Monthly Archives: August 2009

The latest video for Batman: Arkham Asylum shows off the cool gadgets the Dark Knight uses to thwart enemies, escape, and do other cool stuff with.

Game’s out August 25 and in September for the PC.

The video is after the break courtesy of BigDownload.

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Former LucasArts CEO, Jim Ward, is running for Congress and hoping represent Arizona’s 5th Congressional District in Washington DC.

The Republican is currently a venture capitalist, and hoping to oust two-term Democrat Harry Mitchell.

Here is his “philosophy”:

I’m not a professional politician. I’m a businessman. And I don’t disagree that this country needs change. But, in my experience, there’s the right kind of change and the wrong kind of change. I believe what’s happening to this country represents the wrong kind of change.

It’s time politicians who just want to be politicians got out of the way and let people who have run businesses, created jobs and made decisions they’ve had to live with, go to Washington and straighten out this mess. I’ve got that skill set along with the ability to make the right kind of change. I hope you’ll agree.

Wonder if he’ll use The Force to get elected.

Via GamePolitics.

Square has released new downloadable content for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Dark Lord.

Here’s the full bit:

• Darklord Special Forces (500 points) includes six monsters, including five mid-level monsters: Ogre (melee), Ahriman (ranged), Sahagin (magic), Coeurl and Chimera (generic), and a healer monster: Lamia. They can be summoned as much as your NP allows.

• Bedroom Set (300 points) s a pack of three Artifacts to give you the advantage in battle: Void Fountain (restores monsters’ HP and cures status effects), Summon Mirror (summons random monsters), and Drain Chest (drains adventurers’ HP and distributes it to your monsters).

• Beloved Wardrobe (600 points) contains a pack of three dresses to help you in battle: Radiant Dress (lets you cast Cure once per battle, restoring a little HP to all monsters and Artifacts), Dark Dress (raises your starting NP by 50), and Prim Dress (lets you cast Hard Slash once per battle, dealing light melee damage).

Full thing through the press release below.

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Yes, we said “damn cute”. It’s a southern thing.

Anyway, a video for the game based on Spike Jonze movie adaptation of the book is posted after the break courtesy of Yahoo.

The game is expected to launch alongside the movie in October for DS, PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360.

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Ms. Marvel has been confirmed to be in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.

There’s a video of her posted after the break in action, courtesy of Joystiq.

Game’s out in September.

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MumboJumbo and Plus+ Publishing are bringing Luxor to Apple’s App Store in August.

The ancient Egyptian-themed game has you fire colored balls to form chains of at least three to clear the shute – kind of like a sideways Tetris.

Luxor will allow you to challenge pals on other social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, earn points, get on the global leaderboards, and more.

So far, Luxor has had over 75 million downloads to date, so the iPhone version was a no-brainer.

More over on PocketGamer.

The FAQ over on the official APB website, mentions that the game will not carry a monthly fee like most MMOs.

So it may be going the microtransaction route or be pulling a page out of the Team Fortress 2 book – buy the game, play online for free – but we doubt that.

Dave Jones told us last month that the game will not have a normal subscription model, but that players will understand why they will have to pay for the investment.

“Basically, you have to buy the client. It’s a traditional game that you buy,” he said. “We’re not going the normal ‘you have to subscribe to play the game every month’ route. What we haven’t said is which route we are going, and in some respects we’re still looking.”

Hit the links for the rest.

Thanks, Evil Avatar.

Lionhead just posted up a third teaser on its site, showing a new splash page with a shot of Abraham Lincoln.

Not sure how he applies to Che Guevara’s from Thursday, and Maximilien Robespierre’s from Friday – unless each were revolutionaries of sorts. Ok, we get that part.

The quote: “Be not deceived. Revolutions do not go backward.”

There’s a number four, to go along wth the previous numbers five and six.

Counting down the days to GamesCon they are.

So are we.

Insomniac’s Ryan Schneider has told Gamereactor that while the company is still independent, it has a “strong, stable relationship” with Sony.

He has more or less said this once before.

This was said during a video interview, and he also mentioned that because of this long-term relationship with Sony, it makes things a bit easier when it comes time to develop games.

On top of that, Schneider says that Insomniac’s second studio based on the east coast helps keep each location down to 150 people at a time – otherwise, the “culture suffers”.

The full thing is posted after the break.

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A patent filed by Sony, and found by Siliconera, shows a system that detects laughter, sadness, anger, boredom, and other emotions caused by watching David Caruso on the telly.

Apparently, it uses metadata which detects emotions filtered through a microphone and expressions picked up by the camera. Both are then linked to the game console (PS3), and transfers said data over a network.

The patent mentions body gesture identification and the ability to track group interactions “such as when two individuals give each other a High Five”, and can also detect boredom if a user is “looking away from the presentation, yawning, or talking over the presentation.”

It’s not just limited to games, either. It can also be used for TV shows, films, and media presentations.

What will Sony think of next.

Via Joystiq.

Entertainment Tonight spoke with Jake Gyllenhaal on the set of Prince of Persia in Morocco and its souds as if he would be keen to do a sequel if asked.

Of course, no one says “no” to Jerry Bruckheimer. No one. Right, Johnny Depp?

The full interview, of sorts, is posted after the break and it’s actually pretty decent.

Nice scenery anyway.

Movie’s out May 28, 2010 in the US and UK.

Via Videogamesblogger.

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Quakecon hasn’t finished yet, suckers. Nathan’s still in the Texan house, and he’s now updating from the Gaylord Texan on a “special” presentation of the latest Rage build.

Take a look at this to get yourself in the mood. Hit the link for all the updates.

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Sega has decided to shutdown the online bit for its mech-sim Chromehounds on January 6.

Here’s the post from the official forums:

Thanks, 1UP.

GameTrailers has a new video for Serious Sam HD available, which we’ve posted after the break.

Granted, it’s Serious Sam so we know what to expect, but still – it’s done in HD.

You like HD. So do we.

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Those who would like to purchase Madden 10 may want to subscribe to Sports Illustrated instead.

Turns out, the magazine is offering the game as an incentive to get the weekly.

A subscription of 56 issues costs $49, comes with a Madden documentary, your console choice of the game, and the annual swimsuit edition.

Madden NFL 10 costs $60.

Seems the subscription route is the way to go – if you live in the US or Canada.

More over on NextGen.

The lead writer for Dragon Age: Origins, David Gaider, has explained the brothel bit in the game that the ESRB described back in July.

According to Gaider, there is no animal sex in the game – just humor.

“OK — there is humor in Dragon Age,” Gaider told D’toid. “When it comes to a dark game, I think there should be light moments, as well. The light should exist next to the dark for contrast, if nothing else, right? Have some funny moments, have some easy moments. That way, when it does get dark, you need a gut-punch. Then it feels that much more visceral to play.

“In this case, I think it’s even in the ESRB statement, if you go to [the brothel], and you’re talking to the madam, she’s like, ‘what are you interested in?’ One of your options can be ‘surprise me,’ and if you say that, she sends you to your room — and it’s part of a larger quest; it’s just sort of one element of it — there are a number of random things that, when you walk into the room, you will find something there to surprise you.

“There can be a pair of nugs on the bed. Nugs would be these little subterranean bunny pigs you find down in the dwarven cavern. If you click on them, it says, like, ‘the nugs refuse to look you in the eye.’ Or, there’s a transvestite dwarf with, like, lipstick and stuff. He sort of deadpans and he’s like, ‘Yes, the earth moved. It was wonderful.’ So there’s no bestiality. I guess somebody could suggest that because they put animals in my room that it was suggested that bestiality could occur. It’s just played for humor. That’s all.”

Day one purchase.

Over on the official forums for Call of Duty: World at War, Treyarch’s community manager, Josh Olin has said that not only is Map Pack 3 currently in the works for PC, but so is a patch.

Here’s the post:

As with the previous two Map Packs, Map Pack 3 will indeed be coming to the PC – the team is hard at work on it and I’ll let you know when it’s in test.

As such, there will be a Patch 1.6 as well, which will address some additional game issues. When I have details on what else will be included in the patch I will be sure to post them.

We appreciate your patience as always, and look forward to its release as much as you do!”

Good to know.

Bethesda’s Todd Howard as confirmed that there is no Elder Scrolls V in the works.

What?

“We are working on our next big game but we are not talking about it,” he told attendees at his keynote during QuakeCon 2009. He went on to say that there are no “current” plans for a fifth addition to the series.

Ok, that’s a bit better.

He did, however, say that there is always “a chance” that an MMO will be created for the series, but apparently it was said in a joking manner.

A “chance” is always better than a “hell no” any day of the week, but a new title for the single-player end is probably wanted by the masses first, Todd.

Via BigDownload.

Stan Lee stars in the latest video for Vicarious Visions’ Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.

In it, his coolness talks about how superheroes don’t need to be registered with the government-unless they turn bad. But then, they are no longer superheroes at that point.

Basically, it’s a video with Stan Lee in it – which is good. Watch it below the break.

Game’s out September 15.

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Sega has announced that for the 20th anniversary of the Sega Genesis, fans can vote for the next Genesis title to land on Xbox Live.

Between August 14 and 21, fans can go here and vote for the following games:

• Earthworm Jim
• Golden Axe II
• Revenge of Shinobi
• Shining Force
• Streets of Rage
• Toejam & Earl
• Wonder Boy

Currently, Jim is in the lead with 46 percent of the vote, followed by Toejam & Earl.

Thanks, Roybott.