Monthly Archives: July 2009

Obsidian has included sex-scenes to its upcoming RPG Alpha Protocol, and producer Nathan Davis promises that the horizontal bits are “satisfying” but “tasteful” with no gameplay elements involved – a la God of War.

“It’s tasteful,” Davis told Videogamer. “We do some things with our cinematics, too. It isn’t just like a hand up on a thing! We cut around it a little bit. It’s an American game! What can I say? There are limits to what we can do there.

“I’ve seen a few of the cinematics for those and it ends up being satisfying without being… you know… over… you know?

“No God of War sex scenes! We don’t have that.”

Players will be able to have numerous partners with NPCs, along with female soldier Sie and handler Mina – which will impact the game’s various endings.

The rate things are going, Link will be able to cop a feel with Zelda by 2025.

More through the link.

Thanks, ShiroGamer.

Team Ninja’s Yosuke Hayashi has said in an interview that Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is running off of a hybrid engine developed for Ninja Gaiden 2 as well as one created for the original Sigma on PS3.

Reasoning? It’s apparently more difficult to port from Xbox 360 onto PS3, he said, thus the creation of the engine.

“In terms of having to have to basically split the memory going from Xbox 360 to PS3, [this] to us was a rather easier thing to do because it wasn’t like taking that one bucket full of memory and then having to have to figure out how to split it so that it goes appropriately into each slot that PS3 is basically providing us,” he told Gamasutra.

“We kind of had a way, or formula, that was already almost figured out by the time we knew that we we’re going to move on to PS3, and it was an easier method for us, because we had both the engines that we had worked on for the previous Sigma as well as Ninja Gaiden 2.

As a result, Hayashi says that a multiplatform engine that covers both the Xbox 360 and PS3 is now available to Team Ninja for future titles.

“It’s not just a port of 2 to PS3. It’s not just something that we’re taking and cutting and pasting,” he added. “We’re trying to incorporate all these different elements that we’ve created so far in the series and put it all into one package.”

More through the link.

The EU PS Blog just posted the European PSN update for the week – get it here.

Crystal Defenders and Shatter are the two full games, and there’s a load of add-on stuff this week in the form of the WipEout HD Fury pack, the Killzone 2 Napalm & Cordite Pack, some content for Overlord II and more.

Go. Spend. Live long and prosper.

The first proper gameplay video of Pixeljunk Shooter’s appeared from Comic Con. Watch it after the break.

You fly around and shoot stuff. Looks puzzley. Also, no-brainer.

Suck, see.

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Microsoft has announced Halo Waypoint, a new destination for Halo fans on Xbox Live that is expected to launch in the fall.

It will provide players with the latest in Halo news and activities, as well as contain podcasts, screens, trailers and other video footage.

According to the press release, it will also “provide a new challenge for Halo gamers with a career system and player rankings tied to both in-game and out-of-game accomplishments related to Halo.”

Awesome. All this was hidden away in the press release announcing Halo Legends and the 343 bits. The whole this is below the jump, with Halo Waypoint highlighted for you.

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The official EU PlayStation website has been updated with new Trophy features.

According to the UK end, the update has enhanced all Trophy information to allow users to view all they have earned, compare them with friends and check on the leaderboards.

You can sign up through here, as well as get more information on the update and view the “compare cards”.

Via JustVideogames.

Namco Bandai has listed the games they’ll be showing off at Comic-Con, starting tomorrow.

Here’s the lineup:

• Dragon Ball: Raging Blast (Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3)
• Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo (Wii)
• Katamari Forever (PLAYSTATION 3)
• NARUTO Shippuden: Legends: Akatsuki Rising (PSP)
• SOULCALIBUR: Broken Destiny (PSP)
• TEKKEN 6 (Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3)
• We Cheer 2 (Wii)
• ACTIVE LIFE: Extreme Challenge (Wii)
• Dead to Rights: Retribution (Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3)
• Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked (Wii)
• Invincible Tiger: The Legend of Han Tao (Xbox LIVE Arcade, PlayStation Network)
• Magnacarta 2 (Xbox 360)

A Tekken 6 tournament will also be held July 23-26 and sign-ups start daily at 10 :00am.

Thanks, GamingBits.

Paramount has announced that Star Trek: D-A-C will arrive on PSN later this summer.

Inspired by the movie revamp by LOST creator JJ Abrams, D-A-C is a multiplayer top-down space shooter and the PS3 version will contain a new and exclusive ship class and updated features.

It’s already on Xbox 360 through XBL, and is expected to arrive on PC later this year.

More through the press release.

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SAW co-creator James Wan is to direct a film based on the Castlevania games.

“I’m very fresh on this project, so its early stages and I’m still trying to work things out, but the producers love my vision for it,” he told Bloody Disgusting.

“I’ll be working on the script with a writer to give it a new spin, different to the previous versions. This will have my stamp on it which Konami is very excited about.”

No date. Thanks, EG.

The first production images of the previously announced Assassin’s Creed II live action movies can be seen on the LA Times and IGN.

The three short films, each running at 10-15 minutes are being shot at Ubisoft’s Hybride Technologies – the special effects house that worked on Spy Kids and 300. Ubi bought the outfit last year.

Hit the links for more. The films prequel Assassin’s Creed II, out later this year.

Sony and DC Comics are to publish a comic based on the Free Realms MMO

WildStorm will handle the distribution and J.S. Lewis, author of the Grey Griffins children’s series, will pen it.

First issue is expected July 29, and includes the “Spider Bite Sword” which is a free in-game item.

A preview of the comic and more info can be retrieved through MMORPG.

EA said today that Battlefield 1943 is the fastest-selling day one and week one Live title of all time. Bonzer.

The game is also the quickest-selling day one and week one PSN game in North America.

Between the two versions, the DICE shooter’s moved over 600,000 units since its launch on July 8.

PR here.

Guerrilla’s Seb Downie’s confirmed on the EU PS Blog that the developer’s about to take a break from Killzone 2 work.

“Right now we’re going to take a step back from Killzone 2,” he said.

“We’ve been working non-stop since the disc version was released on patches, DLC and http://www.killzone.com updates, so need some time to reflect on what is actually out there.”

A third map pack, Napalm & Cordite, releases for the shooter today.

There’s a shot and some details of the upcoming Band Hero DS drumming peripheral on Kotaku.

It’s a rubber sheath with drum pads on it, basically.

The game will allow four players to team up with the DSes and play drums, bass, vocals and guitar.

The piece constantly stresses this is a DS Lite thing. No mention of DSi anywhere.

No date.

Dragon Quest IX’s at the top of the Japanese chart for the second week in a row. No one could ever have seen it coming.

The DS RPG managed 613,000 copies in week two, down from 2.3 million units in its debut week.

More on GI. Data for the week ending July 19.

1. Dragon Quest IX: Defenders of the Starry Sky (NDS)
2. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 6 (PS3)
3. Wii Sports Resort 10 (Wii)
4. Tomodachi Collection (Friend Collection) (NDS)
5. Pro Yakyuu Spirits 6 (PS2)
6. Ys I and II Chronicles (PSP)
7. Boku no Natsuyasumi 4 (My Summer Vacation 4): Youth Detective Group in Seto – Me and the Secret Map (PSP)
8. Hatsune Miku Project Diva (PSP)
9. Monster Hunter Portable 2 G Best (PSP)
10. Pokemon Platinum (NDS)

The Behemoth’s taken the wraps off Game #3, as you can see on Gamespot.

The nutshell: “Basically, the game allows a number of players to take part in competitive scenarios that control like a typical 2D platformer, but with all the eccentricity and charm The Behemoth is known for.”

There’s a gameplay video after the break. No platforms. It’s out in 2010. Thanks, Kotaku.

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Disney’s developing a string of games based on Tim Burton’s upcoming movie adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.

They’re only for Wii, DS and PC, apparently.

More on EG.

Ubisoft’s Michael de Plater has told Videogamer that an Endwar sequel is definitely in the works.

“Giving more attention to the single-player is straightforward to address and will make the game a lot of fun,” said the exec.

“Changing the way the combat chain works, the paper, scissors, rock, and adding the differentiation between the three factions, again it’s not something that’s even necessarily hard to do; it’s something that we chose not to do with the accessibility.”

Ubi Shanghai’s doing it again. More through there.

Sony and Universal have inked a deal that’ll see the latter’s music heading to SingStar.

The following will be added to the SingStore in August as a result:

• If I Could Turn Back Time – Cher
• Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going To Be A Long Long Time) – Elton John
• Love Machine – Girls Aloud
• I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor
• The Reason – Hoobastank
• Ruby – Kaiser Chiefs
• Everybody’s Changing – Keane
• Celebration – Kool And The Gang
• Get It Shawty – Lloyd
• Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Ace Of Spades – Motorhead
• Pass The Dutchie – Musical Youth
• Come As You Are – Nirvana
• Crazy – Patsy Cline
• Laura – Scissor Sisters
• Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol
• Everybody Wants To Rule The World – Tears For Fears
• Lovefool – The Cardigans
• Somebody Told Me – The Killers
• Don’t Stand So Close To Me – The Police
• I Think We’re Alone Now – Tiffany

PR after the break.

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2K put proper dates on Gearbox’s Borderlands, as reported by Gamespot.

The PC, PS3, and 360 actioner will launch on October 20 in NA and October 23 in the UK, mainland Europe, Australia, and “other territories”.

2K boss Christoph Hartmann thinks he’s onto a winner, even in the Christmas crush.

“I don’t think we have to be afraid of competition or shy of what’s out there,” he said.

“I think this holiday season is a little bit lighter in triple-A games than last year.”

More through the link.