Monthly Archives: August 2009

CCP has announced a new free expansion for Eve Online. Titled “Dominion,” it aims to spruce up the out-of-this-world MMO’s end game.

“Dominion is all about ownership-how you conquer and hold space, how you hold sway over fellow capsuleers and how you wage war against any who stand in your way,” said the developer. “How do you make a name for yourself in a universe of 300,000 other players?”

The update brings a whole slew of new features, including social networking tools, “dynamic” alliance combat, prettier graphics, and much, much more.

The update’s out this winter.

Thanks, Kotaku.

During a Japanese demo event called, er, “Feel Bayonetta,” producer Yusuke Hashimoto said that Platinum Games is prepping a demo of its upcoming actioner.

“We’re currently hard at work on it,” said Hashimoto.

“It will be more than just a demo that’s pulled from the middle of the game. We’d like to make it so that those who’ve already bought the game will make new discoveries if they play the demo.”

Since it was announced at a Japanese event, this isn’t necessarily a confirmation of a demo in the West. But since we’re not getting the full game until 2010, we think it’s not too much of a stretch to expect the demo on our shores.

We’ve put in an email to Sega just in case, though.

Thanks, andriasang.

Kotaku‘s reporting that DSi-specific games will be out in the wild this fall.

According to the site’s “sources,” DSi-only boxes will be visually distinct, so as to ward off poor, neglected DS Lite owners.

DSi-exclusive games were announced earlier this year. However, specifics — such as a game titles and a release window — weren’t discussed.

Kotaku contacted Nintendo for comment, but Nintendo basically whistled and pretended not to hear. Hopefully we’ll find out more soon.

Shadow Complex sold more than 200,000 copies in its first week, making it the fastest-selling single-player XBLA game yet.

“Congratulations to Chair Entertainment and Epic Games for creating an outstanding game,” said Scott Austin, director of digitally distributed games at Microsoft. “As the capstone title of the second annual Summer of Arcade program, Shadow Complex has raised the bar for downloadable games. We’re proud to offer such high-quality content on Xbox LIVE Arcade.”

Whoever thought side-scrolling console games were a dying art must be feeling pretty foolish right now.

Thanks, Industry Gamers.

Heavy Rain has more endings than an on-again, off-again relationship, but creator David Cage would rather you only play through his multi-tailed tale once. Why? Speaking with G4, he explained:

“I would like people to play it once…because that’s life. Life you can only play once…I would like people to have this experience that way.”’

“I’m fine with [people reloading saves to avoid bad endings], but the right way to enjoy Heavy Rain is really to make one thing because it’s going to be your story. It’s going to be unique to you. It’s really the story you decided to write…I think playing it several times is also a way to kill the magic of it.”

More through the link.

Speaking with VG247, IGDA Executive Director Joshua Caulfield said today that Tim Langdell decision to resign from the IGDA board of directors was for “personal reasons.”

Caulfield refused to elaborate further and directed us toward Langdell for a statement. Which we’ve done.

There’s more on the resignation here.

Jade Raymond’s taken a considerable bump up today – the Assassin’s Creed producer is now in charge of the yet-to-be-opened Ubi Toronto.

Reporting into Ubi Toronto and Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat, Raymond will oversee day-to-day operations of the studio.

“I’m excited to have Jade managing our Toronto studio,” said Mallat.

“With more than 12 years of experience in the video game industry, Jade’s knowledge and leadership as an industry veteran are major assets in building the Toronto studio and expanding Ubisoft’s presence in Canada.”

Take that, Jade doubters. More on Develop.

Tim Langdell, the trademark troll behind the recent Mobigames Edge fiasco, has resigned from the Independent Game Developers Association board of directors. This comes shortly after IGDA members started petitioning for his removal.

Prior to taking the hint, Langdell abused his position by harassing anyone who used the name “Edge” as a game title. He hasn’t used the trademark to create a game in over 15 years, yet — as evidenced by the recent Mobigames attempt — he’ll sue the pants off anyone who does.

Good riddance, we say.

Wow, what a totally crazy coincidence! Penny Arcade Expo is only a hop, a skip, and an uncomfortable plane ride away, and this week’s XBLA deal is for Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 2! Man, sometimes we start wondering if these things are planned or something.

The deal drops PAA: OtRSPoD Ep.2 from 1200 MS Points to 800. The game’s pretty good, from what we’ve heard, so it might be worth looking into if you haven’t played it yet.

Thanks, Major.

Rhythm game sales may be down 46% in the US, but that hasn’t stopped MTV from shelling out mad money to bring in some overseas assistance. According to sources close to MTV’s deal with Beatles rights holders, MTV’s paying a minimum of $10 million and an expected $40 million in royalty fees to give the British sensations a virtual makeover.

“The royalty rates on this are not even comparable to anything that has been done before,” said chairman of Sony/ATV Music Publishing Martin Bandier to The LA Times.

No kidding, Martin. More through the link.

Want a PS3 Slim? Of course you do. $300, though? Statistics state that you’re probably part of the 18-34 year old male demographic, and you guys are exceedingly thrifty, right? Well, that’s where Dell comes in.

Dell’s throwing economic cautions to the wind and having a 15% off electronics sale. Just enter the corresponding coupon code with the purchase of a PS3 Slim and -poof- $45 disappear from the price tag.

PlayStation Lifestyle has the details. Now go! Before time (or – more likely – Dell’s supply of PS3 Slims) runs out!

Heavy Rain writer David Cage has said in an interview with Edge that if all four characters in the game die, the story in the game ends, but such a thing wont happen until the final third of the game.

“When all of the characters die, the story ends – that’s quite a sad ending,” said Cage.

“There are movies with happy endings and sad endings. In Heavy Rain, it is up to the player to tell his own story and decide what story he wants to tell. This kind of ending cannot happen before the last third of the game, so the experience won’t be too significantly shortened.”

It’s out next year for PS3.

Find the full interview here.

After last week’s desert-dry game selection, this week is like emerging into a sparkling, thirst-slaking oasis. Three games? That was the old Nintendo. Now though, things are different.

Wii-bound this week are Tales of Monkey Island: Chapter 2, Phantasy Star, and 3-2-1, Rattle Battle. Meanwhile, the DSi’s nabbing Puzzle League Express.

Full details on all four (!) games are after the break.

More »

Update: Rockstar’s just tagged both Chinatown Wars and Beaterator for the fall. Thanks, deftangel.

Original Story: Rockstar’s announced it’s bringing Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars to the iPhone and iPod Touch.

It was previously released on the Nintendo DS, with a release on the PSP due this autumn.

“Chinatown Wars is a perfect match for the iPhone and iPod touch. We are very excited to bring this incredibly ambitious version of Liberty City, with this level of detail and immersive gameplay on Apple’s new gaming platforms,” said Rockstar president, Sam Houser.

Meanwhile, Rockstar also announced it’s bringing Beaterator to the Apps store.

“The simple, pick-up-and-play nature of Beaterator lends itself so well to the Apple platforms. We are happy to deliver an application that allows for such unprecedented sharing and ease-of-use.”

It was also appearing on the PSP as an exclusive to the system, and is in fact due for release next month.

No dates yet on either apps.

More over at VentureBeat and Kotaku.

SCEA has announced that God of War and God of War II will be coming to the PS3 in Blu-ray form from this Christmas in the God of War Collection.

It’s being handled by Sony Santa Monica.

The games are totally remastered, run at 720P and support trophies. No word yet though on a supposed demo for God of War III.

This was rumoured a couple of weeks ago after a Mexican retailer jumped the gun on the collection during GamesCom.

Earlier this year, a survey was released by SCEA, asking people what they wanted to see. A GOW collection was one of them.

PR is after the jump.

More »

It’s been so long since we’ve seen a single thing from the game, but Rockstar has confirmed that LA Noire is still in development over at Team Bondi.

The news came from a closed doors press conference for the publisher at GamesCom earlier this month, although nothing more was mentioned on the game.

The publisher only talked in depth about future stuff, including Gay Tony, Red Dead Redemption and GTA: Chinatown Wars for the PSP during the conference.

Thanks, PS3Center.

Wanna know more on the newest Kingdom Hearts game? Play to the end of Birth by Sleep for the PSP, according to creator of Kingdom Hearts Tetsuya Nomura.

Speaking in the latest issue of Famitsu, Nomura reveals that Birth by Sleep will contain a secret video in the game, which will quite possibly reveal the next Kingdom Hearts game.

“I think there are a lot of puzzling elements, so maybe they’ll want to play the next game…And there’ll be a secret movie too.”

Despite being jabbed if it was Kingdom Hearts III or not, Nomura refused to answer if it was or not.

“The next game will be the next game (laughs)”

Birth by Sleep is out this Winter for the PSP in Japan. As for Kingdom Hearts III, we reckon it’ll involve Spiderman now, innit?

Thanks, Nintendo Everything.

Polyphony Digital boss Kazunori Yamauchi has given another serious hint as to a possible 2009 release for Gran Turismo 5, by stating that not only is the game not that “far away”, but it will also “very probably” receive a simultaneous worldwide release.

Asked on the release of the game in an interview with MultiPlayer.it (translated by GT Planet), Yamauchi said: “The game is still under development but its release is not too far, it will be after the PSP GT release and, very probably, it will be a simultaneous world release”

He also confirmed that the list of features that was leaked on the Japanese GT website a couple of weeks ago, including the list of 1,000 cars and YouTube support, are all true.

“We would like to wait to publish them, but what you read on the site is true.”

Finally, Yamauchi confirmed the game will run at 1080P at 60FPS per second.

Last week, the GamesCom brochure for the game listed the release as “4 Quartal 2009″. No need to be a fucking point Dexter to figure that out.

More through the links.

Final Fantasy XIII producer Yoshinori Kitase has said that Square Enix are “exploring” the option of releasing possible DLC for the game on the PSN and Xbox Live with new items, areas or enemies, although nothing is set in stone yet.

If there was to be DLC for the game, it wouldn’t tie into the story.

Anything story related will stay on the disc(s).

“We are exploring the option of downloadable content, perhaps adding new areas, items or enemies, but these would not be expansions to the story, only the gameplay. The entire story of FF13 will be on the disc,” according to Kitase.

This would mark a major u-turn after the publisher stated there would be no DLC for the game at all a while back.

More over at RPGSite.

Final Fantasy XIV producer Hiromichi Tanaka has said to VG247 that the MMO’s level system, similar to that of Ultima Online, will “make sense” to players when the game launches next year.

“From MMO history, from the beginning, [games like] Ultima Online had a similar, skill-based system, so we do believe it will make sense to our players,” he said.

“What we’re trying to provide to our players is flexibility. They don’t have to stick to one job: by providing this system they’ll be able to enjoy a variety of classes.”

Explaining exactly how the system’s going to work, the developer added:

“This time it’s not going to be just by killing monsters that you’ll gain experience points, but by using the weapon you hold in your hand, you’ll gain skills for that class. So, if you change your weapon you’ll change your class. You can change your class even between the battles; not during the battles.”

2010 is when you can see this one for PS3 and PC.