Monthly Archives: June 2009

Criterion rolls the eyes a bit, apparently, when it hears people say that the PS3 or Xbox 360 have been maxed out.

“That’s proof that you’re not the best,” the firm’s technical director Richard Parr told Eurogamer. “It means you’re out of ideas.”

“You always find new ways to do things, the constraints lift. Not just with a new console generation but with every game you do,” added senior engineer Alex Fry. “Whether it’s a sequel or whether it’s a new game, you learn to do things differently… better.

“The constraints go away because you learn. While it’s nice to say you’ve maxed something out, there’s not really any point.”

Good to hear.

Flock’s new season, Spring, is now available for download on PC and includes new improvements, six new levels, rabbits, carrots, and burrows.

Great. We all know what rabbits do in the spring.

Details:

• Rabbits: The cutest animal yet to be Flocked, they breed like crazy!
• Burrowing Tunnels: Rabbits need a home too, so we’ve given them some nice carrot patches to dig up… the resulting tunnel can transport any animal, multiplying the fun!
• Giant Carrot: This massive, succulent vegetable will get all the animals going hunger-mad, devouring it any chance they get. Pick this bad boy up, and watch as they follow you anywhere!
• New Campaign: Of course all these wonderful new features would be nothing without a few fiendish and fun levels to experience them on! 6 brand spanking new levels await to test your Flock! skills… if you get the best medals, you’ll unlock all these goodies plus two special trophy objects to put into your own levels!
• Level Editor tweaks: We’ve spent some time polishing up the Level Editor too, so if you’re a fan of making your own levels to share, or if this is your first time dabbling with our tools, then you’ll be sure to find it even easier than before!

You can get it through Steam or through Capcom here.

Of course the DiRT 2 gameplay trailer shows loads of racing. What else would it show?

Has stunts, cheering fans, roll-overs, you name it.

It’s posted after the break courtesy of GameTrailers.

Expect it to drift into stores in September.

More »

Shigeru Miyamoto has told Wired that the reason the new Zelda game was show at the Q&A at E3 instead of the press event, is because it’s still a ways off.

“Media briefings, for us, that’s a place where we’re going to talk about our business for the coming year and the products that we’re going to release over the next 12 months or so,” he said.

“The development of Zelda has been focused strictly on the gameplay structure at this point. We haven’t devoted much in the way of efforts to things like graphical representation, and story, and those types of production elements.

“Because of that, we thought it was just more valuable to continue have the team focus their energies on creating what will be a very entertaining gameplay system, rather than have them waste their energies creating a trailer to announce a game at E3 very far in advance.”

As far as the new Zelda using Wii MotionPlus, he says at this point it’s a given.

“The goal at this point is that we would make Wii MotionPlus required in order to play Zelda,” he told the site.

“The bigger hurdle for us is not really whether people have a Wii MotionPlus or don’t have it, it’s whether or not the experience is one where people will think they want to have a Wii Motion Plus in order to experience it.”

Hit the link for more.

Shigeru Miyamoto has said that Mario games do not need a heavy story, and are not “particularly suited” to having one at all.

While speaking with Wired, Miyamoto was asked about Super Mario Galaxy being the first Mario more of a story to it, and was curious if this was a new direction we can expect for the series.

“I’ve talked to Galaxy director Yoshiaki Koizumi about that a lot, but this time I’d like to go with as little story as possible,” he said. “I’ve always felt that the Mario games themselves aren’t particularly suited to having a very heavy story, whereas the Zelda series is something that lends itself more naturally to that idea.

“We’ve differentiated a little bit between those two, because the Zelda games have had an in-depth story whereas the Mario games have not. Mr. Koizumi is the type of person who, whenever we’re working on a new Mario game, he always wants to bring more story elements into it, as he did with Super Mario Galaxy.

“But in talking with him this time, he agrees and feels that with Galaxy 2, there won’t be a need for as deep of a story.”

Game’s out in 2010.

Steam’s weekend sale enters the realm of MMOs with titles ranging from 20-75 percent off.

Here’s the list:

• Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures – $9.99
• City of Heroes Architect Edition – $15.99
• EVE Online: Apocrypha – $7.49
• EverQuest Secrets of Faydwer Starter Pack – $15.99
• EverQuest Seeds of Destruction All-In-One Compilation Pack – $31.99
• EverQuest II Rise of Kunark Starter Pack – $15.99
• EverQuest II The Shadow Odyssey – $9.99
• Guild Wars Trilogy – $39.99
• Lineage – $7.99
• Lineage II: Gracia & trade Final – $15.99
• Pirates of the Burning Sea – $15.99
• Vanguard Saga of Heroes – $15.99

Some of those are pretty cheap, actually.

Thanks, Evil Avatar.

Hideo Kojima has said that he originally planned to step back a bit from future releases of Metal Gear and wear the hat of producer.

Instead, according to an interview in Dengeki: PlayStation, he admits that the story in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker was too complex for him to not have a hand in.

“At first, I was just going to create the overall guidelines and concepts for the project, and leave it in the hands my excellent staff,” he said. “I was going to have a hand in the project as a producer, and make titles other than MGS.

“But, I set the game in the South American(sic) country of Costa Rica and created a story with themes about nuclear deterrence and the cold war. It looked as if it might be very confusing to young people, because of generational differences. So, in the end I finally said, “I’ll do it.”

Kojima also revealed that Metal Gear Solid: Rising will not be a “traditional” Metal Gear game as the action will be much different than what has appeared in the series so far.

Via GameCenterOnline.

Sony bossman Jack Tretton says that it’s “absolutely conceivable” that company’s new motion controller will be compatible with the present library of games on PS3.

“I think our [motion] controller can be used with every game that’s on the system now,” he told CNBC, “and every game we’re working on.”

He also says that the new controller will be more “flexible and diverse” than the WiiMote.

“Personally, it’s very difficult for me to perceive God of War 3 being played with the Wii controller,” he said. “It’s a different experience that doesn’t lend itself to certain types of games.”

Via Joystiq.

Rumor has it that Sony plans to reveal “non-retail” games and apps for PSP Go at Games Con in August.

The apps will run anywhere from $2 to $6 and free applications will be made available as well.

Sources close to D’toid say file sizes are limited to 100 Mb, and “non-game apps” and 2D titles are encouraged and to be made available to the public during Q4.

Again, file this as a rumor until more is revealed.

Hit the link for more.

A Steam leak has revealed that Bethesda titles The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth will land on the service soon.

Gamer Limit reports that an ad popped up with links to the three games.

Morrowind and Oblivion will be the Game of the Year editions, and Oblivion’s  downloadable content will be made available for it.

The offending ad has since been removed, but you can still view it here.

More through the link.

With Xbox 360 becoming a home entertainment system that offers not only games, but Netflix and soon Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm, Shane Kim wants to assure gamers that the console is still all about games.

“It happens to be a great video game console,” Kim told Kotaku. “That’s not going away. We want to make people understand that we’re not leaving the gaming space.

“I definitely think that we can expand off that base, and that gaming is still going to be an important part of entertainment.”

Bill Gates previously stated that the creation of Xbox was so the company could strategically “get into the living room.”

More through the link.

New video for Tales of Vesperia arrived online today.

It’s after the break, and is rather pretty with inspiring music.

Game’s out for 360 June 26 in the UK.

Via Gamespot.

More »

A video for Metal Gear Arcade is posted after the break.

Game features 5.1 surround sound, the cabinet has a special controller allowing separate movement and viewpoint controls, 3D goggles, and the ability to participate in 16-player matches against other players or CPU opponents.

It’s due to arrive in Japanese arcades this year.

More »

The 24-hour racing event, Le Mans, will be included in Forza Motorsport 3 along with a new “multi-class racing mode”, according to Microsoft.

It was revealed during the 77th Le Mans competition that Le Sarthe and Bugatti circuits will be present in-game.

Here are some of the cars in the line-up:

• Audi, #2 Audi Sport North America R10 TDI
• Audi, #2 FSI Champion Racing R8
• Bentley, #7 Team Bentley Speed 8
• BMW, #15 BMW Motorsport V12 LMR
• Cadillac, #6 Team Cadillac Northstar LMP-02
• Ferrari, #30 MOMO Doran Racing F333 SP
• Peugeot, #8 Peugeot Sport 908
• Peugeot, #3 Peugeot Talbot Sport 905 EVO 1C
• Porsche, #17 Racing Porsche AG 962c
• Toyota, #3 Toyota Motorsports GT-ONE TS020
• Audi, #8 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R10 TDI
• Ferrari, #12 Risi Competizione F333 SP

Thanks, CVG.

Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov and founding partner Henk Rogers were at E3 last week, and while having a bit of a chat with Kotaku about the future of the classic puzzler, Rogers revealed that he would like to see the title become more than just a game.

The latest iteration of the series is a six-person multiplayer experience being tested in Korea, using the tried-and-true formula along with new attack and defense items.

“That’s an interesting evolution of Tetris,” Rogers told the site “The future is a country that has 48 million people living in it and the biggest casual gaming site in the country has 24 million registered users. That country is Korea. That’s what’s going to happen in the rest of the world.

“We are going to turn Tetris into the first real virtual sport. Sports like baseball and football were created at a time when our future was a lifetime of physical activities and physical fitness. But now that’s not as important, it’s more about mental fitness today.

“Tetris is a virtual sport that exercises the mind. That is the definition of a virtual sport.”

More through the link.

Michael Pachter says that Nintendo will slash the price for Wii later this year in order for the company to meet its shipment target.

“Wii supply has finally exceeded demand, so we expect hardware sales to show year-over-year decreases for the first half of 2009,” he said in a research note.

“In order to hit its full-year Wii shipment forecast, we expect Nintendo to cut the price of the Wii before [the] holiday, likely to $199.99.”

Pachter also believes that a PS3 price cut is still coming,  which will lead Microsoft to counter with its own special deal.

“In the second half of the year, we expect Sony to cut price for the PS3, and if the cut is deep enough, we expect Microsoft to respond (either with bundles or with a price cut of its own, even as Microsoft just introduced a Xbox 360 Elite bundle with free games Halo 3 and Fable II).”

More over on Edge.

Ubisoft has released a greatest hits bit of DLC for HAWX called “Supremacy”.

It will run you $9.99  (800 MS Points) and includes all of the planes released so far:

• FB-22
• Rafale M
• Saab-37 Viggen
• Mirage 2000N
• Mirage 4000
• RF-15 Peak Eagle
• A-12 Avenger II
• F-4E Phantom II
• F-111F Aardvark
• SR-71
• Su-39
• F-18 HARV
• Mig-31 Foxhound
• Mig-MFI
• Mig-23 Flogger
• XA-20 Razorback

It’s out now on PS3 and Xbox 360.

Via Joystiq.

Direct2Drive is offering the original Call of Juarez for free as a pre-order incentive for Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood on PC.

Pre-orders also come with some extra in-game cash.

Game’s out July 3 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Via BigDownload.

Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada has stated that “forcibly making” a game to work worldwide degrades the quality, and since Square and Eidos are both familiar with its own area, it could be a good combination.

During an interview with Gamasutra, Wada explained why it would be a better idea for certain IPs to have a more region specific focus.

“We’re not considering that one certain title is going to be sold on a worldwide basis in all of the territories…because if we tried to forcibly make a certain title work worldwide, and if that’s going to be degrading the quality, we don’t want to go down that path,” he said.

“But rather than that, even if that certain title only ever worked for two out of the three major territories, but still it is going to be selling deeply and thoroughly, then I believe that is going to be the better path to take.

“And in order for that to happen, there needs to be a deep-rooted understanding of the culture of the particular culture of the particular country — and Eidos and Square Enix both have 20 years of history that’s residing in that particular country, so we are native in that particular area that we grew up in.”

More through the link.

In just seven weeks, Sony’s Free Realms can lay claim to 3 million users.

On May 27, the MMO already had 2 million, so in the span of 2 weeks, it jumped another million.

“SOE worked diligently over the past four years to ensure that Free Realms would take the online space by storm,” said John Smedley, president of SOE.

“We are pleased to be able to provide such a vast, in-depth and, most importantly, fun world to an average of 500,000 new gamers per week.”

Wow. Just wow.

Thanks, GI.biz.