Archive for January, 2008
On Xbox Live Arcade today: Rez HD, Chessmaster Live and various new Rock Band tracks
From today, at 9AM GMT (2AM PDT), you can play Q Entertainment’s Rez HD on Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360. Rez HD will be available worldwide for 800 Microsoft Points (that’s US$10 / €9.60 / £6.80 / CAN$12.40 / AU$13.20).
Set in a cyberworld, the legendary fast-paced action-shooter Rez HD created by Tetsuya Mizuguchi will provide the ultimate audiovisual experience as you target the enemies and hack the system while creating your own beats. Five challenging areas, each with its own theme as well as unlockables waiting to be discovered. Don’t be afraid to dig deep into the world’s computer network! This game requires the Xbox 360 hard drive or the 512MB Memory Unit for storage.
Key game features include:
* Legendary gaming experience: Old-school vector style graphics, sensory response, and beat synchronization sets the title apart and is perfectly recreated in this port for Xbox Live Arcade in high-definition and 5.1 surround sound.
* The world of Rez: Rez consists of five different levels, each with its own unique visual theme and style, musical track and a boss battle at the end. The game also features several different modes and lots of unlockable elements, giving it plenty of replay value.
* Game modes: Play through the five areas in regular or Score Attack mode. Go to the Beyond mode and try Direct Assault, Lost Mode, the free play Trance Mission, or take on all the bosses consecutively in Boss Rush.
* Feel the rhythm: To further enhance the Rez experience, artists including Coldcut, Adam Freeland, Joujouka, Ken Ishii and Keiichi Sugiyama (SEGA’s Wave Master) contributed tracks to the game.
Also available today is Ubisoft’s Chessmaster Live on Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360. Chessmaster Live will be available worldwide for 800 Microsoft Points (that’s US$10 / €9.60 / £6.80 / CAN$12.40 / AU$13.20).
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Valve unveils Steamworks toolset for aspiring PC game developers
Valve has unveiled their Steamworks toolset which will be available free of charge for any aspiring PC game developers. The toolset comprises a “complete suite of publishing tools” and will contain these features:
* Complete real-time stats covering everything from gameplay to sales
* Encryption tied to product activation
* Territory control “to help curb gray market”
* Auto updating to keep your games up-to-date
* Voice chat for online play
* Matchmaking support
* “Social networking services” like achievements, avatars, etc.
* And development tools for QA, play testing, etc.
And in addition to the toolkit allowing you to publish your games on Steam (naturally) you will even be able to use them to release your game through competing digital distribution and retail channels.
The whole point of this is to expand the number of games on the service and people using it to play them, as well as to push the service even further as the de-facto PC gaming service. “By not charging for this, it’s just another way to get more people onto Steam and to enjoy all the games. Our motivations here are pretty clear,” says Jason Holtman, Valve’s award-winning business director.
Sounds pretty good to me! — Valve
Last secret character confirmed for Super Smash Bros. Brawl: Wolf completes the roster
Tomorrow, on January 31st, in Japan the Wii fighting game Super Smash Bros. Brawl will be released. Yesterday the game’s street date was broken and some lucky Japanese Smash fans got an early copy of the game that revealed 1 newcomer and 7 veterans for Brawl.
Now those same gamers have played through the game’s modes and as a result we can now confirm the last secret newcomer Wolf as one of the 35 characters in Super Smash Bros Brawl! Here’s what he looks like:
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Fatal Frame 4 screenshots revealed. Nintendo to publish
Nintendo will both produce and publish Fatal Frame 4: The Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (as the Japanese name translates). “Memories” will be a key theme of the game, which has Keisuke Kikuchi returning as producer and Shibata Makoto as director. Also directly involved will be Suda51 (No surprise since he developed No More Heroes). The game is set for release in Japan this summer exclusively on Wii.
The existence of Fatal Frame 4 and the fact that it’s being developed for Wii has been known since the last Tokyo Game Show, where it was revealed that Grasshopper would be working on the title (the guys behind the critical darling No More Heroes).
The screenshots above and below are from a 2 minute trailer that was shown.
New Resistance 2 PS3 screenshots
Sony has released a few Resistance 2 screenshots for you PS3 fans to ogle. As you might know, the sequel continues the story after the first game. The Black Ops aircraft carrying Sgt. Nathan Hale is shot down over Iceland. Hale escapes to the United States and becomes part of a program known as Sentinels, a group of soldiers that, like Hale, are resistant to the Chimera virus. Two years after arriving Stateside, the Chimera launch a full-scale invasion on both the east and west coasts of the United States.
Check out what the scope of this Chimera invasion entails in the following Resistance 2 screenshots. (click on each thumbnail to enlarge the screenshot)
First Tiberium FPS gameplay video (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)
Set in the Command & Conquer universe 11 years after the Third Tiberium War. Tiberium is a squad-based action FPS game where Ricardo Vega leads a crew of soldiers against another Scrin invasion, with the player right there on the frontlines. A tentative release date for the PC, Xbox 360 & PS3 game has been set in Q3 2008.
Watch the first three minutes of pure Tiberium gameplay filled with guns, mechs and squads.
GT TV gets the first ever look into EA’s Tiberium. Talking with the masterminds behind the game in this video interview/preview.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed documentary video shows the power behind The Force
The Star Wars: The Force Unleashed details an expansive story, created by LucasArts under direction from George Lucas, is set during the largely unexplored era between Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. In it, players will assist the iconic villain in his quest to rid the universe of Jedi, and face decisions that could change the course of their destiny. As its name implies, The Force Unleashed completely re-imagines the scope and scale of the Force by taking full advantage of newly developed technologies…
…See what it took to take this game from concept to reality.
DS Lite with Cobalt Blue color coming to America end February 2008?
If an online pre-order webpage for the American retailer Circuit City was correct, then a new color Cobalt Blue DS Lite will be released before the end of February 2008. The DS Lite is colored in both cobalt blue and black, similar to the crimson red and black DS Lite.
A Nintendo insider described the “awesome” color as “purplish blue” and says that factory workers just started putting on the new color of clamshells in the last few days. Which means that once packing begins, there’s usually a two week or one month period before they hit store shelves. — Via Kotaku
Super Mario Lego - Levels 1, 2 and Bowser
Who doesn’t love a little Super Mario Bros. LEGO-style? You’ve probably seen these type of things around the Internet before, and we’ve even posted other ones at times, but I thought I’d post this up anyway. It’s always fun to watch.
Stage 1-1
Bowser’s Castle
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Gran Turismo 5 Prologue US release date is April 17th
Sony has finally announced a North American release date for Gran Turismo 5: Prologue on April 17th. The game will be available at either retail stores or available for purchase and download at the PlayStation Store for a price of $39.99.
The Blue Ray disc version however will give gamers some extra incentives including a behind-the-scenes High Definition video feature called “Beyond the Apex”.
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, an the precursor to Gran Turismo 5 and features over 60 meticulously detailed vehicles from manufacturers such as Ferrari, Audi and Nissan. Users will experience the vehicle-specific physics technology and intricate graphical rendering that Polyphony Digital is renowned for. Additionally, for the first time in the history of the franchise, users can race online — at 60 fps (frames per second) in stunning 1080p HD with up to 16 vehicles at a time on beautifully rendered tracks from around the globe, including Daytona International Speedway and a London City track.
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will also feature various innovative and revolutionary modes to harness PS3 system’s capabilities while further developing an automotive lifestyle and global community. Among them is Gran Turismo TV, a new dedicated online channel available exclusively from the Playstation Network that delivers worldwide motorsport programming and manufacturer content. Additionally, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will support online racing events to foster community competition. A new in-cockpit view
will provide a unique perspective for racers and features real-time gauges and human animations that accurately represent the true performance and handling of each vehicle. To extend the realistic driving experience, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is also compatible with the new DualShock 3 controller, which has vibration functionality.
