Friday, 11 April 2008
Gamers already camping out for GTA IV
Still weeks away from Grand Theft Auto IV’s release date of April 29, cold weather hasn’t prevented those eager to be the very first to play Rockstar’s highly anticipated title from setting camp.
Gears of War 2 - New faces, new places, new vehicles...
...but this time he's brought some new pals along for the ride. Gears of War 2, the hotly anticipated sequel to the original million seller, takes the fight directly to the Locust. Sure enough, Fenix is heading underground...
The way your character takes cover is much improved over the original, ensuring that sneaky Locust scum can't pop off a shot at you and hit you when you're hiding behind a wall or peeping round a corner. Weapons are tweaked though all the oldies but goldies are there of course. There's a new dual-wield chainsaw gun ensuring that Marcus and the other characters in the game can get up close and personal, and spill some alien blood. Underground levels aren't tight twisty dark dank little corridors but vast subterranean spaces, breathtaking in scale and scope and much improved over the originalA new enemy, the Kantus, can use focussed sonic attacks on the player, causing damage and loss of energy. These focus chant attacks are probably the newest most lethal weapon in the Locust arsenal. If you're looking for something bigger to pick a fight with, Cliff Bleszinski promises monsters that will "make the Brumak from the original game look like a baby panda bear."With vast improvements to the original spec Unreal 3 engine used for the sequel, the gushing Cliffy B also added that far more enemies would be on-screen at once, making you really work for your achievements and those end of level encounters with big nasty bosses. Along with Fenix, Baird and "The Cole Train" will be reappearing in the sequel, along with new characters like Tai Kaliso, a spiritual warrior chick, Chairman Prescott (no he doesn't own two jags), the previously unseen head of the human government, and Dizzy, a human vehicle specialist with rather too fond an attachment to his truck - one of many new vehicles in the game. Multiplayer has also been universally expanded and improved over the original. Can't wait. Tune in towards the latter half of the year for the game's release, and keep 'em peeled here - we'll bring you more details, screenies and movies when we've got 'em.
The way your character takes cover is much improved over the original, ensuring that sneaky Locust scum can't pop off a shot at you and hit you when you're hiding behind a wall or peeping round a corner. Weapons are tweaked though all the oldies but goldies are there of course. There's a new dual-wield chainsaw gun ensuring that Marcus and the other characters in the game can get up close and personal, and spill some alien blood. Underground levels aren't tight twisty dark dank little corridors but vast subterranean spaces, breathtaking in scale and scope and much improved over the originalA new enemy, the Kantus, can use focussed sonic attacks on the player, causing damage and loss of energy. These focus chant attacks are probably the newest most lethal weapon in the Locust arsenal. If you're looking for something bigger to pick a fight with, Cliff Bleszinski promises monsters that will "make the Brumak from the original game look like a baby panda bear."With vast improvements to the original spec Unreal 3 engine used for the sequel, the gushing Cliffy B also added that far more enemies would be on-screen at once, making you really work for your achievements and those end of level encounters with big nasty bosses. Along with Fenix, Baird and "The Cole Train" will be reappearing in the sequel, along with new characters like Tai Kaliso, a spiritual warrior chick, Chairman Prescott (no he doesn't own two jags), the previously unseen head of the human government, and Dizzy, a human vehicle specialist with rather too fond an attachment to his truck - one of many new vehicles in the game. Multiplayer has also been universally expanded and improved over the original. Can't wait. Tune in towards the latter half of the year for the game's release, and keep 'em peeled here - we'll bring you more details, screenies and movies when we've got 'em.
PS3/360 Cry Engine 2 to Look Near High Settings on PC
It almost sounds too good to be true. Almost? It is too good to be true. Could Cry Engine 2 on consoles really look any where near as good as Crysis on the PC? Crytek’s Engine Business Manager, Harald Seeley, states that they expect the console versions to “look like they’re running at high settings, or nearly high settings, on a PC.” *Shock.*
When asked what differences there would be between the PC and console versions of the Cry Engine 2, and whether the engine will be tailored to each platform, Seeley replies:
When asked what differences there would be between the PC and console versions of the Cry Engine 2, and whether the engine will be tailored to each platform, Seeley replies:
Yes, we definitely tailor the engine specifically to each platform. More than just the difference in CPU and video hardware capabilities of PCs and consoles is at play here. So are the much smaller memory budgets we must work with, the lack of a hard disk on some models, and the acceptance requirements of the hardware vendors themselves. All have an effect on how we approach each version of the engine.
The surprising thing has been how well the consoles can perform visually, once this tailoring is in place. We expect the final outcome will result in games that look like they’re running at high settings, or nearly high settings, on a PC. Actually, we found it as much or more challenging to address the memory limitations of the consoles when converting our current AI system, as we did while converting our rendering engine or physics system, which was not something you might have expected at the start.
by Patrick Steen on April 7, 2008
Tuesday, 8 April 2008
New info and shots of Gears 2
Gears of War 2 begins six months after the deployment of the Lightmass bomb at the end of part one. Read more here
Monday, 7 April 2008
High infernal priest Dark Radai from Ninja Gaiden 2
Exclusive shot - You've seen it here first!
The story follows as (the guy on the right in the picture) the high infernal priest Dark Radai is trying to restore the arch fiend - aka the Devil which could see the end of the human race. Helping Dark Radai is a female from the CIA (to the left of the shot).
The game begins when a mystirous lady called Sonia tries to find Ryu to tell him about the arch fiend. She is kidnapped by the spider clan who seem to be working with the fiends, but then later rescued by Ryu. Sonia who also seem to be with the CIA then tells him that his village is under attack for the demon statue. Ryu Hayabusa is out to once more save his clan and the human race. Exclusive NG2 content is supposed to hit XLM on April 15, the demo in May and the game release on June 6.
Thursday, 3 April 2008
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
GTA IV More Popular on Xbox 360 according to IGN Poll
On March 28 IGN created a poll on IGN.com asking readers the following question: "If you're buying GTA IV, which platform version will you purchase?" Surprisingly the Xbox 360 version beat out the PlayStation 3, despite the fact that the series was popularized on previous Sony consoles where past iterations have sold tens of millions of copies.
Xbox 360 to hit 2m in UK
Xbox 360 to hit 2m in UK "next week"
The Xbox 360 is on course to record 2 million sales in the UK next week, according to Chart-Track.
Boosted by the recent official price cut and bumper Easter sales period, Microsoft's console hits the milestone in the midst of a fierce scrap with Sony's rival PlayStation 3 in the key European territory.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Dorian Bloch, director of UK sales monitor Chart-Track, said: "We are very close to clocking through 2 million 360s in the UK. It should be next week."
The Xbox 360 launched in the UK in December 2005 and reached 1 million sales after 60 weeks. Sony announced that PlayStation 3, which launched in the UK last March, had sold through 1 million units by February of this year. According to Microsoft, the Xbox 360 has sold around 18 million units worldwide since launch.
Following price reductions to all three models of the Xbox 360 across Europe, GamesIndustry.biz revealed that 360 enjoyed a 40 per cent uplift in sales within the first weekend after the cut.
After a further leap over the Easter weekend, Bloch said sales dropped by 11 per cent for week 13, while PS3 enjoyed a jump of 14 per cent, coinciding with the launch of the heavily advertised Gran Turismo 5: Prologue hardware bundle. Microsoft was unavailable for comment at the time of writing.
"The Xbox 360 is extremely well liked in the UK and very strong," added Bloch. "Sony has a long way to go to overtake it in the UK."
The Xbox 360 is on course to record 2 million sales in the UK next week, according to Chart-Track.
Boosted by the recent official price cut and bumper Easter sales period, Microsoft's console hits the milestone in the midst of a fierce scrap with Sony's rival PlayStation 3 in the key European territory.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Dorian Bloch, director of UK sales monitor Chart-Track, said: "We are very close to clocking through 2 million 360s in the UK. It should be next week."
The Xbox 360 launched in the UK in December 2005 and reached 1 million sales after 60 weeks. Sony announced that PlayStation 3, which launched in the UK last March, had sold through 1 million units by February of this year. According to Microsoft, the Xbox 360 has sold around 18 million units worldwide since launch.
Following price reductions to all three models of the Xbox 360 across Europe, GamesIndustry.biz revealed that 360 enjoyed a 40 per cent uplift in sales within the first weekend after the cut.
After a further leap over the Easter weekend, Bloch said sales dropped by 11 per cent for week 13, while PS3 enjoyed a jump of 14 per cent, coinciding with the launch of the heavily advertised Gran Turismo 5: Prologue hardware bundle. Microsoft was unavailable for comment at the time of writing.
"The Xbox 360 is extremely well liked in the UK and very strong," added Bloch. "Sony has a long way to go to overtake it in the UK."
Gears of War movie slated for 2010
The film adaptation of Epic's Gears of War has been slated for release in 2010.
"We've got our script on and a director we're about to attach. We'll hopefully make that early next year for the summer of 2010," Twilight producer Wyck Godfrey has told ComingSoon.net.
It was revealed in March 2007 that New Line Cinema has nabbed the rights to a Gears movie, with Stuart Beattie handling the script.
Beattie later described the Gears movie as being an "enormous film."
"There's no way to build that world any other way, really," he said. "That's a huge world. It's a planet and it's a bubble and it's a building. It's an epic sci-fi war and an enormous film. To get it made at all, the only way to make it for a price is to be on a soundstage. But the game also has that look, which is really interesting, so I think it will dovetail really nicely."
Courtesy of CVG.
"We've got our script on and a director we're about to attach. We'll hopefully make that early next year for the summer of 2010," Twilight producer Wyck Godfrey has told ComingSoon.net.
It was revealed in March 2007 that New Line Cinema has nabbed the rights to a Gears movie, with Stuart Beattie handling the script.
Beattie later described the Gears movie as being an "enormous film."
"There's no way to build that world any other way, really," he said. "That's a huge world. It's a planet and it's a bubble and it's a building. It's an epic sci-fi war and an enormous film. To get it made at all, the only way to make it for a price is to be on a soundstage. But the game also has that look, which is really interesting, so I think it will dovetail really nicely."
Courtesy of CVG.
EA Buys Take Two And Gets The Whole Kaboodle
by Torrence Davis
It’s finally happened. EA has purchased Take Two for a lump some of 5 billion dollars. They get all the IP’s including the GTAIV series and all of the Take Two sports games. Say goodbye to NBA2K because EA is not only sticking with the Live brand, but also the Live development team. This means Visual Concepts is now a free agent. The same holds true to all of the 2K sports franchises. EA has completely fucked over ever person who buys 2K sports games because of their greed. They also control the GTA market as well. It’s a sad day for gamers and a great day for EA.
It’s finally happened. EA has purchased Take Two for a lump some of 5 billion dollars. They get all the IP’s including the GTAIV series and all of the Take Two sports games. Say goodbye to NBA2K because EA is not only sticking with the Live brand, but also the Live development team. This means Visual Concepts is now a free agent. The same holds true to all of the 2K sports franchises. EA has completely fucked over ever person who buys 2K sports games because of their greed. They also control the GTA market as well. It’s a sad day for gamers and a great day for EA.
Breaking News: GTAIV delayed for 360 ONLY
Sources close to XE have told us that Rockstar is halting production and delaying the release of Grand Theft Auto 4 for the Xbox 360 due to a late night conference call that happened late this evening. Details are scarce, but it seems as if a former disgruntled Rockstar employee managed to leave hidden data on the Xbox 360 version of GTAIV. Rockstar immediately halted production of the discs to ensure that another “Hot Coffee” type uproar would not occur within the public and media again. Details are very scarce, but word is spreading that the content was a hidden mission involving violence, drugs, and sexual innuendos. Apparently the ESRB missed this content even after a very rigorous review of the entire game. The ESRB even requested a printout of the game code to be reviewed by their own independent research team. This “printout” is rumored to be around 1.7 million pages of data that was read by 14 independently contracted programmers. How they still managed to miss this content is not yet known. This source, who wants to remain anonymous at this time, has also told us that the PS3 version will NOT be delayed. The source states that the content which is causing this mess could not be put on the PS3’s blu-ray discs due to the amount of redundant uncompressed audio that was needed to fill the disc.
Monday, 31 March 2008
Saturday, 29 March 2008
Major analyst predicts Xbox 360 GTA IV will outsell PS3 version by a 2 to 1 ratio
Michael Pachter, the biggest analyst in the video game industry says the superior Xbox 360 version will outsell the PS3 version by a 2 to 1 ratio.
Pachter: "We expect around 6 million copies of GTA IV to be sold to Xbox 360 owners"
Janco Partners' Mike Hickey said that Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV would likely sell 5.8 million units in its first week. Now, in his latest research note on Take-Two, Wedbush Morgan Securites analyst Michael Pachter has issued a similar forecast, predicting that the game will ship six million in its first week and could sell more than nine million during Take-Two's fiscal year, which ends on October 31.
"We estimate that GTA IV is likely to sell over 9 million units during the fiscal year, and think that the company will likely ship 6 million units in its first week, and will sell 3/4 of that amount in a brief period of time. The performance of GTA IV will thus be responsible for more than 100% of Take-Two's earnings for the year, and the game is likely to mask the underperformance of the rest of Take-Two's portfolio," he said. "We think that GTA IV will generate around $450 million of the company's expected $1,073 million publishing revenue this year, and will generate an operating profit of around 30%, or $135 million. At the high end of company guidance, Take-Two will generate operating income of around $130 million, meaning that the game is responsible for 103% of overall company operating profit."
Pachter also questioned the profitability of the downloadable episodic content for the game: "[We think] Take-Two will have to generate over 2 million downloads (assuming a $15 per download price) on the Xbox 360 before it sees any more cash from this content. We expect around 6 million copies of GTA IV to be sold to Xbox 360 owners, and believe that around 65% of Xbox 360 owners are Xbox Live members, so the company has to sell a download to 50% of its addressable market in order to generate cash from the first download. This is possible, but not highly likely."
Elsewhere in the report Pachter noted his disappointment in Take-Two as a whole. GTA IV is the "one glaring exception," he said.
"We think that it is important to point out that U.S. industry software sales have grown by over 58% from the November 2005 – January 2006 period through the November 2007 – January 2008 period, while Take-Two's publishing revenues have declined by almost 23%. This is clearly a company that is losing market share, and as we review the lineup for the balance of 2008 and 2009, we see more of the same type of games we have seen over the last three years," he said. "The company's sports lineup continues to underperform, generating only $32 million of sales (26% of publishing revenues) for the key holiday period. This figure calls into question whether Take-Two can deliver sports revenues of $250 million for FY:08, as management implied in a prior earnings call."
Friday, 28 March 2008
IKARUGA coming to XLM April 9th
# 800 MS Points
# LIVE Co-op + leaderboards
# Replay mode
# Horizontal mode (letterboxed) is higher resolution than even the arcade version
# Vertical modes (tilt) supported, both left and right rotations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToBdzV7w5Pc
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