Thursday, July 10, 2008
British Industry Group Not Impressed With The R4
11:20PM Luke Plunkett | Enjoying your R4 carts, Britain? I bet you are. Designed as they are to run code on a DS, many use them for homebrew, but some, obviously, also use them to pirate legitimate DS games. And it’s those folks attracting the attention of the authorities, spoiling it for everybody else. The ELSPA (Britain’s industry body) reckon that the sale of R4 (and other, similar) carts “is an infringement and an offence under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the Trade Marks Act 1994″, and from here on they’ll be investigating any and all retailers stocking the units. It’s important to note that at this stage this is more of a warning than a direct threat, as they haven’t come out and called for an immediate, blanket ban, but I imagine a stern warning is all it will take for many small retailers to quit stocking them anyway. DS: The Shocking Truth [MCV] More »
News
Mirror’s Edge Impressions, New Screens and Trailer
11:00PM Brian Crecente | For a game I hadn’t really spent much time with, Mirror’s Edge sure has blossomed in my thoughts lately. My first thoughts, when I saw this trailer last month was that I wished that the actual game looked like this and that it wasn’t just an animated tease for Mirror’s Edge. But then I saw the actual game again and quickly changed my mind. The ultra realistic look of the game, the crisp lines, the colours, theres something about them that coalesce into a look that deepens the impact of the game’s fast-moving parkour feel. From what I saw of Mirror’s Edge it looks like the sort of game you would want to play through over and over again until you got a level perfect. Missed a step? Screwed up a jump? Start over. Not because you have to but because you want to. And don’t worry, they showed some combat as well. People have guns, they want to kill you, and you are fast enough, dexterous enough to deal with them in style. Oh yeah, this is shaping up to be a must have. Check back on Monday morning for my hands-on impressions of the game. More »
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Cliff Bleszinski? Huge Kojima Fan
10:40PM Brian Ashcraft | Remember Clifford Michael Bleszinski stated how “Metal Gear Solid is our example of the game we’re not doing” and “Passive entertainment is on its way out” and something about Web 2.0? Sure ya do! The Cliffster is back with more opinions about Metal Gear Solid, but seemingly less disparaging ones. Cliff says: More »
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Midway’s E3 Lineup Is ‘Powerful’, Say Midway
10:20PM Luke Plunkett | E3’s right around the corner, so it’s time for publishers to man up. Puff out their chests, maybe grunt a little, size themselves up against the competition. It’s been happening a bit over the past few days, and this morning, it’s Midway’s turn. Sadly there’s no NBA Jam on the menu (at least that we know about), but they do seem awfully proud of their lineup, particularly Mortal Kombat vs DC and Wheelman. Indeed, they’re calling the whole lineup “powerful”. Click through to see if you agree. More »
News
This Is Your Mirror’s Edge Writer
10:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Developer DICE and Electronic Arts bring word that writer and story designer Rhianna Pratchett will be writing and story designin’ the upcoming Mirror’s Edge. Prachette previously worked on Heavenly Sword and Overlord — her website also points out that she has even written some short stories. DICE’s Mirror’s Edge follows main character Faith in a highly monitored urban cityscape as her sister is framed for a murder she did not commit. Says Pratchett: It was a great experience working with the team at DICE to help breathe life into Faith; her world, relationships and backstory. My heroines and heroes have always been the ones who were ordinary, but through the events of a story, became extraordinary. Faith is skilled, but she’s certainly not a superhero. She has her flaws, like all of us. In short: she’s real. That’s her appeal. Mirror’s Edge drops this summer. Full press release after the jump. More »Force Brett Favre Out Of Retirement In Madden 09
9:30PM Luke Plunkett | Will he? Won’t he? WILL HE? Who knows. The soap opera over the future of “retired” Packers QB Brett Favre is reaching farcical proportions. Example: this (100% serious!) report on ESPN entitled “Report: Favre sends text message to Packers GM Thompson” (”Favre sent a text message to Packers GM Ted Thompson on Saturday — and Thompson’s reply was that he is on vacation and the two men will have to talk later). Whatever. Regardless of the real media circus, however, EA were smart enough to include a little feature in Madden 09 where you could not only tempt the future Hall-of-Famer out of retirement, but tempt him to suit up for the team of your choosing. More »
Dance Dance Revolution X In Silhouette
9:00PM Brian Ashcraft | On November 21st, Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution will celebrate its 10th anniversary. Can you believe it? It’s been ten years since DDR stormed arcades and home consoles. This year, it seems Konami is releasing Dance Dance Revolution X on the PS2 and in arcades as well it seems. As both commenter Riyu and arcade site Arcade Renaissance points out, the teaser page shows a somewhat different cabinet design. Nothing’s really been announced by Konami, so sit tight for more details. DanceDanceRevolution X [Konami Thanks, Riyu!] More »
Goodbye Next-Gen, Hello Edge (The Website)
8:30PM Luke Plunkett | You may be familiar with top-shelf industry news site Next-Gen. They’re the online reincarnation of a long-dead US magazine, which was basically the American version of respected British mag Edge. Being so close and all (both are run by Future publishing), for the past few months, Next-Gen have begun hosting Edge magazine’s content, giving the magazine a decent online presence for the first time in its existence. A presence that’s about to get a lot more prominent. Next-Gen will, come Monday, be rebranding their website, which will now be known as Edge. Just like the magazine. This is being done in an attempt to “emulate the respect and credibility of the print magazine online”. Odd move, seeing as Next-Gen were already respected and credible, but so long as it doesn’t affect either the magazine or the current site, everything should turn out just fine. Future to rebrand Next Gen website as Edge [GI.biz] More »
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Ernie Hudson’s Role Reduced In Original Ghostbusters
8:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Ernie Hudson’s doing the promotional tour thing for the upcoming multi-platform Ghostbusters game. And that means that we all get a chance to ask him incessantly geeky questions about the Ghostbusters films and learn things we never knew. Things like: He also accepts the fact he’ll always be remembered as the fourth Ghostbuster, although he had a much bigger part in the original script. “I was the guy who got slimed in the hotel, but I guess the studio felt they wanted more stuff for Bill Murray”, Hudson reveals. “I was the guy who thought of the marshmallow man on the rooftop, but then it became Danny [Aykroyd]’s character”. It was only after he won the part of Winston that the decision was made to reduce the character’s role. “And they didn’t do that till the day before we started shooting, so I didn’t have time to adjust”, Hudson says. “Yeah, when the part was cut there was some frustrating stuff associated with that. But it was what it was, and it is what it is. 24 years later, people still like the movie, and I’m glad”. Other tidbit bits include Bill Murray’s reluctance to sign-off on a Ghostbuster sequel that would pass the proton packs off to some younger dudes. Ghostbusters’ Ernie Hudson [Eurogamer] [Pic] More »
