Tag Archives: launch

Our invitation for the November 9 London Modern Warfare 2 launch turned up yesterday. See pictures of the invite and wrist band after the break.

There’s going to be a Leicester Square cinema screening following by a midnight opening at HMV Trocadero, which starts at 9.00pm.

The invite includes the words “camouflage carpet” three times. And it only includes an Xbox 360 logo – no other platform information.

Take a look.

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DSi launched in Europe today, to a fairly muted fanfare. Just so you know, it is actually here.

The new handheld adds a camera and fresh general design to the 100-million selling DS.

Five DSiWare launch titles were confirmed yesterday, and the DSi Shop is now live in both the US and Europe.

And that’s kind of it. Mike’s gone to buy one. We didn’t get sent one. People are updating Twitter on them, according to IMs this morning.

It’s a new dawn. Press release after the break.

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PlayStation Home is now available for download to all PS3 users. We’re in the UK and downloading now.

The Home logo appears under the PSN section of the XMB if the download’s available for you.

More soon.

The New Xbox Experience is now live and available to download. You are now living the “biggest moment in the history of the internet.”

The UI’s release marks the end of an epic journey of hyping and media bombardment since E3 this year, and heralds, according to Microsoft, a “new era of entertainment.”

Xbox boss Shane Kim said yesterday that NXE is “a big part of [Live’s] transformation from a multiplayer matchmaking service to a social and entertainment network.”

For all the official information on what NXE means for you and your 360, hit this for details on Parties, Netflix HD streaming (if you’re American), Avatars, the UI’s functional structure and tons more.

Of all the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King launch events in the UK, we’re pretty sure we picked the right one.

According to a report by Eurogamer, the midnight launch at HMV’s Oxford Street location was the most jam-packed ever seen – smashing the UK’s previous record of 1,500, held coincidentally by WoW: The Burning Crusade’s launch event last year.

At this point, HMV reps estimate that roughly 2,000-2,500 people attended last night’s blowout, though official numbers haven’t been tallied. Even so, however, HMV has a good feeling about this one.

More through the link.

By Nathan Grayson

Blizzard’s put out listings for all midnight shop openings for the launch of Wrath of the Lich King in Europe tomorrow, and you’d be hard pressed to find a country that isn’t involved.

We’re going to be at the London opening at HMV on Oxford Street tomorrow evening, so expect plenty of things WoW-related.

In addition, the game itself is gearing up for launch with the Lich King’s forces now laying siege to the orc’s capital city. More here.

Ubisoft’s sent out a gentle reminder that voice-controlled console RTS Tom Clancy’s EndWar is out today. Just in case you only had eyes for the other game, obviously.

“By allowing players to control the game entirely with their voice, the launch of Tom Clancy’s EndWar marks a strategic shift in the way games can be played,” said Ubi marketin chap Tony Key.

“Ubisoft is revolutionizing gaming with the release of EndWar and we believe it will serve as the catalyst for the success of strategy games on consoles.”

We believe it too, Tony. Full thing after the break.

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Blizzard’s announced the closure of the Wrath of the Lich King beta in preparation for the add-on’s launch next week.

“We would like to thank everyone who has participated in the Wrath of the Lich King beta test,” said a staffer on the official forums.

“We greatly appreciate all of the feedback and you have given us during this critical phase of World of Warcraft’s development. In preparation for the launch of the game next Thursday, November 13, we will be bringing down our beta realms at 12:00 AM PST. Thanks again, and see you soon in Northrend!”

We’re off to the game’s London launch, so keep an eye out for pictures of 3,000 people dressed as orcs and elves.

According to this post from Capcom US’s Christian Svensson, Street Fighter II HD Remix is in submission and will launch in November.

Hopefully.

“It’s in submission,” he said.

“November is indeed the target month. It’s a good month for giving ‘thanks’ for all things Street Fighter. It’s a month where hopefully the last of the big retail releases finish up and a clean window for digital begins again.

“We’re certainly hoping we don’t miss our date (it could still happen… I did have some concern when Mr. Kramer shared the target). However, the original question had to do with Sony not lagging MS in the release.

“It is possible for us to bounce the submission on one and not the other which would cause the release to potentially not be simultaneous and still be released in November on one of the two.

“When and if we get full approval on both, we’ll let you know.”

Please, God. Just release it. Date confirmation soon.

Massively’s carrying three new WAR videos, released by Mythic to celebrate the MMO’s release. We can’t watch them because we’re on a train and working on a 3G card, but the game looks awesome so watch then buy. Why wouldn’t you? Friday, remember. WAR day. Have a look.

After yesterday’s botched launch, Life with PlayStation has gone live and is now available for download. Which we are doing as we type.

There’s more detail on the US PS Blog. From the post:

Life with PlayStation provides a stunning interactive globe, a 3D world map that you can twirl around to see live cloud movement courtesy of the University of Wisconsin, combined with up-to-date weather information from the Weather Channel, top news headlines provided by Google news, and live web cam images via the Earth Television Network — all localized to the select city. And why not have your favorite soundtrack playing in the background while you go through your morning ritual (just think, no TV commercials and teasers to find out if you need to bring an umbrella to work)? You’re on your own for your morning caffeine fix.

There’s also an explanatory video, courtesy of SCEA, after the link.

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Xbox360Fanboy’s posted the first GTA IV launch photos from Canada, right here. The shots are from Mississauga, Ontario and show men in queues near large buildings, a running theme, seemingly. We’ve added them to the list.

Joystiq just posted some shots from a GameStop’s midnight opening in Oklahoma. There’s a great “man looking like owl” picture there, so worth a nose.

“Even for Oklahoma, which isn’t a video game mecca by any stretch of the imagination, the event showed the popularity of a game like Grand Theft Auto and its reach across all demographics,” said the site.

“By 11:00 PM, the store had seen pre-purchases by an off-duty police officer, a elderly father purchasing the game for his underage son and equally youthful pal, and an older man obviously buying the game for a child waiting gingerly outside for his opportunity to run over prostitutes through the glory of high-definition.”

More through the link. We’ve added it to the list.

More pictures, this time from Brighton GAME and GameStation, courtesy of Eurogamer’s Chris Ward. Men, queues, GTA IV signs: these pictures have it all, so good work, Chris. We’ve added them to the list. Still nothing from London so we’re excited: London has the best queues.

As you’re about to be made very much aware, Grand Theft Auto IV has now launched globally, and the retail reports are starting to trickle in. If pictures and words about men buying games is what you want, today is the best day ever.

• First off, we went down to GameStation and Game in Worthing, UK last night, took some pictures and watched a nervous store manager get even more nervous when 300 people turned up. See photographs of drunk men living the dream right here.
• GI’s just posted a piece on launches up north and down south in the UK, including actual names and quotes from real people. It includes stuff like this, and is therefore worth reading: “‘I’m all about GTA. I’ve been waiting for months, I pre-ordered as soon as I could,’ said 23 year-old John, who’d been queuing outside of Stafford’s GAME store since 11:00pm.”
• MaxConsole’s posted a solitary shot of people queuing up for the game in Leeds, UK. The bleakness is positively post-modern.
• Joystiq’s posted the first US “pictures of men outside shop” piece at the moment, and it’s a cracker from Baltimore. Slightly baffled Americans in the dark will always win out.
• Another one from the US courtesy of Joystiq, this time from Huntington, West Virginia. No men pictures in this one, though.
• Kotaku’s woken up now, posting a piece on the launch from two GameStops, one in Roswell and one in Alpharetta, both in Georgia. Lots of men in queues pictures there, and also a pizza photograph: commendable.
• Joystiq’s posted another one, this time from Massachusetts. The story’s got a map and a lovely blurry picture of a queue. Sterling stuff.
• Shots from a Las Vegas GameStop, thanks to Chris Ainsworth, Petroglyph’s community manager. Great queue pics, nice blur.
• Shots from Brighton GAME and GameStation, courtesy of Eurogamer’s Chris Ward. Sensational street queue shots. And here are some words to go with them.
• Martin Taylor’s GTA buying experience report from Brighton: “Got up at eight, had a shower and a cup of tea, walked into town, walked into HMV, was the only person in there, asked for a copy, got a copy, handed over £50 in old vouchers, didn’t pay a penny, then came to work. Everyone’s saying its really hard to get hold of: I don’t think they’ve though of HMV, because they’ve got shitloads.”
• Joystiq just posted some shots from a GameStop’s midnight opening in Oklahoma. There’s a great “man looking like owl” picture there, so worth a nose.
• Boomtown’s reported from Tesco and Asda launches in London, but failed dramatically in the photograph department. It’s as much as we can do to type.
• Launch photos from Miami, Scotland, New York, New Jersey and Manhattan, rounded up by Kotaku.
• Launch photo from Tulsa, Oklahoma, thanks to Xbox360Fanboy.
• Launch photos from Mississauga, Ontario, courtesy of Xbox360Fanboy.

We’ll keep updating this throughout the day. Apparently Dan Houser turned up at Game in Kingston, London last night, so if you’ve got any pictures or words, send them to us here. Just send us pictures and words of your GTA launch “experience” wherever you are, even if it’s just you and your mum getting drunk and killing hookers. Send us photos, and we’ll post them.

Rockstar UK told videogaming247 today that the company has no specific retail launch events planned for Grand Theft Auto IV’s release next Tuesday.

“We’re not doing a Rockstar event but I know some retailers will be doing their own midnight opening launch events,” said a spokesperson.

None of the UK retailers have announced any midnight plans as yet, but we’d expect the Virgins and HMVs of this world to give it a go.

Joystiq just posted this “execution guide” for American Wal-Mart stores to handle the rush once the game goes on sale. Worth a look.

According to this, Nintendo is to officially launch Wii in Taiwan in the second quarter. No pricing or specific date has been given for the release.