Monthly Archives: July 2009

CD Projekt has announced The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Director’s Cut, which is the North American release of the nudie European version.

It will be made available as a free patch for Enhanced Edition owners via Direct2Drive, Impulse, Steam, TheWitcher.com and will include the recently released 1.5 patch.

No details on a release date just yet, but it’s a good thing we didn’t waste our money on the flesh filled import in the beginning then.

Polyphony Digital’s US Producers, Chris Hinojosa Miranda and Taku Imasaki, answered some questions submitted by readers regarding Gran Turismo PSP over on the US PS Blog.

While nothing earth-shattering was revealed, they did see fit to answer a few such as whether any DLC would be released for the game, if cars could be damaged, etc.

As far as DLC is concerned, the answer is no. Same with damage.

“We’re planning on having 800+ cars right out of the box, which is pretty much a lifetime’s worth of racing (I’m still unlocking cars from GT4),” stated Polyphony. “With that sort of breadth and reach of options, having DLC would be like tossing water into the ocean.

“Damage? No. 800+ cars, 35 tracks, on-the-go awesomeness, and a lifetime’s worth of racing? Yes.”

There’s a few others through the link there, but like we said, nothing too earth-shattering and stuff you probably already know about.

Sidhe Interactive has released the first video for Shatter, its downloadable game for PSN, and it’s posted over on Gamespot.

The brick-breaking game was inspired by classics like Arkanoid and Breakout and incorporates physics-based effects, boss battles, and a 3D visual style.

Bonus, Boss Rush, and Standard gameplay modes are to be included along with Trophy support and leaderboards.

It’s expected to be released July 23.

Bethesda bossman Pete Hines has said that id will not be creating a new IP for the firm any time soon, as it has its own projects in the fryer for the moment.

The fact that id has hired a third team has more to do with current titles in development and nothing to do with creating something for Bethesda.

“id has plenty of their own IP to keep themselves busy,” said Hines told GI.biz. “It was their desire to build to three teams and bring the development of their IP in-house. So we’ll help them build up to the three full teams a little faster, now that they have additional resources, and they’ll work on Rage and Doom 4 and whatever else it is they’d like to do.

“But with Quake, Doom, Wolfenstein, and Rage, they already have more IP than they have teams to work on them. So right now creating new IP or having them work on our Bethesda IP isn’t even being considered.

“We do have a strong portfolio with games like Oblivion and Fallout, and the folks at Bethesda Game Studios will continue to work on those, but these games aren’t the same kinds of games that id makes. So there’s room for them all.”

More through the link.

Rebellion has revealed that it owns the rights to several Vivendi titles that were not developed by the firm.

According to CEO Jason Kingsley: Evil Genius, Ground Control, Empire Earth, and Lords of the Realm/Lords of Magic are now exclusively owned by the company with the rights to release new titles based on the franchises.

Each title was recently released on the GoG website under the Rebellion label.

Thanks, BigDownload.

Fujisoft, makers of the Everyone’s Theater Wii service over in Japan, announced that loads of Warner movies are to be made available for digital rental on Wii.

Fifty-four movies will land on the service starting tomorrow for 300 WiiPoints and users can watch the film for 48 hours.

Some of the movies included are: Batman Begins, Contact, Last Samurai, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Goonies, Free Willy and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

More are to follow with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button arriving simultaneously with the Japanese DVD and Blu-ray release.

More over on IGN.

FIFA 10 has been given an official release date by EA.

Come October 2, the game will be made available internationally for DS, PSP, PC, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 and mobile.

Huzzah!

More over on WorthPlaying.

Looks like Halo 3 is still the top dog over on Xbox Live. Call of Duty: World at War is not doing too shabby though, as it’s still number two.

Battlefield 1943 is the winner over on the Arcade side, as everyone knew it would be. Currently, the kill status to open the Coral Sea map pack has XBL members pulling in 41087976 kills and PS3 users accumulating 21474448 notches on their belts

Top Live Titles

1. Halo 3
2. Call of Duty: WaW
3. Call of Duty 4
4. Gears of War 2
5. Battlefield 1943
6. GTA IV
7. FIFA 09
8. Left 4 Dead
9. UFC 2009 Undisputed
10. Fallout 3

Top Arcade Titles

1. Battlefield 1943
2. N+
3. Worms 2: Armageddon
4. Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers
5. Castle Crashers
6. UNO
7. HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT
8. Sonic The Hedgehog 3
9. THE KING OF FIGHTERS’98 ULTIMATE MATCH
10. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 Classic Arcade

Original and community titles are listed after the break courtesy of the Major.

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Capcom Japan has released Resident Evil 4 for the iPhone.

Or it did – apparently the game was released on the App store but then pulled.

However, according to D’toid, AppBank grabbed it before it was removed and videoed it.

No word on why it was pulled, unless it was not supposed to be released yet.

More through the links.

Take-Two shares have fallen after yesterday’s announcement of the BioShock 2 delay into 2010.

During the day, stock in the company rose 1.6 percent, with after hours transactions bringing the stock down by 13.1 percent following the announcement.

Along with BioShock 2, Mafia II, Max Payne 3 and Red Dead Redemption will now be published in the company’s fiscal 2010 period, which starts in October of this year.

Currently stocks are at $8.12, down from down from $8.98 (-9.58 percent) during yesterday’s close, valuing the company at around USD 720 million. These figures are up from $7.80 which was reported earlier this morning.

Thanks, GI.biz.

Gamefly rental service has listed ModNation Racers on its website under PSP alongside the PS3 version.

According to the retailer, both games are slated for February 28 and considering Gamefly has been known to leak games in the past, it’s a distinct possibility that the PSP version and the date are both true.

Or, it could just be an intern screwing things up.

We’ll send a shout out to Sony and see if they respond.

Thanks, Siliconera.

According to Nintendo, American Club Nintendo members who have earned 300 or more Coins (six Wii game purchases) have been granted Gold status and will receive a special 2010 calendar.

Those who have accumulated 600 or more Coins are now Platinum and entitled to a members-only bonus which includes the following choice of prizes:

• Doc Louis’s Punch-Out!! — this downloadable WiiWare game is available exclusively to Club Nintendo Platinum members. In this special download, you’ll be able to fight one-on-one against your coach, Doc Louis.

• Mario Hat — a “true-to-life” replica of Mario’s signature headpiece. Nintendo notes that the hat “may be big for small children.”

Personally, we would prefer the hat. Would look great with our Sunday best.

More over on Joystiq.

Midway Newcastle has closed its doors, according to an online CV posted by a former staffer.

“Yeah, it looks like this is the end for Midway Newcastle,” the staffer replied to commentary. “The last chance that a lot of guys thought would come through, and were waiting on the outcome of, didn’t end up coming to fruition so unless something happens at the 11th hour it looks like the studio will be closing.

“I’ve just heard that Eutechnyx, another local studio has let 20 staff go so there will be a LOT of people going for the same jobs in the North East at the minute.”

Sad news, that.

Thanks, CVG.

There’s a five-minute, off-screen movie of Team 17′s Alien Breed Evolution after the break. We saw the frankly awesome-looking shooter today at Develop in Brighton.

The detail really doesn’t come over in this video, but it’s a joy to behold in the flesh. You’ll get a good idea of what’s going on in the footage.

Team17 boss Martyn Brown’s playing here. The game’s out later this year, on XBLA first, with a PSN version to follow.

We interviewed Martyn on camera, so we’ll get that up for you later on.

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Take-Two Interactive has revealed via new court records that Gearbox Software was the developer for Duke Begins.

The game was originally revealed via a court filing by 3D Realms.

Duke Begins was apparently part of an agreement between Take-Two and 3D Realms in 2007 with Gearbox handling development.

Since all the court hoopla, the title has been sidelined “for the time being” but has not been canceled entirely, according to the new court documents.

Loads more regarding this over on Shack.

A Halo Wars add-on called Historic Battles has been announced for July 21.

It will run you 800 MS Points ($10.00) and contains four new maps and four new Achievements.

Here’s the breakdown:

• Barrens (1v1 Map): Difficult terrain channels units into killing zones. The side that controls the Forerunner artifacts will have the advantage.
• Blood River (1v1 Map): Secure base locations on nearby cliffs overlook this naturally red-tinged river. The soldiers that fought over its two narrow crossings gave the river its name, which has since taken on a greater meaning.
• Glacial Ravine (3v3 Map): A snow-topped mountain range forms a natural barrier that cuts this region in half. Control of the two energy walls at the narrow central pass often determines the outcome of the battle, though clever use of the Sentinel Factories may play a role as well.
• Memorial Basin (2v2 Map): The high ground in the middle offers good cover for infantry, while the generally open terrain transforms organized battle plans into bloodbaths.

The four new Achievements worth a total of 100 points are:

• Tour Coming Through: Hot drop 50 squads to your Covenant Leader in a single game on Memorial Basin (30 points)
• Never Leave a Man Behind: Finish a game with 5000 net resources contributed to your teammates on Barrens (15 points)
• Drain Cleaner: Kill 20 enemy squads with a continuous Covenant Leader Power on Memorial Basin (30 points)
• Killjoy: Disrupt 5 active Leader Powers in a single game on Blood River (25 points)

Via The Major.

Cloud gaming service Gaikai is aiming for launch in early 2010 after a closed beta, creator David Perry told VG247 at Develop in Brighton today.

“If it all goes to plan we’re looking at the first quarter of 2010, and there’ll be a closed beta before that,” he said.

“As of last night we have 20,000 people signed up for our closed beta, with not a single dollar spent on marketing.”

Perry added: “I already have enough players for closed beta. What we’re actually going to do is set up the servers in California and we’re going to keep delivering players until we cripple the servers.

“Then we’re going to make some configuration changeswhen we see the data, then we’re going to invite more players.”

When he gets the “final server configuration” he’ll “launch across the US”.

Perry keynoted Develop this morning on the subject of Gaikai, MMOs and Acclaim.

Hit the break for 17 minutes of video of Perry talking solely about Gaikai. For ease, we’ve paraphrased our questions below so you can jump to the bits you fancy.

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EA has announced that DICE’s free-to-play shooter Battlefield Heroes has one million players signed up globally to play.

“The team is really proud to have hit one million registrations at this early stage,” said Ben Cousins, general manager, Battlefield Heroes Team. “Creating a character and gameplay experience that is totally yours is what sets this game apart – your hero can be anything from a bazooka-toting pirate, a grenade-throwing ninja or even a mime assassin.”

It just launched today so if you want to try it out, head on over here to get in on the fun.

Press release is through the jump.

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Eidos has filed a trademark for Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days.

Filed on July 8, it adds to Eidos bossman Ian Livingstone’s comment that the game is slated for a September release.

More over on Eurogamer, and you can view the trademark here.

SNK has announced via its King of Fighters XII Facebook page that the game will be released in North America on July 28.

That’s two days ahead of the Japanese date.

Find out more through the link.