Monthly Archives: September 2009

Sony has described gaming as an “important part” of pushing cinemas into the digital age as it prepares to allows select audiences the chance to play Uncharted 2 on American big screens ahead of its release later this month.

On October 5 and 6, four cinemas in San Francisco and Thousand Oaks, California, Rosemont, Illinois and Bellevue, Washington, will let viewers play the game on Sony’s 4K digital cinema technology.

Sony reckons this is the start of a change in tack for cinemas that could allow revenues for the cinemas themselves as well as game-sellers.

“This is the first time we’re doing it in a theater. We think it’s a start of something for us, and hope we can build this into a standard element in the movie-going experience,” said Sony cinema chap Mike Fidler.

“Our goal in converting theaters to digital is to go beyond the traditional movie-going experience and focus on helping exhibitors find ways to fill seats.

“Gaming will be an important part of that equation.”

In case you missed it, Uncharted 2′s looking like it might be “quite good”. More on Reuters.

Dead Rising 2 will have more than one ending, if producer Keiji Inafune gets his way, although the anticipated undead-annihilator is still too early in development to say for definite if multiple conclusions will be added.

“Definitely one of the things people seemed to like with the first Dead Rising game was that there were multiple endings, and so I personally would love to be able to put in multiple endings in this game,” he said in an IGN vid interview you can see after the break.

“We haven’t officially gotten to that point in the game where we decide one way or the other, so all I can say right now that it’s my desire to do that in the game, but at this point I can’t officially say yes or no.”

There’s tons of gameplay footage in that video, so you’d do well to watch. There’s no date on it yet.

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Not the original Metal Gear Solid, mind you. That sort of already happened. No – Kojima’s all for a remake of Metal Gear’s humble, comparatively cutscene-free beginnings. One teensy problem, though: Kojima’s booked solid for – oh – the rest of his life at the moment.

“It doesn’t have to be me who makes it,” Kojima suggested in an interview with Kotaku. “I made it a long time ago. It could be somebody young that maybe has more abilities than I do….It would even be good if a foreign production team even did it.”

So, who would you like to see give 8-bit Snake a modern makeover? We’re thinking Rocksteady. After Arkham Asylum, just imagine what the developer could do with Metal Gear’s blend of stealth and action.

While celebrating Double Fine’s 20th Anniversary on its blog, Tim Schafer admitted that he once pirated a game from former employer Lucasfilm Games before he started working there.

Despite that, he still got the job, as we all know.

“I called David Fox right away and scribbled all the notes you see while I was talking to him. I told him how much I wanted to work at Lucasfilm, not because of Star Wars, but because I loved, “Ball Blaster.”

“Ball Blaster, eh?” he said.

“Yeah! I love Ball Blaster!” I said. It was true. I had broken a joystick playing that game on my Atari 800.

“Well, the name of the game is Ball Blazer.” Mr. Fox said, curtly. “It was only called Ball Blaster in the pirated version.”

While Tim does not condone constant pirating of his games, he said once is fine, but multiple times is not.

“Now, if you’ve ever pirated one of my games you don’t need to feel bad, because I did it to Lucasfilm Games when I was in high school,” he wrote. “Of course, if you’ve pirated two or more of my games, that’s a different story.”

More through the link.

Via Kotaku.

It looks as though Britain has more online and console gamers than the rest of Europe, according to the 2009 UK National Gamers Survey.

74 percent of participants said that they regularly play games, and males between 13 and 19 years-of-age spend on avergae 11 hours a week playing games with boys aged eight playing seven and a half hours a week.

The findings come from TNS and Gamesindustry.com which also state that 86 percent of girls play games and 42 percent of people over the age of 50 spend more time playing games than reading magazines.

More statistics and the like are past the break in a lovely press release.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

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It looks as though Peter Molyneux is not very fond of demos, and goes so far as to call the game trials “the death knell of experiences”.

Instead, he proposes that the first bit of the game be released instead.

“I hate demos. I think demos are the death knell of experiences,” he told Edge. “Over the years I’ve done demos and they’ve either completely ruined the game, given too much to the player, or they’ve confused people, so I said that we should give away the very first 45 minutes of the game, completely free.”

Good to hear, Pete.

Read the rest through the link.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

Activision has sent over a schedule of DLC for Guitar Hero 5 expected for the month of October.

It’s quite a list too, and includes a track pack for Halloween.

There’s Wolfmother, Queens of the Stone Age, Peter Frampton, The J. Geils Band and Billy Squier.

Here’s the full thing for PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360:

October 1

• Queens Of The Stone Age Track Pack: Mexicola, Avon, How to Handle a Rope

October 8

• Billy Squier Track Pack: The Stroke, Everybody Wants You, When She Comes To Me

October 15

• Wolfmother Track Pack: Pilgrim, California Queen, Cosmic Egg

October 22

• Classic Rock 2 Track Pack: The J. Geils Band – Freeze Frame, Peter Frampton – Show Me The Way (Live), Triumph – Lay It On The Line

October 29

• All Hallows’ Eve Track Pack: GWAR – Gor Gor, Marilyn Manson – Beautiful People, The Misfits – Astro Zombies

Each Track Pack will run you 440 MS Points ($5.50/£3.74/€5.12) and individually for 160 MS Points ($2.00/£1.36/€1.86).

With the reviews for Uncharted 2 coming in from all over the place, it’s time for you to take a break from all the reading and have a watch instead.

Gamespot has you covered. Here are links to three, with the fourth – Rifle Butt Massacre -posted for you after the break.

Enjoy Drake fans.

• Giant Statue Puzzle Gameplay: Chloe is impressed with Nathan’s skills and offers him a banana. He then solves a giant statue puzzle.
• Heroes vs. Villains Gameplay: Heroes hold a corridor and capture a zone, and take a win.
• Pit Trap Gets Worse Gameplay: Nathan and Chloe fall into a pit trap with spikes. Nathan shoots out the gears.

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There is just no stopping the Aion: Collector’s Edition from keeping the top spot on both the Direct2Drive and Steam charts.

To add to it, the regular version of Aion took the second spot on both as well and the similarities end with newly released MMO Fallen Earth at number three, on both too.

The full thing is below courtesy of Shack.

Steam (9/20 – 9/26):

1. Aion Collector’s Edition
2. Aion
3. Fallen Earth
4. Batman: Arkham Asylum
5. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
6. Left 4 Dead
7. Resident Evil 5
8. Counter-Strike
9. Star Wars Jedi Knight Collection
10. Red Faction: Guerrilla

Direct2Drive (9/20 – 9/26):

1. Aion Collector’s Edition
2. Aion
3. Fallen Earth
4. Neverwinter Nights 2
5. Assassin’s Creed Director’s Cut
6. Titan Quest Bundle
7. Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir
8. Champions Online
9. BioShock
10. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Turbine has unveiled The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood digital expansion deals, one of which is the lifetime membership deal of $199.

There is also the Adventurer’s Pack, which is a nice preorder incentive and includes a special cloak that give you and 8 percent speed boost, a special goat mount and two extra character slots.

Also, any current or former player who renews or upgrades their subscription to any multi-month plan by October 31 gets the Siege of Mirkwood free.

Siege of Mirkwood is a digital expansion only and will run you $19.99 or as a bundle with the LOTRO Adventurer’s Pack plus a new mount for $39.99 on December 1.

Full thing through the link.

Microsoft has officially announced its $300 Xbox 360 Elite bundled with LEGO Batman and Pure.

If that does not interest you, maybe the just revealed newconfiguration for the Xbox 360 controller will.

It’ll run you $60 package and includes a black controller with three Xbox Live Arcade games–Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, Lumines LIVE!, Bomberman LIVE!–and a token for Ms. Pac-Man.

You can get it by its lonesome too for $50, and comes in black, white, and several other colors, including a black-and-red GameStop-exclusive which is $69.99..

Controller packages are due out October 15.

Thanks, Gamespot.

Tonight on BBC Four, Charlie Brooker’s chatting about videogames.

During the segment, he’s to look at “the various genres, how they have changed since their early conception and how the media represents games and gamers.”

The show will also feature interviews with Dara O’Briain, sitcom writer Graham Linehan (Father Ted) and Rab and Ryan from Consolevania.

It’s on at 10:00pm.

More through here.

The third episode in the Tales of Monkey Island series, Lair of the Leviathan, was released today.

Pirate Bounty Hunter Morgan La Flay, Coronado De Cava, and a special guest from previous Monkey Island games all make an appearance.

Lair of the Leviathan is available on the TellTale Games site and Steam.

Chapters four and five, The Trail and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood and Rise of the Pirate God will be released in October and November, respectively.

Former Late Night host Jay Leno told Sony during an interview for the September issue of Qore, that lending his voice to Gran Turismo PSP was “an honor” and a “big thrill” for the comedian as he is a fan of the games and a maniac car-collector.

When asked about his involvment with the game, Leno said it all began when the developers asked if they could visit his legendary garage and record the different engine sounds his cars make.

“I guess they heard I had some unusual cars and they wanted to come here and record the sounds,” said Leno. “To me it was great, because as a kid, I used to buy those records – where other kids were playing the Beatles – I would have the record of the BRM 16-cylinder….

“So they call me and ask [about the cars] and I said sure it would be fun to do and they asked if I wanted to add my voice to it, and I think it’s a huge honor…and yeah it’s a big thrill.”

He waffles on a bit there, being funny and cute and such, so we didn’t type those parts so you could watch and hear it yourself.

More through the US PS Blog.

Crash Course for zombie shooter Left 4 Dead, is out now for PC.

It went up on Xbox 360 earlier.

To celebrate, Valve is knocking 50 percent off the game’s regular price on Steam until October 1.

This new bit of DLC “bridges the gap” between the end of No Mercy and the beginning of Death Toll.

Go to your respective platform and get to getting it.

It looks as though Game Crazy plans to close 200 of its 680 US locations by the end of October.

According to sources working at the chain, stores attached to Hollywood Video locations will be shut down, although the movie rental end will remain.

“Movie Gallery, Inc. is currently operating in an unprecedented consumer/retail environment,” read an official statement from the company. “In order for us to continue to best serve our millions of customers across North America, we’re addressing underperforming stores and ensuring that there is sufficient [return on investment] associated with each of these stores going forward.

“The vast majority of our stores will be unaffected by these efforts.”

More over on Joystiq.

The general review embargo’s just gone up, following an initial round of regional exclusives earlier this month.

It’s a top score from EG, the site’s first for a PS3 exclusive. We’ll add the rest as they go live. If you’ve got a review you want adding, just stick a link in the comments.

The game releases on October 16 in Europe and October 15 in the US.

• EG – 10/10
• CVG – 10/10
• EG.pt – 10/10
• JeuxVideo – 19/20
• Boomtown – 9/10
• EG.nl – 9/10
• Gamers-Globe – 9/10
• JeuxVideo.fr – 5/5
• Gamereactor.dk – 8/10
• Joystiq – No score
• 1UP – A+
• G4TV – 5/5
• Videogamer – 9/10
• VGZ – 9.3/10
• NowGamer – 9.5/10
• Play – 96%
• PS3Bloggen – 10/10
• GamePro – 5/5
• USA Today – 4/4

Christophe Balestra, co-president of Naughty Dog, has just tweeted that the multiplayer Beta for Uncharted 2 is now available on PSN.

That’s grand news there, and apparently, the game is really-really good, because according to Geoff Keighley, you’re going to be fucking “blown away”.

Go now to your living room, bedroom, attic, cellar, sex-dungeon, or where ever you have your PS3 hooked up and get to downloading now.

Monte Cristo games has announced that the Limited Edition version of Cities XL is now available for preorder up on Steam.

This edition includes downloadable bonuses and content, priced at $39.99, and offers players the entire game, along with five additional maps, five exclusive landmarks, two permanent blueprints, a unique city hall, an in-game t-shirt for players’ avatars and a unique “web tag”.

Head on over to Steam to see what the city-builder is all about.

Namco has sent us over some screens for Enslaved, its new Ninja Theory game for PS3 and Xbox 360.

The assets look rather nice, and well, apocalyptic.

It’s expected for release sometime in 2010.

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