Monthly Archives: June 2009

Speaking with VG247 at E3 this week, Infinity Ward’s Mark Rubin said that Modern Warfare 2 leaves the Xbox 360 winded and gasping for breath. At this point, he noted, it’s all about finding little tricks to squeeze more power out of the aging machine.

“We always push to the upper limits,” he said. “It’s just a matter of working around them at this point.

“Having to squeeze more blood from that stone. We added texture streaming now so that we can have a much bigger world, and we can stream in super high detail textures for the area close in proximity to you. And the rendering engine has been redone.”

To be frank, if the Xbox was sweating, we couldn’t tell when we saw it in LA yesterday. Modern Warfare 2 looks amazing. Game’s out in November. We never knew we had this much drool.

According to this IGN report, Microsoft has “finished it’s portfolio” of Xbox Originals and will stop the Live feature after the next, unannounced release.

Giant black box with 15-tonne power supply: we salute you.

Thanks, CVG.

Both Game and GameStation are offering pre-orders on PSP Go for £230.

The revamp is to cost $250 in the US and €250 on “the mainland”.

It’s out October 1.

Thanks, PocketGamer.

Kazunori Yamauchi has told Eurogamer that GT5 is “at a point we can release it any time we want”.

“I want to release it as fast as I can,” the developer said, talking at E3 this week, “but GT5 for us, when you talk about its status, it’s at a point we can release it any time we want, but we can always keep working on it. It’s very important for us to make sure everything is done perfectly and everything is done in detail.”

First trailer here. The game was shown for the first time in Sony’s E3 conference this week.

The E3 media torrent continues this morning with the first video of 460 and PC Fallout 3 DLC Point Lookout. After the break.

It’s out on June 23. If you’re after something that allows you to shoot mutants in a swamp, you’re in the right place.

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Sony’s released the first Gran Turismo 5 video, as you can see after the break. It’s the footage shown in the firm’s E3 press conference earlier this week.

You may as well be looking at video of cars. It’s a bit ridiculous.

No date.

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SCEE just released incredible screens of Ueda’s The Last Guardian, nee Project Trico.

After the break.

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Just one second, there. This looks a bit awesome. Kojima announced Castlevania: Lords of Shadow at the Konami press conference at E3 last night, and first screens and video show something you should be watching. To say the least.

The shots are after the break. Watch the video in HD here. It’s out in 2010 for PS3 and 360.

Thanks, Blerk.

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The first image of the newly-announced Metal Gear Arcade’s been released – get it from Kotaku.

Kojima said in the Konami press conference at E3 last night that the game uses “3D goggles”.

Sensational. Hit the link for more.

IGN’s posted up three new movies of God of War III, shot off-screen at E3. Get them after the break.

The title will be out next year, and looks and “the business,” by anyone’s standards.

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Gamersyde’s posted 10 minutes of capture from Just Cause 2.

We can’t get it to load, for some reason. E3′s broken the internet. We’re assured it’s funny, though, so give it a waz.

Thanks, Blerk.

Here it is, then. You’ll find the first movie of Just Add Water’s Gravity Crash after the break.

The PSN retro shooter was announced in the Sony conference on Tuesday, and is looking fine and dandy on this form.

It’s out in the third or fourth quarter. More detail here.

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Xbox boss Shane Kim has told Venturebeat that Xbox 360 will be on the market until 2015.

“We firmly believe that the Xbox 360 has a life cycle through 2015 (10 years after the launch),” he said, talking at E3 this week.

“Project Natal is a great innovation. It will work with every Xbox 360 sold. It’s not about pushing more pixels on the screen. It’s about how to break down barriers that stop people from playing games.”

Looks as though Ubisoft’s developing games for machines that don’t exist.

We linked to that interview yesterday, but do read it if you haven’t yet.

Get the first movie of WipEout HD upgrade pack Fury after the break.

The DLC will include eight new tracks, 13 new ship models and three new game modes.

No date as yet.

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Gamespot’s posted a gameplay video from Mass Effect 2, showing Herr Shepard “interrogating” a subject.

It doesn’t end well. The clip shows selecting between conversation choices, cut-scenes and so on.

It’s out early next year.

This isn’t some sort of Guinness partnership, unfortunately. Nintendo said today it will launch a black Wii in Japan on August 1 for ¥25,000 (US$260).

There’s a range of peripherals for it, as well as the main box.

Get more from Kotaku.

Halo: Reach will launch next autumn, Bungie said at E3 yesterday, refining the “2010″ date given in the Microsoft press conference on Monday.

“We don’t have an actual firm date for it yet, but I don’t anticipate it being day and date with the game,” one Bungie staffer told Gamespot.

“I can say you will need the Halo 3: ODST disc to access the beta when it does become available. I can confirm that that beta will go live sometime between the release of Halo 3: ODST on September 22nd and the release of Halo: Reach next fall.”

The title is the next “big Halo game,” Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg told us last night.

Peter Molyneux has been promoted to creative director of European studios at Microsoft Games Studios.

He will continue to oversee Lionhead, along with extending his duties as creative director of Rare and other external projects.

Molyneux assumed the role in March, and said that the new position entails helping “internal and external talent realize their creative visions,” according to GI.biz.

“What you’re not going to see is ten Peter Molyneux games,” he said. “The value of this role is for someone like myself going in and making those little tiny lights of an idea shine as brightly as possible and ensuring everybody within the organization clearly understands why we’re making those titles, the purpose of those titles and their importance to Microsoft overall.

“All I’m going to be doing is making sure those lights are as bright as possible. People at Rare and other European studios are super, super bright and creative people and I’ll learn as much about design from them as they would from me.”

Congratulations, Peter.

More through the link.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for Wii is about primal terror, said Konami during its E3 event.

It will focus on the feeling of “being alone and not knowing where you are” and will go back to the beginning of the series with Harry Mason looking for his daughter in the town of Silent Hill.

There are no loads screens in the game and puzzles focus on physical interaction. A cellphone replaces the HUD and phone numbers in the environment allow you to call them to get more of the story. The phone is controlled by the Wiimote and held just like one, and you can use the camera phone to take pictures which will then reveal clues.

The elements of surprise and suspense are the largest contributing factors to the game, and none of the occurrences are “canned or scripted” as neither can be anticipated. This is because the game monitors your behaviors and decisions and adjusts the game accordingly so that it never plays the same way twice.

Small humanoid monsters dog your moves throughout the game, and the AI ensures that they will gang up and flank you. These things try to keep you from from finding your daughter and will try and smother you any chance they get, so use light often to deter them because they hate it.

It’s out later this year for PSP, PS2 and Wii.

Thanks again, IGN.

When Konami wasn’t announcing a Metal Gear game or ones based on blood soaked horror flicks, the company talked Revolution at it’s E3 event. Karaoke Revolution and Dance Dance Revolution to be specific.

Karaoke Revolution, slated for PS3, Wii and Xbox 360, has a newly developed singing interface with over 50 songs and music videos. It also features a new character creator with facial manipulation, body shaping, and the ability to build your own venues.

Developed by Blitz, the game allows up to 16 players to get together and take each on and it’s Vision Camera and EyeToy compatible. And for those who get bored easily – no worries. Weekly downloads will be forthcoming.

Dance Dance Revolution has over 60 tracks and include such artists as Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, and Earth Wind and Fire and is new for PS2. The Wii version can use your Mii on dancers and incorporates the Wii Balance Board.

You learn steps with the arrows and the Wiimote and nunchuck are part of the experience as you will punch along with scrolling icons.

Don’t have a Wii Board? That’s ok, it is not a necessity as you can play the game without it.

Thanks, IGN.