RSS Feeds
|
US Edition
Babblebaby
|
Defamer
|
Gizmodo
|
Kotaku
|
Lifehacker
Ahead of what will no doubt be a balls-and-all showing at E3 next week, Guerilla and Sony have released this new, gameplay-focused Killzone 2 clip. It's all looking very nice, epic, very explodey and, most importantly, (almost) very finished/real. Fingers crossed, however, that's the only time players are subjected to the line "I feel like a spare prick at a gang-bang".
The Cliffster: Cliff Bleszinski? Huge Kojima Fan
Comment by: CliffyB
Nominated by: ashcraft
1. I don't work. I just do interviews and photoshoots all day while ego surfing. ;)
2. The bigger, blah blah thing has been retired for a month. Yeah, it got old. I got tired of hearing it come out of my own mouth.
3. I no longer want to be called The Cliffster. I want to be called Dude Huge.
In Japan, they're already out. In Europe, they're on their way. But what of America's line of budget, re-released PS3 games? Well, they're also on their way. Here's a first look at the Greatest Hits Line's initial run of titles, lifted from a new K-Mart entertainment catalogue. Only three titles are pictured (the rest being PSP games), but those games are clearly MotorStorm, Resistance and Warhawk.
[Flickr]
Poor Spike TV. Their scoop's blown! The first details on the next Wolfenstein title are actually to be found in the latest issue of Game Informer, which gives us information on the game's setting and requisite gimmicky features. Aside from the obvious (you're still BJ Blaskowitz, you're still fighting Nazis who are mucking about with the occult), the game will introduce a quasi-sandbox city, with different parts of it opening up as you complete missions. It'll also feature an AI-controlled resistance force that will assist you, and there'll be some Link-to-the-Past-ish elements courtesy of an ability to enter "The Shroud", a dark, alternate version of the game's city. As expected, Raven are handling development, and it'll be appearing on the PS3, 360 and PC.
Wolfenstein [Game Informer, August, via Kintaor @ NeoGAF]
Oh Sega. Here we were, getting all optimistic about Sonic Unleashed, to the point where we'd even dropped the long-necessary "oh, but it's Sega, it's Sonic, it'll suck" mantra. And then you go and release this. It's not the gameplay we're worried about (since the trailer doesn't feature any), but the tone. We thought it had been made explicitly clear that there were to be no more humans!
You know how this works. Physically attractive girl gets on Wii Fit, physically attractive plays Wii Fit, things jiggle, someone else posts video of it on the internet, boys get horny, massive page views ensue. It worked for Wii Fit Girl, who has an impressive 5 million views on YouTube, and it worked for Playboy's Jo Garcia. Now, UK men's mag Zoo is giving it a go with someone known as Emma Frain, hoping lightning strikes for the third (or fourth, fifth, whatever) time and that they can catch that lightning in a bottle as thousands of dudes diddle their unmentionables.
If this sounds like you, hit the jump for the cleaner, but still packed to the gills with jiggles version.
The house that Lucas built has filed for a handful of new trademarks, all Star Wars related, all potentially new names for the oft-rumoured Knights of the Old Republic 3, the one that continues to pop up as a new BioWare developed MMO. LucasFilm recently filed trademark applications for Star Wars The Old Republic, The Old Republic, Star Wars Sagas and Star Wars Legends, all of are described as "video game software" and "entertainment services provided on-line by means of global and local area networks".
While that certainly sounds like a new Star Wars MMO and it all matches up nicely with what we've heard from former LucasArts employees, we'll call it rumour for now.
Thanks to BearThing for the pointer!
Konami has dropped details on the first Metal Gear Online expansion, known as the "Gene Expansion", on its official web site. The expansion adds some of what you'd expect — three new maps, two new playable characters in Meryl Silverburgh and incompetent incontinent Johnny "Akiba" — and a few things you might not. Included in the expansion, which we don't yet see a price for, is the ability to play as customisable female characters, a "Survival" mode and a Reward Shop for spending your in-game points on new gear. Neat!
METAL GEAR ONLINE GENE EXPANSION [Konami - thanks, Tw3nty0ne!]
We described it to you yesterday (the actual images being Game Informer scans and all), but hey, some people's imaginations may not have been up to the task of independently conjuring an image of what Rock Band 2's premium, "Ion" drum kit looked like. That's OK, not your fault. And it's not that big a deal. Because today, we have an official shot of the kit*. Looks great, doesn't it? And it had want to, seeing as it's going for $US 300.
Oh, sure, go ahead and laugh if you must. But after digesting that YouTube user and Halo uberfan "fartbuttface" (<— lol) is idling away his time crafting Spartan armour, weapons and accessories, instead of making your little petty jabs and pokes, think of this: this kid is probably going to invent a cardboard car that runs on cardboard, save the earth, become a billionaire and score unfathomable amounts of pussy. Dude's that good with his hands. Seriously, did you see the Halo 3 machine gun turret? My brain melted at that point.
via Bungie
Last night, word broke that Konami, publisher and developer of trailblazing rhythm games Guitar Freaks and Drummania, was suing Harmonix. The Japanese company claimed that the developer of Rock Band was in violation of three patents held by Konami, seeking damages (read: cash) and demanding that Harmonix and parent company Viacom cease the use of its inventions (read: more cash).
MTV News received a response from an MTV spokesperson on the matter — which, in my mind, was shouted across cubicles — who said the lawsuit was "extremely surprising". The rep further noted that "successful products such as 'Rock Band' can often become targets for baseless litigation". We agree, especially when the entity filing suit is showing up extremely late to the party with its own stillborn excuse for a rock game. At least those poor unfortunate litigation lawyers will finally get a few bucks coming to 'em.
Further details on the suit at MTV News.
'Rock Band' Creators Sued By 'Rock Revolution' Publisher Konami [MTV News]
Midway launched two online storefronts for its arcade, PC and touchscreen titles - the first, Midway Arcade, currently offers more than 25 of the company's arcade-style titles like Defender, Joust, Spy Hunter and Mahki, starting at three titles for five bucks.
The Midway Arcade site lets players post their high scores, too. Additionally, Midway's opened a digital storefront on its main site, where you can buy titles like Stranglehold, UT3 and BlackSite: Area 51 as direct downloads.
Full announcement with prices listed follows the jump.
Harvest Moon publisher Natsume has a new IP - it's called Princess Debut, a "rhythm and adventure game for girls" coming to Nintendo DS in spring.
It sounds a little bit rhythm-action, a little bit dating sim (not the hentai kind of dating sim, of course). Players become a princess and have 30 days to master dance moves and woo one of six princes to be their partner, over the course of a branching, event-driven storyline before the dance portion begins.
There are 20 different outfits, 14 endings and 18 different musical styles like Waltz, Latin, Dance, Tango and Ballroom. Natsume knows its audience (e.g, me) — I'm generally not into "games for girls" per se, but multiple endings, tons of unlockables, romance and rhythm gameplay? Seriously, I'm so there.
Admit it, guys — this sounds kind of cool to you, too, right? Right?!
Dance Into a Prince's Heart With Natsume's Original IP Exclusively For DS
This morning, Motus Games officially unveiled its Darwin motion controller on its website, with videos including one showing the Darwin being used as a lightsaber with LEGO Star Wars. It had us wondering - is this the long-rumoured Xbox 360 motion controller?
"We're leaving it to the console-makers and publishers to announce whatever they want to announce", said Motus chairman Satayan Mahajan. "There's a lot of rumour — some of it true, some of it not true".
"A few companies approached us and asked us to be an enabler for their motion technology... in a role like [Gyration's relationship with Nintendo]. Others have said, 'we want you to build something that looks like the Darwin controller.'"
Mahajan was unable to specify who Motus was working with or which console-makers and publishers could be expected to make an announcement, but said it might be a few months until announcements of Darwin-integrated titles surfaced.
"Console-makers need motion-based control, and for publishers it makes sense too... they invest a lot of money in these Wii titles while not reaping the benefit on other platforms. We're happy we're a part of that".
We've contacted Microsoft for comment and have yet to receive reply.
Galactrix, Puzzle Quest's sci-fi spin-off, looks to be a pretty impressive step-up from the original Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlods that took everyone, including the developers, by surprise.
This time around the puzzle game will have a full storyline penned by a professional writer, rather than something dreamed up by the development staff. The game opens after a scientific accident provokes an alien race to try and exterminate humanity. As with Challenge of the Warlords, players create a character who gains skills, craft items, and in this case, upgrades their space fleet and deals with political factions.
The new hexagonal puzzle board now drops uses gravity, based on a player's location in the universe, to determine how to drop pieces as others are cleared. The game will also include a set of new mini-games that has you hacking jumpgates, negotiating with other factions, trading commodities and collection blueprints.
My very short time with the game gave me a glimpse of the new game board and, as with Trism, the new gravity-specific gameplay adds a whole other level of complexity to the game. I'm sure I'll end up being just as addicted to Galactrix as I was to Warlords when it finally hits.
A title that's guaranteed to be "announced" at Microsoft's E3 Media Briefing this Monday is Lips, the iNiS developed answer to Sony's SingStar. The musically inclined team behind Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, Gitaroo Man and Elite Beat Agents was previously rumoured to be behind the sing-along title, but consider it doubly confirmed now. Gamekyo not only lists the Japanese dev in its news story on the game, iNiS president Keichi Yanno can be seen busting what appears to be a rhyme in product shots of the game.
Other early shots give us a look at the Lips microphones that have lights on the shaft that "pulse to the rhythm of your voice" along with motion sensors that let players "dance, move or swing to score points", according to previously leaked marketing documents.
Gamekyo lists Lips as shipping in November.
The good news? Warhammer Online just launched its Guild Beta. The bad news? There's a bit less game for the Guilds to beta. In an interview with MMORPG.com, Mythic Entertainment VP and General Manager Mark Jacobs explains that in order for the game to be ready for launch, certain sacrifices had to be made, including nixing four of the six staring racial capital cities in favour of one for each faction, and getting rid of four of the classes that they just couldn't make work. On the cutting board are the Choppa (Greenskin), the Hammerer (Dwarf), the Blackguard (Dark Elf), and the Knight of the Blazing Sun (Empire)...two DPS classes and two tank classes.
"Of all of the news in this interview, this is the worst. Having to cut these guys out, even though it's the right decision, I am really sorry that we have to do it. I truly am. I don't like going to the guys and telling them 'hey sorry, we've got to cut these guys out. They're just not good enough but that was what we had to do."
While we've taken a good hard look at what we expect from Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony during E3 2008, we've not yet touched on the original gaming platform, the personal computer. Back during my first visit to E3 in 1998, PC gaming made up a relatively large portion of the show, with PC publishers large and small showing off everything from big-name titles to tiny indie games like Space Bunnies Must Die. The new E3 has changed that a great deal. Smaller companies who might have once brought their games to the Expo for exposure to retailers and publishers just can't justify the space to show off their wares...and why should they? In the age of high-speed internet, smaller companies can deliver a demo to the press in minutes, so the PC presence has definitely dwindled at the event.
Play? Video games? Not this weekend, pal. There's far too much to get done for E3, which for the Kotaku staff, starts Sunday afternoon. Some of us will be probably be playing our Game Boy Advances, DSs, PSPs and Neo Geo Pocket Colours en route to smoggy Los Angeles, California, but this editor is going to focus on leveling up his stress levels. Oh, sure I may get my Paladin up to level 50 in Diablo II to let off some steam, but beyond that... work, work, work, work, work!
Hopefully, some of you are planning on hitting up the Kotaku party on Sunday. Then we can talk about games. For now, let us know what your playing this weekend in the comments, and I'll live vicariously through you. Maybe name your character after me in a sign of solidarity? No? Hey, I tried.
In some news that will provoke squee-ing from fans of Japanese strategy RPGs, Atlus announced it's bringing Luminous Arc 2 on DS over to North America.
Atlus says the second installment features a "more refined" interface, rebalanced strategy features, touch-based play and "many more improvements". I never played the original Luminous Arc - did it need improving?
Also, every copy of the game comes packaged with a soundtrack CD, together in a "lovely" big ol' box. Yay for extras!
IGN got the exclusive reveal - screens over there.
Luminous Arc 2 Coming to America [IGN]
Ah, the onward march of technology. Though the fiddly arguments over what "next gen" really means are unceasing, the general trend is that games get bigger, slicker, richer and more lifelike with every passing year.
Soulcalibur's Ivy may be the poster child for this annual augmentation - literally. It seems with each passing year, her endowment multiplies, ushering in each passing technological evolution with more ludicrous, top-heavy jiggle than the era before.
But it'd be unfair to pick on Miss Valentine. After all, unrealistic body types in games are nothing new, a conversation-starter as old as Lara Croft. The fact that "sex sells" and the proliferation of exploitive body types is a cultural pandemic, not simply a video game issue, is the easy way to explain it, but the "easy" way is seldom very enlightening, nor does it help us learn about why we play.
What does it all mean, in an interactive medium where realism, immersion and engagement are the primary goals? Are we seeking idealistic images as avatars for ourselves, to complete the fantasy of power that gaming can provide?
Is this a case where the gaming audience has been misjudged through the ages by marketing teams who assume each and every one of us is a vapidly salivating 15-17 year-old male - until their assumptions have unconsciously shaped our taste?
Activision Blizzard inaugurated itself with the announcement of a two-for-one stock split for investors, a sign that its outlook is rosy. When a company is doing rather well, it often splits its stock - doing so effectively doubles the number of shares that each investor holds.
This is usually a move companies make when their value is high relative to other companies in its sector — halving the share price means more investors may be willing to buy in, while existing investors won't have the value they hold diluted by the increased number of shares.
"This action reflects our strong financial position and our confidence in the opportunities for further growth", said Bobby Kotick, president and CEO of Activision Blizzard. "We believe the stock split will lead to wider ownership by making our stock accessible to a broader base of investors".
Full announcement after the jump.
Marvellous Entertainment USA and XSEED games are teaming up for E3, showing off their line up of upcoming titles together as one united force of goodness. While the focus is mainly on the Nintendo DS and Wii, there is a PSP game in the form of RPG sequel Valhalla Knights 2 to spice things up. The name of the game here is RPGs, and the two combined have them in spades. For the Wii they've got three outstanding offerings - Rune Factory: Frontier, which takes the RPG/farming sim combo from the DS games to the console market, Avalon Code, a new RPG from the team behind Rune Factory and the Final Fantasy III and IV DS remakes, and the recently announced Little King's Story.
For those of you with a low tolerance for hit points, the dynamic duo will also be showing off XSEED's first DS games, Populous DS based on the classic PC game, KORG DS-10, a music creation program, and Retro Game Challenge, a mini-game title based on the Japanese Game Centre CX TV series. Perhaps these three non-RPG titles will calm me enough to keep the Rune Factory fan in me from dry-humping their booth.
Let's shift the focus away from the Soul Calibur IV women for a moment to focus on the new big boss of the Soul Caliburse, Algol. Not to be confused with petite Angol, Algol is the king of an ultra ancient civilisation, and the strongest character ever in the Soul Calibur series. This according to character designer Hideo Yoshie, who addressed Angol's design in a statement accompanying these new screens of the character today.
So how powerful is the bird-armoured ancient ruler? His right hand glows red because he is holding the Soul Edge, and his left hand holds the Soul Calibur and a blue glow. He has 10 different weapons built into his body. In short, he's much more of a bad arse than a generic energy being who mimics the other character's styles could ever be. Hit the jump for the full description in somewhat broken English from Hideo Yoshie.
Yesterday those willing to get fancy with forced firmware updates and such were able to sneak into the iPhone's App Store and buy games for the device early. Today, firmware 2.0 and access to those 30 or so games are official.
If you're looking to buy a game for your iPhone than make sure to check out our Ultimate Guide to iPhone Gaming which includes quick impressions of 20 or so of the games as well as screenshots, videos and details for most of the games currently available and a bunch yet to come.
Our most recent update to the guide includes impressions of Tetris, EA's Sudoku and Crash Bandicoot Nitro Racing. Personally, I've played around with 15 different iPhone games and my favourites so far include Super Monkey Ball, Bomberman Touch and Trism... oh Trism. Oh, I also really like Zen Pinball.
Every year E3 comes and goes and we wind up with the same people being quoted over and over again. Is it because we respect their position in the games industry, or is it simply because they won't stop flapping their gums for five minutes to let anyone else get a word in? Crispy Gamer has gathered the most obnoxiously vociferous members of the gaming business together into a little feature they call "The 10 People We Hope Will Shut the F*** Up at This Year's E3". I'm not sure whether I agree with their choices or not...not because they are dubious or anything...it's just I'm not sure which of these guys I could take in a fight, and E3 is next week. Nintendo's Reggie has those crazy eyes going for him, and Clifford "The Big Red" Bleszinski could easily be hiding Wolverine-like scrappiness under his cool, collected demeanour. Peter Moore is chiseled from granite...hmmm. I bet I could take the founders of Gamecock, but only by exploiting their penchant for wearing capes.
The best part of the article comes at the end, where they mention the people they want to hear more from. They need to just sit Tim Shafer down in front of a PA system and have him deliver a running commentary for the entire length of the show.
The 10 People We Hope Will Shut the F*** Up at This Year's E3 [Crispy Gamer]
I can't even tell you how long it's been since I've thought about Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but the folks at 505 Games apparently have had her on their minds for quite some time. They've just announced Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Sacrifice for the Nintendo DS, an all-new game that promises to be "definitive Buffy the Vampire Slayer experience". Mixing third-person and first-person gameplay, the game centres around Buffy's efforts to seal a re-opened Hellmouth, with a story penned by series writer Rob Deshotek. All of the fan-favourites will be represented - Spike, Angel, the Master, the First Evil, and generic vampire number 23.
With 24 levels, 12 bosses, more than 20 different slayer weapons and collectible spells to enhance Buffy's powers and abilities, it sounds like Sacrifice will be a real treat for fans of the show who just can't let sleeping slayers lie. Sacrifice is set for release exclusively in Europe this November, though with the North American fan base I can't seeing them keeping it from our shores for too long.
The fine folks over at N-Europe have gotten their hands on the latest issue of British Nintendo magazine NGamer, which contains some tasty information about the big N's E3 presence. Not only does it contain yet another mention of the all-but-confirmed Animal Crossing for the Wii, it also suggests that the Punch-Out series will be making its triumphant return. Punch-Out Wii supposedly will use the Wii Balance Board for ducking and weaving, while maintaining punching controls similar to Wii Sports Boxing and Rhythm Boxing from Wii Fit. The mag also explained that according to their sources, Animal Crossing Wii has been finished for some time, and while it isn't an MMO as previously rumoured it does utilise Wi-Fi sharing.
While AC Wii is almost a certainty, Punch-Out is still firmly planted in rumour-land. Even though it sounds perfect, I wouldn't get my hopes up too high before Nintendo's E3 press conference. Now if only they could find away to combine Animal Crossing and Punch-Out...
Sandbox games are quickly becoming the bane of the demo-loving public. Open worlds just don't separate into bite-sized pieces well. Take Far Cry 2, for instance, which game director Clint Hocking has confirmed will have no playable demo before release due to the staggering amount of gameplay packed into every nook and cranny of the game. What, can't we just use invisible walls?
"One reason is, even if we were to give out what you played today - even if we put invisible walls around it and said, here's the demo, you can go anywhere you like inside these walls and play it how you want - that's potentially right there eight-to-ten hours of gameplay. I don't know too many people who are willing to give away a 12-hour game for free".
How about really tiny invisible walls? Maybe with a time limit? No? As gamers get more and more used to having demos available before games are released, the sandbox game devs are going to have to adjust. Perhaps just give gamers a square of land, a selection of weapons, and a target range? We can work this out folks!
No Far Cry 2 demo planned [Eurogamer]
It's full speed ahead for EA Mythic's Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning as the game enters the final phase of closed beta testing, the Guild Beta. This is the stage where guilds from other games who signed up for beta as a whole will gain access to the game en masse in order to test out the newly implemented guild and heraldry features, as well as the individual servers' capacity for drama.
"WAR's Guild Beta is here and some of the world's most experienced MMO players will now get a chance to play one of the most anticipated MMOs of all time," said Mark Jacobs, vice president and general manager of Mythic Entertainment. "We look forward to seeing them beat, bash and burn their way through the world that we have created for their enjoyment. It's going to be a lot of fun and it's going to be glorious!"
The WoW guild I was in when we signed up for the Warhammer beta has long since dissolved, reformed, dissolved again, and split up into a series of tiny, ineffectual guilds with no hope of ever accomplishing anything. Such is the way of all things.
