Monthly Archives: June 2009

Vast bits of character customization for APB was shown to GameTrailers, and we have the video posted after the break.

The amount of detail you can create for clothing, tats, cars, and body parts is absolutely amazing.

We really want to play this come early 2010.

Go watch.

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A rumor that Cryptic is secretly working on a Neverwinter Nights MMO has been reported by Variety.

According to the site’s sources, when Atari purchased the studio last year an unannounced MMO was in the works alongside of Champions Online and Star Trek, which turns out is a NWN game.

Extra details are unavailable, but it is being speculated that this was the “primary reason” Atari bought Cryptic in the first place.

Don’t get excited or angry until any of this is confirmed.

More through the link.

Valkyria Chronicles saw a 400 percent increase in sales during April and which almost equals to the amount of  units sold during its November 2008 debut, reports the US Sega Blog.

The burning hot sales can be attributed to community contests, DLC and the temporary price drop to $30.

According to the blog:

“To be able to say that sales more than quadrupled almost six months after a game’s launch is a feat that few games can ever boast – and Valkyria Chronicles, with the amazing help of all of your support, can now do so wholly.”

More through the link.

Via Joystiq.

Turbine has announced that Dungeons & Dragons Online will go free-to-play this summer.

With Eberron Unlimited (DDO Unlimited) players can download and play for free with the ability to purchase additional content and items to enhance experience, or join the VIP program which has unlimited access to all premium content plus exclusive benefits for a monthly fee.

“Historically, players of free online games were forced to sacrifice the quality of their experience,” said Turbine president and CEO Jim Crowley. “Those days are over. The new DDO Unlimited is the most innovative, exciting and graphically rich MMO to ever hit the free-to-play market and it changes the very nature of what it means to be free-to-play.”

To find out what the new price packages are, read on after the break.
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Those that pre-order The Beatles: Rock Band through GameStop will receive three additional songs for free as well as the unlock code for the game’s photo book album.

It’s assumed that the tracks will later be available as part of the promised DLC, since the order page does not go into specifics.

Abbey Road will be released as DLC along with the Xbox 360 exclusive “All You Need is Love”.

Thanks, D’toid.

The Monster Hunter Freedom Unite PSP bundle for Europe has been screened.

Well, the box at least.

Inside that pretty box though, is a Mystic Silver PSP-3000, a carry-pouch, screen wipe, branded skin cover, the game, and a dragon pendant.

Expect it to land in stores on June 26.

SCEE president Andrew House has stated that neither price point for PSP Go will pose an issue with consumers.

“If it’s cheaper would we sell more? The answer would probably be yes,” said the boss.

“I think on PlayStation 3, and the potential with an extension of PSP, we’ve got an opportunity to go even further on that. The overall value proposition which, by the way, European consumers get very, very well, I don’t think they are as price driven as other markets.

“So the overall value proposition is really strong and trends towards that lifecycle. And then you’ve got for the first time a networked community for the business and the strength that implies. That’s a huge factor in retaining people for a longer lifecycle with the product they have, because now they’ve bought into not just a packaged media relationship with games, but they’re bought into a community that they’re sharing with people and they’re interacting with.”

In the US, the handheld will retail for $249 and in Europe for 249 Euros ($350).

More over on GI.biz.

Ubisoft sat down with Goichi Suda during E3 and talked to him about Grasshopper Manufacture’s No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle.

During the chat, Suda 51 discussed Travis Touchdown’s maturity, character interaction with players, the themes of life and death in the game, and how setting limits is something he avoided when creating the sequel.

“You don’t need to put any limits when it comes to raw expression,” he said. “Limiting expression is just something set up by people to please other people.

“So we didn’t do anything like that for No More Heroes 2.”

You can watch the full interview through here.

Zeno Clash may soon land on Xbox Live once it gets a publisher, according to a report from D’toid.

ACE co-founder Carlos Bordeu has said the team, is close to landing a deal, and the game will contain extra content once it is launched.

“We’ve been having conversations about a possible XBLA version of the game and we’re currently talking with a publisher,” said Bordeu. “But we still haven’t closed that yet. But it’s something we’d really like to do.”

You can get it on Steam for the time being.

More through the link.

Good news European Xbox 360 owners. The North American version of Ghostbusters will not be region locked.

This was confirmed by Atrai to Destructoid earlier today.

Game’s out Jun 16, and now you won’t have to wait.

Import away pals!

Microsoft Surface was on display at E3, and Ubisoft’s Scott Cushing demonstrated RUSE on the touch screen tabletop to BBC.

The multiplayer WWII strategy game came to life on the interactive surface, and Cushing showed how closely the 30-inch diagonal display could zoom in on terrain and ground troops and how easy it was to pick different quadrants for strategic maneuvering.

It’s really awesome, to be honest.

Video is after the break.

Thanks, G1GAHURTZ.

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Nintendo has sent over a list of its downloads for the week, and as promised at E3, Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again is now available for DSi.

WiiWare gets two games this week and Virtual Console gets a Super NES game from KOEI.

Here’s the list:

• Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! – DSi (800 DSi Points)
• Swords & Soldiers – WiiWare (1,000 Points)
• Fish’em All! – WiiWare (800 points)
• Genghis Khan II: Clan of the Gray Wolf – Virtual Console (800 Points)

Descriptions for each are posted after the break.

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The Guitar Hero Smash Hits demo is now available to all Xbox Live users, not just those with Gold accounts.

“Rock and Roll All Night” by KISS, “Take Me Out” by Franz Ferdinand and “Woman” by Wolfmother” are the tracks you can try out using bass, drums, guitar and vocals.

Full game is out for PS2, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 on June 16.

Thanks, Shack.

The Steam group L4D2 Boycott (NO-L4D2) has grown from 11,002 members to 20,576 over the weekend.

Boycotters are asking that Valve not release the game until certain things are addressed with the original.

You can read the full manifesto through the link.

Infinity Ward’s Vince Zampella has said that Modern Warfare 2 will focus more on entertainment that realism.

“We go for authenticity not realism,” Zampella told Official PlayStation Magazine. “We’re not making a sim, we’re making entertainment. We want it to look real like an action movie.

“You see a guy in an action movie, what he does is a little over the top. It makes for a great movie.”

That should explain why you will be using a futuristic gun with lasers on a tripod that detects and shoot enemies.

Via CVG.

One Life Left is back, with the first episode of season five debuting on London’s Resonance FM last night.

Hosts Ste Curran, Simon Byron and Ann Scantlebury chatted with writer Jon Blyth, their special guest.

“Series five is literally our best series ever,” said Byron. “In terms of the number after ‘series’. We’ve big plans for the show over the coming weeks, none of which we’ll action.”

You can get the podcast through iTunes or the official site.

Press release below.

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Planned career changes for Warhammer Online will not be included in patch 1.3, producer Adam Gershowitz has confirmed.

Some of the proposed balancing changes have proven a little controversial, so Mythic will instead focus on the Land of the Dead zone.

Apparently, there was an outcry in the community over changes specifically aimed at stat factors and healing effectiveness for the Warrior Priest and Disciple careers.

Plans to re-open character balance testing after the patch’s release will be implemented so the developers can work with the community on the changes.

More over at IncGamers.

Modern Warfare 2 has a chance to top every other game in the market when it’s released later this year, Activision CEO Mike Griffith told IndustryGamers at E3 last week.

“We fully expect Modern Warfare 2 to be one of, if not the largest title in the industry this year, he said.

“When you look at when Modern Warfare 1 was launched in 2007, it had a substantial jump in consumers engaged in the Call of Duty franchise. World at War, which was launched in Holiday 2008, saw that more than a fifth of its purchasers were first time users of the Call of Duty franchise.

“So all those new purchasers are ready for the Modern Warfare 2 experience because they haven’t historically been in the franchise.”

The game’s out in November. If what we’ve been told is anything to go by, Mike may well have a point.

App Store games are not currently rated, but the ESRB is hoping that will change.

“We’ve been down this road before,” said CEO Michael Gallagher. “We know how this goes and it’s wise for [Apple] to make steps in that direction so that this is addressed up front and there is an environment that is hospitable to children and families.

“It would be wise to do that, we would welcome the opportunity to work with them. We are reaching out to encourage that.”

More over on Kotaku.

Atomic Games is still touting Six Days in Fallujah to publishers.

While the game was dropped by Konami back in April, publicity surrounding the title has never waned.

“We have a lot of people who are interested in the project… But I’ll feel better when we sign something and the checks start coming,” said company president Peter Tamte to Newsweek.

He admitted, however, that he should have reached out to families of soldiers killed in action during the Fallujah surge, and in hindsight felt Atomic should have given more thought to the feelings of those most touched by the event.

More through the link.

Via Kotaku.