Monthly Archives: May 2009

The Mass Effect game coming to iPhone and iPod Touch is not a prequel, but a “side-story” about an upcoming Mass Effect 2 character, says Bioware.

Forum community coordinator Chris Priestly got to the bottom of it for everyone, and posted the facts:

• BioWare is making a game for the iPhone and iPod Touch based in the Mass Effect universe.

• We were going to announce this, but one of the testers at a focus testing group broke the NDA (non-disclosure agreement) and things were revealed before we had the chance.

• The game is going to be available for the iPhone AND the iPod Touch.

• The story of the game is not a “bridging” story between Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2. It is a cool little side-story about one of the upcoming Mass Effect 2 characters. It is not “required reading” to enjoy the core trilogy, but if a fun optional “extra” game.

• The development on this game is being done by a separate, dedicated team with no connection to any Mass Effect DLC development or patches so this is not “the reason there hasn’t been new DLC or patches”.

• BioWare and the Mass Effect team want to branch out in a number of ways with the ME universe, and this is just one example of such branching out. We think the iPhone and iPod Touch are exciting new platforms for games, and this game was designed for these platforms from the ground up.

• More information about the this game is coming later this month. None of the info that was leaked is ‘official’ by any means – it was research. We’ll have much more information in the future.

Priestly goes on to say that this is just the tip of the iceberg for information on both the iPod/iTouch game and Mass Effect 2 as more information is to be released this month and in June.

Voting for the 27th Annual Golden Joystick Awards has gone live.

Starting today, you can head on over to the official website and cast your vote for your favorite games.

Every 100,000th vote will win a prize so that should give you more incentive.

Last year, over 856,262 votes were cast and the big winner was Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, walking away with four Awards.

More through the link.

Patapon 2 associate producer Chris Hinojosa-Miranda has said that there is a “good chance” the rhythm franchise will continue.

“There’s such a critical love for Patapon, the characters, the story overall, and the music especially … there’s a good chance that the franchise will continue,” he said.

Speaking with Joystiq, Hinojosa-Miranda told the site that the development team is “listening” to requests from users asking for a downloadable PS3 version of the game featuring online modes.

Patapon 2 releases in the states on May 5.

Capcom confirmed both Resident Evil 5 and Bionic Commando for PC today, putting to bed months of speculation.

Bionic Commando will launch in July, while Resident Evil 5 is to arrive “later in the year”.

Street Fighter IV has now been confirmed for a July release on PC in Europe.

Press release after the break.

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Ten songs total from Franz Ferdinand, Allman Brothers Band, Prong, The Distillers, Alien Ant Farm and Luscious Jackson arrive on the Rock Band music store May 5 and 7 for PS3 and Xbox 360 respectively.

Here’s what you’ll get:

• Franz Ferdinand Track Pack: Take Me Out, Do You Want To, Lucid Dreams
• The Allman Brothers Band: Blue Sky, Midnight Rider
• Alien Ant Farm: Smooth Criminal
• The Distillers: Drain the Blood
• Prong: The Banishment, Idealistic Types
• Luscious Jackson: Naked Eye

The Franz Ferdinand Track Pack will run you 440 MS Points ($5.49) and each track can be bought individually along with the rest for 160 MS Points ($1.99).

Nintendo has no need to make a Wii price cut, EA Sports president Peter Moore has told VG247, thanks to sustained demand for the machine.

“I’m excited that Nintendo hasn’t even taken a price cut yet,” he said, speaking in London last week.

“They continue, in some instances, to not be able to keep up with demand, which blows me away, especially in the US.”

When asked if he expected a Wii cut this year, Moore answered: “I don’t know. I mean, no reason to right now. If I were their side of the table, when demand is as strong as that, and you know you’ve still got people who are willing to line up, there’s no reason to.

“You’ve got to make money in the hardware business when the sun shines, because when you do drop the price, all of a sudden that’s a big hole in your P&L.

“But I think the good news is that if they feel there’s any softness in the market they have that ability to do so. It’s good for the industry.”

Parts one and two of our interview with the EA Sports boss are now live.

Satoru Iwata gave a lovely speech yesterday, and in it he stated that the Wii-no-Ma Channel is “under planning in the future” for overseas.

“Wii-no-Ma service is available only in Japan at the start, but the overseas deployment is under planning in the future,” he said.

Available for free from the Wii Shopping Channel, the video service offers original programming and promotional videos from different partner companies.

Wii-no-Ma debuted in Japan today.

Via CVG.

EA Sports president Peter Moore has told VG247 that he has yet to see sign of Sony, Nintendo or Microsoft working on next generation hardware, and that the current cycle has a “long runway”.

“There’s no inkling of any new development being done,” said the boss.

“I mean, I’m sure somewhere, someone in all three companies is working on it, but nothing that we see, and we’re excited about that, quite frankly.”

The existing generation could beat all records, said Moore.

“From an industry point of view, how long the cycle is, I think we’ve still got a long runway here ahead of us, and as a software publisher I’m enthusiastic,” he said.

“I think this could be our biggest generation ever, when you think of the sheer numbers.”

Moore added that stiff demand for current hardware meant we’re going to be working with existing machines for the foreseeable future.

“I think we’ve got a lot of money we can make in this generation ahead of us here, and hardware manufacturers in the same way don’t want to start making that investment while there’s still a lot of money to be made,” he said.

Moore was speaking to us in London at EA’s spring showcase last week. Parts one and two of the interview are now live.

What to know what EA Sports president Peter Moore things about the future of games hardware? Why he thinks this will be the biggest cycle yet? Why he wants a PS3 price cut? Why he’s pleased Nintendo hasn’t dropped the price of Wii? Why discs will disappear? What’s going on with NASCAR? Why cricket’s rubbish?

Good. Because he covers all that in the second part of our interview from EA’s spring showcase event last week. Get it after the break. Part one’s here.

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Namco has hired 10-20 staff members from BottleRocket to finish development of Splatterhouse.

Seems the company opened up a new studio in San Diego and pulled in artists, designers, programmers, producers, and other staff to work alongside the Afro Samurai team.

Splatterhouse was yanked from BottleRocket back in March because of “performance issues” and combined with Brash going bust and the subsequent cancellation of The Flash, the firm was in dire straits.

According to  Variety, BottleRocket is currently at work on Scratch: The Utimate DJ after a bit of a dry spell.

More through the links.

After the break. The Hitman never looked so life-like. Apart from when he’s the real Ricky Hatton, obviously.

What? Fight Night Round 4′s out on June 26 for PS3 and 360.

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The celebrate LotRO’s second birthday, COG’s selling the game for £5 via its UK store.

This is a cue for you to buy it. The MMO comes with 30 days’ play included in the price, and it really is a great game. Go be a hobbit for a bit. You get to shout at bears, and shit.

While stocks last, apparently.

The chap who like leaking stuff from PartnerNet’s at it again. This time he’s popped up some screens from the XBLA version of Gunstar Heroes.

It hasn’t been announced yet, and there’s no date. Doesn’t look as though you’re going to be waiting too long for it, though, does it?

Thanks, Blerk.

More than 100 million creations have now been made in Spore, SporeIllustrated reports.

The milestone was hit yesterday at around 5:10pm EST. Give or take a minute or two.

Mental. Have you killed more people than the entire population of planet earth, though, Mr Spore? We don’t think so.

David Reeves plays Pro Evolution Soccer over FIFA, he’s told Eurogamer.

“I have to say – and I shouldn’t really say it, because someone from EA’s going to read this – but I guess I played Pro Evo from a way back and I’m stuck to it,” he said.

The bombshell was made in the exec’s final interview before leaving Sony as president.

There’s some funny stuff in there. Hit the link.

A 2002 EU price-rigging fine against Nintendo has been dropped by nearly £30 million on appeal.

EU judges said the parent company should benefit from the same discount on its penalty as that already granted to John Menzies, Nintendo’s UK distributors.

The ruling reduces the original fine of £134 million to £107 million.

More on Channel 4.

PSP’s back on top in Japan this week, after the FFXIII demo propelled PS3 to dizzy heights the week previous.

Last chart here. Data below for the week ending April 26.

• PSP – 41,187
• DSi – 37,495
• PS3 – 23,351
• Wii – 18,439
• Xbox 360 – 7,016
• DS Lite – 6,374
• PS2 – 4,524

The PC version of Street Fighter IV will release on June 2 in Japan, the publisher’s confirmed.

Western versions are to follow, but nothing specific’s been announced as yet.

The big difference between this as the consoles versions is graphical, with the new SKU featuring Watercolor, Brushstroke and Poster options thanks to PC GPU shaders.

Thanks, Kotaku.

Eidos has told VG247 this morning that Batman: Arkham Asylum is still on track for its summer release, despite a now widely-reported Game Informer rumour of a slip to Q4.

“Batman: Arkham Asylum is currently scheduled for a summer 2009 release date,” a rep said today.

Put it this way: the game’s scheduled for a June 23 release in the US and UK journos have been into Rocksteady to see it this week. We’re still waiting on an official Euro date, but everything we know about this game suggests you probably want to take all this with a pinch of salt. Just saying.

Thanks, Blerk.

To celebrate the launch of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Activision has “teamed up” with Edinburgh Zoo to rename Britain’s only actual male wolverine “Logan”.

Just hit the link. Suffice to say we now have tea-coated monitors.

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