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The GC Adventure Comes To A Close

Mike Fahey — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:00:00 +0000

The magical Games Convention adventure has come to a close, and the Kotaku Mike Brigade have gone their separate ways, McWhertor travelling deeper into the wilds of Germany while I myself am only 13 hours worth of layover and a 9 hour plane ride away from U.S. Customs, which means I might get home by Friday if they don’t open my luggage and discover I’ve replaced most of my clothes with gummi candy and beer.

I am desperately fighting the urge to queue up Semisonic’s “Closing Time” in my Zune here.

Just because our journey is over doesn’t mean the coverage is over, so check out our Leipzig round up to see what you missed, and stay tuned tomorrow for more posts from the GC!

Gary Oldman Answers Call of Duty

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:20:35 +0000

Activision is adding another famous name to Call of Duty: World At War. Joining accomplished shouter Kiefer “Damn It!” Sutherland, who plays Sgt. Roebuck in the Treyarch developed World War II game, will be Gary Oldman. The co-star of The Dark Knight and The Professional will voice one of the characters in the Russian portion of the World at War campaign.

Wonder Woman, Raiden Two Of Four New Kombatants

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:00:00 +0000

Midway announced, in a roundabout way, four more additions to the cast of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe at the Leipzig Games Convention today. After Ed Boon left the stage, having been properly grilled by German personality Oliver Pocher, four images flashed on screen, quickly confirming more of the MK vs. DC line up. On the DC side, Wonder Woman will clash with Deathstroke (aka Deathstroke the Terminator), who joins the short list of known DC Universe bad guys.

On the Mortal Kombat side, two from the original cast return as Raiden and Kano — both of whom bear a striking resemblance to their Mortal Kombat III versions — round out the “greatest hits” cast.

EA Sports Adds Tennis To ‘09 Line Up, Snags Wimbledon Rights

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:00:02 +0000

Peter Moore announced that EA Sports would be adding tennis to its line-up of games in 2009, with rights for the Wimbledon tennis tournament exclusively going to EA. Although Moore didn’t provide a name for the EA created tennis game — unless it’s simply EA Sports Tennis — he did say that development on the EA Sports addition would be leading on the Wii, with the game supporting the Wii MotionPlus peripheral.

EA Reps also namedropped professionals like Chris Everett, Pete Sampras and Boris Becker, hinting but not confirming that Grand Slammers throughout the years would be featured.

Meet Your Sexy New Red Alert 3 Cast

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:00:00 +0000

EA announced at its Leipzig Games Convention press conference today additional details on the cast of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, including the casting of Jenny McCarthy, pictured, as Tanya, the staple special ops unit. But that’s not all. The leaders of the three factions — Allies, Empire of the Rising Sun and the Soviet Union — will be played by JK Simmons, George Takei and Tim Curry, respectively. In the trailer we were shown, Takei’s lines appear to be dubbed with his own voice, dialogue intentionally out of synch with his lip movements.

Also announced was the appearance of Kelly Hu, who will join Gina Carano and Gemma Atkinson as the Empire of the Rising Sun’s obligatory sexpot. EA’s definitely going straight for the groin with this one.

Finally, in the cinematic trailer shown at Leipyzig, it appears that Peter Stormare will play a part in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3. Oh snap!

Sims 3 Will Be Out In February 2009

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:45:00 +0000

During EA’s press conference in Leipzig earlier this morning, it was announced that the game destined to sell a gagillion copies – The Sims 3 – has a firm release date. And that date’s February 20, 2009. That’s a global, simultaneous release as well, mind you, just in case you’re in Europe and were going to bug us about that in the comments section.
GC08: Live blogging the EA press conference [VG247]

Sony To Debut EyeToy Play 2 At Leipzig

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:30:00 +0000

According to VG247, part of Sony’s Leipzig press conference (at least, one of the parts we don’t already know about) is to be devoted to an unveiling of the “next generation of EyeToy”. Seeing as the successor to the EyeToy peripheral – the PlayStation Eye – is already out, we’ll presume they’re talking about a next-gen sequel to EyeToy Play, the game that came bundled with the original PS2 camera. We’ll also presume it’ll be taking advantage of all those neat features we’ve been shown over the past few months. And be subsequently excited. But remember, until David Reeves takes to that stage later today, chalk this one up as a rumour.

GC08: “Next gen” EyeToy game to be revealed in Sony presser today [VG247]

Frenchies Bust Into Sony Presser Rehearsal, Spoilers Ahead

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:00:00 +0000

Sony’s Leipzig press conference has the limelight all to itself at this year’s Games Convention, what with Microsoft saying nothanks.jpg and Nintendo not even bothering to show up. So it’s press conference will be full of surprises! And shocks! And all kinds of things you’ve never heard nor dreamed about! And…oh, wait. Gamekyo have snuck into Sony’s presser rehearsal, caught wind of some of it and spilled the beans. Seeing as there are those amongst you who still like to be surprised by this kind of thing, we’ll post the spoilers after the jump.

Before we start, note they caught only part of the rehearsal, not the whole thing. So there’s plenty of room for a major announcement or two. But here’s what they did see:

Heavy Rain: a new trailer was shown, revealing in-game footage for the first time.

LittleBigPlanet : a new trailer, with producer Pete Smith coming on-stage to give us all a final public walkthrough of the game ahead of its release.

SingStar: there’s a major focus on SingStar in Sony’s conference, unsurprising considering the popularity of the series in Europe. Interestingly, Gamekyo say the focus will be on a “new” SingStar for the PS3, which ties in with SCEE boss David Reeve’s promise to unveil a “next generation” version of the game at Leipzig. What this means for the existing “next generation” SingStar is anybody’s guess.

Heavy Rain for PS3 at Sony Conference tomorrow ? [Gamekyo]

The Games Convention Über Update Post

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:20:00 +0000

Games Convention 2008 – The Adventure Begins

Mike Fahey — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:40:00 +0000

I’ve never been to Germany, but my father says it was nice.

Well, he said it was nice – he hasn’t said much since the cremation, but I suppose that sort of thing would leave anyone speechless. The fact that he spoke at all after being born in Germany immediately following a rather nasty war is a comforting fact. If an infant can survive post World War II Germany relatively unscathed, I should have no problem surviving really really-post WWII Germany, what with my being a completely grown man perfectly capable of taking an infant in unarmed combat.

As you read this I am nervously sitting in an airport, preparing to take my first steps outside of the continental United States in order to aid Kotaku’s Mike collective (McWhertor and I) in covering Games Convention 2008 in Leipzig. Soon my 6′6″ frame will be crammed into a tiny seat in a metal tube shooting across the Atlantic towards my father’s birth country, and while a great deal of this trip is for you people, I’m saving just a tiny bit of it for myself.

See you all in Germany!