Archive for November, 2008:
Daily Battle
Gears of War 2 Matchmaking Update Issued
Killzone 2 Supports 1080i Natively
Midway: Secret Game Looking Better Than Gears of War 2
GTA 4 Using SecuROM DRM, Rockstar Addresses Complaints
Codename Panzers Cold War Dated
Quick Picks
Brando Has an USB Notebook Cooling Pad With HDD Feature
Blockbuster to Offer Streaming Set-Top Box
Earth Trek launches “Travelling Webcam Hub”
Twilight Sequel to Begin Shooting March 2009
Gears of War 2 Matchmaking Update Issued
Following up on its promise, Epic Games has released an update for Gears of War 2, aimed at helping the current matchmaking issues players are facing.
The patch will be automatically downloaded when players sign on to Xbox Live, with the installation of the patch required to play online.
“In order to get the update out as quickly as possible, we focused just on immediate infrastructure issues and have left any potential gameplay issues for a future update,” wrote senior producer Rod Fergusson on the game’s official forum.
His post carries further details on the changes made.
Killzone 2 Supports 1080i Natively
It was reported earlier on various sites that Killzone 2 would run only in native 720p resolution, but that’s not the case, as according to Seb Downie, QA Manager for Guerilla Games, the game will also run in a native 1080i resolution as well.
“I got a message from one of our code gurus today about me talking about the 720p stuff I was spewing incorrectly and told me that we now support 1080i natively too,” wrote Downie on the official PlayStation forums.
Killzone 2 is due out February 2009 exclusively on the PS3.
Midway: Secret Game Looking Better Than Gears of War 2
Financially ailing publisher Midway may still have some tricks up its sleeve, as the company has revealed that a secret, unannounced internally developed game is “already looking as good as Gears [of War] 2.”
This comes from creative director Simon Woodroffe who was speaking to Videogamer at a Wheelman press event in London.
Apparently, the game has been in development for only three months and that it is powered by Epic’s Unreal Engine. Woodroffe notes that the company’s policy of sharing technology is finally paying off as they are now achieving their target of simplified development and better-looking games.
As for the game itself, he disclosed that it is similar to Epic’s cover-heavy game, but that the “game mechanics are kind of different.”
“It’s going to be really big and really important,” he explained. “It’s not often, especially when you’re a cynical type, that you see a prototype or creative slice and just get blown away by it. But in this case, the hype is justified.”
He also revealed that another game is in development at Midway Chicago, though it isn’t due out until 2010.
GTA 4 Using SecuROM DRM, Rockstar Addresses Complaints
Pissing off many gamers, Rockstar has revealed that the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV will make use of the oft-criticized SecuROM copy protection. However, some controversial features, such as install limits, won’t be utilized.
“SecuROM is the most effective form of disc based copy protection and allows us to manage authenticity on a global level for Grand Theft Auto IV,” said the developer.
As expected, the game will require a one-time activation via the Internet and the disc of the game has to be kept in the drive while you play.
While the retail physical version won’t have any install limits, digital download vendors may place their own installation limit.
Interestingly, the studio noted that those who crack and play the game will have their game experiences changed, ranging from “comical to game-progress-halting changes.”
GTA 4 is due out December 2 on PC.
Codename Panzers Cold War Dated
Atari has announced that it will publish Codename: Panzers – Cold War during February 2009. The latest entry in the long-running World War 2 strategy series brings the franchise to the Cold War era, having players duke it out between the US and Russia.
The game suffered a major delay following the closure of series creator Stormregion earlier this year. Development was taken up by InnoGlow, which has been founded by ex-Stormregion employees.
Daily Battle
Assassin’s Creed Sequel Confirmed, Talked About, Even Dated
GameStop has a Wii for you, hopefully
Path of the Furon Cancelled for PS3
Naked Brothers Brace Rock Band
TouchGrind now available for iPhone/iPod touch
FEAR Sequel Banned Down Under
Sony: PSP Piracy Going Down
Gears of War 2 murals invade NYC
Xbox Live gets Red Alert 3 demo
Grand Theft Auto IV: Lost & Damned sold at GameStop
Quick Picks
LG KB770 Brings You Digital Video Broadcasting TV
Onkyo DV-BD606 Blu-ray Player
Get Pump With Ian-Phil Heath skipping the Arnold
Nikon D3x Anyone?
Duplicity Trailer – Roberts and Owen Chime
TTX01 – First Electric Superbike
Assassin’s Creed Sequel Confirmed, Talked About, Even Dated
Confirming the utterly obvious, Joystiq reports that a sequel to Assassin’s Creed is indeed in development and that it was talked about by Ubisoft during its first-half fiscal 2008-09 conference call. The confirmation indicates that the publisher is hoping to release the game during its fiscal 2010, which would place it during the holiday 2009 release period.
More information comes from GiantBomb, who, during the taping of an episode of Gametrailers’ Bonus Round, picked up word from industry analyst Michael Pachter that the middle ages setting of the game will move hundreds of years forward into the 18th century, most probably focusing on the French Revolution. However, this is yet to be confirmed, but would be an interesting approach to take for the developers.
GameStop has a Wii for you, hopefully
If you’ve still been struggling to get your hands on a Nintendo Wii console over 2 years after it’s release, you can finally rest easy, or at least we hope.
In a recent interview with GameStop exec Tony Bartel he said the following about their Wii stock going into the holidays:
We actually have slightly over a week’s supply of Wiis, which is great. We haven’t been there ever since the launch, and so we’re excited about being there.
So that’s it people, now all you need to do is go try to get a Wii from your local GameStop, and report back here if you were successful or not. What are you waiting for? Go!
Read (Destructoid)
Path of the Furon Cancelled for PS3
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the awesomeness of the totally groovy alien from Destroy All Humans won’t be making it to the PS3, as THQ has announced the cancellation of the PS3 version of Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon, the last game from Sandblast and the first next-gen title in the anal-probing series.
This first popped up through retailers, who removed all references and entries of the PS3 version. It was then confirmed by THQ, who cited “development issues”.
Path of the Furon is now a Xbox 360 exclusive, shipping to stores on December 1.
Naked Brothers Brace Rock Band
As is customary in these parts, Harmonix has revealed next week’s downloadable content for Rock Band (and its sequel), offering us music from the All-American Rejects to Naked Brothers.
“Body I Occupy” and “I Don’t Want to go to School” by Naked Brothers Band will cost 80 Microsoft points ($1) per song. The other songs are “Are You Dead Yet” by Children of Bodom, “Tutto E’ Possible” by Finley, “Hay Poco Rock n’ Roll” by Platero y Tu, “Tempted” by Squeeze, “Ready, Set, Go” by Tokio Hotel and “Real World” by All-American Rejects – these songs will cost 160 points ($2) each.
The songs will be on Xbox Live on Tuesday followed by a PS3 release on Thursday.
TouchGrind now available for iPhone/iPod touch
Illusion Labs really may be onto something with TouchGrind, a new skating game for iPhone/iPod touch, utilizing the hardwares multitouch capabilities.
If you’ve ever used a TechDeck, fingerboard, or whatever you want to call it, as you can see from the above video, you’re already ahead in TouchGrind. Featuring controls that just might be more innovative than EA’s skate, TouchGrind is one game from the App Store every skateboarding fan will not want to live without.
More info on Illusion Labs’ TouchGrind at the game’s official website.
FEAR Sequel Banned Down Under
And yet another violent game bites the dust in Australia, as Monolith’s horror shooter sequel F.E.A.R. 2 has been refused classification by the Australian Classification Review Board, effectively barring sales of the game in the region.
This follows earlier bans of games like Fallout 3, Silent Hill: Homecoming and Dead Space, though the former two have been edited for release in the region. It wasn’t stated what content caused the ban, but imagery of creepy girls in bloody hallways is sure to cited in their internal report somewhere.
Monolith is yet to decide whether to edit and release the game in the region or not. The game is due out February 10, 2009 on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.