First Guitar Hero 5 songs and details revealed
Guitar Hero 5 will arrive this Fall. Featuring the biggest rock stars of today combined with classic rock anthems. Activision also revealed the first songs for the music game.
For the first time ever, players can customize the make-up of their band by rocking with any combination of instruments in-game: whether it be two guitars and two drums, or three guitars and a microphone, any combination is possible, allowing players to experience music their own way. Brand new, innovative, easy-to-use gameplay modes like Party Play and RockFest put fun, competition and control at center stage as fans tailor the Guitar Hero experience to match their personal style and interests.
For extended hours of entertainment, downloadable content from Guitar Hero 4: World Tour will be compatible with the game and will automatically be updated to include all of the upgrades and enhancements of Guitar Hero 5.
Guitar Hero 5 promises the strongest, most varied set list to-date comprised of master tracks from 85 of the hottest bands of today and the biggest classic acts including; Kings of Leon, The Rolling Stones, The White Stripes, Santana, Vampire Weekend, Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, plus more than 30 artists from a variety of music genres that will be making their music-rhythm video game debut.
The confirmed Guitar Hero 5 tracks are:
Among the first-time-ever features of Guitar Hero 5 are: Party Play, where players can jump in or drop out of gameplay seamlessly; RockFest, a comprehensive competitive experience available featuring five new head-to-head modes playable online or in your living room; and the ability to play the entire set-list from the first time the game is turned on.
Guitar Hero 5 refines the player experience, enhances the art style and redesigns core features such as GHMusic Studio, making it the most accessible, fun-to-play and authentic experience for seasoned music gamers as well as first-time players. New innovations such as Band Moments, where bands are rewarded for hitting special note streams together and song challenges where gamers are tasked to play through a song a specific way, add a new competitive layer of excitement and accomplishment to the music rhythm genre.
No comments »Apogee looking for Duke Nukem lookalike to promote Duke Nukem Trilogy
Are you Duke Nukem? If you think you have what it takes then you may want to try your hand at a new contest by Deep Silver and Apogee Software to promote Duke Nukem Trilogy.
The Duke Nukem Trilogy is comprised of three episodes: Critical Mass, Chain Reaction, and Proving Grounds, and will be released sequentially beginning in 2009 for Nintendo DS and PSP.
“Got a little Duke in ya’? Well, we want to see it! Starting today Deep Silver, Inc. and Apogee Software, LLC announced that due to popular demand, their search for the next live-action Duke Nukem actor has evolved from a three-city tour into a massive online audition open to anyone willing to take on the challenge.”
Fans can do just about whatever they want to demonstrate why they should be the next Duke Nukem. Their performance will be judged by a panel of Duke Experts, including some of Duke’s creators [Who now have plenty of time! Sorry, bad joke. -Ed]. The Experts will combine all entries from all over the United States and will then narrow it down to a lucky few. The judges will then make their decision and the winner will be announced.
The winner will get to travel around the world representing Deep Silver and Apogee Software, as the new “official” Duke Nukem… and they’ll get paid to do it! They will be the new face of the the Duke Nukem Trilogy and get to interact with the world like no other iconic videogame character ever has.
“We are opening the floodgates on the search for the next live-action Duke Nukem. Before we were reaching out to the fans with a three-city nationwide search, but due to the high demand we have chosen to expand our search to allow every Duke fan a chance to submit their entry, said Chad McNeil, marketing manager for Deep Silver, Inc. “We want to see your best Duke Nukem, so get ready to kick ass and chew some bubblegum because this is going to be one of the craziest promotions the videogame industry has seen for a long time!”
Deep Silver and Apogee are calling on all Duke fans to step up and compete to be The Next Duke Nukem. If you think that you have what it takes, or know someone who does, head on over to www.dukeisback.com for more information, as well as contest rules.
By the way, check out some Duke Nukem: Critical Mass gameplay footage here:
Photo credit: Unigamesity
See the Uncharted 2 single-player in action
The PS3-exclusive adventure Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has been in the news a lot lately, because of its new multiplayer modes. But what about the single-player?
We’ve seen the original Uncharted 2 teaser, but no actual gameplay yet. That all changes today. While the official tagline for the game’s campaign states this is “Drake’s quest to follow in the footsteps of Marco Polo.” The first gameplay video shows him in all sorts of trouble in the middle of a very detailed and high-octane war zone.
Enjoy 6 minutes of Uncharted 2’s stunning single-player campaign.
Keep a close eye on Nathan’s reactions to explosions and how he’s an imperfect character stumbling as he runs. And of course still trying to relieve stress by making quips.
DS sets all-time system sales record in U.S. for April 2009
The Nintendo DS broke records for the month of April 2009 by selling 1.04 million units across the DSi and DS Lite. Making it the best-selling system of all time in April according to the NPD.
The system was propelled to these kinds of sales thanks to the debut of the new Nintendo DSi system, which sold over 827,000 units in its first full month on store shelves, which is another all-time record.
When you combine that with the fact that the DS Lite still sold 215,000 units for April, you can see why Nintendo is in its Happy Place right now, as they continue to maintain their firm grip on handheld system sales.
Six Nintendo published games also made the top 10 best-sellers list for April 2009, these games were:
* Wii Fit – 470,000 at #1
* Pokemon Platinum – 432,000 at #2
* Mario Kart Wii – 209,000 at # 3
* Wii Play – 170,000 at # 4
* New Super Mario Bros. – 119,000 at # 7
* Mario kart DS – 112,000 at # 8
Life to date sales of the Nintendo DS system in all its incarnations now sits at over 30 million in the United States alone.
Meanwhile the Wii maintained its domination as the #1 best-selling home console system with 340,000 units sold in April 2009. Which is more than the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 system sales combined. Wii has sold through nearly 20 million units in the United States alone since its launch in November of 2006.
“Nintendo systems and software represented 56 percent of the industry total shares in April, indicating continued strong consumer preference for quality and value,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Looking ahead, we are excited to introduce active-play games like Punch-Out!! and Wii Sports Resort into the market.”
New Tony Hawk: Ride game will include skateboard peripheral
Tony Hawk 10, now known as Tony Hawk: Ride, is the title of the next Tony Hawk skateboarding game, and this time around it will come with a plastic, black skateboard peripheral!
Tony Hawk: Ride is in development at Robomodo for Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii. The single-player sports game is expected to arrive in Fall 2009. Looking at the debut trailer revealed exclusively on Gametrailers TV, the graphics seems to be less realistic than previous Tony Hawk games. It also seems to be only playable with the new wheel-less skateboard peripheral, so bye-bye regular controllers.
The pioneering skateboard franchise completely re-invented. Watch Tony Hawk’s first Ride.
Publisher Activision has said in the past that with this new motion sensing balance board peripheral, players will “put down the controller, step on the board, and feel the sensation of going big… Shift your weight to turn and balance grinds, kick back on the tail of the board to ollie, and lean into airs to pull off huge spins.”
Activision also claims that this game will “deliver the kind of breakthrough this franchise needs.” What do you think?
Serious Sam 3 announced by Croteam
Developer Croteam has revealed it’s working on Serious Sam 3, the next instalment in the Serious Sam first-person shooter series.
In a “Serious Update” on the Croteam website, CEO Roman Ribaric says:
“One of which is the next Serious Sam FPS game. Here, we are pretty close in signing the publishing deal, so when that happens, you’ll hear it here as well.”
“Since the Serious Sam 2 was released in end of 2005, we have been working hard on a number of things, one of which is new next-gen ‘Serious Engine 3′ technology. More on this will come in future updates.
We have also recently started the development on two games, one of which is the next Serious Sam FPS game. Here, we are pretty close in signing the publishing deal, so when that happens, you’ll hear it here as well.
[...] Finally, to reassure again all our fans, our development is going great on all three projects and we will soon have exciting things to show. Since a lot still has to be done, especially on the next Sam game, we don’t have a firm release date on it yet. When we do, we’ll announce it here on our pages.”
The developer also mentioned in an interview with the Croatian magazine GamePlay back in 2007, that Serious Sam 3 will feature the same “in your face” gameplay that’s made the series so popular, and be built on new technology in the form of Serious Engine 3.
No platforms have been detailed yet, but PC is a shoe-in. Considering past games in the series made it to PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo consoles, I’d expect the game to be multiplatform to increase its fun-loving audience reach. With Duke Nukem Forever really out of the picture, Serious Sam 3 might be one fo the last bastions of hope for over-the-top action heroes applying to fight hordes of enemies all at once.
Serious Sam 3 is currently planned to be finished in 2010.
Gamer movie trailer and poster
GAMER is an upcoming movie that stars Gerald Butler (from the hit movie 300) and Michael C. Hall (Six Feet Under’s David Fisher and Dexter Morgan from Showtime’s Dexter) that sets out to create a Death Race-style Massively Multiplayer Online-related film set in a very terrible and ultraviolet future earth.
Gamer is a high-concept action thriller set in the near future, a time when mind-control technology has taken society by storm. Humans control other humans in a mass-scale, multiplayer online game. Reclusive billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall) has created the controversial form of entertainment, “Slayers,” a hugely popular game that allows millions to act out their innermost desires and fantasies – online – in front of a global audience. Gaming has evolved into a terrifying new dimension — mind control, manipulation and people playing people.
At the center is Kable (300’s GerardButler), the superstar and cult hero of “Slayers,” the savage, ultraviolent first person shooter game. Kable is controlled by Simon, a young gamer with rock star status who continues to defy all odds by guiding Kable to victory each week. Taken from his family, imprisoned and forced to fight against his will, the modern day gladiator must survive long enough to escape the game to free his family, regain his identity and to save mankind from Castle’s ruthless technology.
Here is a trailer for the upcoming film.
GAMER stars Gerard Butler (300, THE UGLY TRUTH), Michael C. Hall (“Dexter”), Amber Valletta (TRANSPORTER 2), John Leguizamo (RIGHTEOUS KILL, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13) and Kyra Sedgwick (“The Closer”) and is set for release in North America on September 4th, 2009.
The King of Fighters XII downloadable content confirmed
The King of Fighters XII will feature a Marketplace mode where players can buy additional items online.
Unfortunately no details about this downloadable content have been revealed yet, but it’s a nice thought that additional The King of Fighters XII characters, extra costumes or game modes could become available after the game’s release on PS3 and Xbox 360 this July.
Talking about extra modes, there’s one different online mode depending on which console version you pick up.
* Only on Xbox 360, you’ll have the Ranked Match option, which does what it says.
* While only PS3 players can access a Clan option to visit a bulletin board.
Translated from Japanese by Siliconera
Update June 2009: It seems that SNK is leaving Mai — one of the most requested characters for KOFXII — from the character roster. Making her a prime candidate as a downloadable character.
Infamous takes 15-25 hours to finish
InFamous is set to zap the PlayStation 3 on May 21st (May 29 in Europe) which is quickly approaching us. To generate more hype for Sucker Punch’s latest title, co-founder of the company Chris Zimmerman discussed the game at-length in a recent video interview on the official PlayStation Blog.
Among the questions addressed is the length of the game. InFamous takes about 15-25 hours to finish. To expound, he states:
“It depends on how you decide to play it. If you play straight through as fast as you can, maybe 15 hours. But in addition to the 35 stories in the game, we have 100 side missions, and we have a whole bunch of collectibles to pick up. So if you do all that stuff, we’re talking 20-25 hours, maybe.”
Get much more information on the game from the source himself in this interview with Sucker Punch co-founder Chris Zimmerman.
Velvet Assassin codes and cheats on PC
Velvet Assassin is a fun, stealth-action game for the PC and Xbox 360. These cheats for the PC version will let you unlock various in-game extras like God Mode and explosives.
Go into cheat mode:
During gameplay, hold the [CTRL] + [SHIFT] + [O] + [E] keyboard keys and then press the [H] key to activate Developer Mode. To enable a cheat in-game, enter the below code.
Unlock extra in-game features:
