Monthly Archives: September 2009

A first video of Last Ranker, Capcom’s super-squad PSP action RPG, just popped up on YouTube.

It’s brief. It has some Japanese characters in “game” clothing. It’s called Last Ranker. And that’s that.

Watch for more from TGS next week.

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Sega’s released new art and screens Napoleon: Total War.

Four screens are self explanatory, while the five bits of artwork show off the French Cuirassier, Brunswick Infantry, British Heavy Cavalry Officer, the Black Watch and the Austrian Uhlan.

In the game, not only will you be able to step into the diminutive shoes of the famous general, but those who opposed him as well.

Neato.

Game’s out for PC during the first half of 2010.

Go have a look at the pretty pictures over on CVG.

Bethesda’s just confirmed that Broken Steel will release for the PS3 version of Fallout 3 on September 24.

Operation: Anchorage and The Pitt will follow on on October 1. Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta hit on October 8.

Fallout 3′s Game of the Year edition, featuring the game and all five content packs, will release on October 16 for PC, 360 and PS3.

The full banana’ll cost you £39.99/€59.99 on 360 and PS3, and a mere £29.99/€49.99 on PC.

PR after the break.

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Telltale has sent word that the third Tales of Monkey Island episode is to be released on September 29.

Called “Lair of the Leviathan”, it has our hero Guybrush questing for the “voodoo exfoliating La Esponja Grande” inside the body of a massive manatee.

Here’s the description:

“Trapped in the belly of the beast, our hero encounters a surprising band of castaways, including the long-lost (and obsessive-compulsive) explorer Coronado De Cava. Can the Mighty Pirate win the suspicious De Cava’s trust? Will sexy pirate hunter Morgan LeFlay prove to be a ruthless enemy, or an unlikely ally? Will the group find La Esponja Grande in time to save Elaine from the rampant Pox of LeChuck? And will the world be crushed by the gnashing teeth of a certain demonic skull? Tales of Monkey Island’s moist and absorbing third episode, Lair of the Leviathan, will answer some of these urgent questions — and raise still more — as the five month adventure builds to its epic climax!”

Sounds like loads of fun. There are some new screens for the game posted on the official site. You should go have a look.

Here it is, football people. Nelson just confirmed that the PES 2010 demo is now on Live.

Blurb:

PES2010 is being hailed as the best football simulation and now you can try it for yourselves. Features incredibly detailed visuals and refined controls and skills. The multiplayer demo also allows players to test new tactical sliders and settings.

The demo will also release for PS3 and PC today.

SCEA chap Justin Cooney told Gama this week that multiplay, DLC and software updates have been banned from PSP Minis in an effort to “accelerate the approval process.”

“When you look at it from a testing perspective, you have to do more QA. [Allowing those features] would defeat the purpose of having a dedicated service for smaller content,” he said.

“It increases the barriers.”

Minis were announced at GamesCom last month. The games are restricted to a 100Mb and will launch with PSP Go, on October 1, with a library of 15 games.

Hit the link for more.

Watch it on EG.fr. It’s looking pretty awesome, truth be told. Very warry.

It’s out on October 9.

Bloody hell. Sega staffer Aaron Webber’s posted on the US PS Blog that the chance of an American localisation of Yakuza 3 “does still exist” and is a “big point of discussion” within the firm.

Here’s the post:

Yakuza 3 is not cancelled – and the possibility for localizing it does, in fact, still exist.

The original news story that went around about Yakuza 3 being declined for the US was false, and localizing the game still remains a big point of discussion for many people here at SEGA, and especially those of us on SEGA’s community team.I know it’s far from an announcement, but I just felt you should know that the chance does still exist.

Confirmed! Not at all, but still. Go mental! Thanks, Chris.

Xbox Europe entertainment boss Steve McGill’s told MCV that he expects Halo 3: ODST’s Reach beta promotion to be more successful than the Halo 3 multiplayer beta entry given away with Crackdown.

“The only way to access this beta will be through the Halo 3: ODST disc, so we feel there’s another extremely compelling reason for both fans and newcomers to the franchise to experience Halo 3: ODST,” he said.

“We saw the success of this mechanic with the Halo 3 multiplayer beta that came on the Crackdown game disc and the continued sales momentum and excitement generated around that title throughout its lifecycle, and we fully expect Halo 3: ODST to exceed that achievement.

“It’s a great way to extend the shelf life of the title at retail, and allows us to deliver some cool and creative sustained marketing activity around the game throughout 2010.”

ODST ships next week. Reach is planned for a 2010 launch.

Square just confirmed the PAL version of Star Ocean The Last Hope: International for a February 12 release.

The new version of Tri-ace’s RPG will feature a choice of English or Japanese voiceovers and localised subtitles in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

PR after the break.

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Kotaku’s reporting that Capcom’s put together some sort of mega-team to work on PSP action RPG Last Ranker.

Kazushige Nojima (Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy X) is writing the scenario. Yoko Shimomura (Street Fighter II, Parasite Eve, Final Fantasy Versus XIII) is doing the music. Devil May Cry 4 character designer Tatsuya Yoshikawa is also on board.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney’s Kazuya Niinou is producing.

Scant details yet, but more’s expected from TGS. Hit the link.

Game Watch has posted up the first shots of Star Ocean: The Last Hope’s International version.

The PS3 outing will release early next year.

We’re still waiting on details for a European release. Hit this for a ton of detail on the new SKU.

As reported by TheBBPS, Uncharted 2 features a host of Twitter integration options, allowing the game to automatically tweet when you earn Trophies, reach level milestones, and so on.

There’s a bunch of pictures of it all working over there.

Pretty cool. The game’s out on October 15 in North America, with a UK date still pending.

Epic’s announced another free-play weekend for Unreal Tournament 3 Black. That’s right: you can download it from Steam and play all weekend for no cost whatsoever.

You can pre-load as of today.

In addition, the original UT will be on sale for $1.99, and both Unreal Tournament 3 Black and the Unreal Deal Pack will be available for 60 percent off through September 27.

Get the full PR after the break. There’s stuff in there about new mods as well.

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The PS3 version of Fallout 3′s been patched to version 1.61, according to this Fallout.Wikia post.

The update’s added a proper Trophy menu, apparently, as well as a Download section under the main menu.

The kids over there are speculating that this means the arrival of the PS3 version of Broken Steel’s imminent. Bethesda’s never dated the DLC, but we’d say it was a fair assumption.

Thanks, Monk.

Kotaku’s posted an image of The Beatles: Rock Band: SingStar, which is apparently a normal copy of The Beatles: Rock Band with two microphones.

This week’s all about the double-colon, clearly.

MCV’s pleased about this because it called it, only to have MTV say the report was wrong. Just to be sure: MCV called it. Don’t ever forget it.

It’s out this month, apparently.

Yasuhide Kobayashi, VP of Sony’s Japan Studio and head of Last Guardian’s development, told DICE Summit Asia today that Japanese games-makers must now appeal to western tastes or die.

“There are so many issues we have to solve, and the biggest challenge is that the market in Japan is shrinking – they key is gaining success in the US and Europe,” he said.

“At the time of the original PlayStation the Japanese market was one third of the global market, and production costs weren’t that high – so we were able to generate profit from that market alone.

“But now we’re in the era of the PlayStation 3, and the Japanese market is only one fifth of the global market – when it comes to production costs, those are swelling, so it means that unless we gain success in the overseas market our studio will go bankrupt. It’s a crisis we recognise,” he added.

Kobayashi admitted that Last Guardian was named as such to appeal to US and European gamers.

Lots more on GI.

SCEE posted up images and details of a “Dizzee Rascal VIP Room” going live on September 24 at 8.00pm BST.

The man himself will be on hand for the launch, performing tracks and answering questions.

There’s a free Dizzee Mask up for grabs if you visit the gig.

Movie after the break.

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GamersHell’s posted up ten shots from next week’s Lost Planet PS3 demo.

As reported this morning, the tester will contain two new co-op levels over its 360 counterpart.

It’s out on September 24.

Heavenly-Sword.nl’s posted the first images of Ninja Theory’s Enslaved.

It’s 150 years in the future and features a muscular man fighting robots. Obviously.

These are photos of a Game Informer article, but they’re good enough for now. Watch for decent scans later in the day.