Yesterday's rumors that the Metalocalypse game collaboration between Konami and Cartoon Network (owner of Adult Swim) were confirmed today by a Cartoon Network representative. Instead of making The Dethgame, the two companies will instead focus on a Ben 10 Alien Force: The Rise of Hex game.
The official statement from CN reads -- "Cartoon Network Enterprises has indeed ended production on the previously-announced Metalocalypse: The Dethgame. After a lot of time and work, together with Konami, the decision was made that the creative direction of the game would not live up to the high standards we had set for the project and we did not want to release a less than outstanding game. The two companies are committed to a long and productive game development partnership that includes the recently released Ben 10 Alien Force: The Rise of Hex based on the Cartoon Network animated series and we look forward to working together again in the future."
This story first appeared as a personal account from Siliconera editor Spencer Yip wherein he said the license was yanked from Konami. Developer Frozen Codebase repeated the story to Gamasutra earlier today, and now Cartoon Network confirms it with this statement to GamePro.
Done and dead. D-E-D dead.
Got any tips, corrections, or feedback? Contact GamePro's news team or follow the author of this story on Twitter.
While the company made news this week for the legal wrangling from the estate of Michael Jackson surrounding a lookalike character from Plants vs Zombies, Popcap is putting that episode behind them, introducing a new edition of the game as well as a replacement for the offending undead.
Shown at right is Plants vs Zombie's new 'disco zombie,' created by Popcap to replace the 'dancing zombie' that recently raised the ire of the late Michael Jackson's legal team. Instead of assuming the legal fees involved in defending their right to parody, Popcap instead devoted the time to creating a more broadly-lampooning design. What do you think of the new edition to the game?
If you're not a fan of the latest addition to Popcap's zombie army, Popcap has just released a 'Game of the Year' version of its tower-defense title with an addition to encourage creativity in crafting the undead. The new addition adds the 'Zombatar' creation tool that allows players to customize the look of the in-game ghouls. The new 'Game of the Year' edition also adds 20 more achievements without raising the $20 PC pricetag.
SOURCE: Meet the new disco zombie in Plants Vs Zombies [PC Gamer]
IGN reports that Haden Blackman -- executive producer and writer on The Force Unleashed 2 -- has left LucasArts after 13 years at the company. Specifics aren't clear, but LucasArts says development on FU2 won't be affected.
Blackman's statement to IGN reads:
"I've had a fantastic time working with the team at Lucasfilm and am really grateful for their ongoing support. While the decision to leave LucasArts did not happen overnight or come easily, I really feel that now is the best time for me to move on and explore new creative challenges and I look forward to the next phase of my career."
We've contacted LucasArts for clarification on the situation and will update this story as necessary. Blackman's work on the Star Wars franchise at LucasArts stretches well beyond The Force Unleashed games and it's not clear if he will continue to contribute to that body of work.
Source: Force Unleashed Producer Resigns [IGN]
UPDATE: LucasArts responded with the following statement -- "After 13 years of service, Haden Blackman has resigned from LucasArts. From launching Behind the Magic to delivering Star Wars: The Force Unleashed I and II, Haden has been an invaluable member of the team during his tenure with the company. We are extremely grateful for his many contributions, fully support him in his new endeavors and wish him all the best in the future."
Over the last decade, the Worms franchise has expanded beyond its PC and 2D roots to include portable, console, and 3D iterations. For the next chapter of the franchise, however, the creators at Team17 are bringing the annelids back to the PC in their original form with Worms Reloaded.
Due out on August 26, Worms Reloaded will have over two new single player modes (entitled Warzone Campaign and Bodycount) to experience the 60-plus new solo missions. Worm-wranglers will have quite a few more tools at their disposal, as the game will have a level editor mode and more than 45 new weapons.
Pre-orders for the game are now available via Steam, giving early adopters a 10-percent discount off the normal $20 price, exclusive in-game content, and a day's worth of early access. You can see more of the game in our screenshot gallery, located here (and in HD, here).
Thanks to brisk sales on Apple's iPhone and iPad platforms, Gameloft posted earnings of over $40 million during the last quarter, an increase of 15% in profit from the same time period in 2009. What's more, the company expects to continue the same growth for the second half of the fiscal year.
After earning $43 million and boosting profits by 7% in the quarter before last, Gameloft closed off the first half of the fiscal year with almost $87 million in sales, and an 11% growth over the same time period last year.
The growth shown over the last quarter has been due to the company's success in creating more profitable mobile titles -- particularly on Apple's mobile devices, where the company saw an increase of 113% in App Store sales. Gameloft expects the trend to continue with the release of more high-powered mobile devices from Apple and other top phone manufacturers. Gameloft will be providing more details on its performance over the first half of 2010 at the end of August.
Nintendo posted 188,646 million yen ($2.2 billion USD) in net sales this quarter, down 25 percent from the same quarter last year. Operating income suffered a 42 percent drop to 23,343 million yen ($267 million USD). Wii sales aren't to blame.
Rather, the numbers reveal a dip in Nintendo DS sales for the quarter -- which isn't surprising with everybody probably holding off for the 3DS sometime in 2011.
On the release front, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword appears to be on track for a 2011 release in the United States (but not in Japan, strangely enough) while Hironobu Sakaguchi's The Last Story doesn't even have a U.S. release scheduled despite apparently being due out in Japan this year.
No other real surprises in the earnings report -- although Nintendo did make a point of listing some sales figures for its top-sellers, like Super Mario Galaxy 2 at 4 million sold.
Sony posted decent numbers in its general earnings call today, but the part gamers care about is the Networked Products and Services division where the PlayStation stuff lives. Thankfully, those numbers were decent, too.
The entire NPS unit posted a sales and operating revenue of 325.9 billion yen ($3.7 billion USD), up 32.4 percent over the 246.1 billion yen posted this same quarter last year. Losses in the unit also shrank from 36.7 billion yen ($420 million USD) to 3.8 billion ($43 million).
Sony partially credits PlayStation 3 hardware and software on both fronts. Increased sales helped the revenues, while cost reductions on the PS3 helped shrink the operating losses.
Capcom reported another quarter of sluggish sales today, down 2.4 percent in net sales compared to the same quarter last year (from 19,497 million yen to 19,037 million -- a loss of $6 million USD).
Capcom chalks to tough quarter up to Lost Planet 2's struggle "to grow." Capcom also acknowledges that its games released during the quarter were new and therefore had higher development costs than the "repeat titles" it released during this same quarter last year.
Going forward, Capcom isn't revising its sales predictions for the year because it's counting on a strong release calendar of games in its second quarter. Here's hoping.
Asian technology company Softbank -- a major investor in Ustream among other companies -- plugged $150 million into social game developer Zynga this week to create Zynga Japan. HarajukuVille, anyone?
The joint venture locates a new Zynga studio in Tokyo, Japan and lets the company leverage Softbank's mobile and web tech to create new social games tailored to the Asian audience. No game concepts were discussed in the venture announcement.
The press included two written statements from the heads of the respective companies -- the following from Zynga CEO Mark Pincus:
"We're excited to partner with Softbank to bring Zynga's social games to Japan and gain insights from the Japanese market. As one of the most innovative technology companies in the world, Softbank is bringing the mobile internet to consumers making the social web more accessible to people everywhere."
Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of Softbank, said:
"Zynga is a leader in social games and I am delighted to partner with them to introduce their social games to Japan. We share the same vision as Zynga in social games and look forward to working together to create a social game powerhouse."
We're hardly two days out from the launch of StarCraft 2 and one-star users reviews are flooding the internet alongside five-star (and numerical equivalent) professional reviews. Here are the top three complaints making the rounds.
1) Lack of an offline mode -- "No LAN support!" Why it's an issue: Multiplayer PC gaming was defined by local area network connections, especially in the days when many people didn't have high speed internet connections to support online play. With no offline mode and no way to connect to other players other than through the internet, gamers are out of luck if Battle.net goes down or they lose their internet connection for some reason. Also, no more LAN parties. Why Blizzard might think it's not: Battle.net is supposed to be awesome enough to replace the need for LAN, and by being always-online, it's easier to track and prevent piracy.
2) You can only play one faction -- "What, did I buy 1/3 of a game?!" Why it's an issue: There are three factions in StarCraft 2 and at present, consumers can only complete the Terran faction campaign. Blizzard intends to add the other two factions' campaigns with Legacy of the Void and Heart of the Swarm, but many consumers are angry that they might have to pay a lot of money for those add ons. Some also argue that the Terran campaign isn't substantial enough for a singleplayer experience by itself. Why Blizzard might think it's not: By breaking up the campaigns, Blizzard can ration resources so that each campaign gets high quality cinema scenes and well-balanced units. And while it does seem like a money-grubbing tactic, it's not like Blizzard hid the fact that only the Terrans were playable in Wings of Liberty.
3) It does a lot of stuff PC gamers aren't used to, but console gamers are -- "You want me to pay how much?" / "What do you mean I can't play international matches?" Why it's an issue: PC gamers are used to $30 games with the freedom to take on other players from around the world through online matches. Asking them to pay twice as much for a game that does only half of what they're used to (by region locking them) is understandably jarring. Why Blizzard might think it's not: This is its fist major game release in a long time and games are more expensive now than ever. $60 is par for the course in every other market, as is region-locking. Besides, different regions have different needs -- it's easier for Blizzard to address stuff like Korean or U.S. privacy regulations in-game if the regions are kept apart.
Now for some stuff that either is being addressed or doesn't really count as constructive criticism:
UPDATE: Blizzard sent us the following response after this article went to press -- "StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty includes 29 campaign missions, right on par with Blizzard's past RTS releases. Most gamers are finding that it takes them 15-25 hours to make it through the campaign. On top of that, there are 9 challenge missions that train gamers in useful multiplayer skills, nearly an hour's worth of in-game and pre-rendered cutscenes, and 50+ maps. There's without a doubt, a full game's worth of content in the box, and that doesn't even include the campaign editor and all the cool maps and mods that the community have already created."
No one news topic dominated the day, but the Playlogic bankruptcy spent a long time doing the rounds in our news feed. Not a whole lot else happened and we're all just itching to get to August when Irrational Games plans to unveil its mystery project. Here's what we didn't news:
07/28 -- Fairytale Bankrupt
Tales of Graces, New Tales Game Set for PS3 AJ: Two more Tales games we're probably not getting stateside.
Will: Cheer up, JRPG nut. There's still Valkyria Chronicles 2 at the end of August.
Latios and Latias coming soon to Pokemon HG/SS AJ: Pokemon seems like the kind of hobby that can get out of hand fast.
Dave: Kind of like your FrontierVille addiction?
AJ: Touche.
Abstinence: The Video Game
Tae: It's actually fun -- but it's not exactly a hidden Easter egg. A hidden arcade game in the story mode. That is a disingenuous tagline.
Dave: And it's the furthest thing possible from the old lost vikings game (which ruled). It'd be like Nintendo putting earthbound in their next game, except instead of an RPG, it's a football sim.
AJ: One screen, one trailer, and $5 for this new Dragon Age DLC. Can't work up the enthusiasm to make that its own story.
Will: You did it for Mass Effect 2.
AJ: Yeah, but that had three screens.
AJ: This shouldn't amuse me, but it does. "Hey, sorry we're getting rid of your racing game, but you should totally try FrontierVille -- it's practically the same thing!"
The PlayStation Move may be releasing this year, but the opportunity to experience motion-controlled war combat won't be happening until 2011, as Zipper has pushed the game to next year to provide the best game possible. Meanwhile, Hudson shifted the release of light-based platformer Lost in Shadow from the Fall to January 2, 2011.
In a post on the game's official website, Zipper Interactive Senior Community Manager Jeremy Dunham explained the delay on behalf of the developer, saying that "We don't want to take any shortcuts. Instead, we want to deliver the best and most immersive SOCOM game we possibly can and we're going to use our extra time to do just that." Dunham stated that the official SOCOM blog will have more information about the 2011 release over the next few months.
Hudson, meanwhile, did not provide an official reason for Lost in Shadow's slip from the originally intended fall release date. The company did use the occasion to reveal a new facet of the light-based platformer's gameplay in the form of "Materialization." The new power (shown in screenshot form above) will allow the player to briefly escape the shadows and shift from the background dimension to the foreground. With a bit more time being afforded by the game's delay, we'll hopefully be able to try out the new way to play this already intriguing game.
SOURCE: SOCOM 4 in 2011 [SOCOM.com]
Speaking to MTV News, film director Guillermo del Toro said he plans to announce a deal with a video game studio "soon" to make games. There are a few clues as to what kind of game he'd like to make -- but not many on with whom del Toro could make them.
Games blog MTV Multiplayer has the thought that the mystery "big company" could be Irrational Games -- since that studio has plans to unveil their mystery game in August. MTV also points out, however, that del Toro wanted to do a Hobbit game once upon a time ad we doubt that Irrational managed to score that contract without J.R.R. Tolkien fans finding out about it.
So who could it be? Activision, EA, maybe even Sony? Hopefully we'll find out sooner rather than later.
Here's del Toro's full quote in the MTV News interview:
"One of the things we're announcing in the next few weeks is a big deal with a big company. We're going to do games that are going to be technically and narratively very interesting. It's not a development deal. We're going to do it. We're doing them. And we're going to announce it soon enough."
Source: Guillermo del Toro Has Multiple Games In The Works With A 'Big Company' [MTV Multiplayer]
With the bountiful slate of holiday shooters about to be unloaded on the gaming public, two older but still popular games are sprucing up their multiplayer modes to make the most of the brief time remaining before the onslaught. Read on to find out how BioShock 2 and Uncharted 2's multiplayer modes are being patched.
The BioShock 2 patch, due out next Tuesday, mainly focuses on creating more stability in the multiplayer menus in both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game, though it does make the effects of the experience-erasing "Rebirth" tonic a little easier to swallow, as it won't affect Adam totals anymore.
The Uncharted 2 update is mostly focused on fixing multiplayer mechanics that players had been exploiting to get ahead in matches, while also tweaking kill payouts. The update also gives hope to a few more character content packs, as the patch will now allow voices to be included with character skins.
You can find more information on the BioShock 2 and Uncharted 2 updates in the Cult of Rapture and Naught Dog source links below, respectively.
SOURCE: BioShock 2 Patch Notes for 360 and PS3 [The Cult of Rapture]Title Update 1.09 [Naughty Dog]
When Call of Duty: Black Ops hits the market November 9, look for it on Nintendo DS as well as every other system under the sun (excepting PlayStation 2). Activision announced a Black Ops companion game for the handheld, developed by n-Space.
Aside from the developer and the confirmation that it's a companion game (as opposed to a port), there are only a handful of details on Black Ops DS. First, players will get to fly helicopters and jets. Second, there's six-player online multiplayer with a Perks System. Third, there is a two-player co-op mode, plus Arcade and Challenge modes for singleplayer missions.
And that's all there is to tell for now. Call of Duty: Black Ops DS is due out November 9.
Playlogic, a development and publishing company that released its largest scale game this year in the form of Fairytale Fights, has filed 'surseance van betaling'--the Dutch version of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The company filed a Form 8-K in Delaware today in order to notify its shareholders of the financial situation. In filing the 'surseance van betaling,' Playlogic and its affiliated subsidiaries (Playlogic International N.V and Playlogic Game Factory B.V.) are hoping to delay payments to debtors in order to establish a healthier financial state and avoid closure.
In addition to Fairytale Fights, Playlogic has released a few other console games in the U.S. during it's 8-year existence, including ObsCure II and World Racing 2. The company has also released many PC-only games in Europe, where the company is headquartered
A London High Court ruled today that R4 cards -- devices that allow Nintendo DS users to run homebrew applications or pirated games -- are illegal in the United Kingdom. What could this mean for the U.S.?
Nintendo, understandably, is pleased. In a statement obtained by MCVUK, the publisher claimed it initiated legal action against R4 card maker Playables Limited to protect itself and "over 1,400 video game development companies" from piracy. "In the UK alone," the statement claimed, "there have been over 100,000 game copying devices seized since 2009."
Playables Limited argued that their cards should be legal because the allow customers to develop homebrew applications. The judge in the case dismissed the argument on grounds that homebrew devs first had to circumvent Nintendo's security systems to make any of their apps work.
Interestingly, new government rules in the United States announced Monday grant iPhone users the right to circumvent Apple's security systems to make homebrew apps. This could cause Nintendo some problems down the line if they try to outlaw R4 cards in the U.S.
Source: R4 made illegal in UK [MCVUK]
During the opening monologue on The Colbert Report last night, political comedian Stephen Colbert offered his own guess on the mysterious Samaritan who played an instrumental role in helping plug the BP oil leak. Here's a clue -- he's a video game character.
There have been a few gags regarding the oil spill relating to this mystery character, but Colbert's gag (20 seconds in, for the impatient) is as succinct, straightforward, and silly as possible. Check it out below, or click on the source link at the bottom of the page if you want to see it in widescreen.
SOURCE: BP's Live Hayward Cam [Colbert Nation]
Not a bad news cycle for a post Comic Con-Tuesday -- Disney made a second big buy of a smaller developer, and amazingly StarCraft II only occupied one slot in the news story feed. Here's the stuff we didn't post:
07/27 -- Who'd've thought the SCII crowd could be so well socialized?
AJ: Curt Schilling is moving his studio to Rhode Island, but I can't for the life of me work up the energy to care.
Dave: Any news story written about that will have to photoshop Curt Schilling's head onto Peter Griffin's body, or vice-versa.
Meet the President in Madden 11
Blizzard - merger with Activision hasn't changed anything AJ: Is it just me, or is Blizzard kind of defensive about its relationship to Activision?
Linkin Park in Soundtrack for Medal of Honor AJ: It'll be like sophomore year of high school all up in here.
Dave: Stop reminding us how old we all are, AJ -- it's not nice.
Tae: Eh? Whassat?
An Order of Seven Global Cyber-Guardians Now Hold Keys to the Internet AJ: Not game-related, but cool, and ripe for a Lord of the Rings joke.
Will: Oop, too late.
AJ: Oh, as a final note on the PvZ thing -- Dan Amrich pointed this out to me. Highlight quote of the article? "If David Letterman can depict the NBC peacock wearing men's boxer shorts, then Delrina should be able to plug a flying toaster with hot lead."
Introducing the Whopper Bar: Burger King to sell beer at fast food joints John: BK selling beer. I can't decide how I feel about this.
AJ: I can -- nauseated.
The child-raising MyBaby simulation series has been a success for SouthPeak thus far, and the company is arguing that it should continue to reap the young franchise's rewards, claiming it owns the rights to the next game in the series instead of Majesco.
Majesco recently announced that it would be publishing the next installment of the franchise which had previously been shipped by SouthPeak, a claim the latter company is disputing. SouthPeak claims that it has the right to publish upcoming games in the MyBaby franchise, but a third company -- a French video game publisher called Nobilis -- has the original rights to the franchise and has granted them to Majesco.
SouthPeak is also reportedly facing financial hardships, with publisher-developer CDV claiming SouthPeak owes them $3.4 million in payments. We'll continue to keep an eye on all companies involved in the various legal wrangles as they untangle.
SOURCE: SouthPeak suing Majesco over My Baby 3 [Joystiq]
Sega is in the process of bringing tons of classic games to the iPhone like Ecco the Dolphin and Golden Axe. This week, old school tactical role-playing game Shining Force joins the lineup.
TouchArcade reports that this iteration of Shining force is a port of the original Genesis version that came out in the early 90s ('92 or '93 depending on who you ask in which country). The series has evolved a great deal since then, ditching turn-based tactical battles occasionally for dungeon crawler or action RPG gameplay.
No price information is available yet, but Ecco the Dolphin costs $2.99, so that's probably in the ballpark. Look for it on the App Store this Thursday.
Source: Sega's Classic RPG 'Shining Force' Coming This Thursday [TouchArcade]
Full disclosure: AJ Glasser served as a tester on Shining Force EXA.
When Plants vs. Zombies launched more than a month before the death of pop artist Michael Jackson's death, the game included a high-level enemy that appeared to be an homage to Thriller-era Jackson. As of today, that zombie is no longer going to be in PvZ.
What follows is a discussion between GamePro editors about whether or not to run the story about Jackson's zombie being phased out of the game. Normally, we leave this stuff in Stale Bread posts -- but it was a damned interesting topic, so it gets its own section of bread in a different post.
Michael Jackson Estate Forces 'Plants vs. Zombies' Update
AJ: Hang on -- I want to talk to a lawyer and to PopCap before we run that. I'm so sure Jackson zombie is protected by parody law. Besides, you can't libel the dead, so how does a video game character pose any sort of threat?
Will: Libel... Of The Dead.
John: I've got to think the parody thing will stand...and the link is tenuous at best. There's no music - it's a quick dance move and the fact that it's a zombie in a red leather jacket, right?
AJ: Yeah. The story is the estate asked PopCap to get rid of it and from what I can tell, PopCap didn't put up a fight. Which bugs me. I mean, if they capitulate to a body that doesn't have a legal leg to stand on, it sets a bad example to other developers who want to try parody.
Tae: Michael Jackson Thriller zombie was the second best unit in that game, too. Zamboni Zombie being #1.
Dave: Not to play zombie's advocate, but didn't they introduce this zombie MJ right after he died?
Will: No, he was in the game at launch, which was right before Jackson died.
Dave: POPCAP KILLED MJ!
AJ: Dave... remember what I said about libel? PopCap is technically alive... so that's libel.
AJ: Here's PopCap's official statement hot from my inbox...
The Estate of Michael Jackson objected to our use of the "dancing zombie" in PLANTS VS ZOMBIES based on its view that the zombie too closely resembled Michael Jackson. After receiving this objection, PopCap made a business decision to retire the original "dancing zombie" and replace it with a different "dancing zombie" character for future builds of PLANTS VS ZOMBIES on all platforms. The phase-out and replacement process is underway.
AJ: And I just got off the phone with a lawyer. Lawyer says that parody law is too mushy to save Jackson zombie in a legal battle and PopCap couldn't afford to go to court with the estate anyway. And you just know Jackson's estate would've taken it to court -- they're almost as litigious as Nintendo.
Tae: Jackson zombie is dead. Long live Jackson zombie.
Another Facebook game company joins a big publisher this year with The Walt Disney Company absorbing social games developer Playdom Inc. The deal should go into effect before the end of Disney's 2010 fiscal year.
According to the press release announcing the move, Playdom brings in about 42 million active players to its various social games like Sorority Life. Disney already has some of its own social games going, including the massively multiplayer virtual world Club Penguin, but the press release says with Playdom, "Disney will strengthen its already-robust digital gaming portfolio, acquire a first-rate management team and provide consumers new ways to interact with the company on popular social networks like Facebook and MySpace."
Mind you, this is Disney's second big buy of the month after acquiring Tap Tap Revenge developer Tapuluous. It's pretty serious about this digital gaming portfolio.
That's Playdom and Playfish signed with big publishers, while FarmVille developer Zynga remains independent. Sheesh -- can you even think of a publisher with that kind of money to spend?
ETA: Disney is spending up to $763.2 million on this venture between a "total consideration" price tag of $563.2 million for shareholders, plus a performance-linked earn-out of up to $200 million.
In what has to be one of the cleverest ways to describe an expansion, Atari has launched 'Season Two' of Star Trek Online with new enemies, missions, an increased level cap, and a new low price for the game -- $20.
According to the official announcement from Atari, the free downloadable season is subtitled Ancient Enemies and will deliver a new level cap of 51 (up from 46), eight new mission episodes (with five more to debut, one per week, starting in August), alongside new gameplay additions like the classic Star Trek casino game Dabo and the ability to meet and engage in peace negotiations with other civilization.
In addition to providing the new content, Atari has dropped the price of Star Trek Online to $20 starting today. With the company's online earnings (reported yesterday) growing substantially over the last quarter, Atari is looking to keep the momentum going by hooking more Trek fans into the subscription-driven game.
You can learn more about Season 2 on the official Star Trek Online site. Any STO fans out there? What do you think of the new content?
This year's big three music game releases are crafting wildly different identities, and each game's constantly-growing tracklists are starting to reflect that. Read on for the 22 new Warriors of Rock songs, the six new Rock Band tracks, and the three new Dance Central grooves you'll have stuck in your head later this year.
The largest block of new tracks revealed are for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, with 22 new tracks being announced for the game. As you can see below, the game focuses more on more well-known classic rock tracks, including two re-recordings that you can learn more about in this video -- "Cherry Bomb" and "No More Mr. Nice Guy."
"Burn" from Deep Purple"Burnin' For You" from Blue Oyster Cult"Call Me The Breeze" from Lynyrd Skynyrd"Calling" from Strung Out"Cherry Bomb" from The Runaways"Free Ride" from The Edgar Winter Group"Hard To See" from Five Finger Death Punch"I'm Broken" from Pantera"Machinehead" from Bush"Motivation" from Sum 41"Move It On Over" from George Thorogood and the Destroyers"No More Mr. Nice Guy" from Alice Cooper"Ravenous" by Atreyu"Re-Ignition" by Bad Brains"Renegade" by Styx"Savior" from Rise Against"Scumbag Blues" from Them Crooked Vultures"Seven Nation Army" from The White Stipes"Speed" from Steve Vai"Spiderman" from The Ramones"Ties That Bind" from Alter Bridge"Unskinny Bop" from Poison
The tracks for Rock Band 3 are a little more contemporary, with a couple of songs meant to cater to the game's new keyboard piano peripheral. Here's the six latest additions to the game.
"The Beautiful People" from Marilyn Manson "Cold As Ice" from Foreigner"Everybody Wants To Rule The World" from Tears for Fears"Foolin" from Def Leppard"Hey Man, Nice Shot" from Filter"Rock Lobster" from The B-52s
The Dance Central tracks, as you would expect, are all hip-hop songs that are easy to dance to. Here's the three latest songs announced for the first Kinect dancing game:
"Bust A Move" from Young MC"Drop It Like It's Hot" from Snoop Dogg"Push It" from Salt-N-Pepa
Which of these new tracks catch your ear the most? Which (if any) music games are you planning on purchasing this year?
SOURCES: New Rock Band 3, Dance Central Tracks Revealed [G4TV]Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock--Exclusive Phase 2 Playlist Reveal [Amazon]
Sony Online Entertainment is introducing EverQuest II Extended -- a free-to-play version of the popular massively multiplayer online game that exists separately from the subscription model.
The free-to-play (a.k.a. "freemium," "microtransaction-based," etc.) model of MMO is gaining traction in the United States, it seems. First Turbine took Dungeons & Dragons Online there and then later Lord of the Rings Online. Sony Online Entertainment seemed like it could go either way -- not too long ago, the company expanded its microtransaction services in Free Realms and other SOE games while still maintaining monthly subscriptions.
The new EQII Extended is definitely free-to-play, but you could argue SOE still has only one foot in the door by keeping Extended separate from the main EQII.
Speaking to Kotaku reporter and MMO connoisseur Mike Fahey, EQII's game producer David Georgeson says the move will introduce a new generation of player to the game. "...I just want people to rediscover and find out the kind of depth that it has, that other MMOs just can't touch," he said.
The service enters alpha testing today among existing EQII players, with a launch planned for early August. Details on the microtransaction system and how existing user accounts integrate with the new service are right here.
Source: EverQuest II Goes Free-To-Play In A Different Way [Kotaku]
Ars Technica reports this morning that Valve sent out an apology to 12,000 gamers accidentally banned from Modern Warfare 2 on Steam due to a glitch. Along with the personal words of Valve President Gabe Newell, they also get a free copy of Left 4 Dead 2.
Valve plans to un-ban the players over the next few weeks with L4D2 serving as a make-good in the meantime. Newell explained in the apology that the glitch was a failed "signature check between the disk version of a DLL and a latent memory version. This was caused by a combination of conditions occurring while Steam was updating the disk image of a game."
Newell also said that this wasn't a game-specific mistake, which makes us wonder about future glitches and make-goods. If Left 4 Dead 2 is equal to or greater than Modern Warfare 2 in terms of a gamer's time and money, what would the make-good be for, say, an accidental boot from Team Fortress 2?
Source: Valve responds to MW2 Steam glitch with free copies of L4D2 [Ars Technica]
GameStop may currently be known as the largest brick-and-mortar retailer of physical game media in the U.S., but the company is hoping to increase its digital presence with the purchase of flash game website Kongregate.
Kongregate currently hosts tens of thousands of free games on its website, with new games being added by the community on a daily basis -- a dynamic GameStop doesn't look to want to alter too much, as the transaction will allow Kongregate to work as a subsidiary of GameStop while keeping its current offices. Kongregate, which was founded in 2007, will be purchased by the gaming retailer on or before August 1.
Kongregate's current profit model, detailed in our profile of the company late last year is currently driven by "Kreds," an in-site currency akin to Facebook credits. GameStop has not revealed any plans on how its online or retail presence will integrate Kongregate's economy or content, but it's something we'll keep our eye on in the coming months.
The really big StarCraft 2 midnight launch went down last night in Fountain Valley, CA at Fry's Electronics, but 3,000 GameStop stores across the country held their own midnight launch events. Intrepid reporter AJ Glasser scouted out a few in the San Francisco Bay Area.
I started my adventure at 10PM PST, knowing that most GameStops kicked off their "launch parties" at 9PM and that anything interesting that might happen usually happens after 10:30. I've covered about five midnight launches in my career so far -- the Wii, Resident Evil 5, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King -- so I knew what to expect at my default San Francisco store on Powell Street. There's usually some nominal swag, some face painting, and a carved ice throne you could have your picture taken on for the Lich King launch. There's also an abundance of children and this one lady with a little dog who lives nearby that always complains of the noise to the cops by 11:30.
Outside the downtown Berkeley store. Spot the beta tester, if you can.
To make things interesting this time, I shifted my StarCraft hunt to the East Bay, where I live. I started in downtown Berkeley, knowing that the student population of the University of California at Berkeley would probably come out in droves if they hadn't all gone home for the summer. Sadly, it looked like they had; I found only about 40 people lined up outside a shuttered GameStop at 10:30. As it turned out, there were some beta testers in the crowd and absolutely nobody seemed to care about Blizzard's recent Real ID kerfuffle.
"Psh," said one of the customers in a hoodie. "That's the WoW crowd for you."
Moving on toward Oakland, I went to a GameStop where an ex-roommate of mine works. His store was thoughtful enough to keep its doors open even at 11PM and they even had pizza -- for the one guy who showed up to form a line. A few other customers drifted toward the store by 11:15 to pay for their pre-ordered copies, but they got back in their cars and left, promising to return after the 12AM deadline passed and GameStop could legally hand out the copies.
Also at that Oakland store, I encountered another GameStop employee who told me that only certain stores were pegged as "PC gaming" stores worthy of midnight launches for PC games. Sure, the downtown San Francisco store was an automatic pick -- but to find the real crowds in the East Bay, she said, I'd have to go farther south toward Silicon Valley.
I knew I'd never make it all the way to San Jose by midnight, so I settled for a GameStop mall store in Pleasanton, CA. I'm not used to having access to a mall after hours (eesh -- it was like Dead Rising waiting to happen), but after following a well-dressed gamer tracking the sound of echoes in the empty mall, we found a GameStop with about 50 people clustered outside.
It was as much a jackpot as I could've asked for. Most of these people had been there since 9:30PM and with only five minutes to go before midnight when I arrived, they were pretty wired.
Outside the Pleasanton mall store. Spot the folk who pre-ordered collector's editions.
The GameStop manager at this store ran the operation smoothly. He lined us non-pre-orders against one wall and lined the pre-orders against another, moving the Collector's Edition orders to the front of the line. When midnight hit, he funneled both lines in two at a time to hand over the copies and direct non-pre-orders to another employee for ringing up.
"I'm strutting my financial stability," one of the Collector's Edition customers said. He paused long enough to let me take his picture, but when it came out blurry I had to let him go -- like all the others, he really wanted to get home and clock a few missions before having to go to work the next day.
As it turned out, this GameStop had sold out of Collector's Editions within one week of StarCraft 2 going on sale. The store only had 200 copies sent to it for launch night, and of those, 198 were pre-ordered. The woman ringing me up had already sold three by the time it was my turn, so she turned to the manager in the beginnings of a panic about being oversold.
"Nope," he said. "Sell 'em. Trust me, there's enough to go around." With some sites estimating 800,000 pre-orders, you'd certainly hope so.
I walked out two minutes later with a standard edition copy. Stay tuned for Swag Friday to find out how it can be yours.
A brief respite between Comic-Con and the midnight launch of StarCraft II provided for a pretty wide variety of news stories today, but some of the more eclectic links to land on our laps today demand more exploration. We hope to provide just that in today's daily stale bread.
7/26--Yay, AJ's not dead
Rockstar wins newspaper apology, damages
AJ: First, the Daily Star reports a completely fabricated story that Rockstar is making a GTA game based on the real life case of a guy who shot himself after a huge manhunt sparked by Moat the partner of an ex-girlfriend. Then, Rockstar cried foul because the story was bullshit and Daily Star made no effort to verify the story before running it (because this is the UK where journalism law is a liberal interpretation at best). Then, I think the Daily Star actually defended its bullshit story. Now, they've yanked the story, apologized to Rockstar and are paying them damages, which Rockstar says it's going to give to charity. I love a good story.
Will: I just can't believe they told the victims' mother that the game was real. Real classy, Daily Star.
'Jersey Shore' invades Facebook, iPhoneDave: Man, it figures that I'd lose my iPhone the week before they release an official Jersey Shore app.
Tae: So Facebook fans get the game a day early? I wonder if my friend who loves the show (and totally isn't me) should buck up and admit his adoration to get early access.
Dave: If he does, I'm totally going into your cube to check it out.
Federal Judge: OK to Break DRM for Fair UseAJ: Some interesting new developments in the always murky world of digital rights management.
Dave: A surprising amount of thanks are due to General Electric, who are taking part in the case that set this new precedent. They really are bringing good things to life.
Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest Summoned For Virtual ConsoleAJ: Jesus God NO. No more Mystic Quest. That game was the bane of my existence in middle school.
Dave: I shudder to think that we're going to live in a world where Wii owners have access to that game and not Earthbound.
Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition to get Move patch; original RE5 can'tAJ: I'm not sure why people are freaking out about the original RE5 not supporting Move. Capcom pretty much told us this a few months ago.
Will: On the plus side, I can't wait to utilize the Move for this scene:
Atari revealed its financial results for the recently-concluded first quarter of the fiscal year. Due to the lack of major retail releases, the company saw a 65-percent drop in revenue, though high-profile releases over the next three quarters provide hope for a turnaround.
Whereas the April-June quarter in 2009 brought about new games like Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena and the highly-anticipated Ghostbusters: The Video Game, the only new retail release from the publisher was a casual-skewing sports game called Sandlot Sluggers. Due to the imbalanced release slate, retail-received revenue dropped 80 percent for the quarter when compared to last year. However, the subscription fees from games released within the last fiscal year like Champions Online and Star Trek Online have boosted the company's online take in a big way. Online revenues more than quadrupled as the income jumped from a little more than $2.5 million over the quarter last year to almost $11 million this year.
The company should have more cash for its coffers coming from stores over the next three quarters, as Atari laid out its high-profile releases for the fiscal year, including Test Drive Unlimited 2, The Witcher 2, a downloadable revival of the company's Haunted House franchise, as well as a slate of downloadable and online versions of other classic games from the publisher. The company's quarterly announcements also mentioned two key additions to the company's board of directors in the form of investor Tom Virden and returning company founder Nolan Bushnell.
According to statistics taken from Compete.com, free-to-play massively multiplayer online game Wizard 101 seems to be pulling ahead of both Runescape and Free Realms in terms of site traffic. The site analysis suggest Wizard 101 is at just over 2.5 million unique users.
The real question here is how site traffic translates to registered users -- the bread-and-butter number for most MMOs. In many cases, you don't need to visit the site to play the game because the MMO runs on an installed client. So what does an increase or decrease in site traffic really tell you about an MMO?
Take the Free Realms numbers, for example. Compete.com shows that Free Realms' site suffered a drop in unique users the same month publisher Sony Online Entertainment announced the game hit 10 million registered players, which came only two months after they told us they'd hit 8 million. When we contacted SOE for this story today, they told us they hit 12 million users only a few weeks ago but declined to give any other stats on the game, per company policy. Wizard 101, meanwhile, currently reports 10 million registered users.
The point of this is that when it comes to MMOs, there's no one way to figure out if a game is healthy. Increased site traffic is probably a good thing, as is a steady increase in new registered users -- but when we see dips in these numbers, it's not a definite sign of doom or of health. To get a fix on that, you usually have to wait for server shutdowns or something more drastic.
Interestingly, here's how Wizard 101 compares to Battle.net and World of Warcraft on Compete.com. What do you make of that?
The PlayStation 3 version of the Netflix Watch Instantly service saw a major improvement this morning with the added ability to search for new movies. One of the application's biggest current hurdles may be gone in a matter of months as the company's CEO plans to launch a disc-free version of the PS3 software by October.
Movie fans who fired up their PlayStation 3 to stream movies from Netflix were greeted with a pleasant surprise this morning, as the much-lauded predictive search function present on the movie rental company's website has come to the PlayStation 3, making it the first console to allow the addition of movies to your queue through means other than the recommendation lists. The function is due to be incorporated onto the Xbox 360 by November.
The PlayStation 3's Netflix Instant Watch application might actually have a brief run as the most convenient and functional version if Netflix CEO Reed Hastings' hopes of launching a disc-free PS3 application in the next few months are realized. Hastings hopes that by October the company can "expect to be launching a major new version of our Sony PS3 user interface which doesn't require a disc, and is dynamically updated continuously with the latest Netflix UI improvements."
Netflix streamers -- which version do you currently use? Will these latest developments affect your choice?
SOURCES: Netflix CEO Discusses Hulu Plus, Disc-Free PS3 Version [Gamasutra]PS3 Netflix adds search option [Joystiq]
While we're glad to give out contest prizes every week, a recent winner of the redesigned Xbox 360 decided to donate his other system to a children's hospital that was near and dear to his heart. Read on for his very emotional account.
"If I could wave my magic wand, I'd make everything all right..." ~ From the song, "Presto" by Rush
I think all of us have echoed the sentiment of the lyrics quoted above at one time or another during our lives. We all would like a chance to hit the reset button, or to get some sort of "do over" for something that went wrong or some past mistake that we made.
Alas, we live in the real world. This is a not a video game or a fairy tale where multiple chances, miracle cures and happy endings are commonplace. Bad things happen to good people every day and the best that you can hope for, realistically, is the opportunity to give something back – to do a little good if and when the situation arises.
When I won the new version of the Xbox 360 from GamePro just such an opportunity arose. At that point, I had a perfectly good Xbox 360 Pro still sitting in my home entertainment center. What to do with it?
In February of 2008, my 12-year-old step-daughter, Kaela, contracted pneumococcal meningitis which ultimately claimed her life. When I think of Kaela, I remember her as an avid gamer who loved to play with and care for little children. Recalling any memories of her, even two and half years on, can be an unpredictable proposition in and of itself. The closest thing I can liken it to is being trapped in an emotional echo chamber, if you will. In an echo chamber, you never know where the sound is coming from, which is incredibly disorienting. Much like that, I never know when or where overwhelming feelings of sadness and loss are going to overtake me. It can be in the car, or at work, or even at the supermarket. I'll see or hear something totally at random that will trigger a memory that, for lack of a better phrase, just destroys me emotionally.
To counteract those feelings (and, of course, to do some good in Kaela's name), I decided to donate my extra Xbox 360 to Cooper Children's Regional Hospital here in New Jersey; the very place where Kaela spent the last two days of her life. This seemed entirely apropos for several reasons beyond just that. Kaela loved both gaming and kids--therefore the thought of this spare system (along with Lego Star Wars) entertaining children stuck in the hospital would have greatly pleased her. I also recalled that the only gaming product at the hospital was a rather dilapidated GameCube, so this was a nice upgrade for them and made my decision all the easier.
My sincere thanks go out to both Barbara McCarty, Child Life Coordinator at the Children's Regional Hospital, and to AJ Glasser, News Editor at GamePro, for their help and support in making this donation possible.
VGChartz reports this morning that StarCraft II pre-orders have topped 800,000 units in North America. Blizzard declined to confirm or deny this number, but they expect to announce their own numbers in a couple of days once the game actually hits shelves.
There's no way to know where VGChartz is actually getting its numbers -- the site also estimates total worldwide week-one sales to top two million units -- but when we spoke with a lead publicist at Blizzard, that number didn't seem to surprise them in anyway.
The publicist reminded us, however, that Blizzard does not give out pre-order numbers prior to a game's retail release. So sit tight, hit some midnight launches this evening, and wait for official word hopefully later this week.
Source: StarCraft II Hits 800,000 Pre-Orders in the Americas [VGChartz]
Reports out of a San Diego Comic Con Darkspore panel have the internet buzzing with the news today that BioWare worked on Darkspore's development. These reports are not entirely accurate.
A publicist from EA told GamePro today that the development team at Maxis is actually working with Malcolm Azania, a game writer whose credits include a stint at BioWare, writing for Mass Effect 2.
"That's the extent of it," the publicist says. So, no, Maxis didn't receive help on Darkspore from BioWare as many publications report.
While the Madden NFL series has been known for its high-quality soundtracks, the songs have sometimes veered off the traditional tunes heard during a pigskin battle. This year, EA is picking some stadium favorites for the song list.
Speaking about the new musical direction, Worldwide Executive of Music and Marketing for EA Steve Schnur said, "This year, we wanted the music to not only define the game, but also the stadium experience. These are the classics that consistently bring NFL crowds to their feet."
Here's the official list of songs that will be in Madden NFL 11, provided by EA:
Original Recordings: * AC/DC - Thunderstruck * Archie Eversole - We Ready * Blur - Song 2 * Bush - Machinehead * Guns N' Roses - Welcome to the Jungle * Kevin Rudolf featuring Lil' Wayne - Let It Rock * Kiss - Rock and Roll All Nite * Ozzy Osbourne - Let Me Hear You Scream * Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train * The Hives - Tick Tick Boom * Todd Rundgren - Bang the Drum * Ying Yang Twins featuring Homebwoi - Halftime Cover Versions: * Rock N Roll Part 2 - as made famous by Gary Glitter * We Will Rock You - as made famous by Queen * Crowd Chant - as made famous by Joe Satriani * Kernkraft 400 - as made famous by Zombie Nation Team Fight Songs: * Chicago Bears - Bear Down Chicago Bears * Detroit Lions - Gridiron Heroes * Green Bay Packers - Go Packers Go! * Miami Dolphins - Miami Dolphins #1 * Minnesota Vikings - Skol Vikings * Philadelphia Eagles - Fly Eagles Fly * Washington Redskins - Hail to the Redskins
Original Recordings:
* AC/DC - Thunderstruck * Archie Eversole - We Ready * Blur - Song 2 * Bush - Machinehead * Guns N' Roses - Welcome to the Jungle * Kevin Rudolf featuring Lil' Wayne - Let It Rock * Kiss - Rock and Roll All Nite * Ozzy Osbourne - Let Me Hear You Scream * Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train * The Hives - Tick Tick Boom * Todd Rundgren - Bang the Drum * Ying Yang Twins featuring Homebwoi - Halftime
Cover Versions:
* Rock N Roll Part 2 - as made famous by Gary Glitter * We Will Rock You - as made famous by Queen * Crowd Chant - as made famous by Joe Satriani * Kernkraft 400 - as made famous by Zombie Nation
Team Fight Songs:
* Chicago Bears - Bear Down Chicago Bears * Detroit Lions - Gridiron Heroes * Green Bay Packers - Go Packers Go! * Miami Dolphins - Miami Dolphins #1 * Minnesota Vikings - Skol Vikings * Philadelphia Eagles - Fly Eagles Fly * Washington Redskins - Hail to the Redskins
Are there any classic sports songs you think EA should have included?
Fear not, PC gamers -- Relic Entertainment hasn't forgotten you in its rush to create a third person action shooter for consoles. Publisher THQ just sent out a press release confirming a simultaneous release for Space Marine on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC in early 2011.
Most gamers familiar with the Warhammer 40,000 series of games only know it from PC. Developer Relic Entertainment's last big game was the Chaos Rising expansion for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, which came out on PC just this year.
Beyond that, there isn't much to say about Space Marine yet. We'll be keeping an eye out for it as we head into the next round of tradeshows and conventions: GamesCom, PAX Prime, Tokyo Game Show, etc.
At Comic-Con, Capcom and Namco Bandai announced their next major fighting games, as the former company will be creating Street Fighter X Tekken while the latter while be developing Tekken X Street Fighter. In single-universe news, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike will have have an online edition released.
While both were announced at Capcom's Street Fighter Comic-Con panel, only the Capcom-developed Street Fighter X Tekken was shown, as attendees were able to see Ryu and Kazuya Mishima take each other on in a manner similar to Capcom's other crossover titles, with teammate switching and ultra moves taking place. The visual style, meanwhile, mimicks Street Fighter IV. Presumably, Namco Bandai's version will emphasize projectile-free brawling in the vein of its fighters. Nina Williams was named as another character in the game by Capcom in the company's official announcement, while Dan Hibiki was featured in the trailer. The games will be landing on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition was also announced during the panel, but no platform was announced for the release. Previous online remasterings of Capcom's classic fighting games have generally landed on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade.
No release date has been revealed for the three titles, but Capcom has stated that the crossover games will release after the spring-due Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The trailer for Street Fighter X Tekken is below, while you can find 20 additional screenshots here (click here to see them in HD).
SOURCES: Announcing STREET FIGHTER X TEKKEN [Capcom Unity]Street Fighter X Tekken, online Third Strike announced [EventHubs]
The Comic-Con onslaught continued as the deluge of news from the show remained steady, leaving few other stories to swim against the current. A handful of stories were strong enough to still capture our attention, and they've stopped here in today's daily stale bread.
Mario Skull
AJ: TeeFury's Mario-themed shirt is so hideous, it's fascinating... but I already have enough people staring at my chest as it is.
Dave: As one of your many office older-brothers, I must pass along an offer of beating up said starers.
Boba Fett, 'Unleashed' againAJ: Boba Fett in The Force Unleashed 2? BOBA FETT? How? Where?
Tae: AJ, don't you know that he didn't actually die in the Sarlaac pit?
AJ: Look, I know getting hit by a blind guy with a stick is a bad way to go. But go he did.
Tae: Have you ever explored post-Episode VI Star Wars canon? I don't recommend it, but Fett was able to fight his way out of the beast's belly. Case closed, my Star Wars cred wins.
Dave: Eh, I'm looking forward to The Old Republic's space combat more.
AJ: Some additional Comic-Con tidbits-- the WoW movie is still (STILL) in development, Ubisoft confirmed Assassin's Creed Brotherhood DLC, and David Jaffe said Twisted Metal PS3 will have split screen co-op, but no Move or 3D support.
Dave: Let's file all three under "things that are no-brainers or meaningless until we see more images."
Nintendo Partners With Kellogg's Promoting Nintendo DSi Online Experience
AJ: This Nintendo-Kellogg's partnership was timed perfectly with my rekindled love affair with Apple Jacks after 14 years apart.
Dave: You're running the San Francisco half marathon on Sunday purely on the effects of a post-Apple Jacks sugar high, aren't you?
We've all seen video game-themed cakes before, but rare is the time when one takes center stage at a wedding. Here are some video game-themed wedding cakes that made Offbeat Bride's Geeky Wedding cut:
So what if it's the wrong color? It looks cute.
This cake isn't nearly as strange as the full-blow Katamari Damacy-themed wedding.
Words fail us. But in a good way.
Actually, this is a wedding cake AJ Glasser has seen before. Still pretty awesome, though.
Check out more from Offbeat Bride's Geeky Wedding gallery here.
A few game-related announcements have squeaked out of Comic-Con today, adding some welcome new elements to some highly-anticipated titles. Read on to find out how Marvel vs Capcom 3, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Dead Space 2 will be improved due to these additions.
Embedded above is a video featuring the two latest additions to Marvel vs. Capcom 3's ever-expanding roster -- superhero and summer 2011 movie protagonist Thor adds another fighter to the Marvel side while Okami hero Amaterasu joins the Capcom side. This duo joins the four additions named yesterday -- Super Skrull, Dr. Doom, Chun-Li and Devil May Cry's Trish -- bringing the current amount of revealed characters to 16 for the spring-due game.
At a BioWare panel held today, developers for Star Wars: The Old Republic revealed another new addition for the spring-due MMORPG -- space combat. While declining to show imagery of the new gameplay element in lieu of a reveal in the October issue of PC Gamer, the creators were able to describe how the combat would work, stating that it will consist of sending your ship to a variety of specially-designed sections within the galaxy where you can take on batches of asteroids and enemy ships in combat missions inspired by older Star Wars properties.
Last, but not least, the ever-expanding canon of the Dead Space franchise will see two more additions before the game releases in early 2011. A graphic novel entitled Dead Space Salvage will be coming out this December, while a second animated Dead Space feature will debut in early 2011 -- this one will be called Dead Space Aftermath. The two new properties join Dead Space Martyr -- the novel that released this week that was featured in the August issue of GamePro.
Comic-Con continues until this Sunday, with game-related panels continuing throughout the weekend. Keep it tuned to GamePro as we pass along even more of the reveals.
SOURCE: SDCC: Dead Space getting graphic novel, animated feature [Destructoid]Space Combat Confirmed for Star Wars: The Old Republic[Shacknews]Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: New Challengers Appear![Capcom Unity]
Everyone's favorite superhero creator Stan Lee was on hand at Comic-Con this week as part of Activision's efforts at the event. Here's what he had to say for himself in this exclusive interview.
You may have guessed from the bitter tone in some of our news stories this week that GamePro isn't at San Diego Comic Con. There's an explanation for that, which characterizes a larger trend in the massive pop culture show now in progress. Publicist John Kopp joins us as we try to articulate what that is without sounding like we're whining.
Host: AJ Glasser Special Guest: John Kopp of Sandbox Strategies Discussion Group: AJ Glasser, John Kopp, John Davison Music: The Electric Company - Spider Man Theme Song: Gary William Friedman Dance Version Length: 37 minutes
GameSpot's Sophia Tong snapped this picture from the top of the CBS/GameSpot booth at San Diego Comic Con 2010.
AJ checked and by some accounts, she's right about the Comic Con attendance despite not having an official headcount yet. Remember to rate and comment on our podcast on the iTunes page and if you haven't gotten your PAX Prime 2010 passes lined up, you might want to get on that before you find yourself in a Comic Con situation.
As we near this year's deluge of first person shooters, Destructoid's outspoken reviews editor Jim Sterling tackles the subject of multiplayer modes in games. Does the inclusion of a mode guarantee that we'll play it? No, says Jim.
Jim Sterling is the reviews editor for Destructoid.com
This editorial first appeared in the July issue of GamePro magazine.
Multiplayer is now the standard. Some of you may be very happy to admit this; some of you would do so begrudgingly. Whether you like it or not, multiplayer's not only here to stay, but it's everywhere. Inherently, this isn't a problem—until you realize that time is finite, lives are temporary, and gamers have only so many weekends to dedicate to video games.
Thanks to publisher and consumer demand, multiplayer modes have become obligatory to the point that gamers consider any title without an online component as inferior. It was one of the greatest complaints people had with BioShock. Its absence from Red Steel 2 upset a number of players. Do we, however, really want multiplayer in these games, or are we merely whining for these token inclusions without thinking about what we're asking for?
Only so much space exists atop the multiplayer mountain, and games such as Call of Duty, Gears of War, and Halo fill much of it, with lesser games fighting over the scraps—or fighting over nothing at all. When you think about it, once you have one multiplayer game, you don't really need (or even have time for) another. If you already play Halo 3, why would you want another game that does everything Halo 3 accomplishes? In how many settings can you capture a flag before it gets old? Multiplayer gamers usually dedicate themselves to one or two titles. Part of the multiplayer experience is getting good at a game, learning the maps, practicing with the weapons, and becoming a killing machine. You can't rightly do that if you're playing 15 multiplayer shooters at once.
People are begging for more multiplayer modes without considering that they won't play them. When Sega released Streets of Rage 2 and Golden Axe for Xbox Live Arcade, the publisher felt the games needed an online component. Log into an online game of Streets of Rage 2 or Golden Axe, however, and how many are playing? Exactly. It was like this a week after they appeared on Xbox Live, too. Nobody actually wants to play Streets of Rage 2 online, but if the option were missing? People would throw a tantrum.
The current environment encourages developers to unnecessarily toss multiplayer into their games without caring about it—or even considering whether anyone will bother playing it. It's like they're checking an invisible quota box that demands multiplayer's inclusion. How many among you have played Dark Sector's multiplayer mode? Or Overlord's? Hell, how many of you even know Overlord has a multiplayer mode?
The video-game industry has gotten to a point where people aren't even playing games built entirely around multiplayer, let alone single-player games that have shoehorned it in. Section 8 and Shadowrun are notable examples of multiplayer games nobody cared about. They weren't especially bad, but neither gained much of a community of players, because, again, once you've fragged something in Halo, you don't need to do it in another game. Many of the multiplayer games coming out are failing because we already have too many to begin with.
My point isn't that developers shouldn't try and conquer Halo or Call of Duty. We'd never have any progress in this industry if developers didn't compete. Game companies, however, should think carefully about what they want their games to be, and more important, gamers should consider what they want. If a developer wants to eclipse Halo, then by all means, pour that effort into a multiplayer mode that's different. Developer Rebellion managed a rare success with Aliens vs. Predator, mostly because its multiplayer modes, buggy as they are, are distinct.
Similarly, if your company's main focus is on the single-player mode, try dabbling with the idea of not including multiplayer at all instead of cramming in a token effort that doesn't work properly. Just look at BioShock 2's online mode: 2K went to the trouble of contracting Digital Extremes to create a narratively distinct multiplayer component. No one's playing it. A single-player experience shouldn't waste budget and development time on a multiplayer mode that nobody's going to play simply to satisfy the demands of a market that clearly doesn't know what it wants.
Now, will someone please play Golden Axe?
Jim Sterling is a video game reviewer, raconteur and editorial gun-for-hire. Currently serving as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, Sterling has also written for such outlets as Games Radar and IGN. He's also the only reviewer in the business who loves Dynasty Warriors.
Sony has revealed a swath of details regarding the release of LittleBigPlanet 2 on November 16, including exclusive pre-order bonus characters (some of which include famed Disney characters) as well as the items that will ship with the game's Collector's Edition.
Shown above are some the many free Sackboy skins that will be provided to pre-ordering customers who decide to put money down on LittleBigPlanet 2 before its release in a little under four months. Customers who reserve the game from Best Buy will get to dress their characters up in a suit inspired by the aliens in the Toy Story trilogy, while GameStop customers will get to adorn their Sackboy in a neon-colored Tron getup. These two characters are only the beginning of the Disney invasion of LittleBigPlanet 2, as additional DLC will provide even more opportunities to dress up in the digs of famous movie characters, including Gonzo from the Muppets. LittleBigPlanet 2 will still spread the love amongst the gaming industry too, as Amazon's pre-order will outfit players with Ratchet & Clank outfits for their Sackboys.
If you're having trouble selecting just one of the pre-order bonus characters, you might want to invest in the Collector's Edition of LittleBigPlanet 2, which will include free downloads for all of the aforementioned characters, as well as two additional exclusive costumes for the (other) famous PlayStation duo, Jak & Daxter. Additionally, the $80 Collector's Edition will come with a miniature plush Sackboy and LittleBigPlanet 2-themed bookends to fit your PlayStation 3 games within.
LittleBigPlanet fans--which of the pre-order bonuses appeal to you the most? Are you considering eschewing a particular retailer to get the motherlode of content in the Collector's Edition?
SOURCE: LittleBigPlanet 2 Updates: Official Date and Retail Goodness [PlayStation Blog]
The end of another week brings more opportunities to shower our fans with fun free products. This week you have the chance at scoring an action-packed Blu-ray movie, a set of sweet controllers, or a pair of mystery games.
It's Friday, which means it's time to give back to all of you who read our articles and follow us on various social networks. This week, we've got cool products to satisfy your various pop-culture itches.
If you're a fan of GamePro on Facebook, you have the chance to win one of 21 copies of the Matt Damon thriller Green Zone, thanks to the generous folks at Universal Studios. Since the flick is rated-R, you're assured of two things--one, that the combat scenes will be nice and brutal; and two, that we'll be checking to make sure that all winners are 17 and older. To win this contest, simply reply only once to the contest post with an answer to the following question--"what's your favorite green thing?" We'll pick 21 valid entries (meaning the thing you say is green is actually green) at random at 5PM.
Our GamePro Twitter followers will have a shot at winning a complete set of Afterglow controllers for the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360. If a trio of quality controllers that glow when you plug them in wasn't cool enough, we're shipping them in a briefcase that lights up the controllers when you open it. It's the coolest briefcase we've ever seen in real life, which makes us wonder what you think is the coolest briefcase you've ever seen in a movie, TV show, game, or any other form of media. Reply to us only once with your answer, and we'll pick one at random at 5PM PST to win the whole shebang.
GamePro users, your chance at free swag lay here, too. A pair of games on the console (or consoles) of your choosing away you, and all you have to do is post a reply stating which system (or systems) you'd want the games on. Do you pick two games on the same console or are you the type to mix things up? Reply only once with your choice(s), and we'll pick a random winner at 5PM PST.
You can enter all three ways, but can only win once. For more information on GamePro's Friday Giveaways, please refer to 'The Rulez.'
Just yesterday, we were gossiping in the office about the likelihood of a Green Lantern game announcement down at Comic Con. Thanks for confirming our powers of clairvoyance, Warner Bros.
Not many details exist for the game as yet, but we do know that Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters is 1) an action-adventure game and 2) deliberately tied to the Ryan Reynold's Green Lantern film due out next summer. Here's a sexy teaser image for you:
The day was filled with Comic-Con news, leaving little room for other information of interest to infiltrate the internet. Thankfully, we've saved space for the best of the rest in today's daily stale bread.
7/22--Comic-Con Ho!
Wacky World Records Broken At San Diego Comic-Con
AJ: When will Guinness realize it's taken this World Record thing too far?
Dave: Not until they're given a record commemorating their own work.
PlayStation 3's 3D Games Could Get 3DS-Style SliderAJ: A depth slider on 3D PS3 games? Heck, it seems like it worked for Nintendo.
Tae: Anytime I hear about video games and sliders, I expect to hear about a disc being sold with miniature hamburgers. Every time I have been disappointed.
Sony now facing single class-action for PS3 other-OS removalAJ: The lawsuits against Sony regarding the removal of the "Other OS hoption" have been consolidated into one class-action suit.
Tae: Cool. Now let's get another lawsuit going to get PS2 game compatibility back.
Dave: Sounds like Sony's got a shot at losing the case. That's what you get when you mess with Linux fans.
Metroid: A Fan-Made Radioplay Adaptation
AJ: I would never have pegged Metroid as a 'prime' candidate for a radio drama recreation, but it really seems to work well.
Dave: Heh, I see what you did there. Also, plz to make this as an extra on the Metroid: Other M disc.
A new Halo means a new Xbox bundle. This time it's a silver "new style" Xbox 360 with Reach decals, two silver-painted wireless controllers, and a standard edition copy of the game for $399.
The Xbox 360 Limited Edition Halo: Reach Bundle features a silver paint job and comes with two custom Xbox 360 Wireless Controllers adorned with artwork inspired by the game, a Standard Edition copy of the game, a token for the Limited Edition Elite armor set, an episode of Halo Legends and a Halo: Reach-themed Xbox 360 wired headset. As an added touch, the limited edition console also features custom sound effects from the Halo universe, apparently. The pack will be available on September 14 for $399.
A little earlier than that (early August) those of you predisposed to buying such things will be able to pick up the controllers and a wireless version of the headset for a hefty price tag. The controllers will set you back a whopping $59.99 and come with an Xbox Live token for an animated Covenant Banshee avatar item (to make you feel better about buying such an expensive controller, presumably) and the wireless headset is $49.99. No freebies with the headset.
Microsoft is claiming that these accessories are both "being produced in limited quantities" and would like you to know that they are available for pre-order now. So, have at it.
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