PS3, PSP and Xbox 360.

Loads of tracks being added to the Rock Band music store next week starting May 12.

A three-pack from Social Distortion debuts along with singles from Disturbed, Elvis Costello, The Replacements, and Steely Dan.

Here’s the list:

• Disturbed – Stricken, Stupify
• Elvis Costello – Radio Radio
• The Replacements – Kids Don’t Follow
• Social Distortion – Bad Luck, Ring of Fire, Story of My Life
• Steely Dan – Black Friday, My Old School

The Social Distortion Pack 01 will run you 440 MS Points ($5.99) and can be purchased individually for 160 MS Points ($1.99), which is the same price of the other singles listed.

Wii users will hand over 200 Wii Points ($2.99) individually, as track packs are not an option for the console.

Each song will release during PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii’s normal weekly update.

Activision Blizzard’s president and CEO Michael Griffith said during yesterday’s Q1 earnings call that Bizarre’s Blur is to revolutionize the driving genre.

“From a business perspective, we are targeting Blur to do for racing what Call of Duty did for shooters,” said Griffith. “That was the goal when we originally acquired Bizarre Creations to make this game.”

Loads of confidence there.

He also stated that the game would be shown at E3 and is slated to be released towards the end of the year.

You can get the full transcript of the call to investors and full financial results here and here.

Cryptic currently has Champions Online in closed beta, and one of the things being tested is a Real Money Trading (RMT) system.

Testers trying out the in-game Champions Store have the option to use RMT, but currently the option is disabled with the error message “microtransactions” popping up.

Cryptic confirmed through a statement that it’s “currently testing functionality for in-game transactions,” but plans have yet to be finalized as it is still deciding if RMT will be implemented in future releases.

The statement also said that microtransactions are “a necessary component of the greater Cryptic platform since we plan on working on a number of different titles using our technology platform,” something that Chief creative officer Jack Emmert has shown disgust over in the past.

So far, the game’s to be your normal subscription-based MMO when it launches July 14 in Europe and North America.

Thanks, Eurogamer.

Nintendo’s released the top-selling first-party games on Wii and DS in the wake of yesterday’s full-year financials.

And here they are:

Wii

1. Wii Sports – 45.7 million
2. Wii Play – 22.9 million
3. Wii Fit – 18.2 million
4. Mario Kart Wii – 15.4 million
5. Super Smash Bros Brawl – 8.4 million
6. Super Mario Galaxy – 8 million
7. Mario Party 8 – 6.7 million
8. Link’s Crossbow Training – 3.76 million
9. Animal Crossing: Let’s Go to the City – 3.76 million
10. Wii Music – 2.65 million
11. Super Mario Stadium Baseball – 1.2 million

DS

1. Nintendogs – 22.2 million units.
2. New Super Mario Bros – 18.4 million
3. Cooking Guide – 18.4 million
4. Brain Training – 17.4 million units
5. Pokemon Diamond/Pearl – 16.8 million
6. Mario Kart DS – 14.6 million
7. More Brain Training – 13.7 million
8. Animal Crossing: Wild World – 10 million
9. Super Mario 64 DS – 7.5 million
10. Mario Party DS – 5.8 million
11. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon – 4.5 million
12. Pokemon Platinum – 3.7 million
13. Kirby Super Star Ultra – 2.3 million
14. Pokemon Ranger – 2 million
15. Rhythm Paradise – 1.9 million.
16. Professor Layton and the Curious Village – 1.6 million

Bobby Kotick added his voice to the chorus of mega-bosses saying there isn’t going to be a new hardware generation for years to come yesterday, speaking in Activision Blizzard’s Q1 earnings call.

“As far as the consoles themselves… I think that there’s a lot of runway for all of these devices,” he said.

“I think that we’ve got a long way to go before you get to price points that truly take advantage of all of this hardware,” Kotick added.

“I think from a geography standpoint, we still have a long way to go before these products have really penetrated every single geography, so we don’t really anticipate there are going to be material changes to the console landscape any time soon.”

Got it? No new consoles. Big Bobby said so.

Thanks, Edge.

It’s so on. Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer said in Dallas today that the coming month – i.e. E3 – is one to watch for Mr 360.

“Pay attention to the stuff we’re announcing in the next month on Xbox,” he said.

What’s he talking about? If the 50 billion current rumours are to be believed, a big part of it is motion-sensing.

Come on the press conference. Come on. Let’s see Mattrick take some names and make a pencil fly around on a screen with the power of his hand.

Thanks, Kotaku.

Resident Evil 5 has now sold more than 4 million units on a global level, Capcom just confirmed.

Street Fighter IV’s no slouch either – the game’s through the 2 million mark, the company said today.

PSP’s Monster Hunter Freedom 2G also helped Capcom along in the past year, rounding off a trio of products that’s given the publisher record revenue for FY2009.

The news comes as part of Capcom’s full-year figures release. Details here.

Capcom saw a 10.6 percent sales increase in the 12 months ending March, up to 91.8 billion yen.

Operating income rose 11.4 percent to 14.6 billion yen year-over-year, with net income up to 8.06 billion yen, a 3.3 percent increase.

The firm’s predicting growth for the current year, forecasting a sales rise to 95 billion yen.

Press release here.

Bobby Kotick said in the Activision Blizzard Q1 earnings call last night that Guitar Hero sales have no passed $2 billion.

The franchise is only the third to do so, the other two being Madden and Mario.

The company also said that 34 million tracks have now been downloaded for Guitar Hero products.

Get all the rest of the news from the call here.

EA’s to release two new maps for card-based RTS Battleforge today, representing the beginning of something called “the Renegade Campaign”.

The new levels are called MO and Blight, the former being a single-player thing.

All details after the break.

More »

Dante’s Inferno is a genre game, dev lead Jonathan Knight told us in London recently, and will only really deviate from a well-loved path of fighting mechanics in terms of setting and plot.

“I’d say we’re working pretty squarely in this action adventure fighting genre,” said Knight.

“It’s a great genre, we love the genre, and it’s more important to us to deliver a great game in that established genre than it is to particularly branch out and try too many new things.

“The combination of the cross power that has range to it and the scythe for heavy melee, I would say, is giving us more of a Devil May Cry, Japanese feel… We’re working squarely in that genre.”

That’s not to say you won’t be seeing anything new, kids.

“The game has a lot of unique stuff about it that hasn’t been seen before, in terms of the story, the fiction, the medieval Christian mythos,” Knight added, saying that the ability to control bosses for extra puzzle-solving is also something not seen frequently in other titles.

Dante’s got no date and looked pretty damn splendid when we saw it. You’re not going to be getting it this year, unfortunately.

Some shots here of a WiiWare version of Contra, Contra Rebirth.

It’s out in Japan next week, priced 1,000 Wii points.

Qore episode 12′s the biggie this week, featuring Batman and DiRT 2. Aside from that, there’s the usual round up of DLC. Get full details from the PS Blog.

Here’s what the Europeans got yesterday.