Archive for May 11th, 2007
Guitar Hero Rocks the 80s on PS2 this summer with 30 new songs
Activision today announced that they will be bringing a new installment to the ultra popular party favorite Guitar Hero series. They will be paying homage to a classic rock era with Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s exclusively on PS2. It will be available in America on July 17th, 2007.
Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s will feature: visually stunning retro rock venues and hipster characters, unlockable guitars, intense game play modes, and most importantly 30 awesome new songs (from genre’s ranging from hair metal to punk to new wave) to experience the ultimate rock star fantasy.
The first set of songs released includes:
1. I Wanna Rock (by Twisted Sister)
2. I Ran (by Flock of Seagulls)
3. Round and Round (as made famous by Ratt)
4. I Want Candy (as made famous by Bow Wow Wow)
5. Metal Health (as made famous by Quiet Riot)
6. Holy Diver (as made famous by Dio)
7. Heat Of The Moment (as made famous by Asia)
On May 21 a second set of songs was revealed:
8. 18 and Life (as made famous by Skid Row)
9. Bathroom Wall (as made famous by Faster Pussycat)
10. Lonely is the Night (as made famous by Billy Squier)
11. Nothing But a Good Time (as made famous by Poison)
12. Play With Me (as made famous by Extreme)
13. Shakin’ (as made famous by Eddie Money)
14. Synchronicity II (as made famous by Police)
On May 24 a few more songs were revealed:
15. Balls to the Wall (as made famous by Accept)
16. Only a Lad (as made famous by Oingo Boingo)
17. The Warrior (as made famous by Scandal)
18. We Got the Beat (as made famous by The Go-Go’s)
On May 28 a video demonstration showed the game:
On June 11 six more songs were unofficially revealed on the pre-release case for the game:
19. “Caught in a Mosh” by Anthrax
20. “Wrathchild” by Iron Maiden
21. “No One Like You” by Scorpions
22. “Turning Japanese” by The Vapors
23. “Hold on Loosely” by .38 Special
24. “Seventeen” by Winger
Bow Wow Wow’s “I Want Candy” was originally announced for the game and appeared in many preview builds. However, Red Octane announced that it would no longer appear in the final version. So that makes not 24, but 23 announced songs.
No comments »Project Rygar for 2007 and Tecmo Bowl 2008 announced by Tecmo
Tecmo held an event in Tokyo, Japan, today to show off some of their new upcoming games like Tecmo Bowl 2008! Sadly no other details are known about that game, except that Mr. Inaga, Vice President of Tecmo, took the stage and said: “Tecmo Bowl is not going to be on the platform you’re probably thinking of.”
During “Tecmo’s Nite Out 07″ producer Keisuke Kikuchi from High Energy Production introduced a another new game. Mr. Kikuchi was producer of many titles like Fatal Frame, Gallop Racer and Super Swing Ball and Pangya Golf. “Now, I’d like to try a new challenge this year” he said as he showed a trailer of Project Rygar. No game footage was shown, only character art and other concept work. Project Rygar is exclusively for the Wii.
Based on the classic NES/Arcade game, this game is not a port of the PS2 sequel and instead Project Rygar starts the franchise anew with new characters and settings. Mr. Kikuchi wants to make a game that people can easily get into through the Wiimote, and the Wiimote will be your main control device for Rygar’s Diskarmor.
Project Rygar is expected to be released later this year. The motto of the title is: “New Hero, New Enemies, Swing Action. For the Nintendo Wii.” The director hopes to be able to show more of Rygar some time this year. — Via IGN
Saints Row PS3 cancelled, Xbox 360 version sells 1.4 million. Saints Row 2 confirmed for Xbox 360 & PS3 in 2008
THQ announced to analysts during the quarterly earnings report conference call that Saints Row will remain an Xbox 360 exclusive, as they have now cancelled the PS3 version that was in the works for Q1 2007. The reason? CFO Edward Zinser said “We are rolling the resources [from developer Volition] onto Saints Row 2.” THQ CEO Brian Farrell further explained: “We think the most important thing for the Saints Row franchise is to have a simultaneous ship into a larger installed base next year, we think the bigger opportunity is a multiplatform launch. That’s what we’re looking for with Saints Row 2.”
THQ said that Saints Row has shipped over 1.4 million units of the Xbox 360 game worldwide. THQ recently released Saints Row as a reduced-price Xbox 360 Platinum Hits title.
Saints Row 2 will ship simultaneously on the Xbox 360 and PS3 sometime in 2008. Further details on the Saints Row sequel were scarce, with THQ saying only that the game would “utilize Volition’s proprietary open-world engine and deliver an all-new cross-platform gaming experience.” Farrell did tell analysts the game had been in the works for “some time.” — Quotes via Gamespot & Nextgen.
Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron PSP exclusive announced by LucasArts
LucasArts today announced the FPS game Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron as an exclusive release for the Sony PSP, coming in Fall 2007. Renegade Squadron will support online multiplayer matches, up to 16 players via internet and up to 8 players via ad-hoc wireless connection, or in co-op or against other teams.
Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron is the previously untold story of a ragtag ensemble of battle-hardened rogues and scoundrels assembled by Han Solo. Gathered to execute some of the most secretive operations in the Rebel Alliance’s war against the Galactic Empire, the Renegade Squadron participates in battles spanning the galaxy. From the Valley of the Sith on Korriban to a dogfight in space through the remains of Alderaan, Solo directs the team on missions of sabotage, rescue and retrieval.
The loads and loads of features include: Article continues »
Official Halo 3 Betalicious multiplayer video from Bungie
Bungie asked Mr. Jukes, an internal beta tester on Halo 3, to put together an amusing “Betalicious” video that uses Halo 3’s save system. If you include the Halo 3 Alpha and Beta, he’s played about 1,100 games so far!
To quote: “Before you check out Mr. Jukes’ Halo 3 video debut, please keep in mind that this video [with lots of jumping] was produced using the internal beta version of Halo 3. This means it’s a bit older than what the rest of the world will start playing [on May 16]. It also means that it has all sorts of debug text all over it - this won’t be in the [multiplayer beta] version you get your hands on.”
Lots of Spartan Laser destruction to be had.
PS: Halo 2 this week hit 5 million online players!
Crackdown gets free update, free pack and $10 bonus pack with new weapons, vehicles and Xbox 360 game modes
May 12 update: Warning! The new downloads (or just the title update) are erasing save game data some of the time when you play a co-op game where the host has the Keys to the City cheat mode enabled. The Crackdown forums mention the creators are working on a fix for the problem over the weekend, for now there’s only a workaround:
1. Sign-in to Xbox Live
2. Start Crackdown and receive new Title Update (if you haven’t already)
3. Begin a Single Player Campaign game
4. Once loaded, press Start and choose “Quit”
5. Reboot Crackdown (soft reboot or hard reboot of console)
With more than 900,000 units of Crackdown sold-through in only two months, Microsoft Game Studios and Realtime Worlds are extending the game. New Crackdown content is going to hit the Xbox Live Marketplace today and over the next week. You’ve got your free Title Update Items, a Free-For-All Pack, and an 800 Microsoft Points (that’s $10 / €9.60 / £6.80) for the “Getting’ Busy Bonus Pack“.
Crackdownoncrime gives a good tip for the pay-for pack: You can essentially “try before you buy†by partnering cooperatively with another player that has purchased the “Getting’ Busy Bonus Pack”. This will give both players full access to pack’s goodies, for that session.
Majornelson has videos showing it all like the new weapons:
Directly from the development team at Real Time Worlds, here’s a list of what’s in the update & downloadable content: Article continues »
Star Ocean 1 & 2 remakes for PSP and Star Ocean 4 (for PS3?) announced by Square-Enix
Producer Yoshinori Yamagishi was also present at yesterday’s Square-Enix Party 2007 pre-conference meeting. He said a few words, and then let a video do the talking. It revealed these games:
* Star Ocean: First Departure is a full remake of the first Super Famicom (SNES) Star Ocean Japan-only game from 1996, but for PSP.
* Star Ocean: Second Evolution is a full remake of Star Ocean: The Second Story that originally appeared on PS1 in 1998, and is also for PSP.
* “Star Ocean 4 is currently under development to meet the highest specifications, and is being developed by tri-Ace,” said Yamagishi. He didn’t mention the platform or the release date, but 1UP surmised that Star Ocean 4 will be released on PS3, also because 2004’s Star Ocean 3: Till the End of Time was a PS2-only game, but a multiplatform release is not out of the question.
Square-Enix making Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon for Wii
At Square-Enix Party’s pre-conference meeting yesterday, Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon for Wii was announced. Ten years ago the first Chocobo’s Dungeon game was released by Square in Japan, with a sequel also making it to America in 1999. According to the game’s producer Yuki Yokoyama, it will not just be a dungeon-crawler as it has been in the previous version.
The trailer shown to the press feature a similar art style (but with superior 3D engine) to that of the recently released Chocobo Tales on the Nintendo DS. IGN described it as: “Gameplay will feature the same random dungeon, turn-based battles that the original brought to the PlayStation ten years ago, in a bigger, bolder production for Wii gamers. The adventure follows Chocobo on a quest to recover memories lost by villagers by a mysterious force, and the game footage showed these “memories” personified as shiny sparkly objects that will be collected throughout the gameplay.”
Mr. Yokoyama hinted at something in Chocobo’s Dungeon on Wii for fans of the DS Chocobo Tales game, but didn’t reveal what that could be.
Shadowrun release date on Xbox 360 and PC is May 29th 2007
Microsoft Game Studios and FASA Studios (MechAssault) have announced that Shadowrun is finished for Xbox 360 and Windows Vista PC. Shadowrun incorporates ancient magic and advanced technology into strategic and clever teambased gameplay for an unparalleled combat experience. The FPS game has an American release date of May 29th, 2007. Whereas the European release date falls on June 1st, 2007.
Utilizing both the Xbox LIVE and Games For Windows - LIVE network, Shadowrun tears down the walls between friends and gamer communities on the Xbox 360 and Windows Vista-based PC by letting as many as 16 gamers play together, regardless of platform (aka cross-platform). Not only does Shadowrun bring these communities together, it also extends the features gamers love on Xbox LIVE, such as gamertags, achievements, friends lists and integrated voice communication, onto the PC through Games for Windows — LIVE. Shadowrun is optimized for a multiplayer online experience LIVE, which requires an Xbox LIVE Gold account on Xbox 360 or Silver account on Games for Windows, the latter without Matchmaking or Live Anywhere.
The Shadowrun Xbox 360 and PC trailer:
Article continues »
Limited Edition Homer Simpson yellow Xbox 360
Remember those Colorware console casings in all sorts of fruity colors? Microsoft hired those guys to make a limited edition Homer Simpson Xbox 360 Premium, and yes, it’s very yellow! Perfect for The Simpsons fans waiting to play The Simpsons Game in Fall 2007.
There will only be 100 produced. No word yet on how you can win them, but Microsoft will be giving them away as prizes in various competitions to celebrate the The Simpsons Movie release on July 27th, 2007. — Via Flickr & Gizmodo
