A Harmonix representative has confirmed the US retail price and release date for their upcoming Rock Band game.
Online retailer Amazon.com recently changed the listing of the game to reflect a price of USD 169.99 [£83] for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game, with a release date of November 23. According to a GameSpot story, a Harmonix representative confirmed that Amazon's information was correct.
The Xbox 360 and PS3 bundles include a wired drum kit, guitar, and microphone along with a copy of the game. The 360 Stratocaster guitar controller will be wired, and the bundle will include a USB hub. The PS3 Stratocaster guitar will be wireless.
The PS2 version will sell for USD 159.99, and won't be available until December 10 according to the Harmonix spokesperson. The game and instruments will also be sold separately.
Calls to Harmonix were not immediately returned.
UPDATE: An EA public relations manager has confirmed that the date and price were reported correctly. No word yet on an official UK release date or price.
Earlier this year, we heard that NASA gurus were working up a biological nanobattery that utilized ferritin, and now another report is suggesting that the substance could even be used in a "biotech-based process for creating ultrathin computer memory."
Reportedly, the researchers have found that by using ferritin, metal memory cells could be arranged on substrates sans heat, which consequently allows for thinner substrate materials to be used. The method could eventually lead to "computers being built on thin films that could then be integrated into eyeglass lenses or into clothing," which could add a whole new dimension to wearable electronics.
Blizzard's popped the lid on the Battlecuiser, a "massive, heavily armoured combat ship" that features in its RTS follow-up StarCraft II. You can clap eyes on the unit in screenshots right here on this page.
Armed with laser batteries, Yamato cannon and plasma torpedoes, the Battlecruiser's a "virtual flying fortresses, built to keep the peace and dominate the space lanes of the Koprulu sector" and Blizzard adds that "these imposing vessels are among the most powerful to be found in terran space."
The developer's gone on to flesh out the unit's background and, in addition to releasing the screenshots we're showing here there's a couple of Battlecruiser movies to be seen on the official StarCraft II website.
Blizzard's yet to confirm a release date for its second World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King.
But with the developer saying previously it plans to release a new one for the MMORPG on a yearly basis, it's surely aiming to get Lich King out early next year.
Meanwhile, it's released four new screenshots from the expansion that we've uploaded here for you to take a look at.
Wrath of the Lich King's introducing WoW's first Hero class in the Death Knight, opening up the continent of Northrend and handing fans plenty of other new content besides.
Petroglyph's PC version of its RTS Universe at War: Earth Assault has been delayed.
Originally the game was due out on November 2 for PC, but it's now been pushed back to January 2008
"The new release date means that both the PC version and Xbox 360 version will launch closer together, allowing gamers to enjoy the full experience of this fantastic RTS from acclaimed developer, Petroglyph", a Sega rep told us.
Universe at War: Earth Assault features a good old-fashioned alien invasion of Earth scenario, and it's only the first instalment in a series that Petroglyph plans.
"At this point, if you looked at the first Universe at War game as the initial chapter in an ongoing saga, there are at least two more chapters of material we've got fleshed out... and a whole bunch of directions we can go in after that," the developer told us in an interview earlier in the year.
The game was the first third-party title announced to support cross-platform play between PC and Xbox 360.
Sports Interactive has released a demo for the latest instalment of Football Manager 2008.
Well, two, actually: a dumpy "strawberry" version with all the Euro leagues and logos, or a trimmed "vanilla" offering focused on the UK.
This year Football Manager will be available all around the world and boasts many more tactical bits and pieces to get stuck into.
You can keep up to date with all of these over on the official website, where Sports Interactive boss Miles Jacobson will be writing weekly blogs to cover the new features.
Or you can always pop into our Football Manager 2008 gamepage to see what we thought when we had a play on it recently.
Football Manager 2008 is due for release later this year, although publisher SEGA has yet to say exactly when.
The value of the computer game market in Japan, at 292.8 billion yen, was 21.7 percent higher in the fiscal first half to September than a year before, largely because of the success of Nintendo Co Ltd's Nintendo DS, magazine publisher Enterbrain said.
Sales of Nintendo's Wii and Sony (NYSE:SNE) Computer Entertainment Inc's PlayStation Portable 3 (PSP3) also helped the market expand, Enterbrain said.
Enterbrain conducted a survey of the market between March 26 and Sept 23.
The hardware market expanded by 33.5 percent to 138.3 billion yen and the software market increased by 12.8 percent to 154.5 billion yen, Enterbrain said in a written statement.
In the hardware market, Nintendo sold 3.478 million Nintendo DSs and Nintendo DS Lites in the fiscal first half and Sony Corp unit Sony Computer Entertainment sold 1.07 million PSP-1000s and PSP-2000s.
In the software market, Nintendo sold 819,237 sets of Mario Party 8 for the Wii and 789,091 sets of one of the series of the Legend of Zelda game for the Nintendo DS, Enterbrain said.
Chinese online game vendor The9 has announced that it has signed an agreement to purchase a 50 per cent stake in MSN China for USD 200 million.
Microsoft co-founded MSN China with Shanghai Alliance Investment in 2005. The two parties each owned a 50 per cent stake in the joint venture. The9 is purchasing Shanghai Alliance Investment's share, making it a co-owner with Microsoft.
"The purchase of MSN China's stake is part of The9's strategic layout. It is aimed at to build up a cross-business platform...covering instant messaging, cyber game, online communities, and online auctions," says a The9 spokesperson.
As reported earlier, EA purchased a 15 per cent stake in The9 back in May 2007, giving them an interest in the MSN China purchase.
EA, however, has downplayed the connection.
"As noted, EA has a publishing agreement with The9 which includes equity participation in the company," Jeff Brown, a VP of communications for EA, told GamesIndustry.biz. "The9's participation with the ISP has no bearing on our agreement."
The9 runs Vivendi's World of Warcraft game in China and currently has the fourth largest market share of the Chinese cyber game market.
Halo 3 has claimed the number one spot in the UK all-format charts, in a strong week for new releases.
However, it is not the fastest-selling game in UK history, as many had expected. According to Chart Track, that record still belongs to Rockstar's 2004 release Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, with Halo 3 second.
Chart Track also stated that Halo 3 had doubled sales of 360 hardware to the highest level this year.
EA Sports' multiformat football update, FIFA 08, entered the chart in second place behind Microsoft's Xbox 360 blockbuster. Last week's top two - Tiger Woods 08 and MySims - claimed fourth and third places respectively for EA.
Other new entries in the top 10 were Juiced 2 at 5, and Sega Rally at 7. EA's new skateboarding franchise Skate just missed out, debuting at number 11. Activision's Enemy Territory: Quake Wars also failed to make the top 10, entering at 16.
The remainder of places in the top 10 were taken by Nintendo (with More Brain Training, Super Paper Mario and Wii Play) and Activision's Transformers licence.
THQ's Ratatouille did not fare so well, entering the chart at 39. However, the Pixar film on which it is based has yet to be released in the UK.
As well as the 360 itself, there was one other notable beneficiary of the Halo effect: Microsoft's racing sim Forza Motorsport 2, which soared 22 places, from 35 to 13.
The Death Knight Hero Class that's being introduced to World of Warcraft in expansion Wrath of the Lich King is the topic up for discussion in a new Blizzard interview.
Appearing on the MMORPG's official website, the interview looks at the developer's reasoning behind introducing the Death Knight, how it fits in with existing character classes - in particular tanking classes - and its unique rune system.
Unfortunately, it's not revealed how we'll access the Death Knight class. Dammit.
"One interesting difference between the death knight and other tanks is that death knights don't use shields. This is also a good example of how our design concepts for the class are closely reflected in actual gameplay.
"If you think of a death knight, you think of this terrifyingly powerful warrior in heavy plate armor carrying around an enormous rune weapon, very much like Arthas does in the cinematics of Warcraft III.
"You don't really see death knights hiding behind a shield - that's just not their style. We take this design concept and then turn it into gameplay that is both fun and fitting for the class".
Early next year the Europa Universalis strategy series is getting a new addition to the family in Europa Universalis: Rome.
Announced by Paradox Interactive, Rome covers the time period from the first Punic War to the start of the true Empire. "Players will have thousand of gameplay choices ranging from country, culture, provincial and character options to name but a few, making each and every game infinitely customizable and truly unique."
The developer's exec VP Fredrik Western reckons the strategy gaming world has yet to a truly challenging strategy title portraying the Roman Era.
"Our successful development team has the knowledge, skills and genre expertise to create a strong strategy game to accurately represent the Roman Era and we are more than excited to introduce this game to the strategy gaming community", he added.
A video projector including Wii connection cable but also compatible with any video source (any console, DVD player etc.) to play or watch movie in sharp definition on any wall/screen. Compatible with PAL/NSTC format, universal power adapter to use anywhere, high resolution... it includes all the features you expected, and comes with a low price tag!
Specifications & extra information
- Projection size: 12 to 80 inches
- Projection distance: 1.1 to 5.5 yards (1 to 5 meters)
- Compatible with PAL/NTSC
- Universal 100/240V adapter with power plug adapter (Europe/USA)
- Resolution 960 * 234
- 8-120 ANSI Lumens
- Lamp type: 50W, 1000 hours
- Compatible with iPod Video
- Smart design and compact size
- Special for Wii console use (AV cable included)
- Sharp picture, low lux, high resolution
- Compatible with any A/V (Audio/Video) signal output port
- Mega power amplifier and stereo speakers built-in
- Built-in contrast, color, brightness and volume adjust function
- Compatible with various systems like Playstation 3, Playstation 2, Xbox 360,
Xbox, Gamecube, DVD player, MP4 player etc
The latest patch for World in Conflict will greatly improve performance on graphics cards supporting DirectX 10.
Developer Massive Entertainment has also included lots of little wartime bits and pieces to help you customise your profile, and made numerous smaller fixes, tweaks and balance adjustments.
The patch is expected to go live later this week, although a final date is still stuck in the trenches. Or air raid shelter, like the one we were forced to walk around every year at my old school.
A full list of changes can be found on the official forums.
World in Conflict came out on PC a couple of weeks ago, and earned hearty war-cheers from Eurogamer for its sumptuous but familiar real-time strategy gameplay.
Epic Games boss Mark Rein has said the studio is still working hard to get Unreal Tournament 3 finished in time for Christmas - even though Midway reckons it won't be out till next year.
UT3 was originally due out this November on PC and PS3, with an Xbox 360 version to follow next year. But, as reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Midway's latest financial report says we won't see any versions of the game before 2008.
Blacksite: Area 51 has also been delayed, according to Midway. Like UT3, it's now set to arrive some time between January and March next year.
However, Rein reckons UT3 might make 2007 after all with a bit of luck. "As a public company, Midway felt an obligation to its shareholders to let them know about the possibility of a delay," he wrote on the Epic forums.
"But our goal is still to get the PS3 version of UT3 in stores before the end of 2007."
There are no guarantees though. "We will only ship it once it's ready and is the best game we can deliver," said Rein.
Midway's latest financial report has revealed the publisher plans to create new "next-gen" instalments in the Mortal Kombat and Blitz franchises.
"We also expect to release several as-yet unannounced titles such as next generation versions of our hit franchises Blitz and Mortal Kombat, and two exciting new ambitious open world games," Midway boss David Zucker said in a statement.
"We intend to give more details on our 2008 release schedule in the near future."
The report also highlighted a slip for hugely anticipated shooter Unreal Tournament 3, which is now set to arrive in 2008. However Mark Rein, the boss of UT3 developer Epic Games, has since come out and told fans there is a chance the title could ship on PC and PS3 before the end of the year.
NCsoft has revealed the 11th expansion for massively-multiplayer online game City of Heroes.
It's all about a bunch of really old aliens from the Ouroboros organisation who have time travelling powers you can use. This means you can "flashback" to historical moments in Paragon City's past, reliving major battles or doing quests you never had time for because you had to eat or go to the toilet.
But there are also new things to do, both for beginners and lifers.
There are two new power sets for Brute, Scrapper, Stalker and Tanker classes. Dual Blades lets you use a combo system to swish various weapons about in both hands. Willpower is for resisting and defending against attacks, and even allows you to regenerate your health.
On top of this are purple invention sets, or "very rare" crafted items to the likes of you. Taunt, Debuff and Buff powers have their own crafted sets now, too.
City of Heroes appeared in Europe on 4th February 2005 - just a handful of days before World of Warcraft.
But rather than allowing itself to be squashed under the success of Blizzard's creation, Cryptic Studios has continued to grow CoH by adding playable baddies in the City of Villains expansion and numerous other updates.
Cryptic Studios is also currently working on a 360 and PC MMO for Microsoft called Marvel Universe Online - based around characters from the same comic book licence City of Heroes was criticised for copying many moons ago.
A lengthy document detailing the latest, upcoming free expansion for MMO City of Heroes/Villains has plopped into our laps via NCSoft Europe, so we thought we'd stick it up here. Issue 11: A Stitch in Time, here we come...
SUMMARY
Issue 11: A Stitch in Time reveals that all that is and was is not as it should be! The mysterious Ouroboros organization, a group of beings from the ends of time, enlists the aid of Heroes and Villains to rewrite the past.
Heroes and Villains are able to travel through time using the new Ouroboros System, which opens the gates to both new and existing content for players. Issue 11 also unleashes two brand new power sets: Dual Blades and Willpower, giving Heroes and Villains a slew of new power options.
Additionally, Dual Blades offers Weapon Customization - taking the "City of" Character Creator to the next level! And the Inventions system is enhanced with new "Very Rare" Purple invention sets.
OUROBOROS SYSTEM Through the mysterious Menders of Ouroboros, players gain the ability to "Flashback", that is to travel through time and relive major events from the history of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles.
Heroes who travel back in time will embark on missions such as preventing the Circle of Thorns from unleashing a devastating demon on a defenseless world, a story originally presented in the City of Heroes comic book. Villains who journey through time will get the chance to assist Lord Recluse in his initial campaign to conquer the Rogue Isles, and much more.
Heroes and Villains also use the Ouroboros System to return to story arcs that they may have missed and replay hundreds of missions from earlier in the game. Players will even get to set mission parameters for these missions to earn special badges.
Heroes and Villains will be auto-exemplared to the appropriate level for each story arc to ensure the challenge level remains constant.
WEAPON CUSTOMIZATION Sometimes an assault rifle just isn't the right tool for the job, or character, especially when he or she should be using a sniper rifle instead. Players can now change their weapons in the same way that they change their costume parts! From within the costume creator and tailor screen players select the new "Weapons" region.
A number of new options are now available for appropriate power sets. Current power sets that benefit from this upgrade include Assault Rifle, Mercenaries/Assault Rifle, Bow, Broadsword, Claws, Villain Claws, Dual Blades (see below), Katana, Ninja Blade, Mace, Robotics/Pulse Rifle, and Thugs/Dual Pistols.
TWO NEW POWER SETS The City of... universe expands with two new amazing power sets: Dual Blades and Willpower.
DUAL BLADES With a flashing blade in each hand, the Stalker made quick work of the Coralax hybrids guarding the shipwreck.
Now Heroes and Villains can wield paired weapons to devastating effect! Use the new Weapon Customization interface to choose from several types of weapons. Dual Blades also uses a brutal new Combo system, where the order of your strikes can create new advantages for you to take down your foes!
Dual Blades is available to Brutes, Scrappers, Stalkers and Tankers!
WILLPOWER
Available to Tankers, Scrappers, Brutes and Stalkers, the Willpower set offers a strong mix of resistance, defense and regeneration powers. This is the perfect power set for those characters who have the mental will and determination - the willpower - to ignore pain and press on through insurmountable odds!
NEW INVENTIONS Issue 11 brings with it new invention sets including "Very Rare" Purple sets, as well as brand new invention sets for Taunt, Buff and Debuff powers, among others.
features
Two New Armies: Play as the British 2nd Army or German Panzer Elite, each with devastating command trees options and unit upgrades.
Two Full Campaigns: Command the British 2nd Army to liberate the key strategic position of Caen, France. Control the German Panzer Elite to repel the Allied airborne invasion in Operation Market Garden.
Real War, Real Battlefields, Real War Enhanced: Mission Persistence, Dynamic Weather Effects, Enhanced Vehicle Tactics and more deliver a new level of realism and all new battlefield tactics.
All new Multiplayer Modes: Combine Company of Heroes™: Opposing Fronts™ with the original Company of Heroes for a total of four playable armies online. Join British artillery with American armor to dominate the 3rd Reich or utilize Wehrmacht and Panzer divisions to annihilate the Allied invasion.
DirectX® 10 Support: The highest rated RTS franchise features enhanced lighting effects and terrain details setting new standards in visual realism.
description
Company of Heroes™: Opposing Fronts™ is the next chapter in the groundbreaking real-time strategy franchise from critically acclaimed studio Relic Entertainment. This standalone game features two unique armies with full length campaigns. Players will experience fast-paced dynamic tactics like never before, in two of the most brutal World War II campaigns ever fought. Take command of the tenacious British 2nd Army in the vicious battle for Caen, France, or lead the German Panzer Elite as they struggle to repel the largest airborne invasion in history.
With two intensely cinematic campaigns, mission persistence, improved vehicle AI and weather effects that directly impact the battlefield, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts supports DirectX® 10 and is fully compatible with the original Company of Heroes. Battle online with these two all-new armies and utilize full compatibility with the original Company of Heroes™ for a total of four playable armies - allowing players to wage the ultimate war for Fortress Europe.
features
Famitsu Wave Magazine
Japan's No.1 selling video game magazine
Check out all the latest game news every month
Includes a DVD disc featuring latest game footage
description
The Famitsu Wave is Japan's No.1 selling video game magazine. It features all the latest video game news and pictures from Japan's upcoming video games.
Each magazine includes a DVD disc with video game footage. The DVD disc is NTSC Region 2 encoded.
Halo 3 continues its world domination by taking the top stop in Japan after selling 59,000 units in its first week of release. Not as good as its UK total of 466,000 but still MS should be happy considering how much trouble the 360 is having in Japan.
Halo 3 is one of six new entries in the top ten, as Sony's consoles software sales sees a resurgence after months of Nintendo domination.
Valve has started to pump up the volume along with the stereo and pre-load files for Half-Life 2: Episode Two and Portal.
If you have pre-ordered The Orange Box on Steam, next time you restart Steam you will discover that secret files are being downloaded, ready to activate on 10th October when the game goes on sale.
Those are files for Episode Two, the latest instalment in the Half-Life episodic trilogy, and Portal, the excellent new first-person puzzle game, with the other Orange Box title, Team Fortress 2, already available as a beta release for pre-ordering types.
Valve currently flogs Orange Box at USD 49.95 on Steam with a 10 percent discount because they love you.
Retail releases of the PC and Xbox 360 versions of The Orange Box, which also includes Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One as bonuses, are planned for 12th October in Europe - a date reconfirmed to us by Valve's Doug Lombardi earlier this week after distributor EA's press website erroneously listed it as 19th October.
For more on The Orange Box, check out our PC and Xbox 360 gamepages. A PS3 version is due out in the near future.
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts, in association with PC World, is inviting the UK public to vote for their favourite games.
The inaugural PC World Gamers' Award, to be presented at BAFTA's 2007 Video Games Awards, is the only game to be voted for by the public at this year's ceremony taking place on Tuesday 23 October at Battersea Evolution in Battersea Park, London.
The list of finalists is as follows:
Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (DS) (Nintendo/Nintendo)
FIFA 07 (PS2) (EA Canada/Electronic Arts)
Football Manager 2007 (PC) (Sports Interactive/SEGA)
Gears of War (Xbox 360) (Epic Games/Microsoft)
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (PSP) (Rockstar Leeds/Take Two)
Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3) (Insomniac/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe)
Wii Play (Wii) (Nintendo/Nintendo)
The public can vote for the award here. Each eligible voter will be entered into a drawing to win prizes including four pairs of tickets to the Awards show, a day at EA's development studios, a PS3, an Xbox 360, a DS lite, the top 10 chart games, and 3 Pyramat wireless gaming chairs.
"The great thing about the PC World Gamers' Award shortlist is that it reflects the real diversity of games being played by the public," said Hilary Bevan Jones, chairman of the Academy, "and I am sure everyone will look forward to tuning in to watch the ceremony on November 4 at 11pm on E4 to see which one is victorious."
The Academy will recognise excellence in Artistic Achievement, Technical Achievement, Gameplay, Innovation, Original Score, Use of Audio, and Story and Character as well as achievements in the genres of Action and Adventure, Casual, Multiplayer, Sports, Strategy and Simulation in addition to Best Game.
"We are extremely proud to be once again associated with these great awards, and this year as headline sponsor," said Chris McShane, head of trading for PC World.
"Working within the gaming industry is extremely exciting and this year's awards will show the best of the industry’s talent – may the best games win!"
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men isn't even out the Eidos front door yet but the company has revealed a sequel is already in production.
It sees major potential in the series too, MCV reporting that Eidos is pumping more cash into marketing the game than it's ever done with any game in the Tomb Raider series.
Jane Cavanagh, CEO of Eidos parent company SCi, said SCi believes Kane & Lynch has the potential to be a franchise for adults that is respected and loved in the same way as Hitman.
"We've already got Kane & Lynch 2 in production, which just goes to show the belief we have in it as a long-term franchise", Cavanagh added.
Developed by Hitman studio IO Interactive, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is out on November 23 on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Crrcsim is a model-airplane flight simulation program. Using it, you can learn how to fly model aircraft, test new aircraft designs, and improve your skills by practicing on your computer.
It rules! The flight model is very realistic. The flight model parameters are calculated based on a 3D representation of the aircraft. Stalls are properly modelled as well. Model control is possible with your own rc transmitter, or any input device such as joystick, mouse, keyboard ...
Software features
Open source
Runs on GNU/Linux, Mac OSX (ppc and rosetta compatible) and Windows (98/2000/XP)
3D representation of the aircraft
Very realistic flight model
Nice graphics if you have a 3D accelerator card
Great variety of how to control the model:
Use your R/C transmitter (connected to the parallel port, to the serial port via an "FMS PIC"-style cable or simply to your sound card's audio input)
Mouse
Joystick
Keyboard
Autopilot
Sonic Ironstorm: Fatal Attack is an updated version of DHC's earlier 3Punge competition entry. Hold the Z key to shoot, and press the X key to launch a missile. The secondary weapon can be used repeatedly without any penalties.
Collectibles marked S increases your shield count, while acquiring items marked P upgrades your firepower in small increments. There are six stages to explore, though one is marked as a secret and players are only allowed to take on a maximum of three missions in each game.
BattleJewels is the fusion of many genres of game into one addictive whole -- easy to pick up as a Match-Three puzzler, yet action oriented with spell casting and an opponent out to get you. Pick up and play mobile gaming including mid-game save and dive into the extra features when you have the time. Customize your character by gathering experience to level up, buying and selling equipment in the store, and growing your skills and spells and class in a direction of your choice. Casual gamers will enjoy the puzzling and the hard-core will love tweaking out their character to crush the opponents!
In partnership with eastasiasoft and SideQuest Studios, we are pleased to present the latest update on the development of the upcoming shooter Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer.
Based on the PC release version (currently on preorder at Play-Asia.com here), comes the first official video trailer, released in high definition quality.
Check out 1:51 minutes of pure action; Söldner-X combines classical gameplay with beautiful high definition graphics.
The PC version of Gears of War -- that would be the personal computer version mind you, not the parentally correct one which replaces all the chainsaws with comically large walkie-talkies -- has been scheduled for release on November 6th. Shacknews reports that the testosterone explosion epic will be bolstered by loads of new content, including 5 single-player chapters, three multiplayer maps, a game editor and a showdown with the Brumak. (In case you're not familiar with Gears of War's monster lexicon, the Brumak is a very large monster that you'll want to shoot as much possible.)
While you're waiting for the wildly popular franchise to arrive on your overclocked and garishly lit machine, read our hands-on impressions and carefully ponder which charismatic thespian would best fit into Marcus' curb-stompers.
You might or might not know, but I will be leaving home (Ireland) to go travel the world for a year (Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and Japan). And so I will not be about the running the site no were near as much, if at all.
I have been with the DCEmu team from the very start, and I have loved every minute of it ( bar the really crap times, but lets not talk about that).
So I wanted to reward all the thousand of visitors/ members of DCEmu with a prizes give away! (Xbox 360 owners only, sorry)
Whats up for grabs? 2 Xbox Live Arcade games, Joust and Robotron!
How do I enter? Simple just post in this thread (you have to be a member to post, but signing up is free) Your top 5 Xbox 360 games. The winner will be picked randomly, duplicate posted/entry's will be disqualified!
I will pick 2 winners randomly Sunday night/ Monday GMT.
In Japan, console hardware sales stand as follows:
PSP: 102,809
DS Lite: 72,895
Wii: 24,143
PS3: 13,105
PS2: 12,980
Xbox 360: 5,215
Game Boy Micro: 229
Gamecube: 73
Game Boy Advance SP: 49
Game Boy Advance original: 41
DS original: 30
The PSP has seen a major drop by about 175,00 from last reading but still in the lead. DS Lite increases slightly by 2,000, Wii drops 845, PS3 and PS2 rises by some 1,000 each. Xbox 360 also rises by 3,500 and Gamecube by 43.
Microsoft has put together a demo for Age of Empires III expansion The Asian Dynasties, which is available now to pop in your bags when the chap with the moustache is looking the other way.
The merchandise bulks out at 612MB, and gives you a couple of missions to tackle as well as a skirmish map to flail around on.
The biggest change in The Asian Dynasties is that it has been created by a different developer. Rather than the familiar face of Ensemble Studios, responsibility this time has fallen to Big Huge Games, the mastermind behind Rise of Nations, who will hopefully give the series the lift it needs.
New features will include Asian civilisations to get to grips with, bringing with them all sorts of new units, history and wonders to build. There have been improvements made to the trading side of things, too, and you should find there are more ways now to win.
Big Huge Games has also added some random map styles to keep things fresh, as well as some remakes of old Age of Empires scenarios to bring about a healthy dose of nostalgia.
Age of Empires III was released in 2005 to a solid if predictable reception, and expanded a year later with WarChiefs
Figures released by GfK Australia show Nintendo's DS console enjoying a healthy lead over its rivals in the hardware stakes.
According to a report on GameSpot, the numbers, which represent total sales for the third financial quarter, put DS sales at 139, 483, bringing the total install base for Australia to 730,076.
The next best quarterly performance, from Sony's PlayStation 2, was less than half the DS figure, shifting 66,228 - although the PS2 install base dwarfs the other consoles' total numbers put together.
Nintendo's other piece of hardware, the Wii, was in third place, with the Xbox 360 in fourth, the PlayStation Portable in fifth and the PlayStation 3 in sixth position.
Here are the numbers in full:
1. Nintendo DS: 139,483 (730,076 total)
2. PlayStation 2: 66,228 (2,118,646 total)
3. Nintendo Wii: 61,027 (167,899 total)
4. Xbox 360: 40,467 (222,136 total)
5. PlayStation Portable: 28,374 (222,136 total)
6. PlayStation 3: 27,533 (82,261 total)
Frankfurt-based developer Crytek has a history of flopping back and forth as to whether or not its eye-melting FPS Crysis could or could not ever make its way to the console market, first stating that the Xbox 360 and PS3 were unqualified to handle Crysis, before switching gears and saying "we could do it if we wanted to." Now, however, Crytek boss Cevat Yerli has set the record straight, stating that while "you cannot get Crysis as it is on PC on any console," the company could consider doing a console port depending on how well the game's PC release is received this November.
Yerli comments that the company believes the spec-heavy first-person shooter will be "at least as strong as Far Cry" at retail, though he personally edges his hopes a bit higher, noting that this would give the studio reason to believe Crysis could be successful on consoles as well. Given that console gamers have at least a passing fancy with first-person shooters, we think the game would do just fine.
Even so, the developer openly admits that like Far Cry before it, corners would have to be cut in terms of level design and UI in order to create "a derivative Crysis and optimize it for the Xbox 360 and PS3," echoing a similar report from January this year. However, he adds that the team would work to keep the game's sophistication intact. Honestly, we had no idea Crysis was so highbrow.
As most or some have seen or read, I started a page for DCEmu on MySpace. If you havent already, request to be a friend!
With that, I bring you...DCEmu on Facebook! So if you're already registered with Facebook, add us to your friends list! If not, what are you waiting for? Register with Facebook today and add us!
You can search for us by typing in "Dcemu Networks" or by email dcemu.facebook[@]gmail.com (remove brackets).
*UPDATE*
Everyone should have a DS right? Well, I'm throwing up a contest. To help with DCEmu Reviews replace their Xbox360, whoever REQUESTS an invite for the Video Game Community application (Goozex) and adds the application to their Facebook between Oct. 7-13, will be eligible for the contest. I will post the names who has added the application and is eligible for the drawing. If you dont see your name but have added the application, let me know and I will see what can be done.
So what is the prize? SuperCard DS ONE. Of course, this is ONLY if DCEmu Reviews wins the Xbox360. If DCEmu Reviews does not win, contest is null and voided. So if you havent received an invite, request one either through Facebook or email us at dcemu.facebook[@]gmail.com.
So all you have to do is request a invite, add the application to your Facebook and you're automatically entered into the drawing!
- In "Mizubaku Daibouken (Liquid Kids)" that is the hidden masterpiece, when the thunder item was taken, the width of the shake of the screen was brought close to a real machine. I think that it approached a real machine by other software, too.
- Additionally, a detailed part has been improved and corrected.
Danish developer Sirius Games has cobbled together a playable version of its gangster game Escape From Paradise City.
The package is just 502MB, and will give you a couple of missions to play around with. First you will be fiddling around with controlling neighbourhoods, gang members and tweaking your abilities, before moving into the thick of the action as your crew makes an assault on rival boss The Rat; probably not Splinter.
Escape From Paradise City is a blend of role-playing and real-time strategy set against the backdrop of Grand Theft Auto, where the idea is to take over control of the streets.
As you progress you will need to manage neighbourhoods now occupied by your cronies, making sure they are protected and turning you a profit; essentials if you want to stage huge assaults on other areas to expand your influence.
Each of the main characters has a skill progression tree you can enhance your abilities with, as well as a spattering of strategical trumps you can call in to play to tilt the tables in your favour.
There's also the lure of online multiplayer for up to eight of you once you get bored of going alone.
We found it a little rough around the edges when we got our hands on it recently, although it wasn't without a large dose of potential. You can find out much more over in our preview of Escape From Paradise City.
The full game is due out for PC in Europe on 26th October.
Flagship has said us Europeans will not be treated to a Collector's Edition of Hellgate: London.
Instead, those of you after the package containing special artwork, a graphic novel, soundtrack, "Making of" DVD and in-game pet the Mantawraith will have to import it from the US, where it costs about USD 59.99 [£29].
UK folks also have no local retailers participating in the pre-order campaign, which varies from shop to shop and offers in-game dyes for armour, beta access and an opportunity to become a founder by forking for a lifetime subscription to the MMO-style multiplayer mode.
But, you will get access to all the treats if you buy your copy from one of the participating shops outside of the UK.
Hellgate: London is due for release on 2nd November.
FIFA 08 and Halo 3 took seven of the top ten sales slots in Spain last week, according to the latest sales data from Media-Control GfK International.
EA's football title took first, third, eighth and tenth with various platform versions, while Xbox 360-exclusive Halo 3 bagged slots for each of its three game editions.
The Platinum PlayStation 2 version of WWE Smackdown remained in the charts for yet another week, while My Sims for the Nintendo DS and Heavenly Sword for the PlayStation 3 were the only other titles to make the chart.
The full top ten is as follows:
1. FIFA 08 (PS2)
2. Halo 3 (X360)
3. FIFA 08 (PS3)
4. Halo 3: Limited Edition (X360)
5. WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2007 Platinum (PS2)
6. My Sims (DS)
7. Heavenly Sword (PS3)
8. FIFA 08 (PSP)
9. Halo 3: Legendary Edition (X360)
10. FIFA 08 (X360)
It's been a good sales week for Electronic Arts in Germany, as the company notched up half of the top ten best-selling titles in the country, according to the latest charts from Media-Control GfK International.
FIFA 08 proved the most popular game of the week, with the PlayStation 2 and PC versions taking the top tow places, and the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 editions stealing fifth and sixth as well.
Halo 3 was third, while the latest Settlers title was fourth.
The full top ten breakdown is as follows:
1. FIFA 08 (PS2)
2. FIFA 08 (PC)
3. Halo 3 (X360)
4. The Settlers: Rise of an Empire (PC)
5. FIFA 08 (PS3)
6. FIFA 08 (X360)
7. Halo 3: Limited Edition (X360)
8. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (PC)
9. The Sims 2: Bon Voyage! (PC)
10. Dr Kawashima: More Brain Training (DS)
If you're an impatient individual, you're probably going to like what you hear about ASUS's newest motherboard, the P5E3 Deluxe.
Sound fancy? Well, it is -- featuring Intel's X38 chipset (with an FSB running at 1600MHz), Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Extreme CPU support, plus the company's Energy Processing Unit, 8-phase power, and WiFi-AP.
Of course, that won't help with your MTV-generation attention span and lack of patience, but the embedded micro-Linux variant, Express Gate, just might. You see, when you boot the system, you're given an option to immediately enter into a small Linux OS -- within five seconds, they say -- called SplashTop (developed by DeviceVM).
The OS is coupled with a stripped-down version of Firefox and Skype, allowing you to update your Facebook profile almost instantly. The whole shebang is available right now for three-hundred and sixty of your precious dollars [£177].
features
Complete authenticity
Complete Authenticity - Featuring 30 leagues, 30 real stadiums and 14,000 players
Share Replays (PC) - Now you can save and show-off your best games or just the highlights! It is easy to capture a game or key moments and export as a video file to share with your friends and foes. Brag about match-winning plays and goals or even capture the entire ninety minutes to relive your favorite games
description
Get closer to the action than ever before by mastering the skills required to play like a real Soccer player in FIFA 08. Step into the boots of a professional player through a new mode called ?Be A Pro: Co-op Season? that challenges you to master the same disciplines as a real professional football player?from positioning and tackling to reading the field and passing. Step onto the field with your created player to play an entire game as that footballer, and develop him into an elite player over the course of the season. Never before have you been able to approach the game this way, improving your abilities one skill at a time just as if you were a pro. Play with up to three friends playing all fixed to their players on your favorite club, complete individual challenges to develop your player attributes and win glory for the squad, while competing with your friends to develop the best player by season's end. From the moment you step on the pitch, FIFA 08 challenges you to think and react like a real football player by giving you complete control over all of the action. New manual controls enable you to dictate the play with control over through-passing and crossing. Control the goalkeeper in one-on-one situations to deny the striker yourself. Take ultimate control over your defenders with new manual controls that enable you to use the right-stick to quickly switch defenders and choose exactly who you want to control when defending. Plus, now it is more strategic to break down the opposition than ever before with new defensive and positioning logic that ensures players are in the right place at the right time, constantly considering all threats and opportunities.
Intelligently manage your club by preparing for each specific opponent using new custom formations. Design your own unique strategy to create the perfect formation and tactics. Assign roles and move players to the exact position in relation to teamma
features
Includes World of Warcraft and the Burning Crusade expansion pack
description
Experience the World of Warcraft! World of Warcraft is an online role-playing experience set in the award-winning Warcraft universe. Players assume the roles of Warcraft heroes as they explore, adventure, and quest across a vast world. Being "Massively Multiplayer," World of Warcraft allows thousands of players to interact within the same world. Whether adventuring together or fighting against each other in epic battles, players will form friendships, forge alliances, and compete with enemies for power and glory. And now, World of Warcraft and its Expansion Pack "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade" are combined in one package with additional items!
Industry veteran Bill Roper is now CEO of Hellgate: London developer Flagship Studios, but prior to this he hung his hat at Blizzard, where he had a major hand in the Diablo RPG series.
Although Blizzard has yet to announce Diablo 3, you just know it's coming - but what would Roper do with the sequel if he were in charge of it?
This is precisely the question we posed him during a recent interview, the full transcript of which we'll be publishing shortly.
Over to Bill...
"It would be that challenge of giving the Diablo players the things that they'd expect... I think with Diablo, for example, the camera angle is a big part of it. I think with the Diablo series there is a level of expectation about only using the mouse to move.
"I think people that are hardcore Diablo fanatics... people that, if you are making Diablo 3, you are making that game very, very specifically for. There are some things that they are going to want.
To be honest, the way that Blizzard is approaching StarCraft II is really smart. They're saying, 'OK, what do the millions of StarCraft fans very specifically want from a StarCraft experience? Great, well that's what we're going to give them. Yes we're going to do updates, yes we're going to create the units, yes there's new technologies'. [But] you look at StarCraft II, and right away you feel comfortable.
"You'd want that same kind of thing from Diablo 3. At the same time, you want to come up with a lot of fun, new and cool ideas that really stretch the world and stretch the characters and stretch the gameplay so it's not just the exact same thing over and over again.
"I think that would be the big challenge, to say, 'Here's our core three, four or five elements that must absolutely positively be in there. We've got to do these things. Past that, what can we do that when people are playing it they'll go, Wow, I really didn't expect that."
Keep eyes peeled for our entire Bill Roper interview hitting shortly.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has promised to unveil plans of a new review into video games on Tuesday, while saying again that he is not interested in censoring the media.
At a press conference at 10 Downing Street Monday, Brown was asked to deliver a message to the makers of video games.
"Where there is pornographic or violent material any parent is going to be concerned about the impact, and any parent wants the reassurance that everything possible is being done when they can't see in almost every occasion the point at which their son or their daughter is watching some of these internet materials either through a telephone or through other media of communication, they want reassurance that we are doing everything in our power.
"Now I think we have got to look at this as a society. I hope this is one of the areas where there can be common ground between all parties. I am not interested in censorship at all, but I think we do need rules governing some aspects of the internet and videos where children are involved and the whole purpose of this review would be to draw on the advice of all sources so that we can look at this in a sensible way.
"This is a challenge of modern society as a result of the explosive development of the internet, new forms of media, multimedia forms of communication. And of course at an earlier age than ever before children have access to all these materials and I think every parent here, but every parent in the country would be concerned that we do what we can. So we will set up this review, we will announce the details of it tomorrow and I hope that from the media itself there will be large numbers of people who will want to be involved in this exercise."
A full transcript of Gordon Brown's press conference can be viewed here.
Average hours spent by Xfire users daily playing World of Warcraft have dropped by nearly 18 per cent from August numbers, according to data from the community and data application for the month of September.
It sets a pattern which is mirrored across many of the other top ten MMOs, with second-placed Guild Wars showing a 13 per cent drop and third-placed Silkroad Online falling over 27 per cent.
One of the likely main reasons for the drop is the end of the summer holidays for schools and colleges across Europe and the US.
Other key MMO titles remained relatively static, with MapleStory, Flyff and Eve Online taking fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively. Lord of the Rings Online remained in eighth place.
The top ten first-person shooters have also fallen across the board, although there was no change in the top five most played titles.
Call of Duty 2 Multiplayer and Counter-Strike Source took the top slots convincingly, although they lost around 12 per cent and 18 per cent of their audiences respectively.
Battlefield 2, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and Counter-Strike 1.6 rounded off the top five.
September's bonus statistic compared all World War II games, and unsurprisingly Call of Duty 2 Multiplayer was also top of that list, with other Call of Duty titles also taking third and fourth places.
Xfire is an application which tracks gameplay statistics for its user base of over 8 million, based mostly in Europe and North America.
Bos Wars is a futuristic real time strategy game (RTS). In a RTS game, the player has to combat his enemies while developing his war economy. Everything runs in real-time, as opposed to turn-based games where the player always has to wait for his turn. The trick is to balance the effort put into building his economy and building an army to defend and attack the enemies.
Bos Wars has a dynamic rate based economy. Energy is produced by power plants and magma gets pumped from hot spots. Buildings and mobile units are also built at a continuous rate. Control of larger parts of the map creates the potential to increase your economy throughput. Holding key points like roads and passages allow for different strategies.
It is possible to play against human opponents over LAN, internet, or against the computer. Bos Wars successfully runs under Linux, MS Windows, BSD, and Mac OS X.
Bos Wars aims to create a completely original and fun open source RTS game.
Flying Lab has said its Pirates of the Burning Sea MMOG will launch on 22nd January next year.
If you just can't wait, you can pre-order the game and get it two days early. You might be able to get some new shoes or a boat before your friends even start playing. Just imagine.
The pre-order box will also include exclusive in-game weapons and an in-game parrot, as well as a soundtrack CD that, er, you can play at work to remind you of what you will be playing later.
Currently only US land-lubbers have a pre-order date, set for 23rd October, with us Europeans still waiting on calendar confirmation.
Pirates of the Burning Sea has been in development since 2002, and in beta testing as far back as 2005. Originally Flying Labs was understated with its goals and was not even sure if it would let you play as your own avatar - a far cry from the "big fat slab of a game" they're describing it as now.
These days it has its own player-driven economy, ship-to-ship combat, swashbuckling sword fighting, around a 1000 missions, 80 towns, a conquerable world and parrots.
So enticing does the game sound, in fact, that we picked it out as one to watch in our MMOG round-up.
Flying Lab has plans to do a much larger and public beta closer to launch, at which point the NDA silencers will disappear and we will be able to give you our thoughts on the game.
Unreal Tournament III is sitting high on CVG's list of games to beg, borrow and steal. Either way, we're playing it. But news that the Unreal Tournament III beta demo for PC could only be a few weeks has got us wondering if it'll be good enough to prise us away from Valve's Orange Box.
Chances are it will but who would have thought all those years ago that Orange Box and UTIII would be out at the same time?
"Just wanted to give you a heads' up that we're getting pretty close to releasing the Unreal Tournament 3 Beta Demo for Windows," said Epic VP Mark Rein. "The Beta Demo will allow instant action play against bots as well as online multiplayer.
"The purpose of the Beta Demo is to test the game on a large variety of hardware configurations and get gameplay feedback from the community. The development team feels they're pretty close to being ready to release this so it could come out this week but for safety sake I'd say it should be out within two weeks."
features
Two playable armies, each with distinctive technology, abilities, weapons, vehicles, and structures
Focused on key Capture, Construct and Destroy objectives, but open-ended to allow improvised strategy and tactics
Complete individual assignments and objectives to gain experience and rank during a single mission
Fight through an overarching campaign of three linked missions
Land, sea, and air vehicles, with multiple combat positions including driver, gunner, passenger and even commander
description
Experience the ultimate team and mission-based online warfare, in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. The story is a prequel to Quake 2, where you'll choose to play as the human Global Defense Forces or the invading alien menace, the Strogg. Each side has distinct classes, vehicles, and weapons to choose from, giving players countless ways to join the battle. Gameplay in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is all about conquering and securing enemy territory, and pushing forward or holding your team's front line. Players must work together using their vehicles, deployables, and character class abilities to complete objectives, defend valuable installations, or execute massive assaults. The new MegaTexture technology gives gamers stunning visuals, realistic physics, and optimized networking combine to deliver an unparalleled online gaming experience. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is the ultimate online strategic shooter. Unlimited strategic options with deployable Radar, Fire Support and Defense Turrets
features
Female settlers appear for the first time in the series: men and women fall in love with each other and marry
The lively, detailed game world is rich in animal and plant life
The settlers' busy lives are presented in lovingly rendered animations that show what is going on in a transparent way
The world is divided into four climatic zones with changes of season and weather which influence expansion and resource gathering
The best Settlers game of all time, featuring the best from previous games and lots of gameplay innovations!
The game's instant accessibility and gentle learning curve ensure long-lasting fun
even in advanced game missions, new features are introduced
All interventions by the player are reflected in the behaviour of his subjects and made transparent through the animations in the game world
Starting with a small settlement, the player builds up flourishing towns, maintains trade relations, and claims land and villages. This requires diplomatic skills
Mining, gathering resources, and food production result from wise planning and the various occupations of the settlers
Goods transport is optimised through skilful road planning
Upgrading buildings step-by-step improves the effectiveness of the economy and towns
By hiring traveling entertainers and organizing fairs, the player acts as a matchmaker by enabling male and female settlers to get to know each other
The player can build walls to protect his towns from enemy attacks. In military actions, the player must prove that he has built up his empire in such a way that it can defend itself effectively
Missions featuring noble knights with various skills accompany the player through the epic storyline penned by Jeff Grubb
Included in the game: dynamic single player campaign, freeplay mode with a multitude of maps, numerous multiplayer options via LAN and Internet, and a map editor
features
The Game of the Year Edition Includes The Original award-winning game, plus Knights of the Nine, and the remarkable Shivering Isles expansion.
description
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition (GotY) for Windows is a compilation of this classic RPG game. Oblivion GotY will include the original version of the award-winning RPG Oblivion along with the official expansion, The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles, and the downloadable content, Knights of the Nine. This new product allows players who have never played the 2006 Game of the Year to experience Oblivion for the first time with additional content. In addition, gamers can continue their existing games of Oblivion and experience the new quests and areas offered by the expansion and downloadable content.
Oblivion features a powerful combination of free-form gameplay, unprecedented graphics, cutting edge AI, character voices by acting legends Patrick Stewart, Sean Bean, Terrance Stamp, and Lynda Carter, and an award-winning soundtrack. Gamers can choose to unravel Oblivion's epic narrative at their own pace or explore the vast world in search of their own unique challenges.
With more than 30 hours of new gameplay, Shivering Isles allows you to explore an entirely new plane of Oblivion - the realm of Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness. Shivering Isles features a bizarre landscape split between the two sides - Mania and Dementia -filled with vast, twisting dungeons mirroring the roots of the trees they are buried within. Sheogorath himself looks to you to be his champion and defend his realm and its inhabitants from destruction as you discover all new items, ingredients, spells, and much more. The Shivering Isles features a bizarre landscape split between the two sides - Mania and Dementia -filled with vast, twisting dungeons mirroring the roots of the trees they are buried within. You'll encounter more than a dozen new creatures including hideous insects, Flesh Atronachs, skeletal Shambles, amphibious Grummites. Throughout your adventure, you will discover all new items.
Knight
Asian online games portal Alaplaya has officially launched in Europe, offering Manga-styled games to more than 50,000 users.
The service currently offers three online titles – Fantasy Tennis, Come On Baby and Audition – with users able to customise their in-game avatars and socialise in chat rooms, forums and through instant messaging.
The service is licensed and maintained in Europe by Germany's Hubert Burda Media through it's own specialised gaming division, which also runs MMORPG Ragnarok Online.
Dancing game Audition was developed by T3 Entertainment and first launched in South Korea in 2005. Its makers claim that is now has over 300 million registered users across 13 different regions including North America, China and Brazil.
Microsoft has announced that version 1.2 of its Games for Windows Live service will be released in November.
The new version will add support for offline Achievements and the ability to see if you can join friends in their games, along with "additional UI features," according to a Microsoft statement.
Five games have been announced as supporting the updated service, including Sega's The Club and Universe at War: Earth Assault, Eidos' Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, and Microsoft's own Gears of War and Viva Piñata.
Games for Windows Live was recently upgraded to version 1.1, adding support for Russian, Polish, Czech, Norwegian and Dutch languages, 12 new gamer pics, and a new Network Information Viewer to provide a simpler way to troubleshoot connectivity issues.
One day we may see a Dungeon Siege III, but in the meantime Gas Powered Games, developer of the first two games in the fantasy action-RPG series, has decided to rocket to the stars in Space Siege.
We've uploaded 10 new Space Siege shots to this page.
Like Dungeon Siege, Space Siege is an action-RPG but Gas Powered is throwing a bit of moral dilemma into the mix. The storyline revolves around the survival of the human race and the hero of the tale can augment himself with technology to help himself in the fight. However, he does so at the risk of ostracising himself from what's left of society.
Uber-violent FPS Soldier of Fortune is blasting its way back onto the scene in Payback for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
You may recall that first rumoured word on Payback hit last June, but the title has now been confirmed by Activision.
The series was notorious for featuring technology that allowed you to blow the arms and legs off enemies, and it sounds as though Payback is sticking with tradition.
Actvision says it features "an enemy damage system that may be shocking to even experienced FPS players." Of course, that's all high octane PR talk.
Anyway, focusing on modern-day warfare, you play a freelance mercenary called Thomas Mason who finds himself in deep shit when an escort mission goes belly-up. We're told the storyline reflects today's trend of 'outsourcing' wars.
Payback's single-player campaign is accompanied by numerous multiplayer modes. The game is due out in November.
Crytek boss Cevat Yerli took the stage at a press event in Frankfurt, Germany, yesterday afternoon to announce the recommended and minimum hardware specifications for Crysis.
So without any further ado...
Recommended for both XP and Vista:
<LI class=article_body>CPU - Core 2 Duo @ 2.2GHz/ Athlon 64 X2 4400+<LI class=article_body>RAM - 2.0GB <LI class=article_body>GPU - 8800 GTS/640 or similar
HDD - 12GB
According to Yerli, the game will run "butter-smooth" on 'High' settings with this hardware specification, although admitted that there would be frame rate hits on 'Very High'. Obviously you'll need Vista to take advantage of the game's DirectX10 features.
Minimum for both XP and Vista:
<LI class=article_body>CPU - 2.8GHz for XP, 3.2GHz for Vista<LI class=article_body>RAM - 1.0GB for XP, 1.5GB for Vista<LI class=article_body>GPU - 256MB, DirectX 9.0c compliant. Supported chipsets: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT or greater; ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Radeon X800 Pro for Vista) or greater. Laptop versions of these chipsets may work but are not supported. Integrated chipsets are not supported. Updates to your video and sound card drivers may be required<LI class=article_body>Sound Card - DirectX 9.0c compatible
HDD - 12GB
We asked Yerli what resolution we'd need to run Crysis at with the minimum specs to get a smooth game. The answer? 800x600.
A Crysis single-player demo - which will feature the first level of the game along with the game editor - is out on October 26. So you'll be able to test your machine with that before the full shooter ships on November 16.
Valve has finally released The Orange Box on Steam!
That means that if you have pre-ordered and pre-loaded all the files, you should now be able to fire it up, watch the decryption widget do its thing and then make the difficult decision about which to play first: Portal or Half-Life 2: Episode Two.
Of course you could just continue playing Team Fortress 2, also part of the bundle, except you will have been doing that nightly as part of the beta anyway.
Or, you could spend your time being friendly to strangers, since people who already own Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One - also included in the package - are given the option of gifting them to someone else.
But then again perhaps you overslept, and haven't pre-ordered Orange Box, which seems silly but we wouldn't put it past you - in that case you can plonk down a ridiculously slight USD 49.95 in Steam and get your download happening.
Other options are the Source Premier Pack (USD 79.95) or the Valve Complete Pack (USD 99.95), both of which feature a lot of other, older games and bonuses.
PC and Xbox 360 boxed versions are due out at retail shortly - Valve's been saying 12th October for a while, but EA and retailers are now listing 19th October unrepentantly, so we're having a word.
Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising was announced back at the 2005 Game Developers Conference and since then we've received fairly regular updates on the game's progress. It looks like developer Perpetual may have bitten off more than it can chew with the online role-playing game, as the project has been placed on indefinite hold.
An announcement on the game's official Website thanks the community for its support, but says the team lacks the resources to fully realize its vision for Gods & Heroes.
"The development team established some very lofty and ambitious goals when the initial work was started on Gods & Heroes," the announcement reads. "Recently, we took a step back to evaluate the competitive landscape, the game's current state, and the overall goals for our organization. And while we are truly proud of and pleased with what we have created in Gods & Heroes, we also realize that achieving the level of quality and polish that we are committed to will take a significant investment."
A recent screenshot of Gods & Heroes, from the end of August 2007.All this time, Perpetual has also been working on Star Trek Online, another ambitious massively-multiplayer online game.
"The Perpetual team is faced with a unique challenge of simultaneously developing both Gods & Heroes and Star Trek Online in addition to growing our Online Game Platform business. After assessing all of Perpetual's opportunities, we have made the decision to put the development of Gods & Heroes on indefinite hold.
"Moving forward, we're shifting our collective focus, resources and development efforts to Perpetual's Platform Services division and Star Trek Online, thereby ensuring that the game lives up to the high level of expectation set by the dedicated Star Trek fan base."
Atari has opened the lid and shown us what's inside the Limited Edition version of The Witcher, which is due for release here on 26th October.
Bubbling in the cauldron is the usual line-up of a soundtrack CD, an artbook - albeit meaty at 204 pages - and a "Making Of" documentary on DVD.
Which, frankly, leaves us disappointed; we thought Atari might chuck in a witch costume, fun-size sweeties, some tricks and then wrap it all up in a pumpkin.
The Witcher is a PC fantasy role-playing game based on novels written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. It is dark, gritty and mature, and focuses on the escapades of Geralt, a mutant monster-hunter with white hair.
You can find out much more about a game we are excited about over in The Witcher gamepage, which has more videos than you can shake a broomstick at.
We're expecting the Call of Duty 4 PC demo to deploy either today or Friday, but while we sit around waiting, we're eyeballing screenshots from the demo that have landed in our in-box.
They're uploaded here [at CVG], naturally, so check them out.
In addition to the shots, info on the recommended and minimum specs for the demo has been unveiled.
Recommended Specs
<LI class=article_body>CPU: 2.4 GHz dual core or better is recommended<LI class=article_body>RAM: 1GB for XP; 2GB for Vista is recommended<LI class=article_body>Harddrive: 8GB of free hard drive space
Video card: 3.0 Shader Support recommended. Nvidia Geforce 7800 or better or ATI Radeon X1800 or better
Required (min) Specs
<LI class=article_body>CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 2.4 GHz or AMD(R) Athlon(TM) 64 2800+ processor or any 1.8Ghz Dual Core Processor or better supported<LI class=article_body>RAM: 512MB RAM (768MB for Windows Vista)<LI class=article_body>Harddrive: 8GB of free hard drive space
Video card (generic): NVIDIA(R) Geforce(TM) 6600 or better or ATI(R) Radeon(R) 9800Pro or better
CoD 4 is one of the big shooters releasing in the latter part of the year and we have no doubt it'll hold its own as it faces off against competitors. In fact, OXM in the US has already reviewed the game say forums, scoring it a mighty 10 out of 10.
Ubisoft's next Prince of Persia game will be a prequel to existing games in the series and will mark the start of a new trilogy.
Well that's according to rumour that's hit the interweb, anyway. Blog Surfer Girl Reviews (them again?) claims that the game is subtitled Ghosts of the Past and even has what it claims are two screenshots from a very early build.
It goes on to say that the new PoP is in development for PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 and PC and is due out in the latter half of 2008 - and that the second title in the new trilogy will arrive in 2009.
On top of that, the blog claims that the darker tone of the last two Prince of Persia games is being ditched for Ghosts of the Past "in favor a fantastical cross between The Sands of Time, Ico and Zelda."
We phoned Ubisoft to get a response to all this is. "We don't comment on rumours", a spokesperson for the publisher said.
Not many sites other than our own Network sites are worthy enough of a Network Posting on all our sites but PDroms the Archive for tons of homebrew roms no other site covers is invaluable, heres a list of homebrew rom downloads to whet your appetite:
Atari 2600 | Atari 5200 | Coleco Vision | Gameboy | Gameboy Advance | Game Gear | Genesis | GP32 | IntelliVision | Master System | Neo Geo Pocket | Nintendo Entertainment System | Pokemon Mini | Super Nintendo Entertainment System | Virtual Boy | Wonderswan
So as you can see lots of Free and Legal Homebrew Roms and its also ran by a Decent Webmaster who is well liked and respected by the Homebrew Community.
Welcome to this week's Games & Toys update, our weekly summary featuring all new product arrivals from the last seven days.
Popular sellers this week have been the multi platform soccer release FIFA Soccer 08, Operation Darkness for Xbox360™ and Arcana Heart for PlayStation2™.
The most popular handheld game releases have been Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow for PSP™ and Spyro: The Eternal Night for Nintendo DS™ (both US version releases).
As usually, here's a summary of all new releases from this week,
Xbox360™:
Crash of the Titans ASIA US$ 44.90
FIFA Soccer 08 ASIA US$ 44.90
FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage US US$ 49.90
Half-Life 2: The Orange Box ASIA US$ 49.90
NBA 2K8 US US$ 59.90
NBA Live 08 US US$ 59.90
Operation Darkness JPN US$ 64.90
Project Gotham Racing 4 JPN US$ 64.90
Project Gotham Racing 4 US US$ 59.90
Project Gotham Racing 4 [First Print Limited Edition] JPN US$ 69.90
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe US US$ 49.90
The Bigs ASIA US$ 44.90
Xbox 360 Elite JPN N/A
Xbox 360 Wireless Controller (Black) JPN N/A
Xbox Live Points - Halo 3 (1,600 points) ASIA US$ 20.90
PlayStation3™:
FIFA Soccer 08 ASIA US$ 49.90
Lair ASIA US$ 59.90
NBA 08 ASIA US$ 59.90
NBA 2K8 US US$ 64.90
NBA Live 08 US US$ 64.90
Rise from Lair JPN US$ 59.90
SKATE ASIA US$ 49.90
The Godfather: The Don's Edition JPN US$ 64.90
World Series of Poker 2008: Battle for the Bracelets US US$ 49.90
Nintendo Wii™:
Crash of the Titans US US$ 49.90
Hot Wheels: Beat That US US$ 49.90
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe US US$ 49.90
PlayStation2™:
Arabians Lost: The Engagement on Desert JPN US$ 64.90
Arcana Heart JPN US$ 59.90
Arcana Heart Real Arcade Pro Stick N/A
Capcom Classics Collection (Best Price) JPN US$ 19.90
Colorful Aquarium: My Little Mermaid JPN US$ 64.90
Colorful Aquarium: My Little Mermaid [Limited Edition] JPN N/A
Dance Dance Revolution: SuperNova 2 Bundle US US$ 69.90
Idol Janshi Suchie-Pai 4 JPN US$ 64.90
Idol Janshi Suchie-Pai 4 [Limited Edition] JPN US$ 79.90
Jackass: The Game US US$ 34.90
Jissen Pachi-Slot Hisshouhou! Hokuto no Ken 2 JPN US$ 49.90
Monster Hunter G (PlayStation2 the Best) JPN US$ 19.90
NBA 2K8 US US$ 34.90
NBA Live 08 US US$ 44.90
Nintendo DS™:
Crash of the Titans US US$ 34.90
DS Nishimura Kyotaro Suspense Shin Tantei Series: Kyoto Atami Zekkai no Kotou - Satsui no Wana JPN US$ 39.90
Koukou Juken: Eitango Get Through 1900 - Eitan Zamurai DS JPN US$ 39.90
Namco Museum DS JPN US$ 39.90
Osumitsuki Series: Matsuda Tadanori Onsen Kyouju Kanshuu - Zengoku DokoDemo Onsen Techou JPN US$ 48.90
Osumitsuki Series: Shokusai Roman Katei Dedekiru! Chomeijin - Yuumei Ryourinin no Original Recipe JPN US$ 39.90
Otona no DS Mystery II: Idzumi Jiken Fair JPN US$ 48.90
Oubunsha Deru-Jun: Koumin DS JPN US$ 39.90
Oubunsha Deru-Jun: Sansuu DS JPN US$ 39.90
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe US US$ 34.90
Tashiten: Tashite 10 ni Suru Monogatari JPN US$ 48.90
The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night US US$ 34.90
Sony PSP™:
FIFA Soccer 08 ASIA US$ 42.90
Jackass: The Game US US$ 34.90
PSP PlayStation Portable Battery Pack ASIA US$ 39.90
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe US US$ 39.90
Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow US US$ 39.90
PC Games:
Enemy Teritory Quake Wars (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 29.90
Enemy Territory Quake Wars Limited Collector's Edition (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 52.90
FIFA 08 (DVD ROM) ASIA US$ 36.90
Gadget Trial (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 17.90
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition ASIA US$ 47.90
The Settlers - Rise Of An Empire (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 39.90
The Settlers - Rise Of An Empire Limited Edition ASIA US$ 49.90
World of Warcraft Battlechest US US$ 44.90
Toys & More:
Armored Core Interior Y01-Tellus 1/72 Fine Scale Model Kit JPN US$ 32.90
Brighter than Dawning Blue: Estel Freesia 1/8 Scale PVC Figure JPN US$ 39.90
Fist of The North Star Episode 4 Return of Savior Non Scale Pre-Painted Figure: Collection No.10 - Solia JPN US$ 9.99
Fist of The North Star Episode 4 Return of Savior Non Scale Pre-Painted Figure: Collection No.8 - Kenshiro JPN US$ 9.99
Fist of The North Star Episode 4 Return of Savior Non Scale Pre-Painted Figure: Collection No.9 - Falco JPN US$ 9.99
G-Shock Transformers - Cybertron Convoy Model JPN N/A
G-Shock Transformers - Destron Megatron Model JPN N/A
Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix: Hermione Granger 12inch Prepainted Sound Button Figure US$ 29.90
Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix: Ron Weasley 12inch Prepainted Sound ButtonFigure US$ 29.90
Pokemon 10th Anniversary Pocket Monsters Collection Set JPN N/A
Pokemon Pocket Monsters Battle Scenes Collection Mini Figure: Darkrai JPN US$ 2.90
Pokemon Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl Collection PVC Mini Figure: MC-65 Kricketune JPN US$ 2.90
Pokemon Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl Collection PVC Mini Figure: MC-92 Berobelt JPN US$ 2.90
SR Aria The Natural Figure Collection Gashapon JPN US$ 3.49
SR Elemental Monster Figure Collection Gashapon JPN US$ 3.49
The Pocket Monster Pokemon Mini Rubber Figure: Hikozaru JPN US$ 3.90
The Pocket Monster Pokemon Mini Rubber Figure: Naetoru JPN US$ 3.90
The Pocket Monster Pokemon Mini Rubber Figure: Pikachu JPN N/A
The Pocket Monster Pokemon Mini Rubber Figure: Pocchama JPN US$ 3.90
To Heart 2 Another Days 1/8 Scale PVC Figure: Harumi Kouno JPN US$ 39.90
Utawarerumono: Urutori 1/8 Scale PVC Figure JPN US$ 49.90
Video Game related Movies:
Mushihimesama Futari Official DVD JPN US$ 69.90
Video Game related Soundtracks:
Ar Tonelico 2 Sekai Ni Hibiku Shojo Tachi No Sozoshi Original Soundtrack JPN US$ 31.90
Bakumatsu Renka Karyu Kenshi Den Original Soundtrack JPN US$ 27.90
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Original Soundtrack JPN US$ 36.90
R-Type Tactics Original Soundtrack JPN US$ 27.90
VitaminX Character CD: Silver Disc - Shojiro Kinugasa & Ginji Katsuragi & Masateru Sanada JPN US$ 19.90
I've just published a new website dedicated on teaching "newbs" how to solder onto the various electronic components you'll find inside various video gaming consoles including pads, via points, ic legs and resistors. If you're new at soldering or just want some general tips and tricks check it out.
Nintendo's handheld is the best-selling hardware in Japan for the week ended October 7, overtaking Sony's PSP, according to data from Media Create.
Sales of the DS were up over 14,000 units to 87,535, while PSP sales dropped by almost 16,000 units to 86,895.
There's been less demand for Nintendo's Wii home console, with sales down by over 3000 units to 20,704 and the PlayStation 3 has also suffered with sales dropping to 10,446 units.
Reflecting Halo 3's drop in the software charts, sales of the Xbox 360 were at 1547, while the GameBoy Advance sold 242 units and the GameCube 109.
It's been revealed the version of Manhunt 2 that the British Board of Film Classification turned down earlier this week in the UK, is exactly the same as the revised edition that's been granted a mature rating by the ESRB in North America.
This revelation comes from UK trade magazine MCV during an interview with BBFC spokeswoman Sue Clark. She defends the board's decision saying that the organisation isn't any tougher on videogames than it is on movies. "Manhunt 2 is the second game we have rejected in 23 years. I'd hardly call that draconian," she said.
Clark also responded to Rockstar's criticisms that the decision was 'unacceptable' and that adults should be able to make decisions for themselves. "DVD companies don't complain when we reject their products. The creator of the Struggle In Bondage didn't get up in arms. Manhunt 2 went beyond our guidelines when it came to gross violence and we had a public duty to reject it," she added.
Rockstar must now wait to hear a decision from the Video Appeals Committee, which will decide whether or not the game can be released in the UK.
Normally, the news that a study into the dangerousness of WiFi signals was to take place would provoke groans of disappointment from these pages: however, the British Government's statement that such a study is going to take place is a somewhat calming development. The Health Protection Agency, the group tasked with staging the study, will aim for the study to be "systematic" -- alternatively meaning "final," "definitive," and "complete" -- with all areas of potential dangerousness being investigated, with the opening remarks from the chief executive of the agency including affirmations that no evidence has previously been found that 2.4GHz WiFi frequencies cause danger. Schools will not turn off their routers while the study takes place, and the results are expected to be "reassuring." Sanity has won this battle it seems.
Will Wright will become the first videogame "celebrity" to be awarded the Fellowship BAFTA; joining the ranks of recognised and household names like Dame Judi Dench, Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg.
It will be the first time the award has branched out into games, as it can apparently no longer ignore their massive impact on day-to-day life - especially if you read The Daily Mail.
Wright will receive his award on 23rd October (or a day before my birthday), and be applauded for his work on creating enormous franchises like SimCity and The Sims.
His current master work Spore is being allowed to take its jolly time, however, and the last we heard was that it would be out sometime after March next year.
Playlogic has snapped-up adventure game Simon the Sorcerer 4: Chaos Happens, and will be publishing it all over the world in Q1 2008.
The idea is to point and click your way through Simon's latest quest, which revolves around a doppleganger of him causing all sorts of trouble, as well as a healthy wardrobe of brightly coloured dressing-gowns with stars and moons on them.
As a series, the games firmly plant tongue in cheek, and aim to bring about the same joy that old LucasArts adventures did back in the day - oh Monkey Island you long lost love, you.
This fourth instalment in the popular series is already out in Germany and has fallen under the scrutinising eye of Eurogamer.de, who felt it worthy of a meaningful 7/10.
Head over their review to find out more, presuming you can read German, of course.
A tool that addresses activation issues with the PC version of Bioshock can now be downloaded.
You may recall that when Bioshock released, the game's SecuROM copy protection came under fire for, among other things, only allowing two simultaneous installs of the game on different PCs and problems the copy protection raised with reinstalling it.
"Also, we have in the works a revoke tool which you will be able to run on your machine if you want to free up that key and move it to another computer", 2K Games said at the time.
It's the revoke tool that's now been released.
In a new post on community site Cult of Rapture, 2K says, "For those of you who would like to revoke one of your activation credits before uninstalling Bioshock from your PC, the Bioshock Revoke Tool is now available and will help you do just that!" Hurrah!
The tool can be downloaded here, where you'll also find documentation that goes deeper into use of the tool.
Epic's Unreal Tournament III demo hit the internet late last Friday, and the release has been quickly followed by a patch.
"We created a fix for the game not starting up on Windows XP 64 and Windows Server 2003 systems. This patch has not undergone the same amount of QA as the released demo so I strongly encourage to ONLY replace the UT3Demo.exe with the one from the patch if you are experiencing the "Modified executable code is not allowed" issue at startup", the developer's explained in a forum post.
According to a report from Mainichi Interactive, Hirokazu Hamamura, president of Famitsu publisher Enterbrain, painted a bright picture for Nintendo in his annual industry forecast, announced at a seminar held in Tokyo on the 12th.
The coming years will see big things for the DS and related parties, predicts Hamamura. He expects the DS to cross the 30 million shipment mark in 2009. Echoing past statements made in his weekly column in Famitsu, he also believes that Dragon Quest IX could see a series' record five million sales.
It's not all good news for Nintendo, though. Hamamura noted that the Wii hasn't seen a second big hit at the level of Wii Sports, and cited figures that suggest 67% of Wii owners haven't used the system of late. However, he admitted that Wii Fit is drawing attention, and added that it's possible that more games make the platform switch akin to Monster Hunter 3.
Regarding the PS3, Hamamura believes that the release of a 40,000 yen model will at last mark the system's arrival at the starting line for a games machine. However, he cautions that there's no guarantee of continued exclusivity for Final Fantasy XIII and Metal Gear Solid 4. In the case of their going multiplatform, he believes the key to Sony's success will be its self produced titles like Gran Turismo 5.
Sega today has confirmed to GameSpot that the PC version of Universe at War: Earth Assault has been pushed from its projected October 30 release to "early December." As cause for the delay, the Sega representative noted that the game, which entered closed beta testing at the end of July, is undergoing further development. "We wanted to give the game a little more time for polish so that gamers get the best UAW has to offer," said the rep.
Universe at War is being published by Sega and is the second project from Las Vegas-based developer Petroglyph. The studio, which includes several former Westwood Studios developers, made a splash in the real-time strategy genre in 2006 with Star Wars: Empire at War and its follow-up, Forces of Corruption.
With a focus once again on interstellar strategy, Petroglyph's latest has gamers fending off alien invaders. As detailed in GameSpot's previous coverage, the game features robust multiplayer modes where gamers can compete in a persistent online campaign to rule the universe. An Xbox 360 version is slated for the first part of 2008, and Petroglyph plans to integrate Microsoft's Games for Windows - Live service to allow for cross-platform play.
SEGA announced that SEGA Rally Revo, the first title developed by the newly formed SEGA Racing Studio for the PS3, Xbox 360, PSP and PC, has shipped to retail. The game offers you wide selection of 4WD, 2WD and Classic vehicles that react differently depending upon the racing surface, a vast variety of fully deformable environments and surfaces from littered gravel tracks, all weather tarmac roads, to snow driven trails and a smart AI which will take into account lots of factors to adapt its driving style.
features
First Submarine simulation of World War I
Detailed models of Submarines, Warships, Merchant Ships and Airplanes
Four different German Submarine boats to choose from - Armada-Petrolboat, Armada-Dieselboat, UB-I and UC-II.
Over 50 individual missions with accurate historical background
Campaign-mode from 1914 to 1918
description
Set in WWI, ?1914 Shells of Fury? is the first WWI submarine simulation to be released. Players have command of their very own WWI Submarine from the German Emperor's fleet. Prepare to participate in exciting underwater missions from WWI, and work out detailed strategies using powerful weapons. Take command and control of the various missions given, while roaming across the ocean. Players must use tactical skills in order to survive and move ahead of the opponent. Mission-generator Adjustable levels of difficulty Realistic Submarine Stations System Requirements - Windows XP/Vista, Athlon XP 2000+ or Pentium 2GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, 128 MB 3D graphic card which supports PixelShader 2.0, Sound card, DirectX 9.0c For best performance - Athlon XP 2600+ or Pentium 2.4GHz processor, 1024 MB RAM, 256 MB 3D graphic card which supports PixelShader 2.0
features
Explore detailed crime scenes in five all-new and bizarre cases.
Take part in dramatic interrogations and break down the evidence alongside your favourite CSI investigators.
New garage lab allows you to examine large piece of evidence.
description
Find & interpret the evidence. Solve the crime: Take a journey inside the criminal mind and find out if you have what it takes to be a member of the Las Vegas Police Department’s elite Crime Scene Investigation unit. Work alongside CSI agents Gil Grissom, Catherine Willows, Warrick Brown, Sara Sidle, Nick Stokes, Coroner Al Robbins and Detective Jim Brass in 5 distinctive cases. Solve baffling crimes. Collect and analyze evidences using real-world forensic equipment and cutting edge investigative techniques. Evidence is hard to find, suspects lie unless proof is found.
features
Play against your friends in split-screen multiplayer mode.
60 tournaments in 5 different game modes.
Burn up the track at over 210 MPH on your Ducati Desmosedici
Choose from more than 70 motorbikes from 4 different categories - Classics, Sports, Road and Grand Prix.
34 adrenalin-pumping circuits with a huge amount of unlockable extra content.
description
Feel the rush of motorcycle racing with "Ducati World Championship". Select your motorcycle from over 70 original Ducati models, perfectly simulated replicas of the real thing. With Ducati you don't have to settle on one model -- you can have them ALL! Ducati World Championship features a variety of modeled motorbikes from 4 different categories - Classics, Sports, Road and Grand Prix. There are over 34 exciting circuits to race on with an incredible amount of extras to unlock. A 360 view into the world of motorcycle racing enables players to be a pilot racing in the amateur, semi professional and professional racing classes, intent on reaching the Superbike and the Grand World Championship. Varied weather and track conditions with realistic lighting effects Learn how to become a champion rider with Loris' Riding Lessons! Work your way up through the challenging Career Mode with increasingly faster bikes and gorgeous Race Queens! 3 different playing modes - arcade, normal and simulation give you countless options and endless hours of fun! Special guest Doctor Costa and his Mobile Clinic! ESRB Rated E for Everyone
features
Starring Supermodel Kyla Cole as a lead heroine
Original RPG journey for the curious newcomer and a vintage experience for the hardcore player
Tactical turn-based combat system
Twisting epic story of unearthly affairs
Exciting and realistic outdoor sceneries perceived from the 1st person perspective
Includes a free calendar featuring Kyla Cole
description
The ancient world of Bellarion struggled in the never ending war of Gods. The conflict began when Xarax, ruler of the Gods, was murdered. Each of the remaining Gods claimed the right to the Divine Throne. After many battles, the defeated Gods refused to submit to the victors and instead summoned their armies to attack the worshippers of other Gods. The deaths of those worshippers weakened the power of the conquering Gods. After 2000 years of battles, Bellarion lay in ruins. No one was able to achieve victory until the God of Darkness, Mortagon, found a new weapon which resisted all magic and divine powers. As the last hope Arswaargh, the God of Fire, created Vivien, who he fashioned after his own astral body. Arswaargh sent Vivien through space and time to seek the counter-weapon needed to defy Mortagorn, but unfortunately, she lost her divine essence while traveling through the magical portal to another world. Vivien must now seek the Gods of the new world, gain back her power and search for the counter-weapon against Mortagorn.
GODS: Lands of Infinity Special Edition is a blend of adventure and action in a turn-based setting. There is an array of missions and NPC (non player characters) that players can add to their team. Players must fight, gain experience, level and acquire new skills. The game is played out in the first-person perspective, until gamers enter a battle encounter, at which point the game goes into third-person turn-based battle. GODS: Lands of Infinity Special Edition invites you into an exciting world full of adventures, battles and quests of unearthly affairs. Spend hours discovering the world of Antasion, trading and completing the lead quests of each race or kingdom and many side quests. Highly advanced shader system providing realistic effects of natural ice, water, grass and other nature elements. Animated
features
What-if scenarios with tremendous historical detail and sophisticated AI -- replay historic moments of WWII as the leader of France, England, Germany, Italy, USSR, Japan or the United States
Innovative combat system allows many approaches to engagements from massive assaults to holding actions - Supplies, reinforcements and geography all play into your battle plan
Flexible victory conditions let players determine what counts as a win, then play toward that goal
Simultaneous turn-based action - All players can make their turns without waiting for anyone else, so it's always your turn
Each country has a unique personality you can harness -- use its individual capabilities and physical assets to write your own history and make it through the war
description
MAKING HISTORY: The Calm and the Storm puts players in control of a global conflict, challenging them to define its outcome. It's a different kind of WWII strategy game -- here, you aren't just after military success. To win, you have to achieve economic and diplomatic victory, too. Use all the resources at your disposal, from natural resources to diplomacy to military force, to rewrite history and become the biggest winner after a long and bloody conflict.
features
A coach to improve skills
Up to four players on the same computer
Up to 100 players via the Internet in Duplicate mode.
Groundbreaking artificial intelligence
A functional interface allowing players to start the game with three clicks of the mouse.
Includes The Official Scrabble Dictionary
Six different game modes
description
The most popular letters game of the world is back on PC. Compete in craftiness against the computer or against friends to combine the letters in the most appropriate way. Place your letters wisely to complete already formed words or create new ones and take advantage of bonus squares to increase your score. Developed in partnership with the French Federation of Scrabble, this new edition will make everyone, if they are not already, hardcore players of Scrabble!
A New Interface : A functional interface allowing players to start the game with three clicks of the mouse. Also features an ergonomics offering with new graphic themes for the board and letters, and various levels of zooms and angles of sight.
Includes The Official Scrabble Dictionary: The official Collins dictionary is included and is easily updatable.
Six Different Game Modes: Standard & Duplicate Modes (game Mode used in clubs and official championships) Anagram, Enigma, Crossagram and Junior.
A Coach to Improve Skills: A mentor to analyze the game and advise you at a strategic level; also includes a library of commented games to improve your skills.
Multiplayer: Up to four players on the same computer, which allows participants to play between friends or versus the computer; up to 100 players via the Internet in Duplicate mode.
Groundbreaking Artificial Intelligence: An AI game created for novice players as well as experts, corresponding to the expectations of the French Federation of Scrabble and validated by Franck Maniquant (world champion of French Scrabble and Champion of France in 2001).
features
pages: 144
Platform: Nintendo DS, PC, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation Portable, WII and X-Box 360
Park Manager 101 — Be the best theme park manager possible with management tips from the experts.
Parts is Parts — Know which pieces of the rides do what with a complete and comprehensive encyclopedia of components for your rides.
Ridethrough — An easy to follow walkthrough of all the missions will help you to succeed in the fast paced world of amusement park manager.
My Park Is Better Then Yours — Multiplayer strategies to undo your friends and win all the cotton candy.
Electronic Arts' FIFA 08 remains at number one in the UK all-formats charts this week, reflecting the success it enjoys elsewhere in Europe.
Microsoft's Xbox 360 racer Project Gotham Racing 4 makes a strong debut at number two, nudging another format exclusive, Halo 3, to three.
THQ's movie tie-in Ratatouille jumps up the charts from eight to four as it piggybacks the building momentum for the well-received Disney/Pixar film
EA's MySims for the Wii and the multiformat Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 are at five and six, respectively, while THQ's Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights drops from number three to seven.
Sony's Resistance: Fall of Man climbs back into the top ten at eight, while Nintendo's Wii Play and Dr Kawashima's Brain Training finish off the top ten at nine and ten, respectively.
The only other new entry in the charts this week is Vivendi's Crash of the Titans at 19.
The new price and SKU for the PlayStation 3 seems to have helped improve software sales for Sony, with Heavenly Sword re-entering the top 40 at 14 and MotorStorm climbing from 23 to 18.
Rare isn't entirely ruling out a PC version of its new Banjo-Kazooie game for Xbox 360, it's emerged.
"We'll probably make a decision when Banjo-Kazooie is finished about moving it to PC", Rare designer Justin Cook has told PC Zone magazine in a recent interview.
"The team is pretty much full-on with designing it at the moment, and the last thing on their minds is whether it'll make it to other platforms", he added.
It's an odd one to bring to PC though, and indeed Cook suggests it would hinge on the control scheme working successfully with mouse and keyboard.
"The question you should ask", he said, "is whether the first two Banjo games would've mapped well to PC controls - we found they were a natural fit for consoles really".
So we'll have to wait and see...
Rare, of course, is currently working on a PC version of Viva Piñata, Cook saying that as the developer's first PC release it's "quite exciting".
"When we were developing Viva Piñata originally, we thought about putting on the PC, as it's the type of game that suits it, being a sandbox-type game", he revealed.
You can read PC Zone's full interview with Justin Cook in issue #187, out now.
Blue Orb is offering what it's calling Switcblade, "a software package designed to allow gamers to play Blizzard's massively popular World of Warcraft using an Xbox 360 controller."
Available only from community platform Xfire, Switchblade's first compatible game will be WoW, with other titles to follow. The software launches for free today.
From the press release: "In addition to its 'plug and play' pre-configured options, SwitchBlade is a highly customizable application. Experienced World of Warcraft players get extensive opportunities to reconfigure button mappings to match their unique style of play.
"We all know that World of Warcraft is popular, but a lot of gamers are just hooked on the console controller experience," said Aaron Levin, Blue Orb's Vice President of Business Development. "With SwitchBlade, they can relax on the couch with a gamepad instead of hunching over a keyboard and mouse."
Personally, I like hunching over my keyboard and mouse, because my posture is entirely too good.
Clearly, this is targeted towards console gamers who might have been waiting for console-like controls before jumping into WoW, but how about you experienced WoW players? Would you make the switch so you can "relax" a little bit? The 360 controller does have quite a few buttons...
The simExchange, an online prediction market for videogames, has released its latest report estimating September sales of USD 630 million [£310m], up 41 per cent year over year.
Analyst Jesse Divnich believes that Nintendo's Wii will be the top-selling console, moving approximately 485,000 units despite the release of Halo 3. Microsoft's Xbox 360 sales will be close, however, at an estimated 423,000 units sold.
Sony's PlayStation 3 is estimated to have sold 164,000 units in September.
In the portable market, simExchange has the PSP selling 284,000 units compared to sales of 501,000 Nintendo DS handhelds. Divinich believes that the introduction of the PSP "lite" is growing the portables market, but is not cannibalizing DS sales.
Halo 3 is, of course, the best-selling title of September, with an estimated 2,980,000 copies sold. Other Xbox 360 titles with notable sales in September include Bioshock, Madden NFL 08, and Stranglehold.
Nintendo's Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is estimated to have sold 267,000 copies in September.
Heavenly Sword was the PS3's top-selling title, with an estimated 182,000 copies sold, compared to 96,000 copies of Lair. In Divnich's analysis, PS3 exclusive titles do not move hardware.
For October, The simExchange is predicting software sales of USD 554 million, which would be a 50 per cent increase from 2006.
People have already made up their mind regarding the console they are going to buy this holiday season, says Divnich, and they will be buying the Wii.
"There is no cost effective strategy that either Sony or Microsoft could implement this late in the season to change the minds of the consumers," he wrote in his report.
Gamers, developers, and investors trade stock on the simExchange market to predict how well games will sell. Unit sales forecasts are taken from this trading, not from an individual analyst employing conventional means of forecasting.
DreamCatcher has popped a PC demo up for its new Painkiller game Overdose.
It started out life as a fan-made mod that allowed you to destroy things as half-angel and half-demon gatekeeper Belial, but was soon given a wad of notes so that it could flesh itself out into a proper offering.
You will now be able to slaughter around 40 freshly demented and Hell-spawned nasties with an armoury of six new weapons. Then, if you get a little bored, you can head online to try out the bundle of new multiplayer maps.
Painkiller: Overdose has been put together by Mindware, unlike the previous Painkiller and Painkiller: Battle out of Hell instalments that were made by People Can Fly.
Painkiller is a first-person shooter that takes place in Purgatory and Hell, and aims to bring about the kind of joy games like Doom and Serious Sam put in your hands.
Paradox Interactive producer Johan Andersson believes consoles are actually helping niche PC titles prosper.
Speaking exclusively to Eurogamer, he said the new machines not only drive more people to games, but also segment the market - making it much easier for titles like his Europa Universalis series to find their target audience.
"Generally we feel it is good for the industry as a whole that more and more people are finding their way to gaming," said Andersson.
"People have been saying for years that the PC market is declining; yet we've seen massive growth and success in our niched PC segment instead.
"I don't want to predict where PC gaming in general is going, but for us, the increase in consoles has made the market more segmented, and consequently made it easier for us to reach our target audience and vice versa," he added.
Europa Universalis is a deep strategy series that takes place on a Risk-like map, where the idea is to conquer the rest of it with your starting faction.
It enjoys a solid and enthusiastic following on PC, with a forum made up of around 83,000 members; and while Paradox will always lean towards its home platform, Andersson believes he could work with something like the DS.
"We are always open to new opportunities and there are certain platforms that lend themselves well to the type of strategy we do, handheld variants like the Nintendo DS for instance. But our main focus will always be on what we do best and to cater to our target audience and our niche," concluded Andersson.
It is a refreshing perspective from an often overlooked area, but while niche games may prosper, bigger-budget titles like Crysis appear to be a dying breed - arguably destined to join the likes of The Orange Box, World in Conflict and Command & Conquer on consoles further down the line.
Like MMO Archlord, Codemasters has now declared RF Online a completely free-to-play game, meaning you can download it for zilch and don't have to cough up a subs fee.
"RF Online is an epic mix of traditional fantasy and futuristic sci-fi set in the deep space galaxy of Novus where three races compete in an ultimate struggle for power and resource. Celebrating the games re-launch, new players can now also experience the all-new free expansion, Episode II: Pioneers of Novus available for free to all players of the game."
Says Ed Relf, director of marketing, Codemasters Online, "Moving RF Online to free-to-play game marks yet another milestone for Codemasters Online and the wider industry. We have proven with Archlord that has been downloaded over 1 million times the potential success that can be experienced and we are pleased to be in a position to re-launch RF Online using a similar model.
"We invite players from around the world to download the game for free and join us in Novus."
An NPD study entitled 'Kids and Gaming' has revealed that for the latest generation of gamers, games on the PC is their first taste of the hobby. Interestingly, kids seem to go through a sort of 'gaming life cycle', starting with kid-oriented systems (Leapster), with PC games picking up around six and console gaming beginning around ten. The study also confirmed something you probably already knew: more kids are gaming than ever before.
"The study, which surveyed kids aged two to 17, said that more than one-third of children in the US are spending more time playing games than a year ago. Half of these kid gamers are 'light' users at five hours a week or less and the other half are 'medium, heavy or super users' who game six to 16 hours-plus per week. With the kids surveyed who play games online, an average of 39 percent of their time is spent playing games online versus offline. The majority of the kids (91 percent) play free online games." http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl...7/10/17/146209
Those of you who still own a working NES will have to take extra special care of it from now on. Nintendo have announced they’re no longer offering support for the old favourite.
The report, first noticed by Arcade Renaissance, also says that Nintendo have plans to start winding down support for the Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Gameboy, and Gameboy Pocket consoles in the future.
We're not quite sure what 'support' means, would Nintendo have still repaired your NES if asked up till recently? However, with the huge number of emulators and retro compilations available, not to mention download services like the Wii's Virtual Console and Xbox Live Marketplace, there's still plenty of ways to enjoy the massive back catalogue of old-school titles from all those consoles.
We'd love to hear from you if you still own an ancient console; do you ever actually get it out and use it? I have to admit my old Spectrum +2 remains safely packed away in the loft.
Sony's PlayStation 3 title Lair has entered the Japanese software chart at number 7, selling 22,000 units in its first week of release, according to the latest data from Media Create.
Top of the chart for the sales week ending October 14 was DS title Nishimura Kyotarou Suspense Detective Series: Deadly Intent, another new entry, that sold 61,000 copies.
Project Gotham Racing 4 entered the chart at number 25, and was the only Xbox 360 title to feature in the top 30, following Halo 3's earlier positive showing.
The full top ten is as follows:
01. DS Nishimura Kyotarou Suspense Detective Series: Deadly Intent (DS)
02. Dragon Ball Z: Sparking! Meteor (PS2)
03. Gundam Battle Chronicle (PSP)
04. Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon: Time Expedition Party (DS)
05. Arcana Heart (PS2)
06. Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon: Shadow Expedition Party (DS)
07. Lair (PS3)
08. Archaic Sealed Heat (DS)
09. Kanji Test 2 (DS)
10. Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day (DS)
Update: EA has waded in and said it will be exclusively available on Game Daily from 17:00 BST today, and available everywhere else 24 hours later.
Flagship Studios has said that a demo for Hellgate: London will be available this week.
According to its website it should be with us today, although everywhere else in the world seems to think general public will be able to download it tomorrow. EA was unavailable to clear it up.
It will be a single-player sampler that lets you test out two of the six character classes from the game: the Blademaster, a melee specialist who likes to get up close and personal, or a Marksman that prefers to keep his enemies at about sniper-distance.
Open to you is a snippet of the storyline to work through, and a couple of side quests to wander off on as you explore the streets and tunnels around Holborn Station - which opened in 1906 before being modernised in 1933. I like trains.
Hopefully it will all come together to give you a good idea of what to expect when the full action role-playing game appears here on 2nd November.
See you guys on the torrents, Ubuntu 7.10 is out today. Codenamed "Gutsy Gibbon" -- in that alliterative fashion that never gets old (yet) -- 7.10 includes the brand new GNOME 2.20 desktop, Compiz Fusion for gee whiz 3D interface effects, desktop search, fast user switching, Firefox plugin support, much improved monitor support and configuration (at last), and a whole bunch of other minor tweaks and major improvements.
Time will tell if this release proves to be the true commercial OS killer a lot of people are banking on, but there's no denying that Ubuntu Linux provides an increasingly attractive and perpetually free alternative to traditional operating systems and even many Linux desktop distributions. Welcome to the OS war, Gutsy Gibbon!
Retro Gaming with Racketboy has up a feature looking at the best modern 2D games out there, all on the PlayStation 2. He highlights the best of every genre, from the modern classic RPG/beat-em-up Odin Sphere to the timeless beauty that is the Metal Slug series.
"Disgaea: Hour of Darkness & Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories: Disgaea greatly resembles other strategy RPGs. Its isometric perspective, 3D battlefields, and nice-looking 2D characters are clearly reminiscent of most other games of this type, and on first impression, so is the game's turn-based combat system. However, you'll soon realize that this game actually plays very differently. The gameplay itself is, in a word, weird."
Welcome to this week's Games & Toys update, our weekly summary featuring all new product arrivals from the last seven days.
It's been a great release week, with a variety of hot new games published in Japan, Asia and the US. Popular releases this week have been Beautiful Katamari Damacy and Spider-Man: Friend or Foe for Xbox360™, the US release version of Folklore for PS3™ and Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast for Nintendo Wii™.
Interesting multi platform releases have been Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (Xbox360™, PlayStation3™ and others) and of course SEGA Rally Revo (PS3™ / Xbox360™ / PSP™).
For PlayStation2™ we've got World Heroes Gorgeous. The most interesting handheld game releases have been Touch Detective 2 1/2 and Bleach: The Blade of Fate for Nintendo DS™ as well as Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions and Pump It Up Zero Portable for PSP™.
As usually, here's a summary of all new releases from this week,
Xbox360™:
Beautiful Katamari Damacy JPN US$ 59.90
Beautiful Katamari Damacy ASIA US$ 44.90
FIFA Soccer 08 US US$ 59.90
Half-Life 2: The Orange Box US US$ 59.90
Looney Tunes: ACME Arsenal US US$ 44.90
SEGA Rally Revo US US$ 59.90
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe ASIA US$ 44.90
Tony Hawk's Proving Ground ASIA US$ 49.90
Xbox 360 Wireless Controller (Blue) US US$ 49.90
Xbox 360 Wireless Controller (Pink) US US$ 49.90
Zoids Alternative JPN US$ 64.90
PlayStation3™:
FIFA Soccer 08 US US$ 64.90
Folklore US US$ 64.90
SEGA Rally Revo US US$ 64.90
Spider-Man 3 JPN US$ 64.90
Tony Hawk's Proving Ground US US$ 64.90
Warhawk US US$ 44.90
Nintendo Wii™:
Bleach: Shattered Blade US US$ 49.90
Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast US US$ 49.90
FIFA Soccer 08 US US$ 49.90
Looney Tunes: ACME Arsenal US US$ 44.90
MLB Power Pros US US$ 44.90
Tony Hawk's Proving Ground US US$ 49.90
PlayStation2™:
FIFA Soccer 08 US US$ 49.90
Galaxy Angel II: Mugen Kairou no Kagi JPN US$ 69.90
Galaxy Angel II: Mugen Kairou no Kagi [Deluxe Pack] JPN N/A
Galaxy Angel II: Mugen Kairou no Kagi [Zettai Mugen no Ishizue Set] JPN US$ 129.90
Grim Grimoire KOR US$ 49.90
Looney Tunes: ACME Arsenal US US$ 34.90
MLB Power Pros US US$ 34.90
My Home o Tsukurou 2! Easy Design (Best Collection) JPN US$ 34.90
Palais de Reine JPN US$ 64.90
Seaman 2: Peking Genjin Ikusei Kit JPN US$ 64.90
Seaman 2: Peking Genjin Ikusei Kit (w/Microphone) JPN US$ 89.90
Spider-Man 3 JPN US$ 64.90
Tony Hawk's Proving Ground US US$ 44.90
World Heroes Gorgeous JPN US$ 49.90
Zero no Tsukaima (Best Collection) JPN US$ 34.90
Nintendo DS™:
Banushi Life Game: Winners Circle JPN US$ 48.90
Bleach: The Blade of Fate US US$ 34.90
DS Bungaku Zenshuu JPN US$ 29.90
FIFA Soccer 08 US US$ 34.90
Flipper Critters US US$ 24.90
Gouma Reifu Den Izuna (Good Price) JPN US$ 24.90
Keiba Navi: Uma no Suke 2 JPN US$ 54.90
Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck US US$ 34.90
Math Play US US$ 24.90
Oshare na Koinu DS JPN US$ 48.90
Saeki Chizu Shiki Yumemihada: Dream Skincare JPN US$ 44.90
Sansuu Puzzle de Migaku: Gakken Otona no Shikou Sense JPN US$ 39.90
Selection Pack DS Lite (Black) JPN US$ 14.90
Selection Pack DS Lite (Light Blue) JPN US$ 14.90
Selection Pack DS Lite (Light Pink) JPN US$ 14.90
Selection Pack DS Lite (White Gray) JPN US$ 14.90
Sonic Rush Adventure JPN US$ 48.90
Tony Hawk's Proving Ground US US$ 34.90
Touch Detective 2 1/2 US US$ 34.90
Sony PSP™:
Crash of the Titans US US$ 39.90
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII KOR US$ 58.90
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions US US$ 42.90
Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights US US$ 39.90
NBA 08 ASIA US$ 39.90
NBA Live 08 ASIA US$ 42.90
Pump It Up Zero Portable KOR US$ 39.90
Riviera: Yakusoku no Chi Special Edition JPN US$ 29.90
SEGA Rally Revo US US$ 39.90
Spider-Man 3 JPN US$ 37.90
Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron ASIA US$ 39.90
Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron US US$ 39.90
PC Games:
1914 Shells Of Fury ASIA US$ 30.90
Blitzkrieg 2 Liberation (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 34.90
CSI 4: Hard Evidence (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 31.90
Ducati World Championship (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 30.90
Falling Stars ASIA US$ 29.90
Fantasy Earth: Zero Armdedion JPN US$ 39.90
Gods: Lands Of Infinity - Special Edition ASIA US$ 30.90
Making History: The Calm And The Storm ASIA US$ 30.90
Scrabble 2007 Edition ASIA US$ 31.90
Theatre of War (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 32.90
Guide Books:
Project Gotham Racing 4 Official Strategy Guide US US$ 17.90
The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night US US$ 16.90
Thrillville: Off the Rails Prima Official Game Guide US US$ 16.90
Toys & More:
God of War Action Figure: Kratos 13" (Push Button Sound) US$ 29.90
Neon Genesis Evangelion Extra Rei Ayanami Collection Figure Ver. 2: Cat Ear Dress Version JPN US$ 19.90
Neon Genesis Evangelion Extra Rei Ayanami Collection Figure Ver. 2: Swimming Suit Version JPN US$ 19.90
Nintendo DS Pop-up Card Case Phone Strap Part 2 JPN US$ 2.49
Real Action Heroes Death Note - Misa Amane 1/6 Scale Figure JPN N/A
Shining Wind 1/7 Scale Painted PVC Figure - Kureha JPN N/A
Street Fighter II Pre-painted PVC Figure - Chun-Li JPN US$ 54.90
Super Mario Bros. Yoshi Island Screen Cleaner Phone Strap Gashapon JPN US$ 2.49
Super Mario DX Doll JPN US$ 19.90
Okay, in Japan the state of play for console hardware sales in Japan are as follows:
Nintendo DS Lite: 78,746
Playstation Portable: 59,584
Wii: 20,575
Playstation 3: 12,365
Playstation 2: 10,181
Xbox 360 6,161
Game Boy Advance SP: 127
Gamecube: 79
Game Boy Micro: 60
DS lite in the lead for a second time, PSP experiences a further drop from last week, the Wii sees really slow sales and PS3/PS2 stays as usual around the 10,000s.
The NPD Group has released its report for US September software sales showing Halo 3 at number one.
Despite being released at the end of the month, Halo 3 took the top position with 3.3 million units sold.
That number is about 12 times the number of units sold as the second game on the chart, Wii Play, which sold 282,000 units.
In fact, Halo 3 sold twice as many copies as the nine other games in the top ten chart combined.
Nintendo had four of the top ten best-selling titles in September, including The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass at number three (224,000 sold), Metroid Prime 3: Corruption at number seven (167,000 sold), and Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day at number nine (141,000 sold).
Madden NFL 08 remained on the charts, with the PS2 version selling 205,000 copies, ahead of 173,000 copies for the Xbox 360 version. Those numbers were good enough for the fourth and sixth position, respectively.
New to the chart this month was EA's Skate for the Xbox 360, in fifth place with 175,000 sold.
Bioshock was in eighth place, selling 150,000 units, and Heavenly Sword, the only PS3 title to make the charts, rounded out the top ten with 139,000 units sold.
In terms of console sales, Microsoft sold more than 528,000 consoles, a 50 per cent increase for the month.
Nintendo, meanwhile, sold 501,000 Wii consoles, with Sony selling 119,000 PS3 systems.
EA's Gerhard Florin has said he wants to see one single gaming platform rather than a handful of incompatible consoles.
Talking with the BBC about the difficulties of developing for multiple systems, he said that within around 15 years we could see a dedicated platform that would play everything.
"We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible," Florin told the BBC.
"You don't need an Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii - the consumer won't even realise the platform it is being played on."
Florin feels that hardware could take the shape of the increasingly powerful set-top boxes that can already handle HD streams and provide access to the Internet.
But he said it is also important that everything stays open and that no one puts up a "walled garden", a closed monopoly on the service where everything has to be published by the owner - much like the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live.
Forget 200Mbps powerline home networking -- and don't even mention your poky 85Mbps setup -- because industry leader DS2 has just made all current gear obsolete with its introduction of technology that will enable 400Mbps theoretical speeds over standard electrical wiring.
Capable of pushing five simultaneous video streams, the zippy new tech will be key for applications such as PVR networking and multi-room HD IPTV, and should start appearing in "next generation" devices slated for 2009. Luckily 400Mbps products will actually be backwards compatible with 200Mbps gear according to DS2, meaning that you should be able to reuse some of your existing adapters and extenders instead of relegating them to the gadget graveyard.
As far as "world's firsts" go this is a pretty minor one, yet we'd be neglect in our duties were we not to present you with the Silver Seal Antibacterial, Washable Keyboard and Mouse, which manufacturer Seal Shield claims to be the only set combining both of these hygienic features.
Designed for use in hospitals and other germ-laden environments, the Silver Seal desktop features those same silver ion nanoparticles that have become all the rage among hypochondriacs these days, and is totally submersible (dishwashers, too!) to expedite regular cleanings.
Hospital IT procurement specialists should start looking for the set next month, and although no MSRP is available yet, we'll wager that you're looking at diNovo-level pricing.
If you have any guides and tutorials for PS3, Wii, Xbox360, PSP, Nintendo DS, GP2X, GBA, Gamecube, PS2, Xbox, Gizmondo, Iphone, iPod, Tapwave Zodiac, GP32, Dreamcast, Sega Saturn and others, then we want them
EA's head of international publishing made some interesting comments on what he'd like to see in the future of gaming. 'We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible.' While the rest of his comments imply that he simply meant 'one' platform instead of removing development licenses, it is an interesting concept. This is obviously a move designed to cut their development time and costs. But could this have other implications - like easier homebrew development for consoles?
EGM's Quartermann whispers that Sega is quietly working on a new Skies of Arcadia game. The sky pirate RPG first appeared on the Dreamcast, then was revamped for a GameCube release. Not very many people got to play either version, more's the pity--those ship-to-ship battles in the sky were awesome.
We've heard a lot of rumors lately, but this might be the one I most desperately want to come true.
The game that everybody is talking about at the moment that has the fun factor has to be Sonic & Mario at the Olympics Games, which will be released on November 23rd. Having Mario in the same game as everyone’s favorite Sega character Sonic is a great idea, which is why there are already plans for the next game called Sega Superstars Tennis and will be released early in 2008.
Joystiq have said that unlike Sonic & Mario at the Olympics Games which will only be available on the Nintendo Wii and DS, Sega Superstars Tennis will be on those two consoles and also the Sony Playstation 3, the PS2 and also the Microsoft Xbox 360. The game is much like Mario Tennis, but the difference is that it has Sonic instead.
Atani let me know some news that ill share with you, heres the info:
Sid Meier's Railroads has been out for one year today. To celebrate its birthday a few of us regulars at hookedgamers.com have put together an addon pack for the game called Sid Meier's Railroads: Intercontinental. This pack contains 20 new scenarios, many new engines, goods and industries. In all it is a must have for anyone who plays the game.
Rockstar parent Take Two Interactive has released a statement concerning the recent leakage of Manhunt 2 to the internet.
Back in early September we reported that a version of Manhunt was cracked by hackers and leaked to the internet. Question was though, where did it comes from? Seems like Sony was to blame and not Rockstar.
According to Game Politics, the following statement has been released by Take Two:
"Take Two Interactive confirmed that a former employee of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) has acknowledged his responsibility for the unauthorised online distribution of an unrated play-test version of Manhunt 2 submitted for the European PAL PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system."
Electronic Arts' FIFA 08 is the best selling game in Germany and Spain, according to the latest data from Media Control GfK International.
FIFA 08 is at positions one, two and five in the Spanish charts, on the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PSP respectively, and in Germany EA scores the first, fourth and fifth positions on PS2, PC and PS3.
First-party Nintendo titles continue to sell well across Europe, with both Brain Training and Pokemon Diamond in the top tens, while Microsoft's Halo 3 is also performing admirably in the regions.
The top ten best-selling games for Spain and Germany follow:
Spain, week ended October 14:
1. FIFA 08 (PS2)
2. FIFA 08 (PS3)
3. My Sims (DS)
4. WWE Smackdown! vs. RAW 2007 Platinum (PS2)
5. FIFA 08 (PSP)
6. More Brain Training (DS)
7. Halo 3 (Xbox 360)
8. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (DS)
9. Pokemon Diamond (DS)
10. Heavenly Sword (PS3)
Germany, week ended October 7:
1. FIFA 08 (PS2)
2. The Settlers (PC)
3. Command and Conquer: Tiberium Wars (PC)
4. FIFA 08 (PC)
5. FIFA 08 (PS3)
6. More Brain Training (DS)
7. Pokemon Diamond (DS)
8. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (DS)
9. World of Warcraft (PC)
10. Halo 3 (Xbox 360)
Flagship Studios CEO Bill Roper has said that there are "definitely" more stories the developer wants to tell in the Hellgate universe.
"For us, one of the reasons that the game was Hellgate: London is that we wanted to talk about... Well, it's two-fold. One, the city itself is very important to the game, the architecture of the city and what lies beneath the streets of London - giving elements of London itself that are part of a story and part of the gameplay as well.
"But for us we've been looking and saying, 'Well, these are the stories we're telling in London, this is what's happening now in this place'. We would love to be able to then explore what's happening in other places during this time", Roper told us in an interview which we'll be publishing in full shortly.
He explained Flagship views Hellgate as being a story that has very many different facets to it that can be related, citing WWII as an example and how you can observe the variety of experiences of countries during one major overarching event.
"For us it's that same type of idea. Hopefully we'll get that opportunity through games, through other properties - like books and comics - and be able to look at those things, and look at other parts of the world and explore what happened", Roper said.
"And we really do hope we get that chance to do it with more games. If the game's [Hellgate: London] popular, if people like it, then I guess there's a chance we can do more."
presentation of Ubisoft's Far Cry 2, that's been caught on shaky cam, reveals new details about the sequel while also providing us with plenty of eyes-on action.
A lot of the footage/presentation focuses on the technology Ubisoft has developed for the sequel - which the company's spoke at length about before - and the extreme level of interactivity of the environment. However, it's fantastic to see it in operation.
One subtle, but particularly impressive moment, is when a 'storm' demo is run and it's shown how the flora of the game world reacts with impressive realism to the wind. Grass bends, trees bend, branches break off and are blown away. Talk about immersion - wow!
Similarly, the game world reacts to projectiles and explosions. One example shown is an ammo pile which, when shot, explodes and bullets start blasting in all directions and cutting bits of foliage to pieces. Obvious tactic - destroy ammo pile when surrounded by loads of enemies. Trouble is, they can do the same to you.
Additionally, further hammering home the level of realism, the demonstration points out how ground vehicles leave crushed grass in their wake and highlights the 24-hour day/night cycle.
Expanded information is also given on Far Cry 2's AI buddies too. It turns out that you actually pick to play one of ten characters, and remaining nine then become NPC mercenaries that you can form alliances with during the course of events.
It's shown how buddies can save you when you're badly wounded, with the NPC dragging you to safety in the middle of a firefight and defending you while also having to protect himself or herself from attack.
On top of that, numerous weapons are shown in action, including the RPG rocket launcher, sniper rifle and flamethrower.
With repositioned hardware prices now in place and the traditional flood of new software hitting stores over the coming weeks, leading High Street specialist Gamestation has told GamesIndustry.biz that it expects this season to be the “biggest Christmas ever”.
With a wide selection of home and handheld hardware covering multiple price points, and multiple software titles from all the leading publishers, not even shake-ups or supply problems with the home consoles is likely to dampen consumer spending.
"It's going to be the strongest Christmas ever, the biggest Christmas ever," commented Jeremy Gerkin, joint MD of Gamestation.
"We've got the PS3 in two different sizes, the Wii – availability might be a little bit difficult so people are getting them in early – the 360 and the Elite 360, and then the DS. So from a hardware perspective it's by far the best year ever. And there's a really exciting line-up of games as well," he said.
There may be continued problems with the supply of the Wii, but Gerkin believes that the market is still interested in Nintendo's console a year after the initial release.
"It's doing all it can to produce the Wii as quick as it can," he said. "It's been amazing how they've managed to keep the interest in it. A year after release and as soon as we get them we sell them.
"We haven't got a situation where we've got them and we're stuck with them for six months. They come in an go out on the same day. When it first came out we wondered if Nintendo could keep the interest going but they have certainly managed it. It's an amazing job," he added.
Gerkin was speaking during the weekend of the opening of the company's second biggest store in Hull, where customers were queuing the night before to take advantage of special offers that included Xbox 360 hardware for GBP 99.99, and new releases Legend of Zelda :Phantom Hourglass and Sega Rally for the PS3 for just GBP 9.99.
But it's not just the retailer's limited offers that are tempting gamers to part with their cash in the run up to Christmas. Sony's recent price drop of its 60GB PlayStation 3 has had a very positive effect on sales of the console.
"If anything it's demonstrated what good value the 60GB version is," said Gerkin. "What we expected initially was that we were going to sell a boat load of 40GB models but that's not what has happened.
"Customers have walked in and seen the GBP 279 price and then seen that the GBP 349 price is exceptional value. By bringing out a cheaper model it's improved the sales of the higher-priced model. It's great for the industry because it's another format for people to get behind," he added.
Although Gamestation is currently caught up in a messy investigation by the Competition Commission over GAME's acquisition of the business, Gerkin said that the company is focusing purely on the the upcoming sales season.
"It's business as usual. We know what's going on with the monopoly's investigation but we're focusing on Christmas and concentrating on delivering big numbers," he said.
Nintendo along with Hong Kong authorities have cracked down on a piracy operation with a raid that yielded 10,000 game copying devices.
Described as a "global distribution operation" for illegal copying devices and mod chips used for pirating DS and Wii games, authorities raided Supreme Factory Limited's facilities on October 8 this year.
The raid lasted for three days, turning up pirating devices that enable users to upload DS games to the Internet for distribution and mod chips to play illegitimate Wii discs.
The raid was made in conjunction with the Hong Kong High Court, which intervened to prohibit involved companies from further distribution of piracy-related products. The court also ordered that company assets be frozen.
Brakken has posted an informative update on todays news about the Divineo raid in China:
Supreme Factory in Hong Kong was raided last week confirming what my sources knew was a front for Divineo owned and operated by Max Louarn. Divineo is also known to run various subsidiaries including Team Cyclops, DMS Technologies and **********.com. Divineo is also connected to the Epsilon PSP Team, Viper GC, HD Loader and the Undiluted Platinum PSP modchip.
"The search also turned up volumes of documents reflecting the scope of the operation. The Supreme Factory Limited has ties to a French company, Divineo SARL, and its principal, Max Louarn, who are also named in the legal action initiated by Nintendo. The High Court prohibited the companies from further distribution of the devices and from disposing a portion of their assets worldwide, and ordered that such assets be frozen pending outcome of the legal proceedings." - Source: Here
Some of us in the scene were aware that Divineo was going to be taken out considering facts such as the ICE Raids in the USA which served as a warning to modchip distributors and used as information gathering and the recent raids in Russia (which are undocumented/confirmed at the moment) so this comes as no surprise.
I was personally informed earlier last week that Divineo's China Divineo had been raided, but the only proof I could find was the fact that all Nintendo and Sony console modification products had been removed from Divineo's website. I had waited until it was made public to go forth with the information.
Max Louarn the owner of Divineo and ********** was recently sued and to my knowledge is a wanted criminal in the USA and along with a few other guilty parties owes over $9 million in damages to them. Additionally, back in 1994 Max Louarn was busted by the USA Secret Service for being the ringleader in a telephone card fraud scheme. Max has also recently threatened to sue me over my personal Blog.
Recent legislation in the USA named the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA) prohibits the use of devices which circumvent copy protection forthe purpose of making illegal copies of digital media is what has brought on these raids.
Sadly, while modchips do allow software piracy they also offer amateur developers a chance to create software for a video game system they legally purchased and own. The companies that produce these gaming consoles such as the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP currently have a monopoly over it's development process and requires you to pay tens of thousands of dollars to create your own software for these platforms.
The Law in the books is like saying you can buy a car, but you can't add custom tire rims to it - as a car can be used to drive yourself to work (legal) or to run over your neighbors dog (illegal). That's where the legal use of modchips and development units come into play - they allow you for less then a hundred dollars to develop software for these consoles and at least some companies such as Microsoft look the other way when it comes to the use of modchips on their video gaming consoles for "homebrew" development.
There was a bit of legislation that was introduced which would amend the DMCA to allow people who own digital media to create backup copies of it for archival and protective purposes.
"(F) The prohibition contained in subparagraph (A) shall not apply to a person by reason of that person’s engaging in a non-infringing use of any of the 6 classes of copyrighted works set forth in the determination of the 2 Librarian of Congress in Docket No. RM 2005-11, as published as a final rule by the Copyright Office, Library of 4 Congress, effective November 27, 2006..."
If you read paragraph "A" of section 12-01 of the DMCA, it's fairly clear that no circumvention means no circumvention. "No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title." - Source: Here
Sadly, this amendment is currently stuck in the legal system. If it were to become part of the legislation it would not only legalize modchips, but once again allow consumers to make backups of the valuable media they have invested time and money in.
TehSkeen in no way condones, endorses and/or encourages using modchips and/or backup devices to illegally copy digital media, but we do however disagree with the DMCA, support the amendment and believe in the power of the homebrew community.
With Divineo's assets being frozen and their various distributing warehouses being busted no one is sure if they will be able to stay in business or who will be paying the bills for his other ventures including **********.
Sega's Football Manager 2008 has entered the UK's all-formats chart at number one this week, knocking EA's FIFA 08 off the top spot.
Accounting for 38 per cent of all PC titles sold in the past week, Sports Interactive's management sim is Sega's first multiformat number one title since last year's version of the popular football franchise.
With FIFA 08 at number two this week, EA's generous packing of Valve's The Orange Box makes a strong debut at number three considering it's only currently on two formats – PC and Xbox 360 – with the console version accounting for 77 per cent of sales.
The other big new release entering the charts this week is Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for DS at number four, nudging Halo 3 down the charts to number five.
Microsoft's Project Gotham Racing 4 also drops down the charts from two to six, as does THQ's movie tie-in Ratatouille at seven and EA's Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 at eight.
Sony's first-party PS3 shooter Resistance: Fall of Man is at nine this week, with Vivendi's Crash of the Titans climbing the charts from 19 to ten.
Other new entries in the top forty are Disney's High School Musical: Making the Cut! at 18 and Take 2's Carnival: Funfair Games for the Wii at 25.
In a recent article Nolan Bushnell laments the current state of gaming, stating that modern games are nothing more than a "race to the bottom" resulting in complete and utter trash. In order to combat what he sees as the downward spiral in game quality he continues to work on his new dining experience uWink that features tabletop games and a "reasonably priced meal". RPS weighs in on the subject arguing that, while the unhealthy obsession with Halo 3 might be a bit misplaced, there are plenty of gems to be found amidst the flotsam and jetsam.
High Street retailer HMV is teaming with Gamerbase.com to open a dedicated PC gaming centre in the heart of London.
Located at the Trocadero centre in Piccadilly Circus, the store will boast 80 multiplayer PCs allowing users to try games ahead of release, as well as take part in tournaments and promotional events.
"This represents a tremendous opportunity for HMV to further develop its specialist credentials as a destination store for games and for gaming," offered Tim Ellis, head of games for HMV.
"I'm optimistic the Gamerbase gaming centre will meet with a very positive response, which would then allow us to consider extending the concept to other stores in the chain in the not-too-distant future."
The Gamerbase gaming centre will operate on a concession basis within HMV's Trocadero store, which occupies 2300 square foot of trading space.
One of the founders of Gamerbase, former ELSPA boss Roger Bennett, says that publishers are already keen on the set up, which will allow them to trial games and gain real consumer feedback ahead of a titles release.
"This is the first centre to combine the entertainment aspect of a consumer gaming experience with a retail solution where customers can try gaming titles before they buy," he said.
"Games publishers are keen to work with us to allow HMV customers to play the newest games before anyone else, and then pre-order the titles at the HMV games retail store just a few feet away from the gaming centre.
"Never before have we been able to track gaming directly with purchases. Now we will be able to see what gamers play, how long for, and how this influences their purchasing habits," he added.
Gamerbase marketing director and professional gamer Sujoy Roy reckons the centre could also act as a talent spotting operation to find some of the UK's best games players, who could then go on to enter professional events.
"This is the first time that a PC gaming centre has been built in conjunction with a major High Street retailer, and we look forward to providing a true consumer experience that will hopefully find the UK’s next top gamers to represent our country at Worldwide competitive events," he said.
Last week HMV opened a dedicated console gaming environment in its Edinburgh store, with Microsoft supplying over 25 Xbox 360 consoles and Samsung hi-def TV screens.
Access to the Trocadero centre will be via a membership scheme, with doors due to open next month.
Social networking site MySpace is to launch an official games channel in 2008.
Through a partnership with Oberon Media, MySpace Games will allow users to customise their web pages with a choice of hundreds of casual games.
"We're very excited to be partnering with MySpace to provide the best social networking casual games experience to its growing audience," commented Tal Kerret, co-founder and chairman of Oberon Media.
"Our white label casual gaming solution is allowing us to create a customised games platform that delivers a great experience to MySpace users.
"We're looking forward to responding to users' needs and to involving the best game developers to create the greatest online entertainment experience. The opportunity to give MySpace users the chance to share the fun and socialize within this rapidly growing media segment is thrilling," he added.
MySpace owner News Corp has been assumed to be targeting gaming for some time. Last week Oberon acquired two new studios in Eastern Europe, while also streamlining its I-play business in the UK.
Atari founder Nolan Bushnell thinks modern games are rubbish. If he's talking about the ones with dropships in, we're with him.
"Video games today are a race to the bottom. They are pure, unadulterated trash and I'm sad for that," he told Electronic Design. Oh wait, that's it. Sound-bite, then.
The article itself is about Bushnell's current venture - the uWink family restaurants where you can play tabletop games, talk to hated family members and eat. There's one in Woodland Hills, California, and he seems pretty chuffed with it. And himself.
"I am the luckiest guy to be able to continue to innovate and create games and toys. Throughout the years, I added a technical twist to everything I did. I interpreted technology for the masses and it feels good," he explained. To be fair he was a bit of a wizard.
Sadly he doesn't add anything to his description of modern games, but he does tell us all about his personal favourite game, Breakout. "It is one of the games that everyone loved," he says. "It was very satisfying to play.
"It was like breaking down walls. And it was a metaphor. The world is better when you break down walls. Walls separate people. The more inclusive we can be, the better we can be as a species."
Yes, except the walls were at the top, and you generally got impatient with it and ended up bouncing the ball through gaps to smash the walls from the other side. Other than that, correct.
Im sure most of you who are big gaming fans will know that last October at this very time of the year Lik Sang a vastly popular online store and big supporter of the Homebrew community was closed down. Due to many Sony lawsuits.
Fast forward a year and Divineo who somehow got past a 9 Million Dollar fine in the USA have now been raided and assets frozen. Does this spell the end of Divineo and its stores which also include the Maxthingy website.
To lose a big site who sell flash carts and modchips that are used for homebrew means that the pirates have again spoiled it for the rest of us.
Is it time for hackers and emulation fans to leave these consoles behind and concentrate on consoles that embrace homebrew ?
Wow just spotted news of this tonight and its most impressive. A new handheld from China that boasts Nes, Snes, Genesis, Sega Master System, Gameboy, GBA and NeoGeo emulation on it from the start.
2GB VERSION + 2GB SD CARD = 4GB Unit Price: $149.00
The JXD 301 has a LTPS TFT (Low Temperature Polysilicon Thin Film Transistor) screen, which allows for better screen performance than most other players. It can also play a large number of audio and video file types, most importantly RM/RMVB, which is growing in use due to is high compression/hi quality ratio, it also allows for FLV playback allowing users to download off sites like You Tube and watch the videos directly on this player. One of the nicest features is its ability to play NES, SNES, SMD, GBC, GBA and Neo Geo games.
Package Contents:
2GB 3.0" LTPS TFT (4GB Pack: 2GB JXD 301 + 2GB SD Card)
USB cable
Headphones
English Manual
Carrying case
2 Pin Wall Charger
CD with drivers and software
12 Month Warranty
FEATURES:
Processor: ADI Blackfin 533 - 600MHz
Screen: 3.0" LTPS TFT, capable of displaying 16 million colors with a aspect ratio of 4:3
Supported Audio Codecs: MP3, WMA (32K ~ 320Kbps), APE, FLAC
Supported Video Codecs: RM/RMVB, AVI (XVid), FLV, MPG, MPEG, DAT
Equalizer: BBE, SRS, 10 Custom EQ and 7 Pre-set EQ
Frequency Response: 20HZ~20KHZ , 0dB± 3dB
Games: NES, SNES, Sega Mega Drive, Game Boy Classic, Game Boy Advanced and Neo Geo Emulator
File Viewing: GIF, BMP, JPG, TXT
Lyrics: LRC
Voice Recording: (WAV) Sampling Rate: 8kHz-320kHz
Input and Output: 5PIN USB, Dual 3.5mm stereo earphone output.
Language Support: Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, English
Battery: 1000mAH
Playtime: 15hrs audio, 5-6hrs video.
Expansion Slot: SD slot capable of supporting up to 4GB
Flash Memory Capacity: 2GB
Interface: USB 2.0 HI-SPEED
Built in loud speaker
Easy to use Graphical User Interface
USB Storage Function
Firmware Upgradable
- At the stage beginning screen of "Rainbow Island" and the start demo of "Asuka120%", the bug that the screen display has fallen into disorder (generated from v1.24) was corrected. As a result, I think a similar problem of other games to have been solved, too.
- Additionally, a detailed part has been improved and corrected.
Following last night's glitzy and glamorous BAFTA Video Games Awards, trembling fists across the globe grip shiny new gongs, courtesy of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts' second annual celebration of creative excellence in the games industry.
No mantle piece is more threatened with permanent displacement than Nintendo's though, with the company skipping away from the event with a staggering six awards - all for Wii Sports. In fact, the popular family pasttime secured wins under the following categories: Casual, Gameplay, Innovation, Mulitplayer, Sports, plus Strategy and Simulation. Speaking to IGN, Nintendo said of the accolades, "We are very honoured and proud to have been recognised in this way by the Academy".
However, it wasn't empty hands for everyone else. In fact, homegrown UK developer Realtime Worlds got its mitts on two awards for Crackdown - best Action and Adventure title and best Use of Sound. Elsewhere, Okami scored a much deserved slap on the back in the Artistic Achievement and Best Score categories, while God of War 2 attempted to maintain its angry exterior in the face of jubilation as it took home awards for best Story and Character, plus best Technical Achievement.
Finally, Best Game of the night went to 2K's superb Bioshock and the only public-voted category, The PC World Gamers' Award, shook its bucket of recognition in the general direction of Sports Interactive's Football Manager 2007.
For the full rundown of nominees and eventual winners (listed in bold), check here.
Midway also confirmed to us this afternoon that Blacksite: Area 51 will launch on PC and 360 in November.
However, it will definitely not be joined by the PS3 version, which looks like it might not show up until next year.
The news follows fall-out from the financial report at the beginning of October that said the game had been delayed until 2008.
But unfortunately Midway remained coy over revelations that the promised online co-operative play had been dropped from the final game, after IGN unearthed its absence in a recent hands-on play test.
Spore will release in roughly six months time, according to its creator Will "The Sims" Wright.
"We have the game fully playable at this point and it's in final testing", Wright said yesterday in an interview with Radio 5 Live.
Spore's an ambitious game - which he admits - that's essentially a life sim. Players start off as a single-cell organism and then create their species at every stage of its evolution - from its first steps on land through to tribes then a culture and then finally it's off to explore the galaxy.
"We've had to do a lot of testing to make sure that the game is accessible by a wide group of people", Wright went on to explain.
"I want the people who have played The Sims to be able to play Spore - I don't want it to be some thing just hardcore gamers play."
We'll be looking out for Spore around spring 2008.
Square Enix has reinstated its "Return Home to Vana'diel" campaign, urging Final Fantasy XI players who dropped their online accounts to rejoin the community in time for the release of the multiplatform MMO's fourth expansion pack in November.
Customers who deleted their Content IDs or PlayOnline accounts are now able to rejoin their fellow adventurers in the world of Vana'diel as the Wings of the Goddess expansion ships on Nov. 20.
Square Enix held its first Return Home to Vana'diel event in North America in 2005.
Uniting players in North America, Europe and Japan, FFXI is the first massively-multiplayer online roleplaying game capable of simultaneous communication across multiple platforms: PlayStation 2, PC and Xbox 360. Now in its fifth year of service, the game has a community of more than 500,000 subscribers and more than 1.7 million player characters worldwide.
The Return Home to Vana'diel campaign will run until Feb. 29, 2008.
Rockstar's Manhunt 2 could release in the UK, but as a digital download, it's emerged.
It's all to do with a legal loophole in the UK's 1984 Video Recordings Act, which only covers physical products. An age-certification rating is apparently not required for online digital downloads.
Manhunt 2 has been refused age-certification twice by the BBFC. Following the original refusal, Rockstar submitted a revised version of the game but not enough was done in the eyes of the classification body.
However, while the release of Manhunt 2 is theoretically possible, we very much doubt the console companies would allow a game without to BBFC rating to grace their machines.
And of course, how the hell would you get the digital download onto PS2 and Wii anyway?
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars dev Splash Damage is on the verge of releasing the next big update for its game and has shoved details on what's imminent onto the interweb.
Topping the list in patch 1.2 is full voice communications support "allowing rapid and easy coordination with your team-mates".
"You can select the input and output devices independently of your speakers which allows you to use dedicated headsets and microphones, communicate on three separate channels, mute all VoIP, specific channels, or just specific players (which incidentally also cuts all bandwidth usage), set the volume and test your devices in-game", Splash Damage explains.
"There's full hardware refresh support for connecting and using USB headsets while the game is running too".
This is accompanied by improvements to game balance, refinements to Fireteams and the StopWatch play mode, improvements to the user interface, fixes and improvements for bots and finally general bug crushing.
"...it won't be long before we have the update in your hands", says Splash Damage, adding that patch 1.3 is already in development and will "feature even more improvements".
The PS2 and Xbox 360 versions are already screaming along further up the track, and the PS3 version is lining up on the grid for tomorrow, but the PC version of Juiced 2 is still around a month away, and THQ has released a demo version to try and sell you on its merits.
Available from all the usual players (3D Gamers, for instance), the 1.67GB demo features two tracks and a quartet of cars to race around them - the Nissan 350Z, BMW M3, Holden Monaro and Saleen Mustang. Single- and multi-player demos are already available on Xbox Live.
As Kristan explained in his Xbox 360 review, "It's a game which relies on that well-worn, but satisfying principle that you can throw your car into corners with abandon, easing off the throttle and then blasting forward when momentum straightens you up." We like that. "To its credit," he added, "Juice Games has nailed an accessible if lightweight drift handling system, and it's a hook that helps drag you through the game."
Which makes it sound good, even though he wasn't all that convinced by the overall game at the end. Still, that was then, and now you have a demo to help you make your own mind up. Or, if you've got a spare few minutes, you could hop over to the official website, a Flash-based monstrosity that stands out because it has a digital version of the game's cover-star, Ursula Mayes, wandering around telling you how the game works. How strange.
The full PC version of Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights is due out on 23rd November.
A 'businessman' who traded under the name Mr Modchips has become only the second person in the UK to be convicted for distributing and selling chipped consoles.
39 year-old Higgs was found guilty of 26 offences: three counts of advertising, supplying and selling modification chips designed to enable people to play illegally copied games on their consoles, 12 counts of possessing 19 chipped games consoles and another 11 counts of possessing Executor modchips for Microsoft consoles, as well as Viper GC chips for Nintendo systems. He was cleared of a further four counts of possessing chipped consoles.
The jury at his trial voted unanimously against Higgs, whose lawyers requested leave to appeal which was granted by the Judge. A date for the appeal hearing has yet to be set.
Welcome to this week's Games & Toys update, our weekly summary featuring all new product arrivals from the last seven days.
Top selling next gen console releases this week have been Thrillville: Off the Rails for Xbox360™, Imabi Kisou and The Eye of Judgment (Asia / Japanese) as well as Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party (Regular / With Dancing Mat), Ghost Squad (Regular / With Wii Zapper) and Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (US / Japanese) for Nintendo Wii™.
For PlayStation2™ we've got Sega Ages 2500 Vol. 31: Dennou Senki Virtual On and Banpresto's Ar tonelico II: Sekai ni Hibiku Shoujo Tachi no Souzoushi.
Demanded handheld releases this week have been the English language Asia Edition of Konami's Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles for PSP™, along with the Nintendo DS™ top sellers Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Fuuketsu no Grimoire, World Soccer Winning Eleven DS: Goal x Goal! (Japanese), Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations and Mega Man ZX Advent (both US versions).
An interesting misc. product release this week has been Square-Enix / Suntory's Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Potion canned softdrink. Make sure to give it a try...
As usually, here's a summary of all new releases from this week,
Xbox360™:
Beautiful Katamari US US$ 44.90
Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War ASIA US$ 64.90
Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War JPN US$ 69.90
Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War [Premium Box] JPN US$ 95.00
Thrillville: Off the Rails US US$ 49.90
Thrillville: Off the Rails ASIA US$ 44.90
PlayStation3™:
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Game of the Year Edition) US US$ 64.90
Imabi Kisou JPN US$ 64.90
Logicool Cordless Media Board Pro JPN US$ 99.90
Need for Speed: Carbon (EA Best Hits) JPN US$ 34.90
The Eye of Judgment JPN US$ 89.90
The Eye of Judgment ASIA US$ 84.90
Nintendo Wii™:
Dance Dance Revolution Controller JPN US$ 49.90
Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party JPN US$ 59.90
Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party (w/ Dancing Mat) JPN US$ 69.90
EA Playground US US$ 49.90
Ghost Squad JPN US$ 49.90
Ghost Squad (w/ Wii Zapper) JPN US$ 59.90
Gintama: Banji Oku Chuubu JPN US$ 59.90
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core US US$ 44.90
Mercury Meltdown Revolution US US$ 29.90
Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis US US$ 44.90
Simple Wii Series Vol. 1: The Minna de Kart Race JPN US$ 29.90
Simple Wii Series Vol. 2: The Minna de Bass Tsuri Taikai JPN US$ 29.90
The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night US US$ 49.90
Thrillville: Off the Rails US US$ 49.90
Victorious Boxers: Revolution US US$ 44.90
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure US US$ 44.90
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure / Takarjima Z: Barbaros no Hihou JPN US$ 59.90
PlayStation2™:
Ar tonelico II: Sekai ni Hibiku Shoujo Tachi no Souzoushi JPN US$ 64.90
Baldr Bullet: Equilibrium JPN US$ 64.90
Baldr Bullet: Equilibrium [Limited Edition] JPN US$ 95.00
Bleach: Blade Battles (PlayStation2 the Best) JPN US$ 34.90
Bleach: Hanatareshi Yabou (PlayStation2 the Best) JPN US$ 34.90
Bleach: Selected Soul (PlayStation2 the Best) JPN US$ 34.90
Colorful Aquarium: My Little Mermaid JPN US$ 64.90
Colorful Aquarium: My Little Mermaid [Limited Edition] JPN US$ 79.90
Dragon Ball Z Sparking! Meteor KOR US$ 59.90
God of War II: The End Begins JPN US$ 64.90
Itsuka, Todoku, Ano Sora ni JPN US$ 64.90
Itsuka, Todoku, Ano Sora ni [Limited Edition] JPN US$ 79.90
Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn!! Let's Ansatsu!? Nerawareta 10 Daime! JPN US$ 64.90
Need for Speed Carbon (EA Best Hits) JPN US$ 34.90
Nettai Teikiatsu Otome JPN US$ 64.90
Nettai Teikiatsu Otome [Limited Edition] JPN US$ 79.90
Sega Ages 2500 Vol. 31: Dennou Senki Virtual On JPN US$ 28.90
Sega Ages 2500 Vol. 31: Dennou Senki Virtual On [Segadirect Super DX Pack] JPN N/A
Taka Reet Ura Mahjong Retsuden: Mukoubushi JPN US$ 49.90
Volleyball World Cup: Venus Evolution JPN US$ 64.90
Nintendo DS™:
Abashii Narugami Gakuen Toshi Densetsu Tantei Kyoku JPN US$ 39.90
CSI: Dark Motives ASIA US$ 34.90
Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch JPN US$ 48.90
Crossword DS + Sekai 1-Shuu Cross JPN US$ 29.90
DS Card Block Mixed Pack JPN US$ 7.90
DS Card Block White Pack JPN US$ 7.90
Disney Princess: Magical Jewels US US$ 34.90
Dungeon Maker: Mahou no Shovel to Chiisa na Yuusha JPN US$ 48.90
EA Playground US US$ 34.90
ESSE Kakeibo DS JPN US$ 39.90
Eigo o Taberu Fushigi na Ikimono Marsh JPN US$ 48.90
Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Fuuketsu no Grimoire JPN US$ 48.90
Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Fuuketsu no Grimoire Accessory Set JPN US$ 17.90
Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes A Day US US$ 24.90
Hannah Montanna: Music Jam US US$ 34.90
Hard Cover DS Lite (Metallic Skin) JPN US$ 9.90
Horsez: Farm Adventures ASIA US$ 34.90
Illust Logic DS + Colorful Logic JPN US$ 29.90
Iria no Sora, UFO no Natsu I&II Complete Pack JPN US$ 59.90
Iria no Sora, UFO no Natsu II JPN US$ 34.90
Mahjong Quest Expeditions US US$ 24.90
Mainichi Happy! Ayakouji Kimimaro no Life Kit JPN US$ 39.90
Mega Man ZX Advent US US$ 29.90
Mensetsu no Tatsujin: Tenshoku-Hen JPN US$ 39.90
Pet Vet ASIA US$ 34.90
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations US US$ 29.90
Power Rangers: Super Legends US US$ 34.90
Prism: Light the Way US US$ 34.90
Real Football 2008 ASIA US$ 39.90
Sekai no Shougi JPN US$ 39.90
Simple DS Series Vol. 24: The Sensha JPN US$ 28.90
Simple DS Series Vol. 25: The Koushounin JPN US$ 28.90
Smart Pouch Lite 6 (Black) JPN US$ 8.99
Smart Pouch Lite 6 (Blue) JPN US$ 8.99
Smart Pouch Lite 6 (Navy) JPN US$ 8.99
Smart Pouch Lite 6 (Pink) JPN US$ 8.99
Smart Pouch Lite 6 (White) JPN US$ 8.99
Smart Pouch Lite 6 (Yellow) JPN US$ 8.99
Stereo Earphone DS (Black) JPN US$ 12.90
Stereo Earphone DS (Blue) JPN US$ 12.90
Stereo Earphone DS (Pink) JPN US$ 12.90
Stereo Earphone DS (White) JPN US$ 12.90
Sugar Bunnies DS: Yume no Sweets Koubou JPN US$ 48.90
Tantei Kibukawa Ryosuke Jiken Dan: The Masquerade Lullaby (Genki the Best) JPN US$ 29.90
Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann JPN US$ 58.90
The Frogman Show: DS Datte, Shouganaijanai. JPN US$ 48.90
Thrillville: Off the Rails ASIA US$ 34.90
Totally Spies!: 3 Secret Agents ASIA US$ 34.90
World Soccer Winning Eleven DS: Goal x Goal! JPN US$ 39.90
Sony PSP™:
Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (English language Version) ASIA US$ 39.90
Kaitou Apricot Portable JPN US$ 58.90
Need for Speed Carbon (EA Best Hits) JPN US$ 29.90
SWAT: Target Liberty US US$ 39.90
Thrillville: Off the Rails ASIA US$ 39.90
PC Games:
Company of Heroes (Game of the Year Edition) (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 26.90
Heroes of Might & Magic V: Gold Edition (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 49.90
Heroes of Might & Magic V: Tribes of the East (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 34.90
Moto GP 07 (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 34.90
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Complete (DVD-ROM) ASIA US$ 45.90
Guide Books:
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War Of The Lions Official Strategy Guide US US$ 16.90
Half-Life 2: The Orange Box Prima Official Game Guide US US$ 19.90
Toys & More:
Fate/Hollow Ataraxia No-Scale Prepainted PVC Figure - Hetare Sakura Nendoroid JPN US$ 34.90
Final Fantasy Plush Doll: Chocobo (Black Mage Version) JPN US$ 24.90
Final Fantasy Plush Doll: Chocobo (Santa Claus Version) JPN US$ 24.90
Final Fantasy Plush Doll: Chocobo (White Mage Version) JPN US$ 24.90
Final Fantasy VII 10th Anniversary Potion (canned softdrink) JPN US$ 6.90
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Master Piece Arts - Cloud Strife 1/4 Cold Cast Statue JPN N/A
Gensou Senki Ru/Li/Lu/Ra 1/8 Scale Painted PVC Figure - Izulha (Golden Maiden Ver.) JPN N/A
Gun x Sword 1/8 Scale Painted PVC Figure - Fasarina JPN N/A
Kanon 1/8 Scale Painted PVC Figure - Ayu JPN US$ 57.90
Kirby Plush Doll (standing medium size) JPN N/A
Mario Party Plush Doll: Mario (Extra large) JPN US$ 139.90
Mario Party Plush Doll: Yoshi (Extra large) JPN US$ 139.90
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Figure Collection Gashapon JPN US$ 2.90
Okusama Wa Maho Shojo 1/7 Scale Painted PVC Figure - Asaba Ureshiko JPN US$ 54.90
Puyo Puyo Fever 2 Plush Toy: Blue Puyo (small) JPN US$ 9.90
Puyo Puyo Fever 2 Plush Toy: Green Puyo (small) JPN US$ 9.90
Puyo Puyo Fever 2 Plush Toy: Pink Puyo (small) JPN US$ 9.90
Puyo Puyo Fever 2 Plush Toy: Purple Puyo (small) JPN US$ 9.90
Puyo Puyo Fever 2 Plush Toy: Red Puyo (small) JPN US$ 9.90
Puyo Puyo Fever 2 Plush Toy: Yellow Puyo (small) JPN US$ 9.90
Revoltech Griffon Series No. 20 - The Mobile Police Patlabor Pre-Painted Action Figure JPN US$ 19.90
Shining Wind 1/8 Scale Prepainted PVC Statue: Clalaclan Philias JPN N/A
Utawarerumono 1/8 Scale Prepainted PVC Statue: Kamyu JPN US$ 49.90
Weapons Set for Final Fantasy Play Arts JPN US$ 31.90
Video Game releated DVD releases:
Togeki '07 Super Battle DVD Vol.1 Guilty Gear XX Accent Core JPN US$ 39.90
Togeki '07 Super Battle DVD Vol.2 Melty Blood Act Cadenza ver.B JPN US$ 39.90
Togeki '07 Super Battle DVD Vol.3 Arcana Heart Full! JPN US$ 39.90
Video Game related Soundtracks:
Angel Profile Original Drama CD - Boys, Be Ambitious! JPN US$ 28.90
Baldr Bullet: Equilibrium Theme Song JPN US$ 11.90
Blizzard Love (Galaxy Angel II Mugen Kairo no Kagi Heroine Outro Theme) JPN US$ 8.90
Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party Original Soundtrack JPN US$ 38.90
Dragon Quest (Played by Quintet) Part.II JPN US$ 28.90
Dramatic CD Collection VitaminX Love Vitamin Nemurihime Scramble JPN US$ 29.90
Fantastic Shimasho (Galaxy Angel II Mugen Kairo no Kagi Heroine Outro Theme) JPN US$ 8.90
Gray Zone wo Uchinuite (Galaxy Angel II Mugen Kairo no Kagi Heroine Outro Theme) JPN US$ 8.90
Izayoi Seigi (Galaxy Angel II Mugen Kairo no Kagi Heroine Outro Theme) JPN US$ 8.90
Jalalala Love (Galaxy Angel II Mugen Kairo no Kagi Heroine Outro Theme) JPN US$ 8.90
Kashinami Ryuseigun (Galaxy Angel II Mugen Kairo no Kagi Heroine Outro Theme) JPN US$ 8.90
Kiss on the cheek (Galaxy Angel II Mugen Kairo no Kagi Heroine Outro Theme) JPN US$ 8.90
Limelight (Galaxy Angel II Mugen Kairo no Kagi Heroine Outro Theme) JPN US$ 8.90
Magic Paradise (Galaxy Angel II Mugen Kairo no Kagi Heroine Outro Theme) JPN US$ 8.90
Odin Sphere Original Soundtrack JPN US$ 31.90
Radio DJCD Naruto Radio Shippujinrai 1 JPN US$ 24.90
Setsunasa wo Koete (Galaxy Angel II Mugen Kairo no Kagi Heroine Outro Theme) JPN US$ 8.90
Windows Game Hoshifull - Seido Gakuen Tenmon Dokokai - Original Soundtrack Starry Tear JPN US$ 28.90
The current state of hardware sales in Japan are as follows:
Nintendo DS Lite: 70,608
Playstation Portable: 58,669
Wii: 24,932
Playstation 3: 17,130
Playstation 2: 10,281
Xbox 360: 3,011
Game Boy Advance SP: 130
Game Boy Micro: 118
Gamecube: 48
Game Boy Advance: 22
DS Lite drops roughly by 7,100, PSP increases by 900, Wii up 4,357, PS3 up about 5,000, PS2 up 100, GBA up 3, GBM up 58 and GC down 31.
The word 'innovation' and Nintendo have always gone hand-in-hand, so it comes as no surprise that Nintendo Wii has just scooped The Innovation of the Year 2007 - sponsored by T3 award.
Ultra-advance aliens were clearly on the brain when Nintendo's tech guys came up with the crazy tools that are the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers, which topped PS3, the Halo 3 Beta, Direct X 10 and Xbox Live Arcade for the award.
Having been a runaway success since the say it hit shelves, there'd have been a riot in the streets if this award had gone to anyone else, we bet.
Sega's Seaman 2 has entered the Japanese software chart at number one, based on sales for the week ending October 21, selling 33,000 copies.
There were three other new entries in the top ten, including Beautiful Katamari for the Xbox 360 in seventh, which split the two Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon titles.
The Nintendo DS dominated the entire top 30, with the other new entries - DS Literature Collection at number two and Racehorse Owner Life Game at number ten both on that platform.
The full top ten software chart is as follows:
1. Seaman 2 (PS2)
2. DS Literature Collection (DS)
3. Dragon Ball Z: Sparking! Meteor (PS2)
4. DS Nishimura Kyotarou Suspense Detective Series: Deadly Intent (DS)
5. Gundam Battle Chronicle (PSP)
6. Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon: Time Expedition Party (DS)
7. Beautiful Katamari (X360)
8. Pokémon Mysterious Dungeon: Shadow Expedition Party (DS)
9. Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day (DS)
10. Racehorse Owner Life Game: Winner's Circle (DS)
(Drum roll). The PC Game of the Year 2007 - sponsored by PC Gamer, has been awarded to Turbine's Tolkien-powered MMO The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar.
And the hobbits rejoiced.
Lord of the Rings Online beat off WoW, Football Manager 2007, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. to grab the gong. We've have a feeling this is going to generate some interesting and no doubt highly enlightening discussion in the comments below...
SEGA of America, Inc. today released details for Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus for the Xbox 360, Playstation 2 and for PC. Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus is an expansion to the epic sci-fi action role-playing game, Phantasy Star Universe, and will be available on November 20, 2007. The Xbox Live download will be available for 1600 Microsoft Points/$20 USD and the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system and PC versions will be available at retailers across North America for $39.95 USD.
Whether tackling quests online with a party of up to six adventurers, or fighting through the next chapters of the exciting online story missions from the original game, Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus enables gamers to experience the wonders of the Gurhal System through the eyes of a personalized avatar. The expansion pack allows gamers to experience an even richer and more varied Phantasy Star experience. Players will explore exciting new levels, such as the Ruins of Old Rozenom City and the subterranean Granigs Mines, where they will encounter new and more powerful enemy types and bosses, and master additional versatile class types.
The expansion further enriches the online Phantasy Star Universe experience with newly created and enhanced gameplay and customization features. Players can commune in new and expanded lobby areas filled with colorful decorations and music, including the new Casino Voloyal where roulette and slots can earn players special casino-only items. Character and weapon customization is even deeper with the introduction of new weapon types, armor, Photon Arts, and clothing. Also, each Guardian’s individual Room is upgraded with far greater options for customization.
Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus continues the exciting single-player action-RPG storyline as a new Human Fundamentalist group, known as the Illuminus, disrupts the peaceful Gurhal System throwing the Gurhal Government into chaos. Using their custom-made Guardian, players embark upon a series of missions where they will meet familiar characters like Ethan Waber from Episode 1 and others including GUARDIAN instructor Laia Martinez from Episode 2.
Since its introduction in 1988, Phantasy Star has revolutionized the RPG genre by creating new standards through innovative gameplay, as well as being the first console RPG to offer an online experience in Phantasy Star Online. This new installment also expands the popular online adventure of its predecessor and continues the quest for peace in the Gurhal System.
Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus is rated “T” by the ESRB. Online play requires a subscription, for more detailed information, please go to the official website at www.phantasystaruniverse.com. Please note that the Xbox 360 download requires the original Phantasy Star Universe game.
Gamespot is reporting that the Electronic Consumers Association (ECA) has picked its first legal fight since vowing to step up lobbying efforts. The organization is going head-to-head with the Electronic Software Association (ESA), a long-time backer of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), by coming out in favor of H.R. 1201 (also known as the Fair Use Act of 2007).
"If it became law, the Fair Use Act would create a variety of exemptions to the DMCA's prohibitions on circumventing anti-piracy measures. The Fair Use Act would make it legal to bypass anti-piracy measures in a handful of situations, for personal archiving; for researching, critiquing, or reporting on works of substantial public interest (if that is the sole reason for the circumvention); or to skip commercial or personally objectionable content. It would also create an exemption in copyright law for people who make and distribute equipment used to bypass copyright protection (like modchips), provided the device 'is capable of substantial, commercially significant non-infringing use.'"
Gamepark have today released what they hope will get homebrew and amateur developers buzzing and entice many games and ports from the Nintendo DS over to the GP2X with the release of the GP2X F-200 with the main new selling feature being the Touchscreen and its availability in white.
Heres the full details on this newly revised console.
features
Color: White
All new touch screen interface
New and improved 8-way digital pad
Comes with various games built-in: Blocked, GhostPix, Cavestory, Phishy, Ruck-Man, SQdef
5 new game titles available at launch
Multi-tasking functionality: enjoy music while reading e-books or browsing photos
3.5 inch LCD screen with 320*240 (30 frames) resolution
Simple and convenient e-book viewer
Size: 134.6x82.9x29.6 mm
Weight: 161g (without battery)
The GP2X F200 is on sale at Play Asia for US$ 169.90 (~82.71 GBP)
For those who dont know there are hundreds of Games, Applications and Emulators for the Console all available at GP2X News.
Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass has entered the charts in Spain and Germany at number one on the first week of release.
In Germany the DS title just manages to outsell EA and Valve's The Orange Box package, which enters at number two.
As a publisher Nintendo has four of the top ten titles in the region, with both Dr Kawashima games continuing to sell well, along with Pokemon Diamond.
Over in Spain, Electronic Arts FIFA 08 is hogging the top ten, with the PlayStation 2 version at two, the PS3 version at four and the PSP title at nine.
The top ten best-selling games in Germany and Spain follow:
Germany
1. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)
2. The Orange Box (PC)
3. FIFA 08 (PS2)
4. The Settlers (PC)
5. More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima (DS)
6. Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2 (PS2)
7. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (DS)
8. Pokemon Diamond (DS)
9. FIFA 08 (PC)
10. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (PC)
Spain
1. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)
2. FIFA 08 (PS2)
3. Project Gotham Racing 4 (Xbox 360)
4. FIFA 08 (PS3)
5. WWE Smackdown! Vs. RAW 2007 (PS2)
6. More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima (DS)
7. My Sims (DS)
8. Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (DS)
9. FIFA 08 (PSP)
10. Pokemon Diamond (DS)
All data supplied by Media Control Gfk International.
EA and Crytek have released the long-awaited Crysis single-player demo for PC gamers ahead of the game's release on 16th November.
The 1.7GB demo consists of one level and a level editor, and works with DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 graphics card, which is good news if you - like me - bought a new PC a while ago and still struggle to find new and screen-shattering things to make it cry.
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Anyway, you can find a list of download mirrors on Voodoo Extreme, and users of NVIDIA's funky brand of graphics ability should be aware that they will need a new beta driver in order to make it go.
Interestingly, it looks like Crytek ended up in a bit of a rush to get things out the door, too, since Rock, Paper, Shotgun reports that they left some fairly spoilerific material (and some new screenshots) in one of the bundled files. Worth looking into if you don't expect to play the full game but do want to pretend you did, or something.
Flagship Studios, the developers behind the upcoming Hellgate: London title, will be chatting with gamers on Halloween.
Xfire will host the exclusive live chat with Flagship CEO Bill Roper as well as art producer Aletheia Simonson and programmers Bill Manegold, Amir Ebrahimi, and Guy Somberg.
"We are thrilled that a phenomenal title like Hellgate: London is exclusively utilizing the Xfire In-Game Voice Chat feature, and we welcome the game's creators on their launch day to Xfire," said Xfire CEO Adam Boyden.
"This exciting live online chat will give users the opportunity to discuss the title's finer points, classes, mechanics and what went into making this amazing game."
Hellgate: London will feature Xfire's peer-to-peer communication system to give gamers the ability to chat with fellow gamers without needing to manage a standalone voice server. Additionally, online game players will be able to log in to Xfire from within the game, enabling them to easily add their friends and other Hellgate: London gamers into an Xfire voice chat room where they can chat as they play.
Samsung has announced that it has developed the world's first 64Gb(8GB) NAND flash memory chip using a 30nm production process, which opens the door for companies to produce memory cards with upto 128GB capacity
Even if it's smaller, cooler, and cheaper than its higher end brethren, that unfortunately doesn't mean it's better: the formerly G92-codenamed NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT sits in the middle of the 8800-series with a single slot configuration that uses 100 Watts less power than the top of the range model, but with a lower clock speed and six less "stream processors."
It's a fair bit higher spec than the GTX and GTS models though, with the same "stream processor" (what the hell are these?) clock speed as the Ultra at 1500MHz, and a memory frequency of 900MHz. It also supports PCIe 2.0 and the PureVideo HD engine which offloads H.264 encoding onto the GPU. It sells for between $199-249 [£97-121], and should be available within the next few days at the usual online stores.
Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 has topped the UK software charts, entering its first week at number one according to Chart-Track data.
In terms of unit sales, the PS2 version of PES '08 was number one, followed by the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions.
Rounding out the UK top five were FIFA '08, Football Manager 2008, Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, and Ratatouille.
Valve's The Orange Box was at number six, just ahead of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, which entered at number seven. Halo 3 fell from number five to number eight, ahead of High School Musical: Makin' the Cut and Cooking Mama.
THQ's Juiced 2 failed to make the top ten, but nevertheless made an impressive gain, up to number thirteen from twenty.
Recent release entering the charts for the first time this week were The Sims 2: Castaway at number ninteeen, Clive Barker's Jericho at number twenty-six, and Thrillville: Off the Rails at number twenty-eight.
features
Famitsu Wave Magazine
Japan's No.1 selling video game magazine
Check out all the latest game news every month
Includes a DVD disc featuring latest game footage
description
The Famitsu Wave is Japan's No.1 selling video game magazine. It features all the latest video game news and pictures from Japan's upcoming video games.
Each magazine includes a DVD disc with video game footage. The DVD disc is NTSC Region 2 encoded.
Here it is! The moment you've all been waiting for. Dimension Quest is up and ready! Kinda... Full of bugs (nothing serious). There's a bunch of places you can't go, and some people you can't talk to... But that's what demos are for!!! You can import your data into future releases, so you won't have to start over once I add more. No reason not to get a head start, lol.
* Written and designed by me (DimensionT)
* 90% of the music is written by me.
* VERY long time in the making (possably 4 years)
* In-depth cooking system (take items dropped by enemies back to camp, and cook them up on the fire)
* Summons gain levels and change as you battle enemies
* Advanced enemy encounters (after you reach a certain level, you won't have to fight weaker enemies)
* Mark hunting system, for players who want a challenge
* Much, much more!
WARNING - This game has mature subject matter and foul language - WARNING
Developer Fireglow Games has said that Sudden Strike 3: Arms for Victory will be released in the UK and Ireland on 5th December.
Meanwhile those of you in France can be playing it as early as 23rd November, followed by those of you in German-speaking territories on 30th November.
Sudden Strike 3 is the latest instalment in the WWII-inspired real-time strategy series, one famed for historical accuracy in its portrayal of units, events and landscapes. For instance, those horses the Polish used to battle the German tanks should be as useless as they sound.
The biggest update this time is a revamped engine to bring your co-ordinated land, sea and air attacks to life with fancy lighting and booming bomb sounds. You should also find that you can realistically blow all sorts of things up, and litter your kilometre-long front lines with the sort of debris you would expect.
You will be given the choice of playing as either the British, Soviet, American, German and Japanese forces, each with hundreds of authentic tanks, ships, planes, artillery and soldiers to fiddle around with.
Get bored of conquering Europe like that, though, and you can head online to take on up to seven of your friends in huge multiplayer battles.
Frontier boss David Braben has urged publishers to remember that taking a chance on an unproven game can often lead to incredible financial rewards.
Using The Sims, Roller-coaster Tycoon and Grand Theft Auto as examples, he stated that rather than predicting sales with comfortable definitions of games, trusting developers with unique or experimental ideas can see a much larger payback.
"You justify it because the prize is huge," said Braben in an exclusive interview published on GamesIndustry.biz today.
"Roller-coaster Tycoon initially didn't sell well but gradually grew into a huge seller. But there was mass scepticism within the industry. EA almost didn't publish The Sims. They thought they'd humour Will Wright because he's done good stuff in the past and it ended up as the world's number one seller.
"These things would not get embraced by big business. In terms of return on investment you've got to be able to forecast, usually based on an existing title," he said.
"Whereas, with something that's got a unique element it's much, much harder to do. What it takes is the unusual publishers, someone like LucasArts, who were happy to go with Thrilleville – a new IP, a new approach – I take my hat off to them," he added.
Frontier is currently working on The Outsider for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, with a publisher expected to be announced shortly.
The full interview, where Braben shares his views on the recent acquisition of Bizarre Creations and Bungie going it alone, along with the effect these have on his own business, can be read here.
Fingers crossed we could be looking at the new KOTOR game. MMO or not? Something's happening in the board room. PLease God, let it be the next KOTOR game. Star Wars-related at least!
A release says that the product, details of which will be unveiled at a later date, will be developed and published by BioWare and LucasArts, and "will push the boundaries of the gaming market by utilising the strengths of both companies to deliver an innovative, high-quality experience."
We're getting dizzy just thinking about it. A KOTOR MMO has been rumoured before, could this be it? Although quite how this fits in with the recent EA buyout of BioWare and Sega's Sonic RPG, we don't know...
"LucasArts has a deep commitment to developing compelling stories and characters for the unique medium of interactive entertainment, and we have been searching for a developer that shares this value. We found this in BioWare," said Jim Ward, president of LucasArts. "Through our previous collaborations, we know that BioWare has an impressive ability to blend gripping stories with technological advancements, and we believe that our upcoming product will deliver an experience that will span the traditional boundaries of video game entertainment."
Greg Zeschuk, president of BioWare, added, "BioWare's mission is to deliver the best story and character-driven games in the world, delivering powerful emotional experiences to our fans. The collaboration with LucasArts allows us to combine our passion for creating high quality and innovative experiences with those of a company dedicated to bringing only the finest games to market."
