Monthly Archives: June 2009

FFXIII producer Yoshinori Kitase told GiantBomb at E3 that work only started on FFXIII’s 360 version when the game’s Japanese demo was released.

“Up to the trial demo version that was released [in April] in Japan, [FFXIII] was PS3-only in terms of development,” he said.

“The Xbox 360 version is definitely following after the PS3 version, but [we] were finally able to come to a point in the PS3 development where some of the staff could take their hands off and start programming the 360 version.”

The title’s supposedly out in the US on 360 early next year.

The latest Katamari Damacy Tribute promo features a heap of new footage of the 1080p PS3 remake. Watch it after the break.

Looks fun, innit. Great use of rainbows. It’s out this autumn.

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Ronnie James Dio, of heavy metal band Dio fame, has apparently been cut from Brütal Legend’s voice actor list.

The singer’s management has reportedly confirmed the news, not citing any specific reasons. It noted that actor Tim Curry will be filling the position.

Dio and Ozzy Osbourne, who’s appearing in the Schafer title, have a “feud” going on, apparently, which may account for the deletion.

Via Spinelanguage and Joystiq.

According to this Ecto-Web post, the PC version of Ghostbusters doesn’t have any kind of multiplayer feature, despite online play being present in both the PS3 and 360 versions.

The PC version doesn’t have any DLC listed as a feature, either.

Why? Unknown. We can ask, though.

It’s out on Friday for PS3 and PSP in Europe. If you want it on 360, you’ll need to get the US version. Same if you want it on PC. Thanks, Blue.

The ESRB’s rated Final Fantasy Tactics for “PlayStation/PSone/PSP/PlayStation 3″, which probably means it’s on the way for download in the US.

Which is fun. Because we’ve never played it. No date.

Via OneLastContinue and Kotaku.

Neversoft has told Eurogamer that it would like to see turntable integration with Guitar Hero in the future.

Apparently, the DJ Hero turntable becoming compatible with the game is not too far-fetched, nor is bringing drums to DJ Hero now that you can use little plastic guitars with DJ Hero.

“When we started putting guitar and rock tracks into the mix, they sounded good but it felt that there was something natural missing,” said DJ Hero studio boss Kevin McSherry.

“The piece came when we worked out a way to keep a guitar track in its entirety and mix in a DJ set to it. So you get a truly authentic Guitar Hero experience and a truly authentic DJ Hero experience within the same mix.”

Guitar Hero 5 and DJ Hero are slated for PS2, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 this September and October, respectively.

Not much going on with MMOs this week, but what little there is, we thought we’d share with you.

Those who play Lord of the Rings Online should take a look at the changes coming to Bree, EVE Online players were ripped-off, Star Trek Online added  timelines, an EverQuest documentary is coming to Fan Faire 2009, and Final Fantasy XI is getting an update in July.

To find out about these topics and more, hit the jump.

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Blizzard has posted a fan Q&A on the message boards for StarCraft II, mostly chatting about the map editor.

The map editor will be included in the beta, but not from the very beginning, and features a scripting language called Galaxy.

You will also be able to modify a hero unit in more detail.

Still no word on when to expect the beta, but it’s suppose to be sometime this summer.

Via BigDownload.

There’s a 30-minute demo for Darksiders: Wrath of War posted after the break.

Shows loads of swordplay and the like, with the lead designer and creative director chatting to Gamespot about it at E3.

The game’s set in a post apocalyptic demon filled world where the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have been betrayed, stripped of all powers, and cast down to Earth.

Players take on the role of the first of the Four Horsemen, War, as he goes on a rampage filled with vengeance and revenge with his phantom horse Ruin.

Awesome.

The open-world game is expected sometime in January 1, 2010.

Thanks, VideoGamesBlogger.

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The new trailer for Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood posted after the break is a rootin’ tootin’ good time.

Watch as Ray and Thomas shoot their way through, well, everything.

Backwoods accent included.

It’s out July 3.

Thanks, GameTrailers.

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Feargus Urquhart had a chat with GameBanshee about his history in the industry, some of the games he has contributed to, and the firm’s new unannounced title.

Apparently, it is being developed using Obsidian’s own in-house engine.

“We have been working on another title for the last four months that we can’t talk about yet, he said. “It’s going really well though and the team is really excited. It’s using our own internal engine so we are really able to do things our way based upon everything we’ve learned about making RPGs in the past ten to fifteen years.

“Don’t take that as a silent slam on Unreal – it’s not. Our engine, like Unreal, is a tool and different jobs can be done better with tools that are made for them. There are things that our engine may never do as well as Unreal, but likewise there are things that our engine will do that will be better than Unreal.”

More through the link.

Thanks, Blue.

Capcom admits that some of the presentation in Street Fighter IV could get lost should a Wii port ever happen, but that doesn’t mean that the firm couldn’t pull it off.

“While not every aspect of SFIV’s presentation would likely be possible on the Wii, the core elements are obviously possible,” said community manager Seth Killian on Capcom Unity.

“As for “never happen!”—I’d hope that if Tatsunoko vs Capcom has taught us anything, it’s that we should never say never when it comes to Capcom.”

So take that naysayers. We guess.

Via Kotaku.

More through the links.

Bethesda has released the E3 video for Rogue Warrior – the shooter, based on events in former Navy SEAL Richard Marcinko’s life.

Originally in development by Zombie Studios, the project was handed over to Rebellion and Mickey Roarke plays the lead in it.

Video is posted after the break, and you can expect the game sometime this fall for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Thanks, BigDownload.

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Some scans from the July issue of Game Informer have shown up over on Uol Jogos.

They’re of Max Payne 3.

Hopefully we’ll get ours in the mail soon. Go have a look.

NOA bossman Reggie Fils-Amie has told Kotaku that if Nintendo decides to bring a streaming video service to Wii, it will not be Netflix per say.

“We have nothing to announce [as] a partnership from an online streaming standpoint,” he said. “Should we go down that path we will do something different than our competitors.”

The Wii-no-Ma video download service was launched in Japan May 1.

More through the link.

Following yesterday’s announcement of the Le Sarthe and Bugatti circuits for Forza 3, two videos have surfaced featuring the in-game Le Mans 24 Hour event.

Both are posted along with the official announcement.

See how well Peugeot Sport driver Stéphan Sarrazin does with the game after the break.

Via DailyMotion (Xboxygen).

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Janco Partners’ Mike Hickey has predicted that Modern Warfare 2 will not only rake-in $338 million in sales it’s first day on the market, but that it will be the “largest videogame release of the year” by moving 11.1 million units by the close of 2009.

“We believe Modern Warfare 2 will likely be the largest video game release for [calendar year] 2009,” wrote the analyst in an investor’s note. “For the Company’s fiscal Q409 period (Dec. ending), we anticipate the sell through to consumers of 11.1 million units for an estimated retail value of $803 million and sell-in approximating 12.4 million units, for an approximated sales value of $666 million (we assume demand is 90% of supply).

“We estimate the combined Xbox 360 and PS3 installed base for US and Europe has grown +125% and +200%, respectively since Modern Warfare’s November ’07 release, ushering in a remarkably larger market opportunity for Modern Warfare 2.”

More analysis and psychic readings over on Gamasutra.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin’s free Armored Front map pack is now available on Direct2Drive, FileFront and Steam -  just in case you didn’t know already.

The pack contains the Conductor Map, Decoy Map and as four character heads.

Hit the links to get it.

Thanks, CVG.

Rumors floating about suggest that Natal will not only come in bundle form, but the console in question will be an updated Xbox 360.

Sources close to 1UP say that Natal is the new console because it will be considered “a new platform and carry a new name (Xbox Natal?)”, with “similar hardware but upgraded, repackaged, and rebranded.”

The unnamed source also stated that Microsoft would reveal the new hardware at GDC next year, with the retail launch taking place during the fall of 2010.

Again, this is a rumor for the time being so keep your skeptic hats on for a bit.

Warhammer Online players eager to get a quick start on the upcoming Land of the Dead update can pre-download patch 1.3.

If you do, come June 16 you won’t have to wait as long for the update to finish.

Right now it’s US and Oceanic only, but GOA (France Telecom) will release one for Europe early next week.

The file is 867Mb, will contain the majority of the content included, and can be downloaded here.

Thanks, Massively.