Monthly Archives: July 2009

Cliff Bleszinski’s told Develop that we may be about to see something of a stylistic departure from what we’ve come to expect from Gears of War.

“If you look at Gears of War 2 we actually tried to get away from it a little bit by doing things like letting the colours breathe and come through a little bit more,” said the superstar developer in this interview.

“Stylistically though, I’d love to play in a different field in the near future in regards to what your typical expectation of a Gears of War game actually is.”

Don’t go too mental, Cliff. He doesn’t add any more detail, but it doesn’t sound as though you’re going to have to wait too long to find out what he’s working on. We hope.

Cliff Bleszinski’s shocked by the fact id sold to Zenimax. We know, because he told Develop so.

My mind is blown. id was always the studio I had my eyes on in the early days as far as wondering if we could be as good as them if not better. 

When we had Unreal Tournament they had Quake 3 which is one of those legendary showdowns between two games. To see this happen to the id guys just blows my mind.

To see the old standbys go through these kinds of changes – like with 3D Realms closing up Duke Nukem – it’s really shocking. We all came from the same mould from the shareware days; these studios have been around forever, and to see them acquired like that is a surprise.

I think in the long term it will probably be a good thing for id. It will add stability, it will help them leverage their properties more; but in the meantime it’s so surreal. As they say, the one constant is change.

“Good thing for id” is probably the thing to take away from that. There’s a full interview through the link.

After a brief delay, the Dawn of War II There is Only War beta is now up, giving players access to the game’s map editor.

There’s a heap of new content too. Hit the link for details.

After the break. Poor old Peter Molyneux. He wanted to make groundbreaking game technology. Bet he never saw this coming.

Happy Friday.

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2K Games has released its Huge Game Pack on Steam, brimming with 20 games all for $60.

Currently, you can get 10 percent off, bringing the total to $54, but we’re now sure how long that will last.

Here’s the full list, which includes BioShock and enough Sid Meier’s games to last you a lifetime :

• Sid Meier’s Pirates!
• Shattered Union
• Prey
• CivCity: Rome
• Sid Meier’s Railroads!
• Railroad Tycoon 3
• Railroad Tycoon II Platinum
• X-COM: Terror From the Deep
• X-COM: Apocalypse
• BioShock
• X-COM: Interceptor
• X-COM: UFO Defense
• X-COM: Enforcer
• Freedom Force
• Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich
• Sid Meier’s Civilization III Complete
• Sid Meier’s Civilization IV
• Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword
• Civilization IV Warlords
• Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization

Thanks, Shack.

Piranha Bytes has announced that its latest RPG, Risen, will be released on October 2 for PC and Xbox 360.

The folks who brought you Gothic currently have the game in Beta, and are in the process of getting rid of those pesky bugs.

To make sure it’s ready to ship, three quality assurance teams are working on the game – one directly at Piranha Bytes, one at Deep Silver, plus an additional external studio.

Just in case you haven’t heard of it, Risen is set in a medieval world on a volcanic Mediterranean island, and offers multiple ways to develop the four-part story by your own actions and decisions.

Ancient temple ruins recently have risen from the ground, and bizarre creatures infest the island.

The screens for it look pretty, anyway.

Press release is through the break.

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The following games and add-on content were added to the US PS store today.

Looks like the only full game download is Punisher, but there are loads of add-ons to keep you busy over the holiday weekend.

Downloadable Games

• The Punisher: No Mercy ($9.99)

Add-on Content

• High Velocity Bowling Ball Pack 6 – 4th of July Americana ($0.99)
• High Velocity Bowling Ball Pack 7 – Route 66 Americana ($0.99)
• LittleBigPlanet Sacktue of Liberty Costume (free)
• MotorStorm Pacific Rift Monarch Signature Livery Pack (free)
• MotorStorm Pacific Rift Speed Expansion ($9.99)
• Cross Edge Safety Pack (free)
• Cross Edge Additional Dungeon 2 (free)
• Cross Edge New Costume Set 1 ($3.99)
• Quantum of Solace: The Game 007 Camille Map Pack ($4.99)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 The Predator ($7.50)
• Guitar Hero World Tour (continued)
• Rock Band (continued)

PSP Downloadables

• Capcom Classics Collection Remixed ($19.99) (also available from PS3 storefront)
• Mind Quiz ($9.99) (also available from PS3 storefront)
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Essentials ($19.99) (also available from PS3 storefront)
• Rock Band Unplugged (continued)
• Pulse 7/2 Edition

Game videos and PS3 themes are listed over on the US PS Blog along with the rest.

Atari’s lost the publishing rights to the Dragon Ball Z franchise, which have reverted back to Namco Bandai.

According to a statement by Namco Bandai, the company has the rights to publish the series starting in January 2010 until 2015 and the agreement supersedes any existing publishing rights.

Namco is the publisher for Dragon Ball: Raging Blast game for PS3 and Xbox 360, Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo for Wii, and Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans for DS.

All expected to hit this year.

More over on Joystiq.

Valve has stated that more Left 4 Dead DLC will be announced before the end of the summer for both PC and Xbox 360.

“We plan to keep supporting Left 4 Dead 1,” Doug Lombardi told CVG at a press event in London today. “There will be some announcements coming before summer’s out about what’s coming there, and then we haven’t shown everything that’s in Left 4 Dead 2 yet.

“I think 8, 9 months from now once everything’s been out for a while and everyone’s had time to see the complete product of Left 4 Dead 2 and see continued support for Left 4 Dead 1, they may sort of see what we were up to and what the method of our madness was there.”

Speaking to OXM at the same event, Lombardi confirmed a multiplayer demo for the sequel, and it’s expected sometime before the November release.

“With Left 4 Dead in particular we’ve found that word of mouth really is the strongest thing,” he said. “With Left 4 Dead 2 we plan to do a demo before the game comes out that’ll have multiplayer in it. And hopefully we can continue the free weekends with the full game post-launch.”

Hit the links for the full thing.

Sony bossman of product planning, Naoya Matsui, has stated that the company always planned to eventually release a UMD-free PSP once the digital distribution market matured.

“We’d planned to release a PSP model without a UMD drive since the very beginning,” Matsui told GameBusiness. “But if we’d simply released the hardware, there wouldn’t have been much for everyone to enjoy.

“We needed to prepare the right environment for it first – things like the transferal of content with the PS3 and PSN, and PC software to manage content like music and movies such as Media Go.

“We wanted to release it when the delivery of digital content was on par with the delivery of physical media. That’s what we’ve been working on these past two years. We’ll be selling the PSP Go alongside the existing PSP models, because it’s a product targeted at those people who are more accustomed to digital content.”

PSP Go is slated for release in the US and Europe on October 1, and in Japan come November.

More over on Develop.

The European PSN update is not too shabby this week, and has loads of add-on content.

PSP users get Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, Numblast and Rock Band Unplugged DLC. Also, there’s plenty of Tiger Woods to go around, along with more MotorStorm: Pacific Rift content.

Here’s the full thing courtesy of Joystiq.

Playable Content

• James Pond 2: Codename Robocod PS1 game (£3.99)
• Numblast full game (£3.99)
• Punisher: No Mercy full game (£6.29)
• Topotai full game (£7.99)
• Red Baron demo (free)

Add-on Content

• Lots of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 DLC (varies)
• LittleBigPlanet Statue of Liberty costume (free)
• MotorStorm Pacific Rift Speed Pack expansion (£4.79)
• MotorStorm Pacific Rift Monarch Signature Livery pack (free)
• 4x Dynasty Warriors 6 armor packs (free)
• Guitar Hero DLC (continued)
• Rock Band DLC (continued)

PSP Content

• Monster Hunter Freedom Unite full game (£24.99)
• Numblast full game (£3.99)
• Donkey Xote full game (£7.99)
• Super Hind full game (£15.99)
• James Pond 2: Codename Robocod PS1 game (£3.99)
• Rock Band Unplugged DLC (continued)

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Champions Online will have Twitter added via an in-game feature set when it releases.

Cryptic is currently testing the functionality of the service, according to the official website:

“We’re really excited to get in-game tweet testing out to our beta players. This feature is in initial testing stages and will most likely have issues. Beta players, please keep in mind that you are still under an NDA while testing this feature!”

The saturation is almost complete. Soon, there will be Twitter options included in caskets and voting booths.

Thanks, Massively.

A developer diary for Batman: Arkham Asylum is posted after the break showing off the insanity present in Gotham’s prison for the criminally bent.

It’s not a very long video, but Eidos and Rocksteady call the game the “ultimate Batman-fighting scenario”.

We sure hope so.

Game’s out for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 August 25

Thanks, Gamespot

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The tenth annual Japan Expo is happening now through July 5 in Paris and Nintendo has a stand at the event.

Those attending will get hands-on time with Muramasa: Demon Blade, Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box, Super Mario Bros Wii, and Zelda: Spirit Tracks.

If you are in Paris, or plan on jaunting over for the weekend, head over to the Villepinte Exposition Center and check out over 100 exhibitors featuring everything from traditional Japanese fans and kimonos to the latest in Japanese cinema, manga and technology.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

Those still on the fence regarding Fallout 3 for PC may get a push in the other direction with the sale going on.

Steam has it 50 percent off this weekend, so it will cost you $24.99 instead of the normal $49.99.

You can get all the gory details here through the official website.

Microsoft has released a tracklist for Lips for the whole month of July. Pricing will run the usual.

Can’t imagine singing Baby Got Back in the living room with Mom and Dad, but there it is anyway.

Full thing below courtesy of Joystiq.

July 3

• “Baby Got Back” — Sir Mix-a-Lot
• “The Next Movement” – The Roots
• “Shut Up” – The Black Eyed Peas

July 10

• “Get The Party Started” – Pink
• “Don’t Let Me Get Me” – Pink
• “So What” – Pink
• Pink Song Pack featuring all three songs

July 17

• “Just So You know” – Jesse McCartney
• “Hey Mama” – The Black Eyed Peas
• “Can I Get Get Get” – Junior Senior

Sega has announced that Alpha Protocol will be released in the US on October 6.

We knew it was coming in October, just weren’t exactly sure of the date.

Apparently, the box art for the game is subtitled “The Espionage RPG”, which is something new to us.

UK retailers still have the game listed for release on October 30, but we have put a call into Sega to double check it for you.

It’s slated for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Todd Mitchell, analyst for Kaufman Bros. Equity Research, expects Take-Two and Rockstar to release two new episodes for Grand Theft Auto IV in fiscal 2010, GTA V in fiscal 2011, and a new GTA title for PS2 next year.

“I would expect that there would be two more pieces of downloadable content for GTA IV, that’s what has been indicated to me, although formats are unsure,” Mitchell told GI.biz. “It’s been indicated to me that would be the case.

“Coming out of E3 there was no commitment to a new Grand Theft Auto, and I think that’s because of Rockstar’s track record with delivering on time.

“Of the three, I’m least confident in saying for sure there will be a new GTA for PlayStation 2, but the track record shows that PSP titles have been repositioned [on PS2][Chinatown Wars for the PSP].”

Agent will be released in 2010, along with an unannounced title from 2K Games which along with BioShock 2 and Red Dead Redemption, Mitchell says Take-Two is now becoming a “proper company rather than a one hit wonder.”

More through the link.

U-Wars, a third-person tactical shooter that mostly takes place underwater, is currently in development from Russian developer BIART.

While this isn’t the first time underwater gameplay has been present in a game, a duck and cover system mechanic allows you to “hide” and shoot harpoons at your foe with the absence of gravity making it a bit tricky to pull off.

Currently without a publisher, it’s slated to land on PC, PSP and Xbox 360 in 2010.

More through Joystiq and MobileTechReview.

Grandmaster Flash has told Rolling Stone that upcoming DJ Hero will be the “most popular thing to do in gaming on the planet.”

Too bad he can’t play it himself.

He’s been heavily involved with the game for over a year now and has contributed mixes, voiceovers and languages to the game.

More tracks have also been confirmed for the title:

• Grandmaster Flash – “Here Comes My DJ” vs. Gary Numan – “Cars”
• Herbie Hancock – “Rockit” vs. N.E.R.D. – “Lapdance”
• Jay Z – “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” vs. Eminem – “My Name Is”
• Dizzee Rascal – “Fix Up, Look Sharp’ vs. Justice – “Genesis”
• Gwen Stefani – “Hollaback Girl’ vs. Rick James – “Give It To Me”
• Black Eyed Peas – “Boom Boom Pow’ vs. Benni Benassi – “Satisfaction”
• Beastie Boys – “Sabotage” vs. Foo Fighters – “Monkey Wrench”

Thanks, CVG.