Monthly Archives: October 2009

Microsoft has put up some costumes for your Avatars on the XBL Marketplace.

You can be anything from a wizard to an alien, a king and queen to a vampire.

We like the werewolf costume, and will probably shell out the 240 MS Points ($3.00/£2.04/€2.79) for it, which will be a first on our end.

There’s loads more through here.

We asked you for questions about Modern Warfare 2. You told us. We asked Infinity Ward’s Rob Bowling at a London hotel about an hour ago. We managed to get in 14 questions for you, and Rob answered everything. He’s a very good sport.

So. Here you go. Hit the link.

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EA 2D has announced the development of Dragon Age: Journeys, a Flash game obviously based on BioWare’s upcoming RPG.

“At EA 2D it is our mission to create blockbusters for the browser; some will be original games created by our teams and some will be games within other EA franchises, such as Dragon Age Journeys,” said producer Ethan Levy.

“We have some big plans for Journeys. The first piece that we are currently building is a 3 chapter, single player, tactical RPG delivered in Flash. Right now we’re hard at work finishing the first chapter, Dragon Age Journeys: The Deep Roads. The game will introduce you to the dwarven city of Orzammar and the Deep Roads surrounding it where the dwarves face a persistent threat from the darkspawn hordes.”

A release date and more information is expected in the coming weeks.

Via VideoGamer.

Those who preordered Guitar Hero 5 for PS3 have yet to receive their free Guitar Hero: Van Halen game.

Reason why, is there was a “printing error” on the packaging.

Here’s the apology email folks are getting, courtesy of Joystiq:

“Unfortunately, we made a printing error on the package of Guitar Hero Van Halen. Fortunately, we caught and remedied the error prior to sending your disc. Our effort to ensure a completely positive customer experience has resulted in a slight delay in shipping your copy of the game.”

Activision has promised to begin mailing the game out this week.

PS3 was the only system effected, as copies for other consoles were already shipped out.

Mythic has announced that Warhammer Online will host a special live event, Daemon Moon Rising, for a limited time during the 2009 Halloween season.

Daemon Moon Rising, will run in-game from October 23 through November 2 and will feature the Daemon Mask event quest, a new Daemonball Rally Public Quest, a special RvR scenario, and treats both fair and foul.

Here’s the description:

In Daemon Moon Rising, a fiendish sub-cult of Chaos artificers have bound savage daemons into innocuous carnival masks and smuggled them into the Empire. The Daemon Mask event quest will task players with collecting these possessed masks and defeating the daemons bound within. As a reward for halting the menace of the masks, players will receive a souvenir Daemon Mask and a chance to discover the rare and powerful Magus Daemonarium within a sack of sinister secrets.

The Daemonball Rally Public Quest will pit players of Order and Destruction versus one another in a battle to seize the Daemon Cradle and empower the essence of nightmares against their opponents. Players can also don their masks and participate in “Wake the Dead”, a special running of the High Pass Cemetery RvR scenario available to characters of all tiers during the Daemon Moon Rising live event.

Other rewards available include: the Fiendfang with bonus to healing, damage, renown, and XP; the Face of the Unborn mask; the Meatcleaver’s mask; the Face-Eater’s mask; the arcane Malleus Daemonarium; and special talisman components imbued with the might of Chaos itself.

Sounds fun.

EA Mobile has revealed some details on Need for Speed: SHIFT for iPhone.

Basically, you’ll be able to play from a third-person arcade view, and from the cockpit – and yeah, the steering wheel is there.

Around 20 cars are featured with an upgrade system where you can use winning points from a race to purchase goodies. There’s 28 street and pro racing tracks, and you can change around the speed, handling, acceleration, and nitrous injection system.

Local Wi-Fi and Bluetooth multiplayer will also be included.

No word yet on when it will be made available.

Via PocketGamer.

Guitar Hero 5 has some new tracks available for it on the Xbox Live Marketplace. It should be up on PSN later today as well, if not already.

It’s a Wolfmother Track Pack, but you can get them individually as well.
Here’s what you’ll get for 160 MS Points ($2.00/£1.36/€1.86) each or 440 ($5.50/£3.74/€5.12) for the whole thing:

• Cosmic Egg
• California Queen
• Pilgrim

Via the Major.

We’re currently on our way to London for a Modern Warfare 2 demo and a chat with Infinity Ward comms boss Rob Bowling. Want to ask anything?

Then stick your questions in the comments below.

The EU PS Blog’s gone live with today’s European PSN update, which includes special offers on Resident Evil 5 and CoD: WaW DLC, as well as the WipEout HD Fury pack and a new PSP Mini in Yeti Sports Pengu Throw.

Nothing mindblowing, to be honest, but it’ll keedp you ticking over.

UK journo Charlie Brooker’s told MCV he felt recently aired TV special Gameswipe had a “weird” format, as it was watched by both those that play games and those that don’t.

The show outlined gaming genres and generally explained a bit of history and the modern ‘scene’.

“It was a weird thing to do, partly because it was a one-off,” he said. “You sort of realise early on that it was really aimed at people who don’t necessarily play games, but equally you think quite quickly that, you know, gamers are going to watch it as well.

“So it was a bit weird as you realise that if you don’t play games you really literally know nothing about them. I felt we almost had to explain what they were. It was a weird balancing act that we had to do.”

The show caught a fair bit of criticism, especially from the games trade. All of which, in our opinion at least, was a load of bollocks.

There’s part one of an interview through there.

Looks as though this year’s football race is won in terms of quality. The first PES 2010 scores are up, and from first impressions FIFA 10′s stuck one well and truly in the back of the net.

Here’s the lot so far. If you’ve got one you want posting, stick it in the comments.

• Eurogamer – 7/10
• 3DJuegos – 8/10
• Meristation – 7.5/10
• IGN UK – 8.7/10
• Videogamer – 7/10
• CVG – 7.8/10
• SpazioGames – 8.2/10
• NowGamer – PS3 (7.2/10), 360 (6.9/10), PC (7.3/10)
• Britxbox – 8/10

Funcom’s offering the chance to win access to The Secret World’s beta on the game’s official site.

To be in with a chance at an early look, you need to take a test to see which of the MMO’s secret societies best fits your personality. We’re now a member of the Dragon.

For your efforts you get some nice wallpapers and a logo, as well as the promise of a shot at a beta key.

No date on it yet. Thanks, Geki.

Bloody hell. EG just posted a new demo video of CryEngine 3 running on 360 and PS3, as well as showing some completely frigging bonkers real-time visuals and physics – must-watch.

It’s got “next gen ready” stamped all over it. It’s not hard to see why, frankly.

“With CryEngine 3 we are releasing the best development solution available today and tomorrow,” said CryTek boss Cevat Yerli.

“With its scalable graphics and computation it is Next Gen ready and with new features like CryEngine 3 Live Create the best choice for game developers and companies developing serious games applications alike. It is the only game engine solution that enables real-time development.”

Hit it.

The God of War III demo will release on November 13 in Japan, according to this Siliconera article.

The info comes from a promo in the Japanese version of InFamous.

Hit the link for more. Still waiting on a US or European date.

American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis is to co-write a script based on the 2008 Vanity Fair article The Golden Suicides about the dual suicides of Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake.

Duncan worked on CD-rom game Chop Suey, while her husband, Blake, was a Rockstar designer: she overdosed on tablets, following which Blake drowned himself.

Drugstore Cowboy director Gus Van Sant will also work on the script.

Via Slashfilm and Kotaku.

Game Informer’s stuck up some shots showing graphical differences between Modern Warfare: Reflex, the upcoming Wii version of CoD4, and the original PS3/360 version.

As you’d expect, there’s a decent gulf between the two.

It’s out on November 10.

Activision’s released tons of footage of Daft Punk mixes from DJ Hero, as well as two new TV ads featuring the helmeted cyberists.

Get three of them after the break, and the rest from the game’s official YouTube channel. It’s out October 30.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

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Borderlands is launching on October 20, and for Gearbox Software, that means it’s time to pop out of the development trenches and pop open a few bottles of celebratory champagne. And play more Borderlands.

Even better, on October 17, you can join them. Well, if you live in or around Dallas, Texas, anyway. Just head over to Gearbox’s website, RVSP, and you’ll gain access to some early hands-on time with Borderlands – not to mention a live performance from the Beastie Boys’ Mix Master Mike.

Also, a certain Texas-dwelling VG247 blogger might be attending, and we’ve heard that he absolutely loves being made to look utterly incompetent at first-person shooters. So there’s also that.

Nintendo, Capcom, and 53 other “unspecified” game publishers are on the legal warpath again, this time with their sights firmly set on four R4 cart sellers. R4 carts, in case you hadn’t heard, were outlawed in Japan earlier this year. But then, the law’s never really been much of an issue for pirates, now has it?

Capcom claims that, despite a Tokyo court’s earlier anti-R4 ruling, this group of dealers won’t stop hawking their piracy prone wares. In Capcom’s own words, they “ignore our warnings” and “[did] not show any sincere response.” Hopefully, then, a lawsuit will get their attention.

Thanks, Gamasutra.

Steam has Sid Meier’s Civilization IV up on the site for 50 percent off until Friday.

The sale only applies to Civilization IV: The Complete Edition, which is the bundle of all four Civ IV releases, so it will cost you $19.99 instead of the usual $39.99.

THQ games are also still on sale this week, with today’s newest offering being 50 percent off all the Dawn of War games. Hurry before the sale ends today.