Monthly Archives: December 2009

Square Enix has announced that NieR will see a spring 2010 release on PS3 and Xbox 360.

It also released some new screens, along with the box art this morning, which has no mention of Replicant or Gestalt anywhere on it nor in the fact sheet below the break.

Head on below to read it, and head on over to D’toid for the screens.

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Casting director Chris Marazzo has confirmed to Battlefront 3.net that he has been working closely with Lucasarts on not only Battlefront 3, but the 2006 release of Star Wars Empire at War: Forces of Corruption.

Rumors started circulating this week regarding the project, so BF3.net contacted Marazzo and received this reply:

“Thanks for getting in touch. The Original Title was Battlefront 3 but it evolved into Star Wars Empire at War: Forces of Corruption. However Battlefront 3 is also in development. It was by far the most fun and coolest casting I ever worked on.”

Marazzo also told the site that he would try and send over some Battlefront 3 storyboards “by the end of the week”. If you look at his portfolio, it states that he has “cast over 200 Commercials and various projects in NY and LA, including most recently STAR WARS: Battlefront 3 with Lucas Arts”.

Hit the links for more.

Meanwhile, we’ll contact Lucasarts and see what it has to say about all of this.

There’s a new game on Xbox Live that will teach you how to chat up the ladies for 80 MS Points ($1).

Titled, Don’t Be Nervous Talking 2 Girls, it’s a cross between a sim game and what Siliconera calls “edutainment”.

Created by Silver Dollar Games and containing the tagline: “Are you nervous talking to girls? All you need is practice,” it plays outs sort of like a visual novel and, apparently, the game is over when the gal finds you so creepy she threatens to call the law on you.

We honestly don’t know what to say about this, other than, well nothing really. Only know we laughed a bit.

More through the link.

Thanks, Mike.

The associate producer for Gran Turismo 5, Chris Hinojosa-Miranda, announced that the racer will be released sometime during summer 2010 outside of Japan, while confirming the country’s March release.

Hinojosa-Miranda also stated that he was planning a trip to the states in order to photograph cars for reference material, but told D’toid that it was not for the current game or DLC but to stock up on material archives.

He also told the site that DLC was still being considered, but had nothing to announce at this time, same goes for any differences between the Japanese and Western releases.

A demo for GT5 hits PSN next week, and the full feature list, according to Hinojosa-Miranda, will be announced soon.

More through the link.

GameStop has announced that new game sales for the chain were up 15 percent in November, compared to the same time frame last year.

Like with most retail outlets this time of year, Black Friday sales and promotions helped contribute to the month overall.

“While some indicators say that new software sales are declining, we are excited to be able to roll out robust offers and incentives to help maximize shoppers’ budgets,” GameStop VP Tony Bartel. “In November of 2009, we bucked the trend and have continued to gain market share. In fact, our US stores saw a 15 percent rise in new software sales.”

While the press release did not include sales for used games, it does have a handy dandy list of titles to purchase for that hard to please gamer on your list.

Providing they’re the type to like what’s suggested, at any rate.

Full PR below the break, courtesy of Joystiq.

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Sony has Twitter teased the masses today with what appears to be a surprise of sorts for Demon’s Souls players.

Here’s the tweet:

Heroes of Boletaria, take heart: rumor has it the Old One’s power will falter in the days following the winter solstice #demonssouls

The only thing we can figure out, same with Cinemablend, is that the difficulty may get taken down a notch come the solstice on December 21.

Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

More through the links.

The top 20 best sellers on the November NPD software list, were revealed today.

While we don’t have numbers for the bottom half, Michael Pachter stated that “34 titles sold over 100,000 units in November 2009″, which means that sales for 11-20 fell into the 315,000 and 100,000 units range.

Here’s the bottom portion of the list, with last night’s top 10 through here.

• Wii Play (Wii)
• Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii)
• Value Game Bundle (Wii)
• Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (DS)
• Dragon Age: Origins (PS3)
• Value Game Bundle (Wii)
• God of War Collection (PS3)
• Halo 3: ODST (360)
• Borderlands (360)
• Madden NFL 10 (360)

Via Gamasutra.

European retailers Game, Gamestation, and Play are listing Heavy Rain for a February 26 release.

To lend some credence to this, Famitsu said that it will be released in Japan during February as well.

As far as North America is concerned, SCEA stated that it has not announced a release yet, but “stay tuned as we will have a release date soon.”

SCEE has yet to comment.

More through Joystiq.

BioWare has released a video for Mass Effect 2 focusing on the voice talent that was revealed yesterday.

It starts out with Martin Sheen’s voice. That is enough reason to have a watch in and of itself.

Watch it below the break.

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Direct2Drive has released its top seller list for the week ending December 5.

BioWare took the top three spots with Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and the Origins Digital Deluxe Edition.
It should also be noted that quite a few titles on the list were part of D2D’s 24 Games of Christmas sale.

1. Dragon Age: Origins
2. Mass Effect
3. Dragon Age: Origins Digital Deluxe Edition
4. Crysis Maximum Edition
5. The Sims 3
6. Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 Bundle
7. Civilization 4: The Complete Edition
8. The Witcher: Enhanced Edition Director’s Cut
9. Borderlands
10. The Sims 3 World Adventures Expansion Pack

Via Examiner.

THQ has confirmed, after a GameStop flier broke the news, that its UFC 2010 will be released next year on May 25.

The game will get its official reveal tomorrow during the Spike Video Game Awards.

Let’s hope some fighters show up and start demoing their job on unsuspecting presenters.

Admit it. It would be fun.

More through D’toid.

Borderlands got patched today on Xbox 360.

Here are the official notes:

• Characters that have lost skill points will have them returned the next time they are loaded
• Most instances involving character data loss when playing online should no longer occur
• Item cards now display the intended five lines of text
• Achievements should now unlock properly. Players should automatically receive achievements that did not unlock correctly
• Fixed a progression issue in the Find Steele mission – characters affected by this issue should now be able to continue progressing
• Some issues involving external data manipulation of the backpack and character level have been addressed
• The auto-aim option should now fully disable auto-aim properly
• Fixed a bug that kept challenges and achievements from unlocking for the rest of a session after visiting arenas
• Fixed some formatting issues with the server list screen.
• Fixed an issue causing servers to report the incorrect plot mission.
• Proficiency progress to the next level should no longer be lost when leaving a multiplayer game as a client Lilith’s “Silent Resolve” skill now works as intended
• Fixed a bug that allowed Mordecai to spawn multiple Bloodwings
• Mordecai’s “Loaded” skill now increases mag capacity by 20%
• Roland’s “Scattershot” skill has had its spread adjustment corrected, and damage now increases at +5 per level

Thanks, Evil Avatar.

Geoff Keighley has told D’toid that there will be “more than 12″ exclusives, including the announced Crackdown 2, a new Star Wars title, and at least two games he can’t even comment on during the VGAs tomorrow night.

He also mentioned that during the commercial breaks, the show will come back with new stage set ups, thanks to digital environments.

“We definitely have some pretty major surprises still to come,” he said. “Essentially, the biggest thing in the show hasn’t even been announced yet.

“We’re going to keep some of the environments secret [for now] but you’ll definitely get to see that we’ll be transforming a lot of worlds, even some games worlds, as well. We’re working with some game publishers to actually create some of the very cool content.

“You know, I think we do a pretty good job that will get the hardcore excited, but we also have to look at the broader more mainstream audience. Because if I booked ten Japanese RPGs on the show, that might be great for some of the real hardcore guys, but that’s not what’s going to appeal to the mainstream crowd.”

Keighley also revealed that Dead Space 2, Natal, and Sony’s motion controller will not be included in the show.

The full thing is through the link.

The last class announced for Star Wars: The Old Republic, the Sith Inquisitor, has been detailed and given the official Holonet treatment over on the MMO’s website.

Details:

The history of the Sith Empire is fraught with scheming politics and dark secrets—the lifeblood of the Sith Inquisitor. Treachery hides around every corner in the Empire’s dark corridors, and survival depends on an individual’s natural cunning and the will to manipulate and defeat enemies and allies alike. The Inquisitor experiments with forbidden powers to not only survive in this cutthroat environment, but to excel and seize authority.

Sounds lovely. We still want the Sith Witch too, please. Eventually.

It’s out, hopefully, by the end of next year.

Some screens for Super Street Fighter IV popped up on Capcom’s Japanese development blog, showing stages in the game.

Cool thing is, rumor has it Street Fighter III’s Elena in it.

Bet that makes you happy. Other than the side-boob shot above, at any rate.

There’s more pictures over on Evil Avatar.

Sony has responded to the November NPDs, by touting the console’s growth by 88 percent YoY, and how sales were up 122 percent over last month’s figures (320.6K).

“In November, PS3 was the only hardware console to see any growth when compared to last November, experiencing an 88 percent lift and a 122 percent increase from the previous month,” stated SCEA CEO Jack Tretton via email.

“The sheer appetite and interest in the PS3 this holiday has been overwhelming and is exceeding our expectations. So much so, some retailers are expected to experience tight supply this December.

“There’s no question the holidays are looking very bright for PlayStation and we’re confident that the new year is on pace for the same with hugely anticipated titles hitting the platform, such as MAG, God of War III, BioShock 2, and Final Fantasy XIII.”

November was the console’s third-best month in unit sales ever, having moved 710.4K units, coming in just under December ‘07 and ‘08 figures.

Bohemia has announced free DLC for ArmA II that includes a new campaign where you pilot a attack helicopter, after the events in the game.

Details:

The “Eagle Wing“ mini-campaign expands upon one of the seven unique endings of the original ARMA 2 over two extensive new levels; It’s the year 2012, the war in Chernarus has overgrown into a conflict between the USA and the Russian Federation. The player finds themselves caught in the middle of an escalating conflict. As a pilot of the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, the player’s task seems easy – to get behind enemy lines and attack. However the situation is about to change rapidly.

To be included in patch 1.05, it also includes diplomacy options for warfare.

It’s due to be released by the end of the month.

Thanks, RPS.

Hit the link for 20 minutes of Dante’s Inferno gameplay, encompassing the entire demo released to the US PSN yesterday.

This is the first section from the game itself, so don’t watch if you’re worried about spoilers.

Rest assured, what’s on show here is weapons grade. You’re not going to see presentation like this many places other than Visceral Games.

Also rest assured that when pundits have likened play itself to God of War, they really weren’t kidding.

Watch and see. The game’s out on February 5 for PS3 and 360. The 360 demo releases in both the US and Europe on Christmas Eve.

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The US PS video store has been updated, and those seeking some HD goodness can feast their eyes on some Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2, and well, a movie about Julia Child. There rest we’ve never heard of.

Non-HD offerings include Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Public Enemies, and pretty much the same as the HD list.

The full list of offerings can be found over on the US PS Blog.

The most downloaded  HD Movies from last week were:

1. Terminator Salvation
2. Angels & Demons
3. The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard
4. Four Christmases
5. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
6. Funny People (Unrated)
7. The Ugly Truth
8. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
9. Star Trek
10. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

The Guardian has a list up of the current consoles available on the market – excluding handhelds – and lists the pros and cons of each one that you should consider before making a purchase. PC and Mac are listed as well.

When it came to whether or not to recommend Wii, the article stated that it “offers a perfect introduction to videogames”, but if you are in the market for better graphics or “ground-breaking” games – PS3 and Xbox 360 are the way to go.

After stating that, and giving PS3 a compliment in a round about way, the article then suggests that the only reason to purchase the Sony is if the consumer harbors an “obsession with the PlayStation brand”. Citing the £250 price point and exclusives such as Tomb Raider and Grand Theft Auto becoming multiplatform as reason to stay away, the Guardian called PS3 a “disappointment for gamers”.

So, that leaves Xbox 360 to contend with, and the article claimed that the “best games portfolio” was present on 360, but if you wanted a great machine, splurge for the £200 Elite as the Arcade version’s “all but useless without a hard disk”.

There was really nothing to be noted in the PC and Mac recommendations, other than the obvious comment that one has to have a “powerful 3D graphics card” to run most games, and since the majority of Macs lack one, it’s hard to find games for that system.

Take from the list what you will, but as far as price points are concerned, the article failed to mention that for an extra £50, you are getting a Blu-ray player with PS3 as well, compared to regular DVD with Xbox 360.

Then again, it was written from a games-centric perspective, so there ya go.