Archive for March 8th, 2008
March 8, 2008
It’s impossible to mention Digital Extremes’ sci-fi shooter Dark Sector without the obligatory reiteration that, yes, the game was technically the first announced title for what is now the current generation of consoles. However, announced is one thing, and actually showing up on retail shelves is a beast altogether separate. After the original reveal in 2004, the game took after its namesake and went dark, only to resurface in December 2006.
Since then, Digital Extremes has given audiences fairly regular looks at its long-in-development shooter, and the game appeared to be on track for release in January. Dark Sector apparently needed a bit more time in the cooker, though, as the date came and went with the project still under construction. Confident in a new date, D3Publisher has officially dimmed the lights, and Digital Extremes is at long last ready to release Dark Sector on March 25 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Dark Sector will be powered by Digital Extremes’ proprietary Evolution Engine, and will transport players to the sordid underbelly of a decrepit Eastern European city. There, players assume the role of genetically enhanced black-ops agent Hayden Tenno, who must navigate the squalor to uncover the city’s mysterious Cold War secret.
While Digital Extremes may not be a household name, its most notable work to date certainly is. The Canada-based development house is credited as cocreators of Epic Game’s massively popular sci-fi shooter series Unreal. Most recently, Digital Extremes released Pariah for the PC and Xbox in 2005, with Warpath following on the same platforms in 2006.
March 8, 2008
The latest colour in the PlayStation Portable palette went on sale in Japan on February 28 and launched the handheld to the top of this week’s charts.
According to figures released today by sales tracking firm Media Create, the PSP is top dog for the week of February 25 to March 2 in the Japanese hardware charts, selling 73,706 units.
Next up was the Wii, which sold 64,535 units, followed by the DS Lite with 51,922 units and the PlayStation 3 with 13,520. Still going strong is the PlayStation 2, which totted up 10,986 in sales despite the availability of three next-generation platforms. The Xbox 360 brought up the rear with 2,282 consoles sold.
The mint-green PSP was announced in January, and Sony said in a statement that the new colour was designed to attract female users (and all those who like flowers).
In the software charts, Gundam Musou Special for the PlayStation 2 went straight in at number one, knocking Super Smash Bros. Brawl off the top slot. Gundam Musou Special sold 149,846 copies in its first week on sale, followed by Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Wii Fit.
March 8, 2008
Remember Pipe Mania? Like Tetris, it started off easy and gradually got more and more difficult until it became almost impossible. Gamers had to guide “flooze” through a series of pipes to stop it from oozing out onto the grid. You build the pipe from a selection of different shapes on the grid, and your goal is to finish without the flooze escaping.
Now Pipe Mania is coming back, like flares, leg warmers, and puffball skirts before it. The game will be coming to the Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2, Xbox Live Arcade, and the PC.
The new version of the game will add expanded game modes, along with new themes, play mechanics, and pipe pieces. UK-based Empire Interactive is both developing and publishing the game, and it is slated for a global launch before the end of the year.
The original Pipe Mania game was released in 1989 on the Amiga, and was developed by The Assembly Line and ported by LucasFilm Games to other platforms including the Atari ST, BBC Micro, and Commodore 64. The various iterations of the game have sold in total more than four million copies worldwide.
March 8, 2008
USATODAY.com - CUPERTINO, Calif. - Apple wants the iPhone to become a corporate e-mail gadget and a portable video game machine. It’s also teaming with a prominent venture capital firm to offer a substantial kitty $100 million to lure developers to the iPhone.
March 8, 2008
Reuters - German video gamers, long wedded to their personal computers, are switching to games consoles and mobile devices, pushing German games software sales up 21 percent to 1.36 billion euros ($2.1 billion) last year.
March 8, 2008
AFP - “I don’t care, we’re all going to die anyway,” says 17-year-old Christian, to laughs from his friends as they play video games at the CeBIT IT fair in Germany.
March 8, 2008
NewsFactor - Microsoft is talking to rival Sony about the possibility of adding Blu-ray technology to the Xbox, according to The Financial Times. Sony Electronics U.S. President Stan Glasgow acknowledged talks with both Microsoft and Apple about adding Blu-ray drives to their hardware. Microsoft and Apple have been pushing the digital-distribution model, which analysts believe will eventually trump Blu-ray’s recent format victory.
March 8, 2008
2007 was a particularly outstanding year for the games industry. In fact, the last time we remember this level of competition was 2004, which saw a slew of major titles released, including World of Warcraft, Half-Life 2, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Halo 2, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Doom 3, and Far Cry.
Not to be outdone, 2007 rose to the occasion and saw a string of stellar titles hit the shelves of games retailers, including BioShock, Assassin’s Creed, Mass Effect, Crysis, The Orange Box, Call of Duty 4, Super Mario Galaxy, Forza Motorsport 2, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Project Gotham Racing 4, and God of War II, just to name a few. If Its Games readers across the United Kingdom have chosen to join in the debate and pick their best games of 2007.
Project Gotham Racing 4, developed by Liverpool-based Bizarre Creations, took out the Readers’ Choice for Best British-developed Game, crossing the finish line ahead of Sega’s Football Manager 2008, Traveller’s Tales’ Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Codemasters’ DiRT, and Ninja Theory’s Heavenly Sword. The arcade racer–exclusive to the Xbox 360–also won the If Its Games UK Editors’ Choice Award for Best British-developed Game.
Meanwhile, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the latest in Activision’s popular shooter franchise and a fresh departure from the WWII-inspired action of past installments, walked away with a string of achievements, including being voted by readers as overall Game of the Year, Best Multiplayer Game, Most Improved Sequel, Best Xbox 360 Game, and Best PS3 Game.
Surprises ensued with Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars beating World in Conflict for Best Strategy Game and the Xbox 360 Elite voted Best New Gaming Hardware ahead of Sony’s PlayStation 3. It wasn’t a landslide for some awards either, with Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune narrowly losing the Best PlayStation 3 Game Readers’ Choice to COD4 by a mere four percent of votes.
See all of the If Its Games UK Readers’ Choice winners here.
March 8, 2008
Sexy soap actress Gemma Atkinson will be hosting Play.com Live at Wembley Stadium on March 15 and 16, and has admitted she loves the Wii, but she has one problem with its games. Gemma\’s ample boobs apparently can get in the way, she said a sports bra would \”definitely be handy for strapping them in when jumping up and down with the controllers.\” she said. Don\’t you just love The Sun, for more images click below.
March 8, 2008
Divineo.co.uk has informed us that they have received their first batch of Datel\’s FreeLoader for the Wii and have a limited amount of stock left. Any retailers who claimed to have stock of the device previously were lying, as the glass master for pressing the PAL version was completed yesterday at around 4:30pm by Datel. Better yet, there is no more need for a double swap on certain games, this has been changed to a single swap and Datel has tested over 100 import games which are all working perfectly we\’re told. We have also been sent along images of the final box, disc and manual. FreeLoader is available to buy from Divineo.co.uk for
March 8, 2008
SEGA of America, today announced two titles from the SEGA Genesis library, Puyo Puyo 2 and Powerball will soon be available for download on the Wii Shop Channel this March. Prices start at 800 Wii Points for SEGA Genesis titles.
March 8, 2008
Divineo.co.uk sent us in a close-up of the new Wii FreeLoader disc and on it something slightly interesting is revealed. The disc has a caution mark stamped on it which states \”FreeLoader for Wii works with all current versions of Wii firmware at the time of release. No guarantee can be given of compatibility with future firmware releases so if online updates are performed on your console this may prevent FreeLoader from functioning correctly.\”
March 8, 2008
Ubisoft has entered an agreement with EuropaCorp to develop video games based upon its upcoming CG/live action-movies called Arthur and the revenge of Maltazard and Arthur and the Two Worlds War. Ubisoft is reportedly thrilled to work on the project.
March 8, 2008
The UK equivalent of the Playstation blog has posted up what is believed to be the worlds first Playstation 3 tattoo. The guys is called Tony and this is what he had to say:
March 8, 2008
Nyko Technologies announced today that it has shipped its Zero Wireless Controller for PS3, beating the Dualshock 3 to U.S. stores. Nyko say the Zero Wireless Controller is the ultimate solution for PS3 gaming, making it the top choice in high-end wireless controllers.