Monthly Archives: November 2009

Square and PopCap’s new puzzle RPG for XBLA and PC, Gyromancer, has a date.

November 18.

You know you want it. Watch a video of it over D’toid.

BioWare has released the Tool Set for Dragon Age: Origins.

With it you can:

• Create New Adventures – Forge your own environments from your imagination, or use the rich set of Dragon Age locations and artwork as starting blocks to build new, original campaigns, quests, or cut-scenes.
• Stage Massive Battles – Test your might in battle by fully customizing the combat and creature AI, allowing you to create detailed action sequences full of heart-pounding warfare.
• Be the Director – Create your own stories with the powerful cinematics editor that offers full control of the camera, voice and lip syncing tools, and a full character creator.
• Content Creator’s Community – Join the BioWare Social Network where you can easily find tutorials, share content, chat with other creators, and get content updates for the toolset.

You can get it from BioWare, FileFront, BigDownload and other places too, we’re sure.

Cities XL’s “The Old England Pack” was made available this week from Monty Cristo.

The free pack includes buildings, maps, and megastructures full of medieval buildings inspired by Shakespearian England.

There’s a paved road, and a medieval plaza to create historic town centers along with “limitless” types of architecture.

This game is sounding better and better all the time.

Full list of goodies passed the break.

More »

Microsoft is hiring for loads of things, but two of the job listings may interest you – and take what you will from each. We just tell you about ‘em.

One is for Project Natal which points to “a large franchise,” and another to “an excellent next-generation” project.

Another listing posted was for AI developers, animators, designers, and a multiplayer game design lead for a new Halo game, likely for Halo: Reach.

Joystiq contacted The Major to see if any extra information was available, but sadly there wasn’t.

More through the link.

Direct2Drive and and Steam released the top 10 lists for the week of October 25-31.

Looks like Aion is still lingering, despite heavyweight games like Torchlight, preorders for Dragon Age and Borderlands.

Here’s he full list, courtesy of TenTonHammer.

Direct2Drive

1. Borderlands
2. Dragon Age: Origins Digital Deluxe Edition (Preorder)
3. Dragon Age: Origins Digital Deluxe Ed. w/ Prima Guide(Preorder)
4. Torchlight
5. Tropico 3
6. Dragon Age: Origins (Preorder)
7. Civilization 4: The Complete Edition
8. Aion
9. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines (Halloween Promo)
10. Risen

Steam

1. Borderlands
2. Left 4 Dead 2 (Preorder)
3. Torchlight
4. Football Manager 2010 and Dragon Age Origins: Digital Deluxe Edition (Preorder) (Tie)
5. Killing Floor
6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Preorder)
7. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Sale)
8. Dragon Age Origins LW: 4 (Preorder)
9. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (Sale)
10. Team Fortress 2 (Sale) and Aion: Standard Edition (Tie)

If you preordered Left 4 Dead 2 via Steam, Valve has announced that you can now preload the game on your PC.

Meanwhile, if you have yet to preorder through the service, the game is still 10 percent off until November 17 when the game is unlocked.

Also, the Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 package is still on sale as well.

Hit the link to find out more.

Thanks, BigDownload.

Some shots of the original God of War and God of War II were compared side-by-side to the God of War Collection for PS3.

Which do you think will look better?  Well, everyone’s eyes are different and we suppose it is a matter of preference too, probably.

Anyway, there are some over on IGN, but Bitmob has the mother load through here and here.

We don’t know if it’s the same on each site or not, there are so many that our eyes start to get fuzzy, and then none of them look any good.

Judge for yourself.

Japanese voice actor Rikiya Koyama has leaked the possibility of Namco-Bandai porting Tales of Vesperia to Wii.

“Tales of Vesperia is coming out on one thing after another: Xbox 360, then PS3, and now upcoming, goes on sale even on the Wii,” he wrote on his blog.

“More shortly, the feature film anime version is also opening in theaters (But I’m not in it…), and after that, there’s also a CD.”

Koyama provides the voice for the Duke in the game, and while it is possible he may be getting the title mixed up with Tales of Graces of Wii, one would think someone who worked on it would know.

Then again, maybe not. We’ll have to see.

Via Kotaku

If the new footage of New Super Mario Bros. Wii posted yesterday was not enough to quell your cravings for the game, maybe the screens posted over on Andriasang will do the trick.

Honestly, all the screens did for us was make our internal quaking a bit more pronounced, but that’s just us being excited over the game, just like a kid getting a Big Wheel for Christmas.

It’s out November 15 and 20 in the US and UK, respectively.

A new developer diary from Assassin’s Creed I & II scriptwriter Corey May was posted on IGN yesterday, and in it he chats about the voice recording process and all the work it entails.

He also mentions the voice actors, and few tidbits about them, some of which you may know already, and some you may not.

“We were fortunate to have our cast of present characters return for the sequel. Kristen Bell would play Lucy once more. Working with her was one of the highlights of the process for me. I was (and remain) a HUGE fan of Veronica Mars,” wrote May. “She’s got this amazing ability to blend sweetness with bad-assery which is exactly who Lucy is. You saw the sweetness in AC1 and you’ll see the bad-assery in AC2. She’s a phenomenal actress. Oh and just to clear up any confusion – Lucy is folding down her finger in the “reveal” scene in AC1 when she lets Desmond know she’s an Assassin. It hasn’t been cut off. So spread the word!

“Nolan North is back as Desmond. His mastery of deadpan humor is unmatched. And that’s important to me. Even in the direst of circumstances he finds a way to break the tension. A little bit of self-referential humor helps to keep Assassin’s Creed from feeling overly melodramatic (and you’ll notice quite a bit of that in the past segments of the game now as well).

“Phil Proctor also returns as Warren Vidic, So there’s a tiny spoiler for you.”

Full thing through the link there.

Looks like a fella who pirated Modern Warfare 2 has been arrested by Miami-Dade County Police.

Christain Del Amo, who just turned 18 in August, was apparently asking for donations in order to purchase a Modern Warfare 2 360 Bundle on CraigsList for $500, that was stolen from a retail chain’s stockroom.

His plan, was to crack the anti-piracy code in order to distribute counterfeit copies of the game making money in the process. Upon seeing his post on a pirating site, Activision contacted IPCybercrime.com to track him down, which they did over Facebook.

Eventually, the kid hacked the code which was apparently not an issue, as he was known as a modder and had a site for selling modded Xbox 360 hard disks. Miami police were contacted by Del Amo’s “runner” with a disc containing the Modern Warfare 2 limited edition image on it, and police since learned he was in discussions with a Hologram maker to help his copies look even more legitimate.

Detectives in LA also rigged a fake deal to buy two of the stolen bundles off of CraigsList for $800 each, and proceeded with an undercover sting operation and busted the seller, who “admitted to having stolen a crate of the bundles from the backroom of a game retail store”.

Turns out there was another guy involved with the bundle stealing bit there as well.

It’s all very Cops and Robbers stuff, and you can read the full thing through VentureBeat.

Dhani Harrison has told the Chicago Tribune that he is currently working on Rock Band 3 with Harmonix, and the third outing the series is to be “more realistic” as far as controllers go.

“I’m working on Rock Band 3 and making the controllers more real so people can actually learn how to play music while playing the game,” Harrison told the paper. “Give me a couple years, it’s going to happen”.

We guess the gaming bug bit him rather hard while working on The Beatles: Rock Band.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

Media-Create’s released the latest software charts in Japan for October 26 – November 1.

Looks like our soon-to-be-favorite witch is tops on the list, with Bayonetta selling 135,242 copies for PS3, and coming in at number seven for 360 with 64,325 copies sold. That’s a grand total of 199,567. Wow.

Four Warriors of Light: Final Fantasy and Tekken 6 came in a respectable second and third with 114,714 and 103,105 units moved, respectively.

Here’s the top ten, courtesy of Gamespot.

1. Bayonetta (PS3) 135,242
2. Four Warriors of Light: Final Fantasy Gaiden (DS) 114,714
3. Tekken 6 (PS3) 103,105
4. Persona 3 Portable (PSP) 94,287
5. Pokemon HeartGold and Soul Silver (DS) 87,594
6. Wii Fit Plus ( Wii) 82,427
7. Bayonetta ( 360 ) 64,325ja
8. Tomodachi Collection (DS) 53,159
9. Inazuma Eleven 2: Kyoui no Shinryokusha – Fire and Blizzard (DS) 41,437
10. Super Robot Taisen Neo (Wii) 26,559

Media-Create has released the Japanese hardware sales for October 26 – November 1.

The winner? Why DSi of course, with 37,517 sold followed by PS3 with 36,061.

Here’s the full thing, courtesy of Gamespot:

1. DSi – 37,517
2. PS3 – 36,061
3. PSP – 34,911
4. PSP Go – 29,109
5. Wii – 28,888
6. DS Lite – 6,902
7. Xbox 360 – 6,047
8. PS2 – 1,966

EA announced today that Strikeforce, a mixed martial arts fight promotion, will be featured as a premier league in the MMA game.

In addition, Brett Rogers and Jake Shields have joined the roster of fighters with already announced Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.

The game will also feature the commentary of Frank Shamrock and Mauro Ranallo, as well as ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. and all will be incorporated into the game with referee “Big John” McCarthy presiding over the in-ring action.

“We are very excited to be working with Strikeforce, and feature them as a premier league in our game,” said executive producer Dale Jackson. “They have a wealth of mixed martial arts expertise, put on great shows and have a great stable of top-notch fighters.

“Together we look forward to growing the sport and delivering an immersive interactive gaming experience.”

Game’s out on PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2010.

Netflix users should have gotten their instant streaming disc for PS3 today, and if you have yet to try it out or are sitting on the fence, there’s a demo of the service posted over on YouTube, which we have past the break.

Looks like a good thing, really.

See for yourself.

Thanks Engadget.

More »

Valve’s Chet Faliszek has said since the Xbox 360 community is “head and shoulders above the PS3″, it’s one of the reasons that the developer bypasses the Sony console.

“Right now for Left 4 Dead 2 we’re looking at PC and 360 because the community aspects really fit the game – it’s all about playing with your friends,” he said. “But that’s the short term. What we’re looking at for the long term… if it works out, it works out.

“Right now don’t not buy it on the 360 because you think it’s coming out on the PS3 – it’s not going to. Right? It’s coming out on the PC and 360. It’s going to be exclusive for that.

“In hooking up with your friends and the community aspects, I think the Xbox 360 is head and shoulders above the PS3. The 360 and PC are on par, right?”

More through CVG.

Microsoft has announced that Sky Player for Xbox 360 is now available to “100 percent” of the user base in UK and Ireland.

Here’s the statement:

As you may know we have been implementing a gradual rollout of the Sky Player on Xbox 360 service since our initial launch, and as of today, 100 percent of the Xbox base can access Sky Player, and tens of thousands of new users are accessing the service daily.

The quality of the service remains of the utmost importance to both Sky and Xbox, and as such we will run further testing over the weekend and continue to monitor the service closely.

Thanks, GI.biz.

BioShock 2 creative director, Jordan Thomas, has said that in the sequel, our protagonist Jack Ryan returns, but not in the way you might think.

“His story, for the purposes of BioShock 2, is over, in terms of his world driving narrative”, mentioned Thomas during a recent demo. “That said, the things that he did are being fiercely debated by the splicers, because we wanted to support any of the choices the player could have made in the first game.

“It’s become kind of a religious question; what he did at the end of “BioShock 1.”

No word on whether the splicers burn effigies in his honor, sacrifice Adam to statues of him in a paganistic ritual or what sorts of poly/monotheism theories are involved as the developers are keeping things rather vague due to choices made in the first game.

Still, it’s nice to know you might be considered a god in the sequel.

More through MTV.

Looks like Xbox 360 users under the age of 18 cannot use Twitter on Xbox 360.

Apparently, this goes for the whole Dashboard update that includes Last.Fm and Facebook as well, until parental controls allow it.

Here’s the official word from the Major himself:

As some of you might be aware, those under the age of 18 are not able to access Twitter, Facebook and Last.fm in our public preview. I want to you let you know that this will remain the case when it launches to the world soon. We made this decision because as it stands now, parents aren’t able to use Family Settings to customize which of these applications their children can access. In order to offer an age-appropriate environment for everyone, we decided to turn off these applications for those Gold members under the age of 18.

As expected, this has been a hot topic with the preview users. We want to make sure everyone was aware, however, that the development team is working on an update that gives parents the choice of which social applications their children can access. This means that Xbox LIVE members between the ages of 13 and 17 will be able to use Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm as long as their parents approve. The team hope to roll this out several weeks after launch and I will update you on the exact date as it gets closer.

Here’s the link.