In the celebration of all things great and American, we're proud to present the characters of inFamous and Prototype cross-dressing. YAY! (See inFamous' Cole after the break.)
Okay, so you're probably wondering where these images came from. Yahtzee presented a challenge to the development teams of these two games after he couldn't decide which game was better in a recent episode of Zero Punctuation. So, he jokingly said the "winner" would be whichever team sends in an image of the other game's protagonist cross-dressing.
Concept and execution are two totally different worlds. Although the concept and initial presentation of Lionhead Studios' Milo blew everyone away at E3 2009, what does fate have in store for the little digital boy's longterm execution? IGN attempts to answer that question in a little sketch they put together. We all know Milo will lose his innocence once he's in the hands of normal people, but just how bad will it become? Check out the video after the break.
What's that, Chris Cashman, host of Xbox Live's 1 vs 100? Oh yeah, "skill-based prizes" start next week (July 10 specifically)? Great! Unfortunately though, what we heard from Mr. Cashman during tonight's game of 1 vs 100 wasn't all good news.
He continued, saying that while the prizes will start next week "for the mob," the game will be staying in beta. Guess that means this isn't part of the first "season" of prizes? We're not so sure, but we are sure of this -- given the whole fireworks thing going on this weekend, we're probably not going to hear more news on the subject until at least Monday.
So this is kinda confusing, try to roll with us. Developer Reality Pump announced that it's working on Two Worlds II, due this winter. Only ... it had already announced a sequel to Oblivion-esque FPS RPG called Two Worlds: The Temptation. We're pretty sure the team just decided to go with the number instead of the subtitle, but we guess we'll never know. (Yeah, we've emailed them.)
Set two years after the original, TW II promises "completely overhauled AI and balancing standards, experienced authors, [an] active combat system and the brand-new engine." Here's hoping the changes can make the sequel not so ... you know ... wretched?
The founding of a nation is pretty significantand well worth getting excited about. The best way to display said excitement is, of course, with massive, colorful airborne explosions, a.k.a. fireworks. Tomorrow night, towns across the USA will be putting on fireworks displays, big and small -- but why should you have to wait for it to get dark? The games you'll find after the break will let you get all explode-y from the comfort of your living room, without the charred mess and frantic 911 call. So, put on your favorite patriotic tune (it's "The Stars & Stripes Forever" for us) and make with the clicking!
Worried that those pesky digital shelves are going to put your local brick-and-mortar out of business in the next few weeks? Worry not, friends, as Valve's Doug Lombardi is here to put all your worries to bed. Talking to GamesIndustry.biz, Lombardi claimed that "free weekend" sales on Steam (among others) actually help to bolster sales at physical retail locations as well as online.
"Recently we've seen data that shows Left 4 Dead free weekends increase the sales of Left 4 Dead on Steam, at retail and on the Xbox 360, which we would never have guessed could have happened, but it's just that word of mouth," says Lombardi. Furthermore, he waves off talk of bad blood between Valve and GameStop over the developer's Steam service, saying, "We spent more money at GameStop in the US promoting Left 4 Dead than we did at any other chain ... we sold more copies of Left 4 Dead at Gamestop than we did at any other chain ... for us, whichever cash register you want to pay at, that's fine." Not that it matters to GameStop anyway, given the lack of a threat posed for at least another five years, right?
Break out those tattered jeans and torn up flannel, because Guitar Hero: World Tour is getting a new DLC pack for the punk in all of us. Dubbed the Epitaph Punk-O-Rama Track Pack, the download features three tunes from three separate well-known Epitaph artists. It may be a bit more on the mainstream side of punk, but they're good tracks nonetheless.
Valve's PR overlord, Doug Lombardi, answered our burning Left 4 Dead 2 questions at a recent event in London. We discuss PS3 development, the new cast and clarify some of the game's features, so read on.
So first thing's first. Where's Half Life 2 Episode 3?
Laughs. Stay tuned! No news on that today.
Worth a try! What's the real deal with PS3 development? At the end of last year you seemed quite up on the idea and then nothing since then.
We're still up on the idea. The thing that we've come to the conclusion on is that we've got to get some PS3 developers at Valve. We always look at everything as if we were customers of our products -- what would we want and what would we expect? If you look at The Orange Box -- PC: 96 on Metacritic, 360: 96 on Metacritic, PS3 like... 84 or something. And then you look at Left 4 Dead, I think it was 89 or 90 on both platforms.
Apparently EA is working on a sequel to Skate 2, if the Epicly Trife twitter is to be believed. Epicly Trife (NSFW) is a site dedicated to skating, and its twitter account said the following: "I just got told 'tonight we gotta celebrate,' one of the bro's got offered to be in SKATE 3." By no means a confirmation, we're still excited, as Skate 2 was not only a great sequel, but pretty much the best skating sim around. Plus, it's much easier to get up after falling down four flights of stairs in a video game, as gravity is a much more harsh mistress in real life.
We've put in word to EA for comment, but with almost everyone taking the day off today, don't hold your breath for a response. We sure aren't.
Heads up, COG soldiers. Epic's Gears of War 2 has just received its highly-anticipated fourth Title Update. The new update not only adds experience to Horde mode, but also fixes a variety of bugs, according to the update notes on the Gears forums. Aside from fixing some issues with the new cringe-inducing smoke grenades, the new update also tweaks the Wingman match type, doing away with some of the issues involving weapon spawning and a particularly nasty exploit where players could get credit for two kills while only killing one opponent.
Hopefully, this will fix some of the persistent issues plaguing Gears of War 2's online component. So, grease up your Lancer and head out into battle. This weekend is chock full of XP, after all!
For all the talk of petitions and boycotts over Left 4 Dead 2's sooner-than-expected release, the game doesn't seem to be suffering much. A Valve representative tells Eurogamer that pre-orders for the sequel are currently double that of the original's pre-order figures from the same time last year . Although that sounds impressive, it's possible to see some spin in there -- Left 4 Dead didn't really have its big coming-out party until E3 2008, which technically wouldn't occur for another two weeks from now. Couple that with general sequel buzz and you might have your inflated pre-order figure.
Nitpicks aside, Valve has already stated that it plans to continue supporting Left 4 Dead with more content. The company expects to announce more DLC near the end of summer and has expressed that people will understand the big L4D picture within a year. Assuming it hasn't announced Left 4 Dead 3 by then, of course.
Do you want more Grand Theft Auto? Well, that's what Todd Mitchell, analyst for Kaufman Bros. Equity Research wants. Nay, expects! Speaking to GI.biz, Mitchell stated that he's anticipating two more downloadable GTA IV episodes to launch after The Ballad of Gay Tony. "It's been indicated to me that would be the case," he said. Additionally, with Microsoft's exclusivity deal covering only two episodes, these DLC add-ons may also appear on PS3.
In addition to new GTA IV episodes, the analyst believes GTA V will debut some time in the 2011 fiscal year. The only reason it wasn't announced or teased in any way during E3, he believes, is "Rockstar's track record with delivering on time."
The most curious of statements Mitchell made was regarding the possibility of a new Grand Theft Auto hitting the PlayStation 2 system. No, you read that right. He believes a PS2 port of the PSP port of the formerly DS-exclusive Chinatown Wars may hit the aging Sony system, although he admits he's not too "confident" about that prediction. Pachter, eat your heart out.
The retailer pricing of DJ Hero found recently -- $120 bucks! -- has some folks wondering why Activision may have upped the price for its usual game-plus-peripheral combo. The company has offered an explanation answer to Eurogamer, saying, "We believe that DJ Hero will provide tremendous value for our consumers by delivering an all-new interactive music experience with over 100 individual songs that are highlighted in over 80 unique mixes, a wide variety of ..."
...
Sorry, we nodded off there for a minute. Between the $250 for The Beatles: Rock Band and another $120 for Tony Hawk: Ride, we're up late a lot, worrying about affording all these plastic game controllers -- and a bigger house to put them all in.
Developer Metanet has revealed that its excellent platformer, N+, will be XBLA's Deal of the Week for July 6-12. The developer states that the title will be sold at 50 percent off, making it 400 ($5) and a must buy.
Of course, as we've learned countless times, nothing is official until Microsoft says so on Monday. Check back next week for final confirmation -- and loads of sad emoticons if the company decides otherwise.
To be clear, Frozenbyte spokesman Joel Kinnunen wasn't saying that the company's fantasy action platformer itself is a mess, but everything surrounding it -- like price point disparity between regions and territories -- has become quite the kerfuffle.
The problem, apparently, is that Trine started life as PC game before migrating to PSN and (maybe) XBLA. While that may be good for getting the game to as many people as possible, it's not ideal for a game launch.
"Trine as a project is a big mess," Kinnunen said, "as opposed to Trine as a game, which is pretty sweet. Ultimately it's the game part that really matters and helps us sleep at night, though."
Though you might think they'd welcome a break from shoot-'em-ups, members of the military are known to be a rich breeding ground for hardcore gamers. Now, just in time for Independence Day, they have their very own space in which to catch each other in the friendliest of fire: The Military Online Gaming program, a Global Gaming League-powered service that kicks off on the 4th with a Call of Duty: World at War tournament.
Though support will start with the 360, a rep from the group responsible, Pro vs. GI Joe, told Shacknews that our fighting men and women will soon be able to blast one another on PC and PS3 too.
Sega of America has announced the release date for Obsidian's Alpha Protocol, whatever that is. Oh, it's "The Espionage RPG." How helpful! That game will be out on October 6.
In addition to the date announcement, Sega released the North American box art, which can be found in our gallery. We must warn you, however, before you rush into the gallery, full of hope for a more exciting, distinctive box art image: it's exactly the same as the UK box art seen yesterday, with the "PAL" label changed to "NTSC" and the PEGI rating box changed to an ESRB box. It's still the same Pseudo-Bourne standing up in front of geography class.
Brütal Legend's Rocktober release is drawing closer, and the game's creator, Tim Schafer, has tossed us a bone in a pair of developer walkthroughs for the beginning sections of the game over at IGN. Be warned: The videos show off a great deal of content, so if you're trying to avoid spoilers, steer clear. For the rest of you, we suggest you don your spiked bracelet and sleeveless leather vest and peer past the break for some glorious metal action.
As Rocksteady's Sefton Hill and Paul Dini eagerly explain in the video above, Batman: Arkham Asylum is a game about torturing Batman. Okay, okay, maybe not directly, but by way of Joker setting up a nasty ruse for Gotham's greatest hero at Arkham Asylum itself. Trapping Mr. Wayne inside with all of his most fearsome enemies, when he thought he was just stopping by to deposit a criminal, leaves him at the mercy of the now-in-control Joker.
From what we played of the game's campaign back at E3, we're not sure exactly how Eidos/Warner Bros. plan to keep the game's T-rating, as evidenced by the few gameplay snippets you see in the developer diary above. We are, however, surprisingly excited for the game's release in late August -- and glad we don't have to bring along Mom to buy us the game.
"Wii has no hardcore games" is about as old, lame and untrue as "the PS3 has no games," and "Xbox 360 has only shooters." Real gamers know that each of the platforms has its gems -- but not everyone can afford all three gaming consoles.
Marvelous may be expanding its portfolio to include more non-Nintendo systems. Already, the publisher is working on a PS3 and Xbox 360 game, Rainy Woods; however, according to a report by Siliconera, the publisher may look into porting some of its diverse Wii lineup onto the HD systems. Games like No More Heroes and the upcoming Muramasa would certainly appeal to the hardcore PlayStation and Xbox crowds. In fact, Suda 51's most recent comments suggest an HD future for his franchise. With just a little bit of polish, those two could easily transform from good-looking Wii games into gorgeous PS3 and 360 titles.
If you think Unreal Engine 3 games feature too much gray and brown, laden with "pillars and girders," all being stomped around on by bald space marines, Cliff "Young Clifford" Bleszinski wants you to blame the tech. Speaking with Develop recently, the man that birthed Marcus Fenix said, "The technology of this generation just happens to be very good at rendering metals and stones and dramatic lighting." He argues that "translucent effects" are much harder to pull of with the technology given and as such, "the tech is good at showing off armor and it's not that good at doing hair ... that's why we have bald space marines."
Though we'd argue that there are lots of bald men in our lives who happen to not be space marines -- CheapyD and Dr. Manhattan prime among them -- we can appreciate how Marcus Fenix may be more equipped to take down the Locust than an omnipotent blue man. Wait a minute! Interestingly, Bleszinski also notes during the interview that he's got "like five projects going on right now" -- we're counting Shadow Complex and another (still unannounced) Gears of War, which leaves three unannounced projects? Something is afoot at Epic Games. And it almost certainly involves bald space marines.
EA Sports is ramping up the hype machine for its very crucial FIFAfranchise, as it has issued out a new teaser trailer for the latest installment, FIFA 10. Thankfully, it's not your average teaser trailer, as though it is short, it does contain actual gameplay footage. It looks like the one big improvement for this year's version will be bullet time.
Click image to fire a volley of screens at your eyeballs
Eidos just fired off a press release, scoring a direct hit on our inbox, informing that Battlestations: Pacific will receive two resupply convoys in the form of the Mustang Pack and the Carrier Battle Map Pack. The first pack is available for download today and offers six new units (including the P-51 Mustang bomber, US Navy Alaska Class battleship, and Japanese Yamato Class battleship), along with 18 different pieces of nose art to be used online or off, and will set players back a cool 160 ($2).
A more substantial DLC offering will come with the Carrier Battle Map Pack, a collection of four new maps that will be playable across all five multiplayer modes. These maps consist of locales such as the Philippine Islands, the Leyte Gulf, and Aleutian Islands, and will fetch a premium price of 800 ($10) when the pack releases on July 23.
With just the simple image you see above, developer Polytron announced that its dimensional-shifting platformer Fez would arrive on the Xbox Live Arcade platform at some point next year. Though we've seen a date of 2009 in a previous trailer, the teaser image is the best indication we've had so far in terms of a concrete platform for the game.
Though we can't say it's a huge surprise (we spotted an Xbox "A" button in the game back in March), it's nice to have it officially official.
Splinter Cell: Conviction will take 12 hours to complete on normal says the game's creative director, Maxime Beland, in the latest issue of OXM. There will certainly be a harder difficultly level for folks that are into trial and error for 30 hours, but the "normal gamers" will get a well-sized adventure. Beland says this was done because he wants people to actually finish the game. That's quite a good idea.
Also, at around 12 hours of gameplay, Badass: The Game won't wear out its welcome -- if it keeps the action going. Of course, there'll be multiplayer to extend the experience, but we likely won't be able to crack skulls in urinals there ... or maybe we will, which would then confirm Splinter Cell as game of the year.
Microsoft released its Kodu Game Lab yesterday, giving gamers everywhere the opportunity to create their very own games. Just for you, we snapped up the tool and set to work creating the Next BIg Thing in video gaming. Well, either that or we created a dinky little 2D shooter. Still, it's hard not to feel some pride after creating a real, honest-to-goodness, functioning game. And we did it all without laying a finger on a standard keyboard.
That is to say: All forty characters in the game will be available from the first moment Tekken 6 graces your disc drive. Speaking to VideoGamer, Tekken series director Katsuhiro Harada stated -- through a translator -- that unlockables in games are "outdated."
Harada says that unlockables were originally implemented in order to extend the life of arcade games. As characters are unlocked, players would have more reason to come back to the machine. We definitely wasted a few quarters just for the chance to play as Kuma, so we'd say the plan worked. Harada said that unlockable characters were added to the home version for the same reason, implying that it would discourage gamers from renting the game instead of buying it.
Fast-forward to Tekken 6, and Harada says that unlockables are "outdated now ... especially with online play." He notes that today's gamers would be irritated by competing online against characters that they have yet to unlock. Thus, you won't find any unlockable characters in Tekken 6.
Of course, history tells us we still might see some characters for sale.
If anyone belongs in a game called DJ Hero, it's Grandmaster Flash. The legendary musician has been at the forefront of hip-hop for basically forever, and is credited with inventing the art of messing with records to create noise, upon which the entire game is based.
In addition to appearing in-game, Flash contributed his own mixes to the soundtrack. In the video above, you can hear a segment of his mashup of Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" and N.E.R.D.'s "Lapdance." After the break, we've embedded a clip of the game featuring a mashup of his own "Here Comes My DJ" and Gary Numan's new wave anthem to isolation, "Cars."
MTV recorded footage of Flash trying the game for the first time, and let's just say his performance in the game is much more impressive than his performance of the game. For a more thorough writeup of Mr. Flash's thoughts on the game, check out GameDaily's writeup here.
Joking aside, it's quite likely that we're simply oblivious to the subtitle's significance to the plot -- the one involving a sneaky rocket-propelled grenade that taps your phone and then blows off your ear. See if you can spot it in the developer diary embedded after the break.
We're just gonna come right out and say it: July 2009 may be the worst month for new retail releases ever. Unless you like 2D fighters that is, because in that case, it's awesome. Or games about movies about hamsters, those two groups are being really well serviced.
If you haven't fully prepared yourself for the horror, we'd suggest you gird your mind with all the reason and clarity you can muster before continuing on.
Next week's Rock Band Weekly brings the announced three-pack from Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown album. The tracks are apparently the first offerings from an "exclusive partnership" between Harmonix and Warner Music to bring the band's songs to the platform. Green Day isn't even the angriest band this week ... Green Day Pack (440 / $5.50/ 200 Wii Points apiece)
"21 Guns" (160 / $2)
"East Jesus Nowhere" (160 / $2)
"Know Your Enemy" (160 / $2)
Mayhem Pack(1080 / $13.50/ 200 Wii Points apiece)
"Conquer All" -- Behemoth (160 / $2)
"What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse" -- Black Dahlia Murder (160 / $2)
"Hammer Smashed Face" -- Cannibal Corpse (160 / $2)
"Empire of the Gun" -- God Forbid (160 / $2)
"Embedded" -- Job for a Cowboy (160 / $2)
"Disposable Teens" -- Marilyn Manson (160 / $2)
"Black Magic" -- Slayer (160 / $2)
"This Is Exile" -- Whitechapel (160 / $2)
All tracks are original masters and are available for download next Tuesday on Xbox 360 and Wii. They make their way over to PS3 on Thursday.
After EA DICE loosed the official release date for Battlefield 1943 early today, we set to scouring the interweb for more information on the upcoming digitally distributed title. Wouldn't you know it, the first thing we found was the game's somewhat less-than-thrilling Achievements over on Inside MGC, detailing how many flag caps you'll need before hearing the glorious cheevo noise and snagging 10Gs for yourself, among other things. If you're one of those folks a bit more concerned than they should be with points (aren't we all?), check out the full list to see exactly how you'll be playing BF1943 when it hits next week.
Following up on earlier reports that Valve won't leaveLeft 4 Dead to die an early death, the company stated today that there should be an L4D DLC announcement before the end of summer. A company spokesperson also told CVG that about eight or nine months from now, when L4D2 has released and people see the continued support for L4D, they may finally understand the method to the madness.
The fate of Heroes over Europe was in question when the agreement between publisher Red Mile and developer Transmission Games dissipated, due to an unfortunate lack of money on Red Mile's part.
Ubisoft is now the hero of every prospective Heroes of Europe player, having just announced that it will publish the World War II flight simulator on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. The Heroes Over the Pacific sequel, which features online play for up to 16 players, is currently scheduled for a worldwide release this September. You can check out new screens, only one of which includes a blimp, in our gallery.
Here in the States, we've grown accustomed to certain luxuries: subsidized gasoline for our free Hummers (hey, gotta stimulate that economy!); a complimentary 72oz soda with every purchase (just buy anything!); a lifetime supply of type 2 diabetes; and, of course, monthly updates from NPD charting the sales numbers of the major video game consoles. Our friends in the UK aren't so fortunate. So when we get a peek behind that curtain, we look to share it with you.
And here, courtesy of UK retailer GAME's first-half fiscal statement, we find data from GfK Chart-Track for sales up to June 27th, 2009. Unsurprisingly, Nintendo is in the lead with the DS, having sold 2.7m in the past year, bringing its total up to 9.1m units (that includes 300,000 DSi units sold since launch). The Wii is in second place with 5.4m, up 2.3 from last year. And then we get to the main attraction: 360 and PS3 sales.
You'll recall that in February, Microsoft claimed the 360 bested the PS3 in overall European sales by 1m units, citing GfK Chart-Track data again. In the UK, the Xbox is siting pretty with 3.9m units, up 1.7 from last year, while the PS3 is at 2.2m, up 900k from last year (and, coincidentally, right where Microsoft would've been a year ago). In between the "big boys" is the PSP, with 3.3m consoles sold, up 500k from last year.
It's weird: despite their genetic differences (three stomachs? gross!) the video game shopping trends of UK citizens sound an awful lot like those in the States.
Just when we were starting to get all excited about Silverlight-powered ads for Mountain Dew and Axe Body Spray littering the Xbox Dashboard, Xbox Live spokesman Major Nelson rains on our parade, telling readers that they don't need to sweat.
The Major recently posted, "One of our core principles is to enhance, not interfere with the gaming experience, and we work directly with our partners to only deliver experiences that are relevant to the LIVE community. Silverlight will help make those ads a more organic part of the dashboard, like we've done with some of the NXE slots in the past."
Aww, come on. Maybe just one "Get Totally Crunchatized With Doritos" ad? Something?
You like big butts and you can not lie, so sing it with other brothas when the track drops this July. Yes, the song that acknowledges the glory of expansive posteriors will actually be available tomorrow, July 3, on Lips. Check out what else is coming to the karaoke title this month, after the break.
Here's a rather interesting game from a small Russian developer. Currently without a publisher, U-Wars is a third-person shooter that takes place primarily underwater. Players will still be able to duck behind cover, but the mechanic gets an interesting twist in the absence of gravity. With supposedly destructible environments, there's a lot of potential in the game's combat: imagine ducking behind cover, thrusting up, and shooting some harpoons at enemies below. If done properly, the underwater setting offers the potential for a lot of fun.
Underwater combat isn't entirely new, as it's been seen in games like Tomb Raider Underworld and Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow. It'll be interesting to see how U-Wars fares once it finds a publisher and makes its way to PC, Xbox 360 and PSP.
Battlefield 1943 is ready to let bullets fly and bombs drop on July 8th and 9th for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, respectively. The final declaration of release was made by the official Battlefield 1943 Twitter account, intriguingly named "officialbf1943."
Remember, the "Coral Sea" map can only be unlocked through community collaboration. If you won the game through our Joyswag efforts, don't forget to submit your codes!
OK, we're sure this has been floating around the tubes for a bit, but we're more than happy to devote some attention to the very cool Brotherhood of Steel costume you see above. Made out of awesome and love (probably some foam and paint in there too), the beautiful homage to Fallout 3 was apparently completed back in March.
After seeing this, we don't feel so bad about losing that auction for the 7'10" Brotherhood of Steel statue. We'd go to work wearing this costume if we could.
XBL / $5.49 PSN):
