Archive for April 2nd, 2008
April 2, 2008
Square Enix have unleashed their first wave of paid download content for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles today with eight new items. There are three new character races at (300 points each, or 800 for all three): Lilty, Yuke, and Selkie. There are also new buildings at 200 points each and clothing items for 100 points each. The items for the game can only be purchased from the title screen, not the Wii Shop Channel and a update is first required for the game.
April 2, 2008
Famitsu recently revealed that the team behind the Ace Combat series is working on a flight simulator game that is based on a Japanese animated film called Sky Crawlers. The game will use the Wiimote as the throttle and the nunchuk to steer the plane, check the forums for a video of the creator showing them in action). The game is set to be released in Japan on August 2008 and is TBA for the U.S.
April 2, 2008
Sometimes being wrong isn’t so bad. That’s certainly the lesson Ubisoft is becoming acutely aware of as its games continue to outpace sales expectations, and consequently alter the publisher’s bottom line. In December, Ubisoft said that its Montreal studio’s Assassin’s Creed had shifted 2.5 million units in its first month, a figure Ubisoft claims equates to the fastest-selling new gaming intellectual property in the US, with 2.5 million more having shipped by the publisher’s third-quarter financial report. Ubi’s go-to Canadian studio followed that success with Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2, which the publisher said yesterday had shipped more than 2 million units in its first two weeks at retail.
With several titles from Ubisoft’s casual brand complementing Assassin’s Creed and Vegas 2’s “better-than-expected” performance, the publisher has on several occasions revised its earnings upward. Most recently, Ubisoft said yesterday that its full-year haul would now amount to €920 million (about $1.45 billion), up from previous projections of €875 million (about $1.38 billion). Unsurprisingly, the third revision in as many months has had a positive impact on the publisher’s stock price, reports financial news service Bloomberg.
Today, the publisher closed trading up 5.6 percent on Euronext Paris, rising €3.03 (about $4.70) to €57.60 (about $90). With shares peaking as high as €60 (about $94) on the day, Bloomberg reports Ubisoft’s stock is at its highest level in more than a month.
Today’s spike follows a 10 percent jump occurring in the wake of Ubisoft’s acquisition of the rights to Tom Clancy’s military-media empire in March. The franchise has been highly lucrative for the publisher in the past, with the Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, and Ghost Recon series each reaching multiplatinum status across a breadth of platforms. Ubisoft has plans to expand this brand with two new franchises: EndWar, a WWIII-themed real-time strategy game, and an as-yet-unannounced air combat game. The publisher has also signaled its intent to investigate the possibility of a Tom Clancy massively multiplayer online game, and plans to publish books as well as produce television shows and films related to the brand.
April 2, 2008
The past nine-odd months have seen Rockstar Games waging a protracted legal battle to unban Manhunt 2 in the UK. Finally, on March 14, the Video Appeals Committee of the British Board of Film Classification–the UK’s media ratings board–begrudgingly granted the PlayStation 2 and Wii game permission to be sold to consumers 18 and over.
Given Manhunt 2’s troubles, Rockstar’s next game, Grand Theft Auto IV, had been expected to get extra scrutiny from the BBFC. Today, though, the government body gave the upcoming crime action game
an 18 rating with absolutely zero wrangling over content. “This work was passed with no cuts made,” read the BBFC’s report, which listed the game as having “strong violence, very strong language, sex and drug references.”
The BBFC also listed GTAIV’s running time as around seven and three-quarter hours (463 minutes), a figure presumably derived from playing through solely the main section of the game. The final time is bound to be much longer, given the fact its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, ran nearly 100 hours. However, according to a recent note from Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey, even a game of that length would likely suck up over 2.68 billion man-hours this year.
“[GTAIV] could ship 5.8 million units in the first week, or $360 million in [US] retail sales,” the analyst said in a recent report about American game retailer GameStop’s future earnings. Previously, Hickey said that the game would ship 9.5 million copies
internationally when it goes on sale April 29 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
[UPDATE] Since this story went live, Rockstar Games contacted If Its Games to say that the running time associated with GTAIV’s BBFC rating was for the length of footage given to the ratings board, not the game itself. It did not provide a final running time for the game, but did say that its cutscenes alone approach eight hours in combined length.
April 2, 2008
Ryan Payton, on the latest episode of the Kojima Productions Report podcast, has said that they will be analyzing how popular the Metal Gear Solid 1 PSN release is in Japan before considering releasing it in Europe and North America. If interest in the game is high and its a popular download, they may release it in other regions.
April 2, 2008
Guillaume Brunier, Producer for the PlayStation 3 version of EndWar has tried to ease gamers concerns that the game will be a crappy port of the Xbox 360 version. \”End War PS3 will offer the exact same feature set as the X360 version including voice command, 4 vs. 4 multi-player games and (for the first time on PS3!!!) persistent online campaign.\” he said. He also revealed that they already have SIXAXIS controls working in the game and that the 360 & PS3 versions will be sold at the same time.
April 2, 2008
Latest date from Chart-Track has seen RAINBOW SIX: VEGAS 2 being knocked off the top spot by Gran Turismo 5 Prologue in the \”All Formats All Prices video game chart\”. Not only did GT5 Prologue debut at number 1, but it has also become \”the fastest-selling PS3 title in a single week and the 19th overall best-selling title on the console.\”
April 2, 2008
Below is a mysterious video uploaded to youtube called Assassins\’s Solid. The video shows the effects of combining the game play of MGS 4 with the main character of Assassin\’s Creed.
April 2, 2008
The official twitter account of SCEA has revealed that the Warhawk v1.3 patch is coming tomorrow. The following were meant to be included in the new update - 1) Mechanic’s Field Wrench 2) Bio-Field Generator 3) HOME Game Launching 4) New VOIP Options and 5) New Paint Schemes & Insignias. The HOME integration which will allow players will be able to form groups, meet in their apartments, discuss tactics, and then launch a game of Warhawk is unlikely to be working tomorrow (obviously).
April 2, 2008
Capcom recently announced that Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G sold one cool million copies in its first six days on sale. The game sold a whopping 670,000 copies in its first day and has become the fastest selling game in the series. (Thanks G-Wiki)
April 2, 2008
The CoD4 map pack which was scheduled to be released this week has been delayed until April 10. The PS3 version of the map packs won\’t be available until 3 weeks after the Xbox version is released.
April 2, 2008
This week’s Rockband content which is the free track \’Still Alive\’ is up early. It is unclear how long the track will remain free so get it while you can.
April 2, 2008
The director of UK sales monitor Chart-Track, has said that: \”We are very close to clocking through 2 million 360s in the UK. It should be next week.\” The Char-Track added that \”The Xbox 360 is extremely well liked in the UK and very strong,\” and \”Sony has a long way to go to overtake it in the UK.\”
April 2, 2008
The Army Of Two demo is now available on Xbox Live (not for Germany) and comes in at 1.32GB.
April 2, 2008
Sick of April fools day? Of course you are, but its not over yet. Below is a \”new 360 ad\” that mimics some familiar Wii ads courtesy of IGN.