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Rockstar Boss On EA, Spiritual Healers

While EA acquiring Take-Two Interactive and its subsidiary Rockstar Games is seen as a nightmare by many, Rockstar founder Sam House admitted that he sees potential in partnering with EA. Houser told The Wall Street Journal that he views EA CEO John Riccitiello as the “real deal” and that he has no problems in being a “much smaller fish in [a] much bigger pond.”

With all that said, Houser is “unlikely” to run subject material past EA in the event that the companies do have some form of business agreements.

In hilarious news, Houser revealed that during the production of GTA 4 the company brought in a spiritual healer who performed an exorcism-type ritual after two employees committed suicide. Apparently, the healer got “pretty strong readings” from an empty desk.

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise Smashed Open

It’s been a small Rare blow out today, as Microsoft gears up for their gamer day, plenty of leaks have been uncovered by the internet crowd at large. One such find is a new and proper sequel to 2006’s extremely addicting Viva Piñata.

I feel that everyone is allowed to have their own guilty little pleasure, and for me that game is Viva Piñata. If you can wrap your head around the cutesy, although extremely beautiful looking exterior, lies an extremely fun title, whose only fault was that it didn’t wind up on a Nintendo console (where it would have entertained a much bigger audience).

But Microsoft certainly hasn’t given up hope, given us two solid family games from Rare this holiday season. Of course, since this is merely a leak, we don’t really have a bullet point of features. But from everything I can gander by the few screens, there are new environments, it looks like possibly the addition of seasons and the same beautiful visual style.

Watch for more details from the Microsoft gamers day when they announce this project properly.

DC Vs. MK Keeping Fatalities

From its very inception Mortal Kombat stood apart from most fighting games for its fantastic plots and characters. From cybernetic ninjas to evil necromancers the game has been known as much for its unusual characters as its trademark fatalities. The newest twist on the series will have Mortal Kombat characters squaring off against classic characters from DC comics.

While we can still expect bizarre characters and arenas there will be some definite changes in the game, mostly because the game is aiming for a wider audience by toning things down to a ‘Teen’ rating (seemingly at the behest of DC comics). After the announcement of the game and its slightly more parent-friendly rating many assumed that the fatalities would be excised for the sake of easier ratings. Ed Boon, co-creator of the franchise has assured gamers that although the will be altered, the classic finishing moves that has always been a hallmark of the games will still be present. Since we’re talking about a ‘teen’ rating and the fact that everything has to be run by DC comics it’s hard to say how much you recognize the feature past the distinctive ‘Finish him’ but the MK team will of course push the boundaries as far as they’ll reach.

Will you be able to tear out Batman’s heart or pummel Aquaman with his own legs? Doubtful, but you might be able to toss them off a cliff, which should be good enough. All I’m hoping for is that they include Robin. You know you want to kick the crap out of him.

Banjo-Kazooie 3 Screenshots Arise

I don’t know about you guys but I’ve been looking forward to this game ever since its announcement, since I grew up playing the N64 Banjo-Kazooie titles and all.

Well, it seems that Banjo-Kazooie 3 is nearing its release as screen shots of the game have started to arise. Featuring several blueprintesque screen shots of vehicles we can expect to see in the upcoming game like the Banjo Plane and Banjo Copter, along with various shots of the duo in action.

You can head over to Xbox Live Addicts to see the new screenshots.

Banjo Kazooie 3, the working title of the game, is currently in development by Rare as an Xbox 360 exclusive.

First Gears of War 2 Gameplay Footage

As promised earlier, Microsoft and Epic Games have released the first in-game footage from Gears of War 2. The video features an introduction by series creator Cliff Bleszinski, who delivers details on the game’s storyline and some of the gameplay mechanics. The video showcases huge environments, large numbers of enemies on-screen, chainsaw duels, and new and improved visuals.

Gears of War 2, similar to its predecessor, is exclusive to Xbox 360 and will be released this November.

Sonic Youth, Clash, Blondie in Rock Band

Keeping its weekly tradition intact, Harmonix revealed that three new downloadable tracks will be available for Rock Band next week. The three songs are master recordings of “Hanging on the Telephone” by Blondie, “Train in Vain” by The Clash and “Kool Thing” by Sonic Youth.

The tracks will be sold individually for 160 Microsoft points, or $1.99 at the PlayStation Store. As usual, the songs will be available starting May 13 on Xbox Live Marketplace, followed by a PS3 release on Thursday, May 15.

No Tony Hawk Game This Year

Shocking the world, Activision revealed that it will not release a Tony Hawk-branded skateboarding game this year – for the first time since 1999. Instead, the company aims to release a new entry in its next fiscal year, which runs from April 2009 to March 2010. This game, in the words of Activision publishing CEO Mike Griffith, will reinvent the series “from the ground up.”

“It won’t be your father’s Tony Hawk,” he said during a conference call yesterday. “For competitive reasons we’re not going to talk about it today, but we’re very bullish on the kind of innovation it will bring.”

However, this year won’t be completely barren skateboarding wise, as the company noted that a new DS entry, developed by Vicarious Visions, is due out later this year.

Bizarre: No PGR4 DLC From Us

Bringing sad news to gamers, Bizarre Creations community lead Ben Ward revealed that the studio won’t be creating any downloadable content for Project Gotham Racing 4 in the future. He said so while responding to a content wishlist by a fan on the game’s forums.

The studio is now part of Activision, but PGR4 was released when the company was working with Microsoft. Though the studio has released a Free Challenge Pack and Premium Challenge Pack DLC, future content updates will have to come from franchise owner Microsoft.

Bioshock Coming To Big Screen

No, we don’t mean that your buddy’s getting a 72″ flatscreen. Ever since the “Super Mario Brothers” movie gamers have winced with concern at every announcement of a new film adaptation of a favorite game. The emergence of Uwe Boll only made things worse. Unfortunately one of the main drawbacks of video game films are the choices they’ve made. There are some games with epic storylines that pull at people’s heartstrings and make a connection between the players and the characters. Unfortunately these often get overlooked in favor of games like Postal or Tomb Raider.

Don’t lose hope fellow gamers. There’s a bright ray of sunshine on the horizon: a Bioshock movie has been announced and director Gore Verbinski of the ‘Pirates’ trilogy will be at the helm. They’re also trying to get John Logan to write the script. Mr Logan is no newcomer to the film world, already having written the screenplays for Sweeney Todd and Gladiator.

It’s unknown how closely the film will follow the original storyline, but with such a quality story already laid out and a director obviously talented enough to hopefully realize the gold mine he’s sitting on, it’s likely the two will be at least mostly similar. I’m confident enough to make a boast and I’ll tell you why in a moment. Here’s my boast: this will be the best video game movie we’ve seen to date, and might be the best ever made. Why am I this assured? First of all, the atmosphere and adventure of the Pirates films show the degree of depth and care that needs to be shown in recreating the atmosphere and bleak horror crawling through the rubble of decadent Rapture elicited in the game. Secondly, in an interview with Variety Verbinski said that of all the games he played, Bioshock had the strongest narrative. Yes, that’s right folks. He’s actually played the game. Hallelujah.

THQ Gets Master Mind

THQ and DreamWorks today announced that they have entered an exclusive licensing agreement that will see the game publisher develop and release video games based on the studio’s 2010 Fall animated movie. The film, titled Master Mind, is due out in theatres on November 5, 2010. Their agreement will see THQ releasing the game for all console and handheld systems, as well as PC and wireless devices.

“The DreamWorks Animation brand is among the best in animation and storytelling,” said Brian Farrell, President and CEO, THQ. “The superhero theme of the fall 2010 film project lends itself seamlessly to an interactive gaming adventure. DreamWorks’ creative vision and humor will add another dimension to our portfolio, which we believe will help further distinguish both THQ and DreamWorks as leaders in our respective entertainment categories.”

The movie will be a satire of the superhero genre and is based around the story of a super villain who must find a new motivation after he accidentally kills of his archrival Uberman in the opening scene of the movie.

As expected, the game is scheduled for release alongside the film.

Coming Tonight: Gears Of War 2

The first trailer for Gears of War 2, arguably the most anticipated game now that GTA IV is out, will be available starting tonight on Xbox Live at 11pm and then on IGN a little while later. It will of course only be a brief, tantalizing glimpse of the game at a mere two minutes in length. It will feature a special introduction by the infamous ‘CliffyB’ or Cliff Bleszinski (which hopefully won’t last longer than actual gameplay footage). You’ll also get a glimpse of the new chainsaw duels and apparently ranged combat on a grander scale than in the original.

Mirror’s Edge Powered by Unreal

Having only revealed the game a few days ago, Joystiq reports that Mirror’s Edge, the upcoming action game from EA DICE, is being powered by Epic’s Unreal Engine 3. This is interesting because DICE usually makes use of its internally-developed technology – the Frostbite engine, which is said to be powering Battlefield: Bad Company.

“With Mirror’s Edge we deliberately set out to create something that was different from Battlefield,” said a studio representative. “Frostbite is a very powerful engine but this project started a long time ago, and at that time Frostbite was still being developed and was very closely supporting the Battlefield Bad Company team.”

Add another to the Unreal list! Don’t forget to check out the teaser trailer for some gameplay footage.

THQ Gets Super Hero Squad

THQ is once again in the news today, as the publisher announced that it has acquired he license to create a game based on Marvel’s Super Hero Squad franchise, one that is dubbed “burgeoning [and] kid friendly”.

Aimed at young children, the Marvel Super Hero Squad teams up Captain America, Hulk, Spider-man and other such classic characters as they go up against supervillains like Galactus and others. No platforms were mentioned for the game, which is due out in Fall 2009, the same time the television show launches. Action figures of the kid-friendly characters are already in stores and a comic book series is planned for this Fall.

Key Nintendo Programmer Defects to Microsoft

Shacknews reports that longtime Nintendo programmer Colin Reed has left the company for a position at Microsoft. Reed worked at Nintendo for 11 years, during which time he served in many key programming roles, including technical lead on Metroid Prime: Hunters (DS) and main system programmer for Pikmin (Gamecube).

According to the site, he will join the team behind Forza Motorsport at Microsoft. Before leaving Nintendo, Reed worked on an undisclosed project with NST.

Shacknews also points out that this marks the latest high-profile departure from Nintendo, whose subsidiary Retro Studios lost three pivotal staff members in April.

GTA 4 Breaks Records, Bags $500M in First Week

We all knew GTA 4 would sell big on release, but just how big? According to our earlier report, the game caused UK sales of the Xbox 360 to rise by 125%, but that’s not the whole story. Take-Two Interactive today announced that their open-ended action game surpassed all-time entertainment records for day one and week one sales by dollar value, selling approximately 6 million units globally with an estimated retail value of more than $500 million in the first week. In fact, the game sold approximately 3.6 million units on its opening day with a retail value of nearly $310 million globally.

“We knew Grand Theft Auto IV would break new ground in terms of the player’s experience, with its compelling story line, extraordinary gameplay and action that ranges over a broad urban canvas. Now, it has broken sales and rating records as well. Grand Theft Auto IV’s first week performance represents the largest launch in the history of interactive entertainment, and we believe these retail sales levels surpass any movie or music launch to date. We congratulate the entire Rockstar team on creating a must-have experience that takes the legendary Grand Theft Auto franchise to a new level,” said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of Take-Two.

GTA 4 was released for both PS3 and Xbox 360. A PC version is rumored to be in the pipeline.

Xbox Live Gets GRID Demo

Racing fans looking for a fresh feel on the genre can get their first taste of Codemasters latest creation, GRID, as the official demo has hit Xbox Live today.

Clocking in at 750MB, the demo will give players the chance to experience racing from an all new perspective as Codemasters hopes to breath new life into the racing scene. Based on the Ego engine, players will be able to race around at record breaking speeds as their cars get realistically thrown around and damaged all in its great graphical glory thanks to said engine.

Fight Night Round 4 Gets Announced

It seems that Fight Night is back again, this time in round 4 as EA has recently announced that Fight Night Round 4 is currently undergoing development by EA Canada under the EA Sports brand.

Featuring an all new gameplay engine, as compared to its predecessors, Fight Night Round 4 will include super realistic physics along with an array of fighting styles that will allow for endless unique fights. Also including things we’ve know like fatigue, adrenaline, footwork, and timing, Fight Night Round 4 will make for the most true to the sport game in the series to date.

Also announced by EA, for the first time ever, players will now have the opportunity to pit boxing superstars like Muhammed Ali against more new school fighters like Mike Tyson.

Fight Night Round 4 is expected to hit shelves sometime in 2009 for the both the Xbox 360 and PS3.

EA Announces Lord of the Rings: Conquest

Be you a fan of J.R.R. Tolken’s The Lord of the Rings series or not, at least one of the countless games based on the books are sure to spur your interest.

Well, adding to the extensive library of Lord of the Rings games, EA’s Pandemic Studios has recently announced their latest creation; Lord of the Rings: Conquest. Based in The Lord of the Rings universe as seen in the movies, LotR:C will allow players, for the first time, to take control of Sauron’s army along with the good guys, in their conquest for Middle Earth domination.

Set for release worldwide in fall of 2008 for the 360, PS3, PC and DS, those interested could tune into Spike TV’s GameTrailers TV on June 20th to get a glimpse at the world premiere of both never before seen game footage and the game’s first official trailer.

GTA IV Causes UK 360 Sales to Rise 125%

You didn’t really expect the onslaught of GTA IV praising news to stop anytime soon did you? Good, because there is still much to come as the game continues to smash records, among other things.

Anyways, the latest news is that since Grand Theft Auto 4’s release, UK Xbox 360 sales have risen an impressive 125%. Not only that, but the Xbox 360 version has also managed to outsell the PS3 version by an estimated 100,000 copies. All of this, added with the fact that GTA IV is now the most played game on Xbox Live, is sure to have Microsoft celebrating with their new best friends, Rockstar.

Unreal Engine 3 for Off-road Driving Game

We’ve seen Unreal Engine 3 being used in tons of games ranging from the shooter genre to even MMORPG. But how well do you think the engine would suit in a racing game? Leading Russian developer Avalon thinks it will work pretty well, announcing that they have licensed the engine to develop the latest installment in its popular 4×4 Offroad off-road driving simulation series. The game is being developed for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 – the usual suspects – and is being published by 1C Company.

The studio developed previous entries in the series using proprietary technology, but decided to shift once they had first-hand experience with UE3’s infrastructure and tools.

“Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 is at the forefront of multiplatform game development,” said Vyacheslav Gordeyev, CEO of Avalon Style. “The technology has been successfully used in many critically acclaimed titles, and we feel fully armed to make the first off-road driving simulator on Unreal Engine 3 thanks to its built-in vehicle support, powerful PhysX system, and many other leading edge features.”

“We’re excited to see Avalon Style combine their background in making realistic off-road driving experiences with our Unreal Engine 3 technology,” said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games. “More and more of our licensees are proving that Unreal Engine 3 is not only a great cross-platform engine but also that it can be deployed across multiple genres. This is yet another example of that, and we’re eager to see this game’s release.”

The game currently has no set release date.

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