Monthly Archives: August 2009

Hey Mr. or Ms. Popular, is the inability to have more than 100 Xbox Live friends the only fly buzzing around the delicious cake that is your perfect life? Well, we can’t help you, but we can give you something to blame: Halo 2.

Speaking with a “high level source,” G4 discovered that Halo 2′s still-active community is the main reason you can’t complete preparations for your 101-person online orgy.

Since Halo 2 is an original Xbox game, it adheres to the original Xbox’s technical limits. The exact specifics of why Microsoft can’t just patch the whole darn thing weren’t given, but suffice it to say, they can’t. Otherwise, they’d have already done it.

So that’s that. G4 recommends that you pester Microsoft until they cave and find a way to up the friend count. We think that’s a good idea. So then, get to it!

Parachuting, shooting, and parachute-shooting? Sounds like it’d make a decent popcorn flick to us. Adrian Askarieh thinks so too, which is why he recently acquired the rights for a Just Cause movie.

“Hitman was a very successful movie for Fox, and I wanted to find a similar project in terms of its genre, international appeal and ability to do for a price, but do it independently in order to maximize the creative and financial upside that a project like this could generate,” Askarieh told Variety.

Previously, Askarieh teamed up with Eidos to roll out the red carpet for Hitman and Kayne and Lynch’s silver screen debuts.

More through the link.

If you hadn’t heard, Guitar Hero 5′s set to finally include a song importing feature. This means that your golden oldies from GH: World Tour and GH: Smash Hits can be transferred to GH5, which is obviously pretty cool. So, how’s it going to work? Joystiq recently got the full scoop.

On Xbox 360 and PS3, you’ll simply need to download a free update to enable song imports, followed by a “nominal re-licensing fee” to rip songs from each disc. Ripped tunes will be stored on the hard drive.

On the Wii, the song remains mostly the same, but system’s lack of a hard drive complicates things a bit. Songs will have to be re-downloaded, either to the Wii’s internal memory or an SD card.

In both cases, songs will be updated to include GH5′s suite of rockin’ new features.

Interestingly, only 152 of a total 158 tracks will be able to make the jump. Our guess? Licensing issues.

More through the link.

According to a recent job listing, WB Games Chicago wants the next Mortal Kombat to be the “golden standard for network play.”

“WB Games Inc. seeks a Senior Software Engineer, Network to help us implement cutting-edge online features to ensure the Mortal Kombat franchise is an industry leader in online functionality. We are looking to position Mortal Kombat as the ‘gold standard’ for network play, and we are looking for someone who wants to push the boundaries of what is possible with online interaction,” reads the listing.

Apparently, whoever lands the gig will be responsible for “revolutionizing” online play.

Fame and fortune — what more could you ask for?

Thanks, TRMK.

Activision’s confirmed that it’s releasing Tony Hawk: Ride in the US for PS3, 360 and Wii on November 17, although no price point was given for the game.

It was dated for November 20 in the UK recently.

Last week, it was announced during the company’s Q2 financials that it’ll only get a release in the UK, US and Germany this year.

Thanks, Joystiq.

Speaking with Polish site CD-Action (via Digital Foundry), id Software’s resident tech legend, John Carmack, gave his two cents on the purportedly far-off next generation of consoles.

“We talk about these absurd things like how many teraflops of processing and memory that are going into our game machines,” Carmack said. “It’s great and there’s going to be at least another generation like that, although interestingly we are coasting towards some fundamental physical limits on things. We’ve already hit the megahertz wall and eventually there’s going to be a power density wall from which you won’t get more processing out there…”

He added, however, that the current generation of consoles suits him — as well as many other developers — just fine.

“As developers, we would really like to see this generation stretch as long as possible. We’d like to see it be quite a few more years before the next gen console comes out, but I suspect one will end up shipping something earlier rather than later.”

Tons more through the link.

Eurogamer’s got seven new shots of Command & Conquer 4.

A preview has gone live for it as well: read it through here.

Cologne will be it’s coming out party next week. Keep your eyes zesty for info.

It’s due next year for PC.

This week’s spat of Nintendo downloads has something for everyone, even Star Wars-loving, Brain Age-devouring, rock-climbing aficionados. Finally, Nintendo’s reached out to that notoriously vocal demographic.

On the Virtual Console, you’ll find 2D beat-you-up Super Star Wars, while a plentiful WiiWare harvest has brought forth both Rock ‘n’ Roll Climber and Nyx Quest: Kindred Spirits. You may remember Nyx Quest as that Kid Icarus-ish title that was forced to change its name.

There’s also an artsy take on Brain Age, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Full details on each game are after the break.

More »

Microsoft’s confirmed to EG that Xbox Live will be down for maintenance tomorrow.

Why? For the summer update, silly.

The update goes live tomorrow to the public after being beta trialed by selective members of Live who filled in a survey a while back.

Get the full lowdown on the update here.

Nelson‘s confirmed that Trials HD will be this week’s game of choice for Xbox Live Arcade.

It’ll be out on Wednesday for 1200 MS points.

Still undecided on buying it? EG published it’s review this morning and got a nine.

You have no excuse now.

Cnet‘s put live a video of a recent visit to Microsoft to go hands-on – or whatever – with Project Natal and it’s all after the jump.

You see Burnout Paradise in the video as well as Ricochet in there. Kudo Tsunoda, the creative director for the motion camera, talks you through it as well.

Go watch that video.

More »

This week’s Live Deal of the Week, straight from the Major, goes to FIFA 09 and it’s Ultimate Team add-on.

Normally at 800 MS points, you now get to download it for 400 MS points.

Queue it up here.

Reminder for the Silver members here – Gold members only.

Thanks, Pyrix.

Some new shots of No More Heroes 2 have emerged from Japan and, to be honest, they do look swish.

They mostly show Travis’ double beam katana, which is a brand new addition to the series,

Catch them over at Kotaku. It’s due for Wii next year.

Oh dear.

If you were praying I Am Alive was coming next year, you may wanna question your faith. According to the CV of the game’s senior designer, Charles Gaudron, it won’t be coming till 2011.

The news comes after Ubisoft delayed several of its core titles a couple of weeks ago, including the highly-anticipated Splinter Cell: Conviction.

With this I Am Alive news, the delay earlier this month and the survival game switching studios from Darkworks to the company’s Shanghai studio, things aren’t looking happy campers on Planet Ubisoft at the moment.

From superannuation.

SCEE’s confirmed to VG247 that a brand new Heavy Rain character will be revealed next week at GamesCom in Cologne.

PS3Center published an article yesterday saying a new protagonist would be revealed at the event, with a final main character reveal coming at Tokyo Game Show in September.

Asked if there was some weight to the article, an SCEE rep confirmed to us it was correct.

“Yes, that is true,” he said.

Director for the game, David Cage, first mentioned the reveal schedule in an interview with Kikizo earlier this year.

Here’s a little Monday afternoon puzzler for you: try to tell the difference between these real-life shots and bits of GT PSP art of the Corvette ZR1.

GTPlanet‘s posted a comparison between the two, using press kit images from both GT PSP and the car itself.

We’re stumped.

Thanks, Kotaku.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said he sees three titles being released this year – Wii Sports Resort, New Super Mario Bros Wii and Wii Fit Plus – to sell over ten million units.

“I believe each of these three software titles have the potential to surpass 10 million copies worldwide in the whole fiscal year,” said the exec, speaking in an investor Q&A released by Nintendo yesterday.

He added: “We recognise this Q1 result is not the strongest and closer to the lower parameters of our expectations, but we expect we can reverse the situation through the full-fiscal year and therefore did not revise out forecast.”

Mario Galaxy 2 to sell a billion units at launch? Bet on it.

Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter’s predicted July’s US hardware sales are going to show a 36 percent decline year-on-year. The NPD releases on Thursday.

“We estimate sell-through of 305,000 Wii, 190,000 Xbox 360, and 135,000 PS3 consoles (a 36% year-over-year unit decline for these consoles in July),” said the analyst in a note.

“If our estimates are correct, year-to-date console sales will be down 22%, pressuring software sales growth over the next 12 months.”

Horror figures will force the Big Cheeses to cut prices, Pachter added.

“We think that stagnant sales will force the console manufacturers to consider a price cut,” he said.

“We note that rumors are rampant of an imminent price cut by Sony and a console upgrade by Microsoft.

“We do not think that either Nintendo’s Wii forecast or Sony’s PS3 forecast are achievable without a price cut, and expect one by October, while Microsoft may wait to see whether Sony gains share with its price cut.”

PS3 price cut in Germany next week or you can call us Susan.

EA’s announced the pre-order details for Need For Speed: Shift, but they’re only applicable if you’re buying the game from GameStop in the US.

Put down a deposit and you will get an extra car for the game: a BMW E92 M3 GT2. And that’s pretty much it.

It’s out September 15 in the US and September 18 in the UK for PS3 and 360.

Thanks, Big Download.

According to this Modern Warfare 2 Hardened Edition listing on Play, the included voucher for Call of Duty: Classic has an “equivalent” value of 1,200MSP.

Things we don’t know:

• When it’ll be released separately on Live and PSN.
• Whether or not this is Play just making up a figure for a laugh.

Neither does anyone else, seemingly. We’ve dropped Acti a mail.

Thanks, CVG.