Monthly Archives: May 2009

Epic applied for a game patent last week titled Nano.Strike, along with a patent for a console faceplate.

No details are give in the applications, although GameGuru suggests that this could be the psychological horror game Cliff Bleszinski was rumored to be working on back in November of last year.

Also mentioned was the undisclosed title that Painkiller developers People Can Fly are working on, which as you all know, the firm had a majority stake purchased in it by Epic back in 2007.

So it could be either one or something entirely new.

We’ve contacted Epic for comment, so be sure and check back with us.

Play Insights sent out a survey asking if a karma system should be implemented into the Grand Theft Auto series.

Over on the WiiSpace forums, member Da Ill One posted a screenshot of it, and this is what it read:

Do you think Grand Theft Auto would benefit from having a “karma” system or “good” vs. “evil” actions mechanism that allowed you to choose your overall path by doing good or bad actions, where those actions have an accumulative impact on how the game unfolds? When answering, please consider the idea of being “good” or “evil” and NOT the particular execution / how this feature would be implemented.

Granted this is a survey and does not denote whether Rockstar would include such a feature in the next GTA game, but the thought is still intriguing.

Hit the link for more.

Capcom announced Resident Evil 5 for PC yesterday, and something you may not have noticed in the press release is that it will support 3D gaming.

When the game launches in July, PC users who have NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision installed on their system will be able to play the shooter in full 3D once they slip on the stereoscopic glasses.

Loads of other games currently support the technology, which will run you $200 for the basic kit.

3D seems to be the way gaming is heading. At least the required glasses don’t make you look like a nub anymore.

BioWare asked Dragon Age:Origins fans on Twitter to guess the number of voice actors appearing in the RPG.

Looks like over 144 were hired to work on the project. That’s quite a lot.

The game’s out later this year.

Thanks, Joystiq.

A new RUSE trailer popped up overnight, showing a new deception skill in the WWII RTS.

It’s all gameplay, and looks like a dead cert for the strategy crowd.

After the break. It’s out for PC, 360 and PS3 later this year.

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Valve’s prolonged its free-play promo for Left 4 Dead, meaning you can download the shooting zombies for nothing until 5.00pm BST today.

The game’s on sale this weekend as well, down to £16.19 instead of the usual £26.99.

The latest Star Wars: The Old Republic dev diary shows clearly why anyone with even a passing interest in MMOs or Star Wars should be very excited about this game.

It details the thinking behind creating the Sith and Jedi homeworlds, as well as Hutta and Ord Mantell, showing new environments and a small amount of in-game footage.

Seriously, watch it. This really could be amazing. No date on it as yet. Thanks, BigDownload.

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Engadget’s carrying what’s claimed to be a shot of a full-body motion-sensing system for Xbox 360. No shit. There’s a sensor bar, and everything.

Apparently, capabilities include:

• Full body and hand gesture control of games / characters.
• In fighting games you kick, punch, duck, dive, jump and so forth with your body.
• It also picks up small hand gestures like pinching, grabbing and scrolling.
• There will also be video conferencing and games with video.
• Trivia game over the internet with live images of each person playing. When a question pops up, they can clap to buzz in.
• You can “move objects on your screen” and the other party can see what you’re doing in real time.
• Sensor detects only the person playing, not folks observing on the couch.

It’s the future. Now. Hopefully it’s true.

Thanks, Psychotext.

Lips gets an update this month with loads of stuff that you just can’t live without.

Good Charlotte, The Black Crowes, John Denver, and New Edition are just some of the artists you can pretend to be in your living rooms.

We know you wanted to be John Denver. Don’t lie.

Today:

• Dance Floor Anthem (I Don’t Want To Be In Love) – Good Charlotte
• Why Does It Always Rain On Me? – Travis
• Hard To Handle – The Black Crowes

May 8:

• You Get What You Give – The New Radicals
• Turning Japanese – The Vapors
• Clocks – Coldplay

May 15:

• Take Me Home, Country Roads – John Denver
• Mr. Telephone Man – New Edition
• Cool It Now – New Edition
• If It Isn’t Love – New Edition
• New Edition Song Pack – Mr. Telephone Man, Cool It Now, If It Isn’t Love

May 22:

• Lollipop – Mika
• Achy Breaky Heart – Billy Ray Cyrus
• 100 Years – Five For Fighting

May 29:

• I Miss You – Blink-182
• Life Is A Rollercoaster – Ronan Keating
• Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol

Earlier today, retailers Bountii, eStarland, and MSN Shopping showed pre-order listings for Fallout 3′s upcoming Broken Steel expansion and something called “Point Lookout”.

Rumors started circulating that this was a possible fourth expansion for the title, but Bethesda VP Pete Hines has brushed it off saying there isn’t a fourth expansion.

“We have said there will be three DLCs for Fallout 3, for PC and 360. We’ve released two, and the third, Broken Steel, is scheduled for release Tuesday, May 5th,” he told GamerVision.

“Beyond that we have no announced plans for additional DLC.”

The man has spoken.

Just in case you didn’t know, a demo for Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection is now available on Xbox Live.

The 99Mb file includes Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Streets of Rage 3 and Space Harrier.

If you’ve nothing else to do, been sitting on the fence about buying it, or just love old Genesis games – nothing’s stopping you.

More information through here.

Harmonix, MTV Games, and Lucifer – Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Hell – announced today that Rock Band has hit a “metal milestone” in the way of 666 songs.

Says it was completely coincidental, and totally f***ing awesome.

The milestone was reached thanks to the release of Jane’s Addiction’s “Nothing’s Shocking”.

“That’s a hell of a lot of songs,” stated Alex Rigopulos, president and co-Founder, Harmonix. “We owe much of the success of the Rock Band franchise to the Dark Lord. We couldn’t have done it without you, buddy!”

“This is a great day for music fans and gamers alike,” said Lucifer. “Since its inception, Rock Band has included some of the darkest and most brutal bands of all time, including Megadeth, Judas Priest, Testament and, of course, my personal favorite, The Naked Brothers Band.

“Now if they’d just get some Iron Maiden masters, I swear I’d never leave the Pit of Everlasting Torment.”

Can’t take credit for any of the above.  It was all in the press release and just too funny to change.

Following a Game Informer rumour that Batman: Arkham Asylum had been delayed until the fourth quarter, Eidos has confirmed the game’s dropped from June 23 to the “end of summer 2009″ in the US.

A statement from the company said only that the game was being moved back in order to allow extra time for polish.

“This additional time will allow us to ensure Batman: Arkham Asylum is of the highest quality for gamers,” said Warner and Eidos.

No date has been given for Europe as yet.

More soon, hopefully.

Relic has posted a preliminary list of notes on the Dawn of War II patch coming later this month.

Here are just a few things you can look forward to:

• A Two-on-Two game mode, with two new four player maps.
• Two-on-Two is a ranked game mode with leaderboard support.
• An improved, more challenging Skirmish AI.
• Push to talk voice chat and Company of Heroes style sub-selection options.
• New squad decorators and significant UI improvements.
• A performance test to help measure Dawn of War II performance.

Keep checking the official site for more details because the devs promise more updates soon.

Nintendo’s Wii-no-Ma service launched in Japan today, and YouTube user NintenDaan has uploaded a first look video which we’ve posted after the break.

The video shows how to use the service on your Wii to send a video to a special App on your DSi.

Looks like it takes bit to do, but still, it’s pretty nifty.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

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American PS Movie Store users got HD versions of Mystic River, Marley & Me, Bride Wars, and Slumdog Millionaire, today.

The usual large list of TV shows were added, and same for non-HD movies.

You can get the full thing below and through the PS Blog.

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Some lovely looking Assassin’s Creed 2 shots have popped up over on the Italian site Mondoxbox.

A few are new, some are not. Doesn’t matter. They’re easy on the eyes, and aren’t scans.

So go have a look.

It’s out this holiday season for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Peter Molyneux has revealed that Lionhead’s current project was inspired by an image from another developer’s videogame.

Speaking with Gamasutra, Molyneux described how previous projects and experiments have contributed to the game currently in the works. Most interesting, though, was him admitting the main inspiration came from another game.

“A long time ago, I was talking about a project — it was actually an experiment called “Dimitri”, which was a project that we were kind of working on for a long time. That kind of evolved and changed as these experiments do”, he said.

“The core of this idea, the thing that it lacked, was the way to describe it to you, what that kind of wrapper was. And then, this moment, this evangelical moment came to me while I was sitting in a meeting.

“I was sitting in a meeting looking at someone else’s game from another studio, and I saw this one picture. It was just this single image of a picture. I thought, ‘That’s it. That’s exactly what it needs.’ And so I rushed back and said, ‘Right, we should do this.’

“It was one of those, so rarely happens in your life when you see something and you know so strongly that it’s the right thing.”

Molyneux added that when the studio finally reveals the game, he will also reveal the game image that inspired him.

Nice bit a tease there, Peter.

Overlord II releases simultaneously on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in the US and UK on June 23 and 26.

To get you in the mood, Destructoid has posted new screens and video – which you can watch below.

Looks minion-tastic.

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EA Japan has announced an action adventure game for DS called Shonen Kininden Tsumuji.

The game puts you in control of a young ninja in training who traverses through dungeons, saving his family and best friend along the way. You also have to gather secrets from behind walls and in floors.

That’s about all that is known at this point, but the Coro Coro Comics event’s going on this weekend in Japan, so we should know more then.

No word yet on whether it will release elsewhere.

Via IGN.