The buy out of Project Gotham Racing developer Bizarre Creations by Activision may just be the beginning of the second biggest third party publisher’s plans to add to its collective. Activision Europe boss Joerg Trouvain says that the company isn’t just interested in getting into the racing genre—some 10 percent of the market, they say—they’re targeting growth… and more growth.
It just makes sense really. Everyone who’s anyone has a dedicated racing game studio these days—Polyphony Digital, Turn 10, Sega Racing Studio, Evolution, Criterion—so Activision was just filling in holes. Don’t be too surprised to see more and more currently independent studios brought into the corporate fold; not the other way around.
*”In the configuration it was in,” adds Neill Blomkamp. He’s the director hired to helm the Peter Jackson executive produced film adaptation last year and who quickly saw his feature film debut hopes dashed upon the financial rocks by the suits at Universal and Fox. Blomkamp spoke to Creativity Online recently, confirming the film isn’t just “on ice”, it’s chilling at the morgue.
Blomkamp also reveals that the live action Halo shorts that were shown publicly at E3 this year weren’t an attempt to jump start production. He tells CO:
There was not even one percent of my mind in doing those short pieces to try and resurrect the film. And I think maybe that’s because I’m closer to the film, I know how hard it fell, and I know that doing things like that was not how you’re going to get it back on its feet. I never went about making those little pieces like I was trying to resurrect the film.
It all sounds pretty bleak but Blomkamp later told the interviewer “never say never”. Maybe there’s hope for Master Chief and pals to journey to the big screen at some point after all.
Q&A: Director Neill Blomkamp on Halo Shorts, Film [Creativity Online via NeoGAF]
After seeing Anna in a witch’s hat kicking her heel at Hwoarang, I’m abot 99.44% positive you’re going to want to see the other 58 screenshots recently released for the arcade version of Tekken 6. It has pigs! And bears farting on kangaroos!
Hit the jump for the gallery.
Both theme and picture packs for Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords are now available for download on Xbox Live Marketplace. Shhhh, don’t tell Fahey. The theme pack runs for 150 points and the pictures will cost you 100.
You know, no matter how much I like the themes or picture packs I have so far always regretted buying them. They tend to get annoying over time, I’ve found. Is that true with everyone or is it just me?
In addition to a four game assault of Sega Genesis games, the ESRB has given a rating to Ape Quest from Sony Computer Entertainment for the PSP. No game with that title has been announced by SCEA, but we can rather safely assume its the unreleased Ape Escape game Sarugetchu: SaruSaru Daisakusen that shipped in Japan in July of this year. That would make it the fifth Ape Escape game to make its way to the handheld, but only the third to eventually be published in North America.
Like many ESRB ratings, especially ones from SCEA, it might not see the light of day for a long time, if ever.
By now, we’re all aware of the price drop and feature drop of the PlayStation 3 in Europe, resulting in a gimped 40GB model of the console. So why, exactly, was backwards compatibility dropped from the PS3? What was once a “core value” and “necessary” according to Sony Computer Entertainment’s Phil Harrison—not to mention a boastful talking point when asked about the Xbox 360′s BC— is now clearly not at all necessary, with the company’s priorities on “developing innovative new features and services for PS3 and not on backwards compatibility”.
Yeah, we get it. There’s an opportunity to save a couple bucks. But why remove the PlayStation 2 chipset altogether, after investing in software emulation and eliminating hundreds of titles from the PS3 library? According to an interview with SCEE reps at GamesIndustry BIZ a “reduced emphasis placed on this feature amongst later purchasers of PS3, as well as the availability of a more extensive line-up of PS3 specific titles” is the reason the company is nixing the once promised support.
Plus, they have 65 PS3 titles ready for the holidays.
Solution? Buy the 60GB (while they’re still available), natch. This is the one time as an early hardware adopter that I don’t feel screwed over. Off to hug my Emotion Engine!
40GB PS3 Confirmed for Europe; Sony Gives Up on Backwards Compatibility [GameDaily BIZ]
Sorry Cliffy. Here is the latest rumour from film site IESB: …the IESB has been informed [director]Wiseman is off Gears as well*** and that New Line Cinema will most likely not move forward with the film at all. Our source is saying that the studio has concerns with ballooning budget of the film.
It’s too early to tell if this is a load of BS or completely true. But remember, this is Hollywood we’re dealing with now. Everything regarding game movies should be seen as rumour at best until you are actually sitting in a movie theatre with a sticky floor, having just forked over $10 to see what we’ve been talking about.
Confirmed: Ratner Replaces Wiseman on New York Plus an Update on Gears of War! [via gamingtoday]
Four more Sega Genesis titles have been rated by the ESRB for the Wii, giving us a look at what the publisher may have coming down the pike. First, we have the kid-friendly third entry in the Ecco the Dolphin series, Ecco Jr. Next up, the kid-unfriendly Eternal Champions, Sega’s attempt at an original, violent 2D fighter series that failed to take off.
A pair of isometric games, Sonic 3D Blast and Light Crusader have also been rated. The former is a different take on the Sonic formula, with Sonic collecting Flickies in a clunky speed crippling space. The latter is Treasure’s take on a Western-style action RPG. No dates for any of this high-quality 16-bit era gaming, but expect announcements from Sega soon.
Epic’s UT3 engine brings them a lot of money in licensing. But there appears to be one oversight: Epic is making no money on the most popular next gen console on the market today. Mark Rein explains what gives. I don’t think there’s a lot of money on making engines for the Wii… because the big software dollars right now are being earned on Xbox 360 and they’re going to be earned on PlayStation 3, and I think unless you’re going to sell your engine to Nintendo, you’re going for scraps on that platform.
Subtext? Because everyone other than Nintendo will just be cashing in on beefed DS ports. It’s too bad major engine makers like Epic aren’t getting into the Wii, since we still need the system’s graphics to be pushed to the max, even if that max is nowhere near true graphical maximums.
Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron hits next week for the PSP, exclusively, right alongside the Star Wars Battlefront Entertainment Pack bundle. That’s the one that comes with a Darth Vader portrait screened on the back of a white PSP Slim. To celebrate the release of the game, Sony is hosting a launch party with Lucasarts at PlayStation Store at the Metreon in San Francisco, bringing with them the usual bunch of Star Wars cosplayers, prizes, fireworks, dancing bears, etcetera.
The reason you might actually want to show up? They’re giving away Han Solo-trapped-in-carbonite PSP cases to the first 200 folks who buy the aforementioned Entertainment Pack. You’ll look at it, your PSP encased in Han encased in carbonite and say “I love you”. It will respond “I know”. I… I’m tearing up a little bit.
More details and a full-sized pics at the official PlayStation blog.
Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron Update [PlayStation.blog]
