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Need For Speed 2010 confirmed

EA has confirmed that developer Criterion has a Need For Speed game ready for 2010, after working on the Burnout series for a long time, indicating that the series will now have yearly installments, much like their EA Sports series. EA also revealed that Need For Speed Shift has shipped over 2.5 million units, while actual sales numbers were not disclosed.

Madden 10 ships 3.7 million copies

One of EA’s most lucrative franchises, the Madden franchise’s latest iteration, Madden 10 has shipped 3.7 million copies since its release in August, EA revealed. However, the game was off to a bad start, with sales being down 19% compared to Madden 09, but it did rebound in September and sales have increase thanks to the PS3 price drop. Madden 09 was the best selling Madden game of all time, and it’s going to be a tough job outselling it, especially during this economy.

NBA Unrivaled available on XBLA on Wednesday

If you’re not into the latest simulation games of NBA Live 10 and NBA 2K10, but in for something more in the arcade scene, NBA Unrivaled might just do the job for you. Based on the old NBA Hangtime-ish arcade games of the 90s, complete with the retro look and feel, and with the full NBA license. The game will be out on Xbox Live Arcade tomorrow, and on the PS3’s PSN sometime in the future.

Wii Fit Plus review

Wii Fit has been one of the few original and innovative games on the Wii, something new and refreshing in the hail of never ending Mario games. The Wii Fit training game, coupled with the Wii balance Board, has sold in excess of 20 million units worldwide, so it’s no surprise that Nintendo is looking to offer a bit more on that side. Enter Wii Fit Plus, which retails for only $20 if you already own Wii Fit with a Balance Board, but if you don’t, the whole package will cost you $100, which is $10 more than the original Wii Fit.

Wii Fit Plus isn’t really a sequel — it’s sold separately without the Balance Board for those that already own it — it’s actually an expansion pack which includes the original games and workouts, and even transfers your data from the old game. This is pretty slick, meaning that you won’t have to swap the new and old Wii Fit disc. Wii Fit Plus features 15 new work out mini games and six strength training and Yoga workouts, and this time, you can mix and match your workouts as you see fit. Read the rest of the Wii Fit Plus review

NCAA Basketball 10 demo hits Xbox Live

Those of you with an Xbox Live Gold membership can now log on and download the NCAA Basketball 10 demo as it was just released today. Alternatively those of you who have a Silver membership will be able to get it on November 12th while PS3 owners will be able to get it on November 19th.

And for those of you who just want the retail game well, that will be out on November 18th.

Fight Night Round 4 gets new DLC

EA has announced that their boxing simulator Fight Night Round 4 will be getting a new DLC pack this December. The DLC will include two new game modes and three new fighters, which are none other than Sonny Liston, Evander Holyfield, and Bernard Hopkins. Among the new modes is Ring Rivalries, which tries to recreate historic boxing matches. The DLC will retail for 800 MS points, or $10.

20 games to look forward to in 2010

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While 2009 is drawing to an end, and with all the great AAA titles only weeks away, keep in mind that 2010 is going to see more top-notch titles released than the last few years. Here are 20 games that should/will make an impact next year, and while a lot more games are coming out, we obviously couldn’t include them all — our list grew from ten games to twenty games simply because even we were surprised how many title are lined up for 2010. Here’s our 20 games for 2010, in no particular order.

Postal 3 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Running With Scissors, Q2, 2010)

The original Postal was both hailed and damned for its controversial content, and the sequel, Postal 2 only made it better (or worse, if you’re a politician looking for some media attention). Postal 3 will expand on the sandbox style gameplay, and will even feature director Uwe Boll (who made the 2008 Postal movie) in a cameo role.

APB (PC, Xbox 360, March 2010)

After developing Crackdown for the Xbox 360, which has since become a cult classic on the console, Realtime Worlds shifted all their manpower to APB (All Points Bulletin), a revolutionary MMO set in a huge city where players battle each other as either law enforcement agents, or criminals. A kind of GTA online, as creator David Jones (the man behind GTA) is noted saying APB is “the bastard child of everything we’ve been striving towards over the 15-20 years”.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360, March 2, 2010)

Battlefield: Bad Company almost managed to perfect something no other FPS had done before: creating a fully destructible battlefield, where walls would no longer provide infinite cover — one tank shell and you better be looking to hide somewhere else. Coupled with a single player campaign and a solid multiplayer, Bad Company has been one of the most played FPS on the Xbox 360 and PS3. Bad Company 2 will bring “destruction 2.0″, taking destruction to a whole new level, this time, entire buildings and towns can be leveled to the ground.

Heavy Rain (PS3, February 2010)

Heavy Rain has been highly anticipated ever since it was first showcased at E3 2006 for the PlayStation 3, the film-noir, thriller-styled game will feature an intertwined storyline, with four playable characters, all looking for a serial killed going under the name “The Origami Killer”.

Halo Reach (Xbox 360, Q4 2010)

The next chapter in the Halo series and Master Chief’s battle against the Covenant was unveiled at E3 2009, without any further details other than the game would be the last Halo game to be developed by Bungie. Owners of Halo 3: ODST will have a chance to check out the game’s multiplayer beta in the middle of 2010, by then we should have more details on Reach.

Red Steel 2 (Wii, February 16, 2010)

The original Red Steel was the very first Wii game that was revealed, and rode a wave of anticipation until its release — as a Wii launch title — where it showed a flawed control scheme, dated visuals and uninspiring gameplay. Red Steel 2 is said to correct all those issues, and will require (and be bundled with) the Wii Motion Plus accessory, giving it a true 1:1 control input, paving the way for some great sword fights. We sure hope so.

Crysis 2 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Q4 2010)

The original Crysis is still bringing even the most powerful PCs to their knees, and is still hailed as the best looking game available, at least if a tropical island is what you crave. Crysis 2 continues the story where the original left off, and will use the new CryEngine 3, creating an even more immersive world. There aren’t many details of the game yet, but one thing is for sure: start saving for a new PC rig.
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Madden NFL Arcade coming this December

EA has announced that a cut-down, arcade version of Madden will make its way to the Xbox 360 and PS3 in form of a download-only game. The game, which features 5-on-5 only play with all 32 NFL teams, and will cost $15 (or 1200 MS points) and will be available this December. NFL Arcade will also feature all the real stadiums with a shorter, 60 yard field and just enough team stars to build a decent 5 man squad.

NBA Live 2010 review

The last few season, the NBA Live series has been in serious decline, and EA has worked hard towards getting out of that slump with NBA Live 2010, finally giving some competition for the rival NBA 2K10, which we reviewed yesterday.

You’ll notice right away that NBA Live 2010 does improve on a few things quite drastically, like the presentation. The visuals have received an overhaul, everything from the animations to the crowd and the stadiums look great, the player models however, while improved over last year’s edition, still lack behind in detail and realism compared to NBA 2K10, but overall, it’s still a pretty game. Gameplay wise, the action is definitely more fluid, and while some animations can seem out of place, it’s still better than last year. However, it’s not about being better than last year, where NBA Live 09 was virtually the low point of the series the past few years. Instead, it’s about how the gameplay compares to the rival NBA 2K10. The Live counterpart does have a more fluid play, but the 2K version seems far more immersive, mainly due to the realistic look and feel of it. However, NBA Live 2010 does feature a lot simpler gameplay, a lot easier to get a hold of, and you’re only using one button to shoot, regardless whether it’s a dunk or layout, jump shot or hook shot. However, this too has its flaws, as your player will often do something else than you intended. If you’re looking for a short jumper, the player on screen might take a hook shot if the defender is too close to him, and thereby take a much tougher shot when a simple one would have done the job. More »

NBA 2K10 review

The NBA 2K series have pretty much been kicking NBA Live’s behind for the last few seasons, and rightfully so. The gameplay has always been better on the 2K series, the presentation and depth have likewise left NBA Live in the dust. But for the 2010 versions of the respective games, the stakes are higher, with both NBA 2K10 and NBA Live 10 having upped the ante. Today, we look at one of those, NBA 2K10, and without spoiling too much of the review, we can safely say that fans of the series will not be disappointed.

When booting up a game of 2K10, you’ll immediately notice that the gameplay has received a notch upwards, and that there are now a slew of new animations, all contributing to life-like, realistic players on the court. The player models themselves are the best the series has ever seen, as everything from clothes to skin, to facial animations have been rendered almost perfectly, besides one thing; the jerseys the players are wearing. Usually, they seem to “pop up”, as if resting on an invisible cushion on the player, giving them a very odd look. But overall, those are minor details. More »

FIFA 10 review

EA has dominated the soccer game scene for almost two decades now, and considering that FIFA 10 has already become the fastest selling sports game, according to EA, at least, one has great anticipation for a series that has seen little evolution over the past few years. Is FIFA 10 the one that’s gonna make the difference? That’s gonna reinvent the series? Short answer: yes. Longer answer, yes, definitely. Basically, it’s FIFA, and for once, it’s noticeably better than it’s predecessor.

FIFA 10 brings a slew of additions to the series, including a brand new “360 degree” player control feature, which means you can move your player in any direction, not just 8 as before, which astonishingly stuck with the franchise from before the analog sticks were introduced, which is now more than ten years ago. Finally, you can use the analog stick to move the player in any 360-degree direction. This means that the actions and movements of players are a lot more fluid and realistic, a huge leap over FIFA 09 (imagine how players used to zig-zag across the scree before?). Coupled with updated and increased amount of animations, it looks even better, almost as if you were watching a real match, if it wasn’t for the commentators and a few other nitpicks. More »

Konami looking for motion sensing input for PES

Konami has pretty much offered the only viable contender to EA’s FIFA series, the PES, or Pro Evolution Soccer series, which has been a torn in EA’s eye for almost a decade. Developer and publisher Konami has revealed that they’re looking to add motion controller input to the series, as PES producer Shingo Takatsuka mentioned to IGN, saying that the company is “aggressively” looking into both Project Natal of Xbox 360 and the PS3 motion controller as well. However, the most obvious choice for motion controllers, the Wii, wasn’t mentioned.

Trials HD surpasses 300,000 sold on XBLA

If you’ve been to any Flash game site you’ve without a doubt played Trials or a similar motorbike physics game and chances are, you loved it. Well it seems like us Flash game addicts aren’t the only ones who love the game as RedLynx has recently announced that Trials HD has sold over 300,000 digital copies through the Xbox Live Arcade.

This is an amazing feat as the game topped the big 300k after being on sale for just a month. I think it’s now safe to see we will be seeing several Trials HD sequels, don’t you think?

Read (Eurogamer)

Top 10 games to look forward to this holiday season

It’s almost that time of the year; the period of a two month interval where tons of highly anticipated video games are released. And even though lots of games this year have been pushed to early 2010 because it was simply too crowded, there’s still a ton of great, quality AAA titles which will be released in the upcoming months. Here are our ten picks:

10: Avatar (November 15)

James Cameron’s upcoming sci-fi epic Avatar has been in production for years and sci-fi fans around the world are looking forward to its December premiere. The game adaptation, developed by Ubisoft, uses the same technology as the film, and will be in 3D as well.Very little is known about the game, mostly because it follows the movie closely, which itself has been a tightly kept secret.

9: NBA 2K10/NBA Live 10 (October 6)

The rivalry between NBA basketball series NBA 2K and NBA Live has been ongoing for several years, and for the 2010 versions of the respective games — which will be released on the same day — the stakes are even higher. 2K Games and EA have added a ton of new features to their games, which will make this years line up even more compelling to basketball fans around the world.

8: Aion: The Tower of Eternity (September 22)

Korean developer/publisher NCsoft is known for creating lots of MMOs, from Lineage, to Guild Wars, to the failed Auto Assault. Aion is their latest creation, and unlike many other MMOs, the main attraction here is that combat will, for the most part be airborne. Unfortunately however, unlike Guild Wars, Aion will be subscription based, and will cost $15 a month to be a part of.

7: Halo 3: ODST (September 22)

Halo 3 ODST (”Orbital Drop Shock Troopers”), doesn’t follow the main protagonist Master Chief, instead, it centers around an unknown soldier, “The Rookie”, who crash lands on a hostile planet and must find his teammates. While it’s not a true sequel, rather something in between Halo 3 and the upcoming Halo Reach, it’ll most certainly satisfy hard core Halo fans this holiday season.
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DIRT 2 review

Codemasters have had great success with the Colin McRae Rally series, which has pretty much turned into the de facto standard rally game whenever it’s released — kinda like Madden is for football. Dirt 2 is the successor to the great, but technically flawed Dirt (known in Europe as Colin McRae rally: Dirt), and where the original was flawed and lacked attention, the sequel fills all the gaps. Even though the game moves a bit from the “simulation” into the “arcade” ballpark, Dirt 2 is still the best rally game out there today, and even with a weak competition, the developers still pushed themselves to deliver a great game.

In Dirt 2, you play as a rookie race driver who’s competing with pros (all from the real world Rally Series), and the campaign follows you through tons of races and competitions. It even starts fairly emotionally, as you’re given your first car, which is none other than the Subaru Impreza that the late Colin McRae drove. More »