Monthly Archives: November 2009

ONM UK has the first review up for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Reflex Edition for Wii.

Apparently it’s not too bad, as the site gave it an 80/100 percent, stating that it was “better than most shooters on the Wii”.

Here are some highlights:

• + Everything is included
• + Excellent online modes
• + Customizable controls
• + Exciting, fast-paced action
• - Rough around the edges

Go read up on it yourself through here.

Thanks, GoNinetendo.

Update: Scrawlfx has updated the original story to note that the shots for the update including Facebook were takin straight from the UK PlayStation site. If you hit the link in the original story below, you will be taken to the updated post. No date on when the update will hit, just yet anyway.

Original: There’s a rumor floating about that Facebook integration, along with a couple of other things are heading to PS3.

A source close to Scrawlfx sent in “leaked” photos of Facebook being managed within the account settings on PSN, along with the ability to change the colors of your gamercard and a new way to look through photos.

Remember, rumor. Nothing more at this point.

Go see for yourself.

Today is the last day to move over to a Battle.net account should you wish to continue playing World of Warcarft.

Blizzard has said that it is now a requirement, per Cinemablend, and if you wish to play future titles like Diablo III and StarCraft II, you might as well go ahead and sign up because it is mandatory for those as well.

Battle.net stores all your account information and has a new communication feature and auto opt-in for upcoming Betas.

As a reward for doing so, Blizzard is giving away a free penguin pet:

“If you create a new Battle.net account after November 11 and merge an existing World of Warcraft account with it, you will still be able to receive the pet. However, please note that we plan to remove the ability to get the penguin pet at some point in the future”, said Blizzard.

More through the link.

Modern Warfare has sold 1.23 million copies in the UK, day one, according to GfK-ChartTrack.

The number is double that of GTA IV’s day one sales of 631,000, making MW2 the fastest-selling game in UK history with 1,230,588 copies sold.

Broken down, it means that the game is in approximately one of every 24 UK homes.

That’s a lot, there.

More through MCV.

Update: Full ELSPA/GfK PR passed the break.

More »

Looks like the Pandaren Monk vanity pet Blizzard had up for offer with proceeds going to charity is sold out, in America at least.

Blizzard never mentioned that the Monk was a limited time only item for World of Warcraft, despite the fact that it was announced that 50 percent of proceeds went to the Make-a-Wish Foundation until December 31.

A possibility is that this was an error of some sort, with WoW.com surmising that it is nothing more than “an inventory error, where some number had to be inserted into the Blizzard Store’s inventory management system”.

Hopefully this is indeed the case and Blizzard will remedy the matter shortly.

More through the link.

The American Council on Exercise has issued a report on the effectiveness of WiiFit and how much of an impact it makes using it as a sole means for exercise and physical fitness.

To make things more official and accurate, the council enlisted the help of research experts John Porcari, Alexa Carroll, and Carl Foster from the University of Wisconsin La Crosse Exercise and Health Program.

The study conduced by the researchers included 16 volunteers, male and female, ages 20 to 24 years and the results concluded that while “anything was better than nothing”, WiiFit should be used in addition to a exercise program, not as the only means.

“I guess anything is better than nothing, but we were a little bit underwhelmed with the exercise intensity of some of the exercises,” said John Porcari, PhD. “The Wii Fit is a very, very mild workout.

“You’re better off doing Wii Sports than Wii Fit. In Wii Sports there’s more jumping around, and you’re not constrained by having to stand on the balance pad. I just think there’s much more freedom of movement and you get a better workout.”

“Since using the Wii Fit alone may not produce results that meet recommended physical activity, guidelines” notes study author Alexa Carroll, M.S., “it is important that individuals participate in additional exercises to effectively reach these guidelines.”

The full study can be read through this lovely PDF document.

Good Old Games has added Sanitarium to its library and for $9.99 you’ll also get the soundtrack.

Considered a must for point-and-click adventure enthusiasts, Sanitarium puts players in the shoes of an asylum patient who survived a car crash and if suffering from amnesia.

There’s loads of ancient gods, deformed children, and ghosts from your past in a house inside of a water reflection. Yep. Creepy and strange alright.

The game has five different worlds chock full of riddles and answers, where you must decide what is real and what isn’t.

Go get it.

During EA’s Winter Showcase in West London, the EU PS Blog had a chance to sit down with the executive producer of Dante’s Inferno, Jonathan Knight.

In the chat, Knight mentioned that from the moment he pitched the idea of bringing the literary classic into the 21st century via an action game, he pretty much “got the greenlight right away”.

“The bosses of the games label at EA and the executives thought it was a great idea right away,” he revealed. “Like me, they saw the potential in the mythology and how nobody’s ever taken on that sort of medieval, christian notion of the afterlife as kind of a real place that you go to under the ground. There’s monsters and demons and rivers, and it’s just a crazy fantastical vision that Dante Aligeri had for Hell.

“My execs just immediately saw potential there for a great game.”

The video is posted passed the break, and in it, Knight also reveals what was taken literally from the text and what they took liberties with. Good stuff, there.

More »

Activision has revealed that it plans to heavily market Tony Hawk: RIDE during the holiday shopping season, and feels that of motion controls featured with the peripheral will breath new life into the franchise.

“Tony Hawk: Ride is set to reinvigorate the franchise as it introduces a new exciting skateboard peripheral to the market,” brand manager Natalie Giles told MCV. “It’s a very social experience, which offers players the chance to recreate tricks like the pros with their friends and family. We are committed to making this title a family favorite.”

Starting with a four-week long online campaign aimed at 9 to 14 year-old boys, TV spots will also run for three-weeks starting December 1, and the game will be on hand at consumer events, shopping malls, and the London Freeze and Metro Ski and Snowboard shows.

“Retail demand for Tony Hawk: Ride in other launch markets has been high so far,” added Giles. “Retailers have confidence in the product proposition due the unique social experience which both the game and the peripheral offer.”

Game’s out in the US on November 17 and in the UK December 4.

FOX News had a discussion this morning regarding Modern Warfare 2, and true to form, only discussed the segment of the game where you play as a terrorist.

Special guests brought in to chat about it  were Jon Christensen of Slash Gamer and Jim Steyer, CEO of Common Sense Media.

Basically there was a back and form between Jon and Jim regarding the game, and in the stations constant effort to bring “fair and balanced reporting” the FOX hosts completely ignored the fact that it was not intended for players under 17, and quipped:

“You bring a violent game into a house with an 8 year old, nothing to stop that kid from playing it and becoming a terrorist…on a video game.”

We guess there’s tons of eight year old children out who would be more interested in this game, than say LEGO Batman or Webkinz. At least in FOX News land.

The full thing is over on Kotaku.

Square’s about to make a “BIG” Final Fantasy XIII announcement. It’s happening on Friday, and, according to this, the firm’s going to do it on the EU PS Blog.

A new video’s going to be released. That’s all we know. Actually, we know a little bit more, but we’re not saying anything.

Producer Yoshinori Kitase’s doing the honours, so watch very closely.

Sony’s announced plans to give away another 10,000 PS3s with Bravias in Australia, mirroring a previous, similar promotion.

To get a free console, you need to:

1. Be in Australia.
2. Spend between AU$2,199 and AU$8,499 on a Bravia.
3. Validate your purchase before December 1 in order to get the machine before Christmas.

Do all this will “save” you AU$499. Full details here.

MCV’s reporting that Project Natal will release in November 2010, will have 14 launch games and will retail at less than £50.

The details come from a “behind-closed-doors Microsoft tour of UK publishers and studios,” with one source saying the camera could cost as little as £30.

There’ll be 5 million launch units, apparently.

That’s it, pretty much. More background through the link.

Recent remarks from Randy Pitchford on Valve “exploiting a lot of people in a way that’s not totally fair” with Steam have been taken “really out-of-context” and “twisted and contorted”.

That’s according to Gearbox creative director Mike Neumann, speaking to VG247 in an interview published today.

Neumann did add, however, that he believes that the “honor system” involved with publishing on Steam is “a little sketchy”.

“Thing is, it was really out-of-context,” said Neumann. “There is absolutely no bad blood there. We love Valve. We love Steam. We’re doing good on it right now. It’s a really great platform.

“[Randy] was simply making a sidenote. Like, ‘Hey, they’re a developer, and they also self-publish. There might be a conflict of interest there.’ It’s not like I disagree. There might be conflict of interest there. We haven’t seen any evidence. It’s all on the honor system. But it is a bit like, ‘Hey, let’s at least acknowledge that we’re all on the honor system here.’ It’s a little sketchy.”

He added:

“I think the comments about exploiting developers really just got twisted and contorted. I think [Randy] was trying to stick up for the little guys a bit, and it was cool to see all the indie developers that have been using Steam as their platform come out and say Steam’s awesome.

“And it’s like, OK, the honor system’s working and everybody’s doing well. So really, all we proved is that Valve’s good people, and this is working out. So we’ll stick with this.”

Pitchford initial said that, “As a guy in this industry though, I don’t trust Valve. I, personally, trust Valve. But I’m just saying, honestly, I think a lot of the industry doesn’t.

“It would be much better if Steam was its own business. There’s so much conflict of interest there that it’s horrid. It’s actually really, really dangerous for the rest of the industry to allow Valve to win.

“I love Valve games, and I do business with the company. But, I’m just saying, Steam isn’t the answer. Steam helps us as customers, but it’s also a money grab, and Valve is exploiting a lot of people in a way that’s not totally fair.”

Gearbox’s latest release, RPG-shooter Borderlands, was released on October 29 and is currently the fifth bestselling game on Steam.

Mike Neumann, Gearbox creative director, has given a clear indication that we haven’t seen the back of Borderlands yet.

“Borderlands is really exciting,” Neumann told VG247, speaking in an interview published today.

“Everyone here loves the franchise, and it seems like the public is really coming back with praise and love. So yeah, if everything makes sense, Borderlands 2 seems like a no-brainer to me.”

You’ll be waiting a while, however. Nothing’s been officially planned or confirmed, and internal discussion hasn’t passed the water cooler as yet.

“With anything, especially a new IP, if people want more and you can make more, and everybody can make money and do good business there, it obviously makes really good sense to do that,” Neumann added.

“Obviously nothing so far is planned. We’re working on DLC. We haven’t really had any talks about a sequel, other than water cooler talk like, ‘Wouldn’t this be cool’ kind of stuff.”

Hit the link for the full interview.

Gearbox is very much in its moment. While Modern Warfare 2′s relentless brass-ejection had many of 2009′s biggest potentials running into next year’s first quarter, the Texan developer and publisher 2K stood ground and went ahead with a new, Q4, core IP release in Borderlands: the gambit resulted in stock shortages and open water to enjoy sales on what’s been universally tagged as an excellent game.

Borderlands’ release was well judged, and merely capped off a year in which Gearbox has managed to maintain near constant media presence, most recently throwing itself jazz-handedly into the limelight with contentious remarks about Valve and Steam from boss Randy Pitchford – Mike Neumann, creative director, tells us below that Pitchford’s words were “twisted and contorted”.

And don’t forget Aliens. Or Brothers in Arms. VG247′s Nathan Grayson didn’t: see how Neumann answered his questions after the break.

More »

EA strongman John Riccitiello’s told investors that there’s “frustration” at the firm regarding Wii’s performance.

“To be honest with you, I think the Wii platform has been a little weaker than we had certainly anticipated,” he said, speaking after Q2 earnings this week.

“And there is no lack of frustration to be doing that at precisely the time where we have the strongest third-party share.”

It’s all Nintendo’s fault, apparently.

“Frankly, I think they need more beats in the year than they get out of a first-party slate – to be able to have the Wii software platform perform as well as they would like,” he added.

“We are building the products that I think the most highly rated on the platform and at this point in time, generating the most revenue of any third-party platform.”

Via Kotaku, IG and GI.

Cryptic Studios producer Craig Zinkievich has told NowGamer that Star Trek Online may get trading in future updates. Sounds a bit EVEie.

“Some of the biggest [ideas for additions] were allowing players to play as neutral factions (like traders) or play as an officer on another player’s ship,” he said.

First off, though, players are going to be Kirk-alikes only.

“We… knew that we wanted to get the game out in a set amount of time, and that we wanted to make sure that we delivered a deep and rich experience rather than a whole bunch of thin ones,” he added.

“So we focused on making the Starship Captain experience.”

The MMO’s now been confirmed for a February ship.

There’s a video after the break of God of War II QA lead Stephen Peterson showing you how to get the “15 Min Fight Scene” Trophy in God of War Collection. There’s a 500-hit combo in there.

Stephen’s played through God of War II “probably about 100 times”. He shows which magic to use, when to use it, and how to get the best from your hammer. As if you need telling that.

You’ll also see a “flaming vortex attack” that does “massive damage” to “everyone”.

Don’t take our word for it.

More »

Some headlines are born great. The ESRB’s detailed its M rating for Assassin’s Creed II, revealing some pretty special dialogue from the free-running sequel.

“Consumers may also wish to know that the game contains strong profanity, both in English and Italian (e.g., ‘f**k,’ ‘sh*t,’ ‘c*zzo,’ and ‘m*rda’); the most explicit instance occurs when a man frantically describes a ‘vision’ — ‘I’m at the opera . . . the soprano is so beautiful . . . I’m in bed with her, she cries as I f**k her.’”

There’s more. There’s a “Captain” in it that has “page-boy fantasies”.

“The game contains strong sexual overtones,” said the ratings board.

“During one ‘seduction mini-game,’ players are able to press buttons to kiss a woman and remove her dress; with the woman’s back facing the camera, the two characters lower to bed and blow out a candle. Some scenes take place inside brothels, though no nudity or sexual acts are depicted. The dialogue contains the following sexual references: ‘So the whip or the paddle today?’ and ‘Does your wife know about your page-boy fantasies, Captain?’”

You go, Mr Ubisoft. The game’s out next Tuesday for 360 and PS3.