Archive for July, 2007:
Prototype Unveiled
Gamespot cites an article from the August issue of Game Informer, revealing Prototype, an upcoming game from Radical Entertainment, the studio which developed the free-roaming action game Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction.
Prototype is described as a “hyper-violent action game” that follows the story of Alex Mercer, who was acquired superhuman abilities through a science experiment that went wrong. It will follow the same premise as its Hulk predecessor, allowing players to wreak havoc in Manhattan using his gained abilities. Interestingly, when Mercer kills people, he can absorb their memories, abilities and even appearance, adding the aspect of stealth into the game. He can also augment his biomass, making him stronger.
The game is set for release sometime in 2008 on PS3 and Xbox 360. Further information is expected soon as the game is yet to be officially announced.
Metal Gear Anniversary Collection May Hit US
Western Metal Gear fans that were looking forward to seeing the Metal Gear 20th Anniversary Collection were disappointed to learn that it was Japan only. However, Konami USA’s Anthony Kraus, VP of Marketing, let slip that the collection could be headed West. He revealed that the publisher is currently in talks with major American retailers to bring a “very similar” package to the country, though he could not provide any further details or a concrete release date.
The Anniversary collection features almost all the Metal Gear games ever released, including the original Metal Gear, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear 2, MGS 2, MGS 3 and MGS Portable Ops (PSP). Additionally, the package also contains the Metal Gear Saga DVD and a documentary on Metal Gear Solid 2.
BioShock Fan Love Expressed Through Woodwork
We are all rabid fans of certain games and we express our love for those games through various means – music, movies, parodies, etc. But did you see anyone ever doing woodwork for any game? You can now safely say that you have.
This picture on Flickr shows such love for BioShock through a machine carved plaque. According to the accompanying description, he has almost no experience with “sanding and finishing” but the quality of the product amazes me. Apparently, he made two copies of the thing, one of which is on display at Irrational Games’ office, with the other remaining with him signed by the developer team.
Age of Empires III Gold Edition Announced
Microsoft Game Studios and Ensemble have announced that they will release Age of Empires III: Gold Edition on September 25. Bundling together the original game and its Warchiefs expansion, the Gold Edition will retail for $39.99. It will feature no other extra content.
Age of Empires III, the third in the venerable series, places players during the time period of 1500-1850 as they establish their empire, explore, colonize and conquer North and South America. The Warchiefs expansion allows players to lead the native Indians into battle to expand their empire and fight for control of the Americas.
Another expansion dubbed Asian Dynasties is also in the works. It is set for release this Fall and will give players the chance to control Asian civilizations.
Sam & Max Season Two Announced
Having finished its first season, Telltale and GameTap didn’t waste any time to announce plans for the second season of Sam & Max, its episodic detective duo. Set for release this Fall, the episodes this time around will be available on Telltale’s website one day after premiering on GameTap.
“Season One was a great success, but it’s just a starting point for us,” says Telltale’s CEO Dan Connors. “The episodic model presents so many opportunities to innovate and engage the audience in brand new ways. Just wait until you see what Telltale and GameTap have in store with Season Two.”
This time around, the creators are hoping to deliver “farther-reaching, crazier stories,” with the game seeing improvements due to player feedback and more.
Those who missed season one can purchase and download it from various sites including Steam, TT Games and GameTap itself. It is also headed to retail next month thanks to The Adventure Company and JoWood.
Resident Evil 5 Screenshots
I know it’s late, but hey, better late than never, right? Anyways, Capcom sent out some nice screenshots from Resident Evil 5, showing off the game’s enemies, as well as some shots of gameplay. There are also some portraits of the main character and the various locations in the game. As far as I can see from the shots, the game seems to be going for a high-contrast artistic visual style, reminiscent of many photographers’ styles.
The game is in development for release on PS3 and Xbox 360 sometime next year. As usual, more screenshots after the jump. You can also check out the recently released extended trailer here.
Boll Working on Game
GameDaily reports that Uwe Boll, the infamous video game director, is planning on turning one of his original movies into a game. The site reports that he has filmed Tunnel Rats, an original Vietnam War movie set in 1967, and that he is working with German developer Replay Studios, the devs behind the upcoming Sabotage, to create a new first-person shooter based on the film. The game is being developed for the PC and Xbox 360.
“Tunnel Rats is a first-person shooter set during the Vietnam War that tells the story of a young G.I. who escapes from a POW camp and journeys through a heavily fortified valley in the Cu Chi province,” said Marc Moehring Managing Director and Co-Founder, Replay Studios. “It not only depicts his actual physical path through the merciless jungle and claustrophobic, trap-ridden tunnels, but also his emotional and psychological journey as the horrors he witnesses–and participates in–slowly deprive him of his ideals, morals and sanity.”
As per the article, the game will feature 10 levels of jungles and tunnels based on the movie; players will have over a dozen weapons at their disposal as they make their way through the game. Apparently, all the actors from the movie – Michael Pare, Nate Parker, Erik Eidem, Brandon Fobbs – have signed on to have their likenesses appear in the game. It is also noted that the game will feature the score from the movie, as well as additional music composed specifically for it.
Boll plans on releasing the game alongside the movie when it hits theatres early next year. He is also likely to bundle the game and movie together once it hits DVD.
Wii’s Success Surprised EA
EA CEO John Riccitiello admitted yesterday that the Wii has surprised the company, and that more focus should have been put in developing games for the Wii, instead of focusing on the Xbox 360 and PS3. During an analyst conference call, Riccitiello said that the Fiscal year 2007 was the toughest ever, because of the transition to three new consoles.
“[This transition has been] harder because of the complexity, and harder because unfortunately, we bet a little bit on the wrong horse in focusing so much on the PS3 and Xbox 360, and to a lesser degree on the Wii. And let me assure you that almost all of us in the industry made the same judgment. So after so many transitions of guessing exactly right, we got this one a little bit wrong and we’re dealing with that now with strong investments on the Wii.”
He assured investors that they’re now investing in the Wii, and new IPs like Crysis, Army of Two, and the upcoming Steven Spielberg games. After the conference call, EA’s share dropped almost 2 percent.
PS3 Getting Exclusive Rockstar Franchise
Sony might have lost Grand Theft Auto 4 exclusivity, but that doesn’t mean Rockstar isn’t loyal to the PlayStation crowd. Sony announced the deal on their official blog, where third party director at SCEA, Michael Shorrock, proudly announced the new and exclusive franchise, but didn’t reveal any further details. He also confirmed that the new franchise is not LA Noir, which Rockstar revealed last year.
First Iron Man Gameplay Video
Here’s the first look at Sega’s Iron Man game, which is based on the movie which is set for mid-summer. The game is going to be release with the movie for PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii.
EA Will Make Sure All-Pro Football Is Only A “Blip”
John Riccitiello, CEO of EA, spoke very directly about how EA feels of Take-Two trying to take on Madden with their own football title, All-Pro Football 2K8. EA considers to be a Take-Two a competitor, and takes it pretty seriously that Madden is being challenged by All-Pro Football 2K8.
“When you’ve got a competitor like Take-Two on the sports side, and they launch a football title using some of the industry legends, you want to make sure that ends up being a blip and is not repeatable, because we like to defend our franchises aggressively.”
Riccitiello was pretty to the point concerning Take-Two, but declined to explain what EA planned on doing to defend Madden’s position as the top football franchise. It will be interesting to see whether if EA simply means that they will advertise aggressively, or if Madden ‘08 itself has been improved in order to be a more appealing game for consumers.
Nintendo Increases Forecasts
It seems a pretty steady trend these days that Nintendo is constantly surprised at just how well all of their products are selling. Regardless of what they do these days, whether hardware or software, they seem to be doing it well. That’s why they are increasing both sales, and also shipment forecasts for the rest of the fiscal year. Keeping in mind Nintendo generally guesses on the lower end of the spectrum, it’s very likely we can expect even greater numbers.
Software sales are expected to spike from the previously estimated 55 million to 72 million for the Wii console and 130 million to 140 million for the DS. Wii tie ratios would increase by more than 3 games, which is an important statistic that third party developers take into count.
Those who feel Nintendo needs to up shipments will be happy to hear they already expected 14 million units for the fiscal year to increase to 16.5 million. That’s an increase of 2.5 million units by March 2008, a hefty bump that should help demand. This would put the install base of the Wii at 22 million units. To put quickly into context, the 360 was sitting slightly under 10 million sold units in its first year. Unbelievably, 22 million would also outstrip lifetime Gamecube sales. Meaning the Wii will have achieved what the Gamecube did not in a 5th of the time. Now that’s something for Nintendo to be surprised about.
Xbox Live Brings Home Comic-Con
Xbox Live has been so kind to us recently as a source of news and trailers. You’d almost think they wanted to compete with the Internet! Once again they are employing their bringing it home campaign for Comic-Con taking place right now. It’s pretty likely that we’ll see similar efforts for both Leipzig and TGS, which are more videogame focused than Comic-Con.
For cross over fans though, a lot of great content and panels are taking place right now. It’ll be interesting to view a lot of the Live content as it becomes available, and a few free theme packs and gamer pictures never hurt anyone either.
You can view all the content they have as well as updates at the central location for the Bringing it Home campaign.
Extended Resident Evil 5 Trailer
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Resident Evil 5 was a big deal in Microsoft’s Press Conference kicking off E3. Actually, considering it was their only 2008 title to make an appearance, albeit just in trailer form, it was supposed to be the big announcement. Unfortunately, while the trailer was amazing, it was easy to be disappointed when their big surprise was just a trailer for a game we already knew about.
Now that you have been scorned by Microsoft, and gotten over the hope that the upcoming trailer is a brand new IP, why not watch it again? This time however the trailer has over doubled in length, and features actual game play, voice-overs and lots of extra goodies. If this game is at all on your radar, and it should be, enjoy the extended trailer.
First Video Of Ubisoft’s Lost
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Right now Damon and Carlton are being ushered from the stage at Comic Con from their Lost Season Four panel. One of the first things that we got to see when the panel was taking place, was exciting first footage of Ubisoft’s Lost game. So far we have heard very scarce details of the title when it was announced, but finally we can reap some of those rewards with actual game play footage.
Everything from the trailer seems to occur within the first two season, it’s hard to say exactly how far the game will span. Graphically it’s looking slick, albeit slightly strange to see the actors in videogame form. Jack is definitely playable, if not the main character, and both Sawyer and Locke make appearances within the trailer suggesting they are likewise playable characters. Will the whole cast join in? We’ll learn more before the game releases sometime in 2008.